Spoilers!
This game was EXTREMELY cute, and I adore the premise. It was a nice, laid back little story that I could play in small bites, and I appreciate that. There are some really sweet, touching moments that I adored. The world was seriously unrealistic at times, but that was because everyone was trying to be caring and supporting, and it just felt nice.
That being said, I think I found just about every character more interesting than Cove. Like, he was alright, but I would much rather have hung out with, like, anyone else. I was devastated when Shiloh moved, and cried over seeing him again. I was highly disappointed that there wasn't more of Baxter--he was absolutely my favorite. Even Derek was adorbs, and while I wasn't initially interested because he seemed too young, I was intrigued after the time jump and wanted to see him more grown up. I even liked the girls, my sister, and the parents. I would totally just spend time with them! Elizabeth's growth was very touching!
Cove's parents, however... I just didn't care. His dad, especially, made me uncomfortable. And with my playthrough where I wasn't even friends with Cove, a lot of the scenes made no sense and were just bad. And that wasn't my first playthrough--I did a friendship run first, where I was very protective of Cove. In the second, I was more honest with myself and we just ended up not friends. I didn't hate him, we just have nothing in common, despite how his personality changes depending on user input (which gave me ... very mixed feelings. On the one hand, it felt wrong to try to shape him into what I wanted, so I tried to let him just develop however he would. On the other hand, you see how that turned out for me lol). I never tried to romance him.
So Cove and the setting were my two big struggles. I have never seen the ocean. I could never get into Cove's love of it, or his sportiness. I'm a bookworm that grew up in the woods in the middle of nowhere, and I couldn't figure out how to feel about living in a town like that. With neighbors. And pavement. And a beach. And a park. And a grassy field or meadow thing. The setting just wasn't for me. Venturing off into town alone as a child, being at the beach all the time, and the fact that the game seems to think veganism is just a diet and I was not allowed to voice discomfort at other times (like Cove's fish).
Don't get me wrong, I appreciated being allowed to be vegan at all. Something that this game did extremely well was be open to different viewpoints constantly, even when it didn't seem to matter or affect the scene. It was a thrilling roleplay choice! But it also made it difficult for the writers and coders, I'm sure, and it shows at times where they would assume something that I disagreed with or had earlier even contradicted, like the fact that I love school and hate summer. And the magician or clown or whatever it was. The story forced my
character to enjoy it, when I HATE magic shows and circuses. Sometimes you just don't think of everything, I get it, it just made me soooo uncomfortable.
All in all though, it was such an ambitious project, and I really did enjoy it! I understand it must have been so difficult, and you can't please everybody. I still am looking forward to the updates, and will certainly be playing whatever I can get ahold of. I don't mean to complain, I just hope my input is helpful--maybe for future projects? I hope I didn't hurt anyone's feelings, I just wanted to be honest! Thank you for making such a wonderful game!