"Jimmy Did His Best" - Let's Play Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass

Grandma, Why Are You Doing This?

Jimmy and the Pulsating mass is an amazing game. It’s a more complicated, more rich Earthbound-style game that both pays respect to and improves on the original game.
It’s beautiful, it’s funny, it’s sad and it’s very, very deep.

Buy this game.

Then watch the LP because you are a working adult with an enormous games backlog and really don’t want to gamble on an RPG that’s not made by a major studio that’s 50 hours long.
Do it so you can have something to idly tool around and listen to while you dick with on your phone or other websites or even grindy games.

Because you shouldn’t miss this one.

What is Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass?

Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass was released in August of 2018. It was made by one person, Kasey Ozymy. He did EVERYTHING.

He made the graphics, the music, the design, everything except for some minor scripts.

It’s Jimmy’s adventure.

Trigger Warning: Some Body Horror/Gore

How Are We Going to Do This?

This will be video. If I can figure out how to capture gifs well enough to do it justice, I’ll post them. Because this game is imminently ripe for gifs.

I’m going to edit out a lot of repetitive combat and grind off-screen so you don’t have to watch it. But ideally we’ll see every fight at least once and they’re worth watching.

I’ll also be rotating commentators. More on that below.

If you have any criticism or want some changes made, give me a heads up.

I’ll try to do two tv-show length episodes (~22-30 minutes) every week. Usually Monday and Thursday. Sometimes Sunday or Wednesday. Never Late. The Grandma Express is always on time.

Spoilers?

No fucking spoilers. Period. If I miss something, PM me.

Let’s do it!

Cutscene Commentary On

There’s really no cutscene commentary because it’s not voiced. But if you just want a chill funtime experience with me not talking, I got you covered.

No Commentary

5 Likes

This game is incredible in every way. The game design/mechanics are basically perfect, the graphics fit the themes, the writing is a rollercoaster of emotions, the music is great… Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass can’t be recommended enough. I think it was the best game of 2018, and I’m looking forward to this Let’s Play.

1 Like

It’s such a great game and Kasey really has some admirable writing skills. Even in just a few minutes, we learn a ton about Helga and Andrew just from the way they interact with the world.

I like to rotate co-commentators and I’ve got open signups. The general list is below. I’m going to mix it up frequently but generally this will be the list I pick from.

If you want in, let me know and I’ll add you. This is going to be a long one. I’ll usually get with you about a week out and holler at you.

Upcoming guest commentator list:

DrKeiscool
00MeowMix
ModeWandershot
Dead Man’s Teaparty
Violet Broregarde
Demodia Bura
HuskyHog

I ideally try to keep a mix of men, women and non-binary people for different viewpoints. In actuality, what happens is mostly men sign up. And that’s good but if you identify as female or nonbinary, let me know and I’ll bump you up the list.

If there’s an LPer you want me to contact to see if I can get them to guest, let me know.

If you are an LPer and want to guest, fuck yes, come hang out.

Since we’re about halfway between updates, I wanted to introduce a feature about Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass but it’s really about Kasey Ozymy.

Kasey was(is?) a really prolific poster and blogger over at RPGMaker so there’s years worth of his stuff over on a dev diary there, including forum posts to other RPGmaker users. A lot of you have shown interest in game design and game design process and while it’s not commercial design, it’s still interesting to look at how he was making it. Kasey is super supportive of fan work and I’ll link him this thread when there’s some more videos up.

The url for his rpgmaker posts Here for people who want to go digging. They’re mostly design focused.

quote:

Let’s Get to Know You, Revolting Blob!
Housekeeping11/11/2015 04:29 PM814 views

Ah. The Revolting Blob. Sleek. Elegant. Pungent. The Revolting Blob lives in the dumpster inside all of us. The Revolting Blob shows up late to meetings. It eats onion rings and belches in your face. One time it was handed a book of manners, which was promptly eaten without a second glance.

When Jimmy transforms into the Revolting Blob, he gains the power to be universally hated by everyone. But, that’s okay. The Revolting Blob is immune to criticism. The Revolting Blob is resilient. The Revolting Blob will hock up something gross on you and laugh as you punch and kick his gooey body.

The Revolting Blob isn’t particularly strong or fast, but he has high defense, and he can solidify his body, making himself even tougher. He can also taunt enemies and make them sick, which will injure them every turn while the Revolting Blob absorbs their counterattacks with ease. A high-level Revolting Blob can increase his defense even further and get immune to the sick status effect.


Outside of battle, the Revolting Blob can use his taunt to immediately trigger an enemy encounter, so if you’re looking to hunt a specific monster, the Revolting Blob is perfect for the job. Being hated has its perks!

Episode 2 is up!

Special Guest: Eat Faster.

We learn the secrets to success and also I get dunked on a lot. Even if SOMEONE is a monster who doesn’t like Fran Drescher.

Jimmy’s still in the introductory phase. We get to see a cute town populated by cute people, get used to our battle system

And then shake a whole lot of mice.

We also meet the badass of all badasses, Mr. Cat.

Cutscene Commentary On

No Commentary

1 Like

There was some stuff I missed!

If you use field actions as Jimmy, you get his thoughts on things. I had to go back and capture them.

If you don’t touch the gross blob, you get the option to lick it.

Jimmy’s field action in the beginning:

Jimmy’s field action in the Cloudy Hills

Mr. Beaver 1:

Mr. Beaver 2:

1 Like

Another dev diary from Kasey since we’re in between updates:

Let’s Get to Know You, Low-Level Goon!
Housekeeping12/23/2015 06:19 PM1131 views

Nobody likes being the low man on the totem pole. But, if you remove the low man on the totem pole, what have you got? Just a new low man on the totem pole. And a shorter totem pole, but that doesn’t matter–nobody said these analogies were perfect. The important thing is that there’s always going to be a guy at the bottom, and, in the lucrative field of gooning, that guy is the Low-Level Goon.

As a Low-Level Goon, you’re going to have to deal with a variety of odd jobs: knocking off liquor stores, roughing up the homeless, throwing rocks at windows, hand-washing everyone’s leather jackets–it’s not an easy or particularly fulfilling life, but you’ve got to start somewhere.

Because of the wide range of jobs a Low-Level Goon must perform, he’s become a pretty well-rounded guy. His lack of education means he’s not the brightest bulb in the box, but he’s physically capable and surprisingly lucky. His skill set is pretty broad: he can apply first aid, rough monsters up, rob them blind, and, if you stick true to the path of goonery, you might gain a keen business savvy so that monsters give you more money.

The Low-Level Goon is a bit of a troublemaker, so his field ability allows him to shake things up. Literally. He’ll shake trees, animals, innocent bystanders–basically anything to get his jollies. Do you like it when someone shakes you? Of course not. But, when you’re a Low-Level Goon, you’re too busy pretending to be tough to care about other people’s senses of equilibrium.

1 Like

Episode 3 is up!

Special Guest: Ibblebibble.

This is a real cultural episode. We learn things about Malaysia. And what people eat in Malaysia. And how Southeast Asia, when looked at correctly, looks like a cock and balls. And where Malaysia is on that cock and balls.

And we learn what bees do to flowers.

Finally, I start doing what I do best:

Stealing everything that isn’t nailed down. I steal a tasty apple out of a dogsquirrel’s mouth and make my brother eat some. I also steal a stuffed animal from a real animal.

Cutscene Commentary On

No Commentary

1 Like

let’s talk about the Giant’s Garden.

What I should have conveyed is that the Giant’s Garden is a maze. The holes go all over the place.

But if you zoom out far enough, it’s a pretty simple map.

Which is pretty damn funny because it’s going in the holes that makes things confusing. There’s a completely fine route along the outside. Which is hilarious, because that’s exactly what the goons wanted to happen.

Second, the spider web I went to get makes things Sticky. Sticky things have their agility lowered and take their turn later, which is great because Buck is a slowboy.

1 Like

Episode 4 is up!

Special Guest: theVoiceofDog, who did the original Lisa the Painful LP. Now he runs a really popular Twitch stream at https://www.twitch.tv/thevoiceofdog where people love him and pay him money because he’s fun and his voice is the kind of resonance that reminds you of old leather, tobacco and playful spankings.

There’s one thing you need to know about this episode before it starts:

This episode rules.

Cutscene Commentary On

No Commentary

Some quick discussion:

  1. This is where I fell in love with this game.

  2. Yes, I will go shake Big Norm.

I made more of an effort to keep commentary towards the game and I brought back Scabs.

I thought stealing the knives would be the best part of the episode. Then Punch Tanaka happened.

1 Like

Punch Tanaka rules. He’ll be back later.

I don’t have a dev diary for you this week.

Instead I’ve just got a video of more stuff that gets shook.

That “Thwack” just gets me.

1 Like

Episode 5 is up!

Special Guest: Iospace, who conquered the original test of character the Gods have placed before us. The Meat Mountain.

I pay for my insolence with an assault of horrible puns.

This episode is a strange one because it’s really, really hard to be funny when it’s this unnerving.

Trigger warning: body horror. Lots of it. Oh God.

Cutscene Commentary On

No Commentary

I made more of an effort to keep commentary towards the game and Scabs was asleep. It’s pretty obvious I was creeped out during this episode.

1 Like

Sounds like colony collapse disorder. Except a bit more ghoulish.

1 Like

Episode 6 is up!

Special Guest: Lobstercop, who is making his LP debut with a VERY good boy.

We go back to a bit of the more whimsical Jimmy but there’s definitely an undercurrent of sadness coming from GAMM-E.

I still don’t fucking have my cake.

Cutscene Commentary On

No Commentary

Scabs is in this one a little. Walker is in this one a lot. That dad joke is a little “OOF” though but I decided to keep it in because it’s a baddadjoke.

1 Like

Episode 7 is up!

Special Guest: Katherine. And her furry bagpigpes. I love her commentary but it’s so hard to clean up audio because I don’t have a separate track for her.

There’s a whole lot of the cat, though.

Spoiler: I get a fucking cake this episode. It rules.

Cutscene Commentary On

No Commentary

The next videos will have some more optional content, which is good, because I feel bad going 5 days without an update.

In other news, I tried to play a game of Pummel Party where the loser had to go to Golden Corral, but we set a special forfeit where if JetpackJeezus won, all three losers had to go to Cici’s. We said it as a joke. Jetpack won. It’s on the Twitch because they didn’t wanna come to my Discord for recording. :colbert:

Fuck.

1 Like

Episode 8 is up!

Special Guest: Get that OUT of my Face! He’s a sweet man and we talk about passover and gefilte fish.

Scabs wanders around screaming in the background.

Stick around past the first ending, I explore the other paths and demonstrate a secret fuzzy mom cave.

Commentary On

No Commentary

Big Norm is still cool. Punch Tanaka is still the best. And they’re both in this one.

Trying to line up special guests for the next couple episodes as well.

1 Like

One of the admins on the JatPM Discord posted this on twitter. And it fucking rules.

His name is KAD and his url is https://twitter.com/johnny_knives

Happy Pride month, nerds.

Which leads me to this:

For every piece of Jimmy fan art you make this month I’ll donate $5 to the Resource Center of Dallas, up to $250.00.

Resource Center is the primary lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) and HIV/AIDS service organizations in North Texas. The Center offers many LGBTQ services to the community and operates one of the largest LGBTQ Community Centers in the United States. The Community Center is home to a variety of community organizations and serves over 60,000 people each year through its programs and services.

Through its health and medical services, the Center is a leader in HIV/AIDS education, prevention, and services, always putting itself at the forefront in the battle against this epidemic. In addition, the Center provides a full continuum of STD prevention education, screenings and treatments.

A staff of more than 50 part and full-time staff members are supported by over 1,100 volunteers. The Center’s three additional locations are the Nelson-Tebedo Clinic, Health Campus and United Black Ellument (UBE). The Center is governed by a board of directors and operates through funds from individual donors, special events, private foundations, corporations and government grants. The Center is open 354 days a year.

The interpretation of art is loose. Real loose. Your mom loose. This includes putting raisins and peanut butter on things and saying “Ants on a _________________.” No logs. Derivative.

And conquering the Arby’s Meat Mountain. That’s an art.

Now I gotta go cover things in peanut butter and raisins.

1 Like