A Ghostly Rose Reviews

A fun rpg maker style game with a cool battle system

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!

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 seeing his daughter one last time. Edmund is basically the John Wick of JRPG protagonists, and will stop at nothing to punch and kick his way through every obstacle to meet his goals, but also lives with copious amounts of regret of what he was like during his life. If you like dad game stories, this is sure to fit your bill. I'm excited to play more of it! It's well worth the asking price.

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.

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 Break mechanic, where you destroy your opponent's will to keep fighting by completing certain objectives unique to each enemy. These objectives range from inflicting certain ailments to defeating other enemies first. As long as you don't forget about your older skills, however, you will be able to comfortably progress through the game without too much trouble. If you are frustrated at being unable to break certain enemies, there are hints available either through examining them in battle using the State command or by viewing their info in the hub world after defeating them once. The game is not without its flaws, however. Most of them come in the form of graphical glitches. It's fairly clear that there wasn't as much time testing sub optimal paths. While you are allowed to run from most battles, doing so can result in enemy sprites not being reset properly. Thankfully, these are simply graphical bugs and do not affect gameplay, and reentering the battle will fix these glitches. In addition, while the game's pixel art is at its strongest when depicting environments, the character sprites and portraits are not as gracefully made. Edmund is by far the best looking portrait in the game, with various expressive portraits. I just wish the rest of the cast, particularly the titular Rose, were given the same level of treatment. Speaking of Rose, I wish the game spent more time allowing players see more sides of her. Without spoiling too much, A Ghostly Rose is very much Edmund's story and not Rose's. As we spend the entire game with Edmund, we see comparatively little of the backstory and events that led to their relationship taking the turn that it did from Rose's perspective. As the core driving force of the game's plot, I feel like Rose should have been endeared more to the player to give them a personal drive to see the journey to its conclusion. Instead, all we know about Rose is delivered through the filter of Edmund's parental love. It's a strong filter, and you don't have to be a parent yourself to empathize with Edmund's drive, but it's a filter nonetheless. But A Ghostly Rose is Edmund's story, and boy does the game go hard on it. Edmund is the embodiment of "man literally too angry to die." He's no saint, but his flaws strengthen, rather than weaken, his impact. Even someone like me with no children couldn’t help but feel for him by the journey’s end. To delve deeply into his character would venture uncomfortably into spoiler territory, but suffice to say that his journey through the Web is a very personal one that leaves very little to the imagination. In the end, A Ghostly Rose is a good time that is more than the sum of its parts. It is equal parts flawed and heartfelt, lean and meaty, risky and comfortable. It is not ashamed to be what it is, and refuses to bloat itself with superfluous content and padding that would compromise the story being told. It would be a mistake to pass on this game.

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.

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 system. I liked it a lot. I don't know who I'd recommend this to honestly, but I guess if you liked Wooden Ocean and wanted more? Or if you just really like odd rpgs with a focus on interpersonal relationships? Honestly it's cheap and short enough, I think it's worth picking up if you're curious at least.

I beat this game on a different distribution platform, but bought it here to support. Three Ghostly Roses has always been my favorite RPG Maker game. When I heard it was being re-imagined for a new generation, I was both excited and skeptical. I played Three Ghostly Roses at the perfect time in high school for it to strongly influence my perspectives on game design. Could such a dramatic departure from the source material serve it justice? It took me a while to realize that it didn't need to. I'm happy to say A Ghostly Rose has grown to be just as admirable. It's not trying to do the same thing as the first game-- it's a wholly independent story. Even so, AGR kept me hooked with great moments until the end. This is a game for people who enjoy creepy one liners, turn-based combat, or seeing skilled RPG Maker developers push boundaries. Give it a try! :D

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 a very captivating battle system that is much more fleshed out than "Three Ghostly Roses". zDS has always manage to plow emotional depths and bring out very resonant storylines, and I think is probably zDS's best work. If you're looking for a sort-of absurd dark comedy with a full personality and wild conflicts, do try this one out! You'll find a very unique story that will perhaps resonate with you and make you feel something. Truly gripping. I love this game.

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 =)