VN Ren'Py Leaving DNA [Ep. 4.3a] [Impious Monk]

4.70 star(s) 135 Votes
Discussion Reviews (135)
minibaer12

minibaer12

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Oct 1, 2023
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John972 said:

I agree with what you've said with the added proviso that the crux of what we're talking about is the difference between platonic love and romantic love.

Jamie/Rockford share a deep platonic love that Jamie yearned to develop into romantic love. By the end of Ep 4, Jamie made a decision that would, at minimum, pause any possibility of romantic love developing in the future. That doesn't suddenly erase the deep platonic love they already share.

Rockford, on Jamie's path, realizes too late that his feelings for Jamie extend beyond platonic love. When not on her path, it's far less of an issue because Jamie has more or less already come to terms with the fact her relationship with Rockford will only ever be platonic.

Thus, Jamie has decided to move on by the end of Ep 4, even although she still seems conflicted about it when we last see her. This is where the "Dwant" comes in. She is moving on from the hope of a romantic relationship with Rockford while remaining conflicted enough to seemingly feel jealousy when seeing Cassie around Rockford. Then again, maybe Jamie knows some things about Cassie that we don't, so she is merely being protective of Rockford, her platonic friend (that's not my interpretation of it, but such a scenario is always a possibility, that's up to Impious Monk).
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We have the same point of view, just expressed differently.

As I mentioned above, I see dark clouds on the horizon, especially in the Jamie path.

The fact is, if Jamie leaves, she is
a) a Carrington and
b) a woman you wouldn't push off the edge of the bed
Other men will see that too!!!

The fact is, a reference to the scene with Cassie in the kitchen, our MC is also a "treat"!!!

You can bet that our dear Mr. Dev will implement something along these lines.
 
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sigvar

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Sep 5, 2021
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Impious Monk said:
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Thank you very much for the fact that you aren't taking such a cheap, coward's way out of a great twist on your story. Also thank you for keeping the 'related' models and their features consistent with this path (which is so rarely done with so many games on this site that have that particular <i>tag</i>)!
 
J

John972

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Apr 24, 2018
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minibaer12 said:
We have the same point of view, just expressed differently.

As I mentioned above, I see dark clouds on the horizon, especially in the Jamie path.

The fact is, if Jamie leaves, she is
a) a Carrington and
b) a woman you wouldn't push off the edge of the bed
Other men will see that too!!!

The fact is, a reference to the scene with Cassie in the kitchen, our MC is also a "treat"!!!

You can bet that our dear Mr. Dev will implement something along these lines.
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Yeah, I am kinda intrigued as to how the Jamie path will develop going forward.

Jamie comes across as an "idealist," much like Rockford is (at least he is at the start of the game). I am wondering if the Jamie path will continue if Rockford doesn't take up Carrington's offer to run for office. A run for office would expose Rockford to so much that would test his idealism and potentially change him (possibly for the worst).

Much of Jamie's previous romantic life is shrouded in mystery. All that's mentioned in the game is that she had a boyfriend while she interned under the SC judge in Washington DC. She dumped him when she finished her internship and returned to home. There's no indication Jamie dated anyone in the year before the game starts (besides, she was holding out for Rockford during that year). It's hard to know how much Jamie wants romance once she settles into her new job.

EDIT - Sean does warn Rockford that Jamie will likely seek a partner once she's settled down, inferring that time is running out for (in-denial) Rockford to make a move.

Anyway, that's the beauty of this AVN, There's so much to look forward to in terms how how the story develops.
 
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misfolk

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Jan 22, 2021
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I don't know how feasible Carrington's offer is. On the one hand, political machines got people with even less experience into the Senate, like Harry Truman, who successfully rid himself of the "machine candidate" image later.

On the other hand, it's a different age now. Rockford's patron-client relationship with Senator Carrington will be brought to the light as soon as he announces his candidacy and his name will be dragged through the mud all across Bluesky.
 
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minibaer12

minibaer12

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Oct 1, 2023
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John972 said:
Yeah, I am kinda intrigued as to how the Jamie path will develop going forward.

Jamie comes across as an "idealist," much like Rockford is (at least he is at the start of the game). I am wondering if the Jamie path will continue if Rockford doesn't take up Carrington's offer to run for office. A run for office would expose Rockford to so much that would test his idealism and potentially change him (possibly for the worse).

Much of Jamie's previous romantic life is shrouded in mystery. All that's mentioned in the game is that she had a boyfriend while she interned under the SC judge in Washington DC. She dumped him when she finished her internship and returned to home. There's no indication Jamie dated anyone in the year before the game starts (besides, she was holding out for Rockford during that year). It's hard to know how much Jamie wants romance once she settles into her new job.

Anyway, that's the beauty of this AVN, There's so much to look forward to in terms how how the story develops.
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Well, I doubt that I will be looking forward to further developments in the Jamie path. I fear that the first tendencies will appear in the penultimate episode in this path and that it will only go "boom" in the final episode. In between... look at the dev's writing style and story development and draw your own conclusions.

Regarding the job offer Cassie/Carrington, I just want to say: When you consider how our MC was almost "obsessed" with the idea of bringing a family together at the end of EP3 and the beginning of EP4 and made a 180° turn around in the middle of EP4, you can fear the worst here.
 
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Moiraine™

Moiraine™

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Hey everybody.

It's been a week! Episode Four is now out in the world. If you've gotten a chance to play it, I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you to everyone who subbed just to pick up the latest update, and an even bigger thank you to my supporters who have been funding me monthly and waiting patiently for a long time.

I'm planning to talk about Episode Four and the events that transpired therein, but as it's only been a few days and a lot of people are still waiting to play, I don't want to risk spoilers. I also would like a few days more of perspective and feedback to help me figure out exactly what I want to say. So, I'm going to put my discussion of the episode off until next weekend. But in the meantime, feel free to DM me or hit up the Discord server if you have questions.

I have started working on Episode Five, although I'm always wound up pretty tight the week of a release and that makes it hard to work on new content. Still, I've knocked out roughly 50 renders from the Episode Five prologue over the last couple of days. My work speed will pick up a bit starting this week.

Thank you for your support!

--Monk
 
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John972

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Apr 24, 2018
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Question to Impious Monk about a "spooky"scene in Episode 1

On the night of day 1, Rockford recalls his breakup with Aghavni in a park.

It starts with a wide view of Rockford siting alone on a park bench - a bunch of flowers beside him - having a conversation with Aghavni, who is nowhere to be seen. Then Aghavni suddenly appears beside him on the park bench as they continue the conversation. Near the end of the conversation, Aghavni continues to speak but she is once again nowhere to be seen - the wide view shows Rockford alone on the park bench like in the beginning.

Is Aghavni supposed to be there the whole time (standing at least a couple of dozen feet away from Rockford and out of frame, before instantly sitting beside him on the bench), or is something else going on in that memory?[

I was just going through a fresh playthrough so I don't recall if something later puts the scene into context. It's like Rockford is recalling a time when he sat alone on a park bench thinking about what Aghavni said to him during an their breakup a short while earlier./ISPOILER]
 
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Krytax123

Engaged Member
Dec 29, 2022
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minibaer12 said:
I have to disagree with you here. Jamie loves our MC more than anything, but our stupid MC doesn't see it. He's the problem, not her! Trevor puts it so succinctly to her: "Why do you let him treat you like a little sister?" She has to go because otherwise she would destroy herself. His reaction to her revelation that she's leaving is not what she would have expected. He was really happy about her great job offer. There was no sign that he would miss her. He doesn't see her as a woman to love yet. At some point he will also realize that there is someone missing in his life. The question is: "When will he realize it???"
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Agree about your first part but entirely disagree about the second part.

Jamie is 100% aware what she is doing to him, how it hurts him and is the same story for him like his whole life already (being abandonment), she even says this to trevor.

And shes 100% aware that he's just not showing his emotions/feelings and pretends to be happy for her while he's hurting. Jamie isnt only so sad because she leaves, its because what her leaving does to him too.

But youre right that living with a unrequited love like that is self-destroying and she doesnt reaaally know how everything is chaning for rockford right now
 
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Impious Monk

Impious Monk

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Oct 14, 2021
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John972 said:
Question to Impious Monk about a "spooky"scene in Episode 1

On the night of day 1, Rockford recalls his breakup with Aghavni in a park.

It starts with a wide view of Rockford siting alone on a park bench - a bunch of flowers beside him - having a conversation with Aghavni, who is nowhere to be seen. Then Aghavni suddenly appears beside him on the park bench as they continue the conversation. Near the end of the conversation, Aghavni continues to speak but she is once again nowhere to be seen - the wide view shows Rockford alone on the park bench like in the beginning.

Is Aghavni supposed to be there the whole time (standing at least a couple of dozen feet away from Rockford and out of frame, before instantly sitting beside him on the bench), or is something else going on in that memory?[

I was just going through a fresh playthrough so I don't recall if something later puts the scene into context. It's like Rockford is recalling a time when he sat alone on a park bench thing about what Aghavni said to him during an their breakup a short while earlier./ISPOILER]
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The flashback starts with the final render of the scene. I wanted to set the tone for the memory from the beginning of the scene. MC is alone, but not just alone--he's been abandoned, as suggested by the flowers which he obviously purchased for someone else. The scene could have started with him holding the flowers hopefully, smiling, and then Aghavni drops the breakup bomb and the scene gets progressively more sad. But I wanted to emphasize the psychological effect of this memory, which is to drive home the recurring theme in his life of optimism turning to abandonment.
 
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John972

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Apr 24, 2018
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Impious Monk said:
The flashback starts with the final render of the scene. I wanted to set the tone for the memory from the beginning of the scene. MC is alone, but not just alone--he's been abandoned, as suggested by the flowers which he obviously purchased for someone else. The scene could have started with him holding the flowers hopefully, smiling, and then Aghavni drops the breakup bomb and the scene gets progressively more sad. But I wanted to emphasize the psychological effect of this memory, which is to drive home the recurring theme in his life of optimism turning to abandonment.
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Thank you, I understand now. The start and end of the scene are bookends of him alone on the bench (head in hands) after the breakup. The middle is the actual breakup while Aghavni is present. I think what confused me was the dialogue occurring while he was sitting alone.
 
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shakey5864

shakey5864

Newbie
Jun 21, 2023
51
31
I just hope it won't be anther year 4 a 45 min update just glad I got it on steam and not paying 10 or 20$ a month for year
 
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Chillout1984

Chillout1984

Engaged Member
Nov 15, 2020
3,405
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yossa999 said:
Wow, you finished in just 45 minutes! You're a fast shooter, bro!
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Chapter 4 isn't that long if you only do that chapter and on 1 route.

For me it took another 6 hours or so for all routes that we currently know of, because I wanted to play the entire game again (because I forgot most of the plot).
 
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shakey5864

shakey5864

Newbie
Jun 21, 2023
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Skeltom said:
Well, as demos go it's not bad at all so far. The MC isn't the typical pervy teen stereotype you see in so many other games which is a huge plus.

This is very short as stated and the lack of player agency has me worried right now. If this is the first part of part one is it safe to assume that this will be a very short game overall? Also it says that the one choice is important but the scene plays out the same way regardless it only adds a variable of her or the player being interested. Does something as insignificant as not saying "Hey" to a random girl lock you out of her path indefinitely? If it does I'm not sure how to feel about that.

A few suggestion, I guess. The hard pauses really slow things down with how often they're used. You have to click a lot to keep things moving so maybe a delayed pause would be better, like $ renpy.pause(2) or something rather than a hard. Also is Rockford relevant to the plot? If it isn't it would be very easy to allow the player to set their desired surname for more immersion.

All things considered I'll be keeping my eye on this one.
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his mothers name was Rockford so that is the only relevance I see
 
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4.70 star(s) 135 Votes