- Okay, this is some interesting flavor for what is basically standard combat.
- So, what you were talking about in the first fight, it would probably better if the main character came with a set of skills that he could use instead of just lecturing them. Ordinarily button mashing risks getting old fast in normal combat, but after giving that intro to combat, it's a lot more disappointing because you don't have any skills to use to get the most out of what you're trying to accomplish with combat.
- I like this character portrait. The art has a lot of personality.
- Whoops! The character portrait doesn't erase if you interact with the book on the desk!
- Nia's character portrait is good too! Shame we only get to see it once and then you keep using the MC's character portrait for all of her conversation!
- Oh, there we go. In the second conversation, the portraits work normally.
- You're forgetting to close character portraits a lot. It's make navigating a little tricky. But now I've got two nice portraits on the screen, so it's got its pros. Should probably fix that, though, lol!
- Note to self: to get the portraits off the screen, check the calendar.
- But...you HAVEN'T explained that you're more than just a scarecrow! Saying you're more than just a scarecrow isn't explaining; it's exclaiming!
- Oh, this section has some promise. Is the garden for crafting, perchance? If so, I am definitely interested in seeing a much less broken version of this.
- Oh, dear. Accessing the garden without inventory for it soft-locks the game, I'm afraid. Let's try this again.
- Back to the scarecrow now. Do NOT interact with the garden yet...
- Oh! He gives you seeds if you don't give him guff! I'll save anyway, just in case it soft-locks me again.
- Indeed, the fact that I have seeds in my inventory doesn't matter; it still soft-locks me. Oh well, at least I saved this time.
- What in the world? Does saving the game not take you to where you saved? Where am I? I thought I was...what? I've never even been there! I've only gone through the upper portion of the main hall! How did you...? How is this save system working??? CAN AN RPG MAKER SAVE SYSTEM EVEN WORK LIKE THIS??? Okay, so...the first playthrough. I didn't save and soft-locked when I interacted with the garden. Second play through, I saved in every room, just in case, and at the garden, it soft-locked even though I had inventory on the second go. So, I reloaded my most recent save...which was in the garden after I got the inventory from the scarecrow. I reloaded it, and for some reason it dropped me in the main hall so I figured that for some reason, it just hadn't read my garden save. So, I go back in the direction of the garden, but I'm in a completely different hall and I walk into a classroom, and so I go back, and I try to go up into the cafeteria, but the walk's way longer, and so, I'm really confused! Yes, I'm in the main hall, but I've never explored it! I've never been here before! Why did the save open here? How is this even working???
- Word of advice; set dash to "always on". It's just a quality of life thing I've learned over the years of let's players yelling at my MV games...
- Okay, navigation in general is screwy. Leaving Whydah's class drops you in the upper left of the main hall. Saving drops you in the lower middle (...how????...). But if you go back the way you came to get to Whydah's class, you end up at the library. To get back to Whydah's class, you go through the lower left, and find yourself in a hall that leads to the workshop, and then to Whydah's class, which is not where you come from when leaving.
- Different colored book cabinets, but interacting with them accomplishes nothing. The library is gaslighting me!
- Customizable quarters! No idea how to customize, though, or if it's even been implemented. Doesn't seem to be.
- The headmaster's office is by the cafeteria! Okay, this definitely needs a map, or a less confusing layout. One of the two!
- So, look. The art everyone's using is really good across this jam, but I got to level with you; you're using my favorite character portraits. I'm seriously loving this art. Are they yours or a pack?
- Well, this took a real dark turn. So, just to be clear, any "Dark wizards" in a society like this aren't the bad guys.
- Oh, now decorator mode is on! This is a good one!
- Divination seeing that students turn evil and deciding the best course of action is to kill them. This is a really awesome story-hook and has a ton of potential. My issue here is the decision makers. A teacher in the scenario is the guide for these students, and knowing their future, has the power to turn them onto a different course without killing them. A teacher would know this. Whydah, the soldier not understanding this is fine. "I'm no teacher" is a pretty consistent dialogue option. The headmaster, however, should absolutely understand this. In this scenario, he's either an incompetent headmaster, or he's an authoritarian, unqualified as a teacher, but asserting himself as a rulemaker. But this seems like an amazing idea to give this choice to the player. Kill the students, ruin your character's life, but save the world? Try turn the students down a better path and succeed? Or fail? Or join the students against a headmaster that by doctrine alone is just as bad of a dark wizard as any he's trying to destroy. Just because he's not twirling his mustache and clearly struggles with the evil he "has to" do, doesn't mean he's not evil.
In case it's not obvious, despite all of the really serious problems this game has, I'm really enjoying this. Now, I've reached a point where nothing new is triggering, so I'll go ahead and call it done and give it a rating.