VN Ren'Py Imperial Chronicles [v0.7] [Lazy Monkey]

4.60 star(s) 93 Votes
Discussion Reviews (93)
H

Hadron-5

Newbie
Jul 16, 2023
33
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n00bPanda said:
Altough I read these two pretty long and viable replies to my plea, I have not enough time to reply with equivalent level of reply therefore I apologise. So for now I'll admit that maybe I'm a bit much paranoid about Queen and Elves but thats it. Future updates will bring more answers I hope. But I am still behind my words about Cass mostly and about that meaningless comparasion between Cass and Elin. Also I cut my point finger last night while carving so its pretty hard to write atm. Good days.




Is it the King or Cass I wonder.
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No, you were correct. The only difference between them is that we know what Cass is doing while we only suspect what the big-tiddy queen is doing, and we haven't seen anything of the queen's history. Cass is responsible for the attempted coup, and the queen is responsible for Cass (and it is unlikely the queen didn't know what would happen), making them both fully responsible for the coup.
Cass is young and inexperienced, the queen is not. They both have ties to terrorists, Cass with her spies and connections to the west, and the queen with her spies and connections to the elf murder squads. They both spy on MC for similar reasons, with Cass wanting to start an manpire, and the queen wanting to start an elfpire. They are both friendly towards MC, much like Isis, for their own benefit. The queen, with her connections to the elf stuff, has likely done worse things than Cass, though only due to being alive for longer. They both worked towards isolating the king.

The only difference between them is the queen is experienced and patient while Cass is emotional and not very smart.
 
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Dustellar

Dustellar

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Aug 22, 2016
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Btw, I may have missed it, but what happened to Conrad? I decided not to suggest anyone so Aker won the place in the council somehow, then the coup happened but I didn't see him and don't remember a mention (again, could have missed it)
 
C

Cazzan

Newbie
Dec 11, 2022
35
64
This is an amazing VN. One of the few where I bother to read the plot. But I'm more than a little worried about where it's headed. Having replayed this last episode for a lot of the possible endings, the divergence is massive. Very different people dead (and I don't mean Cass where the fact that she has a way back from the dead is more flashed in neon letters than implied), in jail, being LIs or even just being actual characters known. And that's not mentioning the very divergent position of the MC himself. I don't see how you can merge a lot of these paths without it seeming quite unbelievable, and I've seen VNs die from having to maintain very divergent paths before because the work grows exponentially. But I hope for the best.

As for those complaining of being forced to consummate the marriage - boohoo. While I'm not an NTR (of any kind) fan, this is clearly justified by the story. It would be utterly unbelievable if MC was actually allowed to reject an important political marriage, or get away with not consummating it. The kingdom obviously needs a heir at once. The fact that the author goes enough out of his way to allow us to keep Elin unsullied by (probably) making Lockhart gay and giving us several ways to obtain that goal is already bending the story a bit though it's at least possible given neither of them are ruling a kingdom so questions of a heir can be put off for a while.

I definitely wish there was a Walkthrough mod given how complex the game is, but I've read already how it's hard to do because the game is coded in his native language. Too bad, but that's how it is. URM helps a lot, but given the long term impact of some of those choices it's still pretty opaque what the consequences of your actions will be.

I actually see the discussion of Cass vs. Queen as a sign of the quality writing of this game. Because it's clear that Cass is not a one-dimensional villain, but very much the product of her circumstances (and Queen is a large, but far from the only, part of that). At the same time that does not excuse the terrible things she does anymore than a tough childhood absolves a murderer of responsibility IRL.

I do worry about the clear GoT influences in this last update. While I can roll with a dark story, GoT (the books) died because he went overboard this way and wrote himself into a corner he cannot write himself out of. A good story - fantasy or not - needs light as well as darkness. And your choices this update was from bad to catastrophically terrible. Not much light there.
 
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LowLevelLesser

LowLevelLesser

Active Member
Feb 8, 2021
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1,260
All in all, Cass is certainly a complex character but ultimately a "pitiful villain" sort. I'd still say redemption is possible but she'd have a long, hard road ahead of her and she'd likely never be able to hold a position of power again.

I actually think she'd be happier running a food stall in some random town than anything else. (So exile is an option I guess?)
 
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dusty stu

dusty stu

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Jan 24, 2018
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Ah, who could forget the adventures of Gerald, and his pals Jennifer, Siri, and Candylion.
 
N

New Kid

Member
Apr 2, 2018
279
286
LowLevelLesser said:
All in all, Cass is certainly a complex character but ultimately a "pitiful villain" sort. I'd still say redemption is possible but she'd have a long, hard road ahead of her and she'd likely never be able to hold a position of power again.

I actually think she'd be happier running a food stall in some random town than anything else. (So exile is an option I guess?)
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Perhaps if the MC can spin a story shifting most of the blame on Priscila and her family Cass might have a chance of getting an exile sentence by pleading of being coaxed/fooled into cooperating with the coup. Yeah it's a bold faced lie but no one outside of those directly involved knows the truth and the MC can throw his political weight around even more now that he has been coronated. Hmmm we can get rid of Lockhart too this way I guess, not a bad idea lol.
 
Raziel_8

Raziel_8

Engaged Member
Dec 4, 2017
3,990
10,402
New Kid said:
Perhaps if the MC can spin a story shifting most of the blame on Priscila and her family Cass might have a chance of getting an exile sentence by pleading of being coaxed/fooled into cooperating with the coup. Yeah it's a bold faced lie but no one outside of those directly involved knows the truth and the MC can throw his political weight around even more now that he has been coronated. Hmmm we can get rid of Lockhart too this way I guess, not a bad idea lol.
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Uhu...and pleading for that seems like something Cass would do ?
Also the MC hasn't much weight to throw arround, he's reign isn't stable, nor has he enough loyal nobels on his side yet, he needs the nobels to fall in line, one way or an other.
The ones which helped him are at the very least mostly loyal to the golden order, or so i would assume, so not sure if pissing them of would be a good choice.
Letting Cass go would likeky piss off many more, add the people of the capital for burning the city down, just not worth it. Plus you would give eventuel rebellious nobels a new figurehead, which i'm sure Cass would make good use off...

Also not sure how belivable such a lie would be considering Cass's reputation and well, she was the leader, so it's her fault what happened, one way or the other, if it was her doing or what her men did.
 
claus001

claus001

Active Member
Feb 15, 2020
691
1,445
There has been some drama regarding railroading the ending and lack of options, and of this have a few words to say:

By foremost, this update simply was massive. There was four different paths (coup, kill Cass, submit to Cass, or rebel against Cass), and these paths alone make this update a huge. I can't think any other game doing such an extensive plot-branching. Then there are variables such as is the MC a warrior, a mage, or a nerd, not to mention all those minor characters running around. To make this update even more significant, there was a good chance of three major characters to die (Ludwig, Acker, and Cass). Like, what other game has had such a dramatic turn? I can't even think even any TV shows (apart GOT) that is so happy to kill its cast.
As you can understand, because of these variables the Dev had to cut some corners short. I personally agree that there should be more content related to wives, of how they react to coup and so on. Like, Isis should have helped MC to escape from the prison, or the Vampire lady. I was really expecting that to take place but no. Then there could have been some minor options like MC suggesting Isis to use non-lethal poison. Like, why not? Now, it is important here to understand that when it comes to technical solutions there always are unintended consequences. No system is perfect. Do you want an update every 2 months? If yes, then not everything can be taken into account. The branching of the plot is a major challenge, and had there been only one path, say Cass will imprison you no matter what, then all characters and their options could have been included in more extensive manner.

It is indeed quite an irony that more excellent the game is, the more negative attention it gathers. I repeat here myself but this simply was the best update I have ever had in this decadent, pirate porn forum. To make this easier for dev: pay attention only towards those who pay you money. Ignore everyone else. Not all commentors have good intentions, and trust me, there are plenty of those who only want to see you fail! Why? For the sake of failure. Their motivation is envy as you are doing something they are never able to.
 
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N

New Kid

Member
Apr 2, 2018
279
286
Raziel_8 said:
Uhu...and pleading for that seems like something Cass would do ?
Also the MC hasn't much weight to throw arround, he's reign isn't stable, nor has he enough loyal nobels on his side yet, he needs the nobels to fall in line, one way or an other.
The ones which helped him are at the very least mostly loyal to the golden order, or so i would assume, so not sure if pissing them of would be a good choice.
Letting Cass go would likeky piss off many more, add the people of the capital for burning the city down, just not worth it. Plus you would give eventuel rebellious nobels a new figurehead, which i'm sure Cass would make good use off...

Also not sure how belivable such a lie would be considering Cass's reputation and well, she was the leader, so it's her fault what happened, one way or the other, if it was her doing or what her men did.
Click to expand...
Well, that was just an idea for a possible scenario for people that really want Cass to live, not that everything will be sunshine and rainbows after that. If Priscila takes the blame as both the poisoner and the mastermind it opens a way for the MC to intervene in favor of Cass by making up a scenario where she was a pawn in the conspiracy. I mean, what kind of coup mastermind takes the field herself instead of commanding the events from the shadows? It's as Isis says, Cass is actually a weak player that relies on posturing and bluffs to appear stronger than she is, a truly strong player in these kinds of games will stay hidden and most people won't even realize they exist until it's too late, so from a logical point of view it's not that farfetched to convince people that Priscila is the actual mastermind.

I'm more worried about that prophecy in the beginning of the game, killing Cass is probably gonna put us into the highway to a bad ending for sure... and in that vision from that drug Lockhart gives us the red and green coronations also seem to be dead ends.
 
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4.60 star(s) 93 Votes