TDAWS here, I played the first 2 chapters mostly on a whim after hearing about this project from some other people in the community. I had a good time! I’d like to leave some impressions and feedback.
Overall:
The writing and art both seem incomplete or unpolished in some areas, although both have some standout moments as well. The direction of each seems fine, just could use some polish. The prfs available on the starting units were fun, even if it wasn’t always clear what they actually did. A lot of important numerical information is just not available, which sucks but wasn’t a dealbreaker by any means, and I was able to intuit their use with a little experimentation.
Ch 1:
The starting units were fun to use and seemed well balanced! I particularly thought Sero was an excellent thief jeigan; 1-2 range utility with knifes, thief utility, and enough bulk to take a few hits when necessary, but not necessarily enough damage output to be a combat juggernaut.
Marcello also fills the archer role perfectly: excellent chip, an immediate longbow, and a somewhat crazy prf all make them fun to use.
I also appreciate that most of the starting units can steal, and all the infantry have shove; it fits the “adventurers/treasure hunters” vibe you’re aiming for in the story.
I do think the map has pacing issues; it’s rout but a lot of enemies just sit in place and either move when you enter their range or not at all. This mostly hurts the back half of the chapter; while I don’t think a 1st chapter necessarily needs fierce pressure or anti-turtle, perhaps a mix of charge and /or move in 2 range ai on the enemies on the top half of the map could improve the pacing.
Ch 2:
I liked this one more than the first! Very well done escape map, with a cool gimmick. The timing of the different reinforcements led to a perfectly paced escape experience, at least on my playthrough. While the new units you obtain on this map aren’t quite as distinct as the ch 1 units, it’s nice to have them, they join at interesting and well decided times and places, and if you’re going to have a map as large as this one this early on, you might as well have an appropriately large amount of units to play on it with! I also liked how it felt like there were many different viable paths through the chapter, it’s a lot to take in, but I never felt unfairly overwhelmed.
Overall 2:
If I had one critique overall, it would be that there is a lot of 2 or 1-2 range enemies, and it can be something of a map pacing issue, especially in ch 1. I made liberal use of tools such as the javelin, handaxe, knife, and so on, which kept it from being too annoying, but all of those tools were running low on uses by the end of ch 2. If I were to run out of these tools, the map pacing could quickly bog down. Perhaps consider either reducing the number of ranged enemies on these 2 maps, or giving these tools more durability (it doesn’t need to be a ton, even 5 or 10 uses would go a long way). I admit it’s entirely possible the upcoming chapters either don’t need these tools as often, or replacement tools come very soon after where I left off. If that is the case, then this critique is probably much less important (oops).
I can’t promise that I’ll leave feedback this thorough and in depth again; these days I only have so much time and energy, and find it difficult to play hacks to completion, but I will say that I enjoyed what I played, and right now I feel the desire to play further. If I do and find things to say, I’ll try to make another post like this one! I hope you enjoyed and appreciated this feedback.
