- Thread starter N7
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- Feb 11, 2018
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btw y this game is not trending ? this game is genius even tho. the creator of this is killing me 
I would have been happy with just Melissa and Megan, which is what I was aiming for in the game. Yes he did an amazing job of making characters you could connect with. However, if I wanted a dark story I would turn on any news station. I don't therefore I avoid it like the plague. With Acting Lessons I didn't even get the choice. Seemed like a great game for the first 5 episodes and with the trait choices I thought at least one of the options would allow for a good ending. Tragedy happens enough in real life, what is so wrong about people wanting a game that makes them feel warm and fuzzy at the end? Prime example is The Lancaster Boarding House, Chloe's ending was MAGNIFICENT!!!
Point is different people have different preferences when it comes to games and entertainment. But to not even give us the choice to save them even is too cruel. At the very least give us a heads up hey someone you learn to love in this game will die a tragic death. Then those of us not into that sort of thing could have avoided it.
On a different note, I would like to know if the dev would be willing to go back and retroactively add a good path for a price. If so, how much would it cost? I am not rich by any means but would be willing to support him on patreon if he is willing to do so. Surely others that feel like I do would follow suit.
- Mar 29, 2018
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It's ranked #7 in overall ratings on this site. It was ranked #1 until episode 7 released, then a lot of people got very upset and changed their ratings to 1 star.btw y this game is not trending ? this game is genius even tho. the creator of this is killing me
This was the Devs vision, and he's expressed that there will be no changes. He's already started working on his next project, named BADIK, although it's been stalled until he completes the final chapter of Acting Lessons.
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- Feb 11, 2018
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ok maybe because tht u need to choose megan or mellisa and theirs no other option to avoid the tragic , in my opinon at least they make a way or a walkthrough to avoid tht .. i will becoming a patreon if they make playthrough tht both of them will be alive i know its impossible but i hope they
Then I guess I will move on forget about episode 6 onward and consider anything added afterwards to be the "Highlander 2" of the VN.
- Jul 10, 2018
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Unfortunately not everyone takes criticism well, no matter how thoughtfully and constructively is is presented. There has been far too much dismissal of valid criticisms with claims by the moronic that all critics merely wanted a fap and can't handle feelings. Ironic, since the ones who cannot handle or express the subtleties of mixed feelings are the idiots making such statements.
I have both praised and criticised the game. Because it has very good parts, and it has parts that could use a lot of improvement. But there are a noticeably loud and sizeable faction visible throughout the discussion that seem to believe anyone not absolutely and purely praising the game and it's author are either not understanding nuance and fine points, not being reasonable, or can't handle feelings. Sadly, they alone can't see the irony and hypocrisy in that.
I rated the game 4 stars of 5, and haven't changed that rating.
I love that Dr PinkCake is likely to be as much of a movie-buff as I am, and borrowed so beautifully and well some of the 'tricks' of cinematography, not least in having some beautifully meaningful 'cuts' from scene to scene borrowed straight out of movie-making. The scene where the MC is talking about Liam and the scene 'cuts' to the bar and the "Drink! Drink! Drink!" line is straight out of the movies. So is another Liam scene where Liam is showing off his car and claims to be a responsible driver, and the next moment the scene cuts to that awesome shot of him speeding like a demon, and the wonderful array of reactions to that from each occupant of the car.
I hadn't seen a VN use that idea before, and it was done so extremely well - really playing to the idea of a VN as a visual media.
But my mind is not so small and boolean that I can't love that aspect and still notice how hollow and shallow the various villain characters are, throughout the entire game. Dick is a cardboard cutout of a character, with no depth, and only viewable from a single angle. Peter is even worse, with not even a clear trope to his character. And Leah?
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I'm old enough and experienced enough to even say exactly why the positive characters are so beautifully rich, and the negative characters so completely lifeless and shallow: you have to empathise with even the villains. Ask any actor and they'll tell you that unless you can empathise with a character, you can't give them life. Alan Rickman was asked by young family members once why he always plays villains. He replied "I don't play villains. I play interesting and complicated characters". And that is why Alan Rickman has always played such strong and fascinating villains - he knows that everyone is the hero in their own mind's story, and plays them with compassion for their viewpoint.
It's an understandable and not uncommon mistake for a rookie writer, and I very much believe that having made it will enable the writer to do so much better in future games. But that is still something that absolutely should be criticised and pointed out in order for that to happen.
The same is true of other elements of the game. There are flaws. Of course there are, this is Doc's first major work. And it is the duty of anyone who wants to see Doc thrive, grow, and reach his potential in future games to help point out those flaws, help him consider what he could have done differently, and how, even if only making him ponder those questions himself to find his own answers.
Those who instead act as if there is nothing he could improve, nothing he could consider, nothing he could grow from, are the ones truly threatening his future, and stifling his growth.
Not likely to happen, you'll just have to make your choice like everyone else. I suggest having multiple saves, then you can kinda save both.
- Jul 28, 2018
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- Feb 11, 2018
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He's saying that by playing with saves you can have one version where you save one, and one where you save the other, so as a player saving both in that way.
Of course, the reality is that whichever you save, they are permanently scarred by not just losing a friend, but being a part of the reason that the friend was not the one saved, so in that respect, you can't save either of them.
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- Mar 29, 2018
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- Jul 21, 2017
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Right. I mean, both Dick and Peter (And ha ha, how obvious are those names, right? are pretty 2-dimensional cardboard villains. Which, you know, wouldn't be that bad except that they're placed in roles that are kind of important to the plot and to the characters. Peter is Melissa's stepdad, Dick is Rena's boyfriend. These aren't really "background" characters. They're relatively major supporting characters, and it's a little glaring that they're written so superficially. Which makes me think.
If they're written so intentionally shallowly because we're not intended to feel anything but hatred towards them, it's almost like they're decoys put there to draw attention away from the "real" baddie of the game. But that, in and of itself, is also kind of... not good technique. I'm not saying that background characters don't exist or that "one-shot" characters don't get put into works of fiction, but that to take a character that has legitimately strong connections to your main cast, and use them only as red herrings to draw attention away from your real villain is a pretty cheap tactic.
- Oct 31, 2017
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- Jul 10, 2018
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Personally, I think they are written without depth because Doc didn't want to feel anything but hatred of them. He didn't want to understand and empathise with their perspectives, their motivations and justifications. As I mentioned, it is a common beginner's mistake.
Writing believable characters is generally held to be one of the harder parts of writing. That's not because it isn't very easy to just write about people you like and know well enough to capture their reality. It's because pretty much any story is going to have conflicts and that means there has to be another side. Most stories will have a villain, and writing a believable villain, being able to make that character feel just as genuine as the ones you love, that's the mark of a great writer.
It's harder than you might think, because on one level, the only reason Dick and Peter are vile human beings is because the writer needs them to be. If the characters have no depth, no reality then that's simply done. But if you invest empathy and compassion into the characters enough to give them motives, feelings, aspirations, well, you can actually feel a bit of guilt over what you alone as the writer are making them do and be. Not to mention that it can be harder to find why a real person would ever do that thing, what possible situation and circumstance was needed, compared to the idiots "because... plot!"
My advice echoes the meaning of what Rickman's approach was. Don't write villains. Write characters, and have some of those characters have valid reasons for doing bad things.
There's a movie that consistently gets rated at the top end of every list of "Greatest Ever Movies" - "The Godfather". It wasn't the first gangster movie. But until that movie, gangsters were always portrayed as bad guys doing bad things. The Godfather instead features a pretty good hero protagonist into this dark world, one who tries, mostly, to do the least bad thing that is necessary. The result is, of course, a masterpiece of cinema. Because it tells a story we can all resonate with - a story about how good intentions can be corrupted, and about how high ideals can be tarnished and bent by the pressure of pragmatic reality. Pretty much all of us know that reality. We've seen at least many of our dreams slip away, be stripped away, by the realities of life, and despite our intentions.
Writing meaningful characters, especially in the darkest roles, is the hallmark of all good movies. What would Star Wars be without Darth Vader? How about Rickman's beautiful performance in "Die Hard"? Without a really good 'villain' of the piece, no story can ever be great.
Like I said before: every man is the hero of his own mind's story.
I am thinking easiest fix would be to be letting
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No that does not make sense. Problem is that there are two real and strongly holding relationships in game. The girls, and MC and Liam. Many will disagree with my view,
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Ending will be very hard to make good. PinkCake has to
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AL right now has story at point where even before Leah, nothing matter anymore. No matter what is happening, survivors broken, and unless 8 is as long as entire rest of game, there is not enough time to make fixing believable.
No more choice at all. 8 will be completing choice from all other episode.