VN Ren'Py Eternum [v0.8.0] [Caribdis]

[CHAD-MAN]

- Character paths should not close because of one-off choices. I would prefer if character paths close over a period of time if you dont have enough points at various checkpoints. Losing out on a path should be a gradual process rather than an instant one.
- One off/instant choices should close a path only if we do something that really impacts that character. For example I am fine with Dalia's path getting closed if we reveal her password and that asshole at the gym (Brock I think?) hears it. I am not ok with paths getting closed for random shit that does not impact the character (not going with dalia/nancy to the gym should not close their paths - maybe you miss out on points and over time if you keep making bad choices you may lose their path but something so trivial should not instantly end their paths).
- Choices that grant points should feel intuitive and should reward the player for reading dialogue. I would expect peeping on Dalia would make me lose her path (especially since she makes it a point to check that the MC is not in the bathroom). Instead we end up gaining points if we follow the walkthrough - it makes no sense to me.
- My personal preference would be to hand out points liberally. Losing out on a girl's path or forming negative relationships should be a deliberate and intentional choice by the player. However this is just preference.

Sadly this is not a game where nuance matters. From very early on you can tell its a "press A to follow path, press B not to". Its pretty easy if you ask me but it also makes everything super boring, like why would you NOT follow every available lewd path? IMO as much Eternum is a top notch game it still revolves around harem-making and easy relationship building. There's almost no flaws to the LIs and every single one seems okay with sharing the MC. There should be negative points where you as the player would want to say no by principle alone rather than just press yes to gain points with a character. My biggest gripe is how Nancy is more than okay sharing her own daughters and have an orgy just like that, how every single LIs likes the MC and its implied even masturbated to him in month span-time. There's no drama aside from the actual story, and I'm more interested on it than the relationship building.

The only good written character as of now its probably Luna, maybe Nova too. As for the household, I have no interest whatsoever in none of them, but I'll follow ever single path because there will obviously be no consequences.

 

[jocoyo]

"Please stop Nancy, I have a girlfriend" *can still pursue later*

"Let's just go to sleep, Annie" *stay friends longer, free up choices on other paths, higher romance score and lower lust score, etc*

"Nova you don't have to do this, I don't want this to happen under duress!" *negotiates Maat into letting her go with Dione, in exchange for being killed or tortured by her (which Maat would totally get off on)

Another problem is with the paths so separated, more and more content each chapter will be locked behind the 100% 100% 100% playthrough.

Consider: if you didn't do the thighjob with Annie, then you miss an entire sequence in the latest chapter, full of so many reveals and clues about Eternum, not to mention characters likely to return.

I love this idea, it introduces choices that feel more impactful for the player. It'd definitely be more work for Caribdis, but I'd still love to see it.

 

[jocoyo]

Sadly this is not a game where nuance matters. From very early on you can tell its a "press A to follow path, press B not to". Its pretty easy if you ask me but it also makes everything super boring, like why would you NOT follow every available lewd path? IMO as much Eternum is a top notch game it still revolves around harem-making and easy relationship building. There's almost no flaws to the LIs and every single one seems okay with sharing the MC. There should be negative points where you as the player would want to say no by principle alone rather than just press yes to gain points with a character. My biggest gripe is how Nancy is more than okay sharing her own daughters and have an orgy just like that, how every single LIs likes the MC and its implied even masturbated to him in month span-time. There's no drama aside from the actual story, and I'm more interested on it than the relationship building.

The only good written character as of now its probably Luna, maybe Nova too. As for the household, I have no interest whatsoever in none of them, but I'll follow ever single path because there will obviously be no consequences.

It all depends how you play the game. Most people don't care for story and just play it for the porn, which makes sense, I play it like that too most of the time.

But since this is one of the best games in the genre, people want more from it. That's just what happens with good games. A lot of people installed the game for the porn and stayed for the story and the characters. And the character path system and choice system can definitely be improved, at least for future games Caribdis makes.

 

[CHAD-MAN]

It all depends how you play the game. Most people don't care for story and just play it for the porn, which makes sense, I play it like that too most of the time.

But since this is one of the best games in the genre, people want more from it. That's just what happens with good games. A lot of people installed the game for the porn and stayed for the story and the characters. And the character path system and choice system can definitely be improved, at least for future games Caribdis makes.

Couldn't agree more and thats exactly what I think. Hopefully Caribdis goes a little more ambitious with the relationships and their flow

 

[Deleted member 4058859]

I definitely agree with the comment about improving paths/and the relationship system - character paths should not be cancelled due to one off choices that dont impact the character in any way. Closing of paths should be a gradual process instead of one-off choices that dont impact the character in any way.

With that out of the way I personally dont agree with the above takes that talk about introducing drama. I think it would ruin the game for me.

Here is a repost of my opinions on the subject:

I dont think you can compare these two games. Pale Carnations tries to be realistic at least when it comes to characters. A harem game cannot be realistic when it comes to character interactions. Sure poly relationships exist but trying to make the game realistic would be complicated and comes with drawbacks of its own. Then there is the setting - Pale carnations is set in a brothel the girls are all in desperate situations willing to do anything to make their lives better. They are forced to interact with the MC and engage in sexual activities with him whether they like him or not. The setting here is completely different these are normal girls living normal lives they are not forced to interact with the MC and have sexual interactions with him. Any attempt to incorporate sexual content with multiple girls in a realistic way would either require a LOT of time (ie the game would drag on forever) or would involve cheating and hence drama.

From the dev's perspective there are tradeoffs to make - should the game be a slow burn that comes at the cost of no sexual content for ages? Should game be realistic and focus on drama/cheating? Or is it ok for the drama/realism to take a backseat and assume players are willing to suspend their disbelief so the game can focus more on the plot. The reason these are tradeoffs and why I dont think you can do all of them simultaneously is because as a developer time is your most valuable resource. Time spent on character interactions comes at the cost of time that could be spent on other things (such as plot progression). The developer chose the last option and I am so glad he did. If you asked me what was more interesting to me - the plot or potential drama between characters, I would go with plot 100% of the time.

Thats not to say character interactions cannot be improved - I agree that they can. However I also want to point out that being realistic does not necessarily equate to being better. I think this game would be a lot worse if it tried to be realistic. Pale Carnations is an excellent game that is very well written - I think Pale Carnation's writing and character development is much better than Eternum. But even so I enjoyed the experience of playing Eternum more - it was just more fun for me. Sometimes it is fun to suspend your disbelief and just have fun reading a story with characters that behave unrealistically. There are games that try to be realistic and games that dont try to be realistic and I think there is a place for both.

If you play the game you will realize that the developer has made a very conscious and deliberate choice to NOT incorporate drama - this is a choice I personally agree with. I am far more interested in the story than reading the VN equivalent of a soap opera. Let the dev make the game he wants to make. If people want more and the dev does not want to go that route then thats just too bad for them - there are always other games.

Some games have drama and thats great but there is a place for games like this too - a game that is nice, comforting and wholesome (for the most part).

 

[Shawnchapp]

Man all these post wish for more complicated relations and drama and etc...

i actually like the fact the game doesn't do that crap it's nice to just be able to sit back enjoy the story and not worry about calculating "choices" so you get the right amount of points (even though you don't want to pick that choice you just click it for the points) after playing so many games that require a walkthrough becuase of the over complactied point system i just like to relax and enjoy a good story.

 

[BiggestDickest]

Man all these post wish for more complicated relations and drama and etc...

i actually like the fact the game doesn't do that crap it's nice to just be able to sit back enjoy the story and not worry about calculating "choices" so you get the right amount of points (even though you don't want to pick that choice you just click it for the points) after playing so many games that require a walkthrough becuase of the over complactied point system i just like to relax and enjoy a good story.

A girl once asked me to guess her age. I guessed she was in her 30s and then she told me she was in her 20s. I wonder how many points I lost with that choice. Or perhaps that one closed her path?

 

[Lordisigler]

A girl once asked me to guess her age. I guessed she was in her 30s and then she told me she was in her 20s. I wonder how many points I lost with that choice. Or perhaps that one closed her path?

I bet you regret not taking Gender Studies in college. Their needs of validation is basically the whole subject of the session.

 

[BiggestDickest]

I bet you regret not taking Gender Studies in college. Their needs of validation is basically the whole subject of the session.

Haha, well, I don't mind giving compliments if it makes people happy. I got nothing to lose. Everyone could use some encouragement. But to be honest, I thought I was already giving compliments to her. I didn't know I was so far from the truth.

 

[Deleted member 4058859]

Man all these post wish for more complicated relations and drama and etc...

i actually like the fact the game doesn't do that crap it's nice to just be able to sit back enjoy the story and not worry about calculating "choices" so you get the right amount of points (even though you don't want to pick that choice you just click it for the points) after playing so many games that require a walkthrough becuase of the over complactied point system i just like to relax and enjoy a good story.

100% with you on the drama (see my post just above yours). It is a nice happy game and should stay that way.

But do you really think the choice system is not complicated? Yes it is not as complicated as many other games but even so I agree with that other post about the relationship system - character paths get shut down for trivial reasons, the reasons girls get/lose points can be counterintuitive and I think you definitely need a walkthrough (or maybe I am just a dumbass who cannot pick up hints). I think making the pathing more intuitive and not randomly shutting down girls paths for stupid reasons would preserve the wholesome/happy/drama-free atmosphere the game.

 

[Shawnchapp]

100% with you on the drama (see my post just above yours). It is a nice happy game and should stay that way.

But do you really think the choice system is not complicated? Yes it is not as complicated as many other games but even so I agree with that other post about the relationship system - character paths get shut down for trivial reasons, the reasons girls get/lose points can be counterintuitive and I think you definitely need a walkthrough (or maybe I am just a dumbass who cannot pick up hints). I think making the pathing more intuitive and not randomly shutting down girls paths for stupid reasons would preserve the wholesome/happy/drama-free atmosphere the game.

compared to most games i play the point system is very simple here the convo keeps coming back "close routes" ya its dumb but im almost 99.9% sure thats only there so people who don't like those girls and just say nah to them right away. those choices aren't story nor character choices its just for the player to say no "No i don't want content with this person" (granted i haven't really dogged into the code here that much) that just what all those choice felt like to me

i agree they can be worked on but in way shape or form do i want what some of the others have been talking "advanced point systems"

this is a story base game not a dating sim the dev has clear path for the story and all the "LIs" have a part in it so having an advance point system where a LI can hate you or be super horny at the wrong time in the story WILL change the story at those points or just not flow well... if people want the complication choice menus and point system they can search for games with the "dating sim" tag.

 

[dolfe67]

compared to most games i play the point system is very simple here the convo keeps coming back "close routes" ya its dumb but im almost 99.9% sure thats only there so people who don't like those girls and just say nah to them right away. those choices aren't story nor character choices its just for the player to say no "No i don't want content with this person" (granted i haven't really dogged into the code here that much) that just what all those choice felt like to me

i agree they can be worked on but in way shape or form do i want what some of the others have been talking "advanced point systems"

this is a story base game not a dating sim the dev has clear path for the story and all the "LIs" have a part in it so having an advance point system where a LI can hate you or be super horny at the wrong time in the story WILL change the story at those points or just not flow well... if people want the complication choice menus and point system they can search for games with the "dating sim" tag.

I disagree. It's not complicated, but the choices are often not as obvious as in most games (concerning relationships).

 

[Shawnchapp]

I disagree. It's not complicated.

? ya... that what im saying.. Im saying right now they aren't but some of the other posters want to make them complicated which im not for Lol

 

[PervySageKem]

I sincerely hope our god Caribdis never listens to these people and keeps the game simple and drama free. There are many, many, many, overly complex games filled with drama, go play those.

Please let us have simple harem games where everyone can be happy in the end.

 

[Son of Durin]

So here is my comment about how I think the relationship system should change: https://f95zone.to/threads/eternum-v0-4-caribdis.93340/post-9346947

I dont want a complicated love/hate system either. Nor do I want any forced drama. I am perfectly fine with it being a binary system where you are either on someone's path or you are not on someone's path. My complaint is that I just dont want to lose a girl's path over something stupid that makes no sense. If you are going to close paths I am fine with that but do it in a way that makes sense.

Right.

"You're ugly and your mother dresses you funny" should be an obvious "bad idea"; "I like the blue bikini better than the red bikini" shouldn't end a path unless you've already been informed that the girl has always hated the color blue on herself, and is insane and testing you to see if you've been listening and what you'll say. In which case, the answer is definitely "blue" unless you like to stick your dick in crazy.

 

[Son of Durin]

I sincerely hope our god Caribdis never listens to these people and keeps the game simple and drama free. There are many, many, many, overly complex games filled with drama, go play those.

Please let us have simple harem games where everyone can be happy in the end.

Everybody wants a happy ending...

 

[Bernael]

I sincerely hope our god Caribdis never listens to these people and keeps the game simple and drama free. There are many, many, many, overly complex games filled with drama, go play those.

Please let us have simple harem games where everyone can be happy in the end.

I couldn't agree more. I like games where choices have a impact, but I think games like Eternum is good when you just want to chill and enjoy the story without think so much about the choices and it's consequences.

 

[PervyParadox]

Everybody wants a happy ending...

Nah some people like to bathe in pain and misery :x

 

[Walter Victor]

Nah some people like to bathe in pain and misery :x

There are actually games for that here on F95 too. Thankfully, this game is not one of them.

 

[Sexyboy13]

I just finished 0.4 and I'm in fucking love with this game. Keep up the great work Caribdis, you're doing an awesome job