Just completed the demo. Words alone cannot describe how much I love what I've experienced. If only I could show how I roll around and screams and bend myself when reading the dialogues...
I'm not familiar with English hifuu works, I mostly read chinese and translated japanese doujin.
So I am really surprised to see a story told from Merry's POV, and the thought put into Merry's character is just amazing, the way she juggles herself between dream and reality, the way she cherished every moment with Renko, how perceptive she is toward Renko and mostly how she acts. YES. And prior to this I've only seen this 'level' of Merry in 鳥居すみ's works (mostly in なにもない夜). It might be weird to say this, but even in dream sequences, even when Merry is getting attacked, I enjoy reading them because I enjoy second-guessing what Merry is thinking at the moment. (and then Koishi read my mind outloud)
But Renko's character is simply outstanding. I've never seen... and I never imagined a Renko with a sense of humour, AND this Renko is capable of flirt (even if it's just a little)?!!! OMG yes. I could imagine why Renko says those dumb jokes and I love it more when Merry seems to notice this too. YES.
I have no idea what the full game will be, but even as it is Renko's character is making me rethink the whole hifuu relationship. If there is a Renko POV down the line, I couldn't even imagine how good Renko's character could gets... For years I could only grasp and appreciate Merry's character, never once feeling anything toward Renko's character. I would even question myself (and to my imaginary Merry) "Why Renko ?". This is the first time I feel Renko is actually interesting and cute and smart and caring and brave .... and yes, thank you.
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Gameplay wise (i mean the puzzles), I have been stuck with the hospital one for a while. I guess I was getting used to 'objects I could interact with will glow brightly' and I starts ignoring decorations, thus I ignored the clock and run around interact with everything for around 10 minutes. Once I notice there is a clock then it's quite easy.
You might ask, how I solve the first puzzle in scarlet mansion... well I didn't, I ran into the solution by accident, back then I was thinking 'lets first try interacting with anything obvious to see if there is more dialog' and the puzzle solution stands out from the whole scene.
Also in Myourenji's puzzle my first reaction was imputting 5 character, not realizing the game was asking for 7.
And music is good. I want to stay in main menu and in Occult Club scene for more. Bamboo forest and Scarlet mansion is inviting, I almost feel a playful mood. Myourenji is calm and a little boring (too much walking perhaps? ). Hospital simply makes my gut twist in agony (and I love it).
During exploration Merry feels clunky because she often gets stuck by invisible walls despite it seems that (judging from the background) she could go through. Some objects also have a bigger collision than their art shows. Of course this is not a big deal, just what I noticed.
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I think I said enough... Please continue the work ! I'm looking forward to game's official release !
(edit) also it would be nice to have a log feature !