RPGM - Monline [v0.9.8] [Revilo]

The story is fairly simple, like it says on tin. But, I can't stress enough how good the character writing is, we have about 5 members of our ragtag hero party and while its more a revolving door, I loved every moment with them. The simple/episodic nature of progress in the game really helps this, since we quickly get to see their goals & beliefs in action.

The combat is simple and I got a glitch where every battle gave me 6 gold,; which actually improved my experience, the limited income really added a tactical element as I couldn't just grind money. You might have noticed I never mentioned levels, thats because there is none. All progression comes from the abilities you pick, most of them small boosts, and I love it. I can do the side content AND not complexly defang the main plot with my massive numbers. Low number RPGs are always a treat

PS: Add a low gold option, that was way more fun then it had any right to be

Reviewed at v0.95, in Sep 2023.

Tl;Dr
This is genuinely one of my favorite porn games of all time, easily in the Top 3. Yet, ironically, it's because of its damn writing and less of its porn.
Please Mr. Monline, update the gallery to include the Goblins, they're my favorite addition by far.
Should be a 4/5 but I give it a 5/5 because certain endings really hit specific niches. It's basically "With this character's death, the thread of prophecy is severed. Restore a saved game to restore the weave of fate, or persist in the doomed world you have created." but you get to (briefly) see these doomed worlds you create by losing.

The Review:

Gameplay:
RPG Maker game with rather basic turn base gameplay, not too hard, not too easy, the catch being about 1/4th into the game you can learn moves that the enemies use, neat. For an RPG maker game, it at least tries to make the environments look varied, you got forests, oceans, cities, deserts, etc.

Porn:
The porn is basic slideshows that occur after being defeated by an enemy, but what makes it unique is it focuses on the aftermath of your failure, more specifically what your characters fate is after being transformed. Unlike most hentai games where your character is fucked and the game restarts, you actually get a brief scene of what your character (and sometimes other characters) fates are after being transformed/defeated, really helps to make the objectively mid porn that bit more interesting. Gets your head going, instead of your "head". Sometimes your character begrudgingly accepts their new life, sometimes their personality is overwritten completely and you just know the MC, a straight dude, is hating every moment as they're forced to live their lives as some girly monster, maid, etc.

Writing:
The part that makes this game from a forgettable monster girl "lose to fap" game and into a genuinely enjoyable experience. The beginning is a little rough ngl, and kinda basic, but once you get past the water temple, the game really comes into its own and demonstrates memorable companions, villains you want to defeat, and an actual urgency to want to beat the game. Near the end, I even started caring about the fate of PXE, and she's a damn Navi clone in concept (albeit more like Starlow from the Mario RPGs in terms of personality).
To really sell you on the writing, the last major update for this game was February 2023, I am writing this September 2023. That is Seven Months of waiting, and yet when I saw there was an update, I didnt even care if new porn scenes/endings were added or not (there were), my first thought was "Oh shit, the writing continues and I can actually go and help PXE."
(Also if you're curious, I'd rank the companions as Green Hair Girl > PXE > Streamer > Vampire Girl > Uhhh the first guy. I didnt include the names, mostly to avoid spoilers, and its been 7 months, give me a break.)


Porn Variety:
Gets its own special category because while the games porn is objectively basic, it makes up for it with variety. Each enemy has at least one bad ending, and around 95% of those enemies have at least one porn bad ending. Basically, if it has tits, its gonna have its own unique ending if it defeats you. There's a wide variety of endings as well. They all share the same premise of "Oh no, I'm defeated and being transformed, this suck!" but they vary both in the transformation itself as well as the ending, as the ending "cutscenes" are the real hidden gem of this game. Sometimes you just swap gender, sometimes you're mind controlled, or turned into a furry and are forced to live amongst them for survival, sometimes you're turned into an inanimate object, sometimes your personality is rewritten, etc. (Personality swap aint exactly a fetish of mine, but the writing for them in this game is 95% of the time excellent and worth its own mention, especially the Goblins.)

Performance:
Its an RPG Maker game, if your PC cant run it in 2023, that's a skill issue at that point. Any bugs I did notice in the last version were removed in the current version, and same goes for previous releases. No dips in frame rate or anything.

Actual Criticism:
My three biggest complains are
A. All the porn is image slideshows, though I don't really fault the creators for that, that's just what you get if you use RPG Maker, would love a remake in the future with more interactive endings though (Like the Goblin or Troll endings, where you actually get to move around and, to reference TES again, "persist in the doomed world you have created.")
B. Gameplay is rather basic, and the companions (besides green hair) are rather useless in battle, you kinda just barrel through most fights unless you're underleveled. Speaking of which, yeah there is some grinding involved but very very little. Ways to change the gameplay for the better would be to rely less on RPG battles and focus more on puzzles, (actual fun) QTEs, etc. Again, not to mention the Goblins for the 100th time, but that whole segment really has some of the best writing, puzzles, porn, etc.
(SPOILERS): Fuck the princess/maid segment section though, that's an example of how to do a puzzle segment wrong. I desperately need a "Jump out of Window?" option because fuck having to go through that entire castle, I'd rather my companions heal me with a potion than have to go through that bullshit again. (END OF SPOILERS)
C. Beginning area is rather basic, I get that its intentional because of "lol the bad guy made it that way on purpose because video game!!" but he made it a little too basic if thats the case. I genuinely cannot even be bothered to remember the first companion besides the fact they're a guy. Basically from the intro to the water temple/first gem is a little too basic, and if we ever get a Version 1.1 of this game, the first thing I'd like to have Mr. Monline go back and change is the beginning area. The only bad ending that really stood out to me was the Wasp Girl ending, the rest are either "meh" or forgettable. Doesn't share that same writing spark that the other 3/4ths of this game have either, the game really just starts as "Sword Art Online, but if you get fucked in the game you're fucked in real life!".
Please, if you read this far, just speedrun the first area, and right around when the first companion leaves your party is when the game actually gets really good.

Yet another VR mmo that's a one way trap and the only way to escape is to win the game.

you play as a generic guy whose at very least a good samaritan but initially cold to the other players and NPCs.

the way leveling works is as you defeat monsters you gain xp that you can use to buy perks and moves, otherwise your are dependant on your gear and fellow party members to keep you alive. weapons generally stay around the same power level throughout the story although i've stopped at the end of the desert zone, the game just doesn't have what I was expecting...

the big story point beyond being stuck in a VR mmo is that if your defeated by monster (girls) then you'll be turned into one of them. Even worse is this is where the imfamous part of RPGmaker smut games where it's the "lewd scenes only happen if you lose" thing that drives every one of us up a wall. sure there are some scenes that don't require you to lose but they are few in far between.

but my biggest complaint is there's no permanent consequences to your character, at least canonically. some of us saw the transformation tag and hoped for a slow transformation/corruption of your character as you played throughout the pervy mmo but your character will always undergo a "factory reset" a little while after you get transformed during the main story and go "wow that was wacky." this is not a Magical Camp or Between kind of RPG.

If you are interested in a story that has a variety of locations and characters plus a plot that is worth some attention, than otherwise it's a ok RPG.

Although, there is considerable effort put into the "bad ends" which is where your protagonist is permanently transformed and gets to enjoy their new life. the developer thought of every way you could lose and get transformed but that's not the kind of transformation fetish that scratches my itch sadly.

the effort spent into developing the story, the side quests, and the setting is the reason I put in 4 stars for the rating, I took a star off because as i said, your character will just undergo a factory reset at the end of whatever incident you go through.

RPGmaker game with over 100 unique bad end.

the game is designed as turn based RPG game, with bunch of Quick time event outside of battle.

Some of the bad end are actually woven into a story but you won't see "story driven bad end" on early chapter.

this game is separated into multiple chapter which require you as player to find a way to search for a way to clear it.

Some chapter are impossible to clear Without completing some side quest.
while other chapter can be cleared without side quest.

this game offer interesting choice regarding the path you gonna walk, the game won't mention it but some path are harder to clear.

the game it self is pretty linear with chapter outcome but with multiple path progress, which meant there is multiple way to clear the game but the result at the end of chapter will be the same.

there is no proper ending yet as the game is still on development when i write this review.

p.s: it's impossible to clear chapter 1 without power of friend ship.
cheating the game with max stats won't allow you to clear it.

[Reviewed for v0.8.6]
Monline is a very standard RPG with unoriginal gameplay. But I honestly enjoy that style of gameplay so I absolutely don't mind. Where the game does it for me is the sheer amount of content paired with the decent writing. As some have already mentioned, the art is ripped from other works but it's applied in a pretty decent way.

Story:
The story is essentially the plot of Sword Art Online, you start playing a virtual reality MMO but find you can't log out. Just then, the game master appears and explains that losing means you become whatever monster girl killed you. It's simple, and becomes the drive for most of the art, and I'm okay with that. There's plenty of games around that are direct parodies and as far as this one goes, I honestly don't mind it.

Characters:
The characters are pretty much all one note side characters without any depth. 90% of them you witness get turned into monster girls and the rest are one dimensional.

Music: ~
Standard RPGM Music

Gameplay:
Standard RPGM gameplay mixed in with some fairly interesting side quests. Some involve turf wars between monster girls where you pick a side and befriend a faction, others are simple fetch quests.

Content/Bang for your buck:
Where this game really shines for me is the amount of content. Monline offers roughly 4-6 hours of gameplay in it's current state with a hefty variety of scenes. Do note that most scenes are defeat based and show one image along with some writing, but if you don't mind that, give it a chance.

Summary:
Despite the fact that this game is a rip on at least 2 other series, it brings it together in a fun, interesting way. I don't know what it is but I found myself really enjoying my time with this one. It's not gonna be for everyone but if you enjoy turn based RPGs as well as transformation and monster girl content then you'll probably have a fairly good time with this one.

Rating:
[]
If I could give this game 3 and a half stars I would, but because I had fun with it, and I don't mind RPGM I'm willing to bump it to 4/5.

a great game there plenty of hidden "end game" to find, maybe it's not for everyone but if you like involuntary transformation game (MC and NPC) it's a must have

just keep in mind to save frequently, especially if something notice you that you follow a transformation or a "scene" keep many different save and not just 1-3 save otherwise you might stuck yourself

there not many game of this genre unfortunaly, if you like these type of game there also "Gotta F 'Em All" and "Prisoners of the Elder One" on Tfgames site and that's pretty much it :/

What an atrocity. I would actually rinse my mouth out with liquid shit just to get the taste of this garbage out of my mouth.
This is a skid mark of unoriginal ideas and terrible game design. I wish I could go back in time and stop myself from ever even downloading this gigabyte of wet shit.

Not only does this just use whatever assets it can find to use as images (most of the enemies are ripped straight from MGE), it doesn't even manage to give itself an original plot. It's Sword Art Online except instead of death you get turned into a monster girl. And I don't mean just the concept, I mean they just copy pasted the plot, character development ("oh maybe I should stop being a solo player and help people"), the intro, and much more.
I'll just start a list of all the nonsense you should expect:
1) Unoriginality to the extreme. Rips straight from MGE and SAO.
2) All the art is just taken from elsewhere, but doesn't even try to be consistent or even relevant at times. It'd honestly be better if they just made all the scenes 100% text.
3) Combat is slow and annoying. It also can't be sped up.
4) Random Bad Ends.I mean out of the fucking left field bad ends. Better save often before talking to NPCS because even the tutorial girl will have you sit through 5 minutes of an unskippable and drawn out bad end. No thanks I'd rather soak my head in battery acid.
5) No fast travel. Let me fucking tell you, this shit gets old VERY quick.
6) Sexiness is just nil. Just nothing. Just visit the MGE wiki, I promise you you'll have a more enticing time than it being slogged down by slow RPGmaker combat.

Do yourself a favor and don't download this.

This game is great;
The amount of content is good;
The battles are well made;
It has A LOT of endings and its fun to look for them;
The only thing i dislike is that the game dont have an fast travel system.

lot of fun and good progression. From fantasy to zombie to who knows what next!

Great fun!

It's been a while since last played but good to see it has been updated.

Can't Wait! To see what happens next. Hoping the game doesn't get abandoned and finished. Would be good if devils and angels get involved. (Not sure if already in there) It's been a while since last played.

Adding incest would be cool.

This is a game that had the chance to be something unique and intriguing, but misses that mark in every way.

It's a Transformation oriented game that is primarily text based. The images used in the game aren't drawn by the creator, which would be excusable if they took the slight amount of extra effort needed to find 1) Enough images to make up for the lack of original content 2) Images that are overall above mediocre quality

The game itself as a fetish oriented game is just...weird. The content comes down to primarily text based since the creator didn't seem bothered with seeking out images that fit most scenes very well. You'll get 2-3 images that vaguely relate to what's happening, and then have those images paired with very Sub-par writing. The entire transformation events are over very fast, and I can't fathom who would find the payoff worth it.

As for why the lewd pay offs aren't worth it, they are very, VERY few and far between. I hardly got any content at all after several hours of play. The content that I did get wasn't awful, but certainly wasn't high enough quality to warrant the amount of time it took to get.

All in all, this game falls into a specific niche of content, but still manages to fall below the bar of other games like it. Poor, uninspired writing paired with stolen art that you only get maybe twice an hour.

There is a distinct lack of trains for the amount of railroading this game does. This is a vn in rpg format, so if thats not your style then stay away from this game. Additionally, the main character is pretty annoying and much of the h content is triggered by losing.

this actually good game for me. gonna love it and still waiting for next update and more unique characters and some stuff like harem. other fantasy female with big tits. hopefully i can playing game like this when have times after doin some workin.