I've decided to try using a standard format for all my feedback this time around. Please excuse me if I come across as overly curt or miss something important about your game. I'm writing these all quite hastily as there are a lot of games in the jam this year!
What I liked
The art style. It reminds me of a few of the entries in Magical Girl Game Jam in that it shouldn't work, but does. The combination of max JPEG backgrounds, pixel art portraits, and slightly janky UI is surprisingly appealing.
I like the concept of the gameplay and it stands out a lot in a jam that seems to be dominated by platformers. It's slow and methodical and story driven and reminds me of some of those old CD-ROM games from the 90s and I just really like the idea okay?
What I didn't like
The world feels very sparse and empty. Only in certain times in certain places is there anything to interact with, and even then it's usually only a few lines of dialogue.
It's incredibly buggy and broken at times. Dialogues end randomly or loop, things stay on screen and don't disappear, inventory items cease to exist, and the map changes color. Though given the nature of this jam I'm kind of on the fence whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.
Related to one or possibly both of the points above, I often felt like I had a good idea of where to go or who to talk to but they either weren't there or didn't offer any useful options.
Did I think it was so bad it was good?
Not so much. It's hard to describe this one but I think the best description would be that it feels like an ambitious indie game that didn't quite get there. It feels more incomplete than bad, and lacks that certain something that defines a so bad it's good game in my mind.
My thoughts on the modifier implementation
Impossible due to being convoluted? I'm not sure what the exact intent was here.
Other remarks
The first time I played I got a bad ending, the second time the game just kinda bugged out. I'll probably give it a few more shots.
Verdict
An ambitious project that didn't quite get there.
If you have any questions, comments, queries or concerns, please reply and I'll do my best to get back to you.