Well, that was quite the ride. I decided to start this one fresh to get the full experience and wow, it was so awesome. Don't really know where to start, so I may ramble a little. My apologies in advance.
So, I guess the best place to start is with my impression as of the story as a whole and so far I'm loving it. If I hadn't been playing the game on my phone I'd probably been jumping up at down like a kid at certain points in the story(particularly the ones where you get to show kindness to Asterion). The flow of the story is nice and even with my knowledge that chapter 13 was the new chapter, there were no major hiccups in the scene transitions I could detect. I liked that we got to see more about Kota and Luke as characters, and their weird rival-friend thing they got going. It is pretty fun to watch and it makes sense given all the two have experienced together. I gotta admit that Luke wasn't my favorite character by build 0.2, but he's starting to grow on me. Also, the cobalts were so fun to watch and their reaction to Kota the Dragon was pure gold, reminded me of some DnD sessions I have had. Then we got to the meat of the conflict on this built: the little revelation and the newly crafted contract. I don't want to say too much in case someone didn't get that scene but that scene was heavy, dramatic and so rewarding. It solved one of the problems I had been thinking of since build 0.2 and I loved to see how happy Asterion was after that. Also, it adds so much meaning to one of the items you teased before, again , not saying which one. Also, thank you for the lore drops menu, it makes keeping track of all of them so much easier.
The inclusion of the Hitherlands and the hades chapter were packed full of information, though of different types and value. I always enjoy getting glimpses of Asterion's past, the story of the Bull of Minos, straight from his mouth. This time, it showed a side of the bull we haven't seen much and perhaps one we could get to see at some point. I enjoyed the way you carried the conversations in that part, it reminded me of when I read the Odyssey and some other classical stories. On the other hand we got the Hitherlands, I was not prepared for storms appearance when the chapter started but wow, that was a very nice surprise, As someone who read the novelization (and thank you for providing that too), I was already prepared to like this character but once more you blew my expectations away with dynamite-like writing. I thoroughly enjoyed how P and Storm played on each other, the many hidden sides they both revealed on their conversation and actions. The small animation on Storm was a cute touch and a great wait to characterize him. At the same time, they answered some world building questions I didn't know I had, and they did so seamlessly. Good work on that one too. I can't wait to see what will happen once the two bulls meet and what inheritance P could be speaking of.
Well, I think that covers the characters and the story. Now, onto the music. Well, risking sounding like a broken record, I thoroughly enjoyed the new tracks too. They added a new vibe to old scenes and to new ones as well, it was also easier to get lost in the game with it and they all seem to fit together well. At least to my ears. It was nice to hear the lyre song whenever it came up and sometimes I took a bit more time than necessary just listening to it.
Well, that was a larger wall of text than I thought I could make, so I'll leave it there. Thank you so much for the hard work MInoHotel team, you have crafted one of the best VNs I have ever played. I hope you can all keep growing in your respective fields and that you enjoy your time spent in this project. Nicely done
