RPGM Completed Monster Sentai Insect Angels [Final] [Corrupt]

[rexred]

I can't wait for a sequel

 

[Jooop]

I can't wait for a sequel

I wouldn't get your hopes too high. this game came out two years ago.

 

[Jooop]

Evil Scorpion is best girl, just saying.

 

[05841035411]

Evil Scorpion is best girl, just saying.

That's Evil Sakura slander, if you ask me. Though honestly, all of the characters are surprisingly good considering how short the game is.

...

So having finished the game, I have to say that it does corruption pretty well, and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the genre. Beyond that, though... All of the mechanics seem kind of shallow? And it's annoying that you can't play the game exclusively with the keyboard. It doesn't ruin the game, but it does make it less than it could be.

For example; reputation. So far as I can tell, your only real way of raising it is basically to keep tossing out mothgirl and hope she brainwashes people. But this also doesn't really matter, because all it really changes is how much money your boss gives you and whether he's disappointed in you or not. Which doesn't really matter, because you can pretty much just berserker charge your way through the game if you want the good-aligned end, so long as you critically weaken one of your enemies first - meaning that blowing your initial money on surveillance cameras is the only upgrade you really need. And if you're not interested in the good end, extorting your territory gives you ridiculous amounts of money anyway.

If reputation was tied into a few more things - say, random events, more significant patrol events, a few dialogue changes, or the strength of your former comrades - it might make the player care. But as it is, the mechanic might as well not exist as soon as you betray humanity. Which, to be fair, makes sense; it's just kind of disappointing from a mechanical perspective.

This leads into another issue the game has - the way you're pretty much railroaded into either speedrunning the game, or conquering humanity. Which, again, makes sense; granting independent command to someone recently brainwashed, who is still under the influence of an insect core, surrounding her exclusively with other people who are near-certain to lose their humanity to the fighting, all while they're constantly being attacked in the press seems like... A poor decision, to put it lightly. There's a difference between trusting your old subordinate, and throwing her to the wolves. So, this part is actually a pretty good integration of story and mechanics from that perspective - it's just that the game doesn't really do a good job of letting you interact with the system.

You can kind of slow down corruption by not using certain skills, and locking them up at the base all day, but... That's not really playing the game, is it? It's just cutting out large portions of the game. Something like a counselling room you could send them to would help things feel less like a sharp drop into certain corruption - you still couldn't use your skills, but you could at least send them on patrol a bit more safely.

This would also help with another issue I feel like the game has - that the "getting corrupt" part is over far too quickly. The intermediate stage is pretty much "blink and you'll miss it", which is disappointing when I feel like that's an important element of corruption games. I want to see my allies becoming steadily more uncomfortable with my behavior, but it's more likely that I'll go from "innocent" to "complete monster" before I see them again - or just plain start at "complete monster". Sources of corruption currently generate too much corruption relative to the character's limit; if said limit were approximately doubled, I think that would be more balanced. It's true that the game functionally begins when everyone agrees to betray humanity, but I still think it rushes things a bit too much.

Which in turn leads me to my last issue with the game; it's too short, and there's not really enough content. You get wildly overpowered waaaay too quickly, forcing you to stall things out yourself if want to see everyone's events, but... There's also not really enough going on outside of those events to help balance out the rest of the game. Everyone has a particular area on patrol that generates events unique to their character, for instance - but only one or two. If this were expanded to a larger selection of places, then the player could enjoy exploring the patrol system while they wait for the heroes to heal up so that you could properly kidnap them. And both Catastrophe and the Director kind of disappear after the prologue despite their importance - if we could get a scene of them responding to you capturing one of their characters, or in being driven back to their base, that could help give them a bit of characterization as well as helping capture a feeling of despair for their side. I feel as though things like that would help round out the game a bit better.

All of that said, it's still a surprisingly good game despite its issues, and I recognize that expanding the scope would be difficult considering their circumstances... It's just that I think the game could be a real classic with a bit more polish. Then again, it's that kind of mindset that leaves games trapped in development hell as they try to fix "just one more thing", so perhaps they made the right decision after all.

 

[test011]

So having finished the game (...)

Very well said, i agree on all of the points.
Although id still say that this game is a move in right direction. It has exactly what i would like to see in a corruption game, that is gameplay, changing sprites of characters, dialogues between corrupted and non corrupted characters, allegiance changes, brainwashing etc... Even trough all of those elements are pretty bare it makes me wish that more corruption games used those elements, instead usually we get a boring VN or RPG maker game where corruption is just thrown in as another fetish and doesnt change anything other than some stats or one character sprite.

 

[05841035411]

Very well said, i agree on all of the points.
Although id still say that this game is a move in right direction. It has exactly what i would like to see in a corruption game, that is gameplay, changing sprites of characters, dialogues between corrupted and non corrupted characters, allegiance changes, brainwashing etc... Even trough all of those elements are pretty bare it makes me wish that more corruption games used those elements, instead usually we get a boring VN or RPG maker game where corruption is just thrown in as another fetish and doesnt change anything other than some stats or one character sprite.

Yeah, even if this game is on a dramatically smaller scale, it still reminds me of something from the Venus Blood series - it has all the right elements, it just didn't quite have enough time to work with them all. Which I'm not going to hold against them, considering each of the Venus Blood took years to make, had a dramatically larger team involved, and could reuse a bunch of stuff each game.

 

[Jooop]

That's Evil Sakura slander, if you ask me. Though honestly, all of the characters are surprisingly good considering how short the game is.

...

So having finished the game, I have to say that it does corruption pretty well, and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the genre. Beyond that, though... All of the mechanics seem kind of shallow? And it's annoying that you can't play the game exclusively with the keyboard. It doesn't ruin the game, but it does make it less than it could be.

For example; reputation. So far as I can tell, your only real way of raising it is basically to keep tossing out mothgirl and hope she brainwashes people. But this also doesn't really matter, because all it really changes is how much money your boss gives you and whether he's disappointed in you or not. Which doesn't really matter, because you can pretty much just berserker charge your way through the game if you want the good-aligned end, so long as you critically weaken one of your enemies first - meaning that blowing your initial money on surveillance cameras is the only upgrade you really need. And if you're not interested in the good end, extorting your territory gives you ridiculous amounts of money anyway.

If reputation was tied into a few more things - say, random events, more significant patrol events, a few dialogue changes, or the strength of your former comrades - it might make the player care. But as it is, the mechanic might as well not exist as soon as you betray humanity. Which, to be fair, makes sense; it's just kind of disappointing from a mechanical perspective.

This leads into another issue the game has - the way you're pretty much railroaded into either speedrunning the game, or conquering humanity. Which, again, makes sense; granting independent command to someone recently brainwashed, who is still under the influence of an insect core, surrounding her exclusively with other people who are near-certain to lose their humanity to the fighting, all while they're constantly being attacked in the press seems like... A poor decision, to put it lightly. There's a difference between trusting your old subordinate, and throwing her to the wolves. So, this part is actually a pretty good integration of story and mechanics from that perspective - it's just that the game doesn't really do a good job of letting you interact with the system.

You can kind of slow down corruption by not using certain skills, and locking them up at the base all day, but... That's not really playing the game, is it? It's just cutting out large portions of the game. Something like a counselling room you could send them to would help things feel less like a sharp drop into certain corruption - you still couldn't use your skills, but you could at least send them on patrol a bit more safely.

This would also help with another issue I feel like the game has - that the "getting corrupt" part is over far too quickly. The intermediate stage is pretty much "blink and you'll miss it", which is disappointing when I feel like that's an important element of corruption games. I want to see my allies becoming steadily more uncomfortable with my behavior, but it's more likely that I'll go from "innocent" to "complete monster" before I see them again - or just plain start at "complete monster". Sources of corruption currently generate too much corruption relative to the character's limit; if said limit were approximately doubled, I think that would be more balanced. It's true that the game functionally begins when everyone agrees to betray humanity, but I still think it rushes things a bit too much.

Which in turn leads me to my last issue with the game; it's too short, and there's not really enough content. You get wildly overpowered waaaay too quickly, forcing you to stall things out yourself if want to see everyone's events, but... There's also not really enough going on outside of those events to help balance out the rest of the game. Everyone has a particular area on patrol that generates events unique to their character, for instance - but only one or two. If this were expanded to a larger selection of places, then the player could enjoy exploring the patrol system while they wait for the heroes to heal up so that you could properly kidnap them. And both Catastrophe and the Director kind of disappear after the prologue despite their importance - if we could get a scene of them responding to you capturing one of their characters, or in being driven back to their base, that could help give them a bit of characterization as well as helping capture a feeling of despair for their side. I feel as though things like that would help round out the game a bit better.

All of that said, it's still a surprisingly good game despite its issues, and I recognize that expanding the scope would be difficult considering their circumstances... It's just that I think the game could be a real classic with a bit more polish. Then again, it's that kind of mindset that leaves games trapped in development hell as they try to fix "just one more thing", so perhaps they made the right decision after all.

Very nice analysis, and to me a part of the reason the game has the issues it does is because the developer never makes the same game twice. Lemme give you a little history of their work. His first two games were basically point and clicks, but in rpg maker. The third was a board game, fourth was a beat ‘em up, 5th was a an SRPG (this game), and finally his latest game is a merchant simulator.

 

[test011]

(...) it still reminds me of something from the Venus Blood series - it has all the right elements, it just didn't quite have enough time to work with them all. (...)

Absolutely, i loved VB: Frontier and im glad that now VB: Hollow/Hypno is getting full english translation too.
I wish there were more corruption games like those but other than Vensu Blood series and this one i dont know any other japanise games with similar feel or gameplay.

 

[Jooop]

Also, I will at least agree Evil Sakura is definitely the most interesting of the supporting cast. You have the generic sweet girl and I guess I found it a little surprising (The Insect Angels did too.) that she had such a sadistic streak in her. Was it always there or was it because of the brainwashing? I believe it was always there, since you see hints of it come out when the Insect Angels attack her, ESPECIALLY if you brainwash and sic one of the other NASCO girls on her. She becomes furious and pretty much drops any idea of saving the Insect Angels and instead wants to go for the kill, very much impressing Evil Scorpion.

 

[05841035411]

Very nice analysis, and to me a part of the reason the game has the issues it does is because the developer never makes the same game twice. Lemme give you a little history of their work. His first two games were basically point and clicks, but in rpg maker. The third was a board game, fourth was a beat ‘em up, 5th was a an SRPG (this game), and finally his latest game is a merchant simulator.

Ah, is that also why the game's code appears to be a giant mess of script that doesn't take advantage of any of the engine's actual features? I don't really consider myself an expert in RPG Maker, but I'm pretty sure that, like, half of the event coding could have been done much more easily with common events, switches, and variables compared to... Well, what it actually looks like.

Setting up custom menus and the SRPG system with scripts, that makes perfect sense to me. Dialogue and corruption values, less so.

Also, I will at least agree Evil Sakura is definitely the most interesting of the supporting cast. You have the generic sweet girl and I guess I found it a little surprising (The Insect Angels did too.) that she had such a sadistic streak in her. Was it always there or was it because of the brainwashing? I believe it was always there, since you see hints of it come out when the Insect Angels attack her, ESPECIALLY if you brainwash and sic one of the other NASCO girls on her. She becomes furious and pretty much drops any idea of saving the Insect Angels and instead wants to go for the kill, very much impressing Evil Scorpion.

Ah... Honestly, I just appreciated the fact that we finally had a character who acknowledges that kids are annoying, filthy little beasts who should be put down when they start to become irritating. Which is pretty much immediately.

I mean, she has appeal outside of that fact, but... How often do we get a character willing to say the truth like that?

Absolutely, i loved VB: Frontier and im glad that now VB: Hollow/Hypno is getting full english translation too.
I wish there were more corruption games like those but other than Vensu Blood series and this one i dont know any other japanise games with similar feel or gameplay.

Oh, someone's finally translating the series into English? Is it a decent translation, or MTL? I played the games in Japanese, but I wouldn't mind replaying them with less mental strain.

 

[Jooop]

Ah, is that also why the game's code appears to be a giant mess of script that doesn't take advantage of any of the engine's actual features? I don't really consider myself an expert in RPG Maker, but I'm pretty sure that, like, half of the event coding could have been done much more easily with common events, switches, and variables compared to... Well, what it actually looks like.

Setting up custom menus and the SRPG system with scripts, that makes perfect sense to me. Dialogue and corruption values, less so.




Ah... Honestly, I just appreciated the fact that we finally had a character who acknowledges that kids are annoying, filthy little beasts who should be put down when they start to become irritating. Which is pretty much immediately.

I mean, she has appeal outside of that fact, but... How often do we get a character willing to say the truth like that?



Oh, someone's finally translating the series into English? Is it a decent translation, or MTL? I played the games in Japanese, but I wouldn't mind replaying them with less mental strain.

Lol, Scorpion does the same thing. She even wants to blow up the playground. Like, that’s just mean.

 

[05841035411]

Lol, Scorpion does the same thing. She even wants to blow up the playground. Like, that’s just mean.

Yeah, but Scorpion just kind of hates loud people in general; Sakura mentions at multiple points that she hates kids specifically.

Though speaking of Scorpion, it's sweet how the two of them bond over pre-emptively subduing bank robbers, and get angry over people publishing warnings about their random beatings righteous pursuit of justice.

 

[Jooop]

Yeah, but Scorpion just kind of hates loud people in general; Sakura mentions at multiple points that she hates kids specifically.

Though speaking of Scorpion, it's sweet how the two of them bond over pre-emptively subduing bank robbers, and get angry over people publishing warnings about their random beatings righteous pursuit of justice.

Now that i think about it, i wonder if loud noises actually trigger her super bad. I always felt she was definitely the most volatile of the three.

 

[05841035411]

Now that i think about it, i wonder if loud noises actually trigger her super bad. I always felt she was definitely the most volatile of the three.

It'd make sense; ambush hunters tend to be pretty sensitive to sound, and she is a scorpion now.

 

[Jooop]

It'd make sense; ambush hunters tend to be pretty sensitive to sound, and she is a scorpion now.

That.... actually makes sense now. She hated the kids because they were loud when playing and she beats up a guy for screaming in terror of her if you send her to the mall unmimicked.

 

[BlueJorts]

The white NASCO girl ended up getting captured before my girls turned evil, is there a way to rescue her so I can capture her myself?

 

[Jooop]

The white NASCO girl ended up getting captured before my girls turned evil, is there a way to rescue her so I can capture her myself?

Unfortunately the only way to rescue her is by destroying the faction that captured her.

 

[Jooop]

At the very least annoying scorpion is one of the fastest ways to get your cheeks clapped by her.

 

[test011]

Oh, someone's finally translating the series into English? Is it a decent translation, or MTL? I played the games in Japanese, but I wouldn't mind replaying them with less mental strain.

Actual real translation from the japanise devs, they hired translators etc, hell they even did a english version of main song.
Great stuff really, you can find VB: Frontier on f95, it got translated around december 2019 iirc and i had a blast playing it, now translation efforts got fully funded on kickstarted again so in near future we are getting english version of VB: Hypno (eng translation is called "Hollow")

And speaking of favorite characters spider girl is pretty aesthetically pleasing but i like moth girl approach the most, brainwash the people into accepting the new protectors!

 

[Jooop]

Actual real translation from the japanise devs, they hired translators etc, hell they even did a english version of main song.
Great stuff really, you can find VB: Frontier on f95, it got translated around december 2019 iirc and i had a blast playing it, now translation efforts got fully funded on kickstarted again so in near future we are getting english version of VB: Hypno (eng translation is called "Hollow")

And speaking of favorite characters spider girl is pretty aesthetically pleasing but i like moth girl approach the most, brainwash the people into accepting the new protectors!

I very much enjoy moth girls interactions with christy.