- Sep 16, 2021
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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
- Thread starter Caribdis
- Start date
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
- May 21, 2017
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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.
- Nov 11, 2022
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How dear you using my only weakness against me, good sir?!
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.
- May 21, 2017
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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.
- Nov 11, 2022
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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!"
> 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.
- May 21, 2017
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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.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!"
- Nov 11, 2022
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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.
- May 21, 2017
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- Nov 18, 2019
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Exhibit A: This is a stupid example. Everyone has fantasies.
Exhibit B: MC did not know Alex/Nova were in danger. For all he knew they were just chilling in a random server - from his perspective they were fully healed but were just teleported elsewhere. If you dont understand the difference between wanting to sleep with 2 women offering themselves to you for free (especially when you have no reason to think your companions were in danger) and taking someone else's gift that they have been saving for years to blow it all up on whores I dont know what else to tell you. In my original post I even said that I would have no problems with the scene if the MC came back later with his own money.
I would also have no problems with the scene if 1) MC lost all his eternals after that scene or 2) MC lost Annie's path. But this was a scene where you go through with a choice that will obviously hurt Annie without consequences. That is my problem here.
So yes I stand by what I said - neither of these scenes makes Orion look like an asshole.
- Dec 25, 2020
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Orion can be a lot of good things, but above all of them he is horny as fuck, the man would be able to fuck a table if it had tits or ass. Of course he is gonna try the "Eternum experience" in his first time playing and of course he is gonna ravage the sexy and crazy egypt goddess for revenge. That's Orion, ladies a gentlemen, the hero of Eternum and the future CEO of Ulisses, a big and great pervert. If you don't like that... this is not your game.
Again you are missing the point - it is not the inclusion of the scene itself that I have a problem with. It is the MC being inconsiderate and the lack of consequences for your choices. The scene itself and especially the conversation with Eva was quite good. If eternum was like you claim it is, the regina scene last update would have been very different. You would not break penny's heart and the game would have rewarded you instead for going for Regina. I personally think it is a case of the game evolving and getting a more clear direction for where it wants to go when it comes to the MC's character development as it progresses.
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- May 21, 2017
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Don't need to look for a brothel if the likelihood of entering one (or a stripclub or a bar) is high with the given setting (like I'd argue that there's only six types of stores in a Cyberpunk setting: a) sex-themed store (i.e. stripclub, bar (because watering holes more often than not have hookers that frequent them), brothel, futuristic sex toys shop), b) augmentation shop, c) weapons and armor store, d) drugs shop, e) hardware store (i.e. computer and hacking essentials), and f) ramen shop (or an eatery)). And more often than not the probability of stumbling on a sex-themed store is higher. Lot more so if the story happens to be a porn game.
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- Jan 12, 2021
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About the thing with Alex and example B:
I think that served the following points in particular:
1. to remember that Orion is a horny goat.
2. comedic element. You're about to get laid? Sorry, we have to move on.
3. I don't even think Alex is mad at Orion. I think by that point Alex and Orion already know each other a bit and her reaction is more along the lines of "Nova and I end up on a dorky Disney server and have to escape while you end up on a server where you almost get laid? Typical Orion shenanigans."
I think one mistake one can make here is to take it too seriously. Caribdis definitely has a tendency towards somewhat silly slapstick humor.
I think that served the following points in particular:
1. to remember that Orion is a horny goat.
2. comedic element. You're about to get laid? Sorry, we have to move on.
3. I don't even think Alex is mad at Orion. I think by that point Alex and Orion already know each other a bit and her reaction is more along the lines of "Nova and I end up on a dorky Disney server and have to escape while you end up on a server where you almost get laid? Typical Orion shenanigans."
I think one mistake one can make here is to take it too seriously. Caribdis definitely has a tendency towards somewhat silly slapstick humor.
- Apr 26, 2022
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Mmmh not quite though, Regina is clearly a bitch to Penny so trying to fuck her is in fact a dick move. Eva haven't done anything bad to any of the girl, she's a fancy hooker in a virtual world. Trying to do Regina is punishable by torture and death, while having sex with Eva is just a bit of harmless fun. It's there because at that time Orion was not close enough to any of the LIs for something sexual to happen, and yes he is in fact a horndog even though he's nice (these are not mutually exclusive). Without that scene, people would have complained either about things going too fast with the girls OR the absence of any sex scene in the first update.
Anyway I don't know why you're complaining about it, you do know you are able to decline the scene right ? Right ?
...
I actually don't know I've never checked if we could decline.
You probably can though, so hypothetically there's nothing to complain about.
- May 21, 2017
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/shrugs The examples still make him look bad, regardless if you think they're stupid or not.
And that's fine IMO. He's been portrayed as a horndog since day one, it's his number one character flaw at this point. I just find your idea of MC being this thoughtful guy who at first had second thoughts with Annie's cash gift suddenly spending them all on a hooker - when he already had a go signal from Annie prior to them separating that she's fine with whatever Orion wants to spend it on and Orion already committing to paying it back some day (which is what got us that Andromeda date in the first place) - as being out-of-character or making him look like a douche just weird really, especially given the stuff that's shown throughout the game of what he's willing to do or escalate just to get laid (the exception being Regina because every sign and event had made it abundantly clear that choosing her is an absolutely bad idea if you happen to be following Penny's path, which was never present with regards to Eva and Maat).
Its not the act of having sex with Eva (as I have said multiple times already) but the act of taking >1k of Annie's money that she has been saving for years and blowing it all up on hookers. Do you really think Annie would have been thrilled it see this? Especially given the context that the player is presented with before that scene?
Declining the scene is fine but accepting it should not be completely free of consequences. At the very least make the player lose money instead of having him walk away like nothing happened. And if you want to make the MC be a dick that's fine too but make it consistent - while I enjoy eternum more, character development of the MC and the inconsiderate/asshole choices is one of the places I feel like the other top rated game on this site Pale Carnations is vastly superior to eternum.
And criticism not being valid just because you can avoid it is a dumb argument. It is part of the game and as such it is something people can and should criticize. Whether or not it fits tonally, whether or not the characters feel consistent, if it has narrative significance, how it impacts characters are all valid avenues of discussion when looking at any choice in the game. If this was like >90% of the other games on this website it would not matter but because the game has such a high bar when it comes to quality, to me scenes that I feel are even slightly out of place stand out.
- Nov 11, 2022
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Yeah, that's what I mean with a "hook" scene. A lot of VNs are using something like this, often it is a memory or a dream or a fantasy etc. to have a sex scene early, without needing to build it up.
It is just a bit weird to see something like this in a game that otherwise takes massive amounts of time.