Improvements the game needs in my opinion

[General Fried Microwaves]

Good morning.

I finished the game twice. And while the game is good it has a lot of problems that should be fixed. *Keep in mind I do not have all Assets unlocked, which may or may not deal with certain aspects*

To start with, the game mentioned something along the lines "You will likely fail many times before you do things right". Really? I can't imagine someone actually losing at this game. It is easier than even HunieCam, which was also extremely easy. At no point were I ever in danger of failing the objectives. Maybe it will get harder in future campaigns (i.e, 'campaign 4' or something).

I understand that you make the excuses on the reset to lose company and start again, and that is fine. However, there are aspects of reset that makes little sense. Regarding the executives all they keep is relationship. They really should keep their items too. There is no point of them having inventory space, if gifts don't last past reset. The reason for this is that it is extremely time consuming to get those items at all. - Most districts do not give any items of value. And travelling to get items is also not that valuable. Why?

Well, travelling for items takes a huge amount of time. But that is not necessarily the issue. The issue is that you have no real options. First campaign somewhat mitigated it by having the items for all executives. But the good items that take long that you want? Completely random. Only once did I ever see an item I could need in any context in Japan. Whynot an item black market? I mean, we CAN sell them after all. I often have millions of cash or hundreds of gold I could just use it for that.

Or simply a market at the building you can create papers for different deals. That could help a lot as this building is very useless. At best when you unlock the elephant room, you can buy 1 actual asset per week. But it is very expensive and executive consuming to do, and is only something to use if you have nothing else to do. Either way, travelling to get items is not worth it. There is no point to get items if they just reset, it is more valuable to get cheap gold from close travelling. Items you get from districts is a small bonus, and a bit helpful, but not really? I wouldn't notice their disappearance, again, due to how the game is too easy.

The game is way to slow. I estimate I could have finished it at least 4 times if there was a double speed mode due to the game being extremely easy. The game is essentially a clicker game, with a singular speed. For half the day one ends up sitting staring at the game if flowers show up because you got nothing to do.

Lunch dates are annoying especially after the first campaign. They do not add much beyond some hearts, which is why you want to do them. The issue is that a lot of them take weirdly long to do, and you cannot really skip them. Especially the Tea one. God I hate it. Randomly press options then you have to wait for way to long and can't skip it forward. I am aware if one spends a bit of time with the executives you can get bonus hearts from this. But the bonus is so small there are better ways to do it, - and better lunch dates. For example, arm wrestling is more interesting, but you cannot skip it forward either. So lunch dates take a lot of time - but do not give too much.

Barbershop and boxing should be tied to districts, partially or fully. Just assets is a bit weak, I have to say. Unless there is an asset in the future that fixes it, at best in future campaigns it slows your game down an hour, but no threat to you losing it. So lets say every 2 districts give +1 barber and boxing along with the assets would balance things out a long way.

The market share is quite broken. It is based too much on random factors. It LOOKS like the first executive is meant to be the one who will get the most market share (but also not). It gets randomised and moved between all the executives based on when they are unlocked. - Means some of the executives will be useless and some are better, even when they should not be. The building where you can trade for market share reduces this problem slightly, if not for the fact it is completely randomised and it never has the market share you would want.

Lastly, the market awareness is a strange mechanic as it does not seem to do anything. 'bad markets' are always markets you are not trading in. They stay the same the entire time, so positive markets as well are also static. So those markets never changes. If they did, then you might get a fluctuating market that could make the game harder, but as of now, it is just.. why?

I am not saying I hate the game. I am a backer and I love what it is - writing especially. These are just improvements the game could have based on my opinion. Maybe you can take it into account when you make more updates.

Thank you for the game, it was worth the kickstarter.

[vaughn_erich]

Gonna address your thoughts via topic-

- Difficulty -
I agree. So far I'm in the middle of my second run and the game is not hard. That's not to say that I want it to be hard, I don't want to be frustrated. But it just feels like not a lot of strategic input is required...or available for that matter. I think there's got to be some way to make the decisions of where to put certain executives matter more (like maybe the executives have specialties or skill trees somehow to customize their purpose). Or maybe there needs to be another thing you are doing gameplay-wise during the basic flow of the day.

- Items -
I agree that I never acquire enough different and useful items during a given play to make having so many slots useful. Maybe they should do away with all the item rarity levels? I'm not sure if fewer slots is actually a good answer...I think maybe they should make a skill tree for the Executives or something so that it feels like you are developing them as your relationship/business develops with them. That, or I think they should give the Executives more specialized abilities or skills. They all feel like they are the same gameplay wise and are completely interchangeable which robs them of some individuality and character. Perhaps if they kept items between runs that would be a way to customize them...but eventually you'd have the issue of like never needing items anymore. I think the trips on the train could be made more fun like maybe you get a little story blurb about what the Executive did/how they found the item.

- Time -
Yeah a run of the game is quite long. I wouldn't mind that much if so much of the regular gameplay didn't feel like sitting and waiting. Maybe there should be more story developments or interactions with the Executives from the main game screen. I mean yes you do have to move the execs around a lot so you're not doing "nothing," but like...enh.

- Lunch Dates -
I don't mind the concept and I don't really find them annoying...that being said, once you fill someone all the way isnt it kind of useless? I don't mind the Tea game cuz its always the same combo so you can just write it down for each Executive so pretty quick. I find the randomness of the Gloat Flirt Insult to be kind of annoying...Blackjack is kind of randomly unwinnable given your hand as well although it is thematic. Massage is okay but feels long.

- Barbershop & Boxing -
They do feel like they are a time waster to train at lower outputs. With specializing Executives either by player or game design, perhaps this could be alleviated (like if say a certain Executive always or upon skill tree upgrade got an extra +1 or 2x when Boxing or something).

- Market Share -
Yeah I try to make 1 or 2 Executives the designated rich b**** at the bank or whatever it's called.. and then they get over-leveled by someone else's Market Share who I had tried to make a designated fighter. Another reason I think Execs should come pre-specialized or able to be specialized via a skill tree.

- Market Awareness -
Couldn't tell you what it's for. Haven't paid attention to it, haven't used it as far as I know. Is it related to the Offices or whatever they are called? Cuz I have not used that building either.

[DJscrapped]

Supposedly once you unlock Market Awareness the industries in the market share get a boost/reduction depending on if they are up or down, I have yet to have my specific persons market be on the ticket in either a negative or positive so I cant tell how much it is up or down

Unlocking this feature when you have 1-2 that you send to the bank is actually a bad thing more often than not.

[FluffySquirrel]

Yeah, currently other than the heart bits, there doesn't feel like much appeal to NG+. Being able to keep assets would be nice, would encourage you to build your execs into rough roles (whether they get into it or not will depend on RNG, but eh)

Would give a bit more incentive to spend all the days getting the items from the train and blah

Needs a bit *something* more, for sure.. cause yeah, currently it doesn't seem very hard. I love the writing, but the game itself needs a bit more incremental stuff I think

Hell, given they said failure wasn't an issue, I'd have rather they made it just get more and more harder.. but let your execs keep their stats or something. That'd give you incentive to improve over time and such.. not sure why they reset everything

[Remedy]

I would love to speed up the game a bit. After I get settled in my end game, I often find myself sitting around waiting and watching rather than actively doing things. When I am focused on one goal, know where I want my people, and have plenty of time left on the clock, I really miss a fast forward button.