1) Gameplay
Hero:
Your abilities are pretty useful. There is input lag occasionally, which makes things painful. I would've preferred to have magic assigned to its own button, and down + jump assigned to backdash, like Castlevania runs it.
Shield is far too useful. I would've liked it to have a damage bar, where you can take X number of hits before you're unable to block. It would make jumping/backdashing (positioning) more necessary, and prevent turtling. I just didn't use the shield, because I'm a MAN.
Magic is very helpful in the right circumstances, and the mana bar works just fine. My one complaint is that the final magic upgrade is too useful. My next game, I'd just skip it.
Levels:
First level is pretty hohum, and I thought so in the demo, too. Enemies are too spread out for my taste, it's a little too linear, and the platforms aren't that difficult. The center area with the spinners and the first upgrade platform was fun, but later on it's not hard. Should've made more use of the bouncy mushrooms, particularly in having an area where you can't SEE where you're bouncing to. I loved the mushroom, but it shows up sparingly. Wasted potential!
Second level starts off easy, too. Platforms are easy, the lasers are not that bad, at all, as long as you know how to lead them. Quicksand is easily bypassed. Shit gets real when you get inside the building. Spikes are laid out well, you have plenty of room for landing your jumps, and the enemies are laid out correctly to maximize your need for using positioning and timing to beat them. No more bypassing most of them. It's still pretty linear, but getting the switches is fun, and I enjoyed the second half. The lack of save point loli throughout makes it a challenge in the later half.
Third level is real cool. Has my favorite things in the universe: flip ledges and spike rooms. The tower section is somewhat wasted potential, since you really have no opportunity to fall completely off the tower and have to start over again. Enemies maximize their coverage, horizontal and vertical. Lizardwomen cover horizontal, and Witch gets vertical. Vampire girl is way too easy to tank, as her damage is minimal, and I think she should've been mixed in with the other enemies. She is not a good standalone miniboss. Save point loli is nowhere to be seen! My conservation is maximum.
Enemies:
Level 1:
Catgirls are surprisingly the most effective of the stage 1 enemies. They're quick, they cover ground, and they take three hits. You can goomba stomp them, but not when slimes are around.
Slimes don't do much, in the long run, since they don't make use of their mobility to cover the catgirls.
Fairies should move around on their own, or fire then move, to reposition themselves so that they're not so easy to fake out, since their shots take so long. Not a lot of fairies, and they're usually not covering other enemies.
Alraunes are tres easy, since they're usually alone. Easy goomba stomping. When they're with enemies, I usually dispatch with magic the fairy guarding them. Not tough.
Boss is pretty easy. You can tank the branches or dodge them, shield the spores, and then magic her to death when she starts moving. Boss lacks mojo.
Level 2:
Minotaurs are catgirls on steroids, since their hit covers in front and above them. Still, easy to jump behind them. Not so easy when they're covered by other monsters, like sirens.
Harpies are really easy. Really, really easy, since you can stop their charge. Just stand in front of them and hit them. If you want to fix this, give them super armor when they charge. Poof, they're fun to fight.
Ghosts are simple enough to deal with. I just wait for them to arrive and dispatch them. The way to fix this is to treat areas where they exist as spawn rooms, where they can spawn offscreen and come in all the time, forcing you to deal with them on the go.
Sirens are pretty sweet. Their notes go fast, but don't do much damage. Adding the stun lets the other enemies in the area get there once you're stunned. Not enough use of sirens, really. I love em.
Mummy girl is easy. You can stand in front of her and dispatch her. She needs something better than the alraune's wave attack... something like a PBAoE move she can do if you stand next to her. That would work well. Maybe something like a death spin, where she winds up and then spin attacks you like a top.
Genie is fun, but no fair on being able to block her fireflower shots with the shield. Other than that, I like her. It would be nice if she had a PBAoE attack on disappearing, though, so you were forced to attack, and then get out fast.
Level 3:
Lizardwomen are the axe knights from Castlevania. Little room for improvement. I would like it if they alternated their attack pattern, maybe throwing one axe horizontally, or maybe parabolically, depending on their wind up.
Witches are fun! My improvement would be to alternate their attack, too, and give them a spiral attack which fires two or more projectiles from them that circle out, instead of just the cold ball. Can't complain about them, otherwise.
Vampire girl is effective in her attacks, but they don't do enough damage, and she's never with other monsters to back her up and force you to choose where to fight her. If you did that, she'd be tres cool.
Dragon girl is the same, in that nobody fights with her, she only shows up two or three times, and you can jump her attack easily. I would give her a melee-range attack to keep you on your toes.
Super save point loli as the final boss was great. You have my applause. I think you really outdid yourself with her. I think she ended up being a little too easy, though, since you can tank a lot of her attacks, and she dials them in. If you varied her attack cycle after each time you PONG her, and changed the attacks, it would go a long way to making the fight even more FUN. Also, when you're forced to PONG her, she should teleport to another area when she PONGs it back, so you have to jump BEHIND the fireball in order to hit it to her new direction.
Aesthetics:
Hero is pretty meh. Looks too much like the kid from Monmusu Quest. Not bad, but it doesn't have what I would consider your personal appeal.
First level is blah. Fairy and alraune are the most aesthetic monsters. Dryad boss is not that cool looking. Kind of a letdown.
Second level starts off blah, but picks up. Gotta be siren and harpy as best monsters. I love the interior of the stage. Genie boss is lovely, and the fight room is well laid out.
Third level is good. A bit spartan on decorations and design, but the enemies make up for it, and love the final room. Super save point loli is orz. The only thing that would've made her better would be some sort of super cape. Including her as the boss was good.
Ero:
I'm not going to go into what you SHOULD'VE done, as that's not my specialty, but I will tell you what worked.
First level was kind of spartan. I like the animations, but they don't have enough interesting motions to make it worthwhile for me. Dryad was cool.
Second level was better. Titjob minotaur was good, but harpy and siren stole the show. Mummy was just so-so. I wasn't expecting the genie to do what she did, but it worked in spades.
Third level was goooood. Lizardwomen did well, vampire forced cunnilingus rocked, and dragons were good. I loved the witch. Easily my most favorite. Super save point loli was good, but it felt like "This is it?" I could've used more on her, since she was the final boss.
I thought the grapple system would be a wash, and it sorta was. You have both too little time and too much time to avoid it. Too little in that enemies are on top of you instantly, and the lack of a discernible detriment to being raped by enemies makes you take your time. It's also easy to tank damage by being grappled, wait for them to get close, and then spring up into invul state and kill them.
Final Thoughts:
It's good. Better than Kuro, but it doesn't feel like it's SUPER better. Worth 5 dollars? I would've paid 10. Easily worth more than 3/4 of what's on dlsite. That's never been a problem. Ero content? Needs more of it, but I'll always say that. If you do more like the later levels, as opposed to the first level, I'll be an avid fan. CGs are better! Your art has improved.
The most important thing to take from this is that I had fun. Could've had more fun, but I'm not complaining. As long as you don't get burnt out, I'll have something to look forward to every 6 months or so.
