Factions: The Raids of the Divided

After finishing the demo…
That was quick. I feel like everything happened too suddenly, and the investigations were incredibly fast.

Thank you for the comments, I was starting to feel like Casper

Well this game is out and I bought it on the app store and left a very Colorful 1 star review. I am sorry but I really feel ripped off.

How come you bought it jcury? It looks like you can play it through once without paying then buy it if you like it and want to play multiple paths? (unless it’s different for apple. You can on the main COG site, I just started reading it before). For free I don’t think anyone can complain too much.

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Not that this is the place to really criticize the game(considering this is considered a inactive thread being 3 months old) but if you are going to dislike the game and post about, include why you don’t like the game in your post instead of just saying you don’t like it. pls don’t post on inactive threads.

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@Jacic I buy them all at once to support the authors because
most are good. It is same on Apple.

@RyseAbove I am sorry, but i didn’t find another thread that was newer
so i went with this one.
Feel free to remove my post or have it removed.

Ok I didn’t realise that, it’s nice of you to do that for the authors :relaxed: . It might be worth reading the demo or in this case the story through once though before buying as you wouldn’t have felt ripped off that way and then felt the need to write what sounds like is going to be a very negative review. This would make you (and probably the author as well) happier in the long run.

If you played it through once and thought :meh: not my cup of tea but hey it was free and I don’t like it enough to buy it, I know I at least, tend to walk away feeling more positive about the whole experience. A lot of work probably went into the book and harsh comments without explanation as to why that person hated it hurts! You don’t have to, but letting the author know why it is that you didn’t like it can help them improve if they decide to write something else. Anyway was just a thought, you definitely don’t have to comment any further if you don’t want to.

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Thank you, I really appreciate this comment. All the negative reviews for me means I need to take writing and coding courses before continuing the story.

Honestly I’m sorry getting my game frustrated you that much…

@Jacic I totally understand what you are saying, true i could have done
that but
since Most of the HG and COG titles are good and even the ones that aren’t
good still are 2-3 star titles i have made a habit of just buying it and
hoping
that the next title from the author will be a better game.

But games like these in my opinion are not just bad for the reader but
for the good authors and potential
new customers to the genre.

I thank you for the civil discussion on the topic and the valid points,
but lets say i didn’t pay for it but read
it and was of the same opinion as now does that mean i shouldn’t leave a
review? Not arguing on this, just want your
opinion.

I didn’t bring up points here because the majority here do not like
criticism, and i
am under the impression that no matter how bad the game was just because
the person took the time
to write it you are supposed to be thankful and not voice your opinion,
i on the other hand believe
just because i took the time to do something doesn’t mean it was useful
or good. Maybe a specific story is not
someones cup of tea but same can be said for writing.

I own all of the COG and HG titles with the exception of 3-4 and i do
not rate them
1 star because i didn’t like the story, i take in to consideration
writing, choices, length, price
for given story and other factors. I think this is the 2nd title i have
rated 1 star.

Again no intention to offend anyone.

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@Theboywhocould Do not be sorry, it is your right to create the game and
mine not to like it.
I never heard of this one in the WIP phase so i don’t know what
comments you got, but if more people voiced their criticism you could have
ended up with a far better story.

I just don’t see how this game costs 2.99 when @Sam’s demon hunter is at
1.99.

I think rating is a very individual thing. I personally tend to weight value for money into my ratings and have higher expectations of things that cost more. So while I may not be overly fussed by something that was free, I may rate it a little more leniently or at least note in the comments something to that effect due to it not costing me any more than my time to read it. If on the other hand I bought one of COG’s more expensive books, I’d be hoping it’d keep me entertained and feel more let down if it didn’t.

In terms of rating for anything on the app store (not just COG), if I feel I didn’t enjoy a story but it’s more of a personal preference thing (for example, I don’t tend to enjoy most westerns, even if well written for the genera), I often won’t leave a review at all. If I really didn’t like it for other factors, (glitches, really didn’t enjoy the plot, missing sections etc) I may or may not leave a rating depending on what it is and my mood at the time and how much it was to buy, but everyone’s entitled to give what ever rating they feel is fair whether that’s 1 or 5 stars, that’s why it’s there :blush:

That’s fine, constructive crit can be a touchy subject at best. I always find it helps to know the reasoning but if you feel there may be a negative backlash to it, you’re under no obligation to give it. I personally find constructive crit often takes the harshest edge of a negative review. If you get a review saying “I hate it” it doesn’t tell you much and tends to get a knee jerk defensive or dismissive reaction to the review. If there’s reasons given you can decide if the reviewer has a valid point, and if so, it gives you something to work with and improve, but that’s just my opinion.

As for the cost- not sure but I think it often goes by word count at least in part?

(By the way sorry for hijacking your book thread with sort of off topic discussion @Theboywhocould . I’m not commenting on your book itself at the moment as I have only had a chance to read a short section of it so far).

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Well, after stumbling across this thread, I went ahead and downloaded/played the game.

Positives: The overall idea of four neighboring countries with a “who broke the peace?” plot is certainly sufficient to carry a story. It allows you to write the whole, “go the country X, now go to country Y, etc” narrative which is straightforward but probably also appropriate for a new writer.

Also, the introduction of little puzzles and games that rely on the reader’s own intelligence and comprehension (but not necessarily outside knowledge) are always appropriate.

Wishes: Is English your native/first language? Although I know paid copyediting can be expensive, if you could have asked/begged a native English speaker to edit your grammar, that would have been a huge step in the right direction. People buying HGs generally expect a high level of writing. At the very least, they expect proper word usage, spelling, etc. It’s still not too late to grab a native English speaker, have them go over your game, and roll out an update in the near future!

Since the game can be played for free, I’m not sure focusing on the (short) length is all that relevant, but you might consider editing some choices to give them real, and distinct, consequences. I’ve just played once thus far, but I didn’t get the impression that any choice I made carried any real consequences. It seemed that you’d not only get the same experience (journey) but also the same ending (destination) regardless of your choices. If that is true (correct me if I’m wrong), why even bother to make this an interactive novel instead of a traditional novel?

Even if you want/need all readers to reach the same destination to allow for a common “jumping off point” for future adventures (I did this in my game), you can still make it a truly interactive experience and give readers vastly different journeys to get there. Different side missions, different character interactions, different subplots - those sorts of things.

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@Jacic Some of the points of the bad review are

Grammatical and spelling errors.
Bad writing.
no real or consequential choices.
4Th grade puzzle and riddles that are not relevant to the story.
no character that gets you attached or has depth.
The dialogs between MC and NPC’s are mediocre at best.
Ending is abrupt and doesn’t resolve anything.
very short

If this was the first HG i played back in the day i wouldn’t have
continued nor tried
another one from COG or HG, good thing it was ZE and @Jim got me hooked.

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Thank you for the feedback, I’ll look into it :wink:

I’ll just leave this here while I still can.
Might want to take another look or two at the formatting. Like when speech is involved, paragraphing.
I spent longer than I should have trying to read a few of the paragraphs, they’re all lumped together. It’ll also be easier to figure out who’s talking at the moment.

On to the plot, I like it, you don’t know who’s the culprit, could be any one of them. Don’t think I’ve seen this plot on Cog’s site before. Good job on that!