Thoughts On Improving the Game

[StrayDogFreedom]

In the case that no new years are going to be completed...
I'd like to offer my thoughts on some things that could make Academagia: Year One feel like more of a complete or at least better experience without the sequels. I just played through a bunch of times (to get the achievements), so I gathered a bunch of random thoughts about this.
This is one of my favorite games of all time and I think the devs did a great job, I just wanted to add my two cents. The setting seems so lovingly crafted, anything that would get more attention to it I think would be worthwhile.
Many of these things were probably considered in the development process or may have been suggested already, I've probably suggested them before somewhere but don't even remember, but I figured there's no harm in mentioning them again, if so. I also don't think many of the suggestions I've listed would require a great deal of changes but maybe I'm wrong.

Progress Assessment

I've seen some complain that there's little indication if the player is making good or bad progress throughout the year. I mainly play the same way most of the time so I may have missed it but I've also seen little guidance as to progress orientation. I imagine this was partially intended, allowing the player to feel free to play any way they would like, however because of how many wonderful options are available, I feel like some kind of event is necessary to let you know where you stand in contrast to everyone else other than just looking to see what score others received on the exam.

I suggest a mandatory Event, like the one warning you of upcoming exams, where perhaps your College Regent, or Orsi, evaluates one or some of these:

• Class success, compared to the average exam scores
  
• Friends, if you've made any or perhaps a remark if you've made a lot
  
• Adventures, how many you've successfully completed
  
• Stats, if you're growing a lot or not enough
  
• Behavior, how many detention's you've gotten or reprimands
  
• Merit, if you're contributing or not

Being given a ranking compared to some standard of how well you're doing among all the first years or some theoretical expectation would give a lot of satisfaction for playing well or some guideline to less experienced players to let them know they're not doing as well.
Even if you only had these after the midterms and at the end, perhaps that would go a long way towards making the game feel more completed to those who don't feel satisfied with the 1 year content.
A nice touch might be receiving some certificate at the end after the credits that gives some indication of how well you did, like "Outstanding Certificate of 1st Year Completion at the Academagia" or "Standard Certificate..."

Familiars

Assuming again that there won't be a second game, Familiars (perhaps I'm alone here) just don't feel worth the time or point investment in the character creator or throughout the year. There's just too much else to do and Familiars don't give enough benefits or detriments either way so I usually just end up going with Pamela and maybe do some of the more worthwhile actions with her a couple of times.
Others, I'm sure, have different opinions but, assuming this is all there will be, perhaps having different Character Creator points purely for Familiars and/or giving them more Adventure or random event integration would make them more worthwhile. Or maybe not make them require points at all and just make them a free option, making Pamela her own option. Expanding out the "exotic" pets would also be much appreciated but if making Familiars more involved would be too much effort because of the Exotics, perhaps just lessening the number dramatically would be a better option.
I suggest some more abilities or items (like Proving Ground for example) that allow training a skill or assortment of skills along with your familiar, if nothing else.
In the current state, despite how much I do enjoy their particular adventures, they add more to the impression of incompleteness.

Shopping

In all the playthroughs I've had, back when the game was newer and now, I hardly ever do any kind of shopping. It just doesn't feel like an option worth the time at all. Perhaps this is mainly because the shopping interface is so cumbersome, having to find the particular store to go through (often without knowing what it is or sells) and only being able to go to one at a time. Perhaps if there was a more general "go shopping" action that would let you go to multiple stores then that would make it seem more worthwhile, or big discounts every now and then that would make it more worth looking into.
"Consult Artifact" only identifying one item at a time is also something I'll include here. It feels a tad unnecessarily tedious to waste multiple slots going to the same place to have more than one item identified.
Maybe there's a better option to do all these things than I'm aware of, I never messed with it much after first exploring it, if so please let me know.

General Improvements

• Not sure if it's doable, but a search option in the various lists (Skills, Abilities, ect) would probably be really helpful for newer players. I know where everything else and don't mind the interface at all but it would still probably be nice for QOL
  
• Some kind of indication of something new, perhaps highlight a new option "yellow" to indicate that it was just acquired.
  
• Larger seasonal and weather indications. I know there aren't a lot of things that are affected by the seasons but it would be nice for the role-playing experience to have a greater feeling for the time and seasons. Also, maybe some more time-dependent actions, abilities or adventures would be nice like the adventure "TODAY ONLY" or "A Call to the Head Office"
  
• Passive bonus or penalty for instructor relationships - In addition to the "Favor" action, perhaps have something else for players who would just like to have a good relationship with their instructors, like a lower chance of being called out for skipping their class or some temporary Stat bonus so long as it stays at 10
  
• List of Accomplishments - It'd be neat if after you've accomplished some difficult task like solving the block puzzle, if it could be noted somewhere so you can at least keep track of it, along with the Glory associated. It was many years after I got the game that I even learned what Glory did and it's easy to overlook. Some kind of listing that you'd done something noteworthy would be nice.

Adventures

• More personalized events and Adventures - Something I've found particularly noteworthy are options in events and adventures that indicate you've done something else and it's effecting the situation. Like how "Once Discovered..." is related to "Exploring for the Sake of..." or failing that event with healing the snake is related to the Adventure "About that Snake..." More interrelated events and adventures makes the game feel much more engaging and interactive.
  
• Related to above, some kind of log or journal function that allows you to look back on adventures you've completed would be really nice. So much work went into writing them and particularly the long ones feel like such big experiences. I've gone through a game working on a skill just to get ready for using it in an adventure later on to come, I'd be really great if there was some way you could look back on it later. Perhaps a UI section addition to the "Calendar" and "inventory" sections that simply lists the Adventures you've finished and maybe give a little summary of what happened.

Meta-data and Achievements

If this is to be a standalone game, which would be disappointing but understandable, perhaps some kind of function that would keep track of what adventures you done, events you've encountered, big treasures you've gained and locations you've unlocked across all of your playthroughs would be fun. Like "Adventures completed: 54/120" or something.
I'm amazed that after so many playthroughs I still come across new things hidden here and there. It's a lot of fun finding these things and that makes the game feel mysterious but perhaps it would feel more complete if there was some way of indicating that you've found everything or there was still things you've yet to do. I could see how that might be a bad thing to some players because they like not knowing, but I figured I'd suggest it.

Anyways, I know there's a good chance this game won't see anymore updates or changes, especially of the kind I'm mentioning, but oh well. It's still a great game.

[StrayDogFreedom]

I forgot one

New Game+

Something that I imagine would be very simple to do that would make the game far more replayable than it already is would be to add a "New Game+ Mode" where you get some kind of reward for completing the game and can start a new one slightly more powerful than you would be able to do otherwise.
I think this could be achieved in variety of ways like

• Granting an extra point in the Character Creator process. If you wanted to balance it in some way, perhaps grant one for each College you've completed a game in, so if you did a run through from each college you could ultimately start a new game with 7 extra points.
  
• Or you could just make it a cumulative point add-on for every completion.
  
• Some kind of powerful item or mix of items when you start a new game
  
• Start a new game with some random levels in a variety of skills. Like 2 levels in 5 random skills or something.
  
• A random point in a stat, maybe more with each completion

This game seems like it's perfectly set up for a new game+ mode, I can't imagine it would be anything but a benefit to the overall game quality.