what about bart and homer and marge and maggie and santas little helper?
This review contains spoilers
i do not understand what LISA is trying to say. i mean this both in the literal sense in that characters and their motivations come and go with the fickleness of a windy day in chicago, but also in that, when you look at the text of LISA, it is inane. i wanted to like this game, and, at times, i did. in spite of all that i'm about to say, there are moments in this game that genuinely amuse me. and some of the character stuff comes very close to landing with me, but it completely falls apart upon any level of scrutiny. i played this game in 2019 and only finally got around to finishing this game (3 full playthroughs, one on pain). yet, for a very long time, i've known that i dislike this game, and the biggest hurdle for this review was assessing how much i disliked it, how much was irredeemable, and how i'd be able to properly communicate the certainy i feel in that opinion to any reader.
any time my brain tries to analyze LISA, it goes immediately, as if drawn by a lighthouse on a stormy night, to the scene where brad kills marty. i am one of the few people on earth who seemingly played LISA the first before LISA the painful, so having context for not only marty's mistreatment of lisa as well as brad, i find it extremely difficult to side against brad, as the game wants me to here. marty is implied to have sexually abused lisa, was verbally and physically abusive to brad, and this is just what the player is shown. i not only understand, but endorse the violent murder of marty at brad's hands, especially knowing he's trying to groom buddy. sure, wanton murder isn't exactly moral, but this comes at the tail end of a game where it has forced death upon you with no alternative. in the grand scheme of things, killing marty should not be such a big deal. brad has killed at least a hundred guys by this point, probably more. it's telling that marty claims to have changed, yet one of the very actions he can do when brad fights him is to throw a glass bottle at him, just like in his childhood. but no, you kill marty, and in doing so, physically abuse buddy, and you are absolutely railroaded into this conclusion.
the first time i saw this scene, i assumed it was a heavy-handed hallucination/nightmare on brad's part because something this on the nose is not only poorly written, but poorly executed. why is marty here suddenly? how did he know about buddy? why is buddy so attached to him despite very likely barely getting to know him between the last time we saw buddy and now? to be fair, i'm going to take a good faith interpretation of this moment and say that, okay, sure, marty DID reform and WAS actually a changed man who was going to be a good influence on buddy (despite the game giving no evidence to believe this claim), unlike brad. but what does that say about the events that follow? if that is what was intended by the scene, then what does that say about brad and abuse victims? the only way to complete that moment is to knowingly and intentionally harm buddy, your surrogate daughter, someone the narrative has hammered home is the most important person to brad (and likely the player by this point). is this a metaphor about hurting those you love to protect them? if so, it's clumsy at best. instead, it feels as though the game cums over itself and the armchair psychology textbook it's reading from to go "abuse victims perpetuate the cycle of abuse whether they intend to or not". this is a DSM III type scene attempting to be some big emotional climax of brad's relationship with buddy, and it completely fucking sucks.
i'm all for sad and challenging narratives, but this isn't meaningful, this is just deterministic cynicism at best. brad was always doomed to harm buddy and realistically shouldn't have been anywhere near her. why? because he was never going to accept her personhood or agency and instead was set on using her for his own vindication. the text of LISA is pretty plain and direct in stating this, and it does so with the justification that lisa's suicide on top of marty's abuse forever fucked him in a way he could never recover from. this isn't dark, this is. . . boring! this is a boring read of abuse and how it functions. a narrative that says "a victim of abuse is going to be broken forever and incapable of loving themselves and those around them in a healthy way" is a very standard plot point that we've seen since something as early as 1960's Psycho. this is a standard unconscious social belief. there are bigger plot twists in "everybody poops". if you're going to choose such a standard and unremarkable theme to base your game on, at least do it well.
you can very easily take the perspective that looking at the events like this is results-oriented and that, ultimately, the events that happen in LISA are not meant to be extrapolated into universal applicability and events. i find this to be a cowardly way of viewing art, as art is not made or presented in a vacuum. there is, like it or not, baggage associated with the idea of a cycle of abuse being perpetuated by victims. if you want to use that in your narrative, there are going to be implications and inferrences. this is just how storytelling works. you can divorce yourself from the themes, but you can't deny them. LISA's problem is that it wants to be about nothing, it wants to present this shocking and grotesque world without any real-world grounding just to use shock value black humor. oh man, you made a joke about orphans getting set on fire? let me tell you this really funny dead baby joke while you're at it.
ultimately my root problem with LISA is that i detest what little of austin jorgensen i can find in his work. i do not know the man nor have i ever spoken with him, so i am not going to assert that he is this villain that needs to be taken down. i am, however, someone who has invested a significant amount of time into a game that he largely made on his own (as i understand it, outside of the music, it was a solo endeavor). it's hard to not gleam some fairly repugnant viewpoints from him based on how he portrays sexual violence, gender, and masculinity.
here, let's start with the real winner of the show: Male Rape and how epically funny it is. early in the game you're told there's a woman that exists and is real and is at a location. you go to the location where she is guarded by a fairly difficult boss encounter. you beat the boss, enter the door, and then SURPRISE lmfao the """woman""" was an man!! and it gets funnie because he cries about how they still raped him despite him having a mustache and saying he was a man XDDD and then after meeting him you get an achievement on steam titled Violated Guy, because sexual violence is teh epic pwnage. lastly, if you were unclear as to how serious he is treating the concept of rape, he names this character Fardy. because it sounds like fart. he has brothers named Shardy, Lardy, and Tardy. in-game text states that all his peers hate him.
accuse me of being a huge joyless unfun sjw all you want, i really don't care. i just want to know: what is the point of this character? rofl male rape victims are weak and when they get raped it's funny? compare this to the implied rape (via grooming) of buddy by sticky. the game at least passingly treats this as more serious and worthy of sympathy. it doesn't explicitly come out and say it, but by brad's reaction and the extremely subtle dialogue with sticky afterwards ("she wanted it", "she needed to be educated", etc. etc.), you're given very little room to interpret any alternative. to be fucking blunt, if you're going to have sexual violence in your work and handle it with the shittiest most clumsy portrayal possible, do everyone a favor and just omit it. it's personally offensive to me to see jorgensen point and laugh at a male rape victim and go out of his way to let you know that not only was a man raped, but it's extremely funny and we should be finding this inherently comedic. it's legitimately evil shit to put in your game and it's astonishing to see something so mask off get so little criticism.
i'll jump back and try to be a little more charitable. LISA is a game about the post-apocalypse and what would happen if all the women on earth suddenly disappeared or died or whatever. ok, well what does this world look like? surely infrastructure still exists, it's not like BOMBS fell or anything, right? NOPE, it's mad max out here and men are completely dysfunctional in all meaningful ways without women. i do believe a societal shift and potentially even collapse would occur with the total removal of women. but there's nothing to go off of what happened to cause this beyond "women no longer exist so naturally everything's fucked". like, you're telling me no one's trying to do some IVF or something? maybe trying to do some dolly-esque cloning to make a female? does some of this fall out of the scope of the game? of course, i'm not going to deny that this could come off as pedantic. but so much of this setting is cutting corners just to get to the meat of the narrative, which is men doing heinous and awful things to each other, often in gangs. i need at least something to work with to believe that civilized society could go so poorly so quickly.
but no, men without women to temper their barbarous spirits will naturally form sadistic gangs that seek out nothing but wanton destruction and suffering, as you do. again, this is such a fucking dull take on gender politics. you have an interesting premise and you completely shit the bed just to go into gender essentialism that's existed for centuries. yeah, of course, without women, men will use pornography magazines as currency. sure, that makes sense. there's such a drought of actual gay and trans men in this work too that it makes jorgensen come off as sheltered and telling on himself. did you really not consider what a gay/trans/etc. man would do in this situation or how they would fit into this new world? jorgensen comes off as someone who just wanted to tell a story that begins and ends at "men are inherently violent, women are inherently caregivers, and without one, the other goes wildly out of control."
by the way, this is a video game. i know you might have been confused considering i've said sweet fuck all about the actual gameplay of this video game that i played. and here is my opinion: it has amateur design. i know that's almost a nothing statement considering that jorgensen IS an amateur, but i want to call a spade a spade. he seems to really value and want this aura of "this game is going to make you have to REALLY choose things and it's going to be really difficult to deal with it", but he completely fumbles the execution. oh no, buzzo showed up and wants to cut off your arm or kill the first party member in your team. instead of giving him your arm, you can just reload your most recent save (which is approximately 5 minutes away from this choice), put a character you either don't ever use or outright dislike in that slot, and just kill them that way. you can spend the night at campfires but OH NO sometimes bad things can happen to you like you get poisoned or one of your party members gets held hostage. but, there's a save point near almost every major one, so you can just reload if that happens. or, even better, you can just stay at an inn that charges a measly 10 mags for guaranteed safety. how about when you're forced to do russian roullette? yep, you can just save reload until you get through flawlessly. this is a viable and applicable strategy even on the supposed "pain" mode that was intended to curb this type of behavior. these choices ultimately just end up being unnecessary inconveniences that add nothing to the game. they're speedbumps that you can detour around masquerading as some dark soulsian punishment.
i now want to talk about the part of the game that infuriated me more than any other singular part: the road scholars. for anyone unfamiliar or forgetful, the road scholars are a trap boss fight you will encounter early in the game. you go to a side path and find a small town with no way to heal, and nothing much of note in it. just one way in, one way out. no place to grind for item or money. just. that's it. still, there's a save point, so unless you're playing on pain mode, you're almost certainly going to save. and so you try to leave and suddenly you're accosted by a gang who wants either 100 mags (a significant amount of money by this point in the game) or they're going to destroy the town you just left. i want to stress that there is very little of value in this town in the first place, so this choice from a metagame standpoint doesn't even particularly matter, and thus fails to be "hard". yet, you've likely just saved and you're locked into this worst-case scenario. but, here's the thing: i'm an asshole. i hate when games try to gotcha me like this. i say no, eat shit, i'm fighting you. and i fight them. and i lose. several times. because this fight is very clearly heavily stacked against the player. it's a gotcha, but it's also a trap. you made me make a choice i didn't know i was making then tried to point and laugh at me for the choice i didn't know i made having consequences. these types of things can be done well, and oftentimes having a game react to something you did that you didn't expect it to acknowledge can be some of the best type of stimuli-reaction you can get out of the medium. but this is just a gotcha, an attempt to make me feel as though i should've been more careful when there was no way i could have possibly predicted this outcome would occur. it's not clever, it doesn't elevate the gameplay in any way, and it ultimately just burned goodwill i would've had for the game.
in a sad way i want to give points for effort and heart here, because while i think jorgensen largely missed the mark and likely has a personality i would find repellant, i genuinely respect the authorial stamp he put on this game. it is uniquely and creatively his own, probably for the worse. i still can't quite wrap my mind around the positive reception this game has garnered. this is considered an indie classic and it's frankly baffling to me how it earned such accolades. this game is mechanically unengaging, thematically cretinous, and overall an extreme disappointment considering the mountains of praise that i have seen from both strangers and friends. i can only hope that games we love in 2024 age better than the ones we loved in 2014.
any time my brain tries to analyze LISA, it goes immediately, as if drawn by a lighthouse on a stormy night, to the scene where brad kills marty. i am one of the few people on earth who seemingly played LISA the first before LISA the painful, so having context for not only marty's mistreatment of lisa as well as brad, i find it extremely difficult to side against brad, as the game wants me to here. marty is implied to have sexually abused lisa, was verbally and physically abusive to brad, and this is just what the player is shown. i not only understand, but endorse the violent murder of marty at brad's hands, especially knowing he's trying to groom buddy. sure, wanton murder isn't exactly moral, but this comes at the tail end of a game where it has forced death upon you with no alternative. in the grand scheme of things, killing marty should not be such a big deal. brad has killed at least a hundred guys by this point, probably more. it's telling that marty claims to have changed, yet one of the very actions he can do when brad fights him is to throw a glass bottle at him, just like in his childhood. but no, you kill marty, and in doing so, physically abuse buddy, and you are absolutely railroaded into this conclusion.
the first time i saw this scene, i assumed it was a heavy-handed hallucination/nightmare on brad's part because something this on the nose is not only poorly written, but poorly executed. why is marty here suddenly? how did he know about buddy? why is buddy so attached to him despite very likely barely getting to know him between the last time we saw buddy and now? to be fair, i'm going to take a good faith interpretation of this moment and say that, okay, sure, marty DID reform and WAS actually a changed man who was going to be a good influence on buddy (despite the game giving no evidence to believe this claim), unlike brad. but what does that say about the events that follow? if that is what was intended by the scene, then what does that say about brad and abuse victims? the only way to complete that moment is to knowingly and intentionally harm buddy, your surrogate daughter, someone the narrative has hammered home is the most important person to brad (and likely the player by this point). is this a metaphor about hurting those you love to protect them? if so, it's clumsy at best. instead, it feels as though the game cums over itself and the armchair psychology textbook it's reading from to go "abuse victims perpetuate the cycle of abuse whether they intend to or not". this is a DSM III type scene attempting to be some big emotional climax of brad's relationship with buddy, and it completely fucking sucks.
i'm all for sad and challenging narratives, but this isn't meaningful, this is just deterministic cynicism at best. brad was always doomed to harm buddy and realistically shouldn't have been anywhere near her. why? because he was never going to accept her personhood or agency and instead was set on using her for his own vindication. the text of LISA is pretty plain and direct in stating this, and it does so with the justification that lisa's suicide on top of marty's abuse forever fucked him in a way he could never recover from. this isn't dark, this is. . . boring! this is a boring read of abuse and how it functions. a narrative that says "a victim of abuse is going to be broken forever and incapable of loving themselves and those around them in a healthy way" is a very standard plot point that we've seen since something as early as 1960's Psycho. this is a standard unconscious social belief. there are bigger plot twists in "everybody poops". if you're going to choose such a standard and unremarkable theme to base your game on, at least do it well.
you can very easily take the perspective that looking at the events like this is results-oriented and that, ultimately, the events that happen in LISA are not meant to be extrapolated into universal applicability and events. i find this to be a cowardly way of viewing art, as art is not made or presented in a vacuum. there is, like it or not, baggage associated with the idea of a cycle of abuse being perpetuated by victims. if you want to use that in your narrative, there are going to be implications and inferrences. this is just how storytelling works. you can divorce yourself from the themes, but you can't deny them. LISA's problem is that it wants to be about nothing, it wants to present this shocking and grotesque world without any real-world grounding just to use shock value black humor. oh man, you made a joke about orphans getting set on fire? let me tell you this really funny dead baby joke while you're at it.
ultimately my root problem with LISA is that i detest what little of austin jorgensen i can find in his work. i do not know the man nor have i ever spoken with him, so i am not going to assert that he is this villain that needs to be taken down. i am, however, someone who has invested a significant amount of time into a game that he largely made on his own (as i understand it, outside of the music, it was a solo endeavor). it's hard to not gleam some fairly repugnant viewpoints from him based on how he portrays sexual violence, gender, and masculinity.
here, let's start with the real winner of the show: Male Rape and how epically funny it is. early in the game you're told there's a woman that exists and is real and is at a location. you go to the location where she is guarded by a fairly difficult boss encounter. you beat the boss, enter the door, and then SURPRISE lmfao the """woman""" was an man!! and it gets funnie because he cries about how they still raped him despite him having a mustache and saying he was a man XDDD and then after meeting him you get an achievement on steam titled Violated Guy, because sexual violence is teh epic pwnage. lastly, if you were unclear as to how serious he is treating the concept of rape, he names this character Fardy. because it sounds like fart. he has brothers named Shardy, Lardy, and Tardy. in-game text states that all his peers hate him.
accuse me of being a huge joyless unfun sjw all you want, i really don't care. i just want to know: what is the point of this character? rofl male rape victims are weak and when they get raped it's funny? compare this to the implied rape (via grooming) of buddy by sticky. the game at least passingly treats this as more serious and worthy of sympathy. it doesn't explicitly come out and say it, but by brad's reaction and the extremely subtle dialogue with sticky afterwards ("she wanted it", "she needed to be educated", etc. etc.), you're given very little room to interpret any alternative. to be fucking blunt, if you're going to have sexual violence in your work and handle it with the shittiest most clumsy portrayal possible, do everyone a favor and just omit it. it's personally offensive to me to see jorgensen point and laugh at a male rape victim and go out of his way to let you know that not only was a man raped, but it's extremely funny and we should be finding this inherently comedic. it's legitimately evil shit to put in your game and it's astonishing to see something so mask off get so little criticism.
i'll jump back and try to be a little more charitable. LISA is a game about the post-apocalypse and what would happen if all the women on earth suddenly disappeared or died or whatever. ok, well what does this world look like? surely infrastructure still exists, it's not like BOMBS fell or anything, right? NOPE, it's mad max out here and men are completely dysfunctional in all meaningful ways without women. i do believe a societal shift and potentially even collapse would occur with the total removal of women. but there's nothing to go off of what happened to cause this beyond "women no longer exist so naturally everything's fucked". like, you're telling me no one's trying to do some IVF or something? maybe trying to do some dolly-esque cloning to make a female? does some of this fall out of the scope of the game? of course, i'm not going to deny that this could come off as pedantic. but so much of this setting is cutting corners just to get to the meat of the narrative, which is men doing heinous and awful things to each other, often in gangs. i need at least something to work with to believe that civilized society could go so poorly so quickly.
but no, men without women to temper their barbarous spirits will naturally form sadistic gangs that seek out nothing but wanton destruction and suffering, as you do. again, this is such a fucking dull take on gender politics. you have an interesting premise and you completely shit the bed just to go into gender essentialism that's existed for centuries. yeah, of course, without women, men will use pornography magazines as currency. sure, that makes sense. there's such a drought of actual gay and trans men in this work too that it makes jorgensen come off as sheltered and telling on himself. did you really not consider what a gay/trans/etc. man would do in this situation or how they would fit into this new world? jorgensen comes off as someone who just wanted to tell a story that begins and ends at "men are inherently violent, women are inherently caregivers, and without one, the other goes wildly out of control."
by the way, this is a video game. i know you might have been confused considering i've said sweet fuck all about the actual gameplay of this video game that i played. and here is my opinion: it has amateur design. i know that's almost a nothing statement considering that jorgensen IS an amateur, but i want to call a spade a spade. he seems to really value and want this aura of "this game is going to make you have to REALLY choose things and it's going to be really difficult to deal with it", but he completely fumbles the execution. oh no, buzzo showed up and wants to cut off your arm or kill the first party member in your team. instead of giving him your arm, you can just reload your most recent save (which is approximately 5 minutes away from this choice), put a character you either don't ever use or outright dislike in that slot, and just kill them that way. you can spend the night at campfires but OH NO sometimes bad things can happen to you like you get poisoned or one of your party members gets held hostage. but, there's a save point near almost every major one, so you can just reload if that happens. or, even better, you can just stay at an inn that charges a measly 10 mags for guaranteed safety. how about when you're forced to do russian roullette? yep, you can just save reload until you get through flawlessly. this is a viable and applicable strategy even on the supposed "pain" mode that was intended to curb this type of behavior. these choices ultimately just end up being unnecessary inconveniences that add nothing to the game. they're speedbumps that you can detour around masquerading as some dark soulsian punishment.
i now want to talk about the part of the game that infuriated me more than any other singular part: the road scholars. for anyone unfamiliar or forgetful, the road scholars are a trap boss fight you will encounter early in the game. you go to a side path and find a small town with no way to heal, and nothing much of note in it. just one way in, one way out. no place to grind for item or money. just. that's it. still, there's a save point, so unless you're playing on pain mode, you're almost certainly going to save. and so you try to leave and suddenly you're accosted by a gang who wants either 100 mags (a significant amount of money by this point in the game) or they're going to destroy the town you just left. i want to stress that there is very little of value in this town in the first place, so this choice from a metagame standpoint doesn't even particularly matter, and thus fails to be "hard". yet, you've likely just saved and you're locked into this worst-case scenario. but, here's the thing: i'm an asshole. i hate when games try to gotcha me like this. i say no, eat shit, i'm fighting you. and i fight them. and i lose. several times. because this fight is very clearly heavily stacked against the player. it's a gotcha, but it's also a trap. you made me make a choice i didn't know i was making then tried to point and laugh at me for the choice i didn't know i made having consequences. these types of things can be done well, and oftentimes having a game react to something you did that you didn't expect it to acknowledge can be some of the best type of stimuli-reaction you can get out of the medium. but this is just a gotcha, an attempt to make me feel as though i should've been more careful when there was no way i could have possibly predicted this outcome would occur. it's not clever, it doesn't elevate the gameplay in any way, and it ultimately just burned goodwill i would've had for the game.
in a sad way i want to give points for effort and heart here, because while i think jorgensen largely missed the mark and likely has a personality i would find repellant, i genuinely respect the authorial stamp he put on this game. it is uniquely and creatively his own, probably for the worse. i still can't quite wrap my mind around the positive reception this game has garnered. this is considered an indie classic and it's frankly baffling to me how it earned such accolades. this game is mechanically unengaging, thematically cretinous, and overall an extreme disappointment considering the mountains of praise that i have seen from both strangers and friends. i can only hope that games we love in 2024 age better than the ones we loved in 2014.
This does a similar story to TLOU a million times better than it ever could. It builds on the guilt and desperation of a Man using his loss of his other family member as an excuse to be a terrible parent and person. It really reaches in to that mental anguish and almost makes you feel sorry for Brad, but ultimately shows what selfishness and the use of another person to fill a void will get you. What an absolute masterclass in storytelling and character development.
TERRYSWEEP
LISA, in a sense, is what indie games are all about. It's one thing to be willing to make a game with an identity clearly inspired directly by another, but despite having the most apparent inspiration of almost any of the EarthBound clones we've seen emerge, LISA forms its own personality by virtue of just... how indie it is. There's something to be said about how most games you play now, even independent ones, had large funding or a larger team than they let on, and LISA is no different being a kickstarted game, yet LISA has something... special about it. Other developers might wonder "Should I really include that?" "Is that a step too far?" "Does that fit?" "Is this unfair design?" And many, many more questions, but Austin Jorgensen (Dingaling) clearly just kept on rolling.
Take it this way, in a world where even more games that claim to be made by only a few guys now have some form of great funding, playtesting and refinement, LISA isn't refined, it isn't perfect and it isn't pretty, but it tells it like it is, whether that means making you sit through a monologue that's overly long just because the developer thought it was funny, casually joking about ridiculously dark subjects, or subjecting you to legitimately heartfelt but brutal scenes; none of it would fly elsewhere, nor would the ability to permanently have party members die or the weird 2D platforming welded into a JRPG, but at least it's sincere. Scrappy, weird and crude, but profoundly sincere in a way no other game is.
Take it this way, in a world where even more games that claim to be made by only a few guys now have some form of great funding, playtesting and refinement, LISA isn't refined, it isn't perfect and it isn't pretty, but it tells it like it is, whether that means making you sit through a monologue that's overly long just because the developer thought it was funny, casually joking about ridiculously dark subjects, or subjecting you to legitimately heartfelt but brutal scenes; none of it would fly elsewhere, nor would the ability to permanently have party members die or the weird 2D platforming welded into a JRPG, but at least it's sincere. Scrappy, weird and crude, but profoundly sincere in a way no other game is.
Nern the Best Storyteller
I had to take a couple of weeks to writhe in agony after playing this, All time feel bad game. You will feel like pure shit as the credits roll.
tombul efes
This game is really good but what the fuck is the deal with the Marty Spiders
LISA: THE PAINFUL REVIEW
Note: I give spoiler warnings for spoilers.
There's so much I could say about LISA. Honestly, I could probably talk about it forever.
I first played it in April of 2017. I then promptly replayed it a second time in May, and recently finished a third run (with a fourth unfinished one in between.) It has been amongst my very favorite games since that first run, and I expect it to remain there... Probably forever.
I truly think it's one of the best of all time, and something everyone should play, if they can stomach it. It certainly isn't a story that everyone will be able to sit through, but it's absolutely worth it if you can - for both the serious moments, and the humorous ones.
Here is a TW guide for LISA that I think people should see before heading in, because it really does deal with a lot of triggering topics. Still, don't let the dark nature deter you, unless you're really not good with that sort of thing. LISA has a lot to say, and it says it exceptionally well.
TW list: Parental abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual. The first two are shown on-screen, the last is implied.) Child rape (implied, talked about, common theme.) Drug usage and addiction (shown on-screen.) Suicide (shown on-screen.) Animal death (shown on-screen, once.)
SHORT REVIEW
Visuals: 4.5/5
Sound: 5.5/5
Story: 5.5/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Worldbuilding: 5.5/5
Achievements (Does not count toward overall score.): 5/5
Overall score: 5/5 [5.1/5]
IN-DEPTH REVIEW
Visuals:
LISA is a simple 2D pixel game, but I honestly really love the style. I think that, in general, it's an underrated choice (especially with the current trend of AAA studios tending towards hyper-realistic graphics.) It suits LISA perfectly, and it looks great for being made by a single person. It's not anything groundbreaking, but it's really good.
Most of the character designs are great, too. There's so many unique-looking people, both allies and foes. The companions, the human enemies, the joy mutants - they're all so memorable. On the surface, there are many designs that seem like they would feel out of place - but they don't. A guy with a goose head who reads poetry? A spear-wielding tiger man named Tiger Man? Fish people? Angry snowmen with guns? Yeah, that all works. Because the humor and the world of LISA are already so absurd, all of the weird designs it presents you with just work.
(My only complaint with this aspect is that I'm not a fan of how some of the POC are portrayed. It's very stereotypical at times.)
I also love the use of color. Most apocalypse settings will refrain from palettes outside of browns, grays, and maybe reds. LISA doesn't take this road, though. There are lots of colors in the game - both in the locations and in the character designs. It's something that makes the world pop. (Side note, this is something I think Fallout 4 actually did right, too.)
The graphics are simple, yet charming. That, plus the designs and colors, make LISA a memorable visual experience.
Overall, 4.5/5.
Sound:
This game has, hands down, one of my favorite soundtracks of all time. I cannot overstate how much the music contributes to the atmosphere, and how good of a job it does. I really can't explain to anyone why it's so good, either - all of the tracks are just so catchy and fun (or unnerving, in some cases.) It's very unique, too. I've never heard any music like it, and I doubt I ever will again.
Besides that, there's not much sound design to review here, minus some audio cues and a few one-off jokes during dialogue. LISA doesn't really need a lot of sound, though. The cues serve their purpose, and the rest of the focus is given to the music (or the absence of it in some parts, which is just as effective.)
Overall, 5.5/5.
Story:
I truly believe that LISA has one of the most tragic, heart wrenching plots in any medium. It's one that you have to experience, instead of just reading about.
LISA has the capability of shifting perfectly between darkly comedic and downright nauseating in a heartbeat - and it often manages to do both at the same time. The world of Olathe is a dark reflection of toxic masculinity. Men who solve their problems with violence. Men who feel entitled. Men who are willing to hurt and traumatize to satisfy their own pleasures.
It's a story of a father chasing after his adoptive daughter, in an effort to keep her safe from the immeasurable danger she faces on her own... But then, the game makes you question whether he does so because he really loves her, or if it's because of his own deep-seated guilt related to his past.
Almost none of the people in LISA are good people, and almost none of them are innocent. There are times where, emotionally, it feels like a hopeless endeavor to continue trying. And yet Brad keeps marching forward, so why shouldn't you? No matter how difficult it gets, he is committed to mowing down every man who stands between him and rescuing Buddy - [SPOILERS] despite the fact that she doesn't WANT to be rescued by him. [SPOILER ENDING]
There are so many different plot threads, all interesting, all which tie together perfectly. Every one of these people are haunted by the death of one girl, years ago; even the title screen is haunted by her. Whether the people knew her or not, it doesn't matter. She's always there, lingering in the background.
The writing is amazing, too. The dialogue between characters is great. All of the serious moments feel natural and real. And the game is so funny. The jokes nearly always land, and are super entertaining.
Lastly, the ending is perfect. It genuinely makes me emotional every time I play through it again.
I will never forget the final words spoken in LISA, or everything leading up to them.
Overall, 5.5/5.
Gameplay:
The combat system is fairly simple. That's a complaint I hear often, but I don't personally see it as a negative. I don't think it NEEDED to be overly-complicated. What it does provide is fun and interesting. There are some cool combinations you can pull off, if you think about who you utilize as companions. There's a few different mechanics in the combat itself, too, such as the status effects (of which there are many), and the use of SP and TP on different characters.
I do think it's notable that, at some point, the combat CAN get pretty easy (minus some of the boss fights.) This largely depends on which route you take. I won't spoil much, but there is a chance to make the fighting much less taxing than it could be, at the cost of other in-game consequences.
There is also a Painful mode, which can add a new layer of difficulty. I've played it once, and it's a fun way to make replays a bit more challenging. I'm sure that when I inevitably play the game again in a year or two, I'll be playing this mode.
Overall, 4.5/5.
Worldbuilding:
Olathe is such a unique and interesting setting. It perfectly blends the dark aspects of the setting with the humor, creating an experience that no other game can offer. It is chock-full of fascinating characters, both one-off and recurring. There's endless little details, encounters, and jokes to discover. There are a lot of hints toward the plot and what's really going on, but it's left just vague enough to give you something to think about and theorize on even after the credits roll.
There is never a dull moment in LISA. Every in-game location has something to keep your attention and/or make you laugh.
(Side note, I love all of the wrestling jokes and references, given that I'm a huge wrestling nerd.)
Overall, 5.5/5.
Extra Category - Achievements:
This game has 68 Steam achievements total, which is quite a lot. I got the last one I needed for 100% on my last playthrough.
I really like the achievements themselves - the pictures, names, and descriptions are cool and build upon the world a bit. They're also fun to get, ranging from story progression, to simple world exploration, to defeating difficult side bosses.
Overall, 5/5.
Overall score: 5/5. LISA is nearly perfect in my eyes. There's so much to appreciate about it.
I highly recommend playing through it at least once. The story, characters, world, writing, and music will keep you entertained and engrossed from beginning to end. If you play it and enjoy it, I also recommend checking out The Joyful, which is a (much shorter) sequel that builds upon the characters and world further.
Note: I give spoiler warnings for spoilers.
There's so much I could say about LISA. Honestly, I could probably talk about it forever.
I first played it in April of 2017. I then promptly replayed it a second time in May, and recently finished a third run (with a fourth unfinished one in between.) It has been amongst my very favorite games since that first run, and I expect it to remain there... Probably forever.
I truly think it's one of the best of all time, and something everyone should play, if they can stomach it. It certainly isn't a story that everyone will be able to sit through, but it's absolutely worth it if you can - for both the serious moments, and the humorous ones.
Here is a TW guide for LISA that I think people should see before heading in, because it really does deal with a lot of triggering topics. Still, don't let the dark nature deter you, unless you're really not good with that sort of thing. LISA has a lot to say, and it says it exceptionally well.
TW list: Parental abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual. The first two are shown on-screen, the last is implied.) Child rape (implied, talked about, common theme.) Drug usage and addiction (shown on-screen.) Suicide (shown on-screen.) Animal death (shown on-screen, once.)
SHORT REVIEW
Visuals: 4.5/5
Sound: 5.5/5
Story: 5.5/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Worldbuilding: 5.5/5
Achievements (Does not count toward overall score.): 5/5
Overall score: 5/5 [5.1/5]
IN-DEPTH REVIEW
Visuals:
LISA is a simple 2D pixel game, but I honestly really love the style. I think that, in general, it's an underrated choice (especially with the current trend of AAA studios tending towards hyper-realistic graphics.) It suits LISA perfectly, and it looks great for being made by a single person. It's not anything groundbreaking, but it's really good.
Most of the character designs are great, too. There's so many unique-looking people, both allies and foes. The companions, the human enemies, the joy mutants - they're all so memorable. On the surface, there are many designs that seem like they would feel out of place - but they don't. A guy with a goose head who reads poetry? A spear-wielding tiger man named Tiger Man? Fish people? Angry snowmen with guns? Yeah, that all works. Because the humor and the world of LISA are already so absurd, all of the weird designs it presents you with just work.
(My only complaint with this aspect is that I'm not a fan of how some of the POC are portrayed. It's very stereotypical at times.)
I also love the use of color. Most apocalypse settings will refrain from palettes outside of browns, grays, and maybe reds. LISA doesn't take this road, though. There are lots of colors in the game - both in the locations and in the character designs. It's something that makes the world pop. (Side note, this is something I think Fallout 4 actually did right, too.)
The graphics are simple, yet charming. That, plus the designs and colors, make LISA a memorable visual experience.
Overall, 4.5/5.
Sound:
This game has, hands down, one of my favorite soundtracks of all time. I cannot overstate how much the music contributes to the atmosphere, and how good of a job it does. I really can't explain to anyone why it's so good, either - all of the tracks are just so catchy and fun (or unnerving, in some cases.) It's very unique, too. I've never heard any music like it, and I doubt I ever will again.
Besides that, there's not much sound design to review here, minus some audio cues and a few one-off jokes during dialogue. LISA doesn't really need a lot of sound, though. The cues serve their purpose, and the rest of the focus is given to the music (or the absence of it in some parts, which is just as effective.)
Overall, 5.5/5.
Story:
I truly believe that LISA has one of the most tragic, heart wrenching plots in any medium. It's one that you have to experience, instead of just reading about.
LISA has the capability of shifting perfectly between darkly comedic and downright nauseating in a heartbeat - and it often manages to do both at the same time. The world of Olathe is a dark reflection of toxic masculinity. Men who solve their problems with violence. Men who feel entitled. Men who are willing to hurt and traumatize to satisfy their own pleasures.
It's a story of a father chasing after his adoptive daughter, in an effort to keep her safe from the immeasurable danger she faces on her own... But then, the game makes you question whether he does so because he really loves her, or if it's because of his own deep-seated guilt related to his past.
Almost none of the people in LISA are good people, and almost none of them are innocent. There are times where, emotionally, it feels like a hopeless endeavor to continue trying. And yet Brad keeps marching forward, so why shouldn't you? No matter how difficult it gets, he is committed to mowing down every man who stands between him and rescuing Buddy - [SPOILERS] despite the fact that she doesn't WANT to be rescued by him. [SPOILER ENDING]
There are so many different plot threads, all interesting, all which tie together perfectly. Every one of these people are haunted by the death of one girl, years ago; even the title screen is haunted by her. Whether the people knew her or not, it doesn't matter. She's always there, lingering in the background.
The writing is amazing, too. The dialogue between characters is great. All of the serious moments feel natural and real. And the game is so funny. The jokes nearly always land, and are super entertaining.
Lastly, the ending is perfect. It genuinely makes me emotional every time I play through it again.
I will never forget the final words spoken in LISA, or everything leading up to them.
Overall, 5.5/5.
Gameplay:
The combat system is fairly simple. That's a complaint I hear often, but I don't personally see it as a negative. I don't think it NEEDED to be overly-complicated. What it does provide is fun and interesting. There are some cool combinations you can pull off, if you think about who you utilize as companions. There's a few different mechanics in the combat itself, too, such as the status effects (of which there are many), and the use of SP and TP on different characters.
I do think it's notable that, at some point, the combat CAN get pretty easy (minus some of the boss fights.) This largely depends on which route you take. I won't spoil much, but there is a chance to make the fighting much less taxing than it could be, at the cost of other in-game consequences.
There is also a Painful mode, which can add a new layer of difficulty. I've played it once, and it's a fun way to make replays a bit more challenging. I'm sure that when I inevitably play the game again in a year or two, I'll be playing this mode.
Overall, 4.5/5.
Worldbuilding:
Olathe is such a unique and interesting setting. It perfectly blends the dark aspects of the setting with the humor, creating an experience that no other game can offer. It is chock-full of fascinating characters, both one-off and recurring. There's endless little details, encounters, and jokes to discover. There are a lot of hints toward the plot and what's really going on, but it's left just vague enough to give you something to think about and theorize on even after the credits roll.
There is never a dull moment in LISA. Every in-game location has something to keep your attention and/or make you laugh.
(Side note, I love all of the wrestling jokes and references, given that I'm a huge wrestling nerd.)
Overall, 5.5/5.
Extra Category - Achievements:
This game has 68 Steam achievements total, which is quite a lot. I got the last one I needed for 100% on my last playthrough.
I really like the achievements themselves - the pictures, names, and descriptions are cool and build upon the world a bit. They're also fun to get, ranging from story progression, to simple world exploration, to defeating difficult side bosses.
Overall, 5/5.
Overall score: 5/5. LISA is nearly perfect in my eyes. There's so much to appreciate about it.
I highly recommend playing through it at least once. The story, characters, world, writing, and music will keep you entertained and engrossed from beginning to end. If you play it and enjoy it, I also recommend checking out The Joyful, which is a (much shorter) sequel that builds upon the characters and world further.
"A life ruining gaming experience"
did i do the right thing?
This happened to me yesterday
"A life ruining game experience" they were not kidding
Its good! it didn't blow my socks off like I was expecting, but I think I enjoyed everything this game accomplished. I found gameplay to be pretty monotoneous after a while. however, no surprise that I enjoyed the story a lot, but it didn't really make me cry or laugh out loud, but it made me feel things. I guess I was expecting more considering everyone I know who has played it says its the best thing ever, but I just found it pretty good.
You're tearing me apart Lisa.
"...No. You don't understand. I've been dead for 35 years. Today is the day I live."
Tired of motherfuckers in Olathe telling me, always in the bar, Brad Armstrong ain’t bout this, Brad Armstrong ain’t bout that, they say that fella don’t be putting in no work. SHUT THE FUCK UP! Y'all fellas ain’t know shit! All ya motherfuckers talk about "Brad Armstrong ain’t no hitta Brad Armstrong ain’t this Brad Armstrong a fake." SHUT THE FUCK UP! Y'all don’t live with that guy. Y'all know that guy got caught with buddy, Shootin fireballs at Rando guys and shit. Fella been on probation since fuckin, I don’t know when! Motherfuckers stop fuckin' playin' him like that! Them mutants savages out there! If I catch another motherfucker talking sweet about Brad Armstrong, I’m fucking beating they ass! I’m not fucking playing no more! You know his party roll with Terry Hintz and them.
Holy shit
What's better than this. Guys being dudes.
ive never seen someone not like this game
After the first dozen traumatic events everything just becomes funny
out of all the games ive played, fuckin hell, even shows, movies and comics this has to be THE piece of media that has done the best job at relating, identifying and encapsulating who i am as a person. if i were to make a game that came from the bottom of my heart and my usual doodle crude art style, it would have to be this (not saying that im even capable of putting in the hard effort, witty writing and really solid level and game design into this). although celeste has some of the biggest trophies of mine; being not only the first game to make me cry but also the best indie ive played, lisa was at some point my favorite indie. but the reason its not anymore is because this game is stressful to think about (i mean that in a very good way). this has the award for being the first game to genuinely make me feel uncomfortable and mentally unable to power through. i have beaten this don't get me wrong, but theres a point where you have to kill someone, and mid battle the opponent tells you ''why are you doing this!?'' and i was like -fuck... i cant do this... so i waited until tomorrow to do it. even replaying the recent edition i felt it again. this game has emotional power, it is a fucked up work of art. out of all the games ive played this has my favorite depiction of humanity; for it has its quirks, but more often than not it is horrifying and unbelievable
This is a perfect example of a game that isn't meant to be fun and is outright unfair but is still a good experience to go through. Everything in this game fits, so to speak. The artstyle, the sound effects, the humor, the gameplay, the characters. It's wacky, it's serious, it's funny, it's grim, it's unfun, it's an experience. It's also one of the games that truly use its medium to tell a story. Gameplay affects story and story affects gameplay in a way that's interactive. One of the most telling moments of the story is when, after you've been put through hell by one of the characters, the game punishes you for not accepting that this game is unfair. One moment that stuck with me when I replayed the game is when I purposefully didn't finish a character's questline because I knew they would leave the party and he was too useful to leave behind, which ties wonderfully to the playable character's themes. Made me feel so selfish and egocentric.
The concept of human beings on the verge of extinction is something that has been done numerous times in every medium, but nothing really does it in the way that Lisa does. The game's setting isn't a place where everyone is constantly fighting for their own survival, but rather one where the boredom and cabin fever from the futility of living in a doomed world has driven everyone towards a unique brand of wackiness. Elements like the vast amount of possible party members, permanent consequences like losing an arm or having playable characters die for good, and the game's perfectly fitting soundtrack certainly do a great job of making Lisa's setting come to life and feel worth learning about. The game is held back by a couple of flaws, however, like subpar art, locations that are pretty forgettable, and avoiding consequences by reloading saves being too easy, but all-in-all it's really one of the best RPGs of the past decade. It's a game that I find really sticking with me more and more as time goes by, and in a time when everyone's trying to create their very own Earthbound, Brad's story is possibly the only one that feels as worth experiencing as the original.
"Oh hello there! My name is Nern. I'm considered the greatest historian of our time... I've gathered a wealth of knowledge about Olathe and what happened here. Many tales... Would you like to hear? Hmm... I wish you were more enthusiastic... Oh well, I'll tell you anyway. Let's see.... Oh right! It all started with what I like to call, THE FLASH. I was sitting with my wife, god rest her soul, sipping on sweet lemon tea. I believe it was homemade by my sweet wife, God rest her soul. Or wait... Maybe she bought it from the store in a bottle. You know, like a plastic bottle? Well hold on now, that would be ridiculous to buy a bottle of sweet lemon tea, then transfer the contents into a glass. Why not just drink it from the bottle? I guess maybe so she could put ice in the glass? But then again, making tea homemade would be just as time consuming, if not more! That sneaky bitch... Anyway, I'll save that story for later! So, I'm sitting on my porch drinking sweet lemon tea. From a glass of course, ho ho! When suddenly... A great strangeness fills my body... Something was wrong... I've lived many years, and I've never felt something like this before. Do you know what it was? Yup! It was my rocking chair! That wooden son of a gun stopped rocking! So I looked down and realized a little rock had gotten caught beneath my chair! A rock under my rocking chair! What a day! I decided it was time for bed, I had had a little bit too much excitement for one day! Hoho! I slid into my jammies, brushed my teeth, and said my prayers. As I was climbing into bed I noticed my wife, God rest her soul, brushing her hair in the bathroom. As I peered across the hall my body swelled up with emotion...
Esse jogo é aquela pessoa que parece inteligente por falar de vários temas pesados até que se mostra racista.
Esse jogo perdeu toda profundidade e se mostrou uma piada de mal gosto e perda de tempo no momento em que decidiu colocar uma "piadinha" racista. E não foi um personagem racista, foi o jogo em si. Desvalida tudo previamente dito e te engana com um diálogos vazios disfarçados de momentos de choque.
Uma pena, tinha potencial para ser inteligente.
Abandonei faz tempo, mas decidi falar agora devido a uma conversa que tive ontem.
Esse jogo perdeu toda profundidade e se mostrou uma piada de mal gosto e perda de tempo no momento em que decidiu colocar uma "piadinha" racista. E não foi um personagem racista, foi o jogo em si. Desvalida tudo previamente dito e te engana com um diálogos vazios disfarçados de momentos de choque.
Uma pena, tinha potencial para ser inteligente.
Abandonei faz tempo, mas decidi falar agora devido a uma conversa que tive ontem.
who comes up with shit like the russian roulette part, austin you sick fuck
As someone who has spent hours dabbling into RPG Maker, I always knew that as a game making tool, it had incredible potential. It was by no means the most complex program, but it had all the tools for a gem to be crafted. However, despite the years of its existence, it felt like it never crafted anything that fully clicked. OFF has a fantastic story and great visuals, but puts little attention towards combat. Omori's few good aspects are stuck under heaps and heaps of flaws and bad design. All the various horror games such as Ao Oni or The Crooked Man are generally enjoyable horror experiences but completely ditch the RPG formula.
As an avid turn based RPG fan, Lisa is easily the best I've ever played. For a while, I've struggled to find a JRPG that mixes all the genre's strengths into one package. One with great gameplay would have mediocre story, and vice versa. Story wouldn't tie into the gameplay in satisfying and impactful ways. Combat was diluted with endless, useless systems of high yet shallow complexity. My initial love for these games would always fall off as these cracks in their systems bore deeper. However, Lisa has reaffirmed my love for the potential of the genre by being a shining example of nearly every good aspect about turn based RPGs.
The gameplay was the part I was easily most worried about. There is a depressingly small number of games which I would say respect turned based combat, understand what makes it work, and executes it well. RPG Makers games were usually guilty of not. However, not only does Lisa nail it, but it also handles it in a unique way. In most RPGs, battles are almost entirely confined to the fight itself. You're usually given a moment to prepare, and rarely what happens outside of battles will affect you in them. Lisa instead takes the survival and resource management aspects of turn based combat and spreads it throughout the whole game. The whole "I can't use these items now I may need them later" feeling actually matters here as some items you get cannot be regained. Damage you take cannot always be healed, and you gotta charge forward with low health. And even if you find one, most heal spots have potential risks, including permanent debuffs, losing party members, and getting into fights. You can get randomly ambushed just walking around. Dialogue choices can have extremely dire consequences. Everything in this game sets you back, but you have to keep marching. However, the gameplay isn't carried by this either. Combat is still really fun. Don't expect anything amazing, enemies are usually pretty one note and can be tackled with the same strategy. The best thing battles bring to the table though is the potential loss of party members. Specific enemies can instantly kill your teammates permanently. Forever. If you don't save scum, you'll have to reorganize your team and start your strategy from scratch.
However, that brings me into my first, and probably only issue; Lisa is too forgiving. Even on Pain mode, It's simply too easy to get past all the management and consequences. Money and experience can be infinitely farmed, items can be infinitely bought, and saves can be infinitely loaded. I only ignored these aspects out of respect for the spirit of the game, but I cannot overlook them. I can understand these being in the normal mode, but I really think pain mode should've taken the extra step forward, especially since it is possible to beat the game with these restrictions. I placed all of these on myself and got by. It made my experience better, but I could never get the nagging feeling in my head to reload and save resources or characters to go away, which took away from the experience as a whole. Not nearly to a degree of ruining the game, but I could never consider it the best of the best because of it.
The story is what most people find memorable about the game, and for good reason. I won't go into detail, but I do wanna mention one major thing; how it ties into gameplay. I've always thought that JRPGs are ripe to implement story and combat more seamlessly than other genres. The turn based nature allowing for story beats to happen step by step, as well as the heavy use of text to showcase battles allowing for dialogue and wording, levels and skills allowing for character growth to be easily and immediately reflected into combat, character visuals and names being able to change and reflect revelations, etc. The simplified visual nature of turn based combat allows for so much to be expressed that wouldn't be possible in other games is one of JRPG's biggest strengths, and Lisa has the shining example of this. I won't say specifically, but it's the fight on the first island after making the ship. This fight plays like a normal battle, but every aspect of it tells you about yourself and who you're fighting. I rarely cry, or even get even close to it in games, but this fight got me the closest to it in a long time.
Another big strength of the story is the focus. A lot of games really put importance on the big picture and what's happening inside of it, however Lisa doesn't care about that. The game is obviously post apocalyptic, but what happened before is almost entirely unknown. Any time you view life before, or have it mentioned, it's purely to drive the characters forward. Things like the mutants have little but vague hints as to why they even exist, and the game is all the better for it. For both serious and comedic purposes, the game focuses solely on the characters and their actions, and its the only thing that drives the game forward. The history of the world matters to you as much as it does to the characters themselves, so you rarely hear about it. I really like this approach, and I like how it thematically ties into Brad too.
To move on, Lisa has a very unique handle on its world. It's hard to describe how Lisa combines it's comedic and depression, serious sides. It's not like a coin, as that would imply two completely separated halves. They're moreso blended together, with both happening simultaneously. There will be moments where you'll go through a depressing cutscene where a long time party member gets murdered, and then a minute later you'll walk into a house where Poopsock Gonzalez will tell you the tragic tale of how he became known as Poopsock Gonzalez, before joining your party. This dichotomy wouldn't work if it weren't for two reasons; the first is how the comedic and depressing elements tie into the world. In most games, comedy is meant to relieve the depressing parts, to take you out of the sad and bring you out of the world with something disconnected to be comedic. However in Lisa, every joke is grounded within the boundry of the world itself and how it works. Humor and gags are so common and relentless in Lisa that they retroactively become part of the world itself, likewise with the depressing elements. You eventually just accept both as part of the world itself, and so you're never taken out of the moment by random bits. A shining example of this is the scene where you have to ride the body after the cutscene that nearly got me that I mentioned earlier. You're so depressed by this point that this very small, slight gag honestly does nothing but make you feel worse, and it's genius. The second main reason is because the game is actually really funny and really depressing. It is probably the funniest game I have ever played, and one of the most relentlessly sad games too.
Finally, there's one more element I want to bring up, the general scuffed quality of Lisa. In most games, a game being scuffed or not well made in parts would bother me. However, Lisa is able to get by this by having the scuffed feel be a perfect fit for the feel Lisa is going for. It's hard for me to fully articulate, but the general idea is that I think having the game have higher quality visuals, music, mechanics, etc would take away a crucial feel towards the game.
In the end, I am left saddened that Lisa is an exception in its genre. How is stagnation even possible to happen when that is the case? We need more games like Lisa, ones that take a look at the genre they come from and innovate on what can be accomplished while staying true to what made said genre so established in the first place. Lisa doesn't feel like a loveletter to JRPGs, nor does it feel like it exists to be a solution to it's issues; rather, it feels like being a JRPG was just the natural fit to an already incredible idea for a game. And one day, it will click.
As an avid turn based RPG fan, Lisa is easily the best I've ever played. For a while, I've struggled to find a JRPG that mixes all the genre's strengths into one package. One with great gameplay would have mediocre story, and vice versa. Story wouldn't tie into the gameplay in satisfying and impactful ways. Combat was diluted with endless, useless systems of high yet shallow complexity. My initial love for these games would always fall off as these cracks in their systems bore deeper. However, Lisa has reaffirmed my love for the potential of the genre by being a shining example of nearly every good aspect about turn based RPGs.
The gameplay was the part I was easily most worried about. There is a depressingly small number of games which I would say respect turned based combat, understand what makes it work, and executes it well. RPG Makers games were usually guilty of not. However, not only does Lisa nail it, but it also handles it in a unique way. In most RPGs, battles are almost entirely confined to the fight itself. You're usually given a moment to prepare, and rarely what happens outside of battles will affect you in them. Lisa instead takes the survival and resource management aspects of turn based combat and spreads it throughout the whole game. The whole "I can't use these items now I may need them later" feeling actually matters here as some items you get cannot be regained. Damage you take cannot always be healed, and you gotta charge forward with low health. And even if you find one, most heal spots have potential risks, including permanent debuffs, losing party members, and getting into fights. You can get randomly ambushed just walking around. Dialogue choices can have extremely dire consequences. Everything in this game sets you back, but you have to keep marching. However, the gameplay isn't carried by this either. Combat is still really fun. Don't expect anything amazing, enemies are usually pretty one note and can be tackled with the same strategy. The best thing battles bring to the table though is the potential loss of party members. Specific enemies can instantly kill your teammates permanently. Forever. If you don't save scum, you'll have to reorganize your team and start your strategy from scratch.
However, that brings me into my first, and probably only issue; Lisa is too forgiving. Even on Pain mode, It's simply too easy to get past all the management and consequences. Money and experience can be infinitely farmed, items can be infinitely bought, and saves can be infinitely loaded. I only ignored these aspects out of respect for the spirit of the game, but I cannot overlook them. I can understand these being in the normal mode, but I really think pain mode should've taken the extra step forward, especially since it is possible to beat the game with these restrictions. I placed all of these on myself and got by. It made my experience better, but I could never get the nagging feeling in my head to reload and save resources or characters to go away, which took away from the experience as a whole. Not nearly to a degree of ruining the game, but I could never consider it the best of the best because of it.
The story is what most people find memorable about the game, and for good reason. I won't go into detail, but I do wanna mention one major thing; how it ties into gameplay. I've always thought that JRPGs are ripe to implement story and combat more seamlessly than other genres. The turn based nature allowing for story beats to happen step by step, as well as the heavy use of text to showcase battles allowing for dialogue and wording, levels and skills allowing for character growth to be easily and immediately reflected into combat, character visuals and names being able to change and reflect revelations, etc. The simplified visual nature of turn based combat allows for so much to be expressed that wouldn't be possible in other games is one of JRPG's biggest strengths, and Lisa has the shining example of this. I won't say specifically, but it's the fight on the first island after making the ship. This fight plays like a normal battle, but every aspect of it tells you about yourself and who you're fighting. I rarely cry, or even get even close to it in games, but this fight got me the closest to it in a long time.
Another big strength of the story is the focus. A lot of games really put importance on the big picture and what's happening inside of it, however Lisa doesn't care about that. The game is obviously post apocalyptic, but what happened before is almost entirely unknown. Any time you view life before, or have it mentioned, it's purely to drive the characters forward. Things like the mutants have little but vague hints as to why they even exist, and the game is all the better for it. For both serious and comedic purposes, the game focuses solely on the characters and their actions, and its the only thing that drives the game forward. The history of the world matters to you as much as it does to the characters themselves, so you rarely hear about it. I really like this approach, and I like how it thematically ties into Brad too.
To move on, Lisa has a very unique handle on its world. It's hard to describe how Lisa combines it's comedic and depression, serious sides. It's not like a coin, as that would imply two completely separated halves. They're moreso blended together, with both happening simultaneously. There will be moments where you'll go through a depressing cutscene where a long time party member gets murdered, and then a minute later you'll walk into a house where Poopsock Gonzalez will tell you the tragic tale of how he became known as Poopsock Gonzalez, before joining your party. This dichotomy wouldn't work if it weren't for two reasons; the first is how the comedic and depressing elements tie into the world. In most games, comedy is meant to relieve the depressing parts, to take you out of the sad and bring you out of the world with something disconnected to be comedic. However in Lisa, every joke is grounded within the boundry of the world itself and how it works. Humor and gags are so common and relentless in Lisa that they retroactively become part of the world itself, likewise with the depressing elements. You eventually just accept both as part of the world itself, and so you're never taken out of the moment by random bits. A shining example of this is the scene where you have to ride the body after the cutscene that nearly got me that I mentioned earlier. You're so depressed by this point that this very small, slight gag honestly does nothing but make you feel worse, and it's genius. The second main reason is because the game is actually really funny and really depressing. It is probably the funniest game I have ever played, and one of the most relentlessly sad games too.
Finally, there's one more element I want to bring up, the general scuffed quality of Lisa. In most games, a game being scuffed or not well made in parts would bother me. However, Lisa is able to get by this by having the scuffed feel be a perfect fit for the feel Lisa is going for. It's hard for me to fully articulate, but the general idea is that I think having the game have higher quality visuals, music, mechanics, etc would take away a crucial feel towards the game.
In the end, I am left saddened that Lisa is an exception in its genre. How is stagnation even possible to happen when that is the case? We need more games like Lisa, ones that take a look at the genre they come from and innovate on what can be accomplished while staying true to what made said genre so established in the first place. Lisa doesn't feel like a loveletter to JRPGs, nor does it feel like it exists to be a solution to it's issues; rather, it feels like being a JRPG was just the natural fit to an already incredible idea for a game. And one day, it will click.
This review contains spoilers
TW/Content warning for Sexual abuse and Child abuse this review will be going into these subjects and How they are handled, along with a general review for the game.
This is my second time playing the game since High school and I have to say that I am a very different person now then when I played back then, back then I loved when games were dark and edgy, I still do but I am more critical to how things are done and the purpose of showing these things in your product.
I will say that everything about the gameplay I love, its a super fun rpg that uses a similar combo system to xenogears for a lot of characters where doing the combos lets you do special moves for a cost of less SP, and the amount of recruit-able party members makes for a lot of flexible playstyles as well as good rewards for exploring, or in some case resource management since it is a post apocalyptic game.
I do believe this game does a really good job of capturing the post apocalypse shitty setting, things suck people will rob and kidnap party members while you sleep, try and jump you when you go back to certain areas mutate into creatures from drugs, its all good stuff.
the amount of party members works really well with mechanics like permadeath, not from battles minus a few optional super bosses, but from events in game that ask you if you want to sacrifice them or lose your arm which makes your combo system and stats weaker, there's a few other parts like this that are really good.
I'm more mixed on the story than I was back when I first played I used to think this was one of the best written games ever but while I think a lot of it is good there is some things I just hate, that more so get worse in Lisa the joyful.
Brad is generally not a good person he does a lot of awful things kills a lot of people including those close to him, abandoned his adopted son because he didn't "feel anything'
but you also understand why he is like this due to the prologue establishing his awful childhood, and still feels guilt for the physical and sexual abuse his sister went through.
you can understand why he wouldn't want his adoptive daughter to suffer what him and his sister suffered.
but here's where we run into the issue with buddy which again gets worse in joyful but still shows up here I can understand after everything brad did buddy wouldn't want to stay with him and would want her own life, but the fact she "wants to be needed and loved" as she tells brad when he finally reaches her, is where my believability runs thin and where I agree with brad, everyone talks about her making a choice and the future of humanity but everyone seems to forget buddy is a minor and minors CAN'T consent, even if she wanted to "repopulate humanity" it would be messed up under most circumstances, of course randos plan to more so give her a open and safe place to grow up better than just brads house/basement, until she could reach an age where she understands things would be the best course. which is what I assume rando's plan was based on dialogue from this game and joyful, give her a more normal healthy childhood, which yes is where brad was wrong and selfish from the beginning. I do think brad is a good character with understandable motives and in the end he is a tragic figure whos faults are what ends up killing him, I have no issue with his writing.
my issue with these games are more so the writing with the two women characters(three if you count nern's bitch horse face of a wife, god rest her soul). I have no issue with morally grey characters but sometimes not EVERYONE needs to be morally grey especially when a lot of the men on your journey with you or against you do in fact want to have sex with buddy whether she wants to or not, so having it be a thing brad is so awful for kind of puts a damper on the games narrative. the other character Lisa herself I will get into in the joyful review.
that major plot gripe aside I still like the game a lot I still like Brad as a character, all the party members are fun, rando is a good boy who doesn't want to hurt a fly. and the dark part of the game I do enjoy is the humor, it's a really funny game and the humor ties into gameplay as well where you have these joke fights where people will do stupid shit in battle and die or just totally fuck up, I actually physically laughed during the game which is a achievement on its own.
being able to explore and just find funny shit and talk to people is from an era of rpgs I kind of miss and wish was brought back again.
I would recommend this game unless this kind of subject matter bothers you especially since the main thing the game wants to tell you is “no Brad you should let your daughter get assaulted for the sake of humanity”
also Ost is insanely good.
This is my second time playing the game since High school and I have to say that I am a very different person now then when I played back then, back then I loved when games were dark and edgy, I still do but I am more critical to how things are done and the purpose of showing these things in your product.
I will say that everything about the gameplay I love, its a super fun rpg that uses a similar combo system to xenogears for a lot of characters where doing the combos lets you do special moves for a cost of less SP, and the amount of recruit-able party members makes for a lot of flexible playstyles as well as good rewards for exploring, or in some case resource management since it is a post apocalyptic game.
I do believe this game does a really good job of capturing the post apocalypse shitty setting, things suck people will rob and kidnap party members while you sleep, try and jump you when you go back to certain areas mutate into creatures from drugs, its all good stuff.
the amount of party members works really well with mechanics like permadeath, not from battles minus a few optional super bosses, but from events in game that ask you if you want to sacrifice them or lose your arm which makes your combo system and stats weaker, there's a few other parts like this that are really good.
I'm more mixed on the story than I was back when I first played I used to think this was one of the best written games ever but while I think a lot of it is good there is some things I just hate, that more so get worse in Lisa the joyful.
Brad is generally not a good person he does a lot of awful things kills a lot of people including those close to him, abandoned his adopted son because he didn't "feel anything'
but you also understand why he is like this due to the prologue establishing his awful childhood, and still feels guilt for the physical and sexual abuse his sister went through.
you can understand why he wouldn't want his adoptive daughter to suffer what him and his sister suffered.
but here's where we run into the issue with buddy which again gets worse in joyful but still shows up here I can understand after everything brad did buddy wouldn't want to stay with him and would want her own life, but the fact she "wants to be needed and loved" as she tells brad when he finally reaches her, is where my believability runs thin and where I agree with brad, everyone talks about her making a choice and the future of humanity but everyone seems to forget buddy is a minor and minors CAN'T consent, even if she wanted to "repopulate humanity" it would be messed up under most circumstances, of course randos plan to more so give her a open and safe place to grow up better than just brads house/basement, until she could reach an age where she understands things would be the best course. which is what I assume rando's plan was based on dialogue from this game and joyful, give her a more normal healthy childhood, which yes is where brad was wrong and selfish from the beginning. I do think brad is a good character with understandable motives and in the end he is a tragic figure whos faults are what ends up killing him, I have no issue with his writing.
my issue with these games are more so the writing with the two women characters(three if you count nern's bitch horse face of a wife, god rest her soul). I have no issue with morally grey characters but sometimes not EVERYONE needs to be morally grey especially when a lot of the men on your journey with you or against you do in fact want to have sex with buddy whether she wants to or not, so having it be a thing brad is so awful for kind of puts a damper on the games narrative. the other character Lisa herself I will get into in the joyful review.
that major plot gripe aside I still like the game a lot I still like Brad as a character, all the party members are fun, rando is a good boy who doesn't want to hurt a fly. and the dark part of the game I do enjoy is the humor, it's a really funny game and the humor ties into gameplay as well where you have these joke fights where people will do stupid shit in battle and die or just totally fuck up, I actually physically laughed during the game which is a achievement on its own.
being able to explore and just find funny shit and talk to people is from an era of rpgs I kind of miss and wish was brought back again.
I would recommend this game unless this kind of subject matter bothers you especially since the main thing the game wants to tell you is “no Brad you should let your daughter get assaulted for the sake of humanity”
also Ost is insanely good.