I need help: here I played the game but Thanatos tells me that I have 11 medals yet I made the path A of all the characters so I did the path B of Roswell but I did not have a medal I also did the one of Orlando but I have only 11 medals I do not know what to do, au and I miss 2 trauma the one between the pool and sal who attacks DeanI also noticed that when Divid starts to note these passwords he notes some that are not used as deluge, if we use them then where, by the way in the conversation between Thanatos and David, David repeats the word EXCEPT 2 times and the second time it is written in bold I wonder if we can use it as a passwordau and it is possible to use the password to save Roswell on the other routes on day 4 I did it on the road to sal and that worked I was also able to access the trunk on day 11 and enter the password
bah, when I talk to Thanatos at the he tells me that I have 11 medals, I did the paths A and B of all the characters I do not really understand what happens to help me
Okay, having finally finished all the possible routes, endings, and dialogue options, I have one teeny-tiny, barely significant criticism.
And it's regarding the saucy bits.
Now aside from a few moments with Dean, whenever it gets to the part where cheesy saxaphone music should start playing, we are instead greeted with a black screen and some text variance of
"...and one thing led to another and now your clothes don't wear as well the next day and your hair doesn't fall in quite the same way. Now moving along swiftly..."
Like, no,no,no,no,no! Don't tell me "one thing led to another."!
I want to see in, full blasphemous, 4K, UHD, glory exactly how I made Roswell squeel like a pig!
I want be able to count how many times I rotisseried on Sal's joystick before making him spill the beans!
I need to know the answer to Dean's question "Does Orlando have balls?" and more importantly "What do they taste like?"
I need that minigame where we try to find out what lasts longer, Ty's dick or a feather?
And you owe it your fans, to help us finally solve the mystery of what would happen if you scratched the base of Hoss's tail while he's mid-orgasm.
Best furry VN I saw, I really liked the password system even if I do not hide from you that I had trouble finding some but otherwise very good VN, well written and well illustrated I also liked the turn that takes the story maleresem I am that on the 19th day and so I have not yet seen this famous end dumoin not yet
I'll preface this by saying I initially scripted this out for a video but frankly my enunciation and overall narration leave a lot to be desired so I figured it'd be best to tweak what I already had so I could instead publish it as a written review. Note that I've been sitting on this for quite some time and my knowledge of the game extends as far as the current beta release-any additions or changes made since won't be referenced in this review. I've done my best to avoid as many spoilers or direct references to story events as possible beyond the basic premise and a handful of other minor things but if you're intent on going in absolutely 100% blind you might want to play it safe and skip over this. With all that said, here it is.
Take mystery, slice of life, romance, drama, add a sprinkle of horror and you have Password, a visual novel in the style of 999 and other such nonary games. It's very much a love letter to those titles and even uses the same pseudo-science concepts such as morphic resonance and metempsychosis. If that sounds derivative to you, it's really not-for example consider how Undertale was inspired by games like OFF and Earthbound while still managing to have its own identity-Password is kind of in a similar area.
The narrative follows Dave, a young man that, after graduation sets off for an all expenses paid trip to a mansion high amongst the mountains. He's joined by his 6 closest friends, with each one representing their own story route and potential romance. There's Dean, a lewd and flirtatious man's man with a green thumb. Roswell, smug and intelligent with a taste for both sweets and mischief. Sal, a meathead with a deep and introspective underside. Orlando, bubbly and sassy with a passion for all things baking. Hoss, a fashionable weeb with aspirations for the big screen. And finally, Tyson, aloof loner and bully with a penchant for violence, and something of a black sheep for the group.
Upon arriving things follow a pretty standard slice-of-life format for the first week as the story familiarizes you with the cast and the setting, an opulent manor that seems loaded with absolutely every luxury under the sun from a large outdoor swimming pool and hot tub to an expansive rec room with slot machines and much more. It's not long before the story takes a rather dark and grisly turn at which point you'll be handed a bad ending, along with a mysterious password. Said password can then be used to activate a mysterious basement-bound vault that can seemingly give Dave visions of the future, allowing him to avert disaster. What then follows is a multi-timeline plot that splits off in many directions as Dave resolves to save his friends from certain doom while unraveling the many mysteries surrounding the mansion, its reclusive owner and the vault itself.
Truth be told that's a gross oversimplification of the game's story-things get pretty thick especially later on and summarising it all in an expedient manner without spoilers is almost impossible. The complex narrative is one of the game's biggest draws; another is its strong cast of characters. They're a well-rounded and down to earth bunch with their own distinct traits, faults and baggage and I found myself often identifying or at least empathising with almost all of them, except for perhaps Hoss whose character always felt a bit anemic to me. What really stuck out to me was how quickly the cast is introduced, and how fast the story is to get the ball rolling, and in a way that doesn't really feel rushed. There's a real sense of believability to the cast and it's clear that great lengths were taken to make sure each one felt like a fully realised person rather than some cookie cutter husbando put up on a pedestal. Even main character Dave is a balanced and likeable individual, and his arc is the most compelling in the game, which is more than I can say for most other FVN protagonists that typically range from blank slate to utterly insufferable. I'm also fond of the game's habit of leaning in to the animal traits of each cast member, which is a cute touch that most furry visual novels sort of gloss over. Dave's nervous hyena cackling, Roswell's ability for sniffing out mushrooms, and Dean and Orlando's pet names for Dave are just a few examples-you might find it a bit cheesy, but that's exactly the point.
There are even subtle details in the game's art that help inform the player; for example, Dave spends much of the first half of the story donning his trademark orange hoodie, but after a pivotal moment mid-way through the narrative he discards it entirely, which helps play in to the idea that he's done putting up walls around himself. This storytelling can be seen in his body language as well-a few of his poses feature one arm crossed over his chest, a sign that he's still a bit defended but slowly opening up. There's even a cute "like father like son" motif running through most of his sprites. The game is filled with moments like this, some less subtle than others, but it goes to show how much attention to detail was paid to the story. Almost every single plot thread pays off in some way no matter how minute or insignificant and it speaks volumes to Grizz's ability to plan and organise a project. Even Orlando's JO crystal which one might reasonably assume is just a part of his design serves a purpose. A minor one, but a purpose nonetheless.
The art itself is certainly charming. You might call it simple or even amateurish but there's a certain je ne sais quoi it captures. There's an earnest quality that pervades the illustrations and it clearly comes from a place of wanting to improve. This does create a bit of a discrepancy amongst the game's CGs-it's clear that over time Grizz has grown as an artist and as a result some of the game's assets are of varying quality. There's a pretty clear gap between the completed illustrations featured on the itch.io page versus even some of the incomplete, late-game placeholder sketches. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little disappointed by the decision to drop NSFW but given that the game mostly succeeds on the strengths of its story and characters this isn't that big of a loss. Frankly art is the area I'm least qualified to comment on so I'll cut it off here and say I just enjoy it for what it is.
The game is also easy on the ears with most of its music mostly leaning on the visual novel staple of moody piano pieces. While the number of tracks might seem a little sparse, all of it is original music composed specifically for the game which actually makes it a bit of an outlier. I'm quite fond of Daffodil and I've caught myself quietly humming it more often than I'd care to admit. The same can be said for the game's title theme, a simple yet effective melody that I can still hear clear as day in my mind's eye. Or, ear. But the absolute standout track would have to be Goodbye, a sad and sombre piece that accompanies the story's most pivotal scenes. It only crops up a handful of times across the entire game but every time it does it hits hard and really elevates the dramatic impact those moments have (I may have sobbed like a big gay baby for some of those).
While I can praise the game for its intriguing story, its strong characterisation and its bottomless charm, there are some definite shortcomings. I'll start off with what I think is the game's most significant problem, its writing. Or more accurately, the prose. To be frank the dialog and narration are pretty plain and lacking in style. The story is filled with unwieldy sentences that are pretty awkward to read through and give the narrative a sort of impersonal quality, with many lines feeling overly long and wholly unnecessary. Many are totally extraneous and could quite easily be eliminated entirely with smarter word choice. A lot of this could be chalked up to the fact that the writing has an unfortunate habit of recycling the same phrases and words quite frequently, sometimes within the same dialog box. For example a bit of narration that occurs on Day 8 after successfully entering a valid password in to the vault is a good example-"down here" is used three times in a row and the overall sentence structure is awkward and unnatural sounding. The game also has a handful of phrases it reuses ad nauseam, such as "I sighed out" "I couldn't say" and "gestured vaguely", and a lot of descriptive text is oddly vague, often to no end. This gives the narrative a repetitive and sort of stale quality-early on this is a minor annoyance but by the end it started to turn in to a frustrating distraction and kept taking me out of the story every time I noticed the same words and vague phrasing being used. The game also has an unfortunate habit of treading the same ground-though this happens across most of the routes to some degree it's pretty notable on Dean's where he and Dave have the whole "I can't be intimate with you because I have baggage" conversation innumerable times. Even after it becomes clear why this is it still keeps getting brought up. There are also a couple of flat-out odd lines, such as one during an early-game flashback when Dave reminisces on how he met Dean: "Something about how they make the coffee here just beats all that mass-produced stuff from those fast food places that also do coffee of a morning" which makes sense but sounds...strange. Another that I can think of comes from Orlando on of the game's many offshoot bad paths, where he rather flatly reveals his family's history-from an expository standpoint it functions fine, but it feels strangely clinical and out of character. There's also Tyson saying wimp later on which...honestly, just have him say pussy.
There are more examples I could cite (Dom uttering "not that I mind getting messy, mind you") but I think you get the idea; for all these reasons I feel as if Password could benefit greatly from some outside editorial work by a professional-I'd almost suggest a certain monkey man for the job but knowing nothing of his current workload, I can't fully commit to that recommendation. It's clear Grizz has definite strengths in story telling, those being lore, planning, logistics, attention to detail and character development. It's the actual delivery of those things that are in need of some work. In that sense the game is almost like an inverted Echo-a messy, mixed bag of storytelling that still managed to squeak by with its writing and atmosphere. It's the difference between a story striving to make sense versus one trying to engage the reader. I could make the argument Echo can get away with it more by virtue of being a horror story, but now I'm getting off-track.
Another thing that I take issue with is the game's true ending, which honestly felt like a bit of a let-down. Unfortunately I can't really delve too deep as to why without heavily spoiling the plot so I'll need to save specific criticisms for another day. I honestly prefer the A path ending for the much wider variety it provides-it's a less tidy conclusion which, depending on your preferences might be a good or bad thing-but it also accounts for pretty much every character route in the game. In addition, while the game really has a way of sucking you in to its mystery a lot of the reveals are a bit underwhelming. Again, these revelations are sensible, but they aren't exactly exciting or surprising, and a fair few are pretty easy to see coming if you're decent enough at picking up on subtext clues.
The game's password system for which it was named is a fun and novel idea that forces you to pay close attention to the dialog but having completed the story now it honestly felt a little under-utilized. On a successful run the vault is only activated a handful of times and all of the passwords are pretty easy to figure out. The game practically beats you over the head with the first few-you'd have to be a bit daft to get stuck on any of them.
I'm fully aware this was more of a conscious decision to keep the game as accessible as possible-some of you might remember that earlier builds simply dumped you back at the title screen after receiving a bad ending. Apparently highlighting the first set of passwords in bright red capital letters that get repeated multiple times was a little too obtuse so in an attempt to foolproof things as much as possible the game now gives you the choice to "resonate" after getting a bad ending-which essentially places the player right in front of the vault on the appropriate day for that password. While I don't doubt that this'll help broaden the game's appeal it also steals away some of its fun-even if the words themselves aren't hard to sus out there was still always that "ah-ha!" moment. Frankly I'd like to see this idea revisited in a future project because it definitely still holds some promise.
I could probably nitpick a handful of other things but none of them are particularly glaring or deserving of mention. At the end of the day the strength of Password's story, characters and all-around uniqueness are more than enough to earn it a strong recommendation for anybody looking for an engaging FVN, whether you're a newcomer to the genre or well versed in it. With some editing it could easily become something quite special. I can't really bring myself to dislike the game in spite of its faults-that might be because of my own personal bias towards the project and the happy memories I associate with it, but I think it runs deeper than that. Simply put, the game has a lot of heart. Grizz took something he liked and tried to make it better-or at the very least put his own spin on it, and that comes from an honest place-there's nothing really cynical or misleading about the game, and I can admire that. No matter how you slice it, Password's heart shines true.
This is a pretty good write-up that covers a lot of my thoughts as well. I debated with a friend over writing a similar comment in hopes it would be seen and some certain things about the game could be changed, but it seems I don't need to do it myself now. I'll also try to limit spoilers going forward, but I wanted to add my thoughts as well.
Password definitely has strong character development, but as you say, the weakness in some areas of the writing do hinder it somewhat. It can take too long and be wayyy too wordy at parts, going over the same exact things multiple times to the point where I would groan and wonder just how much longer this segment was going to continue. Day 10 was a big shift downwards for me, honestly, and the stuff after took what felt like forever. The payoff was good, though, and was a good moment. However, I do feel like my experience was lessened by picking Sal first. Some things just happen differently in a way that probably weakened the overall experience for me. In fact, the password I was supposed to have entered around that time was just outright spoiled later in the game even though I had never entered it, which I assume is an oversight that slipped through the cracks. In a game like this, that's bound to happen, so I can't be mad at it.
As you say, the overall mystery and delving into morphic resonance was pretty good, and it's easy to draw the lines between Password and the Zero Escape series (999). I just feel the need to echo my dissatisfaction with the "true" ending. It's a heavy black mark that honestly ruined the game for me and a friend. Path A is definitely the "better" ending but knowing what's out there and the time investment to complete it is... just such a bummer. The effect it has on the story and everything that happens... I don't want to go more into it because of spoilers, but I reeeeeallly hope this is revised in the final product. It's just so frustrating, but with all the respect towards the author and the story written. I say this with love because I grew to care about the game. (Also, #justiceforsal because he's honestly treated the worst in the game... I didn't even like him, I picked him as a middle choice, but man it kinda feels like the author didn't even like him either.) ((Also also that one bit with Tyson near the start is pretty bad too...))
I think that covers what I wanted to add/emphasize. Password is overall a fine game with some great character development that could just use some trimming and some revisions in places, namely the endings (Oh, and, the antagonistic force in the last third to fourth of the game, that all felt a bit rushed.)
Sure, though my language is probably too harsh maybe? The game is still good, and it's still a good time playing it. There's no real way to avoid spoilers when talking about the ending, but I suppose I'll try to be as vague as possible. I'm just writing some more filler text here so maybe the spoilery bits are hidden by the expand prompt, even though it seems the expand prompt only shows up if you're logged in, so apologies to those who aren't logged in and hopefully you don't read the SPOILERS AHEAD.
Is that enough space to hide it? I guess I'll see. Okay, so, about the ending. The whole point is to work towards this 'prime timeline' where everything and everyone is okay. And like, yeah, that's a good thing. It SHOULD be the goal to make everything work out for everyone, that part I have no issues with. The part I don't like is how it absolutely obliterates one of the best parts of the game, which is the character development. You go back to the point where nothing has happened yet, and then the game ends and rushes into a romance over the span of a few minutes, that took a month's worth of in-game time to work itself out. Sure, the feelings were already there, but it's just so much... lesser this way.
I know that, in a game with branching paths like this, it's very common to have a canon route. But this just feels like the worst of both worlds. The non-canon routes are cheapened by the way the true ending is handled, and the true ending itself doesn't benefit from the development over the course of the game.
In my opinion, a better way to handle it would be to rework it all so that you're taken back to, say, day 20, or at least around there. To the point where most of the development happened, and from there you can give everyone a proper ending and epilogue. Alternatively, you can have the convergence point be after the vacation, though obviously you'd have to rework a TON, including a certain bit where you get the... Virgo medal? I think that's the one, at the very end. That way, every branch can have the possibility of existing in every timeline, but once you've been through them all, you get the prize at the end. I know the 'point' of the game is to settle on one timeline where the good thing happens, and that it'll happen that way now in future loops, but it just feels bad currently.
Outside of the character development, I just wonder why Dave is even doing this to start with. Why is it him? Why does him doing what he does in the 'prime timeline' matter at all for what the mastermind does? He doesn't even know the final password, and even if he knew it, it wouldn't have mattered. It's not the end of the world but it does feel a little awkward. (And I admit maybe I missed something that explains that but it just feels weird to me how that goes down.)
This post on reddit also echoes my same feelings about the way the true ending went down, with a little bit more spoilers.
I'll also add that I'm not in the discord and I haven't been following your news or anything really after this beta build, so I have no idea what you've changed or what you planned to do after this specific moment the game is in right now. I recognize that my bit above about a better way to handle it would be a massive undertaking at this point, and heck, maybe you simply disagree with my opinion. I'm sure other people do. I absolutely don't expect you to do anything extra, change anything, go about revising things just because I said I didn't like it. I just wanted to express how I felt about things. Short version: Character development, good. The way the ending handles that, not good.
I'll try to be efficient in how to explain this given you haven't been on the server or likely been exposed to anything still in the Patreon version:
1. Canonical means part of the story. That's it. Everything in the game is canonical because of how the time looping works. There's no way to really stress that in-game without exacerbating the already existing problems of my pre-edit script. While the story descend on a finality of a particular romance should not invalidate the others as it took those to get here.
2. Looping back to Day 20 doesn't work. Ignoring that we have a sequel where we need a locked in romance or at the very least lock out certain romances, we're dooming certain people to still die. Namely Roswell because of his illness. The medicine at this point doesn't work on him because of actions he takes on Day 4, so any intervention needs to happen before then.
3. As for why Dave, I have plans to fix that when I remove the Oswin interrogation segment in favor of explaining how quantum mechanics works a bit better. Namely the concept of observance which might help clarify why Dave at all, why Thanatos dying solves things, etc. My concern with this is ending up just like C/Ping a Wikipedia article and the delivery feels dry. -- Also there were talks in the Discord last night again as to how to potentially integrate inputting the final password in Path P to round out the player experience but so far no one (myself included) hasn't come up with a way that makes sense where Dave would know the password.
I guess the thing that I should make clearer in-game is that the mansion is just a means to constrain the boundaries of the test rather than try and keep tabs on everyone over a town. It might be something I can throw into the revised Oswin section, but the idea is that once the experiment is over and Roswell is cured, we don't need the mansion holiday anymore.
1. It took the other romances to get there, sure, but then it's all erased for the final bit. No one else but Dave remembers it happening, which is the problem. Perhaps canon isn't the right word for the situation, but it has the same effect for everyone that isn't Dave. That's the central issue I have with it.
2. It wasn't a perfect suggestion, I was just throwing out potential alternatives. It's your story and your sequel to write, I was sure you already had plans for things. Saying the medicine doesn't work because of what Roswell does on day 4, sure, but... why? That kinda feels like a "just because" situation.
3. No comments on this bit, you have plans/desire to adjust things so that's good there.
As for the mansion, sure, I understand that. It's just a real bad feeling that, like that reddit comment said, all the character growth and relationship development just disappears once the experiment concludes. I don't think something like that could ever feel good to the reader. Your time investment doesn't matter except for saving Roswell, and even then both Roswell and Dave are mentally worse for the experience. (Besides the whole, Roswell being actually alive thing, which yeah is important). Sure, you can argue that it does still matter for you, personally, since it did happen for the reader but... I just don't know. I don't know what else to say at this point.
Actually did write a follow up where I gave more of my thoughts on tumblr but that post is spoilertastic so I'd rather not link it directly, instead i'll just relay the pertinent bit here (spoilers ahead yadda yadda yadda): . . . . . . In my review I said that the game's ultimate conclusion was one of its weaker points, but that's not an entirely accurate statement. This is a perfectly functional and satisfying ending for how it ties up the more general story: everybody lives and Dave finally gets to be happy, and things end on a hopeful note, the implication being that with his other lived experiences having crossed over, Dave is able to help his companions work through their problems. Consequently this means Dave is able to break through Tyson's shell right away and get him to admit his feelings. I could make the argument that this sort of cheapens Tyson's character development, but not enough for it to seriously bother me. Realistically if the game absolutely had to settle on one single romance by the end, Tyson makes the most sense given his history with Dave, and while he isn't my favorite, he's far and away Password's most popular character so I imagine this'll sit well with most people. That bad boy bogan charm is pretty hard to resist. Initially I assumed the game went with this because it was simply trying to cater to fans but that's actually not the case-a little bird told me that it was part of the plan from the start. My problem here is that forcing the player to settle in to a fixed romance at the end undercuts a big part of the appeal for me and I imagine a fair few other people as well-what was the point of having all those romantic options if they were just going to get handwaved away at the end? If Password was a more linear or kinetic affair from the start that only had one set romance, or if the true ending was left vague enough that the reader could reasonably imagine Dave hooking up with any one of his potential suitors at the end then this might have worked. It's definitely a thing that sticks out to me, especially in a game like this that's otherwise pretty well constructed.
Okay so i thought that there will be another update since the game version is labelled b0.7 (a final build usually use v1.0 instead) and i kept waiting for update until i started playing the latest version where it turns out the main route is already finished 😭
This is such an engaging game with how it interact with player encourage them to play the other character route. The game is pretty long since you need to do some backtracking (10+ hour for a route if you're fast reader i think, i played for week on and off and i only finished four of the A route and haven't even touch the bad route yet) but the world setting really paid off and i can date whoever i want too so ♥️ :]]]
Me and my friend really enjoyed this vn so thank you so much for putting so much work and love into this vn Grizz. I can't wait for your other project!!
(Everyone give this vn a try NOW! It's never too late to try!)
Hey there. Is there a way to save your progress on the game to cloud or something? I want to get a new phone but i still wanna play using my progress... TIA
its just easy thing like spending time with him, when he talks about working out say pilaties (or whatever its called) and the 2nd time tyson rushes out (after the convo about confessions) don't follow him stay and talk to hoss about family.
I just completed the game, and now I'm wondering what else I'm missing regarding completion. Spoilers:
1) Are there any hidden/alternate passwords for certain scenes? I got curious after being showed the slip with different passwords during Hoss's route. I tried them all during earlier moments when you access the vault, and the only ones that seemed to work were PEACEKEEPER and ARBITER on day 7, relating to Benson's murder. I also realized the paper Oswin shows you when he injects you is also a password for day 11.
2) My gallery still shows I'm missing some CGs, 2 in memories and 2 in trauma. I think there might be a bug since the total number doesnt match up (says I have 101/104), and I'm also aware the last track in music doesn't show up due to a bug. To put in perspective, I'm missing 21st and 28th in memories, as well as the 13th and last CG in trauma. Also I noticed the CGs of Dom sneaking up on Dave in the woods repeat? Not sure what's up with that.
1. Not really. A lot of it was scrapped because of scope, but you can get some variations by using the Day 10 password on Sal's route for instance. Beyond that, nothing extra.
2.The CGs shouldn't be repeating, so that's either a display error or a bug that isn't current as of the build I'm working on. As for the missing CGs, those numbers don't line up to the gallery as I see it. You 100% should have progressed through both of those Trauma CGs if you've completed the game, and the missing Memories CGs take place on Dean's route (according to my list anyway) and aren't missable if you've played his route at all.
Thanks for responding! I experimented and went through some routes once more and I don't believe I missed anything you pointed out, though through someone else's hint I was able to find a Hoss CG I was missing before. Unless you're talking about the nsfw CGs in Dean's route (which I think aren't suppose to show up), I think I've seen everything. I also realized one of the problems is that the Roswell cg after Dave's death in path A doesn't show up either, which partially explains it. Nonetheless, I feel it would be easier to show you what's missing in the gallery and see if it's a bug.
Thank you! I checked and I didn't even realize I missed that variation in path C lol.
As for the others, I know I saw them but I guess they won't show up due to a bug. Regardless, I think I'm done trying to complete this game for the time being lol.
I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.
While running game code:
Exception: Sayer 'extent' is not defined.
-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------
Full traceback:
File "Day25B.rpyc", line 3396, in script
File "renpy/ast.py", line 680, in execute
who = eval_who(self.who, self.who_fast)
File "renpy/ast.py", line 574, in eval_who
raise Exception("Sayer '%s' is not defined." % who)
Exception: Sayer 'extent' is not defined.
Windows-10-10.0.22621
Ren'Py 7.4.5.1648
PASSWORD b0.7
Sun Jul 23 01:12:34 2023
Does anyone have any hints on the password you're supposed to put in on Day 17? It was suggested in-game that it was something said by one of two characters in two conversations, something that 'connects' them, but I've tried literally every single word they spoke in those conversations and no luck. Is there even an actual password here, or is it a fakeout?
Aha, got it. I'd been speaking to Tyson first every time (since I was doing Tyson's route), but I think Orlando might only say the specific word if you speak to HIM first. It also seems like it's for an event that doesn't actually happen? Or at least, doesn't happen in Tyson's route. I haven't done the others yet, so I don't know if that changes things.
Yes and no. They're screwing each other and care for each other (if Dom dies Jack goes crazy and Dom wants Jack to be kept safe) but they wont put a label on it more than just being roomies.
Quick question and its about the TRUE ENDING (Dean, or Tyson).
Do you have to fully do the entire route for the side characters or is it like, shorter then the 2 main characters? So we escape or something earlier then when you do the main 2 routes?
If you've hit the point when you can unlock the true ending, it tells you what the requirements are. Reloading at a point before then after meeting the requirements should work.
Just to reconfirm, that game is entirely stream safe?
I've fallowed the game for a while but stop playing midway just to have the full story at disposition when I do come back and wanting to stream it... from what I've seen theres only one sort of suggestive scene but doesn't show much, I just want to know
Hello, good day! i wanted to ask about compatibility of save files between pc an android. I started the game on my phone because it was a time where i used my phone more than my pc. Now the gears have inverted, and id like to play on my computer. I managed to locate the saves' folder in both cases and i exported all the files from my phone to my pc. When i did this, i had all saves in the pc, but they have one difference:
-On Phone, Thanatos says i ve found 8 medals
-On PC, Thanatos says i ve found 3 medals
I've imported the whole save folder, but this doesn't seem to fix it. Is there any way to fix the current medal counter?
The medals are saved in the persistent data thing in the save files. Or at least it's in the same folder on PC? Copying that across should update the medal count but it could just be formatted differently. I've only heard of this happening once before but I never heard back on if they got it working.
Hey! Thanks a lot for replying at all. I made sure that i copied the file several times, and i've noticed something particularly odd.
The persistent file in my phone weights around 671 kb. When i move it to my computer, start the game and make Thanatos tell me the amount of medals, the file drops its weight everytime to 301 kb. I don't know why this happens, but i just wanted to come back to you and let you know that i was unsucessful on making this work.
Considering your reply, my theory is that the difference in format is not being recognized by the game in the computer, which causes the game to just recreate the persisten file back from zero.
Thanks again for your time replying to me! I love your game, i will just finish it on the phone :)
Okay, so i just finished Tyson's route, path A. I got 6 medals and some plot hole or something? So, after i put a password on day 17, the MC doesn't have to go to the vault anymore.... But i still get some trauma CG. How can that possible? Am i missed something?
Besides, I just read some comment and there is a "path p"? How am i suppose to get there? Is it the real true end?
There is a true end and you need all 12 medals then go to the end of path A so Craig (Thanatos's true god of death form) can count them. If you have all 12 he'll move you onto path P
HNGGHHHHH FINALLY IT TOOK ME LIKE 2 MONTHS TO FINISH THE GAMEEEE (frickin' college -.-) Been playing this since day 15 was out and I just have to say that the game is so gooooooooooooood. But anyway I have a tiny issue
So apparently I'm still missing the last song in the music room? I re-run all the routes and finished path P as well... any ideas on why this might be? I'm kinda stumped.
In Dean path c, I've got two X's and idk what it means nor how I'd got those. Does it mean bad choices in patch c?, Plus how do I choose the Path A of Dean or to know what choice's does change the paths (or hints)...
The squares on the save files are for the characters. I think the order is Roswell, Tyson, Orlando, Hoss, Dean, Sal, then Benson, and Oswin. If they get crossed out, it means that character has died.
You stay on path A by using the correct password on day 10.
If you fail the password on day 10, you simply lose two people. I recommend to read on, because the "bad ending" paths are part of the story and MAY be helpful to figure out the mastermind or the password you missed.
In General: The passwords from day 10 and later can be solved without watching the bad ending! Just read carefully whenever Dave starts his investigation and write down sus words on your paper.
Path A: Support Benson, solve all Passwords after day 9
Path B: Reveal Oz, solve all Passwords after day 9
Path C: Support Benson but FAIL Password on day 10
I've discovered the ultimate path, 100% finished game. Solid play, although it opens up to various questions I'd die to find the answers!
Like for instance, who was responsible for Roswell's passing if you didn't get the Password. What happened to the Vault now that the gang didn't go there in the first place, did Memphis take it? And the most mind-boggling question of all...
Fire Axe??? I'm unsure where to start looking for that in the game... Also another question is who'd do it? Cannot imagine Oswin would do it even if Roswell pleads.
No more public updates from now on. If you want to see the updates then its $1 on patreon. There probably will be a bug fix patch maybe but dont quote me on that. Other than that the next update on itch would probbably only happen with the finished product.
I JUSST FOUND A EASTER EGG!! when the game start, i will always put a custom name "Chase" on every visual novel that can change name on it, because the first game i played is echo, but when I just put it on the coffee cup scene I got freaked out when Roswell said he expect Chase look like an otter, so i go back and put random names, 3 or 4 times, its a different dialogue..
i love this game, it's one of my favourites with rtf and echo, i enjoy the story and find out what the password was at all the times, but i have a little problem with the true ending
Spoiler:
I'm a Dean lover, he is my favourite character and his route is my favourite so far, so i was very dyssapointed when i made it to the true ending and see that dean isn't the canon romance for dave.
But that's just a simple complaint that doesn't affect how good this game is, congratulations grizz for making one of the best visual novels i have ever played
So... The romance route is actually useless 😐 Because in the true ending, Dave is... umm... i don't want to spoiler it. I'm just gonna pretend Dean path A is the true end because i love him the most. lol
Warning because there is some spoiler in my comment below :)
The game is good, i enjoy playing it. At first i thought this game will be like "Let's MEAT Adam" because i only heard this game is about solving murder mysteries, guess who is the killer and searching code password (also ofcourse because both is gay, adult, nsfw game) 😆 but now i know, i was wrong.
The story is interesting, my favourite part is when the police came to Dave's house and telling the "bad news" about his father. I can feel his sadness 😭 also i love the part when Dave is dying in path A too. Very emotional.
Every route is unique, each character have different problems that makes me love them more. My favourite route is Sal. Because he have many problems in his life but i'm proud he can hold it alone for years.
Last is i'm just want to appreciate you for making nice save section. It make players easier to remember which route and path they are in. There is also color indicator beside the date of the day and beside the characters name to remind players which route they are in.
I'm sorry that you came away feeling that it was useless. The message you were meant to come away from this was that everything happened, so every romance is canon, everything that could have happened did, but the true end converges it all onto one point.
Maybe useless is not the right word to describe what i mean 😅 i'm sorry.
I'm just surprised, Dave immediately choose him to be his boyfriend in the true ending after he became boyfriend/husband to all of his friends in other routes / paths. I thought he will have complicated feeling, like "who will i choose to be my boyfriend?" Because... if all romances in every routes is canon, i assume now he will have love feeling to all of his friends 😅 the other theory i have is : Dave immediately choose him to be his boyfriend because Dave is afraid, he will leave him forever if he not choose him.
Also, i forgot to ask, how about Memphis in the true path? Is he still go to the mansion after that? I imagine he, Dom and Jack still come to the mansion looking for the time machine. Then he will see the vault is open, he will angry and searching Oswin. Maybe he will kill Oswin 🤔
He chose him because he loved him more. Always has. Think back to the big moments of the game and who's there for Dave most; that's why he was the one that was chosen.
As for what happened to Memphis and his goons, that's for the sequel.
1) It sadly fits Dean's character: "Never lucky....", "Always to late". But he may find a new partner regardless.
2) Depending on the outcome of most Path A and B Route, we can certainly assume that Dave and Dean will open a Coffeshop together regardless, by their own or even with Oswins Money (medal hunt). In a way it must happen, otherwise Dean will tragicly die by a work accident as Thanatos mentioend.
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
I just want to say, this game is amazing.
Now, if you'll excuse me.
Lays down a sobbing mess
I still haven't finished the game yet
I need help: here I played the game but Thanatos tells me that I have 11 medals yet I made the path A of all the characters so I did the path B of Roswell but I did not have a medal I also did the one of Orlando but I have only 11 medals I do not know what to do, au and I miss 2 trauma the one between the pool and sal who attacks DeanI also noticed that when Divid starts to note these passwords he notes some that are not used as deluge, if we use them then where, by the way in the conversation between Thanatos and David, David repeats the word EXCEPT 2 times and the second time it is written in bold I wonder if we can use it as a passwordau and it is possible to use the password to save Roswell on the other routes on day 4 I did it on the road to sal and that worked I was also able to access the trunk on day 11 and enter the password
Which medal are you missing?
bah, when I talk to Thanatos at the he tells me that I have 11 medals, I did the paths A and B of all the characters I do not really understand what happens to help me
Without knowing which one you're missing, I cannot assist in which one is potentially bugging out.
I think I'm missing the ram medal
Aries should be unmissable, on Day 23.
Okay, having finally finished all the possible routes, endings, and dialogue options, I have one teeny-tiny, barely significant criticism.
And it's regarding the saucy bits.
Now aside from a few moments with Dean, whenever it gets to the part where cheesy saxaphone music should start playing, we are instead greeted with a black screen and some text variance of
"...and one thing led to another and now your clothes don't wear as well the next day and your hair doesn't fall in quite the same way. Now moving along swiftly..."
Like, no,no,no,no,no! Don't tell me "one thing led to another."!
I want to see in, full blasphemous, 4K, UHD, glory exactly how I made Roswell squeel like a pig!
I want be able to count how many times I rotisseried on Sal's joystick before making him spill the beans!
I need to know the answer to Dean's question "Does Orlando have balls?" and more importantly "What do they taste like?"
I need that minigame where we try to find out what lasts longer, Ty's dick or a feather?
And you owe it your fans, to help us finally solve the mystery of what would happen if you scratched the base of Hoss's tail while he's mid-orgasm.
These are truly the mysteries we need to solve!
/s
Goddamit! Everytime I load this game up, about 2 minutes in I have this urge for a cup of coffee.
He got possessed by Dave, someone call the digital exorcist!
Best furry VN I saw, I really liked the password system even if I do not hide from you that I had trouble finding some but otherwise very good VN, well written and well illustrated I also liked the turn that takes the story maleresem I am that on the 19th day and so I have not yet seen this famous end dumoin not yet
I'll preface this by saying I initially scripted this out for a video but frankly my enunciation and overall narration leave a lot to be desired so I figured it'd be best to tweak what I already had so I could instead publish it as a written review. Note that I've been sitting on this for quite some time and my knowledge of the game extends as far as the current beta release-any additions or changes made since won't be referenced in this review. I've done my best to avoid as many spoilers or direct references to story events as possible beyond the basic premise and a handful of other minor things but if you're intent on going in absolutely 100% blind you might want to play it safe and skip over this. With all that said, here it is.
Take mystery, slice of life, romance, drama, add a sprinkle of horror and you have Password, a visual novel in the style of 999 and other such nonary games. It's very much a love letter to those titles and even uses the same pseudo-science concepts such as morphic resonance and metempsychosis. If that sounds derivative to you, it's really not-for example consider how Undertale was inspired by games like OFF and Earthbound while still managing to have its own identity-Password is kind of in a similar area.
The narrative follows Dave, a young man that, after graduation sets off for an all expenses paid trip to a mansion high amongst the mountains. He's joined by his 6 closest friends, with each one representing their own story route and potential romance. There's Dean, a lewd and flirtatious man's man with a green thumb. Roswell, smug and intelligent with a taste for both sweets and mischief. Sal, a meathead with a deep and introspective underside. Orlando, bubbly and sassy with a passion for all things baking. Hoss, a fashionable weeb with aspirations for the big screen. And finally, Tyson, aloof loner and bully with a penchant for violence, and something of a black sheep for the group.
Upon arriving things follow a pretty standard slice-of-life format for the first week as the story familiarizes you with the cast and the setting, an opulent manor that seems loaded with absolutely every luxury under the sun from a large outdoor swimming pool and hot tub to an expansive rec room with slot machines and much more. It's not long before the story takes a rather dark and grisly turn at which point you'll be handed a bad ending, along with a mysterious password. Said password can then be used to activate a mysterious basement-bound vault that can seemingly give Dave visions of the future, allowing him to avert disaster. What then follows is a multi-timeline plot that splits off in many directions as Dave resolves to save his friends from certain doom while unraveling the many mysteries surrounding the mansion, its reclusive owner and the vault itself.
Truth be told that's a gross oversimplification of the game's story-things get pretty thick especially later on and summarising it all in an expedient manner without spoilers is almost impossible. The complex narrative is one of the game's biggest draws; another is its strong cast of characters. They're a well-rounded and down to earth bunch with their own distinct traits, faults and baggage and I found myself often identifying or at least empathising with almost all of them, except for perhaps Hoss whose character always felt a bit anemic to me. What really stuck out to me was how quickly the cast is introduced, and how fast the story is to get the ball rolling, and in a way that doesn't really feel rushed. There's a real sense of believability to the cast and it's clear that great lengths were taken to make sure each one felt like a fully realised person rather than some cookie cutter husbando put up on a pedestal. Even main character Dave is a balanced and likeable individual, and his arc is the most compelling in the game, which is more than I can say for most other FVN protagonists that typically range from blank slate to utterly insufferable. I'm also fond of the game's habit of leaning in to the animal traits of each cast member, which is a cute touch that most furry visual novels sort of gloss over. Dave's nervous hyena cackling, Roswell's ability for sniffing out mushrooms, and Dean and Orlando's pet names for Dave are just a few examples-you might find it a bit cheesy, but that's exactly the point.
There are even subtle details in the game's art that help inform the player; for example, Dave spends much of the first half of the story donning his trademark orange hoodie, but after a pivotal moment mid-way through the narrative he discards it entirely, which helps play in to the idea that he's done putting up walls around himself. This storytelling can be seen in his body language as well-a few of his poses feature one arm crossed over his chest, a sign that he's still a bit defended but slowly opening up. There's even a cute "like father like son" motif running through most of his sprites. The game is filled with moments like this, some less subtle than others, but it goes to show how much attention to detail was paid to the story. Almost every single plot thread pays off in some way no matter how minute or insignificant and it speaks volumes to Grizz's ability to plan and organise a project. Even Orlando's JO crystal which one might reasonably assume is just a part of his design serves a purpose. A minor one, but a purpose nonetheless.
The art itself is certainly charming. You might call it simple or even amateurish but there's a certain je ne sais quoi it captures. There's an earnest quality that pervades the illustrations and it clearly comes from a place of wanting to improve. This does create a bit of a discrepancy amongst the game's CGs-it's clear that over time Grizz has grown as an artist and as a result some of the game's assets are of varying quality. There's a pretty clear gap between the completed illustrations featured on the itch.io page versus even some of the incomplete, late-game placeholder sketches. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little disappointed by the decision to drop NSFW but given that the game mostly succeeds on the strengths of its story and characters this isn't that big of a loss. Frankly art is the area I'm least qualified to comment on so I'll cut it off here and say I just enjoy it for what it is.
The game is also easy on the ears with most of its music mostly leaning on the visual novel staple of moody piano pieces. While the number of tracks might seem a little sparse, all of it is original music composed specifically for the game which actually makes it a bit of an outlier. I'm quite fond of Daffodil and I've caught myself quietly humming it more often than I'd care to admit. The same can be said for the game's title theme, a simple yet effective melody that I can still hear clear as day in my mind's eye. Or, ear. But the absolute standout track would have to be Goodbye, a sad and sombre piece that accompanies the story's most pivotal scenes. It only crops up a handful of times across the entire game but every time it does it hits hard and really elevates the dramatic impact those moments have (I may have sobbed like a big gay baby for some of those).
While I can praise the game for its intriguing story, its strong characterisation and its bottomless charm, there are some definite shortcomings. I'll start off with what I think is the game's most significant problem, its writing. Or more accurately, the prose. To be frank the dialog and narration are pretty plain and lacking in style. The story is filled with unwieldy sentences that are pretty awkward to read through and give the narrative a sort of impersonal quality, with many lines feeling overly long and wholly unnecessary. Many are totally extraneous and could quite easily be eliminated entirely with smarter word choice. A lot of this could be chalked up to the fact that the writing has an unfortunate habit of recycling the same phrases and words quite frequently, sometimes within the same dialog box. For example a bit of narration that occurs on Day 8 after successfully entering a valid password in to the vault is a good example-"down here" is used three times in a row and the overall sentence structure is awkward and unnatural sounding. The game also has a handful of phrases it reuses ad nauseam, such as "I sighed out" "I couldn't say" and "gestured vaguely", and a lot of descriptive text is oddly vague, often to no end. This gives the narrative a repetitive and sort of stale quality-early on this is a minor annoyance but by the end it started to turn in to a frustrating distraction and kept taking me out of the story every time I noticed the same words and vague phrasing being used. The game also has an unfortunate habit of treading the same ground-though this happens across most of the routes to some degree it's pretty notable on Dean's where he and Dave have the whole "I can't be intimate with you because I have baggage" conversation innumerable times. Even after it becomes clear why this is it still keeps getting brought up. There are also a couple of flat-out odd lines, such as one during an early-game flashback when Dave reminisces on how he met Dean: "Something about how they make the coffee here just beats all that mass-produced stuff from those fast food places that also do coffee of a morning" which makes sense but sounds...strange. Another that I can think of comes from Orlando on of the game's many offshoot bad paths, where he rather flatly reveals his family's history-from an expository standpoint it functions fine, but it feels strangely clinical and out of character. There's also Tyson saying wimp later on which...honestly, just have him say pussy.
There are more examples I could cite (Dom uttering "not that I mind getting messy, mind you") but I think you get the idea; for all these reasons I feel as if Password could benefit greatly from some outside editorial work by a professional-I'd almost suggest a certain monkey man for the job but knowing nothing of his current workload, I can't fully commit to that recommendation. It's clear Grizz has definite strengths in story telling, those being lore, planning, logistics, attention to detail and character development. It's the actual delivery of those things that are in need of some work. In that sense the game is almost like an inverted Echo-a messy, mixed bag of storytelling that still managed to squeak by with its writing and atmosphere. It's the difference between a story striving to make sense versus one trying to engage the reader. I could make the argument Echo can get away with it more by virtue of being a horror story, but now I'm getting off-track.
Another thing that I take issue with is the game's true ending, which honestly felt like a bit of a let-down. Unfortunately I can't really delve too deep as to why without heavily spoiling the plot so I'll need to save specific criticisms for another day. I honestly prefer the A path ending for the much wider variety it provides-it's a less tidy conclusion which, depending on your preferences might be a good or bad thing-but it also accounts for pretty much every character route in the game. In addition, while the game really has a way of sucking you in to its mystery a lot of the reveals are a bit underwhelming. Again, these revelations are sensible, but they aren't exactly exciting or surprising, and a fair few are pretty easy to see coming if you're decent enough at picking up on subtext clues.
The game's password system for which it was named is a fun and novel idea that forces you to pay close attention to the dialog but having completed the story now it honestly felt a little under-utilized. On a successful run the vault is only activated a handful of times and all of the passwords are pretty easy to figure out. The game practically beats you over the head with the first few-you'd have to be a bit daft to get stuck on any of them.
I'm fully aware this was more of a conscious decision to keep the game as accessible as possible-some of you might remember that earlier builds simply dumped you back at the title screen after receiving a bad ending. Apparently highlighting the first set of passwords in bright red capital letters that get repeated multiple times was a little too obtuse so in an attempt to foolproof things as much as possible the game now gives you the choice to "resonate" after getting a bad ending-which essentially places the player right in front of the vault on the appropriate day for that password. While I don't doubt that this'll help broaden the game's appeal it also steals away some of its fun-even if the words themselves aren't hard to sus out there was still always that "ah-ha!" moment. Frankly I'd like to see this idea revisited in a future project because it definitely still holds some promise.
I could probably nitpick a handful of other things but none of them are particularly glaring or deserving of mention. At the end of the day the strength of Password's story, characters and all-around uniqueness are more than enough to earn it a strong recommendation for anybody looking for an engaging FVN, whether you're a newcomer to the genre or well versed in it. With some editing it could easily become something quite special. I can't really bring myself to dislike the game in spite of its faults-that might be because of my own personal bias towards the project and the happy memories I associate with it, but I think it runs deeper than that. Simply put, the game has a lot of heart. Grizz took something he liked and tried to make it better-or at the very least put his own spin on it, and that comes from an honest place-there's nothing really cynical or misleading about the game, and I can admire that. No matter how you slice it, Password's heart shines true.
This is a pretty good write-up that covers a lot of my thoughts as well. I debated with a friend over writing a similar comment in hopes it would be seen and some certain things about the game could be changed, but it seems I don't need to do it myself now. I'll also try to limit spoilers going forward, but I wanted to add my thoughts as well.
Password definitely has strong character development, but as you say, the weakness in some areas of the writing do hinder it somewhat. It can take too long and be wayyy too wordy at parts, going over the same exact things multiple times to the point where I would groan and wonder just how much longer this segment was going to continue. Day 10 was a big shift downwards for me, honestly, and the stuff after took what felt like forever. The payoff was good, though, and was a good moment. However, I do feel like my experience was lessened by picking Sal first. Some things just happen differently in a way that probably weakened the overall experience for me. In fact, the password I was supposed to have entered around that time was just outright spoiled later in the game even though I had never entered it, which I assume is an oversight that slipped through the cracks. In a game like this, that's bound to happen, so I can't be mad at it.
As you say, the overall mystery and delving into morphic resonance was pretty good, and it's easy to draw the lines between Password and the Zero Escape series (999). I just feel the need to echo my dissatisfaction with the "true" ending. It's a heavy black mark that honestly ruined the game for me and a friend. Path A is definitely the "better" ending but knowing what's out there and the time investment to complete it is... just such a bummer. The effect it has on the story and everything that happens... I don't want to go more into it because of spoilers, but I reeeeeallly hope this is revised in the final product. It's just so frustrating, but with all the respect towards the author and the story written. I say this with love because I grew to care about the game. (Also, #justiceforsal because he's honestly treated the worst in the game... I didn't even like him, I picked him as a middle choice, but man it kinda feels like the author didn't even like him either.) ((Also also that one bit with Tyson near the start is pretty bad too...))
I think that covers what I wanted to add/emphasize. Password is overall a fine game with some great character development that could just use some trimming and some revisions in places, namely the endings (Oh, and, the antagonistic force in the last third to fourth of the game, that all felt a bit rushed.)
I'm genuinely curious to hear why the true ending is such a black mark.
Sure, though my language is probably too harsh maybe? The game is still good, and it's still a good time playing it. There's no real way to avoid spoilers when talking about the ending, but I suppose I'll try to be as vague as possible. I'm just writing some more filler text here so maybe the spoilery bits are hidden by the expand prompt, even though it seems the expand prompt only shows up if you're logged in, so apologies to those who aren't logged in and hopefully you don't read the SPOILERS AHEAD.
Is that enough space to hide it? I guess I'll see. Okay, so, about the ending. The whole point is to work towards this 'prime timeline' where everything and everyone is okay. And like, yeah, that's a good thing. It SHOULD be the goal to make everything work out for everyone, that part I have no issues with. The part I don't like is how it absolutely obliterates one of the best parts of the game, which is the character development. You go back to the point where nothing has happened yet, and then the game ends and rushes into a romance over the span of a few minutes, that took a month's worth of in-game time to work itself out. Sure, the feelings were already there, but it's just so much... lesser this way.
I know that, in a game with branching paths like this, it's very common to have a canon route. But this just feels like the worst of both worlds. The non-canon routes are cheapened by the way the true ending is handled, and the true ending itself doesn't benefit from the development over the course of the game.
In my opinion, a better way to handle it would be to rework it all so that you're taken back to, say, day 20, or at least around there. To the point where most of the development happened, and from there you can give everyone a proper ending and epilogue. Alternatively, you can have the convergence point be after the vacation, though obviously you'd have to rework a TON, including a certain bit where you get the... Virgo medal? I think that's the one, at the very end. That way, every branch can have the possibility of existing in every timeline, but once you've been through them all, you get the prize at the end. I know the 'point' of the game is to settle on one timeline where the good thing happens, and that it'll happen that way now in future loops, but it just feels bad currently.
Outside of the character development, I just wonder why Dave is even doing this to start with. Why is it him? Why does him doing what he does in the 'prime timeline' matter at all for what the mastermind does? He doesn't even know the final password, and even if he knew it, it wouldn't have mattered. It's not the end of the world but it does feel a little awkward. (And I admit maybe I missed something that explains that but it just feels weird to me how that goes down.)
This post on reddit also echoes my same feelings about the way the true ending went down, with a little bit more spoilers.
I'll also add that I'm not in the discord and I haven't been following your news or anything really after this beta build, so I have no idea what you've changed or what you planned to do after this specific moment the game is in right now. I recognize that my bit above about a better way to handle it would be a massive undertaking at this point, and heck, maybe you simply disagree with my opinion. I'm sure other people do. I absolutely don't expect you to do anything extra, change anything, go about revising things just because I said I didn't like it. I just wanted to express how I felt about things. Short version: Character development, good. The way the ending handles that, not good.
I'll try to be efficient in how to explain this given you haven't been on the server or likely been exposed to anything still in the Patreon version:
1. Canonical means part of the story. That's it. Everything in the game is canonical because of how the time looping works. There's no way to really stress that in-game without exacerbating the already existing problems of my pre-edit script. While the story descend on a finality of a particular romance should not invalidate the others as it took those to get here.
2. Looping back to Day 20 doesn't work. Ignoring that we have a sequel where we need a locked in romance or at the very least lock out certain romances, we're dooming certain people to still die. Namely Roswell because of his illness. The medicine at this point doesn't work on him because of actions he takes on Day 4, so any intervention needs to happen before then.
3. As for why Dave, I have plans to fix that when I remove the Oswin interrogation segment in favor of explaining how quantum mechanics works a bit better. Namely the concept of observance which might help clarify why Dave at all, why Thanatos dying solves things, etc. My concern with this is ending up just like C/Ping a Wikipedia article and the delivery feels dry.
-- Also there were talks in the Discord last night again as to how to potentially integrate inputting the final password in Path P to round out the player experience but so far no one (myself included) hasn't come up with a way that makes sense where Dave would know the password.
I guess the thing that I should make clearer in-game is that the mansion is just a means to constrain the boundaries of the test rather than try and keep tabs on everyone over a town. It might be something I can throw into the revised Oswin section, but the idea is that once the experiment is over and Roswell is cured, we don't need the mansion holiday anymore.
1. It took the other romances to get there, sure, but then it's all erased for the final bit. No one else but Dave remembers it happening, which is the problem. Perhaps canon isn't the right word for the situation, but it has the same effect for everyone that isn't Dave. That's the central issue I have with it.
2. It wasn't a perfect suggestion, I was just throwing out potential alternatives. It's your story and your sequel to write, I was sure you already had plans for things. Saying the medicine doesn't work because of what Roswell does on day 4, sure, but... why? That kinda feels like a "just because" situation.
3. No comments on this bit, you have plans/desire to adjust things so that's good there.
As for the mansion, sure, I understand that. It's just a real bad feeling that, like that reddit comment said, all the character growth and relationship development just disappears once the experiment concludes. I don't think something like that could ever feel good to the reader. Your time investment doesn't matter except for saving Roswell, and even then both Roswell and Dave are mentally worse for the experience. (Besides the whole, Roswell being actually alive thing, which yeah is important). Sure, you can argue that it does still matter for you, personally, since it did happen for the reader but... I just don't know. I don't know what else to say at this point.
Actually did write a follow up where I gave more of my thoughts on tumblr but that post is spoilertastic so I'd rather not link it directly, instead i'll just relay the pertinent bit here (spoilers ahead yadda yadda yadda):
.
.
.
.
.
.
In my review I said that the game's ultimate conclusion was one of its weaker points, but that's not an entirely accurate statement. This is a perfectly functional and satisfying ending for how it ties up the more general story: everybody lives and Dave finally gets to be happy, and things end on a hopeful note, the implication being that with his other lived experiences having crossed over, Dave is able to help his companions work through their problems. Consequently this means Dave is able to break through Tyson's shell right away and get him to admit his feelings. I could make the argument that this sort of cheapens Tyson's character development, but not enough for it to seriously bother me. Realistically if the game absolutely had to settle on one single romance by the end, Tyson makes the most sense given his history with Dave, and while he isn't my favorite, he's far and away Password's most popular character so I imagine this'll sit well with most people. That bad boy bogan charm is pretty hard to resist. Initially I assumed the game went with this because it was simply trying to cater to fans but that's actually not the case-a little bird told me that it was part of the plan from the start. My problem here is that forcing the player to settle in to a fixed romance at the end undercuts a big part of the appeal for me and I imagine a fair few other people as well-what was the point of having all those romantic options if they were just going to get handwaved away at the end? If Password was a more linear or kinetic affair from the start that only had one set romance, or if the true ending was left vague enough that the reader could reasonably imagine Dave hooking up with any one of his potential suitors at the end then this might have worked. It's definitely a thing that sticks out to me, especially in a game like this that's otherwise pretty well constructed.
Im gona just aplause you just confirmed my thoughts and silenced them thanks 👏👏👏👏
Cute profile 🫶
Okay so i thought that there will be another update since the game version is labelled b0.7 (a final build usually use v1.0 instead) and i kept waiting for update until i started playing the latest version where it turns out the main route is already finished 😭
This is such an engaging game with how it interact with player encourage them to play the other character route. The game is pretty long since you need to do some backtracking (10+ hour for a route if you're fast reader i think, i played for week on and off and i only finished four of the A route and haven't even touch the bad route yet) but the world setting really paid off and i can date whoever i want too so ♥️ :]]]
Me and my friend really enjoyed this vn so thank you so much for putting so much work and love into this vn Grizz. I can't wait for your other project!!
(Everyone give this vn a try NOW! It's never too late to try!)
Hey there. Is there a way to save your progress on the game to cloud or something? I want to get a new phone but i still wanna play using my progress... TIA
Have you considered localizing the game after it is released on Steam, such as Chinese?
I have! Chinese and Spanish are the ones that are the top of the list, the issue just becomes the pricing given the length of the script.
Missing one of Hoss's set, 1 of... the 8th man(?), and a trauma between day 10 and something in the pool.
Also bugged out when I got Hoss at the end of B.
Not sure what you mean about the Hoss one, do you mean the one between him and dave at the pool and the pic of his family?
The trauma i think is path E which is to kill every character as fast as possible, i think.
Yeah, that one.
Get Hoss's affinity pretty much as high as you can before he shows you the library and that will get it.
He's a book in braille but thanks.
its just easy thing like spending time with him, when he talks about working out say pilaties (or whatever its called) and the 2nd time tyson rushes out (after the convo about confessions) don't follow him stay and talk to hoss about family.
I just completed the game, and now I'm wondering what else I'm missing regarding completion. Spoilers:
1) Are there any hidden/alternate passwords for certain scenes? I got curious after being showed the slip with different passwords during Hoss's route. I tried them all during earlier moments when you access the vault, and the only ones that seemed to work were PEACEKEEPER and ARBITER on day 7, relating to Benson's murder. I also realized the paper Oswin shows you when he injects you is also a password for day 11.
2) My gallery still shows I'm missing some CGs, 2 in memories and 2 in trauma. I think there might be a bug since the total number doesnt match up (says I have 101/104), and I'm also aware the last track in music doesn't show up due to a bug. To put in perspective, I'm missing 21st and 28th in memories, as well as the 13th and last CG in trauma. Also I noticed the CGs of Dom sneaking up on Dave in the woods repeat? Not sure what's up with that.
1. Not really. A lot of it was scrapped because of scope, but you can get some variations by using the Day 10 password on Sal's route for instance. Beyond that, nothing extra.
2.The CGs shouldn't be repeating, so that's either a display error or a bug that isn't current as of the build I'm working on. As for the missing CGs, those numbers don't line up to the gallery as I see it. You 100% should have progressed through both of those Trauma CGs if you've completed the game, and the missing Memories CGs take place on Dean's route (according to my list anyway) and aren't missable if you've played his route at all.
Thanks for responding! I experimented and went through some routes once more and I don't believe I missed anything you pointed out, though through someone else's hint I was able to find a Hoss CG I was missing before. Unless you're talking about the nsfw CGs in Dean's route (which I think aren't suppose to show up), I think I've seen everything. I also realized one of the problems is that the Roswell cg after Dave's death in path A doesn't show up either, which partially explains it. Nonetheless, I feel it would be easier to show you what's missing in the gallery and see if it's a bug.
Ok the the momories is dean nsfw scene.
the traumas- top one is i think path C (condemed sal)
The bottom one is Roswells POV after the news
Thank you! I checked and I didn't even realize I missed that variation in path C lol.
As for the others, I know I saw them but I guess they won't show up due to a bug. Regardless, I think I'm done trying to complete this game for the time being lol.
... I need less ideal endings to get the last medals don't I?
And the gallery pics?
crash report:
So day 17. The word I wound up using was said by neither one. That was Dave.
Hi !!how to unlock the additional epilogue ? ( And yes i have the b0.74.1 vesion)
The requirements should be listed on the entry of the epilogue you're trying to unlock. If you've met that, try restarting the game.
I restarted Pw and it works thanks for the help
Does anyone have any hints on the password you're supposed to put in on Day 17? It was suggested in-game that it was something said by one of two characters in two conversations, something that 'connects' them, but I've tried literally every single word they spoke in those conversations and no luck. Is there even an actual password here, or is it a fakeout?
Orlando says it
Aha, got it. I'd been speaking to Tyson first every time (since I was doing Tyson's route), but I think Orlando might only say the specific word if you speak to HIM first. It also seems like it's for an event that doesn't actually happen? Or at least, doesn't happen in Tyson's route. I haven't done the others yet, so I don't know if that changes things.
It's skipped on Tyson's route because the underlying cause is already solved before it has a chance to happen.
I just want to ask out of curiosity. Will the game have a price when the game will be fully released?
Full version will have a price, yes. No idea what specifically it'll be yet though.
I didn't expect that this game had cost me more than a week for this one.
(btw I just lost my Itch.io account)how do you get path P?
playing all routes and not letting anyone die, at some point will lead you to path P ( maybe )
ah, thanks
you need all the medals and then go through path A
Not even once. Should I be concerned?
are Dominic and Jack actually dating?
They're ROOMMATES. 😂
Yes and no. They're screwing each other and care for each other (if Dom dies Jack goes crazy and Dom wants Jack to be kept safe) but they wont put a label on it more than just being roomies.
Quick question and its about the TRUE ENDING (Dean, or Tyson).
Do you have to fully do the entire route for the side characters or is it like, shorter then the 2 main characters? So we escape or something earlier then when you do the main 2 routes?
If you've hit the point when you can unlock the true ending, it tells you what the requirements are. Reloading at a point before then after meeting the requirements should work.
A gay horror story? Yes please~
Also... is Sal romanceable?
You can have Dave pursue Sal, yes.
Just to reconfirm, that game is entirely stream safe?
I've fallowed the game for a while but stop playing midway just to have the full story at disposition when I do come back and wanting to stream it... from what I've seen theres only one sort of suggestive scene but doesn't show much, I just want to know
With this build, there is 1 sex scene on Dean's route that's explicit. Every other route would be fine to stream.
I see, but I assume that moment is clear when it happens so allowing me to censor, right?
may find spoilers below
i loved this vn since the frist time i read it, at the start i thought that to avoid the murder i had to find just 1 password while i was dating.
So i was skipping all the visits to the vault, thinking that i will have a last tryal at the end of the game, or something.
So, when i fount the frist death, i wasn't prepared for it at all.
my frist path was dean, so when i found him at the greenhouse i couldnt sleep all the night, even when i had to work the next day.
i had to play it again until i find the password and save him.
that was a rlly bad night, but i enjoyed it somehow(?
expecting for secuel, if u are planning to do it.
After password is fully done Grizz is looking at two project. Syndicate (passwords sequel) and a smut game for the people who's been asking for smut.
He's mentioned them here before so i dont think it's a problem putting them here.
- Syndicate (Crime drama set some time after the final events of Password)
- The Cat's Meow (A smutty merchanting game with cards)
Can confirm that's the case. Two games incoming, though it'll be a bit before we see anything of Syndicate given the scope I'm aiming for.
Syndicate
I know this was like 3 months ago but i rather want a Sequel bc this was just spectacular and i want to see what's next 😅
but do you 😋
It'll happen, it'll also just take time as I'm planning on 3D.
😁 glad to here that best of luck
Oh...so do I. This is not only a romance but a horror game that precisely made.
If you aren't good at horror need to be quite prepared to continue.
I also wasn't prepared when I entered to Path C, it was too traumatic for me
and I'm on tranquilizers now.I found I'm not good at horror, but I love this game too. I will clear someday.
Hello, good day! i wanted to ask about compatibility of save files between pc an android. I started the game on my phone because it was a time where i used my phone more than my pc. Now the gears have inverted, and id like to play on my computer. I managed to locate the saves' folder in both cases and i exported all the files from my phone to my pc. When i did this, i had all saves in the pc, but they have one difference:
-On Phone, Thanatos says i ve found 8 medals
-On PC, Thanatos says i ve found 3 medals
I've imported the whole save folder, but this doesn't seem to fix it. Is there any way to fix the current medal counter?
I can give more detailed information if needed
The medals are saved in the persistent data thing in the save files. Or at least it's in the same folder on PC? Copying that across should update the medal count but it could just be formatted differently. I've only heard of this happening once before but I never heard back on if they got it working.
Hey! Thanks a lot for replying at all. I made sure that i copied the file several times, and i've noticed something particularly odd.
The persistent file in my phone weights around 671 kb. When i move it to my computer, start the game and make Thanatos tell me the amount of medals, the file drops its weight everytime to 301 kb. I don't know why this happens, but i just wanted to come back to you and let you know that i was unsucessful on making this work.
Considering your reply, my theory is that the difference in format is not being recognized by the game in the computer, which causes the game to just recreate the persisten file back from zero.
Thanks again for your time replying to me! I love your game, i will just finish it on the phone :)
Eu queria saber se dá pra encontrar todas as medalhas na mesma rota
resposta curta não
Okay, so i just finished Tyson's route, path A. I got 6 medals and some plot hole or something? So, after i put a password on day 17, the MC doesn't have to go to the vault anymore.... But i still get some trauma CG. How can that possible? Am i missed something?
Besides, I just read some comment and there is a "path p"? How am i suppose to get there? Is it the real true end?
There is a true end and you need all 12 medals then go to the end of path A so Craig (Thanatos's true god of death form) can count them. If you have all 12 he'll move you onto path P
And how am i suppose to get all of the medals? Search all of them in every single route? Or...?
Every character route Plus making sure to finish Path B
what's the first password on Tyson's route? At the safe area.
edit, I got it.
HNGGHHHHH FINALLY IT TOOK ME LIKE 2 MONTHS TO FINISH THE GAMEEEE (frickin' college -.-)
Been playing this since day 15 was out and I just have to say that the game is so gooooooooooooood. But anyway I have a tiny issue
So apparently I'm still missing the last song in the music room? I re-run all the routes and finished path P as well... any ideas on why this might be? I'm kinda stumped.
I believe in current build it's bugged. It should be the track that plays on Path A while reading the letter.
Ohh, yeah that would explain why the letter's music was missing. Thanks!
Just asking real quick, What is a CLUE or HINT for the password for DEAN'S ROUTE after you saved BENSON?
On which day?
Day 10.
Or I guess, the password for Day 9, to prevent the deaths from Sal.
Ah, that password is said pretty predominantly in the bad end.
So it's a word they will continue to use in the bad ending?
Correct. Closer to when it's already too late to change anything, but it's said a few times.
A MASTERPIECE PERIOD.!!!
But a question?
Is there a path where Roswell and Benson won't die?
(I just finished Path A Tyson route)
Path P the true end, you need to get all the medals for it.
Is that so?
Then could you please give me the paths for all the medals?(I only got 4 on path A Tyson route)
You get the other medals by playing the other five routes path A. So Roswell, Dean, etc.
Then go through path B with which ever is your favorite to get the medals there.
Spoilers (I'm new to this)
In Dean path c, I've got two X's and idk what it means nor how I'd got those. Does it mean bad choices in patch c?, Plus how do I choose the Path A of Dean or to know what choice's does change the paths (or hints)...
If sounded dumb, sorry... I'm new to this
The squares on the save files are for the characters. I think the order is Roswell, Tyson, Orlando, Hoss, Dean, Sal, then Benson, and Oswin. If they get crossed out, it means that character has died.
You stay on path A by using the correct password on day 10.
Ahhh okok, thank youu!!!
A red "X" means that a certain person died.
If you fail the password on day 10, you simply lose two people. I recommend to read on, because the "bad ending" paths are part of the story and MAY be helpful to figure out the mastermind or the password you missed.
In General: The passwords from day 10 and later can be solved without watching the bad ending! Just read carefully whenever Dave starts his investigation and write down sus words on your paper.
Path A: Support Benson, solve all Passwords after day 9
Path B: Reveal Oz, solve all Passwords after day 9
Path C: Support Benson but FAIL Password on day 10
Path: D/E: Reveal Oz and FAIL Password on Day 10.
Ohhhhhhh... I Get it now, Thank you!!!
I've discovered the ultimate path, 100% finished game. Solid play, although it opens up to various questions I'd die to find the answers!
Like for instance, who was responsible for Roswell's passing if you didn't get the Password. What happened to the Vault now that the gang didn't go there in the first place, did Memphis take it? And the most mind-boggling question of all...
Does Orlando have balls?
He himself - with an injection on day 5
They send Memphis some picture who the vault gets opened and the "timemashine" does not work anymore.
You played path B, didn't you? Orlando got enough balls to challenge his father. :)
Injections can cause Head Injuries...? The more I know I s'pose.
also goddamnit I didn't mean metaphorical balls!
Roswell's first day 5 death is from being hit in the head with the fireaxe.
The vault is offline and what was in it gone. So when Memphis shows up it'll just be to an empty mansion and a thing in the basement he can't use.
And yes. Orlando has them. Both physical and metaphorical.
Fire Axe??? I'm unsure where to start looking for that in the game... Also another question is who'd do it? Cannot imagine Oswin would do it even if Roswell pleads.
It'd just be the one Sal has and finds under his bed. And later potentially uses on the day 10 event.
It's been a while since I went through Roswell's bad ending, so it isn't completely fresh in my mind. I'd assume either hypnotized Sal or Oswin.
There will be no more updates unless you buy the one on patreon?
No more public updates from now on. If you want to see the updates then its $1 on patreon. There probably will be a bug fix patch maybe but dont quote me on that. Other than that the next update on itch would probbably only happen with the finished product.
the PASSWORD TvTropes page has just been created
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VisualNovel/Password
by u/nguyenquocthao on Reddit
i would like to ask for help to give that page more content
I JUSST FOUND A EASTER EGG!! when the game start, i will always put a custom name "Chase" on every visual novel that can change name on it, because the first game i played is echo, but when I just put it on the coffee cup scene I got freaked out when Roswell said he expect Chase look like an otter, so i go back and put random names, 3 or 4 times, its a different dialogue..
Well done mate.
So you have also tried the names of other Characters including the Passwort Cast?
If you put "Dean" on the coffecup, Dave will try to protect his coffe at all cost.
i love this game, it's one of my favourites with rtf and echo, i enjoy the story and find out what the password was at all the times, but i have a little problem with the true ending
Spoiler:
I'm a Dean lover, he is my favourite character and his route is my favourite so far, so i was very dyssapointed when i made it to the true ending and see that dean isn't the canon romance for dave.
But that's just a simple complaint that doesn't affect how good this game is, congratulations grizz for making one of the best visual novels i have ever played
Don't worry, Dean finds his own partner later. But we'll worry about that... well, later.
So... The romance route is actually useless 😐 Because in the true ending, Dave is... umm... i don't want to spoiler it. I'm just gonna pretend Dean path A is the true end because i love him the most. lol
Warning because there is some spoiler in my comment below :)
The game is good, i enjoy playing it. At first i thought this game will be like "Let's MEAT Adam" because i only heard this game is about solving murder mysteries, guess who is the killer and searching code password (also ofcourse because both is gay, adult, nsfw game) 😆 but now i know, i was wrong.
The story is interesting, my favourite part is when the police came to Dave's house and telling the "bad news" about his father. I can feel his sadness 😭 also i love the part when Dave is dying in path A too. Very emotional.
Every route is unique, each character have different problems that makes me love them more. My favourite route is Sal. Because he have many problems in his life but i'm proud he can hold it alone for years.
Last is i'm just want to appreciate you for making nice save section. It make players easier to remember which route and path they are in. There is also color indicator beside the date of the day and beside the characters name to remind players which route they are in.
Thank you for making this game 😊
I'm sorry that you came away feeling that it was useless. The message you were meant to come away from this was that everything happened, so every romance is canon, everything that could have happened did, but the true end converges it all onto one point.
Maybe useless is not the right word to describe what i mean 😅 i'm sorry.
I'm just surprised, Dave immediately choose him to be his boyfriend in the true ending after he became boyfriend/husband to all of his friends in other routes / paths. I thought he will have complicated feeling, like "who will i choose to be my boyfriend?" Because... if all romances in every routes is canon, i assume now he will have love feeling to all of his friends 😅 the other theory i have is : Dave immediately choose him to be his boyfriend because Dave is afraid, he will leave him forever if he not choose him.
Also, i forgot to ask, how about Memphis in the true path? Is he still go to the mansion after that? I imagine he, Dom and Jack still come to the mansion looking for the time machine. Then he will see the vault is open, he will angry and searching Oswin. Maybe he will kill Oswin 🤔
He chose him because he loved him more. Always has. Think back to the big moments of the game and who's there for Dave most; that's why he was the one that was chosen.
As for what happened to Memphis and his goons, that's for the sequel.
Ohh~ i see. Thanks for the answer 😊
And there will be a sequel?! Woooww i can't wait to see and play it 🤗
Maybe these two argument may console you:
1) It sadly fits Dean's character: "Never lucky....", "Always to late". But he may find a new partner regardless.
2) Depending on the outcome of most Path A and B Route, we can certainly assume that Dave and Dean will open a Coffeshop together regardless, by their own or even with Oswins Money (medal hunt). In a way it must happen, otherwise Dean will tragicly die by a work accident as Thanatos mentioend.
Just finished Dean's Route A, and it's been a hell of a ride! I can't wait to complete the other characters routes!