by redle » Mon, 14Apr07 23:24
Graphics are the typical Leo good quality. It's a pretty fun little stats builder. Just made a quick pass through it so far, but here are my negatives.
I never much care for having a very strict timeline and yet constantly being penalized for trying things too quickly when the game gives me no way to know when I can advance (i.e. I have this arbitrary number of my relationship with a girl. Oh, she and I are a 19. Does that mean we're best friends, casual acquaintances, mortal enemies? This leaves me the options of trying to run the number up very high before I try anything so I'm safe, or constantly trying things over and over [and getting a penalty every time] until it succeeds). Rather than playing the game and enjoying it, I find myself forced to play it simply to find the break points where new things are allowed. Then playing from the start needing the foreknowledge from a previous playthrough. I can still have fun with the game, but it's so much better when I can actually succeed by making choices I can reasonably figure out, than when I can only succeed by testing and analyzing the game first and then play it again knowing all the answers.
Not sure how something like touching an arm is not considered flirting. Nor how actual flirting demands gifts first?
*** edit: after playing again, the feedback on score to further progression is a little better than I thought. The problem stemmed from disagreeing on progression order (like the gift/flirt mentioned already) and from small hot spots where some options just weren't apparent as options. Progression is still a little hazy, but if you go at it from the mindset of, I'm going to completely ignore everyone but 1 target, there is at least some room for forgiveness in attempting progression early (silly me, I like to talk a bit with everyone even when I focus on a main target).
The progress indicator seemed to have a lot of errors. For instance, tutoring and drama class are said to open at 50 but actually unlock at 25.
Several people have commented on the shortness of the 3 tasks per day limit. It doesn't really matter to me so much how many tasks per day I have, as I have so many tasks until game's end. How many are supposedly in the same day/week/month, however you choose to break it up, is rather irrelevant. That being said, the current setup doesn't have a realistic feel to it. When I go to school, to work, to the store... wherever I spend my time in life, I never find myself in the situation where I can 'say hi to Beth' OR buy the groceries. This feels especially odd in the early game when the girls don't even know me and all I can do is say hi to them. My suggestion would be that girl interactions are freebies where time is concerned, unless something significant happens (then maybe you lose the time slot). You ask a girl to go to the park? Okay, you probably miss your class as a result.
I realize you are trying to constrain a player so he can't go around freely chatting everyone up and still having time for everything else. Where would be the challenge. One way to handle this would be to put the girls in various locations as you have, but make them non-clickable. Kendra's hanging out in the gym? Well, if you want to talk to her you must do an activity in the gym. When you do an activity in the same area a girl is in, you automatically also get 1 interaction scene with her to talk and whatever as it is now if you had clicked on her. At least to me that seems more natural.
Last edited by
redle on Tue, 14Apr08 03:11, edited 1 time in total.
