itch.io

The entire thing with the branching paths is a masterful execution and is something you as the player really need to pay attention to. Especially with the code. It feels like as if you need to play the game multiple times to really get the full picture of every side as the player. Atleast that's how the demo set up the current game for me.

I am really curious about Yomi and what you have in store for him. Especially since we already could tell that not everything is black and white and nothing is what it seems at first glance/surface level.

The balance of healing items wasn't frustrating or immersion breaking  it was more the latter of being intense but managable. I am also currently in the process of making a game (as I actually started multiple but shhh) and balancing enemies, fights and items drops is pretty hard. Will say tho, that your game in terms of balancing is very inspiring. Overall the game never felt frustrating to me. Challenging? Yes, but never unfair. I did had a Game Over once or twice because of one of the stronger enemies but like any RPG if you choose the right approach and right tactic it's totally possible. A neat little thing for people who want to challenge themselves.

Something of note which I noticed in my first playthrough before doing the Code Route: I got poisoned in the first fight against this Hydra that Yomi summoned. What I noticed was that something still damaged me outside of the fight. I am not sure if there was a damage tile (which may be an oversight) or if I was still poisoned. Because it wouldn't show up in my status menu. I think it didn't happen with any other enemy that gave me status effects, so I thought I'd mention that.

Alter Soul was an interesting concept for me because the characters transform into a stronger version of themselves. That raises the question if other characters (besides the ones that are shown or explicitly mentioned) are also able to obtain or have an Alter Soul. While I am not too familiar with the franchise, it reminded me to Bleach? While some techniques of the characters reminded me to Demon Slayer which is really cool. Specifically Ryuho's Cascade technique reminded me to Tanjiro's Water Breathing a little.
Speaking of Ryuho, the only other feedback I have about Alter Soul is that Ryuho felt a little weaker than his normal Un-Alter Soul version. But I would have to replay specifically the fight against Zen (both versions) to give proper feedback on it. It's been a week since I have played :'D.

The diary of the princess didn't feel like a random loredrop. More like, it gave me the feeling: I don't like where this is going. It gives an oddly creeping suspicion, that is only confirmed when heading downstairs into the secret jail. That particular twist made the actions as to why the Sanctus was suddently murking everyone in the palace justified. Albeit still questionanble of dropping an entire Energy bomb onto the rest of the Kingdom (even when  I want to believe that non of these people knew about the things the Solis Clan was doing behind their backs), it was a pretty dang good twist! One that made the "reset" feel bad but also good and very impactful for the player. Because in one timeline, they don't make it but know the truth while in the other no knows the truth but you "potentially" save everyone (while also upsetting poor Shiro).

I was a little bit confused in the beginning as to how this would connect in the beginning but it all fell into place while I was playing.
So, once again, great job on that! This demo is really inspiring as well as the systems that were shown, such as talking to the characters, listening to inner dialogues (I live for character interaction stuff) and the field skills of various characters which opens A WHOLE LOT more room for exploration and lore (hidden lore at that!). My favorite was still the crack in the wall.

I am really glad that my comment made you happy. I have a ton of games downloaded to see how they feel for me and how they are executed. And this one definatly positively surprised me! Like, damn, after playing I was even thinking: Man. I wanna do fanart kinda. I will look forward to it see what this game has to offer in the future! I wish you a happy game deving and lots of Development Joy!