I can make an educated guess what happened. Creating the open world required creating each level with its foliage, background, music, entry points, exit points, NPCs, NPC interactions, enemies, enemy behavior, battle stages, cutouts and others. This is quite the amount of work for each level, quite the amount of balancing, and probably he wasn't capable of delivering on consistent basis, and judging by his recent meltdown - he's probably overworked and burnt out.
The VN route - just some static screen, text, an animation here and there, the battle stage, and cutouts.
I'm not trying to excuse his infantile behavior, I'm guessing what caused it.
Still, can't deny - his art is really good, the game had a lot going for it, but this current downgrade, and especially the way he faced the well justified criticism - I doubt it will go well in the end. I personally unwatched this thread, might check from time to time, but will not spend a single penny on this anymore, as I'm starting to get the Divine Arms vibes - great promising start, and then downgrade after downgrade, in hopes of steady stream of monthly subs...
The VN route - just some static screen, text, an animation here and there, the battle stage, and cutouts.
I'm not trying to excuse his infantile behavior, I'm guessing what caused it.
Still, can't deny - his art is really good, the game had a lot going for it, but this current downgrade, and especially the way he faced the well justified criticism - I doubt it will go well in the end. I personally unwatched this thread, might check from time to time, but will not spend a single penny on this anymore, as I'm starting to get the Divine Arms vibes - great promising start, and then downgrade after downgrade, in hopes of steady stream of monthly subs...