Part 2/2 because I wrote too much:
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Overall Themes/Concepts
Quaint covers a lot of concepts, but overall it's a story of healing - about recovering from abuse, about overcoming grief, about learning to love yourself. One thing that I especially liked about it was how NECESSARY and intertwined the romance was with these themes. Q was conditioned at a young age to unconditionally obey the organization in a twisted, toxic relationship (by his OWN FATHER, no less). Moreover, while in the Organization, Q's relationship with T was wholesome, but it was a bit twisted too, as T used him purely for physical purposes (at least initially). In the current time period, Q is introduced to a friendly group (the Society) that teaches him how to use magic with kindness and understanding, and Milo, unlike T, openly expresses his care and affection for Q.
The romance is VERY necessary for Q's character arc, since so much of his development is about accepting that he can and deserves to be loved, just as he is - without having to "earn it." When Q finally accepts Milo's love, he also forgives himself - overcoming his guilt and insecurities.
I also like how perfect of a love interest Milo is for Q. Like I mentioned before, their personalities are a good match - but their backgrounds are also similar. They're both struggling to recover from the loss of a loved one, unable to move past it. Milo spends years trying to bring their teacher back to life, and Q counts the days since T's death, trying to keep him alive. Although Milo appears to be self-confident and is no stranger to romantic entanglements, it becomes clear later on that they doubt they will ever experience genuine love, both because of their gender identity and their quirk, which "charms" the people around them. Milo's fragility is really apparent in Bad Ending 4, when they close themself off completely after experiencing rejection. In this way, Milo heals Q, but Q also heals Milo. It's a heartwarming reciprocity that plays well into the themes of the story.
A lot of the bad endings are really fleshed out and play into the themes of guilt, love, and forgiveness in thought-provoking ways. In particular I enjoyed the ending where Q ends up killing Milo (Ending 1, I believe?) and Ending 4. In both cases, Q's guilt (either at killing Milo or rejecting them) leads to his self-destruction. In Ending 4 in particular, Q's denial of his feelings leads them both down a downward, self-destructive spiral of self-hatred. (Although I found the ending with Milo quite touching, where they remembered all the little things they loved about Q, which reignites their emotions. And of course, Bad Ending 4 leads to Ending S!)
I really enjoyed how intricately themes of identity and sexuality were weaved into the story. Q was abused and groomed to be a killer, but at the same time the Organization shamed him for his sexuality and stripped him of his identity (referring to him only by a number). When he rebelled against the Organization to pursue a relationship with T, that was also Q accepting his own sexuality and desires. At the same time, while Milo isn't defined by their identity, it is an integral part of their character and the way they view their relationships and the world around them. They're used to being judged and being put into "categories" - that, combined with their charm quirk, causes them to suspect people's interest in them, which has prevented them from forming meaningful romantic relationships. Their previous partner, Lawrence, tried to force them to be a "girl," after all - and they're only able to trust again when they meet Q, who accepts them wholly without judgment.
Ending S
I'll admit, at first I was a little torn on Ending S. In a lot of ways, it feels too good to be true. T arrives back in Q's life, fixes his problems, and whisks him away to a life where he doesn't need to deal with anything - including Milo's emotional lobotomy, the Organization, and June and Wren's newfound hatred. T urges Q to prioritize and love himself, and Q just...drops everything to focus on himself. In the end, Q and T are still on good terms with the Society, so I suppose that everything worked out - the Society somehow dealt with the Organization, June (at least) forgave Q, and Q is at least on speaking terms with Milo.
Initially I thought that this ending was just too easy - Q doesn't have to take any accountability, he doesn't need to face any consequences for his actions or deal with the abusers from his past. However, the more I thought about it, the more I liked this ending. In a way, it's just another reflection of how someone can deal with their trauma/abuse. You don't always need to confront your abuser/directly confront your past (like in the Milo endings) - sometimes you just need to forget and move on, to live your life freely without being burdened by the things that happened to you. So in that way, I found Ending S to be a satisfying conclusion! Moreover, it's meaningful that you need to play through the game once and see Q's suicide to get it - it hammers home how terrible Q's mental state is, and how much he really just needs a break, to put it mildly. (And I assume the S simultaneously stands for Secret and Sunshine, which is very cute! It's also the letter before T, so it's almost like Q is "going back in time" - to before a time where the grief over T's death consumed his life.)
Other Stuff???
I'm not really sure where to put this, but I guess I'll group this as clever "naming" details? There's so much thought put into Q's numbering and his name. Q wears a T-shirt with the Japanese kanji for "9" - which is pronounced "kyu" (Q). Q's number, 162, adds up to 9. Later on, when Milo infiltrates the Organization with Q - Milo's number is 135, totaling to 9, the same as Q! And T's number, 82, adds up to "Ten" - for "T," I assume!
I also really liked the usage of the "Day XXX" format. It does a fantastic job of emphasizing how deeply Q's grief runs (as he literally "counts" his life based on how many days have passed since T's death). From the very beginning, you're interested - why is it Day 1700? Why doesn't it start from Day 1? What happened 1700 days ago? And then when you get to the flashbacks and it goes from 1700 to -300, and you're even MORE excited as you realize "Oh, this is where we'll start seeing WHY it's Day 1700!" It's really something you wouldn't expect to be used as a narrative tool (a simple DATE marker), and its usage was SO clever. For instance, I really liked the quick flash between Day 1800-something and Day 3 after you kill Milo - it shows how Q's grief rekindled itself anew and how Q's grief over Milo paralleled his grief over T. I also like the few instances when it changes from "Day XX" to an actual date (February 16th, for instance). I noticed this happened in two places: once after Q's death in Bad Ending 4, when it plays out from Milo's POV - so it's almost as if the date is "narrated" from Milo's POV instead of Q's now. The other time was during Ending S, after Q has reunited with T - after that, the change to a normal date signifies how Q stops grieving since T comes back to him.
I'm quite fond of the title, Quaint! I'm not sure if there's hidden meaning that I missed, but the Qu is similar to Q's name (and his chosen alias, Quentin). Moreover, "quaint" means "attractive for being unusual," or "pleasantly old-fashioned." I do think it can refer to the Society, this healing, calming home that Q finds, and it can also refer to Milo - this unusual person that Q nonetheless finds very attractive. And Q himself is also quaint in a way - unusual in his upbringing, but likeable all the same.
And for some random, myriad of other details I liked:
-I really liked how every time June and Q text, there's history/previous texts - it doesn't just pop up out of the blue. It's really realistic and reading the previous texts is fun in and of itself - it does a good job of fleshing out the friendship that June and Q have
-When June messaged about her "kids," the entire time I was wondering, "JUNE HAS KIDS???" and I was SO confused, so when it was revealed that they were cats all along, I was like "AHHHH" - I'm not sure if this was intentional but it ended up being a very fun plot twist for me...
-I quite enjoyed the minigames! They helped to immerse you in the story (especially the action "QTEs") and broke up certain parts of the text. I especially liked the minigame section where Q transforms the body (it drives in how LONG and extended the process was) and the "main server" typing minigame (which felt a lot like a text adventure).
-The handling of the drunk scene with Milo and Q was very good. Q is extremely courteous the entire time, communicating as best he can and making sure not to do anything that Milo can't consent to, even though they're speaking quite lucidly.
-For some reason I really liked the meeting with the leaders of the other magical societies? The exposition was seamlessly woven into the character interactions with the Luminary and the Grand Dean, and you can see how the Snake and Saber Society is viewed by the other magical societies as they talk down on the youth of its leadership. I also like the detail that the "head" of each society has a different title. The Wren and Milo variations of that scene were also interesting bits of characterization for the two; while Wren compliments and flatters the Luminary and the Grand Dean even when they're insulting him, Milo holds their ground. It's a good bit showing how different these two are as leaders.
-After the destruction end, the society invites the mercenaries back to join them. I think this is a good conclusion - after all, they were manipulated, just as Q was, and I like that they're opening up the road to healing for ALL of the Organization members, not just Q.
I won't make this any longer because I already babbled too much, but I REALLY enjoyed this. There was so much attention to detail in everything, the characters were nuanced, the story and themes were thoughtful and heartfelt. I'm looking forward to the seeing more from these characters in any potential spinoff games! Thank you for making this! :)