Hello my name is Siderophilia and I have played Stories of Eternal - Liliat's Chapter v0.0.65 by Synergy.
Stories of Eternal is a story driven RPG maker game in early development. At this time the game ends after the first day, but it gives a good idea about what the core gameplay loop will be like: Wake up, go to town, perform various jobs to earn some meager gold, return home while avoiding thieves, sleep. There isn't a whole lot to comment on, at least so far there aren't any unique concepts to the gameplay and there doesn't have to be, the game uses the RPGM engine to build its environments and string events together, and I'd much rather just follow along for that journey than have the developer try to shoehorn some some RPG mechanics into there to make it a "real game".
The 2dcg art has a unique 2d style, which is very refreshing. It's not perfect and sometimes perspectives and poses seem a little bit off, but it's definitely good enough for me and having such a unique style which also fits well into the atmosphere of the game is well worth it. It's also worth noticing that there's a decent number of CGs not showing sexual actions, which is nice to see. Sex scenes also come sound effects in the form of moans and breathing, to which I can only offer further compliments. It really adds to the overall impression.
Also with RPG maker comes the use of assets and map layouts, to which I also have mostly positive things to say about the game. While the critique that the maps are hard to navigate and that transition points to new screens are barely visible rings true, the game also gets so many things right. The oddly sized trees, the insects flying around outside the main character's home, and just the landscapes in general feel so much more alive than 90 % of RPG maker games even if it makes it harder to navigate the maps, which is an issue I also feel could be resolved pretty easily if the developer just added some glowing marker to show where there is a map exit.
The writing department is where I have the most mixed feelings about this game. There are many positive things to say about it, but also a couple of negatives which unfortunately really ruin the experience. Starting with what is good, this game masters the rule of "show don't tell". Details like how the townspeople shun the main character and how she dwells in a decrepit mansion really display how her family have become pariahs in the small town. There's a good mystery plot with the question at its core being what her father did to put her family in this situation, but the game also gets you interested in the main character and what she may have been like before those events transpired. Liliat as a character is easy to sympathize with and feels more believable than most female protagonists. Though some may find it depressing I think the game strikes a good balance between creating a situation where the protagonist would realistically whore herself out for petty money without being overly grim. I also love it when the little whore visits her father's grave and asks if he's proud of her.
On the negative side, the actual quality of the writing is godawful. There are more spelling errors than I can list. At one point the word "cock" is misspelled as "cuck". I believe "ectasis" is supposed to be read as "ecstasy" but I'm not sure. At times it just seems like sloppiness, but other instances I'm sure must be deliberate. What is clear is that proofreading must be nonexistent. The second thing that irks me is that the sex scenes for the most part have practically zero buildup. While it is nice to see a female protagonist beginning the story with her dignity broken, I feel there should be more going on with a lot of the scenes. There's some inconsistency with some of the townsfolk acting like it's a known fact that the main character will sell herself to anyone who asks, while the barkeeper points out that the blacksmith has been keeping her to himself, but even if she's an experienced whore I think there should be more to the first time the player sees her get fucked. There's a lot of potential to improve the writing and flesh out sex scenes.
It seems the dev is still shuffling things around quite a lot between updates, and being optimistic you might assume that these issues are temporary and that the developer in fact doesn't even intend for all these events to take place during the first day, but that the scenes have been put out with some placeholder writing in order to display the current assets so that they may be rewritten and rearranged to create a better paced experience in the future, but that might also just be wishful thinking on my part. I'll make sure to check back on this in the future, as of now I'll give it a 4/5 for promise.
Stories of Eternal is a story driven RPG maker game in early development. At this time the game ends after the first day, but it gives a good idea about what the core gameplay loop will be like: Wake up, go to town, perform various jobs to earn some meager gold, return home while avoiding thieves, sleep. There isn't a whole lot to comment on, at least so far there aren't any unique concepts to the gameplay and there doesn't have to be, the game uses the RPGM engine to build its environments and string events together, and I'd much rather just follow along for that journey than have the developer try to shoehorn some some RPG mechanics into there to make it a "real game".
The 2dcg art has a unique 2d style, which is very refreshing. It's not perfect and sometimes perspectives and poses seem a little bit off, but it's definitely good enough for me and having such a unique style which also fits well into the atmosphere of the game is well worth it. It's also worth noticing that there's a decent number of CGs not showing sexual actions, which is nice to see. Sex scenes also come sound effects in the form of moans and breathing, to which I can only offer further compliments. It really adds to the overall impression.
Also with RPG maker comes the use of assets and map layouts, to which I also have mostly positive things to say about the game. While the critique that the maps are hard to navigate and that transition points to new screens are barely visible rings true, the game also gets so many things right. The oddly sized trees, the insects flying around outside the main character's home, and just the landscapes in general feel so much more alive than 90 % of RPG maker games even if it makes it harder to navigate the maps, which is an issue I also feel could be resolved pretty easily if the developer just added some glowing marker to show where there is a map exit.
The writing department is where I have the most mixed feelings about this game. There are many positive things to say about it, but also a couple of negatives which unfortunately really ruin the experience. Starting with what is good, this game masters the rule of "show don't tell". Details like how the townspeople shun the main character and how she dwells in a decrepit mansion really display how her family have become pariahs in the small town. There's a good mystery plot with the question at its core being what her father did to put her family in this situation, but the game also gets you interested in the main character and what she may have been like before those events transpired. Liliat as a character is easy to sympathize with and feels more believable than most female protagonists. Though some may find it depressing I think the game strikes a good balance between creating a situation where the protagonist would realistically whore herself out for petty money without being overly grim. I also love it when the little whore visits her father's grave and asks if he's proud of her.
On the negative side, the actual quality of the writing is godawful. There are more spelling errors than I can list. At one point the word "cock" is misspelled as "cuck". I believe "ectasis" is supposed to be read as "ecstasy" but I'm not sure. At times it just seems like sloppiness, but other instances I'm sure must be deliberate. What is clear is that proofreading must be nonexistent. The second thing that irks me is that the sex scenes for the most part have practically zero buildup. While it is nice to see a female protagonist beginning the story with her dignity broken, I feel there should be more going on with a lot of the scenes. There's some inconsistency with some of the townsfolk acting like it's a known fact that the main character will sell herself to anyone who asks, while the barkeeper points out that the blacksmith has been keeping her to himself, but even if she's an experienced whore I think there should be more to the first time the player sees her get fucked. There's a lot of potential to improve the writing and flesh out sex scenes.
It seems the dev is still shuffling things around quite a lot between updates, and being optimistic you might assume that these issues are temporary and that the developer in fact doesn't even intend for all these events to take place during the first day, but that the scenes have been put out with some placeholder writing in order to display the current assets so that they may be rewritten and rearranged to create a better paced experience in the future, but that might also just be wishful thinking on my part. I'll make sure to check back on this in the future, as of now I'll give it a 4/5 for promise.
