VN - Ren'Py - In for a Penny [v0.62] [Moist Sponge Productions]

Update on my initial review. 2/12/2024

So it's been 4 years since my initial review. Figured it was time to update it for the current version.

CHARACTERS: Characters are dynamic, and show growth throughout the story.
RENDERS: I'm on the fence with renders. Some are good, but others are grainy and not so good. Then there are the mishaps with having complete conversations with someone while looking at the character you just had a convo with. Then there is the scenes where you just get the diamond pattern with nothing else.
STORY: Story is crazy, but it's fun and interesting. Basically it's so far fetched it works.
WRITING: For the most part the writing is pretty good. Yeah there are some flubs here and there but it's good enough.

Summary
The MC wakes up and is thrust into a situation where he has to have sex in a controlled experiment. Most of the women are already in love with him, but there are a few that want nothing to do with him. Which really makes the story better. Meaning that the MC doesn't get to have them right away.
This VN is super long. Not only in the amount of time it's been in development, but in content as well. I'm usually not interested in projects that have been going on for that long. Granted I haven't really paid attention to this VN since my first review. But, I'm not going to be doing that again. It's fun and enjoying. You have a bit of everything rolling around in there.
So with saying that, I highly recommend this VN. MSP is doing a good job developing this VN.

love love love the premise, most of the character designs, personality designs, like the setup of different fetishes. really think this has a lot of potential but i just feel like it has a pacing problem and it feels like the dialogue to content ratio is too high. some of the dialogue is good and contributes sexy context to the content but some of it just seems a little too long (like 10 frames of dialogue for what couldve been done in 2-3). i was mentally screaming at the main character to just fuck one of the nuns begging to be punished or satisfied, at least one. if the nun stuff is a setup for a bigger payoff in later stuff, i can understand that but still overall as an intro, i wish the MC maybe fucked Blue or maybe the mayor gives a really "welcoming" welcome with a full on bang or something. i feel like this would also make it make more sense/believable if he had a pretty wild opening scene with the mayor or blue and was kinda spent/exhausted or got in more than what he bargained for (so when he's at the church, the whole "im too tired" thing feels a lot more in line with the story which idk, can be setup for whatever down the line, blue solving his problem with some super horny modification which unlocks a new stage in the game/story) i feel like all i got was that kinda disappointing doctor scene. i totally get that sometimes a slow beginning and strong buildup with an amazing ending can make for a great overall work but i think sex games are more of a pop genre and should probably, in most cases open up with a good taste of what the game is gonna be like. also, i feel like there are plenty of characters that are setup already for varying or a longer burn for tension build up and everything, like the less friendly/more hostile characters. i think it's good to have like at least one character that's sort of the easy lay, maybe they're super friendly and warm or kinda mean and just slutty, while having say a character that cant have sex bc of whatever need or limiting reason you need to free up later on, or like a character that hates you that can be setup for different content than what the friendly characters offer.

not saying blow all the best shots in the opening act but doing a good representative hook/appetizer would be nice and i don't feel like i got that. even with the sort of slow burn to a big end structure, i admit i still do generally prefer stuff whether its a movie or book or song that opens up pretty strong and thruout is a pretty satisfying ride , enough to "want to turn the page or watch the next episode" in terms of pacing with an amazing end.

i also don't like that you have to choose between content. there already seems like sparse content. if it felt better paces and like there wasn't a lot of dialogue to get to some content, then i don't mind the choice between content especially if it's like a choice between fetishes (but i think the choice should indicate that, like choice 1 (lesbian), choice 2 (bondage stuff) bc not everyone's into the same stuff, so that makes sense to me. but since there's no indication and there's already not that much sex content, i feel like i'm just missing out and spinning roulette on getting content.


overall, lot of moving peices (lot of characters). can already see the setup for varying fetishes and interests which i think is a big plus, just think pacing is on the grindy/filler-y side pertaining to dialogue. (thank god it isn't a gameplay grind/filler at least tho imo. those can be even worse). good enough for me to support on patreon. looking forward to future updates


side note: also, really love how dark the black girls are in this. i haven't seen any other game with really dark black girls and i think it's really hot. really hope to see them with really bright/fresh pink vaginas. think the really pink vagina with really dark skin is super hot. and also love the pale blonde/blue eyes with big breasts

holy fuck, the giantress fetish added last patch is a great addition. i never realized how effective and well done it could be done in 3d and yet i don't think it's in any 3d game

update 0.3: really like the addition of casey, she has a nice niche/unique look from the other blondes. i really like a lot of the designs but 0.3 was just a big nothing-burger in terms of sexual content. it feels too much like... the player is first being introduced to all the areas and then is probably gonna go back and actually get content and personally, i think it'd be much better to sort of go with an ff7 approach, like more of linear story that opens up into this bigger world. to introduce all the characters at the beginning can feel weirdly limiting, like you already know how big the world is. i think it feels a lot bigger if there's like the introduction to all the areas up until the nun-area, then the first good sex scene (not all the nun girls or anything just the first satisfying big sexy scene) then maybe the day ends and you go back to some of the other areas and at somepoint more in the middle of the game other characters are introduces like the goddess/giantress and casey and the military area. like when the player feels a sense of "wow this is pretty good and big" then you open up another area with even wilder juicy or niche content (like the giantress).

with the current setup it feels more like i got all excited about the giantress and now i'm probably gonna have to wait a really long time before i get that content (same problem with every other girl that the player might be enticed by)

review for v.0.02

edit: The threadmaker has removed the Ren'py tag from the thread. So my long rant is slightly less relevant.

edit2: the devs have now switched over to Ren'py as of version v0.02.5 Thus making my rant below a relic of history.

I'm giving this 4 stars with a few caveats. First of all, the engine being used is not Ren'py. Or if it is Ren'py it's been heavily modified to make it slightly worse than default Ren'py in every way possible.

Let me explain. You can almost save everywhere. When you right click it sometimes takes you to a save page. I can't figure out any rhyme or reason to why it works sometimes but other times doesn't. But the save page only allows one page worth of saves instead of the infinite amount allowed by renpy. Also you cannot save while a choice is being displayed on the screen. And since there is virtually no warning when a choice is about to occur, it's impossible to see all options without either saving constantly or restarting the game from scratch.

Also the backlog history button is kinda broken. Instead of showing you the most recent thing said, it shows the entire history of the current scene you're viewing. And if you click on it twice, it will double the history by showing a ghost version of itself on the screen.

In any case, the UI is pretty much my only complaint with this game. It's like they tried to make the game function exactly like Ren'py, but for some reason didn't want to actually use Ren'py. And in it's current state it still needs quite a bit of work before it can be considered close to what it tried to achieve.

That being said, the actual game parts of the game are pretty good. I enjoy the sci-fi setting. Parts of it have been decently well thought out. The harem setting is done well. It promises to be a sex romp, but the devs clearly know not to rush things to make everything go so fast that the story loses all tension.

I like most of the characters. They all have personalities which can be slightly extreme, but not to the point of ruining things for me. And they're mostly different enough from each other to be interesting.

I do think that maybe the dev has set a bit too much of a challenge for themselves with the need to have 40 sexable characters. But what I've seen so far is good.

The writting can be decently funny at times. Not laugh out loud funny, but it has gotten me to expell some air through my nostrils a few times.

The animation during the sex scenes aren't amazing. But they're not bad either. Just a bit stiff.

Overall I enjoy the game. I wish the devs had just used Renpy instead of whatever they're using. But even with those issues, at its core this is a good game.