4.50 star(s) 54 Votes

Lucid Lancer

Member
May 29, 2018
264
673
I loved 0.1 and 0.2. I saw so much potential in 0.1 that I backed the dev immediately upon its release. I loved Sam, Lily, Casper, Lua, and Fray. I found Liz Fell intriguing. The story was fun. The humor was fun. There were some interesting hints at broader stories at play. It was great getting to rescue an LI from a stalker, even if that turned into something else afterwards (and I'm a little disappointed that 0.3 suggests that the Frank choice made didn't matter except for a tiny change to the insults Akira/Valentine threw toward the MC). I was starting to actively care about the characters.

Hopefully this gives a proper idea of the mindset I had, and the excitement and enthusiasm I had for the game when seeing it was out for my support tier to play, and when launching and starting to play 0.3.

And then I started playing 0.3.

Now, I'm normally one who defends an MC NOT being a raging asshole to confident and self-possessed girls, even if they get kinda bitchy, but this entire update was basically LI after LI just shitting on the MC and the MC letting them do it with little to no complaint. If that's what the dev wants in the game, so be it, but it would have been nice to know ahead of time so I didn't waste my money.

(This is LONG, so I broke it up into spoilered sections by topic.)
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CLOSING WORDS:

TL;DR: 0.3 was a massive disappointment from a writing and characterization standpoint, it solidly ruined three LIs and the MC and damaged a fourth LI, and it directly caused me to withdraw my support and stop recommending the game to my friends, entirely on its own.
And i was just about to download the game, but no matter how attractive LIs are or how astonishing the renders might be if the dev can't maintain the integrity and dignity of the main damn character especially without giving any options whatsoever then that's it for me. Instant addition to the ignore pile.

I have seen so many games do this exact same thing and it always ruins the game. Why shit on the protagonist, on your own created main character like this?
To be clear, doing this would not add any kind of domination tag that you might be expecting or any other for that matter all it is doing is adding endless irritation and annoyance to your game. Some might be into it but most would quit right away, even more so if there are no choices present in the matter.

Consider leaving a note about such things in the dev notes or something, saves time for all.
Well in the end it's your game, go bonkers.
 

Tiur

Well-Known Member
Nov 13, 2021
1,081
2,935
if the dev can't maintain the integrity and dignity of the main damn character especially without giving any options whatsoever
As a note, I've seen a couple comments repeat this, and wanted to clear up a misunderstanding.

The player does have options for how the MC behaves in many instances. I was complaining about the lack of having those options specifically in regards to having any meaningful effect on how the MC reacts to/thinks about Akira and Valentine. You can be slightly more combative in text conversations with Akira, but those amount to nothing other than perhaps a love point or two difference.
 

The Pie Rat

Active Member
Aug 26, 2021
926
2,278
What's with all these people telling us they're not going to play the game... you can just... you know... not play the game? You don't need to announce it to the world.

We don't particularly care about some randoms on the internet who bitch about stuff without offering advice on what should happen instead, you know... constructive criticism.

I swear that image was going to be my only post here, but I had to.
 

Tiur

Well-Known Member
Nov 13, 2021
1,081
2,935
What's with all these people telling us they're not going to play the game... you can just... you know... not play the game? You don't need to announce it to the world.
You know me, and you know how I think about stuff like this. The main reason is that this game was VERY good, with near-universal acclaim, until this release. If I play a bad game, I move on and post nothing. If I play a game I have actively praised in the past, and it feels like the game was insulting me, or otherwise leaving me behind in a sudden and drastic reversal of the game's style, I post about it like I did here.
 

Simulacrum29

Active Member
Apr 20, 2018
891
3,255
What's with all these people telling us they're not going to play the game... you can just... you know... not play the game? You don't need to announce it to the world.

We don't particularly care about some randoms on the internet who bitch about stuff without offering advice on what should happen instead, you know... constructive criticism.

I swear that image was going to be my only post here, but I had to.
man, dunno what to tell you, but its valuable for the dev to know he fucked up, because he will get no money if he scared off all his customers
 

illogicallity

Member
Jun 22, 2023
253
613
if opinions offend you maybe don't use the internet?

if the Dev is active in this thread he will want to know how his game is perceived even if he didnt asked, and if he's not active he will never give you a cookie for your White Knighting
If the dev is active on the thread he will want to know you're part of a crew that likes to run devs off-site on the regular and that absolutely does not represent the majority that usually stay silent.
 
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MelonGod

Member
Jun 9, 2019
138
984
What's with all these people telling us they're not going to play the game... you can just... you know... not play the game? You don't need to announce it to the world.

We don't particularly care about some randoms on the internet who bitch about stuff without offering advice on what should happen instead, you know... constructive criticism.

I swear that image was going to be my only post here, but I had to.
yall-im-gonna-take-my-shot-at-a-theory-im-turnin-on-the-v0-fbgwg0yt0xqb1.png
because it's the games thread; unsurprisingly people are going to talk if a good game takes a nosedive.
 

linkinn

Well-Known Member
Apr 25, 2020
1,068
7,937
You know me, and you know how I think about stuff like this. The main reason is that this game was VERY good, with near-universal acclaim, until this release. If I play a bad game, I move on and post nothing. If I play a game I have actively praised in the past, and it feels like the game was insulting me, or otherwise leaving me behind in a sudden and drastic reversal of the game's style, I post about it like I did here.
And also saves people time, thanks for your review.

What's with all these people telling us they're not going to play the game... you can just... you know... not play the game? You don't need to announce it to the world.

We don't particularly care about some randoms on the internet who bitch about stuff without offering advice on what should happen instead, you know... constructive criticism.

I swear that image was going to be my only post here, but I had to.
Technically this goes both ways, so some people don't care that you don't care, such is life.
 

Getoffmyname

New Member
Dec 29, 2021
6
56
All i can suggest is play and decide for yourself.

My personal experience with this update does not in anyway align with some of the other people posting here.

MC doesn't act like a doormat, he just acknowledges when he has made a mistake in regards to Sam.

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Akira and Val he is backed into a corner and plays it smart not submissive.

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If you are looking for a harem game where you can self insert into a blank slate and have all the girls fawn over you this isn't the game for you.
But if you want a game with interesting characters with plenty of room to grow and an MC with a distinct personality then I would strongly suggest playing chapter 3 and deciding for yourself.
 

Tiur

Well-Known Member
Nov 13, 2021
1,081
2,935
All i can suggest is play and decide for yourself.
I agree with this, and that's always the case for anyone's impressions of a game.

MC doesn't act like a doormat, he just acknowledges when he has made a mistake in regards to Sam.
I can't agree here. He acknowledges and apologizes for something other people chose to interpret as a mistake, where he had no obligation, and he repeatedly takes insults and degradation without complaint or challenge, even when blatantly untrue. He also then has internal dialogue that shows that he basically likes the degrading and insulting treatment.

You've also dismissed the fact that we don't get to choose how the MC reacts to most of this. He's backed into a corner regarding events we had no control over and that the MC likely had no control over, either, and the MC's response (without player input) is to like being insulted, degraded, and humiliated. He specifically says he likes how Akira acts.

Beyond that, I think you're giving everyone some wildly unearned benefit of the doubt.

We may also have different definitions of doormats.

I clipped out the Sam part, but the possessiveness I'm talking about isn't about MC/Lily or MC/Casper. It's about the insistence that the MC is at fault for not acting like a child keeping his parents informed of his whereabouts at all times, and her attitude about Valentine at the MC's apartment. She is acting like she and Lily own the MC. And given that Akira had just told the MC that she owns him, I am not giving anyone the benefit of the doubt for that shit.

in fact play your cards right and he talks Akira into a down-blouse selfie during a business meeting
This is the part I called cognitive dissonance. That flirting during her meeting was completely out of place and out of character for her, and was so jarringly different from their other interactions, both before and after, that it felt like different people talking.

and gets her all hot and bothered by licking her hand and winding her up. Certainly doesn't scream femdom to me personally.
So you missed her insulting him throughout the whole library scene, and the repeated descriptions of her disdain and hatred? She had literally just called him her "pawn" before that starts.

We really don't know enough about her to be making assertions about her personality right now, other than she likes emojis I guess.
We do know that she was willing to physically threaten the MC with a deadly weapon to his throat. She's also completely unapologetic about it. We also DO get a lot of insight into her personality in her scenes with the MC in his apartment, when she talks over the MC and tells him how he thinks and what he is, regardless of his or the player's opinion.

If you are looking for a harem game where you can self insert into a blank slate and have all the girls fawn over you this isn't the game for you.
But if you want a game with interesting characters with plenty of room to grow and an MC with a distinct personality then I would strongly suggest playing chapter 3 and deciding for yourself.
I'm just looking for a harem game where the MC isn't treated like shit (by people who are supposed to be romantic interests) for the entire duration of an update, and where the MC stands up for himself instead of taking and enjoying receiving heaps of abuse for, effectively, an entire day and a half or so.

I agree that, so far, the MC hasn't done anything worth being attracted to (since the one positive thing he's done with some actual agency just resulted in being treated like shit by four different LIs), but the insulting and degrading treatment he's received and accepted from Sam, Akira, and Valentine in particular, is enough to write them off for good. Since they're all central to the plot, I don't have high hopes for the rest of the game, because those impressions and interactions from this update are so egregiously bad that they will have to flavor every interaction from here on. The characterization won't make any sense if they don't.

Basically, I want to play a harem game where the LIs have a reason to at least like the MC, and vice versa. Those reasons are now missing from this game for four of the LIs, including the one who appears to be the primary LI.

If I were in the MC's place, Akira and Valentine's behavior so far has been enough to just make me leave the city again. I would have felt bad about leaving Lily and Sam, except that Sam showed so much insulting and possessive behavior throughout this update, too. Since the dev doesn't understand why people wouldn't like Akira, it is clear that we have wildly different priorities, and wildly different opinions of how much verbal and physical abuse is acceptable because someone is pretty.
 

Getoffmyname

New Member
Dec 29, 2021
6
56
I guess the difference is as i see it the MC was in the wrong regarding Sam and Lily

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Akira and Val

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How should MC have reacted in the classroom then? what would you do in that situation that would salvage it?
 

"CJ"

Conversation Conqueror
Mar 6, 2021
6,629
69,870
Unraveling August [v0.3.04] [AugustEsoterica] crunched

Don't shoot the compressor! :HideThePain:

Download PC(Win/Linux)/Mac:

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Getoffmyname

New Member
Dec 29, 2021
6
56
As for LI's liking the MC, making a mistake and making someone mad doesn't mean you don't like them anymore, The reason people react strongly to situations is because of their emotional investment in them.

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They all seem like perfectly sounds reasons why someone would be attracted to another person.

That's all have to say on it anyway. I'm not here to change the minds of people who have already decided that 1/3rd of a game is going to dictate how it goes forward and wasn't just time spent introducing facets of characters I just want to encourage people on the fence to play and make up their own mind.
 
4.50 star(s) 54 Votes