My Short Break Gave Me Time To Think
For the last few weeks, I took a break from anything to do with Serenity or Last Human, or even the Camilla story I’ve been writing. I’m going to be upfront with you… When I posted that I was taking this break, there was a lot more going on than I felt like posting. I’m dealing with things right now that are painful and difficult and you don’t really need the details of that. A few days ago, I decided to go through my reviews on F95 and a few other places and prepare myself to get back to writing this update for Serenity. I generally check reviews to remind me of things to be mindful of during writing. But although this particular review is about Last Human, quite frankly, I think both games suffer from some of this. I know what you’re going to say… Not to read too much into it, not to let it affect me, etc. I can’t. I don’t work that way. Because when I read this, this is a person and how they perceived the story. It always leaves me wondering… how can some people perceive it completely differently? It isn’t because some people are stupid, or some people are just smarter. I have played my own games through and through. Yes, I do agree with and see some of the things those people see and write about in their negative reviews. But not all of it. Well, just read the review first, then I’ll say more about it. It’s rather long, I’m sorry. And thank you if you read it all. I would love your feedback. Is he wrong? Is he right? The review shows as 3 stars on the site, which is fine. But he wanted to do 2.5 and it doesn’t allow halves. Anyway, read on…
English: 9/10
User Interface: 3/10
User Experience: 4/10
Art: 8/10
Dialogue: 3/10
Story: 5/10
Opinion: 3/10
Avg: 5.0/10 [2.5/5] – (I’m rounding it up because, while the interpersonal stuff is bad, the characters and world isn’t terrible, jsyk)
Do you like everyone repeating the word “Neko” until they’re blue in the face? How about legions of women with no personalities, all having the same body type throwing themselves at you?(not terrible, I guess, but gets boring) Maybe an MC that never has to work for anything? Or every romance being love at first sight? Boy, howdy, do I have the game for you. The only difference between this and the last game by the same dev, is instead of his mom dying, his dad dies. Sure, some setting tweaks, instead of magic, it’s tech. And you get to have the MC get punched in the face. But it’s still the same “We want to be wholesome,” all the problems are solved by heart to heart conversations, and all the LI’s are as interesting as bread sandwiches. Don’t get me wrong, I like wholesome love stories and such. But in this you’re given no real agency and less than zero time to learn anything about the LI’s. At least nothing past grumpy, horny, or submissive. I want to say, the world building is enjoyable. I like the universe thats here, but the writing is boring. A story is something like: Intro, call to action, journey, b-plot, filler/slow point, problems arise, climactic confrontation, and resolution. This is: Intro, filler, refernce, and “HEY PLAY MY OTHER GAME”. It’s a shame, really. If the effort that went into world building and editing character sliders in Honey Select, was channeled into interactions and drama there would be no stopping this. But here we are.
The game starts up reassuring your inferiority complex that “Just because the Nekos call you pet, doesn’t mean they’re femdomming you. So please don’t angrily review this.” And it “wasn’t written for sex,” but nothing really happens in this story. So what else is it other than a framing object for MC to accumulate a harem? I’m getting ahead of myself, you play as [MC] Trent. The Last Human. THEY SAID THE TITLE OMG. The Earth’s core is destabilizing because the moon was struck out of orbit, not what would actually happen, but it’s what’s happening in the story. Somehow the entire race of humans died out and left only one person due to scientific egos clashing. Pay attention, this is the only conflict in the story. They all died because no one else tried to survive, AND, MC and his dad didn’t try to save anyone else. I don’t know if anyone picked up on that, if they wanted more people, all they would’ve had to do was open the damn front door. /end_of_conflict. This starts a few days before he intends to try to fly to a spaceship and escape the planet exploding. He then narrates how he’s alone with Zeena the AI. He’s super stong, super smart, and the most amazing guy ever. And super modest too. The next day, he saves Alexis, a cat girl that jumped through a wormhole. She is the most bare-bones tsundere ever made, even colored red, for her fiery temper. She does the typical “I guess I’ll thank you for saving me” and even bitches about humans? Even though they’ve never made contact? Right. Then, in infinite wisdom, they sleep naked together… On a planet that is -100C… After just meeting… bUt tHiS gAmE iSnT aBoUt sEx. Even IF the tech existed to have some mystical climate control in a specific area, YOUD BUNDLE THE FUCK UP. AND THEY STILL SPELL “perv” “perve.” Will nobody tell this man? Next day? The same thing happens with Natalie when she comes through a wormhole at the same location, more of the same. We are maybe 10 mins into the story, and the SAME event happens twice in a row. Not a good look.
They help him charge the rocket, while multiple times he does the “alpha” incel “You don’t tell me what to do, I tell you, woman.” thing a bunch. Which is uncomfortable. Nat fixes the charger, MC gives her a bit of a compliment while still complimenting himself. Asks if they want pizza, or know what it is, and somehow they do? Because they’re a race of advanced, comely, cat girls that survive off pizza, sex, and… AVN’s… After the last meal, that, instead of getting a scene with small talk and learning about the LI’s naturalistically, they skip the dinner and narrowly boost off into space, ready for ‘exciting’ adventures to ensue. Hopping aboard, you meet Aurora(Aury) ANOTHER AI, but this one is programmed to want sex with MC, thanks to his dad. Hmm… Sorta like a sexual fanfic written by MC’s mom from another game? The parallels are remarkable! MC then sleeps for 27 hours, instead of getting time to mingle and learn about the two alien women that are throwing themselves at him, because writing dialogue is hard. They then get attacked by an enemy that does no damage. Because damage would mean a problem, and we can’t have those. Aury destroys the enemy, and MC has yet another hissy fit about someone doing something without his say so. You know, because anyone other than MC can’t have authority, power, or individuality. Otherwise, he must be some beta male cuck. I’m reading between the lines a little too hard, but come on, jeez. While him getting mad that she started destroying the enemy is somewhat justified, he failed to act in the situation, and got mad due to his own shortcomings. Anyway their weakest attacks are stronger than anything they have, they overwhelm the enemy and make them run away. He’s then thanked by the queen, but as per usual, MC puts his foot in his dumb mouth spouting how “HE’S been disrespected” When the queen literally just thanked him. But noooo, not even the queen of a planet can speak when he’s talking. She’s punishing her subordinates for screwing up, when has anything remotely negative been directed at him? Why do I feel like the only person actually reading this?
Then the battle arena. Rin shows up to fight him, she’s from the other game I’m not even allowed to mention, and is literally the same character as Lexi. But MC can’t even lose to an interdimensional wish granting goddess that was not only the strongest fighter in her story, but technically doesn’t actually exist. Creating more plotholes for the other story. But I digress. He fights for the right to be claimed, wins and more women, that fell in love at first sight, join Nat and Lexi in his intergalactic harem. Now consisting of Grumpy, Horny, Happy, Bashful, Boring, and Bot. Queeny comes later, to give you the whole cast of the seven dwarves. It YET AGAIN does the “We had a great time and I learned all about them off screen. You really shoulda been there!” And MC says sex is great but not if there’s no romance. But YOU THE PLAYER don’t get to experience any of that, the game just tells you it happens off screen every chance it gets. The fist ‘mission’ is they head to a trash planet for soil samples, and in the infinitum of space, these super nanobots that MCs dad made are attracted to a dog Nat made when she was a kid. I do have to say that I’m shocked and astounded that there wasn’t a dumb prompt to pet the stupid dog. Then comes back regarded as a hero for soil samples. This man is playing with dirt and a planet is drooling over him. The bar is so low. Soon after, there’s the Lexi backstory, her sob story is “I’m so strong people are scared of me, boo hoo.”
Followed by Nia. She is played up to be a villain, but all she wanted was sex. “I want a child, let me have sex with your boyfriend.” That is the whole villain arc, I mean, with a bunch of actual terrorism and mild treason. But don’t worry about that, because no one else does. She falls in love with MC right away, by the way. They get stranded on another ice planet, after using the most advanced starship the Pantherians could make. Beaten by snow. And after, she’s put on trial for essentially attempting to murder the queen and assaulting the palace. But she’s pretty and simp MC can’t disrespect a woman. Unless she talks when he talks or does something he doesn’t like. And we’re getting all this backstory and lore, or whatever, with Nia, some new character but there’s FIVE other girls already in a relationship with MC that we literally know NOTHING about. Even though MC says he loves them. The courtroom scene is also a farce. MC defends an actual terrorist from a room in which he is romantically involved with every single person. Yes, that includes Rin, do not fight me on this. And this scene also further proves Rin and Lexi are the same character. Finally, current end of content ends on a crap dream sequence to try to make the OTHER MC seem like a more compelling character and adding another girl to learn nothing about. Great.
I’m sure most of the people that love this have already either moved on or are gonna report a negative review on something they love, whatever. But It’s a good story hidden under boring interactions written for people with fragile egos. The English, thankfully, is good. Constant spelling mistakes, but not headache inducing. UI and UX, outside of the main menu is default, the pause menu makes it hard to see the buttons though. Not to mention the “pet” nickname thing. It either should be capitalized or learn how to capitalize the variable in text, because sometimes it’s the only word they say. Just a weird thing I kept noticing. Art is above average HS, MC has a weird face, but it’s fine. The dialogue is, as per usual, “Everyone, why can’t we be nice? Just be nice, okay? But don’t EVER talk while I’m talking or undermine me.” So… Cringy. The story could be great, the last human travelling the galaxy meeting other civilizations. But no, it’s just a guy, the ONLY male on a planet of overtly horny catgirls. And I guess I will agree, sex ISN’T the focus of the story. Lording possible future sex over you, the player, is the focus. You have all these women with air traffic control lights pointing at their vaginas, halted by “I’VE GOT SOMETHING TO DO RIGHT NOW” NPC energy. ALL of the romance happens off screen, but this is supposed to be romance focused. So you get minimal adventure, minimal sex, and no romance. All with what? Six month intervals between releases? What is left? I’m sure all you can say at that point is “At least the catgirls go nyah.”
But whatever, best of luck to the dev. Even if I do hope, one day, they actually try to write some drama, ANY drama, into their stories.
If you read all of that, kudos to you. It’s long. A lot of them are like that. There is truth in some of what he says here. So I am NOT knocking this review at all. My issue is… I’ve read similar things about Last Human. The pacing, lack of “romance” with the girls, issues resolved too quickly, not really ‘knowing’ the characters. But, then I see reviews fawning over Last Human… it’s the best AVN, I love this story, the girls are beautiful. So, you tell me… do I have a good game here? Or do I need to rethink things? Keep in mind, both Serenity and Last Human are still under development. So, things can be changed. But maybe I need a real writer? Should I be expected to pay a professional writer to rewrite my games, and just stick with graphics and music? Realistically, that can’t happen. I don’t make enough money doing this to pay someone. From my perspective, most ‘devs’ out there are basically amateur writers. Some are better than others, many are better than I am, and I am better than some. But why are we judged so harshly for the writing to begin with? Are we expected to be literary-perfect? If you removed ALL of the AVN’s that aren’t literally perfect, how many games do you have left to choose from? I mean, besides the fact that these are all really porn games… some of us try to write a decent story around the porn stuff. I honestly hate doing the porn parts. I wish I could just hire someone to do only those parts for me… the writing and the graphics and animations. I would just write the story and at each sex scene, let the ‘pro’ take over.
I want to point out one line in this review that really hit me: “If the effort that went into world building and editing character sliders in Honey Select, was channeled into interactions and drama there would be no stopping this.” – I took this as demeaning. It makes it sound like ‘editing character sliders’ is easy and all I’m good at. Worldbuilding… I’m apparently pretty good at that too. Any writers out there that can do better than I am doing? And willing to work for pretty much nothing? Because everyone can see the number of subscribers I have. It isn’t a lot, which means it isn’t a lot of money either. I am not likely to be able to retire from my full-time job anytime soon, that’s for sure. So no hope of doing AVN’s full-time for a long while yet.
I stopped posting on F95 because now I have mixed feelings about the people over there. Not everyone. There are some really nice, decent people there also. But there is also the toxic ones. After my last argument with someone in there, I just stopped. Yes, it’s a ‘pirate’ site. But how can you pirate a game that is already free? Anyway, my brain has been going all over the place and hence the break I took. It saddens me to think that the only way I might be able to move forward is to just not read anymore reviews at all, and just not care what anyone says. That is a hard pill to swallow for me. But I feel trapped inside a room when I work on my games now because now I am constantly backpedaling, worried that it just isn’t good enough yet. Rewrites. Rewrites. And more rewrites. I’m going in circles. Now I understand poor Glacerose. The guy had such an amazing game. Excellent story and premise, outstanding characters and graphics. But the same thing happened to him. And now he’s disappeared on us. I really don’t want that to happen to me. All this, all of what I have talked about above, doesn’t even cover personal issues I am dealing with outside of this little world of ours. It’s too much. And I guess I get too emotional. But there it is.
If you gained anything from this post, it’s that old N2 is not well right now. The stress of everything just comes crashing down every so often, and I feel overwhelmed, and ultimately end up depressed. I have been so close to doing what I said I would NEVER do… closing the doors forever. Only one things stops me from going that far… you. There are a few of you that are my own personal dream angels. And I can’t let you down. Doing that would send me into yet another kind of depression… knowing that I let a bunch of people down because I quit doing this. There is still that part inside me that loves this. Some people out there try to ruin that for me and all of you. I’ll try to hold it together. Sometimes I wish I could rewind back to when I typed the first characters for the Serenity code… ‘Day One’… knowing what I know now. I might have done things slightly different.
Well, I got this off my chest. I needed to release it. That is one of the steps in the process of fighting depression. If you read all of this including that review, you are the reason I’ll hold out and keep going. As long as you’re listening. Anyway, time to close this damn novel I’ve just written. Longest post I’ve ever made. Just leave your drinks and trash when you leave, I’ll clean up in here. Thanks for listening. I love you all.
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