On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness
I downloaded and played the demo of the new Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness tonight. I didn't play enough to get a real strong feel for it, but here are some first impressions of the game.

First of all - yes, it's an RPG, in the same way that the old 32-bit jRPGs are RPGs. Character creation is limited to choosing gender and alternatives for body type, face, clothing, and gloves. When you level up, there really aren't any choices to be made (well, at least for the all of two levels I made in the demo). It's very action - oriented.

And it's the humor can get pretty rude. If you like Penny Arcade's humor, this should be right up your alley. If you are offended by Penny Arcade's humor, you will be offended by the very first combat. The "F-Bomb" gets dropped regularly, you get a cat that attacks by licking itself, and the initial combats are against the notorious "fruit f***er" juicing machines of the comic strip (who make comments like, "I'd hit that," about anything they happen to see). The "M" rating is well-earned.

But I have to admit, I was laughing as I played it. From the opening scene, to the narration during the tutorial, to the animations to the dialog between Tycho and Gabriel, to just seeing a 20-sided die roll out in the "Roll For Initiative" screen, it is both funny and fun. I love how Tycho has a book he reads in one hand, and a Thompson submachinegun in the other.

And can I add here that I'm thrilled to see another RPG that isn't based on medieval fantasy?

Combat is similar to that of many jRPGs - it seems to be "timed turn" based, meaning you have to wait for the action timers to complete before taking an action, but the game will not wait for you to take said action. There are some button-mashing (or spacebar-mashing) action sequences to block at the right time or perform a special attack. You get combo attacks with other party members, and build up special attacks as you level.

All-in-all, it seems very much like a "modern" jRPG. The graphics are - in my view - perfect. Some players may take issue with the frequent transitions between 2D and 3D graphics, but the two are similar enough in style that it is not too jarring.

The camera angles got a little frustrating. I never found out if you could actually move the camera around, but the camera path felt pretty restrictive. I found myself wanting to turn the camera around and zoom in or out. But I expect the world may very well "end" just a little way behind the camera. Your path is pretty linear through the world, at least during the first "bunny slope" tutorial mission.

A little bit has been said about the copy protection on the PC version. You have to register online, and you are limited to installations on three different computers. (The End User License Agreement, incidentally, is quite fun to read, as they include an often humorous layman's description of every section before the obligatory legalese).

To some degree, I find this less of an issue than disc-based protection. It's going to become the norm in the future, I think (and the sooner we can get rid of disc-based protection, in my opinion, the better). But as an old-school retrogamer who is still periodically installing and playing games that are no longer supported by their creators (in many cases, their creators having long since gone out of business), I worry that I might not be able to play the game four or five years from now. This concerns me. Of course, by then, I can risk downloading a potentially malware-infested crack... but I really don't want to rely on the shady gray market to be able to enjoy a game I've legally purchased.

However, I'm still going to be picking this one up. And I'm gonna bug Hothead games for giving me more licenses whenever I upgrade / change machines for YEARS to come. Maybe the cost in customer support calls will help offset this trend in a few years, huh?

Another issue for me is the general issue with episodic gaming. I mean, in general, I'm a fan of the idea. I'd rather have my gaming in smaller doses these days. But I do wonder if this episode is long enough to justify the $20. Are six episodes worth $120? Do they provide more gameplay value than a single game costing $50 or $60? I hope so.

We shall see.

Labels: Indie Evangelism, Roleplaying Games

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