VN - Ren'Py - Friends in Need [S1 v0.95b] [NeonGhosts]

This is by far the best VN I've ever played. The writing is on a whole other level than anything on this site. The love interests are all unique with fleshed out personalities and look gorgeous. If you want a feel good sex adventure which tugs at your heart strings it's for you, but it's also for you if you wanna play as a bastard and sexually abuse or even rape the love interests. Both paths lead to some really steamy scenes. Or you can go the middle ground where you use your money and influence to get what you want. And finally you can go with different routes for all the love interests.

It's a really good game.

I rarely rate games on this site, but this one was/is really outstanding in it´s writing. It´s got an interesting story, characters you care for and a lot of meaningful decisions, all in all a real gem! I hope the story get´s finished (meaning it gets more seasons), but what is already there is pretty awesome in my opinion.

It's not perfect. If I had to critique it, particularly as you get to the later parts published, it lets its view of 'realism' get in the way of what would be a better (or more enjoyable) story.

But its very well written, has good characters, and is one of the ones I've happily paid for.

Models are mostly fine, with a lot of good ones. Renders are often great. Animations are okay.

Very engaging characters (LIs and others) with personalities and situations that are much more complex and interesting than your typical VN. I can't comment on the "dark" paths, but the world itself is already pretty gritty even when you're playing as a white knight. Erotic scenes have decent variety and fit well in the story. There is a certain amount of porn logic, but much less so than typical in stories with many LIs.

Overall a great VN with lots more story to tell. I hope season 2 happens.

The game isn't really my thing, sorry... I personally don't like the animations; some of the in-game screenshots look better. A lot of it looks choppy and strange. I haven't seen that in many other games. Then I got the feeling you have to force some of the girls... That's not for me, sorry, no! I liked Nicki from the beginning her Tatoos later on are nice !! Although I sometimes had a few ???? moments during the gameplay. The in-game graphics are good, and I think all the girls look hot. I think I'll finish Chapter 1, but I don't know yet if I'll play again after that!

It’s such an entertaining story, with lots of funny twists. The only thing that bothers me, is that I really want to know what happens next — I know that as a non-paying customer I don’t really have any right to complain, so please don’t take this as criticism. I’m just so excited for the continuation. Please go on with this good work.

Game is well written.

That is something that I value more than most other things. I wouldn't rate this very highly as a venue to get a quick nut off, but it is fun to role play essentially winning the lottery and having the ability to be the knight in shining armor for a lot of beautiful women. It also has a great swath of choices if you want to use your position of power to exploit vulnerable women.

If playing as a man in a position of power over women interests you, this game is for you. If you just want a quick hot porn game, maybe give this one a pass.

The game's interesting without being really stellar. Like it's trying to be something but just not getting there, like a car driving on a lower gear. Visually it's fine, diverse characters, dialogue doesn't feel too bloated but the plot is kind of stop start. Really if I'm being honest the game suffers from the devs obsession with probably the least interesting character out of the lot.

So the MC's a kind of 30 year old dude who's done nothing with his life and just working in a store with the object of his affections, Nicki. However it turns out back in the day he bought into crypto and years later it blew up and he became super rich. Cool beans. Well done. The American Dream or whatever.

The problem is that the Dev seem hyper fixated on this Nicki character when really she's probably the most boring of the ensemble. She's a stupid stupid character with about as much free will as a half opened bag of rice. The MC is smitten with her to begin with because it seems she's literally the only women he talks to but after he gets rich he's still like a love sick puppy. Even after she boosts and he never finds out what happened to her, while he's off spending his millions around the globe, there's still a lot of internal monologuing by the MC about how she was his friend from before he got rich and how he tends to struggle with friends after getting the money but really the whole game is literally him making friends so why is Nicki so important? The MC is obsessed with her and seems to think about her every two scenes when really she's not that important. Or rather, she SHOULDN'T be that important but the Dev seems to insist on the MC be a complete simp with really no explanation for it. So that becomes quite grating. She's an idiot, she was with some dude who's an idiot, they made bad life choices and you moved on with your life. But you didn't really

This girl must mean something to the dev, like she's a manifestation of some lost love of his from high school because really there's no other way the game should be that focused on her. Let her go man, she's not coming back, write her avatar and focus on something else, you'll be the better for it. Don't waste your life thinking about what might have been.

Actually I had this as a 3 but really I'm putting it a 2. The Nicki character is truly stupid and listening to her explain how stupid she is with no way of just skipping it all makes me stop playing.

This AVN focuses on the approach you take to relationships with the Love Interests. You can either choose to be sadistic and use women, or kind and giving. It both allows you to pursue women with a healthy attitude towards them OR to be truly craven and evil. With that said, most of the LIs are "in need", as the title suggests. They need to be saved from an abusive boyfriend, bad financial decisions, coercive landlords, etc. It's up to you to choose to take advantage or help them.

My assessment of the game is that:

1. The renders are ok and there aren't many video scenes. Overall, there are more attractive graphics options out there.
2. I generally find the situations and MC choices to be interesting. The characters, their development, and what sorts of things the MC can get involved in are pretty entertaining. The plot and character development are the real strength of this AVN.
3. The models used are very distinct, and there is probably a model for everyone's tastes. I imagine some have more universal appeal, but it's an interesting collection of models for the LIs.
4. There are blissfully few bugs, at least for PC. The flow of the game is smooth.
5. It's more or less a linear story, with choices having very little impact on the other storylines within the plot. This may change in the end, but for now, your choices with one LI tend to have very limited effect on other parts of the story or other LIs.

I highly recommend this, primarily for the writing and the choice in corruption vs kindness. It's a very well laid out exercise in the philosophy of relationships. If you only want to skip through dialog to get to the sex scenes with ridiculously proportioned boobs, this game will not deliver very well in that regard. If you want to get into the LI's story and read the dialog, this will be a fun AVN for you.

Amazing characters, great story and the game doesn't have any annoying mechanics. A textbook 5 star game for me. A walkthrough mod or guide is good makes the experience better. Anyway I am looking forward to season 2

So, where to start..

I played this game like 2 years ago for first time. didn't like the story because well, the story is kinda bad, the thing that i really liked was the prospect of

money = power , over people

you could play as a really rapist-asshole or a lovey dovey retard, your choice.

What i really liked about that thing, is that i as a player connected with a lot of characters ( exploited women) , giving them the stick and sometimes the carrot. yk what i mean.

as the episodes progressed, i really didnt care about new Li's , like the 2 recepcionists at the hotel, i dont give a fuck about them tbh, i loved the russian girl and brittani. what a two women... really beautiful the two of them, and their story

my point is, that even if the story is bad, as the game progresses the events that occur feel organic and makes you immersed in the plot even if the plot is being an ego asshole and rapist ( in my gameplay)

now, why the 1* ???

this dev reached episode 13- or 12 i dont really remember the last episode he made...
i dont know what happened but this dev started to do things in the game that does not make sense and is really annoying, like introducing new women in episode 1 , situations that arent really important like the rape in the boat with that brazil chik, and a explanation of the crypro shit that no one asked for,

the point is, this dev stoped developing the game and started to re-do shit, changing totally the renders and how nikki looked like , changing the interpersonal feelings that I as a player felt with the characters, now we have a prettier nikki, but less realistic, the niki from before was a real beauty, with the nerd and weird look, when you rape her, it feels realistic, now it looks superficial

you cannot do that to a game, and if that wasn't enough, he deleted the previous game and we cannot replay the original game until the last chapter he made,

the 1* is because i want this dev to stop petting his belly full of money from make this succesful game, and that he starts to continue developing the story, this dev is planning to re-do all chapters, because in episode 1remake, we have characters we didn't, and if they disapear in chapter 4 (normal) it wouldn't make sense, so this dev is planning to stay 4 years remaking the same thing he did, just for milk suscribers,


wake up , people

3.5

Reasons? Story elements do not stick and author is trying heavily to direct your actions. + lack of sound and animations.

My main grind is story and characters (in it for the story)

Story:
It's a kinetic like novel though you are almost always given 3 choices: Be a friend, be a lover and be an ass.
Worst of all? MC is always somewhat an ass or a pervert (creep) which doesn't resonate with friend or a lover route.

Next point? Author is shipping MC with Nicki and it's painfully obvious.
You can never remove her and whats worse MC is always somewhat romantically fond of her despite your choices.
As a guy who is the same age range (having same age range friends) i feel like author kinda doesn't understand something about people that are over 30.
His fixation and friend zoning thing is mostly problem for people under the age of 25. After that most guys wise up or kinda don't WASTE their time.

Next point about MC being somewhat relatable and at the same time completely missing the point. Don't know how to describe it perfectly but i was at the same mental state as MC when i was younger and it feels like author took a template and added bonus content that doesn't stick good.

Lastly lack of ability to refuse certain idiotic choices.
Philanthropy and charity doesn't mean you agree to every BS or take every insult to chest.
Especially S1 v0.85 Risa rouping you in. From start to finish of that interaction i was angry. I wanted OUT of her grasp at every chance. My last boiling point was when i learned who she is (when you stopped with the car).
NOPE, fuck it, GTFO you POS. My thoughts at the moment, yet you go forward.
I.e. Make your anchor plot points less obvious OR make them seem less artificial i.e. as if he had no choice.

Renders:
Quite pleasing to the eye. Weirdly every girl was somewhat pleasing to the eye.
My only problem? MC - Dude looks like he is 40+ years, working doom hours (11-12 per day 6-7 days a week). But to my understanding he is at most 30-35.
Even when placed in comparison with other males (who are older) he looks like an older man. Gets pretty weird when someone calls you a "kid" or a "young man".

Animations :
Well they are lacking. Not much and somewhat robotic meaning that fluidity is not present much. Not to mention at most 1 per girl (Nicki is special )

Overall :
Not a bad VN but get's this weird feeling that you are playing as a boomer-liberal who sits on blue sky.
He is "good" but beneath is a creep. As once i heard a perfect description of modern liberals: They virtue signal and/or are open minded but beneath all that facade they hide the most creeps among them.

P.S. The tranny issue here made me confused. A girl likes to think she is a boy (he). Okay being called a she during sex but wants to be called a he outside of intimacy. Looks like a she with all the female organs.
I'm now even more convinced that trans issue is just a mental problem or even illness like Body dysmorphic disorder.
Hell if i looked like a woman and people would perceive me as a woman i would not give a damn if they pronounced me as "She".
Why hyperfixate on this on this thing? Does it even matter how people call you? My only gripe is if my name was Daniel and strangers would call me Dan. Why? One is for general public whilst the other is more intimate (for friends and family). The other problem would be if i look like a normal guy but someone calls me Daniele. That means just mockery, but if it was inside joke among friends? Yeah i will answer to Daniele, i don't give a fuck.

The setting of the story is very interesting and unusual. For once, the feeling of the MC clearly transpires his actions. There are numerous LI but as far as I played (0.85c] there is a clear distinction between the side chicks and the main girls, and it appears the MI are not so numerous. I'm not sure if there is potential of drama for the "get it all" players, but I'd say if there is, no problem because it's well written, and if there isn't, it feels right in the story flow.
The LI are very diverse, and each main LI has her own rythm. For some characters, nothing really happened yet, for others, the choices are very important almost since start.
So it's a 4 stars, which may very well become a 5 one when it's more completed and most yet unfinished work is done.

Very good game even though it was apparently toned down a bit by the dev.
It still has a few kinkier things to offer and allows you to make good guy/bad guy choices.
The girls are all nice to look at and the amount of sex scenes is satisfactory for a porn game.
The amount of choices you can make is also good, but be prepared for a few tucks at your heartstrings when you take the bad guy road with certain girls. The dev does a good job of making you feel the girls disappointment (which everyone knows is much worse than straight anger) when there were a few good guy choices before.

I really enjoy the game. The building character is really good, it's kinda slowburn but not boring because the writing so good and interesting, well except the Chen family they all literally almost gone from the story lmao. All choice is matter u can choose to a be good guy or the bad guy and again the bad guy get all the best fetish/kink in the game.
The graphics kinda old(?) not the best, the animation kinda meh too but again the story help it all. A lot of interesting LI u can choose whatever u want, whatever ur fetish/kink are. For me Viola, Mason, Brittany are the best.
And last the game has a high value of Replayability.

i like the premise and overall story. The characters are nicely written and likable. I thoroughly enjoyed it. So whoever wants a good + corrupt path game, then they can go for it it has nice animations too in some scenes.

Waiting to see more in the future.

The dev went summery saggy and is remaking the game from scratch, quite a shame since it had a pretty sweet plot going on and the girls are very nice to look at and talk with, but oh well, at least this isn't turning into a fad and better games come out every year.

Quality graphics, quality scenes, compelling stories and relationships due to good writing, decent dialogues and artwork that meshes well with the emotions being conveyed. Also the choices in this game seems more meaningful and less straightforward than in most games.

Honestly the main issue I have with the game isn't the overall quality it's the fact that when the game was remade the dev choose to tone done soke elements of the g games darker content now I personally suspect it's partly in order to get the game on Steam in the future. Now if thst is the case I get it but at the same time I refuse to support it as it is just censoring content. With age play being cut to a number of other things. I think it should still be in place in a patch rather than darker content slowly removed.

The writing quality in this game is very good. Choices have weight and the characters make you want to help them. The graphics however are pretty bad, which is a real shame. It uses the default RenPy UI and has no sound at all, and there are basically no animations. This game has a lot of potential, and hopefully future updates give this game the polish it deserves.