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played october 18th (finished oct 19th) for rpgmaker october
14ch eternal gomez, 14ch for short, is another rly profilic creator im checking out. i sampled this, its sequel, and n also played games in the 14/? series--which are 3 games titled 14/?, 14/??, and 14/???, and they arent on backloggd atm--plus a knytt stories level they did that i HAD to check out (which is really good n shockingly expansive!!). and they still have a bunch of games in between all of these that i didnt check out. the games i bring up and the rest, or at least most of them, can be found on their website here and here, if you are interested.
i went for neftelia 1 over its sequel mostly bc i didnt want to futz w whatever that arcade world puzzle was in 2 much more than i did, but i also just find the first game more charming in its blockier n chunkier visual mess, n i like the soundtrack more. yume nikki has been held up as the common reference pt for abstract dialogueless rpgmaker et al exploration games ad nauseum, but i bring it up bc despite certain remsemblances that neftelia has to it, 14ch is i think a good example of someone finding their own identity n goals outside of those expectations. not only for superficial gameplay differences found in neftelia, like effects being replaced w weird little movies to find and watch all over the world, but for how much further these games go to experiment w space in rpgmaker. largely in the sense of changing up the logic btwn each "room", in ways that make the game often conditionally modify rules it had set w/o ever feeling incoherent w itself--mazes may have specific things to figure out abt them beyond "look for the path out", there's an occasional switch to a sidescroller angle, the largest map in neft 1 has a gimmick unique to it, things like that. maybe something to be said for exploring the potential that lies within the transition btwn rooms too, but that may be easier to speak on in other games; neft 1 is not as willing to disorient and let you play around w the environment as its sequel, and neither are as single-mindedly and consistently honed on these ideas as the 14/ games' randomized set of rooms. but, not counting a very annoying feature where id accidentally press shift and be forced to reset at the hub (note: do not ever press the shift keys ever until you want to go back to the hub and/or need to save, fortunately neft 2 fixes this by making you have to hold shift), i really liked this for just how early on 14ch's unique expressions n intents came thru w/o overextending itself too much, even in this rough n not yet deepened form.
quick aside abt the 14/ games: 14/? is very good n has some nice surprises in store, ?? is a step down i didnt love as much, ??? is maybe the most striking distillation of their style to date and is so fucking cool. i would play these in release order though personally
14ch eternal gomez, 14ch for short, is another rly profilic creator im checking out. i sampled this, its sequel, and n also played games in the 14/? series--which are 3 games titled 14/?, 14/??, and 14/???, and they arent on backloggd atm--plus a knytt stories level they did that i HAD to check out (which is really good n shockingly expansive!!). and they still have a bunch of games in between all of these that i didnt check out. the games i bring up and the rest, or at least most of them, can be found on their website here and here, if you are interested.
i went for neftelia 1 over its sequel mostly bc i didnt want to futz w whatever that arcade world puzzle was in 2 much more than i did, but i also just find the first game more charming in its blockier n chunkier visual mess, n i like the soundtrack more. yume nikki has been held up as the common reference pt for abstract dialogueless rpgmaker et al exploration games ad nauseum, but i bring it up bc despite certain remsemblances that neftelia has to it, 14ch is i think a good example of someone finding their own identity n goals outside of those expectations. not only for superficial gameplay differences found in neftelia, like effects being replaced w weird little movies to find and watch all over the world, but for how much further these games go to experiment w space in rpgmaker. largely in the sense of changing up the logic btwn each "room", in ways that make the game often conditionally modify rules it had set w/o ever feeling incoherent w itself--mazes may have specific things to figure out abt them beyond "look for the path out", there's an occasional switch to a sidescroller angle, the largest map in neft 1 has a gimmick unique to it, things like that. maybe something to be said for exploring the potential that lies within the transition btwn rooms too, but that may be easier to speak on in other games; neft 1 is not as willing to disorient and let you play around w the environment as its sequel, and neither are as single-mindedly and consistently honed on these ideas as the 14/ games' randomized set of rooms. but, not counting a very annoying feature where id accidentally press shift and be forced to reset at the hub (note: do not ever press the shift keys ever until you want to go back to the hub and/or need to save, fortunately neft 2 fixes this by making you have to hold shift), i really liked this for just how early on 14ch's unique expressions n intents came thru w/o overextending itself too much, even in this rough n not yet deepened form.
quick aside abt the 14/ games: 14/? is very good n has some nice surprises in store, ?? is a step down i didnt love as much, ??? is maybe the most striking distillation of their style to date and is so fucking cool. i would play these in release order though personally
Neftelia is a 2009 RPG Maker exploration game about collecting 14 animations in a surreal and slightly unsettling world. I'd normally avoid such obvious statements like that but considering the obscure nature of Neftelia and its creator, it'd help to know what exactly this game is first and foremost. While this may sound similiar in structure and tone to other famous surreal-exploration RPG Maker game Yume Nikki, it's not really inspired by or derivative of Yume Nikki at all. It's more Yume Nikki-adjacent than anything else.
The main draw of exploration games like these are the environments and the tone, which is where Neftelia falters. The majority of environments aren't visually interesting, and the world is very small, meaning you'll be seeing the same boring places repeated ad nauseam. The tone is also underdeveloped, being only mildly unsettling or mildly interesting, without going strong enough on either extreme to be continually engaging. Compound this with the cryptic nature of the game and Neftelia very quickly becomes a slog to play through. The 14 animations are the saving grace here. They're very short, about 15 seconds max, but they're visually interesting enough that I wanted to see what the next one held, even if my enjoyment was hampered somewhat by the tedious nature of the experience.
Neftelia may seem interesting with its mysterious origins and somewhat unsettling tone, but there's nothing to really bite into here. The only feeling I had after finishing it was just mild dissatisfaction and boredom, and I can't really say I'd recommend it to anybody.
The main draw of exploration games like these are the environments and the tone, which is where Neftelia falters. The majority of environments aren't visually interesting, and the world is very small, meaning you'll be seeing the same boring places repeated ad nauseam. The tone is also underdeveloped, being only mildly unsettling or mildly interesting, without going strong enough on either extreme to be continually engaging. Compound this with the cryptic nature of the game and Neftelia very quickly becomes a slog to play through. The 14 animations are the saving grace here. They're very short, about 15 seconds max, but they're visually interesting enough that I wanted to see what the next one held, even if my enjoyment was hampered somewhat by the tedious nature of the experience.
Neftelia may seem interesting with its mysterious origins and somewhat unsettling tone, but there's nothing to really bite into here. The only feeling I had after finishing it was just mild dissatisfaction and boredom, and I can't really say I'd recommend it to anybody.