Suggested By:
CrazeVoices & Visions is a Lovecraftian RPG Maker game. As "The Wanderer," you investigate a village where Evil Things are happening, finding bits of prose left here and there by The Prophet and ultimately fighting a final boss battle, getting either the Good or Bad ending.
It has the main flaw of RPG Maker games -- tedious Final Fantasy-esque combat -- but many virtues as well. Indeed, except in rare cases, combat is entirely optional; you don't level up through combat, and there are only a few occasions in which it's required.
The game takes place over ten "days," but time does not pass autonomously; rather, when you choose to go to sleep at the inn, the next day begins. Each day, new things appear in the village, so even if you explore every last area (and some are purely optional dungeons or wilderness areas), you will eventually run out of things to do and want to sleep to see the new content.
The characters who join you are well portrayed, and each have individual personalities as well as "feats" that can benefit you -- abilities that let you (a limited number of times per day) overcome obstacles without using items.
The game becomes somewhat surreal in later days, with the protagonist hearing voices and subject to visions that play an important part in unravelling the game's mystery. This is, to be sure, an unusual aspect to an RPG. In some ways, Visions & Voices plays out more like a graphic adventure than an RPG.
In short, while the game is subject to the limitations of RPG Maker, Karsuman and Craze are pushing the tool in experimental and interesting directions.
