desmosome

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Sep 5, 2018
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Man, I have no words to describe this VN. I don't think there is any other game on this site that manages to capture the essence of epic fantasy novels as closely as this. It's not even really about the game being "story-first" or "slow burn." Sure, those aspects will certainly help in presenting the game as something more serious than a porn story, but the actual quality of the prose, progression of events, and the overall world building is what really sets this apart.

It's so incredibly rare for me to commit fully to role playing the character in any game I play. I am a power gaming munchkin in cRPGs and full evil corruption router in good/evil porn games. This game though... the way it's been presented just makes me consider all the lore/characters and make choices that feel right for the MC in any given situation.

My baseline for the MC was that he is a naive sheltered boy who still has a strong resolve and self esteem. He has a sense of justice but is also pragmatic. He experiences the racial divide first hand but also found genuine friendship among the humans. Essentially, what I felt the most natural from his childhood expeirences and his mother's guidance was for him to not be swayed so easily by Amaya's zeal. In practical terms, she indeed was the bad guy and the one disturbing the peace of his hometown. I took the middle road when confronting her though. Basically, he didn't hate humans or elves as a whole. From there, it was natural that he would be awed by the elven history and look towards a hopeful future where his kind can coexist in this land. My MC wouldn't have a reason to try and be duplicitous with the Ealdorman. He would try to win his approval and use the advancement of his position to pave a better world for the elves. As hard as it was, this MC would have given the letter to the Ealdorman.

So I have already made multiple choices that seemingly goes against several "love interests," something I very rarely do. However, being the lover of corruption stories as I am, I did pick all options that pull the MC towards the demon. I was glad these choices never broke character and stayed reasonable. The MC is an inquisitive kid and his curious yet cautious response during the encounters made sense.

If this was an average game on F95zone, I would have probably gone for an Elf Hitler playthrough (not that I'm expecting siding with the elves would lead to a less convincing story). And I can almost see the possible story progression where the MC's idealistic path towards a better future is shattered, if not by the Ealdorman himself (in his own justified way), then by the surrounding humans. I would love to see a situation in which the demon becomes the pragmatic answer, even though it will eventually lead to his corruption.

Anyways, what I'm very hopeful about is the constant challenges to our world view as we wrestle with hard choices down the line. The world building is incredibly convincing, and this grey world where no side is clearly in the right is like a playground for role players.

--------------------------------------------

As for my impressions on Episode 4, it was phenomenal. Maybe the best episode so far. As long as it took, the amount of content did not disappoint. There were several points in the update where I was certain that it would end there, but the next day came lol. There was quite a huge foreshadowing or hints about mom's true identity. The event where they visit the old Elven ruins was extremely powerful. The audio is absolutely perfectly executed in this game. It's great that there isn't a constant looping default track, but scene appropriate music comes up during important events. The environmental sounds are nice as well.

I'm not a huge fan of feet and femdom, so I didn't indulge Trisha's teasing all the way, but I enjoyed her character. As with every other character, she has quite a lot of depth. Becky and the Blacksmith had their moments. I like submissive girls so I'm not bothered by Sunny's low self-esteem like some other posters. That said, since I did commit to playing this not as a coomer, but as the MC, I do want to help her grow as a person. I really liked the clumsy teenage romance they shared. Finally, the ending cliffhanger was awesome. Loved that art.

Maybe a few minor critiques to end things. People snort a lot in this universe lol. If you are unconsciously writing the snorts, maybe mix it up a little bit more. I think there might be some experimentation with the art style. I noticed several different styles throughout the chapter. Honestly, they all look good to me, but it would help to try and develop a unified style. That said, I personally hope that the art isn't the bottleneck in the development of this game. The quality of the art so far is absolutely good enough. This style resembling watercolors is pleasing to look at.
 
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Worlaix

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...

Maybe a few minor critiques to end things. People snort a lot in this universe lol. If you are unconsciously writing the snorts, maybe mix it up a little bit more. I think there might be some experimentation with the art style. I noticed several different styles throughout the chapter. Honestly, they all look good to me, but it would help to try and develop a unified style. That said, I personally hope that the art isn't the bottleneck in the development of this game. The quality of the art so far is absolutely good enough. This style resembling watercolors is pleasing to look at.
I definitely need to rein in my tendencies when it comes to snorting and "browplay" (furrowing, perking, arching, etc). As for the art, I think I just improved a bunch while working on the episode itself over the months - the cuddle scene in the morning of the last day was drawn in march, and the final scene with Sunny was drawn last month. But we'll see how long the development of ep 5 takes, I've learned quite a bit in terms of workflow while working on the last update.

Thank you for the post, always a pleasure to read your thoughts!
 
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valley boy

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Apr 30, 2021
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I want to echo everyone's sentiments that this visual novel is amazing. It is extremely well-written, both in characters and in setting up the world and handles different decisions well. I generally like the art as well.

I do have a suggestion since it seems it may be awhile between updates -
Is there any way to give people returning to the game a synopsis of what happened previously? It took me awhile to remember all the characters, their names, and what they had done. The codex was very helpful, but something like a paragraph or three summary of each chapter would help people get right back in.

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Worlaix

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I want to echo everyone's sentiments that this visual novel is amazing. It is extremely well-written, both in characters and in setting up the world and handles different decisions well. I generally like the art as well.

I do have a suggestion since it seems it may be awhile between updates -
Is there any way to give people returning to the game a synopsis of what happened previously? It took me awhile to remember all the characters, their names, and what they had done. The codex was very helpful, but something like a paragraph or three summary of each chapter would help people get right back in.

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That could be a helpful addition, but we will see - if I am not mistaken, the development time of each episode before ep 4 was 3-4 months, so episode 4 was hopefully an exception. If it's taking so long, some kind of a "Previously on Elvensang..." summary could be handy for sure.

As for your question:
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okokok

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Aug 19, 2016
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I definitely need to rein in my tendencies when it comes to snorting and "browplay" (furrowing, perking, arching, etc). As for the art, I think I just improved a bunch while working on the episode itself over the months - the cuddle scene in the morning of the last day was drawn in march, and the final scene with Sunny was drawn last month. But we'll see how long the development of ep 5 takes, I've learned quite a bit in terms of workflow while working on the last update.

Thank you for the post, always a pleasure to read your thoughts!
At least it wasn't braid tugging again. Had enough of that one :LOL:
 
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m4pII

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Jun 22, 2019
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Just an amazing update. Unexpectedly, I liked it even more than the prologue, which before that, for me, was the standard of quality.
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combige

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Jun 30, 2017
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Very good update. Like reading a nice wholesome book. I'm fond of not rushed and thoughtful pace and at the same time quite an active mc. Putting attention on differentiation of the feelings and characters being considerate reads great, but not too believable, though I can feel it on the contrast of those tons of hentai and pornhwas I consume. Author's doing great job imo!
 
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JLP603

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Apr 25, 2019
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Just playing the new updated and was wondering if someone got a different scene when
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JLP603

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YES!!! I need more of that elven Milf incest content!!! Also very excited to see what becomes of our choice to give the letter to the town lord or trisha. I'm still kinda surprised that jonah was fine after we tried to steal or firgure out what the knights were carrying though.
 
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I don't remember how, but back then there were factors that made the mc more aggressive or submissive right?


on the submissive route I never noticed before that the bandit's eyes goes dead as he's about to swing down with the seax.

also in part 4 nice choice of music for the dev on the cliffhanger, very foreboding
 

Worlaix

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I don't remember how, but back then there were factors that made the mc more aggressive or submissive right?


on the submissive route I never noticed before that the bandit's eyes goes dead as he's about to swing down with the seax.

also in part 4 nice choice of music for the dev on the cliffhanger, very foreboding
I wouldn't call it aggressive or submissive, it's more... aggressive and violent vs. charming and persuasive/manipulative. I will need to revisit how that's implemented so I can make it properly relevant in future episodes, but the basic idea is whether the protagonist is more likely to resort to solving things with his fists or with words. It's basic, but it can add some neat nuance I think.

And cheers! A lot of the music was composed by aekseer specifically for those scenes.
 
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the basic idea is whether the protagonist is more likely to resort to solving things with his fists or with words. It's basic, but it can add some neat nuance I think.
cool, it's gonna be different from the standard "aggressive and submissive" thing that I mistook and more or less see from other VN games, no offense to them really. it's just that sometimes I just wanted to play the loud but meek dude or silent but punchy dude and your writing does that.
 
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Worlaix

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I'm not sure how opaque the dev wants the choices to be, but I tried a path where I was loyal (so I got the conversation with the people in the tavern) but I didn't realize I still missed out on an opportunity there because I hadn't been diplomatic enough.

Some games show grayed out options to provide clues that there is other content to see. Or maybe communicate more clearly that that there are several main combinations of loyal/disloyal, and violent/diplomatic.

I mean it's fine the way it is, just something to consider in helping players find content.
That's a good point, though I'd prefer to make something like that more apparent through the narration itself - I've only done it really once afaik, by mentioning that the MC "doesn't have a bond of friendship or the ability to fake it" in a convo with a certain character.

The choice you are mentioning is like a persuade check; if your charm is high enough, you manage to convince the Briar Boys that you are actually a faithful, otherwise it goes a different route - so it's not a missing dialogue option per se.

But we'll see, I'll give it some more thought!
 
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