VN - Others - Completed - Life With a Slave -Teaching Feeling- [v4.0.6 - v2.5.2] [FreakilyCharming]

Alright so this is one of those few H games that actually got acclaim even outside of the usual handjerk circles. Here's my take;


PROS

- The game is paced well. There isnt a moment while I was playing the game where I thought it dragged. Most of it is a result of adding even small details, like changing the dialogue as the trust increases, or a simple smile. A shining example of what can be done with little content.
- There is a reason why this game is titled 'teaching feeling' because essentially that's the end goal; to enable a traumatized girl to feel again. And the emphasis on the feel makes the game emotionally satisfying. You could just fuck her like a toy if you like, but you wont, because youre not a monster. And the game makes that a point.
- Plenty of customization. You can change her clothes, hairstyle, hell you could even change the colour of her clothes if you so fancy. Cant remove those scars though :/
- Surprisingly, H gameplay is robust. In fact, its incredible considering that there isnt any VA nor animations. The interactions you can have with Sylvie means youre not just spamming spacebar, and her reaction to your fucking means youre not fucking a plank of wood. Incredible. Why arent more H games, big or small, just designed like this? So simple its baffling how many games dont do it.


CONS

- The game is bereft of content. Basically speaking, the game practically shows its hand the moment the fucking starts, which is usually about the third hour, depending on how much headpats or dialogue you so wish to explore.
- Speaking of which. Despite my praise of its pacing and emotional satisfaction, it cannot hide the fact that you are basically just spamming headpats/talk until the game progresses. And even then you'll still be spamming headpats/talk because what else is there to do? You get to take her for walks and that's about it. Our protagonist is a doctor. But you'll never know it because he never really do any work. Also, there's some sort of silliness going on when you spent entire days headpatting her like some kind of psycho.
- The game is great. But aside from its H gameplay, its about as complex as sitting on a barstool. To fail in this game is basically to fail as a human being. You quite literally cannot possibly get the bad ending unless you purposefully want to get it. And the path towards rehabilitating Sylvie is basically a linear progression of headpats/chatting. A shame really. Because a game has the potential to test the limits of our humanity but instead its basically just yet another simplistic VN, where the sex is entirely the reason to play it.


COMMENTARY

Alright, so let's get past some introductions. You play as a doctor. One day a stranger visits you and claims you saved his life. In return, he gives you a packet full of cash...and a slavegirl named Sylvie. Oh yes, how much any of us wish such a thing is even remotely believable, especially considering that despite the tragedy that have befallen the girl, shes somehow still a virgin. Perhaps the most unbelievable part of them all.

Your task is essentially just be human, and slowly teach Sylvie what it means to be human again...teaching feeling, if you will. Its all done is a very neat, very smart manner which for some reason is rarely ever explored in H games. Sylvie's dialogue and mannerisms slowly adapt as her trust improves. Its really that simple. Have gameplay affect the characters, and thus make it emotionally satisfying. Not spamming needless minigames, or have the entire game centered around sex. There's plenty to be had just focusing on small details.

The artwork is simple. Its about average, nothing to shout about. The art design is not likely to ever make you cum just by looking at it. Very much remind me of Kotoyama's style, but clearly amateurish. Cant help but wonder what heights this game would have reached if the artwork was sublime.


CONCLUSION

So all in all, the game fully deserves its acclaim, because it manages to do so much with so little that you cant help but feel it should be the premiere example of a VN done right. Its not paced like a snail going past a salt mine like waifu konko, is somehow more emotionally satisfying than imouto monochrome, and the H is far simpler yet better than 1room in every aspect of the imagination.

Only nitpick is that its short, perhaps a tad too short. But that's not stopping me from replaying the game, and it still gave me a granite boner. Heartily recommended.

Excellent Game, pretty charming visually and with simple but still great mechanics and Visuals. Some Sounddesigne sadly no Voice. Good variety of Cloths possible. Connection with her really feels real, one of the best games low-key.

Mostly played through. Excellent game that can be played in a variety of ways (though some much preferable than others); impressive visuals and interesting characters. Will need to get back to it in the near future.

personaly low senes lots of grinding lots of yawning and fake choices because if you pick the wrong one the game jsut ends like i wasnt just going to go buy a new one oh and you cant sex people without concent to fake tags 2

Very good cohabitation game



Story:
It's very simple and liniear, it creates a nice atmosphere for the world you're in, the progression between you and the girl, starting from meek subservient interaction to loving and adorable affecttion

Gameplay:
Cohabitation game, quite simple, get affection, unlock positions, train her, rinse and repeat
Getting the scenes isnt to tedious, the interaction sex is very good

Art:
The main selling point, the art style is both very pretty and sexy when it wants to, scars are a very easy thing to fuck up but the dev managed to make Sylvie very attractive despite, no, perhaps attractive specifically WITH the scars, and obviously, the scenes look very good aswell
Then theres the outfits, there is ALOT of them and you can make your very own Sylvie, like those shitty flash dress up games but good.

Characters:
Asside from the main duo, everyone else is just a simple trope, i wish i can fuck the restaurant girl honestly
Either way
Sylvie starts out nicely being all traumatized, meek and lifeless, then, like with most slave games, once you show them basic human respect they instantly fall in love with you, i guess it's just tradition at this point
Either way, her changes are nice to observe


Highly recommended for the cohabitation genre

The best simulator game you will ever experience, wonderful wholesome writing, character progression, charming art, I really want to see if there will be a better simulator game than this one as long as I live, it just feels like you can't write a wholesome porn story better than this one.

There won't be any updates to this game for a while though - Developer K-Ray just moved back to Japan and is busy.
But it is still being worked on.

If anyone has any issues - just ask - mod patch is still being worked on - so I will update the links when it's needed.
Worth using though.

After playing Love At First Sight, I really wanted to know more about that artist and the other games he made. I had already briefly played Teaching Feelings a few years back, but I didn't go very far in it. A few months beforehand, I had the opportunity to play Butterfly Affection, with the same gritty atmosphere and visual style, where you raised a girl quite similarly to TF; the mechanics are basically the same here, except quite a bit more exploited and complex, as the game entirerly revolves around being a slave raising simulator.

I also played Determinable Unstable, which wasn't great and was quickly abandoned, and made me honestly doubt about the developer's skills as a writer, as so far the only game whose story I liked was Love at first Sight. So after hearing about TF and how popular it was with the community, I hoped to find a middle ground between BA and LafS, with a compelling story and characters and the same mechanics.

So, Teaching Feelings is, sadly for me, just a slave simulator. There is not much in terms of story here ; you just received a girl as payment for saving a guy's life, and now you have to raise her and teaching how to properly function as a normal human being again.

The main issue I have with all of this is the way her character development is conveyed here is really boring. The only thing you do all day long is pressing the same two buttons and choose obviously the morally good choices in branching paths and you'll get the girl do whatever you want. I hoped I could find here something more than in BA, and while there are many customizations options for the girl, which is nice, very few of these things actually impact the story in the grand scheme of things. At the end of the day, this is just a training simulator with a few flavor text and clothes as a reward for pressing the same two buttons again and again.

It doesn't help the fact that this game is only partially translated even to this day ; there are many instances of texts being left alone in japanese on buttons and menus, which makes it virtuall impossible to make certain choices unless you select the right option by accident. That's why I didn't spend a long time on the sex menu, as everything is still in japanese for some reason, as if the translators decided to sleep halfway though the translation. This isn't the fault of the dev though, so I'll let it slide.

What is the fault of the dev however, is using the same subpar visual novel engine he has been using for all his game so far. Usually I'm not the one to bash engines, and I don't know how much of it is the fault of the dev or the engine, but his games are often laggy, with poor control schemes, take a while to load images and open menus, don't have a rollback feature during dialogues, and might not even start when you click on the executable. Cherry on top, the dev sometimes decides to either hide the save function in some bizarre way, or like in TF, only allow at very specific moments in the story. I know Japanese devs prefer to use Japanese engines for their games, but this time, just this time, I think the dev would be better of just using something like Renpy for that kind of stuff.

I didn't finish Teaching Feelings. I expected something mor akin to Love at first Sight, which was a simple story that effectively handled the themes it wanted to convey, and wasn't bogged down by useless mechanics like in TF. Butterfly Affection also had the same kind of mechanics as TF, albeit much more primitive, but in that case I was fine with it as it was a much smaller game more about the mystery about the monster girl you took care of than real character development.

Here, it's just boring. I wouldn't say it's bad, as the artstyle is really nice, and if you're into slave training simulators, you might find something to your taste. But if you're not, like me, you won't find much of interest that other games don't do better. And don't get fooled by the premice ; there's some lines of dialogue of character development for the girl, but that's it in terms of story.

The tone of this game is grayish and depressing, you take in an abandoned, abused, traumatized ex-slave into your care. There is no trauma dumping, unlike another obvious clone that has gone way too edgy in that department which I will not name. The silence and indifference of the girl speaks louder than any words to portray how hurt she was in her past occupation. As the game progresses, you get to show her love and care that she has never had in her life, slowly healing her past wounds and de-traumatizing her.

Truth be told, there isn't that much to do in the game. While the art is top tier, mechanically, this game is 3 stars top. However, this game will forever remain my favorite eroge of all time, because it allows me to have my head canon of being a person that another human being can entrust her body and soul to, it never fails to overwhelm my heart with wholesomeness and warmth.

So if the game doesn't impress you in the way I just described, it will be a painfully average game. If you are looking for that warm, wholesome feeling, this game will teach you very well about it.

Boring, so boring. Idk why this game was so hyped few years ago, but its really boring for me, even with updates of CGs and voices. Story is ok, but what u can do in game so poor. Btw my girl dies twice before I checked walkthrough and 1 time after. ANd at 4th attempt I finnaly start playing, but cant end, cuz it was boring :\

Good story, sad story for female main character, compelling reasons for why things happen, game turns out to be a enjoyable experience, if a bit grindy. Sylvie will be a character i will always remember going from sad/half-dead to a joyous, happy, and helpful.

I played an old build of the game but it was very complete, it's a very beautiful story if you think about this whole style of caring for someone vulnerable with all the love in the world, it's very wholesome, I highly recommend it.

absolutely loved it, played this game for the longest time and enjoyed every second of it, even out of curiosity at some point i checked the 'bad' options which resulted in a bad end because hey it's not about treating them badly it kinda feels like the end result will be that they will either stay submissive but the real reward is getting them to like you by treating them nicely

v2.5.2

How the heck do people give this game 4-5 Stars?
It´s not a terrible game, but it´s pretty depressing, incredibly grindy and it feels like a tamagotchi game but more boring and repetitive with the same actions that you need to repeat all the time.
I like the artstyle and that you turn her life around, but this game is incredibly dull and so one dimensional.

Headpat simulator 2000: Porn for the soul...and well also porn for the dick too I guess, but mainly for the soul

Hope you weren't hoping for a 100% wholesome game tho, she'll fucking rape you if you try to deny her the D

One of my favorite games on the site. The gameplay is nothing special, but the plot and the art style really make the game stand out from the rest. My only complaint is that the game is a little grindy, and I wish the dev would release new content on a wide scale of things.

This is by far one of the best hentai games on this site. Although I wish it had a proper ending, the nice little option-choice gameplay, wholesome cutscenes, fantastic hentai CGs, and overall charm makes it all worthwhile. I absolutely loved the experience and I'm glad to have played this.

How come people call this a masterpiece?
I'd have more fun slamming my fingers with a hammer, and at least I would achieve something.

When does the game become interesting?

I'm at day 30, and all I do is chat, go to the cafe, eat shortcake, chat again, rinse and repeat, what fun indeed.

There is no story, while the eyes and mouth are animated, the sex is just static CG, and so far, there is no story or gameplay.

I'm so bored, I'm skipping every piece of conversation, maybe sometimes she says something interesting, but skipping is just a reflex by now, I even forget to go to the café from time to time.

Installation is kinda tiring, wish the links were updated on the first page.
The game itself is awesome. After getting past her sickness you are basically free to do whatever you want. The game gives you a guide for all the scenes, but there are not that many. You need high lust to get the last scenes, and if you don't get the pink flowers and make potions, increasing lust is nearly impossible (unless you change the gamemode). The game is your typical slave game, either you treat her like a princess or you treat her like a pile of dirt, both work in this game. I'd still recommend everyone to try this game as in my opinion it's a masterpiece.