General Info:
Developer: [Circle Group]
Language: English (Fan-Made)
Progress: Complete (Finalized)
Engine: RPG Maker (XP/VX/VX Ace/MV/MZ)
Voices:, Full Characters
Fetishes: Femdom ## Male MC ## Succubus Girls ## Foreplay, Sex ## Lips & Pussy & Breasts Fetish ## Corruption, Drain, Mind Control, Status Effects
Ain't this a name for a game (part of Translating it, I suppose). So this "2T~2T~" game (sounds cooler like this)... I was actually supposed to cover a looong time ago. Kind of back when I got caught up with working on Tower of Trample, so around the beginning of this year-ish. That's when I did the playthrough of the game, and even made some Mods for it.... (one of which I shared with the owner of the F95 thread for this game, who's also the Translator for it; chill, cool dude). Well, here we are now!
Don't worry, I got a good memory, Saves made along the game's progress, and my own Info files on the game's mechanics. Revisiting this game was as easy as it could get. Worth it, too, a cool, yet fairly small, game, this one is. Wonder if it'll ever get a sequel...
Don't worry, I got a good memory, Saves made along the game's progress, and my own Info files on the game's mechanics. Revisiting this game was as easy as it could get. Worth it, too, a cool, yet fairly small, game, this one is. Wonder if it'll ever get a sequel...
Review Contents (links to each part):
Review TL;DR:
All Scores:
================ Plot = 7
======== Story = 7
======== Characters = 7
================ Gameplay = 7.5
======== Mechanics = 8.5
======== Complexity = 6.5
======== Uniqueness = 8.5
======== Replayability = 6.5
================ Scenes = 8.5
======== Visual = 8.5
======== Written = 9
======== Interactivity = 8.5
======== Replayability = 8
================ Development = ----
================ Obtaining = 8.5
======== Price = 8
======== Methods = 9
================ FINAL SCORE = 7.87
QuickView
An interesting game with some unique rpg mechanics, and even some mechanics related to its H-content that help develop the Corruption aspect of the game (even having a Corruption route to it, and unique scenes depending on that route, and certain Debuff aspects, too). A sweet, yet short, experience, considering the game's story leads to the idea of a possible future sequel. There is great quality in the H-scenes themselves (even having fully-voiced characters), but there is a relatively small total number of them, with only 4 characters with scenes (although each with a decent amount of individual scenes). And with a price that is decently affordable for this quality, if not as much for it's total size, I would recommend this game if it manages, with it's CGs and artstyle, to really pick your eye.
Full Review
Plot = 7
Story = 7
Like your average Demon Lord story, the world dealt, in the past (100 years ago), with demons lead by the Demon Lord, but a Hero, chosen by the Goddess Ceresia, saved the lands and defeated the Demon, in this case, using 4 Elemental "Birthstones" given by the Goddess and a Sword capable of using them. The Hero prophesized (in a last message sent by a bard to the human kingdom) that, next time humanity will need saving, another hero will be chosen by the Goddess. Thus, the humanity continued to survive, using what they could learn from the Hero's tools, fending of the continuously-coming demons (as only the hero would be capable of destroying Magic Stones from the Demon nests).
Now, a young man called Tei, that is, you, the MC, capable of also using Birthstones to fight, wishes to at least become an Adventurer, if not the hero himself. Immediately as he enters the town with Sturappa Castle (where the Hero had started his own journey before), he stumbles upon a tutorial- I mean, upon a woman who was having an uncomfortable moment with a dashing fellow. She seizes the occasion of Tei's coming, hides behind him, and thus the tutorial mook attacks Tei, immediately getting defeated by him.
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| Meet Mr. Tutorial. A nice, if not a bit horny, person... |
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| ...and his tragedy, told in one image. |
Afterwards, the woman thanks Tei for the help, they get acquainted with one another (her being Pirika), and the lucky savior of hers gets to have her guide him around the town, after he makes his check-in by the Adventurer Guild and prepares for his inevitable Adventurer Test. Thus, the Tale of Tei, begins!
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| Quite lucky, this guy is... |
Initial Disclaimer: I, so far, only played through the Pure route of the story. However, considering the format of the game's story (it ends on a "to be continued", suggesting a future sequel), it shouldn't result to big changes to the Main Story, aside from the obvious Corruption differences (it won't take you to a separate Ending, in so far as I know, just giving you different H-Scenes, and making Succubi fights all the harder).
So, you probably figured this out on your own already, but Pirika's actually a Succubus undercover, and as will be hinted in the Gameplay section (without spoiling there, of course), she's the one responsible for slowly corrupting you, in Act 1 of the game, if you're Map Mana drops bellow 20%. She hanged around the trademark Starter Town to pick off any potential adventurers, and has done so for quite a while already, helping newcomers "get acquainted" and "showing the ropes", before slowly corrupting them too, and making them "disappear". Nah, I'll do you one better, that prick of a Guild leader (the guy that tells you to do the Test) actually knew that Pirika was up to no good, AND STILL LET IT HAPPEN. His excuse was, essentially, "I had no concrete proof / means to deal with her", but I still feel like, after the 3rd newbie adventurer that ends up going missing in the same town, he should've considered at least giving a small tip to future prospective newcomers, instead of letting them deal with her on their own (as Tei ends up doing). That metaphorical blood is on your hands, you bastard!
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| If only Tei knew... |
Of course, way before finding out that Pirika's a traitor (that happens at the end of Act 1), Tei takes the Test, and finds out what we all already know, that he's the next hero! A spirit-thingie tells him that (sent from the Goddess), and also, alongside the Guild Leader, advise him to keep his identity as "the hero" hidden, lest the Demons find out and beat him before he grows into being the Hero he's meant to be.
The story continues, Tei ends up beating Pirika, but sparing her, showing that he's another Merciful MC (we have quite a number of those already), and she remains in town, under the careful watch of Tei and the Guild Leader, and without informing the rest of the town about it, so that she doesn't get ran out of the town (essentially, it's business as (almost) usual for her, if she wants to keep flirting with the other townies; smart people over here). A nun called Claire comes through the town, stays in the town (and takes care of Pirika from there on). Tei loses his Inn room (no more freebies), and ends up staying at Claire's instead.
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| Quite lucky, Tei is- wait, déjà vu much? |
Tei continues his quest, takes some more quests from the Guild, ends up dealing with a Demon general (Isuka), then even a Succubus Queen (Medea), as Claire, quite predictably, ended up betraying Tei, being yet another Succubus under disguise, and helped unseal her. Of course, Succubus Queen != Demon Lord, Medea is actually just a smaller big-shot, not the final boss (of this world). Also, she doesn't specifically want the Demon Lord revived (demons only believing in "might makes right" and all that), she simply wanted to fight with the hero of the current age.
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| Not even surprized, "shame on me" and all that... When's Guild Leader turning coat btw? (spoilers, never.... YET) |
Of course, in a nice example of cognitive dissonance, Medea proceeds to give Tei the advantage by not using her full power, and not draining him during the battle. Allegedly, because "it wouldn't be fair", and yet I feel like a smarter move would've been to not bother with him at that point, and simply dip and fight him later (although this is, again, in opposition of rationality, as you could potentially wait for the Hero to train until he is at his very 100%, maybe in a few decades or more.... I just never liked the idea of "I'll keep you around until you're a worthy opponent" when you're in stark opposition of ideals, and not just looking for a true sparring partner; but eh, I've not founded my own kingdom (YET) so it might just be me). Regardless, the battle proceeds (with Medea, not Claire; Claire only has Corruption scenes, not Battle scenes).
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| ...Sure you wanna take it easy on me? (easy to reach Lvl 99 btw) |
Tei wins, does his best "I'm a [SPARE] type of guy" shpiel, then Medea leaves, with the implication that she'll meet the hero in the future, as he piqued her interest, as they are all won't to do in such scenarios. The day is saved... for now.
The story ends with Tei now leaving for other towns, to continue his adventures. The Guild Leader is revealed to not only be an actual prick (alright it might just be my view on him; but damn I hate him), but also having been in talks with that Goddess-sent spirit thingie, and having been aware of most of the situations, including how Tei tends to spare the Demons (the story-relevant ones, with proper intelligence and self-awareness; random mooks in the dungeons though, they are free-for-all buffet). Not ideal, but it will have to do.... maybe. We'll hear more about it in a future sequel, for sure (if it happens).
The story is a variation of the classical Hero VS Demon lord Fantasy trope, and not really a bad one at that. So far, it did focus on the micro scale, of the start of the hero's adventure, and had some interesting elements in it (such as The Hero (and his identity) not being immediately known to every good and bad guy within 4 countries' distance). However, it also doesn't do decidedly much with those unique elements, and the story is still far from plothole-less (my gripes with the Guild Leader), expansive (it's just the beginning of the adventure) or detailed (early to say that, but we need the possible sequels to judge further on this one).
Characters = 7
The characters, much like the story, are a bit more interesting than the bare average, but not by a whole lot. I suppose that too many similar Shota Hero adventures have been told already, and it got much harder to tread new ground in this genre. There exists a bit of plot-twists with them, nothing too ground-breaking though. There's also a decidedly small number of them, which does allow for more Scenes to be made for each of them (and implement unique Corruption-mechanics for each), but people might still consider that 3 Battle-characters, and 2 Corruption-characters (1 character having both Battle scenes and Corruption events), to a total of 4 characters, is still kind of a small amount.
It helps that all of them are Fully-voiced. You also get in-game info pages for each of the Battle-characters, with some infos on your stats with them (how much you got hit by each of their Temptation attacks, and their "current opinion of you", basically how Corrupted you'd be towards them).
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| The in-game "Exploitation Record" for Isuka (during a Pure run) |
Gameplay =
Mechanics = 8.5
A decent amount of them, for the relatively-small size of the game.
The game's time is tracked into Days, with a day passing after each Dungeon run you make. To make a Dungeon run, you need to first go to the Guild, and talk to the clerk that gives quests (the top-leftmost one on the ground floor), then get out of the town through the bottom side, where the game will ask you to confirm that you're going on your chosen quest. In the 1st Act, the game auto-chooses the only avaliable quest, "exterminate the Orc nest", but after the 1st act, you'll be able to choose other quests, too (and also cancel them whenever you wish). Most quests are a variation of "go into a Dungeon until its end", and you also receive some rewards from completing quests themselves.
The game does generally give, per each Act-centric quest, a number of days to complete it (such as with the first quest, you have 7 days to complete it). While you can do other quests, or even not fully complete the quest, during said time (such as not beating the boss at the end of the Orc dungeon, for the Orc quest). However, reachin the end of that time period without finishing the Act quest WILL result in a gameover (with a brief event explanation of why you lost). Without spoiling much, it's generally not a good idea to leave the Monster spawners that the Magic Stones of Nests are, unatended, for too long... (this is strictly plot-wise; no mechanic of having to defeat specific Nests regularly, luckily).
After each Act is finished, you get a few more days of "Free time", in which you can choose from the avaliable quests and do them as you wish. The game, after you come from each quest and go to rest for the day, gives you the option to Skip to the start of the next Act. It's up to you if you take the game up on that offer, if you feel like you're already strong enough. Keep in mind, you get to grind for higher Exp amounts later, so it's not really needed to grind hard for the levels in the beginning. The next Act happens at a set day (for example, the 2nd Act starts on day 11); if you finish the previous act early, you simply get more "free days" until the next act. Considering how Acts work on Day counts, the game has, essentially, a limited amount of days to finish, and because, at its end, it doesn't allow again for taking of quests (railroads you to the end), you do have a limited amount of time to grind your loadout... However, it is still extremely easy be in peak form for all fights, so it shouldn't be a real concern (and the game has a Gallery for H-Scenes and Succubi Fights, so no problem there either).
Your Dungeon runs involve going through a randomly-generated, basic, dungeon, usually of 4 floors (sometimes more or less, if they are critical to the plot). You advance to the next floor by finding the blue portal. If the dungeon's been completed already, you'll also be able to find a red portal, which will immediately take you to the end of the dungeon (to its boss room). At the end of the dungeon, there will be one more floor, the boss floor, which will contain the boss of the dungeons (in case of story-relevant quests, it might contain the Succubi of that dungeon instead). At times, for story-relevant parts, there will be special Dungeons, which will either have a predetermined map shape (which might have its own conditions, such as constantly draining your Mana, having guard monsters, being dark and filled with random teleports etc.).
The monsters are visible on the map and moving, and combat is done simply by running into them.... But they die instantly, giving you Exp in the process. On-map, in-dungeon monsters are simply glorified Exp bags. Later Quests will have monsters that can give more Exp (so, again, you don't need to grind hard in the early part of the game). The one resource you'll be expending during dungeons is Map Mana (called this way to differentiate it from Battle Mana, which is separate). Map Mana is used when you find Elemental Crystals on the map or Chests.
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| In-dungeon (Slime dungeon) example |
Elemental Crystals spawn of the elements that you have Birthstones for. Touching and interacting with such a Crystal will give you the Elemental Mana of the specific element (shown as its colored sphere icon bottom-left, above the MapMana bar), while consuming a part of your current Map Mana. By default, it consumes 10, but with certain upgraded Birthstones, it can reduce the cost per Crystal taken (and those reductions do stack; between elements too, unlike what the game says). Later, Sparkling elemental crystals also spawn, giving 2 Elemental Mana instead of 1, but costing +10. I specified it like this to account for how the Mana cost reduction from birthstones work on this; instead of reducing it twice, it will only reduce the cost once (therefore, if you have cost reductions, it's better to avoid Sparkling crystals and take only the normal ones). You also have a Elemental mana limit per each element that you can take per dungeon run, limit that can also increase with better Elemental Crystals. When you exit the dungeon (or if you find certain Random Events in Succubi Traps), all your current Elemental Mana is converted into Elemental shards (in actual item form), which are used in upgrading your Birthstones in town.
Chests are either brown (normal) or blue (rare). Normal ones have normal loot, and cost 10 Mana, whilst rare ones cost 20 Mana, but can give rarer loot (more Gold or even some misc equipment for Head or Hand slots).
If you don't have Mana to use, you won't be able to interact with the Chests or Crystals. However, you do have a once-per-floor use of the key "V" to break a tile of a side wall, usually used to get through a hallway if the entry's blocked by a chest/crystal that you don't have Mana to use on. Keep in mind that, during in Act 1 (and only during Act 1), falling bellow 20% Mana will lead to an H-scene, and doing so at least 4 times will lead you down the Corruption Route (you are briefly warned about this by some of the NPCs.... heed their warning, if you so choose).
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| Example of Normal and Sparkling crystals |
During the dugeon floors (from Act 2 onwards), you can also find some magical pentagrams, called "Succubi Traps". While they are called that, they actually provide Random Events in-between floors, which can be anything from ways to convert your current Elemental Mana into Shards, refill your Mana, unique boss fights (non-succubi) and more. However, each Succubi Trap entered will add 5 Erosion to you (you can check the Erosion level with an item in your inventory, while being outside of battles), and during Act 2 & 3, reaching your Erosion limit will result in H-Scenes (and you'll also get a certain Corruption outcome after reaching that limit 4 times). It can't happen from Act 4 onwards though. The 1st Succubi Trap will be a brief meeting with a strong Succubi, but it, luckily, won't actually result in an unplanned fight.
For your own loadout, you have, first, your Sword, which can be upgraded a few times at the town's blacksmith for Gold and an unique item, obtained from boss fights. With each upgrade, aside from increased stats, the sword gains more Birthstone slots, allowing you to use multiple Birthstones at once (up to 4 on the final upgrade), of different elements or even of the same element (if you have different upgrade forms of the same birthstone element).
Next, the birthstones themselves. You start with the Fire one, in it's weakest form. You can convert Brooches (Head equipment) of each element for its equivalent birthstone, and those you can find in the dungeon runs (in Blue chests). Using the proper elemental shards, you can also upgrade the birthstones, in a number of different options, depending on your choice. Possible upgrades include Map Mana cost reduction, increased general elemental damage in-fight, or the ability to also absorb AoE elemental attacks in-fight (not just weak elemental attacks). Later, you'll even be able to have birthstones that can absorb Strong elemental attacks (and all the previous elemental attacks, too!).
Finally, you have your Head and Hand equipments, giving some minor stat boosts. Boring, not much else to be said.
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| Possible endgame loadout. I personally prefered the Mana cost reduction over in-battle advantages. |
Now, for in-combat, you have non-succubi fights (with the normal bosses of the dungeon, and some unique bosses in the Random Events) and succubi fights. In both, you can use Birthstones and Swordsmanship skills. Enemies have, for each of their attacks, a written tell (below their image), hinting at their next attack (the elment and type (size) of the attack, or if it's a special attack, for Succubi). Upon using a birthstone of a certain element, you can absorb attacks done by the enemy of that element, so long as your birthstone is capable of absorbing that size of attack. Attacks can be either Weak (any birthstone of the proper element can absorb this), AoE (specific birthstone upgrade of the proper element needed) or Strong (a final, strongest, form of the proper elemental birthstone needed). Absorbing elemental attacks gives you some in-battle Mana (it's essentially the repurposed "TP" bar of the RPG engine), and also, crucially, a 1-turn elemental buff to your Swordsmanship skill attacks and your normal attacks. Keep in mind VERY IMPORTANTLY, that, as hinted by the NPCs during the story, during Succubi fights, THEY ARE IMMUNE TO PHYSICAL DAMAGE. Thus, you can ONLY damage them after absorbing elemental attacks per each attack done. I'm specifically insisting on this because of seeing (on the forums of the game) that some people, that tried to skip through the game using cheats (I can relate, trust me; but this game is actually nice enough to play normally through it at the very least), and ended up being unable to damage the Succubi, even with cheated 99999999 Stats (since purely physical damage done against them deals 0% damage). So, you know... Just absorb an attack first.
However, you can also try to Dodge attacks (instead of absorbing them), which won't result in the Elemental buff (needed against Succubi), but can still be useful if you don't have the proper if you don't have the proper elemental birthstone or they are not strong enough for the size of the attack. If the enemy uses a physical attack, or a Succubi is using her Special attack to put you into a Hold, you'll also have to use Dodge attacks (without the option to absorb such attacks). There are 3 types of dodging, depending on the attacks: using Sidestep (for single-target (weak/strong element) attacks), using Backstep (for AoE attacks), and Meditation/Concentrate (for visual attacks, done as Special attacks by Succubi). Keep in mind, those skills each has its own individual Cooldown, so you'll have to plan ahead which attacks to dodge, to absorb, or, inevitably, to take on directly.
You also have damaging Swordsmanship skills (which all cost in-battle Mana), starting with a weak one (with low Mana cost), and unlocking more as you level up. They don't have Cooldowns, but normally only deal physical damage, unless you have that 1-turn elemental buff from absorbing an elemental attack with your birthstones.
You also have damaging Swordsmanship skills (which all cost in-battle Mana), starting with a weak one (with low Mana cost), and unlocking more as you level up. They don't have Cooldowns, but normally only deal physical damage, unless you have that 1-turn elemental buff from absorbing an elemental attack with your birthstones.
Of course, you also have the basic RPG commands in-battle, too, such as the normal attack, defend, and using items. Again, all as expected.
On the right-side of the screen, you can see both your own stats, and the enemy's (I actually quite like this type of showing stats passively in-battle). If the enemy's higher in level than you, you won't be able to see its stats (instead seeing Question marks), and this does also apply if the enemy's level grows, during battle, to be over yours (such case could really only happen for Succubi fights).
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| Example of unknown stats on a higher-lvl enemy |
Now, for what makes Succubi fights different... Apart from the sexy succubi facing you, that is. First (again, VERY IMPORTANT), they have Physical immunity, thus, only elemental damage can hit them, and for this, you essentially need, before each hit done on them, to first absorb an elemental attack from them. Not only that, but they can also use an unique element, Dark element, which you will never have a birthstone for (thus, you can consider such attacks, much like physical ones, the type that you can only Dodge or Embrace). Finally, they all have a number of Special attacks that they can make (with unique written tells for each), that, if not properly dodged (using the logical dodge skill for each), will put you into a Hold. The Holds are in active-time, gradually increasing your Arousal bar (which only appears during Succubi fights, being the Sword bar to the left-side of the screen), and requiring you to fulfill a QTE minigame to escape. There are 3 types of QTEs in this game:
- Timed-presses: Hit the confirmation button when the inner circle grows into the outlines of the outer circle band, for a number of times. The circle band will change its radius each time until you escape / Cum.
- Spam-presses: Quickly hit the confirmation button until you fill the struggle bar (the bar slowly drains away on its own, but at a slow rate).
- Arrow-QTE: Hit the proper arrow keys, in order. Sequence needs to be done corectly 2-4 times (and is randomized each time).
Keep in mind, each has one Sex Insert Hold among their holds, and if you're still virgin by the time you receive that hold, you will instead lose your virginity and instantly lose that Hold (it fully fills your Arousal bar instantly). If you end up Cumming (at a full Arousal bar), the Succubi drains a bit of your level and hp, while also applying debuffs according to the number of times you came in that fight, before you're released from the Hold to continue the fight. However, on the 3rd cum, you instantly lose the fight, not being a game-over, but you will need to refight her, and she will retain her drained stats from you. The succubi also each have their own unique debuffs, as well, some gained by other actions done before the fight, others unique to the Corruption route.
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| QTE during Holds, from left to right: Timed-Presses, Arrow-QTE, Spam-Presses. |
And finally, that's about it for the mechanics. The mechanics are pretty interesting, having an unique in-battle mechanic (the elemental absorption) to apply some more strategy to battles, and the Dodge mechanics working in tandem with that and with the avoidance of Special attacks. The QTEs are nice and varied enough, and the various ways to obtain Corruption scenes (or unique in-battle scenes) depending on different actions taken, such as getting low on Mana on Act 1 or get to high erosion during Acts 2 and 3 make it all the more interesting, and immersive, to fall into corruption.
Sadly, much like with the Characters subsection, the current size of the game (relatively small) does kind of take a bit from the overal value of the mechanics. After all, being only 3 fight-able succubi, there is a limit to how many different status effects can be applied to you. Being this small of a game, it's also pretty easy to become overpowered (level 99, good equipment etc.), without really even a slight need to grind anything past the dungeons that you pass through for the Main Story. Being able to grind exp as easily as simply dashing into mook monsters is one of the key factors in making you OP at little to no effort. A similar game, "Walking Through Paradise – Refrain ", by circle [Yumenamakonn], which has quite the parallels to this game's mechanics (stats on the right-side, drain mechanics on cumming to demon (and even angel) girls, the random generation of dungeons for exp grind) handled this aspect a tad bit better, by making you lose hp upon each monster clash on-map, so that you also had to manage your HP (via use of restorative items) as an added challenge (and stronger enemies dealing more damage to you, to give more Exp in return). That being said, that game has its own shortcomings, such as only having a Machine Translation so far, and being extremely unlinear with its story progress, making it hard to know how to progress, as it heavily relies on reading dialogue (to know what fetch quests to complete with which items), and the dialogue being, well, MTL-quality. And not a Sugoi-tier MTL, either (I will make a post on that game at some point, I did finish it and write down a bit of a walkthrough for it).
Complexity = 6.5
It has a number of good mechanics, but again, perhaps due to the scope of the game, or the unique-ness of the mechanics themselves, they clearly are few in number. The gameplay loop is also pretty easy to distinguish, and can briefly be defined as: "Go in dungeon, clear all the mobs, get some Crystals and Chests, next floor, rinse until last boss, then leave and repeat until you get close to your last possible Days, then steamroll the final boss of the current Act". The combat itself is pretty easy, even with its more unique mechanics of elemental absorption, since you can always plan for the enemy's attack (due to the written tells), and you probably rarely end up having HP issues, close to none after passing Act 1. You also can use restorative items in-battle to restore your hp, so it's quite easy to finish the game without ever being in danger of dying or losing to Succubi. This, so long as, I'LL FUCKING REITERATE AGAIN, you remember to attack Succubi only while having the Elemental buff from absorbing elemental attacks. Don't go crying "Fuck this game, bs and impossible" if your attempts at cheating the game end simply with an enemy with 100% Physical resistance (which you could even find, if you were a true cheater, from opening the game in the MV editor for it).
Uniqueness = 8.5
Through its mechanics, it's Corruption route options, and status effects, it does become quite an unique RPG game experience. I'm aware I had just previously specified another game with very similar gameplay, but aside from those too, not many feel this similar in those regards. Of course, the downside to see here comes from this game still being an RPG game, using some known functions (scripts) of the MV editor. Still, it's pretty close to feeling like its own game, removed from the MV engine (and only coincidentaly having similar controls), mostly due to the UI designs and, again, unique mechanics. Few games made in MV can quite reach that feeling, another one at the top of my mind being "Succubus Academia" by [SQDT] (and yea, I'll cover that one too, including its DLC, in a future post).
Replayability = 6.5
Even with neat fight mechanics, there's not much to replay here. The normal gameplay loop outside of fights is more or less an excuse to get to your end loadout and level. The Gallery is still helpful, especially being able to redo fights, but it's there mostly for the Scenes and Corruption, not really for gameplay replayability, and considering that there's not much else to do gameplay-wise from the same fights (apart from the H-scenes), there's not much of a need to replay this game for its gameplay, at the very least.
Scenes =
Visual = 8.5
The game looks pretty enough, with a respectable amount of polish. This is also reflected in the UI graphics, and especially in having VAs fully-voice each of the 4 relevant female characters. And I do mean Fully voiced. Very likely another one of the reasons for the smaller scope of the game, but at least it resulted in quite the quality for the content we got. The way the CGs flow between their states (according to the Effects on the screen) is also very immersive, for a game without Animated scenes. Hell, it made me, in trying to remember the game, think for a good bit that it actually did have Animated CGs. I genuinely had to double-check to make sure it didn't have. The only bad sides of this is, again, a lack of actual animated scenes, and the fact it had few total Succubi to have scenes for, although each got a decent number of scenes and variations.
Written = 9
The writing is actually fiting for the scenes given, taking good advantage of the VAs (that make each Scene hotter; especially the Corruption parts; quality VAs, clearly), and the medium of being an RPG with active elements during combat, and more lengthy Scenes outside of it. It feels like it lasts just enough (not too long or short scenes), and the 3rd person narration, brief as it may be, is enough to bridge the gap between dialogue lines. Of course, as expected, most of the scenes is made up from the dialogue of the girls themselves, much of what you'd want out of such a game.
Interactibility = 8.5
During fights, it's a decent amount, given the QTE mechanics, the corruption mechanics of the game (usually involving debuffs) and the Drain mechanics, too. Even for the Scenes outside of combat, the fact that you need to slowly fall into Corruption to reach them, that in of itself has a degree of immersion to it. Whether you actively hunt for such scenes, or try to avoid them like the plague, is your Shota-styled choice. Of course, there's limits to the amount of interactions of an rpg game of this size during its H-scenes, sad as it may be.
Replayability = 8
The sheer quality of the scenes, and the immersion of the battles, would be worth it.... were it for a bit more variety. The total amount of scenes isn't that big, all things considered, although quite clearly, each of them is of high quality. The fact that there are only 4 characters total for those scenes also works against the game, making it feel like there are even fewer scenes (although there are more per person than a game with, say, 40 different enemies). Still, it's worth firing the game up from time to time, so long as you have a few other similar games to alternate through, to not get bored too often by this game's amount of scenes.
Obtaining = 8.5
Price = 8
The price is 1760 JPY, or aprox. 11.62 USD. Just a tad bit higher than expected, but it's on the smaller side (by comparison with other games), and in it's quality, it does justify the price. The game is, itself, slightly smaller by comparison with others too, so that's an aspect to keep in mind if you wish to invest into this game (if the quality/quantity ratio feels good for you on this one).
Methods = 9
Move along, DLsite provider only etc. etc.
FINAL SCORE = 7.87
Still on the good side of things, the game has a high standard of quality to its Scenes, and even unique enough gameplay to match up to it. The smaller scope of the game, however, is its real downfall, and although it is also reflected in a more affordable price (for this quality), you do need to consider whether this game is enough for you, for the money spent.
There is an implied promise of a sequel, given the way the Story ends, but we'll have to see if this ends up coming to reality, or being but a foolish dream...
Business as usual here for the most part. 'xcept, of course, me making Mods for this game, and making sure it also has Info (given the unique mechanics of the game, including the ones that caused people to hit a brick wall in their brave, yet short-lived, cheat-led playthroughs).
Saves
As expected, full saves, with the added bonus of Saves along the path that I took through the game (the Pure route). You're free to try to branch off of it into Corruption as you please.
Info
Split into 3 files, with the general Info of the game's mechanics into one, some Spoiler-giving info on how to get through the game's Routes (and obtain the unique, condition-dependant, scenes of each character) into the second, and even a picture of all the Succubi-relevant Status Effects of the game.
Mods
I made 2 separate mods, out of which one is already on the F95 thread of the game (the thread with the Translation of the game, too). Said mod is "Don't Die on 3rd Cum", that allows you to continue the fight without dying on the 3rd cum instantly. This is strictly to be able to get certain scenes that require you to cum 4 or more times, without having to get back to the same fight afterwards. Of course, you'll still be heavily debuffed, and able to die to the standard HP to 0 method.
The 2nd, new, mod I made, is one that allows you to see the stats of enemies of higher level than you. While it does make gameplay sense to not see those details, you might find more enjoyment out of certain Succubi fights if you're also able to see just how strong you're making the Succubi become, even after she surpasses you in strength.
Translation (Others')
Sportsfan30's Translation: [Link to F95 Thread Here]
I'll be honest, I got to play this game (and the game similar to it that I mentioned before, "Walking through Paradise - Refrain") because of him. Not simply because he went through the effort of translating the game (which is also extremely appreciated; it ain't easy, trust me), since I do also play games that are nice enough using MTL if need-be (the better ones, Sugoi Toolkit essentially). It's specifically because I found out, while browsing threads for some of the [RR Research Society] circle's games, that some got translated in the meanwhile, by him no less! You can see all the games he made translations for in his F95 signature (in the footer section of all his posts and messages). The ones that are from [RR Research Society] are "REsolution", "Despite cheating..." and "DERS". Indeed, games from that circle usually have extremely-long names (sentences really), but each has it's own unique mechanics, and all revolve around having shovelfuls of status effects. I'll cover them, one day. Somehow. 14 games and counting....
Sportsfan30 was also kind enough to post the mod that I had previously made, back when I first went through the game, in the Thread of the game (before I got around to make this Review post and make the 2nd mod, with full Saves, Info and all that). A nice guy, much like most fan translators I managed to get in touch in time for the games I play (and then hopefully cover over here).
With this, I'm officially back! And proven, too! Well, not like work's ever done, and great projects are in the future for us, so we must strive on....
Meta_Review,Meta_Files
MetaFiles_Info,MetaFiles_Mods,MetaFiles_Saves,
Developer_CircleGroup,
Language_English,
Progress_Complete,
TypeGame_2DGameplay,
TypeGenre_RPG,
TypeMood_Happiness,
TypeSetting_Fantasy,
Engine_RPGMaker,
StyleCGs_2DCGs,
StyleView_2DView,
Voices_FullCharacters,
FetishMain_Femdom,
FetishMC_MaleMC,
FetishChars_SuccubusGirls,
FetishSex_Foreplay,FetishSex_Sex,
FetishFocus_Lips,FetishFocus_Pussy,FetishFocus_Breasts,
FetishSub_Corruption,FetishSub_Drain,FetishSub_MindControl,FetishSub_StatusEffects,
Links_DLsite,Links_F95,
2 comments:
Holy damn! I found the link to your review on f95, And damn for a review that's a review. It's difficult to be more precise than that!
Thanks man! I do tend to go a bit in-depth (too much probably). Tryin' to paint a proper picture and all that.
I did take a pretty lengthy hiatus (IRL new job and stuff), but I'll be coming back soon enough when I get used to my new schedule, and get back to doing stuff here too!
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