RC-1138 Boss

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Reposting as now the update is in the latest games list.

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I get the feeling that the real mastermind behind the whole blackmail stuff is someone that we have yet to meet. But then we also have the person wanting to spike the drinks at Vanessa's house party. Right now i am not sure if both are the same person.
The latter seems directed at either Vanessa herself or maybe Isabella, both can act like assholes when they want and may have angered the wrong person. Just like Vanessa did with her mom Moira and her bimbo girlfriend.



only vaguely read some of this Rachel conversation but I personally think both Rachael and Ashe were in the wrong. I don't think anything she did makes her toxic or any worse than Ashe . Sure I do think Rachael does share a bigger portion of the blame. I think Rachel is just a human being that made a mistake with no ill intentions, and is emotional and not able to handle her emotions but also doesn't want to lose her only sister from her life entirely. At worst Rachael is selfish and can't control her emotions at least to me
This. They both were in the wrong. They even admited this when they made peace after Rachel called Ashe to have a talk at that park they used to frequent. Seriously what a weird discussion to have right now over something the game already solved several updates ago.
 
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Hungover00

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Its called sexual harassment or it this case a prelude to a rape. I think most people here don't understand what being dom or sub means. Most dev also don't. The main thing in any Dom/Sub dynamic is consent. Without consent it literally boils down to sexual molestation and rape.
That other guy sees Rape Cop trying to force Ashe to give her a blowjob and stop her from leaving when Ashe says no, only being stopped by a kick to the junk, and thinks 'Yeah, that would never lead to rape.' Never let them be alone near anyone they could rape, or as they would call it, 'sexually harass.'
 

Hungover00

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I hate it that most devs don't understand the entire Dom-Sub mechanism. The first rule of Dom Sub mechanics is consent. Without consent it literally leans towards sexual assault. We can a proper relationship then one can determine the Dom Sub mechanics between them. Like the guy before me said, somehow showing your dick to someone is considered seduction and not sexual harassment. And still trying to harass someone after they say no is akin to sexual assault. we can have proper Dom Sub in a proper relation ship but nope it always boils down to literal sexual harassment.

I hate it whether the MC is doing this shit or it is being done to them.
Not a futa game, but have you tried A Shot in the Dark? One character has the best ethical Dom portrayal, it even has a safe word mechanic. I was very impressed. (there is a slightly more toxic dom/sub situationship, but consent is still important)
 

Hungover00

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Ah this game got an update, nice.

Sadly the last update disappointed me a bit. While I liked the idea of escorting an unsure character through life to try and find her confidence through choices that'd enforce her submissive or dominant side, it kinda wrecked my immersion when the dev made it unavoidable to lose her virginity with a random girl that had way less bearing as a character than the other more established characters.

Nothing deal breaking, but considering the slow burn nature of the story progression, that felt a bit unsatisfying. Sure she is horny, but I was always able to decide if she'd cross a particular line or not. Not this time though..- oh well.
I think a lot of teens/young adults lose their V-card to a random hookup. Being caught between the pressures of being a virgin, or finding that 'perfect' person and situation to have sex, it's often easier to just take the first opportunity and rip the bandage off, so to speak.
 

Orphanus

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I think a lot of teens/young adults lose their V-card to a random hookup. Being caught between the pressures of being a virgin, or finding that 'perfect' person and situation to have sex, it's often easier to just take the first opportunity and rip the bandage off, so to speak.
The issue is that the game does use silly porn logic whenever it's convenient (or rather to gaslight people daring to voice critique) but takes itself way, way too serious at many other points. You aren't wrong by any means, but doing that is absolutely not a believable cure for Ashe's severe and self-endangering mental health issues & it also takes away from the already very underdeveloped supposed romance aspect.
 

Hungover00

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Yeah I kind of delved into this earlier, the only two characters that tend to respect the "give" part of a give and take relationship seems to be Delilah and Fiona.
Personally not really into Delilah, and Fiona is mainly just a friend in my eyes as Ashe lacks friends, so it's a bit of an awkward scenario for me.
Lexi seems nice so far. Very early days, but I think she'll end up in that column as well. (Personally, I think leaving Fiona at the friend table is nuts, but that's also personal preference and subjective)
 
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LonerPrime

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I think a lot of teens/young adults lose their V-card to a random hookup.
Understandable. Yet, in this particular setup, the dev's intent to draw out the story and MC's attraction to various characters was immediately trivialized with her jumping at the chance of boning a random person she barely knew. While not out of the realm of possibility, it jolts you out of your perceived flow of the game as upto the point you are in control of most critical aspects for the most part.

Don't get me wrong. I respect the idea of dev narrating the tale in their own way, so if this was how it was supposed to be happen, power to them. It just wasn't how I envisioned my character's growth curve given the decisions and path I was treading upto that point.
 

Hungover00

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Understandable. Yet, in this particular setup, the dev's intent to draw out the story and MC's attraction to various characters was immediately trivialized with her jumping at the chance of boning a random person she barely knew. While not out of the realm of possibility, it jolts you out of your perceived flow of the game as upto the point you are in control of most critical aspects for the most part.

Don't get me wrong. I respect the idea of dev narrating the tale in their own way, so if this was how it was supposed to be happen, power to them. It just wasn't how I envisioned my character's growth curve given the decisions and path I was treading upto that point.
Mechanically, forcing the V-card to be with one person saves tracking and writing alternate lines for every possible character they could have fucked first. So I get it from both the Dev wanting to streamline things, and how a young person, boiling over with horniness, would react to someone directly seducing them.
 

Orphanus

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Mechanically, forcing the V-card to be with one person saves tracking and writing alternate lines for every possible character they could have fucked first. So I get it from both the Dev wanting to streamline things, and how a young person, boiling over with horniness, would react to someone directly seducing them.
The problem is in that case it would be much more honest to stop claiming this is about decisions and romance & most importantly it's quite silly to claim loosing her virginity to a random person who pushed Ashe towards it as well would suddenly make some of her severe mental health issues and self-loathing go away. I fully understand what your saying & you are right, but that is exactly why writing branching stories is difficult and a ton of work. But when you do you can't make cheap excuses whenever it's convenient, either follow through with it or make a kinetic novel instead.
 
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Hungover00

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The issue is that the game does use silly porn logic whenever it's convenient (or rather to gaslight people daring to voice critique) but takes itself way, way too serious at many other points. You aren't wrong by any means, but doing that is absolutely not a believable cure for Ashe's severe and self-endangering mental health issues & it also takes away from the already very underdeveloped supposed romance aspect.
Yeah, sex in general wouldn't be a believable cure for severe mental health issues. Who would think it would be?

And romance? My assumption was there may be romance sprinkled around, but mostly the story would cover Ashe's sexual awakening. Romance may or may not be included.
 
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Orphanus

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Yeah, sex in general wouldn't be a believable cure for severe mental health issues. Who would think it would be?

And romance? My assumption was there may be romance sprinkled around, but mostly the story would cover Ashe's sexual awakening. Romance may or may not be included.
The author literally claimed the way it (having her first time) supposedly fixes Ashes inability to open up to e.g. Delilah was the important part and therefore the scene was mandatory, I'm not kidding you.

Well the author also told me that Ashe had to loose her virginity to Zoey so that the romance with the actual Loveinterests could become a thing later down the line cause it fixes her insecurities to such a degree. Hence why I say the game uses dumb porn/12 year old horny teenager logic whenever it's convenient but otherwise takes itself way too serious for that to be on the table.
 

Hungover00

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The author literally claimed the way it (having her first time) supposedly fixes Ashes inability to open up to e.g. Delilah was the important part and therefore the scene was mandatory, I'm not kidding you.

Well the author also told me that Ashe had to loose her virginity to Zoey so that the romance with the actual Loveinterests could become a thing later down the line.
It's removing an impediment and passing a hurdle, so I agree with that. It's a step, not a cure. An important step, since most cultures put it as a dividing line of before and after, but 'fix' seems to overstate things. The dev still has Ashe stammering and unsure, but also more open and confident overall, so they seem to be treating it consistently from what I recall. And if Ashe lost her virginity to Fiona, or worse, Delilah, she would have tried to immediately go monogamous. Zoey avoids that by being a stranger and immediately going on vacation so that Ashe can't get a u-haul and move in with her.

I was always under the impression this was a harem game, not a dating sim, so all of that fits to me.
 
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Orphanus

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It's removing an impediment and passing a hurdle, so I agree with that. It's a step, not a cure. An important step, since most cultures put it as a dividing line of before and after, but 'fix' seems to overstate things. The dev still has Ashe stammering and unsure, but also more open and confident overall, so they seem to be treating it consistently from what I recall. And if Ashe lost her virginity to Fiona, or worse, Delilah, she would have tried to immediately go monogamous. Zoey avoids that by being a stranger and immediately going on vacation so that Ashe can't get a u-haul and move in with her.

I was always under the impression this was a harem game, not a dating sim, so all of that fits to me.
But in that case this is a kinetic novel (and a tonally inconsistent one at that), aside from the fact that I personally don't exactly agree with you here but that doesn't mean you're wrong or that I'm necessarily 100% right or that there is only either/or here.

Edit: Also it seems kinda self-explanatory to me that building a healthy relationship with a single, trustworthy person instead of sleeping around with a bunch of uncaring and selfish people who are mostly just using Ashe for their satisfaction is definitely much more prone to be a step-stone on the way to overcoming her issues and mentally healing. There is nothing wrong with monogamy, especially not in Ashe's situation, which is not to say polygamy is a bad thing either. Why take away any sort of player agency in such an important aspect? More importantly though why try to act as if this is about making decisions when you railroad the player into so much stuff? Just seems kinda dishonest to me personally.
 

Hungover00

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But in that case this is a kinetic novel (and a tonally inconsistent one at that), aside from the fact that I personally don't exactly agree with you here but that doesn't mean you're wrong or that I'm necessarily 100% right or that there is only either/or here.

Edit: Also it seems kinda self-explanatory to me that building a healthy relationship with a single, trustworthy person instead of sleeping around with a bunch of uncaring and selfish people who are mostly just using Ashe for their satisfaction is definitely much more prone to be a stepstone on the way to overcoming her issues and mentally healing.
All visual novels are going to have kinetic elements. Having a few anchor points of needed plot events stops insane spread. EI does have some choices that have significance, but I do agree that the dev leans closer to keeping the story on a central rail. The blackmail plotline being the biggest example.

Edit: just saw your edit. I don't think a VN is really the best medium for mental health best practices. A futa harem game is several steps away from reality, and Ashe isn't even currently in therapy, so real world efficacy doesn't seem high on the dev's story priority lists. So I'm not terribly bothered. But a 'slutty' stage in life is a pretty good way for a person to learn more about themselves and how they interact with the world around them, so I don't think it's inherently unhealthy either.
 

Orphanus

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All visual novels are going to have kinetic elements. Having a few anchor points of needed plot events stops insane spread. EI does have some choices that have significance, but I do agree that the dev leans closer to keeping the story on a central rail. The blackmail plotline being the biggest example.
That is not wrong, once again, I'd say though that writing a bunch of unique first time scenes with the main Loveinterests would be absolutely reasonable to expect here, which is something you're free to disagree on ofc and I respect that. This VN basically has no choices, it's fully railroading the player into 3 paths and that's that. Were I the author I'd tag this as a kinetic novel & as a writer I 1000% support the decision to make kinetic novels, it's beyond most people's patience, free time and writing capabilities to create truly branching narratives and I'd advise anyone asking me against trying that unless they have a really well laid out plan and also the financial security to invest that much time into something that might not gain them money at all.

Edit (in regards to your edit): All true but not fitting in a VN that takes itself this seriously. Either depict mental health issues and the way to deal with them in a realistic and believable fashion or don't try writing something that delves into them to the degree this VN does.
 
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