I'm really proud of being a fan of this game. The average civility of people following this thread has nothing to do with what you can find in other places
I dare to revise this point: the scene with Shanlon was not really long, keeping in mind it was just her second scene.
The scene with Teri, a new chick, was long indeed. So long that we can lose the lewd action with Shanlon.
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Although I think that Teri, as opposed to Venus, can be endowed with a plot value and her scene length imbalance will be fixed. For example: Teri's kinship ties with Meredith could be revealed during a plot twist and this will affect the later chapters outcomes based on RPs with her. They even share a similar appearance so that twist won't look flimsy like an afterthought. But I doubt Philly will perform something like this.
Well, I understand what your saying, but I see that scene with them as a whole. Shanlon is watching and she joins in at some point if you make a couple correct choices. So for me everything starts the moment you go to that room with Teri, and ends with the MC cumming with both girls by his side. And it was long, toooooooo long. So much so that I remember someone (probably
MrFriendly ?) writing right after playing that update something along the lines of "if you're not on Shanlon's route there isn't much for you".
Hey, if Teri's hypothetical kinship with Bitchface brings along a threesome with her cute hypothetical cousin I'm all in! Even though I give -100 fucks about that chick TBH.
As for Venus, I think I can strengthen your and my frustration by example:
Let's compare Shanlon's number of both lewd and non-lewd scenes with the number of Venus and then take into account the difference between S and V from the story importance point of view. Damn the results are really masochistically frustrating
I hope Philly will revise this flawed approach.
Exactly. Venus was a nice introduction early in the game, when sex with some of the main LI's was still precipitated. But at far as sex scenes go, at this stage she's just unnecessary and a pain.
Do you mean occasional non-lewd animations of characters like with Katie at the very beginning or non-character ambient animations related to the city view, buildings, vehicle rides etc.?
Yeah, occasional non-lewd animations, landscape pan shots, ... that stuff. They're amazing, but I suspect they affect development times more than I would personally like.
In the beginning of the game they were great, just the right number and reserved for special occasions. For instance, I still remember that sequence when the MC drives to face Gloria and Henry for the first time. It was superbly well made.
Shanlon and Teri scen was a big turn off for me. Not only it was way longer and kinkier than I usually enjoy (which is not important) but also it was inserted in a weird moment of the story. Our MC has just recovered after spending 5 days out and he just walks into the longest sex marathon of the whole game, all while he's (supposedly) looking desperately for missing Gloria. That's why in my canon playthrough he just ask Shanlon about the info, it just doesn't make sense for me to do anything else at that point (and of course not what he ends up doing if he agrees to stay).
In book 1, I got the feeling that lewd scenes where really linked and even subordinated to main story developments (except maybe Chandra's, as her 2nd and 3rd scenes also took place at weird moments), but that's not the case in those last chapters -at least I'm feeling that way. First, Shanlon gives us some apparently important data but somehow after 2 days we haven't still found a moment to take a look at it (although we can fuck Teri and herself, then Ellen/Katie and even Venus before going to the Pit and then also Abby after rescuing Gloria). The whole Pit thing being just a club and its boss releasing her so easily was a bit of a let down after so much hype (I get it had to be an easy move in order to keep the story going, but still), and Meredith's solo were... odd to say the least. Then we got the mech hunt rightly after (so we still can't look at Shanlon's data) and the whole dreaming sequences which not only were weird as almost any dream scene in a lewd game (at least here we have the link between Gloria and MC to give them some deeper meaning), but also its aftermaths felt lacking and plain, as
ename144 has explained several times. And I'm not going to repeat again how I feel about Sasha. So yeah, I'm really hoping things finally speed up and pieces start to fit in soon enough. I also trust in Philly's abilities but I'm currently not as in love with the game as I was during book 1.
About Venus, I really like her as character, she's even interesting in her own way especially if Gloria beheaded her, but yeah, right now her scenes doesn't add anything else than yet another pointless lewd scene to pass some time
I subscribe to everything you wrote except for the complaint about how kinky Shanlon's scene was.
I'm usually not into that stuff either, and I avoid it on my "normal" paths (Katie solo, Ellen solo, Victoria love solo, Ellen+Victoria love, "harem" with all+decent MC), but I keep a special spellbound path where I'm a fucking asshole with everyone and Shanlon fits right into it
You can love something and still see the flaws where they are. COBD is probably my favorite and I'd be the first to defend Philly when someone is talking shit but there is nothing wrong with minor criticism of certain aspects of the game.
100% agree.
CoBD was my favourite game since it was released until the latest BaDIK's updates. Now the orders would be reversed: BaDIK comes first, followed by CoBD.
I'm aware of the gripes about BaDIK expressed by many people; I even share some myself. But all in all it's a colossal project and a magnificent game, and if I'm to believe DPC works on his own, the amount of content and the quality he always puts out are just inconceivable.