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

[Bingoogus]

Okay, first of all, thank you for writing such a detailed reply and guiding me directly through your thought process. I am fully aware that this isn’t exactly any different from how you usually reply to everyone else, but it still helped me realize that there ended up being *quite a lot* of things in my original post that didn’t came across exactly the way I wanted them to, painting a somewhat incorrect picture of my perspective in the matter. So I’ll correct these inaccuracies first, and then go into a few more details regarding some of your finer points.

Spoiler: Elaboration

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Now, as for the rest of your analysis: it was really good, and I even learned a few new things for myself (I never saw “red paths” for any of the characters except Rin, so I had no idea how Haruka acts if you aren’t having sex with her) – but it was, to stay on-theme, a very “concerned” perspective. Now allow me to share my own – a much more “callous” one:

Spoiler: Further analysis

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Feel free to disagree with me, of course – as I said, I can easily see the validity of your interpretation of her character, as well. It’s just not how *I* see it, personally. Ultimately, like a certain someone would say, it’s all a matter of perception.

As for the whole “irredeemable” aspect of this discussion, that was just me mostly echoing the general sentiment I’ve seen repeated here a decent number of times (in relation to characters like Akira, Sekai, Ami, Nodoka, Otoha and so on), rather than my own take on the matter. As someone who doesn’t much care for redemption and would be fine with perfectly fine with either outcome for the cast, as long as their endings are narratively fitting and thematically consistent, my point was to try and show people a way to appreciate even the characters they consider “irredeemable” by changing the paradigm and looking at them from another perspective.

I don't wholly get this empathizing with Haruka thing you've got going on tbh... like i get we're all walking our own paths and each have our own demon's to fight, lord knows i have an intimidating one of my own but i've just never really felt like the mask was all that hard to wear... it's never been difficult for me to say no to my appetites as my immediate thoughts have always been about the impact of feeding them on the victims... i've had several opportunities, i might've burned the images into my mind for later use, but actually taking action? God no, not even for a second... so discussing someone who decides to drop the mask and let the monster out... what a complete and utter pussy... a douche and a reprehensible cunt... the mask is as beneficial for you as it is for them... maintain a separation between the animal and sapient mind...

I dunno, we're all gonna skirt around what each of us is actually keeping caged in our mental dungeons so maybe my assumptions are off cause our beasts are radically different, but it just seems to me that Haruka is like a version of myself i wouldn't be able to understand, weak, stupid, like profoundly stupid, and nasty about how they see other people... i can't be that way, even on my worst days i can't see other people just as tools for my use... but then my needs have never been too hard to meet within my mind or in my pornography, so bleh, maybe my place at the head of the dunce table is well deserved for yet another reason...

Edit: Just gonna add a little edit here, i do not at all judge anyone for having an appetite for something, no matter what it is, but i will viscerally judge someone for feeding that appetite at the expense of others. That's one of my core philosophical positions and i will not budge from it. What you having going on in your mind is your business, but making it a reality, making victims of other people, that's 100% society's business. Not accusing anyone of anything, just adding context to what i'm saying.

 

[SlidingSubject]

I dunno, we're all gonna skirt around what each of us is actually keeping caged in our mental dungeons so maybe my assumptions are off cause our beasts are radically different, but it just seems to me that Haruka is like a version of myself i wouldn't be able to understand, weak, stupid, like profoundly stupid, and nasty about how they see other people... i can't be that way, even on my worst days i can't see other people just as tools for my use... but then my needs have never been too hard to meet within my mind or in my pornography, so bleh, maybe my place at the head of the dunce table is well deserved for yet another reason...

I think it's, as mentioned, because Haruka was desperate for any kind of connection. In the red path she does as you say, she keeps the mask, doesn't let it fall, never goes beyond just fantasy or maybe desire, but she still doesn't have a connection. She's just a mask, hollow.
On the other hand, in the green path, she chose the worst person to latch onto. Dunno if I'm correct with this observation, but she seems like one of those people who try to become your ideal, but due to her selfishness (drawing blanks here, if it was something already present or just another consequence of her desperation) she only had a stereotypical impression of Sensei, so she started to feed her darkest desires until they matched what she thought would be Sensei's. Dunno how to say this without implying it's Sensei's fault (even if it maybe kinda is).

 

[Moonflare]

I don't wholly get this empathizing with Haruka thing you've got going on tbh... like i get we're all walking our own paths and each have our own demon's to fight, lord knows i have an intimidating one of my own but i've just never really felt like the mask was all that hard to wear...

I might be jumping the gun, but my interpretation is that we're empathizing with the fact that she cheated on her husband (if he's even alive) - not the predator thing. We're empathizing because she was dealt a really bad hand, was lonely and faithful for years, and then succumbed to temptation, for Akira to capitalize on that.

At least that was what I agreed with, and the part of the whole deal that I do empathize with.

 

[Bingoogus]

I might be jumping the gun, but my interpretation is that we're empathizing with the fact that she cheated on her husband (if he's even alive) - not the predator thing. We're empathizing because she was dealt a really bad hand, was lonely and faithful for years, and then succumbed to temptation, for Akira to capitalize on that.

At least that was what I agreed with, and the part of the whole deal that I do empathize with.

Ah... well in that case i am way off... i was sitting her thinking about it and i was like 'i got my own shit my animal brain wants to do but i ain't gonna do that, i don't see people as prey, so i'm not a predator and so i can't empathize with predators... but do you need to be one to empathize? Maybe they mean sympathize? Can i sympathize with a predator? Not really, the mask is a benefit to both parties... giving in is just a net bad situation... so wtf are they empathizing with? I don't get it...'.

 

[derekthered56]

I don't wholly get this empathizing with Haruka thing you've got going on tbh... like i get we're all walking our own paths and each have our own demon's to fight, lord knows i have an intimidating one of my own but i've just never really felt like the mask was all that hard to wear... it's never been difficult for me to say no to my appetites as my immediate thoughts have always been about the impact of feeding them on the victims... i've had several opportunities, i might've burned the images into my mind for later use, but actually taking action? God no, not even for a second... so discussing someone who decides to drop the mask and let the monster out... what a complete and utter pussy... a douche and a reprehensible cunt... the mask is as beneficial for you as it is for them... maintain a separation between the animal and sapient mind...

I dunno, we're all gonna skirt around what each of us is actually keeping caged in our mental dungeons so maybe my assumptions are off cause our beasts are radically different, but it just seems to me that Haruka is like a version of myself i wouldn't be able to understand, weak, stupid, like profoundly stupid, and nasty about how they see other people... i can't be that way, even on my worst days i can't see other people just as tools for my use... but then my needs have never been too hard to meet within my mind or in my pornography, so bleh, maybe my place at the head of the dunce table is well deserved for yet another reason...

Edit: Just gonna add a little edit here, i do not at all judge anyone for having an appetite for something, no matter what it is, but i will viscerally judge someone for feeding that appetite at the expense of others. That's one of my core philosophical positions and i will not budge from it. What you having going on in your mind is your business, but making it a reality, making victims of other people, that's 100% society's business. Not accusing anyone of anything, just adding context to what i'm saying.

The big difference between us and Haruka is that I doubt any of us have an Akira in our lives. He's the sexual equivalent of crack cocaine.

 

[fdsasdf_p]

best / worst / thought provoking quote from this game to set as pinned tweet?

Spoiler: best

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Spoiler: worst

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Spoiler: thought provoking

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Spoiler: plain provoking

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You'll soon be the King of Conversation on Twitter.

 

[Klldarkness]

God, i wish we got more boner time with Molly. Breaking the little Irish succubus, how could somebody say no when she does that provocative look

Molly is by far one of my favorites. Like tied for top 2, maybe. She uses her game humor to cover her pain, and is also so horny she shakes like a chihuahua. 10/10

Also her showing up for like half the game for the weeb notes before her official introduction was peak.

 

[Pedro4545454]

This just reminded me of the conversation between Molly and Akira, when they had their first sexual interaction. When Akira meets her, she's so hot that he just goes "fuck it, teleport me back, Pareidolia"

Spoiler: level one

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And then there's another one in this same conversation, where Molly just goes "you're super nice, but sometimes I wish you'd just break me instead", and even Pareidolia is just like "GODDAMN" lol

Spoiler: level one

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*these are not word for word, obviously.

Edit: I've added the screenshots and this one part that I forgot about:

Spoiler: Fated to love you

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I just love this series of events so much

Seeing these conversations reminded me of how much I hated Paredolia, and how much I miss it nowadays ;-;
I genuinely hope he comes back at some point.