LISA: Definitive Edition contains the updated version of LISA: The Painful, originally released in 2014 via RPG Maker, as well as its sequel, LISA: The Joyful. There are new quests, bosses, and secrets in the new releases, as well as a new difficulty mode.
Olathe has experienced a mysterious phenomenon; the ‘White Flash’ has wiped out all women, crumbling society as it was previously known. Brad, the protagonist of Lisa: The Painful, has become addicted to a drug called Joy as a result of this new society. As soon as he discovers Buddy, a baby girl, he raises and protects her. Buddy soon goes missing, so Brad sets out to find her, killing and destroying everything around her in order to find her.
Game Time
Our protagonists aren’t facing their struggles alone, and you can recruit teammates to bulk out your party. LISA: The Joyful features Buddy as its main protagonist and other characters from the original on her journey.
Every recruitable teammate has a different combat specialty. Brad is a karate master and Buddy prefers a knife. The specializations of some fighting styles made them more appealing than others. As characters level up, they acquire more skills that can be used in battle. Battles in both games can be extremely challenging, and we did notice a sharp spike in difficulty.
This feeling of unease is amplified by the grotesque character design and grating soundtrack, especially when in combat. Even those you recruit to your party are annoying, and you feel like you have no choice but to deal with them. As you’d imagine, you have to deal with what you’ve got in an apocalyptic situation.
The games introduce some interesting stat changes which we’ve never seen before; withholding joy from Brad causes him to go into withdrawal and tanks his stats. Characters can get the crying stat, which affects their accuracy. In the glossary, there are five pages of status effects, so you can choose from ‘Weird’, ‘Depression’, and ‘Mega Cool’. It takes going into the tutorial tome (found through the item menu) to figure out what an effect actually does. It is just too many, and none are explained in combat or in the real world.
Throughout the two LISA games, there are some really uncomfortable themes, which are emphasized by the fact that the protagonists are older than 18. This warning doesn’t make these feelings go away, and we found that there was an overall sense of unease throughout the entire playthrough. The games are not sunshine and rainbows, so they do their job well. You will think for days after completing LISA: Definitive Edition about the complexities of the human condition.
Pros:
- You will be left thinking after reading this story.
- Characters that are interesting.
- Mechanisms that are unique.
Cons:
- There is a huge spike in difficulty.
- There is nothing worse than a grating soundtrack.
A 7 over 10 would be my rating for this game.