Is there an RPG or any other type of game you can think of that has socially oriented skills and completely avoids this pitfall? I racked my brain trying to think of one, and I couldn't really come up with a good example. For instance, my favorite RPG, Vampire: the Masquerade -- Bloodlines, has an attribute and feat system that allows the player to build characters who are intimidating, persuasive, and/or seductive, but the game is very selective in terms of how much it allows these character aspects to change the way the overall plot develops. There are always NPCs you can't intimidate, persuade, or seduce and simply have to fight or perform quests for. Even if you envision your vampire as more of a lover than a fighter or as someone who would never take orders from anyone, the plot absolutely requires you to play a certain way at certain moments even if that conflicts with the personality of the character you've built.
Much like VTMB's attribute and feat system, Nothing Is Forever's skill system greatest value to me is that it can empower my roleplaying in a way that disconnected choices might not. One thing I really like about NIF is that it acknowledges potential connections between our character's personality and his kinks but doesn't force them. For instance, you can absolutely play a dominant guy who tends to be quite sensitive in conversation. Sure, perhaps you can't pick sensitive choices every single time they crop up and still have enough points for your dom skills, but the system gives you lots of leeway to both pick the best choice in the moment and establish your character's preferred kinks. In practice, it can work out really well because a sensitive dom is probably going to pick sensitive choices in order to be caring or supportive while not picking them when they're too submissive and there's plenty of both types of sensitive choices in the game.
To my mind the mark of a good RPG is that the options you can pick have applications in numerous different situations. Sure, some locks might be unpickable and some encounters might not permit negotiation, but that's a far cry from, say, only having a single NPC you could seduce or a single computer to hack. To me,
NIF feels a lot more like the latter because most of the skills seem to map pretty tightly to specific girls. Yes, there's some overlap on the baseline skills but those are extremely simple skills and there's still only a limited application for them.
Conceptually, I understand why that's the case; it makes perfect sense that each girl will have their own tastes no matter how much *we* might be into something else. But in the end it still leaves me with the feeling that the skill system is effectively a form we fill out to unlock the girl(s) of our choice - in which case why not skip the form and interact with the girls as we see fit? The skill tree's only mechanical function, I think, is to restrict access to some content based on our available points. That's a potentially important role, but it's a really hard one to 'play balance' because there's such a wide variety of possible point scores.
Admittedly, it's possible the system will feel less idiosyncratic as time goes on and we get to explore a wider array of kinks with each girl. If that's the plan then I'm willing to wait and see how it works before passing judgement, though it will almost certainly be a massive undertaking for the dev. I suppose you could also argue the system helps train us to associate certain dialog options with the various skill groups; that can be a useful thing (but it depends heavily on the player conceptualizing the groups in a similar manner to the dev). And the skill tree does give us a handy roadmap of the sort of content likely to be encountered in the game. So I can see some appeal to the system, even if only as a security blanker. But to me the skills distract from the true strength of the game, which lies in the way we can explore relationships with interesting characters.
I would be a bit surprised to see an AVN actually spark a completely new interest in a particular kink, but I suppose it does happen from time to time particularly with more unusual fetishes. I wonder if museums have had to beef up security just a little bit following the release of
A Silent Statue.
One thing I love about NIF is the way MrSilverLust develops his characters as multi-dimensional people first regardless of their kinks. So, while there are characters with sexually dominant tendencies who are also often dominant in conversation as well like Emma and Kim, there's also Deb who isn't quite as easy to immediately fit into the domme box...and Emma is actually a switch who can enjoy being dominated though she hates to admit it. Jen can both destroy men across the chess board and submit to the MC in the bedroom. Carl is nothing like the stereotypical cuck in NTR/netorase games. Responsible Bri seems like the perfect girl to bring home to mom and dad and someday marry...but she fantasizes about one night stands.
Interesting. I can't really agree; to me a lot of the girls seem pretty one-note in their desires, made all the more so thanks to the skill system emphasizing the way to their nethers. Emma, for example, feels very much like a game mechanic the way she oscillates between dom or sub with no option to just talk to her about our feelings in a neutral manner. And Deb is a pretty textbook domme in my book (all the more so since we never get to see her trying to accommodate Carl).
I'm not saying the characters themselves are flat; I think they're quite well written. But I do think the way the MC is allowed to interact with feels restrictive. Maybe that would ultimately be inevitable - there's only so much freedom a player can have in a computer game. But I still feel like the characters would benefit if they themselves had to explain to the MC (and us) why they weren't interested in doing something rather than leaning on the button notes to fill in the gaps.
I think there's real social value in portraying people with kinks that may define their sexuality but don't define or predict everything else about them. Even as a rather vanilla guy, I don't find the kinky characters in NIF to be weird or off-putting...they're just into different stuff in the bedroom than I am, and that's totally OK. It helps that really only Kim is potentially hurting anyone with her fetish. If rapey stuff or something like feeding was portrayed, I admittedly might feel a lot differently.
There's also a big contrast in how NIF treats kinks and how other adult games tend to. If you were to delve further into, say, femdom games, you'll likely come across a lot of rather dark fantasy and rather less well-rounded and realistic characters. For instance, it's not unusual to see evil domme characters who enslave, torture, and even sometimes murder the hapless fellows who fall into their grasp. I have a feeling those games would also often make vanilla players disinterested in the kink but in a more visceral, less nuanced, and potentially even upsetting way. (I personally sometimes try to play these games with a classic good vs evil mindset. It blows my mind a little that some femdom games actually let you play this way and eventually get some measure of revenge on the dommes after a whole lot of pain and suffering! It can be quite cathartic.)
Fair, but I consider most of those games dreck. Admittedly, I'm a strict egalitarian when it comes to sex so I almost never play that sort of game in the first place, but IMHO the 'evil domme who must enslave everyone' is more a cardboard cutout than a proper character. I'm all for
NIF trying to view kinks through a more nuanced lens, I just don't think you need a skill tree to clear that rather low bar.
I will concede that Lea could have had more scenes where she shows she has her own will and isn't completely defenseless to the power of suggestion and the MC should have been less aggressive in his kink recruiting. It's not that I didn't have reservations as well, but the way the relationship developed reassured me that they were good for each other. There is one scene on her route that I liked a lot that might make you feel a little better about the relationship:
Having played through her path at least once, Lea is easily my favorite girl. So I understand her appeal and I agree she's
intended to be willing partner rather than a pliable victim (unless you're the sort of monster who'd deliberately cheat on her
). But I really do have to close my eyes and hum loudly to get through some of the early interactions because they're so one sided - especially if you factor in the MC's history of abusing his role as a psychologist in the past.
I prefer to think of the MC quitting not because he's cowering in fear of Kim but rather because he wants to take full control of his life back and, perhaps, do the honorable thing for his friend and finally tell Pete the truth about the cheating. In that case, it wouldn't be a snap judgment made in a moment of weakness, but rather something he's carefully considered after weighing all the pros and cons. As long as he keeps practicing, Kim or anyone else who puts two and two together could theoretically threaten his career and reputation...it's a Damocles sword that will forever hover over his head even if it is also quite possible he could continue to get away with it indefinitely. Even Mel or Jen themselves could ruin him if they so chose.
Also, it's not as if he doesn't feel at least a measure of guilt for his past or current indiscretions. He knows he absolutely violated the ethical code of his profession. He knows how people like Professor Cunningham and Emma would likely react if they heard the truth. By quitting, he wouldn't just be escaping Kim's blackmail but also at least some of his own mental self-flagellation.
Then again, maybe the MC just wanted to do something different. That motivation might not be as satisfying, but it would work on every route. I agree with you that him changing fields entirely would make a lot of sense and be preferable all things considered. I liked the bartender idea he discussed with Olivia.
I can understand the MC wanting to leave psychology. That makes sense given the risk he's putting everyone else through, and if he'd gone for a job as a bartender I probably wouldn't have raised an eyebrow. But the game clearly shows he's trying to get back into sexology, and that's were it loses me. Even if he isn't going to be working with patients one on one anymore, the MC has less business in that field than he does in psychology. That's my hang-up and the game gives me very little to work with as an explanation.
Kim seems to love games, struggling for dominance, and risk-taking above all else. A lot of her behavior is extremely imprudent from my point of view, but it's all consistent with her personality. I have a feeling she'll find a way to land on her feet no matter where the plot takes her and that she'll be just fine without either the MC or Pete if things end up going that way.
It may be consistent with her personality, but it's hard to square with her being a successful attorney. Sure, we all have blind spots when it comes to assessing our own actions, but this is pushing it. If she'd been unwilling to try dominating the MC previously I don't see why she'd fling herself off the ledge so zealously just because he'd be in a slightly better position to harm her if the attempt fails. And frankly, the quality of her argument comparing blackmail to practicing law would give me pause me if I were her client.
