itch.io

As a heads up, if the event that gets you Tom's Assistance triggers on the same day/same conditions as the two nerds in the arcade who try to challenge Ren, when you try to have your arcade date, a corrupted version of the nerds event will play (the sprites don't show up right), and then when you go to leave the arcade it'll try to transition to getting food with Tom but instead lock up, which is, uh, non-ideal, I think.

1) Totally fair, as I said, that was more of "it'd be neat" than anything I really expected.

2) Is there any way to tell when an action raises it normally?  Or is it all really self apparent?  Like, you know, you can (sorta) date various characters, does everyone kiss and tell adding to your reputation, or is it only randos/public activity that add to it? etc.

3-4) Reasonable and thanks for considering making any alterations for QoL tweaks this late in design.

5) Oh, fair enough.  Yeah, I'll admit I did not find that intuitive.  Whether that's something that matters enough to adjust/put in the quest log/w/e, or if it's fine as is is obviously your call.

So, this is super random, and I think falls entirely into a "just thinking out loud about something I think would be neat" thing than a "this is a request you should take seriously", but given the quantity of brainwashing/trickery/etc. that happens to our sweet protagonist if it's permitted, I am a little sad that it seems like the Emperor's (least?) favorite priestess is quite so willing to accept your disinterest in her proposition, given that she apparently doesn't listen to the Emperor (or anyone else) who tells her not to do it (at least, so far as I can tell, maybe there's some scene related to this that already exists that I didn't run into).

In particular, I think it would make for interesting character narrative making if a "research focused virgin" or "lesbian, girls only!" Erica (IE: That's how the player is playing the character and making choices with the understanding that those are Erica's goals, role playing, as it were), could be pestered by the priestess to just hear her out, let her convince her, really think about how special and attractive the Emperor is, what it'd be like to be his Empress, etc. etc. and prayer blast her while her head was full of those thoughts, given that the Harem route already seems to suggest that the prayer and everything  made Erica go totally head over heels for the Emperor to the point where she's unable to distinguish its effects from however she might have felt before.  

Maybe it's a little out of character for the priestess (...  Maybe not given her apparent scheme to manipulate her girlfriend into carrying 5 kids while she also carries 5 kids, perfectly aware that the court magician is too in love with her to resist despite the fact that it's not what she'd want otherwise), or the goddess, but in my head it'd be an interesting little variant on how to start that subplot for a character who wants to RP "not just agreeing to be goddess brainwashed, that seems like kind of a strange thing for my character to just say yes to" but...  You know, probably likes involuntary mind control if they're playing this game.

On a barely related note: Is there any way to know what the "slut reputation" value of an action is without cracking open the save file?  ...  And does it matter outside of the one guy in the slums and the priestess's comment?

...  Also, while making unreasonable requests for features (well, okay, making suggestions you're free to ignore, but those're sort of like requests if you look at them sideways), I do kinda wish the scheduling at your house was a little more generous.  Like, maybe the "friction" of it is supposed to be the point, that you're "spending effort" to do it, but being able to snap to, say, the place where you take care of your kids in the morning/afternoon to save you a number of loading screens of walking (in one direction, at least) would be nice?  While you'd still have to walk back to wherever you want to spend the first time slot, it'd be less tedious than setting your "start of day" thing to, like, the inn, walking out, walking down, etc. etc.  Since the game seems to want "visiting your kids if you got them" to be part of your daily routine (as they get sad if you don't, and you get minor buffs eventually if you do), it being integrated into the thing that lets you create daily routines feels...  Natural?  I dunno.  Similarly, while I don't know that there necessarily needs to be more places you can fast travel to, given that using the fast travel is part of getting scenes, and even unlocking at least one character's interactions, and so on, I've often found using it a bit cumbersome?  Frequently finding the nearest fast travel sign, remembering where the right spot to jump to, and then walking another screen or w/e over to get to where I'm going just ends up feeling not that much faster than walking manually, so a few more "start fast traveling here" signs, even if they're one way, seems like they couldn't hurt?  Because I mostly fast travel either to get to the Bazaar, or specifically to fish for scenes, which seems not...  Quite correct?  Also, "leave the city" as a fast travel option seems like it could be useful if you were going to add one?

Edit: Oh, random bonus thing?  Problem? Somethin'?  If you get caught by the Orc and start doing the "Queen" related tasks with the seer, while the game is perfectly capable of recognizing when you've ID'd the girl you're supposed to snag in the tavern, with the 3 check marks and such, I cannot, presently, figure out what to do from there.  My instinct was to go back to Navarra, but she just tells me who I'm looking for, talking to who I'm looking for doesn't give me any options, and I don't have any key items or spells that seem like they do anything?  Maybe this part just isn't finished, obviously (as the walkthrough notes that the content terminates after some sex scenes, maybe that's here?), but if it there IS some way to progress once you have the girl ID'd its sufficiently unintuitive I can't figure it out, and if there isn't some way to progress some notice of that fact would've been nice.

If nothing else, if you just want it to be clear that "there's nothing more here", having it just loop the one scene, rather than sometimes doing the scene and then sometimes not, would possibly help?  Since, for most other relationships, brainwashings, etc., when you hit the terminus point it's either revisiting one last scene, or talking to the person doesn't get you a scene and instead you have a couple that spring up randomly, like the Charm version of Sonya's thing, where it's sometimes when you enter the zone, and sometimes when you fast travel for other variants, and so on.  The simple fact that there was two interactions, one of which where nothing seemed to happen other than getting the pink eyes for a bit, and the normal scene, probably also contributed to me idea that there had to be something else there, because otherwise what were those false starts about (according to my internal logic)?

...  And failing that, could always add it to the H-Scene collection doc, so people who are braining at it and can't figure out what to do next can look it up and go "Oh, there isn't anything to do next."

See also: Me and...  Kye?  I think?  The werewolf guy on the building roof who insists werewolf girls should be bimbos, but doesn't seem to get a scene variant if you actually are a bimbo.  Or maybe he does and there's some further requirements to it?  Dunno!  I'm sure you've been inundated, over time, with people reading too much into "Oh hey, character made reference to (whatever) mind/fetish state that exists in the game" then responding to it with: "I should go get it and come back!"  when that was more supposed to be in scene fetishization than hints/instructions.  Can't write every possible iteration/interaction angle or you'll drown in the authorial work, after all.

Hrm, I guess I got the impression there was more to it because of the way the character up front was talking about all the painting work they do, all the STUFF going on (which I guess could just be implied to be lies to keep people who aren't of the, uh, 'right mind set' out of the basement?), and then during the scene in your house the amulet like, apparently teleports to you and stuff (though maybe that's just in your head?  It's phrased like it isn't, though, you're just too brainwashed to notice) that at least make it feel like more is going to come of it, especially since magic amulets or similar markers (albeit ones that end up in your inventory) tend to be the signifier of being tied to a particular path/subject to being mind controlled back to the subject later/w/e.

I will grant, I might just be reading too much into it, it could be more that most things that tend to go past like 2 interactions seem to go to 5+ a lot of the time, and so I'm just having misfiring pattern recognition.

Heavily Edited because I am apparently bad at paying attention:

Is there more to do with the Cursed Painting?  The setup for it makes it feel like it should be more than a repeating scene in your house (especially since it fails sometimes?), but no matter how low my character's Willpower gets or w/e nothing happens there or back with the girl who gave it to you?  Maybe there's just not supposed to be anything, but it kinda felt like it'd lead into more?

And secondly:  The Life Apple thing that "teaches a summon healing spells" or w/e making you choose one, plus the summoning section of your spell screen, makes it feel like you could get other summons besides the wind guy, but despite bringing some home in the pocket dimension, there doesn't...  Actually seem to be other summons?  Am I just reading too much into the RPG selection mechanics?

So, I have noticed, if your character chooses a VERY UNSAVORY option for her first major partner, the game is scripted to notice if she rolls that result as the father of her child for the post high school pregnancy check.  You get a bonus option to let religious, or I guess otherwise opposed, characters abort the child due to its VERY UNSAVORY nature.  However, on the following screen, where it talks about who you talk to about your pregnancy, this awareness is lost, she'll casually tell her guy friends about it like it ain't no thiiiing, she'll have two disconnected conversations with the same guy twice that simply do not make sense in context.  It seems...  Peculiar that that interaction is flagged to be noticed on one screen but not the immediately following one, you know?

Maybe this is just part of the in progress expanded prologue stuff, but it did seem very strange.

That scene doesn't actually exist, it's meant as a tutorial to introduce the idea that your stats can change your options, but isn't actually accessible.  I had the same confusion back in the day and that's what the devs told me at the time.

Having played through a decent chunk of the content (except, from the look of it, the thief route) I have had a few thoughts on the currently available version here that may or may not be useful to the devs, but I was thinking them, so, mine as well share?  I'm coming at this from the perspective of trying to give useful feedback, so if there seems like a bit of an accentuation on the negative, it's not because I hate the game or w/e, just that "I feel like this could be improved" seems like more useful feedback than "This sure is neat, isn't it?"

Firstly: The tone.  I don't know if there's really anything to be done about this, but the tone of the intro, and the tone of the game experience...  Just don't feel like they match up?  The intro is, you know, atmospheric, evocative, tragic, an extended narrative piece to sell you on the sort of doom of vampirism and getting lost in your hungers, but how a spark of humanity can remain even after you have a substantial body count, etc. and it's pretty effective! But it does kinda lead into a management where a huge portion of story content is locked behind masturbating in your room until you're ready to become a whore presently?  And the whore content is a lot more "horny fun times, with a touch of vampire biting" mostly?  And I'm not saying that's bad, I'm just saying it's a bit of an odd juxtaposition.  There might not be anything to be done about this, really, but just "a thing I noticed."

Secondly: I find it interesting how there's like, a couple chunks of character development for Vesper, and world building on the nature of the setting, and so on as part of the extended prostitution scenes, like, that's neat!  However, it, presently, doesn't feel like the other two (I see three listed on the stat screen but dunno how to do the 3rd one?  I assume that's a still in development thing) have any real plot at all?  Even though part of the prostitute plot ties back to the place you used to write for, it doesn't seem like you can find out about that information or anything while doing that job.  Maybe the idea for the story route splitting is Stripper/Thief/Prostitute, but in that case, I...  Don't know about the need to have multiple job options outside of prostitution if they're just a couple of short images with a few lines of text based on your level in the job.  Like, it feels weird, when compared to all the stuff the prostitute job gets, to be level 4 journalist and just have "Wow, I can definitely organize these papers better with a bit of process."  Maybe these just haven't been fleshed out yet and there are plans to?  But if there aren't, I'd consider planning to, you know?

Thirdly: Speaking of scenes, if they idea is that as a vampire she's at least partially supposed to be lured into sexual hungers to go with her ones for blood, and that does kinda seem to be the suggestion that you're given in the prologue (or at least a fate you're threatened could befall you), it feels like some scenes of temptation, of carnal instinct, events where you're lured into lust even if you haven't tried to raise it intentionally, would be thematic.  If there's supposed to be this threat of losing one's self in a life of instinctive debauchery or something, it feels like that should be able to happen without queuing up "I'm gonna masturbate at home" 10+ times or deciding to drink a magic lust potion a bunch of times first, right?  It doesn't really seem like she's ever all that tempted or compelled presently, she has to like, make the active choice, top to bottom, to be that way, creates a bit of that ludonarrative dissonance.  Also it feels awkward that if you haven't been grinding your lust most events are "Look, a scene, you can't do anything, leave."  Just makes it feel like the game is telling you you're playing it wrong if you're not grinding masturbation, and maybe that's the intended message?  But it's not communicated super well presently.

Fourthly: Drinking.  I don't currently get what the point of it is.  Well, okay, based on the notes it seems like the point of it is "spying on her when she's in the bathroom", and I'm sure that's some people's thing, but having tried out the system a bit it seems like you spend a pretty significant chunk of cash for the...  Pleasure? of seeing her steadily become more miserable as her reliance on alcohol gets worse.  And that feels...  Weird?  "Please exchange significant sums of money to make your life worse" might be realistic for drug and alcohol use in real life sometimes, but it feels...  Really strange in a management game.  If nothing else, you might want to consider including a sanity curing effect to getting drunk, taking the edge off your ravenous blood hunger by just getting too hammered to think.  This both now attaches value in the management system to the money you're spending, and explains why she might become a crash out drunk while trying to suppress her vampiric urges, even if it's bad in other ways, it's helping some to keep her from going violently insane.  And also lets people who want to peep on her while she's being miserable on the toilet experience that.  Win-win?

Fifedly (which is how that's spelled, for sure): I am not going to say that it is wrong for the Witch pet path to be about her brutally beating the shit out of Vesper, but I will say that it was...  Not what I expected when I clicked that button.  Her just beating the tar out of Vesper "because she can" feels like a really weird tonal shift, that I feel like some people might want to be advised about in advance.  Also, I'm...  Okay, I apologize, this is probably not useful critique, but I did find it very odd that she invokes Machiavelli despite acting opposite to his advice from The Prince.  While "It is better to be feared than loved" is the bit most people remember, the actual thing being advocated for in that section is that it is best that your allies love you, and those who are not your allies fear to cross you, but if you cannot have both, it is better that all fear to cross you, but it is most important to not become hated that people might try to overcome their fear to destroy you.  The witch's behavior of "I currently have all the power so I can force you to go through simulated murder before punching your lights out with my super powers" is, like, antithetical to Machiavelli's teachings, so her invocation of being an intimate of his forgotten to time seems...  Really strange. I'm sure not too many people will notice this, since history has largely misremembered his message, but it is gonna seem weird to anyone more familiar with his messaging.  But her being so just, maniacally nasty to Vesper does make it feel like she's being set up as a hate sink to get offed for her misdeeds if you play your cards right, which maybe isn't where you're going, but the fact that that's my impression of her potential narrative role is exactly what Machiavelli was warning about, witch lady.

Finally, a little thing: It feels like there should be some threshold of hunger where you should be unable to lose from Sanity loss.  Had an odd case where I had less than 50% hunger but 100% insanity (because rats, you see), and it just...  Seems strange she can go insane with hunger when not hungry?  This probably doesn't really matter, but it felt really weird when it happened, so I figured I should mention.

Apologies this is so freakin' long, but with best hopes and wishes for your project.

One thing I find a little odd presently (unless it's different in the paid version) is what looks like a one time chance at a scene with the boy bunny for cleaning the room with... 50? I think? perversion?  As I can't find any interactions on the first floor that can push over like... 20?

I'm sure the front desk offer to work there for real is like a "come back and do this later" sort of thing at 200, but something feels off about having done what appears to be everything I can without ascending to floor 2 (As I presume, given your mission wandering back to the first floor is not in the cards any time soon) currently makes me feel like I'm missing something.  I know I'm missing a bit, as I had to find the code to the hotel room to get the bunny suit here rather than in the game, but it doesn't feel like I'm missing 30 perversion points of stuff, since I'm out of things to interact with.

While this may just be early days, that scene isn't obtainable (and perhaps doesn't even exist), that feeling of missing something apparently major had me walking around in circles for a while which doesn't feel great?  Though maybe the truth is I did miss something that sizeable despite myself, in which case consider this asking for a hint on where to find it instead.