VN Ren'Py Friends in Need [Ch.1 Remake v0.25] [NeonGhosts]

[Master of Puppets]

Which leads me to a reveal I think is coming… Nicki may not have realized it fully, but no matter how it got to that point, she used the MC’s love for her to get that payout. And she then made it clear to him that she’s doing this for Brent, to try and ensure that her relationship with Brent could continue. The MC wasn’t just heartbroken by her actions. He learned that his money is the only aspect of himself worthy of love. And when she comes back into the story, she’s doing the exact same thing again. She’s out of options and Brent is now exposed for his own evil choices. And again, she’s trying to lean on his former friendship/love for him to save herself. I don’t think it’s hard to make the connection that he’s treating her like a whore (in non-Romance paths) because he’s trying to protect himself from seeing her as anything else. Because it’s her fault that he’s so broken. I think she’ll realize this later, and take a more active role in trying to help him. If we choose that the MC reforms, it’ll be with her help. If we choose that the MC continues down a dark path, she’ll accept her role in creating the monster the MC has become.

I think I really like that interpretation. I do keep multiple saves, and one of them is raping Nicki at the beginning, and then he deeply regrets what he's done and starts his charity, sticking to the good paths after that. I don't normally do switching between paths because there are just too many permutations to explore them all, but that one is a pretty compelling story. I especially like the idea that on the darkest path, she isn't gone for good, and she will come back and accept what he does to her as her penance for creating him. And her trying to shield other girls from him by taking it on herself, which she tried to do in Brittani's photoshoot; she begs him to leave Brittani alone and use her instead. Of course that didn't go quite to plan because Brittani is a bit fucked in the head herself.
Basically, even if some other girls might disappear for good (which I also hate but whatever) I really feel that Nicki should be a constant throughout all of it, one way or another.

 

[Dessolos]

I think I really like that interpretation. I do keep multiple saves, and one of them is raping Nicki at the beginning, and then he deeply regrets what he's done and starts his charity, sticking to the good paths after that. I don't normally do switching between paths because there are just too many permutations to explore them all, but that one is a pretty compelling story. I especially like the idea that on the darkest path, she isn't gone for good, and she will come back and accept what he does to her as her penance for creating him. And her trying to shield other girls from him by taking it on herself, which she tried to do in Brittani's photoshoot; she begs him to leave Brittani alone and use her instead. Of course that didn't go quite to plan because Brittani is a bit fucked in the head herself.
Basically, even if some other girls might disappear for good (which I also hate but whatever) I really feel that Nicki should be a constant throughout all of it, one way or another.

yeah even with all the fucked up things you can do to here on the dark path with the patch it felt a little out of place for her to leave at least for a game where she feels like she is a second main character t but realistically makes sense. I'm hoping she does come back in some way though at the same time not a big deal for me since im almost always gonna play good path anyways.

 

[PHIL101-YYouPPHard]

yeah, at first i downloaded the vanilla version by mistake, redownloaded the other one afterwards
View attachment 2874733
this is whats in my patch.rpy, dont have a .rpa in there

is there maybe a permanent somewhere that could confuse the dirty version?

Does it work on ongoing saves or do I need to restart the game?

i have a little patch problem. i did replace the file like insrtuctet but still get errors where choices should be. sth about "patch" not beeing named/ a variable etc...

solutions? maybe missing a patch including the content to the base game in the first place?

Sorry if you guys already resolved your issues, but if you're still having problems: I'm pretty sure you need to start a new game; changing patch in the middle of a game leads to errors afaik.

Certifiable rape fetishitist here! my humble request to any writers that happen to read this: Please go for the the unnatural middle ground that minimizes the the effects of trauma and just completely fails to depict the harsh realities of what it means to be survivor. Romanticization is absolutely vital, absolutely a key skill for writing noncon erotica is to be able to romanticize in a way that's elegant and intuitive.

Can't tell if you're being sarcastic or serious

 

[Ulrich37]

I always assumed the MC dealt with her remaining debt with that guy off screen since she's been back for awhile. Now if Brent tries to blackmail her in future updates at least on the good or romantic path I think she would of realized she can rely on the MC and ask for help even it means using his money. Especially because after seeing how the MC spends his money on others and tries to help others as well I think she would of come to terms that it's okay to ask her best friend for money if it means to help her. Tho i could be 100% wrong even on the good and romantic path and she would still feel guilt and wont ask for help but I don't think so after being around and helping the MC with his charity. Now if we aren't talking about good path I think she would be hesitant on that since the MC is an dick to people especially if it's the patched version and the MC assaulted her in the prologue.

I can't be 100 percent sure, but I think she still owes the 10k plus interest. And she cut out on their 'porno' that she promised to make, when she thought it would just be a photo session. So it might be a bit more. I don't remember any indication that he reached out to those guys to pay it off.

The path where she and the MC are much more Romantically attached, it'd be easier to explain. But assuming the Dev doesn't want to write her out of the story for the darkest path, I'd imagine this is what would hook her back in. Her need for yet another payout, and for finally realizing what she's been doing.

 

[Ulrich37]

I think I really like that interpretation. I do keep multiple saves, and one of them is raping Nicki at the beginning, and then he deeply regrets what he's done and starts his charity, sticking to the good paths after that. I don't normally do switching between paths because there are just too many permutations to explore them all, but that one is a pretty compelling story. I especially like the idea that on the darkest path, she isn't gone for good, and she will come back and accept what he does to her as her penance for creating him. And her trying to shield other girls from him by taking it on herself, which she tried to do in Brittani's photoshoot; she begs him to leave Brittani alone and use her instead. Of course that didn't go quite to plan because Brittani is a bit fucked in the head herself.
Basically, even if some other girls might disappear for good (which I also hate but whatever) I really feel that Nicki should be a constant throughout all of it, one way or another.

Yeah, she gets saved (again), and sticks around to try and lessen the damage he deals to the other Women. Taking responsibility for it. I went and replayed her interaction after being assulted, and it's fair that she's furious with the MC. But he does directly state that he may have done it to keep her away in the future. It just didn't work because of the bind she found herself in.

 

[Dessolos]

I can't be 100 percent sure, but I think she still owes the 10k plus interest. And she cut out on their 'porno' that she promised to make, when she thought it would just be a photo session. So it might be a bit more. I don't remember any indication that he reached out to those guys to pay it off.

The path where she and the MC are much more Romantically attached, it'd be easier to explain. But assuming the Dev doesn't want to write her out of the story for the darkest path, I'd imagine this is what would hook her back in. Her need for yet another payout, and for finally realizing what she's been doing.

yeah what you say makes sense for sure especially the dark path. I just hope if what you predict does happen it gets resolved in a different manner if you aren't on the dark path or at the very least Nicki more open about needing help. Honestly only reason I just assumed the debt was taken care of off screen since it was never brought up again and some time has passed. Tho maybe not as much time passed as I thought I thought at least 2 weeks - a month went by the end of the last update but I might be wrong and my timeline is all mixed up due to playing another game right after I finished.

 

[Elhemeer]

NeonGhosts

Spoiler: Pretty sure this is an error

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[CrazyRabbit]

NeonGhosts

Spoiler: Pretty sure this is an error

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Did you consider the fact that maybe MC is doing some ventriloquism to woo her ?

 

[SlLePER]

Attempting to open the gallery results in an error message:

I can't reproduce it. Can you tell me what version of the game are you running on what platform?

 

[Karana]

Nicki may not have realized it fully, but no matter how it got to that point, she used the MC’s love for her to get that payout. And she then made it clear to him that she’s doing this for Brent, to try and ensure that her relationship with Brent could continue.

Overall a really good write up here but I'd like to touch on this point specifically a little more. There's a scene where you can fuck Nicki while she's on the phone to Brent. In this scene Brent will refer to the $100K he wants Nicki to ask for. Nicki, however, lowballed the request to $20K. The exact amount of money needed to pull herself out of the debt Brent dumped them in. Nicki is not doing this for Brent. Nicki is doing this for Nicki. It's a similar song with Nicki fucking you. Brent catches a lot of shit for trying to whore Nicki out but he wasn't really down for that. He expected Nicki to bat her eyelids, maybe give you a little kiss and then you'd simp out and throw one hundred grand at her. Nicki fucking you is a Nicki choice. I think this is an interesting scene because it demonstrates that Nicki isn't a blind puppet being pulled around on Brent's strings. She has agency, she has choices and is an active participant in what happened.

 

[CaptainRishard]

There a reason the patch isn't working? I'm getting no options outside of the normal ones.

 

[ciberma7865]

There a reason the patch isn't working? I'm getting no options outside of the normal ones.

you need to start a new save for the patch to work

 

[Dessolos]

Overall a really good write up here but I'd like to touch on this point specifically a little more. There's a scene where you can fuck Nicki while she's on the phone to Brent. In this scene Brent will refer to the $100K he wants Nicki to ask for. Nicki, however, lowballed the request to $20K. The exact amount of money needed to pull herself out of the debt Brent dumped them in. Nicki is not doing this for Brent. Nicki is doing this for Nicki. It's a similar song with Nicki fucking you. Brent catches a lot of shit for trying to whore Nicki out but he wasn't really down for that. He expected Nicki to bat her eyelids, maybe give you a little kiss and then you'd simp out and throw one hundred grand at her. Nicki fucking you is a Nicki choice. I think this is an interesting scene because it demonstrates that Nicki isn't a blind puppet being pulled around on Brent's strings. She has agency, she has choices and is an active participant in what happened.

While you make some excellent points about that scenario. Call me a softy, Nicki simp whatever I don't know if it was cause it was a well written scene or w/e but even when she tells you the 20k is to help her and Brent out I still couldn't help but feel bad for her even if she was totally being a gold digger in that moment. Even before she told you the reason I couldn't help but feel she didn't want to do or ask whatever so was about to do / ask. I'm sure part of it has to do with it being established she is your best friend and crush and you got that feeling by the fact she hung out as a friend all night first. Honestly even tho this a porn game in that scenario I wish I had the option of giving her the money without sex the first time I played it.

 

[Impurity2937]

I'm still playing but just met Ashe's father... What a fucking beast. The whole dialogue with them is hilarious...

 

[RC-1138 Boss]

While you make some excellent points about that scenario. Call me a softy, Nicki simp whatever I don't know if it was cause it was a well written scene or w/e but even when she tells you the 20k is to help her and Brent out I still couldn't help but feel bad for her even if she was totally being a gold digger in that moment. Even before she told you the reason I couldn't help but feel she didn't want to do or ask whatever so was about to do / ask. I'm sure part of it has to do with it being established she is your best friend and crush and you got that feeling by the fact she hung out as a friend all night first. Honestly even tho this a porn game in that scenario I wish I had the option of giving her the money without sex the first time I played it.

Maybe you will get that chance when Neon redo the first chapter.

 

[NeonGhosts]

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tldr; I've been jetlagged to hell ever since I got back from my vacation, so apologies if I haven't been super responsive! I promise I'll sit down this week and reply to as many people as I can. Until then, I really appreciate everyone giving feedback, and reporting bugs, typos, and continuity errors.

Been busy doing a detailed plot map for the next update, so I don't let things spiral out of control and delay the update, while also getting scripts and sets ready for the early part of the update.

 

[Dessolos]

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tldr; I've been jetlagged to hell ever since I got back from my vacation, so apologies if I haven't been super responsive! I promise I'll sit down this week and reply to as many people as I can. Until then, I really appreciate everyone giving feedback, and reporting bugs, typos, and continuity errors.

Been busy doing a detailed plot map for the next update, so I don't let things spiral out of control and delay the update, while also getting scripts and sets ready for the early part of the update.

View attachment 2886155

looking forward to it when it's ready and just wanted to say this is one of my new favorite games in my top 5 for sure. I plan to replay this one regularly once in awhile while I wait for updates for your game or others.

 

[RC-1138 Boss]

You must be registered to see the links

tldr; I've been jetlagged to hell ever since I got back from my vacation, so apologies if I haven't been super responsive! I promise I'll sit down this week and reply to as many people as I can. Until then, I really appreciate everyone giving feedback, and reporting bugs, typos, and continuity errors.

Been busy doing a detailed plot map for the next update, so I don't let things spiral out of control and delay the update, while also getting scripts and sets ready for the early part of the update.

View attachment 2886155

Who is that guy? Don't really remember seeing him before.

 

[SlapE]

Who is that guy? Don't really remember seeing him before.

Maybe the photographer that Nicki was working with at the start of the game when she had disappeared. I was under the impression that he was a bit older, but maybe not, that's the only person I can think of. (Or maybe the photographer that took advantage of Ashe? Don't remember if we saw what he looked like)

Spoiler: jealous boyfriend she needs get rid of !!

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They don't even look the same

 

[RC-1138 Boss]

This one looks older than Jamie, plus i don't remember him having scars on his face.