VN Ren'Py Karlsson's Gambit [v0.8.1 Part I] [Grym Gudinna Games]

[BigStuffedTiger]

Generally speaking, people that are born from extremely rich families, tends to be very possessive about their inheritance. Power is extremely addictive and awesome, they're even breed to enjoy it to the fullest. They simply shouldn't let it go easily, for it would be an abysmal level of bad writing if it happens.

The battle for the top was originally portrayed as a battle between Juliette and Dominique with both having 3 board votes each. Juliette and Dominique were much more concerned about each other than they were about Olivia. It is only in the latest update that Dominique realizes that Olivia has come from nowhere to suddenly become a threat for the top spot. It's also unclear if the full board was even aware of Olivia's eligibility to win the Gambit until Veronica allowed things to leak this ep. So I expect the dynamic between Olivia and some of her other sisters to change.

For what we know, each of these girls could be a billionaire. Each one can hire an army of assassins to do their biding at any time.

Sure, but that would be difficult without Veronica or the Gambit Queen's knowledge, both of whom have intelligence networks inside of the Karlsson Group.

Also, hiring a professional to do a dirt work is not something exclusive that only one person can or would have access to. Any of them could at any moment. The only question is, does any of the have the inclination to do so?

I don't think any of the sisters felt threatened enough by Olivia to risk it until now. And the most concerned, Dominique, is probably the least inclined to hire an assassin or earn Veronica's wrath.

They also they have connections with extremely important people, for the most rich and influential people on this world, would use their club to seek enjoyment free of repercussion. They can do whatever they want without ever worrying about any consequence.

The potential consequences aren't so much outside the organization, but inside. Among the original sisters, Veronica is clearly the first among equals with control not just of R&D, but also Intelligence, Internal Security, and the Assassination squads. She's fully committed to executing her father's Will/Gambit and the others don't want to run afoul of her. There's also the Gambit Queen whose full capabilities are still unknown.

Some sisters that obviously have connections with politics and higher ups in police are.
Dominique for she host literally death match arenas.

Sure, but Veronica and the Gambit Queen would quickly find out.

Veronica does illegal grotesque experiments.

If Veronica wants Olivia dead than Olivia is as good as dead. The opposite seems to hold true however. Veronica appears to be favoring Olivia over her other sisters at the moment. This is what has Dominique so upset.

Juliette often kills her slaves, y'know normally it raises questions.

Sure. But up to this point at least Juliette has been intent on winning Olivia's support for herself. Should she fail at that I don't put it past her to try an assassination, but getting away with killing Olivia without Veronica or the Gambit Queen finding out is not so easy. It's thus likely to only be tried as a last resort.

Elena seems to be the most shady and politics involved, she's the one with most connections of them all.

Elena is Olivia's mother. There is no way in hell she'd have her daughter killed. She's been doing everything she can possibly get away with to secretly help her daughter.

As for Alessandra didn't really paid any attention to her, but it's just how the game goes. It's like living in a family where everyone is an architect, receiving same education and somehow pretending that does know anything about it.
Alessandra being soft or not towards Olivia doesn't mean she won't kill or screw over another person she doesn't have hatred for. She clearly already have a reason, Olivia is a direct competitor for the inheritance, that is enough already.
People don't kill people only due hatred, that is naive, if there's gains to be made, and one has the power to make it happen. And besides, if Olivia fails, she could become Alessandra's slave/pet. So a cherry on top of the cake.

Alessandra's sweetness only seems to last as long as she gets what she wants. When she doesn't, she gets really really vindictively evil. I agree with you that she could turn on Olivia if Olivia were to anger her or stand in the way of something she badly wants. It's not clear what her greater ambitions are at the moment however. Previously she seemed content to sit back and allow Dominique and Juliette to fight it out for the top spot. The Gambit may change her mind on that though.

So either kill her, or make her fail the gambit. That's the only logical conclusion.
She might be blood related, but for all it's worth she's a stranger to all of them, which makes the decision super easy.

Not so easy when the Head of Karlsson Intelligence and Internal Security not only opposes it, but also happens to be the executor of their father's Last Will.

The only other play would use her stats and manipulate her to do their biding, increasing their personal chances.

Both Alessandra and Juliette have invested in this approach.

But the thing is, on this corporation guideline so to speak, being stupid and useless gets you demoted.

Sure, but Olivia is the only Karlsson daughter raised by the Goddess Callista and that made her super special in her father's eyes. So she's locked in by her father's Last Will for the duration of the Gambit. After the Gambit ends the winner can do whatever they want.

I hope not. For it would remove any risk and conflict from the story, making it a great deal less interesting, since there isn't anything at stake, but also we wouldn't be able to explore the consequences.

I don't think it changes the risk or conflict profile of the story at all. There is sort of this implication that the winner can do whatever they want with the losers, so there is more than just social dominance at stake here.

For sure, but staying in power requires the skill of learning the game and adapting accordingly, or at very least giving the illusion of that. Being a clear idiot know nothing that often speaks about her own indecisiveness that never gets anything done, I'd say she shouldn't last long, but then again, plot armor.

Even Idiots can hold on to power if they have enough powerful people watching their backs and smoothing their paths. So even if you play Olivia as an idiot, she still has Veronica, Elena and the Gambit Queen in her corner, and Yvette always backs Veronica, so that's 3, maybe even a majority of 4 out of 7 Karlsson Board members depending on whether the Gambit Queen is the not yet revealed 7th board member.

Also thus far MC has been promoted solely on his merits and skills, and I'd have to say, he has ranked up way too fast already.

The MC due to his genetics wasn't subjected to the cruel whimsicality the others were. He actually got a fair shot, which is more than any of the other "rehabilitation" program participants received.

If he keeps on this pace, he would be able to reach K10 in less than a month. But I have a feeling he'll grow further than that.

No doubt. The desire of the Karlsson daughters to win the Gambit will give the MC a great deal of leverage.

The leverage would be much less had Alexander Karlsson decided that IVF babies made with the MC's sperm would do just as well. They could then have milked him like a cow for his seed and discarded him afterward. Or they could have tied him down, injected him with Veronica's male enhancement drugs and raped him repeatedly until they had the grandson that was desired. Fortunately for the MC, Alexander Karlsson favored the traditional approach. It also sounds kind of like Alexander Karlsson and Callista made a deal that gave both the MC and Olivia a shot at the top spot in return for him getting the grandson he wanted.

 

[anne O'nymous]

It's also unclear if the full board was even aware of Olivia's eligibility to win the Gambit until Veronica allowed things to leak this ep.

It's totally clear that they know. Elena say, way before her meeting with Veronica, that the entire Board knows that Olivia is Alexander's daughter. The four daughters would be fools if they didn't understood that this make her eligible.
And it's not surprising that Veronica decided to leak the information. So far Olivia is her favorite, but she's too new in this world, she needed to be protected from Dominique, and above all Juliette. And it's what the leak achieved. Now for the board, excepted Veronica and Elena, she already lost since she's Kane's sister.

I don't think any of the sisters felt threatened enough by Olivia to risk it until now. And the most concerned, Dominique, is probably the least inclined to hire an assassin or earn Veronica's wrath.

I don't think that Dominique is effectively the most concerned. After all, it's Juliette who tried to put Olivia out of the Gambit by winning her support. She wouldn't have tried if she didn't felt threatened.

Alessandra's sweetness only seems to last as long as she gets what she wants. When she doesn't, she gets really really vindictively evil.

Yes, she have an obvious flexibility in... morality. A trait she only share with Veronica, but for obvious reasons those words don't apply to her ; she wouldn't sabotage her own works, it's not the right mother, and Kiyomi wouldn't spy on her.

It's not clear what her greater ambitions are at the moment however. Previously she seemed content to sit back and allow Dominique and Juliette to fight it out for the top spot. The Gambit may change her mind on that though.

Are you really sure about this ?
One daughter control the Gambit. Two daughters fight for their father seat. Left the daughter who walks with the Gambit Queen, in order to achieve what she want to achieve since years. We don't know what her final goal is, but we know that she was never just sitting back, and that the Gambit don't changed her mind ; it offered her an opportunity to finally achieve her quest. We also know what her short term goals are. Equity for Kane and Seth, and what seem to be finding Kane's father, the only male who achieve to reach a Z grade.

Both Alessandra and Juliette have invested in this approach.

Only Juliette tried to win Olivia in order to increase her chance. Alessandra want something else, that isn't related to the Gambit.

It also sounds kind of like Alexander Karlsson and Callista made a deal that gave both the MC and Olivia a shot at the top spot in return for him getting the grandson he wanted.

Almost like if Olivia and Kane where more suited for each other than one can realize.

 

[BigStuffedTiger]

It's totally clear that they know. Elena say, way before her meeting with Veronica, that the entire Board knows that Olivia is Alexander's daughter.

It's pretty clear that Veronica has been keeping info on the Gambit from the other board members and only doling it out slowly in drips and drabs in line with some predetermined timeline. Sometimes that info doesn't go to the entire board but only to those on the board who need to know.

The four daughters would be fools if they didn't understood that this make her eligible.

They may have been aware of the theoretical possibility, but that's quite different from being presented with an actual threat.

And it's not surprising that Veronica decided to leak the information. So far Olivia is her favorite, but she's too new in this world, she needed to be protected from Dominique, and above all Juliette.

Has the leak really protected her? Or has it made her a target instead? We'll see in the next ep.

And it's what the leak achieved. Now for the board, excepted Veronica and Elena, she already lost since she's Kane's sister.

You've forgotten Yvette who always backs her daughter Veronica's decisions, and the mysterious Gambit Queen who is very probably the 7th as yet undisclosed Karlsson board member.

I don't think that Dominique is effectively the most concerned.

Dominique is the character who has expressed the greatest concern. Ok, I can understand you disagreeing with me on this one because Dominique never threatened Olivia, Juliette did. Dominique simply wound her old rival up and pointed her at Olivia. That's actually kind of brilliant of Dominique, pitting her old rival and her new rival against each other. If she's lucky, Juliette will be Juliette and eventually one will go too far and kill the other, leaving one dead and the other politically ruined and no longer able to challenge Dominique.

After all, it's Juliette who tried to put Olivia out of the Gambit by winning her support. She wouldn't have tried if she didn't felt threatened.

This update makes it clear that Juliette didn't really consider Olivia as competition for the Gambit until Dominique pointed out that Veronica was supporting Olivia. So I disagree strongly with your assertion as I think the game is pretty clear that previously Dominique and Juliette saw each other as their biggest threats. Juliette was initially hoping to develop Olivia into an ally in her struggle with Dominique.

Yes, she have an obvious flexibility in... morality. A trait she only share with Veronica, but for obvious reasons those words don't apply to her ; she wouldn't sabotage her own works, it's not the right mother, and Kiyomi wouldn't spy on her.

I think all 4 of the original Karlsson sisters have very flexibile morality to the point that Juliette, Allesandra and Veronica have very little if any morals, while Dominique's are heavily compromised by the need not to look weak in the Karlsson shark tank where the weak are eaten.

Are you really sure about this ?
One daughter control the Gambit. Two daughters fight for their father seat. Left the daughter who walks with the Gambit Queen, in order to achieve what she want to achieve since years. We don't know what her final goal is, but we know that she was never just sitting back, and that the Gambit don't changed her mind ; it offered her an opportunity to finally achieve her quest. We also know what her short term goals are. Equity for Kane and Seth, and what seem to be finding Kane's father, the only male who achieve to reach a Z grade.

In the latest update, the Karlsson daughter who walked with the Gambit Queen

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Only Juliette tried to win Olivia in order to increase her chance. Alessandra want something else, that isn't related to the Gambit.

Alessandra has invested time into developing Olivia as a sister/friend. She won't abandon that investment and turn on Olivia as long as she thinks she can convince Olivia to go along with her goals, whatever they may be. And that places her in a similar position to Juliette, except Alessandra's investment is greater, and her goals are less clear.

Almost like if Olivia and Kane where more suited for each other than one can realize.

Yep. Definitely. My suspicion is that Callista was hoping that together they'd use the powerful organization that Alexander Karlsson built to make the world a better place.

 

[Sleeping In Pieces]

Elena say, way before her meeting with Veronica, that the entire Board knows that Olivia is Alexander's daughter.

Yeah. As Elena put it, anybody who've seen a picture of Karlsson's sister would have known right off that Olivia was a blood relative of the family. The familial resemblance was just too uncanny.

 

[ARB582]

May I ask if this mod is of any relevance for the sub route?

The mod just adds a WT, naming saves and some other small things.
If you wanna go in blind you can just play the game without waiting for the update.
Since i have many saves for different paths and i am lazy, i am waiting for a WT.

 

[bkrrish1995]

The mod just adds a WT, naming saves and some other small things.
If you wanna go in blind you can just play the game without waiting for the update.
Since i have many saves for different paths and i am lazy, i am waiting for a WT.

Same here. Sancho is doing great job.

 

[Sinopsiso]

Hmm. Well, i suppose i can write some opinion too.

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[Retromancer]

Astriedax,

Fair points, by and large. I noticed upon checking the walkthrough there are more dialog options for Olivia that miss any advancement then I remember, especially if you consider submissive points bad.

Cheers.

I bolded the part above because, to quote a game show, the points don't matter.

But it's not always. Evil and good points DO matter in a medium way on choices available, the sis-team variable matters (at the end of this update) and there are event points that really matter for setting Kane's path. I cannot think of a single instance where Kane or Olivia's sub or dom points were checked against, other than Kane's first chapter, and even there "slave points" (which are event points) are super important. I don't remember a single decision being decided by however many Alessandra points, Katsumi points, how many Dominique "scale points" - which is what I think the walkthrough calls them - makes Kane a dom or a sub or a LI. At least yet.

The player choices are what are really driving this game for now. The variables haven't really kicked in yet. Maybe they will later. I do have a fear that when they do, the logical consistency will start to collapse. And when the dev tries to manage all the little paths that players go down when it's a huge tangle, the project gets abandoned. The dev has been great so far and I trust her but I was really invested into a game where that pretty much happened and while I understood it's abandonment I was disappointed

 

[Daniels1307]

You are truly an amazing asset to the community...thank you so much with huge hearts to you!

Is mod included

 

[bolondro2]

I have download the new update. Open the game , hit load and....

And I have found 8 end saves. No names. I can identify the first one (Bro and sis good doms, sponsored by the tech one, starting as k5, my freestile play) and another one in wich I fall to k3. And not a bloody clue about what choices I have made in each one the others.

Seems to me that I must start from scratch and replay the entire game. Luckly I only follow games wher a replay it´s a pleasure, and not a chore. But this time I´m going to wait til the mode it´s finished so I can Name my saves

 

[lemonfreak]

I have download the new update. Open the game , hit load and....

And I have found 8 end saves. No names. I can identify the first one (Bro and sis good doms, sponsored by the tech one, starting as k5, my freestile play) and another one in wich I fall to k3. And not a bloody clue about what choices I have made in each one the others.

Seems to me that I must start from scratch and replay the entire game. Luckly I only follow games wher a replay it´s a pleasure, and not a chore. But this time I´m going to wait til the mode it´s finished so I can Name my saves

You should keep your variant playthroughs on separate pages. Pages can be renamed in RenPy as standard and means you have 6 slots available for each one

 

[Swordsman83]

what's the general version ?

 

[Cee27]

anyone got a walkthrough for 0.5?

 

[Spfjolietjake]

anyone got a walkthrough for 0.5?

Surely you can skim a page or two... surely

 

[Cee27]

Surely you can skim a page or two... surely

uhm.... I skimmed two pages of comments and there are none, so....

 

[Spfjolietjake]

I know bud...I'm working double-digit hours non-stop on the port. As you know this title is overly complex behind the scenes due to the amount of variables but we'll get there. Remember I have made the old v0.4 mod compatible with v0.5, it just obviously stops the guide feature at end of v0.4 but you still get the other features if needed (such as save descriptions). I did that temporary fix so folks would be able to tinker around while I complete the port of v0.5b to the new mod core as it takes time regrettably. Bottom line, if you just want the old mod features without the updated WT for now, you can find that here. Regards.

uhm.... I skimmed two pages of comments and there are none, so....

Surely I was wrong about your abilities...

 

[anne O'nymous]

They may have been aware of the theoretical possibility, but that's quite different from being presented with an actual threat.

Olivia is a long time lost, and until now unknown daughter. She's granted a Z3 rank right from the start, and put on the best position to show how she would lead the company ; even if the Board can overpass her decision, the Warden decide how the slaves are treated and how the VIPs are received.
There's no way that it happened right now just for the pleasure to reunite the family. And everyone in the Board is smart enough to understand this ; else they wouldn't be on the board.

Has the leak really protected her? Or has it made her a target instead? We'll see in the next ep.

What the intent is, and what the result will be are two different things.
But it's clear that, "hey the best male candidate is the half brother of the new female candidate", come like a benediction for the other daughters. The goal of the Gambit is to have the perfect grandson, and everyone know that an incestuous inbreeding can lead to the exact opposite result. This would compromise the Gambit, something that the Board wouldn't permit.
Of course, the male winner can be someone else than Kane, what would put Olivia back in the race. But she would then be far behind the others, supposedly too far to win.

You've forgotten Yvette who always backs her daughter Veronica's decisions, and the mysterious Gambit Queen who is very probably the 7th as yet undisclosed Karlsson board member.

I haven't forgot them. It's just that Yvette don't know who Olivia's mother is. Otherwise Veronica wouldn't have talked by innuendo, when she warned Elena to not interfere in favor of her daughter. After being so direct during all the discussion, it would be ridiculous to suddenly be subtle if anyone in the room knew what this part was about.
As for the Gambit Queen, we only assume that she's the 7th member, and your own assumption even make her unlikely to be it (see below). So far only Veronica's mother is a member of the board, while Elena isn't supposed to be the mother of a daughter. Therefore, the last member can be anyone else.

Dominique is the character who has expressed the greatest concern.

She's the one who offered a distraction to her main rival, it's not the same.
While Juliette will focus on Olivia, fueled by her hate for Veronica, she'll not try to counter Dominique's attempts. And in this play, Juliette is the one that have the most to loose, not Olivia. It's Juliette that might go too far, what would raise Veronica's wrath, whatever if she succeed or not, since Olivia is her favorite. This while Olivia wouldn't risk to goes aggressively against one of the four daughters until her own position is assured ; unlike Juliette, she isn't a member of the Board, therefore she know from start that it wouldn't end well.
Add to this an important point, the way she pointed to Olivia. Dominique is not as smart as Veronica, but she's smart enough to explain why Olivia is a threat for Juliette. Instead, she used Veronica, knowing perfectly how she'll react. Juliette hate Veronica so much, that she's now blind to anything else ; hell, she even forgot about her building orgasm ! It's clearly Juliette that have been removed from the Gambit here, not Olivia.
But anyway Dominique wouldn't care to have another rival, as long as it's a fair game. But it's not, and this is Dominique greatest concern ; not Olivia, but what she is, Veronica's favorite. Simply because it remove all fairness in the Gambit.

In the end, with a single visit to her sister, Dominique solved three problems.
Juliette will focus on Olivia instead of plotting against her, and she'll doing it fueled by her hate, so without caution. This while Veronica will focus on Olivia, in order to protect her from Juliette, and so be less attentive to Dominique ; what put back some balance to the Gambit.
As for Olivia, she'll be in the middle of a viper nest, to busy to really care about something else. Bonus point, Juliette being really extreme, there's chance that it disgust Olivia as much as it disgust Dominique. What could lead Olivia to decide that teaming with Dominique is the best way to stop Juliette.

I think all 4 of the original Karlsson sisters have very flexibile morality to the point that Juliette, Allesandra and Veronica have very little if any morals, while Dominique's are heavily compromised by the need not to look weak in the Karlsson shark tank where the weak are eaten.

Are you sure ?

Dominique have a high morality level. Of course, she's ready to pay the price if it's needed, but she'll always consider all options prior to this. As Kwame said, he wouldn't had survived if his life was in the hands of any other one of the daughters. She choose the human solution, where the others would have chosen the practical one.

Then come Alessandra, who's a switch in terms of morality. A nice girl who dream of a lovely family, what would have put her above Dominique in term of morality if she haven't been corrupted by the cold heart of her father. She see herself as the softest in the family, but also feel totally unfit in it, what make her give to some sadism, in order to not feel excluded. Like she said, unlike Dominique she like some noise when being serviced, but unlike what Veronica or Juliette would have done, she didn't made Kane be the one suffering. She appreciate the suffering, but if would have been cruel to make the one servicing her also be the one who suffer ; at least when it's possible to do otherwise.

After that come Veronica, that is the most neutral person in the room. It get what it get to reach an objective ; the end justify the means, period. If it's better to do it without harm, it will be. But if it need to walk on some corpse, she'll not hesitate a single second.

And finally come Juliette, the most selfish evil queen. Her desire come first, anything else doesn't matter. And she'll always give the priority to the most cruel way to achieve her goals. As Dominique said, it's surprising that one of her slave survived one whole year. Do as it please her, or die, there's no in between with her.

In the latest update, the Karlsson daughter who walked with the Gambit Queen

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It's another possibility, effectively. The motherly relation would then be rhetorical, Kiyomi wouldn't be spying, and the description also fit her. It would also explain the interest that the Gambit Queen have for Olivia, Kane and Seth. But then that would imply that the Gambit Queen isn't part of the Board. Of course, she's would then be a founder member of the Karlsson Group, but keeping her seat after what she did would be strange.
Plus, as a member of the Board, she would have had more money. That she don't used it to raise her children, I'm ok with it. It's by having lived this youth, that Olivia is now the best fit for the leading seat ; unlike the four daughters who always lived at the top and so built less empathy. But letting Seth in his state without using of her position feel cruel, the total opposite of Callista.
It also don't fit the "her" everyone use while, apparently, referring to the last member. They (almost) all have a high opinion of Callista, why would they also fear her ? This especially apply to the meeting between Veronica, Elena and Yvette, where they (relatively speaking) longly praised Callista, but don't want to talk about "her".

Alessandra has invested time into developing Olivia as a sister/friend. She won't abandon that investment and turn on Olivia as long as she thinks she can convince Olivia to go along with her goals, whatever they may be. And that places her in a similar position to Juliette, except Alessandra's investment is greater, and her goals are less clear.

Reason why she fit more the point above. But as I said, your point of view is also a valid one, and is more backed up by the story.

Yep. Definitely. My suspicion is that Callista was hoping that together they'd use the powerful organization that Alexander Karlsson built to make the world a better place.

Or, said otherwise, they would effectively pursue Alexander's dream ; the one Callista and him shared before he died for the first time, not physically, but "psychologically". It's even possible that Alexander himself was an active part of this scheme. While it wasn't enough to, hmm, "save his soul", Callista defection could have been enough to make him understand that himself can't pursue it, and that he have to pass this dream to the next generation.

 

[Sancho1969]

anyone got a walkthrough for 0.5?

I know the wait sucks, honestly. But I think I've been overly transparent in both this thread and the mods. There is a ton of information with dozens of pics if you desire to seek them out. If not, I understand, I know I can't please everyone and honestly I'm not really even trying to as I've always coded my mods for my use as a priority anyway, sharing some of my work is just something I like to do for the community.

Surely I was wrong about your abilities...

Thank y'all for your patience as I've been porting this over non-stop and get closer to release every hour. I've finished porting over the ChoiceGuide to the end of Ch4 (the end of the old mod) and now testing through as many paths as quickly as possible to double-check the macros didn't bug-out any of the menu choices. Then I'll hammer out Ch5 quickly this morning. I'd like to code a proper gallery but as I work I'm debating about releasing the new mod core with the ChoiceGuide thru Ch5 for y'all then patch in the additional features that still need to be coded/tested. This will get the product in your hands faster but will obviously be missing a few planned features.

Anyway, I'll quit typing this post and get back to typing code. Again, I know waiting is a bitch but this is not your typical mod...and that's not an egotistical statement, there is a ton of Python code in the new core and it all has to be adapted to each title specifically. I'll keep y'all posted as always.

Edit: and shout out to anne O'nymous above who I truly regard as a mentor. Mad respect.

 

[LustButNotLeast]

I guess what I'm writing can be shared by many users.
We have waited for months Tess' update, and Tess' update has been wonderful and worth of the wait.
I'm sure that, therefore, we can CERTAINLY wait for Sancho's update still some days.
Not only it's a very difficult job, but it's free, and we NEVER must forget it.

 

[NanasBananas]

I was a little curious about the ending of the update, possibly a continuity error? I've been in K4 up until now, and after a lot of hard work (and maybe some light cheating to go back and get the right answers), I managed to get promoted to K5. But it seems to me like the game forgot that I was on a K4 sub route up till now. Olivia mentions that I've had decent sleeping arrangements, even though she should know I've been sleeping on a hard floor without even a sheet, much less a mattress or any kind of bed, and we were very casual with each other, with her not really showing any dominant tendencies towards me and me calling her Olivia rather the Mistress Olivia or Warden, even though I licked her shoe moments before and she's been taking major steps this update to become more evil and dominant, even explicitly thinking about how she's starting to enjoy having me beneath her. Looking at the code, it looks like once my K5 variable was changed to true I was sent to the dom endings without my previous rank being taken into account, which I can't help but wonder if that was the intended behavior...

Generally I'm curious what rising in the ranks will mean in terms of dom/sub. It does make some sense that the way you're expected to behave is very much influenced by your rank, we're all trapped in this dystopian system and have to fit ourselves in it, but in truth, I wasn't trying to get into any sort of dom route, my goal was just to be a more successful submissive. I realize there's already probably more information I could gather by making a playthrough where I'm already at K5 to see what it's like, but I kind of like not knowing, being in the same situation as Kane, dying of curiosity but only finding out next episode. I just hope the game remembers that this rank is new to me, and I kinda hope that the women will remember that I got here by being a competent submissive, and that my submissive nature still gets to shine even if I do move up. I do understand though that there are already so many variables and paths that if the kind of playthrough I'm trying to do isn't planned for that makes sense. I was somewhat affected by what Dominique said, asking if I could be strong outside of the bedroom, but perhaps I chose to interpret that differently that what she intended, because I do still plan on following my good, submissive nature as much as I can, even if it might hold me back a little. Of course, all this is very much speculation, since I don't actually know what higher Ks look like. I'm just going off because I'm so curious to see this potential side of the game...

I do want to mention that I continue to be impressed with the pace of both the sexual content and the story in this game. Something that I've thought about several times is the difference between art and pornography, or to put it more positively, the marriage between the two. Because I do believe that these are two separate, but not mutually exclusive goals. One is to create something of artistic value, and the other is to get people off. You can certainly do one without the other, and if you don't plan your game properly, you might find yourself having to sacrifice one for the other. But to me the ultimate goal is to join the two so that they help each rather, rather then get in each other's way. And while I don't want to exaggerate and say that this game is completely perfect, it's very, very good in this regard. The sexual content is integrally tied to the story, the setting and the character dynamics, which is what allows both story and sex to be done simultaneously. You can see this in just the density of both story and sexual content; there's barely a scene that doesn't have some story progression, some consequential choice to make or some meaningful character interaction or development, and there's barely a scene that isn't very sexual and arousing to read through. This is something that's been true all along, but since I did notice it during this update I just wanted to mention it. It's one of the things that make this game very satisfying and engaging to play through...

Other than that, just some more personal ramblings. I think I've found my mistress for the main playthrough, and it happens to be possibly the gentlest mistress I can hope for: Junko. I totally want to end this whole thing as her pet for life, that would be a dream come true... Also supporting the Dominique faction seems to be in line with my attempt to stay morally good. I think the only one who could really pry my heart out of Junko's leash and drag me towards the other end of the spectrum is Mistress Katsumi. I'm just too weak against her playful sadism, and don't think I could ever say no to her or interfere with her plans... I also definitely plan on doing a Juliette focused playthrough, I have a morbid fascination with her as well. It seems I either go for the wantonly sadistic, or for the gentle and caring... But then again, I'm pretty sure I already knew that about myself.

Veronica is a little too mechanic and thus doesn't have the same immediate pull over me, but she could be interesting in a different way. While I might get more immediate gratification out of satisfying Katsumi's sadistic pleasures or Junko's gentler pet ownership wants, maybe figuring out Veronica and having her find a kindred spirit who can somewhat understand her could be a more rare occasion, and more satisfying in that regard. Plus it does seem like we've seen glimpses of a more human personality beneath her businesslike demeanor, so it's not like I see her as completely robotic. There's also Kiyomi, which is definitely very high on the list of characters I'm attracted to and could still be in the running for best mistress... And to be fair, while I'm trying to pick my favorites, I don't think there's been a single woman in this game that I didn't want to dominate me... I also intend to do more playthroughs where I sink to lowers ranks, maybe one for each rank, coupled with different character focuses? I like to focus on a main playthrough at first, but there's definitely a lot more of this game I'm looking forward to explore...

So yeah, overall, great update! This game remains one of my favorites, and I think I'm only enjoying it more as it continues to expand and develop. I'm really curious to see the next updates, as well as some of the other options I still haven't explored!