Cthulhu Saves Christmas

It's average on its own merit, from the somewhat simplified jrpg-style combat to the morning cartoon story with 4th wall breaking jokes you've definitely heard before. In the pool of Christmas themed games, however, it stands tall. Between difficulty that can be changed mid-playthrough, skippable encounters and equipment that is given to you for doing mandatory "social links" the game does all it can to avoid grinding your gears.

This is actually a prequel of Cthulhu Saves the World, but you don't need to play that title to enjoy this one. This game does a good job of merging Christmas and Cthulhu and provides short but sweet entertainment for a few hours. Pros: +It's got a good sense of humor. Mostly of the pun variety and fairly PG rated. I enjoyed it but it's not going to be to everyone's taste since humor is very subjective. +The music is awesome. There aren't a ton of music tracks, but what's there is exciting and well made. +Three different difficulty settings for those who want a challenge or just a story. +Surprisingly a lot of character customization for what is essentially an RPG Maker game. It's not D&D but it stands above its peers. +It's short, only taking me about 4 hours to beat. For most RPG's, I would consider that a negative. But I'm not interested in dumping 30 hours of my life into a holiday themed game. Cons: -The levels are pretty short. Once you start a level, it only takes a few minutes to get to the boss. -The hub world limits the amount of time that you can spend there. A shame, since some of the most interesting and funny interactions happened there. -The weapon and item stats need more explanation. -Some of the game mechanics (namely hyper and chicken) need more explanation as well. -It's a one-trick-pony that only works at Christmas. Yes, it's probably one of the best Christmas themed games ever made, but that's not saying much considering some of the garbage that fills that niche. If you're looking for something to occupy your time for a few hours around Christmastime, you can do far worse that this. Just don't expect it to be a serious gaming experience. This game is clearly just for laughs.

"NO! I will not save pointless NPCs just because I have nothing better to do!" Lots of 4th wall breaking humor, tons of puns, great writing, and combat mechanics are fun. Between overworld levels there is a hub section where you can click through some side story pieces for more humor and gear for your party. The soundtrack is excellent as well. Absolutely worth it if you find it on sale.

I think I should qualify this opinion on the fact thqat this is my first jrpg ever. The humor in the game is very funny but dad-jokey. If you like terrible puns, bad word-play then its GREAT, if you dont fund puns and intentionally bad jokes funny then this probably isnt for you. Mechanics i suppose is my problem, the combat for the game to me feels very boring and once you get the feel for HOW to play it 's hard to lose, I am also not wild about inconsistent skills and no specific stats for many of the skills. The way the combat rotations work i found dull. To be fair, i did some googling and found that this is very common for jrpg's, so this is just not the best choiuce for me. The game has made me laugh several times, and it is a goofy light hearted story which is family friendly, and the overall writing is great. It is rock solid and plays smoothely and is overall very easy to control. I just finished "Bel" and I will complete the game as I am curious as to see the ending of everything. Definitely worth playing, and I imagine if you have kids it could be a real hit there too. Personally likely my last jrpg, but overall a good experience and one I recommend.