I actually started writing this a couple weeks ago around the same time I beat Four Swords, but never really got around to finishing it until now. And even now, it’s not really finished, but oh well.
Yup, another import game review, or not really. Since this is an “alternative RPG” (in other words, very text heavy) and I can’t actually read Japanese (yet ;)… I’m working on it), it’s kind of hard to give this game a proper review since I don’t really know what the heck was going on in the game or what people were saying… but I pretty much just got a general idea of the game.
This game by Skip was full of crazy, wacky, kooky people living on the island of Nanashi. You play as Pokkle, the main character who had a strange dream that caused him to oversleep and miss his coming of age ceremony (this much I know from IGN and other sites)… this upsets the mayor because the whole shindig cost the town lots of mane (money). The mayor decides you have to earn your way into adulthood by getting jobs and earning the money to pay for another ceremony. Your face gets blurred and you get a lovely ball & chain as a parting gift… err… punishment.
After you pay off your first debt, you get your face back and the ball & chain gets removed. This is where the game gets interesting (even more so than it’s already been)… you help out your fellow neighbors by fulfilling their wishes. The tasks can range from simple to complex two-part missions, to even downright unusual requests. This is all what makes GiFTPiA… well, GiFTPiA.
I’ve read a lot of posts on boards with people comparing this game to Animal Crossing. Well, the more I played GiFTPiA, the less like Animal Crossing it seemed to me. These are two very different games. Animal Crossing is open-ended, you can play it forever, sort of (I forget what year it is that AC actually can’t move forward anymore… anyway… ). GiFTPiA has an actual ending, 2 of them, in fact. I wish people would stop bringing up AC when talking about this game because they’re really not that much alike.
I really hope this game comes out in English… I enjoyed playing it, but not being able to read Japanese, I really missed out on a lot of what was going on. Other than the language barrier, it was tons of fun… lots of zany cutscenes and expressions on characters’ faces made me get a lot of laughs out of it. Hopefully there will be a localized version in the future. 🙂