VN Ren'Py Completed City of Broken Dreamers [v1.15.0 Ch. 15] [PhillyGames]

[moskyx]

We can only hope.

But seriously, if the author's plans are to have a dramatic death scene for Sonja, it will fall completely flat for me because I'm so sick of her by now. Forced relationships in these game came grow very tiresome when you are allowed to make all sorts of important choices that lead to branching paths, but then you have this one character who is off limits. I have a tendency to resent those characters enough that when some tragedy befalls them, I just shrug because I'm glad that they are finally out of the way. For example, when I played that one game that made you choose which love interest to save from a house fire, I left the mandatory starter girlfriend without a moments hesitation. And that poor girl didn't even do anything wrong.

I would also prefer to be allowed to directly choose how we feel about Sonja, rather than have it decided by a hidden stat. It can be quite frustrating to have to replay the game and min/max a bunch of conversations just to be allowed to respond a certain way to an unrelated event.

Main difference with that other game (in which I basically felt and did the same you're describing) it's that here there's a heavy background for that relationship that we as players need to adjust to. Sonja is not a random girl you meet and then you are forced to see how your MC falls for her against your will. When you take charge of COBD's MC, they were a happily married couple who worked in the same business (and sometimes even on competing sides) until that Caracas event that blew everything away and effect them deeply. If we could choose how we feel about that incident from the start, the game would be a completely different one because all the internal conflict in this story is based on how the MC reacted to that event, so that emotional reaction needs to be solid and not a player's choice.

Once we accept this storytelling starting point, it's only natural that sometimes our MC would say and act differently from what we (who only know Sonja since the start of the game) feel for her. Then from the fight at Ellen's loft we can slowly decide how we (as players) feel now about her and whether if we want to dig in the past to 'solve it' or not, but some parts of the script will still be affected by that common past, especially her own behaviour, and I can live with that. If in the end there's a pretendly redeeming death for her, well, it won't be so meaningful for me either but I could understand it in the game's story context

edit- in a certain way, it's the same situation with Meredith, only from an opposite perspective. We are forced to hate her from the start without actually knowing what happened in the past, we can just assume there's something wrong with that relationship in the past but first time I played I was like 'hey, why my MC needs to act like a dick with her in their first meeting? I don't wanna!'

 

[Anomander Cake]

Oh wow I'm surprised people don't like Sonja, she's one of my fav characters lol and I'm hoping we can pursue something with her in the future updates, or atleast get one lewd scene, even if just in flashback form.

The history is there, depending on your playthrough you can start making amends and it's clear she still cares for you in her own way. The potential is there.

I gotta admit I've been a little upset there's barely been much interaction with the main girls after chapter 7. I know the focus has been on rescuing Gloria, but we've barely had much interactions with the rest. A short exchange with Ellen, a short lewd scene with Katie, nothing with Chandra and not even a shared scene with Victoria.

 

[Deleted member 3313072]

Oh wow I'm surprised people don't like Sonja, she's one of my fav characters lol and I'm hoping we can pursue something with her in the future updates, or atleast get one lewd scene, even if just in flashback form.

The history is there, depending on your playthrough you can start making amends and it's clear she still cares for you in her own way. The potential is there.

I gotta admit I've been a little upset there's barely been much interaction with the main girls after chapter 7. I know the focus has been on rescuing Gloria, but we've barely had much interactions with the rest. A short exchange with Ellen, a short lewd scene with Katie, nothing with Chandra and not even a shared scene with Victoria.

It's not that I like her or don't like her. I'm very neutral when it comes to her. She's a nuisance, yet she's important to the story, despite her flip-flopping allegiances.

But I do see her doing something like sacrificing herself for Gloria to make up for past sins, like Caracas. She said it herself. She's broken. Her saving Gloria and sacrificing herself for her and her safety might be the means to her ends of having peace with herself, making up for past mistakes.

I might be wrong, but for some reason that's how I see or feel it playing out.

 

[Anomander Cake]

It's not that I like her or don't like her. I'm very neutral when it comes to her. She's a nuisance, yet she's important to the story, despite her flip-flopping allegiances.

But I do see her doing something like sacrificing herself for Gloria to make up for past sins, like Caracas. She said it herself. She's broken. Her saving Gloria and sacrificing herself for her and her safety might be the means to her ends of having peace with herself, making up for past mistakes.

I might be wrong, but for some reason that's how I see or feel it playing out.

Yeah I won't be surprised if she ends up dying saving Gloria or the MC, it seems like a logical end for her.
I hope my MC can patch things up with her by then though, and have either a lewd scene or atleast a romantic moment lol. I don't think she's getting a happy ending anyway, but making peace with the MC might be the best outcome for her, all things considered.

 

[Deleted member 3313072]

Yeah I won't be surprised if she ends up dying saving Gloria or the MC, it seems like a logical end for her.
I hope my MC can patch things up with her by then though, and have either a lewd scene or atleast a romantic moment lol. I don't think she's getting a happy ending anyway, but making peace with the MC might be the best outcome for her, all things considered.

Yeah I think either way she's going to be hurt on some level. Despite her attitude towards the MC, she does love him on some level, and he does her. But with her Rambo, always guns blazing reckless persona, she's going to get herself into trouble.

She also has a chance of losing the MC for good to another girl. A ghost in Katie's clinic already told her (if you're on Katie's route like I am) that they were "tight, if you know what I mean." So I'm sure she has a feeling that despite the past, he has moved on with someone (Katie, Ellen, etc) but like another game I play (Leap of Faith) they do deserve some sort of closure with each other.

Whether that happens before Sonja possibly gets killed who knows, but they do deserve some sort of moment together before the end. It could be like Gloria's final moment with Henry as she was holding his hand, well thumb and they apologize or whatever to each other.

It needs to happen on some level in some scenario I would think.

 

[Alfred the Fallen]

Main difference with that other game (in which I basically felt and did the same you're describing) it's that here there's a heavy background for that relationship that we as players need to adjust to. Sonja is not a random girl you meet and then you are forced to see how your MC falls for her against your will. When you take charge of COBD's MC, they were a happily married couple who worked in the same business (and sometimes even on competing sides) until that Caracas event that blew everything away and effect them deeply. If we could choose how we feel about that incident from the start, the game would be a completely different one because all the internal conflict in this story is based on how the MC reacted to that event, so that emotional reaction needs to be solid and not a player's choice.

Once we accept this storytelling starting point, it's only natural that sometimes our MC would say and act differently from what we (who only know Sonja since the start of the game) feel for her. Then from the fight at Ellen's loft we can slowly decide how we (as players) feel now about her and whether if we want to dig in the past to 'solve it' or not, but some parts of the script will still be affected by that common past, especially her own behaviour, and I can live with that. If in the end there's a pretendly redeeming death for her, well, it won't be so meaningful for me either but I could understand it in the game's story context

edit- in a certain way, it's the same situation with Meredith, only from an opposite perspective. We are forced to hate her from the start without actually knowing what happened in the past, we can just assume there's something wrong with that relationship in the past but first time I played I was like 'hey, why my MC needs to act like a dick with her in their first meeting? I don't wanna!'

I understand (and agree) what you are saying about Sonja, but I still feel that she's overstayed her welcome by now considering all that has happened since the game began.

The way that I see it is that Sonja and Gloria are a bit like Yennifer and Ciri in the sense that Sonja/Yen have an important background romance with the main character, but it's Gloria/Ciri that are central to the plot. Geralt was in love with Yen at the start of the game, and Yennifer was a key part of the hunt for Ciri. But as we progressed through the game, we were allowed to have arguments with Yennifer, and could eventually tell her that we no longer loved her. Yennifer didn't disappear from the game, and she still remained relevant to the plot, and I think that something similar could (and should) be pulled off here.

I know that Sonja doesn't have nearly as much of a tie to Gloria as Yen did to Ciri, but she does have as much of a tie to Gloria as we do as the main character. Sonja could continue to help Gloria as way of trying to atone for past sins, just as the main character does. This would free up the main character to the possibility of getting into a serious relationship with one of the other love interests, which is something that would be rather awkward to do if he were still married to Sonja. This is especially true for those on the Ellen path, as our first encounter with Sonja was when she deliberately ruined our night with Ellen, and a subsequent encounter with Sonja almost killed Ellen.

 

[UncleVT]

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Dev Update #96
Alright guys so the poll is out and I took a quick look, I am pretty sure I know what I will be doing on Monday, it looks like people really like Carpenter Brut Still, if you have not yet voted in the poll make sure you get them in soon. I will start the renders Monday evening, so expect them sometime on Tuesday.
Now for the update I will keep it brief since everything is still rolling smoothly. We are now up to 875 renders, also got a couple animations in this week as well brining that count to 47. Again my focus has been shifting to game proper, writing, code, some bug fixes, post work, and things of that nature.
So, past that I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your weekend.
As always guys, stay awesome!
Philly

 

[TheRequestor]

The HD image for Dev Update #96:

Spoiler

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[Holygagi]

I would really like a focus on the normal people and citizens, who ignore the corruption of their politicians and how they let the corporations get away with what they do. Also I would appreciate a greater integration of unions into the story, as they are often one the main criminals behind the corruption of politicians and corporations. Still, great game and awesome animations! =)

 

[ename144]

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Dev Update #96
Alright guys so the poll is out and I took a quick look, I am pretty sure I know what I will be doing on Monday, it looks like people really like Carpenter Brut Still, if you have not yet voted in the poll make sure you get them in soon. I will start the renders Monday evening, so expect them sometime on Tuesday.
Now for the update I will keep it brief since everything is still rolling smoothly. We are now up to 875 renders, also got a couple animations in this week as well brining that count to 47. Again my focus has been shifting to game proper, writing, code, some bug fixes, post work, and things of that nature.
So, past that I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your weekend.
As always guys, stay awesome!
Philly

Seems like no major news this week. Philly completed 65 static and 2 animation renders this week. That brings his overall average down (slightly) to ~73 statics and 3.9 animations per week.

Spoiler: New Charts, Little Change

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Philly's still on pace to hit his estimated 1000 static renders in about two weeks. So I'd say we're still looking at a mid/late August release as the most likely possibility, with early September the next most likely time if the story/coding needs work disproportional to the remaining art assets. We should get a better idea as we get closer to the target and Philly either suggests the chapter is coming together, or continues to elaborate on how much writing is left to finish.

Meanwhile it looks like Sonja should be getting more screen time. I presume this will take place at some motel-equivalent in the aftermath of the big robot fight, before they make it back to LA the next day. On the one hand, that feels a lot like filler to me: dragging out the plot to excuse cramming a few more uninteresting lewd scenes in. The last few episodes have been doing that way too much for my taste, so this makes me nervous.

On the other hand, as a long-time Sonja fan, I really would like an option to reconcile with her and this could finally be an opportunity. Combine that with how underwhelming the conversations with Gloria were last time (in the wake of those dreadful dream sequences), and this could be a great opportunity to connect with either (or maybe even both) of them. I'd be a lot more willing to accept downtime if it feels like it's actually advancing the the MC's relationships.

Let's be optimistic and hope we can get some great character scenes very soon.

 

[Deleted member 3313072]

Seems like no major news this week. Philly completed 65 static and 2 animation renders this week. That brings his overall average down (slightly) to ~73 statics and 3.9 animations per week.

Spoiler: New Charts, Little Change

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

Philly's still on pace to hit his estimated 1000 static renders in about two weeks. So I'd say we're still looking at a mid/late August release as the most likely possibility, which early September the next most likely time if the story/coding needs work disproportional to the remaining art assets. We should get a better idea as we get closer to the target and Philly either suggests the chapter is coming together, or continues to elaborate on how much writing is left to finish.

Meanwhile it looks like Sonja should be getting more screen time. I presume this will take place at some motel-equivalent in the aftermath of the big robot fight, before they make it back to LA the next day. On the one hand, that feels a lot like filler to me: dragging out the plot to excuse cramming a few more lewd scenes in. The last few episodes have been doing that way too much for my taste, so this makes me nervous.

On the other hand, as a long-time Sonja fan, I really would like an option to reconcile with her and this could finally be an opportunity. Combine that with how underwhelming the conversations with Gloria were last time (in the wake of those dreadful dream sequences), and this could be a great opportunity to connect with either (or maybe even both) of them. I'd be a lot more willing to accept downtime if it feels like it's actually advancing the the MC's relationships.

Let's be optimistic and hope we can get some great character scenes very soon.

Out of reactions for the day so giving this a +

 

[HornyyPussy]

The HD image for Dev Update #96:

Spoiler

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Jesus H Christ, look at those thighs........would be a shame to not get at least one romp in the sack with that amazon....

 

[MrMax]

"it looks like people really like Carpenter Brut" ... ummm yeah. I thought that was a given among fans of cyberpunk settings

 

[AlienEDM]

I am curious... For what aiming is this poll that Philly is promoting on his patreon?

 

[xiuer]

When will the mobile version be released

 

[Deleted member 3313072]

When will the mobile version be released

We're assuming very late August or possibly well into September

 

[Skeltom]

When will the mobile version be released

Unless I'm missing something the android port hasn't been updated since 0.6.1, so unless someone makes a port for this version or the next there may not be an up to date mobile version.

EDIT: Never mind, forget everything I just said. This is up to v1.09. Android

 

[Pixex]

Now Philly is in trouble, I found a possible great new competitor of his game: Reddoll 2095. Well, not really, but stilll...

Spoiler: Victoria's sister?

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That is an old image, you have to check the new version of Reddoll 2095 most of all Chapter 2.

 

[Pixex]

No way, so much noise in all renders , but why

I think, you have to check the new version of Reddoll 2095 most of all Chapter 2.

 

[AlienEDM]

That is an old image, you have to check the new version of Reddoll 2095 most of all Chapter 2.

It's great to know you're investing in your game. A really big evolution. Congratulations! Now you're actually in competition progress with The City of Broken Dreamers... and that is a good thing. I am serious!

I think, you have to check the new version of Reddoll 2095 most of all Chapter 2.

And please, don't mind us, because this forum is full of sarcastic jokers.