DEEP 8

Update: I have played through DEEP 8 and not of my review has changed, I added some aspects to the disclaimer. Please be aware that the Story goes over a lot of places and issues and the described dynamic between the protagonists is a temporary affair. The Story unfolds in a lot of unexpected, often horrible, ways while still retaining the atmosphere of a light hearted JRPG affair while experiencing harsh dystopian scenarios in game, no holds barred. It's often not an easy to digest experience but it's done well and gameplay wise it's quite excellent and fun. Original Review: Deep 8, a wierd, depressing, honest story about understanding the world. thus far it features strong sexual themes (not pornographic in nature), abuse, sado-masochism, Prostitution, predopholia, drug abuse, sexism, depression, disabilities and very graphic decline of health through old age. This is so far used as part of the world-building and is as tasteful and mature as the nature of it allows but is also sometimes used for humor, so be warned. Disclaimer: I have played this game prior to release and am one of the Beta testers, I have joined up only recently as such and have no prior history with the developer apart from knowing that this game is in development. At this point in time, i have not finished the game so I am only voicing my impressions thus far and will change my review when I have finished the game. Deep 8 has been created with the RPGMaker 2003 and because of that is severely limited in aspects that may now be standard practice, the game uses the Easy RPG plugin to alleviate some of these Aspects, although I am not deep enough into the software to know what that entails. Pro: A Dark engrossing Story, in most cases. Excellent sprite work and animation A fun and complex combat system Exceptional in-engine cinematics, extremely impressive for the RPGmaker2k3 A lot of surprising side content A wierd and unique world to encounter Cons: The character Artworks are atrocious in my opinion, but you get used to them, i guess. A *very* rough english translation but understandable, most of the time. The german version is preferable. The games themes can be a bit disturbing The story so far seems to be leaning heavily on JRPG tropes when it doesn't punch you in the face with whats in between the lines. Towards the end loses focus seemingly out of time constraints if the developer Deep 8 at first presents itself with a very basic premise. An Army of extremely aggressive aliens is planing to destroy the Empire of Antia and our heroes are trying to avert a near certain fate of complete destruction. Our protagonists Ramirez and Meling are like fire and water, the one shy, introverted. The other extremely abusive, harsh and seemingly full of hate for everything especially her companion. The game lives from their energy together, it's depressing and harsh to have both of them working together on a task they have been given by the senile and sick emperor. Soon it becomes clear that it's not the invasion that the story is about but how complex Human life is, how depressing and harsh human interaction can be. How we are slaves to our own nature both in things good as in things evil. I find the story in itself to be a very personal one, the dark aspects of the characters can be found in everyone of us to some extent and it is very rare that those things are pointed out so honestly, think LISA. It seems to be a story of maturity, the fear of not belonging anywhere. The complex nature of how men struggle in life when it comes to their own sexuality and bringing their nature in line with reality. The game is a rollercoaster, seemingly born out of a deep trauma but created not as a personal story but as Art that can be of relevance to any of us. It get's a high recommendation from me, at this point, even if the Artwork of the characters is extremely atrocius, which can't be said often enough but maybe that fit's the bill as well. I found the game, as an experienced player, mildly challenging in most cases with some harder side content. great!

All I can say is "Wow this game is so cool!" It has been a long time since a JRPG has hooked me. The game can be a little bit grindy at times. I don't normally like grinding, but it wasn't that bad in this game. Sometimes in maps you have to backtrack quite a bit to figure out the puzzles. Combat is difficult but not impossible, it kept me entertained/didn't feel boring at all. The game is advertised as a sci-fi, but it's more of a sci-fantasy (which is totally cool too!). It's obvious the developer put a lot of time and effort into this game. Some of the cinematics in the game really immerse the player into this universe as well. Some of the sexual dialogue or the slurs, or taking the panties of people out of drawers was kind of weird and I think kind of took me out of the game a little bit, but wasn't a dealbreaker or anything. It made more sense though once I found out about Ramirez's troubled family history though. The character models are kind of funny, they're kind of "uncanny valley", but it didn't bother me, it has it's own unique style, doesn't look like the thousand other games I've played before. PROS: 1. Multiple mini-games. 2. Good story. 3. Simple yet rewarding gameplay mechanics 4. Cool Music/Custom soundtrack 5. Hard/Challenging (which I like) 6. Interesting Characters/Interesting world. 7. Music 8. Lengthy game but doesn't get boring. CONS: 1. Sometimes a lot of backtracking to find clues and other stuff. 2. Some of the sexual dialogue and slurs seemed a bit out of place. I hesitated at first with the price, but I can tell you it's totally worth it. Pick it up and try it, you'll get hooked like I did. You'll definitely have a unique experience playing this game. Overall I'd rate this a 9/10 and I think it's underrated based on what I see with the number of people who have played it, but I will say I think this game is niche. But I like niche games more than mainstream usually. Great job guys! Are you going to make another game in the future?

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Als Beta-Tester bin ich auf dem RPGMaker-MV-Forum unterwegs: https://rpgmaker-mv.de/forum/thread/3132-jaki-s-testlabor/?postID=35986#post35986 101 Spielstunden auf 2 Testdurchläufe in 2 Monaten. Da ich der letzter Tester war der angefangen hat (soweit ich das beurteilen kann), gab es auch nicht viele Bugs mehr zu finden :D Die Charaktertiefen sind am besten. Jeder der Hauptfiguren hat eine sehr individuelle Geschichte und daraus resultierende Charakter und Probleme. Genauso individuell sind die einzelnen Fähigkeiten, selbst bei der gleichen Fähigkeit kann die Verbesserung in unterschiedliche Richtung gehen. Entsprechend ist die Dialogführung und die Erzählung der Story. Die übrigens auch kein Blatt vor den Mund nimmt. Man hat das Gefühl sehr gut in die Realität dieser Welten einzutauchen. Es gibt auch unangenehme und destruktive Situationen. Der rote Faden der Story bleibt bis kurz vor dem Ende verborgen. Je nach dem wie man die Geschichte betrachten will, kann man dann wohl von einem Happy End sprechen, auch wenn es heftiger Verluste gibt und sich am Ende niemand bei den Helden bedanken wird :| Auch bei den Hintergrundgeschichten der Hauptfiguren möchte ich von Happy End reden, aber da wird es wohl auch andere Meinungen geben.. Dieser Aspekt war einfach zu groß um ihn in meiner üblichen Listenform zu würdigen: Allgemein ++ Hauptfiguren + Gute Nebenquests die immer ein wenig von der regionalen Kultur verraten + Sehr schönes und individuelles Mapping + Spannende Geschichte und emotionale Hintergrundgeschichten + skuriele Nebenfiguren + Erkunden unterschiedlicher Welten (Gebiete) + Geheimnisse suchen (nicht nur Schlüpfer :S) + Springen, Klettern, Bombenspringen, Flammenwerfen und andere ActionKey-Events + F (3x Beschleunigung), G (10x Beschleunigung) ich hoffe das war nicht nur eine Beta-Test-Funktion <3 Kampfsystem + Hit-Bar, wobei einige Skills oder Zauber keine Hit-Bar verwenden, muss man sich beim Kämpfen immer konzentrieren + Skills (Fähigkeiten, Permanente Boni, ultimative Angriffe), die auf unterschiedlichste Weise auch untereinander kombiniert werden können. + Tranktoleranz + Story-Boss-Kämpfe, optionale Boss-Kämpfe, Super-Boss-Kämpfe (Kampfdauer von bis zu 2 Stunden) benötigen unterschiedliche Skill-Strategien ± :!:Manche Bosskämpfe tauchen unerwartet auf, nutzt also verschiedene Speicherspots, sonst könntet ihr zu schwach in eine Speicherfalle geraten + Trennung Level-EP und Fähigkeiten-EP ±:!:Aller Anfang ist schwer, stellt unter Status die EP Verteilung definitiv auf AP und lernt paar Skills, sonst ziehen sich die Kämpfe ewig Menü + Questbuch (ist mir immer sehr wichtig :D ) + Tutorials, Tipps + Skillboard (in 3 Stufen) ± Soundeinstellung fehlt, fällt mir aber jetzt erst auf :D braucht man also eigentlich auch nicht Stabilität + 0 Spielbrecher - ein paar Schreibfehler + 0 Mappingfehler Note 1,5 Fazit Bringt Zeit, Geduld und Spass mit wenn ihr dieses Spiel anfangt. Ein bisschen grinden sollte man, aber es hält sich sehr in Grenzen. Da die Story (bis auf dem Ende) keine Entscheidungszweige hat, "reicht" es wenn man es einmal spielt, aber das sind ja auch mal 30/40 oder gar 50 Stunden :) Mir hat es Spass gemacht zu testen, auch wenn man für den optionalen letzten Super-Boss schon wirklich sämtliche Tricks und Geduld aufbringen muss um den zu schaffen XD Viel Erfolg bei der Veröffentlichung PS: Es braucht ein besseren Guide

It's awesome. It's got everything I could want. Action, sci-fi, jrpg, cool animations, lots of play time, CGI effects, interesting story. *Update* Having now finished the game. In-game file said about 34 hours. Deep 8 is a cool game overall. There are many adult and gritty tones but I found it added realism. How would you feel in a universe where some aliens destroy entire planets? The story makes people think a lot about tragedy and the different struggles people have. The world design was fantastic and the game mechanics from combat to the active-events were great also. The overall experience was very unique and not something I've seen before.

DEEP 8 is a grand and ambitious Sci-Fi RPG with a very personal story amidst a vast space as well as a great war. In DEEP 8 you play as the perverted and effeminate Ramirez and his band of misfits during a war lead by the Droons. It is Ramirez' and Melings job to desperately find a way to turn the tables all the while battling with their very own and personal issues. The characters are all very memorable and interesting right down to the side characters. The writing - especially if you play the game in English - can be a bit wonky at times, but personally that just adds to the charme of the game, as it strikes the perfect balance between campy and serious. Bundle that with cinematic and well-produced cutscenes and beautiful setpieces and you have yourself a great presentation. Quick disclaimer though: The game takes on real life problems as well as taboo-topics in a really direct and blunt manner (i. E. discrimination, slurs, etc.) and I can see how that might be problematic to some, but if you can look past that you got yourself one really weird, entertaining and effed up story! The gameplay is close to what you would expect from late Super Nintendo JRPG or early Playstation JRPG. Movement is on a grid-based system, the fighting happens from a sideview and uses an ATB system similar to Final Fantasy 7. It is a lot deeper than those games however as player reflexes are involved (think Paper Mario or Mario and Luigi) and there are a lot of systems that play into each other. Characters can build up an immunity to potions for example, you can set EXP and AP (skillpoint) distribution in your menus and you have an extensive skill and mod system. And of course there's buffs and debuffs, strengths and weaknesses, etc. Almost every NPC you find has something interesting to say and there's plenty of side quests, that you can check in a quest log that even shows if you've missed any of the side content. Of course there's "secret" bosses in this game as well and one of the characters is a summoner, just like the old JRPG would have done! Some gameplay additions can be a bit harder to get around, like the jumping for example, but the dev seemed to know many people struggled with it and created an option to auto-jump. And recently with the addition of the easy mode the game has become even more accessible, although I personally think that even the easy mode will be a bit too hard for a fair amount of players. I've played the demo and beta of this game before there was an easy mode and for the sake of reviewing this game I decided to try the easy mode and got a bit too reckless... and of course I died. The music and sound design give this game even more of a unique identity. The choice of instruments is very uncommon and there are a lot of disharmonies and unusual scales, that really cement the alien and avantgarde vibe of this game. There are a few times where sounds feel a little out of place, but never to such a degree that it breaks my immersion and most of the time the sound effects fit really well and support the gameplay perfectly. All in all this game is an amazing diamond in the rough and if you consider that most of this game was created by one person it is even more impressive. If you then consider that this game was built in RPG Maker 2003 and that more than half of the visual effects and other features of this game shouldn't technically be possible on that engine (shoutout to EasyRPG), the impressive-meter goes through the roof. If you don't mind the very obscene and sexual subject matter and wanna have a really unique gaming experience built on classic JRPG tropes, then DEEP 8 is for you!

Düsteres Sci-Fi-Fantasy-Action-Abenteuer mit interessanten Charakteren. Ein außergewöhnliches RPG, welches man selten in dieser Form gesehen hat.

9/24/22 [EDIT: FOR BREVITY/SPOILERY CONTENT AND FURTHER REFLECTION] TL;DR (~20-25 hrs main story only) (~30 hrs 100% completion) Pros: Mod system, challenging bosses, addictive gameplay, spritework and animation, inventive side content Cons: needlessly disturbing story points, shoddy translation, rushed ending, ideological dissonance, many unlikable characters, some balance issues, MP and Gold scarcity ==OVERVIEW== First and foremost, this game is ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up. I think this is the most important factor in whether or not someone will be able to enjoy the game. Without going too spoilery, if the following are dealbreakers for you: a) self-mutilation b) homophobic slurs c) mention of/implied sexual relations between minors and adults d) wanton child murder e) misogyny f) topic of child grooming You have been warned. For those of you who think you have tough skin, you will find an unexpectedly polished and for better or worse unforgettable RPG experience. As for me, I had seen the fugly PS1-era CGI art and Flaming Trump enemy on the Steam page and jumped into this game just expecting a good laugh. While there were some laughs, there was a lot of "oh no"s mixed in, as the story often veers off into disturbing directions. But let there be no doubt that from a purely RPG standpoint, the developers knew what they were doing with the battle system and outright mastery of the ancient RPG Maker 2003 engine. ==GAME SYSTEM== Mix and matching new mods in combat is an extremely rewarding experience and (NORMAL mode) boss fights are true challenges that will force you to use your head (and say a couple prayers) to win. That being said, many regular mobs have inexplicably powerful skills that can some frustration. Nevertheless, classic RPG lovers will be very happy with the spritework, in-game cutscenes, minigames, and mechanics. Each new area is sure to have a good and varied amount of side-quests and items to uncover (beware there are many missables), as well as a certain collectible item which can be found in very unexpected places. The game does utilize QTEs heavily; these can be very difficult at first, but luckily if you can't stand them there is an auto-jump option in the menu. Another good QOL feature in this game is that x3 and x10 speed is made available to the player immediately, allowing them to zoom through tedious travelling and the like at will. One thing to watch out for is getting soft-locked; there are a multitude of locations where saving can get you stuck if you are unprepared for a fight so use those save slots often. The English translation in this game is pretty spotty; sometimes this makes for unintended comedy, other times it verges on being incomprehensible. For the most part however it gets the job done and the point across. Another pain point is money; it is nearly impossible to be rolling in cash at any point in this game. You will have to wageslave beating on mobs for their monster pelts to sell if you want to have enough cash to buy another tier for your Mods (good thing x10 speed is available). Yes, the CGI models are very ugly. But idk they feel authentic to the era of games this is based on to me so I was able to deal with it. ==STORY== This story goes straight into very heavy themes and in my opinion sabotages itself repeatedly in the process. Over the course of the story we witness Ramirez and his party doing some heroic things, but also many, MANY heinous acts that seem to happen without a second thought. Ultimately I believe this games story is about self-hate and healing after senseless tragedy. Literally everyone has a sob story to tell, and the game is at it's best narratively when it drip feeds you hints into the characters' pasts (there is a particular section early in the game that did this amazingly); unfortunately this aspect gets weaker and weaker as the game reaches it's end, as plot threads are abandoned or given premature endings in order to make way for a rushed JRPG-cliche ending sequence. The game starts with HEAVY Star Wars inspiration, and then around the halfway point pivots into Dragonball Z riffs that to me felt like they came out of nowhere besides the feeling of "damn if we could put this in that'd be kickass". Which is fine... but it sometimes felt like I was playing a different game all of a sudden. This games nearly 20 year development period can be felt strongly in this regard. Many outbursts of sexual or violent (oftentimes both) nature will have you asking "was that really necessary?" and 7/10 the answer will be no. Near the end of the game the handling of a particular character I felt ruined any sense of growth for Ramirez that the game had tried to achieve, but I won't get into that in this spoiler-free review. ==CLOSING THOUGHTS== After fully experiencing the story, I can say that I would have to be very careful who I would recommend this game to. From a gameplay standpoint I can firmly say I had a good time; and as for the story, well, it certainly stuck with me enough in the days after completing the game to write this lengthy review. I can say for sure that you have NEVER played an RPG like this one, and if you've read this far you may as well take the plunge too.

Deep 8 has a 90s jrpg feel to it and takes place in a gritty setting. The worlds are well-built and the combat and skill mechanics are unique and allows you customization. The story is hard to predict and interesting. I'm enjoying it.