Written by Rastafoo69, edited by Otaku Apologist
SonabiA, a hentai RPG developed by Enokippu. Released December 5, 2012. Download on DLSite for $12.00. For PC Windows. No voice acting. Censored genitals.
Sona was an orphan until she was adopted by the magicians of the Sorceror’s tower. For a long while, her life was perfect! But that all changed when she and her friend were kicked out after conjuring a demon! On her own, Sona decides to become an adventurer and regain the respect of her former master at the Sorceror’s tower.
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STORY
The game begins with a 20 minute prologue. The first dungeon requires about an hour of level grinding. The game’s pacing is rough and you need to be patient with it.
First you save the water spirit Undyne from a monster, then you save the elf village from an orc invasion, then you head south to investigate the barren dessert. There’s no real story tying events together beyond mentions that the “Shadow of the Halo” is causing monsters to attack humans. This makes it feel like you’re never making actual progress.
The game is a mixed bag. On the positive side, you witness the budding friendship between Sona and Labia the succubus. And there’s great attention to detail, like how mages cannot sneak attack since they need spell incantations to deal damage. I also love how your save game doubles as a quest log, so you can remember what was up last time you played.
On the negative side, this game is extremely grindy. At one point you fight a boss, then cross a dessert, fight a giant worm, and have to clear some ruins. Back to back battles and dungeons with no break, it’s just absurd. Even if you return to town, there’s nothing to do there.
The believability is also bad. At only level 10, Sona is able to kill a mega powerful orc boss and an army of heat bees. This makes it very hard to swallow when certain events take place, like the elf village getting completely overwhelmed! Honestly, if the character was described as stronger than she is in the story, this would be more believable. Instead, I just happened to find the ultimate wand in the game, on the floor somewhere, and mopped the floor with the blood of my enemies.
There are some interesting plot points. For instance, you learn that Labia the succubus was once a human. The use of the magic potpurri deprives one of their humanity. But the game is six hours of slow grinding, to get to these plot points. The payoff of the standard happy ending was not worth the long and dragging plotline.
GAMEPLAY
SonabiA was created in RPG Maker VX. There is no text log or hiding text boxes. Keep in mind the age of this game before playing.
The game takes at least six hours to complete and you’ll be level 16 by the end of it. The pacing is bad. On average, you’ll level up twice an hour. Usually, you’ll be grinding monsters that spawn nearby the magic circles of healing. That’s most of the game in a nutshell.
If an orc taps you three times in battle, you’ll magically climax and be unable to move for three turns. You also aren’t told this, but interact with every object possible to find Helen coins, which can be redeemed for rare items. Even if an enemy is paralyzed, they can still move most of the time. And here’s another fun fact, the third dungeon is easier than the second. The game design here is a mess.
I hope you brought a pen and paper, because there is no ingredient encyclopedia. If you want to craft new spells, you’ll need rare item drops from specific monsters. For example, forest bees drop wind crystals. But if you went through the forest fighting every enemy type except bees, you would never find one. Even if you did fight bees, the drops are rare.
You can craft spells, but the ingredients are hard as hell to find. And locking half of all spells behind this feature created a fatal flaw in the player experience. If you can’t beat a boss, it probably has nothing to do with level. You aren’t held back by your level, you’re held back by the crappy drop rates.
GRAPHICS
Enokippu’s unique art style is distinctive, but doesn’t lend itself to sexy situations. Whether it’s widely spaced out toes, randomly changing nipple sizes, tiny penises, or something else entirely. The artistic choices by this developer range between sexy and strange.
There’s a tentacle plant scene where Sona’s pussy is drawn to stretch halfway up her butt. It looks enormous! Meanwhile in another scene, Labia is drawn with a tiny pussy only present on the front side of her body. And why do fingernails and toenails appear in only some scenes, but not others? The art is nice at a glance, but inconsistent overall.
While character sprites are largely stock assets, the enemy sprites are super detailed! The giant crab, the orc with the longsword, the heat bees! Each enemy is given a unique and iconic appearance that sets them apart from all the rest. The body proportions of these monsters are consistent in sex scenes too, which was a great attention to detail. It almost seems the artist prefers to draw monsters over people.
The world itself is crafted using stock RPG Maker assets. Often times, the visuals don’t fully bring to life what was explained in dialogue. Undyne’s lair is described as an underground cave below the sea. Yet when you get there, it’s just a standard gray dungeon.
VOICE ACTING AND SOUND EFFECTS (SFX)
SonabiA has no voice acting.
Sound effects all come from the stock RPG Maker library. From fireballs to thunderbolts, all audio is typical for the VX engine. Clips may sound compressed and of lower quality than assets from the MV library. Still, the wide variety of spells and enemies lends itself to a wide range of sound effects that keep battles and regions feeling fresh, even after a long grind. In fact, trying out a new spell and hearing a new sound effect was always a great way to break up the grind.
MUSIC
There are 69 songs in total. The vast majority of the tracks were created by Maoudamashii, a popular artist in the RPG Maker genre. However, 13 of the tracks were uncommon licensed tracks. While the tone and vibe of the tracks is uniform, the sound quality is not. Some tracks are 3MB, others are 50KB. You can actively hear the audio quality change, and it will pull you out of the moment.
In a casual playthrough, the music is fitting and chill. It’s all digitally synthesized with bass beats or clackers or other uncommon instruments. All music fits the scene and there was never a moment of strong disconnect between the dialogue and sound design.
HENTAI
There are 35 CGs in total, but the game somewhat discourages you from finding them all. Having sex will darken Sona’s heart. If it becomes completely black, Sona will fall into lust while Labia is freed from her summoning! Be careful not to overindulge in sex, or you get a game over!
Sex scenes are quite evenly split between monsters and humans. One moment Sona is getting gangbanged in the slums, next she’s being pumped by a tentacle monster. Monster scenes are easier to find since all you have to do is lose in battle.
Corruption is the primary fetish, but is difficult to pursue since you can’t just fuck any guy you want. Rather, you may appreciate a walkthrough to help you locate all the scenes available. If you’re hoping to start this game and have lots of sex, you’re going to be disappointed.
The vast majority of scenes feature Sona hesitant to have sex. Naturally most scenes are doggystyle or standing sex. The only cowgirl scene in the entire game happens in the lewd ending. I wish I could make Sona a whore and fuck strangers, rather than worrying about a darkened heart and tracking down specific scenes.
Sona is the primary girl in almost all scenes. Sadly, Labia and others rarely appear in sex scenes. This felt like a huge disappointment, especially because there’s a hot MILF mage teacher whose body just begs for dick.
CONCLUDING WORDS
SonabiA is an old school adult RPG made all the way back in 2012. The battles are grindy, the story is a slow burn, but the lore of the world is super engaging. And with great sound design and decent music, this is a fun little RPG to pass the time with.
Download SonabiA. If you like this developer and want more from then, then check out our review of Kunoichi Botan.
Overall
- Graphics
- Gameplay
- Story
- Music
- SFX
- Hentai
