(For a more concise review that describes the same sentiment, just read the review of the guy directly below me.)
Edit: Hey, actually I just checked and this game started in 2018. Yea ... I think it's a wrap. I don't think much is going to change or improve if I came back to this in 2 years if it's already been like this for 7.
It's not bad but it’s kind of a waste of time in its current iteration (v0.510). I like the art but not really enough to justify wasting a weekend for this. Maybe I’ll come back to this when I have more free time in the possible, far future. By then, maybe there will be more content to justify how long it takes to familarize yourself with the system. If you’re looking for an RPG-style game. Look elsewhere. This is just something kind of weird.
It even takes familarizing yourself with the game to understand what you need from the walkthrough.
Yea. Actually, after writing this out. I realized there’s just something more fundamentally flawed about all of this. I understand the spirit behind it but the execution is just not thought out. I think it’s a 2 rather than a 3.
I still like the art style and I like the concept of “discovery” but I hope a lot more work will have been done for if or when I ever try this again.
No sense of direction
- My main problem is that you don't have any sense of what you're supposed to be doing. It feels like an "open world discovery" type of game yet there's just not much "feedback" to help you determine what you can and can't do without wasting hours + going back and forth between the game and the walkthrough. I understand that's probably the point, but there just isn't a lot of content anyway after discovering what triggers what and which character is doing this on a certain day at a certain time.
- Usually, for these types of RPG games. I can sort of develop a mental routine in my head: On Mondays - do this, this, this, and sleep. On Tuesdays - do that, that, this, and sleep. While for this game, there are just too many variables. A lot of the time you're just kind of like "Uh ... what the fuck am I supposed to do now?" Only real direction is maybe quests I guess.
- It feels like the gameplay system is different for the sake of being different. It still feels like a grind just constantly trekking to different locations, hoping the character you need to interact with will be there and available. It’s like a “grind” with RPG elements but without the rewards from an RPG game.
No seriously, what am I supposed to do?
- “Am I supposed to be hunting with Eric every day? Kind of seems like it but also feels pointless because I’m not getting any feedback that this is what I’m supposed to do. Am I supposed to explore the map on my own? But I’m not strong enough yet and any mob monsters could just take me down, I don’t even get exp or equipment from them that makes a difference which makes it harder to explore. I don’t even have the Return spell yet for if I get really far from town.”
- “I’ll develop relationship points with characters. But they’re usually all in different places, at different times, on different days. No problem. I’ll multitask two characters at the same time and … wait where was she supposed to be on Tuesdays? I’ll have to check the walkthrough that’s hard to navigate and oh, just lost my place. I’ll just go back to quests.”
- Quests – “Go do this thing” “Ok … let me check the walkthrough. No idea. Just says the same thing. Oh! Of course I was supposed to check the character details section of the walkthrough for a character I haven’t met yet that I’ll be meeting AFTER doing said quest.”
- “I’ll skip that and work on skills so I can gain more spells and maybe get an AOE attack or teleport to make traveling easier.” – Basically just ends up with me having to go back to the quest I skipped.
- “Ok, I’ll explore a little more to maybe trigger another quest and just lose to some more mob monsters because I end up expending HP and MP without leveling up or gaining any skills to help me beat them through battling them.”
- I don’t need “hand holding” mechanics but I need SOME feedback to tell me, “Ok, this is what I’m supposed to be doing at my current level or skills or whatever.”
- The broken English really doesn’t help either because a character will say something and I’ll be like “So … is good, yes? No? I don’t know. I don’t know whether we just progressed forward or that was just a stock response.” There’s no indication like “Character A + 5 points.” or “Character B liked that”.
RPG aspect
- Kind of weird and frustrating at times. Battling mobs doesn't provide you with anything and they're basically there to waste your time or make you gain Lust. Which I’d argue is unneccessary since there are ways to do in town and if it’s too high, you just end up experiencing the monotonous loss scenes over and over again and lose all that Lust in the process.
- It's actually just easier to try and avoid them. (Watch out for traps! Can't just avoid them actually!) Which makes it a game that forces you to play an RPG game but without the ability to play like an RPG. Like turning a restaurant into a bar but you have to order a meal if you want to grab a drink. "Relax, man! This is a bar now, not a place to eat a meal. But you have to order a hamburger if you want a beer." What?
- You usually at least level up enough early on to just mow through with an AOE attack/spell or gain a way to bypass them earlier on but that doesn’t happen until way later.
- Sometimes the boss enemies are really fucking hard to beat and just take me down in 3 shots. Then I try again and beat them with very little resistance. Nothing is different, it just … worked out like that.
- You’re going to miss a lot or spells just won’t work. But the enemies are very accurate and very good. They just outclass you and your party. You should just give up and have all-day orgies every day. It’s like the game is saying the RPG stuff isn’t a focus but makes it hard to progress without being stronger. Like it’s designed to just waste more of your time and pad things out.
QoL stuff
- No way to speed up text
- “Dash” feels slower than it should be. Making running around a map even more tedious.
- The broken English doesn’t really help either. At times, it’s kind of cringe and at other times, I don’t know what the hell I just read but it was actually important for understanding what I’m supposed to do next. (Unless it really was supposed to be as vague as humanly possible.)
- Should probably just make going to the Church on Sundays automatic if there are things that will move the story along. Or at least like an option, “Go to Church today? – Yes or No”. Because that shit is pretty easy to forget about when you’re juggling all these things at the same time.
- Any possible way to skip a loss scene would be great if you don’t want to see it for the 10th time. There are times where I’d just close the game entirely
- Maybe just being able to teleport to a location AFTER you’ve discovered it would eliminate all the tedium while still maintaining the “open world/discovery” aspect. Also same with where the hell characters after you’ve encountered them at a place, at a certain time, on a certain day are instead of having to check the walkthrough . Maybe just like a HUD display.
- “Remember command” or whatever is usually a thing so you don’t have to “click, click, click” just to use the same move in battle.
- Could we possibly get higher-grade potions? Spamming the low-grade health potions is pretty tedious. Even with money from cheats. Especially when the cursor on screen gets in the way and thinks you’re selecting something else. “Haha, oh no cursor. I’m just using the red potion for the 10th time. That’s all. I have no use for the bread mushroom right now.”
- Also the purpose of “Hunger” isn’t mentioned at all in the entire game except for the short preamble from the dev that you can skip where which slowly scrolls on your page and information about it is almost at the end but can’t be pulled up again in-game. Stuff like that is usually just really quick tutorial stuff to click through once you’re in-game. I didn’t even think at first information about “Hunger” would only be there because I figured I’d find information at some point but I just kept feeding myself out of paranoia that I’d get a sudden gameover at a crucial moment from starving to death. The game just kind of gives off that feeling … like you’re getting a BJ then you just die in the middle randomly from starvation. LOL.
Professions
- Also feel incredibly pointless to level up. There’s no clear difference between “beginner”, “apprentice”, or “master”. It doesn’t unlock any opportunities, it doesn’t make it so that you can do things quicker or produce more, it doesn’t produce higher-grade items than what you could buy.
- I quickly did “ctrl + f” in the walkthrough to even check whether you do something with these and I honestly don’t think there’s any point in being proficient in any of them. It just seems like relationship events just help you gain further proficiency in them for again, no apparent purpose. There might be some point. I don't know. I don't really feel like sifting through over 100 pages to find it.
Side note: the walkthrough
- Incredibly disorganized and over 100 pages. There’s no practical way to just jump to the section you need to see and I even opened 3 separate ways to make sure.
- Could really just use a Table of Contents that link to the corresponding section.
- I’m not knocking points because it doesn’t seem like it’s official but a lot hinges on information in the walkthrough for what you’re supposed to do:
Ex 1: Old Tower –
- “How the fuck am I supposed to gain access?”
- “Well, didn’t you read the part of the walkthrough about Melissa, you dumbass?!”
- “Oh, obviously I was supposed to look at the character details section where the rel points stuff is and not expect specific information related to a Quest to just be … in the fucking Quest section.”
Ex 2: Sell the stuff to Leaf to get the things for the magic circle. Go at night.
- “Leaf’s getting rammed by someone right now so I have no idea. I even searched on the game thread to see what I’m supposed to do.”
- “Oh, of course he only does that on Wednesdays or something because it’s “get-rammed-Wednesday”. Should’ve read the character details section on page 87 out of 180 pages for a character I don’t care about. My fault. Should've just made that long-ass trek back on Thursday at just the right time because there's no way to kill time once I'm there."
In my opinion, it's an interesting game. Although the storyline is not yet predictable, it is not limited either. One of the most important features of this game is the design of the characters and scenes, which have good diversity. The ability to choose the first-person status, such as a female chest and same-sex relationships, are good options for fans of this genre.
