Well here we are with the second (don't let the International release date fool you) of the translated VenusBlood games. GAIA features our main protagonist, Theofrad, a genius researcher who is the archduke of the floating city of Energeia, the most advanced nation on the planet. His greatest achievement in life is the discovery of the so called Ether, a magical energy source with unlimited potential. His life isn't easy though, as an evil draconic empire Granleyd led by the queen Esteria Bahamut has set its eyes upon him and his discovery.
The plot is actually fairly complex, however in typical anime fashion it is told in this weird and convoluted fashion that makes remembering details difficult. Be assured that along the way you will find out that the REAL enemy is someone else, and that old enemies might become new allies.
Theofrad is another one of these gary stu protagonists that can do no wrong. He's not quite as bland as Loki was in Frontier, but he's not very memorable either. I think the biggest issue that the writing has with regards to him is that the author couldn't really paint him in a clear light. On the one hand he is a hero that wants to save the world, but on the other he is willing to carry out these fucked up experiments on his subjects in order to achieve his goals. I think he is supposed to be a macchiavelian character, but honestly it didn't work for me. Loki was much better because with him you knew exactly where he stood: he was an asshole that wanted to rule the world, morals be damned. Theofrad just doesn't know what he wants to be.
Speaking of which let's talk about the main H gimmick this time around. The main fetish of this particular installment is pregnancy and egg laying. And here the game lost me. I know, I know, different strokes for different degens and all that, but for me these are some of my least favorite tags. As such I did not enjoy the H scenes too much this time around. Coupled with the fact that the H scene music was really boring when compared with Frontier resulted in me quickly skipping through most of them.
The waifus are also not all that interesting either IMO. Your sidekick this time around is called Rein, an ara ara milfalicious succubus. She's no Fena, but she gets the (blow/hand/whatever) job done. Where Frontier had best boi Garm, Gaia instead has a loli-ish robo-girl named Lala, a huge step down IMO. I liked her evil counterpart Lulu a lot more to be honest.
After that you get the main girls that you get to tentacle raep and impregnate with eggs. Most of these come in pairs. Basically the idea is that they are rulers of different small kingdoms and they each have a sidekick that helps them around, which you also get to raep of course.
The most important girl is Milia who was my favorite of the bunch. She reminds me of Tyrca a little bit. She is a proud dragon knight of the empire that starts off as your enemy but soon enough you "convince" her to see the error of her ways and join your side.
Then we have Lucretia, the honest merchant harpy who will be your greatest ally in theMiddle East world of Gaia. Honestly she was really annoying and I didn't enjoy her H scenes much either.
After that we get the four rulers:
From totally-not-fantasy-japan we have the loli lord herself, Tomoe, and her samurai companion Shigure;
From totally-not-fantasy-transylvania we have yet another loli lord by the name of Carmilla and her maid servant Vanilla (who is really hot);
From totally-not-fantasy-carribean we have big bobba booty bitch Mary Drake and her pirate partner Henrietta;
And last and probably least from totally-not-aztec-elfland (that's a p. cool concept actually, I think I'm gonna steal it) the flat as a board elven princess Kukul and her hetare onii-chan Elmin. Yeah, you can start playing the Alabama song cuz you already knew were this was headed.
There are tons of other characters that you get to meet&fuck, some more important to the plot than others, but I'll let you discover them. None of the characters are going to stick with you for very long. They're just a bunch of archetypes designed to satisfy a wide range of tastes, but that's ok because we're not here for the PRON AMIRITE BOIS? We're here for the GAMEPLAY FUCK YEAH!!
So the gameplay is a step forward and a step backwards. This time the game features a tower defense type of gameloop, most of the time with you on the defensive. There is a main problem with this approach which is that you are very rarely pro-active. Since you are mostly on the defensive you're going to have to be the one reacting to whatever the enemy throws at you.
The issue is like this: during your turn you can make 10 moves, either placing a squad, or removing one, building something, talking to a waifu, or birthing a unit (more on that later), and so on. So in theory let's say that you have 10 squads and the enemy also has 10 squads. This is easy right? You just place 10 squads on 10 different tiles and wait for the enemy to come to them correct? But what if the enemy has more than 10? What if you made a mistake and placed a squad on the wrong spot? There's no undo button!!! The objective is to kill of every enemy squad before they manage to reach and destroy your main reactor. The reactor doesn't die instantly, but inevitably enemy units will pass through yours, reach the next floor, and all your squads will be automatically recalled to base. It's just not a fun mechanic.
And before you say anything, I have played A TON of Warcraft 3 tower defense custom maps in my life. In fact it was my favorite style of custom map back in the day, but here I just don't think this mini game is done right. The game is quite difficult as is the tradition with this series. I started the game on normal and got halfway through but then I suddenly lost my save files so I had to restart, but this time I did it on easy because I just couldn't be assed to do all that again. Frontier, while a simpler game, also got it right: during a turn you could attack on your own, but you could also be attacked yourself so it was more engaging. Sure, even in Gaia you can attack one enemy squad during your defense if you want, but I just prefer being more on the offensive rather than defensive. Maybe it's just a preference thing.
A lot of the mechanics are ported over from Frontier, so I won't bother mentioning them again (read my old review if you're interested). One mechanic that I should mention however is birthing of new units. Basically after you've tentacle raepd a waifu you have have her become a breeding machine that pumps out new units for your army. They're basically chickens laying eggs for you, which is quite amusing now that I think about it. Anyway the same principles as before still stand: always recruit a unit when its face is lit up, and you should also probably make sure that said unit ends up in its mom's squad as this way they get bonuses from one another. One significant difference from Frontier is that now three squads of six units each can participate on each side in any give battle which is nice.
The interface is yet again a complete disaster, but luckily there is a mod that improves it a lot so make sure to install it! The game is really long. There are only two main routes, Law and Chaos. Even with a walkthrough I wasn't able to unlock all the CG's in one go. Maybe I just missed somthing, who knows. Anyway try finding a full save file in case you want to unlock the entire gallery.
The art is mostly the same. The aspect ratio is again 4:3 with black bars on the sides, which doesn't bother me as an old-school PC gamer, but I know it will bother some people. The CG's and sprites look alright but the interface and map look atrocious. AGAIN. The VA is ok. The music is a step up IMO compared to Frontier, with the exception as mentioned before that the H music was a huge disappointment for me.
Overall the game is decent. It's still miles ahead when compared to most offerings on this website, hence the high score. Will I ever replay it though? I doubt it. Somehow I enjoyed Frontier more, perhaps also due to how well corruption was done in that game. I'm just not that much into breeding I guess.
Oh, and the game ran perfectly on Linux under WINE.
Final verdict: four starts. Just like Frontier, a not-so excellent addition to every coomer's collection. But if you're into the main fetish present here then this just might be right up your alley. If not, well, the story and gameplay are average at best.
Total play time: 75 hours, however like I said I had to restart due to me losing my save files. I could not unlock every CG so I had to use a full save that I found on the net somewhere.
The plot is actually fairly complex, however in typical anime fashion it is told in this weird and convoluted fashion that makes remembering details difficult. Be assured that along the way you will find out that the REAL enemy is someone else, and that old enemies might become new allies.
Theofrad is another one of these gary stu protagonists that can do no wrong. He's not quite as bland as Loki was in Frontier, but he's not very memorable either. I think the biggest issue that the writing has with regards to him is that the author couldn't really paint him in a clear light. On the one hand he is a hero that wants to save the world, but on the other he is willing to carry out these fucked up experiments on his subjects in order to achieve his goals. I think he is supposed to be a macchiavelian character, but honestly it didn't work for me. Loki was much better because with him you knew exactly where he stood: he was an asshole that wanted to rule the world, morals be damned. Theofrad just doesn't know what he wants to be.
Speaking of which let's talk about the main H gimmick this time around. The main fetish of this particular installment is pregnancy and egg laying. And here the game lost me. I know, I know, different strokes for different degens and all that, but for me these are some of my least favorite tags. As such I did not enjoy the H scenes too much this time around. Coupled with the fact that the H scene music was really boring when compared with Frontier resulted in me quickly skipping through most of them.
The waifus are also not all that interesting either IMO. Your sidekick this time around is called Rein, an ara ara milfalicious succubus. She's no Fena, but she gets the (blow/hand/whatever) job done. Where Frontier had best boi Garm, Gaia instead has a loli-ish robo-girl named Lala, a huge step down IMO. I liked her evil counterpart Lulu a lot more to be honest.
After that you get the main girls that you get to tentacle raep and impregnate with eggs. Most of these come in pairs. Basically the idea is that they are rulers of different small kingdoms and they each have a sidekick that helps them around, which you also get to raep of course.
The most important girl is Milia who was my favorite of the bunch. She reminds me of Tyrca a little bit. She is a proud dragon knight of the empire that starts off as your enemy but soon enough you "convince" her to see the error of her ways and join your side.
Then we have Lucretia, the honest merchant harpy who will be your greatest ally in the
After that we get the four rulers:
From totally-not-fantasy-japan we have the loli lord herself, Tomoe, and her samurai companion Shigure;
From totally-not-fantasy-transylvania we have yet another loli lord by the name of Carmilla and her maid servant Vanilla (who is really hot);
From totally-not-fantasy-carribean we have big bobba booty bitch Mary Drake and her pirate partner Henrietta;
And last and probably least from totally-not-aztec-elfland (that's a p. cool concept actually, I think I'm gonna steal it) the flat as a board elven princess Kukul and her hetare onii-chan Elmin. Yeah, you can start playing the Alabama song cuz you already knew were this was headed.
There are tons of other characters that you get to meet&fuck, some more important to the plot than others, but I'll let you discover them. None of the characters are going to stick with you for very long. They're just a bunch of archetypes designed to satisfy a wide range of tastes, but that's ok because we're not here for the PRON AMIRITE BOIS? We're here for the GAMEPLAY FUCK YEAH!!
So the gameplay is a step forward and a step backwards. This time the game features a tower defense type of gameloop, most of the time with you on the defensive. There is a main problem with this approach which is that you are very rarely pro-active. Since you are mostly on the defensive you're going to have to be the one reacting to whatever the enemy throws at you.
The issue is like this: during your turn you can make 10 moves, either placing a squad, or removing one, building something, talking to a waifu, or birthing a unit (more on that later), and so on. So in theory let's say that you have 10 squads and the enemy also has 10 squads. This is easy right? You just place 10 squads on 10 different tiles and wait for the enemy to come to them correct? But what if the enemy has more than 10? What if you made a mistake and placed a squad on the wrong spot? There's no undo button!!! The objective is to kill of every enemy squad before they manage to reach and destroy your main reactor. The reactor doesn't die instantly, but inevitably enemy units will pass through yours, reach the next floor, and all your squads will be automatically recalled to base. It's just not a fun mechanic.
And before you say anything, I have played A TON of Warcraft 3 tower defense custom maps in my life. In fact it was my favorite style of custom map back in the day, but here I just don't think this mini game is done right. The game is quite difficult as is the tradition with this series. I started the game on normal and got halfway through but then I suddenly lost my save files so I had to restart, but this time I did it on easy because I just couldn't be assed to do all that again. Frontier, while a simpler game, also got it right: during a turn you could attack on your own, but you could also be attacked yourself so it was more engaging. Sure, even in Gaia you can attack one enemy squad during your defense if you want, but I just prefer being more on the offensive rather than defensive. Maybe it's just a preference thing.
A lot of the mechanics are ported over from Frontier, so I won't bother mentioning them again (read my old review if you're interested). One mechanic that I should mention however is birthing of new units. Basically after you've tentacle raepd a waifu you have have her become a breeding machine that pumps out new units for your army. They're basically chickens laying eggs for you, which is quite amusing now that I think about it. Anyway the same principles as before still stand: always recruit a unit when its face is lit up, and you should also probably make sure that said unit ends up in its mom's squad as this way they get bonuses from one another. One significant difference from Frontier is that now three squads of six units each can participate on each side in any give battle which is nice.
The interface is yet again a complete disaster, but luckily there is a mod that improves it a lot so make sure to install it! The game is really long. There are only two main routes, Law and Chaos. Even with a walkthrough I wasn't able to unlock all the CG's in one go. Maybe I just missed somthing, who knows. Anyway try finding a full save file in case you want to unlock the entire gallery.
The art is mostly the same. The aspect ratio is again 4:3 with black bars on the sides, which doesn't bother me as an old-school PC gamer, but I know it will bother some people. The CG's and sprites look alright but the interface and map look atrocious. AGAIN. The VA is ok. The music is a step up IMO compared to Frontier, with the exception as mentioned before that the H music was a huge disappointment for me.
Overall the game is decent. It's still miles ahead when compared to most offerings on this website, hence the high score. Will I ever replay it though? I doubt it. Somehow I enjoyed Frontier more, perhaps also due to how well corruption was done in that game. I'm just not that much into breeding I guess.
Oh, and the game ran perfectly on Linux under WINE.
Final verdict: four starts. Just like Frontier, a not-so excellent addition to every coomer's collection. But if you're into the main fetish present here then this just might be right up your alley. If not, well, the story and gameplay are average at best.
Total play time: 75 hours, however like I said I had to restart due to me losing my save files. I could not unlock every CG so I had to use a full save that I found on the net somewhere.
