I've only recently discovered this game so my rating is based on the final version of it, with music, different endings and stuff. That's the only version I have known. Judging by what I've been reading, I understand that people who followed it from the beginning might have had quite a bumpy ride and have mixed feelings. That's obviously not my case.
MS,MR is a great game in many respects.
- Writing: While it's not the most complex or original story in the world, the game follows a well-conceived narrative thread. It's full of witty conversations and it's probably the porn VN that has made me laugh the most of all I've played. Ashley's madness, those references to other VN's or even this forum, some tongue-in-cheek kink shaming, crazy wisecracks like "the elephant in the room"... They were everywhere and make this game somewhat unique.
I'll talk about the endings later.
- Art: The game started off with pretty average renders, some of them even a bit weird I must say. As it progressed, the artistic quality became much better and in the latter part of the story most renders were very nice , with some of them being absolutely gorgeous.
As for the models, I especially commend the real body types chosen for the ladies. All of them were different yet gorgeous. Special mention for those perky asses
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- Animations: One thing I detest in more modest devs is that tendency to include those loop "animations" no matter what. They aren't beautiful, they aren't sexy, they are a waste of time and effort. If one dev doesn't have the ability or hardware to produce quality custom animations, I'd rather have more sexy still pics and hot text descriptions than one of those ridiculous loops. Well, Sumodeine included a number of those loops but later on for whatever reason he moved on to providing more sexual renders instead. Very wise decision which improved the sexual content of the second half of the game. For instance, that threesome with Molly or the foursome with C&C were hot-as-fuck scenes! And without any need for lousy animations.
- Music: If I'm not mistaken, I read that music was only added in the final build of the game. Well, I can play games without music but for me nothing beats the atmosphere created by music. It doesn't have to be anything fancy or expensive. I mean, this game makes use of just a bunch of different tracks but they fit just perfect. To be honest, without it my general impression may have been worse.
- The Endings: A touchy subject.
OK, as I said I obviously based my rating on the final version of the game (as everyone should, BTW.) However, I would like to point out that after aaaaaaall that teasing it was only normal for players to feel disappointed if they had no possibility of a happy end with Nikki.
With that in mind, I'm absolutely satisfied with how the game was completed. Your choices matter and everyone was able to pretty much shape Taylor's future as they wanted.
I played all paths, but for me my first choice was fucking everybody until Molly proposed, then I followed the Molly alone path with Nikki single. It just felt more natural to me.
I get what Sumo meant with that conversation on the couch after watching the film on Christmas Eve. That stuff about romantic films always having cliched endings, how more original it would be if the people involved just enriched one another without being together in the end, etc. Although I get the message and actually applied it in my first playthrough because I thought that Nikki was just being a mentor to Taylor, I do believe that the different branching paths should have been included in the first place. This was a light-hearted X-game that depicted an 18-yo sister jerking, sucking off and then fucking her 18 y-o brother. At that point, how were all players supposed to picture such deep considerations and not expect an ending with the second most relevant character of the game, with whom not only sexual tension but also feelings were built up during the course of the whole game?
That being said, I repeat, I'm glad that Sumo rectified and provided such a great variety of endings. I have a gripe though: Skylar. Her dismissal from the story seemed rushed, and for me she was the sexiest character in the game. Unlike Jessica who was only after sex, Skylar showed feelings for Taylor. It came as an unpleasant surprise to me that she was out of the picture. At least she could have joined the thruple instead of Nikki, for example.
But I guess you can't have everything
I'm really looking forward to Sumo's next project. If he applies what he learnt during the development of this game to improve his art, while keeping the same sense of humour and the human touch of this story, he can count me as a new fan.