well, I have finished the game and I have several things to say, sorry if something is not understood, I am not a native speaker and I am using a translator.
SPOILERS
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I had already played some of orange before and I really came with expectations about the game, although the synopsis seemed a bit “cliche”, I'm glad to say that they know how to take it in a good way, unfortunately I can't say that I liked the visual novel, but as a fan of this medium I come to give an opinion something more worked with the hope that this will improve, because although I did not like it, I really think orange has a lot of potential with this
the art:
I know the artist, I follow him on twitter and I can say that this is a very good section, the characters I love.... BUT, for this very reason it became incredibly boring to me to see the same character Sprite for more than 7 hours straight, the characters change expression, yes, but it is the least they could do. it is as if they had a stick up their ass during the whole game, it makes one of the attractions that a VN should have go completely to the background and knowing the artist's work it hurts more to see how little exploited this one is. I wish I could see Roderick move his arms, some head movement, have Rowan gesticulate a bit for god's sake, I feel like several tense moments are diluted because I see the characters as planks and opening their eyes slightly wider than normal or with their mouths slightly open.
next problem, the other characters, I understand that possibly the budget doesn't allow to order more characters, but at least use a shadow or silhouette of these, many times I must assume that just someone else is in the conversation, this is also part of why it feels boring after a while, since we only see Roderick and Rowan, the only characters apart from them with sprites are the old woman and the tiger, unfortunately we send them both away, as I said, maybe it's a budget problem and that's fine, but at least put some silhouette so you can notice(visually) that I'm talking to someone else and not spend the whole story just seeing these two(Roderick and Rowan).
Third point, again, I assume the problem is the lack of budget, but a VS needs to have drawn scenes, it's literally one of the main attractions of this medium, back to the previous point, the sex scenes have an incredible quality, but I would give anything to have art in important moments for the plot, I can't say the amount of times I stopped to think “shit, I wish there was art of this”.
that about art, in general, are easy problems to solve, you just need more support and resources. Now, the real BIG problem I have with this VN is the writing and scripting.
Plot Convenience: From the start we have a problem, Roderick and his gang saving Rowan, sorry, but all I can think is that the bear is the worst leader of all in leading his group to an obvious certain death, all for a man they met less than 24 HOURS ago, I understand they are not murderers, but don't try to whitewash them, THEY ARE Kidnappers, THIEVES AND MERCENARIES, in no way do I understand how these people risked their lives for a nice young man who only lived with them for a day, let alone Roderick's decision to put his FAMILY in mortal danger for a stranger, what bothers me the most is that this would have been solved in a very simple way, with the cultists simply attacking the gang in the cave first, after all, they didn't want to leave witnesses that can rebel the origin of the crimson tide and simply make the fight spread to Rowan, seeing that they will kill them anyway, it is better to take the prince, that makes much more sense than the completely stupid decision to help him just because “we are good mercenaries”.
This is one of the examples that bothered me the most, I have more but I won't go into them too much, I will list the following with their respective script problems: Roderick being in front of Rowan's friend (head of the royal guard) and that she doesn't aim to kill him, or at least to confront him when she finds out what happened, it was all Roderick and his gang's fault. Rowan synchronizing “perfectly” in battle with Roderick, the prince accepts that he never paid special attention to his swordsmanship classes and training with the bear was just the basics of it, plus we never showed more practice other than when they played in the warehouse of the abandoned bar. Rowan's “incredible” speaking ability in the lumberjack village, this would make sense if from the beginning or later they showed that Rowan has a gift for words, but no, this is the only time he solves a conflict through speech, the rest of the time being a good hearted young man who errs on the side of naivete, a far cry from a skilled speaker. The worst of all, the end with the ambush of the cult, Roderick and Rowan should have died here, without the slightest chance, the fact that they simply let them go is something so absurd that it is even funny how badly raised it is, even one of the cultists says it “why let them go? we can kill them or hold them as we want”. These are the ugliest examples, but like this I feel that several small situations are resolved BECAUSE IF.
The reactions of the characters: Roderick just watched his family get slaughtered, meh, it's fine, just put “a burning anger burns his chest” and ready...... NOOOOOOO, I get that Roderick is not someone very expressive, but he literally looked like he didn't care, he must have been bitter irritated, would be rude, even aggressive, I thought it would be like that when Rowan tries to talk about it, but we just have Roderick saying “we won't talk about it” and it's never addressed anymore, how am I going to care if it barely seems like it matters to Roderick.
Rowan, the good hearted young optimist saw how the demons scourged and slaughtered his people and his kingdom...he barely and makes mention of it, it is only said that he is sad but they never show it, or they barely show a small reaction that lasts 1 minute and then we move on to the next thing, the characters reactions to things like death, horror, happiness, sadness are VERY VAGUE. The moment where it was best handled was when Roderick and Rowan had their fight in the dwarf fortress, that was an excellent moment, they were conflicted, angry, sad and you could see this in their reactions and dialogue...BUT this was ruined when after the fight with the demons, they are just fine and that's it. I screamed at the screen when one of them said “we don't have to talk about this, it's all good now” DAMN NO, the drama of that situation was excellent and it was the perfect time to talk about their relationship and have them develop, but instead I just swept it all under the rug and that was it.
Another one of the worst examples at the end, Rowan makes a very stupid decision, let the leader of the bad guys take the seal (I have a lot of problems with this, but I won't elaborate further), they literally just ripped the skin off his hand, leaving it red hot. Rowan should be running out of the place gasping, crying and barely enduring the pain of something like this, instead, we barely even get a description of this and then we get the sex scenes, all of this happened in less than a couple of hours and Rowan acts like he didn't get his skin ripped off like a potato, creme, I more than anyone wanted to finally see these two consummate their love, but the timing was horrible, the situation was shitty and these 2 assholes should be thinking about a thousand other things instead of having sex in the woods, our cute and kind prince just further doomed his people and seems to barely and care as long as he can have bear dick.
The repetition: this may be something that is more about the writer's style, but I'll say it anyway, just tell him once, you don't need to repeat 5 times that the enemies are many, I don't need to read “their relationship is stronger now” after each conflict, in general many moments have incensey text, it hinders the rhythm.
I know I must sound like a complete hater right now, but if I wrote all this is because I was really interested in this work, it has things well done and with a lot of potential, Roderick's past, his traumas for so much death, his hard life, the prince's conflict between his mission and helping people, the goddess and the god of the cultists theme, Rowan's path to harden himself and become the king his people need, etc. All these things are amazing and it has shown me that they can be exploited, they have been done well, but it needs more, much more if you want to continue this story, because right now, it seems to me just the draft of a story that needs a lot of revision to have an acceptable level, I hope that if someone reads this can leave their opinion, all with respect, and hopefully leave a little guide on how to improve this project, which I repeat, has a LOT of potential.