I loved this game it had a lot of different routes that you could go and I'm still not done with the endings! However, unlike a lot of comments, I'm seeing I actually think Izumi is more toxic than Souma, and tbh not as good of a route as Souma.
Izumi seems really nice and caring but as soon as Yuki kisses Souma at his house, he immediately turns on him and demolishes his business. I understand Yuki hurt him but Yuki still worked hard on his business and didn't deserve it to be taken away just for not returning Izumi's feelings. It came off as an abuse of power to me. Souma is abrasive at first sure but he doesn't do anything to hurt Yuki. He helps out at the shop during Izumi's absence, works in the garden every day, and makes sure Yuki is ok even if you choose to be with Izumi over him. He even encourages you to move on even if it hurts him. Plus Souma has piercings.
Ok so it was really good but I struggled for a long time to get the Souma route.
Here are my tips for anyone trying to get a good ending for Souma
The first one is that you have to invite him to your bday party and then wish for him to be nice to you when given the choice.
Another choice in the game will be in the garden where he talks about how he's not hot. You will be given three choices: Choose the one which says leave him be: then choose primrose flowers.
Idk if this tip counts but I made Yuki boop his nose and I got to the good ending so.
These sound really minor but they actually change the whole course of the story. Every time I did every other choice the same but these two I would stab the president.
Okay but- is there a guide for the endings lol, the game looks intriguing and id love to fully play it but im not big on bad endings, they just arent really my cup of tea. But i cant find a guide anywhere?
If you like modern settings and a bunch of humour in between the dramatic/serious plot, I think you’ll like this game!
The (main-)characters are multi-dimensional and the author makes great use of different expressions of their sprites to match whatever is going on at the time. The writing is well done and engaging.
The two love interests differ well from each other and bring an interesting and changing dynamic to the game.
Also, as a personal recommendation; Play Izumi’s route first for extra heart-break feels when you later on go pine for Souma (´v`).
Your writing really sold it! I don’t remember ever being bored while reading, even when you described their workday – just prior to Flour Hour, I read a VN that was about the MC’s workplace as well, and… yeah, it wasn’t bad, but often dragged on and didn’t really captivate me as you did.
Things like Yuki's humming when specifically frying garlic made me go "aww". It's really nice to see even small things like this or choices I made come up or being referred to again. That really feels like cohesive writing, instead of just random cute moments being strewn in between or choices I only make for the sake of getting points towards a character’s route.
Speaking of choices, it was also nice that you had the chance to pick a third/neutral option several times. It wasn’t always just a stiff choice between one or the other guy. Pretty much all choices also felt very organic to me and fitting to Yuki’s character. It felt nice to see him become bolder towards the end of the game (at least I perceived it as such) and mature along with the story, to be able to stand up for himself.
The small switches in perspective were also neat and short, just to give the reader some insight. Overall, I also think that the pacing was completely on point.
The humour despite all the drama going on was nice and felt mostly natural – and had me laughing a bunch of times. Just Mei’s birthday plans kinda came out of the blue, but I can see that just being part of her character really.
Also. Nyah! (The achievements were a nice touch)
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Art
I’m glad, that the sprites of the three main characters had the same style (and I do like the art and especially all the different, often subtle, expressions). The rest was a bit of a culture shock compared to the main cast, though especially Rei and Mei looked still rather fitting. The only one that jumped right at me, was grandma’s sprite - maybe that’s also because she was pretty huge on the screen (^^’). It was a great touch that you made use of animated emotes for the side characters, though!
The art overall was still very nice to look at, even though the backgrounds had some heavy style-differences and the CGs broke style as well – but they were cute (´v´). As a personal nit-pick though; I didn’t really like Izumi’s blush being so... extreme? He looked like he just had the heatstroke of the century or slammed face-first into a door – Yuki’s and Souma’s blushes were a lot more natural and nicer to look at.
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The Routes
I liked both, honestly. They felt quite different to me, because you wrote the characters well in my opinion – even if they might’ve initially seemed like common tropes, their personalities gained more depth the further I read. The first time I ended up on the neutral (bad) path, when I behaved naturally (aka, here and there be reasonable polite to Souma, but overall preferring Izumi) and had to figure out how to end up on the path I wanted.
I did not experiment too much with it, but it felt like you had to stick nearly 100% to one guy from the start to really get to their (good) endings respectively. That’s something I kind of dislike personally, as I want to make my own choices instead of being forced to sidle up to a character right from the start (especially since you might usually not even really know who you want to end up with when you play it for the first time … and Souma is a bit of an angry, not very likeable, furball to work with in the beginning). However, that is a minor complaint and also it was pretty easy to figure out the correct choices, honestly. So, no sweat there to actually get to the route wanted.
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Izumi
The reason why I picked Izumi’s path first actually, was because I skimmed through the comments before playing and someone mentioned that it ruined Izumi’s path somewhat for them, after seeing his nasty side in Souma’s. I gotta say, I am really glad that I played Izumi’s route first, because knowing what is actually going on in Souma’s route when Izumi keeps vaguely mentioning family problems or helps Yuki secretly was just heart-breaking.
Funnily enough, I was somewhat hoping for Izumi to go full yandere at some point (I just love fictional psychos, sorry lol) since he did have the potential to be quite manipulative, (in theory) if Yuki would stay too neutral, but still ended up on Izumi’s route somewhat – sadly, Yuki lost his marbles and just knifed the prez instead. But that was nice in its own right really. Old man had it coming.
Moving on in the end felt like Yuki maturing and letting go of someone else’s dreams to pursue his own and Izumi finally being free of his own shackles for real, so it felt really satisfying. Also, I liked as well that it wasn’t your “classical” ending, where the “heroes” succeed with the initial goal they had set, but rather evolve along with the story.
I’m not sure how to feel about Izumi’s grandfather trying to patch up things after all the quite terrible stuff that guy pulled… but since it’s been a few years, I can appreciate the sentiment, that even an old man stuck in his own negative mind would want to try and reconnect with his grandson again – eventually.
Regarding Izumi’s personality – how can one not love the guy, despite his lies (T_T)! The sheer amount of work he put in to help Yuki was just so heart-warming and admirable, I can’t even. He felt so genuine and star-struck with Yuki. While it could be a bit off-putting, that he was so incredibly defensive towards Souma… I mean, it makes sense – and Souma really didn’t make it easy, especially at the beginning.
Izumi going hysteric in the bad ends is a bit… yeah, leaves a bad taste. But I think that is intended? He only reacts like that when Yuki basically lies to him, despite the things Izumi has done for him, though, and he’s also a bit more openly emotional than a certain pink haired dude. So, I guess it’s understandable that he flips his sh*t, though it’s a complete 180 without much forewarning.
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Souma
Well, wasn’t he difficult to work with at the start! If I hadn’t tried to get on his route intentionally, I think I would’ve only ended up there initially, cause I’m too nice. I really like that he isn’t just purely a mean guy though, whom Yuki hopelessly pursues – you can sort of tell rather soon, that Souma does care about Yuki and the situation he’s in… but is utterly terrible at wording it and not letting his emotions and frustration get to him. The way he just barges into the shop and picks up the garden work though demonstrates, that he’s sort of better at showing rather than telling.
It's good that Souma comes around on his own (Well, depending on it if Yuki hears him out or not) and admits his faults, owns up to it and really does change his attitude afterwards. The little sweet gestures always made me melt too – Souma towards the end just became more and more of a complete sweet dork (´v`).
In regards to the ending; While Yuki goes to study later on, I’m not sure anymore what happens with the store? It sounded like he kept it at first. So that felt a bit off (only compared to Izumi’s Route, where they yeet the shop immediately), especially since Souma was the one so passionate about Yuki pursuing his own dream.
One thing I guess I would’ve ideally liked, is a possibility in Souma’s route to still stay in contact with Izumi though, after he had done so much to help Yuki out. Made it feel extra sad, that he just sort of faded away with Yuki never really knowing the truth. Then again, I like tragic stuff in fictions, so oh well.
- - - - -
So.. uh .. I ended up writing two pages in Word for the review. I’m sorta sorry for the long wall of text like that, but I mean what I said – I really enjoyed it!
Thank you for putting in the work and making this a very enjoyable Visual Novel to play!
I think I’ll go check out some more of your stuff down the line~
I really enjoyed playing through this bc I really enjoyed the characters and it was easy to care about them right off the bat.
spoilers: I was very underwhelmed by Souma's route honestly, and playing it first kind of ruined my desire to do Izumi's route after learning his identity. His pettiness from Souma's (bad??) ending also just really made my opinion of him sour... I really wish there felt like more of an actual choice as to who could be the true ending but I still ended up completing and enjoying Izumi's route. And for only needing to sink a few hours in, it was really good! The art was solid (especially the sprites/expressions) and the soundtrack was simple but used effectively.
I found the opening segment with Yuki's dream really relatable and intriguing with how it implied he was too scared/anxious to actually voice his concerns with his loved ones but I so wish it was expanded on a liiiiittle more. Also Mei and Rei are totally together in my heart uwu
tldr: really great and short and sweet! Good, likable characters and compelling plot. Recommended!!
Great characters and story! I liked Izumi more but it was easier to get on Souma's route :') . Also I'm just gonna talk about spoilers now.
I think the ideal ending would be with Souma since you still get to keep the shop. But who knows, maybe Izumi's grandpa will give back the shop after they've fully made amendments :/
It was such a struggle figuring out how to stop Yuki from stabbing an old man. If there isn't a guide, I wouldn't mind making one, although it'll be like the second guide I've ever made 0-0
got all the achievements (took a long, frustrating time though.) the storylines and endings are great!! kudos to the devs who made this game a great success :D u guys did great :D
I really loved this! It was very cute. I didn't like Souma at first but he really grew on me and his route was so sweet. :) Great characters! The story was interesting and well written too.
Didn't finish. Souma isn't just "grumpy". He gives the MC traumatic sounding flashbacks/makes him feel ill with his presence, he yells at the MC a lot, he physically drags the MC places against his will (This is only in the beginning of the story and does taper off in Izumi's route but I can't speak for Souma's route) Izumi's route is cute and wholesome.
I edited this because I said Souma comes across like an abuser. I did not do his route, and I still think he is terrible in the beginning. The way the MC reacts to Souma is what makes me think they had a toxic relationship. I won't say he is abusive in the story as far as I played, but the way the MC acts around him makes it seem like maybe he was. The MC has nightmares about him where he wakes in a panic, feels physically weak/drained when he sees him, flinches from his grasp and can barely look at him... Not to mention the moments where the MC says he thinks Souma looks like he's going to grab him by the collar and yell in his face, or when Souma calls the MC a coward because the MC walks away from him because he feels uncomfortable to the point he can't bear talk to him, or when Souma vaguely says "you know how I get sometimes" when referring to his anger issues, or when Souma just baselessly insults the MC and tears him down even though he can tell the MC is struggling...
Most of the glaring issues with Souma are in the beginning of the story with a few places that just need clarification later on (clarifying anger issues). Souma's set-up as a "nice guy who has anger issues" is just too strong in the "anger issues" department. A good example of making someone "too mean" is in the movie Shazam where the "school bullies" hit a kid on crutches with their car and then just start beating him up. That is not "bullying" that is a second possibly first degree felony. Bullying is wrong and harmful, yes, but attempted murder is a different level. I get that "anger issues" is vague enough to encompass many things, but Souma is still supposed to be a sympathetic character. So, the "anger issues" can't be so severe that they make him unsympathetic or a bad relationship choice for the MC.
Later in the story, Souma does appear sympathetic through his interactions with the side characters and his behavior, but this is overshadowed by his initial build up. He is fine to be frustrated or angry, but the instant he starts physically dragging the MC places and yelling insults it is over the line. The fact that they haven't spoke in 2 years and still have this terrible feeling between them that makes the MC feel ill and have night terrors is really off putting.
I feel strongly about this, because this is a common thing in dating games. I'm afraid that it encourages the thought that guys who are giving bad vibes and bad signals are secretly really nice. So, even though they yell at you and physically drag you places against your will and belittle and insult you, they are actually really caring and just misunderstood. In reality, they might be nice guys who have emotional problems that they can't deal with on their own but aren't seeking out help for (so they take it out on others). Or, even worse, they aren't nice guys at all and have issues and will abuse their partners (emotionally, physically, verbally, etc). I get that the MC knew Souma from childhood, but it has been years since they last spoke. And, at face value to the player, he is setting off red flags of being someone who is unstable and looking to get back with someone he could push around. The thought of "I'm yelling at you and doing all these things that hurt you because I care" is also dangerous.
It's in Yuki's nature to be passive about things and overthink to the point it makes him uncomfortable. And Souma's to go behind what he thinks is right blindly.
That being said, I'm not sure what parts make him come across as an outright abuser, so I'm sorry you felt that way. Will try to do better in the future when I tackle such characters!
Thank you for replying. I edited my review to go into more detail and explain my thoughts better. And I finished Izumi's route to get a better perspective. I did find myself laughing at points and think it is overall cute. With tweaks, I think Souma would be fine.
No. Thank you for going into more detail! Will definitely keep these things in mind going forward and in a way from the player's perspective and what they see with little to no solid information about their previous relationship I can understand how it could raise major red flags! The intent was for things to mellow down on his route but if people are really turned away from said route it becomes a little counter productive. Sadly I don't think I can overhaul Souma and what he is at this point but I really appreciate the constructive criticism! ^^
I didn't mean that you should go back to change him :) I just felt like I should clarify that he is mostly a good character. Some characters are just terrible all around, but I don't think this is the case with Souma. Overall, he is likeable and well written but suffers from a few bad interactions. I do look forward to what your team makes on the future! And, thank you for replying. It makes me feel like what I'm saying matters at least a little :)
Oh god I really like this gam but got so frustrated when I keep stabbing the president because I didn't get a good ending. After experimenting and reading th comments, I have to say I officially completed the Souma route.
At first I wasn't interested in getting back together with my ex because , ya' know , who would want to get back with someone who hurt you.Despite that, after playing the Souma route, I can say that I really liked it. Might replay someday with the Izumi route.
Also I don't know why I feel this sene of accomplishment when I stabbed the president (Q.Q)
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this game is so cute...had to go for souma bc i love bad boys
Somehow the first ending I got was the one where you murder the old man who owns Moon Corp... I don't know how to feel about that.
I think that's the most common one I got it several times lol
Please someone tell me there’s a good ending for Souma’s route and tell me how to get it if there is one
lol nevermind I just got it but if anyone wants it I can help
I loved this game it had a lot of different routes that you could go and I'm still not done with the endings! However, unlike a lot of comments, I'm seeing I actually think Izumi is more toxic than Souma, and tbh not as good of a route as Souma.
Izumi seems really nice and caring but as soon as Yuki kisses Souma at his house, he immediately turns on him and demolishes his business. I understand Yuki hurt him but Yuki still worked hard on his business and didn't deserve it to be taken away just for not returning Izumi's feelings. It came off as an abuse of power to me. Souma is abrasive at first sure but he doesn't do anything to hurt Yuki. He helps out at the shop during Izumi's absence, works in the garden every day, and makes sure Yuki is ok even if you choose to be with Izumi over him. He even encourages you to move on even if it hurts him. Plus Souma has piercings.
Ok so it was really good but I struggled for a long time to get the Souma route.
Here are my tips for anyone trying to get a good ending for Souma
The first one is that you have to invite him to your bday party and then wish for him to be nice to you when given the choice.
Another choice in the game will be in the garden where he talks about how he's not hot. You will be given three choices: Choose the one which says leave him be: then choose primrose flowers.
Idk if this tip counts but I made Yuki boop his nose and I got to the good ending so.
These sound really minor but they actually change the whole course of the story. Every time I did every other choice the same but these two I would stab the president.
i need a walk through for ending 7. i cant figure it out
Okay but- is there a guide for the endings lol, the game looks intriguing and id love to fully play it but im not big on bad endings, they just arent really my cup of tea. But i cant find a guide anywhere?
I can give you tips on one route
How long is the game play?
TL;DR, because I wrote half a book;
If you like modern settings and a bunch of humour in between the dramatic/serious plot, I think you’ll like this game!
The (main-)characters are multi-dimensional and the author makes great use of different expressions of their sprites to match whatever is going on at the time. The writing is well done and engaging.
The two love interests differ well from each other and bring an interesting and changing dynamic to the game.
Also, as a personal recommendation; Play Izumi’s route first for extra heart-break feels when you later on go pine for Souma (´v`).
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Warning: Everything below is very detailed and contains spoilers!
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Writing
Your writing really sold it! I don’t remember ever being bored while reading, even when you described their workday – just prior to Flour Hour, I read a VN that was about the MC’s workplace as well, and… yeah, it wasn’t bad, but often dragged on and didn’t really captivate me as you did.
Things like Yuki's humming when specifically frying garlic made me go "aww". It's really nice to see even small things like this or choices I made come up or being referred to again. That really feels like cohesive writing, instead of just random cute moments being strewn in between or choices I only make for the sake of getting points towards a character’s route.
Speaking of choices, it was also nice that you had the chance to pick a third/neutral option several times. It wasn’t always just a stiff choice between one or the other guy. Pretty much all choices also felt very organic to me and fitting to Yuki’s character. It felt nice to see him become bolder towards the end of the game (at least I perceived it as such) and mature along with the story, to be able to stand up for himself.
The small switches in perspective were also neat and short, just to give the reader some insight. Overall, I also think that the pacing was completely on point.
The humour despite all the drama going on was nice and felt mostly natural – and had me laughing a bunch of times. Just Mei’s birthday plans kinda came out of the blue, but I can see that just being part of her character really.
Also. Nyah! (The achievements were a nice touch)
- - - - -
Art
I’m glad, that the sprites of the three main characters had the same style (and I do like the art and especially all the different, often subtle, expressions). The rest was a bit of a culture shock compared to the main cast, though especially Rei and Mei looked still rather fitting. The only one that jumped right at me, was grandma’s sprite - maybe that’s also because she was pretty huge on the screen (^^’). It was a great touch that you made use of animated emotes for the side characters, though!
The art overall was still very nice to look at, even though the backgrounds had some heavy style-differences and the CGs broke style as well – but they were cute (´v´). As a personal nit-pick though; I didn’t really like Izumi’s blush being so... extreme? He looked like he just had the heatstroke of the century or slammed face-first into a door – Yuki’s and Souma’s blushes were a lot more natural and nicer to look at.
- - - - -
The Routes
I liked both, honestly. They felt quite different to me, because you wrote the characters well in my opinion – even if they might’ve initially seemed like common tropes, their personalities gained more depth the further I read. The first time I ended up on the neutral (bad) path, when I behaved naturally (aka, here and there be reasonable polite to Souma, but overall preferring Izumi) and had to figure out how to end up on the path I wanted.
I did not experiment too much with it, but it felt like you had to stick nearly 100% to one guy from the start to really get to their (good) endings respectively. That’s something I kind of dislike personally, as I want to make my own choices instead of being forced to sidle up to a character right from the start (especially since you might usually not even really know who you want to end up with when you play it for the first time … and Souma is a bit of an angry, not very likeable, furball to work with in the beginning). However, that is a minor complaint and also it was pretty easy to figure out the correct choices, honestly. So, no sweat there to actually get to the route wanted.
- - - - -
Izumi
The reason why I picked Izumi’s path first actually, was because I skimmed through the comments before playing and someone mentioned that it ruined Izumi’s path somewhat for them, after seeing his nasty side in Souma’s. I gotta say, I am really glad that I played Izumi’s route first, because knowing what is actually going on in Souma’s route when Izumi keeps vaguely mentioning family problems or helps Yuki secretly was just heart-breaking.
Funnily enough, I was somewhat hoping for Izumi to go full yandere at some point (I just love fictional psychos, sorry lol) since he did have the potential to be quite manipulative, (in theory) if Yuki would stay too neutral, but still ended up on Izumi’s route somewhat – sadly, Yuki lost his marbles and just knifed the prez instead. But that was nice in its own right really. Old man had it coming.
Moving on in the end felt like Yuki maturing and letting go of someone else’s dreams to pursue his own and Izumi finally being free of his own shackles for real, so it felt really satisfying. Also, I liked as well that it wasn’t your “classical” ending, where the “heroes” succeed with the initial goal they had set, but rather evolve along with the story.
I’m not sure how to feel about Izumi’s grandfather trying to patch up things after all the quite terrible stuff that guy pulled… but since it’s been a few years, I can appreciate the sentiment, that even an old man stuck in his own negative mind would want to try and reconnect with his grandson again – eventually.
Regarding Izumi’s personality – how can one not love the guy, despite his lies (T_T)! The sheer amount of work he put in to help Yuki was just so heart-warming and admirable, I can’t even. He felt so genuine and star-struck with Yuki. While it could be a bit off-putting, that he was so incredibly defensive towards Souma… I mean, it makes sense – and Souma really didn’t make it easy, especially at the beginning.
Izumi going hysteric in the bad ends is a bit… yeah, leaves a bad taste. But I think that is intended? He only reacts like that when Yuki basically lies to him, despite the things Izumi has done for him, though, and he’s also a bit more openly emotional than a certain pink haired dude. So, I guess it’s understandable that he flips his sh*t, though it’s a complete 180 without much forewarning.
- - - - -
Souma
Well, wasn’t he difficult to work with at the start! If I hadn’t tried to get on his route intentionally, I think I would’ve only ended up there initially, cause I’m too nice. I really like that he isn’t just purely a mean guy though, whom Yuki hopelessly pursues – you can sort of tell rather soon, that Souma does care about Yuki and the situation he’s in… but is utterly terrible at wording it and not letting his emotions and frustration get to him. The way he just barges into the shop and picks up the garden work though demonstrates, that he’s sort of better at showing rather than telling.
It's good that Souma comes around on his own (Well, depending on it if Yuki hears him out or not) and admits his faults, owns up to it and really does change his attitude afterwards. The little sweet gestures always made me melt too – Souma towards the end just became more and more of a complete sweet dork (´v`).
In regards to the ending; While Yuki goes to study later on, I’m not sure anymore what happens with the store? It sounded like he kept it at first. So that felt a bit off (only compared to Izumi’s Route, where they yeet the shop immediately), especially since Souma was the one so passionate about Yuki pursuing his own dream.
One thing I guess I would’ve ideally liked, is a possibility in Souma’s route to still stay in contact with Izumi though, after he had done so much to help Yuki out. Made it feel extra sad, that he just sort of faded away with Yuki never really knowing the truth. Then again, I like tragic stuff in fictions, so oh well.
- - - - -
So.. uh .. I ended up writing two pages in Word for the review. I’m sorta sorry for the long wall of text like that, but I mean what I said – I really enjoyed it!
Thank you for putting in the work and making this a very enjoyable Visual Novel to play!
I think I’ll go check out some more of your stuff down the line~
I really enjoyed playing through this bc I really enjoyed the characters and it was easy to care about them right off the bat.
spoilers: I was very underwhelmed by Souma's route honestly, and playing it first kind of ruined my desire to do Izumi's route after learning his identity. His pettiness from Souma's (bad??) ending also just really made my opinion of him sour... I really wish there felt like more of an actual choice as to who could be the true ending but I still ended up completing and enjoying Izumi's route. And for only needing to sink a few hours in, it was really good! The art was solid (especially the sprites/expressions) and the soundtrack was simple but used effectively.
I found the opening segment with Yuki's dream really relatable and intriguing with how it implied he was too scared/anxious to actually voice his concerns with his loved ones but I so wish it was expanded on a liiiiittle more. Also Mei and Rei are totally together in my heart uwu
tldr: really great and short and sweet! Good, likable characters and compelling plot. Recommended!!
Great characters and story! I liked Izumi more but it was easier to get on Souma's route :') . Also I'm just gonna talk about spoilers now.
I think the ideal ending would be with Souma since you still get to keep the shop. But who knows, maybe Izumi's grandpa will give back the shop after they've fully made amendments :/
It was such a struggle figuring out how to stop Yuki from stabbing an old man. If there isn't a guide, I wouldn't mind making one, although it'll be like the second guide I've ever made 0-0
Can you please make android version please i really wanna play it
Just finished my first playthrough last night, now I gotta start over and get the other achievements 😁
got all the achievements (took a long, frustrating time though.) the storylines and endings are great!! kudos to the devs who made this game a great success :D u guys did great :D
I really loved this! It was very cute. I didn't like Souma at first but he really grew on me and his route was so sweet. :)
Great characters! The story was interesting and well written too.
Thanks for playing and taking the time to leave a line!
I'm glad you weren't completely put off too much by Souma and were able to like him atleast towards the end. (≧▽≦)
Do you know if anyone has done a walkthrough yet? to help with unlocking the other achievements??
I finally got the route I want!!! This was amazing work!!! Thank you for all the hard work
Haha cheers! ❤️
Thanks for playing and taking the time to leave a line :')
Didn't finish. Souma isn't just "grumpy". He gives the MC traumatic sounding flashbacks/makes him feel ill with his presence, he yells at the MC a lot, he physically drags the MC places against his will (This is only in the beginning of the story and does taper off in Izumi's route but I can't speak for Souma's route) Izumi's route is cute and wholesome.
I edited this because I said Souma comes across like an abuser. I did not do his route, and I still think he is terrible in the beginning. The way the MC reacts to Souma is what makes me think they had a toxic relationship. I won't say he is abusive in the story as far as I played, but the way the MC acts around him makes it seem like maybe he was. The MC has nightmares about him where he wakes in a panic, feels physically weak/drained when he sees him, flinches from his grasp and can barely look at him... Not to mention the moments where the MC says he thinks Souma looks like he's going to grab him by the collar and yell in his face, or when Souma calls the MC a coward because the MC walks away from him because he feels uncomfortable to the point he can't bear talk to him, or when Souma vaguely says "you know how I get sometimes" when referring to his anger issues, or when Souma just baselessly insults the MC and tears him down even though he can tell the MC is struggling...
Most of the glaring issues with Souma are in the beginning of the story with a few places that just need clarification later on (clarifying anger issues). Souma's set-up as a "nice guy who has anger issues" is just too strong in the "anger issues" department. A good example of making someone "too mean" is in the movie Shazam where the "school bullies" hit a kid on crutches with their car and then just start beating him up. That is not "bullying" that is a second possibly first degree felony. Bullying is wrong and harmful, yes, but attempted murder is a different level. I get that "anger issues" is vague enough to encompass many things, but Souma is still supposed to be a sympathetic character. So, the "anger issues" can't be so severe that they make him unsympathetic or a bad relationship choice for the MC.
Later in the story, Souma does appear sympathetic through his interactions with the side characters and his behavior, but this is overshadowed by his initial build up. He is fine to be frustrated or angry, but the instant he starts physically dragging the MC places and yelling insults it is over the line. The fact that they haven't spoke in 2 years and still have this terrible feeling between them that makes the MC feel ill and have night terrors is really off putting.
I feel strongly about this, because this is a common thing in dating games. I'm afraid that it encourages the thought that guys who are giving bad vibes and bad signals are secretly really nice. So, even though they yell at you and physically drag you places against your will and belittle and insult you, they are actually really caring and just misunderstood. In reality, they might be nice guys who have emotional problems that they can't deal with on their own but aren't seeking out help for (so they take it out on others). Or, even worse, they aren't nice guys at all and have issues and will abuse their partners (emotionally, physically, verbally, etc). I get that the MC knew Souma from childhood, but it has been years since they last spoke. And, at face value to the player, he is setting off red flags of being someone who is unstable and looking to get back with someone he could push around. The thought of "I'm yelling at you and doing all these things that hurt you because I care" is also dangerous.
It's in Yuki's nature to be passive about things and overthink to the point it makes him uncomfortable. And Souma's to go behind what he thinks is right blindly.
That being said, I'm not sure what parts make him come across as an outright abuser, so I'm sorry you felt that way. Will try to do better in the future when I tackle such characters!
Thank you for replying. I edited my review to go into more detail and explain my thoughts better. And I finished Izumi's route to get a better perspective. I did find myself laughing at points and think it is overall cute. With tweaks, I think Souma would be fine.
No. Thank you for going into more detail! Will definitely keep these things in mind going forward and in a way from the player's perspective and what they see with little to no solid information about their previous relationship I can understand how it could raise major red flags! The intent was for things to mellow down on his route but if people are really turned away from said route it becomes a little counter productive. Sadly I don't think I can overhaul Souma and what he is at this point but I really appreciate the constructive criticism! ^^
I didn't mean that you should go back to change him :) I just felt like I should clarify that he is mostly a good character. Some characters are just terrible all around, but I don't think this is the case with Souma. Overall, he is likeable and well written but suffers from a few bad interactions. I do look forward to what your team makes on the future! And, thank you for replying. It makes me feel like what I'm saying matters at least a little :)
I'm having trouble getting achievement 8. I've played so many times but can't get ittt please help 😭
choose all the souma route options till he comes over on ur birthday and then ask him to leave
Oh god I really like this gam but got so frustrated when I keep stabbing the president because I didn't get a good ending. After experimenting and reading th comments, I have to say I officially completed the Souma route.
At first I wasn't interested in getting back together with my ex because , ya' know , who would want to get back with someone who hurt you.Despite that, after playing the Souma route, I can say that I really liked it. Might replay someday with the Izumi route.
Also I don't know why I feel this sene of accomplishment when I stabbed the president (Q.Q)