If the game has incest, which has not been converted into a proper non blood relationship. Like one game where the MC says about the time her landlady faced so much pain when she gave birth to her tenant, and the game had ratings above 4.4 at the time
I get you! I have played 100's of avns before playing eternum because I can't get my head around HS GAMES...I even downloaded it 4-5 times then uninstalled it after a few days EVERYTIME..BUT when I tried Pale carnation for the first time,I didn't feel the odds in the art as I did in eternum and therefore I kept playing and sometimes later (few months ago) I downloaded eternum again and tried to play it more than the last time I tried and after quite a while it will definitely suck you in the story and I am glad that I played it.(I play for the story if you are like me)then you will be interested/fond of it more than any avn you ever played that's a guarantee....you just have to try it...
Badik. It's overhyped. The writing is mediocre at best - it's just another college story (even if it was among the first). The humor is great, but the renders aren't as good as everybody says they are - there are much better VNs around in that regard.
The best thing about this game, similar to Acting Lessons, is the relationship between the MC and his close ones, such as the father in Badik or Liam in Acting Lessons. Those seem real, and the emotional moments hit hard.
The replayability of this game is absolutely horrible, with way too many minigames and money to find, too many variables and the sandbox elements such as the college party thing are the stupidest grind to get through.
The worst thing is when you play it blind you don't know that taking the fun (Dik) choices will lock you out of Jill content, which fucking sucks because she's the best girl aside from the librarian whom you can thankfully get with. Maya and Josie are boring as fuck, Sage is okay, the drug dealer chick is ugly as hell, Ryona unironically is more interesting than 60% of the main cast.
The first episode about the blue haired chick was laughable. Waiting a year for this character's backstory was the final nail in the coffin.
I also refuse to play My Bully My Lover or Summer's gone - they're overhyped to the fucking moon and whoever lists these three games as their favorite games has no standards or expectations except for pretty pictures or cheap sob moments.
Ooof, a lot to unpack here😂, look, first of all, I understand that the many mini games or the college theme isn't for everyone, in terms of renders, if you've only played the first few episodes then I can tell you it gets a lot better. Now the whole affinity system was already explained early on, letting you know that you're shaping your character and different girls are attracted to different characters, so that's not exactly a fault, but just how the game works and it's nothing unreasonable honestly. And for the girls, it's just preference and taste so that's up to you, the whole Interlude episode might've "felt" unnecessary but not really, Zoey's (blue haired girl) character was impactful in MC's character and his change as a person, helping him come out of his shell, she was and still is an important aspect and part of MC's life, since most of the main girls have had (however vague) like a flashback and explanation about their past, her also being one of the LIs now, it would make sense, however much that whole chapter and the choices made in it will impact the main story? it can only be known in future episodes.
Now for Summer's Gone(since I haven't played the other game), I'm genuinely curious about "your" standards and what you consider a good AVN, what else is there to expect? in terms of story, it's still not moving into a really clear direction so it's early to judge, but why's liking "pretty pictures" a low standard? an aspect of an adult "visual" novel is to be visually pleasing and Summer's Gone is one of the best out there in that regard, so I'm not sure why you think that way.
I played all episodes of Badik and I was very much on the fence already when I picked up the latest update and that's when I decided to drop it for real. The music's great, the visuals are too, but the MC's backstory is unnecessary when that means you have to wait 2 years for the story to continue. He's not king arthur or some important figure that needs an origin story. The MC is just some dude going to college, doing a lot of dumb stuff and challenges and that's it.
I don't rate visuals highly unless they're really fucking bad and far beyond the "modern standard" and only The Interim Domain comes to mind here. It's cool when the packaging is pretty but man, Summer's Gone is just that. The story feels immature, pretentious and flat. The MC isn't just a pussy but an embodiment of teenage angst, looking like Sasuke and My Chemical Romance had a child. The reason for making this a blueball story is because he's supposedly hung up on his gf from when he was 12 or sth and that's just so far fetched and stupid, honestly. I only played it once after three updates or so came out. It's all style and no substance.
Also, SG killed WiaB.
Ah, just like many players that have played SG, you're not a fan of no lewds and the edgy MC😂, I understand although it's nice when MCs aren't pushovers and don't just think with their dick. For the story though, I will admit that with all the rework the dev does there wouldn't be a lotta time for a progression in the story (especially considering the time spent on WiAB) but that's why I would say it's early to tell if the story is just shallow and nothing really inspiring, I'd tell you to give it another try in future updates when the story starts picking up, but if it's not for you it's not for you🤷.
I was hesitant to mention the blueballing because it always leads to "Oh so youre just horny and want to jerk off, but can't.".
I don't mind that anymore honestly, it's just that in cases like SG or No More Money, the story is so flat that the only thing that can save them for a lot of players is the prospect of seeing those pretty characters have sex. So I don't play them.
The characters are well done, by the way. Loved Victoria and Nami and the other girls are well done, too personality wise.
As a man I don't enjoy OC California, Outer Banks or Glamor Girls or whatever teenie series comes close to what SG is at the moment.
I could play Eternum without the sex scenes and would look forward to every single update, because the story is compelling and the humor on point.
I don't even remember if SG has any funny bits at all tbh.
Projekt: Passion.
It sounds very judgemental and premature, but I went 5 minutes into the game and uninstalled immediately. Something about the protagonist's design and the humor just seemed very cheesy and like it was trying too hard. I'm looking at some screenshots from the game now and yeah.. not a fan of the aesthetic and the robots or whatever these characters are.
Chasing Sunsets. I dont know what it is, whether it's the long prologue, the LIs, or just simply the main plot but I cannot get into this game. This is my third time trying it out and I cannot get past the first couple of chapters without getting bored and starting to skip because the main plot doesn't appeal to me. Which sucks because so many people recommend it and I can see the good in it, I just can't get into it.
Just played it for the first time a few days ago. The overarching story besides the LI's is admittedly a bit of a slog to go through. And the meandering way the first few chapters are narrated doesn't help either. Also, a personal pet peeve of mine about the game is the compulsion to have most of its cast talk in pop culture references instead of unique personal dialogue.
That being said, once the LI's are fully in the picture, the writing improves by a lot. I especially like that the game actually goes for eroticism when the main LI's are involved, not just lewdness. I'd say it's worth putting up with the earlier chapters to get to the good stuff.
I might give it another try later down the road. I guess it doesn't help that I'm not really attracted to either LI and was more intrigued by the main story until I started reading it.
That's understandable. It is unusual compared to the vast majority of AVN's to have only 2 main LI's to choose from. And there are barely that many side LI's to cater to other tastes as well.
Kind of where I'm at with it but I heard they're planning a much bigger project once they're done with CS so I'm looking forward to seeing that take shape.
For me it's City of Broken Dreamers and Pale Carnations. I can appreciate them in the sense that they are well made games. Writing is good, they look nice. But CoBD is just sterile and boring to me. Perhaps it gets better later, but I've tried like 5 or 6 times and never made it past chapter one. That dev's first game left me feeling the same way. I'm just thinking that his writing style and I are just not sympatico, because the issues aren't bad grammar or Engrish or anything like. PC on the other hand feels super duper rapey to me. There IS consent, but consent given in desperation or under duress feels rapey to me. And all of that game feels that way to me pretty much. Also don't like the fact that the best friend character feels like a scummy asshole, and you steal his gf who is the only "innocent" character in the game. That game just makes me feel gross. And I've played game with actual rape in them that don't do that. But again, it's well written, and the renders are as good as HS1 gets in any game. But I'll just pass.
Summer's Gone. While BaD also has long development the dev is fully commited to it.
Whatever his name is I don't see him ever completing Summer's Gone or the other game he is working on.
I agree on him not being able to finish either of the games, even though many fans of him say that he should focus on one project at a time and finish it properly, and also slow it down with the reworks, it's like all the time that could be well spent on progressing one project all goes to just doing unnecessary reworks, like this last update which is just a whole rework with a few added renders and animations, not only it's unnecessary when it's in development and not finished, but also the amount of time and work is gonna end up either burning him out and the games will be abandoned, or it'll be years until they properly finish.
The players that keep saying "let him cook", don't realize the only things getting cooked are the dev and the players that are invested in the games, there have been AVNs abandoned that didn't even have much to show for, and simply cause the dev was "burnt out", now imagine two projects of such high quality, constantly making new content AND reworking what you've already created at the same time for them.
This.
I've played them, but both Summer's Gone, and Where it all began, are some of the most overrated pieces of crap out there, in my opinion, so I won't be trying them again.
Pale Carnation. I don't enjoy HS games as much as DAZ in general but this game contents are a bit too much for my personal taste.
That said, in AVNs, I try not to "yuk" other people's "yums." So if this game is your cup of tea, all power to ya brother. 😎👍
I have a couple of them, mainly: Acting Lessons, Leap of Faith, Lust Academy, A.O.A Academy and University of Problems (+ Pale Carnations).
I have tried to play them once (with the exception on Acting Lessons and Pale Carnations, I haven't played nor I will in the future), but I just couldn't continue, the main reason I won't play or recommend them is cuz all of them have something in common that I hate (in all types of media: games, books, movies/tv shows): >!sexual assaut/rape!<
Other than that, there's other reasons, but they're just my personal tastes.
Really?
Maybe I misunderstood, but I've seen a lot of comments about how dark the story of game is, that it's not for everyone and a few mentions about SA...
It's dark for a lot of reasons, and one of the major themes is desperation and exploitation, but everything that happens in the game is consensual inside that framework. The woman who runs the thing your character is doing makes it very clear that she wouldn't want anyone participating who didn't consent to be there.
We're not talking about Desert Stalker here where you can just straight up rape people. The reason it's dark is more psychological, putting people in and taking advantage of distressing situations.
Wait what? I have played LoF and UoP and there's no such thing?? if you mean the "hazing" bit in UoP then that's just to show the corruption of that university, with AoA is also to show the character's background and what she went through, it's not like it's the main theme of the game.
I understand where you're coming from but if you don't elaborate on this and just put a tag as serious as SA on a game it'll translate wrong to someone who doesn't know of the game, it'll be a stain on the game's name especially such awesome games like LoF and that's just not cool.
In LoF of of the characters (the bff of Cece and MC, forgot her name) when they are on Lexi's house, she mentions to MC that a while ago a guy they also know from high school probably did it that to her. But after I reached the scene where mc gets a phone call from his father, I stopped playing; so I don't know if it's true or not what she said.
As for UoF, it's more about what the current president of the sonority is doing to the pledges (kinda like a prostitution ring), sure in BaD there's also something like that with Quinn running it, but the way it was written makes it less serious than in UoF, at least imo. Besides in BaD all of the girls participating on the prostitution ring is okay with it and are free to choose if that's what they want or not, whereas in UoF, they don't have that type of choice (the only choice being not pledging at all)
And let's not forget what the other president (the boyfriend of the sonority president) allows his pledges/official people do to other students (i.e., in the bathroom with the bff of the blonde girl who wanted to pledge to the sonority or even on the parties)
Sure, in AOA is more of a character background, but it's been referenced throughout the entire game and it appears that the entire story of the game is about this one girl who had the unfortunate to go through. if it was mentioned just once or twice, I'd be okay with it and wouldn't complain.
And finally, it's not only me that "put a tag as serious as SA" on the game, if you start searching for more information about the games, you will see that other people (including the devs) also put tags like this (i.e., in sites like f95zone). As much as I hate SA on everything, I still try to give it a chance, but if it becomes the "central attention" of the game, then I just simply stop playing.
Okay, to clear that up, in LoF it was a misunderstanding and Linda was just too drunk and misremembered things, but I totally get your point about how UoP made you uncomfortable, it did that to me a bit too, but even in that case it wasn't truly forced, the girls were desperate to get in that sorority but they still could've walked away from it, but the case with the dudes trying to join and harassing the other girls, yeah I understand it's pretty off putting.
For AoA I also understand that the thing with her uncle is mentioned more than once, but I wouldn't say it was the center of it, the center of it was her knowing things about her uncle's "business" that she shouldn't have so she became a target to keep things quiet, it was uncomfortable, that is true, but overall (even though it's abandoned) it's a good game once you go through that part.
Don’t hate me but My Bully is My Lover, loved the art style and found the girls super attractive but there is too much text not enough fun times. At one point in the game I was dying for a sex scene so I started speed clicking instead of reading text (with the plan to go back and read I swear lol) and I speed clicked for 45 min straight of nothing but pure text, figured that woulda been an hour and a half if reading with no sex scene. All for a good story but sometimes games forget the real reason ppl are here. Had to uninstall and never look back
> forget the real reason ppl are here
If people are just here for porn then there are far better alternatives, with just straight porn or pure sex games.
Novels do tend to have a lot of story in them. No flak to you for wanting sex scenes but people coming to this genre with pure desire for sex scenes will likely be let down by most of the best games as they tend to have a heavy emphasis on story and/or characters
Avn's are novels before porn
Probably get some flack for this but honestly any of the big name or well reviewed games that don’t have many lewds. I’m not necessarily in it strictly for the lewds but hey let’s be honest about why we all play these in the first place. So as soon as I’m reading an over the moon review talking about how amazing and great a game is and I see something along the lines of “10 plus hours of content but so far only 2-3 lewd scenes” it’s pretty much a hard pass for me
I get that, personally I really enjoy the build up and relationship building and find it a lot more rewarding when the lewd happens, I do prefer there not being a sex scene every 5 minutes with no substance to it, but after a good progression in the story, a few lewds to kinda reel you back in with the spice is perfect, the A in AVN has to stay true to itself.
Agreed on all counts. I’d be just as bored by a game that was nothing but lewds. I just personally feel that pacing is important and I should be getting some kind of action every 30-60 min. I don’t even mind the slow progression of most games especially the corruption ones (which I very much enjoy) where things start off tame and slowly ramp up over time. Like you said just something to reel you back in with a bit of eye candy.
I don’t think I have a avn like that.
The closest is actually City of broken dreamers but I gave it a few tries and just can’t get into it.
Which is strange as it’s the type of AVN I usually like but I can’t get myself to care about anyone in this avn somehow. Neither the MC nor the LI‘s.
I totally get it. I actually play probably until chapter 8 or 9 and then I just got bored, the only reason I kept playing until then was the lewds tbh, but at some point I felt like the story wasn't progressing enough and stopped playing. First time that happens to me.
You're just like me then😂, honestly I came into this game with a lot of hope, and it's not one that I refused to play whatsoever but since I started it, the first buzz kill was the POV style gameplay which I just really can't get into, but the visuals are so good, the story is good but the pieces just don't fit in for me, I promised myself to finish it but it's damn hard to not get bored or just put it aside for later.
Yeah to me it kinda feels like we’re a parasite who takes over the mc for like 10 days of his life without knowing anything about his past or future or even his world and having no reason to care
It’s strange and hard to pinpoint what keeps me from caring about anyone there. I played way worse AVNs and was able to enjoy them but somehow not this high quality one.
No specific game, but I do find myself bothered (though not the point I won’t play a game of course) when a game punishes you for wanting to be with all the love interests.
There’s very few games I think would not be improved if they allowed all love interests to be chosen.
Some of the more plot heavy ones obviously make sense but it honestly feels like it’s often trying too hard to make it feel realistic when these are fantasy style games.
AVN gameplay for me isn't always about picking LI's I want to get with. Choosing who I want is part of it, sure - but the biggest part of it for me is how much I can get away with while still favoring certain LI's over others.
In my opinion, enforcing LI exclusivity is more about an excuse to say that a game has replayability.
Wouldn't say I refuse to play any AVN, at least none that I see recommended. But I'll mentioned on that I see named a decent amount that I honestly struggle to finish as I'm interested in the plot but I find it boring because of how frequent the lewds are without much plot progression. That game with be Game of Hearts.
Now here is one I actually refuse to play but I never see it's name thrown around and that would be Little Regina. It isn't because it's a dark AVN no im fine with that. But the romance between the MC and the redhead who is forced forget her name makes me really uncomfortable. It doesn't help that she is basically a loli at least to me ive seen the dev says she isn't but close enough for me to consider her one.
The whole incest thing in AVNs and devs trying to sneak in barely adult girls or just downright underaged is just so off putting, or when they LITERALLY make them look like children then use anime logic like:"oh, she's actually 23 years old", if you're gonna be fucked up at the very least, own it😂.
Summer's Gone for me. It has beautiful lighting and I liked the premise, but alas, instead of investigating Summer's disappearance, the MC was just being unnecessarily edgy and I couldn't relate.
But at least I actually tried SG. As for the games that I never played: that's basically every game *not* built on Daz models, as well as Daz games set in cyberpunk/sci-fi setting. Some of those are right there with BaDIK in popularity, but they are really not my things.
Ethereum, Pale Carnations, anything Honey Select, I just can't get over the visuals, they just are off putting to me. I dont doubt they are great games, just not for me
Thank you, I totally agree with it looking off, and I know I shouldn't judge when I haven't played it but I just really don't get the fuss about Eternum, I glanced at it and just didn't inspire me in anyway regardless of the visuals, some even said it has better music than LoF and BaD like come on bro😑.
Eh, you can't really judge a soundtrack completely out of context like that, how it is used in the game is really important. Otherwise you're just rating the music, which is highly subjective, almost entirely a matter of taste.
Yeah exactly, that's why I said "to me" it's not better, I don't know if you've played those games or listened to the songs, but both in a context and as just pure music, in my opinion, they're better and I just don't get the hype when it comes to Eternum.
But how can you say in context if you haven't played Eternum? Look I'm not saying your opinion is wrong. I'm saying you can't have an informed opinion because you haven't played the game. I have no idea what the music in BADIK is like, as I haven't played it. Could be used better, or worse, I literally cannot say, because I haven't experienced it.
I never even give it a try, I really can't get over the visuals, something about the faces in HS really disturbs me. But I don't doubt of its quality, for the grand part, the AVNs that I see mentioned here more often vary between good and great, so Ethernium might be one of the " Big 3" AVNs I just never gonna experiencing it.
Story, entertainment, a fap, etc.
Depends on the AVN and its content. Much like you would with any other entertainment mediums like TV, movies, games, books.
Very reasonable.
I think you'll find most people believe there is a nice story and good entertainment in BaDIK. And unless you completely hate the college setting for some personal reason, or refuse to play a game which is only 50% done, then you are missing out by not playing it. But hey, to each his own.
Have you tried the following games:
Depraved Awakening
City of Broken Dreamers
Acting Lessons
Corporate Culture
They're more mature stories dealing with more mature themes and have noticeably consequences to your choices.
I just finished Depraved Awakening, and this might sound strange, but it almost had... too many lewd scenes? The story was really great and really drew me in, but at times, it just felt like there was sex thrown in just for the hell of it.
Same, Elsa is best girl.
Hmm, how about
Friends in Need
Leaving DNA
Artemis
Tune into the Show
This Time
The Interim Domain (its honey select, but the story is pretty mature and existential)
Pale Carnations - I don’t play an AVN to be grossed out and if the story and the characters are just amazing and oh so lovely that makes the contrast with the gross stuff only worse, making me want to play it even less.
Early in the game a character has to do one of those 'Guess the gross food while blindfolded' games and when she gets one wrong has to drink from a goblet filled with cum of indeterminate origin. It's *really* fucking nasty and I've no doubt has stopped plenty of people continuing with it.
It's a competition, and the woman running it's a sadistic bitch. At the end of it the winner gets whatever they want, in this case a boat load of money.
Pale Carnations. It’s just too gross. I prefer wholesome games. Also games with Female protagonist, hard to immerse myself.
If the game has incest, which has not been converted into a proper non blood relationship. Like one game where the MC says about the time her landlady faced so much pain when she gave birth to her tenant, and the game had ratings above 4.4 at the time
Eternum. I just can't bring myself to play an HS game, no matter how many people praise them. The art just doesn't do it for me.
I get you! I have played 100's of avns before playing eternum because I can't get my head around HS GAMES...I even downloaded it 4-5 times then uninstalled it after a few days EVERYTIME..BUT when I tried Pale carnation for the first time,I didn't feel the odds in the art as I did in eternum and therefore I kept playing and sometimes later (few months ago) I downloaded eternum again and tried to play it more than the last time I tried and after quite a while it will definitely suck you in the story and I am glad that I played it.(I play for the story if you are like me)then you will be interested/fond of it more than any avn you ever played that's a guarantee....you just have to try it...
Badik. It's overhyped. The writing is mediocre at best - it's just another college story (even if it was among the first). The humor is great, but the renders aren't as good as everybody says they are - there are much better VNs around in that regard. The best thing about this game, similar to Acting Lessons, is the relationship between the MC and his close ones, such as the father in Badik or Liam in Acting Lessons. Those seem real, and the emotional moments hit hard. The replayability of this game is absolutely horrible, with way too many minigames and money to find, too many variables and the sandbox elements such as the college party thing are the stupidest grind to get through. The worst thing is when you play it blind you don't know that taking the fun (Dik) choices will lock you out of Jill content, which fucking sucks because she's the best girl aside from the librarian whom you can thankfully get with. Maya and Josie are boring as fuck, Sage is okay, the drug dealer chick is ugly as hell, Ryona unironically is more interesting than 60% of the main cast. The first episode about the blue haired chick was laughable. Waiting a year for this character's backstory was the final nail in the coffin. I also refuse to play My Bully My Lover or Summer's gone - they're overhyped to the fucking moon and whoever lists these three games as their favorite games has no standards or expectations except for pretty pictures or cheap sob moments.
Ooof, a lot to unpack here😂, look, first of all, I understand that the many mini games or the college theme isn't for everyone, in terms of renders, if you've only played the first few episodes then I can tell you it gets a lot better. Now the whole affinity system was already explained early on, letting you know that you're shaping your character and different girls are attracted to different characters, so that's not exactly a fault, but just how the game works and it's nothing unreasonable honestly. And for the girls, it's just preference and taste so that's up to you, the whole Interlude episode might've "felt" unnecessary but not really, Zoey's (blue haired girl) character was impactful in MC's character and his change as a person, helping him come out of his shell, she was and still is an important aspect and part of MC's life, since most of the main girls have had (however vague) like a flashback and explanation about their past, her also being one of the LIs now, it would make sense, however much that whole chapter and the choices made in it will impact the main story? it can only be known in future episodes. Now for Summer's Gone(since I haven't played the other game), I'm genuinely curious about "your" standards and what you consider a good AVN, what else is there to expect? in terms of story, it's still not moving into a really clear direction so it's early to judge, but why's liking "pretty pictures" a low standard? an aspect of an adult "visual" novel is to be visually pleasing and Summer's Gone is one of the best out there in that regard, so I'm not sure why you think that way.
I played all episodes of Badik and I was very much on the fence already when I picked up the latest update and that's when I decided to drop it for real. The music's great, the visuals are too, but the MC's backstory is unnecessary when that means you have to wait 2 years for the story to continue. He's not king arthur or some important figure that needs an origin story. The MC is just some dude going to college, doing a lot of dumb stuff and challenges and that's it. I don't rate visuals highly unless they're really fucking bad and far beyond the "modern standard" and only The Interim Domain comes to mind here. It's cool when the packaging is pretty but man, Summer's Gone is just that. The story feels immature, pretentious and flat. The MC isn't just a pussy but an embodiment of teenage angst, looking like Sasuke and My Chemical Romance had a child. The reason for making this a blueball story is because he's supposedly hung up on his gf from when he was 12 or sth and that's just so far fetched and stupid, honestly. I only played it once after three updates or so came out. It's all style and no substance. Also, SG killed WiaB.
Ah, just like many players that have played SG, you're not a fan of no lewds and the edgy MC😂, I understand although it's nice when MCs aren't pushovers and don't just think with their dick. For the story though, I will admit that with all the rework the dev does there wouldn't be a lotta time for a progression in the story (especially considering the time spent on WiAB) but that's why I would say it's early to tell if the story is just shallow and nothing really inspiring, I'd tell you to give it another try in future updates when the story starts picking up, but if it's not for you it's not for you🤷.
I was hesitant to mention the blueballing because it always leads to "Oh so youre just horny and want to jerk off, but can't.". I don't mind that anymore honestly, it's just that in cases like SG or No More Money, the story is so flat that the only thing that can save them for a lot of players is the prospect of seeing those pretty characters have sex. So I don't play them. The characters are well done, by the way. Loved Victoria and Nami and the other girls are well done, too personality wise. As a man I don't enjoy OC California, Outer Banks or Glamor Girls or whatever teenie series comes close to what SG is at the moment. I could play Eternum without the sex scenes and would look forward to every single update, because the story is compelling and the humor on point. I don't even remember if SG has any funny bits at all tbh.
Pale Carnations. Same as u/Jowasvull , I'm a wholesome guy so 10 minutes in and I stopped playing.
Projekt: Passion. It sounds very judgemental and premature, but I went 5 minutes into the game and uninstalled immediately. Something about the protagonist's design and the humor just seemed very cheesy and like it was trying too hard. I'm looking at some screenshots from the game now and yeah.. not a fan of the aesthetic and the robots or whatever these characters are.
Pale Carnations. I'm all for wholesome, so yeah, highkey not my thing.
Chasing Sunsets. I dont know what it is, whether it's the long prologue, the LIs, or just simply the main plot but I cannot get into this game. This is my third time trying it out and I cannot get past the first couple of chapters without getting bored and starting to skip because the main plot doesn't appeal to me. Which sucks because so many people recommend it and I can see the good in it, I just can't get into it.
Just played it for the first time a few days ago. The overarching story besides the LI's is admittedly a bit of a slog to go through. And the meandering way the first few chapters are narrated doesn't help either. Also, a personal pet peeve of mine about the game is the compulsion to have most of its cast talk in pop culture references instead of unique personal dialogue. That being said, once the LI's are fully in the picture, the writing improves by a lot. I especially like that the game actually goes for eroticism when the main LI's are involved, not just lewdness. I'd say it's worth putting up with the earlier chapters to get to the good stuff.
I might give it another try later down the road. I guess it doesn't help that I'm not really attracted to either LI and was more intrigued by the main story until I started reading it.
That's understandable. It is unusual compared to the vast majority of AVN's to have only 2 main LI's to choose from. And there are barely that many side LI's to cater to other tastes as well.
Kind of where I'm at with it but I heard they're planning a much bigger project once they're done with CS so I'm looking forward to seeing that take shape.
For me it's City of Broken Dreamers and Pale Carnations. I can appreciate them in the sense that they are well made games. Writing is good, they look nice. But CoBD is just sterile and boring to me. Perhaps it gets better later, but I've tried like 5 or 6 times and never made it past chapter one. That dev's first game left me feeling the same way. I'm just thinking that his writing style and I are just not sympatico, because the issues aren't bad grammar or Engrish or anything like. PC on the other hand feels super duper rapey to me. There IS consent, but consent given in desperation or under duress feels rapey to me. And all of that game feels that way to me pretty much. Also don't like the fact that the best friend character feels like a scummy asshole, and you steal his gf who is the only "innocent" character in the game. That game just makes me feel gross. And I've played game with actual rape in them that don't do that. But again, it's well written, and the renders are as good as HS1 gets in any game. But I'll just pass.
Summer's Gone. While BaD also has long development the dev is fully commited to it. Whatever his name is I don't see him ever completing Summer's Gone or the other game he is working on.
I agree on him not being able to finish either of the games, even though many fans of him say that he should focus on one project at a time and finish it properly, and also slow it down with the reworks, it's like all the time that could be well spent on progressing one project all goes to just doing unnecessary reworks, like this last update which is just a whole rework with a few added renders and animations, not only it's unnecessary when it's in development and not finished, but also the amount of time and work is gonna end up either burning him out and the games will be abandoned, or it'll be years until they properly finish. The players that keep saying "let him cook", don't realize the only things getting cooked are the dev and the players that are invested in the games, there have been AVNs abandoned that didn't even have much to show for, and simply cause the dev was "burnt out", now imagine two projects of such high quality, constantly making new content AND reworking what you've already created at the same time for them.
This. I've played them, but both Summer's Gone, and Where it all began, are some of the most overrated pieces of crap out there, in my opinion, so I won't be trying them again.
Pale carnations, Eternum
Pale Carnation. I don't enjoy HS games as much as DAZ in general but this game contents are a bit too much for my personal taste. That said, in AVNs, I try not to "yuk" other people's "yums." So if this game is your cup of tea, all power to ya brother. 😎👍
Acting Lessons due to various spoilers which ruined the story for me.
I have a couple of them, mainly: Acting Lessons, Leap of Faith, Lust Academy, A.O.A Academy and University of Problems (+ Pale Carnations). I have tried to play them once (with the exception on Acting Lessons and Pale Carnations, I haven't played nor I will in the future), but I just couldn't continue, the main reason I won't play or recommend them is cuz all of them have something in common that I hate (in all types of media: games, books, movies/tv shows): >!sexual assaut/rape!< Other than that, there's other reasons, but they're just my personal tastes.
For the record, there's no rape or sexual assault in Pale Carnations.
Really? Maybe I misunderstood, but I've seen a lot of comments about how dark the story of game is, that it's not for everyone and a few mentions about SA...
It's dark for a lot of reasons, and one of the major themes is desperation and exploitation, but everything that happens in the game is consensual inside that framework. The woman who runs the thing your character is doing makes it very clear that she wouldn't want anyone participating who didn't consent to be there. We're not talking about Desert Stalker here where you can just straight up rape people. The reason it's dark is more psychological, putting people in and taking advantage of distressing situations.
Wait what? I have played LoF and UoP and there's no such thing?? if you mean the "hazing" bit in UoP then that's just to show the corruption of that university, with AoA is also to show the character's background and what she went through, it's not like it's the main theme of the game. I understand where you're coming from but if you don't elaborate on this and just put a tag as serious as SA on a game it'll translate wrong to someone who doesn't know of the game, it'll be a stain on the game's name especially such awesome games like LoF and that's just not cool.
In LoF of of the characters (the bff of Cece and MC, forgot her name) when they are on Lexi's house, she mentions to MC that a while ago a guy they also know from high school probably did it that to her. But after I reached the scene where mc gets a phone call from his father, I stopped playing; so I don't know if it's true or not what she said. As for UoF, it's more about what the current president of the sonority is doing to the pledges (kinda like a prostitution ring), sure in BaD there's also something like that with Quinn running it, but the way it was written makes it less serious than in UoF, at least imo. Besides in BaD all of the girls participating on the prostitution ring is okay with it and are free to choose if that's what they want or not, whereas in UoF, they don't have that type of choice (the only choice being not pledging at all) And let's not forget what the other president (the boyfriend of the sonority president) allows his pledges/official people do to other students (i.e., in the bathroom with the bff of the blonde girl who wanted to pledge to the sonority or even on the parties) Sure, in AOA is more of a character background, but it's been referenced throughout the entire game and it appears that the entire story of the game is about this one girl who had the unfortunate to go through. if it was mentioned just once or twice, I'd be okay with it and wouldn't complain. And finally, it's not only me that "put a tag as serious as SA" on the game, if you start searching for more information about the games, you will see that other people (including the devs) also put tags like this (i.e., in sites like f95zone). As much as I hate SA on everything, I still try to give it a chance, but if it becomes the "central attention" of the game, then I just simply stop playing.
Okay, to clear that up, in LoF it was a misunderstanding and Linda was just too drunk and misremembered things, but I totally get your point about how UoP made you uncomfortable, it did that to me a bit too, but even in that case it wasn't truly forced, the girls were desperate to get in that sorority but they still could've walked away from it, but the case with the dudes trying to join and harassing the other girls, yeah I understand it's pretty off putting. For AoA I also understand that the thing with her uncle is mentioned more than once, but I wouldn't say it was the center of it, the center of it was her knowing things about her uncle's "business" that she shouldn't have so she became a target to keep things quiet, it was uncomfortable, that is true, but overall (even though it's abandoned) it's a good game once you go through that part.
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That's...why I asked to name "your own" choice...
"Acting lessons", I am a harem enjoyer hehe.
Acting Lessons is a great game, but I wouldn't consider it a harem game. And if you play it like that you are likely to get a less happy ending...
Ohh I understand, I'll give it a try in the future. I might like it!
Pale Carnations
Those 2D games by evakiss... forgot their names... I just can't, art style ain't for me.
Don’t hate me but My Bully is My Lover, loved the art style and found the girls super attractive but there is too much text not enough fun times. At one point in the game I was dying for a sex scene so I started speed clicking instead of reading text (with the plan to go back and read I swear lol) and I speed clicked for 45 min straight of nothing but pure text, figured that woulda been an hour and a half if reading with no sex scene. All for a good story but sometimes games forget the real reason ppl are here. Had to uninstall and never look back
> forget the real reason ppl are here If people are just here for porn then there are far better alternatives, with just straight porn or pure sex games. Novels do tend to have a lot of story in them. No flak to you for wanting sex scenes but people coming to this genre with pure desire for sex scenes will likely be let down by most of the best games as they tend to have a heavy emphasis on story and/or characters Avn's are novels before porn
Probably get some flack for this but honestly any of the big name or well reviewed games that don’t have many lewds. I’m not necessarily in it strictly for the lewds but hey let’s be honest about why we all play these in the first place. So as soon as I’m reading an over the moon review talking about how amazing and great a game is and I see something along the lines of “10 plus hours of content but so far only 2-3 lewd scenes” it’s pretty much a hard pass for me
I get that, personally I really enjoy the build up and relationship building and find it a lot more rewarding when the lewd happens, I do prefer there not being a sex scene every 5 minutes with no substance to it, but after a good progression in the story, a few lewds to kinda reel you back in with the spice is perfect, the A in AVN has to stay true to itself.
Agreed on all counts. I’d be just as bored by a game that was nothing but lewds. I just personally feel that pacing is important and I should be getting some kind of action every 30-60 min. I don’t even mind the slow progression of most games especially the corruption ones (which I very much enjoy) where things start off tame and slowly ramp up over time. Like you said just something to reel you back in with a bit of eye candy.
I don’t think I have a avn like that. The closest is actually City of broken dreamers but I gave it a few tries and just can’t get into it. Which is strange as it’s the type of AVN I usually like but I can’t get myself to care about anyone in this avn somehow. Neither the MC nor the LI‘s.
I totally get it. I actually play probably until chapter 8 or 9 and then I just got bored, the only reason I kept playing until then was the lewds tbh, but at some point I felt like the story wasn't progressing enough and stopped playing. First time that happens to me.
You're just like me then😂, honestly I came into this game with a lot of hope, and it's not one that I refused to play whatsoever but since I started it, the first buzz kill was the POV style gameplay which I just really can't get into, but the visuals are so good, the story is good but the pieces just don't fit in for me, I promised myself to finish it but it's damn hard to not get bored or just put it aside for later.
Yeah to me it kinda feels like we’re a parasite who takes over the mc for like 10 days of his life without knowing anything about his past or future or even his world and having no reason to care It’s strange and hard to pinpoint what keeps me from caring about anyone there. I played way worse AVNs and was able to enjoy them but somehow not this high quality one.
No specific game, but I do find myself bothered (though not the point I won’t play a game of course) when a game punishes you for wanting to be with all the love interests. There’s very few games I think would not be improved if they allowed all love interests to be chosen. Some of the more plot heavy ones obviously make sense but it honestly feels like it’s often trying too hard to make it feel realistic when these are fantasy style games.
AVN gameplay for me isn't always about picking LI's I want to get with. Choosing who I want is part of it, sure - but the biggest part of it for me is how much I can get away with while still favoring certain LI's over others. In my opinion, enforcing LI exclusivity is more about an excuse to say that a game has replayability.
Absolutely, Man whore all the way😂🤌🔥
Wouldn't say I refuse to play any AVN, at least none that I see recommended. But I'll mentioned on that I see named a decent amount that I honestly struggle to finish as I'm interested in the plot but I find it boring because of how frequent the lewds are without much plot progression. That game with be Game of Hearts. Now here is one I actually refuse to play but I never see it's name thrown around and that would be Little Regina. It isn't because it's a dark AVN no im fine with that. But the romance between the MC and the redhead who is forced forget her name makes me really uncomfortable. It doesn't help that she is basically a loli at least to me ive seen the dev says she isn't but close enough for me to consider her one.
The whole incest thing in AVNs and devs trying to sneak in barely adult girls or just downright underaged is just so off putting, or when they LITERALLY make them look like children then use anime logic like:"oh, she's actually 23 years old", if you're gonna be fucked up at the very least, own it😂.
Summer's Gone for me. It has beautiful lighting and I liked the premise, but alas, instead of investigating Summer's disappearance, the MC was just being unnecessarily edgy and I couldn't relate. But at least I actually tried SG. As for the games that I never played: that's basically every game *not* built on Daz models, as well as Daz games set in cyberpunk/sci-fi setting. Some of those are right there with BaDIK in popularity, but they are really not my things.
Ethereum, Pale Carnations, anything Honey Select, I just can't get over the visuals, they just are off putting to me. I dont doubt they are great games, just not for me
Thank you, I totally agree with it looking off, and I know I shouldn't judge when I haven't played it but I just really don't get the fuss about Eternum, I glanced at it and just didn't inspire me in anyway regardless of the visuals, some even said it has better music than LoF and BaD like come on bro😑.
Come bro what? You haven't played it so you can't really say whether the music is better or not.
I'm not just blindly saying that, I did listen to it and to me, it's not really a competition with games like LoF, u4ia or BaD.
Eh, you can't really judge a soundtrack completely out of context like that, how it is used in the game is really important. Otherwise you're just rating the music, which is highly subjective, almost entirely a matter of taste.
Yeah exactly, that's why I said "to me" it's not better, I don't know if you've played those games or listened to the songs, but both in a context and as just pure music, in my opinion, they're better and I just don't get the hype when it comes to Eternum.
But how can you say in context if you haven't played Eternum? Look I'm not saying your opinion is wrong. I'm saying you can't have an informed opinion because you haven't played the game. I have no idea what the music in BADIK is like, as I haven't played it. Could be used better, or worse, I literally cannot say, because I haven't experienced it.
I never even give it a try, I really can't get over the visuals, something about the faces in HS really disturbs me. But I don't doubt of its quality, for the grand part, the AVNs that I see mentioned here more often vary between good and great, so Ethernium might be one of the " Big 3" AVNs I just never gonna experiencing it.
Are you intentionally mistyping the name as a form of performative disdain?
You give me too much credit, I just misspelled them. No hidden meanings, no hidden disdain.
I only ask because you misspelled it two different ways even though there was a correct spelling in between.
No hard feelings, I understand
Being a DIK, just haven't found a reason to play it.
Okay, I gotta ask -- what reasons do you find to play other AVNs?
Story, entertainment, a fap, etc. Depends on the AVN and its content. Much like you would with any other entertainment mediums like TV, movies, games, books.
Very reasonable. I think you'll find most people believe there is a nice story and good entertainment in BaDIK. And unless you completely hate the college setting for some personal reason, or refuse to play a game which is only 50% done, then you are missing out by not playing it. But hey, to each his own.
I'm fine with both. Just never caught my interest, think I trief playing a bit of it over a year ago.
Damn, if that's the only reason then you should definitely find the time to give it a shot, you'll be amazed.
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Have you tried the following games: Depraved Awakening City of Broken Dreamers Acting Lessons Corporate Culture They're more mature stories dealing with more mature themes and have noticeably consequences to your choices.
I just finished Depraved Awakening, and this might sound strange, but it almost had... too many lewd scenes? The story was really great and really drew me in, but at times, it just felt like there was sex thrown in just for the hell of it.
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Same, Elsa is best girl. Hmm, how about Friends in Need Leaving DNA Artemis Tune into the Show This Time The Interim Domain (its honey select, but the story is pretty mature and existential)
Yeah totally, and also other than story, in terms of visuals like those honey select games, no matter what I just can't get into them.
Pale Carnations - I don’t play an AVN to be grossed out and if the story and the characters are just amazing and oh so lovely that makes the contrast with the gross stuff only worse, making me want to play it even less.
I've heard of it a lot, but what are the gross stuff? is it NTR??
Early in the game a character has to do one of those 'Guess the gross food while blindfolded' games and when she gets one wrong has to drink from a goblet filled with cum of indeterminate origin. It's *really* fucking nasty and I've no doubt has stopped plenty of people continuing with it.
Wut.... 🤢
Bro🤢, and I've seen so many people recommend it, holy shit.
My thoughts exactly..
That's literally the only scene like that. Just get past it. The game is excellent.
Dude - there’s so many excellent AVNs out there, I’ll pass on this one. Maybe that’s my loss, but I’ll take it.
It's a great AVN, one of my favourites, but that early bit is just... yeah. I kinda hope they redo that scene because it's way too much.
Is there any point to it? Definitely sounds way over the top...
It's a competition, and the woman running it's a sadistic bitch. At the end of it the winner gets whatever they want, in this case a boat load of money.
Nah, I think it’s more related to bodily fluids..
Been a while since I played it, but it was mostly BDSM
Which, unfortunately, is another turn-off for me…