1) Byron was adopted by Frank and Wendy. Their biological daughter, Sharol, had a daughter herself who is Avalon. Byron being adopted is significant to the story because his real father impacts the story. If it's not your thing, that's fine.
2) The guest room is already Avalon's room because it was hers when she was a baby. The house Byron is living in was Avalon's father's house before he passed away. Johnny, Avalon's father, left the house to his wife, Sharol, when he passed but she gave it to Byron when she found it too difficult to live in due to the memories of her husband. It's all explained organically through the story.
3) This is my first visual novel and yes, the dialogue does improve. But Byron is a bit goofy and if that's not your sense of humor, I've listed some recommendations of other games you might find more enjoyable below.
4) Yep, just like every other visual novel, there are choices that don't actually do anything. I'm just more forward about the fact that they're just flavor text. There are four paths in Avalon that are significantly different from one another and you'll have to experience all of them to get 100% of the sex scenes.
I really don't think you'll enjoy Avalon. It sounds like you'd enjoy work from a developer with a little more experience. I'm still in the early stages and I've got a long way to go. I know Love of Magic is supposed to be really good with a lot more choices and even a gameplay element. Light of My Life has more choices and the dialogue flows better. The Headmaster is a great sandbox-style visual novel with lots of sexual encounters but it uses Honey Select instead of Daz3D.
I certainly want you to have a good experience in this niche of AVNs, even if it isn't with Avalon. Sorry to hear your experience here was less than desirable. Perhaps check back when I start my next visual novel. Thank you for giving it a chance!
Well, when I said before "just started the game," I meant that literally. I had JUST started it.
Having loaded it up tonight and doing the full playthrough of Octavia's route, I'm ready to address some things.
So, I'm seeing where I was unnecessarily overzealous with my criticism. It wasn't warranted.
So, point 1 and 2 are taken to be me being a dick and making assumptions about things, without giving the game a chance to explain.
Point 3? Having completed the game thus far, I understand MC's humor and behavior better now. It's still not to my taste, but it makes sense for the character and plot.
Point 4 I still want to argue about a little. Starting over to do Dallas' route, I really don't see how making a choice there prohibits the other character. I understand, from a writing point of view, it's easier for one or the other... but from a story point of view, Dallas is still Avalon's best friend. To have her be totally absent from the plot because I went to a library feels weird.
It actually isn't a "see all the scenes" thing with me. I know I can just go back through the game, and skip dialog I've already seen to hurry to new renders.
It's more about... I don't know... I think plot holes like that just bug me. When I can't see a reason for why it must be one or the other, I wonder "why not both."
If I have to choose one or the other, I can't help but wonder if that choice could come later, after all the characters were introduced.
I did enjoy the game, and I'm looking forward to more released. Even if not harem, the game has a poly route, that with octavia, at least (still very early in Dallas playthrough), is doing a good job of making things feel earned.
And seeing as you are making games, and I'm not, I certainly can't go after you for it being your first game! I've imagined what my first project would look like.... it isn't pretty.
One last criticism I want to make is, I feel, too important to just leave out:
Timeframe. Everything feels supremely rushed.
If all the events I've played up to now were spread over a few weeks, instead of a few days, it would feel more natural. As is, everything falls together very fast. That is the single biggest hit to believability.
I think the game would benefit, greatly, from "empty days," where you don't even need to make scenes for. Just acknowledge that normal days are going by. Adjust dialog to acknowledge that.
I mean, by the end of my playthrough, I think it was something like... 5, maybe 6 days, since game start when she moved in.
Even if that got spread out a little, so it was 2 weeks, that still gives the game more believability for the characters growing together.
Oh. I like Leah. She's pretty, interesting, and I would like to see more of her. What I'm unsure of is if she's actually the MC's sister, and that got changed to "friend" because of patreon, or if she is actually unrelated.
In either event, yes, I, for one, am interested to see more of her character. Even if no romance, I'd like to see MC heal/mend that up.
