VN - Ren'Py - Pale Carnations [Ch.4 Up.5 Public] [Mutt & Jeff]

Masterpiece that deserve to be top-1 on this site. I'll be short... when it comes to sex or any other erotic moment and the dominant side of the main character, it's like the developer reads my mind. All the desires and actions I would like to see and do myself are embodied in this game. The attention to details, how well everything is written. Bravo.

I completely forgot to review this absolute gem of a game.
It goes without saying this game is a 5/5, absolute perfection.
The Honey Select models and animations are efficiently superb, the story is engaging, the relationships are malleable and the characters are extremely enticing, heart-warmingly loveable or both.
There's a plethora of different choices to make that will shape your story and your relationships in completely opposite ways.
I have nothing but good things to say about this absolute gem of a VN, try it for yourself and give in to Love or Lust, it's your choice!

This is a very personal review, and my score is a 5/5. It does not matter if the game is not complete yet; barring a disastrous finale, I don't think my opinion of it will change. Here's why. Objectively speaking, Pale Carnations has some flaws: it sometimes gives in to tropes, or to the dreaded "porn logic". However, the game's positives completely overwhelm the negatives - and then some. Also, rather than being completely realistic, the game aims for verisimilitude to its great benefit, because this allows it to speak about human character and emotions despite its concessions to "game-isms".

First of all, this game is about the weight of past choices, their impacts on those around us, and compromises, both willing and unwilling. It's a game where absolutes gets thrown to the wind, and everything is bathed in shades of different colors.

Maybe fate dealt you a bad hand, and you're stuck shouldering a weight you never asked for and don't deserve - still, you have to keep going, because people depend on you, and it would be selfish to relinquish. Or maybe you've made a mistake, and you feel obligated by it.
Maybe you're compromising with your conscience, or you're stuck with unpleasant people, doing unpleasant things; and yet you can't quit, because you fear the unknown, you've got too much to lose, or you don't want to betray yourself and what you believe.
Maybe you convinced yourself you can't change things - and this is probably true, but still something keeps telling you you're picking the easy way out, and it would take so little to have an impact around you.
If so, and if you're able to immerse in a story with a modicum of empathy, Pale Carnation will resonate and captivate you like no other. Its nuanced characters (both protagonists and antagonists) and its themes will make you think, maybe even challenge your views - if it isn't the best praise for a game, and a porn game at that, I don't know what is.

Now, the game's themes are not to everyone's taste: BDSM, humiliation and coercion are part of the package. And yet, the game managed to captivate me, even if I'm as vanilla as they get, because those themes are not there just for shock value.
In an ocean of bland landlady / tenant stories, Pale Carnations is memorably unique, and manages to balance hope and despair, making its underlying humanity shine through layers of filth. If any of the above tickles your fancy, I strongly suggest to at least give it a try.

One last note: I didn't talk about the technical or graphical side, because to me the story trumps everything else. But I'd like to say that GIL managed to push the Honey Select engine to its limits, and his pictures and animations are notably expressive, and perfectly able to complement, punctuate and prop up the story. And, like the story, they can be both incredibly sexy and repugnant where needed.

"These are your lies and your frailties. [...] You [...] have a devastated life, like all of us. So instead of lecturing us, of looking at us with disdain... you should look at us with affection. We are all on the verge of despair, we have no other remedy but to look at each other's faces, keep each other company, tease each other a little... Or do we?" - Jep Gambardella, "The Great Beauty"

Story: 9/10
Renders: 10/10
Animation: 10/10
Sound: 8/10
Characters: 9/10

This was my second playthrough of the game. I had played it earlier when it had less content, but I liked it instantly. I didn’t leave a review back then, so I thought I should share my thoughts now.
First off, the character design is fantastic, something that many other Honey Select games often get wrong.
The animations are smooth and top-tier, and the character expressions combined with the sound effects take the experience to the next level.
The story and dialogues are very well written, I think
Overall, this is a must-play game.

This was the first game where I didn’t feel the urge to skip over the dialogue—the story was that engaging. The art style is stunning, with beautifully detailed and fleshed out characters. I’m genuinely impressed.

Loved the disclaimer at the beginning, set the tone perfectly.
This is quality writing, beautiful renders and animations but I have to admit this game is making me ask questions about myself.

I don't like muscular women but I love Veronica's look and character.
I don't like ditzy blondes but I love Mina and Felicia.
And I don't like goth chicks but I adore Hana

The h-scenes are very intense for my taste, definitely more than I am comfortable with, but they are so well executed that they still get me going.

I'm not sure about replay-ability but for one play-through (and I am not done yet) it is one of the very best games on this site. Wholeheartedly recommended.

Also, solid choice of scotch. Doesn't always have to be single malt.

I played Ch.4 Up.5 and its currently the most recent version of this game (not complete yet). I'll go over the pros and cons for brevity.

PROS

• Amazing character models. This is probably the best renders that i've ever seen on the Ren'Py engine.
• Great story. It has a serious kind of story which gets more dramatic as you play through it. It consistently has really great dialogue between characters which admittedly can get a bit lengthy.
• Great characters. The characters for the most part have clear motivations, distinct temperaments and unique looks. They feel like different people and act naturally.
• Good player agency. You have a good degree of agency over what is going on so much so that replaying the game and making different decisions will give you a different experience. From small changes in animations to whole new story and "action sequences". It is a visual novel after all so you can only change so much but its definitely enough.

CONS

• Some of the sex scenes could use a bit more sex in them. Self-explanatory this one.
• This game has a bunch of tags and it does its best to fit in all of them so they'll be stuff that you'll like and stuff you won't. What will most definitely happen is some tags won't get as much love as others do.
• Some of the camera work in some animations is kinda disappointing. This might be personal preference but i feel like some scenes could have been elevated by better angles and focuses.

I gave this game a 5 star because it managed to make me care about some of the characters. A lot of the kinky stuff in here isn't my cup of tea but that's a personal preference so that doesn't affect my overall rating of the game. And for the love god, give us MORE Kathleen Pulman.

It is the best game I have played on this site. It has everything . Lots of choices . The girls and even the friend is so well written . And the sex scenes are so well animated , I love how the sex scenes are not vanilla . There is a lot of kinks in these scenes and I love it . Although I would love choking or breathplay action .

The only cons I can find is the time it takes for each installment cause I am addicted to this game

It's peak. The writing made me play this without even being horny which is a first for me. At the the same time, the porn is still really good and the game is absolutely worth playing for that aspect.

This game has all the features to entertain from the storyline, quality images, smooth animations and a system to find opportunities to change the storyline. This game deserves a higher rating than I believe. I hope the game will grow and be well received or other projects of similar scale

Overall by VN standards its really quite good. I think the writing can be a bit needlessly verbose but the pacing and sexual situations here are surprisingly really really good. The characters as well are very enjoyable if a bit one note here and there, still its clear there's depth being added to them and its very well written overall.

With the sex, graphics, and characters being pretty top tier, why am I giving this 4 stars? Honestly I think the author is falling into a bad H-game trap of acknowledging the quiet part out loud and questioning the morality of the porn aspect of the game. Inherently this isn't always bad but I've never really seen the concept done in a way that allows the player to still engage with the sex without ruining their experience. In this game if you choose you can be the most ineffectual guy ever and not take advantage of anyone and you'll get some scenes but most of the content will be out of reach early on and it doesn't feel worth it. This combined with the fact the choices in the game are very mystifying, not really giving you a clear way to figure out how others will always react just means that you feel the need to play things really safe when there's no benefit. I played through blind and it was very very all over the place wondering what each of the choices did but when I played again with a guide it was weird how many choices didn't actually impact anything stat wise and which ones did. It just feels a bit arbitrary sometimes.

Anyway, I know its a bit of a nitpick but I just don't particularly enjoy the vagueness of choice here and the "man I'm doing such a horrible thing" storyline when its a porn game that doesn't seem to really be going all in on that vibe. Idk maybe once the game is further along it'll silence me with really good payoff and stuff but as of right now its just a bit too in the clouds for me. Still its easily one of the best VNs here, I'd recommend anyone taking a look and supporting the dev.

One of my top 10 loved games

This game is a master piece, the whole story, narrative and the edge of the seat surprises makes this one brilliant game, BUT definitely not for the faint of the heart(lol)

Pros:
Fantastic story
Brilliant narrative
Lovely waifus
Great characters

Cons:
Takes long time to update(but feels worth it, every update)

God-tier VN.

Where it really shines is the writing. Whoever cooked the script must have a background in some sort of writing already, because almost every scene has a line that amazes me in its quality.

Animations are fire, the models are fantastic, and the story gripping (albeit slow at times if all you're looking for is to bust real quick).

Cannot see myself ever rating this less than 5 stars, unless it has an Attack on Titan tier ending.

Pale Carnations - Chapter 4 - Update 5

Story: You play as a nerdy med student who ends up working at a brothel where desperate women are degraded for the enjoyment of rich, fat old men.

Characters: The only thing i really liked about this game (apart from the kink), a lot of the characters i found fell a bit flat,
but the ones i liked i found myself really enjoying (especially outside the club) like Mina and Hana.
The only Character i found myself hating however is the MC, who just comes across as whiney, annoying and often pathetic.

Renders/Animations: I've never liked Honey Select or the "Weeb" look in AVN's but the animations are pretty good.

Sound: Didn't really like a lot of the music and found it to be a distraction.

If you're not into BDSM, Humiliation or Voyeurism this probably isn't for you.

The story is strong with this one, even if it's not necessarily my bag. In terms of kinks and that kind of content, you'd only find more in a cheap garden hose.

A non-spoiler attempt to describe the quality of the story is this: your world, with the focus on you (the MC), is built around a new job. Everyone of note is bound up in this world, and they all have their own stories. In each playthrough, you have to pick a route, based on how you want to play. This leads to a fairly rich story, which is really well done.

However, the branching mechanic of the game is sometimes a little opaque, resulting in lockouts and a need to roleplay as a certain type of character fairly hard, with exposure to the game not necessarily being enough to work out what that needs to be. This may be something some people enjoy, but the current setup makes it feel like a guide is necessary (or a lot of effort being put into specific branching choices). The feeling of this being bad may clear up a bit as more content comes out, but the cliffhangers at the end of the updates mean that multiple replays can feel more tedious than rewarding. Hopefully this gets addressed by future updates, and clarification in later story arcs.

This is good. The number of adult games with decent writing is extremely limited but this absolutely nails it. The story brings sex in regularly without it seeming forced or cross purpose with player agency but it's also got genuinely interesting stories behind it. This is definitely amongst the elite, and you absolutely should give it a go.

Really phenomenal. The writing and animations shone in a way that made it easy to get hooked. I wish there had been more room for decisions throughout, but there are decisions to be made, just not as many as I'd like. But compared to some games where are 100% linear, this is just like...80%, probably?

Might be the toughest game to review on this site.
Why because expectation vs reality is a huge deal. I have heard how great this game is, did it live up to the hype for me? not really but it's hard to grade a adult vn on expectation.
Listen I want to give this vn it's due praise.
4/5 Story
The Story is actually very unique in the vn community, your not running a brothel your working in one and you have to choice in how you treat the girls who work there. Some of the stories failings in my opinion I will point out in another section.
5/5 Dialogue
The writing in this game alone could carry it to a 5 out 5 rating. The writing of characters and dialogues feels so realistic it is shocking there's not 1 million gags thrown in. it just feels like what actual people would say in these scenarios.
5/5 Animations and Girl Designs
Yeah that ones easy, fantastic adult material as well as unique and hot looking girls.

This is where i differ, listen i understand that this is my opinion and not everyone agrees but i think it should be brought up.

2/5 Kinks
There are a lot of kinks covered in this game with the most prevalent being humiliation, BDSM and voyeurism. none of these kinks are shit that are for me. So that makes me groan and dislike certain parts of this game that if you were into those kinks you might not understand. I think the forced non skippable content really hurts this game, no I don't want to see Victoria ingest disgusting shit while tied up. Yes I absolutely loathed the scene where a gigantic spider is put on Victoria, like damn that's fucked up.
2/5 Player Agency
See I think this is an important part of grading adult VN's. When I compare this VN to the other top VNs on the site this one comes up short. You do not run the brothel so how the women are treated by guests will not change no matter how you treat them. I personally don't get off to watching old men abuse and degrade women, so at least for me it sucks we can't change that. I also don't care if my mom was in a porn video or not but to have 50 flashbacks to it is kinda weird like I told you already I dont need to see it, stop showing me more than asking again.

I wish the ratings could give a half of star because I would Love to give this a 3.5. But since I can't Ill stick with a 3. I defiantly understand why someone would give this a 5. If these are your kinks you will love this game, if not than I think you should still give it a play because some of the girls in question don't partake in that kinks. At least not yet.

Art and music aside - these are great.

Writing is on another level, truly a masterpiece. Dialogue is thoughtful, linguistically rich and meaningful. Everything has its setup and payoff, no deus-ex-machina bullshit. There's also wisdom there, yet without in-your-face one-liners.
This is a game for mature people who understand how the world works and yet don't forget how stupid they acted when they were 20.

Read. Don't mindlessly skip even if the scene doesn't seem important or the dialogue seems trivial. Sex scenes are great, but there's more to characters than pump-action animations. If you can't take your time, don't waste your time. Just wait for when you're done with downloading everything and playing nothing - or nothing of significance.

There are many mediocre or even good games around here with a pretence of greatness. This is not one of these. This one is unpretentiously magnificent.

I do not leave a review often, in fact it's the only one i'll probably ever do on f95. But this game my man, this game is the GOAT, the KING of all AVNs.

That game it's gorgeous. The quality, the art and animations are outstanding.

The writing is beyond fantastic whether it is the story, the dialogues, the characters or the sexy times, everything is up to the max. A true master class of adult gaming, of all gaming in fact.

And it's flawless. Not a single mistake so far, i have absolutely nothing negative to say about the game, even if i try to be extremely nitpicky.

Anyway must play, must support, no question asked.