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Careful. There's glass on the floor

  • todpole
  • 03/26/2017 07:32 PM
  • 5995 views
(New review posted on 11/112020)
It’s finally here. ‘Weird And Unfortunate Things Are Happening’. I’ve been looking forward for this since 2017. And now that it’s finished I’ll like to give it a proper recommendation. Unfortunately for me, there’s a bit of a conflict of interest as I helped as a tester so giving it a proper score would seem like a copout.

“But you gave it five stars?”

I just dropped a glass box. Careful, there’s glass everywhere. Now for my minimum spoiler thoughts.

Story


Alicia gets a distress call from her niece, Dottie, and rushes to her home of Daybreak to help her. But when she arrives, no one outside knows what Daybreak is and there is no way in. However the path forward opens up and she meets Elutho(Or Mr. Tall as I nicknamed him), an Outer Evocation, who got dragged into her dimension and agrees to help her to save her niece and anyone else they could find. And so the two embark into the ruined streets of Daybreak.

While this story can get dark in places and the villains are Eldritch horrors, it’s more of a dark adventure where you travel the city, survivors teaming up with you as you battle vile villains and odd monsters to save Dottie. It’s very straight forward and simple to understand. And I’m including the terms for the other world. Sure Mr. Tall uses a lot big words but that’s just how he talks and the terms can be easily understood if you go madlibs on this. Like Outer Evocations are like Soul Buddies or Personas or Stands,etc. The expanse is the other world where the monsters from like Persona’s gimmick of the week. And Inner Evocations are parasites. Just parasite. There’s no better to describe the villains of the game. They just take and take either feeding into their victims delusions or just forcing themselves into control. And when you think they couldn’t be first, they get worse. There’s a tutorial boss very early on which is a parasite, who isn’t one of the big baddie but it’s attitude and what it’s doing at the moment perfectly sums up who these monsters. And I’m not talking about the costumed crazy people, I’m talking about lovecraftian monstrosities.

And since we’re talking about the villains, lets move on to the heroes. We got Alica who’s a loving aunt who’ll go through Heaven and Hell to save anyone, especially the ones she loves. Now there is a motif of Fear/Anger/Sorrow in the game and Alicia is Fear. Not only those her Soul Buddy give her Fear powers but she’s almost always freaking out about Dottie. Sure she has a positive attitude and is first to smack a jerk but there are several moments where doubt shows on face and needs to reminded that Mr.Tall can sense she’s okay and late game she can suffer a special status effect. Also she’s was a baseball player.

I didn’t expect to love Miriam as much as do. She comes across as a bitch only interest in getting out and is a massive gun lover. But over the course of the game, she’s been a voice of reason and provided Alicia with emotional support when she needed it and I just to give her a hug. Her emotion is Anger as she’s rightfully pissed about the situation and knows who to focus her fury on.

Lamar is probably the most normal of the party. Just an English teacher who just wants to save his students and tags along since Dottie is a student, he has a means to help, so he’s going to help. Don’t really have much to say. Has some English one-liners, but is completely overshadowed by his Soul Buddy, Mr. Angel. He is Sorrow as although he is devastated about what’s going on, he has to keep moving forward.

Dottie we might early on and get a few scenes here and there. I was immediately invested in the relationship when Alica tells her she’s going to be a psychic and is going to help her through it. I would say more but I want people to play the game. I’ll just say that I want to give her hugs and like Magical girls.

And finally, the Outer Evocations or Soul Buddies as like to call them. If there’s one thing that stops this form going full cosmic horror is that the cosmic beings have personalities, wants, desires, goals that are understandable. Not that I’m complaining. I love these guys. I even have little nicknames for all of them Cause I doubt I can remember there names, even the villains. Never been great with names. We got Mr. Tall and Ms. Mint who are the smartest of the four who use fancy words and are big on consent and free thought. Mr. Skull who’s the dumb, loud one who makes up his lack of intelligence with his sense of smell. And my favorite, Mr. Angel, who’s like that guy who likes to send photo’s of baby animals cause their so cute and cuddly and wants to hug them all cause their so cute.

And was there anything I didn’t like in this plot? Well there was one moment but it’s a bit of a spoiler even though it doesn’t matter much. Just a character we meet late game tags along with us for a while and later that characters arc just ends. I have a feeling I was suppose to have a reaction to it but for me, that reactions was ‘I feel letdown somehow.’ Is it a deal breaker? No. Just a minor bump.

And if you’re wondering about my nicknames for the parasite’s: they are Mr. Cute, Mr. Flower. Mr. Orange and (!INFORMATION NOT FOUND!)

Gameplay

Combat is simple enough. Enemies have types. Your attacks do more or less damage depending on the type. Keep hitting until it dies. Each Character has a Basic moveset and a Psychic moveset. The Psychic moves are the usual stuff like you magic attacks and healing. But Basic...Is a bit more complicated. Lets go one by one.

Alica is a bit of a Jack-Of-All-Trades. She has some Psychic attacks like a drain or a small ranged AOE, some healing skills and a non-damaging move that has to inflict a yellow or red status effect when upgraded. But most of her best skills are physical like a counter, a 3 hit attack and a defense breaker with a catch that it costs HP for her to use.

Status effect are really useful and one way you got to use them is that most of them do damage. And Miriam specializes in that. With the exception of Scourge Rot which is a nasty poison, all psychic moves involve crippling your enemies in some way. However, she has the lowest MP of the group so you can’t just spam without reason or you’ll run out quickly, so you might use her as an attacker. Aside from a handy quickshot, she has special bullets that can deal massive damage if it’s weak. Now while these bullets are a limited resource, don’t be afraid to use them to if you see an opportunity like an annoying enemy or boss since you’ll have more than enough to get by.

Now while Lamar does have some useful attacks like a sleep spell and can reduce mental defense, he is mainly support since he is the best healer along with preventing status effects and has some handy elemental shields. The special thing about Lamar is his Basic as every weapon he gets, changes his Basic skills. Like one book could give him a strength boost or another could syphon MP from your foes which poisons them. So yeah, every new weapon gives you something new to play with.

Finally there’s Dottie and there isn’t much to play style other than she’s the Paula of the group. The little girls who’ll destroy you with her PSI powers. She can also grant buffs to the party but she was mostly a damage dealer for me. One thing that’s done for Lamar and Dottie since you don’t get them right away is that they have a sort of tutorial dungeon. This not only gives you time to get to know them and the Soul Buddy but lets you know how the two of them work. Maybe that’s why I wasn’t pushed to use Dotties buff’s since you don’t learn til the boss.

Now that combat is out of the way, lets talk about the rest like shopping. Now as you loot the environment and meet survivors, you might notice something. There are no item shops. Yes, there guy who’ll sell you stuff but they only sell equipment so it’s more like buying an upgrade. It’s a small thing but it makes using a a simple health item into a decision you have to make.

You also got a skill tree that’s simple to use. Two types of enemy encounters(Free-roaming and encounter meter) depending on the dungeon. Mini Fool dungeons that may add to the unsettling feeling you might be missing. Grand boss battles and a climatic finale.

Presentation:

The music is on odd case. On one hand, there are several tracks that make you bop you head as you explore or cracking skulls like the tune, others are purely ambient. Is it bad? Hell no. I enjoy the tacks that are in the game but I’m not going to lie that their pleasant to listen outside the game.

Now for the art. The character art is done by MakioKuta and they look amazing. The monster art is also great as the creator took the idea of an interdimensianl invasion to do whatever she wanted with the monsters. Like we got Jeff the Killer, couputer mice, yokai, cute pink furballs, spacemen, and an ghostly jester to name a few of the wacky enemies terrorizing you. I also like they fit the types they are assigned like Creeps are bugs or blobs or other creepy things, Machines are robots and similar things, Oddities are all human shaped, etc

And I don’t usually mention this but the battle animations by both unity and JosephSeraph are really cool. I don’t usually notice it unless they missing like in Brave Hero Yuusha, but the ones here look amazing, especially the Fear spells, like the space move or Mr.Cute’s special attack. And I like the little avatars the elements have.

Final thoughts

I tried to keep this as Spoiler free as possible as there are serveal things I may have forgot or couldn’t mention but I really want you to play it. It’s really, really good. Now if you don’t mind, the review police are out side and i better run.

Posts

Pages: 1
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
Yay! Another great review! Thanks very much! :DDDDDDD

I've been working hard on this game, and I very much hope you'll like the final version! I still have a ways to go, but making progress just about every day! ^_^

Thanks again!
Sooz
They told me I was mad when I said I was going to create a spidertable. Who’s laughing now!!!
5354
Sure she looks like the usual blonde bitch character we see but here, we see someone who might seem selfish but she just wants to live and deep down she .


She... she what? o_O
author=Sooz
Sure she looks like the usual blonde bitch character we see but here, we see someone who might seem selfish but she just wants to live and deep down she .
She... she what? o_O


Well she's blonde, she looks mean at times and dresses fancy, so that's what I think they meant. But yeah that was a little poorly worded XD
CashmereCat
Self-proclaimed Puzzle Snob
11638
author=JosephSeraph
author=Sooz
Sure she looks like the usual blonde bitch character we see but here, we see someone who might seem selfish but she just wants to live and deep down she .
She... she what? o_O
Well she's blonde, she looks mean at times and dresses fancy, so that's what I think they meant. But yeah that was a little poorly worded XD


I think Sooz means that the sentence doesn't end proper.
THAT MOMENT WHEN YOU START FILLING IN THE BLANKS MENTALLY BY YOURSELF
author=Sooz
She... she what? o_O

She is the most popular character in game ~
author=Sooz
Sure she looks like the usual blonde bitch character we see but here, we see someone who might seem selfish but she just wants to live and deep down she .
She... she what? o_O
I complete forgot to to add that she cares about people like her friends Viola and Erick.
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
Thanks so much, todpole! :DDD I won't tell the review police! And I'll get this glass swept up XD

Seriously, though, this is an honor! So glad you liked the game so much!
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
And if you’re wondering about my nicknames for the parasite’s: they are Mr. Cute, Mr. Flower. Mr. Orange and

This seems to be trailing off into nothingness as well?

*Edit: I'm literally just noticing when this was written.

*nervous laughter*
author=Marrend
And if you’re wondering about my nicknames for the parasite’s: they are Mr. Cute, Mr. Flower. Mr. Orange and
This seems to be trailing off into nothingness as well?

*Edit: I'm literally just noticing when this was written.

*nervous laughter*


Huh? I had a little joke about a spoiler saying the infomation wasn't available? Guess it didn't paste it correctly.

And about when this was written I actually removed my old review and put up my new one just now. No point in having a review on a half-finished up when the full game is right there.
Mr. Angel should be Ms. Angel, IIRC?

Nice review~! Did you go into Hell?
author=Dragol
author=Sooz
She... she what? o_O
She is the most popular character in game ~


She is better than both the salami and the bologna combined.
Sooz
They told me I was mad when I said I was going to create a spidertable. Who’s laughing now!!!
5354
author=Sgt M
author=Dragol
author=Sooz
She... she what? o_O
She is the most popular character in game ~
She is better than both the salami and the bologna combined.


I appreciate this reference
author=Sooz
author=Sgt M
author=Dragol
author=Sooz
She... she what? o_O
She is the most popular character in game ~
She is better than both the salami and the bologna combined.
I appreciate this reference


Wow. ref to 7 yr old thing~!... Then again, it isn't on my re-reads, so...

http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2013/04/05/0470-the-bologna-and-the-salami-combined/
Sooz
They told me I was mad when I said I was going to create a spidertable. Who’s laughing now!!!
5354
author=Malandy
Wow. ref to 7 yr old thing~!... Then again, it isn't on my re-reads, so...

http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2013/04/05/0470-the-bologna-and-the-salami-combined/


More like 25 years old
benos
My mind is full of fuck.
624
Earthbound: Electric Boogaloo?


I dunno.
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