VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Something to Write About: The Author [Ch. 7.1] [STWAdev]

An excellent game with good characters and enjoyable writing. Has its dark moments but isn't intentionally bleak. I was originally thinking I'd want to replay to try to get one of the many other endings, since there's 8 or more but I loved the ending I got and don't want to change it.

The game is more leaning into romance and drama than it is porn, but it's worth the time to play just for those elements alone.

Version: Ch. 7.1

This game will take you on a journey of friendship, struggles, trauma, love and mental health. If you are the type of player that values a game based on its story and characters then I assume you will enjoy the game.

I think the game is well crafted story based. It feels that it have a direction and something it tries to go towards which make it coherent, easy and fun to follow and go through. You can tell how each character has depth and personality and I could find myself in few of them and relate to those I didn't.

Two things I think were lacking are animations (the animations are 2 cycled frames), which could elevate the overall experience but I could manage without them because the characters were great and I found the interest in the story aspect.
But more importantly for a game like this, sound and music is a MUST!
The absence of them were felt, adding music in the right moments could make the game tremendously more impacting and make you really fall in love with the characters. Music is the language of the soul.

Overall I think the game was really good and big applause for the developer for first, finishing a game which shouldn't be taken for granted and second for creating a good one.

I would rate 4.5 but always good to round up to motivate indie devs to continue their hard work and exceptional job!

Great characters, story and visuals. Definitely worth a try. My only minor nitpicks:

* Wish the scenes were a little longer with more positions (and intimacy)
* A slower buildup to the scenes would help a ton too, add some foreplay before the character is spread out naked in front of you.
* Being asked to reiterate certain choices you already made at the beginning of a new chapter was a little jarring. Should have had a smoother transition.

I nevertheless enjoyed it a lot and wish the author the best for future titles. Definitely worth supporting.

[Ch. 7.1] Contains spoilers.
Very good game.

WRITING:
Living up to the game's title, the writing is really good.
Minor complaints: Sometimes maybe a bit too aloof, some cut scene texts sound a bit too profound / slightly pretentious, in some parts the MC seems a bit too wise, and there may be one or two dialogues with too much deep insights (which makes them sound a bit artificial).

CHARACTERS:
Most characters are relatable and interesting. Maybe a bit less so the MC, but he is still OK. Unfortunately (and as usual) male friends are mostly absent.

STORY:
The story was good, apart from a few personal pet peeves.
For example, why are there super-rich with yachts with helipads or private jets in every fifth or so AVN?
Some things seemed set up too conveniently (e.g. girl with horrible injuries due to a fall, who is left with loss of sight but without any disfigurement whatsoever, etc.)
The wrap-up left me a bit saddened, but this is a good sign: Obviously the story managed to to draw me in and to develop sympathy for the characters.

ARTS/RENDERINGS/FACES:
Arts good. No anatomical monstrosities (at least for AVN standards). I disliked the MC's look.

MUSIC / SOUNDS:
None

SEX:
I liked the Sex scenes. My path contained some (few) very soft and friendly SM aspects, which I found great.

GAMEPLAY:
Standard VN. Meaningful choices (or at least the illusion of it, did not try more than one path).

This game was a true pleasure to play!! The Girls are beautiful, the story is deep, and not a typical AVN story, with more darkness and realism than most, even if the MC does have 6 beautiful ladies trying to get with him. He didn't get there by magic, but by finding a way to get through his real life shit. I don't often replay to get all endings, but I enjoyed this soo much that I had to here. Looking forward to whatever STWA does next!

The characters are very well written, and come off as actual people that you get to know through a formative period of their (and the MC) lives.
The story is engaging and IMO, you really get to know the characters by the end, and become invested in their lives.
The renders are not the best, faces tend to be a little stiff, but overall they are very well done.

Con:
The sex scenes are relatively short and simple, there could be more fantasy and visual stimuli (not mentioning that the dick skin looks very distorted).

Pro:
But otherwise it's a lot of fun. The story is captivating. The characters are endearing, so I fell in love with every one of the girls. It's a shame there's no real harem though. The renders are good, and most models are very cute. Even those who are just normal, you get charmed with their characters and find them very attractive anyway.

I hope to play more games from these developers.

I enjoyed the game because of the story and the different endings, the graphics are nice, the scenes are dynamic, no audio. The game has a few hot scenes but I liked the existing mods that help you in the game and with the gallery. I like the different endings, 6 or 7 I don't remember.

While the banner of the game do not look great but the game is amazing for sure.

Girls
As I said I believe that the banner of the game from the first page does not justice to the game. The differece in hight between girls, the washed background made me skip this game for a while...such a lose for me.
The girls are lovely and chosing one was not quite easy. They are not dry, dumb, cock lovers creature which make them likeble. Chris is created as a asiatic-european type without bringing any of the asian stereotypes. Kimbelry and Lyndie have mesmerizing eyes and Aoife has a goddess body.
I found refreshing a difference is haircuts and a evolution of the haircut as the game unfolds.

Story
The creator really put an effort in the story and try to gave each and every girl the chance to shine in its own way. The way it approach a meltdown
of the MC is not something really new, but the approach is convincing. Presenting a girl with mental trauma is quite new and I apreciate it.

Renders/animation
City and background renders is something that on some scenes could be worked out better. Animation was not a point where the creator invested a lot and can understand that. In the future a more diversified sex scenes and animation will for sure be apreciated

Absolutely amazing in every way - the writing is excellent, the characters completely realistic and the artwork is incredible – and I would challenge anyone playing this not to be at least a bit impressed at how hot the female characters are – Dru in particular is the kind of girl you'd die for .

This was a ride. This entire story was very gripping as it dealt with very serious subject matter with dignity and showed great progression for all the characters. With that being said, there are depictions of trauma, suicidal tendencies, and mental illness so if that isn't your thing, you have been warned. All the love interests present are great. Chris, our tomboyish childhood friend who shows just how much she really knows the MC. Very well executed, and their banter is great. Kimberly, our new assistant with a troubled past, yet trying to move forward. She is great as she really helps motivate the MC along the way. Then we have the trio of Aoife, Lyndie and B. Their history together is complex and complicated in ways, but it shows how much they care about each other even when it comes to loving the MC. There is also Dru who is the last introduced love interest and is deeply tied to the MC's past. She is my personal favorite as due to her connection with the MC, it brings into questions of who we really are as people in the grand scheme of things and how to not let obstacles mean we can never achieve something great or find friends along the way to support us. Her character really embodies everything this story seemed to set out to do and the thematic ties to everything well. My only gripe is due to Dru's late introduction, it feels like there is not enough time to get to know her more or interact with her compared to the other girls and would've liked at least one more update before the final update to do this. But, all the different endings are satisfying and I very much look forward to the future planned releases that seem to be set in this same universe.

Very solid content and some spectacular models. If we got a bit more modern sex scene situation I would have given this 5 stars. Even so, it was a close run thing. Definitely recommend a run through, very much appreciated the walkthrough mod.

What a great novel! the character development was superb! The models are gorgeous. To me, the greatest part of the story was around the discovery and growth. Stories of redemption always get me. LOVED this.

loved the game and the range of people and types of personality!

this game handles sensitive and difficult subjects such as depression disability or the worst of it all writers block and nihilism but the story is excellent if you can handle such medium to hard topics!

loved the story and thats all it takes for me, the renders and animations are always secondary for me, just like tits on a woman, nice to have but does not remove from the overall experience!

This a beautiful story that handles problems of mental health with class and nuance. It actually made me consider not sleeping with every female character available. Just for that alone, this deserves 5 stars.

The only real gripe I had was that the sex scenes were too short, but when everything else was fantastic, it ends up feeling like a minor nitpick. If the dev reads this, I hope they keep making heartwarming and well-written stories like this in the future.

Great VN because writer makes you give a damn about the characters. Animation is good but not great. Characters are diverse and different, and each have their own challenges. No real antagonist to fight against so not a high drama story, just a light happy ending type story. If your looking for the darkest themes on F95, keep looking.

10/10 good shit. Also learned a surprising amount of Irish words, so that's cool too. Huge props to the author for being the one to finally have a black MC in a VN (and no gross racist fetishizing, either), it felt so much more natural to play through that way. I enjoy the characters and the dynamics between them. They're all imperfect, and that makes them feel more real. I liked what I read, and hope the author continues to write more content.

(Complete - Ch. 7.1) - No spoilers

First off, congratulations are in order for STWAdev for actually completing this story. I was hesitating between rating this 3 or 4 stars, but that alone tipped the scales in his favour.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read and a decent balance of sex and storytelling. For once in my life, I wasn't fucking every single girl possible, and instead tried to make "realistic" choices reflecting how I would behave in real life. I was fairly pleased with the route I ended up on, but when I thought that I'd have certain options presented to me down the line, I was surprised to see them missing from my list of choices. I won't get into specifics to keep this spoiler-free, but I have to wonder if the dev just didn't want to spend time weaving different routes in, out, and between each other at different points in the story. It's understandable since I'm sure it would be complicated and far too time-consuming. My point is, there is rail-roading to some degree, but I think most chapters allow you to experiment with different routes upon their beginnings. I only played through the story once with consistent choices, so I can't confirm this.

The visuals were pretty good overall. A lot of character close-ups were unflattering and strange to look at, with the camera being shoved right up against their face, but they didn't detract from the story. Major Ecchi Sensei vibes with pointless close-ups of the MC's chin, but whatever.

The sex scenes were decent. For as much as the characters talk about sex, it would have been nice for them to indulge in it a bit more. The scenes were fairly short and not always engaging, but I did have one particular favourite. Maybe this is where different choices would have yielded better results.

Once again, congrats to STWAdev, and thanks for delivering a solid product. While there were parts of the story where the characters behaved in unbelievable or overly immature ways, I thought that the ultra rich setting was presenting in a refreshing way, and I enjoyed it immensely. 3 stars for the experience, 5 stars for your effort. Thank you!

Something to Write About: The Author is certainly a once in a while game that has both a great story that is funny and emotional, as well as a great set of characters that are both unique in the model (how truly original) as well as character as well.

While my only true grief about this game is the somewhat lacking of sexual content to a degree (Threesoming with Aofie and Lyndie and we don't see it?! This is a crime!), overall I can overlook this slight issue with how well done the story was done.

All in all, for a "Prequel" to the next two games expected, 5/5 for me.

This a perfect example for a slice-of-life story. Characters are likeable and story progresses nicely towards a heartwarming ending. If you're into that kinda thing this is the game for you.

Not much to say for the technical side of things. The VN looks great, although probably not in the absolute top tier of games.

Easily one of the few games I would actually rate 5/5 and that means something since I tend to be overly critical.