discussion What Do You Think About Slow Burns?

[maestromancer]

As someone who has inexplicably fallen in love of CeLaVie Group games such as My New Roomate, My First Love, and the ongoing My Early Life, I've really found a love for slow burns that really take their time with very incremental corruption/seduction. Now those particular games are by no means perfect, I could go on and on about certain frustrations or peculiarities I find with them all, but I've played every single one that the devs have made and I'm always excited for a new update. I believe its due to the way they really nail having you pushing the girls' boundaries over and over again until it eventually becomes normalized, and then you start working on the next boundary.

My Early Life, for example, has just started getting into the real good stuff and despite it taken several months to get there, and I've found that the pay offs are incredibly satisfying. Being able to look back at the early game and seeing just how little you could do with the girls how rocky your relationships were and comparing it to where you are now is weirdly fulfilling and I'm not sure I can really compare it to any other games I've played before.

So, what do you generally think of slow burn games? How slow is too slow? Is the pay-off usually worth the amount of time put into getting there? Is there an issue of a game starting to lose its magic once the good stuff finally gets going?

 

[darkmkfv]

I find the slow burns allow a good story to be created, when they jump you to the porn too fast, is normally, but not always, because the story is not very good or is not the focus of the game

 

[AbruptForfeit]

I like the story that can come from them and be told that way, but without a clear direction and narrative point, it can feel very forced and sluggish just for the sake of making more money with the promise of dragging shit on

 

[User_52430]

Depends on how slow burning and how rewarding the grind.

 

[Evil Surgeon]

I mean, it kind of depends on the game for me. I don't mind a good story though, if it's going to be a slow burn. I'm not gonna lie, if there's no action at all at some point.. then I'm left wondering why I'm still playing it.

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[Salqour]

I enjoy them when your character has pre-existing relationships that you can use to branch into the rest of the world/story. The big obstacle in my experience is having to start every major relationship on a blank slate, which can make it feel like more work than actual game, especially in visual novels with few choices or numerous interconnected character stories that you have to progress together. If you have at least one thats already on some sort of positive terms to use as a 'welcome' character, it makes it much easier to dip into

 

[aenignaz]

It depends, if the story is amazing, I'm all for it, I like a good character build up and a good story that can keep you engaged and wondering how it will end, like a good book of course. But I see many games where story is not compelling and I start losing interest. When I start thinking about skipping most text, I know that game is not for me.

 

[bosspigs]

I like games where you are immersed in the story, but some fail miserably in this regard. Sometimes the game starts to get exhausting to follow.

 

[AggressiveCheeto]

I like slow burn stories but a good slow burn story has to have actual progress and intermittent rewards whether that's in plot progression spikes or well done boss fights or events in stuff with gameplay or just ya know, porn. If there's no real sense of progress then it's not really burning at all is it? That all goes for completed games though. A slow burn in development is like drinking water from a leak in a cave while dying of dehydration.

 

[nerro9]

Its nice if not everyone throws themselve at the mc or wait with open legs. But to slow is also boring like for example hillside. Devs need to find a middleground or introduce some sidecharacters as temporare li till the story with main li picks up

 

[bernMCM]

I think Slow Burn is what makes these types of games, at least for me. It's what makes it such a different experience from film / video. Of course the writing or game loop must also be good.

For example Light of my Life, I was unsure about the unusual character design but it really hooked me and became one of my favorites just through the slow escalation and character interactions.

 

[aileg]

I like slow burns generally as long as they eventually end and pay off. I feel a slow burn is often used as an excuse for milking though. Seems like a lot of devs (after a while, I don't think they necessarily go into things with this intention) realize that as long as they keep the story going and never resolve it, that they will keep getting paid without needing to go through the trouble of coming up with a whole new story. I don't even mind the never-ending story, but I can't stick with the years of never-ending tease (looking at you Happy Summer)

 

[-Bonk-]

I love a slow burn if the story is good and the character you really want has progress. My early life was a bit too much when you add that much of a grind. Could have at least had progress with side characters ( grocery or lingerie girls ). One of my favorite slow burns with an amazing story is Summer's Gone

 

[Maximillian1900]

I'm ok with slow burns as long as the work is put into it. If they give out a good product, who am I to complain? There is loads of other things to do in the meantime.

 

[Chilly]

I'm fine with slow burns as long as they're not glacial, and we get some goodies in the mean time

 

[Zonic Squared]

Slow burns are great, when the writing is good enough to support itself. My biggest problem with a lot of these works is purely what's making up the script.

Either a story is too fast and processes too quick, or nothing happens with a boring ass narrative. Granted, that's the basic criticism of most stories.

Incest games suffer the most from this. The only way most of them would work without destroying my suspension of belief, is to put out some extremely dense backstory, or develop a new relationship, despite blood, which most won't. So I'm left with a story with someone suddenly, out of the blue, decides to fuck a family member.

Even if that's the point of the taboo, it's just too quick to consider it workable. But that's my brain.

 

[lucasross]

I love slow recording if the story is good and congruent, because sometimes it starts like that and then everything goes fast and the protagonist has a magic touch and wets all the girls he sees and touches

 

[stuff24]

I like them - IF done well

if you want to do a slow burn the quality bar for your game needs to be high, especially with the writing, for the payoff to be worth it

also slow development cycles are rough on slow burn games

 

[goons]

so question bout CeLaVie's games, why are they rated so low?
And are they indirect "sinner" section games? such that it's obvious that ages are inflated. or are they actually patron-approved ( no loli)?

 

[dragonange]

Good and bad, it all depends on the mood of the moment, but like Celavie are too slow for me, when you have not a english native reading can become tiring (but I am ok with listeing and understanding)