VN - Ren'Py - Trouble in Paradise [v1.9] [Syko134]

10 / 10
Over the years, have played hundreds of games and visual novels on this site. This is by far one of my favorites now. This is hands down one of the best written Visual Novels I have come across in a while. The story is engaging, funny as hell, and makes you want to read more. The characters are diverse and engaging, each with their own flaws and perfections. Cant wait to read more...
@Syko134 well done, well done!

I've played quite a few games of this site already, but for now there's only two games that to me are one of the best games i've played in a while in here, one is Once in a Lifetime by Caribdis, and now this one. When you actually start to care more for the plot and the characters than the porn, you know that this is going somewhere really awsome and this game did not disappoint. This game is definitely one of the most brilliant gems hidden underneath all the others, It has everything, It's really well animated, has great characters, it's hilarious especially when there's the (l_l) faces, and not to mention the writing and awesome plot. I can't wait for part 2, Syko134 you got a new fan, you're doing an amazing work.

Just finished part 1; I would recommend this just for the story which is top tier - like seriously 10/10 so far. The porn is decent (not too much a fan of the art style and it would benefit from sound but the animations are smooth) but ALL the characters are fleshed out enough that it's more than just the hentai - which is what any good game of this 'genre' should do.

Looking forward to part 2!

[ Review for version 1.0 ]

TL;DR: Hoo-boy! This review has been a long time coming. I have been meaning to write a review between updates, but I just never felt it was the right time. Trouble in Paradise is amazing! The characters are fantastic, their relationships are beautifully explored, and there is a lot of choice involved for those who want to pick a favourite waifu, have a small harem, or wants to bone everything with a vagina! Absolutely recommend!

The Good: (Patched) INCEST! Always worth celebrating! The sex scenes are fantastic too, and the dialogue is a lovely mix of lusty and lovey-dovey! Every character has a time to grow and flourish, and I only wish each one of them got even more screen time. Seriously! The character stories in this game are great!

The Average: The story strays into the darker side as the story progresses, but occasionally the narrative fails to bring development to conclusion until after a lengthy pause. While the story is interesting there are some areas that don’t hit all the way home.

The Bad: That one fart joke. You know what you did, Syko.



Thorough Review

Story: Great!

The story starts with our protagonist moving to Paradise City with his friend/sister for college, and they are going to share an apartment. What follows, in order, is the search for friendships and romance, discovering genetic super-powers, digging up the past, realising your school is a cover for a genetics lab researching said superpowers and finally a fight for survival against the owner of the lab.

I know this is a super condensed version of the story, but that is because there is a lot of other things that happen between every comma, and I just don’t want to spoil if for you! It is possible to miss out on some of the story based on what choices you make, so absolutely save often and be prepared to reload saves between large chapters to see what you missed out on. You may find you prefer another outcome.

Characters: Amazing!

I can’t, without giving so much away, explain why I like every character in this game. There are no poorly developed characters in this game. Everyone has personalities that either immediately stick with you or rapidly grow on you. I didn’t dislike any of the support character, at all. Even some of the antagonists were likeable.

There is so much love and care between characters as well, and the humour and compassion they treat each other with is enviable. Quite a few of the characters have past tragedies to be dealt with, and each of these stories are well explored and the author respects these traumas and never throw the “fuck it until you fix it” stuff you get in a lot of EVNs.

Gameplay: Competent.

It is a visual novel in Ren’Py. It isn’t very unique. It doesn’t do anything different during gameplay. Sometimes you will hit the space bar (or whatever key you use to progress) for quite a long time before any choices are given, or something happens that requires you do pause for a second and look.



Visuals: Good.

The visual style isn’t going to be for everyone. I know this game was only my backburner for a while because of the very 3d anime aesthetic. I was wrong to judge it but its first impression. The animated scenes look fantastic, especially toward the latter half of the game. One can dream that there will come a day that the author will have the time and money to remaster the game with another platform. My biggest gripe is the character models. When they close their eyes, their cheeks get sucked in a little. This makes their faces look weird in some close-up scenes.

Summary: Amazing!

Play Trouble in Paradise. Please, play it. If you can, also support it. The romantic scenes between the MC and his harem alone makes the game worth playing. There are some parts where the story slows down, or the mood veers off in an unexpected direction, but it come back around and throws another wow-moment at you. I am psyched for the sequel! Especially now that pregnancy has been promised, and MC’s mother has joined the story.



Wishlist (for the sequel):

> Consider alternative character models while preserving their aesthetics.

> No more fart jokes. You already did one, and that is more than enough. I’m serious!

Review as of v1.0.0 Public:

I started this review at 3 stars. For the first half, this AVN plays as standard fare catch 'em all harem, a la WVM or My New Family. It has your incest, your flirty girl, your shy girl, your nerdy girl, your deviant girl, and your tsundere, among others. In that first half, it felt very cotton candy: light, funny, and without much real substance. MC got all the girls without much effort, and they opened their legs just as quickly. Then, something changed.

The best comparison I can make to the second half of this AVN is to Once in a Lifetime, which is high praise. The boring old mundane school days and getting into the pants of the sister, coworker, and teacher cease to become the plot itself, but in service of the plot: there is something strange, and terribly wrong, going on at this school, in this city, and more people are aware than you originally think. In pursuit of answers and getting entangled in the web of secrets, getting closer to the LIs begins to come more naturally, as it should!

At this point, relationships develop with my favorite characters, such as Ava, who loses token tsundere status and becomes an actual character with real personality. Other one-dimensional characters also begin to get rounded out as their roles in this plot of mutant superpowers and shadowy organizations takes hold. The tone changes from cotton candy to lemon cake: heavier in content, still sweet and fluffy with its humor, but weighed down with sour undertones. It hasn't reached Lessons in Love levels of emotional character depth or just plain depressing content, but there is potential moving forward.

Visually speaking, the Koikatsu models are decent. The settings are pulled right from Koikatsu and not new, but that is to be expected for a project of this scale and support. Of notable quality, especially late, are the animations. Unfortunately, lewd scenes are scheduled a bit excessively, so it cheapens the impact of how good they actually are and it hurts LI pacing.

I look forward to see where Part 2 goes. Unfortunately, I do feel as though the first half or so of the AVN could do with a rewrite, an edit down to get to the real plot sooner and improve the pacing of the relationships with the characters so they are not so quick to jump at MC (well, other than Iris). There is potential for a 5 star AVN here, but in its current place, I must give it a 4/5.

Trouble in Paradise is an absolute joy to play through. The dev, Syko, is a very talented writer, managing to create something very unique here. The world and the characters within it are all extremely interesting, and genuinely believable. The "mystery/supernatural/thriller" side of the story is very neat, and I found myself genuinely worried about the characters multiple times. The porn of the game is another big strong point of the game, in my opinion. The build up to sex scenes is done very well, and scenes feel like a reward for your time invested into the personalities & stories of each character.

The quality of the game, as the dev notes in game, increases immensely as you get further into the game. It's not bad at all early on, though. It's good & just becomes great.

Highly recommend at least trying the game out, and letting yourself get immersed in this world. I'm certainly glad that I did.

highly enjoyable rompfest.
good story ,a nice mix of different characters both good and almost evil
really. theres something here for most folk just to pplay and enjoy
bonus on frequent updates and usually lots to do per update and not so much filler as you may find in other games

Pretty promising game so far. The story is quite engaging and the MC is definitely more interesting than I though he would be. I would give it 5 stars but the developer really needs to patch out the problems with the harem aspect of the game. Currently, you can choose to reject all of the girls and stick with just the main girl (Iris) but the dialog doesn't change at all. Even if you reject them, Iris will still have dialog about being okay with you dating other people, and the MC will openly talk about having multiple girlfriends which makes no sense. This really needs to be addressed if the game is going to commit in giving the players the option to opt out of character routes, if not then just remove this feature entirely.

SUMMARY:
I typically like games that take their time getting to the NSFW bits, but you gotta entertain the player in the meantime, not just unload a bunch of dialogue I don't care about onto me.
I think making this game a sandbox would make it feel less uninvolved, or add some choices somewhere, anything to break up the endless/mindless mouse clicking. (After skipping through the game to find redeeming qualities, I discovered there are choices. This game is just incredibly long-winded.)

CONS:
Models are very bland (my biggest gripe), a lot of them got that Megamind look going that I see in too many koikatsu games.

Boring and long-winded.

Devs taste in anime sucks.

PROS:
Through my skipping, after I got bored, I found an anal scene and it's done better than most games, props to the dev. *Star Earned*

Lucy. *Star Earned*

terribly bad from the erotic scenes that are almost zero to the endless monologues and dialogues that do not lead to anything boring and bland really disappointing but the worst are the 5 stars that some fake accounts give it with just one review and guess what game they are talking about.

Easy 5 start game for me and cannot wait for the next update {Currently 0.10.0)

The twists and turns and the revelations of who's who in these games can be either very boring and predictable or the thing that will keep you interested in the next section. Syko has done a great job creating a threat you don't know much about but seeing the mc learn about himself and the world around him keeps me clicking. And as a rarity there is not a ton of spelling errors or grammatical mistakes all over the place. For it still being very early in production there is a ton of content and the story and the humor really fits into the world and its not jamming a bunch of meme's to get a cheap laugh, even if you are the guardian of the sand.

The renders are great and the animation works really well, the only thing really missing during the sex scenes is sound. But so far there isn't a scene that you will want to skip {aside from the skippable one}

I do like that this one is not a sandbox game. The flow of sandboxes can be jarring but a story on rails can also be boring if you are wanting to do certain things. I never felt like I was missing anything here. I was always looking forward to the next scene and glad to just be on the ride.

Again as it is still a wip, I cannot say how changes will effect anything but where it is going as I see it, this is a must play.

Excellent work, it's my favorite game. From the animation and cutscenes to the story, I loved everything. I hope it continues in development as it has until now and also if there is the possibility of adding other integrated languages, I speak Spanish and I have to wait for the translators to translate it, which means that I cannot play when the new versions come out. Leaving this aside, it's a great game. regards

Honestly, this game is nothing less than incredible!

I consider myself a very hard critique but this game offers amazing options and the addition of rough sex and the characters' great stories just makes this game even better (I especially LOVE the Double Penetration rough scene)

I have no clue why this game is not top rated but if the dev keeps it up and maybe speeds up with the updates this game would climb very fast to the top

Can't wait for the next update! ♥

Such a fun game! Came for the plot but stayed for the PLOT. Wonderful story, fun characters, and one of my favorite visual novels on the site. Folks should definitely give this one a try if they haven't already.

solid thought out story line, lots of girls, and the writing was good enough to keep me intrested in more than just the sex scenes. im normally the one to skip through unseen text but stayed for the jokes and banter between characters!

This game is one of my favorites here. A story-based game that actually has an interesting plot and characters while not being afraid of sex scenes or quick progression of relationships. The humor isn't excessive and is just enough to keep the game's tone from getting too dark. Add to that this developer's consistent updates while still interacting with the player-base simply makes this game worthy of a 5-star rating.

Edit: Recent events have completely turned me off from the game so I've removed 3 stars.

I'm giving it three stars instead of two due to the models looking cute and the developer clearly putting a lot of effort in the game. That being said, this can hardly be considered a game. Do yourself a favor and hold down on the Ctrl button to scroll through the game early on just to see just how few choices you have in this game (I unfortunately didn't know this my first time and it took forever to keep reading and clicking next for practically nothing significant to happen), and when you do finally get a choice, it is simply done to gauge whether you would be interested in seeing a specific scene or not. For players who want to feel like they are in control of their character's decisions, this game is not for you.

I've played every version of Trouble in Paradise since it's first realease, and I've enjoyed them all! And I still get excited whenever a new version is released! The story is fun and entertaining, (animated) lewd content is also not lacking, the characters are especially cute so that makes things even better. The only thing that I would personally like to see more of are full body shots during the sex scenes instead zooming in too much on certain parts. Other than that I really love this game!
Thanks Syko134!

Spent way too long playing this game. I like slow burns but they need to get good at some point.

The writing is extremely awful. There is a lot of overgratuitous power fantasy (you are more athletic and stronger than everyone ever, but you don't try hard so that nobody knows!) and truly awful writing (but you are an idiot and never think before you speak or act!). There are hints of corruption with the sister character, or some taboo aspect to it somehow in the beginning when she sees you naked, but once this relationship is realized it just turns into some very very poorly written romance instead.

There are 15000 characters but only a very lame scene with each of them very rarely. Most people are going to not like a lot of the characters, so you are waiting a long time to get another turn with one you do like.

The sex scenes are awful.

Just skip this.