Intro

"An Essay on Insipidity" is a short RPG developed by CarlosDavilla, also known as Ernesto, using the trial version of RPG Maker MZ. As you can imagine this means this game was made using only the RTP for RPG Maker MZ since your creative options are rather limited when using the trial version of an engine. Though, I suppose throwing together a game that takes around 90 minutes to complete in a week's time is pretty impressive, but this game also suffers from flaws pretty common to first time projects. Albeit this appears to be intentional if the game's summary page is anything to go by.

• Bad grammar;

• Bad tileset placement/map design;

• Bad story, pacing, and narrative;

• Easy battles with enemies that have large pools of HP;

And while this decision makes sense considering the game's overall theme. It does mean this game can be both annoying and boringly easy. So it's probably a major plus that the pacing is bad in the sense that everything moves at breakneck speeds since the game's four dungeons are all on the tiny side of the scale. Though, I suppose I should get into that story before breaking down the game's mechanics.

Story
Summary

You play as 'ernestp' whose on a quest to once more save the world from trouble by trouncing the evil demon king and his strongest minions. A concept that is both common place in first time projects as well as a throwback to the old days of gaming where there wasn't that much room on the cartridge for a deep narrative, but in this game's case this surface level story helps cover up a much darker story. A story revealed through red crystals that are only accessible by backtracking through the game's various dungeons by using the appropriate key. And this story about what the fictional developer of this game was going through is pretty depressing.

And does raise questions if one should interpret the surface level story as a mask meant to hide the scars underneath or if the surface level story is merely a distraction from the pain. Albeit you do need to go out of your way to get the full details on this aspect of the game, but it is hinted at during the final boss fight for those that don't want to backtrack when the game reveals that the demon king is ernestp's father.

Strengths/Weaknesses

On the plus side the game moves at a breakneck pace. Usually I'd be more inclined to hold this against a game, but the game's high encounter rate and high HP enemies actually make this a strength since it means the game doesn't get a chance to over stay it's welcome.

On a more mixed note are the spelling and grammar errors. Some of these errors do come across as intentional with the word defeated being spelt incorrectly in a lot of places. And the nature of those misspellings range from "defeted" to "deat". At other times though the errors appear to be accidental with the word first being spelled as "fjrst" near the start of the game. Admittedly English is this developer's second language so a few errors are probably to be expected. And at any rate none of the errors make it impossible to understand what the game is getting at. Probably because most of the dialogue is super direct about what you need to do next.



On the other hand the game contains multiple hints for possible side quests, but never does anything with them. Though, I suppose being unable to help the powerless and forgotten is kind of the point.

Gameplay

The game utilizes a conditional turn-based system where the turn order is heavily influenced by the speed stats of the various units partaking in a battle. This means it's possible for your character to get multiple turns for every turn an enemy gets which can be used to your advantage for setting up attack buffs or using items. On the other hand the game's enemies tend to have a crap ton of HP and the game really doesn't give out that many weapon upgrades for free. So dealing with enemies in this game will quickly become a major pain in the $%#. Thankfully you can use an exploit to get around this since you can collect an infinite number of potions in your room to sell for cash. And you can repeat this process endlessly. So it's possible to buy the best gear in the game in about 15 to 20 minutes. As a result combat in this game is kind of a joke since you'll either find yourself basically immune to most enemy attack options if you've taken the time to upgrade your gear or so flush with healing items that you can grind your way through enemies.

Graphics & Sound

As previously mentioned this game was made with the trial version of RPG Maker MZ. As a result this game relies entirely upon the RTP. As such I really don't have a lot to say about this game in either category. Though I imagine the game would have benefited a little if more enemies were used in the game's four dungeons since most areas only contain two monsters beyond the area's bosses.

Conclusion

"An Essay on Insipidity" is a hard project to score in my opinion since a lot of it's issues with mapping and whatnot are on purpose. As such I really can't treat them as first time mistakes. And a lot of the errors do make sense considering this game is dedicated to first time developers trying to escape the pain they are experiencing in the real world. At the same time the game's battles are rather mind numbing after a while and you'll be dealing with a lot of random enemies if your not willing to invest in items to drop the game's encounter rate for a short period of time. At the same time the game's narrative feels a lot deeper than you'd expect for a game that looks like a first time project.