Board 8 > Best depression RPG game/franchise?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I am defining a "Depression RPG" as "an RPG whose defining themes include depression, anxiety, stoicism, and suicide, which are often contrasted against a colorful, upbeat aesthetic."

I came up with this term when playing Omori and realized this subgenre really doesn't have a name.

Other games with similar themes while not being RPGs: Celeste, Night in the Woods, Braid, Danganronpa.

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Pretty sure this is exactly how LISA is advertised.

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Hot take: FFTA counts as one of these

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I don't think the aesthetic is necessary because Disco Elysium is certainly a depression RPG

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Kenri posted...

Hot take: FFTA counts as one of these

I can kind of see that.

Also, I realized Spiritfarer should probably be on the poll. D'oh!

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MrSmartGuy posted...

Pretty sure this is exactly how LISA is advertised.

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Having played FFTA I would say it fits.

Not that it should get any votes~

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disco elysium, dark souls, hollow knight all come to mind

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I guess I'd call them psychological, but not necessarily horror.

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And some of these are more just plain gothic, like Souls and Hollow Knight.

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how do you define 'depression' in a way to exclude 'gothic'?

does it need a manic art style?

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I think Persona 3 and Undertale are the only ones of these to make me cry? Pretty sure none of the others did.
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Really Anagramd the poll by not putting LISA on it

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I don't know, some stuff is gothic but not exactly about the mind. Now that I think about it a lot of my examples are, or alternately are romantic which is about the mind in a different way.

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Hot take: Final Fantasy IX counts as one of these

It's also the best game that I think qualifies, though I guess the best at specifically this I would pick Persona 3.
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I excluded Dark Souls for being light on story, though the themes I listed are still present. I don't really consider Hollow Knight an RPG.

I haven't played Disco Elysium, so it was off my radar, but I did grab it on sale at some point.

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I suppose Yume Nikki doesn't count but it's the answer I want to use most

LISA otherwise

Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass is pretty alright too and the closest to Omori for what it's worth

Hot take: Final Fantasy as a whole counts

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On a personal level, it's OFF.

I do need to play LISA and Omori still.

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banananor posted...

disco elysium, dark souls, hollow knight all come to mind

I dunno if any of those are really great for crying.
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Mac Arrowny posted...

I dunno if any of those are really great for crying.

Depression =/= Crying

(Though I wouldn't consider Hollow Knight to fit this category)

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Sure, but the poll question is "Which game is the best for being sad?"

And I'd say being sad is fairly close to crying!
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Of the games listed in this topic, Earthbound and Persona 3 are the only ones to make me cry.

I really like Omori, though. It definitely understands how people become detached from society.

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Leonhart4 posted...

Hot take: Final Fantasy as a whole counts

At this point the definition is way too broad and is just "any RPG that deals occasionally with mature or psychological themes"

I would say it needs to be THE central theme or even have something linked to it as a major game mechanic, not just incidental. Even something like Persona I think is borderline because Persona is about friendship and isn't even that thematically dark outside of Persona 3 (though it definitely deals with mature themes).

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Eh, I think Persona firmly fits the definition. The whole point of that series is to "fight your inner demons", and deals pretty strongly with social isolation, not knowing who the real "you" is, etc.

Select Final Fantasy games might fit, (I actually think VII works best, with Cloud's struggles over his identity), but more broadly I wouldn't count it.

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UF8 posted...

I suppose Yume Nikki doesn't count but it's the answer I want to use most

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UF8 posted...

I suppose Yume Nikki doesn't count but it's the answer I want to use most

If we're going off this style, my answer is Space Funeral

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Disco Elysium is the answer.

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Big Bob posted...

Select Final Fantasy games might fit, (I actually think VII works best, with Cloud's struggles over his identity), but more broadly I wouldn't count it.

wow rude forgetting about Final Fantasy VIII, where the main conflict is Squall's inner turmoil

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NieR steps on your feelings and doesn't give a damn who it hurts along the way.

Beat Automata with Platinum. Currently playing Replicant.

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Yeah, I guess dark souls and hollow knight don't really fit, even though the themes are very depressing

But disco elysium is 100% what you're looking for

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Shadow of the Colossus if it counts as an Action RPG
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Shadow Hearts or some Persona games for me.

Maybe Persona games.

Nier is about a bunch of emotions, same with Undertale. I wouldn't say depression is the main emotion they deliver, though I guess it's one of the stronger ones. Hope is way stronger in those games by the end though.

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I don't know that hope is the overwhelming emotion by the end of the first Nier. The second one, definitely.

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I'm pretty sure "Hope" is going to be the outcome of any game about depression. Because no storyteller is going to want to kill off their audience.

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Big Bob posted...

I'm pretty sure "Hope" is going to be the outcome of any game about depression. Because no storyteller is going to want to kill off their audience.

are you saying that if the games didn't have a message of hope at the end the players would kill themselves

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Leonhart4 posted...

I don't know that hope is the overwhelming emotion by the end of the first Nier. The second one, definitely.

I haven't played the new one for ending E but ending D in which Nier gives their life so Kaine and Yonah can live is bittersweet but obviously hopeful

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HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

I haven't played the new one for ending E but ending D in which Nier gives their life so Kaine and Yonah can live is bittersweet but obviously hopeful

If you read Grimoire Nier afterwards and realize that Nier's actions basically doomed the human race, it doesn't leave you feeling super hopeful!

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I assume maybe 1% of players read Grimoire Nier.

Ending E is also interesting, since the way players receive it will differ greatly based on whether they've played Drakengard 3.
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Well, you could probably come to that conclusion just from the events of the game itself (and Automata confirms it), but Grimoire Nier spells it out explicitly. The ending is heartwarming in the moment, but you can see the darker side of it if you think about it long enough.

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Big Bob posted...

I'm pretty sure "Hope" is going to be the outcome of any game about depression. Because no storyteller is going to want to kill off their audience.

Hello Drakengard 3

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IIRC, Grimoire NieR (and/or some other supplemental materials, I can't remember) also strongly implies that Project Gestalt was considered a failure almost from the start, since Gestalt Nier refused to do his part in the final recombination process until Yonah was cured, and the people (androids?) running the project didn't want him to find out that there is no cure once a Gestalt has started to relapse. Even if Replicant Nier hadn't killed him, the Shadowlord would have doomed humanity anyway. You just turned almost-certain doom into absolutely-inevitable doom.
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BlackMageJawa posted...

IIRC, Grimoire NieR (and/or some other supplemental materials, I can't remember) also strongly implies that Project Gestalt was considered a failure almost from the start, since Gestalt Nier refused to do his part in the final recombination process until Yonah was cured, and the people (androids?) running the project didn't want him to find out that there is no cure once a Gestalt has started to relapse. Even if Replicant Nier hadn't killed him, the Shadowlord would have doomed humanity anyway. You just turned almost-certain doom into absolutely-inevitable doom.

Well yeah, the Shadowlord was only delaying the inevitable, so it isn't a scenario with much hope for humanity either way.

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Eh depression is generally very inward and personal.

A story being dark or sad on a large scale doesn't strike the same notes.

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LeonhartFour posted...

wow rude forgetting about Final Fantasy VIII, where the main conflict is Squall's inner turmoil

Not sure I'd classify him as depressed, but I guess his main outlook on life IS depressing. He definitely has a lot of anxiety.


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Leonhart4 posted...

If you read Grimoire Nier afterwards and realize that Nier's actions basically doomed the human race, it doesn't leave you feeling super hopeful!

Well yeah but then Automata rescues that because the entire conceit is that what we consider "humanity" is much more broad than we thought, and it is in fact the dogmatic reverence for the literal human species that causes so many problems! The extinction of homo sapiens is actually not a problem!

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For the record I think that many of what I consider the best stories are grand in scope while still being able to feel personal. Like one of the reasons I like Final Fantasy IX so much (since I mentioned that before in this topic) is that it's set against a really exciting fantasy/war backdrop, but at its core it's a story about specific individuals trying to come to grips with who they are and what they value and what they need to do to pursue those things.

Not sure how or if that relates to the specific question in this topic but I did want to say it.
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HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

Well yeah but then Automata rescues that because the entire conceit is that what we consider "humanity" is much more broad than we thought, and it is in fact the dogmatic reverence for the literal human species that causes so many problems! The extinction of homo sapiens is actually not a problem!

Yeah, but we never thought we were getting Automata in the first place!

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