VN Ren'Py Imperial Chronicles [v0.6] [Lazy Monkey]

[n00bPanda]

I think father's approval point condition to get announced as heir either got increased or some actions do not gain you approval points anymore.

 

[JustMy2Cents]

Well, well, well what do we have here? Oh that's walkthrough for 0.5.

would sppreciate this for v0.6 as well

 

[Belphegor]

This episode had far too few choices. There were a lot of things that should have been choices, but weren't. Like [...]
Most importantly: to insist to Cass that you do the coup without bloodshed and kidnapping. After all, it's actually fairly close to a legitimate takeover. If you're in on it with Cass, and she is able to distance herself from the poisoner, there's no need for the rest of the drama.

I mean I felt this upgrade did a decent job highlighting that cass' plot was already started so she felt like backing down wasn't an option (and distancing herself from her aunt is something she can do in a line where she's in control of the investigation, not in a timeline where she stay a bystander and the council and people like pretorius, the brother's king and other use this to bring her, her uncle and her side down). Beside, she's not alone in the coup, her uncle, her aunt and others are also pushing for it and they won't simply heed a simple "forget your vengence and let the power in the king hands, and just trust my bro dudes, he's cool!".

I agree that even accounting for this Cass' behavior (and our inability to rally her to us) is (very) frustrating considering the very good ties we (can) have with her, the likelyhood of natural succession (in particular if we are heir) and the risks of her plan, but 1)she is not as perfectly rational as her aloof behavior would project. As Alayna and Isis fooling her shows us, she's not even the actual mastermind she like to think she is, she's a power mover that has been able to do things in a time of weakness, she outmaneuvered fanatics and thugs and her willingness to get her hands dirty was convenient for the powerful and competent people. 2)she's motivated by many things beside a calculation to grab power: her revenge on the king, the idea that the kingdom is decaying right now, and the fact she actually like to plot and stab.

If you think that something should be added / removed, be sure to write, I read everything.

Well, since feedback is welcome...
First gonna preface it by saying I loved the update. The loyalist path is VERY meaty. Feels a bit weird to end with such similar coronation scenes on many roads but that's the reality of managing a game with several paths with a limited amount of time, and all things considered you're doing a fine work calking a very tight road between "choices matter" and "let's actually keep it easy enough to manage to move the plot forward".

I would like to emphasize that the only BIG issue I find in your game (and looking at the reviews I'm not the only one) is the dire need of proofreading, and while mistakes in a new update is not uncommon in a game, it makes me a bit worried that the english mistakes that were there 4 updates ago are still not corrected. I get that english is not your first language (tho you express yourself very well in posts and comments I've seen), it isn't mine either, but constantly reading things like "the sona" instead of "then sona" or "you cum" instead of "you came" just take you out of the game a bit every time. Please consider asking either a trusted person (or just some of the people on this forum who love your game) to help you proofreading your game/correcting the english mistakes of the released game.

Past that, the only thing that bothered me this update is the lack of Sona on the loyalist path...I kept expecting to see her show up to help get us out of this shitty and dangerous situation...because it was something I expected *narratively* AND *realistically*.

Narratively: a Strong And Sneaky character telling him "I'm serious, when you need me the most I'll be there for you" yet when it's *clearly* MC's direst hour in a situation where a strong and sneaky character (that is not on cass' or anyone's radar) could help....nothing. Unfired explicit Chevkov's gun to say the least.

Realistically: She has a clear interest in MC safety and has sworn to support and protect him. Very importantly, as established clearly, MC got her mark on him and she can know where he is at basically any time. As shown (twice) She can climb walls and infiltrate the castle by dodging the guards (and is seemingly strong enough to easily kill one or two. Callahan is considerably weaker than her and easily dispatch warrior MC+beat an armed&armored soldier). And the MC's incarceration lasted for days.

Now...If you says that she felt it was too dangerous to infiltrate the castle this time (despite doing it previously and doing it again in another branch this update), and knowing you'd like to keep adding another branch for simplicity's sake, I can rationalise all that and accept that with the high tension/increased patrols, the dungeon being deep underground with many closed doors, and the difficulty to not just get in but get MC out, this was deemed too risky by Sona to try (even though it seem *feasible* considering her displayed and implied capacities, and I disagree with the idea that his security would be considered as guaranteed while in custody of reckless putchists)...

...but then why didn't Sona show up to help when MC got out of the jail? when he was in the city? when he crawled desesperately in the sewers and dragged himself as long as he could until his forces left him? Sona knows where he is, and he was indeed in danger and in dire need of help. To me it makes absolutely no sense that she didn't show up to rescue/help him, and I can't find a way to deny this efficiently. Plus, contrary to the "Sona bust him out of jail" scenario, such an intervention wouldn't actually change the timeline end result and make things messier to manage for dev, as he'd still end up in Leonard's camp after some time spent in prison and Leo/ludwig still end up killed.

 

[InSearchofHappiness]

People talk about how Sona won't come out and help MC. Let's think about it for a moment. How good will it be for the MC image if a vampire comes out kill everyone and help the MC escape. Also, for my playthrough she drink my blood twice then jump out of my room laughing like a maniac. Which she mentioned that her body is changing longer nails, bigger bones, skins peeling out, etc. She probably turn into a bat and forget everything about the MC lol.

 

[parachina]

how to get mom/queen h-scene?

 

[Lazy_Monkey]

I mean I felt this upgrade did a decent job highlighting that cass' plot was already started so she felt like backing down wasn't an option (and distancing herself from her aunt is something she can do in a line where she's in control of the investigation, not in a timeline where she stay a bystander and the council and people like pretorius, the brother's king and other use this to bring her, her uncle and her side down). Beside, she's not alone in the coup, her uncle, her aunt and others are also pushing for it and they won't simply heed a simple "forget your vengence and let the power in the king hands, and just trust my bro dudes, he's cool!".

I agree that even accounting for this Cass' behavior (and our inability to rally her to us) is (very) frustrating considering the very good ties we (can) have with her, the likelyhood of natural succession (in particular if we are heir) and the risks of her plan, but 1)she is not as perfectly rational as her aloof behavior would project. As Alayna and Isis fooling her shows us, she's not even the actual mastermind she like to think she is, she's a power mover that has been able to do things in a time of weakness, she outmaneuvered fanatics and thugs and her willingness to get her hands dirty was convenient for the powerful and competent people. 2)she's motivated by many things beside a calculation to grab power: her revenge on the king, the idea that the kingdom is decaying right now, and the fact she actually like to plot and stab.



Well, since feedback is welcome...
First gonna preface it by saying I loved the update. The loyalist path is VERY meaty. Feels a bit weird to end with such similar coronation scenes on many roads but that's the reality of managing a game with several paths with a limited amount of time, and all things considered you're doing a fine work calking a very tight road between "choices matter" and "let's actually keep it easy enough to manage to move the plot forward".

I would like to emphasize that the only BIG issue I find in your game (and looking at the reviews I'm not the only one) is the dire need of proofreading, and while mistakes in a new update is not uncommon in a game, it makes me a bit worried that the english mistakes that were there 4 updates ago are still not corrected. I get that english is not your first language (tho you express yourself very well in posts and comments I've seen), it isn't mine either, but constantly reading things like "the sona" instead of "then sona" or "you cum" instead of "you came" just take you out of the game a bit every time. Please consider asking either a trusted person (or just some of the people on this forum who love your game) to help you proofreading your game/correcting the english mistakes of the released game.

Past that, the only thing that bothered me this update is the lack of Sona on the loyalist path...I kept expecting to see her show up to help get us out of this shitty and dangerous situation...because it was something I expected *narratively* AND *realistically*.

Narratively: a Strong And Sneaky character telling him "I'm serious, when you need me the most I'll be there for you" yet when it's *clearly* MC's direst hour in a situation where a strong and sneaky character (that is not on cass' or anyone's radar) could help....nothing. Unfired explicit Chevkov's gun to say the least.

Realistically: She has a clear interest in MC safety and has sworn to support and protect him. Very importantly, as established clearly, MC got her mark on him and she can know where he is at basically any time. As shown (twice) She can climb walls and infiltrate the castle by dodging the guards (and is seemingly strong enough to easily kill one or two. Callahan is considerably weaker than her and easily dispatch warrior MC+beat an armed&armored soldier). And the MC's incarceration lasted for days.

Now...If you says that she felt it was too dangerous to infiltrate the castle this time (despite doing it previously and doing it again in another branch this update), and knowing you'd like to keep adding another branch for simplicity's sake, I can rationalise all that and accept that with the high tension/increased patrols, the dungeon being deep underground with many closed doors, and the difficulty to not just get in but get MC out, this was deemed too risky by Sona to try (even though it seem *feasible* considering her displayed and implied capacities, and I disagree with the idea that his security would be considered as guaranteed while in custody of reckless putchists)...

...but then why didn't Sona show up to help when MC got out of the jail? when he was in the city? when he crawled desesperately in the sewers and dragged himself as long as he could until his forces left him? Sona knows where he is, and he was indeed in danger and in dire need of help. To me it makes absolutely no sense that she didn't show up to rescue/help him, and I can't find a way to deny this efficiently. Plus, contrary to the "Sona bust him out of jail" scenario, such an intervention wouldn't actually change the timeline end result and make things messier to manage for dev, as he'd still end up in Leonard's camp after some time spent in prison and Leo/ludwig still end up killed.

1) You are absolutely right, I need proofreading and sometimes people send me my mistakes in the text or completely corrected files at once. I am happy to accept ANY help with this.
2) I promised myself not to reveal any more details of the game's lore, which is not yet present in the game. But be sure that the MC will ask Sona about it.

Thank you so much for such a detailed feedback.