Just finished the demo, and holy hell was this an awesome experience! I'd probably give it an 8-9/10. This will be fairly long, covering things I picked up on during my playthrough, alongside things I felt could be adjusted.
--- Art
I loved pretty much all of it! It's oozing charm from every corner of the screen. From the unique interfaces such as Trix being the inventory (also tying into the games lore! The game does this a BUNCH and gives it so much points in my book) to the simple charm of getting additional effects from clicking objects, the game makes it fun enough to just simply click around the screen or just well, look at it.
A friend of mine had made the comparison that the overworld section of the game looks similar to Super Paper Mario's aesthetic, which I'd say shines through in areas like Biscotti with the geometric cliff faces/rocks contrasted by the softer chibi sprites and flora, and the red/yellow seaweed in the Sablee depths.
The pixie just sort of looks off to me in comparison to the rest of the characters. Smallish head alongside the hips just set off the anatomy alarms in my head.
Minor, but Rose looks on edge constantly cause of the small pupils lol. I get the direction ofc but it'd help if the girl's eyes calmed down a tad in some frames. And is her tattoo meant to be missing in her artwork? Can't exactly tell if the tattoo transforms directly into the claws or if it projects them.
--- Music
Again, holy heck all of it is awesome! I'd say its almost the main reason I stuck with the game. It's never repetitive or overbearing, This is what made *me* think of SPM, rather coincidentally. I was shocked finding out RRThiel worked on this, which is probably *why* it reminds me of the game come to think of it :P.
The only track that rubbed me the wrong way was the Biscotti Tunnels theme. The bass track is too in front and doesn't really mesh well with the rhythm/tempo of the rest of the track.
--- Plot
I was NOT expecting to be so endeared by the writing in this game my god. Everything just flows so damn well, I kept noticing mechanics and justifications being weaved seamlessly into the plot, such as T losing her limbs after the escape sequence justifying why you don't have access to her until Biscotti, the subtle shooter mechanic tutorialisation with the festival and more. The angel segment was a neat and sudden subversion of the game's vibes, although it's a bit silly that you can just decide to go the wrong way back and trigger it anyways.
The game's exposition rarely if ever feels out of place, and the game takes the time to justify itself when it does happen (Vuu never having died before and thus not being as knowledgeable about the festival and titans, Rose being an isekai victim and all etc.).
The game dries out on dialogue and direction pointers after the Cerelea/Myacine fights; I was slightly confused after completing biscotti tunnels on what to do since it was a fairly long dungeon, and there's not really any introduction sequence to the Night Dome. Just something like a small reminder to also beat up the blob in the plains after freeing Biscotti. Subtle skill issue, though.
--- Gameplay
-- Exploration (Point & Click / Dungeon Crawler sequences)
I'd already said it but there's soooo many things to click and get feedback on its so damn entertaining. The puzzles stay relatively challenging and unique throughout, and a lot of rewards are hidden pretty well and out of immediate sight.
Foraging is neat, and a nice way to pad rooms that don't have a treasure or secret inside.
It would be nice if the map had a metroid-style system to show if you've missed/completed a secret in a room (ideally only after completing the dungeon) and to mark resource areas. Having notes is good for this but it would be nice to have the game mark this down for you automatically.
Stealth mode doesn't feel like it has enough of an impact on encounter rates (as in, it is rather annoying to need a fei inhibitor to get the rates I'd sort of expect with just stealth alone). Fast mode also doesn't feel like it makes you move much faster, which in combination leads to floor clean-up feeling like a bit of a slog (unless I just misunderstood what the setting does).
The fei crystals floating about in the underwater dungeon are a bit distracting, I'm sort of anticipating a puzzle whenever I see them which makes it confusing visually. It'd probably help if these were feiless variants or less notable outside of the puzzle rooms.
A skill issue on my behalf, but it's not immediately obvious how to solve the constellation puzzles in the night dome; the hint doesn't tell you to try smashing the stars, and to my knowledge the order you do them in does not matter, so it gives you outright incorrect information. I had assumed there was a hinted order from the direction of the spinning light around the stars at first. It's also possible to do the shooters here out of order, which leads to missing the tutorials for them. I found myself getting rather frustrated lining up shots until I realised you could hold down the button to aim the shot vertically.
Another skill issue, wasn't particularly obvious at first that you can drag Trix onto heartfruit to get the inventory expansion, and the mechanic of picking up Trix about doesn't seem particularly useful otherwise. Lead to me tossing them about in Biscotti after finding this out in the forest, anticipating they'd break the barrels.
Tutorial notes seem placed in rather strange locations, and later than they should otherwise be.
-- Combat (Puzzle / Shooter sequences)
This is such a damn entertaining genre fusion! I'm not really into either of the two, so it should say something that the game has engaged me so much. Reminds me of Puzzle & Dragons if it were less restrictive for tile movement (loving the chain mechanic and its potential), alongside shapes feeling like a more engaging version of punish mechanics seen in other titles. The micromanaging between them feels chaotic in the good way, although I feel you aren't rewarded for taking out shapes enough, and it is very easy to lose combo trying to clear out the outside board. Rose feels VERY restrictive in this manner, despite feeling great otherwise for shape combat. I tended to play as T due to the set and forget playstyle they have for shooting with the mines and ranged AoE.
I do hope the witch card system is made more viable. I never really felt like I needed to change witches or really use others at any point, due to being able to regear before fights and not being particularly restricted with equipment. Something like being able to use two witches at once (one for shapes, one for oyons/spells) could be interesting (but would need obvious balancing), or having passive buffs in encounters depending on the witches in the party, to increase the viability of having certain characters on the deck.
The combo meter is a super interesting mechanic, with being able to swap out which buffs you get and at which combo level.
There's a lack of scaling to shape only encounters. Feels like it could get very stagnant later in the game without any progression beyond new enemies.
-- General
Budget feels *pretty* tight. From buying spells (multiple copies per witch), needing money to store items mid-dungeon, revive npcs, warp to save points, lower spawn rates etc. I didn't feel like I had a lot of freedom with my money, and I ended up just restarting the game on failures, over dealing with the lack of utility items and witches in a dungeon at points. I never really felt restricted with shards, in comparison.
Always felt one item short off of doing the alchemy puzzles. I also didn't feel particularly enticed to engage with them as the rewards weren't particularly notable, or weren't particularly relevant without needing other spells/items first. Forget making multiple.
An option to keybind alternate left/right mouse buttons would be nice, it can get a bit hectic at times (and I'm a weirdo who willingly used touchpad so that would help with gameplay a bunch. I've tended to play pretty on par with mouse users for other games on my skill level and this game QUICKLY humbled me on the limits I have lmao)
--- Boobs
:3c teehee
Ofc its for game balance (and well, size options) and all, but are characters like Nightmare *really* rank 1 when we get them? Sort of expect someone like the yellow guardian to be well, not rank one. Makes me double take.
I hope the rank lock setting is made a bit more robust. I feel like the game genuinely stands on its own without the ecchi content, and it's why I haven't mentioned it until now; it's just not my immediate thought on what makes the game feel good to play or what kept me playing, and I'd hope it can be as serviceable when possible to as much people (prudes) as possible.
'Rank Lock' isn't immediately descriptive until you connect the dots between ranking and BE, a more direct name would be helpful.
More granularity would also help; locking rank appearance per witch, alongside presets to match people's limits better (perhaps someone's fine with when it comes up in the plot, but don't want the amount of 'freedom' Nightmare or Cerelea ends up having, for example).
Being able to set rank lock on first boot would also be nice, if someone wants to boot up the game without risk of catching weird looks from those who hate fun and whimsy.
Of course, considering its literally in the title of the game, don't let any guardrails set up ultimately restrict you from what you aim to create at the end of the day :P
--- Game Title
It's a biiit annoying to find the game or content relating to it. 'be witches' will come up literally, and 'breast expansion witches' will just assume nsfw tags. Probably something worth keeping in mind.
I loved the experience throughout, and I can't wait to see this game evolve as time goes on.