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yeah, that'd explain it. guess I didn't take that into account, lol. despite the issue I had, I am still interested in seeing where these story elements are going, so I'm glad there will be a sequel.

(spoilers, anyone who's playing the game shouldn't read this if they haven't beaten the game)

while I did mostly enjoy this game, I still feel that the endings left quite a few things about the setting and story unanswered to the point where it was less mysterious and more unsatisfying (who was Vasilis talking to in the beginning? what's actually wrong with Mary? why did time stop magic make sick people feel better and dead spirits? who was the person in the notes talking about the spirits? what was Tetra trying to do? what's the deal with Tetra's weird eye stuff in his boss battle?) I also felt that some elements like Vasilis' split personality in the secret ending or the answer to why time stopped in the true ending came out of nowhere.

maybe this is all just user error; a missed sidequest or bit of party talk, insufficient reading up on the dev's other projects, not reading between the lines enough, or just overthinking the details. I'm not expecting the dev to go out of their way to answer all of these questions, either. still, that was the experience I had.

again, I did mostly like this game; the visuals, the music, and the character writing were great, and the combat was surprisingly involved despite its apparent simplicity. would recommend trying it out.

okay less up-my-own-ass comment this time: would it be fine if I did a let's play of this? I'd only show off a route or two so that people wouldn't fully be able to experience the vn without buying it, but I'd like to show it off to others

Lately, actually spending money on games has been very rare for me, but the writing in this one made me buy the game after finishing the demo just to experience more of it. Even the tailor shop talk being all Greek to me didn't detract too much from the experience. Overall, I don't regret buying it and would recommend it.

However, I felt that the music choice for scenes involving Aquila's reappearance was unfitting. I suppose the theme is meant to be a leitmotif for them, and works fine as one; but when paired with suspenseful scenes of Sinbad encountering his past tormentor and locking up with fear, it's more silly than scary. Also, I discovered the "the part of the hero to be played by the shadow" option completely by accident, as I'd been searching for new endings by loading prior saves; some kind of indicator for its existence would probably help other players with this issue.