Seeking Looking for a specific type of game

[primeumaton]

My friend is looking to find a specific kind of game, and I don't think it has a genre to easily identify it.

Her criteria, in her words:

One of those games where your skills need to be levelled to do different paths, and leveling them can trigger things. Such as some of the games you see in passing on animes (typically otaku playing them).
A comprehensive story.
An example is Doki Doki being interesting, as well as being well made as a game and not just something to read.

Exclude rape, gore, and sex that doesn't involve any humans at all. Probably exclude overly large insertions as well.

I don't know what games fit perfectly, hence this post. Any help would be appreciated. ♥

 

[Danceofmasks]

https://f95zone.to/threads/champions-of-liberty-institute-of-training-v0-671-yahotzp.46255/

Ok, it's the only thing that I can think of right now, and it's a world with no men .. but if it fits the criteria I'm sure others can suggest similar games.

 

[Pretentious Goblin]

Hm, bit hard to say since I haven't seen those animes or played Doki Doki. Nor am I overly familiar with the games below, but I know they have stats (which sometimes gate sex content) and paths or at least mutually-exclusive scenes. None are completed, but they've got a lot of content already.

CQ I recall has 3 different attributes and various skills. But it's pretty focused on noncon/dubcon, though I think flat-out rape is avoidable.
Caliross has various stats and paths. And seems fairly vanilla for a game of this kind. Fits the description pretty well, I think.
Our Red String is a VN, but more involved including skills.
Kingdom of Deception may also be a good fit. Has stats and mutually-exclusive content. Still essentially a VN. Don't be put off by the screenshots, afaik that rape scene is either avoidable or in fact no longer in the game.

 

[justpassingbyreally]

Planet Stronghold series?
It's an RPG and

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are purely for event checks (though I don't remember if you can get locked out of anything important like endings or romance paths if you lack a particular skill). Story-wise think Mass Effect series (even down to things like race-dooming choices or the third game having a grander and darker story than the previous two and the middle one being somewhat of a breather episode with more focus on getting to know your party members).

Long Live the Princess has a good/engaging story and should have skill checks by now (not sure about it as I haven't played it in a while). Possibly not much regarding the gameplay, depending on what she expects (it's finding clues and using them to solve mysteries to prepare for the endgame events).

While I haven't played it, Heads Will Roll sounds like it may meet her requirements.

She might be interested in the dating sim genre, as a lot of games in it have things like training specific skills to win favor with love interests, and planning schedules for the protagonist (when to train, when to rest, when to do other things, with love interests having own schedules and there being random or timed events that you may miss if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time). Finding dating sims with good stories might be a challenge, though.

If she likes Harry Potter, there's Magic Diary: Horse Hall (not here; the sequel has a boy for the protagonist, the first game is from girl's point of view), but the story isn't anything special - it's mostly about romance and trying to graduate (you attend classes to learn spells and the tests are mini-dungeons where you have to get creative with the spells you know to reach the exit and pass).

Princess Maker 2 is a classic but it's a sandbox game without much story. I recall its spiritual sequel Long Live the Queen (do not confuse with LLtPrincess mentioned above) fixing that part at least to some degree. There have been some SFW indie "choose your own adventure" RPGs coming out in recent years, too (I only remember the title of Sacred Fire which she may want to bookmark, but it's not out yet).

 

[Pretentious Goblin]

Princess Maker 2

Oh, that reminds me of Naked Ambition, which has a combination of training, skillchecks, deckbuilding and RNG, which determine the outcomes to the semi-randomized order of events and can start/end various character routes. Rape is avoidable but you need the right skills at certain events.