Moonflare

Well-Known Member
Aug 23, 2023
1,313
5,218
some art while waiting for the next update:

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As always, make sure to visit the official fanart thread for more .
 

fdsasdf_p

Active Member
Apr 24, 2021
926
3,425
Fair point.

So... yet another nail in the Sel-is-fallible coffin?
Depends on what he thought of when deciding this to be a sorta ruling. I'd give him a pass if he was not going for being alliterative but instead, merely going for name combinations with initials being two same alphabets. Writing Japanese names in English initials is a thing but I am uncertain how popularized it has become to properly give Selly the benefit of the doubt for the sake of authenticity.

Alas, I also have my doubts on Shiawase being Sekai's maiden name. The tone might fit well with her not liking her own last name, and the thought of writing this presumed full name into "shiawase no sekai" (world of happiness) gives me the creeps under the context of LiL. Still, that's pretty much it; these just sound nice and aren't truly increasing the likelihood of "Shiawase is indeed her maiden name" in a supportive manner.

If anything, I'd think that Shiawase is a certain girl equivalent to Himawari solely because of the available parallel I can draw between Shiawase Group and Himawari Co, the two mysterious LLCs both featured in the Pareidolia Mall, and the fact that neither Shiawase or Himawari sounds like a name for an individual. But this direction of development is also weird in its own right because we have both enough girls and enough mysterious figures to worry about. Hence I guess if true I'd rather have Shiawase being Sekai; it's just the lack of a direct and convincing bridge between them really boggles the mind.
 

BlackDays

Active Member
Jan 30, 2021
503
533
Nah, he just got used to living on $10k a month income in 2020-2021, but unfortunately, that same $10k in 2024 buys a hell of a lot less of just about everything.
Hm, could be the case. Don't know how hard inflation hit other countries because of corona.
My country had it a bit worse, because probably our "friendos", bombed our critical energy infrastructure which hit quiet hard inflation wise, because someone in our govenment, before all that, thought nuclear energy bad, replace with gas power plants...
So i can't really compare.

tbh I wonder what his total income is when you factor in the annual pass stuff and merch

i guess it always feels weird to see ppl asking for money but the dev is in a sort of position where unless he does exactly that, he'll just end up slowly losing money (if not due to subscriber loss, then due to inflation - this dude does not get any annual raises or refreshers)

also wonder how many subscribers he could have obtained if he:
1) didn't piss off f95
2) didn't rework the intro sequence to be so damn off-putting: the Ami scene is just way too in-your-face imo. from what I remember of playing the original, it was a mystery that slowly builds up to that
3) listened to community feedback about ppl disliking the gameplay and puzzles: i think he views them as essential for immersion or something? either way, it seems like there's a near-unanimous consensus on them being shit
4) increased the quality of sexual content instead of dropping animations - for instance, he could integrate animations in the game itself instead of only having them in the repeatable events. i think the majority of ppl that find this game organically are looking for porn so it makes sense to cater to that
5) capped the word count to like 30-40k per update (~1.5-2 hours of content) and focused on making it tighter/more focused
10k, if someone isn't satisfied with 10k (or above) there's some other problem involved, from my pov.
And he at least did invest in the stock market as far as i read, so my argument wasn't a total shot in the dark.
But hey, it's his personal business so he can invest in black jack and hookers for all i care... ah..., fuck blackjack...

About the reset puzzles and the likes.
If i'm right about his age, he might have been playing old J VN's/dating sims and having to do strange things like:
Be at the right place, at the right time, with x item to further a route or meet that missable special character, he kinda is right on track.
Though, we don't have that much of routes, more like little diversions, and no characters to miss.
But if what i said was his inspiration, he totally overdid it.
I think much has already been said about the lewd stuff ingame, so i don't think i could add some significant thing to it.
And yeah, the rework had me raise at least one eyebrow, or three.

Don't forget part of adding the care packages was so he could claim the game has CP by f95 standards and tried yelling it out loud so the mods had to remove the game from the site. It wasn't purely business benevolent. And of course when it didn't work he started getting bored of them, swapping to a system that only provides the reward if enough people pay for it (bonus animations per pledge stretch goal)
Can't really tell if Sel did the wizard stuff in the care packages (if it really has that stuff because i dunno) just to spite F95.
What i do know/remember is him "kinda" apologizing and explaining himself in an eye soring (color wise) post.
That was some really interesting post, because, while i might understand his mental state of "I don't give a fuck about anything", how smart of a world view is that?
I do hope that he isn't treating every aspect of his life this way, don't know how that guy is in private, but i do know that it will cost him extremely dearly if he hasn't/ won't come to a better conclusion.
Also, him abondining the CP (the initials intantionally?) was just a business choice.
He saw them getting leaked the moment they were released, so they had no benefit for him/his patrons.
 

Comiies

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2022
1,431
2,536
Tell Selebus that if it's ready, I'll accept him releasing it a day early.

Also, Ayane all in red huh... a letter in red ink asking to meet in spring. Beware the color red. Probably nothing... unless?
Its just a sexy costume mom.Relax its not that deep(It is)
 
Oct 1, 2023
472
1,060
some art while waiting for the next update:

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As always, make sure to visit the official fanart thread for more .
What do you mean you'd rather chinami die? I'd let her play with my toy loudly-crying-face_1f62d.png
 

barglenarglezous

Engaged Member
Sep 5, 2020
2,551
5,032
Tell Selebus that if it's ready, I'll accept him releasing it a day early.

Also, Ayane all in red huh... a letter in red ink asking to meet in spring. Beware the color red. Probably nothing... unless?
Not sure if joking, but let's go down that rabbit hole.

The Persona series has been cited by Selebus as an influence on the game. For anyone who was unaware, the modern Persona games feature high school students in their second year going through some form of rite of passage into adulthood. They use the Tarot Arcana to symbolize the stages of passage from the innocence of youth (The Fool) to the maturity of adulthood, and each of the people the The Fool meets on his journey symbolizes a step on that passage. There are usually 20 Arcana in the initial version of the game, though the enhanced release may add some additional Arcana. But 20 Arcana for 20 Main Girls may be relevant.

Persona 3 is a game about accepting your own mortality. Persona 4 is a story about overcoming your insecurities. Persona 5 is a game about moving past your personal trauma -- which seems particularly appropriate for LiL.

The game takes place in both the "normal" and "shadow" world, though the nature of the shadow world varies by game. In 3, the shadow world is a localized distortion centered around a single location that only exists in a period of time that most cannot percieve (the 25th hour), in 4, it is a "TV Realm" literally entered by passing through a TV screen (note: thsi game came out before TVs got as large as they are today, and finding a TV large enough to fit a person through was still a bit of a challenge), and in 5 the shadow world is the world of cognition-- or Perception, but as it exists in a collective sense.

When a character is in the shadow world, they might awaken a Persona -- a spiritual being (drawn from religion or literature, usually) who grants them incredible power. at this moment, their outfit changes to reflect their awakened state. Ayane is wearing the costume of Ann Takamaki, a model who is being sexually harassed by a teacher at her school. Her refusal of his advances causes the teacher to rape her best friend, who then tries to kill herself by jumping off the roof of the school. Ann's arc is driven by her sense of guilt towards what happens to her friend, her dealing with rumors (spread by the teacher) that she was sleeping with said teacher, and a desire to not be seen as just a model anymore.

A whole lot of that is really, REALLY on the nose.

Ann is the Lover Arcana, which seems appropriate for Ayane as well.

Other characters in the game include:
Futaba Sakura, a redheaded Otaku recluse who blames herself for her mother's death (Molly?). She is the Hermit Arcana, which is less appropriate for Molly (Yumi would be a better candidate)

Makoto Niijima, a studious Student Council President who blames herself for not seeing what was happening at her school sooner. Her Arcana is Priestess, which doesn't feel like a good fit for our Makoto (Noriko is a better fit), but the name and role overlapping likely isn't coincidence.

Haru Nokumura, an heiress who is slated to be married to the son of a company executive who is also an abusive prick, who feels abandoned by her father (Touka). Her Arcana is Empress, which also fits Touka (one of the first things listed on the Megami Tensei wiki for Empress is that it's associated with mothers, and we know how Akira feels about Touka)

Kinda just punching the nose over and over again, honestly.

I've known that Sel has cited Persona as an influence for some time, but I hadn't actually thought that much about LiL in terms of Persona or the Arcana.
 

Sir Phoenix

Member
Jun 13, 2018
313
172
I couldn't find it, so I need to ask, why doesn't this game show up on the latest updates when it updates? I have to remember to come manually check it every month or so.
 

JelF547

Active Member
Mar 15, 2023
975
1,893
I couldn't find it, so I need to ask, why doesn't this game show up on the latest updates when it updates? I have to remember to come manually check it every month or so.
Because it's author is a dick. Also, come here tomorrow, after 12:00 PM CT (will probably be shipped earlier starting from 10:00 AM CT)
 
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Moonflare

Well-Known Member
Aug 23, 2023
1,313
5,218
What do you mean you'd rather chinami die? I'd let her play with my toy loudly-crying-face_1f62d.png
Chinami dies = characters take sanity damage and she comes back anyway.

Chinami "plays" = I take sanity damage.
Not sure if joking, but let's go down that rabbit hole.
Very interesting, as I'm not versed in the Persona universe. Himawari/Ayane seem to parallel that dynamic the most out of all of them. Unsure if the shadow world would be the city itself or the other dimensions they slip into sometimes though. I guess it could be both since it's just an inspiration.
 

Breadtaker

Newbie
Nov 18, 2023
69
285
Okay Ami appreciation post for her birthday
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To me, Ami is without question the most exciting character in the game. Sometimes endearing and wholesome, other times manipulative and hostile. She's anything but mild. Anticipating how she will leverage her position and her innate social intelligence puts every scene with her on edge. Her mixed signals make you regularly reevaluate how smart, how caring, how callous, how honest, how crazy she really is.

But imo, what really sets Ami apart from typical crazy characters is that she is understandable. I feel like I get it. It's still hard to read her intentions but why she feels this way makes sense.

The obvious starting point is Ami losing her parents in a traumatic way. But that's only the start. Lost in her grief, she found in Sensei not just companionship in a person who shares her pain but a purpose. Taking care of Sensei gave her a reason to get on her feet and a reason to care about life in general. It should have been the other way around. It should be sensei taking care of her and teaching her to find reasons to live outside of their household. But that never happened and Ami lashed her entire reason for living to Sensei.
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And then we get the romantic feelings. The mysterious Sensei love virus that infects everyone. After saving Sensei, building him back up, and years of fulfilling the traditional duties of a house wife, you can't blame Ami for feeling somewhat entitled to that role. It's not just what she thinks of as her future, it's her life as she knows it.

The taboo nature of that relationship immediately pits Ami versus the world. She knows her fantasy is wrong and her only recourse is to dismiss the viewpoint of everyone else. Build her own definition of right. Anyone who goes against that is an obstacle. And this is before the other girls are even proper rivals.

Which of course is what happens. Everyone wants sensei and that jeopardizes her future, her present, and her reason for living. She's desperate to fend them off and that makes her do crazy things. She's aware she seems insane which puts her in this awkward spot between "I need to ease up and not suffocate Sensei" and "the world already doesn't accept/understand me. I need to fight against that."
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From all directions people are encroaching on her life while dismissing her as immoral and delusional. Under these circumstances you would expect a person to break. In many ways she already has. However, Ami is conniving and smart. I believe it is that wit that gives her a fighting chance and the confidence to keep going.

In spite of all of this, when Ami has the freedom to lower her defense and be herself, she's a really kind and compassionate person. You see that a lot towards the beginning of the game. Those opportunities present themselves less and less as the story progresses.

Lastly, I want to take a moment to recognize her talent for poetry. My life With You is one of my favorite scenes. I'm no poet, nor am I sensei but I felt so proud of her after that event. The poem was genuinely good and seeing how nervous she was as she poured her heart into it was sweet.
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I know none of this is probably revelatory. I just like gushing. Thanks for reading.
 

matt_riochka

New Member
Jun 9, 2020
14
50
seeing the amount of stuff i missed or didn't understand after reading some messages and theories here makes me realise that even though i spent 260 hours to go through the entire game up to v0.42, i may as well re-read the entirety of it because there's just so much hidden stuff

or i'm just dumb and it's a me issue (also thanks for all the passionate users here y'all are great)
 
Last edited:

fasoaga

Newbie
Jul 24, 2017
18
36
Not sure if joking, but let's go down that rabbit hole.

The Persona series has been cited by Selebus as an influence on the game. For anyone who was unaware, the modern Persona games feature high school students in their second year going through some form of rite of passage into adulthood. They use the Tarot Arcana to symbolize the stages of passage from the innocence of youth (The Fool) to the maturity of adulthood, and each of the people the The Fool meets on his journey symbolizes a step on that passage. There are usually 20 Arcana in the initial version of the game, though the enhanced release may add some additional Arcana. But 20 Arcana for 20 Main Girls may be relevant.

Persona 3 is a game about accepting your own mortality. Persona 4 is a story about overcoming your insecurities. Persona 5 is a game about moving past your personal trauma -- which seems particularly appropriate for LiL.

The game takes place in both the "normal" and "shadow" world, though the nature of the shadow world varies by game. In 3, the shadow world is a localized distortion centered around a single location that only exists in a period of time that most cannot percieve (the 25th hour), in 4, it is a "TV Realm" literally entered by passing through a TV screen (note: thsi game came out before TVs got as large as they are today, and finding a TV large enough to fit a person through was still a bit of a challenge), and in 5 the shadow world is the world of cognition-- or Perception, but as it exists in a collective sense.

When a character is in the shadow world, they might awaken a Persona -- a spiritual being (drawn from religion or literature, usually) who grants them incredible power. at this moment, their outfit changes to reflect their awakened state. Ayane is wearing the costume of Ann Takamaki, a model who is being sexually harassed by a teacher at her school. Her refusal of his advances causes the teacher to rape her best friend, who then tries to kill herself by jumping off the roof of the school. Ann's arc is driven by her sense of guilt towards what happens to her friend, her dealing with rumors (spread by the teacher) that she was sleeping with said teacher, and a desire to not be seen as just a model anymore.

A whole lot of that is really, REALLY on the nose.

Ann is the Lover Arcana, which seems appropriate for Ayane as well.

Other characters in the game include:
Futaba Sakura, a redheaded Otaku recluse who blames herself for her mother's death (Molly?). She is the Hermit Arcana, which is less appropriate for Molly (Yumi would be a better candidate)

Makoto Niijima, a studious Student Council President who blames herself for not seeing what was happening at her school sooner. Her Arcana is Priestess, which doesn't feel like a good fit for our Makoto (Noriko is a better fit), but the name and role overlapping likely isn't coincidence.

Haru Nokumura, an heiress who is slated to be married to the son of a company executive who is also an abusive prick, who feels abandoned by her father (Touka). Her Arcana is Empress, which also fits Touka (one of the first things listed on the Megami Tensei wiki for Empress is that it's associated with mothers, and we know how Akira feels about Touka)

Kinda just punching the nose over and over again, honestly.

I've known that Sel has cited Persona as an influence for some time, but I hadn't actually thought that much about LiL in terms of Persona or the Arcana.
This made me want to play persona games, but 100+ hours per game still scares me.
 
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aramaug

Member
Jun 28, 2019
178
1,033
Someone raised the point of Sekai's surname a while back, and what if it's Shiawase?
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I mean, there is the old theory about white rabbits being associated with Sekai. Or rather, Sekai Shiawase. If that was the case, it would make Sekai a part of the simulation characters (characters with alliterative names).

aramaug pointed out that the Shiawase group was also a part of the Pareidolia Mall sequence, but that is the event I hate the most in this game, so I'm not going back just for that.

Edit: Shiawase can literally mean happiness, and given that Sekai experienced trauma in her home enough to despise her surname, it would make sense that her surname meant happiness. She dropped it and chose instead the title "the girl who cannot breathe" in opposition to the forced veneer of happiness thrust upon her (that made her unable to breathe).

It would also fit with her pursuit of trying everything to be happy and never achieving it before Akira, it would literally be in her name.

At the very least the Shiawase group seems to be in charge of the simulation, after all, it fits that the "Happiness group" would have the slogan "remember to smile".
Here's an idle thought on the subject of potential Sekai surnames: how about Tsukioka? As in, she would have been the sister of Tomonori.
  • I think it was Tsukasa who implied that Tomonori was an only child, but how likely is it that his parents wouldn't have had a failsafe like Tsukasa is for Touka? Maybe her existence was just hidden from the kids since she was estranged from the family.
  • Whether she was the heir or the failsafe (not sure on respective ages), Sekai would absolutely rebel against the rigid upbringing and expectations of continuing family tradition that the Tsukiokas emphasize.
  • She doesn't look like Touka/Tsukasa, but they get their looks from Tsubasa so for all we know Tomonori could be a redhead.
  • The Tsukioka manor sakura tree clearly has some connection to Sekai, since she appears with it in Mother's Milk and "Ami" is in front of it in Rain King.
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  • Sensei sees Touka as Sekai, probably because they're both mother figures that he wants to fuck, but maybe there's a deeper connection.
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  • Sekai's name starts with the letter T, which definitely stands for something other than Teacher. ;)
If anything, I'd think that Shiawase is a certain girl equivalent to Himawari solely because of the available parallel I can draw between Shiawase Group and Himawari Co, the two mysterious LLCs both featured in the Pareidolia Mall, and the fact that neither Shiawase or Himawari sounds like a name for an individual.
You know, Shiori Shiawase has a nice ring to it. :unsure:
 

Moonflare

Well-Known Member
Aug 23, 2023
1,313
5,218
Here's an idle thought on the subject of potential Sekai surnames: how about Tsukioka? As in, she would have been the sister of Tomonori.
  • I think it was Tsukasa who implied that Tomonori was an only child, but how likely is it that his parents wouldn't have had a failsafe like Tsukasa is for Touka? Maybe her existence was just hidden from the kids since she was estranged from the family.
  • Whether she was the heir or the failsafe (not sure on respective ages), Sekai would absolutely rebel against the rigid upbringing and expectations of continuing family tradition that the Tsukiokas emphasize.
  • She doesn't look like Touka/Tsukasa, but they get their looks from Tsubasa so for all we know Tomonori could be a redhead.
  • The Tsukioka manor sakura tree clearly has some connection to Sekai, since she appears with it in Mother's Milk and "Ami" is in front of it in Rain King.
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  • Sensei sees Touka as Sekai, probably because they're both mother figures that he wants to fuck, but maybe there's a deeper connection.
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  • Sekai's name starts with the letter T, which definitely stands for something other than Teacher. ;)

You know, Shiori Shiawase has a nice ring to it. :unsure:
I like that theory a lot. It explains the tree, the running from her family, why Sekai would have been buried in the mansion (or maybe Sekai's mother? can't quite recall the ghost story), her letter T (with teacher being a smokescreen), her name not being alliterative as she's not a part of the simulation, and plus, Akira would be soon having sex with his niece again (Touka) :ROFLMAO:

Would Touka's father be unaware of the Arakawas though? Even if she's distanced from her family (or rather because of it) they'd still keep tabs on her and, most importantly, on her daughter. Even if they assume Ami is Nozomu's daughter, she'd still be a Tsukioka in blood. It would be inconceivable that Akira would have to rescue Ami from adoption from a random family if she's a Tsukioka, as they'd adopt her instead. And if they tried, Akira/Ami would remember it.

The one issue with this theory is that grandma's house has to default to being Saki instead of Sekai's mom. And why would Ami refer to it being "grandma's house" to Akira if he lived there? Akira was surely not living alone in the old district when Ami was born, Saki would have been there (Edit: actually, where was Saki as Nozomu died? she must have been dead already, otherwise she'd adopt Ami. And if she died so early in Ami's life, who's the grandma she speaks of? Interesting, didn't think about that).

Tsukioka Sekai and Shiawase Shiori seems like an elegant theory regardless. Good job.

Edit: I also think there's a possibility that Tsubasa's husband was the spare, and Sekai was the older sister.
Edit2: We need some speculation on the timeline of Saki's death, who was living with Akira where and to what point in the timeline. Potentially, this might reveal a bizarre family dynamic in which Nozomu and Sekai were acting as Akira's parents during his late teenage years.
 
Last edited:

JelF547

Active Member
Mar 15, 2023
975
1,893
Here's an idle thought on the subject of potential Sekai surnames: how about Tsukioka? As in, she would have been the sister of Tomonori.
  • I think it was Tsukasa who implied that Tomonori was an only child, but how likely is it that his parents wouldn't have had a failsafe like Tsukasa is for Touka? Maybe her existence was just hidden from the kids since she was estranged from the family.
  • Whether she was the heir or the failsafe (not sure on respective ages), Sekai would absolutely rebel against the rigid upbringing and expectations of continuing family tradition that the Tsukiokas emphasize.
  • She doesn't look like Touka/Tsukasa, but they get their looks from Tsubasa so for all we know Tomonori could be a redhead.
  • The Tsukioka manor sakura tree clearly has some connection to Sekai, since she appears with it in Mother's Milk and "Ami" is in front of it in Rain King.
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  • Sensei sees Touka as Sekai, probably because they're both mother figures that he wants to fuck, but maybe there's a deeper connection.
    You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.
  • Sekai's name starts with the letter T, which definitely stands for something other than Teacher. ;)

You know, Shiori Shiawase has a nice ring to it. :unsure:
This is a good one. Despite being a bit of uncalled, it actually makes Tsukioas responsible to most of the stuff, which is belivable enough.

Also, it would mean that Tsukiokas already have a child from Arakawas, which allows interesting implications

PS Good bye "all girls in the class are Akira's relatives" and welcome "all girls in the class are Ami's relatives" theory
 
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Moonflare

Well-Known Member
Aug 23, 2023
1,313
5,218
seeing the amount of stuff i missed or didn't understand after reading some messages and theories here makes me realise that even though i spent 260 hours to go through the entire game up to v0.42, i may as well re-read the entirety of it because there's just so much hidden stuff

or i'm just dumb and it's a me issue (also thanks for all the passionate users here y'all are great)
First of all, welcome to being active in the thread. Your first replay is where it really starts. At times it seems like a completely different game from the amount of stuff you start paying attention to and connections you couldn't make before.

I skipped most of Chika's events and hated Yasu's "nonsense" during my first time. I barely knew who Chinami was as well: "why the hell is there a kid (with a dog mask) in this porn game? slip skip". And now I can quote random obscure lore fragments by heart :ROFLMAO: Perhaps I should start wearing denim.
 
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