Post by OberonFox in Harem Hotel (18+) comments

Viewing post in Harem Hotel (18+) comments

So far I've spent around 6 hours playing and its frankly amazing how much content is in the game and how well written the dialogue is. There have only been 1 or 2 spelling errors that I have noticed which is rare for a F2P visual novel games like this and that is something quite impressive. The images are also incredibly well made and clrealy have love put into them.

Without trying to spoil much, I will say the characters are written incredibly well and generally make logical decisions with only a few nitpicks here and there. The whole plot with elves and how they are treated is genuinely great and thats where I left off for the day before writing this review.

As a warning, there will be spoilers past this point for one character: There is only one major flaw in the game that I have seen so far and that is 1 character who seems incredibly out of place, that being Ashley.

Ashley feels like she is in the wrong game and jarringly shifts the tone whenever she is on screen. Unlike the other girls who have a hard outer shell and problems to overcome, she is outright malicious to everyone and anything that gets close to you and is way way way more down the extreme end of the Yandere scale to the point of Yandere Simulator levels of sociopathy. She will pull out a knife and threaten to kill her best friend on a dime, she verbally and physically assaults some of the girls who have never even seen her before, she threatens to do unspeakable things to some of the girls, she blackmales some of the girls and she attempts to rape you in your sleep. All the while, her actions are shrugged off as "Well, she's a little weird" and takes away from the intelligent writing of the other girls. I feel going from well written and logical progression to "Oh, she pulled a knife on me, how quirky!" really cheapens the story and the well written dialogue and really took me out of the game and world every time.

I will admit that I have not completed Ashleys story and its possible I have her in a weird limbo spot that most wont see but quite frankly, I want nothing to do with her as I find her to be a genuinely terrible human being and find being told that 'I like them more for threatening to murder people close to me! +1 Friendship!' is borderline insulting to the rest of the story and other characters. The worst part is, you are almost always forced to go along with her and agree with her extreme decisions with no option to step in and tell her to get the hell out of the hotel (At least where I'm at in the story). I feel it cheapens what is a gem of a story as it forces characters to make illogical decisions to accommodate her story.

I dont mean this mini review/large comment from a malicious place as I truly am interested to see how the story will develop and would recommend the game to most people however if you came in looking for a cute, clingy kind of yandere, this game isnt for you and that one character can really take away from the intriguing story as a whole as she is unavoidable for the most part.

RuneyGames2 years ago (1 edit) (+2)

I can tell you haven't gotten far into Ashley's story haha. Those who hold your same opinion on the earlier parts of Ashley's story come to regret it later on when things start to make sense. Out of any main character in the game, Ashley has the hardest shell and it actually takes a while for you to understand her. I can't say she has problems worse than slavery, but she has some very rough problems as well. Just keep playing, and try to read between the lines. Maybe even watch her room's cameras ;)

I'm also not quite sure which extreme reactions you're talking about, but this is probably hyperbolic. She has also never pulled a knife on MC in a serious way. And has never raped MC. Ashley is a broken person with many problems that get resolved. All characters in HH grow a lot from the first time you meet them.

OberonFox2 years ago (1 edit) (-1)

The problem I found is that for me personally, she has become so irredeemable that I dont want to do her story. I'm aware that she looks sad on the camera's as do most of the girls as all of them have their own reasons to be where they are and most arent positive. I also understand the idea that she is clingy due to something bad happening in the past but all she does is hold up huge red flags of a sociopath so why would I want to get closer to them?

As for the more extreme issues, what I mean is she pulls a knife on Maria for getting close, only for the player character to calm Ashley down and then proceed to justify with Maria about how it isnt a big deal, brushing it off as almost a joke.

She berates, belittles and insults Lin despite supposedly not caring about elves with no way of stepping in to stop her. (I'm pretty sure that in one of those scenes, you get a friendship level up for Ashley for witnessing it but I could be wrong)

She berates, humiliates, physically changes and physically assaults the Android despite the Android trying desperately to get along with people, Ashley instead opting to forcefully change the Androids body and then proceeding to hit the Android in the face. Once again, there is pretty much no way to step in and stop her or at least tell Ashley how much of a sociopath she is.

She also proceeds to blackmail Felicity despite Felicity wanting nothing to do with Ashley, only for Ashley to then force Felicity to dress in skimpy clothing, blackmail more and force Felicity to lick her boots.

With all of this in mind, why would I in my right mind want to know her backstory? She could be the most abused person on the planet sexually and physically but she acts like such a complete sociopath that she has become irredeemable in my eyes and I am very confident there isnt a backstory in the world that would make me feel sympathy for her.

I get that as a writer, you would want everyone to see a character like Ashley from your perspective and that is completely understandable and admirable however from my personal real life experiences with people like Ashley, having no options to call her out on her actions or worse yet being forced to go along with them heavily detracts from the much more interesting stories at play, especially when she becomes involved in those other characters' stories. If all Ashley did was warn the other girls to back off, that would be fine even if there was verbal abuse but instead she opts to physically and verbally threaten and assault.

Edit: I also forgot to mention what I mean by raping the MC. Sneaking into someones room when they are asleep and trying to have sex with them would count as sexual assault as there is no consent. If I remember correctly, you cant even tell her to get out of the room at that point and have to go along with it once you wake up.

RuneyGames2 years ago (3 edits) (+2)

If you don't like her, that's fine. I'm not trying to convince you to like her.

She just isn't the sociopath you think she is. Ashley is a broken person and does heal. She is also not the only character with a few bigoted views at first. F&E are very classist and rude, as just one example. These are plot points that eventually become resolved, as is the nature of a story. Rags to riches, in a sense.

OberonFox2 years ago(-2)

I agree, a lot of the characters do have bigoted views however they are at least civil to an extent. My only point was that while the other characters such as F&E may be rude, they are never threatening to anyone else and at worst attempt to stir up problems which gets shut down quickly. Ashley is the only one of the cast who actively goes out of her way to consistently threaten and assault which seems out of place from the other cast.

I understand that Ashley may be your personal favourite character as the writer and I dont wish to berate the writing as a whole as it is genuinely excellent for the rest of the cast, however it would at least be nice to have an option to call her out when she is out of order instead of being forced to go along with it.

Maybe it would be worth slowing the escalation the more friendship you have with Ashley as currently if you dont do her story but do everyone elses, everyone else is facing their demons and overcoming trauma, meanwhile Ashley is running around like a mad-woman brandishing knives and attacking people and that's at friendship level 13, which is normally the point where you understand someones backstory enough to get an idea of who they are and how to fix their issue. You also dont fix someone with those kinds of issues by going along with their defence mechanism. Heck if you could call Ashley out and it lowered her affection then that would make sense. It could also introduce a mechanic where sometimes you need to be cruel to be kind like you do with Lin and her story of becoming free. As a mechanic, it could be a puzzle of sorts and would give you as the writer more opportunities to add even more depth and approaches to each girl.

I genuinely dont mean what I am saying here as an insult as there is a lot here to love and I want to see it improve even more than it already is, however I fear that anyone who has had to deal with the aftermath of an Ashley in real life will not take kindly to her actions and may be taken out of the game's world as a whole due to there being no choice to say she is in the wrong.

RuneyGames2 years ago (3 edits) (+3)

What can I say? I already understand you don't like her. The points about you not liking it are clearly understood by now.

Ashley however isn't the crazy sociopath you claim she is. She isn't going out of her way to start fights (though she does engage in them early on, like you said, defense mechanism), or attacking people with knives, nor does MC go along with any of that. Friendship 13 is very early in her story. You also don't fix a broken person by being cruel to them (which is also not something you do in Lin's story?) You have a very wrong impression on her character and story, simply because you haven't played all there is yet. Others can attest to this. I hope anyone who deals with any Ashley in real life doesn't think they're just a sociopath who attacks people.

If you want to argue with the writer over the intent of a character you haven't fully experienced, this isn't a conversation I want to further engage with.

Kwil2 years ago

Oberon--follow Ashley's story through. I was a bit put off as well, but the pay off is worth it, as it lead to, to me, some of the most touching emotional scenes of the game.

Runey--May I just start off by pointing out I would absolutely never have thought I'd talk about "touching emotional scenes" in a sex-oriented game? Much kudos for that.

That said, I get Oberon's points, the character's extremeness can be difficult to come to grips with to begin with, and, more importantly, there doesn't seem to be much motivation for MC to allow her actions toward the other characters -- especially if you've advanced them more. For instance <spoiler>I advanced F&E to where they had their heartfelt moment with Ashley, but then advanced Ashley a bit more and so almost immediately after Ashley seems to be warming up to them, she then turns and runs the blackmail on Felicity.</spoiler> For me, it kind of broke immersion and I was like, "Why would MC just let this happen to these girls he's just enlightened some?" I wonder if this kind of thing might be alleviated by giving MC some dialogue options that at least indicate his disapproval of the infighting. Or alternatively, for some of the more extreme actions, such as the knife threatening, bring in a character like Ellen to take control of and have sympathy for, thus giving MC a reason not to simply toss her out for threatening other guests.

Basically, I wouldn't want a couple of rough patches put players off from following what is an otherwise amazing story arc.

Regardless, thanks for this, it's broadened my idea of what might be possible in an adult-themed game.

tzeno2 years ago(+4)

I will second Runey42's statements about Ashley. Just keep playing. Ashley quickly goes from my least favorite to one of the most amazingly written characters I've seen in a game. I know I'm a big softy, but she has several scenes that leave me in tears. In my opinion, she becomes the heart behind the whole story.

Phoenix2 years ago(+1)

Should really continue her story before such a heavy judgement tbh, especially since you are "truly interested to see how the story will develop".
Drop the character if you want, that's fine. But don't judge on what you don't know. I saw your previous post here before you deleted it, btw. Big oof.

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