VN - Ren'Py - Completed - 2nd Chance Season 2, Text-Based [v1.1] [xxerikxx]

The dev released the first iteration of this game [we'll charitably call it season 1] with the understanding that the game had been solely for his, as he was learning programming and the like, and was casting about for artists and the like. The game went on and on, all the while giving rendering and scene instruction to the non-existent artist who - at some point was going to go through the game and re-render it.

Had the dev kept any of those promises, this would be a 5-star review.

Instead, we are given a continuation of the same story, again with no renders, but now, the dev wants us to pay for it.

Half the problem of this game [for me, at least] is that the dev PROMISED one thing and delivered another. Its like ordering a camera from online and being sent a crayon-drawing of a camera instead. With the first 'season' you only had yourself to blame for being suckered in on the promise of eventual renders.

Trying to scam people out of money via Patreon for the same nonsense while slapping a 'season 2' - instead of fixing/remaking the game YOU ALREADY HAVE can only be perceived as being exceptionally dishonest.

As to why I gave the game 2 stars, I must give credit where credit is due. The dev should have taken a product manager stance and farmed out the artwork and proofreading, while maintaining overall storyline control...but they made a game. That in itself is worth a star.

That there is a good story underneath the dumpster fire is the reason for the second star. It is also the reason why there is so very much shade being thrown at the dev, and even more so now that they are trying to get paid to throw more fuel on the dumpster fire.

I am totally willing to reevaluate this game if the dev either starts adding renders or stops asking for money under the pretense of paying artists. Until then, this game is an unworthy offering.

For this game i'm giving a score 3/5. Keep in mind that this is text based game where you only have portraits of the characters standing still while text is written at the same time to tell the story. So be aware of that before downloading this game.

Character models - There's nothing much to tell about them. They're nice i guess. There are some reports that dev actually purchased these characters from other sites. Nevertheless i'm giving them 4/5.

Story - Your tipical mid life crisis. Not bad at all, that is if you don't mind reading entire wall of text and watching character pics standing stull. Again 4/5.

Renders - Non existent. Character models, like i wrote many times above, are standing still and wall of text is describing what's happening. 1/5.

Now why am i giving this 3/5? Well i think that this dev should firstly learn how to render characters, y'know make them move, grab something, what ever instead of describing. I would understand that Season 1 was text based game but to repeat same patern in Season 2. That's just lame, without any insult to dev. I hope that this dev learn how to make renders and characters alive. Please if your next game will be the same wall of text, again without any insult, just don't bother. Learn first, take your time as many as you nead. Then come back, create game or what ever drives you.

I don´t know why this dev has so much hate...

He delivers FREE games, they are text based and dev NOTIFIES it.

Can´t really understand why you make fun of him for not adding renders.

If you don´t like these kind of games is stupid to play it and complain because is exactly as described by the dev. If you really cared when reading typos instead of make jokes about dev´s mistakes you could tell him when they are so he can fix it.

It´s true that games are more visual with renders and maybe dev should write on Twine or QSP that are more suitable for text games but just can´t understand why a game (that is not bad at all) is constantly criticised for this things.
It´s like people that goes to see an action movie and rate it with 2 stars because he hate action movies.

He is making it for FREE. Whoever sees the reviews can clearly see they are not objective at all, same happened to me.

for a game like that there must be 0 stars. Season 1 was bad, yet there was an excuse - the dev is learning etc.
If you are that much of n00b you should perfect and update your game until it start actually resembling of a game and not of a school project gone bad.

Instead of that the n00b dev started season 2.??? WWWWHHHHAATTT???

How is there any season 2 when there is NO game whatsoever?
Everything in this game sucks - it seems that the dev just drops pieces of text into the script and calls it a day.
Why bother with Ren'Py when you are not using any of its capabilities?
No background, no interactions - you may think that the writing must be good. You'll be sorely mistaken - it is horrible too.
The dev obviously surrounded himself with friends and family constantly praising his non-existent achievements in season 1 - they did him great disservice .
because of lack of constructive critics the dev learned nothing and delivered hands down one of the worst games ever.

The plot is simple but not trivial. The characters are alive. Feeling like reading a picture book. It is a pity that this is not a full-fledged visual novel, then one could have put the top five without looking back. but this is also a plus, imagination works without the framework of the level of the modeler and visualizer. And so a short visual and a huge field for imagination. well done.

The story is good, the writing is decent. Lack of artwork in a visual Novel really hampers it. It probably should be re-written with more text as AIF piece. If the developer picks up an artist this game would have an above average rating.

Good Points
+We have story?

Bad Points
-This is not a game. We just have avatars with black screen and DEV write story with texts. No bacground, no gameplay, no renders, no sex images or animations etc... Basicly its just have texts and avatars.

For The End
Thats just terrible...

Only placeholder art that is seemingly barely edited from the estore in which the assets were purchased, so it's basically reading someone's mid-life crisis with stock photos. How this is counted as a "season 2" of anything is beyond my comprehension.

Good story but no visuals. Only the avatars are visible and sometimes there is just a black screen. There is also little sexual thrill for an x-rated game. Only the text is satisfying but it isn't supported by any visual sex scenes.

My Rating for this is:

Pros:
+ Nice Story
+ Nice Stills
+ Long updates

Cons:
- No Sex Images
- No Animation

Conclusion:
Loved his first Part, and the story with this second Continuation was something I was looking for, because I like the way the story unfolds.
right now there isn`t really anything happening out of the ordinary at the release of V0.7, maybe in the future.
About the still Images, they do get boring but the Dev has already pointed out that he is working on a solution to this.
I believe he should maybe try to put real Images in his game, till a better solution is found, that would pimp up the game alot.
Right now I believe 3 Stars is fair for the work he puts into it,and the way the story is told.
Just my Opinion.

Currently, this does not feel like a VN, this is at best a proof of concept, the fact that this work is basically composed of placeholders is just icing on the cake.

It's like the dev is just pitching its project at people with the intention of getting the help he needs in the long run. Oh, and your choices are meaningless since the characters at the end of the day will do the hell the dev wants them to do. This would work more in a text adventure.

Got to say that the story is average and worth reading but the lack of renders and animations took the whole fun out of it
It would've been a lot better if you had tried to remodel season 1 than doing the season 2 the same way