Oh, hm. Another day has passed. I suppose I should post some more indie RPG news? Very well! Let’s do that. Word reaches me that Valkyria Games (not to be confused with Sega’s Chronicles of the same name) has come out with a new jRPG by the name Hunters Grimm. Suddenly, that image to the right makes perfect sense!

Anyway. The premise:

For Sarai and Nicholas Grimm, life is simple: find the monsters, beat the monsters, take the money, frosty chocolate milkshakes and boring old research books for all.

But one night, one favour to a friend has set them on a path neither can predict. An attempt at a selfless act has them branded outlaws, hunted by an old rival, and trying to understand just what is happening alongside their personal hero. What awaits them is the beginning of an adventure neither of them are prepared for.

There’s a quality to this prose description here that makes me more interested in this game than I usually am in RPG Maker jRPGs. This isn’t just another hero’s journey, it seems, and the person writing it can actually put words together in arrangements that call to mind top-shelf young adult fiction. (That might not sound like a compliment, but given the rather low bar set by most jRPGs, this is actually pretty darn good.)

And speaking of top-shelf young adult fiction: is it just me, or does the brother look just a smidge like Harry Potter?…

Sorry, got off topic. Where was I? Ah, yes. The game. It’s out now for Windows–the full thing costs $14.99, but you can try the free demo first to see if you like it.

We have reached a new milestone in indie RPGs. Up until last week, Jesus Christ had one role and one role only in jRPGs: to have his name muttered angrily under one’s breath after running into the 15th random battle in a row. No longer! As of October 15, 2013, Jesus Christ has his very own jRPG. Three of them, in fact: Baby Jesus Christ RPG, Jesus Christ RPG, and Rise Jesus Christ RPG.

The premise:

you can play as Jesus Christ and his friends and also his parents and the three wise kings.

So, you know, there’s that. Given the proliferation of god-killing plotlines that we commonly find in jRPGs, the decision to use this particular genre as a vehicle for telling the story of Jesus seems almost subversive (if not a little cheeky). I had to know: why a Jesus Christ jRPG? The author, Felipe, responded:

Before deciding on Jesus Christ, I was looking into adapting any story into an RPG. It occurred to me that I would love to play a game about Jesus that was neither too reverent (thus off-putting) nor disrespectful. As a player, I would like just a fun game that kept some basic principles intact.

This decision helped in shaping the gameplay:

– I would not write any of Jesus’ words, which were all quoted straight from the bible. His words and other bible quotes in this trilogy are between quotation marks.

– Jesus, for instance, cannot attack and he’s also immune to any status effects. Why? because status effects are cured by miracles and Jesus never performed a miracle on himself.

On top of that, I also tipped my hat to the Final Fantasy series (which explains why I wrote an arpeggiated theme song) and Dragon Quest (with the curved logo).

Summing up, just tried to do something amusing and non-preachy, while respecting the characters.

Given that Jesus cannot attack, I can only assume that he’s portrayed as a character in the healer mold. Here’s a trailer showing a bit of what you’ll be in for:

The Jesus Christ RPG trilogy is free; Windows only. You can download each of the games from the author’s Dropbox account here.

Remember Fantasy Kommander: Eukarion Wars? (I hope so–I just posted about it a few days ago!) The developers were kind enough to give me a copy of the game to look at–per tradition, I have done so, recording the affair and providing my thoughts in real-time as I go.

Without further ado! (Note: I recommend watching fullscreen in HD, as some details won’t be legible otherwise.)

All in all, Fantasy Kommander: Eukarion Wars strikes me as a reasonably competent fantasy strategy title. I quite like the game’s leveling and skill tree system–it’s pretty rare for a fantasy strategy title to give you that level of control over your units’ development.

There were a few rough edges in terms of the game’s presentation, but nothing too heinous. The game’s text would have benefited from proofreading by a good English-speaking editor, but the writing does what it needs to do: it establishes context and gives you the sense of fighting a campaign rather than a bunch of disconnected micro-battles. Likewise, although there were a few missteps in the way the game’s voice-overs were implemented, the voice acting itself is of high quality, and helps lend character to the game’s various NPCs.

The one thing that worries me about this game so far is the third battle; it’s very early into the campaign, and yet it’s hard as nails. I sat down this morning to try to finally beat it. I did so, twice. But it took a very specific strategy. And even then, if the enemy’s stronger attacking units get lucky hits on you, you’re done. I tried the battle three times; even knowing the correct strategy, I still ended up losing once when an enemy got a critical hit on my hero unit.

My feelings on games that rely heavily on randomized results are well-known, so I won’t rehash them here. Suffice it to say that by requiring the player to fight against an extremely narrow time window for victory, this particular battle brought three big design weaknesses right to the fore: the game uses highly randomized damage (which means that the same attack can have wildly differing results in any given playthrough); lack of clear information (I had no way of knowing for sure what direction enemies were facing, how far enemies could move, or how far their spells could reach); and the use of critical hits by enemies (which is one of the most maddeningly anachronistic and un-fun mechanics you can use in a game like this).

So basically: FK:EW has a lot of strengths, but it’s not without flaws. With all that said, this is still a first impressions piece–I really need to play through more of the game’s missions before I can reach any sort of final conclusion about whether it’s ultimately worth picking up.

David Pittman of Minor Key Games writes in to announce the release of Eldritch, the first person Lovecraftian, Minecraftian, System Shock 2-ian action roguelike-like (previously covered here).

I assume that there haven’t been any truly dramatic changes since we last checked out the game a month ago–you can see my first impressions in word / video form right here.

If you like what you see, you can nab Eldritch on Steam right here. The game’s full price is $14.99, but it’s currently 20% off during launch, making it $11.99 for the next week and a half or so. It’s Windows only for now, but the game’s site states that it is “Coming soon to Mac and Linux!”

There comes a time in a man’s life when he has to sit down and try out a hip-hop sci-fi RPG. That time came for me a few days ago when I finally got around to trying out oddball jRPG Kanye Quest 3030 (previously covered here). The results? See for yourself:

My initial impressions: the theme is hilarious and well-executed, with lots of different combat tracks sampled from whatever hip hop artist clone you happen to be fighting at the time. Unfortunately, the game seems to be extremely linear, and its role-playing elements are quite limited even by jRPG standards. It’s free, though–players with some knowledge of hip hop who want a good laugh are encouraged to give this a try.

I ran into someone affiliated with this game back at PAX Prime, but didn’t get a chance to check it out at the show. I soon forgot about it, only to remember belatedly that this one deserves a post. To put it simply, Gheldia is a Zelda-alike in development by a four-man team at the Washington indie dev house Hunt Game Studios.

The official premise is way too long to post here, so let’s make do with an abridged version:

30 years ago a terrifying event known as the Black Awakening caused the Beast Lords to be disturbed from their slumber and ascend to the surface. It is said that the Dark Wizards of Theon were plotting this secretly underground ever since their defeat. With the return of the Beast Lords the monsters were granted new powers and sought revenge against the kingdoms of Gheldia.
…
Lor is an aspiring Slayer who is looking to make a name for himself. He braves the dangerous waters to journey to the Isle of Aria where a Beast Lord is rumored to dwell. The island houses one of the many Slayer camps and Lor heads there to begin his adventure…

The trailer:

Gheldia is planned for a Windows release in both English and Japanese in December 2013. The developers state that after the game’s release, they may release the official development tools as well “so players can create their own levels.” While you wait for release, you can vote for Gheldia on Steam Greenlight right here.

Fabio Belsanti writes in to tell me about the release of Fantasy Kommander: Eukarion Wars, a fantasy strategy title developed by two indie companies (P.M. Studios and Foofa Studios) in collaboration with each other under the name Age of Games. It’s sort of a weird arrangement–but if it works, who cares, right? Also a little weird: this game has a publisher, Slitherine, but its development was entirely self-funded by the developers. Slitherine came in after development was over to act as a distributor, which means that this still counts as an indie game.

Anyway! With all of that out of the way, let’s talk about the game itself. The premise:

Players will play a Kommander at the beginning of their military careers, thrown into a titanic battle that is devastating the entire continent of Eukarion. Successive events, dialogues, and plot twists are carried on through the messages that Emperor Karl and the Great Council of Mages send to the young general who will have to find out, fighting hard battles, the final objective of the Abyss.

Players won’t be alone in facing this incredible war adventure. Three great Heroes of Humans, Elves, and Dwarves, will follow and assist them in their trials, challenges, victories and defeats.

The trailer does a pretty good job of establishing the setting:

Fantasy Kommander: Eukarion Wars is one of the few games out there these days that actually has a good reason for sporting a subtitle, as it’s essentially the follow-up to a trio of Flash games released back in 2009 by the names of Fantasy Kommander, Fantasy Kommander 2: Fascination of Evil, and Kaos Kommander. Those games were fairly polished, but I expect that FK:EW should trump them in that regard. FK:EW promises 4 different campaigns, a whopping 70 unit types, professional voice-overs, and hex-based gameplay (previous titles employed a square grid). Combat employs terrain effects, morale, and damage bonuses for flanking attacks.

The full game is available direct from the developer for Windows and Mac OS for $19.99; or if you’re the sort of person who likes collecting cardboard boxes with pretty pictures on them, you can also get a boxed copy in addition to the digital download for $29.99.

I’ve been informed that Avadon 2 will get its Windows release on October 30th. Gird your loins, folks!

(Want to get a taste of the game? Here’s me playing a beta build about a month ago.)

Among the many delights I witnessed at Indiecade this year was Rollers of the Realm, an oddball hybrid of action RPG and pinball game by Canadian developers Phantom Compass.

The premise:

An orphan girl (The Rogue) and her dog (multi-ball) travel their war-torn Realm, picking pockets to get by.  When The Rogue chooses to help a drunken Knight, they set off a chain of events that will change their lives and the Realm forever.  On their journey to uncover the true source of unrest in their land, they collect a band of medieval misfits who help them battle and ultimately save the Realm from a long forgotten dark magic.

The real attraction here, of course, is the game’s unique blend of RPG and old-fashioned pinball mechanics. To wit:

Combining the skill mastery and physics of pinball with the engagement of role playing games, Rollers of the Realm offers a new yet familiar gaming experience.   Collect an ensemble cast of unique up-gradable pinball characters and battle through board after board of an epic fantasy story.

There are 10 character classes, each with its own unique ball. When enemies attack, they damage your flippers–you’ll have to take down the enemy quickly, or else keep your flippers healed if you want to survive each encounter.

Get the idea? Perhaps it would be best if you just watched the trailer:

Rollers of the Realm is planned for release on PC in Spring or Summer 2014, with other platforms (such as iPhone) to follow. It is currently on Steam Greenlight; if you think it looks cool, feel free to upvote it!

I know what you’re thinking. “They finally did it: someone went out there and made a dubsteb RPG.” Great guess! But nope. “The Drop” refers not to the musical term, but rather to a new roguelike created by TildeOne Games.

Well, okay, maybe not exactly new: the Drop was released in mid-August, though it did receive a major update two weeks ago.

The premise:

Fifteen Years Ago: The world trembled. Civilization was leveled on a global scale. An opportunist known only as The Lord-God used his si’shra armies to raze and control what was left, commanding from atop the stone tower that raised from the part of the sea over an area of ocean known as the Drop.

Five Years Ago: A guild of forgotten heroes returns unannounced, eventually toppling the madman’s regime and bringing about The Third Reconstruction as society reforms.

Six Months Ago: The Drop collapses in upon itself, leaving a gaping, seemingly-bottomless hole in the ocean. Curious adventurers from around the world gather to see the depths for themselves. Early reports tell of a strong magical pervasion, granting even those unskilled in elemental arts the ability to wield magic, and of segments of land and even living creatures from other parts of the world suddenly appearing within.

The Drop relegates permadeath and line-of-sight mechanics to an optional “hardcore mode,” so you can play the game as something less than a full roguelike if you wish. Other interesting features include detailed character creation (with options for “race, appearance, starting weapon, elemental alignment, perks, and a background”), and Body / Mind / Soul stats in lieu of hit points and magic points.

You can get a sense of the game from its release trailer:

After watching that, you might be surprised to know that The Drop was actually created in RPG Maker. (From what I can see, it looks like they redid pretty much everything except for the spell effects.)

The Drop is free; download it here. Windows only.