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

[JohnDelfino]

Did we really need "The Origins of Zoey"?


Unfortunately, it's definitely going as I've been saying:

Interlude episode: Zoey's flashback

episode 9 (next update): road to the Halloween party

episode 10: Halloween party

Don't expect the infamous Halloween party before episode 10, meaning ----> before Xmas 2022 - january 2023.


DrPinkCake, dude, you are REALLY milking hard this BaDIK cow. Really damn hard.

Halloween party seems pointless now that we have already chosen a girl.

 

[AssMan14]

Halloween party seems pointless now that we have already chosen a girl.

U forget about ppl who chose "Others", also I think it is quite possible to be manwhore after crossroads.

 

[DarkKiller]

It’s hardly fair to suggest "people are white knighting for the Interlude whenever people have criticisms…"

What people are doing is discussing opposing opinions.

For every positive post I make, a number of disparaging comments are made, along with other legitimately presented pros and cons from intelligent people.

I'm not going to suggest anyone being negative about this game's current turn of events is a sensitive snowflake that is scared that big bad Zoey is going to muscle in on their precious one-on-one time with their virtual girlfriend. No, I would never say that, that would be mean, even if it were true, which I'm not saying it is.

But yeah, it's just a discussion board with many opinions, and if we all stopped responding, there'd be nothing here.

For me though, I'd rather be a positive cunt that a whiny little bitch negative cunt.

For those asking if we really needed Zoey or her back story, we didn't even need BaDIK, we just got lucky and DPC decided to make it.

I for one, although I never liked the idea of the Interlude, I never disliked Zoey and welcome her into the story.
I'm already rubbing my hands as I imagine the death stare contests between the LIs and Zoey. Just imagine the shitshow it will be if MC shows the slightest doubt about his feelings towards Zoey, the fireworks will be glorious!

 

[sixart]

Halloween party seems pointless now that we have already chosen a girl.

You MIGHT have chosen a girl... it's not mandatory ! Everyone is the Fuckface of his/her own story...

Don't expect the infamous Halloween party before episode 10, meaning ----> before Xmas 2022 - january 2023.

March sounds more likely 2053 !

DrPinkCake, dude, you are REALLY milking hard this BaDIK cow. Really damn hard.

Milking it ? As a one man show I'd say he's doing some fine work out there... if he gets rich on the road... the fuck do I care ?! It's not my business Besides... talking about money income in the pirates den... Lolnope

and if we all stopped responding, there'd be nothing here.

Wonder what theory will dalli_x cook up reading this

For those asking if we really needed Zoey or her back story, we didn't even need BaDIK, we just got lucky and DPC decided to make it.

What an age we live in... Pandemics World Wars BaDIKs...

 

[JohnDelfino]

I would not speak of zealots. None of us know what is coming. As I wrote in an earlier post, there is a possibility, or is almost certain, that the message from Zoey in EP3 was not from Zoey. Accordingly, Zoey and the MC got screwed.

The pictures were on Emma's phone and not Zoey's phone. Zoey even assumed that Emma had deleted the pictures, but she didn't. No, she took them to Rooster. When Zoey found out, she went straight to Emma and the pictures were deleted by Rooster. But too late.

So who sent the alleged Zoey message to the MC?

I'm starting to think one LI is responsible for this. Stop!!! What if it was Neil. Rooster is public after all and not limited to B&R. That might explain his initial facial expression before he hugged Zoey.

She sends you a message in episode 3?

 

[Darkwen]

I for one, although I never liked the idea of the Interlude, I never disliked Zoey and welcome her into the story.
I'm already rubbing my hands as I imagine the death stare contests between the LIs and Zoey. Just imagine the shitshow it will be if MC shows the slightest doubt about his feelings towards Zoey, the fireworks will be glorious!

View attachment 1691135

That would be shitballs

 

[ename144]

ename144, I like your insightful posts, but I think you worry too much.

Worry too much? Impossible.

... right??

Is Zoey going to cause drama? It's BaDIK, yes.

Is Zoey going to be a new MG/LI, or more like a Quinn type significant SG? We don't know.

Is Zoey's introduction going to distract from relationship building with other characters? Probably to some extent, screen time for Zoey means somewhat less for others. How much so, we don't know.

Are our choices regarding the Zoey vs other relationships going to matter? Some of them, which ones we don't know. Maybe we'll be able to largely relegate Zoey to the sidelines, like you can with Quinn (important to the story, little impact on your other romantic relationships). Or maybe there will be big impacts on all our other relationships, DPC likes his soap opera drama. Either way, we don't know.

Is introducing a major character into the game midway a significant disruption to the story? DPC has been dropping new characters (or elevating their significance) throughout development, some more warmly embraced than others. The reintroduction of Zoey seems to be a major plot point that was planned from the start, so it can't be a disruption of the story DPC wants to tell. How well that works for players will vary on their tastes/expectations. We won't know until it actually plays out.

All that worrying must be exhausting. I prefer to just embrace the mystery.

View attachment 1691056

Eh, worrying is like Iocane; you start small and get used to it after a while.

In all honesty, it's more a lack of enthusiasm than it is a consuming fear. I was feeling frustrated after Episode 6, really liked where the game was heading after Episode 7, then hated the end of Episode 8. To me, it seemed like a giant reset of the situation to where I thought I was at the end of Season 1, only now the other girls had caught up to M&J.

It suddenly struck me that DPC might intend to spend Season 3 putting the MC's choice in a crucible where it would be broken and then re-forged at the end. Season 4 is when we'd finally get around to resolving the longstanding issues and sorting out the endings. It seemed like a flawed idea because Zoey was a cooler flame than the one in which the choice had originally been forged, and because the game's existing mysteries and obstacles had grown long in the tooth even before Season 2 ended. When DPC confirmed we were about half way done and that the Interlude was going to be an hour of wall-to-wall Zoey, it did nothing to abate my concerns.

As I've said many times, I'd be happy to be proven wrong. But if I am right, I'd prefer to do anything I can to mitigate the underlying problems to whatever degree is possible. So I try to make my concerns as clear as possible. Obviously DPC isn't going to read any of this, but maybe people who do will pass some of it along to him, directly or indirectly. You never know. And as remote a chance as that is, the odds if I don't say anything are even worse.

Plus, it's cathartic to analyze what I'm worried about and see how it might fit into a larger context.

 

[Kellermann]

It’s hardly fair to suggest "people are white knighting for the Interlude whenever people have criticisms…"

What people are doing is discussing opposing opinions.

For every positive post I make, a number of disparaging comments are made, along with other legitimately presented pros and cons from intelligent people.

I'm not going to suggest anyone being negative about this game's current turn of events is a sensitive snowflake that is scared that big bad Zoey is going to muscle in on their precious one-on-one time with their virtual girlfriend. No, I would never say that, that would be mean, even if it were true, which I'm not saying it is.

But yeah, it's just a discussion board with many opinions, and if we all stopped responding, there'd be nothing here.

For me though, I'd rather be a positive cunt that a whiny little bitch negative cunt.

For those asking if we really needed Zoey or her back story, we didn't even need BaDIK, we just got lucky and DPC decided to make it.

The whole enterprise was a big meh for me. The only reason I halfway like Interlude is because it gave DPC a chance to ease back a little and not work so hard. I think he really needed a break from B&R to get his mind right. He has a lot of work left to do before this ride ends. I don't want him burning out before long-standing mysteries are solved and a fitting conclusion is provided.

Regarding Zoey, my dislike of her doesn't have that much to do with her incoming story drama. I more simply dislike for the hair/tatts and because waifu wars are funny.
So, from the bottom of my heart,
That blue-haired minger can FFFFffffffffffffffffffffffuck right off and her dead granny too.
Honestly, I'm numb to DPC forced drama by this point. I know exactly what is coming (hell I basically predicted everything in this Interlude). When Zoey returns to B&R I'll just brush her aside like I do other characters I'm not currently interested in. If DPC won't allow me to do that, then I'll just fast forward through her scenes. Madame has at least taught me that.

 

[Kame-Sennin]

someone please help start a new game in interlude, i can't import even after copying save files from season 2 in appdata saves folder of season 3 ! someone please dont ignore me

 

[Mesmerizet]

Hmm, so its pretty clear that Bret moved on to having a crush on Zoey instead.
But as Zoey, is there a way we can fuck Bret out of spite for Emma? Since there was only 2 scenes in the gallery, I doubt. But it would have made for a funny discovery.

 

[Daken9]

It’s hardly fair to suggest "people are white knighting for the Interlude whenever people have criticisms…"

What people are doing is discussing opposing opinions.

For every positive post I make, a number of disparaging comments are made, along with other legitimately presented pros and cons from intelligent people.

I'm not going to suggest anyone being negative about this game's current turn of events is a sensitive snowflake that is scared that big bad Zoey is going to muscle in on their precious one-on-one time with their virtual girlfriend. No, I would never say that, that would be mean, even if it were true, which I'm not saying it is.

But yeah, it's just a discussion board with many opinions, and if we all stopped responding, there'd be nothing here.

For me though, I'd rather be a positive cunt that a whiny little bitch negative cunt.

For those asking if we really needed Zoey or her back story, we didn't even need BaDIK, we just got lucky and DPC decided to make it.

Come on, dude. Be real.

The GIGACHADs are the ones who download games at random to rub a quick one out, somehow still find their way to the correct thread just to take an even quicker shit on whatever it is they wanna take a shit on - usually in broken english and quasi-comprehensible talk - and then proceed to dip out faster than light, completely at ease with their bell getting spammed with quote after quote after like after facepalm.

We who hang around here are the goddamn losers, the whiny little bitches complaining about their complaints, or complaining about their right to complain.

Accept it and embrace your fellows, i say, for we are all one and the same and so that war might not reign.

Then whisper in their ear they're fucking bonobo retards.

 

[shazba]

The whole enterprise was a big meh for me. The only reason I halfway like Interlude is because it gave DPC a chance to ease back a little and not work so hard. I think he really needed a break from B&R to get his mind right. He has a lot of work left to do before this ride ends. I don't want him burning out before long-standing mysteries are solved and a fitting conclusion is provided.

Regarding Zoey, my dislike of her doesn't have that much to do with her incoming story drama. I more simply dislike for the hair/tatts and because waifu wars are funny.
So, from the bottom of my heart,
That blue-haired minger can FFFFffffffffffffffffffffffuck right off and her dead granny too.
Honestly, I'm numb to DPC forced drama by this point. I know exactly what is coming (hell I basically predicted everything in this Interlude). When Zoey returns to B&R I'll just brush her aside like I do other characters I'm not currently interested in. If DPC won't allow me to do that, then I'll just fast forward through her scenes. Madame has at least taught me that.

Of course it’s a personal preference, but I never understand why people really, really hate tattoos on girls.

To me tattoos are a lot of fun. Facial tattoos are a little confronting, it takes serious balls to make that decision (or too much alcohol - my brothers a tattoo artist and even he hasn’t got any ink on his face).

Tramp stamps are gross, and tiny ankle and shoulder tatts are for tourists, but a girl with a dragon curling around her body, that’s commitment.

But blue hair? It’s just another two rinses away from red you know. … Ginger! I mean ginger!

 

[SteveyP]

someone please help start a new game in interlude, i can't import even after copying save files from season 2 in appdata saves folder of season 3 ! someone please dont ignore me

Season 2 save files will not work in season 3. It will cause errors. You either need to save the season 2 saves into the binary when prompted at the end of Episode 8 then import them into the Interlude. Or use season 3 saves specifically.

 

[Daken9]

She just needs a new haircut... I think it's about time...

And, worst of it all, in every game that has a riot-grrrl-like female character, she has the same haircut (Savior, Halfway House, and many others I just forgot the name...) If someone here's planning a game, please, don't use that haircut... when I see it, the first thing that comes to my mind is... "Oh! Look! Another Quinn! How original!"

Spoiler: From Arcanjo_Fel over on the fan art thread

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I may or may not have this shit saved in my bookmarks.

And i of course call it shit to sound tough.

 

[sixart]

Of course it’s a personal preference, but I never understand why people really, really hate tattoos on girls.

I don't think it's hatred of/for tattoos... but it's a tad excessive innit ? I know there are those who cover themselves from top to bottom but that's a different species

But blue hair? It’s just another two rinses away from red you know. … Ginger! I mean ginger!

Thread carefully ! " Someone " might read it !

 

[Ilhares]

someone please help start a new game in interlude, i can't import even after copying save files from season 2 in appdata saves folder of season 3

Hm... how to use the interlude?
As a stand alone it doesn't work.
If I copy the save games in it it doesn't work either ->crash.
Should I uncompress it in the game folder?

You can only import saves from the Season 3 export (done at the end of season 2). Regular S1/S2 saves will not work.

U know Riona is asian, right? They come with math skills. He can teach Zoey

Riona made it pretty clear she doesn't come with anyone.

You get to end the game with 4 women in total for the rest of your life
1. Main love interest from the key 4
1. Girl from the Restaurant HOTs
1. From Pink Rose girls.

and one side chic from the B squad and you need to show your work

#1- there are 5 LIs, not 4. Of the lot of them, I think I'll go with Josy, though (with or without Maya). Fun, somewhat unencumbered by giving a shit about other people's opinions. I like that freedom.
Restaurant girl: Camila. I love Riona, but we're talking long-term. Cam & Josy are going to make beautiful children.
Pink Rose? Eh.. Nicole seems the most mature, but Lily's got a post-stripping career plan.. Hmm. I think I'll stick with Nicole. She's warm, caring, and A-OK with sharing. Vital qualities.

B-squad side girls? Just how inclusive is this net that's been cast? There are a lot of others the MC hasn't been dipping in yet. Given my preference, how about Jill's mother, Amelia? She looked pretty hot in that flashback. Jill might be a fluke, she needs good-looking siblings.

 

[HikenNoAcee]

Did anyone make some straw poll about Jill vs Zoey ?

 

[bertoman]

Posting my first message to say I really really liked that interlude and found most of the characters sympathetic and sweet. That being said I hope the rest of the game continues to be dumb college shenanigans.

Did anyone make some straw poll about Jill vs Zoey ?

God I hate Jill. I'd rather have Quinn as a love interest than her.

 

[slick97]

Shazba, you know I love you but I think you're being willfully obtuse here. The problem isn't needing multiple saves; I've got oodles of saves. The problem is that I don't believe any of them will let me make the choices I actually care about.

You quip that the other girls won't be kicked to the wayside just because Zoey shows up but I'm not so sure. Yes, the other girls will definitely have screen time, but I'm not here to rack up lewd scenes; I'm here for the story and the romance. Both of those need not just screen time, they need progression. Zoey, as presented thus far, feels like regression.

BaDIK is a soap opera, so drama is inevitable. And the MC does have his own personality, so some of the drama is going to flow from that. I accept both of those points. But as long as I'm allowed to make choices for the MC, I expect those choices to mean something. If I choose to pursue Maya and Josy to the exclusion of all others, I don't just want the MC to fool around with them when he has an empty spot in his schedule. I want him to prioritize them. That's where DPC dropped the ball in Season 2, and where I'm afraid he's going to do it again in Season 3.

Remember, it was DPC who amped up the 'crossroads' to 11 in Episode 8. The MC supposedly realized that showing undiscussed affection to multiple girls was unfair and either committed to a single relationship, or to making it clear that he *wasn't* interested in a relationship at this time. I was willing to chalk the MC's histrionics over the Maya/Josy crisis in Episode 4 up to him being a young, horny kid. But now we've been explicitly told that he's matured, so I expect him to handle both his relationship and any adversity differently in Season 3. DPC called the tune and he needs to pay the piper.

Just to be clear, that doesn't mean Zoey can't return or that the MC can't have complicated feelings towards her. It's fine for her to create additional drama... *as long as it flows from my choices*. That's the key. DPC can't just assume direct control and make drama happen simply because it looks good on paper. Not after he forced us into a supposedly heartfelt choice. New drama needs to flow from the new situation, otherwise the impact of both the choice and the drama is negated.

Which brings us back to Zoey. Again, the MC supposedly just committed himself to either a single relationship, or to avoiding a relationship until he was ready to take it seriously. If that decision is to have any meaning, the MC can't just abandon it the first time a 'new' girl has some chemistry with him. If an MC who committed to one of the main girls doesn't prioritize her/them over Zoey, he obviously wasn't taking the choice seriously in the first place.

Sure, he has a history with Zoey. But as the Interlude shows, that history was extremely shallow. Even his lame discussion with Bella about elephants (except, you know, the really, really obvious one) was more significant than drawing Zoey's Z-Chord. Zoey will always be special to him, but she's not in some privileged position relative to the other unchosen girls. Asserting otherwise won't amp up the drama, it will deflate it.

Now, there are ways to add Zoey to the mix that don't run afoul of the crossroads. Unfortunately, they require that Zoey's impact vary considerably based on our choices. In an Others run, for example, Zoey would be a reason for him to rethink his decision; we could get some drama out of the MC deciding whether playing the field is worth blowing his one shot to patch things up with her. In a M/J or Bella run, Zoey could be a problem not because the MC wants to reunite but because he can't explain his secret relationship to her; how far will he go to protect that secret? In a Sage or Jill run, on the other hand, the drama would be limited to letting Zoey down easily.

If DPC is willing and able to tailor Zoey's role in that manner, I'll be happy to admit I was wrong to panic over the Interlude. But I hope you'll forgive me if I'm not optimistic based on what we've seen so far. Giving Zoey her own Interlude doesn't suggest she's going to be a minor player in Season 3. And having an MC who didn't fuck Jade still hide in the Burke's bathroom doesn't suggest DPC has learned not to force the drama.

Everything I see suggests that Season 3 will be to all the LIs what Season 2 was for M/J: a long digression that ultimately leaves us making the same choice all over again at the end rather than developing that choice. Sure, Season 4 will probably be different when we finally get there, but that's a long way off. So yeah, I remain worried about Zoey and frankly, I think you should be, too.

tl;dr:
I'm not worried Zoey is going to steal the other LIs' lewd scenes, I'm worried she's going to steal the focus that should be theirs in the wake of the crossroads. And no number of saves can help against that unless DPC is willing to dial down Zoey based on our actions. I'm not holding my breath.



I'd say the MC and Zoey were legitimate best friends, but that their friendship was rather shallow. That's hardly unrealistic, but as I just beat into the ground, it doesn't leave Zoey well positioned in the wake of the crossroads.

This is by far the best response to the interlude and Zoey's character in general. Don't get me wrong, it was fairly well written and appropriately paced for what amounts to laying the foundation for a deuteragonist (I mean we were making decisions for her). However this leads to concerns over whether the build up to chapter 8 was a faux climax of the story or just part of the rising action, the latter of which would be severely underwhelming.

The story has 7 possible branches to follow for season 3: Maya/Josy, Maya OR Josy, Jill, Bella, Sage, or continue playing the field. That's a staggering amount of work DPC has created for himself, and introducing Zoey does give off the impression that he's decreasing the number of branches from 7 to 1 (or at least drastically cutting down on the complexity).

The first two seasons have absolutely blown my mind away with how well DPC has handled an increasingly complex story, I'm optimistic he'll figure out a way to incorporate Zoey's character in an unobtrusive manner (fingers crossed).

 

[goldenrule91]

God I hate Jill. I'd rather have Quinn as a love interest than her.

Finally an uncontroversial opinion that we can all agree on Kill Jill, Marry Quinn, Fuck Everyone.