Demo feedback

[Cubie]

Just finished the demo in a single sitting, and have some thoughts.
(Forgive me, for I tried to be brief, but, alas, my enthusiasm directly feeds my verbosity...):

Positives
+ Could run the Itch.io-published .exe thru Steams compatibility layer (Proton 9.0-4) on Linux Mint 21.3 without any noticeable problems whatsoever. Huzzah!
+ Very charming visual presentation! I long to see every character in the realm!
+ Fun writing (I immediately regretted not flirting with the Lady of the Tower, so well done there)
+ Engaging roleplaying mechanics, especially the competing needs between the realms inhabitants vis-à-vis the knights (stay mad, Gwendan)

Uncertainties
? Newly established rooms in the Gallery menu are greyed out in the same way that the yet-unavailable rooms are. Shouldn't there be some visual clue, text- or icon-wise, to distinguish "Built" from "Unavailable"?
? Are the increased stats of the sovereign meant to tick upwards (as a stylistic flourish) every time one accesses the sovereign stat screen?

Negatives
- A few visual bugs (1: one quest with Ursula ended with her armour reduced to 0, followed by an "Unexpected outcome", and then it turns out that she survived AND her armour was apparently back to its original, full strength again. 2: I meet 3 of 4 the targeted cycle realm stat goals for a certain challenge, and the following cycle all the red-and-white objective numbers and the-white-text-on-red-background for the challenge just stayed on the screen)
- It feels odd to cut the demo off before the time-rewinding mechanic have been demonstrated. Why not give the players a little taste of this in the demo?


Unfortunately, my biggest criticism is also the hardest one to describe succinctly.
To preface: I know that my inexperience with management style games are making things harder for me (and that's solely on me, and could be remedied with multiple attempts at the demo), and I understand that the demo does not represent every mechanic that the final game will offer, but, nevertheless...

The main problem in question:
I feel that certain parts of the management mechanics are curiously... nebulous.
For example, what does the big meter on the knights mission result screen represent? Why is this meter important? What factors influence its success & failure states? And why am I not told any of this beforehand?
Why are certain buffs from equipment and potions stacking, while others seem to negate each other? (Golden opportunity for some comedy line about the fickle needs of each knight, or the dangers of quaffing multiple potions, or, you know, whatever actually funny thing your writer(s?) can come up with that I can't).

These things were not immediately obvious to me, which felt odd, as so much of the demo otherwise felt straightforward and reasonably explained.

This may just be a question of differing tastes, but, for comparisons sake, I'm currently watching a playthru of Baldur's Gate 3, and I really appreciate the clearly communicated information about what precisely can affect an individual dice roll there. (A low stat in intelligence making a roll more challenging by -1, which can be offset by 1d4 Guidance, for instance. Nice, immediate feedback).

I suspect that there are mechanics later in your game that will make certain parts easier to understand (like something that removes those pesky question marks from the knights stat quest requirements, and so on). Also, it's a game with a time-rewinding mechanic, so of course multiple playhrus, at-first nebulously presented information and first-time failures are all part of the intended design. As you can tell, I'm just struggling with the delicate balance of all this. Also, aslo: differing preferences. Dark Souls-style mysteries? No thanks.


Conclusion:
A somewhat mixed bag for someone new to this subgenre. Still, leaning more towards the positive side. You have a good foundation here. Good luck with the continued development!
/Sir Writes-a-lot

[MrPouletBZH]

Hello!
Thanks for taking the time to make this huge feedback on the demo, it's really helpfull :)

We take notes of everything - especially, for the presentation of quest outcomes with the gauge, it's something that we have planned to work on to make it way more clear, so it will change in the future
Also, good point about Ursula coming back with full armor, there might be a tweak to do here

[lisagu]

Hi! Thank you for the detailed feedback!
Regarding the time travel mechanic, we understand that its absence can be frustrating. this feature plays a major role in replayability and the overall lifespan of the demo, which is why we decided not to include it in this first version.
This early build is available exclusively on itch.io so we can work closely with players, gather focused feedback, and refine the core experience before introducing more complex systems like time travel, helping us create the best possible game experience later this year :)
More polished demos will be coming to Steam, and they'll include this mechanic!
Thanks again

[Cubie]

Good to hear, and happy to be of service.

I'll be looking out for the updates, then :D

[elmauso]

i agree with most of what op wrote but i wanted to say the writings a bit too much on the funny side for me... i cant quite grasp it but it felt a bit odd aswell, i think because the visual style of the game didnt quite fit the style of the writing in my eyes
its a personal opinion of course and i guess most of the text is already written.. still i felt the urge of telling this because i really liked the rest of the demo
well, ill wishlist it and have an eye on it - good luck with development nevertheless

[Transcendental Raccoon]

Gotta echo the last comment on the writing and will as well say that I didn't expect it to lean to the funny side that much. Or rather I should say "internet-funny" - some of the vocabulary felt a bit too "online" and caught me off guard.

But other than that loved the demo!

[Mr.Tanaka]

No hate towards the writters but the tone of this game seems like a complete miss for me. The humour is just not witty enough to validate it's constancy and takes away from what could be a much better story and characters if played straight.