RPGM - Symphony of the Serpent [v.08111] [NLT Media]

I'm a really big fan of this dev and his games, you can ignore the rating as he gets lots of random criticism from "porn sommeliers" because one of his game was a big hit.
I highly recommend playing the entire saga, its hella worth it.

great sequel to NLT

new mechanic fight keeping the game fresh.

i hope they make a much improvement from previous game.... like maybe new minigame... or new puzzle.... or something like that...

like the story too.... cant wait to see whats next to unravel

Story and Characters: The narrative is a jumbled mess, lacking depth and creativity. Characters are forgettable, with bland dialogue that fails to engage. There’s little to no character development,

Gameplay: The core mechanics feel outdated and poorly executed. Combat is sluggish,

Graphics and Sound: Visually, this game falls flat to me. The graphics are uninspired, resembling a half-baked project rather than a polished game

Technical Issues: The game is riddled with bugs and glitches, from character models clipping through the environment to frequent crashes that force you to restart progress.


Overall, This game sucks in each and every way. didn't expected this kind of work from NLT.

stop licking Patreon's feet, otherwise it will not take time to fall

This is not a bad game by any means however,
NLT has provided us with two of the highest-quality games in recent years—Lust Epidemic and Treasure of Nadia. These two games, especially the latter, set the bar very high for games in this genre. While The Genesis Order and Symphony of the Serpent are not lacking in quality, something feels off about them.

If they were the first games I'd played by NLT, I would likely have no complaints. But, for myself—and I'm sure for many others who have played their previous games—the new games feel redundant. I've had enough of the linear storylines and gameplay. I'm tired of asking the Oracle for help, and I'm definitely tired of collecting these statues. Change is essential at this point if NLT wants to keep their older audience.

There’s nothing wrong with a high-quality visual novel game with meaningful choices that affect the main story and relationships with characters. Instead of just "booty calls," they could add some sandbox elements. We have several great examples of games like these, such as Shut Up and Dance, Life in Santa County, Midnight Paradise, and Photo Hunt. All of these are excellent games, and with a studio like NLT, if they were to make a game with this type of gameplay alongside their large quantity of high-quality scenes, it would undoubtedly be crowned one of the best games on this site.

Obviously still a high quality product from NLT as always, however I got some personal thoughts with the game.

I do have a mixed feeling of how the current movement set is, I think it is a better improvement as long as we don't have "tunnels" in a wall or objects you maybe never find because you literally cannot see it and have to "guess your path to the place" that was disgusting and breaks immersion, purely for unnecessary "grind" that serves nobody and not even fun. Since we don't have these yet, so far so good!!!

I don't know how I should feel about the main girls and side girls pick, and I'm glad I'm not the only one pointed that out checking the forums or even some of the youtubers covered this game. seems like we suddenly forgot how to make hot girls other than white from The Genesis Order, and a step wayyy back into stereotypes again. The side girls looked way better than some of the main girls. And why all the older ladies all seems like they got a botox? their faces are literally bloated and looks like characters from previous generations.

Good game but need graphics improvement ,as compared to treasure of nadia and genesis order the story is lag. need to improve the scene, scenes are too short as compared to treasure of nadia and genesis order.

I'm honestly quite confused by a lot of the reviews for this game. This is objectively one of the higher quality games on this site; maybe people don't like the fact that it's an RPGM game? But that's clearly advertised and should be one of the first things you see about the game, and if you've played literally any of the other RPGM games on this site, you'd know this one is definitely one of the better and least frustrating ones. Honestly, when I was installing this, I was preparing myself for complete garbage. Anyways, moving on.

Story: It isn't anything unique or amazing, but it does do the basics of having a conflict and questions that the MC needs answers to and a mystery to solve, which for some reason a lot of games can't even manage that much. The game is also pretty early on so this could change.

Scenes and animations: pretty good quality, it's not the absolute cream of the crop, but it's pretty high up there. As it is now, there aren't many because the game hasn't even hit the year mark yet, but they're making good progress.

Characters: nothing unique here, personality wise decent, and it'll serve the story as needed, the designs and looks of the characters are good and they're all hot.

Gameplay: if you've played RPGM games before, you'll know what to expect. This one, I'd say, is higher quality than most other RPGM games you'll find on F95, so if you played any of those and liked them, then you'll be fine here and probably have an even better experience gameplay-wise. I'm not a biggest fan of the combat though, luckily there is difficulty settings to tune it down and make it trivial.

Anyways, those are my thoughts on the current game; usually I don't review this early on because, if I'm being honest, there's not much yet to fairly review, but for some reason this game was getting seemingly review bombed, so I decided to add my two cents since I thought it was unfair given what I experienced.

Easily the worst NLT game of the bunch. The entire framework for this title is tailor made for dragging out development as long as they possibly can.

The new mechanics are terrible, VO adds nothing of value (and xould be elevenlab'd) and has the ugliest cast of characters theyve ever produced. NLT has never produced a good story and they wont here, dragging their feet on putting out the content anyone bothers with their games for is a massive L for all involved.

I like this game way more than the previous game a lot of improvements in gameplay although I really don't like the new fighting mechanic.

Better world and way better characters than previous game. Also put in some voice acting in some of the scenes which are a nice touch for immersion

came from NLT original project before he open it to be universal (visit aunt sara vs summer time with mom vs sis)... i felt bit dissapointed after last project (genesis order). it didn't reach my expectation at all, the story is weird and setting unattractive. now, this newest one even starting being worse than genesis order. but i will wait, for it reach final and review rating it once more but at this moment, this game is poorly make, i feel no soul was putting in and let me bad impress as cash grab.

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.