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

[Demonius]

So I got to this scene and noticed the setting was eerily familiar to the Karnstein Castle in Kalyskah. Is this just some Unity scene with common prefabs or does this scene in Eternum actually use the castle in Kalyskah? The doors at least are 100% the exact same model.

View attachment 2350114

its most likely just the same asset, when youve played enough AVN's youll notice asstse being used over and over, whether they are made in daz or HS2 liek this

 

[Son of Durin]

So I got to this scene and noticed the setting was eerily familiar to the Karnstein Castle in Kalyskah. Is this just some Unity scene with common prefabs or does this scene in Eternum actually use the castle in Kalyskah? The doors at least are 100% the exact same model.

View attachment 2350114

Play enough games and you'll recognize apartments, hallways, bus stops, stores, halls, manors, hotels, bedrooms, furniture, creepy alleys, vehicles, etc., all over the place.

Unless they take the time to do their own unique designs, the Devs all get their assets from the same vendors, and some assets are just cooler than others, so you see them used over and over again. Same with the characters - one girl may have her hair style changed or her tits enlarged, or eye color altered, but if you pay attention, you'll see the same ones frequently used. The main girl from DMD is used in at least two or three other AVNs I've played, with very little alteration other than hair color.

 

[lewdlyengaged]

Play enough games and you'll recognize apartments, hallways, bus stops, stores, halls, manors, hotels, bedrooms, furniture, creepy alleys, vehicles, etc., all over the place.

Unless they take the time to do their own unique designs, the Devs all get their assets from the same vendors, and some assets are just cooler than others, so you see them used over and over again. Same with the characters - one girl may have her hair style changed or her tits enlarged, or eye color altered, but if you pay attention, you'll see the same ones frequently used. The main girl from DMD is used in at least two or three other AVNs I've played, with very little alteration other than hair color.

I've played plenty as it is, I guess I'm just not as perceptive as I once thought... but thanks for the answer, makes sense.

 

[theharbinger]

Does anyone know if my old saves are compatible with the new update?

 

[EricGrey]

Does anyone know if my old saves are compatible with the new update?

Yes they are.

 

[Son of Durin]

I've played plenty as it is, I guess I'm just not as perceptive as I once thought... but thanks for the answer, makes sense.

Something like that asset, though, requires a specific kind of AVN and setting, so it's likely to be rarer than say a spacious loft apartment or the steam sauna I've seen in about a half dozen places. Lot's of AVNs like saunas it seems, and I've only ever seen three versions, two of them in multiple games.

Find the right genre of AVN, and you may see that asset again. If you're drawn to the same genre over and over, then you increase the odds of seeing the same assets.

 

[Son of Durin]

Does anyone know if my old saves are compatible with the new update?

The only issue you may have is if you used a Mod package and move to a different one. Sancho's mods are very involved, so if you were using the old walkthrough and gallery mod, but then switch to Sancho, you may run into an issue. I think he has a fix for it, but if you do switch (or start using when you didn't before), they you may need to go through an extra step to make everything compatible.

 

[sageproduct]

I keep harping because like I said, with the way the story is currently written (LI progression tied to main plot pacing), something has to give in order for LIs to be given their proper relationship build (and hence, allow the lewd scenes to organically happen, which is what I see you basically harping on) while also maintaining a certain pace that would please story lovers and those who want lewds both. And with 7 LIs plus one potential LI, you will never be able to do that* unless you - again - significantly decrease the pacing.

*which is why I disagree with your assessment that you can do this by tightening the narrative. On the contrary, I'd argue that the narrative being tight IS the reason why the focus on relationship milestones (represented as lewd events) instead of organic growth (which leads to organically written scenes. you can't have one without the other. even if you write them organically, without that growth to back it up it's not going to change a damn thing and it'll still be seen as "the girls jumping on MC's dick all of the sudden") is currently happening. It's so tight that it necessitates the need for a downtime chapter in order for the story to breathe a bit before it resumes its pace (which is what 0.5 basically is: a downtime chapter with added story progression and lore sprinkled here and there to not put the story on a complete halt)

I will give you this though: the "issue" that you are putting focus on also stems from the fact that we have too many LIs for the kind of story that the dev is trying to make, much less pace. Had we have fewer LIs (say, 4. If we're going to trim, the Carters could be merged into one LI; Annie could be combined with Nova's character because we need someone who would guide Orion (MC) in the earlier levels of Eternum and having said character have Dione makes sense; Luna can be kept as is because she represents the "veteran" character more than Nova and Annie does plus her lineage is heavily implied to be crucial to the plot, and Calypso is...well, she could also be kept as is, but she'll be the one who would likely have lesser character moments given that she's an Eternum-only character), then that just frees more time for them to organically grow and we would have time to focus on them per update instead of rotating through 3-4 LIs per update (and therefore necessitating the timeskips where the unseen relationship development between Orion and the LIs likely happened and also the focus on the major milestone progression (lewd events) in the LI relationships during "gameplay" moments instead).

But...that's not the kind of story the dev wants to make, and based on the support that he's currently getting here and in Patreon, is also something that his supporters likely don't want him to do. So.../shrugs

+1, customer demand is the #1 biggest detriment to Eternum.

What's popular is not what's good. Porn is the most popular and most sought-after content on all of the internet. Is that what makes the internet good? Fuck no.

There is no possible way to make everyone happy. Even if Eternum had no sexual content at all, it would still be difficult balancing content out with all 6 love interests. Now we not only have 6 love interests intended to receive equal attention, we also need to pace sexual intimacy for them, which forcefully pulls relationship development along with it.

Now Eternum is incredible because Caribdis is world-class in making you feel very much for someone, in very little time. It's why he can make it work.

DPC of Being a DIK is a massive jerk, but I greatly respect him for openly telling the playerbase to go fuck themselves before he changes a single thing about how he writes his story for them. Not saying that Caribdis does, but the point is that customers do NOT know what they actually want, and they will even lie about it.

I hope for Caribdis's next game he gets out of marketing in the "adult" genre entirely and goes more mainstream. No more obligations to pushing sexual activity to a certain level by a certain time, no obligations for perfectly balancing love interest time out of "fairness" to different fans. I'd love to see what he can do artistically with no restrictions.

Once in a Lifetime had a fundamentally unequal approach to its love interests, unlike Eternum, and it worked spectacularly. The vast majority of the plot involved Judie and Lauren together, even if you had some time for private interactions. There were never worries about balance. PIV didn't happen for either of the two until very deep into the story, much farther in than we currently are in Eternum, and it was totally fine.

EDIT: started writing more of a jokey post like usual, then got serious, so deleted the jokey part

 

[Dorfnutter]

Some assumptions about Eternum...
( And just releasing some theories from my head, so I can take out Eternum out my head)

First is the meeting with the Founder.

Spoiler: The Voice

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It was quite proven that the NPCs are dead people but how about the Praetorians?

Spoiler: The Founder and Praetorians

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Another Idriel theory.

Spoiler: What is Idriel?

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Spoiler: Some alternate takes:

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As for Idriel I think I've already said my piece regarding her in past posts (though your point regarding her blindfold kinda makes me think) so it's all a matter of waiting to see which theory sticks the landing or if Caribdis releases a chapter that effectively sledgehammers every theory that's presented in this thread into oblivion.

 

[misfolk]

Yeah his dick's girth is too much, girls can't even close their hand on it

His dick's everything is too much. I know that average-sized dicks look small in sex scenes because we're accustomed to porn featuring larger-than-average dicks, but his is a fucking monster.

 

[Lilybelle]

+1, customer demand is the #1 biggest detriment to Eternum.

What's popular is not what's good. Porn is the most popular and most sought-after content on all of the internet. Is that what makes the internet good? Fuck no.

There is no possible way to make everyone happy. Even if Eternum had no sexual content at all, it would still be difficult balancing content out with all 6 love interests. Now we not only have 6 love interests intended to receive equal attention, we also need to pace sexual intimacy for them, which forcefully pulls relationship development along with it.

Only 6 love interests? Who did you banish from your harem?

 

[kentek0111]

this game is awesome

 

[Dorfnutter]

There is no possible way to make everyone happy. Even if Eternum had no sexual content at all, it would still be difficult balancing content out with all 6 love interests. Now we not only have 6 love interests intended to receive equal attention, we also need to pace sexual intimacy for them, which forcefully pulls relationship development along with it.

It's 7 actually*...

-Annie
-Nancy
-Dalia
-Penelope
-Luna
-Alex
-Nova

...though it could still go up to 8 if Calypso ends up being a hidden main LI that gets unlocked once we reach a certain point in the story.

(*Unless that wasn't a joke and there's someone on the list that you're not counting as part of the harem)

But yes, the way Caribdis tied LI progression to the main story and the fact that there's too many of them (which necessitates to rotate through 3-4 at a time per update) is why their progression feels accelerated compared to OIAL where the main focus is actually on the first 4 girls that were introduced right from the start (Judie, Lauren, Carla, Rebecca) while the others (Iris**, Jasmine, Aiko) are just filler that are just there to increase scenes rather than add anything substantial to the story (and yes, I say this even knowing that Aiko basically saved our bacon during the Japan trip...but after that she was just kinda...there).

**This one hurts because she's the one whose design I kinda liked the most, but I stand by what I said

It's also why the time skips are necessary because of the plot-first nature of it all. Had it been the other way around (romantic progression over main story progression yet still keeping both tied for chronological reasons), I can already see the same people complaining that this update did nothing from a story perspective (which is objectively wrong because stuff still did kinda happen) to also complain when we get 2-3 updates of nothing happening but LI progression (which again, was what happened with OIAL 0.1-0.4 for the most part, with 0.3 being the only update where major plot progress actually happened).

DPC of Being a DIK is a massive jerk, but I greatly respect him for openly telling the playerbase to go fuck themselves before he changes a single thing about how he writes his story for them. Not saying that Caribdis does, but the point is that customers do NOT know what they actually want, and they will even lie about it.

Personally I think Caribdis also shares some blame. He didn't had to hype that Eternum was going to be bigger and better compared to OIAL, but he did (even did so at the end credits of OIAL). And the only way to say that Eternum is indeed "bigger and better" is to up the ante when it comes to LI focus (no more "only focus on 4 main and keep the rest as side hoes," now ALL of the 7 main LI's are going to get focus), main story (length is certainly longer this time around, and the writing seems to have more thought put into it other than "there's an evil cult trying to summon a demon who seeks to - you guessed it -

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and only an almost-failure of a student and his ridiculously attractive stepsisters (sisters if you install the incest patch) are the only ones who could stop them"), and overall quality (switch from HS1 to HS2 renders, area navigation segments actually feeling like area navigation and not "choose where you want to go from this list bitch," ACTUAL FUCKING MUSIC being used in scenes).

To his credit though, he succeeds for the most part in keeping his promise (IMO, some people might disagree) so not much complaints really. Though it would be nice if his next game is a bit less on the grand scale and something that's more localized ala OIAL (though with the lessons learned and the lore revealed for this game utilized to great effect in said next game). Maybe also cut back on the number of LIs in favor of fleshing them out more, that sort of thing.

I hope for Caribdis's next game he gets out of marketing in the "adult" genre entirely and goes more mainstream. No more obligations to pushing sexual activity to a certain level by a certain time, no obligations for perfectly balancing love interest time out of "fairness" to different fans. I'd love to see what he can do artistically with no restrictions.

I wouldn't go that far, personally. It would be a sad day (and I mean a VERY sad day) once Caribdis abandons or retires from the Western Adult VN market the same way that former writers/devs of the same genre on the JP side did (looking at you, Type-Moon and Nitroplus). In fact I think that's what drove me to check out the indie WEG (Western Erotic Games) scene in the first place because the JP side no longer cares in making the next "Saya no Uta" or the next "Grisaia" or the next "Fullmetal Daemon Muramasa." Whatever's left there is either Nukige or Highschool Romance schlock or NTR. And if you want the interesting stuff (story-wise) you'll have to jump ship to the Non-Eroge section. Or pray that localizers actually pick up something that's reminiscent of the old-school Adult VNs of old (which they won't).

Shit's depressing, really.

 

[TC_Leon45]

Now to look it back, Orion is kind of tough while he was facing Thantos at Ogygia, but somewhat vulnerable at Andromeda server if the pendant has not been bought. Probably Ogygia is a special place exclusive for Orion.

 

[Dorfnutter]

Now to look it back, Orion is kind of tough while he was facing Thantos at Ogygia, but somewhat vulnerable at Andromeda server if the pendant has not been bought. Probably Ogygia is a special place exclusive for Orion.

Spoiler: Nah, man's probably depowered a bit after that moment with Annie and all of that roaming around in the station after.

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[TC_Leon45]

Spoiler: Nah, man's probably depowered a bit after that moment with Annie and all of that roaming around in the station after.

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Ha, probably u are right.

 

[Monstrous Moonshine]

MC seems utterly useless in Eternum, which is a shame considering how capable he seems to be in the 'real world'. Granted, I'm not sure how far into the story I am yet. Anyway, his useless is slowly sapping my willpower to engage.

 

[Dorfnutter]

MC seems utterly useless in Eternum, which is a shame considering how capable he seems to be in the 'real world'. Granted, I'm not sure how far into the story I am yet. Anyway, his useless is slowly sapping my willpower to engage.

Can't really say much because spoilers and I have no idea how far you are in the story but...he gets better. Eventually.

 

[Monstrous Moonshine]

Can't really say much because spoilers and I have no idea how far you are in the story but...he gets better. Eventually.

I get they're trying to build the mystery, but I was expecting some kind of resolution when they found a certain artifact... but no, if anything he seems even more useless than he did before. Painful.

 

[Dorfnutter]

I get they're trying to build the mystery, but I was expecting some kind of resolution when they found a certain artifact... but no, if anything he seems even more useless than he did before. Painful.

Have you reached the part where they exited the server?

Also, yeah...if you were expecting a resolution after they got the artifact, then I have bad news for you: this VN for the most part is a mystery story so the questions are just going to keep piling from there (though there are stuff that count as hints or clues that you can catch from the dialogue and the slides if you're attentive enough).