Reflections on Radiant v0.2 (contains spoilers; tried to mark them inline but may have missed some - short version, I thought it was overall as good as 0.1)
- The writing is for the most part about the same quality as part 1, with one particular thing I thought was not handled well. I'm not saying this is literary prize winning level writing, but it's not nearly as bad as some are claiming. I thought some of the wording was odd at times (e.g., MC saying he loves having the girls there, when a slightly less enthusiastic but happy response would have seemed more appropriate. But this is such a minor thing it's hardly worth mentioning.)
I found there to be a good amount of content even if you don't have sex with the waitress. Picture and video quality for the new content is excellent.
- The MC has shown clear affection for the girls as well as had bonding moments with them.
- The waitress at the coffee shop had such cute panties. These little details are great.
- It's a little convenient for the plot to have Natalie turn up so soon after the girls. But dramatic stories are full of such little conveniences. And this was a part 1 event anyway.
- Natalie does not look her age. While this in theory could be considered "realistic" it doesn't come across that way. She looks no older than late thirties. But I can get past that.
- The coffee invite isn't a serious problem because it's made quite clear that (a) she suggested an unspecified future meeting, and (b) he thinks about how he should make further contact. The invite isn't shown but even a superficial reading of the text should allow a player to infer that he sent the invite. Her asking why is not unreasonable. She could have expected not to hear from him again. Remember, she slapped him twice and almost tried to kill him. So she could well be wondering what made him invite her after that.
- The MC sleeping for almost a full day: he's had two major shocks in a short time. While I personally can't sleep that long even if I've been awake nearly 3 days straight, I can easily let this one go. He did not seem to do it intentionally. Based on the narrative he appeared truly worn out, at least mentally.
- His thoughts sometimes do not seem to fit with the dark path. I agree there should probably in some places be different thoughts for this path. But I can see him going the dark path after what happened to him without fully losing who he was before (at least not yet.) His world was destroyed. He woke up and it was all gone. And he blames himself for Natalie's son's death. I can play him as conflicted. Wanting the dark path but having a conflict with his old caring self.
- I'm on the path where I've declared I'm not really interested in Brooke as anything other than a conquest. So fucking Vanessa while on a date with Brooke is on point. Also probably reasonable on the lust path. Not on the pure path. Where you, if you're on it, would have decided against doing anything with her. After fucking her I went with the "internally laughing at having fucked her while Brooke waited at the table" choice.
- Having to go to work is a real world thing. In theory he is the boss and could take the day off. But being the boss comes with responsibility as well as freedom and those need to be balanced. Besides, he doesn't expect they're going to suddenly disappear from his life. He has time to get to know them. And in a later scene he thinks about how maybe he should take time off work. So he's still adjusting to his new reality.
- The stated reason for the "single choice" buttons was for dramatic pauses. But when I wanted the game to pause after Brooke asks the MC out and she's just left his office, there's an auto-fade to the next scene.
- Going out with Brooke after work is slightly more difficult to justify but if you read his thoughts not entirely. He's being a mentor and she's on a deadline. Would I have done it that way myself? Probably, yes.
- Him just rolling over and accepting Madison taking his shower so he has to go to work without doesn't work if you're playing the dark path. Why would he just let her? But it's fine on the pure path and I could even see it on the lust path. There should have been a choice here
- All the women wanting the MC? Mostly porn logic. But also there are some people who many others want. The only one that would seem off to me would be Natalie. You don't go from nearly stabbing someone who killed your son in a car accident to wanting to fuck them without spending a lot of time around them. And even then.
- I didn't find the mention of the girls' age to be out of place in most cases. When Allison and Olivia are talking (and maybe a couple other places) the writer could have substituted "young" or found some other way to say it, because variety in writing is better.
- The girls so quickly being into him is a bit of a plot convenience. But it sounds like it fits Allison's personality, she strikes me as the sexually adventurous and naughty kind. And Olivia is sweet and having a crush on the MC already isn't unbelievable. Maddie isn't into him, yet.
- The FBI and related references seem out of place. May be that incest is illegal wherever the game takes place but still. And if you're playing without the patch it really makes no sense. Would be better left out. Also doesn't fit the dark path.
- Olivia changing, and the girls sleeping the way they do, in big glass walled rooms with no curtains ... not likely. But okay, I'll go with it anyway. Because porn logic.
- The cop character makes no sense right now - if I were to seriously critise one part of the writing it would be him. But I trust he will eventually (if not, I'll agree with those who think he shouldn't have been added.) Could be he's been simmering a long time and finally snapped. We don't know enough yet to judge whether he's well written, though right now he's not coming across well. Yes, the way he treated the MC doesn't seem on first glance like something most people would just take. I would expect that he would refuse to hand over his id to an off duty cop as there is not likely any legal requirement to do so. He was clearly being harrassed. I would have expected him to be reasonably calm but also refuse what is obviously an illegal order. No, him attacking the cop would not have been wise. It would have been ridiculously ill advised. No, I don't expect he has a lawyer on retainer or speed dial. Not for this kind of thing anyway. Perhaps he has corporate lawyers in that position, who would be useless in this case. He'd need to have a criminal lawyer available and that's unlikely.
But the MC does consider reporting Glenn and at the end of the scene is thinking "he fucked with the wrong person." So it could be understood that he decided to co-operate at the time because he didn't want it to go further then, with no witnesses and against a guy who he thinks can take him in a fight (never mind that a fight would be near guaranteed to end with him in jail whether he won or not.) But it doesn't sound like he just let the guy walk all over him. He's being strategic.
I agree that some aspects of his character seem like they only work if you're playing the taboo edition and using the most likely age of the girls given the dates the MC went into and came out of hospital and considering does this game take place in the real world present or real world future.
- Do we really have to have juvenile jokes like "I'm staying at the Windhymen. Room sixty-nine."? The rest of the writing is mostly above this level.
My main criticism apart from the cop would be that the paths don't seem to differentiate well yet. I'm hoping this gets better as the game goes on and that problems early on are retroactively fixed.
