maskedpeach

[maskedpeach]

Misaki and His Playground

For the twelve long years I’ve been working on a game, it was exhausting yet enjoyable experience. Now I am finally done. I’ve been doing it mostly for myself, but if you, dear readers, by any chance, are interested, you are welcome to play it.

Title: Misaki and His Playground

Created by: maskedpeach

Development Tool:  RPG Maker XP

Gameplay: Turn-based RPG, Quest

Download Link:

Story: Shinomiya Keichi is a vice president of the pharmaceutical company and a brilliant scientist. Once upon a time he left home and never returned. Seven years have passed since then. His assistant, the last person, who has seen him alive, is currently serving a sentence for serial killings and refuses to talk about Keichi’s disappearance. And Keichi’s  son, Misaki, is constantly plagued by vivid nightmares. One day Misaki receives the email from the person, who claims to know his father whereabouts. Desperate to see his father again Misaki decides to check these claims.

More info is under the cut.

Genre: Comedy, Adventure, Horror, Drama, Supernatural

Playtime: 12-15 hours

Number of Endings: 2

Maturity Level: PG-13 (probably)

Content Warning: strong language, suggestive themes, partial nudity, references to drugs and alcohol, minor horror elements (including few jumpscares). Also in-game humor and some scenes/dialogues can be seen as either upsetting or offensive.

Main Characters:

Shinomiya Misaki (15 years old) – high school student, whose father vanished under mysterious circumstances. Independent and a bit cynical for his age. Possesses a gift of offensive magic, but doesn’t really know what to do with it.

Akiyama Teru (23 years old) – Misaki’s homeroom teacher with childish personality. Likes to read, watch TV and play video games. Tends to quickly loose his temper.

Kurosaki Tsutomu (15 years old) – Misaki’s classmate and the leader of the local gang of delinquents. Calm and level-headed, he prefers to keep people at a distance.

Screenshots:

[maskedpeach]

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Rant

Warning. This article contains spoilers. Alas, this post is an enormous wall of text and consists purely from me complaining. Get the children away from the screen.

Okay, I’ll probably regret this later, but I’ll post this anyway. Years ago I used to be pretty vocal about my opinion, but these days I prefer to keep most of the negative opinions to myself. But I believe if I’d keep everything bottled up on this one particular matter I’ll simply explode.

I’m currently enthusiastically playing Like a Dragon/Yakuza series, which is now one of my favorite game series. Back at high school used to play first two games on PS2, and later there was Kurohyo on PSP, but didn’t get too far in any of them, decided save it for later, and this “later” has finally happened several months ago after listening to one pretty entertaining podcast about JPRGs. One of the hosts has totally sold me Yakuza: Like a Dragon (I’ve literally ran and bought it after listening the podcast). I’ve played it, loved it and almost cried my eyes out on the ending (seriously, if someone asks me how my ideal JRPG should look like, I’d say that’s the one).

After that I’ve beaten Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. I’ve really enjoyed this game in general, but comparing to its predecessor, while most of the gameplay issues were fixed, some story issues did arise. Story itself is far more simple and lacks memorable antagonists (Ebina was okay and Bryce was outright lame). Still, there were a plenty of interesting moments to keep me going, and I really liked the ending, which was extremely moving, the part before the ending credits I mean. And then this stupid love confession scene happened and completely ruined the mood for me. Seriously, it wasn’t funny, it was tasteless like in the worst romcoms.

And, well, here lies the main issue with Infinite Wealth for me - this poorly-written romance subplot between Ichi and Saeko, and how Saeko character is handled in this game in general. So, if you are the fan of her I suggest you to stop reading right here, right now.

First, I would like to point that, when Saeko was just an optional romantic interest in LaD it was perfectly fine, but in IW, where she became the designated love interest, the whole romance plotline became very forced and uncalled-for. In LaD they were simply on friendly terms with no indication of evident romantic interest, and in IW the whole “Ichi falling for Saeko” thing looks extremely out of nowhere. All interactions between them look artificial without real chemistry between characters. Seriously, every time Ichi says, that he loves her or have feelings for her, it sounds hardly believable, like he is trying to convince himself and the players. At moments like this I could almost imagine something like this:

RGG Studio staff: *gives Ichi the script* Start reading.

Ichi: But that’s a bunch of bullshit!

RGG Studio staff: *points a gun on Ichi* Start reading. Now.

To be honest, I’m not the fan of romance genre at all and I mostly view romance sublots in various media as a nuisance. Still I won’t deny that there are some romantic storylines I genuinely enjoyed and was rooting for the characters till the very end (like Alphen and Shionne from Tales of Arise or Oswald and Gwendolyn from Odin Sphere for example), but there are still very few of the quality romantic stories to my liking comparing to those, which are either okay or boring at the best, and unbelievably stupid or outright unhealthy (and stupid) at the worst.

Worst of all, that RGG Studio actually can write a decent romance subplot. And I believe that Yakuza 0  is a good example of this. There we have Goro Majima (who is my second most favorite character in the series, after Ichi) and Makoto Makimura (who belongs to one of my least favorite character archetypes-“damsel-in-distress”, but considering her condition and the fact that everyone is after her, she really does need help and protection). In their story there wouldn’t be a single “I love you” or “I have feelings for you” or any other needless words, they just go through many shit together and slowly develop feeling for each other, which is shown very subtly through finely directed cutscenes. They don’t get together in the end (which is pretty logical, considering everything, that’s happened), but this plotline gets pretty heartwarming conclusion in Kiwami 2. But if they actually did get together I wouldn’t mind at all, even though Makoto isn’t one of my favorites, simply because their story is well-written and makes sense.

Alright, back to Ichi and Saeko. Let’s start with the infamous “proposal-on-the-first-date” scene, I won’t deny that it was awkward as hell (I was like: “Ichi, please, just shut up.”), but Saeko’s reaction wasn’t one of the mature woman either. I would’ve understood her reaction if they’d barely knew each other, in that case it would’ve been perfectly natural. But they know each other pretty well by this point (three years, no less) and she knows that he tends to speak his mind and has zero experience with women. I believe, she could’ve always say something like:”Hold on, let’s not rush things.”, I’m sure he would’ve understand. But no, she just runs away and leaves him hanging. And when, thanks to Adachi and Nanba, Ichi realizes, what he did wrong, he goes and apologizes. Saeko seemingly accepts the apology, says that they are still friends, and that as a friend she will support him no matter what. And what Saeko does next? She ignores Ichi for a whole year. And when he loses his job and becomes pariah thanks to Tatara Channel, only Adachi and Nanba go and check up on him. When she finds out, she doesn’t even bother to send something like: “Are you okay?” or whatever. And that’s after all the crap they’ve went through in LaD. A “true friend”, nuff said.

Oh, and you know what’s rich? In her Drink Link (I did it only for the achievement and to see whether she actually expresses any remorse at all, spoiler-no) it is revealed that, the whole year she was ghosting Ichi, she was dating some obvious bastard, who was manipulating her into marrying him to get her money and business. Funny, how she didn’t see that until he went and said it himself. Another fun fact, that in some random dialogues she actually asks Kiryu and Nanba how Ichi is doing, only to add something like: “Not that I care.”. Seriously, her whole attitude towards Ichi is so fucked up and can easily be described as emotional abuse. If I were him I would’ve dismissed her after that year of ghosting and just forgot about her. And the last, but not the least, everyone either criticizes or mocks Ichi because of this stupid proposal, but no one criticizes Saeko for her craptastic treatment of him.

Also putting romance aside, I believe Saeko has nothing to offer as a character. In LaD she was an okay character, albeit with the little to zero relevance to the main plot. I believe RGG Studio has added her only for the sake of adding at least one playable girl in the party full of dudes to expand the audience, since Eri is an optional character and you can beat the game without even getting her in the team. Speaking of Eri, while she is totally unimportant to the main storyline, she is still much more likeable and fleshed out character than Saeko, and more useful in battles too.

In IW Saeko became much worse. As I see it, her portrayal is something of a strong and independent woman. And it does not withstand any criticism. Even in LaD there were some optional dialogues, were she is mocking other party members in a form of a joke. In IW she is even more immature. For example, remember how in LaD she refused to go with you in cabaret club ( I mean, where you can order a hostesses)? In IW Seonhee tags along with the guys in the same club (because, why not?), and Saeko decides that she is going too, even though she is not interested in the stuff. And there is more instances (all optional dialogues though), where someone does something, she clearly disapproves, but everyone else in party does, and she decides to do it too. I believe, that being strong and independent actually means having an opinion of your own and not caring about what others would think about you. While both Seonhee and Chitose really can be described as strong women, Saeko only seems like one, but in reality she is just pathetic. When it comes to main story in IW-she can be easily removed from all cutscenes, because most of the time she either all bark no bite (strong and independent woman, uh-huh) or just stands there. Looks like RGG Studio simply didn’t know what to do with her after LaD and wrote all this pseudo-romantic crap simply to justify her presence in IW. For me it sure didn’t work, I felt utterly disgusted with her the whole game. I wish they would just wrote her out entirely from the story. While in LaD she was only one non-optional girl in the party, in IW we have two more well-developed female characters, who, unlike Saeko, are actually important to the plot.

I’ve read somewhere that RGG Studio is currently working on the next installment in the series. I have no idea, what it’ll be about, but I really wish that they’d just drop the idea of getting Ichi and Saeko together for the sake of it. It seriously looks like the cupid on drugs is garroting the poor guy with the red string. To be honest, I’m not exactly excited about new installment at all. Saeko stuff aside, for me IW is the fitting conclusion to the series. I seriously don’t see what else could be added to the main story, since all the major storylines got a closure by that point. I only wish for Kiryu to heal his cancer and for Ichi to get his job back (and the same goes for Majima, Saejima and Dojima, since I don’t remember anything said about it in the ending), and for both of them to live in peace for the rest of the days. They’ve had enough shit in their lives already.

[maskedpeach]

recently rewatched the whole JoJo thing with my mom, I just love the series , so I drew a bit of Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency random fanarts for starters, maybe i'll draw other parts later (my personal favourite parts are 2, 3, 4 btw)

[maskedpeach]

RPG Maker Fever Hero & Issues

Warning: This article may contain spoilers and the content inappropriate for children…or may not contain.But get the children away from the screen just in case.

Five little authors went out to write. One little author has missed the deadline. Four little authors didn’t pay him much mind. Three authors are left since fourth drank the lye. Three little authors are bursting with confidence. One overworked himself and other two ignored his absence. Two little authors try to finish hard task. Teddy bear hugged one and one stands at last. One little author is left all alone. He hung himself on the chandelier and then there were none…Then who has finished this article? And why this teddy bear is giving me a weird look?

1. Walking on a Star Unknown

Walking on a Star Unknown is the latest game made by Segawa and most heartwarming out of her three games (while End Roll was more heartbreaking than heartwarming, and Farethere City is somewhere in-between). Game  tells a story of two alien siblings, whose ship has crashed on the unfamiliar planet, where they decide to participate in the cooking tournament to get their ship fixed. Gameplay is simple yet very fun - most of the time you gather ingredients, learn new recipes, do side-quests and make friends with the planet inhabitants. Game has memorable cast of characters with their own interesting stories and  bright and stylish visuals. As previous Segawa’s  games Star also has some disturbing themes and some areas are dark and creepy, but overall tone of the game is bright and optimistic.

2. Witch’s Heart

Actually I wrote the detailed review on this game few posts ago, but  I’m still including WH in the article for those who are lazy to read that enormous wall of a text. The most notable part of the game is its plot (which is interesting to follow and full of good twists) and memorable cast of well-developed characters. Along with it WH has  entertaining  gameplay (mini-games included), great presentation and catchy soundtrack. Overall it is one of the best games I’ve ever played, so if you like rpg-horrors I suggest to at least give it a try. Game is still unfinished, currently only one ending (out of four routes) is available, but even in the present state it means about 15-20 hours of gameplay.

3. The Mystery Files of Detective Inaba No. 1, 2, 3

Here goes a game trilogy about Sogo Inaba-a tsundere detective with adorable side and Nina Arimura – his energetic assistant, together they solve various cases, some of the cases are pretty normal, and others are somewhat paranormal. First game of the series is a detective with minor supernatural horror elements – some rpg-horror typical puzzles and minor chasing sequences included. Second game is purely realistic and much more simple gameplay-wise comparing to the first game. Stories in first two games resemble Agatha Christie’s detective  novels mixed with japanese psychological horrors. Third game of the series is closer to pure survival horror with minor detective elements and plays like many other rpg-horrors . To be honest, the third game is my personal favorite, since it is the most polished game out of three and the good conclusion for the Inaba and Arimura’s story. All three games are about 2 hours long and have great presentation (like quality art-style and great in-game music).

4. Asadoke no Majo

Asadoke no Majo starts with our protagonist  Yui arguing with her father and as a result running away from home to …another country, where resides their old family mansion along with dark family secret and a handsome guy managing the estate as a bonus. Game is about 2 hours long and has pretty simple puzzles, minor jumpscares and several chasing scenes (but a final chase is the only frustrating one). Despite being pretty typical rpg-horror Asadoke no Majo leaves very positive impression thanks to bright cast of characters (the Nogi guy here is something else), good story and atmosphere along with well-chosen soundtrack. Currently game is available in japanese and russian.

5. Hero & Daughter

H&D is a dungeon-crawler made by tachi (Headless Prisoner, Moonlight Ghost, Hello?Hell…o?), which mocking famous fantasy cliché “hero defeats a dark lord”.Our hero Ralph get his level reduced to 1 because of his arrogance, and with this permanent level 1 he is tasked to defeat the Demon Lord. Again. That’s where Ralph’s friend of the haremancer class comes to rescue. This guy can summon pretty girls (including heroines from previous tachi’s games like Erina and Akari) to help Ralph in his quest. H&D is fun and entertaining, battles are fast-pacing, dungeons are complex, visuals are nice, also game has enormous level-cap and loads of optional content and many playable characters. Plot may be simple, but H&D has good humor and characters ( even generic Ralph got a nice personality). If you like quality role-playing games I highly recommend to try it out

6. Ai korosu yori, Ai korosaretai

An ordinary (alright, maybe a bit eccentric) family moves into new house. Soon after that their daughter Lucy falls with high fever.When she gets better, she discovers that her parents are gone  and various weird phenomena is occurring in the house. To find the missing parents Lucy will have to search the house and learn about its history full of mysterious disappearances and tragic events. AiAi has very interesting story (good mix of horror and sci-fi) and entertaining gameplay with interesting puzzles and action cut-ins. Also beside proceeding the story you can also do some optional stuff  like gathering collectibles and later saving runaway cows. If you like quality horror-adventures I highly recommend to try this game out. AiAi is currently available in japanese and russian.

7. Escatpade

Here goes another quality game for those who is tired from horror and tragedy and wants something warm and relaxing. Escatpade  is about the girl who falls into the pit and finds herself in the weird place full of adorable talking cats. Game is nice and fun, have a bright, adorable designs and simple yet elegant puzzles. Also some items in the inventory can change appearance of our heroine (like clothes, glasses and stuffed kittycats).

8. Tower of Feles

ToF made by the author of Escatpade and also full of adorable cats. But unlike Escatparade this game is slightly more challenging. ToF is an action-puzzle where your objective is save your little sister from evil witch. In order to do so you have to climb on top of the tower, solving various puzzles and avoiding witch’s servants in the process. Every floor has a time limit, and if either time runs out or your health drops to zero you’ll have to start the floor over. Game is a bit tricky and very fun to play. If you have beaten Escatpade and want more cats and cuteness- Tower of Feles is what you need. 

9. Twilight Epic

Twilight Epic is a sequel to Amayado Bus Stop. This time the main character is Akane’s and Akari’s cousin Akino, who  receives a call from unknown girl, who tells him about certain “promise” and right after that he finds this girl’s dead body (or not quite dead). The boy decides to find out the truth and grown-up Chitose and Akari are helping him out. Game is far more simple than its predecessor-puzzles are mostly gone and chasing scenes are pretty straightforward, but still the game is very enjoyable, since story is good and heartwarming. Also game has quality art-style and skit system similar to one in Tales series. Twilight Epic is currently available in japanese and russian.

10. Peret em Heru: For the Prisoners

Peret em Heru is survival horror with rpg-elements about a group of tourists, lead by an archeologist, professor Tsuchida, exploring  ancient  ruins underneath the Great Pyramid of Giza. Needless to say, that these ruins are filled with deadly traps and Tsuchida’s intentions are far from mere scientific interest.  Gameplay resembles Sweet Home and Corpse Party –Rebuilt-, but more simple and straightforward – you play as one of the tourists,  fight monsters, grind levels,  and save your teammates from booby traps. Overall Peret em Heru is a nice game with stylish old-fashioned visuals and good music, game is about 3 hours long and have one ending, which varies depending on how many of your teammates have survived.

11. The Object

You awake in the dark room in the unknown place and find out that not only your memories are gone, but your head is gone as well. On top of that  you can attach literally anything to an empty place where your head once was. Now your goal is to regain the lost memories along with the head and leave the house. Game consists from exploration and simple yet elegant puzzles, which you solve by swapping  your heads. Game is pretty interesting and  has five endings , to get all of them  you’ll  need about 30 minutes.

12. Colors: Lost Memories

This time you play as a little girl who finds herself in the colorless world inhabited by talking animals. To get back home she must return this world its colors. Colors have stylish visuals highly reminiscent of old GBC games as well as unique puzzles based on using various colors you get during the game at the right places. First you can use only one color (for example red is needed to light or put out fire), later you will be able to activate up to three colors at the same time.Game is cute and fun to play, approximate time of the playthrough is one hour.

13. Nemoral

Nemoral is a short game about two cops who end up in the abandoned mansion while chasing the cult followers, assuming that they have something to do with the recent disappearances of children. And this mansion hides pretty dark secret about a project based on the famous fairy tale. Nemoral is quality action-horror, where both visuals and gameplay is somewhat resemble very first Resident Evil (in the good way of course). The only con of Nemoral is anti-climatic ending (game was made for the contest, and author was short on time). But even in present state the game is still enjoyable.

14. B*x. Colorful.

I’ve decided to unite both games in one mini-review, since they are both made by the same author and both are very short. B*x is about lonely girl in bunny outfit, who lives with her boyfriend, the only person who cares about her. But it seems like he’s hiding something from her. Game is about 30 minutes long and have few easy puzzles. Colorful is only 10 minutes long and have no puzzles at all, and more depressing than B*x. In Colorful you just listen to the story and watch pictures. Both games have very nice art style.

[maskedpeach]

Quite a while ago I’ve beaten Sirius route and I’ve really enjoyed the ending, I was glad to see that things have finally turned for the better for the characters, so I’ve decided to draw a little fanart with my personal favs.

[maskedpeach]

Oh,well,I’m currently in love with Witch’s Heart,so I’ve made lots of fanart while playing.First I wanted to draw just my personal favs-Sirius,Claire and Wilardo, then I’ve decided to draw Ashe too, then Noel and Rouge,and then it was like:”Ah,what the hell...I’m drawing everyone!”.

[maskedpeach]

Witch's Heart Review

Warning: This article may contain spoilers…or may not contain. At least I’ve tried to avoid major ones.

Seven years have already  passed since I’ve got into freeware games made via RPG Maker or similar engines. By now I’ve played to the point, where it becomes hard to be impressed by something, since I’ve seen it so many times that I’ve stopped counting. But recently I was finally able to play Witch’s Heart. This game is still yet to be completed, but there’s already enough playable material available to write an article, since this game is one of those hidden gems that leaves very strong impression after you play it.

When I’ve just started to play Witch’s Heart I wasn’t expecting much from this game. I’ve thought it would be another gothic shoujo-horror  where form prevails over contents. But I can gladly admit that my first impression was wrong and the story of this game is, in fact, its strongest point. Indeed, the beginning of the story is pretty common - while seeking shelter from rain several strangers get trapped in the old demon-infested mansion, where twelve years ago a mass murder took place. At the present moment, game consists from four character’s scenarios (only two are available from the start) and a bonus stage, which takes place after them. To get the whole picture you should play all five, since each scenario adds many important details to the main story as well as gives to all characters further development.

Story of this game is pretty complicated and everything in it is not what it seems from the first glance. Every time you think that you know what will happen next –an unexpected turn of events occurs, sometimes for better, but most of the time for worst. But despite being horror Witch’s Heart has plenty of humorous and heartwarming moments. All of the scenes (either funny or serious) are very well-written. The main plot has no visible logic holes, full of good twists, strong scenes and keeps player in suspense until the very end (which is sadly still in development, but at least we have a semi-final).

Additionally I would like to praise characters of the Witch’s Heart. It’s been a while since I’ve seen such memorable and sympathetic main cast, where everyone deserves attention. All of the main characters are complicated and have their own unique personality. Yeah, they may be wrong at some point, they make mistakes, jump to conclusions-they are humans after all and that’s what makes them believable. Yeah, I admit this game has way too much tragic backstories, but they are all interesting and help if not to sympathize with the characters, then at least understand them better.

Oh well, story is sure important, but aside from it this game also have wonderful presentation and entertaining gameplay.

Visual part of this game is bright and stylish. Character’s designs and illustrations are very well-drawn and somewhat reminiscent of old anime shows straight from middle of 90s. In-game sprites are high-quality either, especially considering that  game uses pretty old RMK 2000 engine.

In-game music is borrowed from many free and paid resources and perfectly matches the mood of the various locations and story scenes (personally, theme from the Rouge’s Fantasy Space is my guilty pleasure).

Gameplay of the Witch’s Heart varies from exploration to action. Player’s activity is separated to daily and night. During the day you mostly explore the mansion, talk to other characters and perform small tasks like cooking. At night you fight demons, and more areas of the mansion becomes available for exploration ( to be fair, some of those areas are available during the daytime either). At some points you’ll be prompted to fulfill demon’s requests in order to proceed -tasks are simple and mostly consist from bringing right item to the right character. Additionally you can play various mini-games (some of them are mandatory during the main course) and do side-activities like fishing or growing flowers. Also after beating each route you’ll be given special item, which opens previously unavailable area in the next route, further expanding gaming space and adding more demon’s requests. This and many other features makes game quite lengthy (around 15 hours to beat the whole thing) and very fun to play. To the cons I can add only the fact that game is pretty easy, aside from several boss fights enemies remain the same during the whole game, and demon’s requests sometimes turn repetitive-but honestly, it doesn’t spoil an overall impression at all.

In conclusion I would like to say that I’ve played many great games, but Witch’s Heart is one of those few games, that made me feel so deeply involved with the story and the characters. It made me express the whole ton of feelings-joy, sadness, excitement, fear and many others. The story of this game kept me motivated to see things to the very end. So, I wish to BLUE STAR Entertainment to keep up the great work and I hope that we would be able to see the ending of the story (or several endings to be exact) in the near future.

Final score: 9,5 out of 10.

[maskedpeach]

Ayuto no Mori

Hi there, everyone! It’s been more than a year since i’ve started working at my comic and today I’m glad to finally post it. The process was tough, but in the end  I’m satisfied with the result.

This comic is 37-pages long one-shot, drawn in manga-style.

Title: Ayuto no Mori

Author: maskedpeach

Genre: horror, comedy, slice of life

Recommended age:  13+ ( comic is actually pretty harmless, but still have materials, that may not be fitting  for kids ).

This story is about a boy, who lives in the small village with his mother and two besties - tanuki and kappa. And since this story is pretty short it would be hard to write the synopsis avoiding spoilers, so check it out for yourselves. You can read the whole thing here:

Read Ayuto no Mori

[maskedpeach]

RPG Maker Fever Hanged by Four Dwarfs

Warning:This article may contain spoilers and the content inappropriate for children…or may not contain.But get the children away from the screen just in case.

It was the rainy day just like this one. I was in my room watching  porn the stars, when I’ve noticed the body hanging in the opposite window. Neighbor hung himself. While examining the scene I’ve found his laptop with unfinished article. I’ve got the laptop and went home. Later I got arrested for break-in, but before that I managed to post this article on tumblr. Enjoy!

1. Blight Dream

Blight Dream is an exploration adventure game, where you play as a girl, suffering from memory disorder ( don’t confuse with amnesia ), whose goal is to regain memories from the blank period of her life. But there’s one little problem-it seems that your brother isn’t really excited about you getting back your memories, that’s why he’s watching your every step and prevents all your attempts to remember. So, watch his movements and try not to get caught by him. But is it really your brother, who you should be afraid of? Play and see for yourself. Beside interesting plot, this game has high-quality visuals ( character’s 3D-models are similar to ones in remake of FF3 and CP:Blood Drive ) and wisely chosen soundtrack.

2. 1BeatHeart

Here goes a sequel-spinoff to 1bitHeart, without friend-making and QTE-scenes though. This time the main character is Misane-chan, who, along with Nanashi, is solving various murder cases in resort hotel. Gameplay is very similar to Ace Attorney games, logic is pretty simple, so, as long as you’ve played any detective games-you’ll be fine even without hints. Like it’s predecessor, 1BeatHeart has wonderful presentation – beautiful art and sprites along with catchy soundtrack and quality voice acting.

3.The Hanged Man

The Strange Men Series is probably one of most known game series in rpg-horror community, and, no doubt, one of the most interesting. Here goes the last game in the series, which concludes the main plotline, and makes clear some things, that were hanging in the air since the Crooked Man. The Hanged Man  introduces us new protagonist – Will, a bit unstable, but still nice boy with active imagination, who’s searching for his missing friend. Along the way he’ll meet many of our old acquaintances from previous games. Once again, game has fully voiced cutscenes, with quality voice acting for an indie-game. Gameplay, though, is more simple compared to predecessors, most of the game you’ll be exploring various locations and  solving puzzles, there’s no action cut-ins, except for quite complicated final chase. Overall, the Hanged Man  is an interesting game and very decent conclusion of the whole series.

4.Farethere City

Here goes the game, made by Segawa, the author of our favorite End Roll. Farethere City was her first game, and it’s bit more simple in terms of gameplay ( for example, there’s no rpg-elements and game’s world isn’t that big ). But when it comes to story, City is as good as ER, both sad and moving,-game starts with little kelp  (Mr.Turnip?) named Pigula, who has recently moved to a new city and wishes to open a shop, but something is definitely off with both city and our  hero. Visual part is as bright as one in the End Roll (including a bit of stylish disturbing artwork).So, if you liked End Roll and still want more, I highly suggest playing Farethere City.

5.June Bride Nightmare

What a beautiful wedding…and how quickly it turned into a nightmare. Our protagonist, Yuno, was so close to finding her happiness with the man she loves, but ended up being the only surviving person on her own wedding, and now she’s forced to play hide and seek with the mysterious maniac in the church, where wedding was held. Every time the maniac appears, you have a choice to sneak past him or to run for it by performing a QTE. Game has an interesting story, good gameplay and wonderful presentation. Even if you are far from  romance ( like myself, heh ), Bride still leaves the strong impression, especially the bittersweet true ending ( there’s also secret ending, but it isn’t that good, really ).

6.Little Red Riding Hood’s Wolf

Who doesn’t know the tale about Red Riding Hood? Famous tale indeed, and has many various interpretations, in most of them the girl gets eaten by wolf one way or another. But not this time. In this game granny is dead from the very beginning, little Red Riding Hood and the wolf are working together in order to find the murderer. Story is interesting and have some nice plot-twists (personally, I liked how the theme of split personality played in here ) and characters are nice. When it comes to gameplay, LRRHW plays like any other rpg-horror, so if you aren’t new to genre, you’ll easily beat this game in a hour or so. It’ll be quite pleasant hour.

7.Stray Cat Crossing

If you constantly play rpg-horrors and still haven’t got tired from amnesiac characters, I highly recommend you to play Stray Cat Crossing. First thing, that catches the eye is very detailed sprites and pixel artwork. Other one is dark atmosphere of haunted house with stylish designs and some grotesque well-animated cutscenes. Gameplay is mostly consists from searching the right items and solving simple riddles, but there’s also one frustrating chasing scene at the end of the first section of the house. Story may lack originality, but still good and teaches us to forgive, this time not others, but yourself, since sometimes there’s things that are beyond our control. And despite ending being optimistic, closing credits are a bit creepy.

8.Three Ghostly Roses

You find yourself in the strange place, greeted by mysterious man in the blue cape, you don’t remember anything about yourself, except for the name. Edmund Brigham. Doesn’t ring a bell? Nope, it doesn’t. To find out about your past and your purpose, you’ll need to carefully explore every corner of the dark and unwelcome world, before it’ll start to fall apart. TGR looks very similar to NES games and has wonderful original soundtrack, which perfectly fits to dark atmosphere of the haunted world. Also game has pretty unique battle system, where you watch the enemy’s movements and try to exploit it’s weakness. And, there’s no healing items, you recover HP by defeating the enemies, but despite that, difficulty level is quite fair.

9.Dreamfarer

Good sleep is important, isn’t it? It definitely is, but not for the people in Dreamfarer, who don’t need to sleep at all. In the society, described in the game, sleep is considered something out of ordinary, since no one’ve slept and seen a dreams for a long time. Yet, little girl, who has an ability to travel between other’s dreams, accidentally gets into a dream of a man, who is currently in comatose state in the hospital. To get back to reality, you’ll need to swap between girl and the man, since both of them see the same things from different perspectives, and help the inhabitants of the dream world. Dreamfarer is one of those games, which start as cute adventure and get darker and darker towards the end. This game has amazing fully redrawn graphics and stunning artwork (there’s literally tons of CGs ).

10.Shirakami-sama to Yon-no-Oni 

 Our next game is perfect if you are tired from jumpscares, suggestive  content and brain(or heart)-breaking stories. Shirakami is very heartwarming game about friendship between boy and four demons, who help him in search of his cousin, who went missing while preparing to upcoming festival. Game has warm atmosphere of small village, strong with it’s traditions, beautiful illustrations and interesting gameplay, based on main character’s perception. There’s 3 endings in total, to see all of them you’ll need to beat the game 3 times (it’ll take from 3 to 5 hours in total ) and every time story goes the different way. Currently, game ia available only in russian and japanese.

11.From The Next Door

When you see something extremely cheap-it’s always suspicious. In case of food it might be rotten ( not always though ), in case of newly acquired house-get ready to deal with abomination living next door ( and no, I don’t mean neighbors ). Usually, when you notice paranormal activity in your house-you try to get away from it as far as you can, but in case of our heroine Namie ( who is as “smart” as Ayumi Shinozaki in CP: Blood Drive )- you’ll wait until things will get reeeeally ugly. Despite main heroine’s stupidity ( or thanks to it ), the game came out really creepy and interesting. Additionally I would like to praise game’s stylish visuals reminiscent of GBC-games and good work with setting the right atmosphere. And, once again, if you’re not the sensitive type-I suggest you playing in complete darkness with headphones on.

12.Hansel

Despite the game’s title, you will meet neither Hansel nor Gretel, instead you are playing as twin brothers, one of them is timid and another is sharp-mouthed (oh well, they’re both little rascals, no matter how you look at it). Hansel is nice adventure game with variety of references to famous old fairy tales, good humor, adorable visuals and quite unexpected ending ( two endings, to be exact, since another one is unlocked after beating the game for the second time). Game is relatively short ( 30-40 minutes ) and puzzles can be easily solved without a guide.

13.Lavender

Lavender presents another look on the Rapunzel’s story, in which there’s no prince and evil witch isn’t that evil. Your goal in this game is to descend the tower to retrieve your birthday present, solving various unique puzzles ( from feeding plants to playing chess ) on your way down. Lavender has quality pixel graphics and overall good presentation, which helps to create the feeling that you’re traveling through old storybook. Personally, I really liked the game’s normal ending, but there’s also a secret one for those, who like, when plot starts to turn grim and bloody.

14.Dudley and The Mysterious Tower

There goes a new title, developed by Sen, but don’t expect second Mad Father or Misao. Dudley is far more simple in terms of both plot and presentation. But it doesn’t mean that the game has nothing to offer. You play as a courier, who has an important delivery to tower’s owner, and his dog. Each floor of the tower is designed as a puzzle, in order to solve which you’ll need to switch between courier and the dog, who can do things courier can’t ( like seeing ghosts and talking to other animals).To climb the tower and see the contents of so-called “delivery”  you’ll need about 40 minutes, so if you have some free time-be my guest.

15.Apocalypse Never

And once again our closing title belongs to “escape” genre, where you need to leave locked apartments by all means necessary. This time you play as carefree guy, whose drunken older sister has changed all locks in the house. Game is about 30 minutes long and has several endings, which depend on how fast you’ll manage to escape the house and meet up with a friend ( don’t forget to bring “that” with you ).Also game has good humor (some jokes are just hilarious) and nice art style.

[maskedpeach]

oh well,i was kinda bored and made a quick sketch with Nanashi, I believe this guy is adorable

[maskedpeach]

aand...I made a little fanart with some of my fav Mogeko characters

[maskedpeach]

RPG Maker Fever Undead and Deranged

Warning:This article may contain spoilers and the content inappropriate for children…or may not contain.But get the children away from the screen just in case.

Good morning! Or is it already evening? Meh, as if it matters...cellar, where I'm chained and writing my articles  is pitch-dark 24 hours per day. So, today we'll learn how to make friends, control the undead and have a happy dream ( with some experimental drugs involved).Now then, shall we get started?

1. 1bitHeart

Alright, here goes our first title, made by the author of Alice Mare and LiEat series. 1bitHeart is an adventure game, where your goal is to make as many friends as possible . Game plays similar to Ace Attorney series, but with some QTE-scenes, while setting and atmosphere is kinda similar to TWEWY.You can make 49 friends in total, all of them have unique appearance and personality. Plot of the game is pretty good, dialogues are well-written and sometimes hilarious. Besides, every dialogue has it’s own mood supported by stylish well-chosen music track and quality voice acting. Additionaly I want to praise 1bitHeart’s presentation, since  both artwork and sprites are extremely beautiful .

2. The Boogie Man

And here comes the Boogeyman, the Boogeyman comes for me. Here comes the Boogyeman, he’s gonna take me in my sleep…Nah, actually not. Here comes the latest installement in our favourite  the Strange Men Series. This time with the fully voiced in-game cutscenes (and skippable as bonus). The Boogie Man stays true to series and plays like classical horror-adventure with action cut-ins. At some point of the game you can even play as our old friends -David and Sophie, but new protagonist Keith is quite notable too (he’s my personal fav to be honest).Overall the game makes very good impression, the story is interesting and dialogues are bright and entertaining (with many references to previous games).

3.  END ROLL

I’m not the sensitive type, but  even I was kinda hesitant to play this game at first, since it has waaay too many suggestive content, supported by quite a lot of graphic violence.But after beating it I can state that this game is totally drugtastic. END ROLL plays like quality role-playing game and somewhat reminds the wild mix of the Gray Garden and Re:Kinder, but with better story-writing and gameplay I believe. Game has plenty of  unique dungeons (all of them has some plot-related meaning behind it) as well as tons of optional content, which along with well-designed and interesting characters make END ROLL very enjoyable.

4. Guuzen ~ Ningyou no ito

What? Don't tell me you've never heard about the rite named "doll's prayer" .You'll forget all of your worries and  path to the Heaven will open before you. But the place, our heroines've found themselves in, can be hardly called Heaven. I wasn't expecting much from this game, but it turned to be quality horror with beautiful character designs, memorable soundtrack, logical puzzles and surprisingly mature story. The game reminds us that we're often starting to value something only when it's already lost.Sadly, right now  Ningyou no ito is only available in chinese, japanese and russian.

5. Liar Jeannie in Crucifix Kingdom

Yet another full-fledged role-playing game has made it to my list.And kinda tough, I must say. Imagine what if Dark Souls was the turn-based RPG with cute nun as protagonist and you’ll get Liar Jeannie… more or less.Unlike many RPGs, this one doesn’t  have any levels, and your stats and basic skills fully depend on your current equipment (by the way, every item in this game can be equipped). A special mention is deserved for game's bosses - there’s a few main bosses and a lot of optional ones -all of them have their own battle tactics and require some thinking before acting ( especially Pleiades Knights-you want to defeat them, trust me).Also, if things during the fight will become real ugly, you can always summon expendable monsters as your allies (or living shields,heh).

6. At the Tale End

Here we have a game, which looks like a regular fantasy-adventure, but only at first. Plot includes our standard party of heroes (fighter,mage,priest and thief), cursed princess and battle with the local dark lord.But each of these elements plays very different from your typical fantasy stories.At the Tale's End is definetely a unique experience, a role-playing game in it's original meaning, without countless random battles, but with a certain weight of responsibility for your actions within a narrative.Also this game has detailed and interesting world as well as quality animated cut-scenes.

7. Pocket Mirror

A long-awaited Pocket Mirror has been finally released this year. And I'm amazed with  enormous amount of work made by the  team of developers.When it comes to game's graphic, Pocket Mirror is stunning. Beautiful artwork and memorable soundtrack help to create this mysterious, unique atmosphere of dark fairy tale. And with that Pocket Mirror has some gameplay issues. You see, while some puzzles are interesting, most of them is quite uninspiring, some of the locations are pitch-dark and hard to navigate.And with that plot of the game is quite complicated,but doesn't make much sense,if you don't pay close attention to numerous in-game notes and letters.This game is definetely not bad,but still leaves some feeling of unpolishness.

8. The Maid of Fairewell Heights

Despite the fact that story of the Maid takes place at the haunted apartment complex, this game has no horror elements. Maid feels more like comedy anime straight from '90s. Gameplay (along with main character's outfits) varies depending on the room your're currently exploring. Starting with regular cleaning you can end up playing detective or running the shop. Game has bright illustrations, good humour and overall is pretty good.

9. Libretta

I'm sure everyone knows that beside translating games vgperson also makes their own, and Libretta is one of them..This game  definetely gives an interesting experience. While playing similar to Ib, Libretta has it's own unique atmosphere and somewhat complicated plot, where everyone can find something for themselves (or so I think). Libretta has memorable soundtrack and interesting puzzles, requiring some thinking from the player Also playing shirigories between chapters is kinda fun.

10. Imaginary Friends

Imaginary Friends is a classical rpg-horror-game with quality visuals, well-thought puzzles and some minor chasing scenes. While story lacks originality, it's still interesting to follow, since charactrers are nice and game has several endings. Game is about 3 hours long and leaves mostly positive impression. So, if you like old-school rpg-horrors-be my guest.

11. Red Trees

While having some minor horror elements, Red Trees stays warm and relaxing adventure game with humorous and ironic view on horror genre and quite unexpected ending in a way. Graphic style of the game and whole atmosphere of a local town is somewhat reminiscent of Mother series.Gameplay is quite simple and consist from few "find-and-bring-to-the- right-person" puzzles, which can be easily solved in 30 minutes or so.

12. The Stairway

Like Red Trees this game is also recommended for players, who've already tired from jumpscares, explinct content and overthinking bizarre puzzles. This game has simple yet nice story, unique visuals and some easy logical puzzles.So, if you want to neatly spend 30-40 minutes of your time, try and climb The Stairway to see what's awiting you at the very end.

13. Friendship

The most fitting description for Friendship would be "horror for the beginners", since it can surprise or startle you only if you haven't played any other rpg-horrors before. In fact Friendship doesn't stand out much compared with better quality school horrors ( like Misao or Amayado Bus Stop ).But it doesn't mean that the game is bad-Friendship is a good way to spend 30 minutes seeing how strong attachment to a friend can turn simple game into yandere-horror.  

14. By Ourselves

 And here comes our closing title about two former classmates, who've found themeselves trapped in the room. Game is only 10 minutes long and basically is one big locked door puzzle. You find the first hint and then successively exploring the room for the way out. Game has two endings determined by how much attention you're paying to your comrade in distress.

[maskedpeach]

well, hello there! it's been a while since i've posted anything, so just wanted to post Tales of set of fanarts i made at the beginning of 2015 - i was totally into the series that time

[maskedpeach]

RPG Maker Fever Another Episode

Warning:This article may contain spoilers and the content inappropriate for children…or may not contain.But get the children away from the screen just in case.

Don’t mind me,I’m just a peach,who’ve accomplished the quest of gathering materials for my new RMK Fever.What?Who said that peaches can’t do a side quests?Don’t tell me they can’t play RMK games and write reviews on them either-I sure do know they can.Iiiiits feverrrr tiiime!

1.Bury

Yep,that Bury,translation of which caused a lot of commotion quite some time ago.And you know what?I’m really glad I was able to play this game thanks to unknown translator,who made a great job.The only con of this game is enormous maps,wandering on which can be pretty annoying.Other than that this game is great-puzzles designed very similar to Ib and based on famous folk rhymes,story is interesting and really moving,buuut... no happy endings this time.Poor Cock Robin...

2.Midnight Puppeteer

Well this game isn’t a horror,but an adventure-quest.Everything in this game is made on either decent or high level.Gameplay is varied (from quest to some action cut-ins) and really fun,dialogues are well-written-both interesting and sometimes humorous.Puppeteer feels like some neat cartoon or anime show.And the main star of this show is talking teddy-bear-Mister Masper-he’s very bright character,who talks and acts as if Monobear from Danganronpa’ve decided to become a good guy.

3.Capella Promise

Finally we have a game,which can be called RPG not only because of the engine it was made on.Yep,this game is a fantasy-RPG,which despite being made by indie-developers plays a lot like any normal RPG from PSP or DS for example-alchemy,jobs,variety of side-quests-all elements are in place.Also this game has beautiful artwork, good story (turning upside down many cliches from standard JRPGs),interesting characters and good dialogues.All of this makes Capella really enjoyable.

4. Amayado Bus Stop

When it comes to game’s plot Amayado heavily reminds Misao-both games are about a girl,who was bullied at school and after the death has turned into venegful spirit.But if Misao had some dark comedy elements,this game’s story told into more serious tone with more accent on a friendship theme.Overall this game is very quality one-good story,nice puzzles,great designs-everything to neatly spend 3-4 hours playing this game.

5.Headless Prisoner

Finally this game is available in english and it’s totally worth of playing.Basically this game can be divided into two parts-first you play as girl Erina,whose scenario’s gameplay highly resembles Ao Oni,then you play as Red Witch (who you should already know if you’ve played Moonlight Ghost) and her scenario is really fun since it reminds of 2D-arcade shooters,where you kill enemies with magic,and sheds the light on all questions,which appear after playing as Erina.Besides this game has awesome final battle and great True Ending.

6.Cloe's Requiem

Despite being different games Cloe reminded me a lot of Mad Father-both games have quality gameplay and presentation...and a lot of pretty cruel content and quite non-symphathetic characters.But still this game is very intersting to play thanks to the puzzles,atmosphere and especially sountrack,which uses a lot of famous but not overused classical pieces and the main theme of this game is just beautiful.

7.Fantasy Maiden's Odd Hideout

This game is made by the same team as Cloe and comparing to her Maiden is a huge step forward when it comes to story and graphics.Gameplay is more simple though,but still very fun.First Maiden is bright and cute,but more you play-darker it becomes.Like Bury this game has a fair amount of allusions on English rhymes and ballads.

8.It Moves

I’m not a fan of Creepypasta,but this game based on the one of such stories is definetely worth of a playthrough.Some places in the story doesn’t make much sense,but overall it’s pretty good-at least the fear of the child who’s afraid to sleep alone in the room and have nightmares because of it looks pretty convincing.The nightmares themselves are amazingly done.All of them has it’s unique mood and atmosphere.If you have a nerves of steel I suggest you to play this game with the lights off and headphones on.

9.The Gray Garden

This game definetely requires a lot of patience.The first hour of the game is all about wandering enormously large maps and listening characters introductions. But patience will be rewarded,since after that a real fun begins.While story may lack originality,characters are well-developed and dialogues are hilarious.Also Garden has plenty of stylish illustrations (I just love Mogeko’s style).

10. Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea

And another Mogeko’s game has made it to my list.Comparing to Garden this game is much more well-balanced-maps are more compact,story-pacing is fast and navigation is better.But honestly I still prefer Garden over Wadda.While Wadda’s story is more complicated,dialogues aren’t that bright and memorable. But game is still very enjoyable.For me the best moment was the invasion of Tosatsu Kingdom,which was literally packed with good jokes.

11. Wizard of White Box

Wizard is relatively short game with few easy puzzles,which however is worth the time spent on it.While story is a bit generic,characters and dialogues are nicely done.Additionaly I want to praise artist’s work,since I really liked character’s designs and illustrations.

12.Bevel’s Painting

Bevel’s Painting is a pretty standard rpg-horror game about a girl who is trying escape from her own painting and who is definetely not in the good terms with her classmates.But standard doesn’t meant bad-the game is pretty decent and if you have some time to spare-you can give it a shot,since coloring doors,studying bevelese and discovering variety of endings can be kinda fun.Also there’s bonus mode in which Bevel looks like a...er...mad cactus.

13.Efframai

This game is very short (about 10 minutes) and consists from jumpscares and nothing but jumpscares.What did you expected?This game is simulation of Panic Room,where all ghosts are fake...except for one.Efframai is perfect if you want a quick portion of fear.Also the ending is pretty nice.

[maskedpeach]

Tales of 30 Day Challenge Day 30

Day 30-Your Favourite Game Ending

Tales of Xillia

Tales of Graces

Call me old-fashioned,but I love happy endings.And these two games has the most warm and happy endings in my opinion.But I like Xillia’s one a bit better since the whole ending is big beautiful anime cutscene.

Okay,so for me 30 days Tales chalenge comes to its conclusion.All well,that ends well.

[maskedpeach]

Tales of 30 Day Challenge Day 29

Day 29-Favourite Game Plot

Tales of Xillia 2

Actually when it comes to story in Tales series I can’t really say much good about it,since only well-developed characters keep it from being generic.ToX 2 is another story-it’s more mature and much darker then previous parts.Yeah,the concept of parallel universes isn’t something new,but it works in this game just right-there’s no unanswered questions or abandoned plotlines,everything is accurate and interesting.Also i really liked character’s side stories,which are interesting to follow and pretty realistic.

The only thing that i hated about the story is so-called True Ending-presumably you have a freedom to choose which path to follow,but in reality this one is only right option and a stupid one I must say.While Normal Ending seems like more rational way-everyone is pushing you towards suicide,and if you choose to save yourself-everyone is looking at you like-”What,you don’t feel sorry for a little girl,which isn’t supposed to exist in this reality-then you have no heart!”.I hate manipulations like that,and,honestly,this is the most stupid self-sacrifice I’ve seen.

But still despite that I liked the story and i can give it 7 out of 10 for the 15 interesting chapters out of 16.

[maskedpeach]

Tales of 30 Day Challenge Day 28

Day 28-Favourite Tales Outfit

Well,Tales have many cool designs aaand there’s pretty many costumes i like,here goes:

Default outfits:

Tales of Xillia 2-Ludger,Alvin,Gaius,Leia

Tales of Graces-Cheria,Richard

Tales of Phantasia-Cress,Arche

Tales of Symphonia:DotNW-Richter,Aster,Decus

Alternate outfits:

Tales of Xillia 2-Gambler,Victor(for  Ludger),Lady Xillia(for Milla),Jacket Off(for Leia)

Tales of Graces-Gothic Lolita(for Sophie)

Tales of the Abyss-Viscount(for Luke),Proud Maid(for Tear),Beloved Princess(for Natalia)

Tales of Symphonia-Transforming Agent,Judgement(for Kratos)