- Aug 23, 2020
- 2,517
- 12,061
Ok, I've played the update and had time to reflect.
In my opinion, this update is fantastic, but also fatally flawed.
The Fantastic
I'm actually going to tag you Lust&Passion because you probably think everyone here is only capable of saying "Saves plz!" and "Milker" and "DOES MOM HAVE SEX YET?". I honestly think this was an incredible update but it's also in no way sustainable. You're a great artist, you should be very proud of what you've created, and I feel like the progress on the micro level is gaining momentum. But at the macro level the story's progress is hard to see when updates take 5 months. This is a terrible trade you're making because it's eventually going to undermine all of your hard work.
In my opinion, this update is fantastic, but also fatally flawed.
The Fantastic
- The artwork is incredible. We've all known that L&P is an artist, but he's taken it up a notch. This update is brimming with beautiful images (and even an animation!) that show his love of his craft. I can't believe that I've seen people here criticizing the art, shame on you. Take your frustration out elsewhere, his art is above reproach.
- Clearly this is a passion project. Besides just the art work, the research that went into scenes like the art modeling scene was incredible. I actually looked up a few of the phrases and topics that were discussed and it all seemed to jive. I just didn't believe that someone would put that kind of effort into the dialog; but he did and it really, REALLY, impressed me.
- STORY PROGRESS at the Micro Level! For all of you Dylan lovers, this update should make you fucking thrilled! For all of my bitching about the 1st side job, SOMETHING FINALLY HAPPENED. Aiden's story definitely got cranked up a notch as well. We even got a little development with Liam and Cathy, something I didn't expect.
- New gameplay. I almost jumped out of my seat during Dylan's fight because I was caught so unprepared. This game desperately needed some sort of gameplay mechanic, and I was so happy to see it implemented.
- A meaty updated. This update, for me, felt pretty long. After five months, this was important.
- The events of the 2nd side job cannot be ignored. It's disgusting. If that's the direction that L&P wants to take the game, I'm out. Fiction or not, this is not the kind of material that a creator should be dabbling in.
- Forget the Law of Diminishing Returns, we're crossing over into the world of Negative Returns. Yes, while I loved and respect the effort that was put into the dialog for the art modeling scene, it wasn't worth the time. The whole time I felt conflicted because on one hand I felt the scene was a masterstroke of effort, but it was also a drag and not what I would classify as fun. More than once, I found myself saying "holy shit, we're still going." That's when I started researching the dialog. But that isn't the kind of reaction you want players to have. Whether it was the nursing home job, the modeling job, the wedding dress scene, or even the run with Dylan...everything...felt...so...slow...and...ponderous. Click...click...click...click...click...click...So while this update felt long, it felt long because it felt like I needed to click a dozen times for anything to happen. He's pouring so much effort into this game, you can feel it, but the game slowed to a crawl more than once and that feels like a dagger to me.
- Little story progression at the MACRO Level. While we saw great advancement at the micro level with some of the stories, the overall progress of the game continues to barely move. Five months of development and we got 1/3 of a day. There's no other way to say it, this isn't sustainable.
- Very stiff translation and localization. Normally I would let this slide, but after taking so long to translate 42 pages I felt like I noticed numerous typos and awkward localization/translations. The biggest problem is that too often characters speak very stiffly. When a game is this dialog heavy, requiring so many clicks to advance the scene, the dialog has to be engaging, and this didn't feel engaging.
- Dear lord, he needs help organizing and planning. After I finished playing I thought to myself, "This update was never going to be small, it couldn't be small. What was he talking about?" Knowing what we know now, when L&P began structuring this update it should have been apparent IMMEDIATELY that he had a lot of work in front of him. While I have no doubt that we here could cut this update down to 500 renders easily, that isn't how L&P works. He grouped together some tasks that needed to be fleshed out, and that really spiraled out of control. We FINALLY got some development on Side Job 1, at the same time we got development on Side Job 2, at the same time we got a HUGE development with Aiden, etc. This was a lot to pack in to one update. I don't think L&P has a good handle on the structure of his own story because, holy shit, how did he ever think he'd need only 500 renders?
I'm actually going to tag you Lust&Passion because you probably think everyone here is only capable of saying "Saves plz!" and "Milker" and "DOES MOM HAVE SEX YET?". I honestly think this was an incredible update but it's also in no way sustainable. You're a great artist, you should be very proud of what you've created, and I feel like the progress on the micro level is gaining momentum. But at the macro level the story's progress is hard to see when updates take 5 months. This is a terrible trade you're making because it's eventually going to undermine all of your hard work.
