The Three Forbidden Books trilogy is a trilogy of Explorer Horror games by Nama, creator of the Purgatory (RPG Maker) series. Unlike most titles of the genre, the setting is akin to a typical fantasy RPG world with swords and sorcery.
Long ago, the world was ruled by the God of Nihility and the demons that served it, until a brave heroine rose and slayed the God. Now, the demons have scattered around the world. It is said that there are Three Forbidden Books which hold great power, and the demons seek them out for their own evil purposes.
Three Forbidden Books: -EINS-
is the first game in the series (though the second chronologically), taking place in the Uldra continent. The Hassinghador Kingdom, the largest country in the continent, has been experiencing unusual activity like large numbers of wolf attacks, and is asking for heroes and mercenaries to take care of the threats. Somewhere in the dead of night, Ains Milan, a strange white-haired demon girl who is one of the Seven Emperors (a group of demons who fight to protect humanity from the God of Nihility's forces), is doing her usual duty of demon-slaying when she runs into Rahd, the infamous Black Demon-God who has killed countless humans and seeks revenge on the Seven Emperors for driving it from the underworld. After a battle ensues, the Demon-God explains that it is after a "certain human" who will allow it to fully take control of the Tenebris, an Ancient Artifact it has come under possession of, and flees.
The next morning, Eins, a Little Red Riding Hood-like girl who lives in the Hassinghador Kingdom, goes to visit her grandma, only to run into Rahd, who tries to capture her. She is rescued by Ains, who asks Eins to go throughout the world and fetch three things for her- a Sunstone from the desert, Experimental Data from an abandoned research facility, and a Magicite from the forest. As it turns out, Eins is the "certain human" the Demon-God seeks, and holds the key to unlocking the Tenebris, and if it succeeds, it will wipe out the entire continent. But unlike Ains, Eins is no combat expert and has to rely on her wits to survive. Eventually meeting the mercenary Dakt Sheny and the strange Red-Haired Man among others, Eins must survive, for the entire fate of Uldra now rests in her hands.
The game is followed by a prequel, Three Forbidden Books -Book-, starring demonic librarian Lafia Iidia as she goes on a journey to travel the world and find the Books. Unlike -Eins-, -Book- is a more traditional fantasy Eastern RPG where you take control of your party and use attacks, spells, items, and such.
Three Forbidden Books -Stone-, the sequel, is still in production.
This trilogy contains examples of:
- A Taste of Power: You start off controlling Ains Milan, who has millions in HP and can easily kill anyone she comes across, for the brief prologue. Afterwards you switch to Eins, a girl with only 5 HP and no method of attack, for most of the rest of the game, which switches back to more traditional "explore the spooky area and avoid the scary monsters" gameplay.
- Big Bad: Rahd the Black Demon-God is the leader of the demons assaulting the Uldra continent and aims to capture Eins as part of its plan to destroy the continent and take revenge on the Seven Emperors for defeating it prior.
- Bonus Dungeon: The Deserted Island {Back} and Secret Area, which can only be accessed by feeding 10 apples from the Forest to the Head and getting at least 5 Fortune Beads, respectively. Though it's downplayed in that they aren't full-fledged dungeons so much as small areas with a few rooms and extra items.
- Chekhov's Gun: The Survival Knife that can be found on a corpse in the forest goes unused for most of the area, but is pivotal to which ending you get, as Dakt can only win her fight with the Red-Haired Man if she has it.
- Don't Go in the Woods: The Forest engulfed in darkness is infested with wolves and demons, and Eins is warned to stay away from there. She refuses to go too far inside in the first part of the game, but naturally she ends up trapped there later, and it serves as The Very Definitely Final Dungeon.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: In the Normal and Good ends, just before the cutscene where the Black Demon-God is about to swipe at Eins and kill her, you can see Dakt Sheny enter the scene for a split-second, hinting at the Big Damn Heroes moment that is about to occur shortly.
- Island of Mystery: The Deserted Island, which is a small island containing a Haunted House where experiments were done involving demons. Eins has to go there in order to collect the Experimental Data for Ains, and winds up chased by demons.
- Multiple Endings: Three:
- Bad End: The Unsaved Little Girl: If you don't pick up the Survival Knife from the corpse surrounded by hatchlings in the forest, then the Red-Haired Man will kill Dakt Sheny at the end of their battle and the Black Demon-God will successfully kill Eins.
- Normal End: If you get the Survival Knife but don't have all 10 Fortune Beads, Dakt will defeat the Red-Haired Man with the knife and save Eins from the Black Demon-God; afterwards, Eins will decide to travel to another continent in order to find out more about what is going on while Ains appears in the ending to explain a bit more of the background to the player.
- Good End: If you get both the Survival Knife and all 10 Fortune Beads, the Good End plays out the same as the Normal End, but you also get The Stinger where we see Eins and Dakt arriving at the new continent and meeting a strange girl.
- One-Time Dungeon: Basically every single main area can only be explored once- afterwards, Eins will either refuse to go back or be blocked in some way.
- Permanently Missable Content: Due to every main area being a One-Time Dungeon, if you don't get all the items in one area, you will be unable to find it for the rest of the playthrough- which can lock you out of the Golden Ending that requires all 10 Fortune Beads and at least one Rope to get. In addition, clearing the Deserted Island without feeding all 10 apples to the Head will lock you out of the Deserted Island {Back}, which holds two Fortune Beads. Going past the Point of No Return will also prevent you from challenging the Demonic Worm as well.
- Plot Coupon: The Sunstone, Experimental Data, and Magicite, three items that Eins is sent by Ains to fetch for her in various corners of the world.
- Sequel Hook: In the non-Bad endings, Eins decides to travel to another continent to learn more about the Three Forbidden Books, her past self, and her destiny, among other things, while Ains Milan was last seen about to fight Rhavos and outright tells the player that the next game will reveal where she is now.
- Shifting Sand Land: Photrest Desert is the second area of the game, and mostly consist of some underground ruins haunted by giant worms and living skeletons, as well as traps. Eins has to go there to get the Sunstone for Ains.
- The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: The second part of the Forest engulfed in darkness, where the Magicite lies, is the final major area of the game. Most of it is safe, but certain areas contain giant spiders who will kill Eins if she goes near, and the portal to the final battle is in the deepest part.
- Actionized Sequel: -Eins- ie primarily an Explorer Horror game that happens to take place in a fantasy world, and while there are parts with some combat, the focus is mainly on exploration, puzzle-solving, and evasion. -Book- is a straight-up fantasy RPG with a combat system.
- Down the Drain: The second dungeon is the underpass beneath the local kingdom, which has many slimes, rats, and a poison dragon as the boss.
- The Talk: In the first village, Lafis can potentially tell a child where babies come from, as the child’s mother refuses to explain. Should Lafis do so, she goes into a very detailed explanation that is bleeped out in text, and the child is left with white eyes afterwards.
- Training Boss:
- The Sturdy Sandbag inside the staring library is a non-attacking enemy with 100 HP that Lafis can practice her moves on.
- The mandatory first enemy, the Maru, literally cannot hurt you, as its attack does 0 damage.
