writing a review for this game feels a little redundant
if you played all the previous games, you know what kind of an experience you're liable to get out of this, and if you haven't played all of them, you just won't enjoy this.
lachlan's weird games are very dependent on you knowing his weird dumb lore and the nature of all the characters, including very the minor side characters who still have the crappy yet nostalgic legacy art from the first game, so if you try to play this game without playing all of the others first, you're going to spend more time confused with the game than anything else.
currently, the games you'll need to play include the first big bust, obviously, but also Alluna and Brie
playing alluna and brie is probably more important than it seems for this game, as this game isn't really a direct sequel to the first big bust like the title implies; there's a two year gap, during which the setting changes dramatically, with a lot of the lore being drawn more from alluna than the first game.
so yeah, not knowing the contents of the time gap will kill your experience, which is made worse by the fact that the time gap covers a few games that haven't even been released.
honestly, even if you have played the first two games, this game still feels a lot like watching a dvd and accidentally skipping 5 chapters forward through the story and finding yourself in a weird situation where you recognise the characters, but they're dealing with situations that are so far removed from the initial plot, that they practically feel like different people now.
which given the tf kinks this game appeals to, they technically are.
the time gap is just kind of a frustrating issue here, and you need to reduce it as much as possible to get anything out of this.
but yeah, ultimately this is the same style of game, with only a few differences that you will feel from a player perspective.
I think the biggest difference is probably the quality of the work; the last two games felt like they were held together with bubblegum and shoe strings, but this one feels properly polished, with no abundant bugs, or spelling errors, as well as various mechanics that would have probably required a lot of time to write up, program and test.
the transformation sections especially felt like they would have taken a long time to settup, given how many secret bits of dialogue seemed to be tucked away in those, oh and they got insectivrus to actually be fun this time around too.
there is another difference that's less positive, but I don't know how to explain it...
playing this, I get the subconscious feeling that something is missing, which is not to say that the game is incomplete; it's pretty much exactly what it wants to be as far as I can tell.
its more just there were aspects to the first two games that hooked me in that are now absent here (though not to the game's overall detriment)
I have two theories as to why I have this feeling but I don't know which is right, it could be a mix of both.
the first is probably just that the aforementioned time skip ♥♥♥♥♥ too much with my knowledge of the setting, and it leaves me with the perpetual feeling that I am out of the loop.
the other is that the first two games had a setting that was very rooted in mundanity; there were magical elements, but ultimately the settings were about mostly normal folks living in a coastal town on the gold coast and the weirdly nostalgic annoyances which accompany that which made things feel grounded.
this game uses the same setting but it has transitioned to a much more expanded magical version of itself with very little of the original setting remaining unwarped, so it's possible that it just feels a lot less grounded now because of that and that's what's messing with me.
I dunno, I'm not saying it's bad, its not, it just doesn't score nearly the same level of appeal with me that previous games did, it could very well be a me problem.
I am sort of banking on lachlan to stick to their in-game commitments and release the various game they have said exist during the time gap, which might help fix things up for me by allowing me to see the transition from alluna and brie to this game.
I'm not super hopeful for that though, dev stuff can be tough and I wouldn't be surprised if they get fatigued with the setting at some point, I think its bound to happen sooner or later when it crosses some boundary of convolutedness
other than that, I don't know that there are many issues I have with this?
if I wrack my brains, I think I can say that the abundance of magical battles was kind of annoying and should be toned back in future games; random acts of violence are a staple of this series, with people getting electrocuted being its oldest running gag, but I think there's a difference in amusement between someone screaming off camera in pain, and someone shouting magic spells for a long period... this sort of stuff is annoying enough in anime where you have something to look at, but is so much more irritating here, it is kind of a pet peeve of mine when visual novels lean into that, it often feels like they're waffling.
so yes, less shouting spells please, I'm sure something funnier or more engaging can, and should be written in their place.
but yeah, again, this review is redundant; if you played the previous games, you'll know if you want this, and if you haven't, you need to go and look at them before you even consider looking at this game
oh, forgot to mention
they added furries
furries make everything better 10/10
