Games that try to tick all the boxes

[tanstaafl]

Lately, I find myself skipping right over games that seem to have ALL the tags listed, or a ton of them anyway. At least until I'm out of more specific options that is, then I'll give them a shot. But I've found that games that try to play all the angles to apply to everyone, are usually lacking in most of them. I mean, many of the tags touched upon aren't given fair play in the games. Having brief scenes or glossed over story points. And worse than that, when the devs try to cram in so many different fetishes to get that many tags I've found that the story of the game suffers. I get that a lot of people don't care about the story, but quite a few of us do.

Give me a game that specifies in a fetish or just a few fetishes and, usually I find I'll enjoy the story more as well as the art and animations.

Am I alone in this thought?

 

[Rafster]

Well, tags here are used as warnings instead of an indicator of major content. I bet that half of the tags that my game has would go away if we were talking only about major content. But, it is what it is.

 

[Meaning Less]

Not everyone is a fetishist, most people in fact seem to gravitate towards variety of content.

Staying with handjobs until the end of the game can work for handjob fetishists but everyone else would be disappointed at some level probably.

 

[tanstaafl]

Not everyone is a fetishist, most people in fact seem to gravitate towards variety of content.

Staying with handjobs until the end of the game can work for handjob fetishists but everyone else would be disappointed at some level probably.

Yeah, I get that. But then, I wasn't really trying to talk about games that specific. But games that try to tick off the boxes of female dom, male dom, rape, ntr ,corruption, and many more are the ones most likely to have a nerdy MC that fingerbangs his mom while she's sleeping when he's not trying to solve the mystery of his dad's death. Then his older sister/roommate molests him because "omg so big", the day after he pops his younger sister/roommate's anal cherry.

 

[Meaning Less]

Yeah, I get that. But then, I wasn't really trying to talk about games that specific. But games that try to tick off the boxes of female dom, male dom, rape, ntr ,corruption, and many more are the ones most likely to have a nerdy MC

In other words, you don't have a problem with games that tick lots of boxes? You just have a problem with games that tick specific boxes you don't like...

 

[tanstaafl]

In other words, you don't have a problem with games that tick lots of boxes? You just have a problem with games that tick specific boxes you don't like...

No, not really. I think if we want to get specific, I'm talking about when a dev bites off more than he or she can chew and keep the story flowing and not generic or something we've seen a thousand times. There have been good games that hit a lot of the boxes, which is why I do still try them out eventually. They're just not my first pick anymore.

Edit: Though, I will say the MC finger blasting mom while she's asleep is a trope I've grown to really dislike over time.

 

[Meaning Less]

No, not really. I think if we want to get specific, I'm talking about when a dev bites off more than he or she can chew and keep the story flowing and not generic or something we've seen a thousand times.

I don't understand this concept that adding more tags would complicate things, if anything it makes things easier from the dev perspective as you added more possibilities/tools that can be used when needed.

It sounds a lot harder to make your game not feel repetitive after a while if you are just reusing the exact same tropes until the end of the game, unless the game is short.

That's probably the main reason longer games end up using more tags, to keep things fresh. You can start with the "nerdy mc" and end with the "nerdy mc", or change things entirely along the way and end up as the town hero/villain.

 

[tanstaafl]

I don't understand this concept that adding more tags would complicate things, if anything it makes things easier from the dev perspective as you added more possibilities/tools that can be used when needed.

It sounds a lot harder to make your game not feel repetitive after a while if you are just reusing the exact same tropes until the end of the game, unless the game is short.

That's probably the main reason longer games end up using more tags, to keep things fresh. You can start with the "nerdy mc" and end with the "nerdy mc", or change things entirely along the way and end up as the town hero/villain.

A fetish is not a trope. The literary explanations of how you get to the fetish is the trope. Take just sex for instance. Gay sex, fem dom sex, rape sex, anal sex, etc. And then, on top of that each of those contains its own fetishes that can be gotten to by dozens of different tropes (each). Limiting fetishes does not in any way limit the tropes used. What having a ton of fetishes does is take up dev time that could be spent elsewhere, such as focusing on the story of the game instead.

 

[Catapo]

And worse than that, when the devs try to cram in so many different fetishes to get that many tags I've found that the story of the game suffers.

So your problem isn't with the fetishes or tags but with the execution of the game. You just associate games with many tags to bad games and stories.
While I sort of understand your point I don't think this is a good take.

Give me a game that specifies in a fetish or just a few fetishes and, usually I find I'll enjoy the story more as well as the art and animations.

And the same kind of game with very few tags can equally be bad just as much as a game with plenty of tags.

What if I started working on a BDSM game tonight, a fetish I don't like and know almost nothing about, would that make it a good game just because I focused on a single fetish ? Of course not.

At the end of the day a good game and story is a good game and story, the tags are irrelevant to the execution.

 

[baneini]

Wall of text of tags is a bad sign. In the very least it indicates the dev is bad at narrowing the game down to the essentials, targeting a specific audience and communication.
Theres only so many things a game can be about and be good at those things.
The scattershot tactic of trying to game algorithm by having every tag ever is also retarded.

But then most devs suck, most games suck and if they make it clear the game sucks in the OP that's helpful.

 

[tanstaafl]

So your problem isn't with the fetishes or tags but with the execution of the game. You just associate games with many tags to bad games and stories.
While I sort of understand your point I don't think this is a good take.

I would say that the there's higher instances of games with hodge podge stories, stories lacking focus, or stories that hit tired and overused tropes in games that aim for a ton of tags than those that stay focused.

Let me come at this from another angle. If the dev is writing a story and only includes fetishes that would happen naturally in the progress of that story, it's better than if a dev were to have a list of fetishes first and then try to write a story that twists and turns to fit those fetishes.

But as I said, there are games with tons of tags that are good, but I think that the devs behind those stories are just more naturally skilled than the ones I'm talking about in this post.

 

[Catapo]

Let me come at this from another angle. If the dev is writing a story and only includes fetishes that would happen naturally in the progress of that story, it's better than if a dev were to have a list of fetishes first and then try to write a story that twists and turns to fit those fetishes.

Assuming the dev wants to make a story based game then yes this would be ideal and I don't think anybody would disagree with that.

The problem is not everyone wants to make a story focused game, some treat the adult game medium just like porn: "the plot doesn't matter as long as the scenes are hot" and that is how you end up cramming al kinds of stuff into the game to appeal to people.

While I personally would appreciate well written stories, there is clearly an audience for these games otherwise they wouldn't be made.

 

[tanstaafl]

The problem is not everyone wants to make a story focused game, some treat the adult game medium just like porn: "the plot doesn't matter as long as the scenes are hot" and that is how you end up cramming al kinds of stuff into the game to appeal to people.

And that's a perfectly valid reason to make a game. No issues with it, honestly. But I won't be rating those games high personally.

 

[anne O'nymous]

Wall of text of tags is a bad sign. In the very least it indicates the dev is bad at narrowing the game down to the essentials, targeting a specific audience and communication.

Or that he's really good at working on parallel routes that will please different specific audience.

 

[tanstaafl]

Or that he's really good at working on parallel routes that will please different specific audience.

But as I said, there are games with tons of tags that are good, but I think that the devs behind those stories are just more naturally skilled than the ones I'm talking about in this post.

 

[fitgirlbestgirl]

With how bare bones and inconsistently applied the tagging system is, I don't think it's fair or smart to judge a game based on the number of tags. I'm sure these games that just want to tick boxes exist, but a lot of games are also just more completely tagged than others because the uploader actually gave a fuck about that one and didn't just go off three screenshots and a two sentence synopsis.

And unless you pick a niche/fetish and stick to it super autistically you are likely to rack up a bunch of tags eventually as your game keeps going. That's just the nature of a system where having any amount of a type of content means it should/could get tagged. Not everything is a cynical marketing strategy, sometimes you just dabble in something for a minute to spice things up.

 

[tanstaafl]

And unless you pick a niche/fetish and stick to it super autistically you are likely to rack up a bunch of tags eventually as your game keeps going. That's just the nature of a system where having any amount of a type of content means it should/could get tagged. Not everything is a cynical marketing strategy, sometimes you just dabble in something for a minute to spice things up.

That's definitely one drawback of how f95 does tags. I mean, there's not really an option as a lot of devs don't participate here and games just wouldn't get tagged otherwise. But sometimes I feel that a game needs more than a passing reference or an image or two of something before a tag can be added. Mere allusions to something are not an inclusion of a fetish. (In my opinion of course)

 

[SoulsSurvivor]

That's definitely one drawback of how f95 does tags. I mean, there's not really an option as a lot of devs don't participate here and games just wouldn't get tagged otherwise. But sometimes I feel that a game needs more than a passing reference or an image or two of something before a tag can be added. Mere allusions to something are not an inclusion of a fetish. (In my opinion of course)

This is why I think primary and secondary tag separation is necessary on this site. Have it be like "main tags: lesbian, milf" and "other tags: monster girl" so you'll know the vast majority contain either lesbian or milf or both, and a minor portion has monster girls.

 

[desmosome]

This is why I think primary and secondary tag separation is necessary on this site. Have it be like "main tags: lesbian, milf" and "other tags: monster girl" so you'll know the vast majority contain either lesbian or milf or both, and a minor portion has monster girls.

This is coming in the next site overhaul or something.

It will be quite helpful, but I can totally see a new form of autistic bitching. Derailing threads to argue about a tag's placement in the major or minor category.

 

[tanstaafl]

It will be quite helpful, but I can totally see a new form of autistic bitching. Derailing threads to argue about a tag's placement in the major or minor category.

A new wave of bitching will definitely occur, but it will be as easy to ignore as those people that complain about the existence of male characters that aren't the MC equaling ntr.