Okay, so I've gotten to the new reworked "Reset" event and I just want to give my current thoughts on the rework. I'm probably not going to do an official review on the game until it's all out, but I still want to get my thoughts out. Anyone not wanting to hear about the reworked beginning cause they're waiting for chapter 3 then just know I will be talking about the changes and the new and improved beginning. You want to experience it yourself, don't read further.
Just because I do say it is improved, doesn't mean I still don't have my criticisms. This will also be mostly criticisms too because every good thing I can say about this game, I've said before elsewhere and everyone else had already said it. Most of my negative thoughts are mostly directed at the very beginning, like the first 5 or so main events. It's better, I guess, but in some aspects its worse. The beginning started off pretty promising. Ami behaves more like the current Ami, obsessive and borderline yandere, just how I like her, and everything's doing good.
Then we get to the scene where Maya, Ami, and Ayane are hanging out. Two big issues with this scene in particular. First off, the Ayane suicide joke. I mean, it sets up how insanely in love Ayane is with Sensei, and its not entirely inaccurate to her character, but in my opinion, its an awful way to officially introduce Ayane. Just as bad as the original where Ayane was basically just a slut with daddy issues. I think that moment should be taken out or at the very least modified. It's makes an awful first viewing of Ayane's character, since something like that fits way more with Ami than it would with Ayane herself.
My second issue with the scene is the over reliance with "tell don't show." I don't understand how this made it through because it screams awful writing. What specifically I'm talking about is how the narrator comes in to tell about Ayane's familial background and how her father gained her wealth, and her butlers backstory, all for the sake of a joke that's just wasted. Not only did we just get the same info from Ami a few lines before, but the narrator repeated that same information for a joke, and instead of Ayane just naming her butler, so that in the future there would be multiple jokes to portray his character off screen, instead its all boiled into one clunky mess. His backstory, his identity, even bits of his personality. Instead of keeping it silent so that there can be multiple comedic moments later, that's all tossed in the trash.
What makes this even more bizarre is how much better the rest of the game is when delivering name drops. Nodoka, Kirin, Maki, and other characters were name dropped early before their official introduction, but it doesn't ruin their not yet existing character for the sake of a bad punchline. It's also bizarre cause I legitimately think this game is funny too, as much as serious and depressing.
One more thing I want to point out is the whole Sana event where she just randomly screams about the whole Patreon fiasco. It's fine right now, I had a good laugh reading through it, but it shouldn't make it into the final product. It would just date the game even more than some of the humor with Raid Shadow Legends already does. By chapter 4, if there's going to be a chapter 4 I don't see why, or on the final update it should be replaced.
