Something to consider is for the AI to be more discerning as to when to pop their card effects - even with the favourite foods implemented, a strong tactic would be to simply use each power ASAP in order to maximise the number of times they trigger over the course of a match. A player who holds onto their powers might be at a disadvantage in such a case.
This could limit overall strategy if this proves to be a winning tactic.
Regarding your third point, I believe that Roops will be addressing the hitboxes and stun times as a result of the survey feedback. With different guard units on the horizon it makes sense for this to be kept under review for further balancing.
A good point raised about distinguishing level features from background assets. Definitely worth keeping in mind.
Personally I quite like the ease of wall-jumping, with the flicking of left and right for consecutive jumps - one button as opposed to two - but one's mileage may vary. Do agree about the Cat Knight though; I believe it was also a popular topic from the survey so Roops is very much aware.
I'll admit that I almost gave up on this story at first with its hammy fourth wall breaks, the drab interface and the overall non-visuals - boldly eschewing the 'V' of a 'VN' - were it not for the presence of Lady Deirdre Gallows of House Gallows. The morbidly witty exchanges between Deirdre and the protag piqued my curiosity, and by the time of the Harvest Festival I was rapt.
lopiqol paints a scene that is both familiar and alien to the reader with sublime subtle touches of esoterica. A fascinating and intimate insight into the world of a strange nobility that held my attention throughout, culminating in the first of four endings.
A small gripe I have in the writing is with regards to the narrator - the narration switches from passive description to actively engaging not only the protagonist and the "reader" in its fourth wall call-outs, but also addressing the "player" in stating game jam constraints. There is an attempt to smooth these into one voice but the medley proved distracting and causing me to stumble more than once. The stark interface, doing little to distinguish these different voices, does not help in this regard.
Were the interface brightened and the narration given a touch more clarity then I would be delighted to hunt for the remaining three endings and see through the debut of Lady Deirdre!
I loved it! The art and writing were a treat! It was a smart move to have a cute visual style as it not only solidified the characterization and made the characters themselves more animated and expressive, but it also makes exploring mature or grisly themes approachable by retaining a light tone.
The slightest complaint I have is that the "memory" theme felt a touch weak in what was presented thus far, but it is made clear in-game that this element would be explored in earnest in the ensuing part, when this cast of misfits start playing Alexis's game- who among them is lying? We shall have to wait and see!
An outstanding introduction to what will hopefully be a cracker of a VN! One to watch for sure!
An impressive and faithful homage to the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series! Excellent sound design and strong characterization carry this through!
Games like these live or die by their writing and thankfully the writing of the case itself is pretty stellar for a game jam (though I did notice one slip-up in referring to a "Tarquin Browning" instead of a "Tarquin Loughty"). There are a couple of stretches in conjecture that stuck out to me when presented with a protagonist with an analytical mind for decisive evidence, for example immediately exonerating Albion without hard evidence, but such niggles are forgivable given the onerous task of penning an entire whodunnit case on a time-limit. Impressive nonetheless!
Slightly less forgivable is both the lack of visual effects and interaction with the crime scene itself. We can look around the scene, but I was hoping to see a modicum of interaction such as commentary from Ida and Harriet on points of interest within the scene. Even when the dialogue referred to the discovery of new points of detail such as the key and the ash, I would have expected the camera to pan over to these points of interest and show a close-up view of the object in question.
With the scene being so static, there is nothing to draw the player's eye other than the text and the few changing expressions of some of the (admittedly impressive looking) character sprites, reducing the effective field of play to only a small section of the screen.
Hopefully one would expect more visual interactions and flair were this concept to be expanded upon outside of the game jam.
The last point to make is to the homage to the Phoenix Wright series, as I feel in some ways adherence to this established format does limits the game. Firstly, there is the pitfall of assumed knowledge - the game assumes that the player is familiar with knowledge of playing a Phoenix Wright game and understands the significance of 'pressing' testimony and 'presenting' evidence as contradictions to advance the story along.
Secondly, the means of presenting the right evidence to advance the plot along feels like a character misstep for the analytical Harriet Fox compared to the luckier Phoenix Wright, who rightly gets called out in his games for his bluff tactics and clinging to wild conjecture. Resorting to desperate guesswork in the final act by resorting to randomly presenting X with Y statement felt at odds with how Harriet is presented to the player.
If the premise was to be expanded upon, I would suggest a rethink as to how the investigation and the testimony elements could be implemented so as to be it's own format - one without the limitations of it predecessor and plays better in supporting the character's strengths.
On the whole I did enjoy my time with the game as an introductions for these characters. Hopefully we will see more from them in the future!
Interesting. I enjoyed the premise and the novelty of being thrust into this unusual situation and smoothly morphing into the role of the chef and catering to each customer's request. I found it neat how the player could inject a little of their own personality into each exchange, showing greater or lesser interest in the conversation.
One thing that stood out to me, alas, was how the flow of each memory became a little stilted with the perfunctory pacing of the Ren'Py engine. Having each line instantly delivered with each click lent an impatient air to each scene -that you were speedrunning a person's memory as opposed to letting it absorb you. It also meant that clicking too swiftly meant that the changes in audio became a little jarring.
If the concept was to be expanded on, I think I'd prefer to see the dialogue for a customer's memory be delivered as a cutscene with kinetic typography or voice acting so as to better draw the player into the customer's world at a more established pace; it's the customer's moment for reflection - why rush them?
Nevertheless, a fascinating concept to explore!
