Read more about The Batter at: Wikipedia Official Site: Unproductive Fun Time Off (stylized as OFF) is a French-language role-playing video game released in 2008 by the Belgian team Unproductive Fun Time, consisting of Martin Georis ("Mortis Ghost") and Alias Conrad Coldwood. It has garnered a cult following for its story, characters and atmosphere, particularly after its officially sanctioned fan translation into English in 2011. It is about an enigmatic humanoid entity known as the Batter, who is described as being on a "sacred mission" to "purify" the world of Off. The Batter travels through four bizarre Zones in the world, revealing more about the world as the game goes on. The gameplay of Off is similar to that of classic RPGs. The Batter advances by leveling up, acquiring new party members, and upgrading his statistics, such as attack and defense, as well as gaining special abilities termed "competences." Unlike similar games that function in a turn based system, OFF uses a system in which a character is able to attack once a cooldown has passed, meaning enemies and players are able to attack each other at the same time. This system serves to encourage players to make fast decisions in combat. The player can allow combat to take place automatically by selecting the "Auto" option during encounters, which will make the Batter and his Add-Ons act without player input. The battle system also features an unorthodox element system, where rather than "classic" elements often found in RPGs, such as fire or ice, Off uses bizarre elements more commonly thought of as materials: smoke, metal, plastic, meat, and sugar. There are four numbered Zones, labeled 0–3, along with a fifth zone, The Room, in which the final act of the game takes place. The Zones are only accessible once the player obtains their associated "Zodiac-Cards," which are acquired from the previous Zone's Guardian upon death, and the player traverses between them via a map termed the "nothingness." One notable feature of Off is its unusual number of puzzles, which include finding a multi-digit password and entering it into a giant keypad, locating missing book pages, or "repeating room" puzzles where players walk through multiple instances of the same room in the right order to escape. |