VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Fates: Determination [Ep. 1-6] [eXtasy Games]

Decent game overall but the porn side of the game was a bit lacking. If you're in for a good VN game with a little porn on the side, you'd most likely enjoy this. But if you're looking for something to jack off to then maybe try a different game.

I enjoyed the story.
The graphics looked good and the animations were ok - maybe a little too fast. It would have been nice to have some more endings. this way the choices would have been more meaningfull.

To be fair, this is definitely not a poor or even terrible „game“ at all. At least in my opinion.

Quite a lot of quality seems to be there for a potentially great episodic story-driven AVN:

• a rather thrilling, almost marvel lous plot;​
• decent up to good renders & transitions;​
• some animations;​
• effective fx & atmo sounds and some decent music;​
• some interactive puzzles & simple minigames (well, not skipable for those who dislike those);​
• no game breaking bugs.​

There are 2 protagonists: one male & one female - rather „normal“ people, not some creepy shits – whose stories intersect conceptionally „by fate“.
Only the final outcome of their decisions (choices) may alter the end. So at least some of the given choices may somewhat impact the plots direction and (the few) possible sexual encounters or (the very few) romantic relationship options.
But that's mostly for the male MC. He's more or less the real focussed main character in the plot.
The female MC seems to be more like an attachment to the constructed story than an independantly essential character. Yeah, you can choose to... for example... let her have sex or not, but that's only kind of a fragrance. She's not there to have romantic encounters at all!

That's one reason for me why the whole story setup with 2 protagonists feels overly constructed.
Almost disturbing to some degree, not really enriching the plot, maybe only providing another perpective to the plot.

The second is: the plot also feels overly constructed all the time, like a complete over-the-top mix of a B-movie thriller with a wannabe Marvel action movie. But fails on both attempts.
Always jumping mostly fast-paced from one event to another - just for the sake of having as many twists and turns from these events ever possible. Nothing feels grounded enough... Not any of the pushed events, not any of the (mostly quite shallow and not even smart acting) characters.
Both MCs are sometimes even so overwhelmed by that many incredible plot twists that they act or think ridiculously dump and stupid.
The former potentially quite thrilling plot itself so subsides into a farce, cause you can always predict the unpredictable to happen... in an increasingly rushed pace until this story ends.
Also and again overly constructed, yet rather flat and rushed than with a boombastic grand finale.

The rare sex scenes - more a bonus within the socalled story-driven episodes – unfortunately don't contribute much to the game. Cause these are below average ones with rather robotic animations. Not real bad, but not good as well. They lack passion, immersion and are forgettable scenes.

All summed up :
a potentially great story-driven AVN with too much determination to be a most thrilling plot twister, but much too less to build a coherent, story-rich plot with immersive events and characters you might care for at all.
Due to that, this „game“ only shares the FATE of so many others of its kind: to be ambitious, but pretty average!

No definite recommendation to play, but if you have nothing better to do... determine for yourself.

The game sets out to be story focussed but fails at getting you attached to any of the characters and has huuuge plot holes/conveniences that actually made me angry.

Here is a great a example of the madness you can expect:

This is also the part when I stopped reading but if this part didn't discourage you to try, go for it.
The music is relaxing, the setting and overarching story is a bit intriguing.
The renders are neither good nor bad.
The sex scenes are animated but very robotic.

Render were fairly good 3/5
Script 2/5
Writing 3/5
Flap Material (Be honest its a porn game.) 3/5
Fetishes 2/5

However what bothers me the most is that you can't change the names of the MCs. The developer gave a lame excuse that it could not be done because it's hard coded. Yes it is hard coded because you coded it. It would be easier for me to accept if you just said you had no idea how to do variable inputs or dialogue with variable conjunctions. So based on this and the averages I am rating it a 2.

The setting and premise of the game is actually very good. In the beginning it looked like it had a lot of potential but sadly it was not meant to be. The dialogues are very bad and the actual story is shit. The characters have no depth to them and the story progression is just absurd. The sex scenes are boring and bland and the animations are also terrible. The only saving grace is the renders and how the game actually looks.

Multi Protagonist seriously that takes away the immersion in the story you want to tell then we have some characters that look good but the protagonist seriously is the copy of someone better not to say even the name I'll just say it's from a ps3 game now let's do something That annoys me a lot and it is that we cannot change the name and we must call ourselves JAKE hahahaha and as some say, do not give the protagonist a girlfriend at the beginning because we do not know who he is and we do not have any attachments the music of the game is excellent very good.

Those renders are what saves this game from being terrible. Still, i do appreciate when the dev put lots of effort into telling an interesting story but the more i play it the more i realize that they are not capable of understanding how awful their writing is. Don't expect anything will change for better in the future

This game is worth playing, but by no means a top notch .
The graphics and rendering are excellent, even one of the best in a 2022 .
However, the story is too mediocre, the setting is well designed, but the storytelling is not as good as it should be .
The sex scenes are few and far between compared to a lot of useless narrative image rendering .
Female MC Amy very seductive , but the other girls are more mediocre .

A very nice game with a unique and good plot with interesting characters. Nice renders and animations too. Even though they are few sex scenes but the scenes are hot. People should keep and eye out for this game. Good luck to the dev and the game.

Interesting plot, Multi protag is done well. The Female MC can avoid all male interractions and engage with women instead. Renders are nice. Its not too point and click grindy or tedious at all. Its pretty solid over all. Give it a try.

Normally i dont really like multiple Protagonist Games but i guess in this one its bearable. First of all i really enjoy the Story even tho it might be a bit cliche at some points. The Story brings drama tension and excitement and its intruiging to see where this will go.
The Renders are pretty good, i dont like most of the girls looks too much but thats propably more personal taste than anything else. The Sex scenes are not the best ive ever seen but good enough and they seem to go along quite well in the story. As far as Relationships go there isnt too much to say atm there propably couldve been a bit more display of affection and "romantic" in the first episode with mia but thats just my personal taste.
Music and Sound are very enjoyable and make the gaming experience better. I really like Games with good sound and so far this game definetly has it.
As far as choices go its kinda hard for me to tell because so far it doesnt seem to make any diffrence what choice you pick, for example you get scolded for using ur powers even if you select "Dont use" all the time in episode 3. So there arent even andy dialogue changes which makes it feel like it doesnt really matter what choice you pick.

Still overall the Story makes up for the parts i dont like too much and im really looking forward to seeing more of this game

I think such are the games that can become great in the long run, amazing graphics, great logical story, excellent characters and narration, the only thing that needs to improve is some romance or logical sequencing around the sex scenes, they are far too mechanical now, doesnt gel well with the game either, I think the characters need to be made to think of sex as a logical extension like the party night more than the library sex. Going to support this developer for sure.

The dev makes the mistake of starting of with a girlfriend. This girl is apparently our girlfriend but we don't actually know her at all. This makes the beginning a bit awkward and apart from that, their dialogue was also a bit boring. Ultimately, it was a good idea to take her out of the story.

The girl we play after the accident gets a job and can start working on a case right away. In addition, on her first case she immediately gets all the inside information about potential illegal activities of the division where she has been working for less than a day. The story therefore feels a bit rushed. Perhaps it would have been better if her part started when she had already been employed for some time, or the dev could have added a render that said 'after a few months', or something like that.

Furthermore, the MC does not know that his girlfriend has died when the detectives arrive. That is strange in itself, but what is even stranger is that the detectives start interrogating him, even when he has just heard this news. And to make it even stranger, one of the detectives immediately starts accusing him of murder in a rather aggressive way.

So the story is not great, but that may improve during the updates. Furthermore, the English in the game could use some improvement, the graphics on the other hand are pretty good. Especially the cutscene/animation at the end was a really good addition.

So there some upside in this game where i can see the potential, but 2 stars is the maximum I can give right now. Although I was close to giving it three stars.

I'm a lazy dude, but that Dev made this game on his own,
so this review is a form of gratification and respect from my side.
So behold, my very first review:

1. Interesting story - finally something worth reading not skipping. The pace is spot on, not too much silly text etc. You can feel that sex is just an addition, not the main dish. I always really like the motive of playing as a hunter and as hunted. Reminds me of Indigo Prophecy game.

Overall, good. I'm curious what's next.
5/5

2. Nice characters - I will not rate them, because it is too early for that, but I have good feelings about them. The premise is good.

3. Artstyle and renders - High quality, I can tell. Better than most for sure, it is very pleasant to look at. I really like the lighting and color temperature.

Little nitpick - Amy (as a model) could look better though, she is really busty, and that's okay, but her breast shape, looks of nipples and areolas reminds me of those silly, grotesque even, DAZ models of other games made by absurdly horny teenagers.
4/5

4. Sex and animations - Good. But not the best*
You can skip sex totally which is great, but when it happens, it contains like 1-3 phases/positions.

I would like to see more of it, or at least have a bit of more control over it.

Animations are really fluid and looped nicely, which is apparently a big problem for many games, even big ones like for example Fashion Business.

The only thing that damages the immersion is the fact that after a slow foreplay we go into a hard pounding . Yeah, my woman would not like that if I would try to make exact same thing in bed ha ha.

Maybe adding slower loops before those fast ones would be a good idea.
4/5

*Title for the best animation quality goes to AWAM, classroom threesome scene.

4. Music - Some basic stuff from Kev, but used in a really good way. Also, there's a few independent tracks, which is cool - that really sets the mood. "Colder that the edge of space" combined with Ep.2 outro scenes is awesome as hell.

Music storytelling is strong with this one.
5/5

5. Additional - Those endings of episodes man! Really well done !
5/5

Keep on the awesome work. One White Russian drink for you. Cheers.

Be warned that the "sex scenes" are only ok, nothing fantastic and are more of a complement. Not to say that there is to little of it, the amount is fine for the current lenght(so far as episode 2). So this is one not to skip on pointless dialogue.
With that out of the way, I am giving it a 5 because it is different, has a very good premise and a lot of potential. MCs(ther are 2) not the best, but not bad. Play it when you have some time.

Game got potential. Great renders and nice story with magical elements. Enjoyed this version. There is sound effects to give more ampience to the game. Loved the ending scenes of this update and music used there. I'm not a fan of multiple protagonist. I like to male protagonist games female protagonists and multiple protagonists are big no for me. But this one doesn't affect me that much because choices for female MC are simple and other guys are not trying get their dick into her. So it's safe.

Well in opinion how about converting the game into only male protagonist game. Many don't like multiple protagonist tag. When they see that probably avoid the game. Probably you are gonna lose some supporters. It's just my opinion.

Overall I enjoyed the game. Keep up the good work dev. Looking forward to next updates. Keep up the good work dev.

+ Great renders
+ Story
+ Music and sound effects
+ Magic
+ Good writing

Wow...just wow, I'm just really, really impressed by this. You absolutely blew me away. The game looks amazing, and I don't think I've ever seen such a constant display of detailed backgrounds in a visual novel. I found the characters extremely compelling, and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, going through a huge roller coaster of emotions. And the way this ended, this all in all felt like a really great, short indie movie that really makes you want a sequel. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, I just finished a complete game, and your next episode is the sequel!

Please, don't give up on this game if you can, because I'm dying to see where you're gonna take it from here! Also, put this on steam if you can, it deserves more eyes!

Oh, and I can't believe that I forgot to mention this. The best part by far are the little still cutscenes that happen a few times in this game. I don't think I've ever seen anything like them in a visual novel. Please, keep doing them.

Loved it, very well written story line so far and the end cut scene was very well done the music chosen for it, fit it perfectly. I really didn't have any high hopes go in, but was i wrong, I'm not a fan of sandbox, but as long as it is kept short like it is then it fits well.