Woo! I finally finished it! I loved it!! The story was compelling, and I love Cautionne. There's something really fun about knowing what a character's inspired by- it's a nice bonus. But that knowledge isn't necessary either; the story and character are great standalone. Compelling in its own way that isn't derivative.
The only reason I didn't finish this day one is because I was too stubborn. I'm pretty bad at games like Layton and Zero Escape- I end up looking up guides and FAQs for the puzzles. When I realized this VN had that puzzle escape room set up, I did react like, "oh no!!!!!!!!" But I still wanted to try to solve the puzzles!!
In the end, I only gave up on two puzzles. The one involving liquids and, uh... the other one that involved spinning & symbols, I don't know how else to describe it. Funnily enough, I recognized that the liquid puzzle was veeery similar to a Layton puzzle. I had a laugh when I realized I could solve the puzzle by copying a video showing the solution for the Layton puzzle. The numbers are different, but the principle is the same! Makes sense, makes sense. (That being said, I don't know if I could solve the puzzle guideless if I opened the game right now... This one's beyond me)
It's great that the game has a skip option. I was just stubborn and wanted to try solving the puzzles. And it was worth it! It feels great when I finally solve them, even if it takes hours. The hacking one is probably the most satisfying because of how everything lines up in the end.
That ingredient puzzle is probably the easiest for me, but it did give me trouble on my first go. I had trouble understanding the premise. I'm only bringing this up because it's very silly on my behalf. Trying to read the instructions... I had this thought of, "Wait, do I need to know food groups to solve this??" I was starting to write things down, like, okay maybe the strawberries and blueberries can touch each other because they're in the same food group. And then I was like- "... are those mechanical nuts????? um????? I guess that's a food group of its own??" LOL. Needless to say, it took me a few minutes to realize the actual rules were much simpler than that. I guess that is a natural aspect to puzzles and riddles- accidentally overthinking it. But I still feel silly about it.
Alright, alright. Story-wise, I wish I had a lot to say- it's mostly just "I like it." I did enjoy my experience with realizing there's multiple endings and quickly figuring out what I had to do for them. That felt good. What didn't feel good was that one ending where you quickly & heartlessly escape... By the end of this, I was very attached to Cautionne and his story. My heart was so torn by that!!
I'll wrap this up by saying I think this is a very solid VN. Very polished. Putting the puzzles aside, the only nitpicks I have are just some moments where the dialogue advances by itself. I was still able to read it, but it felt kinda sloppy? Not sure how to explain it. And I did have a moment where I undid puzzle progress by accidentally scrolling my mouse wheel, which opened up the story log thingy. But other than that! Music, voice acting, writing, art, etc.-! Wonderful!! Great job everyone!