discussion VN Ren'Py [HS2] Jeijei's Harem [v0.12] [JeijeiFin Games]

[someon]

i think this gam is missing a tag

 

[Tiur]

i think this gam is missing a tag

Which one?

Also, if you actually know that a game is missing a tag (because you know it contains content that is not currently tagged), you can report the OP. One of the report categories is specifically "Missing Tag".

 

[Tiur]

For reference for people checking this thread, this game has updated elsewhere.

This one has been renamed "Jeijei's Harem - Calm Before the Storm" (a.k.a. Part 1) with its final update, 1.02, which can be found elsewhere. A 'sequel' (a.k.a. Part 2) is also now out: "Jeijei's Harem - A New Home", and is currently on 0.3 elsewhere.

Be aware that the feel the game has had pretty consistently up through 0.12 changes drastically near the end of 1.02, and the Cecily and Beth storylines don't really get resolved. If you made the choices that lead to it, you do have sex with Sally, but are unlikely to ever repeat that in the future.

Part 2 is instead a grindy sandbox full of annoying minigames required to boost stats that are required for the next story event to trigger, and is entirely different in feel and tone.

All choices you may have made in Part 1 are ignored.

Almost all characters from Part 1 are gone. The only returning characters are the MC, Ada, Lizzie, Emma (whether you were on her path in Part 1 or not, you are now), and Dana. Beth appears in a couple short phone conversations, and Cecily is mentioned once or twice, but that's it for them.

The wholesome feel is completely gone. To give examples and details of why the game's direction is undoubtedly downward, I do have to give pretty big spoilers for content not present on this site yet (the ending of Part 1 1.02, and all of Part 2 so far):

Spoiler: The Part 1 Ending and Part 2's Setting and Story

Part 1 Ending:

So at the end of Part 1, some guys try to assassinate the MC, and Dana arrives to pull him out for his safety, but says he can't come back. If you have enough points with each of Ada, Lizzie, and Emma, they demand to come with him... Not that this matters, since Part 2 does not import any variables, and starts with the assumption that all three girls went with the MC.

Part 2 Setting:

In Part 2, it opens with the evacuation, resulting in the MC, Ada, Lizzie, and Emma all arriving at the "community" ruled by the MC's dad as dictator. This community is a caricature of an early teenager's understanding of communism. They have no money, and don't have any concept of marriage or family. Children are taken from their parents and raised in creches (the game doesn't use the term, but I think the writer just doesn't know the word), only finding out who their parents are at 18yo. Minors are not allowed to date, to prevent them being romantically or sexually attached to siblings or parents, and any form of direct incest is expressly forbidden. All adults are encouraged to have casual sex with each other, and both men and women are encouraged to have children with multiple partners. Dana is explained away as a virgin by virtue of having been adopted by the MC's father.

Harem Girls:

In addition to Ada, Lizzie, and Emma (already harem members from Part 1), Dana returns, and there are two new main LIs and two new side-girl LIs. Their storylines are mostly meh, with weird undertones to Caroline's story so far. The side girls are mostly just there to have sex with.

Gameplay:

It's tedious grindy sandbox shit. There's one different thing: the MC sometimes judges cases for the community, and those often have other smaller side stories in them, or trigger upcoming events.

So to say that these updates were a disappointment would be a major understatement.

 

[rocketsheep]

I can confirm that the character of the game changes completely in part 2. It's a pity because it would have been nice to see all the threads of part 1 taken to a proper conclusion. But it seems to me that from the developer's point of view part 2 is probably the main game they wanted to make, and part 1 was never intended as more than a prologue. In retrospect, the darker turn was hinted at from very early on in part 1.
The game is quite realistic in unusual ways, such as the excessive details of the main character's job as a software developer, whereas the relations between the humans are oddly schematic -- at least from a neurotypical point of view. Cutting the game off with so much unfinished is probably just another example of the same thing. It breaks a literary convention that exists for good reasons, and lets us readers/players feel the frustration about unfinished business that we would experience in the real world if we were expelled from our environment in the same way as happens to the main character at the end of part 1 / beginning of part 2.
Personally I prefer mostly kinetic visual novels to heavily branching ones, and 'normal' visual novels to sandboxes. But clearly a lot of people (at least a lot of developers) prefer sandboxes. I am thankful that the developer started with a normal visual novel. Part 2 is one of the less obnoxious sandboxes I have seen, and being immersed in the developer's eccentric universe I am now prepared to follow them to the end so long as things don't get significantly worse.