Review made on version 0.27.3.
I really wish I could rate this at least 3/5 but after revisiting to give it another shot I just can't.
TL;DR
Claire's Quest does
some things right, and the unique artwork is a great hook, but
as a game it has clunky issues and is too open-ended without quality control -- the worst being player engagement to the narrative and respect for time.
If you are OK with a pure walk-point-A-to-B gallery unlocking H-game, then it's probably worth a download for a few sessions, but otherwise put this on the backlog.
What I think is Good
The art is very good, both in H-scenes and playing around the map. Could use some animation, but it works. Claire is sexy -- no idea how a review below mine can tag her as "obese". The story is passable and better than bottom-feeder H-RPGs, though nothing special. I don't mind having no combat.
If you like the art, there is a
lot of it. It just takes time and exploring to get to. If you're OK with gallery explorers, then this game should be fine for you.
I appreciate the no-combat rather than being a sloggy RPG-M fight-fest, however it does have a slight learning curve and can take extra time.
RPG Mechanics & Stats
There are choices to make at certain times where you choose a response or action for Claire. They tend to be dysfunctional/awkward. Two examples:
- You pick one of three options as Claire. You're a bit bored so you choose to "push" a more lewd option, but Claire won't because of her stats. Now you're stuck into another option without being able to go back or end the dialogue, so you either have to reload a save and grind/explore for stats or just move on.
- You want to roleplay as a pure Claire so you pick something like "give him comforting advice" which leads into Claire acting sultry, then gaining +1 seduction. Huh?
This ties into how the stats are awkward to use. In my first playthrough I coincidentally ended up having like 11 defiance with every other stat at 1, which led to Claire just punching her way through every situation, especially those that may have been lewd. To me it was just roleplaying what I would expect her to do early on, thinking she'd potentially change to lewd desires - nope, it's just
so open for the player that I paved my own path to that awkward stat allotment, so I decided to restart and explore different options.
Corruption, or lack thereof -- including other tags
The "corruption" in this game isn't really corruption, sorta like how the "slave" tag doesn't take precedence in certain F95 games. While player freedom is
technically fully there, it's behind stats required to get resolutions. Claire isn't so much corrupted or changing as she's just guided by what the player wants her to be, and it makes it feel like there's never a narrative base for the player to attach to -- it's just too open and sandboxy to retain a flowing or consistent story.
Claire is often not "forced" into choices like the narrative wants to try to push ("she's a poor refugee and
has to do XYZ"). Though you
can occasionally end up raped (usually not a game-over) or H-loss raped (which is always a game-over). With regards to the four stats, some scenes get changed, but overall it's like a switch flipped on or off.
The open-ended and sandboxy nature of the game can make Claire a rather inconsistent character. Two more examples:
- You'll land at a certain place, some guy will ask Claire to show her tits for a coin and she'll say "No! That's preposterous!", but then 10 minutes later she'll be hot-dogged by 15 men in a secret lounge because you chose to race through a quest line that allows you to see that content.
- Claire's working to get by and has yet to do anything lewd. Well, this kid drew a picture of her so she's going to jack his cock now, unprompted by any corruption or events other than him being moderately attracted to her due to budding puberty. This makes sense, right?
Don't get me wrong, those are fine H-events when separated from the bigger picture, but because there are so many questlines that don't align, the only grounding the game has is the four stats -- Claire is more of a vessel for you to unlock lewd galleries than a character who shifts or changes based on her situation, or has outright goals to pursue in any anchored story arc.
I also wanted to put a blurb in here - I love player freedom and expression in H-games, but usually it's best caveated based on the game's setting/story - a basic example being a corruption story where you can avoid corruption altogether by putting a bit of effort in. I find Claire's Quest to be
too open to the point I can't even engage with it by trying to roleplay.
General Gameplay Loop
Most of everything is a fetch quest, which is... fine, but wastes player time. At some point it becomes comical how many quests are "go to A from B" and then "go to B from A", repeated multiple times over. Sometimes there will be a stat requirement at the end of the line as well, which will waste a trip or two.
I found myself getting bored attempting to keep up with dialogue/story. It's engaging early but at some point later on if you're deep into a "walk to this spot, then walk to this spot" quest, you pick up more and more how the game has no
real direction in mind, and that will likely lose your focus -- since what's the point?
The map can be confusing but isn't awful -- I just think it's too wide with too much, and a condensed story with basic playthrough branches would be preferred.
There's really no backlog and the quest viewing system is irritating to use (having to scroll often, having inconsistent controls between clicking or using WASD/arrows). It's easy to get lost during quests if you aren't familiar with the map and sometimes the "most updated" part of the quest log won't give you the right hint. This also multiplies if you revisit the game after a break and were unsure of what you were doing.
Because this game appears to be in forever-development, there are a number of questlines that end in a "WIP". There are also event locations around the map that just say "WIP".
A weird time-waster; I appreciate that the game is a click-RPG so I don't have to WASD everywhere -- that being said, why is the Status screen not clickable, and I have to click escape for it?
Lastly -- what is up with the audio mixing? H-scenes seem inconsistent for what audio will or will not be there, but at times there will be droning ambience or loud noises in areas of the map. It's just something I picked up on after playing a while.
Conclusion
I have an appreciation for the art of this game, so as a simple gallery collection and maybe a jack-session or two it can fulfil the purpose of a download. But the gameplay and narrative are sadly dysfunctional and it just seems like an open-top game that will never condense to truly be quality.
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