VN Ren'Py Our Red String [Ch. 12.3 Alpha] [Eva Kiss]

[JoeSte91]

I personally liked Robert. As a character, he's unlikable but I liked his role and function in the story. He offers an early dilemma of 'what will you do for money?' Because he tries to help Lena keep her job on the basis of her attraction. But he gets very quickly overshadowed because his reach and influence is quite small.

So I like the character's role in the story, but there's really no reason for him to have long term prominence.

 

[jduk]

Jeremy-Holly pairing happening when?
You just know that geek wants some chocolate.

our boy Marcel has her first

 

[jduk]

The fact that people hate so hard on this totally normie character is a testament to great writing.

Robert is indeed the very definition of the average guy

 

[dolfe67]

Ivy is clearly bixexual, She shows interest in Billy and has some scenes with Holly and Lena

Ivy isn't interested in Billy, but in what he could offer her for her career. But she's probably bi like Lena

Lenas male love interests being less compelling than Ians is self-evident by how Eva wants to differantiate between the two protagonists. Ian has to fight for the attention while Lena has more of a case of unwanted attention.

Like male and female general situation IRL. Very realistic writing

For example Mike is off limits because he's in a relationship and Lena knows it right away. If Mike had been a bigger asshole and kept that fact secret I'd have been more inclined to do his initial scenes since he'd just be a guy Lena can fuck.

Exactly. Knowing he has a girlfriend before flirting with him also makes Lena a big hypocrite, because of what Axel did to her which she didn't get over.

 

[jduk]

Ivy isn't interested in Billy, but in what he could offer her for her career. But she's probably bi like Lena


Like male and female general situation IRL. Very realistic writing


Exactly. Knowing he has a girlfriend before flirting with him also makes Lena a big hypocrite, because of what Axel did to her which she didn't get over.

Ivy is clearly interested in Wade. She has mention him a thousand times so far. She likes tall guys who aren't even trying to score or anything it seems. Wade only cares about himself and those videogames he plays. Dude has been dead after high school and scoring with Cindy.

 

[ffive]

EDIT: I also put Ivy with them. How we can't wrap our minds if she is a total snake bitch or just a free spirit with her own and strong views really show how deeper and complex she can be.

Yeah, that's the thing i like about Ivy as character; there's this possibility she's being manipulative but it's perfectly plausible to accept her explanations as true (and the latter would make a nice subversion for the usual hahaha look who's been a blatantly telegraphed villain all along)

(for what little it's worth, choosing for Lena to believe Ivy actually gains you a willpoint at certain moment, and these are generally associated with character taking a path that's positive development for them. But she's tricky to figure out nevertheless)

 

[bauman]

I think it's mostly combination of being a creep who tries to use his superior position at work even if Lena is clearly not interested in him, and getting to see him as a douchebag loser on Ian side of the story. No hobby is going to rescue him from this first impression of pathetic sleaze.

Robert is way more sympathetic after the rewrite. I thought his early scenes improved quite a bit.

It seems to me that his overall arc now is that he's insecure but not malicious. A dependable guy, too, if Lena keeps him around. He develops feelings for her, sticks his neck out, tries to help a few times, etc. Robert's even somewhat reasonable on the other path as long as Ian doesn't layeth the smack-a-down on his candy ass and wants to keep things civil.

You guys really think Marcel is going to fuck some of the girls?
I know hes on the gallery but still....

Of course, Eva Kiss had the United Nations marching between Ashley's legs in GGGB before it was all said and done. It's her trademark.

 

[noturiah]

Roberts scenes have become fewer, yes, but this was not always the case. Take a look at the first bunch of chapters, it's basically only him or Ian that's available to Lena. In the demo, I seem to recall, I think it's even only Robert Lena can actually get with, as Ian's content lies outside the story available in the demo.

Eva has also attempted to re-work Robert to make him more tolerable, I think his declining amount of content has more to do with Eva giving up on over-developing content for a character that no one actually likes.

Yes, I remember learning somewhere along the way Robert was rewritten to be more tolerable, but when I did a new playthrough for ch10 he still seemed pretty icky if Lena sleeps with him. If she doesn't he can be a little more decent to her about job stuff, though of course Seymour will get her fired regardless.

In ch11 I was totally surprised to see Ivy suggest Robert as a casual sex object for Holly, and Lena can choose to set that up or not. Not so much that Ivy would suggest it, that makes sense, just that I'd never have put Robert and Holly together in the first place. In terms of personality I can't see it going very well, but of course that doesn't necessarily have to be a factor ...

 

[ffive]

Robert is way more sympathetic after the rewrite. I thought his early scenes improved quite a bit.

I have only played this game after the rewrite and that's where my opinion stems from. If he was even more of a creep before... just, eh.

I don't see him as malicious, per se. He's more of these "nice guys" who are actually assholes, but they think because they've done a girl a few favors she owes them sex handouts, and when refused they move onto Ranting Stan trajectory.

 

[MF_DOOM]

The fact that people hate so hard on this totally normie character is a testament to great writing.

No, they hate him because he is a shit character, poorly written and at this point in the game he is as useful as tits on a nun.

 

[noturiah]

I don't see him as malicious, per se. He's more of these "nice guys" who are actually assholes, but they think because they've done a girl a few favors she owes them sex handouts, and when refused they move onto Ranting Stan trajectory.

Agree 100% on that being who Robert is. That's why I want to see the awkward sex with Robert and Holly, and then him being a whiny jerk afterwards - because it could lead to Holly going to Ivy and telling her how bad it was, and then we'd get to see Ivy instructing Holly in the ways of mercilessly dumping a boytoy. "And when he's starting to sob, and you can see a little teardrop forming in his eye, you bitchslap him across the face, like this!..."

 

[RC-1138 Boss]

This is why this game is great. I never even thought of making Lena only sleep with women.

So many diff ways to play

I "blame" Eva. Look at Lena's options.

Robert was a pathetic blackmailer.
Mike is a cheater.
Lena's ex is a stalker and a manipulative sociopath.
Seymour is a sociopath with more money.
Jeremy is pretty much a walking dildo.

I mean they are likely great options for some corruption route but romantic route is pretty much Holly and Ivy for Lena since i prefer Ian to have his own romance apart from Lena.

Once we get Jasmin-Jeremy, with Jeremy on bottom duties.

At least Jasmin was actually skilled in bed instead of "dildo boy" Jeremy.

 

[Tverdislav Yablochko]

About Gillian's current BF. Can it be Billy?

 

[SerHawkes]

About Gillian's current BF. Can it be Billy?

Doubtful, since if she was, Ian would have had issues with meeting Billy at Ivy's Party.

 

[SerHawkes]

I "blame" Eva. Look at Lena's options.

Robert was a pathetic blackmailer.
Mike is a cheater.
Lena's ex is a stalker and a manipulative sociopath.
Seymour is a sociopath with more money.
Jeremy is pretty much a walking dildo.

I mean they are likely great options for some corruption route but romantic route is pretty much Holly and Ivy for Lena since i prefer Ian to have his own romance apart from Lena.


At least Jasmin was actually skilled in bed instead of "dildo boy" Jeremy.

Your not wrong. Romance wise, Lena has complete shit in choices other than Holly, Ivy, and Ian. Which is a testament on how much of a joke Eva is writing romance this time around. I mean really... Robert is forgettable from day one. Mike is just a dildo to cheat on. Axel is stalking shithead who can't take the fucking hint that it's over. Seymour just want to make her a sex slave. Jeremy is just a fetish kink. Then you have... Stan... Never mind that, you don't have Stan.

 

[Deathstar1200]

Guys, I noticed that Ian didn't recognize Mike when he saw him. I thought at first that he was Gillian's bf but I got impression as Ian knew personally the person Gillian cheated with. What do you think?

 

[Deathstar1200]

Your not wrong. Romance wise, Lena has complete shit in choices other than Holly, Ivy, and Ian. Which is a testament on how much of a joke Eva is writing romance this time around. I mean really... Robert is forgettable from day one. Mike is just a dildo to cheat on. Axel is stalking shithead who can't take the fucking hint that it's over. Seymour just want to make her a sex slave. Jeremy is just a fetish kink. Then you have... Stan... Never mind that, you don't have Stan.

I think Eva get too much shit than she deserves. Writing a story with two protagonists and infinite amount of choices would take a a lot of time to flesh out. Her best choice, for now, is to hire more writers to help her cause I think. Not sure about her patreon situation though.

 

[ffive]

Doubtful, since if she was, Ian would have had issues with meeting Billy at Ivy's Party.

IIRC Ian doesn't know who Gillian's boyfriend is. Billy is a very unlikely candidate, though -- Gillian's boyfriend moved to town a few months ago because he's found a job here, and that doesn't really fit Billy's circumstances.

edit: a fun fact, now that i thnk about it. When Chapter 10 was released, i thought the way the game avoided ever having Ian and Mike interact has gone to ridiculous level, with Jeremy (who is familiar with Mike, his coworker) for some reason choosing not to introduce him to Ian, his friend even though all three of them were in the same spot and shared the screen. But now, given Jeremy's reluctance to tell Ian about Gillian, his behavior regarding Mike would actually make certain sense, if Jeremy has learned recently that Mike is Gillian's new boyfriend, after seeing Gillian with him together at the club.

Guess we'll see.

 

[SerHawkes]

IIRC Ian doesn't know who Gillian's boyfriend is. Billy is a very unlikely candidate, though -- Gillian's boyfriend moved to town a few months ago because he's found a job here, and that doesn't really fit Billy's circumstances.

edit: a fun fact, now that i thnk about it. When Chapter 10 was released, i thought the way the game avoided ever having Ian and Mike interact has gone to ridiculous level, with Jeremy (who is familiar with Mike, his coworker) for some reason choosing not to introduce him to Ian, his friend even though all three of them were in the same spot and shared the screen. But now, given Jeremy's reluctance to tell Ian about Gillian, his behavior regarding Mike actually makes certain sense, if Jeremy has learned recently that Mike is Gillian's new boyfriend, after seeing Gillian with him together at the club.

Guess we'll see.

That would be one hell of a coincidence if true. Then again the whole running theory of Mike being Gillians boyfriend is possible, though I would say its 50/50 on either Mike or Spike, which I feel like would add far more intrigue and possible drama, specially on a Lena route.

 

[SerHawkes]

I think Eva get too much shit than she deserves. Writing a story with two protagonists and infinite amount of choices would take a a lot of time to flesh out. Her best choice, for now, is to hire more writers to help her cause I think. Not sure about her patreon situation though.

The biggest issue is that Eva bit off way more than she could chew with this project writing wise, as we already see issues with inconsistency with characters, the ever so her complaining about struggling with writing, not to mention her approach to characters.

While sure, hiring another writer or writers would certainly help lessen the demand on her, at the same time the question would remain on her vision for ORS and if she would be okay working with a writer who may have some of their own ideas.

If she wasn't open to that, then the next best idea I have would be her not to set dates for her releases and simply take her time writing out paths throughly and not rush herself to meet a deadline she sets on herself. If the update takes 5-6 months, then it takes that long. Sure, people would get ansty and want the release out sooner but at the same time, her taking her time might end in a best finished product and episode.