This game has already had a good number of updates, so I think it has passed the phase of "it has so much potential". Now is in the phase "it had so much potential, but..." Truth is, the game is worse every update. I think I would rate it 5 stars the two first updates. Now, I would give 2, and just because of the good 3D models.
It´s not only the bugs. The story seems to go nowhere and the dialogues and situations are more dull every update, as well as the personalities of the characters, that seems to be different now from the firsts updates, and not because "narrative arc" or "character development", which is non-existent. I think the dev was too ambitious at the beginning of the game, trying to do a clone of "that game that can´t be named". Now he has too many characters and don´t know what to do with them, so... "let´s make this character a lesbian... people like lesbians in porn games, right?" "Let´s create an antagonist out of nowhere, people will love it" "Let´s add artificial drama making the ex-girlfriend to break with the MC... again"... It seems that the previous writer abandoned the project, and the new writer didn´t even played the game before starting writing the new updates.
Maybe I'm just easier to please. I kinda like the different characters. Lauren for instance is way different from Riley and she is way different from Penelope and Penelope is way different from Nora etc. etc. You get my point.
I would go as far to say that the distinction between the characters is more diverse in personality then "The game that cannot be named". I mean compare Nora to Sage (Or Bella for that matter). Nora never thinks about cheating...where as Sage does that at the drop of a hat and Bella...well who knows what's going on there. Make no mistake..."The game that can not be named" is my favourite game on this site (Or at least top 3), so no hate on Sage or Bella. I'm just saying.
I even like the KFC score. Maybe it can do with some tinkering, but I like the overall idea.
What kills it for me, is the bugs. The phone was pretty bad. I mean Kiwi (Or what ever it was called) was disappointing. The false message notifications was pretty annoying (Seems to be sorted out now). And because of it these bugs, it pops up error messages throughout the game. (Still not sure if a fresh playthrough will resolve that). The whole phone experience is probable the worst part of the game and that should be the nicest part of the game (like a marketing gimmick... look you have a "fully" working phone inside the game).
On top of that the fighting minigame that looked so promising, was just too buggy. I actually like the idea of the fighting game (Much better then most other fighting games on here), but once again let down by buggy execution. Then what was supposed to be first story climax in the game, turned out to be a mess, with jumping story lines, weird outcomes etc. etc. The first fight night was a disaster.
I do agree that the story lost a bit of focus. Focusing on the fighting, but then completely changing focus. But for me: Fix the phone and fight bugs. bring a bit of the fighting focus back and viola! 5/5 from me.
The game as is still good for me. I still enjoy the story and characters. But as I said before...fix the bugs!
