Black Souls

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H Scene Count- 78

Created by Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe?

Length- 15-20 hours

A RPG Maker VXAce game styled to be like Dark Souls with a bloody fairy tale backdrop to it’s setting and characters. Some parts of this work, some just feel very tacked on.

 

Story

The game opens with you talking to Alice, who asks you some basic item and class questions before exploding in blood. Next thing you know, you are an undead in a jail cell who is saved by Joan of Arc, who then gives some of the basic exposition about the evil fog that turns humans into monsters, that she’s from France, and that if you can she wants your help. You get up and follow her only for the both of you to die by dragon breath.

Suddenly you are alive again in a place known as the Holy Forest, where a fairy by the name of Leaf forcibly puts herself into your skill list. She tells you to treat people however you want, there are no rules in this world. Some almost dead guy nearby tells you how to make it back to the Fort where you and Jeanne where, and that Cinderella is there. She is your basic goal as you will eventually learn that she is the evil at the core of the current world. Except things are never that easy, but that truth is good enough to drive you forward until you find your way.

So anyone who’s played Dark Souls can probably recognized a few basic things with the opening. Mainly the dragon, waking up to a knight saving you, choosing class and a bonus item before you start, and maybe a few other things. Hell, apparently you can actually beat the dragon at the start. The next biggest thing this game borrows is the idea that all NPC’s can die. Every NPC, when talked to, gives you the option to kill them(or rape which eventually leads to kill). This leads to an empty world, but is almost necessary to get the true ending that actually explains everything, like why 9 of the ten companion endings are tragedies. And why the fairy tale theme in the first place.

Gameplay

This is an active time battle system, aka Final Fantasy style gauge filling to decide turns. This means that you still get the usual RPGMaker menus, but turns are decided entirely on your speed stat and its not rare for enemies or you to get 2-3 turns before the other. Which is deadly in this, as you might as well be made of paper.

Just for clarification, I picked sorcerer for my starting class. I don’t know how much that affects starting stats or if it changes your stat growths, but I do know that every big battle was a a damage race. Even at the end of the game it only took bosses two turns to kill me if I was lucky. Which is fitting for a turn based style Dark Souls attempt I guess. I was also overpowered as a caster which is also fitting for Souls.

So other unique things… Just like in the souls games you don’t get xp. You only souls from combat, which are both money and xp. You donate it to level up, no specific stat raising, or you buy things, though you can also donate it to your companions. You do get companions, a total of ten options, that you can summon in battle which I found to mostly be a waste of time later on, but essential early just so bossed targeted more then yourself. They can only be leveled(no gear), and don’t really compete with your stats at all but they can tank and heal well enough to be raised at least a bit. You need them at least to 100 each to get their endings and special scenes, whcih at that point you won’t really need them anymore.

Enemies commonly drop stat raising items. These will make a huge difference, but you might want to decide early on if you will use magic or attack and sell the others for a big boost in money early on.

Other things… you can kill everyone. This gets you SIN, a karma stat which I only noticed summoned one of the companions to be recruit-able and triggers 3 or so boss fights. You need it at zero to get two of the endings, but that’s easy enough as an NPC right north of the starting area will remove a sin for a paltry sum of souls. It really feels like a throwaway mechanic meant to limit you or punish you for just being a bad guy but it doesn’t.

Biggest complaint I have with the game is something it shares with Souls games in general, and that is NPC’s moving around based on bosses fought leading to them dying permanently if you don’t go check on them at the right times. For replay’s I could understand but for this game it just was annoying. I felt like a mother hen constantly checking if this NPC was moving or if this one was in their next spot yet. If you were going to use a guide or edit the game for anything it should be this.

H and Other stuff

It’s drawn in a very obvious pencil style. It doesn’t look great ever, but I think it fits the game’s tone. Dark, unsettling, and sketchy. It especially looks fitting for the more dark, blood filled cgs.

As for the content, each of the ten main companions get a recruitment scene(usually consensual vaginal), two feed souls scenes(blowjob or titfuck), a final vaginal scene, and then two take by force scenes. Beyond those there are a few random rape scenes and consensual scenes thrown around. The game tries to have both romance and take by force elements and does neither of them very well, which makes sense for the romance based on what is actually happening.

The writing is where the problem really lies though. The English for the characters is actually really good outside of the sex scenes. It fits the not right setting. But in the sex scenes… It’s mostly how things are refereed to that is my problem. It’s mostly the pronoun choice, or lack thereof that makes it read badly. Instead of saying his/your dick and her tits or her hips, its the hips. No matter who’s it’s always “the” when referring to any body part. This reads really poorly at best. Not that you can’t keep track of who’s is who’s, but it just kills the scenes for me.  As for the scenes themselves, they are on the shorter side, with a mute protag. Genre wise it doesn’t really shake it up much save for the frigid girl(who I think only enjoys sex with her pet wolf?), the was a man girl, and the harpy; and even then the content doesn’t really change.

 

Verdict

Impressive. It gets the atmosphere and some of the weirder things of the Souls games done decently well, and is a good RPG with a lot of small things to pay attention to and collect. A lot of build options, special weapons stuff, difficulty that is hard but fair that you can make harder as you want. I hear the sequel is better with a more in depth evil path instead of this games emptying the world “evil” path, and honestly I just wish we had that sequel. This game is good, better then a lot of the RPG Maker stuff here. Weak on sexual content though, and not happy at all. The true ending features a choke out scene of all things, not that that person didn’t deserve it after what they did. The biggest issue is the poor writing in the scenes and how some of the Souls mechanics don’t really work great in RPG Maker. Overall good though if you want a solid game more then anything.

Save for Black Souls

Contains- All scenes unlocked, and a folder with saves for easy access to the three real endings.

If you want happy heroine endings in the gallery/throne room, sell Leaf’s Ring. Without it you get happy endings.

37 responses to “Black Souls

  1. Pingback: Red Hood’s Woods | english h-rpgs

  2. Hello, I have questions regarding certain parts of this game that I hope you’d be willing to answer.

    1) How do I get the prostitute to come to the holy forest?
    2) Where does the Match girl run to after you kill her mother?
    3) Where can you find Elizabeth’s missing ring?

    • 1. I don’t think you can? If you mean the girls in the brothel then none of them go the the holy forest.
      2. Holy Forest, just look around for her.
      3. In an area near the Sea of Trash is a fairy in left corner, kill it for the ring.

      Sorry if that’s a bit generic, I haven’t played this in years. I’m looking a guide I used to do everything.

      • I checked your save file that you provided below and from what I saw, it seems as though the prostitute is recruitable since she does have stuff like a rewarding scene, feeding scene, etc. Hmmm

        As for the match girl, I did check the holy forest at some point but I didn’t see her but I will double check lol

        Thanks for your reply 😀

      • Could you give me the prostitute’s name? It’s been way to long that I have no idea who you are actually talking about.

      • Her name is Marianna. She’s the red head located in the brothel at Rotten Burg (last room to the far right). If I were to kill the boss located at Fort Ivern (the one composed of cats) then she will turn into a monster the next time I visit the brothel.

        Edit: Nvm, after every re-visiting the scenes room again, I realized that she only has two endings, imprisonment or turning into a monster ;-;

      • New questions; 😅

        1) Where can I find Katarina? I read somewhere that she would appear in the hub world at some point but I’m pretty sure I’m more than halfway through the game already yeah she still hasn’t appeared.

        2) How do I recruit Red Hood?

      • 2. Have you met her? Once the boat spawns in the Holy Forest, just go down the river and beat a boss. Enter house, talk to Red Hood(don’t rape her), and leave house. Repeat entering and leaving until she offers her services and then pay up. Pay up a second time to have her go to the hub.

        1. No idea who that is.

      • Don’t know if her name was spelled correctly or not since there’s different variations of it but this is the information I have on that NPC/companion

        “Katarina – After progressing someway through the game, talk to her and her escorts in the hub (unsure if this step is needed). Progress slightly again; when they are gone from the hub, head to the skeleton labyrinth and find her. Kill the two enemies, then talk to her; select the first conversation option (“ここは危ない” or similar). Head to the destroyed town’s cathedral (boss room). She should be there. Talk to her and select ジャンヌを召喚, or something like that (Jeanne must be obtained as a companion).”

      • Oh, Catherine. Okay, that’s who i thought it was but I wasn’t sure. Those steps should be accurate, though I remember her be really finicky. I would just check the labyrinth after every major boss fight. There’s a ladder or two that lead to small rooms with no other exit, she’ll be in one of those. Remember that it is possible you’ve progressed two far for her. I have no idea at what point she becomes impossible to get.

      • Btw, is it a good idea to let Red talk to Elizabeth? Because it seems like if she does then something will happen to her. I noticed in your save file that Red was missing but the wolf was still there 🤔

      • Do you know where these books can be found?
        •Peter Pan
        •Adventures of Sinbad
        •King with Donkey Ears
        •Beauty and Beast
        •Tortoise and Hare
        •Pinocchio
        •North Wind and Sun

        (Finding them would be a lot easier if I could ramp up the movement speed by at least three times lol. Also, appreciate your consistent replies on my questions 😀 )

      • Find any named npc and kill them. Basically each named, important NPC that isn’t a girl you recruit is tied to a book, so just go around and find things to kill. I would advise going through the hell dungeon found in the Trash Sea first, to get the quests to kill some of these, though I think you can do those in any order. I don’t remember where each book/boss is, but basically just find people to kill(such as the helpful none fairy NPC in the Holy Forest.). You will need to kill everyone at some point to finish the game anyway. Do note, that some older areas do get new bosses, like I think the donkey is in the ranch area to the east.

      • Out of the four endings, which one is considered the true ending? I just did all of the character exclusive endings and they are all so dark 😰

      • I think it was C? The one were you figure everything out about the fairies and deal with actual ending of the world. D is also worth seeing, though I had some issues with it and never actually got to read the whole thing. C also explains why all the other endings are dark.

      • So I finished all the endings and honestly I can’t tell whether C or D is the real true ending. Supposedly the second game is a continuation of the first so ending D would make a lot more sense. Overall, I really like this game. It does have its flaws here and there but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. Characters like Red Hood made me more invested into the lore so hope she’s in the sequel game as well. Speaking of which, have you played Black Souls 2 yet? If so, did you make a blog/review on it like this one?

      • I haven’t because it’s not in English yet. The English sales for Black Souls were horrible so the creator didn’t bother having dlsite translate 2, so I’ve been waiting on the fan translation which I believe is actually pretty close to being done. When it comes out I’ll probably jump on it right away.

        Also, if you want to know more about Red Hood she has a prequel game that goes over her basic background stuff. It’s in the same art style as Black Souls but is a fairly linear RPG.

      • Yup, I made a previous comment on the blog you made about her game after I finished it (that’s why I like her character so much 🙂) lol

        Hope she makes another appearance in the second game. Sacrificing her for her book was probably the hardest thing for me in that game 😢

  3. Hello! If its not too much trouble can you describe how to get some of the girls into the party? I have Leaf (Fairy), Victoria (Maid), Dorothy (Witch), Jeanne (Knight), Red Hood, and Catherine (Priest). Apparently, Elisabeth loses her ring and you have to find it at the Sea of Trash have to find that one soon. Elma in found in the Rotten Burg, but after I beat the town boss she got eaten by a monster (not sure what I did wrong, maybe too much sin?). The Goose I guess you have to find her not sure where, I gave her a million souls and she left. I don’t even know who Miranda is or where she is. Help with these would be greatly appreciated. (Not sure if I already posted this, but I didn’t see my post so here it is twice maybe).

    • I know one girl(probably Miranda) is in the Sea of Trash and requires some sin to appear, she’s the only one who needs sin to recruit and really the only reason to get sin in the game.
      Elma, you need to leave the sewer boss(Pied Piper) alive to trigger an event later. Just visit her between big bosses until a monster attacks her. Load to before this, and go kill the swer thing, then go and save Elma.
      Goose is in the Sea of Trash somewhere.
      Elisabeth’s ring is in the forest, some fairy has. Kill them. Be careful how you answer her to recruit her. Never talk to her with Red in the party.
      Jeanne, you need her ashes and an item from the sea of trash to revive her in the skeleton maze.
      That’s it. Basically do stuff in the sea of trash.

    • Leaf – Joins automatically during the story.

      Dorothy – Select the first option when talking to her (“弟子にしてくれ” or something; has a fairly low MATK(?) requirement), then talk again and select the option that replaces it. Kill the special enemies one screen north of her house, one screen south of her house, and the first screen of the ranch. Talk to her again and report.

      Victoria – enter the backdoor of the boss room of the city filled with girl zombies. Talk to her several times, choose the first option (soul transfer) when prompted. (costs 5000 souls).

      Jeanne – Obtain her ashes where you fought the intro boss. Obtain an item dropped by the boss in the poison marsh northeast of the forest. Find an NPC skeleton shopkeeper in the skeleton labyrinth (northeast of the destroyed town). Talk to him twice, and with the materials in hand talk to him again(“ジャンヌは復活する” or something). Then talk to her and select the first option (soul transfer).

      Catherine- After progressing someway through the game, talk to her and her escorts in the hub (unsure if this step is needed). Progress slightly again; when they are gone from the hub, head to the skeleton labyrinth and find her. Kill the two enemies, then talk to her; select the first conversation option (“ここは危ない” or similar). Head to the destroyed town’s cathedral (boss room). She should be there. Talk to her and select ジャンヌを召喚, or something like that (Jeanne must be obtained as a companion).

      Elma – The Pied Piper of Hamelin in the sewers must be killed. Meet her in the town with female zombies first (unsure if this step is needed). After reaching the gate of Lost Empire (the gate with 4 locked crystals), go back to her house. Reach and kill the enemy before it reaches her; if the Pied Piper is dead, she should be in the eastern part of the hub. Talk to her until she joins.

      Goose – Rescue her from the ranch with one key (this step MUST be done early in the game; right after finishing the junk forest may be a good time). Deposit a decent amount (~10k or more?) of souls in her bank service. She should be gone after killing/contracting one of the four Princesses; meet her in the tent in the marsh northeast of the forest. Select the bottom option (“許さない”) three times, then select the top option (“傍にいる”).

      Elizabeth – After progressing someway through the game, she should be loitering in the northern part of the hub. Talk to her, and then head to the junk forest; an enemy in the same area as the talking flower will drop a ring. Talk to her, and give her the ring (first option?). Talk to her again in the hub center, and choose the third option.

      Miranda – Get 5+ Karma and head to the underground poison lake (frog princess area). If the atmosphere and BGM changes you’re in the right place. Find and defeat her (note: attacks cannot be dodged or parried, frequently counters physical attacks). Choose the first option.

      • Thank you both for the information! I just got the Goose girl and will keep going to try to recruit them all. On a side note after I beat the giant ogre boss at the Rotten Burg, Victoria committed suicide so not sure what I did wrong there (maybe I got there too early, late, or something else I messed up?).

      • Hmm, she never did so during my playthrough so most likely you got to her too late,

        As a side, If you’re enjoy Black Souls 1 and you’ll love Black Souls 2. It’s a major improvement from the first game and the overall quality is just a step below MGQP (meaning the game is extremely well made).

      • Yeah thanks! After I beat the first game fully I intend to go and play the other one since I am a fan of dark fantasy rpgs.

      • This isn’t really a spoiler but if you want to go completely blind when starting Black Souls 2 then don’t read the text below this one but its something really helpful to know lol

        When starting BS2, make sure to beat the first boss with 0 SEN otherwise you’ll be locked out from getting the true ending.

      • Completely honest, I think for your first run you should fail to get the true end. It feels more right to have no idea what you are doing on run 1.

      • When I play Black Souls 2 I intend to keep the first run mostly limited to my own ability since I like to just see what happens. Although, if I get stuck for a while I tend to search for answers.

        Just a bit of an update I was able to recruit all the girls which is a lot easier once you know how to get them (again thanks for that). For Elma I thought her mother trying to eat her was a cut-scene (didn’t know you could actually fight her before see got eaten :/) Also I realized that if you wait too long to save Victoria see does commit suicide. I restarted my run and went for her earlier and found out that she was fine. Kinda interesting, yet also annoying how little details can impact the characters greatly.

  4. guys, can you tell me where to find the book of Joan of Arc if the keto shaman is dead?

    • As far as I know, you can’t get it in that run anymore. You need the shaman to revive Joan, killing him makes that impossible so you can’t kill Jeanne for her book. You would either need to edit your save or NG+ to fix it. At the very least I have never heard of anyway to get her book without actually killing her.

  5. i know its a dumb question but i really dont know how to level up my character i know how to level up the fairy but not me

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