Weird and Unfortunate Things Are Happening Beginner’s Guide and Tips

Game Controls

Thank you very much for playing Weird and Unfortunate Things are Happening!

入力, Space or Z: Confirm, 話す, inspect

Directional Keys: 動き

ESC or X: Cancel/Access Menu

シフト: Hold down to walk slower (or to run if Auto-Run is turned off)

S: Hold to skip text

F6: Double the game’s window size. When the screen is at it’s biggest available, F6 will return it to default size.

F5: Full Screen Mode.

Controller Support

Getting controllers to play well with RPG Maker VX Ace games can be a little finicky, and not all controller types are supported.

To set up a controller, make sure it’s connected before you start the game, and when the game window appears, press F1.

Select the tab that says “Gamepad.”

The game will ask you to input letters to corresponding gamepad buttons. Here’s a quick rundown of what each letter does:

Letter A: Hold down to walk slower (or to run if Auto-Run is turned off)

Letter B: Cancel/Menu Button

Letter C: Confirm, 話す, inspect

Letter Y: Skip Text

It may take a little trial and error to get this all working to your liking. I apologize in advance for any inconvenience; as this is one area I wish was more streamlined.

ゲーム内: 文字統計

These Stats show your characters’ growth and can be altered by changing your equipment. Here’s a rundown of what each Stat means:

攻撃力: 攻撃, or your physical power. Determines the damage to your Basic abilities.

守備: 防衛. Determines how squishy you are against basic physical attacks. The more DEF, the less damage you take.

MIND: Your brain power. Determines the damage to your own Psychic abilities.

レス: 抵抗. It’s like DEF for your soul. With more RES you take less damage from the enemies’ Psychic powers.

AGI: Determines how quickly you act each turn. Characters with high AGI act sooner. Also determines if you can run from battle.

LUK: Your luck. Characters with more luck are more likely to inflict and resist status effects.

You can find consumable items that will increase the stats of whoever you use them on. Use these wisely.

Q&A Part 1: Gameplay Stuff

“I’ve never played an RPG before. What the heck is going on?”

Out of battle, your main goal is to explore, collect items, and advance the story by finding new locations.

戦闘中, your main goal is not to die. You win by reducing the enemies’ HP to zero, you lose if all of your characters are “fallen,” meaning they have zero HP.

“I lost a battle and got a Game Over. Now I have to start back from my last save?”

はい. 幸いなことに, you can save anywhere, as long as you aren’t in a battle or cutscene (there are a couple of other exceptions, but they are super rare). So save as often as you like.

“Battles are scary. Can I run from battle?”

もちろん! Press Cancel on Alicia’s turn to bring up the Run Away option. It doesn’t always work (running is based on your team’s combined AGI versus the enemies’) but future attempts to run are more likely to succeed. The enemies will get a turn to beat you up each time you fail, しかし.

“What’s the deal with these ‘Monster Types’ ともかく?”

Every monster has an icon before its name that denotes its type. Your Basic and Psychic skills all tell what types of monsters they are good against (and not so good against). 例えば, Specter type enemies resist all basic attacks but are weak to all psychic attacks.

“Bosses and some harder monsters have that ‘Unknown’ タイプ. I wanna know their weaknesses!”

Unknown types won’t just tell you their weaknesses and resistances. You’ll have to experiment to find what works well against them. Use trial and error, and when you see that “弱さ” または “resist” text pop up, remember what sort of move you used against them and use or avoid the same type to take them down!

“I can’t take down every monster just by spamming the basic attack skill every turn? I might have to spend PSI Points?”

はい. Some enemies are going to be resistant to your basic attacks. PSI Points are this game’s version of MP. While you don’t want to waste them, you’re going to need to use them to beat certain enemies. There are items to replenish them, and each character either starts with or will acquire ways to get a few PSI points back. 例えば, Alicia regains 1 PSI point per turn, and you can buy passive abilities later that increase this amount.

“There sure are a lot of status effects in this game, aren’t there? What’s the deal with the colored boxes around them?”

The colors tell of their severity. Green effects are beneficial, such as regaining HP every turn. Yellow effects are annoying but lesser effects that can be cured with early psi powers or using a Med-Kit. Red effects are harder to cure, requiring more advanced powers or the use of the item called Wonder Drug. Purple effects cannot be cured at all and you must wait for them to go away on their own.

“Fallen” is a special status effect that applies when a character has zero HP. It can be cured by using a Seal of Life or a rare psychic power.

All status effects are removed at the end of a battle (even Fallen, characters will return to normal with 1 HP).

遊びながら, you’ll find notes that detail the specifics of each status effect.

“I’m worried about running into the Boss before I’ve explored the whole level!”

デフォルトでは, there is a Boss Warning system in place, where the game will let you know (in almost every case) that you’re near the boss. If you don’t like this feature, it can also be turned off in the System options in the menu.

“This game is too easy. This game is too hard. I want to mess around with the difficulty!”

You can change the difficulty at any time from the System options in the menu. Putting it lower makes battles easier, and putting it higher makes battles harder.

Q&A Part 2: Secrets and Known Bugs or Issues

“Does this game have secrets?”

はい.

“Can I enjoy the game/story even if I miss them?”

はい.

“What’s with the weird symbols in some characters’ スピーチ?”

That is Expanse Speak, a series of two cipher-languages that the otherworldly creatures use (or some humans, if they are chanting spells taught to them by an otherworldly creature). There are hints to decoding the vowels and some of the other letters hidden in some locations if you wish to try to crack the code and decipher it manually. There is a way to replay the game with the ciphers automatically deciphered, but that’s a secret 😉

“I wish to know the location of a secret so I don’t miss it.”

It’s not fun if I give away all the answers, but try asking the community or looking around or googling. 知るか, I may have answered them somewhere, そうでない場合は, there are bound to be people who have the answers.

あるいは, there are Let’s Plays/Streams of the game on YouTube, and some of them are very thorough.

***Known Issues***

“I pressed F12 and the game crashed.”

I’m sorry to hear that. 残念ながら, the combinations of scripts I use for this game cause that to happen. I have not found a fix yet, so all I can say is “Please don’t press F12.” I know that’s not great, but it’s all I have at this point, 残念ながら.

“まれに, some animations play at the top left of the screen instead of where they are supposed to go.”

If someone counter-attacks an enemy and it over-kills them, sometimes the animation will play in the top left of the screen. There is also one healing move that’s used as a reaction to using another move, and if it happens at the end of a battle, it will also play at the top left.

None of these cause any permanent harm or affect how battle works, but they are annoying errors I haven’t figured out how to fix at this time.

“ヘルプ! I finished a battle and UI elements from that battle didn’t go away and are stuck on the game window!”

This is another rare bug. Simply save the game, ゲームを閉じる, and start it again. The elements should be cleared. あるいは, activating another battle should remove them.

Content Warnings (some spoilers)

“おい, I hate jumpscares. Does this game have jumpscares?”

あまり. The closest this game comes is sometimes the screen will be pitch black and then the lights will turn on to show what’s going on, and that could be a little spooky. There’s also a super secret area that’s only accessible in the post-game bonus dungeon with a lightbulb, and if you keep examining the lightbulb, a character could suddenly undergo a spooky transformation, so you’ve been warned, if you find that worrying.

“There are situations in media that I find unpleasant or wish to avoid. Could I get a content warning for the stuff that happens in this game?”

もちろん. These could be considered spoilers, so please scroll down a bit to see them.

Content Warnings, for real this time:

Child death, sounds of babies crying, last moments of a parent, mentions of suicide, general creepy atmosphere (dark areas, weird mindscapes, and the area before the last boss is kinda made of flesh like you’re inside an organism)

(The content warnings are above this. Scroll up at your own discretion 😀 )

***And in Closing***

Thanks very much for playing this game! I hope you enjoy your time in Daybreak!