Stories that left you disappointed for a reason

[realman]

i am here to vent about the vn-Paper Masks this time.

Ive seen it asked a lot on the early access thread so decided to try it out myself and.... yeah, not my type of read.
It's quite entertaining, I'll give it that, but no. The author labels it as dubcon when its just r*pe. Fullstop r*pe. And I wouldnt mind it that much if it didnt get so sweeped under the rug, all we get so far is a "i ****ed up" text from the RO and they buy us a cream for bruises. like really. thats the best thing you could come up with? And you dont have the choice to refuse it either. I FELT INSULTED, no apology, no crying, no begging just have this cream so your bruises that I caused go away faster. I had to rub my temples. Not even going to mention how they basically said "well you wanted it anyways".


There was also a bug for me where i chose to be a woman.. but my gender got switched mid wet dream somehow. Real superpower that is. This game was a joke to me but im also sort of invested to see what happens in a weird way.
Edit: its also annoying as hell how despite everything, MC still loves them somehow and theres not even a path where *that* scene doesnt happpen. Or at least a path where you can romance no-one, but im probably just not the target audience

 

[Ireth313]

Otherwise, I didnt end up hating it. Its fine enough, but yeah removing the choices sucks

To me it would've been an okay VN (tho I still stand on my gripe whith rhythm; idk, somehow VN makers think they can just put the text into the box and call it a day and don't think about the flow and logic of it) if I had never played the 1st IF version. E.g. removing the reason MC and Nat broke up is one of big choices that seems like a downgrade to me. MC now doesn't have a choosable personality, e.g. charming\intellectual\I forgot what the 3rd one was. And, lemme be honest: I find M!Shae's appearance in the VN offputting. He is the only character I dislike visually, and, coincidentally, I was romancing him in one of my two playthroughs


Not related, a question to my fellow Wayfarer players (act 3 spoilers): Is there an option to pacify the shroud? I have gotten to the point where my MC could ask it 4 questions, but it just screamed 'betrayal, betrayal' at me, and then I had no choice but to off it.

 

[niro]

Ive seen it asked a lot on the early acess thread so decided to try it out myself and.... yeah, not my type of read.
It's quite entertaining, I'll give it that, but no. The author labels it as dubcon when its just r*pe. Fullstop r*pe. And I wouldnt mind it that much if it didnt get so sweeped under the rug, all we get so far is a "i ****ed up" text from the RO and they buy us a cream for bruises. like really. thats the best thing you could come up with? And you dont have the choice to refuse it either. I FELT INSULTED, no apology, no crying, no begging just have this cream so your bruises that I caused go away faster. I had to rub my temples. Not even going to mention how they basically said "well you wanted it anyways".


There was also a bug for me where i chose to be a woman.. but my gender got switched mid wet dream somehow. Real superpower that is. This game was a joke to me but im also sort of invested to see what happens in a weird way.
Edit: its also annoying as hell how despite everything, MC still loves them somehow and theres not even a path where *that* scene doesnt happpen. Or at least a path where you can romance no-one, but im probably just not the target audience

thank YOU for acknowledging it for what it was, which is r*pe. but the author... i would recommend choosing the 'not getting in the car/leave' option too if you don't mind me suggesting. this route is very tiny bit less infuriating (still i wanted to hurl reading his lines) but so heart-breaking. though it really cements what a disgusting piece of sh*t he is in both options. and yes, those 'you wanted it anyways' vibey lines... ahh classic r*pist one-liners. him and his ex nanny...i am genuinely confused about them sleeping together in the present time. and i hated how mentioning mc during them fu*king was supposed to be some sort of indirect romantic feeling revelation or gesture, just DISGUSTING and cheap

 

[S3ffron]

She was almost finished with the IF, but when she had like 1-2 chapters left till the finish, she decided to make it's a VN, and IF comes secondary whenever she has time That's what she wrote with the update for the IF:
You might notice less of the branching scenes in earlier chapters, as I'm trying to prioritize making sure I'm able to finish the game (in a satisfactory manner) and tie up all the loose ends! In the end, I still might be able to go back and do a second-pass once the story is complete.


Like... in the IF version she cut existing scenes and choices that have concluded in the first 1-2 chapters to... finish quicker? E.g. there was a scene about you giving gifts to your parents after you come back home. Tell me how that small scene that makes your MC's relationship with parents feel a bit more meaningful is hindering the game ending? Will MC's father die if I don't gift him a bottle of his fav spirits? Make that make sense to me. It just looks like she tries to make the IF closer to the VN version and it doesn't do the IF any justice because suddenly instead of 4-7 meaningful choices you have 3 like in the VN, two being polar opposites and a middle wishy-washy one. I saw her answer to one of the anons on her tumblr that expressed disappointment to her switching to VN. She said that she feels like VN text is more punchy? And, imo, no, in her case it's not. Her VN version suffers from the plight of many English VNs: spewing one sentence at a time when those 2-5 sentences should've ideally been a part of a cohesive passage but got separated for the sake of fitting them into a tiny message box that is so tiny-tiny because you absolutely need to stare at a pointless huge background art without any character sprites As a result, you have a text with a very broken rhythm and messy flow that is only enjoyable if you are TikTok-brained. Japanese VNs are actually so much better at it because oftentimes they don't shy away from shoving the whole paragraph into a message box as is.

It's a shame what happened Merry Crisis it was near the top of my list but I played both the VN and the new IF and they gutted everything that made me love the story

 

[realman]

i would recommend choosing the 'not getting in the car/leave' option too if you don't mind me suggesting. this route is very tiny bit less infuriating (still i wanted to hurl reading his lines) but so heart-breaking.

I did choose that option first but I tought the implication that the guy mustve tailed MC's taxi was creepy as ****

Loaded back to see what would happen otherwise and I sort of preferred that option. MC was slightly more in control and I liked that.

 

[Ireth313]

they gutted everything that made me love the story

I liked the things the author expanded on, but some scenes, like Qiu going out of their way to contact MC if you avoid reunion, were my favourite, and now they are not even an option... My Qiu-romancing MC NEVER went to the class reunion because to me, it's more realistic to avoid the ex that makes you feel all sort of complicated things you don't really want to face. Now you are sort of strong-armed into going, eh meh.

 

[mis07]

Yeah, it's a shame to hear that about Paper Masks. I have nothing against delving into topics like that but I doubt it will be written so well I'll actually be intrigued enough to see where it goes. I've been following her work since around 2013 but have yet to actually feel attached to any of her stories or the characters, except for Cursed Covenant. I don't know why I keep following her work but something compels me to try out everything she creates.

 

[Ireth313]

Cursed Covenant

This one had such disappointing endings.... What do you mean I can't be happy with my absolutely unhinged fae simp lover and good ending is turning them into an ordinary high-schooler\uni student?? (I am rebirth as happy ending trope hater)

 

[mis07]

This one had such disappointing endings.... What do you mean I can't be happy with my absolutely unhinged fae simp lover and good ending is turning them into an ordinary high-schooler\uni student?? (I am rebirth as happy ending trope hater)

I said I liked it, not the endings lol. Yeah I really don't like that in a lot of recent western fantasy games/media the good end is about accepting reality and going back to the real world. Do these authors hate the fantasy genre? Do they think it's a fresh take and that their ideas are revolutionary? I've played so many recently that end with that concept and really does feel like authors think it is so profound and unheard of. Have they never watched a cdrama? This has been done so many times before but at least in cdramas it never feels like they're telling the audience to grow up (I also am a rebirth ending hater but there was a recent drama that did it well...recent as in last year).

 

[Ireth313]

I said I liked it, not the endings lol.

No, no, I meant 'what do you mean' as a figure of speech, I was not directing it at you My general take on Cursed Covenant is that I liked the game. but the endings.. Maaaaann.

ah I really don't like that in a lot of recent western fantasy games/media the good end is about accepting reality and going back to the real world. Do these authors hate the fantasy genre?

I really liked Heart no Kuni no Alice in that regard where Alice going back to real world was a bad ending heheh But yeah, you are right. To me romance games going 'so you and your morally questionable bae can only be happy if you die and get reborn' is the same as the horror games going 'yeah, all of it has been a dream lol'

 

[Gone_Dead]

No, no, I meant 'what do you mean' as a figure of speech, I was not directing it at you My general take on Cursed Covenant is that I liked the game. but the endings.. Maaaaann.


I really liked Heart no Kuni no Alice in that regard where Alice going back to real world was a bad ending heheh But yeah, you are right. To me romance games going 'so you and your morally questionable bae can only be happy if you die and get reborn' is the same as the horror games going 'yeah, all of it has been a dream lol'

Idk if this is comparable but Muv Luv ends with something like this you'd be glad it did lmao. I dont really wanna spoil and if any of you like dark mecha sci fi apocalyptic and occasionally horror genre, Muv Luv is the best. The thing is the first game starts off and ends as a normal high school romance VN. But **** completely goes down in the second and third game. Its a complete genre shift. A completely different world literally. The best part is all the three are linked heavily and plot payoffs will blow your mind towards the third game. Its a slog to read tho. Very long and mostly linear except for RO scenes. Imo its the best VN ive ever read. I remember reading through the VN day and night without a break during COVID.

 

[realman]

This one had such disappointing endings.... What do you mean I can't be happy with my absolutely unhinged fae simp lover and good ending is turning them into an ordinary high-schooler\uni student?? (I am rebirth as happy ending trope hater)

I played through this out of curiosity, seeing that it looked way more polished than paper masks, and I was expecting to be heavily dissapointed. But its actually.. not that bad? Even the endings, yeah there's one where you get reincarnated as ordinary humans in modern times which you mentioned, but there's also exactly what you said you wanted, living with the fae and sacrificing the world while being happy together.

The endings do feel a bit rushed but nothing that actually sucks to read, imo. (some things do feel a bit stupid though, such as if the fae knew a literal demon was trying to make a deal that would result in the death of the love of their life, why didnt they do something about it? like at all? I get that they couldve tought MC wasnt going to accept but after all that happened you'd expect them to make sure of things.)

 

[Ireth313]

but there's also exactly what you said you wanted, living with the fae and sacrificing the world while being happy together.

I felt like the tone of that ending implied 'oh yeah SEE, THAT'S BAD BAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL HOLLOW'. Idk, I played as an MC who was smitten with the Magi and the game always went 'you are actually very angry, and it bothers you that the universe will die'. To me, the whole finale sequence felt rushed, as you said. Like the author went 'yup, the MC banged everyone there was to bang, now let's loredump and tie it all up'. Also, I am kinda sad that the game does a lot of telling the MC they love the Magi\long for them, but does a mediocre job of showing it. Overall, I wouldn't call that a bad game because I liked it enough to finish it, but I feel like it could've used more polish. I didn't play Paper Masks, but Cursed Pursuit, imo, is a step above Oathbreaker 2 in terms of pacing and cohesion. That one was a mess, even tho I was invested in the story. But constant scene changes with 37856 characters did me in.


That being said, there is a 'morally questionable romance ft. wizards' game I actually do recommend wholeheartedly (Chronicles of Tal'Dun). It's only about 20% romance (and it's optional, I think), but boy, as choose your own adventure books\IFs lover I had a ton of fun with it. And this one's rebirth ending actually made me satisfied. I have seen some people complain that it has an overly heavy prose, but imo it just leans a lot into a proper book feel and not TikTok novel vibe.

 

[seneya]

But constant scene changes with 37856 characters did me in.

I felt the same about the dev's other VN, Cardinal Cross.
But as someone who was there since the days of rinmaru dress-up games, I am also bound by nostalgia lol

That being said, there is a 'morally questionable romance ft. wizards' game I actually do recommend wholeheartedly (Chronicles of Tal'Dun)

I second this one.

 

[yourstalkeroutside]

The virgin IF writer: Pirating IFs is bad (insert reason here)
The Chad Krisis:

 

[game_hunt3r]

Gave the Merry Crisis VN a go after all the feedback, and wow. It's like comparing The Sims 3 to The Sims 4.

It's so... lifeless now. It was missing so much of the little things that I had enjoyed in the IF like the deeper relationship with the family, the little decisions that affected the story and characters around you, being able to bounce between routes, and the array of choices that didn't make everything feel so linear. Then I went back to the IF to feel something, only for that to be gutted too. Like damn man, what a let down. I wish she had decided to create a VN for a new story, not one I had liked for years. I'm praying this act of war doesn't happen to CTOS either.

Also, one of the rules for publishing a Hosted Game is this: You cannot publish the same story in a competing format (Twine, Ren’Py, Choices/Chapters/Episodes, CYOA book, Visual Novel, etc). So wtf? lol. At this point she's just blatantly using COG as an advertisement for the VN. I mean make your coin, girl, COG asking for 75% of royalties is INSANE! But COG was also ready to send the Aura Clash author to the guillotine over his little racist and edgelord discord members, but this is absolutely fine?? They're going to lose sales while promoting her.

Come to think of it, Shepherds of Haven is the same too with her VN (though thank god it's not anything like Merry Crisis and the great purging of interesting content for pretty pictures). And the SoH author also has a patreon that has never followed the "Some authors have Patreons to help support their writing. Any ChoiceScript-based content that you give to your patrons must be released to the general public within two weeks of giving your patrons access" for like three hundred years!

...I'm starting to think the overlords might have favourites.

 

[Ireth313]

Also, one of the rules for publishing a Hosted Game is this: You cannot publish the same story in a competing format (Twine, Ren’Py, Choices/Chapters/Episodes, CYOA book, Visual Novel, etc). So wtf? lol. At this point she's just blatantly using COG as an advertisement for the VN.

I think she mentioned moving the IF to a different platform altogether. But, eh, I am now so uninterested in the IF... Like... There are ways to combine VN-ish format with IF format using RenPy *nods towards Tal'Dun and IFs made by Perfumare author*, but she just hacked off a portion of a very good, lovely-crafted game and called it a day. I mean, look at CC. She decided to dip her toes into VNs and converted the Wedding into a VN when it had just a prologue written, and not 2 chapters away form being finished, and I can't come up with the reason to be mad about that

Idle thought: I think many authors don't realise that not all of their audience loves VNs enough to follow the author through the format change. E.g. I am down to try almost any IF because I love reading, but when it comes to VNs, I mostly play Japanese ones because if I do play a VN, I want beautiful professional art, great voice acting, original music — the whole shebang. And very few English-first VNs have the same level of visual impact (understandable, since mostly the teams are very small), or have cool enough writing\theme for me to be willing to tolerate mediocre visuals\music. Like, I think you should ask yourself before the format switch: what is the main selling point of your game, and would the format switch detract from it or add to it? E.g. SOH author switched to itch and added pretty art and music, but did she cut a chunk of the questline? Remove interactions or limit player choices? Nope, the music and the art were a shiny bonus. But for Merry Crisis the variability and bits of the plot were sacrificed for the art and the music no one asked for.

nd the SoH author also has a patreon that has never followed

My conspiracy theory is that she shifted to itch partially to circumvent the rule

 

[Kein]

Decided to check Zorlok demo. Saw the update and couldn't help myself. There was like nothing to that update.
Also want to say that the concept of me deciding for the boy - how he behaves and what he does, etc. is turning me off so much. Feels like author gave me the work of writing character. Its like with CC.Hill if's, Only thing i dislike about her works are the RO's pov's where i suppose to chose how they react (but even so, it's somewhat manageable). But in this case, this boy is not RO and what even the point of it. I am not here to play as Tommy... Author just shooting themself in the leg by making this, with how much coding they need to do. Mc reaction choices also kind of cringe. When first demo was introduced i was really intrigued, but now it looks like a joke.

In regards of Merry Crisis, I will never understand authors that move their perfectly composed projects to more visual favoring platforms. Look at how much was in The Exile CS demo. And then boom, "ill move to twine". And now, years are gone and there's like one\half of one chapter (last time i checked it was also bugged af). Adoriel Tears - a bit more progress(still not out of childhood arc, and there's bazzillion answers on tumblr about ro's that aren't even introduced yet lmao) and the worst template ever. Attollo became whatever it became and i don't even know what to say. Maybe author should just write regular book about their world, i have no desire to play as an npc in someone else's story. Greenwarden, i think this was the name, author moved about one chapter to twine years ago and that's that... If i think long enough i could remember a bunch more of those. And yes most of those moving if's loose a lot in the process cause it's harder to code and authors overestimating their capabilities. Funny when those authors say "i want to make it more like i envision it" and then its just less choices, less flavor, less charm. Sometimes they just hard to read. Most of them also say it's a passion projects and then the move and hide everything behind paywall indefinitely. Very disappointing.
Wasn't big fan of Marry Crisis, but i like CTOS. Gonna be gutted if something happens to this one.
I have like a few authors that i trust will finish what they started. But anyone else are on the sh-t list until proven otherwise

 

[Zoklitsos]

Come to think of it, Shepherds of Haven is the same too with her VN (though thank god it's not anything like Merry Crisis and the great purging of interesting content for pretty pictures). And the SoH author also has a patreon that has never followed the "Some authors have Patreons to help support their writing. Any ChoiceScript-based content that you give to your patrons must be released to the general public within two weeks of giving your patrons access" for like three hundred years!

...I'm starting to think the overlords might have favourites.

The Shepherds Of Haven author had some sort of agreement/deal with COG from way back in the day (when she was also a mod of the forum, if I'm not mistaken) regarding the whole patreon thing and rules. I forget the details, but technically she's the only author actually allowed to do this as far as we know. All the other popular HG authors breaking the same rules, on the other hand... that's a different story altogether lmao. But idk who knows, they might have some sort of agreement with COG too (press X to doubt) and we just don't know about it.

Also, what's this thing about a SOH visual novel? I much prefer text based IFs to visual novels like many of the people here and share a lot of the opinions expressed about the Merry Crisis VN, so this is making me feel very skeptical lol. I quite like SOH (despite having a fair number of criticisms for it too) and used to be a patreon supporter and would keep up with updates eagerly a long time ago, but at this point it's been years since I first discovered it and I'm burnt out by slow progress and abandoned WIPs in general so I don't really check on it often and am basically just waiting for it to be completed. This is the first time I'm hearing of this

 

[mis07]

This is all speculation but I’m just going to assume that they had that rule set up, which almost no authors knew of (did they even read the terms before submitting their work?), but in order for authors to not leave COG (since most authors really like the patreon exclusive business model, smh) they probably just pretend they don’t know that almost all COG WIPs have patreon-exclusive content that exceeds the two week limit ('exceeds the two week limit' is too charitable for them not making it public at all).


Besides the exclusive POVs (Which I’m hoping will be in the final product), I’m content with SOR since it only is exclusive for a bit before going public. Everyone else annoys me, especially with how there aren't clear answers to whether or not the POVs will be included in the game or if this content will even be archived, making it a morally questionable choice to have people paying to read this content. I have a feeling that without people making HTMLs of the POVs they would eventually be lost.