Awful story. How did Brad become a little girl? Is this explained? Hello???
Pense que era un juego de los simpson
This review contains spoilers
imagine making one of the titans among the RPG Maker games (or at least i think it is) and then following that up with a half-baked DLC with combat that is incredibly boring compared to the base game, buddy's character throughout is "i want to be VIOLENT!! i want to KILL PEOPLE!!" without any changes or development until the actual last second where the epilogue depending on what ending you chose is a 5 second image. there are only a few scenes that don't throw this game completely out the window like the entire brad hallucination fight, but everything else just does not follow up to what came before the DLC. things like the easy mode room are a clear joke but do not fit AT ALL in a world like Olathe, the joke also pretty much falls flat when the combat is also a joke with the ability to heal yourself over and over and then use a poison bomb or any other move you have because the heal skill is vastly underpriced. the DLC is also incredibly short, it's kind of very easy to tell the DLC was made as an obligation for backers and not as one last hurrah, only play if you really want to see how buddy ends up after the ending of painful and beyond that or look at a gameplay video it doesn't really matter.
This is how feminism was born
This dlc taught me that being mean is COOL!
Pain
You know what I can't stand in media? Character assassination. There was probably more to be found, but after about 30 minutes of playing, I was just disgusted at everything that was going on. The writing took a nosedive, to the point where I'm not continuing.
I like buddy she's nice
As a story continuation of Painful its really good but actually playing it is a chore. Cant say I hated it.
i want to kill myself
The combat can be really hellish in this game
I got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy down in my heart. WHERE?
Narrative: 3.5
Gameplay: 3
Visuals: 2.5
X-Factor: 3
LISA: The Joyful is a good game that unfortunatly is a sequel to a fantastic game. LISA: The Painful manages to balance unique, nuanced stories with the hilarity of its characters. Compared to the original, this game fails to capture the same Joy. By limiting the scope of the game to focus more intensely on one character rather than the party-based system in the first game, Lisa: The Joyful's combat sufferers greatly. One of the best aspects of the original is how deeply connected the story and characters are expressed in combat. That simply is missing in this game.
I think the best way to enjoy Lisa: The Painful is to think of it as a bonus mode of the original game. While still a good experience, temper your expectations as the game does not attempt to achieve the same feats as the original.
Narrative: 3.5
Gameplay: 3
Visuals: 2.5
X-Factor: 3
LISA: The Joyful is a good game that unfortunatly is a sequel to a fantastic game. LISA: The Painful manages to balance unique, nuanced stories with the hilarity of its characters. Compared to the original, this game fails to capture the same Joy. By limiting the scope of the game to focus more intensely on one character rather than the party-based system in the first game, Lisa: The Joyful's combat sufferers greatly. One of the best aspects of the original is how deeply connected the story and characters are expressed in combat. That simply is missing in this game.
I think the best way to enjoy Lisa: The Painful is to think of it as a bonus mode of the original game. While still a good experience, temper your expectations as the game does not attempt to achieve the same feats as the original.
This review contains spoilers
The not-so-great follow-up to my favorite game. Not a bad game by any means, but definitely a bit of a headscratcher. Has some very damningly sad moments, but falls flat of the original game's oomph.
Picks up directly after the end of Painful, following Buddy instead of Brad. The game is very shallow in the gameplay department, featuring mainly Buddy for the majority of combats whilst following a bewildering story of Buddy's spiral into wishing to become the ultimate dictator of Olathe.
The game is heavily nuanced, and still features an interesting albeit disappointing end, but is far from a bad experience. It is a very short-lived experience regardless, but one I feel like sticks.
That being all said; should this game exist? To be honest, yes, but not in its current form. The game could've used some extra time rethinking certain parts of the story such as her motivations, her inner emotions, and not-so-much of the "open for interpretation" writing that comes with lots of scenes (i.e. the final "Brad" fight).
Picks up directly after the end of Painful, following Buddy instead of Brad. The game is very shallow in the gameplay department, featuring mainly Buddy for the majority of combats whilst following a bewildering story of Buddy's spiral into wishing to become the ultimate dictator of Olathe.
The game is heavily nuanced, and still features an interesting albeit disappointing end, but is far from a bad experience. It is a very short-lived experience regardless, but one I feel like sticks.
That being all said; should this game exist? To be honest, yes, but not in its current form. The game could've used some extra time rethinking certain parts of the story such as her motivations, her inner emotions, and not-so-much of the "open for interpretation" writing that comes with lots of scenes (i.e. the final "Brad" fight).
Obra maestra
i think i actually hate this
shockingly, this DLC that's widely maligned by its own fandom ended up being something i enjoyed more than its base game. i think being shorter helped a bit, there's less room for jorgensen to misstep and make emotional moments that don't work, and the ones in here feel much more earned and impactful. that ending part with buddy coming to terms with brad in particular is a highlight of the entire LISA trilogy, easily.
the problems with this DLC are ultimately that it's very monotonous. i don't think you inherently needed to add party members to this to make it fun, but making the majority of the game be solo encounters basically requires a very turtle-y playstyle that gets very repetitive and boring. it's exacerbated by the fact that like 60% of the encounters in the game are joy mutants that all have roughly the same set of moves, and some of them have an obscene amount of health that makes the fight take like 3x longer than it really should. and while joyful is excessive in how it handles combat, it's honestly too minimal in actual story. i like that this is relatively terse and self-contained, but a 3 hour DLC that's mostly just encounters you could've gotten from the base game feels underwhelming.
still, i find buddy to be more fascinating and groundbreaking of a main character than brad, and i think jorgensen handles her with a shocking amount of tact. buddy feels just as asocial and isolated as someone who lived her life would be. i've seen the sentiment that people feel as though buddy is unlikeable and/or excessively abrasive, but i think telling a story where she acts like a quirky shut-in seeing the world for the first time like elizabeth from bioshock: infinite would not only devalue her character, but it would make the narrative a lot less engaging. she has baggage and trauma, she reacts in uncomfortable and challenging ways, and you don't necessarily have to like it, but you do understand.
on a final note, i really dislike the bits of lore that the epilogues add to the game. they feel unnecessary, and i greatly dislike the framing of "lisa was actually the source of all the darkness in the narrative and influenced buzzo to become a monster", something the game tries to hammer home two separate times. it removes agency from his character while simultaneously demonizing children of abuse as these horrific monsters, another abuse trope that jorgensen probably thinks is way more subversive than it really is.
either way, i enjoyed my time with this expansion and was pleasantly surprised to get more good than bad out of it, especially after the base game. it doesn't stand on its own legs by any means, though, so i doubt i'll ever revisit this considering it'd have to involve revisiting the entire trilogy. i'd rather put this set of games to bed and never come back to it.
the problems with this DLC are ultimately that it's very monotonous. i don't think you inherently needed to add party members to this to make it fun, but making the majority of the game be solo encounters basically requires a very turtle-y playstyle that gets very repetitive and boring. it's exacerbated by the fact that like 60% of the encounters in the game are joy mutants that all have roughly the same set of moves, and some of them have an obscene amount of health that makes the fight take like 3x longer than it really should. and while joyful is excessive in how it handles combat, it's honestly too minimal in actual story. i like that this is relatively terse and self-contained, but a 3 hour DLC that's mostly just encounters you could've gotten from the base game feels underwhelming.
still, i find buddy to be more fascinating and groundbreaking of a main character than brad, and i think jorgensen handles her with a shocking amount of tact. buddy feels just as asocial and isolated as someone who lived her life would be. i've seen the sentiment that people feel as though buddy is unlikeable and/or excessively abrasive, but i think telling a story where she acts like a quirky shut-in seeing the world for the first time like elizabeth from bioshock: infinite would not only devalue her character, but it would make the narrative a lot less engaging. she has baggage and trauma, she reacts in uncomfortable and challenging ways, and you don't necessarily have to like it, but you do understand.
on a final note, i really dislike the bits of lore that the epilogues add to the game. they feel unnecessary, and i greatly dislike the framing of "lisa was actually the source of all the darkness in the narrative and influenced buzzo to become a monster", something the game tries to hammer home two separate times. it removes agency from his character while simultaneously demonizing children of abuse as these horrific monsters, another abuse trope that jorgensen probably thinks is way more subversive than it really is.
either way, i enjoyed my time with this expansion and was pleasantly surprised to get more good than bad out of it, especially after the base game. it doesn't stand on its own legs by any means, though, so i doubt i'll ever revisit this considering it'd have to involve revisiting the entire trilogy. i'd rather put this set of games to bed and never come back to it.
One of my least favorite games of all time.
All this game does it cheapen the otherwise great narrative of Lisa the painful. Tries to rebrand Brad from a tragic abuse victim who unfortunately continues the cycle to be a good dad??? Answers and changes character motivations for no apparent reason other than not to leave any stone unturned? Because leaving things to the imagination is a bad thing and doesn’t enhance the experience am I right? I honestly don’t think there is any argument for this game being good beyond it’s solid gameplay, beyond that it honestly feels like bad fan fiction
All this game does it cheapen the otherwise great narrative of Lisa the painful. Tries to rebrand Brad from a tragic abuse victim who unfortunately continues the cycle to be a good dad??? Answers and changes character motivations for no apparent reason other than not to leave any stone unturned? Because leaving things to the imagination is a bad thing and doesn’t enhance the experience am I right? I honestly don’t think there is any argument for this game being good beyond it’s solid gameplay, beyond that it honestly feels like bad fan fiction
damn buddy is one bad bitch
The Last Of Us Part 2 if it was good
Excellent follow up to Brad's game, Buddy doesn't mess around. It's basically a game about going on a big killing spree.
If the base game was about greasy dude politics and them trying to decide a girl's fate, this is a game about that girl ripping them up and their whole system. It's like killing every single NPC in a Fallout game before they even have the chance to involve you in their plots.
It's a game about fighting to gain true freedom, at the cost of doing away with even thinking about morals and consequences.
If the base game was about greasy dude politics and them trying to decide a girl's fate, this is a game about that girl ripping them up and their whole system. It's like killing every single NPC in a Fallout game before they even have the chance to involve you in their plots.
It's a game about fighting to gain true freedom, at the cost of doing away with even thinking about morals and consequences.
this shits depressing as hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not a bad follow-up to Lisa the Painful with less emphasis on strategy and a bigger focus on story. Dialogue has taken a bit of a hit between the games but I enjoyed watching how everything unfolded. Incredible soundtrack.
they were not cooking!!!
This review contains spoilers
do you think buddy armstrong effectively utilized girl power by wiping out the entirety of olathe
significantly worse than the main game, and it's still a masterpiece. how does he keep getting away with this
really good sequel dlc. i loved buddy as a protagonist, though i know the creator thinks otherwise. really good story and experience overall. i have many thoughts but not many words. i would suggest you give this and the prequel a go if you're prepared for some tragic stuff.
this game really asks the bold question of "what if Lisa the Painful was not good"
the only reason you people like this game is because you get to play as a girl who kills people. 666 kill chop deluxe is genuinely the only good thing here
siri play 666 kill chop deluxe on spotify
like others have said, it didn't need to exist but its fucking awesome, what did you expect? ost still slaps
8/10
8/10