I generally enjoyed Hail Dicktator a lot. It's got pretty renders, interesting characters, a story that's a cut above the typical porny drivel, and hot sex scenes. I'd love to give it five stars, but I just can't really. You see... it's the gameplay.
The game is essentially a VN masquerading as something else. You move your character around a map and interact with the various characters to trigger scenes. The girls have stats, but to my knowledge, they aren't relevant for anything. You sort of run a hotel, but frankly the hotel generates you money at best and is tedious at worst. Money becomes irrelevant pretty quickly anyway.
I guess what I'm trying to say here is that all of the game elements beyond the scenes just aren't worth playing because they're uninteresting and don't do anything. Hail Dicktator is a VN with extra steps. It's a good VN, but there's a part of me that wishes it hadn't bothered with trying to be anything else. Then again, I wouldn't have played it if it was just a VN because I prefer porn games to porn, so I guess if dodging the VN tag was the goal, it succeeded?
I feel like the game could step away from this feeling if the girl's stat lines and hotel management actually mattered in some way, but I'm a little skeptical even as I say it. Currently, both of those aspects are just a grind with no payoff, watching the same short scene over and over to make a number get bigger. Maybe if the girl's stat lines and hotel stats actually made changes to the game somehow?
The game is essentially a VN masquerading as something else. You move your character around a map and interact with the various characters to trigger scenes. The girls have stats, but to my knowledge, they aren't relevant for anything. You sort of run a hotel, but frankly the hotel generates you money at best and is tedious at worst. Money becomes irrelevant pretty quickly anyway.
I guess what I'm trying to say here is that all of the game elements beyond the scenes just aren't worth playing because they're uninteresting and don't do anything. Hail Dicktator is a VN with extra steps. It's a good VN, but there's a part of me that wishes it hadn't bothered with trying to be anything else. Then again, I wouldn't have played it if it was just a VN because I prefer porn games to porn, so I guess if dodging the VN tag was the goal, it succeeded?
I feel like the game could step away from this feeling if the girl's stat lines and hotel management actually mattered in some way, but I'm a little skeptical even as I say it. Currently, both of those aspects are just a grind with no payoff, watching the same short scene over and over to make a number get bigger. Maybe if the girl's stat lines and hotel stats actually made changes to the game somehow?