gamingdevil800

Well-Known Member
Donor
Aug 4, 2020
1,501
8,116
What makes you say he's military? I think people have subliminally assumed that because of the hallucination the MC suffered when he was drunk at Bella's house. I don't think there's a single shred of evidence to suggest he's military.
It's a reasonable assumption actually there isn't much evidence about his occupation in general. The military guy hallucination is the only clue we've got.
 

Kellermann

Engaged Member
Oct 20, 2020
3,627
11,699
Based on Bella's marriage photo, how old do you think she was when she got married?

She looks a lot younger than she is now, but slightly more mature than when she was in college.

She said she started college 18 years ago (hence the assumption she's 36 now), so let's say she got married 5 years after that, based on her looks in the photo.

So she was married 13 years ago, and then her husband left her, or died, 3 years ago (after 10 years of marriage).

So it wasn't like they just didn't get along, they'd managed 10 years already.

I don't know if a marriage would break up 10 years down the track because of the death of a child (one theory), unless it was the fault of one of them (same goes with the miscarriage theory).

I'm thinking death (as in James' death) or infidelity (either party) are the only things that would end the marriage at that point.

Now there's speculation that the marriage may have ended because of Bella having a one night stand with Jill, but I'll ask you all honestly, if your wife (future or current) was making out with another woman, would you leave her or explore the possibilities?

And if he did leave her (for whatever reason), apart from being a little harsh, Bella enjoys a fairly healthy lifestyle (wine with friends, yoga, reading) plus she's a teacher as well as the librarian. Would a person with this kind of healthy lifestyle be all nutty about a husband that left 3 years ago?

When a marriage breaks up, denial, hurt and anger are common initial reactions, followed by acceptance and then moving on (moving on doesn't necessarily mean going off looking for a new partner, but it means letting go of the old one).

But death, death is different. You don't hate the person for dying (although some people think this at some point in their grief, but they don't harbour it for long), and although the vow is "'till death do us part", a lot of people do feel like they are cheating on a deceased spouse and take a long time to move on.

I still can't see that Bella would be pining after her husband if he left her 3 years ago. By my reckoning, he's dead.
:unsure: Hmm, aside from some exercise, Bella works and drinks, that's about it. Certainly not indicative of a mentally healthy lifestyle, only moderately physically healthy. I mean look at how she acts. She's a nut case who never smiles.
The way that Bella goes on about doing things with friends/students, etc. and the fact that she wants James to come home point more toward the infidelity track imo, but I'm not ruling out there is a secondary (non-death) reason we have yet to learn. Maybe she is just crazy without any trauma...that does happen in rl. I would be shocked if DPC didn't have James return, and ep. 8 is the perfect time to do it. Regarding James not staying to watch Bella and Jill get it on, well it could be that he is like the Maya dad situation. Not everyone is as open to those sorts of things as we on F95 ;)

One thing to point out is in the flashback scenes, she doesn't seem all that happy back then either. Maybe smiling just isn't her thing. It could be we are simply seeing how she is choosing to remember in her current state, but I just found it interesting. Maybe it wasn't a traumatic event that caused her to stop smiling after all. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Anyway, I'm still sticking with the James is alive and returning soon for drama theory.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chociar666

Holy Bacchus

Conversation Conqueror
Dec 13, 2018
7,748
19,532
James is fucking dead so stop mentioning him.
It's fair to presume that he's still alive given what Bella says/thinks about him. She wants him to come home, says that she forgives him for something he's done, wonders if he'd forgive her for what she's doing with the MC, etc. If he were dead, this would be some seriously psycho denial that Bella is going through and as much as people joke about this kind of thing, I really don't see DPC having Bella be like this.

James's return is perhaps one of the most obvious impediments to the MC's relationship with Bella, and just because it seems so obvious doesn't mean it's not possible. I get that as a Bella fan you wouldn't want that, but it is very likely.

Now there's speculation that the marriage may have ended because of Bella having a one night stand with Jill, but I'll ask you all honestly, if your wife (future or current) was making out with another woman, would you leave her or explore the possibilities?
Just because we're all horny idiots who like a bit of girl/girl action doesn't mean everybody is. It's not necessarily as simplistic as "my wife likes girls, let's explore this and try to save our marriage".

Perhaps James cheated on Bella because he felt that she wasn't as interested in him and their marriage anymore (which could explain the "how long has it been" comment from Bella), and then when the affair came to light, Bella convinced him that that wasn't true and that she did still love him. So they stayed together and tried to work through their issues but it wasn't going well, and then if there was indeed a drunken moment of intimacy between her and Jill that James walked in on, it would only serve to compound his belief that she was no longer invested in their marriage, hence why he wouldn't exactly be wanting to strip off his clothes and join them.

And if he did leave her (for whatever reason), apart from being a little harsh, Bella enjoys a fairly healthy lifestyle (wine with friends, yoga, reading) plus she's a teacher as well as the librarian. Would a person with this kind of healthy lifestyle be all nutty about a husband that left 3 years ago?

When a marriage breaks up, denial, hurt and anger are common initial reactions, followed by acceptance and then moving on (moving on doesn't necessarily mean going off looking for a new partner, but it means letting go of the old one).

But death, death is different. You don't hate the person for dying (although some people think this at some point in their grief, but they don't harbour it for long), and although the vow is "'till death do us part", a lot of people do feel like they are cheating on a deceased spouse and take a long time to move on.

I still can't see that Bella would be pining after her husband if he left her 3 years ago. By my reckoning, he's dead.
Sometimes a break-up, especially a marriage break-up, can be like the experience of grief and it can take years for a person to get over that loss, if they ever do get over it. Not everybody is so willing to move on from a long-term relationship so easily or quickly, and some will even hope for a reconciliation with their ex even if that ex has moved on.

We also don't know exactly how long has James been gone. People keep coming back to it being 3 years, but what she said was:

"How long has it been since a man did this to me?
"Three years?"
"No, that can't be right..."
"I haven't gotten an urge to touch myself...that's all..."
"Until tonight..."


This doesn't necessarily mean that James has been gone for 3 years, just that, for whatever reason, she hasn't felt this much desire for a man for 3 years. Something could have happened to her years ago which caused her to lose the desire for sex (no, not a miscarriage), and this cold fish attitude could be what drove James into the arms of another woman. So maybe he's not been around for 2 years, 1 year, or even just 4 or 5 months. In any case, Bella not being able to accept or let go of him is entirely possible regardless of how long it's been.

I also want to know why Nick says Vinny dropped out last year but he doesn't say that it was to deal drugs.
First of all, we don't know what really happened with Vinny even if it seems likely that he got caught dealing drugs and was expelled, but if this were to be the reason then it's probably covered by the DIKs secret code so Nick can't tell the MC the real reason that Vinny's gone.
 

Deleted member 2528490

Well-Known Member
Jun 28, 2020
1,640
5,701
I'm doing the lateral thinker again.

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.
Doesn't Jade say Stephen bought his degree? There doesn't need to be anything deeper than that. Its not even a real degree. Its an honorary PhD or something. Nowadays, its become not uncommon for schools to hand these out to people who contribute huge donations. And we know that the Burkes have been making massive donations yearly to the school, to the point that its on the news.
 

always86

Active Member
Mar 19, 2020
875
2,259
I said a while ago I was going to put something like this together. The charts track still renders and animations. Week 1 presumes 1 render and 1 animation if otherwise unknown. Any weeks that data is unreported gets an average figure of the variance between two known points. This may create a slightly misleading impression of constant steady progress, but I think gives a better improession of the consitant work flow.


1618142182473.png

1618142218680.png

Data ends on launch week and start for the new episode the following week. So if we get a release on the 16th it will have taken 2 weeks more that 4 but 2 weeks less than 6. (Week 21 is 16th April for Episode 7). Episode 1 is a bit less clear as he was obviously pre-developing it before it was announced/ promoted.

I appreciate other people have done versions of this but I don't think i've seen a render/animation tracker before.
 
Last edited:

DaBigD

Member
Apr 7, 2021
108
60
i think stephen burke had a big impact on bellas relationship with james. stephens fight with jade shows he has hots or at a mininimum a big interest in sleeping with bella. something he says the they tried a threesome, but bella loves her husband. this may be why james is missing. im guessing stephen blackmailed james into bringing bella into a threesome without her knowing it before hand. and bella refused. she was very much in love with james to do that. then stephens blackmail has no course but to trigger, he goes to jail for sleeping with a minor. or whatever the cause of the blackmail trigger is, perhaps drugs in his car was planted. unethical conduct at the university(assuming he is a teacher) but whatever the trigger it lands him in jail, and bella feels responsible for putting him there, by not sleeping with stephen in his thresome with jade. had just swallowed her pride and done it. james would be home. she forgive james cause now years later she knows james was innocent of whatever the trigger for blackmail was.

now back to the closet....... sex dungeon, no just kidding. its bellas evidence room, shes secretly getting all the proof to put stephen in jail. the walls are plastered with photos, news reports and other such clues dateing way back b4 james went to jail.
 
  • Thinking Face
Reactions: dalli_x

shazba

Engaged Member
Aug 4, 2020
3,506
19,701
:unsure: Hmm, aside from some exercise, Bella works and drinks, that's about it. Certainly not indicative of a mentally healthy lifestyle, only moderately physically healthy. I mean look at how she acts. She's a nut case who never smiles.
The way that Bella goes on about doing things with friends/students, etc. and the fact that she wants James to come home point more toward the infidelity track imo, but I'm not ruling out there is a secondary (non-death) reason we have yet to learn. Maybe she is just crazy without any trauma...that does happen in rl. I would be shocked if DPC didn't have James return, and ep. 8 is the perfect time to do it. Regarding James not staying to watch Bella and Jill get it on, well it could be that he is like the Maya dad situation. Not everyone is as open to those sorts of things as we on F95 ;)

One thing to point out is in the flashback scenes, she doesn't seem all that happy back then either. Maybe smiling just isn't her thing. It could be we are simply seeing how she is choosing to remember in her current state, but I just found it interesting. Maybe it wasn't a traumatic event that caused her to stop smiling after all. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Anyway, I'm still sticking with the James is alive and returning soon for drama theory.
It's fair to presume that he's still alive given what Bella says/thinks about him. She wants him to come home, says that she forgives him for something he's done, wonders if he'd forgive her for what she's doing with the MC, etc. If he were dead, this would be some seriously psycho denial that Bella is going through and as much as people joke about this kind of thing, I really don't see DPC having Bella be like this.

James's return is perhaps one of the most obvious impediments to the MC's relationship with Bella, and just because it seems so obvious doesn't mean it's not possible. I get that as a Bella fan you wouldn't want that, but it is very likely.



Just because we're all horny idiots who like a bit of girl/girl action doesn't mean everybody is. It's not necessarily as simplistic as "my wife likes girls, let's explore this and try to save our marriage".

Perhaps James cheated on Bella because he felt that she wasn't as interested in him and their marriage anymore (which could explain the "how long has it been" comment from Bella), and then when the affair came to light, Bella convinced him that that wasn't true and that she did still love him. So they stayed together and tried to work through their issues but it wasn't going well, and then if there was indeed a drunken moment of intimacy between her and Jill that James walked in on, it would only serve to compound his belief that she was no longer invested in their marriage, hence why he wouldn't exactly be wanting to strip off his clothes and join them.



Sometimes a break-up, especially a marriage break-up, can be like the experience of grief and it can take years for a person to get over that loss, if they ever do get over it. Not everybody is so willing to move on from a long-term relationship so easily or quickly, and some will even hope for a reconciliation with their ex even if that ex has moved on.

We also don't know exactly how long has James been gone. People keep coming back to it being 3 years, but what she said was:

"How long has it been since a man did this to me?
"Three years?"
"No, that can't be right..."
"I haven't gotten an urge to touch myself...that's all..."
"Until tonight..."


This doesn't necessarily mean that James has been gone for 3 years, just that, for whatever reason, she hasn't felt this much desire for a man for 3 years. Something could have happened to her years ago which caused her to lose the desire for sex (no, not a miscarriage), and this cold fish attitude could be what drove James into the arms of another woman. So maybe he's not been around for 2 years, 1 year, or even just 4 or 5 months. In any case, Bella not being able to accept or let go of him is entirely possible regardless of how long it's been.



First of all, we don't know what really happened with Vinny even if it seems likely that he got caught dealing drugs and was expelled, but if this were to be the reason then it's probably covered by the DIKs secret code so Nick can't tell the MC the real reason that Vinny's gone.
Interesting she only mentions James' name twice in the whole game. The scene in the library is vaguely telling:

isa "(I can't lash out at students like that...)"​
isa "(...)"​
isa "(I did the right thing.)"​
isa "(This was for Jill.)"​
isa "(Married women don't fool around with young students.)"​
isa "(...)"​
isa "(They aren't intimate with friends either...)"​
isa "(But that...that was different!)"​
isa "(It doesn't matter... I've stopped it.)"​
isa "(Please, James... Forgive me.)"​
isa "(Please, just come home again...)"​
isa "(It's been long enough now.)"​

She's setting the mc up with Jill even though she wants him, and we can see she's jealous of Jill with the MC in spite of herself.

When she talks about not being intimate with friends, but that she's stopped it, maybe she had an affair with Jill that wasn't just a one night thing. I definitely don't think she's alluding to something with the Burkes (that's just Steven's fantasy), and we do know that something happened with Jill.

"It's been long enough now" means it probably has been 3 years, not just a recent thing.

But I can be swayed to believing he's alive, and because she's asking for forgiveness here, and then saying she forgives him in another scene, I guess she probably started it (had an affair with Jill), he reciprocated (had an affair too), and they split up. Since it was her fault, she feels guilt rather than anger, hence the whole nutty disposition.

But none of that really lines up with the MC's exposition in the library, "call for help" etc.

I dunno... :rolleyes:
 

felicemastronzo

Devoted Member
May 17, 2020
11,549
22,423
In which episode main LI's branching started?
depends on what you mean...

in chapter two you choose whether to be fuckbuddy with Sage
in the third whether or not to thank (and then harass) Bella in the library
in the fourth the big decision of Maya and Josy about MC (for the trouple)
in chapter 5 if you're out of the trouple, decide which of the two girls to target again
in the sixth you have to choose between Jill and Sage...

you choose all the time, but the only mandatory choices are those in chapters 4 and 6.
 
  • Like
Reactions: YRS™ and shazba

InfiniteIgnorance

Active Member
Nov 3, 2019
598
576
First of all, we don't know what really happened with Vinny even if it seems likely that he got caught dealing drugs and was expelled, but if this were to be the reason then it's probably covered by the DIKs secret code so Nick can't tell the MC the real reason that Vinny's gone.
I'm trying to connect some dots here. Buddy tells Quinn is she was as good at selling drugs as Vinny she wouldn't be late with her payments. Nick tells the MC Vinny and Tommy didn't get along. Tommy tells Quinn she's his best friend, even over Rusty. The connections to the missing laptop are Nick and Vinny but there's no connection to Cathy there unless Cathy was responsible for Vinny being thrown out of B&R, which is unknown. Vinny is also no longer a DIK and so the DIK code should no longer apply, especially with other DIKs.
 

Kellermann

Engaged Member
Oct 20, 2020
3,627
11,699
Interesting she only mentions James' name twice in the whole game. The scene in the library is vaguely telling:

isa "(I can't lash out at students like that...)"​
isa "(...)"​
isa "(I did the right thing.)"​
isa "(This was for Jill.)"​
isa "(Married women don't fool around with young students.)"​
isa "(...)"​
isa "(They aren't intimate with friends either...)"​
isa "(But that...that was different!)"​
isa "(It doesn't matter... I've stopped it.)"​
isa "(Please, James... Forgive me.)"​
isa "(Please, just come home again...)"​
isa "(It's been long enough now.)"​

She's setting the mc up with Jill even though she wants him, and we can see she's jealous of Jill with the MC in spite of herself.

When she talks about not being intimate with friends, but that she's stopped it, maybe she had an affair with Jill that wasn't just a one night thing. I definitely don't think she's alluding to something with the Burkes (that's just Steven's fantasy), and we do know that something happened with Jill.

"It's been long enough now" means it probably has been 3 years, not just a recent thing.

But I can be swayed to believing he's alive, and because she's asking for forgiveness here, and then saying she forgives him in another scene, I guess she probably started it (had an affair with Jill), he reciprocated (had an affair too), and they split up. Since it was her fault, she feels guilt rather than anger, hence the whole nutty disposition.

But none of that really lines up with the MC's exposition in the library, "call for help" etc.

I dunno... :rolleyes:
The call for help could mean Bella going off the deep end in the future (after the library, but before the present time for narrator MC who is in the future). Something could drive her to extreme nuttiness. Is it MC fooling around with everyone on campus? Could it be the return of James? Something else? This assumes she hasn't done anything untoward prior to meeting MC. I don't think she killed James, but I am interested to find out how Bella's parents died (at the same time apparently). That's fishy. I'm not willing to say she killed them, but I do find it curious that so many important people in her life have disappeared one way or another.

All that said, I really dislike the "call for help" future MC monologue. It's so out of the place in the story. The only other time future MC appears is during the intro.
 
4.80 star(s) 1,553 Votes