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

"Friends in Need" is a captivating visual novel (VN) that masterfully combines elements of drama, romance, and the thrill of unexpected fortune. The story follows our main character (MC) whose impulsive and drunken decision leads him to invest his entire life savings into a seemingly doomed cryptocurrency. This reckless gamble leaves him financially devastated, but years later, the crypto unexpectedly skyrockets in value, catapulting him into a world of unimaginable wealth. With his newfound riches, the MC embarks on a journey of redemption and benevolence. He invests in various ventures and, most notably, establishes a charity aimed at helping those in need. True to the nature of an Adult VN, many of these individuals in need turn out to be beautiful women who could become potential love interests or even form a harem. The game offers two distinct paths: a love path filled with heartwarming moments and a dark path that delves into more controversial choices, which might be too intense for some players.

One of the most critical aspects of any visual novel for me is the cast of characters. If the cast is too large or filled with irrelevant side characters, it's an automatic one-star deduction in my rating. Truth be told, "Friends in Need" does feature a fairly large cast, but I'm willing to make an exception in this case. The characters don't feel like mere side notes because the game isn't structured as a branching story. Instead, it's composed of multiple linear, uniform stories centered around each love interest. "Friends in Need" is not a single core story about the MC. Instead, it unfolds as various parallel narratives of helpless friends (or potential love interests) where the MC plays a crucial role. The MC moves from one story to another, acting either as their knight in shining armor on the love path or taking advantage of their vulnerable state on the dark path. This structure keeps each character's story focused and relevant, making the large cast feel integral to the overall experience.

The game boasts a solid visual presentation, with high-quality renders that bring scenes to life with subtle detail. The writing maintains a good balance between emotional depth and engaging dialogue, keeping players invested in the characters' journeys. Character designs are well-crafted, each with distinct features that add to their appeal without being overly flashy.

Friends in Need Ch 09 v0.59b

Here is a game tip. If you don't like having name saves forced on you (there is no option to toggle them off), follow these instructions. Go to the /game folder and delete screens.rpy and screens.rpyc. Then go to the following link and download the older version of this game. Copy the screens.rpy from the older version of this game and put it in your /game folder. Restart the game.
https://f95zone.to/threads/friends-in-need-ch-9-v0-59b-neonghosts.112500/post-12637232

Pro - The grammar and spelling and writing seem to be good.

Pro - There is a lot of content. Currently nine chapters, but the chapters aren't short.

Pro - There are a lot of different, good looking women and sexual situations.

Con - There was one girl that I wasn't attracted to (the black midget girl), but I was forced to talk to, engage, hang out with, kiss or hug, and meet her a lot. I feel like the "not interested" option didn't work on her at all, because I was forced to keep interacting with her often and for long periods of time and it was like the developer kept pushing her on me.

Con - Even though the females look okay, every model and asset in this game makes this game look like it was made 5-10 years ago. Currently, a lot of devs use Genesis 8, 8.1, and 9 models, but this game felt older generation like Genesis 3 (but might not be). The renders are good, but for some reason I feel like they could have used more polish and depth to make the characters and setting seem and feel more real.

Pro - Even though the renders aren't outstanding they are pretty good. Not grainy looking.

Pro - There are a lot of choices which made the game more interactive and fun. Some games only have single choices, too many choices, or very boring and pointless choices. Thankfully, this game's choices weren't like that.

Pro - You can pretty much creampie any female (but there is no pregnancy).

To me, this is a solid average game. It's not bad/terrible and it's not great/wonderful. Hence the three star rating. Hopefully the developer will fix the script so that name saves can be toggled off. But even if he did, I would still rate this game three stars.

+Nice renders specially ashe and brittani
-An over ambitious story about how a wimpy loser gets multimillionare but he still is a wimpy loser second guessing every action and on the dark patch being a rapey douche bag who still has to bow down to some random asshole drugdealer and pimp. the entire premise of this game is mc being a sugar daddy without any of the benefits lmao
- a lot of LIS but the game is not good enough for additional playtroughs
In a story about a dude with unlimited money you would think there would be some options to get an assertive mc but these are avns that we are talking about so instead mc will still be the same loser but now there is this super bad guy that he will have to fight. dev REALLY wants you to play Risa story and see a girl getting fucking dpd before you can choose to help her or RAPE HER. i mean what the fuck
-the dark path is the way the dev will introduce NTR and sharing to the story.
-Unnecesary versions and a mess on what version you are actually on.
Hard pass

A story/game that goes faster than it actually should.

Story - 3/10 The premise being you become rich and suddenly become a white knight ( or a rich prick ), to all these characters that you engage with.
Not exactly a new plot, and this one does it in a way that is makes the story go faster than it actually should. On the whole you meet a new down on their luck ( or needing help) character, every game day. Really every day that is a bit much, makes the introduction to the characters to fast and very predictable. Not to mention two dimensional, "oh i need help and will trade it for sex" , is the whole story in a nutshell. The puns and jokes are not very humorous, could be much better.

Originality - 2/10 There are dozens of similar story lines.

Renders - 5/10 Graphically average could be better.

Animations - 2/10 There are very few animations in the game, the usual two second looping sex animations. Next to nothing with regards to realism or seduction, as well as kissing , one kiss then a hop on.. bam.. squirt and done, so common it's boring.
When it comes to adult story/games, animations and story make the whole game, very few devs put much into either of these, this one is not any different. If it actually had better sex scenes in it the improvement would be vast, It doesn't and is just below average.

Grammar - 7/10 Not bad, really could use a going over since there are spelling mistakes and some parts that need rewording.

Not all that memorable a story/game and doesn't have much of an emotional connection. Which pretty much means it's easily forgettable, and not something that will make players really impatient for the next content update. It just doesn't do it.

I was pleasantly surprised by this game and it is executed well overall. The story is good and the writing is excellent. The graphics and character models are superb and lifelike. The personalities and character development of the cast is excellent.

I do have a few minor complaints with the game.

The cast is too large IMO. It will take forever to bring an in-depth conclusion to each character unless most of them get treated like side characters. I would have preferred a smaller cast with more focus. Sometimes I forget about half the characters because I haven't had a scene with them for a while.

The MC is rich but he often lacks intelligence and wisdom. I would have handled some situations way differently. For example, I would have never allowed a boyfriend to be with a model during a photo shoot. It's just asking for trouble. I would rather send the model away then do a shoot with her boyfriend present. If the boyfriend insists on being present, the model loses the job.

It's kind of hard to swallow the bad choices that Nicki makes throughout the game. She is supposed to be one of the game's main love interests but most of her choices are dumber than shit. It makes it hard for me to want a relationship with Nicki based on her stupid choices. I only did one playthrough of the game and was mostly a good guy (with some grey area) and looking back I should have taken the evil route with Nicki. She's too stupid to be anything other than three holes to fuck.

Still, these are all minor complaints and the game is brilliant overall. The writing and characters really set the game apart from so many others! The character models are also well done so it's a win win for me.

Only a few sex scenes are animated but to be honest they don't need to be with how well they are done with just renders and writing.

There is lots of content to play through which is a big plus.

There is also a lot of mystery in the game as far as choices go. It is unclear how many of your choices will lead which I really like.

Aside from a few minor complaints the game is one of the best on this site. I highly recommend it and encourage others to give it a try!

Easily one of the best AVNs I've played. The CG is Daz based, but it's easily in the top 5% of Daz CG.

The real standout is the writing, and the variety and quantity of choices. The character writing is exceptional by the standards of AVNs. The characters are generally likable, and when they're not likable they're still interesting and wll written. The game does a good job of making the adult elements relatively plausible while still keeping a satisfying ratio of pornographic and non-porn scenes.

This game handles its dubcon elements with finesse, striking exactly the right balance between portraying the situations seriously, while avoiding the worst sorts of grim consequences that could realistically result from these scenarios. Unlike in some games, I feel like I can tell that the creator is writing dark pornographic fiction, rather than something they aspire to act out in real life (except maybe in roleplay).

I feel like the dubcon "route" is the strongest (the game doesn't actually have strict routes), but the noncon and more vanilla choices are well handled too. If you don't hate all Daz art and enjoy AVNs, this one is definitely worth trying.

Best VN I've played, possibly ever. So many options and paths. Writing is exemplary. Hope this continues for a long time to come, and I'll be supporting this Dev throughout any and all future projects!

i really like this style of games and its choice structure (similar to Banking on Bella, Personal Assistant, Regional Manager, and Desert Stalker) I wish there were more games like this but it feels like there are only the games I named above with the same style I'll be looking forward to updates this is arguably my favorite game

I'm a fan! It's decently written, the renders are good and I appreciate most any game that gives you the chance to be kind of a piece of shit. Not that I avail myself of the option often, but it's always nice to have choices.

I though it was just a generic storyline but man. This is one of the best Ive played. Beautifully written.

Author perfectly nailed each character arcs. It aint even generic harem. All character feels alive. Like they actually have depth. Hoping for more. This easily comes to my top 5 best AVN ive played.

Same level quality of the top games out there such as Eternum, Desert Stalker, Being a DIK, Fresh Women, College Kings and all. Id say. This developer have what it takes to be one of the best.

It's a story where we decide how money can affect the main character after he becomes rich. The idea is good but the execution is terrible. There is neither sound nor animation in the game. The gameplay consists only of unnecessary endless dialogues. The developer has made the game very boring by extending even a simple event that can be explained with a single line with pages of text and same scenes. The renders also look extremely bad. That's why the game doesn't offer anything interesting or seducer. The illusion of choices that was tried to be created in the story was very weak. Because the game doesn't even really let you choose. Even if you try to be evil, in some scenes the main character makes the exact opposite decisions on his own. For me, it was a disappointing game that I couldn't understand why it got so many positive reviews.

I don't like it at all. The girls aren't interesting to me, and not great looking, and the sex scenes are bleh.
There's drama and stuff, but it's divorced from any real plot, so it falls flat.
Plus, some of the drama comes from the protagonist just being stupid as fuck.
I know humor is subjective, but I didn't see the humor other people have talked about.

I tried to do an evil playthrough after doing a good one and it felt bad to do bad things to these characters. Which I think is a mark of good writing. The scenes are hot, and the writing is good. Everything I want in an erotic vn.

Just finished chapter 3, went with non-dark route, wanted be a good guy. I was cracking up on some of the dialogue, very nicely written. The renders/character expressions seems to improve as the story goes. I appreciate the not-12-year-old-porno -logics with the plot. Wish the dev could add sound/music later on. Keep up the good work.

Played v0.57 – Visual novel with the male domination tag and a male MC.
A great game – characters are awesome, story is interesting, graphics and design is good and the sex scenes are hot. The MC came into a lot of money and used it to turn his life around.
The main draw of the game are the different approaches the MC can take – do you romance the girls, do you use your position and money to coerce them, or do you violently rape them and use both to keep them quiet (for the latter you need the taboo patch). There are a lot of options and your choices influence the story quite a bit – sure the main plot is pretty linear, but you can change the characters and their feelings and reactions quite a bit. Also most of the characters are connected in some way and by following their storylines you discover tidbits and background information on others.
As for bdsm there’s mostly domination, spanking, choking and humiliation. So far we only got one scene with handcuffs and one with gagging. Depending on what kind of relationship you pursue the scenes are harsher or kinder. But even on the romance route most girls (or maybe even all girls) can be dominated and enjoy it up to a certain point. If a girl likes you enough you even get to press her boundaries whereas they might not be so enthusiastic if they don’t like you as much.
Or you just blackmail them and don’t care about what they like.
Coming full circle back to the games choices – if you press a girl too far she might even leave completely, trimming the game’s branches and also making the characters seem more alive and have some agency.
Definitely recommended, even if the bondage part of bdsm is pretty light so far and the game concentrates more on domination.

One of the most satisfying story. I feel my choices matter and my altruistic heart is jumping from joy ... before and after the jizz.

Story: 5/5
Lewd:4/5
Graphic: 3.5/5
Animations: 2/5

Cant wait for more content to come.

One of the best games here

Your choices really matter!

You may play like a complete asshole or like a bright knight
Or even something in between.

It's not a harem

Don't forget to install patch or directry update patch file with `true` - it unblocks additional choices

Friends in Need has an unusual gimmick: it allows one to choose whether to play the MC as a good guy or a bad one (or somewhere in between) individually with each LI. While this seems appealing, in practice there are a couple of problems. One is inherent in the concept: it requires multiple separate paths for each LI and each scene. As there are already several love interests—with more seemingly in the offing—the combinatorial explosion of scenes required is dragging the story to a standstill. If you like to play through every possible route with every character, this may not bother you: there will still be lots of content. If, on the other hand, you prefer to just play through the story once, this problem will become very apparent. In the last update, my path didn’t even feature a sex scene.

The second problem I have with it is that the dev’s portrayal of the range between good and evil is...strange. On the good side we have a MC that is the white-knight sort, riding to the rescue of damsel’s in distress, vainly hoping that somehow this will make their panties drop...well, that actually works in-game, anyway.

The evil MC is a crazed psychotic rapist, who would quickly land in prison (or a mental ward) in the real world. Mad dogs aren’t evil, in my book: they are just broken. While I would be quite interested in playing a dark character who was in control of themselves—a Machiavellian sort—I can’t get into playing a lunatic.

The intermediate paths between white-knight and lunatic seem poorly differentiated, and are difficult to navigate without referring to a walk-through constantly. I think this could have been done a lot better if the dev had put more thought into developing a realistic light-to-dark scale, and telegraphed the choices so the players could tell which ones would keep them on their desired level of gray.

I suspect that the first problem—the combinatorial explosion—will keep Friends in Need from ever reaching a satisfactory conclusion, but it is an interesting experiment, and probably worth a look.

Solid writing for an underpinning linear plot with significant variation depending on your interactions with each character, with a good range of characters - these look and feel like different people.

The characters and their reactions are consistently believable in the context of the story (and on multiple play throughs), and your choices have consequences (and the writing hints at significant future escalation of some of those consequences), which I like.

This is an excellent game - easily one of the best I've played here, and in a couple of decades of playing VNs and AIF - and I'm excited to see where it goes next.

>>>No animations at all<<<
Nothing REALLY impressive about the story
Mostly daily basic boring shit
Most of the good reviews are based on the patch where you can do some extreme suff (see the tags), and because of the paths you can choose (good, asshole, and the patch unlock the "rape route")

But, what is the point of having moral choices, if all of 'em are boring?
You can see the first character at the start of the game as an example:
You can be kind
You can humiliate her
You can assault her (patch)

You feel no impact in any of your choices, because things happens too fast, you have zero connection with her, and you have no options to tell her to fuck off.

meh