4.70 star(s) 40 Votes

SteelyDan14

Formerly Known as GeekBone
Modder
Donor
Jan 13, 2018
1,359
5,874
I know I am late to the party but I thought I would add my vote on being disappointed... I thought this was really good and has potential. I am not a fan of the "sandbox" approach that showed up late in the story, but the rest of it was pretty good.
 

Logan1377

Active Member
Feb 13, 2023
819
1,144
I know I am late to the party but I thought I would add my vote on being disappointed... I thought this was really good and has potential. I am not a fan of the "sandbox" approach that showed up late in the story, but the rest of it was pretty good.
I wish that every game was sandbox, and was excited for that chance.
 

SteelyDan14

Formerly Known as GeekBone
Modder
Donor
Jan 13, 2018
1,359
5,874
I wish that every game was sandbox, and was excited for that chance.
I hear you and that's cool. Not knocking folks who like it. I liked it too when I first started playing these, but they typically translate into grinding and this one was no different. I just am not interested in having to advanced a couple days to get to some content or wandering around the ship collecting samples or doing other silly hunt and peck kind of things. But I understand the appeal. Some sandboxes are done better than others... for example I love Desert Stalker. They do a nice job with the sandbox. Most of the time in these AVNs, you have to things like "pick up the laundry" or "find all the dirty dishes". Not really interested; I would rather just get on with the story.
 

Logan1377

Active Member
Feb 13, 2023
819
1,144
I hear you and that's cool. Not knocking folks who like it. I liked it too when I first started playing these, but they typically translate into grinding and this one was no different. I just am not interested in having to advanced a couple days to get to some content or wandering around the ship collecting samples or doing other silly hunt and peck kind of things. But I understand the appeal. Some sandboxes are done better than others... for example I love Desert Stalker. They do a nice job with the sandbox. Most of the time in these AVNs, you have to things like "pick up the laundry" or "find all the dirty dishes". Not really interested; I would rather just get on with the story.
I don't want the grind. But I badly want the control. Let me choose where I go and what I do next. Which girl I talk to, who's story I try to advance next, and ideally progress the MC and level up/seduce/corrupt the women as you go along, with stats that you as the player can see. For me, that's much more comfortable and appealing than a pure, one directional VN where its just next/next/next, even if the content is exactly the same.
 

SteelyDan14

Formerly Known as GeekBone
Modder
Donor
Jan 13, 2018
1,359
5,874
I don't want the grind. But I badly want the control. Let me choose where I go and what I do next. Which girl I talk to, who's story I try to advance next, and ideally progress the MC and level up/seduce/corrupt the women as you go along, with stats that you as the player can see. For me, that's much more comfortable and appealing than a pure, one directional VN where its just next/next/next, even if the content is exactly the same.
I agree completely and in a perfect world, I would probably prefer the sandbox approach. In my experience, however, most of the sandbox AVNs on this site are sloppy, confusing, filled with grind or other mindless tasks that do not move the story forward. I do play several games with a sandbox so it's not like I hate them, but I am usually disappointed in how they are implemented.
 

Logan1377

Active Member
Feb 13, 2023
819
1,144
I agree completely and in a perfect world, I would probably prefer the sandbox approach. In my experience, however, most of the sandbox AVNs on this site are sloppy, confusing, filled with grind or other mindless tasks that do not move the story forward. I do play several games with a sandbox so it's not like I hate them, but I am usually disappointed in how they are implemented.
I don't disagree, however I know that I'm not ever going to try 90% of the game on the site as soon as I look at them. All I want to do is find the well made, big games that I'm going to enjoy, and then just ignore the rest. And so if most games are unplayable to begin with, then I'm going to keep shooting for the ones that I'll really like, instead of the ones that are just ok.

I'm not a game designer at all, but in conversations that I've had with a few on here, they've told me that setting up a game in the way that I described isn't that much harder than doing a pure VN. But if feels like there's such a strong perception that sandbox means a game like the one you earlier described, that a lot of developers are hesitant to go that way.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SteelyDan14
4.70 star(s) 40 Votes