Rakuen
11.3 hours, 15 of 15 achievements
This was such a wonderful, yet at the same time gloomy game! Unlike “To The Moon” this one had a fair amount of exploration as well as some side quests and told story about several different characters.
People tend to compare these two because they’re both story based RPGMaker games, plus Laura the person who made the soundtrack for TTM is the person who made this game. Let me tell you, this game had a lot more going for it and I would say it was overall a better designed game and a much more enjoyable and memorable experience.
I really liked the beautiful alternate world with all those interesting creatures and how changing things in one world affects the other.
Otherworldy creatures meeting humans for the first time.
Game’s overall story and character designs were interesting, I especially liked Sue and her imagination. The ending was pretty sad and emotional, I was hoping it’ll end differently. Gameplay was fine, and exploration was rewarding. The only problem the game has is the lack of running command, but fortunately there is a solution for that.
So If you haven’t played the game yet but intend to, do yourself a favor and get the sprinting patch. Walking is painfully slow and there is a lot of going back and forth in this game. I don’t think I would have enjoyed playing the game without it. Also don’t worry, applying this patch isn’t going to prevent you from getting achievements.
If you would like to know a little bit more about the game, I wrote a short review on steam.
I didn’t install the running patch and it was still enjoyable. Places like the mansion and waiter game would have been less irritating with it though. I’ll let my boyfriend know about the patch when he plays it! I’m glad you enjoyed the game. I think it was a lot better than To the Moon also. I just hope there will be a market out there for more well made emotional rpg-maker games. There are other great ones like LISA and OneShot, but sadly the bad ones overshadow the good. Plus if Laura did the soundtrack for all of them, I wouldn’t complain :P
I explored every part of the game, because I wanted to collect all of the items. Sometimes you go far away just to realize you can’t progress further because you need specific tool, then you have to go back and come back to that part later. So the game would be a real pain in the ass for me without it. Glad you managed to enjoy it without though, I guess I’m just not as patient ^_^
I wouldn’t mind more of these type of games even if they weren’t as emotional so long as the story and puzzles are interesting. I would prefer them to be made in a better engine though, I would be surprised if there were no engines nowadays that are more or less just as easy to make these type of games in that don’t have technical flaws RPGMaker engine has.
Yeah I agree. I didn’t do everything in the game or I would have been more annoyed. Still, the running speed was something that bothered me at times so it’s nice that there is a patch.
I think games like Oneshot prove that the engine still has life. There are better engines but I still don’t think it’s a terrible one if used right
You keep mentioning OneShot which is a game I’ve never heard about. I guess I’ll have to check it out. I see so far that it wasn’t bundled so I guess I’ll have to wait for a good sale in case I get interested in it.
I’m surprised you haven’t heard about it. Yeah great game that you should check out when you get the chance. I mention it because sadly there aren’t a lot of rpg-maker games that bend the rules of the engine, but the couple I’ve played that do, give me hope for it.
OH I had no idea that the sprinting patch was a thing! That would’ve helped. I love the game otherwise, but some of the weakest parts was just… getting from point A to point B after I had discovered everything already.
I didn’t even know about the existence of a sprinting patch but I still loved this game (It would have helped though). It always makes me happy when more people play (and post about) this game and love it. It’s such a sweet and sad story.
Mmmm I gotta agree with you. I LOVED ttm, but Rakuen definitely takes the cake to me.
I would also like to add that while Rakuen was obviously inspired by TTM, I hope the developer of TTM will now draw some inspiration from Rakuen :3