I guess this is weird timing given the Situation on this site right now, but I bought this a little while ago and finally got around to playing the first vignette! Or. Reading it? Preading.
I really liked how sweet Clover & Hazel were to each other despite the central conflict being a hard to explain disagreement of perspective between the two of them. It always felt like there was no hostility or desire to be mean, just a desire to understand and to be understood despite this invisible sense of "but we can't understand" that they have to learn to navigate. That all said though, my favorite interaction was probably the conversation Hazel eventually has with Gumdrop; I think it does a good job of resolving a little of their problems without it being too "easy", it feels like they understand each other a little bit better and maybe also themselves. My second favorite was Eve's gummy speech affect whenever they got upset or excited while talking to Cat & Gumdrop.
I'd agree that, for some folks who aren't quite as versed in Floraverse, maybe a sort of "index" or "trivia blog" crash course on the main menu might be helpful? I know what a flora satyr is, but they are a bit different from a standard myth satyr. But ultimately, I think it's also fine without it, since it's more about the storytelling and less about "did you know this kind of fox can do this weird magic sometimes"? The context does some good legwork for the concepts that aren't universally known, like the quip about a bigger apartment sized closer to a "bastian"- even if you don't know what that is, you can guess as a reader that a bastian is probably pretty tall if the Clovergon is about that big or even a little bigger.
Oh and like, the kobold on dragon sex was hot too.
omg i saw this and wanted to reply but lost track of it
i'm glad you appreciated them trying with each other! i keep wanting to write "they work stuff out but it's not free" and it's so hard to do that convincingly but i do think it worked out here
also i love eve thank you for mentioning eve. the whole way she talks is so funny to me i love writing her
idk, i think a "read all this lore first" thing would mostly be daunting? you even explained how it's mostly inferrable by context (and clover does refer to the characters as satyrs, so they're clearly what satyrs are). that said, i do have a dumb idea for addressing this a little, but i do also actively like that there are things that aren't just spelled out — i think it helps the world feel bigger when not everything is For The Story, when sometimes the story intersects things that you only catch a glimpse of in passing
Played through this my gf. Keep it up, and I wish you luck with the future chapters.
I do have one critique of the game tho. The inciting incident between Clover, Hazel and Gumdrop feels like it was handled poorly, as it felt both confusing and a “telling not showing” moment. I understand the explicit details of the indecent aren’t important, but it felt like they were constantly referencing some other thing I should have read beforehand. I feel as though some sort of summary or brief memory or something to orientate the reader would be nice, as the entire chapter is base around something that just happened off screen.
Did I actually miss something or is there some other reason for the choice that’s yet to be shown?
hey thanks, glad you... liked it? did you like it?
imo, showing the moment would detract from the story — which is about the conflicting ways everyone feels about it. if the reader witnessed it themselves first, they'd likely form their own impression of it and then decide who is "right" or "wrong", but a big theme is that that doesn't actually matter. also, part of what clover struggles with is that it's been so long that she doesn't remember the details clearly, so she can't quibble over them — and the reader is in the same position!
Um I was kinda mixed on it, but I didn't want to lampoon you with criticism, as it wouldn’t be fair to do so. And I do wish you luck with your further endeavors.
But like I said, just don’t show the moment but summarize it. As it’s confusing to a first time reader as I don’t know if you're mentioning something that happened in another visual novel or something that happened in the lore of floraverse. I’m not a floraverse fan, so when I’m not told about the event I’m assuming it either some preexisting lore or part of some other floraverse property.
But be and my gf did yap some bit about the story, and we approached it from differing angles as she was more knowledgeable, so idk.
This was a really fun experience to go through, i did a reading alone and i found lots of moments just laughing at some scenes that happens, like the subtle entrance of some critters along with their interactions, i really had a fun time and the horny stuff was kinda of an extra to the overall story, the characters, the interactions, gosh the art too is very great and i love the transition to the visual novel to the other by changing the UI which was super cool
and there's is the character's own experiences that they live through the VN, which is well thought although i do have some critiques about it, its not enough to include it here, just some minor stuff that could been included to give some extra context for some stuff
and then after one month i finally got time to read through this VN with my partner which was nice to spend time with him reading something, had to explain some bits because he's not all in for the floralore but that's okay, even if you aren't in the floraverse stuff, somethings are still understandable and others you can make up your mind and figure out
game is pawsome and there too much to talk about it how amazingly this got put together, how some actions from characters resonate with how i feel about certain things about myself, made me reflect about it and then i had some talk with my partner and it was great
anyways this game is good, i wonder what's to be awaited with the next updates
i do try to make it coherent even if you don't know anything about flora haha, but nobody turns to the camera to go "By the way this is what a satyr is", so it does take a little willingness to shrug and go "well i don't know this fantasy word but that's ok i'll just move on for now"
honestly would be funny if someone would do like the emperor's grove and just walk in overlay to say "by the way this is what a satyr is", would feel A LOT out of place but would be funny
but i also feel like there is a bit of conflict there with showing information, i do like when the kobolds were trying to remember the symbol of the card and i didnt remember what was trebol, but a few interactions after made me "oh right i understand now" and feels like some of these "i understand now" can happen a lot if given the right space to grow
in anyways i like the story and lots of things that got brought up, can't wait for the next update
i have a question: will this, either when fully released or at the stage that is right now(just 1 story so far) be on steam? i would buy the game again though i can't send extra money like i can here on itch
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shut up and take my money！
I guess this is weird timing given the Situation on this site right now, but I bought this a little while ago and finally got around to playing the first vignette! Or. Reading it? Preading.
I really liked how sweet Clover & Hazel were to each other despite the central conflict being a hard to explain disagreement of perspective between the two of them. It always felt like there was no hostility or desire to be mean, just a desire to understand and to be understood despite this invisible sense of "but we can't understand" that they have to learn to navigate. That all said though, my favorite interaction was probably the conversation Hazel eventually has with Gumdrop; I think it does a good job of resolving a little of their problems without it being too "easy", it feels like they understand each other a little bit better and maybe also themselves. My second favorite was Eve's gummy speech affect whenever they got upset or excited while talking to Cat & Gumdrop.
I'd agree that, for some folks who aren't quite as versed in Floraverse, maybe a sort of "index" or "trivia blog" crash course on the main menu might be helpful? I know what a flora satyr is, but they are a bit different from a standard myth satyr. But ultimately, I think it's also fine without it, since it's more about the storytelling and less about "did you know this kind of fox can do this weird magic sometimes"? The context does some good legwork for the concepts that aren't universally known, like the quip about a bigger apartment sized closer to a "bastian"- even if you don't know what that is, you can guess as a reader that a bastian is probably pretty tall if the Clovergon is about that big or even a little bigger.
Oh and like, the kobold on dragon sex was hot too.
omg i saw this and wanted to reply but lost track of it
i'm glad you appreciated them trying with each other! i keep wanting to write "they work stuff out but it's not free" and it's so hard to do that convincingly but i do think it worked out here
also i love eve thank you for mentioning eve. the whole way she talks is so funny to me i love writing her
idk, i think a "read all this lore first" thing would mostly be daunting? you even explained how it's mostly inferrable by context (and clover does refer to the characters as satyrs, so they're clearly what satyrs are). that said, i do have a dumb idea for addressing this a little, but i do also actively like that there are things that aren't just spelled out — i think it helps the world feel bigger when not everything is For The Story, when sometimes the story intersects things that you only catch a glimpse of in passing
i agree, good job clover, get that k (kobold)
Played through this my gf. Keep it up, and I wish you luck with the future chapters.
I do have one critique of the game tho. The inciting incident between Clover, Hazel and Gumdrop feels like it was handled poorly, as it felt both confusing and a “telling not showing” moment. I understand the explicit details of the indecent aren’t important, but it felt like they were constantly referencing some other thing I should have read beforehand. I feel as though some sort of summary or brief memory or something to orientate the reader would be nice, as the entire chapter is base around something that just happened off screen.
Did I actually miss something or is there some other reason for the choice that’s yet to be shown?
hey thanks, glad you... liked it? did you like it?
imo, showing the moment would detract from the story — which is about the conflicting ways everyone feels about it. if the reader witnessed it themselves first, they'd likely form their own impression of it and then decide who is "right" or "wrong", but a big theme is that that doesn't actually matter. also, part of what clover struggles with is that it's been so long that she doesn't remember the details clearly, so she can't quibble over them — and the reader is in the same position!
Um I was kinda mixed on it, but I didn't want to lampoon you with criticism, as it wouldn’t be fair to do so. And I do wish you luck with your further endeavors.
But like I said, just don’t show the moment but summarize it. As it’s confusing to a first time reader as I don’t know if you're mentioning something that happened in another visual novel or something that happened in the lore of floraverse. I’m not a floraverse fan, so when I’m not told about the event I’m assuming it either some preexisting lore or part of some other floraverse property.
But be and my gf did yap some bit about the story, and we approached it from differing angles as she was more knowledgeable, so idk.
for what it's worth, the intention is that it should be readable even if you've never heard of floraverse at all
CW: For spoilers in The Four of Clover's
This was a really fun experience to go through, i did a reading alone and i found lots of moments just laughing at some scenes that happens, like the subtle entrance of some critters along with their interactions, i really had a fun time and the horny stuff was kinda of an extra to the overall story, the characters, the interactions, gosh the art too is very great and i love the transition to the visual novel to the other by changing the UI which was super cool
and there's is the character's own experiences that they live through the VN, which is well thought although i do have some critiques about it, its not enough to include it here, just some minor stuff that could been included to give some extra context for some stuff
and then after one month i finally got time to read through this VN with my partner which was nice to spend time with him reading something, had to explain some bits because he's not all in for the floralore but that's okay, even if you aren't in the floraverse stuff, somethings are still understandable and others you can make up your mind and figure out
game is pawsome and there too much to talk about it how amazingly this got put together, how some actions from characters resonate with how i feel about certain things about myself, made me reflect about it and then i had some talk with my partner and it was great
anyways this game is good, i wonder what's to be awaited with the next updates
hey thank you!
i do try to make it coherent even if you don't know anything about flora haha, but nobody turns to the camera to go "By the way this is what a satyr is", so it does take a little willingness to shrug and go "well i don't know this fantasy word but that's ok i'll just move on for now"
honestly would be funny if someone would do like the emperor's grove and just walk in overlay to say "by the way this is what a satyr is", would feel A LOT out of place but would be funny
but i also feel like there is a bit of conflict there with showing information, i do like when the kobolds were trying to remember the symbol of the card and i didnt remember what was trebol, but a few interactions after made me "oh right i understand now" and feels like some of these "i understand now" can happen a lot if given the right space to grow
in anyways i like the story and lots of things that got brought up, can't wait for the next update
i have a question: will this, either when fully released or at the stage that is right now(just 1 story so far) be on steam? i would buy the game again though i can't send extra money like i can here on itch
yeah i intend to put it on steam, but probably when it's closer to "done", whatever that ends up meaning
dang this game is so cool!!!
thank you!!