Ah, alright. Took a bit of time, mostly due to procrastination, but I finally got through all the levels in the game, including the extra ones. I deliberately avoided this thread until I did, not that it seemed like I would have been spoiled much after catching up. Half posts on the game, and half posts arguing. Standard ulmf thread fun.
Anyway, I liked this game. It's good. REAL good. Probably should say I love this game, as I can confidently say this is probably my favorite H-game right now. It's kind of funny too, I only really found out about this game a ways back when there were only preview pics on it. As for how I found it, well...
...Okay I have really shallow reasons for finding games. I look for vore, I'm a simp for it, ok? I can't help it, only satisfy it. This game piqued my interest for the possibility of that. After playing the game, I can say that it didn't satisfy my fetish one bit. But I ended up really enjoying the game regardless. Having an English translation also helps 1000%. Can't imagine going through this game without knowing what the fuck was going on. Especially with how long this game was. Spent about 21 hours playing this game, and I can't think of any other H-game I've put so much time into.
Which leads me to pointing out a few cons I have with the game. First one is more of a gripe, but I'll mention it anyway. The cutscenes are long. L O N G. Super long. Like Metal Gear Solid cutscenes long. I was gonna break and save for one session, but the scene ended up lasing like half an hour before I was able to go to the main menu (besides skipping or quitting mid scene. Plus I was half-way through it already).
Second is that the difficulty spike is a bit weird for most of the first act of the game. Succubus boss. Don't think I need to mention much more there, but I didn't spend as much time on her as some others here. Dunno if it was my playstyle, or if normal difficulty is really that different from hard, whatever.
Lastly, this is more of a semi-con. I like platformers, so I tend to be comfortable with those games. The platforming here isn't super bad, but when you have to rely on only one jump and the sword throw platforms, it can get a bit tedious. Once I got the double jump, I felt right at home and I didn't have any issues that point onward.
Alright, what I liked about the game. I loved the gameplay. Always enjoy a sidescrolling adventure game, and I liked messing with the combat. I love when I perform combos on a whim.
The story was really nice. I enjoyed all the characters, flaws and all. I sorta even had a hard time going for H-scenes, cause I really wanted the characters to succeed. Especially when they develop through the game. From Ricca's innocent conflicts, to Iris' distant attitude with her prejudice against humans, to Claret's...um, concerning obsessions.... Okay maybe not that last one, but I still liked her character because of it. Though it's weird it didn't really get addressed much. Like at the end when everything story related is done, she's just still love-struck with Ricca and nothing was ever really done about it.
Even in the second to last extra stage, where she just decides to go full desperation to try and get Ricca to be the holy warrior again (probably for her physical appearance changes) and she uses dark binding tentacle magic to catch Iris. There was hardly any concern about that. Miria is just "Oh, I didn't know your friends were here.", Iris easily escapes the tentacles, and Ricca barely reacts to it, seemingly more interested with Miria arriving. Then Claret just gets caught by her own tentacles, and the mood just changes to "Oh Claret, you silly mage." and then Iris just says bye to Ricca and leaves. Hmm, well, guess you can add that to the con gripes. Is the story and character development from this game the best? Of course not, there's plenty that are better than this, but it's far from the worst, and I'd argue it's at least better than average.
But yeah, I really did enjoy the story and the characters. It's on par to other games that just seem to last with me after I'm done playing with them, I feel they were so good. Yes, I'm aware it's an H-game, but that's how I play them. I enjoy the H-content when it comes, but if the game also has good story and gameplay, then I'll enjoy those parts like I would any other game.
So that's my view. I really enjoyed this game, and hopefully I'll play it again down the line.
