VN - Ren'Py - Stepping Over Oneself [v0.04] [PixelFrogFoundry]

Review based on v0.04:

Alright, this game has good art. Sure its AI but that does not nessesarly mean its trash, if the dev knows how to use the tools (Merging checkpoints, getting good LoRA's etc) the art can in many instances turn out really nicely. Consistency is nice across the cast, the GF/wife looks amazing but sadly no real sex scenes as of yet (On my run at least). The story shows hints of a good narrative going on BUT I feel like either the point system gets confused or so does the dev have dementia because sometimes it felt like I was reading the same scene 2 or 3 times with small variations, and OMFG the constant arguing between the GF/wife and MC that just leads nowhere, and there is so. freaking. much. text. between each time you get a picture. I ended up skipping towards the end because it started to feel like it was repeating itself with little to no reward. Creds to dev for having quite a few different choices to make though. Even if its mainly only dialogue flavoring.

All in all, just average. This might be the most featureless phone sim (or whatever you wanna call them), straight up everything happens in the messages. No Social media, web or features like that. Story is imho a mess but shows some potential if the dev could take sometime to clean it up, plenty of choices but seems like they just go towards filling up the different points (Lust, Love, Nerd). Art is really nice though.

v0.3
It's bad.

I'm sorry but it's bad. The writting goes in unnecessary circles, with an absurdly long build up .. for nothing yet.
No incentive, no nothing.
Just pointless drama going endlessly between a man (serial dumbass) and his wife.

2 stars for the engine at least ..
Waste of time

For v0.03:

So anyone not on the Love path, this review might not be for you. But in a game like this, the Love path is the main one I'm interested in.

If on the Love path, I don't like saying this, but this game can really feel insufferable at times. You get choices, but the story is largely drawn out in a way that your choices don't affect outcomes much, just changes in dialogue. That's my biggest problem, you are NOT rewarded for making good choices overall, and constantly feel punished most of the game for the marriage failing no matter how hard you try. You can say all love and lust choices, and most of the game (except for one part later on), nothing much changes. The MC will be stuck in the story where he overworks and the MC's partner wants more love and spice in their relationship, then resort to their friends to give advice. Probably great for NTR, but this is very punishing for Love.

The dialogue also feels inconsistent at times, time skips aren't always clarified, and sometimes, what's happening is too similar where it almost feels like a repeat of the conversation you just had but on a slightly different route, making you question if it's a bug and just switched you to a different route (but I think this is just the writing).

This game largely seems like it's a kinetic novel right now (I might be wrong, but seems that way) and you're building up points to affect the outcome later when all your choices will amount to something likely coming up in a later version (possibly as soon as the next one considering what happened at the end). Exactly how many points you need to get an outcome is very unclear. The main difference I see is mostly dialogue differences for choices so far. It doesn't help that dialogue is often slow and kind of goes over a lot of the same situation over and over (MC overworks, Ashley wants more love). However, it does go into depth with the storytelling, the slow buildup might be very intentional and help with story later on (I'll see).

I do want to say, this game might actually have quite a bit of potential depending on when these choices actually start mattering (why I give it 2 stars instead of 1). Maybe the future versions will make sense of this, but right now, for any player like me who enjoys love route and probably wants to feel challenged but ultimately overcome with love, this game feels largely against you because of some of the story that happens completely beyond your control. No less, it's looking like there might be inevitable, story forced cheating from the MC's partner (but not confirmed yet), thus the Love route might be trying to save the marriage after that. That is not ideal for a Love route since that's forced NTR, even if you can win the partner back. But I can't speak for the creators plans until they show it.

Right now, this game doesn't feel fun. It feels punishing, despite some potential. I'm willing to keep watching the game for its updates to see if anything changes and if it all comes together nicely in later versions, can easily rate higher. But right now, I don't feel I can give it any higher because it's very much not satisfying and feels hopeless for the MC so far (again, might be intentional build up). Specifically for the Love route at this current version, I do not believe many will enjoy this.

0.03

This story is filled with the unpleasant experiences of the characters. It's about a completely unhappy couple that can't build a relationship but also can't let go of it. From my point of view, too much attention is given to their arguments - it even becomes boring. There's too much text that evokes nothing but disgust. After reading, I feel heavy-hearted and not at all excited. But perhaps I'll try to see later how the plot develops.

I had given 5 stars, and a good opinion, a renewal on the MC character, but the last two updates, have destroyed the beauty of the game, the Dev has aligned himself with other similar games, and made MC from a husband with a strong, to the usual stupid MC, too bad, I had praised the game and the Dev, but everything went wrong.

All of the arguments about how this VN is so much like another VN, could be said about nearly every VN posted in these forums. That said, I understand there are some that stand out and most people are looking for a more visual representation of the story and character interactions and it is for that reason I am giving 4 starts (I would like to be able to give 4 1/2 but only full star ratings are allowed).

The MC is, admittedly, an individual that literally cannot get out of his own way, hence the title. There is something inside that wants to do better and yet he cannot seem to move forward with enough action to achieve that goal. As I have explained to more than one of my friends over the years, sometimes love just isn't enough. I believe this VN stands out from some of the other "phone/text" based visual novels for this reason. The dynamic between the wife and MC are not typical for a NTR story-line.

My only real complaint is the same I have for most of these "phone/text" based VNs - a lack of imagery. I would challenge all creators, not just this developer, to throw one or two more images per scene into the mix...this not only adds to the overall story it is the visual stimulation most of us are here for in the first place. Otherwise we could write our own NTR story using AI.

Overall I would recommend Stepping Over Oneself for anyone interested in a variation in the NTR story-line.

V0.02

MC is terribly unlikeable. Your choices for his are often bad to worse. The few "good" things he does gets shuffled aside in a minute. And speaking of choices they all feel whimsical as if no matter what you pick it's all leading down to the same single point.

The Wife is...meh. While it's hard to blame her for feeling neglectful there is so much of her pestering the MC about it when she is loving towards him it feels mechanical at best.

Toxic friends are there as usual because of hidden NTR dev laws. Probably. I suppose I should say that the MC friend masks his toxicity behind trying to help but he even has the stones to insist he should be texting your wife to "help out."

So far, the story feels like one big angst simulator. By the time we get to the NTR I doubt I'll care about anyone.

A few sexy pics so far of the wife sending stuff to the husband but nothing very spicy. I'm not moved one way or the other with what's available so far. It's still technically early in the game.

I don't even know if I can find anything good in future releases of this game. The plot has gone so uncomfortably downhill for me so fast. I might still check out the next version purely because I am uncertain if this was even deserving a second star or whether I should have given it 1 star.

Stepping Over Oneself is yet another game in the oversaturated phone UI genre. It has all the usual ingredients: a slightly nerdy protagonist and a wife who is out of his league, all powered by AI art.

So why 4 stars out 5? Unlike most of these games it's well written and there are a lot of choices linked to a points based system that affects the plot and the images you see. It's still early in development but so far so good.