Ren'Py - Milfizz [v0.05] [YameroDev]

I've tried playing this a few times as new releases come out, and after the latest redesign it looks better, but it seems like only the framework of a game -- you're stuck at home in the beginning of the game, but your family members only exist when you are supposed to be interacting with them. There is one breakfast with everyone at 8 am, then on later days no one is in the house at 8 am. When the prescribed activity is to speak to a given person at a certain time, they exist. The rest of the time all the rooms in the house are empty, even at 10 pm or midnight. This is not complete enough to be playable for me.

The game is nice, the models are well-made and you can feel a story, but the quests are poorly made and, besides being repetitive and distracting (meaning there's nothing to do until that precise time), they're full of bugs. It's clear the creator cares about the project and it's well-designed, but perhaps the engine or the programming in general isn't up to par. I've tried to complete the quests several times and have consistently encountered bugs and given up, even though my computer is very high-performance. The problem is that the quests get into a sort of loop and can't be broken. In short, it's a waste of time and that's all.

VERSION: v0.04 - RE-REVIEW
SUMMARY: I am not holding my breath for this VN, it needs a lot of work. Still needs work
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 introduced at a later point.

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: 20 of 50 possible points giving a 40% rating i.e. 2-3 stars.

PROS: - See my opinions section for details.

1. Models actually don't look bad at all (sometimes) Generally good looking models (LIs anyway)
2. Small model details like passive body movements and eyes blinking are nice details and done well.
3. Animations, where there are, are actually damn nice, particularly compared to everything else.
4. Lewd scene, the BJ scene at least had some sounds also! Can still work some more but decent start.

CONS: - See my opinions section for details.

1. Visually the game usually looks "OK" but there are inconsistencies from scene to scene, not all the time, but enough between characters visually, especially when the animations (looks like AI CGI) are used.
2. Writing is sub-standard at best, it doesn't flow, feels rehearsed and disingenuous. Simply unprofessional and will need someone with skills to revise it.
3. Dialogue also doesn't make sense, the MC refers to his mother as mom then as her name, then says to his sister "my mom called us for breakfast" its her mom also so why not just mom called us? Some improvement in latest update but not enough.
4. Inconsistencies all tied to dialogue, MC knocks on door, goes in, sister starts talking to him, then only recognized him and asks Was that you? WTF, dialogue is a mess...Mother is also detached from the MC, like he is a total stranger and no one cares who he is, or that he is actually related...Gee great Family eh...At breakfast, the mother refers to the MC (her son) as a guest? WTF. Even if this was implied as a joke, its written wrong. Minor changes and improvement, but again not enough.
5. Plot itself is nonsense, and just a lazy idea that would never hold water which the dev clearly put little effort into. Game starts off just as badly as the plot. IT JUST HAPPENS. The MC starts in his already setup room...there you go...no arriving, no intro nothing just IS. Further there is no point or plot to the game apart from just clicking to experience new content, there is no purpose or plot to the MC, his life or anything.
6. Speaking of inconsistencies, the MC looks like a 12yo and with the one sister looks unrelated completely to the mother and 2nd sister. Slight improvement (i think, at least to MC age...not everywhere though)
7. Basic free music only, no ambient, interaction, environmental or lewd scene sounds.
8. SANDBOX...FML why...another game where the MC has to grind his ass off to buy items for characters to unlock more scenes...great...
9. Buying items on PC are also not descriptive and the player has no idea what it is or for who.
10. Basic UI features like opacity for dialogue box are missing. Still missing. Quick navigation needs to be implemented to get around quicker!
11. Quest log isn't updated enough to actually assist the player with what to do. Exploring the "world" is not suggested, which adds to why SANDBOX sucks, it works when you don't need to hunt and click for the odd new content!

OPINIONS, SUGGESTIONS & FINAL REMARKS:

NOTE: The following remarks are my personal opinions and thoughts, which may provide more context and could be useful to the developer. (Read them or don't)

• Regarding dialogue, there are improvements but still doesn't flow, read well and make complete sense. There are phrases that make no sense e.g. at start talking to mother she says during her conversation "Please take off the recognizer" this phrase makes ZERO sense to me, and I am not 100% sure what the writer was trying to say here. Another example, the MC knocks on sisters door to call her for dinner, she says "Alright, Im coming, Now I had to put on my clothes" Again poor English or translation. She could have said, "Ok, I am on my way, I just need to finish dressing."
• Per above point, with regarding to sister, the MC is spying/peeking through the keyhole on the sister dressing here, yet the next scene he is again in the room suddenly, but she replies to him like he is still outside and the conversation just feels again, unnatural. The writer really needs to get someone with skills in English to translate and write a new script, this isn't working...
• I am honestly not 100% sure what the writer is trying to drive or what the goal is with the dialogue/story/narrative...there are simply too much dialogue that implies things that are considered "weird" or out of place in "normal" discussion. I could give you a few examples, but honestly Id be quoting a lot of the games dialogue, its just simply strung together very poorly. This again is why I emphasize the developer get someone that a fluent in English writing to help articulate and bring the developers ideas out better. I am sure this is more language barrier issue than simply bad writing (i hope).
• General inconsistencies still plague this game, the one sister and mothers visuals while passive with blinking eyes and swaying bodies are nice, but its not done anywhere else for any other characters, this kind of thing should be consistent and speaks to quality and effort the developer puts into the project or in this case, lack thereof...
• Regarding fonts and dialogue UI, write the MC name (thinking) or Narrator when its applicable don't change the font only and try to be consistent to accepted norms like e.g. MC (thinking) - I am thinking. Make sure its in italics like most games normally do, stick to same font but just italics.

TLDR:

While the dev has a fair amount of skill when it comes to the visuals and game system, the story and dialogue are just bad. 2 Stars for what is here, visuals mostly, but thats not even saying much.

* After re-reviewing the game on request from the developer, I can say that its closer to 3 stars but not enough changes are made to this game to make me change my rating.
There are some improvements it seems, but I suggest the developer not add new content till the quality and overall changes are introduced from the start of the game to create a consistent and clean slate. Adding new content on top of the existing old is like throwing good money after bad. The game is still in early development, fixing it before going on is better to do right now IMO.
* Full disclosure, I did not complete all content, I lost interest simply due to many of the issues raised and others I simply couldnt care to.