I actually played an early version of this, I still have the save files on computer when I loaded this one up! I remember playing up to the stage after fashion before I gave up, so I'll try to compare my experience for the first two stages on this version.
Most people have commented on the great graphics and sound, so I'll comment on the gameplay.
Improvements From Before
- Having the bridge open to the first stage's boss was a nice touch, reduces the "I have to do this AGAIN?!" feeling that I had before. As a consequence the small bridge leading to 1-2 was removed, but it feels much better now.
- I had quite the surprise at the middle bridge drop that was passable before.
- The "more lewd = beat boss" is more pronounced now, the first time I reached the boss and lost, I wondered how I was going to get past it since everyone was close to max level. Then I realized that everyone on the team had an extra skill or two after being lewded, it was a really big "aha!" moment for me. I feel like "this boss is beatable" rather than the previous "this boss is unbeatable"! P.S: I never figured this out until this version
Fashion Stage Specific
- It is possible to blitz the middle and reach the 2-1 boss underleveled/stanceless by jumping into the black pitch in 2-2. Because if you only have one person left, you can evade the fashionistas quite easily. Unsure if intentional.
- This stage really played with my mind because there are only max 2 corset cutters and heel cutters. But there are four characters. So initially I thought the way to beat the boss was to have 2 on offense and 2 wobblies. After losing a few times and having to heal at Kyubey's I found out that the items recharged and just spammed Kyubey.
- This is something that you don't really realize naturally, that Kyubey recharges items, so it could be more prominently made known.
- Because the witches are already wearing corsets and heels in their default outfit, it's difficult to tell at a glance visually how much of a problem the stage's mechanics are.
On Finished Product
- Monster info overlap overlaps with attack skills, it makes looking things up feel a little cluttered. Maybe turn off skills UI when monster info is selected?
- There's some grindiness to it, but far less than in previous versions. Reaching stage 2 there was quite the gap in time between me beating the boss and having to go through the fashionistas in 2-1 again. Perhaps there could be an exp boost after reaching a certain point or the boss room? Unsure how to balance this.
- Finished product reminds me of a very fleshed out Execution Dungeon from Demons Roots. Combat is harder than normal and feels like Homura is punishing them for something. If so, Kyubey should mention something like "don't expect a purity run" or something like that to set expectations, otherwise a new player is going to get frustrated trying to beat this like a normal RPGMaker game without interacting with lewd mechanics.
Overall, I quite like it, this version makes me want to come back to play again when I have time rather then having a strong feeling of "being stuck", which is a good sign!