VN Ren'Py Eternum [v0.7.5 Public] [Caribdis]

[Dylan741]

View attachment 2402729

Sorry man, I didn't want to post the pic in his original resolution, anyway it's in the Coven island if you want to take a look, is small anyway but it was a very interesting (imho) thing to discover.

 

[Takkatakka]

Someone said it best a while back in this thread IIRC: this VN is more "plot with porn" rather than "porn with plot." So if you're not into that then you're gonna have a bad time.

Honestly two out of three actual fuck scenes are somewhat random. Especially the first one feels like it is more a hook for people playing this for the porn to show them, that there really will be sex in this game so they don't run away. In that way it is almost the opposite of PC which has so many long scenes that it is almost too much.

 

[Dorfnutter]

Honestly two out of three actual fuck scenes are somewhat random. Especially the first one feels like it is more a hook for people playing this for the porn to show them, that there really will be sex in this game so they don't run away. In that way it is almost the opposite of PC which has so many long scenes that it is almost too much.

First one being...what, Eve? Naaah, I feel like that one's pretty natural given the setting. Like, if you didn't expect Orion (MC) to have the option to have sex with a prostitute in a Cyberpunk world then I don't know what to tell you (it's like, par for the course in just about a lot of Cyberpunk stories, really).

 

[Takkatakka]

First one being...what, Eve? Naaah, I feel like that one's pretty natural given the setting. Like, if you didn't expect Orion (MC) to have the option to have sex with a prostitute in a Cyberpunk world then I don't know what to tell you (it's like, par for the course in just about a lot of Cyberpunk stories, really).

It is the first thing you do in Eternum with a character the MC doesn't know, that will likely never return and happens without any build-up. That scene is very much the definition of a random sex scene, especially compared to the scenes with the actual LIs, how slow those progress and how carefully they are build-up.

 

[Dorfnutter]

It is the first thing you do in Eternum with a character the MC doesn't know, that will likely never return and happens without any build-up.

There IS some build up though. Quite quick compared to a proper buildup that LI's get, but it's not a complete "pump-and-dump" like in most cases (see: very first sex scene in "Apostle: Rebellion," just about every joytoy sex scene in "Cyberpunk 2077").

That scene is very much the definition of a random sex scene, especially compared to the scenes with the actual LIs, how slow those progress and how carefully they are build-up.

Tacked on for the sake of it, sure. Random? Ehhh...like I said, it's a Cyberpunk server. It's basically on the list of things/tropes you can expect to find, along with "human augmentation that may or may not make sense," "hackers that act like wizards," "always night or rainy weather," "excessive usage of neon," "over-the-top gore and violence," and "consumer-grade weaponry that violate the Geneva conventions."

 

[Takkatakka]

Tacked on for the sake of it, sure. Random? Ehhh...like I said, it's a Cyberpunk server. It's basically on the list of things/tropes you can expect to find, along with "human augmentation that may or may not make sense," "hackers that act like wizards," "always night or rainy weather," "excessive usage of neon," "over-the-top gore and violence," and "consumer-grade weaponry that violate the Geneva conventions."

Random as in coming out of nowhere. Sure, it is also meant to tell the MC and the player something about Eternum.

 

[Dorfnutter]

Random as in coming out of nowhere. Sure, it is also meant to tell the MC and the player something about Eternum.

Again, considering how very prevalent prostitution is to just about the majority of Cyberpunk settings out there, can you even consider the encounter random?

Also you and I appear to have a very different definition of "random" as far as events in a story goes. Random to me is something completely unexpected that doesn't normally happen as far as genre conventions are concerned. Being able to cast magic in a Cyberpunk setting is random (unless it's explained in the beginning that your story happens in a setting that combines fantasy and cyberpunk (i.e. "Shadowrun"/"Cthulhupunk")). The existence of magical items in a Cyberpunk setting is random (unless, again, your story has a setting that combines both).

Stumbling on a brothel and sleeping with a prostitute in a Cyberpunk setting?

Sounds pretty common to me. Downright tropey, even.

 

[Rizzler97]

Just spent the Entire day playing Eternum and Holy Shit, I'm blown away. this is a fucking masterpiece and that Nancy scene was divine. Writing is god tier and the characters look so fucking good. it felt like I was watching a movie with how invested I was, looking forward to V0.6! So Glad this is a Harem and hopefully it stays that way since I can't for the life of me choose between any of the girls.

 

[BrockLanders]

[...]PC which has so many long scenes that it is almost too much.

 

[njaaxd]

Just to be sure. No Regina scene, right? Tried everything, including waiting in the locker room for 10 minutes XD and nothing happened.

 

[Deleted member 4058859]

Just to be sure. No Regina scene, right? Tried everything, including waiting in the locker room for 10 minutes XD and nothing happened.

There is a regina scene but you need to download the public version of the game. If you have mods enabled that might interfere with it as well as this scene was only added in the public release. Go to the locker room after regina invites you.

 

[Deleted member 4058859]

Tacked on for the sake of it, sure. Random? Ehhh...like I said, it's a Cyberpunk server. It's basically on the list of things/tropes you can expect to find, along with "human augmentation that may or may not make sense," "hackers that act like wizards," "always night or rainy weather," "excessive usage of neon," "over-the-top gore and violence," and "consumer-grade weaponry that violate the Geneva conventions."

I think it was out of place because it does not fit Orion's character. It was very obviously put there just so people could have a lewd scene in the first version and compared to the other scenes in the game it feels a bit out of place to me because it feels disjoint from both the plot and the character personalities.

Orion is shown to be a nice and thoughtful guy and the first thing he does when Annie gives him the equivalent of 1.5k is to try and blow it all up on hookers which I feel goes against how the MC is shown to be. From Annie's perspective she has been saving for years (presumably to gift Orion the implant) and the first thing Orion does is try to throw it all away. Yes eva did not take the money but the MC did not know that would happen as it is even more unrealistic than the 1 dollar gas prices - it was a sex scene just for the sake of having a sex scene and I think there were better ways of handling it. The scene would have made a lot more sense if 1) it was similar to the regina scene where we lose Annie's path - doing something that will very obviously make the girls sad should be an option but there should also be consequences for such options 2) or if it happened later in the game where the MC has the option to spend his own money 3) or if it was somehow tied to the story like the Maat/Nova scene.

Shoehorning tropes just for the sake of it is not an excuse. It would not matter much normally but when everything else in the game is of such high quality something like this sticks out.

 

[An known]

Just to be sure. No Regina scene, right? Tried everything, including waiting in the locker room for 10 minutes XD and nothing happened.

Jokes aside there's a Regina Scene and you don't have to wait 10 mins for it, maybe you downloaded the wrong release. And expect disappointment after the scene

 

[Dorfnutter]

I think it was out of place because it does not fit Orion's character. It was very obviously put there just so people could have a lewd scene in the first version and compared to the other scenes in the game it feels a bit out of place to me because it feels disjoint from both the plot and the character personalities.

It fits the server's character though, which was what I was arguing about.

Orion is shown to be a nice and thoughtful guy and the first thing he does when Annie gives him the equivalent of 1.5k is to try and blow it all up on hookers which I feel goes against how the MC is shown to be. From Annie's perspective she has been saving for years (presumably to gift Orion the implant) and the first thing Orion does is try to throw it all away.

Nice and thoughtful guy. Hm.

/side-eyes Orion's train monologue and conversation with Chang about getting laid and scoring chicks at the very beginning of the game and his "stealth" encounter with Dalia at the bathroom

Yeah I don't know about that, chief. He's not as bad as Axel or Nancy, sure. But he's still definitely a horndog so I'm not that surprised when we encounter certain scenes where it's obvious that his dick/horni is overriding his sense of judgment.

Shoehorning tropes just for the sake of it is not an excuse. It would not matter much normally but when everything else in the game is of such high quality something like this sticks out.

It adds to the worldbuilding, though. Sure, it's a sex scene for the sake of a sex scene. But aside from ticking a box in the "normal for Cyberpunk" list there's some dialogue there that I feel is going to get some callbacks later on as we dive further and further into the story and the issue of "what is real" starts rearing its ugly head (along with a host of other ugly questions). And yes, while I concede that it could've been handled better, that there should've been consequences yada yada yada, I just feel miffed at the idea that we have to justify a scene that's just is just because it doesn't contribute to the grand scheme of things.

It's the same principle as those arguing against 0.5 because it's mostly downtime. "We can't have that anymore because it hampers with the fucking plot." "We can't have moments where we just stop and take in the world and experience shit because it's disjointed to the entire thing." "There's too many cooking moments in Heaven's Feel. Why are there so much fucking cooking in Heaven's Feel?" "ENOUGH WITH THE WISHY-WASHY LACK OF FUCKING PROGRESS, GET US BACK TO THE FUCKING STORY-"

...

...Sorry. Call me old-fashioned, but it's one of those things that I absolutely hate about modern storytelling - the need for everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, to fit to the metanarrative that we don't stop and take in the fucking sights anymore just for the hell of it.

 

[Takkatakka]

View attachment 2404046

How dear you using my only weakness against me, good sir?!

Call me old-fashioned, but it's one of those things that I absolutely hate about modern storytelling - the need for everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, to fit to the metanarrative that we don't stop and take in the fucking sights anymore just for the hell of it.

In most games (here) it wouldn't be noteworthy, but in a game with so few and carefully crafted scenes this one scene right at the beginning is just an obvious random scene that feels totally out of place.

 

[Dorfnutter]

In most games (here) it wouldn't be noteworthy, but in a game with so few and carefully crafted scenes this one scene right at the beginning is just an obvious random scene that feels totally out of place.

Again, it's not random if it falls under the genre convention (i.e. Cyberpunk settings filled with brothels and streets chock full of hyperviolence) nor does it feel out of place because it's right at home with the setting. Shoehorned, tacked-in, forced because genre conventions, trope-ish, sure. Random? Absolutely and completely disagree and we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.

 

[Takkatakka]

Again, it's not random if it falls under the genre convention (i.e. Cyberpunk settings filled with brothels and streets chock full of hyperviolence) nor does it feel out of place because it's right at home with the setting. Shoehorned, tacked-in, forced because genre conventions, trope-ish, sure. Random? Absolutely and completely disagree and we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.

Obviously it is still random, in an CP scenario as well as in every other scenario, because the scenario has nothing to do with it. If that scene wouldn't have been there, no one would've said "Wait a moment! They were in a Cyberpunk setting and accidentally entering a brothel and fucking a whore wasn't the first thing the MC did, how weird!"

 

[Deleted member 4058859]

It fits the server's character though, which was what I was arguing about.



Nice and thoughtful guy. Hm.

/side-eyes Orion's train monologue and conversation with Chang about getting laid and scoring chicks at the very beginning of the game and his "stealth" encounter with Dalia at the bathroom

Yeah I don't know about that, chief. He's not as bad as Axel or Nancy, sure. But he's still definitely a horndog so I'm not that surprised when we encounter certain scenes where it's obvious that his dick/horni is overriding his sense of judgment.



It adds to the worldbuilding, though. Sure, it's a sex scene for the sake of a sex scene. But aside from ticking a box in the "normal for Cyberpunk" list there's some dialogue there that I feel is going to get some callbacks later on as we dive further and further into the story and the issue of "what is real" starts rearing its ugly head (along with a host of other ugly questions). And yes, while I concede that it could've been handled better, that there should've been consequences yada yada yada, I just feel miffed at the idea that we have to justify a scene that's just is just because it doesn't contribute to the grand scheme of things.

It's the same principle as those arguing against 0.5 because it's mostly downtime. "We can't have that anymore because it hampers with the fucking plot." "We can't have moments where we just stop and take in the world and experience shit because it's disjointed to the entire thing." "There's too many cooking moments in Heaven's Feel. Why are there so much fucking cooking in Heaven's Feel?" "ENOUGH WITH THE WISHY-WASHY LACK OF FUCKING PROGRESS, GET US BACK TO THE FUCKING STORY-"

...

...Sorry. Call me old-fashioned, but it's one of those things that I absolutely hate about modern storytelling - the need for everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, to fit to the metanarrative that we don't stop and take in the fucking sights anymore just for the hell of it.

> It fits the server's character though, which was what I was arguing about.

Fair enough. But everything else is out of place.

> /side-eyes Orion's train monologue and conversation with Chang about getting laid and scoring chicks at the very beginning of the game and his "stealth" encounter with Dalia at the bathroom

The conversation with chang about getting laid was mostly just friends being friends - it is not personality defining. And the Dalia scene is another one where I thought things did not make sense. I think Orion should have lost Dalia's path after that.

To me it feels like in 0.1 the dev was still unsure about some aspects of the game and so I think there are scenes that feel a bit out of place. He may have had the general story mapped out but I definitely feel like there has been a shift with later updates and there are things that are different now.

> It adds to the worldbuilding, though

I dont disagree with that my argument is that it is a bad way to add to the worldbuilding because it comes at the cost of making the MC look like an unlikeable douche. The only thing I liked about that scene was the conversation with Eva but the MC could have had the same conversation with anyone else on the server - like Kitty or Annie's friends before he took the jump for example.

If you want to add to the worldbuilding, you can do so in a way that does not alienate Annie. If you want to have a choice that is the equivalent of slapping annie in the face add consequences grey out her path (some paths have been lost for a lot less - if you lose Dalia or Nancy's path for not going to the gym, something like this should definitely lose a path and yes I have the same opinion of Dalia's bathroom scene - I think her path should have been lost there). If you want to add prostitution because 'it's realistic for cyberpunk' then make the player have 0 eternals after that scene. If you want to have prostitution because it adds to the world then there are so many better ways to implement it than forcing a sex scene - just having a line of whores bothering the player as the MC explores the city, seeing people fuck in the alleyways etc would do just as much if not more for the worldbuilding without having the MC come off as inconsiderate to Annie.

> Sorry. Call me old-fashioned, but it's one of those things that I absolutely hate about modern storytelling - the need for everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, to fit to the metanarrative that we don't stop and take in the fucking sights anymore just for the hell of it.

I dont mind having downtime or taking time to see the sights. What I dislike is when it comes at the cost of the characters. The hogwarts section, almost the entirety of 0.5 and world hopping with Calypso in 0.3 were some of my favorite sections in the game. All of these scenes were taking in the sights but none of them made the MC feel like an asshole the way the Eva scene did.

 

[Dorfnutter]

Obviously it is still random, in an CP scenario as well as in every other scenario, because the scenario has nothing to do with it. If that scene wouldn't have been there, no one would've said "Wait a moment! They were in a Cyberpunk setting and accidentally entering a brothel and fucking a whore wasn't the first thing the MC did, how weird!"

Considering that Orion makes a choice to wander around the city and take in the sights instead of waiting for Annie and the fact that this game also happens to be a porn game, yes I would've found that weird and would've called Caribdis out for the wasted opportunity, especially since brothels, bars, and stripclubs are tad aplenty in Cyberpunk cities.

 

[Takkatakka]

Considering that Orion makes a choice to wander around the city and take in the sights instead of waiting for Annie and the fact that this game also happens to be a porn game, yes I would've found that weird and would've called Caribdis out for the wasted opportunity, especially since brothels, bars, and stripclubs are tad aplenty in Cyberpunk cities.

He is just walking through the first door he sees not even knowing what is behind it. He isn't even looking for a brothel. So yes, it is utterly random, period.

No, no one would have thought that, because the game doesn't do that outside of this one random scene.