This is, by far and without question, the best anime game ever, if you can get past the outdated graphics. The immesurable amount of effort (and love) behind it, the endless possibilities, the character interactions... it's all so good.
Sad how underrated and unknown this game is.
Sad how underrated and unknown this game is.
I'd love a revamped version that's more up to date.
it's definitely not perfect, but still pretty fun! i like the new stands, and the variations & endings were really cool. it's also really worth replaying the game a few times, just to see how different things are depending on your character and choices (on my second playthrough, my PC was implied to be a zeppeli of all things, and started the game already knowing some ripple moves. fun!). the grinding was fucking awful, though, but overall it's a pretty solid game :)
What tipped me over from a "huh, neat I guess" reaction to actually downloading and playing this was learning that the game opens with a goofy little personality test (ala the various Dragon Quest 3 remakes) that assigns you one of eighteen (18!) original Stands. On my first playthrough I was assigned "Adam Ant", a long-range swarm-type Stand made of insects. It has low attack power, but it can hit all enemies at once and has a host of status effect, debuff, and damage-over-time skills.
Each Stand also causes various changes in the dialogue and opens up special events and interactions both in and out of battle. For example, Ocean Blue is a Stand that uses long-range water-based attacks, which creates a special event in the battle against the Wheel of Fortune Stand when it attacks by shooting droplets of gasoline. Also, because water conducts the Ripple from Parts 1 and 2, it's possible to learn a unique Ripple-based attack from Joseph.
The slate of original Stands (playable and otherwise) is surprisingly diverse and probably the most impressive thing about the game. A few are clearly store-brand versions of canon Stands, but on the whole they avoid being Mary-Sue-like overpowered stuff that one might expect from a fan project. I could totally see "Quicksilver" or "The Joykiller" popping up as villains of the week in Parts 4-6.
The story, however, is what you might expect from a self-insert fix fic: it goes through the plot of Part 3, but with the player character standing off to the side and commenting on things. Your involvement is fundamentally limited and mostly consists of helping out in fights that characters generally handled solo in the manga. There are a handful of deviation points, though. Instead of Avdol, you can get "killed" by Hol Horse and head on a separate track of chapters through Saudi Arabia to buy a submarine. If you have enough relationship points with Kakyoin, you can believe him when he reveals he has carved the words "BABY STAND" into his arm with a knife. Depending on the specifics of your Stand, you can bypass certain obstacles altogether. Stuff like that.
Not to say there isn't a fair amount of original content in the game, of course. There's a persistent sub-plotline about how/why there's now a 7th Stand user that makes use of various concepts from elsewhere in the JoJo timeline, in a way where I reacted with "sure, alright" rather than "that's dumb". I can at least respect the gumption, you know?
Gameplay wise, between the big Stand fights there are hub zones where you can level grind, hang out with other party members, and do some minor sidequests that often involve original characters as sub-bosses. This is the main way you can fiddle with relationship values, which determine which ending you get. There's something like a dozen different endings, probably more.
Another point of interest for me was the option to play as Josuke from Part 4, which is my favorite arc of JoJo. There's a bit more specificity to Josuke's dialogue and unique events compared to the original protagonist, but not quite to the level that I wish there was. They end up saying "oh no, it happened too fast for us to do anything!" a lot since, well, the plot still has to happen the same way and Josuke's Stand would solve a lot a problems. It's also only available on a NG+ run, which brings up another issue...
Much of the bonus content and other interesting bits and bobs require you to beat the game multiple times. The "best" ending isn't even an option until you've gone through three full runs. The option to play as Josuke and the ability to skip cutscenes aren't available until the postgame developer's room (which you can only enter if you get specific endings), and unlocking them requires spending highly limited tokens that you also need to cash in to enter NG+ in the first place. It's dumb. I used Cheat Engine.
On the whole though, The 7th Stand User is an obvious labor of love, and I had a good time playing it despite my quibbles. I've been on a bit of a JoJo kick in the aftermath of the Part 6 anime ending (finally reading Steel Ball Run and such) and this helped scratch that itch and the JRPG itch at the same time. Might be worth a shot, even if just to see what Stand you get.
Each Stand also causes various changes in the dialogue and opens up special events and interactions both in and out of battle. For example, Ocean Blue is a Stand that uses long-range water-based attacks, which creates a special event in the battle against the Wheel of Fortune Stand when it attacks by shooting droplets of gasoline. Also, because water conducts the Ripple from Parts 1 and 2, it's possible to learn a unique Ripple-based attack from Joseph.
The slate of original Stands (playable and otherwise) is surprisingly diverse and probably the most impressive thing about the game. A few are clearly store-brand versions of canon Stands, but on the whole they avoid being Mary-Sue-like overpowered stuff that one might expect from a fan project. I could totally see "Quicksilver" or "The Joykiller" popping up as villains of the week in Parts 4-6.
The story, however, is what you might expect from a self-insert fix fic: it goes through the plot of Part 3, but with the player character standing off to the side and commenting on things. Your involvement is fundamentally limited and mostly consists of helping out in fights that characters generally handled solo in the manga. There are a handful of deviation points, though. Instead of Avdol, you can get "killed" by Hol Horse and head on a separate track of chapters through Saudi Arabia to buy a submarine. If you have enough relationship points with Kakyoin, you can believe him when he reveals he has carved the words "BABY STAND" into his arm with a knife. Depending on the specifics of your Stand, you can bypass certain obstacles altogether. Stuff like that.
Not to say there isn't a fair amount of original content in the game, of course. There's a persistent sub-plotline about how/why there's now a 7th Stand user that makes use of various concepts from elsewhere in the JoJo timeline, in a way where I reacted with "sure, alright" rather than "that's dumb". I can at least respect the gumption, you know?
Gameplay wise, between the big Stand fights there are hub zones where you can level grind, hang out with other party members, and do some minor sidequests that often involve original characters as sub-bosses. This is the main way you can fiddle with relationship values, which determine which ending you get. There's something like a dozen different endings, probably more.
Another point of interest for me was the option to play as Josuke from Part 4, which is my favorite arc of JoJo. There's a bit more specificity to Josuke's dialogue and unique events compared to the original protagonist, but not quite to the level that I wish there was. They end up saying "oh no, it happened too fast for us to do anything!" a lot since, well, the plot still has to happen the same way and Josuke's Stand would solve a lot a problems. It's also only available on a NG+ run, which brings up another issue...
Much of the bonus content and other interesting bits and bobs require you to beat the game multiple times. The "best" ending isn't even an option until you've gone through three full runs. The option to play as Josuke and the ability to skip cutscenes aren't available until the postgame developer's room (which you can only enter if you get specific endings), and unlocking them requires spending highly limited tokens that you also need to cash in to enter NG+ in the first place. It's dumb. I used Cheat Engine.
On the whole though, The 7th Stand User is an obvious labor of love, and I had a good time playing it despite my quibbles. I've been on a bit of a JoJo kick in the aftermath of the Part 6 anime ending (finally reading Steel Ball Run and such) and this helped scratch that itch and the JRPG itch at the same time. Might be worth a shot, even if just to see what Stand you get.
One of the best jojo games is also a fan game
It’s jojo part 3 but including your original character sounds basic at first but there’s actually a lot more depth for a fan made rpg than you may think
It’s super fun has a personality quiz to determine your stand which can allow you to skip certain parts of the story
You can also build relationships with different characters to determine which ending you get
Which can change events from part 3
As well as some new original plot things I won’t spoil that really spice things up for those who love weird old obtuse shit in RPGs like I do
It’s jojo part 3 but including your original character sounds basic at first but there’s actually a lot more depth for a fan made rpg than you may think
It’s super fun has a personality quiz to determine your stand which can allow you to skip certain parts of the story
You can also build relationships with different characters to determine which ending you get
Which can change events from part 3
As well as some new original plot things I won’t spoil that really spice things up for those who love weird old obtuse shit in RPGs like I do
It's pretty cool, also the Sonic Youth reference is cool.
one of the most technically impressive games to spawn out of rpg maker 2000, and probably one of the best fangames ever. yes, the story is basically a self-insert version of stardust crusaders, but really there's nothing wrong with that premise and it's very well-executed here. don't tell me you wouldn't want a stand of your very own.
still has a few flaws and might only be of interest to die-hard jojo fans (specifically those who don't mind the long trek of stardust crusaders), but still very much worth playing in my opinion. don't let the gameboy-esque color scheme fool you, there's a lot of love and content packed into The 7th Stand User.
clayman, i salute you!
still has a few flaws and might only be of interest to die-hard jojo fans (specifically those who don't mind the long trek of stardust crusaders), but still very much worth playing in my opinion. don't let the gameboy-esque color scheme fool you, there's a lot of love and content packed into The 7th Stand User.
clayman, i salute you!
This is genuinely one of the best fangames ever made. A passion project with so much love put into it. I know some people will be put off with its black and white artstyle, the midi soundtrack, and the amount of grinding you have to do to progress but honestly neither of these things bothered me. if you're able to move past that you're left with a fantastic RPG with character customization, a myriad of different endings, secrets, an interesting plot, and a lot of replay value with post-game stuff.
Insanely impressive if very unbalanced and maybe a little fanfic-y (maybe very fanfic-y) game, honestly worth playing as its own thing (though knowledge of JoJo is still very required) because it does do some genuinely interesting stuff.
There's a pokemon mystery dungeon style personality test to determine your stand and I just think thats the coolest fucking thing ever. (Honestly its probably 4 stars I just want to gas up this game)
Aside from having some genuinely horrible grinding. (Which is expected of an RPG Maker game since most of them tend to have some heavy grinding issues.)
This is genuinely a very well made game with a lot of respect to the series, played it right after finishing Stardust Crusaders, and the more of JoJo I watch the more I respect this game for how accurately it added a bunch of things.
This is genuinely a very well made game with a lot of respect to the series, played it right after finishing Stardust Crusaders, and the more of JoJo I watch the more I respect this game for how accurately it added a bunch of things.
One might call me very anti-Fandom. Fandom-critical. Not the concept of liking things, obviousy, and not derivative works in general. Just the entire universe of heavily consumerist attitudes surrounding those things, actively discouraging an adult way of looking at art or enjoying it on a deeper level in favor of pretending that your favorite cartoon is a real thing that really happened. It's probably fine for kids but when I see adults doing it that's just embarassing, and nowadays the big corporations like Disney know about it and lean into it in an effort to reduce all creative work into a tepid puddle of boring crap where we are expected to clap for each and every first gay character for the rest of time.
Anyway with all that said the best way to get me to ignore it is to be absolutely off your rocker and be a single person almost entirely creating the most intricate RPG Maker game I've ever seen. I feel like only RPG Maker people create this exact type of madness, lying cleanly between a normal game and like, Dwarf Fortress.
Starting with part 3, Jojo's lends itself to fandom extremely well by being about cool guys with unique special powers named after references. This is just begging people to make up their own. 7SU, being a self-indulgent self-insert fanfic game, naturally leans into this. Besides numerous original villains, 7SU has eighteen potential player stands assigned to the eneagram personality types. For the record, I was assigned Napalm Death, a calligraphy pen that writes bombs. It has practically zero special events and is only good for fighting, leading a lot of me standing around watching the manga happen and sometimes jumping in to beat up a guy. The game is almost certainly much better if you have one of the support stands such as Cardigans, a nurse that heals people, or Pixies, which can control small life forms. They let you short circuit the tension of several fights in pretty hilarious ways to make them easier.
This is NOT to say that going off-script is easy. It usually requires you to win a tough optional fight. In fact, most of the story beat fights can be bypassed by either using the special "Plan" command or running away to make things follow the original story. You won't get XP or rewards for it, but you can probably do most of the game without actually bothering to play it. There are, however, like nine trillion endings to this sucker and most of them are gated behind making the crusaders like you, which is primary accomplished by fighting the new optional villains or just interfering in the plot. This ties into the overarching plot dealing with why you, some rando, are the seventh stand user, and why so many characters who shouldn't be born yet are making cameos. It's actually... kind of elegant?
What I really love about this kind of project, though, is that absolutely nobody who makes something this ambitious in RPG Maker has any sense of the word 'enough' so you can keep cycling through NG+ runs to unlock more and more absurd content, side stories, alternate routes, secret bosses, and all sorts of other crap. You can play the whole game through as Josuke with his own story because why not fuck it. Just keep adding to this thing. I love it. No official source would ever make this game. The brand cannot achieve this level of strength when it considers things like "profit" and "a large audience" only terrifyingly dedicated fans can make this thing.
Anyway it's freeware and has a good translation so I highly reccomend checking it out for a bit or even just marvelling at the wiki walkthrough if you're familiar enough with the original story to make sense of it. In fact you probably want the wiki even if you play normally to catch even half of the more absurd secrets you can get on one playthrough. There's a whole secret room that's just the last part of the original SaGa and you can talk to all the dead characters there. And CARS is there and you can FIGHT HIM and steal his chainsaw arm and use it to instantly kill GOD because it's a SaGa reference
Anyway with all that said the best way to get me to ignore it is to be absolutely off your rocker and be a single person almost entirely creating the most intricate RPG Maker game I've ever seen. I feel like only RPG Maker people create this exact type of madness, lying cleanly between a normal game and like, Dwarf Fortress.
Starting with part 3, Jojo's lends itself to fandom extremely well by being about cool guys with unique special powers named after references. This is just begging people to make up their own. 7SU, being a self-indulgent self-insert fanfic game, naturally leans into this. Besides numerous original villains, 7SU has eighteen potential player stands assigned to the eneagram personality types. For the record, I was assigned Napalm Death, a calligraphy pen that writes bombs. It has practically zero special events and is only good for fighting, leading a lot of me standing around watching the manga happen and sometimes jumping in to beat up a guy. The game is almost certainly much better if you have one of the support stands such as Cardigans, a nurse that heals people, or Pixies, which can control small life forms. They let you short circuit the tension of several fights in pretty hilarious ways to make them easier.
This is NOT to say that going off-script is easy. It usually requires you to win a tough optional fight. In fact, most of the story beat fights can be bypassed by either using the special "Plan" command or running away to make things follow the original story. You won't get XP or rewards for it, but you can probably do most of the game without actually bothering to play it. There are, however, like nine trillion endings to this sucker and most of them are gated behind making the crusaders like you, which is primary accomplished by fighting the new optional villains or just interfering in the plot. This ties into the overarching plot dealing with why you, some rando, are the seventh stand user, and why so many characters who shouldn't be born yet are making cameos. It's actually... kind of elegant?
What I really love about this kind of project, though, is that absolutely nobody who makes something this ambitious in RPG Maker has any sense of the word 'enough' so you can keep cycling through NG+ runs to unlock more and more absurd content, side stories, alternate routes, secret bosses, and all sorts of other crap. You can play the whole game through as Josuke with his own story because why not fuck it. Just keep adding to this thing. I love it. No official source would ever make this game. The brand cannot achieve this level of strength when it considers things like "profit" and "a large audience" only terrifyingly dedicated fans can make this thing.
Anyway it's freeware and has a good translation so I highly reccomend checking it out for a bit or even just marvelling at the wiki walkthrough if you're familiar enough with the original story to make sense of it. In fact you probably want the wiki even if you play normally to catch even half of the more absurd secrets you can get on one playthrough. There's a whole secret room that's just the last part of the original SaGa and you can talk to all the dead characters there. And CARS is there and you can FIGHT HIM and steal his chainsaw arm and use it to instantly kill GOD because it's a SaGa reference
This is like if that shitty snes JoJo rpg was actually decent
I was born at a very young age, unaware that I, too, wanted Jotaro Kujo to say mean things to me.
One of the most profoundly impressive and content-dense fangames I’ve ever seen crafted proved otherwise, and sent me directly to an infinite hell of fucking way too many random encounters interrupting my fun roadtrip boy seduction adventure (At the end, bond with your loved one through murdering RANCID vibes British man)
All in all, a great love letter to an extremely long and content rich franchise, emulating those very same traits - to limited success. If I ever again have to fight a bunch of infinite doll enemies for three fucking consecutive stages and I don’t even get to kiss Kakyoin at the end because I was too desperate for his affection, I am going to fucking explode
One of the most profoundly impressive and content-dense fangames I’ve ever seen crafted proved otherwise, and sent me directly to an infinite hell of fucking way too many random encounters interrupting my fun roadtrip boy seduction adventure (At the end, bond with your loved one through murdering RANCID vibes British man)
All in all, a great love letter to an extremely long and content rich franchise, emulating those very same traits - to limited success. If I ever again have to fight a bunch of infinite doll enemies for three fucking consecutive stages and I don’t even get to kiss Kakyoin at the end because I was too desperate for his affection, I am going to fucking explode