So, yet again assymetrical progress that ignores the girls that already haven't gotten any attention in ages... Lovely.
It's quite ridiculous. The first five girls you meet after prim have no content of their own.
I'm not going to get hyped for new characters if they just end up as unused husks with zero interaction, either.
The game focuses on the 7 main characters: Prim, Maxy, Mary, Charlotte, Layla, Yui, and Sasha. These characters will always get new content as they are all important to advancing the main story.
There will be side characters you can choose to interact with that support the main characters or main story as is the case with Gia with Layla’s or Kaede and Shizuka with Yui.
They won’t have content as often because they are not main characters but the game is still ongoing so they will get some when the story is caught up for it.
The problem is not that the main characters have focus, it's the complete neglect of the others. They don't have any interactive content at all. Nothing, null, nada, niente. They are no more than zombies, and that reflects back on the game's general tone.
If you don't see how introducing characters at the beginning of the game and then leaving them as non-interactive husks for a large part of the story (all of it so far) is a major issue with presentation and expectation management, well, then I don't know what to tell you.
Many side characters has some sort of content right now with some interactions when looking at social profile list: Gia, Liz, Clara, Kaede, Shizuka, and Sophia. Sarah, Bonnie, and Luna were mentioned in some content in this report.
All the characters you can at least interact with and talk to. The only exception is Felicia as she only appears during story events at the moment.
The point of introducing them is to tell the story. Every single character has at least appeared in another character’s story like Kendra and Helena in Sasha’s story or silver, Iris, and Sarah in Prim’s story.
The are all important in some way in telling the story of Argleton as they help the individual main girls stories like how Iris is Prim’s cousin or how Clara helped Yui.
I am not the dev but the game is ongoing and reading the progress reports explain how these things work
Dude. The first girls you meet after prim are Helena, Celestine, and Daisy. And none of them have their own content. Why do you keep derailing and explaining unrelated things I already know?
All of your points only confirm mine: The very first characters have no content, while side characters that were introduced much later are getting attention.
Clara is also a really bad example. She has advanced content unlocked before her main content is available. So you have "no intention to get to know her", but are financing her business and having kinky potion play. Where's the continuity?
And don't get me started on Liz. That last conversation where she just straight up tells you she believes in a lie is so unnatural and illogical. You can't believe a lie and also perceive it as one. But that's a whole different can of worms.
Maybe, instead of doing damage control and trying to distract from undeniable issues, you could just accept valid criticism as it is. Trying to bury these obvious flaws under word salad is doing the game more harm than me pointing them out.
Because I’ve already explained it to you and you won’t listen. If you want to be technical Maxy is the first character you meet after Prim and Gia is also one of the first you meet too, but eventually got content when the story got caught up to it.
You could have made your point more clear in saying which characters you were referring to. “Characters at the beginning of the game” can refer to a lot of different characters that is broad and very vague.
In terms of Helena, Daisy, and Celestine they aren’t relevant to the main story at the moment. Helena and Daisy fill the world of Argleton so you can do a couple activities like the book exchange and fishing. They are there to be apart of the world but will get content eventually so I get that there isn’t anything with them currently outside that. Though you can see their houses on the beach so at some point there will be. So you will see them appear in other stories but don’t have content currently because they don’t directly relate much with the main story atm.
I was explaining how side characters support the main characters which Clara does. She also fits to your definition of characters at the beginning though and has content.
With the Liz point I mean technically you can. It’s like when you have a friend and know they will betray you but you still are friends with them anyway. The point was she believed in it because she was trying to grasp at anything to prove to Layla and become her friend. Humans do illogical things. You can’t expect everyone to make perfect decisions as I know you and me definitely haven’t made the best decisions 100% of the time. Why? Because that’s how we grow.
It would have made more sense explaining exactly what you meant rather than assume I understood what characters you were referring to. However while yes characters like Helena and Daisy don’t have content that you see at the beginning because it hasn’t come up for the main story but are there currently because to add to the town. But yes they don’t have anything rn but will get there eventually. While other characters you see at the beginning like Gia and Clara do have content. Like I said, read the progress reports to get a better idea as to how the content is being implemented as it is explained there.
You're the one not listening. That's why you keep spamming tangents without ever adressing the points people make. Sscond time I see you do it in a week or two. Last time you couldn't even tell apart who you were talking to, if you recall.
Only those three side girls are available as soon as the freeroam opens, and none of the characters you brought up. If you know the game, you know exactly who can be met right away. Maxy and Gia are introduced later. You have to wait for Maxy to show up in the Barrie's after a few shifts, and Gia is met when you go to other restaurants, along with Layla. Check your facts before you try to "explain".
The side girls may not be that important for the main story, but they ARE important for the game world in general. If the world doesn't feel alive. it detracts from the main story too. This is a free roam game, not a kinetic VN. Free roam exists so you can explore and interact freely.
To believe something means to see it as truth. To perceive something as lie, one needs to see it isn't true. Those states are mutually exclusive. That's basic logic, and I'm doubtful that you're being honest about not understanding such a basic concept.
I don't know why you're astroturfing these comments and acting like a know-it-all when you're the exact opposite, but it's not helping. Not the commenters, not yourself, and least of all stawer and his game. Nothing is worse for a game than an overeager fan poisoning discourse with derailing non-sequiturs and self-absorbed arrogance.
I understand what you are getting at, and I admit that this is a consequence of my stupid ambition and lack of experience in the beginning.
But let me explain the reasoning behind it, since pointing fingers and pointing out a problem is much easier than understanding the context, and I don't usually talk so much about the "ugly" part of development.
Before starting the development of LP, I wrote all the plot and gameplay elements in a book (only the plot and not the whole script), and this included characters that were there from the beginning, but due to time constraints, I haven't been given the opportunity to go deeper into them.
Originally my idea was that the player, in a first glance, would get to know some of the inhabitants of Argleton, and during the first few days would delve into the stories of the main girls, while at the same time getting used to the navigation and controls.
As the player got used to these first steps, he discovered optional things that gave depth to the town, such as knowing the stories of these secondary girls.
And of course, in the beginning I was innocent and thought I could handle it all, but it was my fault for underestimating the workload (At that time I had a job, I was in college and during the nights I worked at LP, and yes, I hardly slept).
Then time went by, I made a complete remaster of the game trying to fix all the gameplay problems, the graphics and a lot of things (all this taking into account the feedback of the players), I removed a lot of text and accelerated the beginning of the story, trying not to lose that calm rhythm, but saving a lot of steps at the beginning.
And again, I underestimated the workload of redoing so many things from scratch, so I lost months of hard work that almost drove me to madness.
The thing is that the development progressed, and I didn't have time to develop that content with the secondary girls, so I had to filter the stories that were more relevant to the lore of the world of LP.
Shit, I even need to finish the appeal system in the game...
The thing is that I try to keep a balance, I have limited resources and limited time and I try to do the best I can with that.
And I repeat, the content of these girls was postponed forcibly, and I admit to being guilty, but it does not mean that they will not have content, it's not because I'm ignoring players feedback or anything like that.
I even have several things planned for them for the next development cycle, I can still see all that content in my head with every girl, but I just need enough time to bring it to reality.
And...
There was no need to be so aggressive with MasterWizard, he has always had a good disposition to help LP players since ever, and if anything can damage a game and its community is a hostile and aggressive attitude.
Sorry for the walltext....
Hey, thanks for your reply, I appreciate it. Don't worry, I absolutely do not mind walls of text. Especially considering that yours is actually addressing my point.
I understand that making the game is a lot of work, and that you can't do all at once. I'm not asking you to do more, either. It's just the complete neglect of those early parts in favor of advancing a story that is already far ahead that I find unsettling. I see the main story is picking up tension, and it's probably not easy to take time away from that, but I do think it would benefit both main story and world content if they proceed side by side.
Now, if you say they will get content, that is great news. At least I can put aside worries about them remaining in limbo until the main story is complete. Thanks.
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About MasterWizard, criticizing his behavior isn't hostility. I think he actually does need someone to give him a good talking to, so he learns to listen and respond rather than rant past the point and blame others for his own miscomprehensions, or just focus on actually being helpful rather than being a detractor. I have seen him be helpful on a few occasions in the past, but it's been quite the opposite recently. His way of talking past and over people is as hostile and (passive-)aggressive as it gets.
