Thank you for continuing with this project! I LOVE the changes and the game itself and it was such an enjoyable playthrough!! I played all the way through the first ending and am going to finish the entire story tomorrow.
I love the character cast a lot. They're all fun and different in their own ways. I can't decide who I like best but it's either Ampa or Nameless (I love the rocky and harsh dynamic with Nameless and Ampa and Nameless's reluctant protection and admiration for Aarel). I love all of the main characters except perhaps Bb but I'm not sure if we're supposed to like her or not anyways.
My favorite part of the game is just how creative the setup and concept is. I think its so unique and interesting to have the setup be based on the real rivalries and differences between the Big Tech companies. Some references are very clear (like Ample) and some I'm still not 100% on what firm its supposed to be referencing but I like that most references aren't obvious. (I'd love to read a guide or booklet or whatever its called where you explain all of the references for those who have finished the game! I think that would be really interesting.)
The dialogue is fun and has some great self-referential moments or subtle references to the real world. The dialogue between characters is smooth and they each give off personality. Sometimes certain lines aren't worded perfectly or are run-ons but it's sparse and minor so it's not too bad of an issue.
Visually it's so great! I've always loved the CG art and character designs and all of them look sharp here. I think Sammi's design is the best, but they are all strong. I would maybe suggest getting rid of the line on Aarel's hair as it looks like it should not be there. The improved font is amazing and definitely improves the aesthetics, and of course I LOVE the pixely character portraits, definitely makes me think of 90s or 00s VNs in such a good way. :)
I think some possible improvements down the line could be:
- Modifying the backgrounds to make them look fairly consistent with one another. Maybe change the color scheme so that they are all a consistent color scheme or add a pixelated or other filter or effect.
- I think the scene where Padi is released and they fight Notate was a little long, and some parts of the scene were a little unclear of what was going on. I think this is due to the fact that it's a lot of characters interacting at once, and a lot of events happen one after another. It ended up a mildly confusing to follow.
- I think the last scene before the credits was really confusing because it implied that it was all a dream? That's the impression I got. But we later find out that it really did happen (thank god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). I think that it's supposed to be a either a final memory of the character's, or a scene meant to show the player an interesting event that happened before the story. I think it should be a little clearer that it was a memory.
- I'm not sure how you could do this, but I think the relationship between all of the companies could be made clearer. If you can, you might want to make the characters from each company be more representative of the company who made them, not in personality per se but in the information they have. I also had a hard time keeping track of which characters came from each company- (Nameless from Ample but made by Salaxy, Bb from PinCherry, Aatri from PinCherry and Salaxy, right? (or is it BetaWager?) and Sammi is from Salaxy but uses some BetaWager too, right?, and Aarel from PinCherry and Londonne).
Overall, so much fun! I can make some more comments here after finishing the second ending. Thank you for your continued work and I look forward to your next steps!!