⋘ Reflections on the River ⋙ • [Fantasy][Friendship][NaNo16]

[sweetstrawberry]

Hello everyone and thank you so much for your responses!
I'm sweetstrawberry, part of the writing team for Reflections on the River, and I bring with me a followup survey, which you can find here.
Just a small character popularity poll as well as other questions to gauge interest in a deluxe version of the game. The survey itself is pretty short, only 5 questions~ It would really help us if you filled it out!

[Lesleigh63]

I enjoyed this very much.

Loved the art, sprites, CGs and backgrounds.
It has a lovely GUI
I thought it was very well written (it clicks along nicely without getting too verbose).
Nice length for me too (I don't really have time to play something that takes 10hrs to complete).
I was wondering all the way through what sex Zheng was and I figured that was intentional.
I've only played through once so far and was on the Princess's route.
I was hoping to get on the Prince's route from the get go, but wound up on the Princess's route instead. But from readng through the comments, it looks like he has a route (Yay), so will definitely be coming back to play.

Beautiful looking game that has a polished feel to it.

Thanks for making it.

[PeroxidePrince]

I enjoyed this very much.

Loved the art, sprites, CGs and backgrounds.
It has a lovely GUI
I thought it was very well written (it clicks along nicely without getting too verbose).
Nice length for me too (I don't really have time to play something that takes 10hrs to complete).
I was wondering all the way through what sex Zheng was and I figured that was intentional.
I've only played through once so far and was on the Princess's route.
I was hoping to get on the Prince's route from the get go, but wound up on the Princess's route instead. But from readng through the comments, it looks like he has a route (Yay), so will definitely be coming back to play.

Beautiful looking game that has a polished feel to it.

Thanks for making it.

Thank you so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed the game!
Zheng is actually meant to be non-binary, and they/them pronouns are used in game. The game's written pretty ambiguously though, and it's not often Zheng's mentioned in third-person, so it's been interesting to see how people have been interpreting their gender.
Prince Shun definitely has a route, haha.

You just need to make a different choice right at the beginning -- the game branches after the first choice, so it's pretty easy to get.

[iusername]

Great game. I like the story.
I was going for Prince and I ended up having Princess.
i have to say, she irritated me so much.
her word choices are so wrong.
i just don't like how she keeps lowering Zheng down.
at first, i was like Zheng is the reason you are born

then after i found out that she was so called "peasant" herself, i was like WHAT?!
now that you live in a palace, even if you're not exactly treated as a princess, you act so mighty and
look down on Zheng who could have been you. using peasant as an insult
then later when she said that trusting Zheng to tell illness about princess, "well, last time trusting you ended up in this mess"
i was like WHAT?! mess? helping princess to born is a mess? well, she's sick, but still she was born thanks to Zheng!

i just can't like her. she irritates me.

then i did Prince route.
he was definitely more likable than princess.
also the relationship seems more even out. more give and take.

when i got the Prince's magical ending,

when i found out that Zheng's mother was murdered by King and Queen, i loved this ending where Zheng gets heirloom back and doesn't do any kindness to royal family, but Zheng still gets a friend and place to stay in another kingdom though it's not safe and not exactly friendly.

at first, I quite liked the real princess saved and becoming queen ending, but now that i know the truth and Wen, i hate that ending. the princess is not at fault, but that ending is Zheng's worst ending. Zheng doesn't know anything and helped mother's murderers to get their happy ending. UGH.

hey, i still can't get the 7th ending?

i got both dying endings, then Princess route of fake princess queen ending and real princess queen ending.
i got Prince route of physician ending and magician ending. do you know how to get the 7th ending?

[PeroxidePrince]

Great game. I like the story.
I was going for Prince and I ended up having Princess.
i have to say, she irritated me so much.
her word choices are so wrong.
i just don't like how she keeps lowering Zheng down.
at first, i was like Zheng is the reason you are born

then after i found out that she was so called "peasant" herself, i was like WHAT?!
now that you live in a palace, even if you're not exactly treated as a princess, you act so mighty and
look down on Zheng who could have been you. using peasant as an insult
then later when she said that trusting Zheng to tell illness about princess, "well, last time trusting you ended up in this mess"
i was like WHAT?! mess? helping princess to born is a mess? well, she's sick, but still she was born thanks to Zheng!

i just can't like her. she irritates me.

then i did Prince route.
he was definitely more likable than princess.
also the relationship seems more even out. more give and take.

when i got the Prince's magical ending,

when i found out that Zheng's mother was murdered by King and Queen, i loved this ending where Zheng gets heirloom back and doesn't do any kindness to royal family, but Zheng still gets a friend and place to stay in another kingdom though it's not safe and not exactly friendly.

at first, I quite liked the real princess saved and becoming queen ending, but now that i know the truth and Wen, i hate that ending. the princess is not at fault, but that ending is Zheng's worst ending. Zheng doesn't know anything and helped mother's murderers to get their happy ending. UGH.

hey, i still can't get the 7th ending?

i got both dying endings, then Princess route of fake princess queen ending and real princess queen ending.
i got Prince route of physician ending and magician ending. do you know how to get the 7th ending?

Thanks very much for playing, and for sharing your thoughts!
Haha, Yanyu definitely isn't everyone's cup of tea. I'm glad that even though you didn't like her very much, it didn't deter you from playing the other route in the game!

How "good" the endings are really depend on how the player sees things, since there's really no way to fix everything.
I can definitely understand how you'd dislike Yanyu's ending where Zheng helps the King and Queen after finding out the full story. I'm happy to hear that there's at least one ending that you were pleased with, though!

A hint for the ending that you're missing -- it's on Yanyu's route, and you have to be nice enough that she will stop Shun from killing Zheng, but make more selfish choices in general. (Not helping her look through books, for instance.)
Let me know if you're still having trouble and I can provide a walkthrough!

[iusername]

i still can't get the 7th ending
whatever i do i end up in either Yanyu queen or

Huineng queen

ending.
I tried to be mean after she didn't let the prince kill me, but i can't get the 7th ending.

[PeroxidePrince]

i still can't get the 7th ending
whatever i do i end up in either Yanyu queen or

Huineng queen

ending.
I tried to be mean after she didn't let the prince kill me, but i can't get the 7th ending.

Here's the full walkthrough for that ending, hope this helps!

The Prince > Threaten her > Say something > Order two > Spare no detail > No way > (Doesn't matter what you choose here) > Go home > Go back to work > (Doesn't matter what you choose here)

[iusername]

i got the 7th ending! thank you =D
7th ending is very sad T.T but at least Zheng lived.
thank you for the walkthrough!
the game was great and i also took the poll.

[PeroxidePrince]

i got the 7th ending! thank you =D
7th ending is very sad T.T but at least Zheng lived.
thank you for the walkthrough!
the game was great and i also took the poll.

No problem, glad you managed to get that last CG in the end!
And yeah, that ending isn't exactly the happiest...
Thanks very much!

[Pick_One]

Sorry for the late feedback. RL stuff happen and drained me, including getting sick for quite some time. orz I only started to type up this feedback a few weeks after my last post. And only just went back and completed it today. So I'm sorry if I might mess up on some details? I hope nothing I typed seems weird. ^^; I'm definitely going to talk about what theories I had for the game. It added to the fun of playing this game. Hahaha.

Like I had said before, the sprites are very nicely drawn. I appreciated and liked the different poses that you took time to give for the characters.The small animations like the candle flickering and

the glowing around the screen when Zheng finally had the jade return to them,

was a nice touch. I have to admit that I personally thought the GUI looked fine to me but at the same time, thought it could have been something else. It does fit the setting though and later I thought it tied in with the background used for the prologue and epilogue. Actually it felt like the epilogue and prologue was written as a legend/fairy tale on a scroll, which I thought was quite nice. ^^ I was happy to see how the characters look in the future for the ending CGs. They were satisfying and nice to look at. The backgrounds were skillfully drawn and they had great details in them that gave them life. I think that could be a difficult thing to accomplish. So good work to the background artist! The sprites and background goes together very well. As a small suggestion,

I do personally feel that the area and the house that Zheng live in, could be shown to be in poorer condition.

Not really a big deal though. ^^

I thought the plot fitted the length the game very well. I also didn't felt the story was boring or that it dragged out unnecessarily. I think it's thanks to the characters and the writing. I liked the humor and Zheng as the narrator. I found the characters likable and I wanted to know about their secrets which lead me to keep replaying in order to get all the endings. If I didn't care to know more about the characters, most likely I wouldn't bother to get them all. I caught like only two mistakes in the writing but it was very minor.

Shun's route was entertaining and he was such an endearing character. I like that he

found a different way to reach his dream for one of the ending. I did felt that after Zheng and Shun came up with a plan for how to find the jade, it transition sort of abruptly to the next scene in the palace. But it's not a big deal especially considering the time limit that this game was made in. I like that both endings where Zheng could either gain or not gain magic, were happy endings either way. Well, actually...I feel bad about Yanyu's fate...

Huineng's route was enjoyable, although I kinda like Shun's route a bit more. Still, I liked that her route had touched upon

the fragility of the kingdom's prosperity and had an ending that fitted the title of the game very nicely. That part of the ending was melancholic for me, which I liked in a way. I think it reflected the theme of the game, which makes the chosen title for this game a good choice! ^_^ On a side note, I was happy to somewhat see how Yanyu looks like and that nothing bad had happen to her.

I thought it was quite easy to get all endings after giving a bit of thought. So that's good, it's not too easy and it's not too hard. The choices from what I remember made sense with what ending that the player would end up with. I liked that the endings were parallel in similarity to each other. So I was actually able to guess what all the endings will basically entail. For example,

I couldn't help but change one choice on Huineng's route to be a little bit more cold towards her... thus receiving a lovely CG of Shun pointing a sword in my face (well, Zheng's face...) then Zheng helplessly dying...(This was my second ending. The first ending I got was Shun and Zheng deciding to become doctors. So as I looked at the CG gallery, I was like, oh, Shun, how did it turn out to be like this? lol.)...thus I was actually really waiting for a CG of Huineng about to kill Zheng (although part of me was like, oh no, I don't want Zheng to die. ;_;),

I really liked the music. And the music for the throne room, fitted the mood very well. I was reading the game out loud, and whenever that music came on, I felt proud and regal. Yea I know, pretty corny.

As for my theories, which I'm now trying to recall since I'm actually typing this today so... blurry memory...

I was right about the jade granting the king and queen a child. Also that the jade was connected to somehow supporting the princess's life. I expected that Huineng was ruthless in a way but only figure out that she probably wasn't the true princess after the first mention of her ability to do "peasant-like" things. Although I admit that I first saw Huineng in a more sort of "evil" way in how she became the heir to the throne. But that change after I gave some more thoughts. I also thought the jade held some sort of significance for Zheng besides payment and them just being "greedy". Hmm... during the game with the part where Zheng first interacted with their customers, I had a feeling that Zheng didn't have any magic. Somewhere along the way during the game, I did thought what if it was Zheng's mother who was the witch that helped the king and queen. Another theory which I had during the game and I was correct, was that the queen was hiding and carrying the jade with her, that it wasn't hidden in a room. Um....I guess the last theory I had was that I did expected, if the jade was given back to Zheng, that something bad will happen to the kingdom but I didn't bother to think further as to what that disaster would be. So when it did happen, it was kinda shocking. Actually, I had a few more theories before playing the game and during it, but it was just my mind running wild, making what-ifs scenarios that I didn't think could possibly happen. It was just silly fun to think about them. Like one was that Zheng was actually the child of the king and queen. I actually typed down, 'Would it be weird if Zheng is their child somehow?". Then imagination just went wild from there. Lol. ^^

Okay now I guess I'll throw in some random comments like I always do. lol. :

-

I kinda went whoa when the sprite of the queen fell during on my path to a bad ending. I liked that it was actually shown rather than just telling the players that it had happen. It really felt like it was wrong.... that there was possibly a bad ending coming up.

-I love that both expressions of the siblings well like really?

when Zheng tried to kidnap one of them. hahaha.

-I like that

one of Zheng's customer (Dude who wants a love potion) had his rambling became smaller in writing.

Hmm...it adds to the humor and absurdity of the situation. ^^
-I like the cute friendship between Ah Niu and Zheng. XD
-If it makes Ah Niu feel better about being call uncle,the first time I saw him when you first posted his sprite, I kinda felt like he was one of those caring older brother type. hahaha. XD

It was a satisfying good game that I was happy to give my time to play. I hope this feedback was helpful in any way and that you guys continue to make many more games. ^_^ Again I'm sorry that this is late @@... Never posted this late for a feedback on a game before... Anyways, thank you guys for making this game!

[PeroxidePrince]

@Pick_One: Aah, thanks so much for writing so much feedback! (And don't worry about being late, haha. Hope you're feeling better now!)

I'm very happy that you enjoyed the game! I'll be sure to pass on your compliments about the backgrounds to Darlingdraws.
That's unfortunate that you got that bad ending right after getting one of Shun's good endings, I hope it didn't spoil your mood too much! It's a shame that Zheng can befriend the royal siblings, but not at the same time. Whichever route you're on, the other sibling probably dislikes or outright hates Zheng... Tragic.
I do also agree on some parts being a bit rushed -- NaNoRenO was just us running around like headless chickens trying to get everything done, haha. We'll probably be fixing some minor mistakes and typos in an update soon, and we do have plans on an extended version that will provide more backstory and have more endings, but that will have to wait until after we've completed our current project. I grew pretty attached to these characters, so I'm looking forward to being able to write and draw for them again!
You managed to get quite a bit right with your theories! It would've been pretty wild if Zheng turned out to be a royal child, though.
I'm glad that you even paid attention to Ah Niu. I'm very fond of Ah Niu and his friendship with Zheng, haha. And I'm sure he would be happy to hear that you thought he was more of an older brother. He's probably a little self conscious about his age.

Thanks again for playing, and for sharing your thoughts!

[Mintysoup]

Hey there~ I'm relatively new to the site, but I've been playing VNs for years and I must say, Reflections on the River really stood out to me! The art is great, the routes are unique, and the music is well chosen! Great work, one and all on this piece <3 Please expect some fan art in the future <333

May I ask, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you post a walkthrough of all the different endings? If not, that's OK. Keep up the excellent work!

[PeroxidePrince]

Hey there~ I'm relatively new to the site, but I've been playing VNs for years and I must say, Reflections on the River really stood out to me! The art is great, the routes are unique, and the music is well chosen! Great work, one and all on this piece <3 Please expect some fan art in the future <333

May I ask, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you post a walkthrough of all the different endings? If not, that's OK. Keep up the excellent work!

Thank you very much, I'm glad to hear that you liked our game! I'll be looking forward to the fan art then （人´∀`*）

As for a walkthrough, I can give you hints for how Zheng should act for each ending for now -- if you're still having trouble with any particular ending, let me know and I'll write up a full step-by-step walkthrough for you.

Yanyu Endings:
1. Be horrible to her (Early bad ending)
2. Avoid the early bad ending, but make self-serving choices
3. Make selfless choices, and give the King and Queen the benefit of the doubt
4. Make selfless choices, but be suspicious of the King and Queen

Shun Endings:
1. Be horrible to him (Early bad ending)
2. Make choices that focus on the past
3. Make choices that focus on the future

[Zelan]

Guess <: who <: finally <: played <: this <: game <:

I did!!! It was so fantastic, I swear I was smiling the whole time. Shun can be so sassy and I love it. cx His routes were my favorite, but I enjoyed Yanyu's as well. Seeing the friendships develop between Zheng and the kidnappees was super heartwarming. (Honestly, I was shipping Zheng and Shun pretty hard after getting probably... halfway through my first playthrough? But the friendship endings were satisfying, so I didn't feel disappointed that there weren't any romantic endings.)

And the PLOT TWISTS. There were so many and I didn't see a single ONE of them coming. Kudos to you for that! I liked how there were little hints to pieces of the story in different routes, too.

Like how in the ending where Zheng gets the jewel back and uses it, there's immediately a flood. I had my suspicions at that point but it was really cool having the actual properties explained fully! And it's interested that Huineng never (at least within the VN) actually finds out that Zheng's been lying about their age.

The art was amazing too, I was practically salivating over my computer playing this. My mom even commented on how much she liked it (she came in to talk to me and saw my screen), and she tends to be pretty picky, especially with digital art. So congratulations for that one!

final score 10000000000000000000/10 it's really good I am going to be forever haunted (in a good way) by these characters

(Oh, and since you were curious about how players interpret Zheng's gender: Since they were written with they/them pronouns and it's never brought up, I assumed pretty early on that they were non-binary, and thought of them as such; however, I give characters a 'voice' when I read about them, which generally leads to me assigning a headcanon biological sex to go along with the voice. I interpreted Zheng as being biologically female. I'm not sure if this is because I was associating Zheng closely with their mother, because of the art, or just because I'm a girl myself, but there you have it. c:)

[Oracle]

This looks epic!