Well making an account to write a review is something new, since the VN in question was detrimental to my health. People I know warned me to stay away knowing how I read stories and retain them. However, me being me I pushed them aside, I like giving any reading a fair chance without bias. I took a shower, and felt like juice since I knew it would be a long setting. On one of the rare days I felt rested and had no migraine, I have a medical condition that makes me tired/w a constant migraine.
So I went over to my desk and started up my laptop, went to Far Beyond The Worlds Itch page and downloaded it. The title page was interesting and the music was nice. The opening personally to me felt off putting, but hey not the first time I have had this opinion with VN’s before so I go eh and move on. I had deja vu Ranok but it passed quickly enough and I despised Vulgor from how he generally acts.
Now here comes the rush of deja vu again. I don’t know why this is and it is getting annoying but I just push it aside. The MC (self insert) feels so out of place in the story even at the beginning I raised an eyebrow at him. This view of him never changes and only gets worse as time moves on. Moving forward the story progresses as I expect and that oddly bothers me. I have never read this before yet everything is playing out as I predict. I can at times predict how the story will move but I am usually off enough that I enjoy the spins I go on (At times I am wrong but not for a good change at all).
Side note: “The Whisper” just bugs me in all the wrong ways, and yet some of them escape me (will get back to this).
Though, this all comes to a head when the Chief catches the MC and Ranok together in his room. I started getting a migraine from nowhere, I was drinking enough and the room was cool and was wearing enough clothes. I mean it got bad enough to make me stop reading the VN altogether. Then I start analyzing everything I read to this point keeping me out of the equation to start.
Everything seemed ok, the writing personally to me felt nice. Not the most interesting piece I have read, but far from the worst. It was enjoyable enough to continue. Then, I go back to the first bout of deja vu I got. It was from the character sprites of the wolves. I really look at them on a hunch. I pull up another VN (Adastra), and well the comparisons were there in ‘black and white’.
However, I know artists sometimes work on several projects and their style is just that recognizable. Though, this bugged me more than that and I look at Ranok and Amicus side by side with both VN’s open. Body types aside are very similar in structure. I have a “huh” moment when I really thought I was wrong. So, I wrote down the bones of Adastra’s plot and then put that paper in my desk off to the side. I wanted it there just not visible and went back to reading the VN. I pushed through to the end of the current build and I felt like I was going to faint, so I took a nap and went back to this issue..
I wrote down the basic bones of Far Beyond the Worlds plot and I pulled out my paper for Adastra’s bones. I was shocked and everything I had suffered made complete sense in the grand scheme of things. Essentially I was suffering from a contradiction of logic strong enough to cause my mental health to plummet down. My mind was trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, while trying to push the square peg away from the hole.
The plot so far in Far Beyond the World is a mixed/(very)sped up version of Adastra’s plot construction. The more I mulled this fact over and over for a good hour at least. I really do like being hasty in my decision making. This was my final verdict of this issue. In conclusion
Since I can remember the core aspects (or my term bones) of a story in the back of my mind, it was trying to force me to see Adastra while playing through. Though me being very stubborn suppressed this feeling and pushed forward to the end. Thus leading the mental anguish I suffered, and needing to sleep it off. So in my eyes this story in its entirety, is using the whole story of Adastra as a springboard into its own story in the end. Granted things are moved around and plot elements/characters are different, but bones don’t lie to me. So for my well being staying far away from this in the future.
Side note: Since this is Adastra sped up it will not take long to reach a new story.