New year, new Scenarios, and a whole smorgasbord of new possibilities
Student Transfer is an expansive visual novel comprised of collaboratively crafted exploits involving TG, body swapping, mind control, transformation, possession, and more, culminating in a persistent juggernaut that has only grown and expanded since its original release in 2015, expanding into a 600,000 word visual novel as of 2019’s release of Version 4.0. However, that is certainly not the end all be all for this ambitious little project, as Student Transfer also happens to boast a lively community of fan-created Scenarios. And after having put out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 in this prolonged series of staggered reviews, it’s time to continue things with Part 4!
Student Transfer Scenario Reviews – Part 4
Platforms: PC(Reviewed), Mac, Linux, Android
Before jumping into the reviews proper, I should probably clarify a number of things. Firstly, while I am calling this post a review, that is mostly for the sake of convenience and uniformity, as this is not meant to be a formal assessment of any of these Scenarios, and I in no way mean to discredit or discourage the amount of time and effort these people put into their work. Secondly, all of these Scenarios either come pre-installed with recent versions of Student Transfer or come from the tfgames.site forums, which require an account to access. But for those who do not want to go through the hassle, I have provided direct download links from the Scenario writer. Thirdly, Scenarios for Student Transfer are all over the place with regards to compatibility, with certain Scenarios only working with certain builds. For most of the Scenarios covered, I used the latest build, Version 4.6, but for The K-Files and Witches and Warlocks, I had to use the legacy build, Version 3.1.
Fourthly, all of these Scenarios are very much non-canon and have no relevance to the main game. Yes, Student Transfer is an open collaborative effort, but these projects are developed beyond the control of the existing dev team. Fifthly, I am a crazy person, so I went and made flowcharts for every Scenario I covered in this post, even the ones that don’t really need them (well, except for one). Sixthly, I would like to thank nexoq for their computer-generated Student Transfer flowchart program, Graphify, which aided me significantly in the creation of my flowcharts! Seventhly, I am going to jump right into the Scenarios themselves and assume you are familiar with Student Transfer. If not, here’s my latest review of Student Transfer, here’s my dedicated Student Transfer page, and you can download various builds of the game via the download page of the official Student Transfer website.
Body Thief by KawaiiSwitcher – Download – Character Pack – Flowchart
Starting things off, we have quite the odd one. Body Thief centers around a fantastical reinterpretation of Student Transfer that bestows the familiar faces of Tina Koya High with assorted mental and transformative abilities, setting the stage for a rather ambitious adventure that begins with John being nudged by Circe from the Fate series to steal the body of Zoey. A change that sets off a series of burgeoning intertwining storylines that flood the first day in nebulous details pertaining to others with supernatural abilities, before culminating in a second day where the story proceeds to get completely bonkers. Mostly due to Zoey, who gains the ability to turn others into affectionate peons. A powerful trait that she naturally used to have Kiyoshi plow her in the bum, that is to say, John’s bum, in the boy’s restroom.
From there, the story begins to unravel into a ploy by a vast number of characters as they try to manage this unprecedented situation, either to their own advantage or otherwise, before things peter off on a bizarre note that introduces time travel and… just kind of stopping from there. It’s certainly a set up with more than a spark of ingenuity, but despite the aspirations of the developer, it honestly reads like a compilation of half-formed ideas without a firm narrative base to fall back on, and writing that leaves something to be desired. None of which is bad, it simply falls into the camp of scenarios written by creators who I doubt had a clear plan for how the story would progress, rather than a stream of disassociated ideas.
I also feel the need to object to how the writer handled the whole spontaneous relationship between Zoey (in John’s body) and Kiyoshi, which has a number of characters make incredibly rude and mean spirited comments that can be read as homophobic, or generally ignorant. Phila calls the two pedophiles, Yui calls their act of public indecency adultery, and Kiyoshi comments how the society he and ‘John’ live in does not accept gay relationships. All of which rings as especially… wrong, seeing as how this is a contemporary story set in San Fransokyo, the writer knows that the story is set in San Fransokyo, and San Fransokyo should be gay as heck.
Now, that would about cover it… if not for the fact that Body Thief is actually two Scenarios in one, and the other half is a crossover with the immensely popular Fate series, dubbed Fate/Grand Transfer. As somebody who hasn’t played Fate/Stay Night (I’m still waiting for an official English release), seen any of the anime series, or played any of the games, I have no idea how accurate or respectful this story is to the source material. Though it appears to have a well-regarded reverence for it, incorporating sprites, CGs, voice clips, and even anime footage from the series, while being positively drenched in terminology, characters, and references to the series. So much so that I eventually became lost as to the hows, whats, and whys that dictate this story, and simply began nodding my head to the narrative beats, rather than understanding the composition. Which, incidentally, is completely legible, but remains rather rough, featuring a lot of repetitive wording, improper tense, and an instance on using whilst instead of while.
I could incessantly criticize this Scenario for being a perplexing tale of time travel, super-powered battles, vague references to historical and literary figures, John acting as a body stealing antagonist hellbent on destroying the world, and barely having anything to do with Student Transfer. Like, at all. However, through all the hot-blooded actions, the fanfictiony furor, and the sheer dedication put into the presentation of it all, I found myself thoroughly enjoying what KawaiiSwitcher put together here.
Christmas in ST by Applemelon – Download – Flowchart
While this isn’t the best time to cover a holiday-themed Scenario, I honestly cannot think of when exactly would be the best time, unless I were to plan one of these posts for December… which I don’t really plan on doing. Anyhow, because Yui Spellbook writer and ZOEYQUEST maker Applemelon is an individual as eccentric as he is talented, he decided to make an ongoing annual Scenario following John as he is subjected to Christmas themed shenanigans involving a visit from Santa and his harem, plane crashes, Christmas ghosts, and obviously some TG, because what’s even the point of making an ST Scenario unless John becomes a girl at some point?
It all makes for a light, funny, and generally festive Scenario that takes a more playful approach with its characters and situations, delivering something that, on the merits of its writing alone, would be well worth checking out. But in addition to prolonging the story with a new chapter released in 2019 and providing a number of unique Christmas-y assets, Applemelon has proven himself to be among the more ambitious Scenario creators because he went and turned Student Transfer into a goldarn point and click adventure game. Admittedly a rather basic one, but it is nevertheless a great display of his continued passion for the source material, going all out even on what was meant to be a limited release joke Scenario.
Escape the Manor by Narg – Download – Flowchart
While I have historically called Student Transfer a “choose your own adventure style visual novel,” I mean that in the sense that the game is expansive, filled with branching paths, and dozens of potential endings to uncover throughout routes that vary wildly in content, tone, and characters. To me, the joy of playing the game is the content of the routes, rather than the choices themselves, or seeing just how one’s decisions result in a wide spectrum of different outcomes. Yet several Scenario writers evidently disagree with me on that concept, as Scenarios like Always Get The Warranty and When Worlds Collide indicate, offering a buffet of options, ideas, and ambitions but little in the way of substance. Which, unfortunately, is the same rut that Escape the Manor falls into.
The Scenario follows a group of individuals who find themselves stranded along the road, unable to call for help, and subjected to the elements, causing them to seek refuge in a luxurious manor located in the middle of nowhere, where they are promptly offered lodging and hospitality. All of which is naturally a facade of sorts that places protagonist Kazuto in a precarious predicament where he must find a way to escape the manor with both his mind and body intact, lest he becomes a servant to the magically adept masters of this manor. A fine starting point for a tale of mystery that has the protagonist stumble across myriad magical minutiae, but the execution of it all is… lacking.
The background of the antagonists, the description and context of the transformation, the process of mentally erasing a person’s identity, the plotlines and characters that only exist in isolated offshoots of the Scenario. It has no shortage of creativity, yet rather than digging its heels in, exploring the great ramifications of these ideas, and doing a deep dive into any of the subjects it brings it, the Scenario only dips its toes into a story concept before diving directly into something entirely different. Across 43 endings is a story that can be gone through in roughly 5 hours, with no time being afforded to most routes, and far too often things conclude right as they are about to get interesting.
Whatever quality there is to unravel here, and there is quite a bit, is suffocated through its structure, lacking the necessary room to breathe and blossom, thus resulting in a series of rapid-fire ideas that die as soon as they are plucked, failing to leave much of a lasting impact. This is a Scenario that has Kazuto become a deity, a slime girl, an isekai’d adventure girl, a succubus, a different succubus, the harbinger of a mind control apocalypse, and an elf concubine. But I forgot about most of that a few days after I finished the Scenario because it all came and went so goldarn fast.
Help Me Be Happy by JeffCharFlame – Download – Flowchart
Before getting into this Scenario, I should say that it was abandoned in 2017, and does not natively work with versions newer than 2.2. However, I was able to update the Scenario to run in Version 4.6 by creating a scenario.json file, changing the ‘none’ outfits to ‘nude’, and updating the custom sound effect file’s code. You can find my updated version of this Scenario here.
Anyhow, Help Me Be Happy is a quaint little thing that is set in a sort of bizarro parallel version of the familiar Student Transfer universe that appropriates certain characters while playing with entirely new ones, such as the main character Jeff. A young man with lightly detailed paranoia, social, and persistent mental issues, who thankfully has a good support network between his family and friends, but is still regularly filled with a sense of unrest in his daily life. An unrest that has largely remained in check, but is questioned when Jeff’s definition of what is possible changes dramatically when one of his friends brings a familiar alien remote to school.
What ensues is the beginnings of a story that details Jeff’s dissatisfaction with their male body, a desire to be freed from the mental strain and worry that wrack his mind on a daily basis, and generally trying to attain a reliable source of happiness. A story that I found to be rather enjoyable, possessing a very light and comforting tone that focuses on a character simply trying to satiate their desires and attain happiness without hurting anyone.
After going through the introduction and lightly detailed route where Jeff swaps bodies with his friend Tessa, I was thinking that I was in for a treat… but then I got to the route where Jeff changes their sex. It is here where the ultimate goals and objectives of the writer become muddled and confused while Jeff’s actions proceed to almost contradict each other, with his characterization and goals bopping around sporadically. One moment Jeff seems like an openly transgender character who is using the power of the remote to fulfill their internalized fantasy regardless of the opposition. The next they are talking about how they want to be someone else entirely. And then they drop all of these previous notions of being female, choosing to instead befriend a girl they ran into, quite literally, at a mall, despite being the sort of person to shy away from new people.
It all comes across as a mesh of indecisive ideas and concepts that were built upon each other without a clear end goal for the narrative. A narrative that is comprised through writing that often comes across as clunky or in need of further proofreading, a lack of detail pertaining to the source of Jeff’s unrest with his person, his mental disability, or his fascination with the female body, and friends who honestly come across as a bit too loving and supporting.
There is indeed something to Help Me be Happy. It appeals to my sensibilities as a trans autistic weirdo, reminds me a lot of a scrapped story that I was doing pre-production on back in 2014, and is free from external conflict, bitterness, and general worry, which is something of a rarity in most Scenarios. However, the story is what it is, it likely will not be updated, and all that I can definitively say about it is that it’s okay, I guess.
The K-Files by bricks – Download (via CobaltCore) – Flowchart – Version 3.1 Compatible
Whenever you have a contained universe of characters like Student Transfer, it is expected for fans to question how different things would be if certain events happened to different characters, what type of adventures they would get into, and how they would approach things. This is, at least to some extent, what The K-Files does, handing the mantle of protagonist and ownership of the alien remote, over to Kyoko.
Typically, as I have learned over time, this would have resulted in a writer applying the premise of ST but with Kyoko broadly across the game, developing an elaborate skeleton of potential storylines that, in all likelihood, will never be explored. However, The K-Files keeps its ambitions in check and instead delivers a brief single route story about Kyoko getting the remote, showing it to her friends, and then using it in a manner that would pique her interests. Investigating paranormal phenomena throughout the school with the aid of Kiyoshi and Katrina. Shenanigans ensue, ghosts are involved, and hi-jinks fill the halls of Tina Koya as the trio stumble into a dire mystery that can only be solved through their cunning, improvisational skills, and overall determination in the face of adversity.
There are a handful of minor misgivings I have with this Scenario, such as the lackluster reactions from John and Katrina, who are not especially interested in a remote that can rewrite minds and swap bodies. An anticlimax that, while clever conceptually, causes the proper story to end on something of a flat note. Along with a general lack of curiosity and scientific intrigue from Kyoko, who never actually uses the remote for herself. However, taking everything as a whole, it is a fun little side story that offers something discernibly different from the base game, uses the established characters well, and does precisely what it wanted to do in an efficient amount of time, while not leaving any petulant loose ends for me to stare at, wondering if the creator ever had anything planned for these routes.
Library Antics by ZeBeste – Download – Flowchart
Library Antics is a sort of follow-up to the Magic route from the base game, set a month after it, and following John as he continues his fairly unremarkable school life and the same issues that come from it. Namely dealing with the well-renowned scumbag and probable sexual predator, Jack Mallory, who sentences John to detention in the school library under the pretense that he will get some work done. This, naturally, does not happen, as there is more to this quaint set up than meets the eye, and things steadily blossom out of control. Demons are involved, identities are remodeled if not shattered, and a mechanical apparatus of undisclosed origin is introduced to keep things sufficiently spicy.
Conceptually, it has all the makings to be a reapplication of themes, concepts, and characters previously established in the main game, but presented in a different setting that allows for more unique situations, different character couplings, and, of course, transformations. All of which is indeed true about Library Antics, yet while its aspirations and ultimate goals are clear, the Scenario has a bit of a problem in actualizing these goals, getting past the preamble, prologue, and overall setup for its various semi-developed storylines.
When creating… really any form of media, it is important to retain the attention of your audience by introducing points of intrigue early on, or at least not force them to waddle their way through repetitions and redundancies to get to the ‘point’. Despite having a clear talent for writing, this is something ZeBeste struggles with, spending an incredible amount of the front half of this Scenario, going on these prolonged back and forward tirades between familiar characters. Needlessly reintroducing them, having them pick apart each other’s words, and taking an incredible amount of time to ask or answer fairly basic questions. It all made for a rather frustrating few hours that had me regularly moving away from the Scenario itself so I could muse about how I thought this was a bad storytelling approach, failing to properly hook the readers from the onset, or provide them with something considerably new.
At first, I was worried that I would need to brush this entire Scenario aside as being a load of Library Ped-antics, but then things finally started happening and… they ranged from good to genuinely wonderful. From deliberations over the impact of how one’s magically transformed body affects their mind as John finds himself slipping away from his identity. Jack finally getting his comeuppance for his vile behavior as he is reduced to a sobbing and dejected child completely and utterly mortified by his transgressions. Or John making stupid wishes to Circe that have glaring battleship sized holes in them that will obviously backfire in the most glorious manner possible.
It is here where the author’s more musing and methodical approach to writing also shines, clearly investing a lot of time and forethought into the situations and circumstances surrounding these characters. From their mental state gradually shifting to better match the body they inhabit, insights about the developing storylines, or general description of the bodily transformations they are subjected to. You know, the sort of stuff that the people who would seek out and play Student Transfer Scenarios, such as myself, are probably quite interested in.
This places Library Antics in something of an odd situation, as it can be a truly compelling Scenario filled with great concepts, lines, and character moments, but it also has an excess of fluff that bogs down much of the beginning, and certain tense moments of the story, making the Scenario as a whole rather lopsided and difficult to judge. Looking through the tfgames.site thread, I see that a lot of praise has been thrown towards this Scenario, so it is entirely possible that I am simply an impatient and insatiable individual. But as a writer, I still think the beginning of this Scenario is far too long and impairs the experience as a whole by being so… pedantic.
Witches and Warlocks by dukejones – Download – Version 3.1 Compatible
Witches and Warlocks is a rather ambitious reinterpretation and partial recreation of Student Transfer that begins as a slightly altered retread of day 0 and the early stages of the magic route, but steadily twists and morphs its way into something different both mechanically and narratively. What do I mean by that? Well, rather than being a sprawling visual novel driven by player choices that delivers story along dedicated routes, Witches and Warlocks is instead a life sim that tasks John with pursuing various character questlines, grinding up variables to meet designated thresholds, and going through both his life as a student and burgeoning wizard.
As for the narrative, it makes a number of changes to established characters, namely John’s family, certain classmates, and most especially his very own yandere stalker, who has been replaced by a witch that discovers John’s magical powers after they awaken, and becomes a sort of mentor for him after discovering his magical ancestry by rummaging about in his attic. All of which makes for a world that is often indistinguishable from the base game, and nicely captures the same tone, but most of these changes come across as more arbitrary than anything.
Do these changes amount to any interesting stories at the very least? Well… not really. In its current form, Witches and Warlocks does not have any even remotely complete routes, only featuring a completed beginning, the beginnings of a few routes, a tumbleweed of different scenes where John astrally projects himself to spy on Katrina, Setsuna, or his family, and a few idle conversations. Aside from that, there really is little meaningful or impactful story to indulge in, and what is there can be a bit tricky to find.
After completing the prologue section, the player is given what appears to be free reign over the next few days of John’s life, where they direct him to school, choose what he does afterwards, and react to randomly determined scenes or events while raising John’s magical aptitude by studying at the local library. By engaging in this process of stat grinding, John is able to make more progress in the somewhat intermingled questlines for Tori, Kyoko, and Patty, none of whom have particularly well-realized stories as of the last update, which was released in February 2018.
This nonlinear structure also made the Scenario more than a bit frustrating to play from the perspective of a flowchart maker, due to the myriad decisions it presents to the player, use of a day-night cycle, and occasionally throwing in repeated randomized scenes that themselves feature choices that affect unused variables. Between cycling through saves, digging through the code, and trying to figure out how this Scenario actually worked, I got pretty frustrated with it by the end and even gave up on the prospect of even trying to visualize this Scenario. Because even if I did make a branching web of different looping scenes or crafted a visual walkthrough, there isn’t anything the player can actually miss aside from some astral projection misadventures.
Do I think this makes the Scenario bad though? Well, no. The writing is consistently entertaining, nicely matching the tone and style of the base game, the new interactions are amusing, and I find the changes to be, at least conceptually, interesting. It’s just that in the developer’s attempt to create a life sim and revise the story and world to their liking, they neglected to flesh out whatever story they wanted to tell.
Now then, I think that about meets my quota for one of these things, and after… (10+7+5+7)… 29 reviews, I’d say that I made a more than a decent dent in the Scenarios backlog. There are, naturally, plenty of other Scenarios for me to check out next time around, such as A New Life, A.S.A.P., Empyrée, The Fate of Hannah Sterling, Popular, Ruin, Scenario Scenario, and SummerGals!. I am also anticipating another review of Never, that is once C.R.E.A.M. puts out another update, and I was originally going to check out Golden Lining by GarySavage in this review, but he deleted his Scenario on January 1st, 2020, despite it being showered with praise. That guy never seems to be satisfied with his work…
That’s what’s on my radar at the moment, but if any of you lovely readers have any Scenarios you want me to cover, please tell me down in the comments, and I’ll see you all next time.
When will that be? Well, I still plan on doing a review of Student Transfer, whether it be the base game or Scenarios, on a quarterly basis until I simply run out of quality Scenarios to cover. I actually pushed this review forward from its original Q2 release date because, looking over the Git, I had my doubts that Version 5 of ST would be ready by Q1 due to how many few writers are actively working on the project.
It stings a bit to hear sometimes, but I think your review of my scenario was spot-on. At some point I lost the cohesiveness I was aiming for and it kind of devolved into a “pick your poison” situation, which in turn leads to several plot holes. With the routes that still need to be completed, I hope to improve the substance of the scenario to make it more enjoyable overall, at least in those branches.
I’m glad to hear that you are welcoming my criticisms and striving to do better with the remainder of your Scenario. Again, I think you have some good ideas here, it’s just that you needed to give your story threads more room to breathe and expand upon themselves. It’s a lesson that I personally learned the hard way a few years ago.
Thank you for reviewing the scenario, all in all the scenario that I wrote was never intended for the ST fan base to begin with as I had my own fan base that I catered to.
Fate isn’t actually based on Stay Night but rather Grand Order, the chapter that I wrote is actually just the prologue with Orleans being around the same size. Of course this has very little to do with ST and it was intentional. Similar to have Soul Switch Online is a caption Parody of Sword Art Online that follows Asuna, Fate Grand Transfer is a parody of Fate mixed in with a shameless use of Student Transfer
As for the ST side of the story, the ST community wanted something from it which resulted in a quick/rather unsatisfactory story that I started off with which later on I came up with a plot (somewhat similar to the TV series Heroes) which resulted in me having to rewrite some scenes namely Day 1, leaving a rather choppy/mosh mash of ideas but hopefully it will connect together in the end.
As for the portrayal of LGBT+ discrimination, that is something I have been conflicted with as I have been doing retcon and rewrites, but ultimately whilst society tries to push forward with political correctness and general acceptance of same sex relationship, there is no denying that there are still people unaccepting of the idea or even feeling uncomfortable, especially in a secondary school environment where bullying is common and gossiping and back chatting is a norm, it would be more realistic if ‘nastier’ comments were made when gossiping amongst friends.
Regardless of it being same sex or not, having sex in school would constitute to serious repercussions.
I thought the Fuyuki chapter was originally part of Say Night given how it features many characters I recognized from the original VN, so forgive me for making that assumption.
I find your use of ST as a platform for creating your own parody series to be rather admirable, and what you managed to put together is very impressive from a presentational standpoint.
I personally thought that the ST route you made was a fine enough set-up, though the structure often made it difficult to fully grasp whatever it was you had planned. Which, evidentially, was not much if you are describing it as a mosh mash of ideas. That really is something of a shame, but I suppose that’s what happens when you try writing something more out of obligation and to satiate the desires of others…
I have no problem with you exploring discrimination or prejudices towards same-sex relationships in a work, but I do believe that your application of these issues leaves much to be desired, and comes across as inappropriate given the setting and characters you are working with. Tina Koya generally seems like a forward thinking school, and so do most of the students, so it was jarring to see so many students bear such vitriol towards Zoey and Kiyoshi, and for them to use terms that are, quite simply, wrong given the situation. Instead, I would have the nastier comments be more centered around how Kiyoshi and Zoey were being exhibitionist sex-crazed perverts.
Hmm being honest that segment was bothering me for a while and was sort of in the midst of being rewritten since I felt in today’s politically correct environment, such comments might be old fashioned or at least something from one generation ago, it’s not like it doesn’t exist but perhaps people aren’t as open about it put up a false front about accepting it in general when it doesn’t involves people they know. It is definitely something to think about and thank you for being honest about it in your review as feedback on that area/scene had been lacking
Yeah the ST route is a bit of a to please the other side of the community who took an interest in the work, it was definitely an ambitious idea since I wanted to try something new, a multi perspective story like TV shows where the story is told from multiple characters or supernaturally powered individuals who will come together in the end, as oppose to the other writers, I am somewhat jaded from writing so many Body Swap short stories I wanted to try something else hence the action battle with Fate and the Super Power variations in ST
I can certainly understand and appreciate wanting to do something different with a story after writing so many TG or body swap stories. It’s why my short stories, which I call Randoms, tend to be more unusual appropriations of TG and body swap content than the usual fare, because I wrote a couple hundred TG captions way back when and got tired of the rigmarole. That, and I’ve been a fan of TG stuff for a solid decade plus.
Regardless, I admire your ambition, think that things tied together nicely with the Fate route, and am curious to see what the Orleans chapter has in store, assuming this project is still in active development.
The project is still active but the upgrade from v3 to v4 took time pushing the project back and then I just got busy but still being worked on.
Working on the end portion now with some tweaks and rewording to refining bits of dialogue
I’m inclined to agree with Kawaiiswitcher that there are plenty of people who wouldn’t be very receptive to such relationships, especially in a high school where a scandal is happening in public with few people having any true idea of what is going on, thus turning to gossiping and assumption-making.
The most I’d change about it is showing one or two more voices that are more neutral on it or quietly supportive, because when two guys are fucking right in the school bathroom and the entire school knows it, I wager it takes a lot of personal investment and bravery to try and get up on a podium in that situation and yell “hey don’t be bigots!” when the iron is still burning in the furnace.
What I suggest as an alternative is that in the following days or whatever as people have had time to sleep on it, cool down and think things through both with and without their peers, more people start questioning initial assumptions, rumors and whatnot and speak their opinions more to greater or lesser extents. Some are bigots, some just hate the people involved or pretend they do for social brownie points. Some wanna be supportive and show the targets of the scandal that they have friends/allies left, some don’t particularly care about the individuals but wanna push an agenda of gay acceptance/tolerance and are using the moment as the battlefield with which to fight for it on.
And others still don’t care either way and either just wanna stay away from the matter or are getting sick/annoyed with how it’s taking over discourse across school. Or maybe they want social brownie points from another angle at school and try to virtue signal by making scenes of how progressive/supportive/whatever they are. There are a lot of ways to approach this, and so far I think it’s been done well.
I’m not denying that in a situation like the one seen in Body Thief is unrealistic, or that it is not indicative of contemporary high school culture. I just think that some of the terminology used is, from a technical standpoint, wrong, that there would not be as big of a stink made about the gay relationship considering where this story is set, and that the reactions of certain characters seemed a bit off considering how they are presented in the main game.
Me I saw it as a in-the-moment reaction to the shock when the scandal broke, combined with some peer pressure from the people who don’t like either of the two involved and the teachers who are yelling angrily for them to cut the shit and open the door. I will say I haven’t analyzed the game nearly as close as the resident flowchart girl so there is that to consider.
To be fair, even I feel like I haven’t went too far with the comments that the character Male. As for characters feeling out of place or out of character, that is because the game dev actually stated that there is no need for scenario devs like me to overly worry about keeping characters like for like not to mention not all characters were fleshed out and scenarios are not canon to the main game, a lot of the characters are written base on their bio and my own interpretation of them
As the author of “Popular” I look forward to reading your future review. May also encourage me to finish off those last little threads. :)
And I’m looking forward to playing your Scenario. ^^
I wouldn’t expect CREAM to update Never any time soon. Or ever. His last scenario wasn’t received too well, and he left the discord server soon after that not in the best emotional state.
In any case, I don’t think an update is coming. In the best case he will be updating Empyree.
Aw dang, that really stinks, I don’t follow the Discord (there’s simply too much for me to parse through) but I really enjoyed his work despite his less-than-stellar grasp of the English language.
Also, would you care to elaborate on Golden Lining and why you removed the download link?
I didn’t even intent it to be finished. At first I thought about it as just a distraction, trying something different and light before returning to writing Stone. Techdemo in a way. But then it actually became too long, wordy and just plain bad with stupid jokes nonsensical senteces etc. I only uploaded it because Fillin said that he hoped that i’d make another scenario after I deleted Stone and I had this one almost ready and so I thought “why not?”
But then I read ASAP and Re:Dreamer, and reread Yui Spellbook and Festival and they were so much better than anything I ever made. No matter how hard I’d tried I’d never be able to make anything similar. So I thought again, what’s the point in wasting other’s time? They download scenarios in hope of finding something interesting, not this crap. It has no lewd stuff, story doesn’t move anywhere, John is whiny doormat again…
Too different from the main game and not in a good way. Basically just a 2hr long prologue to something that will never exist. And cmon, you said it, even Library Antics takes too long to get to the interesting stuff, this one is even worse, interesting stuff never even starts.
Comparing your work to the work of others is a generally bad practice, as it can very easily feed one’s insecurities and doubts about their own creations. If you are actively criticizing or doubting yourself, that indicates that you truly care about your work and are at the very least trying to make something good and fulfilling. Which, ultimately, is what the goal of writers, artists, and so forth should be. Self-fulfillment.
In the age of the internet, it can be easy for one to become obsessed with comparative quality, metrics, or the reception of a community. But what truly matters about any creative field like this, especially one where you are not compensated at all, is that you enjoy making what you put out. And even if it is crap, and all you keep making is crap, you will eventually improve and make something good. Just keep at it, keep an eye out for your shortcomings, and you will make something you are proud of in due time. I’ve been down that road myself, having written so many bad reviews, bad novellas, and generally bad shit over the years. But I am forever grateful that I did make those things and that I put them out there because they laid a foundation for whatever nebulously defined quality my current line-up of work possesses.
If you like doing something, keep at it, don’t get discouraged, and you will eventually make something great.
Also, I had no idea that Re;Dreamer existed before you mentioned it, so thanks for that.
For what it’s worth, there’s always someone out there that enjoys a product made. You may never hear from them, let alone see them, but chances are that they’re there somewhere. I can see and respect an argument that it’s worth keeping it for that group of people, minority or otherwise, so they can experience it for themselves to whatever end. Maybe it’ll serve as an inspiration to someone?
That said, I do also sympathize with the notion of not wanting to waste people’s time with an incomplete product. I think if it’s already up it might as well stay there, but at the same time I can’t stop thinking about “if everybody did that and the market (such as it were) got even more saturated with unfinished products” and that does bug me a little personally.
Am conflicted in favor of let it stay if it’s been posted once already. Marking it as incomplete/abandoned should be enough to let people know up front what they’re getting themselves into.
Generally speaking, I agree. I view it as the right of any creator to take down their work if they are dissatisfied with it, but I would prefer it if, when they are met with anything more than a very negative reception, creators kept their work up and available so it can be enjoyed by others. If a product is incomplete, abandoned, or you think it is rubbish, mark it as such, let people know what they are getting into, and maybe somebody will come by and find value in it.
I personally have loved loads of things over the years that have received a muted reception, and even used them as personal inspiration myself. I mean, that’s actually what a lot of my short stories (Randoms) are. Me being inspired by some obscure nonsense and spinning it into my own thing. From a random 4Chan post I saw on Discord, an obscure erotic manga, or a rap album that only a couple thousand people have ever heard.
Heh, guess what, CREAM actually updated Empyree and continues to work on it. Good to know that my doubts were unwarranted
And okay, okay!!! You want to get into an incomplete, abandoned, rubbish and everything else? Go on, I’ve warned you or whatever.https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YadQbDu_RDWtYbdByDtUOdo37EKldE8x
I keep tabs on all Scenario updates through the ST Discord, so I knew about the Empyree update for the past few days, and I am looking forward to playing it in Part 5. Also, you can do whatever you want with your own Scenario, you don’t need to repost it (especially since I have a copy already).
Hey nigamabox, I been following you since years, and only for student transfer and press switch review. I really like how you review this games and I never really got to comment and say thank you. You also introduced many works from other people like ‘loggerzerd’ and your view and interest in tg, you really go indept
On any topic you review and that’s what I like about you. Well ya just wanted to comment. Hope you keep reviewing this and I’ll continue to follow you, thanks.
PS : and ya I’d also like to hear your what would you do.
1.The character you’d most like to be temporarily
2.The character you’d most like to be permanently
3.The character you’d most like to be best buds with
4.The character you’d most like to date
Favorite character overall/One you’d like to see more of
5.What you would do if you had the alien device
What you would do if you had the magic book
This was originally in the forum of Tfgame site but it’s easier hearing this from you directly. 😁
I’m always happy to hear from long-time readers and hear that I directed people to the work of others. I love Student Transfer, Press-Switch, and the subject matter they boast, so I intend on reviewing them, and similar games, for as long as people keep making content for them.
The questions you’re asking are ones I commonly see asked by fans of body swapping as a jumping off point, but for as much as I love body swaps, TSF, and all that good stuff, I am ultimately a very unadventurous person in real life, so if I was ever gifted the ability to swap bodies I probably would only ever use it in an incredibly controlled environment.
I certainly was more adventurous at a point in my life, back when I found the idea of swapping bodies with a woman to be sexually exciting, but growing gender dysphoria and HRT did some weird things to my sexual desires, so now I’m basically asexual and shy away from the idea of involving myself in a situation that I find even remotely sexual.
This, naturally, does not pertain to the content I consume, create, and enjoy, as I absolutely adore these concepts from both a conceptual and narrative perspective. It really only affects situations involving me, and can probably also be attributed to long-standing social issues of mine. But being a good sport, I’ll try to answer your questions:
1. The character I’d most like to be temporarily: Hm… I think it would be fun to spend a day or so as a hot pompous brat like Sayaka. Largely because of how different she is personality-wise from a timid and quiet person like me.
2. The character I’d most like to be permanently: Permanent swaps are tricky because you need to plan for the long haul, choosing somebody whose life you simultaneously won’t mind taking, while also having the ability to break it apart into however it best fits you and your own sensibilities. I would probably pick Sadie, as she is a big old cutie, seems very kind and receptive, and does not have too much social baggage. But I am putting in a tentative hold on this question depending on how Chori’s MaidSwap route goes. Because if Cassie has a kinder side to her, I would consider swapping with her… mostly because money.
3. The character I’d most like to be best buds with: If I was in this world, and if I was the sort of person who made friends in high school, I would probably find a nice niche with John and the K-buds as I like to call them. Of the group, I think I’d get along with Kyoko. She analytical, but also quite personable to those close to her, and I can relate to that.
4. The character I’d most like to date: I tend to view date-ability as being very similar to friendship, if not outright extensions, so Kyoko again!
Favorite character overall/One I’d like to see more of: I think the character I find to be the most endearing is actually Yui, and a lot of that has to do with the depth she has been afforded by being in so many routes, and also Scenarios. Throughout them, she really blossoms past the childhood friend and stickler for rules that she initially appeared to be in the original release. As for who I want to see more of, Sadie was a goldarn peach in the last release, and I’d love to see her character fleshed out more. I would have said Izuna, but I kind of like her being this unseen and almost memetic character.
5. What I would do if I had the alien device: In all honesty, I would probably find some way to profit off of it. I would first use it to change my biological sex, obviously, but after that, I would try to form some sort of low-key business around it. Changing people’s sexes or bodies for a fee that, which significant, is generous when put into perspective.
What I would do if I had the magic book: Same thing. Become biologically female. Find some way to advertise my services. Do some good. Make some good profit! And also I would paw through the book and make a document listing every spell I would need to know, so I do not need to worry about getting stuck or losing the book itself. I’m sure that John would’ve thought of that eventually but, y’know, it’s good for drama.
Your review of my scenario is very spot-on, all things considered. I’ve been busy with other things and I haven’t been able to keep up with ST since about 2018 or 2019, as I get overwhelmed very easily. As such it is probably unlikely I will ever finish Happy, which is a shame because there’s a lot I had been planning on doing but the lack of direction had really burned me out. Funny thing is that around the time I was making HMBH I was also working on another scenario with someone else called Katalyst, which was a what-if scenario of sorts which unfortunately also didn’t get finished, but it’s a lot less “loses itself on what it tries to do”. I have the file still for the conversion to 3.x versions if you’re ever interested in checking it out, but up to you. I don’t think it’ll work on 4.0 without conversion, though.
Oh my! I certainly wasn’t expecting to hear back from you of all Scenario writers, but it’s nice to hear that you didn’t completely leave behind your past work or handles. ^^
A lack of clear direction is often the death knell for hobbyist projects like this, as without adequate planning projects will often collapse in on themselves. If there is one thing I’ve learned by writing fiction, it’s that.
I am interested in checking out just about any Student Transfer Scenario, especially if they are recommended to me, but I generally only play Scenarios if I can cover them, and I don’t want to cover Scenarios unless they were released directly to the community. So thank you for the offer, but unless you want to release it publicly, I probably won’t give it a whirl.
I’d be okay with releasing it publicly. At this point I haven’t heard back from the person I was working on it with so it may as well serve as inspiration for someone else to make a scenario in its wake. I’d be much more comfortable releasing in a sort of middle-man way, since it’d have to be converted anyways.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hUPqIdAK1388qtwrzp6grQnKsfWzebZ1/view?usp=sharing I forgot I already had it up on my GDrive, so here you go. I believe this is the most recent version I still have access to for Katalyst.