Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4

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[b]Borrows from several of RPG's greats to become very good, but not quite great itself.[/b] This fourth iteration in Penny Arcade's RPG series takes several steps forward and a couple backward when compared to its predecessor. The places you visit and the situations you are thrust into are more spectacular, graphically detailed and imaginative. The storyline deftly pulls you along with more polished cutscenes, gradual plot reveals and split narratives. On the other hand, the combat both gives players less character flexibility and does little to overcome the fatigue of using the same battle system as episode 3. Additionally, a dearth of object examination text and only a modest number of NPCs to talk to contribute to a sense that the "Underhell" has been under detailed from a world building perspective. When I think of retro RPGs I don't imagine big set piece locales as key components of the genre. And yet, that is one of Precipice of Darkness 4's strongest areas. A few of the many lively environments that you'll find yourself in include riding onboard a living, dangerously lonely train, escaping a collapsing tower and navigating through an active warfield. The train sequence is clearly a reference to Final Fantasy VI (AKA III in the US). That game's influence can be felt elsewhere too. I suspect the parallel storytelling style that has you frequently alternating between two separate groups of characters is one such homage (in addition to being an effective storytelling technique). Unfortunately, splitting the group like this takes a small toll on the combat side of things. Early on you are often without a full party to wield in battle. I saw this as an unnecessarily slow build up in combat complexity considering that most players will already have experience with this battle system from the previous game. It should be noted that you command a collection of oddball monsters in battle rather than the human characters. Despite this, the underlying functionality and flow remains virtually the same. Instead of being able to customize what classes are set to each character, you swap between monsters that are permanently tied to a specific play style. I preferred the flexible combinations you could make in episode 3 over the linear growth paths of this Pokémon-esque system. The story is a direct continuation from Precipice of Darkness 3. Even though there is a brief recap at the start of this game, I would still recommend playing part 3 first. In contrast, that game can safely be your entry point into the series. Without spoiling anything, I'll simply say that I really enjoyed Precipice of Darkness 4's otherworldly plot with its astronomical implications. The characters and comedy along the way didn't stand out as much to me though. That's not to say they are bad; It's more that they are passably amusing without having enough depth or novelty to be memorable. Ultimately I think that episode 4 is better than 3 but, lamentably, it is hurt by its precursor. This is evidenced by looking at Steam review totals of which there are currently 503 for Precipice of Darkness 3 versus only 277 for this game. Both of the two games took me 15 hours to complete in entirety, including side content. If you feel you'll only have the lasting interest to play one of these games, make it part 4 and make do with the recap of episode 3. [url=http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197971628333/recommended/213030/]Click here to check out my review of Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3.[/url]

This is part 4 of the penny arcade episodal games. NOTE: THIS IS NOT A CHILDREN"S GAME. I PERSONALLY RANK THIS GAME AT "A" FOR ADULT. This is the final game in the series. This world is quite different than the previous game, and features the ability to find secret characters and hidden treasures.This game really shines in the RPG role than it's predecessor, as the way it is presented is much more of rpg than the previous game in the series...anyways. It has alot of dark humour in it and sillyness like the rest of the series. I suggest playing the previous games to get the whole storyline of the game. Recommended!

[b]You might like if:[/b] You love Pokémon games, absurd humour and want to see the thrilling conclusion to the Rain-Slick Quadilo... Quadro... [i]Four[/i]ology. Possibly my favourite of the series, primarily for its off-beat style, variety of playable characters and depth of combat. Zeboyd Games appear to have had a creative field day with this one. Where Episode 3 felt a little restrained, here they have flipped the desk and gone "screw this! I'm doing it my way!" - Want a demon train? You've got it! Want to play with a sentient vending machine? It's yours! Want to fight panda-duck hybrids? Why the heck not! It's essentially taken everything from the previous game, fixing the weaker points and trying to dose it up with more fun and variety. In effect, it's no longer trying to mimic the first 2 episodes, but stand alone with its own style. The music's had a badass overhaul and the attack sounds are considerably more fitting; all-in-all leading to very satisfying and engaging combat, aided by an even greater cavalcade of silly foes and special conditions. But the creativeness hasn't just extended to the world or visuals. The combat system has been given a fun rethink too. The characters now fight using a team of fun, yet cute, creatures (very much an ode to Pokémon) each with their own very unique edge and specialisation to bring, really pushing the game mechanics to creative new frontiers. Some are defensive healers, others item-oriented... one even boosts its allies whilst KO'd! There's plenty to mix-and-match and, much like the class badges from before, the designs are creative, absurd and pretty damn fantastic. For those who like to play with every character in an RPG... this is an absolute gold mine! The humour is still rich as ever, pushing the boat out even further with the parodies and puns... including a group with their own theme song. I can't say much on it, but it's possibly one of the most bizarre, yet wonderful moments of the game. All this does come at a price, however (there's always a catch). In all of the outrageous fun, it's lost the brooding noir from the other episodes, so has a very different feel to it. And despite the sprawling world, the plot is actually quite sparse. There's still a wealth of brilliant dialogue and laugh-out-loud moments but, other than a nice conclusion, there's not much in the way of twists or turns and a rather drawn-out finale. Neither are problems in and of themselves, but it ultimately depends on what hooked you into the series. Still... it was a very satisfying end to an incredible series of games. Not the deepest, but almost certainly the most fun!

Extremely basic 2-D RPG, which would be fine if the battle mechanics were any fun. The environment enemies are easy to beat, and the boss battles quick devolve into performing the same routine over and over until its dead. What a boring grind. I wish I had never wasted my time.

Penny Arcade is still a very active comic series. But unfortunately, these games didn't sell well. The series of games featured a very nice story. But the overall popularity wasn't all that great. I personally really loved the first two episodes. They featured the iconic comic book art style. Especially the story and humour were perfect. These two games we're really, really enjoyable. But then a new developer ruined the art style. What Hothead Games did was truly awesome. And Zeboyd Games tried something different. Unfortunately: I didn't like the third episode. And the fourth episode seemed even worse. It's a really huge downgrade, that's for sure. Yes, I do recommend the first two episodes. They really deserve a simple positive review. But the remaining two games I simply hate.

Just completed both Episode 3 and 4 and yea... I'm sorry but I really can't recommend it to anyone. I do understand the latter 2 Episodes were developed by another developer but I would have liked the game more if the art style from the first 2 Episodes was retained. There were also some stuff that irritated me, as follows: - Not able to flee from battle. - Equiping the party is such a drag. Needed to scroll all the way down (3 equipment slots each) to equip the 'backup' members. Would prefer equip to be together with the status page. - Not being able to back out of switching. - Didn't like the short ending. It really felt abrupt. - I prefer the class-based style in Episode 3, rather than the control the monster (Pokemon) style. Like someone else mentioned in their review, due to this, I felt less attachment to the party members in Episode 4. Being able to use all monsters only towards the end of the game didn't help as well.

In my ongoing and likely futile effort to write a Steam review for every game in my library (#232 out of 558)... it's time for Penny Arcade's On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4. So, to reitterate my assessment of the prior episode: is the second half of this bizarre webcomic tie-in series any good? Well, yes and no. Technically it's fine, because it's developed by Zeboyd Games, if they definitely know this style of low-fi JsRPG inside-out. But the transition to low-resolution sprites really highlights just how much the prior games depended on the faithful adaptation of the webcomic's art style, as well as the amusing commentary of the in-game narrator--no longer present for budget reasons. The general effect is a far less interesting, amusing or engaging experience. Presumably they finally got around to finishing the story--but I couldn't stick around long enough to care. If you're especially fond of the plot and/or mythology of the Rain-Slick series, and thought the chatty narrator in the prior games was more a nuisance than anything else, we will never be friends. And also you might like this game. A bit. Possibly.