I love. love. love. RPG maker games. I wanted to try out this game for the longest time because fans like me of the genre absolutely love Yume Nikki. I also think the main girl's design is adorable. Yume Nikki was created and uploaded by pseudonymous Japanese developer Kikiyama. It is published by PLAYISM on Steam. I know nothing about them, but they seem to have good games-- one being IB which I love!
Brief Description
Yume Nikki is about this girl named Madotsuki. You wake up in and apartment with little furniture; among those being a TV, a desk with a journal, papers scrawled out on the floor (from the journal, probably), and the bed you woke up in. You can walk out onto the balcony you have. You seem to live in a penthouse of some sort (fancy! kinda). There is an entrance to the apartment, but you are unable to leave-- that is... unless you sleep.
Once you go to sleep, you "wake up" in your apartment again. You can now leave through the entrance, and when you do you enter a hub world called "the Nexus". There is an array of doors to different dream worlds. The goal of the game is to collect all 24 "effects", aka power ups that allow Madotsuki to transform. (At the end of the game, you will have 25, since the tutorial is also considered an effect)
Pros
-One of the best things about this game is the environment. The environment seemingly does not make sense a lot of the times, but I love that. It leaves a lot up to interpretation and is so damn creative. I love how each part of the game is designed.
-I love the concepts of the dreams and what it can mean for what is happening in Madotsuki's life. It is interesting to see everyone's interpretations and analysis of what Madotsuki is going through-- what her dreams mean. I have seen a lot of themes suggested and am eager to read about them more, as there is so much content in the game that you can go on and on about something you speculate.
-This game has events! Events are occurrences that can trigger either randomly or if you do something specific in certain places. They are really cool when they happen-- some are rare or not easy to spot though.
-There is so much content in this game. There is A LOT. SO many areas to go to. So many things to see. I completed the game and I have not seen it all. Its incredibly impressive.
-The art style of this game is awesome. The UI and sound design are amazing as well-- it really ties everything together.
Cons
-It is a walking sim, which can turn away a LOT of people. Its literally so interesting and I was invested when playing regardless though.
-There is a bicycle effect transformation. I used that all game, since you go faster. The walking/normal speed is kind of way too slow for my liking. I wish Madotsuki was made a bit faster by default, maybe she could have been running keeping in mind the size of the dream worlds.
-Have not seen other people complete this game, but I had to use a walkthrough. Some effects are just in areas that I probably would never had reached (I am looking at you, the "become fat" effect). You either pickup effects from the ground or talk to an npc of interest. In both cases it is clear on first glance they will give you an effect. But the whole difficultly comes from the looping sceneries, and the unpredictable ways to jump from area to area. It is easy to miss an item or place that can teleport you.
-Some events (and even ways to get to certain areas you need to reach for effects) are LUCK based. They have a % chance to occur (if they do not, you have to reenter the area or wake up and go back). Sometimes that is a little annoying, but I am strange and kinda like the concept so its fine with me. I also think it helps with what this game is going for-- overall theme of a dream, or my, the player's, nightmare.
I would definitely play this game again to see the scenery. I think it would be a good experience having some knowledge of where to go, too. I think a game like this made in 2004 is pretty damn impressive. It holds up even over other RPG maker games made throughout the years after its release. I highly recommend this game to literally anyone. It is free and iconic-- give it a go!!!!!
Brief Description
Yume Nikki is about this girl named Madotsuki. You wake up in and apartment with little furniture; among those being a TV, a desk with a journal, papers scrawled out on the floor (from the journal, probably), and the bed you woke up in. You can walk out onto the balcony you have. You seem to live in a penthouse of some sort (fancy! kinda). There is an entrance to the apartment, but you are unable to leave-- that is... unless you sleep.
Once you go to sleep, you "wake up" in your apartment again. You can now leave through the entrance, and when you do you enter a hub world called "the Nexus". There is an array of doors to different dream worlds. The goal of the game is to collect all 24 "effects", aka power ups that allow Madotsuki to transform. (At the end of the game, you will have 25, since the tutorial is also considered an effect)
Pros
-One of the best things about this game is the environment. The environment seemingly does not make sense a lot of the times, but I love that. It leaves a lot up to interpretation and is so damn creative. I love how each part of the game is designed.
-I love the concepts of the dreams and what it can mean for what is happening in Madotsuki's life. It is interesting to see everyone's interpretations and analysis of what Madotsuki is going through-- what her dreams mean. I have seen a lot of themes suggested and am eager to read about them more, as there is so much content in the game that you can go on and on about something you speculate.
-This game has events! Events are occurrences that can trigger either randomly or if you do something specific in certain places. They are really cool when they happen-- some are rare or not easy to spot though.
-There is so much content in this game. There is A LOT. SO many areas to go to. So many things to see. I completed the game and I have not seen it all. Its incredibly impressive.
-The art style of this game is awesome. The UI and sound design are amazing as well-- it really ties everything together.
Cons
-It is a walking sim, which can turn away a LOT of people. Its literally so interesting and I was invested when playing regardless though.
-There is a bicycle effect transformation. I used that all game, since you go faster. The walking/normal speed is kind of way too slow for my liking. I wish Madotsuki was made a bit faster by default, maybe she could have been running keeping in mind the size of the dream worlds.
-Have not seen other people complete this game, but I had to use a walkthrough. Some effects are just in areas that I probably would never had reached (I am looking at you, the "become fat" effect). You either pickup effects from the ground or talk to an npc of interest. In both cases it is clear on first glance they will give you an effect. But the whole difficultly comes from the looping sceneries, and the unpredictable ways to jump from area to area. It is easy to miss an item or place that can teleport you.
-Some events (and even ways to get to certain areas you need to reach for effects) are LUCK based. They have a % chance to occur (if they do not, you have to reenter the area or wake up and go back). Sometimes that is a little annoying, but I am strange and kinda like the concept so its fine with me. I also think it helps with what this game is going for-- overall theme of a dream, or my, the player's, nightmare.
I would definitely play this game again to see the scenery. I think it would be a good experience having some knowledge of where to go, too. I think a game like this made in 2004 is pretty damn impressive. It holds up even over other RPG maker games made throughout the years after its release. I highly recommend this game to literally anyone. It is free and iconic-- give it a go!!!!!
dumbdumbmcgee
26 days ago