Ren'Py - Randel Tales [v1.7.0-3] [Ero Sandwich Studio]

Good characters, scenarios, and a large amount of content, slightly undermined by uneven quality.

A fairly typical fantasy harem trainer. You're a rookie adventurer with some secret powers who gets caught up in numerous plots and romances. There's not much original here, but what it does have is generally high quality and quantity. Generally.

The game's main strength is its focus on steadily developing relationships with the love interests. The pacing for each is good - not too slow to be frustrating, but still taking time for quieter slice of life moments and just hanging out. As a result, the characters feel well realised and 3-dimensional, and are more satisfying to get to know. There's even some good male characters to hang out with.

There's also a lot of content. Numerous love interests, each with a fairly lengthy quest chain full of unique scenes. No spamming gifts or grinding sex scenes over and over to raise her romance stat! Most of the relationships even have a few major branching paths. And once you get intimate with a love interest, there's often still more to their story to explore.

Unfortunately, as of 1.4.4, the game suffers from some quality issues. While the art is good and there's a few short but effective animations, there are occasional stretches which use noticeably shoddier backgrounds and don't even bother with character sprites. There's also a few glaring holes in the content - some storylines just abruptly end with no closure, while other routes seem implied but never even start. Presumably these gaps will be filled at a later date, but at the moment they're still frustrating.

There's also some minor mechanical issues. The game introduces a few gameplay systems - skill training, XP, currency, etc - which show promise, but all feel very underdeveloped. And some of the quests and branching paths - some of them major and irreversible - either hinge on these mechanics, or are so poorly hinted at that it's easy to lock yourself into a route you didn't want or expect. Given how much of a slow burn some the relationships are, you might not realise your mistake until it's too late to roll back. Realistic? Perhaps. But not necessarily welcome.

More subjectively, the protagonist just rubbed me the wrong way. He starts off whiny, foolish, and naive, which is... not great, but I suppose he gets a pass for being basically a high schooler. The problem is that he stays that way for the whole game. Despite intense training, developing multiple relationships, and numerous life-or-death experiences, he never feels like he grows or matures. Admittedly, given how many different routes there are through the game, it's probably hard to make consistent character growth work. Still, in a game full of enjoyable characters, he was the only one I disliked.

Overall, some good love interests, who are given plenty of time to shine, elevate this otherwise unremarkable setup.

Review of v1.4.2 mobile version
Time to complete was about 13 hours
Would I recommend? As long as you are a fan of slow burn games then I would absolutely recommend it. If you are here for a quick fap expecting things to move fast, expect hours of playtime before things really start progressing with girls.

Pros
Great 2d art that is refreshing to see after seeing so many of the same 3dcg models.
The animation is simple, but it's fairly fluid and adds to the scene.
It's fairly straightforward to get to the scenes with each girl and while it takes a while the buildup is nice versus something that feels too drawn out.
There is a good variety in the personality of the girls and several of the girl's routes feel distinct in the kind of erotic content you are getting
Cons
There are a few technical issues, such as the gallery missing a good number of cgs despite saving afterwards. Sometimes a few show up when I shutdown the game and reopen, but numerous others just never show up again. The text occasionally goes off screen so you miss a chunk of dialogue. Sometimes the quests for girls just disappear from the quest journal after several steps. The game isn't completed so there is time to correct these sorts of things, but it is something that hinders the experience at the moment.
Despite being a game that puts a lot of emphasis on choice and having a lot more time dedicated to story rather than the erotic parts, a majority of the decisions feel very binary. Most of the time it's a success or failure, often resulting in death or a route end rather than choices that feel consequential that cause branching of the story.
The stats feel underutilized for the amount of time spent on them to complete a handful of quests.

Overall I think the game is really good, but would like to see a few things by the time it's completed to make it one of the best games out there.
I think the stats could play more of a role in the story beats to feel like they were worth the time. You could have a 30 melee with the ability to take on general Taliya, but then you lose to some random guy at a bar protecting Thea. You can read about a monster before battle, but then you have to be good at archery to still harvest a part when in reality a good archer could have guessed the right part so reading felt irrelevant. Wanting to help a certain character has no bearing on what her fate is.Telling Gabe you love her versus just wanting to be friends with benefits seems to have no impact on her current ending, etc. These are all really minor gripes about decisions and stats, but that feel like they added up over hours and hours of playtime. This all may sound critical, but I still had a really good time with the game and think it is a worthwhile experience; I just know this game could be something truly exceptional if the devs take the right steps on their way to completing the game.

Randel Tales is a cyoa vn with rpg skill check elements. It has a quest system, and a romance and/ or harem system integrated; there's a variety of relationship styles to choose from. It's still a wip, but what I can tell in It's development cycle It's turning into a great experience.
There's still room for improvement as content is completed and polish is added to the game; and plenty of opportunity to flesh out additional content as development continues. I'm excited to see what Bunis & Rin have planned for this game and I would recommend this for the watch list of fans in the genre.

damn man the game is fucking amazing the story is really just so fucking good i cant think of other words to say right now i just finished the latest update (1.4.4) and damn there is so much to do its also treads a fine line between a sex game and a story game i want to know more of the story so badly

This is a review of version 1.4.3

Story: 4/5

There's a wide cast of love interests dealing with various issues in their lives, most of which are very well written and properly paced. One or two of the girl's "problems" didn't seem to be much of an issue, and I think a bigger deal was made of their "problem" to create a positive character arc that the MC was responsible in helping, thus bringing the two closer together. But most all of the story lines felt right. There are some real jewels here (Thea and Cynthia were my favorites). I would like to see more of Lily's story line, though.

Don't expect insta-sex. There's light nudity and sexually suggestive material early on, but the sexual content is a slow burn (which adds to the story, making it more realistic).

I'm really interested in the antagonist and the dreams the MC is having, neither of which are explored much as of this version. But, considering the story telling so far, I am expecting it to be pleasantly built into the game.

Art: 4/5

I'm struggling between a 3.5 and a 4. Most of the art is sexy while still maintaining a "cute vibe" that works well for the story where the MC and his love interests are actually forming relationships. A few stills are "meh" (nothing is bad).

The animations are a mixed bag. While many are technically animations, they're basic enough where I think your own imagination and still images go further/work better. There's a nicely drawn blowjob scene that's pretty fluid, but it's a short loop and animation doesn't include any female nudity (no swaying breasts as the woman moves back and forth, which would have added to the scene). There's also a decent flash scene, where a woman's breasts drop out of her clothing. But the other dozen or so animations that I can recall are, again, super basic and actually detract from the sex scene imo.

Game/Mechanics: 4/5

There are two "minigames", stats you can work up that come in handy for skill checks later on, and gold to collect for various purchases. There's also an exam that you need to pass, which I guess could count as a minigame? Either way, it's a mechanic.

One of the minigames is a point and click that I don't think has a time limit and just stops once you've caught 10. The other is a reaction minigame that has an easy and hard version depending on the time of day that, imo, is the only proper minigame I came across.

The exam wasn't hard. It seems 70% of the questions can be gleamed from 2 or 3 different history lectures (there are only 2 or 3, so don't think this is a schools sim) that take no more than a minute each. The other 30% may be elsewhere, or you might be just expected to guess.

None of it felt like a grind, nor did it feel like an obstacle. By the time I realized what I needed to do, I was already have way through the process of finishing it.

That said, none of it is very fun. I do like the stats/level/gold aspect, but it needs more depth to be "fun" imo. Also, leveling up doesn't seem to do anything besides increase you rank within the Adventurers Guild. Intuitively, you'd expect that to be tied to your stats. I'd like to see level and stats have some sort of relationship. Or change level to reputation.

Conclusion: 5/5

If you've made it this far, you might be wondering why I'm giving it a 5/5 instead of a 4/5?

Well, despite giving it 4/5 marks across the board, I really, really, really enjoyed playing Randel Tales. There's some sort of x factor that blends everything together well. Heart warming story, cute/sexy art, and a game that doesn't get in my way? I dunno, it just works.

My Patreon bill is as high as I want it to be at the moment, but I am going to go through it this afternoon and look for games that are no longer impressing me, or have taken a long time to produce content so I can make room to support Bunis on Patreon. I hope you give this game a shot, and if you like it, consider doing the same.

Version played: 1.4.2:

Just a quick review, just some things that come to mind when writing.

First of all the regular character art is pretty good, unique, varied enough and original.
It is long enough now, without feeling overstretched, though if it continues for a few more years it may overstay it's welcome. Let's hope the story is moved toward a real conclusion at a reasonable pace.

Story wise it's quite well done, of course not the most original plot but still well executed.

Returning from a previous save also mostly works, though with some bugs.
This is not perfect but much better than a lot of other games, where after returning a year or two later you are forced to go through everything again.

In terms of scenes there are a decent number of them, animation / art quality varies but the later ones are pretty well executed, be it somewhat simplistic.

The game itself is not grindy and what to do is mostly clear.

Overall I would say Randel Tales is one of the best vn's not the most porn content but still great overall.
I would give it 4.5 stars but since that is not possible I round it up to 5.

Excellent Journey!
I honestly had no idea what I was signing up for at the start of the adventure, but it grew and grew in size, scope and depth and I'm left with awe on how I have waited this long to play this amazing gem.
From the start itself, there's immensely good worldbuilding, character growth and dynamics are super fun and the dialogue really feels genuine, not many games can balance being funny and being serious like this one. I also want to say this is probably one of the best MC's I've seen in an adult game who feels down to earth, and someone I can project myself into.
The Art and animations also excel, and I love that this is the good kind of grind that feels earned, and the story takes time to develop. More choices and consequences will be welcomed as well as deeper exploration of relationships, but I'm very happy with what I've played.
Cant wait to see whats coming ahead. Brilliant stuff.

Hey, gotta say, I'm really diggin' this game! It's a blast! The comedy, the art, the dialogue—everything's top-notch.

The story's cool, and honestly, I've kinda gotten attached to this VN, you know what I mean?

But, uhh, there's this teeny issue. Some of the character art didn't quite match up, like that Male Elf, - I'm sure you know who i'm talking about .

Before I bounce, major props to the game creator! You're a legend, Man! Thanks a million for dishing out this kickass game! Keep that AGDev (Adult Game Developer) mojo flowin', and I'm already daydreaming about the mind-blowing games you'll drop in the future.

With enchanted regards, UnderworldZ (Your #1 fan, no doubt!)

A really interesting game with a strong potential for the future. The artstyle is really well-crafted and appealing, especially for the characters, although the lack of use of Renpy's default fade animations between character sprites hurts the presentation a little bit, as the characters often feel stiff and sudden when they change facial expressions.

The story itself is a weird mix for me. I consider it good, but it has a few issues here and there that need to be adressed. The first I noticed when playing is that the devs have trouble writing dialogues, and it shows. I'm glad to see they adressed the issue of the MC not having anything left to say after exhausting all dialogue options, but for the most part, the dialogues feel unnatural, with the only exception of a few minor characters like Sanders or Cynthia who feel like actual people with their own personality. It's hard to explain without showing concrete examples and spoiling, but most of the characters' discussions feel like they're reading a script rather than having a fluid conversion with each their own voice and way of talking.

For the plot itself, my main gripe with it is that it seems the devs wanted to get the porn out as soon as possible, and leave the actual meat of the story for later. There are quite a lot of characters in the game already (thankfully most of them are fine and likable enough), but most of the story consists of a series of storylines for each character that you have to follow until you get the girl to fall for you and fuck. Which, while a bit quick for my taste, would have been fine if the game wasn't constantly teasing for something major incoming later down the line, with the introduction of the goblins and the demons into the plot.

As it stands now, the plot only advances when it's necessary for a character storyline to progress, like saving Thea from a neighbouring village invaded by imps, or Eve and the elf village. It feels like it's only there to support the porn instead of being able to stand on its own two feet. Which results in a ton of content, both in art and writing, but little of it actually mattering, especially if you're not into the girls this content is for. Personnaly I am, but the sharing is unequal and I with more time was devoted to the actual story to see some of the more obscure characters under the spotlight for a while, like the librairian girl.

In conclusion, I feel this game could benefit from being more focused on its main plot and actually getting things done, now that most of the female character got a sex scene for them. The art is really strong, and the story itself, while not developed enough, is enticing enough to make me want to know more about the world of this game.

It's a classic case oh the "came for the fap... stayed for the plot." And the art. And the humor. And... well, this game got me. It got me good; i can't wait for the uptades.
Please do not abandon this!

A rough gem on its way to something special. Many of the characters thus far have been given a story worth investing in beyond whether or not you can eventually bed them (and, yes, you do in fact end up bedding most of them).

Games involving one (typically male) protagonist and his relationship with several women tend to go one of two ways: he's either a collector who enslaves and corrupts; or, like in "What a Legend", he is a lovable, lucky hero whose superpower is somehow accidentally seducing some of the most beautiful and powerful women of his world. This game goes down the latter route and I'm all for it. It's always refreshing to have fantasy/harem games where we have agency in how nice or how much of a dick the main guy is.

Great game, sometimes you have to grind too much for lewd content and they are a bit limited. I wish the sex scenes would be more complex, like having more scenes. Also there should be more hints, I was relying on the walkthrough guide here.
Other than that, really nice characters with depth, choices during the game really matter which is awesome, there is a captivating story and some wholesome moments during the game

★Chef's Kiss: great characters, all of them diverse with unique quirks/backgrounds; you'll notice each difference between them all (quite rare among h-games)
★Chef's Kiss #2: artstyle has no business being THAT good; it has a way of telling you how cute/hot the LIs are by just looking at the art

Pros:
+ Good writing, a bit corny at times but not too cringy
+ Not everything is hornyland, some sweet and SoL moments in the story
+ Artstyle, again (can't stress this enough)
+ Player choice system (routes)
+ Dev interaction in the forums
+ Uncle Pete

Cons:
- Leans more on writing than on h-content; lacks "content" for the amount of time you spend doing the story, only a couple or so scenes per character
- A bit buggy

Definitely a must play imo for the artstyle alone despite me saying theres not enough content (yet?). Game's current end seems to hint at a future game or expansion so thats a good thing to look forward to

Nice artstyle and story is interesting. Variety of characters. Sandbox is easy. Interesting quests. There is sweet romance too. If you like sweet 2DCG games give this one a try. Story is about the adventures of a boy who's living in Randel. Love interests are fun and beautiful. Overall I enjoyed the game. Keep up the good work dev looking forward to next updates.

Good game with potential to be great in the future. Good gameplay that forces player to read instead of holding ctrl all game. Lovely artwork and animations. Love the characters and story so far.
Art 4.5/5
Story 4.5/5
Gameplay 4/5
Fapability 4.5/5
Originality 5/5

If you are not big hater of sandbox types of games ... You will love it ... Even if you don't like it sandbox games ... You are still going to like this types of game

Actually i kind a like this game .... i i know this game is not for everyone... Because of sandbox use .... Everyone hates sandbox types AVNs including me ... But i did play plenty of sandbox games ... So sometimes they don't even bother me .... Yeah yeah not everyone have same taste as me ...
In this game sandbox need to be more clear .... Or better add hints / notes for everything ..means totally everything .... It's going to be best ( or add as options like want some hints or no hints )
I also don't hate animated sex scenes... I would prefer if devloper is not good at moving animation ... Then why not just add more non moving sex scenes ... i i know .. majority of audiance like moving animation
And also i would love to see part 1 proper demon girl fight or Fuck ending

The creator spends a lot of time cock blocking and teasing the player by revealing fantastically drawn women only to have them stop their advances due to whatever excuse comes up.

You do get a cheat mode to avoid the grind, but the game is still grindy because all quests and actions have to happen in the same timeslot (evening). This means you have to spam through several selection screens to skip through the days to get to the next evening to push the action forward. On top of this, you have to perform several story progression pieces several times (3-5 training sessions) seeing slightly modified text.

The story is a bit of a mixed bag, some things are interesting while others are just slogs that I decided to skip right through despite liking the characters... i.e. the elf city arch.

tldr: lots of padding to the story, characters dialogue is nice, art is fantastic, and the story is decent.

Absolute disappointment the game may seem good at first but all this is a hoax because the sandbox begins in the minutes and then where it should shine because the art seems good but it is the opposite for the erotic scenes they are horrible really bad short scenes you throw with another form of art more shabby and ugly the truth is absolute disappointment.

I really like Randel Tales. I think the underlying themes and overall tone(which seems like it's going to change soon) are done very well. I have a few tiny nitpicks about the art, but it's generally beautiful and has a lot of variation. The pacing is well done and it felt like the game was taking it's time with showing you content(which is a good thing here). I sincerely encourage everybody reading this to give it a try, it's almost definitely worth your time.

That being said, I will now proceed to criticize the shit out of this game. I'm not doing it out of spite, I just genuinely want the game to improve and hope the devs take some of this into consideration, while also giving new people a more in-depth look into the game before playing it.

Let's start with the first and biggest problem I have with the game: The writing. It isn't bad, but it definitely needs some work in a lot of areas. Grammar is the more obvious one as there is a lot of mistakes with it but I'm willing to look past that.

My biggest issue is with the way the writer is trying to convey everything. It feels like I'm being told a story rather than experiencing it. Let me explain:

• Instead of the characters having a CG or even just an altered sprite of them crying, the writer types "Sobs" which is very... strange feeling to say the least. If they don't want to change some CG or sprites, they could greatly benefit from just telling me what the character is doing, even if it's just from the MCs eyes.
• The writing is very terse. It's pretty rare for the text box to use more than one or maybe two lines which leads to the whole experience feeling a bit stilted, especially during certain emotional moments. One example is where one character says she doesn't really believe in love, explains her reasoning very briefly, and then the MC just accepts that with no further questions. And this is right after he tells her that he is in love with her. It left a pretty sour taste in my mouth because the scene could've been so much more. The girl in question could've went into way more detail with her reasoning, the MC could've(and should've) had way more questions about the whole thing, and the whole thing should have just way more depth in general. That scene really falls flat because it feels really shallow, like both the characters were pre-teens playing cliche rolls where the girl is stereotypical rebel girl and MC is just generic nice guy.
• Another example of this is when MC finds two monster children who can speak and are hiding from him and others he's with. The MC can call Taliya to tell him he's found them or leave them be. When you call Taliya over, there's a short little scene of the goblins retaliating in fear of their lives and then she just brutally cuts them down on the spot. The MC questions if that was the right thing to do for about 3 seconds before saying, "No point thinking about it now." He barely thinks twice and doesn't regret that his actions caused two speaking children to die. Kind of fucking weird unless he has a seething hatred of monsters but he doesn't.

There are more examples I can list but you get the point I'm trying to make. There just isn't enough depth or substance to most characters and the game, and the few times there is(Cynthia namely), just leaves you wanting more like some sort of tease. It's really unfortunate because a lot of the ideas presented are very novel and the pacing and handling of characters is done VERY well. It really does feel like you get close to each character and bond with them(not so much Gabe though).

I think the writing overall definitely needs work, because it just lacks the detail it needs in many instances to really immerse the player. The art already does a fantastic job of doing that, it just feels like the writing lags behind a little bit. Which is kind of a big deal in a visual novel, it's half the experience. If the writer hadn't made everybody so charming and fun to get close to, I would have put this to 3 stars rather than 4. But I genuinely do believe this game has the framework to be one of the best games on this site, it just needs a little more fine-tuning in a few areas. This is the most hopeful I've felt for a project in quite some time. The people involved definitely have the talent to make this as good as I'm envisioning.

Oh and I beg for some Taliya and July content. My favorite designs in the whole game and they don't have any scenes .

A really strong start so far. Art is fantastic and the story is pretty damn good, especially for a hentai game. Lots of gorgeous girls and the sex scenes are hot. Can't wait to see more. Hope more noncon stuff is added in the future though.