It's certainly more divisive than any other episode I remember releasing. DPC acknowledged the development time backlash a few weeks ago, I wonder if he'll say something about this episode's polarizing reception.
But I'm not in his discord server, so perhaps the people who did not enjoy this episode are just a vocal minority...
I checked his Patreon, it's skyrocketing amid the release. It was 11700 at the beginning of the month, 13400 at the time of release, now it is already 14700. If the majority were really disappointed, there would be an exodus of subscribers from Patreon. I'm interested to see the final numbers by the end of the month - Episode 8 gave him a record 17,500 patrons.
So most likely it's just a loud minority, but the same drama was after the release of Interlude.
Ok, I have been through the story 4 different ways from imported uploads and I still cant make this one Josy Reward pop. Has anyone gotten it and how did you do it? Please help?
i just think the underlined part is kinda funny because we waited a year IRL for just this episode, of course people want things to actually progress at a semi-reasonable rate haha. if i can keep my interest in this game, i dont look forward to having grandkids by the time its a finished story lol
he made (arguably) better content at a faster rate in the past, with less free time and less money to devote to it. that means something, if you ask me...
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.
Tommy's evaluation is based solely on whether you meet all his personal needs. (if it's all 4, then he'll praise you, otherwise it's decent for 3, and shit for less) In other words, don't pay much attention to it. :v
Choices don't really matter that much, huh? M&J branch, choosing every single Josy option, avoiding and rejecting every Maya option (Drinking instead of licking Maya panties this ep), but there's hardly any consequence for now. Even worse, she treats you like you're the best lover in the world.
I'm seeing more hope of a solo path in Others branch than M&J.
Choices don't really matter that much, huh? M&J branch, choosing every single Josy option, avoiding and rejecting every Maya option (Drinking instead of licking Maya panties this ep), but there's hardly any consequence for now. Even worse, she treats you like you're the best lover in the world.
I'm seeing more hope of a solo path in Others branch than M&J.
i just think the underlined part is kinda funny because we waited a year IRL for just this episode, of course people want things to actually progress at a semi-reasonable rate haha. if i can keep my interest in this game, i dont look forward to having grandkids by the time its a finished story lol
he made (arguably) better content at a faster rate in the past, with less free time and less money to devote to it. that means something, if you ask me...
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.
Did anyone post Pack Quest locations for ep9 free roam yet? Tried searching/skimming thread but it has been crazy active so definitely could've missed it in all the posts.
Did anyone post Pack Quest locations for ep9 free roam yet? Tried searching/skimming thread but it has been crazy active so definitely could've missed it in all the posts.
a vengeful spirit - main party room, red ghost hanging up in the air
the other bloody five - the upstairs bathroom, click the handprint above the bath - can only do this right near the end of the event, after you can speak to Sally.
hell week box - tommy's room, beer in the esky
lips - rusty's room, click on the glass with #3 - seemingly can't do it until late into the event, after talking to M&J.
rescue me - leon's room, the surfboard to the right of the bed - requires conversation with heather.
ribcage - the room that connects to the right of the upper main room. Click on the teddy bear that's up on the cabinet.
second costume - jamie's room, text on the red bag, left side of screen
stuff - nick's room, click the word "stuff" on the brown box
the hidden owl - the porch (which connects to the left hallway) - need to do it after the costume contest. It's the little owl on the lantern.
twins - derek's room, poloroid picture, under the tv on left side.
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:
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.
I can only agree on basically everything this man wrote, i expected way more from this episode. I really loved this sentence "He overused the free roam mechanic to the point of cruelty." because its so damn true. Literally 0 motivation to play the whole oversized free roam event for each girl maybe for one scene at the end.
i just think the underlined part is kinda funny because we waited a year IRL for just this episode, of course people want things to actually progress at a semi-reasonable rate haha. if i can keep my interest in this game, i dont look forward to having grandkids by the time its a finished story lol
he made (arguably) better content at a faster rate in the past, with less free time and less money to devote to it. that means something, if you ask me...
I will agree with what you say. We already had the interlude, that didn't contribute much to the story towards MC. Didn't move forward, didn't progress. Episode 9 was the same. had no progression. Even the "after party", that usually he adds some rooster posts and stuff, we didn't have that either, the episode just ended abruptly. The party was fun to play as was the minigame. And I like both features on being a dik. But as a VN player, the thing I like the most is the story progression and I agree with you. I got 1 year older and mc life in this update after a year only moved forward 1 day lol.
Even all the hype and cliffhanger he created with that Dinner at the burke's ended up being nothing.
Reason why there is no way I will be a subscriber paying monthly to someone in things like this. I can buy the full content of his game on steam, but paying monthly to end up getting disappointed after a year as subscriber that sucks.
