There is a line that Asterion said that cemented my decision to never do a Ruthless route, no matter what.
Asterion said someting along the lines of the old masters being kind at first, but when they got bored they became violent. They abused him just because they were bored and their actions had no consequence. I couldn't ever bring myself to do that.
He's just too well written!
I've just finished Ken's route so far, so potential spoilers...
This confuses me somewhat. He's displayed interest in Grey and even asked if they should kiss, showing at least part of him wants to. Do you mean he's straight because that's what he identifies as regardless of lables people put on him, or his behaviour? Or he's straight regardless and would never want to persue a relationship with another man? I understand Ken overcoming his homophobia is a large part of his character development, and that it doesn't always have to be internalised.
Regardless, the character writing is brilliant, and I love the horror aspects!
Wow! What a fantastic start to the story! I'm so torn between Silas and Orion, while Silas is so friendly, Orion strikes me as the kind who is very sweet but has no idea how to go about it, and that awkward nerd is very appealing to me...
I have some questions though, mainly about how exactly the "Major" declaration will effect the storyline, whether it will effectively determine who's route we go down (Silas for Mage, Orion for Fighter etc) or could we for example choose to be a Guardian (if I'm reading it right it's kinda like a Paladin/Battlemaster kinda deal?) and still get with any of the characters? Also how will the stats you're assigned effect what choices you can make, like a sufficiently strong character can take an option to break down a door while a sufficiently charismatic character can persuade someone to part with information? And how will the stats effect what major we choose? Currently I'm a very charismatic fighter, not sure how optimised that is...
Really looking forward to what you've got in store next! Thoroughly enjoyed what I played so far!
I played Leo's route first, and was so disappointed that his "good" ending ended the way it did. I was heartbroken. Playing through the rest of the routes though, I still liked Leo just as much, but really started to hate Chase for what he did, to everyone and to Leo.
I'm glad him and Leo don't end up together, but I really think Leo deserves a guy that'll treat him right. Chase doesn't deserve Kudzu either frankly, but oh well.
Massive, Major Spoilers for other routes and later into the game...
The thing possessing Chase isn't actually Samuel, it's more of a twisted facsimile of him. An Echo (!), if you will. It's strongly implied in Jenna's route that the real Samuel survived the events of The Smoke Room in 1915, and returned to Echo only to be run over by Sidney's father and Janice, the coyote that works in the diner when they were much younger. From there I theorise the spirit that poses as Samuel latches onto Sidney's father, then onto Sidney, and finally onto Chase.
Or maybe I'm thinking too much about it and want Samuel to have a happy ending because I like him so much more than Chase.
What an amazing update! I can't believe we got new sprites for Ranok, *3* CGs, a new character, so much insight into characters and their motivations AND so much story progression!
Spoilers ahead!
I love how Caelen was able to think his way out of the situation with the Chief, and like Verissa a lot more now because of just how fast she's sticking to her word, she's badass and I love it! I'm also loving Vulgor's development, he seems to genuinely care for Caelen at this point, rather than reveling in causing him pain or seeing him as lesser. I can very easily see him being romance-able later on as an alternate route, but if him and Caelen just become friends and he gets with Verissa I would be just as happy
Ranok though... Wow. I don't even have the words. He's funny, charming, confident yet has a vulnerable side that makes me want to just reassure him that everything's gonna be alright. Such an amazing character. And Caelen being so perceptive! He's got his work cut out for him with trying to get Ranok to accept who he is, but I can't wait to see the end result. The cuddling scene was so sweet and the conflict in the aftermath and the chief is setting up something pretty spectacular! Can't wait to see more!
If there's just one criticism I have, it would be that you need more music! I noticed you added some while it was just Caelen and Ranok alone together, but I want more!
I love this update! I'm sad Gran isn't in it as much, but I appreciate you have to introduce us to the other characters as well. I really like the characterisation of the chief, although we didn't get much time with Gran in this build, the time with the chief made up for it!
I have a bad feeling about Pierre though (Oppenheimer name has bad connotations to me...), he seems entirely too smooth not to have an ulterior motive. Time will tell I guess.
Can't wait to find out about the world some more though, and the orb especially! What we've been told so far is very intruiging!
Can't wait for what happens next! Thank you for putting the time in to continue this project!
From this *first chapter* of the story that we've read, it really doesn't feel like a power fantasy. There's nothing wrong with the MC being out of their element and struggling to adapt to this new world they've fallen into, if anything, it makes them extremely relatable.
There is a reason why our species, humans, are so widespread across our world as they are; our adaptability, our ability to change to meet the requirements of our environment is completely unmatched by anything in the natural world. In this story, there's parts where even though MC doesn't know what's going on, he's still smarter than the other characters give him credit for.
There's nothing wrong with weakness in a character, especially when it's something to overcome. But weakness also makes for a believable character. I would much rather MC had no powers at all and had to rely on his wit and guile to solve any problems the characters came across rather than gaining magical powers that solve everything, then becoming a world-conquering tyrant
Nice, he definitely walked that line of being suave and somewhat self absorbed, I'm glad I managed to pick up on that to avoid hurting Diego
You're right though, it's always a cycle of abuse so someone made Kyrex this way, still wanna punch him in the throat though for hurting Diego though and being so nonchalant about it
