I have to say that I feel like the game's pacing is getting really weird. Scenes just seem to happen, without any concern for time and space. Like, Cassia comes over to invite you to dinner, and then BAM! You're eating dinner with her at another location, without any sort of transition scene, and it feels jarring. There's also this scene, where she apparently phases through the door.
I mean, that one's just an issue of not really thinking about framing or how people move, but it just stands out to me as bizarre. Also, the camera's placement is just awful too. I'm sorry. I'm trying not to fixate on this one shot, because Lord knows that I could carry on at length, but it may very well be the worst panel in the entire project. It's terrible.
But back to my main point, I feel like the railroad design this visual novel seems to be going for (as opposed to a more choose your own adventure kind of thing) is hampered by the way it almost feels like we're literally skipping scenes in a movie or channel hopping to suspiciously similar designed shows that are slightly different.
A scene will end, and before we even get an establishing shot, we suddenly find ourselves embroiled in conversation with someone in a completely different location. There's nothing even like "I need to talk to you about something" to get things going. The conversation starts in media res. And while just having someone there without any warning kinda works with characters like Valentina, it's super weird that it seems to happen with everyone all the time.
If this were a filmed product, I'd say it's the result of an editor trying to trim too much, and not providing any breathing room for scenes. Here though, I feel like it's either the result of not wanting to write and render those extra shots, or because there's supposed to actually be some form of gameplay that's happening in-between them that would make things feel more natural. Like, you see someone in this shot, click on them, and that is what starts the dialogue or whatever.
It would still be more than a little clunky to go from clicking on someone to halfway through the conversation, but at least then it wouldn't feel like they teleported you to them.
Either way, I feel like at this point, it's starting to have a detrimental impact on the product. It's already a little frustrating that there doesn't seem to be an especially robust court for any sort of intrigue, plotting, or alliances and the like. But then things like a kidnapping plot happen, and you don't get any chance to do any sort of investigation yourself or influence the plot at all. You're just left spinning your wheels until the appropriate number of slides go by and the story decides it can advance. Making matters worse is that there are "Skills" that seem to promise you some ability to influence outcomes, but don't seem to have any actual purpose.
Obviously, it's not as if all (or any) of these problems are new to this release, but I feel like they're becoming more and more exacerbated as time goes on.
