Yea, I wasn't a fan of Ep 9 either.
To be fair, DPC had a lot to account for in that release: the long-awaited Halloween party we thought we were getting in Ep 8, officially introducing Zoey to the main cast otherwise the Interlude would've felt oddly timed, Maya's meeting with Stephen Burke, the stupid "fuck fuck fuckity fuck" at the end of ep 8, explaining why MC never had an opportunity to learn Sage's last name, progression in relationships/closing off of other ones that happened in the timeline after Ep 8 but before Ep 9, new mini-games, all the branching paths, etc, etc. For the Halloween party, it was a whole shebang. For everything else: ass pull, ass pull, Zoey actually done pretty well, ass pull, I liked the party planning game, then Vinny pulls a gun and the genre changes REAL quick.
That being said, it seems like he's more focused on pedantic details than something of substance. From what I saw it looked like the animations are what really held up the release date in the end. The end result for me is that I wasn't very impressed or didn't even really notice. Season 1 was already leagues above almost every other VN.
The freeroam was exhausting and repetitive to the point that I still haven't finished a few runs yet. After the 2nd time or 3rd time, I even just started turning into a speed run and then it felt even more pointless to play.
It was already "better". To me, all the talk about cinematic-like animations and thousands of renders just feel like "Oooh, everyone look at all the pretty fireworks!" then people eat it all up (although I guess with the 60fps stuff even some of the most ardent defenders have become a little jaded). A great "BANG!", everybody cheers, but only lasts for a moment.
The thing about a fireworks show is that they're great ... if they come out in a timely succession. If the first one goes off and the second one pops an hour later, everyone would have already gone home.
Thousands of renders and I didn't really feel like the story moved forward all that much. What felt like potential aftermath after the crossroads decision in Ep 8 was relegated to mostly flashbacks in Ep 9. Then there's the whole "cheating" thing. Great, more empty variables and we have the possibility of getting dumped after that "very important life decision." The direction also took a crazy turn when Vinny pulled out that piece. Shit got real (melodramatic, that is).
As for animations, I liked the opening the first time then skipped it every time after that. The only non-lewd animation I noticed was Jamie flipping the bird and I thought, "So this is one of the animations that we were waiting for, huh?" Obviously, there was more than that and you can't say that's what held up the release date. It's just that with all the hype and that being the only one I even remember at this point, it just felt kind of pointless in the end.
To me, it seems like DPC is either burned out or is trying to say something like "It's not just a porn game goddamnit!"
It's a porn game with a fun story/great scenes and a lot of fun features but it's stlll a porn game. I'm looking through all the scripts and the amount of work this one guy has put into this is truly incredible. "Incredible" doesn't even do it justice, any other solo dev would never be able to do what he's done. But there also things that just make think, "He sure put in a lot of work into stuff that doesn't fucking matter and no really cares about." e.g., the ep6 DNG freeroam, Madame, etc. No real variables come from them and I'd call it filler if I didn't see for myself just how much he put into that particular freeroam.
You can say it's because he's trying to create an immersive and vast world but it feels more like he's providing the illusion of a big, interactive world while we're railroaded along a plot/subplots that seem pretty flimsy when standing up to scrutiny.
(Edi: had some half-finished replies I never posted ...)
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