What are the biggest disappointments for you guys? Is it when choices don’t make much of a difference? Is it when there’s no immersion? Tell me your main reasons.
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No immersion, very little character development, choices that actually mean nothing to the story, ones that are like management sims (nothing against them, I just suck at them and find them boring personally) , aaaand gender locked characters. There’s more than likely more but off the top of my head that’s all i can think of.
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Does it bother you when there’s only one romance option available for your sexual orientation, and you must choose between that person or staying single?
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Hm… Not really. I do like the romance part of cog/hg games so I would def take the option of one over none. But that’s just me
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It’s kind o f hard to judge the character development when only there are only few chapters available for the demo.
Most of the time if I found the story and demo interesting, I would definitely buy it.
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I know what you mean. It’s such a personal experience too, since it depends heavily on the choices you make.
If I cannot play as a girl, I’m not interested.
Writing quality and a gripping story are what compel me to buy. If either of those are missing, I’m unlikely to purchase. I will, at the very least, read until the gender and name choices. If the story handles those well, I am more likely to trust the author and try reading further.
Most games I’ve bought, though, I did so within the first few pages. So, if I’m not engaged with the story or the writing by the time the name and gender choices pop up, I will probably just quit and move on.
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I usually don’t connect well with the MC if I can’t play as a girl, so it really disappoints me when the story seems nice and then I find out it’s gender-locked.
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More so the there are only gender lock characters for men. I know there are more wips with gender lock female but they’re not on the market right now.
They’re really have to be something I’d enjoy. Like I would rather play Samarai of Hyuga than Guns of Infinity just cause I like fansty over history inspired. Which COG does do a good job in variety. But the thing that puts me off the most is when the story doesn’t take its self seriously (Diabolical comes to mind). But I have a very high standard when choosing what I read.
Last thing, the prices went up the past year I believe. That kinda sucks.
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Hear, hear! Lot’s of male MC, mostly from older games, but still quite annoying.
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This is purely a me thing but I, personally, don’t like when there’s a lot of stats. It’s really overwhelming for me and it’s why I can’t play Tin Star even tho I really want to because I’ve heard so much good about it!
I also don’t really like it when things are too open, which seems weird but I kind of like games that are more linear. I know a lot of people don’t feel that way but when things are too open I’m just overwhelmed and I can’t play it because I feel like I can’t make a good choice since there are just too many. And this is purely a me thing (I’m not a huge fan of open world games in general, I tried Skyrim, Fallout, and even Stardew Valley is too much for me.)
I know this isn’t a problem with the games, it’s purely a problem with me, but it’s certainly something that’s made me put games down after playing only the first few chapters.
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Please keep this thread positive with constructive criticism and please remember to keep the feedback focused on the CoG/HG titles and not on each other.
I know this type of thread is well intentioned but it is also the type of thread that gets out of hand quite easily.
If it does, I’m going to close it.
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@Mewsly - Try playing it, ignoring the stats. It very much is readable without worrying about the stats. The only exception to this, is when fighting, chose one weapon (pistols or rifle/long gun) and one attitude (intimidation or charm) and you should do fine with any checks that do occur.
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The main thing that makes me decide between purchasing and not is what mediums the game in question is available on. I have purchased everything from Steam with the exception of two. One just didn’t interest me, and the other due to one or the other of the reasons that will be listed after this mini rant. I don’t play on my phone very often, so I don’t like when a game is ONLY available for purchase for phones in their respective app store. I spend more time in front of my computer playing games than I do playing games (even if they’re entirely text-based) on my phone. Phones are easy to lose, easy to break. So I just stick to what gets listed on Steam, though with rare exceptions. I will sometimes get one for my phone if it is something that I have been waiting for and it is the only place it will ever be sold. What I don’t like is that if I buy one for my phone and it later is released on Steam, I can’t just transfer my purchase. Or if I buy one on Steam, I can’t also download it for my phone for the rare occasions that I actually want to play something on my phone.
I also refuse to find an emulator or something of that nature in order to play all of these games on my computer that aren’t available on Steam.
Mini rant over, continue on for reasons why I choose not to get certain games.
I usually purchase if the MC is above a certain age. High school age or older, though I’m not really sure why. Sixth Grade Detective (on Steam) was one I have not purchased, and it is due to the age of the MC. I understand that we do have young readers in this community, and I love that such games are being made where they can relate to the story better and become more immersed. I’m not opposed to playing as a child if I have the options to play as an older person as well (or if my child ages during the course of the game).
Gender Identity. I like being able to choose what my character’s gender is. I PREFER that I can choose their birth gender and that in which they identify as. And I really love when references are made to said choice during gameplay, especially if the world the game takes place in is supposed to be dark, cruel, or something. That being said, if I can’t choose either male or female, it does quite limit my desire to purchase the game because:
Customization. I LOVE to customize my MC. I love to choose their name, their race/species, their gender, their gender identity, their sexual orientation (or lack thereof), their age (yes, I will sometimes start as a child here),their hair color, eye color, skin color, fur color (if that’s what needs to be done), their height, their figure, their weight (in imperial measurements for these three please as an option!), what they did for their last birthday (just kidding, though I’d choose that if some author let me!). When I can make my character START out to my liking, I am more immersed in the game. I feel for the character because I made them like me, or like how I wish to be, or like a person I know. Now if over the course of the game their appearance changes (due to magic, surgery, battles, accidents, etc.) I love it even more. I can go through the changes and feel what my character should be feeling. Lost an arm? I feel that. Changed into a different gender or race or species(yes I know that isn’t anything anybody here writes about that I know of) I go through the changes as well. In short, I love being able to create the MC in whatever form possible, though I am okay with some basic things since there would be quite a lot of stuff to track if we had a game with all the MC customization I would like to have in it.
Though I don’t require it, I do love having romance options.
When it is all said and done though, as long as the story interests me I’ll purchase it…if it makes it to Steam. If it doesn’t, it’s going to be pretty rare for me to purchase it, though it isn’t entirely nonexistent, it just takes an exceptional game for me to be willing to purchase it for my phone.
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I’ll have to try that, thank you! I normally check my stats pretty frequently so I’ll need to curb that instinct but I’ve heard so much good stuff about Tin Star that I’ve really wanted to play it.
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Tin Star was one of the very first ones I ever purchased. I purchased it because I was a police officer at the time, and thought it would be fun to be “The Law” in a different era. Then I found out that I could play as a Native American (I play one in real life!), I fell in love with the story. Here I was, doing my best to uphold the law in the “Wild West” and being a Native American (and suffering through the prejudices associated with that race) just drew me in. So I played through again (as a different gender, though same race), and again twice (as a different race, both genders) and another (different everything) and another (again, different everything).
I think the stats are mostly a thing for the min maxers to use. You can get through the game multiple times without ever really taking your stats into account, though sometimes a quick glance to remember what strengths you have would be worth a check now and again so you can play to your strengths. Otherwise, I chose things I wasn’t even good at in game and still came out relatively unscathed.
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I tend to stay away from games that are all about the big picture (management sims, games with a lot of time skips and little detail in order to encompass a character’s whole life, i.e. Life of a Wizard and it’s why the newest Hosted Game didn’t sound too interesting to me (The Aether?)).
Games that are gender-locked to male and games with strictly straight LIs (because I already get that shit with Bioware thank you if I can’t romance Cassandra you can just keep your game I have PRIORITIES).
Games that are just a bit too ridiculous story-wise - as in, if they don’t take themselves seriously at all. Also if there is a ton of exposition needed to give me even a vague idea of the world, I’ll probably lose interest before the demo ends.
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Hmmm… I don’t know Tin Star is a Stats heavy game at all, because honestly i just read the story and pick the choice that define my character the way i imagine myself in it, there are multiple outcomes based on our choice (although i realise it later , it all depend on stats ), but even if certain outcome doesn’t satisfy you, it won’t stop the flow of the story … we basically don’t need to “Win” every decision to reach the end, some decisions are rather logically design … for example in the scene where i first met Carrie Caraway , i will have a choice to bandage her leg if i am a doctor , and also have a choice to bandage her leg truthfully or mess with her, all these choices are not based on stats … and i believe it is also common logic that we will lost her trust if we mess with her…although her reaction towards us will be based on relationship stats, but the sequence is based on common logic about how we interact with her …the relationship stats is there, but i don’t think anyone need to constantly keep track of the stats to know whether Carrie is still fond of us… and regarding some shooting scene , well if we already decided we want to be a sharp shooter… constantly practice on shooting is a logic decision, if we never even practice to use a gun properly … then logic tell us don’t choose a decision that require us to shoot a target right?
I think the stats are just there in order to let the sequence flow in a logical manner, to give it as a monitoring reason why things will happen as it is… It is way better than we get a certain outcome because we make choice A or we didn’t make choice B… the stats keep track a long reasoning process in order to convince readers that things happen the way it is because we make many bad actions/ or good actions along the way that stack up to a final outcome, and not because we make one wrong choice , things happen as it is …
For example in Romancing scene, the main character finally manage to attract his/her Romance partner due to a series of actions that stack up to a final impression of the Romance partner towards the main character , which require a set of relationship stats… this is way better than the main character lost his/her attraction due to one bad decision …
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It’s mostly overwhelming for me because of the amount of stats then how much the game uses them. There’s a lot of skills in Tin Star and it’s hard going in to know which ones I should focus on. It’s even harder in games where you build stats overtime and not pick them out from the start, at least for me, because you have to constantly be making choices to improve them.
I think I just have a bit of a min-maxer mind-set when it comes to COGs… I definitely will need to give Tin Star another try after everyone’s advice!
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Don’t worry… everyone has their own style of reading 
I just thought to share some opinion on why certain amount of stats within interactive novel will make the story better
Personally i just concentrate on what type of personality i want to build upon for a novel with stats , then i choose choices based on my strength and avoid choices where i am weak at…
and returning to the topic… perhaps i won’t be so eager to purchase a title that has a poor character interaction and story background , a good story background with detail information will let me imagine better what type of world and culture i live in…and whether my actions will make the world more alive. A good character interaction means that my main character will have some sort of communication with other characters , and how my respond and actions will influence their behaviors towards my main character
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