I think you're looking too deeply into a comedy.
Also, smut? Softcore porn?
There are sex jokes, yeah. But really, when the "fanservice" is in little sprites it's very much not meant to be something arousing.
I'm just saying the story would lose nothing by having characters take breaks from being interesting so they can be slapped against each other like Barbie dolls for giggles. The writing is excellent, I have no idea in the world why the writer(s?) would think of something so interesting and then waste it. Seriously, what else IS an on-screen masturbating demon supposed to be beside smut (that is, smut being meaningless and contributing nothing to the story, not necessarily sex, though that does apply here)? The Carmina rape scene was written like a trashy romance novel and the main character's best friend is creaming herself to hear it described— is it not supposed to be sexy, at least in-universe? Because the player doesn't seem to be expected to find it creepy, that's for sure. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm saying I was disappointed that I was lured in by an idea I liked and a world I was interested in, but the things I actually WANTED to see were hidden behind road blocks made of squick.
"Seriously, what else IS an on-screen masturbating demon supposed to be beside smut"
Comedy?
The game's target audience was /u/ for crying out loud. OF COURSE it's going to be filled with sex jokes.
If that's what the target audience finds funny, I guess I'm glad to know I'm not in the target audience. I don't mind the sex jokes— the actual jokes— but that kind of thing just isn't worth laughing at, it's infantile on the same level as fart gags and people wetting their pants. Apart from the spelling errors, the rest of the humor is a lot more sophisticated than that, almost to the point of dissonance.
I wouldn't call any of the game pornographic, although perhaps it would have been had the graphics allowed for it, but otherwise I largely agree. I didn't mind the sex jokes at all, but the amount of actual sexual content was vastly disproportionate to the amount of entertainment it provided.
...eventually, we will reach a maximum entropy state where nobody has their own socks or underwear, or knows who to ask to get them back.Leave a Comment:
This game is too good to have the flaws that it has
Embric Of Wulfhammers Castle is a rare gem amongst RPG Maker projects: something that was actually completed. Let me first state that that alone makes it worthy of at least a playthrough.
The writing is clearly the game's best feature; there's not much original artwork (there's some character art, which is okay but nothing to write home about) but the writing is quick-witted and works many of its (very, very funny) jokes seamlessly into the story while still creating a very interesting world, and deconstructing the ideas of monarchy and noble privilege in tabletop RP Gs that usually get glossed over as fluff. It's very well-thought and witty to match; its parodies and jibes are loving and apt, and enjoyable to read...
..which is what makes some of the game's negative points stand out. A conversation between the Duchess and one of her (many) kidnappers outlines the inflated value of "Princess" as a feminine ideal; it was a line of thought I was overjoyed to see in an RPG, especially one that easily passes the Bechdel Test. But, this was one of the earliest events I saw, and the rest of the game doesn't follow through on these thoughtful ideas. It's honest about itself— a yuri softcore porno game— but it takes the usual shortcut to feminism through Lady Land; it's a world with no significant men, so what must be left must be feminist-friendly... right?
Most of the game is wrapped up in romantic story paths that see the Duchess abused emotionally, physically, and sexually; avoiding those paths meant there wasn't a lot of game left, and I found myself having to choose: subject a character I cared about to rape (FetishFuel if the rapist is female, unforgiveable heresy if the rapist is male), belittlement, and abandonment, or be satisfied knowing almost nothing about a world that had caught my eye? The paths with characters who always treat her with respect have platonic endings or none at all, but they make up less than half the game. It's nice to see a romance game that doesn't involve buying an endless stream of gifts, answering inane questions, or curing the mental illnesses of unstable women, but this wasn't a better alternative.
It's a great game, but its dedication to fanservice over development badly undercuts its otherwise worthwhile contributions to the gaming community. In essence: high-quality smut.