VN - Ren'Py - Expectations [v0.50] [PTOLEMY]

I honestly don't know what is going on here.
Ptolemy is a veteran, and I always liked his games, then he messed up the ending of his previous game, which really dragged down the experience altogether.
But a new project, means you get a new chance. And what does he do with that?
This game reads and feels like something that wasn't new five years ago.

The story is basic, the writing is dull and boring, the models mostly look okay, but apart from the actual landlady, they aren't that hot.
And out of three students, two basically look quite old to be students. I'd say the blonde Viktoria actually looks older than Charlotte, the landlady.

The game is also incredibly repetitive, as if at one point it was intended to be a grindy sandbox game. Why would you go and present the same few renders again and again about the college days of the MC, when nothing new happens?
We know he is in college, so only SHOW it to us, when something out of the ordinary happens. The same with coming home, no need to show it day after day, unless something different happens.

Another major issue are the characters.
The MC is a whiny, creepy, hormone-addled little shit, a perv who is constantly horny, no matter the situation and constantly spies on the girls.
One of the other inhabitants blackmails the MC to let them use his shower and bath, one spouts ridiculously bad romantic poetry and seems totally dimwitted, the final student is the studious blonde who tries to butter up with her professor.
Out of the four LIs, only the landlady is halfway agreeable, but she also hs weird issues, like constantly calling the MC the name of her dead son.
Which would be fine indeed, if she wasn't fine with the MC pushing his tongue down her throat.

Then you have things like renders being inserted at the wrong moment, really weird expressions, lots of re-used renders, overall this game needs better characters, better looking characters, better writing, a more modern approach to storytelling, whether it would be with more renders and crisper writing or maybe having some animations.

There are also already several pathing decisions just three versions in, which means you have to basically do at least 4 playthroughs, despite it being mostly the same scenes so far. And does the Jessica path just trigger automatically once you reach the end of the game? For me, it was the case with the two playthroughs I managed to do with skipping, really couldn't force myself to do two more.

It's really hard to find anything positive about this game. It's not totally broken and a failure at this point, so I'll leave it as a two-star game, but honestly, if it doesn't improve vastly, my rating will drop. This is far weaker than I expected from a new Ptolemy game. It is so base-line, so mediocre, that it's basically bad due to that.

V0.30 (or 0.3 to those under no illusions)

there is a moment near the beginning when the MC is in class and states that 'this is boring..'. could not have summed this up better myself.

okay the art is fine. not great but not terrible. covers the V side of things sure. that amish dad though...

what plot? it has one? is it hiding behind the sofa cushions? one of their previous games had a slight one but as common for this dev, there is no story to justify the N. forget it. look elsewhere

the dialogue is the usual throw together immature stuff seen time and time again. being able to code does not mean being able to write. i do wonder how some people hold a conversation if they imagine this is how people speak or think.

design.....now this an interesting one. sure it is VN style like previous offerings but i do wonder why the dev switched from the sandbox type game they used to create their first game, because the development time since has extended massively. i would have thought churning out games once every year or two would do wonders for ANY developer and bring in a steady income. is that not what funders want? at least with sandbox games lack of story is excusable.

a semi pretty sideshow is all this is to me. completed tag in 4 years is my guess. not that i will be watching

Okay, so let me start with the positives. The pros include a good UI, and the overall aesthetics look good. There's a good use of assets in the game, and the renders are quite good. Most of the characters are not bad, and there's good humor in some cases.

Now, coming to the negatives, and I wish the dev would look into this. The music—sorry, the music and soundtrack—doesn't fit the game. Next comes the story, absolutely all over the place, no clear plotline, no coherency to anything. I actually believed the story would be something good, seeing the first scene where the interaction happened; that was one of the strongest starts to an AVN I have seen. I really was disappointed. It could have become one of the top AVNs here if it had gone in a different direction than this absurd, messy direction. The story could have gone so completely different.

Let me give my example since I don't like to just give hollow criticism. I think one possible direction it could have taken is the boy, or adult as I should say, is a spoiled kid in an adult body. His strict father sends him there, and he reluctantly has to go. Now he may be a little pervert or not, depending on the author. If the MC is a little pervert, he can have lewd thoughts inside, but since he is somewhat of a kid at heart but actually an adult, he may try to show up a front to everyone he interacts with like he is an adult and a confident one at that, because boys at that age try to be that even though they can be introverted and spoiled. But really, he messes up sometimes, and old habits don't die, so he makes mistakes many times. But the redeeming quality is he tries his hardest to become like an adult, which his father really wanted, and he slowly grows as a character, becoming confident. It could have become so great. I mean, I gave an example; it could have gone another way, not necessarily this, but certainly not the way it went.

Now, the next thing I didn't like is the dialogues. Well, I thought it had potential when I saw the first scene, but then again, it became so hollow. Again, it became even worse due to the perspective we are seeing the game through—that is, the MC. He is the poorest character in this show. Well, I liked 2 or 3 characters though, but yeah, just they had potential, I thought. Sorry, dev, I may sound harsh in my review, which I really try to avoid as much as possible. Also, I follow two things: I don't give reviews to games that are beyond redemption and absolutely the worst of the worst that I can't even finish. Now, the games that I give reviews have some qualities to them. But I still try to give 5 stars, but I couldn't give 5 star here because I am a supporter of the story first as a backbone and then adult content on top of it as decoration. But I know not every game has a story as its focus, so it should have other top-class qualities to make up for it. I picked the dialogue in this game for that, but the dialogues are not coherent. But I have my full support for you. Best of luck to you.

My rating for Expectations
After you were expelled by your father and he sent you to another city. Where you share a house with 4 red-haired women. You can focus on one woman and the next day another woman so you miss out on content when you switch. A throuple is not possible. The rendering and graphics look good. The soundtrack fits the game. I also like the characters especially i like Charlotte, i love her already. It still quite short because it was just released. For those who like love story and redheads will like it.

I recommend it.

I wish the developer much success and all the best.

The beginning felt very rushed. Didn't feel like a game made by someone who made multiple great games before.

The story is also not very interesting. I don't mind a good slice of life romance with no big story in the background, but for that to work I'd have to like the characters, which is not the case here. I don't like any of the tenants. At the moment all of them are shallow stereotypes of sporty girl, artist, nerd with the worst attributes those stereotypes involve.

The landlady is just a little bit better, but not enough to make it worth playing the game just because of her.

MC is relatively normal, but not interesting. I hate how he is shown very passive. His studies going nowhere but he doesn't do anything about it. He seems to be avoiding any conflict with the other characters. Because of the rushed beginning we didn't learn anything about him, so it's unknown whether what the father did was really unjustified.
He clearly immediately started to fantasize about all the women in the house with minimal or no trigger like a loser who never seen a woman before. Maybe that means he was an introvert sitting at home all the time at home who never had a girlfriend?

Additionally, there are quite a lot of errors with incorrect images showing or typos.

The only positive thing in the game was some of the humor. Like some of the things with his father and the math professor.