Long post incoming, skip if reading is a chore for you:
I'm never in a hurry to play the latest updates. Again, not a fan of the story as is, more interested in the development drama (never a good sign as I'm not alone). That said, I heard good things so I checked it out today.
This update? I don't see it as being good or anything more than the same old bullshit. I don't see what's so good or a turn in the right detection for the VN. It still felt lifeless and like a writer doing EVERYTHING he can to have his cake and eat it too.
There seemed to be 2-3 actual choices to be made and none that anyone would have to think about. It's all "do you want to see new content or not" decisions. Maybe 5% play the good wife route so save time and stop catering to such a small group when the dev himself clearly means to tell a story of AWAM gone bad.
Yet, even I have to admit that I have long been on the side of limiting them so that's not a bad thing in and of itself. Also, I'll finish on a positive note and say that my old idea of adding a couple renders of "fantasy"....does work! Who woulda thunk it, diehard L&P defenders?! It turns out it DOES work because, again, it's not real within the story. It's a quick fantasy. A reader that's not an actual moron can see that Dylan is imagining pulling her pants down and fucking her for 3 renders/frames. You don't suddenly think it happened and now the story is ruined. Turns out the dev agreed with...me on that. Odd, lol.
Good on him there, whether he heard the 3 of us saying it here for the idea or not. Good on him.
Now for the bad...
Everything else.
The bending of logic that still has to happen because the dev cannot write a coherent story is insane. This woman is - BY THE HOUR - fondling boys/men and being fondled by boys/men but turns into a prude when it suits the story for her not to go forward. Everyone rightfully mocks the "they were interrupted" move but almost nobody mentions (in comparison) how Sophia's morals change solely on whether the story can progress sexually or not. What she does in a scene has no connection to logic, common sense or emotion.
She's giving her son a weak handjob (more on that later) in the hot tub. She's topless. Her son is sucking on her tits and fondling them. He touched her pussy. Etc.
She can:
Go out with son (or Sam or whoever, it's all the same regardless of person and scene) in a skimpy outfit.
Pretend to be his actual date/girlfriend.
Get drunk with them.
Get into a hot tub topless or lay on a bed topless with them.
Let them play with and suck her tits.
Let them remove her panties.
Now give a weak handjob to them.
Let them cum on her chest and stomach.
And we're just talking about the two teen boys. This list is so much longer if we add the SE kids or old men or....the list is long.
Ok, so she can do all that but...when the desire to drag the story along requires it...she develops a conscience that defies all realities of how the human body and sexuality works. Every time.
"Well, it's a porn story"
1) He talks about and brags about realism all the time.
2) Even within the world of porn-logic it makes no sense. It treats Sophia like a weird robot, an emotion-LESS psycho that is down to fuck until it's time to fuck.
No, falling back on "she's an emotionally vulnerable or ignored housewife" does not cut it here. In fact, those things make it even more unrealistic in this argument.
Yes, a person feeling neglected can misbehave for attention. However, there is not this bipolar ABILITY (it is one here, it seems) to regulate good decisions and bad/naughty decisions in the heat of the moment.
The fact that this is all happening in 3-4 hour spans (each update) makes it all the more ridiculous. Let us imagine she is a real person for a second:
Sophia is clearly already predisposed to sexually misbehaving. This didn't begin with a move or the first time her husband neglected her. The Sophia we see would have already been cheating on her husband BEFORE the story began. Yet, it's a story so let's focus on it when I say that she then would already be cheating now. Clearly...if the writer didn't want to prolong it for as long as possible for money.
"They were interrupted" is actually nowhere near as bad as "Sophia magically grew a conscience while getting her tits sucked or whatever else" when it comes to ridiculousness.
How do you avoid it? You avoid the ridiculousness by writing in a way where you don't need logical insanity to avoid what you don't want to give. It's that simple. Write around it. IF WRITING AROUND IT MAKES A BAD PORN STORY...there ya go! It's telling you what we already know and what I'm saying here. It's self-evident.
I'm sorry but a weak handy and getting hit with cum doesn't suddenly make this the best scene/update. For anyone that wants a decent story, it kinda makes it worse due to how little it makes any sense. Beyond that, both Sam scenes were better from a believability sense and those were rife with nonsense, lol.
**Also, if you're just in it to cum ignore this. Ignore all this. Ignore the entire thread and just cum every 4-8 months. I'm not talking to you. Plenty of you exist, go on in peace. Have fun.
I'm talking to those that cannot check out this VN and ignore how obvious it is that it's a money grab. Not just an enterprise that makes money but literally on par with Apple secretly making your old phone slower, lol. It's nonsense. **
Now the dev is claiming he WANTS to hire a team AFTER he makes a Steam release?! Lmao, ok. He has claimed to want to hire people for 5 years without doing it and he now makes it clear that your support is going toward helping him get on Steam...which is an admission to only wanting money. If it happens naturally, great! If you have to nickel and dime your supporters by dragging out your story to make it happen I don't know wtf to say to that beyond saying it's scummy.
I'll end by saying that L&P almost certainly reads this forum. He has threatened specific posters from time to time with litigation (good luck with that, lol) so we know he comes here. It even seems he may be using some ideas posted here so good on that.
If he sees this, let me say to him that it's time to completely rethink this story and your approach to it. The high that some have from finally seeing her make a person cum after 6 years will fade in a week and they'll fall back to realizing this is a giant mess of a VN. So don't bank on the good will you feel in the immediate aftermath.
Don't wait until you're on Steam to fix this. Fix it BEFORE you go on Steam. Even if you think new Steam users can replace those old-time supporters that bail on you after 6 years of only getting a weak handjob, those new Steam users will bail (and issue chargebacks) when they also realize you aren't serious about progression or inadequate to do so effectively if you are serious.
Hire people NOW. Fuck that, hire them 2 years ago. Fix this mess of a story. There are a ton of redeemable qualities here but it's ruined by this weird, insane "script" that anyone with a brain can see isn't real, or at best is a very loose framework. Fuck off with this playable day bullshit. End that. It makes even less sense when every update is just 3-4 hours of her life. When played in full it shows a psychotic woman living a totally batshit insane daily life, lol. It's not good storytelling.
A quick fix:
1) Change days to months.
2) Stop putting her in situations where she WILL go further but is interrupted or suddenly grows a conscience. That can happen once, maybe twice. Three if pushing it. This shit is in every update, lol.
3) In a massive sign of how NOT planned it all is, cut the storylines that aren't wanted or needed or cared about. Clearly, the lofty plans you had when you imagined this story aren't conducive to finishing a dumb porn story in under 30 years. CUT THE FAT.
4) Add more moments of fantasy to give fans something to look at as you turn the ship around. It was good to add it this update and it's basically free content in that it shows a FAKE imagining of what people want to see one day. It's all upside as long as it's kept short.
5) Make Sophia wake up soon and have a coming to reality moment. Either she wants to fuck XYZ or she doesn't and if it happens it'll be reluctantly (blackmail, coercion, etc). Basically, get rid of her back amd forth logic. Get rid of her putting herself in positions she later backs out of as if she didn't know where it was going. By now she should know if she wants to fuck Sam or anyone else she has met. The ONLY person she should feel any of that iffy-ness with is her kids. Sure, leave that as is. Everyone else? She does or doesn't and will act accordingly when put in the situation.
"Well, so she's just supposed to fuck Sam when she sees him next?"
No, not necessarily. Just don't write them into a scenario where he's sucking on her tits and rubbing her pussy if she isn't down to do something more. That's not hard. Sexual tension can exist in scenarios where they outright can't start fucking, lol.
Just stop the back and forth bullshit as a way FOR THE DEV to not show what he doesn't want to show yet. It's easy with any effort at all.
I'll end by saying that Daz is not quick or easy. I've always said that. All the more reason to hire help.
I'll also add that even writing a story is not easy, all the more reason to hire help.
I'm even add that writing the Python/Renpy code is easier but still a bit of work...all the more reason to hire help.
L&P, you recently said that you wanna finish this to start something new. Great! However, you say a lot of shit that you don't do.
IMHO, your handling of AWAM in the next year will determine if you're just a milking clown or an actual creator that can see his mistakes, fix them to tell a truly terrific story and then build on his legacy (and fortune) with OTHER, good stories. Literally, righting this ship and finishing it before 2035 is better for your financial future than milking this story. It may not seem like it but it is. You can ruin your reputation here...or build it for future success. Up to you.
As is now, you seem like a cheap, power hungry egomaniac that can't admit when he's fucked up or may need some help. You have time to change that view of yourself but it's running out and Steam won't save it if you don't make necessary changes.
I talk a lot of shit but it's all been deserved and I'll happily take it back and praise you if you turn this thing around. As is, that last update wasn't some great new direction as much as a magnifying glass exposing the flaws in your story and style.
Edit: Fixed a few autocorrect errors
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