VN Ren'Py Friends in Need [Ch. 9 v0.60c] [NeonGhosts]

[A.M.R.]

Chapter 8 ?!!!

 

[albul]

I respect you vanilla choices and i'm playing myself the good guy path, but you must realize that you just say "since i only like to see picture frames for the sake of nice woodwork we can burn down all the Caravaggio's out there".

No,we can't. Even if we really don't like Caravaggio. It's intrinsically important to respect the integrity of an author's vision. Even it's just the developer of a porn game, with all due respect of our NeonGhost. Censorship is always an act of retardness. If an opera is 'too much' you vault it. You don't dumb it down for a less receptive audience.

Now, i perfectly stand behind the reason why NeonGhost did the vanilla version, so he could keep publishing the integral version as well. Yet "THE" Friends in Need is the integral version. The vanilla version is just an act of artistic mutilation.

I never said any of those things though. I just advocated for the vanilla paths. I like them. And they're enough for me without the dark path, that's all.

 

[Valkorian]

Hows the "vanilla" patch compared to the regular patches? Any of the story changed besides the kinky and other shit gone?

 

[NeonGhosts]

Chapter 8 ?!!!

I decided it was dumb to have Chapter Four Parts One, Two, and Three.

Ch1 - Nicki (being remade)
Ch2 - Ashe and Gabby
Ch3 - Nicki, Gabby, Viola
Ch4 - Halloween Special
Ch5 - Alex, Brittani, Jamie
Ch6 - Wren, Mason, Pepper
Ch7 - Ashe, Viola
Ch8 - * we are here *

I don’t think it really helped me to feed the perception I’d been working on this for a while, and only had four chapters of content out. Relabeling them gives a better idea of how much content there actually is.

 

[Sartain]

B

I respect you vanilla choices and i'm playing myself the good guy path, but you must realize that you just say "since i only like to see picture frames for the sake of nice woodwork we can burn down all the Caravaggio's out there".

No,we can't. Even if we really don't like Caravaggio. It's intrinsically important to respect the integrity of an author's vision. Even it's just the developer of a porn game, with all due respect of our NeonGhost. Censorship is always an act of retardness. If an opera is 'too much' you vault it. You don't dumb it down for a less receptive audience.

Now, i perfectly stand behind the reason why NeonGhost did the vanilla version, so he could keep publishing the integral version as well. Yet "THE" Friends in Need is the integral version. The vanilla version is just an act of artistic mutilation.

"But doctor, I AM Caravaggio!"


... wait is that not how it goes?

 

[inhujiklaus]

will there be a compressed version for the vanilla ?

 

[Phegor]

It's funny how people shit on Nicki and yet, she's probably the most realistic character in the game. I've seen women let themselves get treated worse for less "pay-off" simply because some men are very good at mentally abusing their partners to the point where they don't know up from down or left from right.
All you guys calling her whore and golddigger are pretty much just victim-blaming tbh, it's not a great look

Really roundabout way of saying that you think women are gullible and helpless. Not a great look.

 

[DA22]

Thank your for underlining my point

As long as that is that you can be a victim, but also have a responsibility for yourself for that in many cases, then yes. Not in all, but dating assholes and cunts voluntarily is your own responsibility in the end. Not like a child that is doomed to its parents and can only hope they are good parents.

 

[Sartain]

Really roundabout way of saying that you think women are gullible and helpless. Not a great look.

lol

 

[Ottoeight]

This is a pirate website. This is literally what this website was designed for. The forums are secondary to its primary function, being a pirate website. It's why devs have no say over leaks being added. Why use this website if you don't like piracy?

I'm not saying that I don't like piracy. I'm just pointing out that we're having a free public stable and more complete version from the Author himself in a few days.

Since the Author is one of the few devs who is really following the true spirit of game funding - i.e. asking for financial development support, then releasing public versions within a reasonable time because the game is supposed to be free after people paid for its development, I think we shouldn't quarrel over releases at least.

Chapter 8 ?!!!

Indeed it is. Friends too.

I never said any of those things though. I just advocated for the vanilla paths. I like them. And they're enough for me without the dark path, that's all.

Me too.

Really roundabout way of saying that you think women are gullible and helpless. Not a great look.

People are gullible and helpless.

 

[Sartain]

As long as that is that you can be a victim, but also have a responsibility for yourself for that in many cases, then yes. Not in all, but dating assholes and cunts is your own responsibility in the end. Not like a child that is doomed to its parents and can only hope they are good.

I mean sure.
It's easy to judge how people navigate truly toxic relationships if you've never experienced one yourself, though.

Edit: It's also a bit odd to judge a person so harshly on irrational behavior in a game that, even if very well-written, still follows porn logic. Making poor choices to give us deliciously taboo sex scenes is a requirement, it's weird to freak out and trash-talk the character instead of just enjoying the taboo, IMO, a bit like watching porn and then going "what a horrible slut!"

 

[Rozhok]

For me I figured the teaser was like, a couple scenes or something, I'd rather wait for the full play to immerse myself for a longer time, a teaser is interesting if it was for a new game, for example, or if theres very long development times but you churn these out like a badass

Same for me. I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I'd rather just wait for the full version.

 

[mmmonsterkill]

It actually unironically has some of the sweetest romance paths among AVNs. But it's overshadowed by how deliciously fucked up the taboo paths are.

i download the dark path patch every time but i dont think i have seen a single of the scenes it provides

 

[EvolutionKills]

I really liked Nicky as a friend even when she was dating when she was introduced ( i dont like ntr but i not one of those psychos who think someone else wife is his so if she fuck her husband is ntr those people are CRAZYY ) my problem with her is she keep messing up and coming to the mc for help, making the same mistakes, and then go off with some dude them come back all fucked up, instead of coming to the mc for help as soon as her bf did something wrong and breaking up, i would be okay even if she had another bf and was not into the mc, but this MESS she made and them coming back again for help this make me really dont like her, what is sad cuz she is cool when she is not being stupid, also she was like this to those 2 guys and sudden she want to be brave agains the mc what is a turn off like the mc is worse than those guys ?

That's the flip-side of Protagonist-Centered Morality. There is a very real and demonstrable phenomenon where an audience is more sympathetic to the audience P.O.V character than they might otherwise be to the same actions or circumstances of other characters. One person's terrorist is another's freedom fighter. One persons cautious compromises are another persons obvious terrible mistakes; and everybody judges each other with the full force of hindsight.

Nicki's entire existence is colored through the lens of Guy, and specifically his unreciprocated desire for her as more than a friend. The audience never gets to see inside Nicki's head, we're never made aware of her wants, needs, desires, or her thought process. Everything the audience sees is seen through the eyes of Guy. All we know of Nicki and her dipshit boyfriend are what Guy thinks he knows. Now I don't think NeonGhosts is necessarily out to make Guy an unreliable narrator, but you have to accept that Guy isn't omniscient or infallible. He is human, meaning he is subject to misremembering his misperceptions. There could be (indeed there almost certainly would need to be) things about Nicki's ex-boyfriend that she found charming, appealing, or endearing, in ways that we'll simply never see from Guy's perspective.

Also, anyone getting on Nicki's case because she's not a perfectly rational actor needs to get the fuck out of town (this is not directed at lorddarkam, but more so the thread in general based on what I've seen before). Nobody is a perfectly rational actor. Nobody. Perfectly rational actors are the wet-dreams of Libertarian thought experiments, they do not exist in observable reality. Humans are piles of swarming emotions, and one of the things most all humans are extraordinarily skilled at is post-hoc rationalization of emotional decisions.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating. Friends In Need is the visual-novel equivalent of the of the quote "You Can Easily Judge the Character of a Man by How He Treats Those Who Can Do Nothing for Him". Sure, Nicki has made some dumb mistakes. Mistakes that Guy would have preferred she hadn't made. But made them she did. So when Nicki arrives on Guy's doorstep as an unrecognizable mess with nothing to her name but the wet clothes on her back, how Guy reacts speaks to the core of his character (and by extension, that of the audience, since this is a choose-your-own-adventure visual novel).

Indignation? Retribution? Extorsion? Antipathy? Concern? Empathy?

Nicki can do nothing. She is effectively powerless here, and they both know it. It is a power dynamic that continues to loom over their interactions from that point going forward. She knows in her bones that at any second, Guy could just pull a repeat performance of her ex-boyfriend, or the sugar-daddy photographer, or the porn studio loan shark. Now as the audience, that probably would never even cross most of our minds; the thought of subjecting Nicki to that abuse yet again. Protagonist-Centered Morality striking with a vengeance. But depending on the path taken through the game, Guy may have already come close. Even if he hadn't, it's smart writing and characterization on NeonGhosts' part that Nicki acts the way that she does.

Love her or hate her, Nicki is a character. Polarizing? Sure, but so are people. But how a person reacts to her says more about them than it does Nicki herself. But the one thing I think we can all agree on is this; Nicki isn't boring.

 

[DA22]

I mean sure.
It's easy to judge how people navigate truly toxic relationships if you've never experienced one yourself, though.

That shows you know nothing about my life amigo. The only way to stop it was changing myself though and taking responsibility for my own role in it. Not by blaming the world I had become a victim and keep doing the same things.

 

[HPYY]

It actually unironically has some of the sweetest romance paths among AVNs. But it's overshadowed by how deliciously fucked up the taboo paths are.

I am fucked up m I play fucked up. Yeah, force em and get the cameras rolling!

 

[CowboyLittlepaws]

Ok am i just half asleep or are you throwing 2 versions on the same page for Download i see Chapter 8_PC zip and v_0.4_PC Zip ? making more coffee lol

 

[depeche mode]

what file to download? i dont get the "ep4" and "vanilla". there is new content?

 

[Sartain]

That shows you know nothing about my life amigo. The only way to stop it was changing myself though and taking responsibility for my own role in it. Not by blaming the world I had become a victim and keep doing the same things.

Why would I know anything about your life?
Thing is though, Nicki hasn't gotten to that point yet. Would you have found it fair or reasonable if people called you a simpering cuckold or whatever relevant to your personal situation before you managed to extricate yourself from it?

Obviously Nicki is just some code in a magic box, but the culture of victim-blaming is very real in here

 

[Sartain]

That's the flip-side of Protagonist-Centered Morality. There is a very real and demonstrable phenomenon where an audience is more sympathetic to the audience P.O.V character than they might otherwise be to the same actions or circumstances of other characters. One person's terrorist is another's freedom fighter. One persons cautious compromises are another persons obvious terrible mistakes; and everybody judges each other with the full force of hindsight.

Nicki's entire existence is colored through the lens of Guy, and specifically his unreciprocated desire for her as more than a friend. The audience never gets to see inside Nicki's head, we're never made aware of her wants, needs, desires, or her thought process. Everything the audience sees is seen through the eyes of Guy. All we know of Nicki and her dipshit boyfriend are what Guy thinks he knows. Now I don't think NeonGhosts is necessarily out to make Guy an unreliable narrator, but you have to accept that Guy isn't omniscient or infallible. He is human, meaning he is subject to misremembering his misperceptions. There could be (indeed there almost certainly would need to be) things about Nicki's ex-boyfriend that she found charming, appealing, or endearing, in ways that we'll simply never see from Guy's perspective.

Also, anyone getting on Nicki's case because she's not a perfectly rational actor needs to get the fuck out of town (this is not directed at lorddarkam, but more so the thread in general based on what I've seen before). Nobody is a perfectly rational actor. Nobody. Perfectly rational actors are the wet-dreams of Libertarian thought experiments, they do not exist in observable reality. Humans are piles of swarming emotions, and one of the things most all humans are extraordinarily skilled at is post-hoc rationalization of emotional decisions.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating. Friends In Need is the visual-novel equivalent of the of the quote "You Can Easily Judge the Character of a Man by How He Treats Those Who Can Do Nothing for Him". Sure, Nicki has made some dumb mistakes. Mistakes that Guy would have preferred she hadn't made. But made them she did. So when Nicki arrives on Guy's doorstep as an unrecognizable mess with nothing to her name but the wet clothes on her back, how Guy reacts speaks to the core of his character (and by extension, that of the audience, since this is a choose-your-own-adventure visual novel).

Indignation? Retribution? Extorsion? Antipathy? Concern? Empathy?

Nicki can do nothing. She is effectively powerless here, and they both know it. It is a power dynamic that continues to loom over their interactions from that point going forward. She knows in her bones that at any second, Guy could just pull a repeat performance of her ex-boyfriend, or the sugar-daddy photographer, or the porn studio loan shark. Now as the audience, that probably would never even cross most of our minds; the thought of subjecting Nicki to that abuse yet again. Protagonist-Centered Morality striking with a vengeance. But depending on the path taken through the game, Guy may have already come close. Even if he hadn't, it's smart writing and characterization on NeonGhosts' part that Nicki acts the way that she does.

Love her or hate her, Nicki is a character. Polarizing? Sure, but so are people. But how a person reacts to her says more about them than it does Nicki herself. But the one thing I think we can all agree on is this; Nicki isn't boring.

Amen.

Funny thing, I mostly play dark paths in most (well-written) games but Nicki is so authentic I don't really have it in me, it's too close to reality compared to most of the other stuff even though obviously anything on the dark path would be horrible to do in real life