itch.io

Noob question, what's different between this and the very similarly named The Exile of Aphrodisia 2023?  Is it just the three things mentioned on that page (cursed artifacts, world map, and player perks)?

https://bluefairymediagames.itch.io/the-exile-of-aphrodisia-2023

Looks interesting - I see only notes about more art in the planned features, so does that mean the main story is finished?

Looks interesting - how far along is it in development?  I usually try to wait until games are more or less finished before trying them out, 'cause it's always awkward to come back to a game after not having touched it for months/years.

Do you have a video or something of what the tool looks like?  I was wanting to see how one actually uses it (ie, is there some sort of GUI or is it just a pack of assets that one needs to know how to glue together manually), and see more of what options are available, before purchasing.

It does look promising, though.  I kinda got burned on a thing similar to this a while back when it turned out it only had two clothing choices, so I'm glad to hear that this pack has at least ten times that amount.  XD

Hold up, just so we're on the same page - was it itch.io that said that, or the developer?  Because of the developer said that, that's a pretty big problem.

Damn, did the devs really bail on this, like people are saying?  I'm not feeling particularly swindled, since I got it fairly cheap on a bundle that included some other stuff, but it still sucks, I was really looking forward to seeing this developed.  It's not really usable with only two outfits.

Hej, I saw that you replied to something I posted on another thread, but when I try to view either the response or the thread it's on the website tells me it couldn't find it.  Did you delete the threads or something?  :o

Okej, cools!  I hope more clothes and body options come soon, as it looks like there's only two clothes and one body at the moment (I assumed that this was because I had an old version).  Looking forward to upcoming versions :)

Thoughts and questions so far:

So I downloaded the file that said it was the 1.1 version, and booted it up, but it appears to actually be the 1.0 version.  I am confused.

When new content is released, is there a way to have it update automatically, or do I need to periodically check this website and download them manually?

If there was an options menu, I couldn't find it.  Are there settings for things like windowed mode?

Since it seems like we'll be able to use custom-made assets at some point - if someone puts their custom assets into the generator, do those assets then become subject to the license of the generator?

Bought this earlier today on humble.  Looks promising, but a definite +1 to the idea of tall sprites, full-body portraits.  Would be great for visual novels and stuff.

License question - what is considered a "derivative" of the asset files?  ie, if I use this to create a rough draft of a character, and then commission an artist to draw CGs of him, is that derivative?

Ah, cool!  I saw that Humble page and was trying to figure out what that product was, since the link leads to a page that itch says the developer had made private.  What are the differences between this new one and the old one?

Oh, I see, you are suggesting the itch.io support email itself.  I could have sworn I read that you weren't supposed to use that email for refund requests, but maybe I confabulated that.  Can't hurt to try it, thanks.  

Yeah, that's the page I looked at, and under the section that says "Are you looking for support for [relevant game here]?", it tells me to email the developers.  Perhaps I am misunderstanding.

There is a game I would like to have refunded, and while I know it is very unlikely that the request will be granted, I figure I may as well try.  However, when I went to do so, I got an error message about the email being undeliverable - it appears that the email which itch.io lists as the official game support email is down.  In this situation, is there some other way in which I can request the refund (ie, through the itch.io staff instead, even though it normally doesn't work that way)?

Same boat.  At least you hadn't already bought it.  I'd ask for a refund, but I've owned the game for too long for it to be reasonable to expect to be approved, and I'm not even sure where I would go on Itch to put in the request in the first place.

A shame.  I didn't much like the game as it currently was, but thought it had a lot of potential to grow into something cool.

A couple questions - so, I apparently have Anodyne as part of a bundle I bought several years ago, but have never downloaded or played it.  First, do I need to have it installed in order to use this fan remake?  Second, would you recommend playing the original first, or starting with this?

I think I have found a bug.  I spent my champion medals on a skill (Artificer), but later reloaded to a save before that decision, because I had misunderstood what it did (I thought that it gave me an extra equipment slot to select an equipment to give characters on top of their starting three things, it actually gives a third slot with which to hold a book).  Visiting the vendor again, I notice that Artificer is no longer in the list of available purchases, which makes me wonder if my having it somehow transcended the save (even though I have the champion medals back and can buy other things).

Upon starting a new game after defeating what appeared to be the final boss, I found that Artificer was available to select, as was the thing I ended up choosing instead after I reloaded (Ancestral Prowess).  This implies that one could simply repeatedly reload the point immediately before the medal vendor and buy out all the things, and have access to them the following game... (Of course, it's a bit of a moot point for me, since these appear to compete with the slot for the absolutely-vital Mana Bolt :P)

Another bug:  Panacea claims to prevent status effects for the rest of the battle, but I was still able to get cursed again after using it.  (Also, I'm not clear on what exactly curse is supposed to do...)

Also, spoilers below for anyone reading this who hasn't played the game, but I'm a bit confused by Sarundar's dialogue before the boss fight.  I was under the distinct impression that Irinia was in the wrong and I would be walking the same path as Sarundar did, but I don't seem to actually be able to tell him this.

... And upon defeating him, my impression that fighting him would lead to a bad outcome seems to have been correct.  "In my demise, the fate of the world is sealed" indeed.

Is this actually the end?  I was kind of hoping to actually experience the looping system, lul.

Yeah, turns out the thieve's guild is a bit bigger than I thought.  I was kind of under the impression this was a smalltime joint and not The Thieve's Guild (tm), since there's not too many people visible onscreen when you walk in, and the fight looks winnable until more enemies teleport in.

Personally, I thought it'd be funny if you got some sort of joke ending for killing enough of the bandits.  ie, a very tongue in cheek story where you heroically kill each and every bandit in the city and save the world (tm), complete with a CG drawn with the artist's off hand in crayon depicting people celebrating you as the legendary bandit killer.

... or just give the player an instant game over, like if they try to immediately expose Lady Wolf to Sa'id.

I got to the sixth wave.  Almost every tile has an enemy, including the tile I'm standing in (sometimes they glitch and have multiple things in one tile).  The game lags even when idling.  I think I'll stop this here.

Fifth wave.  Almost every tile is covered by a bandit.  I hope I get some sort of reward for getting through all these.  Like, obviously this isn't how you're supposed to resolve the quest, but some sort of easter egg would be nice.  XD

There's a FOURTH wave.  Itch.io won't let me post screenshots for some reason, but each wave gets more enemies, and now more than half the tiles are filled by enemies.  I feel like this might be intended to be unwinnable.  :P

Trying this game out, pretty good so far, but I'm stuck on a quest.  I'm trying to recover an amulet for the naga priestess, but I can't win the fight at the Thieves' Den.  I thought I was doing good, but then a second wave came... I eventually managed to defeat the second wave after several tries (after figuring out that I could bring Samara along), but then there was a THIRD wave.  This fight is ludicrously difficult for something this early in the game... I know there's a non-violent solution to the quest, but I want the exp, damnit!

Damn, I check back on the game (haven't played for several months) and this is the first thing I see, lol.

It's too bad how things turned out.  I would probably have liked the sexual content had Aura been older and the villains been less blatantly evil, but with the way things are, I always felt obligated to do a zero-lewdness run when playing this game, so it sucks that that's becoming less viable.

The open world aspect is a good thing in some regards but a weakness in others.  You pretty much have to have a guide to know who to talk to if you don't want to miss things, or else just make a point of regularly talking to every NPC in the world just in case they have something new (a task made even more tedious by the fact that in this game, some things are different based on time of day).  It's difficult to do well, I don't think I've seen anyone pull it off perfectly.

The story itself is alright, but feels a bit short once you account for the fact that most of the game is spent on things entirely unrelated to the main plot.  It would also have been nice if the sex scenes tied into it somehow, ie, if you brought your partner(s) with you on expeditions to temples or supported your quest in some way (or, alternatively, indirectly undermined your quest, which is what I expected from, say, the Queen of Hearts or the Zanti), but that would get very difficult with the number of potential partners the game has.  Many scenes are great individually, but the characters don't get developed - some characters seem to exist basically solely for their sex scenes.  It would have been nice to see the characters interact with each other more (ie, you'd think people would notice Sonya bimbofying you, and that some people would have something to say about it - an amusing example I just thought of is a hypothetical arms race between Sonya and Professor Selina as the latter continually tries to re-brain you because she wants you to do well in her class).

That reminds me, some lore thoughts I had on the Queen of Hearts, now that I've finished their content after the main quest... how does their business model work?  We're explicitly NOT granting men release there, so why are they spending all their money there and not just going to the brothel, which is much cheaper?  We were able to convince that one green-haired woman to join us, but given how well Sonya pays her workers (significantly more than "normal" jobs like the bakery, at least), we can't do that with EVERYONE's wives.  And what do we do when we get too old for most people to find attractive (I'm assuming that eternal youth magic either doesn't exist or is economically inviable, since old people exist in this world)?  Sonya presumably makes enough money to retire comfortably, but what about her bunnies?  Does she care enough about them to make sure they're alright after they're no longer fit to hop for her?  I never could get a good read on Sonya, if she's like Hanatora and just wants to use Erica or if she genuinely thinks that her bunnies are happier being dumb (which is probably true, based on Erica's reaction to her).  (Some dialogue implies the former, but if she's really only in it for the money, there's surely a better way to exploit a famous countess than just having her work as a waitress/stripper, right?)

Ah, yeah, so the consumables were the unique items.  I thought they meant unique GEAR or magical artifacts or somesuch.  I definitely wouldn't have had just some extra consumables be a point in favor of the Merchant Guild had I known, though Kira's panties might have still been enough of a winning argument anyways.

Okej, wow, finished it more quickly than I expected.  Chapters 5 and 6 definitely felt shorter than the ones before them.

Hrrm.  Overall, I'd say probably a solid 4/5.  It's sort of an inversion of The Last Sovereign, where I'm very invested in the overarching plot to the point where I found myself getting annoyed at the sex scenes ("blah blah blah tits blah blah blah pussy, tell me how the economy is doing!") - here, there are many great scenes, but they don't come together particularly well as a story.  The whole is less than the sum of its parts.  Still a fun experience for me, but I'd only be able to recommend it for others if they had the same kinks.

Also, it's sometimes very difficult to find things without the guide.  

Btw, question - I never tried altering my body because I liked Erica the way she started, does stuff like tattoos, body piercing, and changes to butt/breast size show up in the CGs?

(btw, for any bystanders reading this, spoilers below)

Also, I kinda want to see the "bad" ending where I side with Hanatora, but I dunno if I want to put in the effort to re-find all those statues from before (I specifically avoided them and reloaded upon reading their text because they sounded sinister)... I guess the deciding question is, does she have an actual ending, or is it just a nonstandard game over, like becoming a tentacle mommy or fornicating with the men in the cursed/blessed village too many times?

Finally, minor quibble - I was told that siding with the Merchant Guild regarding the expansion of Golden Leaf would grant access to unique items, but I never saw these.  Their only operation in the area seemed to be a store selling consumables.

Cool to see that this is still being worked on.  I've been holding off on finishing it for a while, because I'm waiting for it to be complete before I reach a dead end.  :)

The only real criticism I have is that it's basically impossible to keep Erica's free will and brain intact without a guide.  A lot of times, you get thrown into fun fetishy mind control content without any reasonable way to know it's about to happen.  You decide to take up what looks like a simple farmhand job?  Congrats, you're a cow now.  You're doing a quest, and do the sensible thing of reporting to the local authority figure?  Surprise, she's secretly been brainwashed by the bad guys and now she's brainwashed you (unlike many such instances, you don't get an option to resist with high enough willpower).  You talk to the lonely-looking person in the bar?  Enjoy the vampire route!  

At least in most cases, it's thematic (it's not like the guys drugging and kidnapping girls are going to give you the chance to consent).  There's also some exceptions where you're given ample opportunity to reverse course before the point of no return, like the Queen of Hearts turning you into a bimbo, which I like.  Luckily, my compulsive saving makes this not too much of an issue, but I could see it annoying some people.

Anyways, when I went to type the above, itch.io popped up with the draft I had from last time.  I was trying to report a bug, but couldn't post it because for some reason itch.io wouldn't let me attach the screenshots.  You may have already fixed this by now, but just in case, here's what I was going to say more than half a year ago...

The schedule system sometimes breaks cutscenes.  For example, I was doing the quest to investigate the Zanti Farm, and decided to help the farmer investigate the vandalism in his barn.  The time cut to night.  However, because I was scheduled to do a shift at the Queen of Hearts at night, it instead teleported me there, but it's still playing out the dialogue of the cutscene...

It was probably written with the assumption that one was taking it on at the correct time, and not prior to when you even got the quest telling you what it was (and not on nightmare difficulty).  XD

The difficulty with taking a break is that once I take a break from a game, I tend not to come back for a very long time, if ever.

Ugh, this game is infuriating.  Currently stuck on the Lilim.  I don't remember struggling much with it last time, but this time it's just absurd.  The fight is just blatant RNG that's slanted against the player.  It's just a matter of trying over and over again, hoping that the Lilim doesn't use the attacks that one-shot people for long enough to allow you to use Rampage (after two heat ups and a tactical advantage after an acid bomb has taken out its armor), and then for none of the three rampage hits to miss.  This isn't fun.

I'm not sure what it was then, but it's currently 26 (without the coating) and I don't think it's changed since then.

Okej, for future reference, here's the strategy on nightmare mode that eventually worked for me:

(first thing is what Aura does, second thing is what Slimey does)

(this is with nasty weapon coating on, unsure if it's necessary)

Turn 1:  Heat Up, attack phantom.

Turn 2:  Heat Up, attack phantom.

Turn 3:  Light I on phantom, attack phantom.  Lamia will switch to Offensive Stance.

Turn 4:  Attack Lamia, throw Flash Bomb.  The attack on Lamia should do roughly 500-550 damage.  (The flash bomb isn't strictly necessary but makes the RNG for the remaining steps less hellish - the Lamia needs to NOT hit Aura, and Slimey won't last long enough if she hits every time)

Turn 5:  Heat Up, Protect (or defend if you're feeling lucky and want to leave it to RNG whether Lamia attacks Slimey or Aura, with the benefit that Slimey would survive at least one hit).

Turn 6:  Light I on Lamia, Protect (or defend, etc)

Turn 7:  Rampage I on Lamia, and what slimey doesn't doesn't matter because either this will finish off the Lamia (dealing 1500ish damage), or it won't (because the Lamia randomly used guard or because you missed due to RNG) in which case you have to reload

In any circumstance, the Lamia choosing to attack Aura is basically instant death.  It spends the first four turns powering up, but after that it's basically RNG whether it chooses to attack Aura or Slimey (or, sometimes, it randomly guards for seemingly no reason).  If you deal enough damage (I think about half health), it will summon its snake friends, which is also basically instant death.  Do NOT use Offensive Stance as the pure run walkthrough suggests, as it doesn't work here (you can do steps 1-4 if the phantoms randomly choose to not attack Aura, but if you attack the Lamia with double-boosted attack with tactical advatange, it deals around 1000 damage, which isn't enough to finish off the lamia but does bring it below the point where it summons its friends).

Ugh, the Lamia fight is such bullshit.  Imo, any fight in which the outcome is purely RNG (in this case, hoping the boss is dumb enough to repeatedly attack the slime instead of Aura) is badly designed.  Also, how does it always know to guard as I'm about to use rampage?!

Weirdly, it didn't give me anywhere near this much trouble in my last playthrough...

So now in my New Game +, I've just finished the Money Festival at Day 58.  Corruption currently 19/32.  And I've got a slime at level 5, with Morph: Fire unlocked.  Also, less notable but still helpful, this time I've bought a bunch of apples BEFORE getting the curse of greed, I picked up a couple emerald teas from the festival, and I've been buying the blessed waters as they become available so I'm saving money there in the long run.  Overall not amazing, but significantly better than my first run.

... Oh, it just occurred to me, I've had the Potentia Rune for a while.  I should have thought to use that earlier (and also unlock the area in the forest to get that star metal).  Bleh.

Oh, that's clever.  So that leaves me at four Star Metals, what's the fifth?

Hrrm, even getting to the festival by Day 30 will be tough.  Currently it's Day 18 and I'm attempting to take out the Low-Demon (doing this prior to the Young Avian, Ogre Commander, and Bandit Leader may not be plausible, I'm not sure what the intended order is).

I was able to take out the goblin shaman fairly early, but I don't think it was Day 2 (I remember having to at least learn Fire first, and I think I got at least one equipment upgrade).  That'd be pretty impressive without Water Skin.

Last time I tried, I can't even take on the regular bandits from behind, which I believe I would need to do to get through the tunnel (could be mistaken).  I think I need Thunderbolt first before I have any hope of taking on them or the Ogre Commander, which I should be able to get now (trying to take on the Low-Demon first).

As it happens, Charlotte is a very important buff monkey, since she's the one with Heat Up, which makes everyone else a lot more useful.

In general I try to avoid using consumables unless I have a specific need for them, since I might need them later.  For my New Game + run, I intend on going 0 Lewdness and ideally no mental changes.

I already restarted earlier with +3 ATK/MATK, +3 DEF/MDEF, +3 AGI/LUK, and +2 bombs.  Damn, I should have thought of your idea, I had several holy waters left.  Anyways, I breezed past the first few days but as of Day 10, I am currently stuck trying to beat one of the Young Avian, Ogre Commander, Bandit Leader, or Reiner.

Keeping Charlotte out of jail only takes one evening, that doesn't seem like that big of a burden to me.  Also, how are you getting to the refugee camp on day 1?  It doesn't open until you get one of the bounties, which I'm pretty sure you need to have finished the spider quests to get.  And where are you finding five star metals at this point in the game?  I know of two that I can get on Day 1 (in the hole in the forest with the mushrooms, and to the north past the goblins and stuff), and a third that I can theoretically get on Day 2 (with the spiders you have to kill in the following quest after you kill the queen).

Hrrm, Desmond teaches the item skills, I thought?  I try to avoid using consumables as much as possible, so I don't know how much mileage I'll get out of him...

I know of this one, but it assumes you're playing on Normal difficulty:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BRbh0wyLr_qQMP_ARxsZdfS5SGjUO09AFQZYz97eAwY/... 

The wiki is also a helpful resource:  https://wiki.starknightessaura.com/ 

Rene does allow spells, yes, but he has a lot more firepower than I do.  I don't have the money to learn Rock Armor anytime soon, and I don't think I have access to Lightning Jam coating (I did take out the Lamia, so I may have just missed it).

I think this playthrough might be screwed.  I'm at Day 141 with 30/34 corruption and several mental changes, and am blocked on basically every quest.  First I cleared out the phantoms, and after some difficulty made it through the Lamia and the big shark-like thing I forgot the name from... only to find that I needed Open Domain II to proceed with the quest.  I finally got to 50 Trust with the demon cult people, but other than being able to learn Shadowcloak for 500g instead of 3500g, nothing has been gained, and it seems that it will take 80 trust to get the leader to see me.  I visited Mountainreach, and found the person who could teach me Open Domain II, but I need 100 mana for that - I'm at 97 without any enhancement spells on, but don't have a way of raising it easily (I'm out of Ethers after upgrading my slimes - I guess I could buy some, but fuck that's expensive).  I then tried visiting the big city in the south, and was able to beat Lara, but the other Duelists beat the shit out of me in my current condition even if I'm using poisoned blades.  Roland gave me a quest to take care of a golem, but the academy headmaster mentioned that I'd need Brittle II to have any hope of taking it on, and I would need to be an academy member to get this, which requires 20,000g (I'm not even sure if this is intended to be possible lol).  Finally I decided to try to head to the Fortress of Wrath (which I originally assumed was something to do AFTER all this other stuff), and with some effort made my way through to the adventurers holed up there... and discovered that I would need a blessed energy potion+, which is totally inaccessible (I would need to get the recipe, which I think is the book for 5000g, then learn Bless I for 2300g).  I currently have only 3,475g and don't have a good way of getting more aside from working at the workshop for 230g, which can be done at most every other day.  Meanwhile, corruption is constantly growing, I think it's +1 every other day.

EDIT:  I realized based on what the wiki said that I could use the Clear Gem instead of waiting to die, so I've checked out the room and apparently I would have 46 points to spend on a New Game+ if I wanted to end it now.  ... If I'm reading this formula correctly, apparently ending the game with the gem is considered a Victory?  That doesn't make sense... I had assumed I would need to have, you know, won the game, in order to have a Victory.  Regardless... with 46, I could start with +3 AGI/LUCK, +3 DEF/MDEF, and +3 ATK/MATK (or, instead of the ATK/MATK, go for +750g and +15 HP/MP, which would probably help more early game but be worth less than the ATK/MATK later on) (EDIT2:  oh, found the part that sells spells... hrrm.  Starting with Thunderbolt for 14 points might help - would save me 1200g... or if I was willing to part with one of the other stat upgrades, I could do Shadowcloak for 20 points).

Eh, the trouble with anime girls is that basically everything between 15 and 25 can look more or less the same, depending on the artist.  I'd be fine with the way she looks, if she hadn't been explicitly said to be in high school.  Hell, even a college student of the same age would be better - she's definitely smart enough to have gone to college early.  Also, more importantly, while being hypnotized and brainwashed can be hot, being hypnotized and brainwashed by a man like Roland is squick.