ffive

Forum Fanatic
Jun 19, 2022
5,131
11,132
Does anyone have a better strategy?
View attachment 2243866
You could probably swap the keg+cup for speaker+music, which will result in no change in Jacob's needs, but you will fullfill another of Derek's wishes (2 speakers) and save some money. Note, fulfilling only 2 objectives causes a DIK to lose some happiness, so it might be better to aim for 3+ for everyone, instead of 4 for some at the cost of 2 for others.
 

fute8848

Newbie
May 16, 2021
56
60
Damn, looks like I'm in the minority who liked Episode 9.
I can't call it the best, it doesn't come close to the mind-blowing Ep.7 and 8, but it's just good. Just a different feeling, a different experience.
It looks like the DPC is experimenting with different mechanics and decided to make a giant party with 70% free roam. This episode was meant to be relaxing fun in Being a DIK canon, but DPC didn't take that there is a group that doesn't like free roams, mini-games and wants the story to continue as soon as possible.
It would be nice to do a poll on Episode 9 and see the average opinion.
It's not the content itself annoyed me .... when people waited for so long 4 an update they have certain expecations like plot advancing , characters development , etc ; and this ep falls short on both of them XD
 

ffive

Forum Fanatic
Jun 19, 2022
5,131
11,132
It's not the content itself annoyed me .... when people waited for so long 4 an update they have certain expecations like plot advancing , characters development , etc ; and this ep falls short on both of them XD
After a year of waiting DPC could send every player a real hooker to blow them and they'd still complain her knees were too sharp.
 

SomboSteel

Active Member
May 8, 2017
571
3,430
The issue is ambition. Two things to consider:

1) Technical quality and attention to detail. It's easy to get spoiled, but there's so much work evident in these renders and animations that it's mind boggling that one person can produce all this content.

2) So many characters on screen! This update was dominated by large party scenes with 10 or more characters in foreground and background. This makes it extremely challenging from a computational standpoint. Updates featuring scenes with fewer characters would likely feel 'longer', because it would be so much easier to render simple scenes.

So, there was a noticeable tradeoff in development time to meet these goals and to make it 'feel' like a party. I think DPC succeeded in his goal. Whether that was worthwhile appears to be contentious among the players.
that makes sense, and i hope people dont think my criticism is leveled at the technical quality and attention to detail. i agree that on many levels, DPC is leagues ahead of most of the rest of the market for these types of games/stories.

but a lot of it (to me) comes down to the fact that this dude has enough money to literally start his own legit company and have a small workforce of people underneath him doing his bidding to his exact specifications in a timely manner. he chooses to be a one man crew and i will 1000% criticize his choice to do so when it leads to insane wait periods to what amounts to filler content regarding the backbone of this game (the narrative)

im not saying he is milking shit, he hit the jackpot and what real reason does he have to rock the boat? but adding in these truly pointless animations was a bad call. they were uneccessary bloat and should have been time spent on moving forward the story and certain key character arcs. Maya's tuition "problem" should have been handled this episode and should NOT have to be brought up yet again in the future. that is at least 1 major thing that this episode should have crossed off the list; there are many other things just lingering on each new update that need to be addressed if he is gonna keep adding more drama for the future.

DPC seems to be like a Lucas or Kojima type who does a lot better when somebody is around to keep him in check and focused on the end goal, instead of getting lost on a new detour every other time he sits down to work.

The episodes are just huge, plus a visual upgrade, which is why the waiting time has grown so much. It seems that this is a disease of all non-linear VNs - they grow in size due to the increase in the probabilities of events. Think of it as a multiverse, where every potential choice creates a new reality.
Yes, it's a problem, I agree. She has a solution, for example, more powerful hardware, I have already talked about this many times.
But no matter what happens, I remain interested in the project, despite the many dramatic things in real life that detract from it. Should a person be distracted by something positive?
I read various arguments of the dissatisfied. Someone complains that there are no sex scenes with Vixens (girls from the hostel).
Someone does not like mini-games and free-roams, someone does not like that there is not enough continuation of the story. And someone is furious about the quest room (actually it's easy).
For example, I do not like that there are few scenes from LI on Episode. Only 2-3, I would like more. But I understand that it is impossible, it would make the episode even more huge.
A very diverse and demanding audience. It's impossible to please everyone.
fair points all around. but if he cant keep his own ideas focused on the end game, each episode will be bigger and more bloated than the one before it. and the bigger and more complex each episode is, the higher chance that a larger number of people will experience something to find fault in/criticize/be upset about.

the story and characters are core to this game's popularity and success. i dont think that is debatable, tbh. and if he keeps stalling the story and limiting character arcs/interaction, then over time more and more people will be dissatisfied. nobody boots this game up ONLY for the free roams and mini-games and random animations outside of the lewd stuff. those are merely extra things and should not be such a major focus for him, IMO
 
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nitkonikic

Member
Sep 17, 2018
289
1,116
This update made me even more confused about sage .Like so shes cool with u fucking all the hots ? So i shouldnt be worried about buying the restaurant anymore ? And can i have made out with riona no problem or is she a threesomes only type ? Also that means we get closer to a hots orgy on a sage route ?
Man, I wish I knew how open Sage is (only done Sage only route of chapter 9 so far).

Rejected advances of all other girls, and it was kind of sad (especially Riona). If she's open for Tremolo to have fun with HOTs, oh boy...
 
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Ilhares

Engaged Member
Aug 19, 2019
2,887
10,971
What are you refering to? There is no hexagram above your avatar. You don't even have an avatar. Trolling much?
It wasn't a hexagram, it was a Star of David. That and snow decor has been randomly appearing in the forum tonight.
 

danieldam

Newbie
Apr 28, 2020
34
51
Soooo, this are my thoughts (For anyone interested)

- The Update was overwhelmingly short. I would have expected to be bigger, considering the amount of time DPC took to create it. This has been, in my opinion, the weakest of all episodes in regards to length.

- The sandboxing was EXHAUSTING. It wasn't as bad at previous parties, but in this episode, this mechanic was abused.

- Vinnie is exactly how I suspected him to be. I was hoping we saw him more during the episode.

- The reunion with the Burkes? It seemed to be a HUGE deal last episode, I was expecting more content.

-In Bella's path, in kinda broke me how quick she was willing to leave Tremolo if that's what Jill wanted. Her content was good though. And once again, DPC makes us suffer on her path, we still don't have that much info about her husband.

- I felt very bad for Rusty. I wish there was a change we could hook him up with Jill (if we're not on her path) or someone else.

- Quinn solo path: Was incredibly sweet and broccoli. You can tell she appreciates it if you're not seeing someone else, she clearly cares about Tremolo.

- The implication that Rio might be a potential serious LI (She seems to reconsider after a talk with MC, and she says she's not 'rooting for his relationship to succeed'), and Heather might be available in the future gave me life.

- Derek remains the freaking best, without a doubt. What a gorgeous man.

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Was thinking the same thing on the rusty part thought the same about getting jacob with the mcs ex. Seems like they really click but thats too close to ntr for alot of fans
 

Jericho85

Well-Known Member
Apr 25, 2022
1,451
4,846
This another anti-cheat check? Looks like it happens right after the Pink Rose girls arrive and if you're not on the Jill or Bella path. The condition is not renpy.variant("pc") and it immediately takes you to the end summary of EP9. Cheeky DPC :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:

1671332110315.png
 

DanMotta

Active Member
Dec 7, 2022
517
887
Well, I've played through a substantial portion of Episode 9, and I'm sorry to say I didn't like it much.

If I'm being subjective, it was more or less everything I feared: one excuse after another to stall the relationships with the chosen LI, with a *massively* overblown party to distract us from everything else. If I'm trying to be objective things are better: there's still a lot of sharp dialog, goofy fun and (of course) sex to enjoy. But even then, I think the structure of this episode is very badly conceived. The Halloween party goes on way too long, the vaunted branching actually feels less distinct that the old paths did, and there's a real disconnect between DPC's obsession with consequences and the frankly moronic shit he makes the characters do to keep things on his preferred rails.

IMHO as Christmas gifts go, Episode 9 was the relative who spends an obscene amount of money on trendy, high-priced junk to make up for the fact they didn't pay enough attention during the year to know what you actually want. On the one hand, it's comforting to know that they really do care, but on the other hand it's hard not to be a little disturbed at how much they wasted on stuff you're never going to use.

Episode 9 didn't give me the stronger romantic connections I was looking for in the wake of the crossroads, and it certainly didn't do much to advance the plot. It did deliver a lot of sex scenes, but you sure have to slog through a lot to get them. The high water mark is probably some nice work with the side girls on the Others branch (particularly for Quinn, Riona and Zoey), but that just deepens my suspicions that Season 3 will be all about stalling the LI branches while the new girls play catch up. I'm not waiting 2-3 years for that.

We'll dive into the nitty gritty of the Episode then call it a wrap, which will obviously involve spoilers. But first, a quick note to a certain member of the audience:
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Okay, now, on with the spoilers.
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So that's my take on Episode 9. IMHO it was not the episode we needed at this point. But it's pretty clear it wasn't a mistake, so we might as well accept it or move on.

tl;dr An overgrown free-roam that slows down the LIs, speeds up the side-girls, delivers plenty of spectacle and ends on yet another cliffhanger, all without actually advancing the story.
Very nice review. I agree with most of it.
 
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