Recent reviews by crowcommander

TL;DR It's too hard to be a cutesy cozy management and dating sim but too easy to be a satisfying number-cruncher. Who is this game for, exactly?

1. This game has a major balancing problem. I heard nothing about how difficult this game was going into it, but after 20 in-game days of tight resource management (which I did thoroughly enjoy) the game becomes trivial. I never once played the competition haggling minigame until the fifth competition, which makes it mandatory. If I find it way too easy, and others find it way too hard... maybe some number adjustments are needed.

2. The story is bland and inoffensive to the point of being kind of frustrating. It very occasionally threatens to be interesting, such as with Saffron's heart events, but then doubles back on itself before it dares to say anything *too* radical. The main plot also repeatedly lampshades its own predictability without bothering to do anything other than be predictable. If the voice direction and character design weren't so good (with one Anubia-shaped exception) then I wouldn't care as much. As it stands it just feels like a missed opportunity.

3. The haggling minigame is good fun, and it feels satisfying to cobble together a strategy using your limited pool of cards that you earn through heart events as you play. However, once you have all of the cards, there are one or two "king" strategies that make the rest of the cards irrelevant. More careful balancing with consideration towards the lategame would have been nice.

4. The visual presentation of this game is commendable. Insane amount of effort put into making the character models feel as fluid and emotive as they are... not to mention little attentions to detail, like how changing the glamour of your shop room walls will change its appearance in both haggling and story cutscenes as well, or the way Boxer's opening animation transitions into the store menu, which is within its open maw. Like... it's cute! The game is cute. I would have given up after getting bored in week 3 if not for the game being nice to look at

5. The "dating" aspect is cute but Sylvia's chemistry with a lot of the cast feels kind of weak. I guess it's nice that you can choose who she has good synergy with romantically vs platonically... but I also found myself wishing there was more meat to the romance routes I did take! The game is caught between respecting Sylvia as a character, catering to the players' preferences, AND making all of the friend storylines cohere whether you do or do not date them. Makes the whole thing fall a little flat.

In conclusion: It's Fine. I wouldn't personally recommend it to anyone, but there are things to enjoy.

Brilliantly written. As someone who has played more Danganronpa and Ace Attorney than any person reasonably should: this is it. This is the one that works.

Just a fantastically written game.

A thoughtful, touching, and deeply unsettling experience. I can't recommend this game enough.

🙏BLESS🙏