- Aug 9, 2020
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And Rain commented on her (the cat) letting us do that, didn't she?
- Dec 31, 2020
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She did, and she also said that the cat just showed up at the greenhouse one day(I presume after Lisa died).
- Sep 18, 2021
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Other people have already pointed out how it isn't entirely necessary, and Nine has already mentioned tweaking it, but just wanted to point out that I don't really think Investigation Mode needs you to figure out how the dev thinks. The pings mostly just require you to have a suspicious mind and be paying attention.
As an example, early on Monica mentions she was in a relationship with Lisa, but it never became serious. Which triggered my IRRATIONAL JEALOUSY MODE and led me to click on her saying it wasn't serious to see if I believed her. Which led to the reveal that she sounded really bitter about it. Which is just a little extra tidbit (and one that comes up again later anyway) - so you can factor it into your later investigations.
Of course, that's assuming I found most/all of the possible clues. It's possible I missed nearly all of them because most of them were crazy moon logic. But if so, that just makes it a loving nostalgic homage to old-school adventure games where you had to be insane to figure out how to disguise yourself using cat hair or tie up a goat.
Though I suppose that makes this a good time to ask if it's fair to admit how many clues there are, or if that's something Nine still wants to keep a bit of a mystery.
During the "Do I trust this person or am I suspicious?" scene with the photos, part of me wanted to just arbitrarily trust anyone I'd had sex with and distrust everyone else, because in my head my version of the main character definitely has an intimacy/sex-based blind spot for people.Investigation mode buff?
Too bad I blindly trust everybody anyway!
(But I couldn't do it because of my eavesdropping in the diner, which left me emotionally wary of B. Not having a chance to confront her about it left me unwilling to say I trusted her. And I also mentioned being suspicious of Sophia, though I never hooked up with her in this particular run.
Also, assuming those suspects are the ONLY suspects, and we won't have new ones introduced in the future, I suspect I may already know who the culprit(s) is. If so, I'm going to feel so very, very smug later.)
Though that reminds me - I'm kind of curious whether your answers in that segment actually set flags for future use (like it will affect dialogue in Chapter 4 or 5) or if it was more just to help the player clarify their thoughts.
I'm kind of in the reverse boat. After sleeping with B but later getting a bit more suspicious, I feel like I'd be more likely to turn down any future opportunities. Similar with Rain - when we talk on the phone there's a bit of banter that implies she's inviting Nelson over for the sexy times, and Nelson is somewhat open to the idea (likely because I agreed to do the ritual), but if/when the opportunity comes up to have another scene with her, it feels like it would be nice to give the player an opportunity to back out of romance paths at any time along the way.
The main downside is that it creates the possibility of narrative conflict - as is, if you basically just give an either/or choice and then never address it again, you only need to write two versions of dialogue: one where you've slept together and one where you haven't. But being able to "break up" later adds the need for a third version, where you started out together but then broke it off (and in some cases, there might even be a need for variations based on if you broke it off early or broke it off after multiple encounters).
Ultimately it's not a huge concern (you can only do so much with branching dialogue as a single dev working on a project more as a hobby than a career), but it did occur to me during the Rain phone call scene.
When I first went through I picked a name starting with S, and I was vastly amused that her nickname for me was S Club 7. And then I was like, "That's a really odd coincidence that it starts with S!". And then I realized it was probably a Codsworth from Fallout 4 scenario where there was literally a different nickname coded based on what name you choose to start out with.
There does seem to be a lot of clever stuff behind the scenes involving what you input as a player. Like characters refusing to let you use certain nicknames. Which is one of those things that seems so minor, but is always a bit of fun.
When that happens to me in games, I always just kind of mentally justify it as the thing that's clipping is just folded over or tucked under the thing it's clipping into.
Like in this case, it's obvious the sweater is just covering up part of the cord. Obviously!
I'm always the reverse. I almost always play as female main characters, and I will almost always default to long hair and bulkier clothes.
As much as clipping irritates my OCD, I'm kind of more irritated by the idea of walking around in skintight outfits showing off tons of skin when I'm like "This character would literally never dress like this in any realistic world." I'm not one of those people who completely flip out over bikini mail or how implausible "boob armor" is with real world physics, but I do generally try to pick clothes that are a bit more sedate (or even frumpy). Hell, even in an adult VN literally revolving around tons of sex if I'm given a choice to pick an outfit I tend to pick the more "prudish" option.
And I just tend to prefer long hair because I think it looks more exotic than most of the shorter hair styles in any game, which usually look a bit basic. Unless we're talking something like Fallout where you get the shaved sides/top flip option (which is pretty close to what B's hairstyle is). And if some degree of braiding or plaiting is an option, I'm usually going for that.
Ah HA! Now we have the tools to stalk you in the real world!
Now all we have to do is trick you into telling us what you call soda, certain kinds of sandwich, and water fountains and we can pinpoint you perfectly!
Or maybe we just have to see what your feelings are on trunk, elevator, flashlight, and soccer.
Oh, I thought I'd said this before, but maybe I haven't. There's 14 clues (and one joke one that unlocks an achievement) - one for each suspect. In version 3.11, when you get a suspect's clue that suspect's photo on the Mythos board will have a purple star when you hover over it.
No more suspects are being added at this point. The fourteen on the board are your entire Rogue's Gallery!
- Aug 22, 2018
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You mean boot, lift, torch and football .... Right?
As for where I live. It's pretty common knowledge i'm Welsh. Moved further into the UK a few years ago when me and my girl got job offers pretty close together, took that as the time to move in together.
We can take B, Tara and Sophie off that because they would never kill Lisa and even if they did i'd totally cover it up for them.
Ride or die, baby.
I have my thought on it and it being a certain girl with an I.
- Sep 18, 2021
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Okay, finally caught up. This is why someone with obsessive completionist tendencies shouldn't avoid an active topic for nearly a month.
Just a few more random, minor thoughts:
The icon for the game in Windows folders is just the Ren'Py icon. This is pretty common for Ren'Py games, but some devs go above and beyond and add a unique graphic for their .exe file. It might be nice to add something like that - maybe Lisa's face, or Nine's dev logo, or a werewolf... basically, just something to stand out for people who might have a game folder with dozens of games. But this is not even remotely a huge deal, just a casual suggestion if it's an idea that strikes your fancy.
And speaking of werewolves, when we have the moment early in the Chapter where you wake up next day, and Nelson mentions "non-existent werewolves", it feels like you totally missed a chance to have that be an Investigation Mode hint (though like I mentioned at some point in the past, that's a joke that might benefit from getting some cooldown time, so maybe not). Still, the thought amused me. Like, click it and the clue narration just pops up and is like "Nope, werewolves definitely aren't real."
One last thing I noticed in the story (even if Nelson didn't seem to), is that almost immediately after we're told that certain supernaturals can hear when someone says their name (ANY version of their names), we're given the choice to tell Sophia and B about Ennai. At which point I half-assume using his full real name (or even potentially the rhyme) might be enough for him to eavesdrop on the rest of the conversation. I was tempted to not mention his name at all, but I figured I had to tell them something (and there was no option to mention a demon showed up but avoid using his name).
Or the part where I mentioned "a particularly clever writer".
I've had the "Sooo... is she going to become a potential love interest at some point, or have we already met/seduced all of those already?" thought as well.
And I've played with the idea that she's either the direct culprit or at least partly involved as well. She's basically in my Top 2 list of people to watch in the future.
There's also the fact that, in a three-way POV side-story involving three different characters, two of them are characters who were in love with the protagonist. Why not all three? It's like poetry.
I wouldn't put it past Nine to make one of our allies and potential love interests the guilty party. It's exactly the sort of thing I'd do if I was crafting an interactive mystery story.
But that might be because when I was a kid, I read multiple Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style fantasy stories where you have to choose someone to take with you as a sidekick, with one of them turning out to be the literal Big Bad you're going after to kill in the first place. And hell, one of those was actually a romance novel!
So I've always loved the narrative trope of "The villain has been with you all along". Probably as the goofy comic relief background character *cough*Magnifico the Clown*cough*. Pretending to be something less than they really are. Slowly observing your every action to better deal with you later. Learning your secrets and weaknesses. Possibly even hoping to subvert you or convince you to join their side instead of opposing them.
Just a few more random, minor thoughts:
The icon for the game in Windows folders is just the Ren'Py icon. This is pretty common for Ren'Py games, but some devs go above and beyond and add a unique graphic for their .exe file. It might be nice to add something like that - maybe Lisa's face, or Nine's dev logo, or a werewolf... basically, just something to stand out for people who might have a game folder with dozens of games. But this is not even remotely a huge deal, just a casual suggestion if it's an idea that strikes your fancy.
And speaking of werewolves, when we have the moment early in the Chapter where you wake up next day, and Nelson mentions "non-existent werewolves", it feels like you totally missed a chance to have that be an Investigation Mode hint (though like I mentioned at some point in the past, that's a joke that might benefit from getting some cooldown time, so maybe not). Still, the thought amused me. Like, click it and the clue narration just pops up and is like "Nope, werewolves definitely aren't real."
One last thing I noticed in the story (even if Nelson didn't seem to), is that almost immediately after we're told that certain supernaturals can hear when someone says their name (ANY version of their names), we're given the choice to tell Sophia and B about Ennai. At which point I half-assume using his full real name (or even potentially the rhyme) might be enough for him to eavesdrop on the rest of the conversation. I was tempted to not mention his name at all, but I figured I had to tell them something (and there was no option to mention a demon showed up but avoid using his name).
That's interesting. Because like I mentioned earlier, in my run the Lorebook still describes Sophia as just an "Ally" rather than a "Girlfriend". So I'm assuming you had a flag for "romancing" Sophia and a separate one for "banging". So the "we're not dating" flag was properly set but the sex one was broken.
Obviously the part where I called it Baldymore.
Or the part where I mentioned "a particularly clever writer".
I've been leaning this way in my head as well.
I've had the "Sooo... is she going to become a potential love interest at some point, or have we already met/seduced all of those already?" thought as well.
And I've played with the idea that she's either the direct culprit or at least partly involved as well. She's basically in my Top 2 list of people to watch in the future.
There's also the fact that, in a three-way POV side-story involving three different characters, two of them are characters who were in love with the protagonist. Why not all three? It's like poetry.
The funny part is how I marked two of those three off as "suspicious" in the photo phase.
I wouldn't put it past Nine to make one of our allies and potential love interests the guilty party. It's exactly the sort of thing I'd do if I was crafting an interactive mystery story.
But that might be because when I was a kid, I read multiple Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style fantasy stories where you have to choose someone to take with you as a sidekick, with one of them turning out to be the literal Big Bad you're going after to kill in the first place. And hell, one of those was actually a romance novel!
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So I've always loved the narrative trope of "The villain has been with you all along". Probably as the goofy comic relief background character *cough*Magnifico the Clown*cough*. Pretending to be something less than they really are. Slowly observing your every action to better deal with you later. Learning your secrets and weaknesses. Possibly even hoping to subvert you or convince you to join their side instead of opposing them.
There was an option, though! One of the choices was "I think it was something like 'Fuckin' A'?"
I did have separate flags for that, yes! Though I wish I would have made her sex choice like all the others in that agreeing to the relationship would likewise agree to sex; not as great for the realism/romance crowd, but would have saved me so much headache in coding.
- Sep 18, 2021
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Yeah, but he's the one who tells you that's how to remember how to pronounce his name. So in my head that counts as being one of his names. Like he's essentially introducing himself to you with it.
Sort of like how B isn't really a name as much as an abbreviation of other names (and in retrospect, casts her own habit of giving initial-based nicknames in an entirely new light), but it's still a defining aspect of her persona so probably counts as a name itself.
True Names are complicated!
I hate to note something (because I know how frustrating pruning for bugs/edits can be) but I did the above and Nelson still recalls having sex with her during the B scene. This was in version 3.
It's time for everyone's favourite Mythos segment (seriously, y'all love this for some reason): ASK THE CAST!!!
You can talk directly to the characters in Mythos! Please read the rules on the post, because questions will be thrown out of they don't meet the criteria.
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Can I ask Kylie what the fuck she's gonna do with two girlfriends alla sudden?
I know that's a choice the player can make, but canonically, what would the Kylie in your head have done with the Tara, Lisa problem? Even if ultimately it turns out that the Lisa we saw isn't the real Lisa, what went through poor Kylie's head?
That's what I'm after.
(Don't give me the 'but she was asexual!' answer, she's not in this VN. So what would your version of this Kylie say?)
I know that's a choice the player can make, but canonically, what would the Kylie in your head have done with the Tara, Lisa problem? Even if ultimately it turns out that the Lisa we saw isn't the real Lisa, what went through poor Kylie's head?
That's what I'm after.
(Don't give me the 'but she was asexual!' answer, she's not in this VN. So what would your version of this Kylie say?)
- Sep 18, 2021
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I don't know about Nine's answer, but I'd assume in the moment she'd be way too shocked and confused to even formulate coherent thoughts.
And then, once stuff gets sorted out and explained, if she's still left with a "Now what do we do?" scenario, she probably starts trying really, really hard to start talking both of them into a polycule.
Especially since, by this point, it's possible Kylie doesn't have two girlfriends. She can be anywhere from 0-5 (plus a "consort").
I tried to put all my presupposals into the context of the question. Are you saying I did a bad job at that, or that it's a bad question (and I should feel bad?)
- Sep 18, 2021
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...no?
I was just trying to discuss the answer from my own perspective. Which is obviously not the perspective of the author.
- Mar 24, 2021
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To Rin/the cat :does the fact you were with the band made it possible to give your invitation to Ky ?
- Mar 24, 2021
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To Sophia : can you recite to us some episolary exchange between Cecil and Tara's granny? That stuff must be spicy... please.. I will never again say " fo'shizzle ma'muzzle"
- Nov 11, 2020
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But... I was about to ask it if the motor oil Tara use for it is good enough.
Nine of Swords, your no fun!
Hum... wait... Lisa old beetle isn't off limit...
- Aug 24, 2019
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are we really going to start discussing which oil is better? we all know that nothing beats cold pressed olive oil.
- Dec 24, 2019
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Peanut oil.are we really going to start discussing which oil is better? we all know that nothing beats cold pressed olive oil.
It sorts the wheat from the chaff ...