VN Ren'Py Karlsson's Gambit [v0.8.31 TestB] [Grym Gudinna Games]

[RNasc4444]

Olivia's cool with me, Olivia is the only one bothering to give Kane any real information and honestly the other sisters are much worse to her considering they have had access to the Karlsson weapons all their lives while Olivia is just getting introduced to that lifestyle.

I get that but can't agree.

Olivia had access to Callista herself. She had a pretty damn privileged upbringing in secret as well, all things considered. We are even told she had lessons throughout her whole youth. Including freaking acting lessons. There isn't a doubt in my mind she is playing a part. Nothing she does or says is the least bit honest. I don't think she gives a damn about Kane or Seth. She has a purpose and a goal and that's all that matters to her. She will lie, deceive and manipulate anyone in her way to get what she wants.

Which is why, to me, she's top 2 of most disgustingly evil chars in the game. Second only to Veronica.

 

[NewGuy2022]

But one thing is right. Olivia has more secrets.

No doubt. "That" is one of the big things I'm trying to learn as the game progresses. How much did Callista really teach her during her upbringing? How much of what we see Olivia say and do is the "real" Olivia and how much of that is theater put on to influence or deceive others? How much free will does Kane really have vs. how much of what we see is forced/manipulated to steer him to act as he does?

Does Good Olivia truly love and respect Dom-Good Kane the way she tells him she does? Or is it all just an act to manipulate things to achieve a specific outcome?

I want to think so but this game tends to dash a lot of hopes and things often don't end well for men. This, along with the "how did this all come to happen" probably are the two biggest things I'm sticking around for. If nothing else, the writer has set the hook for me on this.

 

[MilesEdgeworth]

Im still on the Callista did a horrible job of training Kane for what lies ahead train. Even with the head bomb, i feel she couldve properly prepared him for what to expect. Instead we get her patting herself on the back for giving Kane a chance to survive which will come down to Kane's will to survive. Other than birthing him, nothing she does even remotely helps Kane.

 

[NewGuy2022]

Im still on the Callista did a horrible job of training Kane for what lies ahead train. Even with the head bomb, i feel she couldve properly prepared him for what to expect. Instead we get her patting herself on the back for giving Kane a chance to survive which will come down to Kane's will to survive. Other than birthing him, nothing she does even remotely helps Kane.

I'm not so sure about that. To be fair, Kane is Dom-Good on my runs so your results may be different.

She taught him ethics, such as they are. You only need to look so far as most of the Karlssons and their ilk to see that being reared by Callista was a blessing for him and Olivia both. I am bitter that I think she deceived or at least withheld information from him but I think she did that to better prepare him for the gambit. She taught him that will you describe and would have taught him coping strategies. She clearly drilled him hard with studies when he was younger (he complains about it during flashbacks). Finally, she reared him and encouraged close development with Olivia. On the dom-good path at least I see this as a major advantage for him.

Just my opinion but Callista foresaw that at some point the family would come to claim Olivia and would seize Kane in some way to test him. If he knew what to expect, that might skew the outcomes and potentially put him at risk. I think he'll be pretty angry when he learns this but she foresaw that when she told him "you may even hate me one day when you learn more" (my words since I don't recall the exact quote). I do feel Callista showed much more to Olivia than to Kane but I believe it's because she anticipated different roles for the two of them after the Karlssons come and take them back.

I'm not a fan of everything this dev does (trust me) but she does a good job with foreshadowing and planting hints that will be useful later in the story; I'd say she's better than most devs I've seen in that regard.

 

[harsha_26]

I'm not so sure about that. To be fair, Kane is Dom-Good on my runs so your results may be different.

She taught him ethics, such as they are. You only need to look so far as most of the Karlssons and their ilk to see that being reared by Callista was a blessing for him and Olivia both. I am bitter that I think she deceived or at least withheld information from him but I think she did that to better prepare him for the gambit. She taught him that will you describe and would have taught him coping strategies. She clearly drilled him hard with studies when he was younger (he complains about it during flashbacks). Finally, she reared him and encouraged close development with Olivia. On the dom-good path at least I see this as a major advantage for him.

Just my opinion but Callista foresaw that at some point the family would come to claim Olivia and would seize Kane in some way to test him. If he knew what to expect, that might skew the outcomes and potentially put him at risk. I think he'll be pretty angry when he learns this but she foresaw that when she told him "you may even hate me one day when you learn more" (my words since I don't recall the exact quote). I do feel Callista showed much more to Olivia than to Kane but I believe it's because she anticipated different roles for the two of them after the Karlssons come and take them back.

I'm not a fan of everything this dev does (trust me) but she does a good job with foreshadowing and planting hints that will be useful later in the story; I'd say she's better than most devs I've seen in that regard.

So, you mean to day, callista never thought of Kane ruling the karlssons. Yeah, In fact, lots of main characters are not willing to see him as a chairman even in dom path.

If you are in Veronica path, she wants Kane to go island4 with her. Best path if you are looking for romantic vanilla ending and it is also the canon path.

Alessandra Path, she wants Kane as a secret sub while the real control lies in her for female supremacy.

Dom Olivia is grooming herself to be the future queen with support of Elena, Callista, Veronica and wants Kane as a partner.

I think best chance for ruling as a chairman for Good Dom Kane, as of now, is Dominique (a strong supporter of men compare to other sisters) while keeping Olivia as a sub.

If you are evil Dom, then Dominique and Juliette evil harem path (as confirmed by tess) could be best and Katsumi. Katsumi is the only one executive who believes in Kane as a chairman.

 

[NewGuy2022]

If Kitty's hair were on fire I wouldn't piss in her face to put out the flames. I loathe her even more than I despise Juliette, Alessandra, and Chastain. And, for me, that's saying something. On my runthroughs I refuse to do anything Kitty asks, even when it penalizes me with points and flags, just to upset her. The way she reacts when a man with a choice turns her down is priceless to see; also, I really hate her personality as presented in the game. On my main path, I'm trying for the throuple if the dev doesn't kill that off, too.

 

[harsha_26]

If Kitty's hair were on fire I wouldn't piss in her face to put out the flames. I loathe her even more than I despise Juliette, Alessandra, and Chastain. And, for me, that's saying something. On my runthroughs I refuse to do anything Kitty asks, even when it penalizes me with points and flags, just to upset her. The way she reacts when a man with a choice turns her down is priceless to see; also, I really hate her personality as presented in the game. On my main path, I'm trying for the throuple if the dev doesn't kill that off, too.

Trouple you mean Domi+Jili evil harem or faction B vero+oliv path?

Regarding Katsumi, I know she have haters in good Dom players, but it's just my personal opinion as a evil Dom player. Even though she is evil and all, I like her personally. I like how she fought hard for her executive position from K4 level (even with elena chip compromise). She seems to be the only one who is encouraging Kane to the ruler of company while most of others are expecting you to be executive and support the sisters.

 

[MilesEdgeworth]

I'm not so sure about that. To be fair, Kane is Dom-Good on my runs so your results may be different.

She taught him ethics, such as they are. You only need to look so far as most of the Karlssons and their ilk to see that being reared by Callista was a blessing for him and Olivia both. I am bitter that I think she deceived or at least withheld information from him but I think she did that to better prepare him for the gambit. She taught him that will you describe and would have taught him coping strategies. She clearly drilled him hard with studies when he was younger (he complains about it during flashbacks). Finally, she reared him and encouraged close development with Olivia. On the dom-good path at least I see this as a major advantage for him.

Just my opinion but Callista foresaw that at some point the family would come to claim Olivia and would seize Kane in some way to test him. If he knew what to expect, that might skew the outcomes and potentially put him at risk. I think he'll be pretty angry when he learns this but she foresaw that when she told him "you may even hate me one day when you learn more" (my words since I don't recall the exact quote). I do feel Callista showed much more to Olivia than to Kane but I believe it's because she anticipated different roles for the two of them after the Karlssons come and take them back.

I'm not a fan of everything this dev does (trust me) but she does a good job with foreshadowing and planting hints that will be useful later in the story; I'd say she's better than most devs I've seen in that regard.

She also left him with a huge reason to be resentful. There's the father thing that Dom couldve used if she knew what she was doing, there's the whole faking her death and putting him in this gambit thing, which I cant imagine he'll be happy about once he finds out. Good sub (depending on your girl)/dom are the best case scenarios but neither path seems exactly tempting given what Kane has gone through.

I like tess's character work, I might bitch about her characters but they all act according to the way they're supposed to according to the way she's written them

 

[NewGuy2022]

Trouple you mean Domi+Jili evil harem or faction B vero+oliv path?

Regarding Katsumi, I know she have haters in good Dom players, but it's just my personal opinion as a evil Dom player. Even though she is evil and all, I like her personally. I like how she fought hard for her executive position from K4 level (even with elena chip compromise). She seems to be the only one who is encouraging Kane to the ruler of company while most of others are expecting you to be executive and support the sisters.

The Throuple is Veronica and Olivia. You get some clues about the possibility of that when Callista is visiting w/ Veronica in her anti-gravity lab and it's not easy to collect all the flags you need (I love the walkthroughs; they're really helpful). Kitty "fought hard" as you put it by demonstrating to Elena (when Elena was on an evil streak) just how sadistic she was. I truly hate sadistic people (in real life as well as in games) or anyone who needlessly torments or harms someone. After the things I (as the player) saw Kitty do to Seth, I really despise her. Kane doesn't know many of these things, of course because while the player saw them Kane did not.

I really enjoy her sister's character, though, and another of the game's secrets I hope to learn is how the two girls grew up to be so different.

 

[daffyrolls94]

I like tess's character work, I might bitch about her characters but they all act according to the way they're supposed to according to the way she's written them

The characters who actually have a character (Kane, Cole and the boss bitches) act consistently because they are differentiated by random personality quirks. The basic motives/stakes are identical. When they come into conflict it's usually because of arbitrary plot devices like the "gambit", which can be whatever they need to be for the story/power fantasy to progress in a certain direction. As a result both the drama and the overall story have no impact or payoff beyond unlocking certain scenes. Also every page of this thread is inundated by posts about which subcategory of extreme bdsm fetish is the most "moral" i.e most fappable and therefore deserves more dev attention.

 

[harsha_26]

The Throuple is Veronica and Olivia. You get some clues about the possibility of that when Callista is visiting w/ Veronica in her anti-gravity lab and it's not easy to collect all the flags you need (I love the walkthroughs; they're really helpful). Kitty "fought hard" as you put it by demonstrating to Elena (when Elena was on an evil streak) just how sadistic she was. I truly hate sadistic people (in real life as well as in games) or anyone who needlessly torments or harms someone. After the things I (as the player) saw Kitty do to Seth, I really despise her. Kane doesn't know many of these things, of course because while the player saw them Kane did not.

I really enjoy her sister's character, though, and another of the game's secrets I hope to learn is how the two girls grew up to be so different.

Seems like you are going for good dom and wants faction B throuple ending. Tess said it is possible as long as you follow some flags like: Saving Nurse, Kane & Olivia as Dom with good alignment etc..

I'm a evil Dom player and confused about how Alessandra plays her part in future of Evil Dom.

 

[Rowszix]

Why does Kane actually seem so mediocre compared to his parents and his sister (Nadia)? Basically everyone who has a powerful lineage in the game is exceptional to some degree. And Kane was also raised by Callista, so I would think that he is also extremly intelligent or extremly talented in a specific field or both. But even super successfull dom route Kane seems not to be a genius. Yes he is intelligent and all, but not as exceptional as someone with his lineage and upbringing should be. Also he was never able to lift himself up before going to prison, of course he is pretty young and maybe didn't had so many chances, but all of this seems a little bit sketchy to me? Is Kane maybe actually hiding something himself?

I think many people accept that Olivia most likely hides her knowledge about her heritage from the begging and how much she knows about the gambit and all. *Putsontinfoilhat* Is Kane maybe also aware of everything and also just plays a role? Maybe even he and Olivia are actually working together behind the scenes (I know this sounds kinda far fetched, but I just looking for reasons why Kane isn't on the same level as the rest of his family)?

 

[harsha_26]

Why does Kane actually seem so mediocre compared to his parents and his sister (Nadia)? Basically everyone who has a powerful lineage in the game is exceptional to some degree. And Kane was also raised by Callista, so I would think that he is also extremly intelligent or extremly talented in a specific field or both. But even super successfull dom route Kane seems not to be a genius. Yes he is intelligent and all, but not as exceptional as someone with his lineage and upbringing should be. Also he was never able to lift himself up before going to prison, of course he is pretty young and maybe didn't had so many chances, but all of this seems a little bit sketchy to me? Is Kane maybe actually hiding something himself?

I think many people accept that Olivia most likely hides her knowledge about her heritage from the begging and how much she knows about the gambit and all. *Putsontinfoilhat* Is Kane maybe also aware of everything and also just plays a role? Maybe even he and Olivia are actually working together behind the scenes (I know this sounds kinda far fetched, but I just looking for reasons why Kane isn't on the same level as the rest of his family)?

Pease try to digest the fact that Kane have no secrets except whatever Tess shown about Kane in the flashback upto now. Tess designed Kane to be a blank character so that it is easy for players (especially sub players) to mold him however they want. If you give him heroic background with secrets, Then sub path won't sound so logical.

 

[Rowszix]

Pease try to digest the fact that Kane have no secrets except whatever Tess shown about Kane in the flashback upto now. Tess designed Kane to be a blank character so that it is easy for players (especially sub players) to mold him however they want. If you give him heroic background with secrets, Then sub path won't sound so logical.

Sure, I assumed that too (therefore the tinfoil hat), but it just seems to go against everything the game tells you how genetics work in the game world. Brillant parents = brillant children. And he was raised and taught by Callista ... so why is he not better? Or do you assume just because game mechanics? But that would be strange in a visual novel

 

[MilesEdgeworth]

Why does Kane actually seem so mediocre compared to his parents and his sister (Nadia)? Basically everyone who has a powerful lineage in the game is exceptional to some degree. And Kane was also raised by Callista, so I would think that he is also extremly intelligent or extremly talented in a specific field or both. But even super successfull dom route Kane seems not to be a genius. Yes he is intelligent and all, but not as exceptional as someone with his lineage and upbringing should be. Also he was never able to lift himself up before going to prison, of course he is pretty young and maybe didn't had so many chances, but all of this seems a little bit sketchy to me? Is Kane maybe actually hiding something himself?

I think many people accept that Olivia most likely hides her knowledge about her heritage from the begging and how much she knows about the gambit and all. *Putsontinfoilhat* Is Kane maybe also aware of everything and also just plays a role? Maybe even he and Olivia are actually working together behind the scenes (I know this sounds kinda far fetched, but I just looking for reasons why Kane isn't on the same level as the rest of his family)?

Story reason is that Kane was pretty much raised to be in the gambit so he didnt have access to the same education that the rest of his family had. Callista really fucked him over.

 

[hoochimama]

Why does Kane actually seem so mediocre compared to his parents and his sister (Nadia)? Basically everyone who has a powerful lineage in the game is exceptional to some degree. And Kane was also raised by Callista, so I would think that he is also extremly intelligent or extremly talented in a specific field or both. But even super successfull dom route Kane seems not to be a genius. Yes he is intelligent and all, but not as exceptional as someone with his lineage and upbringing should be. Also he was never able to lift himself up before going to prison, of course he is pretty young and maybe didn't had so many chances, but all of this seems a little bit sketchy to me? Is Kane maybe actually hiding something himself?

I think many people accept that Olivia most likely hides her knowledge about her heritage from the begging and how much she knows about the gambit and all. *Putsontinfoilhat* Is Kane maybe also aware of everything and also just plays a role? Maybe even he and Olivia are actually working together behind the scenes (I know this sounds kinda far fetched, but I just looking for reasons why Kane isn't on the same level as the rest of his family)?

Kane already wields the magical witch-slaying cock Excalibur, making him the rightful sovereign of the karlsson kingdom.

 

[Rowszix]

Story reason is that Kane was pretty much raised to be in the gambit so he didnt have access to the same education that the rest of his family had. Callista really fucked him over.

Yeah but doesn't he complain to Stacy that he has to learn so much? And If Alexander wanted Kane to be strong and a worthy father to His true heir, then I see no readon why callista would not try to educate him well. She also wants him to win the gambit and a highly capable Kane would have better chances. And Olivia got a private teacher while being with Callista too.

 

[MilesEdgeworth]

Yeah but doesn't he complain to Stacy that he has to learn so much? And If Alexander wanted Kane to be strong and a worthy father to His true heir, then I see no readon why callista would not try to educate him well. She also wants him to win the gambit and a highly capable Kane would have better chances. And Olivia got a private teacher while being with Callista too.

I doubt alexander gives a fuck about kane or his educational background, he just wants callista's dreams. the grandkid is the heir, he's merely the sperm donor until the kid comes of age. As for Callista teaching him, i imagine a regular education is better than being homeschooled

 

[Rowszix]

I doubt alexander gives a fuck about kane or his educational background, he just wants callista's dreams. the grandkid is the heir, he's merely the sperm donor until the kid comes of age. As for Callista teaching him, i imagine a regular education is better than being homeschooled

I didnt meant that Alexander would necessarly encourage it, but he wont interfere with it either. And about the homeschool thing, Callista is told to be a super uber genius, the only one comparable to Veronica. If somebody could make sure that Kane would be able to use all of his natural talents it, without an expensive education it would be her. As I said it feels sketchy that he is the only "normal" guy in a family of world class geniuses.

 

[NewGuy2022]

Yeah but doesn't he complain to Stacy that he has to learn so much? And If Alexander wanted Kane to be strong and a worthy father to His true heir, then I see no readon why callista would not try to educate him well. She also wants him to win the gambit and a highly capable Kane would have better chances. And Olivia got a private teacher while being with Callista too.

Kane was a blatant reminder of Alexander's failures. Because Alexander failed to remain faithful to Callista, he lost her. Kane's father is Alexander's best friend (big loss). Callista ran away to escape from Alexander so, other than being the male carrier of Callista's bloodline and a means to offer leverage over Cole and Callista, I don't think Alexander cared a damn about Kane. Just my opinion.

I'm thinking part of the reason we don't see him excelling is because he hasn't been in a position to shine yet and maybe doesn't realize what his capabilities truly are; confidence goes a long way for a guy when he has it. I could be way off here but I believe he's really a diamond in the rough. The other thing we haven't seen yet is his leadership ability. That's a skill set all it's own and he hasn't had real chances yet to develop or display that.

Maybe it's just me but I keep thinking the reason Kane was kept in the dark about so much (frustrating as it is) was so he could be tested in the gambit. He no-kidding has to prove his mettle for the Karlssons to accept him later and he has to be seen as "earning" his position vs. inheriting it as Olivia did (remember: this is matriarchy and men are 2d class citizens here). Everyone is watching him and many are looking for clues that he's been getting unfair help; I think if he knew too much walking in to this it would show. That's part of where the whole "bomb" theory comes from.

He did get an education (he complains as a child about all the extra homework Callista gives him) and he is shown to be quite bright in his own ways (look at how he inspires Veronica the Genius with the things he says to her) and the Karlssons recognize this--depending upon your route and choices, they introduced him to some projects they aren't even sharing with other sister/board members. Finally, she taught him character and ethics (again, your choices decide this). You only have to look at the other Karlssons, et. al to see what a difference character and ethics make.

Is Kane maybe also aware of everything and also just plays a role? Maybe even he and Olivia are actually working together behind the scenes (I know this sounds kinda far fetched, but I just looking for reasons why Kane isn't on the same level as the rest of his family)?

Really interesting thought. I'd never considered that. It would be a crazy plot twist if the dev pulled that off. I'm not sure that happened here, though, because of the scenes where Olivia pulls Kane into areas that seem private to tell him things (like who is father is, etc.) and it seems several times in the game where they appear to be alone and not monitored that she is trying to see what he thinks and to gauge who he is/how much she can trust him. If they were in cahoots w/ each other, I'd expect she already understood these things. But great theory; really.