VN - Ren'Py - Friends in Need [Mini-Sode: Blue Valentine] [NeonGhosts]

Submitting a review after the update with mainly Mason and Gabby because there is way too much negativity in the discussions. NeonGhosts has plans, and plots need to be moved forward. Not every update can be all Ashe and Viola. (That said, I would love some more Ashe and Viola)

Thanks for creating a game of such complex branching, NeonGhosts. It's a great feat that there are so many choices that affect future scenes (and even a patch for more choices) and give foreshadowing without breaking the game's flow. It's really special compared to the more simpler kinetic-novel-like games on f95zone, and honestly you work pretty fast for the amount of content per update.

Rating: 4/5 (Rounded up from 3.5/5) for v0.60c

Friends in Need offers a strong self-insert experience centered around moral choices, letting players decide if they want to be a compassionate philanthropist who supports love interests or a menace of a millionaire who manipulates and ruins lives. If you're in the mood for a morally flexible power trip, this game will likely scratch that itch.

Character development for the LIs still feels a bit surface-level, though it clearly shows promise for deeper exploration in future updates, depending on the developer’s direction.

Pros:

• Engaging experiences of impactful moral choices
• Varied intimate scenes, despite some limitations

Cons:

• No sound design (no music nor character voices during sex scenes)
• No animations, as there's no animated tags either; we got simple loops of 1-4 still images, making sex scenes quite repetitive
• No built-in tracking menu to show choices impact, requiring players to use mods like Universal RenPy Mod to view point-based and branching path effects

While this AVN has room for improvement, it’s a well-executed game that delivers on the promise of a choice-driven experience. Definitely worth checking out if you’re after an AVN with meaningful moral options.

Usually I don't do reviews. Hell this is my first review for a game on F95zone, but I've just been playing through this game, and I am entranced

Content wise, the animations aren't revolutionary and are rather standard. But it more than makes up for this with its amazingly detailed characters. They feel unique and there is a very large and diverse cast of characters. Moreover, I'm not sure what it is about them, but you find yourself actually getting emotionally involved with the character's stories

And its main selling point is it's outstanding story, the mc is a reasonable person and you can easily see yourself in his place, the choices allow you to decide what kind of person you want the mc to be and as I've already said, the characters feel like actual people.

This is definitely my new favourite game, and I hope that it continues development. As I am now completely emotionally hooked, hoping I still a lot of content left

I usually do reviews with introduction, stars and final evaluation, but because it is not finished I will dedicate a small temporary review to it.


Friends in Need takes you into a simple plot but that engages thanks to its characters, and that does not stop presenting new situations at every moment with a more than correct timing, never reaching saturation or boredom.

The only downside, as I've read in other reviews: the lack of animations. It is greatly missed, although they could always be added at any time.

PS: I'm going to found a religion where we pray to Ashe.

I like this one. A lot.

Let's get its weakest trait out of the way: the animations. Yeah, they're nothing to write home about. But the character models are great, some of them even beautiful. And most of all, the writing is rock-solid. It's gripping. It's intelligent. It's witty.
Me likes.

Most interestingly -- well, to me; your mileage may vary...
I only played this because there was a "taboo content" patch. Because fuck vanilla, or rather, not. And I'd set out to play what might be referred to as a "dark" path. And well, color me surprised with a fucking rainbow flag, I found myself veering from that path and being drawn to niceties for how much I grew to like (some of) the characters. Britanni (with an 'i') comes to mind. The more I saw of her, the more I enjoyed her and the more I wanted to see. She wasn't the only one, although probably the most prominent. If that's not good writing, I don't know what is. With others, on the other hand, I had no trouble being dark and I very much enjoyed the author's creativity in that dimension. Big thumbs up there.

Like a virgin at her first gang bang, what worries me however is the size of the thing. We haven't seen anything of the MC's sister yet, but there's already a ton of content and a corresponding ton of threads, most of which are still loose. It will take a gargantuan effort to spin them to maturity and then tie them. And anything but tying them would be disappointing. I've gone out of my way and avoided taking advantage of certain situations out of concern for the repercussions my MC would face. I'd be pissed if I found out I passed on a nut for naught.

-Story is not that interesting and, as the devoper states, this game focuses on moral choices, and these choices do matter (some of them might be really controversial), so that was kinda good.
-MC is ok, girls are not bad looking, however they are kinda bad written.
-No music / sound
-No animations (however the developer made some effort using "looping renders" srry dont know how to call it xD)
Overall I think this game is a 7/10, it was cool that you can do some nasty stuff but the story was lacking, though It might get better in future updates.

I'm really loving this game! It starts off pretty straightforward, but then the world just builds up around you in such a cool way, and the character, oh man, they're so well fleshed out. I've tried a few different routes, and it's wild to see how some characters, like Nikki, stick around no matter how badly you treat them. Like, seriously? She’s still hanging in there after all that? Insane! xD

That said, the rest of the cast feels super believable and overall really well-written. I played up to Chapter 3 and now we're at Chapter 9, But i dont think i can play more, atleast not before MANY new updates comes out. There's too much going on, and I need more content before I can deal with all these loose threads. Too many jerks in this game to just sit around waiting..I need my revenge! xD But hey, that's on me.

I'll definitely be back to see where this game goes next. Feels like the dev is really onto something amazing here. Let him cook! Five stars from me!

This is one of the best written 18+ VN's I've played. The characters are rich and well developed (even with the small amount of screentime they get.)

The protag is managed to be rich in personality despite the different routes. You can really see his motivations of being good/ where his darkness can stem from. The other characters are unique from eachother and well designed. There's no char that I've immediately gone "Oh that's an alien wearing a human's face as a mask" so that's a good start.
The hot scenes are hot, the funny scenes are funny.

Playing the terrible person routes actually makes you feel a little terrible due to the characters being likeable. It doesn't just feel like the chars are there so the author can be 'and then they were murdered with the corpses of baby kittens!'

The first scene in the game has a bit of 'terrible face' syndrome but after that the quality immediately jumps up.

Development on the game is kinda slow but what is worked on is extremely high quality in my mind. The amount of characters to development speed ratio is concerning, but I try to look on the optimistic side when it comes to games and stories getting finished.

Highly looking forward to any update this dev makes.

This is a vanilla AVN, which means no sound and 2-frame looping animations, but don't let that put you off. The well crafted story and the attention to detail developing the characters and composing the scenes more than make it worth the time you spend on it. Speaking for myself, I couldn't stop playing it until I finally ran out of content, so things must have been done right. You would be missing out if you judge this game by looks alone.

The LIs are varied, there's some nice romance to experience and to top it all *no* inflated bodies to put you off if you are tired of seeing silly huge melons and asses every time. The MC does have the usual huge penis though, but I can forgive that. I sure hope we get to see more soon and I wish the developer a great success with this project. Thumbs up from me.

Is the game good? Yes. Do I recommend it? Yes.

The story begins with our down on his luck MC in what seems to be a bottomless pit in his life, there's no way out and no help is coming. It's a very relatable situation especially with people who play adult games, I mean that's why we play these games right? To escape? To read a story, maybe way different than our own, and watch it play out in a way we would never realistically choose to.

Before the update 0.60a, I was already numbed to the story. I knew then that nothing is really going to be going on and that aside from our MC being a generous helpful guy that the real story are going to be the stories behind the characters our MC interacts with. Which makes sense because the name of the game is Friends in Need, and our MC meeting people down on their luck and him being able to help them is fitting until this update. Now we have an overarching story on our hands and while it still needs some setting up to do, I'm excited to see where it'll go.

Next is the dialogue which is the real gem and this is honestly one of the most freedom in dialogue I've seen in an adult game. This is because dialogue is the deciding factor on whether or not a character will continue interacting with MC and, if they do, in which capacity. So far. I say this because in this update, we meet an interesting character and whether we choose to be friendly with them or not, I think it foreshadows another way the story can go - a real choice where the direction of the story changes.

Then comes the characters - the most important one is shockingly the MC this time and that's because coupled with the dialogue, how our MC talks with the other characters is directly effected by the options we choose. Shocking because this is an adult game where more often than not, the MC's characterization takes a backseat in place of the LI or LIs. And I guess we should at least go over what seems to be a somewhat common point of contention: our MC being kind of a doormat, helping everyone not knowing how to say no.

To the people who think this, go through the intro of the game again and remember that our MC was a nice guy who made bad calls throughout his life. He was working a dead end job at a convenience store where his sole happiness was with a girl who was taken and considers him a bro. Remember how I said this was relatable? This is a guy who was fucked for life until he got lucky. In real life, this guy would still be fucked and probably eating a bullet before they're 30. He suddenly comes across so much money that he can't spend it in a lifetime so what does he do? He chooses to help people who were just like him - just like Nicki. If you still don't see the beauty in that and how good of a person our MC is, you're too far gone.

What a tangent am I right? Anyways, next are the girls - they are all gorgeous and interesting. They're all troubled in their own way and for the longest time, I've felt that their stories were the real main focus of the game. That's because they are the Friends in Need so it's not far-fetched that our MC is willingly diving headfirst to find out more about them so that he can better help. Because of this, our heroines are not as one- or even two-dimensional as they seem to be which makes for an even more entertaining time.

The visuals are great, don't mind the haters who are most likely kids who think fidelity is the be all and end all. The beautiful renders combined with the amazing dialogue make for some really great sex scenes. So far I haven't seen anything immersion-breaking so that's always a plus.

Overall, the game is compelling with great dialogue and characters with their own interesting stories. How the overall story will go, we'll have to find out on future updates. A 5 star.

My message to to NeonGhosts: I love everything so far honestly, I was worried that the story was going nowhere and that it'll slowly peter out because aside from our MC stumbling across the next abandoned kitten to save, there was no direction. I'm glad that with the current update that that won't be the case and I looking forward to see what comes next! Also if you make me choose between Mason or Nicki I am not above changing my rating to 1 star. Just kidding.

Or am I?

Nice game. Writing is pretty good, I for once didn't want to skip any dialouge. I like that you have a choice of MC being a good guy, r*pist asshole or someone inbetween

Girls are hot and scenes were decent, but they lack animations. Renders are pretty average too, could be better

I wanted to give 5 stars at first because the game really impressed me, but it's very obvious that visuals are far from best. It's the only complaint from me

Nowadays I really feel a little lazy about doing reviews. but this game deserves it, it's really good, it has such a excellent writing, it's so good that I like it even though it has one of the things I hate the most in AVNs which is the excess of LIs and characters, but most of the characters are so lovable that I don't even care about that. It's really cool to see an AVNs with so many relatable characters in certain aspects and have LIs that are so imperfect, most games always give you the archetype of perfect LIs without any problems in life whose only function is to please the MC and that gets boring quickly , and I'm glad that this game has so many positive reviews despite that, since there are some people on this forum who think that a girl is a slut for having had a partner before the MC and who believe that making mistakes in life is "fatherless behavior" in any case there is also a dark route for those types of people who want to "punish" these "fatherless" girls so everyone can be happy.

So it is a great game with very good characters and good writing. kudos to the dev and at any moment i will become a supporter this game really deserves it.


P.S: Mason and Nicki best characters.

Really one of my preferred V Ns if not the one I prefer
Good story, characters with depth, MC who is not a hormone driven teen who wants to f*ck mommy and sis, yet you can choose if he'll be a good guy or an a$$hole
Very diverse (in the good sense) cast of LIs from busty blonde to loli black, nice sex scenes not too far apart
A gem!

I learned from this game that I'm not evil. I followed the "saint" path, the sadist psychopath role is not my thing. I think I decreased my chance to go to hell playing this VN. But even so, you can have a lot of fun with the girls without the need of being a rapist. Now talking about the game, the writing is deep and ultra-interesting. It's rare to find a VN that is an excellent reading, better than a good book. I love multiple-choice adult games where you can shape the MC's personality. This game is perfect for good and evil players.

This is a wonderful game with lots of choices and great writing. The girls are easy to fall in love with and the story is one of the best I have seen in a AVN.

One of its strongest points is that you get multiple choices for how to interact with the girls.

I can't recommend this game enough. If you love good writing and storytelling you'll love this game.

Just rushed in my Top3-Games on this site! Excellent writing, nice Animations and Renders, funny characters! Also tough choices from time to time. I really like and recommend this game! Looking forward the Carolina-Path and what Ashe keeps coming.

I value games that make me stop touching my dick for a bit and take in the story. I want to help these imaginary people. while also fucking them, respectfully.

The story is there, the graphics are too. I look forward to the development

[SPOILER ALERT]

"Friends in Need"? To me, it's more like "Fatherless Women in Need".

Jeez, the whole story is just kinda depressing to be honest. What's up with too many women in this game making bad decisions after bad decisions or caught a pretty bad luck? from all of the LIs, Ashleigh is probably the only one who has a relatively stable life. She has a nice home, a nice family (I really like her parents), a decent job, and nice racks. While the others are basically..... yeah I don't want to talk about it, go see for yourself.

Nicki particularly, hits almost too close to home. She was such a nice girl, but only in three months she made a lot of bad decisions. She could've just moved with me and be a nice couple but nah... she was too stupid for that. Now I get it why the dev has this "Nicki removal patch". I thought it was just a little joke from him but when I got through Nicki's story, I sighed so hard that I just punched my own desk (no, this is not a made up story, it did happen). Good job NeonGhosts, you made a character that almost look like someone that I used to know. If you ask me, no luckily she didn't sell her out unlike Nicki, in fact she became a doctor.

One particular problem that I have with this game is that the MC sometimes doesn't have enough courage to say a big motherfucking NO to some people who asking for his help. Just because I'm rich and also a famous philantrophist, it doesn't mean that everyone needs to be helped. For example, Risa asking you to take her home because she has "car problems" so she needs a ride. But it turns out she tricked you by driving her into a drug den because she is a drug addict. If I were the MC, I would've kicked her out from my car and called DEA/FBI afterward. I will never ever spend a penny for a junkie.

I haven't try the "dark path" yet because I am a nice guy. But seriously, I feel like that's probably the proper way to play this game because some of the women are shameless.

Three stars for now. I might add another star in the future, or keep it that way or perhaps lose it. Depends on how the dev handles it.

Overall a decent AVN where choice matters, and you can shape your relationships with the love interests how you like.

+ Plot is simple, but effective for the story
+ Good models and renders, with believable personalities
+ Good selection of relationship types (romance, benefits, domination, exploitation, etc)
+ Not a wide range of body types, but the girls are attractive
+ Only a few kinks, but the relationship types allow for some deviation
+ High re-playability factor to experience different relationship types with the love interests
+ Writing and grammar is good without a lot of distracting issues

+/- Not quite enough sex scenes or opportunities for them with each love interest for my liking. What's there is okay, but more would be better.

- Short AVN, 0.60c has perhaps 12-14 hours worth of content total
- No built-in walkthrough or hints, and no explanation of how choices affect relationships or the Darkness stat (and no way to track any of it)
- No music or sound effects
- Animations are extremely rare, short, and low in quality (sometimes just render flips between two screens)
- Love Interests are added slowly, and you have a fairly linear way of getting together with them (no choice, just whether or not it happens on a certain day)
- In 2 years and 3 months of development, it seems like progress is moving slowly to end up with ~12-14 hours of content. To put it in perspective, that's roughly 1 minute of gameplay developed per day, 7 minutes per week, or a half hour in a month.

Friends in Need ends up a 3.2 or 3.3 rating from me. Unsure why it has such a high rating on F95 for reasons listed above - it definitely has promise, but just as many shortcomings. If the developer would re-double their efforts and address them along with more frequent content, it'd end up a 4.5 or higher due to it's strengths. But it isn't there yet..

Maybe the best, most relatable writing I've ever seen in a game - keep it up!
The dialogue is great, the characters real and believable, and seemingly lots of choices that actually matter as you progress!