V0.2.1 is out for tiers 3 & 4 patrons on patreon. The public release will be on Tuesday, January 9th.
Content included:
Finally got around to playing version 0.2 and 0.2.1. Took about 3 hours to catch up from new game to corrupting Ayumi and doing the latest compliance quests. Alright, let's get to the reviews.
V0.2
- The new wake up sex mechanic is nice, but realistically you will use it only if you check the bedroom during gameplay. As it stands, going to the bedroom is entirely optional: in fact after starting a new game and corrupting Yukako and Rina again, I haven't felt the need to go to the bedroom at all due to all the quests, old and new. Perhaps a way to incentivize players to check the bedroom would be good; I will recommend an idea during the suggestions down below.
- I quite enjoy the extended intro. It establishes Romanos really is a sorry excuse of a hero and an entitled bastard whose ego makes him think things revolve around him. It is amazing he even gets this far in the quest to slay the Dark Lord, and his party truly are kind and patient girls to put up with him so long. Likewise, the random conversations whenever you go around the castle during the Misaki corruption stages is a nice touch; it adds to the feeling of realism, and building tension before it all explodes, heh.
- I actually didn't check all the animated sex scenes, but the ones I do remember make me want to point out: maybe it would be good to have blinking and not blinking versions, given players have preferences on whether girls stare intensely or bashfully blink when giving, for example, a blowjob.
V.0.2.1
- Finally, the Zereth Wall has fallen. I quite enjoy how many soldiers we have to slay in this invasion, though I must also say that you might want new types of mobs other than just "Guards" and "Captains", perhaps "Wizards" or "Paladins" since a proper military fortress would have magicians and healers too. Just to spice things up, make things both more immersive and a bit more difficult.
Related to that, it is also a good idea to add mob women (among magicians and healers), so we can see cases of the Dark Lord just not bothering with slow corruption and instantly break them, haha. He is the new Dark Lord; it should be shown to his army and his enemies alike that some victims are just beneath his dignity and effort.
Also, the kingdom's incompetence in its rulership definitely doesn't apply to general Majorius. He is a competent military man who knows what is the best means to slow down the advance of an army, and he did the best he could. It is almost a shame his actions to slow down military advance also helps the Dark Lord to gain compliance in the city he basically pillaged and damaged -- he never anticipated the new Dark Lord can engage in human negotiations and the traditional way of winning over the populace, hah. Would be fun to get this person as a future boss fight.
- FINALLY I can corrupt a princess, haha. It is almost a shame that like Yukako and Rina at the beginning of the game, Ayumi just gets blown away and knocked out rather than taken down like a damsel; it won't be too hard to make the Dark Lord or Misaki touch their forehead with a dark shine and make them drool and faint with a little magic, yes? It goes well with corruption too...
But the corruption process starts good; it is not hard to see where you are going with Ayumi's corruption. We are going to pray on her insecurities and her need of approval and her desire to be a good girl, heheh. Also, roping Yuma in for Ayumi's corruption is a possibility I did not consider -- seems like we might get interracial threesomes soon enough! That said, I must say Yukako's part in corrupting Ayumi is still somewhat minimal, despite Misaki making a note that she is more suitable to do so. Hopefully next levels show off why Yukako should be trusted to take the lead with this princess.
- The strip game is good. Adding a chance of failure to each game depending on the choice we pick is exactly the kind of interactivity we need to make each corruption more than just watching. Like my previous reviews, consider making these choices part of the actual corruption events too.
- The Divines! It is quite interesting to see that they seem to be good people thorough and through, given even the elf goddess turns out to be a responsible one willing to admit she might have used her ability to communicate with her followers frivolously. And yes, an archangel which shows signs of the previous Dark Lord's mark is exactly what we talked about before, so yet another thing to look forward to! Falling is always an option...
- Gotta say, the new city and its compliance quests finally feel like a proper RPG quest lol. You get sent here to get a material, then it turns out to get the material you need to do another task, chained to one another might be annoying for some, but I personally enjoy it. The quests themselves are interesting; securing food supply and metal to provide weapons to your army is how logistics would work in this medieval fantasy. I just can't help but laugh when another Orc Warlord gets to be a boss... And he doesn't even get a turn before my party kills him.
Finally able to make the downtime to type this down. The largest update yet, and for good reasons -- let's get to it.
- I appreciate the solo corruption events as a choice, but as expected taking the double event is the only option. It highlights how even at the depths of corruption and after their personality have been warped by exposure to the Dark Lord's corruption and pleasure, Yukako and Rina still think of each other and care for one another (kinda sweet, actually). But more than that, I appreciate it because the blow to Romanos's ego and will is just that much stronger when the two of them turn against him at the same time, haha. It is also incredibly amusing that Yukako and Rina are ultimately convinced to submit themselves to the Dark Lord not simply for pleasure, but because in some way they can see it as a positive thing and because of pure spite for Romanos. Spite is one hell of a motivator, and I like that in action.
- Moving to Yukako and Rina's designs post corruption, I find the overall designs nice (and certainly convenient for various purposes), but Yukako could probably use a brighter hair color to match her original blonde (mixing more white) to distinguish her more from Misaki. I really like Rina's shade of hair in comparison; fits her eyes.
- Rina being a dark knight immediately goes to add her input to the Dark Lord's army, while Yukako waits for the opportunity to promote a religion. It seems like you are already conducting a poll to decide on this, so I will refrain from commenting and keep them for suggestions.
- For the final compliance event of Vlester, I actually find it kinda... underwhelming? The first quest with the noble has more EXP bags- er, rebel soldiers which the player goes through. Could have used more of a challenge, given it's their last stand. It's also a good way to give Yukako and Rina, both of whom start at level 1, a jumpstart to give them decent levels.
- For once, Bogthos sensei doesn't have much of a lore to share. Just clues about what lies beyond that door... which I am actively trying not to think about. Prizes exist to be obtained, not figured out, haha.
- Romanos's fate has curious impacts on the Demon Queen's reactions- I wonder, how much is her reaction calculated and how much is it an act? Is the calm facade she presents when the Dark Lord chooses to allow her army to be stationed at Vlester actually masking her displeasure because the enemy doesn't fall for her bait? Is her reaction to the other options simply a facade to throw off your guesses? The Demon Queen is worthy of being the leader of an entire faction in this ancient conflict for sure. I won't comment on Romanos anymore as he is no longer relevant... well, until he is, once again.
- We finally get the crystal for the teleportation circle. A wall is going down, and a kingdom right after that. No more needs to be said... other than how it might take a while, update-wise, heh.
Overall, a good work. At this point the only thing to criticize is likely how straightforward everything is, but really, that's kinda the whole point. The Dark Lord inherits a millenia long old power from an ancient being, there is no way a couple of humans, blessed or not, would be difficult to be corrupted in a significant way. If I am to give an opinion, it's that truly complex corruption processes -- which should include options which might fail and forces us to retry -- won't be a thing until we get a goddess or the Demon Queen herself as our victim.
Now, time for suggestions, I already gave some in the previous review and also hints of ideas in the previous points, so I will make it simple:
- Related to what I said above about Yukako and Rina's starter levels, I think the next update should include a side quest or something like that in which you can send both of them to wipe out enemies or something like that, so they can start at a better level than a measly 1. Seeing them both contrasted with my level 12 Dark Lord and level 11 Misaki is very sad.
- Since Yukako is planning to make a religion out of this, it is a good idea to add many religious practice and potential applications of the Dark Lord's energy. 'Bless' water with darkness, and we have 'holy' waters for baptism and blissful purposes! Infuse corruption to a seed, and it will eventually grow into a tree bearing a fruit which can double as aphrodisiacs or sedatives! Many many more potential ideas. No religion can survive without sacred songs or dance rituals, meaning we need a corrupted singer and dancer pronto. More reasons to fall a kingdom!
For now, that's all. Your efforts appreciated, and I will be faithfully waiting for the next update.
Good updates to catch up with, so time for suggestions. Just like the previous ones, these free ideas are yours to do as you see fit.
- I think it would be nice to add a new feature to the bedroom: Dark Lord's personal notes for major information and events. Such as the state of the kingdom he originally served, and more importantly Bogthos and Yuma lore conversations. It would be very helpful to have a place in game where we can review progression, events and lore, and putting them in the bedroom incentivizes the player to check other bedroom features.
- Since Zerethin Wall is among the locations where the Divines once manifested in full to assist humans, I think it isn't a bad idea to make the entire Wall be a location where the separation of the physical realm and spiritual realm is a bit "thinner" than the others.
This would make the Wall be a good location for the Dark Lord, Misaki and Yukako (the latter two especially as they had connection to the Divines) to start experimenting if it is possible to peek into the spiritual realm the same way the Divines peek into physical world. It doesn't have to show anything relevant for now; just the Dark Lord trying get a feel for that plane.
This series of quests can be a good foreshadowing for future content if you like. More importantly, peeking isn't like invasion; just like how nobody in the mortal realm can tell when the Divines are watching, so would the Divines can't tell when someone is watching their realm. After all, with the weakening of their influence, the balance between physical and spiritual should shift in the physical's favor.
That would be all. Tis was a nice series of updates, and I will faithfully wait for the next one.
