So, I've played this game at version 0.0925 which is very, very early game. Thus, I'm sure that much of my review down the road will become obsolete, at which point I will revise it. Anyways, this post will work both as feedback for the dev, and as review.
Tales of Aselia is set in a pretty dark world. I always love gritty worlds where I get to play the weak and downtrodden. It is even better when I get to decide how I will play the character and how I will survive.
Because of how early the release is, it doesn't come as a surprise that it has a pretty large lack of content. But one thing that the developer perhaps should focus on is a food/energy system. It is quickly emphasized that you have to work and get money. You can use money to buy a room to sleep in and something to drink - but no food. Now, it is pretty easy to get money.
However, it is sort of problematic for the setting there isn't a food/energy system in the game. Firstly because it actually takes away from urgency of earning money. You can't starve and MC don't get tired (at least not of what I've noticed). Thus you don't really need to earn money because you don't need to pay for either food or a room which means that you don't have to take any hard decisions.
Moving on, I think more stats would be helpful. Surely, Honda is no warrior, but having some measurement of her endurance, agility and strength/resistance could be helpful in some events. For instance the plant in the lake in the woods which entangles Honda and rapes her; having a high agility would allow her to jump back in time, a high intelligence would allow her to recognize that the small plant was a decoy etc.
You could even let the amount of food and energy reflect on her stats as well. One proposal could be like this:
I intentionally left a blank space between the different parts to show that it will progress through different phases and not go from hungry to famished in a day.
While we are at stats; having a dedicated page for stats and statuses would be appreciated. Mostly because I really don't know what the icons in the top left means. Lastly, I'd really appreciate if the dev could write what the "developed" body parts does and how you develop them.
Using the example from before; it would be neat if at some point her mood would show some more. Like, being molested in forest didn't really make any difference to Honda which was a bit underwhelming. I don't expect a huge monologue, perhaps just her being visibly sad or something.
Lastly, the initial city (which I never got out of as I encountered a bug) could be scaled down a little to avoid some travel time. Like the caverns are really large, but I haven't really seen a reason for it to be that. Also, Dev, you should give it some thought if you really need dwarfs/elfs (if they are in) etc, or if it would be better to just sticking to humans. It would allow you to avoid making a ton of different H content.
My final suggestion is to draw the MC with clothes on (or whatever state of dressing she is in), and then as we shift through the stats pages we can see her without clothes. It helps with the immersion.
The Good
The Bad
Tales of Aselia is set in a pretty dark world. I always love gritty worlds where I get to play the weak and downtrodden. It is even better when I get to decide how I will play the character and how I will survive.
Because of how early the release is, it doesn't come as a surprise that it has a pretty large lack of content. But one thing that the developer perhaps should focus on is a food/energy system. It is quickly emphasized that you have to work and get money. You can use money to buy a room to sleep in and something to drink - but no food. Now, it is pretty easy to get money.
However, it is sort of problematic for the setting there isn't a food/energy system in the game. Firstly because it actually takes away from urgency of earning money. You can't starve and MC don't get tired (at least not of what I've noticed). Thus you don't really need to earn money because you don't need to pay for either food or a room which means that you don't have to take any hard decisions.
Moving on, I think more stats would be helpful. Surely, Honda is no warrior, but having some measurement of her endurance, agility and strength/resistance could be helpful in some events. For instance the plant in the lake in the woods which entangles Honda and rapes her; having a high agility would allow her to jump back in time, a high intelligence would allow her to recognize that the small plant was a decoy etc.
You could even let the amount of food and energy reflect on her stats as well. One proposal could be like this:
| Very Bad | Neutral | Very Good | ||||||||
| Famished | Starving | Hungry | In between | Nourished | Full | Well Fed |
While we are at stats; having a dedicated page for stats and statuses would be appreciated. Mostly because I really don't know what the icons in the top left means. Lastly, I'd really appreciate if the dev could write what the "developed" body parts does and how you develop them.
Using the example from before; it would be neat if at some point her mood would show some more. Like, being molested in forest didn't really make any difference to Honda which was a bit underwhelming. I don't expect a huge monologue, perhaps just her being visibly sad or something.
Lastly, the initial city (which I never got out of as I encountered a bug) could be scaled down a little to avoid some travel time. Like the caverns are really large, but I haven't really seen a reason for it to be that. Also, Dev, you should give it some thought if you really need dwarfs/elfs (if they are in) etc, or if it would be better to just sticking to humans. It would allow you to avoid making a ton of different H content.
My final suggestion is to draw the MC with clothes on (or whatever state of dressing she is in), and then as we shift through the stats pages we can see her without clothes. It helps with the immersion.
The Good
- A dark and gritty world.
- Pregnancy will at some point be introduced.
- The game is very promising, and I hope to see more of it.
- The art special in a good way.
- I'm so happy that this game hasn't fallen into the tropes of an innocent MC who barely knows that she has boobs.
- The quests will at times show as completed even if you still need to deliver a letter. There are also other bugs.
- I hope to see more choices down the road and more player agency.
The Bad
- The game is dire need of a food and energy system which would underscore why you quickly need to make money.
- I would really like to know what the statuses in the upper left corner meant. Maybe add a "status" page. More stats and a dedicated stat page would also be a welcome addition.
- The stats could be explained better. Perhaps via a dedicated page for that. Like, what does Intelligence 74 mean - is it 74/100? A small description of what the stats mean would suffice.
- The cut-scenes and especially the ones where the NPC's are moving, needs to move a lot faster.
