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.
become-as-gods
8
Posts
1
Topics
A member registered Sep 04, 2019
Recent community posts
Even in fiction we all have our limits, and 'no lube' is a very fair one to have, lmao. I don't know why half the LI's have such an aversion to getting intimate inside the comfort of a bed. Not everyone is into exhibitionism/nearly getting caught as a kink, even I had to take the druggy dumpster diving experience with a grain of salt - Saorise showing up immediately afterwards didn't exactly help, either.
Oh Lord the end of your post has been sending me, I couldn't stop laughing. Like, Markus runs a fucking sex shop! There is -no- reason why they couldn't have paused, pointed out it wasn't exactly working out as-is, dashed out to buy some vampire lube and then continued when they came back. The way these characters forced themselves through extremely uncomfortable sex made you feel like the world was going to end if it didn't happen right there and then - and the fact it isn't even implied to happen again afterwards all points to it being no fun for everyone involved.
On the one hand I respect them for venturing out of the expected norms of their field, if no-one ever tried anything experimental or new within a genre fiction would be terribly boring as a whole - but on the other I also feel it's a shame that it had to happen to this game in particular. I just wanted a dark, power fantasy vampire dating sim with controversial elements sprinkled in, not a sermon on why escapism is bad and there's nothing but cold, empty suffering to show for all of your efforts. It just felt like a bit of a slap in the face to the player.
Oh man I really feel for you, I ended up discovering the demo about a month before the final release, instantly got sucked in/immersed into the world and was really hype and checking in every day to see when word of the final release was, but I still have it easy in comparison to those who were beta testers, kickstarter/patreon backers who waited so much longer (and had a higher level of emotional attachment.)
That's not nuts, I can totally see why you feel that way - at times it DOES feel like the game is actively trying to punish you, especially when it comes to initiating any kind of intimacy. Flirting is fine, but as soon as anything physical gets involved it seems to cross a line in the sand that the game wants to punish you for. You know that one common ending where Lazarus kills you, and while you're dying he begins taunting you that he won't even eat you because you might enjoy it? That's how it feels the devs went about implementing the sex scenes - they'll give them to you (due to fan demand) but in return, they'll make sure neither the characters, or the person playing can enjoy it (in good conscience.)
Then to top it all off with the "true" unlockable ending being some vague meta message about how nothing you did really mattered? Like, how did they think that was going to be received by their fanbase? It's the literary equivalent to suddenly dunking a freezing cold bucket of water all over your audience's head after they've poured their time, money and effort into playing your product. I fail to see the message they were going for, other than punishing their players for wanting mutually consensual sex and a semi-healthy relationship out of a dating sim game.
Ah I'm really relieved to see someone else feels the same way, I didn't want it to come across like I was hating on the game or anything. I loved the game, which is why the direction it took in the end really disappointed but also riled me up, because I felt it could have been so much more than what it ended up being, if that makes any sense.
I'm going to join the choir and say all of the endings were disappointing in one way or another. I love the game, the setting, (and to a certain extent) the characters. I get that the devs were going for a dark, gritty and realistic game - but at some point it just felt like they were slapping more flaws onto characters and pushing more depressing aspects onto the game solely in an attempt to be "subversive" to what is usually expected from something marketed as an otome/vampire dating sim.
Otome is a genre that is usually plagued with love interest on protag rape? Let's make the protag feel like a rapist, instead. Otome protags are usually a magical fix all band-aid for all the love interests' problems? Let's make it so the protag can't improve a damn thing about their love interests' life, and arguably make it even worse. Otome game endings usually contain a multitude of happy endings, and unlockable ones that are even happier? Let's make every single ending a downer in some way - even the "special" ones they have to spend hours unlocking.
If I sound bitter it's because I am, the devs even said as much that they were aiming for this game to be an unforgettable experience, one unlike any other you'd played before - and it is, for all the wrong reasons. In hindsight it was also really cruel of them to "hype" the routes up as being '15' on a scale of being mature/shocking, and is what contributes to me feeling like they ended up shooting themselves, the game, and all the endings in the foot - all for the sake of being a "subversive" but ultimately unsatisfying experience for the people who played it.
I don't regret buying the game on the first day of release (despite how grating the ending bugs were) and this won't make me not support them in the future. Just wanted to vent what I feel are some reasonable criticisms of this game as a whole.
