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

[beef-devourer]

The fact, even admitted by Philly himself, is that she was going to be just a one-off character but her looks granted her a more important role... which wasn't entirely planned in advance. And frankly, it's showing.

Edit.- Until now, her only crucial moment was her taking Gloria to the Pit, something that could have been done by any other Bolter, and the rest is just a bunch of lewdy pics and questionable choices from our ghosts to protect her.

That's kind of a pointless background story to justify her presence in that building with the sculptor, it almost looks like an afterthought to give her character some 'deep' to be explored in further appearances
(...)
we can safely take her out of the game and it wouldn't make any difference - as long as we put some other random bolter to kidnap Gloria

You nicely described the reasons why she has a low value from the story standpoint. I'm afraid that Philly wants to give her too much screen time given her weight in the story. It starts to look like if she takes away other characters' time.

IMHO, I would easily trade the excessive screen time of this very secondary character for extra episodes with the story-driving characters like Shanlon, Meredith and Victoria (damn, even with Betty) who are not on Jake's side (M and V) or not in hiding with him (S), so we can't see them often for obvious reasons. Just some more sequences fueled with meaningful dialogues and interactions would be enough to me - I don't demand lewd scenes for the sake of lewd scenes.

Unfortunately, characters that are not close allies or associates of a protagonist frequently stay underused in VNs, even in mainstream games this is not uncommon. To me it's a pity to watch crucial or remarkable characters go unexplored and underused throughout a story, because a dev wants to satisfy his audience's whim to see a more varied cast for lewd scenes and pays too much attention to questionable low value characters at the expense of more important ones. That's why Shanlon and Meredith say hello to Dragon and Lynn from Depraved Awakening

 

[Nulldev]

...but we can safely take her out of the game and it wouldn't make any difference - as long as we put some other random bolter to kidnap Gloria

Nazis wanted the Ark and to open it. Enter Indiana Jones. The nazis got the Ark and opened it.

We can safely take him out of the movie and it wouldn't make any difference?

 

[Soundgfx]

The fact, even admitted by Philly himself, is that she was going to be just a one-off character but her looks granted her a more important role... which wasn't entirely planned in advance. And frankly, it's showing.

Edit.- Until now, her only crucial moment was her taking Gloria to the Pit, something that could have been done by any other Bolter, and the rest is just a bunch of lewdy pics and questionable choices from our ghosts to protect her.

That's kind of a pointless background story to justify her presence in that building with the sculptor, it almost looks like an afterthought to give her character some 'deep' to be explored in further appearances or maybe even a reason for some future trouble (that messsage we can send to her brother seems an utterly bad idea when we are allegedly trying to stay low in Kleo's safe house). A noble cause? Sure, but honestly, I find it quite difficult to consider this a very important role in game's story. You seem to like her and that's OK, but we can safely take her out of the game and it wouldn't make any difference - as long as we put some other random bolter to kidnap Gloria

You nicely described the reasons why she has a low value from the story standpoint. I'm afraid that Philly wants to give her too much screen time given her weight in the story. It starts to look like if she takes away other characters' time.

IMHO, I would easily trade the excessive screen time of this very secondary character for extra episodes with the story-driving characters like Shanlon, Meredith and Victoria (damn, even with Betty) who are not on Jake's side (M and V) or not in hiding with him (S), so we can't see them often for obvious reasons. Just some more sequences fueled with meaningful dialogues and interactions would be enough to me - I don't demand lewd scenes for the sake of lewd scenes.

Unfortunately, characters that are not close allies or associates of a protagonist frequently stay underused in VNs, even in mainstream games this is not uncommon. To me it's a pity to watch crucial or remarkable characters go unexplored and underused throughout a story, because a dev wants to satisfy his audience's whim to see a more varied cast for lewd scenes and pays too much attention to questionable low value characters at the expense of more important ones. That's why Shanlon and Meredith say hello to Dragon and Lynn from Depraved Awakening

Yall make valid points tbh, if philly wants to incorporate and give sasha a chance to shine alongside the crucial story characters then it would be to add her own mini story but something not foreign, out of place and detached to the main plot.



It doesn't hurt the story if done well and the only thing lost would be the time it took to develop and write such scenarios, I like sasha tbh, she's interesting, a character ultimately out for herself and her brother, a step up from other characters who's first reaction to out ghost protag is to bang him - but as as of now she really doesn't offer much to the table other than looking like an absolute snack.

 

[AlienEDM]

if philly wants to incorporate and give sasha a chance to shine alongside the crucial story characters then it would be to add her own mini story but something not foreign, out of place and detached to the main plot.

Well, in my opinion, I think Philly should create DLCs to COBD, aside with the main plot and focusing just on the secondary characters of the game. That way, the main plot will not be affected on timing and we could have new good lewd scenes with the girls that some of us love.

 

[beef-devourer]

It doesn't hurt the story if done well and the only thing lost would be the time it took to develop and write such scenarios, I like sasha tbh, she's interesting, a character ultimately out for herself and her brother, a step up from other characters who's first reaction to out ghost protag is to bang him - but as as of now she really doesn't offer much to the table other than looking like an absolute snack.

I fear that progress in the Sasha brother subplot is not what the audience seeks for. Most probably she will get more screen time to justify a lewd scene with her while consuming the dev's time and contributing nothing to the story even to the secondary story arcs. This situation resembles me of the Madame content in BaDIK and its "high value". It seems the five heroines + Shanlon & Abby are not enough for a lot of supporters

I agree on your message in theory, but in practice there is a risk Sasha's arc will end up only with a bunch of lewd scenes for the sake of a more diverse lewd scene cast and I assess this risk as high based on the Chapter 9 tendencies

 

[moskyx]

Nazis wanted the Ark and to open it. Enter Indiana Jones. The nazis got the Ark and opened it.

We can safely take him out of the movie and it wouldn't make any difference?

Didn't know this game was called "Sasha and the raiders of the lost Gloria-girl". My point was more like, the exact Nazi captain who found and opened the ark? yeah, we could just replace him for any other nazi and things would stay the same - he didn't add anything to the plot. But let's imagine the chosen actor was great enough or got a catchy pun-line that make audience love him, so suddenly Spielberg decided to put him also in next films. Shoehorning a background for him just to justify his future appearances doesn't change the fact that he wasn't initially planned as part of the plot and his further appearances are almost fan services that can detract from the main story. If done well, it could be good in order to engage fans and might even help to expand the lore a bit, I don't doubt it, but in my opinion the overall quality here suffers because it feels nothing but an add-on.

I'd even go and say that I guess that 'Gloria's kidnapper after her explosion' role was initially thought for the other Bolter biker girl. What would be the difference then? We probably wouldn't have her hidden and half-naked in our safehouse, nor she would be a secondary sex-interest forcing us to interact with her while stalling the whole main plot just to have yet another potential sex scene. But yeah, she's hot, so keep her scenes coming.

 

[Darkdevil66]

I fear that progress in the Sasha brother subplot is not what the audience seeks for. Most probably she will get more screen time to justify a lewd scene with her while consuming the dev's time and contributing nothing to the story even to the secondary story arcs. This situation resembles me of the Madame content in BaDIK and its "high value". It seems the five heroines + Shanlon & Abby are not enough for a lot of supporters

I agree on your message in theory, but in practice there is a risk Sasha's arc will end up only with a bunch of lewd scenes for the sake of a more diverse lewd scene cast and I assess this risk as high based on the Chapter 9 tendencies

The Madame was only created just for the tits sucking fetish, apparently popular amongst high tier patreons. Sasha on the other hand has RP points. So maybe that's gonna be relevant later. The MC will have to make a decision about her fate, maybe there'll be different outcomes. She could be captured by Baynard or Vostok later and being forced to reveal something about Gloria and the MC.

 

[Rory Smith]

Skipped previous update. Will play this one

 

[TheOtherGuyWithGlasses]

I wonder if Philly has any plans to continue with the spell-bound path for Victoria. As far as I can tell it seems as dead as Henry is.

 

[RC-1138 Boss]

The Madame was only created just for the tits sucking fetish, apparently popular amongst high tier patreons. Sasha on the other hand has RP points. So maybe that's gonna be relevant later. The MC will have to make a decision about her fate, maybe there'll be different outcomes. She could be captured by Baynard or Vostok later and being forced to reveal something about Gloria and the MC.

Beware of getting too much faith in the points system. Both Stella and Henry also had points.

Anyway i am not holding my breath about Sasha transitioning into a meaningful part of the story like what happened to Kleo. I hope it will change but won't be surprised if it don't.

 

[Aristos]

Didn't know this game was called "Sasha and the raiders of the lost Gloria-girl". My point was more like, the exact Nazi captain who found and opened the ark? yeah, we could just replace him for any other nazi and things would stay the same - he didn't add anything to the plot. But let's imagine the chosen actor was great enough or got a catchy pun-line that make audience love him, so suddenly Spielberg decided to put him also in next films. Shoehorning a background for him just to justify his future appearances doesn't change the fact that he wasn't initially planned as part of the plot and his further appearances are almost fan services that can detract from the main story. If done well, it could be good in order to engage fans and might even help to expand the lore a bit, I don't doubt it, but in my opinion the overall quality here suffers because it feels nothing but an add-on.

I'd even go and say that I guess that 'Gloria's kidnapper after her explosion' role was initially thought for the other Bolter biker girl. What would be the difference then? We probably wouldn't have her hidden and half-naked in our safehouse, nor she would be a secondary sex-interest forcing us to interact with her while stalling the whole main plot just to have yet another potential sex scene. But yeah, she's hot, so keep her scenes coming.

I might be wrong, but I'm under the teenie-weenie impression that you are slightly dissatisfied with the way the story has been going in the latest chapters? Hey don't sweat it! If you can't bear it anymore it I could take over the translation.

Spoiler

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Now, jokes aside I feel you. I'm considerably underwhelmed myself with how little headway has been made lately; it looks as if Philly put the focus on certain secondary aspects rather than on advancing the plot, as well as I think he's made some debatable decisions concerning certain secondary characters and even Gloria. I'll just keep having faith becauseI know what he's capable of.

 

[zoe_meat]

Late to the party, but this is due to a bug in the Scene Gallery code:

Spoiler: screens.rpy

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Hopefully Philly is already across this by now, but in the meantime the attached modded screens.rpy fixes it.

Can I get a bit info on how to get Sasha scene I have everything but that.

 

[Cabin Fever]

I might be wrong, but I'm under the teenie-weenie impression that you are slightly dissatisfied with the way the story has been going in the latest chapters? Hey don't sweat it! If you can't bear it anymore it I could take over the translation.

Spoiler

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Now, jokes aside I feel you. I'm considerably underwhelmed myself with how little headway has been made lately; it looks as if Philly put the focus on certain secondary aspects rather than on advancing the plot, as well as I think he's made some debatable decisions concerning certain secondary characters and even Gloria. I'll just keep having faith becauseI know what he's capable of.

Well, look at it from a story writing perspective. We had a great Book 1. We are now only 2 chapters into Book 2. From a story cadence perspective, one really shouldn't expect the same climax-level stake at this point of the story as the Book 1 climax. If anything now is the proper time for character building, be it the main or support characters.

 

[zoe_meat]

View attachment 1313888

You can take that cum dumpster Shanlon and replace her with Sonya switch Chandra with Katie she can stay in same tier but thats the order I'd line them up in, everyone in C tier should be in B Tier vice versa for B tier while adding Ellen to that C tier and if we had the option to make Kleo F at the start of the game then Kleo would be in D tier with Shanlon since thats not the case bye bye bye Kleo.

 

[Aristos]

Well, look at it from a story writing perspective. We had a great Book 1. We are now only 2 chapters into Book 2. From a story cadence perspective, one really shouldn't expect the same climax-level stake at this point of the story as the Book 1 climax. If anything now is the proper time for character building, be it the main or support characters.

The main problem with me is that I feel he's been focusing on developing certain skills and techniques rather than on delivering substantial, meaty updates, while requiring a time between updates that is IMHO is not reflected on the final product that we've been getting for the past year or so. Since Henry allegedly died, I think the story's "interlude" or transition has been dragged out longer than I personally would like. At first the release on Steam justified what happened, but the latest update wasn't influenced by Steam any longer. It's not worrying considering how reliable and trustworthy a dev Philly is, but it's nonetheless frustrating and it must be said if someone thinks so.

Also some additional thoughts on the SEX scenes:
I could ask for less unnecessary cinematic scenes and more sex scenes and animations, but that's my personal preference and I wouldn't want it to seem like I'm trying to impose myself. I would say however that since we only get 3 scenes on average per update, I'd deem it more satisfying to stop involving chicks no one gives a fuck about or whom we haven't even seen before (last update for example), and instead deliver more scenes with the girls we really care for.
The scene with Shanlon and Teri was outrageously long, and half of it could have been devoted to another scene with another girl; sex with Venus is tiresome and boring, enough of that please; dream sex with Gloria was... weird. Not what I would have liked for her, however important their dream connection clearly is.

Sorry, I needed it off my chest. I'd been holding it for a long time.

 

[zoe_meat]

It certainly fits the world history not to have people chromed to the gills, but it would be nice to see a few blatant cybernetic components from time to time. The Red Moon obviously takes it to another level, but replacement limbs seem like they'd be well within the capabilities of a world that can give us Katie's medical scanners and mass produce those police bots. It's fine not to have them, but it does feel like a missed opportunity (even if it does come down to DAZ assets).

In other news, I went ahead and updated my tier list.

Spoiler: Ratings, Chapter 9

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My humble apology for crit on your 1st Tier list but as it seems this time you got it right Id still get rid of Kleo add Venus/Sasha to D keep Shanlon and her pet were there at and that list would be perfection IMO Katie has and always will be best option since 1st time she was introduced and Sonya right in 2nd Sonya was 1st until Katies introduction.

 

[RC-1138 Boss]

Going to annoy people with my updated version too.

Spoiler

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[beef-devourer]

The scene with Shanlon and Teri was outrageously long, and half of it could have been devoted to another scene with another girl; sex with Venus is tiresome and boring, enough of that please;
Sorry, I needed it off my chest. I'd been holding it for a long time.

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. The length might have been justified by Teri's importance for the story but who is she from both Jake's (protagonist's) and our (spectator's) standpoint - a one-off gratuitous and purposeless fuckmeat dropping out of nowhere. While Shanlon is a major story driver, Teri is a dispensable character. I forecast we will run into Teri again in the forthcoming chapter and our experience will be comparable to the Krista lewd scene. I'd be happy to be wrong.

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.

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.

I could ask for less unnecessary cinematic scenes and more sex scenes and animations, but that's my personal preference and I wouldn't want it to seem like I'm trying to impose myself.

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.?

 

[mr.AwesomeGameTaste]

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. The length might have been justified by Teri's importance for the story but who is she from both Jake's (protagonist's) and our (spectator's) standpoint - a one-off gratuitous and purposeless fuckmeat dropping out of nowhere. While Shanlon is a major story driver, Teri is a dispensable character. I forecast we will run into Teri again in the forthcoming chapter and our experience will be comparable to the Krista lewd scene. I'd be happy to be wrong.

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.

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.


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.?

It seems like Philly is trying to include more and more side characters,and brings in more and more secondary characters for sex scenes. He preferred to bring back Carli than give some other characters screen Time,as you said,Shanlon is far more important than Venus but gets less lewd and non lewd scenes.Oh,and Chandra was supposed to be a main LI right? but instead seems like Sasha will be getting some scenes again,even though she is a minor character. I mean she's hot,but I'd rather have some more main cast focused update.

 

[AlienEDM]

I don't understand why you people are complaining so much about side characters scene time. The game has right now 9 chapters and probably 5 left, which means we have too much game time ahead yet. In my opinion, Philly is doing a great job and everything is proportional so far.