Nai's Training Diary

I have played a lot of lewd games so I came into Nai's Training Diary with a pretty open mind. It takes a lot to shock me these days in a game, but there was something about this game that just did not sit right with me. It is a decent lewd visual novel type experience, but I can see this being a game that splits people right down the middle as far as its premise and story goes. I am offering my opinions on it today, but I think it is the kind of game you are best playing for yourself and forming your own opinion of.

Poor Nai

The story of Nai's Training Diary is something that just did not work for me. We have this young girl called Nai who has pretty much been abused her whole life and as a result, is kind of weird and does not know how to act.

She has come to live with you and you basically get to decide how you want to “raise” her. The whole being mean and using her as a sex object just did not feel right with me. Hey, I love lewd games and have played some messed up stuff, but this was one game where I 100 percent had to play it straight and be the good guy.

Building Her Up Or Tearing Her Down

I would describe the gameplay of Nai's Training Diary as that of a visual novel with some RPG elements sprinkled on top. For example, early in the game during a conversation, you have three choices. You can stroke her head gently, ignore her or be mean and tell her to get nude! You get to try and shape the story the way you want through your choices, but Nai still gets abused by others.

There is also a stats system at play here, you have to keep an eye on your money and also the mood that Nai is in. At the start, Nai’s mood will be “upset” and this can change depending on what you do. She also has a stats screen with stats such as knowledge, socializing, manners, dancing, stress, and others too. These will fill and deplete depending on how things go.

That Sad Smile

Visually, Nai's Training Diary is a game that I like and it also disturbs me. I like the realistic anime way that the game looks and think that the artist here did a great job not just with the characters, but the backgrounds as well. Nai is a great character and she has a real sadness about her design that just made me warm to her even more. I think this was done on purpose and it was a very clever design choice.

Of course, seeing the way she gets abused is pretty rough and something I was not cool with. I also think the poor English translation does not help things either.

Pros:

• Nai is a very likable and sad character
• The art in the game is very well done
• You can be pretty mean in the game if that is your thing
• I liked trying to take care of Nai

Cons:

• The whole abuse thing did not sit well with me at all
• It felt like no matter what I did, Nai would suffer!