Samurai of Hyuga Book 2

Hey, congratulations with the release of Book 2 and your rise to fame on Steam. I love this serie, I like old Japanese themed games/novels and combined with a CYOA game makes it very enjoyable. The writing is good, just like the first book (which is quite a feat, I’ve read multiple stories that lost quality after the first release). I especially liked Momoka’s running gag about the bridge, it made me laugh real hard. The Shogi play was also very enjoyable, rather than randomly clicking I actually had to look up the respective pieces to figure out which move was the one Masami intended.
My favorite part was actually the opening with your crazy, yandere ex. I love characters like that (only in games, not IRL) and I really wonder what happens with my MC that is still totally attached (nothing good I imagine).

I found a minor bug that was unintentionally funny for me:

During Momoka’s romance scene in the hotel
“I’ve already hurt you enough. Do make me do it again.”
I don’t think you want to do it again. It reminded me of the Britney Spears spoof ‘Hit me baby one more time.’

Also I have a question about the attunement. When I pick every good option, which is followed by a ‘your attunement has increased’ message, my attunement is at 100%.
However if I pick an option that does not say this, my attunement decreases (because there was another option that did increase it?). I found this to be odd, 'cause there is also the ‘your attunement has decreased’ message, which decreases it as well. This means you get a decrease for both negative and neutral attunement options. It would be more logical if it only lowered with a decrease and stayed the same when there is no message displayed. It could be a bug, or getting close to your spirit animal is harder than I thought.

I hope this post wasn’t too long, keep up the good work :slight_smile:

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There’s a lot of good feedback here, and I really do appreciate it. I am always amazed at how many new folks join the forums just to give me their opinion! That’s passion, and that means a lot.

After writing these games for about three years, I’ve found a common criticism that I would like to address:

“I would have liked it if I had the choice NOT to (drama-inducing event).”

I think it’s important to keep in mind that a story is nothing but drama and conflict. And so I don’t like providing choices that take away from the story and weakens what really makes a narrative worth reading. Opting out of kabuki date with Momoko, for example, would decapitate the impact of the betrayal scene later on in the story.

It’s a trade for control in return for dramatic storytelling, and I understand that not all my readers will want to make that exchange.

@Claymore
I often don’t write out “attunement has decreased” messages because it’s negative reinforcement. When players make a choice, I want them to feel happy or interested in what the result is, not bad for having made a mistake.

While it’s not a hard rule, if you come across three choices often one will increase attunement, one will decrease it and one will leave it alone. Only the first would get a message it this case. Hope that clarifies things!

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I really really enjoyed it.

But was bit disappointed, it just felt too short and, that cliffhanger got me so mad. I thought I may kill a demon or two too, but that never happened, besides the scene with Momoko and Baron was surely intriguing, wonder if there is one for Toshie and Hatch as well. :laughing: The part where the stats shift was also something. And never thought a Knight would be demon next.

By the way who all are in the artwork?

Got it the moment it was out >www< SoH actually inspired me so much that made me take a swing at writing.

I completely agreed with @H2O 's opinion on book 2 >www<

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You use Momoko as an example that has emotional effect, but it didn’t for me. I didn’t care for her before the date, or after. I literally did not care. So there was no drama there.

If I had gone with someone else, and they had hinted to me as to Momoko’s state, maybe I would have felt more sorry for her than I did in the story, because apart from me and Hatch no one else seemed to have interaction with her.

That’s a lack of character building of a somewhat satellite character; their interaction with different people that aren’t the main character. Because this story is done in first person this is even more important.

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This was one of my largest problems with the Momoko scenes. I never had any strong feelings towards her, mostly because of her hypersexualized character, so I never felt any guilt toward not returning her feelings. In fact I found it annoyingly funny and ironic. “Oh now I know what Hatch feels like not having his love returned!”

…Yeah okay but at least your “love interest” straight up told you their feelings instead of just up and leaving without any indication after telling you they had to think about it. That was the exact moment my feelings shifted from neutral/slightly uncomfortable about her character to downright hated with every fiber of my being. And Momoko talks about how she can see the pain the PC is in and how the PC needs to forgive themselves and think about their feelings…and then she forces her feelings on the PC, complains like a child when she doesn’t get her way, sulks and then decides to runaway like a scolded child.

Something I have to add.

That’s just the problem though. The story itself was sacrificed for character development. Character development should happen naturally inside of a story, not be forced in like it was in Momoko’s “arc.” Masashi maturing happened naturally through the story. Toshio cracking happened naturally during the story. Momoko’s development took two-three whole chapters and it still left a sour taste in my mouth. The PC even experienced development naturally and so did Hatch. But like I said, the story was sacrificed for the character development of a character that leaves shortly after her big development. And that just rubbed salt in the wound. All this “development” and now she’s gone?? I wasted how many chapters watching her develop??

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I agree with you on most of what you have stated.

Due to various circumstances that happened, I am glad that we get to understand their personalities more clearly and how they reacted to it. I suppose this is the author’s way to let us get to know each character better. But I do think that some situations are too restrictive and could be handled more properly. DX

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So basically the main complaint is people want to romance there Wifu. You guys will most likely get to in future books, he’ll there might be harem end but it seems each book is character centered and it’s kind of refreshing. If they throw in all romance at once it usually feels rushed. Each character is still going through there arc Toshie- warming up, Masami growing up, and Hatch heartbreak and I’m sure each will get there time to shine book one was pretty much all Masami. As for all who complain about feeling that the island feels like a detour I feel it adds to the whole anime type of episodic nature of the story. Look at anime like samurai champloo , each episode has nothing to do with there objective but is part of a arc and that’s fine you get to know the atmosphere more… So that’s my opinion.

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That’s quite a generalization without any real evidence to back it up. It’s not about wanting to ‘romance there Wifu’, it’s about feeling like you’re forced into a situation where you have to go on a date with someone, even though you were given the illusion of a choice between five people. If I have to do something with a specific character, I don’t want to be lied to and told I could take anyone I want. The game should straight up tell you “Yeah everyone’s busy so you have to go with her.”, instead of pretending you can take anyone.

Though I do agree with the comparison to Samurai Champloo. I get tons of vibes from the show when reading SoH.

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I have to admit that I expected that I could romance “my husbando” in this book so upon discovering that I cannot, I was sorely disappointed. I know it’s a childish complaint but I do understand your point though.
Looking back ( after a good night sleep that is ^^; ), I realized that some character do need more time develop their relationship with my PC and their personalities before upgrading their relationship to the next level. It is quite refreshing actually from otome games I played. I mean who fall in love just after 11 days meeting each other. (I’m looking at you Mystic Messenger) xD

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Heyo. I was a big fan of the first book, and I really enjoyed this one too. I would though like to throw my two cents in with some hopefully constructive criticism.

[spoiler]The first thing I didn’t like has been brought up already. Momoko. I’m fine with being directed into going with her to the theater, and I’m fine with the player ronin thinking they’re attractive. I mean, hot is hot. But I didn’t like that there wasn’t a choice to say “Yeah she’s hot but I’m not really interested in plowing her like this is Farming Simulator: Sengoku Jidai.” Especially considering that you get the option to deny her advances later, I think internally expressing a disinterest in pursuing her romantically should’ve been an option at the theater. I don’t think the story really gained anything by making the PC want her so badly, and it would’ve been nice for the ronin to have an option to think to themselves “nah, not really interested” which maybe changed the writing a bit so it would portray the ronin as still finding Momoko attractive but not one wrong move away from from ravishing her right then and there.

The other thing was that the plot really felt like it slowed down to a snail’s pace once the Baron’s place was reached. Part of me worries that that’s just my personal reaction though. But, for me at least, it felt like the process of all the characters losing and then regaining themselves took too long and there was just a long time of nothing happening. The entire story from the beginning of book one up to that point felt like it was moving forward with a very consistent pace, and then suddenly it sorta stopped in a rather jarring way with Toshie being the only character really having any development going on as she tries to maintain herself. Slowing down the plot is fine but, for me at least, it felt less like a gradual decline and more like the plot ran head first into a wall and spent the last part of the book trying to regain it’s bearings.

Overall though I did still find this book very enjoyable and I look forward to the next one. This is also all still really fresh in my head, since I haven’t touched the books in a long time and then today I just went straight through them in six hours and then wrote this. So my points, especially the latter, might not even stay the same.[/spoiler]

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Here’s my feedback; I want more. :heart_eyes:

Yes, I feel like we could have gotten more out of this second installment, but overall I still really really enjoyed it. I’m now looking forward to a third installment (and I honestly hope there are more beyond that).

If I had anything to say it would be that, yes, I was a little disappointed I couldn’t bring little Masashi with me to the kabuki theatre. Poor little guy loves kabuki! How could you deny him that!

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AS SOMEONE WHO PLAYED MYSMESS yeah the whole romance thing is kind of a disaster (i mean so many of the guys are like ‘i wanna spend the rest of my life with you’ and the gal is like ‘i want to open a business with you’ like you’ve known them 11 days max). i prefer the other cheritz games like nameless or dandelion (but mostly nameless) cause you have a lot of time to get to know the characters.

but also wrt this game, i didn’t feel too bad about the lack of romance just cause i feel like my ronin isnt really there yet, even if she wants to bang every hot person within 10km. i mean she keeps thinking about her murderous ex even though she left years ago so id really rather she just deal with that before she even thinks about being with anyone else.

but yeah i’m not that sore over the lack of romancing characters other than momoko and the baron i guess. i have other date sims to fill up my time if i need that (hell, ive been juggling ozmafia, fate/extra ccc and the fate main game)

additional side note: it really bugged me that the kanji jun/ko used was 順 and the ronin has this whole big thing about how it could mean pure, but that particular kanji would only mean order/turn or obedient/submissive/etc. 純 would be pure, but its an entirely different kanji? i mean, i know i shouldnt be like ‘oooh i cant believe that the writer didn’t realize this!’ (especially when its entirely possible they did). i already occasionally eyeroll from the ‘baka! idiot!’ sort of stuff but thats just me :no_mouth:

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So first of all, on release day I stayed up too late since I couldn’t put this down and ended up not only passing out in bed reading but also oversleeping and showing up 2 hours late for work! lol whoops! Fantastic sequel, plenty of clever jokes and great interactions!

One of the things that made me laugh and groan was:

Hatch: “I like Momoko, can you talk to her?”
Me: “Hatch I think she’s a lesbian”
Hatch: “I’ll just ask her to marry me!”
Me: (Facepalm!) Doesn’t work like that…
Hatch: You slept with her?!"
Me: “(sigh) Told you she was a lesbian…”

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Some part better than the first, some parts worse.

Better: Interactions between Masami and MC, interaction with junko at start, trying to get Momoka and hatch together, and shogi matches, change in character sheet was interesting idea

Worse: The forced interactions with Momoka (i like her as a friend but was forced to have romantic interactions) I wanted to go with Masami to theater, and the mansion felt stretched out i was just sitting there going when are we going to kill this demon, and why did we keep leaving Masami, also sometimes particular choices were hard to determine what characterization they were connected to and so lost some attunement and don’t really feel like it was justified

What I really want to know is when we get to romance Masami (favorite character since start and yes junko i am obsessed with Masami’s innocence and purity)

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It was actually said that it could be pure but the way that Jun/ko wrote it you know was obedient, it was intended to show the kind of person your ex is

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I still like their concept though even if I did lose some sleep over it and I still love Jumin to bits. If only I have the ability to write stories, I could create a story after 707’s route about Jumin’s love life with a new character. But my idea would probably too similar to Korean drama formula. Hakuouki is still my favorite otome game . Hijikata ftw!

Getting to way off topic lol. Anyway, it is kind of odd that PC thought it meant pure. I am more on the submissive meaning rather than obedient. Maybe the author would help us understand this matter?

The common way to write Jun is 純.

But it can also be written more rarely as 順, among others like 隼 and 洵.

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I see… I’ve only started learning Japanese so my Kanji is not that good. ^^;

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Is anyone else having trouble loading their book 1 save game on steam for book 2? I just finished it 5 mins ago, and tried loading my character in book 2, it loaded fine but it says I called the Jijinto guard not the Shinto priestesses. I definitely called the shinto priestesses, and I don’t want to continue playing if my character isn’t loaded properly.