Edit: Going to try this again because my last review was just all over the place.
I was going to give this 3 stars because of all the "WTFs" and poor grammar as well as the "weeby" vibe I got from it but it's overall a good game and still deserves 4 stars.
However:
- No regular person is going to say things like "BTW", "OMG", and "WTF" outside of texting or online chats. Don't really know why that's a thing among devs but it's become a huge pet peeve.
- The setting being Japan is kind of weird. Since most of the characters don't look asian or have Japanese names. Still, I got past that by choosing to suspend disbelief and imagining the dev just wrote it to be some weird alternate world where Russians(?) and the Japanese intermingled at some point and Osaka is the remnants of before that point in time.
- The main cast of characters' appearances are sometimes inconsistent. Like the dev is trying to make them seem more "Asian" at times then completely abandoning that and switching back. Especially the MC.
- Not a fan of the MC by the way. Kind of a spineless loser. Even just leaves his kid to "pursue his dreams" then ends up drowning in alcohol and prostitutes for a period of time. Seems to take a backseat to almost every other character and I can imagine once or if Antonella (can't remember how to spell the name) comes he'll probably be outshined even more.
- Speaking of taking a backseat, the more attractive character models seem to be taking a backseat so far in terms of the story. I get it. You need to explain what the MC was doing and lay the groundwork for how all these different characters and storylines will eventually coincide with each other. HOWEVER, 6 or 7 of the characters on the banner don't get that much screentime and any content with them is just a bunch of teasing even though they seem like they're highly advertised based off the screenshot previews.
- Seems almost too convoluted of a plot for it to ever be finished. Too many characters and too many plot lines that would make pretty good games by themselves but it's just too slow to grab anyone's attention for a long period of time. It goes from high school sweethearts with one of the greatest looking character models to possible incest with less attractive characters to some crime/bad cop/possibly secret agent/evil mastermind with even less attractive characters. I more or less see how the story might come together later on but how many years will take, is the dev even going to finish such a herculean task, and will it even be worth the wait (both in terms of the MC not being a little bitch outshined by his baby mama and doing the character models justice)?
That's just my best guess on how the plot is going to unfold based off of obvious foreshadowing. That's just the Point A to Point B. It's up to the writer to create an actual journey/story that captivates the audience. It's an adult VN, most won't care about twists and turns. Just a good story and satisfying experience that justifies waiting years for it to finish.
This is an overall good game. The Japanese setting/vibe isn't all that unique but the style, graphics, and sounds give it that unique touch and it's still the best executed of all the games I've seen so far with similar settings.
However, I've seen devs try to take on such a big storytelling task before and the game usually ends up abandoned or stuck in development limbo where we might get trickles of updates every 6 months or longer, if at all.
Still, I wish the devs all the best and hope that they can get enough supporters to see this through so they can be satisfied with their work in the end. Looking forward to future updates.
I was going to give this 3 stars because of all the "WTFs" and poor grammar as well as the "weeby" vibe I got from it but it's overall a good game and still deserves 4 stars.
However:
- No regular person is going to say things like "BTW", "OMG", and "WTF" outside of texting or online chats. Don't really know why that's a thing among devs but it's become a huge pet peeve.
- The setting being Japan is kind of weird. Since most of the characters don't look asian or have Japanese names. Still, I got past that by choosing to suspend disbelief and imagining the dev just wrote it to be some weird alternate world where Russians(?) and the Japanese intermingled at some point and Osaka is the remnants of before that point in time.
- The main cast of characters' appearances are sometimes inconsistent. Like the dev is trying to make them seem more "Asian" at times then completely abandoning that and switching back. Especially the MC.
- Not a fan of the MC by the way. Kind of a spineless loser. Even just leaves his kid to "pursue his dreams" then ends up drowning in alcohol and prostitutes for a period of time. Seems to take a backseat to almost every other character and I can imagine once or if Antonella (can't remember how to spell the name) comes he'll probably be outshined even more.
- Speaking of taking a backseat, the more attractive character models seem to be taking a backseat so far in terms of the story. I get it. You need to explain what the MC was doing and lay the groundwork for how all these different characters and storylines will eventually coincide with each other. HOWEVER, 6 or 7 of the characters on the banner don't get that much screentime and any content with them is just a bunch of teasing even though they seem like they're highly advertised based off the screenshot previews.
- Seems almost too convoluted of a plot for it to ever be finished. Too many characters and too many plot lines that would make pretty good games by themselves but it's just too slow to grab anyone's attention for a long period of time. It goes from high school sweethearts with one of the greatest looking character models to possible incest with less attractive characters to some crime/bad cop/possibly secret agent/evil mastermind with even less attractive characters. I more or less see how the story might come together later on but how many years will take, is the dev even going to finish such a herculean task, and will it even be worth the wait (both in terms of the MC not being a little bitch outshined by his baby mama and doing the character models justice)?
That's just my best guess on how the plot is going to unfold based off of obvious foreshadowing. That's just the Point A to Point B. It's up to the writer to create an actual journey/story that captivates the audience. It's an adult VN, most won't care about twists and turns. Just a good story and satisfying experience that justifies waiting years for it to finish.
This is an overall good game. The Japanese setting/vibe isn't all that unique but the style, graphics, and sounds give it that unique touch and it's still the best executed of all the games I've seen so far with similar settings.
However, I've seen devs try to take on such a big storytelling task before and the game usually ends up abandoned or stuck in development limbo where we might get trickles of updates every 6 months or longer, if at all.
Still, I wish the devs all the best and hope that they can get enough supporters to see this through so they can be satisfied with their work in the end. Looking forward to future updates.