RPGM - Symphony of the Serpent [v.05092] [NLT Media]

Review as of Version: .05092

I can't believe I'm making my first NLT review on f95 to exprress my fading signs of interest after completing the content present in the game so far.

Coming fresh off the boat after The Genesis Order, this game takes place in a new town with a hot new adventure to explore. However it wouldn't be possible for me to talk about the game without discussing the major points and cores of the overall formula

1. Cutscenes and Renders: There's a markedly improved quantity of cutscenes and with lip sync added. NLT seems to be building their games with bigger and expanse narrative cutscenes. I've seen an astonishing number of choreographed cutscenes so far. That's strong improvement over past games. However, I'm still seeing glitches like hair clipping through skin and clothes and many other clipping issues. There remains plenty to be fixed and polished in the cutscenes.
2. Character Designs and Subsurface Scattering: This is a core of the game that has seen a big downgrade since Genesis Order. The character look super bimbo-like or have super cartoonish proportions. They're stretched too wide or have large body parts like head, tummy, thighs. It's absurd and not super easy on the eyes. As for subsrface scattering.... sigh, where do I even start? There has been plenty of other games with amazing character render quality like Summer Heat, Chasing Sunsets, Leap of Faith, My Dorm, Star Harem. The detail present on these models are super well done. Here's one reason why they look so good; subsurface scattering (the ability to see skin pores and markings on the character's body) This is ONE BIG issue that's still present in SoTS. All characters look like dolls masquerading as humans. I expected NLT to improve upon their models after the phenomenal update in The Genesis Order, but nope the render quality isn't full 4k, nor are character models fully detailed. Also that dick design is a certain choice to have... overall, not very pleasing to look at. It's alright but could've done with better detailing and higher quality renders.
3. Story: Not sure where to stand on this. The story formula is a retread of previous stories. You play as a nobody in a new place, have a supernatural being as your companion, a phone, booty calls, random cameo characters. You go around treasure hunting and forming relationships with powerful people in this new city you live in. So far, it's weak. Nothing has happened but the fact that it's retreading same ground as previous stories does hamper my experience.
4. Map and Navigation: I don't even know what was going on when NLT designed the map and paths. The Genesis Order had more spots, and a more convoluted looking map compared to Treasure of Nadia. While I welcomed the presence of more spots to explore in TGO and SoTS, the map design looks worse than TGO. It's super convoluted and fails to highlight the roads (like I just did) properly for the player to figure a path. I like the models used for the map locations and the variety offered here. There's nothing groundbreaking orany new offerings compared to previous games. It's as fun to explore as usual.
5. Gameplay: Let's be real, this is exactly why NLT games were so damn addictive, the point and click gameplay loop mixed in with a wacky adventure and solving puzzles. This is what made NLT games stand out from the rest of the other AVN games on f95. In SoTS, the gameplay design has changed to be more isometric (like Disco Elysium and many other regular games in the storytelling genre). However, this brings a new set of problems which I think NLT hasn't had the best of success dealing with. The isometric design goes super hard against the points of a 'point and click' gameplay and giving the player freedom to walk over to any corner of the map as they wished. This isn't exactly possible in SoTS due to the map being isometric and the input location doesn't align with the final player destination. As such, players will need to recalibrate their clicks to lead their player to the required position properly. While the idea to take it in an isometric perspective is neat, it takes away from the 'point and click' style a bit.
6. Combat: This is a new core in SoTS. It was previously used on occasion in previous games and was usually a weak highlight. NLT doesn't seem to have figured out HOW to make the combat actually engaging. Here's a quick guide for dummies; if you're near and enemy, just walk back and forth in your spot till the enemy is facing behind or sideways and you can land a hit on him without getting hurt. Keep repeating this as long as enemy isn't flickering red and boom, the fight is over. That's all you need to do, nothing else, kids. Fights lose tension and don't add much to the experience. Don't expect a deep combat system, NLT seems to be figuring out how to make a balanced and fun game with all these new elements.

Overall, this game is more of an experiment for NLT, stepping away from the usual 2d point and click style to an isometric combat game with lots of cutscenes. It appears NLT hit their peak in point and click genre with ToN and TGO. With SoTS, there's a pressing need for NLT to master these elements that they wish to make a part of their game and possibly future ones too.

While very lacking in balances, mechanics and polish. It's still a very NLT styled game but has a long long long way to go before it's anywhere near perfect like TON or anywhere decent like TGO.

I like the premise and there are some general improvements but there's very little sense of eroticism to the actual scenes. There's no sense of buildup or weight to a lot of the scenes. I think NLT games have become increasingly worse in this sense. While Lust Epidemic was worse in some ways from being an earlier game, LE was easily the best in terms of a sense of eroticism and scenes feeling sexy rather than cheap or almost pointless. It's a shame because the premise is good so it feels like the premise is going to waste largely or too much of the time.

For example, the first sex scene would be a lot better if it was in the context of previous scenes that are more teasing at the Christian family house that are kinda blue-ballsing then you get to have this sorta down and dirty satisfying encounter with the succubus. Also there's not even an ejaculation or anything. It feels almost like the succubus just wanted to be penetrated and then she was satisfied? It feels more like characters going thru a bullet list of events rather than the scene having some "TLC" or immersion to it like if her motivation is sorta just raw sex drive, why wouldn't she at least herself orgasm. If the reasoning is like it's during an action sequence then idk I mean she's a demon so I think it'd work a lot better to the main purpose of the game if she casted some momentary time warp/spell where like time slows or he's suddenly in some void having sex with her then they're returned to the desert when she's gotten what she wants and also being a satisfying release for the player by being the sorta pressure relief assuming a more suggestive teasing/erotic sequence of events in the Christian family home that play off more of the eroticism of that situation.

I also personally could do without the combat implemented in the game but I also found the puzzles in previous games kinda annoying or more like a barrier than something that really adds much to the experience but I see these as being erotica first. I'd rather do some reasonable (and not at all egregious) amount of grind to simulate the sense of like building up to something like abc character needs to have 5-8 training blowjob scenes with maybe 2-3 variants to unlock the throating scene or something for example or this character takes 3 dates, that character takes 8 dates (based on their personality profile).

The one last thing is some of the expressions I think are too recycled where it doesn't match a character like there will be 1 pose for any/all innocent-ish characters even if it doesn't really fit them or it kinda breaks immersion and feels kinda cheesy or cheap like there's different ways to convey a more innocent or naive character. I think this contributes to an issue that has become prominent over NLT games of most of the characters being rather forgettable or not really standing out or when they do, it's almost accidental and what makes them stand out to the extent they do isn't really accentuated like they only stand out a little or some but not really that much with maybe the exception of the nun from Lust Epidemic but I think that was more like a lucky happenstance than understanding what made her good/stand out.

I do think one easy way to make the game better is making the designs of the characters more interesting like bigger breasts overall but maybe this is more personal preference. I do feel like a lot of the characters share a kind of generic similar body type.

Oh my, I hoped they will improve the graphics somehow after Genesis Order, but this is the 3rd game in a row from NLT, with excellent scenario but with the graphics and physics from 2010. In the meanwhile Midjorney and modern engines create ultra-realistic images, in the "Symphony of the Serpent" you see old 3d models, that they use from game to game, and simple looped animations in each and every sex scene.
Also they actually utilised (copy-pasted I would say) some characters from previous game called Genesis Order into this one.
I was a supporter of NLT, but after I saw this game, I am not anymore.
Not recommended, until game developers will work on the graphics and physics improvement.

Another good game for NLT media one of the best with Animation and Art hopefully they'll further improve and learn from any mistakes from the previous game looking forward to more of their works as they are reliable

After playing all of the previous games and liking them alot, i was happy to see a new release, but after playing the first couple of updates, i found it boring, and the characters more cartoonish than ever before. Its just went so far down hill, I unwatched it and probably will never play it again. The new fighting bs doesnt add anything to the game either. Just a bad story, bad charactors and a cheap rushed feel that spoils everything previously made. Good luck but i dont see this title doing as well as the other 2

First of all I love this type of game with small and simple mini games/puzzle .Is really engaging for the player .
The game is in initial development but from what I see is coming even more strong in animations and story that is previous games of the "saga"
Really looking forward for more

I will make it quick. The game is pretty. It has great animations and great isometric graphics during the gameplay. It also has a really promising story.

But it has bad sides as well.I didn't get very far but I have that feeling that it progresses very slowly and it will take ages to acomplish the game tasks. Everybody walks slowly, talks slowly and even location changing is slow.

And there is also some combat which is simply horrible. You don't simply fight but run around your enemies performing some weird breakdance. It is hard to make a single hit. This system really deserves to be burn to ashes and made from the scratch once again. Play "Baldur's Gate", "Jagged Alliance" or whatever to see how it should be done. The game is in its early stage, so maybe there is still hope for it???

I hope the authors will make changes to the game as currently such relatively small issues spoil the satisfaction from the gameplay.

For some reason nlt has deviated from the incest formula that he has been onto for 5 games in a row starting with "my summer with mom and sis" serveral years ago. That's a shame cuz that was their main appeal for me. Anyways, too early to say much about this game tho from the looks of it it is not going to be as good as nlt best so far, ToN.
Also, it has been said before, nlt seems locked in time, showing very lite progression in TGO and this game so far. I have given nlt fairly elaborate feedback by mail and as comments in his weekly posts several times because I like the style of his games but I haven't heard back from him/them. Seems he doesn't care about feedback except for bugfixes which could explain the lack of progression in this game series as of late.

So far this is shaping up to be my favorite NLT game yet. The combat is... less than desirable, but whatever that's what the cheat mod is there for. And it's actually a fun mechanic when you can't lose. I know that some people aren't as excited about a few of the girls in this one, but I feel like people would also complain if they were all cookie-cutter big-titted nymphos, too. So you can't really win. Anyway, looking forward to corrupting the married super-religious Mrs. Miller and making her a cock hungry cum slut. 5/5.

A way too early review as of v03083 (meaning game is only 3% complete)

Since it's so early I'm not going to comment on story or specific girls or anything else that is way too early to make a judgement on, instead I'm going to bring up where I think this game improves or worsens from the previous games. I will revise this review in the future if my issues are addressed, or if more issues come up.

Improvements
+ Side Girls - I really like this dating sim type addition, it's pretty simple and it's like a mini puzzle to figure out what gifts to give each girl. Plus they're super hot and the dev doesn't need to focus on a deep story for them so hopefully that means more sex scenes.
+ Animations - To be fair not much really needed to be changed here but the small movements like irregular handjob speeds or small non generic movements make the animations just a bit better.
+ Cut scenes and voice acting - This has really been ramped up and they look great, probably already more of this in this game than the entirety of TGO. Crossing my fingers for more voiced sex scenes.

Things that need work
- Combat - The system has been universally hated so I don't really need to get too into it, but it's god awful. Was it even play tested for 1 minute? The entire system is based around on screen movement which is just incredibly janky to begin with. The combat aids are a huge help and can kind of trivialize fights if you grind the money to purchase them, but that doesn't change the actual system quality.
- Money Making - It's the same tired collect random artifacts and sell them in some shady manor, it's fine but just incredibly worn out by now.
- Quality of Life - There's a few QOL improvements that can be made. Maybe some marker on the overworld that shows there's a side mission available at a location. Stat requirements for the side girls can be more specific, tell us how much STR we need instead of just a vague "Are you strong?" comment.

This studio continues to stand out for their polish and integration of RPG mechanics into this specific kind of game format

There is a long way to go for this one to reach the heights of previous entries though, but its only had a few updates

No matter how much people said about the last two recent of the NLT's work, the sense of humour and plausibility of his characters still outshine 90% of all the adult games in the industry. The replayability of his game as an RPG and as an AVN is nothing like any other games of the same genre.

I love every games of his, and hope this one end up being his best.

Played v 3083.
In have unscientific and totally feeling based method to evaluate games. It's just how I enjoy and spend time with it. I enjoyed with this. Other things that had weight were
+ smoothness (other than battle)
+ graphics
+ animations
+ characters (fuckability)
+ amount of h-scenes
+ voices
+- battle mechanics: every round after defeat was easier; it was a bit weird and clumsy
- some scenes or happenings existed multiple times

I give a grade 4,5 so far. Guaranteed NLT quality!

Returning to this series after playing Lust Epidemic, and I must say, it feels great to be back! The quality of these games just keeps getting better. The storytelling, character development, and gameplay have all exceeded my expectations. I can't wait to dive into the last two games and experience everything this series has to offer before this latest one is complete. Keep up the fantastic work!

It looks better than all the previous games and the animations are still top notch.

My biggest complaint with this whole game and what makes this a 4/5 is the combat. It is such and awful mechanic. I would take just about any other form of RPG Maker combat than what we got right now. .

My review is going to be pretty simple as the development company overall does show that they make an effort for producing a decent game and yes it is decent in comparison to the prequels. As really the game genre/format is still the same which really comes off as boring..You have a male mc, to save town/city/world for spiritual based evil which the evil portion has shown great character evolution among the saga. Adding in a fighting element which really should've been even in the earlier of the series instead of just dropping it on the latest instalment should've been a better angle. As a player this is just based on perception where most of the focus on romance and smut was geared more towards those that had large proportioned bodies vs natural figures.

If NLT actually did care on the feedback/reviews by players then as a whole why hasn't the series shown overall growth, at least one of the saga could've actually had a female mc as the masses that play games seem too into wanting to see another dude's dick moreso comes off as being sexist really. It'd be a very welcome surprise for this series to grow on all aspects.

Worst NTL game as of right now.Game i laggy, gameplay is clunky and main chicks are worse looking than the side ones.Graphics are as good as in the last games but there was expected improvement which did not happen.Over all its quite bad, and would not recommed as of right now.They also removed the tag most people were here for.

its not a bad game but the special feeling that NLT media created with TON and LE has gone.. the chareter designs look awful and the build up to the sex scenes isent good.. it feels like he thinks more is better but in reality TON was a perfect balance of evrtyhing.. plot.. build up etc etc..

i still recomend this game becuse it is a high quilty project with lots of lewd sences but as a fan from the beging this and his previous game TGO is like godfather 3 far from the masterpice of the first and second.. but is a okey ride non the less

I just monkey around in the game little bit. I am going to wait for another review and gameplay for after couple of months.
So far:
- I didn't like Genesis Order character designs(nightmare fuel tbh, only good ones was Kimura and Nellie) but characters in SotS are looking way better. I usually don't like younger looking characters but Grace is really looking good. My main interest of milf characters are still lacking but finally getting there. Shame tho, NLT was creating godly milf characters in the past. I hope they found that spark again.
- There seems to more character interaction in the game. I always liked NLT story and universe. Sex virus, aphrodisiac drugs, ancient magical sexual powers, only good mind control missing tbh.
But my problem with NLT games, woman characters are dull as it gets. They don't get jelaous, they don't get mad, etc. with each other after find out MC is fucking other girls. they just jump into threesome. I am not calling NTR, just saying there should be more interaction, feelings and emotions. So when scene hit, we can immerse with the game. Finding treasure and clicking couple of puzzle is not doing that.
- They are evolving with gameplay with every game and there some new mechanics in these one too. I have nothing to say it, its fun but sometimes could be annoying, just saying.
- *This is my personal wish and taste but I would love to see different body types like mildly bimbo and athletic looking gals. And non saggy big tits , I was sad when they changed Madalyn tits to saggy ones in ToN. I am still hopeful to see that in future games. But I would like to see a bimbofication sequence in the game, come on we are dealing with sexual magic stuffs

It's a really good one as usual from NLT. Much more better than most of any other corn games.
It's the 1st class, 5 stars and kind of AAA among corn games. This is one of games in series I'd keep watching and following.
The best from NLT for now would still be Treasure of Nadia followed by Genesis Order, IMO.

I really don't understand the low rating given by some on this game. Most of their reasons doesn't sound like quite reasonable at all.
Some bad reviews giving low ratings are actually just nagging about what they want in the game. Something that just really a matter of passing by, move on and look into any other games that suit and fit their taste on this site.
NLT has its own style, signature or trademark, whatever you'd like to call it, and it may stay that way with their own characteristics.

There are many other games with far worse qualities. Far worse models, animation, graphic and visual in general. Some even look like hand drawn, sketchy, edgy, pencil or crayon kindergarten drawings . Too sharp, too contrast, too dark, too bright, etc. Their storyline, gameplay or minigames are also so silly and difficult to understand at the same time. And the list goes on.
Yet they got ridiculously far higher ratings. Even goes past 4 point. FFS.
Where's the criticism? Where are these critics? Why here on this game?

Again, for me, this is one of very few games I'd always be watching and waiting for. Don't just rely on the ratings given and shown. Try it yourself. Too many far worse games got unreasonable higher ratings on this site. They shown those bad qualities some people say about this game. Yet again they still got ridiculously higher ratings.
If you want to understand what I am saying, just look into it.