Ren'Py Lessons in Love [v0.53.0] [Selebus]

[RDFozz]

Thanks for the responses. I suppose it's possible I had two copies open - in fact, that's probably what was going on. Naturally, when I got back into the game, I moved onto a new track, and everything's seemed fine since.

I did wonder why the game was still open when I thought I'd quit before coming here to ask the question, and the menu music continues throughout that first day, so that tracks with your theory.

Thanks!

 

[fgh24]

only thing i hate is that you get no right answer for the birthday question cause you could maybe guess someone's birthday randomly

 

[Axismundi]

So in Life of Prizes, I was wondering where you were supposed to get the answers for the book with infinite pages and how you get the number of bowls of rice you have to eat. I'm not asking for the answers; I already have them written down. I'm just curious as to where the answers are in game.

 

[AgumenticR]

So in Life of Prizes, I was wondering where you were supposed to get the answers for the book with infinite pages and how you get the number of bowls of rice you have to eat. I'm not asking for the answers; I already have them written down. I'm just curious as to where the answers are in game.

As it happens, the exact same place - at the end of The Light of Last Summer, when Sensei is back in that room with angels, in the background you can see the script on the wall: View attachment returntosummer46.webp . The page number is the answer to the book of the infinite pages and Angel 2 in the script saying to eat more rice is a hint towards what you need to do to get the final piece of the key. 23 is just an important number that keeps appearing in several places for currently uncertain reasons - for example, Sensei was 23 years old when the accident that killed Ami's parents happened.

 

[jamyong]

Reading through Bluejay again I really am struck by how terrible Makoto is. I'm not entirely sure if she planned it from the start of the night, but bringing someone along with you

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

is one of the most bewilderingly selfish things I can imagine, even stacked up to all the awful things Sensei does. The first time I played through this event it was shocking and I felt bad for her, but this time around I just find it frustrating.. I think

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

is a completely acceptable reaction to life, but to go that route in a way that will make the people you care about bear witness to it is unforgivable.

 

[Boomboxthegreat]

I'm not entirely sure if she planned it from the start of the night

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

 

[worthlesspeon]

As it happens, the exact same place - at the end of The Light of Last Summer, when Sensei is back in that room with angels, in the background you can see the script on the wall: View attachment 2035865 . The page number is the answer to the book of the infinite pages and Angel 2 in the script saying to eat more rice is a hint towards what you need to do to get the final piece of the key. 23 is just an important number that keeps appearing in several places for currently uncertain reasons - for example, Sensei was 23 years old when the accident that killed Ami's parents happened.

God I forgot how ridiculous this game can be for the fucking reset events. I swear to progress naturally you have to take more notes than I took in medical school. Does anyone actually find this kind of thing enjoyable?

 

[Boomboxthegreat]

Does anyone actually find this kind of thing enjoyable?

No, not the ones that are ridiculous, unless you're a masochist, but a lot of them are easy to know or infer if you read through everything and pay attention, and the rest require rocket science for some fucking reason.

 

[barglenarglezous]

God I forgot how ridiculous this game can be for the fucking reset events. I swear to progress naturally you have to take more notes than I took in medical school. Does anyone actually find this kind of thing enjoyable?

I just make copious use of the Replay interface.

The third reset event, I honestly did enjoy. It was compact and all the answers were in obvious places.

The most recent one, not so much. Everything was buried in word salad and deliberately designed to be as aggravating as possible. And future resets are going to be worse, because he hates it when people give away answers.

 

[worthlesspeon]

And future resets are going to be worse, because he hates it when people give away answers.

Well, as long as the scripts remain accessible, he's not really going to be able to stop that. And even if he hashes the answers or something, at that point someone can just make a mod to bypass the puzzles.

And really, eventually if it becomes impossible to progress, it'll effect his bottom line, at which point there'll be some changes. Then again, the man isn't exactly forward thinking. He refuses to split up the game into chapters, volumes, or whatever. But also says that this game still has probably a decade of development left. At some point the file sizes are going to be too large to be practical.

 

[barglenarglezous]

Well, as long as the scripts remain accessible, he's not really going to be able to stop that. And even if he hashes the answers or something, at that point someone can just make a mod to bypass the puzzles.

And really, eventually if it becomes impossible to progress, it'll effect his bottom line, at which point there'll be some changes. Then again, the man isn't exactly forward thinking. He refuses to split up the game into chapters, volumes, or whatever. But also says that this game still has probably a decade of development left. At some point the file sizes are going to be too large to be practical.

Most of the people backing the game -- or at least the ones on the Discord -- have bought into the mindset, so the impact on his bottom line would be negligible.

 

[van321]

Finally finished the game up to present. Once you get past the cringe edgelord nihilism, the characters are absolutely wonderful.

S Tier: Maya, Rin, Yumi
A Tier: Ayane, Kirin, Noriko, Sana
B Tier: Ami, Chika, Io, Makoto, Miku
C Tier: Futuba, Molly, Nodoka, Touka, Tsuneyo, Uta
D Tier: Otoha, Yasu

 

[worthlesspeon]

Most of the people backing the game -- or at least the ones on the Discord -- have bought into the mindset, so the impact on his bottom line would be negligible.

I doubt the active discord users are representative of the backers as a whole. Remember, he censors and bans people who don't agree with the mindset. So of course the perception is near 100% of the people there buy into the cult.

Even now, his subscribestar is a few thousand away from the peak patreon numbers. And I don't think we know the dollar amount the subscribestar was earning prior to the patreon crackdown, so the reality is even less.

 

[Deleted member 3482284]

Finally finished the game up to present. Once you get past the cringe edgelord nihilism, the characters are absolutely wonderful.

S Tier: Maya, Rin, Yumi
A Tier: Ayane, Kirin, Noriko, Sana
B Tier: Ami, Chika, Io, Makoto, Miku
C Tier: Futuba, Molly, Nodoka, Touka, Tsuneyo, Uta
D Tier: Otoha, Yasu

I agree with most of these especially S tier but but I think Otoha is underrated. She's great

 

[jamyong]

I just read through the Baby Finches for the first time (missed it on the 1st playthrough) and I was curious what theories there are in regards to what Sensei was talking about with Maya. Does anyone have any idea what the redacted words might be? Also, how likely is it that the original Sensei actually jumped off the roof with Maya right there begging him to stop?

 

[van321]

I agree with most of these especially S tier but but I think Otoha is underrated. She's great

I do think Otoha has a lot of potential to be more interesting. For example, Chapter 1 Maya I would have been ranked in probably C or D tier, but she has become one of my favorites as she grapples with her own existential crisis. But right now, Otoha is just "the straight-laced woman" and plays second fiddle to Rin's development or Niki's development. I would like to see more Otoha-focused content. Likewise Yasu seems more like a plot device than a love interest (much like early Maya). Both characters I expect to improve with time.

I just read through the Baby Finches for the first time (missed it on the 1st playthrough) and I was curious what theories there are in regards to what Sensei was talking about with Maya. Does anyone have any idea what the redacted words might be? Also, how likely is it that the original Sensei actually jumped off the roof with Maya right there begging him to stop?

Keeping in mind that it's a happy scene (and that it goes off the rails pretty quickly), I interpreted Sensei went to talk to Maya to let her know someone may have found out about them. Kind of like Ayane being extremely cryptic about her pregnancy, I interpreted Maya talking about finch behavior and living fetuses in a dead womb as an uncomfortable conversation about her being pregnant. Since Sensei knows now everyone will find out, he jumps off the roof.

I suspect the reason Maya is so insistent that pregnancy is the key to entering the time loop is that she believes SHE got into the time loop that way.

 

[k1n5l4y3r]

I suspect the reason Maya is so insistent that pregnancy is the key to entering the time loop is that she believes SHE got into the time loop that way.

I have another theory about that, I suspect Maya is Sensei's daughter, in the christmas event iirc or someother, there was a flash image with a girl that looked like Maya, on top of Sensei,but the eyes were somewhat different, there is also a lot of mystery surrounding Maya's past, even her beign part of their life for years nobody knows of her parents.

 

[barglenarglezous]

I suspect the reason Maya is so insistent that pregnancy is the key to entering the time loop is that she believes SHE got into the time loop that way.

Note: If she entered the loop pregnant, then every reset would return her to the exact point of the pregnancy she entered it in, similar to how pregnant Ayane became not-pregnant Ayane after the reset.

This doesn't invalidate your theory -- and there's evidence to support that this is, in fact, the case. The volume of food she eats, for example. The recurring egg theme and the constant references to baby birds definitely indicates that pregnancy is a major theme.

But she does explicitly state that she is not pregnant in one event -- though she could easily be lying to avoid triggering Sensei.

 

[AgumenticR]

God I forgot how ridiculous this game can be for the fucking reset events. I swear to progress naturally you have to take more notes than I took in medical school. Does anyone actually find this kind of thing enjoyable?

Well, yes and no. I like the puzzles idea in general, but I am not a big fan of the ones that refer to the lines scattered in the updates released months ago - my favourite puzzle in Life of Prizes was the chili one, for example, which was very in style of old P&C games. On the other hand, when I was replaying the game after the revamp, I actually did notice the answers to all the puzzles I forgot, like the Book of Infinite Pages one, and solving it all honestly felt pretty good. But still, less of that, more of chili.

 

[van321]

I have another theory about that, I suspect Maya is Sensei's daughter, in the christmas event iirc or someother, there was a flash image with a girl that looked like Maya, on top of Sensei,but the eyes were somewhat different, there is also a lot of mystery surrounding Maya's past, even her beign part of their life for years nobody knows of her parents.

What is unclear to me is there appears to be an alternate universe with an older Maya (she pops up when Sensei's mind goes haywire a bunch of times as well; this is who I think you are referring to as potentially Maya's mother, but I think it is older Maya) and an older Noriko (she only pops up once), the one which Maya got sent back to and "wanted to be sent back" to the time loop.

It raises the question... was Sensei actually a tutor of a bunch of middle school kids who taught them nihilist philosophy, or... was he a tutor of college-aged or graduate school-aged students? Do characters other than Maya, Noriko and Sensei exist in that alternate universe of college tutor Sensei? Does Noriko's pop star sister even exist? Is that the REAL universe in which Sensei killed himself? Is Kumon-mi a kind of Purgatory that Sensei and Maya are caught in for their sins?

There appears to be no discernable reason for Maya's scathing hatred for Noriko based on what is known in the Kumon-mi timeline, though information is still incomplete.