(sorry if this review duplicates; i wrote one out earlier but i don't know if it registered >.<)
Firstly, I want to say that I'm
very impressed. So much so, that I made an account just to review it
It started off as a normal otome: you got two love interests (the usual bestie and 'cool guy' senpai), you were trying to confess with some Valentine's chocolate, and the endings were cute. Really cute! Super cute! The game was short and sweet and the voice-acting was a nice touch, even though it was just mostly grunts. The ending lines made me swooon. Especially 'Senpai's Good End.' That was a touching ending, imo.
After fiddling around with the choices, I had Endings 1-4 in the bag and I was trying to get the final one. I even had this chart for each playthrough I had, because I seriously couldn't get senpai's best. After 20+ playthroughs, I
finally got it! And I was really happy. I would've quit the game after that, but then I thought 'huh, there's a disproportional amount of ways to get James's endings, but it's really hard to get senpai's. That should mean there's a points system somewhere...' So I wondered if you could get senpai's endings through a different route, and I went and played again.
I don't remember the exact order that everything happened in, but
I got the game to crash, the script changed, that repeated a few times, and everything went meta.
My mind was
blown. I was certainly not expecting that, and I got waaay more than I asked for.
Which isn't a bad thing! Don't get me wrong! I loved this game. I was incredibly awed and plot whammed with how everything ended up. Amazing.
I seriously thought it was buggy (because, I mean, my game
crashed, my load files disappeared, and the script went wack) so I'm glad I finished it and made it all the way to the end
Nicely done!
Other things I want to mention:
+Senpai has good taste in music. The Killers? Spaceman? No wonder the MC likes him
+James is a total sweetheart. So is the MC! They're little balls of sunshine that you can't help but love
+The little animation at the dream scene (the snowflake-things) was a pretty addition
+The BGM reminded me of Christmas music. I dunno why. It had a feel-good vibe to it
+The art style is great! It's warm and homey. Just my cup of tea
+GUI is simple but cute. I like the tiny twirling flower at the end of the text! It's a pretty refreshing twist to the Ren'Py engine; I can't say the controls are the same as usual...
+I really adore Valentine's tropes. The story made a perfect way to start my day
+I know I mentioned this before, but the voice-acting was a nice touch
+The 'who's senpai's best friend?' bit. I laughed each time there was a different name, especially when the MC says it's
James. Oh boy
+Senpai's naming scene. IIRC, in his...good end(?), he and the MC were talking about names, and when you know the full story, it's bittersweet
~~~
-Instead of having a pause during every scene change, maybe you could transition it with a fade instead? I stared at a black screen for a short while before I realized I had to click through to progress it. It's especially jarring during the moments where the MC is 'travelling' around the school
-The music can be a bit repetitive, and at times, it loops oddly (e.g. when the MC wakes up). It's not very noticeable unless you listen to it for a long time, so it's okay
But all in all, this was great! I'm surprised this is actually your first game because the coding flowed nicely for the plotline. And I liked how there were 'two parts' to the story; I thought that was really unique!
Now I'm off to delete my persistent data so I can replay the game from the start
EDIT:
I JUST GOT THE
LAST LAST ENDING AND. I. *sobs*
...What a good game. I haven't seen this much fourth wall breaking in a looong time. That ending was absolutely adorable. Once again, great work! I look forward to any future works~
(*gasps* it also has its own variations! ^w^ be still, my heart)