I recently did my first playthrough through this game, and I was looking through the so called guide in preparation for a True End run when I decided that I wasn't really feeling up for a second playthrough of this game right off the bat. I might do that eventually, but I decided to post up my impressions of the game while they're still fresh and all that.
First of all, I'll comment on the fact that this is clearly inspired by the (in)famous NTRPGs, or whatever it was that inspired those two particular games if they also followed someone else first. I'm inclined to believe that it's those two specific games that served as inspiration to this one though, if only because it has a similar level of... absurdity... shall we say, that both NTRPGs had, and also has a similar issue as the latter game where this game couldn't really decide if it was a serious game or a complete joke. Well, the dev couldn't decide... Y'all know what I mean.
Before getting into the story and other such things... like the aforementioned game, Rina Test doesn't have any CGs and only has sprite-sex and text for its H-scenes, which isn't inherently bad, but it does mean that translation quality matters a lot. Unfortunately, having played the game from top to bottom once, it kind of feels like this translation is edited MTL, or at least, done by someone with a poor grasp of the English language. However, the issues with subjects and pronouns that pop up are very typical of MTL, so I'm leaning more towards edited MTL. There's bunches of examples throughout the game where it was clear that things weren't properly proofread in context. Though I suppose it's also possible that sheer number of minor permutations this game has made full on editing difficult, especially for a single person without a small team of other people to test things out and point out mistakes.
Quite frankly, this game could really use some genuinely professional translation work, because having to deal with the mistakes that are currently present can make reading through it all something of a slog at times. Which is more of a problem than in some other games out there, because the text really is central to just about everything.
Moving on, the gameplay is pretty basic, to the point where, if not for specific features, it'd feel like this would have been better off as a VN. For the most part, all you do is walk around the map and interact with people and objects, and that leads to various dialogue and events. Each day is split into multiple phases, and people do different things depending on the time of day, and the actions available to the MC also vary based on the time of day. These things change gradually as time moves forward and choices are made. Furthermore, while the field of view of the MC is obviously limited, the player can see in rooms and spaces that are nearby, and as such, the player guiding him can see events that the character can't, which is one of the main reasons why this game is better off as it is, rather than a VN.
The system is fairly interesting in how it works, though it honestly could have used some more work on account of non-sensical limitations and weird design choices. For the latter, you, at times, are presented with what looks like choices, and it seems like you have two options to pick from. However, at those times, no matter what you do, you can only pick one specific choice, making the fact that you have options presented a completely pointless joke. Why was this done? No fucking clue, it's just obnoxious. This is made worse by the fact that in one of these cases, if you DO keep trying to pick the choice that you seem to be denied, you get a useful skill for the MC out of it. That creates the impression that there are more choices like that, where if you keep pressing the button that the game seems to be telling you not to press, you'll be rewarded.... but I haven't run into any further such cases, which is, as you might image, annoying and a waste of the player's time.
The first time you run into this is very early on when you have the choice to go to Rina to fuck her or to Eve for training on that night where Lloyd drugged Rina. If you go to Rina the 1st time, you get rewarded with a certificate thing, but you are not allowed to actually get through with the choice, because of course, then Rina won't get raped by Lloyd and we can't have that, can we?
The other problem that the game has is that it can get pretty monotonous during certain day phases where not much is actually happening for several days at a time. Given that the game has eight day phases, it's probably inevitable that not all of them will be properly filled out... but still. The fact that you pretty much always have to take a nap to move time forward to afternoon, instead of being able to read... or the fact that you can only read in the afternoon, so on and so forth, makes things weird to deal with at times and more tedious than they need to be. For all that the game is fairly complex already, it honestly could have used more work so MC had more things to do and that those things made more sense.
The semi RNG thing that pops up later in the game doesn't really do enough tbh.
Still, for all its issues, the dev clearly put in a lot more effort than other examples of NTR games in RPGM I've seen around here. The systems could have used more work to diversify player actions and break monotony beyond available H-events, but quite frankly, I also understand that doing so would have been a very difficult undertaking, considering all the various moving parts involved.
I also loved the fact that the dev used that thing from NTRPG2, where the MC and the girl had skills detailing various things about them. That part was really well implemented tbh, I was quite impressed by how the dev used it to showcase MC's situation, stuff about Lloyd and Eve, and of course Rina's changes as the days moved forward and Lloyd worked on her.
Moving on, once more, I'll talk about this game's story, what parts of it I've seen without reaching the True Ending (though I can guess where that goes too, given the conditions and that I've done Peter's Quest simply because it was there during my 1st playthrough).
The story of Rina Test is one that makes me pretty sure that this was inspired by the (in)famous NTRPGs, the second one in particular. This is because of the time loop element that is hinted at and sort of confirmed pretty quickly, along with the whole evil god plot and whatnot. Beyond that, the game has a similar level of absurdity going on with talking animals and weird humor present all over the place. Quite frankly, the game can't seem to decide if it wants to be serious or a complete joke, and how well that floats with anyone will likely vary. For me, at times it was jarring and it took me out of things.
I'm not gonna spoiler the next couple of bits because they all happen relatively early in the game and these events are the real start of everything.
The core of the story is that our unlucky couple, Rina and Koji, decided to join a weird supposed social experiment that lasts 30 days where they're locked in some weird mansion with the staff there and another couple, Lloyd, this game's chad, and Eve, his petite kuudere fuck-toy. Naturally, Lloyd takes a liking to Rina and her apparently big ass and bigger tits (according to the description anyway, the sprites aren't custom so it's not really presented well in-game even for this particular type of game). Soon enough, he stalks the couple, figures out that MC, of course, sucks in bed, and hatches a plot to make Rina his. That involves two steps, one is to get MC distracted by supposedly helping him out by having him be "trained" by Eve, which MC somehow thinks is ok and totally not cheating on Rina. Then to drug Rina with a strong aphrodisiac and rape her retarded while MC is busy being mocked by Eve over being a quick-shot.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this game starts its NTR adventure by having the cuck of the game cheat on his GF first, somehow thinking that this is a good idea. I don't know about other people, but this pretty much killed of even the vaguest hints of sympathy I could ever muster for the MC. Quite frankly, it felt like the guy deserved to get cucked for being that retarded. I've seen all sorts of unsympathetic MCs in various levels of NTR type plots, but Koji might very well take the cake and reach the top of the idiot list. The idea of talking with Rina and working things out with her directly somehow doesn't even cross this dumbass' mind. I was willing to ignore the typical stupid plot of "they've been fucking for years but somehow they both still suck at it" thing, but sheesh... Dunno what the dev was going for there, but I honestly couldn't really play the game seriously after that set-up, and it's one of the reasons why I'm not particularly motivated to play for the true ending, which based on the conditions, is supposed to be a good one for the MC, which I don't feel he deserves.
Of course, things were made worse by Rina, who is equally unsympathetic to me. You see, while the whole, "raped while drugged" incident was entirely understandable, since she couldn't help herself... her reaction to the incident afterward makes zero sense. Like in other typical NTR plots, Lloyd threatens her with showing Koji everything... but unlike in other NTR plots... it makes zero sense why she cares about it aside from the fact that it'd obviously hurt McCuck-kun's feelings. (The prick deserves it anyway, but she doesn't know that.) Even if you take into account the usual JP social stigma issue, they were stuck in the mansion, they had no contact with the outside, and Lloyd could do fuck and all to ruin her reputation. All she had to do was talk with Koji, stick around him and the staff, and keep her door locked, and there was fuck all that Lloyd could have done about it all. But no, for some reason that makes less sense than every other NTR plot out there, she decides that it's better to give in to his obviously growing demands and keep everything hidden from Koji, as if him finding out about all this at the end of the experiment would be somehow better in any way. (It obviously wouldn't be.) Add in the fact that they'd both be filthy rich once everything was over no matter what, and it makes even LESS sense for her to worry about anything but making things clear with Koji.
Basically, as far as I'm concerned, these two characters are both terrible, and the set-up for the rest of the story is just not great. It's worse than... a LOT of other games out there. With that set-up, everything that followed after it just wasn't as fun as it could have been, because I don't enjoy idiot characters that much outside of more properly humorous set-ups... while Rina Test tries to take itself seriously.
I'm impressed with the number of endings it has and how well it uses the various visible and not so visible stats to account for a variety of things happening. I'm also impressed with the fact that even when a route seems like it's all going downhill for the couple, there's STILL a chance for a comeback, but it's less enjoyable when the characters involved are both nonsensical idiots with no braincells to rub together between the two of them, much less as individuals. I did get a laugh out of that one N-Route ending I got where Lloyd got so mad over Rina telling him no at the end that he literally exploded. That shit was hilarious. I also loved how the epilogue properly took into account the fact that Rina was now a total sex addict. However, it was still spoiled by the fact that it didn't feel earned by the two idiots in question. Or the fact that Koji got away with his cheating without it even being mentioned.
Honestly, for all my ranting, I think that Rina Test is an amazing game in terms of how it was designed and the systems that were used. It could have used a bit more work for the gameplay bits to reduce the monotony in certain parts, but it's still amazing work. My main source of issues with it was the quality of the translation, which could be a lot better, and the writing itself, the latter part being entirely subjective. For all that I have issues with the very obvious plot-hole around Rina and the extreme stupidity of Koji, I doubt everyone else will have a problem with it. For anyone who doesn't care about this detail, the work put in all the choices and interactions that come after the starting incident will likely make things very interesting.
About the only big problem I can see with it all is that for all that the game has a ridiculous number of endings, I honestly don't feel that its replayability is THAT great. Outside of people that end up really loving the game, I honestly recommend doing 1 blind-playthrough, and then using the half-assed guide and some cheating to get the True Ending, and that second bit is debatable. I don't even know if I'll end up doing it or not tbh.
