- Oct 11, 2018
- 37
- 43
Right, so having taken the game apart for the last month and a half, I think I can safely comment on how BoF works.
You have a series of If/Then statements, which are each nested. So, each quest has its own page, and each of these pages just contains the statements that refer to that particular quest. In each of those pages, the statements will begin with the latest or last stage of the quest. It'll start with If Quest X = 702, and if that's true, then it'll show the text explaining that step. After that is put in, there's an Else statement, which runs if Quest X is less than 702. By nesting, I mean that these Else statements usually contain a second If/Then statement with the previous stage of that quest. And so on down the line. It'll look like a series of entries starting with If Quest X = 702, followed by a text window that appears, then an Else statement which begins If Quest X = 701, which has a text showing the previous stage, then another Else statement that begins If Quest X = 700, which then shows the next previous quest step, and so on.
That's a really complex explanation, but all you really need to pay attention to is line 3 above. Each quest gets it's own BoF page, but only once you start that quest proper. The in-game prompt for a quest start is usually: "You just unlocked [CHARACTER]'s individual story, you can follow this on his/her Book of Faces page". There are only three quests where this doesn't really happen:
1. The Main Quest: This does not officially begin until you enter Jack's house and discover Christian is giving Charles' stolen cards to Sarah in exchange for sexual favors. Everything before this is still technically Intro.
2. The School Quest: This does not officially begin until Irene gives you a titjob in the recess bathroom.
3. Gang Quest: Naturally, you get this to kick off shortly after you pick a gang and they give you the intro.
(Yeah, Jet's quest also has steps early with the lessons, but you shouldn't be able to finish the game unless you do this part).
The main BoF page only tells you the main quest. In update 0.87, there is no additional main quest stages added, so it tells you you've done everything. It's doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing, you're just on the wrong page.
The Institute Page only tells you the school quest. In update 0.87, there is only a tiny bit of content mainly concerning Marckus and prom. It should still be prompting you to visit Lucy's page, as it did in the last update. This is also working as intended, because you're not yet on the next school quest step.
From here it does a confusing loop of School > Lucy > Sarah. And again, this is it working as intended, because you haven't advanced any of these quests to the next step. When you trigger this next step, it'll start kicking in with new advice.
Now, I can tell you're frustrated. The thing is, being frustrated is usually on you. The game is an RPG, it assumes you have a basic grasp of your role, and that you know how to play that role. Your role here is a high school student, what is the bare minimum routine of every high schooler? You go to sleep in your own bed at night, wake up in the morning, and go to school. If a teacher gives you homework, you do your homework. Made the soccer team? Yeah, you'll need to go to games. I guarantee you that in almost 90% of this game if you don't know what to do, just do the bare minimum your role requires and the next step will auto-trigger. 0.87 has me confused at the first section, I don't know what to do. Well, guess I'd better go to bed eventually... walk up to the third floor of your penthouse and what do you know? The update auto-triggers! I got new quest objectives and cutscenes!
There's a good dozen or so posters every update who ask why Maria's quest isn't starting by the pool in Jack's house. Because they all expect the guide or BoF to take them to the end point immediately. This is like picking up a mystery novel, opening the last chapter and demanding: "Who the fuck are all these people?" Yeah, BoF is telling you how Maria's starts. It is telling you the correct first step, even. The problem is the game hasn't ever told you to START Maria's quest. You're literally standing around pulling your pud next to the wrong pool. Play the game, it'll prompt you when Maria's quest officially branches off the main quest. Same thing for Laura, same for Amy...
The game's an RPG. Don't treat it like an exploration sim or strategy game. You can't use BoF or Lord Ashram's guide to cheat your way directly to the good stuff. [RPGM] is right next to the thread title for a reason. Yes, I could use the guide to speed run through the main quest and start off each of the three girls' quests immediately. But I'm gonna lock myself out of about 13 other side quests during that save because I've advanced beyond where they're supposed to trigger. Like if you want Nadine to blow you in Jack's front entryway near the end of her quest, you kind of have to be living in Jack's house still. That's just the way it works. And above all, don't expect Oracle of Delphi level clairvoyance from a glorfied series of ON/OFF switches.
