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If there ever were an "ironic game," this would be it.

  • Fidchell
  • 10/13/2013 03:38 AM
  • 4576 views


Night of the Living Noobyas is a traditional RPG by Amerk, detailing the shenanigans of a group of individuals as they try to defeat a...ugh...noob, and to stop him from spreading a deadly virus that will turn everyone into...alright, I'm just going to cut to the thesis.

The Night of the Living Noobyas is an exercise in frustrating battle mechanics, frustrating attitude, and most of all, frustrating displays of incompetence and poor attempts to please a dying niche. I make it sound like the monstrous piece of work; I'm going to come out now and say that the game is not the worst I've ever played. In fact, the game has some good points! The thing about Night of the Living Noobyas is that it is a heavily ironic game. All the conflicts in the game spawn from the rage caused from a bad review on someone's game. Not only that, but the game constantly pokes fun at itself, almost as if Amerk had foreseen the day that I would review this pile.

Disclaimer: This is the first VX game I have played and reviewed. If I spout some stuff that comes across as ignorant, please forgive me.



I'm going to begin by dissecting the map design of this game. For the most part the map design is harmless, and Amerk actually has the sense to add a bit of detail and make the maps seem nice and compact, although there is a fair share of humongous environments that look out of place. I do not find most of the maps offensive at all, and I applaud Amerk's efforts in this.

There are, however, a few maps that rub me the wrong way. The forest area in the beginning, for example, is quite an eye-sore. Chipsets are cut off, mostly along the line of tree bodies, and "shadow" chipsets are placed in a retch-worthy manner. This is just an example of an area in general. The other thing is that a lot of the maps have a blocky look. Getting on this, I also notice that there are not just objects usually placed around in areas, but that Amerk has made an effort in giving a lot of maps a feeling of proper and much-needed geography.


Maybe it's meant to communicate the blockiness of it all.


The next thing I wish to cover is the general feel the game gives me with its aesthetic. It uses RTP most of the time, and while it's not particularly revolting, I felt the game desperately needed a refreshing makeover. The damn thing has internet shenanigans as a plot point. Why have the world look like something out of a cookie-cutter RPG? Either way, the aesthetics are not real impressive other than the detail. Trust me, I'm grateful for that bit.

Charsets are also mostly customized and taken from sources. This is admirable, and I'm glad that Amerk hasn't just resorted to the use of RTP to further my immersion in Ralph's adventure. Custom monster graphics are also used, and most of them are references or resources ripped from other well-known games. I noticed some cropping issues with some assets, but only around a few pixels standing out.

Conclusion: Amerk's usage of custom assets in charsets and monsters is a breath of fresh air, but I feel more attention should have been put into custom tilesets. Even with that said, Amerk has utilized the chipsets well, and the maps are well done and detailed.





Night of the Living Noobyas is a host to all different sorts of music, most of which is custom! Well, more specifically, taken from another source, but still, I am always in support of this effort. Now for the selections themselves...well, I'm going to have to say most of them really are not that bad. There is your fair share of selections that usually complement the settings. These compositions are used well and appropriately.

The next thing I know is that in some instances I am suddenly attacked by a bunch of different pieces of music that are...how do I even put this...usually satirical? Amerk has included a range of different "humorous" classics such as the Noob Song and other brilliant pieces by the Pure Pwnage website (is there anything more appropriate for the theme of this game?), and a handful of remixes. These compositions further the attitude that Amerk is trying to convey with this game: it is a reflection on the qualms of the internet and a meditation on "noob culture." I'll get on this later because I'm rambling and need to move on.

Other than the strange selections, the music of this game is usually pretty decent and fit well with the areas they accompany throughout. There's also a feature in which battle music changes as you progress in the game, which I liked!

Oh, right, the sound effects. Well, I can't say much about them. Most of it's RTP. There really isn't much to talk about in this regard.

Conclusion: The musical compositions of Noobyas are mostly harmless and sound nice, but the inclusion of stupid, corny remixes and the lack of many original sounds leave a lot to be desired in this section.





Here it is. Here is where I muster up all of the frustration and rage that I have had to contain whilst playing through this madness. During my trek, my asshole has clenched multiple times with the strength of a tiny black hole. I felt my heart turn cold and beads of sweat on my skin as I crawled along the torturous path ahead of me.

The Night of the Living Noobyas is a traditional RPG. You walk around world maps, explore places, do sidequests for helpless NPCs, and battle with various monstrosities that barricade your path to victory. Night of the Living Noobyas has all of these things, much to its merit. WAIT! HOLD ON! Didn't I make this part of the review build up in such a pessimistic manner that seeing me state anything positive about the gameplay would be a startling read? Yes, but bear with me. I feel it's necessary to get all the good things out of the way before I unleash the fury.

What I've stated is the bulk of Noobyas' gameplay. One particular thing that I enjoyed about the game is that it offered not only optional places to explore, but it also creates an incentive to inspect containers and shelves for any loose items or coin lying around. I absolutely love this sort of feature, so good on Amerk for considering this sort of thing. The game features a sprinting system and custom menus and battles (not really battles because only the format is really different while the base functions are still there). There are also no random encounters, which I am fond of! Lastly, there's the ability to save whenever you want! Very useful for avoiding having to watch cutscenes again when you get your ass destroyed out of nowhere! That's about all I have for the positives of the gameplay mechanics.

Amerk has proven himself to be an individual that does not regard something called a difficulty spike. This game is UNFORGIVABLY DIFFICULT in certain stages. Amerk does not seem to understand the concept of a proper BALANCE between sections in a game's progression. Sure, grinding is a common thing to do in traditional RPGs, I know that. I have grinded a bit on multiple occasions, but there are a certain several enemy groupings that have caused me great agony and distress just because of the horrid spike in statistics and unfair special abilities coupled with the inclusion of MULTIPLE AMOUNTS of these enemies in one fight.


Fuck you, you rectangular, smug son of a shit.


Noobyas' posse of goons consists of monstrosities that are sometimes a little too easy, sometimes a little fair, and sometimes ABSOLUTELY BAFFLING in statistics relative to my current party strength. These aforementioned GODS OF WRATH are not only startling in their power, but also carry abilities that render you helpless most of the time. I have wound up time and time again getting utterly REAMED by a gang of foes that can inflict status ailments and LOWER your main statistics, leaving you helpless while you take an ass-beating of brutal proportions.

Sometimes if you're really lucky, the fight will turn in your favor, and the enemy will use moves that won't have much of an effect on your party. I've gone into the editor (YES, THE EDITOR) and noticed that a lot of these BEEFCAKES do not have a wide array of attacks, so it's little wonder they use these atrociously unfair fucking abilities all too often. It's the equivalent of being on the floor, hands and feet tied up, being sexually assaulted, and then let go, but then knocked out, tied up again, and sexually assaulted again.

If a party member dies on a difficult fight, prepare to kiss your ass goodbye! You'd might as well shut the damn thing off at this point and start over, because the monsters aren't going to wait patiently for you to revive your fallen comrade. This game has VIOLATED ME on multiple occasions with just how inconsiderate Amerk was in balancing the gameplay. Difficult spikes are fucking EVERYWHERE and even after you level up a few times, some fights STILL turn out to be an absolute chore and hassle to break through. Yes, most of these horrible fights ARE in fact boss fights. Some of them result from "enemy events" just blocking your way further.

I was in complete and utter SHOCK when I had to deal with the final boss. To my horror, the last boss consisted of multiple stages that I had to fight through. By this time I am damn near out of healing items since there are only two shops in the entire game and a HUGE STRETCH of dungeon levels you have to play through before arriving at the final boss. I am thankful that the party fully recovered when leveling up, but in the end that really doesn't matter much since the next stages involve a series of buffed enemies that will kick your ass without hesitation.

I could go on about this. I could go on about the enemies that have INCREDIBLY powerful abilities that damage the entire party (that they use very often) or I could go on about the lack of skills that benefit the entire party until you are ahead on the level chart (but would've been VERY HELPFUL when fighting those sons of bitches that used party-affecting status ailments). I don't think I'm going to continue ranting about this. I've just laid out a few paragraphs on why the battle portion of the game is terrible. It is rage-inducing and unacceptable how many loops this game throws you around when it comes to difficulty.

I guess there is one other thing about the gameplay that I can talk about. Noobyas lets you play pong. Yeah! And after a note from the creator himself that it's partially broken no less.


It's not even centered properly.


This game beats you, takes a piss on you, and then taunts you (no seriously, it does that on the game over screen!). It is truly one of the biggest downfalls of the game, since it involves a lot of the CORE ASPECTS of gameplay, which is what a game should center around. As I stated before, I had to dive into the editor in order to make it past certain enemies. I didn't want to just give up. Why? Well, other than the fact that I wanted to finally write a full review, the story of the game is...should I say, intriguing? I'll cover that shortly.

Conclusion: Amerk's Noobyas is unforgiving in difficulty spikes and will leave you foaming at the mouth, wishing you'd have saved that bit of sanity for another meaningful occasion.





Noobyas' is a testament to 12-year olds everywhere. It is a shining example of how to make the little children chuckle and squeal in delight as they point at the screen and blather about the genius of the familiarity of the copious internet gaffes and quick, clever quips. Is it a good example for the more open-minded, mature folk that seek a good level of humor? Do I even have to say it?


It does sound pretty dumb.


As I've stated above, Noobyas often likes to poke fun at itself. That is fine. I can appreciate a game that does that, especially if it's something like a horror game. I believe I've already covered the IRONY of all this in relation to the actual story. I'll get on that in a moment.

First I want to cover the literacy and how it greatly intrigues me. The grammar, punctuation and all that are well done and deserve mention. The thing is, the grammar and spelling is surprisingly good for a game with this sort of story.

And what sort of story is this? If I were to put it in the most understandable way I can muster, I would say that it is a projection of internet shenanigans into the form of an RPG Maker game. I do not know very much about the different things that Amerk is referencing in this game or is trying to imply that I have any knowledge of. I know of a couple of the websites mentioned, but that's pretty much it. I'm winding up scratching my head and wondering how Amerk thought this would be a good thing to make a game about.

The story is interesting, to say the most. The different characters sport nametags that resemble message board usernames form in the disguised shell of an internet domain. They are suddenly threatened and attacked by someone called "Nooblie," a fucking pathetic strawman, after Jonnie gives Nooblie a terrible rating on his shitty game. He threatens to spread the Noobilus Virus or what-the-fuck-ever and the heroes of the game, including the creator, Amerk, set out to stop his evil deeds. The story gets a little interesting toward the end, but feels like a try-hard attempt to appeal to a certain demographic. It is executed decently and I haven't bothered to over-analyze it (although any story with time travel is subject to cross-examination since most of the time they turn out to be shit and incoherent).

As to that, the game embraces something I call the "noob culture," which is something that I didn't realize was still popular in this day and age. It feels like Amerk started this game around the last decade or so (yeah I know VX didn't exist at that time) and then brought it to full force recently. I'm not going to go into bias. This is a review and my opinions on the shittiness of the story should not be relevant to the verdict, but I feel I had to get it out anyway. It's lame and fucking retarded.


I rest my case.


The story features such zany and cuh-razy things such as many instances where the fourth wall is broken as well as the ridiculation of certain game mechanics that plague many RPGs to this day. I would say the game is trying to fall under the category of "humor," but since it relies so heavily on the "noob culture" that it revolves around, I can't say it's very effective in that regard.

I cannot judge the story simply on the basis on how terrible the humor is and how it did not appeal to me. The execution could have been a lot better even with the subject matter, but despite that, like I said, the literacy in itself is very good and the story kept me interested even with the awful humor. The story was not necessarily garbled and hard to understand either, and I think Amerk deserves credit for this.

Conclusion: Noobyas' attempts at immature humor and communicating any merit that "noob culture" has fall flat on many different occasions, but its story was interesting enough to maintain interest and to keep me going.



That covers the Night of the Living Noobyas, ladies and gents. Some final words would not do much good, as I've gone into excruciating detail in most of the aspects of this game, though there are some awards that I wish to give out to Amerk for a job well done:



Good job! You've earned them!

Game verdict: With gratingly frustrating gameplay, a lame story, and an irritating narrative, Noobyas' positives are outweighed by the negatives, and I cannot whole-heartedly recommend this one to any sane individual.

Posts

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Thanks for the review, and I'm not surprised to see a low score. After all, it's my first game, and having recently gone back to play it myself, there are a few areas where I find myself cringing. Comedy and parody games are hard to do, since they typically will attract only select people, and not the same people each time.

To address some of the points:

1. The game was originally going to be an exclusive for RPG RPG Revolution (rpgrevolution.com), otherwise know as Triple R or RRR. A lot of the characters in the game as well as the personalities and the goings-on come from that site. Then the site sort of went belly-up, no thanks to the site owners, and I was left with deciding whether or not I should release it on other sites as well. People who are familiar with RM and RM sites (RRR in particular) probably won't have a problem understand most of the references, but others probably will. This is why I feel comedy/parody/joke games are hard to do, since they most likely are made for a small group.

2. If you've been around any RM sites over the past few years, you'll understand that the noob culture is very much alive, and often referenced in other joke comedy games. The difference of a lot of these games is that many of them were only released on their specific sites, and a lot of those games may no longer have an active following, so unless you've been active on some of these sites, you may not be aware.

3. The difficulty was (believe it or not) tailored down considerably since it was first released (following recommendations from my beta testers sbester and Bizarre Monekey). There is minimal grinding to be had (in most cases fighting everything you see), but a lot of these fights (especially boss fights) do require a bit of strategy and understanding of the enemy weaknesses. Boss fights (and special optional boss fights especially) are much harder and more difficult, and do require things to be equipped (such as coats to prevent being frozen, or crosses to prevent being possessed) in order to succeed. Still, I do agree that in the later areas, the spike level does increase quite a bit. In my own recent playthrough, the mini boss (the trio of sentries) blocking the way in the final dungeon had my ass handed to me a couple of times before I managed to destroy it. I can only imagine others less familiar with the game or the strategy having a more difficult time. Completing the optional quests does help tremendously, of course, but perhaps not enough.

4. VX is blocky by nature in their visuals, but there are definitely a lot of things I'll think twice before using again. For one, I'm not a big fan of the autotile black-space-filled trees from Mack. Also, the shadows are automatic in VX, another problem, since they appear so blocky, and it would be best not to have them at all. In the newest maker, Ace, you can erase the shadows you don't want, which works out a tad bit better.

Finally, I really enjoyed the review. I'm not entirely sure I agree with the score, since there were a lot of things you seemed to like about the game, and I get the feeling the final verdict came more from frustration on certain game mechanics (such as areas of difficulty) or confusing bits of the story, but that's just my own opinion, and I still appreciate the time you took to go through and review the game in the detail you did.

Also, my favorite quote from your review:

This game beats you, takes a piss on you, and then taunts you (no seriously, it does that on the game over screen!).

In any case, my comedy routine is over. I've taken a much needed break from game design, and only now starting to get back into RPG Maker. So my next one will hopefully be much more fleshed out, less of a gimmick, and appeal to a wider audience.

Amerk, I understand that usually when somebody gets a review they are not fully satisfied with and one that doesn't praise their game, they usually feel inclined to write a novel trying to compensate for some things, but there is no compensation to be had here.

What I've written down is sound, other than maybe the stuff I said concerning VX. Even if "noob culture" is still alive, that's not necessarily a good thing. If you are a grown man over the age of 18, you should not find this humorous. If your intended audience was a bunch of little kids who play Halo or Call of Duty, then you might have succeeded on that aspect. The humor is childish.

And yes, the game IS very difficult in some areas. I didn't have to grind very often, no, and I didn't have trouble in the final area before the final boss (except for the later portions with the robots and those fucking eye things), but the snow area in particular was a pain in the ass. Even if I had the winter coats, the enemies usually had abilities that affected the entire party and lowered attack stats greatly or put them to sleep. And they used this constantly. This is enough to warrant my hatred toward the gameplay.

Sorry if I sound like an asshole, and I understand the need to speak out and try to clarify things in defense of your game, but there are certain aspects that are unacceptable, and I'm not that bad of an RPG player. A game I'm playing right now called Illusions of Loyalty is difficult and provides many challenges, but is also met with tactics that can get you through. The game is excellently balanced. This game is not, and that is when an RPG really falls flat on its face.
And as I said, I appreciated your review, and I agree with a lot of what you wrote. It gives me a lot to consider for future projects. I never once argued or got upset or felt disappointed because the game was not praised, and if you bothered reading through my post that you deemed a novel, you would have realized that I was merely acknowledging why some parts of the game failed.

However, what I do take objection of is:

If you are a grown man over the age of 18, you should not find this humorous.


What I choose to write about or find humorous is my choice, nobody else.
You imply I haven't read your novel, but I have. There are tidbits in there where you are trying to defend the gameplay by saying boss fights usually need strategy, but I don't see how you can be strategic when some of your more valuable party members have horrible agility and enemies have extremely powerful attacks and very high agility.

I'm glad you're acknowledging your failures, and I'm not ignoring or looking down on that.

I still stand by what I said about the style of humor, though. If you ever plan to have any humor in a future release, I highly suggest avoiding memes, pop culture, and just in general the style this game had, because it won't impress many people. I know it's your choice, but it's just a suggestion.

Then again, Pom Gets Wi-fi is filled with retarded 1337speak and is insanely popular, but I guess its "pretty" graphics mask the sad attempt to make the sort of humor it has appear satirical. It shouldn't be any more popular than this game.
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
author=Fidchell
Then again, Pom Gets Wi-fi is filled with retarded 1337speak and is insanely popular, but I guess its "pretty" graphics mask the sad attempt to make the sort of humor it has appear satirical. It shouldn't be any more popular than this game.

The reason Pom gets the praise it received is because it actually had a purpose behind its retardedness. It is satirical because if you've actually played the game, it's poking fun at the flaws of internet culture.

This game has a similar ploy, only unlike Pom the gameplay aspect was given more thought, though it failed in that regard. If this game wasn't so needlessly difficult and was balanced better, it would have been great.
author=Ratty524
The reason Pom gets the praise it received is because it actually had a purpose behind its retardedness. It is satirical because if you've actually played the game, it's poking fun at the flaws of internet culture.

This game has a similar ploy, only unlike Pom the gameplay aspect was given more thought, though it failed in that regard. If this game wasn't so needlessly difficult and was balanced better, it would have been great.

Are you saying that the narrative and immature humor would make this game amazing if the gameplay was balanced? I think you're pretty delusional. Satirical humor does not warrant insane amounts of praise, especially the amount that Pom has received despite its whoring across the reaches of cyberspace. At most, the humor in that game and ESPECIALLY in this one is poor and blatant, and you simply CANNOT use just this aspect to determine the quality of a game.

Meanwhile, it is showered with praise.

Pom is trying to be satirical. In retrospect, it has actually garnered the attention of the people it mocks, leading me to question if the satire is legitimate, or if it was simply clever pandering to a low degree.
Ok, so the story was interesting enough to keep you playing, the literacy was surprisingly good, but the overall subject/humor was "fucking retarded", those are the three things you touched upon about writing. Yet, even after admitting your biases shouldn't affect things, you give it a score of 3/10. Does that makes sense to anyone? (This is an honest question)

I don't know, shouldn't it be more like: "Story- Not great, but good enough (That's the very definition of "average" if I've ever heard one): 5/10." "Literacy- Pretty good: 8/10, maybe?" "Subject matter- Hated it, but I should remain neutral on the issue: 5/10." "5+8+5=18/3=6" SIX! Twice as much as you gave it. So maybe your biases played a bigger part than you think...?

Also, one thing is to say something is childish and another to say you shouldn't like that stuff unless you're a child. I bet many people think that way of things you like (including videogames) but that isn't right, is it? Neither is telling someone to avoid that stuff based on that perception alone. I think a game's subject/humor should never be put in such a negative light... If we were talking about actual bigoted/offensive stuff, then maybe, but I doubt some old memes and popular references can have that effect.
author=Ratty524
If this game wasn't so needlessly difficult and was balanced better, it would have been great.


Definitely going to agree with this. On my own recent playthrough (like a couple of weeks ago) I even had some difficulty in a few spots, so I can imagine others having just as much of an issue.

So my thoughts are to go back in and polish up the difficulty. The best solution I can think about at this point is to up the EXP drops, and maybe even lower some of the repetitive attacks on some enemies. Other things, like ensuring you equip something that will protect against certain attacks, I don't see a problem with leaving. But an increase in EXP means you'll have a higher boost of stats to withstand most of the attacks.

As for story, it's written, not much I will change for this game other than to fix a few typos. The only thing I did realize is that some of my scenes are rather long, so I'm hoping that's a lesson learned for future projects that less is more.

I'll probably get to working on an update here in the next week, which will hopefully make a difference.
author=alterego
Ok, so the story was interesting enough to keep you playing, the literacy was surprisingly good, but the overall subject/humor was "fucking retarded", those are the three things you touched upon about writing. Yet, even after admitting your biases shouldn't affect things, you give it a score of 3/10. Does that makes sense to anyone? (This is an honest question)

I don't know, shouldn't it be more like: "Story- Not great, but good enough (That's the very definition of "average" if I've ever heard one): 5/10." "Literacy- Pretty good: 8/10, maybe?" "Subject matter- Hated it, but I should remain neutral on the issue: 5/10." "5+8+5=18/3=6" SIX! Twice as much as you gave it. So maybe your biases played a bigger part than you think...?

Also, one thing is to say something is childish and another to say you shouldn't like that stuff unless you're a child. I bet many people think that way of things you like (including videogames) but that isn't right, is it? Neither is telling someone to avoid that stuff based on that perception alone. I think a game's subject/humor should never be put in such a negative light... If we were talking about actual bigoted/offensive stuff, then maybe, but I doubt some old memes and popular references can have that effect.


I might've been pretty biased on that subject, and perhaps a little harsh, but the whole game is centered around the style of humor, which is why I thought it would be appropriate to judge the humor based more or less on its execution, which was less than decent.

But I see what you're saying. I've contradicted myself here on what I said about bias. I might actually change things up a bit now. Thanks for your concern.
It's all good. I still appreciate the review, and it's given me a lot to work towards. Primarily, it's best to lean on the side of ease. The difficulty is one I'll have to address quickly, hopefully this weekend.
author=amerk
It's all good. I still appreciate the review, and it's given me a lot to work towards. Primarily, it's best to lean on the side of ease. The difficulty is one I'll have to address quickly, hopefully this weekend.

That would definitely be nice! I think the problem really lies mostly in the skills that affect the entire party. They'd probably be more tolerable if they either hurt one or simply just had that random double attack effect that I noticed some skills have. Oh! And agility. Make sure that's balanced out with party level expectancy, as agility can create drastic turns in battle.
what? this game was hard? were we playing the same game? maybe I grind too much? should I stop asking rhetorical questions?
Same here, I tend to grind a bit myself in all role playing games I've played, but even on a replay of this game had some difficulty even with grinding. Grinding isn't really enjoyed these days, and considering that RM games are a dime a dozen, it's best to make it as easy as possible, since I'd rather people play and enjoy the game rather than quit out of frustration.
author=kalledemos
what? this game was hard? were we playing the same game? maybe I grind too much? should I stop asking rhetorical questions?


I already give a warning in my review topic that I don't like grinding. It's on the person if they decide to suggest an RPG to me anyway.
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