WIP: The Song of Exile (PUBLIC BETA - 13/10/2022)

I like that idea and it’ll have a greater impact to readers I think. It will definitely give the feel that player choice matters. I support it if it’s not a major undertaking at this point.

2 Likes

Then I’ll do it, I think. How did you like the new endings, by the way?

2 Likes

In a no Ilverton marriage, non-straight, male romance I ran into this error. chapter9 line 551: Non-existent variable ‘male’

Fixed!

1 Like

It’s definitely a more uplifting ending, which I do like. Especially how they seems happiest to just let go of all there obligations to find love with our MC. I personally though didn’t mind the Ilverton marriage route cause they prospered and still had you. But more options are never a bad thing.

5 Likes

I definitely found the new ending more enjoyable and that article was super interesting too.

1 Like

It should be “my wife” not a husband in this case. And should be “he murmurs”, it’s Edward.
My MC is female and I chose Edward to be male and my lover.

Aside the typo, I love the story! I’m loving the happier ending for sure, the endings before you fixed them were sad. feel like there was no point for trying.

Thank you! Fixed it.

1 Like

I failed at getting the engagement (can someone help me with that lol) and when you’re banished, this error comes up!

“Chapter 9 line 1040: invalid expression at character 18, expected CLOSE PARENTHESES, was: NAMED_OPERATOR [and]”

1 Like

Fixed it (…I hope).

1 Like

I am glad you guys enjoyed the new ending!

5 Likes

Minor update: the scene of saying goodbye to Arthur in chapter 6 is expanded in the case of high relationship stat (again, to show more feeling).

12 Likes

The MC in some play through is like :

5ghqza

:joy:

So it’s been some time since I read this one and wow you did such a good job. It was a decent read before but with the extra scenes it gained a lot of quality

Also as a sucker for romance I really appreciate that you went out of your way and let the mc build a relationship. The snippets really helped set the environment and therefore let us understand the people and their characters in this world.

I am so intrigued by the backstory and the little snippets of J made the relationship the mc had with them before so relatable. Julian (in my play through) seemed to be such a nice person I really felt for the mc.

I recognize, that you learned a lot and think your writing did improve.

[spoiler] one scene where that becomes very apparent is the trainings scene it was such a good scene!

It was dynamic and you really got to know Athur beneath the Lord role he takes with such a stoic approach.
Also you fight scene😘 no twirling and that was really appreciated. A lot of authors tent to not research melee fighting with medieval weapons and only look towards Hollywood for inspiration so a good fight scene is always appreciated [/spoiler]

Also : Do you plan on writing other stories in this world? I think you have real good potential there because even if we don’t get to know the world in it’s details it really seems as though you have a good universe setting there

3 Likes

Thank you very much for your review! Yes, I am indeed outlining a game set in the same world’s version of Byzantium (the place is mentioned in Fulk’s letter in the end).

7 Likes

Nice, I look forward to that :slightly_smiling_face:

Low level feedback
Some pronoun errors. I was playing as a female the whole time.

You hear the steps of two men getting to their feet behind you, and the metallic sound of two swords being drawn. Fulk hears them, too, and pulls you to your feet, scrapping the skin of your throat.

‘You there’, he calls, pulling your hair and baring your throat, ‘one stop, and he dies’.
[…]
‘You’re reasonable’, Fulk says, taking a step back. ‘Don’t move. I’m not going to hurt him’.
[…]
‘You’re going to let me leave’, Fulk of Stone’s Haven states, close to the door now, ‘and I’m going to let him live. It’s a fair deal, isn’t it?’


‘I’ve certainly heard about your brother’, Lord Ilverton grins. ‘I’ve also heard about your rift. I admire a young man’s attempt at bluffing, but it looks as if you are going to be in no position to provide us with connections to him anytime soon’.


A lot of wonky punctuation. Here are some that I took care to lift, but there are several scenes are littered by them.

‘Master Morkar ’, he says to the unseen newcomer. ‘I didn’t know you were going to stay up so late tonight ’.


You turn , and sees a man who has clearly seen more than seventy winters.

I’ve also bolded the grammar error in this one.


A line break error.

You are going to have to go behind not simply the world’s back, but that of your own employer

and lover

in order to convince him to do as you want him to.


High level feedback

To me, the story lacked a lot of feeling. I was playing as a character that loved Edward, but ultimately decided to leave him in the end for his own happiness in marrying the Ilverton daughter.

Yet, when my MC suggested trying to talk to Lord Ilverton about this deal, she seemed completely stoic and unaffected about this. If I were in this situation, I definitely would’ve been a bit more hesitant, or at least showed a shred of emotion for having to resort to this decision for the happiness of my beloved.

Same for my brother and Julian, too. Felt like they were just tossed in there to advance the story. Maybe a flashback of a memory, or a scene where the MC reminisces a memorabilia given to them would be able to help with this.


Something that confused me

After exploring the Finthorp estate and confronting Master Morkar, he says this:

‘The axe…’ Master Morkar sighs. ‘Your memory must be playing tricks with you, Rodrik. You have seen Elwin’s execution when you were but a child, didn’t you?

I’m pretty sure that the MC was talking to Master Morkar in the paragraph before, then the next paragraph starts with this. I got confused because he said the name Rodrik, when I was playing as an MC named Deirdre, thinking that he had incorrectly referred to me.

Then it came to me that he was probably referring to himself. I think giving him an action that indicates that he’s talking to himself (looking/turning away from the MC, closing their eyes while sighing) would be better for clarifying that.

Unless he’s not talking about himself? Do let me know if I’m wrong.


All in all, I quite enjoyed the story. It’s just as I’ve said in the high level feedback - the lack of emotions feels detaching to me. Maybe it’s just my cup of tea, though.

You have a talent for writing descriptively, especially with surroundings. I hope you don’t mind if I steal that line about Edward’s face being painted with warm hues; it did a great job of immersing me into the story.

3 Likes

Thank you for the detailed feedback! I am working on rewriting/expanding the lategame scenes right now.

5 Likes

Update 18/08/2021:

  • Chapter 7: changed and expanded the confession scene

  • Chapter 8: added a scene during negotiations and backstory stuff

  • Chapter 9: significantly expanded the proposal scene

34 Likes

I hope this helped with the emotional side of things. I am going to make a couple of updates for that aspect in the future, too.

2 Likes

1 Like