Ren'Py Desert Stalker [v0.16b] [Zetan]

[Phase_01]

Can you still see the broken Fairy scenes in the gallery if you're doing the healing route?

 

[Paz]

During the "Broken" questline, if Fairy remains broken, the quest is labeled as completed even though it isn't, locking me out of earning her "Appreciated" scene. It completes after she is determined as broken by MC and Zahra. Thoughts?

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[Yngling]

Just finished my first playthrough of the game, can't wait to see more. Currently going back through to determine both good and bad playthroughs for the attainment of all of the scenes. Having a bit of a moral dilemma with the Hive mission on whether to allow Mantis to stay or take her back to base. What do you think is the morally virtuous option?

It's a values question. Which morality is more important? Individualism or collective structure?

Taking her back to the base is the moral(she keeps her identity/individualism) and longterm strategic option, leaving there is immoral(her identity is subordinate to the hive queen) option but probably short term strategically necessary option. The hive is about as trust worthy as the decayed, less consistent in actions, and probably can quickly grow to unmanageable levels if given a steady supply of food.

It's a great question... Personally I am on the Hive path but I fear that ksatnod makes the correct analysis.

About the morality, it's tricky. Pr0GamerJohnny 's argument is valid but at the same time an outsider can also question the morality of another collective.

For example, if somebody flees from an oppressive regime, which does have a strong moral base, just one that your country doesn't agree with (nice example: Iranian fleeing to France) do you send him back to be with his collective?

Or, is your own collective the most important one? In my opinion, in this case that is what comes first as morally correct.

In this case, while the Mutants have no problems with Mantis and do get somewhat weaker with her loss, Zeta has the objective of getting strong strategic alliances against the Decayed. None of the other factions is the perfect ally, all are potentially dangerous. But the Hive does certainly present the strongest long-term danger. At the same time they are also the most powerful ally against the Decayed. The ideal scenario would be that Hive and Decayed destroy each other and Zeta just has to mop up whatever remains from either, including turning on the Hive eventually. Which is also morally questionable but also probably the correct thing to do if you put Zetan interests first.

But at the moment, we are still lacking information about the Hive and how the conflict with the Decayed will develop. We will need to see...

Another, completely unrelated, point: aesthetically, the Hive scenes are one of the most impressive ones I've ever seen in any adult VN.

 

[Moon Called]

Hi, I'm still relatively at the beginning of the story and this game has already hooked me a little, and the fact that I can decide for myself whether I treat a person well or badly, become intimate with them or not, kill them or release them gives my own character so much more depth and customization options. I definitely like that in principle, but I'm just wondering how profoundly I can decide which path to take? I've already decided to embody a rather good character who sometimes does bad things to protect those he loves. However, I noticed that there is a very dark, evil path that I also find interesting, but is there a path that is based on love and romance and you choose a single partner? I would at least find it exciting if that were possible.

 

[fhiaofwiao]

but is there a path that is based on love and romance and you choose a single partner? I would at least find it exciting if that were possible.

I mean, the closest thing to that that I can think of is that you can choose to romance one character and ignore / reject others when given the option. Not sure if you can reject every romance scene though, some might be mandatory.

 

[Kellermann]

Finally had a chance to play latest and it was another fantastic episode! Actually more content than I was expecting. I continue to enjoy downtime at the villa and the visits to the homes of friends. That said, I do look forward to getting back into desert action and hopefully the return of Shani. I am excited to see faction politics evolve as well. Also, I am going to need another visit with the bitch queen before long. A fleeting secret groping in a dungeon was not nearly enough to satisfy.

I do have a single gripe that I must say (and this is purely a personal preference sort of thing and would not in any way take away from an overall rating). I absolutely hate this growing trend of auto-advancing animations where the camera angle switches without any input from the user. DPC started this goddamn trend (or at least popularised it) and now I see many more devs adopting this same method. Even my beloved Desert Stalker game. One of the reasons I play these games as opposed to just watching pron is user choice and the fact that there is some degree of control over what you are seeing. If I like a particular image or animation, I want to be able to linger on it instead of getting a quick flash and then it is gone then stuck waiting for the scenes to eventually cycle through again. Save the auto stuff for cutscenes or after one auto cycle, switch back to the regular individual animations that advance on input.

The Ain scene would have been amazing if I could have had a chance to actually enjoy each animation before it was ripped away. Being able to advance, pause, or go back on any image or animation is (or was) a key feature of renpy. Ah well, I guess I will have to get used to it. Another fucking thing that DPC has ruined for me. Hopefully other devs don't start copying his other obsession: mini-games.

 

[GetOutOfMyLab]

Finally had a chance to play latest and it was another fantastic episode! Actually more content than I was expecting. I continue to enjoy downtime at the villa and the visits to the homes of friends. That said, I do look forward to getting back into desert action and hopefully the return of Shani. I am excited to see faction politics evolve as well. Also, I am going to need another visit with the bitch queen before long. A fleeting secret groping in a dungeon was not nearly enough to satisfy.

I do have a single gripe that I must say (and this is purely a personal preference sort of thing and would not in any way take away from an overall rating). I absolutely hate this growing trend of auto-advancing animations where the camera angle switches without any input from the user. DPC started this goddamn trend (or at least popularised it) and now I see many more devs adopting this same method. Even my beloved Desert Stalker game. One of the reasons I play these games as opposed to just watching pron is user choice and the fact that there is some degree of control over what you are seeing. If I like a particular image or animation, I want to be able to linger on it instead of getting a quick flash and then it is gone then stuck waiting for the scenes to eventually cycle through again. Save the auto stuff for cutscenes or after one auto cycle, switch back to the regular individual animations that advance on input.

The Ain scene would have been amazing if I could have had a chance to actually enjoy each animation before it was ripped away. Being able to advance, pause, or go back on any image or animation is (or was) a key feature of renpy. Ah well, I guess I will have to get used to it. Another fucking thing that DPC has ruined for me. Hopefully other devs don't start copying his other obsession: mini-games.

Totally agree with you about the animations. Unless it's a cutscene, I want to be able to control when switching views, or at least, when to move onto the next one.

 

[Paz]

I do have a single gripe that I must say (and this is purely a personal preference sort of thing and would not in any way take away from an overall rating).... I want to be able to linger on it instead of getting a quick flash and then it is gone then stuck waiting for the scenes to eventually cycle through again.

Totally agree with you about the animations. Unless it's a cutscene, I want to be able to control when switching views, or at least, when to move onto the next one.

This is something we discussed as a last minute addition but ended up not going with it, mainly for 2 reasons.

1. While I agree that being able to select angles is better, I personally felt that the simplest ways -having a menu or some "camera angle" icons- seemed slightly out of place and/or "distracting" in a sense, and

2. More importantly, some animations are not loopable, not without heavy editing at least. The Ain animations for instance cannot loop seamlessly due to the hair movement being out of sync in first and last frames (dForce and all). There are a couple of ways around it, like fading to black in every loop, but that would be jarring for a 1.5 second animation.
Or render a far longer animation and carefully cut it, which wasn't an option this time around sadly (a 4-second animation takes ~80 hours at 40 minutes per frame).
Hence our choice to sort of "chain" them together into a single, bigger one.

That said, it might (possibly? probably?) end up being in the game in some fashion, at least for some scenes.

 

[Machete]

Can you still see the broken Fairy scenes in the gallery if you're doing the healing route?

Nope. They seem mutually exclusive. They wouldn't be coherent if they both 'happened'.

 

[Phase_01]

Nope. They seem mutually exclusive. They wouldn't be coherent if they both 'happened'.

What I mean is are they separate scenes in the gallery, or under one scene that gets locked based on what you've picked in story?
So if I use an Unlocker I can see the other scenes, since I'm on the healing route and would like to see the broken route.

Haven't downloaded yet since I'm waiting on next update, but would like to know.

 

[Machete]

What I mean is are they separate scenes in the gallery, or under one scene that gets locked based on what you've picked in story?
So if I use an Unlocker I can see the other scenes, since I'm on the healing route and would like to see the broken route.

Haven't downloaded yet since I'm waiting on next update, but would like to know.

I think the second. You get one of the two scenes, but of course if you unblock the gallery you will see both.

 

[Phase_01]

I think the second. You get one of the two scenes, but of course if you unblock the gallery you will see both.

Sweet, thank you for answering!

 

[Kellermann]

This is something we discussed as a last minute addition but ended up not going with it, mainly for 2 reasons.

1. While I agree that being able to select angles is better, I personally felt that the simplest ways -having a menu or some "camera angle" icons- seemed slightly out of place and/or "distracting" in a sense, and

2. More importantly, some animations are not loopable, not without heavy editing at least. The Ain animations for instance cannot loop seamlessly due to the hair movement being out of sync in first and last frames (dForce and all). There are a couple of ways around it, like fading to black in every loop, but that would be jarring for a 1.5 second animation.
Or render a far longer animation and carefully cut it, which wasn't an option this time around sadly (a 4-second animation takes ~80 hours at 40 minutes per frame).
Hence our choice to sort of "chain" them together into a single, bigger one.

That said, it might (possibly? probably?) end up being in the game in some fashion, at least for some scenes.

I can certainly appreciate that and the hard work involved. Though, if hair movement the deciding factor that an animation cannot be looped then I vote to ditch the hair movement. And this from a person who generally supports physics in lewd animations. Ain and Nadia (especially) hair movement look very nice but I'd rather see time focused on body movement than hair. I would almost prefer a static render to an auto-advancing animation.

Nadia I understand a little more because her hair is one of her defining features. But Ain hair tied, so in several positions the amount of hair movement can be limited (or non-existent) without any great loss. But again, just a personal preference thing.

 

[JohnF95zone]

Sweet, thank you for answering!

There are 3 routes for Fairy (Broken, Neutral and Healed). There are only 2 scenes in the Replay Gallery for Neutral ( Appreciation ) and Healed ( Gratitude ). There is no Replay Gallery scene for Broken yet (because the Replay Gallery only showcase lewd/sex scenes and the Broken route does not have lewd/sex scene in this release).

As per Machete reply, the Appreciation and Gratitude scenes are mutually exclusive you either you have to load an earlier save or using an unlocker to see the other one.

Hope that helps.

 

[Tinman021]

This is going to be my second best game in AVN for now. Subscribing soon

 

[Phase_01]

There are 3 routes for Fairy (Broken, Neutral and Healed). There are only 2 scenes in the Replay Gallery for Neutral ( Appreciation ) and Healed ( Gratitude ). There is no Replay Gallery scene for Broken yet (because the Replay Gallery only showcase lewd/sex scenes and the Broken route does not have lewd/sex scene).

As per Machete reply, the Appreciation and Gratitude scenes are mutually exclusive you either you have to load an earlier save or using an unlocker to see the other one.

Hope that helps.

Ohh ok, thank you that helps a lot.

Surprised there's no broken scene added alongside the neutral and healed scenes, but honestly I'm scared (aroused) to see what else can even be done to that poor girl

 

[JohnF95zone]

The followings are (mix of) my observations, opinions and speculations regarding the Broken route.

It is tricky compared to the other lewd/sex scenes because it can easily be interpreted as "extreme" and controversial because of its exploitative nature.

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[dolfe67]

they want the scene to be enjoyable by the stalker of the Broken route while at the same time facing less hatred from the players of the other routes. Regardless, there will be complaints.

I know there might be complaints, but if you don't like it just don't play it ffs. Just stfu and take care well of Fairy.

 

[Fiufia]

The followings are (mix of) my observations, opinions and speculations regarding the Broken route.

It is tricky compared to the other lewd/sex scenes because it can easily be interpreted as "extreme" and controversial because of its exploitative nature.

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I would say it's a good opportunity for some BDSM since the game has the tag. but practically nothing in scenes
I doubt they will introduce something much more hardcore that the game already has. so I'm not very worried about the complaints

 

[Bootdisk]

This is going to be my second best game in AVN for now. Subscribing soon

Don't let us hanging, what would the first best game be, then?