Recommending Story-first games

[MrPocketRocket]

I love Scrubs. Have friends who worked on it. That's probably where, as you know, I stop agreeing;-)
Cheers!

 

[Arisushi]

I absolutely loved the different recollections Daniel and Amy have of their first day at school. Different facts, outfits, personalities and interactions. Daniel remembers Brandon and Samantha as assholes because he's already prejudiced against them, and he remembers Amy as a gorgeous girl with flowing hair. In her memories, though, Brandon and Samantha are sweet, and Amy just looks like a mousy girl wearing overalls. Such lovely contrast!

That was probably my most favorite part of this update.

Also, fully agree that it would have been much better if Amy's Fiance wasn't the typical villain.

But, man oh man, Becca's route... it was perfect in every way (At least for me.)

While, both routes are following a somewhat conventional trajectory, the meticulous care with which the art and writing is handled makes the whole game feel so... mesmerizing.

Nothing about the VN feels like it was made "easily". The devs worked really hard and it shows.

In short, loved SoP when I first played it a year ago, and I love it even more now.

 

[Zeruhhh]

Just like to chime in my .2, quite honestly Strangers on Paper and honorary mention Corporate Culture are the only two visual novels I’ve ever played where I walked away with a strong sense that the devs had a familiarity with creative writing. If I’m wrong, then even more props to you, devs. It was truly a pleasure to play the masterpiece that is Chapter 2 of SOP.

 

[jufot]

Nothing about the VN feels like it was made "easily". The devs worked really hard and it shows.

In short, loved SoP when I first played it a year ago, and I love it even more now.

Unsurprisingly, I agree completely

 

[The Analist]

My Biggest disappointments (really really good AVNs that went totally south):
- City of Broken Dreamers, Hillside and MIST because the stories went totally south after a while (CoBD after Henry dies; Hillside after Zak is killed; MIST after MC and the girls run away and leave their house); Hillside will never be completed, anyway
- Summer Scent because it will NEVER be completed and the Author is definitely stuck with the story
- Estate: Dominate because it's abandoned even though its scammer dev claims he's still working on it (yeah, whatever).

If you guys dropped COBD after chapter 5, I wouldn't recommend giving it another try. Things go clearly downwards from Chapter 8 on, at least in terms of writing. So if you weren't hooked before that point, I'd say don't bother with it. To me, it works as a nice and intriguing game with an open ending at the end of Chapter 7 -or Book 1 for Steam players.

Thanks for writing that. I thought I was getting pickier over time—well, I am—, but at least I feel better knowing I'm not the only one who thinks CoBD derailed. I don't remember which chapter number was, but I started to lose interest right after they ran away with the girl with special powers (I even forgot her name), and the MC finally hooks up her (and there was a scene with a giant robot attacking them). After that, it indeed becomes a fuckfest with no plot. I even stopped following, but when I saw it was complete, out of curiosity, I decided to check how it went (down). I could barely read it and pressed control, like, 99% of the time. If there are alternative ends, I don't even care to check them.

Ataegina was another game the same happened: amazing part 1, meaningless part 2 and finale. Tales from the Unending Void seems to be following the same path. And Lust Academy never had a brilliant story in the first place, but now it's even worse. I wish developers knew when to stop...

I didn't play the other games Ottoeight mentioned as disappointments except for MIST. I agree that after they leave the house it's not as good as before, but I don't think it's comparable to CoBD or Ategina. At least, in MIST's case, it was almost in the end. Also, MIST was more like a game, so, at least you had things to do. Overall, I think it was a great game and probably in my Top 10 (or even 5) of all time.

 

[365 others]

Thanks for writing that. I thought I was getting pickier over time—well, I am—, but at least I feel better knowing I'm not the only one who thinks CoBD derailed. I don't remember which chapter number was, but I started to lose interest right after they ran away with the girl with special powers (I even forgot her name), and the MC finally hooks up her (and there was a scene with a giant robot attacking them). After that, it indeed becomes a fuckfest with no plot. I even stopped following, but when I saw it was complete, out of curiosity, I decided to check how it went (down). I could barely read it and pressed control, like, 99% of the time. If there are alternative ends, I don't even care to check them.

Ataegina was another game the same happened: amazing part 1, meaningless part 2 and finale. Tales from the Unending Void seems to be following the same path. And Lust Academy never had a brilliant story in the first place, but now it's even worse. I wish developers knew when to stop...

I didn't play the other games Ottoeight mentioned as disappointments except for MIST. I agree that after they leave the house it's not as good as before, but I don't think it's comparable to CoBD or Ategina. At least, in MIST's case, it was almost in the end. Also, MIST was more like a game, so, at least you had things to do. Overall, I think it was a great game and probably in my Top 10 (or even 5) of all time.

I stopped playing COBD at the exact same spot you mentioned. I think now that I better leave it for a case of extreme boringness and having nothing to do.

As per Ataegina, I sadly have to agree with you. I loved season 1, but season 2 started derailing quite fast. While I did play it until the end, I noted things starting to go south since the option of Mida going to Bredita's hideout with the MC, and allowing them to enter an advanced corruption stage for her.

It completely contradicted the story path I had until then with her, and as it progressed the story made less and less sense, so I had to go back and leave her out to avoid it. It still had plenty of other choices that had contradictory consequences and paths, but at least not as dissonant as with Mida.

MIST is still one of my top 5, as it is the first one that I played with that graphic art style (I wasn't very interested in it, tbh) and it changed completely my vision just because of the storytelling. I agree that the ending was a bit loose for my liking, but I'm glad the dev decided to finish it right there while it still had an impact and the story made sense instead of trying to extend it and derail it.

I know he has another game in development, that I haven't yet played (The Covenant of Morn or something?). Have you played it? It's been out there for a while now, but I don't know how much content is there and if it's at least as good as its predecessor.

 

[The Analist]

I know he has another game in development, that I haven't yet played (The Covenant of Morn or something?). Have you played it? It's been out there for a while now, but I don't know how much content is there and if it's at least as good as its predecessor.

Yes! I've seen it, but I didn't have time to try it yet. Seems good, though!