Most of the other comments have touched on some of the things I've felt about the game, so I won't repeat a lot of it, but I figured I'd weigh in with my two cents as well, since there were some things that did influence my decision to drop, as much as I loved the concept.
I do agree with what Kosy said about the imprints, and I am +1ing all of that. As well as the comment on the game's identity.
Liz brought up a lot of what I felt was my own struggle with the game, but I'd like to expand on it from my own perspective. I understand that you reiterated in the past that there's no metaplot, and that's perfectly fine! Not every game needs one, and it was a breath of fresh air not having to worry about keeping up with one.
I know there are some characters who work for that sort of thing and others that don't, and maybe it was just a matter of my own character not being a good fit for it, but especially given that the world is a blank slate, I think the most important thing to me was that there could have been more to cater to those character types who need to be helping/influencing/making a change.
For example, more hooks to draw characters to the different locations, which I think has been discussed in the past, so forgive me if I'm beating a dead horse. I noticed that most of the time, characters would be drawn back to the same places because they had a reason to be there—Merlaut Apartments, Heavenly Blanc, MARKETZone... but the rest of the world felt more like a "one and done" sort of thing: character checks out the location, sees what it has to offer, and then never comes back.
It felt like the same thing month after month. The ideas that you guys come up with for these mashed up locations are really, really neat and creative and it was one of my favourite features about the game, but I noticed that many of them tend to go to waste after they've been implemented.
In the future, maybe some more exploration events could be added? With a sentient world, I think there's a lot of potential for crazy things to happen with the imprints, big or small. (Tifa thought that the world was confused and needed help/healing, for example...) The lack of exploration and means to really engage with the setting made me feel disconnected with the world.
Another thing I think the game really could have benefited from, as Liz said, is some kind of NPC life. With a small game that has a more SOL focus, I think it would really help in making the Void feel more alive and could potentially give people more room to engage with the world. This was brought up as a suggestion in the last state of the game post, and it was very discouraging to see it go completely ignored because I've always agreed that it's something that could help those types of characters who don't thrive as well in this kind of setting by giving them a means to help/influence someone else. These NPCs could be part of the hook that draws people to other locations, and they could be random people drawn from the worlds of the characters, or even better: void created NPCs. If characters can do something for them in some way, whether it's by helping with random tasks or stopping them from hurting the world/the people in it, etc., it might help with that feeling of not having a "purpose" or a reason for being there, if that makes sense?
Anyway, this got much longer than I wanted it to be so I'm gonna end it here. Maybe later down the road, TR will be a game I can bring Tifa back to, because I adore the idea and would love to see this game grow and thrive! For now, these are just my own suggestions based on my personal experience in the game, so I can only speak for myself but I hope it's been helpful in some way. Thank you for all your hard work!
no subject
Most of the other comments have touched on some of the things I've felt about the game, so I won't repeat a lot of it, but I figured I'd weigh in with my two cents as well, since there were some things that did influence my decision to drop, as much as I loved the concept.
I do agree with what Kosy said about the imprints, and I am +1ing all of that. As well as the comment on the game's identity.
Liz brought up a lot of what I felt was my own struggle with the game, but I'd like to expand on it from my own perspective. I understand that you reiterated in the past that there's no metaplot, and that's perfectly fine! Not every game needs one, and it was a breath of fresh air not having to worry about keeping up with one.
I know there are some characters who work for that sort of thing and others that don't, and maybe it was just a matter of my own character not being a good fit for it, but especially given that the world is a blank slate, I think the most important thing to me was that there could have been more to cater to those character types who need to be helping/influencing/making a change.
For example, more hooks to draw characters to the different locations, which I think has been discussed in the past, so forgive me if I'm beating a dead horse. I noticed that most of the time, characters would be drawn back to the same places because they had a reason to be there—Merlaut Apartments, Heavenly Blanc, MARKETZone... but the rest of the world felt more like a "one and done" sort of thing: character checks out the location, sees what it has to offer, and then never comes back.
It felt like the same thing month after month. The ideas that you guys come up with for these mashed up locations are really, really neat and creative and it was one of my favourite features about the game, but I noticed that many of them tend to go to waste after they've been implemented.
In the future, maybe some more exploration events could be added? With a sentient world, I think there's a lot of potential for crazy things to happen with the imprints, big or small. (Tifa thought that the world was confused and needed help/healing, for example...) The lack of exploration and means to really engage with the setting made me feel disconnected with the world.
Another thing I think the game really could have benefited from, as Liz said, is some kind of NPC life. With a small game that has a more SOL focus, I think it would really help in making the Void feel more alive and could potentially give people more room to engage with the world. This was brought up as a suggestion in the last state of the game post, and it was very discouraging to see it go completely ignored because I've always agreed that it's something that could help those types of characters who don't thrive as well in this kind of setting by giving them a means to help/influence someone else. These NPCs could be part of the hook that draws people to other locations, and they could be random people drawn from the worlds of the characters, or even better: void created NPCs. If characters can do something for them in some way, whether it's by helping with random tasks or stopping them from hurting the world/the people in it, etc., it might help with that feeling of not having a "purpose" or a reason for being there, if that makes sense?
Anyway, this got much longer than I wanted it to be so I'm gonna end it here. Maybe later down the road, TR will be a game I can bring Tifa back to, because I adore the idea and would love to see this game grow and thrive! For now, these are just my own suggestions based on my personal experience in the game, so I can only speak for myself but I hope it's been helpful in some way. Thank you for all your hard work!