Ren'Py Lessons in Love [v0.5.30] [Selebus]

[jclark1337]

Should I play this game?

Yes

Long games with deep stories. I'm more looking for a great narration and some lewd scenes than the other way around.
I'm a sensitive fella but not everything need to be rainbow in paradise (even tho love™ is a wonderful thing).

Long and deep story, check. The foundation of the story is very dark and touches maturely on a lot of taboo and complicated subject, but in my personal opinion it has a hopeful undertone to it all. As if the story is trying to tell you that no matter what horrors await you in life, there is still beauty.

I like to feel and when a game can teach me something about me or others. I love when AVN can give me the abilitty to reflect on Life (with a capital L).
Topics can be hard, I may cry etc but it was to be for something, I like balance.

Drama and mystery is this author's bread and butter. He is great at getting you to feel for the characters, even ones you originally start off apathetic about. As a personal anecdote:
After the first part of the story that sets everything up and establishes some sort of status quo, there are new characters that begin to be added pretty abruptly. I remember finding myself feeling a bit wary and annoyed at the time because I didn't trust the author to have enough time or care to actually flesh them out if he kept on repeating this. Needless to say, some of them are my favorite characters now...

Also the narration is another one of the strong points, there is a lot of waxing philosophical and poetic prose but imo it's not overly pretentious and actually has some interesting messages to think about and plot relevance.

What I'm OK/neutral with:

The grind™, sandbox, having to follow a guide/mod, a looong ass story, management element or puzzles, the art style of the game.

Sounds right up your alley, then.

What I don't like:

Cringe/awkward edgyness. I'm a +30 years (happily) married man I've a hard time with immature MC/choices, I find it a huge deal breaker (No skibibis in my AVN please).
Also being sadistic or hurting others for the sake of it, it's a big deal breaker. The MC can act like a scumbag at times but he need to feel at least remorses, at best fuel for a change.
Cheap fantasy and bad horror/bad creepypasta/free violence are no good as well.
Incest & hardcore raceplay are a turn off but not a deal breaker.

Cringe/awkward edgyness: There are a few cringe pop cultural and personal references but it never gets nearly as cringe as "skibidi" or the like. The author is in his

Spoiler: Author age

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Even at it's worst it's never common enough to really get overbearing imo.

Sadistic or hurting others for the sake of it: it happens in the story but not necessarily from the MC. He does in fact feel remorse at times (doesn't automatically make him a good person for it) but he's not a sadistic, violent murder/rapist or anything.

Cheap fantasy/bad horror: I think you'll be fine here. The "horror" aspect of the game comes across as more of a... symbolic manifestation of trauma than actual plot-relevant set piece that is meant to make you scared. Some of it is purposely wacky to the point of comedy, some of it invokes a tragic and somber feeling for what it seems to represent.

Incest is absolutely core to the story and personal character arcs, but it's not there simply for catering to a kink (most of the time.)

Anyways, if you can handle a bit of dark subjects treated in a somewhat serious manner (with some jokes spread out here and there to lighten the mood and poke at the obvious) I think this story might be worth a shot.

 

[givemeabeer]

Spoiler

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[Vizer007]

Should I play this game?

Many people wrote already about it, so, I will skip it and just answer - yes, especially if you want to feel something.

A fair warning though - one of the charms of this game is theory discussion between updates (just look at the amount and quality of comments in this forum!), so, try not to look here when playing, or you may encounter some serous spoilers! Unless you encounter a puzzle - then welcome to the 1st page!

 

[LoveWhiteHairedGirl]

Today is the release day! Have to wait ~12 hours.

 

[givemeabeer]

Today is the release day! Have to wait ~12 hours.

Wait, what?! You change your pseudonym?

What trick is that?

 

[Yarazin]

It wasn't that long ago that Akira said if another girl dies in his arms he's ending it so I doubt it.

I don't mean she dies but was thinking more along the lines of she escapes and everyone forgets her.

 

[shmurfer]

I don't mean she dies but was thinking more along the lines of she escapes and everyone forgets her.

I think it would have the same effect on him, cause he'd remember her.

And I think I'd get angrier if he couldn't remember her after having a year that would have been different if he could remember, and now going through a reset except this time he could remember everything only to lose it an hour later.

Today is the release day! Have to wait ~12 hours.

More like 6, at least for english. Unless I missed a delay which doesn't seem likely since he finished days ago

 

[LoveWhiteHairedGirl]

Wait, what?! You change your pseudonym?

What trick is that?

Yes, you can change your username three times in a year.

Spoiler

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[Liseon16]

I should had looked for guides earlier, I did up to like ver. 51 without the guide mod and had a separate window with all of the available events from the wiki, multiple tabs, whenever I play this game. I had to manually scour reddit posts for the puzzle solutions. Big oof. Anyhow, can't wait for the update to drop!

Edit: I forgot to add that I can't see some of the images uploaded here anybody got any ideas?

Spoiler

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[aramaug]

In celebration of Halloween, I wrote up one more spoooOOOooky theory to squeeze in before the update.

Ami didn't kill Maya. Sensei unwittingly killed her while he was blacked out.

(Sorry, when I said "spooky", I actually meant depressing as fuck.)

Spoiler: Nao's warning

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Spoiler: A succulent avian meal

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Spoiler: Bonus clue: Yasu's warning

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Spoiler: Alternative explanations

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There are more things to discuss, such as how Maya got there and Sensei's (subconscious) motive, but those will have to wait until next month. Hint: the RAS meeting wasn't the first time Maya2 showed up in the update. I'll bring this up again after the 0.53 discussion dies down.

 

[-Moon]

Thanks again for your time and kind words.
I'm still kinda in the middle for now.

My wife is away on business trip next week so I think I'll give it a shot one evening after work and see where I land.
Worst case scenario it's 3hrs lost, not a big deal.

I've a last question before the upload come and I won't be able to read this thread safely:

Is this game depressing to the point that it can massively affect your mood?
I can stand inconfortable as in Pale Carnation (which I thought was gonna be too much at first but because of the camaraderie between characters it was right on point) but I can't really do straight up depressing for +200h without affecting my daily life.

Once again thanks for your measured responses.

__

Not trying to shame or anything, but how did you even find this game? Its anime style, its length and its subject matter tend to be filters for anyone outside those who were directly recommended this or saw tangentially saw it so many times they came to check it.

I came across the game will looking into "management" tagged games (weighted rating sorted) and later on this thread.


EDIT: Sorry that I ask so many question but a game like this is a big commitment as I'm a dyslexic non native english slooow reader, so if the game is long for you guys, it even worst for me.

 

[chikipiki]

In celebration of Halloween, I wrote up one more spoooOOOooky theory to squeeze in before the update.

Ami didn't kill Maya. Sensei unwittingly killed her while he was blacked out.

(Sorry, when I said "spooky", I actually meant depressing as fuck.)

Spoiler: Nao's warning

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Spoiler: A succulent avian meal

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Spoiler: Bonus clue: Yasu's warning

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Spoiler: Alternative explanations

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There are more things to discuss, such as how Maya got there and Sensei's (subconscious) motive, but those will have to wait until next month. Hint: the RAS meeting wasn't the first time Maya2 showed up in the update. I'll bring this up again after the 0.53 discussion dies down.

Well I read this expecting it to be another unhinged theory but it makes way too much.

Spoiler: Spoiler

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[shmurfer]

Is this game depressing to the point that it can massively affect your mood?
I can stand inconfortable as in Pale Carnation (which I thought was gonna be too much at first but because of the camaraderie between characters it was right on point) but I can't really do straight up depressing for +200h without affecting my daily life.

Once again thanks for your measured responses.

EDIT: Sorry that I ask so many question but a game like this is a big commitment as I'm a dyslexic non native english slooow reader, so if the game is long for you guys, it even worst for me.

It's not depressing for 200 hours. There's lots of peaks and valleys and the entire spectrum of emotions.It's quite neutral most of the time, almost one piece like adventure for a teacher trying to sleep with his students. I'd say frustration would be more common than depression since if you put yourself in the MC's shoes you'd probably fix most situations much faster than he does if he does. Here's a specifically chosen screenshot from after probably one of the most depressing moments in the game, and even at that point the dev seems to know that if he's only writing depressing stuff people will tune out.

Spoiler

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It's only in some of the more recent updates where things are questionable, and I think the perception for those will fix themselves if he sticks the landings between the major checkpoints of the game (of which we should be finishing the latest one mere hours from now).
The first part of chapter 4 was thought to be hella depressing / frustrating as it was being released monthly, but now that section is fully released I don't think it was nearly as bad as the discussion would lead you to believe. It's just the wait for new content making it fester way longer than it normally would

 

[shmurfer]

Another possibility is that Maya is already dead (thanks to Ami) and Sensei does something bad to her body. But keep in mind that Nao tries to stop him out of compassion, which to me implies a living victim. If he kills Maya, it also explains why Nao so suddenly gives up - Maya died and Nao could no longer do anything. If Maya is already dead, I don't know what else would cause Nao's abrupt change.

I think this is more likely, because I have a better moment when I think Maya was killed. Makoto's "A Matter of Time".

Maya is in the event earlier, Makoto is trying to get her to the RAS party. Ami shows up, scary red light, Maya is convinced to leave with her. Then the narrator brings up the colors, talking about how they are misdirection, a trick of perception, then they talk about Makoto and Yumi on the beach, the narrator starts crashing out about this, then there's a static jump where this screenshot is from, with dialogue written in a cheesy foreshadowing way.

Spoiler

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Before there's a lot of static white flash and color flashing off as the narrator is cut off, figuratively and I think literally too. The narrator dialogue stops there and its just dialogue between Yumi and Makoto.

We've long talked about how characters have been narrators, and I think this was a tip of the hat to how Maya definitely was one of them.



As for why Nao-chan stops him. Nao-chan specifically isn't shown to talk in a pretentious all knowing way, she's quite down to earth when she has the notepad and tries to help in simple ways. I think she saw he was served a part of Maya, and she was trying to get him to break the perception trick being played on him to no success. Once the meal is done there's no need for her to struggle anymore, she's just frowning and the people posessing the other girls are laughing and insulting Nao, comparing her to Sensei.

I think it's doubly true if you look at the end of the event where they get their minds back. Tsuneyo recognises the scent of what's on him. You've already theorized that you think Tsuneyo's dad is dead, and his corpse is in Tojo Ramen and there's a smell to it. With the time shenanigans going on / Sel not thinking about everything 100% of the time, I doubt there's any thoughts to decomposition but maybe she recognises the smell of a dead body that Akira just bathed himself in.

 

[LoveWhiteHairedGirl]

maybe she recognises the smell of a dead body that Akira just bathed himself in.

RAS girls could react as well. But they didn't smell anything

 

[Shiyaromi]

In celebration of Halloween, I wrote up one more spoooOOOooky theory to squeeze in before the update.

Ami didn't kill Maya. Sensei unwittingly killed her while he was blacked out.

(Sorry, when I said "spooky", I actually meant depressing as fuck.)

Spoiler: Nao's warning

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Spoiler: A succulent avian meal

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Spoiler: Bonus clue: Yasu's warning

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Spoiler: Alternative explanations

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There are more things to discuss, such as how Maya got there and Sensei's (subconscious) motive, but those will have to wait until next month. Hint: the RAS meeting wasn't the first time Maya2 showed up in the update. I'll bring this up again after the 0.53 discussion dies down.

Do you have more theories like that? As a non-english person I may not noticed a lot of hidden things through the game and this makes read this update again before the 0.53 will be released. If you have can you send it to me all? I might start the game from the beggining again. And thank you for this.

 

[shmurfer]

RAS girls could react as well. But they didn't smell anything

That's why whatever the smell is, that I don't think it's actual smell of death / decomposition (or Sel hasn't thought about it enough)

real death / decay is fucking rank, we're biologically wired to know that smell is bad and once you make the connection to what it is you never forget it. Someone brings in a dead rat that's been in the sun long enough and everyone should complain about it.

But Tsuneyo just turns and has a cute little sniff like you brushed against some lavender an hour or so. Whatever it is, it's something Tsuneyo recognises and the smell at the restaurant is like the only plot point that's been relevant for her.
The RAS girls don't react to the smell when he walked in, and they didn't react to a bad smell when a normal non hermetically sealed gift box containing the head was brought into the room for a while before Akira opened it, nor when he stood there for a while having a meltdown with the open box.

If this happened in real life, it probably wouldn't have had enough time to decay even under ideal conditions, but that's why I don't think Tsuneyo's dad's corpse is rotting either. I couldn't point out what the smell should be, it doesn't make sense compared to real life. But it is the clues I've been given.

Do you have more theories like that? As a non-english person I may not noticed a lot of hidden things through the game and this makes read this update again before the 0.53 will be released. If you have can you send it to me all? I might start the game from the beggining again. And thank you for this.

So many, so many that it's probably not feasible for them to find every theory, and it's not just them either.

Just keep lurking in the thread and you'll find the theories of the moment. Some of them get disproven later, and some will be brought back to discussion when there's new clues.

 

[Moonflare]

if you put yourself in the MC's shoes you'd probably fix most situations much faster than he does if he does.

If I put myself in Akira's shoes the genre would literally change:

Spoiler: moonflare's kumon mi

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[LoveWhiteHairedGirl]

If I put myself in Akira's shoes the genre would literally change:

Spoiler: moonflare's kumon mi

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Can we have only the second part of this? The god fighting stuff can wait.

 

[aramaug]

I think this is more likely, because I have a better moment when I think Maya was killed. Makoto's "A Matter of Time".

Maya is in the event earlier, Makoto is trying to get her to the RAS party. Ami shows up, scary red light, Maya is convinced to leave with her. Then the narrator brings up the colors, talking about how they are misdirection, a trick of perception, then they talk about Makoto and Yumi on the beach, the narrator starts crashing out about this, then there's a static jump where this screenshot is from, with dialogue written in a cheesy foreshadowing way.

Spoiler

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Before there's a lot of static white flash and color flashing off as the narrator is cut off, figuratively and I think literally too. The narrator dialogue stops there and its just dialogue between Yumi and Makoto.

We've long talked about how characters have been narrators, and I think this was a tip of the hat to how Maya definitely was one of them.



As for why Nao-chan stops him. Nao-chan specifically isn't shown to talk in a pretentious all knowing way, she's quite down to earth when she has the notepad and tries to help in simple ways. I think she saw he was served a part of Maya, and she was trying to get him to break the perception trick being played on him to no success. Once the meal is done there's no need for her to struggle anymore, she's just frowning and the people posessing the other girls are laughing and insulting Nao, comparing her to Sensei.

I think it's doubly true if you look at the end of the event where they get their minds back. Tsuneyo recognises the scent of what's on him. You've already theorized that you think Tsuneyo's dad is dead, and his corpse is in Tojo Ramen and there's a smell to it. With the time shenanigans going on / Sel not thinking about everything 100% of the time, I doubt there's any thoughts to decomposition but maybe she recognises the smell of a dead body that Akira just bathed himself in.

"Matter of Time": I'm going to have to assert this without proof for now, but I'm almost certain the Maya in this event (the one who goes off alone with Ami) is Maya2, not the one who dies. (Doesn't mean you're wrong about the narrator)

Cannibalism: In "Cities in Gifu" Nao is unbothered when Sensei shows the head and says it's some noodles that he intends to eat. I think it's unlikely she would be so agitated on the first occasion and then care not even a little bit about whether he continues to eat more. (Unless it's already too late. Now that Sensei has had his first taste of human flesh, he'll do anything to experience it again. The rest of the game is just him hunting down the girls like animals... But he's still hungry. He will always be hungry.)

Smell: This one is ambiguous. As you say, Tojo Ramen smelling like death is a recurring plot point. But in the event immediately prior to this one, Nao (through Kaori) says that Tsuneyo's home smells like pork broth. So a completely innocent explanation is possible. Arguably, though, neither one makes much sense - no actual ramen was consumed, and a fresh body isn't going to smell anything like a rotting corpse.

Do you have more theories like that? As a non-english person I may not noticed a lot of hidden things through the game and this makes read this update again before the 0.53 will be released. If you have can you send it to me all? I might start the game from the beggining again. And thank you for this.

I post something like this pretty often - I'd guess more than twenty times in the past year. I don't have a list saved, but it shouldn't be too hard to find them if you search my posts. I don't know if that's the best way to catch up with theories, though, I'm not the only one who shares them.