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I started this game years ago, but deleted it shortly after making some progress. Now I've got the itch to pick it up again! Here's an overview of what I remember:
The title screen is entirely red text on a black background, with messages making reference to a mannequin.
The protagonist is a silent girl who wakes up in a deep cave, with no explanation, backstory, or tutorial; it just drops you into gameplay. The girl gets up and begins to leave the cavern, fighting off bats with her sword and opening treasure chests (I forget what their contents were). Along the way out, a side path leads to an empty room... except it's not empty, since there's a spirit present! It longs for a physical body, a request the protagonist is happy to grant.
Think Dragon Quest for the overworld; a wide-open tile map, with overworld enemy encounters. Once the girl gets to the nearby town to figure out what to do next, another girl greets her and prompts the player to go explore the town. The town shop, in particular, leads to some equipment purchasing... and some surprise plot! There's a mannequin in the corner of the shop — a perfect match for the spirit! But it's too expensive, so to take it off the shopkeep's hands, the girl accepts an offer to kill a monster in a nearby cave.
Fast-forward past the dungeon-exploration, and the girl makes it to the bottom of the cave... to find another girl there, tense for a fight, too! That girl prompts to join forces with the player, then urges the player to turn around and purchase some Fire Arrows from the shop. Fire's the boss's weakness, you see! One boss fight later, and the girls emerge from the cave, provide the spirit her new mannequin body, and find the town greeter girl again.
The four of them discuss the fact that they're on an island away from the mainland (a fact the protagonist doesn't appreciate, since she's pretty lost and all). To get back, they discuss two options. There's buying and using a "Teleport" scroll, and earning the "Portal" skill by defeating a certain overworld enemy.
(Laconic: Lost girl fights her way out of a cave, then goes out of her way to give a spirit a physical body.)
Combat is similar to Earthbound Beginning's mechanics, though with a suitable background Dragon Quest-style and some left-right scrolling in the field to show up to 5 enemies at a time.
I've tried off-site to look for this game here: https://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmyjoystick/comments/4pqqcz/pc2013_nesesque_rpg/
But it's probably better to ask here, since I'm 99% sure I followed a link from a Trope/Work page. I'd appreciate any ideas/extra questions!
EDIT: Found it! The title's "red". You can view it here, if you'd like: http://vault.digitalmzx.net/show.php?id=2032
Edited by IndigoWare