What are your gripes/criticism of TiTs?

[Punccline]

Ultimately, the level of consistency and interaction that many of us want cannot be achieved with non-procedurally generated text written by humans. Maybe one day, when it's possible to add a Large Language Model that runs entirely locally (no using ChatGPT as Pronz-As-A-Service enshittification, please), games like this might be able to have that level of depth behind the game.
However, that day is not today.
Nor will it be anytime within about 5 years would be my guess.

Hopefully that day is never.

 

[LeDoraggo]

However, that day is not today

Thank fucking god ✌

 

[Jacques00]

(E.g. why can't I have dove wings AND a back shark fin at the exact same time? Though I'd imagine the simple answer is that that would be a coding nightmare.)

If I'm not mistaken, this was a carry-over from the original CoC, where the "wings" slot was reserved for anything that is positioned the back of the character (like the modern "back bling"), so only one type can define what it is. Now for TiTS, it can be a variety of things, from fins, to wings, to tentacles--but it is only one slot. Whether or not it would be a coding nightmare is up to the coder, but yes, going back to account for any situation where needing to mention both at the same time would be highly tedious and probably unnecessary work.

"Sharpies" (shark-harpies/sirens, the precursor of the suula) did exist in the CoC days and any back fin is either non-existent, not mentioned, or just implied via reader imagination. Not every detail has to be mechanically supported, especially for something so cosmetic. That said, think of the back slot more as "what is the main thing that goes here" rather than "this is the only thing that ever goes here".

 

[Kitbashed]

I can't speak for everyone obviously, but I personally appreciate that CoC and TiTS are games where transformation is a tool for creating a character you like rather than the whole fetishized focus of the game. Compare this to a game like Changed or Royale Harem where the TF is the destination rather than the vehicle. I'd wager a lot of the playerbase for CoC/TiTS feels similarly.

I think a major part of CoC's success came from being a very flexible furry self-insert character creator. The ability to design your ideal body down to a fairly deep level of detail is a large part of the appeal

Yeah, I think most players use TFs more for the sake of character customization than a fetish onto itself (and I'm one of them). I've barely touched CoC2, but I much prefer that game's targeted TF system over the RNG-fest of TiTS for this reason.

To be a bit blunt: I don't think majority of the TiTS playerbase actually wants a transformation-fetish game, but instead a game where you get to fuck around in a wide universe with a highly-customizable player character. The TFs are just the vehicle for getting to that perfect self-insert. To be fair, there's basically no RPGs (let alone porn RPGs) that have the same level of granularity as TiTS/CoC2/CoC when it comes to character customization, and that's a huge part of what makes these games special. Significantly cutting down on the customization options for the player character in a future games would probably alienate a lot of current TiTS fans and will have to garner a different audience.

 

[FatGuyInLittleCoat]

Ultimately, the level of consistency and interaction that many of us want cannot be achieved with non-procedurally generated text written by humans. Maybe one day, when it's possible to add a Large Language Model that runs entirely locally (no using ChatGPT as Pronz-As-A-Service enshittification, please), games like this might be able to have that level of depth behind the game.
However, that day is not today.
Nor will it be anytime within about 5 years would be my guess.

It's already possible to do that, but the 'level of depth' required is likely years off. At least if my experiences using LMStudio to run an LLM locally for the 'game' Formamorph are anything to go by. Hardware is the main limiting factor for what models that you can use, and the AI race is not being kind to the prices of consumer electronics.