Towelket One More Time 4 Review

Towelket One More Time 4 is the fifth entry in the Towelket series, released on May 24, 2010. Unlike the previous games, which were stand-alone stories with no real continuity between them, Towelket 4 is actually a direct sequel to the last entry, Towelket 6.

So, the game begins with Moochasu saving a little fairy named Warawau from being chewed by a rat. To thank him, Warawau takes Moochasu to a mysterious world to treat him to some mocchi fruit. On the way, however, they encounter a pirate named Captain Pucheen Hoocuckoo the 1st, who kidnaps Moochasu. Back home, we meet Mocha, this game's protagonist. Concerned about Moochasu since his disappearance, he decides to go on a journey in hopes of finding him.

The story of Towelket 4 is a bit of a mixed bag. Its initial plot is clearly inspired by classic fairy tales with its own Towelket twist, and it also happens to be the game that tries to tie all the previous games together. The result is a fairly enjoyable story that definitely surpasses Towelket 6. However, it's ultimately held back by some of the same bad habits that game had. There were a lot of concepts and ideas in this game that I really loved, but it always felt like they were never allowed to be as effective as they could have been. I wouldn't call this game unfocused, but there were times, especially at the midpoint of the game where I felt like it’s priorities were all mixed up. And unfortunately, the game's most glaring flaw is the overall narrative it tries to present by tying all of the previous games together.

But before I get into all that, I'm going to talk about the gameplay a little bit because it ties into a couple of things. Towelket 4 is actually a bit unique in the way it approaches its gameplay. Yes, there's the standard RPGmaker combat as always, but this game actually has a much stronger focus on exploration than the previous games. Once you reach the halfway point, the entire ocean map opens up to you, allowing you to explore all the islands on the map. This game also has one of the largest party rosters in the series. Some of these characters you'll gain automatically as part of the story. Others you'll have to recruit during the exploration part of the game, and you'll usually have to do a very small task before they'll decide to go with you. All of the optional party members start at level 1, so you'll have to do a bit of grinding to get them up to level, but it's definitely worth it as some of them will prove to be quite useful. There's also a skill menu where you can purchase new skills using "growth points" you earn after combat. However, like in Towelket 3, I found myself not really needing it.

But as much as I enjoyed the exploration portion of the game, I also felt like it was one of the biggest wastes of potential present in this game. Not so much the exploring aspect but the “Talking points” scattered throughout. It has a similar problem to Towelket 6, where most of these points are dedicated to gags. While this time around, they're not as obnoxious as the previous game, I still do feel like they just eat up a lot of time that could have been better spent on developing the main characters.

The relationship between Mocha and Koucha in particular felt painfully underdeveloped. During the cutscenes, they are both fine and decently written characters on their own, but outside of them they apparently just have nothing to say about the events currently going on. Instead we get the same repetitive gags with the least important characters of the cast and it just makes the actual plot developments feel more jarring rather than effective. It hurts because there are a lot of scenes that I felt had the perfect setup and really intriguing concepts behind them, but they just feel awkward when the game spends a bit too long prioritizing what are essentially skits that take place in a vacuum.

The cast itself is quite cohesive and entertaining. Mocha is actually the first non-silent protagonist, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much more I was invested in the story as a result. The story is really at its best when it actually allows Mocha to drive the narrative. But unfortunately there are a few moments in this game, especially after the midpoint, where it just feels like his character takes a backseat. Koucha is fine on her own as well, but this game just leans way too hard on the "she's a clingy, jealous girlfriend" gag, and as a result...she comes off as a clingy, jealous girlfriend, which really doesn't do the story any favors. There are a few characters that I think get way too much time considering how little they matter to the actual story, but I wouldn't call them badly written or annoying. There are some "air" characters in this game, but I don't know if I'd call them air. They're more like characters that should have been written out or left behind at some point, but are only present because the creator thinks it's really funny to acknowledge that they're air.

But all in all, Towelket 4's fatal flaw is that its story is incomplete. The game spends a good portion of its time teasing a much larger story that just never comes to fruition. Similar to Towelket 6, it promises to continue its story in the next release, Towelket 5. However, if you know anything about Towelket 5, you'll know that its development was pretty messy. There are actually three games that are all technically "Towelket 5", and they all have completely different stories. But to keep it short, "Towelket 5 Classic", which was supposed to be the sequel to this game, was scrapped very early in development, with only a short demo to prove its existence. In this demo we can clearly see how it picks up where this game left off, but unfortunately we can only assume that the developer lost interest in this idea and Towelket 4's narrative was left forever incomplete.

Despite all my issues with this game, I think it's worth playing. It's fairly enjoyable, and there are some really great bits of storytelling that exist within this game. Even though the overall "expanded lore" aspect of the story was left incomplete, it seems like Mocha's story was meant to end here anyway. So, depending on what aspects of the game you enjoy the most, you might not lose anything by this game not having its intended sequel.

I rate this game 3/5 Towels