Various Daylife - A Stupid Title for a Bad Game

[@Zadamanim]

I guess the real daylife was the various friends we made along the way.

[@Kougaon]

My favorite part was when the MC fights the final boss and goes "I'm going to Various Daylife all over you" and then he does

[@Electric0eye]

​@@Kougaonthat part was great but my personal favorite was when SPOILERS!!: the main character turns at the end and says "this really was a Various Daylife." I teared up

[@manueldelacruz2397]

@@Electric0eye or when worlphrmr gets saved and says "Lets have a Various Daylife, together."

[@planescaped]

When they come together after spoilers dies and look to the camera and tighten their fist before saying: "It's Various Daylife time" I stood up and clapped!

[@micahfurlow2624]

I loved it when I got to the final boss, the main character said his classic line "it's Various NIGHTlife for you" It was so incredible that I teared up, got up, and started wildly sobbing and clapping fervently, only then did I finally realize that I was playing the game of the decade.

[@offcenterideas]

Especially being built for mobile, I strongly suspect that this game was intended to be a semi-idle game where most of the grinding could be done while half paying attention at a boring desk job. The characters work while you work.

[@randomstuff-qu7sh]

That was my thought also...although it's also possible they intended to monetize it and allow you to buy your way past the tedium. That said, they'd need the start to be a lot more engaging to hook people in long enough to even be willing to pay to not play.

[@genericbug]

This feels like a bootleg elena kingdom game (and elena kingdom feels like a bootleg of a game i dont know about)

[@mioko5679]

​​@@genericbug *elena* kingdom? don't you mean *elnea* ?

[@genericbug]

@mioko5679 I always end up misspelling it lol

[@Femaiden]

i literally just posted this same comment. . .to see someone else beat me to it.

[@superbad8008]

I like how this game’s version of immortality isn’t an amazing healing factor, it just halts aging and keeps you alive as long as you have a head. Imagine a villain bragging about immortality until you cut off his limbs and leave him on the ground.

[@Lucifronz]

...Highlander?

[@obananagato]

Thats basically the plot of Highlander

[@AyaReikoTripleElite]

"'Tis but a scratch."

[@rexex345]

That is technically immortality by definition. If you do not die of age then you're immortal, if you do not die from injury you're invulnerable.

[@howdypartner8326]

​​@@rexex345 Vulnerability is being susceptible to damage, mortality is being susceptible to death. Biological immortality means being immune to death by old age, or being immune to the gradual deterioration of living tissue, but that's just one form of immortality and it's actually far from true immortality (which can include indestructibility, invulnerability or even being able to remain "alive" regardless of the damage your physical body suffers.) Needless to say, you wouldn't be invulnerable if you had your limbs cut off and head severed. If you remain unable to die regardless of the physical damage you've suffered, then that means immortality... Deathlessness, if you will. That's the key factor here, not _woundlessnes._ Perhaps your soul or brain are invulnerable, but certainly not your whole body if it was cut up and damaged. 🤔

[@probably_afk]

Can't wait for the sequel, "Uniform Nightlife"

[@aegisScale]

Now I'm imagining a game where you do the same money grinding but instead of increasing stats it's so you can go clubbing at increasingly expensive venues💀

[@pillowmint4622]

@@aegisScale"going clubbing at God's flat, gonna post a pic later"

[@ElSolRacNauj]

You mean "Uniform Nightdeath"?

[@makeitthrough_]

​@@ElSolRacNaujSounds almost as much a title spit out by a JRPG Title Generator as Various Daylife does

[@ScrambledAndBenedict]

Playing this game is like sitting in a room doing your taxes while your roommate plays a JRPG, and you occasionally look up at the screen and ask your roommate what is going on or suggest to your roommate to do something before going back to your paperwork.

[@ThePencilWizard]

THEORY; The quests were low in their suggested levels cause the Prince wanted expeditions to fail, and anyone who came back from a failed expedition were then executed for failing him.

[@starbit5065]

This feel like the video game equivalent of getting a very tedious desk job, but eventually realizing that even though you don't really like working there, you still push forward because you genuinely enjoy spending time with your fellow co-workers.

[@frankwest5388]

I love how the villain is all like “Everyone is so immortal, the only way to die is by disintegrating them in a volcano” And then he just gets beheaded. Like did he even try to experiment with the immortality restrictions or did someone bring this idea up and they just didn’t question it?

[@sarafontanini7051]

he just wanted to mruder people with a volcano cause that's metal as hell

[@fallwoodcentral7991]

Theory: Less clean-up and thus, less evidence.

[@connor3284]

They mentioned public executions and the executioner class has a big sword. Presumably they were beheading people.

[@thenoisyninja]

I hate Squeenix not because theyre bad but because every once in a while theyll do something that makes you remember what they’re capable of and it stands in stark contrast to 85% of their body of work.

[@KnownAsKenji]

Same. All of my criticism of them is definitely one of those 'I only complain because I care so much' sorts of situations.

[@jamgUNoh]

this is mostly the executives fault rather than the devs, the enix part (after squaresoft became square enix) was always at fault

[@ohaiitsurrn8922]

Big this.

[@chainbomb]

​@@jamgUNoh cough cough when they tried to push nfts

[@RaifSeverence]

​@@jamgUNohyou got proof of that assertion...

[@alienalien3609]

This is honestly an amazing story. I really like the lean into 'immortality is a curse' angle. Most times it's because you outlive everyone you love, but this time it genuinely harms your quality of life by ensurig you live in pain. That's super cool to me.

[@kenku6440]

Lost Odyssey is a JRPG with such a theme, treating immortality as a curse since the main character cannot be killed apparently no matter what happens to him and he's got about 1000 years of experience. You get a lot of great little stories showing little pieces of mortal life building up a greater picture. it's been made by part of the original FF team (Sakaguchi and Uematsu most notably). It's just a shame it's an Xbox 360 exclusive but it runs well on an emulator.

[@Eidenhoek]

@@kenku6440 The camera zoom was god awful and nauseating.

[@iCABALi]

​@@kenku6440it's also backwards compatible so Xbox One or Series line runs it well. Shame there's no enhancements for it or a Steam version though.

[@flippanties]

Kinda reminds me of Elantris; a fantasy book in which people are seemingly at random inflicted with immortality, except their immortality causes then to feel every injury they get permanently. Stub your toe? You will feel that stubbed toe for eternity.

[@Zennethe]

Too many confuse immortality ( the lack of a mortal death, aging. ) with invulnerability (the lack of injury/pain).

[@gimok2k5]

Honestly, when the questing was described with "automatic walking of the party and you only deal with the encounters", I instantly thought "Oh, so like Miitopia". Tho Mittopia also had it as its core gameplay loop (the way you level and earn money). Also a thing this game seems to share is some of the odd job choices. So... maybe they tried to make their own version of Miitopia, and just failed to see why Miitopia was so enjoyable?

[@Shanecerity]

thought the same thing lol

[@KnownAsKenji]

Also reminded me of games like Darkest Dungeon (you pick a path there and walk manually, but the path you pick is the obvious one 95% of the time and you're walking forward 99% of the time), but the hub management there isn't an absolute chore, so you can enjoy prepping for and embarking on the expeditions.

[@micahfurlow2624]

Also kinda being like the princess maker games with no time limit that also more directly relates to the miitopia-like battling (pardon me for comparing so much but I genuinely don't know the name of these gameplay styles beyond the games they're in)

[@justamicrowave5297]

miitopia has customization, humor, charm, and so much more. this game just looks dull and boring...

[@Mike14264]

...aye, that's exactly what happened

[@KaguyaHimex]

As someone who poured hundreds of hours into the Princess Maker and Tokimeki Memorial Girls Side series as a teen, the “grind out stats and plan every week down to the day” concept here seems right up my alley. It’s the marmite of strategy games. …Until you mentioned this is /infinite/. What… what is the point? The entire challenge of stat raising games is the time limit.

[@joycesummer3818]

TOKIMEMO GIRLS SIDE MENTIONED!!!!

[@JustBeGenuine]

the princess maker series at first glance seems like there isnt much to do, i always found something. great callback might pick that game back up again

[@Shatterstar]

That story deserved to be in a much better game

[@wesnohathas1993]

The soundtrack too

[@Raytheman581]

Characters too, but yeah all of it.

[@kylemenos]

Its story is very similar of another game that was a first person rpg from like 20 years ago. At the end you find a floating immortal baby that can't understand death. cant remember the name for the life of me but this is defiantly not an original story.

[@Raytheman581]

@@kylemenos Who said it was original? People are saying the story deserved better. The characters are the same as the other game, nor is the stakes. This game whole island made it so people by default had no real concept of death, and it went into depth that even some people wanted to die, but couldn't. I think I know what game you're talking about, but the story pieces are still different even if the backdrop is the same, which most stories backdrops are the same.

[@EvanChu0815]

@@kylemenos Sounds like Eternal Ring to me. IIRC, there was a floating baby thing with basically the power of god. It couldn't understand death until its caretaker died in front of them. Josh Strife Plays made a video essay about it so I remember that plotline.

[@Michaeljack81sk]

The hand drawn art is delightful, especially on the work tasks. Someone really put work into making it so cute and the story and characters really were engaging. Just a shame it was all wasted on those mechanics

[@aegisScale]

Yeah, this whole thing feels like Asano getting given a dumb project by the execs and doing their best with it anyway, problem is the games Asano is used to creating and idler mobile games are *_VERY_* different beasts.

[@reggieisnotadog4841]

I will never understand this with Square. They have all of these beautiful, beautiful assets in the same painterly low poly art style, but they never re-use them. They could save thousands on development costs using these lovely assets to make a game a bit more worthy of them, but instead they will haev their next team model/texture scorpions and giant wasps for the millionth time.

[@dolphidelaware]

this game really makes you FEEL like you’re working paycheck to paycheck

[@tayclark42]

Lmao

[@UltimaKeyMaster]

I find it hysterical that this game that people play for two hours, get so insanely bored they put their negative review on Steam and leave to play something better just *refuses to end* for the masochists that actually stuck with it. It's like it's punishing the loyal customers.

[@ZeroN1neZero]

It takes real guts to slog through a game so mind-numbingly unplayable that you actually get to see the real story happening inside. Fantastic.

[@KnownAsKenji]

It's funny with some mobile games (which this can be compared to because the grindwall aspects), if you actually bruteforce them so far, the story doesn't really go anywhere, almost as if to say 'wow, we really didn't expect you to get this far, uh, congrats I guess, here have a lootbox'. That is to say, at least this game doesn't entirely sell you out.

[@happysocialmoth1197]

Made me sad- cause I like the character designs- but of course, they're stuck in a mid game 😔

[@rcarfang2]

Digimon World Two comes to mind. Everything in that game is a GRIND. Every battle takes 3 minutes, traps send you back home and take away digimon, digimon have level caps. DNA evolving creates a lv.1 rookie monster where you have to GRIND UP again.

[@rcarfang2]

I tend to stay away from games with Job classes since i might choose the wrong jobs and doom my playthrough. However, I like Bravely Default , Octopath Traveler 2, and 7th Code Dragon .

[@Desi-qw9fc]

Very Far Cry 2 (and I say that in a very very good way).

[@QuJee]

this game reminds me of all the various auto battle gacha's, where you spend a majority of the time navigating menus instead of playing the game

[@rubymeaddle]

It started as a mobile game after all

[@QuJee]

This makes much more sense now

[@sharplosion1]

The idea of the gameplay itself isn't bad. Monster Rancher proved that going through menus and having a lot of time spent raising stats can be an effective gameplay loop. Managing usage of time, managing a monster's stamina and mood, raising stats in order to participate in gradually tougher tournaments. It's a very niche genre called 'Raising Sim.' A lot of the things talked about in this video actually also apply to Monster Rancher. Random success/failure chances while training, monsters being injured and incapacitated for a few in-game time cycles, expeditions in which the length is determined by the max health of the monster, etc. Monsters can and will die, be it from injury or old age, and you'll need to start the raising process all over again. It's definitely not a genre for EVERYONE, but the ideas themselves aren't the problem. It's the execution. There's really no need for this game to have these raising sim mechanics. It's a more standard JRPG warped to fit that style, likely because of it's mobile game origins. There's no real importance to the passage of time because there's no consequences for wasting time or anything. You can grind as much as you like at any point, even beyond the ludicrous amount of grinding the game enforces because it'd be super short otherwise. Because this game has a definitive end, it makes the grinding roadblocks extra frustrating, whereas compared to Monster Rancher, the games do have an 'ending,' but are generally built around being endlessly playable. And hell, you can reach credits with your first monster if you know what your doing. So yeah, this is a case of mismatched genre and mechanics more than anything else.

[@GamingTranceSeer]

Monster rancher also shows an animation of your monster doing the task. It makes a difference. This game was definitely affected by initially being a mobile game. The grindy mechanics needed to be altered.

[@soogymoogi]

I was going to bring up Monster Rancher. I think you could do a game like this well, but I don't think the combination of mechanics they used here would be the right way to do it.

[@draconicfeline6177]

Evo let you do fun circus mini games so it took some of the frustration out of the randomness (and it had a graduation feel) ​@@GamingTranceSeer

[@scarlettetherose]

This sounds like it would make a better manga or whatever than a game. super unfortunate that it was done like this because it really sounds like it was a good story too

[@Nirual86]

There's always that part of my brain that goes "well okay this idea has potential, how could we make it work better".

[@cremenbutter3831]

Well from what I can tell its mainly just the gamelan that needs touching up like rebalancing enemies and level recommendations making the job system actually interactive past just being menu simulator maybe cutting back on some of the grind and rebalancing expedition exp so paying for trainers isn't as nessacary for the cast

[@Nirual86]

@@cremenbutter3831 I mean I wouldn't mind that side of the game being mostly passive menu management per se. Making it more interactive might sound obvious but it could also pretty easily go wrong (like having to play some stupid minigames or something). I might even go for streamlining that aspect in some ways, at least for partymembers. Letting them get experience from it too would be a way to ensure they can't fall too far behind too.

[@cremenbutter3831]

@@Nirual86 so then what if characters who are a specific job can help out the mc which increases the gold earned gives the assisting party member the same stat increases as the mc and a small bit of experience potentially that way it encourages the mc to experiment with different types of work to make the party as a whole stronger then

[@Nirual86]

@@cremenbutter3831 yeah some interactions like that would work I think. Could even be going both ways to help the MC catch up in a job they neglected or didn't have access to before.

[@MahouPoint]

It’s basically just monster rancher. If you added several cute monsters instead of people, that would make it ok.

[@elfrangofrito]

This was very interesting. Based on the game's name and the video's title, I was expecting to see the stupidest, biggest cash grab I've ever seen from a AAA studio. But instead it's a game with really cool ideas that were implemented in the most monotonous way possible. Which stings way more than a straight-up bad game.

[@enymetouche2558]

Yes, it was intended to be a grinding game, that is the appeal.

[@jeffcauldron6950]

Watching the video I was surprised by the fact that the game is rated e10+ on esrb with all the dark aspects that are within the story. This possibly pointing out to the fact that the first half of the game was so boring that the people rating the game were so bored that they stopped at the fake-out credits.

[@samhall5096]

All im gonna say to that is: Ocarina of Time Shadow Temple Redead Dead Hand

[@samhall5096]

OOT was rated E. It came out like 3 years after doom 2. Id say OOT was more traumatizing. Fantastic game....but damn.

[@samhall5096]

Id also like to point out they censored the HELL out of OOT 3D and that was rated e10+. The OG was some gangster shit.

[@samhall5096]

90s kids built different.

[@GarudaRamudasRumpusRoom]

oh my god why did you reply four times in a row

[@FonVegen]

I wonder if the devs had the forethought to put in some unique dialogue if you make it to the "final" fight with Ælfric before even a single year passes, since the story is one of the aspects of this game that seems to have had a lot of effort behind it.

[@PugandOwn]

interestingly fire emblem has actually tried having forcing every unit to be used in the final stretch before, in radiant dawn, even splitting the huge roster into three teams that you get to decide the make up of. however it's important to note that in that case you had enough units to compensate for some of them being neglected, and each team had an enforced amount of incredibly OP units that take active effort on the player's part to kill off. sure that series of fights may decimate the cast, but it won't stop you progressing the story. which is vital in stopping softlocks in a game where you can't just go grind exp on the side. that said, fire emblem's other adventures in requiring certain units haven't worked out so well. more recently, three houses decides to play a fun little prank at the start of the second act by throwing your entire starting roster onto a cramped nightmare maze of a map, spread out over several turns, no choice as to where they appear, whatever inventory and class you happened to leave them with before the act 1 boss, and absolutely no warning or ability to fix their shortcomings. hope you weren't too attached to that mage you subbed out for lysithea three months ago, because they will not be making it to the highschool reunion.

[@naesala]

Radiant Dawn made me feel SO stretched out thin with all the characters, lol. Wound up infinite bexping them all after I struggled to get through Part 3 chapter 1 due to relying on the OP units in part 1 as the Dawn Brigade just flat out suck as units. It's still my favorite FE game, but that's more because no other game has made me think so much about morality at the end of it by portraying it in such a poignant and human way.

[@PugandOwn]

@@naesala yeah I get what they were going for by having the dawn brigade be underpowered, but in practice the balance is just way too off, and you end up resenting the characters rather than rooting for them. not helped by rd just deciding to nix actual support convos that would get players attached to the new characters. honestly the game just has a lot of questionable decisions all round (knife sage whyyyyyy)

[@statesminds]

I like when you have to use a large portion of the roster. But there should be QoL features to keep everyone leveled quickly to catch up

[@Abedeuss]

Trails series does the same. I swear, every game that had more than ~6 characters available during the game (so after first two, and excluding Zero/Azure I think) you need to field 2-3 teams of 4 characters each during final fights, sometimes even during the game where you have to split and fight on a battlefield or go in two different directions inside a dungeon.

[@jesfest]

Fire emblem 2 also did most of that "use your whole party" thing. I never finished it, but I got close. I much prefer the FE games where they expect you to lose units permanently. Give me the level 20 grandpa for the final chapter

[@InvaderIceStrike]

I love games with this kind of potential… potential that’s obscured by certain design decisions, but is still recognizable enough to be appreciated in the game’s bright spots

[@miomiomeows]

thank you for shouldering the burden of experiencing this game for our entertainment

[@Kougaon]

I got you will do this more :^)

[@SpectreOfTheWired]

I really enjoyed how as the video went on you got more and more forgiving and affectionate with the game. I've had a few games like that where it went from hate to kinda loving it. It was really cool watching you go through that journey.

[@-Knave]

They actually developed this game to dull the escapists thoughts of Japan's youth that want to be isekai'd into a JRPG.

[@GameTornado01]

That's not just Japan's youth

[@tenkuken7168]

i wanna get isekaid fr

[@tenkuken7168]

@bettawarrior yeah being op is cool also hot elf women

[@hypothalapotamus5293]

Japan: Let's train work habits that are not only unproductive, but also decrease our birthrate.

[@DeathMythos]

Its a reaction towards ww 2. This goes way back. It's sad but interesting and you can also see how lots of anime/manga is inspired by it but also music genres like city pop. The highs and lows of survival

[@ResidentLune]

I remember playing this when it first came to iPhone and you nailed it with how this game feels. It's got a lot of fun ideas, charming characters, music, and other nice bits of flavoring, but it's just hamstrung by its tedium. I will add that you mentioned a few times the "fake out endings", and that isn't necessarily unique to Various Daylife. Another game I love, Cytus II (music-rhythm game), will also kick you out and back to the main menu/opening screen once you reach a certain point of progression in the game's story, and that's mostly because of the way it was designed to act as a sort of "To Be Continued ..." until the next game patch that added new content. So if you skipped a patch or two, or are coming in late, you'd understandably be confused to why the game is pushing you to the title screen again and again. Various Daylife has this vibe of a game that was meant to be played over individual patches or through purchasing playtime/stamina, but that had all of that removed when Apple Arcade came out and Squenix decided to throw it onto there instead. So you wind up with ... well. What it is now.

[@pagemasterartemis]

Man, this game is the *definition* of “good idea, bad execution.” 😮‍💨

[@ZorotheGallade]

Harvestella is the same but with plot ideas. The twists are great but the gameplay is atrocious.

[@duhsbo]

I feel bad when this is considered a good idea of a game

[@RaphielShiraha64]

It is though?, all the systems can work if expanded and made to be less grind, the cast is actually pretty fun and charming, and the history is not bad either in fact i would say it's actually pretty good.@@duhsbo​

[@octorokreviews]

This was such a perfect idea for a video essay - you took a deep dive into an incredibly niche game that I (or, let's face it: pretty much no one) would ever play, and I was so happy to tag along for that ride. Well done, dude.

[@RotomLandry]

I'm glad I was able to experience the story of this game without having to sit through all the grinding. I would have been dissuaded from completing the game the moment the expeditions start requiring specific party compositions. I wonder how many "tedious" JRPGs have interesting stories hiding behind their gameplay.

[@wesnohathas1993]

I gave this game a fair chance and wrote it off after 20 hours from the shear boredom and frustration with how tedious it is. Now here I'm learning the plot is actually very interesting and goes in a direction I could have never predicted when it finally does get off the ground after about an eternity of grinding. Definitely opens up a new perspective on it.

[@Ayoo_Arc]

The Last Remnant is one of them. The story was interesting and pretty solid, but the combat/leveling system was just bad and tedious.

[@Abedeuss]

Really? I found the combat to be really fun. Maybe you played on Xbox, as I heard the PC port makes it a lot better, but I LOVED how complex the battles and formations could be.@@Ayoo_Arc

[@toddclawson3619]

@@Ayoo_Arc Really? The Last Remnant was the opposite for me. I thought the story and characters were mediocre, but the gameplay was really fun. One of the few JRPGs I can think of where I played it all the way through purely for the gameplay rather than caring about the story.

[@tuomaspalojarvi3300]

Granhistoria for SNES had one of the most unique JRPG stories I've ever experienced, but the gameplay was beyond tedious due to rushed development and other issues.

[@maxjustice1542]

For something that seems so boring, it turned out have some thing unique with its cast of characters and gameplay. I never expect themes of betrayal to immortality from this. I just wish the game wasn't tedious. I appreciate you taking your time even going through this game and explaining it. Good video

[@crissullivan8404]

the team who made this game makes really good stories for the rpgs they work on. just sucks they were probably shafted and shoehorned into making something this egregious mechanically

[@kiennguyentrung7331]

Feels like the team has a lot of interesting ideas and I can see a lot of passion from character designs and work artworks, and square enix gave them like no budget so none of those ideas could be brought to fruitition.

[@OrigamiShinigami]

I imagine the issue was the lense they were set to - Squenix wanted an idle-RPG with nice characters, and stuff, but kneecapped them on mechanics (and presumably on budget). So the team, which hasn't done a bad story yet had the lease options for visuals and a mandate to make a game designed to just eat an infinite amount of time in the theory it will be "relaxing and calm". So it's horrendously bloated, largely plays itself, but also requires occasional bursts of "gameplay" that are built around abusive systems designed to pad out time, and looks like horrible quality/balance.

[@davisdawson5047]

>Literally everying thing you do cost money. Well well well, it's just like our Various Daylife.

[@dianslabbert504]

The game might be bad, but I would be more than willing to buy an art book of it. I love team Asano's art.

[@OldDistantHermit]

As someone who fell in love with BD it actually breaks my heart to see the same folks get stuck working on something this bad.

[@lambdaman256]

The way Efil sways her head back and forth, along with her sideways glance, reminds me of an Animal Crossing villager.

[@YdenMk-II]

The gameplay loop in this game reminds me of the Princess Maker games although the challenge of those games is that there's a strict time limit before the girl grows up.

[@RaiohTheHunter]

And they're fun.

[@Lily5432]

I was going to comment the same. I think the idea behind this game was to make a management RPG à la Princess Maker, but make the stats acquired reflect into an actual battle system without alienating the usual market for those games. Conceptually , it doesn't sound like a bad idea, but the execution doesn't seem to have hit the mark on either side; which makes it hard to enjoy? Either way, I think it could have been a fun concept. Seems like a shame to me.

[@0ctopusComp1etely]

I had the exact same thought! I was thinking of "Long Live the Queen" the entire time while watching the video when the menus came up. Glad I wasn't alone.

[@OkaRin1]

Team Asano are developing Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake for years, so, why would they waste their time and money on something like that and don't put all resources to the DQ3 Remake is beyond me. Nevertheless, great video, Kougaon!

[@FeydTheRonin]

70 minute long video on this abomination hopefully sheds some perspective on Squeenix as a whole.

[@planescaped]

Square Enxi have been in a crazy downward spiral for years. That's what happens when your company's new modus operandi is trend chasing.

[@danielramsey6141]

Hell, this isn’t just an Issue with Square! It’s an Issue with Mobile Games IN GENERAL!!!

[@shutup1037]

​@@danielramsey6141the issue is... they put price on this

[@psycholuigiman]

@@planescaped I don't know if we should be thankful or hate the fact that FF14 bringing in so much money is what enables them to continue their downward spiral.

[@toledochristianmatthew9919]

​@@psycholuigimanff14 is literally holding them together. Square enix would have gone bankrupt years ago after so many flops for the past decades.

[@zackcash4941]

"Accidentally partnered with Bruno" bruh you were calling him huggable earlier don't lie

[@jvts8916]

Sometimes you read ideas that sound cool and wish they didn't get cut. Other times you play games that make you realize cool concepts can be worse than sticking to the basics if they don't work well together.

[@Kitkat5335]

This suspiciously sounds like something they added to FFXIV for Squadrons, and people disliked the system so much that it hasn't been updated or expanded since. You can venture out with your squadron, and they still use job abilities that haven't been in the game since almost 5 or 6 years ago. You could send them to train to get leveled up, teach them advanced jobs, and pair them up for synergy then send them out on a sort of group task that even with high chance of success...could randomly fail. Weird that they seemed to have it in ffxiv, saw it failing, and someone decided 'this is a great idea for an entire game!'

[@makikuma91]

I guess this is what happens when Kougaon needs a break from ff14. He plays other square enix's masterpieces.

[@Kougaon]

:^)

[@ruikirisame1744]

@@Kougaon voice of card video when?

[@ValenAlvern]

Who knew Square Enix would be there to show that you need a "Fun" board and "Anti-Fun" board when creating a video game. Thanks for the example SE.

[@SweetyMiki]

In case anyone doesn't know...this is part of the Bravely series lmao. It was just a side project for Apple originally as a cozy RPG in like 2019, but after it didn't reach expected sales, they tossed it everywhere and made it seem like a new RPG. Various Daylife is not that good, but it was clearly a cheap budget title that released during the development of BD2 and after the failure of Fairy's Effect.

[@DigggTiggg]

Its not part of the bravely series it was just made by the same team and fairys effect was not a failure it got shut down due to brilliant lights release which was actually was a failure

[@SweetyMiki]

@@DigggTiggg No, it is indeed counted in the Bravely series being included certain guides and within the official Bravely artbook compendiums (which I do own). It's just a distant spin-off, but isn't canon to the rest of the games. And yes, Fairy's Effect started off well, but it did fail after the first year it came out, with it's playerbase dying pretty fast in 2018 and 2019. That's why it's death was announced only 2 years. Mind you it wasn't as big as a failure as D's Archive and Brilliant Lights, but when compared to the likes of Praying Brage it did not have enough content to satisfy users.

[@DigggTiggg]

@@SweetyMiki oh is it in the bravely 2 art book that’s the only one I don’t have (hasn’t been translated and I don’t really like the game) Do you have the info for fairy’s effect? I’m interested Seems like they were spreading there self thin with bravely 2 and brilliant lights but I may be wrong

[@VendyVendy]

Fun video! One small suggestion: you don't need to add "more" in front of comparative words (e.g. worse, better, tougher, etc.). On an unrelated note, I can see how Efil is Worlphrmn's "idealized" version of herself lol

[@ziennsunfield1381]

I watched until the credit roll and thought "Huh, it's bad but not as bad as I thought" And then I notice there's still another half of the video remaining Oh... Also, I wonder what would Aelfric say if you spend like, I dunno 100 years in this game. It'd be funny if he actually has reaction to player being a maniac.

[@wesnohathas1993]

Better yet if a speedrun somehow manages to reach this point in less than a year.

[@montgomeryfortenberry]

I hope somebody data mines it and come to find out it doesnt matter at all which seems fitting for this lame game

[@diamondhamster4320]

To go from BRAVELY to this... That is pretty sad. But the whole plot twist and multiple fake-out endings are pretty neat.

[@Gloomdrake]

Maybe I’m the problem, but this game sounds appealing. It must have been made for me specifically

[@Kougaon]

If you are up for it you’ll be rewarded with great music, characters and dialogue!

[@radityapoerwanto7018]

This is a game made for Japanese Grinder

[@Gloomdrake]

@@radityapoerwanto7018 either you mean Grindr or I have no idea what you mean

[@rubymeaddle]

This is a very autism friendly game, grinder games

[@PP-ok2xt]

Efil and Gilda are totally just good friends! Historians say they were roommates!

[@bepisthescienceman4202]

But sadly they were very poor so could only afford one bed for the both of them

[@eins2001]

*gasp* and they were roommates!

[@SolEmeralds18]

Oh my gosh, they were roommates....👭

[@acuddle]

Too bad you can only level them up, _one topic_ I mean character _at a time_ Also Efil adorbs 🥰

[@bepisthescienceman4202]

@@acuddle what are you on about?

[@dullsunrise8820]

As soon as I saw that Team Asano worked on developing this and didn’t just do the artwork, my heart dropped. It explains some stuff, but it was a gut punch. Definitely had a lot of potential story-wise compared to a lot of SquEnix’s recent new series flops, and honestly I hope the concept gets tried again somehow or there’s somehow a sequel that comes out that improves upon everything.

[@unripetheberrby6283]

A sequel might be a good idea!

[@Eidako]

"Hey, you know that game few people played, was almost universally panned and a financial loss for the company? Let's make a sequel."

[@RichardHannay]

This game sounded like a side game in Bravely Default and they just didn’t have the time to finish for release

[@UltimateLink1]

You can get money significantly faster from doing expeditions with high luck gear and selling the Incenses enemies drop (and it doesn't affect mood/stamina either). One expedition can give you money rivaling what you'd get with a full week of in game work with minimal risk involved. Donating to the church/helping with the harvest also gives you a massive return on the money invested, and you'll get that money back quicker thanks to time passing from expeditions. The game tries to highlight the work system as the primary way to do things but it's just... terribly bad and as soon as you can ditch it you should.

[@Sassy_Witch]

God the art is so adorable. And the characters just FULL of soul and love. I really miss games like that :( nowdays every character has to be snarky and annoying

[@michaelskoomamacher5652]

"Joss Whedon and Justin Roiland are grave mistakes to the writing race" - Hayao Miyazaki

[@xzkilerymax8395]

Not true

[@ann3923]

Yeah. My fav is generic dark-haired anime protagonist. Truly full of soul and love 🥱

[@reggislowgas993]

@@ann3923 unironically yes

[@Fragrantcanary]

You can still be snarky or annoying and be full of soul and love, just don't put snarky and annoying into one character

[@planescaped]

I remember the description of the game sounded like a lot of fun, then I heard it was a port of a mobile game and no more needed to be said. Toss it in the bin.

[@lpfan4491]

(Except that Apple Arcade does not adhere to the same standard. It's as much mobile games as handheld or Switch games are)

[@cassidy8307]

The only exceptions to this rule i've seen is btd6, genshin, and star rail. The rest of mobile ports suck so bad

[@MarioVSCulex]

The story finally brings back what was so amazing about Bravely Default and Bravely Second. Despite everything, I'm glad Team Asano still has their great ideas and I hope they can put them into a more polished game.

[@MarioVSCulex]

Granted, Bravely Default & Second weren't exactly known for their player-friendliness either. I dropped both games for a while because doing the same shit over and over just became too much.

[@lpfan4491]

​​@@MarioVSCulexThe basic gist of Bravely Default is pretty much to just not play hard mode and get the noncanon ending as soon as possible, then just immedietly leave and possibly jump to the sequel. It is an amazing game until it isn't and the best way to not go nuts is to just never let that genie leave its bottle.

[@messss]

​​@@lpfan4491 No offense, but this take is kind of deranged LOL "yeah man just like, play the game all the way through until you can hit the fake ending, then just stop completely so you can make sure to skip the satisfaction of a proper ending and 3 of the best songs in the game. After that you can maybe go and play the sequel, yeah the one that starts off of the first game's true ending" Like, I know BD notoriously drags on at a certain point, but certainly not enough to justify completely dropping the game? (90% of that section is optional, you can switch the game to easy to blast through it, you can turn off encounters entirely at any point, etc etc.) Idk, just found it a little funny

[@lpfan4491]

@@messss This is like saying "if it does not hurt, your training is useless". The canon ending(aswell as 90+% of the entire story) is expositiondumped at the beginning of the sequel anyways and...well, *people literally DID quit the game over the repeats*. It's not even particularly extra satisfying, it's actively a waste of time. Heck, there are some story details revealed later on that just make the narrative less well structured and those are also skipped on jumping ship too.

[@psycholuigiman]

I feel like making grindy games with good potential, fun characters, and a crazy story is Team Asano's MO. I haven't played all of their games, but the ones I have played are very time consuming and front load the plot with pretty mundane stuff. They sorta remind me of the various teams that made the old Final Fantasy games.

[@YuushioChan]

Agreed. They very much remind me of the old FF games! Always feels like you're going on an adventure. The experience is worth it 100% tho IMHO

[@psycholuigiman]

@@YuushioChan Oh yeah. I tend to agree as long as the gameplay loop is fun enough to make up for it.

[@Jaffersin]

It feels like this team has a stupendous mastery of making unique and charming games like these that get sideswiped by things that feel like decisions made by higher-ups and misplaced ambition. I can see where the novelty of the idea came in and how there just wasn't space to do anything of proper value with it. An utter shame but at least there's a chance we might get to revisit the setting in a tuned-up fashion one day since unlike a lot of Square's recent outings this wasn't a AAA project by a fledgling studio that bombed so hard it had to disband. Thanks for sharing this with us, I really felt the bittersweet element of having mechanics that, while not offensively bad entirely lose any depth past "Bigger number > smaller number" and almost feel intentionally ironic in how much it all began to feel like work rather than a job, all contrasting against a delightful and charming cast of characters who begin to truly feel like friends and loved ones you're invested in the happiness of. Even when the actual gameplay is far from what you'd consider fun I can definitely relate to the fabulous aesthetic and great writing making it hard to say you hated the experience as a whole or say you wouldn't take a chance to return to the setting one day. I really hope this team goes on to keep making stuff, they have an unprecedented quality to their games and don't ever feel beholden to their IPs like a lot of Square's other flagships and this has added some interesting context to their portfolio, even if it was what'll be ultimately looked back on as a misstep.

[@6-1-1]

Square enix somehow made my 9 to 5 job more fun and enjoyable than this game lol. And btw it's crazy how the battle system is so deep... Like it doesn't make sense because 90% of the game is so basic and dull but then the battle is pretty good

[@williek08472]

Yeah, when I was watching this I was thinking "Why play a game about doing jobs when I can just go to my job and get paid for it?"

[@wesnohathas1993]

Making status effect chains the crux of an entire combat system is an interesting concept, but it opens the floodgates to heavy RNG influence that can make it extremely frustrating at times.

[@HappyZavulon]

Your commentary somehow managed to make this game sound exiting, Square should hire you lol

[@SlRNIGHTINGALE]

you know after watching this I had a feeling there was something more to this game. I comprehend most isn't willing to waste time from their daily life to play such a task ridden game but the story was pretty entertaining to say the least. I just know this game also later down the years will probably be appreciated more, I can only expect videos on how this was an annoying hidden gem or something to that nature. BUt then again this game could also just be annoying and become forgotten to time who knows

[@Kougaon]

If this game suddenly gets more attention then I deserve a check

[@SlRNIGHTINGALE]

@@Kougaon Couldn't agree more!!! I'll remember this day forsure

[@KnownAsKenji]

Games that have potential, but massive grindwalls, have gotten modded in the past. If this game gets mods to make it a smoother experience, I could see a lot more people enjoying it.

[@brendanwiley253]

Your experience with this game's story reminds me a lot of my experience with the story of Fire Emblem Awakening, only mine was positive. I was 14 at the time and my most recent game at the time was a used copy of Sonic Rush, which I didn't beat 17 hours after I purchased it, I 100 percented the game 17 hours after I bought it 8 of which I was asleep for. So after getting Fire Emblem after I liked its demo, I was expecting another short game since it was on a handheld. Going into the Gangrel fight I wasn't genre savy enough to know that giving you a level 1 dancer isn't typically what happens on a final chapter and I wasn't observant enough to understand the number of things that hadn't been resolved. So I was ready for the credits to role after Chrom got his revenge. Only to my surprise it didn't, the time skip happens, Lucina gets revealed and the map expands to a new continent. I then proceed to continue not being observant and fully expect the game to end after killing Walhart only for it to continue again because of the true villan's plan while you were away. I gotta say, going from a game I 100 percented less than a day after I bought it immediately to a game I was pleasantly surprised to keep playing twice, its no wonder I sank more than 300 hours just into my first save file.

[@rosheafan]

Awakening somehow made juggernauting fun. I still don't know how they did it.

[@0Fyrebrand0]

Wow, that story really went to some crazy places after that assumed "final battle" with the evil prince, huh? It seems kind of like playing through ARR and being like "Well, this is a quaint little fantasy game with a basic story. Pretty much by the numbers, but it's okay." Then eventually you wind up at Endwalker, like "Where the hell did all THIS come from!? What even is this game!!??" I have a term for when a game does this. I say "the game went full Xenogears."

[@tylorhobbs8920]

I dunno. Can it really be said to have gone full Xenogears if the final act isn't narrated to you by the main characters sitting in a chair under a spotlight?

[@charlescaulkins8306]

isn't that an insult to Xenogears though?

[@0Fyrebrand0]

@@charlescaulkins8306 Nah, I don't mean it as a bad thing. Just that the plot of Xenogears kind of explodes at various points and the scale of what you thought the game was about drastically changes. Personally, I love it. Xenogears is an amazing game. It's just what I think of when a game's story undergoes a huge increase in scope beyond what you thought you were going into. It's a dangerous line to walk, though. If integrated poorly, I think it would feel contrived and out of left field. I would only call a game "going full Xenogears" if it stuck the landing and it was actually a satisfyingly mind-blowing reveal.

[@Pikachu-qr4yb]

@@tylorhobbs8920don’t forget the pendulum in the background! 😂 that pendulum was meta for the time they didn’t have to finish disc 2. Oop!

[@Laurzure]

Another Xenogears fan in 2023???! Happy news!

[@RalorPenwat]

This really is a peak "You had a great concept, you managed to fuck it up in the worst way possible. Congratulations." All they had to do honestly to fix it is inflate work rewards and/or deflate costs for the port. Maybe throw in minigames for work with the option to autocomplete, doing well in minigames grants an additional boost to rewards. Remove the fatigue/hunger mechanic or at least the food spoiling mechanic, if you really want that only make food spoil in wrong environments, i.e. foods that mold in marsh or jungle or whatever.

[@Namadu7]

The music is easily the highlight. Go Shiina cannot be stopped - he consistently knocks it out of the park. ...Usually on less well-known games like this, Mr. Driller, God Eater, and Harvestella... but still. It was neat to watch this and see the story context for a lot of that music! :o Glad you were able to find something to enjoy in this game.

[@SpecialInterestShow]

Honestly it sounds like a game that would have benefitted from being a more traditional RPGMaker-type game or at least a Visual Novel instead of Menu: The Game™

[@Theprofessorator]

I'm glad you "played" this "game" so I don't have to. Thank you for your service. o7

[@tenshi9397]

Holy I feel so tired just by watching you grind this game, so I can't even imagine to actually grind it. The story itself is not so bad so it's such a shame. Well done!

[@darkestccino5405]

There were a series of three flash game I played as a kid called My Pet Protector, which worked very similar to how this game did. But I'm shocked that My Pet Protector actually did it better than this game from a large studio. My Pet Protector had different ways you could rest to reduce stress in addition to different job types (with different rest places giving different stats). You could choose which buildings in your town to repair and that unlocked new job types. It featured both Dungeon exploration as well as Adventures as two different forms of gameplay to get rewards, and you had a limited number of weeks to complete the game so you had to use your time wisely as the time limit was closing in. It was all around Various Daylife, but done actually good.

[@theblasblas]

My Pet Protector is really more like a Princess Maker that leans more on the RPG aspect.

[@luigiymario2xd]

You know what? You convinced me, I'm gonna play this game for the story but I'm gonna use cheats to cheese this because fuck all that grinding XD

[@SomeAndroid]

Playing this game knocked the Daylife out of me

[@solarknight3942]

ARKNIGHTS? I absolutely didn’t expect a video about a Square Enix game would lead to me seeing my favorite game’s death sound being used as a censor.

[@nikoladedic6623]

Oh, wow. When 70 minute summary is but a cakewalk compared to what you went through. Nice work.

[@carbonthief]

"What should we name this person joining our guild?" "How about.... Gild...a?"

[@Eclin]

I really like these series of games with the same style of bad title names. Various Daylife Triangle strategy Bravely Default Octopath traveler They even share the same boring logo, must be on purpose lol.

[@webpombo7765]

I don't think Octopath Traveler is a bad name tho

[@messss]

​@@webpombo7765Same. It has a very catchy tone to it that I think kinda sticks lol

[@GuntWastelander]

I’m sorry for being this way, but it’s either “easier” or “more easy”, “more easier” is redundant. Loved the video regardless (:

[@robertmiller7921]

I played this game for free on Apple Arcade and I still wanted a refund.

[@shutup1037]

😂

[@TheeUnderBrake]

It's crazy how this port, Diofield Chronicles, Triangle Strategy, and Harvestella all came out within 6 weeks of each other a little over a year ago and I never heard anyone talk about them outside of Triangle amongst TRPGheads

[@xyros4795]

This is giving me diet Bravely Default 2 vibes. Those bundles are steals. But maaaan I don't wanna have that sitting in my library just to boost the stats of this...

[@SweetyMiki]

This game was actually made before Bravely Default II by a lot of the secondary BD team. It's actually part of the series. Like BD Fairys Effect, it was a game the Bravely Team did to introduce and test concepts introduced in that game. It was only made basically, so the Bravely Team could release something after Fairys Effect ended in Japan lmao. It was originally an Apple exclusive game in 2019 before it got tossed into the wild and lied as a new RPG.

[@maltsutty]

Thank you for sacrificing your own time and sanity to make this informative (&entertaining) video and saving countless people’s time , earned a sub from that alone 💯💪✅

[@XionSteel]

I only own this on steam because it came with octopath II in a bundle which ended up making it cheaper to get overall. Might not be something i ever play, but its forever on my steam list. As i was watching you play i got reminded of Nelke and the Legendary Alchemist, which falls in the atelier universe so you think i'd be an atelier game but nope, its a City Builder where you set up shops for the alchemists that cross over from other atelier games and the only interactive parts of the game involves slowly walking down a path while the characters that Follow you randomly pick stuff up. Almost the same vibe as this game as you spend a lot of your time on one or two screens, yet Nelke is better received huh...

[@CybeleVG]

Same boat with how I got it. I tell all my pals that square literally paid me to own the game.

[@crapshot321]

Main problem is the gameplay loop. The story, music, and art seems to be dead on. Better game play would definitely improve the game.

[@ChompDude]

I vaguely remember seeing a trailer for this game and getting excited because it looked related to Bravely Default but after seeing it was a mobile game my excitment turned to disappointment.

[@eluvianii]

I... think I want to play this now? You made it sound kinda fun. And I want to see the full package of character interactions too.

[@Himmelschenk]

I would not be able to stomach this game, and I played all three routes of Fire Emblem Three Houses and beat all of the routes of Triangle Strategy

[@Reptonious]

I really loved this vid and was surprised to check out your channel to find that this was something new for you. Please, make more content like this. It was righteous!

[@edwinlee5145]

Hey Kougaon, it's great to see you expanding your content beyond XIV commentary! I enjoyed this video, but I think my only piece of feedback is that if you plan on making it like a let's play/review format to try and integrate the two better. Having it frontloaded with gameplay and shift it over to story for the last third felt like the pacing could be tighter if they were one baked into each other versus discussed separately. Other than that looking forward to your next vid of this sort!

[@Kougaon]

Thanks for the feedback! I model this video after JoshStrifeHayes’ videos but I’ll keep this in mind for future ones!

[@MerDuke]

@@Kougaontruly a cultured individual!

[@onlyyoucanstopevil9024]

CHAD FEAR & HUNGER VS VIRGIN VARIOUS CR4PLIFE

[@minmodulation]

I love having various lifes during my day!!

[@fayescarlet]

It's weird, but I like "menu grind" sort of games, where a small part of it 'plays itself', you know? xD If this game is ever on super sale, you sure convinced me to pick it up.

[@karmenion]

I saved 10$ on OT2 by buying this game in bundle. Never touched it tho.I was really suspicious when I saw the price not believing that I could get OT2 cheaper with another game, but alas, this game did some good by existing.

[@Nimroc]

Same, it was a weird discount. lol

[@karmenion]

@@Nimroc I mean I was considering paying more for OT2 just so that Squere couldn't lie about good sales for this piece of shit game, but I am not stupid to waste money on silly things like that.

[@TalysAlankil]

you would think team asano wouldn't do the "fake-out end credits" several times in multiple series. i'm still not over bravely default "if you want to get the true ending you have to travel the entire world and defeat the same bosses which get incrementally stronger a handful of times"

[@rjante2236]

Yeah the endgame in BD annoyed me. Great story though.

[@lpfan4491]

The funny bit being that according to online documentation, the true ending was the *only* ending in the original JP version that we didn't get. And I can absolutely understand why they implemented it in the Final Mix-equivalent(which we ended up getting), because I sing thanks to the heavens that it gives us an out before the game turns bad. It(and that Bravely Second recaps 99% of the info you miss by not playing the canon ending) is the reason I can still call the game good and recomment it to people.

[@mintssu2843]

I can't believe we didn't even get blue background Kou!!!! In all seriousness this was such an entertaining video and it was so funny how I felt frustration as if I was playing this game myself when you talked about the grinding and how it just??? Never??? Seemed to end??? But then when you got to the parts where the story picked up, I felt emotional as you described your journey with the characters xD Thank you for your sacrifice and geezus please get yourself a good meal or smth, I think you need it.

[@Kougaon]

Thank you for watching Mints! I still haven’t recovered since beating the game 🤠

[@Evanz111]

I started trying to play this game so many times on Apple Arcade. I felt bad because I convinced myself I must have stopped before the game got good or finally picked it. So glad to see someone finally help me realise I wasn’t insane.

[@SatiZakito]

This plays and feels like a gacha game but no gacha. You grind so much to progress a nonexisting story instead of summoning lewd units. Slapping Octo Travel 1 and 2 creators on the poster its a low blow...

[@wesnohathas1993]

Damn, they really did make a mobile game without all the eye candy and gambling that sells mobile games.

[@Birdsflight44]

D-did they really try to make an Oregon Trail style game and stop 15% of the way through and then switch to a JRPG? Food, food weight, strange occupations, watching them walk, the mortality fixation, the settlement themes, it feels like there's some Trail game bones in the earliest stages of the game planning with bizarre results. Kinda like how Pokemon starting out as a kaiju simulator left gen 1 with the lopsided, mono-Special stat.

[@hanautabob984]

The way you describe progressing through this game sounds like it was a Live Service Mobile Game with a premium currency for revives and skipping fees, but square enix said "Let's cut the MTX shortcuts and sell it for 20(+) Bucks! No one will notice!" Especially the "fake out endings" could be like season 1/2/3...

[@webpombo7765]

Fake out endings are pretty common for JRPGS, it's like a reward for people willing to delve further into the game

[@wesnohathas1993]

Fake out endings are also a consistent staple of the Bravely series, which this game is _almost_ effectively a part of.

[@lpfan4491]

@@wesnohathas1993 Did Bravely Second have a fakeout ending? I genuinely can't remember any, the first part of the game just ends with endless amounts of bossenemies descending onto you and the MC asking you to NG+, it really never pretended to be any kind of conclusion and I can't remember another point in the game that may qualify.

[@oofley8346]

I think a jrpg with a 'job' system that comes down to doing literal work rather than customizing units' combat roles is a new one on me, and I'm not sure whether I should be surprised by this or not.