I've been bouncing back and forth on this one. I will agree with previous reviews that the animations are a step above the pack to be sure. The story just eats quite a lot of the veneer and reveals a lack of depth or creativity. It's like each person in the story could be completely described by a barebones DnD character sheet. For those that don't know, that's two personality traits, one ideal, one bond, one flaw, and a one paragraph backstory. Robin just doesn't stop mentioning that she like's plants. It's like somebody roleplaying someone else's character and doesn't want to add any nuance cause they'll be back next week.
The flow of events is both too fast and too slow. Like the relationship development is crazy. The main character is both dense and a perfect people reader. He thinks getting a handjob by the naked girl in his bed, that he's known for a few days by the by, is just a cruel prank. This is something the story makes fun of which doesn't excuse the writing in any way. At the beginning, he hits the "she thinks I'm going to rape her" thing right on the head even though the same behavior could be read as just being slutty or an over reaction to having her life saved, the very explanation attributed to Mia. He resolves the rape issue with fish and deception over the course of like two days. Robin then goes from thinking rape was right around the corner to wanting to get impregnated after a couple of weeks. Wanting to get the sex into a sex game is understandable but to contrast that with the snail's pace of all of the non-sex events is infuriating. It took half a day to walk to a gas station that, given the comparison to the lodge space, seems like a 20 minute walk. It takes three nights of study between three people to figure out how to fix a broken wire. If they were trying to learn how to use a soldering gun and none of them had ever heard of one, then maybe that would make sense. The solution is splicing and duct tape. I'm no electrician but that's what most people would think to try instantly. Robin suggests sneaking because the shadows only seem to react to sound, a giant leap I know, and it takes the MC reading a survival book to try to start being quieter. How hard is it to be quiet?
I also don't get the compliments on the gameplay elements. It must be that many of the people here have not played a non-porn game before. The fights have the same depth as an idle clicker. This game, like any idle clicker, is just disguised math, and, to the detriment of MIST, the math in this case is subtraction. There is no strategy involved in your choices before, during, or after the expeditions. It's not a point and click adventure or puzzle as there is nothing to figure out, everything is spelled out and highlighted. Even on normal, there isn't even a resource management element. I think you'd have to try hard to lose to be honest. The only thing here is just ability to stomach grind. This game is entirely linear with the option to fuck up on purpose if you so choose.
All of that culminates into a poorly-written kinetic novel that has been bloated with "gameplay" riding on the strength of solid animation. Some might argue that there is certainly choices in this game but anyone familiar with the term kinetic novel should also be familiar the tag illusion of choice. The one choice that seemed like it would have some impact has an assurance that it definitely won't right under the options. The only reason I didn't just outright write this off is for whatever reason this was enough to get me hooked. I feel like I've been skinner boxed but I just keep hoping this gets better. I don't think a pack of animations would be better as the context is decent. It just has no depth. I figured, even before I checked, that 395games was just one person and if they can put together the money, they need a writer. The concept and animations are solid but the rest is terrible.
The flow of events is both too fast and too slow. Like the relationship development is crazy. The main character is both dense and a perfect people reader. He thinks getting a handjob by the naked girl in his bed, that he's known for a few days by the by, is just a cruel prank. This is something the story makes fun of which doesn't excuse the writing in any way. At the beginning, he hits the "she thinks I'm going to rape her" thing right on the head even though the same behavior could be read as just being slutty or an over reaction to having her life saved, the very explanation attributed to Mia. He resolves the rape issue with fish and deception over the course of like two days. Robin then goes from thinking rape was right around the corner to wanting to get impregnated after a couple of weeks. Wanting to get the sex into a sex game is understandable but to contrast that with the snail's pace of all of the non-sex events is infuriating. It took half a day to walk to a gas station that, given the comparison to the lodge space, seems like a 20 minute walk. It takes three nights of study between three people to figure out how to fix a broken wire. If they were trying to learn how to use a soldering gun and none of them had ever heard of one, then maybe that would make sense. The solution is splicing and duct tape. I'm no electrician but that's what most people would think to try instantly. Robin suggests sneaking because the shadows only seem to react to sound, a giant leap I know, and it takes the MC reading a survival book to try to start being quieter. How hard is it to be quiet?
I also don't get the compliments on the gameplay elements. It must be that many of the people here have not played a non-porn game before. The fights have the same depth as an idle clicker. This game, like any idle clicker, is just disguised math, and, to the detriment of MIST, the math in this case is subtraction. There is no strategy involved in your choices before, during, or after the expeditions. It's not a point and click adventure or puzzle as there is nothing to figure out, everything is spelled out and highlighted. Even on normal, there isn't even a resource management element. I think you'd have to try hard to lose to be honest. The only thing here is just ability to stomach grind. This game is entirely linear with the option to fuck up on purpose if you so choose.
All of that culminates into a poorly-written kinetic novel that has been bloated with "gameplay" riding on the strength of solid animation. Some might argue that there is certainly choices in this game but anyone familiar with the term kinetic novel should also be familiar the tag illusion of choice. The one choice that seemed like it would have some impact has an assurance that it definitely won't right under the options. The only reason I didn't just outright write this off is for whatever reason this was enough to get me hooked. I feel like I've been skinner boxed but I just keep hoping this gets better. I don't think a pack of animations would be better as the context is decent. It just has no depth. I figured, even before I checked, that 395games was just one person and if they can put together the money, they need a writer. The concept and animations are solid but the rest is terrible.
