Henteria Chronicles Ch. 3 : The Peacekeepers

N_taii Games released a new game called Henteria Chronicles Ch. 3: The Peacekeepers and the version is Update 15. The game’s story is about The island-kingdom of Nos’Ra is, in spite of its small size, one of the most prosperous in all Henteria. The island is considered by many as a land of opportunities, hopes and dreams, where anyone can get a fresh start in life. That is what Leto and his family were hoping for when they clandestinely boarded a boat headed for Nos’Ra . However, after a tragic and mysterious accident, our young protagonist ends up alone in a foreign country, surrounded by unknown faces.

Overview:

Year 853 after the Celestial Beings fell on Henteria.

The island-kingdom of Nos'Ra is, in spite of its small size, one of the most prosperous in all Henteria. The island is considered by many as a land of opportunities, hopes and dreams, where anyone can get a fresh start in life. That is what Leto and his family were hoping for when they clandestinely boarded a boat headed for Nos'Ra . However, after a tragic and mysterious accident, our young protagonist ends up alone in a foreign country, surrounded by unknown faces.

The game follows Leto as he grows up in an entirely new environment and meets new people, such as the kind-hearted Haylen, his adoptive mother, his new sister, the reserved Cyanna, Lily, with a temper as fiery as her hair, and Rose, the princess of the kingdom. None of them are aware of the dark fog that is slowly enveloping the capital city of Luminia, and the plot that will target the women around Leto and throw his life in disarray.

Features:

Hundreds of original pixel art assets, character sprites never seen in any other game

Each and every map has been carefully crafted in an image-editing software

Each of the four main women have their own background sounds (moans, pants, blowjobs, etc...) voiced by their very own voice actress

Two different POVs: MC-focused (NTR happens mostly behind closed doors) and Omniscient (player can see everything). They can be switched at any time during the game.

(Planned) Various different endings (Revenge, Happy, NTR) determined by in-game choices. Choices don't lead to branching paths apart from the endings.

An FF8's Triple Triad inspired card game (entirely optional) which, once completed, will have 100+ original cards

A detailed quest journal + in-game hint system, and a walkthrough for anyone wanting to get the most out of the game (walkthrough PDF in the game files)

Highlights:

Leto, But Not Jarred

This time around we no longer play as Noah like we did in the first game, Henteria Chronicles Chapter 3 The Peacekeepers has us playing as a young man called Leto. Leto and his family are heading out on the high seas to the small land that is called, Nos’Ra to start a new life as this is the land of opportunity. However, a tragedy happens and he ends up stranded all alone and must try and fit in with a new family and a bunch of new people.

The Ladies In His Life!

Leto has four main ladies that are in his life and I think that Henteria Chronicles Chapter 3 The Peacekeepers does a fantastic job when it comes to the character development, we have the friend turned lover, the mom, and so on and each path that the story takes is well written and engaging. While you have a good selection of main and side characters, there is also an over arcing story arc about a fog that is engulfing this city and causing trouble with the women, forcing Leto to face it head on!

Sticking With What Works

One of the things that I liked about the last chapter rings true for Henteria Chronicles Chapter 3 The Peacekeepers. This is a game that on the surface is a very basic lewd RPG. However, what I love about this is that it does what it does very well. You have your basic exploration, getting into scuffles, character development, new gear, abilities, and so on. I appreciate that it is not trying to be different for the sake of doing so, instead, it focuses on telling a good story and being fun to play. I love how it always keeps you on task and you always know exactly what it is you need to do or what your current objective is.

Going For That 32-Bit Look

Visually, I am really liking what they have done with Henteria Chronicles Chapter 3 The Peacekeepers. It uses the same kind of pixel art that the last chapter had and it gives the game a very charming look. I will say that the lack of any kind of CG or character portraits may be an issue for some as all of the game, even the XXX stuff is done with the pixel art so this is not the game to play if you are looking for something to get you off. I am also not a fan of the weird internal camera that pops up during the sex scenes. However, for the most part, this game has a very high end 32-bit pixel art look about it that I really do like.

Game Version Changelog:

Update 15

Update 14

Update 13

Developer Notes:

Ever picked up a game and played it for a few hours only to realize it wasn’t what you’d imagined at all, and felt like you’d wasted your time? On the contrary, do you ever think about the number of games that you’d never give the light of day because of their screenshots or description, yet would find them right to your taste if you actually tried them out? Yeah, I get it. Me too.

That’s why I wrote a little Q&A going over the main questions one could have about the game, to give you a better idea of whether it’s worth trying out or not. And more.

1. Do I have to play the games in order?

Absolutely not. Think of every game as a short story within a book that would be called “Henteria Chronicles”, with Henteria being the world they take place in.

Each and every game can be enjoyed as a standalone, a story within a story. The only things you might miss are a few lore elements to connect the dots with some of the NPCs’ dialogues, or a few cameos with characters from previous games that will have you scratch you head for a few seconds over their cryptic dialogue, referring to a story you might not have played. But apart from that, 99% of the game can be fully enjoyed without any prior knowledge of other Henteria games.

2. What’s the gameplay like?

While HC1 and HC2 had a few minigames here and there, HC3 has none. It mainly works as a VN, although I recently saw someone had tried to register HC2 on the Visual Novel Database (vndb), and it got rejected with the description being “[HC2 is] not a VN [but] an adventure game with no narration”. HC3, unlike HC1 and 2, does have narration though, although pretty scarce.

Basically, you walk around the map, talk with people, do different straightforward actions, and progress the story that way. The progression is very linear, with choices that influence your ending but don’t lead to branching paths. The main storyline will deal with the two main characters (Rose and Cyanna), and there are two optional side storylines with Lily and Haylen as their focus.

There is also an entirely optional card game similar to FF8’s Triple Triad that, at the end of the game, should have over 100+ original cards added to the game. The card game can be ignored, but you will miss a minor storyline with a minor character.

There are also two different PoV’s the players can choose from.

3. Different PoV’s?

Yes. Players can either choose from the Omniscient PoV or the Partial MC PoV at all times in the game’s main menu.

Omniscient PoV: For those who have played HC1, HC2 or Merry H-Mas, this won’t change much. The player is perceived as an omniscient being that can see all scenes and hear most thoughts, without the MC even being there.

Partial MC PoV: This one is specific to HC3. It is mainly aimed at those who would rather the NTR happen mostly “behind closed doors”, and rely on their imagination. It will focus mainly on the MC and what he sees. If he doesn’t see a sex scene, it will be skipped over, with just a few hints to let players know it is happening even if they’re not seeing it.

However, it is called “partial” for a reason. Players will still be able to see all free roam events happening all over the map, will hear sounds and see shadows that the MC cannot. They will also see all story-related events, so they can still make sense of it and aren’t fullly lost.

As said above, the POV can be changed at all times during the game.

4. If the game plays “like a Visual Novel”, why RPGMaker?

Well, I feel RPGMaker is the most adequate engine for the game I wish to create. It handles pixel art well, and it is well-suited for semi-open world games. My game relies 99,5% on pixel art for its graphics, and is designed to be enjoyed as an open world.

What I aim for when developing my games is what I call “ambience NTR” or “immersion NTR”, meaning that it isn’t merely a straightforward story and visuals slapped over it, but also free roam scenes and sex events you might stumble upon while walking around the world. Shadows behind a curtain, sex in an obstructed dark alley, condoms on the ground or discarded items of clothing, faint panting sounds behind a door, bed creaking and moans on the other side of the wall, those are among the subtle sex elements you can discover as you explore the map on different timeframes, during the day or at night.

There are also a few “NTR mini-stories” involving random NPCs taking place all over the map, that will progress without player interactions. If you’re careful and enjoy exploring, you might witness different stages of those stories, or only a few of them, or miss them entirely. This will help reinforce the feeling that the world is alive in the background, without the MC.

5. How does the card game play?

You will have a whole tutorial in-game, so I won’t explain everything here. However, I have to warn you of one thing: the card game has been added using a plugin. Plugins are community-made, free or paid, and allow to expand on the original RPGMaker game by adding new functionalities.

The plugin I am using for the card game was made by someone no longer working on it, and it contains a few issues I had to work around. The main one being that there are no limitations on the strength of the cards you can use during a duel, which means players could just go around and beat a few stronger players, receive strong cards, and simply use them all in the same duel to steamroll all their opponents.

As a counter-measure against this, I had to streamline the duels, meaning that players will have to defeat a predetermined opponent before moving on to another stronger predetermined one, and this for the whole game. With every win, they will receive a predetermined card. This allows me to keep track of the overall deck strength of players, and make sure that their next opponent has a matching deck that can provide at least a little bit of a challenge.

6. What role do the choices fulfill in this game?

As has already been mentioned in the “gameplay” section, choices do not lead to branching stories. They will be sprinkled all throughout the main story with three different options, each leading to a certain ending: NTR, Revenge, or Happy Ending. The purpose is this to make each of those endings feel more organic.

The game will keep track of what choices the player has made each time, and will trigger the appropriate ending at the end of the game. For example, if a player went for a majority of “Revenge” choices during the game, then they will get the Revenge Ending. Same for NTR and Happy Endings.

Lastly, players will have the option to have the choices either remain entirely white, or be colored, blue for NTR, red for Revenge and green for Happy. That way, they can always go for the choices related to the ending they wish to see.

(A save will be provided at the beginning of each ending, so that players won’t have to replay the entire game to see all of them).