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Monstergirls in Monsterland

Hey! Do you know what is "Fateless Two, Faithless Thee"?
No? Oh well let me explain you: this is a short rpg game adventure in which we play as Ry, a mercenary aracno-girl that is...
What? Did I say "aracno-girl"? Oh yes, the protagonist is a creature that looks like one of these Driders creatures from Dungeons and Dragons, but she is a good citizen and not a beast! But in this fantasy world (like in many other human centric worlds) monsters are often discriminated.

But this does NOT happens in Svartalle, a village ruled by a mysterious bee woman called the Yellow Lady. Here our cute spiderwoman is looking for Iora Bladefeather, a sort of cute harpy priestress that some years ago was her friend... uhm... well no, ok she obviously is her love insterest.
Anyway in the beginning Iora is nowhere to be found and Ry has to start exploring the place to find her.


Oh yes! Fishing minigame! And it seems we were lucky! (how cute is the animated little Ry!)

The game is an adventure with a couple of quests, combat and a fishing minigame. There are some optional tasks that aren't mandatory and a crafting system that can be used to earn extra resources but it is not necessary to take advantage of it at all. There is also a shop where Ry can buy better gear and potions... even if potions are oddly extremely expensive, and one costs a lot more than a suit of armor or a silver sword! Weird!
Ok, so how do you make money?
Doing mercenary job since Ry is mercenary, right? Nope!
Fishing and selling fishes of course!
The minigame is a simple button mashing section that is more or less difficult depending on the prey and may reserve some surprise. Oh and the animation is so cute!

But this is still a dangerous fantasy world, so expect also some combat! There are no combat encounters, game is linear and has obligatory bossfights. Ry possesses a plethora of abilities, and if you read the descriptions you can learn some deadly combos that can be extremely useful (for example against enemies that heal themselves the best move is poisoning and making them bleed, then use each round the ability that makes then skip their action so they cannot heal and will die!).
I also liked that enemies have singular abilities, for ecample bee soldiers can make suicide attacks since... well they are bees!
I found combat pretty difficult... if you do not know what to do (opponents are strong and sometimes heal themselves and you play as a single character, so you will often be outnumbered)! Due to the extreme high cost of the consumables it's not so casual despite what the game description says, but it's not impossible either! Game does not make use of levelling but the key to win is using combos (being a spider Ry uses both poison, claws and spiderwebs, and at a certain point you can also control Iora, that plays totally differently). So combat is a bit like a puzzle, if you know the sequence of moves you will win without need of using consumables.


Awkward moment! For some reason I love this screenshot! The poses are perfect!

Graphically the game is really nice! Colorful and with some custom charsets and opponents, some edits and beautiful portraits that sometimes clash a bit among themselves due to different styles (see for example the cartoony goblin & orc fisherman portraits compared to the seamstress), but it's nothing too extreme. Mapping is good, I don't think there is nothing wrong here, except maybe for the excessive presence of save points, for example one outside the seamstress house and one inside, or two inside the villa, one on the first and one on the second floor... I mean in this case just the second was enough (if you play you will understand why), the first is just before a short cutscene and then bam you are on the second floor (with another save point!). Also the game ask you to save before some dramatic moments, so there is no shortage of saving places...
Buuut this also creates a problem, because due to the high cost of the consumables it's possible to arrive unprepared to the final combat encounters! (I did, oddly when I came prepared with the potions I was able to win without using them, so... it was not necesary. So git gud!). The problem is that I found no place to rest and recover, the game automatically restores the character after each day, but considering that there are place where you can severely harmed (like the forest) without realizing this until it's too late, a resting place would have been welcomed.
Another little flaw is that sometimes it's not clear what you are supposed to do (for example those two orcs are blocking the access to the seamstress house and you have to perform a specific and unrelated action to make them disappear!).

What else? The plot is good and more complex than I expected, the characters are likeable (Victor was my favourite), I like how the game starts in media res (the beginning reminds to me of the 2009 movie BitchSlap, with two girls in a place devastated by a battle... ok the game has nothing to do with that movie, still it's similar because like in that movie the real adventure start before and ends after that introductive scene) and then re-starts with a long flashback days before.


Yes, it was! This game was really unexpected, now read the...

Final Verdict
This game was made for the 2021 Gaymak event by Marmalade (thanks for the beautiful art and story!) & CrazyBabi. It's a really cute and nice game, but I do not think it's a really casual game since it needs some strategy (if only those consumables were cheaper! And if there was some resting/healing spot) and attention (the forest is lethal!), even if crafting is totally optional (fishing is the only really useful activity to farm all the gold you need, and needs just quick fingers and some patience). What I wonder is if there are alternative solutions to the mermaid quest (some dialogues give some hints but I am not sure). Also the story begs for more details and context so I hope there will be someday a sequel or another adventure.

Anyway what we have here is a pretty cool short (2 hours) fantasy adventure with some adult humor (you are warned!!!!) well chosen music, and really pretty custom art. I also took in account that this was made for a contest, so... well done!

Posts

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Thank you for the review! I'm happy you liked it enough to give it four stars!

The making of the game was tough, having many things scrapped and remade multiple times or simply rushed due to the deadline of the event (the orcs blocking the path was also just a rush-job plot device to force players to explore all of Svartalle's maps). We didn't have anyone to beta-test so that may be why the combat ended up being kind of difficult despite the game supposedly being casual. Developer bias, probably. Admittedly we probably spent too much time having fun making the fishing simulator instead. The price of potions was insanely expensive on purpose though, to urge players to craft them instead. Also because markup prices and taxes in Svartalle are insane - which is a real-world problem! We went crazy on the save points because an earlier game we worked on together had a problem of people dying and losing way more progress than should be acceptable. In this game, it probably wasn't as necessary though.

I have to agree the weirdly differing art styles for some characters are too noticeable. FT,FT was rushed a lot compared to other games me and CrazyBabi worked on. Assets like the Seamstress and Victor were reused from artwork I've made a while back and even puzzle elements like the forest map are reused from CrazyBabi's old projects. I'm glad none of them was too much of an issue though!

As for the mermaid quest, you can only either buy the entire seaweed stock or bring the item from the forest. We wanted to make the game as linear as possible, so there are not really any branches other than that optional thing with the Leviathan (which I see you managed to do, so I'm glad to know the puzzle wasn't too complex). The story is a delicate problem because I'm still having trouble with writing too much or too little. Given the shortness of the game, in the end, I had to squeeze everything in and losing the chance to explain everything. Maybe in a later game, we could try to expand it. Having people enjoy our work is surely a good incentive to do that! Thank you for playing our game!
author=Marmalade
Thank you for the review! I'm happy you liked it enough to give it four stars!

The making of the game was tough, having many things scrapped and remade multiple times or simply rushed due to the deadline of the event (the orcs blocking the path was also just a rush-job plot device to force players to explore all of Svartalle's maps). We didn't have anyone to beta-test so that may be why the combat ended up being kind of difficult despite the game supposedly being casual. Developer bias, probably. Admittedly we probably spent too much time having fun making the fishing simulator instead. The price of potions was insanely expensive on purpose though, to urge players to craft them instead. Also because markup prices and taxes in Svartalle are insane - which is a real-world problem! We went crazy on the save points because an earlier game we worked on together had a problem of people dying and losing way more progress than should be acceptable. In this game, it probably wasn't as necessary though.

I have to agree the weirdly differing art styles for some characters are too noticeable. FT,FT was rushed a lot compared to other games me and CrazyBabi worked on. Assets like the Seamstress and Victor were reused from artwork I've made a while back and even puzzle elements like the forest map are reused from CrazyBabi's old projects. I'm glad none of them was too much of an issue though!

As for the mermaid quest, you can only either buy the entire seaweed stock or bring the item from the forest. We wanted to make the game as linear as possible, so there are not really any branches other than that optional thing with the Leviathan (which I see you managed to do, so I'm glad to know the puzzle wasn't too complex). The story is a delicate problem because I'm still having trouble with writing too much or too little. Given the shortness of the game, in the end, I had to squeeze everything in and losing the chance to explain everything. Maybe in a later game, we could try to expand it. Having people enjoy our work is surely a good incentive to do that! Thank you for playing our game!


YES! I liked it a lot and I was aware of the deadline, in any case I had fun I mean, combat may be difficult but it's not terrible or too hard as long as you know what you need to do. At first I won wasting many potions, then I retried (it was, you can guess it... the Leviathan!) and I was able to win easily without wasting resources. Same happened when you play as Iora, since she has a totally different set of abilities and took me... three tries I think!

Oh I assumed that there is no way to find the item in the forest, since I tried that but... the place is extremely lethal so I set to use the safest solution of selling lots of fishes and buy the 99 seaweed... it's just 2475 gold if I am right.

Uhm it seems that I missed the other games, anyway this was a good entry for the contest. Really.
author=TheRpgmakerAddict
YES! I liked it a lot and I was aware of the deadline, in any case I had fun I mean, combat may be difficult but it's not terrible or too hard as long as you know what you need to do. At first I won wasting many potions, then I retried (it was, you can guess it... the Leviathan!) and I was able to win easily without wasting resources. Same happened when you play as Iora, since she has a totally different set of abilities and took me... three tries I think!

Oh I assumed that there is no way to find the item in the forest, since I tried that but... the place is extremely lethal so I set to use the safest solution of selling lots of fishes and buy the 99 seaweed... it's just 2475 gold if I am right.

Uhm it seems that I missed the other games, anyway this was a good entry for the contest. Really.


Whoa. The Leviathan was actually supposed to be unbeatable without an item that makes the battle easier. Solving the forest's maze gets you a quest item to obtain said special item, which reduces Leviathan's healing and disables her special abilities. If you managed to defeat her without it, many congrats to you! It's not supposed to even be possible. Note to self to make things like that more obvious.

Thanks again for the review!
author=Marmalade
author=TheRpgmakerAddict
YES! I liked it a lot and I was aware of the deadline, in any case I had fun I mean, combat may be difficult but it's not terrible or too hard as long as you know what you need to do. At first I won wasting many potions, then I retried (it was, you can guess it... the Leviathan!) and I was able to win easily without wasting resources. Same happened when you play as Iora, since she has a totally different set of abilities and took me... three tries I think!

Oh I assumed that there is no way to find the item in the forest, since I tried that but... the place is extremely lethal so I set to use the safest solution of selling lots of fishes and buy the 99 seaweed... it's just 2475 gold if I am right.

Uhm it seems that I missed the other games, anyway this was a good entry for the contest. Really.

Whoa. The Leviathan was actually supposed to be unbeatable without an item that makes the battle easier. Solving the forest's maze gets you a quest item to obtain said special item, which reduces Leviathan's healing and disables her special abilities. If you managed to defeat her without it, many congrats to you! It's not supposed to even be possible. Note to self to make things like that more obvious.

Thanks again for the review!

I did that not once, but twice and without upgrading the equipment! Hehe it wasn't even the hardest battle (I mean it's 1 vs 1!), I just used bleeding+poison, and before it started healing I kept using the ability that makes it skip his turn, so this can be done!
The forest was too scary for me (I mean there are really few ways to heal)! Lol
author=TheRpgmakerAddict
author=Marmalade
author=TheRpgmakerAddict
YES! I liked it a lot and I was aware of the deadline, in any case I had fun I mean, combat may be difficult but it's not terrible or too hard as long as you know what you need to do. At first I won wasting many potions, then I retried (it was, you can guess it... the Leviathan!) and I was able to win easily without wasting resources. Same happened when you play as Iora, since she has a totally different set of abilities and took me... three tries I think!

Oh I assumed that there is no way to find the item in the forest, since I tried that but... the place is extremely lethal so I set to use the safest solution of selling lots of fishes and buy the 99 seaweed... it's just 2475 gold if I am right.

Uhm it seems that I missed the other games, anyway this was a good entry for the contest. Really.


Whoa. The Leviathan was actually supposed to be unbeatable without an item that makes the battle easier. Solving the forest's maze gets you a quest item to obtain said special item, which reduces Leviathan's healing and disables her special abilities. If you managed to defeat her without it, many congrats to you! It's not supposed to even be possible. Note to self to make things like that more obvious.

Thanks again for the review!
I did that not once, but twice and without upgrading the equipment! Hehe it wasn't even the hardest battle (I mean it's 1 vs 1!), I just used bleeding+poison, and before it started healing I kept using the ability that makes it skip his turn, so this can be done!
The forest was too scary for me (I mean there are really few ways to heal)! Lol


Ah, the bleeding+poison combo does work wonders. Maybe the Leviathan should be buffed hmmmmmm.....

You can actually craft a potion from Victor's workshop that will make you immune to the forest's spore mist to make exploration easier! We'll make it more clear in a later update since it might be a little hidden away. In earlier versions the 'feesh' used to give full health when consumed, so maybe we'll also just restore that feature for healing when outside battle.
author=Marmalade
author=TheRpgmakerAddict
author=Marmalade
author=TheRpgmakerAddict
YES! I liked it a lot and I was aware of the deadline, in any case I had fun I mean, combat may be difficult but it's not terrible or too hard as long as you know what you need to do. At first I won wasting many potions, then I retried (it was, you can guess it... the Leviathan!) and I was able to win easily without wasting resources. Same happened when you play as Iora, since she has a totally different set of abilities and took me... three tries I think!

Oh I assumed that there is no way to find the item in the forest, since I tried that but... the place is extremely lethal so I set to use the safest solution of selling lots of fishes and buy the 99 seaweed... it's just 2475 gold if I am right.

Uhm it seems that I missed the other games, anyway this was a good entry for the contest. Really.


Whoa. The Leviathan was actually supposed to be unbeatable without an item that makes the battle easier. Solving the forest's maze gets you a quest item to obtain said special item, which reduces Leviathan's healing and disables her special abilities. If you managed to defeat her without it, many congrats to you! It's not supposed to even be possible. Note to self to make things like that more obvious.

Thanks again for the review!
I did that not once, but twice and without upgrading the equipment! Hehe it wasn't even the hardest battle (I mean it's 1 vs 1!), I just used bleeding+poison, and before it started healing I kept using the ability that makes it skip his turn, so this can be done!
The forest was too scary for me (I mean there are really few ways to heal)! Lol
Ah, the bleeding+poison combo does work wonders. Maybe the Leviathan should be buffed hmmmmmm.....

You can actually craft a potion from Victor's workshop that will make you immune to the forest's spore mist to make exploration easier! We'll make it more clear in a later update since it might be a little hidden away. In earlier versions the 'feesh' used to give full health when consumed, so maybe we'll also just restore that feature for healing when outside battle.


I knew I should not have neglected crafting lol!
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