LISA: The Painful - Definitive Edition

[Lyre Mors]

Glad another codexer has given this a shot! I felt the same way when I had finished: fucking drained. It really is a truly unique and beautiful game in so many ways.

I really hope his next game turns out as excellent. It's apparently entitled "Ninja Tears."

Strange thing is, I've been following him on twitter and he seems to be one of those developers who hates videogames in general. As in, he thinks they are in almost all cases horrible for people. Always makes me sad to hear developers speak of games in such a disparaging way. It has unfortunately changed the way I look at Austin Jorgensen and his work.

 

[The Fish]

Strange thing is, I've been following him on twitter and he seems to be one of those developers who hates videogames in general. As in, he thinks they are in almost all cases horrible for people.

Sounds like he'd fit in well here.

 

[toro]

Glad another codexer has given this a shot! I felt the same way when I had finished: fucking drained. It really is a truly unique and beautiful game in so many ways.

I really hope his next game turns out as excellent. It's apparently entitled "Ninja Tears."

Strange thing is, I've been following him on twitter and he seems to be one of those developers who hates videogames in general. As in, he thinks they are in almost all cases horrible for people. Always makes me sad to hear developers speak of games in such a disparaging way. It has unfortunately changed the way I look at Austin Jorgensen and his work.

Honestly, the game is so good I'm inclined to give him a free pass. He probably has a reason for his opinions.

Anyway telling a story through gameplay might not be revolutionary but it's so good when it happens like in Lisa.

And the story ... it's so good. It's meaningful and even therapeutic for some people.

 

[toro]

Spoiler

That's why it's called the painful RPG. You don't play the Dragonborn, you play Brad, a broken and disturbed individual, who ended up just as abusive as his own father, even though in a different way. A guy who cuts off his own limbs to save others, yet kills everyone who stands in his path, to "make things right again".

 

[Lyre Mors]

Yeah, I'm by no means condemning him for his opinion, and I do agree with him to a small degree. There are a ton of shitty bullshit games out there that do absolutely nothing for anyone. But saying games as whole are completely negative is narrow minded and just plain wrong. I'm just saying that I hope this isn't some kind of revelation for him and that that affects the quality of his next game.

I think the themes of LISA are extremely relevant to many people today and they were handled wonderfully. My hat is still off to Austin.

 

[toro]

Yeah, I'm by no means condemning him for his opinion, and I do agree with him to a small degree. There are a ton of shitty bullshit games out there that do absolutely nothing for anyone. But saying games as whole are completely negative is narrow minded and just plain wrong. I'm just saying that I hope this isn't some kind of revelation for him and that that affects the quality of his next game.

I think the themes of LISA are extremely relevant to many people today and they were handled wonderfully. My hat is still off to Austin.

The DLC is somewhat fucked up. I don't want to use Joy and I'm stuck. Cannot kill anything.

 

[toro]

Finished it.

I had to consult a walk-through for the DLC cause I was stuck but the game was over once I acquired the Mend skill. Overall the DLC is not on the same quality as Lisa: The Painful.

The main quality of the DLC is that it provides an "happy" ending to the story:

Spoiler

Dusty is dead, Buddy has a child and Brad is still watching over her (in his own way).

 

[Mynon]

 

[Lurker47]

Didn't like it at all. God-awful writing and boring mechanics.

 

[oldbonebrown]

I just finished both Painful and Joyful earlier this week. Real memorable experience. Especially having built a team of the characters that I thought were the closest to Brad and having them, which included Terry and Shocklord, with me at the end of Painful. Joyful wasn't quite as strong, but still had its moments. The dream fight towards the end was a little hamfisted, but still damn good.
If I were to wish for something more it would be that all the characters had some point where having them in your party changed something small in the world to add a little colour to their personalities.

Spoiler

Brad is lost. Brad doesn't want to do this . . .

 

[oldbonebrown]

Played the game some more to check out the things that I missed on my first time through. The garbage island might be my favourite area from the whole game, I love how it has one of the cheeriest themes in the soundtrack - real fantastic idea portraying a floating garbage patch almost like a chilled out beach resort. Makes me dream about what the game would look like with art in the style of The Curse of Monkey Island.
If I could I would draw that place like I see it before my minds eye, but I can't, so I drew a terry instead

Spoiler

LONELINESS:
Having nobody in your life can be tough. But, having hobbies can fill the void.
- Terry Cares

 

[oldbonebrown]

I also replayed Joyful, got to say I found it quite distasteful that such a short and simple game hid important content in such an obtuse manner.
I never played The First, dunno if it's from there, but dat Joyful epilogue with Buzzo cutting Lisas face tho, that was proper dark.

LISA the Pointless looks interesting, too bad it doesn't seem to be going anywhere fast - if ever.

 

[Lurker47]

I also replayed Joyful, got to say I found it quite distasteful that such a short and simple game hid important content in such an obtuse manner.

That was the most offensively bad part of the writing. If you don't have the DLC, the game almost completely lacks proper story telling or coherence.

 

[toro]

I also replayed Joyful, got to say I found it quite distasteful that such a short and simple game hid important content in such an obtuse manner.
I never played The First, dunno if it's from there, but dat Joyful epilogue with Buzzo cutting Lisas face tho, that was proper dark.

LISA the Pointless looks interesting, too bad it doesn't seem to be going anywhere fast - if ever.

LISA: The Pointless is in equal parts a story about a garbage man trying to run away from the world and the story of that very world he is trying to escape.

I did not know about this.

 

[toro]

I also replayed Joyful, got to say I found it quite distasteful that such a short and simple game hid important content in such an obtuse manner.

That was the most offensively bad part of the writing. If you don't have the DLC, the game almost completely lacks proper story telling or coherence.

I agree. The DLC should have been a part of the full game.

But Lisa is a guilty pleasure for me therefore I cannot rip into it like I usually do.

 

[Lurker47]

But Lisa is a guilty pleasure for me

Hopefully the emphasis is on "guilty" here.

 

[oldbonebrown]

I went and played LISA the First. Not much of a game, but I think it did manage to create an effective moment at the end, unnecessarily cruel, but effective. Had it not been for the context given to it by Painful I would not have liked it, but as a piece of the story of Painful I think it was very good.
Painful has grown to be my favourite story in all of video games, but I see two major flaws in that it does not fill you in on the horror experienced by Lisa, and that it does not show enough of the dark side of Buddys childhood. If those two pieces from First and Joyful had been there the story would have made a lot more sense.

I agree. The DLC should have been a part of the full game.

I'm quite happy that it was not one package, that way I can see Painful as something separate from the flaws of Joyful. The exposition towards the end that explains parts of the world which needs no explanation, that was just wholly unnecessary it actually a minus to the real story of Lisa, Brad and Buddy. The very end did also not feel quite right, but I would have to go back and replay it to figure out why.

 

[Lurker47]

Painful has grown to be my favourite story in all of video games,

I'm so sorry for you.

 

[oldbonebrown]

I drew a Marty

I'm so sorry for you.

Worthless shit kid... *throws bottle at lurker47*

 

[oldbonebrown]

Might as well post two that I did a couple of months ago
Brad

Spoiler

Another attempt at the same Terry scene as the earlier one that I posted, still not very good

Spoiler

 

[Haba]

My god, this game is suck fucking bullshit. Jesus fuck.

 

[toro]

My god, this game is suck fucking bullshit. Jesus fuck.

Thank you for your input.

 

[Haba]

My god, this game is suck fucking bullshit. Jesus fuck.

Thank you for your input.

The fucking Russian Roulette.

I lost my entire roster, three times in a row. It is supposed to be a fucking 20% chance. This is the single most retarded game design decision I've seen the whole decade.

Why isn't it "play three rounds" rather than "win three rounds"?

 

[toro]

My god, this game is suck fucking bullshit. Jesus fuck.

Thank you for your input.

The fucking Russian Roulette.

I lost my entire roster, three times in a row. It is supposed to be a fucking 20% chance. This is the single most retarded game design decision I've seen the whole decade.

Why isn't it "play three rounds" rather than "win three rounds"?

Yeah, it's a weird design decision ... but don't feel bad, this is a point where you have to save scum or you can dispose of some useless companions.

 

[Black Angel]

The fucking Russian Roulette.

I lost my entire roster, three times in a row. It is supposed to be a fucking 20% chance. This is the single most retarded game design decision I've seen the whole decade.

Why isn't it "play three rounds" rather than "win three rounds"?

Yeah, it was rather dumb that you're basically locked in there until you win three rounds, but wasn't there a 'trick' of some sort to win every round? Iirc, you have to time the click that it made some kind of pattern/rhythm between each player pulling the trigger and the guy pointing at the player, or something like that.