Stories that left you disappointed for a reason

[bosslady]

Which one is this

The cold palace.

I have other issues with the game,

Oh, can you elaborate? I'm curious since it seems very popular

 

[seneya]

Oh, can you elaborate? I'm curious since it seems very popular

I can, but tbh I'd rather people play and form their own opinion. It is popular, after all, so this might just be a me thing. This particular scene just... really ticked me off.

 

[game_hunt3r]

Recently, I was looking for something longer to read, and I went with something that was around 100k. I thought it would be alright and... oh boy, do I regret it. I mean, at this point it was my fault for continuing to read, wasting a few hours, and I am not getting those back. To be honest, I was in awe of how the author managed to just... turn what should be a very short scene into something that felt like it was going on and on AND ON. Restating the same premise over and over, the MC being smart on one page and dumb the next. I didn't even remember if it was simply the prologue or chapter 1, but by the time I jumped ship I just hated everyone in that family (not that they really did anything, they were just... so boring). At some point I ended up skimming, something I rarely do, and on a first read too! And then just skipped until I reached the next choice. It felt like the author was afraid of choices...

And the writing, it was just too... tryhard for my taste, as if the characters were doing their absolute best to be either mysterious, amusing or clever all the time. It did none of those, it just annoyed me further.

Phew... finally got this out.

Is it The Cruel Palace?

Edit: Oh, my page didn’t update and I missed your confirmation! Anyway, yeah that game has grown disappointing… to see so many new words for very little pay off, no stats that mattered and a rewrite that was mostly unplayable because it was heavy with lore… idk why the author doesn’t just focus on 7 Days as that’s a genuinely interesting story with decent work done to it so far.

 

[bosslady]

Ah...don't get me started with 7 Days, I still haven't gone past the first pages because having to set everything about mc AND the family was boring to me and what I saw at the beginning didn't really convince me to push forward. And it was disappointing since I was excited for a new zombie story. At this point, I admit that maybe this author isn't for me.

But one thing that I found funny was that I could have a wild age gap relarionship with the spouse. Like 26 (?) mc and a spouse who was in their 30s with a 12 year old in the mix. And vice versa. Sorry if I messed up the ages, been a while since I tried it.

 

[Glitch]

I have other issues with the game, but nothing at THIS level of wtf-ness.

I was waiting for someone to talk about it. I didn’t read the scene with Accolon, though, and I guess I won’t be reading it after all.

I played the first version of Le Fay, and honestly, I didn’t really like it. I found it boring and ended up mostly skimming through it and “turning pages.” I much prefer Arthurian Tale: Camelot, which is more like a simulator where you get to shape your own version of Guinevere, but in a good way, with interesting choices, a fleshed-out plot, and characters that actually kept me interested.

The choices in Le Fay felt more like a “Next” button. You don’t know how much I hate those walls of choices where you have to click through every option just to get information before you can move on. It didn’t feel like the choices had much impact on Morgana’s personality, stats, or the story.

I don’t know if it’s just me,

Spoiler

but I really wanted to drop the game when the birthing scene came up. Like, what do you mean she’s giving birth and there’s a whole audience watching, talking about her as if she isn’t even there? I really wanted a choice to kick everyone out. If you’re not involved in the delivery, get out.

Especially for a setting that puts so much emphasis on misogyny and modesty, and where Arthur gives people the stink eye for flirting with his sister, yet he apparently has no problem with everyone watching ? The whole way it was described gave me the ick, especially with the amount of detail given to the scene, only for the baby to barely have any presence afterward.

Like, let me hold and spend time with the baby. I don’t want to immediately hand him over to someone else to take care of. I understand that Morgana is now royalty and that there would be a wet nurse for breastfeeding, but outside of that, there barely seems to be any opportunity to spend time with the baby or seek him out. At this point, it feels like he’s going to grow more attached to the wet nurse and Arthur than to his own mother.

Edit : And I just remembered, I knew there was something else that rubbed me the wrong way, and I’d completely forgotten that: WE DIDN’T EVEN GET TO ****ING NAME HIM. When Arthur said he had already named him, I genuinely wanted to throw hands right there and then. **** postpartum, apparently we’re just supposed to suck it up and go, “Oh, alright.” If he needs to have a set name for the story, then let Morgana name him or even express not liking the fact that Arthur named her child/not liking the name. Or give us a few names that resemble Yvain (Was it ?), or at least let us give him a middle name. Something. Let Morgana have some say over her own baby.

The characters didn’t really interest me either, and overall, I never felt like I had much agency while playing Morgana. Honestly, I’d rather play as Morgana from Bastard of Camelot.

And the way Accolon is apparently handled reminds me of another trend I’ve noticed in some IFs. Some authors seem much more willing to poke fun at, mistreat, or portray their male characters as evil, even when those characters haven’t actually done anything to deserve it. You can slap them, swear at them, and generally mistreat them in the IF.

While, in my experience, the female characters often feel much more protected by the narrative. It can feel like you’re not really allowed to argue with them or criticize them in the same way. You can’t ignore them, be rude to them, or even get the last word in. They always have to clock you.

It also feels like the female characters get much more attention outside the game. Answers to asks about them tend to be more detailed, and they’re often described almost like angels. And don't even think about sending an ask that expresses a negative opinion about them, while the male main characters can end up feeling like random, unlikable NPCs you no longer even want to romance. I’ve noticed this to some extent in Crown of Ashes and Flame (which I dropped partly because of this), DarkfictionJude's IFs, Press Play, Remember You Will Die, Pillars of the light...

 

[seneya]

I was waiting for someone to talk about it.

Now I want to talk about it, too.

My main issue is that Morgan is basically a set character, and one I don't particularly like. Take the birth scene, for example. Alright, Merlin is acting as a healer there, but Arthur is a complete stranger to M at this point. Yet there are three options accepting of his presence (one even asking him to stay) and none to kick him out. Then, the naming thing: you have two options going "how wonderful DD" and one being "I wanted to be consulted but nwm how wonderful DD". This about having no input in naming your own child.

Which brings me to my next complaint: Arthur. The game doesn't allow you to dislike him no matter what, but you can basically declare you'd die for him day 1. Fine. He's young, he's a brat, he's a king, so he's pushy asf... but why is my Morgan not allowed to dislike him???

Because she's a damn set character. Whose trauma insta-disappers past the prologue outside the few moments where the author wants it back. She's childish and airheaded, blabbing the supposedly horrible secret that she tried to murder her husband to a 12-year-old girl she sees for the first time ever, and it's treated as something cute and funny.

Her marriage to Urien is for some reason treated as something unlawful. It was her father who decided on it, so I don't see how it's illegal. Oh, they didn't ask for her opinion? Sorry, but in these times a woman's consent mattered little. Oh, he was abusive? There were no human rights and abuse laws, so it's horrible, but still not illegal. So, once again, why are we supposedly justified in abusing Accolon? What exactly was he supposed to do?

And it might have been acceptable if the narrative showed Morgan gradually becoming more bitter, angry, vengeful and cruel. But no, she's all DD, so such a scene just looks like a random psycho moment that everyone is a-ok with.

Fun fact: if you confess that you tried to murder your husband to the local priest, he says you were 100% valid, too.

There's other small things like forgetting the kid even if you pick to care about him that make it clear that there's only really one version of Morgan you're supposed to play, but I don't like this character at all.