Considering that the default name is the name of the game, it surprised me that there's no thread up dedicated to the series. I saw some screens and such on VNDB and thought "Hey, this looks like a decent knockoff of MGQ", so I got Violated Hero 3 (it was easy to pirate and doesn't look like they follow a continuous narrative) with an english patch and figured I'd make a thread dedicated to the series and give my thoughts on what I've played
<Violated Hero 3:
>Gameplay: 7/10
>Story: 4/10
>Porn: 7/10
So basically, VH3 is firm femdom ss. I say firm because it's not quite hard femdom ballbusting, but there's a lot of pegging and the MC is a pretty big masochist (unfortunate for me. I can't get off to getting squeezed by thorns like he can, nor am I particularly interested in prostate play). The gameplay is rather basic: a map is generated with splitting paths, like Slay the Spire, and you're expected to go through each map at least twice (each map has a barrier unlocked by beating a boss a node or two ahead of it, and you can't turn back. You also can't see where the boss is in case the map splits at the gate), the random encounters are all kinda chibi looking, and don't have game over rapes like the bosses do. Expect to fight recolors surprisingly early on. Combat is about as basic: you have physical and magical strength and defense, as well as health and mana, and in theory some enemies are more vulnerable to magic or physical, but it's better to pick one or the other and completely ignore whichever offensive stat you didn't choose, since magic has a basic attack and the skills are literally just stronger attacks that scale off the same stats (you start with a physical skill for 15 mana that does some bonus damage scaling with your strength, then you learn a magic skill for 15 mana that does some bonus damage scaling with your magic, then another physical, and so on). The storyline as far as I'm in (about halfway through world 3) is about on par with pacific rim: it's obviously an excuse plot that you shouldn't expect many surprises from, but the fact that everybody is voiced is pretty cool. Because it is Game-Over Rape, winning against a boss (which is pretty easy assuming you don't randomly get crit for 2/3 of your health when all other attacks were doing closer to 10%) locks you out of their cg unless you reload a previous save and lose to them, as bosses cannot be re-fought, even though their maps can still be replayed, but at least you can rewatch any sex scene you've gotten from the main menu. The scenes themselves aren't bad, but as stated near at the start of the review, they're half a notch harder on the femdom than MGQ, with the painful descriptions continuing even after the MC decides to stop fighting the pleasure… he also has phimosis and cums whenever his foreskin gets pealed back… and the orgasm noises are worryingly crunchy sounding. As a random annoying side-note, you can't save, load, or access the options menu unless you're in a dialogue scene, which is dumb as fuck.
<Final Score: 6.5/10
I'd be more into it if I had any interest in masochism, but even beyond that every aspect of it just makes me wish I was playing MGQ. In MGQ, every encounter was unique, a number of the randoms were actually interesting and the recurring characters all had their own goals and personalities, meanwhile here the randoms get a handful of lines for attacking and being hit, then get rehashed as palette-swaps, and the area bosses have lengthy intro scenes giving you an idea of what they're like, but then they're immediately discarded once you beat them. The recurring characters are a handful of yokai repeatedly stabbing eachother in the back for power. In MGQ there was strategy: most fights were a bit closer to puzzles as you figured out what worked against what enemies and how to manage your sp, and Ilias' guidance when you lost was almost as entertaining as the fight itself sometimes… I actively tried to find any amount of depth to the combat in VH3, but it really does just come down to attack the randoms, heal when you need to, and spam your strongest special against the bosses, in the event that you lose you get generic tips like "yeah, sometimes it's up to the rng. Try again". Even the music is just a step below. Sure, MGQ used some royalty-free stuff now and then, but it was still always good for setting the mood and sometimes pretty catchy; VH3 has some cool songs, but sometimes they're only like, 30 seconds long and it's very noticeable when they loop, given the pause between each time the song plays
Should I try grabbing any of the other VHs? VH5 has angels, and I really like angels, but I also really don't want to pay $20 for it, especially if it cuts as many corners as this one did. In the meantime, I think I'll go play the original trilogy of MGQ through for the 4th time while I wait for paradox part 2 to get translated