Naufragar: Crimson is an RPG Maker 2003 game developed by Legacy001 in 2004. It's supposed to be the first of the Naufragar series, but the sequels were never finished.
The king of Oragibe ropes two Anethan bishops into helping with the war effort against Acir-ema, but this forces them to do something they regret. The POV cuts to Kyo, a member of a crew of mercenaries. As he tries to recover his captain's lost antique coin, he finds himself involved in the Anethan church and the Kingdom of Oragibe's conspiracy.
Can be downloaded from the Lost RPG Maker Games thread
.
This game provides examples of:
- Amnesiac Hero: Kyo doesn't remember his life before being taken in by the Blue Crest mercenaries. Some flashback cutscenes indicate he used to know Anastasia, a mysterious woman who is on the run from the Kingdom of Oragibe. He is also somehow involved with Hyo and ended up sharing a body with the latter. Near the end of the game, he loses his memories again after Hyo leaves his body.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Hyo succeeds in killing Athena and gaining the ability to move independently of Kyo.
- Big Bad: Hyo is the main antagonist of the game, since he is manipulating the party into gathering coins for him and seeks to kill Athena to absorb her life force. He claims he is responsible for the boss monsters the party encounters by using the power of the coins to revive them. He is also implied to have connections with the Kingdom of Oragibe, since he instructed Naitsabes to kidnap Jarret's sister.
- Downer Ending: The game ends with Athena dead while Hyo is at full power, having faced no consequences for killing her to absorb her life force.
- Enemy Without: Hyo and Kyo originally shared a body and Hyo spends much of the game suppressing Kyo's personality while controlling his body, but after killing Athena and stealing her life energy, Hyo leaves Kyo's body and gains his own.
- Evil Former Friend: Hyo used to be a friend of several Anethan church members, including Athena, Deliaf, and Elbram. An experiment gone wrong turns him into a sociopath who is only concerned with extending his life, and now he only sees his friends as obstacles and pawns.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The king of Oragibe ordered the experiments that drove Hyo insane, leading to Hyo being the main antagonist of the game in trying to extend his own life at the expense of others. The king is also implied to be backing Hyo, since the latter has connections to a squad of corrupt Oragibe knights.
- Hyde Plays Jekyll: This isn't immediately obvious because the game makes it seem like Hyo is only in control when the text is red, but he has actually been posing as Kyo since the latter almost drowned in Triptophia River.
- Leonine Contract: The king of Oragibe promises to help the city of Anetha out of their poverty if Bishops Deliaf and Elbram help him create supersoldiers to win the war against Acir-ema. They have no choice but to accept the deal or allow their city to fall to ruin.
- Loveable Rogue:
- Luhar is a thief, but he's a good father figure to Lance and is hospitable towards those with nowhere else to go.
- Zigzagged with Lance, who is initially friendly and humorous, but is also desperate enough to betray Athena and leave her for dead because Hyo promised to revive Luhar. However, he comes around in his next appearance and decides to side with the heroes against Hyo.
- Manipulative Bastard: Hyo plays the entire party like a fiddle to get them to find coins for him and help him extend his lifespan.
- When Lance discovers his adopted father Luhar is dead, Hyo promises to revive the latter if Lance kills Athena.
- He instructs Oragibe knights to kidnap Jarret's sister Retsi in order to make Jarret more likely to join the party in their journey to Oragibe.
- His greatest example of this is pretending to be Kyo in order to get Athena and Jarret to trust Lance, making it easier for Lance to attempt to kill Athena.
- Mask of Sanity: Hyo is normally good at impersonating Kyo's mild-mannered personality and manages to fool Jarret, who is a close friend of Kyo. However, he's murderously insane underneath the act and at one point threatens a man who seemed like he knew Anastasia.
- New Game Plus: If the player completes enough sidequests and opens enough chests, they can start a new run and carry over stats and non-key items. However, not everything is carried over, such as AP, item capacity, and money capacity.
- Parental Abandonment: Lance's parents were so poor that they he had a better chance of survival as a thief, so they left him with a local thief guild.
- Permanently Missable Content: The Jaded Woodland and Indigo Caverns cannot be revisited after the story progresses, meaning the player only has one chance to get all the treasure in those dungeons. The river obstacle course minigame in Triptophia River also only gives the player one chance to get all the treasure.
- Power Copying: Athena can copy certain enemy skills by using the Siphon command. However, the chance of successfully copying a skill is random, though the AP system can be used to increase her chances.
- Regretful Traitor: Hyo promises Lance that he'll revive the latter's adopted father Luhar, but only if Lance kills Athena. Lance attempts to do so by leaving Athena to die in battle against an ice dragon. The next time he's seen, he regrets his actions and decides to turn against Hyo.
- Skill Scores and Perks: The Fusion system allows the player to allocate AP to learn both active and passive skills, and all AP allocation can be refunded.
- The Sociopath: As a result of super soldier experiments performed on him, Hyo becomes a madman who is willing to sacrifice all his former friends in order to continue living. When Athena calls him out on hurting others for his own benefit, Hyo states that he lost the ability to care about other people's emotions. Despite this, he is good at faking kindness as he impersonates Kyo's personality to manipulate the party. He is also very arrogant and egotistical about his new powers, referring to himself as "the Absolute."
- Took a Level in Kindness: Athena starts out very self-absorbed in her status as a church clergywoman, as shown when she rudely scolds Kyo for a misunderstanding she started when she tried to question him. She becomes more hostile towards Kyo when the latter impersonates Hyo to trick her into letting him out of prison. After Hyo kills her father, she becomes more empathetic towards the suffering of others, including Lance who lost his own father figure.
- Villain Protagonist: After Triptophia River, the player is essentially controlling Hyo possessing Kyo and is subtly manipulating the rest of the party members into helping him find ancient coins and kill Athena. Only when Hyo gains the power to leave Kyo's body does the player get to properly control Kyo again.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: A military experiment turned Hyo into an immensely powerful mage, but at the cost of his sanity and conscience. This, combined with his now limited lifespan, makes him willing to kill anyone in order to gain more coins and find other ways to extend his life.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Jarret had a harsh life, being kicked out of Oragibe's knight academy for trumped up reasons and struggling to find a way to cure his sister's blindness. His luck seems to turn around when he manages to escape Anetha's prison with a magical coin that could cure his sister. Unfortunately, Hyo has the Oragibe knights kidnap his sister in order to force Jarret to give up the coin.
- Zero-Effort Boss: Rather than make the player fight an unbeatable opponent, the game makes them play as Hyo fighting Jarret and Lance. Hyo has access to the strongest spells in the game and has massive stats, meaning Jarret and Lance can't hope to win unless the player just lets the ATB run without doing anything.
