It's hard to rate it low, just due to the amount of work and polish, but my interest is waning. These used to be the gold standard, but the formula is getting pretty stale at this point.
Top tier models and animation have always been the hallmark here. They're still pretty good - and plentiful, as always - but they're starting to fall behind. It's not enough to carry the game anymore.
I don't mind some thoughtful grind in a game at all, but they haven't done anything to innovate here. It's the same, over and over, and tedious. I sometimes do prefer this RPG format over a straight up visual novel, but the problem is they often play out like a kinetic novel - you have freedom to explore, but it's just a checklist to move to the next scene, and there's no deviation is story. There are no meaningful choices.
On a more subjective note, the characters are generally all shallow and unappealing, except for some of your 'close friends' which do have a little more thoughtfulness and organic growth. Generally though, there's no real character development or relationships, it's just a paint-by-numbers transactional thing where you are owed the next sex scene. And the variety of personalities generally boils down to either a bitch (boring), or a child-like idiot (gross).
So, what you have is a really lengthy game that is entirely dependent on the quantity and quality of visuals. It offers little else. I'm not saying it isn't worth playing, but a talented team like this should be capable of so much more, and the failure to evolve is becoming pretty disappointing.
Top tier models and animation have always been the hallmark here. They're still pretty good - and plentiful, as always - but they're starting to fall behind. It's not enough to carry the game anymore.
I don't mind some thoughtful grind in a game at all, but they haven't done anything to innovate here. It's the same, over and over, and tedious. I sometimes do prefer this RPG format over a straight up visual novel, but the problem is they often play out like a kinetic novel - you have freedom to explore, but it's just a checklist to move to the next scene, and there's no deviation is story. There are no meaningful choices.
On a more subjective note, the characters are generally all shallow and unappealing, except for some of your 'close friends' which do have a little more thoughtfulness and organic growth. Generally though, there's no real character development or relationships, it's just a paint-by-numbers transactional thing where you are owed the next sex scene. And the variety of personalities generally boils down to either a bitch (boring), or a child-like idiot (gross).
So, what you have is a really lengthy game that is entirely dependent on the quantity and quality of visuals. It offers little else. I'm not saying it isn't worth playing, but a talented team like this should be capable of so much more, and the failure to evolve is becoming pretty disappointing.