Spoilers
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Really great stuff. To me it comes across like a piece of written media a little more so than it does a "game" - but I get the impression that that was intentional. I don't mean to imply that I feel the choices are inconsequential, just that acting as Quincy and choosing what to say/do is very unobtrusive to the reading experience and doesn't disrupt my immersion. Playing as a more established character is definitely beneficial in this case, it feels like Quincy fits into the setting in a way a custom character wouldn't, and he also functions narratively as a character the reader is getting to know in the same way the other characters do.
It's cool to see how some mechanics are explained directly and others are "learn by doing". I found the segment at the party very clever, when it's not clear why you might collect observations it adds an amount of paranoia. I was so surprised by the payoff after all that buildup that I couldn't bring myself to be frustrated with the seemingly unavoidable public humiliation ending, it didn't feel shoehorned or forced. I had to admit that I would have probably done the same... Then the debate segment felt like the rewarding version of that, ("horse lips" and quoting Lucas's own writing back at him had me laughing so hard) I'm sure it's hard to strike a balance but I found it to be super successful here, especially since Quincy is also "learning by doing" as he is forced to engage with politics and interpersonal relations.
Which I was also forced to do as someone who previously swore hatred against all verbose fantasy political dramas... but i'm glad I went out on a limb here. My main gripe with a lot of the aforementioned stories is the detached approach they take, but there's so much interesting characterization in here that the politics is a lot more "human" and thus engaging. There's no omniscient narrator, even the codex is biased.. And it helps that politics is more the context/setting of the story, but there's tons of other aspects that make up the meat of the story. If there's one thing I'm a sucker for it's definitely interesting, realistically complex characters who can't help but occasionally elude to A Secret Thing...
And the characters are so so special, I especially love how one of the main themes among our group of misfits is that they're all performing for their own purposes, but not necessarily "faking" and how Quincy then stands out as someone who can't always change his presentation as a means to an end. D'Angelo's constantly charming placating attitude, Vickie's removed vulgar persona, Kaitos's nonchalance on every matter, and Elijah's scarily composed propriety. (WHY is he like that... he's SCARING me)
I feel that even Imani and Lucas fit into this theme - even though they actively go against social standards because of their dislike of overly conservative approaches to societal change. To me Imani's affect does seem purposeful, especially with her highly intentional use of language contrasted against Quincy's bumbling directness. (I don't think it's a leap to interpret "being Haretouched" as an interesting parallel to neurodivergency in-universe??)
And I would talk about Lucas, but really maybe I shouldn't. All I'll say is I didn't know a character almost entirely made of hateable traits could be so... so...... he's so.. well... he's very. special. to me. I'm preventing myself from making a tumblr account for the sole purpose of sending asks about him, because I don't think they would come across as written by a sane person.
I'll end this with one more compliment to the writing, and a comment about a bug I experienced in the web version but not in the download. (I'm on chrome on MacOS) New codex entries appearing in unread would not appear in the main codex after being read and would disappear from both a couple "page turns" after being added. I could also read other unread entries that I hadn't unlocked yet by clicking the next arrows on the bottom of the screen. I don't remember the exact presentation but if/when I replay before the next chapter I'll try to reproduce it. Thanks to you both for putting your amazing art out there, I'm excited to see what's next.