VN - Ren'Py - Abandoned - Penny for Your Thoughts [v1.3.0-VE] [Lockheart]

Overall: 5/5 Fappability: 5/5 (only one long scene tho)

If you are a fan of Lockheart's other works, and enjoy the narrative aspects of AVNs as much as the lewds, then this game is absolutely a must-play. Unfortunately at time of writing the game is on hold, but I hold out hope that once he finishes his Rose Garden Trilogy, he will resume work on this game to finish the wonderful work that he has started.

Removed what made the story interesting , playing as 2 characters and viewing their own approach in the story. Decided to make people that like to play as female character happy and those that enjoy playing as male character unhappy or rather disappointed. Penny is not a character that personally interests me in Avalon i find myself many times wanting to skip her scenes because some of those were cool and entertaining but others were pretty boring however with Cassian and Penny combo it made this game more interesting ( i skipped all Penny MC scenes in this game that is how much i enjoy playing her ) since Cassian is no longer a playable character and the prologue was remade to suit Penny more there is nothing connecting me or other people to this game . It lost what had unique about it the facct that it let you play as whatever you prefer.

So, it turns out that I am dumb. See when I first played Avalon and found it wonderful, I eagerly played the initial release of APFYT, and was champing at the bit for more. Sturm and drang ensued, and Lockheart released an update numbered 1.1.2. At the time, I went to download the update but saw a note saying it contained "no new sexual content." I mistakenly took this to mean that any new content was minor - perhaps some corrections and bugfixes, but I might as well wait for a fuller update. Then Lock chose to put production on hold and here we are. In the ensuing time, I got the impression the update had been more substantial than I'd assumed, so tonight I played it to the end of the prologue (finally!) and holy shit! That was, like, 3 times the content of the initial release! Curse you, Lock, and your deceptive version numbering!

But seriously, this is an amazing beginning. I know Lockheart doesn't know when or if he'll return to this project, but I really hope he does! I don't want to be confrontational about opposing views here, so I will only say that I disagree strongly with those who cast aspersions on the protagonists. Penny is great, Cassian is full of potential, and the entire supporting cast is awesome.

Really, the only even arguably critical thing I have to say about the game as it exists now is, should it ever go back into production, I would very much like to see the option to play the game as both Cassian and Penny, allowing the player to develop relationships with each of their dedicated love interests simultaneously. I'm not sure whether that would be feasible with the original structure that was intended or not, but I just wanted to throw that out there.

You do you, Lockheart!

This game is underappreciated art. It looks great, has an engaging story and is just filled with character. Seriously, I shudder to think how much work went into crafting some of the scenes in this. It's a shame we won't get to see where Lockheart wanted to take this story, but what we did get is plenty worth playing!

Game Version: 1.1.2

The story is mediocre, the male protagonist tag is just for show, since the "Male Protagonist" is not a real protagonist, its just the Female Protagonist sidekick that you get to "play as" from time to time.

Renders are very good, as its frequent with Lockheart games, but his fascination with Penny and the fact that he ruined his previous game ending just to set up the character Leah to show up on this one leaves a bitter taste for the future.

Penny is too much of a Mary Sue and takes all the spotlight of the story, while Cassian is a follower (in some past time of his brother, and after that of Penny)

Pros:
- Renders, high quality

Cons:
- Story tries to replicate Arthurian mythology but since the Dev doesnt have a good understanding of such then it fails, by a lot
- The Male Protagonist tag is just for shows, to have a wider audience try the game, there isnt really a Male Protagonist, just you being able to follow the sidekick PoV from time to time
- Love interests are locked into relationships with either Penny or Cassian, so if you want to play the Sidekick PoV, you get locked out of the most interesting LIs (making it even more clear that the Female Protagonist is the intended one)
- The Dev promised this game wasnt going to be a Female Protagonist game, and that was clearly incorrect

Conclusion:
A good opportunity wasted by the Dev. Might be worth doanloading to look at the renders if that's what the players is looking for

Goddamn what an exceptional game! It only has the prologue so far, but this gem of a game has some of the best writing I've ever seen on F95. Una's monologue to Avery about the rationale for human existence and how that translates to public sex being an Actually Good Thing is brilliantly funny and Cassian's talk with Teresa about his childhood was quite heartfelt and real. I was already convinced to subscribe to the dev's Patreon halfway through the current story.

I also fucking love that Penny (the female MC) is the hero of the story and she has effectively raised Cassian (the male MC) like her son, despite their close age. There is not an inkling of sexual tension between them - they are family, in the best sense of the word. It takes major guts to write an adult game like that.

This is a most excellent follow up to Avalon and I have very high hopes for what will surely become a masterpiece.

Prologue v1.1.2

The renders are fantastic and the renders are VERY well done. I know this is the prologue but if the rest of this game is as good as the start it will be a great adventure. The story is very touching of hard times and survival in a rough part of their life being alone and finding friends to help them through. The connection with the MC's growing up together is great and I look forward to see how they evolve as the story unfolds.

The developer is a gifted author and if you have a few bucks to help him keep these awesome stories going think about supporting.

Finished chapter 1 of 'Penny For Your Thoughts'.
Artwork: I love how much attention was given to muscle and bone structure. In other games it often especially with fit female characters just looks like painted on, not here. With all those small details (like veins and hair), they look much more lifelike. Same to body proportions, like models, but not unrealistic. Overall gorgeous designs and many high quality animations.

Music is solid and adds more to the game than you would normally expect.

Story/Writing: I like how they all have their own motivations. There isn't much simple good or evil, it's all on a range. They all have their own stuff to say. Though I thought the characters of the 2 woman in the library were a bit too convenient and simple. The backstory of Penny was well told. I would have loved to also see a bit more of small Cassian growing up with Penny and obstacles they had to grow to overcome rather than just telling about it. Overall there is a lot only for a first chapter, a solid foundation, loveable characters, with unique viewpoints, interesting setting and a lot of potential ♥.

I "played"the first 15 minutes and im seing that this game relies heavily on text, everybody just speaks a lot. For the first impression Avalon is kind of lightwave, and in my opinion, this one falls just a bit cause the level of writing doesnt seem to be enough to keep it in the "good" rating. Since there is so much text, noticeable mistakes and annoyances are more likely to happen:

The first one is exposition. I think there are formulas to make exposition less evident, you can leave some things implicit so the reader knows, without him knowing you are telling him something directly. for instance:

"i was part of a group and we had to survive whatever, i failed them back then". The "part of the group" part whould be removed and change for something that let the reader know or reach that conclusion.

Other dialogue was like:
You inspire me, my life was miserable i was alone, everything was shit.
This could easily be "My life was shit, but you saved me you are my inspiration" this way the peak would be at the end, and not falling down, which is so anticlimax and boring to read.

This amount of reading and, the IMO unispired writing, make it hard for me to get attached to the story.

For the purpose of the first contact i consider the rest of the game good. Lets continue and see if some redeeming qualities can fix the score for me.

This is an outstanding introduction for a new game. Interesting and dynamic characters, the introduction of what appears to be a really compelling plot and outstanding renders make this game something special. I can't wait to see where it goes.

Never before has a first release been truly deserving of a genuine rating, and not a simple placeholder.

The story is engaging, and inspiring. I really resonate with the Bat style hero character(s), as good-willed vigilantes.

Lewd scenes were not rushed, and hot AF.

Honest 5/5 at this point

Artwork is fine. (Did not like the faces too much, but matter of taste; everything else is very good.)

Story is OK. I am not that much into Superheroes though, or generally into people being incredibly cool, so maybe I am not the target group.

Writing is OK but not outstanding. Lots of narrator and past tense breaks immersion, the serious tone and some big questions that are touched on do not sit well, in my opinion, with the inherently silly superhero genre. I found the "our heroes hang out with friends and everyone is super nice and chats about fashion or whatever" parts a bit boring.

Gameplay nonexistent (seems to be just one huge visual novel).

Much better than the first VN
Dynamic characters make for an enjoyable story
Renders are spot on. No problems that I noticed
The story flows well. You get the right amount of info
for a first installment
Writing was pretty good. Humor mixed in made it better

Overall
This appears like it's going to be a huge project. Which is good thing. The different branches of the story make it really enjoyable. You're basically getting two for the price of one, but I see them converging into one seriously great story in the future.
To the dev(s) good job on giving us a great opening to the new VN. Keep up the good work.
I highly recommend this VN. I look forward to playing this one to completion. Hopefully we won't have to wait to long for updates.

Good and addicting story. Renders are great. All the characters are enjoyable and add a little something to it. also a good amount of content for a first release. Looking forward to the next release

Avalon left some big shoes to fill in terms of writing, story and bodacious babes, all of which Penny for your thoughts delivers in spades. I feel this is the beginning of something beautiful. Keep being awesome Lockheart.

Great writing and artwork. Every character has an original personality and we get explanations in the form of previous events on how they came to be who they are. Fantastic first release and really looking forward to more.

Review based on Chapter 1 v0.1

This game is off to a good start. If you've played Avalon, this takes place in the same game universe with a few of the same characters (but not Avalon or Byron). You don't need to play Avalon to enjoy this game, but it will give you a richer sense of a few characters.

This promises to be an interesting story. I don't want to spoil anything for you. Even if you didn't enjoy Avalon for some reason, you should still give this game a try and support Lockheart, the developer if you like where this is going.

The characters and art are very good, varied and different backgrounds without that "cookie cutter" look you get from some 3D rendered VNs.

The game has really good sound and music, it's not the standard fair. The music and sound actually fits the action.

Let me start by saying that this is a story I want to continue until it concludes. It had me hooked from the beginning, and you might already know some of the cast. The story is solid, written beautifully, and there's a big chunk of it right off the bat.

The renders are also awesome, and there are plenty of those as well.

I really have high hopes for this game, Penny is an awesome character, and Cassian (the male MC), along with all the LI's and the secondary characters, will only add to the depth of the story in the future..

Looking forward to the next update!