RPGM - Naughtyville Town Revelation [v0.9] [Droid 341-b]

  1. 2.00 star(s)

    vrtrtr

    Whenever I see a 5 star review for very early versions of a game, I become skeptical. Sometimes that's warranted, sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised.

    This one is not very good.

    We play as the FMC "Emi" and follow her days getting familiar with a new living situation. Oddly enough, this is tagged as 'female protagonist' and 'male protagonist', but the genre only lists the latter (MMC), not the former (FMC). Even stranger - aside from a few group sections (where the MMC is the leader of the RPGM group), we seem to solely play as the FMC. Some event CG however are shown from the MMC's perspective. Is this an oversight? Is this an indicator that the game dev doesn't really know where he wants to take the project? Is this an attempt to reach a broad audience even if that which is promised isn't exactly delivered? Curious.

    The art and animations look like they're from illusion games in the late 90s. The color schemes are oddly bright, even neon-colored, which is bold, but works with the overall vibe of the game.

    The UI looks good, the SFX for maneuvering the menus are pleasant although I'm not sure if that's due to the underlying engine, a specific plugin pack or a combination of the two.

    This game's weakest point are clearly gameplay loop and writing.
    Not only is this a railroaded experience, there isn't a single choice in the game up to the point I played. You are sent from event venue to event venue and if you happen to skip a piece of dialogue, get ready to load an earlier save - there's no such thing as a questlog or repeat dialogue of the NPCs. It's somehow less interesting than a CG hunter, which already is kinda the bottom of the barrel - there's nothing to 'hunt': you either get the event where someone tells you to go - or you run through a well-put together map with charming assets but void of anything to actually do.

    The events themselves are sometimes just a chore (why do I have to talk to the cafe chick, then manually change clothes, then talk to her again, then wait tables, then talk to her to finish shifts but this time automatically change clothes?), sometimes conflicting with earlier iterations (why does the bouncer bodysearch the FMC calling it something along the lines of "standard procedure", but doesn't repeat that procedure the next evening?).

    With how clunky language and dialogues feel and how inconsistently simple grammar rules are applied, one must assume this is an ESL or MTL project. The name of the project itself points in a similar direction.

    Overall, I would not download this again.
    I wish the author all the best, but the foundation is just not there (yet).
  2. 5.00 star(s)

    submersus

    I enjoyed it, looking forward to new updates. I hope the developer won't abandon it. It would be nice to increase the text size and make the background color more neutral for easier reading. Overall, I mostly enjoy the game visually. (y)