VN Ren'Py The Last Picture [v1.1.3] [Boby Boo]

[Wicks99]

Surprisingly short for a game that has so many updates, finished in 2 hours or so (with occasional skipping on the maid & aunt nonsense). Will write a detailed review later, but my overall senses is the developer has multiple competing visions for the game and never figured out which direction he wanted to take.

Many of these visions don't gel well with each other at all. One moment it's a domestic abuse story, then it's about incest porn with mum and aunt jumping on MC without logic, then romancing a slutty agent MC met once for business, punctuated with some dad murder planning, random comedic moments sprung out of nowhere, dad is suddenly a good guy with the police, horny maid in the house, cop & robber conspiracy etc.

Also am I the only one who actually thinks MC's dad makes more sense than him? Dad is at least a consistent gangster and normal grouchy middle aged guy with some delusions of grandeur. MC is a batshit crazy & horny emo teen. Why design such a fruitcake MC even if for porn? I get the feeling the dev is trying to map out something deep psychologically like Leap of Faith or Interim Domain but can't get his hormones in check to stay on track.

 

[mdwolf15]

no load save option?????

 

[Boby Boo]

I find it problematic that it is a kinetic novel and there were 0 mentions of it being so.
The only difference in choices you make is that you either see a sex scene or not.

Lastly it's fairy short needed around 3 hours to finish it.

OHH and also my personal dislike: Shit blowing out of proportion. You start as something something but end up fighting the global conspiracy.......As an older guy I cringe at those teen fantasy and get mental fatigue just from imagining how cumberstone that "adventure" is. <-- This is more of shouting out loud for many fiction stories made for male consumption.

Well, at first glance, it may seem like a kinetic novel because the story isn't advanced enough, so the choices you've made so far only reveal the immediate effect of what you've chosen. But in the next two updates, for example, you'll see the effects of the day you had to choose whether or not to go with the stripper, which was... in the content of the second update, I think. So, well, we have to let things take their course

 

[Boby Boo]

Surprisingly short for a game that has so many updates, finished in 2 hours or so (with occasional skipping on the maid & aunt nonsense). Will write a detailed review later, but my overall senses is the developer has multiple competing visions for the game and never figured out which direction he wanted to take.

Many of these visions don't gel well with each other at all. One moment it's a domestic abuse story, then it's about incest porn with mum and aunt jumping on MC without logic, then romancing a slutty agent MC met once for business, punctuated with some dad murder planning, random comedic moments sprung out of nowhere, dad is suddenly a good guy with the police, horny maid in the house, cop & robber conspiracy etc.

Also am I the only one who actually thinks MC's dad makes more sense than him? Dad is at least a consistent gangster and normal grouchy middle aged guy with some delusions of grandeur. MC is a batshit crazy & horny emo teen. Why design such a fruitcake MC even if for porn? I get the feeling the dev is trying to map out something deep psychologically like Leap of Faith or Interim Domain but can't get his hormones in check to stay on track.

Since you took the time to politely and constructively point out the flaws you think you see, I’ll respond in the same way, trying to explain my vision and the reasoning behind certain decisions — which, in my opinion, do have some foundation.


First, about the story supposedly being about domestic abuse — no, the domestic abuse is the excuse/justification for the MC to get rid of his dad. Domestic abuse is presented in the introduction, and by “day 1” I already wanted to move past it so that it wouldn’t be the main focus of the story.


Second, regarding the mom and the aunt throwing themselves at the MC…
About the mom — I assume you’re referring to the dressing room scene? Well, after a long time, the mom finds male validation again (during the nighttime photo session), so she just wanted to feel validated once more, without any strange ulterior motive — at least for now.


As for the aunt jumping on the MC — well, I think it’s pretty clear that I’ve tried to emphasize her personality and the kind of dynamics we can expect from her. Her first appearance was just a brief introduction without much interaction, where even the maid highlighted how explosive her personality is, foreshadowing those possible dynamics.


About the relationship with the real estate agent — you didn’t mention anything specific, so I don’t know what you’re referring to. As for the comedic moments — well, I don’t think there’s that much comedy, maybe some exaggerations or bits of irony that could be mistaken for comedy, but I don’t think there’s anything out of place. I’d be glad if you could give me an example.
The father being “good” with the police? Or rather realizing that he has an opportunity that serves his interests and offers him certain guarantees? Conspiracies between “cops and robbers”? Well, that’s not exactly unheard of in real life. In this case, it will be relevant to the development of the relationship between the MC and his father. It’s not random or arbitrary — we could call it “plot convenience,” but all stories are full of those, haha. Otherwise, every story would be simple, boring, and finite. If Fast & Furious can send a car into space, then my protagonist’s dad can be a trafficker who works with the government


And yes, obviously the protagonist is a horny fool — because he’s young, and when we’re young we’re all complete idiots who don’t know what we’re doing. But the point of a fictional story is to watch that evolution. Obviously, the MC at the beginning is far from the same as the MC at the end.


Anyway, I don’t intend this to make you like The Last Picture more or less, or to change your opinion about the visual novel. But even though I’m far from being Shakespeare, I honestly think that what you did was to take events in isolation — focusing only on the “now” — while ignoring what came before or what an action might mean for the present or the future.


You already have examples of how you misinterpreted the dressing room scene with the mom and the aunt waking up the MC, but I’ll give you another example of something that’s already in the playable content and will have repercussions in future content.

Spoiler: Minor spoiler

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I don’t know — we’re all here to have a bit of fun, but saying that the story shifts in different directions and that things happen “just because,” when the things left unsaid are easily interpretable, doesn’t seem fair when it comes to giving an opinion.
Also, a story is what it is from the moment it begins until the moment it ends. Along the way, there are small subplots — and that’s what you’re confusing with a lack of clear direction, when in reality it’s just a story that still needs to be finished and, more importantly, built up to reach its conclusion. Only then can we really judge whether it made sense or not.
Right now, you’re judging what are merely character introductions, the building of dynamics that aren’t yet in their final form, and in some cases, giving certain characters their backstory — which, of course, still needs to be further developed.

Best regards

 

[Boby Boo]

Hi DEV!
I have important questions:
1.- Will there be content and a harem ending?
And is the content forced or can it be avoided? By this I mean some fetishes or labels that sometimes appear in the game that aren't to everyone's liking, such as LESBIANS, NTR, (grotesque fetishes), femdom, etc.
Avoiding is not the same as omitting, the first is that the player avoids, stops and in itself it does not happen in any way, nor behind the cameras is it as if it had never happened, As for skipping, it happens only that the player decides not to see it

Harem ending? Maybe — it depends on the choices you make.
All the options that let the player avoid certain content also mean that those things won’t happen in the story. So don’t worry — if you don’t want femdom, femdom will never enter the MC’s life, haha. And it’s the same with all the other tags marked as “avoidable” in the dev notes.

 

[Boby Boo]

This game just dodges the cathartic outcomes it promises and that I crave.

I don't want to just go along with what the pushy maid wants/offers, I would rather push her beyond her comfort zone and retake control of the relationship.

I don't want to suffer through arrogant lectures from the dad. I would rather see him flustered by the hidden moves I'm making against him.

I don't want to just forgive and put cameras on the therapist or take his offer of fucking his wife. I want to fuck her and STILL ruin his reputation and destroy his life.

I guess it comes back to the fact we're just playing some loser kid that thinks he wants to play with the big boys but isn't ambitious enough to make the choices that would give me satisfaction. These people are all trash so why are we pulling our punches so much?

Well, if I have to explain to you that you’re playing the beginning of a story and that you’re talking without knowing how things will develop, then there’s really nothing I can do for you…
Anyway! In the next update, maybe — just maybe — your post will turn into one of those “aged like milk” moments haha. Just saying, in case you want to check it out later.

 

[Boby Boo]

Well that was short and pointless.

Look for a movie that lasts 3 hours, but only watch the first 20 minutes. Nothing more to add, best regards, Boby Boo!

 

[Hersom9912]

Well, at first glance, it may seem like a kinetic novel because the story isn't advanced enough, so the choices you've made so far only reveal the immediate effect of what you've chosen. But in the next two updates, for example, you'll see the effects of the day you had to choose whether or not to go with the stripper, which was... in the content of the second update, I think. So, well, we have to let things take their course

Thank you for answering that.

It wasn't obvious because i did 2 plays. 1st one the "natural" where i made decisions i deemed interesting and the 2nd run is when i decided to deny everything.
My biggest eye-opener was when i denied the maid but they still continue to be naughty with the aunt later on. (This gave me the biggest impression of it being kinetic). Felt like doesn't matter what choice i make.
I felt like by denying the maid you choose between corruption and order yet the outcome was the same.

So by experiencing it all i came to a conclusion that the only difference is that I either see the sex animation or not.

 

[Wicks99]

Since you took the time to politely and constructively point out the flaws you think you see, I’ll respond in the same way, trying to explain my vision and the reasoning behind certain decisions — which, in my opinion, do have some foundation.


First, about the story supposedly being about domestic abuse — no, the domestic abuse is the excuse/justification for the MC to get rid of his dad. Domestic abuse is presented in the introduction, and by “day 1” I already wanted to move past it so that it wouldn’t be the main focus of the story.


Second, regarding the mom and the aunt throwing themselves at the MC…
About the mom — I assume you’re referring to the dressing room scene? Well, after a long time, the mom finds male validation again (during the nighttime photo session), so she just wanted to feel validated once more, without any strange ulterior motive — at least for now.


As for the aunt jumping on the MC — well, I think it’s pretty clear that I’ve tried to emphasize her personality and the kind of dynamics we can expect from her. Her first appearance was just a brief introduction without much interaction, where even the maid highlighted how explosive her personality is, foreshadowing those possible dynamics.


About the relationship with the real estate agent — you didn’t mention anything specific, so I don’t know what you’re referring to. As for the comedic moments — well, I don’t think there’s that much comedy, maybe some exaggerations or bits of irony that could be mistaken for comedy, but I don’t think there’s anything out of place. I’d be glad if you could give me an example.
The father being “good” with the police? Or rather realizing that he has an opportunity that serves his interests and offers him certain guarantees? Conspiracies between “cops and robbers”? Well, that’s not exactly unheard of in real life. In this case, it will be relevant to the development of the relationship between the MC and his father. It’s not random or arbitrary — we could call it “plot convenience,” but all stories are full of those, haha. Otherwise, every story would be simple, boring, and finite. If Fast & Furious can send a car into space, then my protagonist’s dad can be a trafficker who works with the government


And yes, obviously the protagonist is a horny fool — because he’s young, and when we’re young we’re all complete idiots who don’t know what we’re doing. But the point of a fictional story is to watch that evolution. Obviously, the MC at the beginning is far from the same as the MC at the end.


Anyway, I don’t intend this to make you like The Last Picture more or less, or to change your opinion about the visual novel. But even though I’m far from being Shakespeare, I honestly think that what you did was to take events in isolation — focusing only on the “now” — while ignoring what came before or what an action might mean for the present or the future.


You already have examples of how you misinterpreted the dressing room scene with the mom and the aunt waking up the MC, but I’ll give you another example of something that’s already in the playable content and will have repercussions in future content.

Spoiler: Minor spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

I don’t know — we’re all here to have a bit of fun, but saying that the story shifts in different directions and that things happen “just because,” when the things left unsaid are easily interpretable, doesn’t seem fair when it comes to giving an opinion.
Also, a story is what it is from the moment it begins until the moment it ends. Along the way, there are small subplots — and that’s what you’re confusing with a lack of clear direction, when in reality it’s just a story that still needs to be finished and, more importantly, built up to reach its conclusion. Only then can we really judge whether it made sense or not.
Right now, you’re judging what are merely character introductions, the building of dynamics that aren’t yet in their final form, and in some cases, giving certain characters their backstory — which, of course, still needs to be further developed.

Best regards

Thanks for reverting though I feel you haven't really touched on the crux of my comments.

The thing about it is sure, even if I accept each of your explanation for a particular aspect of the game, it still doesn't address the elephant in the room. These elements (even if they are all internally rational within themselves like you think) don't compliment each other and swapping from one angle / genre to another as the story goes along just doesn't work IMO.

Maybe let me try and share with you my personal journey playing TLP to better illustrate where I am coming from:

1) I read the game page and plot summary. Oh this sounds like a dark noir AVN and psychological thriller. Cool, let me give it a go.

2) Intro wow dad violently abuses mom. MC angry and wants him dead. Cool, let's see how MC's gonna get rid of the dad.

3) Suddenly 10 minutes later dad agrees and actually honours a 1 year agreement not to abuse mum and wait for his business results. Ok... doesn't gel in with what we are told about dad just 10 minutes ago. And that whole violence and motive for murdering dad seems very flaky and rather unjustified now.

4) Mum readily accepts doing some erotic shots with MC with no resistance. Er... ok, so now we are going the usual incest corruption porn logic thing. Nothing wrong by itself, but just 20 minutes ago I was expecting some serious violence and dark psychological vibes, now it's an incest trope. Ok.... let's see what happens next.

5) Real estate agent slut offers herself and got rejected by MC and oh MC and agent are now dating and MC is some sort of counsellor cum psychoanalyzer for a "broken bitch" with a suspicious doctor. Yikes, so now it's a romance plus psychological game again but not dark psychology of murdering dad but healing of MC's property agent.

6) MC buys suspicious stuff, goes to morgue etc. as part of his killing dad manoeuvres. Oh we are still killing dad? Forgot about it, been some time since this surfaced.

7) Random ebony maid appears and then it's the usual hungry for MC cock. Ok, so scratch everything before. It's horny maid sex scenes time! Aunt appears and does the usual tropey stuff aunts do in an incest porn game. Hmm... looks like we are back to incest + harem in a house thing now.

8) Gangster partner appears and shares shocking truth with MC out of the blue - dad's actually with the police! Oh dad's a good guy it seems! So are we going to kill him? Don't know.

9) Oh btw there's this deep conspiracy happening between mysterious big organisations and MC is caught up! Oh the stripper who gave you a blowjob earlier is actually a spy and a force of good! Hurrah!

You can see in just 2 hours + of available material, I have gone through multiple genres with vastly different expectations and the switches were abrupt without foreshadowing. I don't know, maybe some people like this all in one everything crammed within one game approach, but it just doesn't work for me and I have never seen any high rated AVN conducted this way as well.

Just my 2C. Might have remembered the sequence in some events wrongly, but I trust you get the big picture of what I'm trying to say. Take what you will and hopefully some parts of it will help in your future development.

 

[Boby Boo]

Thank you for answering that.

It wasn't obvious because i did 2 plays. 1st one the "natural" where i made decisions i deemed interesting and the 2nd run is when i decided to deny everything.
My biggest eye-opener was when i denied the maid but they still continue to be naughty with the aunt later on. (This gave me the biggest impression of it being kinetic). Felt like doesn't matter what choice i make.
I felt like by denying the maid you choose between corruption and order yet the outcome was the same.

So by experiencing it all i came to a conclusion that the only difference is that I either see the sex animation or not.

Yes, I understand what you’re saying. Let me explain: there are routes (or rather, isolated events that have to happen no matter what) that are important in order to set up the debut between Mom and the MC — mainly events involving the aunt and the maid. But once the debut with Mom happens, the choices that define the routes with the characters will become more definitive

 

[Boby Boo]

Thanks for reverting though I feel you haven't really touched on the crux of my comments.

The thing about it is sure, even if I accept each of your explanation for a particular aspect of the game, it still doesn't address the elephant in the room. These elements (even if they are all internally rational within themselves like you think) don't compliment each other and swapping from one angle / genre to another as the story goes along just doesn't work IMO.

Maybe let me try and share with you my personal journey playing TLP to better illustrate where I am coming from:

1) I read the game page and plot summary. Oh this sounds like a dark noir AVN and psychological thriller. Cool, let me give it a go.

2) Intro wow dad violently abuses mom. MC angry and wants him dead. Cool, let's see how MC's gonna get rid of the dad.

3) Suddenly 10 minutes later dad agrees and actually honours a 1 year agreement not to abuse mum and wait for his business results. Ok... doesn't gel in with what we are told about dad just 10 minutes ago. And that whole violence and motive for murdering dad seems very flaky and rather unjustified now.

4) Mum readily accepts doing some erotic shots with MC with no resistance. Er... ok, so now we are going the usual incest corruption porn logic thing. Nothing wrong by itself, but just 20 minutes ago I was expecting some serious violence and dark psychological vibes, now it's an incest trope. Ok.... let's see what happens next.

5) Real estate agent slut offers herself and got rejected by MC and oh MC and agent are now dating and MC is some sort of counsellor cum psychoanalyzer for a "broken bitch" with a suspicious doctor. Yikes, so now it's a romance plus psychological game again but not dark psychology of murdering dad but healing of MC's property agent.

6) MC buys suspicious stuff, goes to morgue etc. as part of his killing dad manoeuvres. Oh we are still killing dad? Forgot about it, been some time since this surfaced.

7) Random ebony maid appears and then it's the usual hungry for MC cock. Ok, so scratch everything before. It's horny maid sex scenes time! Aunt appears and does the usual tropey stuff aunts do in an incest porn game. Hmm... looks like we are back to incest + harem in a house thing now.

8) Gangster partner appears and shares shocking truth with MC out of the blue - dad's actually with the police! Oh dad's a good guy it seems! So are we going to kill him? Don't know.

9) Oh btw there's this deep conspiracy happening between mysterious big organisations and MC is caught up! Oh the stripper who gave you a blowjob earlier is actually a spy and a force of good! Hurrah!

You can see in just 2 hours + of available material, I have gone through multiple genres with vastly different expectations and the switches were abrupt without foreshadowing. I don't know, maybe some people like this all in one everything crammed within one game approach, but it just doesn't work for me and I have never seen any high rated AVN conducted this way as well.

Just my 2C. Might have remembered the sequence in some events wrongly, but I trust you get the big picture of what I'm trying to say. Take what you will and hopefully some parts of it will help in your future development.

I really appreciate that you took the time and trouble to go into such detail about what’s been bothering you with The Last Picture.

1) Nothing to say about that.

2) Nothing to say about that either.

3) Okay, regarding what could or couldn’t be expected about the dynamics that Dad might have — as I mentioned in the first response, I didn’t want the focus of the story to be on domestic violence events, and I’m looking for a way to get rid of that. How? Something obvious and maybe a bit vague — in theory, a gangster has his word, right? Let’s play with that sense of honor as justification. After all, putting domestic violence aside doesn’t make it disappear; MC has only achieved a temporary truce, which still justifies his motive.
In the end — and as I clarify in the synopsis — the story is about MC and his “descent into madness,” and that will involve him questioning himself based on the events he experiences, both with Dad and with other characters, which brings me to point five.

4) I think answering point 3 makes this one redundant.


5) The “romance” with the real estate agent — well, when MC goes to sign the rental contract and what happens happens, it sparks his curiosity to know more about why the agent is the way she is. That leads us to learn a bit about her background (which makes MC empathize with her because of the abuse she’s suffered in her social circle) and the whole situation with the psychologist, which MC sees as an opportunity to test himself regarding something much bigger — killing Dad.
That situation with the psychologist leads to clear dissonance: is MC really better than Dad? (Let’s remember, the story revolves around MC and his morality.) He could simply do the right thing and report the psychologist, but he decides to take justice into his own hands, which leads to situations — without going into spoilers — that stem from meeting the real estate agent or what happened with the morgue girl. These are relevant elements for setting up who our protagonist is and who he’ll become. After all, killing one’s father isn’t a small thing, and it’s not enough to just take a single phrase from Mom, interpret it as “your mission is to kill Dad,” and boom — you’re someone capable of cold-blooded acts.

6) I think the previous answer also covers this in part, so to avoid redundancy...

7) Nothing to say.

8) Dad’s associate doesn’t just randomly share the story; he’s someone who cares about MC (as we can see a bit in the ending of the last update and will see more of in the next one), and obviously he also cares about his business partner. The fact that MC comes to him for advice instead of to his own father catches his attention. And since he knows MC disagrees entirely with both what his father does and who his father is, the associate tells him the story for two reasons:

1. To give me, as the writer, an excuse to start introducing Dad’s background.
2. So that MC can at least understand that his father isn’t the way he is just because he’s a jerk or a lunatic — he’s dealing with things that would be too much for anyone.
   This specific story that Dad’s associate tells MC reinforces the same dissonance I mentioned in point 5 — believing he’s better than his father while literally being minutes away from taking justice into his own hands. So I’m not only giving Dad background but also reinforcing the idea that MC has a distorted sense of morality — believing he’s doing what a good person would do and that he’s nothing like his father, when… clearly, he’s not, or at least he’s not acting like a good person.

9) I like the idea of the stripper being a spy hahaha, but unfortunately, she’ll just be a sexual resource and… in the next two updates, we’ll see what else she’ll turn out to be, so let’s leave that hanging for now.

Anyway, I understand your point about maybe expecting something centered around domestic abuse, but even from the synopsis, it’s clear that the story is about MC’s moral journey — and keeping that in mind, I think the way events are developing makes more sense. I’m sorry that your expectations about the story were one thing and you ended up finding something else.

 

[Hersom9912]

Yes, I understand what you’re saying. Let me explain: there are routes (or rather, isolated events that have to happen no matter what) that are important in order to set up the debut between Mom and the MC — mainly events involving the aunt and the maid. But once the debut with Mom happens, the choices that define the routes with the characters will become more definitive

Got it. Thank you for the reply.

I've also read your answer (the 1 to 9 one).

And i've actually started to contemplate on the usual abusive father stereotype. Whilst many indeed were simply bad men who abused their power. (we now have opposite dynamic of women abuse towards men rising though it's less physical more mental)
Some as i saw in your work are abusive/controlling or restrictive exactly because they think (and i started to agree somewhat after some contemplation, though i will not be the same i just "get" it now) that women are chaos element and they think they are the order element that is trying to restrict chaos from spreading.
The greatest analogy to which i feel deep empathy towards is the stripper scene where he tells you how a father would feel if his daughter would be on that stripper pole. That was the first time i felt that "father" wasn't a complete moron and lunatic. Abuse from fear of corruption and stress. And funnily enough his son is doing exactly that i.e. corrupting his mother.

I actually use a 5 finger judgement system. I try to see the situation/person from father/brothers/sons/friends and strangers perspective. Usually if father would frown upon it, it means that action is bad or immoral whilst stranger is neutral/evil. So if stranger agrees while others are undecided, likely that action is at best morally gray and at worst beneficial to a stranger while compromising towards family.

I like this work so far. Especially since i'm now in the process of finalizing, Order vs Chaos life path. I have chosen order, the boring less "adventurous" life. And seeing MC who embraces chaos and pulls along everyone else is interesting to see.


P.S. Though as i stated before the escalation of stakes (conspiracy, big cartels, deep state and etc.) gave me a massive fatigue just by imagining how strenuous that path is. When you are in your teens and 20's you want to be a hero, save the princess and get the kingdom. As you age you would rather choose to be a craftsman/farmer, marry a farm girl and have a cosy house.

Keep up the good work! Critic is good for improvement though a slippery slope because people try to rope in your creative freedom with their "interests" and it can be hard to discern objectively good critique and subjective critique with outer layer with objectivity.
And good thing that you didn't try to show the abuse, to people who experienced it is enough to hear it once to imagine it clearly, we don't need to have visuals to understand that a pause on abuse doesn't erase childhood of abuse. Every abuse situation is deeply ingrained into your memory and thus life. I clearly remember my moments of family "fights" with greatest of details. If you don't seek help those memories lead and string you along (basically control you and shape you).

 

[hhzza]

good game，best incest i have played this month

 

[steelsmiter]

I'm not sure what to think about the game just accepting the name I specified.

 

[Boby Boo]

View attachment 5385285
I'm not sure what to think about the game just accepting the name I specified.

Well, if that's the name that makes you happy, who am I to deny you that?

 

[steelsmiter]

Well, if that's the name that makes you happy, who am I to deny you that?

I'm not sure happy is the right word. Something about how it was worded right before the input made me think I was putting in a contact name on a phone, not an actual name on a person. I don't really like that sort of ambiguity. It was funny though.

 

[Boby Boo]

I'm not sure happy is the right word. Something about how it was worded right before the input made me think I was putting in a contact name on a phone, not an actual name on a person. I don't really like that sort of ambiguity. It was funny though.

Umm... I assumed that with the name selection at the beginning, players would assume that whenever the opportunity to enter a name arose, it would be the person's name. But yes, you're right. It can be confusing in the context of how you select the name for the real estate agent, but anyway, it has led to something quite funny lol