Do you lose that much only plaything through a single time? (possible spoilers)

[jdelible]

I played through the game, thought it was fine for a 4-ish hours long game. Now I find out at the very end and following up here that it seemingly hides some stuff in a second playthrough and like... I felt like it was ending at about the point my interest was waning and now asking for another 4+ hours gave me a very "ugh, really?" feeling.

So basically is it going to be such an incomplete "you missed so much of the game" experience if I stop now that I really should just bite the bullet and do the second playthrough even with little enthusiasm to do so (and make no mistake about it, I will use a walkthrough the whole time to make sure there is zero chance of needing to do a third), or is it more designed for those who loved their first playthrough and are dying for more but is otherwise unnecessary.

For clarification I didn't dislike the game (I'd say it was a 3 out of 5) but for narrative games I like them on the short side and in general I don't care to replay them (or re-read books, or watch movies a second time, etc.)

[jack_of_tears]

If you're happy with the ending you got then call it done and move on. If you want all the story and the best ending you need to play it three times.

[Awesome Possum]

the second time isn't the same as the first. obvi it's mostly "the same" but like... well, you'll see if you try it. (plus the second is way creepier.) if you do decide to do it, i suggest choosing completely diff conversation options. you'll get wildly different results with friends and the sunken. could be entertaining enough to get you through. :3 up to you in the end, tho!

[jdelible]

I decided to start a second playthrough and the inability to skip repeated conversations is just murder on the pacing. I'm now just picking different choices even if they seem awful solely to avoid having to deal with that any more than is necessary. A couple of the things they've done differently this second time through seem at least interesting but god, what an awful decision not letting me press a button to skip these is.

EDIT: "Hello me, this is future me, don't ask. The answer is stop after one playthrough, the additions are relatively minor and 90+% of it is repeated content."

[Geressen]

Originally posted by jdelible:

I decided to start a second playthrough and the inability to skip repeated conversations is just murder on the pacing. I'm now just picking different choices even if they seem awful solely to avoid having to deal with that any more than is necessary. A couple of the things they've done differently this second time through seem at least interesting but god, what an awful decision not letting me press a button to skip these is.

EDIT: "Hello me, this is future me, don't ask. The answer is stop after one playthrough, the additions are relatively minor and 90+% of it is repeated content."

You are stuck in not quite a time loop trying to influence the decisions of a previous form that does not understand.

that it feels like a time loops that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop should be the least suprising thing here.

[jdelible]

Originally posted by Geressen:

You are stuck in not quite a time loop trying to influence the decisions of a previous form that does not understand.

that it feels like a time loops that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop that feels like a time loop should be the least suprising thing here.

'Tis a fair point, but the extent of that knowledge (trying to influence a previous form in particular) isn't clearly known until already into the second loop.

All I can say is personally they either needed to either switch up the content more the second go around or dramatically up the pacing as doing neither made that second playthrough a slog for me. While slightly different I've played numerous VN and related games that've dealt with similar set-ups and structurally I've found that they dealt with the issues introduced by such a narrative conceit in a way that better dealt with the issues it introduces. Glad to hear that it was less of an issue for others, but for me it was one good loop and one much less good one.