VN Ren'Py Game of Hearts [Ch.5 R1] [SparkHG]

[Joint311]

Dammit. I was cleaning my Renpy folder and deleted this (unknown) folder.
Why don't use the same name. Now I have to start over again.

this also happened to me.. pain in the ass isn't it?

 

[ename144]

Blasphemy!

She's the most interesting character here. She's just an ordinary person swept up into a world of demons, angels, and magic. Will she be enslaved by her lust and reduced to a mere pawn? Will she gain new powers and a newfound freedom? Will she retain any of her old self?

The relationship between Maxime and the main character is much more interesting to me than the others. He clearly has some genuine feelings towards her as he was living in squalor instead of leeching off of Maxime's wealth by way of abusing his powers. Her feelings towards him started from his actions on the day they met, where he saved her from an impending assault, which gives us reason to believe that they aren't solely due to his powers.

Meredith is basically a poor man's Maxime, as she is undergoing a lot of the same changes that Maxime did, but hers are the result of a deliberate and calculated set of manipulations and lies. So the romantic angle is greatly diminished. But the big problem is that by the time Meredith gets to where Maxime is now, Maxime will be further along on her journey, which leaves Meredith constantly treading old ground. (Unless the developer competely stalls Maxime's journey and just shelves her character until Meredith catches up, which is my biggest fear at the moment.)

One of the few things we know for certain about Julia is that she knows far more about us than she is willing to tell. Some may find this intriguing, but I find it dangerously close to her being a bit fat phony liar. Ruby is almost a carbon copy of Julia, so I'm not sure why she needs to exist at all. Their interest in you is largely due to the fact that you remind them of the person/demon they used to know (who may or may not have been you in a different life or something).

I find that the laws of the universe aren't well defined enough for me to get hooked on any of the supernatural ladies yet. They all feel like players in a game of Calvinball where the rules are all announced out of the blue and on the fly. This was especially true with the newest girl Brie when she spoke of our mother. The things she said there confused me, and I'm still not sure if it's because I wasn't paying enough attention earlier or if it was all new information that was just poorly presented as if we were supposed to know it already.

Can demons become worshippers of other demons? Julia once told us that she wasn't one of Astofiel's worshippers, and then asked us what we would do if she was. That could indicate that it's possible, but it also could just be that she was trying to gauge our interest in her. I would assume it's possible strictly from a gameplay perspective, since three of the five women so far are supernatural. But I don't really know. There's just too many unkowns to start trying to make predictions, so I'm stuck in the wait it out stage with all of them.

We'll have to agree to disagree then because I see no indication Maxime even has an "old self" to lose. She's completely, 100% obsessed with the MC, to the point she has literally no agenda beyond being with him. Their relationship is painfully shallow - the game cut away during their dinner date because there was evidently nothing worth seeing the two discuss.

More than anything, Maxime reminds me of Heather, the ghoul the player could inadvertently create and enthrall in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines. Both were junkies completely hooked on the player character's 'essence,' but whereas VtMB treated Heather as a side character and morality pet, GoH insists Maxime is a full-on Love Interest. That just doesn't work for me. If Maxime had a life that extended beyond the MC's dick, or if we'd spent meaningful time seeing her and the MC interact as friends with mutual interests rather than just fuck buddies, maybe I could buy her as a LI; I'd certainly be much more interested in her content. But we didn't, and so I have no desire to watch her drool over the MC for the Nth time.

 

[OnlyWorthyDevsMakeMoney]

It should be fixed, thanks for the help

Shouldn't this be "Ruby Attraction"?

 

[JoleenStar]

Crazy good. Writing and scenes are great.

Other games should take this as an example of both quality and character development.

 

[sac812]

We'll have to agree to disagree then because I see no indication Maxime even has an "old self" to lose. She's completely, 100% obsessed with the MC, to the point she has literally no agenda beyond being with him. Their relationship is painfully shallow - the game cut away during their dinner date because there was evidently nothing worth seeing the two discuss.

More than anything, Maxime reminds me of Heather, the ghoul the player could inadvertently create and enthrall in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines. Both were junkies completely hooked on the player character's 'essence,' but whereas VtMB treated Heather as a side character and morality pet, GoH insists Maxime is a full-on Love Interest. That just doesn't work for me. If Maxime had a life that extended beyond the MC's dick, or if we'd spent meaningful time seeing her and the MC interact as friends with mutual interests rather than just fuck buddies, maybe I could buy her as a LI; I'd certainly be much more interested in her content. But we didn't, and so I have no desire to watch her drool over the MC for the Nth time.

With the caveat that I do like her character -- and her scenes -- a lot ... I don't actually view Maxime as a "love interest" in the context of this story.

Could be that I'm just overthinking things (wouldn't be the first time), but my sense is that she primarily serves as little more than a plot device. As you mention, there's no "conquest" involved with her -- all those steps have been taken before we start the game. Rather, I think her presence is two-fold:

1) She acts as a "bridge" betwee his old, (mostly) human life and his new-found demonic identity, and

2) Exactly as Astofiel says -- the fact that she's already so close to "worship" status significantly speeds up MC's development. Broadly speaking, it's plausible insofar as it relates to the plot and it avoids having to further drag out the process for us as players. Plus, as we saw at the hotel, she can "help" with bringing others on board.

Right now, I think there is only one true LI, in the sense that we have an opportunity to build a legitimate relationship with them, and that's Julia. I think Brie becomes one sooner rather than later, but that's it. I'm undecided on Ruby so far, but I'm leaning more toward the "plot device" category for her as well.