1. I am not sure how LiEat is pronounced but I recommend pronouncing it the same way as "1337."
2. This seems to get pegged as an RPG but it's really only an RPG in the most shallow sense. It uses the basic mechanics of an old console RPG but it's really more of an interactive mystery story.
3. LiEat would seem to be one short game but it's actually a collection of three very short games. They are related--it is a broader story told episodically--but you don't carry progress from one section of the game to the next.
4. The first two episodes are monster-of-the-week type deals were you walk into a new town and solve some mystery that's going down. These get you interested in the characters, the origin of whom is explained in the third episode. This structure worked really well, much better than if the origin story had been told first thing.
5. Your character is a dragon that makes lies become physically manifest and then eats them. She doesn't look like a dragon but she is. Your partner, who serves as something like your legal guardian, is some kind of detective or something. I'm not honestly sure what he does. He collects information and sells it. What manner of profession is that? Who knows. Regardless, neither being a dragon that eats lies or working in the field is particularly strange in LiEat's world.
6. The bit-era throwback graphics look nice enough but I honestly had trouble telling some characters apart based on their pictures.
7. The music is flippin' awesome. I listened to it a bunch outside of playing. Best part of the game, hands down. It is a just-convincing-enough symphonic soundtrack w/ a bit of a vintage-keyboard edge that fits the retro-influenced but not retro-shackled presentation of the game perfectly.
8. Going back to number 2 and how this isn't really an RPG, there is not much meaningful character advancement. You do level up and upgrade your equipment but, at the start of each section, you pretty quickly discover very overpowered equipment which makes any improvement to your character pretty much immaterial. Even if you chose not to use this stuff, you really don't find many other things to use anyway.
9. The focus here is very strongly on story. If your favorite part of old RPGs is going around and talking to everyone once you've found a new town, LiEat is very much for you as that comprises the meat of the gameplay.
10. Thankfully, there is no voice acting involved in this clearly lower-budget production. This is a problem for people like me who never learned to read but most of you nerds should be fine.
11. Some menus in this were in Japanese only. It's not a big deal but made it tough to figure out how to get this into full screen. Hit F4 then F10 for nostalgic 4:3 goodness that fills your monitor as much as possible. Huzzah!
12. The characters in this are all pretty cute but the subject matter can be quite dark indeed. We are talking people dying here. The combination of these two elements is quite disarming and helped to bring me into LiEat's charming story.
13. I think if you go and watch the trailer for LiEat and it looks like something you'll enjoy, you'll enjoy it. It is not a deep, complex RPG--or even an RPG at all--but it delivers quite well on its promise of an engrossing story with an endearing set of characters. I am always impressed when a developers really nail the bullseye they are aiming at and I think that Miwashiba did that here.
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