Aaaa thank you so much! This means so much to me!
So I've finally got around to playing the new version with Day 2 and I wanted to share my thoughts again.
First off, I'm quite late getting to this as I've not been very good and keeping track of the games I'm following. The last time I played this game it was still ShadowDrop so I will admit it was very weird going through Day 1 again and seeing all the changes. I fell in love with ShadowDrop and can still remember it vividly; it did not take me long to see where changes were made and how that affected the tone of the story. There seems to be less horror in the beginning than what there was originally (the comparison of the peaceful Abyss to the absolute nightmare fuel of the first appearance of the purple eyes is a good example) and while Orion is still an absolute sweetheart who I just want to see happy, he's not quite the Corvin I originally got attached too. I can't even put my fingers on why as many things are similar if not the same, perhaps it's just because I met Corvin first. There's also no longer that feeling of 'did I get manipulated?' that I felt before, though I will fully admit that could have been me reading too much into one specific line rather than anything intentional in the story.
(Also don't think I didn't notice 'Corvin' being reintroduced at the end of Day 2; I actually squeed when I saw his name).
Now I need to stress that this is not a criticism of what you've done here. Far from it, the changes you've made still create a fantastic experience and clearly fit the tone of the story and characters you've developed going into Day 2. And Day 2 was fantastic! I loved how much more worldbuilding is being brought up, all this talk about the Celestials is fascinating. Ravi is a delightful addition, not quite what I was expecting when he first got introduced but somehow even better. And his interactions with both the MC and Orion were fantastically written. Speaking of which, THAT ENDING CONFRONTATION WAS INTENSE! The gorgeous art, the writing, the music... I almost forgot I was playing a visual novel with how swept up I was. Amazing way to end the day with plenty of potential moving into further days.
Being 100% honest there is a part of me that's sad some of the elements I loved from ShadowDrop and wanted to see more of are no longer there in this current version, but I still adore Moondrop and Sundew. If I hadn't played ShadowDrop and had started with this version I am certain I would still have fallen in love with it just as deeply. This is a wonderful story and I am thoroughly excited to see how it develops further.
Aww thank you a lot, this means so much!
I must admit, a huge reason for almost all of the changes was because I thought the game was way too similar to Mushroom Oasis. I seriously wanted to deviate hard from my initial inspiration because as much as I love MO, making my game a reskin of that one isn’t proper etiquette. Hence why there’s so many new things! However I think my hastiness to make things different made me rush things a little, which is a common critique I’ve seen of Day 2’s ending so far. So there’s gonna be a tiny rewrite to have it make more sense.
I want to be more original and myself with my game creations. I am so thankful for MO being around to inspire me to start making games at all, and I’ll continue to be inspired by it to keep on making more stuff that’s my own!
I get the changes can be jarring and I can understand if not everyone is into it. PSA to all players, that’s cool if you’re not! But I think the direction I’m going will be better in the long run!
And about Corvin! Yep, he’s a bird now. And still a Nyxling! I recently decided to make the old Corvin from the previous game canon to this game’s universe as well. So Orion the moon boy and Corvin the shadow boy are both around! There’s 2 corvins because why not.
thank you so much for enjoying my reboot, it means the world to me!
Ah I see. While I do see the inspiration from Mushroom Oasis I did feel the original ShadowDrop was still enough of it's own thing to not feel like a reskin, but I completing understand the feeling of not wanting your own work to be too similar to it's inspiration. And as I said I do enjoy what you've created here, so I'm still incredibly excited to see how this story goes :D
Also really? That's actually Corvin? I thought it was just a cheeky reference, that's so cool!
Thank you very much for understanding, these comments mean so much!
And about the bird! It's actually a DIFFERENT Corvin! It's hard to explain but there's Corvin the bird and Corvin the actual Nyxling. I explained it better on my tumblr but TLDR is that Orion and Corvin both exist in the same world now, since ppl loved Corvin so much. Hoped this clears things up!