Recommending Story-first games

[Rhinoisliquidjuice448]

Tracy aka - Madelyn part was deliver well it didn't feel rush or drag out the pacing was one the best i seen Hailey and lisa hasn't fully convince me while where as sarah for me i struggle to connect. i see

Hailey for me im not really into Linda at all. Tho I mostly only like the Main girls in this one of the few games the side girls aren't for me for one reason or another.

Hailey more friend collegue who has a crush. Lisa is a wait and see same with Linda but so far what is there Linda bring a warm feeling.

 

[Dessolos]

Tracy aka - Madelyn part was deliver well it didn't feel rush or drag out the pacing was one the best i seen Hailey and lisa hasn't fully convince me while where as sarah for me i struggle to connect. i see


Hailey more friend collegue who has a crush. Lisa is a wait and see same with Linda but so far what is there Linda bring a warm feeling.

For sure but I just like the type of LI Hailey is more being her boss isn't a big deal to me. I just love Li that have some kind of trauma to their character. But yeah if I would pick base on who I think is best suited for a romantic relationship id go with Sarah something about Lisa in the last update made me lose interest not sure what.

 

[jufot]

I just tried Sort of Justice and figured it needed a mention here (with link, so that it ends up in the

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).
It's a hard-boiled gangster story, and while the sex isn't avoidable, there are refreshingly little of it so far. I would go as a far as to say there is a record high story-to-sex ratio.
What it does have is some very good storytelling, both dramatically and visually.

Indeed. While a bit too reliant on genre tropes, it's very well executed. It feels like the story was written long before a single image was produced, which is always a great sign.

I'm especially impressed by Carlos. It's uncommon to see a true, unexaggerated sociopath done this well. It's only two chapters in, but I already have a few storylines I feel invested in:

- Malena's surrogate mum dynamic with Zoe and the latter's future relevance to MC
- The neighbour girl, Elle, who is entirely too innocent to be innocent
- The possibility of someone seeking revenge for Carlos or his mum
- That massive cliffhanger with Scarlett!



Anyway, I'm hooked and the game definitely fits the criteria in the OP, so off to the list it goes Thanks for the recommendation!

P.S. The dev says there will be a harem eventually, so I might remove it at some point. It wouldn't be the first such game.

 

[Lynava]

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

 

[Pixillin']

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

I don't think so. Unless they're set in Medieval Persia, having a harem sorta kills the Story First part because it's not very realistic. There are a few harem games with decent stories, or at least better stories than other harem games, but (with rare exceptions) they tend to be very sex focused - which is kindof a requirement of having a whole lot of Li relationships to navigate through.

Edit: For exceptions you might want to look at Lustful Sin, the Lusanti Chronicles, Projekt Passion, and Desert Stalker ... for example - all have some version of 'Harem' - or it's possible) but all have good stories as well.

 

[jufot]

having a harem sorta kills the Story First part because it's not very realistic.

Indeed. A couple of years ago, we discussed the idea of realistic harem VNs on this thread, and it's basically nothing like what the current crop of games are.

 

[Lynava]

For me, harem games are a salvation from choosing Lee, because I can see all the stories of the character. But choosing between Lee and closing other stories to follow only her path, I don't like, because I lose other content.

 

[Pgsurprise]

For me, harem games are a salvation from choosing Lee, because I can see all the stories of the character. But choosing between Lee and closing other stories to follow only her path, I don't like, because I lose other content.

Omg. Your list of "favorites" makes me think you're not all that picky. Lol.

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

I'm kinda the same way with the harem vs. multipath games. I like action or mystery type stories, so going back and playing the alternate paths often end up with the story being a disjointed mess. And I read so slowly that it's just rare that I find it interesting enough to reread all the different paths when I'm skipping read content and stopping in the middle of a conversation to introduce a couple of differences in a dialogue. Or, skips a lot and then has a different scene that loses a lot of context being in the middle of a story I've already read. So it's frustrating to me. I think Ateagena and Defending Lydia Colier are the only ones that have different enough paths for me to actually play through more than one. Hillside may be another, but the last time I played the second path (of what I think will be many) had just barely started.

 

[raynarnab]

Edit: For exceptions you might want to look at Lustful Sin, the Lusanti Chronicles, Projekt Passion, and Desert Stalker ... for example - all have some version of 'Harem' - or it's possible) but all have good stories as well.

Desert Stalker has pretty good world building, but I would say the weakest part of the story is the porn. It makes no sense and sometimes takes me away from enjoying the story.

 

[Johnny Dough]

Indeed. A couple of years ago, we discussed the idea of realistic harem VNs on this thread, and it's basically nothing like what the current crop of games are.

"Harem" in the strictest sense (a bunch of females cohabiting the same house, all like wives or concubines) really is not... But, in the broadest sense, there's nothing unrealistic about being a Don Juan or a Casanova... So, indeed, for a strict sense harem, better have a plot that justifies it, but, in the broadest sense, I'd rather have a dev who doesn't make mutually exclusive paths because, as a rule, devs don't make romance stories so interesting to justify playing the same game x times the number of LIs just to the check the romances... That's it... A pragmatic approach: if someone can make as many interesting stories as love interests (which, statistically, is closer to nil), make them mutually exclusive; if not, get real, and don't try to make me force to play the game x times because I won't...

 

[Cskin Games]

Indeed. A couple of years ago, we discussed the idea of realistic harem VNs on this thread, and it's basically nothing like what the current crop of games are.

I do think it's possible to put together a good harem story game. While harems are intrinsically unrealistic - realism isn't a per-requisite for a good story. The real problem is any that start out as showing promise, very quickly devolve into "threesome/foursome/orgy fuckfest" the more the game progresses.

 

[Pixillin']

"Harem" in the strictest sense (a bunch of females cohabiting the same house, all like wives or concubines) really is not... But, in the broadest sense, there's nothing unrealistic about being a Don Juan or a Casanova... So, indeed, for a strict sense harem, better have a plot that justifies it, but, in the broadest sense, I'd rather have a dev who doesn't make mutually exclusive paths because, as a rule, devs don't make romance stories so interesting to justify playing the same game x times the number of LIs just to the check the romances... That's it... A pragmatic approach: if someone can make as many interesting stories as love interests (which, statistically, is closer to nil), make them mutually exclusive; if not, get real, and don't try to make me force to play the game x times because I won't...

Yeah, I won’t replay a game for different Li either but I am also very picky. If you offer 10 different Li, the chances that I’ll like 3 of them is small.

 

[Johnny Dough]

Yeah, I won’t replay a game for different Li either but I am also very picky. If you offer 10 different Li, the chances that I’ll like 3 of them is small.

Well... I prefer stories where the main plot is non-romance, and the LIs are actually kinda side things, so, if they're not ugly, I'll bang 'em all... On the other hand, if the story is, like, "Twilight for boys," chances are, even if the LIs are the most gorgeous things on Earth, I'll ignore it.

 

[Pixillin']

Well... I prefer stories where the main plot is non-romance, and the LIs are actually kinda side things, so, if they're not ugly, I'll bang 'em all... On the other hand, if the story is, like, "Twilight for boys," chances are, even if the LIs are the most gorgeous things on Earth, I'll ignore it.

You should probably try Lustful Sin, which I talked about at length here. Despite the bad name it is the only Koikatsu game and the only sandbox game (Desert Stalker notwithstanding) in my S tier. You can have meaningless sex with pretty much anyone but very rarely do you have to. You have A spouse/partner (who doesn't show up for awhile in the game) but she doesn't really care who you fuck. She rolls her eyes at you sometimes but it's your nature and she will actually throw women at you if she's busy and needs you occupied.

 

[Hildegardt]

I do think it's possible to put together a good harem story game. While harems are intrinsically unrealistic - realism isn't a per-requisite for a good story. The real problem is any that start out as showing promise, very quickly devolve into "threesome/foursome/orgy fuckfest" the more the game progresses.

It looks like the discussion back then was about realistic harems as in real life examples, like in historical fiction for example. The more general critique isn't about realism, but about immersion. A realistic harem was just an idea to ground the harem setup in a story immersively.

 

[Pixillin']

It looks like the discussion back then was about realistic harems as in real life examples, like in historical fiction for example. The more general critique isn't about realism, but about immersion. A realistic harem was just an idea to ground the harem setup in a story immersively.

There are a few that are realistic(ish) like Projekt Passion - you're on a ship, travelling interstellar space, with a bunch of straight women, and you're the only one with a penis. (And don't actually have a BF/GF relationship with any of them) or Desert Stalker - the world has ended, "civilization" to the extent that it exists is more or less governed by 'might makes right' and in many cases, sex is the only thing that a person has to trade for their survival. Plus, the world is over - entertainment is scarce and sex is fun so why not. But most of the time, you have to do individual character and relationship building with each one or they love him because he exists and has a penis. The former can really slow development of the main story, unless it is directly tied in and the second is porn logic.

 

[jamdan]

There are a few that are realistic(ish) like Projekt Passion - you're on a ship, travelling interstellar space, with a bunch of straight women, and you're the only one with a penis. (And don't actually have a BF/GF relationship with any of them) or Desert Stalker - the world has ended, "civilization" to the extent that it exists is more or less governed by 'might makes right' and in many cases, sex is the only thing that a person has to trade for their survival. Plus, the world is over - entertainment is scarce and sex is fun so why not. But most of the time, you have to do individual character and relationship building with each one or they love him because he exists and has a penis. The former can really slow development of the main story, unless it is directly tied in and the second is porn logic.

That inherently makes it unrealistic though. Setups where the MC is the only male that exists are purposely made to make harems "work" by eliminating any potential competition/options for the LI's. That's a common theme in basically all harem games.

It is possible to make a story-based harem game, but 99% of the time harems become sex-sims due to the quantity of LI's which also coincides with the LI's not caring about sharing a single guy yet often not trying/being allowed to do things with each other (due to harem fans being very sensitive over lesbian content that they view is sharing).

For a harem to work in a story-based game, you'd need a smaller cast (maybe 3-4 LI's) instead of the standard 10+ so you could actually maintain a story and not neglect the LI's themselves while you do it.

I'd take an unapologetic harem over a seemingly single LI game that turns into a harem though, like COBD did in the latter half of development.

 

[Pixillin']

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.

 

[Beduin123]

Admittedly Projekt Passion is a bit unrealistic

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.

 

[Rhinoisliquidjuice448]

a let play playthrough of Corporate culture time frame from where they give their quick though of the game

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