Horror RPG Marathon (2) - Mad Father

Hiii~~~


OMG I didn't upload for the longest time ever... Haha! Holly uploaded 1 day earlier than me -3-.

Anyways, I haven't been really busy, like always :P but I guess I have been putting off updating this blog for the longest time everrr~~... Anyways, it's not like I have anything interesting to share, but anyways, since I have time to upload today, I shall take the chance to do so. Yup!

So anyways, back to the topic, I'm supposed to be updating about my Horror RPG game marathon. LOL I still remember everything okays?

Just in case the future me forgets about the game itself, I shall remind her. For all those people who don't want spoilers.... erm... Too bad! This post is about the game itself, so don't you even think about the possibility of having censored spoilers.

Anyway, Mad Father is probably one of the most twisted games I have played in my life. I mean, I haven't even played that much games, but it is damn creepy, like, WTF kind of creepy. You get it? Like close to mindfuck, but in a different way.

Since you've read this far, I guess you're not bothered about the spoilers. :P That's good. You're just like me! Congratz!

So, when you start playing the game, you are in a huge (and boy, do I mean huge) house. The intro starts off by showing a young pretty and sweet-looking girl standing outside her father's laboratory. And yes, her father's a scientist. Apparently, the girl (you) is feeling very uneasy and she couldn't go to sleep. Her father comes out of the laboratory and reassures the girl that whatever uneasiness she is feeling should be tossed away and he told her not to worry. The girl hesitates. The father added in, "Aya, we'll go visit your mother's grave tomorrow." Okay, so it seems that the girl's mother passed away. Not too long ago too. The girl smiles, finally reassured, and then hurries off to her room to go to sleep. When she leaves, she hears the sound of a chainsaw activated, and something being destroyed, highly likely by the chainsaw. Talk about creepy.... Goshhh

That wasn't even the scary part, ya know? You know what happened next? HUH?! The scene changes to a scene inside the laboratory. The father was in the laboratory with a young lady, by the name of Maria. Erm... Maria isn't exactly the most appealing character and I must say she looked really creepy, especially her eyes. The father said, "Come here, Maria..."

Maria walks over...
And I think she jumped into the arms of the father. *tsk tsk
Father: "You must take care of Aya for me."
Maria: "But I don't think she likes me, doctor..."
Father: "No matter. She must remain safe. After all, she is my most precious..."

Hehe. After reading that conversation, if you're thinking something's already wrong like I did, good job! Anyway, back to Aya (the little girl, aka you). She's in her room like any good girl. The midnight bell sounds and suddenly she hears sounds from outside. Cliche, huh?

Anyway, this part is very long, so I don't want to talk much about it. Basically, it's about hearing noises and going out to check out what's wrong. Heh. Smart move~ Not! That it, until, Aya hears her father's scream. So, that's the end of the intro! Yay~ Finally got rid of the super long intro. So, here comes the gameplay. Like any RPG game, there are tons of jumpscares that scare the shit out of you, just like Ib. However, this is more extreme as you have zombies chasing after you. And these zombies all have something in common. They somehow have something taken away from them, be it a limb or eyes, etc. So, they're chasing you around and basically, you have a life bar and you die, when well, it depletes to zero. Haha. But the good thing is, it replenishes itself. Okay, the first few parts are creepy, but not so scary. You wander around the house, the main hall, archives, basically any room that you can access. Here's the freaking jumpscare that made my heart stop, almost. At one point, you have nothing left to obtain, so you just I just walked into all the rooms all over again and try to figure out the next move. Heh. I went back to Aya's room and there was this lady staring out the window. Hmm... harmless, right? Yeah, until you get closer, that is. She turned around and her face was stained with blood. Her face wasn't the creepiest thing per se, but it was the sound effects that followed through. As she turned around, there was this high pitches scream that seemed to sound as if there was an explosion. Heh. Lesson learnt: Do not play horror games alone, at night, in a dead silent room, even if you're in an air-conditioned room.

Oh yes, and allow me to introduce this sweet guy. I can't exactly remember what his name is, since they never did mention it in the game; it was a fanmade name. Anyway, he's really sweet and he's saved Aya so many times. Even from the beginning of the game, he appeared, though not in the most presentable form possible. Well, as I've said before, all the zombies have something taken away from them and this sweet boy had his right eye taken away, so it was this hollow space that initially freaked out our heroine. Since then, she didn't see him until he appeared to save Aya.

Anyway, the rest of the game is up to you to play. I mean, you've got to experience all the jumpscares and the sense of satisfaction when you manage to lock and trap this mega fast zombie. OMG that was the most heart-stopping moment in the game. You have to choose your steps wisely to a door because if you take 1 step more, you risk getting killed by the zombie. So, you have to come out somehow and shut the same door behind you to trap the zombie. Hah! I don't even how many times I replayed that scene! Thank goodness for Crow-kun! Anyways, Crow-kun, as Pewdiepie calls him, is a crow that appears habitually throughout the game and serves as a save point. Lesson learnt 2: Always save, wherever you go, whatever you do. Whenever you see crow-kun, just walk to him. Hah!

Moving on, here's the ending. I bet this is what you're looking forward to the most, whoever you are. LOL, Holly, I've told you this before, but I haven't been that in depth. :)

Basically what happens towards the end is that you, playing as Aya, have finished wandering around the house and you end up at this place that seems to house a portal to another dimension. A guy named Ogre which Aya has met in the beginning of the game, asked her if she wished to proceed to the other dimension to save her parents. (Dont' ask, I'll explain later) He gave her a vial of liquid, called "Magic Water" and he said that the liquid could save her father. Aya said that she would proceed to save her father. So whoosh, she went through the portal.

In the other dimension, she saw her mother and father. Well, except that her mother wasn't what she used to be. She was already dead, but she managed to come back into the world and she was the one responsible for all the weird happenings in the house, and the one who dragged Aya's father into the other dimension. From there on, you have the choice of saving your mother or your father.

If you save your mother, there will only be one ending, and that is the bad ending. Basically, you used the water to save your mother and she fulfilled her own wish of taking her father together to wherever she is going to. Presumably, that's either heaven or hell. When you go back to your normal world, you are alone. Your mother is dead and your father is dragged along with her. As you make your way to the main building of your house, you meet with Maria and Maria is pain-stricken with the fact that the "doctor" is never coming back. Maria mourns for Aya's father and while Aya was leaving since she no longer has business with that house, Maria lunges at Aya and knocks her unconscious. Aya is last seen on the experimental bed [?] and Maria says, "Doctor, I shall your fulfil your last wish." And then, the game ends. Dun Dun... 

Of you choose to save your father, there will either be the bad ending or the good ending. So, you and your father go back to your world. As you awake, you find yourself in one of your father's labs. You were happy to be able to save your father, but your mother's soul comes into sight. She uses the last bit of her power to show you the truth.

The Truth

This is the truth. Let's talk about Aya's father. As said before, Aya's father is a scientist, but he is not a normal scientist. He doesn't do research for the benefit of others. He collects human live specimens to obtain their body parts (which explains why the zombies had a part of them missing, because they were once his test subjects). They are all for his research which is a quest to preserve a human's beauty. Since humans are mortal, he wants to find a way to preserve their beauty forever. And what better thing is there that doesn't fade away than a doll? Therefore, his research all along has been to create dolls. No one knows whether the soul still remains when the person is turned into a doll. This twisted mindset followed him through his life, beginning when he was only a child. As read from his diary in the game, Aya's father used to capture birds and kill them and he would hide the corpses in his drawers when his mother was out. This twisted mindset drove him to such insanity that caused him to kill his own mother.

Moving on, let's talk about Maria. Maria used to be a poor, starving begger girl on the streets. She was cold and hungry and one day, Aya's father found her on the streets. He thought to himself that it was such a pity for such a fine specimen to die off in the cold and fall victim to hunger. Therefore, he took her in and fed her and gave her clothes. He locked her in a cell where he houses all the live specimens. Maria happened to be locked with a very sick boy who had a serious open wound. She was frantic and wanted to save the boy. She took care of the boy, helped him heal his wounds and when the doctor came to check on the sick boy, he was surprised at how much he recovered. He inferred that Maria was very good in medical aid and would be very useful as his assistant. Since the doctor treated Maria like she was important, Maria fell in love with the doctor, even though he already had a wife and daughter.

Finally, let's talk about Aya's mother. Aya's mother was very sick and weak some time before her death. She loved Aya's father very deeply. However, she became very suspicious and angry that he was spending too much time with Maria. She thought of Maria as someone he "picked up from the streets". One day, in front of the laboratory door, Aya's mother overheard Aya's father talking to Maria about turning Aya into a doll. Yes, a doll. He wanted to preserve Aya's beauty for ever. Now can you guess?

Father: "No matter. She must remain safe. After all, she is my most precious...

.

.

.

.

.

.

doll."

Naturally, Aya's mother was very angry that he could do such a thing to their daughter. She stormed into the laboratory and confronted Aya's father. Aya's father did not want to listen and said something along the lines of not letting her getting into his way and eventually killing her by strangling her. He told Maria to keep the murder a secret and to tell Aya that her mother died because of her illness.

And that was the truth that Aya's mother showed her with the last of her power. Aya was brought to her senses and backed away from her father. She bumped into a huge glass container draped over with a large piece of cloth. The piece of cloth fell off and inside the glass container was a body that was scientifically created by Aya's father that resembled Aya's mother. Aya was scared and her father realised that she knew the truth. He did not bother trying to hide the fact that he wished to turn her into a doll. He even asked her what dress she would like to wear when she became a doll.

Thus, Aya ran away, while her father chased after her with his trademark chainsaw, saying, "アーヤー....　どこにいるのかな..." Aya~~ doko ni iru no ka na? (Aya, where are you~?) Basically you run away from him. To get the good ending, you go to Maria's room and read her diary. Then she will save you just in time when mad scientist caught up with you and was about to kill you. If you did not do that, Maria will not save you and you will die, rather to be more specific, turned into a doll.

If you manage to get the good ending, the sweet boy from before makes an appearance again. This time, he tells you that he has to burn the house down so as to ensure that things like that do not happen again. Aya understands and he kisses Aya's forehead (Kyaaa~) and says, "May you be smiled upon." Apparently, that is a small "magic trick" that Aya's mother used to use when Aya was sad. Then, Aya and Maria run away from the burning house. The sweet boy asks for a favour, and that is to remember him, and all he people who have suffered in the hands of her father. All of those people have existed once in life before, only to be ruined by her father. Most of them do not have relatives and if even Aya forgets them, they will be forgotten forever.

While running away from the burning house, Aya finds a book on the ground. She picks it up, and according to sources, it was the book that Aya did not dare read when she was a child because it had disgusting images. It turns out to be the book that Aya's father read that taught him how to turn people into dolls...

A few years later, Maria and Aya go to a rural area and set up a clinic that offers patients free check-ups. At their door was a young girl with beautiful eyes who was apparently sick enough to have her doctors lose faith in her recovery. Since Aya does not charge her patients any money in check-ups, she welcomes the girl into her clinic. The girl lies on the examination bed and closes her eyes. Aya comments that she has very beautiful eyes and gives the girl an injection. Then, the camera focuses on Maria which was at a corner room in the clinic.

She said, "It seems, doctor, that Aya has turned out like you. I presume it runs in the family..."

About what happened, I will leave it to you decide and infer for yourself, though it is quite obvious. And as a side note, the man named Ogre was seen talking to the fallen father. He asked him if he wanted to come along with him, and that he (Ogre) would provide him all the resources to continue his research. Heh. So much for being a good guy that allowed Aya to save one of her parents...

Finally, at a bonus scene, it is revealed that Aya's father has indeed continued his research under Ogre. He scientifically created a body similar to Aya's... and that she will be brought into the world soon...

Hmm... If you ask me for my thoughts... I would say that this is a relatively good game, except that the good ending... is not that good after all. Unlike Ib which I have played before, this game offers no true happy ending, while in Ib, you get endings like a promised reunion with Garry. In this game, however, it is enchantingly dark. It has all the elements to make you feel the loss and the de ja vu and the sinking feeling that hope is all lost when you see the grown up Aya turn out to be like her father. There, I said it. She turned out like her father and ended up as a killer who turned people into dolls. Hng!! Besides, it kinda gets you yearning for more, especially when you are not happy with the ending. You want to know what happens, and this aptly guides the players to the sequel, Misao. Equally haunting, the sequel is not to be missed. I shall add in that this is also rather psychological. To think that Aya is a young girl, yet she gets over her fear quickly... Quickly enough to ignore all the zombies, and mature enough to forgive Maria and understand her love for the doctor. On the way, she meets up with many people: a girl without eyes, a discriminated zombie boy, a man who could not find his head etc. But was it pure love for her father that spurred her on to continue on her quest to save her father? Or was it that from the start, Aya was destined to become like her father, not daunted by things we would consider scary, and eventually taking a liking to them. Hmm... Another game created by another genius in his own way... This game leaves you hanging, like you know... the kind of void you feel in your heart after you've been in a really good story and suddenly you realise you finished it? Yes, Mad Father is the kind of game. Don't just see the surface, see what's beyond it. That way, you will feel even more like I do. Sure, the game's obvious aspects at the surface are daunting, but what's more mysterious and nerve-wrecking is the game's psychological aspect.

Anyways, here are some pictures.

Here's the sweet boy. He was helping her from the start.

Our dear heroine, Aya.

Not sure if this is the original image, but here's a picture of Aya as a doll. 

One of the scenes from Mad Father.

Aya's father, aka Doctor or Mad Father.

This was when he turned bonkers and chased Aya around with the trademark chainsaw.
アーヤー.... どこにいるのかな....
Aya... doko ni iru no ka na...
Aya... Where are you...?

This b**ch of a doll had to stop Aya for the doctor to kill her.
COME BE WITH US...

Hardy har har... This is Maria. Am I the only one who thinks she looks scary?

This is when Maria was found on the streets.

This is Aya's mother.

This was when she came back as a spirit or something along that line.

Poor Aya reaches out for her mother...

"May you be smiled upon..."

Confession time...

This. Is. What. I'm. Talking. About.

I hope you're interested in playing this game! This is one of he few games which the Mac version was released for. So, for Mac users, you have hope! Of course, Windows players can play too...

Download Link:

Windows

Mac

Hey guys, I guess this is the end of the super long post. I hope you didn't get bored haha. My ramblings... they don't stop easily. 

I'll love chocolate and vanilla with a passion, 

<3 Mirai