tried the demo today and I absolutely love it! I actually think I might like it more than Mystic Messenger and that says a lot! So good job :D
Long review, because I'd like to voice my opinion on the demo and my excitement for the full release:
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- Characters:
They're all very sweet, very likeable and most important very distinct from each other. It'll be interesting if they also have more noticeable or big flaws?
You know with other otome games, often times characters have extreme flaws and distinctions that make it easy to dislike and not want to play a specific routes. Like maybe not liking the extreme obsessive yandere type character or super egoistical person etc. With big flaws I'm more pointing towards stuff that might be s red flag in real life lol
Then there are more natural flaws that makes us very human. More typical, realistic ones or softer ones. Like getting distracted easily, best example is I think Rory petting cats for an hour or Alexei getting lost in the city and also being quite innocent with the "the strip" thing Tobias told him about lol. These aren't necessarily bag things and not even necessarily flaws but they make each character very distinct.
Milo stood out by being the last person to join the scavenger hunt. Brooklyn stood out by helping Alexei. Tobias and Rory stood out because of the stealing ticket and than ambushing back to get the tickets back lol
I suppose what I really like is that all these characters are very different from each other without being extreme character types. (You don't have this one guy who is a red flag like Yandere who wants to lock you up or the rich guy who always super cold and honestly not that nice while also treating his assistant like a robot lol) I find this makes it so much better to have an easier time playing a game with sane, green flag guys? Haha. Sure I still like some more than others and Tobias being a "professional gambler" isn't really a green flag as well but a genuine nice person, who also apologizes for his mistakes. It's just very relaxing and makes it a lot more genuine and nice? Maybe I'm just growing old lol But it makes it awesome because I like every last one of them and it makes me want to play every route. (With other otome games because of these extreme types there would be at least one route I did not like whatsoever, and even though there are sweet moments and great character development, it did not change my opinion on the character and I only did the route because I had to, to unlock another route. Very rarely there was the case where I did a route for a character I disliked and I ended up with that character being my favourite)
It'd be very interesting to see if there will be deeper conversations with the characters and to see the flaws pop more up and talked about or like i don't know, helping Tobias overcome his gambling? I don't remember his gambling being mentioned in the demo but in his autobiography, so I'm excited nonetheless how the characters are treated!
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- Story:
I think I genuinely like the simplicity of the story and the characters flow really well with it. At first I didn't think that a scavenger hunt could be that interesting but the characters portrayal played a huge role in how to story was told and you all did an amazing job at it. The story works nicely and does an absolute great job in including the characters and seeing them how they interact with their obstacle, it makes them very alive, seeing how they deal with each situation. Oh, and the story is very straightforward and the MC doesn't come off as dumb lol
That might also be my main reason why I even like this game, even though it was just a demo, more than Mystic Messenger. I genuinely believe that you (with "you" I mean the team or the person who's taking care of that specific part) write the characters better than Cheritz did with their MysMe characters. No matter how good a story is, if the characters in a way struggle to come off as authentic or such, the whole story will struggle because it's made as a chat-app-like story.
Additionally I like how not all of them leave the chat at once, it adds realism to that, immersiveness.
I don't know how the story will play out for those ten days but I know I will enjoy it nontheless because of the way the characters are written. I'm sure it will be fun and you did amazing job till now!
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- About Chat Timing:
Now I'm fully sure If I understood how you are going to do it in the full release so I'm just gonna ask and talk about it a bit.
What I really loved about the demo was the fact that you were able to do all the chats without having to worry about missing them. If I was gone for like 6 hours because work or whatever reason, I would have all chats available and just need to play them without being not included in those chats. I hope what I said was comprehend able? My English isn't the best! I just always really disliked it in Mystic M when you were busy or sleeping, you'd miss chats and it can sucks and no longer motivate you to continue playing, because I obviously want to be included in the story but I don't always have the time (that's why visual novels are always so nice, you can play and stop whenever you like. The appeal of these kind of games were the realistic chat-like aspects! The time aspect is always but a problem)
I'm not sure how the fully released version will handle this? I understand that for a free to play version, it makes sense to have in game stuff to buy with real money. And I know it was mentioned in the very detailed website for the game and I absolutely love how upfront and honest you all are, so I do apologise for asking.
If the full game releases. Will I be able to play the chats like in the demo? Or if I I have to read two chats (one is technically the "missed out" and the other is the "current") do I have to pay for the "missed out" chat to be included? (Obviously I'm guessing I can read the chat but have to pay to be able to replay to respond inside the chat)
If I have to pay, are there already any details that can be told on how it will work? Can I watch ads for the currency to pay? Or do I get currency by playing? (I always found Mystic Messengers currency to pay for "missed out" chats to be able to participate in those too expensive) I'm very open to watching ads.
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- When it comes to support:
I sadly have to point out that as a student I don't have the money to support financially but I thought it was really sweet that you mentioned we can support you in other ways and when I find the time I'll draw something nice and pin/send it to you!
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- End Words:
I apologize for writing so much lol. I love your work and I'm really excited for the game release! :3
(Edit: I just created an account just to voice my opinion on this game to support you! And I hope you like this more long review, I'll plan to make an even longer review when the game fully releases and I'll talk about every single route and point out what I liked and what I didn't like. Criticism can be great, and I just love writing reviews for visual novels, otome games etc.)
(Edit2: I realized why I like your characters more than Mystic Messenger. They are more relatable. Getting lost? My orientation sucks lol. Petting Cats? I wouldn't stop petting lol. Tobias and Rory acting like best buddies, stealing tickets and ambushing to get them back? Relatable with close friends. They're all very down to earth. Behaving way more realistic. There's lots of thought behind their actions etc. While Mystic Messengers seems to be written like they are characters, Infinite Blue characters are written to be "how would that person react if that would happen to them?" Whoever is writing these characters, has awesome author-like talent!)
(Edit3AndLastLOL: I just got the message from "K", end of Demo. I like it~ This is getting interesting.. Wherever the story is sticking with relaxy-simple story or going deeper and revealing dark stuff or whatever with scary-smile K-guy, I'm excited nontheless and I'm sure it's gonna be good lol)