Ren'Py - Completed - Long Live the Princess [v1.0.1] [Belle]

Surprisingly good writing and female characters with some depth greatly enliven a basic mind-control setup, while a finding clues+deduction mechanic keep the plot ticking along.

In addition, the games creator is very active and responsive on the thread.

The following review is based off my personal experience with playing this Game/Visual Novel... I try to be as brutally honest and detailed as I can, and these are my own opinions and thoughts, from one or more play throughs... The version this review is based on is v0.3.1...

Originally Reviewed on 12/10/2017

Well, I've gone through the content available in 0.3.1 and I have to say that I like this Visual Novel/Game... It's not quite as filled with story as most Visual Novels, and there is a small amount of grinding, but not bad at all... I love the humor and it looks well put together...

The visuals are really good, with unique backdrops and characters... The characters themselves are crisp and have no flaws that I could see, i mean even the old crone (albeit an ugly old crone) was modelled well and looked the part... The backdrops and rooms looked sharp and went well with the more medieval fantasy theme...

The script has a unique with a fun plot, even if it is not like most visual novels with more game than vn, it was fun to read and the dialogue/monologue was top notch... As it is still early in development, the side quest stories are not lengthy but they do give you some clues now and then as to where to go and look... The humor between the protagonist and the fairy is absolutely hilarious, although there is a bit more profanity coming from the fairy then I think was necessary... It somewhat takes away from the idea of it being based in medieval times, since she had a sailors mouth... Profanity used in moderation can add to the humor, used too much and it takes away from the humor... It's not horrible, i just thought it was used sometimes at the wrong moments or went a bit overboard... Still, she was hilarious... And all the other characters had great personalities that really shined, with how the author/s scripted their dialogue and story...

It does have a small amount of stat grinding, some you can see, and some you probably can't... And once again, because it's early in it's development there isn't a huge amount of content at the moment... There is enough to give you a good sense of how the game play works and direction the story plays out... It does lean more towards being a story driven game, and less of a visual novel, yet still chopped full of story to read and lots of choices to make... There are several, what you could describe as quests to be completed, and some places to explore, but I'm sure lots more are in the works... Erotic scenes do occur, but I didn't feel that was the driving force of the main plot, and they didn't overtake the story, which I appreciated... The protagonist is a bit of a pervert but it's not what drives his every action...

This game/vn has a LOT of potential, and I really hope it continues to develop with the same humor and great story that it already contains... I look forward to checking back on this one once it's a bit further along into development... Great work so far...

There're few erotic games out there were I care about the story - this game is one of them.
Sure, the visuals are really good, but with so many bad stories out there it's really refreshing to have characters you're interested in and want to learn more about.
Now, as of now (0.3) there's some erotic content in it, but no actual sex. I can promise you though that this short trip will still keep you entertained all the way through.

This game was surprisingly good.

A+ for writing/story. Funny, contextual, hot. Pixie dick-hump was the best. Plus an actual mystery to unravel...
A+ for renders. Real girls. Realistic proportions. Totally immersive. Fun animations, multiple perspectives.
A+ for gameplay/code. WOW! Fun puzzles that make SENSE and are hot at the same time.
A for project management. Nice re-use of backgrounds, scenes. Goes to A+ if dev delivers on a tight monthly schedule.

This game starts off strong with good code and good gameplay but fades in later updates with woefully low content and NTR. A fantastic start, but fading delivery.

Overall, in an over-saturated market where even more perverse features like mind control and incest are becoming cliches, this game stands out for its solid narrative-driven mechanics beneath these features, semi-unique world-building, and its firmly above average 3D art.

Room for improvement: Incredibly generic name. It may be too late to change it, but I would have easily overlooked this game if you hadn't linked it to a Discord I'm part of. The princess isn't even going to show up until near the end of the game, the focus of this story seems to be on mc's magical development, and it may help if the title reflects this.

A stats page is desperately needed, and may already be planned. I definitely need a way to track the mc's various stats and relationship levels. Being able to see what day of the week, and period of the day, at all times rather than during transition screens would also be a must. The lack of these features even in this somewhat early build was the primary source of frustration during this playthrough.

I see nothing wrong about very blatantly adapting mechanics from other games if you're going to alter them to this extent. If you're going to do so, you may want to borrow another: when there is a limiting stat on an action or dialogue option, I would recommend including the stat requirement. If I'm going to seek to raise my stats for the sake of new options in a new game plus, or grind for the opportunity to select a new option, I'm going to need to know exactly what goal i'm going for.

This leads me to another point: if you're designing this game for replay-ability, directly encouraging at least a second playthrough through stat requirements and dialogue options that has impact on the storyline, I believe you're going to need more incentive. If you're really going for a great game, I believe you're going to need to create very delineated paths in the game with different incentives and bonuses for each. Being led to replay the game, with only the reward of slightly different dialogue, early relationships, and a few advanced scenes on top of a multitude of things you've already done just seems like a major letdown.

Lastly, and this is the most minor suggestion, I've never quite seen the point of locking in choices during rollback. The same audience that will be inclined to rollback in order to alter their choice are the ones who will save at every single choice and re-load at will. They only become needlessly inconvenienced with a few extra clicks, and possibly missing the opportunity by not saving. Unless you're going to disable the ability to save at any point, which I'd strongly discourage, disabling choices during rollback seems like a pointless nuisance. However, if doing so somehow increases the stability of the game and avoids possible errors, then I totally get it.

I still give this game a five for its solid mechanics and great potential, and look forward to future developments.