Just started playing this game, and since the dev seems active in this thread I'll post my first impressions as I think of them.
First impressions
- Holy shit banger Main Menu music. When I first opened the game, I literally sat at the menu screen listening to the music for a good minute before starting the game.
- Very impressed with the options to turn certain kinds of content on/off. I'm not one to turn content off, but the fact that it's there for other people is great!
- Bonus points for the choice modifier option as well. One of the main things I dislike about a lot of Ren'py games is the fact I'd need a walkthrough to make sure I don't miss a route that I'm interested in.
- Now an hour or so into the game, and found my first issue. The MC and Kate naming thing. I decided to have Kate be my friend (since that's what she was since childhood, right? Calling her just a roommate or "roomie" is odd). So she's my friend, I'm her friend, we're friends... but the issue is the "what I call her" and "what she calls me". I want her to call me by my name, and I want to call her by her name... isn't that normal? It's odd for the game to be "Hi, friend!" or "Thank you, friend!" Like... who talks like that? So I wanted us to just call each other by our names, "Thank you, Kate.". The issue is when this is used in certain ways. An example of how odd it can get can be seen in the option screen to change MC/Kate's relationship. "So Kate is your Kate and you are her Aetheran. Kate and Aetheran are friends." .... yes.... Kate is my Kate. I am her Aetheran... thanks... that's not awkward to read at all /s. I don't want to call her by some nickname, I don't want her to call me by some nickname. IMO, there should be an option to just call each other by our actual names.
- Further along in the story. I wasn't sure about Erick at first but he seems like a real bro, I like him.
- Just got to the antihero/vig/hero branching part... I've glanced through this thread a bit. From the few things I've read, some girls are only available on specific paths? (I read the dev saying they can't see someone named "Ava" ever being available on the vig/hero path or something? I haven't met her yet tho). This... kinda sucks. I'm not a fan of being forced to replay a game because a specific path I chose doesn't have the LIs I'm interested in. Is there a list of what girls are available on what paths? Guess I'll stop playing for the night here and wait for an answer.
Overall I'm enjoying it. My only major complaint is the last point I listed. I don't even know all the girls yet but I'm being presented with a branching option that I have no idea what it locks me out of. It'll really suck if I pick one, continue playing for another X amount of hours before I realize "oh shit, this new girl I'm really interested in is not available as a LI because I picked this path."