History VideoGame / SlimeForestAdventure

''Slime Forest Adventure'', or "Project LRNJ," is a [[{{Retraux}} retro-style]] [[RolePlayingGame RPG]] for [[PCVsConsole PCs]]. To win, you must learn the [[JapaneseLanguage Japanese language]]. Not your character; you, the player.

* ExcusePlot: It's something about a potato farmer and a kidnapped princess, but really, if you're playing this game for any reason other than learning Japanese, you're doing it wrong.
** A [[WordOfGod stated goal of the developer]] is to eventually make the game fun for anyone, even those with no interest in Japanese. But it still has a way to go in that regard.

* GuideDangIt: At one point, you have to mine the hills for a certain kind of rock. The author wanted each attempt at mining to trigger a random encounter, to train the player. However, it's been repeatedly established that there are no slimes in the hills. The end result is that mining while standing on a hill tile results in a generic "Nothing found" message. You have to be standing on another type of tile, ''facing'' the hill you want to mine, before you can trigger the random encounter, which you have to win in order to get your rock.
** The mining quest in general is baffling to most new players because you have to give all the items to the smith at the same time, and you need to find the tools one of which is hidden very well with no hints on how to find it.

* NoHeroDiscount: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in an interesting way. You're not actually a hero, you're a potato farmer, so there's no real reason for anyone to give you a discount.
** Also [[InvertedTrope inverted]] by the king. If you bring him some evidence that you've actually got a shot at [[SaveThePrincess rescuing his daughter]], he'll just ''give'' you an [[AnAxeToGrind axe]] to replace the [[ImprobableWeaponUser hoe]] that you've been using.

* WelcomeToCorneria: [[UpToEleven Oh, so very much]].
** In fact one person in the castle literally says "Welcome to the Castle," causing their friend to say [[LampshadeHanging "I think there's something seriously wrong with my partner."]]

* YouALLLookFamiliar: There are maybe six different sprites for {{NPC}}s, total.
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* KleptomaniacHero: There's a woman in one home who [[TalkToEveryone will tell you]] that she has just enough money to feed her six children for the winter. If you open the [[InexplicableTreasureChests chest]] next to her, you get 200 gold from it.

* KleptomaniacHero: There's a woman in one home who [[TalkToEveryone will tell you]] that she has just enough money to feed her six children for the winter. If you open the [[InexplicableTreasureChests chest]] next to her, [[UnfortunateImplications you get 200 gold from it]].

* EdutainmentGame: It's explicit purpose is to teach you Japanese. What did you expect?

* FauxlosophicNarration: Only once. In the first level of the first dungeon, when opening one particular [[InexplicableTreasureChest chest]], the text reads, "Fortune smiles upon thee, and laughs at something that's not really funny. Thou hast found the [[HealingPotion herb]]!"

* SaveThePrincess: After which, you become a member of the royal guard, which opens up more of the castle to you, and gives you the opportunity for more quests.

* SelfMadeOrphan: The Pirate's father killed his mother, so he stole his father's pistol and "[[DeadlyEuphemism sent him to apologize]]."

* WelcomeToCorneria: [[UpToEleven Oh, so very much]].

* AllJustADream: [[SchrodingersGun If you die]], it will turn out that you dreamed everything that happened since you "woke up" that morning.

** If you wait too long before playing again, the inn will charge you extra for overstaying.

* FauxlosophicNarration: Only once. In the first level of the first dungeon, when opening one particular [[InexplicableTreasureChest chest]], the text reads, "Fortune smiles upon thee, and laughs at something that's not really funny. Thou hast found the [[HealingPotion herb]]!"

* YouALLLookFamiliar: There are maybe six different sprites for NPCs, total.

* ThreeQuartersView

* CriticalExistenceFailure

* EdutainmentGame
* [[EscapeRope Escape Twine]]

* InexplicableTreasureChests

* SaveThePrincess

* TakeYourTime

* TalkToEveryone

* ThrivingGhostTown

* VideoGameGeography
* WalletOfHolding

* YouALLLookFamiliar

* {{Dronejam}}: Pretty much unavoidable with the grid-based world map.
** The whistle speeds up the random movement of {{NPC}}s for a short time, so that they get out of your way faster.

* SelfMadeOrphan: The Pirate's father killed his mother, so he stole his father's pistol and "sent him to apologize."

* FauxlosophicNarration: Only once, in the first level of the first dungeon, opening one particular [[InexplicableTreasureChest chest]], the text reads, "Fortune smiles upon thee, and laughs at something that's not really funny. Thou hast found the [[HealingPotion herb]]!"

* DiscOneNuke: The game becomes really easy if you [[spoiler:[[CaptainObvious already know Japanese]]]].

** Red slimes teach hiragana[[labelnote:*]]Unless you are playing one of the kanji-first modes, in which case, sharks teach hiragana[[/labelnote]].

[[caption-width-right:245:Feel the power of my mighty kanji![[note]][[DontExplainTheJoke The symbol in the image]] is a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji kanji character]], and it means "[[http://jisho.org/kanji/details/%E5%8A%9B power]]."[[/note]]]]

** Red slimes teach hiragana[[hottip:*:Unless you are playing one of the kanji-first modes, in which case, sharks teach hiragana]].

** Whales teach kanji [[AlternateCharacterReading kun'yomi]] readings[[hottip:*:Not really a color code, but worth mentioning]].

* ObviousBeta: But it's OK, because by the time you learn everything that's in the current version, the next update will be out.

* CharacterLevel: There is rudimentary level system in place, included mostly because it's simply expected of an [[RolePlayingGame RPG]]. The ''real'' leveling that takes place is in the player learning more Japanese.

* ShoutOut: The kanji 奇, meaning "bizarre", is written with the radicals "big" (大) and "able" (可). The hint given for it: "'[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Embiggenable]]' is a ''bizarre'' word".

[[caption-width-right:245:Feel the power of my mighty kanji![[hottip:*:The symbol in the image is a kanji character, and it means "power."]]]]
%% There appears to be a bug in the code that won't let you put links in a hottip. "The symbol in the image" should be a pothole to
%% DontExplainTheJoke, "kanji" should link to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji, and "power" should link to
%% http://jisho.org/kanji/details/%E5%8A%9B.

%% There appears to be a bug in the code that won't let you put links in a hottip in the VideoGame namespace. "The symbol in the image"
%% should be a pothole to DontExplainTheJoke, "kanji" should link to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji, and "power" should link to

** Red slimes teach hiragana[[hottip:*:Unless you are playing one of the kanji-first modes, in which case, [[EverythingsEvenWorseWithSharks Sharks]] teach hiragana]].

[[caption-width-right:245:Feel the power of my mighty kanji![[hottip:*:[[DontExplainTheJoke The symbol in the image]] is a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji kanji character]], and it means "[[http://jisho.org/kanji/details/%E5%8A%9B power]]."]]]]