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.
i want to kill myself
This review contains spoilers
do you think buddy armstrong effectively utilized girl power by wiping out the entirety of olathe
great dlc for fans who want more LISA, but not anything knock-out as a standalone game. still very enjoyable. the ending(s) gave me chills.
There's something missing here from the original. While I appreciate the Definitive Edition making combat much more dynamic, I can't help but feel like Buddy's arc just isn't as strong as Brad's. Her flaws are far more overt and much less relatable.
This review contains spoilers
2 stars probably for music alone TW for sexual abuse/ Child abuse, not going to waste time with this.
Buddy is a minor and doesn't actually understand shit but apparently she does understand that the men would rape her so thats why she acts violent actually its because the plot drug is making her CRAZZY, Actually its because rando wants her not to kill people like her father, but she feels thats caging her in so she kills him for no reason, even though rando did not approve of his men harassing buddy and knocking her out and having her tied up, because rando is the one good person in this series, which using the excuse that buddys childhood is fucked up doesn't work because rando also had a fucked up childhood. he literally got his face cut off by buzzo who sucks too hes just edgy man who "got manipulated by lisa because he liked her"
which as said in the painful review I made the two women in this series aren't written well which hurts when they are such a main focus, Lisa is a victim of sexual abuse making her a manipulator and "actually a fucked person too" for the sake of keeping things morally grey is just awful writing.
buddy's motives makes no sense and she literally can't listen to anyone I get shes a kid but only at the very end they HINT at remorse.
theres so many fangames and fanfic either having it be a retelling or a sequel to joyful because the writing imo is just that bad, even back when I played this in high school I hated this games plot
dr yado is a dumb villain "I want to turn everyone into monsters only i can control" why? "because its cool"
gameplay is also repetitive and boring not AWFUL or even bad just not fun, since its mostly a solo journey buddy can do damage or heal with items which will be every battle you do.
buddy learns in the end to not be bad but also to have sex an repopulate the earth with whatever chosen spouse she left alive. I guess we technically see buddy regret things but we don't really feel it because the games over and it tries so hard to tie every plot thing together in a short experience.
painful would be better as a stand alone with fan games, play the fangames.
Buddy is a minor and doesn't actually understand shit but apparently she does understand that the men would rape her so thats why she acts violent actually its because the plot drug is making her CRAZZY, Actually its because rando wants her not to kill people like her father, but she feels thats caging her in so she kills him for no reason, even though rando did not approve of his men harassing buddy and knocking her out and having her tied up, because rando is the one good person in this series, which using the excuse that buddys childhood is fucked up doesn't work because rando also had a fucked up childhood. he literally got his face cut off by buzzo who sucks too hes just edgy man who "got manipulated by lisa because he liked her"
which as said in the painful review I made the two women in this series aren't written well which hurts when they are such a main focus, Lisa is a victim of sexual abuse making her a manipulator and "actually a fucked person too" for the sake of keeping things morally grey is just awful writing.
buddy's motives makes no sense and she literally can't listen to anyone I get shes a kid but only at the very end they HINT at remorse.
theres so many fangames and fanfic either having it be a retelling or a sequel to joyful because the writing imo is just that bad, even back when I played this in high school I hated this games plot
dr yado is a dumb villain "I want to turn everyone into monsters only i can control" why? "because its cool"
gameplay is also repetitive and boring not AWFUL or even bad just not fun, since its mostly a solo journey buddy can do damage or heal with items which will be every battle you do.
buddy learns in the end to not be bad but also to have sex an repopulate the earth with whatever chosen spouse she left alive. I guess we technically see buddy regret things but we don't really feel it because the games over and it tries so hard to tie every plot thing together in a short experience.
painful would be better as a stand alone with fan games, play the fangames.
LISA the Painful is really special to me, and while the DLC follow-up is good, it doesn't reach the same heights. That being said this is still a great epilogue, just with some flaws.
Not as good as the painful but still really good
"AGHAUGHHHGGUUUUGHGHGH" - Sound of me crying after finishing this game
Ditto
This game was a kickstarter promise for a goal Dingaling felt completely unimaginable. The game was never genuinely intended to be made. That was the feeling I got when I played it.
I learned how to kill people <3
This review contains spoilers
Before starting I should say I adore Lisa the painful and I love Buddy as a character, but with that being said I was super disappointed coming off the incredible ending of painful and coming into this. The combat could have taken the oppertunity to be even more brutal than the original since you have much less lenience with how you use your turn, but the lack of allies means battles rarely have stakes and the game practically forces you into using joy which trivializes combat for the majority of the game. I enjoy the story when it's about Buddy attempting to kill every leader in the wasteland and gradually becoming more monstrous and more like what brad became, but the ending decides we need to take a hard left turn into the lore of the wasteland and why things are the way they are which frankly aren't needed and replace the mystique of the setting with a little more disappointment. Ultimately, it feels like an expansion made more out of obligation than an actual desire to create it.
Wow! I sort of really quickly ripped through this and it still left a mark on me. I'm a tiny bit confused, probably because I haven't played Lisa: The First, but also the lack of knowledge and being forced to just exist in this world sans context I think has some value to it.
Great game, great story. Sad!
Great game, great story. Sad!
Más Lisa, más Lisa es bien.
damn buddy is one bad bitch
significantly worse than the main game, and it's still a masterpiece. how does he keep getting away with this
this shits depressing as hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!
siri play 666 kill chop deluxe on spotify
Gameplay was more streamlined but a bit worse than the last game, Traversal was better.
Once again love the story and writing
Once again love the story and writing
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.
the game's plot does feel somewhat contrived at points, much more so than anything in Painful did, and the gameplay does also suffer relative to Painful (not that that was the first game's major selling point, but battles - while not bad - are definitely not as enjoyable or intense here) though at the end of the day it's almost impossible to give anything with an ending as powerful as this less than a 4.5
This game takes what was special about the previous and turns it into a coked up power fantasy where a little girl kills a bunch of warlords and super-mutants. The real highlight of this is Rando's character, as its been expanded a ton since Painful.
An unnecessary sequel but still full of life
This DLC mostly just has more battles and story to explore. It hit me more emotionally in some spots than the base game, but feels as a way to tie loose ends that didn’t need to be tied.
This DLC mostly just has more battles and story to explore. It hit me more emotionally in some spots than the base game, but feels as a way to tie loose ends that didn’t need to be tied.
This game sucks, only worth playing if you are highly invested in the story and want the conclusion, but even in that aspect I find it fails.
I played this immediately after Lisa The Painful so it is basically the same game in my mind.
Es la segunda parte. Y de nuevo, uno de los mejores juegos que he jugado en mi vida.
Even after playing through the main game twice, I was SO psyched to keep getting more I hopped right into the DLC sequel. The sequel is quite different in structure, storytelling nuances, and even gameplay mechanics, I thought it was a fantastic follow-up that does a good job of giving a conclusion to the story-line set up in the first game. It's worth noting that this game is a fair bit shorter than the first, taking me only 3-ish hours, so if you're someone who evaluates games by a pure cost/price ratio, the DLC may feel like a rip-off at $5 compared to the main game's $10. I certainly thought the game was worth the cost because the gameplay is good fun and the story is very well done. If the main game were $15 and the DLC were $10, I'd have some more reservations, but the whole package for $15 I think is a perfectly fair deal for an indie game.
ANYWAY, the plot of The Joyful (the previous game having the original subtitle "The Painful") follows the young girl from the first game, Buddy, now that she is on her own. In order to make sure no one ever messes with her again, she sets off on a quest in the Eastern part of Olathe (so no revisiting old areas) to murder everyone on "The List," a giant wall between East and West Olathe with the names of the most powerful warlords on it. However, despite Buddy's quest being explicitly focused on violence where Brad's was implicitly focused on it, Buddy's quest has a much different dynamic because her quest's goal is so different in goal, and because of who she is. Both stories are commentaries on the cycle of abuse, and Buddy's is used to comment upon Brad just as hers is used to comment upon his.
The first big mechanical change, which isn't really emphasized, is that while Joy is still a mechanic, Buddy isn't an addict from the start and there is no narrative consequence for taking it. This was likely done because, due to Buddy's big secret that she's the only girl in the world, she can't trust anyone for pretty obvious reasons. Buddy is on her own for basically the entire story, which makes the way she has to fight a lot harder, so the auto-crits that Joy gives you are really valuable to not die all the time. This said, I played through it assuming taking Joy would change the ending so I didn't take any, and I thought the game was really fantastically challenging in how I had to manage health resources and single-use weapon items. Although if you want something a lot less challenging, Joy is kind of a must-use thing.
Buddy being on her own is made more interesting in battle because of the new gameplay mechanics introduced to how she does her best attacks. For starters, she uses TP, not MP like Brad does, so she needs to deal and take damage to use her special attacks. From the start, Buddy can use a skill to inflict bleed effects by doing a small mini-game a bit like Elite Beat Agents by pressing the action button again as the circle closing in hits the middle circle. It takes a lot of timing to get down, but getting good at it is really important because you NEED to inflict as much damage as possible. Where the first game does a good job to showing the player how important status effects like stun, fall, poison, and others can be, Buddy's quest really forces the player to use bleed, poison, fluster, and Buddy's other statuses she can inflict to get any possible edge she can on her opponents. I really loved how much more engaging these mechanical shifts made the combat in this game, and I really didn't mind the lack of other party members as a result of it.
Verdict: Highly Recommended. It's an evolution from the first in more ways than one, but it pulls it off brilliantly. Really the only bad thing I can say about it is that it's a bit too short because I just kept wanting more game to play when it was all done XD . If you like LISA, you will likely really enjoy LISA: The Joyful as well.
ANYWAY, the plot of The Joyful (the previous game having the original subtitle "The Painful") follows the young girl from the first game, Buddy, now that she is on her own. In order to make sure no one ever messes with her again, she sets off on a quest in the Eastern part of Olathe (so no revisiting old areas) to murder everyone on "The List," a giant wall between East and West Olathe with the names of the most powerful warlords on it. However, despite Buddy's quest being explicitly focused on violence where Brad's was implicitly focused on it, Buddy's quest has a much different dynamic because her quest's goal is so different in goal, and because of who she is. Both stories are commentaries on the cycle of abuse, and Buddy's is used to comment upon Brad just as hers is used to comment upon his.
The first big mechanical change, which isn't really emphasized, is that while Joy is still a mechanic, Buddy isn't an addict from the start and there is no narrative consequence for taking it. This was likely done because, due to Buddy's big secret that she's the only girl in the world, she can't trust anyone for pretty obvious reasons. Buddy is on her own for basically the entire story, which makes the way she has to fight a lot harder, so the auto-crits that Joy gives you are really valuable to not die all the time. This said, I played through it assuming taking Joy would change the ending so I didn't take any, and I thought the game was really fantastically challenging in how I had to manage health resources and single-use weapon items. Although if you want something a lot less challenging, Joy is kind of a must-use thing.
Buddy being on her own is made more interesting in battle because of the new gameplay mechanics introduced to how she does her best attacks. For starters, she uses TP, not MP like Brad does, so she needs to deal and take damage to use her special attacks. From the start, Buddy can use a skill to inflict bleed effects by doing a small mini-game a bit like Elite Beat Agents by pressing the action button again as the circle closing in hits the middle circle. It takes a lot of timing to get down, but getting good at it is really important because you NEED to inflict as much damage as possible. Where the first game does a good job to showing the player how important status effects like stun, fall, poison, and others can be, Buddy's quest really forces the player to use bleed, poison, fluster, and Buddy's other statuses she can inflict to get any possible edge she can on her opponents. I really loved how much more engaging these mechanical shifts made the combat in this game, and I really didn't mind the lack of other party members as a result of it.
Verdict: Highly Recommended. It's an evolution from the first in more ways than one, but it pulls it off brilliantly. Really the only bad thing I can say about it is that it's a bit too short because I just kept wanting more game to play when it was all done XD . If you like LISA, you will likely really enjoy LISA: The Joyful as well.
lo tengo que acabar
More fun than the Painful, but less narratively effective imo.