Speak No Evil [Full Game], So... who likes difficulty? Options

[ChaosProductions]

"I have no voice! You have silenced me!"

chaosproductions | relyt
speak no evil

The Premise

A young man receives a call from his girlfriend, inviting him over to watch a movie or two. The couple, laying about on the couch, watches the actors onscreen portray their roles as the hours pass. Midnight arrives.

The world ends.

The sky is cast a dark red, and the sun turns as black as coal. Where once the streets were walked by people, they are now host to beings of night, unclean creatures that seek the flesh of the living.

The couple discovers their talent to fend off these creatures, and they flee for their lives.

"What's going on? Are there any survivors? How did this happen? Is it just our city, or is it the entire state? The country? The world? What do we eat? Where do we sleep?

...Can we ever be safe again?"


The Screenshots


Everything you see here is shitty custom.


The Gameplay

Speak No Evil is styled after the Shin Megami Tensei model of gameplay, and is thus a battle-heavy, relatively difficult experience focused on elemental affinities, labyrinthine dungeons, and bosses that require an understanding of mechanics to defeat.

The most prevalent aspect of the game is the importance of elemental weaknesses. Striking a weakness deals five times more damage than normal - very rare are the occasions where this isn't an instant kill. So, the experimentation with elements, and the discovery of which are effective and which are not, is a central aspect of the game's design. As the player progresses, groups of enemies where one is immune to - or even absorbs - the other's weakness become increasingly common.

This might have proven frustrating, had new enemies with new sets of skills appeared in each area. However, Speak No Evil was built to prevent this by re-using enemy species - simply with higher levels. This, in turn, might have lead to a lack of enemy variety. Which is, technically, true - there aren't that many distinct enemy types in this game. There are, however, a large number of enemy troop configurations; and this is the biggest key to Speak No Evil's battles. Enemies that can berserk the player are paired with enemies that are immune to physical attacks; those that are highly vulnerable to magic are paired with those that sap the player's SP. It all comes together to create a situation where the player is constantly threatened, without being ball-bustingly hard.

The Sales Pitch

Speak No Evil is not for everyone. It wasn't designed to welcome new players to the RPG genre. Deaths, while not constant, are to be expected; explanations of what HP is or what Experience Points do aren't given nor expected to be necessary. The game was designed to provide the player with a decent challenge over the course of a mid-length eastern-style RPG. This game uses "fake difficulty" techniques at times, such as enemies that steal the player's SP or ones with unfair elemental affinities, and makes no attempt to hide it.

If you want a large about of story, or you absolutely hate dying, I would suggest you turn your attention elsewhere. This game is very light on story, and the difficulty starts high and climbs steadily.

For those of you who want a game that is capable of beating you once in a while, while being perfectly possible to progress in, I would recommend this game to you.

For the masochistic players, there's a HARDCORE mode available after achieving an ending. It's not even remotely fair, in any sense of the word.

The Download

[Deltree]

Hah, just looking at the screenshots I thought, "This reminds me of Persona." I love me some SMT, and the simple clean style looks like it fits well. I'm definitely giving this one a go.


EDIT TIME!

Maybe I'm stupid, but I seem to be stuck on the very first battle. The little red guy just won't die. I don't have a menu option to use special skills (just Attack, Escape, and Row), but if I turn on Auto Battle, then I'll start slinging spells at him until my SP runs out. Also he's a bit too far to the left and the damage numbers get cut off the screen so I can't tell how effective they are.

The battle music totally rocks, though.

EDIT 2

Got the new version, let's rock

This post has been edited by Deltree: Sep 5 2009, 08:59 AM

[ChaosProductions]

Jeez, you're fast. For about five minutes there, the download had an invincible Test Monster in the first fight. It should be fixed now, but it's rather embarrassing to see someone got this error.

[Garlyle]

Hahah, I may have to redownload it too then XD

Anyway, a couple of the review staff are interested in this title. It may take a bit, but we'll get around to it 8D

[Harryb412]

Hmm, I downloaded it earlier today, and I'm having that problem too, where the little red guy won't die.

[Eike]

Hah, I was getting the test monster as well. Because the game's supposed to be quite difficult, I'd assumed it was straight into some kind of lateral thinking, and I was being incredibly stupid. (I know, I know, I played the RS!D one... but I thought it was some kind of new addition.) Anyway, time for a redownload, I think.

[ChaosProductions]

arglebargle.

SnE had a fatal flaw involving an invulnerable test monster in the opening battle. Depending on when you downloaded, you may need a new download. Sorry for the inconvenience.

"Good job with the bad update, Chaos!"

"Why thank you! It would seem I have to re-update now!"

"Yes; and next time, remember to update with the latest version!"

Oops, my bad.

This post has been edited by ChaosProductions: Sep 8 2009, 02:51 PM

[Deltree]

First battle out the door and I get annihilated. This is definitely MegaTen territory.

(Do red damage numbers mean something special?)

(Fake edit) Also Alexander has some skills according to the menu, but (I guess for story purposes) he couldn't use them in battle yet. I'm not familiar enough with 2K3 but it might be less confusing if you add them to his list at the point when he can use them if it's possible.

This post has been edited by Deltree: Sep 8 2009, 05:38 PM

[ChaosProductions]

Well, I was worried about screwing with New Game +, which lets you bring all your shiznit (skills/perks/AP) to a fresh game. I was concerned that Alex might have lost his skills at the start, or some equally unfavorable result.

So I just ended up ghetto-rigging and calling it good. :)

This post has been edited by ChaosProductions: Sep 9 2009, 06:38 PM

[Garlyle]

Power bump!

For a purpose, actually. I'm trying to get somewhere so I can actually review it, and so far I'm enjoying it - but with that said I can't pass the first ten minutes. Why? Because I can't figure out what to do about the wall of minions at the first event.

Trying to run away just gives "Where the hell am I going?" but after managing to SOMEHOW push through that mob, everything on the other side was the same.

Did I miss something?

Also, lack of Defend command makes me very sad, because if a character's attack options are all absorbed (Phys damage absorption early on...) you, err... kinda are forced to heal the enemy unless you wanna dick with rows. D:

[ChaosProductions]

Late Reply is better than No Reply... sometimes...

It took some persuasion to get me to open this back up, let me tell you. But this is it, and it comes with my next game's battle theme as a bonus for those who've been patient enough to stick through.

This better be the final update. *cracks knuckles*