Edit: Just noticed the last update was Feb 4th and it's still labeled an Alpha. Might be worth mentioning in the OP that it's an Alpha?
Damn, alright. Took a bit to get this cleaned up in my head. BUT I felt it was worth a read and I'm certainly looking forward to other things created within this 'universe'.
Episode 1 was easy enough to follow but gave you the impression the story wasn't linear. Which it is.
Episode 2 takes off where 1 left off only a few minutes later IIRC.
Episode 3 begins the next day, I think? Tricky thing here is that you're able to prematurely end the game on several routes and still be told the story continues in a next episode. For instance:
Episode 4 continues a day after the ending of Episode 3. Thereabouts. You're not privy to everything but it's pretty clear where things continue.
Episode 5 has a good introduction that tells you where the story is at.
So only after playing all 5 Episodes is the 'overall story' kind of making sense to me.
From what I'm gathering I think this way of storytelling is called an "unreliable narrator". (Correct me if I'm wrong)
I won't pretend EVERYTHING is clear to me now, but I feel it's worthy of attention if for no other reason then that this sets up an actual 'world' that continues beyond and around the game.
and 'schoolgirl saga' continues in the same universe, which implies they've thought about this.
Iunno, it's certainly mixed up with some cliché's but I'm not bothered by them. What's a new change for me in these games is that there are absolutely no 'out-of-body' experiences going on that magically fill in the gaps for the player or give us a view of other characters in the story.
It's a refreshing change not being 'all knowing' and being just as fucking confused as the main character.
And it's clear they've been experimenting and improving with each subsequent episode, so I'll give the fucky savesystem and the sometimes brutal game overs a pass.
