Recommending Story-first games

[Shiva11]

Get yourself over to https://f95zone.to/threads/scent-of-liberty-v0-2-unchaste-acts.176307/ and try out Scent of Liberty. It's the story of Laura Palamino who is a clinical psychologist, members of her family and her clients. I'm not going to give anything more away but the story is well written and beginning to get very interesting. I'm a big fan of psychological stories but this is a lot more than that. It takes a while to get going but hang in there and enjoy the ride.

 

[Tlaero]

I long to see someone have the courage to write a VN with a single LI. That, unfortunately, very obviously cuts into marketing aspect. Maybe one day.

I've written about 10 of those. There are five in the Omnibus: https://f95zone.to/threads/elsaverse-omnibus-vol-1-tora-productions.90315/

Tlaero

 

[Vasin]

I've written about 10 of those. There are five in the Omnibus: https://f95zone.to/threads/elsaverse-omnibus-vol-1-tora-productions.90315/

Thanks. I have actually played through the omnibus, I think I've even mentioned it back here at some point. Darkness Falls was my favourite.

I also checked out first chapters of both The Artist and No Expectations back to back and it was an interesting contrast.

The Artist definitely looks like a more polished well put together game, even if it's just renders with "artistic" filter over them. The writing is deliciously ambiguous and twist ending for the first episode is masterfully done. Minute details of dialogue and character interactions are also impeccable, from friendly banter to the speed dating sequence everything feels believable. But the larger story beats are exactly what you'd expect from the story called "The Artist" and it's just another manic pixie dream girl scenario that still leaves me impressed with how well it's executed despite it's general predictability.

No Expectations, on the other hand set a goofy tone with slightly caricaturish characters straight away but ended up more cozy and relatable to me. The author somehow managed to make a single episode to feel like a completed game which is an achievement in pacing.

 

[lynx73]

A suggestion for the list of games:
It would make sense to mark the games which are considered "Completed" making it easier for someone looking for new games to make an "educated selection". For story driven games in development it can be quite a pain to follow them depending on update size and frequency, not to forget the risk of the developer abandoning them.
It's really sad when you immersed yourself in a story and at some point it will just not continue...maybe a good point to mark these as well (I had high hopes on Divergence: Beyond the Singularity and was just sad to see it go )

 

[jufot]

Short Sad Stories is finally finished! See the dev's post here.

 

[Slick Bean]

Good riddance! Sad means all outta joy from any enjoyment in anything gaming related.

 

[Ezykeyal]

Good riddance! Sad means all outta joy from any enjoyment in anything gaming related.

Rude! I thoroughly enjoy something that can pull at your heart strings.

 

[Slick Bean]

Rude! I thoroughly enjoy something that can pull at your heart strings.

Keep doing that wrestling game where literally everyone is cheering the beat them up fiasco while telling me you enjoy some sad stories about ” confrontations and misfortunes ”.

 

[Ezykeyal]

Keep doing that wrestling game where literally everyone is cheering the beat them up fiasco while telling me you enjoy some sad stories about ” confrontations and misfortunes ”.

Yeah, that's not quite how it goes... but I will.

 

[camube]

anyone here played out of touch?

heavily recommend it? or just good enough?

 

[Iamthegoldengod]

anyone here played out of touch?

heavily recommend it? or just good enough?

Spoiler: Yes, play it....highly recommend by me :)

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[Raife]

The Neverwhere Tales has a new chapter out.

Sooooo... I finally played the update, and continue to enjoy the game. There are a few annoying flaws, though.

_Neverwhere Tales_ is clearly at least a homage to Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden novels.

Unlike Butcher, though, the dev's world-building leaves quite a few holes: for example, I still don't have the slightest idea why the MC's parents decided to hide the nature of the world from their children. It seems extremely irresponsible and dangerous, given their roles in one of their world's secret organizations. If their children had been aware and properly trained, they'd be _much_ less exposed when the plot begins.

There's also a problem with the MC and his sister. They're the usual callow youths, with no discerable skills... yet he, in particular, somehow manages to thrive in alien and exceptionally dangerous situations. He's essentially the opposite of Dresden, a wizard of unexceptional power who repeatedly escapes catastrophic situations through sheer wit, hard-won experience and willpower. Dresden is a bit like Philip Marlowe... always beaten but unbowed.

Finally... the LIs aren't great. To be sure, they are interesting characters... but I can't understand why they find the MC so attractive. That even goes for the childhood friend: _why_ does she have such a strong connection with the MC? We're told it exists, but we don't understand how it happened.

Still... as a fantasy thriller, _Neverwhere_ is a huge upgrade on _Sorcerer_ for example. The MC is annoying... but he isn't a dickhead. Plus, Neverwhere does a few things extremely well. There's a training sequence, for instance, that both feels meaningful and doesn't involve a mini-game.

 

[jufot]

I still don't have the slightest idea why the MC's parents decided to hide the nature of the world from their children

So MC has something to be angsty about. A well-rounded, emotionally intelligent MC would just be boring, especially for a teenager

That even goes for the childhood friend: _why_ does she have such a strong connection with the MC? We're told it exists, but we don't understand how it happened.

Right. I get why someone would be interested in Kaija (I think she's a great character and not the usual submissive handmaiden LI) but I'm not feeling the connection between her and MC. There is so much drama about this topic on the game thread, and it's just tiring.

There's also a problem with the MC and his sister. They're the usual callow youths, with no discerable skills... yet he, in particular, somehow manages to thrive in alien and exceptionally dangerous situations.

This latest chapter really soured me from the sister. At first, she was a solid character with feasible concerns and feelings. Now, she turned into a dimwitted-yet-excitable puppy.

MC's situation is much simpler. He's The Chosen One (because of course he is) so success comes naturally to him, and he can only ever fail upwards.

 

[Hildegardt]

Finally... the LIs aren't great. To be sure, they are interesting characters... but I can't quite understand why they find the MC so attractive. That even goes for the childhood friend: _why_ does she have such a strong connection with the MC? We're told it exists, but we don't understand how it happened.

I think the issue is the game's structure. Every plot relevant character is a LI and every major choice is about romance. The game plays like a literal dating sim, where every branch is different date.
Eventually the choice of LI will probably relate to choosing a side in the conflict between humans and elves. If any of the LIs played hard to get, the game would need a different structure, because depriving the player of a date would also deprive them of a major story branch.

But the PC is also just a lazily executed chosen one. It seems like we're supposed to just get it, because it's such a common trope. But without explanation it's makes for a very self-centered perspective. I mean, his father, a VIP, got kidnapped by the enemy, but the whole game so far has been about the PC's feelings unrelated to his father's wellbeing.

 

[Raife]

I think the issue is the game's structure. Every plot relevant character is a LI and every major choice is about romance. The game plays like a literal dating sim, where every branch is different date.

Exactly. Which gets back to a point that someone made, and that Tlareo noted: sometimes (actually, most of the time) it's better to have a single LI (or just a pair) that are well-developed, rather than several that are poorly fleshed out.

Separate point: the Dresden novels create a brilliant model for a game MC. Dresden is essentially the opposite of the 'Chosen One' -- instead, he's the mouse that roars before he (regularly) gets squashed. It's a possible _LI_ who is arguably closest to 'Chosen One.' That's more interesting than the Joseph Campbell archetypal hero/hero's journey.

 

[Slick Bean]

Exactly. Which gets back to a point that someone made, and that Tlareo noted: sometimes (actually, most of the time) it's better to have a single LI (or just a pair) that are well-developed, rather than several that are poorly fleshed out.

Separate point: the Dresden novels create a brilliant model for a game MC. Dresden is essentially the opposite of the 'Chosen One' -- instead, he's the mouse that roars before he (regularly) gets squashed. It's a possible _LI_ who is arguably closest to 'Chosen One.' That's more interesting than the Joseph Campbell archetypal hero/hero's journey.

Well ... many NTR lovers around here adore absolutely zero developped vilains just shitting on one girl or some guy - the worse the rape/blackmail/maiming/dessecration - the better.

From the point of view of what kinksters want out of games where they just want to see the destruction of everyone and everything, sub zero abhorrent gibbrish is what they want.

 

[kotte]

This latest chapter really soured me from the sister. At first, she was a solid character with feasible concerns and feelings. Now, she turned into a dimwitted-yet-excitable puppy.

That is actually my only problem with the latest release!
I loved the wholesome scene when MC and Sis sits by the fire, comforting each other without a hint of incestous feelings. I liked the idea that the dev allows us to leer at her in the shower, but keeping the MC out of that completely, and by doing that they are separating the holy unity of the MC and the player...

And now suddenly she turned into this "dimwitted-yet-excitable puppy".

I truly hope that she can return to being an almost grown up, cool, sidekick to our MC, and that we can blame all the silliness in this episode on her being very nervous when incountering Neverwhere for the first time.

Anyway, this game is still definitely on my top 5 list, and I believe that it has kept the quality consistent over all current episodes.

 

[Raife]

This game is still definitely on my top 5 list, and I believe that it has kept the quality consistent over all current episodes.

It's certainly worth playing. I have quite a few nits, but it's well produced, well-conceived, and has an interesting story.

My primary gripe is that it's just a couple ticks away from being great... and, annoyingly, those ticks are both very significant and quite easy to conceive.

 

[boobsrcool]

anyone here played out of touch?

heavily recommend it? or just good enough?

Yes now play it the game

 

[Tlaero]

Question for the game devs on this thread:

I keep getting approached by devs who want to do a cross promotion on Patreon, but when I look into them, their games aren't anything that I'd want to play, much less recommend to my patrons. So, we've been turning them down. Do you folks do the same? How do you decide what to cross promote?

And a question for the people here who are patrons of any game (not just my patrons):

Am I being too uptight here? Should I be thinking, "Any promotion is good promotion" even if I don't really think that fans of my games would like the ones made by the devs who have been approaching me?

Tlaero