UPDATE: The "Baseball" song used in this video is finally out on Spotify! Written and recorded by my brother (so it's on his spotify account, not mine): open.spotify.com/track/0hj3YHuD1XMAnf2FTk5K7D?si=cba82c78cbad4e4b Hey everyone, long time no see! Promise it won't be as long a wait until the next one. If you're looking for more cool stuff, go check out NezumiVA's channel, and/or the album I released this past Halloween! www.youtube.com/@NezumiVA open.spotify.com/album/44MSGGy3hAyvf97UyXY9wE?si=9y7aLLTiR4mpMVIpQbWk8Q I have also seen that people really liked the opening song. I'll see if we can get it up to stream somewhere as well!

I know that he said that he isn’t a big rpg guy but the moment he said the closest thing he could relate the timer to was a fnaf game, when it’s just the final fantasy ATB system, had part of my soul leave my body.

"He has your eyes. They're filled with fear." Are two absurdly powerful sentences packed with so much meaning.

Batter has some banger lines. “Don’t do that” makes me laugh every time.

37:00 Mortis Ghost did a livestream of OFF a few years back, and one delightful thing he shared was that the Judge's dialogue here is straight up just a reference to the song We Will Become Silhouettes by The Postal Service. "I'm screaming at the top of my lungs / pretending the echoes belong to someone / someone I used to know." I think the older fan translation matched the lyrics even closer.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this already, but correction about the “trial and error” door maze puzzle on the way to Dedan-the solution is that the music gets louder the closer you get to the correct door!

I always thought it was a parallel for chemotherapy, and it's scorched earth approach to purifying and cleansing the body, killing everything in an attempt to root out the cancer (Spectres, burnt elsen could also be seen as corrupted cells from the cancer growth), and the zones and stuff were just constructs of a creatively driven child personifying his own treatment which even though it means well, ends up killing him

I think you're dead on about the Queen and the Batter being manifestations of Hugo's parents. The fact that, despite The Batter seemingly being created at the start of the game, the Queen talks as if she always knew him. Even the "he has your eyes".

When I played OFF as a teen, I'd always assumed the "Burnt" had something to do with consuming sugar, like a side effect or something. After all, the sugar comes from *burning* corpses, and the majority of "Burnt" you fight are in the sugar factory. I have no idea how well this interpretation actually holds up, though.

a note on the sketchy style of the sprites: this happened because all the sprites were originally drawn on paper! they were then downscaled and outlined with hard pixels to keep in line with the whole pixel art style. scans of the original sketches are widely available online and its great to see them in their full glory. mortis ghosts hatching style really stands out in hd. additionally all the art of zacharie with wings and a sword also comes from concept art mortis ghost made

How different indie game characters deal with threats Undertale: talk to them Omori: the power of friendship OFF: you have lost your kneecap privileges

the anthony fantano parody segment is so insanely well done its crazy. you somehow got all the mannerisms and line deliveries from melon perfectly. major kudos.

Pablo's sad meows...awh And while Batter isn't Hugo's father, I think he's definitley connected. He may just be a figure that reminds Hugo of his father with the baseball theme, or represents his (and possibly his mom's as well) resentment towards a father who is out of the picture now- may that be from personal choice or his death that Hugo didn't understand.

As someone who played OFF before the....homestuckening, I will say that there was a fan base, but it was definitely more broad and encompassed Yume Nikki, Space Funeral, Ib and the like. It was just generally accepted if you liked one, you'd like the others and it was fairly common to see the main characters from each game in art together. After the homestuckening, it seemed like that sort of close knit, quiet fandom got shot out the airlock. There was more fan content, but it was all OFF all the time, and it made me want to interact with it less due to my own personal fallout with Homestuck at the time. I am glad so many people appreciated OFF, but I feel bad for all the other indie horror titles left behind. Also re: Zachary with wings - I thought there were concept art of Zachary with wings back when Mortis was kicking around the idea of him as a protag? Or maybe that's a mush of fandom goo, but I do remember there were sketches in an official capacity. And with that kinda encouragement, I'm not surprised it was a huge hit. I remember the Zach fixation being A Thing.

This game definetly deserves a fandom revival!! Thank you so much for covering this game!

1:12:46 actually, zacharie was planned to be a boss for the game and mortis ghost's concept art for his boss fight is where the fan concept of him wielding wings and a sword comes from! i think its 99% likely that zacharie was intended to be the toad king's slayer

This is more of a headcanon than a theory, I think, but I like to think that Zachary was Sugars puppeteer, he fell in love with the world so much that he somehow found a way into it.

The RPGmaker industry is PACKED with gems: -Hello Charlotte -ENDROLL -OMORI -Wadanohara And The Great Blue Sea -Yume Nikki -.flow -Midnight Train -OFF -OneShot -LiSA -Ao Oni -Ara Fell -Pocket Mirror -Mad Father -Angels of Death And so, SO many more. Thank you for peeking into RPGmaker. It's legit a goldmine of good content 0v0

I think I actually appreciate the fact that off gives you no choice in your actions (when compared to undertale). On one hand we see ourselves as the only truly autonomous agents within a game. We are the puppeteer. We are in control of the batter, who is simply a vessel for us to exert ourselves onto the world. But when we are chastised by the judge at the end of game, we use our lack of control as a way to absolve ourselves of responsibility for our actions; placing the blame on what was supposed to be our puppet. While undertale examines the choices we make to experience all the content of the game; off examines the way we set aside our morality in the absence of choice.

So after playing this game back in 2011, this was my takeaway from it that I don't think I've ever really seen anyone else feel. I always felt like Hugo was a terminally ill child, and the characters of the Batter, the Player and the Judge respectively were the ID, the EGO and the SUPEREGO of Hugo's father, trying to make the impossibly tough choice of taking his child off life support and destroying the world Hugo built up in his mind, which had been slowly being burnt out and eradicated due to his illness. One thing I noticed is that when you put the game on auto, and left the Batter to his own devices, he would never heal even though he had healing options available. He was just hyper focused on his mission at the cost of anything else. The Judge was more emotional and structured in his dialogue, and also showed grief at the death of a family member. To me the final battle was the inner struggle of the player trying to choose between a mercy killing, spawned by a cold and calculated take on what could be done further, or to side with the conventionally morally right choice and let Hugo exist, even if the world was now barren and desolate and painful. A few other takeaways that I haven't quite placed: I always saw Dedan's coat and no-nonsense attitude as traits of a doctor, Enoch as a Candy Striper, and Hugo literally talks about seeing a bird in his window as his friend. The fight with the queen represented the quarreling between Hugo's parents in this tough situation and illustrated their divorce (especially using the initial translation). I dunno, I just wanted to place out some of the theories that had been kicking around in my head for the past decade about this game. Great video

7:00 Somebody has probably already said this, but it's called "active." If using the menu causes the battle to pause, that's called "wait." At least, that's how the Final Fantasy series has always referred to the classic styles of turn-based battles. The system is called ATB, active time battle. It refers to the gauge each character has to fill up before they can take a turn.

A pleasure to be involved with this video, it came out fantastic! Thanks for having me aboard. 💜

It’s understated just how kind interesting and mind blowing the story is in this game it makes it one of my favorite games.

Is nobody going to mention how amazingly the intro is edited and put together along that absolute bop

OFF is such a gem. One of the few games that truly deserve a revival.

I never used the Auto function, but I think given the twist in general that it makes a LOT of sense that the auto is overpowered. The game is more fun if you're not using it for certain, but it definitely seems like an intentional design choice that auto is very competent, especially given you're warned about using it at the very beginning because of how it won't hold back

Amazing video! I didn't expect to be in here, but it's an honor to be mentioned. (And yes, it's Tan black 😂) OFF is an absolutely fantastic game and to this day I still find it hard to find another game that will provoke the same feelings and immersion.

Anyone at all talking about OFF in the year of our lord 2022 is astonishing. Thank you so much for this. This is one of those games I can't forget about, even after all these years.

The individual who translated OFF to English goes by Quinn K. now, and they released 3 RPGMaker games this year! Highly recommend checking them out!

One thing I feel like a lot of people miss with those number puzzles is that they too are part of the atmosphere. The puzzles in OFF make you write down nonsense phrases, strange words, and most of all numbers. You end up with these weird notes that look like they were written by a crazy person. You're part of the strange, unsettling madness of this world as you navigate it- your own notes prove that. By brute forcing the puzzles you miss out on that. (I noticed you brute forced the flesh maze too. The secret to that puzzle is actually the audio, you're meant to stand at the edge of the doorways and listen for when the music becomes louder.)

I'm so glad to see a creator talk about off. It's such a fantastic little masterpiece in so many ways and that soundtrack is so nostalgic. Hearing it patches into some strange feeling in my heart. You've brought back some great nostalgia for me dude

I have not played this game, but while you explained the story it sounded a lot to me like a metaphor for a child with cancer’s body and how they’d perceive their illness, and their real life influencing how they perceive it all. Each off switch representing the failure of a organ, etc. If I’m wrong tho that’s totally fine lol, this game looks really cool, and as usual another amazing retrospective! I don’t follow many KZfaq channels, but you can guarantee I’m subscribed to Sagan and Nezumi and will always be there when their videos release!

Using FnaF world as the timer battle system example instead of like, FF or Chrono Trigger made me feel so old.

I think the more clear connection to be made with OFF's metacommentary about "Yo maybe killing things sucks" is actually _Dark Souls_ of all things, despite there being no evidence that FROM or Miyazaki ever took inspiration from it. Particularly in the first game where on the main path you're mislead through a quest to slay the old gods and rekindle the first flame, except nobody tells you that at the end you must commit suicide via self-immolation to do so, and it's left up to interpretation if that's actually the right thing to do as it only prolongs the existence of the world you left in ruins, a world that was already ruined before you even arrived on the scene. In contrast, the Artorias of the Abyss DLC brings up the consequences of the other ending. Should you chose the Darkwraith ending and let the fire fade, you lead the world into an age of darkness. We see what that does to people in the DLC areas. They sprout horrific growths and return to a primal state. The other choice is to become a Darkwraith as seen in the main game, knights of death whose only purpose is to steal the humanity from other humans. So either way, you're led through a post-apocalyptic world, killing bosses on no other pretense than "Well someone told me to," and either way you kill the SAME bosses. Your only choices in the outcome are at the end, to either blindly prolong this world's current awfulness, or purposefully send it down a literal path to darkness, somewhat similar both endings of OFF. I think these games have a very interesting connection in that way, and even though there's no chance Miyazaki even knew OFF existed during the development of Dark Souls, I think he and Mortis came to very similar conclusions when trying to criticize their respective genres. What makes it so easy for you to just blindly follow orders until the end? Because it's fun? Is this really your idea of fun? Arduous journeys through miserable places _killing_ things? Things that are simply going about their business when you arrive? Of course there's fun to be had with these games, they still want you to play and enjoy them. Abusing your audience is rarely ever successful (the only successful case I can think of is Pathologic, but even then it rewards you for being invested,) but it's still fascinating how similar the approach from these two developers was.

Some obscure information: The one Hugo calls Papa is "Elsen the scientist". The Batter is possibly based on the antagonist of the anime Paranoia Agent.

As someone who has been working on the OFF Animation for over a year now, it has been amazing to see just how many talented people have joined the team and been so much help to the process and MAINLY Tanblaque who is one of the most hard working people I have ever met and watching them working and seeing them do a majority of everything themselves is so amazing and they are so talented! They have improved so much and glad they can relax a bit with all the amazing help we got! And I really appreciate you giving them and the OFF Animation a spotlight in your video it means so much to see my friends be appreciated!!! And promise we're working on it and making it really amazing! 🥰

Nezumi said they were 26 and have basically a foot in the grave in regards to fandom and I related to that *deeply* you have no idea. I remember commenting on ManlyBadassHero's video and responding to comments talking about their theories on the plot and what it all meant and symbolized. I particularly liked the parallel that was made with the final room (segmented corridor leading to a larger room) and the human nervous system (everything leading to the spine, that leads to the brain) as well as the idea of the Batter being actually some sort of medicine.

People drew Zacharie with wings because of some official Mortis Ghost art. I used to be kinda known on Tumblr for my OFF fanart

Spoiler warning. Man, I remember the first time I went back to a zone I purified, and my first thoughts were "oh my god there are distant screams for help and super strong flesh babies". Still some of the most creepy stuff I've ever witnessed.

YES I THINK THE OFF FANDOM MIGHT GET REVIVED BY THIS VIDEO!!!!!!! I adore everything about this world, from the magenta plastic labyrinths to the sketchy monstrosities to the... weirdly cozy feeling of that one void house in Zone 3. The Meaning of His Tears and Avatar Beat are absolute perfection, and all the character designs are sick. Man, I LOVE Mortis Ghost's style, especially how he shades the Burnts. Huge kudos to Vinny Vinesauce for playing this game and exposing me at a young age to a world of sugar corpses and mall whales, as well as to everybody involved with this monumental video! (Seriously the entire OFF fandom thanks you profusely this shall be our beacon of life)

I had kind of a more "literal" interpretation of Off. The Batter goes along all the way saying how you're purifying things, but you're actually just destroying everything and making everything worse, you're not actually purifying anything. So the idea I took from it was: Nothing is ever actually Pure (like, being good enough, fitting into an ideal of perfection). So if a person starts to reject and destroy (attack) everything they don't like (their own life, other people or things, social groups, fixing situations with violence) they're not just not accomplishing anything good, but actively making the world worse for everyone, and being left with nothing. So like, the Batter is trying to force his ideal of the world on everyone else, caring about nothing else and prefering a false nothingness over imperfection. But the imperfect world was better than the pure world. The idea of perfection (purity) was destructive. All the imagery, along with the elements (smoke, plastic, metal, meat, sugar) and how they come to be makes me think of a social commentary on extremist ideas (political, religious etc) and the modern world, how it's riddled with badly justificated discrimination, war, dehumanization and pointless hate and violence because some people care more for their own ideals of how the world should be and don't care for the damage they do. Yeah not a perfect interpretation. Another one could be how as long as you live you can improve things or have something but death is a permanent empty end and thus dumb.

Hell yes, Off is one of those cornerstone games that inspired a generation like yumi nikki did, glad to see you cover it

Just looking at the game’s aesthetic I can definitely see how it inspired Undertale.

Are we not gonna talk about how Sagan confused an SNES controller with a PS1 controller at 41:26?

I was just genuinely hoping he would eventually say "And just like that, we beat Off"

Off is definitely one of those games that deserve more attention

The horror isn't Elsen's miserable societies--it's the fact that the alternative is even WORSE

the thing that saved OFF combat from ruining the game is Pepper Steak playing as a battle theme

I haven't even heard of this game until now and I absolutely love it. The music is super good and I really love the artstyle, this is definitely up there with Undertale and Yume Nikki

OFF was a huge influence on my story telling style, art, and word building, and I'm happy to see it being brought up again. I have to say I protest the implication that most of its fans were there because they were waiting for homestuck to update, I wasn't and countless others appreciate it for its incredibly unique style and story

Ahhh such a great video!! I remember when OFF was just all over tumblr back in the day, and seeing it everywhere back when I was rly into homestuck when I was like 13ish. So many memories while also learning a lot of the stuff I never knew as I never actually played the game, but heard it offhand from my friend. Anyway great video !

zacharie TRANSED MY GENDER at the age of 11 and nothing has been the same since in all seriousness though, thank you to both you and marcie for covering this game! i have a very close history with it, its been a comfort game for a decade now. hell, i cosplayed valerie mask zacharie on the last day of ninth grade with a mask made from poster board and tights covering the eye holes. ive always seen the game as more unpopular (especially nowadays, it was popular on tumblr in the early 2010s. iykyk), so the fact that two of my favourite youtubers covered my favourite game at this time of year really felt like an early xmas present :-)

29:13 I don't know if anyone's mentioned this yet but this puzzle isn't trial and error, it's a Lost Woods type puzzle. The music will sound louder near the correct doorway.

I really wish you had given felixthejudge a mention. I know you gave his fangame HOME a shoutout at the end but I still think it deserved more than a brief mention considering how much the community cherishes it. Unfortunately he passed a few years ago from a car accident and games like oneshot and most off fan games attribute and mourn him. He had a much bigger impact on the rpgmaker scene than you’d realize. Rest in peace, Arin “Felix” Mullins 🎩 🐱

Man, what a throwback. I can't ever forget how fun of a time it was when everyone was getting into OFF, it was such a novel and intriguing world that got introduced to us.

You managed to make something so reminiscent of Alias's music and vocal style with that opening song, and it sounds great!

I actually quite like the fighting portion of the game. It's satisfying. The process of "purification" and slowly ridding the zone of spectres, even if no matter how many you kill there will always be one more. I like fighting the spooky ghosts.

Love to see more appreciation of one of my favorite horror games. I hope this video encourages more people to check out the game

Something I found interesting in the game is how the guardians describe the batter, thinking to myself that the batter didn’t fit that description. That is until the end of the game.

As for someone who's special interest is OFF and OFF fangames (Especially CSRverse), this makes me extremely happy that off is getting even the speck of spotlight. The game has such lovable soundtrack, art, and game-play that effected me on how i see what counts as "horror / surreal." As much as i love making cute art as a artist, i also adore making horror art that is especially inspired by how OFF takes the melancholy feeling on some of the songs and art (even with un-familiarity) and warps it at the end of the game when everything is too late. im so hopeful that this fandom might get revived again! This video truely explained of what OFF is truely is. My favorite character is Enoch, The guardian and boss of zone 3, since he's a character that was rushed and didnt had enough spotlight like Dedan and Japhet. His character is fantasizing to see the comparison from when you first met him in zone 3 and when later you take the place as hugo, helping him out of the hole. i could gush about the guardians all day but i'll wrap that up by saying make sure that you look *closely* of the way they form their words and they way they act. Even with the game's flaws, it's something that i and many others cherish this game and get inspired by it's wonderfully written story. im a big nerd of RPG games and Puzzles, along with it's strangely beautiful art. OFF is one of those gems that has it's own charm with that nostalgic yet surrealistic feel. thanks for making this game and shinning a light to the game itself.

I'm so happy this came across my recommended, OFF is one of my favorite games and I still listen to the soundtrack to this day, Avatar Beat is one of my faves ☺️ edit: the way the Elsens describe the elements like "if we didn't have smoke, we'd have no air to breathe" reminded me of a essay I wrote in the 4th grade talking about the body structure in that same way, if we didn't have bones our body would have no structure and we would be limp, if we didn't have muscles we'd be a pile of skin and bone, etc. Just recognize that now and thought it was kinda cool

Each retrospective gets more and more unique and fun to watch, this channel is honestly so cool

me clicking on this video, mildly curious: oh hey, i remember this game, i used to be really deep in the fandom, what, a decade ago? i barely remember any of it me, the instant i hear pepper steak: [suddenly experiences every human emotion in a single moment]

Finding out where the Zacharie mask comes from after years and years of occasionally peaking into different fandoms felt like getting slapped in the face

One of my favorite childhood games that also made me feel depressed. Definitely a master piece of it's time

41:28 Who's gonna tell em that's not a PS1 controller

Putting this here for me and anyone else interested. OFF Inspired (fan) games: - Home (The Judge's perspective) - Suits, A Business RPG (Business perspective, might be an Elsen's perspective) - Hello Charlotte (You puppet Charlotte in an OFF inspired game)

Wow, this is the best video about OFF that I have ever watched. First of all, I highly appreciate you giving the creators the support and love they deserve while also being honest about the gameplay flaws. I get OFF isn't for everyone, but from a narrative and aesthetic standpoint, you have to admit that it inspires a lot of people. Second, I really liked your interpretations of OFF's story. To be honest, I think every interpretation is right. OFF is one of those games were there's no correct or wrong answer; it's all based on the view of the player who controls the batter. As you pointed out, the game is a satire for how we play video games and makes fun or light of the consequences as you play in a world outside of your own. Because of that, there's really no right or wrong answer to the game's story. If it's a game that's a satire on video games, it makes sense for the story to be ambiguous and for you, the player, to interpret. After all, you are the puppeteer, you get to control the protagonist and how you view the game's world. Even so, there are some obvious themes such as cancer, climate change, religion, etc. I do agree in that those themes are meant to tie onto the satire of the game, but at the same time, I feel as if its a way to lead you into some conclusion as the player. A video game has to have some theme to make beating the game satisfying, right? If so, why not add some controversial themes to make the game's world more interesting, instead of just a satire. It's funny because that just adds onto the satire of playing a video game for a story and narrative. I won't let my thoughts go too crazy in this comment, after all, OFF is in my top 5 favorite games of all time with the MOTHER series and Persona 5 Royal beating it. I'm just so happy that OFF is getting more recognition lately and people like you are giving it the justice it deserves. I loved learning about the inspirations of OFF and how the silent hill inspirations made so much sense. I'm surprised OFF wasn't inspired by MOTHER either, since the batter reminded me of Ness right away, but as an older version of him. I also have parallels with OFF and The Binding Of Isaac, since both focus on a child as the main focus along with heavy religious themes. Games like Omori are obviously inspired by OFF as well, mainly with the de saturated colors for the sprites and the dark themes. Lastly, I want to point out how much I love Zacharie, because let's be honest, he was the Sans archetype before Sans existed. Zacharie is also in my top 5 favorite characters of all time and I could go on all day about why I love his character outside of his personality quirks and fourth wall breaks. I do agree that UnderTale did the theme of OFF a lot better with the genocide route, but even so, OFF has its own charm to it that UnderTale can't replicate. I wish the gameplay of OFF was better too, but we can't have everything from a late 2000's RPG maker game. Thank you for reading my thoughts and I'm very happy that OFF is taking on a new role within the world of fandoms. I'm happy to see it more well known, even if its little by little. This video was outstanding and summarized a lot of what people thought about the game. I enjoyed learning new things about the game I didn't know about either. To anyone else who reads this, I hope you find my comment interesting!

the out-of-bounds elsen mentioned at 52:51 is referring to the one at the top right at 20:54. he has weird dialogue only present in the english translation where he points out the fact that he's inaccessible and then says "help dismal find his fruit cup." don't think anyone really knows what it means oh yeah and this video was really good! thank you for covering one of my favorite games of all time :)

33:19 “What I assume is the park” bro, it says it *right there*

One of my favorite games of all time, always love when OFF gets videos made out of it

Man, I remember when I first subscribed two years ago, your videos were well edited and well scripted collages of screenshots and gameplay/video parts, BUT NOW, WITH ALL THE MUSIC AND COSTUMES AND DEDICATED SCENES, AWWW MAN It is amaizing, and I’m so glad to see you grow not just as a content creator, but as an ARTIST. Keep it up! All the love ❤️

God, I haven't thought about OFF in so long. one of the few rpg style games I had the will to finish, the story, art, and music mesh so good.

Quick little idea: The Batter is a Vessel for the Player, so his existence is a bit weird which let's him equip Add-Ons for some more order. The idea is that The Queen is a Vessel for Hugo, which is why she also gets Add-Ons. The reason they talk like they know each other is because they're both vessels for greater powers. They're literally info-dumping for The Players sake.

The OFF OST is such a great experience. Silencio gives me chills when it pops up

It is a very dark game, where the two main choices the game gives you in its duration are between a "special ending" and an "official ending" at the very end. It's definitely a more inherently bleak game if you look into it. That last choice, even if you make the "correct" one by the Judge's standard, is possibly even worse than just siding with the batter at that stage. It also falls into a question of how much you believe in the idea that there are fates "worse than death." Siding with the judge, you see him basically forever to wander what remains of the world alone. There's no one left. Even the Batter, once you get to the queen, describes it as something of a failure. His conversation with the queen is the most personal he speaks, and he only mentions such pessimistic perspectives and a defeatist attitude when he has all but succeeded that vague goal. It feels like the part we get the most of him personally, and that might lend itself to the sudden narrator. He takes some control back to speak. This "crusade" he was on was likely not entirely of his own volition, instead an experiment that he saw through to it's completion. "Now because of you, I must complete my sacred duty" is not something someone who WANTS to do that sacred duty says. Yet at that stage, where all the guardians have fallen, and what little remains, is it hopeless to recover? Is there anything left to do besides turn in for the night? What is more painful? Turning to a base survival instinct to prolong life, no matter the futility or suffering, or embrace a dreamless sleep? Of course, your final meta analysis answers the third choice the player has. Do nothing. The batter is only pushed to end everything by the actions of the player playing the game. It is up to the player to decide when it's over. When the world is locked in a resting stasis. The earlier on, the better the hope that the world has for the time it is OFF. It is fulfilled, everyone. The guardians preside over a sleeping world, the apocalypse is pushed back. Even the Elsen. Do they have to work, function, deal with the specters, all of that? No, they are resting when the game is OFF. They aren't facing any distinct trouble. But then we loop back around to a question of whether or not that's better or worse than actual death. Yet, given the only alternative is a straight drop of hope ON TOP of death, it's more ethical likely.

This is the best Sagan Hawkes video… I wasn’t expecting Homestuck, NezumiVA, Danganronpa, and Evangelion to be brought up.

I played OFF when I was 15-16. It is, to this day, still an experience I think back on and think deeply about almost nine years later. It was one of the first pieces of media I took in that really morphed the way I looked at life.

A video involving both Sagan Hawkes and NezumiVA!! I’m so excited!!!

I totally thought papyrus looking like dedan and napstablook's theme sounding like peppered steak was a coincidence. Oh man that's neat

Man. I don't really remember much of my brief playthrough of OFF as a kid, except how heartbroken it made me. Watching this video reminded me of precisely why I felt that way.

41:27 "on a playstation 1 controller" Oh my sweet lord the times really are changing

*I love when OFF said "It's inspirin' time!" snd inspired all over the Undertale. Truly one of the inspirations of all time.*

This production quality is fucking mint!! Thanks for keeping me company while overcoming my first stomach flu (its terrible but this makes it tolerable)

i was not expecting vinny's "glup shitto" i nearly spat out my water

Thank you for this!! In particular, thank you for doing an expansive community section by getting contributions from a peer - some people would leave it at "I wasn't there, so I dunno about that", and I appreciate the extra work of reaching out and getting more perspective. This video rules. Also, thank you for the game recommendations!

came for the hour and a half long analysis of one of the most influential pieces of media for my creative output as an artist, stayed for the -insanely well done anthony fantano bit- thorough, engaging essay breaking down the themes and meta commentary giving me even more insight on a game i thought i knew in and out. this was an amazingly well crafted video, and i can't thank you enough for the work you did on it!

I found out about it from watching Mark's playthrough. IT became an instant favorite, and I miss this game's fandom and the excitement that surrounded it so much. I can play the game whenever I want, which is nice. But it isn't the same having far fewer people behind it. Truly an excellent game, even with its faults. So glad you decided to do a video on it, even though it's over a decade old and past its prime. Hell, I'm excited to see anything about it these days. Great work, I really enjoyed this video :] P.S. When I was doing a bit of comparing between OFF and Undertale to a friend of mine, they argued against me, roughly saying that there were very few comparisons to be made at *most*. I really have no idea why they thought that, but...ok. Couldn't get them to see it, but oh well.

I LOVE ALIAS CONRAD for making the OFF OST, i really do

they way it's kept kind of iffy as to whether or not Batter intends to wipe out worlds up until the "It's better this way" line hits so hard

NO WAY i just found your channel yesterday, have been binging, then you drop a retrospective on one of my fave games? absolute legend

Thank you so much for covering this game! Literally one of my favorite RPGs of all time, and I'd love to see more eyes on it again.

so happy this game is getting more recognition even though it's been so long. been one of my favorites for years and im still actively in the community. just subscribed 👍

So glad to see an analysis of one of my favorite games. I'd love to see you cover Fran Bow, Ib, and Darkwood.

I'm not really sure why but the (misstranslated?) line "Killing Wife and Child" has been permenantly Spot welded into my brain matter

this is so exciting, i adore all of your videos and the work that goes into them. off meant a lot to me in 2013 (the og fandom revival) so this means a lot to me also!

If it makes you feel any better Sagan, this is probably the best video you've made. It's definitely my favourite at least.

30:58 By the way, I believe Mortis Ghost once said that the Secretaries are what the Guardians were keeping out, and without them, they killed all of the Elsen. This also explains how there is a sole survivor of the Sercretaries’ attack in the form of the only resident of Bismark’s shelters that didn’t either leave or burn, because, as they say, the safehouse kept them safe, and now the Secretaries will keep them safe from anyone else trying to come get them so long as they just stay inside. 31:47 Also, the French version says (in French obviously) “The Merchant” instead of “The Masked Man”, which makes it very clear that this masked merchant was 100% Zacharie, especially when you consider that, prior to taking over as The Judge while Pablo looks for Valérie (RiP), Zacharie is always seen wearing a mask of a toad.

i'm sure my icon makes it evident, but OFF is a very important game to me and has been a big part of my life for a long time. excited for its oncoming revival, and to welcome new fans of the game into the fandom with open arms 🖤

Oh God, I remember when I was deep into my Amino phase and helped run a dead OFF Amino with some people who I only knew as Catcher (an OC of theirs) and Zacharie (he was eerily like Zacharie even outside of RP)