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I've been avoiding this game like the plague. I stumbled onto it as my dog started showing signs of aging. I saw it again as he slowly stopped being able to walk or run or play. Again, as he stopped being able to stand or even hold himself upright and again today after letting him rest last week.

I'd like to think that he'll come visit me from time to time. I've always been a mess, but he kept me together and gave me a purpose. He's such a good boy. I miss him so much. But this game tells me that I have to keep it together so that he can rest easy and not worry about me.

Thanks.

This was unexpectedly fun, incredibly validating and oddly comforting in a "maybe there's hope" kind of way. If a single billionaire could do this much good, could you imagine the quality of life we'd all have if we didn't idolize or allow their ill-gotten hoard?

Thanks so much for breaking all that down for me!

And please don't worry, none of this took away from how amazing this game is and it's completely normal and expected to run into mistakes, placeholders and oversights during development. I had a feeling it was unintentional and made no assumptions. The only thing that took me out of the game was hitting the end of the demo!

It's really hard for me to leave comments asking for clarity, the last thing I want to do is come across as critical, hurtful or offensive as I understand so much time, effort and courage goes into creative works such as these. I'm incredibly grateful, honored and relieved that I could help you in some small way! As I said, I'm going to devour this game when it's released lol

Thanks again!

The way that you captured what it's like to play an old school MMO AND be a guild leader is both amazing and triggering (in a good way).

This game is incredibly nostalgic. The grinding, the guild drama, the imagery, all of it takes me back to early online gaming. The social aspect of this is amazingly realistic and immersive (things like what happened to Chris really did happen quite often), I feel like I've gone back in time. It reminds me of why I don't join guilds or take leadership positions anymore!

The only thing that seemed strange to me were the the dialogues that referenced the "self-employed" background choice. When asked about college, the only choices I got were that you didn't go and you can be glad for it or regret it. Another choice, specifically about occupation, has you say you don't want to talk about it. One can be self-employed, still have gone to college, be very successful and enjoy what they do. College isn't just about finding a job, it's also about learning, networking and gaining skills if you go to a good one. Perhaps this changes if you choose to be a student in-game but I felt as though the dialogue kind of leans negatively towards being self-employed and college in general. I'm wondering if this is intentional or am I misunderstanding?

Either way, I'm going to devour this game when it's released.

The new art is absolutely fantastic. I'm the opposite, I'm connecting to the characters waaaay more. The original was wonderful, but in this iteration I can see that a lot of practice and thought went into it; it's a lot more polished and I can really see the growing confidence.

Being an artist means never being able to appeal to everyone, so please remember that for every one person that pouts, there are way more that are jazzed by your growth and progress! I look forward to absolutely devouring whatever you do next! ♥

EDIT: Quest leaves me grinning from ear to ear my face hurts pls send help. Or Quest himself. Ty.

Hi, thanks for your response. It doesn't help because at this point in the game, you only have access to rank 3+ gear from the gas station and upgrades which is rank 4 equivalent according to the menu. The only rank 4 gear I have (which I think I may have gotten from the sidequest bounties but there aren't any left to do) forces passive elements that actively heal enemies if their element is green/nature over every ability, so when Gaius switches his element they're rendered useless and take double damage from weakness. That's an issue that extends to all fights. Are players really expected to run from fights and switch around the gear every single time they encounter an enemy that they're disadvantaged against because of forced blanket passives? Every time?

 So if Gaius requires rank 5 gear and rank 4 isn't available in the gas station at this point, how do I get it and do they all have forced passives?

This was so much fun until Chapter 2.  The difficulty scales immensely and the combat becomes so incredibly dragged out and tedious even on Story mode. It definitely does not make the game more of a VN as promised.

The introduction of elemental typing in Ch. 2 would have been fine if A) there was some kind of warning that this was coming and B) there was a warning that you'd accidentally heal enemies if you attacked them with a certain element. There's no real way to plan ahead, you never know what you're fighting next and at a certain point, your strongest gear gives you elemental passives whether you want them or not.

Also, understanding your party strength is extremely difficult. Enemies do an incredible amount of damage which is doubled if someone has an elemental weakness. Yes, you can vary your gear with different elements but as you're scrolling through your moves, if you get caught with a weakness, you take so much damage. Staying on one gear set slows down your damage output, making the fights take even longer than they already are. And unless you're hitting the enemies with their elemental weakness, your party does so little damage even with the best gear you can get at the gas station (upgraded) which is always a rank or two below the monsters you encounter. It's discouraging.

And then there's (maybe spoiler?) Gaius. This boss shifts his element so at least one person in your party is going to be healing him at any given time. Not that it matters because your damage output is so incredibly low. You're hitting him for 2 or 3 damage while he hits you for a whopping 90 - 180! His attack speed is fast, so there's no way to outheal him with Sam before someone is face down. Having to pause, use a healing item, unpause and repeat every few seconds is not ideal. In JRPGs, this usually means that the party is supposed to lose, that it's scripted. Here, it's not, and I cannot figure out how to just get it over so I can get back to the charming, funny and fun story. I am literally stuck and no other fight before this was this impossible.

I genuinely do not understand what went wrong here, if I'm missing something about gear and combat or if it really is poor scaling, but I feel as though the frequency of the battles, the difficulty and tediousness of them and the confusing gear system are actively working to keep me from just enjoying an awesome gay quest to defeat evil. I want to finish the game.

I'll take it!! :D

The Master of Murmurs is gorgeous, please let me love him. D: