tl;dr - amazing music, amazing writing, amazing character art, and probably the most cracked (fun) character progression mechanics in any ARPG ever

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Can I even fit it into 2500 characters? I guess I'll find out in a few mins (update: no, def not)

In the simplest terms possible: extreme emphasis on experimentation/player expression, top tier risk/reward decision-making, and iterations of some of the best character progression systems across the history of JRPGs. Alone, this mixture would make for a great game, but there is one extra aspect to the game that not only informs all the others, but is hands down the coolest character progression mechanic I've seen in any RPG, full stop.

First of all, you can tell this was a passion project by the developer. He spent ~15 years or so basically as a solo dev trying to finish this game. He got a few helping hands from guest artists and musicians, but the overwhelming majority of the work was done by this one dude.

The basic combat is chunky and feels good. In typical fashion, you start out with a handful of moves, but gain more as time goes on. There's a good amount of hitlag and hitstun that really sells each hit as being super weighty.

The level-up system is also pretty standard. On level, you get 5 stat points to distribute to any stats you wish. In town, on level, and when using a certain item, you can completely re-spec all of your stat points which encourages trying different builds for different situations.

Your equipment also has its *own* leveling system. It's modeled after FF9, if you're familiar. In case you're not -- every piece of gear has an ability associated with it. You get the ability for free when the item is equipped, but can permanently learn it when the gear is fully leveled. Equipping learned abilities uses what are essentially Ability Points. Like your levelup stats, these can also be re-specced at basically any time. These abilities range from things like giving you a double jump or a dash to stuff like reducing knockback when you get hit.

Enemies also drop little gems you can use on a skill tree. Different nodes cost different colors of gems, but you can purchase any node you don't have enough gems for by using 3x the cost of a different color. By default, it automatically selects the color of which you have the most total gems, but you can also manually re-assign gems at 1/3 rate if you're trying to conserve a specific color. The nodes you can activate are mostly stat boosts, but can also include things like new equipment (for you to master ) and new Spells.

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Speaking of new equipment, there aren't actually any equipment shops--only blacksmiths. You *must* give them the necessary materials to make any new equipment you wish to purchase. This is an extremely important detail which we'll get back to in a minute...

There's also an alchemy system that reminds me a lot of Star Ocean, but without the need for all the skill leveling and crafting-skill-specific items you need to keep stock of in order to even do. Basically, you can click any item in your inventory and select "Synthesize". If you have a known recipe that involves the item, it will let you pick a second item, and will produce the desired result. The neat thing is that you can also select "Disassemble" at ANY time to revert the item back to its two base ingredients.

But the ace up the dev's sleeve is the Scale system, and MAN is it a doozy.

Basically *every* single item (including key items!!) can be placed onto your scales. Every item has a "karma" rating--which is essentially its weight--and a unique spread of buffs that apply to your character when they are on the scales. For instance, an Antidote might give you Poison Resistance.

The twist is that you only get a percentage of the effect based on how balanced your scales are. So if you get 50% poison resistance from an item, but the scale is only 50% balanced, then you effectively have 25% poison resistance.

This sole system informs every single other decision you have to make while building your character throughout the game:

-Do you purchase that new powerful weapon? Or would the ingredients be better on the scales?
-You don't have a key for a chest. You could craft one, but the last material for it is on your scales. Do you throw away the buff for a rare item?
-My bestiary and gameplay tips notebooks are really valuable, but could I get away with not being able to reference them so I can take advantage of their strong buffs?
-etc etc etc

Every. Single. Decision. Each system on its own is intuitive and enjoyable, but these scales transmute the experience into something holistic and unlike any other ARPG on the market.

Oh and the music and character art are incredible. Big ups to Shigatake and all the various musicians that submitted music. [Link]

I can't comment on the story yet since I'm not all the way done, but what I have experienced so far is EXCELLENT. I can't wait to see where the rest of the narrative goes.

You present a very good point!

Its kinda garbage that they won't come inside with you. Walk in and watch your party get blown apart by minigun fire. But, despite all that punishment, I still decided to jump right into FO2 lol

Thank you, me too

Yeeahhhhhhhh...soooo......I lost them all in the military base anyway

Don't make me cry, it hit as hard as the first time I played P3P

On Hollow Cocoon: Yeah, it's an easy recommendation if you like horror games and Big Japanfeel. Not that I've played a ton of other games like this, but I feel that for the most part it's a good execution of the "hide from stalker" genre. Especially in the 2nd area the layout is pretty great for making sure that the rooms loop around into each other, so there's usually another way around if the monster is blocking you. It depends on the room, but I feel it's at its best when the monster isn't much of a hindrance and instead it's really just selling you on the experience of exploring a location with a not-particularly-aggressive spooky creature lurking around.

On Hello Charlotte: Yeah!! I'm enjoying it so far, seems like has quite unique worldbuilding and a lot of care and personality poured into the artwork. The cheap deaths were a bit annoying at first, but I feel like I've gotten a sense of the pacing of the game and when I can expect to potentially die -- so it's getting better as I learn when to save.

After being really impressed by AndyとLeyleyのCoffin it inspired me to go on a little bit of an RPG Maker short story game kick. I've picked up a few of these games on Steam over the years, besides Hello Charlotte I'd also like to play LiEat, Alicemare, and Eve of Souls. Have you played any of those? I was using RPG Maker 2000 back in the day when it was a new thing that had just been hacked into English, so it's kind of fun to go full circle.

Well, my selection method might help then maybe.

Around 2021, I started picking new-to-me series that were getting new releases (ie Nier Replicant) and playing at least 1 game to familiarize myself with the series and its tone, themes, etc… Now I’m doing a similar thing, but—as there are naturally fewer series to familiarize myself with now—I’m picking relevant games from my backlog for each new release. Like:

Dragon Quest 12 is coming out? Well, the last DQ I finished was 4 so maybe it’s time to do 5…

Or something similar to that mindset. I know all too well how picking a game can be daunting and how committing to things can be hard, but I feel like playing through after making that commitment gets easier over time.

Ultimately, games are supposed to be fun. If there’s a particular aspect of the hobby that is making it unfun for you, then you don’t have much to lose by cutting that part out.

That might be the case, in the original there is a deadline, there is also one in the Steam version I played, but there is much longer time period, you can finish all quests that way, with the exception of branching quests of course, like if you kill Killian, for Gizmo's quest, you can't finish his quest.

Fallout 2 has a limit of 3 years, in-game years of course, until the Enclave kills everything under the sun, so go nuts!

"Different, but same.", they really did not fix what wasn't broken, while I prefer the original game, the sequel is one of those "More is better" approach, it is a very fun game, and at least ten time more content