I've started livetexting my reactions to games in the comments. This reaction ended up a little harsh because I was really excited for this one, and got disappointed by the high encounter rate real fast. You can see my state of mind devolve in real time -- here's literally what my thoughts were as I played:
- KEY REBINDING MY BELOVED
- Wee woo UNDERTALE? Jk jk jk
- No footsteps sounds, 0/7 Lol
- No ambient sounds or music at all, actually 🤔 Spookyyyy
- Oh this menu is cute thooooo!!!
- Music is banger
- I died immediately lol
- I died instantly again???
- Wait, magic is SO busted???
- So are CRITS? 5x damage!??!?! What emotion are you trying to evoke in this combat system with these numbers? Because I am currently feeling continuous disbelief lol
- I'm gonna die before I get to the next save point cuz I do not heal enough at this stage to survive the number of encounters you want me to face -- NEVERMIND, I do heal when I level up
- BRO YOUR ENCOUNTER RATE 💀💀💀 I know you said it was an accident, but this is legit egreious. Literally sobbing rn jk jk unless...
- I'm gonna die to this Blizzard cuz I have NO WAY TO HEAL
- I died.
Okay, random encounter systems like this are in video games to teach you have to manage your resources as you push further and further away from safety. But because there is no healing in this, there is no safety. So what are we even doing here with this design decision? Do we just have random encounters cuz "this is RPGmaker so I need them?" Please consider what you're actually designing when you make stuff. You don't have to just use every tool in your tool box cuz it exists.
I apologize that this is harsh. The art and music is good -- and so I really wanted to immerse myself in a game that matched that quality. But I didn't get to do so. Maybe the story was also cute. I wish I got to see it -- but I was too busy dying.
The entire time, I was extremely flummuxed by what the general vibe of this game was intended to be. Was it cozy? Was it quirky? Was it hardcore? Why did the mechanics interact with the aesthetics in the way that they did?
I imagine the reason the game is like this is 90% because of the production timeline -- and for that, I have empathy. I hope to see either this game get polished up or another game with a less hectic production schedule from you in the future, because it's clear that you have a passion for making things -- but this game in its current state is not to my taste, and I was very hopeful it would be.