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Haiku description:

During a dark night,
three thieves enter a castle.
They steal... the SAGE STONE!

Empowered by this,
they then loot a nearby town.
By stealth or by blood?

You can choose your path.
There's plenty of options here.
Just mind your karma!


Story/Lore/Setting:

Join Brahms and his trio of miscreants as they loot places clean, instigate lots of combat, and cause general mischief. Some towns are too poor or heavily guarded to be good targets while others will serve as stepping stones for your grand plot. Plenty of dungeons to dive into or ignore. Menace a rival party of heroes or explore the depth of secrets hiding below and above. Plenty of other games are parodied and nothing is really taken too seriously.


Features:

  • 20 playable characters

  • 247 maps

  • cheat codes

  • consequence

  • Crime

  • hard mode

  • JRPG combat

  • list of NPCs met/slain/etc

  • minigames

  • playable on RG351 handheld devices

  • puzzles

  • random encounter heat bar

  • random NPC placements & events in towns

  • rig a tournament

  • save almost anywhere

  • scoreboards

  • secrets everywhere

  • skills from levels, trees, trainers, and enemies

  • stealth segments

  • weather

  • weird/unfortunate things



Fight against (a/an):

  • abstract chromatic creatures

  • botanomancer (requires code 90210)

  • clunky UI

  • death itself (phychopomp)

  • Demi-fiend with a stock of demons

  • escalating fights in a combat tower

  • half the monster manual

  • joke enemies aplenty

  • mimic

  • most of the default stock RTP monsters

  • party members

  • rival heroes

  • rival villains

  • tournament of competitors in a single elim bracket

  • townsfolk young and old, fresh and veteran, maybe

  • valkyrie with einherijar

  • vampire (at least 3)


Content advisory warnings: Nasty themes ensue. Specifics listed below.

DMCA warning: Samples from Childen of Bodom, Metallica, or Siege of Avalon might get your VOD copyright struck, partially muted, or could add ads.

Flashing lights warning: Sudden flashes can occur and some battle effects are a bit much. Recommended to be played in a decently lit room.

Fullscreen warning:
This game launches in fullscreen which has an awful aspect ratio and might cause issues with the midi music. I suggest pressing to toggle to windowed mode then to 2x size it.

Gender equality warning:
The entire party is either male or non-binary.

Installer warning: Your antivirus is probably not going to like this ancient installer exe. You can't even paste an install path and have to click through the folder tree.

Intellectual property warning: Characters, music, sprites, tilesets, basically everything under the sun has been lifted from other games.

Inventory sort warning: All items are sorted by item ID. You may have to scroll past unusable items to find other battle items and logical grouping isn't really a thing.

Loud audio warning: The game is loud from frame 1 so be sure to not have your headphones turned to max. Some SFX/BGM is a bit too loud at times.

Midi music warning: Most audio in this relies on your OS's midi sound font. Results may vary. Sometimes the music goes wonky and notes are off key for whatever reason.

Missable content warning: Huge amounts of dialog and several scenes and even party members cannot all be seen on the same run. Even with repeat play-throughs, some content is just too hidden or obscure.

Murder option warning: If you would choose to ransack a zone, you can check/murder/ignore most folk.

Narrative warning: The team is all about the loot and scoot and isn't involved in an overarching epic quest to save the world. Narration and direction are at a minimum.

Nasty bugs warning: The game-breaking bugs I was able to find were squashed but there is an absolute chance of other minor bugs still existing. I may patch out the nastier ones that get reported.

No tutorialization warning: If you do not intuit the rules, you may be slain. NPCs that explain mechanics of the game are hidden in secret pocket dimensions or are already engaged in a combat arena.

Piracy warning: This game was made in Don Miguel's awesome version of RM2K which is probably highly illegal etc. The official steam version has frame-rate issues, so I never switched over.

Pixel gore warning: Some bits are gratuitous; most times there isn't a cadaver and pool but other times there is a battlefield of a dozen of doomed dudes.

Readability warning: I decided to go with transparent text boxes and blue text for item pickups which turned out to be bad for watery/blue zones. There are some other color/contrast issues going on too.

Suspicious balancing warning: Some items, skills, and possibly even characters will not up to be up to par with others. Some encounters will have lopsided rewards or a sudden difficulty spike.

Teen-aged writing warning: Some dialog was rewritten to be less awful but most has gone unchanged over the decades. Everyone is bound to find something offensive.

Typos warning: These were progressively slain but are still numerous.

Wav music warning: Are you ready for a 6MB track? Prepare for extreme compression and the bulk of the overall file-size.

Weird characters warning: Most characters were created from ideas posted to a 20 year old forum thread. These kinds of characters might not fly by today's standards but weren't cut. Watch out for drunks, stoners, Stalin, fin collectors, *ists, racial stereotypes, people that type in all-caps, people that substitute letters with numbers and punctuation, people that are the sprite of one character and the portrait of another, and other such troublemakers.

List of characters based-on/submitted-by people: Acrofales, Agent, Aqua, Arrow Dodger, Azzkicker, Balron, Baru, BigFan, BLinD-RawR, Bobby Ghostly, Botanomancer, Brahms, BuddyLee, Budmandude, Carmilla, Carnage, Chacron, Chester, Chill, Chilleh, Chillysword, Dalia, DarkPlasmaBall, David, DiabloGamerz, Dlareme, Dominic, Dorkdav, Duffman, Edxecutor, Escalus, Exolix (987666), Ezolloki, Fat Bastard, Footman, Gage, GAME !3OI, General Bob, Geth, Grongler the Executioner, IntoTheWow, Jacone, Jammno, Josh, Jowy, Kaz, Kkor, Kyamu, Liquid`Drone, Liquid`Zephyr, Lorant Ham, Mabaricko, Manifesto7, Morino, MysteryMeat1, Nemesis, Niax, Nique, Nitrous, Noober, Novanix, Nyx, NöéVèmbēr, Pathikar, Peef, Phoenix Flame, Prince Kaz, Protrox, Protrozz, Queen, RaGe, REDRUM, Redstalin, Rekrul, Roc, Rokonosa, SENTRYIII, ShadowFang, Skully, Slio, Snake, Stealth, Terrorific, Trozz, Tsujin, UndeadCheese, Venom, Vexx, Warbringer, Wixxow, XDUDE, Yobby, Zealotlee


In memory of a good friend who had helped work on the game 20 years ago...

Good luck; have fun.

Trailer:

Latest Blog

Villain RPG Finale Update! Confront the Heroes

This may or may not be the last update, but this version adds a proper finale that leads to a credits sequence. As always, you can move your save file over no problem. Version 6 is now available for download!

New stuff:
- The heroes airship can now be invaded from the skyzone; bring the fight to team protag!
- 5 more floors of the tower of combats can finally be accessed
- Added 1 dancing mushroom(s) to the following location(s): Sky Waterfall (requires code 078091)
- Added 10 more options for hideout music (11 counting the secret one at spot 0) and colored Yohta Kitagami's tracks orange
- Added a Gerkon trade in the east side of the swamp (must have unlocked Ed)
- Added a move-find item on the world map at the top right (requires code 354774)
- Added a new area just north of Forum Gate with a very cursed world-spanning activity featuring a bunch of party dialog
- Added a skill point orb to the secret castle room full of mimics
- Added a skill point orb where a penguin warrior patrols
- Added another Chillysword minigame zone to kick off the easier
- Added code 100406 (start with some holy scrolls and ethers)
- Added Demonlords Sangellos & Moggin to the duelyst golem zone
- Added more apples, skulls, fins, and heroes feasts
- Added Slio3 as a secret combat encounter
- Added two chests to the skyzone that only open when you have a high secret point count
- Brahms now warns when it might be too early to attack V Castle
- If you get walled out of Avalon, Brahms mentions a solution
- Map count up to 254!
- The secret spring now has a slight visual tell where in the forest it is
- The RM2K font used is now included in the zip and can be installed if font issues happen

Balance changes:
- Aqua twice as likely to be in the tavern after buying from him
- David learns skills in a slightly different order
- Easy/Normal modes are slightly easier (one example: automatic full/small heals after boss battles)
- Guard vision is reduced by 1 on easy/normal
- Guards are slightly less effective at chasing
- Guards now only turn 90 degrees instead of sometimes doing a 180
- Holy Glasses can be bought from a few places now such as the secret shop
- IntoTheWoW's herbal mate tea rewards tripled
- It now only takes 4 secret points to sneak around sky zone early game
- Minor adjustments to several skills, items, and enemies
- Reduced the overwhelming amount of text on the opening splash screens
- Secret points can get you into NG+ quicker
- Shadowfang's wisps are less bs
- Slightly sped up text in most chapter 1 scenes
- Tag minigame no longer requires secret points and has an escape
- "Turban Guy" now always appears, requires fewer skulls, and will attempt to peddle you glasses

Bug fixes:
- Crawsus roofs now unpathable
- David now appears in the hideout when recruited
- Destroying the desert town no longer causes the coastal town to be on fire
- Exolix now appears on the boat if in the party
- Finally replaced some defence with defense
- Fixed an awful noise that was happening in the cave of elemental evil on some devices
- Fixed an issue causing the party to be teleported to the first town after changing the party
- Fixed an issue where the 3rd tier of mana drain could not be learned (visiting and exiting the skill select will grant you it if bought already)
- Fixed an issue where W's memento wouldn't appear or disappear
- Fixed an issue where you could not progress past the 16 floor of the sky tower
- Fixed Geth's dialog post-dragon going off about non-existent plot threads
- Fixed some text and typos
- Josh is no longer incorrect on where to destroy a phylactery
- Jump shoes now work in the steel dungeon
- Made it possible to get to the global potion in the coral river
- The gerkon fishfolk can now properly do a fetch quest instead of getting stuck with intro dialog
- You can no longer sneak around Zealotlee's road block (you can still fight him instead of doing his quest though)

Posts

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Had a nice time playing this! Really reminds me of old school classics made on the engine too. There's a couple of issues I dealt with that I heard were updated and improved upon since, but overall it's a fun little experience!

Thanks for diving in and taking a bite! I kind of felt like I was flying blind with my usual tester gone.
Just started it! Pretty fun so far, I like that! Not the usual Rm2k fantasy game for sure!
Help pls

I cannot find the Moon key
author=TheRpgmakerAddict
Just started it! Pretty fun so far, I like that! Not the usual Rm2k fantasy game for sure!

Thanks! My favorite rm2k game was probably Blurred Line, but that's a billion years old.

author=fifacv
Help pls

I cannot find the Moon key

The moon key is just to the right of the entrance of the area beyond all the rubble below the campfire. It's simultaneously the easiest and hardest key to find.
author=Trozz
author=TheRpgmakerAddict
Just started it! Pretty fun so far, I like that! Not the usual Rm2k fantasy game for sure!
Thanks! My favorite rm2k game was probably Blurred Line, but that's a billion years old.


Funny coincidence, since last week I posted the review of A Blurred Line! (But yeah I played it ages ago of course).

Anyway I reached the freeroaming part. Pretty good, even if some zone are still too hard. I need to level up and get better gear!
I think the flooded cave just south-west of the hideout is a good place to get started. The difficulty spike issue that comes in at chpt 5 is probably the roughest part of the game as most places you have access to have nasty encounters that bop the party. Good hunting!
I still cannot find the moon key. Could you please show me a message of the exact place?
Many many thanks
Here is the guide to get to the moon key from the entrance of the area. Morino also gives you a hint if you have two keys.

I really really like the trailer here.
I've watched it at least 4 times already.
I like how you use Yohta Kitagami's RTP music.
I wish peeps would lean on it more cause there's
some really great stuff in there.
I also like how you used the record scratch XD
It really gets the point across.

Cool stuff here. I love it ♥
Bookmarking this for later.
Woah, thanks! Hell ya, Kitagami is great. That opening track is perfect for the heroes' theme. Really glad you liked the trailer. The original plan was to have a bunch of text and show off a couple dozen biomes but I think the rush job I did on xmas day turned out alright.
Some late game bugs I found (possible game spoilers):

-When you try to select Mysterymeat1 in the "Select your party" screen, it puts in Auto, seemingly because they both occupy the same slot in your active party list. This happens regardless of whether Auto is in your party.

-When you jump off the waterfall from Sky Island and land in the water below, if you don't move the character at all before he hits the wall the game soft locks. (But f12 will reset the game normally).

-in new game plus, after leaving the unlock skills area for the first time, the game doesn't deliver you back to the proper chapter 1 area. instead it delivers you to some other place, either Venom's room with the summoning circle at the hideout, at the gates to sky island (the room with the summoning circle and the chair), or the throneroom of forum gate castle. When entering the main area of the hideout, it gives you the message that you need to go to Forum Gate to get the Mcguffin, and likewise when entering the exterior area of Forum Gate, it gives you a message of arriving there for the first time. The most significant thing is that you can't pause/bring up the game menu, presumably b/c the part of chapter 1 that allows you menu access never occurs. Other things are also somewhat jumbled, such as two Trozzes appearing at the magic shop.

-I'm not sure if this is a bug or not: but if you have Undead Cheese in your party at the time of the jump to New Game Plus, he becomes the cursor for the new game choice selections (hideout music, etc.) and can walk around the screen. His sprite replaces that of Brahms' and he takes part in the first battle at the intro castle.

All of these occurred with a game that had the dancing mushrooms code but no others activated, if that matters.


If needed, I can provide saves where the errors occur.
Good finds! I'll do another version for sure. Some of that code hasn't even been looked at in 13+ years. Thanks-
The new version has been zipped and uploaded. Check it out!

New content:
- Version number now appears on the title screen
- Added a new deadly fighting duo atop the tower of combats
- Added two more musics to the library of the O.
- "Jack Bufula" can be learned by slaying Jack Frost
- Zamza will give you an entangle scroll before a boss battle (on hard mode he gives you a dilute potion instead)
- Updated F.G. throne room dialog/battle for NG+
- Updated dialog for starting NG++

Bug fixes:
- Jumping from a waterfall with a snorkel no longer permanently paralyzes you
- MM1 can now be added to the party from the hideout
- Guards no longer casually stroll around after V. Castle is attacked
- Entering NG+ now properly resets items, switches, variables, and party members; names are no longer changed; artifacts are retained
- S. Oracle no longer has repeated dialog about missed secrets; he now has different dialog if you are on NG+

Balance changes:
- Scalding Water MP cost increased from 20 to 22
- Freezing Water MP cost increased from 18 to 20
- "Let a ripper go" damage increased from 18 to 20
- Riggy2k3's boon increased from 1235 to 2003
- Easy mode gets combat initiative when revisiting D. Castle
- "Omega" tech MP cost reduced by 25
- Ice Wave (enemy tech) damage increased from 10 to 12
- Escalaus' Attack reduced from 130 to 110
- Demi-Fiend no longer casts debilitate when at critical health
- Demi-Fiend will summon Jack Frost instead of Aquans
- Pixie casts debilitate more often, is now slightly weak to dark, and Defense increased from 80 to 90
- Mothman is now immune to thunder

In case you wanted to know about who was weak/strong to what, I've got that info finally typed up.
Weaknesses and resistances of party members
A year has passed and we haven't had any major bugs reported lately. Cool! To celebrate, I've created this page packed full of tier lists:
One Year Anniversary Tier Lists!

Currently known bugs:
1. There is a chest in coral forest town on the river that cannot be reached (oops); it had a global potion in it (meh)
2. Slio2 is way stronger than intended (criminal wizard strikes again)
This game's presentation is A++++ so for. One question, and this is kind of unrelated to the game itself... how did you get rid of the blurring in full screen mode? You don't seem to have Cherry's patch, so please, share the knowledge. =)
Pixel blurring sounds filthy to me; glad you're getting the full pixelated experience! No idea what causes that. My secret is using Don Miguel's ancient and hacked version of rm2k which predates most life on Earth and seems to work decently well. Glad you've been liking it! It Cherry's patch any good and worth looking in to for version6?
Uh oh turns out the 3rd tier mana drain skill cannot be bought. It eats your points and gives you nothing, so I'll be doing another version for sure.
Changes to look forward to in the next version, probably coming later this year:
- at least 1 typo fixed!
- at least 2 more skill orbs
- fix for an unreachable chest
- fix for MM1 appearing when he shouldn't and having nonsense dialog before actually joining the party
- fix for not being able to learn the 3rd mana burn skill
- fixed a music bug with elemental cave
- fixes for not being able to fully explore the swamp library
- new minigame zone that kicks off a bonus dungeon that was way too hard to get to before
- slio2 nerfs
- slio3 battle

Let me know if you want to see anything in particular or if you know of any issues.
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