VN - Others - Completed - Eternal Torment [Final] [Liquid]

(Fair warning, I got long winded. Read if you have the time. TLDR: It's a great VN).

Eternal Torment has a number of violent rape scenes, release date, and lack of practical knowledge working against it. Explaining the last item, the VN is "food for thought", at a level where anyone can postulate on "eternity" and draw their own conclusions, but technical means are not employed (much of it is up to you). If you accept this as a good thing (I do), then only 2 barriers remain.

First, whatever the "average VN audience" in the "west" is, I believe we can agree that "they" don't want to see children being physically abused in brutal fashion, even if it's fiction. Second the VN is almost 15 years old, not that bad, but the limitations will be noticeable in terms of visuals, sound and writing. As for negatives concerning practical knowledge, the VN is "food for thought", not "thought provoking". I don't need to tell you that eternity is the furthest thing from anyone's mind, and when that's not the case, existential dread tends to be the reaction.

In other words, you intellectual curiosity might be stimulated, but the amount of information that can be applied to your own experience, and probably generate greater interest, is reduced. It's a great VN, held back by its very nature, and more than one type of contemporary idiosyncrasy.

Who should read it then? A more tolerant and inquisitive kind of reader, that has no problem becoming engrossed in conjecture. Someone who can stop for a bit while reading, and imagine the ramifications of a "meaningless" concept. Lastly, Eternal Torment is no slouch in the "feelings and their payout department", it's just that a lot of it is negative. Intellectual and emotional reward in one VN, hence the score.

Positive:
- Positing on eternity - How much you can draw from the author's words, is the key to enjoyment. Before that however, there is less speculative material. For instance, you could easily gather that ideas of personal responsibility (accountability for one's actions) are important in Eternal torment (not derived, integral basically). This is not the main approach though.

Realizing that living forever is scarier than dying (can't elaborate here, think you past the heat death of the universe)***. That the "soul" needs nourishment, even if the body doesn't (it's the "little" everyday things). That cruelty or altruism would be indistinguishable in the long run (all meaningless eventually)... And more unworkable material. It's the journey of an immortal, made better by individual perspective.

*** I wouldn't worry too much about it for obvious reasons. Not so obvious reasons, would include the universe being any sort of model isolated system to begin with.

Neutral:
- Bad endings (more like bad routes) - It's on purpose, the characters' suffering is supposed to extend to the reader. Sadly, it's 2025 for me, and being locked to many bad endings from a choice 3 chapters ago (there's 5) is a "hard pill to swallow". Another thing is the actual justification for the bad endings, which incurs spoilers, being the bare minimum to keep plot cohesion, and coming very late in the game (last segment). It's on neutral because it's deliberate, and the structure of the VN is never addressed directly by the author.

Negative:
- H-Scenes - I don't believe VNs need a justification to have H-scenes. I believe Eternal Torment needs a justification to have more callous H-scenes. The idea is hardship breeding change, strength of character. Same thing as a war allowing for great progress after its end. Unfortunately, the author forgot that the protagonist (and many others), lives for hundreds (more) of years, and still thinks within human dimensions. All the rape and torture being necessary for growth and the correct resolution, is an underhand device. If you establish that the human mind is unaltered, they had lots of time to grow strong naturally, no one stays the same for a 100 years (rape or no rape). It's shock value, no more no less.

This could have been a pure love title named "Eternal Bliss", and have optional dark scenes, the "universal shenanigans" would still be solved. All of the misery being necessary, is not true or logical, and the negative could have been avoided by declaration of design (instead of patchwork excuses at the end).

Score: 8/10. Think Dies Irae, with a smaller scope focused on "individual", and bigger on the theoretical side of things. Something else to consider, the scenario lost value over the years, some of its inspirations are more common nowadays. I've decided against it affecting the score. With that out of the way: If the 18+ content, release date related matters, and practical application of knowledge are not an issue, this is highly recommended. Just remember that the half of the "workload" falls on your shoulders.

Definitely a 5 out of 5.

This game is a masterpiece.

At first glance, I thought it was just a Kinetic Novel where your choices don’t have any real impact on the story. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that your decisions significantly influence the narrative, leading to a multitude of different endings. The depth and variety in the story paths are truly impressive, making each playthrough feel unique and engaging. The writing in this visual novel is top-notch. The narrative is captivating and well-crafted, drawing you into the world and making you care about the characters and their fates. It’s no surprise that the story is so compelling, considering it was written by the same author who penned Euphoria. This background brings a certain level of quality and intensity to the storytelling that fans of the genre will surely appreciate. However, it’s important to mention that the game contains a significant amount of explicit content, including rape scenes. This makes it a very mature and potentially disturbing experience, so it’s definitely not for everyone. The presence of such content might be a dealbreaker for some, but for those who are prepared for it, the game offers a dark, intense, and complex narrative that pushes boundaries and challenges the player.

Overall, this visual novel stands out for its exceptional writing. It’s a dark and intense experience that will leave a lasting impression, though it's certainly not for the faint of heart. If you’re looking for a visual novel that offers a deep and engaging story, this one is definitely worth your time.

I wish I could give this a 2.5.

for whatever is worth, yes both positive and negative reviewers are correct in their reason for their liking and disliking this at the same time. the reason I'm giving a 2.5 is because at least the VN is aware of its own repetitiveness and why you could skip to chapter 2 and 3 once you get the "feel" of chapter 1. you should get the general feel after the 3rd H.

and for the other reason why this is a 2.5: this is a rather old game. sure there are way better VNs out there like meteor world actor or amatsutsumi. but at least do remember that the general quality of VNs before are probably just as "bad" as the others of their time. I'd definitely rate this way better than cafe stella at least. now that vn is T R A S H.

The games art is on another level. The protagonist is a slave and it is basically just a r*pe and Tort*re story, so definitely "not for the faint hearted". So if that is not your cup of tea, its probably a huge turnoff for you. But if you can take it the games really good!

There's a strange quirk in some Japanese games where they appear to have designed the program to run effectively in Windows 98. Eternal Torment runs in a 640 x 480 window. You cannot resize it. While you can go fullscreen, this actually just resets your monitor resolution, so your windows in the background will be set to postcard size when you return.

As for the game itself, I only put about two hours in. I will briefly summarize my numerous frustrations:

Repitition - Your protagonist is a slave. She has no memory, and no name. Her master is attempting to raise his class so he can have a house closer to the castle. There are demons outside the city. Every single one of those facts will be stated to you in the first 20 minutes of the game many times over. This prolongs the length of the game to an absurd and obnoxious degree. It took me about an hour to get to anything interesting in the plot.

Despair - The writers work way too hard to explain the horrible situation of the enslaved protagonist. Did you know that she has to do whatever her master tells her? Did you know that she'll be beaten even if she does? Did you know that she doesn't even have a proper outfit to wear? Did you know that she gets raped almost every day? All of this is made excessively clear to the player. It's basically an abuse fetish to an absurd degree. While I am not one to kink shame, I can't help but feel that the developers are laying this one on way too thick.

Lack of choice - The protagonist is so abused that she doesn't even have the ability to make choices to alleviate her desperate situation, even when they opportune moments are presented to her. This means that you, the player, don't get to make choices either. While they might appear later in the game, about two hours in, I had done nothing but scroll through text.

Eventually, I came to the realization that I had legitimately not enjoyed a single moment of my time with the game. The highest praise I can offer is that the artwork is decent, though in a poor resolution. At the end of the day, there are two major components of a visual novel, and the literary side of Eternal Torment is a complete failure.

Wow what a journey.

So you start in a abusive relationship with some demi-human named Gregg who has tentacles. She is then bullied and abused by everyone as a slave, including someone named Mildiom who is a beauty.

Life was brutal until chapter 2 and just a tad bit of chapter 3. Chapter 4 was easy, modern society and all but hey that's all the fun of the story. And also exorcist later on.

Overall the story was great, the characters were amazing, the plot was well written....I just don't want her to all of a sudden come into my dreams and stab me like crazy

This is... a weird kind of game.

If you're expecting typical game, stop...
This is very much torture, rape that sorta thing, and it's pretty graphic as well.

Time and time again, the protagonist keeps on ending with the short end of the stick, no matter how hard she tries, there's always someone out there that wants to backstab her, use her, etc.

In a typical good hero personality style, she turns the other cheek.

It is a very sad story, so if that's not your thing, don't play.

The drawings are ON ANOTHER LEVEL, beautiful art!
The character is voiced and it's done really nicely.
The translation isn't perfect but it works.

Honestly I'm not a fan of rape and torture but because of absolutely amazing artwork quality and really great sad story, I'm giving this a 5 stars.

Simply put, like a handful of games on this site, this is NOT a porn game. Sure it has sex scenes, among other disturbing imagery, but that is not what this game is. It does not deserve the one star rating given by the other reviewer.

The game revolves around the story of a nameless slave, how she came to be, and her future after seemingly having spawned in this world of monsters. The characters are well thought out, and their motivations later explained in a lot of detail. If you go in looking for a quick fap like the other reviewer you will be dissapointed. This is a story of life and suffering, not a 2 hour nukige.

I am going to start this off with a disclaimer, I am not some super into guro or torture or whatever, and I did not play every route or every chapter. I got through chapter 4 which took, while quickly reading and not jerking off to the garbage sex scenes took about 6 hours.

This game is not good! It is lazy, repetitive torture porn, with the most shit logic in the world. Here is the general premise, chapter 1 you get tortured, dismembered and raped constantly. Every chapter after follows a pattern of MC moves to new place, new place is good and new people are nice, they are attacked or betrayed, mc either watches someone die, gets gang raped, or both, somehow gets away, then rinse/repeat new location. The game does the very subtle method of foreshadowing this by saying "But things could not remain peaceful forever" or something along those lines every fucking time.

It is so infuriating seeing characters who either raped or tried to murder the protagonist get to live for no fucking reason. "hmm Gegg literally enslaved, raped and beat me for years, but killing him is wrong." "Avengar killed the only man I have ever loved, but I have no desire to kill him. Surely after beating him once he will give up his fucking 500 year long journey". Even other characters do this shit too. There is a character who betrays his whole tribe to have them either be raped or murdered, so he can have his own sex slave and because the native lifestyle was too "primitive". The sex slave, who was his childhood friend, then stops you from killing him because "killing him is wrong". His punishment for trying to genocide his own tribe, so he can have a sex slave is to "live as a joke".

If you are super into guro just play chapter 1 and then stop. You get your edgy torture porn and can be done with it. After that it is primarily repetitive gang rapes, some wholesome lesbian scenes, and an occasional tentacle rape. If you aren't into guro, play anything else. The only reason to play this game would be if there is a secret route where you can torture Gegg and Avengar for being such retarded shit characters.