VN Ren'Py Eternum [v0.8.5 Public] [Caribdis]

[seniorboop]

I think if Carib D wanted to raise tension or stakes than the shot should have been on a side character we care and could feasibly die, like Cheng or Luna's dad. Orion being shot is just meh, everyone knows he isn't going to die and it's just a matter of if he's going to be out for 10 minutes or half a chapter. Cheng even had a death flag in this chapter with him finally asking his girl out, well in 4 to 5 months we'll see what happens.

Yeah, I cant help but look at it from a metacontextual pov which is why it had no punch to it for me. We know Orion and the LIs have zero risk of dying until the VN is over (or nearly over for the LIs). There's no way to make a mortal risk convincing, so the only move left is to utilize it as a catalyst for a more important revelation.

Like you said, it'd be a different story if it were a side character. I think that was the magic of early GoT. You had no clue who the MC was, so when what you thought was the MC was suddenly aborted from reality it shocked the hell out of you. That ambiguity of who the MC was, and thus who was safe, is what made those deaths so effective and the story considerably less predictable. Thats unfortunately not something Carib D can do with Eternum which makes it predictable.

 

[RoninKai]

He was arrogant, mostly in his mind, for sure.

Spoiler

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[ChipLecsap]

IDK man, some tough competition there...
View attachment 3470059

 

[ArDZer]

I think if Carib D wanted to raise tension or stakes than the shot should have been on a side character we care and could feasibly die, like Cheng or Luna's dad. Orion being shot is just meh, everyone knows he isn't going to die and it's just a matter of if he's going to be out for 10 minutes or half a chapter. Cheng even had a death flag in this chapter with him finally asking his girl out, well in 4 to 5 months we'll see what happens.

Spoiler: Will he succeed or fail?

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[ChipLecsap]

Yeah, I cant help but look at it from a metacontextual pov which is why it had no punch to it for me. We know Orion and the LIs have zero risk of dying until the VN is over (or nearly over for the LIs). There's no way to make a mortal risk convincing, so the only move left is to utilize it as a catalyst for a more important revelation.

Like you said, it'd be a different story if it were a side character. I think that was the magic of early GoT.
You had no clue who the MC was, so when what you thought was the MC was suddenly aborted from reality it shocked the hell out of you. That ambiguity of who the MC was, and thus who was safe, is what made those deaths so effective and the story considerably less predictable. Thats unfortunately not something Carib D can do with Eternum which makes it predictable.

“We all know the world is full of chance and anarchy, so yes it’s true to life for characters to die randomly. But news flash: the genre’s called Fantasy. It’s meant to be unrealistic, you myopic manatee.”

sorry I got what you try to say,
but this just popped up in to my head

 

[RoninKai]

I give you that that Idriel came out as a Bitch. as I said, yesterday, I don't trust her, I believe she is an Antagonist....

I don't know if she is an antagonist but now that I think about it I'm liking her less and less since she is the type to drop the whole "You are the only one who can save us" nonesense like you are the chosen one. I kind of want Orion to turn around and say "Well what if I don't want to save your people? What does your fate have to do with me"

 

[Dorfnutter]

I just don't agree that Orion was really getting arrogant. The only time where he was even remotely arrogant was in the alley with the junkies and even then his reaction was perfectly warranted, if some bum comes demanding change from you punching them in the face is the correct choice. If anything his only screw up was by not taking it farther and making sure the enemy was down for the count. The only reason the situation went pear shaped is because a junkie who likely didn't have 2 eternals to rub together SOMEHOW had a gun. If they were proper gang members then sure I can see that, but junkies? At most they would have a knife or a broken bottle. Also if you're going to mug someone and you have a gun you pull that out first, much more likely to get the money without having to fire a shot.

I mean the entire chapter Orion was constantly questioning himself and his enemies. With the werewolves he was confident but also respected the enemy enough to be wary of him and while I haven't seen the vampire route I'm sure it's pretty similar. He even questions if what he is doing with the girls is right and after thinking about it comes to a logical conclusion, it's probably not the right one but the fact that he even stops to question it shows that he is aware of his actions and not just assuming he is the god king and that everything will work out.

All in all I don't think Orion earned that shit from Idriel. If you wanted him to earn it then the werewolf/vampire parts would have had him just assuming he would win without challenge. You would have removed the part about him being excited that Coyote was an actual challenge and replaced it with something more like "Coyote is better than I thought but still a chump not worth mentioning" you would have him NOT questioning his relationships with the girls and just assuming he is so badass it's obvious they would fall for him. Having a single encounter where he shows a level of earned arrogance that goes sideways in a kind of stupid way does not warrant the "You deserve this because you were being arrogant" speech. At best it deserves a "This is not how things were supposed to happen, someone interfered with your destiny" or "You were unlucky"

If you really wanted to hit us with the consequences for arrogance trope then there should have been small moments where he truly was getting arrogant, then have Idriel chide him in one of her talks, something like "You are doing well but be wary of arrogance and do not let it cloud your judgement" then hit us with what we got and it would feel earned and right. This feels like Cari wanted to have a morality moment and threw it in because it would make a good cliffhanger not that it made sense to the story and character.

If you take it as a culmination of his journey beginning with the wrong intentions, it kinda makes sense, though.

From the very beginning, Orion's goal was to have fun in Kredon, change his luck and score babes and possibly get laid. Then when he learned of the prize awaiting those who got the gems, he starts fantasizing in Ekabar what life he would have if he becomes CEO of Ulysses. He also takes shit from no one, given how the correct response in dealing with Axel was to punch him (instead of confronting him or grabbing his hand away when he tried to fondle Annie). These show that he has always had this "brash and confident" streak in him.

Then through the course of the story, he continues to keep on "winning" without much setbacks (the only one being when he lost his gem and the fight against Thanatos in Ogygia): He gets his first gem at the Red Herring, he pulls off the Heist without much of a hitch, he takes Wagner's gem and curbstomps most of his army in the process, he starts becoming physically buff without going through the Mikaela workout routine, every LI starts falling for him, he even manages to seduce a powerful being like Caly despite her arrogance, he starts making a name for himself as the Huntsman as his still-unexplained powers continue to grow unabated...

Granted, most of his successes are also thanks in part due to help from the girls, and that's where he mostly shows his more compassionate and nice guy attitude. But his behavior this update, in my opinion, is simply a culmination of all the things that have been happening in the story so far while also showing the glaring flaw that Orion has had since the beginning. A flaw that is starting to cloud his better self, as seen in how he basically was gung-ho with the gem hunt and set Nova aside before Nan chastised him. Too bad that alone wasn't enough to really set him straight.

Which is why I think this ending is warranted. As I said before in this thread, Orion still has options to get himself out so I'm not worried about his survival. But he needs time to self-reflect and put himself in the right mindset. Right now he's still in the mindset that all of this is just a game (figuratively speaking) and he is "the hero" who will save the day, bed all the women without consequence, and become god. With that mindset, he essentially is no different from The Founder, and that's not what the dead needs.

No, what he needs is to actually BE the hero that the dead and the girls deserve. He needs to come clean and express his intentions with all of them and make them realize he loves them all equally. He needs to adjust his attitude and his goals and actually start taking shit seriously. He needs to understand why things that are happening in Eternum are happening and not just go about them like some sort of Main Story Quest in a VRMMO (granted Ekabar is a good start but that seems to have been initiated by one of the LIs rather than something he himself should initiate).

Like Idriel keeps saying, "you're not asking the right questions." Mayhaps the reason she is saying that is because Orion isn't changing how he's looking at all these things based on his current lifepath and attitude. Hopefully some time being a wandering soul in Eternum (or perhaps Limbo) will change that.

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[topshelf]

Great chapter. I wish there was a bit more content on either Ion or Tortuga, but I had a blast.

Wasn't a fan of the ending though.

Spoiler: Ending

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[htc89234]

I have to say, the update was good, but it kinda felt lacking story-wise? It felt like I more of just walked from a sex scene to another with very little in the way of actual plot progression; the first half (up until the photoshoot ending) didn't feel much like progressing. The pirate part was good if not a bit short.

Maybe it's the lack of a long free-roam section like the Collector in 0.6 or the travelling in 0.5 + the party. I guess this update felt more NSFW-focused for the scene payouts for me.

Then again maybe the first half of this will come back and make more sense down at 0.9 or 1.0, as Caribdis does end up tying small things into interesting stuff later on.

Ending was great, which is extremely unfortunate as now I'm already anxious for 0.8.

 

[ChipLecsap]

he is "the hero" who will save the day, bed all the women without consequence, and become god.

I agree, but you do realize that you just spoiled the game right ? I mean this exactly this is game.
How he get there, that is the journey of the Game

 

[Dorfnutter]

I agree, but you do realize that you just spoiled the game right ? I mean this exactly this is game.
How he get there, that is the journey of the Game

No, not really.

I'm still of the opinion that the game will end with the gems ending up with no one (either they are destroyed or they scatter once again or completely used up in order to free the dead), the VRMMO being shut down by Orion and co (or maybe Idriel or once the souls of the dead are liberated) so as to not have players intrude upon Eternum, Ulysses becoming bankrupt and all the bad laundry becoming exposed to the world leading to the entire board being thrown to jail, and the world going back to normal with Orion and the harem living modest but happy lives together.

*This post was brought to you by the Church of Nova.
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[An known]

Just a quick question.

Do I really have to buy the Poly juice Potion???

Spoiler: Cause look:

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Orion is going broke...
How will he even pay child support if...
...
He's losing Money...
He's losing blood...
He's losing life...

What are we gonna do with the Polyjuice potion??
Cosplay as Jerry???
Cause... we already successfully did that.
[Sighs]...
C'mon man

 

[ChipLecsap]

No, not really.

I'm still of the opinion that the game will end with the gems ending up with no one (either they are destroyed or they scatter once again or completely used up in order to free the dead), the VRMMO being shut down by Orion and co (or maybe Idriel or once the souls of the dead are liberated) so as to not have players intrude upon Eternum, Ulysses becoming bankrupt and all the bad laundry becoming exposed to the world leading to the entire board being thrown to jail, and the world going back to normal with Orion and the harem living modest but happy lives together.

*This post was brought to you by the Church of Nova.
JOIN US...OR WE'RE GONNA GET YA.

this feels like one of the "Bad Endings"

 

[aereton]

All of Chop-Chop's "ooooohhh" moments so far: View attachment 3469903 View attachment 3469904 View attachment 3469961 View attachment 3469960

Always having Beedle in my ear when Chop Chop appears

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[ChipLecsap]

Just a quick question.

Do I really have to buy the Poly juice Potion???

Spoiler: Cause look:

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Orion is going broke...
How will he even pay child support if...
...
He's losing Money...
He's losing blood...
He's losing life...

What are we gonna do with the Polyjuice potion??
Cosplay as Jerry???
Cause... we already successfully did that.
[Sighs]...
C'mon man

The walkthrough Recommend it to buy it, so I did.
But damn, you Broke, how?

 

[Dorfnutter]

this feels like one of the "Bad Endings"

Is it though?

Because I'm of the theory that part of the reason Eternum is going haywire is because of the presence of the players themselves. That amount of astral projections in every given world could be seen by the worlds themselves as "intruders" that need to be culled, and monsters like Xenomorphs basically act like a way for the worlds to "correct" themselves by excising the intruding phenomena in order to preserve the integrity of the world's reality. Kinda like how in "Re:Creators" magic isn't really seen as normal in our world, so reality itself will try to correct that by eliminating the distortion of reality, so said distortion fades over time. It's also why I think projections prior to the existence of the nerve implant didn't last long (hence why you get the feeling that dreams usually end abruptly at times).

Point is, that amount of players do not belong in Eternum, so a good way to rectify that is to completely shut the game entirely.

*This post was brought to you by the Church of Nova.
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[ArDZer]

Great chapter. I wish there was a bit more content on either Ion or Tortuga, but I had a blast.

Wasn't a fan of the ending though.

Spoiler: Ending

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Spoiler: About your post

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[e6mill]

Spoiler: About your post

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Shot in the back, but bleeding out the front? I think things are a bit beyond "extracting" now.

 

[beh123234]

'Sup Fuckers! I've been avoiding this thread for a while now to avoid any spoilers and to keep my hype for the update contained to myself away from external influences, and Goddamn, it was worth it. This update is even the one that convinced me to pledge my financial support to Caribdis, so good work, you beautiful bastard.

The update was absolutely gorgeous, even more than what you'd expect from Caribdis. The lighting was phenomenal, the humor hit just right, the heist scene- God, the heist scene. I'm not gonna tell you a Goddamn thing about the heist scene so you can go in and appreciate it yourself in its full glory. Those who have played the new update know what I'm talking about.

The H scenes were phenomenal just like you'd expect from Caribdis, and I'll even say that I think they land a lot better due to Orion's better emotional connection to the girls than the protagonist from OIaL. Not that I'm criticizing OIaL at all, just saying that Caribdis has clearly improved as a writer, and we're all the more pleased with it.

But that's not why I'm writing this post! No sir, not at all! I had a thought come to me as I laid my head down to sleep after playing the new update, and I have a theory! A theory I'm well aware has holes in and is incomplete, but I think I'm onto something. So don you're tinfoil hats, gentlemen; it's theory crafting time. (Btw, apologies if I end up stating something someone else has already posted, but like I said, I've avoided the forum for a while now, and I'm not going back and reading all that. I swear, I came up with it myself!)

Spoiler: Alex Jones-tier Theory Crafting

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I went back to a theory I dropped about a year and a half ago, and wouldn't ya know it, I wasn't exactly on the mark, but I wasn't too far off either. I'm gonna drop another amended theory after this latest update.

Spoiler: Another Dumb Theory

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[Varga]

Is it just me or did the animations in this update feel quite a bit worse compared to previous versions? Seems more "realism" was put into them, but that just made the animations look odd, out of place or in some cases, making no sense at all