Curate of Curiosities

First off, this is the very first "full-length" RPG that I've covered on this site. I've done RPG Maker games before, but they were either unfinished, not RPGs, or the kind of amateur project that's over in about an hour.

Of all the Earthbound-like indie RPGs that I've played, this is one of the better ones. It might have something to do with the fact that it focuses on the one particular aspect present in (the very end of) its inspiration, rather than on trying to fix or make deliberate commentary on some aspect of the turn-based RPG formula like several of its contemporaries. It's also one of those RPG Maker games that uses practically none of the default assets.

Furthermore, each of the party members has their own unique gimmick; Alicia has physical attacks that cost HP to use (that you don't even have access to until late in the game), Miriam has special bullets that I very rarely actually used, Lamar has skills from his magic books, and Dottie can buff the party with magical chess pieces. Another thing is that each of the different areas has its own distinct visual fingerprint; for the first 10 or so hours, your party is trudging through snow, but during the game's second half, you wind up in one vibrant locale after another; from dark, dingy sewers to otherworldly temples to luminescent dream worlds to the innards of a dead god.

Of course, that's not to say that the game doesn't have its issues.

The enemies, while having unique and varied designs ranging from Lovecraftian monsters to German fairy tales to creepypastas to Japanese youkai, although having their own gimmicks, slowly get more and more irritating to deal with as the game goes on. It got to the point where I was filled with dread when the encounter bar showed up in one section of the final dungeon.

On a related note, the early game has the player desperately foraging their surroundings for resources. Nothing wrong with that in and of itself, but as you get further in the game, you find that you run into what I call the Elixir problem: you have all these useful, powerful items, but can't bring yourself to use them out of fear that you might need them later on. I was even wary about using healing items, since you can't buy them until the final dungeon, and you don't have a reliable source of healing until Lamar shows up. And in the end, that turned out to not be much of an issue, as even on the second-hardest difficulty, I didn't see much need outside of boss fights to use the special bullets or buffing items.

Then you have the plot and characters. I don't have a lot to say about either, just that you don't get to see much of each of your party members past the area where they join you. You do get some characterization in the flashbacks in Vinclum, but that's about it.

The plot regarding the struggle between the Inner and Outer Evocations, on the other hand? Well, it's servicable, I guess you could say. I especially took note of the contrast between the Inners forcefully puppeteering their hosts, and then leaving them to die when they're no longer useful, and the Outers being more backseat drivers to theirs. That said, I feel that they were about as one-note in terms of characterization as the party was.

Of course, these are relatively minor nitpicks. When it comes to indie RPGs, you could definitely do worse than this.