VN - Ren'Py - Tribulations of a Mage [v0.49.0] [Talothral]

Tribulations of a Mage is quite the enigma. A combination of a rock-solid story and compelling world building coupled with offensively bad adult content made worse by the love interests being deliberately disgusting and unattractive. Despite it failing as badly as any visual novel I’ve read can fail in the adult content department, I must still give it high marks as I relish the story, albeit on an entirely “pants stay on” basis.


I’m sure somewhere out there is a person who has a fetish for old ogre porn, but I’ve yet to meet one, and even they would be turned off by the horrendous fake animations, absence of any dialogue, and even worse, the inability to opt out of the scenes without knowing ahead of time to make poor love-interest choices. That’s right folks! If you’re even remotely nice to the ogre, you’ll end up in an inescapable, fake-animation gross-out sex scene with it, followed by much-needed eye bleach. Thankfully, once this caveat is known, you can make a point of choosing the romantic option for some dialogue before rewinding to choose the less kind option that, thankfully, has no real repercussions later.


So why read through what amounts to a kinetic novel with choices that only really effect dialogue? One with absolutely abysmal adult content? Quite simply, the story is fantastic. You play as a combat-focused mage who, prior to the story, had part of his soul torn from him by a necromancer, this world’s “Big Bad” that drives much of the story. Told you have only a year or two before your remaining soul fails you, you continue your search for the necromancer that took part of your soul, along with a continually growing band of weirdos and misfits, which would be an understatement. Among your crew are a fairy, a dark dwarf, a woman who’s skin you can see through, an orc, a Titan, and the list grows and grows.


This is, I believe, the author’s 4th work, two unplayed by me, but I was a big fan of Sorcerer for the same reasons that I’m greatly enjoying the story of Tribulations of a Mage. Strong writing, strong world building, and real end-of-the world stakes draw you in and leave you wanting more, and you won’t have to wait long as Talothral drops lengthy updates frequently. I haven’t quite finished Tribulations as of writing this review, but I’m a solid 15 – 20 hours of reading in with, it appears, another 10 to go, and this novel is only a couple years old.


As an adult visual novel, Tribulations of a Mages fails spectacularly. Just like in his previous work, Talothral has figured out the worst and least attractive way to do sex scenes, with short frames continuing throughout with no dialogue, little continuity, and often involving deliberately unattractive love interests. Even if the latter is your fetish, the way it’s done ruins it. So why four stars? Because I’m looking forward to this evening when I’ll read another two hours of this fascinating story. What will become of Malgrin now that he’s found his lost love? What about the lich skull that you captured in the Dwarven mountain fortress? Is the Snow elf as she appears, or is she more sinister? I’m genuinely curious how the story will shake out, and what else can you ask for from a good story than drawing you back in to see where it leads?

Where to begin?

If you've played and enjoyed any of the creators other games, no need to read further, TOAM is up to par with that content, and you should play this game.

If you haven't? Maybe this game is not for you. I can't bear to give this game lower than a 5 star rating based purely on the inventiveness of the world, and the intricacy of the plotting. Also the sheer fact that this creator is NOT a person afraid of true monster girls.

The story - Very intricate, very detailed. Pulling up the codex and seeing some 30 gods and (by the end of the current update) well over a 100 named characters... you get the idea. Lots of detail, lots of plot. Perfect if you're looking for a harem centric fantasy world that's not as bland and cookie cutter as most.

The adult content - this is where the game falters. Virtually every sex scene is the exact same as the previous one. The MC magics his clothes away, they kiss once or twice, they 69, the woman says she needs his dick, and then they bone. 3 to 4 variously posed static images, played on either a loop or to be clicked through, with regular sex dialogue (that cane be turned off in the options and also seems to be... recycled?), and then a shot of him creampie'ing the lady.
If the game has one failing it is the sex. It's completely uninspired, and frankly, it feels like the creator doesn't really want to include them. I don't know if they DO want to include them or not, I'm just saying what it feels like.
But on the flip side, the game has the widest variety in body type and monster girls I've seen in a game in a LONG time. I'm talking women with snake hoods instead of hair, deer faces, ogres, warts and all, and one lady who's literally see through. Not to mention the elderly fetish very obviously on display. It also appears that not a one is required to have a relationship with, which is a big plus for those who don't enjoy the above fetishes. I'll be honest and say I went with everyone, but some of the LI's were.. challenging.

It's for these reasons - the range of different types of LI's, and the quite unique and interesting world - that I can't bear to give the game below a 5 star rating.
If you're in it purely for sex, it's probably not for you. If you want some sex and romance to go along with your fantasy adventure, it MIGHT be right up your ally.

Also P.S. how in the hell is Maryn not a Main girl. Best looking girl in the whole roster I swear, no way she should be a side character...

Really boring game, I really liked the previous one (the Sorcerer). But this... story is so slow, so pointless, I just can't handle it. After a few hours I met just ONE pretty girl (well except fairy), and she happened unavailable looks like coz of my choices.

Renders are good, obviously more advanced compared to previous game.

(Review of v0.47.0)

Note, I haven't played the whole game but dropped it by the time the MC beds Gweyr.

Imagine seeing a static background and the characters (all of them stiff) talking in turn, maybe moving a bit or teleporting in several steps when they enter or leave the frame. As they are done yapping the scene finishes, it's fade to black, and the next scene opens, with a title telling when or where you are. Rinse and repeat and that's ToaM for you or, at least, everything I found after several hours of boredom. Even the few combat situations are done the same way.

Sex scenes aren't any better. The background may switch between 2-3 angles but it's the same technique to stage "movement", with 2 frames alternating. They are even more pointless than the rest of the "game", not to mention unlikely when you consider the differences between races, backgrounds and other factors.

Music is decent and fitting but it's a song per scene abruptly ending and restarting again so don't expect miracles here either.

Character development? The only names I'll remember tomorrow are those taken from The Witcher and other games, the rest I could care less.

There's virtually nothing here worth fapping to and the mechanics are sleep inducing so think twice before downloading this.

It kind of hurts to give this a 4/5, frankly, I understand why so many give this a 5/5 but I will try to explain my reasons below.

First of all, I think that, as with many AVNs, there are not many "gameplay" elements here. Most AVNs that try to include gameplay do so with sandboxes that are poorly thought out or implemented, nothing like that here, which, to be honest, is a plus for me.

Other AVNs go hard on giving us multiple routes and different paths, as a "choose your own adventure" on digital format. This game doesn't do that either.

So you could say that this is really mostly what the N in AVN stands for, a novel. There are not really paths to explore, most choices are whether you choose to sleep with a girl or not, and most choices will affect that only.

This is therefore mostly a kinetic novel, but it is a damn good one at that. I like the characters, they are well written and have personalities, the background and world building is great as well and, honestly, I would read this if it was a regular novel/comic or watch it if it was a movie/series, even if didn't include any of the spicy scenes.

The story keeps me coming back each update and wanting to read what happens to the MC, will he manage to find the necromancer? will he regain his soul? what adventures will he have next?

I like how the story is told and the overall grammar and writing is also very good.

So.... why the 4/5? well, the main thing is the A part of the AVN. This is supposedly an adult novel, and it includes adult scenes, but they are really, really underwhelming. The "animations" of the H scenes are very poor, a couple of frames set to a loop. I think that it would be better to not even include animations, to be honest. This could also be overcome if there was some description that would go along the animation, as the text could spice things up. But no, they are mostly silent. In a lot of them, mostly at the beginning, the MC doesn't even say a word. The LIs may say 2 or 3 phrases in the whole scene, and they are not original at all "your dick fills me so good" or some such, but repeated by different LIs on each different scene is not very compelling writing.

On later scenes, the MC has started speaking, and there are mostly 2 phrases that he says on each and every sex scenes: "Your pussy feels so good" and "your pussy is milking me out". Again, repeated on every single sex scene.... not very hot. There are numerous examples of really hot writing out there, I wish the dev went back and added some descriptions to the actions or changed a bit the MC and LIs poor/unoriginal lines during sex.

But the poor animations, lack of description and poor dialogues are not the only issues with the sex scenes. The MC is absolutely passive. 90 to 95% of the sex scenes follow this same pattern: Mc is in his bed at the end of the day, an LI choses to approach him and decides she wants sex, there is no build up to this, there is no tension, she just comes to him and asks for sex, they have a 69 or he gets a BJ, then she rides him, those repeated phrases I mentioned are uttered and then they come. Some times they move to a secondary position like doggy or something like that.

The sex scenes are boring.... really, really boring. The MC, and therefore the player, has no initiative, you never get the excitement of being the one that actively chases down an LI to fuck her, you are passive in initiating and then passive during the act, the MC just lays there while the LIs ride him, mostly silent... during these sex scenes nothing would be changed if the MC was substituted by a dildo that just stayed put while a line of women used it to get themselves off.

So.... as a Novel, this is good, it has a great story and great characters, it shows interesting plot points, with intrigue, political maneuvering, different kingdoms/factions, characters with personality and different agendas, a big bad evil that is coming and that will be hard to overcome, different personal issues to overcome, people from different races coming together to survive... it has everything to be a great piece of storytelling. As an AVN.... the sex scenes are unfortunately not good and rather get in the way of the story instead of enhancing it.

So yeah, if you can overlook that, this is probably a 5/5 for you, and I definitely think it is a good VN and that it deserves to be read, however for me it is not a 5/5 until those sex scenes get fixed.

It one of the best VN games I ever play play in my life. one of the things I love about this game is the character and lore design, the characters looks are basic which gives the more realistic standards

Am a fan of this and the other vn's by this dev. Great stories that are well written. renders and animations are at or a bit above average but to me not enough to dock it any points. Even if I was to do so any points subtracted would be replaced by the consistent updates.

One of the better games being made currently IMO.
Story is top notch, graphics are solid.
Have been a fan of Talothral for a while now with his previous games being just as good as this one with an abundance of interesting choices.

Really engaging plot fascinating world with lots of lore, and lots of sympathetic well rounded characters.

And you can see a lot of work has gone into creating the characters and choosing and customising the environments.

Another great story from a creator who consistently hits it out the park.

Yes the sex scenes can occasionally feel repetitive, but you don't play Talathrol's games for the sex but the story.

Another great game by Talothral.

Whenever there's an update I put everything else on holdand just play it.
Yes, the sex scenes could be better, but the story, writing and worldbuilding make up for it. Clear 5-star.

Saw this pop up often in updates so figured give it a run over feels more like i got run over instead lacks that snap that gets your attention.
Story line pretty much average not a real super grab your attention story line.
Sex scenes almost at point of just skip them they really isnt much there pretty vanilla and hoohum along with sex scene dialogue its overall feel boring mundane and completely unemotional I could read grimms fairy tales and get more sexual dialogue and emotion then devs flat bland text. Animation in sex scanes poor at best - very little animation. Very first sex scene with Ella its was like " serious can i get a button just to fast forward past this " boring ZZZzzzzzzz mindless text from her sorry dev you need to spice up your sex scenes, less boring repeatative text , more animation and breath more life into the scene of text interation MC and the girls
Male character pretty whimpy and dead personailty surprised he even has balls. choices of interacting character representation fair some of the visual models could have been different style . overall graphics pretty decent and livable about the only real part the reach out for attention

A great game which highly focuses on the plot. Unfortunately, the erotic scenes were were bit of out of sorts as it always seems that the partners are doing the sexual acts out of necessity rather than being in love. However, this is a great VN along with its imperfections.

On the whole an excellent story.
Good models for the LI's which are very varied, from pixies to ogres.
Renders are good, not excellent (Lack of gravity for hair for example)
Animations tend to pass through several stages with varied positions, but alas, each stage is just a few frames, cycled, and within stages, faces are usually frozen, which is the reason I only gave 4 stars.

I have played all games this Dev has developed. I really don’t like the strange characters he chose who are not human but his story are every exciting and keeps me on my toes for the next update which is bi-weekly... . This is one of the top Developer who is committed to his followers and very helpful in fixing any error or bugs,,, great support and weekly updates,,, A great Developer ..committed to his games & followers. Keep it up. excellent work.

I saw this game so many times in the latest update page that I had to try it.
I have very mixed feelings about that game. If that would have been the devs first game I would probably rated that game 4 stars. But in my opinion it has too many flaws.
Art:
The pictures are quiet good. I like the details in some pictures and all. But you can see that the pictures got no post edit and so they lack the last touch. The pictures are good but they could be so much better.
Story:
I think everyone knows the sentence.. show and don't tell. Here it is the opposite. And that is so annoying that I end up skipping a lot of times. The story is okay and if you fill that with so many unnecessary stuff just to fill the word count.. the feeling that is left is that story is boring.
Characters:
I think that is hard to rate. I don't really like the looks of the girls but that doesn't mean they are bad. There is a good amount of variety. However I don't think they are well written.
In general I don't really understand the main point. It's a harem game which is already kinda boring but I don't understand why the girls are following MC. The game tries to sell you some bullshit why they are following you but that is so off. It's just for the purpose to have a harem but then you see how MC looks like and acts.. and then nothing makes sense anymore.

I think if you are someone who is able to enjoy a movie/game just the way it is then you going to have fun with the game.
If you are someone that can't turn off your brain you probably end up getting bored and confused.

Despite some flaws this is simply one of the best fantasy avn/games around here.There is something for anyone, in regards to chicks variety. Only complainers would be underage kids (in physical or mental sense, or both), which should avoid adult games, yet there they are...
The best thing regarding those diverse chicks and the game itself is that no chick, sex scene or anything like that is enforced upon mc. Ive seen some "top" games and very very popular ones aiming for "story and multiple paths" which werent able to provide that "simple" thing - let a player chose freely who he wants or doesnt want.
Fully recommended game,. Sadly there is no 6 stars rating so i have to go with "only" five.

This is closer to what I think a VN should be. They need better spelling and sentence structure checkers instead of just hoping for community feed back. The NSFW scenes are a little odd to get used too but decent. Many odd girls for many a different body type enjoyers. I personally think there will be a spell mishap were the panther will semi change into a humanish form just to get pounded or just starts getting pounded in full cat form. The story is oddly the best part is and is fun. With additional work, removal of 90% of the NSFW material, which many seem phoned in, a decent editor, this could be a really good book oddly. Not a series unless a lot more work is put in but one big 600ish page fantasy novel. Keep the love interest of the girl with daddy issues, Ayaka, and the flame fairy, Shani, but the MC seems super put together (responsible) and stoic while not being stand off-ish and is friendly. Hence why the other relationships seem phoned in for content. The fairy and Ayaka are people that have their own hurdles but have had affection for him for a long time.

TLDR; Other than some odd choices of bed companions at times, the story is there and is worth the play. I am always careful as a former supporter of some particular creators to tell anyone to "go support" but this one would be worth a coffee definitely. (review at v0.33.0)

TO CREATOR: if you wind up seeing this one, whomever is writing the story is doing a decent job. whoever is putting into the game is too but needs to run a spell checker over it first or something and then send it back to a third party that knows the language pretty natively or just a bit better than conversational to read it for flow (no clue if that is technical but I figure you will get it) Going back and fleshing out some scenes dialogue would be fantastic even if you don't change the actual scene any. But I understand "WHERE MUH NEX UPDATEEEE!?!?!?!?" Please don't give up or fumble.

I've tried the devs previous works, all of which i was forced to drop because the narration and the text is so bland and boring.

I can barely follow the stories in any of his works because the sheer amount of filler and irrelevant text completely numbs my mind and ends up with me just skipping through most of the text.

Characters are barely introduced, We the players/readers are expected to understand a character without the dev explaining anything about them.

I admire the author's ability to constantly turn out updates, it is something to be admired and I respect it deeply.

His writing style is very much tell not show for the most part, which isn't a good thing, he loves having his characters be established badasses at the start of stories, he's not one for character growth at all, the MC is more or less the same guy the entire time and the characters are as well. It's kind of interesting to see the MC's life unfold and learn more about him as the game goes on, but I'd like for the author to try and have us pilot the journey a little more instead of just reading the journey, if you know what I mean,

Models are average, the story is alright, I just don't think this game is very good because there is nothing to attach yourself to. There is no hero's journey, you're just Mage McBadass who's been doing magic for years. Not a fan of that choice, it would be 2 stars if it weren't for the author's dedication.

sooo

i am done with actual content

as in my first post here - can it beat Sorcerer ?

it does with flying colors

the story is well written and compelling

the renders are great

the lewd animations could profit from more variation , but we dont play Talothral games for this , no?

thank you so much for this game @Talothral