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I like how the game freezes when you answer no to the very first question, like it suddenly dies in reaction

UI is hidden unless the game is full screen and I no-clipped to the bottom of the level when I immediately started the game

As a technical demo, major issues to look for is the slow pace of combat. It's paced to feel cinematic but this will get old in the first few battles if this is used for a game built around random encounters and grinding.

You can clearly tell that the battle system is built with events as some sort of sprite seem to flash on the top-left corner before fading into the battle. I peeked into the game files and found that's exactly how this game was built. However, this is a system which every unique battle has to be built manually and will cause problems for any project with a scope larger than a jam. 

If this jam were to have a technical category, this is realistically a 1 star. This may be a wakeup call to get much deeper into object-oriented programming, this battle system is probably best built as a plugin.

Overall, a 2 star. For every other category, my opinion is pretty similar to what everyone has shared

Gameplay - 3 - The memory game is novel to me and works well for the short format. However the janky coding does hurt quite a bit. The event system is ultimately made for cutscenes, not game mechanics.

Music - 2 - Maybe a bit mean for me to not rate favorably but that victory musical effect was not made to be repeated rapidfire as in the boss rush at the end and it got pretty unpleasant to hear over and over again.

Story - 2 - It's at least arranged well as other people have brought up. However this game capitalizes on the ability of stories to own a complete monopoly on the conversation. The narrator in this story is a non-artist who feels personally inconvenienced by the criticisms and the actions taken against works created with AI. While someone did mention this story does attempt to portray "both sides", the opposition is portrayed as horned, mean-face demons with motivations of cartoon bad guys. Opposing arguments are portrayed at face value and only at the very end of the story for a very short exploration of the topic.

If for some reason we need examples of opposition points that this game can reasonably address, the gun weapon is a great example. Many technologies need some responsibility in order for its use to be considered moral and none of the moral and ethical problems of AI are addressed here.

Graphics - 2 - It's bad on purpose, so I think this is the only fair rating I can give.

Comedy - 1 - Unfortunately the topic feels too serious for me to lighten up while playing the game. Meh. 

Overall - 3

I can only vote based on the actual playthrough I was given. It basically went like this: I didn't remember my name because I wanted to save mana. Then I wandered the game world basically naked except for a tech helmet that didn't help me in a way that I understood. I did random stuff that gave me potions. I kept getting potions I didn't use and got to the final boss. Lost. Retried the game again and kept getting potions I don't use and dying.

Then I got ONE stat increase, decided to use potions and face stomped a boss with a naked character. Then I get rewarded with a punchline ending I didn't get. Interesting game, even WEIRDER story.

Overall - 4

Gameplay - 3

Graphics - 5

Music - 4

Story - 2

Comedy - 2

This one's hard to rate, because it definitely is a satire game and it's unfun on purpose to make a point about how evil gacha games are. You drove the point home really well

On top of what's been mentioned, I unfortunately have to give the graphics score a low rating because there isn't a very strong value contrast to separate foreground objects from background objects. The black outline helps but there's also a missed opportunity to use atmospheric perspective to convey distance as well. Otherwise, I'd have to spend a few seconds to look at an unfamiliar level and figure out what's a platform and what is not

Warning to everyong playing this, there is a softlock in the game. When you unlock the campsite, this is avoidable if you select 'train' with each character the first time you talk to them, and they must be level 7!

So useful, more than half of these sounds are in active use in my own game! :)

Not a lawyer.

You could just find a version of the Creative Commons license that you like, and say your assets use that license. I wrote my own because license because I'm pickier

This game is huge. It took an extra minute to figure out the turn system and that I took some time to realize the equipment items function like skillbooks. Unfortunately, I wasn't in the mindspace to play a game this big, so this game felt like a slow burn I didn't have the patience for. I only went 25 minutes in which was shorter than I'd like but 5 stars seems fair with all things considered.

I come from a culture that doesn't necessarily value free will and instead the value of 'duty' tends to be more familiar with me. My intent was to portray what I think how the world would work if life was really about choices. So, I added choices in situations that don't make sense and part of my idea was to exaggerate the supposed impact of these choices. It's also why the gimmick was packaged in a glitchy aesthetic, because IMO it's ultimately not how the world works and it's what 'free will' sounds like to someone who sees that people's choices are ultimately limited by their material conditions, if that make sense.

I could be more focused with the theme but overall this was an in-the-moment shitpost I made since I didn't have the availability to make a sincere, full-effort entry like I did in past jams.

Talk to the bus at the left side of the map after buying the boss slayer

People often talk about life being about choices and so this game embodies what those people sound like to me. Glad to see my jokes are landing 

Har har. Very funny.

The moment I played this top-notch production, at last, my life is complete ! My depression and anxiety has been cured, and the sun has never shined brighter. This is the best game to have ever come out in the 21st century!

I played this game and suddenly I'm in India 

And let me know if it deserves the lowest score. 

Let's say someone does play this and believes it deserves the lowest score. How do you think you're going to respond?

About me:

• 2023 Harold Jam : 1st place graphics, 2nd place story, 2nd place overall
• 2023 Hawktober:  1st place judge's choice, 1st place story, 1st place gameplay

• As an artist, I am great at on-map character sprite animations, but may be a little weak with full-screen illustrations
• Creatively, my strongest passions are in modern and scifi settings.
• I have numerous unreleased plugins at our disposal.  We can use any of these plugins for whatever game we make, if any.
  • Showcased in Harold and the Ice Queen:
    • Platforming plugin that can be turned on and off during runtime
    • Heavily modified version of Yanfly's CTB turn system in the style of Final Fantasy X, including turn order display
  • Showcased in Ava's Spiritual Guidance 
    • A text messaging plugin with its own eventing system independent from RPGmaker's own system
  • Showcased in Caveman 2044
    • Masking-based lighting plugin

Overall my talents are diverse. My preferred way of communication for game dev is on discord. My user is gensun.js but do let me know if you greatly prefer email or some other method!

I can reasonably infer it's mechanically the same as health, mana and TP but the short time I spent on the game did not reveal what those stats are. This is a game advertised to have hidden mechanics so I want to think ahead about side effects

I didn't understand the game. The game starts off with a vague allusion to a girl related to the protagonist and throws a lot of vague symbols at you. I notice the game is keeping an eye on whether I respond to in-game choices with love or hate and because of that, I didn't enjoy killing deer with that gun. I didn't understand what "phantasm", "evaporation" or "swagger" was and I understand how it was going to impact my playthrough if I lose "swagger". I found I got "cursed" which I didn't know what that meant until I noticed it's basically a poison status effect which I don't have any obvious curing items for. Sorry to say, I don't feel comfortable with this game

There are game features which do not work with a touchscreen. Sorry

I am happy. Are you happy?

Many menus are annoying to navigate because pressing cancel goes to choice #2 instead of the exit option

Never found the key ring for the jewellery store but having the other three was enough for me to guess the missing digit in the end

Reminder I should recommend these plugins anytime someone asks around for "undertale plugins" or something

I'm still on a Windows 7 which seems to get screwy with user devices, but XP predates RPGmaker XP which doesn't make any intuitive sense to me

At seemingly random times of the game, the game will think I have an arrow key held down permanently until I close the game. A dissappointment I can't progress the game without frequently losing progress.

There does not seem to be much to prototype. You answer some few questions and a mysterious narrator railroads you into behaving how they tell you. Could make for an interesting horror about obedience but there's very little to comment about

Hello, I managed to play your game all the way to the ending and was impressed by that choice of twist. I decided it was right for me to write a review. It's a little long, but I think the extensive feedback would be beneficial.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dMumfbK7tDjVJrgXdvlyv90nDIWvS2_O6KdAzN70q0E/...

Let me know what you think. Best of luck.

Holding shift with Always Dash on should slow your character to your walk

Are you playing with mouse controls? There doesn't seem to be an intuitive way to walk while moving with mouse. With keyboard controls, walking and running is controlled with the shift key.

The key is to not run within three tiles within the gargoyles. Walking is fine