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Wafe

Newbie
Mar 22, 2019
70
193
I posted the review in a public place, and updated it, knowing you would read it, which I take as responding to you.

I respect what you do as a dev, and I acknowledge the work you've put into it, however these are my opinions, and I believe that I should express them.
 

ankhtar

Active Member
Jan 24, 2020
764
1,874
Kinda wishing we could facepalm reviews.
That's one of the things I dislike about the current review system. There's the fact anyone can just make a thousand new accounts and spam reviews, which is admittedly hard to prevent without pissing people off, like by setting a minimum post threshold before one can submit reviews or something. Then our inability to dislike or stick emojis on reviews. Since we can't report because it isn't technically breaking any rules, we should still be able to show our disagreement with less extreme methods.
 

Runey

Harem Hotel
Game Developer
May 17, 2018
3,965
20,011
That's one of the things I dislike about the current review system. There's the fact anyone can just make a thousand new accounts and spam reviews, which is admittedly hard to prevent without pissing people off, like by setting a minimum post threshold before one can submit reviews or something. Then our inability to dislike or stick emojis on reviews. Since we can't report because it isn't technically breaking any rules, we should still be able to show our disagreement with less extreme methods.
Here are the review rules, it does actually seem like that review is breaking at least 1 review rule. That being rule 4 and 1. This review contains objectively false information and was adjusted based on an interaction he took poorly with the dev (me).

https://f95zone.to/threads/review-rating-rules-updated-2021-05-31.1753/
 
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Reactions: ankhtar

Wafe

Newbie
Mar 22, 2019
70
193
That's one of the things I dislike about the current review system. There's the fact anyone can just make a thousand new accounts and spam reviews, which is admittedly hard to prevent without pissing people off, like by setting a minimum post threshold before one can submit reviews or something. Then our inability to dislike or stick emojis on reviews. Since we can't report because it isn't technically breaking any rules, we should still be able to show our disagreement with less extreme methods.
The game's reviews are great, and my rating did nothing to change that. That alone shows disagreement. However, yes, botting would be an issue.
 

Runey

Harem Hotel
Game Developer
May 17, 2018
3,965
20,011
I posted the review in a public place, and updated it, knowing you would read it, which I take as responding to you.

I respect what you do as a dev, and I acknowledge the work you've put into it, however these are my opinions, and I believe that I should express them.
Much of what you've placed in your review are not actually opinions, but objectively false information I tried to correct you on. This isn't me telling you that your review "is wrong", don't get me wrong. But I don't really want to engage in this conversation since it's likely you're just going to lower the review rating even further.
 

Wafe

Newbie
Mar 22, 2019
70
193
Much of what you've placed in your review are not actually opinions, but objectively false information I tried to correct you on. This isn't me telling you that your review "is wrong", don't get me wrong. But I don't really want to engage in this conversation since it's likely you're just going to lower the review rating even further.
I believe I already had fixed much of that, not that I needed to. From your points:

1. What this game is about.
To some degree that's subjective, so that's not objectively false.

2. Android's arc.
Mostly changed to be a little less specific, so I don't see the issue there.

3. " They weren't tortured, they were imprisoned. "
I added that in, not that I think it's anything but semantics.

4. Vanessa.
You are right, I fixed that up, she was always obsessed.

5. Jin
Removed that part entirely.

6. Kali Dialogue
I changed it to mention that it's throwaway.

Is that everything you addressed? Our main disagreement seems to be what the game was about earlier on, which is subjective, if anything.
 

Runey

Harem Hotel
Game Developer
May 17, 2018
3,965
20,011
I believe I already had fixed much of that, not that I needed to. From your points:

1. What this game is about.
To some degree that's subjective, so that's not objectively false.

2. Android's arc.
Mostly changed to be a little less specific, so I don't see the issue there.

3. " They weren't tortured, they were imprisoned. "
I added that in, not that I think it's anything but semantics.

4. Vanessa.
You are right, I fixed that up, she was always obsessed.

5. Jin
Removed that part entirely.

6. Kali Dialogue
I changed it to mention that it's throwaway.

Is that everything you addressed? Our main disagreement seems to be what the game was about earlier on, which is subjective, if anything.
Well I appreciate you opening a dialogue with me now, but after you lowered your rating as a direct result of me attempting to open a dialogue with you, it has soured my outlook on this. I have already responded to every bit of your initial review, but I will try again anyway.

Below is a list of things I've found objectively wrong.

However as time went on, the characters grew too far from their core. I can’t help but feel that this is a developer who has begun to outgrow their flagship game, and has begun to add more content with a different style that has begun to clash.
The characters still very much hold all of their core in tact.
Lin still faces slavery issues, however they are no longer personal.
Kali is still the nerdy girl who has beef with her father, now it isn't only about sending her across the world by herself.
Ashley still faces issues about poverty and coming from a poor family, now it is about finding a family member, searching through the poverty Syl'anar still has.
Maria is still dealing with issues about being seen as an object. First it was by her boyfriend, then it was by her streams, now it's because she's literally property.
Android is still trying to be accepted for who she is, even though people don't understand her, and may not ever truly understand her.
Felicity and Emma are still trying to work as a team, though not always successful. A core tenant of them is also beef with their father.
Autumn's core has always been about religion and her struggles with it. Her natural desires vs her religious upbringing.

From day 1 to the latest event, all of these things are still true. These are their cores.


About a few hours in, after a strong and simple start (assuming you have mods to alleviate grind and point you to the right directions), the game changes entirely.
Firstly, there is no grind needed at all. Any you do is purely optional, as none of the stats lock or unlock story. And any potential grind is so incredibly small. Like if you wanted a a certain trait? That would take 3 - 4 days, which is maybe 10 minutes if you're taking your time. Or 3 minutes if you're actually grinding and skipping all the dialogue.


the game changes entirely. As if the dev woke up one morning with a new idea, suddenly all the new events involved elven politics, or diatribes about mortality, AI, racism, and religion.
All of this has been in game since day one, it has just shifted focus from personal issues (which are mostly resolved at this point for most main characters), to worldly issues. If you want to solve Lin's slavery issue, it's going to take a LOT more than "You're my favorite slave *pats head*". This is a core part of Lin's content, which you said earlier in your review you wanted to go back to. But here you're saying you don't like it.

Maria starts off as a regular cam-girl character, with charm and personality that makes her top notch. Her early arc wraps off as she decides to be yours instead of being a cam-girl, and then stagnates, until the dev decided to have her actually be an elf instead, shoehorning her in the political edge of the game.
She didn't magically become a half elf because I "shoehorned" it in or just decided it so. She has always been a half elf. You can't just change species on a whim.

Android changes quickly from an upbeat, naive character, into a character who has mostly depressing event after depressing event, ranting about existence, mortality, and you guessed it, racial discrimination. Great…
The shift in tone is far from quick and she didn't change. In fact if you played her most recent content, you'd start to see a beginning to the tone returning to become more upbeat. I understand you may not like sad things, but sad things will happen in the future as they have in the past. Characters go through things, that's what I believe make things interesting. It's also not racial discrimination. She, like the elves, are entirely different species.

Autumn, reminiscent of stereotypes of Southern girls, has a fixation on religion, and an aversion to sexuality. While a generic corruption is played with, it’s been put on hold for a long time. Instead we have long, long scenes talking about fictional religion, sexual repression, history, politics, and yes, of course, elves.
These "Long, long scenes talking about fictional religion" have only been in v0.15. Just 2 of her many, many story events. I don't know what to say to this other than "This part isn't correct, and if you don't like story and lore, Visual Novels and Harem Hotel aren't for you." This is such a small part of Autumn's current content yet you paint all of her content as such.


An entire elven sanctuary has been added to the game, with the elves in the sanctuary almost superseding many of the old main characters in terms of plot relevance and importance unless they somehow become connected to elves.
Sylvia barely has any story content, so this doesn't make any sense. Nia is a fairly important aspect to Lin's story, but not the entire game's overarching story. That's why Nia is a side character to Lin and not a main character. The overarching story isn't "elf slavery", that's just Lin's story.


Even Ashley now has magic Elven shiny eyes, and fairies.
She didn't just obtain "magical shiny elf eyes", she was born with them. They're not even magical. They reflect light better than our own, almost like a cat's. Cats can also see in the dark better than we can, just like Ashley. No magic involved.

But yes, she does have fairies. But I'm not sure how any of this is related to the game being bad in your opinion.


With each update, outside of small side events, the game drifts towards a dark place. I’m convinced eventually we will lead direct revolt with the elves, as characters chastise us for ignoring elven slavery instead of sitting around in the hotel all day sleeping with the girls, as I was led to believe we were supposed to, after all, what is the title of the game?
You assumed this game was nothing but a fuckathon, but it isn't. It never was. Feel free to read the synopsis of the game. If you have paid attention to any of the story at any point whatsoever, you would also know that the point of this game has never been "me sleep with vagina person, ugg ugg." It has been about getting close to these women, developing relationships with them, and following their stories, which is literally stated in the synopsis of the game.

Also this "You've inherited your grandfather's hotel on a foreign continent where everything seems fine on the surface, but rarely is."

None of this implies you are to be spending all day sleeping with the girls. (Which you totally can by the way, that's just not what the story is about)


For a game where the MC does and is supposed to treat his residents as a personal harem, as per the title, the game increasingly frowns upon sexual slavery. Maybe it’s okay for the MC if it is sexual indentured servitude. Breaking down that suspension of disbelief leads to an unraveling of the premise, causing a drastic change in mood.
When the game gets sexual, sure he likes to have sex with his harem of women in his hotel, as per the title. ...What part of that has anything to do with suggesting sexual slavery and thus rape is okay? Polyamory / A Harem relationship is not rape
or slavery. Neither is indentured servitude. I'm so lost to where you got these ideas from, I can only assume it was from your desires of the game, not the actual game's content which is what you should be reviewing the game on. Not your own desires, but the objective content in the game.

Inspired by the twins, I had some of the girls call me daddy, only for Sylvia and Nia to react poorly to it, and seem disgusted at the idea of touching me at all. I understand that it is in character, but that brings up an important question.
Wasn’t this an H game? Why am I made to feel guilty about behavior encouraged up until this point?
Again you only show your desire for what you personally want out of the game, not what the game is actually about. Of course Nia reacts poorly to you touching her at all. Her only sexual experiences in life is literal rape! And of course Sylvia has as well, she barely knows you and is supposed to be the equivalent of a duchess, and is very classist.

These things will of course change as the story continues. Both Nia and Sylvia will get closer to you, but this is also something you seem to not want as story content and shifts in tone is something you seem to hate. There's really no way I can win here unless I make every character is cum hungry the moment they see you. But that's not what this game is.

Again I would ask you to review the game for what it is and not your desires for what the game should be.


The new focus of the game rips out the joy from the original premise. Recently Kali has a throwaway line where she asks the MC if he has plans for moving on from the hotel to newer things, like more hotels or be some elven savior, and I was just shocked. Wasn’t that a little blatant?
I see you've thrown in "throwaway line" but still kept in "I was just shocked, wasn't that a little blatant?". But you've painted this line as something entirely different than what it is. It was a simple question Kali asked MC, and MC's response would actually be yours, yet you see that as a bad thing? He says something along the lines of "No, I don't want to move on to newer things, I just want to keep this one hotel."

So, again, what do you want? You suggest you don't want him to move on, but when he says he doesn't want to move on, you write in your review that you don't like it. There is just no way I can win here, and it seems dishonest to include this in the review. (Unless I'm just not understanding your intent)

Soon the name will be just a relic, and at some point a false advertisement.
This doesn't come across as an opinion at all, and actually comes across as an unnecessary jab at me. The game still retains its core components, it's still about your Harem in the Hotel. And even if for some reason events no longer took place in that Hotel, the game would still be about the Harem you met in your Hotel.

I love the game. I really do. I love the charm, I love the characters, the passion, and the joy. But with each patch the joy is lessened. Each patch the charm decreases, and the characters grow depressed. Each patch I grow more convinced the developer forgot what we came here for, and what the appeal was. Each patch I end up skipping more and more elven lore as I wait to see a heroine smile before I stop skipping.
To me, it does not seem like you love the game. It seems like you love your idea of a porn a game, which Harem Hotel has never been. You've been dishonest in your review, or just not paid enough attention to the core parts of this game to understand it.

Some characters have been depressed, but it's also true all of those have gotten out of being depressed as a result of MC's help. It is not true that with each patch, all characters grow more depressed. This could not be more wrong.

And it seems like you actually forgot what you came here for. Again, the synoposis of this game is available for everyone to view.

It’s been years of this. It’s been many patches since the notable drift from its heart. It seems too late to turn around, as more lewd or fun content falls behind in priority to lore.
In your eyes it may be drifting away from a "happy go lucky fuckathon where every girl is cum hungry the moment they meet you", but that's never been the intention.

More lewd content has been added in recent patches than ever as well. I've been pumping out that content a lot, and with more reason behind it than "Can I suck your cock? Yes? Okay." which for some reason you seem to be so fond of.

In old versions, a foursome with the Twins and Ashley would beg for a long scene, or several, that goes into the interpersonal relationships that led to it. Now it’s a random scene to fit a lewd quota.
Again you contradict yourself with what you desire. Do you want a cum hungry girl that wants to suck your cock the moment you meet them? Or do you want several scenes that go into the interpersonal relationships the lead to a sex scene? Again there seems no possible way for me to win because your desires are all over the place and seemingly contradict themselves the very next sentence.

Now, when we fuck Vanessa, it’s packaged with a long lore dump, and some pointed questions about your beliefs on Elven politics, chastising you if you press the obvious “skip this I’m bored” buttons that the dev clearly put in there, possibly knowing.
And in the very next sentence, you do it again. You say you don't want any story before your sex scenes. Even if that story is completely skippable. And you are absolutely not even remotely chastised if you click the "Move on..." button. All she says is...

"Oh, I thought these were pretty cool, but... alright, moving on..."


As it stands now, especially with a personal response from the dev conveying as much, I can no longer recommend the game wholeheartedly.

The dev is set in their ways, and the aforementioned will only grow worse, not better. I was outright told that “the game will likely become completely unplayable to you soon.”
Well thanks.
This is against Rule 4 of the reviewing rules. Your interactions with the dev are not meant to paint your enjoyment of the objective content within the game.

To be honest, with how many updates have come since the elven apocalypse, it’s hard to say that the majority of the game isn’t different now, even if it does come after the start.
There is no elven apocalypse. No idea what you're referring to.


Not that I do not enjoy a story, or an H-game with a story, but the way thinly veiled American politics seep into every aspect of the game with the nuance and subtlety of a bulldozer, it makes me wonder if the Vanessa, the blue haired college girl with a fixation of elven social justice, was a parody, and I’m just going insane. But she isn’t. None of it is.
I am not attempting to veil anything, and it's not just relating to American politics. America isn't the only capitalist imperialistic nation that owned slaves. Tons of them in history did that, and I consider that a bad thing, which is why that's painted as a bad thing in this game.

And no, of course Vanessa isn't a parody. Literally every character in this game wants social justice, literally every character struggles with not getting it, and literally every character is supported by the MC to obtain justice.

Again I would ask you to review objective content within the game and not your subjective desires for what you personally want.

You are meant to take all of it seriously.
And quite frankly, it’s not that good.
This is one of the only opinions you shared. If you don't like it, that's fine. I know this game isn't perfect, I know it has a long way to go, and I know not everyone will enjoy it.

The strength of the game was the loads of easily accessible h-content, the characters, and their stories that develop their relationship with you.
Unfortunately the game leans into a fixation with elven slavery, or other strange topics, at the expense of charm.
Here is another example of you expressing your desires for what the game should be to please only you, not what the game actually is. It was never about getting loads of easily accessible porn, but I agree that the characters and their stories that develop and their relations to you is. And that still is very much the most important part of this game that continues with each update.

Elven slavery is a big part of Lin's character, the elf who is a slave. This is another contradiction that I've noticed. You want more character and story development with Lin, the elf slave, but you want no mention of her being an elf, or a slave. Harem Hotel isn't what you want it to be, and it probably never will be. I don't make this game for one person.

In the first part of your review, you state that you want the characters to return to their core. But from the second you meet Lin, she is just a nervous elf slave, and that is what her core is. This is yet another contradiction I will never win at because to you, every character is what you wanted them to turn into, not what they actually ever where.

To put it simply, this is Harem Hotel, not Wafe's Hotel.

---

If you do in fact love the game, I'm always willing to hear suggestions that will improve the game. Maybe one of yours will make it in game and you may even find yourself enjoying it more.

For example, I have considered adding a skip button to any story content to allow players to skip whatever they don't want to see for whatever reason.
 
Last edited:

Wafe

Newbie
Mar 22, 2019
70
193
I fail to see how much of this is objective, rather than subjective interpretations of a material. Granted, the author's view and a consumer's view hold differing perspectives is natural.
To make it "objectively correct" which seems to mean agreeing with you, would you like me to go back and cite each sentence to a scene in the game with an image. That's tedious, and more effort than any review for this game, solely because I dared to disagree.
As you said, it goes from personal issues, to worldly issues, which seems to understand how massive of a change that really is. They are two entirely different classes/levels of conflict, even if you believe the source to be similar. But even still, that doesn't really mention how much conversations about elves dominate the game now.

As for Maria, games in development aren't static projects. It is clear to see what happens where, and when things change and develop. To say, "she's always been a half-elf" is misleading in that sense. To a player, who experiences each additional scene maybe months, if not years apart, a new scene which is chronologically added after they've finished is something that happens after years, even if it's 5 minutes in game. What I mean is, for the longest time, the character is seen as a human, and nothing in the game would indicate, or hint, or foreshadow otherwise, when I played that part a long, long time ago. If you did try, then it wasn't clear, but at the same time, it's possible for you to add it now and say you always planned it. Neither make too much of a difference. To a long time player, after years, all of a sudden it just happened. The same goes for Ashley. If you tell me her slightly different eye color foreshadowed it, what would slightly different eye color or hair color mean? Could it just be a quirk of the game, or the engine, or a render? Could the character just have dyed their hair? Am I also to suspect Vanessa is also magical because of blue hair for some unknown reason?

Dev time is a limited resource. Each minute spent on long winded exposition, is time spent away from other things. If you manage to strictly increase your output, I would be impressed, but that does not change that fact.

"You've inherited your grandfather's hotel on a foreign continent where everything seems fine on the surface, but rarely is."
None of this sentence implies that the whole game is actually about elves, or that they exist at all.

Pretending that players come to a site basically named fapzone, to play a game with lewd content, and choosing a title named Harem Hotel, to not expect people to be focused on having sex with your harem, in said hotel, is willfully ignoring the obvious. Of course there are other elements to the game, and I enjoy the personal sections of the game, such as the more lightweight date dialogue, but I don't think someone without knowing the game, would play a game named Harem Hotel for the purpose of learning more about Elven Emancipation. I would suggest something less misleading if you want that to be clear.

I really don't see what the practical difference between "racial discrimination" and "species discrimination" that you bring it up, but once again, semantics.

"There is no elven apocalypse. No idea what you're referring to."
This is just really silly. It's clear that what I mean is that the game has shifted it's focus entirely to elves now, in context.

"Literally every character in this game wants social justice, literally every character struggles with not getting it, and literally every character is supported by the MC to obtain justice."
I agree. It's become quite overwhelming to play a game where that's what all the characters obsess over.

"Again I would ask you to review objective content within the game and not your subjective desires for what you personally want. "
How do I give a review without putting my opinion? Would I just show charts of render count increasing per build? More useful would be a chart that showed the prevalence of the word Elf, or other terms related to social justice or religion, over time, though that's hardly fair due to the nature of exposition, which I guess is the point anyways.

" It was never about getting loads of easily accessible porn."
While I would be willing to concede to an author that I misinterpreted a line, or missed a sentence, even if it's increasingly easy to argue that once released, a work can be interpreted on it's own freely from the opinion of the author, I will in no way give ground to being told what my subjective value of the game is. And yes, this was a large part of it. We are on a site for porn games. In fact, given the ratio's of character development to lewd content in most games, HH skews high in lots of lewd scenes for early reward. Other games dangle the carrot more. That was a distinguishing factor that led to the success of the game, not because inversion 0.5 people were really wanting to learn about elven history that hasn't even been brought up yet.

" There's really no way I can win here unless I make every character is cum hungry the moment they see you. But that's not what this game is."
This is already practically true as is.

I don't believe I ever mention specifically wanting more content for Lin, other than generics, because Lin is one of my least favorites within the game. But that aside, beyond the matter of how the same themes are portrayed different, even positively, in other games, saying that it has to be depressing and overwhelming is false.

For all your arguments that I hate stories in my H games, or games in general, that is not true. I don't think I need to whip out credentials or anything to prove that. Even if you are right, and every single thing that happens was foreshadowed years ago before any of the new characters were named, and I missed it, it doesn't matter. Because of how overbearing, heavy handed, long winded, and pervasive the recent lectures on elven social justice are, I would like to see less of it. Had it been written better, I would not just tolerate it, perhaps even like it. Funny enough, I believe you are on the higher end of writers within this site. However, other writers seem to know better when to cut it short, or understand their limitations, or keep their expositions brief, to keep the action moving along. Pacing is a skill.

But I believe that you are being somewhat oblivious to the appeal of the game from the perspective of someone who has seen nothing outside of the name and the images of the game on this site.
So here, people come to this site, basically named fapzone, and go to look for games to jack off to. If there's story, it can add to the quality of the experience. It can make it. It's why people would choose a game or a vn over an easily accessible video. They may like the characters, the designs, the routes, and even the stories, in so far as how they relate to the characters. But never, without knowledge, does a person pick a game solely to be lectured about elven social justice over these other elements. It's not even something that occurs to them, given the name of this game.

I see that you have ambitions on creating a story, with characters that people care about, and probably want it judged without people such as myself pestering you on how the exposition gets in the way of the lewds, but as it stands, it's what people come to this site for.
And yes, it is possible to create interesting character development without the introduction of large amounts of exposition dumps, and elves. You had done great before.
I encourage you to create a SFW story, somewhere else, on a different name, and I will judge it accordingly. But don't forget people click the picture that leads to this game because they see in large words, Harem Hotel, not because they love large lore dumps on elven social justice.

To put it simply, this is Harem Hotel, not Elven Emancipation.
 

Uthuriel

Conversation Conqueror
Jan 26, 2021
6,889
21,490
I fail to see how much of this is objective, rather than subjective interpretations of a material. Granted, the author's view and a consumer's view hold differing perspectives is natural.
To make it "objectively correct" which seems to mean agreeing with you, would you like me to go back and cite each sentence to a scene in the game with an image. That's tedious, and more effort than any review for this game, solely because I dared to disagree.
As you said, it goes from personal issues, to worldly issues, which seems to understand how massive of a change that really is. They are two entirely different classes/levels of conflict, even if you believe the source to be similar. But even still, that doesn't really mention how much conversations about elves dominate the game now.

As for Maria, games in development aren't static projects. It is clear to see what happens where, and when things change and develop. To say, "she's always been a half-elf" is misleading in that sense. To a player, who experiences each additional scene maybe months, if not years apart, a new scene which is chronologically added after they've finished is something that happens after years, even if it's 5 minutes in game. What I mean is, for the longest time, the character is seen as a human, and nothing in the game would indicate, or hint, or foreshadow otherwise, when I played that part a long, long time ago. If you did try, then it wasn't clear, but at the same time, it's possible for you to add it now and say you always planned it. Neither make too much of a difference. To a long time player, after years, all of a sudden it just happened. The same goes for Ashley. If you tell me her slightly different eye color foreshadowed it, what would slightly different eye color or hair color mean? Could it just be a quirk of the game, or the engine, or a render? Could the character just have dyed their hair? Am I also to suspect Vanessa is also magical because of blue hair for some unknown reason?

Dev time is a limited resource. Each minute spent on long winded exposition, is time spent away from other things. If you manage to strictly increase your output, I would be impressed, but that does not change that fact.

"You've inherited your grandfather's hotel on a foreign continent where everything seems fine on the surface, but rarely is."
None of this sentence implies that the whole game is actually about elves, or that they exist at all.

Pretending that players come to a site basically named fapzone, to play a game with lewd content, and choosing a title named Harem Hotel, to not expect people to be focused on having sex with your harem, in said hotel, is willfully ignoring the obvious. Of course there are other elements to the game, and I enjoy the personal sections of the game, such as the more lightweight date dialogue, but I don't think someone without knowing the game, would play a game named Harem Hotel for the purpose of learning more about Elven Emancipation. I would suggest something less misleading if you want that to be clear.

I really don't see what the practical difference between "racial discrimination" and "species discrimination" that you bring it up, but once again, semantics.

"There is no elven apocalypse. No idea what you're referring to."
This is just really silly. It's clear that what I mean is that the game has shifted it's focus entirely to elves now, in context.

"Literally every character in this game wants social justice, literally every character struggles with not getting it, and literally every character is supported by the MC to obtain justice."
I agree. It's become quite overwhelming to play a game where that's what all the characters obsess over.

"Again I would ask you to review objective content within the game and not your subjective desires for what you personally want. "
How do I give a review without putting my opinion? Would I just show charts of render count increasing per build? More useful would be a chart that showed the prevalence of the word Elf, or other terms related to social justice or religion, over time, though that's hardly fair due to the nature of exposition, which I guess is the point anyways.

" It was never about getting loads of easily accessible porn."
While I would be willing to concede to an author that I misinterpreted a line, or missed a sentence, even if it's increasingly easy to argue that once released, a work can be interpreted on it's own freely from the opinion of the author, I will in no way give ground to being told what my subjective value of the game is. And yes, this was a large part of it. We are on a site for porn games. In fact, given the ratio's of character development to lewd content in most games, HH skews high in lots of lewd scenes for early reward. Other games dangle the carrot more. That was a distinguishing factor that led to the success of the game, not because inversion 0.5 people were really wanting to learn about elven history that hasn't even been brought up yet.

" There's really no way I can win here unless I make every character is cum hungry the moment they see you. But that's not what this game is."
This is already practically true as is.

I don't believe I ever mention specifically wanting more content for Lin, other than generics, because Lin is one of my least favorites within the game. But that aside, beyond the matter of how the same themes are portrayed different, even positively, in other games, saying that it has to be depressing and overwhelming is false.

For all your arguments that I hate stories in my H games, or games in general, that is not true. I don't think I need to whip out credentials or anything to prove that. Even if you are right, and every single thing that happens was foreshadowed years ago before any of the new characters were named, and I missed it, it doesn't matter. Because of how overbearing, heavy handed, long winded, and pervasive the recent lectures on elven social justice are, I would like to see less of it. Had it been written better, I would not just tolerate it, perhaps even like it. Funny enough, I believe you are on the higher end of writers within this site. However, other writers seem to know better when to cut it short, or understand their limitations, or keep their expositions brief, to keep the action moving along. Pacing is a skill.

But I believe that you are being somewhat oblivious to the appeal of the game from the perspective of someone who has seen nothing outside of the name and the images of the game on this site.
So here, people come to this site, basically named fapzone, and go to look for games to jack off to. If there's story, it can add to the quality of the experience. It can make it. It's why people would choose a game or a vn over an easily accessible video. They may like the characters, the designs, the routes, and even the stories, in so far as how they relate to the characters. But never, without knowledge, does a person pick a game solely to be lectured about elven social justice over these other elements. It's not even something that occurs to them, given the name of this game.

I see that you have ambitions on creating a story, with characters that people care about, and probably want it judged without people such as myself pestering you on how the exposition gets in the way of the lewds, but as it stands, it's what people come to this site for.
And yes, it is possible to create interesting character development without the introduction of large amounts of exposition dumps, and elves. You had done great before.
I encourage you to create a SFW story, somewhere else, on a different name, and I will judge it accordingly. But don't forget people click the picture that leads to this game because they see in large words, Harem Hotel, not because they love large lore dumps on elven social justice.

To put it simply, this is Harem Hotel, not Elven Emancipation.
You could have shortened that essay to: REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I'm mad... :KEK:
 

Runey

Harem Hotel
Game Developer
May 17, 2018
3,965
20,011
I fail to see how much of this is objective, rather than subjective interpretations of a material.
Exactly, I'm asking for it to be more objective. Interpretations don't mean literally wrong things. You can get something right without getting it completely right.

To make it "objectively correct" which seems to mean agreeing with you, would you like me to go back and cite each sentence to a scene in the game with an image. That's tedious, and more effort than any review for this game, solely because I dared to disagree.
Yeah... no. Definitely not what I was getting at. Like at all...

Dev time is a limited resource. Each minute spent on long winded exposition, is time spent away from other things. If you manage to strictly increase your output, I would be impressed, but that does not change that fact.
Like this for example, there is no long winded exposition you can't skip. And if there is, you can suggest I add a skip button. But apparently you'd rather just be upset about it?

"You've inherited your grandfather's hotel on a foreign continent where everything seems fine on the surface, but rarely is."
None of this sentence implies that the whole game is actually about elves, or that they exist at all.
Literally the first character shown...
1650684644332.png

And the game isn't about Elves, it's just a big part of it. Like religion, or poverty, or greed, etc etc. I guess this just so happens to be the one you dislike the most.

Pretending that players come to a site basically named fapzone, to play a game with lewd content, and choosing a title named Harem Hotel, to not expect people to be focused on having sex with your harem, in said hotel, is willfully ignoring the obvious. Of course there are other elements to the game, and I enjoy the personal sections of the game, such as the more lightweight date dialogue, but I don't think someone without knowing the game, would play a game named Harem Hotel for the purpose of learning more about Elven Emancipation. I would suggest something less misleading if you want that to be clear.
I don't understand the saltiness, but in this world, people who develop games with porn in it can only really upload their game to porn sites. So I understand why people come in expecting a certain thing, and I am happy to provide that.

"There is no elven apocalypse. No idea what you're referring to."
This is just really silly. It's clear that what I mean is that the game has shifted it's focus entirely to elves now, in context.
Again, I don't understand the saltiness. Thanks for clarifying though. Wasn't clear in your review.


"Again I would ask you to review objective content within the game and not your subjective desires for what you personally want. "
How do I give a review without putting my opinion? Would I just show charts of render count increasing per build? More useful would be a chart that showed the prevalence of the word Elf, or other terms related to social justice or religion, over time, though that's hardly fair due to the nature of exposition, which I guess is the point anyways.
Giving your opinion is what I want, which you haven't done much of. I asked you to review the objective content within the game, not make up stuff or what you expected of the game. Review what is actually in the game, and why you don't like it. There is no way I can make the game better when you say "Vanessa chastises you when you skip lore" Because... she doesn't.

" It was never about getting loads of easily accessible porn."
While I would be willing to concede to an author that I misinterpreted a line, or missed a sentence, even if it's increasingly easy to argue that once released, a work can be interpreted on it's own freely from the opinion of the author, I will in no way give ground to being told what my subjective value of the game is. And yes, this was a large part of it. We are on a site for porn games. In fact, given the ratio's of character development to lewd content in most games, HH skews high in lots of lewd scenes for early reward. Other games dangle the carrot more. That was a distinguishing factor that led to the success of the game, not because inversion 0.5 people were really wanting to learn about elven history that hasn't even been brought up yet.
Relax dude, I'm trying to have an honest discussion here, but I'm increasingly becoming aware that this is not possible with you. The story is why most people play Harem Hotel. Again, I am sorry Harem Hotel is not exactly what you wanted and expected, and again I ask you to review what is actually in the game. Clearly this game isn't for you, but there's no need to include things that are literally not in the game in your review.

" There's really no way I can win here unless I make every character is cum hungry the moment they see you. But that's not what this game is."
This is already practically true as is.
Yeah, I figured. This game has never been about characters who are cum hungry the moment they see you. Please review the game as it is, not as you want it to be or expected.

I don't believe I ever mention specifically wanting more content for Lin, other than generics, because Lin is one of my least favorites within the game. But that aside, beyond the matter of how the same themes are portrayed different, even positively, in other games, saying that it has to be depressing and overwhelming is false.
I'm not sure what you're referring to here. You were saying in your review that each character's story was becoming depressing. Are you now saying that's false? Because it is.

For all your arguments that I hate stories in my H games, or games in general, that is not true. I don't think I need to whip out credentials or anything to prove that. Even if you are right, and every single thing that happens was foreshadowed years ago before any of the new characters were named, and I missed it, it doesn't matter. Because of how overbearing, heavy handed, long winded, and pervasive the recent lectures on elven social justice are, I would like to see less of it. Had it been written better, I would not just tolerate it, perhaps even like it. Funny enough, I believe you are on the higher end of writers within this site. However, other writers seem to know better when to cut it short, or understand their limitations, or keep their expositions brief, to keep the action moving along. Pacing is a skill.
Lore dump moments are purely optional and you are asked if you want to sit down and learn about the material. That said, this happens literally only once. And you can skip it in two places.

It doesn't seem like your issue is with exposition at all, because you forced yourself to sit through something you didn't need to.

Unless you're talking about literally any moment of lore being discussed? Does that count as lore dumps and exposition to you? Because that's what a story is called.


But I believe that you are being somewhat oblivious to the appeal of the game from the perspective of someone who has seen nothing outside of the name and the images of the game on this site.
So here, people come to this site, basically named fapzone, and go to look for games to jack off to. If there's story, it can add to the quality of the experience. It can make it. It's why people would choose a game or a vn over an easily accessible video. They may like the characters, the designs, the routes, and even the stories, in so far as how they relate to the characters. But never, without knowledge, does a person pick a game solely to be lectured about elven social justice over these other elements. It's not even something that occurs to them, given the name of this game.
You're incredibly too upset about this conversation for reasons I cannot understand. Harem Hotel is one of the top rated and liked games on this site due to its story.

It's not for you, I understand that. But you're still trying to paint your personal likes and dislikes as the one and only truth of the universe, which is why I wanted to open a dialogue about your review. There's no need to make jabs at me or Harem Hotel for not being your personal fap quest game.

You might not like the game, but others do. There's no reason to fight me over this. Here are the downloads from v0.13 to v0.15. Harem Hotel is now getting peak v0.13 downloads every single day. Harem Hotel v0.15 is the most popular update to Harem Hotel by almost 2x. You might not like "being lectured about elven social justice" but I guess others do?



I see that you have ambitions on creating a story, with characters that people care about, and probably want it judged without people such as myself pestering you on how the exposition gets in the way of the lewds, but as it stands, it's what people come to this site for.
It's what you come to this site for.


And yes, it is possible to create interesting character development without the introduction of large amounts of exposition dumps, and elves. You had done great before.
That lore dump and exposition was optional.


I encourage you to create a SFW story, somewhere else, on a different name, and I will judge it accordingly. But don't forget people click the picture that leads to this game because they see in large words, Harem Hotel, not because they love large lore dumps on elven social justice.
No, this isn't your game. I will make it how I please, and I will aim to please most people who enjoy the content.

To put it simply, this is Harem Hotel, not Elven Emancipation.
To put it simply, This is Harem Hotel, not Wafe's Hotel.
 
Last edited:

MadFoole

Member
Feb 8, 2020
183
249
Sorry to interrupt the heated debate, but I tried to d/l the latest version and hit an error message I cant get past after loading my recent save:

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

I'm uncertain what to do about it. Help would be appreciated.
 

dnof

Member
Aug 24, 2018
112
196
You're incredibly too upset about this conversation for reasons I cannot understand. Harem Hotel is one of the top rated and liked games on this site due to its story.
C'mon man. Not even you have believe this part. This is a pirating forum for porn games. Let's not act like it's anything but a tiny minority that comes to this site for the unbelievable, mediocre at best story telling that porn games have. I think the popularity of your game is due to the large porn content and not because of the tired fantasy trope of enslaved elves.

I know that you're protective of your work after several years of successfully developing the game and maintaining an interest from the audience but this whole essay long argument chain over 1 review is pretty unnecessary when you have overwhelming praise. You just wasted your time.
 

TheDevian

Svengali Productions
Game Developer
Mar 8, 2018
14,403
33,760
Sorry to interrupt the heated debate, but I tried to d/l the latest version and hit an error message I cant get past after loading my recent save:

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

I'm uncertain what to do about it. Help would be appreciated.
The Ren'Py update caused some issues.

There are a few possible fixes, you can try rollback, go back a bit and try going forward.
You can try another save (or auto save if you don't have others).
Sometimes, just closing the game, and opening it again can help.
 

Runey

Harem Hotel
Game Developer
May 17, 2018
3,965
20,011
Sorry to interrupt the heated debate, but I tried to d/l the latest version and hit an error message I cant get past after loading my recent save:

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

I'm uncertain what to do about it. Help would be appreciated.
Please do interrupt. You can fix this by clicking the Rollback button, loading a different autosave, and or clicking the Bar icon.

C'mon man. Not even you have believe this part. This is a pirating forum for porn games. Let's not act like it's anything but a tiny minority that comes to this site for the unbelievable, mediocre at best story telling that porn games have. I think the popularity of your game is due to the large porn content and not because of the tired fantasy trope of enslaved elves.

I know that you're protective of your work after several years of successfully developing the game and maintaining an interest from the audience but this whole essay long argument chain over 1 review is pretty unnecessary when you have overwhelming praise. You just wasted your time.
I know it's technically a pirating website, but I don't treat as that either. I willingly want my game here, and provide it for free and often talk to the mods and staff of this website.

You may also only come here for the porn, and that's fine, but this isn't the only place this game is posted at. I get my feedback from multiple sources, and thousands of people. I think what sets Harem Hotel a part from the mediocre story telling most porn games have is maybe because the story telling in this game is above mediocre? I don't know, I'm obviously biased. But the majority of people are interested in HH and keep coming back to the game for the story. A story with sex, of course. But I am actually toying with the idea of releasing a version of HH with no sex at some point.

He asked me in an earlier comment clarify our disagreements, so I did.

Although I am starting to agree that I've wasted my time, each time I have attempted to open dialogue with this person has only been met with hostility.
 
Last edited:

MadFoole

Member
Feb 8, 2020
183
249
The Ren'Py update caused some issues.

There are a few possible fixes, you can try rollback, go back a bit and try going forward.
You can try another save (or auto save if you don't have others).
Sometimes, just closing the game, and opening it again can help.
I tried closing and opening again, and the most recent save hit the same error. I tried rolling back, it went back to the previous screen, then gave the same error. My previous save was... ugh, all the way back at whether I chose to call Lin my slave or not. Looks like the most recent autosave is somewhat more recent than that, and... is running. I guess I'm going from there, might have lost a couple concluded stories but better than rolling back as far as that old save.
 
4.70 star(s) 470 Votes