HTML Degrees of Lewdity [v0.5.3.5] [Vrelnir]

[madchef]

Free Cities is too disaffecting to be properly dark. It's a silly power-tripping fantasy where none of the characters ever seem like anything more than faceless algorythms. For all of the cruelty that Free Cities depicts, none of it ever makes even the slightest emotional impact. In contrast, you care when Robyn gets sold into slavery. You feel violated by Whitney in the school halls. You get a sense of hopelessness when Bailey raises the rent. That's dark.

You might be emotionally invested in DoL's character during your first few playthroughs, perhaps. Sooner or later you'll come to realisation that all the characters are not much more than H-manga tropes, just as silly as FreeCities' acts of debauchery and sex crimes. You stop caring about Robin the moment you realise that the game allows you to date them and Avery and Whitney and Sydney and Kylar and Alex all within the same playthrough. No genuine attachment, no drama, no nothing. Robin sees you working in the Brothel, you agree to go home with them and five minutes later, you can return to the Brothel to resume prostituting yourself, business as usual. They're just intentionally unfinished, repeatable scripts in the game triggered at certain times of the day with certain criteria met. None of the characters are properly developed. They're vague with no agency of their own, just hanging around here and there. Is Bailey really that much of a threat? They're just minding their own unspecified business, demanding payment every Monday morning now, the payment which is ridiculously easy to refuse, just say you're sorry and moan or kiss for 20 rounds. They will orgasm. The other onlooking orphans will laugh. You'll get dressed and fuck 3 customers as you're selling flowers and potatoes on your way to school. Or not, your choice.

So dark...

 

[chichong]

You might be emotionally invested in DoL's character during your first few playthroughs, perhaps. Sooner or later you'll come to realisation that all the characters are not much more than H-manga tropes, just as silly as FreeCities' acts of debauchery and sex crimes. You stop caring about Robin the moment you realise that the game allows you to date them and Avery and Whitney and Sydney and Kylar and Alex all within the same playthrough. No genuine attachment, no drama, no nothing. Robin sees you working in the Brothel, you agree to go home with them and five minutes later, you can return to the Brothel to resume prostituting yourself, business as usual. They're just intentionally unfinished, repeatable scripts in the game triggered at certain times of the day with certain criteria met. None of the characters are properly developed. They're vague with no agency of their own, just hanging around here and there. Is Bailey really that much of a threat? They're just minding their own unspecified business, demanding payment every Monday morning now, the payment which is ridiculously easy to refuse, just say you're sorry and moan or kiss for 20 rounds. They will orgasm. The other onlooking orphans will laugh. You'll get dressed and fuck 3 customers as you're selling flowers and potatoes on your way to school. Or not, your choice.

So dark...

It all depends the internal limits you set yourself, or how much you allow the game to affect your morals / views. Don't get me wrong, we are on a porn-gaming forum, choosing to play a game built on the concept that every sexual act is a fight - so we all are dysfunctional to some degree.

But ultimately it boils down on how you chose to play it. For example in my current playthrough my character (average female normal diff, no cheats) is virgin, have over 1k molestation (Graceful), 0 rapes, no crime or exhibitionism fame, never met Alex, Eden, Ivory Wraith or furries, angel, innocent, best student, 400k+ money and the only person she had sex with is Avery. A "good girl". All that effort because she's the only character I care about.

You are treating things from the position "it's just a game, they are all just pixels". I don't know if you had the curiosity to dig in game files, but I did. It's quite painful to set even those vague NPC's, and their limited agency. I tried for like 4-5 days (10-12 hours/day) to set up a credible NPC that offer the option to brutally remove two named NPC (Whitney and Kylar) and pretty much take their combined place. No Bailey because "can't touch a made guy, would anger the Family" (as in Cosa Nostra family). The set up was easy... the credible part made me abandon the project (and of course the sheer amount of coding required, not to mention English is my 3rd language).

Anyway, my point is every one of those important NPCs (love interest) are pretty credible and distinctive. They are cliché(s) of course but again, there is a tremendous amount of work involved in their shaping / creation. I'm NOT a fanboi and there are plenty of things I don't like / agree with about this game but it's fair to give credit where the credit is due.

Cheers.

 

[madchef]

But ultimately it boils down on how you chose to play it.

It ultimately boils down to what styles of play the game allows to indulge in. Is it really a dark game when at the current state of development, you do not have even one instance of a hard game over / bad end? In even the most miserable of situations, you're always getting a throwbag. Sent to the Underground Brothel? No problem! You'll survive that, just dig your way out with a teaspoon. You'll even receive a trophy for that. Plus a slut top.

my character (average female normal diff, no cheats) is virgin,

My character has always been a virgin. And a superwhore. A promiscuous school slut and the best student despised by teachers and admired by her peers. Robin's protector, Alex' farmhand, tamer of horsecocks, a sailor, a bartender, a lewd masseuse, a Temple novice full of grace (and cum), Whitney's favourite and Leighton's naughty student who never learns her lesson (whose only infraction is fucking a lot in boy's locker rooms thus being late for her swimming lessons, which a sleazy person like Leighton should not really consider a delinquent behaviour). Winter's whipping girl and Briar's most precious employee. All in a single playthrough, no cheats. It is more hilarious than scary, the things you're able to get away with in this supposedly traumatic experience of being a 18yo orphan living in a town full of people carrying nothing but sex toys and lubes in their pockets/purses.

I don't know if you had the curiosity to dig in game files, but I did. It's quite painful to set even those vague NPC's, and their limited agency.

That only shows the limitations of the game's engine, which is basically just an intricate html file. The NPCs basically exist only in scenes they're written in and are not otherwise generated and controlled by the computer's AI. They're the game's environment posing as characters. Granted, most lewd games are executed that way, the only moving part being the player-controlled MC. There are no other human or computer players to compete against really. The challenge sometimes is a time limit or some game ending pitfalls in the form of bad choices. Not here though - the game is deliberately designed as perpetuum mobile.

With DoL, the more new characters are introduced the less 'deep' and important the existing ones become. A lot of players rooted for Robin and the Orphan, but with introduction of Alex and that enormously time-consuming farm substory, Robin's lemonade stand and plaiting flower crowns have been reduced to a childish farce. But Alex and Remy apparently weren't enough enrichment to the story, so we now have sanctimonious extracurricular adult-shop assistant Sydney appearing out of nowhere and a Birdperson knockoff. Who was that Bailey again?

 

[chichong]

snip

I totally understand your frustration, dude, but what you want is a sex-MUD, not a html single player game.

Spoiler: MUDs

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I'd love to see (here and now) a game that does what you complain about. A game where NPCs move around guided by their own set of variables and act according to them. If you ever find one of those, please let me know (I'm not sarcastic).

But it's... unproductive to create this kind of game, especially when is single-player AND lewd? People just want to fap, not to have their wits challenged. They actually hate games that involve more than click-click-click-picture.jpg. Unfortunately. Because as long there is a market, products will appear. And those user form the majority of the mentioned market. Eh.

 

[ViviX12]

They actually hate games that involve more than click-click-click-picture.jpg.

maybe the VN lovers
I, and a decent amount of other users, for example do seek some game in the porn games

 

[TellMeAboutBane]

You might be emotionally invested in DoL's character during your first few playthroughs, perhaps.

My first few? I still have the same chartacer that I had in the beginning. To the point of the post, the characters in Degrees of Lewdity are all very simple two-dimensional archetypes, but they fulfill a function within the narrative of the world. They are part of a living story. The same cannot be said for the complete non-charcaters that populate Free Cities. There is no Robyn to feel obligated to in Free Cities. There is no Kylar who requires that you endure certain hardships in order to reap useful benefits. There is no Black Wolf, who allows you to briefly play at being wild and free even though you will always be tethered to the reality of the game's world. There are no characters at all in Free Cities and no narrative that you are allowed to integrate your played character into. The world follows no coherent logic and makes no demands of the player. You can't craft a story in Free Cities the way that you can craft one in Degrees of Lewdity. Free Cities is just a vapid power fantasy where only one character (you) matters, and that is something that I find to be too disaffecting to ever feel dark. It doesn't help that the devs wasted years making giant robots and space lazors instead of world-building.

 

[TellMeAboutBane]

People just want to fap, not to have their wits challenged.

You know, I wonder about that. I think that I would greatly enjoy some porn that made me think. I can't be alone.

 

[ladguru]

You know, I wonder about that. I think that I would greatly enjoy some porn that made me think. I can't be alone.

No, you are not.
But this board is full of people who request a "VN mod" for a game which is already a perfectly straight VN.
And a "full save" of course.

 

[sparrow_rose]

My first few? I still have the same chartacer that I had in the beginning. To the point of the post, the characters in Degrees of Lewdity are all very simple two-dimensional archetypes, but they fulfill a function within the narrative of the world. They are part of a living story. The same cannot be said for the complete non-charcaters that populate Free Cities. There is no Robyn to feel obligated to in Free Cities. There is no Kylar who requires that you endure certain hardships in order to reap useful benefits. There is no Black Wolf, who allows you to briefly play at being wild and free even though you will always be tethered to the reality of the game's world. There are no characters at all in Free Cities and no narrative that you are allowed to integrate your played character into. The world follows no coherent logic and makes no demands of the player. You can't craft a story in Free Cities the way that you can craft one in Degrees of Lewdity. Free Cities is just a vapid power fantasy where only one character (you) matters, and that is something that I find to be too disaffecting to ever feel dark. It doesn't help that the devs wasted years making giant robots and space lazors instead of world-building.

Hmm. I play Pregmod (cause once you do there's no way you go back to regular Free Cities), and I agree it's got some issues. You see, it's not that I don't want to be invested in the world, the game just doesn't really let you. It has the bones to do so, I mean, world's collapsing. Shouldn't I be invested in making things better? But it does nothing to really incentivize that. You can focus blindly on your own whims, for the most part.
Also, something that's been bothering me for ages is that there's only one free character, yourself. In other words, your own family are always slaves. This has always bugged me. I imagine having other free people in my household, that I can't just mistreat like the slaves/indentures because if I do they'd be free to leave. I can see my partner insisting on a divorce, and I actually have to work for their affections to get married in the first place. Bring a little of that "oh these are actually people" feeling to the game.
Also, it would be nice if the school acted more like a school. I get it's there to help with slave stuff, but if it could also act as an actual school, that would be nice. You know, once my ideally free children are old enough to leave the nursery, I can send them to the homeschool where they'll recieve a standard nonslave education until an age of my choosing. In this way the intelligence and education stuff already in the game actually serves more function.
And it would be nice if there were nonsexual jobs for these free people, but I don't think you need to create a bunch of separate categories for it. It could just be called working job or similar, and the summary could say they worked at the job the game already has assigned to them. You know, the one where the slaves will say they used to be a nurse, officer, teacher, etc. A free person would currently be that, and that's what they're doing in the summary. "So and so worked as a nurse today, they made X, and had a mostly nice day. Though, one incident stands out. They were sexually harrassed by a coworker."
Now that I think of it, you could also use that for children instead of the homeschool. When they get old enough, send them to school without making them leave your household. Cause that's how that normally works, geez.
Finally, remove all the gendered language. I'm sick and tired of hearing my son referred to as she or my daughter. Just use they/them/their and family can be your parent/sibling/child/cousin/unty/sibkid. Had to look the last two up, didn't know if there were gender neutral terms for aunt/uncle and niece/nephew.

 

[Raf-Raf]

Hmm. I play Pregmod (cause once you do there's no way you go back to regular Free Cities), and I agree it's got some issues. You see, it's not that I don't want to be invested in the world, the game just doesn't really let you. It has the bones to do so, I mean, world's collapsing. Shouldn't I be invested in making things better? But it does nothing to really incentivize that. You can focus blindly on your own whims, for the most part.
Also, something that's been bothering me for ages is that there's only one free character, yourself. In other words, your own family are always slaves. This has always bugged me. I imagine having other free people in my household, that I can't just mistreat like the slaves/indentures because if I do they'd be free to leave. I can see my partner insisting on a divorce, and I actually have to work for their affections to get married in the first place. Bring a little of that "oh these are actually people" feeling to the game.
Also, it would be nice if the school acted more like a school. I get it's there to help with slave stuff, but if it could also act as an actual school, that would be nice. You know, once my ideally free children are old enough to leave the nursery, I can send them to the homeschool where they'll recieve a standard nonslave education until an age of my choosing. In this way the intelligence and education stuff already in the game actually serves more function.
And it would be nice if there were nonsexual jobs for these free people, but I don't think you need to create a bunch of separate categories for it. It could just be called working job or similar, and the summary could say they worked at the job the game already has assigned to them. You know, the one where the slaves will say they used to be a nurse, officer, teacher, etc. A free person would currently be that, and that's what they're doing in the summary. "So and so worked as a nurse today, they made X, and had a mostly nice day. Though, one incident stands out. They were sexually harrassed by a coworker."
Now that I think of it, you could also use that for children instead of the homeschool. When they get old enough, send them to school without making them leave your household. Cause that's how that normally works, geez.
Finally, remove all the gendered language. I'm sick and tired of hearing my son referred to as she or my daughter. Just use they/them/their and family can be your parent/sibling/child/cousin/unty/sibkid. Had to look the last two up, didn't know if there were gender neutral terms for aunt/uncle and niece/nephew.

When a preg mod got created first before the vanilla one.

 

[TellMeAboutBane]

Also, something that's been bothering me for ages is that there's only one free character, yourself. In other words, your own family are always slaves. This has always bugged me. I imagine having other free people in my household, that I can't just mistreat like the slaves/indentures because if I do they'd be free to leave. I can see my partner insisting on a divorce, and I actually have to work for their affections to get married in the first place. Bring a little of that "oh these are actually people" feeling to the game.

It would make perfect sense to have a royal family. One guy is not going to rule a city full of slaves by himself; he would need family and allies and a coterie of loyal servants no matter how much hand-wavy sci-fi surveilance tech he has. That would be a great place for devs to add actual characters with their own interests into the game. There could be a queen, because, despite the devs' intention to create AnCapistan, the PC is very clearly a king. The queen could be the daughter of another city's king, and your marriage guarantees a practical economic and military alliance that is vital to your survival. That would give her a certain degree of power and require that you keep her happy by way of sponsoring certain difficult or expensive projects that she favors. You would also need a prince who is first in the line of succession. He constantly wishes to prove himself by embarking upon dangerous adventures, which means that he needs to be properly trained before he gets himself killed and leaves the PC as a prime target for assassination attempts. Maybe you could have a bastard child from before your marriage with conflicted loyalties who may not be as important as your legitimate son but who would be of incredible value to your enemies should he ever fall into their hands. Naturally, you would need a delicate, silver spoon-fed princess who is coveted by the commander of your mercenary army even if the princess herself prefers the captain of your slave forces. The devs could easily build proper characters on top of these basic archetypes, and they would not only serve to make some sense of the utterly nonsensical Free Cities world but they would give us people within the narrative to care about. Without anyone to care about, playing Free Cities just feels lonely.

Contrast that with Degrees of Lewdity, where you constantly have to employ advanced scheduling to help or please all of the characters whom you care about. Let's see, I have a date with Avery at eight, so i need to get done working Robin's lemonade stand before six so that I can meet Kylar at the arcade to get a canister of pepper spray (because Bailey is going to attack me the day after tomorrow) and play just enough games that I have time to catch the bus while reducing some of that jealousy that popped up when I kissed Syndey in the cafeteria yesterday... and oh no! I didn't meet Nikki at the photography studio today, which means that I will need to free three hours on Sunday's schedule... but it has been so long since I have hunted with the Black Wolf...

 

[gasno]

Why the fuck i can't get an urchin in the butt, holy RNG.

 

[aliastimbuktu]

Can your orphan loose a virginity to sextoys?
I know about the fucking machine at the docks and brothel, but what about dildos that npcs now use during encounters?

 

[Raf-Raf]

Can your orphan loose a virginity to sextoys?
I know about the fucking machine at the docks and brothel, but what about dildos that npcs now use during encounters?

Nope, that's a funny thing.
Anyone can use a dragon dildo on you and you'd still remain a virgin.

 

[ViviX12]

Nope, that's a funny thing.
Anyone can use a dragon dildo on you and you'd still remain a virgin.

tbf DoL virginity is more so of by rules rather than physical, and the physical aspects are just to signify it
otherwise, why wouldn't getting an oral count as losing penile virginity

 

[Raf-Raf]

why wouldn't getting an oral count as losing penile virginity

I barely play male characters and that got me thinking how weird that is.
That should actually do take it.

 

[ViviX12]

I barely play male characters and that got me thinking how weird that is.
That should actually do take it.

imo it's better the way it is
you even get a special dialogue in a receiving oral scene working at the cafe being virgin

 

[Raf-Raf]

you even get a special dialogue in a receiving oral scene working at the cafe being virgin

Huh, looks like I'm making another male character.

 

[LucielaSourcream]

Anyone got a save with all feats for 3.8.6 that they're willing to post? I can only get the easy(ish) ones (Loft, Leighton's naughty pictures of students, cream buns, Stockholm stuff (black wolf, Eden, and great hawk), and 1 or 2 others that I can't remember...

 

[crash.7ds]

https://f95zone.to/threads/degrees-of-lewdity-v0-3-8-6-vrelnir.20259/page-456#post-7498830
Looks like that's the most recent. Plenty Vrel bucks to blow on hookers and blow...or just unlocks if that's more your jam. To each there own, I suppose. Btw, remember to load this in, hit that restart button to start a new game, and you should be good to go on a new save with all those juicy Vrel coins.