Märchen Line

tldr; play it dude

peak game honestly (let us romance adrien. i've drawn fanart of adrien and attached it at the end of this post. it's still not enough. dlc adrien when?)

(edit: forgot to yap about how much I love the sprites and art oops)

what I liked:

1. ADRIEN

2. The characters felt real. The scenes in between days where Corsica could just talk with them were some of my favorite parts of the game, especially when the story events around Konrad started kicking off. It felt like the characters were truly immersed in the plot even during idle conversation!

3. ADRIEN

4. Skillchecks in dialogue made it felt like the stats were doing something outside of the minimal combat encounters, and the combat felt satisfying because of the way the cap was handled, making it exactly how much you trained. This made it felt like you were always barely scraping by which i enjoyed!! 

5. ADRIEN VAULTR

6. The snippets of lore that we get between the days doesn't feel like exposition dumping even though it's literally just text on a black screen, the writing was enjoyable and it was fun to stop and theorize about where the story was going!!

7. when adrien goes 'that was a joke' he's so arhghghgh please tell me all your jokes they're so funny I laugh so much let us romance him let us romance him let us romance him letusromancehi

8. Incredible UI design and feel, everything meshed together super well from the futuristic elements to the retro vibe with the linework and sharp shading. Peak visuals

9. Adriens CGs

10. The feeling of hopelessness I got every day checking to see if Adrien's icon was accessible, all the different ways he rejects you if you try to talk to him again was so freaking sad and I love it. I did a second playthrough because I was so shocked at his ending and desperately wanted to 'fix it.' The impending doom I felt creeping closer and closer to the end of the game with no opportunity to talk to him again felt so bad but like in a good way, y'know?

11. Overall, the tone of the writing and dialogue is peak!!

number 12 is a spoiler so don't read if you dont like em >:(

12. the dissatisfaction that I had with the endings was lowk the best part. After getting the good ending, I never felt like the problem was truly solved. There was no conclusion to how corscia and the gang were to deal with the Father's (I think that's the AI's name??)  dilemma of humanity killing itself without cancers.  This felt more fitting to the story than a ending where five people manage to somehow solve a crisis that a supercomputer couldn't. Also of course I was sad Adrien died but it did feel fitting. I won't complain but I will sob and cry :[

13. adrien

14. (edited) The art is so peak. I'm always amazed at how game jam submissions manage to get so much done in just four weeks, but marchen line's style is just so arhghghghg yknow?? the sprites and felt simple, which made the final confrontation with the caterpillar where the background was all red and overwhelming and there were limbs everywhere feel so much more impactful.

stuff I didn't like so much :(

1. Despite the four main romanceable characters being interesting, I enjoyed the dynamic more when askel, khara, niel and nissa more as duos or a group than when they're one on one with corsica. I felt that they played better off eachother than they played off MC. It may just be that I prefer platonic pairings.


Summary:

If you look at the amount of text in the 'things I liked' category vs the 'things I didn't like so much' category you'll know just how much I enjoy this game. Play it, it's peak, trust frfrfr

i'm so sorry for yapping my friends aren't VN pilled so they don't get it when I yap at them :[

I'm a d1 adrien lover, worlds biggest adrien fan

heres some fanart because I'm so sad he isn't romanceable

didnt knew what to expect more than some kind of dating sim and stat building via "time management",but it was not THIS. Hot damn,didn't expected that setting for an ending!

Have yet to play this but it looks SO interesting, I'm gonna play tomorrow!! Also the characters look like fine from enstars (big win for me I'm a WataruP)

I love Starship Troopers and being able to play a game with that similar exploration of fascist ideology and militarism in an interstellar context was phenomenal. In addition, I loved the twists and explorations of futuristic technology (AI) and the Matrix-like idea that humans need pain and/or an enemy to feel psychologically fulfilled and to survive as a species. The story was 10/10 horribly interesting and I loved its approach to heavy philosophical themes.

One of the most satisfying finales I've ever seen in a VN - and I've played hundreds of them. A must play for fans of the genre.

I am incredibly surprised this is a free game jam game rather than a "full release". Great job! The end was very surprising

Strength build is the best and I don't have enough brain to say otherwise.

I really loved the game and I really enjoyed the story and all of its characters (Especially the protagonist).

The only criticism I have is that I would have liked more romantic scenes, like a scene of the promised dance and a kiss lol, a little more backstory on our love interests, and that we could also romance the Major and the Specialist, because I ended up loving them too much<3<3

I hope you consider making a remake of this game with more content and longer (I wouldn't mind paying for a NSFW DLC ; )) or making a sequel or spin-off to expand the universe and its characters<3.

Whatever you decide, you've won me over as a fan (^///^)

Hello! Also adding a comment here. :>

Ugh, you guys are so good at this world building thing. Dude, we only had a month!! /lh

Maybe slight spoilers here in my yap session, but nothing too heavy.

But yeah, as always the UI slaps. I love the space hardware on the sides and the futuristic design of the boxes and what not. And I especially love the artstyle you guys went with-- that kind of 90s anime feeling is SO COOL and really makes it all stand out.

The 3D backgrounds with the subtle camera movement are also so sexy and keep the entire game feeling less "static" which is something VNs unfortunately end up falling into. 

I also loved the different "scenes" or "screens"-- I'm not sure what you call it. But the difference between the normal chatting ADV mode and the lowkey NVL-like text battle mode, the livestreaming cutscenes and the cutscenes that were just a CG and text at the bottom-- they're so good. And it works so well at like... mentally shifting your mindset to what's going on. Like having the stuff on the sides of the UI disappear really lets you focus in on what's happening. Good stuff!!

Also I forgot to mention this on stream, but the stat checks were also so cool! I really like it when games use their mechanics to also do a bit of story writing. Like how it'll say a stat check of 40 WILL failed, but it's not like you could have gotten 40 WILL anyway. Or during some of the final scenes with the stat checks all failing at requirements you aren't able to reach-- it really shows how (quite literally) under-leveled/unprepared you are for the current situation.

(And that one line right before the... GuyTM shows up,, holy shit.)

ANYWAY, sorry for literally writing an essay on your page. Thank you for the super cool game as usual!! yippEE

Damn, this game went HARD!  Really interesting story arc, lots of neat world lore, quirky characters to romance, a good soundtrack and sound design, and nice looking retro-VN-style artwork!

After getting the 3 main endings, I did a few partial playthroughs to get the remaining romanceable character endings, but I'm still missing quite a few Gallery entries (BGs I'm guessing?):
- 1st one on page 1
- entries 2, 7, 8 on page 3
- everything except the last one on page 4

Also, is there a way to return to the Title screen from in-game without using your Keyboard? (i.e. is there a mouse equivalent of pressing ESC?)

Now that the jam's over and time constraints aren't an issue, I'd love to see an optimization patch, because when I first launched the game (v1.01?), it took something like 2+ minutes after launching the executable before I could even see the game window anywhere (task bar or otherwise), and it ate up more than 6 GB of memory initially(!!) before settling down in the 2~3 GB range.  Plus, when unzipped, the project is almost 5 GB in size.

So any performance improvements would be very welcome. 🙏

I liked the stat system - simple but effective - and the "text-based combat" was pretty neat too.

When I saw some of the stat checks, like the Major's relationship requirement, I assumed the game might play out similar to Edge of Eternity (MC dies, goes to Valhalla, restarts the game as a "New Game+" while inheriting their previous stats, allowing players to gain stat scores above 10 - and thinking that might've even be a requirement to "finish" the game).  Even though that didn't happen, I still enjoyed the twists and turns along the way!

Also, Khara best girl. <3

Awesome job yet again!

Oh boy. Where to begin..!

I will of course, fail to convey the transcendental experience this visual novel has gifted me, in just a wall of text comment, limited by my own ability to convey with language. 

But I will try! If only to give my thanks and maybe convince other potential Soldiers (hehe) to give it a shot!

I played this game nonstop for nearly 7 hours straight. I know this only because I streamed it! I had no clue so much time was flying by! The writing had me hooked, like a fish! Knowing when to throw my emotions one way in intense moments on the edge of my seat- then managing to make me laugh and shake my head right after- lull me into a sense of understanding and calm then! Tossing me back in to the deep end!

The reason why I was able to become so invested and allow myself to be at the whims of my own emotional rollercoaster- is because of how quickly the story has gained my trust. It seems almost like every single word is written with clear intent. So many themes, that I hold as like some of the most fundamental human conditions and programming, that I'm very interested in exploring! And by George- did they ever! O_O 

By the end of the story, reflecting- its like each theme is connected to every other with a red string on a detective board! Sometimes, not even just concepts but words themselves as nouns for different elements of the lore- incredibly well planned. Its a very clever tale. 

And that was just for the story telling! But the music itself was composed so well to help aid in our emotions (and make the spaces without its tunes THAT more eerie...) and so thematically well suited!!

The UI is very well done! Very straight forward, clean! Sometimes the stats, the level up text, and the little yellow arrows can be a bit small but not nearly to the point of being anything that distracting! I'm more happy with the fact they exist at all! To not spoil too much, thoroughly enjoy how the UI keeps track of the date. Would be cool if we could hover our stat bars and see our number specific number we're at or smth :O

Each character, made a lot of sense to me. Not in like a "I can read them like a book" way- but in a like.. human connection way. They all felt very human. And EXTREMELY loveable~! And their designs felt equally created with intention and beauty! They have a lot of charm! And so were the happy surprises of a CG appearing!! 

In terms of the romance, I really enjoyed how I came into the game with a preconception of what I expected- because of my history with the dating sim genre! BUT. Yes- It did fulfill its job as a dating sim. But to me at least- its not the focus. Romance seems like such a quaint theme in the face of all the other ones it tackles LOL and THAT was an extremely pleasant surprise for me! I was satisfied- and then some! It makes a lot of sense why.. this element was treated the way that it was. It felt purposeful.

(and if any devs saw me stream it @doggling just know that like all my poorly uttered barely formed one sentences of like "AI" and "indulgence" and whatever my feedback in the moment was- just know in my head there was more going on that your story was clearly conveying to me but I struggled to articulate them in the moment!! I just sort of repeat basic language and concepts I've heard in a panic LOL but it did definitely speak to me beyond that! especially when I got the chance to not split focus on making silly voices and streaming.) 

I feel so lucky to have stumbled into playing! Unbelievable how well you guys all worked together within one month to make such a cohesive riveting VN!

Really enjoyable game! :D

The story is great!!! Really looking forward to more games from Nth Circle!

awesome!!!!!! really quality writing, art, backgrounds, design, music, etc that come together cohesively into a really engaging and polished experience that was a lot of fun to play from start to end. the story is satisfyingly self-contained while also expansive in its worldbuilding in a way that feels like it could be its own longrunning franchise. the doctor is really hot 100/10