VN - Ren'Py - Where It All Began [Ch. 3 Full] [Oceanlab]

the game itself with the gameplay is cool, the plot is interesting and lamp-like, beautiful and high-quality characters, it seemed to me that the sexual content was very sensitive, cute, but I saw the animation of sex very cool and well done, sometimes I find Bella and Naomi in two personages of this game so the game is cool and done super like the second cool done!

Rework CH3 full

i'm sorry i just can't. it's just meandering. year 6 of development at a snails pace should be delivering something better than just pretty pictures, but sadly...

it has a lot of dialogue but is not really delivering much of a plot.
fair enough as it does really seem like the dev is all about imagery.
the dialogue is not childish like many games i have tried here, which is a good thing considering we are on an adult site not a kids one. it just goes on and on without going anywhere. i got bored and i love VN's.
not a good sign for me

this developer is also another one of 'those' this site has a growing base of. devs who clearly hate pirates. they show you a crap ton of booty and then completely fail to allow their MC's to plunder them!! what madness is this?

i mean they take painstaking hours of forming curvature and perkiness. spend oodles of time designing the rear hamster's mouth and posing models to show us how good their work is......and then you, as the MC, are completely denied the chance to even shove a thumb in.

it beggars belief

but in all seriousness i am imagining that scene in gladiator when russell crowe shouts "are you not entertained?" and all i can think is a resounding "no"

Really nice renders and the buildup is just on spot.
However the game has a serious lack of background story, you get thrown in to situations without knowing anything about the history.

So in conclusion i would say that the graphic parts of the game is among the best i have seen, while the story itself would benefit from letting the player know more about historical events.

Pretty much just a big nothing burger if you want animated sex scenes and nothing happened.

To the dev, this isn't a Blizzard game where the player wants cutscenes every 5 minute. Maybe know the target audience.
And if you want to make stories that takes forever to progress, maybe Telltale has open job offers.

Impressive art and such sure but big miss for what the consumer wants.

We all want unique art, awesome models, sex scenes and you get an extra star rating on your games if you add animated orgasm scenes instead of trying to induce eplepsi and bonus point if you make the player care about the characters.

There are not many vns that are this beautiful and most of the characters are really interesting. It really makes me want to play it and get closer to them - see how their relationship with the mc develops etc. Sadly enough I somehow really cant stand the gf. Its nothing against her personally but rather her existence in itself that is the problem. It stops the maincharacter from getting closer to anyone else and even then nothing serious could ever develop between them because hes already comitted. Such a shame

I figure a review from someone other than the stars in the eyes fans of this developer is overdue. If you only care about graphics, and continued efforts of watering down the story to avoid an adult rating for a platform, and every update is the same update as before but more "polished"...this is something to check out. This story hasn't progressed in over 4 years, but the graphics are really nice, and efforts have been made to improve the story, but the MC is your typical Chad on steroids, and the 7+ LI's either trip over themselves to get into his pants, or hate his guts for screwing them over in the past.
If you're worried about the NTR tag, don't worry, it's all been removed. Not sure why the question is still there at the start, but it's probably just leftover from before the story changed again.
To sum it up, if the Dev actually starts progressing the story, it could be really great.

very good game, nice graphics, nice story and good characters. It was the first lewd game that was equaly funny and lewd at the same time. Perfect combo.
I also like, that it is a VN. You do have choices but they only limit you a certain way and do not disturb the gameplay

Really amazing work, detailed image rendering and animation. Especially the animation, such as the appearance of breathing and muscle vibrations. Beautiful music and proper placement of music in scenes. and a very interesting story line.

Version: Ch. 3 Beta

When a game has such stunning visuals and imagery I sort of expect the writing and character dynamics to match that excellence and I don't think it managed to do that in my eyes. I was close to giving it a 3 but I think it deserves a 4 at least cause it's very well made regardless of its flaws which I will get into below.

Like I said, the game looks amazing. The girls are hot and natural looking, nothing looks too exaggerated with the exception of the mother's boobs...I mean damn. I know some people really like that exaggerated look, but in a game like this I think keeping them within reason is a better choice. They can still be big, just not to the point it looks ridiculous. Still I can look past that, it's not a big issue.

The story is quite intriguing at first glance, what is going on with our family? What is this business feud our sister is having? Why is our mother suddenly mute? As ridiculous as that may be as a plot point, it doesn't really bother me. I'm sure the reason for it will be even sillier than what I am currently imagining. I don't care, there are bigger flaws that hurt the story more than our mute mother.

The biggest flaws this game has;
1. The dialogue
2. The characters
3. Not capturing the sexy moments properly (in some cases)
4. The lack of narration (this one is highly personal)

The writer fails to capture the moments where very interesting and spicy dialogue could take place and instead just puts in something very generic and boring, it almost feels like filler text rather than a genuine utterence from a character. One instance of this is when they are standing by the truck after finishing helping with the work on the farm or whatever it was. The porn topic comes up again...and I don't even remember the short dialogue that took place between the group, it was so unremarkable. Surely one of the other girls who just heard about this for the first time would have had something to say. Something controverisal or even a question with some punch to it...they are not shy. But no, nothing thought provoking was said from anyone. And that's just one instance of missing a moment where some spicy/sexy/dramatic dialogue could have been used. There are plenty of other moments where much more captivating dialogue could have been used and yet the writer settled for something boring and dull. I don't mean to say you should litter the dialogue with sexual content, but when the moment is right you need to let the characters say some shit that could potentially invoke some interesting reactions/thoughts by the characters hearing them. And perhaps that will lead to some interesting situations down the road. Specifically thinking about Miru and this porn idea of hers.

This game has plenty of moments where you can't put in that dialogue cause it would feel out of place and ruin the realism and you have to resort to more tame dialogue, but when the moment presents itself for some spicy drama, capture it.
Now, the problem that I have with the characters are mostly the girls. The MC is supposed to be kind of a "reformed" douchbag who is still a douchbag and a stereotypical alpha male chad, which I don't have a problem with. He is 1 character and he is the MC. If that's how you want him to be, so be it. Even if it is a bit generic as far as character identity goes.
The girls on the other hand are several characters, 7+ and yet they barely feel any different from one another. Most of them are either completely infatuated with the MC or they hate him because he wronged them in the past, and that's pretty much it. Having one or two girls completely infatuated with him is fine, especially if they are younger 18-19 (maybe a younger sister of one of the girls he grew up with) it would be more realistic and could make for some interesting/funny situations. But when you have this many girls, please show some creativity in terms of their personalities and behaviors. One girl who is indifferent to him, one girl who maybe captures his attention because of her awkwardness or odd fashion sense. Something different. And the girlfriend (Miru) comes off as a "yes daddy, I'll do whatever you say as long as I get that dick" It's been done so many times before, It's boring, mindless and limits her character as well as the story. It will make it harder to write compelling drama and conflict if she is attached to any of it. She feels like that familiar generic one-night stand character who is swiftly used and then tossed away never to be seen again in terms of her 1-dimensional nature. But yet she shouldn't feel like that because she is clearly meant to be much more than that. Or so the writer wants us to believe, but I just can't get there with her.

And in a game which is intended to be a slow-burn (which I prefer btw) it is really important that you capture the sexual moments when they arise, you need to make them really pop and stand out since they are quite rare. And in this game it's either a semi-hit or a complete miss. The shower scene is hot and sexy with some interesting/unique angles and images. While the sex scene in the family house is the most underwhelming scene possible, just one close-up of his dick penetrating her pussy with some mediocre side angle images. Felt like you just wanted to rush through it to appease someone and then get on with the story, and if that's the case don't even bother putting those low effort sex scenes in there. If the sex scene don't feel intimate or lust-filled by showing different angles and movements of body parts and accompanied by some hot narration and potential dialogue, in a game where most of the renders are used for non-sexual images then you got a problem. And I actually like when full-on sex scenes are rare, but when they do happen they really need to ooze with sexual energy and display something eye-catching. Otherwise it's like a build-up with no climax. And in that case, why even bother with the scene at all?

In my opinion, a sex scene can be less appealing than a well captured sexual tension moment, or an erotic situation that two characters might find themselves in. The moment in the kitchen between the mother and the MC comes to mind. When such a moment happens really make sure you squeeze every drop of sensuality out of it, different angles, body parts, sexy narration and if done right it feels like a sex scene without sex. Some may call it a tease but I think it's erotica at its best. More of that rather than low effort sex scenes.

And finally, I was quite surprised by the lack of narration in this game. There basically is none apart from the occasional line of text during a sex scene. Maybe this is an intentional choice by the writer, but personally I think this game could benefit from more narration and not just telling the story through dialogue. And the little narration there is in sex scenes could be improved..it's not very riveting. I would also like to hear more of the characters thoughts rather than just their words, and not just the MC's thoughts.

Visually this game is a ferrari, sexy, sleek and it will definitely grab your attention. But when you look under the hood it's more like a decent v6 and not a v12 as the appearance would suggest. Even so, it is very well made and it's closer to a 4-star than a 3-star, even with its flaws.

Why no redheads though?

Such an amazing story! Still cant belive its not a hollywood blockbuster... it will be my first game to support. Just wow!
I want to worry about the characters, the atmosphere is so well chosen. For the first time i didnt miss anything, the sex scenes looked like a plot. And even though you watch everything at a leisurely pace, it went in one go.
Bravo!

Really nice in terms of graphical quality and has music and good animations. Also like the improvements of some character designs like Miru who looks way better.

My only issue is that this is essentially a rehash of what was made prior but it still hasn't yet reached where the prior model of the game ended story wise and time between updates has been quite lengthy.

As others have said already, the renders are awesome.
Story so far is nicely paced, and moving into a nice direction. Considering the early state of story development though, not too much can be said about it now.
Definitely a VN that has very high potential.

Sure, the graphics is great. It has improved considerably since its inception, but the story is going...NOWHERE.
⭐: Great rendering
⭐: Interesting characters with depths.
⭐: Story & writing is good, and it has great potential...if only it can move forward, instead of rehashing/retelling the first few chapters with newer and shiner renderings. (Reminds me of Duke Nukem Forever development hell where the devs kept changing game engines, or adding features because something new and shiny came along, instead of pressing forward).

Excellent remake of an excellent game. One of the few that is constantly showing a new picture to you... and not all porn. But a tease here, a panty there, a tit there. Excellent story also.

Graphics 5/5
Story 5/5

The key here... shut the story down before it gets too busy.

Review based on Ch. 3 Beta:

This is a game I have loved since its first release way back in 2018. Wow, how time flies... Some might ask "Its been in development for 5 years and still got this little content?" And I will answer with 1. Its gone through a remake and 2. Oceanlab is not known for fast releases. While many will look at that like its a bad thing I will say it was for this games own good getting a remake as it has really made this a more unique story to follow.

Game has some phenomenal art with Miru really being quite the eye candy, some will (and do already) not like the MC, I think he fits this story really well but be warned he is kind of a chad, which some here dont like. Game is not heavy on explicit content as of yet since they have focused on introducing each and every character, which there is many and each of them has their own distinct look and personality. I think from Ch. 4 it will ramp up in the sex department. Story is for the most part interesting but does have some odd choices here and there, nothing really bad and it is only now starting to warm up to a more thriller and detective like story so I have real hopes in it. Not a huge amount of choices to make as of yet though I would say that what is there do impact the story pulling it one way or the other. Art is as I already said phenomenal and really nails making the atmosphere fit its story, all characters look unique and attractive.

So why 4 stars? While I really love this game I can't give it a full score because of its long development time, I know Oceanlab is focusing more on their other game but that should not be an excuse. Had there been like 2-3 updates each year I would easily give this a 5 star rating.

Remade Version 0.3 Review
Pros+
1) Top quality renders + animations (literally, personally considered it to be the most beautiful visual novel, haven't play Summer Gone)
2) Likable Gf (Miru), can be subjective, but at least she is loyal, affectionate and doesn't hesitate to reprimand MC who most of the time act like a douchebag.
3) Music - Music matches the scenes very well (this includes both song and ambience), overall great music picks.

Cons+
1) Story - There is ... hmm, not much to no story at all, just dialogues, from what I play thus far I can only say it is mafia related
2) MC - Personally not a fan of gigachad model, but I can understand some people find it likable, so the cons of MC is mainly about his personality which is often immature and rude. Though depends on player choice I assume MC can redeem himself along the story which constitute character growth, but this is hinder by the lack of content so right now the character is just a douchebag most of the time, thankfully Miru is there to knock some sense into him
3) Dialogue - Too many characters with secrets to hide which I felt unnecessarily and painfully extend the plot which goes nowhere due to the lack of content, basically all the dialogues go nowhere since almost everyone refuse to share any info with the MC.
4) So Many Characters - There are so many characters in game sometimes I forgot who is who, and I expect with these many characters it's going to slow down the plot considerably as well should the dev want to give spotlight to every character.

In summary, it is really a beautiful game, and is indeed something special, I read through the reviews and most of the negative reviews more or less share similar opinions. Regardless, I wish you luck, Ocean Dev, and will continue to pay attention to your game. All the best, and take care of yourself.

Story and writing is excellent. Is it possible for all of these people to be this good looking? Absolutely not, but isn't that the same for most shows and movies you see. Would recommend, and not just as a game to skip through.

I really want to give this one a 5 star, but I just can't.
Development started 5 years ago. A very intriguing thriller story with a nice pace for the relationships and cute girls. Then 3 years in when the story starts getting hot, the dev decides to start the game all over again.

The story has changed (deeper, richer, slower and definitely better) and the overall render and animation quality (textures, lighting, physics, expressions,etc. ) has gone up tremendously.

BUT

2 years after the rework (5 years total in) and we still have not reached the point of the story we left before the rework started. It is progressing a bit faster than before, but still very slow.

Also, and this is personal preference, dev must have something with boobs as they all range from very big to ridiculously huge, and in this new version sizes somehow turned even bigger. All girls are for some reason always wearing extremely skimpy tops with half a nipple out or straight out topless for no reason at all. Even the mother xD.
IMO it brings down the quality of the otherwise very cute and realistic models with such ridiculously disporportionate chests.

And I like the body of the old Kate better. Slightly smaller boobs that fit her body a bit better and a bit of a paler skin. She now has kind of a fake tan that does not fit her hair/eyes and personality much, but hey dev's game dev's taste! She also used to be much more of a brat before. Idk her vibe has changed quite a lot.

Big fan of the new gigachad MC model though.

TL;DR Great story, amazing render and animation quality. Very slow development progress. Dev is obsessed with barely covered humongous milking systems.

This game is great. Obviously Im here like most people for the porn content but I have a major thing for the emotion side of the story, which is why i go to porn games. This hits the emotional side extremely well. It hurts that it takes so long between updates but its to be expected with this quality of game.

PS Miru and Katie are the best characters.

English:..........7/10
User Interface:...3/10
User Experience:..7/10
Art:..............7/10
Dialogue:.........5/10
Story:............2/10
Opinion:..........3/10................
Avg:...........4.86/10 [2.43/5]

This is another game on this site that uses a checklist to develop a game in, what I can only describe as, completely devoid of creativity and identity. Sure, these new renders look good, but you ever dated someone pretty with no personality? It's boring as sin. What I meant by checklist is they have overly musclebound, tanned MC that screams "I've got an inferiority complex," heterochromia for shallow, deviantart-esque character traits, all the women are already completely in love with MC, the story is "MC returns home after X years and everyone starts having sex," tries to garner relatability with an opening nerf battle and constant references, had a giant rework that will more than likely just be rerendering scenes and drawing out dialogue, constantly pushing off the talk everyone needs to have, pretending its a slow burn by teasing sex then one or both characters shouting "IVE GOT SOMETHING TO DO" so they run off. The list goes on. I can say that this fresh coat of paint looks miles better than the first version. I 'm almost certain the remake was for the NTR toggle for the crybabies that can't handle a bundle of pixels talking to another male. Add this to a default UI/UX, slow motion tweened movement, and grainy videos, a window that still says "A Ren'Py Game," and long update intervals you have a game that is one poor translation away from being a perfect storm of a headache inducing patreon milker.

Like I said, it opens up to a nerf fight where MC is rewarded with sex. Miru is the typical asian "nerdy" nymphomaniac that is completely loyal to MC no matter what he does(unless you want her to) complete with pierced nips and quirky attitude. Sure it tries to say she's jealous, inferring there could be drama, but it's never shown and the entire conversation is brought up out of the blue. "Grr, you make me horny" so he says "Let's have an open relationship" What? The first choice in the game is either "Let the conversation happen normally" or "We're having an intimate moment and I don't pick up on social cues, let me ruin it by asking to have sex with other people." Only to follow that up with a long, poorly animated, grainy cutscene where all the future LIs do a pose or two in slow motion with rendering artifacts and poor visual storytelling. Then, after the tough phone call, the entire conversation is just "We have lots of sex don't we? haha." After that you meet Dapne, MC's best friend and the whole time they just talk about how close to having sex they are. Oh and one line about MC being upset about a phone call. Then he has an affectionate snake that talks to him? I feel like I'm reading a roleplay by middle schoolers on a forum somewhere. I think right after that they talk about a 'ripped' condom, but I honestly think they were meant to be talking a out a 'ribbed' condom, which speaks volumes, wow. I'd also like to point out his name is Billy Zane, by default. What a laugh.

The second chapter is just meeting everyone MC used to know all while no one openly saying what went wrong. But we all know it's because MC is such a narcissist, the only person he wants to sleep with is his twin sister. Who, by the way, is also obsessed with him. But his younger sister wanted him as well. And his mother probably did too, so they had a fight and MC ran away. Boohoo, everyone wanted to have sex. Then it devolves into yet another mafia story. You have to be kidding me. With the infinite possibilities of the human imagination and the advent of AI, surely there's more stories out there than Big Business or Mafia want to do something to MCs family. Then, after Katie rushes to her room to put on lingerie to 'fight' spiders, all their problems wash away. They're in their late 20s acting like grade schoolers, funee haha. Leading to Leia finally letting out her emotions on MC, but ONCE AGAIN, it's cheapened by the fact her top rips off to reveal her gross sewn on nipples. Because any time there's an ounce of seriousness, dutch angles, cleavage, or nudity have to be injected into the situation. There's also this facetious farm family thing going on, but they sit on bales of hay in designer dresses and thongs. You ever ACTUALLY sat on hay? Even in thick jeans its uncomfortable. Then the mysterious underground drug lab that his family owns. And a nightclub that serves as a business front for prostitution and drugs. I feel like none of this was planned when the first release came (back) out. And the next release will have some new twist that was never even hinted at either. Or who knows. Maybe they'll fight zombies in space. But they'll call them all undead bibi's because the dev latched onto this word for no discernable reason. MC is also a hypocrite that judges his friend for smoking, then goes out and smokes a cigar? He's a snarky pompous asshat that that people only like because it benefits the story.

This is going nowhere fast and it's hilarious the amount of choices that are there to open up future sex, but everyone should know how long, if at all, it will be before an actual sex scene happens in this farce of a story. They continually mention new names of girls that will one day have an option to open up sex possibilities. But the glacial pace this is made, you won't see the slow motion sex scene for another 6 years. The English starts to fall apart in chapter 3. Sure, it's proofread better than most, but the cracks are showing. The UI/UX is all default minus the Main Menu and a button that now starts popping up to advance sex scenes. The art is almost great. Minus clipping issues, sex scenes happening in molasses, and over dramatized closeups that look more akin to the guy with the camera falling into the actor. The dialogue is all boring quippy marvel nothings, foreshadowing, or how much sex they want, will have, or are having. And the story just does nothing for me. Everyone's plotting something against everyone else, and if not they all just talk shit about MC(rightfully so) and THANKFULLY there's zero immersion or I'd get secondhand frustration for him. Miru is there solely for cheap and easy sex. All other girls just make dumb googly eyes at MC, and it ends on a cliffhanger as if we don't know Mc will walk in, Leia will apologize and sex will happen. If in some way this is your favorite game ever player, more power to you, but this is just not it. I like maybe one of the characters and even then, not a lot. Sure the renders look pretty, but everyone looks like they live in a plastic surgeons waiting room. I love slow burns, but this is not a slow burn, it feels like "Wait while we purchase these animation loops." If the plot was more interesting, the dialogue was toned down a bit, the scope pulled back, and MC wasn't MC, I could see something decent here. But, we'll see in six months and the next 20 minutes of making future choices but not getting to anything drops.