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(1 edit) (+3)

edit because it was 2 am and I didn't realize the thread was spoiler-free lol

Alright, it took me way longer than it should have for me to start reading this update and wow I so regret sleeping on it for so long.  Every new scene was a delightful read and it had my heart genuinely racing at times.

To cut it short: I didn't think you would go there with Kota, and you went there. Took me by surprise, props to that. In my first couple playthroughs he didn't particularly stand out to me among the other characters but right now he's really gone up on my list. I really like the way the narrative style adapts to the background and personality of each character and Kota was no exception! incorporating the haikus into the narration was lovely, specially as the poetry segments build up towards the end. Also, the way you take full advantage of the mythological setting to tell each character's story really shines here. Both the way their relationship is explored and the sheer, unrestrained romanticism in Kota's words and actions really feel like they could only come out of an ancient legend (very similar to Asterion in a way!).  

For the other stuff, I loved the way the sprites were handled in the last scene of Kota's route with him standing alone against everyone in the room. A masterpiece of ren'py cinematography, truly. And the Hinterlands skip dialogue was super fun too. The fourth wall break did not feel too out of place for P's character, and the way he talked about Storm just had me sobbing...

And all things considered, looks like Kota is out for the table for other relationships? maybe I was more right than I thought with my Luke/Khenbish theory... only time will tell...

I edited the thread just now to allow spoilers, so it's good.

You know, we got very worried about how people would respond to Kota's story. We mapped it out very early in development, before the first build came out. We fully expected Minotaur Hotel to be a small game in terms of reception, so we thought we could take the chance to comment on the very recurring motif of, shall we say, gods marrying inside their pantheon, and it was a chance to highlight just how gods aredifferent from mortals. It also connected to the hotel bringing in people who are lost, and it's a reprise of the MC's and Asterion's relationship — both are transgressive — while telling a story that, in its origins, has zero relation with the Greek gods. It rolled up many things into one dense storyline. Needless to say things changed a lot since, the game's audience got bigger than we ever imagined it'd become, so we were nervous about it, but  we didn't think changing the plans would work. Thankfully it all came together well in the end! I'm particularly proud of the longer haiku and the introspection of the nighttime scene, Nemo and Kangarube really did it and nanoff made it work perfectly well in-game.

And about the Hinterlands skip... When nanoff brought up the idea of making a skip I only needed a few minutes to think of what the writing could be like. Mind you, it's not a fourth wall break — he's talking to the MC there! It's all in-character.