I think we disagree about the relevance of grind. To me, grind comes from story choices a developer makes, not coding. The arguments against grinding are philosophical, not technical.Wow. ok, ***GRINDING*** (had posted, some, but maybe this warrants more?) [BTW: Current: D51]
1) I've posted many *BUGS*/errors; (some so bad I had to restart) THOSE SHOULD TAKE PRIORITY.
2) Strength. (needed/realistic, ***TOTALLY FINE *** in this case. [CAPS SUCK, but that's anther issues!]
Say you're new, 1-2 week:
BUY GYM; 1x per Gym (go b4 or after work) [duh you're already in area anyway to WORK!) ; +2; PARK (Jogging; ) +1 that's +3 /PER DAY. It's actually really easy to this, I was hitting caps early. [current "cap" 74] (or you could do 1/day, [EASY from WORK!] 24---12 work days. )
3) Intel (same thing, if you need to, spend night @ Aunts (Int = LIB)
4) This is *RENPY*. You can always fast forward scenes/pics/etc. [but be careful! some have unique/rare content! ck hints]
5) (I'm fine w story & RPG elements)
6) "the execution of a lot of days of non-events to reach the preset date of an event is also commonly frustrating."--Mentioned in another post (I think?) but, there's a "FORWARD TIME" option, just need one to "FORWARD DAYS" [maybe "UNPAID TIME OFF" from work???]
Note that WORK, while grindy, is also worthwhile (& realistic!) since you make $$ [PROGRESS]; During this time u can also interact w co-workers; [UGH; IF REQ R MET] --->>> Would be more interesting if unique random events happened (coffee breaks?) to help make each day different.
7) "At the same time the developers are trying to tell a story and are trying to find the right combination of events and actions to convey that story. If every choice automatically advanced the story with no need to improve skills, stats, etc., then this becomes a visual novel instead of a game, and probably a lot less entertaining."---TOTALLY AGREE!
8) Gym (didn't we cover this? ) Not sure about story, but since it affects ***ENERGY*** it's an important stat to work on. [hey at least you don't have to "maintain it" like IRL!] (in this case, it affects *GAME*, story's just part of larger pic)
9) " A button that says work all day and gives you credit for 4 work sessions without the repeated work event dialogues would take the pain out of getting from Saturday to Saturday at the gym (which is required in the story, but without any good explanation for the required wait between events)."----Agreed, but as already mentioned, a realistic option [take the week off w/ pay] is an alternative---many people take time off for varies reasons----even UNPAID time off. NO NEED TO BYPASS EVENTS, & obviously, DO NOT GET PAID for time not worked. [only rarely would need to take full week off, sometimes it's only a a few days]
GRIND: Most of the "grind" in this game I'm fine w (note that already bought 1 car, saving 4 buying off-road vehicle so can do mountains.) Could actually be harder (MC's not paying any rent/mortgage/FOOD; lives w others who pay room & board!)
IS GOOD & Balanced: [so far---capped @ 74]
-Strength. [if gym boring, FF]
-Intel [don't forget, Lib;]
NOT GOOD: (mentioned elsewhere, not "grind" issue, but affects it)
-*WAY* TOO MANY DEPENDENCIES! (ie, can't do A b4 do B, etc) [either take most out, or, have clearly labeled *CHAIN* to track them! [also helps so if one is *BROKEN*, can tell dev *EXACTLY* where chain failed!]
-Quite a few bugs (see other posts!) (over 5 total, some FROZE had to restart)
-EVENT TRACKER: *HIGHLY* INCOMPLETE! (have this for immediate relatives, need for company, etc, everybody in hints. [if there's an EVENT, there should be a *HINT* and an event noted for it. [event tracker]]
This is mostly a Time-Management game [like "High-Rise"]
TO MAKE THE MOST OF IT, MANAGE YOUR TIME WISELY. (especially 1st 50 days)
OVERALL: I don't think GRIND is bad at all for an early version. (compared 2 most, &I've done---OMG! 100+ Renpy games.)
Game does have many issues, but "GRIND" is not the 1st 2nd, or even 3rd biggest.
GOOD JOB Dev, & keep up the "Grind" [b/c hey, CODING is the *REAL* grind!!! lol]
So yes, when working on code, fix the bugs first. And I agree there are plenty of them still in the game.
But I also think the philosophical issue is one the developers should be thinking about. Why, from a story perspective, are events at preset times? How does that improve a player's experience? Why do players have to repeat events many times without gaining new information or experiences (and yup, work is a real thing and yields game resources and so forth - but a single click work button allows me to work without having to use non-game mechanics to speed things up)? What is the intent of the combat system? Why do the paths to the different women seem to create different personality choices for the protagonist (friendly and caring for this one, willing to do anything to that one, etc.)? And any other questions about story lines and progress.
The developers should make the game they want to make. But if things that folks complain about are a product of thoughtless design (literally no thought given to some of the implications of the design choices) then I do think the developers should think more broadly about their choices. They have to like the consequences of their design choices, not me.
(I've played a lot of games with decent to good writing and crappy code and a smaller number with poor writing and excellent code. For me, better writing is more important than quality code until the bugs make a game unplayable. So far for me, this game is a mix on writing and buggy, but I'm still playing it. YMMV)
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