Ren'Py Life as an Innocent Waitress [v0.2.2] [Frisson Studios]

[Trium]

I think that there should be some balancing, true, if the devs do intend to make the pure path a proper thing. Though they will probably explore the corruption path more often as that's the content the game has going.

The pure path shouldn't just be about "pure" options, but above all a challenge in which you have to make choices, thus giving up a bit of innocence to avoid falling even lower in the face of challenges. If it were only about always making "the right choice" each time, it would be boring.

Similarly, in all these games where you play as the heroine, I find it enjoyable to be confronted with difficulties that are only surmountable by giving up a little ground on purity, otherwise, it's as if she's willfully wallowing in lust, which would lose most of meaning for players who prefer the corrupted route. It would be like watching a parade of images, not really playing that route to force her to corrupt step by step.

 

[That other person]

The pure path shouldn't just be about "pure" options, but above all a challenge in which you have to make choices, thus giving up a bit of innocence to avoid falling even lower in the face of challenges. If it were only about always making "the right choice" each time, it would be boring.

Similarly, in all these games where you play as the heroine, I find it enjoyable to be confronted with difficulties that are only surmountable by giving up a little ground on purity, otherwise, it's as if she's willfully wallowing in lust, which would lose most of meaning for players who prefer the corrupted route. It would be like watching a parade of images, not really playing that route to force her to corrupt step by step.

That's fair, and some people has indeed managed to pay the rent this way still. Though it seems many had this complaint of the route being too hard. I tried the game twice and did manage to pay rent early, you have to endure some stuff, but still managed so I get it, but I think that effort should be rewarded a little more, like maybe giving you one extra skill point for managing to pay the rent early on or something, a one time thing? I don't know.

I'm not saying they have to make it easy, but yeah not everyone is going to do that trial and error to find the optimal route like they are playing some RPG afraid of missing NPC questlines lol. Once you figure it out sure, you can do it though.

But it's too early to say, maybe they have stuff planned in that regard. This game would be even more awesome if it managed to deal with both routes in the end.

 

[TheUberstuff]

I get that, but the repeated comments like that one show that the idea is not being conveyed very well. It comes off as a gameplay mechanic that can be solved, instead of what it actually is, and that leads to frustration

Wow, gotta say you must frustrate easily. I played the game a lot and never once felt any irritation or frustration.... also the game is still fairly new and its possible this awesome dev who has been very active on this forum and has been responsive to people's concerns will take your frustration into consideration.... I wouldn't as it is pretty nitpicky and I would rather they focus on my quality content for the next update.

 

[Trium]

Frustration is part of the excitement buildup. It's one of the pillars of corruption games, in my humble opinion. In the beginning, the girl is pure, so she resists. The environnement must be hard to make her change. Pure road have to be the hardest one, but others roads have a part of frustation. It's not a bad thing, it rewards you even more afterwards when she finally accept to fall more and more.

 

[TheUberstuff]

Frustration is part of the excitement buildup. It's one of the pillars of corruption games, in my humble opinion. In the beginning, the girl is pure, so she resists. The environnement must be hard to make her change. Pure road have to be the hardest one, but others roads have a part of frustation. It's not a bad thing, it rewards you even more afterwards when she finally accept to fall more and more.

Completely agree, though I don't think that is what they were frustrated about.... I could be wrong. I used to hate slow burn games after playing one that never got anywhere but after playing a couple that did I was hooked.

 

[johnyakuza1]

It's going to be a whole month of vacation in a few days. I do hope the development will begin in the upcoming week; not to get the update faster, but they won't have to crunch themselves to death if they start the development, even if they take it slow and easy.

Sadly, I anticipated they had to crunch a lot and cut out content from 0.2.2 at the very last moment due to time constraints, because the timeline was set in stone. This time around, they have quite a few months of head start; it would be wise to utilize them.

 

[TheUberstuff]

It's going to be a whole month of vacation in a few days. I do hope the development will begin in the upcoming week; not to get the update faster, but they won't have to crunch themselves to death if they start the development, even if they take it slow and easy.

Sadly, I anticipated they had to crunch a lot and cut out content from 0.2.2 at the very last moment due to time constraints, because the timeline was set in stone. This time around, they have quite a few months of head start; it would be wise to utilize them.

You're statement is confusing, the devs took time off in June according to their Patreon. I don't know if their back from their break by now but I doubt in a few days they are going on another month of vacation.

Also they kept to their release date promise regardless of how they did it they did and I for one appreciated that they did and I am sure that they will put in whatever content they have planned into the next update. People being a backseat driver is getting really annoying and old, just STFU let them do their work and stop speculating.

 

[Erelyn]

I think the incompleteness of the game is showing. Even if I fall straight into the corruption hole as fast as I can, I find the tips speed up until you hit the kissing scene in the bar. At which point my tips drop by 50% or more. There are several blank scenes when someone is trying to grab you when nothing happens, and I lose the ability to lower my reputation. The underwear scene keeps happening and actually raising it. I struggle to stay afloat and actually buy anything from the website. I can't even imagine trying to do this with a pure path. Basically everything that doesn't lead to corruption leads to losing energy, increasing stress, or being late to work. All of those things will further complicate the already razor thin margins this game has on paying rent. While I like the concept, the balance needs to be... well... balanced. I dislike how rent increases every week, while your tips get crippled almost immediately. I hate these shifting goal games. Maybe a 1 time event, but really. I only made it to week 3, but every week got more expensive. I was able to get a safe and a cell phone only because I went the super corruption route (and I could only barely afford the cheap ones). If I wanted the pure route, then all the bad stuff happens, and you keep getting robbed, and your website pictures do not increase their return more, and you struggle with energy management, and you keep being late to work, and your stress keeps forcing you into situations. It turns the game into a slog without any reward (corruption scenes), or it may actually be impossible. Definitely needs some balance work, but I have high hopes.

imagine wanting to do a virgin route in a porn game,didnt know that was a fetish or that pple could fap to that....
i wonder if it is a self insert issue with pple that they like to torture themselves trying to do the opposite the game ismade for

 

[johnyakuza1]

People being a backseat driver is getting really annoying and old, just STFU let them do their work and stop speculating.

Respectfully, they're not doing any work... So yes, I will fully speculate whether the development for the next version has begun, or perhaps they've extended their vacation because they said it would be 3 weeks or more, and it is more.

You didn't get the point—Crunching at the last minute is not fun. The pressure is immense as the deadline closes in, and people's anticipation rises for the glorious update to release. Yes, they achieved the timeline and released according to the plan, but at the cost of burning the midnight oil and cutting out content, and this is something they can prevent from doing again for 0.3.0.

If they continue their break, that means less time for development, and maybe you haven't realized this, but they're not the fastest game devs and need at least 4–5 months to add a decent amount of content, because 0.2.2 had cut corners, and it shows. If they want to exceed expectations, now is the time.

 

[johnyakuza1]

imagine wanting to do a virgin route in a porn game,didnt know that was a fetish or that pple could fap to that....
i wonder if it is a self insert issue with pple that they like to torture themselves trying to do the opposite the game ismade for

Aptly described. Virgin runs are quite popular, even in visual novel games, so it’s not like a niche thing that the devs might add; it’s a well-liked challenge. It’s not intended for fapping purposes (at least I hope not), but by going against the game’s design and “protecting” the FMC with your actions instead of allowing anything and everything to happen to her... So, you’re actively being engaged in saving her rather than taking a backseat and agreeing to whatever happens with your FMC.

Compared to a corruption route, the only problem with virgin runs is that there’s not much content in them, since you're actively rejecting H-events; thus, they are truly reserved for the gooning masochists.

 

[hello.jpg]

Frustration is part of the excitement buildup. It's one of the pillars of corruption games, in my humble opinion. In the beginning, the girl is pure, so she resists. The environnement must be hard to make her change. Pure road have to be the hardest one, but others roads have a part of frustation. It's not a bad thing, it rewards you even more afterwards when she finally accept to fall more and more.

Completely agree, though I don't think that is what they were frustrated about.... I could be wrong. I used to hate slow burn games after playing one that never got anywhere but after playing a couple that did I was hooked.

Yea I wasn't talking about fun corruption frustration, I was talking about game mechanics being unclear.

We're all gamers here and so we've all had probably hundreds of experiences of resource management as a puzzle to be solved. That's what the cash/rent situation seems like: something you need to manage and overcome via proper use of the game mechanics. If people don't realize that it's not actually supposed to be solvable, they think they're doing something wrong, think the game is balanced badly, maybe look up a guide, come on here to complain about it being too hard, etc.

And I'm not pulling that out of my ass, because there's been many comments ITT along those lines.

It's not a dealbreaker for this excellent game, but it could be improved.

 

[Viperx11]

You are missing the point of the rent entirely, you are not supposed to be able to pay it... The design is intentional.

I do not actually know what happens when you fail to pay rent. Assuming the tips slowing down immensely when you hit the kissing scene is due to lack of content, then I will not fail to pay the rent. I can't imagine giving more of yourself to the bar people would lead to less tips than when you just started. If I can save enough money, then I get can the better safe and camera and make more money. Energy management is no issue after I have the waitress skill. Stress is no issue when I fall into the corruption hole. If failing to pay the rent leads to getting corrupted, then literally only people trying the pure route would suffer, and it would do it by making them not pure. Assuming you are not thrown on your face outside when failing to pay rent, it is just extra stress/corruption/abuse opportunities. If anything this premise is so forced, why is the lazy boy keeping his room while the 1 girl in a matriarchal society forced into extra work to keep her room when she is going to college. Even if the father couldn't keep up, then the extra money she helps with makes her more valuable than the lazy boy. Yeah yeah, i know, porn logic.

 

[Ceebler]

I do not actually know what happens when you fail to pay rent.

If she fails to pay rent, it starts a corruption pathway with her step-father where he starts to use her to help with his loneliness. Each week she misses increases the stakes of the interactions. If I remember correctly from my playthrough, that increase only goes through the first three misses (week four) and there is no change after that. I think this is where the dev has stopped with this release.

 

[Penitensary]

imagine wanting to do a virgin route in a porn game,didnt know that was a fetish or that pple could fap to that....
i wonder if it is a self insert issue with pple that they like to torture themselves trying to do the opposite the game ismade for

Can't speak for others of course, but...

...for me, it's kind of playing games in a way that isn't intended that is the draw with virgin runs. Compare it to a regular game, like, say, Hearts of Iron, you choose to play Nazi Germany and then go out of your way to do nothing wrong and be a complete pacifist so the AI has zero reason to attack you. Sure, the point of that game is to recreate WW2, but after the first couple of times it's just funny to turn the world into a complete shitshow as you try to get the AI to do the most ridiculous stuff because you're deliberately not doing the things that are required for them to trigger specific followup actions.

With porn games there are some differences of course, but the 'virgin' tag is seen as a badge of honor of how long you've been able to dodge scenes for. It is torture, in a way, but what's being tortured is the game's code as it tries to avoid sequence breaking or crashing.

Again, speaking from my perspective, but hopefully it helps...

 

[mofu2x]

This cleaning minigame is an accessibility nightmare. Like actually impossible for some people and actually damaging to your eyes.

 

[wildride69]

This cleaning minigame is an accessibility nightmare. Like actually impossible for some people and actually damaging to your eyes.

It super easy after you make some upgrades, initially it is pain in the ass. Edit your save files, give yourself enough points to boost cleaning all the way, is the easiest solution.

 

[Kpopn00dcoverlover]

It super easy after you make some upgrades, initially it is pain in the ass. Edit your save files, give yourself enough points to boost cleaning all the way, is the easiest solution.

i think the original idea is that they didn't really want you to do it? there's penalties supposedly if you don't? but i think practically, you just don't get more money.

this is where i love things like hints on options (example: this leads to dad liking you less and possible punishment on week3), hints in a journal, hints on a gallery (example: needs exhibtion 100+ and table event grope in 2nd outfit) , anything really. or just better explanation when the task is given by dad initially? anything? make it a toggle. dunno.

right now, as it stands, i jut don't know. can't tell if i SHOULD be cleaning or not cleaning if i want the scenes. i'm chalking it up to home stuff needs work next for sure. but i guarantee MOST players wanted more outfits, outfit options (shirt off, bra still on; shirt on, bra displaced), stuff in the bar. so guess we'll see after next update or two

 

[SaSteiner]

Cleaning is a way to reduce the rent you have to pay your dad.

Do it and you can save money,
Don't and you have to pay more in the end.

Don't clean and punishment by he dad due usable to pay rent is more likely.

 

[wildride69]

i think the original idea is that they didn't really want you to do it? there's penalties supposedly if you don't? but i think practically, you just don't get more money.

this is where i love things like hints on options (example: this leads to dad liking you less and possible punishment on week3), hints in a journal, hints on a gallery (example: needs exhibtion 100+ and table event grope in 2nd outfit) , anything really. or just better explanation when the task is given by dad initially? anything? make it a toggle. dunno.

right now, as it stands, i jut don't know. can't tell if i SHOULD be cleaning or not cleaning if i want the scenes. i'm chalking it up to home stuff needs work next for sure. but i guarantee MOST players wanted more outfits, outfit options (shirt off, bra still on; shirt on, bra displaced), stuff in the bar. so guess we'll see after next update or two

Cleaning is a way to reduce the rent you have to pay your dad.

Do it and you can save money,
Don't and you have to pay more in the end.

Don't clean and punishment by he dad due usable to pay rent is more likely.

I think what he was referring to is how hard it is to see the cleaning prompts, which is why he referenced "accessibility". I agree with him 100% the prompts are very tiny "imo" unless you have really good vision and anyone who has any vision issues will have problems.

My solution was just to edit the save file and increase cleaning points which also happily increases the cleaning prompts size substantially. Then you can choose if you want to clean or not to see where the story takes you, instead of the frustration of being unable to hit the prompts in time.

 

[SaSteiner]

I think what he was referring to is how hard it is to see the cleaning prompts, which is why he referenced "accessibility". I agree with him 100% the prompts are very tiny "imo" unless you have really good vision and anyone who has any vision issues will have problems.

My solution was just to edit the save file and increase cleaning points which also happily increases the cleaning prompts size substantially. Then you can choose if you want to clean or not to see where the story takes you, instead of the frustration of being unable to hit the prompts in time.

Or just use your first skill points on cleaning. Getting the skill up to a reasonable level is really easy, no need to cheat tbh.