It's Like Final Fantasy, Except you Fight Cthulhu, and you can play as a furry.

11/10

Best game Ive ever spent less than a dollar on.

Before the release of final fantasy titles on steam, there was Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3. Bearing in mind that this game doesn't relate much to the previous two titles (as they were 3D games and developed by different team), you can easily go head first into this game without playing the others which is nice. The music is alright at setting the mood of the game. The dialogue and story is funny at times and quite unique.

The gameplay is like final fantasy 3 and 4. You start a few roles (i.e classes) for each character, but you unlock and can switch between more roles later in the game as your character levels up. The combat is similar to the 'Active Time Battle' system in final fantasy IV. Each character (including enemies) will have to wait until their portrait on the top screen passes a line before they are able to make a move. This may be seen as a good thing as you have some time to plan out moves for your characters, however the combat may seem slow to some (especially those who haven't played previous 2D final fantasy titles). There are a limited of monsters in each area and they don't respawn after you defeat them, but you can see them so you won't be walking into a trap. There is also a colliseum where you can easily grind to level up quicker if you wish. There are also some stores laying around which some decent items and equipment at decent to rediculously expensive prices.

Besides the normal campaign, there is also a prequel campaign that doesn't really offer much to the story, but contains more challenging monsters.

If you are looking for a cheap final fantasy-like game or never played any of them before you should try this game out. However, if you don't like turn base combat (like previous final fantasy games) you should stay away.

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness has a title that is immediately indicative of the brand of humour you'll find throughout. The writing in these games, courtesy of Penny Arcade writer Jerry Holkins, is everything you'd expect, but unfortunately you'll have to put up with a turn-based JRPG of sorts to see much of it.
In Ep 3, the developer, Hothead, has been dropped in favour of Zeboyd, and the accompanying total overhaul of the gameplay provides a much needed change of pace.

Set in an interesting universe, with a set of characters that, most of the time, amused me, you can't go wrong with buying this if you like the combat system type (check it in videos if you are unsure). A warning though, it might get a bit repetitive, but the contrast between cenarios is satisfying and the you will certainly get a kick out of the different creatures you'll encounter. Provides about 9-12 hours of gameplay. If you happen to catch this game on sale, don't hesitate, get the bundle with the finale.

5.49$ WHAT THE ♥♥♥♥

1 and 2 where grandly awesome.

3 is decent. 4 is Ok.

But let's be serious - you're not really in this for the game play.
You're in it for the humour. You're in it for the jokes.
You're in it for the insanity of awesome.
You're in it for the penny arcade.

This game delivers, and I do not regret buying it.

TL:DR = 8/10

First of all, I enjoyed it. It definately had shining moments, but also many drawbacks.

I really started laughing quite a bit once I got into it, despite just rolling my eyes at the beginning. What really kept me playing was the character interaction, and the overall artstyle of the game. It also looks like Precipice 4 has improved a lot of the "linear" issues, so it's worth playing to lead into that.

It definately looks like a later SNES title (though not quite Chrono Trigger, or FF6 but close). An interesting battle system compared to 16 bit titles from back in the day...definitely unique.

I like how you can mix and match classes however you want, but having to build MP was annoying for me. Sometimes the battles were interesting and other times redundant, leaving me wanting to just see what happens next in the story instead of fighting.

Way too linear. I actually really like the "Super Mario World" style overworld -one of my favorite things in the game- but the individual areas were way too linear for me. No towns, no townsfolks to chat with, and you can't enter any buildings/rooms within the individual areas. Looking at Bookshelves and drawers give the same text for each one.

Music is pretty good, but there isn't enough of it, so it becomes repetitive. Certainly no memorable tunes like the classics, other than perhaps the battle theme...but you hear plenty of it..

I enjoyed it a lot and I'm really glad I played it but as far as recommending it to someone else...I'm not sure. For the price, yeah. If 4 continues to be as good as it seems so far, (More of a Cthulu vibe) definately.

Whether you're acquainting yourself with eldritch horrors that seep through the frayed weave of reality or just punching a bunch of filthy hobos in their filth-filled mouth-parts, "On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3" is a delight. Combining the creative power of Penny Arcade with Zeboyd's love for old-school role-playing games creates a package of hilarious weirdness and nostalgic vibrations (with a couple hints of modernity) that feels neither derivative nor stale. The turn-based combat has a perfectly applied dose of additional strategy, which can bring even a high-leveled party of characters to their doom if their actions are dictated without thought. To compliment this, the story, dialogue, items, and enemies all carry the ridiculous, eloquent, occasionally poetic writing of Jerry "Tycho" Holkins as well as art inspired by Mike "Gabe" Krahulik. All of these elements together make "On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3" a funny, bizarre quest that any fan of early RPGs is sure to enjoy.

The long-delayed sequel. Gone is the ability to make your own character; you'll be playing the PA guys the whole game. Also gone are the 3D polygon graphics and animation, replaced with SNES-esque sprites and tiles. This would be a big step back in some ways, but fortunately, the combat makes up for that. It's got some ideas borrowed from other games (like Grandia and FFT A2), and some new ones. The classes are also pretty interesting, and offer some good combinations. Fights are less plentiful than some games, but still relatively common, and the enemies are tough, so they can take a while.
I was annoyed by the fact that, if you stick with the same classes the whole game, you won't wind up with all of them capped out. To explain further, you start out with no class equipped and quickly gain your first set, then later get another set and the ability to equip a second. There will still be leftovers, however, and unequipped ones earn less exp than selected ones. Add in 2 more factors: the number of fights (and thus exp) in the game is limited (monsters don't respawn), and there's a bonus dungeon that can only be unlocked by maxing out all the classes. You can see how this would be frustrating, to finish the game and be stuck with no way to get into the bonus area. Now, there is an arena where you can fight stuff, but I'm not sure if they give much exp. Might try this later on.

This game was an enjoyable throwback to 16bit turn based RPGs, but with a twist. They improved the combat system by adding some complexity without making it overly complicated. Since the core of all these turned based RPGs is mostly how well and fulfilling the combat is, the majority of this review will go over that section in detail to give you a greater understanding of how the game plays. I broke down the review in bold sections so you can read what is most important or what is most interesting to you in order of importance.

At the end of this page there will be a Pro's Con's and overview which would be the closest thing I have to a "TLDR"

THE GUI (Graphic User Interface)

When you get into a battle in this game, you will see a very familar layout, the graphic user interface or (GUI) will probably remind you of a plethora of similar older turn based titles like the final fantasy series, chrono trigger, or the breathe of fire series. You'll see fight or attack, item and Defend. However this is where the similarities end and some of the polishing of these older combat system begins. The menus themselves are fairly easy to navigate and use, nothing new to see here but nothing bad either.

The GUI also has one new feature which is really nice, which is a bar on the top of the screen with the portraits of each of your characters and the enemies on a visible time line which shows you who or what enemy is likely to be next in turn. I say likely because in this game there is a "speed" stat and interrupt mechanic attribute which can be manipulated to increase or decrease the likelihood of who's next to perform an action. Speed is exactly as it sounds, a flat given rate at how quickly your next turn comes. Once their portrait goes from the right side of the screen to the end of the bar on the left they start somewhere back on the right, distance moved on the bar per action or round spent is based on your speed stat.

Hovwering over an enemy unit will tell you the current hp of the unit, and how many elemental weaknesses it has, but not which ones. Its your job to explore and find them your self! It will also usually include some kind of humorous description of the unit, generally relevant or commenting on its aesthetics.

Other cool features are the skin changes, at any time outside of battle you may change your skin from "furry" "gender swapped" "undead" or "normal". I remember one battle actually had a condition of increasing the power of all female characters during it, but it wasn't an issue and this feature really is just there for your visual enjoyment.

One more thing of important note: This game has a range of 4 preset difficulties which can be changed at any time (outside of combat/dialogue), should the game not be challenging you enough or too much. It defaults on normal.

THE INTERRUPT FEATURE

You can slow targets, stop them, or increase your own speed, but the best feature is the interrupt feature. The interrupt feature allows you to push back the time it takes of a current foes next turn. When you use an ability that has this feature you will see their portrait be pushed back. This effect generally is on a diminishing return so you can't "lock down" an opponent from ever being able to preform an action, but you certainly can hinder it, and many interrupt abilities later still deal damage, or have other bonuses like not costing MP! Usually every 2nd interrupt wont hit as hard as the previous. So interrupt 1 will give you a good knock back, 2 maybe not so much, but 3 will be powerful again and the pattern continues.

CUSTOMIZING YOUR CHARACTERS

This game has the traditional armor, weapon and accessorie slot, but the real customization begins with class pins.
Each character has its own unique abilities, and later on you get up to 14 (1 from an optional boss) "pins" which provide new abilities, passive abilities, and bonus to certain stats and pretty much work much like Espers or Materia for you final fantasy fans.

There are no restrictions on what character can wear what pin, so you can have quite a few different combinations. The equipped pins gain experience along with the character's core abilities as well, and unlike other older games the unequipped pins will still gain experience but not as quickly as the ones being used. However, each character will inevitably be able to wear 2 pins, so that only leaves 5 pins not at use at any given point in time. So this lets you balance and combined 3 classes abilities on one character, his own, and the two pins you equip on to them. So any character can fit the role you decide to give to it.

OTHER IMPORTANT COMBAT MECHANICS

The most important feature in the combat here is that, you can drag out a boss or any battle until you win but.... it gets much harder.. Ever so often the power of the NPCS get stronger, the longer the battle goes the more damage the abilties and attacks of the NPC's do. So only using one character to deal damage, while healing all the incoming damage is rarely an effective strategy. When you hover an enemy unit you'll see something like XXX% power, every interval they gain 10% more power. The longer you go... well... they start to hit harder and hurt more...

Certain battles even have conditions where certain types of damage or stats are increased (which affects everyone in most cases, you and your enemy). Most of the time these bonuses can be used in your advantage. Other times they add in a new element to the fight to over come and conquer.

MAGIC POINTS AND NON EQUIPMENT ITEMS REVISITED AND REDONE

Essentially every turn you get 1 MP or Magic point and you get a variety of abilities to use, but like any ability it has a cost, some are free, some have greater effect on the first turn, others cost more, and/or have other conditions or bonus effects. However there are items and abilites later in the game that allow you to gain MP faster, such as stealing it from your other allies, or energite, an item that can only be used so many times per battle thatr grants X MP.
Now to items, Items in this game are consumables that you can upgrade and have a limited number of charges per battle. Every battle they reset to full.

There are 6 different items to use in the game and they can be upgraded in two different ways, their effect (how powerful) and charges (how many uses).


OVERIEW: 8/10

PROS AND CONS

The tone of this review may sound to some overtly positive but this game isn't without its flaws so we will start with Con's first. There aren't too many though I am happy to say.

CONS:

Certain abilities or ability combos can become overwhelmingly powerful which cause you to stop using previous abilities or fall into routines.

The game is rather linear, and besides 2 optional bosses, and the Arena, there is little room to "Grind" or gain additional experience or $$$ to farm items, upgrades, and accessories.

The plot line of the game is a bit hazy if you haven't played the two previous installments. Some of the events and dialogue can leave you feeling questioning your self, If I were to have played the two previous games would I have a much greater understanding of what the hell these people are talking about and who they are?

PROS:

Innovative combat system that holds true to turn based combat while adding in new features to keep it as fresh as possible

Lots of character customization and combinations in terms of classes.

Despite the potential plot confusion the game's dialogue has made me chuckle, laugh or bust a gut on many occassions and was still enjoyable regardless of any confusion.

Wow, what has happened to you Rainslick? You were interesting once. With your funny and well drawn cutscenes, unique gameplay that was different and more casual for those not interested in Final Fantasy-esque turn based combat. You were fun, funny, charming.

Well obviously that's not what this is.

I don't know what happened, but long story short, Penny Arcade didn't want to go Rainslick anymore for some odd reason, so the guys that made Cthulhu Saves the World, were called upon to make the 3rd and 4th games of this series.


There is nothing good about this game to me. First off, Pixel graphics. While it CAN work depending on the game and how it's used (See Papers Please), here it's just used as always used, for a Final Fantasy knockoff. The combat is not exciting, nothing moves except for characters and enemies to get into place.

BUT the worst sin this game made, was one that made me give up on everything about the rest of this series.

Ok, so you're in a bank looking for a portrait, when you're exploring vaults and you think you're gonna find jokes. One of the "jokes" is so horrible that it forces you to play it until completion.

A FULL ON FINAL FANTASY 1 PARODY!!!

And then into Star Trek.

And the game forces you to stop and play all of this for no reason, when I could have gone into the right vault and left. It's only there for grinding that's pointless.

Go play Rainslick episode one and two, and try not to cry at the end of two, because then you'll think about how it got botched and replaced with this garbage.

Very good. The kind of quality you should expect from Penny Arcade. Very funny and can offer a challenge in some areas. If you are a fan of the 16-bit era of RPG's then this is for you.

I'm a little disappointed in this game. I truly am. The previous Penny Arcade games, in their 3D environment, semi-free-roaming capabilties, witty dialogue, character customization, and comic book-styled cutscenes were excellent, but this one...
I just can't bring myself to keep playing. It's become a 2D RPG-stylized game, and though it started out pretty alright, the required battling, which for the most part, is every enemy you see on screen, really started to bore the living fecal matter out of me. It was just too much. Between every fight, you regain all your stats fully, so there's really no urgency of healing, which could be taken as a blessing, but...I don't know...I felt less imersed in this game, less dedicated to the characters and outcome. Sure, the dialogue is witty, for the most part, but given the lackluster gameplay and visuals...it just wasn't fun. I would've rather just read a comic book with the same style and written dialogue without the non-stop RPG fights chewing up my time and killing me with boredom.
I'm genuinely sorry for not enjoying it more. I look forward to the next installment of Penny Arcade and hope for the best.

The greatest game based on nostalgia of a genre of games I never played.

I introduce you.... On the rain-slick; Precipice of Darkness 3!!!
This particulary game doesn't exactly remind you of the previous ones duo to the graphics being all 16-bit ish - not that it makes it less awesome - but just a clearly change; though it still has the humour and some of the elements of the first two parts. You will experience a lot of combat with a ton of different skills that levels up + you get more skills the higher level your classes get. The names, the conversations are just purely epic! Go play it, you won't regret it!
I enjoyed the first two, and definitely the third part aswell. And I can already say that.. I can't wait to see what will happen in the fourth part.. ;)

If you like old school RPGs this is for you.

Well it may not be, considering the menu system is horrible. Their artist did a great job, the programmer did not. That said its like it came out of an RPG maker with a failed menu system.

"This gets a veto."

Loosely known as the third episode of the Precipice of Darkness series, episode three offers an entirely new narrative, art style and gameplay experience. The game itself serves as a parody to the classic "SNES era" where 16-bit graphics ruled the gaming industry. Penny Arcade does, however, continue their trademark tongue-in-cheek narrative that joyfully pokes fun at the classic role-playing game experiences. In all, episode three is fantastic fun and proudly pays homage to gaming classics.

Clever retro-RPG, where every fight plays out like a puzzle rather than a grind due to instant HP restoration between battles, no random encounters, and a fun three-classes-per-character system which lets you design your character using classes as tactical "building blocks" (for example, the Gentleman class is a mixture of physical attacks and healing magic, but do you give it to your brutish tank character to maximize the skill attacks, your "all-rounder" or rogue so they'll be able to cast frequent heals, or your mage so he can benefit from the "non-special attacks are based on Magic instead of Strength" passive?). The writing is also obviously amusing.

Best American-made JRPG I've ever played. Hilarious and engaging.

This game was a whole bundle of enjoyment, playability and laughs for me. Essestially it is an rpg with 16-bit graphics. You can play it straight (well as much as this crazy game allows), or embody the madness. It pokes fun at the genre and at itself. Really it's what you might expect from Penny Arcade. If you don't know what PA is, i recommend you check it out, and get this game too, it's worth it.
Btw if you're interested in a more detailed review, i recommend you check out the one written by MinervaMedica, which is a true belter of a review, congrats Minerva. If you happen to get to this review at all, that is.
Enjoy the game!