-There's no title screen. The game just instantly cuts to a text on blackscreen intro, which is very handy as it saves me a few button presses. Of course, the title can help build atmosphere, but effective use of the non-title does much the same. Here, it works.

-We're treated to a man on a horse walking slowly through a very detailed town. The mapping isn't just good, it's brimming with details like gaps in fences, smoke from chimneys, light spilling out from open doors, etc. The MAN is just some random guy to me, but the world around him is so rich that I don't mind.-MAN gets mugged and his horse leaves him. Wait, nvm, he just collapsed. Screen went blank and he was on the ground so...I blame my childhood q_q

-HELP arrives in a bit of a cutscene. It's just as well done as the rest, but the text boxes are placed right in the middle of the scene. I think this is so that we know who's talking, but it really places the cinematic and narrative parts of the scene in conflict. Rather, the narrative parts bruise the cinematic effect, and I enjoy them a bit less out of resentment.

-STRIDER, as he passes out, pulls a William McWallace yell of 'MARIAAAA.' I have NO clue why a man who can hardly talk is yelling out some woman's name whilst on the verge of passing out at the feet of strangers. My bewilderment is greater than my curiousity, here, but it's a cutscene so I'm moved right along.

-Text on Screen is employed again in a manner remniscient of the Old West Narrator. There is one sentence, though, that kind of ruins it for all the others: "Their pain too great they can't bare to live in this world anymore."

-In general, the 'seen too much' trope is kind of tired, but it can still make a solid intro for an otherwise interesting character. It might be better, though, to inroduce the more interesting aspects and let this trope be recognized in the background.

-Besides, he should have known better than to mess with a woman named MARIA. That honestly never ends well; almost as bad as dating a JULIET.

-Suddenly, FIRE. I think this is a flashback, which means I probably get to have my heart broken by MARIA. I do not WANT this.


-Someone is begging me to help. I take 4 steps and they beg me to help again.

-It should be noted that the mapping is once again very, very good. The scene of fire is also very convincingly displayed using what I think is a fog/tint combo and snow as flakes of ash.

-The screen scrolls down REALLY slowly and the person yells for help again. STRIDER says the voice sounds like it's coming from the inn, then says that he should probably check it out. At this point, I want everyone to SHUT UP so that I can help this person. Losing control for slow scrolling and repeated dialouge so often has really robbed the scene of any urgency.

-Turns out MARIA is in the inn. Short bits of stock dialouge establish that:
-She does not want to die.
-She had escaped, but came back for something she left behind.
-She did not think.

-I find myself short on sympathy as she seems to have gotten herself into this situation and I know that if I let myself care, I'm going to collapse in some random town screaming her name, which is not classy.

-Every once in a while, I get to move a little bit, but for the most part this is still a cutscene. I should note (again) that it is visually BEAUTIFUL, but the dialouge is not concise at all and the delivery is super choppy due to frequent control/non-control switches. There seems to be little reason for me to have control of the character just to handle the walking parts of the cutscene as the optimal effect (being wowed the mapping) would be better achieved if I were not able to explore the numerous dead ends.

-Mostly, there just doesn't need to be so much 'I'll get you out of here,' 'I'll figure something out,' etc. I've already lost all eagnerness to see what's going to be in the next textbox as it does little if anything to move things forward. To some degree, they reinforce the intended atmosphere, but that angle has been driven home already...now it's just browbeating.

-In the span of a textbox, MARIA goes from not wanting to die to being rather ZEN about the whole ordeal. It's not a terrible idea, but it is executed without any transition at all.

-Trying to leave gives me a choice. On one hand, I want to stick around to see what happens. On the other, since I know that she's going to meet some tragic end, I fear that my hesitation will result in a GAME OVER and my having to navigate that cutscene minefield again.

-Once she starts repeating lines, I leave.

-I am now in the INN, where I get some more bloated talking, this time to my self. STRIDER announces 'I am not familiar with this place' followed by 'I should get out of here.' I find my clothes on the ground and am given a choice to change into them. I wonder what kind of rammifications this choice would have, or if it's just arbitrary. Nevertheless, I like clothes, so I WEAR them.

-5 steps later, before I even get out of my well-mapped room into the rest of the well-mapped basement, I'm interrupted by more text during which STRIDER announces things to himself like 'I hear ___,' 'I should do ____.'

-I find nothing to interact with in the basement, though it is masterfully presented from a visual standpoint.

-I kind of want to go study LINEAR ALGEBRA right now, but there is still no menu and presumably no save points yet. This is DANGEROUS as the chance of me watching cutscenes of that length twice is SLIM, especially if I have to input a few directions and press buttons instead of just leaving them to run.

-I manage 3 steps before the next cutscene begins.

-I explore a bit, but find nothing to interact with. There is, however, plenty of BEAUTIFUL mapping. All manner of well-placed details, etc.

-There is something that looks like an item, but a mini-scene about floorboards prevents me from swiping it from under the nose of the man who took me in and saved my life.

-In other words, I'm given control of my character, but there is basically nothing to do except seek out the next cutscene...and that I don't even have to look for. I know where it is, I just have to walk there manually.

-The game is running rather low on HOOK time and has yet to catch me.

-Text-on-BlackScreen narrator returns and tells me of all the errands STRIDER is running for OLD MAN to repay him. There is a missing comma, but the main issue is that the several blots of text could really be condensed into something more interesting.

-Okay, it seems a line has been crossed. The narrator is now telling me about what is basically a cutscene, but uses his position as narrator to give me insight into the characters that comes across as FLAT because it's just being told. I'm basically told straight out the 'OLD MAN is lonely and does not want STRIDER to leave.' This seems like a pretty standard old man, but it's impossible to care about the character as he hasn't been established, really. Even if he had, narration is an atmospheric tool, not an emotional one...it is disasterously ineffective in that regard.

-We also see the return of the 'three short lines of text' technique in which the same idea is expressed three times in a row, with the last time being the bluntest of all. IE: He wanted something crispy. Something with crunch. He wanted FRIED CHICKEN. It's effective at times, but it's been used at least twice now in what I can only assume is the intro.

-The two become "good close friends," which is sort of redundant. Or not sort of, it is literally redundant.

-After the somewhat tense start, then the decidedly intense FIRE, it seems really odd that the game now decides to set up the main character as an ERRAND BOY who is essentially whipped by an OLD MAN.

-I found the first interactive anything ever: my list of chores. It sounds super uninteresting. I also can't re-check it after reading it once, and there's still no menu. All I really want in my life right now is MATRICES but this intro is FOREVER long.

-I head upstairs again and see a CRYSTAL that is completely out of place with the rest of the game. I assume this is a save point.

-The old man sends me on an errand to pick up PROFESSOR OAK'S package from the next town over. He also gives me a LOG BOOK to keep track of my MEANINGLESS ERRANDS and tells me that I can save my progess at the newly installed CRYSTAL behind me. In a bizarre twist, I inform him that, as a wanderer, I am familiar with CRYSTALS, as if there was any hope of keeping the description in-game after saying 'save your progress.'

-After more bloated dialouge, I get a main quest added. It is named 'So it begins' or such. I'm at 19 minutes of playtime, though it probably could have been 15 if I hadn't tried to explore when given the chance and hadn't tried to interact with the BEAUTIFUL scenery. I save and leave for fun with MATH.

-I speak with the first non-sleeping NPC and get a line that barely passes as atmospheric filler. Nothing else in the room is interactive. Going upstairs, I find two more NPCs that are about the same. They're not bad, per se, but I'm rather starved for interaction at this point and they're leaving me dry.

-I walk out the door to attend to ERRANDS and fall face-first into another cutscene. Or, rather, a Text-on-NotBlackScreen exposition dump of STRIDER's innermost feelings. Same as the usual dialouge, but with a BEAUTIFUL background.

-I'm placed outside of the door of the inn and set about on my errand. One path is blocked off by a cheery and bland NPC. The other, 5 steps from the door of the inn, triggers more TEXT. At this point, it feels like I'm watching a movie, but I have to hand crank the projector to keep it moving along. Thankfully, this is a single TEXT box that gives me information about my next location. I consider exploring, but as that's been unilaterally unrewarding thus far, I go EAST.

-Actually, I go exploring. I find a house that is BEAUTIFULLY detailed, but, far bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. There is, unfortunately, nothing to interact with in here.

-I find a few NPCs outside, though none of them say anything worthwhile. I can only assume that all is well in the world, which is fine, but I still have no idea why this STRIDER guy is worth my time. I mean, the whole MARIA situation wasn't too compelling to begin with, but by now it's a distant memory. Also, my instincts tell me that she is alive and probably EVIL or has been captured by someone who is alive and EVIL.

-I enter the TALL GRASS with high hopes, but there is naught but an NPC who is catching BUTTERFREES.

-I think the BEAUTY is lagging my laptop.

-As I follow the long, straight road, I am stopped by a man touting the marvels of the Traveller's Rest Shop. I check it out and find more vacant NPC banter. The clown's line is an attempt at humor which may have worked if there was more life in this world, but atm I can only sympathize with him.

-The other clown offers to breathe fire and non-chalantly sets some trees alight. They take it like true pros, though. So far, this is the highlight of my time here. Clown #2 for NPC of the year~

-The person in front of the tent says 'aswell' instead of 'as well.'

-Inside the TARDIS TENT PUB I am given a free sample of a health restoring item, just like in POKEMON. This game is clearly ripping NINTENDO.

-The NPCs in the pub have pretty standard fare, though one guard tells me that he's not supposed to be here and then asks me not to tell anyone...because, presumably, he doesn't want random people to know what he just told a random person.

-It seems I can buy drinks if I want, which I hope would not allow me to spend so much gold that I can't run my ERRANDS. I decide to play it safe. Also, the WIZARD's Ale keeps the apostrophe in the description, though it seems like it should be gone.

-The sheer perfectness of this place is starting to get to me. All the nice, straight roads and beautiful backgrounds...

-The QUEST JOURNAL tells me to go to GALANDRIA but not where it is. I can no longer go EAST, though. I go SOUTH.

-I stumble upon another cutscene (surprise!) where some guy is talking about VILUNDO STONES or some such. They're the NEW TECHnology that is going to make the world a better place unless they are somehow used for EVIL. Said guy then goes on to say EVIL things and engage in TYRANNY. The dialouge is decent, but in no way concise.

-Though, really, he's way too EVIL to be a convincing character in the slightest. Fortunately, one of the townspeople affirms that he won't get away with this, so at least there is justice in this world.

-PROFESSOR says 'MARVALOUS' rather than 'MARVELOUS.'

-The whole thing is more annoying because of the LAG. I suggest VICTOR SANT'S ANTI-LAG script.

-The guards and villagers walk towards me on their way home, but disappear as the camera scrolls back to STRIDER.

-It seems the world is a HUGE place. Having it all open at once is probably not a good idea unless there's stuff to be done, but I don't really want to check as exploration has still yielded nothing worthwhile.

-I find an ABANDONED? house with a fire still going and nothing to interact with.

-I find a sign that tells me that the coast is to the south, but no word on GALANDRIA.

-I do, however, find the CHICKEN'S PARADISE, which is not something I made up.

-The CHICKENS are everywhere. The apostrophe in WORKERS COTTAGE is nowhere to be found, however.

-Suddenly, GALANDRIA.

-The guard confuses 'you're' with 'your.

-All in all, the trip to GALANDRIA took about 15 minutes. I am now 35 minutes into the game and know nothing save that the world is BEAUTIFUL. There's been some backstory, but almost a total absence of plot. The backstory seems kind of irrelevant, though, and the plot was delivered in a rather uninteresting manner. Even if the subject hadn't been so needlessly EVIL, STRIDER was simply a bystander to that event and I have no idea what his thoughts on the matter are as he had zero interaction with anyone involved.

-I found a house with some moderately funny NPCs. They would be pretty hilarious as a complement to the game's life, but right now they are the game's life and are ill-equipped to handle the burden.

-I find a SIDEQUEST that hints that there is COMBAT in this game.
UPDATE: There ISN'T.

-I enter the shop to complete my ERRAND and get a cutscene of someone buying a book. The book does not seem to contain EVIL spells or anything, so I'm not sure why this was important enough to occupy my time.
UPDATE: It WASN'T

-I learn a bit more BACKSTORY as I pick up the package via more verbose textscenes. For a moment, when he calls his son, the scene comes alive with believable emotion and clever use of screen effects, but the rest is somewhat dry back and forth punctuated by the kind of smalltalk that forcibly shuts down one's brain. Also, I still know nothing about the present that is particuarly compelling.

-I really hope I don't have to walk all the way back. If I walk 10 minutes in REAL LIFE instead I can get ICE CREAM or perhaps A TACO. This is far more tempting than walking 10 minutes in game to see an OLD MAN.

-I find a HILL with more great mapping, though the cliff edges are too uniform.

-I was given a CHOICE about whether to pick up the package, and now I'm given a CHOICE about whether to open the door t oa toy castle...but, I don't really see why. I HAD to pick up the package, so there was no situation where choosing NO was viable. Here, I clearly tried to open this door, so confirmation is redundant.

-I open the door and steal 100G from a KID.

-On my way back, I find a SIDE PATH which leads to REASONABLE TREASURE.
UPDATE: There is never a chance to use the item that is found.

-No one seems to be able to catch any FISH. I suspect this will end up having something to do with the VILUNDO stones and the evils of TECHnology. That is, however, not making the TRAGIC FISH narrative compelling in the least.

-RYDER at the blacksmith is EXTREMLY busy. So much so that he has no time for the second 'E' in EXTREMELY.

-I find a CAVE where a VAMPIRE? is being held prisoner and forced to eat CHICKENS?

-I talk to the JAILKEEPER and am blasted in the face with far more WORDS than are necessary to convey anything.

-I find a LADDER. I get a short scene where STRIDER informs me that I have found a LADDER and am then asked if I would like to CLIMB it.

-I find a GUARD with a SCROLL over his head. It doesn't feel out of place, either. A nice touch, but I fear he will TALK to me and I'm not sure I can handle that.

-The GUARD is AFFRAID. This sounds like a TERRIBLE condition. He says the forest is OVER RUN with monsters, which may be the same as OVERRUN, I am not sure.

-The GUARD asks me to find GERALD, who was supposed to replace him. I remember him as the unintelligent GUARD from the rest shop who told me his SECRETS. It seems that most of the NPCs are connected to other NPCs in some tangible way, which does WONDERS to help the world feel connected and real, although it is still lacking in life.
To clarify, I have no problem believing in this world, it just seems perhaps, TOO real. I'm not excited to be a part of it. In fact, I actively want to NOT be a part of it as it faithfully reconstructs elements of REAL LIFE, like walking long distances, that are not very FUN in game form. I'm almost at an hour of play time and only have BACKSTORY and a few minutes of possible PLOT, but nothing that tells me that the next hour is going to be in any way interesting.

-I make it back to the INN. It has been so long that I legitimately don't recognize the place until the cutscene triggers upon my entering.

-The OLD MAN sends me back on my ERRANDS and offers to explain them in more detail. I'm running low on patience for TEXT though, I'm not sure I'll be able to figure them out quickly enough if I decline. They're in my LOG BOOK now, but that has not historically given me specific location info.

-During this extra info, while talking about trees, he says ASWELL instead of AS WELL.

-I set out to collect PLATES, chop WOOD, and fetch BREAD. A grand adventure it shall be.

-I am again given a CHOICE as to whether to clean the dirty PLATES. Again, there seems to be no logical reason to ever say NO. Other than this, collecting the plates is fairly painless, which is good as it feels like the only point is to drive home that I am an ERRAND boy.

-It occurs to me that some of these HOUSES are built like MAZES with a single path from door to final room.

-I was to fetch BREAD from across the road, though the house directly across the road is not the one. I suspect it is the one down the road as that LADY mentioned that she makes BREAD earlier.

-As I approach this other house, a mini cutscene informs me that something smells good. It hardly seems worth the interruption in my walking...might as well have said that after entering, as a scene after a transfer doesn't interrupt control so much as prolong return of control already interrupted.

-Upon entering, I see a very busy BREAD LADY baking. This bit is EXTRAORDINARILY well done, conveying everything necessary with nary a WORD. It takes a while, but I gladly watch the scene with amusement. It is a welcome breath of life...even though it's something totally ordinary, it's masterfully done.

-Sadly, right after, I'm dropped into another ASSAULT of text. BREAD LADY hints that the old man will finally launch me on some adventure worth having when he opens up to me about what he's told everyone else already. I suspect that he will die soon thereafter, effectively making this hour plus an intro.

-I'm given a CHOICE about whether or not to give BREAD LADY gold like the OLD MAN asks. This one actually seems meaningful, if only thematically.

-When I take the bread, a loaf literally poofs from the basket. This level of detail is BREATHTAKING. Also, it looks DELICIOUS.

-Another faux CHOICE with taking the wood AXE. And the TREES. And the CRATE.

-I return to OLD MAN and brace myself for a gale a SMALLTALK.

-I go to SLEEP. The screen goes black for long enough that I worry my laptop has succombed to the BEAUTY, then text appears.

-STRIDER is...dreaming? I don't know what's going on q_q. He and MARIA say things, sometimes in response to each other, always far more than is needed.

-The screen goes black again. Long enough for me to finish my POTSTICKERS and have a sip of TEA.

-The OLD MAN has flown the COOP. He leaves me a letter, and I'm given a choice as to whether I read it, despite not being allowed to do anything else except read the letter to move the game along. He asks me to meet him at the REST SHOP.

-I sit down for a DRINK with OLD MAN. After lots of TEXT I ask if he's talking about his wife by saying ARN'T instead of AREN'T.

-I PRY into the OLD MAN's life. Eventually, I am asked if I want to hear his story, which I'm told is long. I'm afraid of what LONG might mean, and am also kind of confused as to what the game is trying to accomplish. At the moment, all there is to this is BEAUTY and the occasional BACKSTORY. It doesn't seem to make much sense to skip the BACKSTORY as that's, presumably, all I'm going to get.

-I choose to listen to the story, which means watching a play, as if the whole game hasn't been more or less a play up to this point. I notice the word ARN'T pop up again.

-BEAUTIFUL is almost universally applied as an adjective to non-EVIL female characters. While not a negative thing, it's hard to relate to as the overuse has culled its meaning.

-Heeheehee? REALLY?

-It is truly painful to watch a love story between two characters I don't know, especially when it's fast-tracked through a play.

-HEEHEEHEE mistakes YOU'RE for YOUR. Repeatedly.

-Thankfully, when the wedding part is reached in the play, it cuts straight to the meat of it (the vows) rather than drawing the whole thing out. This technique should be applied more liberally through the game/visual novel.

-The doctor is also AFFRAID. This may be justified, as extra Fs seem to be infiltrating his speech.

-This heeheehee business is testing my gag reflex.

-The THREEPEAT shows up again. Three phrases of increasing clarity/intensity to drive a point home. It hasn't been used in a while, so it's recoved some of its kick, but there's not much that can save a tale of love and tragedy between basically unknown characters, especially when it's this long and one of those characters heeheehees all over the place.

-I assume this is a death scene, but the method is rather unfortunately chosen as the lack of available animation really lets it down.

-And the THREEPEAT is back, as ragged and ineffective as ever.

-The INN's name was SYLVIA, was it not? In this text-on-blackscreen it's called SYNTHIA. And then back to SYLVIA.

-And yet ANOTHER THREEPEAT appears.

-And the name changes back to SYNTHIA.

-She's buried under the tallest tree, which was planted in her memory...so was it planted in her memory before she died? How is it taller than all the other trees then? Is it growing faster because it's feeding on her corpse?

-The OLD MAN's monolouge at the grave is VERBOSE even by this game's standards. Or perhaps my patience is wearing thin, not sure.

-'He knew she will always be watching..." Since 'knew' opens the sentence, 'will' should be 'would.'

-Apparently, that's the end of the demo. Ironically, I still know nothing about the STRIDER besides that bit about MARIA. I know much more about the OLD MAN, but far more than I actually wanted to know. OLD MAN'S TALE isn't as catchy of a title, though.
Apparently, this is a pure story game, which is in theory ok if the player knows what they're getting into, unlike me. Or maybe it's just a pure story demo, in which case it's not ok, as it didn't show off the game's major components.
Anyway, about the story elements...nothing happened. As in, almost literally, nothing. Everything that received any bit of development was something that happened in the past, save STRIDER arriving in town and becoming an ERRAND BOY. I heard about VILUNDO STONES and FISHING problems, but most of my time was spent on MARIA or HEEHEEHEE or running shamelessly pointless ERRANDS that didn't add anything to the actual story.
I don't know enough about any of the characters to care about them, really, so it's rather taxing to have their tragedies thrown in my face for seemingly no purpose other than to have me feel about them.
It feels like there's this stunningly beautiful, but shockingly empty world. I'm in no way 'hooked' and, if this demo is representative of the whole game, have a strong but not positive feeling regarding it. This is a shame as I suspect the whole game (if there is one) will be quite different.