Post by periah250 in Divine Dawn comments

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decided to check this out because screw it im bored and what can i say? absolutely blown away. im at the very start having just gotten back to the village. but the characters are all unique and distinct.

for one this story is actually good? most types of these games i skip through because its porn i just want get off. but while i initially had no real interest i was won over quite quickly. The vocabulary is suprisingly good, with words like servitor being used which is a very seldom used word.

The humor while excessive in some places is by no means bad, it's gotten audible laughter out of me and regularly gets chuckles.

the intereactions are wonderful too, you very regularly get to make choices that at least change a few lines and helps with player agency. seeing the different characters react and interact with one another is a real joy.

the art is unexpected. i half expect more ai art but while i wouldnt say this art competes with professional studios its certainly up there in terms of itch in general.

the content as of now is qite nice from the word count provided. too many times a game is released with about 10 minutes of content and it takes upward of a year to be even worth a damn.

this is turning into a review but no matter. the gameplay i...dont really know i cheated i just am very much hesitant to play too many turn based games.

as a final aside i will simply state the game is certifiably one of the better ones ive seen on Itch, Initially impressions id rank it near monster girl dreams or maybe kings fall.

the author said this was their first game and GOD DAMN did they knock it out of the park! Full steam ahead Cry this is top tier!

Cryswar333 days ago(+2)

Shoot, somehow I never got a notification on this post. Sorry for the delayed response!

Glad to hear you're enjoying the game. I'm definitely trying to tell an interesting story with good characters, rather than 'just' porn, but as a newbie dev this has been a brutal learning experience lol. The humor used to be worse/more forced, but I went back to try to make it better, for example.

I don't use AI art, I've commissioned everything or purchased assets from DLsite/Itch. Same for music. Learning how to commission has also been an uphill battle... in my personal opinion, the backgrounds need the most improvement, but that's a project I'm just starting on.

Cheat menu is there for a reason - I tried to make character creation and gameplay genuinely fun and interesting, but I know not everyone is into that stuff, and I have zero issue with people using built-in cheats! I would recommend against too much save editing just for stability purposes, but idgaf if you do that either, just be aware that the game is held together by duct tape lol.

Thank you, genuinely, for taking the time to share your thoughts, both praise and criticism. Player feedback has been incredibly useful for improving many aspects of the game over time.

periah250333 days ago(+2)

no no it was christmas so take all the time you need! though i have some questions about the world and some light criticisms to share, nothing too bad i promise.

for the first question is aspasia the slime girl a main heroine? like will she get an ending? i immediatly singled her out as favorite waifu.

with the world, the magic is seperated into dense/subtle, immobile/mobile, and sharp/blunt if i recall. but that doesnt seem to make sense in a few ways.

water i assume wouble be subtle-mobile-sharp

air would be subtle-mobile-blunt or sharp

earth would be -dense-immobile-blunt

and fire would be subtle mobile-sharp

most seem mobile or sharp or some combination, it seems only earth is immobile so it seems strange to have an entirely label for solely earth, am i misunderstandign something here?

for my criticisms, ill say im at badon and im shopping with ashley. but ive noticed now that im out of the prologue suddenly its very one on one, i dont really see the characters interact all that much and it seems alot less energetic and fun. im enjoying spending time with and seeing each girl's story but not seeing interact with each other or as a large group has been a bit saddening. does this change later on or are their plans for more group content?

my second criticism is directly relating to one of sarah's CG. her boobjob CG has a red streak in her hair and doesnt really resemble sarah all that much if at all, it looks more like a Azur lane character.

toward the background statement i think they serve their purpose reasonable well but some of the backgrounds like the deepwoods background can be rather difficult to parse and understand, its a very messy background with no real center or core to focus on,

still loving the game!

Cryswar333 days ago(+1)

I appreciate constructive criticism, don't worry about it!

Yes, Aspasia is a major character who will only get more major as she figures into some later plot. She will def have her own ending. I love writing her!

The elemental separations are based heavily on real-world alchemy, particularly the classical elements. Similarly, a lot of the aether/nether stuff is heavily inspired by kabbalism. You're absolutely right that they don't all split up evenly (more mobiles than immobiles, etc), but I wanted to respect and research the originals as much as possible, even if it didn't lead to super clean classifications here.

I've gotten a lot of feedback about characters not interacting as much together, and I'm working to alleviate that! Sam/Metatron got a LOT more interaction last patch, Sarah and Celica have a bunch upcoming, and as you get a bit further into most of the character trust scenes (especially Ashley) you will see more interaction. I will confess, this is my first game, and still a work in progress - I've kinda just been trying things to see what works - it's definitely not finished or perfectly polished! But there will be more interaction for sure.

That Sarah CG was actually the first thing I ever commissioned, on a very low budget, and we had some miscommunications. It will be redone properly at some point in the future.

I actually like the Deepwoods background! But a lot of them could be improved, yeah. Commissioning backgrounds is just expensive af and I haven't done it much, so it'll be a learning experience too.

Thanks for your thoughts, and I hope your holidays are going good!

periah250333 days ago(+2)

well no one is asking for your game, especially your first game to be perfect thats why were giving you pointers on things that are lacking or off.

slime girl is a major girl? well that makes my day! aspasia is number 1, ashley is number 2 and celica number 3!

oh traditional alchemy? thats interesting ill have to look more into that. kabbal is like that alchemical tree and sephira no?

yes it is your first game and so far its great, honestly so far the lack of character interaction was my only complaint and hearing it'll be alleviated is great!

so that explains the error. for the mean time you could just remove the red streak in her hair and itll match alot better, shouldnt take more than 30 seconds? could be a good stop gap until you're able to recomission it.

i suppose cluttered and difficult to parse works for deep dense woods. fair enough, i suppose i also never took the time to really look at it deeply. i mean ai is advanced. it could be useful for the more general background such as woods or lakes? im not saying you wouldnt likely get a bunch of flak or something for daring use ai but its always an option if one that comes with significant draw backs.

holidays has so far been good. hope your holidays have been good!.

dont force yourself to reply to each of my messages i have nothing but time and unlike you im not working on a game.

thanks for answering some of my questions!

JustAMoron333 days ago(+2)

This comment is making me download the game. I have to see for myself what a dev with this kind of PR can do. For a first timer, you seem to have your wits about you.

Cryswar333 days ago(+3)

Appreciate the kind words! I just figure it's better to be honest about my shortcomings and where I can improve in hopes of eventually actually getting there. Pretending they don't exist would boost my ego but result in a worse game.

JustAMoron332 days ago(+2)

So funny story, I actually played this game forever ago somewhere else and forgot about it when I finished that version. I fell in LOVE with the game back then, but time moves us ever onward. I found a game I enjoyed again thanks to this haha

Cryswar332 days ago(+2)

Ohhh that's cool! Always nice to run into a fond memory that actually holds up to the test of time.

itch.io

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