Thoughts, opinions, and wishes
[Notes: I play on Xbox series S, I had an old save while it was on gamepass- but bought the game when it left and have a new save with over 60 hours in it]
I think the first thing I will say is the game still feels like an early access game in a lot of ways. Not a bad thing since it's still getting developed, just saying that while it's playable and complete I don't think it's necessarily anywhere near a 'finished thing' if that makes sense.
That said, I'm hyped for the upcoming updates and figured I'd discuss some stuff I hope to see in the future, be it tweaks, changes, or fixes.
Bugs and minor issues
First is some minor stuff, like on the bench near Ling, Randy, and Leah's house their is some texture flickering, and the same thing occasionally on the docks by Zarah's boat. Beyond that as I played through I recall a few spelling or grammar errors (a missing S at the end of words, or the intro of a sentence feeling like it's missing a 'The' or some other word to properly start the sentence). These were all relatively minor and few and far between but probably the only true 'problems' I can really recall aside from 1 crash (which I think was more from Xbox constantly trying to keep things running and then jump back into them later, rather than the game itself).
Contextual issues; Dialogue, Hangouts, Events
Next I wanted to mention some stuff about general dialogue and events. One of the biggest ones I experienced as an example is the day before the Winter fest of year 1, I finished cleaning the ocean.
So, I wake up and go out, winter fest is all set up along the beach, and now EVERYONE gathers around one the beach to admire that the tendrils are gone- and then play in the freezing cold water in their winter wear. It just doesn't really make sense and it's time like this where I wish the game used more context to be like 'it's too cold out, perhaps we'll have an alternative animation, or event'.
Adding onto this, characters like Leah bouncing back and fourth between being friendly and snobby contextually, rather than based on actual relationship stats, is rather frustrating, and pulls me out rather quickly. Compounded with how little characters have to say in general in terms of variety, kinda drags building relationships down.
I loved when hangouts were added, but to add to this current discussion here, for example something that drew me out, was- let's talk Raj as an example.
-In his first event Raj mentions wanting to fish to the player
-So, naturally, remember this I think it'd be cool to take him fishing for the second hang out.
There really isn't any contextually awareness or unique dialogue though. I hope this is address, because it's really odd for Raj to go on about his first time fishing as he does, after literally just going fishing with the player. Theres a lot of moments like this that I wish the game used it's own lore, or reacted more to the player's choices. Like taking Zarah to the shelter would likely be a mess, but nope, just a casual hangout. Or the opposite, doing Volleyball with Chaem, you'd think would be even more ideal for her.
Mind you I generally like most NPCs, but I just wish there was more reflexive dialogue or animations based on the character and what you're doing then there seems to be currently- even if it is just a small bit of added text like. Let's say you do the second major Raj hangout event at a fishing location like I did, it would be nice if Raj mentioned this, even in passing like 'that went better then the last time I tried it' or something, and THEN he explains his fateful first fishing encounter, and closes by maybe adding that he's fine with fishing with the player or something for the peace if nothing else. Just SOMETHING to make it feel like the game is acknowledging you acknowledging it- I think it'd feel incredibly good while being 'minor'.
Rewarding the player
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong (Mind you I have completed 1 of the temple bundles to get the greenhouse, and been given the second farm, so I'm far along, but not necessarily 'close to the end'), but I feel there wasn't that much reward for a lot of the players more major actions.
While yes, the mermaids rewarding you a whole farm and the rest of the stuff going on there is really nice, I felt at the same time, I come up to the surface get a cutscene, and then aside from some asides from Ling, Surya, Zarah and occasional single lines here and there it felt largely like there was no real reaction to the tendrils being gone. Rank up the town, have a short cutscene, get a few isolated lines of dialogue and that's kinda it unless I haven't got to something more major yet.
I feel this is the biggest weakness in terms of asking a HUGE amount of the player, and not really feeling like it pays off as much as the work you put in.
I'm fine with errands and such, but I go through all that cleaning and the merfolk reward me, but then ask me to do even more stuff, and the people kinda are just like 'oh, nice job' if that, which felt really bad imo.
Random tidbits
Wrapping up there are a few other things I'd note, like I wish the world itself was more interactive, like being able to lounge on a lounger, or sit on a bench. A lot of stuff feels very showy but in a life sim I like to immerse myself, even if the act of sitting on a bench serves no major puprose.
Or joining into one of the Yoga sessions, or donating resources directly to Raja's, Surfensip, and the Beach Shack. The game is all about building the community back up, but the player feels kinda isolate from the community. We sell stuff, and that presumably gets filtered through Sam, but we don't really get those small personally touches that I think would really make it shine, not just for the romanceable NPCs but also the non-romanceable ones too.
Overall I really like the game and am still learning and progressing various things even now, I just thought I'd share some of my current thoughts while their fresh in my mind.