Writing this with tears in my eyes. I finally finished this. I had been putting off the ending because I loved it so much and didn't want it to end. I'm effectively destroyed. I haven't been as emotionally shaken by media like this in a long time. It's so obvious the amount of love and effort you put into this. Thank you for making this. I look forward to seeing (and supporting) your future projects :)
i saw this when i woke up this morning and had to screenshot it and send it to my parents, because all they’ve seen of my visual novel is like… pictures i draw of val in a thong, and they think that’s what it’s about. i’m always like “no, no, it has a plot” and they’re like “yeah, whatever. you can’t fool us.”
this is my way of saying i am very touched, especially hearing that you were putting off the ending because you didn’t want it to end. i felt similarly when i was finishing making this thing, because i just couldn’t bear to let these characters go. you’ll definitely see more in the future, because my love for this project has no end. thank you, in the most sincere way i can muster, for your support.
Hi i just wanted to say this game is so amazing and a very obvious work of love. You clearly adore these characters and it shows. I loved every minute of it and I'm excited to see everything you work on in the future
i usually don't comment on itchio pages (or just comment on bsky threads, like i did for this game) but i told myself that i would make one for this game so here i am... haii henloo...
this was a ride, honestly. i remember seeing the promotional videos for parfum nostalgique when it had only act 1 out and thinking "DAMN, this looks SO COOL! just like an old manga!" and getting excited to play it. i dont remember why i didnt before. maybe just waiting for it to get finished? i dunno. i really forgor. but i kept following development. and i'm glad i did.
starting for the characters. damn val is such a GRANPA fr. i was NOT expecting that but seeing your blueets about him made me less scared of him (can you believe i was intimidated by him. of that big walking dog plushie.) dash is also ADORABLE. i love him and i would protect him with my life (as literaly everyone in this game but anyway). lupine. youre kinda insane sometimes but i love you too. and i love saturday and lucian too. and i love nancy. and i absolutely ADORE demonia. i could play a game just about her. she only appears like 2 times but i would give my life to her. i love you babygirl. i'm still scared of kenny and frenchie to be honest.and oberon. but lets not talk about that-
THE STORY. honestly i had no IDEA of what the story would be like. sexy? dramatic? comedic? i didnt KNOW. in the end it was really like josei manga, and honestly i LOVED that. spicy drama! friendship! (there was so much friendship, i ate that up) failed romance! comedy! bittersweetness! sweetness! bitterness! fashion! depression! (they rhyme...) anyway! i enjoyed it very much, even if im not a vampire enthusiast. i felt like i was there in the scenes with them, hanging out with all those fashionable people while being terribly underdressed. though they wouldnt care much about that. and that was cool.
the ART. what can i say. absolute banger. i loved the cgs, it made everything look pretty cinematic. and i love how funny val looks in most of them. he's just so pretty it makes everything funnier. it's not even a problem. i absolutely adored that.
the VOICE ACTING -- really good too. usually it doesnt make much difference to me if something is voiced or not, but it added a lot to the scenes. it was adorable hearing dash's laughter and pretty much everyone else's laughter too. :')
ANYWAY it was really fun. i guess you can see that from how i ended up playing act 2 and 3 in one go. but hey someone's gotta say it. it was really cool. it's all fun and games until shit gets serious. and then it's fun all over again. i loved it. everyone did a very good job with it! thanks for this game!!
I absolutely loved seeing your play-by-play on Bsky. It wasn’t just enjoyable to me, it was valuable to me.
I know people are playing my stuff, but I rarely get to see a play-by-play of it, and sitting with reading and reading through this game together in the same room or in a discord chat is just NOT my thing after working on it for so long. I really like letting people engage with my work at their own pace!
What really got me though, with you, is that it was my first time really seeing someone who wasn’t into vampires read this thing, and that is an audience that is SO interesting to me, as a guy who isn’t into vampires, and is not interested in writing them further if it’s not with these characters.
I’m not a vampire fan. I’m a visual kei fan who wanted to make someone really old, really slutty, and full of existential dread. And vampires were right there. Either I made up a type of guy who was immortal, or I made a vampire. But obviously, most of my audience has been Vampire People, many of which engage with Parfum because they like vampires and they like the aesthetics. I often fear that the contents of this VN sit in a place that won’t make those fans happy, and also won’t make non-vampire people happy, either, but seeing how invested you were in it the whole time made me really happy. It was such a rare treat to see someone engaging with my work all the way through who wasn’t like… my husband play testing it, lol.
I also… don’t like to police how people interpret my art, but it felt like your perception of Val was so spot on to what I was going for. Referring to him as “grandpa” or “big walking dog plushie” is very close to how I see him. He is an old man and a teenage girl and a beautiful woman and Just Some Guy who needs a bath and a fucking cigarette. Even though this is how a lot of people tend to see him, I still get many people who are blinded by their attraction to him and think of him as Sexy and Dommy the whole time, and also people who straight up HATE him and have no trouble telling me they want him to suffer. Such is the curse of having the Stereotypical Blonde Vampire. This is gonna sound so hammy, but I think for both of those types, they fear Val’s sincerity. He is an embarrassing person, and I know that, because there are lots of parts of myself I gave to him that I was embarrassed of and wanted to accept more, and often I can tell these things make people uncomfortable enough to ignore them for the sake of seeing him as a Big Sexy Doll, or get angry at them enough to use him as a punching bag. No matter how people engage with Val as a character, I want them to bring him their sincerity, because he is not only bringing his, but mine as well. This goes for all my characters, but with Val especially.
For some people, bringing sincerity is like bringing a handbag or a coin purse, but for others, it can be more difficult, as heavy as a suitcase full of bricks.
Thank you for bringing your sincerity to engage with my work, however heavy sincerity may be.
also: you are like the first person to be afraid of kenny. while i’m not afraid of him myself, i think this is justified. kenny is the number one most thirsted over character in this game but if they ever got a chance to shoot their shot with him irl there is a 100% chance he’d do something that sends them running screaming out of clair de lune. they think they can match his freak, but they can’t. val sends lu to clair not just to learn about vampire shit, but also to see if it scares him away. but of course, lupino verona, a man who has sat at a table with too many italian mobster uncles with huge obnoxious cigars to count, is like, “uh… yeah. he’s just kinda weird i guess.” insane.
yeah i agree!! i think it's kind of like how tiff see vampires and immortality. when she was talking about it in act 3 i was angry because that was. just a very shallow way of seeing things and when she asked "why are you looking at me like that?" to val and said he looked very sad it made total sense to me. i was like "YES, YOU GET IT!!!!!!!!" and it was a very realistic portrayal of a vampire. to me they're either really sad or really insane creatures, no in-between LMAO
AND THIS ALWAYS HAPPENS :SOB: i can smell a freaky character from MILES and im UTTERLY SCARED OF THEM. AND PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS THIRSTYING OVER THEM AND IM LIKE GUYS.......??!!!?!? NO..........!!!!!! :sob: (also very real of lupine)
you know how I was like, “I put Parf on r/vampires and they hated it?”
For a while, I would post there for my own entertainment, because it was rife with dumbasses. Like, one of them assumed that Kenny faked his sight disability to “lure in prey,” and when I told them he didn’t, they said “ohh okay. so he makes people pity him and then lures them in” and it was SO weird and ableist.
but what got me to stop posting there, what got me to stop being entertained by that place, was when i explained val’s stance on vampirism and immortality, and i got GANGED UP ON. they found it incredibly bizarre that val thinks about death and dying on a daily basis and they were like, “that’s a sign of major mental instability, and he needs help.” lol. wow i so did not realize that 🙄. someone even called him the most depressing vampire character they’d ever heard of.
this really puzzled me because honestly, i think val is as optimistic as he can be in his situation, his relationship to death is realistic for his own perspective on mortality, and most importantly, a character who is still worth engaging with. they were insistent that the way i wrote val was harmful, and that made him a badly made character who they were unwilling to approach with good faith. I was like, where even AM i right now? aren’t you people reading shit by like, anne rice, one of the most mentally unstable authors i have ever come across? and it’s not like there is a shortage of mentally unwell vampires.
it made me think about how people insist that chronically ill people have an upbeat and happy demeanor all the time, and don’t show signs of mental turmoil. immortality is somewhat of an illness to me, and i wanted to frame it as such. immortality can be framed in many interesting ways, but anyone who fully understands the ramifications of it and appears to be mentally stable… really couldn’t exist to me, realistically. if people want to explore immortality in a way that is realistic there has to be acknowledgement of how much this world and our brains are not made for forever.
ITS FINE LMAO its a really cool thing, I don't think I ever seen vampires being represented that way (with a good mixture of being "mentally unstable" and "trying to be optimistic") so I appreciate the thoughts 🙏
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Writing this with tears in my eyes. I finally finished this. I had been putting off the ending because I loved it so much and didn't want it to end. I'm effectively destroyed. I haven't been as emotionally shaken by media like this in a long time. It's so obvious the amount of love and effort you put into this. Thank you for making this. I look forward to seeing (and supporting) your future projects :)
i saw this when i woke up this morning and had to screenshot it and send it to my parents, because all they’ve seen of my visual novel is like… pictures i draw of val in a thong, and they think that’s what it’s about. i’m always like “no, no, it has a plot” and they’re like “yeah, whatever. you can’t fool us.”
this is my way of saying i am very touched, especially hearing that you were putting off the ending because you didn’t want it to end. i felt similarly when i was finishing making this thing, because i just couldn’t bear to let these characters go. you’ll definitely see more in the future, because my love for this project has no end. thank you, in the most sincere way i can muster, for your support.
Hi i just wanted to say this game is so amazing and a very obvious work of love. You clearly adore these characters and it shows. I loved every minute of it and I'm excited to see everything you work on in the future
thank you for your wonderful comments. you really made me smile today!!
i usually don't comment on itchio pages (or just comment on bsky threads, like i did for this game) but i told myself that i would make one for this game so here i am... haii henloo...
this was a ride, honestly. i remember seeing the promotional videos for parfum nostalgique when it had only act 1 out and thinking "DAMN, this looks SO COOL! just like an old manga!" and getting excited to play it. i dont remember why i didnt before. maybe just waiting for it to get finished? i dunno. i really forgor. but i kept following development. and i'm glad i did.
starting for the characters. damn val is such a GRANPA fr. i was NOT expecting that but seeing your blueets about him made me less scared of him (can you believe i was intimidated by him. of that big walking dog plushie.) dash is also ADORABLE. i love him and i would protect him with my life
(as literaly everyone in this game but anyway). lupine. youre kinda insane sometimes but i love you too. and i love saturday and lucian too. and i love nancy. and i absolutely ADORE demonia. i could play a game just about her. she only appears like 2 times but i would give my life to her. i love you babygirl.i'm still scared of kenny and frenchie to be honest.and oberon. but lets not talk about that-THE STORY. honestly i had no IDEA of what the story would be like. sexy? dramatic? comedic? i didnt KNOW. in the end it was really like josei manga, and honestly i LOVED that. spicy drama! friendship! (there was so much friendship, i ate that up) failed romance! comedy! bittersweetness! sweetness! bitterness! fashion! depression!
(they rhyme...)anyway! i enjoyed it very much, even if im not a vampire enthusiast. i felt like i was there in the scenes with them, hanging out with all those fashionable people while being terribly underdressed. though they wouldnt care much about that. and that was cool.the ART. what can i say. absolute banger. i loved the cgs, it made everything look pretty cinematic. and i love how funny val looks in most of them. he's just so pretty it makes everything funnier. it's not even a problem. i absolutely adored that.
the VOICE ACTING -- really good too. usually it doesnt make much difference to me if something is voiced or not, but it added a lot to the scenes. it was adorable hearing dash's laughter and pretty much everyone else's laughter too. :')
ANYWAY it was really fun. i guess you can see that from how i ended up playing act 2 and 3 in one go. but hey someone's gotta say it. it was really cool. it's all fun and games until shit gets serious. and then it's fun all over again. i loved it. everyone did a very good job with it! thanks for this game!!
I absolutely loved seeing your play-by-play on Bsky. It wasn’t just enjoyable to me, it was valuable to me. I know people are playing my stuff, but I rarely get to see a play-by-play of it, and sitting with reading and reading through this game together in the same room or in a discord chat is just NOT my thing after working on it for so long. I really like letting people engage with my work at their own pace!
What really got me though, with you, is that it was my first time really seeing someone who wasn’t into vampires read this thing, and that is an audience that is SO interesting to me, as a guy who isn’t into vampires, and is not interested in writing them further if it’s not with these characters. I’m not a vampire fan. I’m a visual kei fan who wanted to make someone really old, really slutty, and full of existential dread. And vampires were right there. Either I made up a type of guy who was immortal, or I made a vampire. But obviously, most of my audience has been Vampire People, many of which engage with Parfum because they like vampires and they like the aesthetics. I often fear that the contents of this VN sit in a place that won’t make those fans happy, and also won’t make non-vampire people happy, either, but seeing how invested you were in it the whole time made me really happy. It was such a rare treat to see someone engaging with my work all the way through who wasn’t like… my husband play testing it, lol.
I also… don’t like to police how people interpret my art, but it felt like your perception of Val was so spot on to what I was going for. Referring to him as “grandpa” or “big walking dog plushie” is very close to how I see him. He is an old man and a teenage girl and a beautiful woman and Just Some Guy who needs a bath and a fucking cigarette. Even though this is how a lot of people tend to see him, I still get many people who are blinded by their attraction to him and think of him as Sexy and Dommy the whole time, and also people who straight up HATE him and have no trouble telling me they want him to suffer. Such is the curse of having the Stereotypical Blonde Vampire. This is gonna sound so hammy, but I think for both of those types, they fear Val’s sincerity. He is an embarrassing person, and I know that, because there are lots of parts of myself I gave to him that I was embarrassed of and wanted to accept more, and often I can tell these things make people uncomfortable enough to ignore them for the sake of seeing him as a Big Sexy Doll, or get angry at them enough to use him as a punching bag. No matter how people engage with Val as a character, I want them to bring him their sincerity, because he is not only bringing his, but mine as well. This goes for all my characters, but with Val especially. For some people, bringing sincerity is like bringing a handbag or a coin purse, but for others, it can be more difficult, as heavy as a suitcase full of bricks. Thank you for bringing your sincerity to engage with my work, however heavy sincerity may be.
also: you are like the first person to be afraid of kenny. while i’m not afraid of him myself, i think this is justified. kenny is the number one most thirsted over character in this game but if they ever got a chance to shoot their shot with him irl there is a 100% chance he’d do something that sends them running screaming out of clair de lune. they think they can match his freak, but they can’t. val sends lu to clair not just to learn about vampire shit, but also to see if it scares him away. but of course, lupino verona, a man who has sat at a table with too many italian mobster uncles with huge obnoxious cigars to count, is like, “uh… yeah. he’s just kinda weird i guess.” insane.
yeah i agree!! i think it's kind of like how tiff see vampires and immortality. when she was talking about it in act 3 i was angry because that was. just a very shallow way of seeing things and when she asked "why are you looking at me like that?" to val and said he looked very sad it made total sense to me. i was like "YES, YOU GET IT!!!!!!!!" and it was a very realistic portrayal of a vampire. to me they're either really sad or really insane creatures, no in-between LMAO
AND THIS ALWAYS HAPPENS :SOB: i can smell a freaky character from MILES and im UTTERLY SCARED OF THEM. AND PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS THIRSTYING OVER THEM AND IM LIKE GUYS.......??!!!?!? NO..........!!!!!! :sob: (also very real of lupine)
you know how I was like, “I put Parf on r/vampires and they hated it?” For a while, I would post there for my own entertainment, because it was rife with dumbasses. Like, one of them assumed that Kenny faked his sight disability to “lure in prey,” and when I told them he didn’t, they said “ohh okay. so he makes people pity him and then lures them in” and it was SO weird and ableist.
but what got me to stop posting there, what got me to stop being entertained by that place, was when i explained val’s stance on vampirism and immortality, and i got GANGED UP ON. they found it incredibly bizarre that val thinks about death and dying on a daily basis and they were like, “that’s a sign of major mental instability, and he needs help.” lol. wow i so did not realize that 🙄. someone even called him the most depressing vampire character they’d ever heard of. this really puzzled me because honestly, i think val is as optimistic as he can be in his situation, his relationship to death is realistic for his own perspective on mortality, and most importantly, a character who is still worth engaging with. they were insistent that the way i wrote val was harmful, and that made him a badly made character who they were unwilling to approach with good faith. I was like, where even AM i right now? aren’t you people reading shit by like, anne rice, one of the most mentally unstable authors i have ever come across? and it’s not like there is a shortage of mentally unwell vampires. it made me think about how people insist that chronically ill people have an upbeat and happy demeanor all the time, and don’t show signs of mental turmoil. immortality is somewhat of an illness to me, and i wanted to frame it as such. immortality can be framed in many interesting ways, but anyone who fully understands the ramifications of it and appears to be mentally stable… really couldn’t exist to me, realistically. if people want to explore immortality in a way that is realistic there has to be acknowledgement of how much this world and our brains are not made for forever.
ANYWAY SORRY FOR HOW LONG THAT REPLY WAS LMAO i just thoroughly enjoy your thoughts on my work and i appreciate you So so much.
ITS FINE LMAO its a really cool thing, I don't think I ever seen vampires being represented that way (with a good mixture of being "mentally unstable" and "trying to be optimistic") so I appreciate the thoughts 🙏
and honestly people are INSANE 😭 LIKE WHYY