yeah the free roam and time limit is really annoying. i don't feel like playing more than 2 times for the game.So... first episode was not that good. Kinda lacked everything. You met many characters briefly but dont get to know anything, not even about the MC that is worth mentioning. It didnt even worked as a introduction... And compared to the first episode of leap of faith it was WAY behind that.
So now we have episode 2. Which improved a lot. To be frank, maybe Drifty should have released episode 1 and 2 in one go. It works way better like this for the start of the game if you play both episodes together the first time, cause in episode 2 you get to know the mc and others more and even something about the overall plot. Episode 1 left you with nothing, episode 2 now get things started. So yeah, the first episode wasnt really good (compared to leap of faith), the second one is better. At least in most ways...
Overall i like u4ia, but i dont think it can keep up with leap of faith (for now). The MC is just not that good, at least for now... cant really relate to him, and thats because he just doesnt have much to say at this point and we dont know enough about his background to relate. Drifty made the MC from leap of faith better, wrote early on what is his deal, so it was way easier to relate... another thing, the leap of faith MC was a "ordinary" guy. Its clear the MC of u4ia is not that ordinary. And that makes it more difficult to relate too.
The girls are really good though, a big varity, maybe even too many girls, but that needs to be seen if every girl will be a real LI later on or many are just side girls... so far it feels like every girl got a story arch and can be a potential relationship down the road, and i think thats just too many to get every girl enough attention. Huge potential to grow over Driftys head. in leap of faith there werent that many girls, but even there Drifty couldnt really handle every girl the "right" way. Some were falling behind in attention and deciding to make Holly a real LI near the end didnt helped the cause at all (even if i liked her a lot). So hopefully Drifty has planned everything out expecially all the girl paths so they work out evenly.
Drifty improved a lot in animations too, but sometimes they feel weird, cause most of them are kinda too slow, like watching everything in slow motion when its clear it should not be slow motion at all. He needs to work on that i think, but nontheless, the naimations are nice and add something good to the game...
Now some negatives, the music... sorry, dont like it. Its kinda the same "vibe" all the time, no matter the scene, the music is nearly the same, even if its always a different track, but the music doesnt really change with the scenery or does really fit to it all the time... sometimes it is fitting, most of the times not really... and the biggest issue i have, its not really "background" music to set the mood, they a songs with a lot of singing in it... i dont now if iam a special case here, but when i read something, i dont like to listen to actual songs it sets me off. Instrumental music is way better to set the mood. Its not a problem if most of the music would be instrumental and some not, with a good balance it would be ok, but its more or less 90% of the times that a song is playing. Dont like that... of course i could turn the music off, but in some scenes Drifty decided to add some good mood setting tunes, didnt want to miss those.
Next one on the negative list.. why no text box? Should have learned that from leap of faith.
Another negative, the perk system... just... WHY? I can add a perk to have more time in the free roams, why limit it in the first place? The most other perks are out of place too.... i can get it if you want to kinda "shape" the mc one way or the other... like being more romantik or more forward or kinda a asshole. But than make it just like that. Dont add shitty things like "you get double the money and can see more scenes in the free roam" that is just... not good.
And last to the most annoying part that pretty much ruined every desire to play it more than once for now... the free roams. Most people will know being a dik here, and there the free roams can be a bit annoying too. But what Drifty did with the free roams here is on a whole other level of annoying. And there is just NO reason for it. Why is there a time limit, no reason for that, it only leaves the player behind with the feeling he missed content. It doesnt have any real purpose. Navigating through the free roams is a pain too. Settle for ONE mechanic through the game please so you can get used to it, changing it from scene to scene is so annoying... the beach party was a REAL pain to get by cause of the shitty navigating thing (and movement sickness too... ugh, what was that?) Just to klick 5 times to get from one girl to the other with the constanly moving camera... ugh. And of course no way to look up tasks cause the phone is in a basket. So i should get sun lotion, a key and beer for the girls, but couldnt get any because... i had to end the free roam first to start the second phase but it wasnt clear that there will be a second phase, i actually didnt give a shit about anymore at some point searching around and just said to myself "yeah scree this free roam i end it just here" and just like that i got to the second part. That should have been made way better, and of course with way less navigating through it... fuck the whole beach is about a mile long for about 10 people... that was really not necessary, could have be moved into... maybe 2 scenes instead of 7 (?) too.
Well...
Overall u4ia is a good game, with really good writing (no surprise, Drifty can write and make really good dialogues) but has some real heavy flaws too, more than leap of faith had. But, leap of faith was really strong in the first 6 episodes, the last 2 including the finale wasnt that strong anymore... u41a very first episode wasnt that good, the second was way better (could have been way better without the gameplay issues regarding the free roams and with a better background music choice)
Drifty can improve a lot about the free roams, especially how you navigate through them should be improved and the same mechanic in every free roam and please... no time limit, that is just... not a good decision. Make a time limit if there is a real reason for it, like... getting something done in a specific time table. But there is a little simple minigame a better choice i think.
The bar was set very high with leap of faith and Drifty cant reach it yet. But he is getting closer. And as i mentioned... leap of faith lost a little the "drive" in the last two episodes and especially the last one was kinda disappointing. The ending with the girls felt kinda rushed and there were so many loose ends too (the guy in the park, the Dad-story, Sea and so on...). Maybe some of those loose ends will be picked up in u4ia. But we will see. I mean... Sea is a main girl in u4ia already... so yeah it could be that things will be tied to leap of faith. But so far it doesnt look like it. Its seems to be more like a thing to make it clear that the games are playing in the same "world" and at the same time or better said some months apart...
Enough though. Overall i like it, the writing and the characters are the huge plus and the most important things. And here Drifty delivers top notch work again. Some other things are really annoying, but could be fixed easily... There is a lot room to improve, for a already good game that is a really good thing. Besides, all the "bad" things or "not so good" ones should be considered soley compared to the best games around here and leap of faith. So its kinda whining at a very high level. But some guys set a very high bar, and Drifty himself did that too... so i thinks its reasonable to "complain" about things that could have been way better. Cause we are not talking about the average F95 game here. And u4ia is way ahead of that average level of course already.
yeah the free roam and time limit is really annoying. i don't feel like playing more than 2 times for the game.
- Jun 14, 2020
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I don't know. "Leap Of Faith" is IMHO the best AVN that has ever come out. Now Drifty kind of destroys everything. I didn't expect a new LoF to come out and I didn't expect it to be as deep a story. Drifty has already made it very clear that it's going to go a completely different direction. That's okay with me. I just didn't expect him to make the game so annoying. First this thing with the talents and perks. Well, he's corrected that in a way with this update. But the free roams are such an interrupter. Whenever I'm just in the flow of the story, a free roam knocks me out again.
I have nothing against free roams. Used in good measure, they can liven up a game. Sometimes they are also good for bringing together several storylines in a big event of their own and then bringing them to one level via several events in a free roam. Bringing all the threads together, so to speak, so that things can continue in a structured way. But here in u4ia I have the feeling that the game is a single free roam. That's annoying. I want to play an AVN, not an adventure game like Monkey Island.
I don't understand this hype about free roams among developers these days. It's pure point & click. If you could at least really move freely instead of having to stupidly press on arrows and objects. You have to realize: Ren'Py is not suitable for this type of game. That's why such mechanics should be used sparingly and carefully.
It would still be something I could somehow manage if it wasn't absolutely necessary to play the free roams over and over again in every game run for every additional LI. The worst part is that it's not fun at all because you feel like the game doesn't help you realize what to look for when you want to go certain ways. You run haphazardly through the game and miss all sorts of things along the way, only to realize in another playthrough that you've missed something very important to the goal of the other playthrough. In other words: without a walkthrough, the game is frustrating. But that can't be the case.
Somehow that makes me sad. "Leap Of Faith" is a 10/10 and u4ia only makes it to a 5/10 for me because of the fantastic graphics and some funny dialog. That can't be it. I have no idea how Drifty is going to fix this. I understand that it's much more fun for a developer to build more or less complex mechanics like talent systems and free roams. But ultimately the game is meant for the players, isn't it? As a developer, shouldn't you develop a game in such a way that the player finds his way through the game without frustration and also has motivation? All that's missing now are mini-games to take the fun out of the game completely.
I find the story that is told interesting. The game could be the banger. If it's true, which I suspect it is, that MC was a spare parts store for a twin (Samantha's almost-husband) he didn't know, girl, what a story! But the way AVN is presenting itself I just have so little desire for it.
I wish Drifty would sit down for a week or two and think about how he can design the game without this mass of free roams and then do a rework. The game is still at an early stage. Sure, it would take time, but it can still be saved. I don't want to know how many players dropped out during the second episode and didn't even finish a single playthrough. Let alone started more playthroughs. If this continues in episode 3, no one will want to play episode 4. Let alone any more.
I have nothing against free roams. Used in good measure, they can liven up a game. Sometimes they are also good for bringing together several storylines in a big event of their own and then bringing them to one level via several events in a free roam. Bringing all the threads together, so to speak, so that things can continue in a structured way. But here in u4ia I have the feeling that the game is a single free roam. That's annoying. I want to play an AVN, not an adventure game like Monkey Island.
I don't understand this hype about free roams among developers these days. It's pure point & click. If you could at least really move freely instead of having to stupidly press on arrows and objects. You have to realize: Ren'Py is not suitable for this type of game. That's why such mechanics should be used sparingly and carefully.
It would still be something I could somehow manage if it wasn't absolutely necessary to play the free roams over and over again in every game run for every additional LI. The worst part is that it's not fun at all because you feel like the game doesn't help you realize what to look for when you want to go certain ways. You run haphazardly through the game and miss all sorts of things along the way, only to realize in another playthrough that you've missed something very important to the goal of the other playthrough. In other words: without a walkthrough, the game is frustrating. But that can't be the case.
Somehow that makes me sad. "Leap Of Faith" is a 10/10 and u4ia only makes it to a 5/10 for me because of the fantastic graphics and some funny dialog. That can't be it. I have no idea how Drifty is going to fix this. I understand that it's much more fun for a developer to build more or less complex mechanics like talent systems and free roams. But ultimately the game is meant for the players, isn't it? As a developer, shouldn't you develop a game in such a way that the player finds his way through the game without frustration and also has motivation? All that's missing now are mini-games to take the fun out of the game completely.
I find the story that is told interesting. The game could be the banger. If it's true, which I suspect it is, that MC was a spare parts store for a twin (Samantha's almost-husband) he didn't know, girl, what a story! But the way AVN is presenting itself I just have so little desire for it.
I wish Drifty would sit down for a week or two and think about how he can design the game without this mass of free roams and then do a rework. The game is still at an early stage. Sure, it would take time, but it can still be saved. I don't want to know how many players dropped out during the second episode and didn't even finish a single playthrough. Let alone started more playthroughs. If this continues in episode 3, no one will want to play episode 4. Let alone any more.
- Jun 25, 2022
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I have my filter for Ren'py games + male protag. I feel like lately that if i added an exclusion for Sandbox I'd lose 15 pages of games and only ever see 2 or 3 recently updated ones. The rest would say completed/abandoned or not updated in 8 months.
- Mar 25, 2021
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I haven't played the update yet, but I do think the game will get better as it goes.
I just really hope we aren't forced to be with certain women.
My biggest issue is, that this perk doesnt make sense at all...
So Drifty wanted to create some perks and stats to "shape" the MC in different way depending on the players choices...
Okay i get that.
But... what has that to do with "more time in a free roam"? Thats ridiculous. Make perks like "romantic" or maybe "manwhore" and so on
Perks that difine a character... But this perk and the money perk too are just complete out of place. And of course they kinda force you to make another playthrough just to see everything in the free roams, even if there wasnt any important thing. Iam fine to make several playthroughs, i played every route possible in leap of faith. But in u4ia the way the free roams and some other things are made... i have zero motivation to make a second playthrough. The free roams, stats and perks are just feeling out of place and i think the game would be better without them. And would be better to replay the whole thing to see all the different things.
Its not that difficult to implement some things so the MC can "shape" in two or three different directions, there is no need for perks or something like that to do so. Just a little point-system is more than enough. for "asshole" or "nice guy" choices and so on... easy to understand, nothing to miss and its clear to everybody where things are going.
But like this? There is a reason why so many people complain about the perks and the free roams, so much that Drifty already was forced to change some perks as i read it. Hopefully he changes some more things for the better, cause there are a lot things he should change. And at this point its not that important that changes might screw up savegames... its only 2 episodes. But i dont think many people want to play several playthroughs when the game gets bigger and still have those issues.
I think a compromise would be to have two choices (not one) each time they're offered:My biggest issue is, that this perk doesnt make sense at all...
So Drifty wanted to create some perks and stats to "shape" the MC in different way depending on the players choices...
Okay i get that.
But... what has that to do with "more time in a free roam"? Thats ridiculous. Make perks like "romantic" or maybe "manwhore" and so on
Iam fine to make several playthroughs, i played every route possible in leap of faith. But in u4ia the way the free roams and some other things are made... i have zero motivation to make a second playthrough. The free roams, stats and perks are just feeling out of place and i think the game would be better without them. And would be better to replay the whole thing to see all the different things.
Its not that difficult to implement some things so the MC can "shape" in two or three different directions, there is no need for perks or something like that to do so. Just a little point-system is more than enough. for "asshole" or "nice guy" choices and so on... easy to understand, nothing to miss and its clear to everybody where things are going.
But like this? There is a reason why so many people complain about the perks and the free roams, so much that Drifty already was forced to change some perks as i read it. Hopefully he changes some more things for the better, cause there are a lot things he should change. And at this point its not that important that changes might screw up savegames... its only 2 episodes. But i dont think many people want to play several playthroughs when the game gets bigger and still have those issues.
1. a character-defining trait (i.e. those that actually shape the MC)
2. a perk (i.e. extra freeroam time, double stats, more money etc)
- Nov 14, 2017
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- Jun 28, 2022
- 3,023
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How can the author that brought you a 10/10, and "best ever" destroy that by creating something that might not match what you already deemed best? Do you now prefer some fan service over the freedom of artistic expression?
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- Jun 14, 2020
- 2,131
- 6,651
He destroys his work, not his art. Just like a one-hit-wonder in music.
- Oct 10, 2017
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To be fair, some parts of the freeroam here do make sense. Rare i know. Free roam events are exactly.. events. When you freeroam you can interact with NPCs around and these have impact. You don't have to but you will notice how you missed an opportunity later down the line by not doing so.Ah, yes, obnoxious free roams the salt of the western vns
There is even a perk system and you can pick a perk that increases the time you have during freeroam because you will only have time to approach for example 2 npcs instead of 3 without it.
So it's not like you have to go from room to room for no apparent reason. Here, freeroam actually does make very much sense. Your statement though in general stands indeed.
So, I haven't had any issue with the free roams. But the beach one is giving me some problems. I talked to both pairs of girls and now I can't do anything. Anyone knows what to do ?
On the other hand I find the game pretty nice. There are still some heavy themes in the undertones but the overall mood of the game right now is way more chill. And the freeroams until the beach one have been pretty easy to navigate and weren't annoying imo
On the other hand I find the game pretty nice. There are still some heavy themes in the undertones but the overall mood of the game right now is way more chill. And the freeroams until the beach one have been pretty easy to navigate and weren't annoying imo
- Aug 5, 2016
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I'm not 100% against free roams and sandboxes but most times both are a waste of player time. Too many devs use them to hide the lack of content behind grinding mechanics or boring point and click tasks. Leap of Faith free roams weren't that bad but this time is worse imo.
- Aug 17, 2017
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I feel like the issue with the timer is that it is called a timer. It makes people feel as though theyre forced to play optimally when whats really happening is that theyre just picking and choosing what content theyre interested in. If a character interests you then pursue them and you'll have ample "time" to look at the content of other characters that are less interesting to you. The frustration i have comes largely from the beach portion where it was a struggle to navigate and find anything because the arrow keys stopped working and the "end free roam" button wasnt real except for when it was. Overall i actually like this game and the characters a lot more than leap of faith and i hope it continues to improve.
Sounds good in theory, but in practice the timer is only obscuring the different options. How are players supposed to choose what path to go for, if they don't even know the characters, yet? And the timer discourages exploration on top of that.
Take the second free roam section, where you're cleaning up the trailer. There's no purpose to it, unless you clean up the bedroom first. But this feels more like unlocking a secret sex scene on your second playthrough, rather than a conscious decision to go for the content of a specific character. Because how are players supposed to know that a character they haven't seen will end up in a bedroom they don't know exist? So they clean up the obvious stuff first and the timer runs out.
The only difference I see between LoF and u4ia at this stage is that the latter has more freeroam events. I don't think freeroams are the problem here - that's simply a personal preference.
Anyone who played each episode of LoF when they came out should recognize the same background mechanics at play.
Both games are unsatisfying to play without a walkthrough, unless you pick a route early on and are happy to roll with it until the end. I really enjoyed my first playthrough of this u4ia update by just rolling with my gut choices carried over from Chapter 1, and accepting I'd miss a few things.
Both games show stats/progress at the end of each chapter. Both sets of stats confront the player with the number of "missed opportunities" they had with each LI. Any unseasoned player would think they did something wrong on their playthrough to have so many "missed opportunities," rather than understanding that 1. most opportunities can't be achieved on a single playthrough because that's the way the game is programmed, 2. a player can't chase multiple LIs without missing opportunities, and 3. some opportunities rely on really obscure preconditions that must be met throughout the game. "Missed opportunities" is really a bad choice of words to use from a marketing perspective.
So, I went from being happy with my chapter 2 playthrough to being confronted with the end-of-chapter stats and that's when frustration set in. However, I understand that this game - exactly like LoF - cannot be completed on a single playthrough and cannot be completed without a walkthrough.
Without a walkthrough, a player will end up checking for hidden sprites and checking their phone on each goddamn render! Where's the fun in that?
... I haven't finished the latest stuff yet, but. I had to run over and write that I think Lars is on my top list for best bros in these kinds of games.
- Sep 3, 2017
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Jesus, could getting the beer and the lotion have been any more fucking convoluted and annoying? That entire beach freeroam was some serious bullshit.
Episode 2 was good, it introduced quite a few new girls, a few of which i like. Could've used one or two less free roams, though i did enjoy wandering through the hotel on the first day of MCs job. My only real issue was that end of chapter notes said MC walked in on celeste in the shower while looking for the jetski keys, and that shit never happened.
edit: Figured it out, i interacted with every girl on the left side of the beach in phase 2, then Celeste's beach towel appears at the showers indicating she's there.
edit: Figured it out, i interacted with every girl on the left side of the beach in phase 2, then Celeste's beach towel appears at the showers indicating she's there.
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The cast got pretty big with ep 2. I don't really have any negatives to point out other than the beach free roam being rather clunky. Still no idea who the main LI's are vs who are just supporting side characters since only two days(?) have passed since the start of the game. Hopeful that people get more fleshed out sooner rather than later.