Ren'Py Lessons in Love [v0.45.0] [Selebus]

[DeSkel15]

what about ami... does she see sensei as her and her alone personal god, or does she see herself as his

I definitely think it's more of a reversal. Ami takes care of Sensei 24/7, and sees herself as his personal guardian. However she's also playing the role of his niece, maid, student, and more or less mother, while trying to be like her mother, and wanting to be his lover. So, seeing herself as his goddess and wanting him to see her that way too, wouldn't surprise me. Also, Ami doesn't seem to put her faith in Sensei much, needing him to call her to check in and stuff. On the other hand, she seems to expect him to put his faith in her without question, which he usually does.

Mega Ami even seems to be what she'd call her goddess persona.

 

[Bingoogus]

The game is set in 2020, so Akira was born in 1989.

Why you gotta go and slap me with that bro? That was the year i was born...

 

[DeSkel15]

Just realized that if the game is set in 2020, that means most of the students were born in 2005, if not 2004 (since Chika is 16, and the oldest in class if I recall correctly.) Meaning 6 year old Noriko had a "crush" on 22 year old Sensei around 2011, and the car accident likely occured in 2012.

Which also made me just realize that the Maya would predict when the world would end, (which it was supposed to in 2012, etc). In other words, the world (Sekai) did end in 2012.

Maya may have even been inspired by the Mayans that are said to predict when the world will end, which is why Maya in this game can feel when the world is about to end, and has a fascination with stars, astrology being something the Mayans are known for. Not to mention her name is Maya.. Not sure why this hasn't crossed my mind before.

 

[KnowNoHope]

Just realized that if the game is set in 2020, that means most of the students were born in 2005, if not 2004 (since Chika is 16, and the oldest in class if I recall correctly.) Meaning 6 year old Noriko had a "crush" on 22 year old Sensei around 2011, and the car accident likely occured in 2012.

Which also made me just realize that the Maya would predict when the world would end, (which it was supposed to in 2012, etc). In other words, the world (Sekai) did end in 2012.

Maya may have even been inspired by the Mayans that are said to predict when the world will end, which is why Maya in this game can feel when the world is about to end, and has a fascination with stars, astrology being something the Mayans are known for. Not to mention her name is Maya.. Not sure why this hasn't crossed my mind before.

think you might be overreaching, dont want to piss on it, but i think you might be seeing parallels rather than intersecting points.
game is heavy on symbology and so is mayan culture... we have not seen any of that overlap that i am aware of other than tex mex tacos

 

[Bingoogus]

Just realized that if the game is set in 2020, that means most of the students were born in 2005, if not 2004 (since Chika is 16, and the oldest in class if I recall correctly.) Meaning 6 year old Noriko had a "crush" on 22 year old Sensei around 2011, and the car accident likely occured in 2012.

Which also made me just realize that the Maya would predict when the world would end, (which it was supposed to in 2012, etc). In other words, the world (Sekai) did end in 2012.

Maya may have even been inspired by the Mayans that are said to predict when the world will end, which is why Maya in this game can feel when the world is about to end, and has a fascination with stars, astrology being something the Mayans are known for. Not to mention her name is Maya.. Not sure why this hasn't crossed my mind before.

Id be curious if following this line of thinking might turn up other interesting insights...

 

[DeSkel15]

think you might be overreaching, dont want to piss on it, but i think you might be seeing parallels rather than intersecting points.

They are definitely not intersecting points, I'm merely theorizing on why Selebus chose the name Maya in particular for Maya, after seeing what the timeline could look like. More like meta theorizing.

 

[DeSkel15]

game is heavy on symbology and so is mayan culture... we have not seen any of that overlap that i am aware of other than tex mex tacos

Mayan culture did have priests and gods centered around astrology, and they had human sacrifices for thier gods. Maya tends to bring up astrology a lot, and has even noted that she'd sacrifice others to get where she wants to be. HOPE also seems to want Sensei to use his loved ones as human sacrifices to it.

The only thing that's really lacking is references to Maize or Corn, and feathered serpents in the game, or I've simply forgot if they were mentioned.

 

[Virgin Girl]

there is any whoring ? like public sex life

 

[KnowNoHope]

Mayan culture did have priests and gods centered around astrology, and they had human sacrifices for thier gods. Maya tends to bring up astrology a lot, and has even noted that she'd sacrifice others to get where she wants to be. HOPE also seems to want Sensei to use his loved ones as human sacrifices to it.

The only thing that's really lacking is references to Maize or Corn, and feathered serpents in the game, or I've simply forgot if they were mentioned.

the astrology maya brings up is western and eastern mytho's and not native american in origin. and human sacrifice can be linked to all cultures at some point in time not just meso-america.
which is why i say its a bit of a stretch because we have not gotten any mayan symbology or stories put into the game and why would there be... its japan.

 

[DeSkel15]

there is any whoring ? like public sex life

No. hence there being no prostitution tag. This game isn't one I'd recommend if you are just wanting to turn girls into whores. If you'd like to experience a psychological suspense on the other hand, go ahead.

 

[DeSkel15]

the astrology maya brings up is western and eastern mytho's and not native american in origin. and human sacrifice can be linked to all cultures at some point in time not just meso-america.
which is why i say its a bit of a stretch because we have not gotten any mayan symbology or stories put into the game and why would there be... its japan.

She's not using specific astrology, but she is the astrology character that is named Maya that can also predict the end of the world, and is involved in a cycle. Human sacrifice can be linked to many cultures, but meso america definitely seems to have the most popular version of it. Specifically when it comes to the Aztecs and Mayans, who apparently believe humans were meant to nourish the gods.

It taking place in Japan also doesn't seem to matter much. The game has mentioned the Trinity, Fae, Vega and Altair, etc. Still, like I said I'm not trying to "intersect" anything. Just if some Mayan stuff played a part in the ideas behind the game, I wouldn't be too surprised.

 

[Bingoogus]

She's not using specific astrology, but she is the astrology character that is named Maya that can also predict the end of the world, and is involved in a cycle. Human sacrifice can be linked to many cultures, but meso america definitely seems to have the most popular version of it. Specifically when it comes to the Aztecs and Mayans, who apparently believe humans were meant to nourish the gods.

It taking place in Japan also doesn't seem to matter much. The game has mentioned the Trinity, Fae, Vega and Altair, etc. Still, like I said I'm not trying to "intersect" anything. Just if some Mayan stuff played a part in the ideas behind the game, I wouldn't be too surprised.

I like your theory, whether it's right or wrong you've still put work into it and it's internally coherent.

 

[hario1225]

Why you gotta go and slap me with that bro? That was the year i was born...

Hi gramps hehehehehe

 

[KnowNoHope]

She's not using specific astrology, but she is the astrology character that is named Maya that can also predict the end of the world, and is involved in a cycle. Human sacrifice can be linked to many cultures, but meso america definitely seems to have the most popular version of it. Specifically when it comes to the Aztecs and Mayans, who apparently believe humans were meant to nourish the gods.

It taking place in Japan also doesn't seem to matter much. The game has mentioned the Trinity, Fae, Vega and Altair, etc. Still, like I said I'm not trying to "intersect" anything. Just if some Mayan stuff played a part in the ideas behind the game, I wouldn't be too surprised.

she actually uses some Chinese astrology myths where she talks about Qixi, the forbidden love between two stars, some of the girls make passing mention to western horoscopes, the poetry that is often used in reference to the stars is clearly western and eastern in origin, the ever enlarging moon is kind of a more modern mythos in japan that gets put in their video games all the time, though i have no clue what it started from. everything else tends to be western prose and melodrama waxing about the stars and the nature of man. there has been no in game reference to the mayans as of yet either through symbology, stories, or myths. there has been plenty of catholic and christian symbolic references however as well as outright shinto mythology references and visuals.
as for human sacrifice being popularized in meso-american culture in the pop culture of the US you may have a point. but the human sacrifice being portrayed in this is not on the scale or style of the meso-american rituals or the fakes ones portrayed in media as of yet.
I'm not ruling it out from being developed into the game in the future, nor am i saying your ideas are bad, just that I think the claim at this point is a bit unfounded.
where is the defeat of the great crocodile and the monkey brothers, I would love some mayan cultural references.

I like your theory, whether it's right or wrong you've still put work into it and it's internally coherent.

same thoughts

 

[fdsasdf_p]

What is a god? It is a thing we put our faith in. It is a thing that inspires us to move forward, to be better than ourselves, to become part of something larger than ourselves. We all have gods. They may not be Gods, but they are gods nonetheless.
(this may not translate well for non-native English speakers, and for that, I apologize).

In American Gods, Neil Gaiman describes how just about anything can become a god. That the modern gods of American culture are Television and The Allmighty Dollar (that last one might have been White Wolf Game Studios, as they had a similar device in Werewolf: The Apocalypse). That if enough people believe in it, it becomes a god, even if it was never one to begin with.

Who is our first god? Our family. Our mothers, fathers, and siblings. So it makes sense that Akira's first god is his brother -- the person who was his equal in status, but his superior in every way. Our parents are authorities, but our brothers and sisters, even the ones with significant age gaps, are our peers. And so he came to view his brother as his first god, the person to look up to, to aspire to become. And how did he see his brother? Well, his brother fucked everything that moved.

Note, however, that his brother's wife isn't a god. She is, quite literally, his World. That which he came to live for, that which he came to desire beyond anything else. I don't think pre-loop Akira ever actually loved Niki. I think he was with Niki because Sekai got off on watching him corrupt her, and when Sekai died, he no longer had a reason to spend time with her.

If you're a young, awkward kid growing up in any era after the proliferation of American On-Line, your second god was the Internet. Social media has ruined the internet in many ways. The game is set in 2020, so Akira was born in 1989. A young, awkward Akira would be discovering the internet in late 90s. When it was still the glorious refuge from the bullies outside. Thus, it makes sense that the God of Wires is his second god. And the Akira of the time loop never spends time on the internet, so it makes sense that the God of Wires is dying -- gods need attention from the faithful to survive, after all.

This makes me wonder why Pareidolia is the third god. The first two make sense. But how would the tendency to see a defined image in a random pattern become a god?

Until I saw this while I was googling Paeidolia:

View attachment 2629761

The take on the first god is quite inspiring to face-valued people like myself
"Our gods being ours and perhaps only ours because of their past or present influence in our lives and thus we anointed them to be our gods"

Then I have questions about the second god (here assuming second god = USER2 = God of Wires)
If we keep this trend going, I am not sure how second god's doing can be explained when it:
- performed facial alteration on Ami during There Is Nothing. An ability the first god never had, and an ability only been used on Ami (at least in front of us)
- fucked with Maya during The Scary Room (internet prank? LOL)
(this scene was also intriguing because I think this is a rare scene where USER2 seemed to work with two angels, the disciples of the first god/HOPE)


Ami's part might be explainable because Sensei is with her, so it is through altering Sensei's "HUD" and not actually Ami's face (though there is one instance at the end of Everlasting Love where Ami glitched out when Sensei isn't around, but it isn't explicitly implied that this is a work of the second god); but what about Maya's encounter? Sensei wasn't around so what is USER2 to Maya?

Edit: a way I got around my own thoughts is that:
1) Ami has her own unknown tie to the second god, which could conveniently explain the scary room scene because she prepped it.
2) whatever god Sensei anointed to himself could also affect everyone in Kumon-mi because of “protagonist power” , in comparison to Sara’s who can only affect herself.

i.e., Sensei’s gods can just decide to affect you even if you don’t have a connection to them (if you do, get extra affected I supposed) because you reside in a world built for him that is Kumon-mi. Examples like this are Rin hearing clock sounds when rejected by Chika and having a blackout during The Paragon of Not Worrying About Stuff, and Uta also receiving her own nudes

This is also a pretty roundabout way to say “there is only one god” because it’s basically all Sensei’s subconscious doings: whatever factors affected Akira in the past take turn dominating his actions, this fake world, and everyone in it; he just doesn’t know that these gods are different facets of himself (linking back to assigning emotions to gods).

 

[hario1225]

Somehow I like it better here than the discord, it's really hard posting things there and most of the time, I don't understand what shiet they're talking about lol

 

[barglenarglezous]

Just realized that if the game is set in 2020, that means most of the students were born in 2005, if not 2004 (since Chika is 16, and the oldest in class if I recall correctly.) Meaning 6 year old Noriko had a "crush" on 22 year old Sensei around 2011, and the car accident likely occured in 2012.

Which also made me just realize that the Maya would predict when the world would end, (which it was supposed to in 2012, etc). In other words, the world (Sekai) did end in 2012.

Maya may have even been inspired by the Mayans that are said to predict when the world will end, which is why Maya in this game can feel when the world is about to end, and has a fascination with stars, astrology being something the Mayans are known for. Not to mention her name is Maya.. Not sure why this hasn't crossed my mind before.

Posters here have been more likely to reference the Hindu concept of Maya than the Mayans, but the math does math in the Mayans direction.

 

[Kawaiikaze]

The take on the first god is quite inspiring to face-valued people like myself
"Our gods being ours and perhaps only ours because of their past or present influence in our lives and thus we anointed them to be our gods"

Then I have questions about the second god (here assuming second god = USER2 = God of Wires)
If we keep this trend going, I am not sure how second god's doing can be explained when it:
- performed facial alteration on Ami during There Is Nothing. An ability the first god never had, and an ability only been used on Ami (at least in front of us)
- fucked with Maya during The Scary Room (internet prank? LOL)
(this scene was also intriguing because I think this is a rare scene where USER2 seemed to work with two angels, the disciples of the first god/HOPE)

I'm pretty sure it's implied that the scary room is actually Hope trying to stir shit up with Maya.
We can't possibly know what USER2 deal is into all this, but it seems like he mostly keeps it to himself and only swoops in to fix memories, kill makoto's depression like a virus, and keep things somewhat in order. Hence why I believe he's the one that resets the world whenever it is required. Tsu's father doesn't really seem to care that much about time repeating itself as well, he's just kinda of living in the present I'd say

 

[fdsasdf_p]

...

It took me a while, but...is she talking about Yumi or she was

View attachment 2631109

Spoiler: SPOILER(?)

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Think this is about the threesome she later discussed with Sensei

 

[barglenarglezous]

Spoiler: condensing your reply

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Just because a given god is "my" god doesn't mean it can't also be "yours," it just means that it isn't automatically something that has power over you. I have to choose to give your gods power over me.

Nozomu is a fantastic example -- Nozomu holds actual power over multiple characters, because he was -- directly or indirectly -- a part of their lives. He's theorized to be Sana's father, he may have died in the same accident that killed Miku's parents and/or fucked Kaori up pretty bad, etc. There's a shared trauma thread amongst the cast regarding him.

So while we don't have any direct evidence that Maya's tied to the God of Wires, she very well might have one. We're still early enough in the game that a lot of questions remain unanswered for now. The Halloween scene you reference implies very strongly that she does, because not only did she perceive what was happening, but she _understood what it meant as it was happening_.

As Sensei grows closer to each of the girls, his gods are going to have increasing power over them, because they are choosing to give him more power over them. Just as Sekai morphing from his World to the fourth God (potentially, if she's who User 4 is reserved for) is giving her increasing power over him (to the extent that she can now literally control his actions).