Stories that left you disappointed for a reason

[God]

Guh! My guilty pleasure IF that I hate more than I love but can't stop reading cause I wanna know how it ends (jk, season 3 does a great job at killing any smidgen of interest I have for it)
Superstition, I find, shares a few similar problems with The Night Market. Annoying as hell ROs and side characters, wonky world-building, and a wimpy as5 protagonist. In Superstition, the MC is death incarnate, we are created to become a vessel for death itself (which will basically erase everything of our being except the body) while in The Night Market we are supposed to be the very eldritch godlike being that is the market itself but it doesn't feel like so because we're always so f8cking helpless and useless! (・―・)
I'm so done with these IFs they should've made a novel instead of a friggin' IF since they seem to conveniently ignore the INTERACTIVE part of IF ( ⩌'︿'⩌ )

I mean tbf we did not know who our father was, and who we are that’s a big theme of season 2 MC can’t control their powers and needed training, and was getting stronger before leaving in season 3. I will say I agree with the helpless and useless part, nothing made me feel more useless there than the sins bar scene. Actually the thing that bothers me is they clearly know who MC father is it’s referenced multiple times like oh didn’t think it was possible such and such, and in this universe from asks on tumblr death is one of the top 5 strongest and they still keep trying to kill MC with no fear of ruining the big deaths plans. Now that makes no sense tbh.

 

[Gone_Dead]

I tried playing Superstition, but the first book felt like the MC was playing second fiddle to Sydero. At first I thought it was going to be similar to the Keeper series but as a full adult. Idk if i can suffer through 3 books of the 'useless MC syndrome'.

 

[GodSlayer]

Wait I’m kinda confused? Aren’t you remembering wrong? The museum thing happens S1 because Syd is not around in S2, And the bowl thing, they first heard about it trying to steal it from the pawn shop but it was a fake, they knew it was a trap and planned for it, but it went sideways. Also the Bradley thing happens S2 and you actually had the option to erase the memories of torture, I can’t speak on it because I do not remember saying that to him. Also have you seen any type of mythology? There’s been people who can destroy the world lose and die in stupid ways that are head scratchers, remember this is inspired by the old school monster of the week shows, where they strong main characters have to keep losing or getting out into situations until the end of season episodes. I have a lot of complaints but you’re thinking of S1 not S2 of it. Also the uncle death is also avoidable lol.

My mind's wonky as hell it seems. So everything I talked about happened in s1? Except maybe that acting like an a--hole to Bradley? But honestly that whole bowl thing was dumb. I'm not changing my stance on that. First time they had plans, but during that museum thing? I honestly don't remember much but I remember it being so dumb that I felt like crying.

Also, we actually said that to Bradley, now I don't know whether personality stats change how the protagonist talks like, but he said some extremely immature and harsh things to Bradley.

Honestly, if a person's claim is not supported by any of her actions, it just feels like nonsense. Sydero didn't have any feats that would make us even remotely believe in her claim of being able to destroy the whole world. So her words feel empty. And honestly it'd be just as bad if her claims weren't empty. I mean, billions of humans dying to a single person without being able to do anything? How exactly is the world still going on with these rampaging human hating monsters is something I feel baffled at.

Also, apparently you can't choose to dislike Sydero. Even if you keep choosing options like 'Let her rot in hell', 'I don't care about her', 'She deserves it', during a dream(or a vision?) sequence protagonist had to act like he cared for her for some inexplicable reason. This happened during s2, I'm sure about that.
.
.
It'd appear I had problems with both s1 and s2. So s1 is not blameless either it'd appear.

 

[seneya]

Superstition's author has a very... haphazard? way of writing, tbh.
Also both Superstition and Throne of Ashes (?) have an MC that's a) dying from a supernatural cause and b) suffers from some sort of trauma. That's what people read these stories for, I think: trauma and drama.
Oh, and smut, how could I forget about that one.
Their other (sci-fi) story seems to fit the mold as well.

 

[SasariRomanii]

Superstition's author has a very... haphazard? way of writing, tbh.
Also both Superstition and Throne of Ashes (?) have an MC that's a) dying from a supernatural cause and b) suffers from some sort of trauma. That's what people read these stories for, I think: trauma and drama.
Oh, and smut, how could I forget about that one.
Their other (sci-fi) story seems to fit the mold as well.

Yeah the author. 13 Leagues? More like 13 Icks aight Imma head out

Honestly the sci-fi one seems a bit more interesting story wise plus the world building is solid-er, the MC is not dying — on the contrary, MC has super enhanced healing that makes dying quite difficult. Though, looking at the author's other works, my expectation is six feet under and slowly making its way to the ninth layer of Hell .⋆‧₊\(°∀°)/₊‧⋆.

 

[seneya]

Honestly the sci-fi one seems a bit more interesting story wise

Yeah, I quite liked the option for MC to literally jump out of the plane in the middle of flight lol
Reminds me of Project Hadea a bit in terms of premise?

my expectation is six feet under and slowly making its way to the ninth layer of Hell

I'll meet you there. We have, uh, lots of ice and Satan frozen over.

 

[Ireth313]

I have a confession: I dislike the Night Market not because MC has no agency and I feel like the author doesn't give a damn about them (well, that too, but...), but because I cannot stand the author's 'writing style'.

 

[Juh]

Whiskey four, because I didn't like the story, the characters, anything... when I play this if, the only thing I feel is boredom.

 

[Parallax]

Maybe the reason why those promising abandoned IFs are so good is because they died before they could turn into another bad IF ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Most of the cases. But I have to admit that there were also a few that I honestly believe would be great if the authors had enough determination to finish. I really need another Malin Ryden FH is the closest to the ideal of interactive game for me and I can trust this author with his projects.

 

[Parallax]

Whiskey four, because I didn't like the story, the characters, anything... when I play this if, the only thing I feel is boredom.

Somehow the author managed to write it in such a way that the action was fast as **** and there was constantly something happening (mostly MC trying to avoid being killed) but I felt tired and bored of reading this. And at the end also angry because

Spoiler

I didn't manage to kill that shitty Ulysses

.

 

[GodSlayer]

Somehow the author managed to write it in such a way that the action was fast as **** and there was constantly something happening (mostly MC trying to avoid being killed) but I felt tired and bored of reading this. And at the end also angry because

Spoiler

I didn't manage to kill that shitty Ulysses

.

People who played with the mods were quite lucky actually. Imagine going through all that without any save points...... Honestly my first run was fun, but the later ones I did were to just see what happens in other endings. And stop repeating my playthroughs at an ending I liked. There's not much in terms of variance in different playthroughs except the ending. Eh, it was like an action movie, just as short and fast paced. Not my cup of tea tbh.

Spoiler: Lame

Gonna disagree with the RO though. What's there not to like about an unhinged RO who's out there to murder you and bang you at the same time? My unhinged a-- protagonist was into that s-it this time......

 

[rinnanru]

Right now? Just read The Soul Stone War 3 beta build and boy..... What do you mean that is all there is? Only 3 chapters, nothing actually happens.... NOTHING.... Short AF, it feels more like a prelude or unfinished than anything.
TSSW is not the most incredibly witty/smart/profound game, its fun, funny, and scratches an itch. And yes, its the beta build, maybe the link people shared didn't had all the material.... But boy, if the 3rd book is really just that... Freaking disappointment is what that book is.

 

[SasariRomanii]

There's something that's been bugging me about IFs with Tumblr or Patreon page. They rely too much on social-media interaction — rather than in-game — to relay informations and some pretty important aspects of their stories. Example one is the Fallen Hero world-building, that is kept behind the bane of broke IF enjoyers (which, let's be real, made up most of the IF ecosystem lol) called Patreon. Recently saw Fallen Hero's compiled Patreon contents shared by a member, and found lots of vital infos about the world through the Q&A section. Things about the Void, the Nanosurge, etc.

And then there is this: https://www.tumblr.com/jcollinswrit...-round-with-a-late-teens-mc-they?source=share

Nothing wrong with it. Basic Tumblr ask stuff. Just wondering if it's necessary to be "realistic" and "nuanced" that readers confuse the personality of a character. Shouldn't a good writer be able to convey their character's personality and attitude clearly, so that we can understand — even if not deeply — the reason why said character reacts a certain way? Me thinks this author is just covering up their lack of solid characterization behind a shroud of "realism" and "nuance".

 

[seneya]

found lots of vital infos about the world through the Q&A section

In my opinion, any vital character/worldbuilding info should be available in-game. Period. Just put it into an in-game codex if you don't want to infodump. Stuff like RO scenarios or whatever can be paywalled for all I care (which isn't much, I don't even read it when it leaks).

covering up their lack of solid characterization behind a shroud of "realism" and "nuance"

I think it's just that the author didn't want to bother writing a million variations for all the MC ages.

TSSW is not the most incredibly witty/smart/profound game, its fun, funny, and scratches an itch.

I found it boring tbh. I love drama, but Manerkol's path is such a nothingburger. No real exploration of what it means to be unwillingly soulbonded beyond dumb pining. No opportunity to actually talk to him about what he's doing and why, just more dumb pining. And everyone else is about as interesting as cardboard.

 

[Parallax]

People who played with the mods were quite lucky actually. Imagine going through all that without any save points...... Honestly my first run was fun, but the later ones I did were to just see what happens in other endings. And stop repeating my playthroughs at an ending I liked. There's not much in terms of variance in different playthroughs except the ending. Eh, it was like an action movie, just as short and fast paced. Not my cup of tea tbh.

Spoiler: Lame

Gonna disagree with the RO though. What's there not to like about an unhinged RO who's out there to murder you and bang you at the same time? My unhinged a-- protagonist was into that s-it this time......

I prefer when MC is unhinged and RO tries to "fix" them. And if they're both unhinged then I want to kill RO even more. There's only room for one freak!

Fallen Hero world-building, that is kept behind the bane of broke IF enjoyers (which, let's be real, made up most of the IF ecosystem lol) called Patreon. Recently saw Fallen Hero's compiled Patreon contents shared by a member, and found lots of vital infos about the world through the Q&A section. Things about the Void, the Nanosurge, etc

What else write for Patreon? It seems like he doesn't like writing smut stories, weird fan prompts for ROs, and the kind of stuff other authors fill their Patreons with.
I follow all this world-building stuff; some of it is interesting, some of it is rather boring, but I don't feel like most of that knowledge is necessary in the game. Though I get it some of the stuff, like creating ReGenes or the Rangers history as additional "articles" in the game would be a nice.

 

[Kein]

Right now? Just read The Soul Stone War 3 beta build and boy..... What do you mean that is all there is? Only 3 chapters, nothing actually happens.... NOTHING.... Short AF, it feels more like a prelude or unfinished than anything.
TSSW is not the most incredibly witty/smart/profound game, its fun, funny, and scratches an itch. And yes, its the beta build, maybe the link people shared didn't had all the material.... But boy, if the 3rd book is really just that... Freaking disappointment is what that book is.

I am so concerned about this too. If this is really it, imma loose my damn mind. Tree years for that? It feels like it's shorter than previous books. There's like no motion whatsoever. Manerkol part - crumbs and rushed out of nowhere, after all the "forbidden romance" thing in the first book and slow pinning in second.
Tssw indeed not the best IF in history. It always lacked in the field of word count, but it still got me on some stuff and it's like a guilty pleasure for me. I wasn't expecting a lot, bar was literally six feet under. I bought both parts and planned to continue buying as it releases, but now I'm seriously reconsidering and rethinking if I should continue to interact with it at all...

The other game author working on probably occupied all their attention, which doesn't help it also, cause progress on that one crumbs as well. And some bugs/typos are not being fixed. But it's whatever, I'm not invested much anyways.

 

[mrstankylegs]

Dangit, I missed out on Crowns of Ashe and Flames bashing! Many people here already mirrored my sentiments (the lack of agency, the pity party, the characters..) so I won't be a broken record.

Waty back when I wrote down this rant about a bunch of games I didn't like, but decided against it because I worried It was too mean. Can't help it, I'm a hater. Here's what I wrote down for Crowns of Ashe and Flames:

Someone has a favorite OC they wanted to show off, huh? Girl, that man forced a child into marriage. I don’t care about his Old Man Yaoi moments. Just write a novel about him and his boyfriend at this point, or draw a Webtoon.

Seriously, how can people even stand following their Tumblr blog? If I didn't think the author doesn't take the premise of their own game serioussly before, I certainly think that way now after I saw 'Here's sexy art I drew of the character who murdered MC's entire family and forced them into marriage as a child. He's wearing a skimpy dress with his boyfriend, it has a thigh-high slit and boob window'... like what are we DOING right now. Are we on crack

 

[seneya]

He's wearing a skimpy dress with his boyfriend, it has a thigh-high slit and boob window'

Wait, is that... an actual thing? lol. lmao, even.
Why do some authors insist on treating their characters that way, it becomes impossible to treat them (characters) seriously afterwards =_= Now all we need is an art of him in a leather get-up with a whip.
I guess some authors really are less interested in writing in actual story, and more in fawning over their OCs. The story is just a vehicle to showcase them.

 

[Gone_Dead]

Seriously, how can people even stand following their Tumblr blog? If I didn't think the author doesn't take the premise of their own game serioussly before, I certainly think that way now after I saw 'Here's sexy art I drew of the character who murdered MC's entire family and forced them into marriage as a child. He's wearing a skimpy dress with his boyfriend, it has a thigh-high slit and boob window'... like what are we DOING right now. Are we on crack

No way . I won't be surprised if the author decides to make the King romanceble and unkillable in the future. They could atleast try to conceal projecting their weird fetishes into the game.

There's just something about hating on games like this which is so liberating.

 

[mrstankylegs]

Wait, is that... an actual thing? lol. lmao, even.
Why do some authors insist on treating their characters that way, it becomes impossible to treat them (characters) seriously afterwards =_= Now all we need is an art of him in a leather get-up with a whip.
I guess some authors really are less interested in writing in actual story, and more in fawning over their OCs. The story is just a vehicle to showcase them.

Unfortunately, yeah. It's real.

There's just this huge dissonance between his actions and the way his character is perceived, both within the story by other characters and outside the story by the author themselves. It puts a bad taste in my mouth. Luceris wouldn't be so unpleasant to me if his character is exactly the same, BUT his actions are treated with the gravity they warranted. Why are y'all acting like he's just a quirky, mentally ill teenager. Why does he even get to have HEALING as part of his character arc. When did he earn that. Gosh, it annoys me. Literally just imagine him but instead of a white haired anime boy, he's an ugly, aging senile old man, and I wonder if people would still 'uwu' over him as he walks after a child into the woods to verbally taunt them about their dead family (before forcing them to marry him.)

Even the choices where you get to make him uncomfortable about the marriage pissed me off. One of the VERY few chances where MC get to have a backbone at all, and it's just a petty remark that annoys me more than anything else. What do you mean YOU are uncomfortable? Nobody made you marry a child! You did this!