VN - Ren'Py - Reconnections [v0.35] [Viitgames]

I can see what the Dev's trying to do and I liked it when he did it in Haley. It can be cute to see a developing romance like that, slow burn interactions and all that.

Why does it crash and burn here then?

Because for that you need chemistry and relatable, interesting characters. Haley carried her game. Christina is ok(ish), but the story set up is much poorer. It's a mystery what she sees in the MC, who is a bit of a bland asshole. Diana as his "girlfriend" is a total loss. With her being even worse than the MC, it's equally mystifing why he stays with her. There isn't any real, believable chemistry between any of them.

All this comes down to the characters being so poorly written that they are on the verge of caricature. This tanks any relatability and investment in the story.

It's just overall poorly done and the writing is to blame for that.

Unfortunately this is a rather poor game,. 'Taming' wasn't my cup of tea, but 'Haley's' was nice to a certain extent .This one has too many flaws.

The renders are fine, but Diana's hair is totally buggered. The angles of some shots are just off and the scaling isn't always right. If the rest of the game was alright this would only cost 1 star.

The story is basic and unoriginal, but there is a tiny bit of development of relationships so there's that.

What really kills this game for me is the insufferable MC. He's just a total disrespectful dickhead. The only time he is a little decent is when he is talking to Christina. The rest of the time he is bitching and whining about everything and he treats Diana very poorly (and for what reason?) No idea why she doesn't kick his ass out.

Part of me hopes the MC being pathetic human being is leading to something later on in the story, but looking back on the previous games, I don't think this dev has the skills (or will) to pull it together.

This AVN started out pretty good. I liked the concept of the MC running into someone from their past and finding out there is some kind of connection between them. I liked the MC's wife being a bit jealous/concerned even tho there seemed to already be some distance between the husband and wife.

I think this is one of those cases where the dev had a good idea to start but now the story and characters are starting to flounder a bit. The dialogue is not great and the wife's behavior has become a bit odd so not sure what is going on.

The developer seems talented enough to make it work, so I wish them well and hope they can get this AVN back on track.

Complete disapointement, this game is horrible and a chore to play.

I loved "Haley's story", "the taming of the brat" was barely okayish and full of issue. but this one ...

You have the impression the dev have actually worked his ass of to find any atom of Fun remaining in the "taming of the brat" removing them, copy pasting EVERY issue it has and wrote the most boring story ever seen to mankind and put it into a game.

Between the man child and the ice that serves him of girlfriend, it give vibe there is only 1 girl on this town and robots everywhere else.

Maybe the dev need to go back play "Haley's story" to actually see what miss on game he made recently including this one to fix it.

Version 0.15 - 2024-12-01

"Reconnections" is a story about flawed people.
We have Dan, our renamable MC, who's a dumbass and a bit of an asshole. He's a man-child who doesn't take his responsibilities seriously.
Diana, Dan's girlfriend, is a girl-boss type who has a tungsten rod up her ass. She's cold and distant toward Dan, and constantly berates him.
Lastly, there's Christina, an old friend Dan reconnects with at a funeral. She's single and good-natured, and too good and kind to be true.

While it's too early to tell where the game's story is going, it seems like its title works on several levels. Not only is Dan reconnecting with Christina, but Christina is also helping Dan reconnect with himself, and helps Diana and Dan reconnect with each other.

The game's graphics are good, the models/LI look great and have a natural-looking body shape. There are no lewd scenes or animations yet, so nothing I can say about that.

As a character-driven AVN, Reconnections is right up my alley. So far, it's doing everything right in that regard. It provides enough nuance and cause and effect to make these interpersonal conflicts and frustrations believable.

[reviewing v0.15]
Both LIs are beautiful, so there's that. Everyone is calling the existing GF a frigid bitch or whatever, but frankly the MC deserves worse and I can't really see why she is staying with him in the first place.

I don't know if this is really a VN instead of a KN; I have yet to make a choice to try to make the MC less of a useless jerk.

This is still pretty early in development so maybe the MC has a redemption arc in the works but I have seen no hint of it yet, instead each release has made me want the LIs to ditch him for their own well being.

[v0.20]
I think I'm gonna unwatch the thread now and maybe check out updates if I see them arrive. I don't know if the dev is doing it on purpose but the MC is fundamentally unlikable, doing & saying things so insensitive that he seems to have been taught social etiquette by Pakleds.

On top of that the writing for Diana (the existing GF) is... lacking. As mentioned previously she is obviously extremely dissatisfied with the relationship when the game starts. After that, the MC is generally inconsiderate to her in everything he does and is a terrible roommate, purposely conceals the gender of the "old friend" he just reconnected with, and even grabs her and jumps into a pool with her against her will, after she states that she doesn't like the water. There are so many red flags that she just ignores that it borders on insanity. She doesn't even seem to like him very much so why is she sticking around? And that last thing I mentioned, that would have been the last straw for me, but in this latest release she gets over it quick and there's even the option for the first sex scene in the game that night between her and the MC. -smh-

Honestly, the only positive thing is the visuals look good. The monologue writing to me just looks horrible in my opinion and the conversations feel so robotic and unnatural. The updates come out pretty frequently but there is very little progression and choices, like I have no clue what the story even is other than playing a brain dead idiot going on secret dates behind his girlfriends back, while not realizing how it's a bad idea.

There seems to be no direction currently on where this game is heading, you don't have much control over anything with the lack of choices, and it's hard to really connect with the two women in your life with how badly the interactions are scripted, in my opinion.

A very good game by a very conscientious developer. The art is improving as Viit goes from game to game. The story is still early, but I do like what I see so far. While it is not slow, don't expect too much steamy action in the first update, or for a couple of updates following.
There is charm in the game.

It's hard to tell by the first version [v0.01], as there's not too much content, but generally it looks pretty nice and cute.

Like in other games by Viit, there's a little bit of weirdness, and for now there is just the right amount to make it endearing. Though I hope that eventually there's not gonna be too much weirdness and too little sexiness, as in "Taming" (the previous game that I liked more in the beginning, but not that much at the end).

The redhead is cute. The friend looks grumpy (no idea why). The girlfriend (soon to be an ex I assume) is a rigid bitch as expected.

All in all, it looks promising. Could be enjoyable.