VN Ren'Py Completed Chasing Sunsets [v1.10a] [Stone Fox Studios]

[MagicMan753]

I played the game a few years ago up to the first scene with Jaye and I think it was possible to pursue both main LIs on the same path. Is it still possible? I read this thread and it seems like some people were not happy with that particular path and it was supposed to be fixed in the last update, but I can't find a post that describe what was wrong with MC pursuing both LI (and I’m unsure what to search for), can anyone enlighten me please? I don't mind spoilers.

It is possible to end up with both, I say end up with, cause the path itself is atrocious dogwater bad.

The throuple path is basically, a solo Jaye path, that disregards anything Mallory, her feelings, story and everything till the very end. You don't even profess your feelings to Mal, you tell her, its just to help her, then basically break up for the last 3 chapters, then magically everything worked out, like a fairy tale when Jaye suddenly out of nowhere will just accept Mal now.

Really great story writing

 

[SpecterX]

You can pursue both, yes, but you have to navigate the choices carefully in order to be successful to the end. There's a "Jaye/Mal Poly Guide" in the OP that takes you through the key steps of it.

The "issue" was that (at least) one of the girls didn't want to be part of a throuple, as she had no interest in being in a relationship with another woman, or indeed with anyone other than the MC. I guess a lot of people didn't like that because she had already shared intimacy with another woman in the past; because they wanted it and played to that end, and so that should be the most important part; or because of the decision Jaye came to on this route at the end of the Ep9 update.

It is possible to end up with both, I say end up with, cause the path itself is atrocious dogwater bad.

The throuple path is basically, a solo Jaye path, that disregards anything Mallory, her feelings, story and everything till the very end. You don't even profess your feelings to Mal, you tell her, its just to help her, then basically break up for the last 3 chapters, then magically everything worked out, like a fairy tale when Jaye suddenly out of nowhere will just accept Mal now.

Really great story writing

Thanks to both of you.
This path must be a pain if it's need a special guide to get it.
I remember this game portraying "realistic" relations so I guess poly would be hard to bring to life and make it feel real.

 

[Rehwyn]

Thanks to both of you.
This path must be a pain if it's need a special guide to get it.
I remember this game portraying "realistic" relations so I guess poly would be hard to bring to life and make it feel real.

That's the dev's narrative reasoning for it. They felt when writing it that with the personalities involved, Jaye would only consider poly if she had absolute trust in the MC committing to her, and ending up in poly wouldn't be easy. So they wanted to reflect that in game. Though it's worth noting that poly is a lot more common than many people think. Based on studies (mainly in US/Canada), about 1 in 9 people have tried it, and about 1 in 25 currently are in a poly relationship of some form.

I will say that the poly ending, to me, was narratively satisfying. It's my favorite ending. But for a player blindly trying to get a poly ending, many players will likely try the "open" relationship options when the choices come up in Ch 6, which is not a way to get a poly ending. So I can understand a lot of their frustration, particularly because the points requirements are also very tight (you can lose poly by making just 1-2 sub-optimal points choices).

 

[Maviarab]

see if any of you guys share my vision as well.

Not really, because then it would be a story about them...and not the MC/Jaye.

 

[Beduin123]

This path must be a pain if it's need a special guide to get it.
I remember this game portraying "realistic" relations so I guess poly would be hard to bring to life and make it feel real.

Yes, the LI paths in this game are counter-intuitive, but real life is also often like that, especially when you are young and don't have a lot of intuition.
On the other hand, often we play a game to escape the real life. It can be quite annoying that you have to use the guide all the time to get the desired result. That's why I 'm one of those who prefer clean and clear simple story over a complicated branching plot.
So, for me it is one of a few cons of this otherwise great game. Also it is too vanilla for me, but that's me being me

many players will likely try the "open" relationship options when the choices come up in Ch 6, which is not a way to get a poly ending.

Exactly.

 

[soprano31]

Also it is too vanilla for me being me

Avoid the ginger disease at all costs and go for the peanut butter..

Look into her murderous eyes,the foam dripping from her mouth,
her gorgeous schizophrenic features,nothing about her on her life is ever vanilla,
but drippy unpredictable buttery..

 

[Lynxlover66]

Not really, because then it would be a story about them...and not the MC/Jaye.

I know that. That's why I said a spin-off/follow-up game.
This doesn't need to be about MC & Jaye. It will be about their parents and their closest confidants.

 

[Beduin123]

Look into her murderous eyes,the foam dripping from her mouth,
her gorgeous schizophrenic features,nothing about her on her life is ever vanilla,
but drippy unpredictable buttery..

Yesss, she is more my kinda girl It's a pity there is so little content with her. Sorry Jaye fans but I would chose hot Amanda / Mallory throuple over her any time

 

[MiltonPowers]

Avoid the ginger disease at all costs and go for the peanut butter..

Look into her murderous eyes,the foam dripping from her mouth,
her gorgeous schizophrenic features,nothing about her on her life is ever vanilla,
but drippy unpredictable buttery..
View attachment 5176838

 

[Night Hacker]

Wow! Just finished, and I'm blown away!

First off, the dialogue is some of the funniest I've seen in much of any fiction I've read in a while, let alone the VNs I've played. Found myself laughing out loud many times. And a lot of the more serous scenes I felt were not overly melodramatic, and often touching without being cheesy.

Secondly, the graphics were easily some of the best I've seen. The characters were very well designed and, for the most part, realistic. Sure, there were a lot of common features, and (maybe I've just never noticed) most women don't have eyes that bright, but they were all very nice to look at. While there were some scenes I wish had been animated that weren't, I never really felt they were diminished greatly by being static. Plus, the animations I did see were much better than almost any other VN I've seen, often longer and more fluid. The only real down-note was one scene with MC and Jaye where the back of her head looked like she was suffering from nuclear fallout, or had shaved everything on the back of her head but the top.

Next is the music: where do you guys find this stuff? Almost every track really amplified the scene it played in, and in a few scenes I caught myself tearing up. I also found myself SHAZAMing over half of it. I'd love a "Chasing Sunsets: The Soundtrack!"

Lastly, I thought the story was pretty well-written. There were a few snags where I felt things didn't really make sense or feel realistic, especially dealing with MC and Jaye's relationship in the past, especially with discovering their parents already knew how they felt, but I became heavily invested in MC and Jaye's relationship after they reunited. By Chapter 4 or 5, I was Jaye all the way.

I know from reading comments here and there that many people will disagree with me on everything I just wrote, and in no way am I saying any of their opinions are not valid from their own perspective. This is just mine. But "Chasing Sunsets" is, hands down, the best VN I've had the pleasure of experiencing! Thank you guys so much for all of the hard work you put into creating this story! It was an amazing job!

No disagreement from me. Minor issues aside, this has been my favourite visual novel, bar none. SO well written! The story, the dialog, the facial expressions... humour etc... I don't think I have ever been so sad to see a game come to an end and will be watching for future content from this dev (which, from what I seen on his patreon, is coming).

I was exactly like you, once the MC and Jaye were reunited, I was totally invested in those two, though Mallory grew on me as well, her story, and Amanda's was really well done as well. No real complaints to be honest.

 

[Grumpy Ol' Dude]

It is possible to end up with both, I say end up with, cause the path itself is atrocious dogwater bad.

The throuple path is basically, a solo Jaye path, that disregards anything Mallory, her feelings, story and everything till the very end. You don't even profess your feelings to Mal, you tell her, its just to help her, then basically break up for the last 3 chapters, then magically everything worked out, like a fairy tale when Jaye suddenly out of nowhere will just accept Mal now.

Really great story writing

It seems the issue for many is simply that you want the dev to lead you straight to a harem (in this case poly) ending without any hurdles and thinking.

Your problem is that you can't confess feelings to Mal after the sex scene but why did MC have sex with Mal at that point AFTER telling Jaye he's not involved with anyone and after their night in bed and shower scene in the morning? MC was involved with Jaye already so should not fuck Mal at all.
I agree that telling Mal it's just to help her then still ending up in a poly relationship is a bit confusing however Mal could think that MC had feelings but could not confess because of Jaye so from her point of view it's not that big of a deal and in this scenario she could hide her reaction when meeting Jaye in front of MC's door at night so Jaye never finds out what happened.
The best way to the poly ending is to let Mal leave MC's room without having sex that night with Amanda present. That way MC does not betray Jaye and does not tell Mal the sex meant nothing. That does not mean their feelings and platonic relationship isn't there already.

Why would Jaye simply forgive MC for lying to her, betraying her and even reward him with a poly relationship? That would be bad writing considering Jaye's personality.

 

[MagicMan753]

Why would Jaye simply forgive MC for lying to her, betraying her and even reward him with a poly relationship? That would be bad writing considering Jaye's personality.

I'll just respond to this part, cause I don't even think you played the game. Cause we weren't committed to anyone when we slept with Mal, and told her it was just helping her, we committed to Jaye later, so no, we didn't betray her. And I have no clue what you are saying about Amanda being present, that really only happens on open relationship route or Mal route, that is after you decide each relationship, so I have no clue what you are trying to explain, but you are doing a piss poor job.

So based on what I explained above, why would Jaye need to forgive us, cause we did nothing wrong. And if we are talking about Jaye's personality, then she should of never accepted Mal poly at end regardless. And reward, I love that word, cause that means nothing is equal, Mal doesn't matter, for a poly relationship, everyone must matter equally.

But now let's talk about the big problem everyone seems to ignore, their are Two main girls. That may be hard to understand for most people, but not everything revolves around Jaye. Is she important, Yes, but so is Mal. So in this throuple path, the devs completely drop the ball and all logic, cause they ignored her part. Hell the devs even said they wanted it to be hard to get on purpose, but by doing this they forgot the story that needed to go along with.

Many will try to explain it makes sense, Mal will just come around, Jaye's personality, but at the end day, I don't care what they say. Cause me and many others don't think it makes sense, and I not going to sit here and shove my face up their ass praising them like many others. Cause I think it is the stupidest, most braindead, idiotic thing the devs did with the path, ruining their game. Don't even bother responding, I don't want to hear your dumb argument.

 

[Grumpy Ol' Dude]

Cause we weren't committed to anyone when we slept with Mal, and told her it was just helping her, we committed to Jaye later, so no, we didn't betray her. And I have no clue what you are saying about Amanda being present

Mal follows Amanda to MC's room in the first place that night and Amanda stays there until the end, masturbating on the floor. I did not say she was involved with them in bed just that she was present in the room. The threesome happens later of course. Funny you're saying I'm the one who did not play the game.

Also, I did not say MC was committed to Jaye but they were involved in multiple ways already and MC DID say before that he wasn't involved with anyone else. If you tell a girl that you're not seeing anybody then spend the night with her naked in her bed then almost fuck her in the morning in the shower after a 16 years long very complicated past with deep feelings for each other and then you go and fuck another girl within days, you shouldn't be surprised when said girl dumps you right away, explicitly committed or not.

1. MC lied to Jaye at least from Jaye's POW. Even if it was true when MC has said it, Jaye saw them kissing the first time she met Mal then MC told her it was nothing then somehow it became something. Why wouldn't she think there was something between them from the beginning and MC just lied to her?
2. MC fucked another woman after something already started between them.

I would say MC betrayed Jaye's trust and didn't even bother to tell Jaye about Mal, she found out by accident when running into Mal while both were on the way to his room. Mal on the other hand knew about the Jaye situation from the beginning, MC didn't even have to say anything so it's understandable that she won't make that big of a deal of MC and Jaye.
Would you be OK with a girl doing the same to you, lying about other guys and fucking one the day after your encounter with her? Would you get into a poly relationship with the girl and the other dude? I somehow doubt that...

I'm genuinely amazed this needs an explanation.

The other part is mainly just a difference in opinion but the story is a lot more focused around Jaye and her relationship with MC. They have a past, grew up together, are shown a lot more together even as little children. They both just lost their parents so share the grief and they have a role in the future of the company together.
Even if you, the player, never liked Jaye, the story explicitly tells us that MC was in love with her, left home because of his feelings for her, fucked lots of green-eyed redheads after leaving home because they reminded him of her and therefore he was attracted to them simply because he still had feelings for her etc.
MC's feelings for Jaye are not decided only by the player, the same isn't true for Mal, it's possible to always be rude to her and then there won't be a single line that implicates any feelings towards her. She has a very important part of the story even then and surely is a main LI but I don't think she's Jaye's equal in this story, at least I don't feel like devs made her that way.
This does not mean some players can't like her more than Jaye of course, I like her character too.

 

[Night Hacker]

I ended up with Jaye, and in good relations with Mallory... now I need to go back and see about the poly-amorous ending. I wanted that, mainly because I really liked both characters.

I did notice that if you make a commitment to one, than if you do anything with the other you will lose like, -4 love and trust points, which makes perfect sense. But, if you're uncertain about a committed relationship and remain open, than they will respect that and are more interested in an open relationship and do not lose love and trust when you mess around with the other. It makes sense, well, as much sense as a visual novel can make. Please bear in mind this is just a game. If you're looking for reality, turn off your computer and go outside.

Also, please respect other people's opinions on the game. Some love it (like me), some may not... up to you. Remember we all have different tastes.

 

[Razrback16]

Quick question, and apologies if it's been asked before - have Stone Fox Studios stated what they're doing with regard to the remaster of the prologue & ch1? Are they going to wait until down the road, or doing it before Firebreak, etc.?

Thanks much!

 

[alain8891]

Quick question, and apologies if it's been asked before - have Stone Fox Studios stated what they're doing with regard to the remaster of the prologue & ch1? Are they going to wait until down the road, or doing it before Firebreak, etc.?

Thanks much!

The remaster will be worked on whenever there's some free time from working on Firebreak. It clearly will not be a priority but it will also not wait for Firebreak to be completed. Right now the priority is getting the 1.10b update out, we're still waiting on the beta release of that significant bugfix, Stoya has hit some unforeseen issues when migrating to a newer RenPy version and is getting around that...

 

[Razrback16]

The remaster will be worked on whenever there's some free time from working on Firebreak. It clearly will not be a priority but it will also not wait for Firebreak to be completed. Right now the priority is getting the 1.10b update out, we're still waiting on the beta release of that significant bugfix, Stoya has hit some unforeseen issues when migrating to a newer RenPy version and is getting around that...

Thanks very much - side question related to that final chapter release; did they say if there was a reason that there weren't any animations in it? I will admit that surprised me a bit.

 

[TonyMurray]

Thanks very much - side question related to that final chapter release; did they say if there was a reason that there weren't any animations in it? I will admit that surprised me a bit.

I understand that, for whatever reason, they parted ways with the person who was doing the animations previously. I guess there either wasn't the time or wasn't the inclination to get a replacement, or that they weren't able to get a suitable replacement.

 

[Walter Victor]

I understand that, for whatever reason, they parted ways with the person who was doing the animations previously. I guess there either wasn't the time or wasn't the inclination to get a replacement, or that they weren't able to get a suitable replacement.

Which raises a related question: will they have an animator ready for the release of Firebreak?

 

[alain8891]

Which raises a related question: will they have an animator ready for the release of Firebreak?

They’ll probably be doing animations themselves. Kentyrr is self-teaching how to do them…