How to raise a random guy's wife

"This wouldn't have happened without you."

"Is this how you ask for help?" Iori Hashima questioned. "Who is more important to you, me or her?"

"Of course, it's my wife."

"Tsk..." Iori Hashima made a sound of displeasure. "If I'm not mistaken, based on your habits, this game should have been heavily modified at least once, and you should have had people test it, right?"

"Yes."

"And the people who test the game are those who know the five of them well, right?"

You mean...?

"This is a completely fan-oriented work, so completely that non-fans simply cannot play it," Iori Hashima said frankly. "As someone who has no interest in those five people, the process of playing it was torture. If it weren't so indecent, I would have thrown up."

“A social butterfly, an autistic girl, a cold-faced student council president, an arrogant child star, and another one who walks the line.” Iori Hashima spread her hands. “From a fan’s perspective, all five of them are great girls. We know they will stand on stage together in the future, so we are very tolerant of their problems and attitudes. That’s why I say this is a fan-oriented work, because only fans would consider this kind of work acceptable. To casual viewers who don’t know them, it’s just five awkward girls sticking together for warmth.”

Kobayashi Sora frowned slightly. "Continue."

“The option system is interesting, and it would work very well in other games, but in Liella! Superstar, it’s a disaster,” Iori Hashima continued. “Players can choose to control any character each day, and if you choose one character and stick with it, the game experience is okay. But as soon as you switch to a different character, the experience is completely ruined. Because the character you were controlling before, who was acting according to your wishes, starts acting according to her own wishes.”

Kobayashi Sora tapped her forehead, realizing the seriousness of the problem.

In other words, a character that the player previously liked might choose an action that the player dislikes when controlling other characters.

As a result, the player's hard-earned goodwill towards the character will drop directly.

If the character makes the same choice as the player expects, the player will feel that this is what the character should do.

However, if the character makes a choice that differs from what the player expected, the player will think that this is something the character would not do.

Or perhaps they believe they have a problem understanding the role.

And that's the big problem with game design.

The character's actions can surprise the player, but should not confuse them.

“Although I’ve already said it once, I still need to say it again.” Iori Hashima chuckled. “Your changes are a bit too drastic, to the point that you’ve let a character you could control slip out of control. You’ve gotten used to the surprises that come with a moderate relaxation of control, but you haven’t experienced the frustration of losing control. Back then, your desire for control reached an almost pathological level, and now it’s more like a retaliatory relaxation. You’re completely ignoring the risks of losing control, losing control for the sake of losing control.”

“There are no other problems, at least I haven’t found any, but this one problem is enough to sentence this game to death.” Iori Hashima stood up. “Perhaps your publicity methods can turn something rotten into something magical, but that’s no longer my business—I have other work to finish. See you later.”

"Hmm." Kobayashi Sora nodded. "By the way, I don't know what you've been doing lately, so you were just scaring yourself."

“…You bastard,” Iori Hashima said speechlessly, “your personality is just too awful.”

"However, your reaction has piqued my curiosity." Kobayashi Sora looked up and smiled. "I'll investigate it thoroughly. You're welcome."

"Thank you so much!" Iori Hashima, who had been looking refreshed and pleased, left with a grim expression.

What Iori Hashima said is indeed a very serious problem.

How serious is it...?

The frustration caused by this loss of control can be described with a vivid example:

Windows 10 automatic updates.

This is definitely a serious problem that will send your blood pressure soaring.

As Iori Hashima said, misleading options are a good idea, but when combined with a game mechanic that allows you to control different characters, it becomes a complete disaster.

As for why this major disaster wasn't discovered before, Iori Hashima has already provided the answer.

Because so far, all those involved in the game testing have some understanding of the star cluster members.

Therefore, we view them through a biased lens.

They have a very high tolerance for certain behaviors that make them uncomfortable.

Other fans probably share a similar mindset, so from the fans' perspective, this game is acceptable.

But for other players, it's a different story.

Kobayashi Sora wasn't satisfied with just satisfying the fans of Star Cluster.

"So... that's roughly the situation." After explaining, Kobayashi Megumi looked at the others, "What are your thoughts?"

“A sense of disjointedness in the narrative.” Kasumigaoka Utaha frowned. “I can’t believe I overlooked such a serious problem.”

"What?" Eriri didn't understand.

"Whether it's my book or your comic, there's a main character."

"Isn't that obvious?"

"So now, halfway through the story, what would happen if we turned the original protagonist into an NPC and turned one of the NPCs into the protagonist?"

"This..." Eriri frowned as well; the thought of it was unpleasant.

"And then the original protagonist makes some decisions that are unexpected and even make you unhappy, so what?"

"The sense of immersion is too strong," Eriri said frankly, "I'm already starting to feel uncomfortable."

“When experiencing the story from the protagonist’s perspective, there are psychological descriptions in the text.” Kasumigaoka Utaha elaborates on the key point: “We can follow the protagonist’s way of thinking, understand the decisions she makes, and make our own choices. But when the protagonist becomes an NPC, without the aid of psychological descriptions, the original protagonist’s behavior becomes incomprehensible, or even irrational.”

For a specific example, you can refer to Alex from Prototype 2.

"Ahhh~~~" Mayu Sagara drawled, "So many questions!"

Chapter 449 Solution

In a way, Mayu Sagara spoke for everyone.

"Actually, things have gone very smoothly so far," Kobayashi Megumi chuckled. "When we first started working on 'The Cherry Blossom Promise,' we encountered even more problems."

“That makes sense…” Kasumigaoka Utaha crossed her arms. “The result was still very good.”

“It’s always a good thing to discover problems,” Eriri thought similarly. “As long as they can be solved, they’re not a big problem.”

But the problem is...

Tang Keke was somewhat troubled. "How can we solve this?"

Shibuya Kanon looked somewhat apologetic. "I'm sorry, we don't have any experience in this area and we couldn't help you."

“Don’t say that.” Megumi Kobayashi shook her head. “Everyone has put in a lot of effort just for the music and voice acting, especially since you guys also have to train. You are school idols, making games and solving problems, these are our duties.”

"If only we had discovered the problem sooner," Ye Yuelian sighed. "Then we could have solved it when we were redoing it earlier."

"Don't blame yourself," Ping An Ming Jin comforted her. "Isn't there someone who tried it twice and didn't find any problems?"

Tang Keke protested, "How can you blame me? Do you think I can forget everything I know before playing the game?"

"To be honest, I really wish I had that ability," Eriri remarked. "To erase my memories and start over, or something."

Tang Keke deeply sympathized, "I understand! I understand you!"

The feeling upon first viewing is completely different from the feeling upon revisiting it.

“Every time this happens, I envy Megumi.” Eriri looked at Megumi Kobayashi. “You still have so many good things that you haven’t enjoyed yet. These are very precious treasures.”

Megumi Kobayashi: "Huh?"

“She’s had a lot of enjoyment that you haven’t,” Kasumigaoka Utaha chuckled.

"Huh?" Eriri instinctively wanted to retort, but then she remembered something and her gaze fell on Kobayashi Sora.

Tang Keke also looked over.

Kobayashi Sora: "Huh?"

"Do you two even have to use the same tone...?" Mayu Sagara was speechless. "Let's talk about games, okay? Don't hurt us."

Sora Kobayashi & Megumi Kobayashi: "..."

To be fair, they were just expressing their doubts.

Lan Qiansha suddenly spoke up, "Wait a minute, it seems like it's not just a matter of memory filters."

While Shibuya Kanon felt guilty, she was seriously thinking about it.

Just now, I was touched by Hazuki Ren's words and suddenly realized a key point.

Did no one notice the problem? Is it really as Iori Hashima said?

That should be one of the reasons, but there should be other influencing factors as well.

The reason I didn't notice the disconnect when switching characters before is...

“Coco, you haven’t changed roles!” Lan Qiansha stated her conclusion. “Because you’ve always been playing yourself, and everyone is watching you play yourself, so they don’t feel the disconnect that comes with changing roles.”

Tang Keke gave a somewhat subtle look. "I understand the logic, but it seems like I should put it another way."

"Okay, I get the gist of it." Arashi Chisatsu also realized that there was something wrong with her statement.

“So…” Kobayashi Sora’s eyes gradually lit up, “Coco provided a solution from the very beginning.”

"That's not what I meant..." Tang Keke didn't take credit, but she successfully understood what he meant. "You mean, you want to remove the ability to switch characters, so you can only control one character?"

Hazuki Ren asked, "Who should we control?"

“Five people,” Kobayashi Megumi answered. “All five people can control it, but only one can be selected at a time.”

"To experience all the content, you'd need to play five times!" Mayu Sagara discovered the advantage of this design: "It greatly increases the utilization rate of the story!"

“But that turns it into a regular yuri game.” Eriri discovered a new problem: “The ‘sticky value’ design becomes unnecessary.”

It can be changed to allow individual characters to have a certain level of affection towards playable characters.

“These are two lines of communication.” Tang Keke had a clear understanding of this. “Not only do you have to maintain your relationships with others, but you also have to improve the relationships between others, just like Xiangyin did.”

Maintain a harmonious atmosphere within the team.

"I didn't do anything that amazing," Shibuya Kanon said hastily, waving her hands.

“A very good idea.” Heian Naoki’s evaluation was more professional. “This way, we can use a sufficient and continuous psychological activity to depict the character’s arc.”

The so-called character arc refers to the trajectory or change of a character's nature, whether it becomes better or worse.

This makes the characters more three-dimensional and realistic, which is a point that is carefully considered in the character creation of various works.

Kasumigaoka Utaha also had a new idea: "In this process, we can also use information gaps to create suspense about the characters' personalities, forming a feeling of deciphering their personalities."

For example, someone might do something strange that is puzzling to an observer.

From the person's perspective, however, this action is perfectly reasonable and in line with their character.