VN Ren'Py Hillside [v0.16.1] [DarkBlue]

[TonyMurray]

lots of people recommended this game, so i was a bit disappointed at first.
the writing quality was quite lacking for a long while. only in the last 4 or 5 episodes, there was a very noticeable increase in the quality of the writing.
the story is quite good, though a bit predictable. the dialogs, though, felt a bit cringy and forced for most of the first half of the game. they improved after that, but it's still doesn't feel as smooth and natural as it could be.
Emma is just dumb for most of the game, it's not about being innocent, naive, immature or sheltered. after the attack, there is a sharp increase in her intelligence, and just as there is a sharp decrease in the amount of clothes she wears
Lucy is surprisingly well written compared to the rest. Fox is a close second, though a bit too cliché.
there are some forced overly dramatic moments that break the flow. and scenes often end very abruptly, even though the drama in the scene required some smoother transition.
it's still a good game, but the hype probably created unrealistic expectations for me.

Your review is invalid because you didn't mention Charlotte! (Only joking)

I agree that Lucy is well-written. I always feel bad for her when I'm not on my Lucy path, especially when I go for Charlotte, like everyone else she's ever been interested in. She's a little bit crazy sometimes, but otherwise, she's really nice (and also hot).

 

[HiP1]

Your review is invalid because you didn't mention Charlotte! (Only joking)

I agree that Lucy is well-written. I always feel bad for her when I'm not on my Lucy path, especially when I go for Charlotte, like everyone else she's ever been interested in. She's a little bit crazy sometimes, but otherwise, she's really nice (and also hot).

honestly, I purposely avoided mentioning Charlotte. she is the one that has the most cringy, forced and overly dramatic moments for sure. her story has some very good scenes, but they are butchered with abrupt transitions. it's like you reach great emotional climax immediately followed by a slap to the face out of nowhere.

the dev also actively avoids any competition drama between the girls. once you're on a path, every other girls' feelings for MC completely disappear. only Lucy has a bittersweet aftertaste. and that makes Charlotte's possessive and jealous streak kind of pointless and empty.

 

[Joshy92]

honestly, I purposely avoided mentioning Charlotte. she is the one that has the most cringy, forced and overly dramatic moments for sure. her story has some very good scenes, but they are butchered with abrupt transitions. it's like you reach great emotional climax immediately followed by a slap to the face out of nowhere.

the dev also actively avoids any competition drama between the girls. once you're on a path, every other girls' feelings for MC completely disappear. only Lucy has a bittersweet aftertaste. and that makes Charlotte's possessive and jealous streak kind of pointless and empty.

The relationship stuff is still in its early stages I doubt Charlotte will just say 'oh well whatever' if she finds out the mc is dating Emma or Suzi. It will take a while for her to accept it imo.

 

[cxx]

When is the 2nd half of V0.15 expected to be released?

like we would know. we can only hope that it does and db gets over his problems.

 

[Dessolos]

honestly, I purposely avoided mentioning Charlotte. she is the one that has the most cringy, forced and overly dramatic moments for sure. her story has some very good scenes, but they are butchered with abrupt transitions. it's like you reach great emotional climax immediately followed by a slap to the face out of nowhere.

the dev also actively avoids any competition drama between the girls. once you're on a path, every other girls' feelings for MC completely disappear. only Lucy has a bittersweet aftertaste. and that makes Charlotte's possessive and jealous streak kind of pointless and empty.

For me Charlotte is easily the best. I had no issue about the abrupt transitions never really thought about it that much tbh. But I kind of like the abrupt transitions to some of her romantic scenes as I felt it makes sense with the context of her trauma and what not. For me it makes the slow bur nature of her path more believable. I think there will be some smalls hints of drama with Charlotte with the side girls anyways you can already see small hints of it with her thoughts, when she gets jealous. While ive yet to play Lucy's path im glad there is no drama or competition between her and Charlotte once you pick a path. As I think Charlotte's has gone through and is currently going through enough in her life don't need to add anymore to it. Plus it's not like they are teenagers and they have a very good relationship with one another. So I think any drama between them having to compete for the MC would feel very forced , i think it's better this way personally.

 

[dianish86]

When is the 2nd half of V0.15 expected to be released?

To do this, it is necessary that the developer specifically and without prevarication answered this question. And any honest answer will be acceptable

 

[Dessolos]

I see this has the on hold tag now sad to see but expected

 

[robrize2169]

damn i just noticed this had the on hold tag. damn dude, always happens when games seem to be nearing completion. oh well. hope the dev is well and gets back at it as soon as possible.

 

[Justaphase]

I see this has the on hold tag now sad to see but expected

DB did post here on Tuesday, so that gives me some hope that he is still working on getting the rest of chapter 15 ready for us.

 

[Dessolos]

DB did post here on Tuesday, so that gives me some hope that he is still working on getting the rest of chapter 15 ready for us.

yeah not to worried as I been seeing DB come around here a bit more often in the last 2 weeks but still sucks to see all the same

 

[MiltonPowers]

Not unexpected. Hopefully, DB can take some time and get his passion for Hillside back.

 

[moovigym]

When I first played this game, I was impressed by the attractive characters.
But as I watched the update, my expectations disappeared because given the speed of the update, this is not 'slow burn', but 'not burn'. and look at the situation of this game now

 

[Justaphase]

View attachment 3845268


When I first played this game, I was impressed by the attractive characters.
But as I watched the update, my expectations disappeared because given the speed of the update, this is not 'slow burn', but 'not burn'. and look at the situation of this game now

Here we go with the people taking some kind of pleasure from the "on hold" tag.
The first half of chapter 15 only came out just over 2 months ago, we got a quick update from the dev on the 24th of June, so only a few weeks ago and we were already told that he was taking some time off after the first half. He even responded to someone here on Tuesday about the game. So lets hold off on pulling the plug just yet shall we?

 

[moovigym]

Here we go with the people taking some kind of pleasure from the "on hold" tag.
The first half of chapter 15 only came out just over 2 months ago, we got a quick update from the dev on the 24th of June, so only a few weeks ago and we were already told that he was taking some time off after the first half. He even responded to someone here on Tuesday about the game. So lets hold off on pulling the plug just yet shall we?

I hope you get what you want

 

[Deleted member 7636288]

the writing quality was quite lacking for a long while. only in the last 4 or 5 episodes, there was a very noticeable increase in the quality of the writing.

it's still a good game, but the hype probably created unrealistic expectations for me.

Hmm, I dropped it a while ago. That sounds like a different person probably took over the writer's position. Don't know if it's the Dev themselves writing it or not since, you know, we can't see behind the scenes. But if you were able to notice an increase in the quality of the writing, that's what I get from it.


That's why you shouldn't let other people's "Hype" be a reason for you to jump into a game. Do research and keep your expectations low. When you have a thread that talks about a user more than the game and its story/characters, you know something is wrong.

 

[Dessolos]

Hmm, I dropped it a while ago. That sounds like a different person probably took over the writer's position. Don't know if it's the Dev themselves writing it or not since, you know, we can't see behind the scenes. But if you were able to notice an increase in the quality of the writing, that's what I get from it.


That's why you shouldn't let other people's "Hype" be a reason for you to jump into a game. Do research and keep your expectations low. When you have a thread that talks about a user more than the game and its story/characters, you know something is wrong.

yeah I find it's best to take everything with a grain of salt I even dont trust reviews on this site but rather use them as a baseline. tbh if it wasn't for Charlotte and loving her character id probably have a hard time getting through this game but for me characters are more important than story so it was easily a amazing game for me personally.

 

[tmu500]

Hopefully it does not stay ON HOLD for every long time.

 

[fishbrain]

Well that blows, but on hold beats the hell out of the dreaded yellow tag.

I'm hoping for Lucy. Poor Charli has already popped out 2 kids. They need some cousins for Pete's sake.

Who's Pete?

 

[MiltonPowers]

Well that blows, but on hold beats the hell out of the dreaded yellow tag.


Who's Pete?

This dude.

 

[Dessolos]

View attachment 3845268


When I first played this game, I was impressed by the attractive characters.
But as I watched the update, my expectations disappeared because given the speed of the update, this is not 'slow burn', but 'not burn'. and look at the situation of this game now

if you put deveolopment time into the equation than yeah it would feel like no burn just like many other slow burn games. But I dont think it's fair personally to take deveolopment time into consideration if a game is slow burn or no burn. I think it's slow burn because of the context of the game and while it's going at slow pace maybe too slow for some I think it's going about it in a way that makes sense for the characters. So because of that I feel it still is a slow burn.