Well, it about time I dropped my thoughts on this game, given that I'm getting ready to play it for a second time after letting it sit for a while. Those thoughts can be summed up as: 'WOW, this is one of the best RPGs I've ever played.' It can also be summed up with curses at the Puratian morals that still affect our society and make it almost impossible to share this with other people without getting strange looks when you try to explain what it's about. Because it's the kind of story that is amazing and makes you want to share it with other people. Every character has so much personality and life to them, and you've done such a good job filling the world with all those small little details that make it feel lived in and real.
The moral framework that you built for succubi, and seeing how it interacts with human morals and how they can come to understand each other is amazing. I also loved King Alonon's explanation on the nature of the universe of everything is a mix of purity and lust. It was an amazing scene, explained so much about the universe we'd found ourselves in, and the fact that he became so nhilistic upon finding out because he was asexual and thus 100% purity was just, hngg. The "It's all just a juvenile joke" line was absolutely perfect. That scene hit so well and so hard that I went back to my save and watched it several times.
From a mechanics standpoint, the complexity blows my mind, and I can't believe you've managed to make something this complicated using RPGmaker as the base. Any game that can have me spend three hours with a wiki and an excel spreadsheet in preparation for three hours of strategic battle, and thoroughly enjoy that time working with the spreadsheet, is a fucking amazing game, and has done something very, very right. Because there are all sorts of games, where you can optimize your play with a spreadsheet, but most of the time your casual player doesn't want to do that, and it's left in the realm of the min-maxers, because the decisions you make there aren't actually related to your characters in any way. Here, when I'm in that spreadsheet coming up with my battle plan and making tweaks, I can see personality and character, and the results of my previous decisions. I'm getting this bonus because I helped out here a while back, and I'm getting more help here because this person likes me and supports my cause, and every decision and small tweak I make in the spreadsheet will have actual story consequences later, so it all still feels relevant, important, and fun. That is an astounding achievement, and I salute you for it.
I will confess now, even after gushing moments ago about the mechanics that I did cheat on my first run, but that's more of a personal failing and inability to let anything preventable and bad happen to characters, especially ones that I am attached to than any problems I have with the game. As an example of just how bad I am at letting bad things happen to my characters, when Mass Effect first came out and I reached Vermire for the first time, I alt-tabbed and spent over an hour looking around the internet for a way to save both, and once I realized it wasn't possible, sat for another hour trying to actually make the choice. I was romancing one of them, and wasn't particularly fond of the other, the choice itself was always going to go one way, but I could barely bring myself to do it. The way I cheat, and the way I recommend to anyone else who wants to get as much out of the game as they can, including from a mechanical stand point, is to play the game as normal, with the intent to minimize the points at which you cheat. Never give yourself levels, only ProN or strategic points, and even then only the bare minimum you need. The game is very well balanced, and if you must cheat because you can't stand to let bad things happen to your characters, do your best to avoid breaking that balance.
All told, this is an absolutely amazing game, that makes me wish I wasn't raised in a country with such prudish backwards morals regarding sex and violence, so I could feel comfortable enough to shout it's praises to the rooftops and recommend it to everybody I meet. As it is, I will heartily recommend it to everyone on this forum, and wish you the best in continuing to create the game.
Edit: Does anyone know why the normal spoiler tag isn't working when I try to insert it? I had to use inline spoilers because they worked and the normal one didn't. There's actually a normal spoiler still in this post it just doesn't appear at all for some reason.
The moral framework that you built for succubi, and seeing how it interacts with human morals and how they can come to understand each other is amazing. I also loved King Alonon's explanation on the nature of the universe of everything is a mix of purity and lust. It was an amazing scene, explained so much about the universe we'd found ourselves in, and the fact that he became so nhilistic upon finding out because he was asexual and thus 100% purity was just, hngg. The "It's all just a juvenile joke" line was absolutely perfect. That scene hit so well and so hard that I went back to my save and watched it several times.
From a mechanics standpoint, the complexity blows my mind, and I can't believe you've managed to make something this complicated using RPGmaker as the base. Any game that can have me spend three hours with a wiki and an excel spreadsheet in preparation for three hours of strategic battle, and thoroughly enjoy that time working with the spreadsheet, is a fucking amazing game, and has done something very, very right. Because there are all sorts of games, where you can optimize your play with a spreadsheet, but most of the time your casual player doesn't want to do that, and it's left in the realm of the min-maxers, because the decisions you make there aren't actually related to your characters in any way. Here, when I'm in that spreadsheet coming up with my battle plan and making tweaks, I can see personality and character, and the results of my previous decisions. I'm getting this bonus because I helped out here a while back, and I'm getting more help here because this person likes me and supports my cause, and every decision and small tweak I make in the spreadsheet will have actual story consequences later, so it all still feels relevant, important, and fun. That is an astounding achievement, and I salute you for it.
I will confess now, even after gushing moments ago about the mechanics that I did cheat on my first run, but that's more of a personal failing and inability to let anything preventable and bad happen to characters, especially ones that I am attached to than any problems I have with the game. As an example of just how bad I am at letting bad things happen to my characters, when Mass Effect first came out and I reached Vermire for the first time, I alt-tabbed and spent over an hour looking around the internet for a way to save both, and once I realized it wasn't possible, sat for another hour trying to actually make the choice. I was romancing one of them, and wasn't particularly fond of the other, the choice itself was always going to go one way, but I could barely bring myself to do it. The way I cheat, and the way I recommend to anyone else who wants to get as much out of the game as they can, including from a mechanical stand point, is to play the game as normal, with the intent to minimize the points at which you cheat. Never give yourself levels, only ProN or strategic points, and even then only the bare minimum you need. The game is very well balanced, and if you must cheat because you can't stand to let bad things happen to your characters, do your best to avoid breaking that balance.
All told, this is an absolutely amazing game, that makes me wish I wasn't raised in a country with such prudish backwards morals regarding sex and violence, so I could feel comfortable enough to shout it's praises to the rooftops and recommend it to everybody I meet. As it is, I will heartily recommend it to everyone on this forum, and wish you the best in continuing to create the game.
Edit: Does anyone know why the normal spoiler tag isn't working when I try to insert it? I had to use inline spoilers because they worked and the normal one didn't. There's actually a normal spoiler still in this post it just doesn't appear at all for some reason.
