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

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.

It's a really great AVN. the graphics are out of this world and all the women are so so pretty, maybe even prettier than they should be. The story is rather intriguing and for me it's better than SG. I get that the updates are slow and the story is at a much slower pace than the first version but I enjoy it. The MC is kind of a douche and will not appeal to everyone but for me it's a different MC type of person than most other AVNs which I find refreshing.

Without writing a wall of text, amazing renders weighed down by an absolute anchor of a MC and poor writing. You have no control over the MC's complete douchebaggery past, and the shit he says and the way he treats people is still him being a douchebag. Unlikeable in pretty much every way. The story is also really lame and since its so closely tied with the MC's shitty past, its like a chain around the anchor tying the two together. The girls look excellent and the games aesthetic is really nice. Scenes look great with the lightning and shadows. I also happen to really like your pre-determined girlfriend so that was lucky for me but for others who don't, well thats another problem that you cannot avoid. Also, the tacked on weird NTR toggle is just bizarre and clearly there to appeal to a few people who will shell out cash to be cucked. It's just very jarring and out of place even though you can turn it off. Overall, the bad story and unlikeable MC is just too much to be able to overlook for the great looking girls, graphics, and scenery.

Excellent renders and an interesting story that I'm even more interested in after this latest Chapter 3. Right now, minimal lewd content, but that's because the game is a slow-burn style which I strongly prefer over mindless porn so those are definitely pluses.

The reason I give 3 stars and not 5 is for a few reasons -

1.) The absolutely needless renders where a number of female characters will just expose their boobs / take their tops off in the middle of daylight in public for seemingly no apparent reason. It's absolutely immersion breaking. It's obviously for gratuitous display, but come on - if this is supposed to be a more mature, adult VN that has sex in it as we are told, then give us that. It completely ruins immersion when characters are doing utterly absurd things like that - let us enjoy the lewd content in a more mature / romantic way with the characters we individually want it with. Don't need silly public exhibitions like these.

2.) In this game, the MC is put into a relationship right from the beginning of the story and if you're not into this particular love interest (her name is Miru) then the relationship feels like a ball and chain you're carrying around and being forced to manage despite having no interest in it.

3.) The MC is kind of insufferable at times and very tough to identify with. You can control him a little bit with your choices, but he is overwhelmingly a prick most of the time and it can get grating if you're a mature adult. I am hopeful we'll be able to do more shaping of his character as things progress.

Overall, game has good potential

Interesting game that has seen many changes since it was originally released.

Good:

1. Models are very nicely done, these are quite praiseworthy.
2. Gfx, scenery, effects and cinematic
3. Semi interesting story and mostly has same core story as original but characters have changed a lot.

Bad:

1. MC, the MC is generally an asshole, says completely assholic things that are inappropriate and often cringe worthy making him very unlikable to the player and yes generally all characters in the game. I very much doubt that acting like an immature asshole is strategic for the MC to keep other characters in the dark or throw them off balance and if that is the developers goal, it has been way overdone and has too little "thought provoking" moments where the MC is reflecting on what is happening around himself.
2. Development hell, the game has seen several iterations of itself and has me frustrated to no end with its long development time and changes in story.
3. Updates are few and far between and considering how long this game has been in development, it stands well to reason that it will take a hell of a long time to complete.
4. The developer is also working on Summers Gone, another good game but it also is stuck with long development times which is compounded by having two games run consecutively giving me major pause as to hoping either game will be updated regularly or have a reasonable completion date.
5. Game story seems semi interesting but something that I find very annoying even if its sexy or nice to look at is that the developer likes to portray many of the woman as exhibitionists that flash their tits with no regard of company or being shy about it, especially when they hardly know the MC or know them anymore. This is trend for the developer, even in Summers Gone that breaks immersion. I would instead recommend the developer create more intimate moments in the game with either more woman (harem path) or specific path with more dedicated love interests fixed later in the story.

I would rate this game as 4 or even 4.5 but simply cant due to fact that I simply cant stand the MC and I think the developer is foolish to create an MC like this, joking ever so often is one thing but this MC tries real hard to be disliked.

Comparing to Summers Gone MC, that MC is more interesting and clearly has several internal conflicting issues that are noticeable early on but give an mysterious air to him. This games MC is simply a douche...

The game does its models so well, scenes and settings so well that its feels very realistic and this is great, but the issue with this is when the unreal aspects come into it, it makes the entire game feel very unreal and breaks immersion to such extent that I do not know if I like the game at all. (if this makes sense)

one of the best games I've ever played on this site, I love the way ocean does things.
It's a shame that the few people who are playing this game don't appreciate the story and the construction of these stories.

Some of the most incredible renders I've ever seen paired with a new, mind-numbing story (review for Ch3 of the rewrite).

For anyone who's not aware while reading this review: Where It All Began was at one point an entirely different game/story than it currently is. So keep in mind that some of what you read in these reviews may reflect a very different version.

And oh, what a version it was. Fast-paced and filled with smut that could satisfy many different tastes--there was (optional) raunchy and dramatic NTR and cheating, wholesome incest plots, pregnancy risk, and just some generally spicy sex scenes. I feel like the protagonist wasn't so unlikable in that version, either.

The rework intentionally runs at a "slow burn" pace, which from what I can tell translates to: 1) loads of exhausting exposition dumps.--You'll have just finished meeting one new character, reading their past with the MC, when you're introduced to another and dumped into more backstory 2) More slice of life scenes where you watch the MC do chores and... build sexual tension? I think that's the author's intention, but it's currently low energy flirting with no player choices 3) LOTS of internal monologue. Just so damned many thoughts that could've been shown rather than told to me.

I feel bad being so negative on something that's clearly a labour of love, but I have no idea what the hell happened to this story. It's like it's written by another person who desperately needs an editor to tell them to cut the fat. I loved the first version, and was so invested in seeing the conclusions to the camping trip where it stopped, but this new version has so few choices to make and so little happening in the story now, I end up skipping entire scenes trying to find something interesting.

To end on a positive, I will say that this game's renders are some of the best I've ever seen. The lighting, backgrounds, and colour contrast in some scenes are honestly wallpaper-worthy. The male models are hard to tell apart sometimes because they all look like generic meatheads on HGH, but the female models are beautiful and varied enough that there's a girl for every "type".

Overall, I can't recommend this game in its current state, but loved the first version enough that I'll check in from time to time and hope that I'll eat my words in a later version.

This is a nice game but try make little bit realistic story, i mean in incest patch everything is gonna happend so fast, so make care of this and is to perfect. In the rest good luck and big respect!

the story is interesting and captivating and keeps you interested and the renders on almost all of the characters all amazingly well done especially the MILF ones they are top notch renders . it is relatively early in the game but still worth downloading and trying i mean it is free after all nothing to lose by trying it out

its has to be one the best game i ever play and i have play more the share of games , character , story and potential . the models that are use in this game by far EVERYONE is freaking 10/10 and some are more ( way hotter ) i highly recommended to try it out and see for yourself .

Ocean continues to impress with WiaB.

The renders are top notch, sure, but the story/characters are the stars of this VN. Playing through my first time I was immediately captured by the shared history of the cast and the intrigue of the plot.

Looking forward to future installments.

Excellent renders and animations, surely one of the best if not the best itself. Played the rework version and found it adequately entertaining, appealing and silly story wise. Game looks dark and gloomy but is fun to play and engaging the stay longing for more.

The best looking MC I've ever played in any VN, all these females have different body types and faces. Assets mostly curvy but feel is incredible. Music and background details are top notch.

Honestly, I'm very impressed and unlike SG - this one has sexy Hot scenes. Waiting for the next chapter, and hope to bang at least someone from the "Family Friends Group" besides Miru out on the farm / ranch.

Review might change later once the game gets somewhere in the story.

Right now i am not really into the story, its all vanilla and a bit boring, its about 2 gangs where MC and hes familie is one of them and a mother that lost her voice in a car crash, and thats about it as for plot goes, hope it will improve and get more fun but its still early days so we will see.

Its also hard to figure out whats going on in the story since you barely get any info from anyone, you have MC and Katie that hates one anoter why is unknown and then 2 spiders in a room makes them best friends? no clue whats going on.....just feels weird going from one extreem to another so fast with 0 info about anything.
Same issue with most LIs, they all seem to have something to hide but apprently its just going to be drawn out since MC either cant or wont ask about things, which will make it harder to know what to do or say MC when your clueless.

As for the characters i am not a fan at all, i do like the girlfriend Miru since shes pretty much the only one with normal tits and a nice face, everyone else seems to have gotten boob jobs so MC constantly looks at big tits which is pretty poor when its only a turn-off for you, so right now my hope is you can stay 100% faithfull to her and never be forced to fuck someone else, then game would still be playable.

I dont mind some big tits but when making a game there should be someting for everyone and this game fails big time on that and it feels like its only for players with big tit fetish, since theres nothing for those that like smaller boobs, not that there arent any but ive yet to see a single LI with them, only short guest LIs like the girl from the dart game in the start has small tits, and when you look at main LIs there is Daphne, Leia, Helen, Katarina, Scarlett, Zoey, Gina, all with big tits, so its easy to see what they aim for in this game.
The only ones that could be called normal size but not small is Miru/Katie/Monica.

What really warrents the 3 stars is purely due to the animations, they are just some of the best ive seen, that first one with Miru you cant really call an animation it was more like a movie, i do expect its made to get people hooked from the start and they will become way shorter which is fine since they still look so damn good.

Story 3/5
For now not much to come for and no real plots yet but its still early days so this could change.

Graphics 5/5
Overall graphics looks great.

Girls 3/5
They look great but theres way to big a focus on big tit fetish, so if you dont like that, then theres a big chance you wont like this game.

Animations 5/5
It will be hard to find better animations in any other games.

Music 5/5
Great tunes, not just the normal boring background stuff like in most games.

For now i cant give it more then 3 stars but i might change depending on things move along with the story and the LIs and if you have controle as MC and not be forced to have sex with LIs you dont want to be with, but its early days so that remains to be seen, but if there is no controle it will be 2 stars instend, but 4 stars if you truely can deside as MC.

This is my experience with both Oceanlab games
I can write thousands of sentences in which I am praising this game
This was really the best game I have ever played (over hundreds of gameplays).
Game physiology: 100 out of 100
Writing: 100 out of 100, like 99% of games, it is not full of unattractive texts, instead, it writes the meaning of the speaker with a combination of short and attractive text and excellent physiology.
Model: 100 out of 100
Rendering: 100 out of 100
Bugs in rendering: No bugs
Tension: 100 out of 100, so a sex with models is more fun than thousands of other games
Animation: 100 out of 100
Characterization: 100 out of 100
MC's appearance and personality: 100 out of 100
Gameplay appeal: 100 out of 100
Etc

A somewhat inferior version of Summer's Gone. The flaws are magnified while the strengths are diminished.

Beautifully rendered as always, 3-4 second long transitions, wonderful use of chiaroscuro. I love a good, stylish UI.

In both Summer's Gone and Where It All Began, there is a frequent use of "No Plot, Just Vibes" Scenes.. Their purpose is to build up some sort of romantic or sexual tension between characters while giving us a lewd scene or a shot of a titty or a butt. Those types of scenes work in SG. In WIAB, they feel awkward and out of place, like the fight scene between Leia and your girlfriend.

Speaking of plot, there is barely any. So much information is held from the player behind snarky dialogue that it's hard to grasp what is going on(for me at least). This type of dialogue might appeal for some, but not for me. There is a lot of dialogue that reveals neither personality or exposition. The story is still in its baby stage so things could change based on how it develops.

And when I realized his whole 'friend group' is supposed to be his family, that kind of took me out of the game. I don't hate incest in porn games. But acting like it's not incest when it is makes the characters interact in a weird way. It also added an extra layer of confusion because I was trying to figure out if that character is supposed to be an aunt or cousin or an actual family friend or whatever.

Verdict: It's a fine game if you want to look at some well rendered but short scenes. Not much to offer outside of that at the moment.

This game really disappointed me. The quality is good, but there are only ~three scenes in the game . Admittedly, there is a lot of content, and I found myself not wanting to skip for a while because I was enjoying some of the dialogue, but that's not what I came here for.

Also I'm not a big fan of piercings, and every character has them. That's personal preference though, I'm sure there are many people who will be happy to see them.

All in all 3 stars because I came here for a porn game with incest (expected because of the patch) and was delivered a little bit of porn, and no incest.