the number of people in the comments who have tried to assert to me, a person who can read Japanese, that cousin relationships is totally normal and accepted in Japan is totally insane lmao. Guys, it is so trivial to google the subject in Japanese and get pages of japanese posters going "no it's super weird don't do that" on forums and stuff. please stop basing your idea of an entire nation's cultural values off the porn you read, holy shit. pinning this so it can act as a lightning rod for any weirdo disgruntled by this and also because just, holy crap, I had no idea this was such a pervasive belief amongst a certain kind of weeaboo. this website never fails to completely floor me with what it chooses to be wrong about
I think this is just a harem "trope" being on display here. Given that the character designs were done by a Sword Art Online character designer, Shingo Adachi, it is possible the writers drew some inspiration from it, where there is that kind of romance (Kirito and Leafa who are cousins). Though in SAO situation, Kirito has a canonical partner, who is Asuna. Notice how the MC in loop8 is called Nini, which could be a shorthand for "Onii-chan" Leafa calls Kirito "Onii-chan" and Nanako calls MC "big bro" The same situation, albeit without that kind of tension, can be found in Persona 4, where if you max Nanako's socal link, then at the ending scene, where you say goodbye to all of the people you maxed a social link with, the ending scene implies marriage, if the MC will be up to in in the future by Ryotaro Dojima Nanako: "When I grow up, I want to marry you, big bro" MC: "!" Ryotaro: "Haha, you are a stud" "Sure Nanako, if he is still available by the time you are an adult." "But that will be a long time, won't it? Right?" Dojima smiles, but he is looking straight into your eyes and doesn't seem to be joking Granted, the Persona 4 example is very light and there are implications that Ryotaro doesn't want this to happen, but it is MC and cousin interaction, in a rather sweet way and a nice closure to a sweet Social Link with both Nanako and Ryotaro. Loop8 is more akin to the SAO situation, rather than P4, though I just wanted to point examples in fictional media. It is most likely the common "childhood friend romance" that can be seen in JRPGs, like in the "Tales of" series by Namco Bandai. I am not passing any judgement or criticism and this is fiction after all. There is not a thing that would be to everyone's liking and I don't think it is necessary to be so worked up about a harem "trope" done this way.
Probably because they wanted to imitate the other things I mentioned (Persona, SAO). I imagine because it is close to the "childhood friend romance" thing@@joshlegacy1101
Then don't engage in things that offend you personally. It is like Fear and Hunger. That game isn't for everyone and it is diivisive due to its content and presentation. It is not like this game is saying that you should follow the main character's example or be like the main character. Besides, the MC in loop8, Nini, is a mix of the protagonist in JRPG with dating sim elements - blank slate with defiined characteristics.@@wst34
I think Micchi is supposed to be a yandere, but like, normally you have some sort of explanation or foreshadowing to that behavior? She's just a random murderer.
There is foreshadowing to her behaviour, she says it in the few event dialogues. (this is one of the few event dialogues she has) "I want to study all sorts of things. Like you for example. I didn't mean it in a weird way, but a completely normal way." Punchy ommitted showing this. Mostly because he didn't find the dialogue all that interesting. Also, this only happens if any other character is at > 700 Affection and Micchi's affecton also croses over that treshold, when that is the case. If Micchi is the only character with that amount of affection, this never happens. The game calls this state of Nini being Affectionate with multiple people, "Playboy".
@@newby242Sure, it's foreshadowed, but if 90% of the game is uninteresting, then it doesn't matter. Also, you're still not told that those specific conditions cause you to die and lose progress because you forgot to save and the one time the game kicks you out feels random.
@@djoshawott2850 Nevertheless, it is mentioned and the yandere clues are plentiful. Though I do agree with the second point - the game should have had a message alluding to the killing act , even if it would be outside of the game's direct narrative or something like "I shouldn't have been romantical with other people. I feel nervous" and this would have given you the opportunity to save at the very least. But it doesn't so it feels random, even when it isn't.
It's implemented poorly, but the idea that there is a Yandere in this kind of persona-like game who will kill you outside the context of the dungeons is actually so funny Honestly, if this were a better game it would really throw a wrench into the social links to have one girl go around stabbing your love interests for reasons entirely unrelated to the actual plot
That would be so funny if you had this and it acted like one of those old creepypasta, yet the game barely even acknowledges that it's happening, making it unnerving that, yeah, there are characters that are dying every time you are trying to romance them holy shit, you are not given any explanations of why they die.... until you manage to Piece out that it's because you were too nice to this one NPC in the early game (bonus point if the npc is like really miserable when you first approach her just so that people might feel morally obligated to make her feel better only to realize how much they fucked up)
You know that one SpongeBob scene where a guy opens his front door, Patrick says "I love you" and the guy slams it shut immediately? That's what the romance in this game is, except you're given no option to shut the door.
I think the romance options are funny and based but man I hate the Persona 3 approach of locking you in a route. Like bro you don't even give indication that its happening
Hori’s thing is that he is possessed by Ichika’s and Nini’s Kid in another life ever since the accident that he mentioned. So he starts calling you dad because he thinks he is Nini’s son from the future but he realizes that he was possessed and gets sad about it until he talks to Nini about it an becomes his friend. The problem was that this explanation will just randomly occur as you become friends and he just flat out won’t tell you about it at all.
Also this game’s ending system is ass. You have to max out only one character while ignoring the rest especially Konoha if you get the forced romance dialogue you will be locked into the bad ending no matter what if you save the world. It took me 77 hours to 100% this game because of this
@@groovydude1576 I was really annoying after seeing the main girl epilogue the second time and got burned out of it. They should have atleast let us make a choice after the final boss instead of this half assed priority system.
@@terrormask2475 I will be playing something else I’m just saying it’s odd how the grandma and cousin can get it but not someone else who isn’t related to the pc and a reasonable age.
"I mostly dated the fox girl." Heh. Looks like we found this guy's type. 😏 Bake 'em away, toys! "The other options are: your cousin, your grandmother, a robot, an elementary schooler, and a girl who kills you!" Well... Okay then. Fox girl it is.
Sorry to comment twice on the same video but a thought just struck me: The leaf on Beni's head is a visual indicator for a transformed animal (you see it most often with tanuki). This would imply her real form is a fox and that even the most normal romance is, secretly, bestiality.
Ok so, i know the entire comment section has already clowned on pretty much every aspect of the game, rightfully so. But for me, what actually takes the cake is the whole "if the boss hates you the fight gets harder". See that's really cool, it's interesting, it's a bit humanizing since even as giant JRPG bosses all these kids still seem to hold a degree of understanding of the world around them, not fully under the control of The Curse™or whatever. But the fact that you can get a game reset from that alone is fucking awful. So my ADHD brain actually thought back to a completly unrelated JRPG, SMT IV. In IV, the major bosses will often talk to you, asking what you fight for, your goals, how you view your actions, etc. And your answer actually changes the fight, nerfing or buffing the boss. What if, in order to actually be able to deal significant damage to the boss and not die in two hits if your friendship with the character was bad, you could actually talk to any of the possessed cast. Trying to make them see why this isn't a good idea, trying to work out their problems, their feeling, bonding with them in the middle of the fight when emotions are at all time high. And let's even double dip on this idea. In a theoretical world where you couldn't max friendships halfway through the month, what if you actually had to carefully pick who and when to spend time with, getting to know them personally, their feelings about the world, etc. What if you could take that info into a new loop, and in the case a character that you got a good bond on a previous loop with them and in this one you didn't, what if you could use your information from the previous loop to actually help them out, to speak to them with a level of understanding they didn't expect. There's maybe even a sense of necessary cruelty in your actions, as you reveal very personal secrets and information to them that, by all means, you shouldn't know, simply to get a shot at saving their lives. I don't want to sound like im getting high on my own farts, but fuck me, i think i spent more time on this random youtube than they did on the design document.
Yeah, something like that could be interesting; says a lot that a random TH-cam watcher could spend more time to come up with interesting ideas than the people actually making the blasted game.
What'd be a cool implementation of using character relationships during loops is maybe if you didn't get close to a character who became a boss during a given loop, you could choose to take a sympathetic tone or twist the knife into their insecurities, having to choose whether you want to try to mend the relationship or whether you want to sacrifice any easy chance of them trusting you in return for a significantly easier boss
@@NeremworldWait so, he got TOO affectionate with everyone and that fucked up ALL endings?! You know what, at least make the ultimate harem orgy ending. Fuck it, at least it’s a pay off
@@Elementroar No, actually, you only able to get the ending of the person who you fully romance (max values, except Hate) first) while not romancing Konoha at all.
@@Neremworld Playtesting it for the programmers was actually really simple, the game had an extensive debug menu, where they could set the required values quickly. The ending system is actually really simple, but you'll only know that once you are on the other side of the problem. You can get only one character ending per playthrough and the conditions for it are: - Konoha's Friendship and Affection has to be < max - your chosen character has to have max Friendship and Affection - You choose to kill Konoha That's it. There is nothing more to it.
@@Neremworld If it is indeed EVERYBODY (including Konoha), then you default to Konoha, yes. Konoha takes precedent over everyone (it also doesn't help that she is very easy to romance and get her to the tresholds). If no one else meets the condition, then you default to the "bad ending" as well. It is supposed to reference the legend about Ninigi and Konohanasakuya-Hime after all. It makes sense, if you realize what story the game is trying to tell/reference. The fact that it doesn't come across well at all is another thing entirely. It is not transparent at all to the player, which is basically the whole game. I can see the logic, but only after figuring it out.
So basically this is a dating sim that doesn't care about your choices and just forces you to pick one option anyways? Even if you go the harem route? That just defeats the purpose of this kind of game.
I strongly disagree. I find Persona so unbearably boring and contrived that I hate everything about it, and can’t even watch my favorite streamer play it. So I can say with certainty that this game is not what I think Persona is. What I think is that someone without budget and time wanted to make their own Persona game but got confused and based all the designs off Yandere Simulator.
"Even with no world, there's still cousin-fucking." is a quote for the ages that I'm probably going to be thinking of for days, it just genuinely floored me to hear that one. This sure is one of the video games ever. It was developed! It got published. You can make button inputs and it reacts to them. Also, on the off-chance you go for more deep-dives on terrible JRPGs... Hoshi wo Miru Hito *has* to be one of them, right?
that was absolutely on my list if I revisit this general concept yeah. i've kinda wanted to talk about it ever since they re-released it for five bucks on the switch lol
@@PunchyYT I'd also suggest tales of destiny 1 but that is really just a case of me not vibing with the plot at all, because its gameplay is like. passable for ps1 era tales. its plot is just mediocre compared to the tales games surrounding it (phantasia, eternia, destiny 2. did not play symphonia onwards yet)
the speed with which you just blitzed past "also, you can date your grandma" had me reeling. like. your biological grandma? how does she like... rationalize... dating you? hello????????
I think the biggest gripe I have with the intentionally limited frame rate on character animations is that the same limit is not imposed on the camera, or things like hair physics (from what I could tell from the footage). The mismatch in frame rates is what makes my brain ache.
That goes for male designs in Japanese media across the abroad tbh. Like the ladies are so colorful, but the dudes look straight up out of a harem anime some times.
That's the point. They're designed to be not overly intrusive or standout in any way, so as to help the player "feel" like the MC. Whether or not one agrees with this is irrelevant as it's the default template in designing JRPG's.
Ya that pratique really needs to die cause it’s not working. The only thing it’s doing is making the man character really forgettable. And you can have a character who’s easy to see your self as in has a good design. For example Joker from persona 5, easily to put yourself in his shoes and has a strong design that people remember and will be able to identify.
Also the argument doesn’t explain why the male npc all look so generic. The only thing that differs them is their hat and that one of them is fat. It’s honestly a shame. It’s felt like they had a character designed for the girls and for the guy one of the dev juste looks at his clothes and was « ehhh that will do. »
The Micchi bit is still sending me I don't understand how they didn't foreshadow any of that, nor let you know what causes her to kill you? Why is she the only character like this? Why does she actively deter the game's one goal it presents to the player? It might have been interesting if characters had difficulties you had to overcome to actually get close to them, or perhaps were even genuinely terrible people you have to make nice with just to overcome their bosses, but Micchi being a yandere for the sake of fulfilling a trope is mindboggling. At least give the player a dialogue check, one chance to notice something's up and leave before straight up killing them. Make the mood UI say eerie or unsettling or something just to tip the player off.
i think what's funny is that she has a completely normal ending if you successfully finagle her character ending. you just have to, y'know, constantly dance around the landmine that is "may instantly kill you" the whole time and it will never be brought up by anyone
@@PunchyYT That's honestly impressive, that this one trait is so sequestered away. What was their goal with her. Was it remnants of an earlier draft? A joke they decided to leave in? We'll never know.
What do you mean "no foreshadowing"? She has a fringe covering one eye and the gloomy pigtails in a game full of harem anime stereotypes She might as well be wearing a "nice boat" shirt
Honestly, I kinda like that in the midst of all these normal (or uh, at least not murderous) romance option girls, there's also this surprise yandere just tossed in there to keep you on your toes. Not that the execution is great by any means lord no, but I find the concept not just funny but also kind of potentially interesting from a gameplay standpoint. I'm not going to say this is clever or subversive or anything like that because I'm sure there's tons of games like this that've done the same, but I like it. Hot take? If so, I own it. Actually one of the funniest parts of this video to me was the cut to the title screen after the stabbing, not great from a gameplay standpoint but definitely the best approach from a comedic standpoint.
I do have to wonder if this is not just some upscale hentai game that got reworked into a serious title a few months before release. It certainly has all the hallmarks of it. Basic and borderline unnecessary combat? Check. Gameplay loop mostly made up of repetitive visual novel evets? Check. Every character falling for the MC in a matter of minutes? Check. Incest? Check. Lolis? Check.
Honestly, the idea of a game where bosses are demonically possessed versions of various characters, and the status of your relationship with that possessed character affecting factors in the boss battle sounds like such an interesting idea for a JRPG with social mechanics. Especially if the possession is at random, since it gives an incentive to interact with all the characters and build relationships. Just need to make those characters more interesting and complex, give the protagonist some actual agency, and follow an actual plot line lmao
For real, imagine if you could still talk to them in boss form, apologizing if they hate you and causing them to become easier because of that, or have your romance partner refusing to forgive you if you cheat on them
It is because the game is supposed to be about Ninigi, Konohanasakuya-Hime and Iwanaga Hime. Nini is Ninigi Konoha is Konohanasakuya-Hime Iwanaga-Hime is the "god monster" They just have chosen the most familiar dating sim/visual novel archetypes to tell/reference this story.
Hypothetically I think a yandere would be perfect for this kinda game. Think about it, If you wanted to loop but didn't want to wait for the world to end, Having a yandere to kill you to force the loop would be perfect! But the yandere stab doesn't trigger the loop so I guess not?
Hooooly shit I knew this game had issues but I was not aware of the sheer depths of kusoge going on here. I'm so deathly curious as to the design process as the game seemingly constantly flirts with interesting and good options and then goes "but what if it were really bad instead?" Honestly the entire thing is so insane I kind of forgot the plot hook is that Nini's parents died trying to go to space.
I've only watched the first 15 minutes of the video and I'd already forgotten that too, holy shit. I know demons and alternate dimensions are cool and all, but how can you introduce space travel and a mostly ruined Earth and then just COMPLETELY. FORGET. ABOUT. IT. for the rest of the plot??? Everything else is Stereotypical Japanese Countryside to the point it feels like that intro thing is a placeholder from a different game and they forgot to remove it....
I can't stop staring at Beni's neutral stance during combat. What is that animation? Is she slapping her fan, swiping at the air, what is that animation??
While the twist yandere thing is not the most baffling thing plot-wise this game has, it is something that will haunt me for a few days; why would the implement it? It is so confusing and out of the loop and i don't know how this would make for a satisfying to any players due to how sudden it feels and how the mechanic is both hard to balance and terribly predictable it feels. It is certainly One of the Games Ever Made. Thanks for the video! In-depth videos of games such as this one are such a delight to watch~
i honestly like the yandere thing. its one of the very few things in the game that is note worthy. imagine an actual good game like this but one romance interest is assigned a yandere trait where there is a chance to kill you. youd constantly be wondering who it is and if your in danger. but as shes the only one like this and nothing works here it just sits there as a baffling bad end landmine.
@@angelofdeath251 yeah i can see it being a fun thing to add to a game that requires you to bond with characters to progress. I just wonder why she's in the game at all because it felt like a last minute 'gotcha' moment. But the idea of having a hidden yandere character that you can only discover by clues is super neat and would add a lot of flavour if implemented well
Like, it could be a cool mechanic if it was implemented better, such as her only trying to murder you when you encounter her alone *and* she's in a good mood. Or... *something* that would make it harder for you to kick into death.
@@matildarose There's a number of ways it could be done; like maybe her murdering you being a consequence of abusing the loop too much( so while the characters would still not be aware of it, being forced to reset many times would make their sanity/morale to wane because of karma or something). Or maybe if her plotline was a bit more flashed out so it doesn't feel like a badly designed trap to push you into a game over out of the blue with no pay off. There's just so many ways to go about it and the game kind of chooses nothing
after playing Baldur's Gate 3, I am permanently immune to being surprised by an infinite number of NPCs all trying to sleep with me five minutes after I meet them
The fox girl character's design looks way too familiar to me, I swear I have seen it before...also her design skill wise sticks out compared to the other really bland characters, which makes me really wonder if it's stolen. It's also incredible how much the main character gives me Yandere Dev protagonist vibes.
The fox girl slightly reminds me of the basic ELF you get in Honkai Impact 3rd - The one that's also slightly important in the Samsara story. (Correct me if any of this is wrong, I haven't played the game in a few months.)
So a guy came up to me today and was like "Hey I need your help demons are coming and we need to destroy them together" And I was like "But you haven't bought me a frappé yet! no friendship for you!" I just hate to see a game like this where the design team clearly had some ideas, interesting looking other world and fluid animations. Well one minus there is of course the colourful ladies next to the "Plain looking human males" ai generator prompts. Also speedrun when?
That walk cycle is so slow and janky that the first time it happened, before the commentary got to discussing it, I genuinely thought the game had a problem keeping a consistent framerate while doing basic walking around town lmao
This gave me flashbacks to the PS3 era, and the gigantic waves of the most generic and bland JRPGs ever conceived, huge props for having patience to go through them.
The cousin-relationships thing is actually a cultural difference. As someone who knows a little Japanese, I've discovered that it's actually considered honorable to enter a relationship with your cousin in certain regions of Alabama.
I'm kind of in awe at this game forcing the player into romances without any good warning, in particular when the subject is _the player character's cousin or an elementary student._ One thing to include a lolicon or incest option, another to be a designer who naturally assumes the audience befriending the character _must_ be into lolicon/incest or otherwise they wouldn't be interacting with them. Heaven forbid that the player might just want to _roleplay a good cousin_ or anything, clearly if you're talking to family you _want_ to fuck 'em. That said, my problem with the cousin-fucking that's going on here is mainly in that they chose to put it in a game that both has what is essentially a self-insert protagonist and gives the player no agency in avoiding it. It'd be one thing if we had a defined protagonist who was into his cousin (that could still be handled poorly of course, but at least there'd be more of a separation between player and MC), or if we were allowed to just _not_ engage in cousin-fucking, and it's another thing to make a self-insert protag who is forced into wanting to cousin-fuck without any say from the player who is _supposed to be self-inserting onto the protagonist._
Building a friendship with Konoha also seems like a logical course of action to take right away, since Konoha is the last family Nini has (other than his grandma, though you don't know that she's his grandma at the start, and she's romanceable too), and he might find comfort in that. Surprise, bitch, it's Alabama!
@@l.2620 I never did my own cousin. The one cute cousin I had in my teen years was not blood-related to me and she was already sleeping around when she was 13 and I never got along with her. Of course, if I had a cute blood-related cousin like the protagonist in this game that I did get along with then obviously f*** yeah I'd go for it. And I can assure you it's the same for the majority of men, even the posers pretending they wouldn't.
Xenoblade Chronicles literally has machine people called "the Machina" as one of the four main intelligent species of the game. They even have a strange life-cycle (the babies are kept in hover pods that feeds them their nutrients, which they will stay in for the next 1000 years of their lives until they outgrow them) that implies that they are somewhat organic lifeforms instead of being completely mechanical.
unfortunately, many of our games are like this. there are shelves upon shelves full of this, but mostly only the "good" stuff i guess gets localized to other country. people complain about it over here, but it is like screaming into a volcano
this feels more like a Persona parody to me simply because of the relationship and time management system, unless there are other JRPG’s with a time management system that I’m unaware of
The questionable logic and morals of these dating games fucking kill me. You can get into pedophilic and/incestuous romances with your relatives, but the devs draw the line allowing you to date another dude character!!
So in a sense, they managed to invent what is basicly a visual novel, but with backtracking!? That's almost impressive... Like a book recapping the story up to that point, every time you begin a new chapter!
I'm glad the brainspiders compelled you to make a Probably-Longer-Than-It-Deserves video about this game because it is wonderfully awfully fascinating. As you said about having a fondness for these bad and/or janky but still interesting games, I also share that feeling towards them so I'm delighted to see more of them. I would have said "I wonder how that Eternights game turned out" but apparently as of the time of commenting it is not out, eta is Sept 12th so possible future title to take a look at? people also commented on it being "persona-like", which means as much as saying something is "soulslike", but you get the idea. anyway, great video, Punchy!
So idk if anyone posted this but i looked up a guide for this game and apparently the character endings are determined by who's affection you max out first. And since from what I am gathering of your plot summary you meet Konoha first it's not surprising you got locked into the "cousin romance" ending because you will most likely end up maxing her affection first. This really is just one more way the game is obtusely designed it seems :D
Yeah... that's kinda what irks me, people only pay attention to the cousin romance and use it as the basis for their argument without taking into account that there are more than one ending (I was working on getting Ichika's ending... buuuuut Beni kept provoking the boss to the point that it one-shot Ichika. Not touched the game since)
That is what I assumed from how Punchy described the game -- you get locked to whoever you romance first. I assumed he would have tried a fresh playthrough to test this mechanism, but I guess not.
The girl kick-to-title-screen murdering you out of nowhere in a game where, usually, death means a bit of a setback is some incredibly strong "guns being deadly in cutscenes but lame in gameplay" type stuff
Oh yes. Everyone knows that the Endless Eight in Haruhi Suzumiya was THE favorite moment in all of anime history. Making a videogame that tries to inhabit that energy for 50+ hours couldn't POSSIBLY be considered a new form of torture. SURELY it will be a monster of a hit. /s
Honestly, at least endless 8 was committing to the bit. It was pure torture for everyone watching, but you can tell that someone was getting some kind of schadenfreude out of forcing people through it. This doesn't even have that
I made it through the first two bosses gathering magatama and only encountered the “standard enemy” during the tutorial. I legitimately figured they only included it for that combat tutorial. I didn’t know I was wrong about this until I watched this video. This game is really something else man.
Never have I been called "stinky" in a metaphorical sense and actually believed I truly was "stinky" for my naivete in thinking this game would have robust gameplay fundamentals that are established in the tutorial of a game and then expanded upon as the game progresses. Shame on me, indeed. I am stinky. EDIT: Also, vague implications of a friendship progressing is my favorite kind. Are we now best friend? Romantic lovers? We locked eyes for two seconds, so that must mean something!
Genuinely love the video. It's great to finally hear a level headed person talk about these kinds of games without saying "game sucks because slow and not open world".
I'm all for a continued spelunking journey into the depths of JRPG insanity/inanity. I don't have any such suggestions of the Japanese variety (yet), but if I manage to sniff one out on my strange internet journeys, I'll be sure to let you know
If you want another bad time loop story I’d recommend the VN Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa which is a VN that barely builds relationships with your “main party”, randomly throws plot points at you out of nowhere or never addresses other plot points, straight up spoils the main twist on the box cover if you’re pay the slightest bit of attention and whose antagonist essentially gets away Scot free with their crimes. Also it’s main gameplay feature is a random matching puzzle mode which involves stripping the character you’re against, I am not joking. Also to fully complete the game you have to go down extremely specific dialogue options and there’s one specific scene that I had incredible amounts of difficulty getting because it’s locked behind multiple highly specific choices which required me to reset the loop like 10+ times.
@@kirah.7106 if the game was leaning more towards being an eroge I think it’d be fine but for the most part it’s trying to be like a thriller or drama. Weird tonal balance.
Would absolutely love to see more analysis/review style videos about bad games. The perspective of someone who enjoys kusoge is _so_ interesting, and something you see very rarely in scripted stuff.
I think Time & Eternity might be interesting since you mentioned that in the video. If Japanese isn't too significant a barrier for you, I might also recommend Airs Adventure. It's a Saturn RPG spearheaded by the creator of Tower of Druaga and Xevious, and it's hilariously incompetent in absolutely everything it sets out to do. Overly simple gameplay, nonsense story, and it basically killed the guy's career. It's pretty amazing!
Oh don't worry, while Punchy can read Japanese, it will do nothing to help in Airs Adventure as you quest for Orb Soil and other plot devices, often settling situations instantly to carefully sidestep interesting gameplay segments just like this game! (will not spoil the final sidestep, oh boy haha). At least it has way more combat than in this game, but overall it's not that long or difficult. For the speedrun, I grind for ~15 minutes in front of the first hard boss, then never again. The music is absolutely fantastic though, I feel for that poor composer working on it...
"She's your grandma despite looking young because how time works differently in space.." Geez, that's kinda weird. Well, I doubt you don't need to worry about her being a romancable option- "You can date her." WHAT THE HELL GAME? "You can also date an elementary school girl." All right, I'm out. You can date anyone who doesn't have anything between their legs whether their age or personal relations but the game thinks that dating a dude would be ToO WeIRD.
Did you miss the part where the jock ended up coming out as bisexual to you? Also, the fox girl is probably just a fox yokai that can turn into a human with her powers because you can see the leaf on her head, there's also a bit of bestiality in there. XD
Honestly ya. Those two sound much more funny and creative to me then gay romance. If it offends you just don't play it my guy. I ain't goin on threads on Yaoi games complainin bout the lack of cute girls. I just don't touch that stuff. Why is that such a hard concept to grasp for yall
@@CBman11037 It's not so much that it offends me than confuses me. The main character seems to have no standards or real preference when it comes to dating and never turns down a love confession no matter who it is. Your teacher? Cool. A half monster girl? Cool. A Robot? Cool. A yandere who'll kill you when she's in a good mood? Cool. Your grandmother? Cool. Your cousin? Cool. A flipping elementary school girl!?? Yeah, he'll go for that. I might not care if the guys were non romance able if the choice of girls you can woo are much better options - kind of like the Persona games (even though 5 lets you date adults which is... yeah). I agree with Punchy that the romance options are horrible to the point I'd rather go gay because at least the guys seem pretty normal and around your age - and not related to you. Eh, I'll stick to Persona games when I want some better girl characters to date.
Wow, anime school setting, NPCs awkwardly wandering around, barebones social interaction system, characters falling in love with you after two seconds - this is just Koikatsu Party minus the good parts!
You know, when the video started i thought to myself “man this is a really cool concept. I know the video’s about it being bad, but i could probably enjoy it even with some flaws”. The rest of the video determined that that was a lie
Most relevant plot bits are a retelling of Tenson Kourin, the mythical history about the japanese imperial lineage which is about Amaterasu's grandson, Ninigi no Mikoto, descent from heavens to the land of the man Ashihara no Nakatsukuni, Hori calls the main character dad because he's possesed by the spirit of Ninigi no Mikoto's son, Hoori, the main deal with Konoha and Ichika is that those two respectively are reincarnation/possessed of Iwanagahime and Konohanasakuya-hime(They're also cousin in the myths), Ninigi no Mikoto wanted to marry Konohanasakuyahime and rejected Iwanagahime. Iwanagahime/Konoha is now pissed because she was rejected. I was interested in this game because of Gunparade March fame, but this being "empty" and oversimplified made me disappointed, wouldn't say I disliked it and I really hope we get the other games made by Shibamura translated which includes Kenran Butou Sai which is regarded as kusoge by some. There are also some novel prequels that was posted online in japanese, there was someone translating those. I didn't care enough to read those, and honestly if they were important it would have been put into the game to begin with.
I took this off my wishlist 5 minutes in and it kept going, thank you for your service! Also, it's not really *horrible*, or a turn based jrpg for that matter (rather an action rpg) but I always think of Avalon Code despite not having touched it in over a decade, because despite it being mediocre to actively bad in many respects (extremely repetitive dungeons, ridiculous grind, conflicting inputs, Japanese text left into the game etc) it at least had a palpable amount of ambition with its core design of being able to mix and match traits from almost every object in the game.
Bad games are fun when they're earnest. People cared making this and there's competence on display but... somebody still signed off on the cousin fucking (Dan Harmon maybe?) and couldn't figure out how to make the overall game interesting. It's a shame. Stuff like this does fascinate me! Thanks for the video!
I think there's a lot less social stigma attached to relationships with cousins in Japan. I am not Japanese, nor am I an authority on these types of social customs, but I've heard that they don't frown on it as hard as we do in the west. Even though it's still considered extremely taboo in the west, once you get to second cousins, the increased risk of birth defects (above background) is extremely low, so it kind of makes sense (that they would be less concerned) from an evolutionary perspective. TL;DR: It's weird and gross to us, but not _as_ weird or gross to the Japanese. Which is why you are more likely to see it in Japanese fiction.
@@michaelcalvin42 While I've never personally heard a case of cousin relationship, a psychologist once told me it's not only legal, but completely normal and not that uncommon here in Brazil. Personally I don't know how to feel about it.
@@EdgeLie I'm not using anime as my source (although it is pretty common in anime, so the culture is obviously there.) Please do not assume the knowledge level of Internet strangers. From the way you're talking, it sounds like your knowledge level is not the highest on this subject either, and the all caps approach is not helping you out there.
I think what this game sets out to be is this anime harem fantasy where everyone fawns over your character. While this is pretty tropey and anime-cringey, I feel it could be twisted to subvert expectations and make something unique. My idea: At first glance, you notice how easy is it to start a relationship with people, regardless of gender and sexual orientation. You think nothing of this. But a few loops later, you realize that this sense of attraction is not normal. Its compelled. You have some sort of nefarious power that makes it very easy to win over the hearts and mind of people. And when some people break out of your spell, they notice something is wrong - that they have been charmed by your powers and start being fearful to you but cant do anything about it because you still have your harem willing to throw themselves in front of you. However you want to go about this, is your own provocative. Whether you choose the path of evil and become a abusive overlord for the greater good or come clean about your powers and actually gain the hearts of people naturally.
This game feels so much like what people who don't play Atlus games think they're like that I'm starting to wonder if it's actually meant as a parody of Persona.
9:14 Well, if I had a nickel for every time I saw Punchy guide a pink fox girl to battle, I'd have two nickels - which isn't a lot, but it's interesting that it has happened twice.
The Persona comparisons are kinda moot at this point but honestly Loop8 looks like a game made by people who really wanted to capture the Persona styled plot and gameplay but coudn't understand anything about why do the neo Persona games work like they do. Like, even leaving aside the crackhead romance options and system that scream "writer's barely disguised fetish", the plot is super bare bones even when trying to tap into the same themes of self indivitlduation and shit, and the gameplay looks like an after thought. Honestly, i'd be suprised if they actually got playtesters before shipping this game.
Dang, this game insistence of making your cousin your true love interest, makes me wonder if this game was made in Shelbyville. "I'll tell you, I won't create a game that robs the men of their right to marry their cousins!"
@@DavidJCobb nah, hes saying that shes "totally not a child" as in not a child, but looks like one to atttact a *certain* crowd. But shes just a child. Also feels like P4 had bigger issues than that, yk the whole fanservice thing
I hate to tell you this, but in P3 and P3P, you date Ken as the girl Makoto Don’t ask me why, I have no clue, but someone need to find out who came up with that idea and lock them up
The core idea of Loop8 is pretty good, and it would be good if instead of Person dating sim they went psychological full on evangelion/Re zero style. Where Protagonist has to face the horror of that loop, slowly going insane. Where killing yourself to reset the loop is actually mechanic
This is a fantastic teardown, great vid! It's so frustrating to see all these interesting ideas squandered and drenched in stale tropes, but at least it makes me want to check out the PS1 game mentioned in the beginning. I'd never heard about it before.
Amazing video, that part where you were discussing possible character pairings and relationships was so funny, it was curveball after curveball and I loved every second of it.
The creator of this video going through and destroying all these weirdos in the comment section is both admirable but also sad, dont stress yourself out worrying about them
I can improve this game’s plot and gameplay with only a few simple changes: -Each loop, you must choose one character to befriend/romance to experience their visual novel route or whatever. They become a party member of yours for the entire loop. -the combat world is something you and your chosen party member spend the week preparing and practicing for. It’s pretty serious. But, when you go to the au world, it’s way tougher than you imagined. You and your party member only get so far before something/someone kills you (scripted event) and you have to loop -the party member you chose remembers everything. You both keep stats. They insist you must find someone to join your cause and you have to now befriend/romance/whatever someone else and they are a new party member -with each loop, your gained party members grow stronger. However, getting characters later in the loops leaves them to be weaker than the ones you first befriended -each time you travel to the au world, you progress a little further and learn a little more about the story. There. The loops are actually fun now. But this stuff does require a way better combat system (with more individualization for the others) and actual good writing unfortunately
MC's name is Nini? Any chances of me taking the game even slightly seriously just went through the floor and headed towards the planet's crust. Heh-heh. Nini. Note: Anyone looking for a way way better mid-grade game with similar-ish mechanics, play Lost Dimension. Is good.
Fun fact: In Spanish, "Nini" is a term describing a young person who is uneducated and unemployed. In other words, a lazy nobody who contributes nothing to society.
This is because loop8 is a game referencing the legend of Ninigi and Konohanasakuya Hime. Using contemporary character stereotypes. Punchy just completely failed to mention that this game is in fact supposed to be retelling a Japanese myth. In fact, one of the characters, Hori, is a stand-in for Hoori and he even calls Nini "Ninigi", directly referencing the legend. Konoha Oyama is possessed by Iwanaga Hime and she essentially takes over her mind. Which is evident in the final boss fight, especially when Nini strikes down Konoha, Iwanaga Hime says "So you choose Sakuya after all. I am so sad"
honestly the whole time loop and your friends getting possessed concept really interested me but every time I thought they couldn't go lower they did. honestly I might just write my own fan fiction with this concept and explore it properly and remove all the cousin fucking
I'm surprised you didn't mention one of the more popular loop games out there, Majora's Mask, though I definitely appreciate the increase in variety and comparing it to other loop-styled games (and dead-rising which has that as a sort of side thing). It's a shame this ended up being such a mess because the idea of figuring out how to maximize relationships with people and in turn maximize your own potential with them through the course of several loops, slowly gaining enough resources is so cool as an idea, it's bizarre how uninterested the final product looks to be about it. In-general, It kinda feels like the final product is made for THAT anime fan. The incredibly stereotypical one whose first reaction to seeing ANY GIRL is "I want to do the sex, I think she is hot"
While you were describing how the loops worked, I couldn't help but think about how much better Gnosia handled looping as a mechanic in comparison. And then you went ahead and mentioned it so I guess if ever I considered playing Loop8 I should just go replay Gnosia instead lol. For other games you could cover in this vein, you mentioned the original Neptunia. I'm not sure that by itself would be especially interesting to talk about, but maybe something else Compile Heart's made? Lord knows they have no end of mediocre-to-appalling games under their belt.
I'm convinced that Compile has made like 2 or 3 games that are actually good it's just that no one has ever played them because they're Compile Heart games so no one knows.
I... kinda agree? I wasn't fond of the whole "Tag, you're it!" system they had going (In the least because I was terrible at being the Gnosia), but the story seemed somewhat interesting. Only flaw being that it got a bit too easy when you had all the stats maxed
Having seen Kougaon's Various Daylife review last week this had me really thinking about how both are weirdly paced games that seem to pitch themselves as JRPGs that replace the level grind with a clever twist, both turn out to have that twist be mind-numbing grinding where you'll be mashing the skip button to progress time and both have a gross imbalance of their mind-numbing, budget-saving gimmick and actual JRPG combat and how Various Daylife felt like a deeply flawed game most wouldn't want to play but if one slogged through the entire thing it'd be hard to come out of hating it and that it'd be totally reasonable to hope for a sequel that touches up those issues and the other struggles to have any redeeming qualities at all. I'd say really it comes down to the writing, I think Various Daylife has a core concept that would be a lot easier to tune up into something actually fun than Loop8's "Dude, what if Persona but only the mundane parts" I think it's the fact that in one game getting a new dialogue events feels like a reward whereas the other has you skipping through them like a punishment. Maybe with a more compelling story and less morally dubious dating options we could have considered this a cult classic... or at least it'd have a better legacy than "That shit game where the most interesting element is how bad it wants you to fuck your cousin."
So, I worked in Japan for the past year, and had some really interesting discussions with actual Japanese people about some tropes in Japanese media: apparently normal people hate how often incest fetish content appears in popular media, but it's there to attract enthusiasts and boost sales...
This sounds like what someone who only ever heard what trashy JRPGs and visual novels were like, and made a game solely based on that with zero narrative or character. Michi’s instant kill speaks to that a lot: she can randomly kill you instantly because anime trash has the trope yandere character.
35:02: And, maybe if this was an all-nobody voice cast, I'd maybe go "Okay." But Xanthe "Haru Okumura" Hyunh? Cristina "Verosika Mayday" Valenzuela? Crispin "Alucard" Freeman? With a game like this, even THAT casting screams "spent more money on the voice acting than the game development" so...buh...?
Oh come now. It's a game set in a quaint little village somewhere in the Japanese countryside where you are but an ordinary high school transfer student. Of course you GONNA have COUSIN FUCKING
"Remember Time and Eternity?" I was having a good day, man. Why did you have to do this to me? EDIT: And on top of ruining my day, you also ruin all of Shelbyville's day.
The combat feels like someone tried to revive dating sims, realized this level of writing wasn't gonna cut it, and then using the rest of dev time to turn it into a JRPG so the player gets some semblance of entertainment
God, this didn't deserve this much depth, but I certainly appreciate it. Nice vid! Despite playing the hell out of JRPGs during the PS1/PS2 era, most of the bad ones did not remain in my memory (or collection). I think the worst one I kept on hand is maybe Magna Carta 2? Whose biggest sins I would say are technical rather than like, directly game design or writing.
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 88 | คู่เอก "ป้อมเพชร vs อัสลามจอน"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1ZqTVVbMgbo/mqdefault.jpg)
![ลองสุ่มไอโฟน 990 โกงมั้ย? [ โกงมั้ยครับ ep.101 ] | DOM](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bfsWe0j492k/mqdefault.jpg)
the number of people in the comments who have tried to assert to me, a person who can read Japanese, that cousin relationships is totally normal and accepted in Japan is totally insane lmao. Guys, it is so trivial to google the subject in Japanese and get pages of japanese posters going "no it's super weird don't do that" on forums and stuff. please stop basing your idea of an entire nation's cultural values off the porn you read, holy shit.
pinning this so it can act as a lightning rod for any weirdo disgruntled by this and also because just, holy crap, I had no idea this was such a pervasive belief amongst a certain kind of weeaboo. this website never fails to completely floor me with what it chooses to be wrong about
I think this is just a harem "trope" being on display here.
Given that the character designs were done by a Sword Art Online character designer, Shingo Adachi, it is possible the writers drew some inspiration from it, where there is that kind of romance (Kirito and Leafa who are cousins). Though in SAO situation, Kirito has a canonical partner, who is Asuna.
Notice how the MC in loop8 is called Nini, which could be a shorthand for "Onii-chan"
Leafa calls Kirito "Onii-chan" and Nanako calls MC "big bro"
The same situation, albeit without that kind of tension, can be found in Persona 4, where if you max Nanako's socal link, then at the ending scene, where you say goodbye to all of the people you maxed a social link with, the ending scene implies marriage, if the MC will be up to in in the future by Ryotaro Dojima
Nanako: "When I grow up, I want to marry you, big bro"
MC: "!"
Ryotaro: "Haha, you are a stud"
"Sure Nanako, if he is still available by the time you are an adult."
"But that will be a long time, won't it? Right?"
Dojima smiles, but he is looking straight into your eyes and doesn't seem to be joking
Granted, the Persona 4 example is very light and there are implications that Ryotaro doesn't want this to happen, but it is MC and cousin interaction, in a rather sweet way and a nice closure to a sweet Social Link with both Nanako and Ryotaro.
Loop8 is more akin to the SAO situation, rather than P4, though I just wanted to point examples in fictional media. It is most likely the common "childhood friend romance" that can be seen in JRPGs, like in the "Tales of" series by Namco Bandai.
I am not passing any judgement or criticism and this is fiction after all. There is not a thing that would be to everyone's liking and I don't think it is necessary to be so worked up about a harem "trope" done this way.
@@newby242My only question then is: why make them related?
I imagine most weebs like this have no close siblings or cousins because thinking about this dynamic genuinely makes me want to end it
Probably because they wanted to imitate the other things I mentioned (Persona, SAO). I imagine because it is close to the "childhood friend romance" thing@@joshlegacy1101
Then don't engage in things that offend you personally.
It is like Fear and Hunger. That game isn't for everyone and it is diivisive due to its content and presentation.
It is not like this game is saying that you should follow the main character's example or be like the main character.
Besides, the MC in loop8, Nini, is a mix of the protagonist in JRPG with dating sim elements - blank slate with defiined characteristics.@@wst34
I think Micchi is supposed to be a yandere, but like, normally you have some sort of explanation or foreshadowing to that behavior? She's just a random murderer.
Agreed and also hello fellow ENA enjoyer
Protag: hello
glasses girl: *stab*
protag: understandable have a nice day
There is foreshadowing to her behaviour, she says it in the few event dialogues.
(this is one of the few event dialogues she has)
"I want to study all sorts of things. Like you for example. I didn't mean it in a weird way, but a completely normal way."
Punchy ommitted showing this. Mostly because he didn't find the dialogue all that interesting.
Also, this only happens if any other character is at > 700 Affection and Micchi's affecton also croses over that treshold, when that is the case.
If Micchi is the only character with that amount of affection, this never happens.
The game calls this state of Nini being Affectionate with multiple people, "Playboy".
@@newby242Sure, it's foreshadowed, but if 90% of the game is uninteresting, then it doesn't matter.
Also, you're still not told that those specific conditions cause you to die and lose progress because you forgot to save and the one time the game kicks you out feels random.
@@djoshawott2850 Nevertheless, it is mentioned and the yandere clues are plentiful.
Though I do agree with the second point - the game should have had a message alluding to the killing act , even if it would be outside of the game's direct narrative or something like "I shouldn't have been romantical with other people. I feel nervous" and this would have given you the opportunity to save at the very least. But it doesn't so it feels random, even when it isn't.
It's implemented poorly, but the idea that there is a Yandere in this kind of persona-like game who will kill you outside the context of the dungeons is actually so funny
Honestly, if this were a better game it would really throw a wrench into the social links to have one girl go around stabbing your love interests for reasons entirely unrelated to the actual plot
That would be so funny if you had this and it acted like one of those old creepypasta, yet the game barely even acknowledges that it's happening, making it unnerving that, yeah, there are characters that are dying every time you are trying to romance them holy shit, you are not given any explanations of why they die.... until you manage to Piece out that it's because you were too nice to this one NPC in the early game (bonus point if the npc is like really miserable when you first approach her just so that people might feel morally obligated to make her feel better only to realize how much they fucked up)
Yandere?
Yandere Simulator!!! Yandere Dev!!!
CONSOOOOOM THE CUM CHALICE!!!!!
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I need you to find a cactus
genuinely almost enough to make me go try out the game. almost.
WTF?!
XD
i mean, there is akechi /j
the thought of the MC having to walk on eggshells and use magic to not be killled by his yandere gf is genuinely hilarious
You know that one SpongeBob scene where a guy opens his front door, Patrick says "I love you" and the guy slams it shut immediately? That's what the romance in this game is, except you're given no option to shut the door.
Ah yeah, the episode when Bob and Patrick try to sell chocolates.
SHUT THE DOOR. PLEASE. LET ME SHUT THE DOOR. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
I think the romance options are funny and based but man I hate the Persona 3 approach of locking you in a route. Like bro you don't even give indication that its happening
Uh!? So it's like the thing it's nothing alike at all?
@@CBman11037
If pedophilia is based then I don't wanna be based
Hori’s thing is that he is possessed by Ichika’s and Nini’s Kid in another life ever since the accident that he mentioned. So he starts calling you dad because he thinks he is Nini’s son from the future but he realizes that he was possessed and gets sad about it until he talks to Nini about it an becomes his friend. The problem was that this explanation will just randomly occur as you become friends and he just flat out won’t tell you about it at all.
what the hell
Also this game’s ending system is ass. You have to max out only one character while ignoring the rest especially Konoha if you get the forced romance dialogue you will be locked into the bad ending no matter what if you save the world. It took me 77 hours to 100% this game because of this
@@groovydude1576 what kind of absolte psychopath are you to play this for 77 hours!? are you ok? are you being held hostage?
@@groovydude1576 I was really annoying after seeing the main girl epilogue the second time and got burned out of it. They should have atleast let us make a choice after the final boss instead of this half assed priority system.
@@groovydude1576you are a hero.
So just to be clear, you can date your grandmother, cousin, your teacher, and an elementary schooler but not the bisexual guy?
As it should be.
Based devs
@@CBman11037 BEGONE BIGOT
@@terrormask2475 Trust me, we all will play literally anything else.
Persona 4
@@terrormask2475 I will be playing something else I’m just saying it’s odd how the grandma and cousin can get it but not someone else who isn’t related to the pc and a reasonable age.
Micchi is even stronger than the evil gods. When she knifes you, you immediately Game Over and don't even get to time leap.
gods, demons, they all bown down to the most powerful force in the universe
a teenage anime girl with a sharp knife
Only boss you can't beat even with max stats eh
It's incredibly funny that she does it when she's... Happy? Pfft.
"I mostly dated the fox girl."
Heh. Looks like we found this guy's type. 😏 Bake 'em away, toys!
"The other options are: your cousin, your grandmother, a robot, an elementary schooler, and a girl who kills you!"
Well... Okay then. Fox girl it is.
"I just wants a girl that will just kill me"
@@theotv5522"I want us to be completely different people after the first 8 hours."
A girl who kills you? I might need to play this...
Tamamo: ... NOPE. That universe is banned!
WOW, Master... That's some fast typing! Didn't know you had clearance -- You DON'T. HUH.
I gotta find a way to use "😏 bake 'em away, toys" in the future
Sorry to comment twice on the same video but a thought just struck me: The leaf on Beni's head is a visual indicator for a transformed animal (you see it most often with tanuki). This would imply her real form is a fox and that even the most normal romance is, secretly, bestiality.
A leaf. Tom Nook is a Tanuki that uses a leaf as his logo. My God.....
Don't mind me, just laughing at all the offended zoomers
I just apply the Kirk Protocol to situations like those.
@@ootdegaWhat offended zoomers??
@@ootdegaThe brave animal-fucker has come
Ok so, i know the entire comment section has already clowned on pretty much every aspect of the game, rightfully so. But for me, what actually takes the cake is the whole "if the boss hates you the fight gets harder". See that's really cool, it's interesting, it's a bit humanizing since even as giant JRPG bosses all these kids still seem to hold a degree of understanding of the world around them, not fully under the control of The Curse™or whatever. But the fact that you can get a game reset from that alone is fucking awful.
So my ADHD brain actually thought back to a completly unrelated JRPG, SMT IV. In IV, the major bosses will often talk to you, asking what you fight for, your goals, how you view your actions, etc. And your answer actually changes the fight, nerfing or buffing the boss. What if, in order to actually be able to deal significant damage to the boss and not die in two hits if your friendship with the character was bad, you could actually talk to any of the possessed cast. Trying to make them see why this isn't a good idea, trying to work out their problems, their feeling, bonding with them in the middle of the fight when emotions are at all time high.
And let's even double dip on this idea. In a theoretical world where you couldn't max friendships halfway through the month, what if you actually had to carefully pick who and when to spend time with, getting to know them personally, their feelings about the world, etc. What if you could take that info into a new loop, and in the case a character that you got a good bond on a previous loop with them and in this one you didn't, what if you could use your information from the previous loop to actually help them out, to speak to them with a level of understanding they didn't expect. There's maybe even a sense of necessary cruelty in your actions, as you reveal very personal secrets and information to them that, by all means, you shouldn't know, simply to get a shot at saving their lives.
I don't want to sound like im getting high on my own farts, but fuck me, i think i spent more time on this random youtube than they did on the design document.
Yeah, something like that could be interesting; says a lot that a random TH-cam watcher could spend more time to come up with interesting ideas than the people actually making the blasted game.
!!!
you. you get it.
What'd be a cool implementation of using character relationships during loops is maybe if you didn't get close to a character who became a boss during a given loop, you could choose to take a sympathetic tone or twist the knife into their insecurities, having to choose whether you want to try to mend the relationship or whether you want to sacrifice any easy chance of them trusting you in return for a significantly easier boss
when even randos on the internet can be better video game directors
Ok look. You are getting high on your own farts.
And I want a huff. Give me this game. GIMME.
Why the fuck are you able to romance multiple characters, if the endings are all about your cousin?
@@NeremworldWait so, he got TOO affectionate with everyone and that fucked up ALL endings?! You know what, at least make the ultimate harem orgy ending. Fuck it, at least it’s a pay off
@@Elementroar No, actually, you only able to get the ending of the person who you fully romance (max values, except Hate) first) while not romancing Konoha at all.
@@Neremworld Playtesting it for the programmers was actually really simple, the game had an extensive debug menu, where they could set the required values quickly.
The ending system is actually really simple, but you'll only know that once you are on the other side of the problem.
You can get only one character ending per playthrough and the conditions for it are:
- Konoha's Friendship and Affection has to be < max
- your chosen character has to have max Friendship and Affection
- You choose to kill Konoha
That's it. There is nothing more to it.
@@Neremworld If it is indeed EVERYBODY (including Konoha), then you default to Konoha, yes. Konoha takes precedent over everyone (it also doesn't help that she is very easy to romance and get her to the tresholds).
If no one else meets the condition, then you default to the "bad ending" as well.
It is supposed to reference the legend about Ninigi and Konohanasakuya-Hime after all.
It makes sense, if you realize what story the game is trying to tell/reference. The fact that it doesn't come across well at all is another thing entirely.
It is not transparent at all to the player, which is basically the whole game. I can see the logic, but only after figuring it out.
So basically this is a dating sim that doesn't care about your choices and just forces you to pick one option anyways? Even if you go the harem route? That just defeats the purpose of this kind of game.
this feels like what people who really hate persona think a persona game is
Persona is a lot of what this guy discribes here...
So Eternights
@@fallenose683 At least you can’t date a relative.
Eternights lets you be bisexual tho @@karamarakamarama
I strongly disagree. I find Persona so unbearably boring and contrived that I hate everything about it, and can’t even watch my favorite streamer play it. So I can say with certainty that this game is not what I think Persona is.
What I think is that someone without budget and time wanted to make their own Persona game but got confused and based all the designs off Yandere Simulator.
"Even with no world, there's still cousin-fucking." is a quote for the ages that I'm probably going to be thinking of for days, it just genuinely floored me to hear that one. This sure is one of the video games ever. It was developed! It got published. You can make button inputs and it reacts to them.
Also, on the off-chance you go for more deep-dives on terrible JRPGs... Hoshi wo Miru Hito *has* to be one of them, right?
that was absolutely on my list if I revisit this general concept yeah. i've kinda wanted to talk about it ever since they re-released it for five bucks on the switch lol
so your ending options are:
>cousin fucking
>cousin fucking
>bad ending
hi tori
@@PunchyYT please play hoshigami. it is like the worst jrpg (strategy gameplay though) i've played that isn't just hydlide 2 or lagoon.
@@PunchyYT I'd also suggest tales of destiny 1 but that is really just a case of me not vibing with the plot at all, because its gameplay is like. passable for ps1 era tales. its plot is just mediocre compared to the tales games surrounding it (phantasia, eternia, destiny 2. did not play symphonia onwards yet)
the speed with which you just blitzed past "also, you can date your grandma" had me reeling. like. your biological grandma? how does she like... rationalize... dating you? hello????????
sorry like i should add this is a fantastic and articulate video just, it's hard for me to get past this, what is wrong with this game
Which is then immediately followed up with your teacher and then a preschooler, who are both dateable.
Subtlety is not Loop8's MO, apparently
This already happened in Timerider and Futurama. It's nothing new.
@@doublinx2it's an elementary kid which at best will be in 6th grade. It's still kinda weird but that's values dissonance for you.
Philip J Fry simulator
I think the biggest gripe I have with the intentionally limited frame rate on character animations is that the same limit is not imposed on the camera, or things like hair physics (from what I could tell from the footage). The mismatch in frame rates is what makes my brain ache.
And with it extended to the combat animation, it just makes the combat look like it's lagging.
watching beni tweak out in her idle with mismatched frames was killing me
That is unbelievably cursed.
it's really funny how absolutely boring and uninspired the male character designs are compared to the female ones like they didn't even try
That goes for male designs in Japanese media across the abroad tbh. Like the ladies are so colorful, but the dudes look straight up out of a harem anime some times.
That's the point. They're designed to be not overly intrusive or standout in any way, so as to help the player "feel" like the MC. Whether or not one agrees with this is irrelevant as it's the default template in designing JRPG's.
That’s actually good
Ya that pratique really needs to die cause it’s not working. The only thing it’s doing is making the man character really forgettable. And you can have a character who’s easy to see your self as in has a good design. For example Joker from persona 5, easily to put yourself in his shoes and has a strong design that people remember and will be able to identify.
Also the argument doesn’t explain why the male npc all look so generic. The only thing that differs them is their hat and that one of them is fat.
It’s honestly a shame. It’s felt like they had a character designed for the girls and for the guy one of the dev juste looks at his clothes and was « ehhh that will do. »
The Micchi bit is still sending me I don't understand how they didn't foreshadow any of that, nor let you know what causes her to kill you? Why is she the only character like this? Why does she actively deter the game's one goal it presents to the player? It might have been interesting if characters had difficulties you had to overcome to actually get close to them, or perhaps were even genuinely terrible people you have to make nice with just to overcome their bosses, but Micchi being a yandere for the sake of fulfilling a trope is mindboggling. At least give the player a dialogue check, one chance to notice something's up and leave before straight up killing them. Make the mood UI say eerie or unsettling or something just to tip the player off.
i think what's funny is that she has a completely normal ending if you successfully finagle her character ending. you just have to, y'know, constantly dance around the landmine that is "may instantly kill you" the whole time and it will never be brought up by anyone
@@PunchyYT That's honestly impressive, that this one trait is so sequestered away. What was their goal with her. Was it remnants of an earlier draft? A joke they decided to leave in? We'll never know.
What do you mean "no foreshadowing"?
She has a fringe covering one eye and the gloomy pigtails in a game full of harem anime stereotypes
She might as well be wearing a "nice boat" shirt
She's like the lovechild of Fukawa from Dangan Ronpa and Yuri from DDLC
Honestly, I kinda like that in the midst of all these normal (or uh, at least not murderous) romance option girls, there's also this surprise yandere just tossed in there to keep you on your toes. Not that the execution is great by any means lord no, but I find the concept not just funny but also kind of potentially interesting from a gameplay standpoint.
I'm not going to say this is clever or subversive or anything like that because I'm sure there's tons of games like this that've done the same, but I like it. Hot take? If so, I own it.
Actually one of the funniest parts of this video to me was the cut to the title screen after the stabbing, not great from a gameplay standpoint but definitely the best approach from a comedic standpoint.
The fact all the endings can be described with "the writers barley disguised festish" is really impressive in a morbid way
Exactly like bg3 and that won goty
@@niggeman5896???
@niggeman5896 shit b8 m8
@@niggeman5896How so? The endings in BG3 almost seem too uninspired to be fetishistic. Unless I am missing something
@@Denizu ye not exactly the endings but the whole fucking game
I do have to wonder if this is not just some upscale hentai game that got reworked into a serious title a few months before release. It certainly has all the hallmarks of it.
Basic and borderline unnecessary combat? Check.
Gameplay loop mostly made up of repetitive visual novel evets? Check.
Every character falling for the MC in a matter of minutes? Check.
Incest? Check.
Lolis? Check.
honestly I was wondering just this - it looks like a more sfw h game lol, if not a more advanced idle gacha game
I got big Artificial Academy 2 vibes.
@@k3salieri I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought this as he was describing the game lol.
@@k3salieri Yeah characters spazzing out walking into each other in the classroom
@@k3salieri the room mood mechanic is pulled up from there 100%, I saw it no where else and it's just as cryptic.
Honestly, the idea of a game where bosses are demonically possessed versions of various characters, and the status of your relationship with that possessed character affecting factors in the boss battle sounds like such an interesting idea for a JRPG with social mechanics. Especially if the possession is at random, since it gives an incentive to interact with all the characters and build relationships. Just need to make those characters more interesting and complex, give the protagonist some actual agency, and follow an actual plot line lmao
hell have an actual story would be a goodstart
maybe an actual villain instead of your cousin being possessed randomly by random demons
For real, imagine if you could still talk to them in boss form, apologizing if they hate you and causing them to become easier because of that, or have your romance partner refusing to forgive you if you cheat on them
@@alanmonteros6432 Undertale style Act mechanics in a social JRPG
Absolutely floored at how much this game really needs you to have an intimate relationship with your cousin.
Truly the most relatable of plights
It is because the game is supposed to be about Ninigi, Konohanasakuya-Hime and Iwanaga Hime.
Nini is Ninigi
Konoha is Konohanasakuya-Hime
Iwanaga-Hime is the "god monster"
They just have chosen the most familiar dating sim/visual novel archetypes to tell/reference this story.
@newby242 What are you yapping about? Isn’t a Ninigi some sort of vegetable?
@@jobreau1725 I think it's that snake from Harry Potter.
@@jobreau1725 I think these are all Shinto deities? So it's making references to Shinto mythology, apparently.
Boss HP scales with number of party members? How did they make the power of friendship a liability?
Hypothetically I think a yandere would be perfect for this kinda game. Think about it, If you wanted to loop but didn't want to wait for the world to end, Having a yandere to kill you to force the loop would be perfect! But the yandere stab doesn't trigger the loop so I guess not?
"Oh great, I messed that up. Gotta restart. Hey Micchi, honey? I'm seeing another woman. Yes, she's prettier than you"
@@jackhazardous4008 thats very funny to think about
Yeah, I guess they treated it as a funny easter egg. Clearly, they did not think it through.
Even funnier if yandere is the one NPC to be aware of the time loop.
Hooooly shit I knew this game had issues but I was not aware of the sheer depths of kusoge going on here. I'm so deathly curious as to the design process as the game seemingly constantly flirts with interesting and good options and then goes "but what if it were really bad instead?"
Honestly the entire thing is so insane I kind of forgot the plot hook is that Nini's parents died trying to go to space.
I've only watched the first 15 minutes of the video and I'd already forgotten that too, holy shit. I know demons and alternate dimensions are cool and all, but how can you introduce space travel and a mostly ruined Earth and then just COMPLETELY. FORGET. ABOUT. IT. for the rest of the plot??? Everything else is Stereotypical Japanese Countryside to the point it feels like that intro thing is a placeholder from a different game and they forgot to remove it....
I can't stop staring at Beni's neutral stance during combat. What is that animation? Is she slapping her fan, swiping at the air, what is that animation??
It distracted me the whole time too like ???
I think she’s dancing? But yeah, absolutely baffling.
While the twist yandere thing is not the most baffling thing plot-wise this game has, it is something that will haunt me for a few days; why would the implement it? It is so confusing and out of the loop and i don't know how this would make for a satisfying to any players due to how sudden it feels and how the mechanic is both hard to balance and terribly predictable it feels.
It is certainly One of the Games Ever Made. Thanks for the video! In-depth videos of games such as this one are such a delight to watch~
i honestly like the yandere thing. its one of the very few things in the game that is note worthy. imagine an actual good game like this but one romance interest is assigned a yandere trait where there is a chance to kill you. youd constantly be wondering who it is and if your in danger. but as shes the only one like this and nothing works here it just sits there as a baffling bad end landmine.
@@angelofdeath251 yeah i can see it being a fun thing to add to a game that requires you to bond with characters to progress. I just wonder why she's in the game at all because it felt like a last minute 'gotcha' moment.
But the idea of having a hidden yandere character that you can only discover by clues is super neat and would add a lot of flavour if implemented well
Like, it could be a cool mechanic if it was implemented better, such as her only trying to murder you when you encounter her alone *and* she's in a good mood. Or... *something* that would make it harder for you to kick into death.
@@matildarose There's a number of ways it could be done; like maybe her murdering you being a consequence of abusing the loop too much( so while the characters would still not be aware of it, being forced to reset many times would make their sanity/morale to wane because of karma or something).
Or maybe if her plotline was a bit more flashed out so it doesn't feel like a badly designed trap to push you into a game over out of the blue with no pay off. There's just so many ways to go about it and the game kind of chooses nothing
after playing Baldur's Gate 3, I am permanently immune to being surprised by an infinite number of NPCs all trying to sleep with me five minutes after I meet them
Shadowheart wants the rizz
@@axeoseilez3207
Don’t you mean Jizz? 😂
Well, at least there's no Bear...
@@cro-magnoncarol4017 As if the lack of such is a positive!
This is why I don’t self-insert games with romance plots/subplots.
It shatters my immersion.
The fox girl character's design looks way too familiar to me, I swear I have seen it before...also her design skill wise sticks out compared to the other really bland characters, which makes me really wonder if it's stolen. It's also incredible how much the main character gives me Yandere Dev protagonist vibes.
Ikr? She looks like a Kemono Friend or a VTuber ... The design is very familiar but I don't know what exactly it parallels ..
She kinda looks like a touhou character.
Maybe Izuna from No Game No Life? They're both fox girls with shoulder length hair who wear a miko outfit.
God she looks like Pekora.
The fox girl slightly reminds me of the basic ELF you get in Honkai Impact 3rd - The one that's also slightly important in the Samsara story. (Correct me if any of this is wrong, I haven't played the game in a few months.)
So a guy came up to me today and was like "Hey I need your help demons are coming and we need to destroy them together"
And I was like "But you haven't bought me a frappé yet! no friendship for you!"
I just hate to see a game like this where the design team clearly had some ideas, interesting looking other world and fluid animations.
Well one minus there is of course the colourful ladies next to the "Plain looking human males" ai generator prompts.
Also speedrun when?
That walk cycle is so slow and janky that the first time it happened, before the commentary got to discussing it, I genuinely thought the game had a problem keeping a consistent framerate while doing basic walking around town lmao
This gave me flashbacks to the PS3 era, and the gigantic waves of the most generic and bland JRPGs ever conceived, huge props for having patience to go through them.
Gen7 really was the dark age of the console RPG. We got Ni no Kuni and Lost Odyssey out of it I guess.
@@NucleaRaptorAnd then Ni no Kuni became a crypto project. Fun.
@@brawler5760 wait what?
@@NucleaRaptor Yep, Cross Worlds
holy shit yes before i looked closer at the vid title i thought this was a ps3 game remake for a few mins
The cousin-relationships thing is actually a cultural difference. As someone who knows a little Japanese, I've discovered that it's actually considered honorable to enter a relationship with your cousin in certain regions of Alabama.
Had me in the first half ngl!
Lmao. You had me
Alabama prefecture lol
Alabama-hama@@Miraihi
Also It's more popular in the Middle-East and North-Africa than in Alabama.
I'm kind of in awe at this game forcing the player into romances without any good warning, in particular when the subject is _the player character's cousin or an elementary student._ One thing to include a lolicon or incest option, another to be a designer who naturally assumes the audience befriending the character _must_ be into lolicon/incest or otherwise they wouldn't be interacting with them. Heaven forbid that the player might just want to _roleplay a good cousin_ or anything, clearly if you're talking to family you _want_ to fuck 'em.
That said, my problem with the cousin-fucking that's going on here is mainly in that they chose to put it in a game that both has what is essentially a self-insert protagonist and gives the player no agency in avoiding it. It'd be one thing if we had a defined protagonist who was into his cousin (that could still be handled poorly of course, but at least there'd be more of a separation between player and MC), or if we were allowed to just _not_ engage in cousin-fucking, and it's another thing to make a self-insert protag who is forced into wanting to cousin-fuck without any say from the player who is _supposed to be self-inserting onto the protagonist._
Building a friendship with Konoha also seems like a logical course of action to take right away, since Konoha is the last family Nini has (other than his grandma, though you don't know that she's his grandma at the start, and she's romanceable too), and he might find comfort in that. Surprise, bitch, it's Alabama!
Pretty sure anyone would go for the cousin if she looked that cute.
@@thenonexistinghero
The way I can smell your comment
@@l.2620 I never did my own cousin. The one cute cousin I had in my teen years was not blood-related to me and she was already sleeping around when she was 13 and I never got along with her. Of course, if I had a cute blood-related cousin like the protagonist in this game that I did get along with then obviously f*** yeah I'd go for it.
And I can assure you it's the same for the majority of men, even the posers pretending they wouldn't.
@@thenonexistinghero brother there is no way you just said that so proudly💀
Calling a robot Machina is like calling a person "fleshroids"
Not the first one to do so, The Caligula Effect 2 did the exact same thing (calling a robot Machina)
Hugh Man is a perfectly reasonable name thank you very much.
@@seb24789 Hubert M. Manfred is a perfect gentleman.
@@seb24789 if it was good enough for Interstellar then it's good enough for anything else
Xenoblade Chronicles literally has machine people called "the Machina" as one of the four main intelligent species of the game. They even have a strange life-cycle (the babies are kept in hover pods that feeds them their nutrients, which they will stay in for the next 1000 years of their lives until they outgrow them) that implies that they are somewhat organic lifeforms instead of being completely mechanical.
(sonic voice) woah he's bissexual! I didnt know that!
I kept hearing Lupe instead of Looping, and now I can't stop picturing the main character with a sombrero, poncho, and incredibly racist mustache.
Perfect
Just made it easier to digest
*GRACIAS!*
XD
I mean, he basically keeps saying "Lupe" when he says "Loop8" due to how he basically doesn't pronounce the latter half of "Eight".
So it's the mustache specifically that makes it racist, I see, I see... (Furious note taking)
Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if the devs actually added that to the game
This game feels like what people who don’t play jrpgs think what jrpgs are
unfortunately, many of our games are like this. there are shelves upon shelves full of this, but mostly only the "good" stuff i guess gets localized to other country. people complain about it over here, but it is like screaming into a volcano
this feels more like a Persona parody to me simply because of the relationship and time management system, unless there are other JRPG’s with a time management system that I’m unaware of
The questionable logic and morals of these dating games fucking kill me. You can get into pedophilic and/incestuous romances with your relatives, but the devs draw the line allowing you to date another dude character!!
That's japan for you.
Only Yuri couples are allowed in these games
It's almost like most people who make and/or play games are straight or something XD
Japan has a...'complicated' relationship with LGBTQ stuff.
And even then, it's rare af. @@vgc_ivan8391
Women are known as the fairer sex for a reason. I’d take any of them before the random bisexual.
So in a sense, they managed to invent what is basicly a visual novel, but with backtracking!? That's almost impressive...
Like a book recapping the story up to that point, every time you begin a new chapter!
A very shitty visual novel, yes.
Reminds me of how Hideaki Anno was fired from the series Kare Kano for, among other things, having a recap that grew longer with each episode.
"This probably wasn't the coverage they were hoping for" 😂
I'm glad the brainspiders compelled you to make a Probably-Longer-Than-It-Deserves video about this game because it is wonderfully awfully fascinating. As you said about having a fondness for these bad and/or janky but still interesting games, I also share that feeling towards them so I'm delighted to see more of them.
I would have said "I wonder how that Eternights game turned out" but apparently as of the time of commenting it is not out, eta is Sept 12th so possible future title to take a look at? people also commented on it being "persona-like", which means as much as saying something is "soulslike", but you get the idea.
anyway, great video, Punchy!
I have played the demo of Eternights and while it did frankly, make an impressively terrible impression on me we'll have to see how it lands on launch
@@PunchyYTit looks horrible art wise but gameplay seems fine so is it good
So, I'm learning that in every game with a dialogue tree, the purple haired anime girl classmate is Yuri from DDLC.
I wonder if purple means insanity in Japan
So idk if anyone posted this but i looked up a guide for this game and apparently the character endings are determined by who's affection you max out first. And since from what I am gathering of your plot summary you meet Konoha first it's not surprising you got locked into the "cousin romance" ending because you will most likely end up maxing her affection first. This really is just one more way the game is obtusely designed it seems :D
Yeah... that's kinda what irks me, people only pay attention to the cousin romance and use it as the basis for their argument without taking into account that there are more than one ending (I was working on getting Ichika's ending... buuuuut Beni kept provoking the boss to the point that it one-shot Ichika. Not touched the game since)
That is what I assumed from how Punchy described the game -- you get locked to whoever you romance first. I assumed he would have tried a fresh playthrough to test this mechanism, but I guess not.
The girl kick-to-title-screen murdering you out of nowhere in a game where, usually, death means a bit of a setback is some incredibly strong "guns being deadly in cutscenes but lame in gameplay" type stuff
Yandere girls have the power to break timeloops apparently
Oh yes. Everyone knows that the Endless Eight in Haruhi Suzumiya was THE favorite moment in all of anime history. Making a videogame that tries to inhabit that energy for 50+ hours couldn't POSSIBLY be considered a new form of torture. SURELY it will be a monster of a hit. /s
Honestly, at least endless 8 was committing to the bit. It was pure torture for everyone watching, but you can tell that someone was getting some kind of schadenfreude out of forcing people through it.
This doesn't even have that
I made it through the first two bosses gathering magatama and only encountered the “standard enemy” during the tutorial. I legitimately figured they only included it for that combat tutorial. I didn’t know I was wrong about this until I watched this video. This game is really something else man.
Never have I been called "stinky" in a metaphorical sense and actually believed I truly was "stinky" for my naivete in thinking this game would have robust gameplay fundamentals that are established in the tutorial of a game and then expanded upon as the game progresses. Shame on me, indeed. I am stinky.
EDIT: Also, vague implications of a friendship progressing is my favorite kind. Are we now best friend? Romantic lovers? We locked eyes for two seconds, so that must mean something!
Genuinely love the video. It's great to finally hear a level headed person talk about these kinds of games without saying "game sucks because slow and not open world".
I'm all for a continued spelunking journey into the depths of JRPG insanity/inanity. I don't have any such suggestions of the Japanese variety (yet), but if I manage to sniff one out on my strange internet journeys, I'll be sure to let you know
If you want another bad time loop story I’d recommend the VN Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa which is a VN that barely builds relationships with your “main party”, randomly throws plot points at you out of nowhere or never addresses other plot points, straight up spoils the main twist on the box cover if you’re pay the slightest bit of attention and whose antagonist essentially gets away Scot free with their crimes. Also it’s main gameplay feature is a random matching puzzle mode which involves stripping the character you’re against, I am not joking. Also to fully complete the game you have to go down extremely specific dialogue options and there’s one specific scene that I had incredible amounts of difficulty getting because it’s locked behind multiple highly specific choices which required me to reset the loop like 10+ times.
Yep, seems like their main focus was on the fanservice instead of the story
It's annoying having to go back and forth in the story to try and find the words needed to progress, lol
Oh I saw that game and I like the idea of the 7 Mysteries in fiction, but the stripping always threw me off.
Sucks to know there were other problems.
Oh I saw that game and I like the idea of the 7 Mysteries in fiction, but the stripping always threw me off.
Sucks to know there were other problems.
@@kirah.7106 if the game was leaning more towards being an eroge I think it’d be fine but for the most part it’s trying to be like a thriller or drama. Weird tonal balance.
Would absolutely love to see more analysis/review style videos about bad games. The perspective of someone who enjoys kusoge is _so_ interesting, and something you see very rarely in scripted stuff.
I think Time & Eternity might be interesting since you mentioned that in the video. If Japanese isn't too significant a barrier for you, I might also recommend Airs Adventure. It's a Saturn RPG spearheaded by the creator of Tower of Druaga and Xevious, and it's hilariously incompetent in absolutely everything it sets out to do. Overly simple gameplay, nonsense story, and it basically killed the guy's career. It's pretty amazing!
Oh don't worry, while Punchy can read Japanese, it will do nothing to help in Airs Adventure as you quest for Orb Soil and other plot devices, often settling situations instantly to carefully sidestep interesting gameplay segments just like this game! (will not spoil the final sidestep, oh boy haha). At least it has way more combat than in this game, but overall it's not that long or difficult. For the speedrun, I grind for ~15 minutes in front of the first hard boss, then never again. The music is absolutely fantastic though, I feel for that poor composer working on it...
WOW
XD
"She's your grandma despite looking young because how time works differently in space.."
Geez, that's kinda weird. Well, I doubt you don't need to worry about her being a romancable option-
"You can date her."
WHAT THE HELL GAME?
"You can also date an elementary school girl."
All right, I'm out. You can date anyone who doesn't have anything between their legs whether their age or personal relations but the game thinks that dating a dude would be ToO WeIRD.
Did you miss the part where the jock ended up coming out as bisexual to you? Also, the fox girl is probably just a fox yokai that can turn into a human with her powers because you can see the leaf on her head, there's also a bit of bestiality in there. XD
@@xrosslegends1279 No, I didn't miss that part but it didn't seem like you could date him either way. Or can you?
@@KirbyIsCute Not sure, he only really showed the ending with the cousin and the one with the robot girl I think, with the illustrations in the end.
Honestly ya. Those two sound much more funny and creative to me then gay romance. If it offends you just don't play it my guy.
I ain't goin on threads on Yaoi games complainin bout the lack of cute girls. I just don't touch that stuff. Why is that such a hard concept to grasp for yall
@@CBman11037 It's not so much that it offends me than confuses me. The main character seems to have no standards or real preference when it comes to dating and never turns down a love confession no matter who it is. Your teacher? Cool. A half monster girl? Cool. A Robot? Cool. A yandere who'll kill you when she's in a good mood? Cool. Your grandmother? Cool. Your cousin? Cool. A flipping elementary school girl!?? Yeah, he'll go for that.
I might not care if the guys were non romance able if the choice of girls you can woo are much better options - kind of like the Persona games (even though 5 lets you date adults which is... yeah).
I agree with Punchy that the romance options are horrible to the point I'd rather go gay because at least the guys seem pretty normal and around your age - and not related to you. Eh, I'll stick to Persona games when I want some better girl characters to date.
Wow, anime school setting, NPCs awkwardly wandering around, barebones social interaction system, characters falling in love with you after two seconds - this is just Koikatsu Party minus the good parts!
The idle animation of the fox girl during battle hurts my brain
You know, when the video started i thought to myself “man this is a really cool concept. I know the video’s about it being bad, but i could probably enjoy it even with some flaws”. The rest of the video determined that that was a lie
Most relevant plot bits are a retelling of Tenson Kourin, the mythical history about the japanese imperial lineage which is about Amaterasu's grandson, Ninigi no Mikoto, descent from heavens to the land of the man Ashihara no Nakatsukuni, Hori calls the main character dad because he's possesed by the spirit of Ninigi no Mikoto's son, Hoori, the main deal with Konoha and Ichika is that those two respectively are reincarnation/possessed of Iwanagahime and Konohanasakuya-hime(They're also cousin in the myths), Ninigi no Mikoto wanted to marry Konohanasakuyahime and rejected Iwanagahime. Iwanagahime/Konoha is now pissed because she was rejected.
I was interested in this game because of Gunparade March fame, but this being "empty" and oversimplified made me disappointed, wouldn't say I disliked it and I really hope we get the other games made by Shibamura translated which includes Kenran Butou Sai which is regarded as kusoge by some.
There are also some novel prequels that was posted online in japanese, there was someone translating those. I didn't care enough to read those, and honestly if they were important it would have been put into the game to begin with.
I took this off my wishlist 5 minutes in and it kept going, thank you for your service!
Also, it's not really *horrible*, or a turn based jrpg for that matter (rather an action rpg) but I always think of Avalon Code despite not having touched it in over a decade, because despite it being mediocre to actively bad in many respects (extremely repetitive dungeons, ridiculous grind, conflicting inputs, Japanese text left into the game etc) it at least had a palpable amount of ambition with its core design of being able to mix and match traits from almost every object in the game.
23:36 Loop8 "How dare you seek a normal relationship! YOU SHALL NOW DIE!"
Perfectly said! XD
Bad games are fun when they're earnest. People cared making this and there's competence on display but... somebody still signed off on the cousin fucking (Dan Harmon maybe?) and couldn't figure out how to make the overall game interesting. It's a shame. Stuff like this does fascinate me! Thanks for the video!
I think there's a lot less social stigma attached to relationships with cousins in Japan. I am not Japanese, nor am I an authority on these types of social customs, but I've heard that they don't frown on it as hard as we do in the west. Even though it's still considered extremely taboo in the west, once you get to second cousins, the increased risk of birth defects (above background) is extremely low, so it kind of makes sense (that they would be less concerned) from an evolutionary perspective.
TL;DR: It's weird and gross to us, but not _as_ weird or gross to the Japanese. Which is why you are more likely to see it in Japanese fiction.
@@michaelcalvin42 While I've never personally heard a case of cousin relationship, a psychologist once told me it's not only legal, but completely normal and not that uncommon here in Brazil.
Personally I don't know how to feel about it.
@@Hambs23 😨
@@EdgeLie In the west, sure. But we're talking about Japan.
@@EdgeLie I'm not using anime as my source (although it is pretty common in anime, so the culture is obviously there.) Please do not assume the knowledge level of Internet strangers. From the way you're talking, it sounds like your knowledge level is not the highest on this subject either, and the all caps approach is not helping you out there.
>gets review copy
>calls it worst rpg of the year
based
I think what this game sets out to be is this anime harem fantasy where everyone fawns over your character. While this is pretty tropey and anime-cringey, I feel it could be twisted to subvert expectations and make something unique.
My idea: At first glance, you notice how easy is it to start a relationship with people, regardless of gender and sexual orientation.
You think nothing of this. But a few loops later, you realize that this sense of attraction is not normal. Its compelled.
You have some sort of nefarious power that makes it very easy to win over the hearts and mind of people. And when some people break out of your spell, they notice something is wrong - that they have been charmed by your powers and start being fearful to you but cant do anything about it because you still have your harem willing to throw themselves in front of you.
However you want to go about this, is your own provocative. Whether you choose the path of evil and become a abusive overlord for the greater good or come clean about your powers and actually gain the hearts of people naturally.
That sounds like a good idea
genuinely baffling how a game ends up this scuffed. thank you so much for wasting your time on it for us
This game feels so much like what people who don't play Atlus games think they're like that I'm starting to wonder if it's actually meant as a parody of Persona.
hearing the word "instagib" used in a jrpg review threw me for a loop
"out of the loop"
Sup daddy
9:14 Well, if I had a nickel for every time I saw Punchy guide a pink fox girl to battle, I'd have two nickels - which isn't a lot, but it's interesting that it has happened twice.
The Persona comparisons are kinda moot at this point but honestly Loop8 looks like a game made by people who really wanted to capture the Persona styled plot and gameplay but coudn't understand anything about why do the neo Persona games work like they do.
Like, even leaving aside the crackhead romance options and system that scream "writer's barely disguised fetish", the plot is super bare bones even when trying to tap into the same themes of self indivitlduation and shit, and the gameplay looks like an after thought. Honestly, i'd be suprised if they actually got playtesters before shipping this game.
Ah yes. The traditional Japanese town of Alabama.
SWEEET HOME ASHIHARA 🎶
Where the monsters are so black 🗣🗣🗣🗣
@@dankultimate3929 SWEET HOME ASHIHARA
GET MY COUSIN OFF MY BACK
(Banjo solo)
I would happily watch more RPG kusoge, though I sincerely hope other games can keep the cousin fuckery to a minimum.
"I like dudes." "Huh...fair enough man, me too."
Same, bro.
This is like the video game version of so-bad-they're-funny movies, count me in as someone who would happily watch more vids like this. :)
Dang, this game insistence of making your cousin your true love interest, makes me wonder if this game was made in Shelbyville.
"I'll tell you, I won't create a game that robs the men of their right to marry their cousins!"
I hope there is the beginning of a long running series of worst games of all genres
If these devs made Persona 4, Nanako would be the first romance option available I swear 🤮
@@Crunchborgsorry but ayane is quite literally a child and is also explicitly younger than the main character
@@Crunchborgif you dont believe a 14/15 year old is a child thats on you
@@cooltwittertag i, uh, think they agree with you on that and were just being snarky
@@DavidJCobb nah, hes saying that shes "totally not a child" as in not a child, but looks like one to atttact a *certain* crowd. But shes just a child. Also feels like P4 had bigger issues than that, yk the whole fanservice thing
I hate to tell you this, but in P3 and P3P, you date Ken as the girl Makoto
Don’t ask me why, I have no clue, but someone need to find out who came up with that idea and lock them up
The coffin of Nini and Konoha
The core idea of Loop8 is pretty good, and it would be good if instead of Person dating sim they went psychological full on evangelion/Re zero style. Where Protagonist has to face the horror of that loop, slowly going insane. Where killing yourself to reset the loop is actually mechanic
This is a fantastic teardown, great vid! It's so frustrating to see all these interesting ideas squandered and drenched in stale tropes, but at least it makes me want to check out the PS1 game mentioned in the beginning. I'd never heard about it before.
Amazing video, that part where you were discussing possible character pairings and relationships was so funny, it was curveball after curveball and I loved every second of it.
The creator of this video going through and destroying all these weirdos in the comment section is both admirable but also sad, dont stress yourself out worrying about them
wdym? He deleted stuff?
@Slaanash No I had originally meant like he went through roasting them and deconstructing them. Just didn't find the right words
I can improve this game’s plot and gameplay with only a few simple changes:
-Each loop, you must choose one character to befriend/romance to experience their visual novel route or whatever. They become a party member of yours for the entire loop.
-the combat world is something you and your chosen party member spend the week preparing and practicing for. It’s pretty serious. But, when you go to the au world, it’s way tougher than you imagined. You and your party member only get so far before something/someone kills you (scripted event) and you have to loop
-the party member you chose remembers everything. You both keep stats. They insist you must find someone to join your cause and you have to now befriend/romance/whatever someone else and they are a new party member
-with each loop, your gained party members grow stronger. However, getting characters later in the loops leaves them to be weaker than the ones you first befriended
-each time you travel to the au world, you progress a little further and learn a little more about the story.
There. The loops are actually fun now. But this stuff does require a way better combat system (with more individualization for the others) and actual good writing unfortunately
MC's name is Nini? Any chances of me taking the game even slightly seriously just went through the floor and headed towards the planet's crust. Heh-heh. Nini.
Note: Anyone looking for a way way better mid-grade game with similar-ish mechanics, play Lost Dimension. Is good.
Fun fact: In Spanish, "Nini" is a term describing a young person who is uneducated and unemployed. In other words, a lazy nobody who contributes nothing to society.
This is because loop8 is a game referencing the legend of Ninigi and Konohanasakuya Hime. Using contemporary character stereotypes. Punchy just completely failed to mention that this game is in fact supposed to be retelling a Japanese myth.
In fact, one of the characters, Hori, is a stand-in for Hoori and he even calls Nini "Ninigi", directly referencing the legend.
Konoha Oyama is possessed by Iwanaga Hime and she essentially takes over her mind. Which is evident in the final boss fight, especially when Nini strikes down Konoha, Iwanaga Hime says "So you choose Sakuya after all. I am so sad"
honestly the whole time loop and your friends getting possessed concept really interested me but every time I thought they couldn't go lower they did. honestly I might just write my own fan fiction with this concept and explore it properly and remove all the cousin fucking
I'm surprised you didn't mention one of the more popular loop games out there, Majora's Mask, though I definitely appreciate the increase in variety and comparing it to other loop-styled games (and dead-rising which has that as a sort of side thing).
It's a shame this ended up being such a mess because the idea of figuring out how to maximize relationships with people and in turn maximize your own potential with them through the course of several loops, slowly gaining enough resources is so cool as an idea, it's bizarre how uninterested the final product looks to be about it.
In-general, It kinda feels like the final product is made for THAT anime fan. The incredibly stereotypical one whose first reaction to seeing ANY GIRL is "I want to do the sex, I think she is hot"
i have never played majora's mask, would be the reason for me not mentioning it
Wow, that's just... wow. Certainly an video game.
While you were describing how the loops worked, I couldn't help but think about how much better Gnosia handled looping as a mechanic in comparison. And then you went ahead and mentioned it so I guess if ever I considered playing Loop8 I should just go replay Gnosia instead lol.
For other games you could cover in this vein, you mentioned the original Neptunia. I'm not sure that by itself would be especially interesting to talk about, but maybe something else Compile Heart's made? Lord knows they have no end of mediocre-to-appalling games under their belt.
I'm convinced that Compile has made like 2 or 3 games that are actually good it's just that no one has ever played them because they're Compile Heart games so no one knows.
@hallowvenixya9215 yeah it's called puyo puyo and Madou Monogatari
I... kinda agree? I wasn't fond of the whole "Tag, you're it!" system they had going (In the least because I was terrible at being the Gnosia), but the story seemed somewhat interesting. Only flaw being that it got a bit too easy when you had all the stats maxed
dating cousin? weird. dating grandmother? weird. dating your teacher? weird. AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLER?!?? 😭😭😭 WTF
Having seen Kougaon's Various Daylife review last week this had me really thinking about how both are weirdly paced games that seem to pitch themselves as JRPGs that replace the level grind with a clever twist, both turn out to have that twist be mind-numbing grinding where you'll be mashing the skip button to progress time and both have a gross imbalance of their mind-numbing, budget-saving gimmick and actual JRPG combat and how Various Daylife felt like a deeply flawed game most wouldn't want to play but if one slogged through the entire thing it'd be hard to come out of hating it and that it'd be totally reasonable to hope for a sequel that touches up those issues and the other struggles to have any redeeming qualities at all.
I'd say really it comes down to the writing, I think Various Daylife has a core concept that would be a lot easier to tune up into something actually fun than Loop8's "Dude, what if Persona but only the mundane parts" I think it's the fact that in one game getting a new dialogue events feels like a reward whereas the other has you skipping through them like a punishment. Maybe with a more compelling story and less morally dubious dating options we could have considered this a cult classic... or at least it'd have a better legacy than "That shit game where the most interesting element is how bad it wants you to fuck your cousin."
the more the video goes on, the more it sounds like a really bad Monster Rancher and less like a really bad RPG.
So, I worked in Japan for the past year, and had some really interesting discussions with actual Japanese people about some tropes in Japanese media: apparently normal people hate how often incest fetish content appears in popular media, but it's there to attract enthusiasts and boost sales...
So incest is used in the same way that flashy gun animations are used to attract enthusiasts and make money.
This sounds like what someone who only ever heard what trashy JRPGs and visual novels were like, and made a game solely based on that with zero narrative or character. Michi’s instant kill speaks to that a lot: she can randomly kill you instantly because anime trash has the trope yandere character.
35:02: And, maybe if this was an all-nobody voice cast, I'd maybe go "Okay." But Xanthe "Haru Okumura" Hyunh? Cristina "Verosika Mayday" Valenzuela? Crispin "Alucard" Freeman? With a game like this, even THAT casting screams "spent more money on the voice acting than the game development" so...buh...?
i want to study the game devs under a microscope
Oh come now. It's a game set in a quaint little village somewhere in the Japanese countryside where you are but an ordinary high school transfer student. Of course you GONNA have COUSIN FUCKING
"Remember Time and Eternity?"
I was having a good day, man. Why did you have to do this to me?
EDIT: And on top of ruining my day, you also ruin all of Shelbyville's day.
I remember it so I'm making everyone else as well.
That snail’s pace dinky ass walk animation is driving me crazy
The combat feels like someone tried to revive dating sims, realized this level of writing wasn't gonna cut it, and then using the rest of dev time to turn it into a JRPG so the player gets some semblance of entertainment
Wasn't there another terrible jrpg on the PS2 that also featured time loops? Ephemeral Fantasia?
God, this didn't deserve this much depth, but I certainly appreciate it. Nice vid!
Despite playing the hell out of JRPGs during the PS1/PS2 era, most of the bad ones did not remain in my memory (or collection). I think the worst one I kept on hand is maybe Magna Carta 2? Whose biggest sins I would say are technical rather than like, directly game design or writing.