itch.io

Oh man, I wasn't expecting a reply back. 

By hollow, I mainly mean that nothing seems to be added by any of the interactions the MC has. Given, I haven't played through the whole vn yet, and I'm mostly speaking about the first thirty minutes to hour of gameplay. On the bus, the MC gives a whole exposition about his first noticing of Mikko in vivid detail, even though in a previous sentence, he remarks he "came to Norway to cut myself from it, not to keep thinking about it." The MC basically tells and doesn't show the audience that there is something troubling Mikko, and further interactions on the bus and at the lunch table don't provide much insight into that plot point- just his shyness which we already garnered from the MC's memories. 

Furthermore, the interaction with Lake in the hallway is a little weird. Weird in the sense that the MC describes him as 'timid but intense', but reading his dialogue doesn't hint at any intensity. I'm not sure if this was sarcasm on the MC's part, but it just kinda left me confused. The interaction didn't hint at anything wrong, yet the MC reports that he looked 'taken aback', without any physical or other descriptors. 

I feel like if the introduction to these characters weren't as heavily put into flashbacks, the interactions with the MC would feel more weighty because we would be shown the characters and not told. I'm noticing a trend in that a lot of the character's quirks or personality traits are just told to us and not expressed through dialogue or descriptions. The characters have their own wants and needs, like Mikko being shy and with something bothering him, or Lake with withholding a question, but the MC doesn't seem to want anything other than cute boys. Which, given by how goddamn cute they are is definitely a worthy goal. I really like Lake.

Thanks for being open to criticism, I really respect that you are willing to listen to feedback. Thanks again.