Took more time than I thought since I was busy, but I’m done with the demo! Well, I did try only one background, but I usually stick with one choice forever in things like that, so yeah, that’s fine. Well, I’ll answer your questions now!
1. What did you think overall?
I really loved the game a lot. I’m brimming with happiness that it has the same setting as Arena Circus – I like playing more than one game in the same setting so I can discover more aspects of the world. Very excited about the newly introduced species too, and happy that I can choose which one to play.
2. Which character are you most excited about romancing?
This is a surprise even for me but… all of them? It doesn’t happen often, but I love the three of them a lot. Rafael is my type – I like awkward characters like him a lot. Braums is very cute and I’m overall curious about him. And Paris… well, this is the biggest mystery as I usually hate childhood friend romances (except if the friendship has gone awry and it’s also about reconstructing it, which isn’t the case here) and I usually hate that kind of flirty characters… and yet, I still like him a lot, and I love how he and Ash interact. Maybe it’s the fact Ash is so unaffected by his shameless flirting XD
3. Did you find any bugs/typos?
I’ve spotted one thing that strikes me as awkward – on the species selection screen, if you pick a cubi, the backstory says “Ash was abandoned in Belldale when they were an orphan (…)” – didn’t you want to say that they are an orphan, abandoned it Belldale when they were a child or something like that? Maybe it’s just me…
4. What would you like to see most in the full game?
Hard to tell, honestly. I don’t really know what to expect from the game – it’s pretty mysterious as of now – I have a hard time predicting how the adventure would flow. I guess I may like to see bad ending styled game overs. I mean, the main characters are doing something obviously dangerous with no prior experience because they don’t know better. Things can go in a bad direction very quickly, and I like to see the consequences of bad choices in games. Seeing some heartbreaking bad endings or game overs makes the good endings even better – it’s like, you see the good outcome after seeing how bad things may have unfolded. It makes them taste even better.
5. Other comments or suggestions?
As I said before, I really like the fact you’re able to choose the gender and species of the main character, and how it affects the story. Of course, since I’ve played with only one main character, I don’t know the exact differences, but I’ve seen lot of dialogue exclusive to the species I’ve chosen – the shika. I must add I love the shika – they’re beautiful and so interesting – I’m genuinely interested in knowing more about the species as a whole, and playing Ash as a shika is a good way I think.
As for not so good things, I’m somewhat confused by the choice system, to be honest. I hated the bakery choice for example – I was outright confused as of wtf are these choices I don’t understand it haha. I mean, unless you’ve seen this specific food presented in this specific way, you won’t know what is it. It would work if Ash was clueless about it too, and if you choose blindly only by the looks of it, but they seemed to know what said food was. I had to pick every one of them, see what Ash says about what it is, and then go back to my choice and so on, and only after that pick my actual answer. Not having at least the name of the product was a bit of a hassle, honestly. The “regular” choice icons confuse me too, but somehow I managed.
A question now! Since the game seems to have the same setting as Arena Circus, I’m curious… where are the humans? It may be a coincidence, but I didn’t see any human in the descriptions all along – all the characters I’ve met were described as cubi, shika or reaver. Obviously, if it’s something important and a spoiler, don’t feel like you must answer me XD
Also, will you actually get to choose the routes you’ll travel? Braums asked Ash to choose the safest route, and I’m wondering if the players will actually be able to choose the path they’ll travel, which would determine what will be happening during their time on the roads.
Oh yeah, and last one, is this a free game? Just want to know if I have to prepare some spare money haha! I mean, it says it's free, but Arena Circus is free and yet you can pay for bonus content.
Anyway, except for the choice system I’ve really liked the demo! Can’t wait to play the full version!