Ren'Py - Love, Lust, and Rock 'n Roll [v1.9.1] [FlinPaltwell]

The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle


First off: I like the concept of this game.
Instead of producing the hundredth DAZ-style clone the dev of Love, Lust and Rock 'n Roll tries to think outside the box and create something different. That's commendable.
However, I also feel there's still a lot of room for improvement.
But one thing at a time...


Visuals

The art style is surely not for everyone - you probably either like it or you don't.
I quite like it, I even find it charming in its own quirky way.
The girls are kinda cute, but most of them suffer from the big boobs syndrome. A little more variety would have been nice.
The lewd scenes (and rare animations) are pretty hot - the girls not having nipples is quite a turnoff, though.
Unfortunately, there are also quite a lot of scenes where you have to stare at a black screen and read a text description of what is currently going on. That's a big bummer considering it's a visual novel.
Sally also just appears as a simple silhouette for now.


Music

There is no music - which is kinda odd (lame?) considering this is a game centered around a freaking rock 'n roll band.
I hope the developer will add music (and maybe sound effects) at some point.
It doesn't have to be blaring music in a continuous loop - some accenting, unobtrusive music and ambient sounds would suffice.
Music matching the current situation (romance, suspicion, immediate danger of getting caught cheating, etc.) would be even better.
I'm sure most people who have played a game or read a visual novel with fitting music will agree that it can significantly amplify a story's atmosphere.


Writing

The story is - for the most part - nicely written in proper English and I like that it's focused on developing (loving) relationships instead of "Hi, can I ride your dick?".
On top of that there's a good amount of eroticism (hugging, handholding, making out) plus the thrill of cheating.
However, the writing is also lacking in several regards.
I wished the mini-game conversations were actual conversations instead of the continuous "you talk about casual things" - at least give the reader a general idea of what people are talking about ("we had a conversation about music").
Also, a lot of situations leading up to one-on-one conversations don't feel very believable.
For example when Stella introduces us to her sister (who btw. is MC's classmate - and he didn't even know she's his girlfriend's sister, eh?), she immediately has to go. Or when the band meets for dinner - Eric suddenly remembers he has to feed his dog and Stella realizes she has to meet a friend.
It would be nice if the writer puts a bit more effort into explaining why the MC is suddenly alone with his GF's sister or his best friend's girlfriend. Stella could have announced earlier that she has an appointment and couldn't have dinner with them - and Eric could receive an urgent telephone call or something like that.
Some scenes also seem super weird / implausible if not downright ridiculous.
MC has a sleepover at his GF's house and suddenly her mom comes crawling into his bed because she forgot he's there? WTF?
On top of that we can't avoid the MC indecently hugging her in said situation (she's suddenly freezing, duh) which annoyed me quite a bit because I was doing a "faithful boyfriend" playthrough. At least give us a choice to hug her or not.


Game mechanics

There are two prominent game mechanics in LLRR setting it apart from many other adult games / VNs - and both are a double-edged sword.
Firstly, there's the randomness of scenes which boosts replayability.
On the other hand it also means that events sometimes don't evolve as naturally as with traditional storytelling. In my playthrough Stella introduced the MC to her sister and in one of the next scenes Amy was already visiting him (in reality it would be more likely the three of them hang out first until they know each other better).
Secondly, the conversation system, which allows us to define the MC's relationships towards the different girls and pursue the girls we want (it reminds me of Seduce Me where conversations are represented by card games).
The downside of this system in its current form (as already mentioned above) is that it's not really interesting or fun. It actually becomes quite repetitive and grindy within a short amount of time, especially since there are certain phrases which get reused over and over ("you smile, but she doesn't return it").
Conversations also sometimes lack consistency - like when at the end of a successful conversation Stella suddenly acts dismissive - only to smile at you in the next scene telling you how much she loves you.


User interface

Apparently, the dev of LLRR has put some thought into creating the game's UI. It's clean, it's functional.
I like the idea of character-tied dialogue font colours, but wished they would be more distinctive. Some of them are also hard to read.
I also think that the conversation UI could be better (looking). Right now it looks very "technical" displaying lots of raw (and rather boring) stats.
Some suggestions: Place the conversation choices (and choices in general) more prominently in the (lower) middle of the screen. Rephrase some of the ambiguous sounding words (passionate discussion -> flirt?, guilt -> restraint / reluctance?). Translate the raw stats (love, lust, suspicion) into visual elements by turning them into bars (love-meter, suspici-o-meter, etc. accompanied by a distinct icon). A more extravagant solution would be to display a torso of Stella - with her facial expression changing according to how much she likes you or how suspicious she is (or maybe add hearts or an exclamation mark above her head). Her body language or the way she's dressed (conservative / slutty) could imply her lust, etc. Hovering over her torso could still display the raw stats (lust 45, for example).


Bugs

So far I encountered one possible bug:
The MC was in a casual conversation with Julie in the kitchen, when he was suddenly "leaning" over her in a weird pose.
Probably either a scripting error or visual bug.


Conclusion

My first impression of Love, Lust and Rock 'n Roll wasn't that favourable to be honest - the game seemed not polished enough and also a bit too grindy at times to be entirely enjoyable.
However, the longer I played, the more the game, its characters and story grew on me.
Despite the shortcomings mentioned above I think Love, Lust and Rock 'n Roll is a true work of love - with the potential to become even better in the future.

Also, Stella is the cutest, damn.

Just found this game today, fell in love with it. The relationships feel pretty organic for an erotic game, and I cant wait to see more of how the 'secret' relationships develop. I would like to see a few more scenes with the actual girlfriend too though. Keep up the great work!

I really enjoyd this game. The system is solid, it all works great. I really like the idea of the Ascension mode, in general a good game.

I hope it keeps developing and I hope there comes some more depth in, mostly, the sex scenes. Doing the same vanilla sex scene over and over again with every character becomes a little boring.

Such an overrated game.. I was tricked by the images and overwhelmingly positive reviews.
The game mechanic is very unique and might have been entertaining if if wasn't just clicking on text over and over again (yep, that's called "grinding") to progress with the women.
The first start lets me choose my desired framerate for animated scenes by watching a (very nice!) scene.. but it very much looks like this one was just to trick me, because all of the lewd stuff I've ran into so far was either NOT ANIMATED or just another still image, which was.. shaking. No joke. A shaking image instead of an animated scene.
The models are ugly, BUT they suffice for the moment.

No recommendation.
Btw: Yes, I came here for the lewd stuff, not for reading through texts. Because that's what games on F95 are mainly made for. Or should be.

Really great erotic game. I like the randomness of it. Do not spend your cards randomly though and save them so major events may pop up. If you want to spend them, focus on 1 girl and keep a few available. I would give it 5 stars if it had nipples.

A hidden gem.

The art looks great. The conversations are fun. The conversation game is interesting. The ascension idea is interesting.

The randomness is interesting, and not something to be overly concerned with as the ascension mode lets you try again if you want.

I played this three times and each play through was quite different. Even the Ascension play through I did was really different. There is almost no chance of doing everything in a single play through. And in fact you don't want to because things play out differently when you progress with the women at different stages of the game. So missing a scene early just means you will have a different experience with that same woman later.

Each time something different happened I was pleasantly surprised.

It is just a very unique game, where all the game mechanics are actually very well thought out.

The characters are all quite different.

I even enjoy the developers posts as he seems like an interesting person that isn't worried about his game coloring way outside of the usual lines that are associated with games in this genera.

I am sure there are some people that will complain as the porn is actually more sensual than graphic. The art is unique. While you don't actually see any of the women having sex with other men, we know it is happening as it is alluded to.

The consequences for being a cheating bastard aren't glossed over.

This was well worth my time and I look forward to seeing where this goes as I suspect it may become a huge train wreck for those players that are trying to pull a harem.

Love, Lust, and Rock 'n Roll is worth a play through just to experience the originality and creativity that went into this project. Fantastic to play something that surprised me.

This is the sort of game that I will play from scratch every single time a new update comes out as the story will be a bit different each time.

LLRR is a highly unusual game... both in terms of its mechanics (which deliver believable story randomization AND a credible narrative... no mean feat) and its overall quality (superb).

It also has an idiosyncratic art style which I find terrific... but that might not appeal to everyone. Many recent games aim for a realistic rendering style that (A) often risks falling into the 'uncanny valley' and/or (B) reuses stock assets in a way that leads to a 'sameness' in how certain characters look. There's no danger of that here... LLRR has a sort of western anime style that I think works very well.

But the biggest plus is that the Dev understands eroticism: this is a cheating fetish game, and knows how to play to/with its audience (there is zero NTR). It is a massive fappfest for those of us who like this sort of thing.

Why the hell don't they have more support on Patreon? This is exactly the sort of worthy, extremely creative, recent entry that deserves maximum backing. I already give the Dev a bit of $$, and will try for more in the coming months... you should too.

Plenty of content, beautiful girls, with good english and a story who is not : you come back in your familly after 5 years bla bla bla bla.

Love the point system with the ascending mode. You can see all the content without missing something and it's not boring to replay all. You can skip if you want.

I loved everything in this game. I wish to see more.

This is easily one of the most notable projects on this site, which sadly will go unnoticed by many because it doesn't look flashy on the surface like many of those worthless unity projects that have a handful of disconnected high texture models and animations(the projects we all know will never get finished).

What Love, Lust and Rock'n Roll lacks on the surface it certainly makes up under the hood. The writing is good and mechanically the game delivers an intriguing story that can have countless altering paths. It feels like an actual game. It is still in fairly early stages so much of it is still undelivered potential, but I have good faith that it will deliver a finished product one day.

Definitely one of my personal favorites.
4 stars because it is not complete or perfect, so I can't justify perfect score at the moment.

This game is a breath of fresh air, it really differentiates itself from other games on this website in a good way.

I'm really loving this art style and prefer it over the traditional DAZ models, voluptuous breasts are a big bonus as well =)

The story is good; not overcomplicated, but not too dull either. The romance interests are beautiful, and the sex scenes are vanilla so they aren't degrading anything of that sort, just very well done. The animations are a bonus and nicely done but it isn't necessary imo, because there is sufficient amount of CG in the sex scenes with a good enough pace.

Where the game really excels imo are the game mechanics. This isn't a generic game, so you won't be able to unlock everything on your first playthrough. There's a thing called Ascension mode, basically a NG+ with stats from your previous playthrough that creates higher chances to unlock even more CG in your next playthroughs which I found very rewarding.

This game is genuinely fun to play and replay again so I'll definitely add it on my watch list!

I thoroughly enjoyed this game in large part because of its innovative mechanics. It's not complicated and feels more natural, not as forced as more "standard" mechanics people use. The other elements are on par: the story is not bad and art is ok, but the game play brings it all together.

As the description suggests you can replay it, maybe once though, but I wonder how the random component of the mechanics is going to work out with the game growing and people wanting to see every single scene. Personally I do not care if I missed a scene or two, but perhaps including some mechanism to see "what did I miss" would be an idea? I do not think people would want to replay too many times just to get the very last scene that they missed.

This game is brilliant. Its not your usaual visual novel, the game is all about converstion. You start the game with a girlfriend and then depending on how faithful or unfaithful you want to be you can try it on with her sister, her mother, or your band mate. As the conversations are random you are not just going to roll back until you get the answer you want to bang them all. Trust me i tried. The graphics are not the best and there is strangly no nipples, but it has animation and some interesting situations. I didn't see Yoga, shopping or the gym in sight. looking forward to more

Man this game just needs more content, more scenes (preferably animated ones), that is it. Oh... and... replayable scenes... (really wish this would be standard in H games, just like boobs are standard). Music would be a nice touch. Maybe more girls. But being honest: it just needs more content.

And to be clear, there is not a poor amount of content today, I would say the amount is... acceptable. But the game is great. Basically you have a girlfriend, and your girlfriend has a best friend (who is your best friend's gf), and your gf has a older sister, and your gf has a mom. You get where this is going.

Due to how the gameplay works, I don't know if dev could add more girls without making the experience a cluster fuck. Maybe. But as an example it would be cool if your best friend had a mom. If he had a... younger sister? Or if MC had a mom... and... you get it.

The gameplay is actually pretty good, it's feels like an actual game! But not too much of a game that it detracts from story and H content. You sort of need to experience it for yourself, it's not a crazy concept or anything but it works really well.

I think the art is good. I cranked the framerate up on the animated scenes just fine (THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME TO, THEY LOOK SO GOOD MAXED OUT).

I think the characters are believable and interesting.

It's great. Recommended in current state (with understanding that game is not content rich at the moment), and definitely recommended in future states.

Fucking amazing. I love the randomization, the emotional connections tp the characters, the replayability, the conversation minigame, and the busty chicks. I can't wait for more episodes! Can't decide between Julie and Amy so far...