Didn't like Rise of the Little Brother

[KnockOut]

I didn't feel like I had any choice at all in the game. I miss the Summer Session Schedule. There weren't enough options. I was expecting maybe some lengthy exposition introducing all the girls and then get to have some more choices. Do the meetings with the girls all have to be so contrived? I should have to earn their hearts. There's no conflict. Everything feels handed to me.

[jack1974]

I only published this game, so I forwarded your opinion to the real author.
I think this kind of game is the one that is closest to the original japanese Visual Novels. That means few choices, and a read like a book.
Personally, I like more the dating sim like Summer Session too, but that's just my personal tastes. I think College Romance is well written and if you play the fullversion, the "We are three" subplot will make you cry. Of course, if you prefer the "game" side vs the "reading" one I can understand why you don't like it (and if I remember correctly you didn't like much Heileen either, so that makes sense).

Of the upcoming games, Spirited Heart will have lot of RPG /life sim elements, and Bionic Heart will have lots of choices, a dynamic story and many sequences that are like adventure games (except for an inventory).

[NaweG]

I didn't feel like I had any choice at all in the game. I miss the Summer Session Schedule. There weren't enough options. I was expecting maybe some lengthy exposition introducing all the girls and then get to have some more choices. Do the meetings with the girls all have to be so contrived? I should have to earn their hearts. There's no conflict. Everything feels handed to me.

Author here. Let me see if I can explain what I was doing, and see if that at least makes sense. Obviously if you didn't enjoy it I can't fix that, though I do feel bad that I obviously didn't get across what I was trying to do that well

As Jack has already mentioned, I was trying to follow a Visual Novel format more than a Dating Sim. In that type of game, you're usually trying to tell a story (actually several connected stories), and so the expectation is that you are going to want to be able to try out many different routes to see how it all ends up. For that reason, you usually try to make it at least somewhat easy to get to the different stories.

As for the meetings with the girls, I can state fairly safely that I've had all (except the falling in the pool) actually happen to me. Even the "twins having fun with the newbie" is based on a real life situation (though without any of the romantic undertones - darn it). If what you're saying is that it's hard to believe that they would fall for our art student protagonist with only a couple run ins before he asks them out... well, he's one heck of a guy

In any event, I will try to make sure my next game is more challenging, and hopefully I'll do a better job of creating something you'll want to play. Thanks for at least giving this one a try!

[iulius]

I bought the game because of the low price, but I agree that there should be more choices or a dating sim structure like in Summer Session.
The theme is similar (college) and the art is great. So really I think if you're going to do a deluxe version like I've read in the jack's blog, you should try to add those features.
I wouldn't mind paying an extra to get teh deluxe version with those new additions.

keep up the good work!

[jack1974]

Well, then you're suggesting a different genre. This is a visual novel, adding the schedule, events, etc would make it a dating sim.
Anyway, will talk to Ewan and see what he thinks too after some weeks so we have more data to decide what's best to do.

[mastro]

I didn't buy it instead. But I bought Summer Session. So I don't know much about all that terminology (visual novel, dating sim, etc) but I find the possibility to choose what to do each week more "immersive".
The story of the game from what I read was ok. But the problem was that I felt like I wasn't really there, was like I had less freedom.

[fun-games]

I liked the reading part of it much better.

[MarSel]

Author here. Let me see if I can explain what I was doing, and see if that at least makes sense. Obviously if you didn't enjoy it I can't fix that, though I do feel bad that I obviously didn't get across what I was trying to do that well

As Jack has already mentioned, I was trying to follow a Visual Novel format more than a Dating Sim. In that type of game, you're usually trying to tell a story (actually several connected stories), and so the expectation is that you are going to want to be able to try out many different routes to see how it all ends up. For that reason, you usually try to make it at least somewhat easy to get to the different stories.

As for the meetings with the girls, I can state fairly safely that I've had all (except the falling in the pool) actually happen to me. Even the "twins having fun with the newbie" is based on a real life situation (though without any of the romantic undertones - darn it). If what you're saying is that it's hard to believe that they would fall for our art student protagonist with only a couple run ins before he asks them out... well, he's one heck of a guy

In any event, I will try to make sure my next game is more challenging, and hopefully I'll do a better job of creating something you'll want to play. Thanks for at least giving this one a try!

I would just like to say I loved the reading part of the story and had me hooked. All the girls were likable and had two ending each, except Sarah unless I missed something because no matter what I answered I had the same ending even if I was mean then nice ???

[lunanight]

I wasn't so sure if I wanted to buy this game before because of the reviews and how some people didnt like it, but since it was 5 dollars this sunday I decided to buy it, and I'll have to say I liked the game a lot the art was good and so was the story and regreat not giving it a try before. It was interesting the path with the twins was something new but I kept an open mind, its a story for enjoyment something different so it didnt bother me much. Great Job!

[jack1974]

Glad you liked it