- Thread starter Pers0nas
- Start date
- Sep 5, 2021
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Dunno why exactly but this update fell pretty flat for me. I've been struggling to get immersed in the game for a short while now and couldn't stay focused on this one for longer than about 15 minutes at a time. I wouldn't exactly describe it as boring but it definitely wasn't exciting (except for Hana getting her just deserts). I'm also not really left pondering much.
I was really really into this story before the world shift reset, now it feels hollow. I hope as it goes on it recaptures whatever it was i feel it's lost.
I was really really into this story before the world shift reset, now it feels hollow. I hope as it goes on it recaptures whatever it was i feel it's lost.
- May 4, 2017
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I feel ya a bit on the struggle for immersion. That move was such a paradigm shift to go from characters you know to a new class, which had me interested in where it was going, only for it to throw us to a similar yet different place right after. My natural inclination with all these changing parts is to back off and not get attached to anything, since everything and everyone feels foreign. Even Janu is acting more like an asshole than before; it all makes the story feel like it has a different energy to it.
I did think the latest update did have some real interesting parts (especially the light event), but they stood in stark contrast to the incongruous lighthearted scenes. It really made them feel out of place due to the heavy themes and actions that are taking place. I was hoping for something more cohesive between them, given that it was all a string of only main events. But at least a lot of big deal things happened... I just wish they didn't raise more questions than they answered.
tl;dr; It does feel like the game has turned away from fun with a bit of drama, and more towards drama and heavy themes, with rare fun. I no longer boot it up to immerse myself and enjoy the characters, but instead boot it up just to see where it's going. Still enjoyable, just a different kind of enjoyable (unfortunately a lesser one for me)
- Nov 9, 2017
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The only thing I really don't like about the drama-driven change in direction is how the dev seems eager to dole out emotional punishments for things we have no effective control over. Not to say no control at all, but the "correct" route through the game is only really possible if you're already aware of where the game turns out veering towards. It has a completely different identity at the start than at the current point, and leaning into that initial identity is exactly what the game wants to make you feel bad about later- only rather than feeling bad, it just makes me want to skip through the scene, and continually hacks away at interest I have in the characters involved. This is especially true with the way Tora's been handled, since both routes make you try to feel as if the other route is better when that really isn't the case at all.
Am I going to be punished for keeping up with Zena's events if her perverted nature rubs another student the wrong way? Am I supposed to feel like ignoring Oki's events would have been the better move, having no help option for dealing with Anju instead of having her be a help option, but also the only help and so unable to not involve her despite her wishes? How long will it be before a decision made for or against being with Dayai physically somehow both result in undoing her mentally? And am I going to be letting D'vala cling to the idea she's gotten that the protag is her Janu specifically and let her keep some semblance of ever-growing-distant happiness, or potentially risk breaking her by eventually going through the long explanation of many Janu characters, and telling her of what is, to an extent, her own suicide?
I don't feel like my morality is being tested anymore, just how closely my morality aligns specifically with the dev's.
Similarly, I also think giving the new class actual identities at any point was a mistake. Opening up a complete roster change was always going to be met with mixed results, where some people appreciate the change and others think it feels cheap, but then doubling back on that makes it feel cheaper and robs those did want to explore the new faces given. What I would have done is make them nameless, faceless people like background characters being shoved to the forefront instead of legitimate characters, and capitalised on the protag's tendency to space out to fill the gap where those scenes would otherwise have occurred on increasingly menial thoughts as if without his class he's just spiralling into the earliest stages of a depressive loop. Like he wants to help them but just really can't bring himself about to actually giving them enough attention to do so. It'd also make his desire to have his class back more consistent even for players that would have otherwise liked to see the new class since it'd be more apparent that it's a decision built into the protag's mindset, rather than feeling as if it were simply a dialogue option that you weren't given.
Am I going to be punished for keeping up with Zena's events if her perverted nature rubs another student the wrong way? Am I supposed to feel like ignoring Oki's events would have been the better move, having no help option for dealing with Anju instead of having her be a help option, but also the only help and so unable to not involve her despite her wishes? How long will it be before a decision made for or against being with Dayai physically somehow both result in undoing her mentally? And am I going to be letting D'vala cling to the idea she's gotten that the protag is her Janu specifically and let her keep some semblance of ever-growing-distant happiness, or potentially risk breaking her by eventually going through the long explanation of many Janu characters, and telling her of what is, to an extent, her own suicide?
I don't feel like my morality is being tested anymore, just how closely my morality aligns specifically with the dev's.
Similarly, I also think giving the new class actual identities at any point was a mistake. Opening up a complete roster change was always going to be met with mixed results, where some people appreciate the change and others think it feels cheap, but then doubling back on that makes it feel cheaper and robs those did want to explore the new faces given. What I would have done is make them nameless, faceless people like background characters being shoved to the forefront instead of legitimate characters, and capitalised on the protag's tendency to space out to fill the gap where those scenes would otherwise have occurred on increasingly menial thoughts as if without his class he's just spiralling into the earliest stages of a depressive loop. Like he wants to help them but just really can't bring himself about to actually giving them enough attention to do so. It'd also make his desire to have his class back more consistent even for players that would have otherwise liked to see the new class since it'd be more apparent that it's a decision built into the protag's mindset, rather than feeling as if it were simply a dialogue option that you weren't given.
- Aug 9, 2020
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Thanks for the feedback, it's always welcomed. Chapter Three was always meant to focus more on the characters as well as Janu's own phsyche and morality. Writing more drama-fueled dialoge is something I wanted to challenge myself to do, since mystery and comedy is more in my wheelhouse. With that said, there will be more choices the MC and the player will make, and I will be creating more light hearted yet individualistic events in the future. Personally, 0.18.0 and 0.17.0 were huge experiments to me to see if I could write more heavy-hitting, drama dialogue. I think I succeeded, some others do too, and some people don't. But I will continue to experiment while remaining true to the main and indiviual stories I planned out months and years ago.
Tbh I've liked the recent updates, I do want to see the new class students more along side the original students.
- Nov 9, 2017
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To be clear, the sudden hit of changing direction is the only thing I don't like about the new direction. I do enjoy being able to slip into a story that gets decidedly more gritty, I just think that the drama in question shouldn't attempt to be retroactive when there wasn't any foreshadowing or warning about decisions made until after you're locked into that decision- or at least not any that actually felt like it was a genuine red flag. I haven't finished going through the newest patch yet and am enjoying it all the same.
- Sep 28, 2021
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Finally caught up with the latest patch and I gotta say, Kio has shot up on my list for the girls with this last update. New Look is really working for me and Prissy Bitches was inspired.
I think I can echo some of the sentiments here too about how jarring it felt when we got a new class, only to start liking them and then the rug is pulled from under us and we go back to a similar but not quite class. It left me wary that maybe I shouldn't be getting attached to any characters anymore.
However, I will say the new iterations are starting to win me over more as they get more screen time and time heals the wounds of losing the old versions. I'm still really looking forward to seeing some of the characters progress especially those that didn't really change much with the new timeline like Zena (wow that scene was crazy. I thought it would go much worse for the MC though), Nodoka, Roni, and Mori, who I've always found the most interesting so far.
I think I can echo some of the sentiments here too about how jarring it felt when we got a new class, only to start liking them and then the rug is pulled from under us and we go back to a similar but not quite class. It left me wary that maybe I shouldn't be getting attached to any characters anymore.
However, I will say the new iterations are starting to win me over more as they get more screen time and time heals the wounds of losing the old versions. I'm still really looking forward to seeing some of the characters progress especially those that didn't really change much with the new timeline like Zena (wow that scene was crazy. I thought it would go much worse for the MC though), Nodoka, Roni, and Mori, who I've always found the most interesting so far.
Which choices in this game are actually permanent / splits ?
Ive heard there are only a couple and this story is massive and i hate spoilers so I dont want to use a tutorial mod, and it seems no one has made a basic text walkthrough, does anyone have a list of the actually definitive/path changing choices in the game?
Im already substantially far in the game but wondering if i need to go back before I have gone too far to make it worth it :/
Ive heard there are only a couple and this story is massive and i hate spoilers so I dont want to use a tutorial mod, and it seems no one has made a basic text walkthrough, does anyone have a list of the actually definitive/path changing choices in the game?
Im already substantially far in the game but wondering if i need to go back before I have gone too far to make it worth it :/
There's only a couple choices I'd consider significant:
blazing with Kio;
blackmailing Hana after the sleepover;
ending Tami's date / helping her relax in a diner;
hugging your aunt (EDIT: also, the lake visit, forgot about that).
Pretty much everything else is cosmetic... So far.
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- Jun 24, 2020
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I think the Hana route and the Tami route both close the Tora route. I know this is clearly the more realistic outcome for this kind of situation in real life, but I play harem games to collect them all, dammit. I stopped playing when it looked like you wouldn't be able to do this
Eruka not so much, Zena makes a few comments one way or another but other than that it's all the same (so far...).
I did forget to mention that Zena asks if you put her higher or lower than Eruka, though. It's not path-critical but it may prove worthwile to see both choices.
Every other choice I listed earlier opens/closes a path with that particular girl. Some girls are inherently incompatible with one another. In particular Hana starts playing games with Tora. This doesn't end all that well for either of them.
Tora is not very *happy* with Janu and Tami bumping uglies, but she can bear that (for now?). And Hana does not 'close' Tora's route. Changes it, considerably, for a while. Then it becomes a non-issue.
- Mar 22, 2020
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Thank you this had me suddenly rethinking everything LOL.
so as far as the story up to developed point right now, there arent any choices that permanently cut off a character that you know of?
does that change start as soon as the first sleepover happens with Hana or is there another hana choice later own that road that effects tora?
wait when does this happen? is it early in the game i dont remember this choice :/
- Sep 26, 2021
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Pretty early on when Janu is sick and Dayai is sorta half asleep with him on the sofa. You can choose to carry her to her bedroom, or "hold her close".