Post by cue5c in September 2021 Lounge

Viewing post in September 2021 Lounge

Ooookay, finished Jymsar's route. He's grown on me quite a bit and is currently my favorite character. I don't think we've hugged yet and I really want us to simply hug. Really liked Everwind, too. I'm always 50/50 on the player character, but I love Reamus. He has an interesting story and god I want to learn more about the dream spirit. The lore in the whole story is really interesting. I suppose more may happen in Elysium since that was apparently the last 3 updates of content, but we'll see. Build 12 seems like it'll be super spicy if that's the convergence line.

Again, can't get over how many damn backgrounds there are. The way things are written don't stick with me too much. Like there aren't sentences that just knock the air out of me. However, this has managed to really feel like an adventure and is utterly transportive. The imagery in the writing paired with the many different backgrounds between each destination really sell the scope of the world. Everything feels lived in and tangible. It's just an astonishingly polished presentation and absolutely unique in the world of VNs. It deserves way more success than it currently has, but it's not as far along as I originally thought so I have no doubt the audience will come as relationships start happening and the stakes keep rising.

On to Alen's route and then the simulacrum.

ETA: Of course giving Jymsar a hug is the first thing that fucking happens if you choose to join Alen lmao. But also fuck yeah! About time.

Also I keep calling Jymsar "Ysamar." I should really just call him Jyms.

cue5c3 years ago

No dreaming, but god, Alen's route was amazing. Love a cool white and blue mountaintop atmosphere. The architecture was great. Severin was hot and taught Reamus how to go green. Plus we got to lean on Alen. (Who I keep mistyping as Anel, thanks Giga.)

Was totally on board with Drobeta until the memory thing and now I am very suspicious of her. Like, honestly, I think it would be kind of cool if someone could read my mind and I knew. We could have secret conversations and if they seemed upset I could ask them directly with no one noticing to see if I should help. Like that person has probably heard it all so I don't thing I would mind. Just... Man, I'm scared Drobeta is going to use his memories to find Jyms. Also we have the conversation with Alen after she does the memory trade and I don't like the timing, even if it's ultimately nothing.

(Also the capitol city lake looks suspiciously like a heart with blue veins coming out of it. I'm just saying.)

Glad to be caught up. Happy to understand what that horrifying nanoff star trek cats picture was about months later. Very excited for the continuing adventures of Anel and Ysamar.

Time for simulacrum. Which apparently stars my boy Jonah finally getting some time with Reamus. Very, very up for that.

cue5c3 years ago

The simulacrums were great. We have, of course, new background art not counting CG's. A little bit more of the dreamer. Elden Ring? Eldon Brooch. A wonderful send off to Jonah.

Final verdict: amazing VN. Wondering why no one recommended this to me on their itch page.

But for real, my only suggestions: I think updating the Alen scenes with multiple sprite expressions in the beginning of the game would be beneficial. It takes until Jymsar shows up to get a character with more than one sprite. Alen has a lot of sprites to choose from, and you could limit it to a few basic ones like with Jyms, who takes forever to get his first smiling sprite. It just doesn't show off what 90% of the experience is actually like, instead seeming overly static despite the damn strong artwork. It also would probably be good to replace the one or two photo backgrounds that are right outside at the start of the game since that never happens again. But since I started with Version 11, that could be happening and I have no point of reference!

But yeah, seriously amazing with what's there with so much promise. The foreshadowing is strong. (The off-hand witch comment suddenly being referenced) I'm so glad I got to experience this. It really is unique in the genre.

Okay, sleep time.

Nanoff3 years ago

Pervader is criminally underrated. It's got some of the best art among furry VNs, for both sprites and backgrounds (though I'll admit the amount of expressions per character is a little limited), great writing, and it's doing something different, which is always a plus.

One thing I really appreciate about is that it truly feels like a game written for adults, it doesn't really ask you to self insert into a barely above 18 character that has his life ahead of him and hasn't figured himself out yet. Which is a somewhat of a rarity, unfortunately.

cue5c3 years ago

I don't even think it necessarily feels like it's written for adults. It's just set in a fantasy world and commits to fully exploring what that means instead of using it as window dressing to pander. It's the exact reason I ended up loving Minotaur Hotel so much. Like I adore Adastra. I think its world-building is extremely interesting and everything to do with The Parents is cosmic horror in the best way. But it also has scenes where Amicus has sex with an ambassador to save the MC's life and you walk in thinking it's cheating but not before watching the whole scene play out. It's written for a specific audience, rather than written for the story it's trying to tell. (It does mostly work in context, so it's better than a lot in blending the pandering.) We haven't even started a relationship in Pervader and it's so much better for it.

I also think the more subtle expressions aren't a bad thing for this story. Especially with Jymsar needing to warm up to you. It works and helps make his arc feel special. It's more that it took multiple hours for Alen to get a second expression despite him having a plethora of them already done. If you're just starting it may give a false impression about how much work has been put into it. It stands out in scenes like the jail cell where it's talking about Alen being worried about your wounds and it's that static image of him smiling. Admittedly the side characters mostly only having a single expression is noticeable, but it's also a case of being understandable because the effort that would normally go into that has been spent on backgrounds instead, which is where Pervader truly stands out. Echo didn't add a lot of side character expressions until multiple years into its development, so that could always be done later as a finishing touch.

GigaSaddle3 years ago(+1)

Yo I appreciate your thoughts! I definitely want to go back and add in Alen's new expressions to the earlier scenes. I've wanted to do that for a while, but I kept putting it off. I'll try to do it for the next update.

cue5c3 years ago

Oh hi!

I don't think it needs to be a priority if you've got other things you're working on, but it just stands out as the "easiest" barrier of entry to fix. I use quotes because it's a lot of work to go back in and coordinate what the expressions should be, even if they already exist. I do think it'll work wonders for someone just starting. Like there's so much that makes the work special and it's one of the few areas that reads "still in development" when the rest absolutely does not.

Anyway, thanks for a wonderful weekend experience. It captured the spirit of traveling extremely well and was something I've needed for a while. I guess I should hit up the discord at some point. I'm Feign on there. (I somehow went from everything cue5c to like 5 different usernames over a year lol.)

itch.io

Viewing post in September 2021 Lounge