I got the game, and I have to say the prologue was great, while the first chapter was okay with some highlight moments.
The reason I say that is because I personally got the game for the WG content, which was abundant in the prologue, but it got kind of sidelined in the first chapter. The prologue gave me the impression that a lot of characters would be putting on weight in Chapter 1 since the prologue was all about that and this is being a WG game but that didn’t really happen. I do appreciate the story, but that’s not the main reason I’m playing, and I feel like most people would say the same.
At times, I was wondering when any of the characters would actually progress to a new weight stage. I had been playing for around six hours, and when it finally did happen with Liora, it was in the last hour of the game. Also, when you choose a path, the other characters don’t gain much weight either most of them stay slim despite all the feeding scenes. I think there were opportunities to give convenient, reasons for other characters to gain weight naturally, even if you don’t pick their path. For example, Rosa right after the house trap scene where it would leave an impact even after it was over.
You could say that it wouldn’t be realistic, but Selena gains a lot of weight in a short amount of time, and so do Zariel and others who aren’t even path characters. By comparison, Selena, Charlotte, and Zariel get huge in just a couple of hours of gameplay, while after ten hours, another character has only gotten moderately bigger. In the prologue, there was a one-month time skip used to introduce new weight stages, and that could have been done in Chapter 1 as well.
Essentially, I see the prologue as being about 80/20, with most of it focused on WG content, and that feels flipped for Chapter 1.
I also have a few nitpicks. I hope there could be a way to identify important choice moments for different paths. There are a lot of choices in the game, and most of them don’t have much impact, so I can imagine for it to feel tedious to retrace everything.
The combat is alright, though I think it would benefit from having a draw and discard pile. There are situations where you draw two healing cards you don’t need, and then they show up again on the next turn despite only having two of them. It would also be nice to have a better baseline card draw sometimes you only get two cards in a turn, and there’s barely anything you can do with that.
I hope Chapter 2 will be more focused on WG. I get that the story might be going for a slow-burn approach, but it can be kind of a slog for players who are more interested in that aspect. I’m making this comment because I see a lot of potential in the game it really blew me away with the prologue, and I hope this might influence the future.
Though I might be completely off my gourd here, and if it seems that I am, you can disregard this.
Last thing: I hope Charlotte makes a reappearance later in the story.
Viewing post in Expanding Universe: A Filling Journey comments
First of all: thank you so so much for this detailed review! It delivers me so much feedback that I didn't have before. In the future I will definitely be making adjustments to many of the things you pointed out!
Now onto your feedback and game experience.
You have pointed out a few things that combined might've resulted in a worse experience than intended - for which the fault is mine. Liora's route is probably the least focused on weight gain during this arc. There are three different routes in total in Chapter 1. Rosalind's, Liora's and Emilia's. Of the three Emilia's is the most significantly focused on weight gain. So if you have any will to try again, I recommend aiming to please Emilia! :D
As to opportunities for weight gain and how the choices work. I have built a system in which nearly all of your choices matter. Some of them raise a character's relationship status, others raise their weight points. If you gain enough weight points, then their sprite changes to a heavier one. And in case of the mansion scene, every dish you serve to Rosalind, raises her weight by 1. There were a few choices earlier too which combined will result in her weight gain. She even has a special scene before you go to the Ljosvaettir ruins if her weight did increase after the house trap!
I absolutely agree it could use some identification that a choice you made had an impact on the relationship or the weight. Initially I didn't intend on having THIS many choices in the game.
I will be definitely making adjustments to combat too. Thanks for the suggestions. It's totally doable and I think the correct thing to implement! I was also thinking on how to make the traditional draw mechanic more interactive so you can influence the cards you actually want on your hand. I thought for example each turn could begin with a look at your top 4-6 cards then you pick two that you actually want then reshuffle.
I think I could definitely play around with the intensity of weight gain in chapter 1 as well. And yes, chapter 2 will have significantly more weight gain content focus! Including Liora - if she joined your party permanently.
So thank you so much again for all of this feedback. It's an incredibly valuable thing to me!
And I hope my response gives you some reassurance about the future content of the game :D