Ren'Py - DropOut Saga [v0.9.1b] [LazyBloodlines]

Review through DropOut Saga [v0.6.0a Alpha]

I'll be clear at the outset - I'm a big fan of this game. It's still quite early in development and there have been a lot of changes to the stucture.

PREMISE - mob-like character wants to get out of the game, but has to take over a school for wealthy youth and bend them to the organization's purpose.

STORY - Character is a very capable enforcer, but wants to turn from a life of violence. This results in a alternate personality who embodies the darkness within him (but, interestingly, not without standards or integrity). The basic premise is to become a 'good guy' (or 'not-awful') - the outcome will be determined by the player.

STRUCTURE/ART - It is still early in production, so the structure is both raw and fluid as the Dev adapts (and seems to be attentive to feedback). There has been a lot of rebuilding of tools and some aren't developed (grading, school resources, etc.). It's a little sand-boxy (less than it used to be), but with means to bypass unnecessary time-wasting through a neat device of consulting his alt personality.

Perhaps my favorite part is the internal consistency. The world-building is well done and not glossed over (although it's a slow reveal). The MC is very capable, but not God-Mode. Story elements get explained, although perhaps not immediately. Players will discover the world through the journey, instead of having it all thrust at the outset.

The art focuses on the characters and the background and environment are more muted and simple, but they are always present and appropriate to the scene. There is limited sound present in some scenes that will reinforce the scene.

MECHANICS - a strong point, which is odd because it's so incomplete. There is a LOVE/CORRUPTION (formerly Blackmail) structure, but it's more refined than "marriage/sex slave". The school has the seeds of DISCIPLINE/RESPECT that is starting to emerge. It's still very much in the development stage but already seems more thoughtful than the vast majority of games I've seen.

CHARACTERS - The PC/NPC are outstanding and appealing. The girls are all quite distin ct in appearance, and their personalities and emotions are extremely well portrayed. There is a lot of subtlety the the expressions - ex. from one frame to the next a stoic expression might change to a very slight smile. MC's eyes change color that often reflect the dual personalities.

The sex is pretty decent, if a bit simplistic, but it's noted that as girls' relationships develoop in one direction or another, so, too, will the sex scenes evolve. Fair enough.

WRITING - The writing is pretty good. It's never cringe-inducing and always appropriate to the scene/characters. It's a dark setting, but there definitely is humor, esp. in girls banter. However, it never takes over a scene. The English is pretty solid if not immaculate.

WRAP-UP - The dev is building a world and doing an excellent job of it regarding tone and story. The focus is on the characters and their personalities and the story. It's still very early in the game, and there has been a lot of changes, but every change seems to make it stronger. I thinki the key word is 'thoughtful' - the dev takes all aspects of the game seriously and tries to have it all make sense. I'm very hopeful for how it turns out.

As of v 0.6.0a
A really promising game , I played love route didn't try other one but I have to say the love route is well done and romance is great and female charecters are stunning . And like others mentioned bad ass Main charecter though his evil persona sometimes feels annoying , I enjoyed it overall . There is some sort of Sandbox / Free roam but it is not grinding and you can ask your other self what to do when you are stuck playing . I hope it says the same . Only thing that bothered me was me being a Medico , I found it a bit funny when MC did a craniotomy to save a girl but in reality you need at least 7 to 10 years of study to perform one . But I applaud the dev for the effort for trying and doing his research and how he handled the story from there and why that scene is needed for the story , Moving on music and sound are nice addition to the game . H scenes are well done . So to conclude really excellent game with a lot of potential , I hope it stays the same or gets even better with each release . Highly recommended if you're looking a bad ass protagonist with a good story .

Men...!
Very interesting story!
It is a pleasure to read and follow the development of the character.
Bad ass protagonist and who conveys the bibe of being the godfather
I hope you continue to work on this project...

There are a few problems with this game/story that detract from what it is trying to be.

1. The ui/gameplay was not thought out, and was not reworked. Old systems were abandoned and built over, which at first looks like there is no content until you get passed it.

2. The story doesn't know what it wants to be. A schoolcreep sim? A good guy with a bad past that liked schoolgirls? A vn about some criminal and his waifus? It's all of those, and none of those. Pick one, stick to it, and then make another. This was all over the place.

Story: 2/5
A little bit of a few story ideas.

Writing: 4/5
The english is fine. The dialogue is sometimes worth reading.
Kind of forgettable though.

Characters: 3/5
The characters are pretty shallow but not overly so. Some of them are a little... too plot influenced and less realistic.
What I mean is the story need x character to be something, so therefore... she just is. Rather than developing her via events and dialogue.

Sex: 4/5
The few sex scenes there are, are decent. Some ok animations, some ok dialogue. Almost zero meaning to it though. And
Sex Frequency: 2/5
Once you bang, you bang somewhat frequently.
Pretty dry til then though.

Enjoyment: 2/5

Review v0.5.9a

Cute models but the game is a mess. It goes in a million different directions and doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. Is it a dating sim? A visual novel? A kinetic novel? A management sim? There are also two plots: in the first you've been tasked with getting blackmail material on schoolgirls and need to decide whether you want to do that or betray your gang while trying to figure out if the gang is planning to backstab you. In the other you're investigating a new criminal group that's entered the city. And they don't mesh very well so that it's like trying to read while switching between two different books every 20 minutes.

At the time of writing it's only four months since the first release so it's still early and the game could eventually be something great. It's very obviously under construction and if I could review without giving it a star rating I would. But I can't so 3 stars.

Not too many games with this style peak my interest but this one did. I love what I've seen so far.

Story:
A Grown up doing grown up things. I like that there's a struggle within for the main character. He definitely not trying to be some he's not, but again the dynamic between good versus evil is nice. I'm playing a criminal that's doing criminal things, slapping dudes around in bar rooms and in trains never looked so good. Ava is great but so is Lila and Ashley and when you add Sophia it shows variety in characters and personalities. Hopefully things stay interesting.

Renders/Art:
Looks great to me.

Animations:
Solid

Dialogue/Grammar:
Not perfect but what is?

Overall, this is on my radar.

Okay, a man of culture. I always appreciate devs who don't take game too serious. Still, i can see great effort was put in this game. Decent renders, entertaining writing. The gameplay does slow the experience down but it's not as bad as a full-blown sandbox. Also, regular update is a win in my book

Enjoyed it more than I thought I would for honey select. There is an actual attempt at a story. The fluid graphics are really well done. Characters are unique. Even the sisters. Hoping for more raunch and action soon involving all types of girls.

Game has everything I like tbh... except content. Way too short for a 0.5, but I digress. The MC is an absolute unit. Opinionated, schizophrenic and doesn't take shit from small time thug bitches. Performs emergency brain surgery on girls he just kidnapped for no apparent reason. Doesn't worship them like a simp, but still loves them and has a drive to protect and also deep dick them. Girls are really cute, expressive and so far have fairly genuine dialogue and personalities. Dev has a great eye for small details that bring life and soul to them. Soo... is there enough here for 5 stars? Probably not, but I'm giving it anyway since I'm pretty excited to see future updates...and that's becoming a rarity on F95 these days.

I will have played for less than 2 hours and these two scenes are enough to see what the level is.

1. The scene where you meet kayle and the boyfriend makes absolutely NO SENSE.

After rescuing her from the white-haired thug, she grabs the protagonist's arm, we walk next to the boyfriend, the boyfriend greets her and she completely ignores him, and goes with the protagonist to a building, far a bit weird, but ok I believe it, you can think that the girl likes bad guys, this is a sex-game and sex is coming...

She sits down, you calm her down and tell her that she is safe and that she can stay there and suddenly she has a panic attack? AFTER GOING TO AN UNKNOWN HOUSE WITH A STRANGER?



2. After fighting with a thug inside an underground train, the thug runs out, pushes a random girl that was there and the MC grabs the girl, puts her on his shoulder and takes her to his house (WTF?) it turns out that the girl has been hit so hard that her skull cavity is filling with blood, and the prota takes a drill and performs surgery on her.... ?????

I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO SAY, it turns out that the game is a comedy or a parody of god knows what, but it doesn't say so on the labels, or in the game description, or anywhere, I'm astonished at how hilarious it all seems.


Not recommended

So far i liked it, off to a good start with decent story, game mechanics for the girls seem simple.
would personally like to have more explore options with areas to go to in the future examples, after work and on the school, even trips with the train with small events stuff like that.
would also like to see options to shift between good and corruption paths in the future
the mc is not bad like the way he is made so far

looking forward to see how this game progress in the future
good luck

Good game.
Pros:
+ Good looking characters
+ Every character seems unique
+ MC is not a beta
+ Story is quite interesting
+ Contrary to what someone wrote about v0.1.2, in v0.4.1 there is no grind or anything like that, it's hardly a sandbox either, no idea if it changed with updates or what
+ Girls are pretty easy

Cons:
- Girls are pretty easy
- MC struggling with "himself" could be a pain in the long term, we will see how it goes, for now it's all good so this con is just in case
- It's still really early in development so there is not a lot of content yet, enough to get a taste but not enough to be satisfied

Overall a good game, if further developed it could turn into something great if dev don't screw this up. Also, this game isn't vanilla in both porn and non-porn sense, blood is visible in many scenes and girls are not some pure virgins mentally - only mentally though, so far at least there is nothing to suggest otherwise.

Nice premise for a game.. I didn't play the earlier versions so no comments on that.. but.. looks like we have a DEV that listens to feedback so props for that.
Enjoyed the back and forth between the good and the 'bad' MC. Decent renders.. good hint path (talking to your 'bad' side) Hell the truth is I just enjoyed the game and can't wait to see it with more content.

Very nice game. I don't usually like blackmail themes so I'm not gonna comment on these part of the content, since I'm trying to be objective about this. The dynamic between the MC and the other characters are nice, well written, and are occasionally unpredictable, in a good way. I wish you best of luck, dev!

Okay I really like this so far! It's a solid concept with pretty good writing, but there isn't much to it at this point unfortunately! I guess I will have to be patient for more. I like the system of corruption/trust that is being developed as well as the plans for managing the university. I am also interested in the dual personalities concept.

Spoilers:
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There is a scene where the MC does a kind of brain surgery in their bathroom that was a little ridiculous lmao But I'm willing to suspend my disbelief on that one and just ghost over it. Besides, Ava is pretty cute

I really like it so far, good white knight/Bad Motherfucker type game on the love route. Really hope the dev doesn't neglect the love route in favour of the dark path. The music is good and the lighting is well done. The girls are cute too. Just waiting for an absolute bitch of a girl that merits blackmailing.

This version is much more refined than the first release. Lot of new and changed dialogue, new scenes and adjusted ones. Lighting is much better. The characters actions along with the MC is more logical, particularly the scene where you save the girl on the street. The hint system is well integrated. Everything just seems much more polished. Cant wait for updates. Plot is interesting, two main paths for lots of varying content. Looking forward to it all.

UPDATE: Review of Dropout Saga 0.4.1 Alpha after main review!

DropOut Saga v.0.2.0 Alpha Review

ALL REVIEWS BELOW ARE FOR THE OLD VERSION OF THE GAME. ALL UNAVOIDABLE CONTENT HAS BEEN REMOVED.

I had a lot of criticism early on. As a Harem/"Vanilla" fan I wasn't a fan of the content early in the game's development. HOWEVER, I'm quite happy that the Dev has been listening to feed back and trying to undo the mistakes present in the first iteration.

I played both v0.1.2 and the latest v0.2.0. In the first version their was some forced content with a "slut" character. In the newest version it's gone. Poof! The Dev didn't like the scene either and removed it.

I just played the new version and none of that bad stuff happens in the game. There is no longer any forced sex scenes and the girls are all cute. Nothing bad yet. So no forced BJ. I'd suggest if you had your reservations about the game you should give it another shot. I as previously stated the earlier version to this with forced content would have made me give it like a 2 star. Now, I'd give it 4 star for the content and another 0.5 stars for potential. I've voiced my concerns to the Dev a little in DM's and they said that even if there ARE sharing/whoring scenes, they wouldn't be with characters that wouldn't make sense such as the main 4-5 girls or so. I'm pretty sure the game is FAR away from ANY scenes like that if at all. For example, 4 girls I know off the top of my head would NEVER do it. Confirmed by Dev (Content NO LONGER PLANNED)

On the subject of the Blackmail Corrutpion path, even in that path you can choose to NEVER share the girls. It's mostly just a darker path where you can be more ruthless to the girls. (Edit: The Blackmail Path is now a Corruption Path)Just thought that you should know and give it a shot. The girls are cute and while it does have (Edit: LIGHT Sandbox elements) sandbox, there isn't any grind yet. If you don't know what to do, go into the office and ask your "other self".

I do want to give LazyBloodlines some big respect on this new version of the game. They really listened to feedback, especially my big block of text about En Tee Argh. They felt like they NEEDED certain scenes, so they tried to shoehorn it in, but now they are taking it organically without forcing anything. ALL my problems with the game have gone away. I'll amend my previous comment cause it was overly negative at the content AT THE TIME.

Quick summary of the story. You're a Mafia guy that after so many grueling years of ruthless servitude wants out. However, his boss isn't gonna make it easy. He now has to be a Headmaster at a prestigious school find "dirt" or make it on the influential benefactors of the school: Rich businessmen, mayors, politicians and others. The boss plans for you to corrupt the young women from the college. You can choose to be a nice guy and win their affect through care and understanding and push aside the evil MC in your head, or you can embrace the dark and force them to act as you wish.

The MC has had to deal with so much brutal murders and harrowing situations that inside himself he's developed a "devil on his shoulder" in the form of an alternate personality. However, this personality is a bit different to what you envision. It's not JUST a force that pushes you to bad, it's a force that sees no moral foibles in the way of progress. Rather than being abject stereotype, the Dev has shown him developing more into a "the ends justify the means" kind of person. A nice distinction that pushed my concerns out.

Dropout Saga 0.4.1 Alpha
So, a bit has happened since I last reviewed. We've been introduced to 2 new characters and the focus, at least for these 2 new updates since my last review, seems to be a more narrative direction. It progresses the main Mafia story with characters that might push the story in a meaningful way. For example, the past content relied more on the school, with short scenes from the girls. The recent updates have focused more on a narrative visual novel style approach.

The game is starting its transition into a more fluid Corruption/Romance game where decisions can be made in either direction. For example, you choose to me more merciful against a villain during a certain event, or you can choose to be cruel. Each of these things are there to add some more dark in the world without it affecting your girls in a negative way.

The two new characters Sophia and Ava are fantastic characters. Each have a archetype of characters but that come off a little more complex than they initially seem. Sophia is a bodacious confident woman, that through all her sex appeal really cares about the MC. A person from the past that can always calm the protagonist and turn him to the good side.

Ava is initially a simple shy character, but her character arc is definitely a VERY different introduction than most would expect. Having some kind radiosurgery is DEFINITELY a bit unorthadox. But she's sweet and has a strange affinity with the MC even though SHE might not know it herself. She's currently suffering a bit of amnesia. At least in this game it's a little more believeable than in most game/movies because of what MC has to do at the beginning. No spoilers here!

Overall, these narrative burst of MC handling some Mafia issues and the new girls have added a much more dedicated narrative influence that is welcome. The game has light Sandbox elements that don't do much yet, but will soon from my understanding. So I'm looking forward to more changes! From what the Dev has said we might be meeting a MILF character soon

Review for v0.1.2 alpha

I gave up before finishing the current content.

The good:

• the models used for the girls

The bad:

• 720p renders
• grindy sandbox without a good hint system
• most features aren’t implemented, not even the different paths for the girls, so why even release the game yet?
• already lost interest in most of the girls because they are already sluts

Possible improvements:

• get rid of the sandbox (or make it less grindy and much more intuitive)
• higher quality renders 1080p or better
• get rid of the other guys and make it an all-girls school and make the girls less slutty

Version 0.6.0.a updated review -
This game starts with interesting premise gangster / mafia type story and it involves various settings like school , sci-fi and graphic violence . I hate Sandbox elements which was introduced in the first release where having to increase affection points with the girls like talk , talk , talk with same girl repeatedly and no book / info / notes in game to guide you to what to do next and having to grind to skip time , it seems to have got reworked at some stage and now there is no need to those things and if you don't know what to do and got struck in the game , you can ask your otherself now which is something that was missing and now it's great . Charecters have been reworked and their personalities got better and for me best girl is Ava - love her charecter . Male protagonist now seems like a nice guy to play now and love the dark story in the game . Sex scenes are well done . Now after trying latest version it is is now at 4 stars and has potential for 5 stars in the future .