Reposting my praise/review posted in the main thread
So far, this is--by a significant margin--hands down the best game (all around) in the erotic VN category I've played to date. It does everything so well, and in many cases as good or much better than its peers. There's no 'weak aspect' of the game I can point to, as is usually the case with these games--they may often be good in one or two categories, but they invariably suffer in all the others. This game doesn't seem to have those deficiencies. It's very good all around, and it's really quite remarkable, tbh.
The characters all look and feel like reasonable, cohesive, individual characters, each with distinct looks and personalities, as opposed to just cardboard cutouts thrown into the game to merely perform a function. Perhaps the most impressive part about this is that this applies to the MC too, which is remarkable because the MC is, in my experience, so often one of the weakest characters in these games. But in this game, the MC has been given as much effort as the other characters, which is truly refreshing to see, and makes the game that much better. Even the initial (normally) throw-away antagonist was given some character development and made somewhat sympathetic.
The render quality is top tier as well. I have yet to see a poorly designed (visually) character--and this applies to the males and females. The environments aren't always the best, but I'm struggling to think of a game that can beat this one in terms of character design quality. The expression work is really very good, and adds so much to the emotional context of the various scenes and scenarios. There's no derpy, fugly, or wonky looking characters here. The attention to detail is much appreciated.
The writing and dialogue is some of the best I've seen from similar games. The English doesn't appear to be broken or nonsensical, and there is good variety that is actually pretty effective. There's comedy that actually makes me laugh, drama that actually makes me care, suspense and mystery that actually intrigues me and makes me wonder, and the emotions the narrative is conveying actually seem to consistently come through as intended. I find that there's often a fine line between too much and too little narration/exposition in these games, and most games tend to miss the mark--they either go way too overboard with a bunch of dialogue or monologue that bores me to death, or don't do nearly enough to actually make me give a damn about what's happening. This game, so far, has seemed to have found the sweet spot. I don't find myself space-barring through seemingly endless lines of text without even bothering to read, nor do I find myself feeling unsatisfied by the writing that we are given.
The story... highly enjoyable so far. Granted, it still seems like there's quite a bit to go, but as things stand now, I'm anxious to see what happens next. The pacing is just right, and the chapters feel full, complete, and purposeful. There's a lot to be said about the world-building, IMO. You have several independent relationships (of different types) taking place simultaneously, but they're all also cohesive with one another and that helps to flesh out this world you're occupying, making it feel more alive than is usual in these games. Nothing really feels like it's disjointed, random, or arbitrary--everything feels connected and meaningful. Also, this is one of the more reasonable stories I have seen so far. It reminds me a lot of some kind of 'teen movie' comedy, like American Pie or something in that there's some crazy hijinks, and even some of what I'd say is reasonable ridiculousness, but nothing that really wades into the realm of breaking immersion, or anything that is inappropriate to the story/environment, as is so common in these games. And perhaps just as importantly, nothing feels lazy or phoned-in.
Please keep up the good work.
So far, this is--by a significant margin--hands down the best game (all around) in the erotic VN category I've played to date. It does everything so well, and in many cases as good or much better than its peers. There's no 'weak aspect' of the game I can point to, as is usually the case with these games--they may often be good in one or two categories, but they invariably suffer in all the others. This game doesn't seem to have those deficiencies. It's very good all around, and it's really quite remarkable, tbh.
The characters all look and feel like reasonable, cohesive, individual characters, each with distinct looks and personalities, as opposed to just cardboard cutouts thrown into the game to merely perform a function. Perhaps the most impressive part about this is that this applies to the MC too, which is remarkable because the MC is, in my experience, so often one of the weakest characters in these games. But in this game, the MC has been given as much effort as the other characters, which is truly refreshing to see, and makes the game that much better. Even the initial (normally) throw-away antagonist was given some character development and made somewhat sympathetic.
The render quality is top tier as well. I have yet to see a poorly designed (visually) character--and this applies to the males and females. The environments aren't always the best, but I'm struggling to think of a game that can beat this one in terms of character design quality. The expression work is really very good, and adds so much to the emotional context of the various scenes and scenarios. There's no derpy, fugly, or wonky looking characters here. The attention to detail is much appreciated.
The writing and dialogue is some of the best I've seen from similar games. The English doesn't appear to be broken or nonsensical, and there is good variety that is actually pretty effective. There's comedy that actually makes me laugh, drama that actually makes me care, suspense and mystery that actually intrigues me and makes me wonder, and the emotions the narrative is conveying actually seem to consistently come through as intended. I find that there's often a fine line between too much and too little narration/exposition in these games, and most games tend to miss the mark--they either go way too overboard with a bunch of dialogue or monologue that bores me to death, or don't do nearly enough to actually make me give a damn about what's happening. This game, so far, has seemed to have found the sweet spot. I don't find myself space-barring through seemingly endless lines of text without even bothering to read, nor do I find myself feeling unsatisfied by the writing that we are given.
The story... highly enjoyable so far. Granted, it still seems like there's quite a bit to go, but as things stand now, I'm anxious to see what happens next. The pacing is just right, and the chapters feel full, complete, and purposeful. There's a lot to be said about the world-building, IMO. You have several independent relationships (of different types) taking place simultaneously, but they're all also cohesive with one another and that helps to flesh out this world you're occupying, making it feel more alive than is usual in these games. Nothing really feels like it's disjointed, random, or arbitrary--everything feels connected and meaningful. Also, this is one of the more reasonable stories I have seen so far. It reminds me a lot of some kind of 'teen movie' comedy, like American Pie or something in that there's some crazy hijinks, and even some of what I'd say is reasonable ridiculousness, but nothing that really wades into the realm of breaking immersion, or anything that is inappropriate to the story/environment, as is so common in these games. And perhaps just as importantly, nothing feels lazy or phoned-in.
Please keep up the good work.
