Ren'Py - Fashion Business [Ep.4 v9.02 Extra] [DecentMonkey]

This game could easily win 2-3 more stars if the dev would stand back and take stock of fun and usability.

Poor in:
Complex systems of clicks for every interaction. The map, for example. Can't just click where you want to go. You have to click the driver for every interaction. Same goes with eating dinner, having the right outfit before taking a damn shower, ect. Quite often in required dialogue, the player also has to click on the NPC again to continue the conversation before leaving. Why on earth would you make this design decision, especially since the character can't leave the room or complete the task until the convo is over? Only one item at a time in the dressing room, ect, ect, ect.
There are just so many unnecessary extra steps throughout, which, and this is baffling, must've intentionally taken more programming to implement. More does not always mean better and in this case, inevitably means much worse.

Haven't played through more to be able to voice other complaints/praise, because so much has been tedious. Obviously a lot of effort was put in here so far and the art generally looks good. But the dev needs to take a very important step back and think of fun, functionality and playability. These things should be 100% obvious but this developer doesn't seem to see the forest from the trees.

Edit: Got to the jail part and... wtf? I take it back. The only way for this game to get up to 4+ stars is for the dev to hire someone else to do the actual game design or do A LOT of observation and studing on what makes a game good. I'm talking a few years here at least. How could you possibly imagine this "game" could be engaging for anyone? They need to put that much effort into even getting a menial grasp of core concepts of playability. If they either don't try to learn, or try and fail, all isn't lost. They can still do renders and animations, which really are fairly good. But they'll need to leave the actual game design to someone else.

it is a solid sandbox. ep2&3
-enough content
-qol: time change, ingame cheats, functional tips (ep3 at least. during ep2 i used external w/t which was ok)
-no grind (apart from some house chores in ep2. so no idea what some reviewers meant by grind or grindy)
-no walls of text (but largely i dont read anyways)

why not 5stars
-faces are mostly sosoish.
im just picky. melanie is great (like i can imagine real girl face being 3Ded/dazed. so kinda my naturality test)
some secondary gials seems fine. julia is a bit odd but much more likable (have some cutiness).
but most including mc have weird doll faces &or shrinked eyes (look at victoria for example. pardon, but humans dont look like that. aliens? maybe, who knows).
most male faces are weird as well, even somewhat comics-toony. so all that is not good for immersion.
-ui is kinda non-optimized. it is a sandbox so those minor things are stacking and piling up ofc.
(a) extra clicking.
for example to speak with julia for sunday date in ep3 i needed to click on the wardrobe, dress, go outside, go back and then she will not be sleeping and hence, interactable.
(b) unnecessary buttons . id prefer to avoid extra 'heels'button to go inside locations. maybe no need for any clicking, hence insta access instead ( when choosing from the map )
in most locations afaik there are no interactions outside
i dont remember any use of 'eye' button and of 'keys' (the latter is auto-applied i think. so more like an 'inventory' item shown in not so proper place)
all those things feel like leftovers of some previous not implemented point-click ideas
(c) bulky wardrobe system. lets auto-apply wardrobe changing
k sometimes it can be justified by narrative (like being maid without panties) and it is bit less uncomfy since you may start from your basement room (which saves you 4 clicks. like go to the map, pick house, pick inside, pick your room)
sometimes it is indeed automated (like u auto-changed to office wear . but then why to keep that elsewhere like for whore v escort gigs?)
sometimes it is semi-automated. like when in escort dress and choose slums area - you may click on the choice to change.)
(d)was some eating before going to sleep implemented in ep3? prolly it existed before but i ran into that caz i havenot used ingame cheats; why to have that thingy anyway, an attempt on lifesim and to implement a micromanagement element which most ppl imo are not into.
-routes. might be common n good for renpy vn-books u can skip choice by choice.but rarely a great idea for sandboxes leaving you with leftover content
-is there auto-insta text skip? weirdly i had to use unren to have that important qol option
also id suggest smth like [ autoreturn home and sleep ]on one button. and better days skipping. it works unevenly (like for ralph-gym tue/thu dates) as sometimes i am not given option to skip to certain days.

The quality of the renders is really good.
The problem is that (especially for a VN) it is extremely grindy. Sometimes you have to tell the protagonist to talk to the same person multiple times during the same scene for no fucking reason. I can't even rely on the [space bar] regularly, you'll be trying to get passed innane obvious dialogue to go click the next thing but the space bar stops working and you need your other hand for the mouse suddenly.

And while the model textures are goof the dev kinda distorts them during h-scenes a lot.

Ultimately due to grindy-ness and it being way wordier than the story necessitates I'm giving it a 2. It's just not fun to play through.

This game is amazing in many aspects, very nice scenes and dialogs, different paths, many females involved. If there were no pervert things with Victoria, that I am not very keen on, then this would be total masterpiece. Good job developer, keep going this direction!

I must say I was really surprised by the sheer ‘stupidity’ of some of the comments in the review section here.

It’s clear that some members have failed to grasp what this game is even trying to achieve: it’s a light-hearted romp point & click game with a heavy dose of satire thrown into the mix. Think of it as Leisure Suit Larry meets The Devil Wears Prada.

Yes it’s somewhat grindy, but that’s what you would come to expect in a point & click genre game. You’ll need to navigate the world and interact with certain objects and people in order to advance the storyline. That being said the game itself is not completely linear either. You’ll be able to make certain choices throughout Monika’s adventure that will affect her storyline and unlock specific content/scenes.

The game also gives you many clues on what you need to do next, and has a quest section where you can read back the current objectives in case you get lost or are unsure what to do next.

Maybe I’m getting old, but I personally loved playing this game and felt the nostalgia of all those great point & click games I used to play in my youth.

The plot is purposely exaggerated and the writing is on point (I also personally loved the humour and thought some of the situations were pretty hilarious and well-constructed). The graphics, sex scene animations, and character models are all top notch and I’d go as far as saying they are far superior to many other games I’ve played on this website. The dev has clearly spent a lot of time polishing this game and you can definitely tell this is a labour of love.

If you’re looking for a quick fap with minimal effort, this is probably not it. However if you’re willing to spend a bit of time with this and enjoy the ride, the payoff is well worth it (especially after advancing the storyline and getting to chapters 2 & 3).

Don’t get put off by all the bad reviews. Give this one a try. This is definitely a gem and one to watch.

There Is no character development whatsoever about Monica. She stays the same through the entire game. Monica Is way to afraid and easily complies to other peoples blackmail, Monica lacks strong mentality mindset, she thinks strength is through being on top of the hierarchy and bossing everyone around, but you see the way real strength is by being assertive even if faced with blackmail and be able to stand by your own judgement by being badass. Even if she got her status stripped away, Real strength comes from power within, being able to stand against the blackmailers, monica should be fearless and badass, by thinking on her own feet without help. That is what true character development looks like, this is where her turning point would be, she should realize this soon I hope

Episode 1 review:
TLDR: warning, you will regret every minute spent, zero payoff

This game lures you in with a good plot setup. Then then you find yourself endlessly clicking, tedious beyond any standards. No skip button for unread content, every scene is broken down into ministeps to complete, click this, navigate 2 steps to the left, find and click arbitrary object, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat... Even conversations are broken up, and you must repeatly click the other character to keep restarting the conversation. This is the entire gameplay.

Then what is probably worse is the game logic. The cause and effect of events can only occur in the twilight zone. Events are forced to such extreme levels that it is impossible to suspend disbelief. It is extremely jarring. Even after the levels of nonsense pile up to such a high level, the character actions still make zero sense and all seem to occur just to push the "story" forward toward the desired outcome, which is completely unsatisfying. The writers picked a start and ending and filled in a series of nonsense events in between to connect the dot.

I could forgive all these things if they were used to setup enjoyable scenes, especially scenes expected for the genre. But there is no real payoff for the main character and only a little side action thrown in for the surrounding characters, most of which occurs completely separately from the main character.

I could summarize the entire "story" in one sentence. Rude rich woman treats people badly, loses everything, and then is forced down to their level. Maybe episodes 2 and 3 get better, but I'm hesitant to risk any more time to find out.

Great erotic and porn game with a lot of beautiful content. Many choices and many results. Love this! Monica is such a nasty sexy bitch. Monica will do everything for money and she will not like it at all.

In terms of 3D arts, this game is a rare one with both exceptional quality and quantity. The game has beautiful 3D arts and models with 1500 renders & hundred animations per update and 45 day update cycle. Its stories are about MC financially broken and her non-consent or forced sex with many different people in variety of situations you can imagine. And MC's characteristics are almost static. So the stories are predictable in some cases but quantity of the stories seemed to overcome some predictability and still keep them interesting.

One complain I have with the game is its click-hogging. Based on abundant stories and renders in the game, I think game's grinding is not necessary at all and doing harm than good to the game. I would be happy to play the game in VN format if possible at all.

I'd still recommend this game if you are into non-consent or forced sex and don't mind mild grinding.

First off, the main girl in this game is really hot. Probs for that Dev! Besides some flaws this girl makes my day anyway. I also like that the premise of the game is kinda original and interesting compared to a lot of other games.

Now to some of the flaws... It's waaay to big of a grind. I don't mind grinding now and then but the objective should be made really clear and it's difficult to incoperate this succesfully with the story of a game. So for me it's either Sandbox & Grind or VN with obvious choices.

Nevertheless, I'm excited for upcoming releases!

By the way, it's a great game! Even at first, I had reservations about her. I downloaded it, deleted it, re-downloaded it, deleted it, and so on. It's probably a long introduction, but it's vital to grasp who GG is here =) In fact, as I got to the second chapter and the movement started, I went insane! Melanie is a total firecracker! One of the best characters I've ever seen, as well as one of the best games I've ever played.

The first couple of releases were good. It was a pretty decent setup and trying to soldier on to give her redemption was worth some hardship like working in a bar, the eventual strip show and shutting down your brain. You work, get your apartment, but the BAD blackmailing/humiliation and bad dialogues just pile on and on...
One of the updates completely messed with my saves where I suddenly didn't had the gun when at that point my only interest in the game was the revenge path. I immediately quit and never went back.
The renders were good and I loved Monica.
Choices don't matter and to fuck it even more , for some reason the girl has no pleasure...
There is no good redemption route. Why would you give good/bad choices in the first chapter if there was no good redemption path?
Did I mention the grind? Grindy AF.
I describe this game with one word: Humiliation. If that's not your thing, Stay The Hell Away.
Normally I end my reviews with Thank you and good luck. This time I won't.

I disagree with the reviewers saying the story is unrealistic and 'unfair' to the PC. In theory most of it actually makes sense. You can play Monica as an unmitigated cunt who ruins lives for fun, in which case her demise is just.

But!... the game gives you a choice to play her as a decent, reasonable person in pt 1, yet it doesn't affect her development in pt 2-3 whatsoever. All you get is a shitty wedding scene with a pervy fatso in pt 1. The 'good' route is a red herring, and players who choose that expecting a payoff are wasting their time without any disclaimer from the dev.

I chose the most sensible route - a combination of bitchy with underlings and obliging with friends/allies/partners. But that is also pointless because the PC isn't a human being, she's an android with two settings - 1>evil arrogant womyn who doesn't enjoy sex and refuses to engage in anything sexual even for survival (but eventually has to do it cus otherwise the game will end) 2>evil arrogant womyn who does engage in sexual stuff cus she obviously has to given that's the whole point of this porno gaem.

The fate Monica suffers can happen in real life, again, in theory. However the writer handles this in the worst way possible. A multi-millionaire knows *one* lawyer in the whole world, and doesn't even call him when the police ask her to stop by the station. I could give more examples but that alone is a more than adequate summary of the "plot".

Gameplay is an atrocious mess because PC has to deal with like 50 different problems and commitments at the same time. Everyone blackmails her all the time, for the stupidest reasons, in the most convoluted ways. And she deals with them like a retard, creating even more problems along the way.

Basically we're playing as a woman living an insanely difficult life that is just a scenario for the humiliation, bdsm & rough sex/molestation/rape fetishes. Monica will blow/fuck/etc. (and not enjoy it) one way or another to finish the current version's content. The gameplay and dialogue choices only determine how mind-numbingly tedious that process is. This is a linear story thoughtlessly stuffed into sandbox free roam design.

Renders are okay to excellent. Animations are smooth but not very detailed. Scenery is mostly good. Lighting/pp work is hit and miss: some scenes are vivid & sultry, others gaudy & flat. The models for Monica and Melanie are among the best I've seen. Rest are mediocre to ugly, though in some cases they're clearly intended to be. All the men look like polio victims and tend to chew the h-scenery, which is a massive turn-off.

Without the "humiliation" fetish, the h-scenes including the bdsm ones are generic and boring. The "humiliation" itself is basically Monica being cartoonishly arrogant/rude and cartoonishly disgusted by or at best indifferent to anything sexual, with no evolution in any direction.

Don't bother dling unless you're into what I've described. This isn't one of those porno gaems that are fun even if you don't share its fetishes. 4/5 for gfx, -2 for everything else.

TLDR: I wasn't a fan of this game. If dialogue was more streamlined, the amount of clicking was reduced by at least 70% (there's way too much clicking even for a visual novel), and it wasn't such a grind it'd be a better game and probably run smoother too but what it is now just gives me a headache and a sore index finger every time I try to play it.

Note: I didn't play Episode 3 and I don't plan to anytime soon. Based off the first two chapters, I'd give this game 2/5 stars but I'm adding 1 star just in case the third episode improved on the stuff I didn't like

This game is a hassle to play. At least 90% of it is just grinding for hours and hours while clicking through mostly boring and bloated dialogue. It seems like in every conversation Monica will say some variation of "I'm not doing that!" or "I'm too important for this!" until the person she's talking to forces her into doing it by slowly explaining/repeating themselves. For example, most the conversations in this game go like this:

Person: "You need to do this demeaning thing"
Monica: "NO! I'M MONICA BUCKFETT! I'M A QUEEN! HOW COULD YOU EVEN THINK I WOULD CONSIDER THIS"
Person: "I'll pay you" or "I'll call the police" or some other threat
Monica: "I'll do it for [insert large sum of money]"
Person: "I'll give you less than 1% of that"
Monica's Thoughts: "I'll destroy this person when I'm back on top but right now I need money"
Monica: "Okay deal"

Basically that but much longer. I'm not one that usually skips dialogue but when almost every interaction Monica has is essentially just the same conversation it becomes a chore to get through. The only problem with skipping is that you have to do it manually with the mouse since there's no option to skip unseen text.

The grinding in this game just adds to my frustrations with it and I'm not just talking about grinding money. Every time Monica has a new activity she needs to do it several times before you can move on with the quest the activity is attached to. When she starts showing herself to guys in an alley, you need to each thing option 3x but you can only do each option once per day and you can only serve 3 customers a day. When you have to sell a dress it makes you come back to the clothing store a dozen times before it finally gets sold. Each photoshoot takes at least 2 tries to complete because there's 3 total shots for each pose but the game only allows you 2 per pose. The list goes on and on but you get the point. Every activity in the game makes you do it several times before you can finally move on no matter how dull the activity is.

Open world can be a pretty divisive thing to have in a porn game but this is the first one that made me loathe my time playing. The fact that it can sometimes take several clicks to get to where you want to go is poor game design in my opinion. Every time I need to speak to Biff I groan because I have to click on area on the map, then click on the building, then the elevator, then finally his office but wait it's not over because now I need to click on Biff, and then for some reason click on him again once you get closer to initiate the conversation where you finally choose the dialogue option you need to continue the quest. It's too much!

On the topic of clicking on things. There's too many things that can be interacted with. I don't need to hear Monica's inner dialogue when I accidentally click on a chair or a painting.

The story in this game is fine. It's frustrating but it's supposed to be. Everything Monica does will go wrong, everybody in this world is a villain, and she'll have nobody except for herself.

If your fetish is rehashing the same conversation with every person you meet, and cookie clicker gameplay, then this was made for you. If it's not then I'd skip this one.

By nowadays standard the game feels really bad at the beginning, but back when the game launched it was quite ok. The game becomes much better as you progress and the latest updates focus purely on progress development.

One star is removed, because:
- There is a variety of choices, which requires multiple save paths. This becomes annoying to remember, especially with long times in between updates. There should be an in-built game function that allows you to jump to certain specific decisive game junctions, from where you can keep playing.
- I don't know why, but the UI feels really bad and not ergonomic. Clicking on things often requires quite the precision and often causes minor lags. There is no good "feeling", but since the grind has stopped the last few updates it is somewhat more bearable.
- As I understand, the main attribute which is Monica's bitchness, doesn't really lead to different character development or incentivize multiple playthroughs. It's one of these attributes being introduced early in the game which later become totally obsolete because the player wants to play a certain route, that features the most promising scenes, anyway. This is bad from a game design point of view.

Other than that the game features great humiliation kinks, and hot models which is why this is still definitly a recommendation !!!

This game has a big problem.

The plot gives the impression that the pygmy writes about space travel.

Day 1...

The owner of a serious fashion magazine humiliates two female model candidates., informing that people with personal problems are not hiring for such a serious institution. She insults the photographer, accusing him of a lack of professionalism.

Then she causes a scandal:

- at the gas station (there is definitely no monitoring );
- in a luxurious restaurant (there is definitely no monitoring );
- in a clothing store (there is also definitely no monitoring );

A day in the life of a person, with a reputation-based fashion magazine, recognizable face, and a train of paparazzi following her steps.

Something else needs a comment?

One of the best female protagonist games out there. The game is grindy, but the grind is what makes this game more enjoyable. The CG is beautiful and well made. Updates are very frequent and the dev cares about this game.

that's one of the best games ever...... really good work. voiced,animated, nice graphics and very nice story. and sound. I would say the secong best after 'adventures of willie d' the new update from Fashion Buisness is coming soon. It's at 91% now.

Nice my fav game i love this game nice and coolll i play from last 2 years and good and nice work from decent monkey nice work bro and. Thank you for this game... Nice and coolll game my best fav game i know now ur in some medical problem get well soon bro❤

There's a lot to like in this game, but its not without its flaws. Whether the good outweighs the bad will depend to a large extent on your own playing style and preferences.

The graphics are first class, with an incredible number of detailed renders, good animations, lots of characters and well developed locations. The MC's facial model and expressions often remind me of a young Holly Marie Combs, with a far more developed body.

The plot can be confusing, especially if you've skipped the earlier parts and only started the latest, because the constant flashbacks and references to past events won't make much sense if you haven't experienced them. Strongly recommend playing each part in order, as you'll enjoy the story a lot more with this approach. DecentMonkey has clearly put a lot of work into the plot and you'll see this as new details are discovered and plot points start linking together.

The biggest downside for me was the grind, which was worst in Episode 2. Since this is (IMHO) the best episode so far, its a mixed blessing. Players who are used to RPGM games won't really notice it, but if you mostly play Ren'Py VN's, your mouse finger is in for a serious workout and you'll be frustrated by the repetition needed to advance the plot. Having said that, the catfight scene in the Shiny Hole made it all worth it for me!

Multiple paths are open to you for game play, so keep plenty of saves and be prepared to start the occasional new game if the paths start becoming exclusive, or demand too much micromanagement to play them all simultaneously. As always, prioritise the parts you enjoy and don't feel that you have to complete everything - unless you're a completionist.

Fashion Business seems to be a highly polarising game. Look through the forum thread and posters seem to love or hate it, with few in between. Give Episode 1 a try and refer to the guides on DecentMonkey's web page (linked via the main game menu) if you get stuck. It can be hard work at times, but I think the rewards are worth it.

Forgot to mention that 90% of the grind can be eliminated through heavy use of the CTRL key (on Windows PC's, not sure about other platforms) to fast forward through slides and animations that repeat a scene. In some cases, dozens of times. This will save you thousands of mouse clicks/key presses to advance to the next screen and you won't miss out on anything because all the information for a scene is conveyed on the first playthrough. I wish I'd realised this on my first few playthroughs, but hopefully others can benefit from my pain.