Spoiler warning!! Don't read this if you haven't played the game.
I originally tried this game from a friend's computer and felt the need to buy it for myself and finish it. This is amazingly well written and cute?? I've always been intrigued by the Legend of White Snake stories and have always felt partial to the 2 snake protags. (THEY DID NOTHING WRONG??) And honestly knowing the original story had me feeling very suspicious of Jinhai's true intentions, and it took me a really long time to warm up to her. I really wanted to reach into the screen and whisk Ai away from the potentially scary monk.
I went through all the endings in a day and it was honestly cathartic and the characters are all so sweet that I will have to bill you all for my dental fees!! Hehe. I also loved the way that the 3 cultures were brought together in the story and being able to recognise aspects of each culture was really fun!! This is the best possible retelling of the Legend ever (wlw AND happy endings??), such an absolute delight to play through.
I am eagerly waiting on Kickstarter for the next game!!!! MORE PLEASE.
(Also side note, I read through a bit of the comments here and noticed one talking about the food scenes. Not to throw shade or invalidate any opinions of others but I personally enjoyed them myself. I can see the food scenes being very important in Jinhai's route especially, as her thoughtful preparation of the food is how she shows her love (?? not necessarily romantic love) to her roommates. It was also really sweet that she goes out of her way to attempt making foods from different cultures or to try to suit everyone's tastes. And Ai going out of her way to prepare 'human food' was really adorable and thoughtful. But I may be biased because I relate to eating together as something that can be so intimate and warm, especially food prepared so thoughtfully. I do understand though that not everyone has a positive relationship with food so the scenes may not have the same effect with others.
Perhaps it might help to put more explicit emphasis on their banter during their meals and how the food or the meal is being related to in the scene? Or maybe it could be a player choice to ask about the foods prepared, like during the picnic where Jinhai explains what all the foods were. Sorry for rambling on and on just thought I'll throw in my 2 cents!!)
I wanted to first say I apologize for this very late response!! I read your review a few days after you commented and it really made my day ^_^ Then I got swamped and busy trying to finish the Red Rebellion demo and just didn't get around to responding until now OTL T_T;; I'm really happy to hear your impression of the story, and being well aware of the legend itself! Thank you for playing the game and loving it! I wish the game did well so we would have met the original two snake protags in the sequel story ^^; alas....
I also appreciate your feedback on how I could have done the food scenes better for folks who didn't feel the same way as you did! It's definitely something I should consider for the future book. I took a food writing class during college, and it was brought up how important the dining table was for everyone, and that meals would encourage even enemies to meet in the same place. Hence Jinhai and Ai spent that time together with the most banter. I was also told by a teammate, if I did more food images and maybe cooking scenes, it would have been accepted better ^^; Too bad I ran out of budget and time... Anyway, thank you for the wonderful review! <3 We hope Red Rebellion meets your expectations.