Oscar's Mid-Life Crisis VX

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Hi!
RPG Maker VX was released on December 27, 2007 and this game, "Oscar's Mid-Life Crisis VX" was instead released as a celebration of RPG Maker VX 15th anniversary. And it's a game about Oscar, of course! Oscar was originally a bad guy, the class is also Dark Knight, so concerning the RPG Maker VX database characters he clearly she wasn't the main hero. But now it will be time to go back to action!
The Hero, or Ralph, has disappeared and now there are some quests to do, from collecting eggs to fight mischievous faeries... and also explore dungeons, of course!

"Oscar's Mid-Life Crisis VX" is, unsurprisingly, a classic Rpgmaker party-based RTP adventure and a homage to all the previous VX party-based RTP adventures! We start with Oscar but it's obligatory to find some allies as soon as possible, and complete quests for gold and experience, like in the old times! All very classic? Well not so much!


YES! Another adventurer joins our team!

Combat encounters aren't exactly random, because there is a visible encounter meter based on the steps made. In some cases it's possible to pass a floor/level without triggering an encounter, in any case, even if enemies aren't visible you will immediately know when combat is going to start. Plus there are some boss encounters, of course! Anyway once combat start you cannot escape! Oh no, there is no chance to flee, so always go prepared. That's not entirely a bad thing since you need some levels to win, the library section for example required me to have three four level characters to complete it, still that's not a lot.

There is a total of seven party members that can join Oscar, but clearly Rpgmaker VX limits the active party to four members, and clearly you cannot drop the hero. Characters start already outfitted but there is a local shop where you can buy better gear, that is progressively unlocked, and there is also a classic potion shop that besides the usual potions (rather expensive, to be honest!) it also includes a nice item, the rope: this is use to warp istantly from any location back to Oscar's home, and in some cases it can be useful. You can even buy a flying mule, even if in the end it's not really that necessary, but it's so cheap...


Well... ok! I didn't see that coming at all!

All good? Uhm I was a bit baffled by combat, because while I like classical rpgmaker combat, I found that every single enemy was faster than my party members. Weird, since usually healing powers or using items are the fastest actions that can be actually done before the enemies attacks, but not here (even the rogue's fastest attack that technically should hit first comes after the enemies' spells! Things gets a bit better in later stages, maybe because our party members are a bit more skilled)! If one of your characters is wounded you can try to heal, hoping that they do not kill him/her before (that happened to me twice)! Consider also that there are many enemies with multi attacks, luckily it's possible to save anytime and anywhere, so at least there isn't the problem of the savepoints.
An aspect I liked is that each character has his/her chance to shine with a related task that only he or she can complete. It's a little thing, but nice!

Visuals are 99% Rtps but being a parody/homage game based on Rpgmaker Vx, there was no reason for expecting something different. Classic. Dungeons are luckily not very big, even if I liked some more than others, the ones with vehicles (boats) are maybe a bit better because the vehicle travel do not affect the encounter meter, while the last level of the dungeon is a bit annoying because you have to look for keys. Please NEVER leave the village without one of these ropes, it just cost 100 coins, but they're unvaluable considering there are no shops or resting places inside the dungeon (and just some teleport here and there that you will have to enable as you progress).


This is almost the endgame! We fought gods, found Ralph and we're going to face the final boss!

Final Verdict
"Oscar's Mid-Life Crisis VX" is exactly what I expected: an old school dungeon delving adventure with classic party based combat encounters (where you have to take advantage of the enemy's elemental weaknesses). It's a very combat intensive game, luckily there are some gimmicks that can help, like rings that increase the experience earned, by the way nothing new from a gameplay point of view. Story is parodistic, nostalgic and well entertains, due to the presence of some surprising events but in the end this is clearly a game aimed to those who likes the old-school RPG Maker VX adventures even if the additions of some new elements (the encounter meter, the party management item) are welcomed. Pity for the abscence of dungeons and resting places in the dungeons, an aspect that forces to go back and forth (ALWAYS remember to have ropes to travel back! Thank me later).
In the end this is an ok classic dungeon delving adventure, no more, no less!