Last Word

Last Word is a nice little RPG maker game that doesn't have much to do with typical RPGs. The Main Character, a Photographer, is invited to a private Celebration on an Estate, with the remaining Guests all being Nobles with a more or less pronounced soft Spot for extensive verbal Warriors. This is also reflected in the Fighting System: Instead of Swords and Wands, you fight here with Words. Instead of Life Points, there is a Bar that indicates which Participant has the Upper Hand. Once it has arrived at its own End, you lose. Analogous is won by reaching the enemy end. This is done through three different Categories of action, each with three different Variants. The System is a bit confusing at first, but you can learn quite quickly. After Fighting, you also get Experience Points, so that you ascend to the Level and thus gain an Advantage at the Beginning of The dispute. By Collecting Loops and Issuing experience points, other Skills can also be gained to further influence the Word battles. Experience Points can also be earned with a few Side missions that would be there: Collecting wine bottle labels, "Treasure cards" photos, fight challenges, as well as chatter with guests. The Latter is a Game Mechanic, but it becomes a bit monotonous. You get different Talking Points in the Course Of the Game, about which you can ask the Guests. If you Choose the right Guest, a Topic Of conversation is uploaded and you can ask the Guests about the new Level. With 9 Talking Points, each with 5 Levels and 5 Guests, there are more than 200 Combinations that can and must be tried through. If you catch the wrong Guest, it usually has no Consequences, but it is rather tiring at the somewhat slow Pace of Play. Especially Since you have to End the Conversation Every Time you change the Topic of conversation and select the new Topic in a Menu before addressing the other topic again. Since this is the main game mechanics in addition to the "Fights," you could have put a little more Effort into it here. That being said, the Characters and the Story are quite interesting. The Setting-a Collection of Nobles on an estate in a Kind of fictionalised 1940s Britain-is somewhat reminiscent of Cluedo, which surely the Characters "Colouring certainly has a Stake in. Despite the Limitations of the RPG maker engine, the graphics have been quite successful, both in terms of level design and Character Portraits. However, a little more Variety would have been nice: The Character Portraits remain mostly the same, regardless of what Emotion the Character wants to express right now. This is not up-to-date even for a small indie game, after all, even the simplest Visual novels already make do with several Graphics for different Emotions. In addition, almost the entire Game is limited to a single Map. After all, with multiple Rooms, but still, that's a Little for a game set on a large Estate. A Basement, Upper Floor or an accessible Garden would have been conceivable and would have relieved the sometimes quite narrow Corridors of the Map somewhat. Sonically, Last Word is solid, but also not outstanding. The short Sounds the Characters give of themselves suit them and the Sound effects are also coherent. The Music is useful for an RPG maker game, but nothing you'd want as a soundtrack CD. As a Playing time for the first Run, I would specify about 4-6 Hours if you look around extensively, educate yourself and go through the Conversational Options. If you only Follow the Story, but you can also be ready in well under 2 Hours. After that, there's a New Game +, an extra Ending, and perfectly feasible Achievements waiting for you. That put me down to about 10 Hours until I reached 100%. That's perfectly Fine for a Game like this. Last Word has its Weaknesses. If you Get on with them, it's a cute and quite innovative Little game. For me, however, €10am is a bit at the top End of the price/game fun scale, so I would recommend waiting for an Offer.