Ren'Py Monster Girl Dreams [v26.7a Alpha] [Threshold]

[AestheticSeeker]

I hope the capital finally implements some actual tension. The biggest weakness of this game in my mind is that there are no real consequences worth worrying about for anything aside from the one game over that came from the mutated Perpetua, definitely a step in the right direction and it was already kinda forshadowed with the loli succubus almost eating your soul at the camp, some real risks or succubi in the city actually ambushing and preying on the player, with it having some proper consequences, would be a nice change of pace.

It's one of my biggest issues with the game as well.

But at the end of the day it's Monster Girl Dreams not Monster Girl Adventure or Quest or anything.

So I'm torn on this.

On one hand, I 100% agree that it's my preference in having a plot with more stakes and consequences. Currently it doesn't feel like an adventure or anything but more like a theme park, with the sigil holders being the consierges at various amusement park locations.

There's no major underlying conflict between humans and monsters. Nothing like racial integration bias or anything like that.
There's no real throughline with past events and future events. What past event has actually tied into anything that happened in the future? Outside of the whole Venefica and Dark Perpetua thing which I still think is the highest point in the narrative because of that.

Mind if I ask what in particular you'd change narratively to give the story more impact?
For me I can't think of anything that wouldn't change the game's identity too much.

Maybe it's just... "Dream" is too broad of a thematic baseline?

 

[Master of Puppets]

I hope the capital finally implements some actual tension. The biggest weakness of this game in my mind is that there are no real consequences worth worrying about for anything aside from the one game over that came from the mutated Perpetua, definitely a step in the right direction and it was already kinda forshadowed with the loli succubus almost eating your soul at the camp, some real risks or succubi in the city actually ambushing and preying on the player, with it having some proper consequences, would be a nice change of pace.

Or it would be the game taking a turn in the wrong direction for anyone who prefers a more relaxed experience and is happy that the game isn't waiting to ambush us with game overs if we do something wrong.

 

[AestheticSeeker]

Or it would be the game taking a turn in the wrong direction for anyone who prefers a more relaxed experience and is happy that the game isn't waiting to ambush us with game overs if we do something wrong.

Ambush is too strong of a word I think.

The game gives you plenty of autosaves, so even if you game over to a fight you can always go back to b4 the fight. You also have a lot of saves in general.

I think the fact that you can just retry after losing to monster girls is nice in that you keep EXP and Items you gathered while a Game Over means the time spent exploring and gathering items becomes wasted because your story ends.

I think it's very limiting narratively if you have to make sure that narratively the MC can rechallenge every fight in-universe.

 

[Umbral Knight]

Hm... I think the game could benefit from some more encounters with other adventurers.

 

[giantonioloste]

Or it would be the game taking a turn in the wrong direction for anyone who prefers a more relaxed experience and is happy that the game isn't waiting to ambush us with game overs if we do something wrong.

Ngl I'm a huge fan of corruption/full submission mechanics, but I love to have this game as a safe spot of sort and I'm happy if it stays as it is

 

[NamesAreForTheWeak]

Ngl I'm a huge fan of corruption/full submission mechanics, but I love to have this game as a safe spot of sort and I'm happy if it stays as it is

Same here. I like this game precisely because it's a very low-consequences kind of setting by design.

There's plenty of similarly-themed games already with dark Bad Endings, survival being on the line, etc - so it's nice to have one where the worst of it is in the past, and the only real consequence of failure is waking up in a church and taking a bucket of water to the face, with *maybe* a removable or re-workable negative perk to show for it.

In fact, the

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fight was kind of jarring to me because it broke away from that - and even there, once you beat the fight it goes right back to the Comedy Area.

 

[Yetanotheruser9191]

I'd be perfectly fine with more fights that have long lasting defeat effects or even bad endings so long as they remain within very important encounters.

 

[LiberatedSaber]

Seconded. The hypno slave debuff and its effect on will trials makes Kotone's arc so much better for it.

That wasn't really a really a game over thing, more of a questline.

 

[Helivesoncemore]

Hm... I think the game could benefit from some more encounters with other adventurers.

Maybe, but I'm not here for the humans. Minor exception for the guild sisters.

 

[HumanRug]

Hm... I think the game could benefit from some more encounters with other adventurers.

I don't think I'd like to meet males in this game... Or you meant female adventurers like Mika in her youth?

 

[ccccccccccc]

Or you meant female adventurers like Mika in her youth Nara?

Fixed that for you

 

[hexkitty01]

Same here. I like this game precisely because it's a very low-consequences kind of setting by design.

There's plenty of similarly-themed games already with dark Bad Endings, survival being on the line, etc - so it's nice to have one where the worst of it is in the past, and the only real consequence of failure is waking up in a church and taking a bucket of water to the face, with *maybe* a removable or re-workable negative perk to show for it.

In fact, the

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fight was kind of jarring to me because it broke away from that - and even there, once you beat the fight it goes right back to the Comedy Area.

Did anyone else kinda fall in love with Perpetua once she became a truly interactable character and you learned more about her, or was that just my crazy dumb ass?

 

[prettystupid]

Seconded. The hypno slave debuff and its effect on will trials makes Kotone's arc so much better for it.

Same - helps that I like hypno anyway. This was also why I enjoyed Venefica's content so much. In a game without a strong overarching main story (not to be confused with the writing more broadly, which is quality), little things like those debuffs play a large role in establishing the narrative.

Or it would be the game taking a turn in the wrong direction for anyone who prefers a more relaxed experience and is happy that the game isn't waiting to ambush us with game overs if we do something wrong.

This is part of why I prefer "bad" outcomes where the story continues - they establish consequences, but you don't have to stress about the game ending. And there's usually interesting content that can be made for players who want to mitigate/reverse whatever happened.

 

[HumanRug]

Fixed that for you

Forgot that one, but afaik Mika used to be an adventurer before working in the forest dungeon.

 

[HumanRug]

Did anyone else kinda fall in love with Perpetua once she became a truly interactable character and you learned more about her, or was that just my crazy dumb ass?

Kind of, since then she raised from D to B in my tier list (that is, from generic/acquaintance/not-hot to fwb/agreeable-person)

 

[Umbral Knight]

I don't think I'd like to meet males in this game... Or you meant female adventurers like Mika in her youth?

I didn't mean like NTR or anything but yeah male/female adventurers out and about or even just one at the bar we all frequently visit to talk to. They give advice or rumors, maybe a small quest, etc.

 

[HumanRug]

I didn't mean like NTR or anything but yeah male/female adventurers out and about or even just one at the bar we all frequently visit to talk to. They give advice or rumors, maybe a small quest, etc.

I was thinking more of the fact that everyone out there wants to bang the MC, but yeah, your idea is good.

 

[triplebrc]

Mind if I ask what in particular you'd change narratively to give the story more impact?
For me I can't think of anything that wouldn't change the game's identity too much.

Maybe it's just... "Dream" is too broad of a thematic baseline?

The problem is that it is almost impossible by design for anything to have much impact. The main character is a blank slate so he has no relatives or impactful backstory, he has no actual motivation yet to do what he does, injury or death is mostly off the table due to the inability to cause real injuries, there seems to be no real conflict between any factions. The way everything is set up there is only one real thing to target for impact, the players relationships with the monster girls, and obviously given how vastly the preferences differ it would be really hard to hit too many players with that.

I wouldn't say it is too broad, just that there wasn't any real work done towards that kind of thing yet, so you'd have to pretty much start from scratch for anything more than a generic game over.

Or it would be the game taking a turn in the wrong direction for anyone who prefers a more relaxed experience and is happy that the game isn't waiting to ambush us with game overs if we do something wrong.

That is kinda what low difficulty options, overgrinding and or reloading to fix mistakes is for, this way both parties can have what they want.

 

[Kratmann]

I like imagining my own backstory and motives for the dude.

 

[AestheticSeeker]

I like imagining my own backstory and motives for the dude.

I mean... that's nice I guess? He went to magic school and has his own set history based on that.

Having too generic of a lead protagonist has the negative ramifications of him not having any explicit desires the story's narrative can hang on to push forward growth in any direction.