I recently replayed this game and my God i forgot how good it was! From the story to the art– i really genuinely loved everything. I usually don't play stories where the MC isn't at least renameable but i LOVE serene so much! She is such an interesting character and i love the dynamic she can have with each of the love interests. I remember the first time i played this game and it was even better than how i remembered. I love love Aerona, like LOVE HER 😭😭😭 I felt so bad when i wasn't on her route but oh my god literally every route was so engaging!! I genuinely had to keep switching between the star and the sun path because i also really love beca and thisbe. Im not good at describing how i feel but my god if this is not one of the best games ive ever played. All for free too like??? Truly I've been blessed and im so happy to be able to play this game <3
I really like this game! It is extremely wonderful and immersive. The multiple choices and the way they effect the ending is very interesting. The art style is wonderful and so are the CGs and backgrounds. The characters are also amazing with special traits and backstories which make them unique and fascinating.
I found everything to be wonderful... except for the fact that after a while my game no longer opens properly. It gets stuck at the very beginning at the hourglass loading screen. This is making it really hard to complete the game fully with my previous progress at hand... I have had to delete my files and then re-extract them over and over again and when I do get it to work my progress seems to not match to that f before.
I would be extremely glad if you looked into the matter.
I've been trying to look into the issue but I think it's an engine issue and not something I'm able to fix :/ The only potential solution to try I can think of is to keep your number of saves low in case it's a file size issue (so like, overwriting/deleting your oldest saves instead of using a new slot every time). Sorry this is happening, and sorry I can't help much!
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts (and don't worry, your English is perfectly clear)! I'm really glad you enjoyed Emrys's route and that the moral implications of it felt compelling! I hope you'll enjoy Aerona's route as well, she offers a different angle on your past and how to move forward! I'm also glad you like her art, she's also my favourite out of the character designs :) Thank you for your support and for taking the time to write this comment, I really appreciate it <3
Hi there! I was so excited about the game I purchased the full version with the leaflet too, but even after following the guide to run the game on Mac my laptop says this:
“The Hero's Journey” cannot be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.
Is this a common issue and do you know of a way I can fix it?
This is such a great game. It had me engrossed for days. I really love Rhain. Protect him all cost Seren! He's so precious. I obviously played his route and was so enamored with him! He was so well written and so in love with her for so long, I just wanted to make sure he received all the love he deserves. I did start to fall for Yi Kai as a character, but in the end he had nothing on Rhain.
It is such a rare treat to find a long visual novel that really pulls you into the story but this game has done that and all of the characters were so well developed. Amazing!
This was honestly one of the best visual novels I've ever read. I love your writing @maneki_mushi especially the emotions and feelings of each character.
It's a parody on the whole concept of the "perfect hero" and even knowing Seren's upbringing, it was hard to demonise the actions she did in those forgotten 5 years...well except for the implied toxic relationship with Aerona.
Being a bi woman myself, I was torn...between choosing Aerona or Yà Kâi.
Aerona was the one I originally fell for. Her harder, battle hardened warrior shell covered a softer lovable inner self, and her personality was something that I liked. The way she cared for Seren, held her close protectively so many times, and her pure love. *Not to mention the scars that make her look good, army women with scars are kinda my type...lol :P and the NSFW scenes with her were so amazing and realistic, no male gaze at all which made it even hotter and...emotional my god* (the ending proposal from her made me cry)
Then there's Yà Kâi for who I felt a mix of adoration and guilt. I just wanted to see him happy, see him smile and was broken to see him losing his memories slowly but surely.
Although I leaned more towards Aerona, I still wanted to accompany Yà Kâi to see that he safely reached his home...I don't care about the long journey of going and coming back to Aerona.
I'd have loved if there was an option to convince Aerona to come with you on the travel to lands of Han just to make sure Yà Kâi is back home safely. Maybe she would only agree if you did enough good things for her in the story choices? That way Seren could get closure and lead a happy life with her fiancée...then again that's just not how life goes sometimes.
The game was great and I loved reading everything! Not many otome games out there cover both male and female love interests so nicely, thank you for the read, well worth the purchase of the pdf and dlc version! :)
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! Your thoughts on Aerona make me really happy, I'm glad her characterisation came through and made you emotional! Also super happy to hear you like the NSFW DLC, it's important to me to make female gaze content and for the adult scenes to reinforce the story themes and add to the emotional intimacy!
---- SPOILERS ------ Getting to see Yi Kai's journey through and come back to Aerona would just be too good :') I wanted the final choice to feel difficult, there's no "right" choice and if you care about the characters every choice might have a downside.
i CRIEEEEEED i started this at night and skipped school today just so i could play this.. this is more than a masterpiece, words cant describe what i feel for this,, emrys and becca are my new home and im in love with them, i cried and cried for yi kai,, and there sm choices i made that could have affected everything differently, the guilt i felt for eveything,, im going to play again and again with different choices and all but i'll miss my dear emrys alot,, AND BECCA omygod pls harden my heart so i could choose to walk in the sunlight, knowing becca and emrys wouldnt be with me is already making me not wanna do it BUT AGHHHHHHHHHHHHH I WILL TELL THE TRUTH and honestly, i was planning on hiding the truth long enough so i could send both emrys, becca and yi kai oversees and then i would have staged sumn where aeron would uncover me for the mastermind i was,, so at least she wouldnt be punished and stuff yk bc obv she's known as my FIANCEE and would be associated w me whether it was good or bad and i wish her the best,, part of that is why i stopped romancing her and went with emrys but i didnt regret it,, anyway i'll study some organic chem and solve some pastpaper AND THEN PLAY AGAINNNN this time,, i'll wal in the sunlight. im so fucking sorry my heart hurts i need becca and i wanna be emrys' friend but ik they wont walk w me,, at least ik emrys will be a good dad to becca,, and im so sorry becca i cant believe im crying over my 4 years younger than me kid lmao, i love u sm becca and i'll come back and look at the stars for u and ur dad<3
I'm so happy you feel so strongly about your choices and the characters :') Leaving Emrys and Beca behind to take the Sun path is a hard choice for sure! I cried when I wrote Beca's scenes on the Sun path sometimes, I love her and it's hard to write her and Emrys as antagonists T_T I think it makes it all the more heartfelt and sweet when you do take the Star path and get to have them by your side though! Thanks for taking the time to write your thoughts and feelings!
I'm in love with Thisbe. Totally understand why you can't romance her, of course. I wouldn't romance Seren if I were her, either. XD
Loving this so far. I was like "omg I'm getting Total Recall vibes" lol. And of course I LOVE that there are two paths. There are VNs out there that have less replay value because it's basically just mildly different scenes when you have different romance options. One of the things I absolutely love about CinPhen and Seduce Me 2 is that the replay value is great because the paths all differ. So having different paths to romance the other half of the romance options in this VN is great. Can't wait to romance Emrys. Gonna be difficult coz I have zero clue how his mind works. Like trying to get Solas's approval all over again lol
I'm glad you're enjoying it so far :) I love VNs/games that have drastically different paths too, it's really thought-provoking to see the same story from different perspectives! I think Emrys is a little easier than Solas haha
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what a lovely game!!! so gorgeous, and the characters felt so real and personal to me;; all of them were so well-written!
I recently replayed this game and my God i forgot how good it was! From the story to the art– i really genuinely loved everything. I usually don't play stories where the MC isn't at least renameable but i LOVE serene so much! She is such an interesting character and i love the dynamic she can have with each of the love interests. I remember the first time i played this game and it was even better than how i remembered. I love love Aerona, like LOVE HER 😭😭😭 I felt so bad when i wasn't on her route but oh my god literally every route was so engaging!! I genuinely had to keep switching between the star and the sun path because i also really love beca and thisbe. Im not good at describing how i feel but my god if this is not one of the best games ive ever played. All for free too like??? Truly I've been blessed and im so happy to be able to play this game <3
I really like this game! It is extremely wonderful and immersive. The multiple choices and the way they effect the ending is very interesting. The art style is wonderful and so are the CGs and backgrounds. The characters are also amazing with special traits and backstories which make them unique and fascinating.
I found everything to be wonderful... except for the fact that after a while my game no longer opens properly. It gets stuck at the very beginning at the hourglass loading screen. This is making it really hard to complete the game fully with my previous progress at hand... I have had to delete my files and then re-extract them over and over again and when I do get it to work my progress seems to not match to that f before.
I would be extremely glad if you looked into the matter.
I've been trying to look into the issue but I think it's an engine issue and not something I'm able to fix :/ The only potential solution to try I can think of is to keep your number of saves low in case it's a file size issue (so like, overwriting/deleting your oldest saves instead of using a new slot every time).
Sorry this is happening, and sorry I can't help much!
Its alright! Thanks for your concern and advise!
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts (and don't worry, your English is perfectly clear)!
I'm really glad you enjoyed Emrys's route and that the moral implications of it felt compelling! I hope you'll enjoy Aerona's route as well, she offers a different angle on your past and how to move forward! I'm also glad you like her art, she's also my favourite out of the character designs :)
Thank you for your support and for taking the time to write this comment, I really appreciate it <3
Hi there! I was so excited about the game I purchased the full version with the leaflet too, but even after following the guide to run the game on Mac my laptop says this:
“The Hero's Journey” cannot be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.
Is this a common issue and do you know of a way I can fix it?
I haven't heard of that happening to other players! Though there are a lot of issues on Mac :'( This link has different ways to solve this issue:
https://4it.com.au/kb/article/how-to-open-app-cant-be-opened-because-its-from-an...
(and if neither of these work and you'd like a refund, you can email me at manekimushidev@gmail.com with your itch.io payment receipt!)
I played this after reading a review on it in ChoiceBeat: Issue 7, and I am really glad I did! It's very well crafted!
My fav character was Wooly, I opted to spend time with him whenever I could, but all characters are written well, and I loved to interact with them.
Thank you for your comment! I'm glad you liked the characters and Wooly in particular <3
This is such a great game. It had me engrossed for days. I really love Rhain. Protect him all cost Seren! He's so precious. I obviously played his route and was so enamored with him! He was so well written and so in love with her for so long, I just wanted to make sure he received all the love he deserves. I did start to fall for Yi Kai as a character, but in the end he had nothing on Rhain.
It is such a rare treat to find a long visual novel that really pulls you into the story but this game has done that and all of the characters were so well developed. Amazing!
I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'm also super happy to hear some praise for Rhain, I think he's the LI who flies under the radar the most but I love him :')
SPOILERS BELOW!
This was honestly one of the best visual novels I've ever read. I love your writing @maneki_mushi especially the emotions and feelings of each character.
It's a parody on the whole concept of the "perfect hero" and even knowing Seren's upbringing, it was hard to demonise the actions she did in those forgotten 5 years...well except for the implied toxic relationship with Aerona.
Being a bi woman myself, I was torn...between choosing Aerona or Yà Kâi.
Aerona was the one I originally fell for. Her harder, battle hardened warrior shell covered a softer lovable inner self, and her personality was something that I liked. The way she cared for Seren, held her close protectively so many times, and her pure love. *Not to mention the scars that make her look good, army women with scars are kinda my type...lol :P and the NSFW scenes with her were so amazing and realistic, no male gaze at all which made it even hotter and...emotional my god* (the ending proposal from her made me cry)
Then there's Yà Kâi for who I felt a mix of adoration and guilt. I just wanted to see him happy, see him smile and was broken to see him losing his memories slowly but surely.
Although I leaned more towards Aerona, I still wanted to accompany Yà Kâi to see that he safely reached his home...I don't care about the long journey of going and coming back to Aerona.
I'd have loved if there was an option to convince Aerona to come with you on the travel to lands of Han just to make sure Yà Kâi is back home safely. Maybe she would only agree if you did enough good things for her in the story choices? That way Seren could get closure and lead a happy life with her fiancée...then again that's just not how life goes sometimes.
The game was great and I loved reading everything! Not many otome games out there cover both male and female love interests so nicely, thank you for the read, well worth the purchase of the pdf and dlc version! :)
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! Your thoughts on Aerona make me really happy, I'm glad her characterisation came through and made you emotional! Also super happy to hear you like the NSFW DLC, it's important to me to make female gaze content and for the adult scenes to reinforce the story themes and add to the emotional intimacy!
----
SPOILERS
------
Getting to see Yi Kai's journey through and come back to Aerona would just be too good :') I wanted the final choice to feel difficult, there's no "right" choice and if you care about the characters every choice might have a downside.
Thanks for your reply! I agree with you it would have been too good, and in a way it makes your choices even more meaningful.
You have a real impact by your choices on those you care about; makes each choice all the more intense and real.
You might already know this, but there’s a glowing review of this game in Issue #7 of ChoiceBeat on pages 10-11: https://www.flipsnack.com/choicebeat/choicebeat-issue-7-zklose5unf/full-view.html
They captured some of the things I love about this game! :D
Oh wow I didn't know! It's such a kind review, I was so happy and blushing reading it :') thanks for sharing it with me!
SPOILERSBELOWWWWWWWWWW
i CRIEEEEEED i started this at night and skipped school today just so i could play this.. this is more than a masterpiece, words cant describe what i feel for this,, emrys and becca are my new home and im in love with them, i cried and cried for yi kai,, and there sm choices i made that could have affected everything differently, the guilt i felt for eveything,, im going to play again and again with different choices and all but i'll miss my dear emrys alot,, AND BECCA omygod pls harden my heart so i could choose to walk in the sunlight, knowing becca and emrys wouldnt be with me is already making me not wanna do it BUT AGHHHHHHHHHHHHH I WILL TELL THE TRUTH and honestly, i was planning on hiding the truth long enough so i could send both emrys, becca and yi kai oversees and then i would have staged sumn where aeron would uncover me for the mastermind i was,, so at least she wouldnt be punished and stuff yk bc obv she's known as my FIANCEE and would be associated w me whether it was good or bad and i wish her the best,, part of that is why i stopped romancing her and went with emrys but i didnt regret it,, anyway i'll study some organic chem and solve some pastpaper AND THEN PLAY AGAINNNN this time,, i'll wal in the sunlight. im so fucking sorry my heart hurts i need becca and i wanna be emrys' friend but ik they wont walk w me,, at least ik emrys will be a good dad to becca,, and im so sorry becca i cant believe im crying over my 4 years younger than me kid lmao, i love u sm becca and i'll come back and look at the stars for u and ur dad<3
-------------------------SPOILERS-------------------------
I'm so happy you feel so strongly about your choices and the characters :') Leaving Emrys and Beca behind to take the Sun path is a hard choice for sure! I cried when I wrote Beca's scenes on the Sun path sometimes, I love her and it's hard to write her and Emrys as antagonists T_T I think it makes it all the more heartfelt and sweet when you do take the Star path and get to have them by your side though!
Thanks for taking the time to write your thoughts and feelings!
literally, what u created is a masterpiece, i already got 2 of my friends to play it and they love it SM NXIHSA becca will be our forever fav kid
Aw thank you! I'm glad to hear your friends love the game (and Beca!) too <3
youre most welcome <333 ydk how good this makes me feel
Good god, when I wanted to walk in that sunlight and then Beca wouldn't follow. I just had to go back and look at the stars instead. ;_;
I'm in love with Thisbe. Totally understand why you can't romance her, of course. I wouldn't romance Seren if I were her, either. XD
Loving this so far. I was like "omg I'm getting Total Recall vibes" lol. And of course I LOVE that there are two paths. There are VNs out there that have less replay value because it's basically just mildly different scenes when you have different romance options. One of the things I absolutely love about CinPhen and Seduce Me 2 is that the replay value is great because the paths all differ. So having different paths to romance the other half of the romance options in this VN is great. Can't wait to romance Emrys. Gonna be difficult coz I have zero clue how his mind works. Like trying to get Solas's approval all over again lol
I'm glad you're enjoying it so far :) I love VNs/games that have drastically different paths too, it's really thought-provoking to see the same story from different perspectives!
I think Emrys is a little easier than Solas haha
what is CinPhen?
I would like a link to the game
Cinderella Phenomenon. You can find it on itchio or Steam.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah I love that game.