Deleted 5 years ago
Quite honestly, I can not see how anybody would be able to mistake this game for a "sweet, fluffy otome", not to mention "a lot of people". I certainly didn't, because it was obvious that the creators took inspiration from the Old World of Darkness, and there is a reason why it's called that and not World of Sunshine and Rainbows. I still didn't appreciate being stubbornly railroaded into disaster, especially considering that the game offers fifteen different endings.
Clearly, we have different opinions here, and that's just fine. But assuming that the discontent stems mostly from the crushed hopes of people who for some unfathomable reason excepted some saccharine dating sim completely misses the point.
I also think you haven't really read what the thread is about... SPOILERS AHEAD SO BE CAUTIOUS.
no, nobody was waiting for a twilight-esque otome full of fluff, sweet, romance sunshine and rainbows, but rather, as the warnings said, some kind of twisted romance. The point being, this doesn't feel like romance at all. I'm not the best person to convey this thread into words that sounds coherent and makes sense, because my english is very basic tbh, but i will try....
What people is more upset about i could put it out as being that, for paying almost $20 usd for a game that obviously is very dark, we got a rollercoaster that feels like some kind of mess, and not really a good one, i mean, i don't mind playing almost 5 or 6 bad endings for each character if only i got some reward for it, i dont want a fluffy romance ending when suddenly everything gets solved out of nowhere and everyone is happy and sound, becouse this is not THAT kind of game, but i was expecting some kind of a better reaction to our character being our character and staying there at all, maybe an ending when whe can choose to run away with our LI and send the war *** and simply dont care at all. Also, maybe some bittersweet ending when it's kind of not solved, but rather paused, some mayor character deads but still some kind of reward out of it, something remotely happy amid all that chaos. But we get none.
Not only does the game feel like everything you do is pointless, because it basicaly goes down to ways: If our character didn't exist, the war would go on, we don't know how whould it develop but i am certain things wolud go ape*** and have mayor deaths, maybe set the whole hollywood on fire eventually, but with our character there, things go south rather fast, and for a game with a premise that OUR CHOICES matter, and that we hold the key to maybe solve everything, or set everything into chaos, it feels like no matter what, everything goes CHAOTIC anyways, like yup, we try to make it better, but oh noes, that isn't going to happen. We can't really be anything, and, as for being a vampire, mc feel rather usseless thought the story, being a relatively new vampire at all.
And don't even talk about the sex choices, that's some guild trip right there, it feels so wrong, and is not exactly the kind of "weird, toxic-romance" i was expecting, some of it yeah, but for it to remain that way i can't really call that a romance, it feels like there is not consent, nothing rather romantic at all, randal is the lest ankward one i think, and yeah even if vampires are dark, murderous suicidal beings -in this game context- They were also once human, i would have liked the devs to maybe explore that part and combine it better with this twisted world they created.
this game offers nothing more that a captivating storyline -wich ultimately feels bland after everything is said and done-, beautyfull characters who happend to be very haunted, and no matter what you do, you can't make it better, not only that, but if you try to make it better it will only get worse, a rollercoaster of guilt, blankness, suffering and so so many bad endings with nothing more to it, the game is so far only what seems like bad endings, and for a visual novel, that kinds of falls plain.
You can have and be anything at hollywood- because you are already death, yet, none of it really happens because the ilusion of choices fails to deliver, except for some turns here and there, someone saving your ass depending of your reputation and evading ultimate death, your characters apport to storyline is rather bland, interaction with other characters...bland. Some jokes here and there that might make you laught, but this game can be everything--- but at the end of the day, you sat in front of your pc, staring at the credits screen after 50+ hours of gamplay, to be rewarded with....nothing, just bitternest, some really bad memories, amazing storyline for the supporting characters with major and minor roles and feeling like you did nothing at all, except self-insert yourself in a rollercoaster of despair, maddness, with little to no romance at all, hell, even if you DO avoind romance, even as friends, the feelings are all the same, so the question that always lingers in the end is "What does it matter? nothing really does" Your character matters nothing at all, i get what the devs where going with this game, but it had so much potential to be something more ya'know? The twisted-romance premise could've been aproached so much better, instead is just bland, aknward and kind of put it there? It doesn't matter in the storyline at all- And as such, it doesn't really matter to the characters LI at all, for example markus, something that striked me in his story was that at the beggining when you choose him as a tutor of sorts, he asks you "What are your fears" i choose "Being lonely- because of being a vampire" that's how i would answer in real life, and he responded in the context of "I see, but we're all afraid of it, with different name and circumstances, yet all united with the same string, and do tell, what whould you seek to scape it, what do you expect to not feel it?" -not his exact words but yeah- And i answered "love- i hope to find it" and then this moment got caught in my head because he got serious all of a sudden and said "This is the right time, isn't it? all this time...for this moment" and i was like welp yeah, golgotha can se s*** and stuff, would have been so amazing to explore the way that maybe markus knew you where coming into his life all along- he just didn't know wich role you whould play into his inmortal life until he expended a bit of time with your character? and so, if you chose to romance him, this would've been soo much deep...
That is the kind of potential this game had, but fail to deliver.
Not that i was expecting anything tbh.
i expected more for the storyline choices and endings with influences, but the only one so far who had me almost satisfied was when i started a rebellion of my own -See? i pulled sneaky on you, saorise lol- and got to be the new vamp leader, aside from that, every ending just left me with this bitter taste and i just was sitting there thinking -Wow, so much for choises matter- because in the end, no matter what you choose, the outcome is always bad in some kind of way, and not bad as in - bad game, bad ending kind of- but bad in the way of that it's always a dissasters, and that in the end of the day, you can't even protect the people you come to care for in this new, dark twisted world.
Heck, i would have been so much pleased with an option to suicide myself after all those bad endings, maybe then, i could say, yeah, this is that kind of game, but welp, i guess even my character doesn't care about anything at all- just how this game feels.
May not be accurrated because a rambled a lot but yeah, there you have it, some pinpoints into what other people where saying and how i feel about it all.
Sorry for bad english,
Spoilers not game breaking- i think- unless you get turned down for a game who doesnt have real romance lol.
What a long but passionate answer! And I have to agree with all your points because that's just how I felt after I spend 20+ hours on the game, trying to find a good solution.
I'm the usual Otome player but I didn't expect this game to be typical sweet and soft, I prepared myself for a hell ride and twisted romance, I read the warnings and everything. I simply liked the concept and the promised content, intrigued by the demo and updates but never did I expect a gut punch like this. Playing through all routes and endings only to be told that nothing mattered and enduring so much emotional pain without any relief. I had one guilt trip after another and even felt so bad romancing the dudes that I just became friends with them only to realize that the ending is technically the same. Players felt bad playing the game. Players felt like they played the game wrong. Players had a therapy trauma session on the freaking game server.
Even a kickstarter sponsor and beta tester regretted their choice to support this project. On Steam the game already has a rating of 6/10, many raising the same concern and bitterness about the endings and the outcomes. Some theorized it's for shock value and to pull a sneaky on the players instead, well, congratualtions, you got your reactions devs, but I will be honest - you shot yourselves in the legs. Many potential customers and fans now turning away or regretting their purchase, even swearing to never buy a game from you again. And the people of tomorrow will read the reviews and comments, immediately turning away and thus losing all the money invested into it. How did this even turn out like this? The prequel is even happier and that is BL only, how did this following one turn out so frustrating? Many expectations crushed, not only from Otome players buy also those who enjoy psychological horror - where is the dark comedy in this? It ends up in a tragedy anyway, labeling it as Drama isn't the same thing. Optional romance - It says that but really, you will feel uncomfortable and awkward, not in the funny way.
So many bad endings, making you responsible for deaths and destruction, suicide and homicide and then you only get a lazy mindf*ck of an ending. A new experience and not for anyone, I get it, but what kind of niche masochists are you looking for? In the end even the masochists want a satisfying, even if not good, end. Sometimes being experimental is not always good, especially because how the game was marketed. As if lead astray after waiting so long for it, not for the romance only but the influence you were promised to have in it. This is basically a linear VN where only the last choices really matter, a story you could have told in a Kinetic VN with a set MC. I mean, to get the special endings you have to be the same house as your mentor - so much for being anything you want.
The only way they can save this is to add better endings, step up the optional romance and/ or make the choices really worth their impact. Many already ask for a DLC to fix this or to get more information and closure about the events afterwards.
Heck, I even investigated on the hidden meanings in the BGs, CGs and ending titles!
I really don't want to stop anyone from playing it, it was in a sense still an unique experience and story with great assets - from the art, the backgrounds, the music and the writing but I wouldn't give this more than a 7.5/10 because of this major flaw.
Very good write-up of the meta reasons behind why some people found the game to be so disappointing. I still believe there was quite a big disparity between how the game was advertised/sold to the public VS what the end product actually ended up being, like they ripped the rug out from under the player's feet just to laugh at them when they tumble over. It's not a very nice experience, even less so when you're not expecting it.