VN Ren'Py Completed Chasing Sunsets [v1.0] [Stone Fox Studios]

[alain8891]

From the dev team some 30 minutes ago...posted on Steam board and similar post in Discord:

Upcoming 1.0a Patch
In addition to some bug fixes, the 1.0a patch will add a new scene.

Based on feedback, it's clear that once the player sets on one destructive path to his relationships in Chapter 6, in spite of the foreshadowing he is never given the opportunity to course-correct or make things right.

This seems overly-punitive, and as such there will be some choices available to the player at the beginning of Chapter 9 that were not there on launch day.

These choices will not add endings, or make arrangements acceptable to love interests that were not palatable before, they will simply give the player an opportunity to make decisions on his own behalf before they are made for him.

We expect to have this patch ready within 48 hours.

This relates specifically to the open relationship path...

 

[Reniere]

From the dev team some 30 minutes ago...posted on Steam board and similar post in Discord:



This relates specifically to the open relationship path...

so what your saying is...... it was a bug lol
im taking any W to name the nonsense of 1route equals 2. lol

 

[doovel]

From the dev team some 30 minutes ago...posted on Steam board and similar post in Discord:



This relates specifically to the open relationship path...

There was already a 23MB patch on Steam earlier, but I imagine this was something else. Though I can't see any patch notes.

This was one of my gripes. I hope the correction is that you can tell Mal you want to commit before you jump out of the heli. If you haven't been sleeping around. Or something along those lines. Really should have had that opportunity a bit earlier.

 

[alain8891]

There was already a 23MB patch on Steam earlier, but I imagine this was something else. Though I can't see any patch notes.

This was one of my gripes. I hope the correction is that you can tell Mal you want to commit before you jump out of the heli. If you haven't been sleeping around. Or something along those lines. Really should have had that opportunity a bit earlier.

Yeah the earlier patch update (not just Steam, all platforms including Patreon too) was an updated scripts.rpa which addressed a few bugs (typos, branching...). This newer update is a bit more significant...
As I understand it the new scene will take place after the concert...therefore before the heli jump.

 

[doovel]

so what your saying is...... it was a bug lol
im taking any W to name the nonsense of 1route equals 2. lol

This isn't a bug. They realised it wasn't popular or they realised they were punishing the player too harshly. It was intended behaviour however.

I'm sceptical about the latter, as they also labelled 'open' or 'exploring' destructive options. Something they shouldn't de facto be.

Normal relationships start that way all the time. You don't want to label it yet, you want to keep exploring without committing etc. It's only shitty behaviour if you keep pretending a relationship isn't getting more serious when it is. When you've passed it's official, we just haven't said it yet stage.

 

[ModiThorrson]

so what your saying is...... it was a bug lol
im taking any W to name the nonsense of 1route equals 2. lol

This isn't a bug. They realised it wasn't popular or they realised they were punishing the player too harshly. It was intended behaviour however.

I'm sceptical about the latter, as they also labelled 'open' or 'exploring' destructive options. Something they shouldn't de facto be.

Normal relationships start that way all the time. You don't want to label it yet, you want to keep exploring without committing etc. It's only shitty behaviour if you keep pretending a relationship isn't getting more serious when it is. When you've passed it's official, we just haven't said it yet stage.

Yeah thats not a bug imo, that's an oversight, it happens, devs are human.....or so they claim.

 

[doovel]

Yeah thats not a bug imo, that's an oversight, it happens, devs are human.....or so they claim.

They're actually the lizard people you hear so much about.

mostly because of a lack of sun exposure

 

[1egn]

hey new to the game, had a question, is all the game a flashback?

 

[Elduriel]

hey new to the game, had a question, is all the game a flashback?

pretty much, but it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, the players still makes all the choices

 

[1egn]

pretty much, but it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, the players still makes all the choices

tnx I just wanted to know so I could get into the right mindset

 

[Augustus Commodus]

very let down by the conclusion of the story , a lot of the threads that were still hanging on by the end of the last chapter , got resolve in minutes or got resolve out of screen . (frustrating very frustrating)

#Mc returning home : that should've been one of the most emotional scenes in the avn ( chapter 8 should've ended with this scene) the whole arc on this story started the moment Mc left home and should've ended with Mc returning home , this could've been the right time for Mc and Jaye to really mourne their parents .
just imagine Mc crying because the last time he was on his parents room they were there sleeping on their bed and now Mc is watching their empty bed , while Jaye is crying hugging the Mc as strongly as she can becuase in that moment she realized the same .
this scene doesn't need any dialogue , to be impactful and emotional.

#Jaye /Tara /Mc : reunion got resolve out of screen (throuple that made sense) , Tara was into Jaye and the Mc and she was sexually involve with both of them , that was a scene that should've been in this update.

#Peanut and her Mom: talking about her being cured should've been in the update .

#Mallory /Mc/Peanut : (throuple that made sense) talking about how thing will be from now on , now that the 3 of them are together because that was a new experience for both Mallory and Peanut .

#the cabin scene should've been longer to finish stablishing the characters and their relationships or to set up the Jaye/Mallory throuple . (easily that cabin scene should've been at least a week of them sharing more intimate stories and growing their friendship).

for some reason this chapter lacks any kind of emotional beat (with the exception of the dog scene) , the chapter felt mundane and empty .

this are my ramblings after finishing this Avn.
View attachment 3949011

I agree with most of what you said, and you helped clarify some of my own thoughts. The MC returning home should have been huge, and nothing was done with it. The reunion with Tara should have been huge. Even if the devs didn't make her a love interest or have a possible trouple with her, she was a huge part of the story, and there should have been a pay off and resolution. Whether Amanda was involved with Mallory and the MC had almost no impact on the story. There should have been scenes that addressed that situation if it existed.

Thanks for this, I just tested it out.

I loaded up my throuple playthrough from my chapter 5 save and chose to be commited to Jaye.
I tabbed through all the chapters to the end, thinking that getting 80 love with Mal might be an issue, but no! it was fine, I had 90 love with Mal, yay!!!
Unfortunately I only had 93 love with Jaye DOH!!!

I will need to play from an earlier save, or even just start from the beginning again lol!

I had exactly the same problem. I ended having to go back almost to the beginning and changing the two times I said I was interested in both, during the topless sunbathing scene and before shots at the bar, to focusing on Jaye.

people don’t understand this joke?!? The thing is that I choose the options that the WT mod shows in episodes 1 and 2, both girls get max points as they should, but after 2 episodes and until the end of this version of the game, both girls always lack points.. I choose the options that are required but these bitch glasses are always missing.. WHAT THE HELL? why so? and in some cases it is not possible to select all options. ... what should be done so that both girls always have max points? Is this possible? Yes, and here’s the joke: you get points in episodes 1 and 2 at the max, but for some reason they don’t give you the achievement, and it’s strange, if it’s wrong that Mellisa and Jay have the max, as it should, but they don’t give me the achievement. how so?

I had two saves at the end of chapter 8. One with Jaye at max love and trust, and one with Mallory at max love and trust. It was impossible with either of those to have the chosen girl have max points at the end of chapter 9. Ironically, I did end up with Mallory exceeding max points on the polyamory route due to the massive boost she gets when you agree to it.

Speaking of cameos, it would be interesting if someone can piece together a single comprehensive chronology of all the games involved.

The only 2 things I'm sure of is that Artemis appears to be happening earlier based on the single fact that a fully skinned and functional Artemis hasn't yet appeared in that game; while LoF is happening roughly in parallel as Jaye was about to go to Tonalu when she met Lexi.

And I can't wait for Peanutbooter to cameo in Artemis.

Anna from To Be A King was made a cameo in this game. Jaye, Mallory, and George made cameos in Single Again.

It's accidental in the sense that I used the one save I have that met the pre-1.0 requirements, and then proceeded to make the 2 choices in this release that were necessary first. Just because that was the one I ended my last replay on. It happened to be the path I'm the least interested in. I'm all in on the side-girls in this AVN, as Mal and Jaye just don't do it for me.

I'm still the one making the choice to accept the poly relationship or not. Nothing about that was accidental.



It's funny, my motivation was completely different than actually wanting things to be different. It was something I would've said out of compassion. Similarly that was the reason I decided to hit the "Phone a friend" option, that was a fuck this absolute cunt-waffle to hell and back. Granted I didn't expect to see Amanda there, as she wasn't really necessary (it was just a reference).

None of those choices were born out of an interest in a poly or open relationship. I tend to play most/all paths in AVNs when the AVN is interesting enough. I try to put myself into the main characters driving seat. Which leads me to monogamy as a default. I only play the Open/harem paths to see if and what the shit show will be.



I really love it when those choices matter in AVNs, but I can't appreciate it when the AVN breaks and distorts it's own internal logic to force it to happen. In this case the choices make little to no sense with the characters we have. Not unless there's a long road between the previous release and this one.

It breaks the characters and what their choices would be based on the previous release. To name an obvious comparison, this is like GoT S8 where characters make nonsensical decisions based on their characterisation up to that point.



I cannot, I appreciated the beauty up till this point though. This will 100% remain a "fuck up by the Author, because they wanted to move on to the next thing". Or perhaps it was a 'need'. In which case I don't blame the author for making that choice, it doesn't absolve them and it does make their game much worse than it would've been otherwise. This game was never about the sex scenes for me, as the implied incestuous nature of the story prevents arousal. It was however interesting enough that I had grown fond of it.

Just for reference, most games on here score below a 3/5 for me. This game went from a 4.25 to a 3.5 with this release. When it could've gone up if the story and the characters were given their proper due.



I've since seen those replies and you're right. It's not like you actually get forced into the poly path. There are some strict requirements to be fulfilled.

My first ending was dying on the boat to the assassin. Why? Because I didn't train with Tanaka. Why? I didn't want to cheat on the other girls.

As I mentioned, the last two chapters felt rushed. The threat just escalated with the attack. The characters just learned the true extent of the threat and that they were being targeted directly (we as players knew much more than the characters did due to the various scenes away from them). And everything was resolved in chapter 8. Not a single decision you make in chapter 9 impacts the threat. There are two virtually identical outcomes with minor variation in text. Far different from the different paths you could take earlier in the game. The trust stat is almost worthless in the last half of the game. You'll get penalized trust points for cheating, but trust points are never used to determine any outcomes. If you sleep with Lisa while in a relationship with Jaye, she'll resign. If you try for a committed relationship with both Jaye and Mallory, you get a bad end. Other than that, there aren't any consequences for cheating. A lot of side characters were sort of forgotten. It really does feel like the devs just decided they were done with it and rushed to the end. Hopefully, the epilogues will help, but it did hurt it. This game went, in my opinion, from being a good game to just above average.

It also didn't help that Mallory and Jaye were the main love interests, with Jaye being the primary. Don't get me wrong. I liked Jaye, but I liked Mallory better. And I liked Lisa as much as both of them, and she felt like she deserved an ending. I liked Bianca a little less. And Tara was such a big part of the story that, relationship or not, sex or not, she needed a few scenes towards the end. And Amanda needed specific scenes if she was part of the relationship with Mallory. And I wanted to know more about what was going on with Erika and her family.

Actually, I think I just realized part of why I feel this game became disappointing. Just like it seemed like the devs wanted do something complicated and grand with the routes and stats early and gave up, it feels like the devs didn't know what to do once the characters were in relationships. Jaye and Mallory were more interesting before the MC got into a relationship, open or committed, than afterwards. Variant scenes mostly vanished. A couple of sex scenes. It's like they didn't know what to do at that point and just wanted to wrap it up. The game feels like it got smaller and simpler as it progressed. I may be entirely wrong, but it just feels that way to me.

so what your saying is...... it was a bug lol
im taking any W to name the nonsense of 1route equals 2. lol

My guess it that you will have an option if in an open relationship with one or both girls to commit to one before you get set on the alone path.

 

[Cabin Fever]

But we know the current Artemis tineline is after LoF, as Lexi ist telling Kindra about bring together with the LoF MC. Also, Steph from LoF has a cameo as arresting officer, meaning she already left witness protection and is back at the agency.

So basically, the chronology can't be squared away. Such a shame.

 

[Cabin Fever]

Anna from To Be A King was made a cameo in this game. Jaye, Mallory, and George made cameos in Single Again.

All true but it doesn't help with the building of a shared universe chronology, does it?

 

[Augustus Commodus]

All true but it doesn't help with the building of a shared universe chronology, does it?

Of course it does. To Be A King takes place in the past, so it obviously is before most of the other games. Jaye and Mallory are obviously together in a polyamorous relationship in Single Again, so Chasing Sunsets obviously is before that.

 

[Cabin Fever]

Of course it does. To Be A King takes place in the past, so it obviously is before most of the other games. Jaye and Mallory are obviously together in a polyamorous relationship in Single Again, so Chasing Sunsets obviously is before that.

Fair enough. I haven't played those games so I have no idea what they did there and how they fit in. And the fact that you didn't spell out those reasons didn't help idiots like me.

 

[smuk]

I dunno... End up with open relationship and alone at the end. It feels... normal? I'm not even disappointed. just feel empty, I think..
Often, when the game give just only one of few option I take a time with each of the love interests to see how things play out. But with this one - I don't want it to play out like this. I know, my wish is not what devs should to put at first, so I leave it like this - alone.
The end plays out to real imo. But is to real good for this kind of games?

 

[biskrem]

Is there a difference between Steam build and regular gaming? Which one do I need to download?

 

[Justaphase]

From the dev team some 30 minutes ago...posted on Steam board and similar post in Discord:



This relates specifically to the open relationship path...

Well it's good that they have taken player feedback and are making some changes. I doubt it will be anything major, but I do think that the open relationship path could use a little extra work. They make two of the best LI's in Jaye and Mallory and seem to want to punish people for wanting both. Though from reading this it's going to simply be "Choose Jaye" "Choose Mallory" or neither, choices when on the open relationship path going into Episode 9.
Personally I would have prefered no "polyamorous" ending, to the way that you are supposed to get there at the moment.

 

[doovel]

I agree with most of what you said, and you helped clarify some of my own thoughts. The MC returning home should have been huge, and nothing was done with it. The reunion with Tara should have been huge. Even if the devs didn't make her a love interest or have a possible trouple with her, she was a huge part of the story, and there should have been a pay off and resolution. Whether Amanda was involved with Mallory and the MC had almost no impact on the story. There should have been scenes that addressed that situation if it existed.

I had exactly the same problem. I ended having to go back almost to the beginning and changing the two times I said I was interested in both, during the topless sunbathing scene and before shots at the bar, to focusing on Jaye.

I had two saves at the end of chapter 8. One with Jaye at max love and trust, and one with Mallory at max love and trust. It was impossible with either of those to have the chosen girl have max points at the end of chapter 9. Ironically, I did end up with Mallory exceeding max points on the polyamory route due to the massive boost she gets when you agree to it.

Anna from To Be A King was made a cameo in this game. Jaye, Mallory, and George made cameos in Single Again.

My first ending was dying on the boat to the assassin. Why? Because I didn't train with Tanaka. Why? I didn't want to cheat on the other girls.

As I mentioned, the last two chapters felt rushed. The threat just escalated with the attack. The characters just learned the true extent of the threat and that they were being targeted directly (we as players knew much more than the characters did due to the various scenes away from them). And everything was resolved in chapter 8. Not a single decision you make in chapter 9 impacts the threat. There are two virtually identical outcomes with minor variation in text. Far different from the different paths you could take earlier in the game. The trust stat is almost worthless in the last half of the game. You'll get penalized trust points for cheating, but trust points are never used to determine any outcomes. If you sleep with Lisa while in a relationship with Jaye, she'll resign. If you try for a committed relationship with both Jaye and Mallory, you get a bad end. Other than that, there aren't any consequences for cheating. A lot of side characters were sort of forgotten. It really does feel like the devs just decided they were done with it and rushed to the end. Hopefully, the epilogues will help, but it did hurt it. This game went, in my opinion, from being a good game to just above average.

It also didn't help that Mallory and Jaye were the main love interests, with Jaye being the primary. Don't get me wrong. I liked Jaye, but I liked Mallory better. And I liked Lisa as much as both of them, and she felt like she deserved an ending. I liked Bianca a little less. And Tara was such a big part of the story that, relationship or not, sex or not, she needed a few scenes towards the end. And Amanda needed specific scenes if she was part of the relationship with Mallory. And I wanted to know more about what was going on with Erika and her family.

Actually, I think I just realized part of why I feel this game became disappointing. Just like it seemed like the devs wanted do something complicated and grand with the routes and stats early and gave up, it feels like the devs didn't know what to do once the characters were in relationships. Jaye and Mallory were more interesting before the MC got into a relationship, open or committed, than afterwards. Variant scenes mostly vanished. A couple of sex scenes. It's like they didn't know what to do at that point and just wanted to wrap it up. The game feels like it got smaller and simpler as it progressed. I may be entirely wrong, but it just feels that way to me.

My guess it that you will have an option if in an open relationship with one or both girls to commit to one before you get set on the alone path.

MetaTara strikes again

 

[Breezerr]

JokerLeader
Through the recommended choices, I believe your mod is trying to achieve the poly path for Jaye and Mallory. If so, there is a wrong variable. To achieve this path, Jaye's (num024) and Mallory's (num025) relationship variable must be set to 6 in the last bar scene. Mallory's variable is correct, but Jaye's is set to 1.