Ren'Py Heavy Five [Ch.2RS] [Nottravis]

[zenetx]

What good that kind of walkthrough would be for? Certainly not for people who don't care about all the extra flavour and are just looking to navigate paths.

Hey Akamari, thank you for your answer, and I'm sorry if I sounded a little ungrateful. Especially since you took the time to make the walkthrough.

If all there is to free roaming is displaying MC comments, then I can rest in peace. But please understand, although I admit that pixel hunting is not my favorite pastime, what frustrates me most is the apparent lack of purpose for everything;

-You receive a briefcase full of gadgets to interact with things,
-You can find and pick up objects,
-There's even a terminal that opens a page in the browser (outside the game)

And none of that does anything!! (as far as I can tell..) Do you see why I feel like missing half of the game?

If world exploration has absolutely no impact on characters and relationships whatsoever then it's fine. Just letting me know is enough.

Thank you again.

 

[Huitieme]

And none of that does anything!! (as far as I can tell..) Do you see why I feel like missing half of the game?

What you need to know is that the whole game is already planned and written (it's the coding and rendering that takes all this time), so what may not make sense now may be completely evident two or five chapters down the road. None of the freeroam stuff is required to enjoy the game, but also it is not simply random stuff that will lead to nowhere. The game is made to be divide into chapters but will shine its brightest when the whole story will be out

 

[somebodynobody]

What you need to know is that the whole game is already planned and written (it's the coding and rendering that takes all this time), so what may not make sense now may be completely evident two or five chapters down the road. None of the freeroam stuff is required to enjoy the game, but also it is not simply random stuff that will lead to nowhere. The game is made to be divide into chapters but will shine its brightest when the whole story will be out

So you're saying the info from the first magazine on the ship will be integral to bringing down the dark empire?

 

[Akamari]

Hey Akamari, thank you for your answer, and I'm sorry if I sounded a little ungrateful. Especially since you took the time to make the walkthrough.

If all there is to free roaming is displaying MC comments, then I can rest in peace. But please understand, although I admit that pixel hunting is not my favorite pastime, what frustrates me most is the apparent lack of purpose for everything;

-You receive a briefcase full of gadgets to interact with things,
-You can find and pick up objects,
-There's even a terminal that opens a page in the browser (outside the game)

And none of that does anything!! (as far as I can tell..) Do you see why I feel like missing half of the game?

If world exploration has absolutely no impact on characters and relationships whatsoever then it's fine. Just letting me know is enough.

Thank you again.

Well, that half of the game hasn't been developed yet. So, there's no need to get frustrated because it's not they lack purpose, it's just that we're not that far in the story yet to be able to see it. I think it's important to understand and accept that this is an unfinished game in development and at this point of progress there are far more questions than answers.

For the purpose of the walkthrough, I have no way of knowing what those things might exactly do in the future. So, I can't guide players to pick up or interact with everything without knowing the consequences.

Now, the vast majority of freeroam clickables is just about exploration and commentary. That of course doesn't mean they aren't worth the effort. IMO they are excellent in providing worldbuilding and depth to the setting. Some may be just jokes, some offer interesting food for thought for players challenged to tackle the mysteries surrounding the station. But for the most part they are there for players that seek to know more and want to make the effort. Not needed to enjoy the game, if you don't like the gameplay. A player character that doesn't give a damn about the mission, doesn't wear the investigator/engineer hat, and just wants to chase girls is a perfectly valid option. Just like many others.

Some of the clickables do have impact further down the game. They might sometimes be referenced in dialogues, open new conversation options or even alternate paths. However, you won't get stuck because you didn't click on object A, in location B, at point of time C. The game still moves forward as there are multiple ways of progression.

 

[Cabin Fever]

So you're saying the info from the first magazine on the ship will be integral to bringing down the dark empire?

No, but the Snoopy poster will.

 

[zenetx]

What you need to know is that the whole game is already planned and written (it's the coding and rendering that takes all this time), so what may not make sense now may be completely evident two or five chapters down the road. None of the freeroam stuff is required to enjoy the game, but also it is not simply random stuff that will lead to nowhere. The game is made to be divide into chapters but will shine its brightest when the whole story will be out

For the purpose of the walkthrough, I have no way of knowing what those things might exactly do in the future. So, I can't guide players to pick up or interact with everything without knowing the consequences.

Then I guess all that's left is to wait and see. I still feel like I should be able to blow up the whole station by now, or something of major significance, given the suddenly increase in gameplay complexity on the last chapter. Anyway I hope my suggestions and criticism may have helped in some way.

Keep up the good work.

 

[EmperorGus]

-You receive a briefcase full of gadgets to interact with things,
-You can find and pick up objects,
-There's even a terminal that opens a page in the browser (outside the game)

And none of that does anything!! (as far as I can tell..) Do you see why I feel like missing half of the game?

If you pay attention to the info on your diagnostics tablet, then you know exactly what using the right tool on different objects does.
They advance the engineering mini-game. If you've played BaDIK think if it like the mansion game. At the current progression of the story we can start it, but not finish it.

There are several interactions that add new clues to the tablet.
And I've found 2 that will advance the progress %. Example: The server in the Cistern will advance the software diagnosis to 20%.

And I, mostly, like the addition of 'action points' to the free-roam in the 3rd chapter. Do you want to blow a ton of time on interactions with the characters or do you want do your job (engineer) and solve the power mystery.
My main criticism of the free-roam is that I want a indicator to show how many 'action points' I have before the free-roam ends. It's tricky managing your 'time' properly when you don't have a watch

 

[NeimadFR]

If you pay attention to the info on your diagnostics tablet, then you know exactly what using the right tool on different objects does.
They advance the engineering mini-game. If you've played BaDIK think if it like the mansion game. At the current progression of the story we can start it, but not finish it.

There are several interactions that add new clues to the tablet.
And I've found 2 that will advance the progress %. Example: The server in the Cistern will advance the software diagnosis to 20%.

And I, mostly, like the addition of 'action points' to the free-roam in the 3rd chapter. Do you want to blow a ton of time on interactions with the characters or do you want do your job (engineer) and solve the power mystery.
My main criticism of the free-roam is that I want a indicator to show how many 'action points' I have before the free-roam ends. It's tricky managing your 'time' properly when you don't have a watch

You know it's your last action for the day when the background gets darker (sunset).

 

[aezur]

I was expecting a lot from this game after having played callisto, what's the point of having cool sandbox locations if we don't even get to use them properly and the story is on rails non stop?

 

[Akamari]

I was expecting a lot from this game after having played callisto, what's the point of having cool sandbox locations if we don't even get to use them properly and the story is on rails non stop?

Your question doesn't make sense to me.

This is a story-focused game with choices that have consequences, not a sandbox. It's like if you complained why does the game have guns if it's not a first person shooter. Or why is a complex jungle gym not a shallow sandbox. It's not all sand in the playground, y'know?

 

[aezur]

Your question doesn't make sense to me.

This is a story-focused game with choices that have consequences, not a sandbox. It's like if you complained why does the game have guns if it's not a first person shooter. Or why is a complex jungle gym not a shallow sandbox. It's not all sand in the playground, y'know?

What do you mean by story focused? there's a lot of hidden objects that affect the story, several elements of sandbox and time management games, it's really far from a kinetic VN, and yet has no way to keep track of which path you're on, not even a basic gallery. The game is also not even at 30% of what it is supposed to be, so it's more of a tech demo than a game at this point.

Also sandbox games are shallow? Since when? Try the games on my sig, most are sandbox and really amazing. I'm outta here, ignoring this thread. Last thing I want to do is argue with people who refuse to take constructive criticism.

 

[TheDevian]

What do you mean by story focused? there's a lot of hidden objects that affect the story, several elements of sandbox and time management games, it's really far from a kinetic VN, and yet has no way to keep track of which path you're on, not even a basic gallery. The game is also not even at 30% of what it is supposed to be, so it's more of a tech demo than a game at this point.

First of all, all of that is optional and every single thing you do affects the story, every single choice, and second, no one said anything about a garbage kinetic novel, this has a ton of choice, and all of your choices matter. This is not a sandbox, it is a Choose Your Own Adventure Visual Novel.

Yes, it is almost 30%, it is chapter 3 of 10, so that is it exactly, since each chapter is larger than the last. Personally, I would have liked to see more free in the roam, but since that was never in the original, I will take what I can get. XD

 

[EmperorGus]

I was expecting a lot from this game after having played callisto, what's the point of having cool sandbox locations if we don't even get to use them properly and the story is on rails non stop?

What does Callisto have to do with this game? AFAIK the Dev of this game isn't associated with that one.
This isn't a sandbox. It's a VN with free-roams.

What do you mean by story focused? there's a lot of hidden objects that affect the story, several elements of sandbox and time management games, it's really far from a kinetic VN, and yet has no way to keep track of which path you're on, not even a basic gallery. The game is also not even at 30% of what it is supposed to be, so it's more of a tech demo than a game at this point.

Also sandbox games are shallow? Since when? Try the games on my sig, most are sandbox and really amazing. I'm outta here, ignoring this thread. Last thing I want to do is argue with people who refuse to take constructive criticism.

Hidden objects in a free-roam don't make it a sandbox game.
Based on the ones I'm familiar with, if you think 'most' the games in your sig are sandbox then you don't know what a sandbox game is.
If you want an adult game that is sandbox, check out: LifePlay

 

[reiterhaniwa]

I was expecting a lot from this game after having played callisto, what's the point of having cool sandbox locations if we don't even get to use them properly and the story is on rails non stop?

I don't think you quite understand what "on rails" means.

 

[dhasghdashjdkajs]

any estimate time for next release?

 

[NeimadFR]

any estimate time for next release?

Probably this month or beginning of the next but don't quote me on that, all I know is that she's in the refining and testing phase.

 

[imnotoverhere]

You realize that this is super predictable right? At least change up the fake estimates to keep it somewhat believable. Hell, 1 month ago I wrote a post on how every month the response to the question of release date was "sometime this month or early next month". At least be honest about it, nobody knows when it will be released. It will come out when it comes out.

Here's my quote from that post so that you can see that at least I'm honest in my posts.

Why would you be annoyed by people complaining? You're not the developer. Honestly, it's hard to disagree with Ninjasquirrel's post about this. I remember asking months ago about when the planned release date was. People posted that Notti was aiming for that month or early the next month. This seems to be the common response whenever people ask about the release date and it's hard to take it seriously anymore. "aiming for Feb or early March... aiming for March or early April... aiming for April or early May... etc". I've done development work in the past and it's not easy so I'm not knocking the workload involved, but at a certain point, constantly posting "aiming for this month" is like crying wolf. Just tell people that you're working on it and will get it out as soon as it's ready (whenever that is). You can even post sketches and updates to the progress in order to keep up hype.

 

[NeimadFR]

You realize that this is super predictable right? At least change up the fake estimates to keep it somewhat believable. Hell, 1 month ago I wrote a post on how every month the response to the question of release date was "sometime this month or early next month". At least be honest about it, nobody knows when it will be released. It will come out when it comes out.

This seems like a reasonable timeframe based on the informations I have. I understand that you feel like you've been burnt before and choose not to believe it. Just don't go accusing me of posting fake estimates and being dishonest like I'm in on some big conspiracy or something please.

 

[Avaron1974]

You realize that this is super predictable right? At least change up the fake estimates to keep it somewhat believable. Hell, 1 month ago I wrote a post on how every month the response to the question of release date was "sometime this month or early next month". At least be honest about it, nobody knows when it will be released. It will come out when it comes out.

Here's my quote from that post so that you can see that at least I'm honest in my posts.

People only have so much info to give on here, Notty doesn't post here, she abandoned this place a long time ago. I think it was January the last time she popped her face in and even then she didn't hang around.

Whatever info people have to post here they are trying to patch together from wherever they can get it from.

 

[imnotoverhere]

This seems like a reasonable timeframe based on the informations I have. I understand that you feel like you've been burnt before and choose not to believe it. Just don't go accusing me of posting fake estimates and being dishonest like I'm in on some big conspiracy or something please.

You may not be intentionally lying, but the reality is for months and months the same phrase is used whenever anyone asks about how much longer, "sometime this month or early next month". There are now chats in multiple other threads and people were making jokes about when that line was going to be used this month. The honest truth is that you don't know when it will be complete.

This reminds me of a trick airline pilots used when a flight is delayed after boarding but they don't know for how long. Pilots use the 30m rule. They'll go on the radio and tell passengers that there's a slight delay that will be ~30m. After 30m they'll hop on and tell people the delay is lasting a bit longer than expected, it's looking like it's going to be another 30m. Why do they do this? Simple... their research shows that passengers will stay calm if given a deadline that doesn't seem too far off even if it's inaccurate. People are hopeful so they don't make a problem. After the second or 3rd time of saying that, people start to trick themselves into believing the next time it really is going to be 30m (after all... it's been 1.5 hours... surely it really is only 30m more).

Notti made a post in January saying that February was the target date, after that anytime someone asked about the timeline, someone would respond with either the end of that month, or sometime the next month. I'm starting to think the flight crew isn't sure how long maintenance will take.