I originally wanted to write a short comment as a new player to:
- Thank you for making this game (this game has been really enjoyable, and frankly one of the best nsfw games i've found on itch.io),
- Wish you all the best with your health (I'm glad to read that your ear condition is improving, and I have no idea how/why you were still so active here when you were sick)
- Finish with few short words on the interesting direction Act 3 is taking the game towards
But for the 3rd point, one word led to another and before I knew it, I had crafted a post much longer than I had intended... You don't have to take my ramblings too seriously because in the larger scheme of things I think there are probably other priorities, but since I'd already written it, I'll just post my thoughts on act 3:
I think Act 3 moves this game in a radically different (and interesting) direction. Not only in terms of plot and the characters the player has access to (and also the fact that some locations, characters and scenes are potentially permanently inaccessible after act 2), but also the fact that it introduces an RPG/strategy component to it that feels like sengoku rance (although obviously significantly different).
Putting aside the change in gameplay, the shift from a mostly visual novel to this new game mode brings new challenges, because there is now the consideration of game balance (although I imagine some of us are only here for the plap plap :p). In that regard, I have some comments:
1. Players are currently incentivised to turtle, which makes combat one-dimensional and slow. This is not so obvious against weaker enemies, because they go down quickly with just normal/lust attacks. But against tougher enemies, because the MC's base offensive stats are low, and the MC's starting HP is also low, it makes sense for players to keep blocking attacks until they are sufficiently buffed by Chloe's support passive, then normal/lust attack when the stats are sufficiently buffed. Most of the skills that can be learnt so far provide mediocre stat bonuses that require multiple uses before they provide any real impact, so most of the time the experience is "block,block,block,block,buff,block...", and then unleashing a flurry of attacks after blocking for an extended period of time. The only time I adopted another strategy was against the temptress, because there was no way to effectively block lust damage. imo the depth of combat did not pay tribute to the effort needed to create the game mode, and I think that can be improved by making some game balance changes.
2. The unique mechanism of being able to "read" enemy movements and block their physical attacks made the game a little too easy, which is ironic because I can only imagine this mechanism required additional effort to implement. The confusion state is somewhat ineffective because the enemy's sprite changes based on what they plan to do, and as of now the only tough enemies that can confuse are enemies that only deal physical damage. The only way a player can lose now is if they get hit by lust damage, or if they get hit by an insta-kill that they did not block.
2a. Because Chloe is essential to the turtling strategy, all other supports pale in comparison. The MC's low base offensive stats mean that the fastest, safest and most consistent way to build up his damage is by relying on Chloe's passives.
3. Level ups only increase the MC's health pool, which means the MC's low base offensive stats will remain low (even though in the story you can increase both PHY and ARC by 1 point). The damage dealt by the MC still feels quite weak after clearing all the available bosses. Even though other characters have better stats, because only the MC can learn new skills and use special abilities, it appears that players are incentivised to use the MC as their main frontline unit, in the event that powerful skills become available in the future.
4. Currently, there isn't much incentive to rehabilitate bosses outside of moral roleplay reasons. Shattering an enemy only takes a single fight even if they only take 1 lust damage per hit. Mind-breaking an enemy takes roughly 1-3 in-game days, rehabilitation can take 4-6 in-game days. Even though the outcome for all 3 options is currently the same, rehabilitation takes considerably more effort and involves somewhat less fun than the other two options. Shattering enemies involve strategically bringing an enemy to less than 25% of their HP and WP, catering to players who enjoy combat. Mind-breaking involves NSFW scenes, which is something most of us enjoy even if it is just one scene recycled with different hairstyles and dialogues. Rehabilitation involves sitting through days of the girl telling you how much they hate you, how boring they think you are, and finally culminating in you running to their home, engaging in some backstory flavor text to bring them a trinket. Rehabilitating all the girls got a little tedious near the end, even though the opportunity to learn more about their backstories reduced the tedium somewhat. I'm not sure if this is something you want to invest additional effort on though.
4a. The disparity in effort to bring girls to join you make me wonder if the pay-off can be improved for players who take the effort to sit down, learn more about the girls and actually take care of their concerns. Perhaps shattering a girl increases their base stats, mind-breaking increases the player's corruption, rehabilitation unlocks new recipes/skills/dialogue for the player to unlock. I find the option of rehabilitation interesting because up until now, we've only had Awaken & Shatter; rehabilitation seems to be something of a new 3rd option, although it might also mean more dev work.
4b. However, the whole rehabilitation thing also felt quite weird, because I didn't get the impression that the girls were patients that required therapy, even though the game seemed to treat them as such. The girls were initially portrayed as protectors of their respective areas that you as the player invaded, defeated and captured. It felt very weird that the girls would accept therapy from the guy who physically and/or sexually assaulted them (multiple times), and weirder still that when the player goes back to their hometown, the townsfolk would amicably give the player a trinket and hope that the girl is doing well (even though the very reason why she's captured and incarcerated is... well, you!). To be fair, this is a NSFW game so I'm willing to close two eyes and dive into stories with happy endings. It just seemed uncharacteristic of this game to make this little sense.
I have a few ideas to accompany my critique. I imagine some of these ideas are already on the drawing board. It can be achieved by keeping what is already implemented, and adding newer characters / skills to make the gameplay more interesting etc based on your preference.
1. I think combat can be made more engaging by making fights faster paced, perhaps even making fights more luck based as well, maybe more progression on the difficulty of enemies. There are many ways to achieve this; reducing the effectiveness of blocks, making it harder for players to anticipate the enemy's next move, making enemies randomly alternative between physical and lust damage, making fights end faster by having the player and enemies hit harder, allowing enemies to buff themselves, allowing enemies to attack first, introduce more powerful skills etc, making skills only buff the next attack instead of persistent buff etc, make enemy start with higher morale (e.g. passive skills / 1 use per battle skills) are all possible ways.
2. On the topic of "Chloe is the only useful support", I think if there are supports that are more effective against certain types of enemies, and/or if the turtling strategy is weakened, there might be more incentive to swap off Chloe.
3. I think that levelling up can remain as it is, and that the player can improve his power in other ways (e.g. through more powerful skills that would essentially allow him to hit harder).