VN - Ren'Py - Our Life: Now & Forever [v1.3.13 Beta] [GBPatch]

v1.3.4 Beta

This game is wonderful. I love the amount of nuance and customization you can add to your character with how you can set the base attitude your character has like whether they go with the flow, like to be the leader, have a teasing personality, or a doting one. You don't have control over the other characters personalities in Step 1 but it looks like you can set them how you want going into Step 2. I especially liked how sometimes there's more than the usual 3 or 4 choices in dialogue like most other games usually give you. Really a nice feeling if you're the type of person that usually thinks the options given don't fully describe how you actually want to react.

Only the step 1 part of the game taking place when you're all 10 years old is available in this version with a small preview of step 2 and it was still very nice interacting with the different people in the small town.

Kind of excited to see how the complete version story can play out and the choices for developing the relationship between everyone through all steps.

Very much unfinished [1.3.0] (and not your average cup of tea for F95), but absolutely gorgeous and oozing with charm. The breadth of choices is amazing, and while not all of them can possibly affect the story too much, they do wonders for character expression, allowing you to direct how your character would react to any given situation.

Being able to change clothes before going out is a lovely little touch, but I wish there was a bit more leeway in changing the preset colors (not just clothes, in general; my eyes are a blue-green, and I wasn't able to come close with the somewhat limited base options).

I'm also fond of being able to dictate how your character feels about others, and that it seems to be taken into account in reactions by your character that you don't specify (e.g., if you have a crush on someone, you might blush when they compliment you).

Music's great. Nuf' said.

The story isn't a groundbreaking telenovela, but it doesn't need to be. This is firmly a slice-of-life game, and so far the "moving to a new town and meeting new people" plot serves that perfectly.

If they keep going like this, I'll happily put money into the game. The world needs more gems like this.

Too wholesome for this site. Adorable art, in-depth character customization, and such a cute story with even cuter characters. Oh, and the sheer number of choices was unlike any game I'd ever played before. I loved this, and I'm so excited to see how it turns out. Wholesome perfection.

5 stars.

It's perfect.

The developer has already shown that they have the skills to make such a game (Look up their previous entry, Our Life: Beginnings & Always), and from what I've seen I have full faith that this will be even better than Beginning And Always, which is a feat considering how good that was.

The characters are adorable and their interactions fun and fluffy, the art is beautiful, and the music is a huge improvement from Beginning and Always (and with how good that was that's saying something).

Though it's in early development I have absolute faith that GB Patch will absolutely knock this game out of the park, and I highly recommend those who read this to support them on Patreon.

Cute little game, with fun characters. very promising. Definitely worth watching the development of if you enjoy what seems to be a story about growing up in a new town with a really well created characters

updating for the 1.3.4 which will likely be the extended version the public is getting

Original review was around its second update which I gave 5 stars. This game has not only managed to maintain that quality but improve upon it adding even more small things that while not needed add a lot in making the experience more personal.

Characters are great, music is amazing, art is top notch.

I honestly believe this has the potential to be one of the best VNs ever made and will probably set the bar for interactive fiction.

super cute

The design is beautiful and the decisions do feel like they matter.
all the characters with what I have seen in the beta, they are very warm and the game itself is very relaxing


the music is just lovely

It has wonderful graphics and the whole environment is very nice, the options it offers are very varied and I feel that my decisions or the way I act if it is reflected in the game.
the two eligible characters are very adorable :3

This is the first and probably/hopefully only time I will rate a game this way, this early in it's development, and then 5 stars, of all things...
I do this for two reasons:

The Developers already created a very similar game before which has lived up to (in my opinion, of course) any expectations early stages could have let to. I therefore have no doubt that they are up to the task of creating such a complex, deep and adaptable Visual Novel, that (again, my personal opinion) could function as a prime example for what a choice based Visual Novel could be at the absolute peak.
This new story, although just in it's prologue state, already comes with a touching, amazingly varied narration. It shows how the system actually works, the game taking into account many details (character design, player choices) in ways that felt very natural.
The cast of characters the player meets is very likeable and the whole sequence reminds me of my own childhood and does a fantastic job of capturing how a kid might see the world we get a first glimpse at.

The second reason is the quality of the writing, the multitude of options to pick for the player character's reactions & their nuances. Then there is the degree of control the player has over the flavour of things by picking certain behavior patterns and relationship levels at certain key-points (e.g. at the start of a "Step" as the segments of the game are called.
This leaves the player with the option to shape the nuances by their choices in the scenes, while not having to worry about picking the exact right options just to follow a general path they wish to walk down.

Furthermore, personally, I never really was interested in the romantic side of the first game, due to my own preferences, but it is still a contender for the best visual novel I know. This game comes with 2 different potential loveinterests right from the start. At the same time the Devs are still actively working and expanding the first installment of the series, continuously proving that their games & the player community are a matter of heart as well. Since they also seem to do well in regards to sells this is an occasion where it seems much more likely for this game to get finished and be great, than not.

Let the cuteness continue! My first exposure to GB Patch was the first game in this series, Our Life: Beginnings & Always, and I instantly fell in love with their style and aesthetics, the amazing wholesomeness, and the incredibly deep character customization as well as deep conversation/thought options. This game seem to build on that original game, and make it that much more bigger and deeper, as well as increase the cuteness with new and adorable characters! Cannot wait to see and experience more!