This was such a well-written and designed game, and painfully relatable! I think most people have suffered from body-image issues at some point in their life, in one way or another, and it's extremely painful when you suddenly become so conscious of your own appearance and so uncomfortable in your own skin. While I wanted to protest against how Phoenix talked about herself, I also knew how she exactly how she felt. There's so many little details in this game too - Phoenix's relationship with her mom, the fact that she tries to dress to hide her weight, etc. It's ironic that Phoenix believes that other people (her mother, her ex - people who at least look a little like her) are beautiful, but she doesn't believe that she's beautiful. It's ironic, but very true.
I really like how the choices are deliberately vague. Each choice is just one word, and there's no real way to tell how Phoenix will play out that choice in her head. But that's the way these bouts of self-doubt can be! Your mind grabs onto certain thoughts in a largely uncontrollable way, and those thoughts can improve your mood, but they can also lead you down a rabbithole of negativity. In my first playthrough, I picked a mix of "positive" and "negative" choices, and subsequent playthroughs required some trial and error, as I pieced together which choices would lead me to the good ending. I think that this was really cleverly designed, as it forces you to navigate the maze of Phoenix's negative self-talk in order to reframe her state of mind, much like how you need to do that in real life! (As an addition, thank you so much to the dev for adding the "quivering" text effect for the more negative choices. It reinforced Phoenix's doubts in a very visual way while also acting as a very nice quality of life feature, telling the player whether the choice would lead to the good or the bad ending!)
SPOILERS HERE
The endings are so well thought-out as well! In one, Phoenix's negative self-talk wins out and prevents her from going out. In another, Phoenix's negative self-talk gets so bad that it spills out into her texts, putting a damper on her friendships (so real). And in the last, Phoenix is able to talk herself up enough to go out - and when she finally goes out, she's met with overwhelming appreciation and love from her friends. I think that it's interesting that, with every variation, Phoenix's friends are equally supportive, but that's not enough. Phoenix needs to have confidence in herself in order to get the courage to put herself out there. It's very real and true (although obviously, having good friends helps a lot, too!)
This game was VERY well designed overall. I loved the minigame and thought it suited the theme so well - Phoenix looking at herself in the mirror. The art is absolutely gorgeous (Phoenix is so pretty!!), and the color design was so clever! There is a slight blue tinge over the majority of the sprite (to give a melancholic atmosphere) while the phone image is fully saturated/given a warmer tone. It really contrasts Phoenix's negative self-image with how she really appears (it's also a VERY clever usage of the 1 sprite O2A2 rule!) The voice acting was WONDERFUL, and the actress portrayed all of the different characters so well!
Really great work, tief!! (You look great today, too!)