For those wanting a quick answer as to whether or not they should play this game, the following key points should be noted.
LiL is one of those games that, honestly, I very much want to like... quite a bit in fact. It's got a rather extensive cast of characters, which to date, all seem romance open characters in one form or another. Some are present just for sex, while others help push the story along... well... eventually.
That's where the first problem that LiL runs into, which as a player, you're going to start dealing with. Specifically, to get various story events to take place (above and beyond the character events) you're going to find yourself repeating multiple little events in this kind of grind fest. All with the intention of getting an affection stat up high enough that you reach an arbitrary range before an event will trigger. Furthermore, it's not uncommon to have to grind multiple characters over the span of several in game days (or weeks) to reach the needed required affection range.
At the start of the game, when you're only really worrying about one or two characters, this isn't too big a deal. However as the game progresses, and you start having more and more interactions with other characters... well you can quite easily get into situations where you're 'hanging out' (no that's not a code word for sex) with the same character again... and again... and again... for days on end.
A walkthrough, or some kind of hint mod, is a must have with the game... and even then it's not perfect. Expect to use cheats... a lot. Trust me on that.
However, while the grind fest that the game is can be frustrating, the question remains, "Is the writing worth it?" Specifically, is it something that makes you want to go through and deal with that headache?
Short answer... maybe.
The writing is relatively decent, for the most part, and has come quite a long way from when the game first released. Having said that, there are issues with it. Not huge, glaring issues that make you go 'was that even English?' but there are going to be times that you find yourself going back through things to try to make sense of what you just read. One point you'll quickly be introduced to, is the main plot point of the game, where you learn you're stuck in a Groundhog Day kind of loop, where everything simply resets and you start over. You retain the memories of the previous loop, but much of the characters around you, don't. When Groundhog Day is well written, it's a great story to see play out. Even when it's badly written, it can still be interesting. Sadly, this game falls somewhere in the middle. There are real good plot points and story lines, and real BAD ones. They even out to make the game have somewhat 'meh' writing. Expect to be confused. That's all I can say there.
Things get worse as the game progresses, as you will start finding that there's something you the MC need to do to try to end the loop... but as with any good "Groundhog Day" story, what you need to do... isn't clear. This is often called the "story that never was" trope, where you have to do... well, something, to prevent the loop from even happening in the first place. However, since so much of the game story is a mystery, and seems to even change with every major update (at least it feels that way writing wise), good luck in figuring things out.
Story I rate a 2 out of 5 stars.
So what about the code itself? Is the game well built and generally bug free? Honestly, yeah. The code is relatively simple, but it works, and it tends to work quite well. There's been bugs in the past, but the developer seems to have figured out how to prevent those, and has progressed to a point where the game is relatively stable. To the point that as a player you generally don't have to worry about some new update changing everything and breaking your past saves, forcing you to have to run through everything... again. Sure, it's still a grind fest, but at least it works well enough that you aren't going to have to return here from time to time to look for an update that fixes some bug, or you don't need to worry about having to start over from the beginning. Even if that technically is the main theme of the game. (pun intended).
Code and writing gets a 5 out of 5 stars.
The last metric I rate by is update schedule. Does the developer update the game with enough regularity that you aren't waiting for the game for an inordinate amount of time. Sadly, LiL's update schedule is... bad. Very bad. Much like other large games (Innocent Witches is a good example), the update schedule for LIL is such that you can expect to wait months before you see an update. Yes, the updates do contain some level of progression of the story, and are decently large; but that's really no excuse. Given the amount of what DOES come out with each update, it would be more reasonable for the developer to break those major updates down somewhat and have a more regular update schedule. However, they've chosen not to do that. I can't say why they've taken this path, but be warned, you may not hear much from the developer for some time before your next update comes out.
I rate Update schedule 1 of 5 stars.
Conclusion:
Is the game even worth it? Well, yeah. It's not a great game, but by the same token, it's not a bad game either. If you don't mind the grind fest that it is, you can have some fun with it. If you want to skip all that, there's a handful of cheats which can get you past that, and at least one 'hint' or walkthrough that you can use to figure out what to focus on. The writing is generally decent, the game is stable, and while the update schedule isn't the best, at the very least it's not as bad as it could be. Overall, the game is average. A good play, with some replayability, but not something you're going to go out of your way to return to.
- The game story uses the rather common "Groundhog Day" trope.
- The writing seems to make use of the The Story That Never Was trope.
LiL is one of those games that, honestly, I very much want to like... quite a bit in fact. It's got a rather extensive cast of characters, which to date, all seem romance open characters in one form or another. Some are present just for sex, while others help push the story along... well... eventually.
That's where the first problem that LiL runs into, which as a player, you're going to start dealing with. Specifically, to get various story events to take place (above and beyond the character events) you're going to find yourself repeating multiple little events in this kind of grind fest. All with the intention of getting an affection stat up high enough that you reach an arbitrary range before an event will trigger. Furthermore, it's not uncommon to have to grind multiple characters over the span of several in game days (or weeks) to reach the needed required affection range.
At the start of the game, when you're only really worrying about one or two characters, this isn't too big a deal. However as the game progresses, and you start having more and more interactions with other characters... well you can quite easily get into situations where you're 'hanging out' (no that's not a code word for sex) with the same character again... and again... and again... for days on end.
A walkthrough, or some kind of hint mod, is a must have with the game... and even then it's not perfect. Expect to use cheats... a lot. Trust me on that.
However, while the grind fest that the game is can be frustrating, the question remains, "Is the writing worth it?" Specifically, is it something that makes you want to go through and deal with that headache?
Short answer... maybe.
The writing is relatively decent, for the most part, and has come quite a long way from when the game first released. Having said that, there are issues with it. Not huge, glaring issues that make you go 'was that even English?' but there are going to be times that you find yourself going back through things to try to make sense of what you just read. One point you'll quickly be introduced to, is the main plot point of the game, where you learn you're stuck in a Groundhog Day kind of loop, where everything simply resets and you start over. You retain the memories of the previous loop, but much of the characters around you, don't. When Groundhog Day is well written, it's a great story to see play out. Even when it's badly written, it can still be interesting. Sadly, this game falls somewhere in the middle. There are real good plot points and story lines, and real BAD ones. They even out to make the game have somewhat 'meh' writing. Expect to be confused. That's all I can say there.
Things get worse as the game progresses, as you will start finding that there's something you the MC need to do to try to end the loop... but as with any good "Groundhog Day" story, what you need to do... isn't clear. This is often called the "story that never was" trope, where you have to do... well, something, to prevent the loop from even happening in the first place. However, since so much of the game story is a mystery, and seems to even change with every major update (at least it feels that way writing wise), good luck in figuring things out.
Story I rate a 2 out of 5 stars.
So what about the code itself? Is the game well built and generally bug free? Honestly, yeah. The code is relatively simple, but it works, and it tends to work quite well. There's been bugs in the past, but the developer seems to have figured out how to prevent those, and has progressed to a point where the game is relatively stable. To the point that as a player you generally don't have to worry about some new update changing everything and breaking your past saves, forcing you to have to run through everything... again. Sure, it's still a grind fest, but at least it works well enough that you aren't going to have to return here from time to time to look for an update that fixes some bug, or you don't need to worry about having to start over from the beginning. Even if that technically is the main theme of the game. (pun intended).
Code and writing gets a 5 out of 5 stars.
The last metric I rate by is update schedule. Does the developer update the game with enough regularity that you aren't waiting for the game for an inordinate amount of time. Sadly, LiL's update schedule is... bad. Very bad. Much like other large games (Innocent Witches is a good example), the update schedule for LIL is such that you can expect to wait months before you see an update. Yes, the updates do contain some level of progression of the story, and are decently large; but that's really no excuse. Given the amount of what DOES come out with each update, it would be more reasonable for the developer to break those major updates down somewhat and have a more regular update schedule. However, they've chosen not to do that. I can't say why they've taken this path, but be warned, you may not hear much from the developer for some time before your next update comes out.
I rate Update schedule 1 of 5 stars.
Conclusion:
Is the game even worth it? Well, yeah. It's not a great game, but by the same token, it's not a bad game either. If you don't mind the grind fest that it is, you can have some fun with it. If you want to skip all that, there's a handful of cheats which can get you past that, and at least one 'hint' or walkthrough that you can use to figure out what to focus on. The writing is generally decent, the game is stable, and while the update schedule isn't the best, at the very least it's not as bad as it could be. Overall, the game is average. A good play, with some replayability, but not something you're going to go out of your way to return to.