VN Ren'Py Friends in Need [Ch.1-7 v0.73] [NeonGhosts]

[NebulousShooter]

eh I don't think she was downplaying her fault in it at all since she literally tried to kill her self because of it But yeah I can see if you already have a negative bias for her this update isn't going to make things any better since the games wants you to try to at least help her because of how horrible Lucien is. But yeah I did think it was a bit weird how she was never a trafficking victim of Lucien. I want to assume she was at some point and just didn't want to reveal it but that kind of goes against the dialogue.

I meant more like the game downplaying it rather than her lying about it. It makes sure every step of the way that she is seen in a good light. As a person that has grown up surrounded by similar people I think its not realistic for a person in that circumstance to be this lucky to avoid any and all consequences of her horrible life decisions. She doesn't get abused, instead she gets promoted to assistant, she stops being smart and is oblivious to his pretty obvious bad intentions to minimize her fault, she conveniently finds out after the first girl she helps lure so the damage she does is as small as possible.

I feel a more immersive/compelling narrative would be if she deep down knew what she was doing, but the need for drugs was more important for her. Could you still look past that and try to help her now?

Since I know you play DIk, if I hated Jill going behind MC's back with the Chad fight, you can imagine how I feel about Risa fooling Guy and putting him in danger here. The guy has black eye already, its clear he can't handle shit, what made her think he is properly equipped to deal with Psycho drug lords? Disregard for his well being? selfish needs of redemption no matter the cost? I am expected to believe that she is now a reformed saint?

This made me wonder if I would see this in a different light if this was a choice event, rather than forced plot.

 

[Joshy92]

Just did a quick speed run to look at lewds I probably missed some but from what I saw it looks like he has only done that to Ashe

I hope he does it more in the future. I would love to have my head between Nicki or Mason's legs having a delicious lunch.

 

[Dessolos]

I meant more like the game downplaying it rather than her lying about it. It makes sure every step of the way that she is seen in a good light. As a person that has grown up surrounded by similar people I think its not realistic for a person in that circumstance to be this lucky to avoid any and all consequences of her horrible life decisions. She doesn't get abused, instead she gets promoted to assistant, she stops being smart and is oblivious to his pretty obvious bad intentions to minimize her fault, she conveniently finds out after the first girl she helps lure so the damage she does is as small as possible.

I feel a more immersive/compelling narrative would be if she deep down knew what she was doing, but the need for drugs was more important for her. Could you still look past that and try to help her now?

Since I know you play DIk, if I hated Jill going behind MC's back with the Chad fight, you can imagine how I feel about Risa fooling Guy and putting him in danger here. The guy has black eye already, its clear he can't handle shit, what made her think he is properly equipped to deal with Psycho drug lords? Disregard for his well being? selfish needs of redemption no matter the cost? I am expected to believe that she is now a reformed saint?

This made me wonder if I would see this in a different light if this was a choice event, rather than forced plot.

yeah I see what you mean when you put it like that if she did it knowing full well what she was doing and didn't care because she just wanted drugs. I'd have to find an excuse to like her if I would still be able to like her at all. I probably still help her if it means putting a stop to Lucien but past that idk hard to say for sure how id feel. I should hate her if she did that but I find there are some LI I find it impossible for me to hate even when they deserve it lol. It's rare for me but there are some out there like that for me. Even tho what you said makes more sense for a character or narrative stand point. I'm glad it's the opposite as I rather a game make me feel / care or like a LI even if it means have to use some level of disbelief.

 

[SlapE]

I hope the Pepper Twin 'Retcon' stays and its not a bait and switch. I hated her being a camwhore, for me it has joined to form the trifecta of overused tropes, cheated MC backstory, Raped LI backstory and now OF/Camwhore LI.

I didn't even know this was a thing, I actually hate that, because it feels like such a fucking cop out.

Oh well, Pepper wasn't even in my top 3 LI's anyway, so it's not like it's that important to me. However I was interested to see Neon's take on a camgirl LI since his writing in general has been really good.

As far as Risa goes, people can try to justify her actions all they want, and the game can try to make me like her as much as the game wants. I will never ever like Risa in a romantic light, and will not even indulge in a sexual relationship with her. If she can redeem herself, I might consider being her friend, but that is the absolute most she could ever be to me.

 

[Spamwise]

If the next 2 updates were only Gabby content, I would not be complaining too terribly much.

 

[SlapE]

If the next 2 updates were only Gabby content, I would not be complaining too terribly much.

meh.

 

[NebulousShooter]

I didn't even know this was a thing, I actually hate that, because it feels like such a fucking cop out.

I might be just misreading the signs, so its not a guarantee thats where the plot is heading. And I am a hypocrite because I agree, it is a cop out, I just happen to hate the OF/Camwhore trope in VNS with a burning passion. The fact that it also features blackmail

I don't like Pepper as a LI that much either, but I liked her as a character enough to wish she doesn't get ruined(imo) by that, especially since it comes as a twist after the player might get invested in her. With controversial topics I like to know what I'm getting into from the start, like the Being a DIK prostitutes LI, you know what they are about before starting farming their routes, you don't find out about it 5 updates later...

 

[Requiem131]

Hm, I checked the walkthrough and there supposedly is a sex scene with Risa in her father's house room. And yet, even though I did what the walkthrough said and even tried the opposite route through the diner to see, it doesn't seem to trigger. Any idea on how to trigger it, or is it due to the error that pops up just where it should be:

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
  File "game/ch9.rpy", line 7722, in script
    if rirejected == True or rirel == 2 :
  File "game/ch9.rpy", line 7722, in <module>
    if rirejected == True or rirel == 2 :
NameError: name 'rirejected' is not defined

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
  File "game/ch9.rpy", line 7722, in script
    if rirejected == True or rirel == 2 :
  File "D:\Otros\Gams\FriendsinNeed.0.60c-pc\renpy\ast.py", line 2133, in execute
    if renpy.python.py_eval(condition):
  File "D:\Otros\Gams\FriendsinNeed.0.60c-pc\renpy\python.py", line 1153, in py_eval
    return py_eval_bytecode(code, globals, locals)
  File "D:\Otros\Gams\FriendsinNeed.0.60c-pc\renpy\python.py", line 1146, in py_eval_bytecode
    return eval(bytecode, globals, locals)
  File "game/ch9.rpy", line 7722, in <module>
    if rirejected == True or rirel == 2 :
NameError: name 'rirejected' is not defined

Windows-10-10.0.19041 AMD64
Ren'Py 8.1.1.23060707
Friends in Need Ch9 v.0.60c 
Wed Jun  5 03:01:57 2024

 

[Dessolos]

Hm, I checked the walkthrough and there supposedly is a sex scene with Risa in her father's house room. And yet, even though I did what the walkthrough said and even tried the opposite route through the diner to see, it doesn't seem to trigger. Any idea on how to trigger it, or is it due to the error that pops up just where it should be:

I didn't look at the walkthrough since I dont use them. Unsure if it's the error you got or what. But this is what i did to get the scene some of these choices might not matter. I went to the model , deluxe room , declined to have sex with her and picked the option that said I didn't want to take advantage of her , looked at her in her room , gave her a compliment and then I had the option.

 

[Requiem131]

Hadn't tried that but same error, when the phone rings. I guess it bugged some way or another, no problem. Thanks!

 

[Joshy92]

I didn't even know this was a thing, I actually hate that, because it feels like such a fucking cop out.

Oh well, Pepper wasn't even in my top 3 LI's anyway, so it's not like it's that important to me. However I was interested to see Neon's take on a camgirl LI since his writing in general has been really good.

As far as Risa goes, people can try to justify her actions all they want, and the game can try to make me like her as much as the game wants. I will never ever like Risa in a romantic light, and will not even indulge in a sexual relationship with her. If she can redeem herself, I might consider being her friend, but that is the absolute most she could ever be to me.

I have to disagree about Risa. She is a really sweet girl who never wanted to hurt anyone she just made some mistakes and is trying to make things right.

She has so much love in her heart that I just can't help but want to make life better for her.

 

[Dessolos]

I have to disagree about Risa. She is a really sweet girl who never wanted to hurt anyone she just made some mistakes and is trying to make things right.

She has so much love in her heart that I just can't help but want to make life better for her.

yeah I think that's way I think her story arc is my favorite right now. She messed up and knows it and it got to the point she tried to kill herself in the past because of how guilty she felt Sure the way she went about getting Guy's help is wrong but it shows to me she is caring and sweet and full of love and not selfish at all. She just needs help. Also I love the render / scene when you tell you don't want to take advantage of her might honestly be my favorite render / scene in the whole game right now.

She feels like she has the potential to beat Nicki as my favorite / #1 right now i'd have to think on that more but I think I like her more than Ashe so she is at least my 2nd favorite now

Spoiler: My favorite render

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[Ernatio D]

Spoiler: girl I thought could have been Cassie

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[Dessolos]

Spoiler: girl I thought could have been Cassie

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Yeah I kind of thought that for a second as well. As Guy's inner monologue in the drug den mentioned something like he think it's probably a good thing Cassie never replied back to his letter. Then we learn about the whole thing what Lucien is doing to the girls. So for a second when Risa told us the story I thought of Cassie in that moment

 

[ename144]

I was holding off playing the update until the full chapter was released because I wanted to give it the best possible chance to win me over. I'm, not sure it made much difference. This chapter was not good.

The update picked up right where the 0.57 teaser left off: heavy handedly railroading the MC into situations I would rather avoid, then offering me a bunch of ways to make a point I emphatically disagree with. I'm even forced to defend Risa at once point despite the game's clear evidence of just how big a fuckup she is. It's infuriating - all the more so because it's clear this is going to be the status quo going forward.

To be fair I only have one set of saves focused on Carolina and Ashe that makes no use of the taboo content, so there might be a lot of material I'm missing. I don't really care about that, though, since the game made it abundantly clear that the only alternative choices I would be interested in exploring are ones I will not be allowed to make. I'll try to expand my thoughts on a few key issues, but since this is brand new, we should probably treat them as spoilers.

Spoiler: Chapter 9 - Lucien

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Spoiler: Chapter 9 - Risa

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Spoiler: Chapter 9 – Other Characters

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Spoiler: Chapter 9 - The Future

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So that's my take. I'm sorry for the negativity, but this chapter gave me nothing to work with.

tl;dr Short term, the update is largely on rails and handles Risa's actions with kid gloves. Long term, the game feels increasingly unfocused, jumping from one idea to the next with little eye towards how the parts fit together if the MC isn't equally interest in all of them.

 

[NewTricks]

Yeah I can see why people were complaining bout Risa, didnt like her storyline tbh. Prob worst girl. The Pepper isnt the web cam girl was surprising but dunno why we need a twin. Brents little one off side story was funny could almost hear the sad violin music playing but I dont know why he was banging at masons apartment if he was lookin for niki obv he needs to work harder if he wants get on MCs good side. Looking forward for next update for Gabby + her mon + Britney + her mom + mason and especially cassie content please

Every worst girl is somebody else's favorite. That's just the way the cookie crumbles...

 

[flaviopaganini]

I have to disagree about Risa. She is a really sweet girl who never wanted to hurt anyone she just made some mistakes and is trying to make things right.

She has so much love in her heart that I just can't help but want to make life better for her.

I'm not sure if it was my choices or because I was always rude to Risa since she would hit on me as soon as I arrived at the hotel, but was there a way to get to know her better before she drove us to the dangerous location? Or do we only get to know what she's like after she takes us there? Because I wish I had gotten to know her better before she took me to that place.

 

[Dessolos]

I'm not sure if it was my choices or because I was always rude to Risa since she would hit on me as soon as I arrived at the hotel, but was there a way to get to know her better before she drove us to the location? Or do we only get to know her after she takes us to that dangerous place? Because I wish I had gotten to know her better before she took me there.

yeah that's my big complaint about Risa 2 with how she got us to the drug den as we barley got to know her at all really. There was only 1 time you got to know her a little bit which also hinted at her being a junkie more than just weed , which I missed the first time. ( after the Ashe date when you get to pick to hang out with Risa , go to bed , tv , cam site). If there was another time I forgot all about it

 

[NeonGhosts]

I was holding off playing the update until the full chapter was released because I wanted to give it the best possible chance to win me over. I'm, not sure it made much difference. This chapter was not good.

Okay, seriously though, I'll reply to people tomorrow.

 

[Flowing Thought]

I liked Risa already, and this chapter had a lot of character development for her, so that was nice. I felt disappointment that I was teased with Mason content I could not have yet. I'm sure I will get him next time, but was really hoping for it in this update. Hope to find out more about Alex soon.