To be entirely fair, it's not like the humans were innocent. A large amount of the atrocities mentioned should be seen in the context of a war in which both sides did absolutely horrible things to each other, especially Kotone's backstory - and while there might be no way to "balance the scale" for soul-eating re: Sofia, I think it's if anything more worthy of respect if she'd know that, but try for forgiveness anyway.
As for SHRIFT, that's a different and much more kill-or-be-killed game.
I don't think it really justifies the bullshit, though. As someone else points out later, Kotone continues to do some screwed-up stuff, and shows little remorse for it. Sofia even points out the end result of your involvement with her. Kotone doesn't tell you straight-up what your inevitable future will be once she gets bored, or implies that she would get bored. She allows the PC to make a bad decision without informing them of any negative conequences.
I can actually justify Sofia more on that basis, too. She never states outright that she's turned a new leaf or anything. She's just exhausted due to a lack of sustenance/entertainment, and given all the monster girls on the island are basically neutered, she probably doesn't feel very threatened by anything. She even outright states that she's letting you pass the trial without a fight because it's not worth crushing your aspirations this early. She was probably a high-ranking general of sorts who enjoyed the battlefield, was trapped on an island where succubi (like her) have the advantage in combat, and got bored after the first 200 hundred or so adventurers lost to her. Understandably, she's just bored as Hell and has stopped giving a damn.
No. While yes, MGD is not like a MGQ overall concept is kinda similar.
MGQ tries to replace porn with plot, and it works. The main thing that a lot of devs (especially ones on places like this) forget is that it still understood that it is, by its bare premise, a porn game. it just decided halfway through the first game that it was also developing characters. In that sense, I would say the closest comparison to MGD is Lust Grimm. Both are porn games with minimal focus on an overarching plot and world-building. MGQ gave us an excuse as to why people are afraid of monsters. Lust Grimm just tells us "succubi are kind of voracious and you probably shouldn't risk getting raped too often."
But MGQ is not like shrift at all.
MGQ was about "HEY, stop being an asshole that milk semen from mens and kills them!!!!" with main point on "be peaceful m8, `mnkay".
Shrift is about "Im gonna make you my bitch...food...living sex toy...ehhh, something........unless, unless, you kill me.....also you can tame me, for whatever reason". While game heavily implies that "they just a blood sex hungry demons, dont kill THINK ABOUT FUTURE!!!!!!" its doing it.....strange.
As someone playing pacifist route of Shrift... no. Not even close. In the pacifist route, it's very clear that the demons are trying to survive. Ones like the Barghest and Lampas are, for the most part, basically animals subsisting on the one form of sustenance available to them only because they're mostly driven by instinct. When we get to "higher thinking" demons like Mother Rabbit and the Neko Sisters, the rationalizations get more grey. MR is driven by a maternal instinct and only behaved as she did due to
The Neko Sisters are basically just strays barely surviving and doing what it takes to do so. Since the whole point is "demons can corrupt," they use that to survive.
The M.O.W.'s are
Like in MGQ its clear if you get into monster girls hands its the end for you, youll be eaten and raped, without particular order. Straight and clear, kill to live, live to kill.
And in shrift its like "if demon catches you its kinda the end, but actually not, also you can fight back, or dont, or tame her, hmhmhm......".
Um, not particularly in either case. In Shrift, it's more about survival for the demons with lesser intelligence, while the higher-functioning ones are more empathetic and are usually victims of circumstance. In MGQ, Alice makes it clear that monsters only rape because Ilias fear-mongered and threatened to nuke everything to oblivion as a result, which forced the hand of the first monster lord. A lot of monsters are content to seduce Luka into a life of marital bliss, while others do attempt predation because of course they do. I think maybe a handful do the "milking slave" thing, and only because again, it's free food. Hell, there are I think two side quests where saving Human settlements is resolved because the persons who initiated the conflict were mistreated. I empathized more with Queen Ant than I did the people who died when she threw her rebellion. She even has a "suicide by cop" moment when you beat her, as if she feels legitimate remorse for the victims of her rebellion and wants to atone for it.
while we are talking about Shrift here. while i do like the game, i gotta admit the game screwed up when it comes to making the monster-girls sympathetic. they act like "ahh yes, come here my walking sex-slave nutrition package" but the games tries to give you the "they're not that bad" angle once it comes to befriending them. no offense, but you just tried to either brainwash me, eat me, or turn me into a lamp just a second ago, and the corpses of the other people speak for themselves. the girls really don't leave a good first impression on you.
As stated about, a fair number of the demons in Shrift are going on instinct. The ones who can manage more than "you food, me eat" are victims of a conflict they were effectively forced to take part in. Heck, Mother Rabbit is a victim of the fallout, as are the Neko Sisters. It's shitty, but I wouldn't fault them for their actions too harshly, since they're not exactly operating under the best of circumstances. Oh, and don't get me started on Mu. Just... yikes.
by all accounts, MGD does a way better job at presenting sympathetic characters, even if some of them got some dirt on them. not as dangerous as the girls on shrift, but leave a far better first impression. helps that most of them here are just Really horny. and not a danger to anyone but your waist area.
They're really horny as a consequence of divine bullshit, though. Sophia makes a pretty clear impression of being able to outclass basically everyone below the DQ at this point, but does nothing because she's bored. Hell, the entire forest dungeon makes it clear that most of the first stage monsters are just done with trying at this point. The imps only try to rape any adventurers who enter the dungeon because it's a bit of excitement in the otherwise boring life they're currently living. The alraunes, elves, and slimes are very obviously sex addicts. The bag mimic had to artificially set her own difficulty. Yes, the forest dungeon is full of bored monsters and also shy mushrooms.
The will dungeon just basically repeats this premise, with one over-achieving succubus training an army while two oni sisters hold out hope that they'll one day face a challenge. Kotone is still doing her old schtick of using and dumping toys, while Minoni is still somewhat taking her job seriously. Most of the monsters range from either being too bored to care, or complete sex addicts, or just over-enthusiastic employees. I never got the impression from any of them (aside your
rival arch-nemesis and your lizard waifu) that any of the monsters were really bothered by their circumstances either way. Hard to empathize with people who show no real discontent about their position.
Thanks for the responses everyone and for the warnings and views on shrift I may check it out but it kinda seems like it demonizes you for killing literal murderous demons just based off what I read so far. On Kotone since some have brought up defenses for her I am torn cuz she is obviously very mesed up in the head but ultimately I still think she is evil because despite claiming she has changed in order to romance her you have to be Spoilers below[/spoiler]
It's actually a bit more complicated than punishing you for going DEUS VULT in Shrift. Your character is basically a super-weapon that can compete with the demons, as opposed to having to rely on the existing tech to survive. That means that in this instance, you're powerful enough to effectively kill them, which in turn affects your relationship with them going forward. A few of them are even non-aggressive and will become wary of you if you decide to go the genocide route. In the pacifist route, you actually get a better understanding as to why they're behaving how they do. The M.O.W.'s themselves are even more tragic once you understand who they were as people.
Enslaved by her hypnotism and if we talk to sofia we know what she did to those she hypnotized in the past once she tired of them. She sent them off to have their souls devoured. That in my opinion is horrendously evil not only did she break their minds and toy with them for years but then when she grew tired of this she cast them aside and gave them a fate worse than death. I am sorry but having a horrible experience with one human and losing your mother as a result of your own actions cannot even start to excuse this. Losing a friend to a human archer is also no excuse to permanently destroy peoples souls either. Kill the one responsible sure but make people your toys and then utterly destroy them when you are bored no.
I could easily see the tragedy of Kotone's story if she made every effort to dissuade you from indulging her whole "hypnotize you into slavery" schtick. She doesn't, though. Instead, she goes through with it, shows zero remorse (even if your repeated visits were of your own "free will"), and then afterwards even implies that completing the dungeon on her "hard mode" is a way to win her everlasting affection. When Sophia informs you of what that actually means, I don't think it even becomes a conversation topic between you both. Kotone never makes any effort to state outright that she's amusing herself at your expense, and it's likely you'll be discarded when she gets bored.
I respect Sophia for at least making it clear that if she could ever find a worthy challenge to keep her excited, she'd give more effort. She's bored as Hell and doesn't see you as a threat, which makes sense that early. Kotone is just a closet sadist while Sophia is an honest layabout.
She says she has changed but then what does she do to you? She lies and enslaves you like all the others who caught her eye despite the oni sisters stating she said she would not do so. Maybe one day she gets bored of you she already shows she values her word at nothing and is willing to lie who is to say she will not simply discard you as well like she did so many others?
Yeah, that's what bothers me about her character. I get that this is the most sincere interpretation of the kitsune from Japanese folklore, but she really doesn't deserve any sympathy. She's made it known far and wide to everyone
except the PC that this is a repeat behaviour she has zero interest in changing. If someone disabled "no kills" mode in this world, the purge would probably begin and end with her. Might include Sophia if she got too aggressive.
while on the subject, what is SHRIFT ? never heard of that one before
An rpg by Devil's Office that was released in chapters a couple years ago iirc. It's basically Undertale except the monsters want to sex you.
