Just finished my first playthru and it shocked me to high heavens to get The Worst Ending. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That’s not what I wanted! This isn’t right! So I immediately played through it again to aim for getting the The Good Ending. And I succeeded! Loved my 2nd playthru even more because I was able to “fix” what I didn’t do correctly throughout the game the first time. I discovered that the MC needs to focus on just a single Skill throughout the entire playthru instead of trying to get better stats across the board.
At first I thought this game was going to feel really restrictive with all the romance rules that accompany it, but it was actually pretty easy to catch onto which dialogue options ended in which result. I originally planned to do a solo Straasa then solo Morkai route, but as soon as the MC was on the boat headed out of town, I realized that the interactions between the two friends was telling me that my MC needed both of them in her life–intimately. And, boy, was I happy I took that route!
I’m so appreciative of the way their poly relationship was handled. And it was a joy to bold flirt with Morkai while simultaneously shy flirting with Strassa. Kind of a tempering of steel with fire and a cooling of molten glass with air situation, respectively.
I especially appreciate how jealousy wasn’t incorporated into the relationship. Jealously is a reaction coming from a place of fear and so it was really nice to get to experience the relationship coming from a place of love, instead. The MC’s reaction in the inn regarding their role in this threesome was perfect. No single person can be 100% of everything for another person, so getting to play a poly route instead of a love triangle route made me cherish this even more.
Love triangles can be fun to read due to all the tension involved, but it’s nice to see something that involves acceptance instead of angst, for a change. I’m not sure why, but when it comes to love triangles I dive pretty deep into a kind of black-and-white mentality. It’s like, hey, all three of us are feeling something here (even if the feelings aren’t reciprocal all the way around). Either the three of us do something about it or the three of us walk our separate ways. 
On my second playthru, I was able to get exactly equal stats between the two boys, which makes me feel all giddy inside. I was aiming for that, but I didn’t think I’d be able to achieve it on only the second time.
From comments made surrounding TSSW, it looks like I’ll need to check out Manerkol’s path next. I’m definitely a sucker for sub-dom dynamics and the utilization of immobilization techniques. Helplessness can be a powerful tool for growth. Or, just plain fun, in the right situations.
Overall, really great work. It’s fun, frivolous, sober, sensual, and dark–all at the same time. I felt that the pacing was great up until the last couple of chapters before 10. Those felt a little rushed with a little more exposition in them than earlier in the story. Turning some of that exposition into scenarios that unfolded in front of our eyes would have been nice. I love that the prose is simple–not flowery–easy to read yet peppered with a few uncommon vocabulary words. It is descriptive in its simple execution and full of imagery without being pretentious. Love that.
Other than minor spelling and grammar issues (like ether–shouldn’t it be aether?–ethers are a class of organic compounds that contain an ether group–an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups), some of the prose was just masterful; waxing poetic, as they say. As an example, “Most don’t know what the vibration in their consciousness means, where the unexplained sorrow they feel comes from—but some do.”
I couldn’t wait to see how events would unfold and how characters would react to things. The characters felt like they had agency, authentic personalities, and realistic motivations for their wants and needs. I’m really interested in learning more about Straasa’s dark past and I love the external and internal yin-yang dynamic between he and Morkai. And why were they on their journey in the first place? The MC never asked!
Funny thing, I named the mule Rosewood and when Daelynn showed off her flute made of rosewood I was about to have the MC go postal on her for killing the donkey and turning her hide into a flute! I was dying. 
I’m really looking forward to more entries into this series and I’ll definitely be checking out @Morgan_V’s work on ‘Beyond the Mist’!
Sooo I won’t feel absolutely horrible about it and still get more Manerkol 
! This could work… 
Sorry if my English is bad, I haven’t practice much in these months…
To each their own as long as I don’t have to take part, heh… 
…another week and we can take the first steps then! 
The demo is out!