RPGM Abandoned Harem [c8m7] [Ker]

[Gomly1980]

Okay, so despite my initial misgivings I do like a good RPG so decided to give it a go and I will admit it is a solid game gameplay wise.

Combat is great, gameplay is good and the women so far have been well written and fun to get to know. All in all a well put together RPG i'm enjoying playing.

However...

There are some pretty big incositancy's in the story and a massive hypocrisy running through the MC.

That being the MC gets angry every time he sees a slave or woman being mistreated and acts like he's on some superior moral high ground all the while altering the minds of women he's going to take back to his home to sell off to other people to be turned into breeding mares.

Let's not forget the fact that the very people he's going to sell these women to are the same ones that turned on him, had his men killed and were going to execute him after leaving him with nothing.

He keeps promising these women he's going to sell them to men that will treat them right yet we have evidence that the men in question are the exact opposite of right.

Hands up how many people got angry at the guy near the start that had the girl bound with the slave collar .... me too.

Problem is the Mc is the exact same. He's taken women from their homes removed their freedom of choice to get pleasure from them in order to further his own goals and will eventually auction them off to people who may or may not treat them right.

He has no moral high ground.

He's a slave trader with manners.

 

[Tentacle]

Okay, so despite my initial misgivings I do like a good RPG so decided to give it a go and I will admit it is a solid game gameplay wise.

Combat is great, gameplay is good and the women so far have been well written and fun to get to know. All in all a well put together RPG i'm enjoying playing.

However...

There are some pretty big incositancy's in the story and a massive hypocrisy running through the MC.

That being the MC gets angry every time he sees a slave or woman being mistreated and acts like he's on some superior moral high ground all the while altering the minds of women he's going to take back to his home to sell off to other people to be turned into breeding mares.

Let's not forget the fact that the very people he's going to sell these women to are the same ones that turned on him, had his men killed and were going to execute him after leaving him with nothing.

He keeps promising these women he's going to sell them to men that will treat them right yet we have evidence that the men in question are the exact opposite of right.

Hands up how many people got angry at the guy near the start that had the girl bound with the slave collar .... me too.

Problem is the Mc is the exact same. He's taken women from their homes removed their freedom of choice to get pleasure from them in order to further his own goals and will eventually auction them off to people who may or may not treat them right.

He has no moral high ground.

He's a slave trader with manners.

That's why you play the red path, the MC is more consistent being a ruthless guy who is hungry for power.

 

[Gomly1980]

That's why you play the red path, the MC is more consistent being a ruthless guy who is hungry for power.

That's the problem, I don't like playing the bad guy but that seems to be the only path this game has. It's either be the bad guy or be the complete twat. There is no good route, just varying levels of bastard.

Well, he does feel a moment of guilt when he completely fucks over the woman that spent her life trying to keep her freedom and built up a little town ... but only a moment.

I enjoy most of it but I guess i'm waiting to see if he either realises what a complete fuckstain he really is or the women realise they are being mind controlled by the power of the ring and turn on him .... or somebody saves them.

 

[ker]

That is a core idea of the light path, Ralph isn't the plucky hero that does everything right. He's having to choose between two horrible things: Invading a foreign land with the idea of enslaving innocent women and bringing them back to his homeland or watching everything he knew and love die within a generation because of one man's mistake. He knows he's a bit of a 'fuckstain' but tries to do his best to let his victims have an enjoyable and fulfilling life even while wearing a collar. Mixed up with the entire idea that an 'angel' approved of his quest and the powers of the ring.

Dark path is much less conflicted.

Let's not forget the fact that the very people he's going to sell these women to are the same ones that turned on him, had his men killed and were going to execute him after leaving him with nothing.

Although that is wrong. It wasn't like his homeland was a democracy and everything that happened was the result of a popular vote. He may hate the king and a few of his nobles, but he loves his people and his heritage.

 

[Gomly1980]

It just took me by surprise in that usually there is a good path and a not so good path.

Here there is a bad path and a worse path.

Here's what i'm having a hard time wrapping my head around with his "but he loves his people " shtick.

A few of the women, and the Cheli, have volunteered. They said they would help him out, go with him and help his people of their own free will and he blatantly admitted that doesn't work for him, he needs them to bend to him so he can get what he wants.

It doesn't sound like he's doing it for the love of his people or he would have taken their offer. He's doing it to get what he wants and helping his people gets that for him.

I know it sounds like i'm nit picking but I genuinely do enjoy the game it's just some parts of the story require me to suspend a bit more disbelief than others.

A lot of the problem i've got has nothing to do with the main character and more to do with the glaring issue you yourself have created.

You made the women likeable.

It's making it slightly difficult knowing full well i'm screwing them over and they are being so nice about it.

 

[Tentacle]

That is a core idea of the light path, Ralph isn't the plucky hero that does everything right. He's having to choose between two horrible things: Invading a foreign land with the idea of enslaving innocent women and bringing them back to his homeland or watching everything he knew and love die within a generation because of one man's mistake. He knows he's a bit of a 'fuckstain' but tries to do his best to let his victims have an enjoyable and fulfilling life even while wearing a collar. Mixed up with the entire idea that an 'angel' approved of his quest and the powers of the ring.

Dark path is much less conflicted.



Although that is wrong. It wasn't like his homeland was a democracy and everything that happened was the result of a popular vote. He may hate the king and a few of his nobles, but he loves his people and his heritage.

Ralph needs to adopt the code of a gorean, then he would be less conflicted in the light path, and then you can write the dark path to be truly dark. As it stands right now the light path = dumb incompetent Ralph, dark path = pragmatic competent Ralph.

 

[Gomly1980]

Just out of curiosity, MC mentions he'll be keeping one as his wife ... no idea if it's too spoilerish to ask but do we get to pick?

I've got a bit of a soft spot for Heather.

 

[T51bwinterized]

1. Yes. Straight up you will be able to pick a wife from *at least* all of the main harem girls.
2. Last time I checked (I've taken a step back from harem of late because of how many projects of my own I have going), there were still ongoing discussions of having a proper "harem ending" so to speak.

 

[Tentacle]

1. Yes. Straight up you will be able to pick a wife from *at least* all of the main harem girls.
2. Last time I checked (I've taken a step back from harem of late because of how many projects of my own I have going), there were still ongoing discussions of having a proper "harem ending" so to speak.

A harem ending should be available, and it wouldn't detract from the plot. I'm assuming by the time Ralph reached his home, he would have conquered the ratans and all of their land, not to mention all the other tribes that are pledged to him. He could easily use those woman and keep the few slaves he has as his own. It's not like 10 or 20 woman would make a difference in repopulating his country.
Or the light path ending would have to be something like Ralph finding suitable matches for all of his girls and having those girls fall in love with nobles in his own land. That would mean he would have to have a way to release the woman from his power.

 

[Gomly1980]

1. Yes. Straight up you will be able to pick a wife from *at least* all of the main harem girls.
2. Last time I checked (I've taken a step back from harem of late because of how many projects of my own I have going), there were still ongoing discussions of having a proper "harem ending" so to speak.

Harem ending would be fantastic.

Hopefully by the time he gets home he'll have more than enough allies to help with the problem letting him keep at least some of his harem.

Some of them will be hard to let go of.

Failing that i'd more than likely either go with Joan or Heather. I have a soft spot for Heather but Joan makes me chuckle.

 

[Gomly1980]

Well, shit.

I've just got to the part after the trial and realised just how much I started to rely on certain characters in combat.

Terra was my main DPS and she pretty much carried my fights .... well, shit.

Maybe I should have seen that coming with all the foreshadowing but I chose to ignore it. I guess changing tactics from "burn the shit out of all the things" won't be so bad. Sarah and Jessica can still drop decent AOE.

 

[Semantics]

Well, shit.

I've just got to the part after the trial and realised just how much I started to rely on certain characters in combat.

Terra was my main DPS and she pretty much carried my fights .... well, shit.

Maybe I should have seen that coming with all the foreshadowing but I chose to ignore it. I guess changing tactics from "burn the shit out of all the things" won't be so bad. Sarah and Jessica can still drop decent AOE.

Post-trial made me really rely on Naitay for AoE spam, since she can pretty much use her lower-damage AoE constantly with the right TP passive set, and it lacks the "If it kills a mob the attacks stop" issue of X-attacks-on-random-enemies skills in RPGMaker games.

 

[Gomly1980]

Post-trial made me really rely on Naitay for AoE spam, since she can pretty much use her lower-damage AoE constantly with the right TP passive set, and it lacks the "If it kills a mob the attacks stop" issue of X-attacks-on-random-enemies skills in RPGMaker games.

Appreciate the tip.

I hadn't used Naitay much so wasn't sure of her skills. I generally stuck with Sarah, Terra and Samantha (swapped Samantha for Jessica when I got for triple shot).

Turns out Naitay more than made up for Terra's absence and I should probably have used her sooner.

Rhea is pretty decent too.

Just want it noted that Vanessa is a beast of a tank. Quest log is telling me to take her back to Corsix but I don't want to lose her tankyness. She soaked up damage in the ghost cave.

 

[Hung Gen]

Appreciate the tip.

I hadn't used Naitay much so wasn't sure of her skills. I generally stuck with Sarah, Terra and Samantha (swapped Samantha for Jessica when I got for triple shot).

Turns out Naitay more than made up for Terra's absence and I should probably have used her sooner.

Rhea is pretty decent too.

Just want it noted that Vanessa is a beast of a tank. Quest log is telling me to take her back to Corsix but I don't want to lose her tankyness. She soaked up damage in the ghost cave.

Not that your party lineup is bad, but Angelica is the nonmagical healer with decent damage. Whether I want massive dps or restorative prolonged fights, I'll use Sarah, Naitay and Noemi or go Sarah, Alena and Angelica.

 

[Gomly1980]

Not that your party lineup is bad, but Angelica is the nonmagical healer with decent damage. Whether I want massive dps or restorative prolonged fights, I'll use Sarah, Naitay and Noemi or go Sarah, Alena and Angelica.

I seem to have fallen into the trap of using women I like rather than how useful they are in combat.

I love using Kathleen but she's more of a liability at times.

I've started using a few more based on some things I read here. I hadn't used Alena yet until I saw you mention her name, she can drop quite a bit of damage.

Noemi was another I didn't use until recently. I like her as a character but her damage always seemed a bit low until I found how useful poison and bleed were.

With how many groups of mobs I ended up fighting I just found myself playing it safe and spamming Terra's AOE's and Sarah's double shot until everything fell over.

Also quite fun having Memory of a King on MC being able to hit blade flurry twice in one round.

 

[Gomly1980]

Seems i'm stuck.

Got a quest to get 10 lava pearls but it won't progress. I go back with 10 and he just keeps saying come back with 10 lava pearls.

Edit - nevermind, completed on the 12th one I picked up. I'm having an odd day today with games.

 

[Semantics]

I seem to have fallen into the trap of using women I like rather than how useful they are in combat.

I love using Kathleen but she's more of a liability at times.

I've started using a few more based on some things I read here. I hadn't used Alena yet until I saw you mention her name, she can drop quite a bit of damage.

Noemi was another I didn't use until recently. I like her as a character but her damage always seemed a bit low until I found how useful poison and bleed were.

With how many groups of mobs I ended up fighting I just found myself playing it safe and spamming Terra's AOE's and Sarah's double shot until everything fell over.

Also quite fun having Memory of a King on MC being able to hit blade flurry twice in one round.

Pre-trial, my party was often just Naitay, Kathleen, and Terra, and I'd just switch it out if I were going against single entities. AoE spam, and every random fight ended in the second turn, with only the minor downside that I had to enter a second fight long enough to talk Kathleen out of killing me.

...This kinda put me in a bind in some of the recent content, because some of the enemies hit hard enough that they can kill squishier characters in a round if they all focus on the same one. And I thiiiiink maybe there've been more enemies recently that do status effects, further mucking that strategy up, though I could be confusing it with other games. Which means the fight goes badly if that character happens to be Kathleen.

That's one thing this game does well. Most characters have, at the very least, some sort of really good niche use, fitting some set of encounters or style of play really well.

 

[Gomly1980]

That's one thing this game does well. Most characters have, at the very least, some sort of really good niche use, fitting some set of encounters or style of play really well.

That's what got me into it properly.

I can put a group together and scrape through combat or I can put some thought into it and make it easier.

I hated seeing Terra being taken again but I needed that gameplay wise to vary my playstyle or i'd still be doing the same thing now i'm in chapter 7.

Would have hurt me too considering how many fire mobs I had to go through for a quest which Terra would do very little damage too.

Kathleen is an awkward one though. She does absolutely fantastic in certain situations but i've had her turn at the worst times and nearly wipe us. Finishing her quests makes her easier to handle during her fight though.

It's the trade off. Have a fantastic fighter for certain situations but be wary of the drawbacks. Granted she's the only one with a major drawback but it makes her an interesting character.

With how things have progressed story wise I am hoping we get Heather in combat before long now she's almost mended. I'm interested to see what kind of fighter she'll be. I'm looking for another tank. Vanessa is great but she doesn't have much ability wise (i'm level 40 now and she only has 3 abilities). While she's fantastic at soaking up damage she is very limited.

With so many characters in this game I really like how the devs have handled them both gameplay, story and personality wise. I do think Terra has been through enough now though so i'm hoping she doesn't get tortured yet again.

 

[Gomly1980]

Okay, so, everywhere I go all i'm getting now is "content coming later" or something similar, is that everything done with so far?

Last thing I did was clear out 5 nests for the Praetor to try and get his trust to get back to Celee. He said he'll speak to me in the morning and then it says content coming later.

I got all the elementals except earth but phoebe says content coming later.

Got the scales for the guy in Elan and it says go home and speak to Kathleen but it says content coming later.

The girl we were given to train says content coming later.

Got Cecilia into the harem but she now says content coming later.

Marianna says content coming later.

The elderly couple in the Elan clearing say content coming later.

Done Sarah and Jessica's training and got the massage from Alice and it says content coming later.

Also, Isabella seems to have just walked out of her cell and not a single fuck was given. People were in a panic over her one minute, she walks out, no one gives a shit.

I've had credits roll in the past which is what's leaving me confused but I don't seem to have anything else to do.

 

[A K S]

If you check the Quest Log in your Inventory you will know if you have reached end of content or not. Any quest left will be listed one by one, if it is all over for now, there will be no details.

AKS