fixed, I’ll be updating the game later today for some story changes, so chapter 2 production will start tommorow
Had this bug. chapter1part1part5 line 1847: Non-existent variable ‘idiotg’
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Yeah, me too The Same thing Happened in my run
Fxied these bugs as well as a few other things
Just updated the game the game to feel more streamlined as well as adding more player customization, and an option to turn off unecessayr POVs if you so wish.
Okay, so the ‘Power Fantasy’ part of the title is misleading.
I was reading pages after pages, expecting the MC to show off their cool new powers…but it just never happens. While other characters were fighting like hell your character just stands around uselessly. In the end they just piggybacked off the two friends and didn’t do anything until they were rescued, just like that.
I get it, not all MCs need to be all-powerful and can solve everything without any struggles. But that’s not what ‘Power Fantasy’ means. Putting that in the title creates a certain kind of expectation….which wasn’t met.
Honestly, if this was the only complaint I had, it wouldn’t be so bad. However, combined that with the next issue, and things become much worse. Again, it’s the expecation problem. Since I was playing an ‘interactive fiction’, I expected to be able to interact with this piece of fiction.
Well, as it turned out, this interactive fiction wasn’t very interactive.
The early parts were fine in this regard. There were quite a few choices, and I enjoyed roleplaying as a sheltered, awkward teen…Then you got on Johnny’s scooter and everything went straight to the gutter (pun intended).
The varied personality choices were completely gone. Instead you were just clicking ‘Next’ over and over. I think there might have been 10-20 pages of just clicking without any choices. This is more like reading a book than playing an interactive fiction.
But not only were the personality choices gone, you can’t even make any choices related to the battle with the Shadows. I was screaming internally for the game to give me choices, any choices, to fight back at all. Hell, the choices could do nothing, or it could even lead to a bad end, but I still want the ability to make them.
Instead, you can do nothing but let your friend fight while you run like a coward. Hell, you can’t even run properly and had to be carried. And when the being surrounded by the Shadows you’re forced to watch your character stood idly while your other friend was fighting like hell. At that point your character isn’t ‘yours’ anymore, but rather just another character you have no control over that for some reason uses the 2nd person narration during their PoV.
The result of both these flaws made getting through this a frustrating slog, and in the end I couldn’t do it. I stopped when the uncle showed up because I realized that that glorious moment of our MC finally gaining powers and do something meaningful would never come. This is, quite frankly, as far away from ‘Power Fantasy’ as you can possibly get. The experience only made worse by the near-complete lack of choices.
Honestly, I really did enjoy this at the start. I thought the concept of the ‘player’ and the ‘character’ being separate entities was interesting. And the eventual conflict the intro foreshadowed also caught my attention. When the MC got bitten and gained power, I was ready to start kicking ass….Too bad, though.
This is my first review here on this site, so I hope my criticisms are helpful and constructive without sounding…too harsh. I sincerely do think these are valid points that should be addressed.
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Also has anybody figured out the settings password yet?
Honestly I kind of agree with you about the power fantasy aspect, but I can’t be too harsh because it’s only the first chapter. While part of me would love for the MC to come out swinging against the first big threat that comes there way, another part of me would be a bit irked by that too. Keep in mind (if I understand correctly) the MC learned about their powers even existing and then got into a major fight within a day, unless you’ve coincidentally been training to use superpowers you didn’t know you had until recently, you’re gonna lose the first fight you get into.
I think it’s nice when there’s a period of time for the MC to be weak, then build up to being powerful after a couple of chapters, but that’s just my personal preference.
I think this part really compounds the whole ‘powerless’ feeling, and yeah I think more choices would help in this section, at least personality/emotional choices that allow you to say “I’m freaking out” or “I hate these people for dragging me into this” or “I’m totally fine with this.”
I’d say let them cook a bit more. It is slow right now, but I get the feeling we’re building up to something good here, just gotta give it some time.
Okay, like I’ve already said a few times before, there’s meant to be a build-up to the MC getting their powers. This story is a power fantasy. As the game progresses, the MC will grow stronger and stronger until they rival some of the most powerful characters in the verse. However, if I gave the player absolute control right from the very beginning without even an understanding of the power system, there wouldn’t be much buildup, which isn’t what I’m going for.
At this point in the story, the MC comes from a sheltered background. They’ve lived without any real understanding of how the world works. Even if players choose to tweak their personality, this won’t change because the MC first needs the chance to “break out of their shell,” so to speak, and that’s exactly what happens here.
Spoilers:I thought this was sort of clear, but the MC is meant to be a very special (heh) figure. At the start of the next chapter, players will get a taste of the powers that’ll eventually grow into something nigh-godlike, which ties into one of two cases they can choose to solve to progress the story. Each case can introduce one of the next two ROs (Ryuji and Karma) depending on the one you pick and ends differently depending on how you handle it (one even leads to a pseudo-boss fight based off the Revolver Ocelot fight from MGS3) and both scenarios are designed to let players experiment with their powers. (Another spoiler: the power is related to Radio Waves, and each case interacts with this ability in a unique way.) If I just dumped all of this on the player in the very first chapter, it wouldn’t make sense—especially since the MC only just got their powers that same day. Especially considering all the other info-dumping that happens in that same chapter.
I labeled the story as a “power fantasy” because that’s what it will eventually become but I also want to deconstruct some of the genre’s tropes later on (like with Ace cough cough). I just ask for a bit of patience; by the second half of the next chapter, most of the control really will fall into the player’s hands.