'The Leveret Spirit' is a drama/romance story about the friendships and awkward situationships that folks get themselves into, especially in an online environment, where communication can be stilted and people have an ease of overthinking things. This is such a time capsule of the end of the era of the dominance of MMOs back at the start of the 2010s, the way that teenagers that were once able to spend their lives and friendships in this fantasy world, yet growing older and suddenly the endless time and energy isn't there and the game is not what it used to be. When it became so much of your identity, how does one move on from that, can they or should they? Are bonds forged in virtual worlds able to translate to the real world? And if not, why do the problems feel and hurt so real?
The story follows a friend group on the verge of their MMO game shutting down servers. Already max level, the crew only log on to be social and do the last bits of content that they can squeeze out of the game, like hunting rare drop mounts. As one of their last ways to spend time together, they find rumors of a hidden quest, one left unfinished and never fully released. After figuring out the trigger (which was to perform a homoerotic act in front of a statue in a deserted zone, no wonder it was just rumors), they start on this admittedly rough and tongue in cheek quest. During which is when all the drama comes out, when Root and Hugo are getting flirty with each other, and Mira the third friend is feeling like a third wheel. So much drama ensues from self-esteem issues, lack of communication, so much comparisons between who is the better friend, tiptoeing around trying not to hurt each other's feelings (so painfully relatable to folks who forged a lot of online friendships). They eventually have to walk it off and come back willing to be at fault to keep the friendship going, and it does. They finish the quest, and get their reward, of a nice buff and access to a secret hot spring to do RP stuff in. Of course, Root and Hugo eventually confess their feelings for each other, and life goes on.
The presentation is surprisingly high value. While I could talk about the stuff like the menu and the art, the thing that really stood out was the really good utilization of the text as a way to convey emotion and emphasis on certain words and phrases. The way that yellow text was used for in game messages, the highly emoticon style of speaking, the rainbow colors every time the word gay is used. Even in the beginning when it's just white text on a black void, the way the words would position themselves on the screen is just poetry. Plus, all the really good visual novel and video game gags, meant there's always a bit of humor and levity inserted into the scenes. Mira's character jumping off the cliff just to respawn, the dissolving for logging in and out of the game, the fight scenes, and even the ragdoll physics sex scene at the end (my favorite sex scene). Audio was really well done, lots of funny gags and use of ambient noise. The writing gets a pass because of the characters talking through 2010s MMO text boxes where it's okay to misspell words and make non-sequiturs. I think there may have been a few places where certain plot points or emotional beats were getting repetitious, but it didn't detract from the story.
The folklore aspect is interesting, because this is in a way a virtual folklore, the idea of a hidden quest in an MMO, but since it's so out of the way and provided so little reward, folks would only find it for the sake of finding it. Very MMO core, and I think it technically counts, though I guess I wish that a little bit more time was spent establishing the MMO world that the story takes place, as it assumes that the reader knows quite a bit about MMOs and their lingo. Jumping puzzles, grind quests, mount farming, starting areas, lowbies etc. Like, I understood a lot of the references because I too played a lot of WoW in 2010, but to some of the newer gen readers they might appreciate a bit more set up on what was the framework for the MMO. I thought it was a really creative entry, not only writing the story, but also making a somewhat believable fake quest for this fake MMO. Plus, I just love how you know how gay the characters based on how they dress their characters, just full on revealing outfits and nearly naked avatars. I thought it was interesting how we're left to infer a lot about the protagonist's real world appearance, but I think it worked to the effect the story was going for in how he only wanted to be viewed through the lens of the character he could be. I do also think it was super fun to add in all the referential humor, like the 150k Morenatsu fix-it-fic, the chula joke, the 'stare-at-the-camera' moments. It added a lot of levity to what could easily be a real downer of the story.
For a first time crew doing a visual novel, I think you hit it out of the park. I was engaged the whole time, and while I did get a little bit bogged down with some of the spiraling and melodrama in the middle, I thought it reached a satisfying emotional resolution. It's hard for me to find something 'lacking' in this visual novel. I think folks may have pointed out but don't forget to put some effort into your thumbnails and itch page. I think maybe the title of the story also doesn't do a lot to entice the reader into knowing what the story is about. They're a bit subjective, sure, and now I kind of get why it's called that, but also, while that's the name of he quest the characters are doing, it's not actually what the emotional arc of the story is about. What I'm trying to say, if the title is going to be called 'The Leveret Spirit', I would hope to find out what is a 'Leveret' and why it's 'Spirit' is so important. I'd suggest since you did so many custom sprites and backgrounds, to splurge at least for one CG to punctuate a really impactful scene. Otherwise, this is just a solid and really good project you made, I look forward to you guys tackling on more ambitious projects and trying out new things.