by SpectralTime » Tue Dec 16, 2014 6:52 am
Partway through playing the game for the first time, at the bounty hunter camp. Thought I'd put my thoughts down, but preface them by stressing that I still like the game and still intend to keep playing it. If I hated your game, I'd drop it. These criticisms are intended to be constructive, and I apologize if they are not.
I like the idea of playing the "grizzled old soldier character babysitting the stock hero," and Simon is a decent character. He's tough, moral, quiet, reasonably intelligent... Sure, he's basically a flat and saintly character with no real flaws, but that doesn't mean he isn't also a welcome change from the usual h-game protagonists. I like when my heroes are good people instead of raging jerks, and too many people mistake "complex character" for "asshole" these days.
I do wish that his gameplay (never leveling up, constantly losing HP from old injuries, constantly being overshadowed once other characters in his party have a few levels in them) wasn't quite so... thematic. It works, it just... daggome it, is it too much to ask to ever have "Silencing Strike" actually silence anyone?
The "Chosen" is annoying as balls. On the one hand, he's clearly supposed to be annoying as balls, a parody of the stock "hot-blooded dumb-as-rocks hero" type and the "aggressive asshole who only thinks with his dick" type. On the other, I already didn't like that sort of character, and I don't feel like the game is really saying anything about him I didn't already know. That this kind of character is just an unlikable jerk when the player can't use him as a view-point power fantasy? Who didn't already know that?! And while pretending to give the character roleplaying options was a clever bit of meta-commentary, having Kai be a complete dickhead no matter what the player chooses cheapens them right off the bat and gives away the game a little early.
Killing the first one off five minutes into the game was pretty funny though, and a genuinely badass narrative twist. And the reason I'm not complaining about the fact that all the Chosen are asshole morons who really shouldn't be getting empowered over other candidates is clearly setting up some kind of narrative twist, as is their carbon-copy nature. Here's to Tal actually growing as a character instead of just starting this whole thing over again.
Which leads into my next point: the obvious future reveal that the Church is evil and all their stuff is based on a great big lie. Bleh. I've seen this twist in literally dozens of fantasy games, books, etc. It's stale and old-hat, even when it's done well and with enough subtlety that the audience doesn't see it coming. And it is not. With the exception of that blonde chick, all the people we're supposed to like (and, to your credit, I did like all of them) are ambivalent to, antithetical to, or plagued with doubts about the Church's religion, while all the people we're supposed to hate are the worst sort of straw-stuffed stereotypes, hypocrites and judgmental, moronic assholes with absolutely nothing rounding them off or making them more interesting. And they're also taxing starving dirt-hut peasants into the ground, just to drive the already-blunt point in with a sledgehammer.
On the opposite end of the cosmic order, I can't tell what you're doing with the Fucklord's crew. On the one hand, the narrative shows all other signs of speeding full steam ahead towards a "the Fucklord was a good guy ALL ALONG retcon." On the other, literally every member of his broader organization who isn't that chick with glasses or the elven slave seems to be a giant, raging asshole, assuming that the majority of the demonic and/or sex slaving characters in the "opening montage" were his cronies. (Which I am, and I apologize in advance for any inaccuracies in that assumption.) Even Riala. That sex scene with Simon may have rounded her off a little, but she's still just as much of a full-blown "My way or the highway!," "I know I'm right so who cares what you think!" character as those Church strawmen. I don't *know* if that was your intention, but that's what came across.
Speaking of the Fucklord, his name is narrative ruin. Poor Simon is clearly trying his damndest to convey the gravity of his situation, but it all slides into absurdity whenever he has to use the name "Fucklord." The rest of the game at least seems to be trying to be a serious, dramatic narrative, but the Fucklord and the Chosen are both actively undermining that drama by their status as parodies, and the former can't even be talked about without rubbing this fact in. Well, okay, them and that middle-aged old lady with the hots for Simon, but at least her antics are isolated rather than center-stage.
One thing I'll compliment without reservation is your tweaks to the gameplay of RPG Maker. Having the game outright indicate when I've exploited a weakpoint is awesome, and should be in every game ever, while dead party members gaining XP anyway is a wonderful relief when I'm on my way back to buy another revival potion and worrying about them falling behind on XP. (Not that this game is being kind to my anal-retentive obsession with XP balance. NO! EVERYONE EXACTLY THE SAME LEVEL FOREVER AAAAAAAAAAAAhem.
Also, a player who knows what's coming can swipe Kai's Shining Sword out of his hands before he dies and hand it off to Tal. A bit of save-scumming on my part quickly confirmed this. I'm not sure what to do about it though. Locking Kai's equipment would give the game away too early, but letting the player get some nice things like that so early just seems like a bit of a bad idea. Maybe parse the player's inventory and remove all non-approved items? Or have Simon lose all items in the inventory after starting the first "chapter," then having someone in the church hand him a new pack? Hmmm...
Finally, the sex. I'm infamously terrible at commenting on sex scenes, so I'll be brief: I have trouble enjoying the sex if I have a negative opinion of the characters. Thus, I can confidently state that while your technical skill with erotica is great, I only really liked the Simon and Riala one, and that ended about as well for the reader as it did for poor Simon.
If I think of any more thoughts to share, I'll let 'em out. Sorry for the negative tone, as I do like what you're trying to do here. I just wish it were a bit less... angry and cynical. It makes for an unpleasant play, sometimes.
We'll see what you think when you've played a little further, because yes, the Chosen dies regardless.
