After playing .6:
What is happening in the gym?
I don't understand why there are so many characters at the gym. Especially when the other masseuses already go there, are amazing, and barely get used. I'd much prefer to see, e.g., Lin helping Jennifer with social media than a random MILF stalking a random gym guy.
The suddenly interesting coffee shop
The coffee shop plot was very predictable until Nina showed up. Good choice! (I do think a more believable way of the shop owner accomplishing his goal would have been simply to hire a prostitute to pretend to be a coworker for a few days until Jennifer was in his grasp.)
Jennifer is the drug
Jennifer continues to be one of the most attractive characters of any game, at least for me personally. Honestly, I can't say I'd have hung around for updates as long if she wasn't so nice-looking and if the devs weren't so good at capturing her, scene-wise. I wish her irises were a bit smaller, and her chest is a little too deformed sometimes, but hey. (Something interesting to me is that I think her head is the same model as the girl in the game Lisa, yet I think Lisa is disturbingly ugly. So, Marcial/whoever is making some good choices somewhere.)
What is happening in the hotel?
I thought we had a promising cheating-or-not subplot shaping up where the sister and boyfriend or father accidentally hook up after the sister or boyfriend use the pills. The father/boyfriend were even about to walk in on the sister in the hotel. That could have set up some conflict/guilt for Jennifer progression. But suddenly the boyfriend/father vanished, we've been in the hotel for weeks, and now there's an exhibition kink sidestory. The creepy hotel guy got dangled, but now he too feels like he's being bypassed for something about to happen outside the hotel entirely. I think it's possible to have this all pay off still, but it would need to be pretty wild. E.g., sister gets arrested for exposure and/or drugs, the boyfriend or father have to bail out, the father gets enraged and the hotel owner overhears him, and then the owner blackmails the sister to do more (then maybe owner uses it to blackmail Jennifer to protect her sister?).
Funny is keeping creepy from being boring
I like that the creepy harassers are written to be funny and over-the-top sometimes. Too many corruption games take their antagonists too seriously.
Plots I'm personally hoping go further
- Massage client wants in-house visits; maybe leads to her being his escort to events and/or a "Money" end where she marries into wealth
- Landlord's partying friends. Overdone in many games, but an original slant might be for her boyfriend to be invited, heightening the suspense and/or requiring her to protect HIM from being corrupted
- Social media influencer (honestly, too many games are doing this, and usually it's boring. But it could be fun here because she's not tech-savvy. For example, Lin could tell her that she is setting the racy posts so only her boyfriend can see them, but they are public)
- No idea where the zealot father or boyfriend are going, but there's a lot of potential there. E.g., father freaks out and forbids them even hanging out, so boyfriend and Jennifer start sending pictures and risque challenges to each, maybe even something kinky like some netorase with other people. "Kiss my sister." "Kiss your coworker." etc.).
My single favorite writing decision: regret
I think the single best writing choice in this game/novel is that, even after some obvious slip-ups, Jennifer is still trying to be innocent, making harsher rules for herself that can be broken too, and feeling guilty/ashamed/regretful after she does things (versus justifying them or getting to like them). It makes her realistic, which makes corruption stories much stronger. I'm not sure if this will last, given that the title is "Innocence or Money" but there's no reason she has to end up a smug sex predator or brain-dead sex doll, like the female character in 99% of other corruption games.
In fact, now I'm in rant mode. Too many corruption games act like their female character is a secret slut just waiting for an excuse to let it out. You see this when she is unreasonably attracted to strange characters or when she "mind-breaks" from pleasure by being touched. The problem is, once you run out of depraved things for her to try, the game is dead.
Why do more games not have the main character stay the same -- e.g., struggling to stay loyal/innocent -- and have the antagonists be the ones getting more and more corrupt? Keep the female character wrestling harder and harder for that innocence, while the aggressors keep raising the temptations/pressure: getting even more pushy when they succeed or more frustrated/forceful when they fail. That approach would solve three of the worst pitfalls for corruption game developers:
- running out of content: instead, you could have a constant fall/redemption cycle
- shallow and flat aggressors: instead, the aggressors have a character arc of indulging their worst impulses, trying things they shouldn't, and evolving as characters over time
- no real choices for players, just "get corrupted" or "not," which is just "see content or not": but if the story was the aggressors getting corrupted, then the player choices would be about roleplaying the female character and/or shaping the plot the way you prefer. For example, if she negotiates ("I need to keep this job"), the bad guys use things like money or opportunity, to her later regret. If she's naive or submissive, bad guys use peer pressure or blackmail or drinking. If she mocks or fights back, the bad guys using nonconsensual methods like threats or drugs. After she does something she doesn't like, maybe she makes new rules for herself (creating the next target for bad guys) or she tries to cope/forget like with drinking or lies to friends (setting up other potential falls).
Anyway, the reason I prefer female protagonist games is I don't like being asked to identify with aggressors/perverts. However, in too many corruption games, it ends up becoming hard to identify with the female/victim too, as she turns into a sex-crazed predator herself. Keep Jennifer Great!
