The story, devoid of hope or identifiable characters, matches its nihilistic narrative with gameplay that is deeply unfriendly to both the player and characters.

DISCLAIMER: Playing LISA: The Painful RPG first is strongly recommended! LISA: The Unbreakable RPG follows the implacable Tim McCoppin, on a familiar quest through the womanless land of Olathe-and all that follows. Actually allow me to comment on this part of your message, Seeing as LISA (The Painful RPG) is a sequel/spiritual sequel to LISA the First (The freeware exploration RPG maker game Dingaling made) it's a bit more obvious as to what happened. Spoiler Tiem Theory Marty was for sure a Drunken abusive ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, but he was more than.

I’m naturally drawn to dark narratives. Whether it’s movies, books, video games, or even music, the more depressing something is, the more likely I am to enjoy it. My friends and family even make fun of me for it, and my students accuse me of only teaching depressing books. Stories that examine what makes life difficult resonate with me because they often present important truths about how to live. These dark narratives often suggest that even in the greatest moments of despair, hope can be found.

LISA: The Painful is the darkest game I’ve ever played. I didn’t like it.

A DLC epilogue, Lisa: The Joyful was released on August 24th, 2015. Taking place after the events of Lisa: The Painful RPG.It focuses on Buddy trying to conquer Olathe while uncovering the mysteries of her world and her past.

There are a number of reasons why that’s the case, but mainly LISA: The Painful fails to acknowledge any hope or humanity for its characters. It presents a vision that is so dark it makes the whole experience unpleasant for the sake of being unpleasant.

The narrative makes this hopelessness clear from the very start. You play as a character named Brad who is beaten by his classmates in the opening scene. After Brad struggles to get back to his dilapidated house, his father berates him for being so weak. Years later, all women on the earth have disappeared in a mysterious event referred to as “The Flash.” A grown, drug-addicted Brad is tortured by visions of his childhood, notably the abuse both he and his sister endured at the hands of their father. The rest of the men in the world are equally tortured, sex-crazed, and resort to everything from forming gangs to establishing brothels to make them forget about their troubles. Violence is not just common, it’s expected. Eventually, Brad happens upon an abandoned baby girl whom he names Buddy. Filled with memories of his father’s mistreatment, Brad decides that in a world so unsafe, especially for the only living woman, what’s best is to lock Buddy away in a secret underground basement. Inevitably, she wanders off, gets captured, and Brad goes on a journey to save her from all the unsavory things in their world.

LISA: The Painful has an important theme tied up in its story: abuse begets abuse. Even when we attempt to transcend our past, we will ultimately fail, and the cycle continues. I’m not sure I agree with that, but it’s worthy of discussion. The problem is that the narrative presents no options for escaping the pattern. The player is given agency throughout most of the game, but later on, that agency is largely stripped away, and Brad makes a number of decisions I don’t agree with. This feels forced and actively works against the game’s thematic concerns. So when the story ends the way it does, you are never given the option to break the cycle. Instead of feeling resonant, it feels like the nihilism of the story is shoved down your throat, and it doesn’t work.

An even larger problem is the way the story uses female objectification, and worse still, the way it objectifies a very young girl. The men in the world become obsessed with Buddy; many suggest that they want to have sex with her. Others make casually sexist comments about their wives who are now gone. The intent is to comment on female agency and how men remove it. That’s an admirable goal. But LISA: The Painful, like many other narratives, mistakenly pushes the envelope so far that it almost makes light of the issue, actively working against its own aspirations. I’m also pretty tired of stories that use young girls in danger to help develop a sad old white guy’s attempt at redemption.

It should be noted that there is a sequel to this game — LISA: The Joyful. This might clear up some of my issues with the story, but as its own narrative, LISA: The Painful didn’t work for me.

The gameplay in LISA: The Painful is unique, and it also contributes to the game’s thematic concerns, but none of it is particularly…fun. Exploration happens via side-scrolling platforming. Brad jumps up and down ledges, gets tools (like a bike) to make it easier along the way, and he can even fall to his death if he turns the wrong way. Using all the tools Brad has available is important for traversing the different areas and discovering the myriad secrets hidden within this world, including finding all the recruitable characters. The controls for platforming are a little clunky. Jumping up or down into different areas requires at least two different clicks. I found myself jumping when I wanted to drop or missing jumps with some regularity. Luckily, the platforming isn’t terribly difficult, but it isn’t well executed either.

The most notable feature of the gameplay is just how unfriendly it is. In this dangerous world, you’re likely to die, have things stolen from you, or permanently lose a party member at any given moment. There are almost no safe places to sleep, but you can rest at a campfire. However, you might wake up to a ransom note for a kidnapped party member, or even find that your party has been poisoned while you slept. At one point, you are even thrown into a game of Russian Roulette, and if you lose, that party member is dead forever. Game currency is hard to come by. The NPCs will cheat you with some regularity. This even extends to player choice. At various points in the game, Brad is presented with two options, and there will be real consequences regardless of the choice. Lose an arm or lose a party member, for example. The right choice is often unclear, or there simply isn’t one, and there typically aren’t significant story consequences either way, but you will lose something you value. I had a hard time playing for longer than an hour because it was so frustrating to lose what I built over and over again. Sure, this is all justifiable from a thematic perspective. The world is unfriendly, so the game is unfriendly to the player. But that doesn’t make it particularly enjoyable.

Combat is mostly the standard RPG Maker faire. It is turn-based, and characters have different buffs, debuffs, and status effects they can inflict. Brad is the most interesting to use, as he employs a combat style that is similar in many ways to Xenogears, where you can string a variety of different hits together to achieve different combos. Combat presents a solid challenge. The variety of characters available presents a lot of different ways to tackle bosses, and there is a solid challenge in almost every fight. You need to utilize your skills effectively to be successful, and I found myself looking forward to the battles more than any other part of the game.

Two things I can’t find fault with in LISA: The Painful are its looks and sound. The graphics aren’t impressive from a technical perspective, but there are so many little details that effectively communicate the game’s vision. There are a variety of locations, each with its own unique aesthetic. The monster designs are also grotesque. It’s not enjoyable to look at by any means, but it’s not supposed to be. Everything and everyone looks beaten down and broken, just like the world the game presents. The soundtrack is the real highlight here, though. It’s truly outstanding. With over two hours of original music, there is a ton of variety. Everything works, from the EDM-infused battle music to the more sedate songs underscoring particularly dark moments. If there’s one thing from this game I know I’ll keep coming back to, it’s the music.

The developer claims that LISA: The Painful is inspired by EarthBound. But like so many games before, it misses what makes EarthBound click — its humanity, humor, and hope. This game doesn’t seem to want the player to like it. The story, devoid of hope or identifiable characters, matches its nihilistic narrative with gameplay that is deeply unfriendly to both the player and characters. While these design choices are made with purpose, the themes the game drives at and the vehicles it uses to get there are at times in poor taste, other times offensive, and never pleasant. The singularity and uniqueness of the experience is to be commended, and some will no doubt buy what this game is selling. I am not one of those people.

Lisa: The Painful RPG is a post-apocalypticrole-playingvideo game developed and published by American indie studio Dingaling Productions. The game was written, designed, and composed by Austin Jorgensen, and was released for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux on 15 December 2014.^[1]

In Lisa, the player controls Brad Armstrong, a balding, middle-aged man with a troubled past who journeys through the wasteland of Olathe in search of Buddy, his adoptive daughter. Along the way, he is forced to make choices that permanently affect both his own well-being and that of his party members.

The game received mostly positive reviews, with praise for its darkly comedic writing and soundtrack.

Gameplay[edit]

Lisa features a combination of traditional turn-based RPG combat in a 2D side-scrolling overworld. Brad and certain party members are addicted to a drug named Joy that can drastically increase their power, but gives them serious withdrawals when unused. The overworld features an assortment of settlements with shops and bars, where potential party members can often be found. There are thirty different possible companions, but all of them except for Brad are susceptible to permanent death through either scripted events such as Russian Roulette or against certain enemies, who will occasionally use permanent-kill moves.

Lisa The Painful Free

In battle, Brad and some of his companions are able to use combination attacks using the 'Dial Combo' system, allowing the player to press a sequence of keys to use powerful attacks like fireballs. Other party members use a variety of techniques for both offense and defense, and applying status effects such as poison or paralysis. Each party member has a different playstyle; for example, the anti-Joy crusader Ajeet's standard attacks are various Pokes that do no damage but provide guaranteed status effects on the enemy, and as such his only method of direct damage is through his special moves.

Throughout the game, Brad is forced to make choices that affect the core mechanics of gameplay. Depending on the player's choices, Brad can lose one or both of his arms, or some of his party members. The loss of Brad's arms drastically lowers his stats and increases his Joy withdrawal frequency. Without any arms Brad cannot use his Armstrong Style at all and can only bite at opponents (though certain skills can still be selected).

Plot[edit]

At the start of the game, the player controls a child named Bradley Armstrong. The departure of his mother leads to Bradley and his younger sister, Lisa being abused and neglected by their father, Martin Armstrong.Following an unseen cataclysmic event known as 'The Flash', Brad, now a middle aged man living with his friends in a post-apocalypse devoid of women (and therefore a manner in which for humanity to reproduce), discovers a baby girl laying in the wasteland. Brad's friends plead for him to give the child to Rando, a famous warlord commanding a vast army of soldiers, but Brad refuses, instead raising the young girl he nicknames 'Buddy' in secret. She is eventually found and kidnapped, leading Brad to embark across Olathe to rescue her.

During his mission to find Buddy, Brad meets many different characters, some of whom may be recruited as party members by the player to be used in combat.Throughout the game, flashback scenes depict a pre-apocalyptic Olathe, shedding light on Brad's early life, including his upbringing alongside his younger sister Lisa and their relationship with their abusive father Marty.Brad also repeatedly encounters a man called Buzzo, who forces him to make serious choices which often have deep story or gameplay consequences. Buzzo is also spreading an addictive drug named Joy across the wasteland.

Brad and Buddy are later reunited, and Brad realizes that Buddy left on her own due to Brad's controlling attitude. Brad still decides to take Buddy back to their home, but he is cornered by Buzzo and his gang, who knock him out and force-feed him Joy in front of his daughter. Brad has a Joy-induced blackout, and when he wakes up he finds that Buzzo, his group, and Buddy are gone. Despite realizing Buddy's distaste towards him, Brad pushes forwards, with his past trauma causing him to desperately fear that harm will befall Buddy. After hearing Buddy stole a boat and presumably went out to sea, Brad even makes one of his own, and while his party members are asleep, sets off alone. He finds Buddy on a desolate island, being cared for by his father, whom Brad promptly kills in a Joy fueled rage. When Buddy escapes yet again, he uses a corpse as a flotation device to follow her.

When he reaches land, Brad finds Rando, who found Buddy and took her under the care of him and his forces. Unexpectedly, Brad's party members arrive, and try to convince him to stop and let Rando take care of Buddy. Seeing this as a sort of aggression and opposition, Brad kills his party members. Despite the odds, Brad massacres Rando's forces, and then Rando himself. Brad finally reaches Buddy, and she blames him for ruining her chances at freedom alongside Rando. The game then briefly allows the player to control Buddy rather than Brad, a technique akin to a point-of-view change in a novel. As Brad dies, he asks if he did the right thing, and the player chooses whether Buddy hugs him or not in response (a choice which has no further gameplay or story impact). Brad then falls over, apparently dead. After the credits it is revealed that Brad has transformed into a Joy Mutant. The ending the player receives depends on whether they elected to play on Pain Mode or use the drug Joy.

Lisa: The Painful Wiki

The game's DLC chapter, Lisa: The Joyful, takes place immediately after the end of the first game. It is revealed that Rando was not killed in his battle with Brad. He accompanies Buddy as she tries to become the most powerful person in Olathe by killing the warlords ruling it, despite Rando's disapproval. Following the kidnapping of Buddy by associates of Rando alongside Buddy's slaughter of a village inhabited by pacifists, Rando leaves Buddy, presumably due to his distaste for the senselessness of the violence she seeks to unleash upon Olathe. Rando is subsequently captured by a man by the name of Bolo Bugaughtiichi, who utilizes him as bait in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to capture, and rape, Buddy. Regardless of player choice, Bolo is unsuccessful, and is killed: either by Buddy or by a mutated creature nicknamed 'Sweetheart'. Rando is then killed by Buddy, after he is horribly injured in the fall from the trap.

Subsequently, various hallucinations, implied to be the byproduct of the drug 'Joy' appear taking the form of Brad, the protagonist of 'The Painful' and Rando.

After defeating all of the game's warlords, Buddy confronts a man named Dr. Yado, a trumpet-playing professor who is seen in secret locations as an easter egg in Lisa: The Painful. Buddy's real father, Yado is a mad scientist who created Joy, and likely caused the Flash. He used Buzzo to spread Joy throughout Olathe in an attempt to destroy post-Flash civilization, with the end goal being that he could rule the world. The last part in his plan now is to murder his daughter, the one force strong enough to bring him down. Yado is unable to do this however, and while talking to Buddy after his defeat, he is suddenly betrayed and killed by Buzzo, who renounced both of their evil actions.

Buzzo explains that he was formerly Lisa's lover, and blamed Brad for failing to prevent his father's abuse, which eventually led to Lisa's suicide. This is what made him torment Brad throughout the first game. He then mutates due to his secret Joy use, though he commits suicide via biting off his own neck. The player then has to make a final choice. Buddy's own copious usage of Joy throughout the game means she is far overdue for a mutation. Buddy can choose to take or refuse a vaccine Dr. Yado had in his possession, which stops Joy's mutagenic effects. Either choice ends the game with a cutscene that changes depending on what was selected.

Development[edit]

Prior to the 2014 game Lisa, Dingaling had created another game called Lisa that saw release as freeware on October 9, 2012.^[2] This 2012 title is the prequel to the 2014 one and stars Lisa as the protagonist.

The original Lisa is varied significantly from Painful, featuring a much greater emphasis on exploration and focuses upon the relationship between the titular Lisa, a recurring character throughout the series, and her father Marty both of whom appear within future installments of the series. The First has been described by its creator as a 'Yume Nikki clone', as it borrows significant influence from Yume Nikki in structure.

Upon the 2014 game's release, both games received alternative names, Lisa: The First and Lisa: The Painful respectively, to distinguish them.^[3] According to developer Austin Jorgensen, the original Lisa was inspired by a former relationship of his.

Lisa: The Painful was funded through Kickstarter with a goal of $7,000. The campaign was launched on November 14, 2013 and raised $16,492 from 847 people, reaching both of its stretch goals. As a result, Dingaling also developed the sequel expansion, Lisa: The Joyful, which features Buddy as its protagonist.^{[citation needed]}

Dingaling has cited EarthBound as his main source of inspiration working on Lisa, drawing from both its art style and use of comic relief in a serious setting.^[4]

Reception[edit]

Lisa received mostly positive reviews from critics. Praise was specifically given for the game's soundtrack, which was released as a separate download on Steam, along with an art collection featuring character profiles and concept drawings created by Chase Anast, the same man responsible for the Mother 4 project.^{[citation needed]}

Lisa has received a handful of notable fangames, most notably LISA: The Pointless by Edvinas Kandrotas, and LISA: The Hopeful by a developer under the alias Taco Salad with help from other members of the community. Pointless and Hopeful (as well as all other fanmade efforts) are stated by developer Austin Jorgensen to be canonical.^[10]

References[edit]

1. ^'LISA on Steam'. Steam. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
2. ^Jorgensen, Austin (October 9, 2012). 'Lisa 'The First''. RPGMaker.net. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
3. ^Lopez, Carlo (September 8, 2015). 'LISA is charming, heartbreaking, scary, and fun'. Haogamers. Archived from the original on October 19, 2015. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
4. ^Smith, Adam (November 26, 2013). 'The Sacrificial Limb: Lisa – The Painful RPG'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on July 6, 2014. Retrieved July 6, 2014.
5. ^'LISA for PC'. GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
6. ^'LISA for PC Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
7. ^Barnhard, Thijs (15 February 2015). 'LISA: The Painful RPG - Earthbound voor weirdo's'. Gamer.nl (in Dutch). Sanoma. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
8. ^Carmichael, Stephanie. 'LISA Makes A Monster Out Of You'. Kill Screen. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
9. ^Welhouse, Zach. 'LISA - Review - Joy to the World'. RPGamer. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
10. ^Austin Jorgensen [@COMETandCROW] (January 10, 2017). 'i said it once already. Anything and everything is canon' (Tweet) – via Twitter.

External links[edit]