Recommending Story-first games

[dreamchaser]

Damn... you guys almost make me regret the fact that I have standards.

But, no.

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The underlined ones aren't complete deal breakers, but, truly non enjoyed by me.
The boxed ones are Instant Deal breakers to me.

The rest, could or could not live with.

I don't care how well done and relevant that type of content may be, I, as in me as an autonomous player, will stay away from.

Please read me right, I don't really care what anyone else enjoys, I can only make decisions for myself, and, that type of content, I don't want anything to do with it.

Peace

Ok, I'll answer you once, but I really don't intend to get into a longer discussion over tags. If you don't want to play the game, for whatever reasons, that's completely fine. I can totally see not wanting to commit that much time, not wanting to play an RPG with fights, not wanting to play a game with loads of reading and only a few scene images, not wanting to either have to think things through (puzzles, decisions) or needing a walkthrough.
I just think that deciding not to play the game based upon those tags is moronic.

I'll just comment on the tags you boxed, since they seem to trigger you most.
cheating: This one is straight up wrong. No LI cheats on the MC, at all. Where succubi have sex with others, that is never hidden from the MC.
swinging: As I said in an earlier reply, this is a sex-positive world being portrayed (actually being build by the MC and his allies), and some of the LIs are succubi, for which sex is food. Yes, they will have sex with other people where that makes sense. No, the MC has no problem with that at all. The game spends a lot of time explaining that world view succubi have, and it's a great strength of the MC that he is able to learn and internalize how they think (they have fascinating discussions about it, and there is a whole segment of the game where a theological congress argues about the place of succubi, sex and celibacy in the church!).
mind control: Yup, that is absolutely there. But the MC is not mind controlling any LIs. He spends quite a bit of effort making sure that he is not unduly influencing anybody he has positive relations which. Instead, there is an ally with mind control powers, and the group uses this as a tactical and strategical tool against enemies, as an alternative to killing (it's a limited ressource, and you make decisions at certain points whether to mind control or kill somebody). If you are willing to play games where enemies are killed, I don't see why you wouldn't play one where sometimes mind control is used as an alternative to that.
rape: There is precisely one place where you have the option of letting a rape proceed or stopping it. It happens against an enemy, and doing or not doing it will influence the relationships with your LIs. Stopping it means a tougher fight, so I found it an absolutely valid option (I decided to stop the rape). There is talk about other rapes, because there are wars being fought, in which sex is used as a weapon. None of those rapes are done by you or your allies. (There are questionable scenes in the prologue, but it is very quickly very obvious why that does not count.)
slave: At one point in the game, the MC becomes enslaved. It is an unusual situation, and does not stay that way. There is one enemy who is a slave, and instead of killing her, the MC takes over her slave contract. That is definitely a questionable moral choice, and there are multiple discussions about it with other characters. Yet I absolutely agree that the MC made the right call here - killing her would have been the only other choice. Apart from that, slavery exists in the world, and is a problem the characters grapple with, and try to combat or improve upon.

Overall I want to say that while the MC does make some hard choices which can technically fullfil some of these tags which trigger you, he always does it from the point of view of wanting to improve the world. There is no mindless evil conduct by the MC. Every questionable choice is reflected on after the fact, and has appropriate consequences (e.g. in relationships to allies). And none of those questionable choices are done as cheap thrills for the player. It's always the MC acting as he thinks best, and even he is doing it out of tactical or strategic consideration, not because he wants to get his rocks of.

Over and out.

 

[365 others]

You literally have just him at home in the first chapter ... then MC meets a literal horde of other dudes and dudettes he has to make a life for himself with them at the university.

Do you want another chapter at home pining over Josy, crying on dads shouder?

Well... woudn't hurt to have another one. Maybe this time bringing Maya as well?

 

[camube]

Ok, I'll answer you once, but I really don't intend to get into a longer discussion over tags. If you don't want to play the game, for whatever reasons, that's completely fine. I can totally see not wanting to commit that much time

yeah i read that Sierra Lee is an inspiration to some people who then themselves became AVN devs. On top of that I see it being recommended here and there from time to time. So The Last Sovereign is definitely on my backlog. Maybe in 3 years or so. If it has a renpy version, I would play it but RPG generally needs a big time commitment

 

[_SomeOneElse_]

[..]

Are there any games (within this list) where the MC's father is:
- Alive
- Healthy
- Not evil/scumbag/douche
- Has a good relationship with MC (and maybe his other relatives)

Or even outside of this thread's list.

[..]

Another one, that doesn't match to 100%, may be The Seven Realms ...
- If Undead is also somewhat alive ...
- The MC's father is not his original one, but if we count given vampire blood as some degree of it?
- The criteria of the character is a harder one, as a Vampire and the Rule of the Seven Realms, he is stearn / dominant / violent but as far as the current story goes, not against MC / his relatives ...
- Healthy (mentally? / physical?) depends on the story progress ...

 

[jufot]

Are there any games (within this list) where the MC's father is:
- Alive
- Healthy
- Not evil/scumbag/douche
- Has a good relationship with MC (and maybe his other relatives)

I don't quite remember all the games on the list, but from a quick look only The Artist and Reunion stand out. There are also games that might fit the criteria in the future, like Intertwined or Shards of the Past.

 

[camube]

On a completely different topic, I was reading some post in Reddit about VNs and was wondering about something that seems to be fairly common in VNs:

Are there any games (within this list) where the MC's father is:
- Alive
- Healthy
- Not evil/scumbag/douche
- Has a good relationship with MC (and maybe his other relatives)

Or even outside of this thread's list.

I was trying to remember at least 1 game where the father is alive, present, and being a positive influence in MC's life, but I can't recall any.

Edit: now that I think of it, I remember MC's dad was present (and being a good guy/monster) in Monsters College, but he is shown just in the first scenes.

noping's game no such luck
hopefully deluca too in three years. i want to see if the fans speculation on who his dad is is true

 

[365 others]

Another one, that doesn't match to 100%, may be The Seven Realms ...
- If Undead is also somewhat alive ...
- The MC's father is not his original one, but if we count given vampire blood as some degree of it?
- The criteria of the character is a harder one, as a Vampire and the Rule of the Seven Realms, he is stearn / dominant / violent but as far as the current story goes, not against MC / his relatives ...
- Healthy (mentally? / physical?) depends on the story progress ...

I remember him! When I stopped playing he was recovering (mentally? cursed?), not sure if he is still appearing afterwards.

I don't quite remember all the games on the list, but from a quick look only The Artist and Reunion stand out. There are also games that might fit the criteria in the future, like Intertwined or Shards of the Past.

Thanks! I'll check Reunion and The Artist. The others I have played (tho I don't recall MC's dad in Intertwined before I stopped playing).

noping's game no such luck
hopefully deluca too in three years. i want to see if the fans speculation on who his dad is is true

How much content is length-wise for No such luck? Meaning in-game hours.

 

[camube]

How much content is length-wise for No such luck? Meaning in-game hours.

not very long.
More than an hour but the story is just starting. It's still intro period. maybe 90 minutes? 2 hours?
okay that's before chapter 3.

2-3 hours maybe? probably less if you read quick.

 

[365 others]

not very long.
More than an hour but the story is just starting. It's still intro period. maybe 90 minutes? 2 hours?
okay that's before chapter 3.

2-3 hours maybe? probably less if you read quick.

Ohh... I guess I'll wait for a couple more releases then. It looks promising, but I hate the feeling of leaving something mid-reading.

 

[camube]

Ohh... I guess I'll wait for a couple more releases then. It looks promising, but I hate the feeling of leaving something mid-reading.

chapter 3 is actually a good stopping point. It ends the introduction period. Playing now is fine. And since this is his second you game, it's likely and hopefully gonna get developed instead of abruptly abandoned

 

[Hildegardt]

I don't quite remember all the games on the list, but from a quick look only The Artist and Reunion stand out. There are also games that might fit the criteria in the future, like Intertwined or Shards of the Past.

What's up with the Artist? It's marked as abandoned on here and the Patreon link links to some guy.

 

[jufot]

What's up with the Artist? It's marked as abandoned on here and the Patreon link links to some guy.

The Patreon thing happens when the page is disabled, so it redirects to the account owner's profile. The dev has been silent for a long time, including on Discord. It's probably safe to assume it's abandoned. Such a shame though, it's a pretty unique game.

 

[FatGiant]

Oh, when I was going through the list, I thought Reunion was this Reunion.

I was coming here to say that the father.... well... Wrong game.

Glad I decided to check first.

Peace

 

[FatGiant]

And none of those questionable choices are done as cheap thrills for the player.

I read you.

While I can't say that you allayed all my hang ups, you have certainly made a lot more sense than seeing a bunch of people recommending a game filled with what for me is trash.

I agree that the Tag system is indeed a faulty one to rely on when choosing, but, well, something is better than nothing.

I have yet to play any game in the RPGM system, I have it blocked on my Latest Updates list. I have no clue what it even looks like. Compared to many here I am a very recent player, and stuck on Ren'Py.

So, thanks for the exhaustive reply. This has given me a lot to think on.

Peace

 

[Birdnman993]

I'll just add my vote to The Last Sovereign. It's an absolutely fantastic game with an outstanding story. Also, the main story is now finished, so it's a great time to start playing it!
However, it does take a good bit of commitment: My current playthrough sits at 112 hours, and I have the bigger part of chapter 5 still ahead of me (the last but biggest chapter of the game). I think you'd need to speedrun it to finish in under 100 hours. And I would not attempt playing the game without either help from the wiki, or taking extensive notes.

I tried it a bit some time ago mainly because they said that the combat system wasn't useless garbage like in most of the RPGs on this site, but I was a bit discouraged for two reasons.

The first one is the excess of text in the sex scenes, at the beginning when I started playing games like this I thought it was fine but when you've played many adult games you get tired of the author creating shakespeare putting a lot of text about how they are fucking, it's very tiring when an author is redundant with the words, I don't like when they describe every tiny detail, I'll imagine what's going on in my mind.

And the second is that we are basically the babysitter of a “hero” which seems to be taken out of a generic photocopier, I understand that it is something parodic making fun of that cliche, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

I still hope to give it a chance while ignoring the avalanches of generic sex text.

 

[dreamchaser]

I tried it a bit some time ago mainly because they said that the combat system wasn't useless garbage like in most of the RPGs on this site, but I was a bit discouraged for two reasons.

The first one is the excess of text in the sex scenes, at the beginning when I started playing games like this I thought it was fine but when you've played many adult games you get tired of the author creating shakespeare putting a lot of text about how they are fucking, it's very tiring when an author is redundant with the words, I don't like when they describe every tiny detail, I'll imagine what's going on in my mind.

And the second is that we are basically the babysitter of a “hero” which seems to be taken out of a generic photocopier, I understand that it is something parodic making fun of that cliche, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

I still hope to give it a chance while ignoring the avalanches of generic sex text.

I admit that I just quickly skim many of the sex scenes too, instead of really reading them. Though that is mostly a me thing - I am here for the story and the game, the sex content is just the cherry on top. Because of that I can tell you: You are missing close to nothing by simply skipping that text, all relevant character development and all the story happens outside of those sex scene descriptions. Read them if you are in the mood for them, skip them otherwise (you'll get a recall ability later, so they aren't lost once they are over ).

Your role as a hero babysitter very quickly changes, you don't need much patience at all to get past that part of the game. I am sure you'll enjoy the MCs decision to do something else instead.

 

[Birdnman993]

I admit that I just quickly skim many of the sex scenes too, instead of really reading them. Though that is mostly a me thing - I am here for the story and the game, the sex content is just the cherry on top. Because of that I can tell you: You are missing close to nothing by simply skipping that text, all relevant character development and all the story happens outside of those sex scene descriptions. Read them if you are in the mood for them, skip them otherwise (you'll get a recall ability later, so they aren't lost once they are over ).

Your role as a hero babysitter very quickly changes, you don't need much patience at all to get past that part of the game. I am sure you'll enjoy the MCs decision to do something else instead.

Oh really? Well maybe I'll give it a spin then to see, I want to believe that the positive reviews it has are not for nothing.

 

[jufot]

A couple of interesting updates from the last few days:

- Beyond Tomorrow is being rewritten and the revised chapter 1 is out. I'm not a fan of remasteritis, but the story flows much better now, so the dev is doing something right. MC is still an angsty little prick, but he is less annoying. The lines that caused the tempest in a teacup "controversy" in the old version, where the deranged denizens of this forum were frothing at the mouth over the supposedly incestuous feelings of MC's sister, have been removed entirely. Small blessings...

- Chapter 22 of Price of Power is out on

You must be registered to see the links

. This is the beginning of the story's final arc. I increasingly hate how Lune and Zaya's relationship is handled. They are unfortunately player-sexual, the cheapest of cop-outs, especially for a relationship that predates meeting MC by many years. You can go with the homophobic "they are just friends" path that wouldn't feel out of place over at /r/SapphoAndHerFriend, choose to "bless" their years-long relationship as if you should have any say at all, or decide that what they both need is some good dicking and initiate them into your harem It's cheap, pandering, and exactly what I was worried about when the harem path was announced. It's especially grating because the dev keeps prodding you with these "are you suuure you really want them to be lesbians?" choices again and again. Not to mention the unavoidable pregnancy storyline, which can never be anything but dreadfully boring, my enthusiasm for this VN wavers with every new chapter... Still, the charming bits keep me going. This episode has Legacy talking about skyscrapers, reinforced concrete and the Karman Line to our medieval gang, which goes surprisingly well

- Pent Panda, developer of Short Sad Stories, has

You must be registered to see the links

his next project. It's called Almost Castaways and is about "two girls who suffer a silly shipwreck and end up stranded on an uninhabited and somewhat strange island". The Patreon post is public, so go there for more details.

 

[Deleted member 2577953]

Pent Panda, developer of Short Sad Stories, has

You must be registered to see the links

his next project. It's called Almost Castaways and is about "two girls who suffer a silly shipwreck and end up stranded on an uninhabited and somewhat strange island". The Patreon post is public, so go there for more details

Hell Yeah!! Best news all month.

Between this and "In the Ocean I Learned to Float", I'm glad there are at least two new VNs I feel truly excited about.

 

[FatGiant]

A couple of interesting updates from the last few days:

- Beyond Tomorrow is being rewritten and the revised chapter 1 is out. I'm not a fan of remasteritis, but the story flows much better now, so the dev is doing something right. MC is still an angsty little prick, but he is less annoying. The lines that caused the tempest in a teacup "controversy" in the old version, where the deranged denizens of this forum were frothing at the mouth over the supposedly incestuous feelings of MC's sister, have been removed entirely. Small blessings...

- Chapter 22 of Price of Power is out on

You must be registered to see the links

. This is the beginning of the story's final arc. I increasingly hate how Lune and Zaya's relationship is handled. They are unfortunately player-sexual, the cheapest of cop-outs, especially for a relationship that predates meeting MC by many years. You can go with the homophobic "they are just friends" path that wouldn't feel out of place over at /r/SapphoAndHerFriend, choose to "bless" their years-long relationship as if you should have any say at all, or decide that what they both need is some good dicking and initiate them into your harem It's cheap, pandering, and exactly what I was worried about when the harem path was announced. It's especially grating because the dev keeps prodding you with these "are you suuure you really want them to be lesbians?" choices again and again. Not to mention the unavoidable pregnancy storyline, which can never be anything but dreadfully boring, my enthusiasm for this VN wavers with every new chapter... Still, the charming bits keep me going. This episode has Legacy talking about skyscrapers, reinforced concrete and the Karman Line to our medieval gang, which goes surprisingly well

- Pent Panda, developer of Short Sad Stories, has

You must be registered to see the links

his next project. It's called Almost Castaways and is about "two girls who suffer a silly shipwreck and end up stranded on an uninhabited and somewhat strange island". The Patreon post is public, so go there for more details.

I agree with you.

Beyond Tomorrow, is quite better now. In all aspects. It was mildly annoying before, all that is gone.

Price of Power, is a thing that while I do agree that adding 2 women that are clearly in a monogamous lesbian relationship, to a harem because they want a male... doesn't really makes sense. Yes, they are hot... but... but... why? Sure, they may be cured of the plague AND may want to have children... but do they need to be added to the Harem for that?

However, I suffer from some kind of condition, that I can't comfortably leave food on a plate, even if I am already full. So, yeah, I added them to the Harem... under protest... but I did. :: sigh :: I simply couldn't say No.

The third option, it contains something that it will make it very hard for me to even try it: Sandbox. I've tried maybe a hundred of them... not even ONE was good. Some were almost OK, but I felt stupid, obsessively clicking on each "room" over and over and over, to see if something was going on. After a reflection and sincere examining of the time wasted, I come to the conclusion, that it is NOT worth it for me to sink that much time for so little return. I have another reason also, storified sandbox is an Utopia. If any part of the story can be played or not, there is no story. Period. Oh they try. How they try. But, what we get is NOT a story. A story has cohesion, sequence and form. A start, a middle and an ending. As I said before, a sandbox is the dismantling of a story, the removal of any vestige of sequence and the handing of it to a player to let them sort out what happens when and even IF it even happens.

So when I read a Dev saying that it is doing a sandbox with a story, I know that it is either not a story or not a sandbox. So, what I read is: Scam. It may be unintentional, but it is dishonest.

But, you may ask: FatGiant it isn't even done, how can you say that? Well, I'll use Einstein's definition of insanity defense: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” (I am aware that it is disputable that the quote may or may not be of Einstein, it is however how it is widely known). There is a very small chance that I may be wrong THIS time. Statistically irrelevant exceptions are just that.

Peace