VN Ren'Py Corporate Culture [v0.6] [sqwl]

[EndlessNights]

Elsa is a new born, a junior with placenta still sticking out her back, dominating a whirlwind of a guy

This brilliant line made me laugh out loud. No one uses the English language quite like you do, my friend.

I wanted to ask you if you think an alpha Edward might eventually turn into someone like the MC of Bastard, a VN I know you like. Most people here probably haven't played that game -- it's much pornier than Corporate Culture and is much more focused on fun times with hot women than it is existential dread or feelings of any kind. The MC in Bastard is a businessman who can be played as a very assertive, demanding, sexual harasser type cut from the same cloth as Neil and David in CC. However, you can also play him as more of a charming, roguish seducer who can be patient and understanding (often at the cost of sex scenes) which is what I do. Either way he's still a cheating, conniving bastard at the end of the day, but I think he has two advantages over an Ed who is merely playing at being an alpha. First, he's really comfortable in his own skin...no matter what mischief or mayhem he gets into, he's perpetually nonplussed and untroubled by guilt or self-doubt. He seems to accept that bastard role and really revel in it. The other thing is he doesn't see relationships as zero-sum with winners and losers. Instead, he sees them more like a business deal which can and should benefit both parties.

 

[Canto Forte]

Yeah .. .that one sure plays nice: bask in being in control of your desires and emotions.
They are 2 worlds apart, actually. Ed in this game is this competent firestarter,
like the son of charles exavier, in multiple minds about anything and stuck in a loony hell.

First, he's really comfortable in his own skin...no matter what mischief or mayhem he gets into, he's perpetually nonplussed and untroubled by guilt or self-doubt. He seems to accept that bastard role and really revel in it.

The bastard is the xavier type, already contempt with what he got,
prodding and scheming to get under as many girl skins as he can get with his grabby hands.

Games are nice in cooking drama in a funny way.
Ed in this game is tripping over himself and loosing all his alpha points
when he opens his mouth and voices his demands to anyone else than his neighbor.

What he fails to realsie is that he is confy and close enough with her so she is guard down.

The girl ordering him around and the girl he dreams about are always
rebuffing his thoughts and his actions.

Quite so many ways to go until Ed can be a Bastard.

 

[EndlessNights]

I'm wondering, was this Alice image from "super secret folder" (game-images-Capetown-supersecretfolder) used in game, or this folder is easter egg from SQWL?

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I don't think it's in the game yet. Perhaps it's a sneak peak at a future scene. I would guess it's Edward and Alice meeting up for their race which by the way he still hasn't trained or prepared for at all. Even though his best friend is literally a personal trainer.

 

[Canto Forte]

The ”friend” pulls girls for a free for all with his buddies, with MC in tow or not.
MC has gotten burned a couple a times by the ”macho” trainer types his personal trainer
friend hangs with, case in point the wife beater who literally stole the girl right from Edward table.

his best friend is literally a personal trainer

Now MC is sporting expensive clothes, slim chanse he would go bear guzzling shirtless careless get up
to fit in the kind a set up his ”friend” is using to get girls.

The story of how Mc got burnt so bad it scarred him into multiple coping personalities is
precisely the story of how sporty wife beating types hang showing off their guns around the house,
just like the wife beater snatcher was doing around Ed table, then girls seem to just jump on them.

So much for his ”friends” using the - ”Me hulk, you woman. Whore, come let me grope you!”
approach and it works, blowing up all in ed”s face for so long in his life of suffering in love.

 

[Den187]

I don't think it's in the game yet. Perhaps it's a sneak peak at a future scene. I would guess it's Edward and Alice meeting up for their race which by the way he still hasn't trained or prepared for at all. Even though his best friend is literally a personal trainer.

Maybe this Alice image (from v0.4) was supposed to be related to this message (from v0.4.5), but they have not been tied in game properly yet.

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[sqwl]

#onetruebro

#Haremnobodyaskedfor

I'm wondering, was this Alice image from "super secret folder" (game-images-Capetown-supersecretfolder) used in game, or this folder is easter egg from SQWL?

Someone hasn't been playing solo Alice path?
You can see it if you don't interact with Lucy at the end of Cape Town update:

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The picture in that folder is just a full-sized version for a research purpose.

 

[Canto Forte]

But .. MC is so down and gloom most if not all of the times,
we need Lucy to shed some light in his dungeon.

A good spirited sweet neighbor sprinkles of hope
and heartwarming, lukewarm human interaction
is a god sent to this self pitty cave MC calls a life.

 

[EndlessNights]

Spoiler

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The picture in that folder is just a full-sized version for a research purpose.

The funny thing is I immediately recognized the actual image from the game when you posted it but when I saw the full size version I was totally sure I had never seen it before. With my attention to visual details, I would probably be the absolutely last person who'd pick up on any subliminal messages in the renders so I'm glad we've got Den187 on the case scouring even the most forbidden of folders in search of secrets and weird shit. Man, now I am starting to worry a bit that I might not actually be the one controlling Edward...instead, he might be the one controlling me.

a guy who actually can make complex algorithms like the facebook guy or the tesla guy or any other tech whizz
using his prediction math to make interesting plays in the money market.

Yeah, I've definitely been too trusting. The era of eternal vigilance begins TODAY.

 

[EndlessNights]

The ”friend” pulls girls for a free for all with his buddies, with MC in tow or not.
MC has gotten burned a couple a times by the ”macho” trainer types his personal trainer
friend hangs with, case in point the wife beater who literally stole the girl right from Edward table.

Edward definitely has had a couple of extremely negative experiences with personal trainers, but that's just another reason we should appreciate the positive influence Tommy has had on our MC's life even more. He's living proof that they're not all like that. Some personal trainers really do just want to help and be there for us (and also bang you if you happen to be a lady). Elsa may be a "friend," but Tommy is if anything a !friend! or would be if that wasn't an extremely obnoxious way to use exclamation points. He's always been there for Ed at the best and worst moments. He's never given up on him or passed judgment on him or tried to run his life for him. He accepts him for who he is and loves him unconditionally. He definitely has his flaws -- there are no doubt a hundred husbands out there slowly drinking themselves to death and crying into their bottles in bars from Shanghai to Southampton that are testament to that -- but Eddie couldn't ask for a better friend.

I think Ed knows that, too. For a guy who can be full of bitterness and resentment at times, he never seems to begrudge his friend's success with women too much. The Ashley date was definitely a disaster, but that only happened at all because Tommy is still trying to get his socially awkward friend dates. Most people in Edward's life would've been happy to leave him to his couch without a second thought. In typical Tommy fashion, he probably never even noticed or thought about Ashley's personality or character before trying to set her up with Edward. She was no great catch and can be freely left to Brian (I think that was the asshole trainer's name) as far as I'm concerned. I don't really blame him for the Ashley situation too much, but in any case I think Tommy totally redeemed himself with the bar trip. C seems like a much better match for Edward and just a better person all around -- a knockout and a nice lady. Eddie just needs to call her up one of these days.

Now MC is sporting expensive clothes, slim chanse he would go bear guzzling shirtless careless get up
to fit in the kind a set up his ”friend” is using to get girls.

I think it can be good to change things up from time to time. Sure, Ed has a really nice suit now, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't still be able to let loose and go casual from time to time. There might even be a time when you really need to have a green sweater in the arsenal ready for action. I'm not sure exactly when that time would be, but you never know.

So much for his ”friends” using the - ”Me hulk, you woman. Whore, come let me grope you!”
approach and it works, blowing up all in ed”s face for so long in his life of suffering in love.

That seems to be Brian's approach for sure, but I'm not sure Tommy is that crude or disrespectful. He seems more like the type to charm and be nice to the ladies but then ghost them when things start getting too serious for his comfort level.

 

[Bruce F. Lee]

Thank you so much for the detailed analysis. You probably made some choices you'd rather not have just to see where the path would go, and now you've saved me from having to do the same thing. I plan to go back and reread your write-up whenever my inner completionist tells me I need to play all the paths because Corporate Culture is my favorite VN or I get thirsty to see the Lucy sex scenes we never get to see on the less grabby path.

I think there's still reason to hope the currently less exciting Lucy path will loop back to romance eventually. When you consider all in the inner tumult going on in Edward's mind, he really probably isn't ready for a serious relationship. We can't expect him to just wake up and decide the whole Alice thing is nonsense and that Lucy is the one he really wants to be with. He's also not going to be able to just brush away all the accumulated pain he has never dealt with over the years. I think him deciding Lucy is a gold-digger might be a form of emotional self-defense that keeps from getting into a situation where he might be hurt again. And it keeps him from seeing Lucy as a complex, complete person he could actually fall for. It's just annoying how the world seems to morph to match his thoughts sometimes. The moment he decides Lucy is a gold-digger she starts to act like one to an extent.



Edward is fighting an inner war that feels like it could end in a number of different ways. I think the wrong path for him is to try to delete his old personality and become a completely different person. Like Tommy, I actually like a lot of things about the old Edward. Mostly what he needs is to be able to engage with life, feel real emotion, and become a functional, complete human being again. He needs to be able to set and achieve goals and connect with people instead of living and hiding in his safe and empty internal world. He can do all those things without being an asshole or completely changing his personality. I think both the alpha and the Elsa corporate high achiever paths (if we consider them to be different) are potentially traps. In some ways, he certainly should be more assertive -- for instance, you probably shouldn't share internal company reports with friends no matter how determined they sound when they tell you to hand them over or how mysterious and incomprehensible their motives might be. It's also perfectly healthy and positive for him to want to advance in his job and career. However, he could become the ultimate alpha and/or ascend to the very top of the corporate world and still feel empty, unhappy, and alone in the world. Success by itself isn't going to heal him.

I still have complete faith sqwl is going to blow us away with this story he's going to tell us and that the whole thing isn't going to culminate with an elaborate Trump 2024 campaign stunt. Now if the next update begins with Ed wearing a MAGA hat and holding a Pepe plushie in one hand and a pussy in the other I will concede that it's probably time for you and I to find another VN to talk about together.

IMHO, you should play again and experience *all* the Lucy sex scenes now. Totally worth it.

 

[Canto Forte]

We all need some wins avery now and then. MC gets to apply himself to a girl who plays his game,
he gets to win big by giving in to his studies, everybody wins.
Pretty sure the other babes who keep opposing him and taking him for rides have fun withou Ed.
Why should Ed deny himself the same splurge? He is in the same league now!

 

[Byczer]

I haven't finished the game yet but the story really intrigued me. It's like I'm watching a TV show. My only complaint with the game is the appearance of the characters almost all of them are familiar Emily is Photo Hunt, Alice is Cece from Leap of Faith lol. Anyway, my fav character is Elsa, so the others are unimportant.

 

[Thermophob]

I haven't finished the game yet but the story really intrigued me. It's like I'm watching a TV show. My only complaint with the game is the appearance of the characters almost all of them are familiar Emily is Photo Hunt, Alice is Cece from Leap of Faith lol. Anyway, my fav character is Elsa, so the others are unimportant.

Common occurrence, as many devs use same stack characters... for example sister from MOTH/daughter from DMD.

 

[Byczer]

Common occurrence, as many devs use same stack characters... for example sister from MOTH/daughter from DMD.

I wish they didn't take the well-known characters. Almost everyone knows Cece in Leap of Faith.

 

[Byczer]

I just finished this game and I love it. It's getting very exciting. The only girl that interests me is Elsa. We need Elsa Route asap

 

[6pak2go]

It's been a while. Here's another Elsa fan art for her fans.

Spoiler: Squeaky Clean

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[Canto Forte]

Nu - uh! You missed a spot there, dear. Predictable, what a shame!
Here, let me get that for you!

 

[malding]

Are there any other games that use Alice's model, aside from Leap of Faith? Love that model

 

[NukaCola]

Are there any other games that use Alice's model, aside from Leap of Faith? Love that model

Lucie is another one I can think of.

 

[FlyinginTime]

Lucie is another one I can think of.

whats the name of that game?