Loved it. Nice storylines, character are well written ("Bella, fetch." still gives me a smile). The fact that you can rename most characters to your liking makes it all the more personnal at some points.
A great visual novel I'll replay with pleasure so i can get all the achievments.
First of all I'll admit that I didn't go past book 1, so my score it based solely on that part.
Love of Magic Book 1 is one of the worst offenders in the "sandbox-but-actually-a-kinetic-novel" type of games. It's biggest crime that it tries to trick the player into thinking they actually have a choice and what they do in the game matter and wastes a lot of their time doing so.
The story looked alright, decently executed "choosen one" MC with a harem trope, but not good enough to carry the game on it's own. Didn't notice any attempt to give the tropes some original/unique twist and like in a lot of these stories some of character dialogue and actions make your palm meet your face. MC becomes less and less likeable as the game goes on.
Static renders and models look good, there's a noticeable drop in quality when animations are involved.
The main part, porn. Vanilla kinks, bland situations and dialogue. And there's not much of it.
Overall I didn't enjoy this game and found it dull.
PS: the song in "Starbucks" is pretty good.
Excellent storyline (not erotic) and porn scenes. I think the game can be recommended to people who are not into porn (but are "not disgusted" by it) because the game is ultra interesting.
PS. If, like me, you are delighted with it, do not regret your money and buy it on Steam, or at least buy a more expensive package for a month on Patreon.
I found this to be a very good game.
Nicely written, I loved the story line, lore. Story is very consistent through the 3 books. clever plotline. Also very good balance between story and xxx events.
It has good gameplay,
in my top 5 of best games on this site
A true work of art! I actually learned stuff from playing this game, whether cut from the whole cloth or a reflection of real life, especially about various Asian food dishes. I will miss these characters like few others.
There's obviously a been lot of work put into this game, and it definitely has some good qualities, but from a porn perspective it isn't good.
The main thing this game has going for it is the detail and effort put into the story. I wouldn't say the writing overall is anything special, but there is clearly thought put into it. Some aspects are interesting, others are pretty dumb, but by porn game standards it is decent.
On the flip side though, the sex scenes and erotic parts of the game are pretty boring by porn game standards, and very sparse. The "game" part of it feels very stretched out and padded. Its really more of a romance game than porn, which isn't necessarily a criticism depending on what you want, but personally I don't care for it.
The visuals overall are decent, but not great. The puppeted animation style during sex scenes is a bit of a waste of effort to me. The animations aren't terrible, but generally just look a bit awkward. I would have preferred just more still frames.
First let me say that I loved the game, truly. 100% recommended if you have a good amount of time. There are some good and bad things that stood out for me.
Good:
- The story is brilliant, suspensive and lovely.
- Harem
- Colourful characters and interactions
- Easy grind if you want to stack up stats without cheating, but you can just cheat and get it over with.
Bad:
- I'm not a fan of the combat and I found the reason it was like that silly
- The chosen don't get enough love for how loyal and dedicated they are.
- A cheesy concept that love will conquer all in the end. Also I hated Emily all the while, but that's just me personally
now that love of magic is finally completed, I can say this game is absolutely fantastic.
pros:
the character work is actually amazing. each character feels real and there's a lot of truly memorable ones.
the overall story is really interesting and full of twists and events that keep you intrigued. there's also a lot of good humor and lovely lighthearted moments. emotionally it's very gripping, some tears may be shed.
the music is grand, a lot of fitting and appropriately epic pieces.
the poker gameplay is quite fun and getting a build together can be interesting. if it doesn't click with you (or you get tired of it), it's incredibly easy to just skip as well.
graphically it mostly looks quite good
cons:
while i like the general designs, i'm not a huge fan of a couple of the faces (but that's probably personal preference).
i kind of wish there was some sort vn mode, that just played all events chronologically. for future replays (which are definitely on the menu) having to do all the sandbox stuff is not super ideal.
akane doesn't get enough love
overall this is one of the top tier games on the site. it's so good that i almost wish it wasn't a porn game so i could make all my friends play it too. i'm looking forward to the dev's future projects.
-It's hard to only give 3 stars to Love of Magic because there's lot of good about it but there are some serious cons that really break it for me.
The Pros :
the writing is quite good, the characters dialogues are mostly believable
the story and arthurian inspired lore are interesting
the characters have their own personnality
The Cons :
-Choices , there's no choice that matter or actually do something, the story is completely linear in every ways meaning the MC can't choose to pursue or reject any of the women that are thrown at him, all his relationships and actions are forced on him without you choosing anything, there's no love interest path to choose or not everything is forced into harem regardless of what makes sense to you.
So be warned , despite the illusion of having sometime a choice (that has no impact actually), Love of Magic is a kinetic novel, not a sandbox or a choice driven VN
-anal fetish , related to the previous cons : while nearly all AVN have something like that, the authors usually know that it's not a fetish every readers have and so smartly make it optional through dialogues or story (thanks as it's really a fetish i don't have). Love of Magic forces the MC into anal fetish for no reason (especially after the scene with Akane shows that the *spoiler* does not requires it at all).
-MC is just too fake, i mean if you read his dialogues and thoughts about Emily, she's supposed then to be the absolute love of his life, yet the MC will go have sex with every women on his path, then "i love you , you're the only one for me" wooden dialogues again everytime he's around his wife. It feels so fake that it really brings down the whole thing to me.
Overall Love of Magic is good but could have been great
I'll keep this short. Might edit in a longer review later, but at the moment I'm annoyed.
If an AVN is going to have gameplay, have gameplay. The poker seemed like an interesting concept up until the point I realized that you can't lose. Immediately lost all interest in this game when I dropped to 1hp and nothing happened. Clearly the author didn't code in any variations in the story, and building up gems and trying to improve your poker-inspired magic is pointless.
If there's no gameplay, what am I doing here? The girls? I've been playing for 4 hours and gotten a tame handjob with about 5 renders, so that reason is out the window. The story? Story is okay so far, but if all I'm getting is a story I'd rather not have to go through the ridiculous number of mouse clicks, and according to other reviews here, even that's going to fall apart eventually with the MC forced to be unfaithful.
*sigh* Might pick this up again in the future but skipping ahead in the story would take hours of clicking. It's just not worth it.
Edit 1: I was too kind. I don't like games that lie to me. If you're a sandbox game, great. Be a sandbox game. If you have gameplay, great. Have gameplay. If you're a kinetic novel, great. I'll enjoy the story without having any real choices.
What I don't appreciate is a game that pretends to be a sandbox with gameplay when in truth you can spam the "sleep" button and nothing changes. Literally nothing. The story plays out exactly the same even if you never train, never buy gems, never do anything.
In truth this is a kinetic novel pretending to be a sandbox with gameplay. While I previously gave the story decent marks, that goes out the window now that I find that I'm forced to be a cheating scumbag with an obnoxious character. No choice to avoid it, or play it in such a way that you're not a scumbag. I have no interest in such a story, especially as it makes no sense as your character seems like a decent sort early on, then suddenly he's like, "Oh, let me romance the princess and profess my undying love, but also lie to her and bang this super annoying girl on the side who has no positive personality traits."
I really wanted to love this game, and i tried hard to but i just cant get past pussy-whiped MCs with 0 backbone or brains.....which is why i only played BOOK 1 and most of BOOK 2, before it got to be to much and ruined the game.
Also wondering why game has no cheating tag, everyone tells MC it would be a really bad idea to fuck katie since shes not chosen and is a normal girl like hes wife, and yet your forced to fuck katie no options to say no and your wife sure in hell dident give permission, so again cheating tag?
It really just is beyound stupid and so poorly written that it became unplayable, and worst part is they dident even have to put this NTR shitty feeling in the game, they could just let Molly get her pleasure from MC doing it with magic like the first time or atleast give the player the option to either be a cheater or to use magic insted.
And if he was taken over by something so he couldent controle him self, wouldent that just be the perfect reason to never ever see Molly again and do anything to break the bond between them.....
It dosent make it any better when the princess goes from hateing the whore to accepting Molly fucking MC and becomes her best friend, its just makes no sense and destorys her as a chars as well in my eyes, its simply just not something the princess would want in any way and yet she accepts it, changing her into just another brainless whore of the bunch.
The grapics are pretty good, gameplay and the sandbox isent bad either it will become boring doing the game, the girls arent really unique and like alot of games the faces just look like the same one reused just with diffrent hair/eyes to try to hide that fact.
The animations if you can call it that are very poor, they look ok graphic wise but they are very short and does close to nothing for the game.
The first virgin scene you get to see is so bad, like the writer has no clue how that works, a girl whos never played with her self or done anything, and there is 0 pain 0 blod and she slides it all the way in with 0 issues no hymen apprently also she has an orgasm which is extremly rare for a first time, and its a very poor animation where you also see 0 pussy 0 dick, its the worst virgin scene ive seen to date, and hole game centers around virgins in such a huge way and this is what you get.... such a huge disapointment, you can barely call this an AVN.
Second virgin scene is same crap this time there is 0 animations, not sure why this game has the animated tag since barely anything is animated, even the 4-some is purely pictures, this game really shouldent have animated tag.
Choices in game means nothing, alot of the time the options is "go look" or "go look" just with diffrent text, like with Molly the bitch you are giving the option to just look at molly without doing anything, untill game removes that option forcing you to pick as a brainless MC would pick, or before going down to see Molly its either go look to see if someone is in danger or go look to see how they are doing, same with tentacle scene clicking ignore just removes it to give you one choice to just go save her, why they put in options i dont really understand.
Also you will be forced to tell the chosens you love them, through most of book one you had a choice to say you like or are fond of them insted of love, but at the end you can only pick love them...MC always had one love and now he loves everyone......eveything is forced by a kenitic story line.
Story 2/5:
Its a kinetic storeline with choices that does nothing and force actions to go one way only, gives me to much NTR feeling from cheating none stop.
Graphics in game: 4/5
Game looks good.
Girls 2/5:
Just not unique when faces are the same on most girls.
Animations 1/5:
Short barely an animation, just not good enough for a AVN, feel more like a small .gif then anything else, and alot of sex scenes has 0 animations, you can barely call this an animated game.
Music 3/5:
Not bad music, but nothing great either.
MC/Choices 1/5:
As a player you put yourself in MCs shoes so to speak and doing that in this game is painfull, having 0 braincells and no backbone is just not for me.
Wish it was diffrent since the pure size and work that has gone into this game would have been really nice to play and even support, but story and MC personality is just not something i can accept.
Not sure how it got so good reviews since this is a site for AVNs and you really cant call it that, sex scenes are far apart and the few animated ones are short and barely shows anything.
If you decide to play it then play it as a normal VN and forget about the adult aspect or you will be very disappointed, if you play it as just a normal game you might enjoy it alot more, but i am not after a normal game when i visit this site which is also why i cant give more then 2 stars it simply just falls way to short to be an AVN, the girlfriend of MC is a constant blueballs as well, which is a clear sign that they dident really want to make it an adult game, i lost count on how many times she blueball the MC or gets interrupted over and over.
Suffers from the same problem as many porn games, in that they're very shit video games in general and tend to over focus on gameplay that they cannot provide.
The game dangles sex in front of you like a carrot but the gameplay is way, way too long, padded and stretched out to be worth playing it all the way through. Fuuuuuck that.
On the plus side, some of the girls are interesting, and the overall writing is decent. The sex scenes are above average, I'd say, but nothing spectacular. I'm not a big fan of this game, but I think it deserves more than 1 star.
There are some modest problems; I don't like Katie's side-shaved hair, I don't enjoy the poker inspired combat (I'd rather just play poker), and there doesn't appear to be a way to skip the slow-ass animations after the cards are played. It makes the combat drag on, rather than be fast paced enough to be interesting. The whole "ceremonial magic" stuff seems like a thematically weak way of achieving sexual stuff, rather than a valuable addition to the story. I don't like all the clicking on various things with my mouse, especially as many of the icons are ambiguous.
I played through act 1 about a year ago, but stopped in act 2 for reasons I promptly forgot. I started playing through act 2 again, and I remembered the main problem with this game; the blonde girl, I forget her name, is completely intolerable, and the MC's response is just shit. Having a bitchy character wouldn't be so bad if there was an option to treat her fairly, by which I mean not doing anything she asks because she's the biggest bitch on the fucking planet. Instead, the MC just goes along with her wishes because she's hot. In her earlier interactions I can tolerate the MC's tolerance of her. But then she realizes she needs his power, and starts being nice to him, proving just what a narcissistic bitch she is. But instead of telling her to fuck off, the MC keeps going along with her weird and increasingly sexual requests, at the same time as he is claiming to be in love with his girlfriend. And the place where I stopped both times is when, for reasons I can't understand, you have no choice but to let her give you a blowjob. I didn't sign up for mandatory infidelity, especially with the queen bitch. And I just can't keep playing if the MC is going to be that awful. I get that some people are suckers for blondes, and I don't mind a game having paths that are immoral, but I don't think it's too much to ask to have a path where the MC doesn't have to be a colossal asshole. And where the player doesn't have to cheat with the biggest fucking bitch I can recall ever seeing in fiction.
And even if she has some tragic backstory that somewhat explains her bitchiness, that doesn't excuse the MC's decisions. He still proves himself to just be a fucking pig.
This is a good game with an interesting plot. I liked the story a lot, which builds as you progress.
Without giving too much away, you'll witness the rebirth of a kingdom while meeting various characters, forming relationships, and fighting your way to victory. The fights are entertaining, and I especially enjoyed the card battles.
There isn't much in the way of adult content, and what there is isn't particularly good. The scenes are poor, and the animations are, to be honest, quite bad. At least, in comparison to other games.
I gave it 5 stars because I'm a sucker for good stories, but this game also has good gameplay.
How i wish i could stop myself from playing this. You may ask why ? Well i wish i could play this when it´s finished because the waiting is killing me. I downloaded the book 1 without reading anything about the game, my expectation were nonexistent ( i was preparing for another skip fest), oh boy how wrong i was, from the first moments i was hooked and i couldn´t get enough. As the creator states - "Came for the sex scene ,stayed for the story". Discord seems to be active and community is blooming. Hope for more projects like this.
BEST. GAME. EVER.
This game could be a giant book, an hollywood's film.
It's great!
The best fucking story ever.
not too much sex scene, not unrealistic situation where the mc bang a dozen of angels because he is the mc, it's a masterpiece, everything go smoth, every piece fit the next and made a superb puzzle.
I, honestly, do not love the poker light-motive of the battle, but it's well made and enjoyable even if i don't like poker at all.
last but not least, you have a debug/cheat page inside the game, so you can easily cheat the poker setting and go on with the story without lose interest in the game itself (if you hate poker).
another time,
BEST. GAME. EVER. period.
there's like a 30/40h of gameplay, if you are a fast reader and chat a lot (to be really fast in the poker battles)
(sorry for the engrish, i'm clearly not a native ...)
Review state Book 3 at 0.3.21c
The game has an interesting story told to you over the course of>200 ingame days split across the 3 books. In which you get to know the different characters and learn more about them while also training yourself for the things to come. The writing is done very well and the characters not only feel destinct they also don't behave strange/unexpected across the different books. The length of 40-50 hours is accurate across a single playthrough. There isn't really abranching story however I am currently enjoying a replay right afterplaying the game through over last 6 days.
The animations and characters all look good.
The UI however has some small bugs. Like elements not disappearing, e.g. a quest update poping up but not leaving. Saving and restarting the game fixes this. Also in book 1 the engine is slightly different so in full screen on an ultrawide screen the top and bottom of the characters and screnes are cut off. The UI is unaffected by this. Windowed Mode fixes this for book 1 and in book 2 & 3 this does not happen.
Aside frome these rather minior inconvenience I have nothig to complain about and think the story and art for me atleast justify the full 5 Stars.
This is one of the games that stands above the rest. The writing is one of the best I have seen. The fact that it is an AVN makes it more fun. Droid makes regular updates here and even more frequent updates on Steam. The discord community is big and there's a reason. The game draws from Arthurian legend, Nordic, and other pantheons all woven together. MC learns his role in this world and is aided by a bunch of friends and gorgeous women. Thankfully MC's journey isn't a short story. It is filled with MC becoming a significant figure backed up by his Chosen and a harem. There is a card-based combat system, and if you choose you can skip it. I enjoy how it ties into everything. The game has a large wiki with spoilers and help. THE GIRLS! Everyone can find a favorite. Mine is Katie and I hope you find out why. I want to say so much more, and not spoil it. The sex scenes are great and they aren't an afterthought. If you have read this much of the review I would recommend just giving it a shot. Download it and play a few days. Then join the rest of the fans of LoM.
Was playing this game a year ago and got lost in all the free range events, so i set it aside. Picked it up again this year, and now am on my third playthrough (with suggestions from the wiki).
This is not your typical shallow fap game, it is deep and moving. The story is excellent, so much so that you cannot skip through dialogue. All the dialogue is worth the read. It is very easy to become embroiled in the plot and feel the emotions of the characters, all of whom come to life in the story with their own idiosyncrasies.
Music in the game is some of the best I have heard, and enhances the scenes. Graphics are also excellent, and more real than most of the tripe games on this site.
This story will move the reader to extreme emotions of joy and great sorrow, and bring you back to multiple playthroughs. Few games can come close to the standards set by Love of Magic!
