- Nov 21, 2018
- 1,442
- 2,470
In all honesty, this game gives me a continual feeling that characters have been forgotten. The MC's first love from college came to town carrying his child, and apart from having a sleepover with her on her first night there, and then visiting her at her new apartment, he scarcely has any contact with her. He's so busy trying to get with girls he just met, that he has no time for a woman he supposedly loves who is pregnant with his baby. This is completely unbelievable to me, especially in view of the fact that we're constantly told how focused on love and relationships the MC is supposed to be.
And the same thing happens with the other characters. He just started "double dating" with the black girl and her mother, whose names escape me at the moment, and then he goes off and doesn't see them or speak to them for several days.
Also, the MC is presented to us as being aware that he needs to start achieving in life. We've been told that he doesn't want to just live on his grandma's money. He said that he was going to find work. But he didn't look for work. He just lucked into a job. And since he got hired for his nice new job, he hasn't reported for work once. Every time the MC comes home from running some errand and finds the house empty, he decides "Meh. I have some time to kill. I think I'll just watch some TV." In between fucking bitches, he's just pissing his life away sitting on the couch. Personally, I'm convinced that at least part of the reason why MoonBox had the MC buy a used car and restore it was to alleviate the sense which the game gives us that the MC is a lazy bum.
Unfortunately, both the problem of the MC forgetting his ladies for days at a time and the problem of the MC never achieving anything beyond sex and romance are results of the game having too many LIs. There are at least twenty-five different LIs in this game, so far (And I might be forgetting some.), and there's just no way to balance content for that many girls in a way which seems believable, while also portraying the MC as a hard working go-getter.
The problem of the MC never punching the clock on his job could be solved easily enough if, whenever he returns to an empty house, he were to report to work for a few hours, instead of zoning out in front of the TV. Rather than showing us the standard render of his sitting on the couch, show us a standard render of him working. I mean, it isn't necessary to spend much time on the MC working, since none of us are playing this game to get a job simulator. But if you're going to write it into the story that he's looking for work, and then you're going to show him getting hired for a new job, it strains credulity a bit to never have him work his new job.
The problem of characters going without a single mention for days at a time in the game is, I think, unsolvable. It's the unavoidable consequence of trying to include too many LIs. Fortunately, while it is a problem with the believability of the story and the likability of the MC, it's not really a deal breaker for the game, at least not for me. I can strain my imagination a little and force myself to accept it, because I do still enjoy the game. Admittedly, though, I'm enjoying it less since it's gotten so bogged down with Shizuka.
I don't want to overdo the criticism, though. I still play each update as it comes out, and will probably continue to do so, unless the Shizuka slog becomes endless. Props to MoonBox for sticking with it, as a first time developer in a marketplace where many games (perhaps even the majority) die out by this point. And props for being so consistent with the update schedule. It's very admirable.
