OFF

“Cela vaut mieux ainsi.”
– The Batter

OFF is the Belgian¹⁾ French-language role-playing game, developed by Martin Georis in RPG Maker 2003, that was first unveiled in March 31, 2007²⁾ and released in full on May 16, 2008.³⁾ It's short, interesting, and a bit nihilistic, but might also come across as a bit pretentious.

Summary

The puppeteer assists the Batter's sacred mission, unraveling the world's mysteries and gradually purifying specters from the zones. However, the Batter also removes the zone guardians, purifying their zones, and you start to realize that the protagonist is not a good person. After killing the world's sickly creator, the Judge finally intervenes and gives you a brief chance to switch sides near the end of the game.

Ultimately, the credits roll and Over the Rainbow plays. The normal ending features no world since it has been turned “OFF”, while the Judge's ending features him wandering the purified zones. If the player has properly inspected the purified zones, exchanging the grand items for zodiac cards, a post-credit joke scene is shown where space apes from Aurus invade the purified world.⁴⁾

Development

Georis would conceptualize OFF in the mid-2000s whilst attending college.⁵⁾ It draws heavy inspiration from Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None,⁶⁾ along with Killer7 and Silent Hill 2 being his two favorite video games at the time. He also gives a shout-out to Akira, Brazil (1985), Final Fantasy VI, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2, Paranoia Agent, and The Wizard of Oz (1939).⁷⁾

Reception

The game was relatively obscure for its first four years,⁸⁾⁹⁾ then the second English translation released on December 25, 2012¹⁰⁾ and, during the Homestuck hiatus,¹¹⁾ it saw a lot of attention on Tumblr in 2013.¹²⁾ Georis and Coldwood mostly had kind remarks about the phenomenon.¹³⁾¹⁴⁾ Many fangames would surface, such as HOME and Continue/Stop/Rise, though Georis hasn't played them.¹⁵⁾

Notes

Bat references

During the 10th anniversary, Georis mentioned that the names of the Batter's weapons were references to comic authors and mangaka that he liked at the time.¹⁶⁾ For the 15th anniversary, I personally requested Georis to reveal the full list,¹⁷⁾ since he only went over the first three, and he answers this question very early into the stream!¹⁸⁾ Below is a full chart of weapons along with the references that he claims:

Weapon	Statistics		Referenced author
Weapon	Attack	Accuracy	Author name	Best known work(s)
Harold Bat	5	90%	He doesn't remember this one.¹⁹⁾²⁰⁾
Masashi Bat	9	90%	Masashi Kishimoto	Naruto
Emmanuel Bat	12	90%	Emmanuel Larcenet	Ordinary Victories Le Retour à la terre
Michael Bat	15	95%	Michael Mignola	Hellboy
Yoshihiro Bat	20	90%	Yoshihiro Togashi	Hunter × Hunter YuYu Hakusho
Lewis Bat	26	90%	Lewis Trondheim	Lapinot (localized: McConey)²¹⁾ Dungeon
Katsuhiro Bat	32	90%	Katsuhiro Otomo	Akira
Ashley Bat*	21(x2)	95%	Ashley Wood	Metal Gear Solid (comics)

Workplace notes

Inside the large office building at the Shachihata area of Zone 1, the Batter is asked by an Elsen within the Postal Service area for a code in order to obtain access to the secret elevator. The player is supposed to string together the code by reading the forms lying around the area. Some people may have trouble inferring the code, myself included, so I've outlined the answer below:

Form	FR	EN	Answer
1	“Première version : il repose six pieds sous terre, entouré de métal chaud et de plastique liquide.”	“First version: They lie six feet under, surrounded by hot metal and liquid plastic.”	6
2	“Deuxième version : Ils sont huit, et ont de longues barbes. Ils regardent ce qui se passe de leurs hautes sphères d'argent.”	“Second version: They are eight, and they have long beards. They watch what is happening from their high silver spheres.”	8
3	“Troisième version : Un seul grand insecte, dont les mandibules crachent de la viande.”	“Third version: A sole big insect, whose mandibles spit meat.”	1
4	“Quatrième version : Ils sont quatre, chacun attribué à un élément. Ils protègent leurs cristaux respectifs.”	“Fourth version: They are four, each one attributed to an element. They protect their respective crystals.”	4
5	“Cinquième version : Cinq, comme les doigts de la main. Leurs poumons produisent la fumée originelle.”	“Fifth version: Five, like the fingers on a hand. Their lungs produce primordial smoke.”	5
6	“Dernière version : Il ne sont que deux, dans la zone secrète.”	“Final version: There are but two, in the secret zone.”	2

Miscellaneous

The name is first rendered as Off, but it seems that both Off and OFF are valid stylizations.
Some names would be changed in translation, though it isn't that noteworthy: The Batter (Le batteur), The Judge (Le Juge), Valerie (Valérie), Sugar (Sucre), and The Queen (La Reine).
- Zacharie was always Zacharie, despite the obscure English variant changing it to Zachary.²²⁾
The Queen's speech isn't supposed to mean anything, as it is gibberish and full of contradictions,²³⁾ which puts the alleged relationship between the Batter and the Queen into question.
- A book in Zone 2 confirms that “The Queen and her Son” are connected, but we shouldn't assume that either had any definitive ties to the Batter, solely based on her dying throe of “Would you like some coffee, my love?” (Voulez-vous du café, mon amour ?). She might not be speaking in a native tongue as some languages use “my love” in a friendly, non-romantic way.
However, Coldwood says the Queen's sound clip is “Aureden”, asked to say something that an angry mother would say.²⁴⁾ This became “va ranger ta chambre” (go clean your room), but in reverse.
In some OFF fanworks, you may see a “Ghost Batter” which originates from an ancient 2010 blog post that included a doodle where the aforementioned character shouts “FUCKIN' STOP!!”²⁵⁾

External links

OFF on Oniromancie - The game's entry on the French RPG Maker website.
- ~~"[Finished Game] Off, it has a funny taste but it's free"~~ [Archive] on Zanarkand - The oldest known thread. Unfortunately, you need to register an account to view it.
- "[RM2k3] Off" on Oniromancie - The associated thread, which actually came a few months after the oldest known thread, but remains relevant in its developmental history.
OFF (English v3.0) - The third and final English translation,²⁶⁾ endorsed by Georis himself.²⁷⁾
OFF (English v2.0) and OFFicial Update - The older, well-known English translation.