If you like 16-bit era RPG's and Penny Arcade humor, you can't really go wrong with these two games. They're each good for around 12-16 hours.

The combat can get a bit tedious as you wind up doing the same abilities repeatedly, but it is mixed up somewhat in the 4th title by having the focus switch between 2 parties through most of the game.

The story is cheese but the humor will see you through to the end. All in all they are well worth their cheap price.

the combat becomes unbearably repetitive mostly because one is so keen to rather keep experiencing the funny dialogue, and humorous but also dramatic story, so you end up steaming along trying to get it all done in one go, but every path is blocked by constant fights.

fortunately you can speed thru the fights by decreasing the game difficulty to "easy" (at any time) and holding down a certain key (i forget which) to accelerate the animations. I do recommend this game, but play it on easy. Combat mechanic is just too meh to bother with.

thats not to say that the combat is awful, its just that there is about 15+ hours worth of combat and thats way too much for what ends up being recylcing the same abilities in the same order again, and again....and again.....and again.

...and again.

Borrows from several of RPG's greats to become very good, but not quite great itself.

This fourth iteration in Penny Arcade's RPG series takes several steps forward and a couple backward when compared to its predecessor. The places you visit and the situations you are thrust into are more spectacular, graphically detailed and imaginative. The storyline deftly pulls you along with more polished cutscenes, gradual plot reveals and split narratives. On the other hand, the combat both gives players less character flexibility and does little to overcome the fatigue of using the same battle system as episode 3. Additionally, a dearth of object examination text and only a modest number of NPCs to talk to contribute to a sense that the "Underhell" has been under detailed from a world building perspective.

When I think of retro RPGs I don't imagine big set piece locales as key components of the genre. And yet, that is one of Precipice of Darkness 4's strongest areas. A few of the many lively environments that you'll find yourself in include riding onboard a living, dangerously lonely train, escaping a collapsing tower and navigating through an active warfield. The train sequence is clearly a reference to Final Fantasy VI (AKA III in the US). That game's influence can be felt elsewhere too. I suspect the parallel storytelling style that has you frequently alternating between two separate groups of characters is one such homage (in addition to being an effective storytelling technique).

Unfortunately, splitting the group like this takes a small toll on the combat side of things. Early on you are often without a full party to wield in battle. I saw this as an unnecessarily slow build up in combat complexity considering that most players will already have experience with this battle system from the previous game. It should be noted that you command a collection of oddball monsters in battle rather than the human characters. Despite this, the underlying functionality and flow remains virtually the same. Instead of being able to customize what classes are set to each character, you swap between monsters that are permanently tied to a specific play style. I preferred the flexible combinations you could make in episode 3 over the linear growth paths of this Pokémon-esque system.

The story is a direct continuation from Precipice of Darkness 3. Even though there is a brief recap at the start of this game, I would still recommend playing part 3 first. In contrast, that game can safely be your entry point into the series. Without spoiling anything, I'll simply say that I really enjoyed Precipice of Darkness 4's otherworldly plot with its astronomical implications. The characters and comedy along the way didn't stand out as much to me though. That's not to say they are bad; It's more that they are passably amusing without having enough depth or novelty to be memorable.

Ultimately I think that episode 4 is better than 3 but, lamentably, it is hurt by its precursor. This is evidenced by looking at Steam review totals of which there are currently 503 for Precipice of Darkness 3 versus only 277 for this game. Both of the two games took me 15 hours to complete in entirety, including side content. If you feel you'll only have the lasting interest to play one of these games, make it part 4 and make do with the recap of episode 3.

Click here to check out my review of Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3.

PA'sOtRSPoD4 is the conclusion to the Penny Arcade 16-bit throwback RPG saga. It maintains the same look and gameplay as the previous game in the series. As with the previous game, the battle mechanics are unique and overall decent, plus there are tons of options and strategies to play around with. This time, Instead of having "pins" with special abilities that can be assigned to characters, you now have a zoo's worth of cutesy and/or weird Pokemon-esque monsters to do your bidding. Each monster has its own set of abilities and attacks, so you have no shortage of options to find a play-style and team combination that works for you. The main characters from the previous game all return and the story continues in the same strange and often amusing fashion. All is fine on that front, and the saga comes to a satisfying conclusion. Overall, the game seemed a bit easier than the previous one, but you have the option to change the difficulty at any time, in case you want a steeper challenge or can't get by a particular battle. In summary, this is a worthy conclusion to the series, assuming you have played and enjoyed the previous games. If neither of those things is the case, then I'm not sure I would recommend it unless you are a mega-huge fan of old-school RPGs and Penny Arcade. It's a passable game, but only has niche appeal. For existing fans of the series, I'd give it a solid B or B+, and for non-fans who are into 16-bit RPGs maybe a C or B-.

You might like if: You love Pokémon games, absurd humour and want to see the thrilling conclusion to the Rain-Slick Quadilo... Quadro... Fourology.

Possibly my favourite of the series, primarily for its off-beat style, variety of playable characters and depth of combat.

Zeboyd Games appear to have had a creative field day with this one. Where Episode 3 felt a little restrained, here they have flipped the desk and gone "screw this! I'm doing it my way!" - Want a demon train? You've got it! Want to play with a sentient vending machine? It's yours! Want to fight panda-duck hybrids? Why the heck not!

It's essentially taken everything from the previous game, fixing the weaker points and trying to dose it up with more fun and variety. In effect, it's no longer trying to mimic the first 2 episodes, but stand alone with its own style. The music's had a badass overhaul and the attack sounds are considerably more fitting; all-in-all leading to very satisfying and engaging combat, aided by an even greater cavalcade of silly foes and special conditions.

But the creativeness hasn't just extended to the world or visuals. The combat system has been given a fun rethink too. The characters now fight using a team of fun, yet cute, creatures (very much an ode to Pokémon) each with their own very unique edge and specialisation to bring, really pushing the game mechanics to creative new frontiers. Some are defensive healers, others item-oriented... one even boosts its allies whilst KO'd! There's plenty to mix-and-match and, much like the class badges from before, the designs are creative, absurd and pretty damn fantastic. For those who like to play with every character in an RPG... this is an absolute gold mine!

The humour is still rich as ever, pushing the boat out even further with the parodies and puns... including a group with their own theme song. I can't say much on it, but it's possibly one of the most bizarre, yet wonderful moments of the game.

All this does come at a price, however (there's always a catch). In all of the outrageous fun, it's lost the brooding noir from the other episodes, so has a very different feel to it. And despite the sprawling world, the plot is actually quite sparse. There's still a wealth of brilliant dialogue and laugh-out-loud moments but, other than a nice conclusion, there's not much in the way of twists or turns and a rather drawn-out finale. Neither are problems in and of themselves, but it ultimately depends on what hooked you into the series.

Still... it was a very satisfying end to an incredible series of games. Not the deepest, but almost certainly the most fun!

This is part 4 of the penny arcade episodal games. NOTE: THIS IS NOT A CHILDREN"S GAME. I PERSONALLY RANK THIS GAME AT "A" FOR ADULT.

This is the final game in the series. This world is quite different than the previous game, and features the ability to find secret characters and hidden treasures.This game really shines in the RPG role than it's predecessor, as the way it is presented is much more of rpg than the previous game in the series...anyways. It has alot of dark humour in it and sillyness like the rest of the series. I suggest playing the previous games to get the whole storyline of the game. Recommended!

Definitely the best Zeboyd game to date. Major improvements over the the last 3 games. Much less linear than Precipice 3. Though still technically a linear RPG, there is an overworld that opens up more the further you get, and once again there are towns with people to chat with.

While the graphics are technically about the same as Precipice 3, there is much more detail, making lush environments and a really beautiful Overworld Map. Hyperduck did a great job with the music. Great game.

Had two problems though, that personally kept it JUST shy of FF6/Chrono Trigger levels of awesome:

1: Still using the same Main Menu and Victory/Level Up/Death resources. This drives me crazy because everything else in the game is so much better than their older games, and these would have not taken much time to update. It was ok on the other games, but honestly...it didn't even look good on BoDVII. It was an NES title but the Victory messages still looked like some crap they made in paint and tossed in there. The better the games look, the worse those messages look.

2: Few interactive objects. No examining Bookshelves or Dressers. Almost nothing you click has an effect, except for signs in one area, and few statues here and there. Big deal to me. *shrugs*

Episode 4 continued the trend started in 3: the story has slowed down, and the content is more about battle than dialogue. Violence over character development. There is some nice exploration available, and it's a good move that the overworld is no longer locked to a rails system.

Despite being significantly longer than 3 it feels like there was actually less content here. And what there is isn't that exciting. That makes this is a great example of a game that would've been improved by being shorter. It felt stretched too thin: a foregone conclusion to the series, made solely to wrap things up, not because anyone was interested in what was happening.

I much prefered playing as humans instead of these emotionless proxy creatures. They made me feel very removed from the combat. Since they were constantly changing and all had different powers it was a bit hard to keep track of them. So I locked down my party pretty early. I'm sure I didn't optimize very well, but I didn't really care as long as I could beat the bosses. Once you discover a couple overpowered strategies the system is a boring grind. Lather, rinse, repeat.

While there are some comical moments this final entry in the series leaves much to be desired. The ending fell flat, and didn't explain nearly enough. But it was an ending, and for that I'm grateful.

If you like the old school Final Fantasy games you will more than likely enjoy this game. The characters are odd but it's enjoyable.

Pros:
-Funny story
-Combat system and general gameplay are fast-paced
-Easy to play

Cons:
-This game is pretty long. As of the time of this review I have 19.7 hours on record and I don't think I'm even halfway through.
-The characters are odd in the way that it seems the creators were trying TOO hard to be original, although, the names can be entertaining.
-The humor is pretty bland and at times, annoying. The dialogue seems to carry on too long at times.

I know I gave three pros and threee cons, I didn't mean for that to seem like a bad review I only wanted to seem balanced so ill give it a rating.

Rating: 82/100

Awesome old-school style RPG, with simple mechanics, sick pixel graphics and epic battle and locations music. And dont forget hilarious outside-the-box characters who never seize to amaze with their bold actions and unexpected plot twists. Every one lacking some different RPG experience should pick and try this game or even the whole series.