RPGM - The Last Sovereign [v0.77.2] [Sierra Lee]

130 hours in my first playthrough and I regretted nothing. Combat is well balanced but hard, choices matter, and you are rewarded for exploring and experimenting. Story is compelling and well paced, never keeping you out of the action for too long.

Story: 10/10
The only porn game with well thought-out plot. It's complex but not too confusing. Dialogues are funny as heck.

H-Art: 9/10
Beautiful. Would give 10/10 if there were more of them.

Gameplay: x/10
Idk. I use cheats to get the story. Should be ok I guess.

The game really has no equal on this site in terms of scope. The game far surpasses the 100+ hour mark, with a story that spans years.

One of the best aspects of this game is the world building which is both well thought-out as well as ocasionally hilarious. The whole cast of characters are memorable and interesting.

The politics sections of this game where you manipulate and influence different factions/people I haven't seen in any other game.

Absolutely EXCELLENT!
Let me start off by saying I Hardly ever Play RPG Maker Games to begin with, I've tried quite many in the past and I've only seen a very few games who incorporate the RPG maker elements in the Main Gameplay that fits the bill and doesn't feel like an engine tacked on a story that doesn't serve to do anything but create a hindrance for moving from one scene to the next.

This is how you do it, And I have to admit my bias here, I do not enjoy RPG maker games in general, but this whole game won my heart.
Writing is Superb, this story wouldn't survive without it, especialy character writing and how worldbuilding is being handling is also worth appreciating.

I've seen better art and UI in many other games, but few, a very few even attempt to do what Last Sovereign does, create an epic fantasy adult story, which is yes, filled with tons of adult elements, but isn't fractured into nothing without it. Considering that The Art as you progress through the story does get better. But the main dynamic here that I really enjoyed is the MC with the girls.
Its incredible , the amount of depth and thought put into that, and really makes one immersed in the story as whole.
Big Recommendation, so excited to see what Qumes ahead.

Yo this game is legitimately a real ass RPG. Like think Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. It's a straight up saga. Exceptional characters populate a vast world with a deep and well thought out history.

Forewarning: This is not an H game with RPG elements. It is an RPG with H elements.

V0.67.2
Preface
First and foremost I must clarify that this is not what I consider to be an H-game (I will reference H game again, just clarifying what the word is to me so we're on the same page). To put it bluntly, I highly suspect that there has never been a human who has climaxed to material provided from this game. I read comments warning of this but thought "ehhhh I see those sexy images on the OP, I can probably squeeze one out to it" - No, I was wrong, I couldn't. If you're looking to fap I'd urge you to look elsewhere.

Now, this leaves me in a bit of a predicament for this review because I am ONLY looking to fap when playing H games. That's all they are and should be to me and thus I would probably give this game 1 star if that was the criteria I was grading it to. However, in playing through the game I found a lot of qualities worth praising. Many were aspects I'd like to see in an H game. Heck this game itself could be modified pretty easily to fit my definition of an H game. Because of all this, I decided to review it as a "game with sexual content". Think along the lines of how a movie with a few sex scenes is not porn - it's a movie. The Last Sovereign is not an H-game (to me), it's a game.

And, before I actually get into the review, I should clarify that I have only played through chapter 1 of 5. It was ~6+ hours I think?

Review
So, with all that out of the way, what areas are left for the game to succeed in? Well, there's story, character development, writing, world building, art, and gameplay to name a few. Honestly, this game knocks all of those out of the park. The world is quite complex, the story has some twists you don't expect, but even when it is chugging along a linear sequence, the outcomes are rarely obvious. Character interactions and growth feels very natural. I don't know these characters but the things they do makes sense with their backgrounds and personalities. The way they talk, the things they say or don't say, etc - it all flows well.

The world is very vast in lore but manageable in gameplay. You hear about far away lands and places but you don't really have access to any way to go to them. Until you master your small area and start unlocking the ability to travel further, and further. You hear about different factions and meet more and more along your journey. Some come and go, it's quite reminiscent of the real world, but the game doesn't force you to learn it all instantaneously. It's very digestible, I never felt overwhelmed by the world yet I could feel how massive it is.

I should touch on the art - you see those images in the OP? They're great aren't they? Yeah, I agree. I should point out however that you rarely see images like that. The MC does have sex quite a bit (I think I've seen 10 or so scenes) but you get one image, it is unhidden for a moment, and then a wall of text covers it for the sex scenes. I'll try not to spend too much time on this as this is the main reason I don't consider this game to be an H-game. For a game with sexual content, they're a tantalizing addition. For an H-game, they're sorely lacking.

And this brings me to the gameplay - it's typical RPG-esque, party turn based combat. You have various types of warriors (fighters, rouges, mages, etc) that can have different types of equipment and abilities. Honestly this game does a really good job of making the combat continue to feel engaging. Lots of different friends and enemies with lots of different abilities. The game rarely throws you something that has to be done PERFECTLY, and when it does it's always an optional fight (which, if you're like me, might as well be required lol). When it does, the guide linked in OP does a really good job of pointing out how best to beat each one if needed. It's linked very well so you can get to the specific fight needed. But generally you don't have to do this, you can just learn by doing and you may not figure out an amazing strat but it won't matter. Usually you have access to a free healing (sleep) location. Later on, you have very accessible healing and revive skills (in and out of combat) with plenty of combat-dropped potions to do the same as well. And, if worst comes to worst, the game does have an auto-save feature that seems to trigger every time you enter/exit an area. TLDR - combat is varied, detailed if you want it to be, but easy to just slog through as well.

And, the story - wow it's actually very nice and I do genuinely want to experience it. However, after playing many hours I had to ask myself - why am I playing this game? To fap. And I wasn't fapping. I never even got hard, maybe a semi once lol. And while the story may be interesting, it's not exactly one I can talk with friends about or reminisce over, due to the hyper sexual theming. And so, as much as it pains me to do so, I'm writing this review and deleting the game. If the sex scenes were more focused on providing fap content, I'd be all over this game, but it's just not there. If you're like me and the answer to "why am I playing this?" is to fap, I'd really recommend just skipping. Yeah it's a great story but life is short and there are many, many things/games one can spend time on. Again I'll point out that I've only played through chapter one, and things are definitely progressing, but somehow I imagine the H styling and pacing won't change much (based on my experience and warnings in older reviews). I'm giving the game 4 stars, and really only pulling the 5th due to me having to invest so much time to figure out this game will never be what I want it to be. Again, that's fine, just not for me.

One of my favorites! Sierra is a wonderful writer and the complexity of the plot is amazing. This game is not for those in only for a quick fap, tho, as things take time to unfold. The managment mecanics are awesome too.
Overall this is gold.

5 stars because you SHOULD play this game. It's huge. It's fun. It's well-written. It's witty.
It's also a 4.4-star game, but I round up with these things.

Pros:
Literally the entire game besides the few cons.
It's rare for me to think "I want to play more of that game and see what happens" - but this one has hit the mark several times.
It's BIG. Not sure how many hours, but it's a lot, and 90% of them are good.
Just play it. 90% of a 50+ hour game is too many pros to list.

Cons:
#1 Ginasta
Ginasta is the Captain Marvel of this game. After a dozen well-written, enjoyable characters and arcs, you're forced (at length) to engage with this idiot while your cadre of awesome folks prop her up like she's amazing.
MC: Ginasta... define "tyrant"
Ginasta: Anyone who imposes their will on someone else, even if they're a friend and do it out of compassion using logic and the person is better off and grateful!
MC: So if Jack correctly knew a mushroom was poisonous, and Jill was about to eat it because she thought it was safe, and Jack convinced her not to do so... Is Jack a-
Ginasta: JACK IS A FUCKING TYRANT.
If you think I'm exaggerating I'll give some actual in-game scenarios:
1. Your administrative assistant admits she loves sewing, so you spend a great deal of time taking her all over the world to gather knowledge of different sewing techniques. Your differently-abled lover wants to set up a school for differently-abled children, and you love her and the idea so you spend a great deal of time and money setting up the school and hiring everyone to work there. You do another three or four selfless acts because you love your companions and they have interesting ideas.
Then you visit the wilds, and Ginasta says "There's a place I'd like to go, but I don't think you'd want to go there because there's nothing in it for you and no power for you to gather."
I'd empty my Sx account for Simon to say "Bitch I just spent a month building a school for differently-abled children what the cunty fuck is your problem?"
2. One of the sweetest characters in the game and someone with whom Simon has mutual love, Elleani, is being hounded by suitors. You coordinate researchers on every corner of the globe to look into an almost-forgotten political position she could acquire that would prevent her from getting married. You then negotiate the position's existence with your contacts in the church and the local nobility. You delve into an abstract plane of existence to nab the final ironclad proof of the position's validity.
Everyone except Ginasta: This is great! You won't have to marry someone you hate and be essentially serial-raped for the next 50 years!
Ginasta: Looks like we've got another POWER-HUNGRY TYRANT HERE!

Ginasta is THIS poorly written.
The kicker: any time anyone asks a very basic, logical question that displays Ginasta's philosophy being against anything but total anarchy OR the fact that by preventing the will of others, Ginasta is also a tyrant (by her woefully inaccurate definition of the word) - she gets deus ex machina'ed the fuck right out of that conversation.

The kicker's kicker: you are god-moded into caring about her. Your harem is god-moded into thinking she's amazing.

(If anyone's wondering, the definition of tyrant is: an extremely oppressive, unjust, or cruel ruler.)

#2 King Alonon.
I am a hyper-intelligent, brave, compassionate king. I led my troops in many battles against terrible evils. I have plunged the depths of alternate realities to bring prosperity and arcane secrets to my people.
I discovered the cyclical nature of the universe, and that protons and electrons - the tiny, building block particles of matter whose most important trait is their opposing forces - are actually tiny, building block particles of METAPHYSICAL matter whose most important trait is their opposing forces, so now I have CRIPPLING DESPRESSION.
No there isn't any more to it. It never occurred to me the world existed before I was born but now that I've learned it's very old AND that it'll be around after I die, I basically can't function. Also I found out that matter is made of smaller particles that I can't see and that's hella depressing for some reason.

#3. Some choices sort-of matter in ways you have no way of knowing.
Stipulate that "there's a lot of somewhat meaningful choices in the game" as a PRO, and the con is something like "wtf how do I know where to send this caravan of poultry? Can I ask Iris which nation would most benefit from a steady supply of KFC? No? Okay I'll hook it up to Mexico." *10 game hours later* Oh shit I can't get the top tier reward for this politicking because 10 hours ago I should have sent those chickens to Vietnam.
EVERYTHING is quantified.
VERY FEW THINGS can have their quantified variables visible.
I'm not looking for a "on a scale of 1 to your max hp, how injured do you feel" here, but there are ways to conversationally quantify things and on almost no occasions are these available to you. Ironically, in the few instances you are privy to them, the game gives you numbers.
------
There are only a few niggles besides these 3.
It's a great game and I give it my strongest recommendation.
Very much embodies "the best book you'll ever play" review from the 90s that some games got.



Good god Ginasta sucks but this game is fantastic.

Amazing game. The story is incredible, the characters are great, the gameplay is solid and the lore is deep. A lot of fun for anyone who likes worldbuilding, or just having to think hard while playing a challenging game.

The smut is definitely not the point of the game, but it ain’t bad. The art quality varies a bit, but never fails to capture the spirit of the scene— you can tell the artist has actually played the thing and isn’t just going off a text description.

Not a coomer game, and the consulting the wiki is a must if you want to have good results in the game. But if you invest your time and thoughts into it, this game pays off.

Review for version: 0.65

Excellent game.

great writing, decent plot, tons of content.

there are no animations/elaborate scenes, but thats not why you play this game, you play this one for the story.

Be aware that its quite a "complicated" game, you probably want to look at the walkthrough every once in a while because there is so much going on. also be aware that youre going to be playing this for quite a lot of hours.
Im probably not the fastest, but I finished all the current content and my save is about 107 hours in...

This is such a well written story, it barely even needs the sex its a good enough game on its own without it. Its heavy on dialogue and text but it draws you in and takes you on a great adventure. So much content to get through, I guess it has been in development for 7 years though so would be surprising if not!

This game is way too good for this site. This is a damn good story, but it's not for anyone looking just to get quick gratification. The positives are simply too numerous to count in a review tbh. If you want a smart story then here it is.

So the Last Sovereign is probably the best socio economic political simulator that exists and is mostly definitely the greatest in the spaces we degenerates visit.

There's also some porn too.

Honestly Sierra did a great job in making porn part of the core DNA of the game. With a few key decisions earlier in development, it would be a title that I could unashamedly play on my main steam profile. You can tell that the idea of a game that is both serious and pornographic resonated with the creator deeply.

Anyways, here's what I actually liked about the game:
Great:

1. Story- unironically a story that most jrpgs wouldn't clear. Granted, this is a seven year development project, but still. The writing shines through and I would play without the porn.
2. Characters- The protagonist, while being probably the most boring person in the main cast, is still awesome in his own right. He is a developed character that makes choices that an actual person would make. The rest of the cast each have their own motivations and ideals even if they are bent towards the MCs will, and players that enjoy their women to have personality and not be sexy lamps will enjoy.
3. Worldbuilding- Neatly integrates sex into the world, and it creates a believable socioeconmic environment where one average sexlord can create a pink utopia.
4. Gameplay- Combat is balanced, though you'll be disappointed if you skip any content. You can't farm xp, so every encounter matters to leveling up. The real meat of the game though are the triggers. Damn near every interaction you have and choice you make is logged, and some choices will be locked off without sufficient hidden scores. Keep an eye on the quest log and character dialogue to see if you reached some of these thresholds(or just use a guide, the best case scenario story is really good)

Decent:

1. Art- It's an acquired taste to me, but it's got a distinctive style outside of the RPGMaker default kit.

Anyways, It's unironically my favorite game in this space, but I sometimes like it in spite of the porn. Likely a contender on my top 5 list of all times, and it's somewhat depressing I can't discuss it more in sfw boards and real life.

Hands down the best RPG maker game I've ever played. The story is an enthralling epic that grabs you and never let's go. The characters are all extremely well-written and you fall in love with each of them very quickly. The gameplay is exactly what you'd expect from a solid JRPG but even here it goes above and beyond. There's honestly nothing bad I can say about this gem other than it's not finished. When it is I firmly believe it will be one of the best hentai games ever made.

The best porn game. Massive world, colorful cast and rich story/lore. Think of this as an excellent book with a lot of sex scenes.

The Dev makes full use of the RPGM engine. There are no the same play throughs as each of your choices can and will impact the world.

Transcends the genre. This is one of the best stories I've seen any game, I have never seen another game where my choices have so much impact on the world. The characters are rich and fully realised. The combat, miraculously, engaging despite being an RPGmaker game.

5/5

What would happen if we took all hentai games tropes and archetypes seriously and start writing an actual story around them?

This is easily one of the best RPGM based games ever regarding its complexity and the ACTUAL many choices you can make during MC "hero's journey" which manages to be an unique experience, classic as a FF but also has a stunning cast of characters and a solid worldbuilding which would blow tons of AAA games out of the water.

Highly recommended.


PROS:

Superb writing.

Every harem member has an unique and dinamic personality and an interesting backstory, in 100+ hours of gameplay I never felt like a main cast character had been set aside, but the total opposite since they actually have an evolution during the entiriety of the game. Each of them also has a wide arsenal of unique quirks and abilities which can make the difference regarding the situation.

The many choices you make actually shape your MC, the main cast and the world around them, even in a subtle way. A choice that could seem beneficial at the moment could backfire in a much grander scale 40+ hours later and also be your salvation much further in the game.

Good level design and awesome combat balacing, which motivates the player to be more efficient on equipments and clear every open maps since resources are limited and hidden stats and checks are all over the place.


CONS:

Even considering an excellent use of RPGM this game is so ambitious and well put together in every other way that it feels like the engine takes its tool on it, forcing limitations as a slow pace which heavily discourage an otherwise much cleaner and funnier second run.

A completionist player that doesn't care much about roleplaying would find the use of the wiki mandatory as many stats are hidden and the actual impact of a choice may be not entirely clear.

I really, really want to give this game a higher score, but the game is woefully lacking in too many areas to warrant anything above a three. TLDR: The main plot feels like rudderless meandering that's buoyed by good character writing, and the gameplay is bog-standard RPGM with hints of irritation grated in. As far as the sex scenes? They're very same-y. I hope you like orgies and lesbians, because a good 80% of the game involves them.

To begin, the writing overall is pretty good. A lot of people seem to be under the impression that it's some revolutionary epoch of storytelling, with a plot that deserves high praise, and they're mostly wrong. While the character writing is very good - each character feeling believably distinct from one another and having a solid place inside of the harem - the big picture writing leaves much to be desired. I've played about 50 hours of this game so far, and it seems that they're just introducing a big bad guy that you're supposed to take seriously, and he still acts like an edge-lord teenager, just like the previous two bad guys. Simon spends the vast majority of the plot cleaning up the messes of morons that came before him.

And when he's not doing that, he's performing empire building minutia. Normally, I like empire building. I have thousands of hours in EUIV and CKII/III. Economies and politics are my bread and butter. And this? This ain't it, chief. There's no "balancing" of interests, there's no "choice" in what you do or when you do it. All that exists is a spreadsheet, and boy howdy does the Dev hope you like tracking invisible variables. With one exception so far, the game repeatedly presents you with "choices" that are no more than "do you want to have a better result, or a worse result?". Of course, it doesn't tell you which one is better or worse, you're expected to psychically know which one is proper, otherwise you get arbitrarily boned over for the future. And the worse you do initially? The worse you do in the future! Failure compounds on itself. There's several extended sequences in the game where there are multiple variables tracked by the game engine that influence global variables for the entire game, and if you dare deviate from the Holy Walkthrough (hallowed be thy name) you'll be severely punished.

If you want the best results (in another year or two when the game is finished), you better be following that walkthrough right from the very beginning. Didn't talk to a random guy in a random location, who looks just like every other rando? That's a point on Hidden Variable #37 you won't be getting!

I want the characters in the game to be happy, I want the amount of death to be minimized. The ONLY way to ensure that your favorite minor characters don't die is to religiously follow a walkthrough, unless you have some godly luck when making choices. It's very vexing to have characters die because your various variable scores are "slightly" too low for a given segment.

So, if I didn't like the decision making, did I like the gameplay? No way! It's not awful, but it's not enjoyable either. Typical RPGM faire, but the amount of status ailments are incredibly annoying. I know there's items to minimize them...so what? You can't create a problem and introduce a solution to the problem and expect me to thank you for it. You created the problem to begin with! Overall though, it's not too offensive. It is annoying that, in order to maximize previous variables I mentioned, you need to fight everything you find to grind your level up to its max. There's a limited number of fights, but lord does it get tedious to finish them all.

How about the sex scenes then? Not too great, unfortunately. There's a few standout ones (gotta love shortstack halflings), but there is a copious amount of orgies and lesbians in this game. M/F/F does absolutely nothing for me, and that's a solid proportion of the game. And then it becomes M/F/F/F/F/F/F/F/F. No, I'm not joking. The one on one sex scenes are generally very good and intimate, but anything that involves more than that becomes a huge clusterfuck. It's way too busy for me to get any intimacy out of it, how can nine people be intimate all at the same time? Not my style, to say the least.

The character writing is what redeems it from being any lower than a 3 star, however. All the characters are very, very good. Simon may be one of my favorite harem protagonists of all time, he's got a good head on his shoulders and has his own foibles. Yarra and Robin are the two main leads in my eyes, and they have very, very compelling characters. Every single other member of the harem also has a good deal of scenes and characterizations to them too. No one feels superfluous, which is quite an accomplishment when you have so many people to bone.

The game is very ambitious, and deserves praise for that alone. I can't in good faith, however, give it a good rating when it has so many glaring flaws. You can't make informed decisions regarding your empire building, because everything is invisible. Buildings are tied to events in the future you have no way of knowing about, seemingly benign decisions can haunt you far, far in the future. I'm opposed fundamentally to a lot of the game design decisions made thus far. Still, I can't undersell how good the characters are. If you're willing to trudge through, Holy Walkthrough in hand, you'll have a good time.

This is a 'porn' game that I think genuinely changed my worldview for the better, and while it is a porn game, and would be a lesser game if you tried to remove the lewd from it, it is an amazing game outside of just trying to get fap material.

Amazing game. Very funny writing, deep worldbuilding, and the most "your choices have an impact on the world" of any game I've ever played. I almost gave up on it in the beginning because of the prologue, came back here to see why it was so popular, and ended up loving it after pushing past the fake out beginning.

There are some downsides, but almost all of them are because of the game engine (I keep fantasizing about trying to make a FFX style remake...). However, there are some hotkeys that overcome some of the issues that some people who have reviewed the game don't seem to know about:

F5: enters or leaves full screen mode
Alt+Enter: alternate full screen mode (F5 is advised)
F6: change size of windowed display

there are more listed in the readme included in the game as well, knowing those fixes the most frustrating RPG Maker usability issues.

I also came across an interesting in depth review from someone in the rational fiction community which I'll link in case anyone else would be interested in a non porn-first perspective on the game:

https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/miy5rc/rt_dc_nsfw_a_practical_guide_to_the_last_sovereign/

I started playing and insta quit at first because I assumed what I first got was what the game had to offer. If you end up doing that, play it again, and press on as I did. Without spoiling, it's deeper than it first appears.

I'll probably update this review later after I play more. I just want to tell anyone who is using reviews to decide whether or not to play this game, trust me, soldier on.