I know I was too late in volunteering for the Beta testing for this game and that is on me, but that said here are some of my thoughts on the game.
I would have liked the option to devote the MC’s life to either destroying the Tower of Duroth or modifying its magic so it would only bring people who actually wanted to leave their previous world. Stopping a Tower that may have been ripping families apart for thousands of years is not an evil option.
Regarding ROs, this game went way too far in my opinion to create flawed characters. In the real world we are not likely to see a seriously flawed person and just decide to romance them. People are more likely to say that in their eyes, their significant other can do no wrong. Furthermore, the game gives us the option to say we were in a relationship on Earth and then immediately starts offering opportunities to cheat on our partner. Admittedly at least in the student path, the partner turned out to be an ungrateful jerk which I thought was a really nasty plot development particularly considering how much effort was required to return to Earth so I afterwards chose to be single from the start.
I do not think Gary/Gertie’s spouse was unreasonable. Gary/Gertie’s family was poor and Gary/Gertie is trying to drink away what little money they did have. I would have sooner romanced the spouse reasoning that the spouse deserved a better partner than Gary/Gertie.
Mel/Melanie starts off appearing pompous so that was that for that character. I even had Mel/Melanie repairing books and accompanying the MC to the north but there was still almost no appeal to this character in my opinion.
Jasper/Jasmine is a coward which comes up both at the start and when he or she tries to get the MC’s help to get out of the army. Unlike the MC, Jasper/Jasmine signed up for all of this so my MC felt no sympathy.
Meadan/Meadow in my opinion has nothing wrong with him or her but also no appeal.
We first meet Revin/Raven while he or she is robbing someone and that was that.
Adam/Ada does certainly seem to be a more qualified ruler. I however dislike Adam/Ava taking offense at a MC that chooses to run when attacked at the bar. At that point the MC knows no magic and has no weapon so running really does seem the best idea. Taking on someone who has a blade or crossbow while we only have a serving plate is not the brightest of ideas even though the game bends reality to make its outcome preferable to running away.
Destin/Destiny never said a word to my MC and certainly never gave my MC any reason to bother trying to save this character. The one time my MC did bother trying to save this character, Destin/Destiny surrendered to Shade anyway which was probably the best thing Destin/Destiny could have done for Duroth.
Our character’s magical strength is a joke. The MC gets summoned from the tower to “investigate” the missing ships when the MC can barely light a candle (if the MC took the first rank of fire spell) or cannot even light a candle (otherwise). I would have liked the option to refuse to leave the tower pointing out that the MC was expected to learn enough magic to stop an invasion and the monarch was wasting the MC’s time and preventing the repairing of spell books. The Archmage achievement is not one, an Archmage is supposed to be a master of all schools of magic not someone who is barely a beginner in all schools of magic. The immortality magic ending still has you die and it would have made a less disappointing ending if the immortality magic ending just had the MC disappear so we could pretend the MC’s magic was actually useful for something.
The ending to attempt to get home is also in my opinion unreasonably hard. I tried going invisible, but that does not work. I tried getting maximum agility and dodging, but that does not work either. I got frustrated enough to look through the source code and realized you need a follower to get in the way of your attacker and that nothing else will work which in my opinion is ignoring the MC’s abilities and equipment.
I actually liked the real world connection. I felt the MC however had no reason to help Duroth, and if anything my MC felt nothing but sympathy for the MC’s predecessor. The previous wizard handled being ripped away from spouse and children a lot better than my MC would have. Considering that no one else in Duroth can use magic and considering how utterly pathetic the current ruler and heir are, the MC should have had an option to take over personally. You can’t tell me coups don’t happen in the real world and make enough headlines to give people ideas.
Considering that the vote is currently 92% in favor of your writing style @Lucid over COG’s style, this was an interesting choice. I certainly prefer your usual style over COG’s style. I absolutely love the entire Lost Heir trilogy and I would rank Life of a Wizard just behind that.