Really Well Researched

An otome dating sim in the archeology world! https://www.winterwolves.com/c14dating.htm
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daikiraikimi
Woods ranger
Posts: 123
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2013 7:26 am

Really Well Researched

Post by daikiraikimi »

I've completed a couple of routes now, still a few more to finish, but I just wanted to comment to say I'm *really* impressed with the writing for this game. I have a little experience with archaeology and some of the stuff on the disability end of things, and the amount of detail that was put into this game is amazing!

I felt a little overwhelmed by technical stuff in the beginning, but much of that was skippable (when there's all the questions you can choose to ask or not) and overall I think it does a really good job of giving the information without being dry-- and dialogue later on that is enriched by this early context.

The mini-games were also pretty fun-- I enjoyed the cave puzzles in the beginning, though I had a bit of a hard time with the largest size. (Just really hard to see with so many tiny squares, and it got annoying that I could only fill in one square at a time when there were soooo many squares. And sometimes I'd hit my mousepad wrong and it would "scroll back" and undo all my work, haha.) The lab work was a lot more straightforward and less engaging for me personally, but it was also a lot faster to get through so I didn't mind at all.

As a disabled/chronically ill person, it was really, really cool to see so much representation in this game! And each person's disability/illness was explored as just like... A normal part of who they are. It wasn't mentioned once and then ignored, it wasn't mentioned *all the time* until it was flanderized, it was a really amazing balance. Just really, really well done, I don't think I can get over it. I'll be sharing this game with all the peeps in my disability groups! (I'm not 100% sure if you can use a screen reader with the game, I'll have to look into that.)
Spoiler:
I also really loved how the game dealt with the teacher's assistant/student dynamic. Normally romance stories super... fetishize? the age and responsibility difference, without dealing with any of the consequences. Or they use consequences for drama (so-and-so found out and now they're blackmailing you!) I really enjoyed the fact that the characters acknowledged what was going on, and then had a mature conversation about it. Just really refreshing to see that happen.

Also, Rosemarie slipping in an ace reference was super great! I wasn't sure Melissa understood that slang until she revealed she did at the end, but I got it and appreciated it. :D
Overall, the characters seem like real people-- they don't just have a one-off "shtick" and then their "unique points" are all used up, gotta make them more cookie cutter. They had individual things about themselves, and none of those things were especially overpowering or invalidated their other qualities.

Anywho, not to be too long winded, I just wanted to comment to say this is probably one of my favorite games so far! <3
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