VN Ren'Py Completed Now & Then [v1.00.0] [ILSProductions]

[danb35]

And give a chance to Hana

She isn't Cass in Artemis. She isn't even Rachel in Cosy Cafe. Her behavior has been frustrating in many ways, but I think she means well despite herself. So while she isn't my favorite and probably won't be, I certainly don't hate her.

Hope you’re enjoying the game!

By and large, yes (I wouldn't have played it this far otherwise). But there seems to be a lot of trauma, and a lot of drama, and I may want to pace myself through the last few chapters.

I think I'd like to see all the individual endings, though it seems that may not be quite as straightforward as it was in TID.

 

[PaxHadrian17]

...

We then get a "then" scene of a Hallowe'en party where MC has this conversation with Julie. Sure, Julie-as-Wonder-Woman was easy on the eyes, but this really didn't add anything to the story.

IMO, that 'then' scene was a reminder of better times and that Julie was part of those better times (OC, MC still had his wife Lori as well).

Julie was hot as Wonder Woman, but she was/is the most practical of the women in the MC's 'Now' world.

When Kinderfeld was working on the DC for N&T, Julie was the woman I most wanted a true ending with -and we did get an ending with her (not perfect but still - nice that one of the most capable women in the story got an ending with MC).

Cheers!!

 

[LokkenJP]

I think I'd like to see all the individual endings, though it seems that may not be quite as straightforward as it was in TID.

You should try watching all of them eventually indeed.

As for choosing the ending:
A couple of main LI endings are easy to achieve (Hana and Julie). Assuming you keep their paths open, choosing them as main LI is just a choice in a given point in the story. No biggie.

For Carol/Naomi/Alice/Sydney it's more complex. It all depends on thier Love/Like scores (you can check the numerical value in the stats option available under the quick access menu at the bottom). Whoever got the highest score at the time of choosing the ending wins the prize. There are a couple of scenes near the end (a visit to the smugglers dock in the beach to have a picnic/swim, and a final gathering at the pool in the Marshand's state) that allows you to "freely" allocate a few points between all the relevant LIs, so assuming their scores are more or less evenly matched you should be able to pick the one you prefer. If you have one with a noticeable lower score (Alice I believe is usually the lowest one at that point), the only alternative if you dont want a whole new playthough is to use the RenPy console or the URM (Universal Renpy Mod) to directly edit the variables in memory. I can guide you in this process if you want when the need arises.

 

[danb35]

OC, MC still had his wife Lori as well

No; he didn't adopt (or even meet) Carol until after Lori was gone, and Carol was at that party (which was why MC was concerned about setting a good example for her). But definitely "better times" in that the world hadn't gone to shit.

she was/is the most practical of the women in the MC's 'Now' world.

Agreed, though at this point (i.e., by the end of Ch. 22) this is something more "told" than "shown." That's why--though I don't know that I like her so very much (I certainly don't dislike her, but we really don't have much time with her yet, as far as I've played)--I think she's Carol's strongest competition.

(snipped what was going to be a very long explanation). I don't think it really fits the story to choose any of the other girls (i.e., Naomi, Hana, or Sydney) over Carol. I like all but one of them (I'm giving Hana a chance, and I'm getting there, but I'm not there yet), but Carol's the main girl in this story. But it makes a lot of sense for MC to decide he needs a wife, an actual adult who can be his partner. And while Alice has grown on me a lot, I think I'd pick Julie for that role over Alice.

 

[LokkenJP]

No; he didn't adopt (or even meet) Carol until after Lori was gone, and Carol was at that party (which was why MC was concerned about setting a good example for her). But definitely "better times" in that the world hadn't gone to shit.

Agreed, though at this point (i.e., by the end of Ch. 22) this is something more "told" than "shown." That's why--though I don't know that I like her so very much (I certainly don't dislike her, but we really don't have much time with her yet, as far as I've played)--I think she's Carol's strongest competition.

(snipped what was going to be a very long explanation). I don't think it really fits the story to choose any of the other girls (i.e., Naomi, Hana, or Sydney) over Carol. I like all but one of them (I'm giving Hana a chance, and I'm getting there, but I'm not there yet), but Carol's the main girl in this story. But it makes a lot of sense for MC to decide he needs a wife, an actual adult who can be his partner. And while Alice has grown on me a lot, I think I'd pick Julie for that role over Alice.

Objectively speaking, this is by and large the MC and Carol story. Anyone else is just an addenda to the plot. Following a "normal" playthough, any measurable logic will always result in Carol being the main lover no matter what.

But there are many different players with many different tastes. Even if the story is told with Carol at the center of the stage, having the freedom of deviating from the obvious path is somewhat refreshing. I myself, for example, am a Sydney sucker simp. And I'm not ashamed to admit it. She ticks some boxes inside my head that no other character does. Some of them I couldn't even try to explain in words.

Nevertheless, there is still some game ahead of you for what I can guess. Not that things will change that much, the main lines are already drawn, but maybe in the final stretch or during the epilogue you can find some nuances that moves the balance to one side or another. So keep playing, no rush.

Hell, I would kill for being able to forget all I know about N&T and be able to play it again from scratch with no knowledge whatsoever

 

[danb35]

Objectively speaking, this is by and large the MC and Carol story.

It is nice to hear that from someone else; sometimes I wonder if I'm just the crazy one. I do think an ending with Julie makes sense (or Alice to a lesser degree), as I mentioned above, but I don't think any of the other girls do--and that isn't for lack of liking them.

I found all (well, almost all*) the endings in TID very satisfying, even those that weren't my top LIs (and my favorite ending wasn't with my favorite LI, though that really was a matter of my top two--Anita and Marisa**--swapping places). I very much expect that to be the case here as well. So yeah, unless something catastrophic happens, I'll be playing Pokemon with the endings.

*Natalie never did anything for me, and Selene kind of pissed me off. Allison IMO would have defeated the entire theme of the story.

**I have a hard time considering supernatural characters in the same category as humans. So Mira and Polly in TID, Calypso in Eternum, etc., are just a different category in my mind from the "real" LIs.

 

[LokkenJP]

It is nice to hear that from someone else; sometimes I wonder if I'm just the crazy one. I do think an ending with Julie makes sense (or Alice to a lesser degree), as I mentioned above, but I don't think any of the other girls do--and that isn't for lack of liking them.

I found all (well, almost all*) the endings in TID very satisfying, even those that weren't my top LIs (and my favorite ending wasn't with my favorite LI, though that really was a matter of my top two--Anita and Marisa**--swapping places). I very much expect that to be the case here as well. So yeah, unless something catastrophic happens, I'll be playing Pokemon with the endings.

*Natalie never did anything for me, and Selene kind of pissed me off. Allison IMO would have defeated the entire theme of the story.

**I have a hard time considering supernatural characters in the same category as humans. So Mira and Polly in TID, Calypso in Eternum, etc., are just a different category in my mind from the "real" LIs.

I know this is not the place for this, so I will keep it short. But for me, in TID, Selene went from being the worst LI in the game to the best epilogue BY FAR.
And yes, I totally get what you say on your second (**). Yet for me, those characters have an extra allure over regular "human" LIs in fact. Polly was probably my second favorite TID character/ending, (with Mira not far behind), and Calypso... Ahhh, Calypso... the next Eternum release cannot arrive soon enough... (albeit noone can surpass Alex, but thats topic for another thread)

 

[danb35]

Selene

I liked Selene a lot better as a LI going into the Cycle than I'd expected to. My frustration with her in her ending was that she wasn't being rational about her feelings (which is itself not an entirely rational objection)--she knows MC picked her over everyone else, she knows that was some tough competition (no matter how you ranked the LIs, there were several really good ones), she knows MC knows about her past life (which truly is a past life, not merely her past in this life as we often use "past life"), she even says "a girl might feel special if she knew that someone picked her over anything." And then she pushes him away, over and over again. MC gets to play the Archon again, I guess, but it was frustrating. All's well that ends well, and it wasn't my least-favorite ending, but it definitely wasn't my favorite.

Mira, Polly, Calypso--again, they're just in a different category in my mind than the "normal" LIs. Not better or worse, necessarily, just different. Though Polly was somehow both adorably cute and smoking hot.

 

[Maviarab]

I liked Selene a lot better as a LI going into the Cycle than I'd expected to. My frustration with her in her ending was that she wasn't being rational about her feelings (which is itself not an entirely rational objection)--she knows MC picked her over everyone else, she knows that was some tough competition (no matter how you ranked the LIs, there were several really good ones), she knows MC knows about her past life (which truly is a past life, not merely her past in this life as we often use "past life"), she even says "a girl might feel special if she knew that someone picked her over anything." And then she pushes him away, over and over again. MC gets to play the Archon again, I guess, but it was frustrating. All's well that ends well, and it wasn't my least-favorite ending, but it definitely wasn't my favorite.

Mira, Polly, Calypso--again, they're just in a different category in my mind than the "normal" LIs. Not better or worse, necessarily, just different. Though Polly was somehow both adorably cute and smoking hot.

Polly beat girl and perhaps....best ending also.

 

[danb35]

best ending also.

Mira's beats out Polly's for me for one reason: when Mira learns of the death of her foster parent, she gets a sense of MC's loss in sending everyone on.

 

[e6mill]

 

[Maviarab]

Mira's beats out Polly's for me for one reason: when Mira learns of the death of her foster parent, she gets a sense of MC's loss in sending everyone on.

But Polly's ending has Mira watching over them <3

 

[sortakinda]

Holy shit just how long is this VN? This is great, writing's rather consistent (although there was one occasion where dev's own writing style bled over across characters. As in, character X using some really niche saying that character Y used in a earlier chapter.)

Also Naomi is the best girl.

 

[mordred93]

You should try watching all of them eventually indeed.

As for choosing the ending:
A couple of main LI endings are easy to achieve (Hana and Julie). Assuming you keep their paths open, choosing them as main LI is just a choice in a given point in the story. No biggie.

For Carol/Naomi/Alice/Sydney it's more complex. It all depends on thier Love/Like scores (you can check the numerical value in the stats option available under the quick access menu at the bottom). Whoever got the highest score at the time of choosing the ending wins the prize. There are a couple of scenes near the end (a visit to the smugglers dock in the beach to have a picnic/swim, and a final gathering at the pool in the Marshand's state) that allows you to "freely" allocate a few points between all the relevant LIs, so assuming their scores are more or less evenly matched you should be able to pick the one you prefer. If you have one with a noticeable lower score (Alice I believe is usually the lowest one at that point), the only alternative if you dont want a whole new playthough is to use the RenPy console or the URM (Universal Renpy Mod) to directly edit the variables in memory. I can guide you in this process if you want when the need arises.

When I tested the game, I just used the console to allocate points, and get all the scenes. Same as with URM if you know how to use it. I think I played like the 25 endings, not the 160+ combinations.

 

[PaxHadrian17]

It is nice to hear that from someone else; sometimes I wonder if I'm just the crazy one. I do think an ending with Julie makes sense (or Alice to a lesser degree), as I mentioned above, but I don't think any of the other girls do--and that isn't for lack of liking them.

...

Julie was hard core and dependable.

She was a teacher who had a 'don't fuck with me' vibe early in the story

Spoiler: Julie = a teacher and more

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

Of all the women in the MC's group, she was the one I trusted implicitly to not just have my back, but to be smart and take out bad guys as needed.

The epilogue moments included this 'look what you made me do' conversation with the MC

Spoiler: Julie and MC

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

This is a woman I would be happy to have beers with in RL!!

Cheers!!

 

[Raziel_8]

Julie was hard core and dependable.

Yeah, Julie was great. It sucked a bit that she had so little screen time, i would have loved her as a main LI.

 

[mordred93]

Yeah, Julie was great. It sucked a bit that she had so little screen time, i would have loved her as a main LI.

That was a lot of trauma for her to unpack, losing her husband. Just saying that it would have slowed the game down, as they just met for one chapter in a hotel, and after that, it was a few chapters on the meetup. Not much to build the "world class" relationship. Friends With Benefits, is a good thing for now with her.

 

[danb35]

Not much to build the "world class" relationship.

But MC's known her longer than anyone else in the game, even Carol--Julie even (indirectly) connected MC with Carol. I'd even wondered/suspected, early on, if they'd get together.* That was mostly off-screen, but we know that they know each other well and trust each other. Maybe it was the ETOH talking, but it sounds like there was some long-standing mutual attraction, even if never acted on because she was married. Her growing feelings seemed to happen pretty quickly, but maybe they were already there (if unrecognized). The relationship was mostly built off-screen, but it was definitely there.

I haven't seen her ending yet (or any of them), but I'll be kind of disappointed if they're just friends who occasionally fuck. Especially since this dev doesn't believe in FWB anyway.

*I mean, she's an attractive female character in an AVN. Not only that, she gets along with MC. What are the odds she won't be a LI? The answer isn't zero (see Missy), but it's low.

 

[danb35]

I do think an ending with Julie makes sense (or Alice to a lesser degree)

Having said that, here's my counterargument for Alice. First, in terms of the game, she has a lot more screen time than Julie. I'm not particularly a fan of big tits, but those who are would likely favor Alice. But the much bigger point in her favor, if MC decides he wants a peer/partner/wife, is that she's pretty much been Carol's mother for as long as MC's been her father. MC's known Julie longer than he's known Carol, but Alice has known Carol longer than either of them has known MC.

If I'm MC and decide I want to be with an actual adult, I pick Julie over Alice. But I think this is a strong point for Alice--and MC choosing based on "what's best for Carol" would be entirely in-character for him.

 

[LokkenJP]

I myself have always seen Alice more of a motherly figure, and Julie as a dependable companion/beer-buddy.

Which to choose for a relationship if I were the one to choose? Depends on what I would be looking for. As I am now, I would totally go for Alice. If I were the guy I was years ago, Julie no doubt. If I were in the shoes of the MC in N&T story? Honestly, why choose?. I'd pick both...
Let's take advantage of the harem ending here, both have qualities worth investing into during a scenario like the one presented in the game epilogue.