VN Ren'Py Love & Jealousy [Act 3] [Professor Amethyst Games]

[DeviantFun]

With how critical you have been of the writing in the VN, I'm surprised you skipped write over it being writing and to a point that is not given a second thought in the story.

I am not sure what this means.

For the parts that I understood:

I am unsure about what Lacey can do tbh.

MC is really stuck in his head, the paths were a good idea to help MC through his feelings and letting them be expressed in a safe and controlled evironment.

Lacey's apologies make MC feel even worse, and he knows this.
MC works best when he understands, he needs to understand to make sense of his pain, but between Lacey not having the right answers and him being so hurt....

One thing that has worked in the past was soothibg MC with sex (with soothing words and affirmations), at least as a temp measure.

If I can make a silly prediction, the fact that Lacey fucked Isaac is because she needed to reset sith pain

I am pretty disappointed in the Vegas part sure, as I was complimentary of other parts, you cannot always be perfect in execution, but Al.d put my thoughts about the matter better than I could.

 

[funnythings3785]

If I can make a silly prediction, the fact that Lacey fucked Isaac is because she needed to reset sith pain

That would be... "reasoned" explanation to it, but for me to accept it, I would want the MC to confront her and for them to have it out concerning this and her to explain this reasoning.

It would be shitty, it would suck for the MC, would even work into the whole misery thing of his struggle, but it would make some sense.

She found her "escape" was healing, but then... struggled and the MC might have issue if she showed up to his door out of the blue and said "Do extreme sexual pain to me to aid me!" and whether he might be able to argue he would have been understanding, she could have said she was extremely worried to take the risk because of her past...

Now that, ok... I could stomach... but FFS that needs to be attended to.

 

[FatYoda]

I'm confused. Lacey is basically begging him to form a harem. Asking him to do shit with other girls...and there's no harem planned? So me fucking around with all these girls is going to end very very badly?

 

[DeviantFun]

I'm confused. Lacey is basically begging him to form a harem. Asking him to do shit with other girls...and there's no harem planned? So me fucking around with all these girls is going to end very very badly?

In my reading, Lacey had this basic thought in act 1:

L "You and I will discuss who you might like to do that with."
L "Maybe choose one or two girls."
L "When you're ready I will sit down and have a chat with the girl or girls you choose."
L "Letting them know I approve of what you're doing."
L "Like I said before. No lies. No secrets."
L "I need to know you'll always tell me what's going on."
L "I don't want to know any of the small details."
L "I do want to know when major events or changes happen."

So, go have some fun, experience things and feel loved.

Then it evolves a bit more in the "love experiment".

L "The whole open relationship thing?"
L "I am not trying to turn you into me."
L "I want you to date other women, so you can feel more confident."
L "So, you can experience the things you missed out on."
L "And so you can hurt me."
L "So you can make me feel jealous."
L "Because I think you need that."
L "I think you need to put me in my place so that you can work through all this."
L "It's not going to be fun for me."
L "I am extremely jealous of you and the women around you."
L "I've made that abundantly clear."
L "But I love you enough that I want you to have this."

We do not have all the details on how it evolved or if it evolved further, but we know Lacey promised Anna that MC could love her (aftermath of LB video, Mia, Anna and Lacey watch the video in the living room).

And now with the house and all, and how MC is setting up to take care of everyone, uniting the dots and taking Lacey breeeding talk with Veronica. it would seem that it could become more of a Family (this is MY speculation)

You can already see that messing up too much is gonna end badly, you lose GG points every time MC goes with another woman (even Anna which was a bit confusing) and both Anna and Veronica seem to be....a bit sleazy about it.

I think some stuff within the friend group will blow up at some point, due to jealousy between the girls (Mia bringing Lacey K already happened) and some girls being "aggressive".

 

[JEER0X]

This issue also concerns me as to how the story is going, especially after the way characters were acting to the MC during it and how it seemed to imply the "problems" were the MCs mostly.

What it does is give an easy out for all the people who do have some responsibility in his current state (Lacey being the biggest).

Lacey seems to go through all of this self discovery, repair and healing... while the MC spirals, but we know that the MCs state is a culmination of all that Lacey has done to him, but... with these mental breaks happening outside of any specific noted trigger, it sets things up as "MC is breaking, it is because he can't deal with things and let go" rather than, "MC has issues, but Lacey (and the girls) continued actions keep pushing him further into despair".

The difference is that with the illusions being the driver and not connected to any specific action (like some of the past acts breaks), it makes the MC look like he is at fault (his mental condition) and that the other characters really are just honest people standing by caring, but not being able to help, which essentially absolves them of all responsibility in this.

So Lacey heals, comes to terms (at the cost of the MC), but never truly knows that all these other things are what lead to the break, that her inability to truly see what she has done to him in the more recent situations (Vegas, recovery, poker game, blaming him, bedroom event, etc...) is likely spurring on this continued spiral.

I somehow can't think that if Lacey had become perfect after the last mental break he had, was completely considerate, made major growth in how she dealt with him, that he would have spiraled as fast. It think her continued walking over him (whether she realizes it or not) and his lack of responding to her about it in a serious way will somehow go unnoticed (and it seems the story wants us to dismiss those offenses) while we excuse them all and point to the MC crazy brain.

you know the sad thing here i just thought of, honestly if him Breaking is what saves Lacey he would be okay with it. it would truly be a sad ending.

And by Breaking i mean complete, memory loss/mind destruction

 

[funnythings3785]

you know the sad thing here i just thought of, honestly if him Breaking is what saves Lacey he would be okay with it. it would truly be a sad ending.

And by Breaking i mean complete, memory loss/mind destruction

It would be an easy out for the writing, but it is a possibility. Keep in mind though, as per Lacey claims, she can't live without him... so if he 1) Doesn't remember her he won't approve of her likely, an unattached MC would judge Lacey much more harshly I would think and would not be with her, which would be murder on her (ie she is the outsider) 2) if he becomes a vegetable, he is for the most part dead, Lacey suffers and would also see it as death (likely killing herself).

I don't see an easy way out for Lacey unless... it is as I mentioned previously, a memory loss, a period of harsh evaluation by the MC, causing Lacey to completely evaluate (not her past, she seems to have come to terms with that), but her damage to the MC, which causes a massive remorse and adjustment (along with the rest of the girls) and then... maybe... the MC slowly comes back to his memories and through it all is able to find peace, accept the past and finally accept Lacey's SHOWN remorse and reparations.

 

[funnythings3785]

BTW, there was a time when the public tried to convince everyone that a "blow job" wasn't sex and really wasn't a major thing.

Just saying...

 

[JEER0X]

What is your theory on how this is gonna play out? He is already hallucinating.

What is next and who will find him, if anyone does and how long will it take?

Will it be quick like when they found him at the suicide spot? i think not, i think it will take awhile maybe months/years and thats if he doesn't hurt or kill himself

 

[Pugthulhu]

I am not sure what this means.

What is mean is that I credit the Isaac sex things to sloppy writing. That I was surprised you jumped to making this a huge retcon to the story rather than to sloppy writing.
It is said directly to the MC and he has zero reaction to it. Nothing.

This is one line in Act 3.
So what is more logical?
This this line is written accurately and every other line on the topic was a lie or mistake and the MCs reactions have been wrong every other time and him not acknowledging the issue is what is meant to be real?
Or that this one line is a writing inconsistency and everything else we've read is exactly what is written?

As I've said, if in a later act this comes back and I find that this is true and is a problem for the MC then I will adjust my view and move on.

 

[funnythings3785]

What is your theory on how this is gonna play out? He is already hallucinating.

What is next and who will find him, if anyone does and how long will it take?

Will it be quick like when they found him at the suicide spot? i think not, i think it will take awhile maybe months/years and thats if he doesn't hurt or kill himself

No idea... I gave up on predicting what is going to happen after Act 3. There are better minds who have spent far many more hours on the topic scouring the scenes than I have and they came up with egg on their face this Act... so that should tell you something.

Keep in mind, that is a big part of the discussion here, that what the "writing" tells us, doesn't really have any influence on what the story will do as it could all change on a whim and completely disregard that which was already established.

What will be, will be... that is the best I can do.

 

[DeviantFun]

What is mean is that I credit the Isaac sex things to sloppy writing. That I was surprised you jumped to making this a huge retcon to the story rather than to sloppy writing.
It is said directly to the MC and he has zero reaction to it. Nothing.

This is one line in Act 3.
So what is more logical?
This this line is written accurately and every other line on the topic was a lie or mistake and the MCs reactions have been wrong every other time and him not acknowledging the issue is what is meant to be real?
Or that this one line is a writing inconsistency and everything else we've read is exactly what is written?

As I've said, if in a later act this comes back and I find that this is true and is a problem for the MC then I will adjust my view and move on.

Ahh I understand now!

I think it is a setup for further problems down the line (with an explanation I have given in the previous post).

Alright, thanks for clarifying!

What is your theory on how this is gonna play out? He is already hallucinating.

What is next and who will find him, if anyone does and how long will it take?

Will it be quick like when they found him at the suicide spot? i think not, i think it will take awhile maybe months/years and thats if he doesn't hurt or kill himself

There is one big thing that is underlined in act 2, MC is the glue that keeps everything together.

If he is not in the picture things might start to fall apart, Lacey in primis, considering that she has anxiety problems when he is not around for extended periods of time or when she is unsure that she will find him (work trip talk, therapy talk in act 2 about going camping with Mia).
Also, no red bra for Lacey, bad stuff is gonna happen.

Isaac will probably step up to help (I thought that he would already do something of the sort in this act), Kelly will do her best.
If we have to follow the last hints in act 3, the women will fight together to help MC affairs in his absence (but who knows).

MC missing for many months could surely set up the whole group in falling apart, I think the first domino (Mia's actions) that TM mentions is probably the brewing jealousy (Anna is being a bit sleazy, Veronica too, Mia already did her part but I think she will be the one that will hold fast.) and blame of Lacey between the other girls (some of it rightful, some will be probably a blame fest).
They could also be harassed or fall prey to Barty.

When Mc comes back he and Lacey will go and "kidnap" (cit KW day 2) all the other girls and bring them under one roof and work things out between them, so they can fight the looming danger.

But I am just telling you what has been foreshadowed, what could happen for real is a mystery for everyone but one person at the moment.

 

[JEER0X]

No idea... I gave up on predicting what is going to happen after Act 3. There are better minds who have spent far many more hours on the topic scouring the scenes than I have and they came up with egg on their face this Act... so that should tell you something.

Keep in mind, that is a big part of the discussion here, that what the "writing" tells us, doesn't really have any influence on what the story will do as it could all change on a whim and completely disregard that which was already established.

What will be, will be... that is the best I can do.

Yeah but sadly the game is getting more and more predictable, especially this act while i didn't predict the outcomes i did predict a new Baddie and Lacey doing stupid shit as always, so i was kinda numb to her being slutty and dumb yet again.

i had MANY people telling me Barty was harmless back in the previous acts when i kept saying he was a bad guy and something happened with Lacey, while yeah the tape was a fake, he still is one of the badies atm.

 

[funnythings3785]

I am "ok" (it is annoying as hell) with things being completely chaotic and not being resolved until a later date... I dislike it, but... some stories like to confuse and conflict and then resolve much later... I can live with that, IF... all those issues are attended to.

I will still be annoyed, but... at least they will have resolution.

 

[Lady Lydia]

In my reading, Lacey had this basic thought in act 1:

L "You and I will discuss who you might like to do that with."
L "Maybe choose one or two girls."
L "When you're ready I will sit down and have a chat with the girl or girls you choose."
L "Letting them know I approve of what you're doing."
L "Like I said before. No lies. No secrets."
L "I need to know you'll always tell me what's going on."
L "I don't want to know any of the small details."
L "I do want to know when major events or changes happen."

So, go have some fun, experience things and feel loved.

Then it evolves a bit more in the "love experiment".

L "The whole open relationship thing?"
L "I am not trying to turn you into me."
L "I want you to date other women, so you can feel more confident."
L "So, you can experience the things you missed out on."
L "And so you can hurt me."
L "So you can make me feel jealous."
L "Because I think you need that."
L "I think you need to put me in my place so that you can work through all this."
L "It's not going to be fun for me."
L "I am extremely jealous of you and the women around you."
L "I've made that abundantly clear."
L "But I love you enough that I want you to have this."

We do not have all the details on how it evolved or if it evolved further, but we know Lacey promised Anna that MC could love her (aftermath of LB video, Mia, Anna and Lacey watch the video in the living room).

And now with the house and all, and how MC is setting up to take care of everyone, uniting the dots and taking Lacey breeeding talk with Veronica. it would seem that it could become more of a Family (this is MY speculation)

You can already see that messing up too much is gonna end badly, you lose GG points every time MC goes with another woman (even Anna which was a bit confusing) and both Anna and Veronica seem to be....a bit sleazy about it.

I think some stuff within the friend group will blow up at some point, due to jealousy between the girls (Mia bringing Lacey K already happened) and some girls being "aggressive".

Wait what do you mean the MC lose GG points if he goes out with another woman? In my game I have taken every opportunities to go out with other women and my GG is at 95, and that 5 was lost over something different, in the first two Acts the GG points lost typically are about the MC being harsh at Lacey, which I decided wasn't worth it, and 5 points lost for something else I can't remember but I felt it was justifiable enough so I went for it, so I really do know where you losing point over doing stuff with other girls you are talking about.

 

[funnythings3785]

Yeah but sadly the game is getting more and more predictable, especially this act while i didn't predict the outcomes i did predict a new Baddie and Lacey doing stupid shit as always, so i was kinda numb to her being slutty and dumb yet again.

i had MANY people telling me Barty was harmless back in the previous acts when i kept saying he was a bad guy and something happened with Lacey, while yeah the tape was a fake, he still is one of the badies atm.

Those are easy, even if the story was on task, well explained, etc... that is to be expected. This story isn't about the shallow macro look though, its about the micro play between the characters and that is where the depth is, and of course the concern.

From a micro perspective of character interaction, it is a good story (providing things can be shored up and made reasonable). In that, it is not the standard NTR.

Those who fast pace surface evaluate it will get mixed opinions because it is either "dumb slut screws over the dumb MC", or it is some other variation of your basic NTR, or it is a take of how wonderful the FC is for her brave struggle and everything is unicorns and rainbows, but if you dive into the characters, pay attention to the dialogue, it has a lot more there, which is where its potential lies.

I have read a fair amount of the NTR out there, if this was "standard" NTR without merit, I wouldn't have bothered after Act 1.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of crap I am pissed at with the writing, but... there still lies some merit of potential here, it just needs some corrections and polish. Even if it ends in complete devastation for the MC, it will still be worth it (providing the problems are corrected or explained), because while the MC is a wishy washy weak tit, he has miles more value than the typical NTR MC, and what is more, he has some "reasonable" explanation for it.

 

[Pugthulhu]

On other topics, I was entertained with the followup to the Augustus connection. That conversation was completely different from what I expected.

 

[funnythings3785]

Wait what do you mean the MC lose GG points if he goes out with another woman? In my game I have taken every opportunities to go out with other women and my GG is at 95, and that 5 was lost over something different, in the first two Acts the GG points lost typically are about the MC being harsh at Lacey, which I decided wasn't worth it, and 5 points lost for something else I can't remember but I felt it was justifiable enough so I went for it, so I really do know where you losing point over doing stuff with other girls you are talking about.

The point totals changed a bit since I last played. They used to go a lot lower, but on my speed run to get to Act 3 and play through, picking "no fun" and accepting every LI (except Jamie), I still ended with around 90 points at the end of Act 3.

So maybe something changed?

 

[funnythings3785]

On other topics, I was entertained with the followup to the Augustus connection. That conversation was completely different from what I expected.

Yeah, not sure the point in this, maybe just to keep them connected for some later purpose. I hope not for a supernatural purpose, but it could also be setting up for something in the future the professor has planned since the L&J universe is better received.

 

[Pugthulhu]

Wait what do you mean the MC lose GG points if he goes out with another woman? In my game I have taken every opportunities to go out with other women and my GG is at 95, and that 5 was lost over something different, in the first two Acts the GG points lost typically are about the MC being harsh at Lacey, which I decided wasn't worth it, and 5 points lost for something else I can't remember but I felt it was justifiable enough so I went for it, so I really do know where you losing point over doing stuff with other girls you are talking about.

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[DeviantFun]

Wait what do you mean the MC lose GG points if he goes out with another woman? In my game I have taken every opportunities to go out with other women and my GG is at 95, and that 5 was lost over something different, in the first two Acts the GG points lost typically are about the MC being harsh at Lacey, which I decided wasn't worth it, and 5 points lost for something else I can't remember but I felt it was justifiable enough so I went for it, so I really do know where you losing point over doing stuff with other girls you are talking about.

MC loses/gains GG points in 3 specific moments:

When accepting the BJ from Anna (Even if from the text it seems Lacey sanctioned) -5
Rejecting Anna +5

Fondling Bethany - 5 or rejecting her +5

When Veronica asks if you are horny you can say I am and cum on her enourmous udders - 5 or say that you are good +5



To me is a bit confusing considering how much Lacey pushed for some things.
But it is what it is.

On other topics, I was entertained with the followup to the Augustus connection. That conversation was completely different from what I expected.

Indeed, and it might be used later if Mc needs a cash infusion for some reason.
I mean the two are already connected, like it or not, so lets make use of it.