VN Ren'Py Imperial Chronicles [v0.9] [Lazy Monkey]

[Filipis]

I know it would mean extra work having different scenes for each class/perk but when MC is being held prisoner, I'm thinking that hold on, he's a mage, why wouldn't he overpower the guards using his magic instead of a more convoluted escape plan? and with going through the castle, he should have been incinerating those enemies...

Our Prince is like the most apathetic future ruler ever

Oh, you are not the only with such grievances.

But like I said, it all comes down to the frustratingly uncertain importance of the Perk system: are they supposed to impact the narrative? In major ways or minor ways?

Even if they were only meant for flavour, they haven't been used well in that manner either. MC prefers weapons over magic almost all of the time, Mage MC gets a lot of resources devoted to exploring the multiverse with Elin (if meant purely as "flavour", this is a far too extensive use of flavouring), and bookworm MC is actually decently used so far. Warrior MC gets to get a few extra lays, but seems mostly relevant for Cass' path.

All of these variables just show that LM has bitten a bit too much than he could chew. It is what it is so far.

 

[Filipis]

Well dev saying he will try to close branching path as much possible and think he should do that. I think he is working alone so having to many branching is pretty hard to manage. Hope dev take all this complain as critic not hate for dev.
He is one of the best dev in this industry.

LM actually said that some updates would be centered around branching out, and others on closing said branches. And in theory, sounds like a good management system. But in practice, it results in disjointed pacing, as 0.8 proves with the Green Crown path.

Even if you want to close the branching around certain universally important narrative moments/locations (like visiting the Western nations during 0.8), the previous branching means your characters should still react or act differently according. That is simply not the case here, and that is the disappointing part.

 

[destroyerofassholes]

Having finally played the update, holy shit the scenes make no sense. There are some hot ideas but you don't actually get to see the action wtf lmao. Like what is that valerie scene?? Same with Elin's blowjob. It seems like it was deliberately made this way to not show the parts that need the most work.

But on a positive note, for the scenes that you can actualyl see like Josephine's it's pretty great., lazy monkey's animation skills are improving update by update.

I wish we had more of a choice as to how to actually treat the characters. MC is often a complete asshole randomly and you never think you're going to get that from a choice.

 

[n00bPanda]

Having finally played the update, holy shit the scenes make no sense. There are some hot ideas but you don't actually get to see the action wtf lmao. Like what is that valerie scene?? Same with Elin's blowjob. It seems like it was deliberately made this way to not show the parts that need the most work.

But on a positive note, for the scenes that you can actualyl see like Josephine's it's pretty great., lazy monkey's animation skills are improving update by update.

I wish we had more of a choice as to how to actually treat the characters. MC is often a complete asshole randomly and you never think you're going to get that from a choice.

No action? Well you got to see MC's ass in a repeated motion a lot actually.

LM actually said that some updates would be centered around branching out, and others on closing said branches. And in theory, sounds like a good management system. But in practice, it results in disjointed pacing, as 0.8 proves with the Green Crown path.

Even if you want to close the branching around certain universally important narrative moments/locations (like visiting the Western nations during 0.8), the previous branching means your characters should still react or act differently according. That is simply not the case here, and that is the disappointing part.

I think MC in coup path just shouldn't have gone to Western Kingdoms at all, moreover 'Coup' path itself should have been delayed for later with its own unique content however short that would be. Cass just doesn't fit in the whole western kingdoms arc, I dunno. And if you ask me its kinda stupid to leave court just after the coup.

 

[14137]

This new game is more exciting than [Monkey Business] Story.
Female characters with different personalities. Nice big breasts. Pregnancy content. All are my favorite.
But after playing it, I felt weird.
I feel that with this author's style, the development and ends of this game will be darker than [A Song of Ice and Fire].

 

[Krepax]

Many of you remember how "annoying" I was during 0.6, when the Coup update dropped and those that killed Cass got essentially no new content - well, now I grieve with those that joined Cass, but you still at least get everything else that I got with 0.8.

If Cass is alive and in control, there's even more content, though. The ending of chapter 8 is a bit longer (and ends with a cliff-hanger) compared to a route where Cass is either dead or imprisoned. This is not a criticism of the plot/writing. However, I do hope also those who opted to liquidate the troublesome sister will get some beefy storyline with a different outcome, instead of cut/skipped content.

 

[Filipis]

If Cass is alive and in control, there's even more content, though. The ending of chapter 8 is a bit longer (and ends with a cliff-hanger) compared to a route where Cass is either dead or imprisoned. This is not a criticism of the plot/writing. However, I do hope also those who opted to liquidate the troublesome sister will get some beefy storyline with a different outcome, instead of cut/skipped content.

I was saying how those on the Green Crown path (Loyal to Cass) get "shafted" with 0.8, where Cass is irrelevant for 80% of the update. She appears at the start, then fucks off who-knows-where until the epilogue. Her presence literally has no bearing on how everything else goes down: the Queen still asks the elves for help, as if MC didn't just perform a coup and kill his own father. The sister isn't doubting her love for you now that you have proven your affinity towards Cass and killed your father.

But thanks for the wishes at the end, appreciated!

 

[zaqrwe]

So I'm playing as Warrior and I did pick the Vampire lady in the beginning. But after that she just vanished. I even saw the text duirng one of the summaries "she drank your blood again" as she said she would, but the scene itself wasn't even shown. Is this a bug?

 

[Canto Forte]

So I'm playing as Warrior and I did pick the Vampire lady in the beginning. But after that she just vanished. I even saw the text duirng one of the summaries "she drank your blood again" as she said she would, but the scene itself wasn't even shown. Is this a bug?

There are some very particular reasons our players have seen already:

Did anyone have another scene with the vampire besides the one in chapter one?

Yeah, if you are on the bookworm path, which I'm guessing you are since you got the first scene? The second happens after the "family picnic".
Edit: Sorry, I think you have to let her bite you during the first scene.

You can be bitten, if not a bookworm, but sex is only on bookworm path. She does return to visit anyone she drank from earlier, though again it only includes sex for the bookworm. Conversely, if on bookworm path, but opting not to let her drink initially, she is gravely wounded trying to reach you in the palace, and will beg to drink to save her life.

 

[Babybeels]

The only time mc fks elf mother was on bookworm path perhaps but there too gets pushed away leaves with blue balls

 

[zaqrwe]

So then there are errors in the summary somewhere around the coup. Because it clearly said that I had another meeting (and blood drinking) with her. Should I report it somewhere? Does the creator perhaps collects bug reports here?

 

[J0K3RXXX]

Interesting.

 

[Youtiy]

The only time mc fks elf mother was on bookworm path perhaps but there too gets pushed away leaves with blue balls

That's strange, I got it on my Mage playthrough. As you said though I got pushed away but I'm 99% sure there was briefly penetration.

 

[Canto Forte]

However outdated it might be, we do have a walkthrough translated by a kind soul,
telling us how this game functions:
The vampire does get to drink the warrior blood,
but MC does not see or feel anything but something strange - kind of like vapire bats dring off of livestock
- the bull or the horse will not feel anything but something strange and not think anything of it.

So yes, Sona does drink from MC as a warrior, but MC is not any wiser, which makes the recap so very correct.

Spoiler

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Queen does have somewhat different dialogues depending on the perks, yet there is no gated conten
Queen’s content doesn’t depend on a perk

 

[Temp3]

When i last played this, it was 0.5 and I was very pleasantly surprised by the amount of content these last three updates brought. Lazy Monkey might be in the top busiest devs bracket here, does he ever take a break?

I like the story and usually read everything, but I too have gotten multiverse od and had to really push myself through to read and not skip them if there's something important.

Someone in earlier comment mentioned how the MC suddenly shifts into a douchebag out of nowhere. I see this in many games in sex scenes where the only kinda sex talk the MC seems to know is the "slut, my whore, good girl" kind. Maybe some devs should broaden the genres of porn they enjoy when even the nicest MCs turn into Master Daddys when they get to insert the tip.

 

[zaqrwe]

Is it really out of nowhere tho? I got a feeling he was meant to be like that, and was only bahaving himself near the family (at first at least) because he did care about them and there was 10 years of gap between the time he last saw them and now.

 

[sipsipsap]

Heyho everyone.

Chatgpt and I made a little cheat script that can give the player all perks at once.

Warning: This script will modify the game files irreversibly. I am not responsible for any damage this may cause to your saves!


Here is is how it works:

Any time the game wants to check which perk you have chosen it will ask "perk == "something" " or something very similar.

While something then is either "intelligence", "strength" or "mage".

This script searches through all rpy files and replaces it with True.

Meaning that "if perk == "intelligence" " becomes "if True".

Again. This will literally change the games code. Once you apply this you would have to reinstall the game to undo.

I tried to first overwrite the if statements but this just really fucked up the game. Going for the throat is the easiest way.

It should be entirely version independent and also not break the code unless the dev deviates from how they used these perks until now.


Now, obviously, I can't predict that this will never cause an issue because I don't know what the dev will do in relation to such perk checks. But so far, having played this game with URM like 3 times, I can't think of any instance where this would bork the game. I tried to cover all possible syntax comparisons. But if the dev wants to they could still trick me. In the end its just a regex replacement.


How to use:

1. place the rpy file into the /game folder.
2. Run the game and load a save to be sure.
3. Immediately close the game again.
4. Remove BOTH the rpy file and the new rpyc file.
5. Run the game again. It is now modified.


Use at your own risk! I will provide 0 tech support!!! The code is readable in plain within the file.

init python:
    import os
    import re

    def modify_game_files():
        game_dir = os.path.join(config.basedir, "game")  # Get the game directory
        pattern = re.compile(r'not\s*perk == "([^"]+)"|perk == "([^"]+)"|perk != "([^"]+)"|perk is "([^"]+)"|perk is not "([^"]+)"')  # Match all forms of comparisons

        for root, _, files in os.walk(game_dir):
            for file in files:
                if file.endswith(".rpy"):  # Only modify .rpy files
                    file_path = os.path.join(root, file)

                    with open(file_path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
                        content = f.read()

                    # Replace the matched patterns with 'True'
                    new_content = pattern.sub('True', content)

                    with open(file_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
                        f.write(new_content)

    modify_game_files()  # Run on game start

 

[JJJ84]

Excellent points made.

One big advantage that LM has over those games you mentioned is speed: LM updates this game every 1.5 - 2 months, which is insanely fast considering the amount of content we get.

Now, that speed comes with obvious caveats, most of which have been mentioned here already: basic UX, basic SFX, sparingly-used (30fps) animations, translation errors, script errors, and whatnot. However, most of us gladly take this compromise in exchange for speed.

Thanks.
I tried to make a post which consolidates the issues I find with the game.
Hope it didn't come off as too much of a rant to Lazy Monkey lol.

While I agree LM's IC has advantage of speed over GleenXStudio and TessSadist's titles (Snowstorm, Karlsson's Gambit), I see it as a bit of tradeoff.
Snowstorm & Karlsson's Gambit, while their updates take longer to get released, each update size are humungous (while LM's IC update sizes are decent, they're not comparable to the soooooo chunky update sizes to those games).

And another thing with GleenX is, each route has gotten so large in content that each update has been the release of exclusive path; previous update was update for the Bloody Bears clan path, and this coming update is for the Dark Ravens clan path.

Makes me almost wish LM had split the release between each path with separate updates like GleenX does, instead of releasing both paths with largely overlapping content.

Oh well,... I guess at this point, it's all "what could have been" etc (shrugs).

 

[joolfoold]

Spoiler: Story spoilers

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[Canto Forte]

Well, we know he is Sauron - the depictions do not lie - so he goes into venom shape and eats a bunch of rats before coming back as That elf Mentor to those Galadriel Looking girls:

What other theories do you guys have

Well .. the high beings made of light are all as old as time and they have ways to bend reality to their will, so any of the inner circle of the red tirant like MC, his ma, his sisters, possibly his teachers and his guard might know the full story and could, reașistically pick up the reigning mantle in a pintch.