itch.io

GigaSaddle, I hope you're doing well. Your novel is one of my favourites and I hope you one day will finish it. No matter what, you've already made something great and don't feel discouraged or pressured. I understand how difficult it can be at times to manage everything in one's life, and I hope soon you'll be in a great place and let us all see the rest that this story holds. :)

I understand the power of dreams to be haunting. I once had one where I was gripped by the figure of death and he held me down and whispered in my ear and I couldn't move. I was paralyzed, looking at this black emptiness within a black cloak. When I woke up, I still was paralyzed. I realized it was sleep paralysis, but the dream I've never forgotten.

Reading Soulcreek has been a fantastic experience for me, and I'm sure everyone who invests the time to read it will get the enjoyment I have, and the auditory experience is indeed excellent. My friend and I often talk about the mysteries and influence of what may be the underlying nature of the demons. He has a penchant for cosmic horror, whereas I tend to be affected by the spectre of things very real we're powerless to stop. 

Whatever happens in the story, I do have my own speculations, yet they tend to rely more on science fiction. So I'm wondering just what kind of can of worms humanity opened up in the past story wise. The allure of the mystery and what's beyond is captivating to be sure, and for me, what Carl Sagan said still rings true for me - Science is a candle in the dark.

And like the protagonist of the story, knowing is the only way to move forward.

This is so good already. The entire feeling and interactions leave me wanting more. I hope this will be finished one day, I'll definitely be supporting and keeping an eye on it. You're great!

I think it would be lovely if their relationship develops and there's a CG of them kissing on the roof like coming full circle to the original one.

No, there wasn't even a model there. He's basically off screen currently in that scene.

Quite enjoyed what I've read, I think it has a lot of potential. Hopefully will be able to read more soon, keep it up, you've got fans ^^

It's hard for me to describe how I feel about some of the characters. Some of them I don't have much of an impression of at this point, but I do know that from what I've played, Caijoru is a mixed bag.

This does contain spoilers so:

Rationally, I understand how he must feel, but it's like he's at a point where he's so messed up that he has trouble even considering that his plan is a horrible thing to do to someone else. He knew what would happen if he took Jeffrey / Colin to the cave. But he wanted to go and wait however long it took to try and get his brother to let him return. It's difficult when you give someone a chance, especially after having someone abuse you in a relationship to then turn around and have the trust you're trying to put in them betrayed. 

As much as I wanted to hate Jeffrey at first for being really childish to people who cared about him, the more time went on, the more I understood it was more reaction than just lashing out for no reason. Honestly, I understand it pretty well, having stress in your life to the point where small things feel so much heavier than they should.

Ted, I mean, if it's true that Caijoru can eventually be pushed to the brink and see that he should move on, be the person he wants to be, I'd want to hope he could live a good life, that any of the bad things inflicted on him or by him, that those could fade away with better decisions, honesty, and embracing people rather than trying to use them.

I'm not entirely sure if the ending of the route where Caijoru comes back to be Ted one last time with Colin as the curse is taking hold is meant to be read the way I saw it, but it felt really sad. The thought of not seeing exactly what happened, my mind immediately thought of the journey Colin had been on throughout the story, where he didn't want to feel like he was going to keep failing everyone around him. So, instead of becoming what he feared, he shot himself after telling Ted he loved him, preventing the curse from moving on. What happens to Ted in that case, I don't know. But I don't know which would be worse: Colin shoots himself, or he shoots Ted and then himself...

I was surprised with Sean. There were some moments where I suddenly felt like he was who Colin should have realised sooner was truly special. And Daren, I don't know what to say. He's such a good person, I just want the best for him always. I think I'll read some more paths when I feel less overwhelmed by the sadness.

I don't think he's really evil, but he became so consumed with his own problems he nearly lost all of his empathy. To me it seems like someone who's so mentally worn down they don't even know who they are any more.

Wait, one person says it sucks and it torpedoes his confidence? I mean it's a pretty good VN, it doesn't have to be perfect for it to be enjoyable for lots of people.

Well, as far as I know everyone's human in this story, except when they're doing the tabletop game.

I'd like to  say so far I've been really impressed with the plot and pacing of the game. I wonder how nonlinear the plot will progress, as I've grown to find the choice aspect up to this point as feeling like it does have an impact and whether it ultimately does or not, that's a good feeling for a player to have.

Also I know you've said you're working on this solo, but if you ever do need additional help with proofreading, I'd gladly offer my support. Not that this novel so far has had particular editing issues I've noticed, but nonetheless, just feel like any help for someone working on their own I'd like to offer.

Great work, and we're all looking forward to more.

From my experience with Echo I went into it with this impression that felt as though people were saying things about one particular character or another. But the more time I spent with it, the more I realised how the town itself ... the darkness that pervades it, like an indelible mark, manipulating and taunting all of the characters in various ways, it really was the one in the driver's seat. I came to end up pitying and empathising with all of the characters and what they went through. So many terrible scenarios and situations beating them down over and over. It's a wonder they did as well as they did for so long. 

I don't really blame any of them, I know if it were me I'd have left as soon as anything freaky or terrible happened. Echo seems like a nightmare to live. One way too many never escape.

You should be honest with Saya. You'll know what about, and also not keep your mouth shut with his dad. Then you want to push him to see his mom. If you do it right, he will go see her and ask you to come with him.

There's not really much of a difference. Shoichi is mad either way but puts it on Haruki. The upside to failing or letting yourself fail is that you get different bits of dialogue referencing it, mostly with Haruki. One spoiler below...

The only thing that's kinda rough is that Shoichi really goes beast mode for a minute. But ... Obviously it makes sense in context.

There was something else that caught my attention too, but I've been thinking this is the case for quite a while (basically since I met him), but...

Haruki I'm pretty certain has a crush on Shoichi, or is even in love with him. He's been super curious about Yuu and Sho's relationship and whatever details Yuu will tell him. Plus that, he always makes references to wanting to know about 'the dog' and despite all his homophobic slurs, he very quickly decided to kiss Yuuichi without reservation, and didn't seem bothered by it at all. I don't think he could if he was uncomfortable around gay guys.

Sometimes people will put up a front to avoid being accused of the same thing, something they can't face. And in the C route Haruki finally says something that's pretty suspicious/conclusive to me. When he has a conversation where he tells Yuuichi to stop waiting and do something about it, he says:

'If I'd been given the opportunity, I sure as sh-t wouldn't be leaving him alone and hoping for the best like an idiot.' And he mutters it under his breath so Yuuichi won't hear. Pretty sure he's suggesting that he wishes it were him with Shoichi.

I'm not entirely sure what his feelings are at this point. He seems to have some kind of affection for Yuuichi now, but he does still keep seemingly being very curious about Shoichi. Like maybe he's not sure what he wants anymore, but I'm kinda convinced he has, or had a thing, for Sho.

Now, I've been playing the A route because I think it's how I would go with things myself. And even in it, I'm not happy with some of the things that happen, and I sort of want to see some things change down the line. But part of me wanted to see what the other routes were like, and some things I like and many I don't. It seems like because of what Yuuichi does, Shoichi changes in varying ways. To be fair, if you don't confront Shoichi after talking to Saya, it seems like Yuuichi is going to continue feeling worse and worse about how aggressive Sho is until he bursts, or their relationship blows up. I had hoped you'd get another opportunity to talk to him or someone else, but it didn't happen in this update. So, in the end it seems like really you can make a difference in what happens based on the relatively few choices you get to make.

But sorry for rambling, just had some thoughts about how the route differed. And that's something that caught my attention with Haruki.