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Ribbit, ribbit!

  • Kylaila
  • 07/27/2015 02:18 PM
  • 2048 views
Frog is a mixed package of a small RPG, lighthearted in nature and serious in story. Starring FROG and his trusted sidekick dead-eyed FISH.

A few clichés were turned upside down, sleeping in a bed does not regenerate health, all dialogue is unintelligible, and you really just chase after a chicken stealing your stuff.
However, it also plays on it having greater significance than your journey could ever indicate, and a backstory of the world and your characters which frankly does not befit the playing experience. It is used as a stark contrast, leaving you with the twist.

Jumping right in, you will be greeted by the greatest scene imagineable, introducing you to your characters, and your world.
You may go for a fetch quest and then move on to discover the old prophecy (warning: there is no prophecy)


YES. FROG! YEEESS!

I cannot say what did it, but I found the entire opening, as well as most of the game completely hysterical. I can say the starting scene had me gleam in joy and squee as I watched the characters go *splash splosh* and *ribbit, ribbit!* to each other.
The simplicity of it all, the form of standard dialogue with something unexpected and downright silly made for a wonderful combination.

The custom portraits, cutscene and frog sprite are full of style and heart as well, helping this atmosphere to come along.

This actually makes for a very interesting element as you converse with characters you cannot understand, and then have to make a choice between "yes" and "no".
Finding out who does what was a very interesting and pleasing way. Coupled with the ability to save, this has no setbacks for you. You even get a quest!
Sadly, this was saved only for the beginning and then discarded throughout the rest of the game.

Of course, the actual dialogue is completely nonexistant. You can differentiate between questions, statements and exlamations to make sense of what might be happening, and can certainly build the gist of it yourself. But any flavor in writing is lost. You will later read a few signs and confront the thief, in which case it is so blatant, clichéd without any deeper sense that I actually preferred the unintelligible animal sounds.

Combat is fairly easy, although there is a little bit of resource management involved. Sadly, after leaving the housing area, you cannot return and will be cut off from the vendor. Being ill-prepared may set you up for a game over for the late boss fight.
Good thing the 5 potions and one magical water I had stocked up were enough to keep me alive for the rest of the game.

Important to note: This bug has since been fixed! You can turn back to stock up items now.


No, they're not. I got to talk to sheep.

You will randomly encounter enemies, and additionally have touch encounters with skeletons. They are not as chatty as the rest of your peers, so you will never know why they are so violent.
One spell book can be found for the only multi target damage spell - any other damage spells can be ignored, as normal attacks are about the same strength, but conserve mana. I advise buying out the best weapon as soon as you can and just spamming those attacks or against multiple non-flame enemies, go for the blaze.
Both characters can learn healing spells, so you will use your mana primarily for that purpose.
The end boss was fairly challenging, reyling on your resource management as well as a tiny fraction of luck (please do not crit that often, thank you). I barely survived due to the lack of healing items, but I managed and that was very satisfying.

The maps consist of greenery and a little cave with a "puzzle". Exploration is very simple and there is only one or two chests to be found. However, what makes for an interesting addition is the fact that you can walk on shallow waters. This exploration is only exploited ever so slightly. Seeking out new paths to get that treasure chest and scanning the waters was a simple idea with a lot of fun involved, though. It takes a good look to see where you can move between the trees and where you cannot.

The underlying story put me off in this game. It is in fact a very interesting one you could build whole worlds with and also plays on the usual way irrational hope that is in your standard RPG. I found the endings pleasantly misleading. They are good by themselves.
Yet the silliness of your dialogue, of your characters, of this whole world coming together and being seemingly meaningless - it made a "serious" story feel out of place. Seeing your characters as nothing more than silly little adorable critters.

I think just adding a few hints or details throughout the journey would help to give this a better foundation. You could add a few ruined buildings beforehand to add some flavour text and flesh out the world more. Just noticing it at the very end makes it hard to put the whole world into perspective, when there is nothing falling into place.
They do not have to give away anything, but can make a lot of sense looking back!

It comes down to a simple game with a tiny bit of linear exploration.
If you find the froggie screens hilarious, go play it!


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Update!

The story has now been explored a little bit more in detail, giving you a proper introduction and more details along the way.

There is a little journal to discover, skeletons can *rattle* or talk a bit before attacking you. You soon learn who you actually are, and jump into an actual dilemma of what has happened - and who took part in it.

The difficulty had been reduced quite a bit, and more spells have been added. They are quite strong now, and enemies do not hit as hard with critical hits. I miss the challenge it offered, but battles certainly will not stand in the way of the story now. We may also note that this strength makes a lot of sense.

I think the changes make the game quite a lot better at what it is trying to do, and I happily adjusted the score to reflect that change.

Posts

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mjshi
Jack of Most Trades
6414
I'm glad you like the characters, Kylalia~ and thanks again for the constant feedback since this game launched. It's extremely helpful for improving this game and future ones.
I'll definitely get a 3 star rating out of you someday!
I'll address some of your main points here, then!

a backstory of the world and your characters which frankly does not befit the playing experience... Yet the silliness of your dialogue, of your characters, of this whole world coming together and being seemingly meaningless - it made a "serious" story feel out of place.

Looking back, I think the main reason why the backstory doesn't really fit the game is because it's implemented too suddenly and too jarringly. Boom! Fire. Exposition. Boom! Frog, bright tileset, splishes and sploshes. Chickens and slimes and sheep. Boom! Evil sorcerer. Fire kills everyone. (Or water drowns everyone, whichever the ending). What could really use work, as you've mentioned, are the little details that ease this transition, though I am hesitant to implement ruined buildings as in the third map I already have two ruined (okay, fine, overgrown) buildings and skeletons walking about.

You will later read a few signs and confront the thief, in which case it is so blatant, clichéd without any deeper sense that I actually preferred the unintelligible animal sounds.

I would change the dialogue (especially because I hate it when dialogue is expected and overused), but it's difficult to think of a way to do the reveal leading into the backstory. I feel that this game lacks many cutscenes that could be implemented to give the player a better sense of what exactly is happening, especially since they don't have convenient exposition NPCs.

Being ill-prepared may set you up for a game over for the late boss fight.

C'mon, are you still thinking about that as a game over? It's an alternate ending, dammit! xD

so you will never know why they are so violent.


All is revealed in the end, but the end probably doesn't come soon enough.

I hope that I can make the pacing better, or even give more hints throughout the story, now that I have some more time on my hands.

All in all, I think what I've failed at is putting in enough little details to lead the player through the backstory, while putting too much into the happier-looking parts of the game.

This game could definitely use some more polish, and I plan to update the little details (maybe even give access to that second house that has survivor logs or something!). Who knows? The future is bright, unless you're Frog, in which case the future has burned to the ground.
You are very welcome! Glad it is appreciated.

I agree, a transition would make it really worthwhile.

And sorry, yes, it is not a game over. But missing out on one of two endings would be a shame still!

The explanation does make sense, but it's not you would expect skeletons to be friendly anyway. So .. it is one of those instances where you actually do not expect any explanation. Was more trying to poke some fun, haha.

Looking forward to some polish! This is a lovely game.
I will update the review accordingly when they are around.
mjshi
Jack of Most Trades
6414
yay, I got 3 stars!
Thank you again~

(Is it generally acceptable to message thesacredlobo (the other reviewer) and ask him to take another look at this game as well?)
Of course :) You are just notifying him of changes he may not have noticed otherwise, and poking him a bit.
It is still his choice to revisit it or not, so go right ahead! Pming is almost always a thing you can do easily. If you do so in good fun, of course ~
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