RPGM Henteria Chronicles Ch. 3 : The Peacekeepers [Update 17] [N_taii]

[BBC King]

Proof of Life #245: They say an image is worth a thousand words, but what about four of them?

Heya heya you cat, dog, and bird people, how are you doing in this fine morning/afternoon/evening? I'm finally back from my trip! Btw, I was in Egypt. I barely got tanned though. Why? Because I was working as usual.

I was already very late for the last update because of my moving back to my homecountry from Japan and looking for an apartment, so my condition for tagging along to Egypt was that I could be left alone to work on HC3 whenever I wanted. Unfortunately, the wifi was terrible and my crappy laptop made working very difficult.

Still, I managed to do most of the maps for the new update, although there could be some more I need to do based on how the story progresses in this update. You can see some of them in this PoL's screenshots, although a few are still a work-in-progress and need some more assets. I also managed to hand out a bunch of commissions to artists and receive swimsuits for the guy and girls alike. They all have lewd versions, although Lily and Haylen's will only be available if you've progressed their storyline far enough. Who am I kidding though? We all know you're dying to see the Duke wearing a sexy bikini~

The artist curse is still going strong, as one of them is still missing in action and has been so for over a month now, and two others have had to take vacations for 1-2 weeks. I've asked other artists if they could take over for the time being. I hope things will settle down soon enough.

That's it for this PoL. I'm going back to working on sexy beach babes for now. I'll see you next Monday~

Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful week!

N_Taii

 

[BBC King]

Proof of Life #246: Who wouldn't want a nice vacation under the sun?

Hello everyone, how's it going in this fine morning/afternoon/evening? I apologize for this PoL being a bit late, I had to prepare a few things before I could finally get the screenshot I wanted to show. I know you've been dying to see the Duke in a swimsuit, so here it is, although he can only be seen from the back.

I've had a good week of work, although some of my weekend was busy with an irl project of mine, so I had a bit less time to work on the game. Still, I managed to progress quite a bit, and every character, side and main, has had a small scene added for them. I'm still waiting on the visuals for those scenes though, but they should be coming shortly.

Working with Haylen and Lily takes a bit more time during testing, as I have to test several variations (whether the player has partial or omniscient PoV on, and whether they've progressed far enough to see their content) and I've sometimes added slight dialogue variations based on players' progress within their storyline.

I initially hoped I could make this update on the shorter side so I could release it earlier, but it's shaping up to be a long one I believe. I really want to take this opportunity with everyone living in the same building to add a lot of shorter scenes, or just an animation happening behind a window to highlight how much corruption has progressed, and that for all four women, but that means a lot of work implementing those in, even if they'll only be seen for a few seconds. Still, I believe it'll all be worth it in the end.

In the screenshot above, you can see some of the custom visuals made especially for this update, and there's even a breastroke animation and a "swim in place" animation for the characters if I need it. I might showcase it later.

That's it for this PoL! I'll see you again next Monday for more beach vacation shenanigans ; )

Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful week!

N_Taii

 

[Oriandu]

It's been a while since I've played HC2 and Noa certainly wasn't the brightest bulb, but how I interpreted those scenes was that Noa had been beaten down so far psychologically and emotionally that he had begun dissociating from what was going on around him. It wasn't just mere denial or that he was really that stupid, it was a trauma response from what he'd been through. As I recall the lake scenes were much further into the story arc than we are now, with Noa's memory and perceptions having been wrung through by the antagonists. For me that's darker than even having an actual demon wave a magic wand to make the protagonist confused. Leto on the other hand has waded perhaps waist-deep into the Egyptian River as far as the girls are concerned, so I don't think it's likely we'll see similar scenes.



Just as an aside, and I like the steady "slow-burn" NTR too, do we really need to insist on a rigid set of corruption milestones for the heroines to pass during the story? It may not suit the characters or the circumstances, it ties the creator's hands, leaves nothing to surprise and nothing else to anticipate. I know it's convention for these games now, but I can't help but think it's just in order to create a neatly organised scene gallery for those that aren't going to play through the game anyway. Galleries are an adjunct in my opinion, they should serve the game, and not the other way around.



Well, if we're going to spoiler our speculations then -

Spoiler: Entirely gratuitous self-interestedness

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I've been replaying HC2 in bits and pieces and I recently got to the lake scene, and I wouldn't refer to Noah as as traumatized enough to glaze over sex happening right in front of him, in fact I'd say the lake episode happened roughly at the same point in the story that HC3 is currently at. It happened shortly after Noah's first encounter with Zeno's villainous plans for the village and his first humiliation when Zeno managed to cover his tracks. It was the first major thing to happen after Celis and Aywin started having sex with their villainous counterparts. But it came before things ramped up... which is kinda where the story is at at the end of update 16. You can't do a direct corelation because Leto is far less connected to the duke's conspiracy than Noah was to his uncle's, but HC3 is far slower burn than HC2 was and I'd say that we're at roughly the same overall corruption and story progression level at this stage as the women were in HC2. Hell, if I'm remembering correctly I think once update 17 releases that'll be more updates to HC3 and HC2 got total, so story beats defintely aren't going to line up exactly.

Noah missing the sex happening so close to him works because he had very little established personality outside of being extremely naive. It worked for him, it won't work for Leto for two reasons. First, I don't think he's in denial about his girlfriend, sister, foster mother, and best friend so much as he hasn't really been exposed to much of a reason to be suspicious of them. He may have noticed some changes in personality and appearance but what he's seen hasn't been enough for him to say "There's something going on here." because he's not around the events or their behaviour enough to see have a reason to be suspicious. The second reason those kind of scenes won't work is if something happens right in front of him he'd have to be drunk, as you mentioned, or in some way incapacitated to not notice it because we've seen him recognize and be uncomfortable with others having sex mulitple times already, it's his most consistent emotional response so far.

I'm 100% on the "This is a filler episode, let it be lighthearted" train, I just don't want it to be stupid.

As for the corruption checklist... I don't necessarily expect things to take a defined path or that N_Taii is following an order. Rose just has like two major sex acts left that she hasn't done.

 

[Jeferss12]

We have to say that by far Haylen and Cyanna have the best body of the four, then there would be Rose and finally Lily XD.


In HC2, in my opinion, the one with the best body was Noa's mother, but damn, the author didn't want to give us sex scenes between Noa and her mother.

Can you imagine it would be a tremendous revelation that Leto's parents and the girl who was like an older sister to him were still alive, I say this because well, they were never able to find their bodies.

 

[Miss Y]

Well, I finally got around to playing Update 16, and I'll try to keep my thoughts shorter than usual. It was... mostly okay. Not nearly the same lows of frustration as the undercover brothel quest. Most of the scenes were good on their own, and I really liked the big reveal, so that it feels like there is finally some movement for the main mystery. But as a whole, the pacing felt absolutely brutal with how little there was in the way of having any chance to explore or interact with the game as Leto between cutscenes to break things up a little. And specifically about the big spoilers,

Spoiler: Update 16 story stuff

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As for Update 17, those previews look promising so far! The lake trip of Chapter 2 was a real low point for me in the game, personally, but I think a lot of that came down to how there really wasn't much chemistry between Aywin and Celis, so it didn't feel particularly lighthearted or fun. But there is a lot more potential between the girls this time to have some amusing banter, or even a few petty rivalries pop up beyond the much heavier Rose/Cyanna one we've already seen of them fighting over Leto.

My one central hope for the beach quest is for Leto to actually notice something for once. I'm not expecting him to suddenly discover the NTR going on behind his back, but it would be nice for him to have a more interesting reaction to the sexually-charged atmosphere for once instead of him being completely unfazed by it — or the more likely bet I'd make, of him just being briefly startled by the swimsuit reveal before instantly getting over it and proceeding as normal.

 

[Oriandu]

Honestly, after update 16 I'm hoping update 17 is pretty brainless. I do want Leto to notice that something strange is going on but nothing too impacting simply because of how heavy update 16 was. The game needs light hearted beach fun...

You know, I realize that I haven't played the NTRRPGs before. Are they actually any good? I know they inspired the HC games but I've honestly never heard that much about them.

 

[Jeferss12]

Honestly, after update 16 I'm hoping update 17 is pretty brainless. I do want Leto to notice that something strange is going on but nothing too impacting simply because of how heavy update 16 was. The game needs light hearted beach fun...

You know, I realize that I haven't played the NTRRPGs before. Are they actually any good? I know they inspired the HC games but I've honestly never heard that much about them.

the truth in update 17 if all the girls were to disappear at the same time, to be with the villains, it is impossible that even someone as naive as Leto, would not begin to suspect something bad is happening, well that is what I think, although if something were to happen like what a previous comment said, that they are in the middle of a beach vacation and everyone takes refuge in the hotel for about two days and the girls spend that time avoiding Leto to have sex, I would not like that development to happen, because all there would be in the hotel are sounds of people having sex, and Leto is one of the HC characters that we have seen has been exposed to the sexual acts of people, then it would be senseless that despite his naivety he did not realize that they are the ones having sex with the villains, Unless there is always a girl or someone who is with Leto while the others are having sex during that period of time, and the presence of this girl or someone in the hotel who will spend that time with Leto distracting him and decreasing his suspicions that something is happening, possibly perhaps a maid of the Duke or something like that to whom the Duke has given that order..

As for NTRRPGs, I honestly haven't played them, but I've seen several gameplays and in my opinion the women are much more stupid and brainless than in anything I've played from HC, and the scenes are much heavier and forced to humiliate the protagonist than what would be a good voyeur where the act focuses on sex between the girl and the villain, instead of the degradation and humiliation of the protagonist.

 

[Miss Y]

Honestly, after update 16 I'm hoping update 17 is pretty brainless. I do want Leto to notice that something strange is going on but nothing too impacting simply because of how heavy update 16 was. The game needs light hearted beach fun...

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.

You know, I realize that I haven't played the NTRRPGs before. Are they actually any good? I know they inspired the HC games but I've honestly never heard that much about them.

I've only played NTRPG2, and it's... complicated. As my first experience with an NTR game using sprite animations instead of more typical static CG scenes, it was downright revolutionary and altered my brain chemistry on a fundamental level. I wholly credit that and Scars of Summer being the two pivotal games that sparked my interest in the whole NTR genre. But having played more recent games, I don't think the character sprites have aged super well, which is really unfortunate. They're better than a lot of games that just use the default RPG Maker proportions, but still have a "squat and boxy" look to them that makes most of the characters blend together outside of hair colors.

Oh, and the villain is downright insufferable as far as I'm concerned. If you think Zeno, Edwyr, or Ulrod are sometimes hard to take seriously, then I don't think you'll enjoy the antagonist of NTRPG2 much at all because he comes off like a character that was written by a middle-schooler who just started reading Berserk.

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.

 

[Oriandu]

When it comes to Leto actually noticing something during update 17, if it does happen I want it to go one of two ways. First, he notices that the women and the other men are gone a lot and he thinks that's a little odd, but it's not enough for him to put two and two together. Second, he has at least one moment where they're all fucking but he assumes it's the men with the maids the duke brings along or something like that because the girls gave some kind of "we're going on a girls only hike" earlier, and just goes to the beach where Rose and the duke are fucking just out of sight in a semi-public place but he doesn't notice and dozes off on a beach chair. I want the sex scenes to circle him like vultures and all he notices is the fact that the girls are often missing. Though on the other side of the coin I'm hoping the duke uses Leto's presence to talk Rose into taking a creampie so Leto doesn't see her covered in jizz.

I would want that to be the case even if the expectation wasn't for 17 to be a light hearted filler arc. Update 16 was pretty heavy and its set up involved Leto noticing a connection between the suspicious goings on in the city and the duke, so we're coming off a double dose of Leto showing competency which is good for the not so distant point where everything breaks.

 

[gordovalor]

When it comes to Leto actually noticing something during update 17, if it does happen I want it to go one of two ways. First, he notices that the women and the other men are gone a lot and he thinks that's a little odd, but it's not enough for him to put two and two together. Second, he has at least one moment where they're all fucking but he assumes it's the men with the maids the duke brings along or something like that because the girls gave some kind of "we're going on a girls only hike" earlier, and just goes to the beach where Rose and the duke are fucking just out of sight in a semi-public place but he doesn't notice and dozes off on a beach chair. I want the sex scenes to circle him like vultures and all he notices is the fact that the girls are often missing. Though on the other side of the coin I'm hoping the duke uses Leto's presence to talk Rose into taking a creampie so Leto doesn't see her covered in jizz.

I would want that to be the case even if the expectation wasn't for 17 to be a light hearted filler arc. Update 16 was pretty heavy and its set up involved Leto noticing a connection between the suspicious goings on in the city and the duke, so we're coming off a double dose of Leto showing competency which is good for the not so distant point where everything breaks.

It's good that Leto brings some competition. To me, a woman involved in netorare is like dodging a bullet, but it's refreshing to see him put up a fight, it makes the story more engaging than just watching the poor guy lose his romantic interests right in front of him.

 

[niifan]

date for public release?

 

[quandin]

date for public release?

Release was on 28 October, 25 days have passed so probably in the next week

 

[Oriandu]

There's always a chance N_Taii releases it a little early as he has done in the past, but expect Thursday.

 

[bucefala]

I've been replaying HC2 in bits and pieces and I recently got to the lake scene, and I wouldn't refer to Noah as as traumatized enough to glaze over sex happening right in front of him, in fact I'd say the lake episode happened roughly at the same point in the story that HC3 is currently at. It happened shortly after Noah's first encounter with Zeno's villainous plans for the village and his first humiliation when Zeno managed to cover his tracks. It was the first major thing to happen after Celis and Aywin started having sex with their villainous counterparts. But it came before things ramped up... which is kinda where the story is at at the end of update 16. You can't do a direct corelation because Leto is far less connected to the duke's conspiracy than Noah was to his uncle's, but HC3 is far slower burn than HC2 was and I'd say that we're at roughly the same overall corruption and story progression level at this stage as the women were in HC2. Hell, if I'm remembering correctly I think once update 17 releases that'll be more updates to HC3 and HC2 got total, so story beats defintely aren't going to line up exactly.

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.

 

[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.