VN Ren'Py Being a DIK [v0.10.1] [DrPinkCake]

[HotSinon]

See if this page helps.

thx , it helped

 

[Ploate]

For you guys, what are the times up to the current episode when you felt DPC is trying to punch you below the belt (sad moments), happy moments and rage moments?

For me:
Sad moment: The double boss encounter in the DIK mansion library.
Happy moments: Always Sage, OMG scenes (especially MC and Jill) in Bella's house, DIK jacket, D&G session, Derek.
Rage moments: Always Tybalt, DIK mansion got trashed, Quinn being a bitch (makes my dick confused).

Sad moments: see my previous post.
Happy moments: Jill date, Maya and Josy agree to be more then friends, Strip club during Hell week (MC drinking those shots + blackout gave me a flashback to my own college days, I did the exact same thing once), Derek + gender studies class (I missed that in episode 5, I'm really looking forward to the next one)
Rage moments: Tybalt slap (I just wanted to slap him back though, not punch him), Tommy closing the door on you after getting the panties, Quinn hazing Maya

 

[Zarathos4]

How differently does Maya's story play out if dont warn her about Quinn. All the walkthrough says is if you like her, warn her. But I was trying to scroll through to get hits about what happens if you dont. I could find anything?

 

[Holy Bacchus]

How differently does Maya's story play out if dont warn her about Quinn. All the walkthrough says is if you like her, warn her. But I was trying to scroll through to get hits about what happens if you dont. I could find anything?

We don't know yet as any ramifications from that choice haven't happened.

 

[Ploate]

How differently does Maya's story play out if dont warn her about Quinn. All the walkthrough says is if you like her, warn her. But I was trying to scroll through to get hits about what happens if you dont. I could find anything?

The only change I've seen is Maya asks Sage to switch mothers. Sage refuses, Quinn takes revenge by making Maya do the scavenger hunt alone. If you don't warn her, this doesn't happen. Maya does some tasks of the scavenger hunt with Mona and Camilla (only mentioned), but still gets tasks she has to do by herself (the sex tasks). So that doesn't change.

 

[Laurelin]

For you guys, what are the times up to the current episode when you felt DPC is trying to punch you below the belt (sad moments), happy moments and rage moments?

For me:
Sad moment: The double boss encounter in the DIK mansion library.
Happy moments: Always Sage, OMG scenes (especially MC and Jill) in Bella's house, DIK jacket, D&G session, Derek.
Rage moments: Always Tybalt, DIK mansion got trashed, Quinn being a bitch (makes my dick confused).

I'm such a Chick guy, so, don't be surprised :
Sad moments : the end of ep. 3 (Maya has a girlfriend... Josy !!!) ;
Happy moments : love scenes with Josy / Maya (not necessary lewd scenes...). Waiting for Jill....
Rage moment : even if Tybalt may have unanimous rejection, the only real rage moment was when I saw on my screen : "End of Episode 5" !!

 

[ename144]

But can we really judge DPC on the basis of one singular piece of work? Some writers do stick to one particular genre and write stories that include similar elements albeit with different characters and settings, i.e. Tom Clancy who writes military-based novels. Other writers can have a more diverse range and write for different genres, i.e. Jordan Peele who has proven to be successful at writing horror movies but also writes for comedy movies and skits.

Just because DPC wrote one story that featured a very dark plot twist involving a psycho stalker and murder does not necessarily mean they are going to do something this dark again and I honestly feel as though people aren't giving DPC much credit as a writer by assuming they can only do one particular thing. Obviously, they could, but until then I'm withholding judgement and not going to automatically assume that this story will go down a similarly dark path as AL.



Bad things can still happen to certain characters, yes, but I think that the degree to which they will happen will not be as severe as AL.

A good creator knows their audience and even when they are proud with their previous works, they still have to take on the criticism they receive and either acknowledge it or ignore it. AL was a very gritty, grounded, emotionally charged story and I commend them for wanting to raise the standards by writing such a hard-hitting story, but the sharp twist at the end did prove widely controversial and overshadowed everything else. Sometimes you have to read the mood of the room and I'd say that that mood is generally against having this sort of thing, not just in this game, but in adult VNs in general. Even without knowing much about them, I don't see DPC as someone who will dismiss the criticism of AL's dark turn and continue to forge ahead with doing something similar in this game, knowing that people will not like it.

In the Feb Q&A, whilst they did say that they "don't shy away from writing about touchy subjects and feelings", they also said that it's important to "listen to their feedback without taking it personally" with regards to the players and that American Pie was "a source of inspiration together with many other college themed movies". So it would seem to me that, whilst there may be "touchy subjects" in this game, we're not going to see anything too dark or depressing by the end of this. At most, Quinn might go to prison, but then we'll probably flash forward several years in the last episode and find that she's completely reformed and maybe owns a legal weed shop in San Francisco, or something like that. But the LIs, side girls, DIKs, and others will probably all go on to have decent endings and maybe some will have funny, comedic endings like in Animal House.

I don't want to treat DPC as a one trick pony. Nonetheless when he's only made 1 complete game, that's all I can fairly judge him on.

It's not just the obvious twists in AL, it's DPC's overall philosophy that the way to make us feel for the characters is to put them through hell. You can see that even in BaDIK: Maya's father; Bella's husband; Josy's loneliness; the MC in Episode 4 (though that one partially missed the mark).

It's not that the technique is invalid, because it can definitely work: Josy's monologue in her second date, for example, really did make me care about her, and that's been a vital part of holding the M&J path together so far. But there is a limit to how far you can push that technique before the audience is overwhelmed and just tunes the whole thing out. What AL demonstrated is that DPC completely misjudged that line in his first work (IMHO, of course).

BaDIK is still in the first half of the story from everything we know, so it's too early to know how far it will try to push things. I agree that the raunchy college comedy setting means DPC doesn't intend to push things as far as he did in AL. But by the same token, I think the setting also means audience's personal limits are also going to be lower than they were in AL. That means that even if DPC intentionally dials down the drama, he could still overdo things even worse than before.

What I've seen so far makes me nervous. The M&J crisis was addressed, but nearly all of us agree the resolution was rushed and incomplete, and it's clear there will be more drama with them in the future. Sage is, to all appearances, unable to let go of a loveless relationship, and now she's being undermined by her HOT sisters. Bella's secret has had so much dark foreshadowing our only real hope is that DPC is going for a comedic anticlimax.

And maybe he will! I'm certainly hoping for it. But until something like that actually happens - a dramatic confrontation we dreaded is diffused (not merely postponed) in a lighthearted manner - I'm skeptical the college setting is proof against angst overload. I'm a big fan of the game, but I can't trust it yet.

To paraphrase City of Broken Dreamers, DPC can act as though he's not going to set us up all he wants; the problem is that is also exactly how he would act if he were setting us up.

 

[Deleted member 241387]

I'm so jealous of the people who'll find this game in the future when it's completed. I just want to keep playing

 

[felicemastronzo]

I'm so jealous of the people who'll find this game in the future what it's completed. I just want to keep playing

normally I only play games that are already completed, I have big trust issues, I made an exception for this and milfy city

 

[xsssssssss]

For you guys, what are the times up to the current episode when you felt DPC is trying to punch you below the belt (sad moments), happy moments and rage moments?

For me:
Sad moment: The double boss encounter in the DIK mansion library.
Happy moments: Always Sage, OMG scenes (especially MC and Jill) in Bella's house, DIK jacket, D&G session, Derek.
Rage moments: Always Tybalt, DIK mansion got trashed, Quinn being a bitch (makes my dick confused).

Sad moment: Riona never orgasming
Happy moments: text chat with Quinn, lily tequila reward, Bella sauna scene
Rage moment: Jill interrupting sauna scene with bella

 

[Deleted member 2512694]

For you guys, what are the times up to the current episode when you felt DPC is trying to punch you below the belt (sad moments), happy moments and rage moments?

For me:
Sad moment: The double boss encounter in the DIK mansion library.
Happy moments: Always Sage, OMG scenes (especially MC and Jill) in Bella's house, DIK jacket, D&G session, Derek.
Rage moments: Always Tybalt, DIK mansion got trashed, Quinn being a bitch (makes my dick confused).

For me:
Sad moment: Ep5 when Maya talks about her arrival at B&R.

Happy moments: HW with Derek, watching a movie with Maya, talking and sunbathing with Bella by the pool, OMG scenes and making pancakes in Bella's house, D&G session and probably a few other things, I can't remember everything.

Rage moments: Tommy, especially in ep5.

 

[Holy Bacchus]

I don't want to treat DPC as a one trick pony. Nonetheless when he's only made 1 complete game, that's all I can fairly judge him on.

It's not just the obvious twists in AL, it's DPC's overall philosophy that the way to make us feel for the characters is to put them through hell. You can see that even in BaDIK: Maya's father; Bella's husband; Josy's loneliness; the MC in Episode 4 (though that one partially missed the mark).

It's not that the technique is invalid, because it can definitely work: Josy's monologue in her second date, for example, really did make me care about her, and that's been a vital part of holding the M&J path together so far. But there is a limit to how far you can push that technique before the audience is overwhelmed and just tunes the whole thing out. What AL demonstrated is that DPC completely misjudged that line in his first work (IMHO, of course).

BaDIK is still in the first half of the story from everything we know, so it's too early to know how far it will try to push things. I agree that the raunchy college comedy setting means DPC doesn't intend to push things as far as he did in AL. But by the same token, I think the setting also means audience's personal limits are also going to be lower than they were in AL. That means that even if DPC intentionally dials down the drama, he could still overdo things even worse than before.

What I've seen so far makes me nervous. The M&J crisis was addressed, but nearly all of us agree the resolution was rushed and incomplete, and it's clear there will be more drama with them in the future. Sage is, to all appearances, unable to let go of a loveless relationship, and now she's being undermined by her HOT sisters. Bella's secret has had so much dark foreshadowing our only real hope is that DPC is going for a comedic anticlimax.

And maybe he will! I'm certainly hoping for it. But until something like that actually happens - a dramatic confrontation we dreaded is diffused (not merely postponed) in a lighthearted manner - I'm skeptical the college setting is proof against angst overload. I'm a big fan of the game, but I can't trust it yet.

To paraphrase City of Broken Dreamers, DPC can act as though he's not going to set us up all he wants; the problem is that is also exactly how he would act if he were setting us up.

I agree that DPC's approach to making players connect with characters seems to be to put the characters through some sort of emotional turmoil, but I think "hell" is a relative term as the different experiences of the characters can be seen differently by different people.

The M&J situation, for example, isn't something I'd personally describe as "going through hell" but simply look at as "difficulties" or a "rough patch", because there are worse things in the world than a relationship hitting the skids, even ones that went this way under their circumstances. With Bella too, it might seem like her situation is "hell", but it could also be simpler than it appears and might just be her being overly dramatic.

I'm sure that whatever DPC has planned for these characters will be emotionally gripping, and they might be setting up some characters for a big fall, but I'm choosing to believe that any such thing would not come close to the level of AL and will be something that the character(s) can bounce back from and move forward in a positive way. Maybe this is setting me up for a fall if DPC really drops the hammer and destroys a character physically and/or emotionally, or destroys their characterisation by giving them a sharp dramatic twist, but I'd rather look at this as a "glass half-full" than a "glass half-empty".

 

[felicemastronzo]

poor you

i know...

 

[Darkdevil66]

The only change I've seen is Maya asks Sage to switch mothers. Sage refuses, Quinn takes revenge by making Maya do the scavenger hunt alone. If you don't warn her, this doesn't happen. Maya does some tasks of the scavenger hunt with Mona and Camilla (only mentioned), but still gets tasks she has to do by herself (the sex tasks). So that doesn't change.

Well, Quinn also gave her a kiss of death :



There's probably no escape. Since Quinn and her henchmen work for a dealer, Maya has been marked for death.

 

[AvatarStormBringer]

MC drinking those shots + blackout gave me a flashback to my own college days, I did the exact same thing once

Gay guard catcher?

 

[xsssssssss]

Well, Quinn also gave her a kiss of death :

View attachment 705746

There's probably no escape. Since Quinn and her henchmen work for a dealer, Maya has been marked for death.

My Mc thinks being marked for death sounds ok if he’s getting one of those Quinn’s kisses.

 

[slith333]

$20 says that Bella's husband is in a coma in the locked room.

 

[Holy Bacchus]

$20 says that Bella's husband is in a coma in the locked room.

You're going to lose that bet.

 

[Laurelin]

$20 says that Bella's husband is in a coma in the locked room.

Bella says (pool scene, if I remember) :
"What if James comes now ?
Would he blame me if I did this ?
After all this time ?
I have forgiven him"

Forgiven to fall into coma ? I don't think so...

 

[Laurelin]

There was a lot of discussion on this subject, and some interesting theories... Maybe a baby's bedroom. Bella husband may have been responsible for his death (car accident for instance...)...
There are so many possibilities !!