I wrote a jokey fanfic for this video game back in 2013 that got unexpectedly well known, I see screenshots floating around on tumblr sometimes. I also closet cosplayed a character and the blurry photos of teenage me are also floating around somewhere out there on the internet.

That aside, this game is FANTASTIC, the emotions it causes in you as you realise what the actions of you, the player, and the character you are playing as (or are being played by as it seems) truly mean for your surroundings, is unexplainable. The character designs are inspiring and amazing, the songs SLAP so hard I still get pepper steak stuck in my head to this DAY so many years later.

Off has been in my peripheral view for a couple of years as one of the big RPG Maker games, which naturally gave me some expectations for the game. Clearly there has to be some reason why it's as beloved as it is, and coming out... I don't really get it.

The combat was the first hurdle to my enjoyment. I have never been a big fan of the active-time battle system from my experience with it in Final Fantasy VI/VII, which extends to this game. Even disregarding that, the combat system feels fairly shallow, with weakness and status systems I barely ever utilized, overly-specialized party members, and boss fights that largely came down to spamming the same exact special attacks then waiting for meters to recharge. During regular encounters, aside from one particular area which did make the combat a little more interesting, it was typically faster/more effective to select the auto-combat option, wait 20-30 seconds, then move on with the game.

The combat isn't the end-all be-all of the game of course. Other RPG Maker games I've played recently, particularly LiEat, didn't have great combat systems, but they still provided a memorable experience through the rest of the game.

Off certainly introduces a fair few interesting things: a surprise minigame, a couple of meta elements, some fun graphics. These separate parts all caught my interest and were well done, but it never felt like they cohered together into something greater than their sum. It kept me from ever getting immersed into the game itself, something more than just recognizing that these disparate parts are interesting and generally well made.

This hit particularly hard in the ending section, where the game is clearly going for something, and I can recognize that, but I went through right to the ending straight faced. Same with the story, I could never quite grasp in its (intentional) vagueness what the game was meant to be about. I have some ideas that I could probably coalesce by re-reading some of the dialogue, but the game never presented anything that makes me care enough to do so. I can just acknowledge that something probably exists there.

All of this to say, the game's not bad at all. It's very well put together, the art and music are good, it has good vibes (well, the vibes are horrific--but that's what its going for)... I'm just left with the feeling of "oh, that's it? alright then".

Palesemente l'anello mancante tra Earthbound e Undertale, e per questo anche qualcosa di assolutamente unico nel suo genere.
Non credo di riuscire bene a spiegare che cosa renda per me così profondamente importanti e legati questi tre giochi, e non parlo semplicemente dell'ormai quasi inflazionato atteggiamento postmoderno, le varie strizzate d'occhio al giocatore sia nel suo essere spettatore che nella sua agency, la comicità surreale, l'estetica minimale ma incredibilmente accattivante, la capacità di parodiare il jrpg ma comunque di onorarne al massimo le meccaniche di base rendendole originali. Sto facendo riferimento a qualcosa di più profondo, che mi fa pensare a quanto Earthbound sia stato fondamentale per trasmettere un'idea di creatività nel videogioco che è, sì, autoriale e rivoluzionaria, ma anche e radicalmente indipendente, personale, e profondamente umile. Per questo sono molto grato ad Earthbound per aver avuto eredità come queste, giochi fatti da un paio di persone con talento e passione sconfinati, con mezzi quasi inesistenti, con voglia di regalare esperienze che sconvolgano ogni abitudine videoludica a tutti i livelli, con il coraggio di prendersi ogni tipo di libertà creativa pur di smuovere il videogiocatore in ogni modo possibile, affascinandolo con l'atmosfera e l'estetica degli ambienti e lasciandogli il senso di colpa per le azioni omicide che si rende conto di aver commesso. OFF è la summa perfetta di tutto questo, è un giochino fatto con RPG maker che sconvolge tutti i canoni con degli enigmi originalissimi, una direzione artistica ispirata come può essere solo quando l'autore non ha nessuna intenzione di porsi dei limiti e dei combattimenti a turni divertentissimi, accompagnati da melodie swing fritte e suoni di treni che passano. Grazie Mortis Ghost, grazie per questa bella merda

Yeah, the combat is unfun, but that didn't really bother me (I think it actually kinda fit the game but saying that is a bit pretentious). The random encounters were kind of annyoing though.
The puzzles are pretty fun. The exploration is great. The atmosphere is just excellent.
The narrative is...
At first I thought I knew what the game was going for, and I was really excited for that. Then it turned out I was wrong and the game was actually going for something different. Not something bad necessarily, but I didn't end up liking it quite as much.

to me OFF is about realizing that no matter how bad or distorted life might get due to illnesses it still is one worth living, it still is better than complete nothingness (suicide/ending someone's misery) but that's MY takeaway from the story of OFF, not what the story actually is, its still dark and filled with despair, no what I might take away from it, what happens just happens, i cannot change it I can only learn from it to live my own life better.

coming to terms with OFF is much like coming to terms with how bleak life is, you can do little to change what happens in other people's (not friends or family, just people like the characters of this unfortunate story) lives but you can learn to appreciate yours and live yours to the fullest from their stories.

..."Because without smoke, people would have nothing to breathe."
..."Because without metal, people would have nothing to walk on. They would sink and drown."
..."Because without plastic, the world would have no boundaries. People would walk and walk without ever stopping.
..."Because without meat, people would have nothing to eat. They would die of starvation, one after another."
"It's a secret element...the fifth element...the most important element...Because without sugar, people could no longer bear reality, and they would go mad."