Details on Story Rework

Hello, friends! Today we’ll go over the modifications we’ve been making to the game’s text for the rework without spoiling anything major.

The idea of reworking the story has been in the back of our minds since the first version of the game. However, two things have stopped us up until now: the huge time investments required and differences in our vision of the story with our last writer. Now that a talented writer who’s on the same page as us has joined the team and Baku has worked out all of the conceptual details, we’ve finally launched a large-scale writing rework.

What Has Changed?

A Completely New Prologue

The old beginning was confusing and even offputting for many, and we came to appreciate its drawbacks ourselves. But now, the story will begin with some history about the setting — the war between the two kingdoms, its origins and consequences. Little by little, we’ll lightly animate this new prologue (adding parallax and effects) and fully voice it. It looks like it should be pretty epic. And right after that, you’ll see how Ilias and Tifa met. This scene previously didn’t appear until the third chapter, which is why a lot of people didn’t understand who Tifa was and why Ilias lived with her. The new prologue will clear up more or less all of that. We’ve also extended the scene a little bit past the point where Ilias throws a rock at Tifa.

More Cooking and Bigger Plot Role

Cooking, the way dishes taste, and their impact on characters’ relationships are going to play an ever bigger role than before. Food won’t just be a mechanic, but a part of the story that helps bring characters together and reveal what sort of people they are. It will also play a bigger role in the main plot; cooking will be key to advancing the story at several points.

A More Conspicuous Tifa

We’ve heard that it’s not always clear whether Tifa is accompanying Ilias or not. Consequently, after the rework, she’ll comment on what’s going on if she goes somewhere with Ilias. In addition to clarifying whether she’s present, her comments should add some more funny moments to the game (where appropriate).

Improved Understanding of Plot and Objectives

At the start of the game, Ilias will now have clear goals, and events will unfold in such a way that the player will always know where to go next for the main story. Everything will happen in a coherent sequence, and one by one, conflicts and major villains will pop up along the way. Incidentally, these goals and storylines have been in the game from the beginning, but we’ve done a poor job of shining a light on them. We should have been more clear about everything from the very start, but instead we put off straightening things out for later, which has led to some understandable frustration with the plot. Fortunately, we’re fixing that now.

Balance Between Levity and Gravity

We’ve added more drama and serious moments to the game’s script, but we’ve also made room for humor and jokes, which are now even funnier and more apt. Tifa’s the main supplier of these jokes 😄

Completely Reworked Quests

All quests have been rewritten to make the story more interesting and easier to follow. We hope this removes any confusion tied to quests and makes it easier to keep up with what’s happening without missing anything.

Of course, even after the release of the rework, the game will still be far from finished, so we’ll pay careful attention to your feedback and continue making improvements. Thanks for sticking with us!