VN - Unity - Out of Touch! [v3.91.1] [Story Anon]

Warning: This novel does not contain any sex scenes animations. Tag really misleads. I would't even try this if I knew about it.
I have only read 20 chapters so like half of the current version so my review might not be perfectly accurate.

I had very high expectations about this novel after seeing that the author did couple of trailers. You could see that its not just another pornshovelware on this site but something with a heart putted in.

Unfortunately it's not perfect.

Pros:
+Character desings. Some of the bests on this site, and I'm not talking about visuals which are also nice, but personalities. They're beliveable and likeable. Even CJ imo, I like him. Reminds me of Naruto a bit, and looks like Ichigo.
We have great cast of diffrent Love Interests: tomboy, nerd, maid, yandere, lil sis, strong woman, puppy girl etc.
I think story could benefit from some true male companions and antagonists. Because, let's face it, women aren't great for great stories. They're mostly just for romance and that kind of stuff.
+Diffrent Povs. I saw that many people don't like it but its not like fem protagonist or something. It just switches narrator but MC still is the MC. It adds depth to the characters.
+Huge amount of diffrent renders. Like 1 pic for 1-2 sentence. In other novels on this site its like 1 pic for 10 writen sentences and its really boring to get all the information and action from letters.
+Music
+UI design

Cons:
-Lack of choices.
-No animations just still images. It's not 2016 and you can't really do that anymore. Scenes themselve are pretty good tho.
-Story is a little weird. -Meme implementation. Like Chad Thundercock. I not a huge fan of super serious porn games, but this is just too cringe and present and breakes illusion for me. Like it bring to my mind all this politics and war between chads, incels, feminists etc.
-And it's not really an issue but I think it could be nice to be able to rename our MC to better indentify with him and intensify the experience. Especially when it's a harem. Also I don't like CJ name. Not original and not fitting here. Brings GTA and also breaks immersion.



Overall it's worth reading just for the characters themself. But I'd still wait for animations. Author said somewhere he'll do it after finishing the story.


4/5* only if you like heavy story and don't mind lack of animation. Otherwise 3/5*

Warning: This novels does not contain any sex scenes animations. Tag really misleads. I would't even try this if I knew about it.

Click to expand...

First Glance review
I had a problem with MC transformation. For some reason he become really unlikable so you stop caring what happens to him. There nothing special or interesting in his personality and on top of that he often act pretty dumb. Don't mind a lot of text if it interesting to read but in this case, everything is really standard.

After reading 12 chapters.
After watching screenshots you thought that this a typical hentai game. But this one have a really story oriented start. You need to be prepared to read a lot. The whole feeling is like creator was going to make this game non-h game but later changed his mind.

The story
It's kinda wierd but still interesting to read. The whole supernatural stuff sound to much "the chosen one". Author decide to make story interesting but following the same steps that writers were using when humanity learn to write. In my opinion MC is overpowered from start and don't have any real weakness. Everybody likes/wants him, he is tall, strong and handsome. Other female characters are interesting enough, but each of them dreaming about having relationship with MC. And what kind of friendship it is?

Two main problems
- story is weird written roller coaster. Especially when supernatural stuff starts. Sometimes it's fine, but sometimes you feel like you are wasting your time. Story would fit better for a younger CJ.
- no H animation. I was shocked at first by the game quality. It looks really good, but you won't find H animated scenes here.

After a year of waiting, H-scenes are still not animated.

Skip this game unless you are "Soap opera" fan.

What a fun game. This is essentially "Anime, the Hentai VN game" + Western memes and ideas.

Sometimes the game is goofy, sometimes overly serious, but overall it's FUN. And that's all you can ask for.

Plus, the girls are all hot and well-written. The story is unique enough to capture and keep your attention. But the best part about this game is the renders.

I have never played a VN where so much attention to detail and creativity went into nearly every scene. It's so much that you can forgive the shoddy background scenery.

I just couldn't get into the story. I couldn't tell if they were trying to be serious or silly as it would switch around. The start of the story involves some rather serious elements but suddenly his dad is the literal Chad meme in the clouds Mufasa style. Then serious drama. Then weird dream sequence that just feels out of place. It's all over the place. The PoV also jumps around A LOT between a good handful of characters and can sometimes be a bit redundant. You'll get a different PoV, but from the same situation. Like asking five different people what they saw at a crime scene. Mostly the same information with slight differences. It doesn't really give you much more information than what you already know. It feels bloated and REALLY slow-paced. I ran it for about an hour and then gave up. I think the jumping around of characters is really one of the most harmful aspects as it can leave you disoriented and sometimes wondering who's view this was supposed to be again. On top of seeing repeated information.

I have really struggled to rate this game, I want to give it a 1 or even a 2, just because the graphic design of the female characters were perfect before and after on timeskip. And also all the game's sound design, in the "Miami Vice" Synthwave/vaporwave vibe, shit that I enjoy all the time. so, okay, there's a lot of effort put into this, so I guess +1 for effort.

Consider this as 2 out of 5.

First, I must say that the story is creative, but it suffers greatly because its core is rooted in the power of friendship. "Power of friendship" anime trope, aspect of tropes generics that I loathe. I knew what I was seeing but I didn't think it would be so unbearable.
Unfortunately, I got pissed of with Victoria right from the beginning, after the shit she did, I'll explain why.
I know she went through a troubled time in her life when she lost her mother and was almost attacked by her father "he just saw the image of his wife in his daughter, I don't know if that can be called an attack" but man, when she tried to rape CJ, well all my support and respect for her went to waste. The character who actually did something to simply ruin Mc's life because she freaked out, and refused to tell her friends the truth in 5 years. In other words, she was the reason why MC was transferred to another country.

Anyway, the worst part of this is when MC returns, instead of Victoria going after MC and apologizing, it's the opposite. Mc "like a good lapdog" she simply despised him "At the reunion". The only good thing she did was admitting that she was wrong and also withholding the truth from her friends. Even with the tragic background of the death of mother, there is no way to sugarcoat it... I really liked it when Kieran "I think that's her name" told Leah about it or when Jaime found out why the MC moved. But the script of the power of friendship and a MC lapdog makes the player forgive her. One thing I hate most about anime, much more than the power of friendship. I believe that everyone deserves a second chance but not everyone deserves it, that's the real thing... unfortunately for victoria did there was no forgiveness!

Anyway, with that Victoria shit out of the way, let's talk more about MC

I'm not going to lie, when I played for the first time I loved the scenes (like CJ discovering that his father is Chad Thundercock) the MEME Chad of the Galaxies, I admit that I laughed a lot at the interaction between the MC and his father Gigachad of the Galaxies. I even agreed when he said the MC was such a pussy, a coward which was real. He's the kind of MC that encompasses a lot of the things I also can't stand in most anime and games. And thanks to Victoria's shit, MC came out of the eggshell to become a real MC, or at least tried, right! because I'm going to tell you, it was literally exchanging six for half a dozen!

I didn't approve of MC's appearance and personality after the timeskip, it was very ridiculous, he just got bigger with a feminine waist and shoulders and put on tacky colorful clothes like a rainbow flag and his personality became that of an idiot airhead!
I’ve never been a fan of the “air-headed protagonist” trope, as it usually leads to endless frustration and stupid contrivances for the good sake of the plot. This game somehow takes it to stratospheric levels.
Just so you can see that the protagonist is an airhead, not even to realize that Jaime was a girl in disguise. There's nothing masculine about that, unfortunately it's deplorable, but he went from being a wimpy to being a big clueless Airhead!

About the story;

This game has a cinematic quality in terms of its ability to use framing and editing to tell a story. Unfortunately, many of these edits (jump cuts, if it were video) are very abrupt, which left me confused from the beginning. And while the story itself touches on a number of serious themes that could make for a very compelling adult game, the way it's told is simply juvenile. I'm sure it's deliberate, and like one of those silly little Bollywood movies that plays an upbeat song and dance right after a death scene. this game had too many jarring tonal shifts for me to take it seriously. Some players may not care; some might even like it. But if, like me, it's unexpected and disparaging, you're probably better off playing something else.

The description of the game makes you think that this game is very good, I was attracted by the extremely positive reviews and praises like "fantastic story", "good writing" etc. so I tried it even the renders are good, the beginning is interesting, with all that supernatural ambiance, but for some reason after the first few minutes the game starts to fall apart. The introduction lasts around 30 to 40 minutes, depending on your reading speed with many renders of the same scenes but from a different perspective, the writing starts to lack because it is not interesting, a lot of description of places, situations, etc.

The game is practically kinetic, you can make some decisions but they are very far from each other, the game is kind of an open world, so you can make "decisions" about where you want to go and something like that, but it doesn't affect the story . because the game tells you where you have to go to continue the story, so you have no free will.
To elaborate on my reason for stating this, it has a linear story, there are no "game" altering choices or love points for the relationship to grow or decline, there are no paths the MC can take that are Divergent. No, this is a story that the dev created and simply guides us by holding our hands through the episodes.
See if you click on each frame or set it to automatic, you can skip dialogues by not choosing to talk to someone in certain locations. This is one of the biggest problems with Out of Touch, which is labeled as a VN but is far from being that. I was disappointed when I downloaded it and played it, expecting choices, routes to follow few girls or avoid some, or respond with different dialogue options.

I should point out that it's not labeled as a VN, but it's just about a kinetic romance. There are times when an erotic scene would refresh everything, but it just doesn't happen, it's very frustrating that this isn't due to lack of opportunity. it's almost as if DEV hated having porn and avoided it. to the sex scenes, there are few, plus they don't have enough emotional power to make them great and they're not good enough to enjoy, they're just there, as a reminder that it's also a harem game. See, then you're at the third party with a bunch of horny girls, you get drunk, an obvious scene happens... and everyone just falls asleep. Yep, you went through over 100k words just to get this as a reward.

If this sounds appealing to you... then I pray God helps you... because you like this... thing, whatever it is!

Slow-Burn Story Telling: My God, there is no excuse for more than 3 hours of text that could have been done in 1 without losing the plot!!!
A confusing and incoherent story, Melodrama that soared to stratospheric levels of charm and fell flat on its face as a "painful nail in the picture". Pretentious bulls*** metafiction.


Now, about why I wrote this review and why I say it's a weird VN. The problem here is really the adult content, or rather, how much (or little) of the game contains adult content. I think this hurts the game more than I said about the character and story of the game, in terms of relevance and popularity. The game has almost no adult content, so those who encounter it other than the ero content could potentially be extremely disappointed. Marketing a game as ero and still having almost no ero is not good.

It's not really an ero game, if you come here expecting that as the main focus of the game, you're going to hate it. Heck, I'm already several hours in (more than the amount I give to most VNs), but there have only been 2 scenes so far, and they were pretty lackluster erotically, as they weren't there for the eroticism, really.

I thought it would get better later and I'm also looking forward to some H scenes so I continued until chapter 15 or so. It's very difficult to do this because there is a location system that requires you to travel to 10 different locations just to progress through a scene. After hours of trying and I must have gone through about 100k words and dialogues, I am surprised to not find a single H-Scene, yes NOT H-SCENE AFTER HOURS OF READING 100K words.

So...Let me repeat, this game IS NOT an ero VN as much as it is a romance VN with some adult content here and there. which also seems to be there because of this. Which, in my opinion, is unworthy of the game, as only one adult scene makes it unsuitable for most audiences.

In my opinion, it would be better to just cut out all adult content entirely "Since that's not his focus!" and just sell itself as a normal romance VN with some heavy themes. Because the game certainly shows that it is insistent. If you remove what little adult content there is, what's left is a pseudo-vn with sappy romance! I wouldn't be surprised if they just cut out the adult content and released it on Steam without it.

This game is for those who like a "Truckload shipping" with massive text telling a story, it's not for me. I like a good, funny story with a good dose of sexual content, making me entitled to use this forum. but I can't like a silly story pretending to be serious and profound is ridiculous.

I wouldn't recommend this to my worst enemy. I don't know, what type drugs that people use when they overrate this game so high. This game had potential for something better but it was wasted in execution, and has potential and wasting it is worse than having no potential at all!

If you start playing this game purely for a quick fap, it's not for you.
Out of Touch is heavy on the story aspect, but it does spectacularly.
Huge amounts of renders and text (bad for some, excelent for others, like me).
Prepare to laugh at some ridiculous jokes, feel sad at certain moments and why not the excelent ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) scenes.
Highly recommended!

Alright, I am seeing a lot of opposing reviews on this game, and my general feeling is that people either really love it, or really hate it. The game isn't perfect (what game is?) - but I can say this: rarely have I seen an AVN creator be this openly earnest in their intentions. They put their heart and soul into this, and you can just tell.

Sure, the game can be long-winded, with tangential storylines within tangential storylines that you have to patiently sit through while you struggle to figure out what it means before they all resolve and fall into place right at the end of a chapter. Sure, the protag's dad is literally the chad_meme.jpg floating in the sky. And yeah, sure, the presentation can most definitely be confusing at times. There's a lot left unanswered within the game and sometimes things are so... bright and formless you're not all too sure what you're looking at?

But up until now, nothing in this game has given me the feeling that that was due to incompetence or inability by the dev. That the unanswered questions are simply plotholes that won't ever be explained. That the visuals are a lack of imagination, that they are not 100% on purpose. Because they absolutely are all on purpose, a vision brought very clearly to life. And that's why I think some (a minority) of reviews are not liking this at all - you either buy into the camp, and the presentation, and the memes, and you roll with it and take it for what it is, or you bounce off of it hard. No judgement there, I can see how people would.
Me, personally? I love camp. I love it when people are so unabashedly themselves, they'll risk being cringe or cheesy a hundred times over if it means they can just express the story they want to tell, without concessions, without fear. I respect it. That's all I can say about it. I really respect it.

The game isn't perfect. Like I said, it can be long-winded. Sometimes I've skipped through some dialogue until I saw something interesting happen (maybe a handful of times in total over... I don't know how many hours but I think somewhere around 10?).

But if you let it, if you are open to the weird and heartfelt and colorful and sometimes memey experience this game has to offer, it can take you for a real ride.
To anyone who's new to this game and hesitant to try it, I say be open, and give it a shot if you wanna.

The good:
-Visuals are pretty good. Very cartoonish, but I think it fits pretty well with the humorous and lighthearted tone of the game
-Premise is very interesting, I especially liked learning about the mysterious deities that CJ and co. have to fight against. The story does a decent job at developing the mystique surrounding the impending doom
-Humor is done well for the most part, the cringe in this game does not come from the humor, which is pretty rare

The bad:
-The hardships that CJ and co. face feel like non-drama. The central conflict of the first ~10 chapters is that
-Speaking of mental, it seems that despite living practically by themselves and supporting each other for years without the main character, any support system or mental fortitude that the LIs built up over their entire lives seem to disappear the moment CJ arrives on campus. Not only that, CJ becomes such a monumental aspect of their lives that without CJ, 3 girls would already basically kill themselves because they would rather not see the light of day again. I get CJ is a woman's man, but all this love and attention from the LIs don't feel earned at all, it's just handed to us for free. It feels cheap.

-Speaking of cheap, the deus ex machina in this game is crazy. Yes, the MC is a literal god, but that doesn't mean they can't suffer losses or have tragedy strike them. Especially in a game that takes itself so seriously with all this family and love bullshit, it feels cheap to


I realize this review may seem harsh, but it's because I really think this game has potential. The premise is interesting, the girls are likeable (for the most part, Ashley is annoying as fuck tho), the visuals are good, the humor is actually not cringe for once (which is a shame, because every other aspect of the writing is), and I can tell the dev put their heart and soul into this game. I really hope that the story, and especially the writing, gets better, because this game could easily be 5 stars.

This is a very trope-y anime like game with tons of meme references, cliches and general silliness. But the game also has serious stories, great character based drama and an interesting plot. I also really like the visuals and the distinct style that the game has. I do not enjoy a lot of character drama but the stories of the girls kept me engaged and I really wanted to find out what comes next.

I did not enjoy the first several hours of the game. I also thought the meme humor in the beginning clashed with the overall tone of the stories of the characters in a way that was jarring. But if you are willing to look past that, or if you enjoy that type of humor you will love this game. Overall I think this is a great game and is a solid 4/5 for me. For newer players who dont like the beginning - I would encourage you to just power through because the game gets a lot better as the story progresses.

I haven't been able to get this game out of my head for days now. Chapter 43 was the most recent chapter at the time of writing this, and there was easily 40 hours of story. Absolutely one of the best narrative experiences I've ever had, porn game or not. Though the H content did push a lot of the right buttons for me. Hope you like vaporwave.

Story/Characters: This is a very character focused story, with the main perspective shifting between several members of the main cast. If you're not interested in a VN with a lot of reading and only the occasional input from the player this is not for you. If you don't like melodramatic elements then this may also not before you. But I highly encourage you to check it out regardless. No hitting you head against a wall because someone won't just say the obvious thing that would fix everything. The story has several main arcs and is most easily likened to something like a long running anime. Each arc centers around one of the main cast for their arc, but does a great job of not abandoning a character just because their arc is complete, or ignoring another because its not their "turn". Everyone is included and integrated well, with each person feeling like they have their role to play. The dialogue is also witty, funny, and engaging. The "joke" sections are also put in great spots that don't undermine or detract from the serious experience you're having. This was the kind of game where I went to locations that I knew had no content just to see the dialogue that I knew would be waiting for me. The characters also do a good job of each having their own "voice" and mannerisms that come out in the dialogue, helping to make everyone distinct and unique. Considering that is the core of a VN this game easily delivers in spades on this front.

Music: As previously mentioned there's a lot of vaporwave and synthwave, with music by Macross 82-99, Night Tempo, Phoenix #2772 as well as some stuff by some mainstream artists you've probably heard of, but we won't tell anyone about that will we? Since these aren't unique to Out of Touch, all I can say is that the selection is sublime. I personally love the tracks featured here, and its probably one of the main reasons I was able to get into the game as much and as deeply as I did. More objectively, the music is used extremely well and allows the emotional beats to really flourish and resonate in a way that only music can do. There are also several original songs produced by Story Anon, including the character main theme's and battle music. These are all wonderful and just as excellently fit the tone with the rest of the music, as well as the characters they mean to represent.

Art: You've probably noticed this is a game that uses Koikatsu models. I've played a lot of games with Koikatsu models and this is easily one of the best looking in this sub-genre. A lot of devs get very lazy with the models or don't put much effort into any aspect of them. Not so here. The characters look distinct, both in height, body proportions, and most importantly their faces. I don't get the sensation of looking at the same character just with a bigger bust or 12 cm's tacked on to their legs. Similarly, I didn't get a feeling of dejavu because the characters look like something that can be found in another game. Everyone is individual and unrepeated, here or in another game. The environments used are also really high quality, with lots of unique and great looking sets for the characters to inhabit. The use of lighting effects is superb, making the characters look defined and well colored, rather than just some flat object. There's a few default locations, but if you haven't played other Koikatsu based games you won't notice that, and if you have the plethora of well done locations far outstrips any other shortcomings on this aspect.

H-Scenes: Alright this is what you're actually here for. I am happy to report that Out of Touch delivers on every aspect I could want from it. Pretty girls in a cosmic harem with plenty of lesbian scenes included. You only got one cock, and so many girls. Luckily your girls have absolutely no qualms about helping you out on this herculean task of delivering satisfaction. Most of them are actually pretty into it, if you catch my meaning. The scenes aren't animated in the traditional sense (no webm'/mp4 files here). Don't let this deter you though. There's plenty of scene changes so you don't have to pretend that a character is doing something they are in the dialogue that they aren't doing on the screen. Additionally, the scenes are extremely well paced with the story, with each girl getting their fill when they're ready, not before. No peer pressure, rape, or unsureness. And there are plenty of scenes, with a gallery included under extras on the main menu. You wont have to make 30 different save files so you can see the scenes again. They unlock after being viewed once in the story. The dialogue continues to be absolutely excellent, with plenty of passion and feeling. It really has a lot of care put into it to make the scenes reach a frequency that no amount of smutty dialogue would be capable of achieving. As for the art in these scenes, its similarly amazing. Some Koikatsu devs don't pay attention to details like clipping or directionality. Not the case here. Scenes are well drawn with an excellent use of lighting. They're so pretty I almost don't want to use them for their intended purpose. Almost. Like I said at the start, this hits a lot of the right notes for me.

TL;DR This is easily my new favorite H-Game, and time will tell if it makes it into my actual favorite games. The music, story, characters, dialogue and h-content all blend in such a beautiful way that is truly gestalt. If you're a fan of VN's or narrative based experiences you owe it to yourself to play Out of Touch immediately. You will not be disappointed.

Edit: I wanted to revisit this game after a couple updates but I'm not feeling it.

The drawn out and artificial tension with Jaime is getting old. And it seems like Sarah who was once a voice of reason for CJ has become more of a sex elemental bimbo. I really liked these two but I don't like how they're developing.

I think for now I'll watch from a distance.

I only just picked this up as of 2.96 after giving Tropicali a go. It's a great VN a ton of effort was poured into it.

The visuals are pretty amazing .

The sound track is pretty amazing.

The story is pretty amazing.

It's got a couple REALLY dumb bits in it that are absurdly tied into the story but if you don't let it get to you it's a great experience. The whole cast has character and while at times it feels like a soap opera or novela but that doesn't detract from it either.

If you've managed to not play this and you're looking for something to kill a good chunk of time with there aren't many as good as it on this site and very few with this much content.

Give it a go even if you aren't sure it's worth a try cause it is.

(Note: this review is for Version 2.96.2 of the game, and is subject to change until the final version)

The Good

• Story - Not gonna lie, this aspect surprised me the most. Granted, I wasn't really sold with it in the beginning (I mean the early parts of the Prologue felt like the beginning of a soap opera), but once a certain being showed up in the sky later on, my brain threw "expectations of logic and realism" out of the window and buckled up for a weird-ass-anime-as-fuck story instead...

...at least, that's what I expected it to be. Granted, it still ended up weird. But I expected it to be "your average anime-inspired story filled with ridiculous power ups mixed with personal drama and resolutions through the power of daijoubu and nakama" through and through, and not...well...Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman" (the OG graphic novel, not the modernized Netflix adaptation) if you removed half of the seriousness and injected it with a shit-ton of anime tropes and humor. The result being that it's part anime, part psychedelic acid trip for the most part, which kinda is the whole point I think given the "otherworldliness" focus of the overall plot.

• Visuals - I'm gonna be frank: this is by far the best-looking Koikatsu AVN in the indie AVN space. The shot quality, the godlike lighting (I didn't even know you can do lighting like that in Koikatsu), the visuals looking like actual anime stills in some shots...no other Koikatsu AVN comes close to this (other than, I suppose, the other game that's being made by the same developer...but it remains to be seen if that can reach the level of sakuga that this one manages to pull off).

• Soundtrack - It's rare for an indie AVN to have its own original soundtrack. Rarer still that said soundtrack is an absolute banger that lends well to every scene and moment in the story: from CJ's triumphant solo theme to the combat tracks that pump things up to the music during dramatic moments or the sex scenes...nothing feels out of place here and all simply contribute and enhance the story.

The Meh

• Worldbuilding - For all my praise with the story, I feel like this is the big "but" that keeps me from grading it a perfect score. Probably because for all of the stuff that it tries to explain in its exposition dumps and freeroam stuff (I'll get to that later), I sometimes have a hard time trying to grasp how the world beyond the occult elements work, primarily because there are fundamental lore/fluff about the world that gets introduced quite late in the story. Like, the fact that aging has pretty much halted and genetic engineering is a normal occurence. You'd think that stuff like this could've been introduced around the beginning, but nope, you only get to find that out a few chapters later. Kinda iffy if you ask me, since it makes it look like the world is a "work-in-progress" rather than something that's fully realized.

• Combat scenes - I suppose this is a personal preference thing but...as much as I like how certain scenes feel "screenshot" or "wallpaper" worthy...I just don't like how there are moments where the flow is broken by a "strike-a-pose" shot rather than something that connects to it. This is most prevalent in the combat sections, which make them feel less like fights and more like a "best pose" contest.

But on the other hand, I get why it's done that way (I mean it tries to address the issue of how exactly is one going to portray a fight against otherworldly entities with only static images). It's just a personal peeve since I value choreography as much as I value money shots in fight scenes (be it manga, comics, or VNs).

The Ugly

• Freeroam events - Or more specifically, "why even allow me to roam in areas that don't have events on them but have snippets of lore and conversations that could've been compiled and talked about in the side events/activities with the girls?" Events like these grind the narrative to a screeching crawl and ruin the pacing IMO. Better to limit options during said moments and just limit the locations that have significant events in them.

• Exposition dumps - Yeah, I know, I know. "It's a VN, wordy exposition is expected." Yeah, I don't mind this if most of it happens to be interesting, concise, and actually feels more like a natural conversation instead of lectures disguised as conversation. Had to power through portions of it just to advance the story, but said moments I find myself nearly dozing off despite trying my best to read and digest through it. That's just how bad some of them are.

Overall, despite my personal misgivings, I want to rate this a 4.75 out of 5. But since this site doesn't allow that kind of rating except for averages I'm giving it a 5, if only because I enjoyed this well enough and I can't wait to see more.

Out of Touch, a game that is overall pretty great!
It is very linear! So if that's not what you're looking for in a AVN this is not for you. Most of the choices result in bonus scenes and a few very minor main story changes.

Early on the story kind of throws a bunch of spiritual supernatural stuff at you and it's quite a slow burn to figure it all out and still has quite a ways to go. Currently (as of writing) standing at 43/100 chapters completed. It's broken up into "volumes" which can be considered similar to seasons of a TV show. The chapters get progressively longer as you go through the game which makes the later volumes "smaller" than the earlier ones. However each volume is still packed full of content regardless of how many chapters it actually has. It's also not from one sole perspective, the majority of it is from CJ's perspective but it'll occasionally swap to other characters for chapters or a couple scenes. It also has a few scenes which can be immersion breaking, but at the same time it's worked into the story. Looking at Mr. Chad Thundercock in the sky

I would say the spiritual stuff isn't necessarily the main focus, sex isn't even the main focus and it's an AVN! Instead the main focus, would have to be the characters. Sex is basically a neat little treat to say "thanks for playing so far!" To me, Out of Touch is a story about dealing with trauma, emotions, and horrible situations that people were forced into while having the spiritual stuff as a fun, entertaining way to force the characters to deal with the trauma they didn't initially want to deal with.

The characters are also overall pretty great as well! With each one fulfilling a specific body type, personality, etc. Teresa is shy, quiet, timid, yet incredibly curvy. Ashley is a small, incredibly energetic, semi-airheaded redhead. Victoria is a tall, blue-eyed, black haired, incredibly curvy woman. And they all share one thing: Trauma! Massive amounts of it. Some of them have no personal trauma, but share the trauma of others. CJ (the protagonist) has by far, the most trauma. He also cares about everyone else way more than himself and is basically a semi-himbo.

The sex animations are non-existent BUT are planned to be added in the future! Judging from Tropicali (made by the same devs), they're going to be good. The existing sex scenes are still quite good! Even if they aren't animated.

The game also has a complete soundtrack for a variety of situations. A decent amount of which is original, designed specifically for this game.

Overall, Out of Touch is, admittedly, not for everyone. But, it hits everything I look for in a VN. A good story, good characters, lots of mystery, lots of humor, lots of character development, and lots of emotions. For an AVN, it has extremely attractive characters, pretty good scenes (would be better animated, but I can wait for that), and actual emotions in the characters instead of "sex only." Check this game out, if it's not for you, then it just wasn't for you.

5/5, no notes... but that's not how the reviewing system works here, so:

The story? This will be the biggest turn-off for most people, but let him cook. It's abstract and extremely low-concept. WAY too much so for its own good and the development model. There's so much going on that it's inevitably going to turn people who just can't or don't want to keep up with it off, straight from the jump. For everyone else, it's going to be a bit uncomfortable not knowing what the hell is going on some of the time because it's been a few months since you played it all the way through, but ultimately, once this thing is complete and can be played start to finish inside of a week or two, that's when it'll truly shine.

The visuals? Again, not for everyone, but once you realize how unique - how unlike any other game it looks especially the further you get into it, I think most people could come to appreciate it. The shortcomings of the visuals in this game are literally the shortcomings of the engine used to make those visuals. Sure, there are engines that allow for higher ceilings of quality, but the mastery over Koikatsu on display here is nothing short of impressive. There's nothing else even remotely close. Yes, it could definitely use animations - but those can always be added later. Fine - I'll knock it down to 4.9/5 for that.

The characters? Every one exquisite. Some of the best in the AVN game. No, not all of them have been fully fleshed out yet. LET THE MAN COOK!

The sex? Apart from one minor instance, *chef's kiss*. Assuming it was real, I'm a little bitter that Mizue's first time happened the way it did (through a TV screen with no real buildup), but I'll get over it. Fine - 4.8/5.

The atmosphere? Captivating.

The vibes? Immaculate.

I'd like to finish, if I may, with the following:

PLAP PLAP PLAP PLAP PLAP PLAP PLAP PLAP PLAP PLAP PLAP PLAP PLAP PLAP PLAP PLAP PLAP PLAP

GET PREGNANT GET PREGNANT GET PREGNANT GET PREGNANT GET PREGNANT GET PREGNANT GET PREGNANT GET PREGNANT GET PREGNANT GET PREGNANT GET PREGNANT GET PREGNANT GET PREGNANT GET PREGNANT

Arigato gozaimashita.

Unlike the game itself, I'm not going to waste any time and cut straight to the point so I can get the awful taste it left out of my mouth and move on: "Out of Touch" encompasses pretty much every single aspect of visual novels that I loathe.

- It's pretty much a kinetic novel, which wouldn't be as big of a problem if it didn't pretend it wasn't one in the first place.
- Supernatural crapola. The game clearly hints at this from the get go so you've got to commit to it, but the hopes of the whole thing being handled in a somewhat interesting manner as far as world building goes are soon crushed, and the overall switch in tone is as jarring as it can get.
- Tropey anime "power of friendship" story (more like power of Harem I guess), with characters that aren't believable nor deep enough to warrant any real feeling towards, one way or the other.
- While the writing is fine from a grammatical standpoint, it's also irksome with its plentiful, unnecessary swearing and injection of cringeworthy, unfunny memes. Chad Thundercock? Really?
- The perspective changes are simply infuriating. But I guess in a way they're very much needed considering how shallow the MC is. Speaking of which...
- You guessed it. The MC might very well be at the top of my personal list of insufferable protagonists. He almost makes me appreciate the army of third leg sporting mannequins of your typical run of the mill incest romps. There is just no way to sugarcoat this: after the 5 year timeskip he goes from being your typical dense-but-loving, somewhat clichè but tolerable anime protagonist to becoming a total douchebag both in the way he looks and talks. Being loud, cocky, talking and dressing like a tool aren't exactly the first things that pop into my mind whenever I think of someone growing into a confident adult. Victoria's words to him on their first meeting after the timeskip are without a doubt the high point of this game.

I like slow burn games. And while admittedly I'm not the biggest fan of Koikatsu aesthetics I tried my best to give this one a try mainly because of the glowing reviews and essays about its supposedly "amazing writing" that, I'm sorry to say, is ultimately nowhere to be found. Not only is the game a slog to read through (especially earlier on when the confusion factor is cranked up to eleven), it's a hot mess at its core. It fails when it tries to be funny, and when it shifts into serious mode it's just mediocre at best, that is when it doesn't fall too deep into the tropes it embraces, for which you need a level of tolerance I frankly just lack.

Holy crap this is amazing.
I got kinda bamboozled since it was sold to me on a /v/ thread as a slow paced e-game about a dude with eldritch goddesses larping as his childhood friends. Not really eldritch, more like pagan polytheistic goddesses but still awesome.


Which it is a slow paced game, but its super good. I was impressed by the music video "seasonal" vids before the start of major arcs.

That said its not best for getting off too due to the slow burn, but there are galleries to go back to. Also voiced Chad as a god.

What we have here is a harem romance novel that fluctuates from lovey-dovey to filthy, in the backdrop of one of the most trippy settings I've seen. The tl/dr version is to just go and play the damn game, it's awesome. But I want to add this summary because I feel that the game is worth the extra effort.

The Setting:
The game takes place in near-future Japan. The technology is mostly familiar but there have been extrarordinary advancements in biomedical research. These advancements play a significant role although as of Chapter 43 the game only mentions the significance but doesn't show it. Additionally there is a supernatural element that stays under the radar for the most part.

The other half of the setting is supernatural, dealing with parallel universes and a very mythological place made from thoughts and emotions which is supposed to mirror reality in a sense. Certain people have the capacity to travel to this place, create personal pockets of space, and the time works differently there. This simple explanation doesn't do justice to the depth of the setting but it's a good starting point to make sense of what is going on. Additionally I really don't understand the particulars too well to provide a more in depth explanation. It's a trippy place with obscure rules.

The Story:
While the game has a consistent continuity, the player is thrust in the deep end. A lot of interactions don't make much sense because there is a lot of backstory that the player doesn't know at the time. For example, in the opening scene, a girl gets upset for seamingly no reason and the explanation given is that she has trouble understanding the language because she is a foreigner. While this is partially true, the actual reason is way more interesting, but it will take quite a while for the player to understand it or even internalize it.

The style during the prologue is very "asian". This combined with the lack of knowledge may confuse the player and give him the wrong idea. Everything happens for a reason and during certain scenes the game shows some apparitions that will become important down the line. It's a good idea to keep those in mind while playing.

Eventually it reaches a huge "What the fuck" point that signifies the end of the prologue and the start of the actual game. You may notice a shift in tone at this point, aside from the absurdity of that particular scene. The game starts injecting a lot of humor, the drama gets a bit more straightforward, the language becomes vulgar at times.

For the more "crazy" sequences, it's quite normal to not understand a thing of what's happening, however everything exists for a reason and the writing stays very consistent, even if the rules of the setting are left a bit open to interpretation at times.

The game prefers to show you the results and the reactions of the actors instead of providing exposition. The exposition usually comes a bit later in the form of dialogue but the narrators are mostly unreliable and this is by design. The actors themselves fall in a lot of fallacies, sometimes becoming overdramatic. This is part of the charm but it may annoy people at time. However these issues generally don't drag for long and are resolved in a mostly satisfying way.

The story mostly revolves around the inherent connections between the main cast. It introduces the characters, spends some time mending their relationships and moves on to dealing with the main "antagonists" and other dangerous situations.

The Characters:
The cast is fairly sizeable and the player is introduced to most of the characters from the start. Most of the girls are connected to MC in a very specific way, however the reasons can vary. Click the spoiler for a short explanation of the main cast.


If you read the spoiler, it becomes apparent that the situation here is extremely complex and to be honest it took me a while to understand the finer points. Even this explanation doesn't really mention all the details and some characters like Kieran and Teresa are very complex.

The story tends to accentuate the character flaws in an overdramatic way. For example there are a lot of sequences where the character wants to say something significant, but is interrupted at the last second and perpetuates a situation that seems fairly simple to solve. To be fair, these sequences tend to be more prominent in the earlier parts of the game and the drama improves in later chapters, although Leah really cranks it up to 11.

My personal favorites are Cro and Tsukiko. They are the two extremes. One is extremely hot and emotional, while the other is extremely cold and rational. The other characters are more balanced but very distinct and I think there is something for everyone to enjoy.

The MC:
I have to say that as far as main characters go, this one is unique. In the prologue he is a very meek and loving child. After a certain event he turns into a very cocky but still loving young adult. I'd say that he epitomizes the concept of the perfect ladies man. Extremely loving, emotional and supportive, assertive but never overbearing, great listener with very high morals, seemingly not too bright but makes it up with dashing action and grit.

However don't be fooled. While the game likes making fun of him being a bit slow and simple, he can think on his feet, he is surprisingly aware, an expert at reading people and he has some other hidden talents, like being exceptional at math, or turning a switch and becoming extremely dominant to the point that he walks over any situation. The writer throws a few nuggets of genius every now and then, but he doesn't allow him to overpower the rest of the cast.

He certainly isn't the "brains" behind the operations. This is Jamie's role. But he is the guy that makes things happen in the end and he will dash to the end of the world to get his way. Of course expect him to get manipulated at times, but truthfully, even the reader doesn't necessarily know what is the optimal way to deal with any given situation.

The dynamic seems to be that he is the bearer of unfathomable amounts of power/mana, but he needs his allies to "channel" it through. He doesn't seem particularly combat oriented, although there is a certain sequence in the prologue that makes him look very competent. Perhaps we will see his combat ability down the line.


The Romance:
A lot of time is spend with MC and the girls trying to figure out how their relationship works. It's basically a harem, but while there is an obvious attraction between MC and the girls, they start out as friends, not romantic interests, with the exception of Victoria and Sarah to a certain extend.

Some girls like Jamie and Ashley are obviously infatuated but have some roadblocks, either due to exceptional circumstances or jealousy/inadequacy, that have to go through. Others like Leah and Teresa build the romance over time.

While the sex is mostly vanilla, what distinguishes it the dirty talk. It starts fairly mild, with most of the earlier scenes being very sweet, but at some point it picks up pace and it can get filthy, with a lot of possessiveness and dominance, with sex scenes that are implied to last for days.

Most of the sex scenes are driven by Victoria and Sarah. Along with Leah they are the source of lesbian scenes. Kieran and Mizue are also very sexually open although they don't necessarily had time to shine in that department as of Chapter 43.

The Atmosphere:
The description "psychedelic" is very accurate. The game sets the tone with 80s disco/synthwave, upbeat jpop, some jazzy segments, a lot of neon and scenes with flashing lights that add an interesting dimension, especially to the sex scenes. It's a weird combination but somehow it keeps things very.. familiar, despite all the craziness happening in the game.

The characters have their own music themes and they are distinct enough for the player to recognize what character is the protagonist in any given situation. My favorite has to be when Tsukiko enters the fray. She possesses a character who takes a white/grey tint and along with her music she really makes an incredible entrance.

Closing comments:
It's important to note that this is a fairly slow burn. Although things start escalating past a certain point, the main attraction is the story and you will probably need to take some notes in order to fully understand what is going on. The sex scenes are designed to be more "tasteful", rather than focusing on animations and angles. Additionally the game is long and while I can't guess what the endgame is, it feels like it's barely half done. The dev has a tight schedule, releasing 9-10 updates per year.

All in all, I think this is one of the best adult vns out there and it's worth 5 stars and your time.

This truly is a special game. Never in my 3 years of playing AVNs have I felt so many emotions from a single story. From happiness to sadness, from laughs to tears, from peacefulness to crippling anxiety. There are so many things that Out of Touch made me FEEL that at the end of my playthrough I found myself wanting more as a feeling of emptiness filled me, for I knew that I would never be able to experience this for the first time again.

While not without its flaws, Out of Touch is very close to what I would call a perfect game for me. The story, characters, themes, dialogue, romance build up, humor and soundtrack are all so incredibly well done that all of its shortcomings are almost completely overshadowed.

I will be dividing this review in sections and give my opinion on all of them, starting with:

Story
The story is, simply put, the best one I've ever played in any VN. This game has everything you would wish in a fantasy story: Lore that would take several pages to piece together (in a good way), complex characters with their unique stories that actually makes you care, villains who represent an actual threat to the heroes and so on. And we are not even halfway through the story yet!

Everything is so well thought out to the point where a scene in chapter 2 becomes relevant many hours later, this is absolutely impressive. And this is not the only scene, there are many other foreshadowings sprinkled around the game that have or will have an impact in the story. It is clear that the author has a clear vision of where he wants this story to go, and we are able to notice that.

Characters
The other aspect where the game beautifully excels. Like I mentioned earlier, there are no "shallow" characters here. Everyone with relevance has their own motives, background and personality completely fleshed out. The character development for each of these characters is also impressive, especially the ones who already had their arcs completed.

All the main girls in the game are extremely well written and charismatic, and I would be very suprised if anyone actually disliked one of them after completing the game. The dev manages to make us care for each and every one of them in a way that is truly special. They also feel really unique too, each having their own dynamic with each other and the MC. There is something for everybody here; Do you like a caring girl that is a freak in the sheets? You got it. Do you like a girl who is bratty but slowly opens up to the MC? You got it. Do you like a girl who has mommy vibes? You got it. Do you like the "I can fix her" trope? HOLY FUCK DO YOU GOT IT. *Ahem* Like I said, something for everybody.

And it's not only the girls that are fleshed out (even though they are like 95% of the cast), our main character, CJ, is also extremely well written. In fact, the dev managed to do something that I never thought was possible in an AVN: he managed to make the main character my favorite character in the entire game. That is probably the highest praise I could give to a character, no joke. I absolutely LOVE CJ. His personality, his story, his inner struggles, his behaviour, the way he acts, his selfless nature, his compassion, even his flaws. I could go on and on about the things I love about this beautiful man and it would still not be enough to truly make you understand how much I love this character. All I'm going to say is: I get why these girls love him so much.

He may not be everyone's cup of tea though. At the beginning of the game you could say he is quite dumb and this may be a turn off for people who don't like this trope and don't have much patience. But I can promise you that he truly grows thoughout the story, in almost every aspect. The CJ at the current version is a very different guy compared to the one in the beginning, while still maintaining his essence and charisma.

Romance and Sex
If you are someone who prioritizes romance in these games, you will have a blast playing this. OoT has one of the best romance build ups I've ever seen in any game. It is a slow burn while not being a blueballs simulator. Everything feels right and earned when things do happen. The sex doesn't feel "free" or forced and every sex scene so far servers a purpose (maybe with one exception that I will not go into detail because of spoilers), whether it is as a climax to the romance with the girl in question, for story exposition or even as a way to deepen the relationships even more. The dialogue during the sex scenes is also great, being more than just moans and comments on dick size.

If you are here only for the porn however, you will not have a good time. The sex scenes are very spread out and sometimes you will spend hours going through the story to reach another one. This is NOT a fap game.

Other aspects of the game
The soundtrack is extremely good with a wide range of songs. There is hype music, combat music, emotional music and so on. It's also important to note that the game knows how to use these tracks during the scenes, so it will never break your immersion playing a a happy song during a depressing moment or vice versa.

The UI is also very well made. If it wasn't for the tag in the first page, I probably wouldn't have noticed it was Unity instead of Ren'py. The only issue I have with it is that you can't scroll back after loading a save, but it's not that big of a deal.

What I didn't like
Not much to say here but there's a couple of things that bothered me.

There is a lot of cussing in this game, to the point where it sometimes breaks your immersion when you notice the amount of "fuck" "fucking ____" "crap" "what the fuck" in almost consecutive lines. Almost every character here cusses a LOT, with only a few exceptions. It sometimes takes me away from emotional moments because of it, especially in the beginning. After a some time I kinda got used to it but there would still be moments where I would notice it.

This next one doesn't bother me that much but since I don't want to pass the impression that I'm a fanboy I will adress it. Sometimes I feel like the narration goes on a bit too long. Not only that, but there were moments where the narrator's name wasn't shown until later so I couldn't really feel connected to what was being said. When the name was finally revealed I had to load a save and read everything again but this time with the character in mind. This happened I think two or three times. This was mostly a problem at the first 20 or so chapter and since then it has gotten better.

Conclusion
This game is a MUST for someone looking for a memorable story and characters. Every aspect of the game comes together to form a truly beautiful masterpiece filled with drama, plot twists and crazy moments.

Out of Touch is undoubtedly the best AVN I've ever played and one of the best stories I've ever had the pleasure to know in all of media.

This is the one guys. This is the only truly Adult Game I have ever played.

You don't go into this expecting a wank and go about your day. You get invested. You make time, maybe even call in a sick day. Because you just can't get this story out of your head.

Every element comes together. The characters, the world-building, the story, the villains, the MUSIC, the visuals. When the first proper sex scene appears hours and hours into the game all I could think of is how happy I am for these two. How much they deserve this sensual moment to them selves. This continued on much later into the game, even when sex becomes more casual.

This is a story about people, about fantasy, about friendship and family, the sex is just a part of the story like everything else. It deals with incredibly heavy themes and isn't afraid to explore them. The consequences of sexual assault is a very sensitive topic for me, and seeing it in this game from the very first scenes quite worried me. But my fears were quickly culled as it became apparent with how much respect this subject is told and it only made me appreciate this game even more. Even then the game manages to be funny as hell sometimes, and I seriously never played something that made me cry both tears of joy and sadness this frequently. I can't believe I used my tissues for their intended purpose.

The characters are what truly drives this story forward. The amount of actual love and care they have for each other is outright magical and makes you wish you could be a part of this group. From simply hanging out to having tough conversations with each other, it's impossible not to get invested. The MC is absolutely fantastic. At first it was hard to take the name "CJ" seriously (not to mention his full name) but it quickly grew on me. His personality is believable and inspiring, if anyone on earth actually "deserves" a harem it would be this guy. I highly appreciate the game taking it's time to introduce sex, as it gives you the needed time to truly appreciate these characters and want to see them enjoy them selves.

The MUSIC. It's perfect, what can I say. I love synths and clearly the dev does too. I was incredibly impressed with just how much of this game's soundtrack is original, expecting the usual stock music we always hear on this site. The fact that I've been listening to so many of this game's tracks on my free time through the dev's Youtube channel is a testament to it's quality.

Something else of note is the astonishing job they did with Koikatsu. I was honestly under the impression that I've seen everything Koi games have to offer, but the dev's impressive model work and god-tier framing made me constantly forget how familiar I was with this engine. This game is better at delivering it's impactful moments through still images then much bigger games do with full animations and more developers.

Last thing would be a personal suggestion, although it's of course not 100% necessary. I would appreciate a menu that includes a list of characters with their names, pictures and maybe small descriptions. This is because in a game as long as this with this many characters, sometimes I would simply forget a characters name and wouldn't be sure who is being talked about. It would be especially useful when ever a new update comes out and you haven't played this game in a while.

My one and only criticism is that there's still so much story to tell that isn't made yet and I highly doubt my poor heart can hold on so long. This is a joke if you couldn't tell, I can't think of anything to actually criticize. The scope of this project is 100 chapters and we're not halfway there a few years in, never in my life have I wanted a game to be completed already this badly.

Overall this is incredibly special. Never in my wildest dreams would I fathom I'd find a game on this site I might actually want to not only admit I played to my real life partner and friends but also recommend. The amount of love that went into this is unquestioned and I just can't stop thinking about it.

tldr: 1st act conflict is so good that it makes literally everything after it look like complete garbage when the rug gets pulled from beneath your expectations. Not enough sex to keep you in its overdone setting. Read a good YA novel instead. 10/10 intro (up to the resolution of the inciting incident), 5/10 overall. The game's title reads as entirely ironic, because the writer has their finger on your heart and then becomes completely out of touch.

So... this game is a prime example of the kitchen sink overflowing. It is very nice to look at, there was clearly a lot of craftsmanship at work, but sadly it wanted its cake, to eat it, and then to eat every other cake too.

Sadly a lot of good games with simple and beautiful dramatic groundwork fall victim to this explosion of goofy garbage. This game had an excellent start, and I do mean excellent. The opening conflict is so gripping and I couldn't stop until I saw where it went. The introduction of was a hilarious little moment to break up the severity, but didn't really interrupt the drama and was just a bit of fun. Little did I realize it also sadly opened the door for the writer to use biggest crutch in all AVNs... sudden fantasy bullshit.

EDIT: I am using hyperbole when I say "sudden". The fantasy elements are set up from the start, but they go from a light sprinkling on top of a good story to becoming the entire driving force behind the story. Once the character's motivations take a backseat to the magic plot we've all seen before, I got out of the car. /EDIT

Don't get me wrong, fantasy bullshit can be very fun, but the whiplash in this one is jarring. The dad thing near the start does it for fun, but with that aside the tone was set for a really good, simple friendship drama with a lot of good (and hot) characters and an excellent inciting incident ripe with great interactions and so much potential for more. However, once this initial drama hits its climax, the game immediately cracks its established world in half because from what I can tell, most of these writers have no idea how to have conflict in their harem story without falling into garbage cliche fantasy god/demon/dimension conflicts because they are too scared of monotonous melodrama. I've played plenty of games that did eventually get stale from lack of good conflict, but I still prefer that to whatever the hell this is. And it was extra disappointing considering how stellar the beginning was.

I literally skipped through the entire first overproduced sidetrack montage into the fantasy garbage because I was trying to get back to the real story and just hoped it was more goofs. I was sorely mistaken, and despite making it all the way to chapter 21 I had to quit because it just wouldn't stop.

All the seeds were there and each had so much potential, but they were planted in bad, overused soil. I cannot in good conscious recommend this even over so many more poorly made games if only because I'd rather be mildly entertained by a casual story than be so disappointed by something that promised to be better. It's just bloated, and completely fails to recapture the high bar set in its intro. There isn't enough sex (next to none FYI) to keep me going through the very boring magical bullshit plot. If it had started with that, this would be a 9/10, and maybe for a lot of you it still is, but for me it barely scrapes a 5 out as it clotheslines itself on that set bar. Go read a real fantasy novel because this doesn't capitalize on anything it promised by the amazing first act or what is expected out of AVN entertainment in general.

Played up to Chapter 21:
Pros:
- Incredible introductory conflict
- Well designed, fleshed-out, cute, and interesting characters
- Realistic and character appropriate dialogue
- Great production design
- No shitty grind mechanics

Cons:
- Sudden magical bullshit
- Takes its magical bullshit entirely too seriously (after introducing it in the least serious way imaginable)
- Tone deaf twists
- Only 1 sex scene (2 more technically but they aren't given enough time or effort to count. This wouldn't matter if the magical bullshit wasn't there and the main plot was unique in any way)

Wasted potential is worse to me than no potential at all. I'd rather just jerk off.