- Dec 5, 2020
- 2,722
- 18,192
My man!
I think Em is the best choice for Rockford if he wants to overcome the traumas of the past and start living in the present. For "macho" Rockford, she will certainly be a burden.
- Thread starter Impious Monk
- Start date
I think Em is the best choice for Rockford if he wants to overcome the traumas of the past and start living in the present. For "macho" Rockford, she will certainly be a burden.
- Jul 26, 2023
- 10,322
- 21,531
How can you not like someone (even platonically) who giggles and skips just cause a guy said hello to her? LOL
- Jul 25, 2017
- 13,092
- 17,199
I know someone that doesn't like her looks cause of her forehead bugs him but like her character overall
- Jul 26, 2023
- 10,322
- 21,531
That's me too, not a big fan of her looks (IMO Malena & Jamie on the other hand). But as soon as she skipped, I was going to do a playthrough for her too. Although, so far, I think I like her better on the Malena path, than her own. I'll see what happens in future updates.
- Jul 25, 2017
- 13,092
- 17,199
yeah she is to damn cute for me to ignore especially after that skip lol. But I was surprised with how good looking Malena was probably top 10 best looking LI for me. Not to say Jamie isn't good looking but something about Malena cant put my figure on I find more attractive than most other LI in other games.
- Jul 26, 2023
- 10,322
- 21,531
She doesn't make my top 10, but agree with your completely, there is just something about her that draws me in. I like Jamie, but Malena is my number 1 here.
- Apr 25, 2022
- 2,186
- 7,559
That was entirely too weird of a reaction to me, and a weird choice too.
At any rate, I actually got kicked off of the blonde path at the part where she asks if MC likes kids and I chose no. I am more than happy to be rejected by her because I really have no interest in her at all.
Truthfully though, I'm not really onboard with any of the LIs in this one yet. The girls are mostly decent looking, but the chicken legs are too distracting for me. Ex-girlfriend has that big booty but itty-bitty chicken legs. Makes her look like she has butt implants. She'd be just right if those leg sliders went up a couple notches. We all know that thicc thighs save lives.
- Jul 1, 2021
- 93
- 96
One of the best VN I've ever played. Good luck with the development
- Mar 28, 2021
- 4,655
- 8,468
- Jul 25, 2017
- 13,092
- 17,199
doesn't feel like one at all to me. Feels like an adult story to me , since lewds are not the main focus or appeal of this game. tbh this game doesn't even need lewds but hey it's the most common theme in these games and easier to get patrons with them.
- Apr 30, 2017
- 143
- 249
It plays kind of like Depraved Awakening in that there's porn but the thriller/mystery element is carrying way harder than just the sex
Not really, sex was near constant in that game and unavoidable. In this game none of the love interests behave like 304's that throw themselves at you for merely being nice and respectful. You actually have to work for their romance in this game and can easily mess it it up. Sex is by choice as far as I can tell and avoidable if you don't want. Whereas in depraved awakening even if you passed on all the main love interests the game forced you to have sex with a guy's wife and humiliate him while doing so.
The main character of Leaving DNA has more morality in him than any of philly's main characters so far who sleeps with anyone who lets him.
I think he said he was considering making 2 versions of the game for marketing... a non-sex version (with romance just minus sex likely) and the sex version.
- May 3, 2024
- 851
- 2,981
I mean it is the dev's choice after all but is there a point to making a non-sex version? Sex always sells. Who prefers the non-sex version over the sex-version? 1% of ppl? Maybe even less.
The formula is so simple:
Good plot + Lots of lewd scenes = Thousands of supporters on Patreon
- Jul 26, 2018
- 396
- 759
Ocean might have a word with you on that logic. All jokes aside it was a good update. I'm not a fan of episodes being split in parts but I guess other people were probably getting impatient and devs decided to give them something before the mob started with their usual *ABANDONED* tag requests.I mean it is the dev's choice after all but is there a point to making a non-sex version? Sex always sells. Who prefers the non-sex version over the sex-version? 1% of ppl? Maybe even less.
The formula is so simple:
Good plot + Lots of lewd scenes = Thousands of supporters on Patreon
- Dec 5, 2020
- 2,722
- 18,192
Yeah, why would someone make a non-porn film or write, say, a detective novel rather than an erotic story. Everybody knows that good-plot + lots-of-lewds = ...I mean it is the dev's choice after all but is there a point to making a non-sex version? Sex always sells. Who prefers the non-sex version over the sex-version? 1% of ppl? Maybe even less.
The formula is so simple:
Good plot + Lots of lewd scenes = Thousands of supporters on Patreon
The only strange thing is that there are only graves around BaD, the graves of projects whose developers tried to repeat the formula and become really RICH. It must be just bad luck. Or perhaps the formula needs some tweaking.
I'm too lazy to count, but I guess that lewd scenes in LDNA now occupy barely more than 5 percent of the total content (maybe less) and serve only as a spicy seasoning for the main course. It's not like the main concern in the MC's life is how many chicks he does. I feel sorry for those dudes who start this game and at the same time choke the lizard with their left hand, it must be such a disappointment.
Removing lewd scenes from the game or replacing them with non-porn versions that do not show genitals and penetration is unlikely to significantly change the impression of the game (those who wanted juicy porn have already written negative reviews about lack of it). I think this kind of censorship could have hurt the project if it had been porn oriented to begin with, but this is just a different kind of AVN, the game is not about the MC fucking all the chicks around.
But with a version without lewd content, the author will be able to promote the game to a much larger audience and place it on sites that prohibit lewd content.
However, maybe I'm wrong, and in the next updates Rockford will realize what game he's gotten himself into and fuck everyone, even the judge and jury!
EDIT: Of course, the uncut version must be kept too! I wouldn't dare go so far as to suggest abandoning this.
- Dec 4, 2023
- 950
- 1,676
- Oct 14, 2021
- 677
- 3,315
Really good comment, Yossa.
Almost all of the negative reviews Leaving DNA has gotten, whether here or on Steam or some other site, are rooted in the lack of sex. I think part of that comes from players not reaching the lewd scenes that exist (four in story, two in the bonus menu). But also certain players think Leaving DNA would somehow be better if I just took what exists and added more sex. But that's not true.
One thing that distinguishes Leaving DNA from most other AVNs is its focus on character development. This focus has meant that I've taken scenes which players expect to lead to sex scenes and I've subverted expectations by instead using those scenes to develop the characters. For example, MC meeting Sylvia the bartender looks like the player is being introduced to a new romanceable partner, at least a side girl. But Sylvia isn't an LI, and there are actually two different purposes to this scene.
The first is show us that MC is good at flirting with women and will flirt with women he's interested in. This is important to establish because MC's inability to engage in healthy, long-term romantic relationships is central to the story, but that could easily be misunderstood by the player to be caused by something like he's just not good at talking to women or he lacks confidence with women, which is something that players have come to expect from a very large number of AVN MC's. This scene shows that Leaving DNA's MC is good at talking to women and he's great at getting women to be attracted to him. So there's clearly something else going on that prevents him from forming these healthy relationships. (Of course, he's also 6'3" and chiseled--there are multiple ways I establish the point.)
The second purpose of this scene is to establish Jamie's character. Granted, she is a little bit drunk, but her conduct here hammers home both her assertiveness and her feelings for the MC. Also I hope her conduct gives the player a little chuckle. (This assumes the player flirted with Sylvia. And flirting with Sylvia actually does lead to a lewd later on (the teddy bear scene) just not the sex scene with Sylvia the player is expecting.)
Another scene for which I recieved criticism was the scene with Gina in the gym, where she proposes MC meet her for a drink. Players expected to get a choice here: go for the drink with the married woman, or don't. That's what you normally expect from an AVN. But I can't give that choice, nor can I let MC have sex with Gina. It is critical to MC's character that he would not engage in a relationship or sex with a married woman. His response to Gina establishes that he is a man of character with a specific moral code. Family is very important to him. This point is driven home precisely because the player's expectations are being subverted. The reason the scene exists in the game is so that MC can reject Gina. There's no reason for the scene to be there if MC goes out with Gina.
If instead MC does go out with Gina, then what story am I telling? The theme of family is deeply rooted in Leaving DNA, and scene after scene revists this theme. If the familial relationship isn't important to MC, then it would change the way the player views every single one of those scenes. Leaving DNA would be a cheap, inch deep (both philosophically and emotionally) and only moderately interesting mystery story with mediocre 3D renders. The whole fucking point of Leaving DNA is to explore MC's concept of family and his character, not to showcase cheap sex scenes and NOT to get thousands of supporters on Patreon (which frankly would be a futile effort anyway, as noted by Yossa).
(Of course, my supporters did later vote on creating a bonus scene which showed what would have happened if MC and Gina had gone out of the drink. So there's a bit of a have your cake and eat it too going on here, but I don't feel like the presence of the bonus dream scenes detract from Leaving DNA's story-centric approach at all. Considering polling shows that 90% of the players don't even view the dream scenes, their existence has very little impact on the overall player experience.)
This is a bit of an aside, but as for lack of sex with the four LI's, there's already a story-appropriate and character-consistent amount of hookup sex with the ex-girlfriend, Aghavni. There's a difficult-to-unlock-but-still-there drunken hookup with Malena which is very fitting for her character, including the fact that she rejects the MC's sexual advance if her best friend is interested in him. (That rejection has undoubtedly led to many players getting frustrated, but it's a great character-establishing scene for Malena and I'm very proud of it.) As for Emmeline and Jamie, and as for emotionally connected sex with Aghavni and Malena, those sexual relationships will happen when they have been earned by MC, which hasn't happened as of the end of Episode Three. Adding them prematurely would not make the story better. Instead, it would only result in a feeling of disappointment, i.e. "That's it? That wasn't emotionally rewarding at all."
Back to my point, I think that my core audience, while hopeful to ultimately get romance/sex with at least one of the LI's, ultimately enjoys the story without any sex at all. Even for players that enjoy Leaving DNA, this is a relatively small core group who would enjoy it without any sex. But there is a group there. And I think that Leaving DNA, while certainly not the only AVN that doesn't focus on romance/sex, is uniquely situated to test the waters in the non-AVN genre on Steam.
I don't expect the SFW version of Leaving DNA (which will only be made after the NSFW version is finished) to sell a lot of copies. The non-adult VN audience seems to have a very strong preference for Japanese style art. As far as I know, there are no Daz rendered visual novels on Steam that are not adult oriented. If anyone knows of any, please link them. (Summer's Gone doesn't count as sex is planned for Season Two.) But if I can, with minimal work involved, adapt an already completed game to reach even a small audience outside of the AVN community, I see no reason why I wouldn't. It will be nice to make a little bit of extra money from those sales, but I am primarly interested to find out if my little story can still hold players' interest outside of the AVN market.