Ren'Py - Completed - Edgewater [v1.0] [Archie Gold]

I had initially thought the game had too much exposition compared to the amount of choices you get to make but then the intro ends and the game reveals itself to be a sandbox. And like most other sandboxes, it is a grindy, confusing experience where you have to meet certain stat checks to progress but you're unsure of how to change some and how much you should aiming for. This doesn't make for an enjoyable experience and like most other sandboxes, resulted in me having to throw in the towel and calling it quits.

It also doesn't help to have all a lot of locations that aren't labelled and blend into the map when you're going to have to revisit them a lot throughout a playthrough.

At least the next game won't be a sandbox, according to the developer, so hopefully it will actually be an enjoyable game to play.

I like fantasy genre games so this one intrigued me after reading the synopsis on the OP. I really was looking forward to heading out and swinging the MC's sword about and slaying some baddies while getting into good graces with some pretty LI's. I wanted to like it, I really did. What I got was a really, really grindy game with no guarantee of payoff for my floundering efforts. The Developer provided a WT that was just a collection of "hints" rather than a true WT. After the intro to the game completes you are sent to the "guess where to go map" as I call it (It has absolutely no labels so it's a guess where you click to go). I put in about 28 days game time play with absolutely no idea whether I was heading for a "bad ending" or a "good one". My patience wore thin and I gave up. I'm not about to spend hours upon hours playing a game I have no idea where I'm going or if I am progressing correctly. Good luck with your 5 part series Developer.

I rate Edgewater 4/5. The story and gameplay are both really fun, my only issue is that sometimes the triggers/cause and effect can be hard to track. With a good walkthrough or hint system I'd rate this 5/5

The game is grindy and becomes clearly repetitive, and the UI is not clear and it is not super clear what you need to do in the game.

Nevertheless, I put it 3 and not 2 because it is not that far from being an actual good game with a bit more effort was put and it is free.

The NTR can be soft or hard, soft being setting up good guys caring about you or lesbians that give you a show (and potentially threesomes with you), and hard being the bad guys getting the girls: the hard NTR is avoidable, the soft not really and depends on your choices.

jesus christ those facial expressions. the models are competent as are the poses. the story is long winded but ok for a first time but my god those facial expressions are nightmare inducing and totally take you out of it. fix them they're terrible.

Not a bad title for first game on ren'py. All the good bones are there. The story and characters are interesting. There is drama, adversity, some story twists, romance and hot renders. The fact that the game takes places during whole year makes the scope bigger, and feel like your actions really affected the town and it's people(which is always good). I wouldn't mind seeing chapter 2.
Though most of relationships are pretty amorphous, no one is jealous(besides the antagonists), lots of fucking around. So you can get blindsided by some scenes if you hate NTR or sharing (which I'm not, so no skin off my back).

Honestly, the worst part about it is point grind (sometimes heavy, sometimes light), missing QoL features , like skipping day time, or ability to train on your free time(you need specific time and place), not knowing scene triggers or when you reached the end of content for particular girl, or you need to grind points some more. Also some continuity issues due to simplistic coding for events (especially closer to the end), like some scenes or characters that shouldn't be available are still present in default sandbox state.

Thank fuck the renpy scripts are easy to read, so that adjusted my experience a lot (my first advice - give yourself more vitality gain for sleep, 0.3 was enough for me to reach needed stats for all timed events. It's in overlaps.rpy, search for "You settle in for the night.") . Don't attempt this without walkthrough or being ready to dive into scripts(there are some obvious bugs in the code, and a bit of less obvious ones that will prevent you from triggering certain bath scenes). The game will take you some hours to finish, but I felt it was worth it.

TLDR: story and renders are good, gameplay and code structure bad. So be ready to edit some script bits ,use walkthrough, or wait for patch/mod

This is the rating for the Game in Version [v1.0] from me:

Pros:
+ Nice Renders
+ Long Game Play
+ Hot Scenes
+ Nice Story

Cons:
- Hard to Play
- Quick Game Over
- No hint System
- Map Confusing
Conclusion:

I played this Game for many hours, and I mean Many (Around 7) and must say that I was so mesmerized of it that I couldn't stop, maybe it was my curiosity what was hiding around the corner , I almost finished all paths,except maybe one or two, but I only made it through cheating, otherwise it probably would have taking me days,with me pulling all my hair out (The few that I have left).
to trigger scenes you have to keep doing things over and over again,which can be frustrating at the end, also the character Point system is damn complicated even for me (was pretty good in school), and there was an error in the Bar for me when Jack saw me with his daughter.
All in all I still liked this game, the scenes where hot and different, if the dev would have made the point system a little easier and left out the easy Game Over trap, then this Game would have been a winner in my book, because the renders I liked very much,good work on that and the story itself.
If the Dev would do these minor changes with a big impact,then he would have a bright future in game making I believe, because I can see that the Dev has Talent.

Recommendation:
Still worth the download

"It's too late to add new UI or hints. I'm done with chapter 1, I really want to start chapter 2, and I'll add it there. Seriously, this is a free game. Take it or leave it. But I realize this game will be immensely frustrating without awareness of some basics at the very least. So here's the walkthrough:"
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I'm not sure I understand the reasoning. Did you know at the time you made this UI that it would be enormously frustrating for the players, or did you come to that understanding only after it was mentioned by the players? I accept that this is a free game, and I am glad for it, because paying someone and then not receiving something worthwhile in return would go beyond frustrating and get to the level of fraudulent. If the most challenging part of your game is actually finding the entertainment within the stultifying environment it is hidden in, then you probably missed the point of "creating a game" entirely.

I recognize that it takes a great deal of effort and skill to create a game, and any effort of creation will, inevitably, receive a great amount of criticism, deserved or gratuitous. But, simply because some gratuitous criticism is inevitable should not distract you from what is deserved. The truth is you can craft a compelling story, with an amazing cast of characters accomplishing heroic feats while overcoming staggering opposition, but that is entirely wasted if no one can read it because you crafted that story in a dead language no one understands.

Simply telling people to "take it or leave it," while certainly painless and expedient, also ensures that all your effort thus far is wasted. Now, if we were talking about changes to the plot, or characters, I would commend you for that attitude. But, we're talking about accessing the story, which you, by your own admission, have made flawed and "frustrating." Even if you "correct" this problem with Chapter 2, you have already lost much of your audience with Chapter 1, and I hardly think that the level of trust with that audience will be bolstered by ignoring the legitimate issues already raised.

I will leave it. I have lost the potential to be entertained, and it seems, saved myself a great deal of frustration. That feels like a good bargain at the moment. If, at some point in the future, you decide that you want others to try and enjoy your efforts, I will be pleased, and if not, I'll be fine with that as well...