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
ludzu
1 year ago