Appreciate you taking the time to respond.
Yes, I agree personal preference for something doesnt make it good and vice versa. My issue is I think there's a subtext with games like this; bluntly I strongly suspect a lot of fans here are anime fans first and gamers second; and overlook problems with the second in their enthusiasm for the first. I hate anime. I love games. That puts me in a tricky position as an enjoyer of adult games.
I'm surprised you're touching a game like Nebel at all then if I'm being honest there. H-games tend to be their own thing that's different from Western porn games, partly due to the differences in culture and so on, and a number of those things are what makes anime different from Western animations and whatnot. If you hate anime, depending on your reasons for it, you're gonna subconsciously hate things about these games too simply because similar tropes and whatnot will pop up in subtle and not so subtle ways.
The maid cafe thing is one example. The Japanese literally invented that stuff and it's been a staple in anime and manga for ages...
Basically, I'm saying that just like how you think that people that love anime may have a bias... you likely have one too for hating it, which you should probably keep in mind.
Even ignoring that, these games need to be judged as what they are. That is to say, H-games. Aka smut delivery devices. The reason why a lot of them are bad as games is because, well, that's not really their primary purpose at the end of the day. They're not here to give an amazing gameplay experience, they're here to help people fap/schlick, whichever fits. On top of that, a lot of these circles are actually just 1-3 guys working on a game with no support, no QA, nada. Also, no proper development ethic either. It's hard for these to actually turn out a profit, so corners get cut a lot just to have something out to make money.
Few make it big like Acerola or ONEONE1, or outright companies like Dual Tail etc... and sadly for H-games, the way to success is often finding the best smut delivery niche you can fit into, and then repeatedly giving more or less the same thing to your fanbase. Innovation in this area is genuinely VERY risky...
Once I figured out the full card and component system - my critiques shifted - I still think it's overly convoluted, but the "late game player's" problems as you probably know are quite different.
The issue with the system becomes that the combat isn't conducive to the way the elemental abilities are used. In theory, you could set up some sick combos by stacking various buffs on yourself and enemies, then pop big spells that take advantage.
In practice, most enemies either die too quickly to make that matter, or the overuse of abilities like "scythe" or "charging" style hits means you have a limited window to effect these buffs. And that becomes a broader problem with all late game combat - there's two flavors of damage all almost all enemies do; either zilch, or enough to one-shot you no matter your stats. The name of the game becomes killing them before they power hit, or interrupting the power hits. Nothing else matters.
What WOULD interface well with the elemental runes buff system are enemies that were physically tough in battle, and took a number of turns to defeat, whilst doing moderate damage to the player per turn. Like I said right now it's the opposite, it's all or nothing. I also quickly figured out fire+ice was superior; not just for the stats, but it gives you the largest supply of turnless self-buffs (4), which can then be proced with the fire [II] spell (forgetting the name) for huge aoe damage at low mana cost.
Yes. I noticed those problems too. Almost all fights turn into a "One-shot the enemy before they one-shot you" type of thing in this game, and that's a problem. This is also, hilariously, what makes the Church area boss into the most dangerous boss in the game, because you can't one-shot that thing due to its mechanics and you have to be careful with it. Which means that your best option there is to just not fight it too many times to prevent the Church's levels from increasing too much, which THEN means that it becomes really annoying if L takes you there too many times in a row because you then have to lead Kana to the door or leave her do her own thing depending on how strong she is, and then you just go to a bed to speed up time so the day portion just ends.
At least there's no penalty for just timing out and leaving. Though you can also leave early if you want to piss of L, which you might wanna do if you're aiming for that one scene that specifically requires pissing him off.
Honestly, there are a number of ways that could solve this problem, and also make more catalyst combinations viable. Defensive skills that could block the one-shot attacks would be one option. Reducing the enemy's tendency to use one-shot skills is another. Introducing more healing options along with in-battle healing... etc. That said, I'm not surprised that the combat is skewed towards punishing the player as I mentioned before. At the end of the day, MC getting his ass kicked unless you play very well is part of the point which leads to preventing him from protecting Kana.
Even then, I suspect that part of the problem is the fact that this game was developed during COVID, and from what I gathered, the dev intended for it to have more to it than it already does, but had to give up on various things due to the circumstances. At the end of the day, they have to make money and all that jazz. All the beautiful CGs this game has? They sure as hell are NOT cheap to get, at all.