by ExLibris » Sat, 10Jan09 17:21
I've played through v0.22 and got all the endings (I think) so here are my thoughts.
1. I might be in the minority here, but I thought there were too many pictures. There are several occasions where the player has to click through a dozen pictures, which is tedious from a gameplay perspective. It also makes the game file larger than it needs to be.
2. Why is there an option to kick the paperboy's ass, as doing so locks you out of any good ending? I realise that dating sims are supposed to be solved by trial and error, but it seems a bit harsh for the game to effectively be over with the first decision the player makes (especially as it's not immediately obvious).
3. Related to point 2 is the fact that most of the time it's not obvious whether an action has had a good or bad result. I had that problem with the Anne path, and I'm still not sure what I did or didn't do that allowed me to complete it.
4. I believe someone has already pointed this out, but the two methods of earning money are rather tedious and repetitive (though the surprise at the hotel breaks that up a little).
5. It might be worth getting a native English speaker to proof read the text for you. It's not a huge problem, but it does detract from the enjoyment of the game.
I hope that doesn't sound too critical, as it was a fun game. The individual paths were quite inventive. I enjoyed the Liz path the most, followed by the Anne path.
Best of luck with future versions.