A Ghostly Rose

I got an early peek at this one, and I must say that this is probably one of my new favourite RPG Maker games of all time. I will state my bias saying that I have known the creator for a while now, but I was a fan of them before I even got to know them. Having created the fantastic "Cope Island" and "Three Ghostly Roses", they were already high on my list in terms of consistent developers. Then "A Ghostly Rose" came along, and is now my favourite game by this developer. I really really like this game. It manages to plow into mature depths of deep sorrow through use of... absurdity? You're punching weapons and gaining new powers of kung-fu, a lot of mechanics that may be recognisable to those who have played zDS's previous game "Three Ghostly Roses", from which this game has both been "expanded" and "reduced" in different areas, to provide what I think is a more intimate and strange story than that predecessor "Three Ghostly Roses". There is intense sorrow underlined by absurdity here...

just played my first mins on this game and i having a blast so far i enjoy this dev work on his games i have been fellowing on twitter for his updates about this game so i was really hype and i am happy to try it at last defently a great game with a very cool artwork and a great use of the rpg maker program defently try it if you are like me who enjoy hidden rpg gems =)

fun

A fun rpg maker style game with a cool battle system

The story is very touching. I'm very happy that I played this. I am not going to say any more, because I do not want to spoil the experience...and yes, it is an experience. Thank you for making this.

The game wears its Dark Souls influences on its sleeve, but has the rare understanding that Souls games are not defined solely by difficulty. From the healing item that is restored at save points to the cryptic lore that is strengthened after examining its denizens to the progressing storylines of NPCs in parallel to your own quest, A Ghostly Rose embraces its influences but uses them as building blocks for an original work, which is a sign of a great developer. The game is less "difficult" and more "punishing" because while enemies will not simply roll over and die for you, you are given plenty of room for error and experimentation with your ever growing arsenal of attack skills. The battle system is deceptively deep with a high skill ceiling that you likely won't even see on your first playthrough. While you can brute force your way to victory with high damaging skills, it is much easier and less draining on your limited healing resources to learn and make use of the game's unique ...

This is one of the best RPGMaker games I've ever played. Truly, Edmund's journey is a bizarre but engaging one that kept me interested and engaged throughout the entire playthrough.

While I have not completed the game as of yet, this has so far been an excellent reimagining of one of my favorite RPG Maker games. Everything from the tight combat to the tense mood exude love and creativity, and you can tell that the creator poured their heart into this retelling. The original version of the game was an experience that opened my worldview on how much more white space there is to explore in turn-based combat systems and A ghostly Rose improves on those systems quite impressively. Battles are more akin to puzzles, involving targeting different body parts to find the best way to take down your opponents before you get killed. Rarely can you brute force your way through combat, and every battle and enemy formation will have you solving battles in different ways. I can't say too much on the story yet since I have only cleared the first couple of areas, but it's so far quite a somber tale of a father who must fight his way through a purgatory-like world in hopes of seei...

Rpg-Maker games about someone fighting off their personal demons has to be one of my favorite genres. Naturally, I would highly recommend this game!

This one is hard to review. I definitely liked it a lot, I think it's clunky but does everything it sets out to do successfully, and I found myself playing through it with enthusiasm. In principle, story wise, it feels like Wooden Ocean mixed with Lisa: the Painful rpg. The dialogue however feels like it goes back and forth between either poorly translated Elvish poetry or Die Hard fanfiction. I don't know how to explain it better than that honestly, but it does do a good job at making you ask questions and at stimulating your emotions, even if sometimes those questions are 'what the heck' and the emotions are confusion and laughter. And I got to wonder, am I laughing at the game, or is the game laughing at me? Am I the joker's joke, or the joke's joker? Can the Joke ever be the Joker? Uh anyways I was invested through and through even if some moments took me out of it. The mechanics are oddly satisfying, simple rpg stuff but with a nice sorta persona-esk type matchup/knockdown sys...