Warning: This review contains adult content
In the world of OELVN’s, Yaruge Girl Triona is only the second H-game available from the Ren’Ai Archives (although there have been several commercial English H-games released with playable demos). DaFool’s previous H-game, The Nettestadt Troll is a plot-driven game with visually depicted H-scenes only being present at the end of each path. In contrast, Yaruge Girl Triona is primarily sex driven, with the plot establishing a context for each scene. Before discussing the various innovations and unusual features of this game, I will briefly touch on the basic elements of the game. Triona herself is well drawn and coloured in all of her scenes. Notably, her breasts are much more natural and realistic in shape than those seen in most other H-games. The five original pieces composed for this game all convey a strong underlying mood, whilst not dominating over the other in-game elements. Yaruge Girl Triona uses a non-standard aspect ratio, and consequently the game might not be able to be played full-screen at some resolutions.
Triona is extensively customisable, in appearance, with two to five options being available for her skin, body type, clothes, and eyes. There is also an option to give her glasses and another which can customise her and Craig’s interests (anime, cars or religion). Many of these customisation features involve changing the shadings on one layer of an image, allowing a variant of the image to be presented without requiring the image to be redrawn.
The sexual content, if you’ll excuse the pun, is rather top heavy, with Triona’s breasts being the prominent features of each scene. They are positioned roughly at the centre of the screen, and are thus emphasised compared to the penetration scenes, where only Craig’s penis is shown. In each scene, a number of actions can be selected from a menu, including one ‘special’ for each scene. Although some actions need to be performed in a certain order to allow other actions, there is no overall goal in the sex and the scene can continue for as long as the player likes. This comes with an unfortunate downside, as it is impossible to make Triona orgasm. It should also be mentioned that all in each scene, Craig performs all of the ‘actions’, while Triona remains as a passive partner, providing supporting dialogue. When considered in this way, YGT is perhaps the most male-oriented OELVN so far.
Within each scene, one or more of the actions are animated. These are mainly used to emphasise the upper body, although a few are used purely comically, and make references or pay tribute to various influences on the game.
Quite unusually, the sexual content of the game, which sits firmly in the yaruge (‘doing it’) and fetish genres, is integrated as part of an overall plot, with each scene describing the growth of Craig and Triona’s relationship. Although many of the dialogues and discussions might have been more overtly successful in a different VN genre, they do create a context for each scene, and personalities for each character, which also emerge in the actions available during sex.
One slightly annoying downside, perhaps caused by the complexity of the coding, are the several seconds of loading time between scene changes. These recur between scene changes, and interrupt the game’s flow. However, this is a minor flaw in what is otherwise a very innovative and enjoyable game.
Overall, whether or not you will enjoy Yaruge Girl Triona depends on your own feelings towards yaruge and male-oriented ero. What it does, it does very well, but the concept may not appeal to some gamers. However, even if you feel that the genre or game design isn’t particularly to your taste, it is still worth playing to see a very effective use of Ren’Py in action.
Review by IgnoscoLabels: 18+, 2008, BxG, Review, Sim, Yaruge Girl Triona
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