This is definitely one of the more interesting CYOAs I’ve played, and one of the few I keep coming back to. More than that, this is definitely the best implementation of an interactive CYOA I’ve seen and I’m looking forward to seeing how it expands. If you don’t mind, I have a few thoughts on layout and balance:
– Unusual Aesthetic is a bit inconvenient, since you must scroll down quite a ways to find it and then scroll all the way back up, and unselect your old choices, in order to pick your new colors. It would be a lot more convenient if placed at the beginning or end of the body details section.
— Changeling might also benefit from being closer to the species section, but a button that can let you quickly jump back and forth might work better.
– Deadman Wonderland seems overly expensive for what it does. Unless I’m misunderstanding something, it’s main effect is to reduce, but not eliminate the effects of Aww sh*t. At the same time, Deadman Wonderland costs 55 points, while Aww sh*t only grants 20, so if you take both you will end with both a net penalty and significantly fewer points. Since DW only partially mitigates the effects of AS, it seems like it should cost fewer points than AS grants, to recognize the penalty you conintue to face.
— It’s probably worth noting that DW requires Here We Go Again, in addition to AS, but HWGA only grants 25 points, so DW still costs more than both of its prereques grant. It also doesn’t seem to interact with HWGA, beyond the later serving as a mechanism for the former to function.
— Side note, I think it would be nice if you could take HWGA without AS, though that is mostly a matter of personal preference. I mostly don’t like the way it causes you to lose knowledge.
– It might be nice if you could set either pg up/dn or arrow scrolling to scroll by card row, rather than lines. It would make it easier to rapidly scroll through the choices without also making smaller movements too finicky.
– It would be nice if the category headers were always listed in the choices column and were clickable, sort-of like bookmarks. It would make it easier to jump between sections.
– While I suspect it would be a lot of work, a search function would be extremely helpful for both finding specific options or for filling holes in builds.
— Alternatively, or additionally, a view that lets you filter choices by key words (e.g. all choices that interact with dragon kin or all choices that grant smithing) would also be extremely helpful when adjusting builds.
– I found it a bit disappointing that there’s no way to specify what you look like with changeling. It might be fun to add an alternate mode, like the Servant Mode, where you can set your race and physical characteristics while transformed. You could also make it so certain physical mods can be toggled on or off in the changeling mode, if you’ve purchased them for your proper body. For example, maybe you want to keep your fangs and extra-long tongue, even while you’re pretending to be a human. (Or maybe you’re pretending to be a race with wings, so you need to keep your real wings.)
– It feels weird to me that we default to 0s in all physical attributes, when human average is 1. Maybe have those stats start at 1, by default, and let people sell down to 0 to represent disability? Alternatively, you could redefine 1s in physical attributes to represent some degree of training (perhaps, high school varsity level). That option would also allow 0 to represent an average level of ability, which would fit with it being described as a baseline earlier up.
Finally, I’d like to request 3 new choices:
– A way to add a tail other than tail puss*, potentially with some upgrade options for things like a prehensile tail or tail-based senses. (Actually, more alternative senses, in general, might be interesting.)
– A way to have an ovipositor, even if it’s just an interaction between tail puss* and the egg-based choices.
– A way to upgrade Senketsu so it can absorb and replicate new equipment, sort-of like MiMi-Cry, but for gear you find while adventuring, rather than just stuff you start with.
…
Would you believe me if I told you I only intended to comment on 3 things when I started writing? 😅Sorry.
At the end of the day, Harahel is still a really fun CYOA, and that gets me thinking about its features and how it’s designed, possibly more than I should. Either way, I’m off to make a new character.
