SighingSlider

Hi! I haven't finished the game yet, but I did want to report a bug that can potentially prevent the player from progressing. It relates to how the snack table save point resets the area when you interact with it. There's at least one instance during the third(?) loop, where the storage room where you find Vivi can get re-locked after using the key and you can't get another one!

Here are the steps to replicate the bug with File #5 of my save: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1wu1vhEM56w2-LQJ7KQsA-ZNaM2roaSUF .

Interact with the top painting in the eastern hallway to obtain Vera's note
Interact with the album records on the table in front of the bar entrance in the western area to get the Storage Key
Go back to the lobby and right-click/use the key on the locked door in the bottom-left
Immediately interact with the snack table and then exit the save menu
Viola! The door is locked again, but the key is gone and you can't get another one!
Alternatively, you can create a save before unlocking the door, but the key will also go missing if you quit to menu and reload the file!

I didn't have a great time when I got softlocked myself and had to backtrack from an earlier save point, but I hope this helps!

End Date comments · Posted in End Date comments

SighingSlider1 year ago (2 edits)

Just letting other content creators know that I did get a copyright claim for the "Good Night" song from FASSounds.

You can seemingly dispute it with the license available on Pixabay, but it does require making an account and following their instructions. Not a big deal, but something to keep in mind.

narcotizeDR comments · Posted in narcotizeDR comments

The game is a little rough around the edges, but I really like the concept and story! Here's my playthrough for anyone interested:

Somebody else already made a quick walkthrough on the different ritual outcomes, but I wanted to dig deeper and I managed to approximate how the mechanics work because it's not really spelled out to you.

So, from what I can gather, the 4 endings are based on Octia's hidden stress meter and whether or not the ritual succeeds.

Here are the correct items for the ritual:

Salt/Chalk (either will work)
White Candles
Carnations/Lock of Hair (having any or both will work)
Container/Vial (either will work)
Soap
Eyeball

Failing/skipping any of the steps will fail the ritual (choosing to pause and return to the ritual is fine though).

The other variable is stress which is increased by doing certain actions:

Interacting with specific spots near Aria (choose "No" when prompted to begin the ritual)
- The blood pool near her right hand
- The maggot near her right knee
- The top of her head above her missing eye
Killing the goldfish (seems like it only increases stress if you choose to kill it at the first opportunity)
Picking up the carnations in the vase
Cutting Octia with the knife to collect blood in the container
Drawing the ritual circle with salt AFTER Octia cut herself with the knife
Using the spray to clean the Aria (will fail the ritual)
Skipping the step to restore Aria's eyeball (will fail the ritual)

Notably, increasing stress enough will slightly change Octia's sprite.

The flashback cutscenes will also play no matter what ending you get though, so you just need to go through the game four times to get the whole backstory (which is a strange design choice to me, but what do I know?).

Reel Me In comments · Posted in Reel Me In comments

Hey, just a quick bug report: it seems like if you give a gift that Jun really likes and you linger on the screen, then you get this error:

Snooping around in the game files (sorry, I was curious!), I confirmed that it's because the variant sprite for junblushopenblink.png is missing or otherwise mislabeled.

I hope it helps!

Lightkeeper comments · Posted in Lightkeeper comments

SighingSlider1 year ago (4 edits)

A great visual novel with a neat game mechanic that influences dialogue choices and multiple endings, it reminds me a little bit of Princess Maker! Here's my playthrough for anyone interested:

a few of the traits were quite difficult to figure out, so here's an unofficial endings guide for anybody who got stuck like me (slight spoiler warning):

Obedient: Don't break your chains and then go to sleep
Misguided: Break the glass in the aquarium room with the hammer and then break the talking mirror when given the chance
Kindhearted: Don't break the glass in the aquarium room, clean up the glass shards after breaking the glass case in the insect collection room, head back down to the aquarium room, and then intervene to save the servant when given the chance
Lorekeeper: Read all the books contained in the drawers in the room with the floor hatch and closet (keep interacting with it until you get the hint for the 4-digit passcode), open the small box on the shelf with the passcode in the talking mirror room after obtaining its crystal peacefully
Strong-Willed: Ignore the bugs and also resist the temptation to scratch when first arriving to the insect collection room, then express your discomfort to the talking mirror when given the chance
True Ending: Simply gather all 3 crystals without activating the other endings or game overs, it should default to this ending

Dead Plate comments · Posted in Dead Plate comments

An enjoyable horror experience that nicely builds up the mystery and suspense of the story. I have a full playthrough if anyone's interested:

The CG art and writing are great as always, and no doubt it works well when it's a visual novel/adventure game. I like the chemistry between the main characters and how the climax is revealed.

However, the Diner Dash-influenced gameplay sections are definitely rough. I feel as if the limitations of RPGmaker forced some strange game design choices. For example, the player isn't able to stack multiple orders of the same type, so you end up losing precious time waiting for meals one at a time which makes the later days more difficult than necessary.

Overall, it's not a deal-breaker, I still had a good time!

Model Employee comments · Posted in Model Employee comments

Amazing satire on corporate culture with a lot of influence from the cyberpunk genre! Here's part 1 of my playthrough, if anyone's interested:

The presentation, music, and art all meshed together really well with the themes of the story. There's also an aspect of surreal/dark comedy that makes it feel very "American Psycho"-esque, which is something I enjoyed.

Of course, Penny stood out to me because she's a fascinating character that comes across as charming yet insidious with how she interacts with the main character. I somewhat knew where it was going from the moment she was introduced, but I still found her entertaining whenever she was on-screen. It also doesn't hurt that she's a cute anime girl!

I look forward to the team's other projects!

Animal Village comments · Posted in Animal Village comments

SighingSlider2 years ago (2 edits)

Visually well-done game with a surreal setting, but unfortunately it's prone to crashes and save corruption.

I did manage to fix my save file though, so for anyone else who may have the same problem as I did: I went to C:Drive > Users > [Your Account] > App Data > Local > animal and opened the data.sav with a text editor and changed the [2="..."] line to [2="2D0100000100000000000000000000000000F0BF"] (no brackets). Here's a screenshot as an example:

For some reason, that particular line in the .sav file got changed and the game couldn't detect it anymore. If that doesn't work, you can also try to figure it out manually. Here was my method:

Copy your corrupted .sav file somewhere else.
Delete the animal folder.
Start a new game to create a new folder and a fresh .sav file.
Compare the .sav files in a text editor and experiment by pasting lines from the corrupted .sav file to the new file one at a time and try to load the save in the game.

Cirno's Perfect Punchout comments · Posted in Cirno's Perfect Punchout comments

Most difficult Touhou beat 'em up/platformer I've ever played so far! Seems simple at first, but the time limit is very punishing. Here's my playthrough, if you don't mind the commentary:

There's probably someone else out there who can beat it faster and better than I can, but I like to think I'm the first one to get it on video. So, I'm the strongest by default! 😤

Ritual Bound comments · Posted in Ritual Bound comments

Very immersive way to tell a story! I like the way the lore and world-building are blended in seamlessly with the gameplay. If anyone is interested, here's my playthrough:

It reminds me of Papers, Please in a good way. The game requires you to make sense of all the unfamiliar rules and pay attention to the details, which really puts you in the shoes of our hapless protagonist.

I felt like the rune puzzle, however, took me a while to find the right combination considering that there's so many possibilities. I wish there was a little extra help in terms of narrowing down which symbols to use, but that's just my opinion.

Otherwise, I highly recommend Ritual Bound for its unique experience!

malViolence - Definitive Edition comments · Posted in malViolence - Definitive Edition comments

This is a very well-done puzzle adventure game! To me, it's quite reminiscent of the Zero Escape games in terms of gameplay and design. Here's part 1 of 3 of my playthrough, if anyone's interested:

I waited until the Steam release with its difficulty changes to play it because the comments seemed to indicate that the puzzles were very hard when it was originally released and I think it's a good idea that I did! I'm generally pretty horrible at puzzle-solving, but at least on the default difficulty, I eventually was able to figure them out (though sometimes I felt I just got lucky).

My only frustration is how there are two objects in the last room that are easily missable (the ones you need to click on to unlock one of the endings). The highlighted area for one of them is just so tiny compared to everything else.

Otherwise, everything about the game is well put together and very professional. Cauttione himself being the main star with his eye-catching character design and dynamic animations. Though, I still don't know if I can forgive him for all the extremely gruesome deaths he inflicts on me! 😩

Sketchbook Online 1.02 Notes comments · Posted in Sketchbook Online 1.02 Notes comments

Farewell, overpowered Flurry Strikes, I'll miss them. 🫡

Sketchbook Online community · Created a new topic Thoughts on the Brawler Class and Its Builds (1.01)

SighingSlider2 years ago (2 edits)

So, I've been trying out the Brawler class the most and I wanted to share some of my notes on its various weapons and builds so far. I imagine this is all fairly common knowledge to the developer, Dingasu, but I figured it might be useful to get a player's impressions of the game.

I've made extensive use of Aura's stat resets and then beat up the resident punching bag, EVIL TED, to test out the damage. The numbers aren't exact since the damage is somewhat random by a few points or so, but it doesn't seem too significant for purposes of comparison. I also tried to maximize the main stat as much as I could with the equipment I could find based around each weapon.

Firstly, the Pincher Punchers, the only Brawler weapon that scales with Defense and Intelligence:

	Pure Defense (Lv. 24: 158 Def)	Pure Intelligence (Lv. 24: 122 Int)	Hybrid Int/Def (lv. 24: 81 Def; 81 Int)
Auto-attack	150 + 12 = 162~	48 + 132 = 180~	80 + 96 = 176~
Takedown	n/a	456 + 208 = 664~	330 + 182 = 512~

At first glance, Intelligence seems to scale slightly better per point than Defense for damage. However, high Defense also has the added benefit of giving you much better survivability. As of 1.01, the stat has been buffed to the point where you can almost be invincible to most mobs' physical attacks and allows you to stand in front of them while you punch them to death! You would otherwise have to kite enemies around, or chug health potions, because mob damage is relatively high in this game.

Intelligence, as far as I know, only increases damage output. However, the Brawler only has one skill out of four that scales with Intelligence, and that is Takedown.

It's a situational skill that pulls the player to the target and snares them in place. It seems to be more useful for its utility in a party rather than for its damage. The problem is that it has a high cooldown relative to other Brawler skills with much better DPS, Double Strike and Flurry Strikes, and it also forces you to be in melee range which makes it awkward to kite enemies as it doesn't prevent the target from attacking you. The cooldown reduction from the Pincher Punchers helps a little bit (reducing it from 3 seconds to 2.4 seconds), but not enough to matter.

So, that's why I tried out a hybrid version. But in short, it just feels like you have the worst of both worlds: mediocre survivability and mediocre damage. From what I can tell, spreading out your stats isn't optimal currently.

In my opinion, pure Defense is the best option for Pincer Punchers, despite it having Intelligence scaling. It effectively turns the Brawler into an off-tank/bruiser role where you can mindlessly hold down the attack button in front of the Crab King boss, for example, which is fun in its own way!

As a side-note, the Pincer Punchers will also slow and (as of 1.01?) debuff the Attack of the enemy for as long as you're punching them. To be honest, it's hard to measure the usefulness of this effect. No enemy in the game currently seems to be able move faster than a player naturally anyways, so it doesn't seem all that relevant. Some mobs have a speed buff ability, but the Pincer Punchers don't seem to be all that effective in those circumstances either. The Attack debuff seems almost imperceptible as well, at most it reduces damage by 10 points or so. Though, I haven't done extensive testing, so I wouldn't know how significant it is.

Next, I'll compare the Attack-scaling gauntlets:

	Studded Gloves (lv. 24: 153 Atk)	Quadra Dusters (lv. 24: 147 Atk)	Soul Stealers (lv. 24: 135 Atk)
Auto-attack	160~	210~	112~
Double Strike	146 x 2 = 292~	138 x 2 = 276~	128 x 2 = 256~
Flurry Strikes	146 x 5 = 730~	138 x 5 = 690~	128 x 5 = 640~
Blade Stop	220~	216~	200~

In terms of auto-attack, you have to consider the varying attack speeds for each weapon. The Studded Gloves are tied with the Pincher Punchers for the fastest, the Soul Stealers are just behind, and the Quadra Dusters are the slowest. So, even though the Quadra Dusters does the most damage in its first hit, it quickly falls off in DPS. However, they have the unique advantage of an AOE attack which makes avoiding enemy damage much easier.

Double Strike can be spammed freely along with auto-attacking, so you may as well be holding both buttons down the whole time and effectively boost DPS for very little cost.

Flurry Strikes is incredibly potent and deals very high burst damage (e.g. a whopping 3600+ raw damage in just over 2 seconds with Studded Gloves). Despite its very low cooldown though, it's actually dangerous to spam it because you'll drain all of your HP away. Soul Stealers, however, somewhat compensates for the HP loss with lifesteal but not completely, so you still need to use Flurry Strikes in moderation!

Blade Stop is mainly useful for its stun, which is very helpful for a variety of situations. The damage is not its primary function, but I compared the damage anyway for posterity. Something to note is that its cooldown is also reduced by Pincher Punchers, so it's still relevant even when it's not on an Attack build.

To summarize, investing into pure Attack (predictably) turns the Brawler into a DPS role that vomits out damage. Studded Gloves do the most damage overall, although since you're limited by Flurry Strikes' HP cost, Soul Stealers are the better option for sustained damage even though it does the least damage in one burst. Quadra Dusters' damage is in the middle when you consider skills and is situationally useful for when you can take advantage of the auto-attack's extra AOE range. Generally, you won't be nearly as durable as a pure Defense build though, so you need to either kite your enemies or punch them so hard that they can't even retaliate in the first place!

In conclusion:

Unless I'm missing the point, there's just no reason to invest in Intelligence at all, which is strange as Radia the shopkeeper in the starting area implies how its an alternative stat for this class (she says something along the lines of how "smart Brawlers can turn the tide in battle"). A pure Attack build will always outdamage an Intelligence build with its Attack-scaling skills, and neither does it add any other advantage like a pure Defense build. The only Intelligence-scaling skill for Brawler is Takedown, but its main draw is in its utility rather than its damage, so you can use the skill with any build regardless.

On the other hand, Attack builds have weapon variety and does its job well so far. You have to essentially play tag with the mobs in this game to avoid damage (i.e. hit them in melee range, quickly get out of range, hit them again just as they are moving to a new tile, rinse and repeat), but it seems like it's a common tactic with any melee class. Defense builds are strange, because it doesn't really utilize any of the Brawler's specific skills, but it's still weirdly effective if you hate playing tag and prefer just holding down a single button.

In regards to hybrid builds, they just don't seem worth it. Although I've considered an Attack/Defense hybrid as well, I assume that it's also underwhelming because you're essentially halving the effectiveness of each stat and you're stuck with a weaker weapon (there's no Attack/Defense-scaling Brawler weapon, at least not yet). Maybe in the future with more equipment variety and higher levels with possibly soft/hard caps on stats is where hybrid builds will shine more.

Anyways, that's the extent of what I understand about the class. I'm sure there's stuff I'm overlooking and plenty of unfinished content since I assume the game is still early in its infancy. But, I hope my inane ramblings is somehow helpful!

Sketchbook Online community · Posted in Bug Reports

Hello! Not sure if this is a bug necessarily, especially because the game is filled with secret walls that you basically no-clip through, but there's a spot in the Forest Transition area where it looks like it leads somewhere but it's just a dead end. It seems unintended to me, though I could be missing something:

Dollmaker and the 100 Alices comments · Replied to ojosama in Dollmaker and the 100 Alices comments

SighingSlider2 years ago (2 edits)

Ah, so that's how you get skills, it makes more sense to me now.

Well, I hope you're ready, because I did finally beat the game just now and I did write more notes. It took me literally a month because I couldn't find the last 5 parts of Alice. I looked everywhere, including trying out every combination of the teleportation maze. So, I ended up digging into the RPGmaker files themselves and figured out it was hidden behind a fake wall in the cave area! That's way too devious!

Anyways, they're not quite as game-breaking, but here's a list of possible bugs:

You can continue to scroll up during the level up screen even though you're not supposed to:

The MP costs for spells can be listed incorrectly sometimes, it seems to be a visual glitch for the most part, but it can affect gameplay because it doesn't allow you to cast the spell if the "fake" number is higher than your current MP:

For example, I can't cast Terra in the screenshot below even though normally it costs 3 MP:

Names in the bestiary continue to show up as ??? even if you unlocked their entry:

The spell Perforare is listed as Equip10:

The hearts of Coppelia and Mercury seems to have the same resistances and weaknesses which seems redundant?:

Some inconsistencies in the object collision for the final room in the maze, for example you can stand on pillars:

When hit by an attack that is effective on you, the enemy looks like it's being damaged instead (e.g. equipping the Mercury heart and being hit by Incendia). It can be a little visually confusing.
Swapping spells in the menu will also activate the save point menu if you're standing in front of it.

There you go. Not sure if I helped or I'm just annoyingly nitpicking your project, but I hope it's useful in some way!

Blythe / Radost Gold comments · Posted in Blythe / Radost Gold comments

SighingSlider2 years ago (3 edits)

A short but challenging RPG with an interesting world! It gets quite surreal near the end as well, but it might be because the idiosyncrasies of the setting are completely alien to me. Well, here's the first part of my playthrough for those of you interested:

While I was very curious about the lore, it was also a head-scratcher. Even when I found a couple secrets that the developer left in, it just made me more confused.

Maybe someone smarter than me can decipher what the heck was going on in the story!

Anthology of the Killer comments · Posted in Anthology of the Killer comments

I can't wait for the 9th game in the series! BB's adventures are charming, quirky, and uniquely bizarre.

Here's my playthrough of the first game, if anyone's interested:

They're all quite enjoyable, even though a lot of references can fly over my head because of how uncultured I am, oh well!

I've also done videos on the rest of the series (so far), the entire playlist can found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNHIV6VusiARR-bxCvvy6BYpU801X3dEK

Dollmaker and the 100 Alices comments · Posted in Dollmaker and the 100 Alices comments

Hi, ojosama! I tried out this game for a little bit and I like how the battle system sort of reminded me of the Shin Megami Tensei games. Unfortunately, there are a few bugs that I feel should be ironed out for it to be an enjoyable experience.

The biggest (almost game-breaking) bug was how the spells you equip seem to be inaccurate to how they appear in battle. The 2nd spell's slot takes the 1st spell's slot, the 3rd spell's slot takes the 2nd spell's slot, and so on:

In this screenshot, for example, the 3rd spell seems to activate the 2nd spell on the list instead. It's not just a visual glitch either, the actual effect is completely changed. The exception is the 1st spell slot which usually takes the fire spell by default, but I haven't tested it thoroughly.

I think it's important to fix this glitch because the main mechanic of the game is exploiting enemy weaknesses and it's hard to do that when your options become more limited than they already are.

Other possible bugs include:

Refilling your Life and Mana serums can be done indefinitely as long as you use up two empty bottles at a time, so you can just have infinite potions if you wanted to.
Pressing X during the opening scene will open the pause menu.
Moving through the menus just seems inconsistent in general, i.e. sometimes it's too sensitive and moves too fast, and other times it drops inputs and I have to mash the button for it to work. I have this same problem with a couple of your other games (Lotus Eater Princess and 3 AM Cathrath). Not sure if it's just my computer.

Additionally, this is just from my first impressions, but it feels a little frustrating that the only way to get new spells is from enemy drops. Especially since experimenting with new spells is key to winning battles, I personally don't like the idea that your progress is essentially gated behind random chance. Maybe there can be a currency system and a merchant to buy spells from, or picking up spells when you find Alice parts.

Well, those are my thoughts anyway. I don't know if you're still working on this project, but in case you are, I hope this information helps in some way!

Girlfriend Simulator comments · Posted in Girlfriend Simulator comments

Very suspenseful! This visual novel really nailed an unnerving atmosphere. Here's part 1 of my full playthrough, if anyone's interested:

What I liked was the ambiguity of your relationship with your so-called girlfriend, so it kept you invested in finding out what was truly going on. The visual and audio design also made everything feel slightly off and was a great complement to the story.

The only element that I felt was not to my taste was the few times where a scene was overly described as if it was a book. Like when Nagi's every physical feature was explained in the beginning, even though her clearly drawn sprite is right in front of you! Sometimes it added to the tone of the game if done with purpose, but other times it felt unnecessary to me. But that's just my own subjective preference, I know others would disagree with me.

Anyhow, it's a great horror visual novel! I can see the inspiration from Charon's games, but it definitely has its own twist to it.

Elevator Hitch comments · Posted in Elevator Hitch comments

Amazing horror game with great art as always, I recommend it! It was fun to see all the different ways things could go wrong. Here's my playthrough for anyone interested:

The puzzles flowed well because exploring the different floors naturally helped me progress. I also liked the tone of "corporate surrealism" that the dialogue was going for. I didn't remember to mention it in the video, but I felt like it had an "American Psycho (2000)" feel to it.

Of course, there's the usual bugs that the other comments have mentioned, but I'll state what I experienced:

The FN key doesn't exist on my desktop keyboard, so I can't look up.
If you interact with the no-smoking sign on the wall after getting the related ending, it softlocks.
The secret after completing all endings doesn't activate (I tried multiple playthroughs and even save editing, but it refuses to work!)

However, my biggest piece of feedback is probably the controls. RPGmaker buttons with point-and-click adventure mouse cursor makes it awkward on my hands because I have to switch back and forth all the time. I think consolidating everything into first-person controls would work best (i.e. WASD + mouse).

Overall though, this is probably a highlight for the Spooktober visual novel jam for me.

a pet shop after dark comments · Posted in a pet shop after dark comments

Highly recommended if you want to play a point-and-click adventure game with unconventional mechanics and a spooky atmosphere. Here's my own playthrough for anyone interested:

I played the original version as well, so I can safely say that the full version essentially has more content that extends the length of the game. The difficulty was also ramped up, which gave me a hard time! Though, I noticed that there was hint system added in a later update which might make it easier for others.

There's also more to the game than what I did in my first playthrough. I won't spoil it here, but you can find it in my other video on my Youtube channel if you're really curious. However, it's all I was able to find, so I have no idea if there's still anything else to discover!

リーチ (Reach) comments · Posted in リーチ (Reach) comments

Highly recommended! Not only is it a competent Yume Nikki fangame, it also doesn't feel like Yume Nikki (in a a good way). Here's part one of my playthrough, if anyone's interested:

Good visuals, good atmosphere, and fun to explore. I really like how this game has it's own unique universe, which makes it stand out from other Yume Nikki-esque games while still retaining the tone and mechanics. It's an excellent example of how "good artists borrow, but great artists steal".

My only gripe is that it felt like there were too many dead-ends, so the world doesn't feel as interconnected as it could be. Maybe there were more, but I only found two fast travel points. As far as I know, there also isn't the classic "return to the hub world" power (maybe I missed it somehow?). It's only apparent, however, when you're like me and want to find all the secrets such as the audio tapes, so you end up backtracking a lot.

Anyways, great game! I'll be looking forward to the next project from the developer!

Vain Ascendance comments · Posted in Vain Ascendance comments

SighingSlider3 years ago (2 edits)

Solid experience overall! Interesting movement system, fun boss fights, and a vampire waifu, what more can you ask for? Here's my playthrough for anyone interested:

Not much feedback I can give other than a few obvious suggestions if there's still interest to add more content:

For example, expanding the rouge-lite elements would be great for replayability, such as adding additional playable characters and/or more types of dash techniques for completely different kinds of playstyles. Of course, adding more stages and separate routes with more boss fights will add even more variety.

If there's any desire to expand the narrative a little, it would also be cool to see a few different outcomes depending on how you play the game (i.e. how fast you complete the game). Oh, and some CG art to accompany the endings would be great too, but not necessary (all I'm saying is that Valerie in a swimsuit would probably do wonders for marketing).

Anyways, I had a good time, I'll be looking forward to anything else that the team creates in the future!

The Penne Dreadful Murder comments · Posted in The Penne Dreadful Murder comments

This game came as a surprise to me! The surreal visuals caught my eye, but I didn't realize how much I would enjoy the other elements too. Here's my playthrough for anyone interested:

It had a quirky and off-beat tone that I quite liked. The mystery writing was competent, and the art style contrasted well with the grotesque backgrounds. Of course, extra cookie points for the blatant weeb references.

I do have a gripe with the lack of a save system though. There's generally no excuse not to have it if you have a game with multiple endings, I personally think it's better to encourage players to explore the content and not force them back from the beginning after all. The linear narrative is fun to read the first time, but not after the 3rd time!

Oh, and a small detail that only affects content creators, but the church music is copyright claimed (I had to swap the music out to a public domain song).

But anyways, I loved the game otherwise. My single regret is that I didn't understand most of the puns, because my only experience with pasta is spaghetti!

I wish the developers/artists the best for future projects!

Towelket One More Time 3: Kaarage Tanpopo comments · Posted in Towelket One More Time 3: Kaarage Tanpopo comments

Thanks for the translation! I've been meaning to try out the Towelket series, and uploading it on itch.io was a good excuse for me. Here's episode 1 of my playthrough for those interested:

To be honest, looking at the content warnings, I thought this game was a lot darker than it was. The only part that mildly disturbed me was the rampant sexual harassment of a particular character (which I still don't know if it was supposed to be funny or not!), but otherwise it was mostly a standard JRPG experience in my opinion.

So, a question to the translators, or anyone who's played the games: Do the other entries in the Towelket get more interesting in terms of story? I do have a morbid preference for dark themes in RPGmaker games such as End Roll and Omori, so if it goes in that direction, that would be great!

Sweetest Valentine comments · Posted in Sweetest Valentine comments

This visual novel was great! I can definitely see the CHARON inspiration. Here's the first part of my playthrough for anyone interested (Ichigo just has some strawberry jam on his face in the thumbnail, don't worry about it):

The UI design is competent, the artstyle looks good, and while I had a few issues with the grammar (but only because I'm annoyingly pedantic) the writing hit the right parts for me. Though the themes might not be for everyone, I'm very biased in that I love these types of stories.

My only gripes would be that I felt one of the endings was too "nice" for the protagonist and the way Yuzuki's backstory was told didn't feel like it fit with the rest of the pacing in the game, but these are just my opinions.

Otherwise, Sweetest Valentine was an enjoyable experience and I wish the developer all the best for their potential next project!

What did Veronica dream of? community · Created a new topic My Thoughts on "What Did Veronica Dream Of?"

As a fan of surreal RPGmaker games, I found this one pretty interesting! Here's my playthrough for those that want to watch:

I want to emphasize that the game is competently made. The puzzles were clever (though pretty difficult at times, but I'm terrible at puzzles), the visual style is cool, and there is even a bit of variety to the gameplay.

However, my main gripe is the lack of an engaging story. It seems like the intro and ending cutscenes indicate that the main character is simply retelling a weird dream she had to her friends at school, which kind of takes away any mystery from the game (unless I'm a dummy and there is something I'm misunderstanding).

It doesn't necessarily need a deep narrative, but for a RPGmaker game tagged with "horror" and "surreal", I expected something akin to Yume Nikki where there's an overarching theme to everything in the dream and a much darker story to find hidden just beneath the surface.

Overall, I think it's a good prototype, but a little bit of direction in terms of what the game is supposed to be about would make it much more memorable, in my opinion.

Also, as an aside, I did find a compressed folder named "bonus" in the game files. It requires a password to extract it though. I don't know if it's part of the game, but a hint would be nice if possible!

SPIEGEL EI comments · Posted in SPIEGEL EI comments

Thanks for the translation! I enjoyed it very much because it's reminiscent of classic RPGmaker games back in the day. Here's the first part of my full playthrough for anyone interested:

I generally have no complaints about the script, the dialogue felt natural and I didn't notice any typos as far as I remember. Most of the puzzles were fine and some were even really clever, but a handful of them did leave me scratching my head, especially the "Odd One Out" section. I don't know if the hints ended up being more vague when you translate it to English, or maybe it was as intended by the developer, but the game does troll you really hard at times!

Also, the description mentions how SPIEGEL EI isn't a horror game, but I would say it fits perfectly well in the genre considering the visuals and themes in the story. In fact, it's exactly the type of horror that I really love where it's more about the psychological aspect instead of relying on jumpscares and movie cliches. But that's just my opinion.

Anyways, good luck on your future projects!

Eloquent Countenance comments · Posted in Eloquent Countenance comments

This is a well-made RPG maker game, I recommend it! The "2.5D" graphics is also quite unique, it's not something that's done very often for this type of engine. Here's my own playthrough if anyone wants to take a look:

I'm actually surprised how practically everything is made by one person. To me, it seems that the art, story, and game design are all created by someone who already has professional experience!

Looking back, I think I misunderstood the narrative a little by mixing up the names (but that's really my own fault), otherwise I'm a fan of how it unfolds and it stands well on its own as a self-contained story. However, I would say this style has a lot of potential for more games if necessary. Maybe more adventures within the world, or something else entirely? But anyways, I look forward to any future projects!

DOOMORI - ETERNAL comments · Posted in DOOMORI - ETERNAL comments