Tales of Wocdes: The Silver Protector

with the fox ears, it mentions you might be a kitsune, will that develop later or will you be locked as beastkin?

Usually, I like doing custom names for IFs but having an NPC name you is rather nice. That was a treat. That and I wanted more angstttt. To make both the caretakers and me tear up in horrible sadness but also feel so much warmth when the wholesomeness arrives. Also, I want to say how delighted I am that we are going 100% into the grandpa term haha! I wish nothing more than for the children to call them grandpas and grandmas haha.

I really enjoyed reading this. I wasn't expecting us to stay long with the current time but I was surprisingly delighted going through it cos it meant getting to know both the NPCs and the MC themselves. (And also horrifying them with MC's totally innocent questions >:3c) It definitely allowed one to customize them as much as one could from giving them a relatively okay 8 in the scale of fucked up to just going 20 haha. You can probably tell which ones I picked from the way I commented on this. Legitimately, I honestly liked that you didn't hold back in the awful and sordid details. They were horrifying and not at all fun to go through but it helped understand the anger everyone feels and the love these protectors wish to give to the poor children. I'm awkward with kids myself but I swear, even I would take the oath to protect and love these poor babies!

Also, I really liked that you allowed custom mythical forms on the MC. I've always been so delighted in being able to just customize MCs to that point. And being able to use your tail is awesome! I can't wait what those choices mean in the future--the whole being more beastlike, dragonlike or demoniclike, etc.

I really like where this is going and I wish for nothing more in life than to learn more of this world and the adventure that our MC will embark in the future. You made such a cruel yet fascinating world and I am salivating for more!

I have not finished what the game has to offer just yet, and I never comment, but, I wanted to say my piece. 

This is my favorite IF ever. And I mean, EVER. I have, as someone with situational mutism myself, never, EVER seen a game where MC can be mute (at least by anything other than, for instance, also being deaf, or something physically being wrong And there's nothing wrong with that! But, as someone who has situational mutism, I dare say representation is lacking OR I have not come across it yet until now!). Of course, when the option arose, I HAD to choose it. It means so much to me that the option is there to not (be able to) talk, and Havard's reaction... 

Which, speaking of him, I LOVE him. With all my heart, I adore Havard. His reactions, his care to the child, this is all so precious and comforting. I am also very curious and keen on and about the Ancient One that saved us, especially since it was hinted that he cared about us, extra. I wonder if we might meet him again! The twins. Oh, gosh. Where do I begin with the twins? The interludes had me laughing 'til I was wheezing. They are so wholesome and Azha is so funny. Every adult and their care and treatment of the children is so dear. 

And that is another thing. Being able to play as a child, well, it never happens, at least not for a long time aside from a short and brief childhood segment or flashbacks of the same length. It is so fun to me to play as children, and, as another commenter pointed out, you do a fantastic job writing them. It really feels like children! Not to air my laundry or trauma dump, but let's just say that finally being able to play as a child is very near and dear to me! And, in this way, even if MC grows up, I will at least have felt as if I shaped them and saw them grow up. There is no better way to get attached to an MC! 

Now, I don't want to dive deep into my own psyche, as I said, to avoid trauma dumping, BUT, I will say, I ADORE the trauma coping stats, the personal stats, the relationship stats, and most of all, your (MC's) reactions to everything. It is incredibly sad, yes, but also realistic, and it leads to many, many bittersweet and wholesome moments! (Yes, I am hugging Havard at every moment that I can. Why do you ask?) This writing, these stats, and the realistic ways of portraying and implementing them (I'm assuming MC trusting Havard without you inputting anything is if you choose repeatedly to trust him) are extremely comforting to me. Whilst I'm not going for the options myself (maybe in a future run) I must also praise and thank you for not shying away from portraying trauma so raw and true, like the self harm options. (And thank you for putting a trigger, too!) 

This is getting so long, I apologize. I have much more to say, but I will wrap it up because I WILL keep talking forever. 

In short, I have found myself emotional with this IF. I have cried and had to pause and within the same five minutes, laughed until I wheezed. I love the characters, I love the story, the setting, the stats and the choices. But most of all, I love MC and how you can shape them. And again, thank you for including a mute option! I cannot wait to see the story develop and go on, and will definitely be keeping a very close eye on this work! Here's to many more years and healing and perhaps adventures with MC and the cast. 
Also, I am very normal about this IF ;). 

PS: Why have I stopped playing for now? I am giving way too much deep thought about the four cool features I will have. Currently on an elvish demon with elemental heritage, but hesitating between cool black eyes and awesome horns. 

Now, off I go to check out your other works that some comments mentioned. :D 

After 400 cycles, 8482 "turns" of pain and suffering, it has been done. I have maximally traumatised this child. They physically cannot have worse coping mechanisms. 

If a normal MC spent 4 years drifting in and out of the void, this little girl has experienced 1600 years of torment. All before Harvard could introduce himself

How did I do this? 

I noticed about few months ago that if you said no to Sheo back in the prologue and went back to the title screen, when you start a new game you would retain any stat changes. The first choice of the game changes some of your stats by 1%. 

Of course to increase all your coping mechanisms to 100%, it would take an incredible number of cycles of the prologue, 400 to be exact. So I did that. Still there is no choice to increase the middle coping mechanism, it needs a different strategy. 

Luckily, in our meeting with Harvard, we can pick the middle coping mechanism and decide to... taste our tongue, so to speak. This option instantly sends it to 100%, along with the choice to go back, keeping MC alive, but retaining their unhealthy coping mechanism.

Please don't do this yourself, at least not by hand. It took me over three hours. Also please don't patch this out, I very much like this feature. I wonder what that says about me.

Uhh, anyways, I love this game so much, I don't mind the glacial pacing, and the kid's reactions are so natural and saddening. Poor MC, hopefully they'll get healing eventually.

Hey! I think I already commented on this game but here I am again because this deserves another comment, I love all the customization available and the part with potentially being speech averse, I wanted to add that it would be cool if the option to talk would remain available and the the mc can learn to feel safe and talk with everyone, in any case thank you for this amazing game I've been playing it since the release and  I LOVE it!!

"Gently, the man lifted your tiny form fully into his arms. As if you were some previous thing" think its supposed to be precious not previous?

Hello! I just wanted to point out an error in spelling (I hope that isn't annoying), I thought you'd rather know than to just continue on? Unless you already noticed. In Chapter 3 with Ethel and Havard:
"Ethel nodded. She seemed to consider this a perfectly normal reaction. All thighs considered, it could have gone a lot better."

I don't know if you fixed it already, but I just wanted to let you know. Have a good timezone!

So I know that deadline is kinda the murderer in any creative project, but I still would like to know if you at least have a planned release date for the full release and how close are you to finish at least writing the whole thing. The story is quite good so far as it goes and I'd like to know more about when I will get to see the rest of it. And, obviously I'd like to thank you for your good work.

This is easily one of my favorite IF games that I've seen! I last checked in I believe before any Tales of the Past stuff was released and when C2 was the most recent chapter, and I love C3 SO MUCH (I'm not reading Tales of the Past yet since I like reading the main story before any prequel or prologue stuff, but I'm sure it's also great!) I think it's mainly the writing and choices that make the game feel really good for me. Like the imagery included is just WOW and I reaaaallllyyyy love the pacing :]

I would like to ask, will there be more small choices in the future? I understand why it might've felt like there weren't many choices in C1-C3 since there was a lot of exposition and worldbuilding, and with how advanced the choices were and how detailed the writing is, I can see why this was more of a quality over quantity kinda thing, but there were times when it felt like there was just a biiiiiit too much wait between choices, so maybe just sprinkle in a few small choices that don't really affect anything but stats and stuff like that. Maybe. Perhaps. :] BUT I UNDERSTAND IF THAT'S TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR BECAUSE THIS GAME IS SO GOOD ALREADY I THINK EVERYTHING IS GREAT :D

I think I've played through this at least a hundred times now, and I'm beyond hooked on every aspect of it! So excited for more!

P.S. Do you think you'll ever end up adding more color choices to the heritage features? Like choosing a color for our draconic features, the color of our hair glow, or the color of garuda wings, for example? I'm just asking because of personal preference, though I know this can basically be supplemented with imagination.

I've been following this story for a few months now and I have to say I really love it and it's quickly become one of my favorite IFs! My only complaint is that I do feel we get a bit too many pov switches. I do enjoy pov switches in moderation and when they contribute to the story, but I don't really feel like all of the ones we get do that necessarily

About the Dryad codex entry, it mentions that they only reveal themselves to those they trust and fellow creatures of nature, what qualifies as a creature of nature?
Do Beastkin, Elves, Dragons, Kitsune, Elementals or is it solely other Dryads? If so then with the appropriate heritage features would they reveal themselves to the us?

Also I enjoyed the Sheo interlude, thank you for writing.