Amplitude: A Visual Novel

I inherited the hubster's old laptop, which is MUCH better than the cheap HP that I'd bought to play Steam games on (and wound up very seldom using as it was so rubbish), so I installed everything on it. But, I've been so busy with a freelance project that I haven't really had any time to play--which is also why there wasn't a single post on here in October. Anyway, I did turn in all the roughs of the pieces that were mine on time, so I took an hour to dabble. I thought it would be nice to try something new (to me) and so I poked around in AMPLITUDE: A Visual Novel. 

I didn't know really anything going into this. And I'm still rather confused, honestly, as there's no tutorial. I thought it was going to just be a simple visual novel but there are crafting bits and street scenes and skills you can level up in. And that's cool -- but there's really no explanation on what you're supposed to do with it either in help text or in exposition. 

I'm gonna be lazy and just link to this description which is a perfectly succinct summary of the story so I can just talk about what I've liked so far and what I don't. 

The Good -- the story seems fairly interesting and it definitely doesn't feel like a typical visual novel. Well, okay, a little, as it borrows heavily on some sci-fi & fantasy classics, but it's not particularly derivative. Also, it seems like there's quite a bit to explore (if I can figure out how). Since you get to pick whether you want the MC host body to be male or female, I feel like there's some decent replayability (unless they weirdly used the exact same friends / situations?...huh, now I kind of want to start over and pick the dude to see if they do)

The Medium -- the art is acceptable, though not amazing. Actually, it's probably fair to say that it's just not totally my style but it is perfectly okay. I'll pop worldbuilding in here too as a maybe -- it might be okay, but I haven't really gone far enough to say yet.

The Not So Great -- can't say that I particularly love any of the characters -- either the Soul or the body she's taken over (I picked the Eve option -- for the teenage girl). But, I'm still early in, so maybe they improve. I'd say the Soul is more appealing than the teenage girl so far -- she's got anger issues and really just seems like a pill. Also, she's a petty thief and I kind of want to smack her.

Though, I suppose the biggest thing is that I can't say that the game has grabbed me yet, but part of that might be the bits where you're dropped into the room with crafting stuff and no explanation on how/when to use it or any direction. I figured out how to make a necklace (with the inventory I already had) and then, in the next scene, there was an opportunity to use it. But what if I hadn't made it? There was nothing telling me to (or even how). Also no idea how to collect more craftable items. And you don't get the options every time you are back in the room, so I feel like there may be some issues like with Backstage Pass where if you don't do something (that you have no idea you're supposed to do) at a certain time, then there are whole bits of the story that you're completely screwed over with and can't get to. On the other hand, I do like to play without a walkthrough -- but, a little of a tutorial would have been nice.

So, I guess I can say that the jury is still out on this one. It may also be that I don't have a huge amount of time to play right now and should've just tried out a game that had simpler mechanics where I didn't have to puzzle out how to do things.  Still, it's engaging enough that I'll go back to it...but maybe not until I'm done with the current freelance gig, the short story I need to write for an anthology, and some revisions on book 2. Sometime when I have the headspace. The spoons, man. I don't have enough spoons.