Blood price

Gameplay

. . . in a nutshell

Blood price is a rather standard RPGMaker experience. You go from point “A” to point “B”, grinding for experience and gear between boss fights. Combat is turn-based, and initiative is determined by the way the player character “touches” enemies on the map. Each character possesses a unique set of magic and specialties which provide useful effects. New party members can be summoned by “eggs”, although they are not as powerful as story characters. There is a point in the game where you must learn how to play poker — if you don’t know how, I suggest aiming for “pairs” and save scumming until you win.

out the shell. . .

Before starting a new game, you have the option to turn the “Meta Fairy” off or on. She’s a character in the game that warn the player when they are approaching game-ending areas or decisions. Once you make your decision, you can’t change your mind until starting a new game. Speaking of which, after completing the game you are given the option repeat the game while keeping your experience and gear. Problem being, enemies don’t scale in strength, meaning that you’ll be grossly overpowered for the whole playthrough. . .

So there’s no reason to start “new game plus” (unless you can’t get enough of the riveting story).

You can take up to four members into battle, with two on “reserve” between encounters. However, you may store as many characters as you desire in the “nursery”, which can accessed from designated areas. New party members can be obtained from a variety of precious things (or “eggs”), which are often dropped by bosses or obtained as gifts from helpful NPCs. While there are four main characters to obtain (including the main protagonist), however they are obtained over the duration of the campaign. This makes summonable allies useful for bulking your party until you meet stronger fighters.

I recommend the slime girl — she’s a damn good healer, and obtainable early-on.

There is a point in the game where you must participate in a casino to earn “coins”. To progress in the story, you will need to learn basic Poker (or save-scum like there’s no tomorrow). Coins can be exchanged for the most powerful items in the game, including Devils Secret Potion. This potion permanently raises the stats of any character, much like what a level-up would provide. When used en masse, Secret Potions can effectively substitute grinding or leveling-up for the remainder of the game. I suggest buying as many as you’re willing to grind for.

Be warned — once you complete the casino quest line, the shop is forever lost.

Like most RPGs, your characters level-up with experience. Unfortunately, leveling isn’t handled very well. Once you pick a few characters, it’s unlikely that new characters will be able to match their strength unless you derail your adventure to get them up-to-speed. Fortunately, this is another great use of Devils Secret Potions. They allow you to quickly power-up any character regardless of level, making characters that you meet towards the end of the game useable.

. . . yes, this is a game you can play one-handed!

Story

. . . in a nutshell

Mina is a young vampire-girl with newfound responsibility. With her father’s death, she is now the sole ruler of the Adelhart kingdom. However, her rule does not last very long — her land is swiftly taken by the evil Clown, a mad scientist bent on destruction and mayhem. She narrowly escapes his claws, only to be separated by her friends. Mina must locate her pals and form a fighting force to retake her throne as the rightful ruler of her father’s land.

out the shell. . . (with spoilers!)

The first sentence reads — all characters in this story is over the age of 18. Whoever wrote this line had one job. One fecking job.

Mina inherits a kingdom from her now-deceased father, Adelhart. We meet her father’s butler and guardian, Lycan, and Mina’s pet cat-beast, Pochi. Aria, Mina’s maid and bestie asks her to collect three Tannin Roots from the Awl forest. When she returns, her estate is invaded by the big baddie, Clown. Clown is a Shadow Bender, and as such he commands an army of Shadow warriors.He intends on taking Adelhart’s kingdom and enslaving his daughter for. . . breeding purposes. As Lycan and Pochi commence battle, Aria helps Mina escape with a teleportation circle. Aria’s spell take them to the Wandering Forest, where they are found and cared for by Rutie. She offers them refuge in exchange for Aria’s bodily fluids (for “potions”).

That’s what I’ll tell my next roommate!

Rutie directs Mina to the Town of Wandering Demons. Anyone that may have survived Clown’s takeover would have taken refuge there. From the town bar, Mina learns that a creature much like Pochi has been seen around the forest. To her dismay, this creature is not the Pochi, and he is joined by Clown. After defeating his minions, Clown slips away. He leaves behind a fiery barrier, preventing anyone from following. Rutie says that they will need the Wall of Destruction to break Clown’s barrier. They set-off to Merchant, a town that’s well known for its merchants.

Gee, I hope the writers don’t quit their day jobs.

Mina meets the Protect, leader of a demon rights activist group. He claims that they have an injured Pochi under their wing. In exchange for information about his whereabouts, Protect asks that she bring back a set of weed slimes. Using them, they will fashion a painkiller for Pochi. After doing so he asks Mina to fetch one-hundred bottles to store said painkiller. While digging for bottles, Mina encounters the Philosopher of the Slums.

I like to think every vagrant I see has a cool name like that.

In exchange for the remaining bottles, he asks Mina to pay him off with one-thousand coins, which must be won from the local Casino. After returning the bottles, Protect takes Mina to see Pochi. When Protect learns about the Wall of Destruction, he tells Mina about the one to be won in the Casino — specifically, the grand prize in the arena. After winning the tournament, Protect reveals that he owns the Casino. He had hoped that Mina and her pals would lose the tournament, so that may enslave them.

. . . plot twist!

He sends the last of his goons to defeat them, to no avail. Of his troops is Rona, an abused werewolf that later joins Mina. Rutie slays Protect and takes the Wall of Destruction from his scorched, dead hands. With the Wall in-hand Rutie is able to break Clown’s barrier, granting access to his very own Metropolis. They meet an informant with information about Clown. Apparently, he secretly overthrew the empire, and since then he has subjected his people to experimentation and military rule. Clown hates anyone that’s stronger than him. His one and only desire is power.

Gee, I love the depth of Clown’s motivations!

Mina also receives information that the survivors of her kingdom fled to the local slums. From the slums she learns that Lycan stayed behind to protect Adelhart’s tomb. Without a moment to lose Mina and friends return to the Estate. They find Lycan standing off against Clown himself. Clown flees shortly after deploying his minions. As Aria mends Lycan’s wounds, he tells the party just why Clown is so interested in Adelhart’s body — his corpse possesess great magic power, and it would certainly make Clown unstopabble.

Thankfully, Adelhart’s body is just a red herring and Clown ends up forgetting about it.

Mina and friends return to Metropolis, where they meet one of Clown’s scientists. He devises a plan to sneak them into Clown’s laboratory by carting them inside under the guise of fresh corpses. They successfully infiltrate his laboratory during his latest experiment. Unfortunately, they came too late to avoid the ensuing boss fight with his newest creation. He flees (again) and leads the gang into a trap — using his Magic Draining Device he saps their magic abilities (causing their MP to drain in battle). Despite his efforts, Mina and friends defeat Clown and incinerate him while collectively yelling — Go to hell!

It was actually kind of satisfying, even though Clown was a paper-thin villain.

Mina remarks that Clown’s end was anticlimactic (though I beg to differ). Mina’s kingdom is repopulated as a refuge for Clown’s failed experiments. However, Clown didn’t die during his last confrontation. With his last bit of strength, he teleported to an undisclosed location — only to be consumed by the same Shadows he once commanded. At the end of the day, it’s a happy ending, and everything is practically back to normal. Mina reclaims her kingdom, and everyone else lives happily ever after.

Visuals

The titlescreen looks okay. From “Sound Setting” you may adjust audio preferences. The application is forced fullscreen, although the gameplay is confined to a 4:3 playing area. To my knowledge, there is no way to window the application. There are no other user-preferences to adjust, or even a gallery to review CGS. While a gallery can be obtained after completing the game, it is only accessible in-game.

The Goods

There are thirty-six sex scenes to see, along with a few pieces of cut-content. As most of them are tied to losing battles, it’s unlikely you’ll see very many unless you throw your fights. During my six-hour playthrough, I saw four scenes — one from losing a boss battle and three from prostitution. The vast majority of the sexual content depicts the main protagonist (Mina) being beaten, blackmailed, drowned, groped, or raped by a variety of creatures. I think there’s only three consensual sex scenes in the entire game. Mina’s bladder is a much like a water balloon, waiting to pop at a moment’s notice.

Verdict

I recommend this game when it goes on sale. While there are a lot of great CGs with kinky themes, the core gameplay and delivery of said CGs are deeply flawed. I didn’t find Blood price to be terribly entertaining, or remotely challenging. If the gameplay and story were better refined, this could have been a solid RPG, given the depraved and sumptuous gallery. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend Blood price at full price.

Steam Store