Harem c8m4 released Sep 6 2019

[ZZZslayer]

An ameture review of Harem.

Of the many Adult theme RPG games I have played, I sincerely believed that Harem is one of the best game out there. The only contender to The Best Adult theme RPG, from my opinion, will be The Last Sovereign. Reason, I shall stated three aspect to justify my stand.

Plot

For those who haven't play harem before, this is a short intro: Your homeland is suffering a curse that has made all the women of the land barren. The plan is to go out a raiding to find fertile women and bring them back in chains to save your kind. However, in the beginning of your venture through the ocean, you are hit by a thunderstorm and you are stranded alone on a new land, only to find a mysterious ring which give you a blessed power, one that can help you fulfill your mission.

The quest of saving your homeland is one common theme in many mainstream RPG, but many are not as fulfilling as Harem provides. There are two main path in which you can take. The path of light allows you to gather (willing?) allies where they will help you in your quest when you are venturing the newland. The other is the path of darkness where the methods the main character, Ralph, employs can be rather...... disturbing that it may turn some players on with its unique flair. The two paths make little differences at first but as the story progress, the dialogues, dynamics between party members and plot elements diverges. The moral chances you make will have impact and you will really ponder over the choice you make, making it an engaging and fulfilling experiences.

Characters

This the aspect which I believed what differentiate Harem and The last sovereign really differs from other Harem-like RPG games. In many Harem-like rpg games(which is define as a rpg game where the MC collects/enslave/court many women and have sexual relationship with them), One the main character "score" and add a women to the party, the role of that lady somewhat diminishes, either playing supporting roles or only to appear again in character related arc after reaching a certain relationship point. Overwhore and harem collector are as examples. Although Ker has mentioned that Harem is also developed along the collectibles route, it feels fundamentally different as Harem as focuses on the relationship between your party members. In overwhore, harem collector and Renryuu Ascension(at it's current state), the time two or more harem memebers appears together in the same scene is to have a orgy party. For Harem, there are scenes where your harem members are in realistic confrontation or bonding with one and other. How you would resolve one such conflict(light or dark path) would greatly change the group dynamics. You also gain a greater understanding of your members through these scene as well. Furthermore, characters really shine in the main arc(instead of the MC) in various situation. However, in Harem, only a handful of members enjoy this privilege (cough^Terra^Cough) and it will good if it can be extended to other members as well (It will be nice if fenja can play a part. Its' ok not to have due to various restrain but it will be nice). In The last sovereign, the interaction between the team member is too very well done especially during the part where the team is broken up and the team members have each others back and faithfully waited for the return of the MC.

On this aspect, I have one suggestion to make to ker. Perhaps you can extent this comradeship of the light path into the gameplay. For example, upon unlocking scenes between Sarah and Rhea, they can unlock a passive skill where the presence of each other on field will boost each other status. Other alternative will be support from outfield where there is a chance, base on relationship, to initiate either a defense on weaker members or initiate a follow up attack even if they are not on field. In contrast, the dark path can maintain the "reliance of the individual'. These will make the differences between light and dark more authentic.

Gameplay mechanism

This is the part where I am somewhat torn between Harem and The last sovereign. Harem true experience lies on experiencing the different scene on both the light and dark side. For TLS, there is only one linear path but there is many fun element (Social standing, economical status, Investment, Army quality, and size......) which I hope some of them can be adopted by Harem. The only qualms I can come up with for TLS is the lack of CG scenes and major "What if" thought about the choices the MC of TLS made(what if the MC got corrupted and decided to take a daker path in his decision?).

As for the combat, I felt that is rather balanced compared to many Adult theme rpg out there. It is less frustrating compared to games like sexual kingdom and bandit assault where combat become more of a tedious chore rather than something enjoyable for me. The quest is rather structured and guide. I got lost in games like Unwanted Curse where I simply do not know where to go after the beginning moments (Perhaps I am playing it wrong but that is indeed my personal experience). Although an inclusion of a questlog will be good.

In conclusion, if you are actively searching for a good, solid adult-theme rpg, Harem is one you must try. Although your perspective of the game may be different from me, it is a definitely must try .

[ker]

Thanks ZZZ and Zera for the kind words!

Terra had won the Patreon vote to get a bonus scene in the 4m3 content and I just imaged it today. Another one of your harem decided to help out her 'going away party', although you'll have to wait for release to see who it was!

[shames90210]

BY GOD THE PROGRESS! ahem sorry for the out burst I'm just in shock after having rediscovered this game. Keep up the great work I'm enjoying the game getting a bunch of polish and the like and wish you luck on your quest!

[ker]

BY GOD THE PROGRESS! ahem sorry for the out burst I'm just in shock after having rediscovered this game. Keep up the great work I'm enjoying the game getting a bunch of polish and the like and wish you luck on your quest!

And more is on the way. Sounds like a great excuse for more 4m3 teasers!

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[ker]

v2c4m2 Public release!
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3KuK ... TIzUTdrQUE

v2c4m2
Content Additions
-There is yet another barrier blocking your path to Corsix and you must remove it. You'll have to find a way to strengthen Terra to get past the barrier!
-In doing so, you will capture another slave, one with a mysterious past that she has had taken from her. Unlocking it will grant her great power, but at great risk.
-A new questline from the Celeean Swords and a new slave to add to your harem.
-Fiona will have another quest for you, and her arrogance and greed could make her vulnerable to ones whose pockets are deep enough.
-The repairs on your brothel have finally been completed, letting you open it for business. Some slaves may require 'convincing' in order to serve there.
-Scenes for Phoebe/Noemi, Terra, Kathleen, Fiona and Cindy, plus a handful of brothel scenes.
-More than 270 images and 290 pages of text added
-19 new scenes added to main game. 5 brothel scenes in addition. 2 new NC scenes, one open to all!

Bug Fixes/Modifications
-Quite a few modifications to characters behind the scenes for future content. This does require a full character reset (does not reset progress/captures!)
-Brothel sequence cannot be started until after you've captured Angelica
-Allowing for a 12 character name for the main character. This may cause text clip issues, go beyond 6 with caution. You must use the main character rename option in system menu to enable this.
-Hearthstone will only show you places you've already visited
-Character Bios added
-Significantly more hints toward where quests are

[Darthjake]

Is the bounty hunter only availible to patreons or has she not been fully implemented yet?

Thanks for the update!

Edit: When I cross water on a bridge, (being careful to stay on the bridge), I take damage as if crossing the water without the bridge being there. Not sure if that is a bug or intended.

Edit: The fights in the abandoned fort were tough, the fort end monster was almost anticlimatic compared to the random encounters in the first section of the fort. And I was seriously cursing round 2 with the red haired chick. I actually had to use some potions in the fort and with red, but it was all worth it and fun.

I'm glad you made Terra sort of an NPC for the test she had to pass because the first time I went to go to Corsix, I forgot and left her in the brothel, heh.

Keep up the great work!

[ker]

I'm going to assume you mean Alena as the bounty hunter. Her and Rhea are path-exclusive characters atm. Rhea can only be captured on the light route, Alena on the dark. And before you try, there's code to prevent you from riding the center and capturing both! I do plan to make them available on both routes, but that's not until late chapter 6 at the earliest. And in general the only patreon-only content is the bonus scenes which can only be accessed via the 'Replay Scenes' option in the start menu. The game your playing is the exact same as they have, just they play it a few weeks earlier.

Which map did you get injured by walking over the bridge?

Kathleen is intended as an OP character, but with a risk. Those rounds will continue...

I made a decision in developing v2 to ignore brothel status for plot events. It's a pain to code for those contingencies and too often the only solution is to force the player to stop progressing the plot to run back to Eowen to pull out a slave for 'reasons'. You can't use a character in combat if they're in the brothel nor interact with them in the castra, but if the plot requires them, they will appear.

Thanks!

[Darthjake]

I'm going to assume you mean Alena as the bounty hunter. Her and Rhea are path-exclusive characters atm. Rhea can only be captured on the light route, Alena on the dark. And before you try, there's code to prevent you from riding the center and capturing both! I do plan to make them available on both routes, but that's not until late chapter 6 at the earliest. And in general the only patreon-only content is the bonus scenes which can only be accessed via the 'Replay Scenes' option in the start menu. The game your playing is the exact same as they have, just they play it a few weeks earlier.

I did mean Alena, ah okay so that makes sense, despite carrying the title of a high ranking Sithlord I've done the light path first.

Which map did you get injured by walking over the bridge?

The one where you had to gather the plants for the injured Celeen Sword. I actually equipped the herb bag first but was done so fast that I had no encounters on the map, so I unequipped it and ran all the way across the map skipping some herbs trying to provoke an encounter. (Had to keep that Brothel earning money, y'know?), but I never got a single encounter. I noticed the flashy red on the map indicating that I had taken damage on the first bridge and figured that I had just made a simple error then I made it a point to hit every other bridge and watch my health go down before I reported it.

Kathleen is intended as an OP character, but with a risk. Those rounds will continue...

Yeah having everyone guard while you spam disarm is not the way to go.... Ouch...

I made a decision in developing v2 to ignore brothel status for plot events. It's a pain to code for those contingencies and too often the only solution is to force the player to stop progressing the plot to run back to Eowen to pull out a slave for 'reasons'. You can't use a character in combat if they're in the brothel nor interact with them in the castra, but if the plot requires them, they will appear.

Thanks!

Sounds great, again, pass along my thanks to the team, and keep up the good Great work!

[ker]

Which map did you get injured by walking over the bridge?

The one where you had to gather the plants for the injured Celeen Sword. I actually equipped the herb bag first but was done so fast that I had no encounters on the map, so I unequipped it and ran all the way across the map skipping some herbs trying to provoke an encounter. (Had to keep that Brothel earning money, y'know?), but I never got a single encounter. I noticed the flashy red on the map indicating that I had taken damage on the first bridge and figured that I had just made a simple error then I made it a point to hit every other bridge and watch my health go down before I reported it.

Considering the damage it does is negligible I think I might just remove the damage tag from that tile. It's annoying in Neothan's tower as well.

[Darthjake]

It is annoying, but it also makes you more cautious in Neothan's tower especially with those mummies, or at least until you give Sarah the Flame Rune Sword...

[ker]

4m3 patch notes and bonus teasers!
I finished the very last of writing and coding for v2c4m3 today and my testers (big thanks to both Fiktion and Omnibomb) have done numerous runthroughs catching a tonne of bugs and mistakes. We're getting very close to release. They'll keep poking around and since I'm done with content creation I can make a few passes myself. 4m3 Patreon release should be on the 5th, Public on the 26th of August!

Before I give you the patch notes for it, lemme show you some of the teasers for the bonus scenes!

4m3 Bonus spoiler #1.png (236.48 KiB) Viewed 2606 times

4m3 Bonus spoiler #2.png (234.21 KiB) Viewed 2606 times

v2c4m3
Content Additions
-The end of Kathleen's sequence may have resolved her past, but it was a bit of a cliff-hanger for the rest of Celee. You'll have to work with the Celeean Swords to address this new threat and change your relationship with them fundamentally in the process.
-You control both of the human groups in the Westlands, but the peace between them is shaky at best. You'll need to unify your followers before going further into this new land.
-With a member of the Celeean Swords now part of your Harem, Heather will have additional quests for you.
-Terra, Sarah and Donna all have quests to explore their characters and get sweet unique gear for them as well!
-Added a new shop in Eowen next to Fiona's, Amazing Mechanics, selling off-hand items for those who can't use a shield or duel-wield.
-New Brothel scenes for Donna, Samantha (dark route only), Sarah, Heather and Kathleen
-8 new in game scenes, 5 brothel scenes and two bonus scenes added!
-167 new images, 210 pages of new text!

Bug Fixes/Modifications
-Significant buff to Noemi, giving her new skills and reducing the cost of existing ones.
-Kathleen's Frozen Collar was supposed to be removed at the end of her questline and the stat buffs it gave her transferred to her directly. There was a few scenarios in 4m2 that wouldn't remove the collar, those have now been resolved retroactively.

[ker]

So two big things today: First, the work on 4m3 went extremely well and is ready for release, mostly due to Omnibomb, ofersai and Ichi going above and beyond in testing and helping me clear out the bugs in remarkable time. A huge thanks to all of them! If you want to play it now, my patreon does accept both instant donations and paypal. You can both support development as well as enjoy the great new content ASAP!
https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2583450

Second, Harem got a bit of publicity by getting previewed over at lewdgamer.com A huge thanks to them for their time. Make sure to swing over there, check out some of their other content and maybe even leave some nice comments on the preview!
https://www.lewdgamer.com/2016/07/31/preview-harem/

Finally, there's a few additions to the 4m3 content. I did a lot of work on the quest guide in the game (accessed by the quest log item). Ideally, it should tell you all the quests you are currently on and tell you where you can find more. It's still a wip, please let me know if (when) it's wrong. I've also added a bit more background detail into the Mountain Glory area, letting it evolve as you go through the area. Finally, there's a few teasers for a new character. But that's all I'm going to say on that!

Changelog:
v2c4m3
Content Additions
-The end of Kathleen's sequence may have resolved her past, but it was a bit of a cliff-hanger for the rest of Celee. You'll have to work with the Celeean Swords to address this new threat and change your relationship with them fundamentally in the process.
-You control both of the human groups in the Westlands, but the peace between them is shaky at best. You'll need to unify your followers before going further into this new land.
-With a member of the Celeean Swords now part of your Harem, Heather will have additional quests for you.
-Terra, Sarah and Donna all have quests to explore their characters and get sweet unique gear for them as well!
-Added a new shop in Eowen next to Fiona's, Amazing Mechanics, selling off-hand items for those who can't use a shield or dual-wield.
-New Brothel scenes for Donna, Samantha (dark route only), Sarah, Heather and Kathleen
-8 new in game scenes, 5 brothel scenes and two bonus scenes added!
-167 new images, 210 pages of new text!
-Teased a new character!

Bug Fixes/Modifications
-Significant buff to Noemi, giving her new skills and reducing the cost of existing ones.
-Kathleen's Frozen Collar was supposed to be removed at the end of her questline and the stat buffs it gave her transferred to her directly. There was a few scenarios in 4m2 that wouldn't remove the collar, those have now been resolved retroactively.
-Increased the damage scaling of Terra's spells.
-Improved quest guidance through quest log item, still in beta state.
-Put conditionals into Naitay and Phoebe's brothel stories to adapt to plot/personal progression.
-Cleaned up Eowen as you progress the story to reflect the town rebuilding over time.

[ker]

A few minor issues with 4m3 that I'll have corrected for 4m4, but some of the stories in 4m4 are burning in my mind and I've started writing them. First one I wanted to work on was Jessica and the Circle Guild. They weren't directly part of any 4m3 content, but they've had interactions with a few of the major characters in 4m3. So 4m4 will have some of those relations updated for the new balance of power that happens in 4m3. And you'll fuck Jessica again (of course!). Different teasers on the Patreon/blog as usual!

[CloudRipper]

This is an awesome game so far and I'm enjoying it. To me the porn is a bonus to it, and the story is the best part of it. Least that's me. Anyone else wonder if there is a plan for the Main character on the dark path to enslave the two angels?

[ker]

Ah Corsix is near. Some great story-lines, some not so much. Mechanically challenging but a unique perspective in the game. Probably the most divisive section in version 1, I've gotten more feedback that it was the best part of Harem in v1 than any other segment, but also the most in the opposite direction.

So I'd like to hear what you think. But it's not a conversation that we can have without spoilers so I've put it on a back page of the blog. There's enough of an explanation there that even someone who never played v1 should get an idea of what's going to happen, enough to form an opinion. But that involves significant spoilers. So be warned! Either stop by and leave an opinion or send me a direct message.
SPOILERS: http://harem-vx.blogspot.com/p/lets-tal ... ter-5.html

It's looking like October will be the start of chapter 5. Development on 4m4 is going fine and I doubt if we'd have enough content left in pre-5 Celee to justify a 4m5. I'm not sure what the poll will be yet, will depend heavily on the feedback I get.

[raisinbman]

I cant see the entire intro and i cannot progress beyond going to the church to free the girl from demons, screen goes black and crashes

[ker]

Thanks for all your great feedback on how you'd like to see chapter 5 improved this time around! I've been reading through it all and have come to a few conclusions on changes that must be made.

1. The timer is gone.
2. There will be an option to continue the quests after the main event should be decided. Ralph's events will end, but you'll have the option to continue questing until all of your slaves have had a chance to act in the city. With that, I might end up forcing a few of the more important plot events to happen early, knowing players who want can continue with their favorite characters after the plot stuff is out of the way.
3. There will be several solutions that don't involve your slaves running around fucking dudes in the city. A few of these will be no sexual solutions, some will be lesbian. A few might be exhibitions. Not 100% sure on the details. I'm likely to poll my patrons on if it's worth the time to extend the chapter 5 development to cover those options for all slaves.
4. Quest guidance will be dramatically improved. t51, a new volunteer, has given me some great ideas on how to do that and improve the overall quest quality.
5. I'm still listening if you have more to say! (spoilers ahead) http://harem-vx.blogspot.com/p/lets-tal ... ter-5.html

On the Patreon front, with the start of chapter 5 likely coming in October the player will be entering brand new lands and meeting a variety of new characters that you'll be adding to your harem in the following chapters. Which gives me a unique opportunity. While they had names in version 1, I'm not really tied to them at all. I've decided to give exceptionally generous Patreons a chance to put their own permanent mark on the game by renaming the new characters in thanks for their support. It won't be cheap, but it will be permanent.

There's significant rules to it and any talk of new characters are spoilers by nature, but follow the link if you're interested! http://harem-vx.blogspot.com/p/name-slave-spoilers.html

I cant see the entire intro and i cannot progress beyond going to the church to free the girl from demons, screen goes black and crashes

Are you the same person I've been talking to through email?

[raisinbman]

Thanks for all your great feedback on how you'd like to see chapter 5 improved this time around! I've been reading through it all and have come to a few conclusions on changes that must be made.

1. The timer is gone.
2. There will be an option to continue the quests after the main event should be decided. Ralph's events will end, but you'll have the option to continue questing until all of your slaves have had a chance to act in the city. With that, I might end up forcing a few of the more important plot events to happen early, knowing players who want can continue with their favorite characters after the plot stuff is out of the way.
3. There will be several solutions that don't involve your slaves running around fucking dudes in the city. A few of these will be no sexual solutions, some will be lesbian. A few might be exhibitions. Not 100% sure on the details. I'm likely to poll my patrons on if it's worth the time to extend the chapter 5 development to cover those options for all slaves.
4. Quest guidance will be dramatically improved. t51, a new volunteer, has given me some great ideas on how to do that and improve the overall quest quality.
5. I'm still listening if you have more to say! (spoilers ahead) http://harem-vx.blogspot.com/p/lets-tal ... ter-5.html

On the Patreon front, with the start of chapter 5 likely coming in October the player will be entering brand new lands and meeting a variety of new characters that you'll be adding to your harem in the following chapters. Which gives me a unique opportunity. While they had names in version 1, I'm not really tied to them at all. I've decided to give exceptionally generous Patreons a chance to put their own permanent mark on the game by renaming the new characters in thanks for their support. It won't be cheap, but it will be permanent.

There's significant rules to it and any talk of new characters are spoilers by nature, but follow the link if you're interested! http://harem-vx.blogspot.com/p/name-slave-spoilers.html

I cant see the entire intro and i cannot progress beyond going to the church to free the girl from demons, screen goes black and crashes

Are you the same person I've been talking to through email?

yes, I wasn't sure what the best way to get help in this game was at the time XD. I appreciate your help still searching for some form of solution. Same thing happens when I try to play different game(Harem Collector), trying Overwhored and haven't run into any issues yet.

[hoboy]

I cant see the entire intro and i cannot progress beyond going to the church to free the girl from demons, screen goes black and crashes

Since you are so early into the game (I believe the Terra event in the church can't be much over 30 minutes into the game) I would just start over with a new download (get rid of old save files) and you should be good to go. You didn't try to use saves from the earlier version of the game? That would be a problem at this point, and 30 minutes of gameplay is well worth doing...besides, what ker is doing now is written and playing much better anyway...

[raisinbman]

I cant see the entire intro and i cannot progress beyond going to the church to free the girl from demons, screen goes black and crashes

Since you are so early into the game (I believe the Terra event in the church can't be much over 30 minutes into the game) I would just start over with a new download (get rid of old save files) and you should be good to go. You didn't try to use saves from the earlier version of the game? That would be a problem at this point, and 30 minutes of gameplay is well worth doing...besides, what ker is doing now is written and playing much better anyway...

I tried this already. But I can't even see the full intro so saves are irrelevant since it crashes during the intro . I don't know what the problem is.....I've definitely played past this point(I don't remember exactly when, maybe before i upgraded to Windows 10?). I had the same problem playing Harem Collector, currently playing Overwhored with no problems though.