Ren'Py Lessons in Love [v0.54.0] [Selebus]

[barglenarglezous]

The Ultra Breeder and presumed father of half the main cast couldn't possbily be gay.

About 20 years ago I knew someone who absolutely had to be the manliest man that ever manned in every single conversation. Constantly spouted the most sexist things he could think of the say, constantly tried to pick fistfights, etc.

Anyway, they announced that they're trans and started transitioning this year.

Projecting hypermasculinity to overcompensate for internalized self-hatred due to gender dysphoria or suppressed homosexuality is very much a real thing. Or, as my mother said the day Rock Hudson died from AIDS "he couldn't have been gay, he's too manly."

Edit: It's common enough that I just assume that any male who declares himself an alpha male is gay. Including Andrew Tate.

 

[SlidingSubject]

That could extrapolate to him being jealous of Akira, rather than of Sekai, and the voice of "why did it have to be him" before the accident could also be that Nozomu was pissed because the one he loved (Akira) had fallen in love with Sekai instead of him.

I think it'd be "why did it have to be her" instead if that was to be the case. Unless that was Sekai saying it about Nozomu being the one driving instead of Akira. But I do agree with the Nozomu is gay being a possibility.
Also, I was replaying the first happy event while posting this, and the comment chain made me think of the girls and their events, so this bit stood out to me.

Spoiler: The Room with Clocks

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

Was Wires involved in Akira's childhood somehow?

 

[LessonsInDissonance]

I think it'd be "why did it have to be her" instead if that was to be the case. Unless that was Sekai saying it about Nozomu being the one driving instead of Akira. But I do agree with the Nozomu is gay being a possibility.
Also, I was replaying the first happy event while posting this, and the comment chain made me think of the girls and their events, so this bit stood out to me.

Spoiler: The Room with Clocks

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

Was Wires involved in Akira's childhood somehow?

 

[Budoop]

Don't worry, I liked playing TF2, but when OW got released I switched to it. Also I liked playing TWW series which itself is a part of TW series. But I played only TWW2 since TWW1 is not really interesting for me and TWW3 is just meh imho. Though I like original TW series. Recently I also played RG and I like it very well, alas it was in shadows because of BG3, which was too cool for my PC back then and now I am just lazy to buy it. Oh, my childhood was with C&C series, though I never was good at these games, lmao. I preferred to play Civ series though.

Based TWW enjoyer.

Thinking about it, what about the second floor? Most of them are, while not "normal", not really traumatized or abuse victims, at least by the more common definitions of it.

IO in the corner giving you the evils. Yasu pretending like her abondonment doesn't matter, Nodoka chasing the fading ghost of her mother.
Some of the floor 2s have had awful experiences before the dorms, Uta has suffered rampant sexual harrasment and IO was repeatedly raped by her mother.

Well, I hope Selebus reads this because it would have made for a much better character. Otoha goes around playing guitar for tips, has an actual idol giving her vocal lessons for nothing and convinced her parents to go to Akira's school (which includes living in the dorms) and they only really asked her to keep her grades above average (which is very fair) and to come home on holidays. I don't really see how they're that hyper-controlling (she's a teenager), although I agree 100% that it would have made for a better character.

It's a shame you reduced your previous post, I'd be interested in seeing in-depth analyses, I covered it superficially because of laziness. I do find it to be an interesting topic though.

"I don't really see how they're that hyper-controlling" Tin-foil hat time but I don't think they actually are. Otoha now has a record of using controlling parents as a scape-goat to avoid responsibilities, she lied to Rin about them being homophobic because she didn't want her relationship with Rin to become prevelant in her life, this was because she never actually loved Rin and was stringing her along to fill the hole in her heart that she truly wanted Niki to fill. I think she's been using it an excuse and as much as I hate Otoha, hence my earlier statement some pages back, its an interesting complexity and I'm looking forward to knowing more about her.
This is Lessons in Love, no-one is simple.

 

[LoveWhiteHairedGirl]

Rika - A dumbass? Neglected by Selebus. Abandoned by her wife. Feels like a failure and too old to start again.

Neglected by Selebus is actually a good thing. You wouldn't experience any trauma anymore!

Nozomu - Possibly homossexual.

I mean, Nozomu is Akira's brother. So, if he is gay, then he might look like that gay Sensei from that forbidden game we saw.

 

[Nadekai]

question what is the appeal of a ero game that has horror in it im not sure i could nut while in suspense

p.s not that i dont like horror in fact junji ito is a genus for his work on uzumaki and the like im also well aware this game is nothing like that

... MELON ...
... that is my argument ...
... that is all ...
... ok ...
... MELON GIRL ...

 

[TBone9]

Was in my local WallyWorld today and on the in-store radio station I heard "Despacito" playing. I was hoping I would look around and see Ayane pop out and start belting it out at the top of her lungs. Sadly, no such luck.

 

[Moonflare]

Was in my local WallyWorld today and on the in-store radio station I heard "Despacito" playing. I was hoping I would look around and see Ayane pop out and start belting it out at the top of her lungs. Sadly, no such luck.

often forgotten fact is that Kirin did indeed cuck Ayane (musically) by slow dancing with Akira to Despacito on their first date.

 

[Budoop]

often forgotten fact is that Kirin did indeed cuck Ayane (musically) by slow dancing with Akira to Despacito on their first date.

Honestly Kirin was serving in that event, like damn girl give the others a chance.

 

[daagagsdgd]

To add to the many regulars that have already answered, LiL is not in fact an ero game. I mean, it is by definition, but not by focus.

LiL is a story about pedophilia and grooming, where supernatural aspects are introduced as a metaphor for trauma, compulsion and mental diseases. Following that, the harem (Akira Arakawa's many companions) also deals with many forms of trauma and abuse. All of these expand into what we can call lessons in love, not in a porn way, as one might expect, but in a form of heavy criticism and portrayal of the complications of many traumas intertwining in a sort of repeating purgatory that doubles as an extreme therapy session without a therapist.

That is a good description of the game imo: "throw a bunch of traumatized people into an neverending therapy session, that will reset them if they go to far/fail, until they can work through it all without a therapist's help, but only by having eachother".

(Although the supernatural angle should also be accounted for, the following turned into kind of a rant, so, if you want to skip it, the tldr is that the supernatural subplot to LiL has its place, but it's likely to be derivative/needlessly inflated).

Spoiler: about the supernatural angle

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

I would also say that LiL is not a traditional eroge while sexual aspect is a part that can't be removed since it's tethered unyieldingly with center of all things—Trauma and regret. I would use a simpler description for the game :"It's an endless and futile hope and dream of a group of people doomed from start for searching for happiness".

Supernatural subplot imo is clearly self-ironic, which servers both as an artifical gimmick (arbitary, sardonic and complicated revealing of hidden plot) and artistical manifestion of "truer" feelings. Therefore to me Happy Events in early days is an unique experience that couldn't be replicated by recent ones. God I miss the feeling I got when I read The Room with Clocks for the first time.

I think the most ambitious (and pretentious) attraction of LiL is that it tries to include everything, so much that text starts to form intertextuality with former itself — Everything is connected. With so many divergence, the story still tries to uphold a pure simultaneity — or, what amounts to the same thing, in an environment outside time altogether (cycling of time) — revealing the true meaning of “that which was, and which is and which shall be”.

I must stop ranting or everyone else would say I'm reading too much into (at the end of the day) a eroge, often forgot I started playing LiL only as another H-game, and in no time it turned to something I can't put my finger on

 

[{Jeizaguretokanteishi01}]

I'm not sure I follow your mental loop here. If anything, LiL is the One Piece of adult VNs. Just if Luffy's elastic extremities were only focused on his groin region. And Nami were a wizard, I guess.

Anyways, my point is that LiL is a very long and complex VN where the main allure is not supposed to be the lewd scenes, it's the story.

I get your point though. When I started playing this shit, for the longest time I felt irritated whenever that static jump scare occurred and something fucked up was happening. Like it was pulling me away from focusing on grinding points to finally see someone's boobies.
Only over time, you actually look forward to those moments, those plot developments and new mysteries, more so than the (comparatively lackluster, though not incompetent) sex scenes. I'm pretty sure that shift happened for most of the people on here, unless they came across this with prior knowledge I suppose. Everyone else would probably just not appreciate the writing in the first place.

So as I mentioned once in an earlier post, what I would recommend anyone who has just started checking out this game:
Don't focus too much on the "ero" side of the game, embrace the plot and actually read through the dialogue, there is literally nobody who would argue that it isn't well written, it just might appear to be a lot. But it's worth it, the characters will grow on you and you will cheer for them just being happy and having wholesome moments, rather than seeing them getting groped and molested.
Just as a fair warning, it might ruin the enjoyment of other works on here, as their plots and the writing will seem weak in comparison.

i have not actually played very far into the game but i will say the writing is very well done and i agree with that as for the context of the comment about ova's there where a lot of ova's in the late 80s to late 90s that used sex as a plot development point or would use very edgy plot movement points to push a great story forward that is what i meant with my comment

To add to the many regulars that have already answered, LiL is not in fact an ero game. I mean, it is by definition, but not by focus.

LiL is a story about pedophilia and grooming, where supernatural aspects are introduced as a metaphor for trauma, compulsion and mental diseases. Following that, the harem (Akira Arakawa's many companions) also deals with many forms of trauma and abuse. All of these expand into what we can call lessons in love, not in a porn way, as one might expect, but in a form of heavy criticism and portrayal of the complications of many traumas intertwining in a sort of repeating purgatory that doubles as an extreme therapy session without a therapist.

That is a good description of the game imo: "throw a bunch of traumatized people into an neverending therapy session, that will reset them if they go to far/fail, until they can work through it all without a therapist's help, but only by having eachother".

(Although the supernatural angle should also be accounted for, the following turned into kind of a rant, so, if you want to skip it, the tldr is that the supernatural subplot to LiL has its place, but it's likely to be derivative/needlessly inflated).

Spoiler: about the supernatural angle

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

to your comments on the story and plot i think you make some good points as far as the story goes and the point of said story i mention the ero game aspect of this game mainly because of the site its on and the fact as it being in the game in the first place i really wish the dev would make a version of this game with the ero scenes put in as suggested as happening and i know that would defeat the purpose of the game in the first place and the plot of it but i think it would be a more enjoyable experience well at least for me i also think your comparison to ghost in the shell and psycho-pass and the others are good i think a better comparison would be paprika and or perfect blue as they capture the reality breaking aspect of phycological horror better in my opinion i also would like to say the idea of the story and what it is about is a interesting one that i think should be explored in some way but a game like this marketed as a phycological thriller/horror game first and a ero game second may not be the best way to explore the story and topic there of not to say the game is bad or that i dont think people should like it but what im saying is it is well done but that it may not need to be a ero game at all in the first place

 

[Antosha]

What the heck is TFS?

The Fiery Scion.

To add to the many regulars that have already answered, LiL is not in fact an ero game. I mean, it is by definition, but not by focus.

LiL is a story about pedophilia and grooming, where supernatural aspects are introduced as a metaphor for trauma, compulsion and mental diseases. Following that, the harem (Akira Arakawa's many companions) also deals with many forms of trauma and abuse. All of these expand into what we can call lessons in love, not in a porn way, as one might expect, but in a form of heavy criticism and portrayal of the complications of many traumas intertwining in a sort of repeating purgatory that doubles as an extreme therapy session without a therapist.

That is a good description of the game imo: "throw a bunch of traumatized people into an neverending therapy session, that will reset them if they go to far/fail, until they can work through it all without a therapist's help, but only by having eachother".

(Although the supernatural angle should also be accounted for, the following turned into kind of a rant, so, if you want to skip it, the tldr is that the supernatural subplot to LiL has its place, but it's likely to be derivative/needlessly inflated).

Spoiler: about the supernatural angle

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

I keep looping back to the theory that the gods and such are all just projections of Akira's fucked-up unconscious. Which would explain some of the oddball pop culture references. :shrug:

 

[Kod2222]

hello guys new here
does anyone have the android one even its not latest ver i can't seem to find it

 

[Xiondingens]

Now, moving on to Otoha -- her parents are hyper-controlling. She's afraid to be herself around them. They've given her no room to breathe and grow. From experience -- this does a lot of long-term damage. A lot of people wind up in therapy as adults because their parents were like this. So it is a form of trauma, but it's not really conveyed well in-game.

Are you sure about that? I mean when i just look at what the game does show us -and that is that she is allowed to stay in the dorms- paint a different picture. And just remember where she did spent -xmas, new year? I dont remember- it wasnt with her parents, it was with niki. And also that one i might missremember, but didnt she admit to Rin in their conversation about their relationship that she did exaggerate her parents? I mean that also would fit to her character trait of wanting to be special and in the center of attention. She is a attention whore, so telling people stuff that would let them pitty her would fit right in.

And if you dont believe me, just think of the fallout when akira did fuck with her while she was having a phone call with her parents. Oh, you dont remember the fallout? I would guess because there wasnt one. So i disaggre with this evaluation of Otoha.

 

[Detective Dc345]

Spoiler: We are back (0.46 Preview)

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

 

[shmurfer]

Spoiler: We are back (0.46 Preview)

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

Key theorists drinking well tonight.

 

[Moonflare]

Spoiler: We are back (0.46 Preview)

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

tbh, not what I'd wish for in the next update. Imani's backstory was disappointing to me. But I guess we'll see.

(where is my catgirl from Nihon, Selebus?!)

 

[LoveWhiteHairedGirl]

tbh, not what I'd wish for in the next update. Imani's backstory was disappointing to me. But I guess we'll see.

(where is my catgirl from Nihon, Selebus?!)

He didn't notice any catgirl in Japan. That's why he created his own catgirls (remember Kaori, Nao-chan, Ayane and Yumi outfits in the reset)

 

[Xiondingens]

tbh, not what I'd wish for in the next update. Imani's backstory was disappointing to me. But I guess we'll see.

I mean, i think the backstory was okay, but it has been told now, so i dont think this is what we will get. Or i would be very much surprised if it would be.

 

[Moonflare]

I mean, i think the backstory was okay, but it has been told now, so i dont think this is what we will get. Or i would be very much surprised if it would be.

I mean it didn't let much room for other stuff, she said she was the one sister of a family of brothers, one of which let his friends gang-rape her in front of him. Given her age during LiL, and the amount of time she says she's gone without sex, the timeline doesn't really have much wiggle room.

This flashback should definitely be from before the event, both because of the timeline and because she doesn't seem scarred (both physically and mentally), but given what's coming I'm really not looking forward to it. I already have that feeling on my stomach of watching a trainwreck about to happen. Or, to put into perspective, if somehow we were about to see scenes of Io being born to a "loving family" (when we know what that will evolve into)...