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I definitely got a lot of playtime out of this one, between the large number of conversations, map sizes, quests and support/skill unlocks. Even now I'm pretty sure I might have missed some content, getting constantly lost on the first floor as I did.

It was understandably a bit buggy given the scope, mostly noticeably with some of the 2F battles and tile shenanigans. Never anything game-breaking or that couldn't be very easily bypassed, though. Encounters could still be quite frequent, often triggering multiple times in a row, which made the Sublimate skill a real lifesaver given the large maze layout.

One of the highlights for me that hasn't been mentioned so far was the classrooms. On top of all the endearing NPCs, I liked how all the classrooms had unique seat layouts and features. Very handy while navigating, and I was really impressed how distinctive they could be despite mostly using the same props, in contrast to the corridors.

Nice to see all the improvements all around compared to the first game. Had fun unlocking the various defeat dialogues, wasting money on sweets and panties and mastering the art of maximizing  CBT income throughout the week.

Darkness in general was pretty much the constant obstacle in the game for me, and I found myself reloading saves more often than most other jam games to help find my bearings (sometimes even rushing down corridors before the screen could fade to black to get a quick idea of the layout). Even with map drawing I'd often get completely messed up by fighting an encounter mid-turn and losing track of my direction (since the compass isn't visible either in darkness).

While I like the Skill-based solution-approach to combat, it made darkness combat a non-option when fighting anything that required more strategy than bats, since I'd often get mobbed while floundering to select the correct character and their skillset/escape without the UI. My heart sank after wiping out at the cockatrice encounter; not because I'd have to grind, but because I'd have to go through that damn dark corridor twice to get back to the save room and back.

I persevered though, and aside from the UI hiding, I never felt the game was particularly unfair or didn't give me the tools to succeed. I liked how you couldn't tell apart slime colors easily in the dark, and honestly felt that better monster hiding alone would make for an interesting challenge given the limited skill slots, rather than hiding the entire battle menu for several turns as well.

I think this game has a lot of potential once it manages to fine-tune various combat aspects. I was digging the straightforward school arena premise, the letter system is cool for moving along the "story" of what is mainly a combat-focused game, the art stands out and knocking out people through pain feels very satisfying. I look forward to more weapon/skill variety that is built around that meter rather than HP loss.

That being said, there's something that really isn't working with the Action Points. I tried a run avoiding the use of Beg beyond just using at as a debuff (my Edith doesn't grovel!), but I can see why it's currently so overpowered by allowing you to to avoid relying on MP. Given how several enemy attacks often reduce yours, the optimal strategy so far seems always being on the offensive (crippling the enemy with status effect stacks by doing so) until you run out, pausing to rest only when the enemy can't act so you can sneak in an extra attack. No point in hoarding them if they get chipped away.

The "Back Away" mechanics are really punishing, and once you run out of MP it's really not fun having to wait 2+ turns not doing anything. I wouldn't mind it being so severe if I didn't feel incentivized to go full cavewoman/unable to ration MP effectively, and if it wasn't a situation that seems to inevitably happen every fight regardless of how it's going.

All that being said, I'm looking forward to any future work on this, seeing how it will continue to shape up.

Thank you, both for the review and the help with the bugs! I also regret not being able to get around to the music when I submitted it; I think a proper soundtrack really adds a lot to these amateur RPGs. If I come back to this game in the future to expand it, that would be a top priority for me.