Incredible update yet again!
Tons of content. few typos.
Music was a little underwhelming this time, though, compared to all the last few updates that had great tracks and songs.
instant sub from me, especially because of the early leak.
Dalia in the dress and hairstyle that were used for the progress tracker was nowhere to be seen !
The groundhog day/stanley parable scene was a nice surprise in an AVN.
and the mouse lock on some of the choices was funny as hell.
Jerry
finally got a bit of a break and that NTR bait was hilarious.
Dalia's frustrated unsatisfying disappointment got justice in the same update, thankfully
The first
threesome was a little tame, but it was understandable as it is essentially Nova's second time
Nancy being the one pushing for the harem was foreshadowed, and it's the logical choice, but it might have happened a bit too early. was it a consequence of the post traumatic shock of having almost lost MC just a few hours ago?
Though the resolution of the previous cliffhanger
felt a bit like a cop out. there was no drama at all. none of the girls seemed to have reacted to having almost lost their loved one.
It is only MC that gets his epiphany. Was it just to push MC to realize that he loves them and has to start making decisions now ? just so he would value his relationships more than the gems and his quest ?
I would think the girls would be very shocked and worried after learning about it. especially when on their paths. we could argue that their love confession coming so quickly afterwards is an indirect reaction to it, but it's not explicit. even more so for Nova as she learns about it just after it happened and reacts more about being transported to Eternum and other unlikely hypotheticals than almost losing the love of her life that she just finally got a second ago. I get it was for the comedic effect, but it felt out of character that she wouldn't even register it. Nancy also seemed far too calm about it. the other girls might have reacted off screen, but no trace is left in their behavior.
Annie
's date was huge. so many opportunities to hurt her... though there is no variable to save the absolute best version of the date with the love confession at the end and Annie's real sexual awakening. Seems like an oversight because all the other girls that got their solo confession do have their specific variable.
Luna's vision with Annie is supposed to happen only if MC is on both of their paths, but here it seems to only require Annie's path. Did Caribdis forget to branch that scene out ?
Annie finally got to show her true power it's been a long time coming.
That millionaire question was just so well timed and executed. almost pissed myself.
Alex
's quickie turning into her most romantic scene was so good... masterpiece.
and it baited us even more into a threesome with Dalia several times for the next updates.
Nova
seems to be setup as the future threesome queen at least, she looks like she wants to try with Annie, Penny and Alex ?
Ending was
predictable because Calypso's realm has been constantly brought up and their bond is now strong enough. still, the two scenes were great.
though, now we can wonder if MC's new power was only because Calypso was conscious ? and he only got it because she is his weapon ? or is he a descendant of Anima or the guy that enslaved her ?
at least
with threesomes (foursomes ?) in the mix, it will be far more difficult to predict the next lewd scenes instead of just a standard rotation of LIs
Only Luna remaining for her first time now.
at the start of the game, Annie, Dalia, Luna and Nova were virgins for sure. Nancy was not for sure. but Alex and Penny are not really explicitly confirmed, Calypso either. even if the anti-NTR crowd might faint at this, it would have been interesting to have a bit of backstory about the past love/sex life of the girls be brought up. Especially during lewd scene, comparing what they had to MC could add to the reasons they would agree to a harem. Nancy seems to have dated a bit since her ex, but it's not clear if she had actual sex with someone all those years. Alex might have just slept with guys just to piss off her father, especially after her grandmother died and she would lose faith in the "prince" advice she got. Penny might have only got guys interested in her boobs or her body, and deceived her a bit about their real intentions. we only got to see the creeps in her DMs, but real life could be just as bad. Calypso might have some experience, but it might just be what she heard from her maids, as she seemed quite innocent.
Now that MC
can go back and forth and bring items into and from Eternum, he could become rich really fast by selling items. Though, it would be tough to keep his power a secret for long if he tries
if only it wouldn't take an year per update
we get two per year right now. though, dev time seems to slowly creep to one per year.
Orion literally gets shot and Idriel comes down from another reality to tell him he's fucked, it's all his fault and everything is ruined now. And do you know what happens next? -- Nothing. Calypso was apparently watching him and CAN make portals to Earth and just swoops in and saves him. OKAAAAAY.
no, MC
teleported to her, and she healed him there. she didn't open a portal to Earth. it's even worse but yeah, no consequence sucks.
Orion has been two-fou-no, seven timing his various love interests for months now. It's implied and outright SAID at times that this will blow up in his face in some manner. What happens when some of these worlds collide??? -- Nothing. Multiple love interests find out what he's been doing and NONE of them are upset/intimidated/weirded out or even surprised.
8 timing even if you count Calypso. but it's a harem game, so it would always have worked out for him. but some drama would be interesting. everything just works out for him once he decides he wants it.
Nancy did say she is open to sharing him with anyone,
so when she finds out it will be with the girls she loves/likes, then she would "naturally" make moves to make it happen herself and maybe even try to limit it later to those girls only. Alex also said jokingly that she is open to sharing with Dalia, but seemed serious about it.
she now seems to actively make it happen, even. Luna saw the vision, so she got the idea put in her mind, as an unavoidable future, she got corrupted
Penny also said she would share with Nova, even if she pretended to be joking, and that put the idea in Nova's mind, and
Nancy ended up capitalizing on it without knowing. Annie is not dumb,
she knew and could only watch it happen, and had to accept it if she wanted to be with him, though she doesn't want anyone else outside of the inner circle. only Dalia didn't say anything but now,
she is a sex freak, so she might be open to some fun with her best friend, and it would open the sharing route in her mind.
Though it could be a side effect of MC's near death.
they don't react at all on screen, but maybe they spent days thinking about it and decided that they want him despite of having to share.
Orion has developed some much needed character flaws during the last few updates. Greed. Arrogance. Hubris. Hurray! He's well rounded! Said flaws even lead to his getting shot. How will these flaws come to impact Orion and the story going forward? Will he be torn apart by his natural selflessness and his base desires? Will his pride cost him his own life, or worse, the life of someone he cares about? --Probably not, cause he basically acknowledges them and then completely resolves them all in about five minutes, absolving himself of the harem situation merely by 'loving' the girls and pledging to stay humble in the future.
his biggest flaw since the beginning is being super dumb and oblivious to the most obvious things
but now, with his new development,
it created a huge weakness for him: the girls. what would he do, what would he sacrifice just to protect them ? he can't be with them all 24/7, one is bound to be in danger or kidnapped at some point. would he give up the gems and his powers and the fate of the world just to keep one safe ?
There's a pattern forming here. And while the worldbuilding and dialogue continue to be strong, the plot and character writing is falling down the stair like Joe Biden on AF1. Caribdis has set multiple bombs to go off. He's mined narrative gold. Loaded Checkov's gun, but he never fires. The drama and emotional weight of a characters actions is reason enough to have them suffer the fallout for their bad choices, but the narrative fallout from NEVER following through is so much worse.
Caribdis isn't big on heavy drama. since the first game already. the drama is light, comedy coated even, and gets resolved instantly. the heaviest drama is breaking up with a girl or failing to stay on her route. if we want drama and consequences, this is not the game
- Alex could have actually been pregnant. And she could have known about the others. And she could be reluctant to tell Orion because of that.
I think
she actually is, and just couldn't deal with MC's reaction in the moment and backed out. she said she would have dealt with it herself. implying aborting alone. so maybe now, she needs to re-evaluate her decision depending on how MC chose to react. she has her swimming career to consider too, with the national selection just around the corner.
- Orion's pride could have caused Nova to become blinded during their pirate adventures. Thus humbling him and rocking her to her core. Suddenly she's not just not useful (a HUGE insecurity for her), she's a liability. Unable to hack, unable to play Eternum. It would give her a huge amount of room for her and Orion to grow.
that would be too heavy for this kind of game and story. though, I would find it interesting to read.
- Was there any real plot development this chapter except for the last 4 minutes? I'm not saying its a filler update, just that it seemed like the sort of episode that would have been better served between two other episodes (again, I binged the first season of this game, so it might just be me).
there was. it's just not the plot development you expected and wanted. don't forget it's still an AVN, and the girls are very important. the relationships with the girls are very important plot threads that have to be developed properly. it could be argued that for these games, it's the most important to be developped
and in this update, we got plenty of that.
Harem kickstart, love confessions from everyone present, defloration for two...
The Dalia bad end sneak peek seems to have been a fake out?
it was
a nightmare focused on MC's worst fears. of course it was fake...
Also for the first time I think in the entire run of this game I have problem with it. Dumb ass plot with the gnome served no point outside of showing Orion´s fear, which honestly could have been done via short dream sequence instead of this pure ass 10% of the update sequence that literally served no other purpose.
I think it has a purpose.
it shows MC's subconscious development about his new priorities after his near death. he didn't have time to deal with it consciously until then.
Thanks dude, man I dunno why but it's hard to ask a save anywhere around here, thx! really appreciate it.
because saves can be exploited to fuck your game and device... so it is very discouraged here to ask and accept saves from strangers... just so you could save 10 minutes rushing through the game. and you don't even save that time since you have to wait for someone to send a save...
I didn't expect the first threesome to be with Nova and Nancy. So now that has happened,what are y'all guys guesses on the next girls to get a threesome?
Remembering that Cardi said that Nancy,Penny and Dalia won't be in the same threesome becuase of Patreon rules of incest and stuff,so we gotta discard that for now.
there is already a ton of foreshadowing and setup. Alex and Dalia. Penny and Nova. Nova with Annie and Alex too. Nancy with everyone except her daughters... Luna, it's ambiguous though. she had the vision, and most people think she saw a threesome with Annie, so that would be one option. but she might have seen the whole harem, or even an orgy of any number of combinations that include Annie and herself, not just a threesome.
She is thinking of trying to distance herself from them but then reconsiders as she would end up alone again, so "them" could easily mean the whole group, not just Annie and MC.
Soooo, Alex is
the first to officially get pregnant. Thought it'd be
Nancy.
Edit:
Nevermind, false alarm, lol.
Nancy never let MC cum inside her real body, yet...
she said it was a joke, but the question is, is it a joke? and if you turn off the pregnancy, does she say the same thing?
yes
, it's the same if you disable pregnancy, at this point. and it didn't feel like a joke at all. just that she couldn't deal with MC's reaction, like I said just above.
As for the end of the episode, I somehow thought Idriel was in cahoots with Thanatos. Her monologue was too synchronized with the sudden appearance of our old friend. And I was convinced until the last minute that Orion would teleport Calypso to Kredon with his new ability.
Or more like she foresaw MC's defeat like in previous attempts and came to set different things in motion.
I'm hoping for an Alex/Penny 3some in future. They're both wild
Not sure it would work at this point. they don't interact at all. and they seem to be into different kinds of domination. But I'm open to enjoy it if it happens
Finally a cliffhanger that won't make me pull my hair out.
maybe Caribdis knew you don't have any hair left to pull
she could get an abortion. she would have to consider both her career and her relationship, as the national selection for the olympics are coming. her coach would hate MC for that if she finds out
but she wouldn't need to be sideline. first because it wouldn't show for a few more weeks. and most importantly because she would go in Eternum with an astral body, not her real body. would the neural implant make a copy of the foetus ? I don't think so.
and honestly, she is currently sidelined.
she works too much, on top of school and training. she didn't seem to have played and spent time with MC and the other girls since she was disowned.
Just started the update and I find it hard to believe that
yeah, that was weird. but it's not the first super dumb thing MC does without thinking about consequences. he is on a happy go lucky trend since the beginning.
and, yes, the worst is Nova who just a second before was panicking about it, and Nancy who is supposed to be the smartest. just yoga made it all go away
Alex's scene was, again, far and away the best of the update. I'm starting to think either Caribdis, or the new animator, is struggling to hide their favouritism. The scenario, the movements, the dialogue and internal monologue... It's all perfect. It even goes against one of my big complaints for the episode: there is strong character development for Alex in this scene (although I also have complaints in how it is delivered. We get the catharsis of Alex showing Orion that she's fallen for him - but we don't see the tension of moment where she admits it to herself. And because of who Alex is, how guarded she is with her feelings, and the way she refuses to indulge them... That's kind of important for us to see in a scene, yet I could see her change in demeanour the moment she stepped out of the pool. She knew it before. It could have occurred during the sex scene, and I expect some people will argue it did. But I don't think so because of their poolside interaction beforehand. And yes, she had obviously fallen in love with him in the scene where her father disowned her in 0.7, but the real hurdle for her is admitting it to herself, and to be denied access to that moment kind of sucks).
agreed.
She already fell for him before. maybe she knew before coming in that scene and didn't want to admit it. but she ended up admitting it during their talk when he accepted the pregnancy after calling her his princess. circling back to her talk with her grandmother. but what we are missing is her reaction to the news that MC almost died. that might have a huge influence on that decision too. on top of missing him because they couldn't meet for a few weeks. thinking about having to deal with losing him without having confessed might have triggered something.
MC is all she has left besides Dalia.
The implications for Orion's ability to traverse the real world and Eternum are really well explored. I have a single gripe in that he doesn't cover if interacting with Nancy, physically, when she is an astral projection, and he is a complete physical manifestation, is different to how he interacts with Nova in the same scene.
Actually, it's talked about a bit
with Dalia. not really explicitly, but they just say that the only difference is the knowledge that it is actually real with actual consequences and that would trigger real adrenaline responses. might mean that sex would feel the same physically, but the mind knowing it's actually real with real bodies might add to the experience in the same manner.
The Stanley Parable sequence is quite frankly, the worst chunk of content Caribdis has ever produced across both his games. On its own, it's not offensive (although a dated reference), but where it occurs in the story has the effect of completely tanking the pacing, removing the characters from their forward momentum towards their goal... And most importantly, it is purposeless.
There is context to consider here. The new world "arc" has already been split by occuring between two updates. We already got derailed by the 8 months of development. To have it then interrupted again for a one-note joke that lasts from 30 to 45 minutes, has no relevance to the new world plot (and can barely be considered an obstacle), and has such a different vibe from what happens before and after it, that it feels like a complete break. It is a thoroughly annoying sequence. The idea of Orion confronting his fears of what might happen to the girls in the future if he fuck's up is a good one. However, I think that this was both a poor execution of that idea, and I know it was a wholly inappropriate place for it to be put in the grand scheme of the story.
Personally, I liked that scene
it's a nice change of pace in an AVN. but you're right that it might have been placed in the wrong spot. but I interpreted it as MC's mind finally beginning to deal and process his near death and showing him his new priorities and what really matters to him now. so it does have a purpose. he didn't have and take the time to stop and consider what happened to him before. the flow was already kinda slow before the scene, so it's just the whole environment change and context and meaning of the scene that you might have disliked.
The "lesser-major" pace killer is the opening scene. Two characters we have never met before, and will probably never meet again, having a full on conversation about political inclinations and accusations of laziness that completely outstays its welcome as we ponder the answer to "what happened to Orion?"
that scene is actually a very common storytelling type of scene
. it adds a lot to the world building and the immersion. breaking the pace there is not a bad thing after that kind of big event that happened just before. and it also works as a good reintroduction and ease into the world of the game for people that jumped straight into the update instead of replaying from the start.
And also, he can't handwave the hyril'ar cliffhanger this episode. We will properly get an adventure there to overcome this sticky situation. So there is hope for the future! Hurray!
you have so much faith and optimism there
it would be really easy for Caribdis to troll everyone and just make MC and Calypos teleport back to Ekabar or Earth when she wakes up just seconds after the next update begins, out of nowhere, just like they were teleported in out of nowhere. and make the whole update about the team trying to get back to her realm after confirming it does exist
though, does it mean that MC teleports spontaneously when he is dying ?