After playing Sorcerer as well as TRS1 & 2 my expectations for this game were quite high. And for me, Talothral delivered again. Story and writing are really good - no feeling of incoherency or awkward dialogues/monologues. Characters are likeable to me and the interactions are fun and not, which is important, cringe.
I like Talothrals rather pragmatic outlook on world and character building - there's no over-arching attempt of moral virtue-signing where certain actions are always "bad" and others always "good". It's more constructed in a realistic way of "rarely everything is black and white" but rather a lot of grey.
Visuals are well made with quite some care for details and composition. Are the sex scenes the best ones on this site? I wouldn't say so. But to me this is not a deciding factor since i would still play this game even without them. Although some spiciness is still good and adds to how the interpersonal relationships between characters are perceived.
Overall a very good story-focused game like the ones before and I'd recommend to give it a shot.
The game is well-paced, in my opinion, and I felt like I was seeing scenes at a good pace the whole way through. The art and dialogue are very good. It's easily one of the best games on this site. There is a large amount of content and a nice selection of actors. The game is quite addicting; I spent many hours on it. I would recommend this game to anyone. The game is updated regularly.
As of 0.19.0 I find the overarching story interesting albeit rushed and due to that rushed nature I don't find the love interests very interesting because they've had no time to develop.
The story jumps ahead days to weeks at a time with minimal onscreen interaction with said love interests and as such I don't find myself giving a damn about them. A major shift after the Dev's previous game, Sorcerer.
I think RandomHornyDude hits the nail on the head for this game but given the general quality of the stories I've encountered here over the years I have to bump the rating up one more star to four instead of his three because of the overall quality of the story and its presentation in general.
If the sex animations were up to the modern standard with greater range and types of motion then this would be a shoe-in for 5 stars.
I turned off the sex dialogue after watching a few scenes because it made the boring and uninteresting sex scenes take longer because you had to acknowledge each line of dialogue. When turned off you still have to wait for the scenes to complete and they are profoundly uninteresting. With the next update I may turn the sex scenes completely off as the story is interesting enough without them. In fact. I really think they are only there because this site expects a story to have them. In that sense they are clearly gratuitous rather than essential plot elements.
Anyway - I really enjoy the story as it develops and I hope the authorship team completes this without losing interest.
This is one of the stories here that I think would make a good movie.
If you are familiar with the creator's previous work then you know pretty much exactly what to expect.
The visuals range between good and very good imo, especially the girls which I find very attractive. The characters themselves (how they are written that is) are serviceable. Nothing mind-blowing but they are decent.
The story is honestly very interesting, the author is very good at world-building, never telling us everything in everyday conversations, but slowly introducing us to new things. I'd honestly play the game without any sex scenes and still enjoy it, and therein is kind of the major problem with the game.
The sex scenes are boring and stilted, it is just a whole lot of clicking between two- maybe three pictures where the main characters waist is slightly forward or backward. The game lacks animations altogether and pretty much every sex scene is stilted and honestly all kind of the same. The dialogue during sex scenes is also turned off by default, something I find kind of odd.
With animations and more varied and interesting sex scenes that don't end up with me skipping because I would rather see some story, the game would be a strong 4, maybe even a 5 if I am feeling charitable. Probably 4 though.
Despite my criticism towards the scenes I will be playing the future updates because I find the world and plot interesting.
TL;DR: If you are looking for hot sex scenes then go for something else, but if you want a very interesting fantasy plot with good renders then maybe give it a chance.
One of the best games I ever played. The story is amazing, so are the renders. Also played this game's developers other games as well so the guy knows what he's doing. The game deserves 5 out of 5 stars with out a doubt. Can't wait to see what's gonna happen in the future updates. Good Luck @Talothral.
pure kino. Animations aren't gonna win any awards but the models are lovely, the story is classic high fantasy which some may bore quickly from but the characters and writing are interesting enough to more than enough make up for it. Also, actually laughed at a couple of points in the story. I enjoy the dev's humor. It's not a game for all but if you like high fantasy I'd highly recommend.
V0.15.0 (no idea why the extra point 0. makes the numbers look more pretty? false sense of production? couldn't find a one? maybe it's renpy tourette's? possibly i am flummoxed)
lets start with the art. not my strong point as i have always been a novel reader as opposed to picture book and i can draw stick figures. once did something that got approval from an art teacher with chalk as a young teen but otherwise, it either looks pretty or it doesn't.
i'm okay with the non-sex stuff. sure it could be better but it does the job and i can agree i am entertained.
adult scenes fail to even give me a chubby so i tend to just click through. bland would be a good word for me. i liken it to watching a favourite show until excitement takes a tea-break and i have to skip through the sex scene like it's an advert
plot/story/writing is why i return to Talothral's work. this dev knows what a plot is, what plot devices are, how to construct a story and how to deliver it. it is never a dull read, quite the opposite. i find myself often immersed with consistency. like the mirror image of...er...several other developers. a d and a k and something super spring to mind...curiously
yes there are a quite a few errors where writing is concerned but the story drives you past them, so becomes a minor flaw.
has anyone ever seen a renpy error? i haven't. dev knows how to code. thumbs up
I would first like to say the dev has done a really nice job with the production. The MC looks amazing and this is one of the few AVN that has done a great job with the fantasy genre. You won't find any earth shattering renders but you will find the best mage character and use of spells in any of these AVNs. It is a mage who is confident, but flawed, intelligent and business like, caring and wise. A really well rounded, non Gary Stu kind of a character.
If I was just rating it on the MC, then 5 stars as he is really excellent. The story, however, and the other characters, they are all just kind of average.
The problem with most fantasy stories is they require a lot of exposition, and this is no exception. Because there are so many things the reader/player doesn't know about, it all has to be explained. Different countries with different politics, different races, intelligent "monsters", etc. So a lot of the time you are reading and trying to figure out what is going on.
And that's okay, but in this case, the story seems to drag along. There is also not a lot of content and the ones you get are with things like a fairly who is the size of your hand or a dark dwarf. The weird part, is when you finally get to an H scene, there is zero exposition. Just one position transitioning to the next. There is no "ooh that feels good" or "fuck me harder"... nothing... just silence. And then the animation... just... not good.
For me, I could look past that if the story was good, and in this case, it just kind of drags along. It's crazy because it has all the right ingredients to be really good. Unique characters, unique world, and a dev is who is dedicated to producing good, regular updates. It just doesn't really work. Between the lack of content and the plodding story, I find myself skipping scenes and losing interest.
Having said that, if you are into this genre, chances are you might really like it so I would encourage you to download it and give it a try.
Good luck to the dev!
UPDATE: I have been informed there are options under preferences to change the dialogue during the h scenes so they are visible. I have never seen this option before so my fault for missing it.
I used to have a boss who was a small business owner that had the same outlook as this dev.
I'd ask him questions like: "Why don't we upgrade to "x" shipping company? They're better in every way, and we can remain competitive."
And he'd always just dismiss my concerns: "Well, we've always gone with "x," and it worked out fine, why change? "
Story is fun, but just like with all of the devs other games, everything else remains substandard and never improves, as if every game and every update was his first.
Same still frame, poorly done, non animated sex scenes. Same stiff conversations and low brow writing. Same derpy facial expressions (or lack of any at all). Same souless doll-like eyes staring off into the abyss instead of to the person they're talking to. Same tropes like the last games. Same MC. Same... everything.
If this wasn't the umpteenth game the dev has made where he's put literally zero effort into improving his process, it wouldn't be on the lower end of the rating. If this wasn't 2024, this might be a good game. Thing is, everyone has long since moved away from this sort of paleolithic use of Daz. There's just no excuse anymore, man.
I'm glad you're consistent with updates. Many devs are not. But that consistency is also spread amongst all the negatives as well. It's been quite the minute since your first game and you should have figured out how to use Daz by now. What may have carried the shortfalls of your games in the past simply do not cut it in the present. What may have been a hit back then, is just mediocre and forgettable now. You've got a story that is interesting in there somewhere. Your games generally have decent storylines, but that's all there is on offer. It's a 4 star story, with a 1 star sfx budget. It's honestly a shame, because it's obvious you like to make games and write stories. But story alone isn't going to keep me engaged if everything else remains so consistently awful and you refuse to make even the smallest attempt at improving. I hope you join us in the current decade eventually. It's pretty cool here and there's a lot of neat tech.
I no longer work under my previous boss. Not because I quit, but because he eventually went bankrupt due to being unwilling to keep up with the market trends.
Writers are doing a great job. I like the story line. Graphics are good, but could use more detail. I would like to see better quality animations. I like the wider range of characters. Each character gives a different favor to the story line. Over all a great game.
There is some complex lore inside for just a common fantasy game. Weird. I liked the dialogue so far and it keeps me playing. But I am impressed by the amount of gods. Almost Skyrim levels. The main character is a common fantasy MC with no remarkable personality traits beyond being a nice and honor-full guy most of the time, but the models are nicely made no uncanny valley or deformed bodies to be seen.
Not very good. The plot is good, the writing is poor, the girls are... niche, and the sex scenes are bad.
The plot is solid. The writing doesn't quite work, however, at least in English. There are lines dealing with intrigue, cleverness, and implied secrets, and they don't make sense. There's a lot of stuff that I can't directly follow, which is not normal for me.
The girls are mostly not even close to human. LIs include: a red-eyed dwarf, an actual fucking ghost, an orc, a halfling (probably), a woman corrupted by necromancy so she looks half like a zombie, and an actual human. If that's what you're into, then you might like this game. I don't mind there being niche LIs, but I want there to be actual human women. I probably wouldn't've played this game if the screenshots were representative of the LIs.
The sex scenes are not animated, and don't have dialogue. They are basically just a series of slightly changed still images. They really don't work for me; I was actually laughing during the first sex scene I got with a human.
The art is top quality both in characters and backgrounds, while i personally don't like animations you have to notice that they are also very high quality even if a bit slow.
While the main story is way over complicated it is still an interesting read and plenty enough to keep you interested in playing, on the flip side the minor story arcs are too simple basically there is an enemy kill it.
Characters are good from a story standpoint, coming off as very realistic being just what you would expect from the situation but again on the flip side because of that none of the women are likeable from a dating point of view, personally i didn't like any of them enough to see a single sex scene in the whole game.
The other thing about the characters is they are almost totally useless beyond a quick healing and general cooking the MC does everything by himself, would have been nice to see them help out once and a while.
After playing to the end i didn't see a single consequence of any choice that was made, a few were obvious see sex scene or not but the ones that should control the story had no impact of any kind that i could notice, maybe they will end up doing something in the future but for now choices are mostly pointless.
Story 3/5 (needs a little work)
Art 5/5 (very good)
Sex N/A (didn't get any on my play through)
Fetishes 1/5 (nonhuman if that counts)
Choices 1/5
Characters 3/5 (Ok)
This VN has some of the best world building I've ever seen in a VN. I love fantasy worldbuilding, but a lot of stories just use exposition dumps. But this VN doesnt do that - everything is unraveled slowly and the dev actually actually leaves it up to the players to piece it together through the dialogue and the preexisting knowledge of fantasy stuff.
There was never a scene where the circumstances are explicitly explained to the player and the fact that I was able to piece it together really shows how well the whole thing is written.
As for the technical stuff, the dialogue writing and the visuals are good, but the character models can look a little generic and the posing is a little awkward - especially in the sex scenes.
Definitely give this one a shot if you are at all interested in magical fantasy stories.
I'm completely floored with how good this VN is. The story is well told with multiple outcomes for what some might see as minor choices at times. Took me forever to figure out what choice I made that killed off a character, but once I ran through a few times I figured out, "Oh, the writer actually accounted for these choices to line up and lead to this, damn, that's awesome." So many VNs seem to drag a story or not actually give you choices, but this surprised the hell out of me and made for an experience worth rereading.
Speaking of choices, the amount of choices given in the preferences alone should be praised. I've never, and I mean never, had a VN actually have an option to turn off dialogue during sex scenes. Personally, I prefer the dialogue, but the fact that the Dev actually thought of that shit? Wow. This is just a small detail that the Dev took time to notice that some players may want an option to just turn that shit off and enjoy the models the Dev has created. Hats off for that.
This brings me to the model work. There's no half-assing it here. The model work is top notch. From the random encountered NPCs to the companions you can tell some real thought went into each character design. Which really helps with the world building.
Needless to say, I loved this and I'm going to be supporting this Dev as soon as I can budget it out. Take a bow Talothral, you deserve it.
I have to admit that Talothral shows how a good story can go a long way in making a game enjoyable. No foolish "sandbox" play that is really just a vast waste land of empty locations at multiple empty times. We get none of that. What we get is an interesting story with decent renders. The animations are Talothral's weakest link and hopefully he can improve in this one area.
Time and time again Talothral gives us an interesting story worth reading and his world building is always top notch. One release schedule at at lease once a month is great. I look forward to this story as it unfolds.
Honestly, this is now my fourth or fifth attempt to write a review of this. The first time, just wasn't feeling it, it's more of the same kinda issues from this dev with a slight visual improvement. The rest of the times I got a few paragraphs in and accidentally deleted my review, so it's just cursed for me at this point. The short answer is "If Tally's stories do it for you, here's more of the same." It's marginally reductive, but true. This story feels like a spiritual successor to their other magic based AVN. (which I can't name because we're not allowed to compare games because... devs can't take critisisms? I guess..?)They STILL do the same, awful, sex scenes that are two images of one or both of the characters breaking their bones to crash into each other's pelvic regions. Instead of learning about the characters or relationships, there's miles of world building and everyone already knows everyone. Instead of two characters interacting, the dev would rather have 20 frames of MC getting on a horse, or have an entire scene play out but never talk about it or be relevant after the fact. Sure, a couple of those issues are just a constant in the AVN sector, but Tally here REALLY likes to write this in-depth world and politics. The problem is I DO NOT CARE about Emperor A or Queen B and their relations with Kingdom J or Village K. This time around MC ACTUALLY has issues, but they really only flare up or cause any inconvenince when the plot needs something negative to happen. I'm not asking for the world's greatest hero's journey, but if writing is the focus, which it very much is here, then give me a reason to care. MC once again acts like everything going on is just an annoyance to him. He seems to know the answer to all the issues unless the person he's after has hidden their face or there is travel time to limit his limitlessness. If you're gonna create universe after universe, and call the game "Tribulations" you better write some tribulations, that's all.
This starts out the same as the rest of the AVN's, MC doing SOMETHING. A pointless action sequence showing MC being the best, it being nothing more than an inconvenience, and it's NEVER talked about again. You meet MC and Mal, (I really don't rememebr if is name is Maltrin, Malgrin, Masrin, or Malfrin as the font is not great(It's malgrin, that's apparently a 'G')) They're finishing up a job for some noble that cheaped out on them. Then Nisha, MC's familiar that is a female panther because she'll probably become a horny humanoid one day. They need to get to the capital for some reason. You also see MC coughing and Mal's constant worry for him, implying there's something wrong. Spoiler alert, it's his one tribulation. Singular. Part of his soul is missing and it's killing him. Normally, I'd be interested, that's kinda a cool thing to explore. The issue is that it's the problem, the plot, and driving force for everything. The whole of the story is focused on this one thing. Solving his declining health. AKA finding the necromancer responsible(or another one to fix him, I don't 100% know yet.) You get a scene at the inn of the people not wanting him around because he's sick, I will say it's a nice little thing even though I think the thumbheads are a little too bligerant in my opinion.(You also see Mal moonwalk becasue the CGs aren't in order) This next section also highlights one of the HUGE issues I have with all the MC's by Tally here. While he's talking at Nelda, AT not TO, he's painfully aware of everything she might do or say even if he's not even looking at her. He acts completely disinterested, and she almost NEVER has anything to say. So many of the dialogues end up this way. What is the point in making other characters if MC knows, says, and answers their questions befpre they even ask them? These all-knowing Wizard of Oz type characters are NEVER supposed to be the main character. Omnipotence and omniscience are boring. Not to mention MC just comes off so matter-of-fact and sounds like an ass most of the time. I honestly think this dev would be one of my favorites if characters were written better. The only argument would be that part of his soul is missing, but everyone is just as stale.
Soon you meet Shani, I suppose MC's primary LI. And like their last game, their relationship is made difficult, only this time it's due to size issues, not political ones. He never loses the impatient attitude either. She brings him news about a conjurer? I think? Maybe the one that summoned the elemental from the beginning? It's not apparent, and I like to think I read these games pretty thoroughly. Anyways she says "Yeah I found it" So his response is "You gonna tell me or what?" And he does that more than once. So he starts to feel a little unlikeable. It doesn't get WORSE, but it just persists and I don't understand why everyone likes him. And they all do, everyone regards him very highly. You soon mee Gweyr, an orc from a now destroyed village. This is where MC's assholery is most apparent. He just begrudgingly helps her and say how much he dislikes orcs and barely wants to work with her. I UNDERSTAND his pale orc issue, but they literally just did the "Those are nothern dwarves I'm eastern" and she says "What's the difference?" and they compare forest to pale orcs. So the lesson was supposed to be learned. Only he still continues to be a bit of a dick. I dunno, just weird to me. Maybe I didn't read his reasoning right, but she falls for him after a week anyway. Which pushes them to the capital.
You meet the whole gaggle of mages. Lian, Akyaka, Uche, Jian and Magnus. You KIND OF see that Ayaka is prideful, Uche is supposed to be comedic relief, if having one of the two jokes is comedic relief, Lian and Jian are.... Characters in this story. And Magnus is MC's mentor. This highlights another aspect of poor character writing. None of them have personalities, or at least to me they don't feel like they do. Sure, they kind of relay information in slightly different manners of speech. But all they do is provide exposition or plot for MC to hear. Shani and Mal are the closest to real characters, but still don't feel like they have personalities deeper than playful and grumpy lecher, respectively.This whole section is meant to tell MC "Go here and do this thing. That being kill a necromancer because a magic war is comeing, I suppose. Ultimately it's long, drawn out, and nothing happens. It's SUPPOSED to establish the aforementioned characters and their relationships with MC. But since everyone comes off as monotone and dry, at least in my head, it just feels boring. I think a big part is the stiff posing, like the walk cycle that is overused? It's not even walking it's the character starting from a rest position mirrored over the body. So it makes it feel robotic. Also I believe a whole month is just skipped over at this point. I get that things don't always need to happen, but some of the best character moments happen during downtime. So I don't know why the opportunity wasn't used to get to know people a little more than their one personality trait. Another thing that bugs me is MC says "Now if only I could move from point A to B instantly" but MC teleported earlier at the Orc scene? And the ONLY reason I remember that is because he was like 10 steps away then made magic happen and was next to him instantly. I thought he was being so lazy he couldn't be bothered to walk that little of a distance. And I really don't want to learn or complain about the depths of how the magic works in this world because I know for a FACT that I the player will never impact MC's use of magic in any meaningful way.
The next bit is two side stories and the necromancer. The travel bits are SUPPOSED to be MC learning about Gweyr and sure, it almost seems like you learn about her. But she literally says NOTHING. "We don't talk about the dead" But MC asked about her? It should come off as a "moment" but no one says anything and cuts jarringly to MC's nightmare again. Then you get to see that Dev doesn't know how to make multiple dialogues work well. It needs to be edited a little bit so the backgrounds don't stack on each other. The gladelings are inconsequential. MC knew some when he was young, they want things from the necromancer, nothing special. I guess add a possible furry tag. The witch teaches MC to fight possession and talk with the dead. And the necromancer... Is a fight scene. I don't think he even gets what he was supposed to from them? Either way, Eirlys, the witch joins the party afterwards. I like her look, I will say it's very different. The passage of time is very strange too. It will say a couple days later or some amount of time, THEN the characters will have the discussion. But the time between the two scenes wouldn't have needed the time? Like when MC is stopped before the capital, he's at most half a day away(give or take) but it says DAYS passed before he enters? I guess being slow is better than teleporting, it still makes it hard to judge the size and distance I guess. It gets difficult to talk about the story even, as at this point most of what's happening is everyone standing around TALKING about what they're GOING to do. "We need to go here" "We also need to do this" "You are free, do what you want" "This character died off screen and no one batted an eye at it" You see why I think it feels dry now? I don't mind talking or a slow burn, but there's a difference between slow burn and inactivity, this comes off as the latter. Sure they fight some Wights, and are headed for an EIGHT MONTH journey. But it just doesn't feel as grand as it's made out to be. Though, it is a LOT more entertaining and engaging than the last game. The politics take a backseat and it never feels like a board meeting. All to end on an okayish cliffhanger. (As of 0.8)
All in all, this isn't bad. Am I interested to see more? Sure. Tally always does a decent amount right. But it's still missing that little bit of character writing and personability to make me love it. As always, the English is fine. The later chapters have a couple odd tensing issues and missing words in sentences, but it's good overall. The UI/UX is slightly edited, and they have the choice wheel option, but it's still stock renpy with a couple extra buttons, I'd love to see an overhaul to add some personality. The Art is better. The sex scenes are still two back and forth images of the SINGULAR bodypart moving up and down, making it uncanny and a little comical. The Dialogue is the biggest hit to this. It reminds me of an episode of Criminal Minds, yeah all the characters stand around and finish each other's sentences, but no one has their own personality. No one adds a unique perspective, just their one chracter quirk. Hell, there are only like 4 jokes in the story. I'm glad it's not marvel levels of quippyness, but lightening the mood with something OTHER THAN sarcasm would be appreciated. The story is interesting. Or I guess more that the events that are happening are interesting because, as it stands, I can't really tell what is the main storyline. Is it save the world? Is it meet his old friend? Is it get his soul back? I just don't know at this time. If ol' Tally ever reads this, what I want most, given all my gripes and nit-picking, is more effort to go into the characters and interpersonal dialogues. One thing that is certain is I do not care about a single person in this. Are a couple of the models appealing? Yeah. But all I know about them is what race they are and what they ate for breakfast. The only time I (the player) ever learn about a character is when it's about MC and his past or afflictions. That's great and all, but this is an AVN, I don't need to feel anything for MC. I'm sorry, that's just how it is. I will ALWAYS say how much I love and appreciate the world building and lore, but characters are really what make a story interesting.
Dev's name is enough to play this game. He is one of the most promising Devs here. 3 completed games already this is 4th one. He gives frequent updates too. Within 2months this one got 7 updates. For now there is around 7 - 8 hrs of gameplay depending on your reading speed.
Only play this game if you love playing story centric games. If lewd part is your primary focus this one's not for you. There is lewd here but there is also lot to read. Good decision to add orc as LI, seems like I'm developing an orc fetish. Comparing to his other games render quality increased lot. His all games got High rating but I think he still deserves more recognition.
Overall I enjoyed this game. If you love playing story centric games give this one a try. I remember playing sorcerer long time ago but for some reasons I dropped it, now it's time to play it again. I will review it later.
