Sporting brilliant, nerdcore humor that burns everything, from the Cthulhu mythology to internet fanboyism, a sinister yet pleasantly modernized combat system, a low price and 8-to-10 hours of pure, crazy gameplay, it was made with a sense of dark love for every soul out there, that still has a 20-side die… and is not afraid to use it. [August 2012]
I was waiting for decades for a good game that will give me a Final Fantasy 6 feeling.This is **** has also Cthulhu mythology **** game is fun.I give it a general score of 95 because I reserve the 100 for penny Arcade 4 which is even better.
There's something about this game... I just can't stop playing. Retro RPG, funny dialogue, senseless battles... (a dinosaur in a suit, a guy in a walrus)
For the price it is, it's a experience you should not miss.
Penny Arcade Episode 3 shines through as a well-written and truly funny, fantasy comedy. However, it loses some of it's momentum due to a lack of variation in the actual gameplay elements.
As a fan of old school Final Fantasy / Dragon Warrior style RPGs, I had a blast with this game... all and all it lasted me about 11 hours of game play (which is decent for a 5$ game), not a moment of which I didn't enjoy. They took the best aspects of the old games (thinking about what an enemy might be weak against, tweaking classes and equipment, etc) and removed some of the garbage (having to stop and heal after EVERY fight... having to constantly re-purchase consumables... etc).
Would highly recommend this to anyone who grew up on NES/SNES RPGs. Well worth the price of admission.
As a big fan of 16bit JRPGs this game brought me a lot of joy. It was really a fantastic entry and featured a lot of cool and unique classes (jobs for you Final Fantasy players) which can be mixed and matched for a large number of character/class combinations. This game is also entirely independent of the previous 2 episodes and provides a perfect place for jumping in. The classes are each very unique, ranging from a "tank" class which allows a character to taunt and draw aggro from enemies while their allies do massive damage, to a class which allows your character to transform in to various dinosaurs. The characters and enemies are all very well designed as well.
On to my gripes; the game is insanely easy for the most part. If you know what you're doing then you shouldn't lose to any boss more than once. If you do get stuck however, there is a problem. There is a finite number of battles, which means you can't grind to higher levels and make the game easier for yourself. Another problem, the game is incredibly linear. If you were looking for a Squaresoft-type world map, then you'll be sorely disappointed, the game is pretty much on rails. Because it is so linear, it is also very short, I finished it in under 11 hours.
That being said, the game is incredibly polished, and if you take it for what it is, it is a fun adventure. The game just got its first DLC (which I have yet to try.) Supposedly the game will continue receiving regular updates, so if you're worried about the short game length, that might change in the coming months. At a 5USD price point, it is well worth it.
This game is a classic Japanese-style turn-based RPG featuring writing from the creators of Penny Arcade. You control 20's-style detective versions of Tycho and Gabe as they solve the latest paranormal mystery.
Entries 1 and 2 in this series were made by a different developer, and from what I've played of Episode 1, I think that this episode is a much better starting place... it's a lot more fun. Zeboyd Games specializes in making classic RPG combat fun again, and this game features another amazing battle system. It's a classic formula that's not only nostalgic to those who have played early Final Fantasy games, but the strategy is a lot deeper. The battles get very repetitive once you've figured out your strategy, though.
The graphics are really well-done, though the sprites are borrowed heavily from FF6. The music is pretty nice, though I would've like a longer battle theme. Though the humor is very strong in this game, the story's a little weak. There's not much actual plot... it's just very drawn out.
If you like classic RPGs, get this game, along with every other Zeboyd Games title. This game's humor is also a great reason to pick this up. If you never cared much for turn-based RPGs in general, then this one probably won't convince you. If this is your type of game, the price is definitely right... there's a lot of content here for $5.
I really love this game series and I have played all three of these games through and through. But this game is just too different from the last two, and unfortunately, it's not a very good thing. The biggest and most major difference is the style of the game. I actually loved the comic look style that the last two games had, but this game takes form of a 16-bit style game. As much as I don't have a problem with this sort of style, its been really overdone. On top of that, this game is no where near as funny as the last two games. Not once did I even chuckle at the ridiculousness of the story. In fact, I don't even remember the story at all. I barely even remember playing the game, because I just kept thinking to myself "please let this end soon." Even despite all these problems, the game is still somewhat fun to play and shows some interesting mechanics, it just gets old really quick. And I mean, really quick. If your a big fan of the series then go for it, but otherwise just ignore this title.
Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness franchise has faced problems in the past, add into the fact that the game's development has now been passed on to a different company and you have yourself an interesting predicament. The major differences from Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 to the rest of the games in the franchise is going from a 3D adventure RPG to classic style, 16-bit era console RPG. Unlike the previous two games, you, as a player do not directly participate as a character, as you did the last two games. The graphics are "good" for the game, anyone knows that at the end of their life span, the Super Nintendo put out some truly mesmerizing 16-bit RPGs, some of the best art I have ever seen in that era of gaming. Unfortunately this game isn't one of them, it's a mix between Final Fantasy 5 and Final Fantasy 6. The art isn't terrible, but it could have been a lot better. It kind of reminds me of those cheap RPG Maker games. The combat is generally slow and tedious, I constantly find myself wishing there was a way to fast-forward though the fights. They try to make it more interesting by adding random rules to some fights, like double damage, or "everyone starts off with 7 mp", but in the end, it doesn't really add to the gameplay.
The game has shops in this version, but everything is so expensive, you won't find yourself going there very often. Unlike a lot of RPGs in the era they are trying to replicate, there are very few items. Many classic RPGs in the early and late 90's had tons of items to collect, buy and sell. In this one, you get, a dozen, at best.
There is a class system, but I find myself using the same classes over and over again. They try to be funny and unique with their concept of classes, but a lot of the times, I find myself just asking "why?". A lot of the character classes are really almost non-functional. You level up in this game, but not as the characters. Your base stats stay the same, instead you level up classes as you progress through the game by collecting experience points, this unlocks new skills and abilities. In order to actually enhance base stats at all, you have to collect items, which are few, far between and crazy expensive. It gives the feeling of character growth a very slow and tedious task.
The game is also really, really linear. There are a very few sparse spots where you can travel off the beaten path, for a few moments, but it all quickly leads back to the main game. I feel like I am being forced at gun point to progress the main story and just get it over with. Does anyone else remember the engrossing games of the 16-bit era with multiple stories, multiple endings, and all of the extra stuff you could do?
In the end, it's a pretty basic RPG, they try to do some things to spice the game up, but it just isn't doing it for me. In trying to replicate the concept of a classic 16-bit RPG, they actually emulated the bottom of the barrel RPGs, they did a mediocre job and produced a mediocre RPG. They could have done a lot more with it, they just didn't.
SummaryThe Startling Developments Detective Agency springs into action as On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 begins, set in motion by a call from a mysterious source. The ever escalating perils on the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness will season our tender heroes to their very core!