so i just scrolled through every single 'patch update' Inno's released since the game started being developed, tallied it up with the current state of the game and...wow. just wow. like holy fucking shit wow. i genuinely can't tell if she's shit at time management and is trying to do too many things at once, or just doesn't care and throws shit at the wall hoping it sticks. in four years this game has gone from 'wow this looks neat' to 'wow this looks neat with an extra hour of content'.
i doubt this will get read but here we go; Inno: either focus exclusively on story to push the game forward, or focus exclusively on the world itself with new content. even before i moved into the - very small - questline for Elis i realised Dominion and Submission were oddly empty after about two hours banging out quest after quest. there's very little to do in the starting city that also becomes the centerpoint for the entirety of this 'world' you've built, and people we talk to and establish basic rapports with are shunted to the side almost immediately after their quests are done. there's no reason for me to give a fuck for these people. slow the heck down and focus on one thing and one thing only, and in my opinion that one thing should be one of these two options:
- flesh out Dominion and Submission more. add more characters and quests, more items that can only be found in either D or S, maybe make characters we thought we were done with return with more quests or in a more permanent capacity. make whatever race the character decides to shift into actually matter with new dialogue choices or reactions form characters. maybe go back to the very beginning with character creation and make those silly little personality choices actually mean something. you picked a cynical character? make that character look at everything with an apathetic light. you picked a kind character? make that character have lines that reflect that. right now these 'personalities' don't mean anything beyond unique characters that are practically defined by them. for the main character to have a personality trait of one of these is completely inconsequential.
- flesh out the world itself. make access to the other cities out there possible and the ability to turn into the races we currently cannot viable. once this is done you could stabilise the game before continuing, the few cities' worth of content would be enough to keep people content with the current game while you hammer out the finer points at a pace you feel is necessary. once the world has been fleshed out more you can hammer out finer story details, more main and side quests to keep people amused while you plough through the story. give people a reason to explore Elis beyond it being a place to have high-level random encounters and an 'A to B' to the cities. make people want to roam around, discover things on their own. maybe focus exclusively on the Youko content, adding them in and the ability to transform into one.
literally just pick one thing and see it through, instead of adding this strange mish-mash of things and spreading yourself thin. work on one thing that finished conclusively, then allow that thing to take you to the next thing, and so on and so forth.
but then again this has been happening for four years, so doubt anything's going to change if this is ever actually read.
