Hey everyone!
Let's play Lenna's Inception!
Released by Bytten Studios, Lenna's Inception is a top-down adventurey sort of game EXTREMELY inspired by the Legend of Zelda games, particularly the Game Boy and GBA iterations like Link's Awakening. At first glance, I'd be tempted to call it a knock-off, but it has a lot of heart and character to it that makes it worth showing off, despite its flaws. It's also got some procedural generation to it, which isn't perfect, but it does lend to replayability. There's even daily seeds and challenge runs if that's your sort of thing.
Due to this, as well as some other things, I'm going to be doing two playthroughs of the game, both video, ideally with guest commentary. I intend to use two different seeds as well for world generation, the first one being FUNKERDOME. Oh, and one more thing: I'd like to issue a general photosensitivity warning for this game, ESPECIALLY if you don't turn off the generation visualization. Not a super serious one, but there are some flickery effects that could be bad, and better safe than sorry, y'know?
PART 01
PERFECTLY NORMAL SCHOOL DAY
LEVEL 1 - MOTHER PENG'S ISLAND
REGULAR PUPILS
aturtledoesbite - BEAT - fanboymaster
Lenna's school is having a bad time.LEVEL 1 - MOTHER PENG'S ISLAND
REGULAR PUPILS
aturtledoesbite - BEAT - fanboymaster
NOTES
- GAMEPLAY CUSTOMIZATION. You can choose between 8-bit and 32-bit graphics/sound for this game. I go for 32-bit because I like it more. We're also given the option to play different challenge runs, as well as the chance to use a specific world seed, using the name of the region the game takes place in. Charmville barely loses out to FUNKERDOME.
- THE FIRST SCREEN IS AMAZING. The muted color scheme, off-beat music and the school/students having just a little bit of strangeness to their behaviour makes for a really strong first impression, as does the follow-up of Lenna falling out of her school, now a glitchy mess. That in and of itself would be a powerful and excellent opener for the game.
- THE ELDER'S CAVE WRECKS IT. All of the subtlety of the school is gone, replaced with something right out of a Newgrounds parody animation. Having Lenna act as an NPC for the protagonist Lance is a nice touch, but the hamfisted "HAHA DO YOU GET IT" bloody scene just takes the wind out of the sails far too early.
- LANCE IS THE HERO OF FORTITUDE. As an NPC, it is Lenna's responsibility to provide him with quests and aid so that he can defeat the archangels. The other villagers all over town talk about this as part of the framework for how both the world and society work, which I kinda like, but which a video LP format doesn't really have the time to go over in full.
- RANDOMIZED ITEM APPEARANCES. Potions and tunics, which can carry the same sorts of properties, have different appearances in each seed, and they're sold at different vendors as well. Andres always sells one tunic and two potions for relatively cheap, and one tunic for not-so-cheap. Fortunately, our first tunic is a handy-dandy Fire Resistance Tunic.
- A TRAGIC ACCIDENT. Alas, poor Lance, cut down before he could master using it. Lenna takes his sword, as well as his phone (can't exactly just leave it there) and the Power of Fortitude, one of the four powers that balance the land.
- DUNGEON MESHI IS GOOD. Go look that up.
- ARCHANGEL AZRAFLAIL. They're as first-boss as they come: spin the flail around, maybe throw it at the end, no biggie. The sword can cut the flail's rope easily enough, leaving Azraflail himself open to attack. By defeating them, the Power of Fortitude grants us the Archangel Heart, improving Lenna's life total!
- CORRUPTED MEMORY #0. Nothing fancy here, just backstory about Lance and his family of heroes. His dad Claymore and his mom Stiletto were both slain by the archangels, so he's gotta step up and be the Hero of Fortitude way before he's ready.