(This is a long one, apologies for the lacking grammar and run-on sentences, I'm not doing more than one edit pass on this)
This version shouldn't have released in its current state, setting aside the totally new direction. The game's basically back at a v.0.1 state with a whole load of bugs, barely any progress, very poor balance, and basic implementation of the mechanics.
Disregarding Vel having an echo chamber of praise, any dissent being squashed, the identity being fully throw out, and all that, the state of the current game is just not how it should've released in. On the contrary, the surrounding context is why this new remade version needed to be at a much better place before public release.
Currently, the battle system is not responsive enough, not explained well enough, is nowhere near balanced being far too grindy, and overall just very alpha-y. If the dev really wanted to show that this direction had some merit, then the game needed to be working at a level comparable to the previous builds, and right now it just doesn't.
The combat is just less clear, the tutorial text has not been tested enough. I initially thought the red enemy cards were just Saria's attacks which got picked for me by the game me cause it said they were 'AI picked cards'. What made this harder to understand is the sheer lack of clear direction of the attacks. The enemy and Saria illusts kinda move and react, but there's no animation going either way to show who is throwing an attack at whom. The amount of initiative you have also goes down at certain points in a fight, I still don't know why this happens.
The fights are also way out of balance, having read through the thread now, I see people comparing the previous version of this game to Karryn's Prison. I played Saria first and only recently tried out KP, so I didn't draw that comparison initially. I would still say only the battle grope and fuck system is comparable when the rest of the context is fairly different, KP having big picture management decisions, etc. You have to currently spam dodge a lot too, which makes the fights very passive, so a point there for not being like KP I guess.
Ironically, the current game feels a lot more like KP to me now cause of how poorly the fights are balanced. In KP you barely make it through the early fights on floor 1 and even after you get better upgrades and skills, you still are on the edge. In Saria now, you just get raped more times than not cause of the RNG being so insane, the Tickler fight being the worst example of this (I have stopped trying to win it since there's no more content afterwards).
A point for SR being unlike Karryn's Prison is the lack of progression, you gain no new moves before the Tickler when it really feels like you should, you can't upgrade any aspects of Saria. There's no indication of chara customisation being available either, other than the lewd traits you can pick and choose some of, which you gain by being raped by the various enemies.
Coming from the previous versions, suddenly getting beaten down and raped is something I save scummed to avoid, since I wanna do a proper playthrough before corrupting Saria. With the current highly RNG based combat and fight balancing, this is just not fun to do. Coming across lewdness based choices that I obviously can't pick cause I won the battles is another big indication of this. So if I do want to go down the corruption route, then my options are very limited. I have to choose to just rewatch the same assault and rape sequences over and over until Saria's lewdness/corruption rises enough to choose the lewd options.
This brings me to my other big gripe on the game being released in the current state, the UI. I can't tell what level of corruption Saria has anymore, in battle's I can't see what her willpower is like unless the enemy uses a willpower attack. So much basic functionality as far as UI goes is just not present in this very early version 0.1 release. The way to progress the game is also poorly communicated, with the separate encounters being in a selection tree that you open by clicking some text at the bottom of the map screen, which doesn't even look like a button.
As someone mentioned earlier in the thread, this is why devs don't publicly release alpha versions, cause massive direction changes will happen, and the game just isn't fun to play through with it being unbalanced and buggy.
I have no interest in a scene viewer with RNG chucked into it, so this game is very much of little merit to me at this point. But I do want to criticise it in the right way instead of just declaring it dead and whining.
If Vel really wants to make this work then there's a lot of work ahead, the huge lack of implemented content right now is a big stain in comparisons with the previous versions. Far less real gameplay, less erotic art, less customisation, heck even less UI
. This current release version really wasn't the way to get people on the side of the new direction. Granted lots of the former audience were never going to like this VN scene viewer concept, but there's no benefit for the direction on show right now to convince new players or those with an open mind.
Can't go back in time, so saying that what was already done should've been done better isn't very constructive, so here's what I can give.
Combat
1. Make the attacks cards more clear on who will execute them, and show feedback when the attack is carried out that clearly illustrates who did the attack and who was attacked. The Simple RPGM woosh pngs coming from the attacker and a hit png on the attacked will go a long way to that end.
2. Saria needs to have more starting health, or the enemy attacks need to be weaker until Saria can power herself up in some way later on in the game. Right now, there are too many times when she can just get one shot or die in a single turn when having full health which is frustrating to play.
3. I'm sure this is all planned for expansion later on (not super clear on the Trello atm, I can see a tenet rework, so I'm sure this is part of it), but an expansion on the moveset is sorely needed to keep the encounters from feeling samey. Once again, I'm sure this is just the result of need more time for assets and implementation, so I won't go on about it.
UI
1. This also must already in be in the works, but I'll state it since it is very much required. Persistent UI indicators on Saria's health, Willpower, horniness/lewdness, and state of armour. Basically all the bits that were in the previous build. Most of this for enemies as well would be nice to have if the numbers based combat is gonna be as much of a focus as it is right now.
2. There needs to be a damage log, with the damage numbers and result only showing up when the attack is done, it's not the easiest to see what did what over a battle. For the short battles present right now it's not a big issue, but it will become necessary if longer encounters are planned. This log should show why Saria's initiative reduces as a battle progresses, amongst other contextual passive actions.
3. The map UI needs a lot of polish, since it already looks like a map, just have some points on the map you click to open the various chapters of the story. Having to click some lightly animated text which looks like a decoration really is unintuitive and amateur-ish. These point chapter bits should also stay open until you open another one, having to reopen them again and again is a waste of time.
4. The fetishes screen needs a polish pass, the name/description cards of the fetishes
and the hearts need to be clickable, these should be better indicated as buttons, or tutorialised (ideally both). The empty sections should indicate they are empty when clicked and not just be unresponsive.
Encounters and general balance
1. I've already mentioned earlier, as have a lot of the people who actually bothered to try and get through the game, but the encounters are way too hard right now. When the reason for a loss is cause the game didn't roll RNG in your favour, it's hardly satisfying. If an encounter was lost cause I chose poorly or didn't plan around the enemy then fine, but when an enemy just rolls gacha to one shot you, its pretty shitty. I don't consider requiring to spam dodge for a whole turn as a viable strat, it's just unfun to be entirely passive for much of the fight. There needs to be viable risk reward options in combat as simple and bland as this, if it is going to be the focus.
2. The lewd options which are greyed out should show what the requirements for unlocking are, I know this ties into UI again, but it is frustrating to see these things without it being clear how to unlock them.
3. If Saria is going from a warrior just trying to get their job done to a broken slut that gets raped every fight, then some non-combat options need to be reintroduced. I'm sure this point is one that is already in the works too, but I will state it just in case anyway.
These are all pretty basic points, but it seems Velminth's judgement is clouded enough to release a version after this long without these points being addressed, so here I am stating them.
Vel's art is always what carried Saria Reclaimed, and I have no doubt that this new VN scene viewer direction will bring in just as many people as it will be losing, cause of the stellar art (assuming more content is reintroduced and added). Especially if the very fitting, and hot voice actress keeps her role and does more lines for more scenes. For that reason, I hope this project continues and can really become solid.
