Recommending Story-first games

[CUNTBLAZER420]

Just here to plug one of my old favorites that went pretty underappreciated in its time: Fantasy Valley. Don't know if anyone's ever mentioned it. The story starts out pretty rough in its initial chapters but gets REALLY good in its second half. It is unfortunately abandoned and leaves you with a cliffhanger, but its complete enough to where I feel I can recommend it. Its actually a fairly lengthy game. If the art is a turn off, it also gets much, much better as the game goes along as well. Like also REALLY good. All of the screenshots in its thread are from those rough early chapters. Anyway, please take a look and give it a try if you haven't and if you like it maybe think about giving it a like and a positive review. Hopefully, we can revive some interest in this little gem.

 

[osanaiko]

I still need to catch up with Zia, Nothing is Forever, Give me a Sun, and Intertwined, time permitting.

Might be best to leave NIF for a bit longer, the chapter 7 release was split into two parts, so the actual progress in ch7 part 1 is not as great as in previous full chapters 4, 5 and 6. Note that it is still as long in terms of lines of dialogue as ch2 or 3 were, but because the consequences of previous choices are starting to land, there are a number of scenes that are only seen on certain routes and the apparent length to a user doing single play-through is not as great.

 

[camube]

Might be best to leave NIF for a bit longer, the chapter 7 release was split into two parts, so the actual progress in ch7 part 1 is not as great as in previous full chapters 4, 5 and 6. Note that it is still as long in terms of lines of dialogue as ch2 or 3 were, but because the consequences of previous choices are starting to land, there are a number of scenes that are only seen on certain routes and the apparent length to a user doing single play-through is not as great.

i really respect mrsilverlust for having the 4 Traits mechanic into the game. It wouldn't have been easy and probably complicate stuffs writing out the path doing that.
Linearly, i really like Nothing is Forever, it's good enough and the story make sense

btw osanaiko, can i ask you about Color of My Sound? does it have BGM yet? and if not, is it at a good enough stopping point to start playing?
Does it satisfy new player enough if they start today?
*and not talking about the intercourse scenes, asking about the plot

 

[osanaiko]

i really respect mrsilverlust for having the 4 Traits mechanic into the game. It wouldn't have been easy and probably complicate stuffs writing out the path doing that.
Linearly, i really like Nothing is Forever, it's good enough and the story make sense

btw osanaiko, can i ask you about Color of My Sound? does it have BGM yet? and if not, is it at a good enough stopping point to start playing?
Does it satisfy new player enough if they start today?
*and not talking about the intercourse scenes, asking about the plot

Sorry, but I don't have any insight regards progress of the next release or if there has been any music added.
Actually, I've had very little communications from the developer of Color of my Sound over the past several months. Personally it's somewhat disappointing, but of course I never had any real claim over the way the dev chooses to work. Recently he seems to not engage on F95 forum anymore, sticking to his discord and releasing lots of non-canon art renders of the characters to high level patrons. I'm not a patron (I've donated enough of my time and effort, not going to drop cash too LOL!) so I don't get any sense of the progress even from those posts.

 

[camube]

leaving dna episode 3 is out and it has a recap, which is great!

every story-first games need to have a recap if the update crosses 3-4 months mark, which most of them does

 

[Dathos]

Well ... you need to understand something very important about adult entertainment:
Most of the texts are written by professional writers, published, acclaimed, sold out on the shelves of libraries everywhere in the world. Many of the most intense erotic scenes are actually well hidden in the novels you read by the time your reach adult status - the school has fed you the most drama, the most intrigue - the wonderful thing about those old texts is - they are mostly public domain - so any actual gaming writer can go pull the huge inspiration out of there with the masterfully described intimate scenes that have schorced the tender bits of guys and girrls the world over for centuries.

*chuckles* Oh, I understand it rather well. I'm quite aware of the differences between adult entertainment and the alternatives in mainstream entertainment. I'm not new at this. I'm a retired person in my 50's, have been (among other things) a sex educator, worked in the publishing industry as well as in software development. I have an equally accomplished spouse with similar credits to her name.

A number of the games that have come up in this thread have produced some of the most engaging and interesting stories, adult or otherwise. Given my druthers, I'd prefer to have a good story first, with the sex and porn secondary, rather than sex and porn with a half-assed story added as an afterthought. I suspect that's the case of many of the folks who've engaged in this thread.

I won't apologize for being picky about what entertains or arouses me. Nor should anyone else, for that matter.

 

[jufot]

I don't know what I think of it, but I want to point out Ellen Vague. A new VN with a female protagonist who isn't a naive virgin or a cheating or cuckquean wife or girlfriend, but an erotica writer without inspiration who's in her own words "horny as hell".

Thanks for this, Jaike. It's janky, weird and unusual in the best way possible. I'm particularly a fan of Cecilia Beaver's cock. Wonderfully creative narrative device

 

[camube]

I feel your pain. The number of AVNs with characters who actually have a clue is very, very short. It's difficult enough to find a protagonist that isn't yet another 18-19 year old kid cluelessly navigating the world, but is it too much to ask for a protagonist who isn't a complete moron? (Probably.)

I get that for some odd reason this kind of protagonist is popular... I mean, I don't understand it, but it does seem to be the common thread for many games. It's actually one of the reasons I lurk in this thread. Many of the games here that are more about a story than the porn actually have some decent writing in them. It's the sifting for something decent amidst the dross that's tiring.

i sorted through f95zone tags and read reviews now. yeah some times i get spoiler'd but, it's better than spending time playing a game and figure out it's boring.

Also, for most games nowadays, i can figure out whether or not it's for in 1 or 2 chapters though. 1 chapter if its long enough, 2 chapters if it's short per chapter. Most of these games gets better in terms of story quality the longer they go because the author also gets more experience, but if i don't like the baseline, whether it's the premise, the inner monologues, the writing, the pacing, or whatever else, usually, i still wouldn't like it even many chapters in.

People said Artemis is one of the top games for AVN, and honestly, had I discover it this year instead of in 2022, i would've dropped it on chapter 2. I had a lot more time and leeway back then. Now i have less time and leeway to play games so i only play the ones i think might be good.

Hence the tag and reading reviews.

 

[jufot]

Thoughts on the latest Intertwined?

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And also, this scene bothered me enough to stop reading, take a screenshot and whine about it here:

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[Raife]

Given my druthers, I'd prefer to have a good story first, with the sex and porn secondary, rather than sex and porn with a half-assed story added as an afterthought. I suspect that's the case of many of the folks who've engaged in this thread.

I won't apologize for being picky about what entertains or arouses me. Nor should anyone else, for that matter.

Naturally, I agree with your sentiments... but you've also uh, proven the authenticity of your claimed age by using the expression 'given my druthers.'

That's a half-century line marker for sure... I never use the phrase, and I'm ancient -- as in, older than jufot ancient! It's also not a phrase that you hear among English speakers outside North America, either.

 

[jufot]

That's a half-century line marker for sure... I never use the phrase, and I'm ancient -- as in, older than jufot ancient! It's also not a phrase that you hear among English speakers outside North America, either.

Indeed, even as an "old" (by thread standards) it's the first I've heard of it.

 

[Dathos]

Naturally, I agree with your sentiments... but you've also uh, proven the authenticity of your claimed age by using the expression 'given my druthers.'

That's a half-century line marker for sure... I never use the phrase, and I'm ancient -- as in, older than jufot ancient! It's also not a phrase that you hear among English speakers outside North America, either.

*laughs* Yeah, it's not been in general use for decades now. It's part of my normal vernacular, so I hadn't even thought about it being a "new" expression for folks. First time I've been called out for having an old vocabulary, though!

 

[Raife]

*laughs* Yeah, it's not been in general use for decades now. It's part of my normal vernacular, so I hadn't even thought about it being a "new" expression for folks. First time I've been called out for having an old vocabulary, though!

Not a criticism... it's just an interesting phrase! It's a bit like 'balderdash' -- you occasionally hear that word used in the UK... particularly by a certain sort of journalist or politician, but almost never in North America.

FWIW, my grandparents used both expressions (druthers and balderdash) regularly -- but they spoke American English with the sort of now-extinct Yankee/mid-Atlantic accent once used by, say, Katherine Hepburn. Very much early 20th Century.

 

[jufot]

Thoughts on the latest Leaving DNA? I think it was a brilliant episode!

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[Impious Monk]

Thoughts on the latest Leaving DNA? I think it was a brilliant episode!

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Thanks Jufot, helpful and insightful feedback as always. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

[Jaike]

Thanks for this, Jaike. It's janky, weird and unusual in the best way possible. I'm particularly a fan of Cecilia Beaver's cock. Wonderfully creative narrative device

No idea if that's new "content" in 0.2 or I just missed it in the first version... But if I knew about it, I'd mention the VN in the comedy-first games topic instead.

 

[Mystic]

I came here to look through the list, find story games. Realized I couldn't find Elleria here... my day is ruined and my disappointment is immeasurable.




P.S: Joke aside, a very solid collection of story games you got here. Keep it up.

 

[Dessolos]

I came here to look through the list, find story games. Realized I couldn't find Elleria here... my day is ruined and my disappointment is immeasurable.

View attachment 3402482


P.S: Joke aside, a very solid collection of story games you got here. Keep it up.

Yeah I just use this thread a general baseline for my personal list of backlog / story first games . As I find I disagree with some of the game they don't consider story first.

 

[Mystic]

Yeah I just use this thread a general baseline for my personal list of backlog / story first games . As I find I disagree with some of the game they don't consider story first.

I mean it is their own personal list, based off of their personal interpretation of what story-first is.

My viewpoint on story-first, at least in THIS particular community, is a game where story takes priority. ( As you'd expect of story-first game by term alone.)

Where sex is addition to the game, not the main focus. Aka some fucking immersion.

 

[Dessolos]

I mean it is their own personal list, based off of their personal interpretation of what story-first is.

My viewpoint on story-first, at least in THIS particular community, is a game where story takes priority. ( As you'd expect of story-first game by term alone.)

Where sex is addition to the game, not the main focus. Aka some fucking immersion.

I agree with that for the most part but I do also think personal interpretation plays a bigger role as there are a few games that do have a good amount of lewd scenes ive played feel very story orientated to me personally where they probably don't to others. Which is why this thread is just a baseline for me.