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I played the Game! And I got the true ending! Here are my thoughts on the game.
One thing first:
Ok like I said before, great music. This is not going to be questioned.
And in regards to the cutscene bits at the beginning, yeah, I felt they were long and I did want to get to the battles. But they were well executed and as a whole I can see they are extremely important and valuable to the game. The real world segment is also the strongest part presentation wise. It makes a powerful impression that I would think would keep other players interested and invested.
Now for the other specifics.
Lee's Characterization
I was getting very annoyed at him. So good job! You know, love or hate, if you're getting an emotional response you're doing a good job with the character. Also, I could sympathize with him and his rationale. I think the only thing that was kind of weird to me was how long it seems he was holding on to it as according to the people of the house. But then again, Lee managed to maintain some amount of this anger all the way through the game, so not too big a deal. Also, the speed in which he jumps ahead to conclusions without much thought does give the impression that he is just a child in a sense. Overall, I don't like the way he behaves at some points, but it's all consistent with his characterization.
I also like the decision he came to. That was very much in line and although I thought that Fayte leaving him a letter was awkward, the message
itself was a great motivating factor. It was also very astute as I could see myself agreeing with Fayte's opinion.
Fayte
She's a fundamental drama factor in this game, and I think that ends up being the problem. I know that you had to make sacrifices in the story telling so in terms of the Game it works; it's not really a fault. The way I'm thinking of it, it seems like a necessary evil.
To me it felt like there was a disconnect between the Fayte herself, the Fayte presented through Lee and the Fayte presented through Ember. It was like all the puzzle pieces were there but I didn't know how to fit them together. I think a lot of it has to do with the tone in which I read and interpreted the dialogues. There were just a lot of little clues when the about Fayte's personality whenever the other characters were talking about her but then there's Fayte's own scenes and how she is presented and a lot of it seems like it doesn't add up neatly. I'm sorry if I'm not being clear, I'm also struggling putting this feeling into words. I think I would have really enjoyed to see Fayte outside of her drama with Lee because then I'm sure you would have pulled it of nicely. Still on Fayte, I felt that a lot of her actions were awkward. Like leaving the letter (seems kind of passive aggressive lol) and her blowing up at Lee saying it's his fault right when the big bad is in front of them. But here's the thing, those actions make sense in the scope of the game, and I could tell your hands were tied when it came to presenting their drama. So yeah awkward, but justified. My overall feeling is that I didn't like Fayte as much just because a big chunk of her character was the drama. Her explanations in the ending however does kind of help clear up her previous dialogues though. I think you executed her very well during the ending sequence although the Fayte at the ending still felt kind of disconnected. But again that's just because of the nature of the game.
Other Characters
I really liked Ember and Aiden. On Aiden, thanks to the way you framed and portrayed him through Lee at the beginning (showing how they met and Lee's general opinion of him) I was led to believe that I was going to dislike him, but I'm so happy that wasn't the case. Good job on that. I really like Aiden's character. I was sad I didn't speak with him more during the first playthrough. His execution during the ending sequence was perfect. I liked what he had to say, and his motives made sense. I felt that he was the only one who had a right to spill about their motives and feelings during that last sequence even lol! Very well done, I totally understood Aiden's drive.
Ember was fun, and I think one of her selling points is how aware of herself and her thoughts she is. I don't have much else to say about her because it is hard to put good feels into words . =]
The Grandfather
Thank you so much for making him the threat. It made so much sense, brought the story together, I didn't see him coming, and you presented a unique perspective through him. Really, it's great that it wasn't just some nightmare because it added more to Lee.
I understood his thought process, if I had to sum it up, he was a man that stared into the abyss and came out with a half-truth. What do you think about him and his motive?
The World
Your explanation of how the worlds work made sense. I thought it was really clever. And it is a statement of how powerful a person's concept of reality can be. Sucks for the Nightmares. Overall, it reminded me of some writing from an eastern school of thought.
Other Misc.
I can't comment on battles reliably, because my computer can not handle lots of things happening at once. One thing though, I had a glitch where Lee got stuck on an enemy. Then when he got knocked out, two enemies were locked on top of two knocked out allies. They were pretty much sitting ducks and I proceeded to brutalize them.
Error wise, I think I might have seen only one spelling error. I think it was 'soemthing'.
Oh also this might just be me, but it was tough to read the tutorial dialogues when you have the pink tiles behind it. Just kind of blends together when I'm reading it.
Final Thoughts
I liked this. It was really well put together. I personally enjoyed the characters the most. I'm looking forward to any additions you might make.
One thing first:
Ok like I said before, great music. This is not going to be questioned.
And in regards to the cutscene bits at the beginning, yeah, I felt they were long and I did want to get to the battles. But they were well executed and as a whole I can see they are extremely important and valuable to the game. The real world segment is also the strongest part presentation wise. It makes a powerful impression that I would think would keep other players interested and invested.
Now for the other specifics.
Lee's Characterization
I was getting very annoyed at him. So good job! You know, love or hate, if you're getting an emotional response you're doing a good job with the character. Also, I could sympathize with him and his rationale. I think the only thing that was kind of weird to me was how long it seems he was holding on to it as according to the people of the house. But then again, Lee managed to maintain some amount of this anger all the way through the game, so not too big a deal. Also, the speed in which he jumps ahead to conclusions without much thought does give the impression that he is just a child in a sense. Overall, I don't like the way he behaves at some points, but it's all consistent with his characterization.
I also like the decision he came to. That was very much in line and although I thought that Fayte leaving him a letter was awkward, the message
itself was a great motivating factor. It was also very astute as I could see myself agreeing with Fayte's opinion.
Fayte
She's a fundamental drama factor in this game, and I think that ends up being the problem. I know that you had to make sacrifices in the story telling so in terms of the Game it works; it's not really a fault. The way I'm thinking of it, it seems like a necessary evil.
To me it felt like there was a disconnect between the Fayte herself, the Fayte presented through Lee and the Fayte presented through Ember. It was like all the puzzle pieces were there but I didn't know how to fit them together. I think a lot of it has to do with the tone in which I read and interpreted the dialogues. There were just a lot of little clues when the about Fayte's personality whenever the other characters were talking about her but then there's Fayte's own scenes and how she is presented and a lot of it seems like it doesn't add up neatly. I'm sorry if I'm not being clear, I'm also struggling putting this feeling into words. I think I would have really enjoyed to see Fayte outside of her drama with Lee because then I'm sure you would have pulled it of nicely. Still on Fayte, I felt that a lot of her actions were awkward. Like leaving the letter (seems kind of passive aggressive lol) and her blowing up at Lee saying it's his fault right when the big bad is in front of them. But here's the thing, those actions make sense in the scope of the game, and I could tell your hands were tied when it came to presenting their drama. So yeah awkward, but justified. My overall feeling is that I didn't like Fayte as much just because a big chunk of her character was the drama. Her explanations in the ending however does kind of help clear up her previous dialogues though. I think you executed her very well during the ending sequence although the Fayte at the ending still felt kind of disconnected. But again that's just because of the nature of the game.
Other Characters
I really liked Ember and Aiden. On Aiden, thanks to the way you framed and portrayed him through Lee at the beginning (showing how they met and Lee's general opinion of him) I was led to believe that I was going to dislike him, but I'm so happy that wasn't the case. Good job on that. I really like Aiden's character. I was sad I didn't speak with him more during the first playthrough. His execution during the ending sequence was perfect. I liked what he had to say, and his motives made sense. I felt that he was the only one who had a right to spill about their motives and feelings during that last sequence even lol! Very well done, I totally understood Aiden's drive.
Ember was fun, and I think one of her selling points is how aware of herself and her thoughts she is. I don't have much else to say about her because it is hard to put good feels into words . =]
The Grandfather
Thank you so much for making him the threat. It made so much sense, brought the story together, I didn't see him coming, and you presented a unique perspective through him. Really, it's great that it wasn't just some nightmare because it added more to Lee.
I understood his thought process, if I had to sum it up, he was a man that stared into the abyss and came out with a half-truth. What do you think about him and his motive?
The World
Your explanation of how the worlds work made sense. I thought it was really clever. And it is a statement of how powerful a person's concept of reality can be. Sucks for the Nightmares. Overall, it reminded me of some writing from an eastern school of thought.
Other Misc.
I can't comment on battles reliably, because my computer can not handle lots of things happening at once. One thing though, I had a glitch where Lee got stuck on an enemy. Then when he got knocked out, two enemies were locked on top of two knocked out allies. They were pretty much sitting ducks and I proceeded to brutalize them.
Error wise, I think I might have seen only one spelling error. I think it was 'soemthing'.
Oh also this might just be me, but it was tough to read the tutorial dialogues when you have the pink tiles behind it. Just kind of blends together when I'm reading it.
Final Thoughts
I liked this. It was really well put together. I personally enjoyed the characters the most. I'm looking forward to any additions you might make.
