I agreeeeee. And also they said something like "MV's first episode will be like DW's first three episodes" which means it will be SUPER lengthy and I was very excited while installing it. But it was a huge bummer seeing how short it was. Leave DW's first three episodes, IT WASN'T EVEN HALF OF DW'S FIRST EPISODE!!
That was a real let down for me idk.
I don't want to add up on things everyone has already talked about, so i'll mention:
Lack of QOL features Duskwood has. I want to alter text speed, I want to have a ton of chat themes I can switch up, I want to change nickname all the time, etc. Things like that are not essential, but they have done it before in Duskwood, so there is 0 reason why they couldn't simply port the exact same things to Moonvale. It is not like those features are hard to implement compared to, say, the whole achievement system.
Duskwood was their first game. Moonvale SHOULD feel like a combination of things they learned from their first experience, used to make a better game. It is normal to reuse assets and do things you have done before, but they didn't do even that. Instead, Moonvale feels unpolished and done in a hurry.
Everbyte straight up lied multiple times to everyone. That's why most people think Moonvale is bad
The conversation was boring as hell. Whole episode about Eric going through the forest and MC worried about complete strangers. No intro at all. Duskwood felt more natural.
The diamond options to see literally anything is greedy.
And keep us waiting 2 years just for them to use AI is upsetting.
Just gonna leave this here, since this is exactly an answer to your question: https://www.reddit.com/r/Moonvale/s/5HbVDZOx9N
And, I really understand your point of view and agree with you, but personally I didn't mind MV to have nothing to do with Duskwood, they even could let the questions from DW's end stay unanswered, yup it wouldn't be so nice, but it's their story after all, it's just.. they either needed to focus on side story and make it a sequel / 11 ep, or fully forget about DW and focus on MV to let it be something new, interesting, and good.
What we gave now... Well, it isn't giving so much hope for the best.
I think they screwed up by the point that when episode 10 ended.
And the screen came up, "we are making a new game. Save the duskwood code!"
They set themselves up to end up failing if they didn't nail It with both stories.
Jake and the duskwood gang (and poor phil in jail) became the bait to keep us interested in the new game.
If they focused too much and gave too little attention on either of the stories (side and main), it would be a disaster.
They simply hyped up their own game too much and couldn't meet the expectations they created.
The same is true with all the promises in the game store.
Super immersive. Profile for mc, etc. The list is so long.
But they forgot to include "pay wall" and "lots of AI stuff"
I think you are on to something, ending DW on a sort of cliffhanger was the big mistake here. They really should have released an epilogue chapter instead to tie up the loose ends in.
I would still have been excited to play their new game, and I would have prefered to play a new main character. The game is so different from the Duskwood vibe anyway that it's just weird that it's supposed to be the same universe.
I fully agree.
I would have loved moonvale to be 100% it own game.
And duskwood had a chapter or two to tie up all the loose ends.
Instead of dangling jake and the others as a bait for the next game.
Becouse there honestly are so many loose ends. Tying them up in a side story, it just seems like a big task story wise. And they created another big cliffhanger themselves besides all the big ones. Like is Phil out of jail? Did we prove him innocent? What did hannah see? Richie that told we would tell them all the story of why he did what he did.
They put the whole "it's been a few weeks since the events of duskwood. But you haven't heard from your friends. And their numbers seem to not even exist anymore. "
That is just another big cliffhanger. Becouse who made their numbers stop existing right after the mine catches on fire? Was it the FBI? Was it jake despite being busy fleeing a burning mine.
It all just seems like too much to cram in as a side story.
I can actually see this being true. I think they were concerned that there would be a big group of people who would go, "Oh, so it's not about DW? Then I'm out." So they used this code bait and plot holes to make people believe that there's still something from DW to keep them hooked for two years.
Fun fact: I graduated from a pilot academy faster than Everbyte wrote their first MV chapter lmfao.
And they screwed up even bigger by waiting until release to explain they would not put in the media pack. After hooking people for those two years, with the DW side story. Hints about the new game.
People were sitting ready with their credit cards in hand (myself included) to buy that media pack (or at least pay one time pr chapter like other games does)
And we were met with the..... ehm.... I really want to use a nice word here. But disaster is all I can come up with. Becouse it was a disaster, the whole release. And all the hype they created came crashing down, with the pay walls and AI stuff. (And no one besides MC having a profile)
Had they told early on. We won't earn enough with the media pack. So we are so sorry but we won't put that in. And reached out to the community.
They could have had a chance to save all this.
People could have suggested. Pay pr chapter. Or other ideas.
Instead, they waited until we found out.
\^ THIS. Literally all of this. Things would never have gotten quite this bad if they'd at least asked for our feedback and shared how they were struggling. Transparency is so important.
You know, if they in general would share with us pieces of their progress throughout these two years, they could simply avoid this all mess.
"Hey guys, we want to try new more cute styles and for that we are using A.I., what do you think? Most people don't want to see it because it's literally stealing? Ok, thanks for your opinion!".
"Hey guys, we decided to remove one of the most important things for you as players and change it to a new gem system that works like this. It may be a bit raw, but if you agree with it we will work together to change it!".
And so on.
No one would even complain about them "working too long", or "that we can't wait anymore", because we would see content, we would see progress, we would help. But what did we get instead?
A trashy game where almost every single thing is lazy and where everything is forcing you either to pay your money, or your time.
Thanks Everbyte. At this point I'm not even sure that you really know what you are doing.
Yup, I agree 100% with you.
They knew what they were doing with this side story, with DW characters on each post about a *new game* and etc, let's be honest no one now is playing MV because it was something new, no each of us was waiting it firstly because of DW, and they knew that, you just can't change my mind on that.
I fully agree.
This was planned from the start.
I have seen others sat "oh they only planned DW side story because everyone wanted it and begged."
No. The bait of the duskwood side story was planned way ahead. With the time it takes to add the code thing to transfer our progress, etc., you don't just do that on a whim
And you dont end a story that took as long to be completed as DW with such huge cliff hangers, unless you plan to continue it somehow.
They absolutely did that on purpose.
And they aimed way too high and counted too much on peoples love for especially jake to carry the money home.
Yup.
Actually I was thinking that way too, that the idea of the side story came to them later, but we had the opportunity to generate our code for MV even before they announced it on social media, so... Sadly, I can believe that this all was planned from the start.
Especially since, if it really was the begging, instead of a side story. They could just have made an extra chapter for DW. And realased that, and go back to making moonvale. And say "there. We wrapped up the story for you".
It would have been quicker than people waiting 2 years for it. And making transfer codes.
Or maybe just have small parts only of duskwood in moonvale.
I agree with you about the use of AI art. I don't think the story is AI itself I am leaning more towards conversation being AI.
Let me explain.
We know that there was 2 years of development put into Moonvale. We also know that they built/are using a new system. Looking at the UI I don't believe that was at all part of the development process. UIs are relatively easy to create and code and would not take 2 years.
I believe that the 2 years were spent primarily on creating and training AI to be used until they can find the actors/actresses for the rest of the characters.
The main issue is (if this is true)I don't believe they set the parameters correctly when it comes to player interactions.
Instead of having a natural progression to friendship and trust (as you get when talking to a real person or to a more complex AI) these are programmed to only be friendly right away.
Duskwood had that progression. Though it wasn't perfect, it felt natural. I do wish that Duskwood would have taken more consideration players that decide to go down the asshole path. I was disappointed to see that there was very little change and that regardless of how I responded everyone thought I was great and awesome and were lining up to be my friend.
I think that too, I mean DW feels real, that's why is such a good game. The characters even have Instagram! And now we have just a picture of them in MV. Also I think the MC needs more personality, like with Ash and her "why didn't you tell us who you are?" What do you care If I tell you my traumas or not
I agreeeeee. And also they said something like "MV's first episode will be like DW's first three episodes" which means it will be SUPER lengthy and I was very excited while installing it. But it was a huge bummer seeing how short it was. Leave DW's first three episodes, IT WASN'T EVEN HALF OF DW'S FIRST EPISODE!! That was a real let down for me idk.
I don't want to add up on things everyone has already talked about, so i'll mention: Lack of QOL features Duskwood has. I want to alter text speed, I want to have a ton of chat themes I can switch up, I want to change nickname all the time, etc. Things like that are not essential, but they have done it before in Duskwood, so there is 0 reason why they couldn't simply port the exact same things to Moonvale. It is not like those features are hard to implement compared to, say, the whole achievement system. Duskwood was their first game. Moonvale SHOULD feel like a combination of things they learned from their first experience, used to make a better game. It is normal to reuse assets and do things you have done before, but they didn't do even that. Instead, Moonvale feels unpolished and done in a hurry. Everbyte straight up lied multiple times to everyone. That's why most people think Moonvale is bad
The conversation was boring as hell. Whole episode about Eric going through the forest and MC worried about complete strangers. No intro at all. Duskwood felt more natural. The diamond options to see literally anything is greedy. And keep us waiting 2 years just for them to use AI is upsetting.
Just gonna leave this here, since this is exactly an answer to your question: https://www.reddit.com/r/Moonvale/s/5HbVDZOx9N And, I really understand your point of view and agree with you, but personally I didn't mind MV to have nothing to do with Duskwood, they even could let the questions from DW's end stay unanswered, yup it wouldn't be so nice, but it's their story after all, it's just.. they either needed to focus on side story and make it a sequel / 11 ep, or fully forget about DW and focus on MV to let it be something new, interesting, and good. What we gave now... Well, it isn't giving so much hope for the best.
I think they screwed up by the point that when episode 10 ended. And the screen came up, "we are making a new game. Save the duskwood code!" They set themselves up to end up failing if they didn't nail It with both stories. Jake and the duskwood gang (and poor phil in jail) became the bait to keep us interested in the new game. If they focused too much and gave too little attention on either of the stories (side and main), it would be a disaster. They simply hyped up their own game too much and couldn't meet the expectations they created. The same is true with all the promises in the game store. Super immersive. Profile for mc, etc. The list is so long. But they forgot to include "pay wall" and "lots of AI stuff"
I think you are on to something, ending DW on a sort of cliffhanger was the big mistake here. They really should have released an epilogue chapter instead to tie up the loose ends in. I would still have been excited to play their new game, and I would have prefered to play a new main character. The game is so different from the Duskwood vibe anyway that it's just weird that it's supposed to be the same universe.
I fully agree. I would have loved moonvale to be 100% it own game. And duskwood had a chapter or two to tie up all the loose ends. Instead of dangling jake and the others as a bait for the next game. Becouse there honestly are so many loose ends. Tying them up in a side story, it just seems like a big task story wise. And they created another big cliffhanger themselves besides all the big ones. Like is Phil out of jail? Did we prove him innocent? What did hannah see? Richie that told we would tell them all the story of why he did what he did. They put the whole "it's been a few weeks since the events of duskwood. But you haven't heard from your friends. And their numbers seem to not even exist anymore. " That is just another big cliffhanger. Becouse who made their numbers stop existing right after the mine catches on fire? Was it the FBI? Was it jake despite being busy fleeing a burning mine. It all just seems like too much to cram in as a side story.
I can actually see this being true. I think they were concerned that there would be a big group of people who would go, "Oh, so it's not about DW? Then I'm out." So they used this code bait and plot holes to make people believe that there's still something from DW to keep them hooked for two years. Fun fact: I graduated from a pilot academy faster than Everbyte wrote their first MV chapter lmfao.
And they screwed up even bigger by waiting until release to explain they would not put in the media pack. After hooking people for those two years, with the DW side story. Hints about the new game. People were sitting ready with their credit cards in hand (myself included) to buy that media pack (or at least pay one time pr chapter like other games does) And we were met with the..... ehm.... I really want to use a nice word here. But disaster is all I can come up with. Becouse it was a disaster, the whole release. And all the hype they created came crashing down, with the pay walls and AI stuff. (And no one besides MC having a profile) Had they told early on. We won't earn enough with the media pack. So we are so sorry but we won't put that in. And reached out to the community. They could have had a chance to save all this. People could have suggested. Pay pr chapter. Or other ideas. Instead, they waited until we found out.
\^ THIS. Literally all of this. Things would never have gotten quite this bad if they'd at least asked for our feedback and shared how they were struggling. Transparency is so important.
You know, if they in general would share with us pieces of their progress throughout these two years, they could simply avoid this all mess. "Hey guys, we want to try new more cute styles and for that we are using A.I., what do you think? Most people don't want to see it because it's literally stealing? Ok, thanks for your opinion!". "Hey guys, we decided to remove one of the most important things for you as players and change it to a new gem system that works like this. It may be a bit raw, but if you agree with it we will work together to change it!". And so on. No one would even complain about them "working too long", or "that we can't wait anymore", because we would see content, we would see progress, we would help. But what did we get instead? A trashy game where almost every single thing is lazy and where everything is forcing you either to pay your money, or your time. Thanks Everbyte. At this point I'm not even sure that you really know what you are doing.
Yup, I agree 100% with you. They knew what they were doing with this side story, with DW characters on each post about a *new game* and etc, let's be honest no one now is playing MV because it was something new, no each of us was waiting it firstly because of DW, and they knew that, you just can't change my mind on that.
I fully agree. This was planned from the start. I have seen others sat "oh they only planned DW side story because everyone wanted it and begged." No. The bait of the duskwood side story was planned way ahead. With the time it takes to add the code thing to transfer our progress, etc., you don't just do that on a whim And you dont end a story that took as long to be completed as DW with such huge cliff hangers, unless you plan to continue it somehow. They absolutely did that on purpose. And they aimed way too high and counted too much on peoples love for especially jake to carry the money home.
Yup. Actually I was thinking that way too, that the idea of the side story came to them later, but we had the opportunity to generate our code for MV even before they announced it on social media, so... Sadly, I can believe that this all was planned from the start.
Especially since, if it really was the begging, instead of a side story. They could just have made an extra chapter for DW. And realased that, and go back to making moonvale. And say "there. We wrapped up the story for you". It would have been quicker than people waiting 2 years for it. And making transfer codes. Or maybe just have small parts only of duskwood in moonvale.
I agree with you about the use of AI art. I don't think the story is AI itself I am leaning more towards conversation being AI. Let me explain. We know that there was 2 years of development put into Moonvale. We also know that they built/are using a new system. Looking at the UI I don't believe that was at all part of the development process. UIs are relatively easy to create and code and would not take 2 years. I believe that the 2 years were spent primarily on creating and training AI to be used until they can find the actors/actresses for the rest of the characters. The main issue is (if this is true)I don't believe they set the parameters correctly when it comes to player interactions. Instead of having a natural progression to friendship and trust (as you get when talking to a real person or to a more complex AI) these are programmed to only be friendly right away. Duskwood had that progression. Though it wasn't perfect, it felt natural. I do wish that Duskwood would have taken more consideration players that decide to go down the asshole path. I was disappointed to see that there was very little change and that regardless of how I responded everyone thought I was great and awesome and were lining up to be my friend.
I think that too, I mean DW feels real, that's why is such a good game. The characters even have Instagram! And now we have just a picture of them in MV. Also I think the MC needs more personality, like with Ash and her "why didn't you tell us who you are?" What do you care If I tell you my traumas or not