Long Live The Queen (sim, commercial)

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Moonlit
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Re: Long Live The Queen (sim, commercial)

#46 Post by Moonlit »

My personal review. This game drives me crazy but I keep playing it. I tried my best to memorize certain events and changing up skills but I'm still dying and I probably played LLTQ at least 20+ times! The deaths just make you want to slam your head into the keyboard but at the same time it taunts you to try again! There are so many routes to take and one wrong move, the end. I do love all the choices and skills, even though a lot of VN/Sim games do have choices they are still very linear but not LLTQ. But, with all those choices in hand, it shouldn't be so easy to reach an unseen doom.

I saw in the thread people using the term "realistic", yes it is in the way that in life (especially while trying to rule) unpredictable things happen, but having no idea at all in games sure has its' downfalls. Especially when it comes down to a solid game over!
Like when you go to the birthday party and you are attacked by bandits! Totally didn't see that coming the first time and once I forget what skills you needed. Then I died and guess what? ... back to the beginning again!


This is the first VN/sim game I have to actually take notes on. I seriously have a notebook sitting by me right now since I'm about to try again. My biggest complaint is needing to redo everything, I'm so tired of the beginning. Even though you can save, it seems better just to start all over and pick a new method. At the same time though, you have no idea if you were actually on the right track or not before you made a stupid choice and died. I wish I could find more hints and tips online. It is also sad to see all the "failed" skill bubbles, (I believe) it is impossible to pass them all. You learn to deal with it and know that the next game over you get there is another route to take. The game is all about being able to win and lose some. This is definitely a game you cannot beat in one try unless you are insanely lucky. This is a game for someone who has patients and is willing to try again and again. It is fun and worth it but does get repetitive fast. So personally I'll play a few times a day and then give it a week off. What motivates me is anger. The game requires commitment. In other words, this game isn't for everybody. Personally I'd give it a 7/10 maybe higher if I actually beat it for once! I believe I got pretty close once... Also I still have no idea on how to completely fill in the map.

Pros:
-Extremely high replay value
-Beautiful art and music
-Lots of choices and methods
-Creative game-play
-Makes player really want to beat it

Cons:
-Difficult game with very little guidance
-Very unpredictable events
-A lot of game-overs
-Gets repetitive
-Need for strong memorization/notes or just luck
-Can really tick you off

I strongly suggest playing the demo and reading up on the game before buying to make sure this game is for you. I cannot stress enough, this game is NOT for everybody!

I have a question for the players. How often do you save and where do you save at? Do you save before big events or just prepare for a game over?

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Re: Long Live The Queen (sim, commercial)

#47 Post by squark »

I learn everything the hard way. Ever since the first run, I've been taking notes to prep for the little "test" things, but it's almost impossible to pass all of them.
I think I've only ever gone the whole hog once, and I've gotten the
"I'm gonna go behind Father's back and get this orb thing" Lumen Princess
end.
I'm of the opinion that this is the bst of the three Hanako games I've played (CK, CKK and LLTQ). Don't get me wrong, I loved Cute Knight, this is just better. And HARDER. Oh ye gods, is it harder.

Stomach rumbling, now it's time for lunch. That and I can't think of anything else to say! :P
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Re: Long Live The Queen (sim, commercial)

#48 Post by redfeilds18 »

spooky wrote:Played the demo the other day and as expected, I really liked it. Was trying to save money but screw it I'm caving. I'm just about to buy it now. :3
the demo version is great as it was expected.

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Re: Long Live The Queen (sim, commercial)

#49 Post by Thelo »

Just for fun, we've done an audience participation forum "Let's Play" of this game, on another forum. Incidentally, it led to a couple of us buying the game. :P

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Re: Long Live The Queen (sim, commercial)

#50 Post by papillon »

After failing to be able to just add the game onto Steam, we've finally put it up for votes on Greenlight. So you know what that means...

Vote Vote Vote! Just Say Yes!

If you've already bought the game and it gets through, you will get free Steam keys, free updates, all sorts of goodies, so voting is giving yourself free stuff! DO IIIIIIT.

If you haven't already bought the game and it gets through, it'll go on sale, so voting is giving yourself a discount! DO IIIIIIT.

Also it will make you a special person covered in pixie dust!

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Re: Long Live The Queen (sim, commercial)

#51 Post by PyTom »

Here's hoping that LLTQ gets on steam. It would be a good fit - it has really clever gameplay. I'm somewhat surprised it didn't make it on directly - it should have.

Is it just me, or did the voiceover in the demo seem somewhat lacking? I don't think it was the (papillon's?) voice. Rather, I think the microphone used may have distorted the sound enough to be obvious.
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Re: Long Live The Queen (sim, commercial)

#52 Post by papillon »

Yes, that's me talking. It's the old video I made for the IGF because one was necessary, and I tend to make games that don't video well (people complain about lack of 'gameplay videos'... but that's kinda hard here.) so anyone judging by trailer quality is probably going to hate me anyway.

My hopes are not high, considering the general greenlight audience. There's a lot of games in there that it's really surprising Steam didn't just sell, including things I own retail discs... And yet I *still* get people emailing me asking why I don't "put my games on Steam" as if it were up to me!

Wait, pessimism bad. Um... Well, none of te comments have been particularly vicious so far!

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Re: Long Live The Queen (sim, commercial)

#53 Post by squark »

Already bought the game myself, from the website.
Gave it a yes on Greenlight ^^

... I kinda like the voiceover. Especially the "die a horrible, horrible death" part. I giggled when I heard that. It's just so completely true I couldn't help it.
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Re: Long Live The Queen (sim, commercial)

#54 Post by jack_norton »

papillon wrote: Wait, pessimism bad. Um... Well, none of te comments have been particularly vicious so far!
Well is not much about the comments themselves (which I'm sure Valve never reads, are too many), but the votes amount in practice. All that matters is that, a "popularity contest". Which means you can make some simple but hilarious game and get greenlit without spending 1 minute in game design :roll:
The percentage is also a good indicator, for example just put Bionic Heart 2, so far nice comments but the Yes ratio is an amazingly low 26%. Compared to Loren who has the 55% of yes... :D and is still light years from being greenlit after 6 months.

...uhm well, if you need some more pessimism just send me an email! :mrgreen:
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Re: Long Live The Queen (sim, commercial)

#55 Post by papillon »

I replaced the video a couple days ago, so the voice quality is slightly better now, I hope. :)

I'm working on getting a proper trailer made but it'll be a while.

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Re: Long Live The Queen (sim, commercial)

#56 Post by Der Tor »

I enjoyed the game a lot and i am not normally a big friend of otome games... but this one I enjoyed a lot - oh and it was also the first of your games I bought... actually I think it was the first indie game I EVER bought.

That said, here comes the constructive criticism :D

Yes, it was hard, but that was also one of the things that made it fun to play and I loved the brutal chiby deaths :twisted:
So that didn't bother me. What did bother me was that you made the stat raising aspects as complex as (and obviously inspired by) the Princess Maker series. But unlike in Princess Maker the stats don't really seem to have a big influence on the outcome. Whoever has played Princess Maker knows what I mean. The only thing the stats seem to do is prevent certain (pun intended) death(s).

So that made the ending kinda disappointing for me... Because all the while I have great fun playing it and putting a lot of thought into the complex stat raising aspects thinking that if there are so many cute death screens there will be at least an equal amount of cute ending pictures... depending on the stats I raised... And then I finally play to the end... and nothing... just ONE ending picture that is always the same and which is totally unaffected by the stats I raised.

Of course the only reason I was dissapointed is because I expected such epic endings and such a huge variety of endings like in Princess Maker. Of course your game is not Princess Maker and you don't have the same resources Gainax has... but all the while you made it look and feel like a Princess Maker game (it looks and feels even more like Princess Maker than your previous games that where obviously also inspired by it) and the game even kept up with it quality wise... except for the endings. So naturally people who have played Princess Maker will have their expectations as for the endings and will then be a little dissapointed by the actual ending they get - and only then realize that they haven't played a game of Princess Maker caliber after all.

But of course as long as one doesn't compare it to Princess Maker, it's an awesome game :mrgreen: But because of the look and feel you made it very hard for anyone who knows the Princess Maker series to NOT compare it to that and expect the same wide array of endings influenced by the stats.

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Re: Long Live The Queen (sim, commercial)

#57 Post by papillon »

There is a huge variety of endings... there just isn't a huge variety of ending graphics. What happens to Elodie, what happens to all her relatives, who she marries, who she sleeps with and DOESN'T marry, whether she has kids and how many, how the country's relations with its neighbors develop, whether or not various technologies advance, what characterises her reign... all of which are changed by either your stats or the decisions you made getting to the end, which in turn are affected by the stats. All that text epilogue stuff is very, very different from game to game!

The Cute Knight series does the whole "lots of careers with different pictures" thing, but it wasn't really appropriate for this game since, with one or two exceptions, if you live to the end your career is obvious: you're Queen. It isn't a game about choosing your future career, it's a game about setting the future of your country.

Now yes, I would have liked to have had more graphics, but they can't really function in the same way that they do in a Princess Maker game, because it wouldn't make sense. If we get greenlighted, wedding pictures might be a possibility...

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Re: Long Live The Queen (sim, commercial)

#58 Post by Taleweaver »

papillon wrote:Now yes, I would have liked to have had more graphics, but they can't really function in the same way that they do in a Princess Maker game, because it wouldn't make sense. If we get greenlighted, wedding pictures might be a possibility...
Just to give you something to consider because I think there could be TONS of ending CGs to unlock:

- Pictures of the land during Elodie's reign - some sort of "what happens afterwards". I suppose under a wise and gentle queen, it would be a very different country than under a tyrannical witch-queen...
- CGs showing what happens to other important characters.
- CGs of the technologies that appear in her country after her coronation.
- CGs of common festivals with the neighboring nations, or of ongoing conflicts with them
- CGs of Elodie's children - how many, and how they develop (again, that can be very different depending on what sort of person Elodie eventually becomes, and how she defines being a parent depending on her relationship with her own parents).
- And yes, CGs of the different possible weddings would also be nice :)
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Re: Long Live The Queen (sim, commercial)

#59 Post by merdeamour »

To the creator-- here's a heads up. Someone's uploaded LLTQ to 4shared, where it can be downloaded and played--for free. I have no idea whether this is the full version, but I think it'd be useful to check it out.

[LVUER:
Thank you for the information, but you don't need to post the link too or rather shouldn't post the link too.]

EDIT: Ah, sorry! I wasn't thinking. Sorry, sorry.
Last edited by LVUER on Thu May 16, 2013 7:10 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Message edited, erasing the link
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Re: Long Live The Queen (sim, commercial)

#60 Post by papillon »

So, speaking of voiceover skills, I finally got someone to do a much cooler video for the game!


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