Well, I don't know what to say now ^^" Thanks!
atellia
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Hm… Was about to say that I was just calling it the same way than Orion and the others, no matter how much more real than the others it is, even if the story looks going “all the other worlds are real too” more than “this one isn't either”.
But now that you put it that way, it could also be possible that the next screen just after the 7th chapter end would be the Eternum death screen, and thus Orion waking up in another world, not having been knowing he was “connected” at this time. That could explain some things, such as excommunicated players dying “in the real world”, as they're now not allowed to go in this one too. Then again, that would cause some difficulties, as Orion would need to come back there anyway. And Thanatos' situation would become really weird, I think it works better if he's dead in “the real world” but still able to wander on the others, than if he left one of them, back to the “real real one”, but then join again the other ones without coming back in the “fake real”.
Anyway, all of this is about setup and payoff: nothing in-game that I can think about gave us anything to expect such an issue, just as nothing prepared us to having wounds magically cured in the “real world” (even if we technically already know magic can happen there: Luna's vision, at least, is something magical, but that's not the same kind of magic there). For instance, the reason why I said that having Calypso saving Orion would be an elegant issue despite being a Deus Ex Machina is because we did have some setup about that (previous talk about the exit portals, and the fact she asked not to be bothered at the beginning of the chapter because she was feeling she could soon be able to reach other places).
Well, judging by the other answer I got, I'm not that good to be understandable. Also, my way to talk comes probably highly from me being autistic, and I can't learn you that. Which is probably better for you.
Don't worry too much about your language, thought. I'm not a native English speaker either, and I started my first post here by denying any responsibility for eye injuries about my own language, but it seems like no one got hurt from that ^^
Well, I'm sorry, but it looks like you missed my point there ^^"
Greek mythology (about which I talked in some of my previous feedbacks) is about symbolism, and I said that, symbolically speaking, I thought that was a good thing (indeed, Orion becoming arrogant to the point he did such a mistake, then becoming better after that, is a way more interesting character development than not becoming arrogant at all).
But what I wanted to point there, which has nothing to do with symbolism nor Greek mythology, is:
– That the way the mistake happened (bad talk with random thugs in a creepy street, which can't be compared to a scorpion) sounds like a cliché we already saw everywhere, far from the way Eternum usually plays with expectations, and also gives an unwanted sight about Kredon, as for now the danger there came from rich people like the Bardot, not from daily life (Alex's new neighborhood was sounding “creepy but rather safe” until her father came there, for instance).
– That the narrative mechanism is broken, as it's supposed to have us craving for more, while it looks more like a way to end the story, with Idriel's talk and all. On the sixth chapter, for instance, we didn't know what happened to Alex and had a thrill from W. Bardot knowing who Orion was, so it was a good cliffhanger. Before the heist, we stopped just at the “Open the door” pseudochoice, so we knew something was about to happen, but we didn't know what and how the plan would be changed. There, we don't know how Orion will finally survive, but there's huge probabilities that either it will break the current rules (with magic happening in the “real world”) or we will miss something fun we could have been expecting (the pirate quest), so it's harder to wait for more (I'm still curious about what would happen next, of course, but that's more from previous dialogues than from the supposed-to-be cliffhanger).
– That, even if it's possibly an overreaction due to being autistic, so I'm just highlighting this to allow other people to know something they couldn't anticipate, this scene made me feel bad, which isn't supposed to be a point of such a game. Didn't feel the same with the Thanatos encounter at the beginning of the third chapter, as it happened as a part of the action, so we saw what happened next while our mind was still processing the event. Here, we have the violent thing and immediate stop for months, so it's way harder to process. I think it's a good thing to know some people would react this way, to be able to chose what you want to do next time.
So, it's not at all about being or not familiar with Greek mythology, it's about how the story is told to us and about how some of us react to such things. Doesn't stop the game from being great, and I'd say it's a bit sad you choose to answer precisely on this part rather than on the two thirds of the post where I was emphasizing the really good aspects of the chapter or wondering about what we know of the lore.
(Also, Caribdis, when you'll read that, sorry for having to add an extra development to the bad point, I had to let you know how I reacted, but didn't want this to be the major point of the feedback, that's why I put it at the beginning, before talking more about the other points.)
Just realized I didn't gave you my feedback on the seventh chapter, so let's say it's time to do this. But sorry folks, it probably contains heavy spoilers, if you didn't play you'd better stop reading NOW.
'cause I'll start by the end, and by the sad news: the final scene of this chapter is the first and for now only thing I really disliked in your work. Let me explain.
First of all, it was really cliché. From the first image of the place, the first dialog line of the thug, I was thinking “No, he isn't going to do THAT?”, and that was exactly what you did. Even if I do like anticipating sometimes, this wasn't the good way to have it.
Then, I can see why you did something like that, Orion was indeed becoming too arrogant and all, and that would probably have positive outcomes. But this coming from random thugs while going to order pizzas sounds… disconnected? Not a huge fan of important lessons learnt from randomly chosen bad ways in your home town. Plus, Kredon feels suddenly way less enjoyable.
Finally, I don't think that works that much as a cliffhanger as, with the talk with Idriel and all, it made me feel like “Okay, so it's how the story ends” way more than “OMG I want to know more!”, which was supposed to be the aim of the sequence. Plus, of course I know he won't die, but, on the opposite of previous ones, it feels like there's no really “good” way to continue from this point. I mean, suddenly discovering magic works in the real world just because it's needed would be really weird, and conventional medicine would probably take time and thus lead to fail the pirate quest, which would be a shame.
(Could be a good thing that the rest of the team fulfills this quest while Orion is at the hospital, but as he was the only one having the map, that doesn't sound very plausible. I'd say, while being a literal Deus Ex Machina, Calypso finally finding a way to come in the real world could be the most elegant way.)
Now, to conclude on this point, probably have to say that I may have been a bit overreacting and trying to rationalize after that. Being autistic, I may be more sensitive to such things that you'd expect from usual players. But I had to write that down.
Well, and now that it's done, let's rewind to the beginning of the chapter and highlight way more positive aspects as, except for this final scene, you did a great work as usual.
Story developments are really cool. You managed to make things even more interesting with W. Bardot and the Founder, so now about this I can't wait to learn more. The details about the true nature of Eternum are really intriguing, and continue to shift us away from the thought premises.
In a way, it remind me an old game I played when I was little, called Breath of Fire Ⅲ, but in a reversed way. The old game starts in med/fan settings, and the more the story goes on, the more we discovered there's technology everywhere, ending in a complete SF environment. Your game starts with advanced, futuristic technology, and then we discover that's more something magical, which is very promising.
Story developments on Ekabar are also promising, I tried both the werewolves and vampires things and both were really fun. Villagers starting to reject magic and launching some crusade is intriguing, while still fitting the settings, so I wonder if it'll be a major plot thing or something more secondary.
It's still really fun to see how the characters react. The more or less inner monologues are a really good point (Alex's one was cute, and it was a good thing to have Orion's thoughts at the end of the class). The talk between Nancy and Dalia was really fun too, and I also especially loved Nancy's reaction about the need to pause a bit between the sessions. Just what was needed at this point.
And, of course, I can't wait to learn what Luna really saw about Annie (I may have a few ideas). Moreover, hearing the non-team players talking to each other about the development of the story (the Andromeda case, Orion's nickname…) adds to the life of the universe, which is pretty cool.
And, I have to say, even if I found the previous ones a bit boring, you made me laugh with the for-now-last appearance of Chop Chop. Wenlin is a good addition, and now I wonder where you're going with those two.
Outside from the story and characters, I really loved your choice of musics again. Shostakovitch Waltz №2, especially, was one I know for a long time and I really like, so it was a pleasant surprise to hear it there (just made me wonder something, but I'll say it later). Music themes from the pirate server were also really good. Now my playlist “Eternum OST” is up to 3h30, starts to be a bit long, but worth it ^^
Silverware is especially a really great song I discovered thanks to you, and hearing it coming again in Nova's scene made me wonder how much you're planing to re-use some of the previous great songs. For instance, it feels like “If I had a tail” could be a really cool recurring theme for Alex.
Also, a point about which I didn't talk enough in my previous reviews is how stunning some background renders are. Did especially notice it in the ruins of Ekabar, and later in Tortuga, but then it made me come back to previous sequences to look at them again, and some of the outsides of Blackridge cabin, or the castle in Warthogs, are also really cool. I even took some screenshots of scenes where we don't see anyone to use them as wallpapers.
Now, as usual, there's some things I liked less (but not disliked of course). I'm not really into car porn, for instance, so Penny's scene wasn't really for me (some things were fun, thought).
I also think Orion is a bit too muscular now. You know, really buff people are a typical male fantasy, so, as a woman, it pulls me a bit out of the story to read that all the girls in the group are fangirling about that. One or two of them could find it extra sexy, but it shouldn't be the whole team.
Even more with the difference between skin colors, in the scene with Nova it was a bit looking like she was fucking with a statue, which is a bit weird.
And, aside from those taste respects, there's some points I don't know if I'm just overthinking them or it's there's possible inconsistencies. Raised an eyebrow about El Coyote, but why not, just made me a bit perplex.
If I'm not wrong, the talk between Nancy and Dalia took place in Ion. Which mean the robot was looking for alien's infections in another server than Andromeda. Is it possible (without Calypso's help) to go from a server to another without logging off first? I was thinking it wasn't, but that would mean being alien infected isn't cured by the automatic full healing at logoff? That's a bit weird, isn't it?
Even more knowing about the astral projection thing: it could have explained this full healing by the fact that, while logging off, you just dismiss the previous projection and recreate another while logging in the next time. But then, the infection would have vanished too… except if it's parasitizing the inventory mechanism, maybe?
And well, the said thing with Shostakovitch. With the vampires, Orion immediately notices when the word “Romania” is said, as it's something from the real world NPC shouldn't known about. On the werewolves side, it's the same with “Egypt” and “Anubis”. But there's just no reaction at all when the names “Strauss” and “Tchaikovsky” are said, and no more when the waltz is chosen. So I wonder how they could unsuspiciously know about real life music and compositors, but shouldn't know at all about real life places or mythologies.
(Also, even if it's fun to see Mortimer throwing a sword at the first vampire, wonder if that's a really good think to do if they're supposed to be cursed people that may be saved.)
Then again, those are minor points, and it's perfectly normal to have such in a big story like this one, doesn't stop Eternum from being globally really great, of course.
Hope those thoughts can help! :-) Thanks again for the game, and I'm sure I'll like the next chapter!
Just one request, thought: it starts to be a big thing to download, wouldn't it be possible to have a “just update” file, to just get new content we don't already have downloaded?
Anyway, thanks for your work! :-)
Well, I guess everyone has distinct points of view, but the team finding it really weird to have a gem of doom and thus wondering if it's real or not sounded really logical to me. I'd say that the opposite (assuming without an hesitation that they now own such a rare thing) would be way more of an immersion breaker.
You're welcome, thank you for the game :D
Now I'm even more curious to play the next chapters, I wonder if I will recognize some of the tracks while playing ^^
Don't hesitate to post here if you choose to use some of them, thought: that would help to wait until the next chapter is released.
…which makes me wonder: how do you work on it? Do you start by writing the plot/dialogues, then render the images, then add the sound effects, for the whole chapter? Or do you work scene by scene? Do you sometimes select the sounds for a scene first and then adjust the images to it? I'm a bit curious, but of course no problem if you'd rather not answer.
Let's go, then !
First of all, there's a great turn-based strategy game called Battle for Wesnoth, that is fully (so, including the music) released under free licences. Some of the musics (especially the elvish theme) may fit for med/fan servers. Sorry, I don't know any link to directly listen them from the browser, but you can download them with the game or from the github repository. Here's a summary:
https://wiki.wesnoth.org/Available_Music
Then Laei made some calm, a bit sad ambient music that could fit for nostalgic or introspective moments, like when Alex is remembering her grandma. I personally find “Petit pantin au cœur de glace” (french for “Little puppet with a heart of ice”) particularly fascinating.
https://laei.bandcamp.com/album/eponyme-i-a-soundtrack-for-my-life
Now, let's come to Dogmazic. That's the website of a french association promoting music released under Creative Commons and other free licenses. There's a lot of really good things here, so I suggest you to search the whole site, but here's some pointers:
Greg Baumont released an album called “Wood”, with various ambient music. I especially like “La sixième porte de shanaaghar” (“the sixth door of shanaaghar”, don't know what shanaaghar is supposed to be) and “The blue star”.
https://play.dogmazic.net/albums.php?action=show&album=670
Dogers made an album called “Contes à la lueur d'une bougie” (“Tales by candlelight”) that can easily be used as a soundtrack for table role-playing game or for some good old RPG-maker game. My favourite here is “Un bien étrange marché” (“a very strange market”) that can fit for visiting curious places, but “Profondeurs” (“Depths”) and “Confrontation” can also work for worrying situations.
https://play.dogmazic.net/albums.php?action=show&album=8997
Ehma has uploaded several albums of various genres on the site. I especially like “Pizzicato”, for instance for a journey sequence, or “La porteuse d'eau” (“The water carrier”) where the intro gives me vibes of coming home after a long trip.
https://play.dogmazic.net/albums.php?action=show&album=441
If you're looking for tropical, jungle themes, maybe Philippe Mangold's work can do the job too, with tracks like “amazonia”.
https://play.dogmazic.net/albums.php?action=show&album=1946
Well, I'll stop here for now, that's already a lot of things. But as I said, don't hesitate to search through Dogmazic, there's really a lot of gems here.
Hope some of this will help!
Okay, I now have a playlist of about two and a half hours of music from the Eternum OST to listen while I'm doing something else. Thanks a lot!
Now that I listen those music without the game's ambience, I realize that some of them reminds me OST from other games. For instance, Another Round gives me Prof. Layton vibes. Some others sound like they could fit with Nobuo Uematsu's work on Final Fantasy.
Oh, fun fact: due to a misclick, I added Lindsey Stirling's Carol of the Bells to the playlist and… I thought it fitted perfectly with the others tracks. So now I wonder how it would look if she appeared in the game, for instance if Orion invited one of the girls to see her in a concert. As her clips looks like she's visiting a distinct Eternum server each time, it could match.
More seriously, can't wait to listen what you'll put on The New World, pirate-themed things looks promising. Oh, and could we please come back to Valley of the Kings? Those Who Love is cool, but I would love some more egyptian-themed music (Eternum: come for the sexy, stay for the story, ask for more for the music :-°)
And, I wonder… could it help you if I link some ambient music released under Creative Commons (or other licences allowing to reuse it)? There's a few of those I enjoy that may sound cool in the game, but as I don't know how you work for this, I'd rather ask before spamming :-)
Okay, I just finished the sixth chapter, so, here my thoughts about it, following the game's events (so, warning: possible spoilers).
First of all: nice opening speech. Very inspiring. Although I kinda feel bad for him. I mean: you always set it up in an amusing way, so yeah, it's fun. But, even more with such a speech, I can't help but hope he'll finally start to become a better man (at least less vain) and then stop always dying. I don't like when somewhat good people are hopeless.
Poor Annie, now she's aware too she didn't have any badass scene. That missile shot was very frustrating. I really hope she'll soon be able to shine (well, she did in the next sequence, but it was for being smart, not for being badass, so that's not the same). Maybe the next chapter will show a flashback of her protecting Nancy while the others were on the western server?
Really cool ref to suggest “Nobody” as a nickname, especially after teasing the chapter with a western setting, and while showing a scene about guns and quickness. I mean, totally worth entering in history books. Just a bit weird that in the latter lines it appears as a non-confusing name, but I guess it's an understandable drawback of allowing people choosing their own nickname, which is of course really cool too.
(Quick thought about the previous two points: “Gnome Ann” (cf obviously https://xkcd.com/1704/ ^^) would totally be a nice feminine counterpart to “Nobody”. And, Annie being the smallest of the team, it fits your settings. So having her called this way could be a good easter egg for people who choose “Nobody” for Orion)
Nice Cluedo game. Well, I guess it's more inspired from Among Us or The Werewolves of Millers Hollow, but the murder settings in a mansion from the Rockfeller server reminds me Cluedo more. Clonk is fun. Hope to have some steampunk server in the next chapters.
It's a bit weird to learn that you can only use the artefact once in 25 days… just after we saw it being used twice on the same day. I guess duplicate several people almost at the same time count for only one use, but if so it should probably have a known limitation here too (duplicate the whole WRE army for one day would be a bit too much).
Also, still about this artifact: now that the idea has been explicitly suggested, you HAVE TO set up a scene with Orion using it to please one of the girls. Absolutely mandatory :-þ
Saw you finally added the pink pajamas in Annie's gallery like we talked earlier, but with a different haircut. Good way to mix both choices! She's definitely very cute.
About Orion's look changing: please do not make him look too muscular. Well, I guess that's a typical male fantasy, and the whole game setup is built to fulfil male fantasies, which obviously not always fit mines, but… let's just say a masculine counterpart to Micaela would be just as unattractive to me and most of the other girls I know as Micaela herself is unattractive for people other than Chang.
Axel's encounter was… surprising. I mean, I guessed something like this could happen after we saw him at the mansion, but I thought it would take way longer than that. Sounds promising. Now that we know what happened to Thanatos, I wonder if William Bardot will be the only main bad guy, or if there's still some Ganon(dorf) or Palpatine lying somewhere in Eternum.
Now, cool to see Eva again! I really like her new look, and the other girls' reactions was fun. Still hopes she'll finally join the party later: as I already said, she could be a really good addition to the team, especially if it's some kind of optional content, like for Yuffie in FF7.
The story part with Calypso was really interesting, and with very cute drawing. It almost felt a bit weird to come back to the usual rendering after that. Really promising lore, can't wait to learn more about all of this.
It felt a little weird to kill the guy, but in an unusual way: shot by Orion, he'll just have a 24h delay to log in again, while the praetorians could have excommunicated him, with all the now known consequences, so it's oddly the more merciful choice. Makes me wonder how the Trolley problem could be adapted in such settings.
At night, another duel, another occasion to use the “Nobody” nickname. Still no Cyclops, so I still think it refers to the film rather than to the Odyssey, despite the Bardot's company name. But what I said before still applies: they all use it as if it was non-confusing, which is a bit odd (but, once again, understandable).
The final sequence was cute, hot and fun at the same time, so good job here again. And then scary. A damn good cliffhanger again, you teasing devil! :D
Generally speaking, really good job on the music and sounds once again. You especially have a great taste in ambient music, I think I'll get several of the tracks you used.
Oh, and, I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with people telling that Eternum is just as good as Once in a lifetime. It's in fact way better. I found OIAL good when I played it before starting Eternum, but now that I can compare both, the oldest just can't compete with the newest. Your progression is really impressive (even more considering that OIAL was already above average).
…and I guess that's all for now, but I'll probably play again while waiting for the seventh chapter, so maybe I'll make another comment later, if there's some little details that bothers me on a second run like last time.
Okay, hm… Sorry to go out of tune from all those (deserved) ultra-positive reviews, but after having played the whole game from the beginning once again, I've some small critics to express.
Don't get me wrong here: I'm still hooked with the game. Well, even more hooked since the last plot twist. The story is more than good, you did a sumptuous work with the musics and sound effects, and the characters are very lovely. Really, I love it. But, there a few –just a few, especially regarding the current length of the game– things that bothers me a bit, so I thought it may be positive if I write them down there. That's almost only detail points that can be solved by tweaking a line or two, or maybe a single picture. Once again, it doesn't mean your game isn't awesome, that's more related to me being a quibbler. Hope you don't mind!
(And to any people reading this without having played the game yet: I insist that's just minor points, don't let them stop you to play, the rest of the game really worth it. And beware if you chose to read, there's a few spoilers)
So, let's go, more or less chronologically:
– Just after the first encounter, while hacking Orion's phone, Nova says he doesn't have any Instagram account. We just saw him creating one a few nights before to like Penelope's pics, on the same phone. So Nova should have noticed, isn't it? (Orion even mention that later just after the photoshoot).
– During the Red Herring quest, some of the times we were supposed to see Mrs. Flink with the camera flash (especially the very first one), as the pictures are really dark and my screen usually at its lower level of brightness, I just didn't even see her shape, so it was weird to have Orion speaking about something that wasn't possible for me to notice. (I insist again on the first one: even with more screen brightness, I had to take a screenshot and enhance its light to see there was actually a silhouette on the outside).
– After playing again the first bed scene with Annie (Really love the music at this point, BTW <3), I thought her pink pyjama would be added to her gallery, but it look it wasn't the case. Is this deliberate or did you forget? (Nancy's white pyjama and Dalia's night outfit are added just after, so it looks like Annie's one is missing –even if we still have the red one).
– Not sure about this one, but the Praetorian sniper at Ogygia says Dione is the weakest of the three weapons of Atlas. The only thing Idriel explicitely said about that is that Calypso is the most powerful, without sorting the other two, but as she presents Dione in second and the strongest in third position, I guessed Hyas was the weakest, so this line surprised me a bit. (The fact that a bullet can miss its target surprised me too, but I checked back, and the exact quote from Idriel started with “they say”, so it was hinted as a rumor even from her, good job here!)
– Just a little bit of thing, maybe unimportant, but which makes me wonder. Calypso looks bound to Orion specifically (she later says to Alex at the mansion that he's the only one able to summon her). But despite he volunteered to open the box, he didn't even had the time to touch it before it opens, and it's Alex who later breaks the final chains. Maybe there should've been something to specifically explain why he is the chosen one, like a picture of him putting a finger on the box just when the blue lights comes up. Or maybe rather let the other two be able to summon her as well?
– There's a line more explicitly incoherent with Maat: she says that the Bastet Figurine makes impossible to wake up before 50 or 55 minutes. Avery was already sleeping when Nova arrived, so when Orion find them, he almost certainly sleeps for more than five minutes. Yet, we see Orion waking up while the other two are still sleeping (not for long), so even if he slept the minimal 50 minutes, Avery should have been doing so more than 55, and thus have been disconnected. You probably should tweak the line by saying the figurine makes you sleep some (unspecified) amount of time but makes you wake up in time to avoid auto disconnection.
(– During the wizard contest, with the polyjuice potion, Orion has the same “first-time-like” reaction for Penny than for Luna, although he already saw her bare breasts at this point. Not a problem at all, as it's not like he was used to them, but I wanted to make an exhaustive report, so…)
– All the Gems of Doom shown by Idriel on the first talk with her were dark. The one found on the Red Herring was, too, despite the blue light coming from the box. So it's a bit weird that the one from Garrington has another colour, and it's even weirder that this colour is already shown on Orion's slides while preparing the heist. I think it's pretty cool for them to have several colours, but Idriel should've shown that, and Orion shouldn't have known which colour was the one Garrington had.
(– The letter delivery while preparing the heist was a bit dark, I had to brighten up a bit my screen to clearly see the symbol on the envelope. Not as much as for Mrs. Flink, by far (and this time it was of course visible the symbol was here, just it wasn't really readable), but as it was the second (and for now, last) time I had to do it, I'd better let you know.)
(– As I'm a bit of an astronomy nerd, so I have to ask: is there a specific reason while, having nine persons to name (not counting the Expendables, of course, although they could have been named “asteroids” :-°), you choose to use Ganymede instead of the way more known Uranus?)
– Astronomy nerd again: while stargazing with Alex, she says it's October 15th, and shortly after, she points out the Leo constellation just under Ursa Major, while Orion (the constellation, again) is visible on the picture, probably higher than on the horizon. Depends of course a bit on the latitude, but where I live, on mid-October, Orion doesn't start rising before midnight, and Leo, being the main spring constellation, is way closer to the sun and doesn't show up before about 4am, so neither of them should be visible at this time. And this comes just after she points out how the Eternum sky perfectly matches the real one, so…
Edit: just noticed this point also depends on the gap between legal and real time. Sorry, that was obvious -_- Don't know what would be the gap in Kredon, but the said constellations may show up one or two hours earlier. So maybe Orion would be visible close to the horizon at this point. But Leo surely isn't.
– To enter the party, Orion says he “sends” the money, which I don't think is an usual way to tell it for giving real dollars, so at the moment, as Judith said it was possible too, I guessed he payed in eternals. Which could be cool, but then I remembered that when hiring Noah and Raul at the Yoga class, they talked about giving the money to them at the next connection, which hinted it wasn't possible to do it outside the game, and thus makes strange the party hostess allows to pay later.
– I'm a bit disappointed about Orion just answering by “I don't know” when Regina starts saying that all Instagram girls including Penny are superficial and only caring about their look, as he perfectly know she at least isn't like that at all. (I at least hope there's still something to do about this yearbook.)
BTW, I also checked your Patreon page, and the post with the image showing your current progress is now really deep and thus hard to find (I don't see it pinned on the top of the page, probably because I don't have a Patreon account, or maybe I checked at the wrong place?) so it doesn't help to see how much work you still have to do 'til the next chapter.
…and, that's all! As said before, that's really a few points, regarding the size and the general awesomeness of the game. But as said before too, I'm a quibbler, so I hope it won't bother you to check them and tell me if you agree or not. And, to finish, please allow me to also add some wishes for the future releases :-)
Already said that on my previous comment, but it would be cool to see some more diversity in background and supportive characters. There's already some, but you still could add some more!
As I already said before too, I'm a huge fan of Eva and I hope we'll see her again. I think she would be the perfect optional character, the one you could totally miss while playing but that rocks the team and gives cool secondary quests if you do find her, like for instance Yuffie in FF7.
And, last but not least… please let us see how Annie is a real badass too. I mean, we saw Dalia kick butts several times (including Orion's one). We had Alex and Nova against the Praetorians, and Nova also had the quick but intense session at the party. We had Luna and even Penny during the tournament. And Nancy with all the empress stuff (the scene with the previous emperor makes me guess she took a bat at her work because it was safer than her bare hands to the Ulysses guy). I don't even mention Calypso (I especially liked the final lines on Ogygia).
But for Annie… we guessed on the first session on Ion that she has the same potential, but it was never clearly shown: there was no fight on that session, and she was mainly scared on the Red Herring quest and with the aliens on Andromeda (which isn't bad at all, let's be clear, it gives her depth). And during the heist, she had a pretty important role, but we just saw her opening the final box. So, please, the next time, let us watch her be a total badass and kick some butts too. She deserves it.
That's all for me. Keep telling Caribdis how his game is awesome, folks, you're better at this than me and he deserves it a lot too <3
Okay, while waiting for the next chapter, I'll try an honest review of the current ones. Not a native english speaker, so please forgive me for eye injuries.
First of all: as a girl, I'm not a huge fan of a single male character having a female harem (I'd rather have the opposite, but it's sadly not common in such games).
But: your girls are cute, with interesting backstories, and most of them are legit badass, so it's way better than in other harem games. And Orion's behaviour seems to deserve their attention, which not all MC can boast.
In fact I even can't say which of the girls is my favourite so far, they're all too good to choose!
About diversity: almost all characters are white people. But not all. The few exceptions being ChipChop and Chang, asians, that are mainly used for the comic relief and thus quite ridiculous, and mainly Benjamin, black, and an absolute asshole (not sure about Maat, she looked more tanned than black, but she's not exactly a positive role either, so…)
I think it's problematic. But it's quite simple to correct: there's a lot of bit players everywhere. You just have to make some of them visibly non-white, and it'll work way better (noticed there was one other black guy in the groups introduction, but we saw almost only his back in shadow, and I can't remember seeing him again later).
About the main character: Orion is cool. Not particularly handsome or endearing, but pretty good for the role. To be honest, I think the MC's look was the main issue of Once in a lifetime, but this one is just fine.
I'm not a huge fan of the big dick trope, but I have to admit you did some good use of it, especially the scene with Nancy while Orion was sleeping, which was funny.
I'm not sure about the suit. Not that I dislike it (well, I think it looks weird, but that's just a matter of taste), but it's weirdly used: you start by telling “It's not required but recommended”, and then it looks more like “It's absolutely unnecessary unless I want to show you a girl in it”.
I was a bit disappointed by finding a gem of doom and two thirds of the weapons of Atlas in the second chapter, which, at first, looked like long-term achievements coming way too quickly. But, of course, with the gem gone soon after and Calypso being what she is, the third chapter was reassuring about the game's length.
That was the lukewarm points. So now, let's see the really good parts.
I often only smile playing humorous games. You did make me laugh a few time. So, well done! Along the same lines, I'm not a huge fan of horror scenes, especially in adult games, but I didn't dislike yours, which is quite an achievement :-)
Really good work on the sound atmosphere, and good choice of musics. I didn't know Snake City before, and now I'm listening Run Boy Run while writing this. Not sure the lyrics really match the scene for this one, thought, but it does sound really good.
The phone calls with Nova <3 Both of them.
Great work on the different worlds (including Kredon), althought we didn't (for now, I guess) saw much about Ion and Ekabar. I thought from chapter 1's dialogues those two were supposed to be the most used, and finally not so much (yet). But most of those you introduced are really good and I'm curious to learn more about them.
(As I'm not really into cyberpunk, I was dubious about the neural implant when I first read the synopsis, but you managed it well, so it allows a wide diversity of worlds in a credible way, which is really cool.)
Magic effects are really good. Can't wait to see Annie's abilities (she looked really cool in the first time in Ion, but didn't have the occasion to do more than a show off for now).
The HP's parody (ouch, sorry, professor, won't say that again!) was really fun (except for the frog, poor Penny). I wonder it the trio of summoners will be seen again or not.
And, well… there's too much good scenes. When Orion tells Annie he likes her (really cool thing he asked before kissing!). That poor guy at the yoga club. Nancy punching back the Emperor. Alex's grandma (almost cried). The first meeting with Luna.
Not a huge fan of the need to punch Axel each time the choice is given, but, heh, it's Axel, so he had it coming (on the very first meeting, I first choose to be polite before we saw his “conversation” with Annie, then I rollbacked before Orion did intervene).
Now, what I see or wonder for the future.
I'd like to see Eva again. Probably not in the same circumstances (as she said), she could change her job or something like that. Don't know what you plan for her, but she looks like the perfect hidden character, the one that rocks the team if the player makes the good choices, and is totally missed else.
(Somewhat like Yuffie in FF7, with her cool but totally optional quest in Wutai.)
I'm wondering about how Luna's dad will react if he learn that Luna is part of a harem. He's fun, he likes Orion and his attempts to marry them off are cute, but he's also very protective and I'm not sure he'll like the idea of his sweet daughter being only one of many girls.
And, I can't wait to learn more about the very first phone call, when they arrived at Kredon. It was a good teaser, quite discreet as we didn't know about Calypso and the temple at the moment, but it was also the only real proof something special is going on for now (the Founder's freeze could be explained differently, and Benajmin's death isn't directly related to the team.)
(Of course, the 100% compatibility and the Neo-like abilities makes Orion special, but it still could be some other few people in the same situation. But a phone call naming him in the real world, that's something different. Hope we'll get an explanation.)
Finally, I'd say… even if there's of course a room for improvements (there always is), your game is currently one of the best adult games I ever played. Well, with such a story, it's better than a lot of mainstream games too. Congrats!