Maybe a bit late, but here is an attempt to unpack what happened in this v0.185.
Let's start with an aspect that has troubled many, myself included, and that is how to play the event.
How to get the event
The event is
available in all routes, in the sense that no matter what route you are on, Liam will announce his forfait for the evening and Sophia will talk to Dylan about his plans. If you don't meet some of the required conditions, the event will simply end with Sophia taking a relaxing bath alone.
The conditions for full access to the event, i.e. Dylan joining Sophia for a relaxing bath, are better explained in the walkthrough. The required conditions are
- more than 27 Dylan points, which means she has at least had a bath with Dylan as a Jacuzzi substitute (so she has at least completed the first Aiden task)
- Dylan is not with Emma
- filthy > good_wife as usual for most of the choices
- she must have shown Dylan her breasts in the mall on day 17
- Dylan warned her about her top in Claire's Beauty Parlor: in particular this is used to set Sophia's mood and make her feel more at ease and secure with Dylan:
Python:
if day20_Dylan_warns_his_mom_about_slipped_top:
pass
else:
"The embarrassing incident at Claire's had dampened Sophia's spirits a bit."
s "I'd rather spend some time alone now, honey. Maybe some other time."
"Dylan accepted his mother's decision and left. Sophia got ready for her bath."
jump day20_Sophia_relaxes_alone_in_bathtub
"The embarrassing incident at Claire's had dampened Sophia's spirits a bit. But the way her son had stood up for her, like he did yesterday in the park while jogging, made her feel a little positive again and she thought that maybe he deserved a little reward."
These conditions allow Dylan to join Sophia. There is another important condition that comes into play during the bath, which is fundamental to fully playing the event:
- Dylan defended Sophia from the homeless in the park the previous day. This is necessary later when Liam interrupts for the first time, Sophia hides him and only under this condition can she take off her top. If she can't, the event ends with a normal bath without any progress. Again this is used to explain Sophia's mood and her feeling towards Dylan:
Python:
if day19_Dylan_defeated_hobo:
"Sophia closed her eyes and relaxed into the water, feeling the warmth and the closeness of her son."
"She felt so comfortable and content in his presence, and it made her feel so loved."
Translated into code, these are the required variables:
| Variable | Value | Meaning |
|---|
dylan | >=27 | minimum to join her in the bathtub |
Emma_and_Dylan_couple | False | Otherwise Dylan does not insist on joining her |
filthy > good_wife | as usual | For basically all the most daring options |
day17_Sophia_shows_Dylan_her_breasts | True | To let him join in the bathtub |
day20_Dylan_warns_his_mom_about_slipped_top | True | These are necessary for Sophia to feel good about Dylan protecting her |
day19_Dylan_defeated_hobo | True | Necessary to let her feel secure when removing the top when Liam enters |
There are other conditions in the event that
change some dialogues, but do not (at least at the moment for part 1) affect the outcome of the event:
- Dylan can be invited to Christine party (bonus storyline with Ellie/Christine)
- Dylan can have successfully kissed Marie without cupping her breasts.
This and the previous one have an effect on the dialogues: Dylan will tell Sophia which of the two he is pursuing as a girlfriend. Note that both can be true or both can be false, according to the previous choices, in the first case Maria is chosen, otherwise it's Christine ("a girl from school"). It is not clear if this is an oversight by L&P (bug) or if he designed it that way. We'll see in the next update if he goes back and fixes it or not.
- If in the bikini show alone with Dylan she went with all the swimsuits and he took the pictures, the dialogues are slightly different at the end, when Sophia goes to Dylan's room to ask for an explanation of what she discovered while cleaning: if this is true, she discovered that he had one of the pictures from the fashion show on the computer, otherwise she sees (but it is not shown) an old picture of her in a bikini.
Python:
if day17_Sophia_finishes_3rd_bikini_tasks_for_Dylan:
scene day20_Sophia_Dylan_Pt_1 399
s "I happened to see on your screen you kept a picture of me in my bikini!"
else:
s "I saw on your screen an older photo of me in my bikini in the swimming pool."
...
if day17_Sophia_finishes_3rd_bikini_tasks_for_Dylan:
dy "You told me I can keep the pictures and I don't feel bad about having them to look at when I think about you."
dy "I don't keep it out for public display. It's only for me."
else:
dy "It's just a picture from our family album and I don't feel bad about having them to look at when I think about you."
- If the bikini show was done with Sam, Sophia already knows the meaning of MILF and it will just be remembered, otherwise he will try to explain it again.
Python:
if day17_Sophia_learned_what_MILF_means:
s "Yes we already had that MILF topic. But that's normal for you teenagers. You do talk about other mothers in this way."
else:
s "What was the meaning of that again?"
dy "Of 'MILF'?"
s "Yeah."
dy "MILF stands for 'Mom I'd Like to... Flirt with.' It's a term that guys use to describe attractive older women."
"Sophia smirked"
s "I'm pretty sure the 'F' stands for something way different. And we both know what for. *Smirk*"
dy "Uh... yep. Well, what can I say? But they say the same things about Zac's mom too, so it's a little 'balanced'."
- If Sophia completes the 4th task in the morning, there will be a slightly different conversation with Dylan.
Python:
if day20_Sophia_fulfilled_Aidens_4th_task:
s "So... how's school? Are those guys still bothering you?"
dy "Mom, I told you it was nothing! Besides, I haven’t even seen them this week."
s "That's reassuring!"
st "At least this asshole Aiden keeps to the agreement, but it also costs me a high price! But for my son, I would also do anything!"
s "How was your Spanish presentation by the way?"
dy "B+."
s "Muy bien, honey *ha-ha*."
s "By the way, I still wanted to thank you for keeping your word and doing so much around the house! You're a real sweetheart!"
dy "Mom. I'll do anything for you!"
s "Stop sucking up *smirk*."
Here is a short recap for these variables
| Variable | Value | Meaning |
|---|
day20_Christine_invites_Dylan_to_her_party | True/False* | The alleged girlfriend is Christine instead of Marie (to be seen whether this could prevent Part 2 as Dylan leaves for the party) |
day20_Dylan_withheld_from_cupping_Maries_boob | True/False* | The alleged girlfriend is Marie instead of Christine |
day17_Sophia_finishes_3rd_bikini_tasks_for_Dylan | True | Only more dialogues |
day17_Sophia_learned_what_MILF_means | True/False | Just dialogues, if bikini show with Sam she knows already the meaning of MILF |
day20_Sophia_fulfilled_Aidens_4th_task | True/False | Just different dialogue |
According to these choices we can note that:
- As expected, Emma's path is not compatible with Sophia/Dylan.
- The event is actually possible in both Christine's and Marie's paths. It was a bit surprising (to me at least) that Christine's path was not mutually exclusive. In retrospect, he actually wrote that Part 2 was an alternative to Christine's and Emma's paths. I was confused too, so apologies if I confused you too in the pre-release recap post..
- Christine's path will be exclusive in part 2. So in this case, part 1 was just a kind of sex-ed to prepare Dylan for the party event.
- The boarding school route is also compatible with the event, but as the fight with the hobos is required to progress and play the full event, it will stop at the first interruption of Liam. Also, given the minimum Dylan points required, she should send him to the boarding school after completing at least the first Aiden's task.
- Sam's route is also compatible, at least for now. **Theoretically**, they should interlock at some point, whether Sophia has to choose or there are other conditions.
- In a way, the cuckold route (if he lets Devon look at her through the robe) is blocked, although cuckold points will be awarded later in the event if he asks her to tell him all the details of their first time. While this may seem an odd choice, it is explained by the fact that she would feel safer with Dylan again if he warned her.
In terms of results, the event can award when fully completed
- 18
filthy points (in the walkthrough there are 2 points missing if she tells him about her first time)
- 20
dylan points (again 2 missing for the same choice as above)
- 1
dylan_cuckold if he asks to tell him about her first time.
Obviously, in order to fully play the event, the most daring and lewd choice must be made, with
two exceptions (at least for this part, though they may have an effect in part 2)
- Sophia does not need to tell him that he could satisfy her, it will just change the dialogues slightly, but not the possibility of progressing in the event (
day20_Sophia_told_Dylan_that_he_could_satisfy_her).
- The whole first time thing is completely optional, it will not prevent you from progressing in the event (again, it may have an effect in part 2 or later) (
day20_Sophia_told_Dylan_detailled_about_her_1st_time).
These are instead all the variables that keep track of what happened
day20_Sophia_took_off_her_top_in_bathtub_when_Liam_enteredday20_Sophia_voluntarily_teased_Dylan_moreday20_Sophia_let_Dylan_touch_her_breastsday20_Sophia_let_Dylan_touch_her_nipplesday20_Sophia_pretends_to_be_college_girl_for_Dylanday20_Sophia_told_Dylan_that_he_could_satisfy_her (optional)day20_Sophia_told_Dylan_detailled_about_her_1st_time (optional)day20_Sophia_teaches_Dylan_how_to_kissday20_Sophia_french_kisses_Dylanday20_Sophia_surrendered_to_Dylans_erotic_massageday20_Sophia_let_Dylan_open_her_top_during_massage
Finally, here is a simplified and up-to-date flowchart to *hopefully* clarify the events of the evening. Note that teasing the boss, Mr Harris, can only happen if Dylan joins Sophia in the bathtub.
View attachment 2604045
As for the rest of the evening, the **guess** is that v0.190 (part 2) will have a short resolution of the cliffhanger and then, if Dylan is in Christine's route, he will go to the party (v0.195) or he will continue with part 2. L&P announced that
Emma's event is likely to be axed to speed up the development and that decision will be probably made with a
poll on Patreon.
As a minor technical note, be aware that this update switched to the new version
renpy 8. The old saves still works, there might be some
problem for older 32 bit hardware to play the videos and here is a
possible solution.
Teasing Mr. Harris
As mentioned before, the teasing is Sophia's choice and can only happen if she allows Dylan to join her in the relaxing bath. In this context, it seemed normal that there was no reference to what happened the day before in the office when he caught her in the skimpy dress. That happened in the good wife's path. Probably, apart from "teaching Liam a lesson", it **could** also be a way of setting up a future event involving the Boss, which can happen on both paths. The official walkthrough for that event mentioned that
Interruption™
We got two interruptions (like Sam's event) from Liam, a sort of trademark for AWAM. And of course there was another "behind the curtain/door" moment to add to the long list of similar situations.
View attachment 2604061
View attachment 2604054
View attachment 2604058
And, while on the subject, why Liam needed to take the
hand cream from the bathroom?... Weren't they watching a football game?
Liam's interruption gives Sophia the choice of either playing it cool and letting him know that Dylan is there, or hiding Dylan behind the curtain. PTwo comments about this situation:
- If she hides Dylan then Liam says nothing if she keeps the bikini on and he makes no mention of what happened with Mr Harris a few minutes earlier. It has also been pointed out that the average husband would have leaned in for a kiss in that situation.
- Nothing happens if she doesn't hide Dylan, and in the end Sophia admits that she's been a bit paranoid about everything that's happened. Taking a step back, even what happened in the hot tub with Sam could be read the same way. She insisted on hiding or making Sam disappear when **maybe** she could have played it cool and let Sam stand on the other side of the hot tub. When Sam ran for the wall when Liam spotted her, she used reverse psychology to save the day, but maybe the solution was simpler.
All of which is to say that, in a way, it **seems** like Sophia's fault if things snowball out of control in both situations.
Sam Vs Dylan
I think we have all noticed that many things have been reused or are very similar in the development of the two routes. Some of them have already been mentioned above in this post. If you are interested, here is
a collection of many of these similarities.
Dylan
There was a lot of discussion and curiosity about how the Sophia/Dylan relationship would have played out and how far they would have gotten given where they were. Given the specificity of the M/S relationship, it was expected that it would be difficult to implement anything that would be believable or different from the usual tropes.
In the end, the sex-ed was the means to convince Sophia to take things further. While the first part of the bath depicted a normal m/s relationship, even with some sweet moments when they both reminisce about old times and cuddle, the main argument for Dylan became that he needed to gain experience with a real woman before he tried to approach Marie/Christine. And he kept insisting on the "
as woman and man" thing, rather than "as mother and son". Towards the end of the bath, however, he suddenly explains and confesses his attraction, going back to these childhood episodes.
The end result of this role-play is that Sophia, while worried about his declared feelings for her, starts to see him (again) in a different light.
Python:
"But what shocked her more was that at times it excited her herself and she felt a certain attraction to her son that went beyond the mother-son relationship."
"Which was not least due to his impressive protective behavior in the park the day before, or earlier in Claire's beauty parlor."
"But also the way he talked to her, treated her with so much respect and love, his care for her, and the many compliments he gave her."
"All this made her feel a completely new affection for him that she had never known before."
As a frivolous side note, maybe for the first time, there was not a single
lip-biting moment for Sophia!
The magazine gig
As we were teased before the release, one of the major revelations of the update was Sophia's secret (short) career as a model for a rather unknown bikini magazine. We even got to see more of Sophia's youth as she recalls her first time. The story already hinted that Sophia had her share of fun in her youth, but she was not as wild as Patricia. She lost her virginity to her boyfriend's father at the age of 17 and had had some heavy petting and other experiences with other guys before that. Here is an approximate
timeline of events :
View attachment 2604129
- < 17yo encounters with others BJ/HJ
Python:
s "But of course, I had been with some guys before but sexually it never went beyond the so-called 'petting'."
...
s "Well, most guys I dated either exploded in their pants or were happy with what I could do with my hands and mouth *smirk*."
and did some other minor fashion gigs
Python:
s "Back in school, I had appeared in a few fashion magazines. Nothing too serious. And was told I'd have a real future in it."
- 17yo first time with Walker (senior year in high school)
Python:
s "Well, I was 17 at the time. And it was at the 19th birthday party of my friend Stella."
...
s "All right, uh... well, it was my senior year. That particular night, my best friend Violet and I had both been invited to the 19th birthday party of our friend, Stella. Since we could party on throughout the night, we arranged to sleep over."
- 19yo almost 20yo, she was already in college, magazine gig
Code:
s "Well, what can I say? That was when I was late 19, almost 20. I tried my hand at amateur modeling in college."
- late 20s Ellie was born.
While it is now a little clearer what happened at what age, there are two points that lead to the cliffhanger of the event. The magazine is published in
July 2002, which in the current story setting (2018) would make Sophia (now 38) 22 at the time of publication. And it is said that she was almost 20 at the time. So **could** the photoshoot have been
published much later? This may or may not have something to do with what Dylan discovers about the photographer, a certain Liam Parker...
Obviously this cliffhanger has fired up the imagination and speculation here on the forums. The wildest theory is that the photographer was actually
Liam Parker Senior, Liam's father, which would open up an incredible twist to challenge one of those good old Victorian dramas full of . In reality, L&P have
already explained that it was Liam and Sophia is just embarrassed to talk about it and that's why she lied to Dylan.
The simplest explanation would be that she lied about Liam not knowing about the magazine, which would be less interesting but more logical.
Otherwise, if Liam does not really know, the question remains as to what she needed the money for. It has been suggested that she might have done it to save Liam (again!) from his
gambling problem or even, given the possibility of the late publication of the photos, to get some money f
or the family they had started (Ellie was already born in 2002). Finally, although Sophia's answer was dismissive, she could have
got pregnant during the shoot.
What's next?
Well, part 2, doh!
As mentioned, the next update (v0.190, though not official yet) will conclude the cliffhanger and then Dylan will either go to the party or continue with Sophia, depending on the previous choice (or maybe an explicit choice?).
From the little we know, it will take place both
indoors and outdoors, there will be probably another
hot-tub event. Sophia and Dylan may go out to
grab something to eat, that could be another part of the sex-ed experience with a role-play date.
I guess we will have to wait for the first teaser(s) to have some more insight of what could happen.
There are at least 2 open questions, though:
- Is the cliffhanger just a narrative device to keep attention between updates, or will its resolution play a role in Dylan/Sophia's relationship?
- How will the relationship develop in part 2? Will it still be along the lines of the sex-ed or will something change in the light of Sophia's final feelings?
