Costume Quest: Difference between revisions

{{quote| '''Wren''': Halloween isn't about making friends. It's about TERROR!<br />

'''Reynold''': And CANDY!<br />

But one house doesn't go exactly as planned. Where the kids expect a dorky grown-up with candy for the taking, a hideous monster pops out the door and abducts one of them! It seems that a horde of Grubbins have invaded Auburn Pines under the orders of a [[Hot Witch]] named Dorsilla. Out to steal every lollipop, jellybean and jujube in town, they mistook your brother or sister for a huge chunk of candy corn. It's up to you to save your other half. [[Sibling Rivalry|Not out of love]] -, but out of fear of getting grounded!

''[[Costume Quest]]'' is the first of four titles from [[Double Fine]] for which [[Tim Schafer]] took a backseat to the most trusted members of his team. This game is from the imagination of Tasha Harris, former [[Pixar]] animator and Lead Animator of the creatures in ''[[Brutal Legend]]''.

In this simple old-school RPG themed around Halloween, the player goes on quests to find their kidnapped ally and save Halloween . . . by trick-or-treating. You must visit each house in the area and knock. If it's an adult, he or she will reward you with candy. If it's a monster looting the house, a battle encounter begins.

During a battle, for no reason other than [[Rule of Cool]], whatever costume you are wearing transforms you into a massive, [[Kaiju]]-sized version of what your costume was supposed to represent. You start off in a blue cardboard box that's supposed to be a robot, so what happens when you transform? You become a ''[[Voltron]]''-esque, missile-blasting mech! Attacking and defending is performed with well timed [[Action Commands]], like those seen in ''[[Super Mario RPG (Video Game)|Super Mario RPG]]'', ''[[Paper Mario (Video Gamefranchise)|Paper Mario]]'', ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'' and ''[[Penny Arcade Adventures]]''.

Outside of battle, players explore the neighborhood in search of new houses and costumes;: there are eleven outfits in all, most of which are built from scratch. Each costume consists of three household materials, such as cloth or rope, and an instructional blueprint. Finding all the pieces yields your snazzy handmade digs, which unlock both combat skills and "Exploration Abilities" for reaching new areas.

The game initially released in October of 2010 for XBLA and PSN. A DLC expansion, "Grubbins on Ice", which was a follow up with a Christmas theme, came out in December of 2010. In October 2011, athe PC versionversions was released through [[Steam]] and included[[GOG.com]], which includes both the original game and the DLC as one package.

* [[Action Commands]]: The combat is ripped straight out of ''[[Super Mario RPG (Video Game)|Super Mario RPG]]'', ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'' and ''[[Penny Arcade Adventures]]''.

* [[Adults Are Useless]]: Hilariously lampshaded every possible chance there is. At least one grown-up has seen the evil beasts himself -... and thinks they're [[Teens Are Monsters|just teenagers]].

* [[Back Fromfrom the Dead]]: The Unicorn's special.

{{quote| ''Hero'':"Now you'll taste my Missile Barrage!"<br />

''Dorsilla'':"What's that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of that sudden tornado. *snaps fingers*"<br />

''NPC in Dragon costume'':"Fire Breath! Fire Breath! Why aren't you burning from my Fire Breath?" }}

* [[Cliff Hanger]]: {{spoiler|"Grubbins on Ice" ends with the kids going through the portal to return home, only to end up in a [[Phantom Zone|void-like dimension]] containing even more portals.}}.

** Defense: [[Knight in Shining Armor|Knight]], [[Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti|Yeti]] (DLC only).

** Special: [[Eager Young Space Cadet|Spaceman]], [[Giant Enemy Crab|French Fries]], [[Panthera Awesome|Black Cat]].

* [[Deal Withwith the Devil]]: {{spoiler|Dorsilla with Big Bones.}}.

* [[Defeat Means Friendship]]: {{spoiler|First the Grubbins, then the Trollbogs, then the Crestwailers.}}.

* [[The Dragon]]: {{spoiler|Dorsilla}}.

* [[Dual Boss]]: The final fight of "Grubbins on Ice" pits you against {{spoiler|Big Bones and Araxia}}.

* [[Early-Bird Cameo]]: [[Stacking (Video Game)|Charlie Blackmore]] appears in a secret cave in Repugia. So does an advertisement for the game he'll be appearing in.

* [[Enemy Civil War]]: You join one in ''"Grubbins on Ice''".

* [[Evil Twin]]: {{spoiler|Dorsilla}}.

** The Unicorn looks [[Robot Unicorn Attack|pretty badass]], with emphasis on both "pretty" and "badass.".

** At the start of ''"Grubbins on Ice''", Reynold misses a huge glowing portal because he's distracted by a quarter that's just a few feet away from it.

* [[Giant Enemy Crab]]: The French Fries turns you into this. Yes, really. A giant crab with french fry legs, french fry pincers, and a french fry container shell. And it's [[Lethal Joke Character|actually pretty effective]].

* [[Halloweentown]]: Repugia.

{{quote| '''Everett''': I can't believe you thought of a way down that was so simple and practical.}}

* [[A Hell of a Time]]: One monster says Dorsilla is so bad that {{spoiler|they don't want her to return to Repugia.}}.

* [[Homage]]: Tasha Harris says the game is inspired from many things. The isometric diagonal view of the town is from ''[[EarthboundEarthBound]]'', the monsters are inspired from ''[[Labyrinth (Film)|Labyrinth]]'', the art is inspired from [[Hayao Miyazaki]] and ''[[The Legend of Zelda: theThe Wind Waker (Video Game)|Wind Waker,]]'' and the whole game is a love letter to Halloween and costumes (in particular, handmade ones.).

* [[Hopeless Boss Fight]]: "Grubbins on Ice" starts you off fighting against three Level 14 Repugiarchs; at this point, it's impossible to be higher than Level 10. You actually can win the fight if you hit '''all''' the prompts and catch some luck with the enemy's choice of targets, but [[Failure Is the Only Option]], and it dumps you into the next scene as if you lost. (Youyou still receive a hefty experience bonus if you win, though).)

* [[Hot Witch]]: Dorsilla, in universe, and she boasts it. {{spoiler|After her defeat, she wonders if her failure to conquer the world is because she's too pretty.}}.

* [[Ironic Echo]]: {{spoiler|Dorsilla uses a recording of the main character to tear the sibling away from him/her. Dorian uses a recording of his sister to expose her plot to usurp Big Bones.}}.

{{quote| "That's inadmissible!"}}

* [[Kids Are Cruel]]: The gang of mummy children. But it turns out {{spoiler|the gang leader is the only one keeping their violent tendencies in check.}}. This is played for laughs.

* [[La Résistance]]: You help out the monsters against their oppressive new government in "Grubbins Onon Ice". They even dress like Che Guevara. Citizens wonder why, despite being members of the resistance movement, you lack beards and berets.

* [[Leaning Onon the Fourth Wall]]: Everett does this the most. Or maybe he just really likes ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]''.

{{quote| ''Everett'': A mall? This looks more like a dungeon! Which I am totally prepared for! Hey look! A dungeon map!<br />

''Everett'': He just took a natural 20 to the face and didn't take ANY damage! }}

* [[Magnificent Bitch]]: Dorsilla.

* [[Manipulative Editing]]: {{spoiler|Dorsilla uses this to drive the siblings apart.}}.

* [[The Medic]]: The Statue of Liberty and Unicorn costumes. The Vampire can heal the party as well, despite being an attack-based class.

{{quote| "Perhaps the full version will be a bit kinder to the fourth wall."}}

* [[Parental Bonus]]: [[Invoked Trope]]. Tasha Harris wanted the game to have the appeal that [[Pixar]] (her former and now current employer) applies to all their work, in which the game would be simple and charming enough for children, but also appealing to adults. There are plenty of jokes for adults, covering such edgy material as globalization, prescription drugs, American history, and more.

* [[Sequel Hook]]: {{spoiler|The DLC leaves the main characters lost in a hub of portals to different worlds.}}.

* [[Shout-Out]]: The [[Robot Unicorn Attack|Unicorn Costume.]].

** The music in the mall camping shop is the camp music from ''[[Psychonauts (Video Game)|Psychonauts]]''.

** The Pumpkin Costume's battle form is ripped straight out of ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]''.

** The Disembodied Hand Stamp upgrades into the [[The Princess Bride (Filmfilm)|Disembodied Six-Fingered Hand Stamp]].

** The cowboy warning the public about the dangers of candy? [[Clerks|He works for an apple company.]].

** [[Arrested Development (TV series)|"Like the kid in the $600 Banana is gonna follow the kid in the $20 costume. COME ON!"]]

** A mission in a corn field maze is called [[Children of the Corn|Children of the High Fructose Corn Syrup.]].

** Orzo the human cannonball makes references to the [[Monkey Island|Fettucini Brothers.]].

** The incantation used to open the Gate in the third area is [[Psychonauts (Video Game)|Vodello Zanatto Lobotto.]].

** Finding a girl hiding in a witch costume causes her to shout "[[The Wizard of Oz (Filmfilm)|Oh, what a world! What a world!]]".

** [[The Nightmare Before Christmas|It may be a stretch, but there might be a reason why the DLC for this Halloween game is Christmas-esque.]].

** An incredibly obscure one: Oneone of the girls dressed as a witch in the mall is named April, and refuses to do love potions "for charity cases". There's a [[Ray Bradbury]] short story called "The April Witch" which is about a young witch trying to spread love around out of charity.

** And {{spoiler|Dorsilla vs Dorian. Dorian obviously losing.}}.

* [[Sinister Scythe]]: Big Bones' weapon. {{spoiler|It's also where he hides his emergency candy stash.}}.

* [[Standard Status Effects]]: Poison, Burn, and Stun. Different kinds of attacks inflict various degrees of each.

* [[The Starscream]]: {{spoiler|Dorsilla, to Big Bones.}}.

* [[Stealth Mentor]]: {{spoiler|Dorian}}.

* [[Sweet Tooth]]: Candy is currency for upgrades.

{{quote| '''Metxel''': Now look what you made me do! I think one of them was my brother-in-law!}}

** At the end of the game, he {{spoiler|finally gets off his chair and puts away his newspaper, to take a piece of candy from his kids, saying it's a "Dad Tax."}}.

[[Category:EasternFantasy RPGVideo Games]]