VN - Ren'Py - Onhold - Hard to Love [Ep. 5 v0.062] [Qori Gaming]

This was a tough play, I dropped it part way through the second season.

The writing is the most difficult aspect. The MC is a witless, spineless loser that you just cannot get behind. He is constantly struggling with himself, whining and rolling over for everyone. The father is an absolute asshole, thankfully his involvement is minimal. ALL of the women are some flavor of psychotic. The mother is all over the place, both sisters are aggressive jerks. There just isn't a likable character to be found, and its not even as though you could route for the MC in any of the scenarios.

The art is pretty decent most of the time, though there is a fair bit of wet hair and it looks terrible every time.

Short summary:


This is a good auto-skip game, it might be 5 stars for that approach. Go in, look at the fantastic renders, treat it like a beautiful slideshow, and go out.

Story, character development, believability, writing - are all trash.



Good Things

• Beautiful renders - light, expressions, environments, posing are all top-notch
• Almost all models are very hot
• Quite a bit of sexy scenes

Bad points

• Writing is bad
• Story doesn’t make sense
• Character actions are completely idiotic and unbelievable
• Choice system is bad and arbitrary

This game has some of the best renders of anything out there. The dev is exceptionally talented with the graphics.

Unfortunately the writing is not close to the level of the visuals. With the exception of pretty much every other character in the game is batshit insane. No, this is not the typical exaggeration of someone who doesn't like a character being assertive or having a particular personality. These characters are completely out of their mind awful human beings. I think takes the cake for the most appalling character ever written in any AVN I've ever played. This would be impressive writing if this was the dev's intent, but I think the dev expects people to find sympathetic.

That said, the completely insane and illogical behavior of characters does produce some hot scenes. Like when
On that note, I agree with a lot of the other reviewers that every character bar one or two having comically large boobs is off putting. Pick one or two and scale the others down at least a few cup sizes to produce some more realistic looking bodies.

I understand the dev is reworking the really weak character writing in the first part of the game. Hopefully it's a major rewrite that makes these characters behave as if they haven't all just escaped from a mental institute and been without sex for 10 years. Again, the renders are extremely good and there's a semblance of an interesting plot behind the chaos of the bad characters.

• Memories / flashbacks of Anna are just pure, and would love to play a full game to get the backstory on that.
• Decent renders to an extent.

• Unnatural looking breast.
• Story is confusing as hell to follow (All over the place.)
• So much drama (I don't mind some drama, but this game goes way beyond what one wants to sit and read for x amount of time.)
• Part 1 and part 2 seem like very different games, and it doesn't even save / pickup from pt 1 to pt 2.
• Hardly any backstory on characters.

Part 1 I kind of enjoyed the flashbacks, made it very enjoyable.
In part 1 your daughter is a sweetheart, in part 2 it seems like she takes after Madison and you're stuck with a manipulated personality.

+ music
+ renders
+ harem?

- some girls are bitchy towards mc without reason and treat him like a total shit
- MC is a father, mature man and behave like teenage horny idiot, no to mention he is a pathetic scared wimp, who absolutely don't have balls and never go with the flow. No idea how you can writing something like "this" but it's terrible
- too much drama, really just stop for a moment

if you can stand this mc you should give it a try, 2 stars from me mainly because of him

Just such a good and drawing story. The flashbacks leave me with a lump in my throat.
The present times are a bit sex with any breathing object as you'd expect from a VN but the flashbacks just hit.
I feel like there's a massive disparity between the two timelines causing the story to suffer but I enjoy it so much it doesn't matter.

I had played season 1 before, I didn't know there was season 2, and I must say that I am loving it, the design of all the girls is very good, I am starting to like the detective story a lot, perhaps my only "downside" It's very short hahahaha but come on, that's because I'm really liking it
I think he needs more scenes with Isabella but I guess it's okay, let him simmer with her, my favorite girl I would say is Nanami

TL;DR: It's a game for those who like long texts and lengthy talks.

There are a few cute girls, like Nanami with her doll face, or young Amber from the reminiscence, but that's about the only positive thing I can say about this game.

Characters are mostly unpleasant, full of shit and stupid. For instance, when Isabella behaves like a bitch, and MC doesn't jump to fulfill her egotistic whims, she manipulates him with, "You hurt me", and all the choice we have is three kinds of how he should apologize. No option to tell her to cut the crap.

Almost all the game is just talking. I get that people should not jump into bed instantly after they meet, but in other games there are actions, not just talks. Here everything is talking and talking, boring and repetitive, almost zero actions.

And the background for those talks is usually some oversized boob (not even bare) for like 20 dialog lines, then we see the pelvis area (in shorts, nothing exciting either) for another 20 lines, and then the background switches to that boob again, for another 20 dialog lines. Maybe I'm exaggerating, as the developer throws in some face with a few meaningless choices, etc. But basically that's exactly how it feels.

I usually don't skip text, but here it's nothing really to read. Some pretentious crap that has no way to end until probably the game ends or something.

There is some story regarding the police work, but most of the time it's patronizing criticizing dramatic speeches rather than anything useful... So characters there are mostly unappealing, and in any case dialogs are too long-winded to captivate.

All the content of the game could be expressed in like 5 sentences, and you wouldn't lose anything if you skip all the details.

Speaking about visual contents: Renders are detailed. Composition is often bad. Most of time it's some oversized boob or ass in some weird clothing on the screen.

[Ep. 5 v0.062]

The best incest game i have ever played. The girls are amazing and this is not only about sex, but also relationships between the protagonist and his family members. I hope to see a good development of the characters, especially with Isabella and Elizabeth. The renders are nonsense and even the plot is really good. I can only give 5 stars deserved, but if it was possible i would give surely 1000000000 stars

The renders and animation are of incredible quality, which kept me checking back, but it's finally reached tipping point that they cant make up for the downsides

The MC/writing is absolutely pathetic, he's utterly scared of women and of flesh, especially freaking out over seeing boobs. The boobs themselves are all hideously oversized and the girls act completely unrealistically (well yeah, that's true of any game, but in a different way in this game - they are aggressive, entitled and bipolar)

It's also full of opinionated, biased choices like "minimize her feelings" which is a distraction

The art is amazing the story is so so season 1 was a good and consistent story for all the characters but after I played season 2 it felt like the main character got retconned and the story wasn't as consistent it felt more like a kinetic novel on season 2 then the gameplay from season 1 at my phone season 2 also felt like a rant Fest and it kind of took me out of the story a bit. overall the game is just ok

I f*ing love this game!
Only 4 stars becausee of one thing: Why tf is the american way the f*ing measurement to all things happening between people?
Puritanism, hypocricy, denial and consolidated social norms by solely (extremist) christian beliefs.
As I got it, the dev is a japanese female (am I wrong?), a type of person who should be appaled by that lifestyle.
It would´ve been very refreshing to experience a different view on all the things but the US way to see reality (denying it) and just go with the flow, accepting it.
The US way of denying everything gets boring by excessively useing it in games like this.
Maybee try a different approach next time. Some non US (christian fundamentalist) restrictions. This would be awesome to read and watch.
Lovely characters in image and apearance and them pushing forward (except but despite that puritism of the mc) .
Jealousy fits in this story, but should be able to be dealt with even now, given the "harem" tag is projected for future updates.
I´m looking forward to future updates and the development of that very interesting story.
There´s one thing, I have to mention to conclude my review. An event, that occured at the beginning of S2: MC is a cop. Father is (oviously) a yakuza affiliate (we know).
Dad is (suddenly) rich, abuses his family as trophys, hates his son more, since he is a cop, wants him out, considers his work/wealth a secret and treats everyone beides himself as a minion.
But the coppers nose smells just something slightly suspicious.
I can see a plotdevice whe I see it. This should be more prominent in the storyline than the mc´s puritanism.
Still love that game and can´t wait for further updates.

Weird, very weird one to rate.

playing SS1 is very pleasant so far, besides some minor things. But after finishing ss1, then came ss2, things become very inconsistent. Which is the major complaint everyone has with this game so that's undeniable.

The renders and the models are good.

Though the same can't be said for the story, it is too early to judge cause there is barely anything to judge at in v0.061. Something here and there but mainly just about the MC's memory of his wife. Not bad but too short to be good. Generally too early to have a final verdict about the story but if this inconsistency continues to be present then it would be a disaster.

Characters are, well most seem to hate the sisters for their unstable behavior, but I don't have a problem with it as much as other aspects that I don't dig, but it is just my personal preference.

Cute daughter. She's very sweet, but that's pretty much it to her. The mom is quite wack, she seems to be a normal enough mom besides the obvious in SS1, but in SS2 all suddenly the interaction became very sexual between her and the MC no matter the choice in the previous season, so again, inconsistent.

Nanami, well, she's your average sweet innocent Asian girl troupe in every game but with a little twist of never wearing anything under and that's about it.

The rest of the girls are like the story. Too early to judge and honestly, I don't care enough for them to do so.

I say give this game another year or two from now before checking it out. Things may change in due time. Who knows lol

I give this between 3 or 4 stars as of ep5 [v0.061]

The renders are nice and feel like they're not generic DAZ models, but some of the sex scenes could use some work. For example, in the scene (second version) where the MC and Older sis fuck cowgirl style after the pool, there's a side angle shot but there's not really anything to see. There's also a closer side shot showing her butt as she rides him but also not as great. Basically, the angles could have been chosen better so that the sex scenes show more penis and vagina.

The grammar didn't seem bad and the story/plot was ok I guess, but some of these characters have some extreme schizophrenia because they act one way and then completely change on the next choice, which is fine if they are supposed to acually be crazy but most of these characters aren't. Which, by the way, brings me to my next point being that a lot of choices don't feel like they make senses or even matter. There's a scene, again after the pool, where you choose to side with Older sis or Mom and if you pick sis then they both just fuck off and seem to get angry at you, but if you do nothing they seem fine by it. Most of the choices lead to the same path regardless of what you pick, which begs the question if the choices are even relevant. At the end of the update, the MC's daughter will act the same way regardless of what you say to her (Yes, I did see a notification that tells you which choice seems worse). There's also a scene where you inspect a dead body or the walls and there's litterally no difference, in fact the MC doesn't even inspect the body. I think choices are fine when it's clear you want to avoid content like scat or feet. But as an example, having something like kiss girl or don't and she will always end up mad at you, is a bad design and a waste of clicks.

I feel like some characters are completely irrelevant and should be cut. For example, you can litterally skip Pez's content and not notice any change.

Lastly, flashbacks shouldn't have choices if the outcome is already defined. There is no reason to need to have to flirt with the wife in the past as a choice if you already have a daughter because we know the MC was successful. But it's fine to have choices in flashbacks that are not clearly defined. For example, maybe you were having a rough day at work and now you have the choice to drink at home, so you decide to drink and then the scene plays out where you got angry and beat your wife. Let's say in the present, we already know the wife is gone, but then later in the game maybe she comes back and explains it was because of that choice you made in the past. In this scenario it's fine to have a choice in the flashback because we didn't know the outcome of the choice. Or if the choice wasn't the reason why the wife left, then maybe the MC is depressed and that choice is the reason why. Here, having a choice is still ok because the choice adds explanation.

Also, having the option for still images on the main menu instead of animations would be nice because it gets so laggy opening the game and only opening the game.

Unlike others I find the characters very attractive and well made. The scenes look pretty, even though perspective of MC is noticably not taken into consideration (seeing things he can't possibly see from his position).

But this game has some of the most nonsensical writing I've ever seen on this page. All characters go from one opinion to the complete opposite literally two sentences apart and then jump back and forth. It's frustrating as hell that nobody can stick to their personallity, not even MC goes in line with the choices you take.

Great story, art is fantastic and the girls are all pretty unique, wish MC wasnt so wishy washy, but that is kinda the point here Im guessing. Keep up the excellent work dev! Where are my Amber squad homies?

-I went through most emotions while playing this be it funny, weird, angry, rage, confusing, lovey, dumbfound. One thing for sure is started out quite serious and believable to now getting some red flags of amateur writing.
-Characters including mc are designed and rolled in such a way that you'd be surely getting an expression of "damn bro" at least once either in a disappointment or absurdity or surprise.
-Don't mind father character and his beta rage tbh, and the story is yet to unfold so can't judge the main character but I'd say gets uneasy when he cribs. No idea why mc's daughter was left in such circumstances knowing well his fathers emotional tantrum, and the sisters of his aren't any better role models to grow up with... Always horny for mc... Man such a dream to be with them unless you gotta daughter to take care of.
-If you choose to be nice with your sister you may miss the content with your bipolar girlfriend, i don't know if that's any better mechanics.
-Animations are fukin superb so are the renders.
-Hard to love but I'm gonna keep this checking.

My rating for Hard to Love

For me Hard to Love belongs to one of my favorite visual novel here on F95. Why that is very simple i like the art and the style of the game. Also i find the rendering very good and i like it. The graphics of the game is just very unique i know that not everyone will like it is just a matter of taste some like it and others rather not. What i find a bit unfortunate is the story sometimes it acts as a gap filler between the individual scenes and on the other hand it is again too short as with Antonella at the beginning of season one. There is also maybe one or the other character that you may like or not. Here are my 4 favorite characters the others i find very good but these 4 are my choice. I can say for myself that i like Antonella the first love of the MC, Nanami the girlfriend of Madison and Isabella, she is really cute and super sexy. Isabella the MC's daughter is very jealous and I love her. Mom i also find very attractive. With Amber i thought at the beginning of the game this hysterical bitch i can not like, but now I love her. She is looking hot and has beautiful interesting tattoos.

I recommend it in any case.

I wish the developer continued success and all the best.

Really pointless to have choices during fashbacks when you already know the MC ends up with the girl, the rest of the choices dont seem to have any impact other than see boobs or not.

MC seems to be quite the loser for being a cop, dosent raise his own daughter, all bark and no bite when talking to his father, always the loser in every conversation and to top it off his dick looks like something you would find on an orc(not about the size).

Its hard to find most of the women attractive, mom is aged and lifeless, older sis has a large spider and other tattoos that are very destracting, two others are pretty plain in looks and as for there personalities they are all suffering with split personality syndrome or are all just very inconsistantly written.

Main story beyond the whole MC moving back in with family who are all crazy is a jumbled mess of random events which switches between the present/past, MC/other characters without any explanation of who, where or when they are, all of this told from the point of view of the MC who seems to have forgotten his whole life and needs to remember it one scene at a time.

Tiny little things like two people talking get blown way out of proportion but big things like almost drowning dosent get a mention.

Art is good but it feels like you are looking through a filter the whole time giving everything a creepy vibe(like a predator is going to pounce any second).

Trying to figure out who is talking is also a pain as the text almost never matches whos on screen.

Story 1/5 (obvious)
Art 2/5 (creepy)
Sex 1/5 (nothing i would call good)
Fetishes 1/5 (one but not used well)
Choices 1/5 (see scene or not)
Characters 1/5 (very poor)

Two-stars only because of the incredible renders, but other than that this game has nothing. Unlikeable characters with the oh so typical spineless MC who can't complete a single sentence without stuttering and shitting himself like some virgin middle schooler at a whore house.

He's also a total dick who lashes out like a kid throwing a tantrum and yet, everyone is inexplicably madly in love with this poor excuse of a human being. Normally, I would not rate this low even if the MC is garbage because it seems to be a norm to make your MC as unlikable as possible in AVNs, but literally every other character is a mess. The mom goes from generic housewife to a dictator in the blink of an eye. The sisters are insanely aggressive and always looking to stir shit up and that's only the tip of the iceberg. Some of them have, understandably annoying sides because of how useless the MC is, but it's still insufferably annoying to watch.