Review for v0.9112
My history with NLT games goes as follows: didn't finish Lust Epidemic though I thought it was neat as something different, played through Treasure of Nadia and enjoyed it overall despite clear flaws, and then made the mistake of waiting for The Genesis Order to be completed only to be extremely disappointed and dropping the game about halfway in.
Now enters Symphony of the Serpent, where my expectations were so low after the previous game that I decided to play this early and see if it's even worth still keeping an eye on. Perhaps it's the extremely low bar that had been set, but I will say I've enjoyed this first few hours of the game more than I did the entirety of The Genesis Order. But while the game does feel like it's taken a step up on the technical side of things, NLT remains rather stagnant when it comes to the sex and writing.
The narrative and dialogue have always been a bit goofy for lack of a better term, and that trend continues here. That being said I think I'm just a little more into everything this time around? The MC is leagues less annoying, I like the story with Tony so far, and some of the girls feel a little more charismatic maybe is the word. I surprisingly like the voice acting as well, and the non-sex cutscenes are fun. The story takes a pretty whacky turn in the latest update and honestly I have no idea where the game is trying to go with it, but you're more along for the ride on this than anything. Still not going to tell you anything is particularly gripping though.
One of the biggest new changes is the side girl system, and I'm gonna be honest and say I think it was a waste of time to include this. If there's one thing their games needed less of, it was shallow girls you have sex with. Shallow is a bit of an understatement though, as these girls exist purely to give gifts to until you unlock the next heart level and sex scene. That's it. It's a money sink to see more sex scenes with strippers/prostitutes essentially. I'd rather have them scrap these six and just develop like one or two more actual love interests.
The other big addition is combat. I may be the odd one out here, but I actually don't mind it. Their games have always had a sort of puzzle-y feel to them, and the combat fits into that well. It's a little janky sometimes, but I haven't been frustrated once by it. The new isometric perspective is neat as well, and I like the vibes of the new town the game is set in. The rest of it is pretty much the same stuff you'd expect. Plenty of items, crafting, puzzles, an apartment to buy stuff for, booty calls, etc. etc.
Now if you exclude the side girls the sex scene pacing has been much better as you're not already having threesomes with the town, but in no way have the scenes really improved even since Treasure of Nadia. My nitpick has always been the girls looking a little too doll-like and that hasn't changed, but if you were to compare these scenes to previous ones there's like no change in quality. The animations are still better than a majority of games on the site, but with this being their fourth game now, it's a disappointing area to not really improve on.
TLDR - While there are a couple new mechanics and changes, Symphony of the Serpent essentially remains much of the same you'd come to expect from NLT Media. Whether that's good or bad is up to you. I'll say at the least I'd come back to this as opposed to dropping it like I did the previous game, so I do think it's better in that regard. Also bring back the fishing minigame damnit.