So, to start, I really enjoyed this game, way back when it was just Public Sex Life (before it was renamed Parody Sex Life.) It had fun characters, nice scenes, and I really liked the casual pregnancy risk element. That was ages ago, and I figured I'd swing by to see what's happened in the... two-ish years since I last played?
I gotta say, it's jank-tastic. Characters keep changing outfits and models mid scene, and sometimes even change back to their old names. I'll be talking to Emilia, and then Megumin moves in. Lots of dialogue no longer makes sense in the new contexts. We have normal people referring to the mc as "human," which made sense with their old characters being goddesses or aliens or whatever, but it's just jarring now. Why is Sam still called "Froppy" the frog girl? I mean, I know why from the old game, but it really doesn't make sense now that she's not a frog-like themed super hero. Is it just because she swims in a green swimsuit?
I've also noticed a lot of things just... not working. Like there's no HUD for the radar or energy levels.
Exploration being turned into a list of locations also seems like a downgrade. Looking for one-off encounters is less a hunt, and more just selecting one option after another until you get lucky.
The customization on Formerly Known as Raven is great. It looks lifted straight off The Fixer, but I'm not mad about it. It's a good system, and you've filled it out nicely. It lets you dress up the girl while letting her keep her core features and personality. It might be nice to have to work for greater levels of customization and sluttier outfits over time, but it's solid and fun.
The other customization... not so much. By the time you've clicked three buttons, there's nothing of the girl you started with, and it's easy to accidentally turn everyone into clones. Somehow, adding the ability to change so much makes them feel very samey, even with trying to "customize" them into close to their original selves. It really doesn't feel good to use in a story. In a visual novel, a character's appearance is one of the biggest ways you have to say who they are. Changing ALL that as the player, without keeping any of the original character feels like it strips that appearance of meaning, and removes a lot of their personality.
If I'd been playing from the start, and ONLY played the newest content when it came out, a lot of this wouldn't look too out of place. From the perspective of starting a new game, though? It looks significantly less polished than it did in 2022, and I'm actually having a tough time getting through all the WIP walls and development scars before I can see any of the newer stuff.
This game needs a good solid script edit, and lots of early game polishing to smooth out the jumps between early and late development content, as well as some reevaluation as to which systems should actually be in the game and working, and which should be scrapped.
