This is so far my favourite Team Eclipse VN, and the best "to be continued" VN of this jam.

The visuals are absolutely gorgeous and steal the show. Roar has outdone himself in every aspect. I remember loving the itch page alone, seeing Frey's shiny armour as he's releasing the dove. The illustrations in game are even better. The random dying tiger guard makes such iconic faces as he's getting a smooch, the lighting from Frey's healing magic is gorgeous and the tiger's tits are fat and pierced for an amazing reason.

The sprites are just as nice to look at. I think the generic guards and enemies look a kinda goofy, but I do love how all the characters look. They have nice clean designs that tell you who they are, with pleasant colour schemes and a smooth simple rendering style that is easy on the eyes. I think I like Korpa's design and expressions the most, but I love Frey's soothing colours and very naive head empty smiles, and the fact that all of Chris's expressions are just different flavours of 😏

Speaking of characters, I enjoyed them quite a bit. Frey is a relatively unusual protagonist since such archetypes usually tend to have more of a supporting role. I must admit I was going in with a bit of dread as more of his deal was revealed, since the other Team Eclipse protagonist who has Very Important Powers and is a symbol of purity and goodness I didn't jive with. Thankfully Frey managed to avoid all the grievances I had with a certain other puppy. Chris did strike a good balance of being a cocky bastard, reasonable and dutybound and kinda too edgy for his own good. I liked the dynamic those two have both as rivals and as party companions. I am a sucker for a good enemies to lover AND a healer/bodyguard romance, so I'm looking ahead to what will come next with these two (even if it isn't romance, I am just manifesting). Korpa was used well for a character who exited the story pretty early on, but the inkeeper felt like he was trying to hog up the screentime towards the end. I felt like he tried so hard to invite himself to the party and elevate himself to status of main character, I almost expected him to join the duo in their travels. 

Also just one last minor thing about the characters - I found the names pretty odd. We have Korpa who fits his name (being corpulent), Manfrey who is literally a MAN wanting to be FREE, and then we have... Chris from accounting. Chris gets done double dirty cause he introduces himself with a pretty edgy sounding dorky title. It is a small thing, but it leaves an impression.

As for the writing and story, its greatest strength is that it manages to be a self contained episode despite being an intro for a bigger long term project. Very few WIP VNs manage to do this, so congrats to the team! Anyone can read the jam version and end up with it being a pretty satisfactory self contained story. The other strength was the characters, whom I talked about already.

The writing itself and the setting I didn't enjoy as much. I felt both were pretty bland, and a lot of things seemed either generic DND campaign or just a general trope without anything too concrete to make it stand out to me. Okay that's a lie, there is one thing that stood out to me...

The boykisser magic! That was so unexpected, self indulgent, and kinda unhinged... but... it works! Once again the illustrations make the absolutely ridiculous situation of making out with dying men work, but the writing does pull its own weight here too. Frey is such a sweet, innocent person that he manages to do it without coming off as an absolute freak. I can't overstate how easily this could have ended up being creepy or weird or unserious, but we avoid all those pitfalls here yay! I think beautiful art and shock factor aside, I appreciate his absolute devotion Frey shows here. It is a small detail discussed in only one or two lines, but him explaining that his healing kiss gets powered by him showing his authentic self and being vulnerable is an angle I really enjoyed. It is a perfect parallel to his main character dilemma of gaining unwanted attention and jeopardising his freedom because he can't live himself if he refuses helping the vulnerable. Not only that, but it is a great parallel to queer experiences! Letting yourself be open and vulnerable is dangerous, but it will heal both you and your loved ones. Waiter waiter more stuff like boykisser magic please!

One last remark I have that I have no fitting place to put it in is the music. It was lovely, but it is such a shame that these loops were so short. I am not sure if this was caused by the cost of production, but the Tavern ditty in particularly actually drove me mad with how short and repetitive it is. I don't hold this against the game when rating it, since it's such a minor blemish when it comes to the presentation, but it is a shame when devs go the extra mile and put in the effort, but in the end it makes for a worse reading experience.

All in all, I am happy that I have a Team Eclipse project I can say I enjoyed without too many caveats. I guess this review did include plenty of complaints, but I do think it's a well made VN and I overall had fun with it.

This is a visually stunning VN! The sprite art themselves and the cgs are really good, alongside the gorgeous backgrounds. Even the custom music is good, even if the implementation is a bit iffy. Actually, that's where my real critique of this vn is: implementation! I couldn't quite find out where the "folklore" theme plays, unless it's hidden via soft worldbuilding and implications of Chris' "folk hero" occupation. The sprites are lovely but they feel very staticky, and often don't face each other, and there's some sections around the time where Frey and Chris are speaking and only Douglas' sprite is there. It's probably due to the time constraints though, so these small mistakes are forgiven. And the music... lush and detailed, but also very distracting, because you can definitely tell it's a very short loop!

Hopefully after more development is done on this vn, these small quirks would be ironed out. Overall a great VN!

I must admit, whenever I see a half-completed VN show up for a game jam, I do feel kinda weird about it - especially when it’s very clearly the lead-in to a much bigger project, rather than something that just couldn’t come together in time due to time constraints. That said, in spite of my apprehensions, My Tainted Life made great use of the limited runtime, and certainly didn’t leave me feeling as though it was only half-complete. While being the opener to a longer story, it manages to tell a self-contained narrative that sells the reader on its merits, like all good ‘pilot episodes’ should.

The standout to me here is the art - to put it bluntly, it’s incredible - the sprites are great-looking, and the CGs capture the emotions of the scenes very well - but I think the backgrounds are the absolute highlight here. They’re at once vibrant and detailed, with a beautiful, slightly messy style that really brings the world to life. Each and every one of them would make for a fantastic wallpaper, and I really think they help elevate the story in a way that ought to be praised - they make this feel like a proper fantasy world.

With that said, I can’t help but feel as though the way it’s all put together in the VN itself is slightly lacking - the sprites are just a bit too static at times, and the CGs pass by without letting the reader properly soak them in. I think using transformations to move the sprites around a bit (especially in action scenes) could have helped the story quite a bit, and I also think it would have been fine for the CGs to linger a bit more, even if they don’t describe what the characters are doing 1:1 - I’d rather see that than have another action scene where the characters are standing frozen in place.

The music also felt slightly off to me. The tracks themselves are wonderfully made, but taking a look at the files, I can’t help but notice that they’re all 30 second tracks, made to loop (and the actual loops seem to be quite a bit shorter than those 30 seconds, even - with them repeating within those 30 seconds as well). I definitely understand how making all of these custom tracks in such a limited time is hard (and like I said, the tracks themselves are really well made), but, to be frank - I had to mute it after a certain point. As lush and detailed as they sound, even the calm tracks are loud and energetic enough that I became all-too-aware of the loops quite quickly. It especially stands out with the track that plays during fight scenes (Fighting.mp3), which was the one that made me have to mute the game due to how grating it got.

Again, I really appreciate the effort put into adding custom music to the game, and the music is technically really well made - I just think that loops that are so short are a poor fit for a visual novel where one is expected to listen to them for so long.

Story-wise, meanwhile, I enjoyed it quite a bit! The scene with Korpa at the start felt a bit unnecessary to me (presumably because it’s setting things up for later in the visual novel), but I actually really liked the dynamic between Frey and Chris - and I’m quite interested in seeing how it evolves over the course of the story. I also really enjoyed the fact that, even though this is only the first build of many, this does feel like a proper story - one with a beginning, middle, and end that leaves the readers satisfied. Quite a lot happens in this one, and it kept me entertained all throughout.

So, in summary… some presentation issues aside, this one’s great! I’d recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a proper fantasy VN, and due to how complete it feels, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it even if it is only the first build!

I quite liked this VN. It's in my top three of this year. It gives me major Frieren vibes, which is fitting, because the author said Frieren was an inspiration for the VN. First off, the art's incredible. The sprites are clean and colorful, while the CGs are jaw-dropping. I like the slower pace of the VN. It feels less like an epic journey and more like a personal journey for Manfrey. Both he and Chris are great characters and have a great foil to each other. I like that the protagonist is primarily a healer; that's pretty interesting, and I haven't seen that in fantasy stories a lot. I like the themes they talk about and how there's a constant struggle between reliability and freedom. Both sides have a point, and while one side will probably win out in the end, it's not black and white. I do think the fight scene drags on for a little too long for my personal tastes, but it's not a huge detriment to the VN. For the theme, it is kinda annoying when, unless the VN spells out what the folklore is, people will just assume the game doesn't fit the theme at all, which is unfortunate because I don't think people should compromise on what VN to make for a game jam just to fit exactly with the theme, since there's a lot of ways to interpret folklore as a theme. I think the folklore in this VN here is quite subtle. My interpretation is that the folklore is about Manfrey and his story will eventually be considered to be a legend in the kingdom in the future: a former prince who ran away from living in a monastery so that he can travel the world and heal whoever needs his help while fighting seemingly unkillable monsters. There are also the traditions that Chris tries to push onto Manfrey, which could be considered folklore, somewhat. Overall, I'm definitely looking forward to how this story develops in the future. Would recommend it to anyone who likes slower-paced fantasy.

This feels like the pilot episode of a new fantasy series. We’ve got some worldbuilding, introduction of the main characters, having them meet each other and a simple story that establishes the status quo moving forward. And To Be Continued at the end of course.

The world and story feels a bit generic. The prince who flees to gain the freedom to choose his life is a pretty common trope. The rest of the plot works but didn’t woe me either. The characters though are well written and quite lovable. I really liked the interactions betwee Manfrey and Chris. Lots of scenes seemed to drag on a bit, though. I don’t think there was really anything for folklore.

The visuals is where My tainted Life shines most. The sprites look great and are pretty expressive. The backgrounds are gorgeous and there are numerous CGs that highlight the action really well. The only problem on that point was that monster fight taking place in that cheerful looking BG. Especially after an intense CG. The music is fine. Several moments mention big sounds that are not represented in the audio, and that was a bit weird. We don’t need an “ear-shattering” sound of course, but something would have been nice.

Overall, I had a nice time reading, but when I saw “To Be Continued”, I wasn’t really interested. Still, a good job!

Alright, the pitch is pretty straight forward here: very standard fantasy RPG story with a hefty video game influence (we even start out with a gimmicky stealth section before we get our starting gear) but the characters are all GAY???

I'll be honest, this kinda thing isn't really my jam. If I want an RPG experience, I'd rather just, like, play an RPG, and this premise is reminiscent of the kinds of anime I generally tend to avoid. That said, there is clearly an audience for this based on the other comments, and I do want to clarify that I at least had a good time - this wasn't at all a struggle to get through or anything. Keeping in mind that I'm outside the target audience, I have several thoughts though:

Implementation of Theme:

Maybe this is too technical (or nitpicky, realistically), but I'm not sure this actually nails the theme. While there's often a lot of overlap, high fantasy doesn't necessarily equal folklore, which specifically concerns legends and stories passed down through cultural tradition. While we have monsters and magic and stuff that certainly aren't real in our universe, they're presented as commonly accepted within the game's universe, even if they're infrequent. Like, even if this stuff is relatively rare and dangerous, the tainted stampedes aren't any more folklore than something like a hurricane is on Earth. Maybe the idea is that the characters will become folklore down the line due to their heroic exploits, but this isn't really coming through for me either. If there was something else you were going for, I missed it, but I think the theme was implemented more cleanly in other entries that I've read.  

Presentation:

Strongest category here by far, and man, you guys absolutely crushed it in this category. Yeah, sure, there are some things that probably had to be cut due to jam constraints, but I thought all the art here was superb, especially the CGs, which were explosively vivid (maybe even too intense at times - I feel like the sparring CG might have been too intense for just sparring, but we're clearly doing Rule of Cool here, and that's fine). The text was very well proofread, the various expressions on the sprites were well-deployed (mostly - there were a couple times when one sprite would look like it was facing the viewer and the other would be awkwardly staring at the middle of the screen), and the bear monster design was pretty cool.

One major knock that I did have for presentation - while the music was generally solid, there were a few times when the track that was playing seemed totally disconnected from the tone of the scene. It's not enough for me to take points off from this category, but I thought it was bizarre, especially with the attention to detail shown for the rest of the presentation, that while you have lines like "Seeing them soaking in a pool of their own blood, I felt bad for a moment" or "We were taking care of the fallen" the BGM is just like  :)

Story/Writing:

Similar to your May Wolf from last year, I have a lot of thoughts so I've prepared another numbered list here:

1) It's difficult to really judge this since this is, in effect, just a prologue, but I feel like there are some pretty important worldbuilding elements missing that could really shape the tone of the narrative and characters. Strategically, I don't really understand what the logic of keeping your healers locked up at home would be. Even if they can't use offensive magic (or aren't supposed to be able to, anyway), they can still very clearly be proficient with physical weapons, and even if that wasn't true, why wouldn't you want to have healers supporting the people that were proficient with weapons and offensive magic? That's like, the basic function of a medic.

If there is some sort of impetus for keeping healers locked up (and there might be based on some of Moon Blade's comments), it would be very helpful to know what those are because that greatly impacts the consequences of Frey's adventure. If locking up the healers is arbitrary, that makes the practice feel like a plot device that exists solely to incite the plot rather than have any function in the world, and if there is a good reason for keeping the healers in one place, it changes the whole dynamic of how we read Frey's actions if he's putting the whole country at risk or something by going off on his own. Same thing for Moon Blade - his sudden switch from machine operating on behalf of the government to party member has a much different connotation if that's also contributing to some greater risk for the institution he's sworn to protect. Further characterizing the impact of Frey's actions is also important because...

2) Right now Frey is kind of a Mary Sue. Frey is supposed to be a healer, which are ostensibly kept in monasteries because they can't defend themselves. However, Frey also easily dispatches lower level monsters, goes toe-to-toe with a guy that's so good at melee combat that he has his own super cool Naruto OC nickname, and then takes down a super hard monster that almost one-shotted said melee master (with an ability that Moon Blade is shocked he can even do because it's offensive magic, which goes against the like, one rule we've established for this magic system so far). Additionally, every choice Frey makes is the unambiguously morally correct one, and there are never any real consequences for his idealism. He helps the villagers even though that blows his cover and stays and fights the murder bear even though he has the opportunity to retreat, but that all that results in him recruiting Moon Blade instead of getting him or someone else killed or captured (for longer than like 5 minutes). Also his super mega ultra healing power on top of all the other stuff he's good at is magically curing incurable status effects via gay kissing, and everyone he magically kisses also becomes smitten with him to some degree.

This kinda goes back to the worldbuilding thing and the lack of an explanation why he's supposed to be cooped up in the first place - it feels like the world revolves around Frey rather than Frey existing in it. And like, if all you're here for is the power fantasy and building up to the inevitable smut, that's probably fine, but I struggle to get invested when it seems like there are limited opportunities for the main character to grow.

3) Let's touch on Frey's smoochy-smooch mechanic a bit more. When Moon Blade gets impaled by the murder bear, I think that was supposed to be a tense moment, but it really wasn't for me since a) we already established that Frey has magical kissing powers so of course he's going to use those on Moon Blade and he'll be fine, and b) the fact that Frey has magical kissing powers is already so ludicrous on its own that it kind of crumbles any tension generally. The latter isn't actually necessarily a bad thing though - if anything, I wish this story leaned more into the absurdity since that would set it further apart from being really similar to everything else in its genre and make it feel much more interesting, to me at least.

4) If you did want to keep things a bit more grounded, I think there are some scene edits you could make that would fix a lot in one go. Like, instead of having the murder bear stab Moon Blade from behind, have Moon Blade react to the mutation and realize he needs Frey's help. This makes Moon Blade look more like the experienced professional he's supposed to be rather than a cocky dumbass, gives the two an opportunity to work together to build their chemistry and trust, and can result in a less grievous injury that Frey can heal without the mouth-to-mouth and cuddling that the script jumped to a bit prematurely.

5) I don't think the shift in perspective to Korpa was a great idea. As it stands, we learn basically all the information from that exchange later anyway, and it probably would've been more impactful to learn "Chris'" (I will only refer to him as Moon Blade and you can't stop me) true role along with Frey since the dramatic irony doesn't build any real sense of foreboding or anything. It would be one thing if they traveled together for some time while we knew he was a traitor, but he reveals his identity within like an hour of meeting Frey anyway. It's also the only current switch in perspective away from Frey, so it's not a reoccurring concept, and you're also losing another possible twist for the audience of finding out about Korpa selling Frey out.

6) More minor point, but Frey's insistence that Moon Blade's skills call into question his story as a deserter seems totally based in video game logic, where soldiers would be minor NPCs, rather than  a defined, functioning world, where soldiers would likely be some of the best fighters, because that is their literal job, and one can desert for any number of reasons. You can be an amazing swordsman and be a fugitive because you got caught balls deep in a princess. There are some other lines that raised an eyebrow for me (like Frey stating Moon Blade wouldn't change overnight, even though he literally just did change from order-following tool of the crown to party member overnight), but the soldier thing stood out since Frey mentioned it several times and I didn't think it was that sound.

Creativity:

So, on the one hand, there's definitely an attempt here to create a fantasy world and add your own systems and intrigue to it, but on the other hand, as I and others have pointed out, the premise never really strays too far from genre norms. I'm not sure if this will be one that I come back to, since like I said this isn't really my thing, but everyone else seems to dig it so I hope you can keep building on this world and these characters when you pick the story back up again. Despite what the wall of text might suggest, I did still have fun with this, and that's the most important thing.

Final score of 5 steamy cancer-curing makeout sessions out of 4 tutorial NPCs.

Despite only being one chapter long and ending with a 'To Be Continued,' My Tainted Life easily avoids the common pitfall of feeling like the writers had to choose a spot at random to end the game abruptly for the deadline, and instead makes sure that readers walk away feeling satisfied by the conclusion. Honestly, you could tell me that the game was a completed project, with the intent to leave readers imagining the type of adventures Manfrey and Chris get up to after slaying the miasmic bear, and I would believe you- that's how good the writing and pacing is.

As for the art, the game's presentation is some of the best I've ever seen. Sprites are just detailed enough with their borderless style that it almost emulates old pop-up book art. The backgrounds and CGs, instead, are rendered with grandiose lighting and texturing, which helps the game's art direction feel balanced in a way that I'm not sure I can describe. I like it- is my point- and I was most impressed by the CG used for the sparring fight between Manfrey and Chris, which perfectly posed the characters to show their varied fighting styles. During long stretches of dialogue, however, the sprites end up feeling a bit too stiff and don't change or shift around enough for my personal taste. The main example that comes to mind is right after the sparring CG; the innkeeper comes back and stands between Frey and Chris on the screen, watching them fight. Even as the text continues to describe their fight, the innkeeper is just standing in the center, and it became distracting for me.

The writing is very impressive, almost every line feels perfectly hand-picked, especially during the fight scenes. I was enthralled by Chris' character and Frey's ideals, and I'm excited to see how those two clash and come to understand one another as the game continues in future updates. The one piece of writing I didn't like was the kiss scene. The kiss itself felt like great set-up for a romantic subplot between the two, but them snuggling in bed together afterwards made me feel like I somehow skipped a bunch of dialogue. At that point, I felt like like the two had come to see each other as fellow warriors, not lovers, and they almost immediately go back to how they were acting before the kiss.

Overall, those small flaws don't hold it back from being an excellent experience that I'd easily recommend others play, and I'm extremely optimistic about the game's future, if this is what your team can do in just a month.

'My Tainted Life' is the first chapter in what looks to be an adventure story not unlike many of the RPG video games that it draws inspiration from. It follows a runaway prince-priest who, a wielder of healing magic, is trying to escape his role as the army's heal bot to go and experience the freedom of the world. It's gives some realism to the video-game-y aspects of healing and how valuable that skill would be in a society to the point that those that could wield it would be locked up and used for the sheer benefit they provide to the rest of the community at large. It's an intriguing line of reasoning that said persons would be looked at less than people and more as tools as they are denied their ability to lead a life that they could choose.

The story follows the prince-priest, Manfrey, as he's on the verge of running away from the city, and in doing so will be labeled a deserter, and bounty pages would be placed around to guarantee his return. However, before Manfrey can get too far, he's immediately tracked down by Chris/Moon Blade/the general of the army/one of the highest leveled characters in the city to bring him back. Chris is what you would call a tool, in a figurative and literal sense, which follows orders and doesn't question anything about it, and is bringing back Manfrey because he was ordered to by his prince brother. Of course, Chris hides his power-level until a powerful tainted mob shows up to start wrecking the place, and then suddenly there's the big clash of ideals between Manfrey and Chris. What's more important, the use that one can bring to their community by playing their designated role or is it better for the individual to decide how best to use their own talents for the greater good? Obviously, Manfrey is going to use his healing powers where he can, as he easily gives up his cover so he can help the citizens and guards who defended the tavern against an attack, but Chris says that being on the front lines is not where he should be and instead just leave the fighting to the fighters and healing to the healers. They never really come to an agreement, and they really shouldn't cause this is just the opening chapter, and it seems to want to lead into a fuller exploration into an RPG level story for this fighter-priest's journey into becoming a paladin.

The presentation is extremely high quality, as expected from Team Eclipse, they've got so many good artists, musicians, programmers and designers that it's so polished, even for a month creation. The UI and loading screens are all fantasy themed, all the backgrounds are evocative, and even the special moment CGs really give weight in the story where it's needed. The healing kisses, the duel and the big fight against the tainted monster, all painted with amazing quality. Sound design is great. Character sprites are great, love the border-less style. Really, there's hardly anything to complain about when it comes to the actual visual and immersive experience with this one. The writing is good, it's carries the plot along well. It'll change view points a few times which, going from the prince, to the blacksmith, and back to the prince, which can be a bit disorienting, but I understand why it was done, so that the reader can understand how Chris was able to find him so quickly, but part of me wonders if that extra scene was needed, as perhaps the introduction of Chris as coming off as this undercover adventurer with a hidden agenda would've been more impactful, if we didn't already know who he was when Manfrey first meets him. While I love the idea that a stronger healing spell includes kisses on the cheek and the mouth, the way that the story seemed to then lean into the lovey-dovey section with Manfrey and Chris, the laying and cuddling afterwards and the affectionate talk between them, seems to come out of left field. A bit too early in the story to be alluding towards a romantic connection, when up to that point, Chris has been emotionally detached and Manfrey has all but been annoyed and distrustful of Chris lying to him and wanting to take away his freedom. The way that the story will continue as the start of this adventuring party, now with a healer and a fighter, it does give promise for what new fun characters and potential party members will be joining, as well as just how they'll be taking on this larger threat of 'the tainted' across their land.

As for the folklore theme, the story is very fantasy-rpg game based, so it's influenced by several of the hallmarks of the genre. Fantasy fights with tainted monsters, magical powers for healing and offense, a status based hierarchy, etc. It doesn't really try to frame the story using any specific folklore, nor does it try to introduce a custom piece of folklore for the setting, so this story definitely feels more like a personal project that happened to aligns somewhat with the theme, and that's fine by me. As long as it spurs the creation of a new VN, then I'm happy, even though I'd probably rate it lower on that particular measure. I don't know how creative I would call this, as it's doesn't seem to be breaking new ground, and I'm not mad at it for taking a tried and true set up and doing their own spin on it. All the assets to make this are of very high quality, and in that there is inherent creativity, but the combined product is a sum of it's parts.

Overall, another really high quality and polished entry into the game jam from Team Eclipse. It's a real skill that they're able to complete such visual novels while managing such a large team and not somehow end up with feature bloat or mismanaged efforts. Scope management is also something that I applaud because especially with the idea of having a much larger novel in mind and only completing a single chapter, it's tough, because the chapter has to have a small arc of it's own, while still letting the story have room to grow. Plus, it does do a good job in introducing all the new concepts and characters to the readers in an efficient and meaningful way. It is still just a chapter, so I tend to err on the side of caution as it can be easy to throw a bunch of ideas into early chapters and leave it unfinished so as to never have to worry about resolving any of the introduced ideas. So I only hope that when this story is continued, these elements are kept in mind. Fun read!

⭐⭐⭐

My Tainted Life is a project that manages to avoid the traps of "To be continued" game jam entries. Where many work to do more set-up to a potential future rather than focus on providing a satisfying story within the bounds of a game jam, this project offers an adequate start to its characters' journey.

That said, I think it also does this by playing it extremely safe, offering a narrative that belongs in your average "Dragon Quest-inspired 2020s anime." That quality, and the constant use of vaguely RPG lingo in a non-videogame fantasy setting, worked to shatter my immersion. Furthermore, dialogue suffers from occasional strangeness, where modern expressions and sentences have been made "archaic" by making them more prolix. This choice is especially strange to me due to the fact that, most of the time, the characters talk in a way that's modern but not distractingly anachronistic, making those altered sentences stand out in all the worst ways. 

On the visual side, there's a lot to like with the quality of assets, but there remains what I see as an insufficient employment of said art. As an example, there is an action scene where two characters engage in a duel that is enhanced by a great CG, but for most of said battle, characters stand completely still as text alone describes the scene. Blocking also suffers with awkward posing and inconsistent display of speakers, making for a poor vehicle for these excellent sprites and CGs. 

All this said, the project is far from bad. As I said from the top, there is already a satisfying (if played-out) little narrative well worth the price of admission. 

The story is nice and cute. The characters are adorable and well drawn!