I don't know if I have it in me to keep restarting games so a new build will work right, to have bugs that happen so early in, on top of old bugs/things not fixed.
But getting "image 'slime_happy' not found" completing one of the first quests in the game, yeah... Not a great start for the new stuff when the results are "Breaks somehow, immediately". Which in turn means I can't have any idea if there being no readily apparent "slime charm" in my inventory, traits, or anywhere. Is that a bug, a feature, a 'It is just flavor text, not an actual item', or "To be added later"? because for all I know, I now have an invisible charm in my inventory if the very first monster given quest breaks images.
Then getting the pop up that the cat quest is ready to turn in... has no apparent way to turn it in? Just the usual chat conversations and results (the ask about hands already happened and is not there again). I had already unlocked special attention (which just drains me), play with her has no new results.
Broken? Not finished yet? Who knows!
( Modei, are you a sure you are a fallen angel? Getting drained by you at your shop is giving me slime trait unlock pop ups...)
Orc battle images are STILL bugged to linger and overlay over eachother during battle (When you let an orc give you a rimjob not because it is sexy, but to fact check if it is still broken as hell), and their quest also seems broken to not have a way to complete it like with the cat? (And private training is just getting drained, hot, but not progress).
Which makes the fact the slime quest just had a buggy "Image name here" moment look like flawless polish by comparison, because at least her quest fully triggered and counts as completed, without making me wonder if I'm just pressing the wrong buttons like a blind idiot, even when presented with both "Nevermind" and "That's all" in the conversation same menu.
Yeah. I have not even gone to the gardens and beyond yet this time around (or stopped fully grind early corruption traits), because going through the very first three enemies and seeing they are all still buggy in ways old and new is already more than enough to stop for a "Okay, what is going wrong here" post. Fully busted? Secret requirements to let myself lose first? What?
No gallery updates (meaning backed up saves or TOO BAD if another thing is a 'one time only' scene, or breaks in an update, or otherwise hurt by 'thank you for playing, too bad'). basically double the stats added, but you still only gain three stats per level, to grind to use any of the "new" content moves, which even if you do getting drained will take them away again even if you unlock them.
(This is the sort of thing that makes me scream whenever people say 'Gosh, people who want an auto-complete button on the gallery just don't care about gameplay and want a quick horny fix' when it comes to the genre, on that note. Crawl through several builds and so many bugs, and still get called a casual for wanting a functional gallery.
*eyes another work in progress game by a dev that switched from main menu gallery, to "immersive in world gallery" that the plot keeps taking you away from, and then you can't access after "End of current build, thank you for playing!" kicks you to the main title and needs a save slot AT the non-retroactive gallery to work.
That is also 'moving on to start another game' before that is finished. ).
Which then leads to more "Why is there MORE GRIND instead of MORE FIXES?" feelings. When meeting the requirements the first strength skill gets me nothing anyways...." feels like a miracle the first batch of spells even unlocked after bumping int and will some, but not like you can afford to split even harder when you still probably need more health to not get crushed like a bug from later content past the forest as usual.
Unlock some basic spells, like ice bolt, "Catgirl is weakened"... Oh the pop up that the status has worn off the catgirl happens right after, before she even does her first attack after the spell. WOW, normally I have to worry about status effects being useless on bosses, but this is a new record. Good thing your basic "Just hit them" damage seems to be stronger in the early game than past builds. Two-shotting the forest with basic attack just by dumping my first levels into at least 9 strength helps the whole "But I still don't get power strike, because ???" issue suck less before you pay for a proper sword.
Meanwhile, basic flame spell is an instant "You burnt them, now the DoT finished the job" turn 1 nuke vs catgirl as soon as I get it. Can't complain about a Damage over time spell not sucking for once, at least! For real that was a pleasant surprise. Baby's first fire DoT tends to suck, when not nerfed into the pavement in two seconds.
But yeah. To have all the gameplay and visuals stuff be in a forever slope of "we added more complexity! *put more grind in the grind game for things that won't even feel satisfying when you DO unlock it*", AND things breaking as bad or WORSE with each update?
If you want to get """"meta"""", then you need the protagonist musing about everything BUT himself being in a state of "Wait, wasn't this broken before?" Because the protagonist has had the least bugs so far across builds until now.