Recommending Story-first games

[Pixillin']

I find the premise feasible enough. It is all the teenage-oriented pathos and silly jokes in the writing which had made me stop playing it.

I just meant that if it’s luck of the draw, having a crew of 7 where 6 happen to be female is against the odds. The humor in it didn’t bother me though. It’s sprinkled in loosely enough to count as comic relief. I just stopped playing Realm Invader because it tries too hard to be funny all the time - even sticking in extra scenes purely for comedy value (which is usually close to none). They also devote 2-3x as much time to sex - talking about sex, thinking about sex and trying to get laid as they do to the main plot.

 

[Beduin123]

I just meant that if it’s luck of the draw, having a crew of 7 where 6 happen to be female is against the odds. The humor in it didn’t bother me though. It’s sprinkled in loosely enough to count as comic relief. I just stopped playing Realm Invader because it tries too hard to be funny all the time - even sticking in extra scenes purely for comedy value (which is usually close to none). They also devote 2-3x as much time to sex - talking about sex, thinking about sex and trying to get laid as they do to the main plot.

My point was that I don't think Projekt Passion is a bad game. Just not for my age group.
What for the excessive rate of females, it can be explained with the porn logic, like any other game on this site. We are all here for that, aren't we

 

[Pixillin']

My point was that I don't think Projekt Passion is a bad game. Just not for my age group.
What for the excessive rate of females, it can be explained with the porn logic, like any other game on this site. We are all here for that, aren't we

Only in small doses. An excess of porn logic can kill a game for me. A little bit is fine.

 

[Beduin123]

Only in small doses. An excess of porn logic can kill a game for me. A little bit is fine.

Well, to be honest, I found very few games (it is surely possible to count them on one hand) which I was able to play without engaging the porn logic. The well written AVNs with a good story and without major plot wholes are extremely rare and most of those recommended in this thread are also crap.

 

[jufot]

Did play broken promises

This one might be another story first candidate.

This was a good read! I was surprised to see just how much of it there is already. I agree that the game nicely avoids the "AVN LI rounds" system. Nothing really happens with anyone until hours into the game, and when it does, it makes sense for those characters at that time (maybe except for Eveline).

The story also seems better than the average police procedural. I'm pretty sure at least one parent of one LI, but probably more, will end up being involved. Vanessa is also another interesting mystery, though I hope she isn't a damsel needing a rescue.

On the flipside you might argue that he isn't a great undercover cop either . But that's by design, knowing all the other characters involvement. It's not like a crime, "noir" undercover story, it's this weird "bit of everything/AVN thingy" that tries to put in many different things all at once. For me personally it worked out great so far, but your mileage may vary here...

Yeah, MC is a fairly shit cop, and a horrible undercover one, but it's excusable IMHO to make the AVN work. At least it's nothing too egregious.

Great recommendation, thank you! The list has been updated.

 

[NukaCola]

Admittedly Projekt Passion is a bit unrealistic - but you're not the only male, just the only male in the crew (of 7) which is an odd ratio - but certainly not impossible. And of those 7, one is a robot who is absolutely dedicated to you by her programming, and one is a woman you've been fucking since you were teenagers.

In Desert Stalker you're not the only male and you don't get all the women, you're just someone who is wealthy and powerful enough to have several women.

In Friends in Need - Personally I'm on a solo path with MC's best friend since he was poor (Nicky) but you can, according to the dev, have something like a harem if you choose to be an asshole because you're wealthy, and you've found several young, attractive, somewhat naive women who are ambitious but poor - that's completely realistic.

Edit: And in FiN - you can't even pretend you love them, and they don't love you - they are financially dependent on you, and you're fucking them. It's not a romantic harem.

7 females to 1 male ratio is definitely possible. My IT class of 30 have like 28 dude and only 2 females.

 

[Pixillin']

7 females to 1 male ratio is definitely possible. My IT class of 30 have like 28 dude and only 2 females.

Didn’t say impossible, only unlikely in a random draw.

 

[Jaike]

Is there a similar list of story games with harem or without LI choice ?

I don't think there's an active story oriented harem list on this site but, assuming :

Spoiler

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I think the sorcerer, and other games by Totheral (sp?) are also on Jufot's list.

The first Terminus Reach: Sentinel game is in it, but the other 2 aren't. Jufot tired of Garrett's personality in the sequel, and more generally Talothral's style for sex scenes.

 

[jufot]

Healslut - female protagonist, scifi to fantasy with a similar premiss as Eternum, seems aimless at the beginning so telling more about the story spoils a lot... must say I got a bit disappointed with the leadup to the ending though

I'm waiting until the game is finished to continue with this one. I stopped once I saw the first bit for the first (?) ending and it was less of an explanation for the mystery and more of a meta joke about the game. I wasn't impressed, so I want to wait and see if there is a "proper" ending before I spend more time on it.

Jufot tired of Garrett's personality in the sequel, and more generally Talothral's style for sex scenes.

Yes. Talothral's protagonist (always the same guy imho) is the Stoic macho thug. I tolerated it with Sentinel 1, but it got worse in the sequel, so I stopped. I'm also not a fan of his mute slideshow sex scenes. But that's a lesser offence, as I so rarely like them in AVNs.

 

[Pixillin']

Yes. Talothral's protagonist (always the same guy imho) is the Stoic macho thug. I tolerated it with Sentinel 1, but it got worse in the sequel, so I stopped. I'm also not a fan of his mute slideshow sex scenes. But that's a lesser offence, as I so rarely like them in AVNs.

Yeah, his sex scenes are basically just cookie cutter repeats of the last sex scene but with a different model - I think he has 3-4 variations and is basically using a template. His stories, IMO, are well above average overall. My biggest issue with his writing is that he doesn't really seem to do emotion at all. People will say, I'm very angry or I'm in love with you, but there doesn't seem to be any feeling behind it and there is no build up. All of the female characters end up in love with the MC, but it just sorta happens - there's no relationship development, they just arrive in his bedroom at some point, declare their love and execute sex scene template 3. I think his stories would be better if he just picked a single Li for the story or dropped the love/sex stuff altogether and went after the all ages market.

 

[Finuee]

I don't think there's an active story oriented harem list on this site but, assuming :

Spoiler

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The first Terminus Reach: Sentinel game is in it, but the other 2 aren't. Jufot tired of Garrett's personality in the sequel, and more generally Talothral's style for sex scenes.

Thanks for the recommendations and reviews. Ladykiller sounds interesting from what you said.

 

[Pgsurprise]

The first Terminus Reach: Sentinel game is in it, but the other 2 aren't. Jufot tired of Garrett's personality in the sequel, and more generally Talothral's style for sex scenes.

Well, no one is perfect. You can't expect the list to be 100% accurate

Yes. Talothral's protagonist (always the same guy imho) is the Stoic macho thug. I tolerated it with Sentinel 1, but it got worse in the sequel, so I stopped. I'm also not a fan of his mute slideshow sex scenes. But that's a lesser offence, as I so rarely like them in AVNs.

I agree with the same character thing, so it may just be that I played Sorcerer first, but I didn't find the Sentinel games nearly as good. I also respect Totheral for just saying "I'm bad at animations" and doing the slideshows. I really wish more devs would admit that and stop putting in bad ones. Especially when they do the shaky camera thing like they're filming a battle scene in Saving Private Ryan.

I think his stories would be better if he just picked a single Li for the story or dropped the love/sex stuff altogether and went after the all ages market.

I tend to agree that some of his stories could survive without the sex scenes.

 

[realjitter]

but it's excusable IMHO to make the AVN work. At least it's nothing too egregious.

Yeah, the real strenght of this AVN are it's characters and not so much it's main story. The developer did a nice job by making the cast feel like they're a real part of the world rather than just being placed in it, waiting for the MC to pick them up. For the most part at least.... It's like you've said, the game spends literally hours with building the story and, even more so, it's characters.

 

[jufot]

Veronica: Drink of choice?
Kareem: Depression.
Veronica: ...
Kareem: Whiskey.
Veronica: Depression’s inappropriately close first cousin.

What We Left Behind is one of the more interesting VNs I played in a while.

You play as Kareem Marshall - a charismatic corporate drone with a permanent mask, deep in denial about his severe depression and immaturity. Notably, he is a black man without a single porn-trope stereotype.

Kareem has a good circle of friends:

• Valerie, the childhood friend who didn't quite get away
• Jessica, the roommate and manic chef
• Emile, smooth talker ladies man with poor boundaries
• Van, the eccentric rich guy suddenly dating a supermodel
• A dozen other people on Kareem's phone, with message histories, giving us background info

The game starts some time after Kareem's break-up with Cecelia, his lawyer ex. Instead of an exposition dump, we slowly learn throughout the prologue that Kareem was badly shaken by the break-up and Cecelia left him for a good reason. Your choices, then, are about deciding whether Kareem keeps donning the mask he has always worn, or whether he should try to be more open and vulnerable.

There are a number of dateable women (even Cecelia) but every route has a friendship option that feels true to life. It's less like an LI points collector and more like real relationships branching off in understandable directions.

This game has really impressed me. It managed to pull me into its world, and that's largely due to how well written it is. If inner monologues and exposition dumps are signs of a green writer, this VN shows that it can be done skilfully, even poking fun at the usual audience:

Kareem's thoughts: Life is something else, isn’t it?
Kareem's thoughts: Anti-depressants turn me into a low-functioning Asperger zombie, so my bottle’s been sitting three-quarters full for the last three months.
Kareem's thoughts: Whether pills or no pills,
Kareem's thoughts: Mood stabilizers,
Kareem's thoughts: Or my happy-go-lucky ‘wants to jump off a cliff’ self-
Kareem's thoughts: It’s hard to miss the comedy that is Kareem's thoughts: the novelization.
Kareem's thoughts: I mean, just look at this shit -
Morgan Freeman: And here we find Kareem Marshall: marred the spirit, yet unbowed-
Morgan Freeman: Still, at heart, the master of his soul,
Morgan Freeman: Many tales, yet untold, like the one where he fucks this blonde.
Kareem's thoughts: Sorry, that part was for the mindless segment of the audience.

Kareem's thoughts: But this is what I mean by ‘comedy’. I’m standing here with a hole the size of Cecelia, and in walks two rent-a-blondes.
Kareem's thoughts: If fucking the pain away is a therapeutic treatment, we should probably have my therapist prescribe me medication right abooooooout now.
Kareem's thoughts: I worry often about myself and these tendencies I have.

And it's not just the internal monologues. The dialogue shines too. My favourite scene so far is Kareem's conversation with Nami, a stranger he meets at a party:

Nami: What do you see -
Nami: Up there in those stars?
Kareem: Hmm.
Kareem: Memories.
Kareem: My dad and I were laying out on a hill in the backyard and staring up as we are now.
Kareem: I remember him telling me that those beams were mostly, but a memory.
Kareem: In the time it takes those lights to reach us, those stars have already changed.
Kareem: He said there was irony in starlight making us so nostalgic, because in the reality we were staring into the past.
Kareem: Ever since, I always see moments in time up there on the darker days. I’ve never been able to separate the night sky from past experiences of disappointment. It makes me feel -
Kareem: Melancholy. It makes me want to run away somewhere.
Nami: We can’t run away forever. You’ll carry those memories and experiences with you wherever you go.
Nami: They’ll be waiting there after the sunsets. I’m still learning that, too. How to deal with what and who I am.
Nami: When I was a girl, I use to look up and wonder. Halfway there, across the world, who was looking up at the same star I was.
Nami: I had this romanticized idea of my future husband waiting on the other side of that star.
Nami: Waiting to save me, and to love me.
Kareem: Who doesn’t love a good fairytale ending.
Nami: No.
Nami: No one can save me, but myself.
Nami: You said you saw loneliness. That should be proof enough that life never works out like the storybooks.
Nami: For someone who seems to hate vulnerability, you’re a pretty open book.
Kareem: The downside of being tragically self-aware. I can pretend to escape myself, but never entirely. Valerie wouldn’t let me anyway.
Nami: You’ve mentioned her twice. She must have quite some impact on you.
Kareem: If I’ve given you the perception I’m unguarded, then yeah. That’s all her.
Kareem: You’re far different from what the tabloids show.
Nami: Looks can be deceiving. But then again, how would you really know? I fake it so well you can’t be certain of anything.
Kareem: The eyes never lie.
Nami: Or this is the mask best suited for our conversation. Maybe I picked out your persona the moment you walked up. Maybe every word I’ve said has been fabricated.
Kareem: That’d be a lot of effort for a rooftop cigarette. Why even join me at all if that was the case.
Nami: You have a name?
Kareem: Kareem. Kareem Marshall.

It's just a prologue for now, but there is already a substantial amount to play, and I'm so thoroughly impressed. Has anyone else here played it yet? What did you think?

 

[Finuee]

What We Left Behind is one of the more interesting VNs I played in a while.

You play as Kareem Marshall - a charismatic corporate drone with a permanent mask, deep in denial about his severe depression and immaturity. Notably, he is a black man without a single porn-trope stereotype.

Kareem has a good circle of friends:

• Valerie, the childhood friend who didn't quite get away
• Jessica, the roommate and manic chef
• Emile, smooth talker ladies man with poor boundaries
• Van, the eccentric rich guy suddenly dating a supermodel
• A dozen other people on Kareem's phone, with message histories, giving us background info

The game starts some time after Kareem's break-up with Cecelia, his lawyer ex. Instead of an exposition dump, we slowly learn throughout the prologue that Kareem was badly shaken by the break-up and Cecelia left him for a good reason. Your choices, then, are about deciding whether Kareem keeps donning the mask he has always worn, or whether he should try to be more open and vulnerable.

There are a number of dateable women (even Cecelia) but every route has a friendship option that feels true to life. It's less like an LI points collector and more like real relationships branching off in understandable directions.

This game has really impressed me. It managed to pull me into its world, and that's largely due to how well written it is. If inner monologues and exposition dumps are signs of a green writer, this VN shows that it can be done skilfully, even poking fun at the usual audience:


And it's not just the internal monologues. The dialogue shines too. My favourite scene so far is Kareem's conversation with Nami, a stranger he meets at a party:


It's just a prologue for now, but there is already a substantial amount to play, and I'm so thoroughly impressed. Has anyone else here played it yet? What did you think?

Wow, writing with actual subtext, that's a rarity. You got me interested with this one.

 

[Pgsurprise]

What We Left Behind is one of the more interesting VNs I played in a while.

You play as Kareem Marshall - a charismatic corporate drone with a permanent mask, deep in denial about his severe depression and immaturity. Notably, he is a black man without a single porn-trope stereotype.

Kareem has a good circle of friends:

• Valerie, the childhood friend who didn't quite get away
• Jessica, the roommate and manic chef
• Emile, smooth talker ladies man with poor boundaries
• Van, the eccentric rich guy suddenly dating a supermodel
• A dozen other people on Kareem's phone, with message histories, giving us background info

The game starts some time after Kareem's break-up with Cecelia, his lawyer ex. Instead of an exposition dump, we slowly learn throughout the prologue that Kareem was badly shaken by the break-up and Cecelia left him for a good reason. Your choices, then, are about deciding whether Kareem keeps donning the mask he has always worn, or whether he should try to be more open and vulnerable.

There are a number of dateable women (even Cecelia) but every route has a friendship option that feels true to life. It's less like an LI points collector and more like real relationships branching off in understandable directions.

This game has really impressed me. It managed to pull me into its world, and that's largely due to how well written it is. If inner monologues and exposition dumps are signs of a green writer, this VN shows that it can be done skilfully, even poking fun at the usual audience:


And it's not just the internal monologues. The dialogue shines too. My favourite scene so far is Kareem's conversation with Nami, a stranger he meets at a party:


It's just a prologue for now, but there is already a substantial amount to play, and I'm so thoroughly impressed. Has anyone else here played it yet? What did you think?

Looks pretty interesting. I may wait for the version with more legible text that the dev mentioned was coming. Thanks for the review.

 

[Ezykeyal]

What We Left Behind is one of the more interesting VNs I played in a while.

It's just a prologue for now, but there is already a substantial amount to play, and I'm so thoroughly impressed. Has anyone else here played it yet? What did you think?

Yeah, it's amazing! I love all the details in the world building. Being able to select items and getting a little backstory and history behind them. It feels alive, lived in, detailed, and natural, and has all the things I'd want from a proper VN without having to resort to porn tropes and situations.

 

[Rhinoisliquidjuice448]

What We Left Behind is one of the more interesting VNs I played in a while.

You play as Kareem Marshall - a charismatic corporate drone with a permanent mask, deep in denial about his severe depression and immaturity. Notably, he is a black man without a single porn-trope stereotype.

Kareem has a good circle of friends:

• Valerie, the childhood friend who didn't quite get away
• Jessica, the roommate and manic chef
• Emile, smooth talker ladies man with poor boundaries
• Van, the eccentric rich guy suddenly dating a supermodel
• A dozen other people on Kareem's phone, with message histories, giving us background info

The game starts some time after Kareem's break-up with Cecelia, his lawyer ex. Instead of an exposition dump, we slowly learn throughout the prologue that Kareem was badly shaken by the break-up and Cecelia left him for a good reason. Your choices, then, are about deciding whether Kareem keeps donning the mask he has always worn, or whether he should try to be more open and vulnerable.

There are a number of dateable women (even Cecelia) but every route has a friendship option that feels true to life. It's less like an LI points collector and more like real relationships branching off in understandable directions.

This game has really impressed me. It managed to pull me into its world, and that's largely due to how well written it is. If inner monologues and exposition dumps are signs of a green writer, this VN shows that it can be done skilfully, even poking fun at the usual audience:


And it's not just the internal monologues. The dialogue shines too. My favourite scene so far is Kareem's conversation with Nami, a stranger he meets at a party:


It's just a prologue for now, but there is already a substantial amount to play, and I'm so thoroughly impressed. Has anyone else here played it yet? What did you think?

I did like this one made you feel like you entering a live in world and does make you feel for cecelia reason for leaving Kareem. while it still early i do belive dreamscape games will show off getting better and better with each update. what your Thought on Vincent for me i feel like i'm not gonna like him but Van i see sign of him be top character in the game. The chat with Nami was written really well to Kareem going up to the talk then to end was beautiful. JJ and Valerie want to see more of them especially with valerie.

 

[Testing123123123123]

It's just a prologue for now, but there is already a substantial amount to play, and I'm so thoroughly impressed. Has anyone else here played it yet? What did you think?

I just finished playing the prologue; my thoughts are pretty much the same as yours. The writing and presentation was enough to garner an instant follow from me. I'm very much looking forward to the next update.

 

[Jaike]

I'm waiting until the game is finished to continue with this one. I stopped once I saw the first bit for the first (?) ending and it was less of an explanation for the mystery and more of a meta joke about the game. I wasn't impressed, so I want to wait and see if there is a "proper" ending before I spend more time on it.

I didn't see that preview, but this is the ending I got:

Spoiler: obvious big spoiler for ending

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I found the turn from the bandit camp to the ending overall like sort of an anticlimax, but the ending I got itself wasn't too bad.

Yes. Talothral's protagonist (always the same guy imho) is the Stoic macho thug. I tolerated it with Sentinel 1, but it got worse in the sequel, so I stopped.

I don't agree Alexander or Tomas are macho despite the genre they're in. Garrett's is imo better called nihilist and cynical in that he doesn't care about anything than family and psionics. He barely killed people except obvious dangerous threats in the last third of my playthrough tho. The stoic part is fair, Garrett and Alex are literally emotionally limited, and Talothral's natural writing style seems unemotional.

What I think is part of his MC template is that, unusual for the genre, they're all reluctant to form a harem, or in Garrett's case to expand it, so Miyuki, Chiel, or Shani, Gweyr and Ayaka take initiative. Well and they're all tall slim white dudes with beards over 30...

My biggest issue with his writing is that he doesn't really seem to do emotion at all. People will say, I'm very angry or I'm in love with you, but there doesn't seem to be any feeling behind it and there is no build up.

Agree with the lack of emotion. It often leaves relationship talk, like in Sorcerer, feel more like formal negotiations. Even the fights between Susan and Miyuki often felt more like sparring in the best case or just Susan acting like a Karen. Talothral is too "show, don't tell" to let characters declare "I'm very angry" tho.

One thing the TRS series is strong with though is physical contact between Chiel and Garrett. Or I better say Chiel putting her hands on Garrett.