I cannot understate how excited I am to play the complete version of this!! I loved the previous jam version so much that I have been endlessly yapping about it to my buddies that are so tired of my crippling old man addiction. But seriously the writing is phenomenal!! The prose ease you into the world and help immerse even someone like me who typically stays away from royal fantasy into the roll of a #prettyprincess. The relationship between Ramon and the player progresses so naturally hitting that sweet spot between a slowburn and a wildfire! Not even to mention how tasty the art is!! So excited!!
IM SO SORYMY LIEGE I GOT CAUGHT UP W MEMORIAL DAY WEEKENDDD
SPOILERS GALORE AHEAD
To start, returning to the game is easy, and i credit that mostly to the immersive writing style and comfortable music! I skipped to get back to where I was in the game yet it still felt seamless and I didn't feel like I was lost! The interaction w my character falling made me so shy the first time around that I had to shut off the game and work for four days hard labor and barbequing to recover. I knew from seeing the flag in one of the download milestone illustrations that Ramon was demisexual, and I appreciated it! Then seeing it discussed in the game with so much care as someone on the demi spectrum myself was so REFRESHING!!!! Because the conversation flowed so naturally without feeling forced into the scene!! I especially enjoyed being able to reply in kind!! It felt so warm? If that makes sense? And while it shows so well in so many other scenes I feel I have to call attention to just how well the player's anxiety is portrayed. Not once is the player just described to be anxious as theyre going through that emotion and left at that, the anxious thought patterns are shown with the trust the player has reading comprehension. To then be able to actually lean on Ramon for support metaphorically or physically shows so much depth to their relationship and just how dependable and sturdy he is despite all he has gone through. The addition of Kiraki is so lovely, and I am a sucker for a half orc so i would have loved to see their face so I could draw them!! The friendship between them and Ramon did feel truly like old friends who want the best for one another - even if one is having trouble accepting it. I could kiss that strict orc rn. Oh to be the customer that gets scolded... IT SHOULDA BEEN MEEE!!!! And then the tumeric tea. The sudden sprite change where all of a sudden Ramon is shirtless. Might as well have come into my house and shot me. I had to close the game again. And return when ready. I was never ready but a gal can pretend!!!
The conversation about Alexander broke my heart and put it back together again. You truly can feel the fondness, the affection that even death cannot erase, and the pain of losing someone thus having no place to put that love. I got misty eyed but im so tough i didnt cry (any more than just a little). You can feel the love. Even as the player begs for the right choice to be made you can feel the deep care. its astounding. Then the scene with atlas.. I will not get into it, but as a middle child with two very successful looked after siblings it struck a cord with me in a way I havent ever really encountered in fiction and especially not in all my years playing VNs. Atlus is a bitch and a diva and i wanna put him in a microwave. THEN TO HAVE RAMON COM EIN. AND DO ALL THAT, DIVAS. DEVIOUS DIVAS I WASNT READY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "you got this old heart beating again" ill kill you to death with a steel chair im AAAAAAAAA ill kill you fictional man i mean it (/pos) the grave, the flower, the cg. him kissing the flower. i think this is going to kill me. And in that cg i realized the flowers on his shoulders were edeilwiess and the player finding the same safety from him that they did that flower. the symbolism. oh my god. oh my god i stewed for hours and thinking about it all again i need to chew ice and watch paint dry. And when he called me cute. When i tell you i just sat there. That whole scene. The whole thing. Heart in my throat clutching my pearls so shy I feared something was wrong w me. Insanity. Now. I will admit. I fucked that old man. Nasty style. It was well written. Embarrassingly well written bc I have saved like four times during the scene just to see it again because not once have I experienced a payoff in a game where a sex scene has felt so intimate. Its embarrassing for me. Lord. The scene after being sent off leaves me feeling so hopeful I dont know I just truly enjoyed this game and feel this will be one I return to time and time again.
Thank you so much for the WONDERFUL review! It warms my lil' heart knowing you had such a fun (and wild) time playing the game. When it came to writing this story, I knew I wanted write a LI who was aspec because, as an asexual woman, there's not enough aspec romances being told out there, especially ones where the story contain spicy content. So, I decided to fill that need and give representation to a group of people that sorely need more rep in this space (and in general). To know that Ramon's declaration and that scene meant something to you means a lot to me.
Fun fact, if you ask him if him being demi every made finding love hard for him, he tells you it's done the opposite! Being demi and being unapologetically himself lets him figure out who he truly loves instead of having to play pretend for someone who wouldn't give him the time of day otherwise! :)
Atlas and Kiraki were my favorite characters to write! And they're also connected! If you're self-interesting and you say you've dated people your parents won't ever approve of, you'll bring up something about Atlas which prompts Ramon to say interesting something. Note the kind of kids Kiraki has and remember what she does for a living. So if you do go back and play the game, I recommend trying out the different flavor choices to see what you find.
I was WAITING for someone to bring up the edelweiss on his shoulder plates! It's a nice little visual easter egg that our sprite artist added when we were concepting the game and I decided the flower Ramon would give MC would be that. I'm so glad you were able to catch that. :)
Thank you again for your comment. I made sure to share it with the team! And for when you have the time, please make sure to leave a star rating + review! It helps a lot with pushing the game out to more people!