Others - Strive: Conquest [v0.9.0] [Maverik]

I've played Strive for Power—it was good, four stars—and I truly think Strive Conquest is a big step... in the wrong direction.

There is a demand—and I guess a desire many authors intuitively have as well—for more sophisticated trainer games. And it's a common mistake to achieve extra complexity by adding systems that are not directly tied into the training process, making it closer to a 4X game.

Stop.

I'm not saying you will fail at making a 4X, rather, the effort is misplaced. We have tons of great 4X/sanbox/sim games. I can name several studios dominating entire strategy sub-genres, and it would take tens of thousands of hours to play them all. There's just one catch, those aren't porn games. So while there is some value in making yet another grand strategy, the value of making a good strategy with a heavy focus on training and sex is way way higher.

But that is what Conquest decidedly does not do. There's probably one single bit of advancement compared to For Power, that your slaves now have two attributes relevant to how well they respond to punishments and rewards, and ultimately have two end states (max loyalty or max submission). But even these stats aren't very relevant and I've noticed my own tendency to ignore them after a couple of weeks of in-game time.

Everything else looks like a setback. Where Strive had basically dates or training sessions, this game just gives certain character classes special discipline skills that can be used 1 or 2 times per day. It's not a satisfying system, it's a grind, and the grindiness is compounded by a badly designed hastily ported UI. Where Strive had a global map—no matter how simplistic travel graph it had— Conquest doesn't have even that, and instead offers this new clunky non-immersive travel system that feels like managing some excel tables and less like travel. But hey, this new system allows multiple parties travelling at the same time, isn't that great? No, it isn't.

All the other systems (plot, factions, NPCs, crafting) are too bare-bone right now due to being early in developenent (v.0.2.1) but mechanically none of them really wows me.

So I don't know, for me it looks less enticing than the previous installment, even if I give a free pass on the bugs, clunky UI, and low amount of content.

And another update.. also v0.3.1 related:

Version management is.. well.. a bit messy.. another v0.3.1 has been released which makes a huge difference.. the game is well playable and definitely a step forward, so.. well done! Up from three to five stars again afaic..

Update as of v0.3.1:

After three months the screens look absolutely nicer and more polished. However: for me, using the Linux version, the game is unplayable. I can not even reach the menu (the button does nothing) and for example choosing an occupation is sometimes possible, at other times the button looks unconnected to anything.

So for now: down from 5 to 3 stars.. hopefully things will improve, I still do like the concept and art..

related to v0.2 gameplay:

This is my first review and probably for a while my last one.. just because I think most of the offered games already have the right exposure and/or do not make the difference this one does in my humble opinion.

After having a great time playing Strive for Power for quite some time I was happily surprised noticing this 'sequel' being developed. And yes! It has similar game play, some changes, for the bad or good for some perhaps but.. it is really enjoyable to spend your time with..

It is kind of challenging, there is REAL game play to be found here, I love the strategy parts myself a lot, and yes.. this is probably grahically not the most exciting fap-game around but.. if you are looking for something differing from a visual novel where everything is about 'click this so many times to get laid' this might be the gem for you too..

Alright, still in development, not everything always (although pretty close to) perfectly smooth perhaps, but.. if every game in progress would offer this much already I am sure we would need much more time to play..

So far the major issue I think worth checking is the roaming option in missions.. with a capable team behind you it is possible to do that endlessly which makes it (too?) easy to reach your goals,

I can only recommend to give it a try.. runs great on Linux too and.. even pretty compact..

I know, it's too early to be rating this game but I feel I must. First of all, S4P was an excellent game and going into this I had high hopes. Not like CoC 2, that was an utter disappointment imo. At the first demo version it looked good, many added features the other did not BUT the only part that repelled me was the constant decay of Obedience and Fear. I literally said to myself if this was going to be permanent I would say ADIOS MUCHACHO! But I'm glad I stuck around because now on 0.03b it's now Loyalty, Obedience AND Submission. Loyalty doesn't really go down, only if you do mean things to her like Public Humiliation and Public Sex Humiliation. I love the fact the even your girls can train other girls, having the same skills their master has from acquired Classes. Even without a "Story" I love this game, I can't stop playing this. I love the race specific Classes like Dragon Knight. You could really power these girls up. I love the fact that you can make your own weapons, armor, tools, food and alchemical items too. You can mix two different kinds of crafting material to get weapons and armor with different effects.
I'm looking forward to the future on this one and hopefully I can add one more star for my rating.

well, similar to the last one but with an interesting class system added,
it is still a bit buggy as of 2b, i stunned an ennemy and i think it wouldn't pass his turn because the game froze, i didn't do a quest in the time limit but the location for it stayed added.
that aside the UX is still a bit ugly but keep in mind that we are still in beta.
also the character creation screen is better (in my opinion) than the previous one, but i don't like the fact that fear and obediance are lowered so often.
some might like it but having to every 5min go to all characters to use their skills on one another is not my cup of tea.
anyway i enjoy a lot the combat system , the dungeon idea can be great and thats all for me.