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One Character - One Problem

  • Kylaila
  • 12/11/2015 09:38 PM
  • 3601 views
April is a Fool is a dating sim mixing comical stereotypes of fantasy class characters with drama, failed comradeship and love. Also, blood and corpses. Many many corpses.

The biggest question I had looming over my head throughout the game was - why is this a dating sim?

But let us leave this question for a little bit later. I will get back to it after I explored the layout and story.
I will spoil mercilessly.


And I will be very nitpicky, because while this is polished and far better than most available freebie options, with the setup, the skill of the creator team, there is a lot this game could have explored and expanded on to have an intense impact. Perhaps I expected more than a little silly broken oddball team. If you said JOKES AND MURDER as the description, I would likely have gotten a good idea of what this was going to be.
The production value is incredibly high. Some backgrounds are very sketchy, but most are beautiful to look at - and so are the characters with various poses and little pop-ups during dialogue. You have all special pictures saved in your gallery, which is a joy to any collector and anyone who would like to appreciate the art after finishing the game!
You can also listen to the tunes, they are diverse and suit the situations well, but I did not find them insteresting enough as a stand-alone to ever want to listen to them by themselves.

The Story

The story revolves around a party of 5 legendary heroes (read: a bunch of misfits) who after they conquered the great evil once (only they were 6 then), will have to defeat the next evil, called Evil.
You are not one of them, though, you are but a poor barmaid aiming to get into the Heroe's Academy one day - why we will never know. It seems she likes heroes!
You are approached as a stand-in for the now brutally murdered, spine-cracked party member, April. Ripped into twenty pieces to be precise (why the details erupt is another mystery, given the story with Gunn not being there)
Except when meeting them, the first reaction was wanting to run, then grab the money and run, ignore them and not be interested in them.. until they leave. I suspect she realized she has money now and could start training. Or she was warming up to the goofballs, you may say.

Now, this first encounter allows you to choose a focus/class, which determines the inn scene you will see. I find it rather illogical that your class determines who comes running to you for personal non-class related matters (like a nightmare), rather than the dialogue you exchange with them, but so be it.
The class gives you a good boost in the relationship to characters, and makes it much more likely to get their respective inn scene (the one who is closest to you), as it is fairly early in the game.

I realized a few paths later, and I would advise the creators to let the character it refers to make an additional comment on your choice, rather than just having the very same reaction regardless of the answer.
Missing this makes you unable to get any good ending. Any. It should be noticed as an important choice - with health bars and mana visible in the menu, you may also suspect there could be portions in the game where your abilities are used, or where you join fights. You don't.


I'm glad you noticed!

Now to get back to the story portion.
By chance you join the heroes as a stand-in because the senile king is too poor a little critter to be told that one of his beloved heroes died. Lying is always the better option, especially for the team's leader, so that is what people do.
It is obvious the loss is still deeply engrained into these heroes, even moreso as the protagonist looks exactly like her.


Okay? Fully set and used to team. Get. Hurt? Get. Well, not yet, they are only joking about death and murder, no matter how much they actually cared about her. With which I find it questionable why they would want to have May join up in the first place, but no matter.

The team consists of Erwin, the uncontrollably cleptomanic thief who was dating the deceased and still loves her, Gunn the healing-loving (and thus wound and pain-loving) healer looking like a necromancer, Kent the peace-loving Berserker not knowing he is one, Gabby Embers the overly violent firemage without control over her emotion and being harsh and degrading towards her brother she actually loves, and Blake the Hero of prophecy with massive self-esteem issues, also brother to the firemage Gabby.

With that you can fill the rest in. I mean it.
The story paths revolve around the relationship of the heroes with focus on one, the problems this one faces and the part the deceased April played who mended the problems before because of her part.
The good ending makes the party grow together and the character sort it all out.
The bad ending makes the character succumb to the pressure of their problems and let the issue deteriorate, horribly.
Then there's the very bad end where you go for World Domination (I liked that one a lot, personally)

In short - all you see has nothing to do with you. Sure, the ending scene is all cuddly but the vast majority of the game you are helping them out past problems and issues. You are support and help, sometimes acting like the deceased would (the one ending giving the game its name takes this to the extreme), sometimes acting differently. Fact is, you are not part of the group it all revolves around, not yet. Ideally you will soon grow into it, but I rarely if ever got the feeling for this, and it still seems rather odd to just join up without any dynamics transforming in any way.
It also means what you learn about the characters .. has little to do with anything than the stereotype they belong to. Interests? The only interest of note is that Gunn can sing (as a contrast to him looking rough). And maybe Erwin's function as a mayor, whatever that may entail for him - we do not know.
And what do they like about our protagonist? That she understands/likes/supports them.

Now there are a couple of reasons for this underlying feeling, and it is what made the game fairly predictable for me. It has been only a few days, and I have trouble even remembering there names! Gunn is there for he is the only one with a little bit of charm, and after thinking Blake returned, barely.

The Characters

Now first of all, it uses rough comedic stereotypes as the characters' base, and while it explores the stereotype, it does not add anything beyond it. Hell, Kent has a fox living on his shoulder, and while it is mentioned once at the beginning it is never ever explored or mentioned again. There is even a emotion/pose where he pets said fox. Why is it even there?
The creator's other games mainly revolve around a comedic journey of goofballs - with a cast of stereotyped, but charming weird characters. And this is exactly what this is, except the focus shifts from the comedy it starts with to drama and romance.
While the writing itself is fairly well-done and flows well, the character depth and width used limits this greatly.
I had a right blast reading any starting dialogue, and then it shifts to drama - at best it may catch you by surprise and take you in stronger because of the contrast and the broken expectations. After that happening once, however, you are prepared and know what to expect for any other character. Perhaps not exactly in what situation the character come talk to you (after a nightmare, bored, or something else). The nightmare would have been a really great chance to use imagery or metaphors to describe his situation, by the by! Or hint at possibilities. But it was all clear enough, so .. not as important, really)

Gruff-looking guy is actually a nice, caring guy.
Flashy show-off is actually insecure and not proud of what he does.
Berserker is horrified by faint visions of butchering stuff, needs to realize it's there, and need to come to terms with that.
And so on.


There is no scene that makes me understand how anyone would fall for his foolery. He seems to get anyone outside the party just fine, though!

Next, the characters exist in a vacuum. That is to say, the background story and world are so unimportant, they are barely visable on some paths. How the kingdom works, how the evil works, or the whole hero business. But it clearly is only a filler and a simple objective to go out running. The actual fight with the endboss is skipped and just shortly narrated, the psychological confrontation before often forces a conflict between the characters, however.
It is a simple means to an end. It could have been explored more, but it cleary was not the focus.

It is by the hero party, for the hero party. Well, and the protagonist. That is all fine and well - this is not necessarily a bad thing, it allows to explore a character in-depth and focus on who they are, what they believe in, and allows to possibly feel with or care about them.
If not for point one! With the rather one-way characters, there would be so much more room to explore, but we get only so little.
Why did they choose to become heroes? What do they like about it? How did they start out? You get a little bit more about this on Edwins route, but that is it.
What goals in life have they? What is important to them? What do they enjoy doing or spend their time on when they have some free time between travelling?

We know nothing. Nothing that is not related to the party now being dysfunctional when it once was.
Of course, if then the characters were kept simple and instead the evil actually had a profound impact, or the dungeon-travelling had a bigger focus in the storytelling, it could as well have had made things more interesting.
For example, with the setup of the Great Evil being a catalyst for negative emotions - and May being a catalyst for positive change, it might even have been an underlying clash of two gods battling each other through the influence over this hero party. Many possibilities, but the chosen focus is elsewhere.

This all leads into why it was hard to truly care for the characters through May's lense - May feels less like a real character or avatar, but more like a catalyst to help the others come together. To be patient and strong when the other characters are in a state where they REALLY need help. Her actions are the "best" actions in the situation - having the right words at the right time, being brave when she needs to. She herself has no room for flaws and nobody ever helps her (except in an ultimate life and death situation where she is about to be crushed by teeth or other). Hell, after you almost died, were ripped to pieces and revived - you think and talk about how Gunn saved the party. How about feeling relieved you are alive? Wanting to thank him for reviving you and caring enough to move everyone to action?

The spotlight is on the remaining party. I find it a little sad that the team dynamic does not change at all - it takes in May, but it remains as it was before, since our character is barely mute. This is also due to the fact that this dynamic needs to be open for the many different paths without conflict or the necessity to adjust the dialogue composition every playthrough, but it still makes it a lil less enjoyable to me. For I can't see the role she has within the team, other than helping people emotionally and having a lil fun along the way.

So why does she fall in love with the characters?

I cannot see it for the life of me. I can see it happening for the other end, as they get a LOT of attention, love and help at all times. You are actively helping them, caring about them and listening to them. What about you? Questions about you? Stories about you? Caring about you? Sure, but not .. really shown other than in the kissing or confession scenes which are NOT build-up. Or trying to save you from the death-bed, which again .. is .. rather forced.
Spending time together makes you know each other better and possibly get closer - it does NOT make you fall in love with each other by default. And the very few scenes that may make you care more (like the being all embarassed about Gabby) CAN be missed or watered down while still getting the good end - and again, stuff happening, but no real build-up as to WHY it is happening! You ARE May. You are in HER thoughts. If she was embarassed, curious about or interested in certain attributes and strengths of a certain character - you SHOULD know. There is little to nothing of it. There is little flirting (one of the first scenes with Erwin counts, but then that guy is a mess in any other scene). And all "romantic" scenes feel like they come out of the blue, they just suddenly ARE in love, because .. duh, they just are.

There is little curiosity, as you have few options to poke deeper or express curiosity - as most options involve selecting the right way to cheer someone up or help someone - (Gunn has this a little by her thinking about his role in the team and how he is trying to shoulder it all by himself), nor is that returned actively. Compliments? Heartfelt compliments? (not being compared to April added, for christ's sake!)
Not "believing", or "trusting" someone. Just a little bit of flattery with no strings attached. Caring for the other person's (yes, May's too!) well-being and trying to find ways to make things more fun. Being playful, teasing. There is little of it.
On the flipside, there is much of banter between the team. A lot of background happenings, none of which involve you.

Conclusion

With which we come to how I wondered whether it had to be a dating sim in the first place.
See, the main dynamic is all between the team. With one character in focus, but embedded in the team dynamics and the companionship between the party. You could easily have highlighted different perspectives the same way without the need to add romance.
The team banter is extremely amusing and sure, while they are still stereotypical, they have a few nice hints and twists in there. Gabby's "burning parents" backstory did not come as a surprise, but it still adds to her feelings of guilt and past experiences - and clashes with the active love for fire (it should be rather mixed, should it not? Having robbed the life of her parents by accident, she herself should know BEST that flames can be both beautiful mesmerizing, as well as cruel and dangerous. But here is how the stereotype of the super-violent violence-loving gal comes into play..)

The locked team dynamic could not, in fact, be changed up because it needed to allow May to get closer to one without changing her active involvement with the rest - logically, if a team adds a new member, the whole dynamic needs to shift to comfortably allow the other. Here it was kept locked so May was free to move to whatever direction possible - including the romance. If the romance was dropped, this could have had more room for other changes.

The bulk of the enjoyment I had came from the opening passages alone, and I feel it could have had more interesting insights and perspectives without the romance paths - and for me it personally really did not add anything.
But, as I said, I felt no "love" in the first place, so take that with a grain of salt. It seems to work for many many people.
I enjoyed the comedy greatly, and I know the creators have a couple of humor-driven games under their belt, so I can see the shift of focus well - while still trying to use their skill in it it.
It is good since the jokes are fun and I had a few decent laughs, but it is also harming as it conflicts with pretty much everything the characters "really" feel or struggle with (as in grieving while joking and laughing about death, Gunn describing the painful irreversible death of their mate - which by his definition of joy and focus on healing such wounds would only pain even him, Gabby having fun burning down towns when she has conflicting emotions with it..)

There is a lot said on the game, in favour of it.
Personally, I feel this is completely lacking in the build-up of romantic interest, the characters exist more as a living problem or conflict, and are a little too stereotyped for me to truly be interested in the characters after you got over the surprise punchlines. The drama still has its twisted violent nature to entertain, though, and a few sweet moments and jokes thrown in there.
I realize the overall production value is very high - but I feel this could have been a much much better game.

Posts

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First off, thank you for the review!

There are a couple of errors in the early part of this that I'd like to address. The music is not custom (however it will be in the expanded version of the game), so we didn't originally have a music player - that was added at the request of some people.

As for the class choice, it is not as 'be all to end all' as you make it sound. It's 20 points onto affection with the character, as it gives them a sense of comradeship and ego pats that you picked their class (or something he likes, in Kent's case). You certainly don't need it to pick the 'right' choice there to get the good end, or to trigger then scene at the inn. The scene at the inn will always be 'person who currently has the highest affection' regardless of anything else. Good endings require 80+ (maybe it was 70+) affection at the break point to get.

20 points is a lot, but it's still an amount of points that is easy to lose or easy to gain elsewhere. Still, I'll look into adding a one liner after you make that choice - it would be nice to have.

The only other thing this choice does, is set your class in the menu. Just for fun. May doesn't use any skills related to that class, since she hasn't actually started her training yet. In the expanded version there will be post game related stuff where that choice might have more impact in that regards.

I will look into the fact that May didn't feel appreciated much by the party. We're going to be implementing a May route in the expanded version that will explore May and the entire party as a whole, and we're also adding a couple more padding scenes to all of the routes that will allow more exploration of the cast outside of the main story. (I'll make them flirt more lol) The game was made in three months - the writing had to stay VERY focused to be completed with enough time to make the game. Having an unlimited amount of time, I'll be able to address some things a bit better.

There are some parts where the comedy outplays the drama in strangely jarring ways - and that's from the game originally being a comedy game completely and then slipping into something else entirely during the writing side of it. These are on my hit list when I review the writing as a whole for the new version. (though they mainly deal with Gunn and Gabby's behavior around Blake)

Again, thanks for playing to completion, especially since it was not something you enjoyed, and thanks for taking the time to write the review.
You are welcome. I do have a soft spots for visual novels. And I feel like I could have added much much more. If anything is unclear, do ask.

Please pardon my mistake, I thought I remembered reading someone composing the soundtrack, but it seems I mistook these news of the expanded version for older than it was. Will correct it in a minute.

I haven't tried this on all paths, but I definitely tried all available options on Erwin's path and a few more combinations on Gabby's, but I did not get a different inn scene. Hmm...
The Gunn inn scene appeared on any path I persued loading the gamefile that chose a cleric orientation afterwards - namely Gabby and Erwin's, then I switched. .. I should check how much it goes into this, but it still seems like a lot to gamble on. Vice versa, while I wasn't able to get any good ends without the choice (except Gunn's, since I chose cleric), I got all and any good endings right away/first once I adjusted my class in each playthrough.
(I noticed the lil menu bit, but it's really more for fun)
I will likely go back to double check this.

Now the writing bit makes a lot of sense. It really did not seem like a game setup for a drama or romance focus starting out.
Good luck with working on it!
20 points is a big chunk of points, so if you're only scoring 10s or 0s or -10s on other choices, that first choice can have a lot of impact. But I've been lazy on a test play and gotten all good endings with the same class between the choices on their route specifically and the two other choices in the intro.

And thanks! Almost all of the backgrounds have been polished, so it's just about time to start working on the writing.
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
You can realize that something's not your cup of tea but still admitting it has quality.
author=unity
You can realize that something's not your cup of tea but still admitting it has quality.

This. I still believe it could have been a much much better game (and likely will be in the future!), so that's as high as I can go.

In the same vein .. I remember a certain popular game getting 0.5 stars for being no fun despite being perfectly playable *chuckle*
Just a different method of scoring.
Yeah, that part of my comment was more directed at Kylaila's initial thoughts posted on the main page and less at this review. She stated it wasn't her thing and that she wouldn't play more (in large to due with a misunderstanding of an endings status of good VS bad), but still took the time to play it all the way through and write a review. Regardless of the score, I thank her for taking the time to give the game another look.
And as an update .. yes it was possible to get a different inn scene! And as an extension a good ending. Just tried Gunn's route, but I suppose it should work for the others as well.
But then it's all about the following few dialogue choices .. which again, have no narration to go by. And between - "I'm sorry for your loss, but you've got a world to save!" and "you are still heroes!" it's only a guessing game to know which appeals to whom more. Really.

So technically yes... in practicality a gamble. And readjusting these answers without adjusting your class .. seems unlikely. I would never have adjusted just this portion, at the very least. Still good news.
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