Thursday, May 13, 2021

Thoughts on Resident Evil: Village, Lady D, and Vampires

I don't normally buy games full price nowadays.  You rarely lose anything by waiting for them to halve in price in six or twelve months.  I made an exception for Resident Evil: Village.  Partly due to hype, and also partly to recapture that nostalgia of walking into town to pick up the newest game in the series many years ago.  Also, the Lady Dimitrescu character and her vampish daughters appear to have generated a lot of interest, and as someone who specialises in writing sexy femme fatales, it's only natural to look at that and think 'how can I take advantage of this?'

Sadly, Lady D and her three daughters don't appear in the game for too long as their castle is just the first area to explore outside of the main village 'hub'.  While Resident Evil 7 clearly took inspiration from horror films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Saw, RE 8 goes back much further to the schlocky old horror films of Hammer and Universal.  You have the usual vamps and woofs (sort of), as well as creepy dolls, fish people and a more industrialised Frankenstein.  Overall, the game is a fun rollercoaster through various classic horror themed areas.


Gameplay-wise, it's a hybrid of the mechanics of RE 4 and RE 7.  At one point I thought it was going to avoid the shooty-shooty action bullshit that blighted the last area of RE 4, and take the crown of best RE as a result.  Sadly, there's a segment near the end that's very bullshitty and drags down the rest of the game.  Still, I enjoyed my time with it.  It's a solid 8.5 and it's good to see the Resident Evil franchise return to relevance after losing its way with 5 and 6.  (If only Silent Hill could do the same, sigh.)

But what are you doing writing about regular AAA games, you might think.  Isn't your domain monster girl porn games and succubus snu snu stories?

Well, there's this tall vamp lady MILF and her three psychotic, blood-crazed daughters.  Rule 34 is clearly going to have a field day there.  Might as well join in.  Sort of.

I don't write fan fiction, ever.  Homages and nods are fine.  Taking inspiration and then taking it in a completely different direction is part of the creative process.  Lady D, after all, is another take on Bram Stoker's iconic Count D and his three wives.

While I have to be careful to skirt spoilers, I thought the explanation of what the daughters are is particularly creative.  The core rule of the Resident Evil universe is that everything must have a pseudo-scientific explanation.  Sometimes that is to the series' detriment, other times they can be quite clever within that constraint.  Lady D is a more conventional Resident Evil monster – i.e. damage her enough and she'll start growing extra bits.

It was during Lady D's boss fight I was thinking about what I'd do with that transformation and my own particular philosophy towards blending erotica/porn with horror.  I might play around with that in a future story, as well as writing on that philosophy in more detail.

Talking about it on Patreon did raise an interesting comment from one of my patrons about why I hardly ever write about sexy vamps.  The main problem is succubi tend to beat them out when the creator has greater freedom to be sexually explicit.  They do the same thing, but better.  The vamp approach to death by snu snu is to pause the fucking to fang the victim in the neck.  The succ approach to death by snu snu is more fucking.  Succs win that round.

At least in my eyes, which is a bit limited for readers that would like to see more traditional vamps get in on the sexy action.

Back to Lady D and her lovely daughters.  While they're clearly a nod to Bram's Babes, there is a (unsurprising) bait 'n' switch going on as to whether they're vampires.  In fact, the 'v' word is never used in the game.  Even the game protagonist, Ethan, calls them witches.


Ethan regretted forgetting the safe word after telling his new BDSM club to 'go wild'.

If I was going to write a story influenced by them, I'd also be bait 'n' switching the readers with respect to vampires.  (You're going to rule 34 the monster form of Lady D, aren't you, Hydra.  You betcha 😉)  While a certain franchise far, far away has tarnished the concept of 'subverting expectations', it can be a useful story-telling tool, but the creator also has to know when they should just give the reader what they want.

A "Lady D and her three lovely daughters" will make for an interesting story project for this year's Literotica Halloween competition.  If I do that, I think I should also write a conventional vampire story as well, as an apology to the vampire lovers for bait 'n' switching (and probably also traumatising) them.

That leaves me with the problem of trying to figure out how to write a sexy vamp without them automatically being better as a succubus.

It's also something that applies to House of Hellish Harlots.  One of the more commonly requested harlot types is a vampire.

And I think I might have it, for HoHH at least.

I brainstormed some ideas and came up with... uh... a whole clan of vamps.

As for the story ideas.  Can't promise anything.  Reality has an unfortunate habit of fucking up the creative process, and what feel like good ideas at the time don't always reach fruition.  I think it would be a nice project for Literotica's Halloween competition, so... fingers crossed. 


15 comments:

  1. One approach to the vamp lady issue is to play up the "aristocratic" aspect many classic vampires have. You tend to have less aristocratic succubi than you do vamps. I can imagine a classy vampire lady calling succubi "unsophisticated".

    You could also do the approach of "she also has fangs down there", which certainly seems up your alley.

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  2. Hmmm. If you're looking for inspiration, there's another erotica author I read over on Amazon who actually did a parody short of this vampire lady, Amanda Clover. Specific story is called: My Very Tall Stepmom's Vampire Valentine (Raunchy Holiday Parodies) It's the 2nd in a series, the first parodying the Gremlins movies.

    I like this particular author because she's one of the few to have dipped into CYOA Erotica, which is unfortunately rare as heck, or at least the written-well and to my fetishes and gender preferences ones are. Haven't been reading the newest CYOA series by her yet, but I've read all but one or two of the previous ones and enjoyed them.

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    1. I read the first two books in her easily defeated adventurer series when I was first researching CYOAs for twine. They didn't click for me. Fun, but maybe written a little too quick and sloppily.

      She's very prolific, though, and I respect that. I definitely wish I could up my writing speed!

      It's a shame the amazon kindle doesn't better support the CYOA - or even gamebook - format. It feels like it should be able to support something like Twine, but there seem to be some patent/legal issues. Or were, when I last looked a couple of years ago. If that's got better I'd love to publish some erotic CYOAs/Gamebooks on there.

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    2. Her coauthor for several of her recent books, Jay Aury, did another CYOA book, Monster Girl Tower, that I liked a little better than that series, which I honestly liked better than the Easily Defeated series.

      Too bad, really, it was fun for quick read through, but you're right, the Easily Defeated series felt too short and sloppy. It had a few good parts, but it felt rushed.

      Amanda Clover did a few more CYOAs before that one, 3 more of them fantasy setting type stories.

      The first was a princess on the run from a monster army, supposed to get to arranged marriage with dark elves who'd supply her kingdom with military support in return for the marriage. So-so really.

      Second one was better, magic-trained princess is captured by a wizard tyrantwho tossess her into his labyrinth full of monsters, with a curse such that they beat or cum in her she'll be magically theirs, body and soul.

      The last CYOA book before Easily Defeted Hero was the best I think Amanda Clover's written so far. A researcher / scribe from a line of monster hunters gets a message from her sister, asking her to come as reinforcement / rescue to an island that's about to have an incursion of eldritch monsters. My favorite was probably the first, a witch that turns captured victims into her milk-slaves / hucows.

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  3. Oh yay! You reviewed Re: 8. By the way, I'm the same dude that asked you to do the Let's Play of Re: 8 a while back.

    I played the game and enjoyed the hell out of it. Yes I wasn't surprised Lady D didn't get enough screen time. Capcom was smart advertising her a lot to draw in horny gamers lol

    No one didn't really care about Miranda. People were actually hoping Lady D and Heisenberg would have been the main villains that would be in future games. Like Wesker.

    What did you think about THAT scene? You know? The baby...

    Regarding the sexy vamps, you can maybe take notes from Dresden Files where there is a clan of vamps that feed on sex.

    The problem with the vamps is that they feel less like vampires and more like "Succubi, but they also drink human blood!"

    Didn't you do a one shot of a bunch of Succubi killing and drinking the blood of a kid? Forgot what it was called.

    Vampires aren't supposed to be the "sexy monster" that everyone wants to bang. That's why Succubi and Incubi exist.

    Well, I await your response.

    Sincerely,

    -Your fan from California

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    1. Miranda was definitely a weak point for a Big Bad. I think Capcom maybe should have given her a few more scenes like the one where she guts Iulian in the fields outside Luiza's house. I'm guessing she's also the old crone that shows up a couple of times. Could have definitely done with more build-up though.

      Donna's house was great. The puzzle wasn't as clever as the birthday cake room in RE7, but there was so much scary atmosphere in that segment. The one thing I felt it should have had was better feedback on the lift button after putting the fuse in. I got eaten by the baby, but it felt pretty cheap as the button context just vanished without a good reason to. A simple "You need to wait for the lift to come down" message would have made that feel a lot less cheap IMHO.

      The White Court in the Dresden Files are a nice implementation. I prefer to avoid the psychic draining aspect if I can. It's a little too nebulous. Having the succubus use venom or similar abilities to force the body to overproduce semen until the victim runs out of bodily fluids gives the scene more tangible weight IMHO.

      The story was "The Sweetheart Removal Agency". There were a few nods to Greek mythology in that story and succubus types (think it might be Empusa) that drink the blood of infants. I like that story. I got to write something truly horrific but just about vague enough to get away with it.

      That's the problem I have with vamps. Succubi feed through sex, so the erotica will continue while they're also draining and killing the (un)lucky victim. Vampires want blood, so the seduction switches to fangs in neck the moment the victim gets close enough. (although, sex to tire the victim out so they don't resist when it comes to the fanging part is a plausible excuse for sex).

      I've got some ideas to play around with - both for conventional vamps and the unconventional ones like Acarina in Vampiric Boobies. Should be some fun new harlots for people to play with, I hope!

      Cheers for the comment!

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  4. A shame that Donna wasn't developed that much. She literally said a few words to Ethan before dying. The ugly fish lord had more screen time.

    Yeah, it was annoying that the format to perform an action didn't appear unless Ethan is looking directly at it and is close to it. A lot of Gamers have died to the insect daughters because they didn't know where to go in the room that had the wooden barrier.


    Speaking of Ethan...

    I found him odd. It's like the game couldn't decide to make him a wisecracking action hero or a paranoid random schmuck that's in-over-his-head and survives because of luck and quick thinking.

    What did you think about Ethan and Heisenberg, MEH?

    Also the ending for A Trial in Vennington is a bit confusing. Did Ntye kill someone before she showed up? Why were the folks vomiting?

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    1. I think Angie is Donna, sort of. The puppeteer and puppet switching places is a classic old horror trope.

      I liked Ethan. I think they gave a bland character that wasn't that popular a really good arc and send off, and changed a lot of minds on him as a result. I suspect he's supposed to be lame at the wisecracking stuff, but just won't stop no matter how much punishment he takes.

      I don't know with Heisenberg. He's cool, but something didn't click for me. I think Capcom might have tried to put too much stuff into one character.

      There's some behind-scenes stuff with "Trial in Vennington". The vocal male feminist turning out to be a private abuser of women happens so often nowadays it's become a meme. It's the modern-day version of the evangelist homophobe turning out to be gay.

      The activist group were not specific enough when they summoned Nyte. They told her to kill a abuser, so she did and killed the one hiding in their ranks. Nyte tends to be rather creative about such things, so what the others found was rather gruesome.

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  5. Yeah. I think Ethan was pretty cool. He wasn't a grizzled tough guy action hero like Chris and Leon was. Just a crusading father that wanted his kid back.

    Heisenberg had a lot of potential to be and overarching villain and it sucks he died in one game. Should have had the Wesker treatment.

    Verde said that daemons fight each other everyday in Hell after the high class succubi drained her and that the high class succubus didn't want to kill her. Which brings me to these questions:

    1. How come Nyte doesn't have any daemon skulls as her trophies? Why just human skulls? Certainly a horned monster skull would be more interesting than a human skull.

    2. How come Verde and the other succubi don't care about being members of a House?

    3. We'll we see more of the developed parts of Hell. So far we just have been seeing Hell as a wasteland. Will there be any cities or towns for daemons?

    That is all I have for now and regarding your Harlots project. Im waiting in till its fully complete to be a full time Patreon member.

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    1. 1. She probably has some in another room somewhere. The skull room in the books is her human victims and they're divided into the one she likes and the ones she keeps bound to their skulls beneath her throne.

      2. They don't need it. They're a little more powerful than they pretend to be.

      3. There are cities. One was shown in the "Trent the Traitor" short story. That's world-building I tend to tackle as and when I need it. The main rule I'll be keeping to is that demons are alien in nature, so their politics should also seem alien to the reader. I'll be trying to avoid making their politics seem like the typical Nation politics on Earth.

      It will be a while before the Harlots project is fully done, even a text-only version. While I'm trying to keep the scenario lengths down to fit the original plan, most of them are turning out longer and more complex. Which is good for quality, but also takes longer to write.

      Depending on how many patrons I have near completion, there may be some additional paywalling for the completed version. If I have Redamz/Monster Girl Island numbers, I probably won't care. But if I'm still in the 300-400 range, I'm a little leery of working on something for 3 years and have a bunch of people grab it at the end for $1. Not sure how I'll handle it at the moment (ideally put something out that attracts enough patrons for me not to care).

      It's a tricky balance between consumer and creator. I can understand why people are reluctant to subscribe as Western Monster Girl eroges have an unfortunate habit of going belly up or entering "forever development" mode. On the other, I have to consider the financials if I want to be able to continue doing this.

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  6. Ah I see, man. Well keep on writing. Oh I have one last question.

    If you made an anime, or audio book for your succubi characters, what female VA would you choose to be their voices?

    It would be so awesome hearing the voices of the succubi you created when checking out Succubus Summoning 101.

    Would Nyte be voiced by Scarlett Johansson?

    Who would voice Verde, Rosa, Nurse Honey, Cerluea, and Nicole?

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    1. That I have no idea on, to be honest. I'm not too familiar with a lot of VAs. I tend to fall on the sub side of sub vs dub for anime.

      I think SS 101 could make a pretty good manga/hentai. Couldn't be made with the current cultural climate in the West (if ever). Interspecies Reviewers got strangled out by censorship and that's a funny, wholesome show with fairly tame ecchi content.

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  7. Oh yeah. I have heard about the censorship with that anime. Sucks because it was quite educational and wholesome.

    Also I plan to write a Fan fiction later In the year using your setting. It's going to be a one shot and its basically a normal army soldier guy ending up in the Succubus Castle.

    I'm going to name him Bates in honor of your doomed Hell-Space MCs :)

    Its around the time that the succubi were testing Phil (SS 113) and the soldier meets and befriends Phil, but unfortunately, its around the time Verde and her sisters are extra horny.

    Now the soldier is going to be in the room with Phil when Verde comes in all hot and horny. Will she still go after Phil, or Bates?

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    1. Go for it! Have fun.

      I'm not sure how that scenario would play out. Verde and sisters would want to drain the soldier, but not do it right in Phil's face. Would probably depend on whether they liked the soldier, how friendly Phil was with the soldier and how horny they were.

      If they were very horny and/or didn't care about the soldier then they'd take turns having one of them do light stuff to Phil while the others completely drain the soldier, then all would go to Phil afterwards and fuck his brains out. Dead soldier, exhausted Phil.

      If they weren't really horny, they'd likely be sneaky - tell Phil they were helping the soldier back home and then draining him to death in another room.

      If they like the soldier, they might just help him home (after nearly draining him to death). He would have had to have done something to earn their respect beforehand, though. Unless Nurse Honey is the one with the claim - he's absorbed for sure in that case.

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  8. Since its a one shot, the poor soldier is doomed. He shows up when Verde and her sisters are extra horny and Phil still doesn't know that he's their 'master' yet. Its the chapter where the succubi gang bang Phil.


    I need to confirm before I write the scenario.

    Will the succubi see the soldier as food to fuck and eat if he tries to persuade Phil to attack them with his spells, or persuade Phil to abandon the succubi and escape?

    I can see this being a heartfelt moment with the soldier asking "What about your family and friends, Phil?" wondering why he chooses to be a warlock.

    Its like a muggle asking a wizard why can't you be normal.

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