Potionomics

The only game I have played on my steamdeck for the last three days. So much fun with tons of elements to make it mentally challenging while still being relaxing and chill.

[h1]Story/Narative[/h1] [list] [*] Datesim — meh. [*] I felt zero chemistry while interacting with the characters. It’s not bad — I just don’t care. Nothing felt interesting or engaging. Even worse, skipping dialogues still takes a ridiculous amount of time, actively preventing you from actually playing the game. [/list] [hr][/hr] [h1]Gameplay[/h1] [list] [*]Deck/card combat (haggling) system — not fun. At best it’s meh; at worst, it’s annoying. [*]One of the most frustrating mechanics (imo) is the [b]time constraint[/b]. You have to prepare for a boss fight in exactly 9 days. [*]Another mechanic that is almost never executed well is [b]daytime management[/b] (you have a strict limit on how many actions you can perform per day). It kind of makes sense — brewing a potion should take time — but the game already limits you enough through money, available resources on the market, and equipment upgrades you’re forced to invest in. (p.s. this mechanic is turned off on 'easy' difficulty). [*]There is no dedicated system to track crafting, especially in a game focused on crafting — even more so for alchemy. A personal journal of recipes letting you track best ingredient combinations or experiments to make optimal potions would make perfect sense. Instead, the only way you can track anything is manually: open a notepad, Excel table, or any external tool, and enjoy managing it yourself. [/list] [hr][/hr] [h1]Angry Moments[/h1] [list] [*][b]Way too many loading screens.[/b] Simple things like shopping could be done instantly in a single window, but instead they’re spread across 3–4 loading screens. [*]If you want to skip just one specific action during the day — you can’t. You either skip the entire day (absurd if the day has just started), or go traveling, do nothing, and endure another 3 loading screens. It becomes even worse on easy (when the 'travel' action costs nothing) because you now have to perform even more steps just to pass time. Peak design. [*][b]Beating a boss at the end of the 10-day cycle rewards you with nothing.[/b] Money won in competitions (story-related) is immediately taken away as debt repayment. Newly unlocked recipes don’t feel like progress either. Instead, it feels like starting another round of chores from scratch: the new goal requires much stronger potions, but your income doesn’t increase. You’re forced to waste time doing nothing just to slowly rebuild capital and regain momentum. [/list]

100/10

游戏性、画面都很不错，尤其是人物介绍写得很细心，每升一颗心都有新的描述 不过后期重复度较高，可能是整个游戏时长设计的太长了，其他的主要是切换界面太慢了，但经常需要这个操作

It's so fun and engaging. Though I don't like my games to be too stressful, so I chose cozy difficulty. Even then it's challenging enough, in my opinion. Obtaining the perfect ingredients for quality potions and for the upgrades is not easy... I love it. I haven't met all the love interest, but so far everyone is interesting and I'm looking forward to get to know them better. Somehow, Baptiste reminds me of Tamaki from Ouran High School Host Club lol...

This game is art! An utter worker of art!

Buy it. Just buy it.

A friend got this for me so price is off the review. I'll keep it as spoiler-free as possible. I love this game with my heart- nay, with every cell of my body. While the gameplay loop gets repetitive easily, the game itself doesn't, and it even has the tools to remedy that repetitiveness. The characters are all loveable, in a certain way, I personally find it hard to exactly dislike anyone from the roster, although there are characters I wouldn't romance - to each their own I suppose. Also, all of them are very distinct and unique, there are some stereotypes, but they are usually subtle, although noticeable if you pay attention. This is my 2nd time replaying the game at the time of this review. Since 1st playthrough, they added voice acting, free mode, difficulties and more. A rather warm welcome to usually-a-game that you only play once and never touch it again. I haven't unlocked free mode yet, but I'm looking forward to it! One nitpick, though. Because I was severely limited due to the time tax the "normal" difficulty would impose, I wasn't able to talk to everyone and experience all dialogues. Therefore I am playing on Cozy so that I can do whatever I want during the day without feeling severly limited. HOWEVER, I would presonally prefer a separate "combat" difficulty, as it is truly trivial on Cozy. My personal preference would be hard combat and easy management. As it stands in its probably final state, I impose on this lovely gem of a game a score of 9/10. I truly love it, BUT I would really love separate difficulty modes. W to the devs.