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

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beh123234

Newbie
Dec 11, 2018
82
171
beh123234 said:
'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!)
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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.

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Varga

New Member
Aug 13, 2019
5
2
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
 
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RoninKai

RoninKai

Newbie
Sep 5, 2017
56
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Dorfnutter said:
f 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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Dorfnutter

Dorfnutter

Engaged Member
May 21, 2017
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beh123234 said:
Also still holding out that The Founder is an Astaroth either from this universe or another that is attempting to conquer the multiverse after acquiring the Gems of Doom, however that works
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beh123234 said:
I'm personally abandoning Orion's potential supernatural parentage and just gonna say he's special just because.
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This is the kind of stuff that makes me question if William's lore bomb is completely accurate. Because while it sounds like he got most of the details right, there's still a lot of stuff unaccounted for: namely the existence of Idriel in Limbo and why she and the dead are reaching out to Orion of all people, why the souls of the dead are trapped in Eternum since it's implied that the Founder simply stumbled upon Eternum already being in such a state, why the Weapons of Atlas were created by Idriel, what the Gems of Doom actually DO when they are completed, what the deal is with the Syndicate in all of this...yeah, still too many unanswered questions rather than answers IMO.

*This post was brought to you by the Church of Nova.
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ChrissyDoll1792

New Member
Dec 31, 2023
6
6
Another story with a bad plot twist. It's too forced to get shot out of nowhere getting pizza by some random junkies. I know I always go through shity areas at night in the rain , warn people before hitting them so hard they fly into a dumpster just, get right back up and shoot someone. Yeah this update is a zero. Done with this one.
 
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ChipLecsap

ChipLecsap

Conversation Conqueror
Aug 4, 2019
7,114
25,870
ChrissyDoll1792 said:
Another story with a bad plot twist. It's too forced to get shot out of nowhere getting pizza by some random junkies. I know I always go through shity areas at night in the rain , warn people before hitting them so hard they fly into a dumpster just, get right back up and shoot someone. Yeah this update is a zero. Done with this one.
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dont-let-the-door-hit-you-on-the-way-out-bye-bye.gif
 
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EtherYet

EtherYet

New Member
May 21, 2019
6
31
Dorfnutter said:
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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Fair warning I will yap and write a LOT here and I'll probably repeat a lot of things already said in the thread but I feel like theorizing, I'm really sorry for that LOL

I think this is actually really interesting to think about. He has been characterized to be extremely cocky, brash and meet obstacles. Most girls if not all of them have at LEAST one or two moments within their route which have Orion stating, with absolute certainty, that he will protect and take care of them, he's continuosly throwing himself into danger and having little to no regard for his safety, the more he won, the more arrogant he bacame I think you put it extremely well in your post. One thing to note is how he actually presumed he would win against the Werewolf Leader. He acted as if he was fodder, like fighting him was a chore he'd get over with in a second (only for him to get speedblitzed later on WITH his hax on, to me implying he never even had a chance - though that could've just been comic relief, it IS a Caribdis game lol).

What is really interesting to me is that It's always been clear something has been trying to guide Orion in a certain path. The first phone call he received just after reaching Kredon, the text that flashes on-screen for barely a frame when logging in ETERNUM, his dreams, with seemingly dead people begging him for help. - Though, I suppose now its half-confirmed that it was Idriel guiding him, and the NPCs / Souls asking for him to free them - To me this just means Cari had a clear vision on how much of the plot points and story beats would play out and how to hint towards them, that's really neat, but not what's so cool about this:

What I do think is really cool is how some variables are teasing stuff that goes along those 'guides' and 'secret messages'. Telling The Founder that you fight for others makes the variable "hero" true (this goes along what Dorfnutter mentioned about Orion having to actually act and BE the needed hero), whilst his next question asking you whether you'd sacrifice innocent lives to save your loved ones changes absolutely nothing at all, it just doesn't matter. Another thing to note is that the only girls to have a 'path' variable are the main ones, the exception being Calypso- i.e she's technically a main girl if we follow the code's logic. The game also seems to remember each coin flip decision and actually changes some real spicy bit of dialogue accordingly, and imples you should always choose Tails and that Tails is the right option in all occasions.

Unrelated note, but am I the only one happy with the Model and Animation changes? Unexpected, sure, but I don't think anyone looks particularly ugly. I actually think the changes make a lot of sense with the characters. Annie is cuter, Dalia, Penelope and Nancy look more similar and seem actually related, and everyone's 'vibe' was maintained. The animations to me also have very clearly improved. Some may not like the 'realism' but I personally enjoy when the stretches strech, the jiggles jiggle and the plaps plap. I think the Game is headed on a very nice and enjoyable direction, my only nitpick is how quick I was to finish the update. I know I'm a fast reader, but did anyone feel like this one was really short?

Anyway, here's my batshit crazy theory, there's Spoilers for those who haven't played 0.7 or previous updates:

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micojive

Well-Known Member
Oct 2, 2017
1,442
3,812
Man, the sex scenes are so freaking good in this game. Both were exactly what I wanted out of them in this update. I just love all the girls in this one man.

Between this and Once in a Lifetime, dev really knows what they are doing.
 
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RoninKai

RoninKai

Newbie
Sep 5, 2017
56
110
Dorfnutter said:
This is the kind of stuff that makes me question if William's lore bomb is completely accurate. Because while it sounds like he got most of the details right, there's still a lot of stuff unaccounted for: namely the existence of Idriel in Limbo and why she and the dead are reaching out to Orion of all people, why the souls of the dead are trapped in Eternum since it's implied that the Founder simply stumbled upon Eternum already being in such a state, why the Weapons of Atlas were created by Idriel, what the Gems of Doom actually DO when they are completed, what the deal is with the Syndicate in all of this...yeah, still too many unanswered questions rather than answers IMO.
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Agreed. The Founder seems like the type of person that would let William think he found out all the answers, likely telling William a very watered down version then letting him search for the truth behind the Founders back all the while the Founder is manipulating what info William gets. As for Idriel I get the feeling that she is some kind of special being, like a god of the afterlife and by trapping her in limbo is how the Founder got most of his control over Eternum. Orion has the 100% compatibility score which is why the dead are seeking him out but why he has that compatibility is still a question. Parentage seems unlikely and right now it feels more like someone who has talent for basketball or math, like maybe he has some mystic or psychic power that allows him to communicate with Eternum more than others. Since this world is connected to Once in a Lifetime, while they may not share story lines Once in a Lifetime canonized mystic and supernatural phenomena in this world so maybe Orion is just gifted in that. The weapons of Atlas feel like Idriels way of rebelling, at the same time it feels weird that the princess was made by Idriel so maybe they already existed but Idriel manipulated them in such a way as to be used as weapons against the Founder. The gems of doom clearly weren't made by anyone, they feel more like the Infinity Stones, fragments of that world crystalized into material form, or there was some nexus of power that was destroyed and the gems are fragments of that. Maybe the xenomorph threat is like Eternums way of cleaning house because of that event. For the Syndicate...I don't really have anything for them, but while I was writiing that all out an idea came to mind.

What if Idriel is the god or overseer of Eternum but wasn't a benevolent god. What if the Syndicate are like a rebel group fighting against Idriel. So the timeline goes something like this: Idriel rules Eternum with an iron fist, the Syndicate aren't happy but can't do anything. The Founder finds Eternum and Idriel and somehow manages to shatter her Nexus of power or throne or whatever. When that happen Idriel is weakened enough for the Founder to trap her in limbo allowing him to take control but the Nexus splits into the gems of doom and the resulting chaos allows the Syndicate to take action. All 3 sides know that some humans are more compatible with Eternum than others so they all seek to manipulate the chosen one. The Founder thinks he will be a good candidate to gather the gems so helps him along so that he can one day take Idriels place and rule over Eternum or maybe just fuck off somewhere to be a god. Idriel helps because she wants to return to power and hopes you will help her achieve this. The Syndicate want neither to win and desire some other outcome, maybe they want the chosen one to take over or maybe the chosen one can decide to sacrifice themself to create a fixed Eternum.

While Idriel does seem rather concerned with the wellbeing of the dead that could be in a "If the dead are gone I have nobody to rule over" way. Also it's thinner than a Japanese sliding door but Idriel does sometimes show up in 3s similar to Cerberus the guardian of hell which could also point to an even higher power we are not aware of yet. The Syndicate kind of feel like that mysterious 3rd faction that you don't really know is a faction until later and you kinda forget about them until they pop up doing mysterious stuff. Like I almost expect them to show up one day with a "We were the original rulers of Eternum and it was a glorius time but then Idriel came and messed it all up"
 
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