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All Dogs Go to Space

2018: A Doge Odyssey is a short RPG that was made for the Swap in the Middle event, where one developer started the project and another one finished it. This one is centered around the doge meme, and it’s about as shitposty as you would probably expect.

Let’s Talk About Graphics!

A hodgepodge of RTP, some janky edits, and lord knows what else. Naturally, the visuals are supposed to be funny, so there was never going to be any consistency to them. Most of the enemy sprites seem to match in style, but I’m not sure what they’re from. The graphics generally take function over form, especially when that function is a joke.

Let’s Talk About Audio!

I actually can’t comment much in this area because I made a point of turning off the BGM regularly. It’s okay in the first part, but the RPG portion mostly uses rap music with cat noises inserted into it, and given the lengthy content warning that appears before the rap starts to play, I decided I was better safe than sorry since I was recording it for YouTube. The battle theme is a pretty nice boss remix of the dog theme from Undertale, so that’s something. Like with graphics, the audio is intended to amuse, or make you want to turn it off, I guess. They give you an item that mutes it when used, after all.

Let’s Talk About Story!

You wouldn’t think there’d be one, but there is. For starters, this is apparently all happening in a simulation on a space station, but that piece of deepest lore isn’t too important. In the first part, the game is self-aware of its status as an event game and pretends to go through the motions of filling its minimum required time.

Then the RPG portion begins, where it’s a secret war between the doges and the cates. A party of corgis group up and set out to drive the cats from the land so they can claim it for themselves. It’s mostly there as an excuse for the adventure, so of course it’s not going to be some enthralling narrative. It’s as good a reason as any for a pack of dogs to go on a mini conquest behind their owners’ backs. The writing is mostly in the form of doge meme/lolcat misspellings and poor grammar. Your mileage will vary depending on what tickles your funny bone. I wouldn’t call it a laugh riot, but maybe that’s just me.

Let’s Talk About Gameplay!

This is another thing you wouldn’t expect to really have much of, but this game makes a sincere attempt to be an actual RPG. The earlier portion consists of a few puzzles, some of which include doing math. There are some goofy events you go through, and you can get some Game Overs if you’re stubborn about things. It goes full force with the RPG mechanics for the rest.

It claims it’s a pseudo-clone of FF1, but that’s only partially true. You have a party of four doges and you choose each of their classes before setting out. There’s the Barker, whose only purpose is to debuff the enemy by barking. Next, the Bighter, which is good at physical fighting, and that’s all they’re good at. Third is Comfort Animal, which is the only class that can heal. Finally, there’s the Dogwizard, who pays for its powerful offensive magic by being terrible at everything else.

You can have as many or few of each class as you want, but I’m not sure the game would be possible for some combinations. Each class is hyper-focused on exactly their niche, and leaving out one could leave you sorely lacking. If I had to guess, it’s probably easiest for a pack of Dogwizards since they can wipe out enemies in one or two casts. You only need to get them off the ground since they aren’t the quickest and often go down in one hit themselves. Likewise, it would probably be hardest for a pack of Comfort Animals since all they can do is heal and their other stats are too mediocre to get things done quickly.

I wouldn’t recommend going with all of any single class, but some definitely seem more useful than others. If you bring a Dogwizard, you can expect them to mop up foes easily, assuming they live that long. Bighters can dish and take hits well, but have their weaknesses and can’t always finish things fast enough. The other two classes are too weak to contribute much beyond support. If there’s any one you could do without, it’s Barker. They can only lower attack, and while they can do it three times per enemy, you can’t direct what they’re barking at. They aren’t fast enough to get out a debuff before the enemies start hitting you, and they don’t lower magic attack, so it’s useless against enemies with special moves (which are most of the major threats). As a support class, they bring way too little to justify their party slot.

Anyway, while the classes are too rigid to function in more than their given roles, the game is decently balanced if you bring one of each. Don’t neglect to fight the random encounters and you shouldn’t fall behind in levels. The monsters are tough enough to pose a threat, even from the get-go, so don’t expect them to be pushovers. Unfortunately, there isn’t much strategy to be had because you’re limited by whatever party you chose in the first place. Each dog can only do their one thing well, so your choices are too few to mean much. You can either overcome your opponents or you can’t, but you’re unlikely to get hopelessly stuck.

As with everything else, the content is loaded with jokes. The items and equipment are mostly animal-themed. You restore your MP with ‘space grass’ which is literally just weed. The monsters all have silly names, as do the skills you use against them. For me, they range from mildly amusing to utterly bland, but this type of thing never really appealed to me in the first place. Such is the way of offering reviews indiscriminately. One’s enjoyment of it will depend on their sense of humor, although you probably wouldn’t pick it up if you didn’t think it’d be funny.

Let’s Wrap This Up…

Doge Quest 2018 is a very silly game. It only takes a few hours to get through, and that’s mostly due to the RPG aspect, but it’s nothing too demanding. If you have some time to kill and don’t mind the old memes, you might get a few kicks out of it. I would give this a…

3/5


Yes, this actually happens.

Posts

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JustAShyDoge
Still a dumb and shy doggo
9731
Hello and sorry for the late reply! Life's been a bit too rough on me but anyway!

Thank you so much for the art, its so cute!

To be frankly honest, I'm not sure what to comment as this was one of my first bad games(ok you gave it 3 stars so its not bad but er...beginner vibes, there we go!) And Stormcrow was the one that put most the effort, I only did the annoying math and beach map if I recall correctly.

**To clarify I'm not saying stormcrow is to be blamed for 'bad', but as a huge thank for their efforts on enemy, skill, classes, stats, audio and writing!
I mean, if you add in all that aspect Stormcrow effort placed. That probably is a game itself already!

Again, thank you so much for your let's play and review!
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
You're welcome! I would've had to give a lower score if you hadn't patched those bugs, so don't feel like you don't deserve any credit. It's also an event game, so a certain amount of jank is basically expected. Just because it could be better doesn't mean it's all bad. ;3
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