Tlaero, I'm delighted that you gave NIF a try and I found your commentary really interesting to read. I hope you continue to keep us updated as you play through the game!
I played Chapter 1 recently, and there's a lot that I like about it. First and foremost, the chess games. I don't actually play chess (I prefer Shogi), but the raw love that
MrSilverLust shows for the game is super enjoyable. I was riveted to the games, and more than once missed dialog because I was so focused on the game board that the dialog didn't register in my head. And, just in case you weren't invested enough, the "gain relationship points via trying to determine the next move" part was absolutely brilliant. Well done, MrSilverLust!
Absolutely -- the chess games (yes, there's more to come!) are riveting. You really feel the highs and lows of the gameplay right along with Jen. MrSilverLust does a great job taking on a subject that a lot of uninitiated players might expect to be dry, dull, and inaccessible and infusing it with vitality and emotion. Chess definitely isn't just about mathematics, memorization, and winning to Jen -- it's also the way she measures her self-worth, as unhealthy as that is, and a form of self-expression (bacienvu and I once had a great conversation about how Jen's aggressive "chess personality" is completely different from her normal persona). For her, chess IS emotional!
Chess has a very personal context to me, so much so that I wondered if I might find Nothing Is Forever upsetting because of the memories I thought it might stir up. My father (now deceased) taught me how to play the game as a kid, and it's not an overstatement to say we played each other thousands of times while I was growing up. Finally checkmating him after innumerable past failures was a highlight of my childhood. Another memory that stands out is that he failed to teach me about the
You must be registered to see the links
move until he had an opportunity to make use of it against me in a game...the jerk! It was never about studying past masters or memorizing openings or endgames for me or my dad -- I was happy enough if I could remember to think a few moves ahead.
Nothing Is Forever really made me think about chess seriously for the first time in years, but I didn't find it upsetting at all. If anything, it made me feel reconnected to the game, my past, and, in a small way, to my father. Thanks so much for that, MrSilverLust!
I liked that characters were changing and growing offscreen. The MC in a game should probably be one of the most important characters in the story, but the whole world shouldn't revolve around him. I felt like this game (from what I've seen of it at least) finds the right balance there.
Definitely. To echo what bacienvu said, this is something that both you and MrSL both do fantastically well. Even if your game is set in the future and far from Earth or takes place in a world where magic is a very real force, your characters are always first and foremost relatable and coherent people with their own lives and motivations, and that's true for everyone whether they are major or minor players in the story.
Sadly, most VNs I play make me feel like the characters are made to bend to fit the needs of the plot even if that requires sudden personality or attitude shifts. Sex seems to often makes this problem worse or at least more annoying. Characters too often change sexual orientation on the fly or adopt an out-of-nowhere taste for a kink that isn't casual at all just because a dev thinks a particular scene might be hot.
I'm struggling a little bit with the MC. I like that he's broken, but I'm not a fan of his particular character flaw. It's good to start with your protagonist in a bear trap. But it's less good when the bear trap is that he's doing this thing, and the solution is to just stop doing that thing. Yeah, he screwed up. But his big screw up was having sex ... in an erotic story. Yes, it was unprofessional. Yes it would have consequences. Yes, it's believable that he'd spiral into self-recriminations. But it's not enjoyable. I kept saying, "You've got friends. Talk to one of them!" The majority of his friends wouldn't even see it as something wrong. Some of them would go so far as to high five him over it. And, I suspect, the majority of players, who are interested in getting into the pants of one or more of the characters, wouldn't really hold it against him either.
That's a very fair take. Going forward, the MC's lapse in professional ethics doesn't have to be a defining aspect of his life, though it's a part of his past that will factor into the story and won't be something he can completely escape from. One strength of the game is that it gives the player a lot of freedom to roleplay, and I think it's definitely possible to play the MC as someone who has forgiven himself and largely moved on from the Mel situation as the game progresses. That's how I usually play him myself in most of my playthroughs.
I think you're right that he could have turned at least one of his friends for support. He simply didn't partly because of the isolation and alienation he feels and partly due to his pride. In his shoes, I'd probably have gone to Jamie -- he doesn't come across as a moralist or a stickler for the rules. I think he would've been there for his friend and wouldn't have particularly worried about the potential impact on the sports psychology business even though it's his job to worry about that sort of thing. On the other hand, I'm not sure Emma would have been so quick to forgive and forget because professional ethics and doing the right thing are very important to her. If she learned the truth and judged him to be a dangerous predator, I think that would've been crushing to him.
