The "Good":
Content wise I didn't really have any problems with this update. We got EXACTLY what we expected. Natalie had the most progress, which we called; Sam had significant progress, which we called; and Andy & Cathy want to swing, which we called. The images were, as always, gorgeous.
The "Bad":
This update was incredibly tedious to get through, and the writing was awful. The writing was full of typos/syntax/localization errors. The dialog continues to be extremely stilted and rigidly formal. I don't feel like any character sounds unique because they're all so stilted. Yes, Sam talks about different things than Natalie, but the words and style of their dialog is all the same. And it's all sooooo tedious. By the time I got to the scene with Sam in the sauna, even I started to skip over some dialog. It just goes on...and on...and on....it's exhausting. It isn't fun and it isn't interesting, it's self indulgent by L&P who definitely doesn't believe that brevity is the soul of wit. L&P definitely abides by a philosophy of "more is more".
And that philosophy bleeds into the images. There are sooo many images. Too many images. You click and click and click and click and nothing happens. It takes FOREVER to progress through a scene. You're bombarded with tedious dialog and a thousand images that need to be clicked through. The game would actually flow significantly better if the number of images were reduced by 20% and the text reduced by 30%.
Sam:
I found the dialog so distracting that I don't really know what to make of Sam. I can't tell if L&P is trying to write him as a cringey, creepy, pompous weirdo; or if L&P thinks that he's writing Sam as a sincere and charming love struck kid. Maybe it's because I'm a woman and my experiences are very different from a man like L&P, but guys like Sam exist and they're always giant red flags. Young guys who think they're great at sweet talking like this often grow into poorly adjusted men who think that talking to a woman must consist of one-liners and platitudes. They'll recite poetry, and the LOVE to talk about music. So as I play the Sam scenes I'm not sure if I should find him creepy or if his bullshit is supposed to work well.
Sophia:
This leads me to Sophia herself. I really think that her corruption is moving along well and makes sense, but the Sam stuff pushes the lines of suspension of disbelief. When I tried to shut Sam down I didn't get feedback from Sophia that she was creeped out, just that she thought the situation was going too far. If Sophia had said "Ok, Sam is a creep, I need to shut this down" I may have stuck with those decisions. But every time you allow him to go further Sophia justifies it and admits that she likes what she's hearing, so that tells me that the game wants us to think Sam is charming. As I've said a million times, Day 12 is going to be remembered as the day that the game really picked up steam story wise. If there was a major missed opportunity, it was Sophia not letting Natalie get her off. Considering the situation I think it would have been totally in-character for Sophia to either say yes, or for Natalie to just go for it. L&P is too addicted to the slow burn that he's too quick to smother any embers of fire, and in this case it was a mistake. It would have been great story-wise to actually advance Sophia's sexuality. L&P could have reeled it back in, maybe the postman comes and interupts them and Sophia snaps out of it, but at least we would have seen Sophia take a major step forward in her sexuality instead of a baby step.
Cathy & Andy:
In theory I'm totally fine with this scene, but in practice it just felt tacked on to the update. I liked that it was, relatively, brief and got right to the point. But the dialog absolutely ruined it. It was so fucking painful to get through. It wasn't sexy, it wasn't fun, it wasn't anything other than tedious. It was fine that Sophia and Liam didn't have an answer right away, but nothing about the dialog showed me that these four are old friends who are really close, it all just felt really forced. I like that L&P didn't take 500 images with this scene, and that it was brief, but how he chose to make it brief was the problem. We needed more flirting, more fun, better banter, etc. And, god help me, the images were too static. I know I know, I bitch about the number of images in the update, but this scene either needs a couple more, or it needed different ones. The images were just too boring and didn't help tell a compelling story. It reminded me of the sauna scene with Vicky and DeShawn, just boring back and forth static images; only the sauna scene was hotter. Overall, this scene with Cathy & Andy needed more work.
Overall:
I give this update 3 out of 5 stars. It was fine. Nothing special. Not terrible. The main problem is that it just takes too long for these updates to come out and they can never justify the time.
Honestly the content of each update is fine and I appreciate the depth, the problem is the time between updates. If these kind of updates were coming monthly or bimonthly this game would be insane I would def be a patron. 6 months is too long...
Some people mention that we will get much smaller updates,like one big event or 2-3 small ones.
Of course I have said 3 years ago that continously splitting the days won't make a faster progress in the game.
It's au contraire.From 3 months for 1 game day,now we are at 14 months for 1 day.Yes we did get more images,but not that much more as we should be expecting for almost 5 times more months.Not to mention he can cut at least 20% of the renders for almost every scene and the scene won't lose anything.
Honestly the content of each update is fine and I appreciate the depth, the problem is the time between updates. If these kind of updates were coming monthly or bimonthly this game would be insane I would def be a patron. 6 months is too long...
Is there any way we can do the swinging scene but have Liam tied up, in a chastity cage while our main character does both Cathy and Andy, then have Liam walk home?
The "Good":
Content wise I didn't really have any problems with this update. We got EXACTLY what we expected. Natalie had the most progress, which we called; Sam had significant progress, which we called; and Andy & Cathy want to swing, which we called. The images were, as always, gorgeous.
The "Bad":
This update was incredibly tedious to get through, and the writing was awful. The writing was full of typos/syntax/localization errors. The dialog continues to be extremely stilted and rigidly formal. I don't feel like any character sounds unique because they're all so stilted. Yes, Sam talks about different things than Natalie, but the words and style of their dialog is all the same. And it's all sooooo tedious. By the time I got to the scene with Sam in the sauna, even I started to skip over some dialog. It just goes on...and on...and on....it's exhausting. It isn't fun and it isn't interesting, it's self indulgent by L&P who definitely doesn't believe that brevity is the soul of wit. L&P definitely abides by a philosophy of "more is more".
And that philosophy bleeds into the images. There are sooo many images. Too many images. You click and click and click and click and nothing happens. It takes FOREVER to progress through a scene. You're bombarded with tedious dialog and a thousand images that need to be clicked through. The game would actually flow significantly better if the number of images were reduced by 20% and the text reduced by 30%.
Sam:
I found the dialog so distracting that I don't really know what to make of Sam. I can't tell if L&P is trying to write him as a cringey, creepy, pompous weirdo; or if L&P thinks that he's writing Sam as a sincere and charming love struck kid. Maybe it's because I'm a woman and my experiences are very different from a man like L&P, but guys like Sam exist and they're always giant red flags. Young guys who think they're great at sweet talking like this often grow into poorly adjusted men who think that talking to a woman must consist of one-liners and platitudes. They'll recite poetry, and the LOVE to talk about music. So as I play the Sam scenes I'm not sure if I should find him creepy or if his bullshit is supposed to work well.
Sophia:
This leads me to Sophia herself. I really think that her corruption is moving along well and makes sense, but the Sam stuff pushes the lines of suspension of disbelief. When I tried to shut Sam down I didn't get feedback from Sophia that she was creeped out, just that she thought the situation was going too far. If Sophia had said "Ok, Sam is a creep, I need to shut this down" I may have stuck with those decisions. But every time you allow him to go further Sophia justifies it and admits that she likes what she's hearing, so that tells me that the game wants us to think Sam is charming. As I've said a million times, Day 12 is going to be remembered as the day that the game really picked up steam story wise. If there was a major missed opportunity, it was Sophia not letting Natalie get her off. Considering the situation I think it would have been totally in-character for Sophia to either say yes, or for Natalie to just go for it. L&P is too addicted to the slow burn that he's too quick to smother any embers of fire, and in this case it was a mistake. It would have been great story-wise to actually advance Sophia's sexuality. L&P could have reeled it back in, maybe the postman comes and interupts them and Sophia snaps out of it, but at least we would have seen Sophia take a major step forward in her sexuality instead of a baby step.
Cathy & Andy:
In theory I'm totally fine with this scene, but in practice it just felt tacked on to the update. I liked that it was, relatively, brief and got right to the point. But the dialog absolutely ruined it. It was so fucking painful to get through. It wasn't sexy, it wasn't fun, it wasn't anything other than tedious. It was fine that Sophia and Liam didn't have an answer right away, but nothing about the dialog showed me that these four are old friends who are really close, it all just felt really forced. I like that L&P didn't take 500 images with this scene, and that it was brief, but how he chose to make it brief was the problem. We needed more flirting, more fun, better banter, etc. And, god help me, the images were too static. I know I know, I bitch about the number of images in the update, but this scene either needs a couple more, or it needed different ones. The images were just too boring and didn't help tell a compelling story. It reminded me of the sauna scene with Vicky and DeShawn, just boring back and forth static images; only the sauna scene was hotter. Overall, this scene with Cathy & Andy needed more work.
Overall:
I give this update 3 out of 5 stars. It was fine. Nothing special. Not terrible. The main problem is that it just takes too long for these updates to come out and they can never justify the time.
Seems a bit hipocrytical after writing quite a lenghty review yourself ;-
Good to see a honest detailed review. I just want to point out that the ammount of text and imgaes that are a negative in your eyes, can be greatly apreciated and something that someone else enjoys. Me for that matter.
So as you see it comes down to individual preferance.
As for the sappy romantic, artistic-esque depiction of Sam-Sophia romance story - I am not a fan of it myself personaly, but it is what it is, and always has been the theme of their relationship. We just hape to accept that all diffrent storylines will have diffrent themes. Which means Sophia reactions in them will probably be inconsistant.
Sophia that happily allows old wringkled grandpas to manhandle her, submits to blackmail by schoolkid, and pursues multiple lesbian affairs, cannot have a consistant personality. We have to suspend our disbelieve and kind of think of Sophia in each storyline as a slightly diffrent woman. This is the price of apealing to a wide audiance of viewers, some of which enjoy an unrealistic exalted romance story, and some who want to see her have dirty rough sex with strangers.
So now wankers complain there was no naked boobies in the last update ? That it is a step back becouse we saw boobies before, and now it was no boobies ?
What about people like me, who are actualy very into clothed sex ? If she will stay partialy clothed while getting fucked by a schoolbus of soccer boys, this will not count as a porn I assume ?
Damn
I feel sorry for L&P that he has to engage in those sorts of discussions. But he is going strong so far sticking to his believes, that I think he should be fine.
And those people complaining how quick the game is ...
I am replaying the game from the start since yesturday, and After 6 hours of playtime I am at day 4 ...
Stupid me, holding CRTL down I would have been throught the game by this point !
It is a legitimate gripe. One would expect more nudity in the most recent update. Additionally the swinger nonsense is unpleasant. It's implying that Sophia may enter into some sort of "Open Relationship" with Liam, and that would absolutely ruin the game. If Liam becomes a cuck like that then the game is dead because a "Secret Affair" is 923,233,632 times hotter than "Swinger Bullshit".
It is a legitimate gripe. One would expect more nudity in the most recent update. Additionally the swinger nonsense is unpleasant. It's implying that Sophia may enter into some sort of "Open Relationship" with Liam, and that would absolutely ruin the game. If Liam becomes a cuck like that then the game is dead because a "Secret Affair" is 923,233,632 times hotter than "Swinger Bullshit".
Man... in that line of though the game is allready ruined, becouse Lesbian fans are horrified about Sophia having sex with guys, and Young boys are weeping becouse Sophia has lewd scenes with old geezers.
This game is made with the intent to cover most of the fetishes out there.
Some storylines are about romance, some are about "secret Affairs", and this one with Cathy apparently gona be about "swinger bullshit".
It is funny how this is the type of content that got you all rilled up, and not incest, immoral young x old relationships, or disgusting old men.
Nope - swinging - that is most bizzare ;-)
For a record - I totaly hate her marital sex scenes with Liam - but I do not complain about them, saying they are ruining the game ! That game is ultimatly a mixture of all sorts of feishes. Each storyline is separate, and not mandatory. You pursue what you like, and ignore what you dont. Simple as that.
Common people ;-
Ps. I also prefer "Secret Affair" NTR than swinging. But it is not the point. Sophia will have a plenty of those.
Please, can anyone give a save-file with Dylans & Sams Path?
I play this game a long time but I don't find the right path for Dylan & Sam.
Please, help me with a good save starting at the first good event with him or them. (Sorry, for my bad english.)
Bravo L&P, your work is the best on this site; pay no attention to critics who don't know what the thrill of falling in love means, the pleasure of desire, the growing excitement of waiting for a sexual act. Many of them would like to see sexual intercourse in every episode; they do not understand that this would reduce the narrative tension and reduce the sexual desire. From each of my experiences I remember with great pleasure the phases of the approach, the growth of the attraction, shared with each other and how we arrived at the "first time". The "after", beautiful yes, but in the long run it becomes routine. And in a story it causes attention to drop and interest to fail.
L&P continues like this and "don't care about them, just look and go on" as Dante made Virgil say ....
Sorry my english translated with google ....
The "Good":
Content wise I didn't really have any problems with this update. We got EXACTLY what we expected. Natalie had the most progress, which we called; Sam had significant progress, which we called; and Andy & Cathy want to swing, which we called. The images were, as always, gorgeous.
The "Bad":
This update was incredibly tedious to get through, and the writing was awful. The writing was full of typos/syntax/localization errors. The dialog continues to be extremely stilted and rigidly formal. I don't feel like any character sounds unique because they're all so stilted. Yes, Sam talks about different things than Natalie, but the words and style of their dialog is all the same. And it's all sooooo tedious. By the time I got to the scene with Sam in the sauna, even I started to skip over some dialog. It just goes on...and on...and on....it's exhausting. It isn't fun and it isn't interesting, it's self indulgent by L&P who definitely doesn't believe that brevity is the soul of wit. L&P definitely abides by a philosophy of "more is more".
And that philosophy bleeds into the images. There are sooo many images. Too many images. You click and click and click and click and nothing happens. It takes FOREVER to progress through a scene. You're bombarded with tedious dialog and a thousand images that need to be clicked through. The game would actually flow significantly better if the number of images were reduced by 20% and the text reduced by 30%.
Sam:
I found the dialog so distracting that I don't really know what to make of Sam. I can't tell if L&P is trying to write him as a cringey, creepy, pompous weirdo; or if L&P thinks that he's writing Sam as a sincere and charming love struck kid. Maybe it's because I'm a woman and my experiences are very different from a man like L&P, but guys like Sam exist and they're always giant red flags. Young guys who think they're great at sweet talking like this often grow into poorly adjusted men who think that talking to a woman must consist of one-liners and platitudes. They'll recite poetry, and the LOVE to talk about music. So as I play the Sam scenes I'm not sure if I should find him creepy or if his bullshit is supposed to work well.
Sophia:
This leads me to Sophia herself. I really think that her corruption is moving along well and makes sense, but the Sam stuff pushes the lines of suspension of disbelief. When I tried to shut Sam down I didn't get feedback from Sophia that she was creeped out, just that she thought the situation was going too far. If Sophia had said "Ok, Sam is a creep, I need to shut this down" I may have stuck with those decisions. But every time you allow him to go further Sophia justifies it and admits that she likes what she's hearing, so that tells me that the game wants us to think Sam is charming. As I've said a million times, Day 12 is going to be remembered as the day that the game really picked up steam story wise. If there was a major missed opportunity, it was Sophia not letting Natalie get her off. Considering the situation I think it would have been totally in-character for Sophia to either say yes, or for Natalie to just go for it. L&P is too addicted to the slow burn that he's too quick to smother any embers of fire, and in this case it was a mistake. It would have been great story-wise to actually advance Sophia's sexuality. L&P could have reeled it back in, maybe the postman comes and interupts them and Sophia snaps out of it, but at least we would have seen Sophia take a major step forward in her sexuality instead of a baby step.
Cathy & Andy:
In theory I'm totally fine with this scene, but in practice it just felt tacked on to the update. I liked that it was, relatively, brief and got right to the point. But the dialog absolutely ruined it. It was so fucking painful to get through. It wasn't sexy, it wasn't fun, it wasn't anything other than tedious. It was fine that Sophia and Liam didn't have an answer right away, but nothing about the dialog showed me that these four are old friends who are really close, it all just felt really forced. I like that L&P didn't take 500 images with this scene, and that it was brief, but how he chose to make it brief was the problem. We needed more flirting, more fun, better banter, etc. And, god help me, the images were too static. I know I know, I bitch about the number of images in the update, but this scene either needs a couple more, or it needed different ones. The images were just too boring and didn't help tell a compelling story. It reminded me of the sauna scene with Vicky and DeShawn, just boring back and forth static images; only the sauna scene was hotter. Overall, this scene with Cathy & Andy needed more work.
Overall:
I give this update 3 out of 5 stars. It was fine. Nothing special. Not terrible. The main problem is that it just takes too long for these updates to come out and they can never justify the time.
I agree mostly on everything. As a non native speaker I cannot comment much on the quality of the writing (except maybe the typos and the syntax) but I too felt the dialogues were a little bit under par wrt the usual and not much captivating.
And once again, for the significant events (Nathalie, Sam, Cathy) I had the same feeling I had for the last release. I felt that the dialogues and more in general the interactions between the characterd stepped up too quickly, leaving a sort of feeling of "did I miss something?". I had this feeling for the old gents and in part aiden's and dylan's event. I'm talking really at the beginning of each event. The interactions, the way to speak were not "familiar" or in line with what happened so far with the character in question.
For the old gents, e.g., it was obviously because it was the first time we actually saw them interacting with Sophia and it was weird to see that they were already at that level of interaction/confidence. Once the tone was set it was fine but that step was not trivial for me.
In a similar way here with Nathalie the sudden dominatrix vibe that she sets right from the beginning was a bit disconcerting for me. I mean I liked the event a lot, but this abrupt beginning was a bit odd to me at first, maybe it could have been ramped up a little bit more gradually. Like e.g. Nathalie changing into something more comfortable felt a bit rushed, to the point that you wonder how Sophia does not find it odd.
That being said, call me crazy but I liked that there was no nudity. I found it a lot more erotic this way. The climax could be a missed opportunity but maybe it was too much. As you said maybe instead of the abrupt interruption, she could have gone for it and then the postman interrupted.
The same for Sam and the sudden bold way he started to interact with Sophia before and after the concert. Ok he was pumped up by the concert and all but still I really felt a sort of sudden step.
And yes the suspension of disbelief in Sam event was strong, for the cheesy dialogues and also for the underwater scene. The realism there was really on a thin line, no way that he could not be seen... (but I don't want to start a discussion of the physics of it! )
For Cathy's event I also felt it was kind of rushed. I think you already made this remark for another past event, here is a bit the same. We had few sentences to set the context:
Here maybe a few dialogues with the couples, e.g., remembering a past event, even without many details, would have helped (IMO) to better give the reader an insight of the relationship they had, rather than just describe them. I mean nothing complicated or too long, just few exchanges would have give a better "immersion" in the scene.
I don't know if it was just me that had these feelings, obviously the corruption has to progress and I think this PD made a hell of work in this direction. But let's say that, personally, I'd prefer a ramp rather than a sudden bump.
It is a legitimate gripe. One would expect more nudity in the most recent update. Additionally the swinger nonsense is unpleasant. It's implying that Sophia may enter into some sort of "Open Relationship" with Liam, and that would absolutely ruin the game. If Liam becomes a cuck like that then the game is dead because a "Secret Affair" is 923,233,632 times hotter than "Swinger Bullshit".
Well, the game won't die of it right away, but a swinger route that starts sometime in the middle of the game while Sophia is already doing completely different things will erotically not work. If Andrey gets a chance, Liam will be the one who has been betrayed and all the tension for Sophia will be over. Just another fuck.
I agree mostly on everything. As a non native speaker I cannot comment much on the quality of the writing (except maybe the typos and the syntax) but I too felt the dialogues were a little bit under par wrt the usual and not much captivating.
And once again, for the significant events (Nathalie, Sam, Cathy) I had the same feeling I had for the last release. I felt that the dialogues and more in general the interactions between the characterd stepped up too quickly, leaving a sort of feeling of "did I miss something?". I had this feeling for the old gents and in part aiden's and dylan's event. I'm talking really at the beginning of each event. The interactions, the way to speak were not "familiar" or in line with what happened so far with the character in question.
For the old gents, e.g., it was obviously because it was the first time we actually saw them interacting with Sophia and it was weird to see that they were already at that level of interaction/confidence. Once the tone was set it was fine but that step was not trivial for me.
In a similar way here with Nathalie the sudden dominatrix vibe that she sets right from the beginning was a bit disconcerting for me. I mean I liked the event a lot, but this abrupt beginning was a bit odd to me at first, maybe it could have been ramped up a little bit more gradually. Like e.g. Nathalie changing into something more comfortable felt a bit rushed, to the point that you wonder how Sophia does not find it odd.
That being said, call me crazy but I liked that there was no nudity. I found it a lot more erotic this way. The climax could be a missed opportunity but maybe it was too much. As you said maybe instead of the abrupt interruption, she could have gone for it and then the postman interrupted.
The same for Sam in the sudden bold way he started to interact with Sophia before and after the concert. Ok he was pumped up by the concert and all but still I really felt a sort of sudden step.
And yes the suspension of disbelief in Sam event was strong, for the cheesy dialogues and also for the underwater scene. The realism there was really on a thin line, no way that he could not be seen... (but I don't want to start a discussion of the physics of it! )
For Cathy's event I also felt it was kind of rushed. I think you already made this remark for another past event, here is a bit the same. We had few sentences to set the context:
Here maybe a few dialogues with the couples, e.g., remembering a past event, even without many details, would have helped (IMO) to better give the reader an insight of the relationship they had, rather than just describe them. I mean nothing complicated or too long, just few exchanges would have give a better "immersion" in the scene.
I don't know if it was just me that had these feelings, obviously the corruption has to progress and I think this PD made a hell of work in this direction. But let's say that, personally, I'd prefer a ramp rather than a sudden bump.
Yes, an evening together in a bar, with dancing and alcohol, while the erotic tension is slowly building up, would have been better for the Cathy event. Both spouses could have played a little sexually and the scenes could have been told alternately from the perspective of Sophia and Liam. Up to the question about a swinger night. But the howling here about the wasted developer time would be unbearable. And in this case even a little understandable. For "How do I share my wife ?!" there are good other games and L&P shouldn't invest the effort in a secondary route.
The call from Morello was strange. Somehow it occurred to me that one could stand here at a crossroads. If you accept Morello's help with Aiden, Aiden's path ends but a route with the Mafia opens up. If you let it go, Aiden continues and Morello closes. But that's only a very, very vague assumption.
I do not understand that mania to complain about certain ways that the game can bring. You don't like Sophia's lebianism, you don't follow the path, you don't like swigers, you don't follow, the game always gives the option.But wanting to force that a certain path does not exist because one does not like it is ridiculous
i honestly get bored by that, i havent played a mother's love, so i cant say if the story its captivating but with most games, as soon as i bang the character that i wana bang i lose interest really quickly, if theres no more space for still some progression with the character or some evolution i drop it
That's exactly why a good story and writing is crucial to keep the players interested. That's basically what turns a braindead porn game into an interesting adult VN, and a bunch of VN's out there have been able to do exactly that. Nobody wants to see Sophia banging everything that moves in every single update, but an adult VN with a corruption path that has literally 0 sex scenes after more than 4 years of development certainly is doing something wrong if you ask me.
And those people complaining how quick the game is ...
I am replaying the game from the start since yesturday, and After 6 hours of playtime I am at day 4 ...
Stupid me, holding CRTL down I would have been throught the game by this point !
Sorry to say, but if it truly took you 6 hours to reach playable day 4, the word slow reader would be an understatement. Even if you were to study every single render thoroughly, it shouldn't take you THAT long. I'm guessing you're just overexaggerating to bring your point across.
That's exactly why a good story and writing is crucial to keep the players interested. That's basically what turns a braindead porn game into an interesting adult VN, and a bunch of VN's out there have been able to do exactly that. Nobody wants to see Sophia banging everything that moves in every single update, but an adult VN with a corruption path that has literally 0 sex scenes after more than 4 years of development certainly is doing something wrong if you ask me.
Sorry to say, but if it truly took you 6 hours to reach playable day 4, the word slow reader would be an understatement. Even if you were to study every single render thoroughly, it shouldn't take you THAT long. I'm guessing you're just overexaggerating to bring your point across.
