RPGM Henteria Chronicles Ch. 3 : The Peacekeepers [Update 16] [N_taii]

[Oriandu]

His father died at that point, recently, he lost the trust of his closed ones and is looked at as a fool and had to work himself to the bone and humiliate himself just to earn Zeno's trust again. He was in heavy distress, his mother and sister always missing and him becoming more and more alone. He definely had some denial in him to cope with the change of the heroines that were his only family and hope at that point. We even get confirmation when we see his thought after seeing that blue haired girl that liked him get blowbanged in the soldier camp late game. He activelly supressed any suspicion he had just to stay above the water.

I dont get how people keep saying he has no personality. I had the most sympathy for him than maybe any other ficticious protagonist. And its not just self insertion, I do not see myself in him, I see a kind and sweet and adorable soul.

He was a fair amount of time out from the death of his father, he had no reason to be suspicious of his mother and sister not being around all the time, and while you are right that he was recently embarrassed he was not yet showing any outward awareness or distress about the ongoing circumstances of the village. If the intent of that scene was for it to be about Noah ignoring it because he was traumatized then N_Taii did not do an adequate job of presenting it before, during, or after the scene.

As for people saying he has no personality... it's because he has no personality. Noah does not speak and the only response has to anything that goes on around him is to either smile or an emote bubble. Things happen around him and he just stands there and occasionally a bubble with a squiggle appears over his head. The biggest contributors to personality in a video game are actions and speech, and Noah is an extremely passive mute.

 

[Ultron64]

I fully agree with this, because I think we are at the point in the game where it can't really linger on the big reveal without feeling like procrastination... so if it's not going to be the pivotal quest where Leto realizes what is happening (and the previews haven't given that impression at all), then I would find it way more enjoyable for the update to aim for a very different tone instead of trying to be one more incremental step in the corruption.

And I think that is why my brain is so fixated on Leto's role, because he desperately needs some kind of development to sell the idea that things are starting to change. That even if he is still oblivious to the actual NTR, he knows ~something~ is different from how things were before. And having him start to show more interest in Cyanna, Haylen, and Lily would fill that gap perfectly, that their behavior is affecting him more than he can consciously realize, and that he might reflexively pull back out of guilt for looking at them in a sexual way... and leave them fully vulnerable to the villains filling that emotional void in his absence. As opposed to the girls just deciding on their own to care less about Leto while he continues to passively stand around.

I completely agree. Something that would be hot too is if seeing all the girls in bikinis all day gets him hot and bothered and he goes to jack off because he can't find Rose. Cutting from him feeling guilty about masturbating to her not feeling guilty AT ALL about her activities

 

[Oriandu]

Personally I'm hoping Leto tries to have a romantic moment with Rose watching the sunset. He suggests it early in the day, she agrees, and when he goes to meet her she's not there so he waits... and waits... and then she shows up at the last minute with the duke's cum running down her leg because they lost track of time and in her rush to get to Leto the duke nuts in her.

 

[JagOvv SmearOvv]

Personally I'm hoping he tries to have a romantic moment with Rose watching the sunset. He suggests it early in the day, she agrees, and when he goes to meet her she's not there so he waits... and waits... and then she shows up at the last minute with the duke's cum running down her leg because they lost track of time and in her rush to get to Leto the duke nuts in her.

I'm not expecting it, but it would be funny if the Duke tried to have a romantic moment with Rose

 

[Oriandu]

I'm not expecting it, but it would be funny if the Duke tried to have a romantic moment with Rose

That would be funny, yes, but we both know I mean Leto... I edited a sentence that had Leto's name in it and forgot to add his name back.

 

[Twyfor]

And I think that is why my brain is so fixated on Leto's role, because he desperately needs some kind of development to sell the idea that things are starting to change. That even if he is still oblivious to the actual NTR, he knows ~something~ is different from how things were before. And having him start to show more interest in Cyanna, Haylen, and Lily would fill that gap perfectly, that their behavior is affecting him more than he can consciously realize, and that he might reflexively pull back out of guilt for looking at them in a sexual way... and leave them fully vulnerable to the villains filling that emotional void in his absence. As opposed to the girls just deciding on their own to care less about Leto while he continues to passively stand around.

This is a good point. Leto does care about the girls - in his stilted, stand-offish way - and the girls certainly care about him. Wouldn't it be tragic if it isn't until he sees them cavorting in their swimwear that he realises just how lucky he is to have these stunning women in his life, just as they slip through (or are snatched from) his fingers.

I've only played NTRPG2, and it's... complicated...

...tl;dr — it's worth checking out if you are bored, but I think it is best to go in with the expectation that it is very much an early prototype of the genre, and not some shining pinnacle that Henteria is still trying to reach.

I only brought up NTRPG2 out of my own selfish desires, ultimately it's up to N_Taii of course. Still, I was a little surprised to hear that some people hadn't played it but then again it is getting fairly old now. It had a big impact on me as well and its DNA plainly runs through many subsequent games, up to and including Scars of Summer. It's a product of its time but it showed what you could do with using RPGmaker as a tool to create a world for stories to unfold. VN's leave me cold.

 

[Jeferss12]

Personally I'm hoping Leto tries to have a romantic moment with Rose watching the sunset. He suggests it early in the day, she agrees, and when he goes to meet her she's not there so he waits... and waits... and then she shows up at the last minute with the duke's cum running down her leg because they lost track of time and in her rush to get to Leto the duke nuts in her.

Sad for Leto that his girlfriend comes with semen dripping from her legs to get to her date with him, and happy moment for the Duke who is fucking the daughter of the woman he was in love with, without Rose's mother and Leto having the slightest idea about it, what I would really like to see is when they show us the reaction of Rose's mother when she wakes up and finds out everything that's happening, will she blame her husband?, will she do something against the Duke for what he did to her daughter, and will she be the only one of the few people that Leto knows and will try to help him? that second question makes me think a lot given the fact that she forgave her husband who did to her the same thing that the duke is doing to her daughter, and that despite everything he did to him she even almost gave her life for him, then it would really be shitty if she told Leto, "listen Leto I know that that man fucked Rose who is my daughter and your girlfriend, and turned her into a little whore who doesn't hesitate for a second to fuck anyone who she considers has done enough for our kingdom to satisfy him with her body, but let's listen to why they did it, surely they had reasons to do that to my daughter", friend that would really be shitty, that's why I'm really looking forward to seeing what her position will be in the story when that moment comes.

 

[Oriandu]

I don't see Leto being moved to emotion by seeing butts and boobs in bikinis, if he's going to be moved by anything it should be seeing them with others. I could see him getting jealous of all the time they're seemingly spending with the other men in their lives even if he doesn't clue into those relationships being physically intimate.

 

[JagOvv SmearOvv]

I don't see Leto being moved to emotion by seeing butts and boobs in bikinis, if he's going to be moved by anything it should be seeing them with others. I could see him getting jealous of all the time they're seemingly spending with the other men in their lives even if he doesn't clue into those relationships being physically intimate.

What would be hotter?

If Leto and Rose planned to have moment alone on the beach, but Duke wanted time with her and she turned Leto down?
Or Leto asking Rose, only to find out Duke and Rose already planned for time together?

There's tension and humiliation either way, but in different ways. If it's the first, Leto would think Rose has become so distant from him that she'd rather spend time with Duke. If it's the other, than Leto would get the first big hint of how deep their relationship is now.

 

[Oriandu]

What would be hotter?

If Leto and Rose planned to have moment alone on the beach, but Duke wanted time with her and she turned Leto down?
Or Leto asking Rose, only to find out Duke and Rose already planned for time together?

There's tension and humiliation either way, but in different ways. If it's the first, Leto would think Rose has become so distant from him that she'd rather spend time with Duke. If it's the other, than Leto would get the first big hint of how deep their relationship is now.

Of those two options I feel like the former makes more sense than the latter, but they're quite similar in the end result. While Rose and the duke are basically fucking all over his mansion and at almost all times of the day, Rose hasn't quite yet ticked over to willing partner yet. She's at a point where she's clearly enjoying it and, given her behaviour with the pirates and an update 16 spoiler she's at a point where she's no longer thinking logically when it comes to sex, but she's not at a point where if the duke was all "We're going to fuck at 3:00." she would turn down a date with Leto for the same time. Choosing the duke over Leto should be the final step of her corruption. My preference would be for her and the duke to start having sex before a planned date with Leto and for her to lose track of time and for her to rush to Leto without a chance for her to clean herself up first, or she's very late. Of those two options I'd prefer the former because her showing up with cum leaking down her thighs and on her breath would be so brutal.

 

[JagOvv SmearOvv]

Of those two options I feel like the former makes more sense than the latter, but they're quite similar in the end result. While Rose and the duke are basically fucking all over his mansion and at almost all times of the day, Rose hasn't quite yet ticked over to willing partner yet. She's at a point where she's clearly enjoying it and, given her behaviour with the pirates and an update 16 spoiler she's at a point where she's no longer thinking logically when it comes to sex, but she's not at a point where if the duke was all "We're going to fuck at 3:00." she would turn down a date with Leto for the same time. Choosing the duke over Leto should be the final step of her corruption. My preference would be for her and the duke to start having sex before a planned date with Leto and for her to lose track of time and for her to rush to Leto without a chance for her to clean herself up first, or she's very late. Of those two options I'd prefer the former because her showing up with cum leaking down her thighs and on her breath would be so brutal.

I'm really hoping for Rose and Leto to fight. Maybe not necessarily fight, but for Rose to snap at Leto when he starts asking questions. She's able to deal with her predicament when it's just her alone with Duke (and his maids), but seeing Leto show concern for her would make her mind a calamitous whirlpool of guilt, despair, and frustration. She tells herself that she's doing anything she has to for her kingdom, and for Leto, but she still acknowledges that she's being unfaithful to him.

Leto has no clue what's happening between Rose and Duke, but she does, and she might project all of that guilt onto Leto and believe he's onto her. With all the gaslighting Duke has done to her, telling her that she has to make sacrifices for the good of her people, she would be angry if Leto caught on and rendered all of her sexy times utterly pointless. "Why are you asking so many weird questions?? Why are you being so clingy?? Do you have any idea what I'm doing for you?? I thought you believed in me!!"

I think Rose will be to Leto what Duke is to Rose: a manipulative gaslighter. Unable to handle all the emotions and bullshit welling up inside her, she turns it to Leto. She'll say that her distance is no big deal, all of her time spent with Duke is necessary, whatever she does with him is greatly exaggerated or perfectly okay for her to do, and how dare he distrust her (or get in her way). She'll make sure she keeps Leto in check, just like how Duke does to her.

 

[Oriandu]

I'm really hoping for Rose and Leto to fight. Maybe not necessarily fight, but for Rose to snap at Leto when he starts asking questions. She's able to deal with her predicament when it's just her alone with Duke (and his maids), but seeing Leto show concern for her would make her mind a calamitous whirlpool of guilt, despair, and frustration. She tells herself that she's doing anything she has to for her kingdom, and for Leto, but she still acknowledges that she's being unfaithful to him.

Leto has no clue what's happening between Rose and Duke, but she does, and she might project all of that guilt onto Leto and believe he's onto her. With all the gaslighting Duke has done to her, telling her that she has to make sacrifices for the good of her people, she would be angry if Leto caught on and rendered all of her sexy times utterly pointless. "Why are you asking so many weird questions?? Why are you being so clingy?? Do you have any idea what I'm doing for you?? I thought you believed in me!!"

I think Rose will be to Leto what Duke is to Rose: a manipulative gaslighter. Unable to handle all the emotions and bullshit welling up inside her, she turns it to Leto. She'll say that her distance is no big deal, all of her time spent with Duke is necessary, whatever she does with him is greatly exaggerated or perfectly okay for her to do, and how dare he distrust her (or get in her way). She'll make sure she keeps Leto in check, just like how Duke does to her.

I think you may be right on where Rose ends up, she's certainly starting to take on some of the duke's unsavory traits, but I don't think we're quite at that stage yet. Just how much like the duke she becomes may be determined by the ending as having Rose go from gaslighting Leto to not gaslighting him without her looking like a total piece of shit would take a finesse that N_Taii has not shown yet in his writing. Not that I don't think that he could, I'm just not sure if he would.

As for her projecting, I would wager you're right again as we know Rose is a very emotional person. We've seen her project her insecurities and guilt onto Cyanna already, it wouldn't be too large of a leap to expect her to do the same to Leto.

 

[JagOvv SmearOvv]

I think you may be right on where Rose ends up, she's certainly starting to take on some of the duke's unsavory traits, but I don't think we're quite at that stage yet. Just how much like the duke she becomes may be determined by the ending as having Rose go from gaslighting Leto to not gaslighting him without her looking like a total piece of shit would take a finesse that N_Taii has not shown yet in his writing. Not that I don't think that he could, I'm just not sure if he would.

As for her projecting, I would wager you're right again as we know Rose is a very emotional person. We've seen her project her insecurities and guilt onto Cyanna already, it wouldn't be too large of a leap to expect her to do the same to Leto.

The moment she snaps at Leto would be a good moment to include a multiple choice response. Revenge would be to snap back at her and get frustrated with her distancing, attitude, and lies. Cuck could be Leto meekly saying sorry and going along with Rose's version of reality. But what would a Good response be? What would a Good Leto think and feel at that moment, and what would be something Rose wants (or more importantly needs) to hear from him? It might not settle her down, and she could even get angrier at Leto, but it's a seed he's planting in her (just like Duke is gonna do ).

 

[Jeferss12]

Of those two options I feel like the former makes more sense than the latter, but they're quite similar in the end result. While Rose and the duke are basically fucking all over his mansion and at almost all times of the day, Rose hasn't quite yet ticked over to willing partner yet. She's at a point where she's clearly enjoying it and, given her behaviour with the pirates and an update 16 spoiler she's at a point where she's no longer thinking logically when it comes to sex, but she's not at a point where if the duke was all "We're going to fuck at 3:00." she would turn down a date with Leto for the same time. Choosing the duke over Leto should be the final step of her corruption. My preference would be for her and the duke to start having sex before a planned date with Leto and for her to lose track of time and for her to rush to Leto without a chance for her to clean herself up first, or she's very late. Of those two options I'd prefer the former because her showing up with cum leaking down her thighs and on her breath would be so brutal.

but we've more or less reached that point, right? in the freeroam where leto arrives at rose's room and she is looking at herself in the mirror, and they talk for a while, they agree to go out together, and she tells him to wait for her outside while she changes clothes, at that moment the duke arrives and orders leto to do something, and while that happens he has sex with rose, and when leto returns rose is already all tired and tells leto that it would be better if they went out another time.

 

[Oriandu]

A good Leto would do the right thing. Whatever she's snarling about you go with the calm, measured response. It should be like that thing in a movie where the line echoes in the head of the person who heard it at a critical moment. Say, the duke is about to push forward with something and it's something Leto is aware of, but it's not something he's aware of Rose's involvement in. She has a conniption and we get a set non-RGB responses that are all different ways of telling her to calm down and no matter what you say she snaps angrily in response demeaning Leto in a way that questions their relationship and his masculinity. The response options are basically "Why are you being such a bitch? I'm just trying to help." for the revenge path, an apology for the cuck path, or for the good path he recommends that she calm down and think before she acts. She blows up and storms off no matter what, but when everything comes to a head and she's making her choice she thinks to herself "If I had taken a deep breath to think I wouldn't be about to see (update 16 spoiler)my father get sacrificed to power the peacekeepers." and then she either helps Leto save the day because you're on the good path, or she decides that (update 16 spoiler)a father who abandoned her to the duke's machinations isn't worth saving and stands back and lets it happen.

I'm a firm believer that the moment where Rose's relationship with Leto breaks it has to be the single most important moment in the plot, it has to be the lynch pin. This is the first HC where the hero and heroine are actually in a relationship and if and when it breaks it has to be hugely important.

but we've more or less reached that point, right? in the freeroam where leto arrives at rose's room and she is looking at herself in the mirror, and they talk for a while, they agree to go out together, and she tells him to wait for her outside while she changes clothes, at that moment the duke arrives and orders leto to do something, and while that happens he has sex with rose, and when leto returns rose is already all tired and tells leto that it would be better if they went out another time.

No we aren't. The duke sends Leto off on an errand, at that point she had time to spare and they simply didn't do anything afterward. That's not prioritizing the duke over Leto.

 

[Miss Y]

But what would a Good response be? What would a Good Leto think and feel at that moment, and what would be something Rose wants (or more importantly needs) to hear from him? It might not settle her down, and she could even get angrier at Leto, but it's a seed he's planting in her (just like Duke is gonna do ).

I think that Good Leto's "answer" would, ironically enough, just be a question in return where he calmly but firmly investigates why she would react so aggressively to what started as a very innocuous question on his part. For the Good ending, Leto is supposed to be the most clear-eyed version of himself, while the NTR and Revenge endings hinge on his character flaws.

NTR: He is too meek and passive, so deep in denial that he is willing to overlook almost anything until it's far too late.
Revenge: He responds to conflict by lashing out in aggression, emotionally isolating himself from his loved ones.
Good: He doesn't get distracted by personal drama or some internal struggle, which allows him to eventually see the solution.

So Good Leto's response in that situation would probably involve asking Rose a question that forces her to pursue some introspection about how much she's changed due to the Duke's influence. Nothing that will immediately ring a bell, but just enough that it continues to quietly haunt her in the background of the next few updates until we've reached the endgame.

 

[JagOvv SmearOvv]

Of those two options I feel like the former makes more sense than the latter, but they're quite similar in the end result. While Rose and the duke are basically fucking all over his mansion and at almost all times of the day, Rose hasn't quite yet ticked over to willing partner yet. She's at a point where she's clearly enjoying it and, given her behaviour with the pirates and an update 16 spoiler she's at a point where she's no longer thinking logically when it comes to sex, but she's not at a point where if the duke was all "We're going to fuck at 3:00." she would turn down a date with Leto for the same time. Choosing the duke over Leto should be the final step of her corruption. My preference would be for her and the duke to start having sex before a planned date with Leto and for her to lose track of time and for her to rush to Leto without a chance for her to clean herself up first, or she's very late. Of those two options I'd prefer the former because her showing up with cum leaking down her thighs and on her breath would be so brutal.

I thought of a third scenario in which Leto and Rose make plans for a date on the beach: play in the water, soak in the sun, have ice cream or whatever, play like they used to when they were kids, etc.

But... Duke butts in the middle of their date and gradually encroaches. Taking over their conversations and making things about himself or political matters, taking Rose to eat elsewhere, walking with her on the sand... Leto slowly becomes a third wheel on his own date. Rose is annoyed by Duke, but can't refuse him or push him away, so she makes excuses to Leto and tries to tell him everything's okay.

Duke would tell her that the shame and anxiety she's feeling about her date with Leto getting interrupted would give a huge boost in power to the Peacekeepers, so she goes along with his sexual antics. Cue Leto getting ignored by Rose and Duke, sidetracked with mundane tasks, and searching for them when they go missing.

I love the idea of "It's not your date anymore, it's their date."

But this all just speculation. I'll look forward to whatever N_Taii comes up with.

 

[Oriandu]

One thing I could see happening is a gradual encroachment of the beach trip itself. It starts out as a weekend of fun in the sun and surf and as the days go by it gets more and more twisted. Say, day one it's Leto and the girls having fun and they only get pulled away by their partners closer to the end of the day. On day two the girls wake up next to their partners so the first part of their day is, of course, sex leading Leto lonely for the first little while. As the day progresses they get called away one by one leaving Leto all alone on night two. On the third day of their little vacation he only ever sees them one at a time for a short while before the scamper back to continue having sex, with the day ending with my previously described sunset date that Rose arrives disheveled and freshly used to. To put the cherry on the sundae have that be her first appearance to Leto of the day. Late to their date... soaked in splooge.

I feel like we've all kind of lost the plot with this update considering how N_Taii has alluded to it in POLs. I should probably stop hoping for it to be so dark and depressing.

On the subject of the actual update and not our pie in the sky musings about it, I'm hoping we get something resembling an ETA tomorrow. It'll have been nearly a month since the release of update 16, so it'd be nice to at least have a vague release window. I'm expecting it just before Christmas.

 

[Jeferss12]

A development like this with Leto and Rose, but in pixel art XD

 

[gordovalor]

The moment she snaps at Leto would be a good moment to include a multiple choice response. Revenge would be to snap back at her and get frustrated with her distancing, attitude, and lies. Cuck could be Leto meekly saying sorry and going along with Rose's version of reality. But what would a Good response be? What would a Good Leto think and feel at that moment, and what would be something Rose wants (or more importantly needs) to hear from him? It might not settle her down, and she could even get angrier at Leto, but it's a seed he's planting in her (just like Duke is gonna do ).

The main issue, from my perspective, is that the so-called 'good' responses are basically a watered-down cuck. They lean much closer to a submissive path than one of revenge. Ideally, these responses should strike a balance in the middle, aiming for what's truly "right".

At best, the outcome is staying with someone who has been used and broken as others pleased. For me, that's far from a "happy ending".