Venaitura

Like NES-style RPGs? Well, this is the one for you!

"Everyone Dies : The Game" -Ephiam, the game's dev 2022.

Edit: Edit: This game is absolutely fantastic ported to some of the new handheld devices and/or streamed. But in particular the EasyRPG architecture makes RPG Maker 2K/2K3 an ideal platform for games that arguably maintain better backwards compatibility and pixel perfect distillation of the 64x64 JRPG on the SNES. There are so many more games to make that will run on so many devices worldwide and this ironically makes what used to be a fringe and inferior development platform something to consider for solid, reliable performance. The game runs fine on Windows 11, but not ideal once you experience an ideal on a Retroid Pocket Mini from 2025. Edit: This was not in fact the dev's first game, just their first on Steam. Highly recommend thothers on here too. The earlier games aren't bad either but Venaitura really stands out for me. This was the game you were looking for, digging through all those JRPGs, roms, f2ps and the like. There's never going to be another Final Fantasy IV, another Dragon Quest V. Most RPGMaker games are as much of an emotional achievement as they are technical. But the genre is still wide open for new styles and new storytelling and it's worth digging through bad first impressions to find magic. The world feels mature for a game of the 8/16-bit era, but also mature for the standards of RPGmaker JRPGs from today. The game is self-aware (though not ironic or sarcastic about it), with NPCs struggling with the nature of being in worlds like these more than their counterparts from thirty years ago. But scaled to the microcosm of an 8/16-bit game. NPCs will change their dialogue and there are named characters who seem to persistently address the events of the game as they unfold. I always wanted a game with the apparent technical scope of an NES or SNES game, but with the depth of content you'd find in a CRPG of the time or a modern open world game. This hints at that depth in lore and presentation, but sticks to a good turn based system without other gimmicks. There's room to grow, and I don't think I'd declare this 'that game' quite yet, but it certainly seems like this dev could be the one to make it. With this game you'll probably want to remap your keyboard using rewasd or autohotkey because this is very much a game to play with a controller on the couch. You may also need to change or override high DPI settings in the compatibility settings for the EXE to get full screen to maximize properly. The dev would do well to look into solving these issues with more than a suggestion in a readme. But in some ways it promotes that early 90s vibe, like it's a mail order game. Once you're setup, you'll forget you're in an RPGMaker game and I don't say that lightly. Looks and plays very much like the early DQ/FF games, somewhere between FF2 and 4. The gear and skills are introduced quickly and you can start to flesh out unique combos almost immediately. It's easy to die but also easy to revive and rid yourself of status ailments. Enemies have elemental weaknesses but also weaknesses to weapon classes. Honestly I'm still on the first continent. I wanted to get a positive review out before the sale ended. Trust me, I'm not an anime fanboy or an obscurist trying to curate misunderstood games. This game is well-made, well-written and needs to be the first of many attempts at game development.

I spent about 30 hours playing Venaitura through once, which included all optional side content. Things I liked: - Large selections of characters, I could see myself playing though more than once trying out different party combinations. - Many enemy encounters have unique drops, I was always pleased when a new piece of equipment dropped that was an upgrade I wasn't expecting - I felt the pacing was good, you didn't spend so much time in one area that it started to drag on - I liked that most areas you went to had optional areas to explore Things I didn't like: - too many status effects, a lot of which basically did the same thing as another one just slightly different - some classes seem underpowered, I struggled using some of their toolkit except for specific encounters - having a Savior seems mandatory, I would have liked to have seen more variety of healing across the different classes so I don't feel like I had to take one Overall a very enjoyable game, takes me back to classic NES games like DQIII. Certainly worth the price for what you get out of it!

I definitely recommend this game if you're a fan of the 8 bit era of games. Pros: - Really good story. I was surprised at how in depth and even philosophical the story got - Having the ability to choose so many classes and all vary greatly makes it very customizable and has great replay value - the quality of life improvements such as the monster zero item which allows you to turn off random encounters is really nice when you want to or have to backtrack - even though the tracks were a bit short, the songs were were quite good - the enemy designs were fantastic. Incredibly unique and interesting and sometimes creepy as heck - the ending was PHENOMENAL. Such a great way to cap off the game. Very bold and well done. Cons: - can be obtuse in where you need to go, especially the last two areas - can be frustrating with how many status effects random encounters can throw on you

Gameplay-wise is what you'd expect from the classic turn-based RPGs: random encounters galore. Despite that, the story is pretty in-depth and a bit engaging. Can definitely tell a lot of work was put into its development. Another gameplay bonus is that using status effects on enemies can work in our favor.

I'm really really enjoying this game. I just got to leafland. I love the music and once you get the boat I really noticed the change in the music. It kicks up quite a bit and sounds amazing. Lots of neat weapons and so much variety in classes and party comp. Makes it feel like a very different game depending on your team.

I get to be a dog 10/10