I actually don't know how to feel about this game. All the endings seem out of place. The story progresses very smoothly at its own pace for most of the game, but then it's abruptly interrupted by an ending completely detached from the story. Why did we do what we did? It makes no sense and the game seems rushed bc of that, the ending devalues the character arc and the overall story. The game doesn't give us enough clues to understand the endings and as a result, everything seemed random and confusing, did the developers do this to let people talk about the game?
Okay so I'm usually not the type of person to get emotional from a game but DANG, I went straight to my knees when I played the first ending ( suicide ). So I thought it was just a bad ending and played again only to see him getting stabbed by us brutally T-T JUST WHY AM I SO ATTACHED. And I didn't have the heart to get to the last ending because I'm scared af and I don't wanna see him dead again holy shitttt
About the hanging ending: The sound effect of the rope stretching made the whole thing so much more depressing and scary, id say it's a nice touch (?
And I do understand ppl's concern of how it's way to disturbing and I get it, its now giving me ptsd
But there's been a few games doing that as well and nobody seemed to say anything about it ( referring to ddlc) the devs even added music to make the scene more dramatic and players make "hanging out" jokes while this game makes it whole lot more serious and ppl complain so I don't really understand.Overall I think it really gives the impression of how ones suicide is so tramatizing
No but really do express your views cause I wanna know as well.
I think people who have been through it just don't want it sensationalized or used as ratings bait or emotional shock just to make someone attached to their character. I played with my friend the other day and neither of us saw Zilas' endings coming, and found them all around gross and confusing. If it doesn't make sense with the pacing and feels like it comes from left field, why add it if not to upset people?
DDLC wasn't a game written in a month either and it really shows. You can't use one game that did it well to excuse all the games that do it poorly, you know? Sayori's depression is actually talked about and referenced in DDLC and something she dealt with most of her life, so the suicide wasn't bizarre and out of place like Zilas'. Not having any reasonable cause or lead up to Zilas' apparent suicide makes the jumpscare CG of him hanging incredibly jarring, confusing and disturbing. Insensitive and unnecessary.
Going Live's endings just feel like a more weakly written copycat that pulls from other people's work (DDLC, Death Note), but the writer doesn't have the time, skills or knowledge to pull it off half as well. Which is a shame, because the parts of the game that were original were the only bits I enjoyed. Pull out the badly attempted DDLC endings and the silly cat villain, and it was really fun.
EDIT And as yet another depressed individual who felt a little bit catfished by this otherwise cute game ((seriously, kudos to the artists and voice actor tho)) I can only speak for myself but I use darker humor similar to your DDLC example a lot to cope.
Can someone explain why we randomly stab Zilas after he proposes to us in one of the endings? It's so out of left field and such a horrible let down of an ending...
I THINK ITS BECAUSE ZILAS RAN OUT OF TIME WHEN HE SOLD HIS SOUL, AFTER THE TIME RAN OUT MAYBE IT WAS DOOMED FOR USER TO STAB HIM WHILE HE WAS DYING HE SAID "Its not your fault... I can explain..." MEANING HE MIGHT OF KNOWN THIS WOULD HAPPEN; SINCE IT WAS A RANDOM FEELING FOR USER I THINK IT WAS BOUND FROM THE DAY ZILAS SOLD HIS SOUL, HE PROPOSED TO US BECAUSE HE THOUGTH HE HAD ENOUGH TIME TO THAT MiGHT BE WAHY HE WANTED TO GO ON THE VACATION EARLIER BUT ITS JUST A THEORY LOL (i was tearing up)
I've been lurking itch since forever but I made an acc just for this because what was that??
It was going great, until the ending. Albeit it was also kind of my fault for glossing over the warning thinking it was just gonna be mentioned but even so I didn't expect it to be THAT graphic. I got the suicide ending and def not planning to get the other one. I think it just came out of nowhere, and served almost no purpose. The cg and it being that detailed was completely unnecessary and the fact that I had my volume maxed when it came to that part and hearing the crisp sound of the rope tugging made me nauseous. I'm not someone who is bothered at all with VNs with the same themes, call me overreacting but this is the first time a VN impacted me so negatively.
After reading some comments here, I have come to the conclusion that this game could have been great. I actually got emotional when Zilas was killed. It all came down like a brick wall on me, which made me actually throw up :(
I'm not a really sensitive person, but this isn't a good way to show a depiction of mental health. I also felt repulsed when learning that there is a hanging scene. I'm sorry but if you wanted to address mental health, please at least have a better ending. Zilas could have disappeared or say something cryptic.
I'm really sorry this happened to you but the creator did specify disturbing imagery at the beginning of the game! I'll admit, the genre isn't for everyone but the shock horror was intentional on the creators part :(
The fact that she used suicide as "shock horror" is one of the things people are bothered by.
"Disturbing imagery" also doesn't prepare people for the character you're romancing in game to very suddenly and visually hang himself with no prior buildup or warning, or for your character to murder him out of the blue.
Hihi! Monty here This game is really good so far but I wanna write down errors I've come across
first, something small I noticed is that when you wanna hover over choices for sending a message in chat it always flicks to the bottom.like sometimes it'll go follow the mouse or the arrow keys up but it'll still go back down to the bottom, But it still lets you choose the answer you want!! it can just be confusing visually!
So about the second time he calls us ( the one after he tells stream telling chat about him being in a snowstorm ) there is a missing voice line for "What about your Stream Time?" (At least for me) and the text "I'd like to know you this much as your Partner" Repeats twice like right after it
That's all the things I noticed while playing this my first time around, it's still pretty good.
Since so many people are giving their opinions on this game, here's mine (SPOILER ALERT!!!!) About Zilas' suicide: I really don't think it was senseless that he killed himself because of the fake exposed, since he doesn't seem to know how to deal with people so well, I don't know exactly if he really has social anxiety or something like that, but he doesn't seem that confident talking to strangers, so him becoming famous as a streamer must be a huge achievement for him, and seeing it all come crashing down in a matter of minutes broke him. Imagine how horrible it must be to receive so much criticism, and have two million people hate you just because of one false accusation! Well, I personally feel anxious about criticism, and I don't know if I would know how to deal with it if the same thing happened to him. On top of all this, him not showing signs of being depressed doesn't mean he isn't. Regarding the ending where the player stabs him, I feel like that was Ryuk's fault, if he has the power to revive Zilas, what stops him from having the power to manipulate someone's mind? Remembering that I'm not saying anything, and I really found this ending a little random. But take into account that Jenny programmed this entire game in 30 days, she probably had to summarize the story a little to be able to finish the game in time, and yet the game was delayed by 12 days.
(I'm sorry if some parts don't make sense, English isn't my language so I used Google translator :3)
I feel like this kind of misses the mark on some of the problems people have with this game, though and would like to add some of my own thoughts.
- Suicide was very (unnecessarily even)graphic and sudden, with a full on CG of Zilas hanging himself, and was a complete mood shift within perhaps a minute of gameplay, maybe less. For writing, building up to moments like this and treating it with care is very important, especially given the potential to be upsetting or triggering to others.
I also think the absurdity over what got him cancelled or criticized really doesn't help build up to this sudden suicidal depression. If it was that easy to cancel someone, no one I watch would still be streaming. Even if it was written to make more sense, it was still quite a leap to me, especially considering he had so much support and understanding from the main character, at least how I played them. I genuinely wish I'd had someone have my back like that in the past. Would've made a world of difference
- I get that the cat, Ryuk, appears to be at fault in one of the endings, but it only confused the overarching narrative even more for me. Other than feeling very out of place and shoehorned in, the use of someone else's character and IP in an otherwise original story is a really strange decision.
- Three endings are mentioned in the description, but the only two endings for Zilas are the murder and suicide ending. There are no good endings for people wanting to tough it out and save him or "Help him achieve his dreams!" as the game blurb advertises under the really cute thumbnail of Zilas. He dies. That's it.
- One of the most repeated criticisms I've seen is the fact that Jenny chose to write in something as delicate as suicide into her game within such a short timeframe. It really needed more time, care and research. Otherwise, it would've been better to leave it out.
- There were initially no in-game content warnings. They were only added nearly two months after the release of the game.
- The request at the end for 5000 ratings is completely unreasonable and comes across as incredibly exploitative of Jenny toward her fanbase.
Many are making alt accounts to post false ratings to try and hit this goal and some of those have gotten banned. For anyone reading this: itch.io will ban all of your accounts and IP ban you if they catch you doing this.
I really don't think Jenny really took the topics of this game that seriously, especially given the fact that she posts some jokes about Zilas' death on social media. And I really hoped that the warnings weren't so hidden, since even though I read the warnings before seeing a gameplay of the game (unfortunately I don't have a computer to play it 😔) I actually got a little scared, it must have been horrible those for someone sensitive who didn't read the warnings before playing the game
i follow jenny on twitter and was looking forward for going live since I've played error 143 i admit that i saw content warning written as day on the front page but i chose to ignore it because i didn't want to spoil myself so i dived in without knowing anything
i was shocked at first with what happened in the endings but after playing it i was really bothered by how the writing went, more specifically the suicide ending. as someone who is suicidal i think that i agree with the previous commenters about how zilas never really showed any symptoms. I've read jenny's statement on twitter and saw that this was an attempt at something different and honestly if this was really a different take i believe that she could have done better instead it looked like mockery to other players including me :/ I'm not hating jenny though i just hope to see improvement on her side
!!SPOILER!! I think i get it why he do this: After the drama with cancer people and that 'he hates it', Zilas confided in us and we could see how every opinion and hate towards him effect on him.He tried to give them a excuse and apologize even if he doesn't do anything wrong, but nobody listen to him only us*player* and this hater (imsry i don't remember his nickname) continue manipulate Zilas's viewers.Then Zilas didn't contact with us for 3 days (which is weird why player didn't come to him sooner since the player seems to have very close to Zilas's house) and this can be a symptoms i think.We can see earlier how much Zilas bonded with the viewers and really like streaming, and someone so suddenly take it from him.Yes, at the same time the s*icidal ending is very drastic and it should be a warning before on the start game or right before this scene because not too much people read warnings on the page!! but from the other side i think it shows how very quick fame(Zilas in a week have 1 milion viewers) can effect on people and how you really have to respect people on the internet,be more understanding than choosing side right away, and it shows how one malicious person on the internet who won't leave you alone can end the life of another.IM SORRY IF MY GRAMMAR IS BAD OR ENG BUT I'M NOT USING IT LANGUAGE VERY OFTEN AND I TRY MY BEST TO SOUND UNDERSTANDABLE (╯_╰) I hope the person above is better in your life and mentally,wish u the best❀<3
spoiler fr the game is great itself but the suicide ending is just straight up random i mean i dont think anyone would kill themselves just because they got a little hate but this depends on how a person handles criticism,the writing is nice and the second ending is kinda confusing but the warnings should have been put earlier in the game because not everyone looks at the warnings,either way the game is great but not reccomended for people who are sensitive
Idc if you scroll or read, I just want to get something off my chest.
I've been a supporter of Jenny's work. So, I went into this game with a bias that it was going to be really good due to past experiences with Jenny's games.
However, as I read the comments criticize how terribly written this game is, the more I realize how right they are.
I wanted to defend Jenny at first, and thought those commenters were just exaggerating it. (No offense to those people.)
But they're right. This game basically lures you in with the cute themes and an attractive protagonist and then crushes all of that right in front of you in just a few frames. As if that's not enough, Jenny guilt trips you with the 'If this game doesn't get XYZ number of ratings, you can kiss your sweet Zilas goodbye' move. (Which I didn't even realize she did until I researched a little more because I stopped playing after I got the suicide ending.)
Digging deeper, I found comments that talked about how badly executed the mental health representation was. (That's an entirely new can of worms that I'm not gonna get into. This comment is already super long.)
The aftermath of all of this has made me feel ignorant and stupid. Like I've been purposefully looking at this game through rose-tinted glasses.
It's essentially when you find out your favorite artist/celebrity is actually a terrible person and you feel bad for not realizing it sooner.
And I can only hope that Jenny learns from this and grow into a better person.
But the fact that she was deleting comments that were criticizing the game tells me that's not gonna happen.
I’m not sure if you want comments but I’m not going to pity you, but agree with what you’re saying. I also looked up to Jenny and have followed her for about 2 years and I thought this was going to be one of those things I would like, knowing I like both dating and horror games, and even with the warnings (though hidden) I still played because I loved her projects or stuff she helped with. Actually, I had a lot of negative feelings about this game before anyone commented because I played pretty early on and I thought it was just me who felt like it was sloppily and clumsily done and didn’t say anything due to fear and just feeling terrible for even thinking about criticizing my favorite creator and thinking I had my rose tinted glasses on as well, a lot like you. I just feel very disappointed? A lot of my criticism comes from a place of passion as a person with depression and maybe that’s why I felt so awful after playing and how it was portrayed. I didn’t feel like Jenny listened to me or her audience by deleting our criticism when a lot of us actually came from places of good faith because we all hope she makes good projects and look forward to her releases, which is maybe why I feel pretty bitter about this whole thing. Thanks for sharing how you felt and I relate a lot to what you experienced as someone who also looked up to her. But with game devs and idols you never really know who they are or what they are like outside of their projects.
I'm glad to know that i'm not alone here, it makes me feel better.I read a lot of your comments and replies while researching and you inspired me to write this post
I love horror visual novels, and play them quite frequently, so I was excited knowing one of my favorite developers made one.
Like you, I feel disappointed because, if executed correctly, this could be a really good game.
I know that I have no way of knowing who Jenny is outside of her works but still, I have this guility feeling of wishing I had known.
I agree with you. That was my experience and this was my first exposure to her work.
I went in blind before this page was revamped and got the unalive ending. It was such a shock because of how abruptly the tone changed. There was lack of foreshadowing as well.
I can handle horror but I think the warnings should’ve been more visible so others don’t get the genre of game wrong. Otherwise people with delicate sensibilities towards certain topics will get exposed them in the game anyway in a much more shocking manner which is a worse surprise.
I don’t think I’ll trust this creator’s games in the future because of how this was handled.
I agree with the fact that content warnings should be more obvious than just a hidden section in the description
I play a LOT of visual novels that have sensitive topics, and personally it doesn't bother me. But I see how it might affect someone who has experienced it IRL.
Especially with this game where it just throws it in your face all of a sudden
I've played a few VNs where you agree that you are aware of the content warnings contained before even playing the game and I think Jenny should have at least done that much.
To preface, I played this a couple weeks ago at the recommendation of a "friend" - one I'm not particularly happy with at the moment. This was before the content warnings were added to the game and I didn't even think to look for that stupid hidden dropdown in the description. The game looked cute and my "friend" didn't say anything so... After sitting on it a few weeks to avoid any knee-jerk feelings, I decided to make an account to actually post a review.
1) The Death Note references(???) Why? Why make such an important part of your endings, not only so subtle and quickly moved past that most didn't catch it, but based on an entirerly different piece of media created by a different artist that a large part of your players hasn't seen? I only know from reading some of the comments that they were even there and what they meant.
2) If the author was trying to impart that streamers are people too and the harm of parasocial relationships - points which were honestly coming across rather well for the majority of the game - then why were all the horror elements and weird references hamfisted in?
Why was the first ending most got just a *very sudden* disgusting CG of Zilas hanging himself before the game just ends?
There are so many other ways it could've been done if the writer was determined to go that route. Zilas could've disappeared, it could've ended with a goodbye note or a phone call - hell, even just the MC finding blood splattered around his empty room. The only reason to end it with a very visual hanging was to shock and disturb the player. THIS is what people have a problem with. No one wants to see their struggles, their awful ideations, what they've lost friends or families or lovers to used as some disgusting, rug-pulling, contrived plot twist. A ploy just to rake in undeserved ratings for a rushed game that was initially presented as just another cute romance VN, until the developer received enough criticism that she was forced to show some reluctant concern to her players. Just enough to add a condescending warning to the beginning of the game, mind, not actually attempt to adjust the problematic plot or listen to any other feedback.
Whatever message the writer was going for got muddied and lost among all the weird and unnecessary twists she decided to add. To anyone who doesn't get the references or play more than once ( I've lost any and all interest at this point) it just looks like Zilas suddenly hung himself after one spike of bad publicity, with insufficient buildup or warning signs. If it was really the cat that did it, then what was the point of any of Zilas's struggles with streaming and having to handle streamer drama and criticism in the first place? It all just falls apart at the end.
3) To this writer and any others: if you don't have first-hand experience or haven't done copious amounts of research on a mental illness or any other sensitive subject matter... consider just not making it part of your story? Because not only will you likely deeply hurt and upset a portion of your playerbase who have had the misfortune of being affected by it personally, you also risk negative criticism (in case the former doesn't concern you.)
Now that I know that her players' mental health isn't even on her list of concerns until it directly impacts her, I won't be touching anything by this developer again. It should never have taken two months after release to add content warnings to the game.
I think the reason the ending is so abrupt and messed up is because this is just a demo of sorts and they're trying to appeal to us to support so they can finish the project as stated by the cat in an ending. I however wholly agree with you that it was a really messed up and graphic way to do it. I feel gutted.
I think what most of us are trying to say is that we aren’t so much so upset at Jenny for attempting something like this, it’s pretty unique and a good concept on paper, we just wish if suicide was done it shouldn’t be for shock value and I think she should’ve used this for a full project and not a game jam so she could translate her ideas better and have better pacing. I don’t think you should need a demo to feature suicide just to boast ratings and moral for your game, that sounds like a lame excuse to get people to support you and kinda manipulative as others have pointed out.I understand the grander scheme of the story she was trying to put out and what op was trying to say is that this is a good idea but it had very awful execution + it needed more time in the oven and a lot of this stuff should’ve stayed in development or very well been done better and in a longer format so you can really understand what’s really going on. I think Jenny limited herself to a game jam and that was kinda the root of the issue, not saying it’s a justification for the misuse of suicide but I think that’s where a lot of these issues could’ve been avoided and a lot more research as to not stigmatize her audiences trauma and experiences for likes and reviews. Especially since I don’t even think said creator struggles with these ideations themselves, or has never outright confirmed as such. Not that it would make it any better.
I'd agree if she hadn't asked for such a high number of ratings. Her other game ERROR143 only has 2,370 ratings at the time of this comment. There's currently no Otome game on itch.io with 5000 ratings, including games like Our Life: Beginnings & Always or Blooming Panic, games which honestly blow this one well out of the water. It just comes across as a scammy way to boost her way to the top.
Her request is also hurting her fans. Many are making alt accounts to post false ratings and some of those have gotten banned. For anyone reading this: itch.io will ban all of your accounts and IP ban you if they catch you doing this.
this.^^^ I think she stated it was supposed to be impossible or almost impossible, which is weird because that’s just blatant misinformation and dangling a piece of cheese over a mouse, but she could’ve benefitted from there being more time to develop this project and just being straight up with the “there is no happy endings thing” because it feels like false advertising with the whole impossible reviews thing and secret third ending which just blatantly untrue because there is only two, which leaves a bad taste in my mouth. This project is honestly just a mess, the games you suggested are so much better. Sorry for not originally stating that, I do actually wholeheartedly agree this game was scammy from the beginning and just think it’s a very interesting idea horribly executed.
For rating, on the top right corner:there should be a button(“Rate this game”) for rating the game 1-5 stars (for phone I honestly don’t really know but if you rotate your phone it should pop up near the top🤔)
To see how many has rated click More Information which is above comments section (and above Download Now in some other pages)
and I have no idea if they promised😼 I’d like to think they did tho
Hello! I saw this game few days ago and wanted to play it when I start it it won't let me write my name and username? I tried to open the game in different Browser but it won't work :( I use a phone I hope I can play the game soon tysm!!<3 :3
Actually, it was claimed multiple times it wasn’t in the first build.I can attest to it not being added until about a week or so later because enough people complained about it originally if you scroll far enough because it should’ve been a no brainer for it to be there upon release, I was here from about day 1 and I have a log of it being updated in my following notifications. Even with the warning, it still shocked and confused a lot of people, though I understand your point. Here is some people pointing it out:
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i love how all of us that played the demo have calmed down and the ACTUAL review comments roll in
I actually don't know how to feel about this game. All the endings seem out of place. The story progresses very smoothly at its own pace for most of the game, but then it's abruptly interrupted by an ending completely detached from the story. Why did we do what we did? It makes no sense and the game seems rushed bc of that, the ending devalues the character arc and the overall story. The game doesn't give us enough clues to understand the endings and as a result, everything seemed random and confusing, did the developers do this to let people talk about the game?
Comments on the game and spoilers ahead!!!!!:
Okay so I'm usually not the type of person to get emotional from a game but DANG, I went straight to my knees when I played the first ending ( suicide ). So I thought it was just a bad ending and played again only to see him getting stabbed by us brutally T-T JUST WHY AM I SO ATTACHED. And I didn't have the heart to get to the last ending because I'm scared af and I don't wanna see him dead again holy shitttt
About the hanging ending:
The sound effect of the rope stretching made the whole thing so much more depressing and scary, id say it's a nice touch (?
And I do understand ppl's concern of how it's way to disturbing and I get it, its now giving me ptsd
But there's been a few games doing that as well and nobody seemed to say anything about it ( referring to ddlc) the devs even added music to make the scene more dramatic and players make "hanging out" jokes while this game makes it whole lot more serious and ppl complain so I don't really understand.Overall I think it really gives the impression of how ones suicide is so tramatizing
No but really do express your views cause I wanna know as well.
I think people who have been through it just don't want it sensationalized or used as ratings bait or emotional shock just to make someone attached to their character. I played with my friend the other day and neither of us saw Zilas' endings coming, and found them all around gross and confusing. If it doesn't make sense with the pacing and feels like it comes from left field, why add it if not to upset people?
DDLC wasn't a game written in a month either and it really shows. You can't use one game that did it well to excuse all the games that do it poorly, you know? Sayori's depression is actually talked about and referenced in DDLC and something she dealt with most of her life, so the suicide wasn't bizarre and out of place like Zilas'. Not having any reasonable cause or lead up to Zilas' apparent suicide makes the jumpscare CG of him hanging incredibly jarring, confusing and disturbing. Insensitive and unnecessary.
Going Live's endings just feel like a more weakly written copycat that pulls from other people's work (DDLC, Death Note), but the writer doesn't have the time, skills or knowledge to pull it off half as well. Which is a shame, because the parts of the game that were original were the only bits I enjoyed. Pull out the badly attempted DDLC endings and the silly cat villain, and it was really fun.
EDIT And as yet another depressed individual who felt a little bit catfished by this otherwise cute game ((seriously, kudos to the artists and voice actor tho)) I can only speak for myself but I use darker humor similar to your DDLC example a lot to cope.
the final was so holly moll
he...died....we killed.....him ToT
Make sure you put a spoiler!
SPOILER
Can someone explain why we randomly stab Zilas after he proposes to us in one of the endings? It's so out of left field and such a horrible let down of an ending...
I THINK ITS BECAUSE ZILAS RAN OUT OF TIME WHEN HE SOLD HIS SOUL, AFTER THE TIME RAN OUT MAYBE IT WAS DOOMED FOR USER TO STAB HIM WHILE HE WAS DYING HE SAID "Its not your fault... I can explain..." MEANING HE MIGHT OF KNOWN THIS WOULD HAPPEN; SINCE IT WAS A RANDOM FEELING FOR USER I THINK IT WAS BOUND FROM THE DAY ZILAS SOLD HIS SOUL, HE PROPOSED TO US BECAUSE HE THOUGTH HE HAD ENOUGH TIME TO THAT MiGHT BE WAHY HE WANTED TO GO ON THE VACATION EARLIER BUT ITS JUST A THEORY LOL (i was tearing up)
when did he sell his soul?
WHEN HE WAS IN THE BLIZZARD, HE DIED DURING IT BUT HE SOLD HIS SOUL TO THE CAT IN ORDER TO HAVE A FEW MORE DAYS WITH USER
Literally what i'm saying! 😭
///Spoiler!!!
I've been lurking itch since forever but I made an acc just for this because what was that??
It was going great, until the ending. Albeit it was also kind of my fault for glossing over the warning thinking it was just gonna be mentioned but even so I didn't expect it to be THAT graphic. I got the suicide ending and def not planning to get the other one. I think it just came out of nowhere, and served almost no purpose. The cg and it being that detailed was completely unnecessary and the fact that I had my volume maxed when it came to that part and hearing the crisp sound of the rope tugging made me nauseous. I'm not someone who is bothered at all with VNs with the same themes, call me overreacting but this is the first time a VN impacted me so negatively.
small spoiler i guess?
is this guy a hampster. HE DIES THE 2 ENDINGS (i didnt get the third ending)
spoiler!!!!!!
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After reading some comments here, I have come to the conclusion that this game could have been great. I actually got emotional when Zilas was killed. It all came down like a brick wall on me, which made me actually throw up :(
I'm not a really sensitive person, but this isn't a good way to show a depiction of mental health. I also felt repulsed when learning that there is a
hangingscene. I'm sorry but if you wanted to address mental health, please at least have a better ending. Zilas could have disappeared or say something cryptic.I'm really sorry this happened to you but the creator did specify disturbing imagery at the beginning of the game! I'll admit, the genre isn't for everyone but the shock horror was intentional on the creators part :(
The fact that she used suicide as "shock horror" is one of the things people are bothered by.
"Disturbing imagery" also doesn't prepare people for the character you're romancing in game to very suddenly and visually hang himself with no prior buildup or warning, or for your character to murder him out of the blue.
okay yeah that's fair
Hihi! Monty here
This game is really good so far but I wanna write down errors I've come across
first, something small I noticed is that when you wanna hover over choices for sending a message in chat it always flicks to the bottom.like sometimes it'll go follow the mouse or the arrow keys up but it'll still go back down to the bottom, But it still lets you choose the answer you want!! it can just be confusing visually!
So about the second time he calls us ( the one after he tells stream telling chat about him being in a snowstorm ) there is a missing voice line for "What about your Stream Time?" (At least for me) and the text "I'd like to know you this much as your Partner" Repeats twice like right after it
That's all the things I noticed while playing this my first time around, it's still pretty good.
Keep up the good work Dev team!
-Monty
GUYS PLEASE, WE NEED TO REVIVE HIM, OUR FIANCÉ. I NEED HIM BACK, HE IS TOO PRECIOUS...
Since so many people are giving their opinions on this game, here's mine (SPOILER ALERT!!!!) About Zilas' suicide: I really don't think it was senseless that he killed himself because of the fake exposed, since he doesn't seem to know how to deal with people so well, I don't know exactly if he really has social anxiety or something like that, but he doesn't seem that confident talking to strangers, so him becoming famous as a streamer must be a huge achievement for him, and seeing it all come crashing down in a matter of minutes broke him. Imagine how horrible it must be to receive so much criticism, and have two million people hate you just because of one false accusation! Well, I personally feel anxious about criticism, and I don't know if I would know how to deal with it if the same thing happened to him. On top of all this, him not showing signs of being depressed doesn't mean he isn't. Regarding the ending where the player stabs him, I feel like that was Ryuk's fault, if he has the power to revive Zilas, what stops him from having the power to manipulate someone's mind? Remembering that I'm not saying anything, and I really found this ending a little random. But take into account that Jenny programmed this entire game in 30 days, she probably had to summarize the story a little to be able to finish the game in time, and yet the game was delayed by 12 days.
(I'm sorry if some parts don't make sense, English isn't my language so I used Google translator :3)
Don't apologize, everything came through fine! 🧡
I feel like this kind of misses the mark on some of the problems people have with this game, though and would like to add some of my own thoughts.
- Suicide was very (unnecessarily even) graphic and sudden, with a full on CG of Zilas hanging himself, and was a complete mood shift within perhaps a minute of gameplay, maybe less. For writing, building up to moments like this and treating it with care is very important, especially given the potential to be upsetting or triggering to others.
I also think the absurdity over what got him cancelled or criticized really doesn't help build up to this sudden suicidal depression. If it was that easy to cancel someone, no one I watch would still be streaming. Even if it was written to make more sense, it was still quite a leap to me, especially considering he had so much support and understanding from the main character, at least how I played them. I genuinely wish I'd had someone have my back like that in the past. Would've made a world of difference
- I get that the cat, Ryuk, appears to be at fault in one of the endings, but it only confused the overarching narrative even more for me. Other than feeling very out of place and shoehorned in, the use of someone else's character and IP in an otherwise original story is a really strange decision.
- Three endings are mentioned in the description, but the only two endings for Zilas are the murder and suicide ending. There are no good endings for people wanting to tough it out and save him or "Help him achieve his dreams!" as the game blurb advertises under the really cute thumbnail of Zilas. He dies. That's it.
- One of the most repeated criticisms I've seen is the fact that Jenny chose to write in something as delicate as suicide into her game within such a short timeframe. It really needed more time, care and research. Otherwise, it would've been better to leave it out.
- There were initially no in-game content warnings. They were only added nearly two months after the release of the game.
- The request at the end for 5000 ratings is completely unreasonable and comes across as incredibly exploitative of Jenny toward her fanbase.
Many are making alt accounts to post false ratings to try and hit this goal and some of those have gotten banned. For anyone reading this: itch.io will ban all of your accounts and IP ban you if they catch you doing this.
I really don't think Jenny really took the topics of this game that seriously, especially given the fact that she posts some jokes about Zilas' death on social media. And I really hoped that the warnings weren't so hidden, since even though I read the warnings before seeing a gameplay of the game (unfortunately I don't have a computer to play it 😔) I actually got a little scared, it must have been horrible those for someone sensitive who didn't read the warnings before playing the game
this is a SPOILER
but why did we kill him like that was so random and unnecessaryuhh weird question but... do u listen to 6arelyhuman's music xD ??
yess
omg i love their music!! did u name ur acc after them??
yeahh i did!
thats the slayest thing i've heard all day. pls have a day as awesome as ur taste in music, friend
i follow jenny on twitter and was looking forward for going live since I've played error 143 i admit that i saw content warning written as day on the front page but i chose to ignore it because i didn't want to spoil myself so i dived in without knowing anything
i was shocked at first with what happened in the endings but after playing it i was really bothered by how the writing went, more specifically the suicide ending. as someone who is suicidal i think that i agree with the previous commenters about how zilas never really showed any symptoms. I've read jenny's statement on twitter and saw that this was an attempt at something different and honestly if this was really a different take i believe that she could have done better instead it looked like mockery to other players including me :/ I'm not hating jenny though i just hope to see improvement on her side
!!SPOILER!! I think i get it why he do this: After the drama with cancer people and that 'he hates it', Zilas confided in us and we could see how every opinion and hate towards him effect on him.He tried to give them a excuse and apologize even if he doesn't do anything wrong, but nobody listen to him only us*player* and this hater (imsry i don't remember his nickname) continue manipulate Zilas's viewers.Then Zilas didn't contact with us for 3 days (which is weird why player didn't come to him sooner since the player seems to have very close to Zilas's house) and this can be a symptoms i think.We can see earlier how much Zilas bonded with the viewers and really like streaming, and someone so suddenly take it from him.Yes, at the same time the s*icidal ending is very drastic and it should be a warning before on the start game or right before this scene because not too much people read warnings on the page!! but from the other side i think it shows how very quick fame(Zilas in a week have 1 milion viewers) can effect on people and how you really have to respect people on the internet,be more understanding than choosing side right away, and it shows how one malicious person on the internet who won't leave you alone can end the life of another.IM SORRY IF MY GRAMMAR IS BAD OR ENG BUT I'M NOT USING IT LANGUAGE VERY OFTEN AND I TRY MY BEST TO SOUND UNDERSTANDABLE (╯_╰) I hope the person above is better in your life and mentally,wish u the best❀<3
spoiler frthe game is great itself but the suicide ending is just straight up random i mean i dont think anyone would kill themselves just because they got a little hate but this depends on how a person handles criticism,the writing is nice and the second ending is kinda confusing but the warnings should have been put earlier in the game because not everyone looks at the warnings,either way the game is great but not reccomended for people who are sensitive!!! VENT POST !!! PLEASE DO NOT PITY ME !!!
Idc if you scroll or read, I just want to get something off my chest.
I've been a supporter of Jenny's work. So, I went into this game with a bias that it was going to be really good due to past experiences with Jenny's games.
However, as I read the comments criticize how terribly written this game is, the more I realize how right they are.
I wanted to defend Jenny at first, and thought those commenters were just exaggerating it. (No offense to those people.)
But they're right. This game basically lures you in with the cute themes and an attractive protagonist and then crushes all of that right in front of you in just a few frames. As if that's not enough, Jenny guilt trips you with the 'If this game doesn't get XYZ number of ratings, you can kiss your sweet Zilas goodbye' move. (Which I didn't even realize she did until I researched a little more because I stopped playing after I got the suicide ending.)
Digging deeper, I found comments that talked about how badly executed the mental health representation was. (That's an entirely new can of worms that I'm not gonna get into. This comment is already super long.)
The aftermath of all of this has made me feel ignorant and stupid. Like I've been purposefully looking at this game through rose-tinted glasses.
It's essentially when you find out your favorite artist/celebrity is actually a terrible person and you feel bad for not realizing it sooner.
And I can only hope that Jenny learns from this and grow into a better person.
But the fact that she was deleting comments that were criticizing the game tells me that's not gonna happen.
I’m not sure if you want comments but I’m not going to pity you, but agree with what you’re saying. I also looked up to Jenny and have followed her for about 2 years and I thought this was going to be one of those things I would like, knowing I like both dating and horror games, and even with the warnings (though hidden) I still played because I loved her projects or stuff she helped with. Actually, I had a lot of negative feelings about this game before anyone commented because I played pretty early on and I thought it was just me who felt like it was sloppily and clumsily done and didn’t say anything due to fear and just feeling terrible for even thinking about criticizing my favorite creator and thinking I had my rose tinted glasses on as well, a lot like you. I just feel very disappointed? A lot of my criticism comes from a place of passion as a person with depression and maybe that’s why I felt so awful after playing and how it was portrayed. I didn’t feel like Jenny listened to me or her audience by deleting our criticism when a lot of us actually came from places of good faith because we all hope she makes good projects and look forward to her releases, which is maybe why I feel pretty bitter about this whole thing. Thanks for sharing how you felt and I relate a lot to what you experienced as someone who also looked up to her. But with game devs and idols you never really know who they are or what they are like outside of their projects.
I'm glad to know that i'm not alone here, it makes me feel better.I read a lot of your comments and replies while researching and you inspired me to write this post
I love horror visual novels, and play them quite frequently, so I was excited knowing one of my favorite developers made one.
Like you, I feel disappointed because, if executed correctly, this could be a really good game.
I know that I have no way of knowing who Jenny is outside of her works but still, I have this guility feeling of wishing I had known.
I agree with you. That was my experience and this was my first exposure to her work.
I went in blind before this page was revamped and got the unalive ending. It was such a shock because of how abruptly the tone changed. There was lack of foreshadowing as well.
I can handle horror but I think the warnings should’ve been more visible so others don’t get the genre of game wrong. Otherwise people with delicate sensibilities towards certain topics will get exposed them in the game anyway in a much more shocking manner which is a worse surprise.
I don’t think I’ll trust this creator’s games in the future because of how this was handled.
I agree with the fact that content warnings should be more obvious than just a hidden section in the description
I play a LOT of visual novels that have sensitive topics, and personally it doesn't bother me. But I see how it might affect someone who has experienced it IRL.
Especially with this game where it just throws it in your face all of a sudden
I've played a few VNs where you agree that you are aware of the content warnings contained before even playing the game and I think Jenny should have at least done that much.
HOW DO YOU GO BACK IN YOUR PROGRESS I'VE HAD TO RESTART LIKE 5 TIMES TODAY AND I WAS AT DAY 2 PLS I DONT WANNA KEEP PRESSING NEW GAME
I thought I managed to save him...
I'M SOBBING OMG NOOOO GOD
To preface, I played this a couple weeks ago at the recommendation of a "friend" - one I'm not particularly happy with at the moment. This was before the content warnings were added to the game and I didn't even think to look for that stupid hidden dropdown in the description. The game looked cute and my "friend" didn't say anything so... After sitting on it a few weeks to avoid any knee-jerk feelings, I decided to make an account to actually post a review.
1) The Death Note references(???) Why? Why make such an important part of your endings, not only so subtle and quickly moved past that most didn't catch it, but based on an entirerly different piece of media created by a different artist that a large part of your players hasn't seen? I only know from reading some of the comments that they were even there and what they meant.
2) If the author was trying to impart that streamers are people too and the harm of parasocial relationships - points which were honestly coming across rather well for the majority of the game - then why were all the horror elements and weird references hamfisted in?
Why was the first ending most got just a *very sudden* disgusting CG of Zilas hanging himself before the game just ends?
There are so many other ways it could've been done if the writer was determined to go that route. Zilas could've disappeared, it could've ended with a goodbye note or a phone call - hell, even just the MC finding blood splattered around his empty room. The only reason to end it with a very visual hanging was to shock and disturb the player. THIS is what people have a problem with. No one wants to see their struggles, their awful ideations, what they've lost friends or families or lovers to used as some disgusting, rug-pulling, contrived plot twist. A ploy just to rake in undeserved ratings for a rushed game that was initially presented as just another cute romance VN, until the developer received enough criticism that she was forced to show some reluctant concern to her players. Just enough to add a condescending warning to the beginning of the game, mind, not actually attempt to adjust the problematic plot or listen to any other feedback.
Whatever message the writer was going for got muddied and lost among all the weird and unnecessary twists she decided to add. To anyone who doesn't get the references or play more than once ( I've lost any and all interest at this point) it just looks like Zilas suddenly hung himself after one spike of bad publicity, with insufficient buildup or warning signs. If it was really the cat that did it, then what was the point of any of Zilas's struggles with streaming and having to handle streamer drama and criticism in the first place? It all just falls apart at the end.
3) To this writer and any others: if you don't have first-hand experience or haven't done copious amounts of research on a mental illness or any other sensitive subject matter... consider just not making it part of your story? Because not only will you likely deeply hurt and upset a portion of your playerbase who have had the misfortune of being affected by it personally, you also risk negative criticism (in case the former doesn't concern you.)
Now that I know that her players' mental health isn't even on her list of concerns until it directly impacts her, I won't be touching anything by this developer again. It should never have taken two months after release to add content warnings to the game.
I think the reason the ending is so abrupt and messed up is because this is just a demo of sorts and they're trying to appeal to us to support so they can finish the project as stated by the cat in an ending. I however wholly agree with you that it was a really messed up and graphic way to do it. I feel gutted.
I think what most of us are trying to say is that we aren’t so much so upset at Jenny for attempting something like this, it’s pretty unique and a good concept on paper, we just wish if suicide was done it shouldn’t be for shock value and I think she should’ve used this for a full project and not a game jam so she could translate her ideas better and have better pacing. I don’t think you should need a demo to feature suicide just to boast ratings and moral for your game, that sounds like a lame excuse to get people to support you and kinda manipulative as others have pointed out.I understand the grander scheme of the story she was trying to put out and what op was trying to say is that this is a good idea but it had very awful execution + it needed more time in the oven and a lot of this stuff should’ve stayed in development or very well been done better and in a longer format so you can really understand what’s really going on. I think Jenny limited herself to a game jam and that was kinda the root of the issue, not saying it’s a justification for the misuse of suicide but I think that’s where a lot of these issues could’ve been avoided and a lot more research as to not stigmatize her audiences trauma and experiences for likes and reviews. Especially since I don’t even think said creator struggles with these ideations themselves, or has never outright confirmed as such. Not that it would make it any better.
I'd agree if she hadn't asked for such a high number of ratings. Her other game ERROR143 only has 2,370 ratings at the time of this comment. There's currently no Otome game on itch.io with 5000 ratings, including games like Our Life: Beginnings & Always or Blooming Panic, games which honestly blow this one well out of the water. It just comes across as a scammy way to boost her way to the top.
Her request is also hurting her fans. Many are making alt accounts to post false ratings and some of those have gotten banned. For anyone reading this: itch.io will ban all of your accounts and IP ban you if they catch you doing this.
this.^^^ I think she stated it was supposed to be impossible or almost impossible, which is weird because that’s just blatant misinformation and dangling a piece of cheese over a mouse, but she could’ve benefitted from there being more time to develop this project and just being straight up with the “there is no happy endings thing” because it feels like false advertising with the whole impossible reviews thing and secret third ending which just blatantly untrue because there is only two, which leaves a bad taste in my mouth. This project is honestly just a mess, the games you suggested are so much better. Sorry for not originally stating that, I do actually wholeheartedly agree this game was scammy from the beginning and just think it’s a very interesting idea horribly executed.
guys!!!! At this rate the game won’t reach 5000 at the end of this year, cmon guys let’s RISE with the aalts✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊👋👋👏🫡🫡🫡
hey i am new to the website, so i want to ask few things
can you tell me how to rate ?
and how can i see how may people had rate the game ?
and did they promise to give a good ending if the game reached 5000 ?
thanks in advance <3
For rating, on the top right corner:there should be a button(“Rate this game”) for rating the game 1-5 stars (for phone I honestly don’t really know but if you rotate your phone it should pop up near the top🤔)
To see how many has rated click More Information which is above comments section (and above Download Now in some other pages)
and I have no idea if they promised😼 I’d like to think they did tho
small spoiler
hey I was watching some gameplay of it, and its was one of the endings that they promised to give a different ending
HOW DO YOU PAUSE THE GAME GUYS
click on settings
WHAT DOES THE BUTTON LOOK LIKE
PLS ITS A COG ON THE TOP RIGHT OMG
NO IK THAT BUT LIKE THE PAUSE BUTTON I MEAN IM SORRY
OHH WAIT AM I DUMB IS THE PAUSE BUTTON LIKE JUST CLICK ON SETTINGS AND IT WILL LIKE AUTOMATICALLY PAUSE AND STAY ON SETTINGS TILL U COME BACK???
YESS JSDFSJDBNABSD
Can u adjust calling section,sr for my english.I can read it quickly like the way zil call.Thank for read my comt, have a gud day
okay so
LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF PLAYING THIS GAME BUT opinion text was goin too fast and.... damn that endings, i LOVE this game
he's so cute but the ending TT-TT
Hello! I saw this game few days ago and wanted to play it when I start it it won't let me write my name and username? I tried to open the game in different Browser but it won't work :( I use a phone I hope I can play the game soon tysm!!<3 :3
I'm having the same problem on android
GENUINELY CRIED WTH!!!
when is the full release and will we finally have a good ending :<
Well that was the single most emotionally devastating game I've ever pkayed (made an account just to comment about it cause OH MY GOD)
PLEASE FREE ZILAS WTF
so no matter what you lose? wtf
People weren't kidding,i had no idea what i was expecting
i wasn't prepared to see that
Noooo!! I really wanted to marry him! T_T
it sucks theres not a happy ending :((( good story tho AAAHHH IM GONNA CRYY
Here to help support!
Great game, great art style, but plz free my boy.
pls let me download it i dont want to restart the whole game just to get another ending and i cant even skip :sob:
guys the very first listed content warning is for suicide..................
I mean, unless it wasn't included in the first version, that would be scummy. But I haven't seen anyone claim that
Actually, it was claimed multiple times it wasn’t in the first build.I can attest to it not being added until about a week or so later because enough people complained about it originally if you scroll far enough because it should’ve been a no brainer for it to be there upon release, I was here from about day 1 and I have a log of it being updated in my following notifications. Even with the warning, it still shocked and confused a lot of people, though I understand your point. Here is some people pointing it out:
