VN - Ren'Py - Selara [Update 6] [Sacred Sage]

Update 6

Story 3/5
Characters 2/5
Graphics 4/5
Writing 1/5
Audio 3/5

Story
Selara has an interesting premise - a prototype space ship sent away with the (allegedly) last humans, hoping to colonize a new planet. It's got a lot of potential, and could go in almost any direction. Alas it the follows the Captain Kirk route and already in chapter 2 there are freaky deaky aliens getting it on. If you are looking for a coherent story, this is not it. The dev does not seem to care about worldbuilding or a consistent narrative, or even logic. This is not a permanent problem of course; there is a lot more room in the story before the VN is done, and the original idea had promise.
There are some choices to be made, largely dealing with which LIs you want to antagonize and which you want to pursue, presumably leading to a harem of half the girls available. It works. There are also skills; strength, stealth, and intelligence, though what the effect of these are I cannot say.

Characters
The characters, including the MC, are one-dimensional. They all follow a single character trait and take that to an extreme. The MC is your basic Mary Sue, and can do no wrong. Conflicts and interactions between characters seem artificial and infantile. This area has considerable room for improvement. The strangest part is that the MC acts like your basic beta simp out of any new-to-college or coming-of-age AVN, but somehow he is the commander of the last group of humans in existence. This comes out as jarring throughout the entire story, and is remarkably disturbing. The MC also has a bitchy second-in-command that he lets walk all over him for some strange reason, further violating any sense of immerson or in-game sensibility.

Graphics
Graphics are great. Characters and settings look interesting and are well done. Cutscenes are far more than I would expect, and they are more than good enough to set the tone of the scene. The cutscenes inbetween chapters are confusing and do not seeem to relate to what happened prior, nor to what happens in the subsequent chapter, but that is not really an issue. Graphics are probably the best part of this VN.

Writing
The writing is bad. Really bad. Too much nonsense, too many grammar errors, too much ridiculous and childish reasoning. This part needs massive improvement.

Audio
This is the first time I've tried an AI narrated VN. Props to the dev for trying it. In some areas it kinda works, in others it does not. I would prefer having it to not having it even when it doesn't work, as it does add some much needed consistency to the characters.


All in all, this is an average VN. Graphics and audio elevate poor writing and story skills into something that can be watched. I hope this can be turned around into an interesting finished product, as there seems to be potential here and there. Best of luck to the dev.

As of Update 6


PROS

• Nice models
• Interesting setting
• There is SOME choice
• An attempt at animation

CONS

• Forced into scenes & routes
• MC is supposed to be chosen for leadership on a pioneer mission to save humanity but comes across as every wimp mid-manager you've ever seen.
• LI's personality traits seem to all be to the extreme (bitch, slut, kinky nerd)

CONCLUSION

This is OK. Routes are either/or so you just have to pick your poison and odds are there's at least one LI you'll like. Setting's interesting enough to see where it's going and this is still early enough for improvements.

OK, with potential

Amazing sci-fi AVN set in space. The game has absolutely beautiful renders, well-written characters, and the choices you make in this game actually feel like they have an impact. I know it's still early, but this game has potential to be really good. I'm really looking forward to the next updates.

It’s a bit early, but so far it’s a great action packed sci-fi story.

The writing is mostly solid, with characters well established and it’s fairly standard but done well.

The game uses AI generated voices, so wouldn’t be surprised if the script involved some AI as well.

The renders are solid, but you can see some render issues like fireflies and fuzzy renders showing here or there. I think some assets look a little odd too and don’t know how to feel about the aliens.

Characters are hot and fun and the most developed ones are the combative Karaline with the hot as fuck British accent, supportive AI red head Amelie and Zoe the mechanic.

There’s a stats system that isn’t explained well, but it helps affect the choices you make and scenes that get unlocked.

Really well written and entertaining. Great characters. I'm definitely looking forward to playing more of this in the future.

The only criticism I could think of at the moment is that the cast feels a little small. I think adding two or three more characters would make it feel more filled out. Since there are no aliens on the squad at the moment in the current version, I figure there are already plans in motion to increase the cast.

5/5

Update 3

Great world building, great characters. Can tell the writer knows a lot about this stuff (I liked the whole pulse reading thing from firearms, its one of those sci fi things that just borders on reality and seems feasible)

Just 1 point to improve on for now;

The consistency of in person and message interactions:
- I love the concept of messaging, as it feels like that is something that would definitely happen in real life. However, sometimes the messages with the crewmates seem a bit...out of character for most, it feels like they are cordial in person (which is absolutely fine), yet on messages the characters are suddenly sending selfies, emojis, and being informal with the commander.
- Imo, the messages could be more formal initially. I mean the MC is the commander, and he is also a stranger. So messages from his crewmates (who are also his subordinates) should feel cordial and formal. This imo would add more to the realism, and will make any future sexual encounters more fruitful and meaningful.

I have watched the progression of this developer. Through the consistent updates of his previous game, which contributed to the numerous changes, made it an absolutely better and enjoyable game.

This developer has strived to provide a better product in every facet. Could the writing be better...sure. Does it develop characters and the story...absolutely. As long as the grammatical errors are kept to a minimum, then I can get through it.

Selara has already proven the painstaking steps the developer has already taken to better his skills. All the main characters are being introduced and developed that sets the stage for the story advancement. I fully appreciate the direction that this new game is going and I look forward to the future updates.

So far so good. Nice animations, great renders and I kinda enjoy having a fully voiced game, even is it's AI.
It has also many sound effects and details like that, and it looks like it's going to have a good variety of content.
Recommended if you like Sci Fi

Promising game. But It's being held back by meaningless trivia. Renders are great. But the pacing is not. The main culprit is the writing. So much exposition to slouch through. The writing feels like mainly written by A.I, The dialogue is really boring at the time filling those deadpan face renders. The gameplay also reinforces the idea that your choices can feel meaningless. A decent amount of effort is wasted. I guess I'll be seeing in a year.

Review of Update 3

Well I have to say that this game was a very nice surprise. I am fond of sci-fi settings and this one is done really quite well. It's still early days but there is enough worldbuilding (galaxybuilding since the game takes place in space?) that is done to give you a picture of the setting you are dropped into. And you are dropped into it, right into the middle of a mutiny that you immediately have to thwart to regain control of your new ship. The pacing of the story is great putting you direcly into the action and explaining what is neccesary at the time instead of frontloading all of it and making it boring.

The RPG elements are implemented quite nicely and seemlessly. So far it doesn't seem like you will be locked out of content for not having enough "stats" but instead the outcome of scenes may vary a little bit depending on how you played up to that point.

All of the LIs are attractive and have very different personalities which is always a plus. There are only a couple of H-scenes in the game so far but the animations for them are top notch in quality. As are all of the renders in the game, I didn't notice any flaws in the rendering but I'm also not an expert in the field all I know is that it's a very good looking game.

As others have stated the whole game is voiced artificially and while it is far from the worst I've ever heard it isn't great either. With voice synthesything AI on the rise maybe someday a game will be made with good artificial voices but this isn't quite it. Not going to let that detract from my rating however since you can simply mute the voices if you don't like them. The other audio however such as the music and moaning during H-scenes is done well and adds a good amount of depth and ambiance to the story.

With the introduction of our first alien species in this latest update I am very excited to see where the story goes. I would highly recommend you give this game a shot it's very much worth the time!

One minor complaint I have is that upon reaching the end of the current version there isn't a proper ending screen and it just kicks you back to the main menu. At first I thought my game glitched but I guess thats just how it is. A little jarring, adding a proper "end of current version" screen would be a nice addition I feel.

P.S. AI Waifu Amelia is the best, fight me!

I quite like the start of this, also the bonus is the the voices aren't as bad as many computer generated voice services i've sampled, they all often have a robotic sound to them, so thankfully this avoids it for the most part.

I do like the sci-fi theme, as for preference on models so far, for me, it has to be Zoe and Amelia.

Interesting to see where this goes!!

The graphics are top notch as usual. Might even be better than Reclusive Bay. Or I just love the Sci-Fi looks more

The voice acting works very well and feels natural to the game. That combined with the choices you have make it feel more like an RPG game than a visual novel.

Well done on the first chapter. Can't wait for the next one.