Intro:

Did you miss me Gamers? Gamer-ettes? Why does that sound like it might be a new razor brand. Oh well… I’m back; whether you asked for it or not. So, our hero; our hero… doesn’t really have a warrior’s heart. Not unless it’s in a jar on some desk somewhere. Maybe he nicked it from the last dragonborn? It would explain that BS DLC, but before I get too salty, let’s dive in to this turgid mess, shall we?

Story:

So for this one there are actual mechanics I can get into that are well enough done. I’ll cover that ground later. The bigger oil spill is best to tackle right out of the box. This one’s a bit of a whale to catch now, so hold on to your… hats. What; there’s not a hell of a lot of mention of that stuff yet. We’re going to get there. Don’t worry. It might take a while, but I’ll be gentle. And if you believe that… Anyhoo, first up: What the fuck are you? No. Really? You start as a kid, who gets separated from parents who are later implied not to be blood during a siege that “destroys” your village. The kicker is, you’re an amnesiac, who can’t quite recall what happened. Except for a really big blast. Ten guesses who was at the center.

I don’t think you’ll need nine to count. Kame hammy- Ha! No… really, you only get to go super Saiyan when the story wants you to. Or the dev paints your happy ass into a corner and pulls the rug out to save you. There is some insinuation by pictures that you could be a powerful demon lord. You’re courted by a goddess. Hence the name of the game, and she’s not exactly a reliable narrator who mostly leaves you fucked for answers. She does actually get to that though. Even if you’re not sure if it’s just a dream, so kudos.

Eponymous Rex Goddess… who’d be more attractive if she’d stop fucking with MC’s head. She IS good in bed though; if you’re a good boy point build that is. ; )

Story Continued:

You’ll get to attend mage classes ala Skyrim style play. There are three paths you can choose for personality; but there is a problem I’ll delve into with Mechanics. Be patient. You can choose which schools of magic you want to focus on, and there is a combat system. I’m bringing this up because it’s important to the story at large. It can and does help you win the affections on a very sparse current list of girls you can meet – and only MIGHT eventually bed. So far I’ve met about two and probably more pages beyond the one listed of girls in the game. I’ve played through to the current end and have gone through several other editions. It’s a good premise to start, but GOD DAMN is the story fragmented. I don’t mean that in a good, split off paths kind of way.

You as the player have no clue what the Dev wants to do. The writer character Hannah seems far too much the self-insert, though you do get the option to mind break her for naughty karma points. So you can enslave people. Go you. All you have to do is be willing to probably damage your own soul, because fuck anyone who wants the BDSM flavor, right? It’s NOT all about breaking. You can be a Dom and should be, without any of that BS. It’s a good dark playthrough option to include; but here’s the thing bud: it should ONLY be done with a DARK playthrough.

Not Neutral. Not Hero. Otherwise why include three paths if you’re just going to railroad the protagonist potato-head style, into being what YOU want? But I digress… I’m skipping ahead. Not my fault I was always one of the smartest in my class. MC is decidedly, not. In case you’re wondering. Cause we’ve never seen the ‘astronomically dense but good hearted’ main character before.

Why is THIS never considered “Good Hearted & Dominant?” o . O

Story Con’t:

So far, you can’t get very hearted up with most of the girls. Only Mida really has a more fleshed out system and they REALLY need to work on that. Again, it’s tied into the story, but it does bug me it’s more about mechanics. For the record, the game hands you a girlfriend you don’t get to choose, and let’s you pick whether to mold her or not. To invest, or not. However, I had her as corrupt as I did in love, and when it got to a certain new page in the story; she just flips out and buggers off. Without giving you the chance to explain the circumstances. Not cool Dev. Really, not cool. On that subject, you barely see her anyway. The game is MUCH more focused on politics, and some BS demon play.

Since you don’t know whether you’re a demon yourself, and it is implied at one point you were an uber badass ala Reven, you have no stake in the build up. It’s more vexing not to know exactly what the fuck the protagonist is; and what his rank will or can be (again mechanics) than I care about where you want to go with the story. I also shouldn’t be as concerned with how I’m doing chasing the girls. It needs to be more clear if some of them are gated to certain personalities. Which would be entirely okay, and fair enough for how many you have. It would add to replay value that way.

You are told at one point it may be possible to join the ranks of the Elite; or even become Archmage – personally I’ve spent the whole damn game trying to get enough points to bone her, and I’ve still got more with Katriona.

Oh Baby, you want me? Well, you can only get her lap dance here for free. : / The rest is all pay, and pray as you go. Far too much of a lead on…

Mechanics:

The story will be better if you flesh out what you want. Fix the path thing first. Plan the ending. Or the variants. Choose spells for the schools and balance them. That BS fight with gluttony; it’s not challenging, it’s just a giant fuck you to most players. You take control away to assume Super Saiyan and it still took over twenty hits “enraged” to end the fucker. Call it a spoiler I don’t care. It is, and that shit needs a rebalance. If your level ten spells that you have to work HARD to earn by the way, do only barely more damage than your base level spells, you’re fucking it up. That’s not progression. It’s not proper scaling.

Even with capped skill points earned it still took me at least fifteen hits to take down the big brute that nets you two SP at the end of the training battle. That’s a problem. Especially if this MC asshole is supposed to be the SPECIAL. Also, now that I’ve been pelvic with Kat, she should be much less the Tsundere. They are meant to soften. Especially with their lover. Since she’s also involved with the archmage and you know it, she shouldn’t be razzing you because it comes off she still sees you as that kid she helped save. That’s not progression either. Mida might as well not even exist, and frankly it’s fucked that the big draw she has is the one dream sequence where you have a kid. That’s not gonna happen if she’s flippin’ nowhere.

Suggestions:

Again, bring in points for all the paths. The good, the bad and the really fucking ugly undead lich bastard. Figure out how you want to end things. Take it from there. Par down the list of girls to only include the ones you can gain on whatever path you’ve chosen. Never mind named saves; just call it the “good” playthrough automatically if you have a Karma beyond like maybe + or – 5. That would give you about a ten point width either way to be considered Neutral. Decide whether he gets to be a god, what ranks can be obtained.

If you can choose to play good and become a god to bone all the “angels;” stay more neutral and eventually head up the college as Archmage with a full-on Harem, or rule with Lust and the Bitches to burn, like Dragula. That might be a decent stepping stone into clarifying the story for your audience. You could even state that picking certain schools will earn you good, dark or nuetral points, but that might get complicated. The bones for an amazingly engaging game ARE here. They just aren’t currently properly implemented. Yet.

I’d also flesh out the points system with the girls. I don’t mind and most players won’t if you lock some behind Good, Evil or Neutral. Problem being, corruption should not function like Lust. It should be how you mark the girl on the dark path as yours. Love should be what the Main Two focus on. With Neutral, it could be about pursuit of as many as you can. On the good path, it could be less that you don’t love them; than they ALL love you. Unequivocally. Their speech should be reflecting that.

They come in Small, Medium and Oh My God; Why??? o . O

Suggestions Continued:

You need to stop teasing your audience with hints at positions of power. Having Anya finally give in and kiss you, and imply that she’s wanted to so long… good start, but DAMN IT; why wait that long. I’ve got exactly 3 fucking points with her so far. You put an elven battle magic princess I can impress by showing the same school’s power – and make her elite next up. I was already working toward that goal by picking that school in the test in the first place.  Then that whole earn better ranks thing goes off a cliff for a half baked demon lead up that still on-going. We get the Oblivion reference. Move on already. Also, why add demon hunters, at all. Why make your “sister” one of them.

Why not allow the MC to decide if he wants to channel all his power through his blade and join that faction instead. He could be a demigod spirit warrior. Really, there are more builds to play in the games you’re referencing than just “Glass Cannon Mage, who can’t do anything special unless I want him to.” Really, rebalance the spells. Since you already included imbued blades, you have to make it so it’s actually worthwhile to bother using them. Not just for such tiny ass Mana bleed mitigation. I waste one turn trying to heal one sphere, and see the other tank because the monsters all deal FAR too much damage for my hit points. One way to rank up would be to add a leveling system that DOES give you mana and hit points. Not just some BS cut scene super Saiyan berserk mode that pushes your hit points “Over 9000.” (It’s actually 300, but my point stands, whether the reference will depends on your tastes)

If being her skin-bag bitch sounds like your dream, you do you guy. Welcome to the dark side, but boy god DAMN do they need better recruitment incentives. I mean, c’mon… There’s nothing with her yet that involves MC except for reference hinted.

Conclusion:

First despite my bitching, the mechanics at play and the ambition in them, impressed me. Right off. The game grips you with them more than the story and makes you invest in what all you can get out of it. It’s actually brilliantly done. Which is why it’s such a PITA that you force the player down ANY given path at all. Don’t make me face down with my puny human will some unseen, unbeatable evil force. That’s just being a dick. If my ass is protected by a goddess for being a good boy, she needs to start actually intervening about it. Visibly. Fuck this god works in mysterious ways crap. That won’t endear anybody. The blue balling, is just Paetron bait, and I can deal with less of that.

The sex that is in the game, is very well done, but far too rare. Again, why do you have a girlfriend, except to gate things off, or beat you over the head for “Cheating?” I REALLY want to like this game, but damn whoever is working on this is making it hard. For myself, I am going to stick it out and wait. See how things go. Maybe they’ll take my suggestions to heart, and maybe I’ll just be a fuzzy blue balled troll at the end, in the dev’s eyes. Can’t win a gamble if I don’t roll the dice. It’s a good start, and a deeply complex story. It’s just the narrative’s all shattered soul gem fragments.

Now if you don’t mind I wanna go bugger off and find a new dragon to slay. Damn do I hate those things; but if I get one more daedric artifact… I can tell the whole pantheon to just fuck right off. Is that how it goes? o . O Maybe I am a god then, or a Dragon on the team, yet to be Borne. Nytol.