VN - Ren'Py - Ripples [v0.8.0 Public] [Jestur]

Well its hard to find a more perfect game where everything seems to be done right, just the fact that you can pick and choose who ever you want to have a sexual relationship with is so damn nice.

The story is very good and have some fun dialogs and scenes, got to love Darci shes proberly my favorit or maybe Skylar...lets call it a tie, its tuff since there is plenty of LIs in the game, the sci-fi is good and not over the top so you can enjoy that part as well, it kinda supprise me it dosent have a harem tag with so many girls wanting to be with MC, and if you can only be with one it wont be an easy pick.

Still waiting to see how they will do virgin scenes and if there is any deflower scenes, they got the talent to make it right but 6 chapters in and there hasent been a chance to be with a virgin, guessing there are atleast 2, Alice and Darci would be my guess but we will see how all of that will play out some day.

Animations looks great, some of the best ive seen for this type of character style.
Music is good to and sets moods for scenes.

Game is in my top 5 and so its one of the best game out there if you ask me.
I will add a bit more to the review as game comes along since there are still things/tags we havent seen yet.

Initially I wasn't much interested in the game seeing there so few scenes in gallery for such a large game. I finally tried it out and Suffice to say I enjoyed it. Custom designed Honey select models, custom designed animations not fully derived from Honey Select base animations, custom created environment, quite a decent yet somewhat predictable and in the future a melancholic story, sensual scenes with focus on foreplay elements along with consensual harcore scenes that doesn't come across as rapey. Overall An amazing game. But I reduced One point because of the game size, like is it because of these custome models or uncompressed textures that this game is so huge even at chapter 6 and we haven't even complete 30% of story. By the end it will reach like 14 to 20 gb game. I hope some sort of efficient compression of textures or images can be done for better Game Size.

Game have nice renders but other aspects, well... Plot is overly simplistic as charachters itself. All charachters personalities are shallow, overused and predictable. MC is not a total simp, but sometimes close to it. Dev all the time breaks the 4 wall through charachters dialogs and stupid remarks, which ruins immersion by reminding player that he plays adult game, dev is not as talented as Stephen Frears for example, to use breaking the 4 wall as toll for even bigger immersion or interesting storytelling, so stop doing it.

All the girls are falling for MC just because and there is nothing more to it. I mean hes not that bad, just average dude and too dimwitted sometimes for the plot sake, but he definetly doesnt present by himself why from the first day girls fall for him one after another just like that. I sincerely want to believe that he is that great guy who capable to make his little harem through his awesomeness, but dev need to show me why hes so great and popular and not just declaring it through girls words that hes handsome, smart etc.

Sometimes he behaves like simp and agrees with girls just because they want him to hear it to like him more. For example, Krystal tells MC about her vulnerability to people thinking that she is slut. But MC reassure her that shes not and people wrong. Dude... she dress like slut, behave and speak like one, people misjudge are totally justified and understandable. If i will wear clown costume, tell jokes and show tricks its only natural that people will think that Im a clown) And then she criticize why if boy fuck a lot of girls he is cool and if girl gets fucked by a lot of boys than she is slut and MC once again agrees with it. Really? Okay) Here some hard to swallow pill for you. For a man to fuck a lot of women he needs to have skills, make a lot of efforts, be presentable, handsome, rich etc, when for a woman, even for ugly one, all is needed is to spread her legs, thats why first is impressive and second is not, its simple as that.

2 stars for renders and because there is a lot shittier games around here.

upd: tried to give game another chance and played further and oh boy) MC lines became so weeb that I cringed to extent where I became uncomfortable to continue reading. His flirting and pickup lines was so bad that it could make even the slutiest slut became as dry as desert, but in this fairytale its worked on girls like a charm of course. Plot feels like wet dream of a virgin. At this moment Im not even sure that dude who writed this, had any action by himself IRL, if only it wasn't written like that on purpose as big brain move to increase patreon supporters by army of weebs)

Animation, women, story and everything is amazing about this game. Well worth playing through. Would give it 4.5 stars only because the developer got a bit lazy with animated orgasm scenes and no anal (yet) but will leave it at 5 just because it's well deserving.

This is a fantastic VN.
Lots of laugh out loud moments.
Great characters.
Good storytelling.
Lots of sexy girls of all types.
You never feel like you're trying to jerk off while solving a 400 word crossword puzzle.
A++

I'm not the biggest fan of the look of the CG models used in this game, but I did enjoy the surprisingly ambitious plot, fun characters, and easygoing dialogue.
A light-hearted and good-natured sex romp.

would have been 5 stars but i can only take so much inane dialogue. so much waffle especially the thoughts in brackets. it goes on and on and on. trim that down by half and it would be so much better. i can start skipping dialogue and skip loads before getting to the point. i dont want to go straight to the porn but i want to get to the point a lot more quicker. doubt Jestur will take this constructive advice on board. maybe do a waffle free version?

Story is amazing, characters are almost all incredibly lovable, banter is fuckin hilarious, and so many moments will pull at your heartsrings. ive only recently gotten into VNs. but this is hands down the best Ive ever read. the animations and sex scenes are actually amazing themselves, but this story will have you so engrossed you wont even have time to pull out the lube

finished it + love it , the jokes are funny and the story is not boring , also the animation is good , if the animation would be more detailed it will be in another level , but so far I very much like it , keep up the good work and thank you .

Among the best of the best in the adult visual novel world. Excellent animations and renders, extremely engaging story and cast of characters, and an overall level of polish and quality that starts high and keeps improving. Ripples is a must-play, and you'll be very glad you did.

First review of version: 0.5 on Aug. 20. 2023. Review updated to 0.7 on Sep. 02. 2024

Pros:
- Good looking animated sequences used for character introductions, outfit show-offs, episode beginnings, etc. Kinda feels like watching episodes of a tv show.
- Darci’s swearing is highly amusing and she’s a fresh breath in terms of avn heroines.
- Very diverse characters in terms of personalities. Less so regarding clothing style and body types.
- It’s very exciting to speculate what changes you may or may not have caused in the present, due to your actions in the past
- Using Grisaia as the catalyst for starting a relationship with Jessica, interesting choice and one of several good examples of a cultural references being done right in Ripples.
- Shit-ninja….enough said.
- Very natural sounding dialogue.
- Soundtrack proved more diverse than expected. Only a few loops were a bit repetitive.
- Characters remain themselves during h-scenes, rather than turning into the same inexperienced, yet very experienced generic female porn star.
- H-animations are smooth and the highly diverse positions seen are well set up.
- Some of the best social chemistry I have seen in the AVN sphere.

Mehs and hit/miss:
- MC’s face hidden due to ugly?
- I suppose it is a little unfortunate how all the heroines so far uses the same skin texture. They have been morphed into their individual and somewhat unique body shapes but look at the navel and you will realize it is the exact same. The same might apply for nipples/areola which I guess is an inherent weakness of the HS engine.

Cons:
- Potentially ridiculing of cucks or merely free-spirited males/husbands. Not too bad so far and it was used mostly for comedic effect and not in order to emphasize MC’s alpha-ness like certain other AVN’s have done.
- Progression and development of story and relationships are too fast paced. Especially the relationships in the present (2019). Partly improved upon by time-skips happening in the latter updates.

0.7 New remarks.
Intro: So, having just completed the 0.7 content on a fresh playthrough I have gotten a few new remarks to write out, as well as a couple that I left out when I wrote the first edition review for 0.5. It has also become clear to me that a rose-tinted glasses effect was in play during my first playthrough. Most of my new remarks are Cons or Meh moments, but there’s a few new pros as well. That being said, Ripples retains a solid 5-star rating by F95 standards. In my personal review rating document, I have downgraded it from A+ to A and 8.8 to 8.5.

New pros:
- Animation quality has kept rising.
- The second H-scene.
- The rescue mission represented a significant change in tone towards something darker. I personally liked it. Felt as if venturing out in the deep end of a pool, after having stayed in the shallow kid area for a while. But the deep end was always there, so to speak. I always thought there were hints of something more serious lurking under the surface.
- Nice melee fight choreography, not just the animations, but the actual fighting moves and reactions.
New Mehs:
- I didn’t really care much for the first H-scene in 0.7. Felt too porny for me.
- I would like to see more male characters in neutral or positive roles.
- Too much reliance on reading the inner thoughts of people, especially the LI’s. Lots of telling, little showing. It can get very In-your-face from time to time.
- 0.7 felt perhaps a little short in terms of main story progression. I get that much dev time went towards the numerous and still improving animations. And character development was fairly on point too. Still, thought it worth mentioning.
- The bad guys of the update felt a lot like cartoon villains who decided to be really damn edgy. A bit overdone.
New Cons:
- During this second run I increasingly felt that LI’s are simply a little to fast and eager about throwing themselves at MC. The way everything regarding the LI's seems to be lined up well in advance for MC is a little too strong. Much is given, little is earned.
- Overemphasis on MC’s wang. The size of the model itself isn’t actually that extreme relative to most other AVN's. But i definitely got tired of just how frequent the size becomes the focal point of any dialogue in the lead up to the H scenes. Too much wish fulfilment and ego strocking here.
- This started with the earlier versions, and I didn’t mention it in the original review. I am getting increasingly worried about how the harem shenanigans will be handled once things starts getting “official”. I fear a scenario where the less promiscuous LI’s will just shrug their shoulders and go “Hmmm, well, it’s okay because it's you MC”.

Great story, the animation style gets me, sometimes I get so invested in the story that I forget what this is. Don't miss out and try it, good work to dev. The scenes are great and the build up has me wanting t continue even if I feel like I shouldn't

This game is amazing.
The plot, dialogue, humor, and characters feel like they came out of pages of some novel.
I wonder whether the dev hired a writer for this? I was pleasantly surprised to see such a quality in something that was supposed to be "another porn game".

This game objectifies the girls/women so much....

Which is great! 5/5

Jokes aside, the story is really good.
Also normally Honey select models are meh, but this dev really has a unique way of going about things that makes them very interesting and varied. It's not your typical game with this style where the girls are all shiny and all look the same. Some are serious hotties, like Skylar.

I'd love to see a game from this dev with DAZ girls or a more diverse looking girl-base

But back on topic:
Story: Great
Girls: Great!
Fapability rating: GREAT!

Engaging plot and characters you can't help but want to explore more with.
Just d/l and play it if you like Ren'Py adult VN's. It's a must play.
Good job Dev!

First and foremost, the artwork and character design are commendable. The vibrant and expressive illustrations do justice to the diverse cast of characters, each with their unique personality quirks and backstories.

Very good story and awesome animation. I got very invested in the plot. I felt exasted with the tones of thing he does on each day, but even with that, it's the best story I've seen. Played until EP05 that's the last one for now.

The story is uninteresting. The characters are skin deep. The models look all the same. The dialogue is terribly written.

The animations are good, but I believe they're default to the engine/game used to make them to begin with.

At first i didnt liked it as much, but as i kept playing it grew on me. My Favorit part the Animations, they are realy Good. Story and Sound are not bad either.Litte Spoiler: the only thing that i dont like that much is the Time traval part.
everything else I realy liked , i played it in three Nigths. and i cant wait for more content
Over all a 9/10

This is an exceptional AVN! The author has put in a lot of effort both in the visual art and in the writing. The plot is pretty interesting with some heavy Dark vibes. I am really excited to see where the story goes and I'm waiting for the next chapter eagerly.

Well... VNs aren’t usually my cup of tea and I very rarely download them, this one just proved me right about not downloading them despite giving 4* to it, let me explain.

Will start out with CONS...

Models - many devs are using these cheap looking asian models I just can’t get over with, it ruined many games for me, female models are sometimes kinda cute in their own way, but those hideous ugly ass male models and especially the one all the devs are using as main character is just turn off for me. This is most likely personal preference, since all those games are kinda popular.

Writing - this is the major issue for me. Writing in this game is just lame, boring... all lovey dovey just usual shit from some teen virgin’s fantasy. At least that’s how I feel about it. I don’t need emotional roller-coaster which some very talented devs/writers are making, which I’m not too fond of either. Since I want to chill while playing good game and not to feel sad from some fucked up story. But writing in this game is really bad even if it feels like this dev tries...

PROS

Models - despite shitting on models above, gotta say this dev handled them much better then others do. Females look much better and less cheap and cartoony then from other games.

Renders - Immidiately when I see those models it always comes with those ugly, cheap looking renders as well, this game is different tho. Renders are very well done, all the backgrounds look pretty good and with lightning and all put together the results are very good at least in my eyes, which I didn’t expect at all.

Animations - very well done animations competing with the best available on this site. Both action and loops feel very natural even if it’s not perfect, you can tell that a lot of effort went into it.

----

Because of things mentioned above, I’d give this game 3*. But I can feel and tell how much effort this dev put into this game, which I value more than anything else and therefore I have to give this 4* despite not liking all that much.