Guess what, being sick can have positive side effects. For example like sitting around at home having spare time on my hands for playing this game.
First of all: I like the game. There is a lot of fun stuff in there and I like your approach of the game not taking itself seriously most of the time.
I'll go a bit more into detail about the good and bad aspects of the game, as I experienced them. (And I apologize in advance, It's a lot of text...)
Your maps seem to have a lot of empty spaces. And I don't mean areas like Southport which are clearly still under construction. Even in the starting town of Northmarket there are large patches of open areas. This tends to give the maps a bit of a dismal appearance.
It also increases the distances you have to walk. Running around for long distances tends to get boring and repetitive fast. Though with the 3 possible speeds and fast travel options, you've already done something to counter that.
In addition, this means that exploring is less interesting, and in a game like yours which is mostly an open world scenario, that's a bit counterproductive.
I would suggest to make the maps a little smaller and denser in the future.
The h-scenes so far could do with a bit more details to flesh them out. And maybe make them a bit longer textwise. But that's more of a personal preference, so this is purely an "imho" statement.
The combat ist a mixed blessing. While the fight's are doable, you are in a world of trouble and hurt if you don't do the quests in the order you have them intended, especially the first few. The level recommendation puts you on the right track there, but some people won't expect a single level making that much difference.
I actually like the fact that in some of the fights you can't simply roll over the enemies as if they were made out of paper. But again especially at the start a bit of luck or the lack thereof can turn a fight or the folloing for the better or worse very quickly. In addition a wrong investement with your money or pleasure in the early stages can make your life extremely difficult during subsequent fights. It might be an idea to throw in some more tutorial-style tips about that. That way you won't even have to change the difficulty of the fights.
At this point I'd like to point out that I chose the "test for balance" option and the only area I had to retry because I lost a fight was the orc camp. The orc chieftain stomped me good and hard on my first 2 tries. Though one of those can't really be counted, I guess, since I did my first attempt before completing "one is the loneliest number". However, the second time I lost, I had Elaiya with me, but a string of missed attacks did it for me.
The puzzles are a nice touch and not too difficult or easy. The only one I found that I haven't been able to solve (yet) is the clock in the shop in Eastford. (More on this later in my questions at the end.)
Most of the bugs I found have already been mentioned or fixed. What I remeber was that sometimes during conversations characters use the standard rpg maker portraits instead of your custom made portraits. Or at least I rember it happening with the paladin girl on one occasion at least. I'll have to go back an check during which text line it actually happend. The other things that got me curious bugwise I'll put into spoilertags alongside my questions. Don't want to ruin anything for someone.
Edit: There are 2 conversations so far whre I spotted the wrong portrait being used. One is with Therese, when you try to open the door in the first room while trying to rescue the estate broker's children.
The second time it occurs, is when you enter the grounds of your manor for the first time. Alina has the wrong portrait in this one.
Edit 2: Found 2 more: When you have Therese heal the old man north of the cannary and when you talk to Sally and ask about sex when Therese is with you.
Questions and other stuff best put in spoiler tags:
Spoiler (click to show/hide):
In the townhouse in southport on the first floor there's a chest with 5 candleholders around.
The chest can be opened while they are still on. If you switch them off afterward, nothing happens. Since I lack an older save around that point (stupid me, I know), I'd like to ask: Is it intentional that you can open the chest while they are on? Or would have something else happend if I had switched them off and then tried to open the chest? If so, I don't nee to know what, I'll see for myself in a second playthrough.Edit: 2nd playthrough for the win. OK, it's obvious now that the chest should only appear if you deactivate the candleholders. For some reason the chest appearance triggered for me just by entering the first floor. I haven't been able to reproduce it, since now it seems to trigger as intended.
You can talk to Brogen in the theatre multiple time each time he'll give you the payment for the bank. It doesn't interfere with anything. It does however allow you to pile up Brogen's payment items in your key items section of the inventory. (Which still doesn't cause any problems, just pointing it out.)
Even if you've run out of slavecollars, the game doesn't acknowledge it if a scene requires one. The scene wil progress wether you have one or not.
In addition: if you talk to the slavetrader for the quest for new collars twice, the dialogue simply repeat itself giving you multiple copies of the contract. (By the way, is the collar quest repeatable? (So far it doesn't seem so, but maybe thats because i have a second contact lying around.) Or are you planning to add more different quests to get more collars?)
Any clue as far as the clock in the shop in Eastfort is concerned? I tried various combinations based on the numbers of clocks on the wall, but that didn't do anything and I couldn't find any other clues concerning that.OK, finally found it. It might be helpful to point out in some way that there is actually no hint in the gme itself, but that it is a reference...
When talking to the clerk in the adventurers guild in Eastfort he states that your membership card is missing, even if it is in your inventory. Going back to Northmarket to check up on that like the conversation suggests doesn't do anything. Is this a WIP issue or am I missing something?
Is there any way to advance the days other than after certain scenes? Resting in the bakery for example doesn't do so. I'll hazard a guess and go with "no", since otherwise you could make an infinite amount of money once you have some joint ventures going. (Which by the way you can using your sisters lunch - if you are crazy enough and have more time on your hands than is good for you...)
And since I seem to have completely missed out on that one: how do you use/get your alchemy labratory working? My guess would be to enslave the right girl. If so, is she already in the game? Because in that case i seem to have completely missed her. Edit: Nevermind. Found out how.
Edit: For my 2nd playthrough I went with the "test for content" option and this made me realize how many options the player actually has in the game. I'm more than impressed with the amount of work this must have taken. A single "test for balance" playthrough only shows a small portion of what you can actually do. Very good work.
And my bad for posting before trying that option as well, sorry.
Still the rest of my comments aside from the corrected are still valid, I believe at least...
If you stumble across any typos, you may keep them and rear new ones in your basement.