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(1 edit) (+1)

Now that I've completed the game, some thoughts:

I'd forgotten how good your storytelling is.  I'm actually more impressed with it now than I was the first time I played, probably because I've read a lot of genuinely awful stories since then. A couple things that bugged me at first were 1) Ashe telling Mila that they weren't close anymore and she wanted no further part of her life (apparently fighting to the death together meant nothing to her) and 2) the bashing that Rinaldo constantly received from Ashe and Faaldha (while he was unquestionably rash and at times foolish, he also burned with righteous anger and was willing to sacrifice himself to it, which I think deserves a great deal of credit). But I now think you handled both of these things correctly, or in the first case, at least reasonably.

Two other things that bother me about the storytelling which I do still wish to make comments on were the post-battle moments of clarity and the memory fragments. While I understand the desire to morally redeem fallen characters, this particular way of handling it felt… "forced" might be the right word. Not in the sense that the moments were trite, but from a lore perspective, their occurrence doesn't make sense to me.  Why would a vampire getting beaten up reduce the hold of vampirism on them? It's not entirely clear to me from what we are told whether the behavioral changes are the innate effects of the vampiric curse or a psionic link to the master, but regardless: if the curse is altering their mental state like a drug (which it is often depicted like), it doesn't seem like dying should have any effect, and if the cause is psionic control, it seems like the effect should actually become stronger as the spawn weakens (and loses any power they might have had to resist it). So their moments of clarity don't make sense to me.

My complaint regarding the memory fragments is much shorter and really more of a suggestion. The memory fragment fights were all pretty generic and unmemorable (barely more difficult or time-consuming than the ordinary goons running about the palace), and I feel like a real opportunity to relive Mila's regrets or fears was missed by the total lack of dialogue. I mean, why have they been called forth in the first place, if not to torment her?

My last comment is that the final battle felt much too easy. I thought I was going into the battle significantly under-leveled, as I had, by my estimate, skipped half the castle content. (I was HR 74, maybe you can say what it was balanced for.) As it is, I beat the boss without any real difficulty on the first try. IMO, Ashe constantly (and automatically! no opportunity cost required!) reviving Mila is the culprit, because Ashe is an absolute tank, so Mila's health suddenly doesn't matter. I'm honestly not convinced it's necessary and would suggest disabling that. Then again, I don't recall being challenged by any of the bosses after Vivienne (the first time, in chapter 2), so maybe a hard mode would be a better solution.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts on a couple of things. Overall, it's a great game. Thanks for making it freely available. I'll be watching to see what you do next.

(+1)

Fair enough on the story telling from the last few scenes. For the sake of scene flow, I feel that some story elements need to be interpreted by player themselves, but they could have been explained better in the text itself.

On the first note, Ashe does care for Mila. She just wishes to live her own life separate from the organization that caused her such trauma. I don’t think she would consider Mila close, just because they have spent so much time apart from each other and they have grown into their own people. She trusts that Mila will be fine on her own.

Rinaldo can be seen a number of ways depending on your perspective. He did save many lives while he was alive, but also did awful things to his family. Its only natural that those that were close to him could see him as deplorable. It’s a grey area, much like with many dead legends..

In the case of a vampire reverting to how they were before, you could say that the “hold” a master vampire has over the ones they turn is more like a powerful suggestion. In certain cases, a victim can still recall their old feelings. It would depend on how deep their level of corruption goes. A victim whose mind has been completely shattered by their master will have no will of their own. In the case of the boss of the mistress of the castle, she left her minions in a healthy, but controllable state, enough for them to fend for themselves as pawns. Needless to say, if she were in the room when these redemption scenes occur, their will would be easily broken (such as the scene where the last minion is in the room with her mistress near the very end of the game).

I should probably toss this lore into a book somewhere for players to find on their own, because you bring up a fair point.

On that last point about the difficulty, I scaled the boss to be around HR 50. I took my play testing into account, and I dont like to grind too much, so HR 50 felt like the sweet-spot to me, while leaving plenty of room for players to grind if they want to. The final battle is rather easy, admittedly. I mainly wanted it to be cinematic than difficult, which is why I made False Memory I, to scratch that challenge itch.