(edited Feb '21)
The slow burn is not the problem. The dialogues, writing and characters are.
I rated it 5 stars when I first played it. Now with more content I can't justify this anymore. The art is still great, the ambition is there, but it's more and more clear that a good writer is missing. I don't even mean the story itself, but the dialogues.
The dialogues are often as much descriptive as they are redundant. They switch between formal and informal in between sentences when greeting each other.
"Hi!" "Good Morning!" "Good Morning!" "Hi!" "Hi!" "Hello, Teacher!" "Good Morning, nameX, Y, Z" Good Morning, over there as well… All the time. And that's when several characters meet and stop by kinda simultanously to greet the teacher, then greet each other as well, and after all the greeting they farewell is similar redundant and wordy. And beside the Greetings and Farewells nothing much happens and that way too often in this VN.
The dialogue just isn't good. There is no tension. There is no character. No fights, no mystery, no nothing, except robotic harmony. And on top of it the wordyness and redundance. Every answer has to be answered, everything double-checked and every thought has to be spoken out loud.
Another thing, but that's maybe not a problem for everyone. I didn't like how everyone falls for the MC so quickly and really everyone is friendly to each other. There are no quarrels, no fights, no different opinions, the teacher (the MC) is the missing part in everyone's life. And to me, that's boring and a turn-off for me.
Decent writing and dialogues are important. Great renders alone just don't do it. And the renders are great, way better than in most games actually. I wish Alexandra would have these renders, because that's the biggest flaw of that VN. But TP The Class next Door is the the other way around. Great renders, but a prime example that writing actually is important, especially since it's a slow burn. And slow burns are my thing, but the writing must carry it.
It's a shame really, since when I first played the game it looked promising, but then it introduced so many characters at once and all of them lack personality. They all are similar, except the visual appearance.
Here an example of a scene that should be more interesting, but fails because of the lack of a decent writer:
Three of four girls stand in a row and one of them (Daria) says: "We should do the bunny chase now".
The fourth girl Tiffany (your daughter) says: "Okay, Daria"
Tiffany: "You can chase each other outside, it's a bright night, and you could break something inside"
Daria: "Alright."
Emily suddenly has second thoughts and asks: "Is it cold outside"
Tiffany answers: "A little."
Joan: "It's kind of chilly"
And Tiffany: "You will be okay, you will be running around."
And they all wear bunny underwear, except Tiffany wears kitty underwear. They just decided and it seems it's totally normal to do this with the teacher after a couple of Good Mornings, Hellos and His.
In my opinion that's not good writing. And it's even one of the better scenes.
The Triangle and A Knight's Tale are similar to this game, except it's focused on three love interests instead of a whole class room and teacher's room.
Both games have similar problems like TP:TCnD with this spooky harmony everywhere, the lack of tension or any interesting that could break that spooky and robotic harmony for a moment. In both games the MC is the same missing puzzle part to every love interest, and all girls fall for the MC in no time as well. The dialogues in said games are not great either, but way less formal and redundant.
With more lewd and sex scenes and less redundant writing, this could be a bigger harem variant of a knight's tale or the triangle. If you're into that it could be something.
Personally I expected something else, especially since the start of the game focused primarily on Tiffany and MC's past and the relationship between them.
But I wish the developer the best. And I wish they/he/she can hire a decent writer for this or next project, because that's the core problem with this game. Everything else is fine.
I really don't want to be this guy, especially since I see how 9th Crux giving the best, but I can't justify five stars anymore and have to lower my rating accordingly.
The slow burn is not the problem. The dialogues, writing and characters are.
I rated it 5 stars when I first played it. Now with more content I can't justify this anymore. The art is still great, the ambition is there, but it's more and more clear that a good writer is missing. I don't even mean the story itself, but the dialogues.
The dialogues are often as much descriptive as they are redundant. They switch between formal and informal in between sentences when greeting each other.
"Hi!" "Good Morning!" "Good Morning!" "Hi!" "Hi!" "Hello, Teacher!" "Good Morning, nameX, Y, Z" Good Morning, over there as well… All the time. And that's when several characters meet and stop by kinda simultanously to greet the teacher, then greet each other as well, and after all the greeting they farewell is similar redundant and wordy. And beside the Greetings and Farewells nothing much happens and that way too often in this VN.
The dialogue just isn't good. There is no tension. There is no character. No fights, no mystery, no nothing, except robotic harmony. And on top of it the wordyness and redundance. Every answer has to be answered, everything double-checked and every thought has to be spoken out loud.
Another thing, but that's maybe not a problem for everyone. I didn't like how everyone falls for the MC so quickly and really everyone is friendly to each other. There are no quarrels, no fights, no different opinions, the teacher (the MC) is the missing part in everyone's life. And to me, that's boring and a turn-off for me.
Decent writing and dialogues are important. Great renders alone just don't do it. And the renders are great, way better than in most games actually. I wish Alexandra would have these renders, because that's the biggest flaw of that VN. But TP The Class next Door is the the other way around. Great renders, but a prime example that writing actually is important, especially since it's a slow burn. And slow burns are my thing, but the writing must carry it.
It's a shame really, since when I first played the game it looked promising, but then it introduced so many characters at once and all of them lack personality. They all are similar, except the visual appearance.
Here an example of a scene that should be more interesting, but fails because of the lack of a decent writer:
Three of four girls stand in a row and one of them (Daria) says: "We should do the bunny chase now".
The fourth girl Tiffany (your daughter) says: "Okay, Daria"
Tiffany: "You can chase each other outside, it's a bright night, and you could break something inside"
Daria: "Alright."
Emily suddenly has second thoughts and asks: "Is it cold outside"
Tiffany answers: "A little."
Joan: "It's kind of chilly"
And Tiffany: "You will be okay, you will be running around."
And they all wear bunny underwear, except Tiffany wears kitty underwear. They just decided and it seems it's totally normal to do this with the teacher after a couple of Good Mornings, Hellos and His.
In my opinion that's not good writing. And it's even one of the better scenes.
The Triangle and A Knight's Tale are similar to this game, except it's focused on three love interests instead of a whole class room and teacher's room.
Both games have similar problems like TP:TCnD with this spooky harmony everywhere, the lack of tension or any interesting that could break that spooky and robotic harmony for a moment. In both games the MC is the same missing puzzle part to every love interest, and all girls fall for the MC in no time as well. The dialogues in said games are not great either, but way less formal and redundant.
With more lewd and sex scenes and less redundant writing, this could be a bigger harem variant of a knight's tale or the triangle. If you're into that it could be something.
Personally I expected something else, especially since the start of the game focused primarily on Tiffany and MC's past and the relationship between them.
But I wish the developer the best. And I wish they/he/she can hire a decent writer for this or next project, because that's the core problem with this game. Everything else is fine.
I really don't want to be this guy, especially since I see how 9th Crux giving the best, but I can't justify five stars anymore and have to lower my rating accordingly.
. It is definitely due to sour past that daughter gave her father, making a room for redemptional sweetness to even out the final taste. With sour-sweet combination I'm clearly making a reference to coke, but I wouldn't do justice to this game by comparing it's quality to that tasty, but quite basic and popular drink. The overall quality of graphics and writing is on a level of a decent restaurant, if we stick to comestible comparisons. I'm looking forward to further playthrough.
