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

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.

Just tried this again and i just got to lower it by another star, theres just way way way to much focus on big tits in this game, theres barely a minute between a zoom in on some big ugly tits, its pretty clear devs must have an insane big tit fetish to make it this bad and im extremly supprise MCs girlfriend isent a total bimbo like 99% of the girls in this one.

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.

Also progress in story and content is extremly slow, story has barely even gotten started yet, my best advice would be come back in 10 years time then maybe theres more story but wouldent expect it to be finished by then, maybe not ever, game is only at chapter 3 after more then 6 years, thats half a chapter a year....thats just crazy slow.

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.

holy.... this game looks beautiful. The music is nice too and the story and characters development has a really good pace. And it can be funny too. A great mix between drama, thriller, comedy and ofc nsfw content that is animated in a incredible way.

Version 0.2 There's a mix of good and bad here. It's still very early, but some things really jump out. First off the art and music are awesome. There was clearly a lot of love and attention put into the visuals. Really topnotch. The characters weren't as well fleshed out as the artwork though and they tend to blend into each other. There's a rough similarity between many of the girls, which can be explained away by familial ties, but there's also a personality homogeneity that grates a bit. MC was jerk, and everybody from MC's past seems to be angry at in him in roughly the same way even though the reasons for that anger seem to be different. It's a bit wearisome and it seems very out of place to try to inject humor into some of the conversations the way it has played out so far. The humor often seems forced and not necessarily tone appropriate for the story. The story itself is disjointed and a bit all over the place, but it's early and giving the benefit of the doubt we'll just say that it's setting the stage. There are too many people involved for too little story advancement so far though. MC's gf feels more like his sensei than his gf. Everyone else is dressed like a hooker all the time which also makes it feel less organic than it should. Again, it's early days and as the story fleshes out the inclusion of all the people may feel more natural too. It feels to me like the dev tried to do too much too early with the people when the story should have been more evolved first. Still, all said and done there's enough interesting story elements and the potential is definitely there. If the story quality can be brought up to match the visual quality then this game will be outstanding.

A really good game with a good and exciting story with very nice pictures. Very good animations. I love it. Texts are well written. The art style is beautiful. Characters are well developed. It's just a pity that the developer is doing several projects at the same time... Should rather commit to one first.

Wiab is what we can call a masterpiece in becoming having played the old version at his release and experienced the beginnings of the second opus SG We have an idea of the connected universe that wants to share with us its author at the moment the series follows a complete rework with graphic and scenaristic modifications of its old version of the opus, although I can already be certain of one thing, we are likely to have a very good plot worked that seems to be oriented towards the discovery of an organization taking control of their hometown Wollust in the shadow and the protagonist will come to form a group to overcome this and become major players in the future.

Fascinating, I find sometimes even WIAB better than SG on certain points since the protagonists are at the same time similar, but different in their construction, one seeks to build himself in SG and to overcome his demons of the past to become who he really is while William has already started his life and seems to be already ready to face the adult life and its difficulties in spite of the fact that he hides in the depths of him some repressed remorse.
Anyway, I wish Ocean all the best. I read all the problems he went through and what he went through, but he never gave up, and today he can be proud of his work which gives a new incredible image in the world of AVN.

Another title that sets itself apart from the herd. From the moment you begin this journey, you're quickly immersed into the characters. I was a little worried after the initial scene, but quickly draws you into an interesting backstory that makes you want to learn more.

I cannot wait to get more content from this title. The story, so far, doesn't feel like it's being rushed or unprepared.

This title deserves all the support it can get. I absolutely want to see this one completed, sooner rather than later. I cannot wait!!
Well done!

PS: As much as I would love more content delivered quickly, I am ready to wait as long as it takes for a polished story-line. PLEASE take the time you need to complete the character arcs adequately, as too often we find some titles start off spectacularly but end with a flimsy ending due to being rushed. When you need a break from the project, please take the time you need. Readers are often more grateful with a writer dedicated to the integrity of his work. Your true fans will understand and love you more for it.