VN Ren'Py Friends in Need [S1 v0.95b] [NeonGhosts]

[MF_DOOM]

I just don't like how we get choices to turn down almost everyone for sex or even friendship\favors except for taking Risa to see her drug dealer.

Because it's not an open-world RPG with unlimited choices.
Some things are an integral part of the plot

 

[Lightaces]

I just don't like how we get choices to turn down almost everyone for sex or even friendship\favors except for taking Risa to see her drug dealer.

God forbid an author actually makes you interact with the games main (so far) antagonist!

Dude, it's a story with porn, not porn with a framing device pretending to be a story. You do, in fact, have to actually interact with the plot. And it's not like you have to fuck Risa. You can easily just turn her down.

 

[FakeWuxia]

That's not a sex scene though, it's a major part of the story. Just fyi, this isn't supposed to be a plotless sandbox where your MC gets to do whatever they want whenever they want. It's an erotic VN. Put yourself in the shoes of a dev designing it for a moment, and imagine giving your players that much choice and what that would mean for your workload and trying to stitch your story threads together. Most people would get sick of executing the 3-4 moral routes, that this game generously offers, as it is; now tag on to that the ability to skip massive story developments. The game would become an insurmountable mess that inevitably gets abandoned, and you, the greedy player, would've deserved it!

God forbid an author actually makes you interact with the games main (so far) antagonist!

Dude, it's a story with porn, not porn with a framing device pretending to be a story. You do, in fact, have to actually interact with the plot. And it's not like you have to fuck Risa. You can easily just turn her down.

I didn't say it was a sex scene or anything about fucking Risa. But with Nikki you can shut her down completely, Ashe? sorry not interested if you want. Driving out to the abandoned building no one knows your at to meet a drug dealer who rapes and kills girls while filming it? Sure hop in the car! Risa already knows what the dude is like and lies to get you to take her there. But sure go ahead and take a cop out on "do you know how much work that is?" or "it's just a porn game." It's my opinion that I dislike it. Neon has made so many branching options that I'm sure he could have gotten us to meet the dude some other way but it's not like I was asking for him to change the game. I have said numerous times in this thread how much I like this game overall and some of it's characters, most of them really. I dislike lying, and I dislike a character willing to get a bullet in the MC's head so she can get her fix

 

[Lightaces]

.... and I dislike a character willing to get a bullet in the MC's head so she can get her fix

So, you haven't actually played the chapter, then? Because that is 100% NOT WHAT HAPPENED. Stop skipping through the story, dude, because if you had you would know her whole plan was to get Guy to see what Lucian was like, and sure, she had to get high with Lucian so that he didn't get suspicious of her motives, but as soon as she came too she gave Guy the drugs to do with as he wanted. She didn't want the drugs, she wants to stop Lucian. Which you would know, if you had actually paid attention to what she was saying.

Did she lie? Sure, because she is used to people not taking her seriously, and (maybe correctly, maybe not) assumed Guy wouldn't believe her if she didn't show him. But she wasn't trying to get high. That was no part of her goal.

 

[Dessolos]

I didn't say it was a sex scene or anything about fucking Risa. But with Nikki you can shut her down completely, Ashe? sorry not interested if you want. Driving out to the abandoned building no one knows your at to meet a drug dealer who rapes and kills girls while filming it? Sure hop in the car! Risa already knows what the dude is like and lies to get you to take her there. But sure go ahead and take a cop out on "do you know how much work that is?" or "it's just a porn game." It's my opinion that I dislike it. Neon has made so many branching options that I'm sure he could have gotten us to meet the dude some other way but it's not like I was asking for him to change the game. I have said numerous times in this thread how much I like this game overall and some of it's characters, most of them really. I dislike lying, and I dislike a character willing to get a bullet in the MC's head so she can get her fix

haha I hated that initially as it ended on that Cliffhanger I thought she has bad intentions but gave her the benefit of the doubt till the Risa chapter came out. I went from hating it to liking Risa alot for it. For me it showed me a different side of her before I thought she just a mean party girl that wasn't pleasant to be around but it showed to me she is a good person deep down that just does things the wrong way. I even saw her getting high as a personal sacrifice and risk to herself just to get the MC help as to me it seemed like she has mostly quit doing the harder stuff. So to risk her getting addicted again or worst for others says alot to me about her character and the lies to get there became a non issue / not a big deal

While I do disagree about you saying there should be another way to meet Lucien cause it feels like Risa is gonna play an important role in that story. I can see your point in saying that cause if you really want to avoid her it would be nice to have that as an option this is assuming it would work with the story he has planned. But the dev has to make some forced story scenes like this to not over do the branching at the end of the day. Like I don't want to be involved with the Gabby stuff all that much personally but not a big deal cause I can see it's one of the main storylines.

 

[ffive]

But with Nikki you can shut her down completely

That's not really true. When Nicki comes back Guy automatically lets her in and stay at his place without asking for your input. He similarly doesn't just kick her out of his place in the first chapter but invites her to show his apartment etc. It takes a lot of choices to make Nicki actually get out of Guy's life.

It's possible that Risa's plotline will have similar option of a resolution, but imo it's unreasonable to expect you'll be able to get there immediately and with a single choice. Much like you can't with other major plots.

 

[FakeWuxia]

haha I hated that initially as it ended on that Cliffhanger I thought she has bad intentions but gave her the benefit of the doubt till the Risa chapter came out. I went from hating it to liking Risa alot for it. For me it showed me a different side of her before I thought she just a mean party girl that wasn't pleasant to be around but it showed to me she is a good person deep down that just does things the wrong way. I even saw her getting high as a personal sacrifice and risk to herself just to get the MC help as to me it seemed like she has mostly quit doing the harder stuff. So to risk her getting addicted again or worst for others says alot to me about her character and the lies to get there became a non issue / not a big deal

While I do disagree about you saying there should be another way to meet Lucien cause it feels like Risa is gonna play an important role in that story. I can see your point in saying that cause if you really want to avoid her it would be nice to have that as an option this is assuming it would work with the story he has planned. But the dev has to make some forced story scenes like this to not over do the branching at the end of the day. Like I don't want to be involved with the Gabby stuff all that much personally but not a big deal cause I can see it's one of the main storylines.

And that's your opinion, I have 0 problem with that lol. Like I said I just personally have an issue with how she went about it and wish there was a work around for the people that aren't interested in Risa. I like her looks and all but I kinda figured early in the game if I am going for Caroline then I shouldn't go for Risa.

 

[Dessolos]

That's not really true. When Nicki comes back Guy automatically lets her in and stay at his place without asking for your input. He similarly doesn't just kick her out of his place in the first chapter but invites her to show his apartment etc. It takes a lot of choices to make Nicki actually get out of Guy's life.

haah I kind of noticed some have issue with forced story scenes in this game more than most ive played. i recall I used to read some post of how people wanted to kick Nicki out and forget about that storyline when she came back then the Risa stuff happened and others wanted to do the same with that story part. I wonder who is next

And that's your opinion, I have 0 problem with that lol. Like I said I just personally have an issue with how she went about it and wish there was a work around for the people that aren't interested in Risa. I like her looks and all but I kinda figured early in the game if I am going for Caroline then I shouldn't go for Risa.

Nah I get your point I don't entirely disagree with how she went about it the wrong way or why there should be another way to go about it. I only disagree about it being an option cause without knowing what Neon has planned it kind of feels like it would destroy a storyline if we do cause it feels like she is gonna play a big role in that story.

Tho on a personal note I don't like it when story elements are erased just because you have no interest in a LI either. It sours my thoughts on a game when I see that. To me story elements shouldn't matter if a player has a interest in a character or not only when it comes to romance and stuff like it should matter.

 

[yngve]

I'm not sure if you wanted to imply something different, but Mason is indeed a male trans. There's no veiled 'futa' fantasy, he is just a transgender person.

He was born with female anatomy and was assigned such gender at birth, but he refers to himself as a man. It's up to the player if they want to respect his identity or if they want to 'revert' that process and turn him into a 'woman'. The fact that Mason isn't the epitome of masculinity does in no way change who he is and how he feels or views himself. Wearing make up doesn't automatically make you a woman. Being tough looking doesn't imply that you're a man. And saying that, just because he is a man, he can never be a LI or a sexual option, is a bit insulting.

It's totally fine if you don't like said content. There's nothing wrong with it not being your thing, no judgement in that regard. But, just to let you know, the way you phrased it is a bit offensive and narrow-minded, at least from my perspective.

no no, I worded it bad, my english sucks, sorry

I'll try to explain myself better: based just on the 2 trans guys I know -meaning born girls that feel themselves male, one of them a friend of mine-, and a trans woman -born male- I do not know well, they are basically like this:

(may not be an example of ALL of them, obviously)

trans guys: both of them are masculine in traits, both really close to their dads (one helps me put with electric stuff which learned from his dad), none use make up at all; both are very open and funny once they like you (I'm a tall metalhead, for some reason one of them see me like an older brother and imitates me which is hilarious, like once I was standing cross armed with a boot on a step, look at the side and she/he was in the same position but half my height); for them to think about sex with a guy is as absurd as to is to any of us straight guys; both get more girls than me...
basically cool blokes who don't have a penis but don't need one to make girls happy, nowhere near to prostitution with men as clients (in these kind of games a trans guy could be the cool sidekicks of MC, to be a LI is insulting for them)

trans women: femenine in trait, close to their mothers, use women' make up/dress etc, mostly shy and low profile -unless they are partying-; the one I know is a well paid artist, but I heard is common for the ones with economic problems to prostitute themselves

Mason is written and modeled as a trans woman instead of trans guy (I think in one scene is even trying women's thights-??-), may it be possibly on purpose as a veiled gay fantasy for men? I don't know

 

[Lightaces]

no no, I worded it bad, my english sucks, sorry

I'll try to explain myself better: based just on the 2 trans guys I know -meaning born girls that feel themselves male, one of them a friend of mine-, and a trans woman -born male- I do not know well, they are basically like this:

(may not be an example of ALL of them, obviously)

trans guys: both of them are masculine in traits, both really close to their dads (one helps me put with electric stuff which learned from his dad), none use make up at all; both are very open and funny once they like you (I'm a tall metalhead, for some reason one of them see me like an older brother and imitates me which is hilarious, like once I was standing cross armed with a boot on a step, look at the side and she/he was in the same position but half my height); for them to think about sex with a guy is as absurd as to is to any of us straight guys; both get more girls than me...
basically cool blokes who don't have a penis but don't need one to make girls happy, nowhere near to prostitution with men as clients (in these kind of games a trans guy could be the cool sidekicks of MC, to be a LI is insulting for them)

trans women: femenine in trait, close to their mothers, use women' make up/dress etc, mostly shy and low profile -unless they are partying-; the one I know is a well paid artist, but I heard is common for the ones with economic problems to prostitute themselves

Mason is written and modeled as a trans woman instead of trans guy (I think in one scene is even trying women's thights-??-), may it be possibly on purpose as a veiled gay fantasy for men? I don't know

It is not a monolith. Gender is a spectrum. Trans people do not all present in the same way, and they have no obligation to conform to your expectations.

Mason has neither the finances nor, necessarily the interest in, pursuing much in the way of gender affirming care - he feels, in his head, like a man, so he is. If he had other opportunities, he might want to go on T, might want to pursue top surgery or even bottom surgery. But thus far in his life, he has been trapped in survival mood, with no opportunity to pursue anything other than being call he/him.

But he has, like far too many trans folks, been treated horribly by society, not only being thrown out by his father, but also having been attacked in a hate crime which is responsible for his memory and speech difficulties. And his story is absolutely common among the trans community, for either trans men or trans women. He comes across, 100%, like a trans person with his history, including several who I know personally.

Neon isn't just writing cliched porn archtypes. He is writing characters who have lived fairly complicated lives. Those lives do not necessarily lead to the personality or choices you expect.

But yeah, most importantly, trans people have no obligation to conform to your expectations!

 

[Superocco]

no no, I worded it bad, my english sucks, sorry

I'll try to explain myself better: based just on the 2 trans guys I know -meaning born girls that feel themselves male, one of them a friend of mine-, and a trans woman -born male- I do not know well, they are basically like this:

(may not be an example of ALL of them, obviously)

trans guys: both of them are masculine in traits, both really close to their dads (one helps me put with electric stuff which learned from his dad), none use make up at all; both are very open and funny once they like you (I'm a tall metalhead, for some reason one of them see me like an older brother and imitates me which is hilarious, like once I was standing cross armed with a boot on a step, look at the side and she/he was in the same position but half my height); for them to think about sex with a guy is as absurd as to is to any of us straight guys; both get more girls than me...
basically cool blokes who don't have a penis but don't need one to make girls happy, nowhere near to prostitution with men as clients (in these kind of games a trans guy could be the cool sidekicks of MC, to be a LI is insulting for them)

trans women: femenine in trait, close to their mothers, use women' make up/dress etc, mostly shy and low profile -unless they are partying-; the one I know is a well paid artist, but I heard is common for the ones with economic problems to prostitute themselves

Mason is written and modeled as a trans woman instead of trans guy (I think in one scene is even trying women's thights-??-), may it be possibly on purpose as a veiled gay fantasy for men? I don't know

With all due respect, I don't think your English is at fault in here. Like I said, I believe you have a pretty narrow-minded view on how trans folks are. Just the fact that you referred to your so-called trans guy friend as she/he with the latter in italics, instead of just using the proper pronoun (assuming that they want to be referred as he), makes me believe that you don't really envision trans men as, well, men. It might not even be your intention, but that's what you're projecting with your words, which like I said previously, do come off as offensive.

Masculine or feminine traits don't automatically make someone a man or a woman. Nor do they reflect their sexuality either. The spectrum on sexual orientation and gender is pretty vast and complex. There are no norms, no obligations; there might be, however, people who believe that x gender and y sexuality have to conform to certain behaviours, looks, expectations, etc., which is what has made the lives of many LGBTQI+ people so hard to endure even up until this day.

By the way, being trans has absolutely nothing to do with your sexuality, at all. Trans people can like men, women, non-binary people, all of the above. Again, the insulting thing in the case of the game is not for a trans man to be a LI, what's insulting is to believe that's a bad thing.

Lightaces gave you a pretty good overview on how those expectations and such have affected the character of Mason in this context, so there's no need for me to reflect more on that matter.

My honest advice would be not to limit your outlook so much on this. I don't know if your opinion stems from your environment, which has 'forced' you to assume certain things, or if it's something more personal. So, if you're willing, keep an open mind.

 

[Joshy92]

Guys, who cares if Mason is trans or not? What matters is he is a really nice person. Not to mention one of the hottest people I have ever seen in an avn.

Seriously, if I could be balls deep 24/7 I would. I just want to romance him, I don't care about all that outside noise.

 

[Albert696]

Guys, if i am not wrong, season 2 1st chapter will release before end of December right? If so, when can we expect the version to drop here??

 

[WaltS]

Guys, who cares if Mason is trans or not? What matters is he is a really nice person. [...]

So very much this!

 

[soprano31]

just more Britt, man this game may be one of the best ever, great rework

Anyway, more Britt please

Sorry,I'm Brittlexic,and these are the only two truthful sententences that i understood correctly from your entire explanation

 

[Joshy92]

Sorry,I'm Brittlexic,and these are the only two truthful sententences that i understood correctly from your entire explanation
View attachment 5575262

And then they kissed and made up

 

[endoscopic]

Sorry,I'm Brittlexic,and these are the only two truthful sententences that i understood correctly from your entire explanation
View attachment 5575262

Hot Damn....is this gonna be in the game or just a custom render?

 

[PHIL101-YYouPPHard]

I didn't say it was a sex scene or anything about fucking Risa. But with Nikki you can shut her down completely, Ashe? sorry not interested if you want. Driving out to the abandoned building no one knows your at to meet a drug dealer who rapes and kills girls while filming it? Sure hop in the car! Risa already knows what the dude is like and lies to get you to take her there. But sure go ahead and take a cop out on "do you know how much work that is?" or "it's just a porn game." It's my opinion that I dislike it. Neon has made so many branching options that I'm sure he could have gotten us to meet the dude some other way but it's not like I was asking for him to change the game. I have said numerous times in this thread how much I like this game overall and some of it's characters, most of them really. I dislike lying, and I dislike a character willing to get a bullet in the MC's head so she can get her fix

I mean, you compared a sex scene to Risa's plot sequence. You can skip sex scenes and relationships (and their subsequent subplots), you can't skip major plots. You can skip a lot of Nicki's relationship content, but not her major story content. Same with Ashe and all the other LIs. Does that make sense? Either way, it's really easy to skip through content if you don't like it. Click click click click clickety click, and you're past it. Or just tab-skip through. Just don't complain later if the story doesn't make sense to you.

And none of what I said is a cop out or excuses or whatever. Just pure facts. If you were developing a story, you would understand; there are limits to how much freedom you can give a player. Plainly, the story would have to be redesigned to satisfy you, which obviously isn't going to happen. Glad you like it, though.

 

[yngve]

It is not a monolith. Gender is a spectrum. Trans people do not all present in the same way, and they have no obligation to conform to your expectations.

Mason has neither the finances nor, necessarily the interest in, pursuing much in the way of gender affirming care - he feels, in his head, like a man, so he is. If he had other opportunities, he might want to go on T, might want to pursue top surgery or even bottom surgery. But thus far in his life, he has been trapped in survival mood, with no opportunity to pursue anything other than being call he/him.

But he has, like far too many trans folks, been treated horribly by society, not only being thrown out by his father, but also having been attacked in a hate crime which is responsible for his memory and speech difficulties. And his story is absolutely common among the trans community, for either trans men or trans women. He comes across, 100%, like a trans person with his history, including several who I know personally.

Neon isn't just writing cliched porn archtypes. He is writing characters who have lived fairly complicated lives. Those lives do not necessarily lead to the personality or choices you expect.

But yeah, most importantly, trans people have no obligation to conform to your expectations!

I know they are not the same, I wrote she/he cause the previous post I wrote in my bad english was confusing (this last too it seems)
he like to be called ''el'' (in spanish), I got no ''expectations'' except maybe to them be portrayed fairly in a game, is kind of insulting for a trans guy to be presented as a LI/sexual interested for a male hetero audience (every sex scene would be a rape basically)
I see my friend like my little brother

Sorry,I'm Brittlexic,and these are the only two truthful sententences that i understood correctly from your entire explanation
View attachment 5575262

I don't blame you sorry my english is a mess

 

[yngve]

With all due respect, I don't think your English is at fault in here. Like I said, I believe you have a pretty narrow-minded view on how trans folks are. Just the fact that you referred to your so-called trans guy friend as she/he with the latter in italics, instead of just using the proper pronoun (assuming that they want to be referred as he), makes me believe that you don't really envision trans men as, well, men. It might not even be your intention, but that's what you're projecting with your words, which like I said previously, do come off as offensive.

Masculine or feminine traits don't automatically make someone a man or a woman. Nor do they reflect their sexuality either. The spectrum on sexual orientation and gender is pretty vast and complex. There are no norms, no obligations; there might be, however, people who believe that x gender and y sexuality have to conform to certain behaviours, looks, expectations, etc., which is what has made the lives of many LGBTQI+ people so hard to endure even up until this day.

By the way, being trans has absolutely nothing to do with your sexuality, at all. Trans people can like men, women, non-binary people, all of the above. Again, the insulting thing in the case of the game is not for a trans man to be a LI, what's insulting is to believe that's a bad thing.

Lightaces gave you a pretty good overview on how those expectations and such have affected the character of Mason in this context, so there's no need for me to reflect more on that matter.

My honest advice would be not to limit your outlook so much on this. I don't know if your opinion stems from your environment, which has 'forced' you to assume certain things, or if it's something more personal. So, if you're willing, keep an open mind.

well, I replied to the other message above, I see trans guys as cool brothers, and I think is wrong to putting them in a game as a LI/Sexual interest for hetero guys, is basically an option to rape them