VN - Ren'Py - Summer Scent [v0.6.5a] [The Naughty Captain]

OK here is my Review Rant

3/5 (maybe 4/5)

I did a blind playthrough (As advised by the game) and the game turned from pleasant into a nightmare in an instant.

To be on the save side, I'm going to put the rest of my rant in spoilers

The game is actually not bad otherwise.
The girls are awesome.
The graphics are good
The story is interesting.

But I feel that a bad ending, especially that bad, should not be caused by one wrong (And not very apparent) choice.

For me it's just bad design.

There's a solid (not great) game in there somewhere, burried beneath a lot of baggage, mainly the overcomplicated branching.
It's just utterly confusing and nonsensical, even with the mod. Another big problem, due to the excessive branching, the game is ridiculously short. The path I played, there was no actual sex after 5 years of development. And sex aside, the story also didn't feel like it has been in development fur such a long time.

The other issues mentioned in other reviews (like the moronic MC, subpar writing etc.) are also true, but what ultimately put me off this game is the prospect of having to wait several more years for something to happen on the path I'm interested in. (both the plot and the sex). It's really a shame imo, because that little that was there (Eve Sub?/Cassie Love?) was really not bad and worth playing imo.

Technically solid (in terms of lighting, posing and renders), even though I have some issues with individual models, expressions often seem off, and the sex scenes (such as they are) are often either perfunctory or just disappointing.

But even with those issues, I'd still give this 4 stars if it weren't for the writing. There's not any Engrish going on--more typos and stilted dialogue that likely has more to do with a lack of editing than any lack of knowledge of the English language--but the MC is absolutely maddening. As the story goes on, we spend way way too much time getting to hear his internal flagellation as the women in his life either freeze him out of most discussions (girl talk! you're not wanted!), berate him for the choices he makes (often to protect them), or treat him like garbage in a manner that I guess is supposed to come across as teasing, but instead just feels like they're all raging bitches. And the MC just takes all of it, often followed by even more internal recriminations about what a horrible person he has been and how guilty he still feels. He's a doormat with a supposed big dick who apparently has never watched porn and isn't particularly good at sex. To say nothing of the fact that every girl in the game is apparently bi (probably to allow for the different routes), and they all seem to enjoy watching his best friend Steve's video sexploits with some exhibitionist he picked up on vacation. I'm sure others won't have any problems with some or all of this, but it's not my cup of tea. Some guilt or recrimination is to be expected given the setup, but the MC being an absolute loser doormat toward everyone that doesn't have a dick is not.

Eve is an attractive model (even if her expressions don't seem to match what's going on a lot of the time), there are some brighter spots in the writing when it gets away from the moping and the lecturing, and the main plotline is hackneyed but reasonably compelling (although Cassie morphing into the perfect rich Machiavellian badass is hard to buy). Still, the relationship writing (on the Dual Love route) just doesn't work well unless you want the least fantasy version possible of a throuple, one where the MC feels superfluous and largely there to be kicked around.

3-stars because I at least acknowledge that the criticisms here are just my personal tastes and preferences, but I definitely won't be playing future updates.

Disclaimer
what follows is my own personal opinion. As such it holds no objective truths and I try to refrain from categories like "good" and "bad".
I appreciate the creativity and work that the dev put into this game and I wish them all the best hoping that they can continue and finish their work.
Also possible spoilers ahead.

What I like

. there are 3 love interests with very different looks, all of whom are pretty, and personalities. They have secrets that you can uncover and it takes some time and effort to do so.

- the lighthouse mode. It gives you a direction to achieve one of several constellations with the LIs without taking you by the hand all the time. I did blind playthroughs first and would definitely recommend doing so.

- the branching leads to very different outcomes. There are key choices that are not obvious but that's where the lighthouse mode helps without taking all the fun out.

- the writing works for me. The three girls do represent certain types that are common in games but the details about their past that come to light piece by piece make their actions believable. Well, as believable as we can expect in a fantasy (not the genre) where the default mode for all girls is to swing both ways.
But the plot works for me and makes me care enough about the characters to want to discover their stories. It makes the bad ending that I encountered in my first playthrough hit very hard, because I came to like them.
Bonus point, it is actual English. There were only a few very minor instances where the language was a tiny bit off for my taste but not immersion breaking. Boy, was I immersed.

- sex scenes work for me. This is a story with sex in it, not a sex story. You have to work for them. Also considering how young the involved are, the mix of eagerness and dread during sex is nicely depicted. There are other games with an abundance of sex scenes in them so a lack of sex scenes is mentioned on the forum. That is a matter of perspective. There is a build up on the nice paths that is plausible for the involved persons on the "playing it nice" paths. The actual action may be perceived as short and too infrequent by some but for me it works. I don't need the option to decide on which body part to come to make a scene enjoyable. The kinks don't do much for me but they don't disturb me either.


What I did not like

- mc is not very smart nor very likeable. Perhaps that is age related but I was facepalming quite a lot.
- magic dick syndrom. It is much less offensive than in some other games that come to mind but still. Once you show off your junk, the female population of this world looses their mind. Ah well, it is an adult game after all so I can tolerate it.


tl;dr
Overall great and very enjoyable game. You can feel that a lot of work was put into this. Can't wait for the story to continue.

Dunno how I would rate this nonsense higher than this.
Graphics are neat, but that's it.
The story suffers from over branching and frustrates
immensely without and even with walkthrough.
The MC is one of the worst written characters I ever
encountered.
The sex scenes are disappointingly short if you
are even able to get to them.
A complete overhaul of the MC, getting rid of half of
the branches and hidden triggers, and maybe this
has a chance to develop into something playable.

Was kinda hooked by this game at the beginning but since some time it feels like the spark is gone. Renders are good, story feels more or less okay (though MC might be not very likeable for someone) and kinks are kinda hot, but the biggest issue which negates all pros for me is branching. It'd be much better to have one or two solid and well writen story paths instead of that insane amount of branches which give mostly nothing but frustration because of a bunch of unobvious choices which kinda hard to follow without walkthrough mods.

Good enough renders, but way too much blueballing - for me any blueballing/teasing at all drops the rating. Unfortunately, another one only working on one path at a time, and takes LONG to update, so people can wait years until anything new on their saves.

Rubbish game with immature MC who behaves in schizophrenic manner unbefitting of the MC age or the age of those around him. He treats the woman like colleague and work mates, with utmost professional like respect, then he sulks back to his room and laments how miserable and how much of a pervert he is.

Confidently written and wholesome to boot. The skin details are unique and add a lot to the characters. The focus on a relatively small roster works for the benefit of the game. Choices have actual meaning.

This game would be so much better if it had a good protagonist but the guy is just insufferable, he is a stupid moronic parvert without a shred of charm or humor wrapped up into an ugly looking body with a big peanis (i guess that makes up for everything). The game fully acknowledge it but it doesn't bother to do anything about it, to develop his character. What's even worse is that a solid 60% of the game (perhaps even more) is just reading his blabbering thoughs about everything, its gets tiring very quickly and it never stops.

The LI's are all interesting and i like spending time with them, but MC makes it very difficult to enjoy it.

Truly worth playing. Loved the LI's seems like there is more branches so played using sanchos mod. Nice renders and loved the chemistry between MC and his sister. Yeah this one deserves this high rating. Waiting for next updates. Hoping it will be worth the wait

It is not your usual harem incest game it got nice pace. Keep up the good work dev looking forward to next updates

If you choose the 'good guy' path, half of the game is the MC alone in his bedroom/living room thinking about how depraved, miserable and stupid he is; and the other half are very professional-like interactions with the female characters. They all talk to each other as if they were workmates. Teenagers are generally more immature, stupid, and fun. The MC is kind of a simp; most times, you get to decide to whether compliment girls or not, but there are other situations in which the MC just does and says whatever the hell he wants, which are mostly superficial and cringy comments. The game description says your choices determine how the MC will handle everything, but after two different playthroughs, it seems the most important choices are predetermined, your choices only have an impact on the relationship with the characters, not on how things develop. The events that lead to the characters having their sexual interest piqued are very scripted and forced, Imo. Easily preventable or remediable at the moment; but no, the MC just stands there being “incredibly embarrassed” while covering his face. I think the most obvious thing an 18yo would do in those situations would simply grab the phone and release the call. The story isn't bad at all, I was intrigued to know who the bad guys really are and was kinda in suspense that they would try something at any moment. It's funny that the game intro tells you the MC is an egotistical bitch, but the guy actually has very low self-esteem and 0 confidence. The game is less boring if you take the domination/corruption path, but I'm not into that, and all paths should be equally interesting.

This is my 1st review. I had to write it down at some point. That story struck me so hard right in the feelings I had to. Well, took me one month and a few to be able to.
It stopped at the end of day 6 (v0.6.3a) when writing.

If you're into casual adult VNs, where everything is easy, it might no be for you.
If you want to slip into someone else's skin with his own background & issues and start there. There you go.
To be blunt: you want body rumbling? You MIGHT have it. But with consequences.
KEYWORD: feelings. You not here for that? Keep scrolling.

Summer's Scent is about dificult but deep relationships.
All 3 LI (Love Interests) are believable. At least, I could understand where they came from -moreover when I replayed and took different routes.
The 3rd one might seem anectotal? Considering the setting, it makes sense. She intervene a little late. Still, on day 6, a door seems open?

If I could ask for something is:
THX, Naughty Captain, you're doing an awesome work.

Story wasent really my thing, its boring and drawn out and even if you play through you will have little to no rewards, it might have diffrent endings but once you play it once odds are you wont want to play it again.

I did try two play throughs since my first one was absolutly crap, i had 0 sex scenes and the girl i was with ended up getting raped, cant say i enjoyed that ending at all, so heres a hint if you do try it dont go for harem or even a twosome.

Did finaly see a sex scene on second run, but it was also really poor, its supposed to be a virgin secne but it never felt like one, and the few picture to picture scenes dident help much and lighting in scenes are to dark.

You will proberly also get really tierd of MCs dialog it can make you cringe and just plain boring.

Not having animations or music is also hurting the game, since it just feels like reading a boring book with either very few sex scenes or none at all.

Cant really justify giving this game more the two stars since i do feel like its below average in so many ways.

Could have been been an extremely enjoyable game if not for the annoying little gerbil that MC is, it's only made worse when you realise he is also an extremely ugly little dude. His dialogues, his actions and his looks are all so extremely cringe It's just so hard to look past that.

Really surprising amount of significantly different paths to take in the game that do actually alter the story quite a lot depending on your approach to each of the girls. Also surprisingly emotionally realistic in some of the paths and well written. Nott very many sex scenes but the ones that are there are hot because of the build up

version 0.6.3

Needs more scenes with the girls most of the scenes is touching
There are few sex scenes But game is so dark you can't see anything but he mc and the woman there body
Renders are good
No bugs

This game would be a lot higher reviewed, and I usually don't review games unless I think they deserve a five-star but I needed to come out and express that this game fails to live up to its' potential, the renders are great, the amount of options in terms of the narrative is great, my problem is that the PC is a moron, which the other characters mention a few times, but he is just so absolutely moronic that no one would be able to deal with him. Me having to play as this guy almost made me want to stop playing, despite the interesting girls and stories this game was telling, he literally as a main character could not suck more. Maybe it's the language barrier, I assume the Dev's first language is not English, but the dude says things that no human should ever even think of. Playing an idiot is fun if the players can choose to act like an idiot, but being forced to be an idiot the whole game drags this dame down to an average experience. If you make another game in the future, please don't make me play an idiot, because I enjoyed the game otherwise.

(edit)

Dropping this from 3 to 2 stars due to the ridiculousness of where the story is going and the dialogue from the MC, again.

v0.6.2R

Someone give MC some cheese for his whine.

Normally, I would finish the game to its current update to write a review but MC's constant pathetic monolog just compelled me to vent before going on. It feels like almost one third the script is his "Oh no, what do I do, I can't breath, get a hold of yourself" over and over. IMO, this doesn't serve any purpose other than irritation. Just makes girls falling for him much more unrealistic.

The game does put a lot of effort into developing a background story and character dynamics which are pretty interesting, along with decent renderings.
Some music would have been nice, but not particularly necessary.
Not a lot of girls to interact with, but this allows focus on available LIs.

Will update after I CTRL through the annoyance that is the MC

I only played the Dual Love Route so far!!! Slight "Spoilers" ahead!!!

This is the first game (if you don't count LoML) without animations, sound and music that I tried for the fuck of it because i don't have anything else to play. I don't regret it one bit.

Okay, hear me out, I get why people get uptight about this games rating and give it three or four stars, but man they are either stupid or just searching for a quick fap (which this game is not, and I don't judge since I too do that sometimes when I'm too horny that day XD )

Story 5/5: Yeah, you heard me, five stars for the story so far, I have played every possible incest game 5 through 3 stars on this site and man, even if its just slice of life story it keeps you hooked, I have been feeling so burned out from these, I've been searching post after post for some good incest done right where the family you try to seduce/romance/corrupt feel believable, the reluctance, fear of being found out and the heat of the moment actions are done so right i might have fallen for the sister. This game tickles my fancy in so many ways, even when it does not have Sounds, music or animations as i said above, I can't tell you much without spoiling it, but the sister is written so well I rarely feel like that for a character in a game.
This one is definitely up there with LoML and the other big boys.

Dialogue 5/5: The Dialogue feels very real to a point where it feels too real in some says, you can feel the tension, emotions and because of all the buildup, some characters (again, i cant say too much without spoiling), even when you just met them you feel for them in some way.
The Sister is by far the best written one here, the MC has very good writing too, yeah sometimes there is too much text about what he is feeling, you have to realize he is just a confused, scared virgin nerd that does not know how to deal with all that is building up inside him, at the same time he has no one to talk or help him with this, so he just keeps it inside him, but its written so well he and the other character actually feel like they are just some 18-year-olds full of hormones and in love, this is the first time I didn't skip though them and actually read them, every single line.

Renders 5/5: Quite nice renders, don't get spooked by the previews, you get immersed so well into the game if you have some good background music of your own that you kinda forget one of the girls is white as a ghost XD the Environment is very nicely done, feels like actual home.

Models 5/5: they are believable, no balloon tits or huge asses that defy logic here, feisty runner sis with a petite body to die for, sweet yet hot best friend that will fill a nice dress just right. Yeah, i think you get the point XD

Animation /5: no rating because i believe in the dev and im sure this game will be on the front page of the weighted rating in the future.

Sound /5: same as Animation

Music /5: same as Animation

TLDR: No Animation, no Sound, no Music 10/10 would recommend! Topic about Rape comes up quite a bit, don't get spooked by it either and just download!

Edit: Forgot about the Models, added section!