VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Once in a Lifetime [v1.0] [Caribdis]

When i first saw this game in top ranks with this quality of pics i was confused but i wanted to give it a chance someday.
The first few episodes or updates were really visually poorly made but the plot was interesting, dialogues were enjoyable to read and humor was joyful.
In the last episodes i thought i was played in an another game. Models of chars were gorgeous especially with drops of sweat, interior of rooms were well-furnished and overall scenes were well directed.
But the ending was a disappointment and it feels like it was hastily made. Complete rejection of support in final battle, unexpected revive of one character with a stupid justification, incomprehensible power of main char in the final battle and unended story of grimoire book.
Overall it's an easy linear vn with a strange ending.

MC:
Not much to say here, pretty adequate MC for the game, for me he was liekable and I could put myself into his position.

Characters/writing:
This is one of the few games that I wasnt skipping the dialogue. It was great the characters felt different and they had development. I really enjoyed all of the easter eggs and references to other fandoms and in general geeky/nerdy stuff. And there for sure is a lot of it. I also had a good amount of laughs here and there.

I played with the mod that shows you the best choices and I highly recommend it so you dont miss any path. Although if you pay attention to the characters it wont be a problem anyway.


Animation/Scenes/Models:
The models are great it may take some time to get used to them after playing a lot of different games with the same models but its worth it. The scenes are great all different and pretty memorable. I also enjoyed that the scenes werent stationary but nicely animated and a little bit of physics here and there.

Ending:
There are a few endings which are all constructed pretty nicely and at least for me gave me enough closure after the game ended. (although i was still sad once it ended this was one was great)

Also if you played eternum before and are wondering if it is worth to play the previous title from the developer I highly recommend it.

Best nsfw I've played in a long, long time, maybe the best ever. The writing, the graphics, the humor and story direction - it's fucking insanely great. A must play for any nsfw gamer who enjoys a great story and writing.

Man, this game doesn't even really need another 5-star review, but I'd be remiss not to. Characters, plot, animations, humor, everything is great. You can even customize your playthrough to include any combination of girls and it all stays seamless. This AVN was so good that I chose to wait until Eternum (Caribdis's next VN) is complete before playing it because I know I'm gonna want to binge that shit like I did this game.

An amazing game that diverges from typical top-tier adult visual novels. The characters are incredible—each with a unique personality while maintaining deep, evolving relationships throughout the entire game. I genuinely recommend it to everyone.

The graphics are great, even though Honey Select 1 isn't really comparable to the second version of the program. Nevertheless, the game creates a well-rounded, immersive experience. H-scenes are all unique and rememberable.

The story is awesome, even though it isn't completely mysterious since the hints subtly reveal the biggest twists. It's fair to say that all the dialogue is worth reading, rather than just serving as a means to progress. Additionally, the side characters fill any potential dull moments in the storytelling, making every moment amusing.

Even though Eternum is one of the very best adult games I've ever played, I didn't think this was going to be anything particularly special, but Caribdis just continues to blow me away. The pacing is perfect, the characters all engaging and varied, and the story is perfectly done. While Eternum is obviously an improvement on all fronts, Caribdis is a master at creating an intriguing concept and pacing his stories to perfection. There might not be a whole lot of emotional content here, but the writing is still amazing and absolutely hilarious. I would have liked another scene or two at the end, but I might just have missed it. Either way it was the basically the perfect length for the story. The only real complaint I have is that the MC kinda looks like a homicidal psychopath who skins squirrels for fun, but you get used to it after a while.

P.S. Stabby Mike might just be the greatest character ever conceived

so the positives are the sex scenes and that it is complete. The main plot was to me, really uninteresting. The character plot was fun, but the main issue was the ending. You can build a harem, but you are only "rewarded" with some screenshots of you and the girls living happily ever after. It feels very flat. Like, you can get girls pregnant, but it doesn't really matter at all, feels very lazy.

This is a very comedic game and comedy is very subjective. But apart from some jokes that I found funny, the comedy didn't land at all. It's mostly cringe weeb humor imo.

I don't mind insta love or porn logic, but none of the girls feels like real characters after a while. The MC is also pretty trash, there is no reason to root for him.

This is the best VN I've played by far. I got it on a whim and planned to skip threw and just watch the H scences, But I'm so glad I didn't. The story was engaging and the characters were gorgeous. This is the only game that I genuinley could not wait to keep playing and gave me something to look forward to every day. The ending was beautiful and fulfilling to see after an amazing story.

So with the benefit of both completed game and the knowledge of Caribdis' work I can say that Once in a lifetime is no just a game but an experience. Much like how at a fine restaurant one must have the appetizer before the meal this is the appetizer before Eternum but do not be fooled by the thought of this being the appetizer for you see this just as savory and delectable as the main course let it just be on a smaller scale. Once in lifetime offers what I consider a light version of what eternum would eventually become testing the waters of their audience and learning from this to bring forth to their new project. Its fun, engaging, ropes you into the story of these people's adventure even if it feels a bit odd direction wise it all comes to fruition at the end in the experience one can only experience Once in a lifetime.

This game has one masterclass pro thing going for it and one major con.

The major drawback is that you can lose several routes for no obvious reason. Suddenly I found myself with 3/8 routes left and the others lost forever. Poor game design that ruins things alot.

The masterclass pro thing is the dialog and some other parts of the writing that is certainly in a league of its own when it comes to these kind of games. It witty, smart and feels energizing which are truly rare in the adult game genre. Have I ever laughed out loud playing a porn game before? Because of this, a must play.

Unfortunately, I have to rate this game as "terrible". Good things first:

The story is captivating, the humour is fantastic and I really enjoy to read the dialogues, which rarely happens in a VN with lots of text and not so much lewd scenes.

And I could, thanks to this entertaining quality, look beyond that the graphics are outdated (like, really outdated. MC's dick looks like he is a woman with a dick glued to his body).

But here's the catch, and that's where Once in a Lifetime fails miserably as a game:

I was just asked by one of the LI's whether or not I love her. So I checked this thread to see if that decision locks some routes. Then I remembered, that there was a menu where you could see on which routes you are -> I opened it for the first time and, shockingly, found out that almost all routes are "lost", I have only 2 open. That means I am missing out on content with 5 other characters (out of 7 in the entire game), which two of those being your mom and sister, which is pretty much core content! That's where the entire game is built around. I was wondering when things with them would finally happen, apparently never.

Now you might say "well, then you made bad decisions" ->That's incorrect. I always picked the choices that we're pro-whatever-Li was in front of me. There were no conflicts between two LI where a choice is good for one and bad for the other one, that could've caused that

What does that mean? Well, it simply means that the game does quietly lock you out of entire paths and a lot of core porn content without you noticing, by absolutely minor decisions that would never ever shut down a relationship (there wasn't even little things like saying a stupid thing that made someone feel bad or so!).

I can't stress this enough: Games that lock you out of content are badly designed. And games that require you to use a walkthrough because the contents don't behave intuitive and come naturally to you, it's even worse.

I'll have to think of whether or not I will continue this game, knowing that I will only see 1, max 2 girls, although there are 7 in the game and they're constantly around me (like mom and sis) and I always treated them well and went all in with a positive relationship with them. (Edit: I stopped playing the game and uninstalled it. I was pretty far in).

As a pure VN the game is good, but as a porn game it fails unfortunately. A disappointment this big can only be answered by a 1-star rating.

I can see how Once in a Lifetime is a pioneering work in terms of storytelling, exploration and humor. With that being said, there are some problems in the game that left a sour feeling in my gut.

I'll start with the MC. Outside of the hospital, mansion and Asteroth battle, he doesn't really have any good qualities. He shows some kindness here and there, but he's also like Ataru from Urusei Yatsura in that he's very impulsive, selfish and prone to harassment. I can understand being attracted to someone, but he's always undressing someone with his mind. He believes in the notion that if he thinks the LI wants sex, he'll keep pushing it. Not a good philosophy to live by.

For Rebecca and Carla's relationships, you are basically required to take advantage of authority figures in order to progress with the main storyline and get the canon ending.

Although Rebecca was already unhappy with her engagement, the MC commits sexual assault early in the game by giving head to her when she's blindfolded in her apartment; at the time, she mistook him for her fiancé. During her wedding, she kindly refused sex numerous times but the MC kept pushing until she submitted. When the woman says no, it means no.

You have to play Jedi mind tricks with Carla in order to progress her relationship. The MC hacks into her therapist's email, telling her to give in to the complicated feelings she's trying to escape. It takes off from there.

Not to mention, there is an infamous part of the game where if you decide to sell Lauren to a Yakuza member, she will be raped by him. Thankfully, this choice leads to a bad ending.

Despite the widespread acclaim that Once in a Lifetime receives, I find it difficult to recommend because of its prime focus on unhealthy relationship habits. The questionable aspects I discussed seem fun when you're horny, but when you're not, they're actually really disturbing scenarios.

This is my review of the first masterpiece of Caribdis. I just finished my first experience with this game after playing Eternum (the second masterpiece of our beloved game developer) and I have to say that I fell in love with it. The story is really very well structured and I love how it developed from the beginning to the end and especially all the endings available for the various choices made in the game! The originality is incredible, maybe at the beginning it may seem something simple but the development of the game is radical and fast in its own way. The graphics are very nice and the quality of the scenes are very good, even the character renderings are very well done and I love them to death. The sounds are nice even if they are few, same thing for the quantity of songs, but those present in the game are very beautiful and in perfect moments. The game is very fluid and does not weigh on the playability, the dialogues are well structured and immersive and the break from one "stressful" situation to another is well done. I have not noticed any bugs or performance issues but I think it is obvious, being the latest version and played on a powerful computer. I highly recommend this game to anyone as Eternum!

Do you know why Caribids games have so many reviews? because it touches us, even though it already has due recognition, you want to leave your review to talk about the game, to praise it, because it is deserved, with so many milking devs and abandoned games, it's refreshing to have this game.
The humor in this game is very well done, it's not cringe, it has excellent comic timing, good character, hot sex scenes, INCEST, NO 9999 side character that no one cares.
Give it a chance, with an open heart and I guarantee you won't regret it

Still the best design of girls ( Lauren and Carla for me ) in these type of games, story was fun too. Just would have liked a bit of a longer ending with the girls and their life after. Lots of these stories just end with the climax and leave once its done. The stuff that comes after, especially the deepening of connections and the eventual 'results' should be explored more.

Brilliant game, though I have to admit I didn't care much for the main "family" LIs. It took a little while to get going but you could really tell the author found his footing as the game's development went on. The level of polish increased as the game continued (even to the point of finally fixing the MC's terrible hair). The story is solid and sincere, with lots of variety in location and characters. The absurdist humor also does a LOT to keep the game from getting stale. I definitely recommend trying it out if you're a fan of eternum and waiting for the next update.

Note: I did play through with the mod.

Pros:
- For a porn, it has great writing and the story is very compelling and develops where it is quite captivating, like I was personally looking forward to see its development than relationship dynamics sometimes, haha.
- Characters are written and designed in unique ways.
- Most of the main cast of characters' models are designed well.
- Nice animations.
- Multiple endings.
- Great amount of linear content, although players do take decisions on certain things quite often, it's not just a slideshow lol.
- This games absolutely nails humor, it uses goofy humor very often and that is done through visual, written, or audio (sound FXs) cues. Keep an eye on the background! You might miss funny moments if you don't.
- Throughout the story you will encounter a lot of different genres of storytelling such as horror, comedy, adventure, and more!

Take it how you want it:
- Sometimes there is a lack of sound, most sound heard is from sound effects with some occasional music.

Cons:
- Background rendering seems really weird and low quality, in contrast to the quality of the girls you encounter. Those asset look like something from an early 2000s video game.
- Generic Ren'Py UI

Overall rating: 4.5/5. As the Cons are really minor for a 5 year old game.
Personally, Lauren had my desire, but Judie had my heart for how adorable she is.

The game is very good. Recommended.

Pros -
1. The overall writing. The plot is compelling and becomes very interesting towards the end.
2. The characters are well written and have unique personalities.
3. The character models are decent looking.
4. The rendering seems to be well done overall. No noticable drop in quality at any point.
5. Good amount of content.
6. Nicely looking CGI animated renders in between.
7. The lore and drama keeps on getting interesting toward the end.
8. Multiple endings for your character as per your decision.
9. The standout point of the game for me is the goofy humour. I literally laughed out loud on several occasions. The MC has quite a charming personality which you like playing as.

Cons -
1. The game starts out as usual setup with no surprises. 2 sisters(step) and a young mother with no father in scene. Would have loved if the setup was something different and unique.
2. The UI is very generic and bland looking. Could have a better design.
3. Although the ending was a different, it seemed like a cop out. Could have used a different setup unique to each character personality.

Personally I would heartily recommend it to anyone if you are looking for a good game to play for a day or two. The humour itself kept me entertained and the plot kept me engaged. The scary parts of the story were very well done (it seems the developer is a cinephile who likes horror movies). Would check out his other work too.

Overall rating = 4.5/5 stars.

Great intriguing story line, beautiful models and graphics, great sex scenes, no bugs or glitches that I could find. Very funny as well. No issues with translations/errors in the text. Great ending. No issues from start to finish.

Excellent anime style storytelling, characters, horror, comedy and plot twists, and more importantly Complete!. Well worth the time to play, as it is not a grind.
Even with it being on f95, no need to suspend critical thinking too much, to imagine the erotic scenes fitting into the story.