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.
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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.
