This was honestly just a delightful game. It kind of felt like it just did whatever it wanted, but it really worked. From the final boss (which was truly fantastic) to the big open world with all the characters in it, to all of the other segments, to even the artstyle, it has a truly fantastic energy to it. Made my night playing it.
Kamani Arbus (They/Them)
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Oh, makes sense. I'll pick it up on Steam then (especially since I got it from a bundle this time), and then when I get to playing it again I'll know I have the latest version.
I did defeat the graveyard fight, although unfortunately, it seems like I can't use the Bleeding Heart because I can't access the apartment anymore (after a certain boss fight). When I get to replaying it, I'll make sure to do that first instead.
I'll have to consider the alternate route. I saw the statue with the start of it after beating the bonus boss, and I think perhaps I would not want to see it through after seeing everything through on a good ending, but also it seems interesting so... shrug. Time will tell I suppose. Can always do it, then do a normal route replay.
Now that I actually did finish the game, comments time. There are some spoilers here, although nothing severe. Still, I'm glad I went into this game without much foreknowledge, so if that's your approach, you might want to not read this.
This game was honestly kind of a masterpiece. Excellent characters and story of course, and with a really good combat (which was nice). However, the thing that really first drew me into the game was how the game was deliberately frustrating in a fascinating way. The start of the game is quite difficult, and in no small part that's just because you don't know how it works yet (I died a lot of times before I realized that resting after I got through the beginning part was, in fact, worth raising the rent). Even beyond that, there's also the little things. Every single way to save "costs" in some sense (even just sleeping, since it raises the rent), traveling around the city costs at least 1$ (and quite a bit more if you don't want to lose things randomly, so until you have more money, you probably can't afford to be using it constantly), and no matter what you do, there's always a chance that you'll just lose a piece of equipment. In my game, I lost the Strength Scarf that was literally my strongest piece of equipment to an overnight theft, and I was never able to find another one. However, as I got into it, I just learned to roll with it. Lost the scarf, so I used something else. Carried some extra gear just in case, got used to spending a bit, etc. It complements the story the game tells so well, so it was really a fantastic experience.
Beyond that, the story was phenomenal (although I won't get into it too much since Spoilers), and the ending I got was very satisfying (for which one it is: I had to go through the full Tower to get it). I really liked all four party members, but I also liked all of the background characters (the ones who were intended to be likeable anyways, I can't say I liked Ramona's landlord, but that just made something in the ending all the more satisfying). I made sure to use the Small Talk option several times (and to do so after getting more characters) just because there was interesting dialogue for the characters.
The combat is also really fun. I ended up with three of the characters' Tarot card gear, which was extremely helpful (regen is really good in this game), but just the set of skills available to each character were interesting and fun to use. I didn't get all of the Spiritual Healing skills (except for Kyrie's), but the ones I did get were all useful and interesting (Dodge Roll is great).
Tragically, I played the majority of the game with the sound off because of the times of day I had available to play it, but late game I ended up listening to some of the music, and it's fantastic (seriously, I was missing out). I need to replay it at some point just to listen to the music some more (plus to see some of the content I missed, like a certain arcade machine).
Also, as much as the art for the game is described as not great (literally in the description of this game), it works with the tone of the game, and I actually liked it just fine. Also, Kyrie's walk cycle is great. No other comment on that necessary.
I did not end up beating a certain bonus boss against the (non-canonical) "ruler" of Engel, although now that I've done everything else, I'll probably take another try. The problem for me wasn't even the boss's damage (which was honestly not that high, although I also had a lot of defense on all my characters other than Kyrie, who just dodged things that vast majority of the time), but the fact that I literally could not outdamage the boss's regen + the one draining skill. I'll have to give it another try now that I'm about as powerful as I can get without just grinding Model Employees for stat-up items (which I sort of did, but that was just because I was enjoying the fights while doing the things I needed to do to get into the final floor of the Tower). I did beat most of the bounties that I didn't accidentally lock myself out of (although I think I forgot one of the four Heavenly Rat Kings, so I should really do that too). Combat in the late game got pretty easy, but I did make a lot of use of stat-up items and had very good gear.
Edit: Fight done. Huh, that was a lot easier this time. I guess all those stat-ups really did help, given that I was able to just do overwhelming damage and end the fight quickly. I don't seem to be able to leave though, as the looping hallways occur in both directions?
I did run into one bug worth reporting, but thankfully it did not break my game or anything:
For the Rank 3 quests, I did Lighthouse Reclamation, then Lonely Hearts, and after finishing Lonely Hearts, it sort of never stopped. I turned it in, but now all of the characters have kept their dialogue associated with it. This is mostly notable with Sheya, who always refers to me doing it. Some of the other characters sort of refer to it, but most of them are more in reference to it being finished, so that was fine. The core bug part was that when I picked up the Casino Investigation quest later and left the building, I ended up with both quests at once in my reminders, and, if I talked to Uzbek again, I could go and turn in Lonely Hearts again, getting the short scene and reward. I did not attempt to do Casino Investigation (partially in fear of breaking my save and partially just because it seemed unlikely that turning it in would work at all). It didn't stop me from completing The Tower stuff, so I can still normally end the game that way, thankfully though (that would have hurt a bit).
Edit: I did go on to finish that quest, I was able to turn it in (... alongside Lonely Hearts, both of them turned in at the same time) and have everything get a bit more back on track. Some of the dialogue in Casino Investigation was off since I did things in what seems to have been an unintended order and characters didn't know about things they probably should have, but everything worked fine so I'm just glad I could see everything in that.
Edit: Oh, right, additional minor bug: Kyrie's Cool Down does not end the "Killing Harmony" Assassin stance, so you just get a full heal and the CDs trigger, but your stance does not change.
Anywho, that's the longest response I've written to a game in a while, but I had a lot to say about this one. I'm still not really sure whether it's Itch standard to leave reviews in the comments or reviews, so I'm just going to copy the review-y portion of this over to that too.
I couldn't actually finish this game because of how really unpleasant it is, so I was really impressed by it. Given the way the narrative was going, most games I would have tapped out wayyy earlier. However, the strong narrative and characters kept me around until floor 18, when I just couldn't keep going with it anymore. I don't think I'll ever actually finish this game, but I wanted to note how strongly effective it was. I can't say if it stayed good until the end, but I just had to leave a comment with how strong it was for the parts I saw. Even down to the combat, the way the character's level-up skills almost always were good for one character and bad for the other really showed just how much they loathed each other. That, especially with the ways the unlocked stories unfolded over time, and things that originally appeared one way (like, say, some of the disappearances from people trying to reach the bottom of the slime dungeon) were revealed to be not as they originally seemed. I would absolutely love to see the end of this, I just don't think I can actually finish playing through it.
Additionally, the combat is really good. The combination of skills (in which so many of them have terrible drawbacks because of How Much They Hate Each Other), the way guns were implemented, I was legitimately surprised by how it managed to not get really boring, even when you went through every fight.
Long story short, even though I couldn't bring myself to finish the game, I was really impressed by it.
Alright, thank you. I thought that was the end, but it reminded me of a crash with how quick it was and getting that annoying noise, so I wanted to be sure.
Also thank you for the Discord link. It seems like those things tend to be somewhat annoying to set up given how often I've run into expired links (and yet other times I'll run into a Discord that's clearly been dead for years and the link still works, so who knows I guess).
With that, I look forward to the next chapter whenever it is ready. I've greatly enjoyed both the first and second chapters now.
Am I getting a crash near the end of chapter 2, or does it just cut out very quickly? Immediately after the line "And, as soon as I was close enough to my liking, the ground cracked open right under us.", the screen immediately goes black for a second, the music cuts out hard (sometimes making one of those annoying sounds from when sounds cuts out immediately), and then it immediately returns to the title screen with no warning or a message about waiting until the next chapter comes out. I already have all the illustrations and doodles and everything, so I assume that is either the end of the chapter or around it, but it seemed rather sudden so I wanted to check.
If that was the end, I really enjoyed the second chapter. It was just as beautiful as the first, and I really liked the various animals and plants this time (that illustration of the siriko was really impressive especially, although I think my favorite of the illustrations was the last one in the house, that one is just lovely). I also really liked the writing again (Pamum was great, I hope we see more of her again). Additionally, the doodles were just really fun. The first one in the chapter was probably my favorite, with just the expressions on everyone being delightful.
One minor note, I noticed that in the "About" tab of the menu, there's a "Join the Discord" link, but the link does not actually work, it just goes to the "Invite Invalid" page. I don't know if there is a Discord, but it was a bit confusing to have the dead link.
This was a delight of a story. It's a melancholy game, but not without comfort. My playthrough ended with the devil trying to be reassuring and staying, even if he really didn't actually know how to help, which hit pretty hard. The little bits of the old culture sticking with the player like the word "baba" really stuck with me, especially combined with the little bits of magic and how they fit together.
All around, this was a really strong game. I'll have to play it again some time after it has had a bit to sit in my head. Thank you for a great story.
When loading a save on a floor that has the gold, experience flowers, or healing spots that disappear in a set number of turns, the numbers do not appear.
Additionally, the Swamp Buckler, which states that it provides block equal to your current poison, instead deals damage to the target equal to your current poison.
This is one of the most beautiful games I have ever played in my life. The characters, backgrounds, and the drawings in the journal are all incredible, and the chapter splash screens are truly amazing.
In addition, I loved the characters and story, and the music was lovely. The details about the animals, the journal entries for even your writing supplies...
This was truly an exceptional experience, and I look forward to seeing more as the story progresses.
One minor note, Gloria's line after the song including the phrase "What it means is it is harmony." is not listed under Gloria's name, which seems like maybe a mistake? I barely noticed it, but I figured I should pass it on just in case.
I just played this again after some years now (I actually went to RPGMaker.net where I originally found it and thought it was lost when I couldn't find it there until I found it again here largely by mistake). It was truly a delight to play it again.
I had never even known about the secret route until I read the guide, and it was a delight to get it this time. Additionally, while getting it, I noticed just how many lines there are for calling Irene on the communicator, which was fantastic (seriously, even for little ones like before vs. after getting the alokite to put in the battery-making device).
... also, I literally always thought alokite was spelled alkolite and it's funny to me that I've been wrong about that for literally years.
Anyways, it was a delight to play it again, I look forward to anything else you make in the future.
I really loved playing through this. It was just a lovely experience.
I did run into one issue, for some reason the Aquarium/Library/Botanical garden/Art Museum images just showed the little image broken icon? Thankfully I'm pretty sure those are also the four images on the bottom right of the page, so I didn't miss them, but I figured I should report in anyways.
I just finished playing FixFox and it was a fantastic game. The plot was excellent, the characters were fantastic, and I really loved just going around and fixing things with whatever I had to use.
I ran into a few glitches (a crash after calling the speeder immediately after arriving from using the Taxi, a stuck camera on one of the satellites after moving one of the docked parts, and a weird position you could get into on another one of the satellites that you couldn't get out of), but I was able to just load the autosave (which was both frequent and never saved me into a dead end) so that was never a real problem for long.
I did notice that the discord link on this page seems to be dead. I don't know if it is just not active anymore or anything, but it might be worth updating that.
Have a lovely day, and thanks for creating such an excellent game.
Hello. I am stuck on how to continue the quest about finding the special animals (I do not remember the exact name they were given, apologies). It mentioned caves, so I checked all the dungeons, but I could not find anything. I cannot proceed any farther right now (I reached the room with the big disk on the floor, but I do not know how to proceed there either), so I am not sure of what to do to continue here.
I figured it might have been the Blob Fish and the Daddy Long Legs and the others, but talking to them did not help.
Additionally, the walls in the first area of the ??? dungeon with the big disk on the floor are not solid, which seems like a glitch.
I have really enjoyed this game so far, so I am hoping there is any kind of advice on continuing here.
I really loved this. I played the last two games before this recently, and I also enjoyed them. It has been really neat seeing how everything with the characters (and also with the writing and style) changed over time, and it's lovely to see Trixie have a nice moment and get support after the last two games. Thank you for releasing it.
Fiora: Full Bloom is just wonderful. Playing this made me feel... I guess validated maybe? I could have that wrong, words are hard, but it is what I have got right now. I really haven't seen many games that actually address gender identity, and this does it so well. I was a bit confused at first, since the game does not start out with a tutorial or anything, but figuring it out and being given the tools to figure it out felt right and worked really well. Also, the tilesets, character art, and music are wonderful.
I really enjoyed this and would absolutely recommend it, if you're considering trying it. I hope to see more from FallingStar Games in the future, everything I have seen from them and from the people in them is really good.
Thanks for making this.