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

[butterfly boy]

I wish I could agree with your optimism, but I just don't see it. I do hope for some kind of light at the end of the tunnel, but the overarching plot, setting, and information about wtf is wrong with Sensei are just being so slowly drip-fed that I'm struggling to understand what exactly the main focus of the game is.

I think the main focus is the characters. The story is less about what happens, and more about how characters react to it, how it changes them and how we perceive them. Take Sara's bar for example, some of us expected the story to be an adventure where we fight to make her bar do better, but it just became better out of nowhere. That is because Sara's bar is just a plot device to make us learn more about Sara as a person. Or the Yumi Revitalization Project, maybe Yumi won't get a job by the end of the game, but the important part is we get to learn more about why Yumi is the way she is, and how she will grow as a person.
That is why I'm positive about this game. Even if the ending gets really dark, I know the journey with these characters will be worth it.

 

[butterfly boy]

Imo, this world is weird enough to give all girls happy ending with Sensei without sharing. Yes, it would be a paradox, but when nothing is real anything is possible.

Please no. The relationship that Sensei has with these girls is incredibly toxic and unless he seriously improves himself I wouldn't consider an ending with Sensei "happy".

 

[derekthered56]

Most of the girls are using Akira as a proxy for something missing in their life. Their happy ending would be them either getting it back, or realizing there are healthier ways to live without them.

Like, if the sky's the limit, Ayane would find herself in an alternate timeline where her father never became absurdly wealthy, so he never emotionally abandoned her mom, so her mom never left, and they're actually a healthy, happy family.

I think most of the girls could conceivably grow enough to move on from their problems without needing Sensei as a crutch. The only ones who couldn't are Ami and Maya. Ami would snap like a twig if she lost one more family member, and her Real and Psycho selves are so hard to separate that I'm not sure how capable of growth she is. Maya has been dedicated to Akira for so long, and to the real Akira and not some idealized projection, that I'm not sure what she could even be if he wasn't in her life.

 

[JelF547]

Please no. The relationship that Sensei has with these girls is incredibly toxic and unless he seriously improves himself I wouldn't consider an ending with Sensei "happy".

I would be disapointed if he wouldn't seriously imporve himself untilthe game ends. His constant improvement is one of the reasons I really like this game.

But I don't think serious improvement would be enough. It's not OK to date a guy twice your age even if he is perfect. Initialy I had an assumption that girls are older then their biological age because not all their experience is wiped by reset, but it is likely wrong and Kumon-me somehow keeps childish even Maya, who lived more time than she can remember.

 

[DeSkel15]

I would be disapointed if he wouldn't seriously imporve himself untilthe game ends. His constant improvement is one of the reasons I really like this game.

But I don't think serious improvement would be enough. It's not OK to date a guy twice your age even if he is perfect. Initialy I had an assumption that girls are older then their biological age because not all their experience is wiped by reset, but it is likely wrong and Kumon-me somehow keeps childish even Maya, who lived more time than she can remember.

Honestly, I think the main reason that the girls don't really age, and why Maya doesn't really age, is because of Sensei.

Sensei letting his true self shine:

Spoiler

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I doubt Sensei has complete control over this world, but I'd be surprised if whatever's actually in control hasn't taken his preferences into account. The whole infinite first year of highschool thing seems awfully specific.

Then again, I kind of also think everyone's already dead and the reason they don't age is because they are literally puppeteered corpses meant to keep the illusion "alive".

 

[ContraBxss]

Spoiler: 0.32 Spoiler

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[DeSkel15]

Spoiler: 0.32 Spoiler

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That monster seems to be "The old one" that Sensei summoned when we invited Noriko over:

Spoiler

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I think that and the Io event just cut off because that's all that we were meant to see. The old one may have caused Sensei to black out though.

 

[JelF547]

I think that and the Io event just cut off because that's all that we were meant to see.

I'll join you, it was pretty straightforward. Yumi is growing as a character and we have been assured that Io was rather traumatized then born broken. Also Yuki now has more visitors, hooray.

Actualy we had discussion on Io around the patch, so you can scroll thread to see it

 

[blackredfish]

The "one true ending" after the purity routes is 100% confirmed won't be a Harem Ending. So I tend to believe that if Akira won't have all the girls he won't have any. Don't think Sel is going to play favourites here and say Sensei's "true love" was Maya/Niki or whoever. What I'm kind of expecting is a bittersweet ending, the cycle ends and the girls are ready to move on with their lives and leave their traumas behind. And a redeemed (kind of) Sensei being gone for good, since some girls don't seem able to carry on with their own lives as long as he is still there in any shape or form. Maybe a couple of them (Maya, Ami) won't still be able to and will try to create a new "dream world" and that's how it ends. I'd rather have them to not do that and learn to live without him but that probably won't be the case.

Anyway, the existence of multiple universes is canon on this game, so if you don't like the "true ending" whatever it is, you can still pick the ending of your favorite girl and take it as your own ending and that will be okay I guess.

 

[DeSkel15]

I'll join you, it was pretty straightforward. Yumi is growing as a character and we have been assured that Io was rather traumatized then born broken. Also Yuki now has more visitors, hooray.

Actualy we had discussion on Io around the patch, so you can scroll thread to see it

You know, I just realized that Yuki is a recovering drug addict, and Io is becoming like a drug dealer. Kind of ironic that they seem to be quite close.

Also, yeah I've checked out the Io discussion. I just didn't really have much to add at the time.

In retrospect though: Uta expecting Io to not show up at the 'Midnight mom mosh' event, with Io being notably uncomfortable by the mother-ish stuff, and now with the recent thing with Yumi's neglectful mom being laughable to Io, I do think it's safe to say Io's mother played a part in why Io is the way she is. It's likely why she lives with her aunt.

Not to downplay what Io went through, but I do think her having Mommy issues is highly likely.

 

[DeSkel15]

The "one true ending" after the purity routes is 100% confirmed won't be a Harem Ending. So I tend to believe that if Akira won't have all the girls he won't have any. Don't think Sel is going to play favourites here and say Sensei's "true love" was Maya/Niki or whoever. What I'm kind of expecting is a bittersweet ending, the cycle ends and the girls are ready to move on with their lives and leave their traumas behind. And a redeemed (kind of) Sensei being gone for good, since some girls don't seem able to carry on with their own lives as long as he is still there in any shape or form. Maybe a couple of them (Maya, Ami) won't still be able to and will try to create a new "dream world" and that's how it ends. I'd rather have them to not do that and learn to live without him but that probably won't be the case.

Anyway, the existence of multiple universes is canon on this game, so if you don't like the "true ending" whatever it is, you can still pick the ending of your favorite girl and take it as your own ending and that will be okay I guess.

You're definitely more optimistic than I am. I don't think anyone is getting an actual happy ending, besides maybe Nao (not Nao-chan) and those above it. I don't think the cycle will be broken. Sensei will get "close" then he'll be bluntly reminded that he's only playing the part that he was scripted to play, before being reset so that he can eternally struggle in vain. All while Nao watches, entertained, as the ants go around in circles. Any happy endings merely being "what ifs" meant to spice things up before being reset again.

Nao spoiled the ending:

Spoiler

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Edit: Lmao, I might be a Nihilist:

Spoiler

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[w.iT]

You know, I just realized that Yuki is a recovering drug addict, and Io is becoming like a drug dealer. Kind of ironic that they seem to be quite close.

Also, yeah I've checked out the Io discussion. I just didn't really have much to add at the time.

In retrospect though: Uta expecting Io to not show up at the 'Midnight mom mosh' event, with Io being notably uncomfortable by the mother-ish stuff, and now with the recent thing with Yumi's neglectful mom being laughable to Io, I do think it's safe to say Io's mother played a part in why Io is the way she is. It's likely why she lives with her aunt.

Not to downplay what Io went through, but I do think her having Mommy issues is highly likely.

Im guessing Io went through the same situation with Akira and sekai. It would explain why Io being so repulsive to doing any sexual act.

 

[DeSkel15]

Im guessing Io went through the same situation with Akira and sekai. It would explain why Io being so repulsive to doing any sexual act.

Yeah, and both seem to think they are similar to eachother. In this case, it might have been a mother instead of a sister in law that fucked the kid up, though. Io just seems to have been "saved" in the long run, while Sensei became addicted.

 

[BigPlotDude]

Hey does anyone have a save file that i can use i was halfway in chapter 2 but my save files got corrupt when i updated in to the new version.

 

[TheLastCrusade]

Next cards: Chinami, Wakana, Yasu

Next cards: Kirin, Touka, Nodoka

 

[angevarg674]

I can't help but feel like this game is gonna end with one big 'fuck you'. I get the vibe that the dev actually hates the player.

This, tbh. I can't help but feel like we won't get the story of a fucked up man, perpetuating the abuse he suffered as a child onto others learning to acklowledge what he is and seek help, but instead we'll get something cheap and "shock value-ey", if you get what I mean.
I get that Akira isn't a supposed be sympathetic, he's a groomer and a predator, but the game has given us a reason for the way he acts: trauma. So it would be nice to see this topic being treated with some level of maturity, but for some reason I just don't expect this of Sel

 

[DeSkel15]

This, tbh. I can't help but feel like we won't get the story of a fucked up man, perpetuating the abuse he suffered as a child onto others learning to acklowledge what he is and seek help, but instead we'll get something cheap and "shock value-ey", if you get what I mean.
I get that Akira isn't a supposed be sympathetic, he's a groomer and a predator, but the game has given us a reason for the way he acts: trauma. So it would be nice to see this topic being treated with some level of maturity, but for some reason I just don't expect this of Sel

I think it's already been treated with more maturity than I expected, tbh. Some don't seem to care, others seem to give him a pass, then others don't, and even more others have no idea what's actually going on, then there's a few that support what he's doing. Meanwhile he both demonizes and embraces himself depending on how he's feeling. Can't really get more mature than acknowledging right and wrong changes between individuals and circumstances, and the world moves on nevertheless.

I wouldn't really expect Sensei to become an ideal human or even stop being what he is. Even his growth so far is likely more of him becoming who he was before. Aka Maya's tutor, teacher, and secret lover, who seemed to be creeping on Yumi.

 

[saerav]

Hoping at least a few girls will get a happy-ish ending. Sensei can end up as their free use puppet for all I care. I do think it's too late for any happy endings though. "Everything is already g-":

Spoiler

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Everything's already good is what she meant to say of course! H-haha!

Also, was it mentioned anywhere if Akira's dad was a teacher? Sara seems to have dated a teacher in high school (or someone already made that connection, I vaguely remember seeing that possible theory connecting the two before in the thread).

As for a story, I don't think Akira isn't supposed to be sympathetic. Sure the creepy parts of him aren't. At first you disregard the creepy parts because you go in expecting a normal porn game and that point you might find them funny until more of the story reveals itself. But there's actual effort put into his character growth as he regains more memories and makes deeper personal connections with others; especially the scenes where he regains memories specifically (and Fireflies) have been quite touching. I don't know if there's a happy ending in story for him, but i also don't think it's quite as simple as "it's bound to be bad". There's more than 1 "God" at play here and they don't all seem to have the same goals or motivations (and we don't even know what is actually going on, ultimately).

I kinda don't think the whole mall thing is really... indicative of anything. It's a happy event, and Happy Events while having some indeed good pointers towards Sensei's past and future and everything, I don't feel like there's been a single one we can take at face value. Instead they are hallucinations or gods playing with sensei or a little bith of column a, little bit of column b etc. The whole mall story seems way more coherent than a normal happy event, but so do the conversations between plants, and that doesn't automatically mean that all the plants are sentient beings; instead it's a fun way for the author to address theories and maybe dump some additional info and we can sort of take talking plants a bit more easily as hallucinations.
I think it's similar for what we see in all happy events; since the characters and what occurs in these events seem to convey stuff that's contradictory to eachother (e.g. there's implications that this is just a video game, then refutations, etc. etc.). A lot of it i think just serves to obfuscate and further confuse until it all clicks in a later playthrough once it's all done (hopefully).
At least so far for me on my 2nd playthrough, a lot of stuff is clicking a lot easier knowing what happens down the line, or maybe I am just paying more attention.

I wonder how far away are we from any endings?

 

[JelF547]

You're definitely more optimistic than I am. I don't think anyone is getting an actual happy ending, besides maybe Nao (not Nao-chan) and those above it. I don't think the cycle will be broken. Sensei will get "close" then he'll be bluntly reminded that he's only playing the part that he was scripted to play, before being reset so that he can eternally struggle in vain. All while Nao watches, entertained, as the ants go around in circles. Any happy endings merely being "what ifs" meant to spice things up before being reset again.

Nao spoiled the ending:

Spoiler

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Edit: Lmao, I might be a Nihilist:

Spoiler

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I am currenty think of three most likely possibilities:

1) Sensei fights gods and fails. 3rd phase is about accepting his fate. Something similar to what you said
2) Sensei fights gods and wins. 3rd phase is about fixing what he done in process.
3) Conflict between goods and Sekai spirals out of control and problem solves itself. 3rd phase is reduced to aftermath

There is always forth possibility as well: Selebus outplays me again and does something even beter. Actualy it is more likely, especialy if he really rewriting plot right now.

Im guessing Io went through the same situation with Akira and sekai. It would explain why Io being so repulsive to doing any sexual act.

The real plot twist of chapter 3 is that Sekai isn't the worst xD

 

[DeSkel15]

Everything's already good is what she meant to say of course! H-haha!

Also, was it mentioned anywhere if Akira's dad was a teacher? Sara seems to have dated a teacher in high school (or someone already made that connection, I vaguely remember seeing that possible theory connecting the two before in the thread).

As for a story, I don't think Akira isn't supposed to be sympathetic. Sure the creepy parts of him aren't. At first you disregard the creepy parts because you go in expecting a normal porn game and that point you might find them funny until more of the story reveals itself. But there's actual effort put into his character growth as he regains more memories and makes deeper personal connections with others; especially the scenes where he regains memories specifically (and Fireflies) have been quite touching. I don't know if there's a happy ending in story for him, but i also don't think it's quite as simple as "it's bound to be bad". There's more than 1 "God" at play here and they don't all seem to have the same goals or motivations (and we don't even know what is actually going on, ultimately).

I kinda don't think the whole mall thing is really... indicative of anything. It's a happy event, and Happy Events while having some indeed good pointers towards Sensei's past and future and everything, I don't feel like there's been a single one we can take at face value. Instead they are hallucinations or gods playing with sensei or a little bith of column a, little bit of column b etc. The whole mall story seems way more coherent than a normal happy event, but so do the conversations between plants, and that doesn't automatically mean that all the plants are sentient beings; instead it's a fun way for the author to address theories and maybe dump some additional info and we can sort of take talking plants a bit more easily as hallucinations.
I think it's similar for what we see in all happy events; since the characters and what occurs in these events seem to convey stuff that's contradictory to eachother (e.g. there's implications that this is just a video game, then refutations, etc. etc.). A lot of it i think just serves to obfuscate and further confuse until it all clicks in a later playthrough once it's all done (hopefully).
At least so far for me on my 2nd playthrough, a lot of stuff is clicking a lot easier knowing what happens down the line, or maybe I am just paying more attention.

I wonder how far away are we from any endings?

"Everything is already good." She says after crying and begging to be taken somewhere else, then she's interrupted and the next time we see her she's crucified and begging for help. Honestly, that's even creepier than saying "gone".

There's virtually nothing known about Sensei's father, except apparently dead by diabetes. It does seem implied to be Yuu who was the protagonist from Selebus' last game though. Saki, Sensei's mother is also from that game and seemed to be the main love interest who was taking care of Yuu. Yuu was also seemingly insane, which might be where Sensei gets it from. Yuu even did that "sssssssss" thing and talked to plants (one was named Josh and Saki gave it to him). I've actually been thinking that when Nao says "I AM YOU", It's actually saying it is Yuu.

Overall: Yeah, I wouldn't take anything in this game at face value. Whether it's happy events or not. As for the ending, I think we're quite a bit away. It feels like we are around the middle imo.