Probably because boko is working on two projects at once, and basically all he does for GBH is make animations/combat encounters, never really putting much work into the world or mechanics. Maybe after he's done with the new ultimate fighting girl, he'll focus on GBH more.
I agree with you about pretty much everything, he definitely needs to add some actual gameplay progression. I think proper leveling mechanics are the first contender, so level drain would feel that much better.
Oh, I didn't think that Boko put a lot of time into UFG2, since he hasn't talked about it much. Anyway, it's nice to know I'm not the only one who thinks this way about GBH as an experience. Hopefully Boko eventually addresses some of this.
Well, Sunshaded, that's a big comment. And big comments get big replies. I don't know how much you know about the game so I'll just mention all I know. But the short answer to most of your questions is simple. He doesn't really have plans to put GBH up for sale. I don't think he's quite sure where it's going. And there isn't much RPGing going on in the game yet. The girls just sit around waiting for you to activate their events if they have ones, or you can just fight or plead. CP1 is canon, kind of sort of, so you should play it. If you care about storytelling, then I feel you should contact him so he knows people care.
Thanks. That fits the impression I had from his tweets. I wish that Boko was less humble/tentative, but I know that's just the way he is.
And like Kaa said, he had plans to work on UFG2 since last year and he announced that he started the production phase around March. I think he even mentioned that he was working on it before he announced it, though my memory may be failing me. But I think it's normal for devs to work on a game before announcing it, so this is probably true regardless of whether or not he mentioned it.
Yeah, it's nice to have that to look forward to. His doujin game with Sherry was way too hard for me. I love maids, and my dream UFG would probably be 3 versus 1 w/ Lin's maids... (Maybe the duo he just unveiled could even serve as a model for that. But I know it's difficult technically. If only he had a talented coder help him create a true 3D world.)
My memory is off, so I don't remember what GBH had since he started Patreon. But CP2 only brought 3 new characters into the game (Sefina, The queen, and Sisen). The rest of the characters were just updated so they look better. A few months ago, after he was done with Astride (or was it Millis?) he said he didn't know if he was going to update the characters (because he wanted to focus on UFG2 instead I'm guessing), but people wanted him to keep updating the characters so he can update the maids, Auphemia and Selunelia. So...ever since the update that added the queen, the characters didn't do much. The plot didn't really progress or go anywhere ever since people started bullying Alf in the castle. The fact he was working on UFG2 may have contributed to this.
This is exactly the kind of inside info I hoped someone would share. I've noticed Boko tweet a little more about UFG2 these days, but I assumed he hadn't done much with it. I know he's said he just works on whatever he can motivate himself toward, whether it's GBH heroines or UFG heroines or some other content.
But...the game literally starts with the line "And so, his journey continues today"
And yet it doesn't even mention whether it's the start of the day or middle of it. It just shows him in an inn. He could have just arrived at a city at noon and checked into an inn, or he could have woken up at sunrise. (I know it's only a minor flaw, but the point is that I was ranting about the lack of a narrative, so I listed even the minor flaws.)
The bandit camp is explained when he actually goes there. Sure he could've explained it before going there, but I think he doesn't want to bother people with Sisen unless they want to engage her.
The bandit camp is nice, because its explanation is actually in the description of the choice at the inn. It's too bad the other 3 choices don't have descriptions.
Honestly, I don't know why he calls it a test version. You NEED to play CP1 in order to meet most of the characters and to be introduced to Auphemia and her maids properly. The events in CP1 are also canon. Sort of. It is a little confusing. In CP1 Auphemia had plans Alf wasn't OK with and she clearly stopped in CP2. Obviously, this means that Alf fought her maids, defeated all of them, and then defeated Auphemia making her give up on said plan. But...the maids act like they never lost. Especially Lusy with the way she says she's far more powerful than him, even though he canonically beat her and Auphemia who is also canonically more powerful than her. It's pretty confusing. I know he puts animations first, but I wish he would pay more attention to the characters and their development, especially when he's updating them. I was considering mentioning this to him, but I feared the language barrier would be a big problem. Plus there's the translation thing making it difficult for me to judge the writing and characters properly, so I can't really speak on this matter.
I really appreciate your analysis of the connections between CP1 and CP2. It's so mystifying because from the way all this plays out, you'd think that Boko must have put a fair amount of thought into the story. And it's nice to hear that CP2 actually does have more depth of characterization than I expected (I didn't realize that others characters behaved differently after you met the queen).
I like your explanation of why he fights, too. It doesn't require Boko to come up with flimsy plots. People battling for battle's sake is actually similar to the premise of UFG.
A book that gives a status effect? I don't remember that... Are you referring to the potion that made him cum? I don't think that potion does anything, so it doesn't matter if you can heal.
Ugh, yeah, I meant potion. I examined every shelf in that room, and some had books, but that was a potion shelf, I just didn't think before I typed there. The potion does do something; the hero's status changed for me the second time I used it.
And don't level up. The fights are intended to be fought at level 55. Leveling up is cheating. I think Lusy even accuses you of cheating if you beat her without using magic since it seems impossible at level 55, though I could be wrong since my Japanese is poor.
This is very good to know, thanks. I was holding off on playing more of GBH in part because I wasn't sure if my level was actually balanced properly against the heroines.
He's tight lipped? He seemed to be more than willing to talk about things when people ask most of the time. Personally when I ask a he tends to reply, so I don't know.
Sorry, I may have phrased that poorly. I just meant that he doesn't talk about his long-term plans for GBH, perhaps just because like you suggested earlier, he isn't clear on that.
If you really wish he did, then you could try to contact him to explain how he could pay better attention to them. After all, the maids act really weird in CP2. And keep in mind, most of the people who talk to him typically just ask for "More paizuri", "More ballbusting", or "more ass smothering" so he may be assuming no one cares about this kind of stuff. It could be good to let him know people care.
I've thought about it, but I hesitate because I don't want to pester him, and feel self-conscious about requests. And in any case, what I want is for him to do what he loves, and stay motivated.
Actually, after I read your post and considered all this more, I think I probably don't need to worry so much. Sure, to me, GBH is a tech demo so it's a lot less playable/enjoyable than it should be. But now I think I have an idea of why it's like that. From the way you described the altered parts between CP1 and CP2, and the flow of CP2... combined with the fact that many parts of the narrative are obviously blank when they wouldn't be if Boko put in any effort at all, like the description of the 4 areas the hero can travel to... I think that Boko must have made the decision to deliberately cut out most of the narrative, except the minimal amount necessary to build a consistent world to place the heroines. In other words, CP1 and CP2 are not only tech demos, they're also a place where Boko randomly tests out how he wants the story to flow. For example, the arc with Shisen is probably Boko's experiment with that style of narrative where the hero's viewpoint is emphasized, and he doesn't need to try to make the rest of GBH conform to it, because it's just a localized experiment. ...Sorry, I explained this awkwardly. In conclusion, I would suspect that Boko has tentative plans to revamp GBH into a full game with a narrative later that's sort of a combination of CP1 and CP2. But he may keep it private/separate from CP2 in order to sell it on DLsite. Just my speculation. I can't think of any other reason the narrative would be so lopsided, with so many hints that he cares about it, yet still deprioritized by him.
I don't see the issue with Sisen. The big bad released her in an act of desperation so it's not surprising if she's flawed. And when she drains the bandit she states that she needs more. Is that different in Japanese?
A lot of the characters don't give much of a hint on how to beat them and will probably beat you a few times before you manage to win (unless you cheat). That's why I don't see much of an issue with the game not spelling out that you just need to just survive long enough. You may lose once or twice but you'll probably figure out what to do eventually.
That's what's said in Japanese too. But I mentioned before why her line about needing energy isn't a clear hint. It would probably be easier to figure out that you need to stall if the hero could barely damage her. I'm far more likely to avoid her and try to battle other heroines than experiment until I discover that I need to stall while doing no damage to her. Most games would have a hint about holding on or something. CP2 expects you to read a text file to know how to proceed, because it's still a tech demo.
