Roseblight

[h1]Garbage Writer who Derailed their own story in the second half[/h1] [h2]tl;dr This guy is basically another Yanderedev. He needs to Get A ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Proofreader.[/h2] I'm going to abridge this review because Steam has a character limit. The first half was written beautifully. The story was set up about Blite. Learning to love themselves. One with the destructive impulse to lash out at their repression, the other maintaining a smiling façade to hide their other half away. The doomed negative spiral continuing until they have a literal near death experience, and only then does a glimmer of hope show itself. Blayk and Nite starting to repair their relationship was what got me invested in this game, and my investment in the characters and wanting them to be happy and together was the core of wanting to see this story through to the bitter end. The [strike]Pokémon[/strike] Ahoki, collectibles, combat, lore, or other details all only worked because the core characters were people I wanted to root for, decorations for Blite themselves. So what happened? He focused on those decorations and the writing went to ♥♥♥♥. [h2]Trans fans[/h2] He made (both of) the main characters transgender, but does not explore how their character is affected by this other than vaguely alluded to parental abuse and a generic resolve to "not run away from their past anymore". Character traits, even minor ones, are not purely cosmetic sprinkles; especially since Blayk and Nite inhabited the same body, you could have explored how their identity affected their relationship in the past and present. This potential is squandered. In addition, he didn't even listen to his trans fans when he had the opportunity. One of them had issues with the way the "Photo dialogue" between Marmot and Blite was written, but he [b] refused to listen to it at all[/b]. I don't think he's stupid enough to believe he owns the Transgender Experience™ in [i]our[/i] universe, but he definitely believes he owns [i]Blite's[/i] transgender experience. [h2][i]Sloppily handled story beats[/i][/h2] [list] [*]Zyra openly tells Marmot Blite's biggest secret when asked why they seem to talk to themselves a lot, despite him being a total stranger and her having no reason to share something so personal. [*]Inclusion of the Nullflower motif to represent persistence despite that not being a theme in the character writing at all -- you can't just include surface level motifs to communicate character, you have to write them that way. Zyra does not come across as persistent in the face of pressure, she comes off as hostile and guarded. [*]Characters talking in dialogue scenes where they are not present in the party [/list] [h2]WHAT THE ♥♥♥♥ WAS THAT?! Or, Everything wrong with GodBlight[/h2] It was well foreshadowed that Blite themself was some kind of eldritch diety/proto-god, so it was no surprise that they ascend into full god form during the bossfight. [h3]Visually lazy design[/h3] So what does that God form look like? A chain-tentacle abomination straight out of Lovecraft's nightmares? Something that had a lot of chains in the design due to that being a major motif and, ya know, the main aesthetic of their powers? Nope, its just them but [i]naked[/i] and with [i]scythe arms out of nowhere[/i], shackles hastily slapped on as the author realized "oh yeah, I forgot to put chains in this design". I have never seen a design so inconsistent with earlier motifs or so uncreatively lazy. Congratulations, Loverde, you somehow managed to make seeing Blite naked disappointing. That is a feat [h3]Butchered character[/h3] Out of nowhere, Blayk decides to knife Diana and team up with Marmot to destroy Charcoal and betray Ahokau. This is completely inconsistent with their earlier character of someone who lashes out but decided to try and get better, and there is ABSOLUTELY NO DEVELOPMENT towards a villain arc of any kind. They were just hijacked by the author to force a villain protagonist without any buildup or quality writing. Nite might deal with issues by lashing out, but this COMPLETELY contradicts their earlier efforts to genuinely build trust. And what explanation does Blayk give for agreeing with all this? Their world is a hellscape with "Abusive parents, ♥♥♥♥♥♥ world leaders, retaliating nature..." It makes sense for them both to snap here. But the reader is given no indication as to what convinced them to betray Ahokau, nor was their character ever inclined to EVER be okay with death lasering innocent people. So when they snap in THIS manner? NO!! If you wanted them to side with Marmot, ACTUALLY DEVELOP THE CHARACTER IN THAT DIRECTION!! I suppose it’s fitting that it ends with them ripped apart into separate bodies and an arm hacked off on the both of them. Their characters were figuratively butchered, so you literally butchered them to twist the knife. [h2]Fan feedback - GET. A ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. PROOFREADER.[/h2] A recent interview the developer gave made him realize that some fan feedback he was given was inconsistent with his own plans for the character, and incorporating it was why they were so inconsistent. This is technically true, as fans don't have access to all of your Secret Plans and as such make different reads into characters than what you intended. However. THAT IS ON YOU. If people are making different reads than what you wanted, then the onus is on you to change your writing so the message is clearer. Fan feedback is not the reason your work failed, it is YOUR failure to decide what feedback to incorporate and how. He resolved to never make any changes in his next project. THAT IS HOW YOU NEVER GROW. Plans change all the time, and there is no shame in deviating from them if a better way presents itself. Just make sure that the end product is consistent from start to finish instead of containing every impulsive scribble that went through your head. The best way around this is to GET A PROOFREADER. Take your script for [i]Malice[/i]. Give it to someone to read. See what feedback they give. AND THEN REVISE YOUR DRAFT.

Loved every minute of it. I had sat for two days playing it straight! I might even stream it just to have fun with the possible voice acting here! Though I say the game is tough at points but hey! No pain no game!

I'm assuming this is exactly what being a florist is like.

Honestly, this game reminds me why I wish there was a mixed option when it comes to games. There is some good and even great stuff mixed in with a bunch of mediocre and even outright bad moments. I feel more disappointed by this game and its potential being wasted than I do positive about what it did right. And that is the best way I can describe my feelings on the game, but I'll summarize my points as best I can. HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD! 1. The game looks pretty good, except for when it comes to the random filler npcs. The pixel art is fun and has a enjoyable personality to it, but the random npcs all having the same general body types as well as constant 4th wall breaking humor really takes you out of the experience, to the point that it feels like it was made for youtubers in mind rather than players who want to actually get invested in the world (There is literally a ligma balls joke near the end of the game and a friday night funkin bit not too far back) which leads into my second point. 2. The writing is really weird and kinda frustrating with a two in one great character with a ton of wasted potential with a side of disappointment. Blite, or Blayk and Nite felt like they had the most potential of anything from this game. A kind hearted Florist with Split Personality Disorder (Or Dissociative Identity Disorder) who has a darker but still caring alter who wants the best for their sister after having to defend them against their abusive parents, killing them in self defense. And they are Trans! A goldmine of potential in a single character that initially seems to be focused on a great deal, and its compelling! If the whole game was just about Blayk and Nite growing closer together and learning to be at peace with each other I would have been happy! But... then the second half of the game starts and it feels like they get sidelined and wasted pretty hard for what amounts to significantly less interesting characters, that being Zyra (Blite's sister) and Marmot.One feels like they had potential and was underutilized and the other fulfilled their role fine. Marmot is the latter and Zyra... she felt very disappointing considering how much of a role she should have played in Blite's whole character, but outside of delivering some exposition about them and having a couple of alright interactions (and her role in the bad finale) she feels like she could have been cut out as a side character that you never see. She doesn't add alot to the story dynamics that Blayk and Nite didn't already do better by themselves, to the point that it feels like they got dumber so she'd serve more of a purpose. And that leads into... 3. The Finale. Holy character assassination and plot derailment. So most of the first half of the game is setting up Blayk and Nite and their whole dynamic, as I stated before, and it seems like it'll be a story of growth for the both of them, maturing and coming to terms with each other instead of treating each other like a monster. And that sorta happens... just with the middle and ending rushed to hell and back. We don't get to focus anywhere near as much after we get the main trio together (There is a optional squadmate but i missed them and their lore implications, which may or may not impact my perspective.) and its a shame, because it means we get very little in terms of setup for the heel turn at the end of the game with Blite. The game seemed to actively pushing them to grow as people but suddenly, they decide to join Marmot in the end and destroy the world. Because of "Abusive parents, ♥♥♥♥♥♥ world leaders, retaliating nature..." which feels completely out of character for them as they never brought it up much before. And then they turn into a elder god or something, IDK the finer details as my investment tanked, though the eldritch angle was set up well. Oh also I forgot to mention that you fight Blite as Zyra and also learn the parent murder and potential abuse literally right at the end of the game when it matters the least to the characters. So that's cool, definitely not a massive waste of what could have made a excellent dramatic character discussion instead of being crammed into the final five mins of the game. I could go on, but I'm trying to keep this as brief as I can help it. 4. The gameplay is very mediocre. I played on the hardest difficulty I was allowed to on my first time. The game did not feel hard in a good way, but in a "You need to grind money for usable equipment in order not to get bored" way. Maybe that sabotaged it, idk. Most of the abilities were not very useful, mostly because the best strategy was using a auto clicker to keep most enemies and quite a few bosses completely stunlocked and unable to break out. Sure its slow and the damage gives diminishing returns, but after grinding mindlessly for far too long and with minimal healing items because the raven vendor has randomized stock so you can never just get what you want, I didn't feel like losing all of my items and money because they were able to chunk my health down and I was unable to recover most of it because of all the aforementioned factors. Overall, I still can't bring myself to hate this game, but damn I wish it was more refined. I do like alot of the concepts for the game, but if you are interested in this game despite all I've had to say, then pick it up when its on sale. Its dirt cheap, and the dev does have talent.

Awesome!

Disclaimer: My scores/reviews are almost always based on having bought the game at close to the "lowest historical price" on steam at time of purchase. Quick score: 4/5 (Will rewrite review and update score once I finish the game) Notes: Pretty interesting game. Im not finished yet, but I feel compelled to put an early review because so far I have enjoyed it and Im definitely interested in seeing where the gameplay and story goes. Based on what I've played so far this game should definitely have more attention and positive reviews. Ill update whenever I get around to finishing it. -Gameplay is simple but enjoyable -Story, dialogue, and characters are interesting -Visually the game is very interesting/good and fun to look at and explore By far if I had 1 major complaint so far it's that that soundtrack is not all that compelling and most of the time there is no music at all, which is very strange for a game going for this style. It's like if Undertale didn't have a soundtrack. Personally wasn't a fan of undertale because of the random encounter turn based combat, but there's no denying that the OST is an extremely important part of why that game is considered so great.

ROSEBLIGHT

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UNDERATED

Bought the game on itch first about half a year ago, and it gave me a steam key now. Game's fun.