RPGM - Noblesse Oblige [v0.15.1.0] [Lord Forte Games]

That is the kind of game that make you thrilled right away just by going through a bookshelf.
Plenty of lore in it, typical info dump yes, but it is a bookshelf and book are supposed to inform you. With that much work put into something otherwise useless shows that there is care into this world. You have sentences for much of the item on screen, a world actually builds beyond what we go through as a player and history that will probably never impact us.
The archaic way of speaking, the verbose dialogue, I can get that it may not be easy-going to have to go through searching the meaning of a word every 20 minutes but the tone is clear and the rest of the game keep being that way proves that it is the way of their world and not a simple representation of our own.

This is great. That is what an actual game should be, an actual window to another world. Sadly only the second of the kind to go so far with it but happy that the first one is bringing fruits in such manner.

Of course, actual world building don't make it perfect.
The game have 14 chapters and yet no climax as it stands, making it tiring to be lacking actual feedback of the actions taken. It is fun, yes, plenty of content to go through indeed but the lack of climax means that the situation on the Mc part is stall which isn't a good thing. The battle are interesting for an RPG but they are still lore breaking when each fight is hard and you are supposed to be strong, the said strength not being able to be felt.
Not that bad of defaults to complain, but still defaults that feel the longer they persist.

As enjoyable as it is overall, there is but only one big flaw that spoil Noblesse Oblige severely and comes out on three aspects: the sex.

One, the branching.
Noblesse Oblige have a branching depending on which characters are in the Mc side, having the choice on who we'll bring with us at some instance. As much as the game is well done, I must say that allowing limited character is a petty choice making all those characters ultimately unimpactful in the grand scheme. Putting that aside, it does feel that our choice is important and making branching on them may sound solid. It isn't.
The way of doing it is that small talk content change or just get cut out if you aren't on the route. The relationship themselves are completely the same and doesn't in any way impact the story, making it small to just cut out content because we allowed a character in. Even so more that those characters actually get along in one way or another.
I'll get meta here, the variable of the branching actually did not exist at first and began to appear quite late in game. The first such choice mentioned that we would have the exclusive scene later on if we proved ourself an actual ally too. There is even a relationship screen on each character making guess that those are supposed to change. The conclusion being simply that it was added later on to give purpose to those not taking in the character.
It is small. Very small. And world breaking, the actual talk and relationship between the Mc and the character being the same.

Two, Ligaea.
Main LI, or at least felt as such originally. The Mc takes her as his lover right away even before we are interested, or lacking of, in her. It wasn't a wrong move originally, the game taking on a precedent of the kind which is a harem and the Mc being royalty, it was expected that such a trend would keep on going with new added character. And it did with the main LI coming just after.
That is where it all fall apart, because the second character is betrothed with the Mc and the current stopping there, Ligaea turned out to be the exception and not the rule. This is bad, the others characters being just as much attractive or even more than she is and the Mc having nearly the same kind of posing with everyone, it just feels wrong that she is the only one being with him without actual reasons.
I'll go meta again, the sex scene gone scarcer around there making obvious that there was a shift of direction in the development and that stained the logic of the actual game.

Three, Ariadne.
She is the main LI. I'll let the judgment of character to oneself, the problem being that she is sexually experienced.
I did not care at first, thinking that she wasn't an LI, and I do know that she is on the title screen, I just thought that the Mc was able to keep it to himself. The problem is that she turned out to be always with us and we get to know her past too much. A cloistered princess who was able to go to college because her betrothed was there. The students being all young noble, rumors fly about and the young male just want to have fun. She is smart, making it that she looked down on the frivolous boy and was rumored to be with the Mc, even though they were hiding their engagement, because they were often together and get along.
So you may wonder why the hell I am explaining that much, it is simple really. How the hell did she get any sexual experience? When being cloistered? That is not some sex game without deep, her reputation wasn't as such and fucking a princess is like asking to be beheaded. Then in the college? They keep on going on how rumor was the thing, the only one she had was with the Mc. They mentioned more than one time than the guys just wanted some conquests and she was aware and tired of it, do you actually think that such a boy would not brag if they were able to get the only princess enrolled? And the Mc actually loved her, I am pretty sure he would not forget who was banging her but again, no mention of a soul.
So it brings it back to the question, how the hell did she get any experience?
I'll go meta again and again, Ligaea was the innocent one so they couldn't make Ariadne the same kind, she just had to be a different genre, the experienced one. She actually even mentioned it at their first scene and guess what? Such meta choice just breaks the character.
I should mention that the same question can be asked to the Mc. Though he is a prince, he may have received an education on this part. Obviously, the princess don't go that way and they do mention that virginity is important for royalty, making it even dumber.

Those three troubles all come from the sex. Ligaea wouldn't have been the relationship exception if the game wasn't sexual at first. Ariadne would't have her character broken if Ligaea wasn't there. The branching wouldn't happen if the dev wouldn't make exclusive character routes, which ironically don't get sexual as of today progress.

Obviously, those flaws don't come up that much. The sex scene being scarce, Ariadne false experience doesn't come out anymore after her second scene. Ligaea's relationship don't stand out since the Mc is the same with almost every character. The branching doesn't appear before the last chapters and do begin to be more present making lightly a pain as of late. That being said, nothing actually impact the story, that is sure.

But it does sting when they do come out.
The story may not be that interesting lacking actual climax but the world building being sound, it is fun. Having those feeble parts just here for circumstances that have nothing to do to in-game facts stand out way more than it would in your average game and I found myself bothered by it way much more than I would expect.

If you liked the last sovreign then this game is for you. Its a story driven text based game and has some of the best writing ive seen in an indie game, im actually unsure as to whether i like this or TLS more but will probably end up liking this more when it is finished. ALso ignore the 2 star review that guy is a complete fucking dumbass who probably didnt even playthe game long enough to review it properly. There is absolutely no ntr, and this game is tagged as text based and its strength is in its story, if you want a quick fap then its absolutely not for you, dont drag this gem of a game's rating down cause u are too adhd retarded to play a game like this.

Good map design, cool characters, good story, don't liked that much the forced pair, but I'm ok with that, I've played the old RPG's, like FFX, that don't let us choose our romance. There's some things that need some polishment, but overral, it's good.
5 starts!

If you played TLS play this game, period. All I ask is if a mod reviews my review that they read most of it before removing it or sending me a message if they have an immediate reaction.

While technically in violation of rule 2, I feel like the spirit of the rule isnt being broken by mentioning TLS. Lord Forte Games, the creator of this game, has been active in the TLS community as well as this game pretty heavily inspired by TLS and having a few easter eggs as nods towards TLS and a promotion from the creator of TLS as well. The biggest reason however is because reviewing any game is HARD without a reference point. For Renpy based games thats easy...theres a million of them on this site, but for something as niche as not just RPGM but RPGM adult based game that focuses on story...it's extremely niche and the odds are anyone interested in this game has already played TLS, it's very clearly the same target audience.

The Bad
Sex scenes-honestly annoying af. I understand not wanting to fund the game out of your own pocket and spend money on a game this young by paying artists to do what TLS does, which is a drawn sex scene and dialogue for said scene. But the way its gone about is awful to look at. The paragraphs feel to large and arent easy to digest. The background would be better if it were a black screen instead of a....scroll? And the writing just feels bad which doesnt make much sense since the rest of the game is written beautifully. It got to the point where I rolled my eyes every time clit was mentioned or "pearl between her folds", you could unironically have a drinking game where you takea shot every time the clit is mentioned and you would get wasted by the end of the scene. If I was giving advise I would tell him to reduce the amounts of words in each sex scene by like half, break up the paragraphs, and change the background, although the latter is a personal issue and maybe he really enjoys it.
Lexicon-Some of the words and phrases I just dont like and they feel off. I understand they "fit" within the world hes trying to make but it feels a bit forced at times. Depending on how long your sessions are you will be googling a word or two, while not an issue I found it interesting.
Thats it, yeah not a lot of negatives in its current state. Maybe in the future depending on how the Neutral section goes but it's a really good game with not many issues.

The Neutral
Everything here has potential of either being great or shit depending on the future of the game. This is where comparing it to TLS is absolutely needed. Much like TLS you have investments and lots of choices that will give you various buffs and debuffs. The issue is none of it has come into play yet. All those military points youve gotten rather they be morale, size or quality...they mean nothing as of now. There hasnt been a single big event like the numerous wars in TLS, although the first big event feels like it's about to happen sooner rather than later so we will see in time. But as much as I love the concept of choices mattering and investment I couldnt put this in the Good section, as it is still way to early, for all I know he could scrap this idea entirely, way too early to tell.

The Good
Everything else....seriously.
Combat-Significantly improved on from TLS, every companion feels unique. They all have unique resources or combat style. Hell the first two companions each have a unique system. Ligae with a momentum follow through mechanic and Ariadne as a typical mana based mage whos built around dot's and spreading her fire for a big KABOOM payoff and these two are the most "vanilla" in the game so far. I love the combat system and it makes TLS combat system feel severely outdated.
Companions-Not a single companion I dont like and they once again all feel unique. Unlike TLS this isnt, or atleast currently, doesnt feel like a pokemon gotta collect em all Harem game, and Im enjoying it. You get male companions, you get female companions that arent trying to fuck you frame 1, it's refreshing compared to all the other games on this site.
The writing-it's amazing. The ballroom dance scene is one of my favorites of all time, it's a top tier scene. The rest of the game, even though I may have some gripes as I stated in my Bad section, is beautifully written.
World building-again...amazing. Whether it be through the story, books, or optional dialogue the world building is better than some triple A games. Learning the current and past history feels good, I looked forward to every book that had info about Alexanders ancestors.
Interactive objects?- I dont know what to call this one but you can interact with everything. It's something that going back to play TLS I desperately wish it had, every game should have this. See those books on the shelves? Yeah go ahead and interact with it you just might get a massive lore dump about magic or gods or the history of the kingdom...or maybe you get dialogue about the characters talking about the specific book. That statue youve seen a thousand times? Turns out it's an outdated statue of a specific god that only the people in this region worship. Or what about that fucking plant pot...yeah you're gonna get dialogue about that too. As much as I love the combat this is easily my favorite feature in the entire game and it's not close.

Closing
The game is fantastic and if youve ever played TLS you're doing yourself a disservice by not giving this game a go. The issues are so minor that the only thing I actively dislike in this game are the sex scenes which lets be honest if you've played TLS or are interested in this game you dont care about sex scenes, they arent even the icing on the cake they're that pretty flower made of fondant up in the corner that looks nice but really no one wants to eat it. While similar to TLS the things this game does better it REALLY does better especially the combat and the interactive objects. If you care about story based games and you enjoy some world building play this game. If you like rpgs where your choices matter....while I believe it's going to do that part excellently much like TLS it isnt really in the game yet, as of chapter 10 aside from a few that influence what companions you can acquire theres been very few consequences for decisions at least in the long run.

Excellent game. Interesting story, great characters. Challenging combat. I wish there were more than just a couple of games of this quality, but at least there are some. Looking forward to the continuation of this game, as it really holds your attention.

This is based on about (now ten) hours of gameplay FWIW:

As an RPGMaker game, it's above average. There is a bit too much combat for how interesting any given encounter is (and how long some of them take), but it's more detailed than spamming the attack button. A few of the fights are much more tailored than is usually seen in the genre too. I appreciate how many random objects have descriptions written for their interactions (though most aren't particularly interesting), and an admirable amount of effort has gone into making detailed spaces with the tileset.

As a story, it's below average. The craftsmanship of individual sentences is... fine, but the characters speak like someone read The Name of the Wind and then mainlined rationalist fic for a few days. Everyone is too willing and too able to explain their logic at exhaustive length, including in the middle of a bear attack, but of course the protagonist's enormous brain takes center stage (exiting only so he can display how much he totally, definitely respects women (the condescending atmosphere never really goes away)). The world's geopolitics and power players don't feel particularly fresh either.

The actual smut content is meager, and made even less exciting by my dislike of the characters involved. All text, no images, and barely any buildup to any given scene because of how little eroticism is in the main game.

Any of these issues would take a lot of work to resolve, so I don't expect the game to improve significantly over time, but I'll probably give it another shot whenever it's complete.

This game is "overly" wordy, yet I can not criticize it for that, as the writing is very good. This game is "overly" deep in lore, though I can neither be critical of that, as the lore begins to envelope the reader, at an almost imperceptible pace. This game leans, almost obnoxiously, on an overly rigid ideal of "the righteous good-guy", which is boring in general, but especially so in sex-games, because for most non-sociopathic adults, being so aggressively "good" isn't the ideal sexual fantasy. Yet, the protagonist is so damn smooth I find myself impressed (and conscious of the fact I might steal a few of his lines, were I not long passed caring about impressing anyone). Seriously, if you are 22, and going out this weekend to try and woe a nubile young women to spend the night with you, throw some of these lines, because they sure-as-shit will work. All of this is to say; I kept thinking I would find this game trite, or ethically simplistic, or just plain boring, yet my perception kept moving in the opposite direction.

There is not a lot of quality competition among RPGM games, but there have been a couple over the years that enamored me and, almost despite myself, this is certainly one such game. The writing is, genuinely, top-class - both in the use of language itself, and its mechanism for world-building. The combat (which is always key in an RPG) is certainly among the best I have seen. It isn't Baldur's Gate 3, but it is quite possibly the equivalent of that, in the framework of RPGM. I found every combat encounter as genuinely engaging as could possibly be expected from such an antiquated engine.

All-in-all; I was sincerely impressed, and had far more fun from this game than I had any right to expect.

In general, just a great game with a variety of aspects to enjoy. Has a nice twist to the typical rpgm turn based combat, such as passive and active effects, unique enemies and moves, etc. Also decisions that matter, of a range of means and important consequences. For example, investments, petitions, optional side quests, kingdom building and character choices. The dialogue has substantial thought put into it, and the story is thoroughly engaging to make you look forward to character interactions and confrontations. Loving the depth both the characters, their choices, and the world has. Am inclined to play this game even without the sexual content patch!

Review for v0.8.7.0

If you've looked through enough games on the site, there's no doubt you've come across ones saying how they focus on story/writing over simply having a bunch of sex scenes. This game holds truer to that than almost any other I've played. Before anything, know that this is a real down to the bone RPG. It contains many long segments of gameplay, LOTS of reading, and very few lewd scenes scattered throughout it. If your main goal is sex, this isn't for you.

Now assuming you're a lover of good RPGM games like myself, then holy shit is it a glorious day to have discovered Noblesse Oblige.

I was drawn to this game after seeing it not only being compared to my favorite game on the site, but having read it's inspired by it. That alone is enough to sell me on the game, but what does that entail? So far, a 25+ hour RPG set in a truly detailed fantasy world full of intrigue, compelling characters, competent writing, in-depth combat, kingdom management, and meaningful choices. Fit with a well-crafted story that has so far drawn me in to the point of not wanting to put the game down.

At first I think this game will probably be a bit hard to digest in some ways. It becomes clear very quickly you're being thrust into a world someone has spent hours upon hours creating. There's a lot of new information and lore to learn/remember at once, though I wouldn't say horrendously so. On top of that, the game takes a sort of proper old-timey (for lack of a better word) approach to it's dialogue. The nobility talk like nobility to put it plainly. I think it can be a bit exhausting at first, but I got past it fairly quickly.

There's a great many things I can go into detail about, but the sum of it is that this is a well rounded game in every aspect so far. I'm a sucker for kingdom management so the plot is perfect for me. Already I'm having to make decisions that actually matter and branch the game in very significant ways.

The sheer attention to detail deserves praise on its own as well. One of those games where even the minor NPCs have interesting little bits of dialogue to say. There's flavor text everywhere. Even the books you can read feel as though they were written by a character within the game, stacking onto the immersion.

Perhaps the element that has both surprised and impressed me the most however, is combat. This is hands down the absolute best implementation of combat I've played in an RPGM game. It is incredibly in-depth and complex. Each party member has a very large an unique variety of skills (and even passives on top of that) which all work together in a very satisfying way. It's managed to make what a lot of times can feel like a slog into a very fun experience. Not to mention you eventually go into combat as a party of 5 characters, which I've never actually seen done in an RPGM game.

As always you can find things to nitpick about, but if I had to really criticize anything, it would be the lewd sides of things (as small as it may be). One thing I loved about the game that this one takes inspiration from was that despite it still being a grand RPG, it didn't slack on sex scenes either. It was still a rather major part of the game. Here though, I'd compare it to how AAA games throw in a couple mediocre romance scenes in their grand open world RPG. That's not to say these are comparable to getting black screened or shown a titty for 2 seconds, but rather that it's a very very small thing occasionally thrown in. I suppose it depends on your definition of a harem, but so far the game focuses only on a throuple relationship. I believe there's one scene you can get outside of that, but I wasn't able to see it due to it being tied to a major decision that I erred on the opposite side of. On the few scenes that do exist, there's a relatively large focus on maledom and bdsm that is just not especially my thing either.

TLDR - Noblesse Oblige is proving to be an exceptional RPG for lovers of the genre like myself, and despite it already being 25+ hours long, feels like it's only just beginning. There is plenty to like here if this game should catch your interest, though I will repeat that this is most likely not one you will play for the sex. Thankfully I'm still a freak who values a good story, and for that this is more than delivering. I eagerly await the chance to binge this again down the line.

Not much of a porn game, but it's absolutely a good rpg. If you enjoy The Last Sovereign, this is the game for you. If you somehow haven't played that yet, then what it means is: this is a fun game with great mechanics and good character interactions and mature themes. The romance is good too, even though the sex scenes are all text.

This is a great game, but whether you like it or not will depend on what you are looking for. If you are looking for an adult game with steaming sex scenes, you should look elsewhere.
If you want a deep, interesting rpg with a complex story and varied strategic choices, then you have found it.
You play as Alexander, a prince from a far off kingdom studying at an academy for nobles, when you receive word that your father has died, an usurper sits on the throne and a rivaling kingdom is gearing up for war, trying to exploit this moment of weakness for your kingdom.
The game establishes it's interesting story quickly and effectively. The adventure offers many sidequests, choices and twists and turns in it's story and is great fun. Not only do you need to fight battles in standart rpg fashion, but you need to forge alliances, investigate corruption, make investments in your kingdoms economy and army and solve a large variety of sidequests.
One of the standout features in this game is the turn based combat though. What looks at first glance like the standard rpgmaker combat system reveals a surprising depth and a large potential for interesting decision making in combat.
All the character play fundamentally differently thanks to passives and a varied number of skills.
Even just focusing on the first three characters you have a party that really works well together.
Your main character is an evasion tank and as such will spend most of his time buffing himself to keep attention on himself and survive the enemy attacks. But he also has abilities that allow you to disrupt charged up enemy attacks and an ability that can take out enemies before they can attack, requiring you to balance survivability and offensive potential in battle.
Your offensive mage really is an offensive mage, because offense is the way that she maintains her mana supply. Her spells are expensive, but can set enemies on fire. This will damage enemies over time, but can also be upgraded by hitting them with more fire spells. And the more enemies are on fire and the stronger the fire is, the more mana your mage regenerates each turn. Smart use of your spells thus allows you to further keep up your onslaught of expensive spells.
Last but not least your archer depends heavily on crits. Every rounds that she is not taking damage, she gains a buff increasing her crit chance. This buff stacks, but gets lost if she gets hit. If she gets a crit, she increases her crit chance in the next attack even further.
Thus doing a good job as your tank and keeping all damage off of her, means that she quickly become stronger and stronger as the fight goes on.
Combined with cooldowns and a large number of skills for each character, you basically never have to use a normal attack ever. I have played for hours and can count the number of normal attacks I have done on one hand. All of these characters offer interesting combat choices just all on their own, but playing them together against varied enemies that have their own counters to our companions abilities leads to very fun battles indeed.
The game does have sex scenes, by the way, but they require an optional patch to activate and are purely text based. Tag wise the game seems to be developing into a harem with a focuss on bdsm. But again, all text based.

If you're interested in this game because of porn, you will be disappointed. However, I suggest you try the game regardless and frame it more as a independent RPG maker venture rather than a hardcore H-game.

Tore through the game completely disregarding the patch that adds in any smut. Therefor, the quality of the smut I can't comment on. The writing is intriguing and very back-and-forth-repartee if a bit mired in more formal/regal speech, but it's easy to adjust to.

What is the most interesting part, the thing that kept me up until 3am playing, is the management system. The developer has fully admitted to having The Last Sovereign as an inspiration, and it scratches the same itch. I'm getting invested in the characters and their opinions on how to approach problems, thinking of the best ways to balance my economic interests with the support of the people and strength of my military, and as the development continues I'm sure that the consequences of your decisions will compound.

The combat is interesting as each party member has their own "passives" that reward them for playing a certain way, or even multiple ways in the same battle. The MC is an evasion tank, one member is focused on setting up crits, another about getting as many enemies to burn, ect. Their abilities upgrade as you gain further relationship points with them, alongside leveling. There is no grinding, so kill every enemy you see. Although I suspect if this goes the route of TLS, there may eventually be parts of the game where its hinted it would be detrimental to kill certain mobs.

Needs a little polish, as all games in development do, but I'm very much interested in seeing this one through. Full disclaimer, after playing up to 0.7, I pledged to the developer's patreon and played a little further on their patreon build. Regardless, if the trajectory of this game keeps steady, I see myself amending my review to a five star.