Antagonist

So I recently compiled a list of games I owned in my Steam collection that were created using RPG Maker.

That’s 25. That’s a LOT of games. I want to be clear: I’m not dissing on RPG Maker. I believe it’s a wonderful tool to learn to build games, offering resources, assets, and a system to easily construct maps and events. It’s also 70$, so not too expensive, not to mention it’s always on sale during Steam’s big summer and winter events. The story? That’s for you to decide. Your talent is your greatest asset. You have the building blocks. Build something. Will you take inspiration from other stuff? Will you follow the cliché beats of a fantasy RPG?

The last RPG game I reviewed, The Chosen, was...
rather meh. 

The games made on RPG Maker can be cookie-cutter titles using only the free resources, just like they can be daring, new, innovative products made with the software and custom-made assets. I’ve reviewed one example of the former last year and – spoiler alert – in the list I showed, there are titles for both categories. Like a lot of indie products, many of these are somebody’s first attempt at producing a video game for a platform like Steam, and their work should be seen and reviewed as such. There’s always room for improvement. I gathered some of them through bundles on Steam, others were pointed to me as great examples of what the game-making software could achieve.

Today’s game was developed by NIVLACART, published by Degica (the creators of RPG Maker), and released to Steam on March 17^th, 2017. It is NIVLACART’s first game, too, so I can't wait to see how well they've done. Let’s jump into Antagonist!

The final fight between good and evil...
At the very start? And our character...
is the guy on the right?????

This is the story of D’Vil, a Darklord in his lair, awaiting for the hero and the upcoming final showdowns. Ralph the hero comes and a fight ensues… and the Darklord loses. But worry not! This is all staged! Yes, indeed – D’Vil is well and alive, as he’s but an actor working for a production company that specializes in cutscenes for games. D’Vil is overjoyed at getting this “big bag” gig, as t’s his most important role yet. Even his co-worker Teeth and his director Mike Bombay are proud of him. Unfortunately, on the following day, something goes awry during the climactic scene at the top of the volcano; the final boss, the volcano monster, has a malfunction and sends D’Vil and Ralph at the bottom of the volcano, tumbling down into the forest…

Oh yeah, I'd trust a guy like that.

Okay, so, as soon as you open this game, you’ll find it’s VERY different from usual RPG Maker games: There is no overworld map! Or maybe there is, you just don’t see it. You don’t walk around in this game. Everything is a dialogue with someone, moving from a place to the next is a story event, and whatever fights occur on the way are set in stone. It's basically a visual novel with RPG battles. No random encounters here, no siree!

Make sure to click on the image to view all the details!
These parodies are so obvious... why is it so funny?
Probably specifically BECAUSE they are so obvious.

The second thing that strikes the player is the sheer amount of parodies of famous characters and villains, mostly from video games. In particular, just how not-subtle those parodies are. They’re all over the place, too! Granted, it’s the sort of humor that makes you groan for a bit, but that’s not a point of criticism. I mean, I love silly dumb puns. The heroes aren’t safe from the parodies, either: Pink the Hero of Time, Master Chef or Loud the spiky-haired warrior. Y’know… classy. Then if you don’t get the reference behind Producer Mike Bombay, you haven’t seen enough snark-worthy garbage action films. And who can forget Chefiroth (yes, it’s Sephiroth with a chef hat) or Chiovanni (with a Rocket logo on her blouse in case the reference wasn’t obvious already)! Then there’s D’Vil’s co-worker, Teeth, who doesn’t seem to be a parody until she mentions she played the part of the cat burglar in the life story of superhero Fatman…

From the Weird Al Show. Yup, this happened.

…I don’t think it’s that one.

This is supposed to be a prop... but it hurts for real!

Hey, the jokes are obvious, but I’m not complaining! The parodies are pretty funny, if absurd. These characters come from games covering so many genres that seeing them, as obvious parodies, all in the same world, makes one question the basis of that world. So far it seems to be a medieval fantasy world??? I think it's explained somewhere that the villains all come from the same studio that moves across dimensions, hence why so many characters here don't quite fit the setting? Again, I’m not complaining. Parody worlds are absurd by nature.

D’Vil and Ralph the hero are forced to fight the monster in the forest, after which they encounter a forest god, for some reason, and also take it down together. Obviously, Ralph doesn’t buy D’Vil’s attempts at explaining that he’s just an actor playing the part of a villain. Trying to bring D’Vil to authorities, Ralph stops in a village where the two get some rest. However, him dragging the fake Darklord around has led villagers to believe he has sided with the bad guy. And the longer this goes, the more D’Vil realizes that not only Ralph, but everyone – including guards and villagers – continue treating him as the real deal.

Guards will even fight you!

I CAN KICK SEPHIROTH'S ASS AT LEVEL 7!

D’Vil tries to explain that his company works in a special way: They don’t have contacts with the actors of the heroes or any other actors of non-villainous characters, and have to learn those characters’ backstories for later use. Things apparently aren’t scripted, but the “special effects” still work somehow. Yeah, um, here’s a hint: You don’t make movies as a Live improv session. Not how that works. In fact, the more the game explains the mechanics of this studio of production of game cutscenes, the fishier it gets, and that’s the point.

Even after Ralph and D’Vil flee the town (and Ralph starts to believe his nemesis’ story about being an actor), they’re attacked first by a trio of heroes (Pink, Loud and Master Chef), and upon winning they flee into a cave. When they come out, they’re now attacked by villains instead, and then… Teeth!

Oh, she means business! Let's battle, then!

Teeth, you wanted to fight, no? Well, we fought!

She’s a boss, yep. Though, once she’s defeated, she explains what’s going on. Producer Mike Bombay claims that D’Vil had a super-interesting scene concept where he betrayed the villainous cause and joined the hero, and so the other villains were told to attack him on sight, as part of this new storyline. Would be interesting to film if the cameras are rolling… but wait, there ARE NO cameras around here!

Man, this is such a bullshit movie! So much is wrong about this production! Did Doug Walker direct this?

By now, Ralph believes D’Vil, but that’s when a group of knights arrive to arrest the “team” and Teeth along with them. D’Vil and Teeth manage to flee from the prison, and set out to retrieve Ralph, who’s apparently been taken away to be executed for treason. So the villains think D’Vil has sided with the heroes, and villagers think Ralph has sided with the villain. Well that’s awkward.

I learn moves automatically? Sweet!

You’ll tell me, “How can this game’s system work if there is no overworld map nor random encounters?” Well, all encounters are scripted, that is true. And so, the progression will hardly ever change from a playthrough to the next. There is no way to get to a pause menu and view your stats. (Also, a common issue with RPG Maker is how its games don’t include an Options menu to change the sound volume and such.) As a result, there isn’t much you can do when it comes to improving your team. D’Vil will level up and be taught (or remember) moves about always at the exact same time. Learning attacks is tied to progression and happens after each important battle, it's not tied to level progression.

Also of note is that you’re prompted to save before each fight, which means that if you stop playing, and come back later, you’re thrown into a fight instantly. That was a decision to make on the developer’s side, as some of the later fights get pretty tough (obviously) and you’d like to restart without having to go through the previous cutscene. Then again, you don’t get a Game Over when you die, thanks to the save you merely return to just before the battle and can start it over.

Combo attacks are the best!
Also, yes, this is basically Meta Knight from Kirby.

Another thing you may notice about the game is the style. Most characters are their own designs, since many are just parodies of existing properties (we even to actually see Robot Nick and Wowser at the end, and… Wowza). However, some of the characters (Ralph, but also Master Terence, Ralph’s other allies, and a few others) are pre-existing RPG Maker characters that have been redrawn for the game, by NIVLACART themselves. That’s neat!

Ralph in the "visual novel" portion of the game, and
on the top left, the original Face resource, available when
you buy RPG Maker VX Ace.
Pretty awesome, if you ask me!

That sort of attack is VERY tricky to pull of.

The combat system is pretty imaginative for an RPG Maker title, too. Combo attacks are a thing, and D’Vil’s moves can complement Ralph or Teeth’s own moves (depending on who you have on your team at the moment). The only problem is that these combo attacks can only happen if you attack immediately after them (and the villain’s attack breaks the chain). You can keep track of the characters’ agility and turn speed during battles, which helps. The biggest combo has the partner use a move that does nothing, followed by you using the exact same move, FOR MASSIVE DAMAGE – except if the timing is missed (as if, say, the villain strikes before you can), the attack doesn’t work. Similarly, the partner AI is decent but seems to pick actions at random (aside from healing), so you have little to no chance of pulling off a combo move by being the first to strike, because the partner most likely won’t do the corresponding required move anyway.

As the player character, your special moves can be done solely if you have enough TP (for the record, this stands for Technique Points. Not Toilet Paper.), so this can also be a barrier preventing you from doing combo moves. Later in the story, D’Vil unlocks a super-powered form with devastating attacks, and it’s nearly vital to use it in some of the final battles – though I guess it could be a personal challenge to defeat the villains without it. I tried to keep it as a final resort thing only, as it prevents you from using your regular moves.

Makes sense that, for a main character that everyone believes
to be the big bad, the bosses would be the heroes of light.

D’Vil and Teeth manage to save Ralph from the guards, and flee. Ralph intends to see the end of this, especially if it means meeting Director Mike Bombay, who seems to be the true culprit. Hey, they’re right – Michael Bay IS the greatest villain in all of fiction! On the way, they find other villains trying to stop them, only to be defeated. The situation is explained to them and they side with the team from that point on. But that’s not enough! Ralph’s old teammates want to fight too! Fight Ralph and the group, that is, since Ralph is still considered a runaway traitor.

Phew, there’ll be a lot of explaining to do when this is all over. As for Mike Bombay, as is proper of any good video game final boss, he has quite a few tricks up his sleeve…

So I won’t cover the entirety of the story, as the end is pretty basic (the encounters in the mountain, atop the mountain, the final dungeon, the fights in the dungeon, the final boss…). I can, however, say that while the plot is a bit outlandish, it’s definitely more creative than the usual RPG Maker story. The mechanics of the villainous studio don’t make a lot of sense, but that’s not really the focus. The basic idea does lead to a lot of interesting discussions between our protagonist D’Vil, the hero Ralph, and just about everyone they encounter.

Um... fourth wall breaking much?

There are slight balance issues here and there, but nothing horrible – most fights are scaled pretty evenly with the heroes, and you’ll usually finish the game with D’Vil at about Level 15. It has a few filler battles in there, but nothing extreme. The final battles get pretty intense, too. The characters are enjoyable and fun, enemies and heroes alike (though the parodies are obvious, but again: That’s funny to me). There is a bit of a learning curve in using the special moves and their combos as well as the super-powered form in the final act, but it’s usually not that bad. Like I said, you save just before a fight, so you restart instantly if you lose a battle. Just keep in mind that if D’Vil goes down and you have no revives, you lose (you don’t control what the other character in the party does, though they can use revives). Also, the spelling mistakes are very rare, so the product looks quite professional.

Also, when you have options while talking with Ralph, you
have some flirty options that are pretty hilarious.

Of course, I have my little bits and pieces of criticism here and there, but overall this was a nice experience. NIVLACART: That’s a damn good game you made there, congratulations. I heartily suggest it as an example of what can be achieved with RPG Maker. It’s like I said at the beginning: Talent is your greatest asset.

But then again, couldn’t this be said of any game engine available to the public? I plan to look at every RPG Maker game in my collection, have no worries – though how long that’ll take, it’s another question…

Next week, join me for something completely different. Probably. Maybe. We’ll see. I’m not sure.

Oh, a final treat regarding the parodies in Antagonist.

THIS FRIGGIN GAME