Let's see...
Syri - Have to actually bond and get closer to her, do a quest for her, and get her panties before you're able to get her as crew
Kiro - See above
Paige - Plenty of bonding and intimacy before she becomes a crew member, you need to quite literally invest half a million credits in her, and when she does join she feels like a valuable member.
Bess - Has an entire arc about becoming sapient and what it means to be human and a good romance done over a long period of time.
Shekka - Need to interact with her, finish the planet she's on, and do a time consuming quest before she joins. Has fun interaction with another crewmate.
Sera - Is a fully fleshed out character with aspirations, flaws, and interests even before becoming crew. In-depth training for her to enjoy being a sub while on the ship.
Compare that to CoC2 companions:
Cait - You instantly get her at the start and the devs have not done anything interesting with her. Just a bubbly pink cat whore that gets mad at cultists and demons(but doesn't really care if you're fucking the demon queen)
Atugia - Has potential but is a complete nothingburger atm.
Brint - A generic hunk nothingburger.
Brienne - Cute character with lovey-dovey scenes, though completely uninteresting past that. Could be interesting with doubting her feelings for MC with the whole armor thing, but Wsan is never doing that.
Azy - Goes nowhere and has no depth.
Arona - Half-assed romance, completely boring character.
Agni - Who?
Vivianne - Who?
Quint -
That's all well and good...but there's 25ish TiTs companions.
Even not getting into the back and forth of why "bonding with Kiro" is a ridiculous exaggeration or any specifics about why all but maybe Anno and Paige are as shallow as the shallowest CoC2 companions...you quite literally left out 80+ percent of the TiTs crew.
Pretty far cry from "most". I doubt anyone could name them all with a gun to their head.
That's all well and good...but there's 25ish TiTs companions.
Even not getting into the back and forth of why "bonding with Kiro" is a ridiculous exaggeration or any specifics about why all but maybe Anno and Paige are as shallow as the shallowest CoC2 companions...you quite literally left out 80+ percent of the TiTs crew.
Pretty far cry from "most". I doubt anyone could name them all with a gun to their head.
Yeah, honestly the list reads more to me like "I find the content around these companions more enjoyable" rather than "these companions have more depth." And I think that's perfectly fine, we don't read porn adventure games for pulitzer prize winning writing and you don't need a character to have insane levels of depth or internal struggles to be likeable or endearing.
I'm gonna be real, I call her a disney princess so often that my brain sorta just glossed over her. I actually do think Ryn is probably the most fleshed out companion but the problems with her is the confidence and libido system is more of a shitty content switch than anything. There is no journey, no scenes showing her growth or becoming more lustful, it's just spamming the same scenes to get her to that point and the bust instantly changes. It's just half-baked, which kinda sucks because she's pretty close to being good(barring the whole successor bullshit obviously). She's got a boring personality(recurring theme with this game) but at least she has an actual arc and a valid reason for joining you, even if said reason is kinda flimsy after Winter City.
I could've very much kept going, but I really didn't feel like I had to as the point was established. Regardless I used the wrong wording which is my bad, what I meant was I care for the characters more, rather than being closer. TiTS gives you more of a reason to care about crew mates than CoC 2 does for companions.
Would genuinely like to know how Anno isn't shallow and how a robot gaining self-awareness, independence, and the ability to love is more shallow than gender bending a cow dude and have her instantly fall in love with you.
we don't read porn adventure games for pulitzer prize winning writing and you don't need a character to have insane levels of depth or internal struggles to be likeable or endearing.
Nobody said this, but you do need a reason for a character to actually risk their lives besides "Well I think it would be fun". I'm not asking for a lot, I'm just asking for them to be believable characters that I can actually care for. If one-man dev projects can do that, then a whole team making 1/3rd of a million dollars a year should definitely be able to.
Nobody said this, but you do need a reason for a character to actually risk their lives besides "Well I think it would be fun". I'm not asking for a lot, I'm just asking for them to be believable characters that I can actually care for. If one-man dev projects can do that, then a whole team making 1/3rd of a million dollars a year should definitely be able to.
Eh, I don't really agree with this. Especially in the fantasy adventure genre, where wanderlust sums up why most adventurers go on perilous escapades. Either a character is enjoyable throughout most of the story or they ain't. Doesn't matter where the weak parts are as much as the quantity of weak parts, except if the very end of a character's arc is botched because that can sour the entire buildup process that happened beforehand. You can very easily deal with a flimsy opening if you have something of value to offer beyond it. And like I've said, the writing in fen games is serviceable, rarely noteworthy. Let's face it, it matters way more if the kinks presented get your engine going than anything else.
Since we're talking shit about companions and savin's dumb decisions and inconsistency -
Ryn and his autism about people asking for the ability to transform ryn to be less gay / have a vagina. Seriously, in a game based off transformatives, where you have a companion whose entire character arc starts from a transformation fetish (boring cow) and you can't make ryn less gay because it's Savin's trap waifu and he rages anytime he has to consider writing something other than anal. Half the plot revolves around this character and the game actively makes ryn less effective if you don't smash regularly, but how dare players have preferences.
Ivris. Savin your stupid "too many characters to bang in Tavros" excuse has gone completely out the window there are a million characters in town now, only reason Ivris gets no scenes is because she conflicts with Savin's trap waifu in being a small elf, but is actually female and interesting.
Ok I've got a few things to say:
1) Who the flying fuck is Elena?¡ is it some bitch's OC or did I somehow skipped on content all this time?
2) Dear lord that "I'm not afraid of you" animu drawing is some serious uncanny valley shit, she looks like she lacks a soul! just...those eyes dude!
3) Fuck me elf ears looked good till Alypia stepped in, Ryn looks like half donkey in a tub on that pic!
Most of the time, the adventurers that do so because of wanderlust don't join a party that is specifically going to slay the demon lord and have that be the only objective. There are much better and less dangerous options, such as just going by yourself considering Brint's already a capable fighter.
Sure(even though I generally disagree) but the writing doesn't get better past that, which is why I use it as an example in the first place. Most companions are in the same boat barring Cait and Ryn but they just putter out and become directionless eventually.
I usually am of the same mindset for most NSFW games, but it just doesn't work here. Text-based games live and die by the quality of their writing. The strength of them is that you have one whole cohesive world to immerse players into, and/or allowing them to make interesting choices, leading to a unique narrative experience. Having little things like Brint join the party just because "it might be fun", or Brienne loving you for no reason, or Arona randomly saying she loves you, or Atugia randomly blowing Arona despite being a fucking kissless virgin, all add up to ruin that immersion and take away from the experience. And if I'm not immersed, and the game definitely doesn't offer interesting choices, what am I left with? A compilation of sex scenes loosely connected by whatever nonsense the writers pull out their ass to get things moving. If I just wanted that, I'd go to an NSFW chatbot, read a oneshot on literotica, or just look at a hentai caption.
Most of the time, the adventurers that do so because of wanderlust don't join a party that is specifically going to slay the demon lord and have that be the only objective. There are much better and less dangerous options, such as just going by yourself considering Brint's already a capable fighter.
Brint, the way he is characterized ingame at least, doesn't strike me as the type to back out from the get-go simply because a challenge seems insurmountable. He might try to dip out as a last ditch effort when shit hits the fan, but even then I can see him going out in a blaze of glory. Atugia, on the other hand, seems like a way weaker candidate for the party.
I usually am of the same mindset for most NSFW games, but it just doesn't work here. Text-based games live and die by the quality of their writing. The strength of them is that you have one whole cohesive world to immerse players into, and/or allowing them to make interesting choices, leading to a unique narrative experience. Having little things like Brint join the party just because "it might be fun", or Brienne loving you for no reason, or Arona randomly saying she loves you, or Atugia randomly blowing Arona despite being a fucking kissless virgin, all add up to ruin that immersion and take away from the experience. And if I'm not immersed, and the game definitely doesn't offer interesting choices, what am I left with? A compilation of sex scenes loosely connected by whatever nonsense the writers pull out their ass to get things moving. If I just wanted that, I'd go to an NSFW chatbot, read a oneshot on literotica, or just look at a hentai caption.
I see you taking way more issue with inconsistencies littered all throughout the game, rather than the weak opening being the dealbreaker here. This is just a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth, especially when the multiple cooks also season dishes other than their own.
I'm gonna be real, I call her a disney princess so often that my brain sorta just glossed over her. I actually do think Ryn is probably the most fleshed out companion but the problems with her is the confidence and libido system is more of a shitty content switch than anything. There is no journey, no scenes showing her growth or becoming more lustful, it's just spamming the same scenes to get her to that point and the bust instantly changes. It's just half-baked, which kinda sucks because she's pretty close to being good(barring the whole successor bullshit obviously). She's got a boring personality(recurring theme with this game) but at least she has an actual arc and a valid reason for joining you, even if said reason is kinda flimsy after Winter City. View attachment 3053771
I could've very much kept going, but I really didn't feel like I had to as the point was established. Regardless I used the wrong wording which is my bad, what I meant was I care for the characters more, rather than being closer. TiTS gives you more of a reason to care about crew mates than CoC 2 does for companions.
Would genuinely like to know how Anno isn't shallow and how a robot gaining self-awareness, independence, and the ability to love is more shallow than gender bending a cow dude and have her instantly fall in love with you.
Nobody said this, but you do need a reason for a character to actually risk their lives besides "Well I think it would be fun". I'm not asking for a lot, I'm just asking for them to be believable characters that I can actually care for. If one-man dev projects can do that, then a whole team making 1/3rd of a million dollars a year should definitely be able to.
It's not just inconsistencies, everything adds up. I can handwave away one or the other as long as they're not too numerous or egregious but having both just makes the narrative that much worse.
...No? Nothing I stated has anything to do with having multiple writers, it is an issue the writers create on their own. TOBS writing Kitsune Den has nothing to do with Brienne loving you for no reason, so on and so forth. Reason doesn't even really make sense because big RPGs can have over a dozen writers working on them, and it could just get resolved by the lead having a strong guidelines on quality and communicating properly.
Now this is a ridiculous exaggeration.
Not least of all because if you consider TiTS to have 25ish crewmates you're counting things like the Varmint, Pexiga, Goo armor, and non Bimbo Siegwulfe
As I've hopefully laid out. The characters that have character are generally more numerous. But that's only half of it.
TiTS has more nuanced characters in general. Quinn, the Love Starz and Crash Landing (even if I don't really care for either), Bizzy (given she has two routes), Fisi, Akane, arguably Emmy, Kara, Tessa, Li~
Actually no this post is getting too long. Feel free to let me know if you want my opinion of what, who, and why and I'll gladly elaborate.
While there are a decent enough amount of stories in this genre where that is true they're still comparatively far fewer in this genre where wanderlust is the sole reason for adventure even in episodic stuff. Especially if you factor in games.
In games, my frame of reference is nearly every (J)Rpg released from 7th gen downward. It's easier to name the games in that period of time I haven't played.
In games with groups of generics e.g; Etrian Odyssey that's the MO sure. However in games that aren't that where characters are meant to have character even in games based off of table top they always give the party a reason to party and in the more acclaimed RPGs they give the party a reason to continue partying up to the big bad so you don't get NWN2 betrayed at the ass end of your adventure.
It is far more frequent where friendship (and obligation) is the glue that sticks the crew together.
Though If I'm going to be honest everybody has a good enough reason to be on this adventure to the exclusion of new Atugia (prework Atugia had a better motivation), Viviane, Brint, Brienne, and Exile Arona.
And for the record, I'm not asking for some deep well layered complex characters.
All I'd like are characters that have character. So far any time one gets introduced they get a basic blueprint of what they're supposed to be and then just get shoved into threesomes or polyamorous relationships and that's them now until the end of time with no more development ever being done on them as a person.
Brints been thoroughly fucked into the pavement at this point. Years later and there's still nothing about the character yet the sex scenes keep on coming as the characters gets further buried from being a 'bro' adventure buddy into a bull for the man with a voyeur/swinger fetish.
The few characters that had character as the game goes on gets stripped of said character. Sariel started as a competent hunter gather who made her living trading into Hawkethorne and is now just a bland voracious butt slut whose entire personality revolves around her fetish. Viviane has a mysterious allure going on and you make an assumption that she's working on something big and you get her and she's working on nothing and just exists accomplishing nothing with no real aspirations of doing anything. Demon Viviane at least wants to work on... something but aside from minor variations she's exactly the same character which includes all of the faults.
It's a mercy Gytha even got salvaged.
Whatever spark that existed in the drama filled days of CoC1 or early TiTS I can't say I've ever felt from CoC2 after Winter City.
Reason doesn't even really make sense because big RPGs can have over a dozen writers working on them, and it could just get resolved by the lead having a strong guidelines on quality and communicating properly.
I can see how what I said wasn't made clear, so I'll try to correct myself. Rather than too many cooks, too many chefs is the appropriate thing. And this comes into play with your second point about multiple writers working on a game. There is a gulf of a difference between a team of writers working under a creative director, each given a task they must meet versus what happens in a fenco game, where everyone gets to renovate one room of the house to their liking. You get a mish-mash of writing that differs both in congruency, cohesion and tone because everyone is doing their own thing. What goes on here is closer to a collab of writers, working in the same space rather than a concentrated effort to make a focused narrative. Or at least that's my impression.
...No? Nothing I stated has anything to do with having multiple writers, it is an issue the writers create on their own. TOBS writing Kitsune Den has nothing to do with Brienne loving you for no reason, so on and so forth.
That's why I think what I've outlined above does kinda have to do with it, because there isn't a productive direction, just everyone writes what they think is good. But yeah it's just mainly poop writing being poop writing.
