- Jun 30, 2018
- 2,893
- 3,524
Interrupting the rants for a rant of my own. So I have started getting into AVNs again after change of PCs and finally discovering that Win 11 has an on-board unzipper and I decided to try Willing Virgin Manufactory a.k.a. Hugging and Crying Simulator: The Game again. Since the save games are still on the old hard disk in the old PC I had to start over and it took me several days to get through it. Changes to old playthrough: Went on the cheating path, got Elizabeth in early, Penny is out. Old progress was up until entering the refurbished stadium, exhibition game had not started yet.
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So, I definitely found out that this VN is best served in small dosage. Playing from start to finish in one go makes you go from more or less meaningless sex scene to the next, with every day seemingly consisting of 60 hours. I understand that this is supposed to get fixed in the rework of the first 30 days, whenever that may occur. However, this was not even remedied after Day 31, as the days are still way too long.
There are now three "intended" breaking points in the game. The first one I could not quite detect as I've changed paths, but must be somewhere within the first month where the rework is currently ending, the second one at the end of Day 30 where the story suddenly doesn't make sense for a while. [Where did the Don't talk to the MC at College suddenly come from? Who TF are Granny, Bea, 4t? All of them have never been mentioned before.] Maybe the confusion stems from not being on Penny's path anymore, but what do I know? Third one is obviously the missing renders during Dahlia's conversation, where I stopped as I don't see any sense of continuing with the game when I have to back-track anyway. I feel BrainDrop should definitely work on those construction sites first to create a more seamless experience instead of adding more and more story to the end.
In general - and again, this might be a me problem as I tend to actually read the plot so it takes me longer to get through - I feel the pacing is a bit wrong. Meaning, the sex scenes and plot advancement could be interwoven much better. As the VN stands we have hours of sex scenes, lots of plans that really never come to fruition and they are getting delayed and delayed to be replaced with more sex scenes, and suddenly we get a three hour break with an exposition dump that keeps dragging on and on and on. All the while new girls keep getting added instead of deepening existing relationships and doing more stuff with them instead of just an additional sex scene.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind sex scenes, otherwise I'd obviously be in the wrong place. They have evolved a bit over the years, getting longer, having more animations. (Still not up to the standards though set by games like Delta Iota Kappa, Thirsty for my Guest or even the later Dots ones. But not bad.) You definitely do see a preference though as some girls have multiple ones while the likes of Stacy, Kimmy or Emiko are still waiting for theirs: and even in the longer, establised relationship ones we get extensive scenes with Rachael, Elizabeth, Bailey and Zoe while others are neglected. Like before, instead of strengthening those relationships and doind activities outside of the next sex scene we are adding six rainbow girls and a billionaire orgy. Meanwhile, Shauna still seems written for an exclusive Trans part even after Day 30.
Somehow fitting that for me the exhibition game and the search for the cheerleaders were the more engaging and standout moments since they did not include sex scenes for a while. Call it a "breath of fresh air" if you will.
While I know that there won'T be any inc scenes I find it puzzling that there are still optional kissing scenes with Hazel quite far into the plot. Rachael may have stopped teasing about it, but it's still going on. At this point it feels like a stringing along of the inc crowd who are still hopeful.
Final point, I'd like to have some variety. I don't know if it's BrainDrop's special fetish, but the MC causes a lot of walking problems. I was actually excited when Elizabeth announced that she did so much masturbation that she wouldn't have any problems keeping up with the MC. Only to have her end up with weak knees like all the others, more experienced women. Can we have, just once for good measure, have the MC exhausted and the partner saying, like, oh, it's a pity, I could have gone on. Or are you up for another round, something like that.
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Long story short, yes, the VN is not bad if you are into the ultimate power fantasy, or a cult (something that BrainDrop even makes fun of at some point). Waiting times for updates seem to have increased, but the content added while I haven't played was decent.
------
So, I definitely found out that this VN is best served in small dosage. Playing from start to finish in one go makes you go from more or less meaningless sex scene to the next, with every day seemingly consisting of 60 hours. I understand that this is supposed to get fixed in the rework of the first 30 days, whenever that may occur. However, this was not even remedied after Day 31, as the days are still way too long.
There are now three "intended" breaking points in the game. The first one I could not quite detect as I've changed paths, but must be somewhere within the first month where the rework is currently ending, the second one at the end of Day 30 where the story suddenly doesn't make sense for a while. [Where did the Don't talk to the MC at College suddenly come from? Who TF are Granny, Bea, 4t? All of them have never been mentioned before.] Maybe the confusion stems from not being on Penny's path anymore, but what do I know? Third one is obviously the missing renders during Dahlia's conversation, where I stopped as I don't see any sense of continuing with the game when I have to back-track anyway. I feel BrainDrop should definitely work on those construction sites first to create a more seamless experience instead of adding more and more story to the end.
In general - and again, this might be a me problem as I tend to actually read the plot so it takes me longer to get through - I feel the pacing is a bit wrong. Meaning, the sex scenes and plot advancement could be interwoven much better. As the VN stands we have hours of sex scenes, lots of plans that really never come to fruition and they are getting delayed and delayed to be replaced with more sex scenes, and suddenly we get a three hour break with an exposition dump that keeps dragging on and on and on. All the while new girls keep getting added instead of deepening existing relationships and doing more stuff with them instead of just an additional sex scene.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind sex scenes, otherwise I'd obviously be in the wrong place. They have evolved a bit over the years, getting longer, having more animations. (Still not up to the standards though set by games like Delta Iota Kappa, Thirsty for my Guest or even the later Dots ones. But not bad.) You definitely do see a preference though as some girls have multiple ones while the likes of Stacy, Kimmy or Emiko are still waiting for theirs: and even in the longer, establised relationship ones we get extensive scenes with Rachael, Elizabeth, Bailey and Zoe while others are neglected. Like before, instead of strengthening those relationships and doind activities outside of the next sex scene we are adding six rainbow girls and a billionaire orgy. Meanwhile, Shauna still seems written for an exclusive Trans part even after Day 30.
Somehow fitting that for me the exhibition game and the search for the cheerleaders were the more engaging and standout moments since they did not include sex scenes for a while. Call it a "breath of fresh air" if you will.
While I know that there won'T be any inc scenes I find it puzzling that there are still optional kissing scenes with Hazel quite far into the plot. Rachael may have stopped teasing about it, but it's still going on. At this point it feels like a stringing along of the inc crowd who are still hopeful.
Final point, I'd like to have some variety. I don't know if it's BrainDrop's special fetish, but the MC causes a lot of walking problems. I was actually excited when Elizabeth announced that she did so much masturbation that she wouldn't have any problems keeping up with the MC. Only to have her end up with weak knees like all the others, more experienced women. Can we have, just once for good measure, have the MC exhausted and the partner saying, like, oh, it's a pity, I could have gone on. Or are you up for another round, something like that.
-------
Long story short, yes, the VN is not bad if you are into the ultimate power fantasy, or a cult (something that BrainDrop even makes fun of at some point). Waiting times for updates seem to have increased, but the content added while I haven't played was decent.
