Ren'Py Hero Party Must Fall [v0.5.3] [Nitrolith]

fussy · Jan 9, 2024

I just grabbed a random game to please myself, and holy shit this game's quality and scenario is way more beyond my expectation.

Gork88 · Jan 9, 2024

fussy said:
I just grabbed a random game to please myself, and holy shit this game's quality and scenario is way more beyond my expectation.

Same thing happened to me, this game is a hidden gem.

wikshdyt · Jan 9, 2024

Gork88 said:
Same thing happened to me, this game is a hidden gem.

I wouldn't really call a game with 200+ reviews 'hidden', but it's a gem for sure.

Malcowitz · Jan 9, 2024

Does the game dev actually read the thread? I have, words, after I restarted the Iris storyline and saw it to its conclusion.

Malcowitz · Jan 9, 2024

The fact that Mars explicitly goes and says to her: "You are making a bad mistake Iris and you should actually seek real, fulfilling love from your real husband", only to abruptly end up with a sissification scene combined with raceplay with zero choice from the player (unless by choice you mean never going after her to begin with, as "I want to talk to him" is apparently a meaningless choice) unfortunately strikes at perhaps the greatest dislike I have of the game, that which is that while it's true Mars is a half-demon, he's also HALF HUMAN. His offspring are a quarter demon and really, the differences between humanity and demons seem far less than in many other works of fiction in this. It sure seems less Frieren rather than "If it's for my Daughter" at times, but then you have the platonic ideal and progenitor of demons in the game as a character that seems completely in line with the notion of them as purely evil.

Honestly, at some point I saw the shape of the story once the Demon Queen was introduced that somehow fate would be suborned; if the hero were to have a child with the demon queen, the same person could be born as the hero as well as the demon king, making the line between the two moot or that Mars would cuck Erin with the princess, breaking the cycle the other way as a bad ending, but that seems to be the only likely ending at this point.

The whole point that the only organization with even an inkling of humans and demons living in peace is grotesquely demonic and dehumanizing is just depressing. It's a netori game with a sissification/cuckold side to it so that's to be expected.

When your own MC is openly criticizing the way the story flows and goes perhaps you should have provided an option for something other than the most destructive and dehumanizing path possible, especially as unless the game just gave me that scene arbitrarily, the Demon King just talked about how cucking a man is one of the worst things morally and ethically possible.

Honestly, the fact that Mars is completely powerless and has zero choice makes the player no different from Erin, jerking off helplessly as things unfold and if that's the intended message from this story, sure, well done. Another on the pile that love is meaningless, empathy non-existent and that the only way to coexist is by immoral subordination and humiliation, rather than genuine love or empathy. I already had that theme from the teen side character, but it seems that I must have skipped or misunderstood the choice of specifically getting a fucking prosthetic to try and help him as the choice to actually do the worst thing humanly possible to him. My bad: the game doesn't really hide the fact that there is no good, healthy or positive relationship in the whole game and it was my misreading of it that such a thing would even be possible.

It's just so, baffling and frustrating how Mars seemingly wants to do good but the game is written in such a way that any genuine affection and care is impossible, at least when it comes to the side characters. I abruptly stopped at the conclusion of the Iris scene so don't know what comes after that, but judging from a quick look at the gallery unlocks, it only leans more into the same hatred that shines through in the Iris content though I admit I may be wrong, judging by some comments on the last few pages that wish you could be even less human in the game.

Anyway, it's clear this is a labour of great effort and clear vision, though I hesitate in this context to call it a labour of love, and clearly I should have realized more that the tone of the work was not what I first thought. My bad.

8cm · Jan 9, 2024

갓겜이네요 자지 터질꺼같아요

nitrolith · Jan 9, 2024

Malcowitz said:
The fact that Mars explicitly goes and says to her: "You are making a bad mistake Iris and you should actually seek real, fulfilling love from your real husband", only to abruptly end up with a sissification scene combined with raceplay with zero choice from the player (unless by choice you mean never going after her to begin with, as "I want to talk to him" is apparently a meaningless choice) unfortunately strikes at perhaps the greatest dislike I have of the game, that which is that while it's true Mars is a half-demon, he's also HALF HUMAN. His offspring are a quarter demon and really, the differences between humanity and demons seem far less than in many other works of fiction in this. It sure seems less Frieren rather than "If it's for my Daughter" at times, but then you have the platonic ideal and progenitor of demons in the game as a character that seems completely in line with the notion of them as purely evil.

Honestly, at some point I saw the shape of the story once the Demon Queen was introduced that somehow fate would be suborned; if the hero were to have a child with the demon queen, the same person could be born as the hero as well as the demon king, making the line between the two moot or that Mars would cuck Erin with the princess, breaking the cycle the other way as a bad ending, but that seems to be the only likely ending at this point.

The whole point that the only organization with even an inkling of humans and demons living in peace is grotesquely demonic and dehumanizing is just depressing. It's a netori game with a sissification/cuckold side to it so that's to be expected.

When your own MC is openly criticizing the way the story flows and goes perhaps you should have provided an option for something other than the most destructive and dehumanizing path possible, especially as unless the game just gave me that scene arbitrarily, the Demon King just talked about how cucking a man is one of the worst things morally and ethically possible.

Honestly, the fact that Mars is completely powerless and has zero choice makes the player no different from Erin, jerking off helplessly as things unfold and if that's the intended message from this story, sure, well done. Another on the pile that love is meaningless, empathy non-existent and that the only way to coexist is by immoral subordination and humiliation, rather than genuine love or empathy. I already had that theme from the teen side character, but it seems that I must have skipped or misunderstood the choice of specifically getting a fucking prosthetic to try and help him as the choice to actually do the worst thing humanly possible to him. My bad: the game doesn't really hide the fact that there is no good, healthy or positive relationship in the whole game and it was my misreading of it that such a thing would even be possible.

It's just so, baffling and frustrating how Mars seemingly wants to do good but the game is written in such a way that any genuine affection and care is impossible, at least when it comes to the side characters. I abruptly stopped at the conclusion of the Iris scene so don't know what comes after that, but judging from a quick look at the gallery unlocks, it only leans more into the same hatred that shines through in the Iris content though I admit I may be wrong, judging by some comments on the last few pages that wish you could be even less human in the game.

Anyway, it's clear this is a labour of great effort and clear vision, though I hesitate in this context to call it a labour of love, and clearly I should have realized more that the tone of the work was not what I first thought. My bad.

I see your point.

Well, the village NPCs content is optional for a reason.
Mars really doesn't have a reason to meddle in random people's relationships, he had enough of that as it is but they're there as a tantalizing force which works for Mars as a character and the player as well.
Even if a certain village NPC is single, there is no chance that relationship can work long term, at best it can be a fling but does he really need more?

That's essentially the point behind Hilda, she's like the anti-Vi who wants him to lean in on the dark urges that his mother instilled in him while Vi wants him to be free of them.
Because the game is still in development, the big picture won't be clear until all the pieces are in place but it will make sense for sure.

I don't like to be too obvious with the story but I thought having Iris look like a victim girls reject was obvious enough for what to expect but maybe not.
I did want to add a fork to Iris story to provide a lighter fall if Mars takes matter into his own hands but it's low priority for the moment.

And yeah, pure demons and humans are 99.99% the same, the main difference is horns. That's a key point of the story.

To sum it up, the core of the story is an idealistic one for sure it's why the final ending is Vi's, but there are a lot of dark optional branches that are necessary to contrast with the lighter stuff.

Jay34black · Jan 9, 2024

I undusted this account just to say this.
The line "My ovaries just twitched" sent me into a coughing fit.

Give Nitrolith a stove, cuz this man is cooking!

forkk · Jan 9, 2024

Poor sera *cry*

Godmofese · Jan 10, 2024

stackOverflow said:
Just swap game folder in app bundle with new one from windows download, ren py load new one without problem

I tried doing this and its still not running. When will the mac update be posted?

Malcowitz · Jan 10, 2024

nitrolith said:
I see your point.

Well, the village NPCs content is optional for a reason.
Mars really doesn't have a reason to meddle in random people's relationships, he had enough of that as it is but they're there as a tantalizing force which works for Mars as a character and the player as well.
Even if a certain village NPC is single, there is no chance that relationship can work long term, at best it can be a fling but does he really need more?

That's essentially the point behind Hilda, she's like the anti-Vi who wants him to lean in on the dark urges that his mother instilled in him while Vi wants him to be free of them.
Because the game is still in development, the big picture won't be clear until all the pieces are in place but it will make sense for sure.

I don't like to be too obvious with the story but I thought having Iris look like a victim girls reject was obvious enough for what to expect but maybe not.
I did want to add a fork to Iris story to provide a lighter fall if Mars takes matter into his own hands but it's low priority for the moment.

And yeah, pure demons and humans are 99.99% the same, the main difference is horns. That's a key point of the story.

To sum it up, the core of the story is an idealistic one for sure it's why the final ending is Vi's, but there are a lot of dark optional branches that are necessary to contrast with the lighter stuff.

I can absolutely see the positive shape of the story in your writing, especially the more introspective parts, but the big part I feel about Iris that I was confused by was that I thought there were branches to it already, and the prosthesis seems utterly pointless in retrospect.

And I especially get that for now the side characters are one path only, it just extremely abrupt and far more, disturbing because he literally begs Mars not to do it, Mars decides to HELP HIM, only to have things go far, far worse than even that.

Hilda and the cultists are narratively a good counterpoint and I can see them definitely being, as you point out, rotten seeds that bear rotten fruit: no true, good future is built on hatred and supremacy after all.

I honestly thought that was why it was gated behind story content; my grasp of it was that as the curse turns the girls more, "demonic", Mars in turn becomes more "human", with the realization finally being that it goes either way.

While my post was pretty negative, I do want to point out that the artwork and story are good, I just felt, well, that it was misleading, especially with Iris hyping it up as something better: I thought that her husband was being partially turned demonic or something via the prosthetic and not, well, that.

Anyway, keep up the good work. I'll maybe come back and take a look when there's stuff that lets more of that idealism shine through.

FakeTemplar · Jan 10, 2024

Malcowitz said:
The fact that Mars explicitly goes and says to her: "You are making a bad mistake Iris and you should actually seek real, fulfilling love from your real husband", only to abruptly end up with a sissification scene combined with raceplay with zero choice from the player (unless by choice you mean never going after her to begin with, as "I want to talk to him" is apparently a meaningless choice) unfortunately strikes at perhaps the greatest dislike I have of the game, that which is that while it's true Mars is a half-demon, he's also HALF HUMAN. His offspring are a quarter demon and really, the differences between humanity and demons seem far less than in many other works of fiction in this. It sure seems less Frieren rather than "If it's for my Daughter" at times, but then you have the platonic ideal and progenitor of demons in the game as a character that seems completely in line with the notion of them as purely evil.

Honestly, at some point I saw the shape of the story once the Demon Queen was introduced that somehow fate would be suborned; if the hero were to have a child with the demon queen, the same person could be born as the hero as well as the demon king, making the line between the two moot or that Mars would cuck Erin with the princess, breaking the cycle the other way as a bad ending, but that seems to be the only likely ending at this point.

The whole point that the only organization with even an inkling of humans and demons living in peace is grotesquely demonic and dehumanizing is just depressing. It's a netori game with a sissification/cuckold side to it so that's to be expected.

When your own MC is openly criticizing the way the story flows and goes perhaps you should have provided an option for something other than the most destructive and dehumanizing path possible, especially as unless the game just gave me that scene arbitrarily, the Demon King just talked about how cucking a man is one of the worst things morally and ethically possible.

Honestly, the fact that Mars is completely powerless and has zero choice makes the player no different from Erin, jerking off helplessly as things unfold and if that's the intended message from this story, sure, well done. Another on the pile that love is meaningless, empathy non-existent and that the only way to coexist is by immoral subordination and humiliation, rather than genuine love or empathy. I already had that theme from the teen side character, but it seems that I must have skipped or misunderstood the choice of specifically getting a fucking prosthetic to try and help him as the choice to actually do the worst thing humanly possible to him. My bad: the game doesn't really hide the fact that there is no good, healthy or positive relationship in the whole game and it was my misreading of it that such a thing would even be possible.

It's just so, baffling and frustrating how Mars seemingly wants to do good but the game is written in such a way that any genuine affection and care is impossible, at least when it comes to the side characters. I abruptly stopped at the conclusion of the Iris scene so don't know what comes after that, but judging from a quick look at the gallery unlocks, it only leans more into the same hatred that shines through in the Iris content though I admit I may be wrong, judging by some comments on the last few pages that wish you could be even less human in the game.

Anyway, it's clear this is a labour of great effort and clear vision, though I hesitate in this context to call it a labour of love, and clearly I should have realized more that the tone of the work was not what I first thought. My bad.

Sorry man, but I can't see how you think that giving the prosthetic is actually doing the worst thing possible for him. That's because giving the prosthetic or not giving it would probably result in the same thing should Iris cross paths with Hilda, and that's because Hilda is a force beyond Mars reach, and the major point of the questline is that Iris is from a race that craves tons and tons of sex and offsprings which Iris had NONE of that for a looong time, the prosthetic was nothing more than a kind act from Mars and a way for him to meet her husband and warn him that what he's doing to Iris is practically biological cruelty. He didn't listen, Iris got desperate, she got refused by Mars, encountered the moral devil that is Hilda and in a moment of weakness, got corrupted by her ideals.

Iris questline striked me as a way to show that Mars is capable of giving kindness, it is truly what he wants to do, but his past mistakes still haunts him and corrupts everything he tries to fix. You have to understand that we, as players, can only change stuff to a degree because we are in Mars skin when choosing, and there is stuff that is simply "too far" for him to change, and Mars is not the only one capable of doing hurricanes in this story, there are other people with their own drive (Hilda and the cult, Cecille with her possessive behavior and need to control everything, the demon army, yadda yadda), this stuff is either too hard for Mars to control or either contain, if not outright impossible in some cases.

It is supposed to be sad, the game is set in a world with an endless war between two races that are victims of a omnipotent goddess that only cares about her "balance", a story surrounded by corruption but can these stories end with a happy ending? It can..... probably... for most, at least, but the road is going to be reeeeeally bumpy either way and that is sadly unavoidable.

Despite everything I said, I can see what you mean when you say that the tone of the game is quite dark and I agree, it is dreadful and sometimes frustrating, and I await eagerly for the timeskip (Nitrolith said the tone of the game will be more lighthearted after the timeskip), but I have faith that when the game is finished we will have more choices in these questlines.

anoterfuckingmaster · Jan 10, 2024

also its kinda hinted the Iris was already harboring resentment towards humans do how her race is treated so its not coming from no were and its not like mars came in and blew up a stable relationship it was going down hill with how the husband was acting and from his response to the prosthetic .

uyro · Jan 10, 2024

I just want a happy ending with Vi...

denialfailure · Jan 10, 2024

new here.... can someone give me the newest or latest version please and thank you. Also is there a full save file of a completed game; if not I'm ok with that.

eddardbolton · Jan 10, 2024

uyro said:
I just want a happy ending with Vi...

Same, but with smol Ceci. Sex dolls prohibited.

SpoiledPrince · Jan 10, 2024

Still masculine Erin X Mars happy kinky ending, with all the THOTs screeching in anger, best ending

Kulman · Jan 10, 2024

How alpha is the alpha version? I held off for 2 weeks, but see no bugfixes etc.

Some games alpha = you will have a wrecked save, good luck. Some games its just = some content will be added later, completely playable.

Which one is it?

okureta · Jan 10, 2024

Not into these changes you are making.
Really loved minigames with long exposition and sex scenes after it. Something about it was, you know, down to earth, like you know your limits and how to make the best of it. But now I can't navigate in all this shit.

DeathsButcher · Jan 10, 2024

I enjoyed this game a lot. Over the years, I repeatedly returned to the thread and kept putting it off for more content. This gets a bit wordy, but hopefully, this helps the developer get some inspiration or develop their ideas further.

Control
Mars seems to believe that being fully in control is necessary to get what he wants in life; he wants to be in a higher position than others. I'm bringing this up because of the comments in-game about maybe having branching paths without Hilda's influence.