VN - Ren'Py - Martyr of Love [Ep.7] [AlienCat69]

Animation/Renders are terrible, Characters came out looking really bad.

Mc is an edgelord/crybaby and completely insuffurable

Story is generic and boring

lewds are not good

no reason to bother with this one

VERSION: EP.7
SUMMARY: Fine idea, done many times, but unpolished and not great quality.
RATINGS: (out of 5):

NOTE: The following categories and scoring method are my own criteria and may require more context. Additionally, scoring is based on the state, and what is in the current version and not what may or may not be.

1. Model Visuals........................... : ⭐⭐
2. General Visuals......................... : ⭐⭐
3. Animation Quality....................... : ⭐⭐⭐
4. Character (Persona)..................... : ⭐⭐⭐
5. Story Quality & Pacing.................. : ⭐⭐⭐
6. Writing Quality & Dialogue.............. : ⭐⭐⭐
7. UI & Game-play Mechanics................ : ⭐⭐
8. Playtime & General Quality.............. : ⭐⭐⭐
9. Sounds & Music...........................: ⭐⭐⭐
10. H-Content & Fetishes.................... : ⭐⭐⭐

Average: 28 of 50 possible points giving a 56% rating i.e. 2-3 stars.

PROS:

1. Music seems to fit the scenes well enough and thats always a plus.
2. Most models seem to look pretty decent, but can use some work and less botox.
3. Writing is structured well and reads fine, despite the dialogue feeling "simple" and nonsensical.

CONS:

1. Some character faces are not that great, almost like a lump of clay or dough, but not that... bad, but something with the blondes mouth and face is just not right, the mouth especially. Other characters have weird eyes that do not look natural.
2. No lewd scene sounds for that extra immersion and sexiness.
3. Renders are not the best or rather consistent, sometimes grainy and not the best quality.
4. Adding to faces, expressions are often exaggerated or are over the top and simply do not fit making faces rather ugly.
5. Having useless buttons appear to transition to next screen is fucken annoying, why have this?
6. Over the top scenes like the guitar (which is too big) gift with the surprise sound playing 3 times so much that I put my volume down...why do that?
7. Some characters are schizo like the blonde again, Candace, who is all over the place and highly annoying. Not only is she ugly, she is an asshole and emotional and mental whack job.

FINAL REMARKS, OPINIONS & SUGGESTIONS:

NOTE: The following remarks are my personal opinions and thoughts, which may provide more context and could be useful to the developer.

• I can't stress enough how much good sounds support your VN and create that immersion and drive. Here are no lewd scene sounds like smacks, slaps, moans, groans, screams, gasps and all those nice lusty sounds to get the juices flowing are not present...tsk. Neither are there any ambient sounds that just add that little extra detail and level of quality.
• Little things but things that stood out to me was right at the start the MC reminiscing about the past, I noticed the room is very blue, TOO BLUE. Why? Is that even natural? Even the MCs shirt is the same as the wall...
• Attempt to create trauma event is a good idea, but not needed to remain "active" like where MC is in hospital, it fucks with the eyes and reading the dialogue, it can just happen, use the sound and then switch it off?
• Cheesey ways of showing scene like MCs leg being kicked and broken, the dude does a split kick like some ninja, it looks stupid. Why not have another scene that looks plausible?
• Faces and expressions try and convey the moment, they do..., but not smoothly not thoughtfully and don't convey the correct sentiment, feeling and are unnatural. e.g. the doctor Pratt whos mouth is open when meeting the MC, doesn't feel natural, why? Is she getting off seeing the MC? She looks surprised in one shot, why? What happened, it simply does not fit the scene. These little things are very obvious to me and I feel the dev is not sure how to act or what they want to convey in these moments...often the faces just end up ugly and unnatural.
• Pointless buttons to move to next screen are stupid, why have them there? Mostly why have the one button? There are no other options?! so why bother at all with a button? Fix the UI.
• Added to above point on over the top, the dev seems like child in a candy store with all the endless possibilities that they end up throwing a lot of shit at you and mixing things together so it becomes a shit show and bad. Like the guitar surprise sound 3x in a row, and immediately after there are several "Record scratch" sounds thrown in, its cheap, shallow, non-thought-provoking and actually hits the provoking part more than anything else. Why do that?

TLDR:

This VN I liken to something that has good ideas, trying to create something profound, deep, meaningful, insightful, with real emotion and it does this somewhat, but it also shows that its not done very well. Making that it wants to be more than what it actually is. Simply put, its rough, not enough time or maybe not enough skill to do it well enough. Either-way, the result is mediocre on most levels and my ratings reflect that.

I appreciate anyone trying to be creative and make content, its not easy and hats off to you, but I suggest take feedback seriously. Take an objective approach to your work, step back and see it through the eyes of your support base, but don't feel discouraged or give up, here are pros and cons, and any critique should be seen as friendly, a challenge and supportive.

One of the best graphics a game has. You'll just fall in love with the curvy milfs. Thats said, Its hard to get attached to it when the dev updates like once every six months. Anyway, loving the curves.

If you are a new developer and are reading this, please play this VN so that you know what you absolutely shouldn’t do.

1 - average renders, some of them are even really bad. And let’s not talk about MC’s face please…

2 – the story went from shit, to average, to worse than shit in only 5 short episodes. The 6th episode is just adding the tombstone to an already dead VN.

3 – at one point in episode 5 you get only 2 choices: you, the MC, get killed, game over, but you are also offered to now follow your brother’s steps, his story, his own Lis, etc., OR you let your lovely girlfriend get killed for you and you get to live a perfectly pathetic life. Great choices huh?

This is exactly what Martyr of Love is offering you ladies and gentlemen…

This VN is an unexpected gem with great potential. I like how the story unfolds and how the characters develop based on choices made.

Renders are indeed a little substandard as others mention, but the writing and story more than make up for it. This is not a Fap Fest VN. Not does it appear to be trying to be one.

I'll definitely be following one.

Story - 10/10
The story and writing have been excellent so far despite the cliché premise and high school setting. The story has great potential, and the characters have been written absolutely perfectly. The journey of the MC feels intriguing and mysterious while keeping the pace flawless. Moments with impact are given sufficient buildup. The LIs have been open-ended, and their actions so far feel within their character.
The game has a serviceable number of branching choices that can lead to different scenes, the impact of which is yet to be known.

Art - 10/10
The models are top-notch, but the render quality is a bit lacking. The game makes up for it with good animations and perfect facial expressions during the scenes. The best part of the art has been the attention to detail despite the average render quality, like the sweat after some good sex and other tiny features.

With time and support, this gem of a game has the potential to be a great VN with a great story and different endings shaped by the MCs choices.

Surprisingly good. Nothing groundbreaking but I like the characters. The renders look great and I'm invested in the relationships enough to keep me interested even though it might feel a little jumbled at times. Hoping that it gets sorted out it future versions.

There's a little stutter when changing animations during sex scenes. but other than that, it runs well.

Version played: v1.0, initial release

3 stars first cause the game runs okay. There's no spelling or grammatical error afaik. The story premise is simple and common, not over the top. The renders look good although it has the grainy effect on it.

Shall check this again in the future once the story gets rolling.