sipi

Newbie
Sep 24, 2017
96
73
What I liked about this story was you had these three characters (MC, Megan, and Melissa) that were broken and unhappy at the start. The three of them come together to start to heal and find happiness. In a way they save each other. Liam's cancer adds some real life drama that shows the characters dealing with tragedy in the midst of their joy. It was a good balance. The story just goes completely off the rails. Megan is struggling to get supporting roles in off/off/off Broadway plays and suddenly she gets a part in a major motion picture. I think I'm right about this; didn't MC have to go through a window to get to the girls during the fire? I think he carried the girl out the door to save her, did he not have a key? The fire scene is too contrived, too unrealistic. The whole Leah story line is just a mess. It's almost like the first half and the second half of this story was written by two different people. Maybe he spent five chapters developing interesting characters and suddenly realized he had three chapters to end this, or maybe it was just a 1000 monkeys on a 1000 typewriters. There a lot of people creating these VN's. Was it just a matter of time until some one created something special? Perhaps the last half of the story is more indicative of the developer's ability and the first half was the fluke. I'll be sure of it if the whole thing turns out to be a dream, a play, an improv, a therapy session, or any thing else that turns the story into an unreality. How did Angela and Hedwig end up as the only happy ones?
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RogueKnightUK

Co-Writer: Retrieving The Past
Game Developer
Jul 10, 2018
913
2,403
The story just goes completely off the rails.
It's worse than that, in a way.
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His Q&A and other posts on Patreon make clear that he planned out the episodes, right down to there being exactly 8, in advance and then stuck to his plan no matter what he was tempted to change, or begged to change. The problem was never going off the rails - it didn't deviate at all.

The fire scene is too contrived, too unrealistic. The whole Leah story line is just a mess. It's almost like the first half and the second half of this story was written by two different people ... Perhaps the last half of the story is more indicative of the developer's ability and the first half was the fluke.
It's not a front half and back half divide. It's a light half and dark half divide.
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I've covered some of the other flaws with Leah, Peter, Dick, and even the robbery in previous comments.

Doc writes characters he likes really well. He also managed to write what may be the best and most plausible menage a troi scenario ever in a game with a really lovable relationship between the MC and the two young BFFs.

However, even in the positives there are a few flaws. Rena is continually surprised that she isn't getting a lot of mainstream roles for blue-haired girls with slut tattoos? Uh... really?

But he writes the dark stuff badly. He doesn't give any attention to any of the darker characters so that all of them are the most 2-dimensional, characterless, stereotypical and meaningless characters imaginable. He rushes the events themselves which means there's no depth or reality to them.

And there are other big plot-holes and questionable set-ups throughout the game. Take the MC himself for example - at the start of the game you are almost killed and for an entire lifetime, this character has just 2 people in the whole world who care at all. Liam and a girl who is really only repaying that you tried to help her. There's not a single 'get well soon' card from any family members, past colleagues, neighbours, or indeed anyone. How much of an unpleasant, isolated basement-dweller does anyone need to be for that to happen? But this same guy who has literally one and only one friend or relative in the entire world is so amazingly good looking and charming that he can get into the pants of every girl he meets within minutes...

Or maybe, just maybe, there are flaws all through the story and you just tell yourself it was all great because you didn't pay any attention until you wanted to pull holes in the one bit you didn't personally like? ;)
 

ijako3

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2017
1,006
2,492
I thought his family was mentioned during these events but i checked again and it wasnt.
Kinda weird that after first attack on MC hospital didn't ask for any relatives. Usually the first thing they do is finding family members info.
After second attack still nothing when it comes to family and MC had near death experience, maybe whole hospital is corrupted and wants to bang MC or they all raped him in turns when he was in coma, jeez that just sounds too bad.
 
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jdoch

Member
Oct 16, 2017
157
274
Curious use of your first post on the site.
Actually, quite a few members have felt moved to make their first post on the forum to this discussion. It's an emotive game, and a deeper than average discussion, so that's not so surprising. You'll note that several who've posted for the first time in this discussion have been members of the forum for over a year, yet this was the first time they felt they simply had to speak. I for one welcome more active voices and participants.
Exactly. I have been a member here for longer but this was the first time that i felt i had to speak up. What the Author did with that last chapter is simply terrible. Bordering on Betrayal. So bad in fact that i question his mental health at this point. Maybe he saw the new Star Wars movies and thought: "Hey they are unceremoniously killing all the beloved characters. I can do that too!"

I like how everyone is complaining about the ending without the ending.
I also dont like the way the story developed but at least i will wait till the last episode befor i start yelling bullshit, since there are hints in the interactions with Leah pointing in this direction or at least show that something is fishi about her.
So yeah, it sucks that one girl is death, but i like to see the reveal of what Leah has don the whole time befor i say it sucks completely.
Sorry for the bad english, its not my native one so deal with it^^
I don't give a shit what hints he buried somewhere or what end gets tacked onto this. It's a done deal. The only way he can possibly get out of this is by either rewriting the last Chapter or making it so that this was all some sort of bad dream (which would be really terrible story telling). You can't just willy-nilly kill off your main Characters after you made the player care for them. I wouldn't say a single word if it where a case of: "You clearly made the wrong choices and now you've gotten the bad ending, play again and do it better." Not one word. But that's not how it is here. This breaks the game, pure and simply. Either quit the game in the middle of chapter 5 and call it good or don't bother to play at all, its that bad, seriously. I don't even have the words as to how bad it is. What would you have thought if George Lucas had just have Luke commit suicide in Episode 5? Just to get a rise out of the audience!? You think anybody would give a Rats Ass about Star Wars today ? Yes, that is how bad this is. It's Suicide for this game. Period.

I'll leave this here...
"Give the audience what they want, but not what they expect!" William Goldman
I think DrPinkCake clearly missed the mark on first part and botched the second part from that quote about storytelling.
I feel that DrPinkCake as an author writes his stories for himself but not his audience (i got that feeling/impression from latest Q/A).
While that is a really good quote it has nothing to do with this game. "Give the audience what they don't want. Even if it makes no sense, as long as you subverted expectations they will let you direct the next Star Wars movie" That quote is probably more fitting.
 

Sh4ark

Newbie
Donor
Dec 9, 2016
74
105
Heh, love it or hate it, you gotta hand it to the guy, it got people talking, about the story, on a porn games site basically. That's quite the achievement. I mean by now people are so invested in the story, jerking off is an afterthought :closedeyesmile:

As for me, as long as my bro Liam is gonna be alright, i don't really have a complaint
 

jdoch

Member
Oct 16, 2017
157
274
Well Episode 8 Is probably about a bunch of Klu Klux Klan Dudes gangraping Liam. You know? Just to get people talking. Unbelievable. Would that also be quite the achievement?
 
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Mar 30, 2018
77
86
In my opinion what happens since the end of chapter 6 would be a nice "bad ending" for the ones who would have choose
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and let her down. But the game need a different path for all the other cases. I don't have anything against the way the story takes, but it shouldn't be the only way since it's a multiple choices game where it's writhed everywhere that your choice will have consequences.
 
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Sh4ark

Newbie
Donor
Dec 9, 2016
74
105
Well Episode 8 Is probably about a bunch of Klu Klux Klan Dudes gangraping Liam. You know? Just to get people talking. Unbelievable. Would that also be quite the achievement?
Ooh, you got it good XD
No worries man it'll pass.. eventually, haha
 

jdoch

Member
Oct 16, 2017
157
274
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This would be a valid arguement if the Author would put a huge Disclaimer on the titlescreen: "WARNING: Do not get invested in the Characters. It is gonna end in blood, tears and emo outfits!"

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This is complete nonsense. I have a friend in real life who pulls this off for years with 3(!) super hot chicks, two of which are sisters. It's not impossible if you have the skills for it. Certainly not that impossible that you have to delete it out of a fantasy story. And in the story the two girls even have some bi-curious vibe going on that helps.

Edit: I don't even know why i keep the spoilers. People SHOULD be warned of this Bullshit.
 
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Sh4ark

Newbie
Donor
Dec 9, 2016
74
105
In my opinion what happens since the end of chapter 6 would be a nice "bad ending" for the ones who would have choose
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and let her down. But the game need a different path for all the other cases. I don't have anything against the way the story takes, but it shouldn't be the only way since it's a multiple choices game where it's writhed everywhere that your choice will have consequences.
And there will be... consequences to you choices i mean, in chapter 8. Of course the variation probably won't be very big.
 

TeflonNinja

Newbie
Aug 19, 2016
42
93
If you think about it, from the second the girls decided that they should "share" the MC and see where it goes, that was really unsustainable in the long run, and one of them was going to get very badly damaged emotionally. Killing one of them off, while tragic in its' own right, "fixes" that problem and now the MC gets to devote himself 100% to one or the other, which is much more humane in the end.
Bruh you're literally arguing that death is better than either rejection or a poly relationship.

If there ever was a time to sit down and examine your base assumptions, the time is now.
 

ijako3

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2017
1,006
2,492
Well with the endings i hope that he will go in quality and not quantity, just to say - Hey, i had 22 endings in my game.
That they will be different like
- MC put C4 into Leah vagina and she exploded
- MC tickled Leah to death, she died of laughter.

I honestly just prefer to discuss about the game with people here, it's way more fun now than actually playing it again(like i did with episodes 1-5 before 6-7 happened) and also it's really civil and sometimes funny.

And about people overall reactions and talking, well any kind of drama, controversy will get people talking whether it's done good or bad.
 

Enyos

Active Member
Mar 29, 2018
889
6,350
That is exactly the problem. So even if you look at it from a purely technical point of view it's just a giant Failure.
I'm assuming you just finished the chapter and are very surprised and upset with the happenings therein. We were very invested in the characters, so the change of mood certainly can come as a shock. The bodies chemistry can alter when we are in such a state of disbelief, so repeat after me, "Chemistry".
 
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jdoch

Member
Oct 16, 2017
157
274
I don't know what you're smoking but i want some ;D

I am not in disbelief. I am simply very disappointed. And with an Ending this bad the story simple doesn't deserve its 5 Star Rating anymore period. If the third Lord of the Rings movie was about everybody dying and Sauron winning the war we wouldn't praise that either, now would we? It doesn't need or deserve to be analyzed. There is no big mystery here. The author has simply fucked it up, badly. End of story.
"But he wants emotional drama" Don't care.
"But star Wars killed all its heros" Don't care.
"But this and that Author also kills all his protagonist" Don't care.
"But Its his story and he can do with it what he wants" True. And i can do what i want and that is warn people not to play it.

If he wants this to be an ending then he needs to give the player enough clues where this is going and a way to avoid tragedy. There needs to be a good ending too. And if he really, really wants a bad ending for this story then he, at the very least, has to be a better story teller about. He can't just spring this out of the blue and expect people to swallow it hook, line and sinker. Nope.
 

IamRubel

Newbie
Sep 17, 2018
17
18
Just not like it.. I Love it.. Why the FIRE :angry::cryingface: ... Please, save them both. I want them both.... They are both pretty and I love them... :p:winkytongue::happyblush ... Please, don't kill any of them.:oops::cryingface:
 
Oct 29, 2016
191
336
Well, the ungly truth as seen through my eyes.
The plot so far, ep7, is more or less on the dramatic spectrum.

I really love(d) the game up until the fire incident, with my only sad thoughts focused on the Liam's path - i love that guy- and the hope that he will make it till the end, that he would be healed.

But after when i played the ep6 i realised what most people here are rightfully criticizing, and what i will try to depict in one line :

This game was intended to be, at least thats what i thought and expected to be, a game intended to fap. Period. We all love a nice plot, nice characters - lovable characters, clever dialogues etc. But in the end, either by grinding through various options/decisions/choices we just want to get a nice decent fap.

Acting lessons did that at first, with huge success. But truth be told, the recent events have transformed a decent fap to a highly guilt fap - if any. I just played the ep7 knowing that - and almost DONT WANTING- to find any fapping material because of all this drama that is surrounding the MC and all of the negativity and the dark game's atmosphere. And that spoils the ultimate goal guys. The fun in fapping.

Acting lessons is by no means a bad game, it is a great game, with true characters, great plot and plot twists that cannot find in any other adult game. But it is no more an adult game, a porn game if i may say. It is an adult game, with lots of drama, and sex.

So, yeah. I will end it, i will play the last chapter. But my dick will be in my pants. And man, for the love of God, please dont make it worse and kill Liam, no more drama man. We have our real life which is full of drama , we dont need to see it in a porn game too.

My 2 cents guys.

Ps : I chose Megan, and couldnt forgive myself letting Melissa die.

I didnt sign for this. The joy is long gone, we just wait for the end game.
 
4.60 star(s) 810 Votes