Alright guys - I'm sorry, but this game really, really, annoyed me. Now I have played a lot of porn games before; I have disliked, hated a lot of them - but Manila Shaw managed to annoy me like no other.
The thing is - this should be a game like I like - the renders are good, the story's intriguing, the animations are meh - it's not bad, you know? Solid 3,4 stars. But the gameplay - oh, the gameplay makes me SO ANGRY THAT I HAD TO TYPE IT IN ALL CAPS AND GIVE IT A -1.
1.) You can't skip dialogue. Believe me, I have tried. A minor point, some would say, but this is only the first of many. It's frustrating, cause you'll be sitting there, pressing Enter key after Enter key, and image would fade out and a new image fades in - and the entire thing is SO SLOW THAT I JUST CAN'T TAKE IT. It's even more bothering mostly, you'll be traveling from one conversation to another - and watching the same scenes takes a toll on my body. (More on that later).
2.) Everyone moves slowly. Even with the dash command on, it's just bearable.
3.) Everything seems just so repetitive. Here's a few -
a) Every morning, Manila gets up and says she needs a shower. Now, I think it's a good thing that the dev cares about hygiene so much, but really? Every day? It's a game, man. The world isn't going to end.
b) Shower scene - A choice, everyday, for which shower scene you want to see. Really? What if I DON'T SHOWER?
c) The car - Every time anyone gets into the car - it takes three seconds for them to leave the FUCKING SCREEN, and three seconds to ENTER THE NEW ONE. EVERY DAMN TIME. And you'll be entering and leaving the car, MULTIPLE TIMES IN A DAY. I never thought I would grow sick of a car engine noise, but here I am.
d) Working - I don't know who the dev thinks I am - but please, please, please PLEASE, DON'T MAKE ME WORK IN A PORN GAME. AND IF YOU DO, MAKE IT QUICK, OKAY?
e) EVERY DAY - SIT AT DESK - SCENE CUT - GET PRINT - QUEST UPDATED - GO TO THE ELEVATOR (WAIT THREE SECONDS FOR IT OPEN) KNOCK ON THE DOOR - DUDE SAYS IT'S OPEN (BUT YOU STILL HAVE TO KNOCK EVERYDAY) - YOU ENTER - HE GREETS YOU (IMAGE CHANGE 1 SEC)- YOU GREET HIM BACK (IMAGE CHANGE 1 SEC)-
And I can't take it, people. Really, I have seen this scene 5 days a week everyday. I have seen this scene more than any fucking porn in this game. PLEASE, SPARE ME - at least if I had a option to breeze through it - but no, you can't skip dialogue - and you have to watch this, everyday.
f) You have to go home, wear lingerie, come back to the TV, spend till midnight doing nothing, return to bed, for a day to end. That's five things that are completely unnecessary and serve no purpose whatsoever, and yet you do them every, fucking, day. I CAN'T TAKE IT.
g) Manila is environmentally conscious - I like that she switches off the lights when she leaves at night - but REALLY, after the rest of it all, it just grates on me. Just.... why ?
h) You can't cross screens unless you're on a sidewalk. Uh, WHY? IT'S NOT LIKE THERE ANY CARS RUNNING AROUND!
4.) You can't save in image showing dialogue mode - which means you can't save just before a choice. Really?
5.) I still can't make sense of the combat system - you equip martial arts? How does that work? (This is a minor gripe)
I can't think of anymore at the moment, but I'll add it to the list if I do. While all these are minor things, that's why it bothers me the most - these are all minor problems. I have played RPGMX VX games before - none of them have these. The porn in this game is covered by a lot of padding - which is okay - but the quality of the padding is so bad that it sucks the fun out of the porn parts. It's just so.... SLOW and ANNOYING. Only the weekends are any fun. If the dev was going for realistic simulation of life, he has it. But ... why? WHY? Just fix the issues, or allow me to play the game at 3x speed, and I'll give it a 4 star rating.