packard1928
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Absolutely. Maybe one could say, that Emma learns to recognize and prioritze the thrill in the initially perceived discomfort and transgression. Accepts that both components come together, can't be seperated. And this very fact, this experience then makes her more dominant towards her husband.
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Don't remember, I think he said March. The last thing he said in patreon conversations was, that he considered splitting the last episode in two if necessary.
Personally, I blame porn. Her porn experience, like a deus ex machina, explains all her depravity. It's the weakest and most overly convenient device in the game.
I've suffered from deadlines all my life as a programmer, and I really admire him as a person for the years he's endured, and as someone who knows exactly what he's going through, I hope he pulls through. I've been able to overcome burnout because I had coworkers, but he's alone and it must be so lonely and painful, it's horrible to think about.
packard1928
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Not pushing..... just curious..... He has not been on F95 for a long time...
You and I are on the same page in relation to the cheating and sharing paths...and I also would argue (and did argue) that this is the case to some extent even with the sexual modesty/faithfulness path, although this is the relatively mildest path. So essentially any path besides the cuck path tends to strain more plausibility.
Anyway, the points you made in relation to the cheating and sharing paths are very much in line with my thinking on the believability of those paths, including in regard to acknowledging that the developer probably did not devote as much focus to the paths that could be considered more narratively problematic.
Thus, it did occur to me that ultimately the character Emma develops and is motivated to behave in the way she does because the developer says so. Regardless of any criticisms I or anyone else may have, this is a story being told by someone with their own interests in portraying the characters (which of the course the same can be said for any developer, though that doesn't mean we cannot assess the plausibility/coherency of the story as presented to the reader/viewer).
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This also occurred to me, and I agree with this point as well.
Emma is shown as having a huge reaction to viewing porn that portrays the involvement of men from outside of the relationship (again, difficult for me to believe, though it is what it is), and if she is placed on a path that includes sharing threesome porn which involves two men and one woman, she repeatedly strays from her marriage even when her husband does not respond positively to her sharing this porn and rather voices being worried that this idea may be acted on instead of left in the realm of fantasy. Also, along the cheating path, Emma shares this kind of threesome porn with her husband even if he first shares porn with her that involves just one man and one woman (and despite her thinking to herself that her husband probably would prefer to view threesome porn that instead involves two women and one man).
However, for Emma to seek out porn involving men from outside of the relationship, this means that she already was having thoughts about sexual intercourse with Martin; hence, although her porn experience seemingly pushed her farther down that path, in another sense she used this as a convenient justification (what some would call an excuse) for what she already was desiring to do. And when she masturbates through video chat with her husband while he is out of town, she secretly imagines that Martin is the one who is pleasuring her instead of her husband.
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Sparta158
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- May 22, 2024
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I would be interested to know if you have played pinneapple express and if so, what is your opinion of it?
packard1928
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I really liked Pineapple Express. I played it several ways.... really like the sharing path
Big Rooster
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Julia
is his best girl! It's a good game.
Dessolos
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Yeah I like that game more than this one tbh well other than the cheating path. The cheating is done better in this one.
Yes, I played Pineapple Express (PE) and still have it because some of the sex scenes are hot. Other than that, however, my opinion of the game based on the overall story (all paths considered) is not very good. The F95 review of Pineapple Express by Cthulu45 voices some of the concerns I had about the overall story, which center on reliance on contrived scenarios.
However, similar to Exploring the Big Apple (ETBA), I preferred the sharing path in PE because it does not forsake love/loyalty in the relationship, is altogether more eventful/exciting than the monogamy path (see more on this below), and does not reduce the sexual involvement of the MC with his female partner to that of a spectator.
Broadly speaking, I would say that ETBA is generally of higher quality than PE, though ETBA is a more recent product and is not superior in every way. Also, the opening themes differ in some important respects: bf and gf vs. married couple, female partner agreeing to live with a male friend for a few days to act like she's his fiancee vs. married couple agreeing to live with a friend while they get on their feet financially, and MC admitting that sex with the FMC had become stale lately vs. young married couple who still have quite passionate sex with each other when able.
Having said that, I think if I were the MC in PE that I would have told Cornell he should have known better than to drag my gf into his rich family mess, and that what he was asking was too much. However, PE does not give the option of refusing the request, and even if it did, I'm sure it would be game over.
One common issue with the non-NTR paths in games involving NTR is that the most sex-filled/sexually exciting paths usually are the ones where the female partner becomes more interested in or aroused by having sex with men other than the MC, whereas paths involving more of monogamy usually have a lower number of sex scenes and scenes that are less visually exciting/animated, which amounts to being relatively boring. So for me, the best compromise in games involving NTR is usually the sharing path (ideally involving loyalty, permission, and mutual enjoyment). It's also nice when the MC is potentially allowed sexual pleasure from other women (which to its credit PE includes) instead of the game being all about the FMC potentially being allowed sexual pleasure from other men (which thus far is what ETBA does).
To do like I did with ETBA, here's some early dialogue from PE that comes to bother me later along some paths:
Cornell (in presenting his request): "Julia, you don't have to do anything intimate or anything like that. Just be there with me when my mom visits, and spend a few nights at my place."
Julia (in assuring the MC about agreeing to do it): "Deal! But remember, it's just acting."
Peter: "I trust you, babe. Just make sure you don't fall for him while you're playing fiancee."
Julia: "Don't worry, I'll save all my love for you. Cornell's just gonna have to deal with that!"
Peter (speaking to Cornell afterwards): "I've talked to my girlfriend, and she's on board with helping you. But remember, it has to be within reasonable boundaries."
Cornell: "Hell yeah! That's awesome news, Peter! I swear, I'll be on my best behavior."
So after all of that was said, if the MC allows the FMC and Cornell to act as they will (not intervening when they're "acting" for family or when what is viewed is from a hidden camera), then the following happens: Cornell sleeps naked in bed with Julia; Cornell places his hand on Julia's breast while kissing her; Julia places her hand on Cornell's cock in bed; Cornell whips his dick out in front of Julia in a bathroom stall; Julia gives Cornell a handjob in bed; Julia licks Cornell's dick while jacking him off under a table; and Julia gives Cornell a blowjob in bed. Does that sound like just acting, saving all the love for the MC, or being on one's best behavior? Essentially, the (mostly) monogamy path in PE where the MC allows the FMC and his friend to make their own decisions while shutting them down when explicitly asked amounts to a semi-cuck path, where the FMC and friend act quite differently toward each other relative to their initial assurances to the MC. Lastly, I dislike that along this semi-cuck path (and the full-blown cuck path), the MC is depicted as this guy who gets so excited from seeing his girlfriend have sex with another man that his dick becomes useless for having intercourse with her (due to masturbation or premature ejaculation), in effect making him of little use in sexually pleasuring his girlfriend except to eat her pussy.
Similar to ETBA, there's also some inconsistency in the chain of events in PE if the MC does not give the FMC permission to cross the line with his friend yet trusts his girlfriend and friend to make their own decisions without intervention. On one path, even if the MC chose not to share the dream he had about the FMC having sex with Cornell, the FMC later teases the MC about possibly doing naughty things with Cornell and says that maybe he'll get excited about it like he did about his dream. Then if the MC sends a text to Julia in the hospital that she's a big girl and can make her own decisions, she immediately after rides Cornell's dick in his hospital bed. However, even if the MC sends a text to Julia explicitly saying that she needs to shut down any sexual advances from Cornell, when the MC next speaks to Julia she talks as if she just had sex with Cornell (despite the MC witnessing Cornell alone in his hospital bed watching porn on his phone). So similar to ETBA, I feel that the cuck and sharing paths were the most carefully and coherently constructed in PE, whereas the other paths (the ones more or less involving monogamy or cheating) seemed to make less sense or have less care devoted to them.
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Filipis
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- Nov 15, 2022
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I think the most important thing to remember about dimajio's games are that they are on a monthly release schedule. This, in all likelihood "forces" the dev to have as many scenes shared between paths as possible (to provide more content for each path, and to save on time), even if the dialogue or experience might suffer a bit as a result.
And about the "deal" in PE: ultimately, this is an AVN, a porn game if you will, and the presumption is always "If something can go wrong/kinky, it will go wrong/kinky". Even if the GF promised MC in PE that she would always reserve love for MC, letting her get too close to your BFF without reminding her here and there about her promise is naturally going to lead to the heat turning up. Think of the situation as a nuclear reactor... the reactor doesn't want to explode from the pressure, but without following strict safety rules and guidelines, a tragedy is inevitable.
IMHO the cheating path is overall better in EtBA than in PE, but PE still has my favourite girl design in Julia (as well as the interracial aspect), so it remains my favourite work from dimajio. That is, unless he does manage to deliver on the finale of EtBA, after which I might change my opinion (though the rushed nature makes me very sceptical)...
Just to give you the view "from the other side"on this with this example, too, because I think the differences in interpretation start right there:
If I would overhear this dialogue in real life, I would immediately make two assumptions: 1. Cornell and Julia won't be able to hold up to these red lines, this is not probable under these circumstances at all and is setting them up for failure. 2. If I heard Peter here, without knowing anything about him, I would assume, that he is ok with or at least indifferent or curious, if something happens. Phrases like "within reasonable boundaries" and "don't fall for him" are not the language I would expect from somebody who would be devasted and enraged if something happened.
And I will say I understand that and do consider it. If it was a forced choice, I would prefer a completed game that had to be rushed somewhat due to practical considerations rather than have nothing at all or be left with a game that was never able to be completed due to practical considerations having been neglected or underestimated.
Yeah, like I said, I would have told Cornell from Pineapple Express that he could shove it and deal with his own mess and take it as a lesson that he's not to involve my significant other in any of it, especially without first having talked to us.
But as others would say, it is a porn game or AVN, which often have plots that rely on contrived scenarios.
In the case of Pineapple Express and Exploring the Big Apple, the story begins by placing the MC and FMC in some initially uncomfortable living situation with another man, one where the FMC will be exposed to repeated incidents of provocative looks and comments, surprise nudity, and unanticipated physical contact or touching (all of which will be unexpectedly arousing to the FMC and may serve to awaken her hidden inner slut unless she is kept on a tight leash).
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Filipis
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Keep in mind that Cornell, MC, and Julia all thought the ruse would last only for a few days while his mother was visiting. When Cornell's mother decided to prolong her stay, is when the situation got more complicated.
And indeed something did go wrong/kinky
Hey, at least in Pineapple Express the MC was given another female option to have fun with besides the FMC. The same cannot be said for Exploring the Big Apple, as the focus is on the FMC and other men. Hell, in ETBA the FMC didn't even send the MC threesome porn involving another woman when she thought to herself that's probably what he would have preferred to see...but that's not what Emma wanted to fantasize about because she already amazingly had developed the insatiable hots for Martin within just a few days of meeting him.
And that's another thing that differs from Pineapple Express: Martin was a stranger to Emma at the beginning of ETBA (with her even calling him a "stranger" at first), whereas Cornell in PE was the best friend of the MC and by extension was a friend to Julia (with the MC mentioning that they had partied together in the past).
Regardless though, in both games everything can happen a bit too quickly for my taste. Even if such fantasies are being entertained with the MC, I don't think that the FMC should be so fast to want to give it up to another guy. I feel that choosing to break the monogamy of a long-term relationship so quickly in the midst of having no choice but to be in close proximity to another man (which in ETBA includes when the husband is out of town) cheapens the experience, as it makes it seem like it's more of a matter of ease/convenience. In the case of ETBA, doing so while the MC is out of town also excludes the MC from taking part in the experience, and there is no consideration of the MC possibly desiring to have an experience of his own separate from the FMC (as she has been allowed to do, or rather has allowed herself to do).
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