VN Ren'Py Our Red String [Ch. 13.1 ALPHA] [Eva Kiss]

[dontcarewhateverno]

Gave it a go (Ian/Cindy, Lena/no one but stalkfap and modeling Seymour and Stan) and got 8/8/8/7. Still flirted mildy with some like Ivy, adding her peoplegram and getting Lenas stalkfap got a bunch of lust points. Also, Cindy obviously gave points throughout the game. So 6 lust is more likely if you don't enter multiple character routes but still masturbate and chose the lustful options whenever asked about relationships etc. If you don't do that either, you likely get 4-5 lust.

Honestly, I've just been going into the code each update and reducing the lust requirements to 5 for all of Ian's sexual options. The design is severely limiting, assuming an Ian who is simply not sleeping around or flirting with everything with tits and a pulse at this stage or making a corny sex joke over another speech option at every opportunity just doesn't have that much lust in him. Some of the kinkiest people & most deviant pervs aren't always the most outward with it at every point in time. The game weighs some choices way too heavily & others not heavily enough imo. Some options like Athletics are weighed more evenly & make sense, but the balancing seems off in particular for the lust stat or just unnecessarily limiting.

Run for reference: All the porn access & shared pics possible + threesome with Lena & whatsherface. Just not choosing every corny option possible to compare his penis to a pool cue when talking with friends + not stepping out of bounds with other girls while dating a specific one, other than oggling photos & the occasional comment.

 

[ffive]

Some options like Athletics are weighed more evenly & make sense, but the balancing seems off in particular for the lust stat or just unnecessarily limiting.

I'd say this isn't necessarily something bad -- it's okay for some options not to be available for some MCs. Otherwise there's zero point in having stat requirements for such options in the first place, if any MC regardless of past choices can select any and either of them.

 

[Gicoo]

Honestly, I've just been going into the code each update and reducing the lust requirements to 5 for all of Ian's sexual options. The design is severely limiting, assuming an Ian who is simply not sleeping around or flirting with everything with tits and a pulse at this stage or making a corny sex joke over another speech option at every opportunity just doesn't have that much lust in him. Some of the kinkiest people & most deviant pervs aren't always the most outward with it at every point in time. The game weighs some choices way too heavily & others not heavily enough imo. Some options like Athletics are weighed more evenly & make sense, but the balancing seems off in particular for the lust stat or just unnecessarily limiting.

He couldn't eat out Cindys pussy the second time in chapter 10. He could slap her hard in chapter 12, but as elaborated, he did flirt heavily with other women and had Lena stalkfap. If Ian would be 100% faithful towards one woman, he is unlikely to fully get raunchy with her.

9 lust: Manwhore, fuck everything
8 lust: At least two relationships, always flirt/think about sex
7 lust: At least one relationship, always flirt/think about sex
6 lust: One relationship or always flirt/think about sex

 

[Skylark21]

This may be a potential beginning of one, but at least for now there isn't such thing in the code. The game simply records this as v11_jeremy_kiss and nothing more.

It's also not really new option, or at least it was present in earlier Ch.12 build.

Sad, I hope he does get one so that I can cuck that hypocrite ass with Marcel. I gave that pos a chance, betrayed and kept his secret from Louise, helped him with Ivy, only for him to rat Lena to Ian first chance he got even though Ian treated him like shit in my playthrough.
Imo relationship stat should have played major role there, Idk why Eva didn't use it. I mean what's the point of having relationship stat if the game isn't even going to use it?

 

[dontcarewhateverno]

I'd say this isn't necessarily something bad -- it's okay for some options not to be available for some MCs. Otherwise there's zero point in having stat requirements for such options in the first place, if any MC regardless of past choices can select any and either of them.

He couldn't eat out Cindys pussy the second time in chapter 10. He could slap her hard in chapter 12, but as elaborated, he did flirt heavily with other women and had Lena stalkfap. If Ian would be 100% faithful towards one woman, he is unlikely to fully get raunchy with her.

9 lust: Manwhore, fuck everything
8 lust: At least two relationships, always flirt/think about sex
7 lust: At least one relationship, always flirt/think about sex
6 lust: One relationship or always flirt/think about sex

Imo, it is bad for a sex game highly focused on the choose-your-own element, since the sex is a huge part of the point. It'll be less noticeable depending on what your path preferences are, which is likely why it doesn't bother you (to ffive specifically). But the point of design in the end is to increase enjoyment. I can absolutely see Charisma, Charm, Athletics serve their purpose for the other elements. But in the end, I see those things as there to add necessary immersion in what is, after all, a sex AVN where you want to get the character & personality you've formed into certain sexual situations. When those sexual situations are present already, on your specific path, and only grayed out because you don't imagine your character would say "I'd like to stick my hole-in-one, yuk yuk" while playing golf, I just find that silly and poorly thought out, really. Not serving much purpose.

These are more my thoughts on design in general & what the end goal is. An AVN, especially in respect to the "A", is quite different than a platformer.

Other part is, I don't believe it reflects real life very well at all either.

 

[ffive]

Imo relationship stat should have played major role there, Idk why Eva didn't use it. I mean what's the point of having relationship stat if the game isn't even going to use it?

Well, the stat is used for quite a few things. In this particular example, Ian's options how to react to news about Lena hinge on how well he gets along with Jeremy. If their relationship is low then they can have a fight over it, and for Ian to be grateful about the news their relationship needs to be high.

 

[TheAvatar]

Is the Jeremy route blocked if Ian and Lena are a couple/does starting it prevent Ian and Lena from becoming a couple?

 

[ffive]

Imo, it is bad for a sex game highly focused on the choose-your-own element, since the sex is a huge part of the point.

I guess it then comes down to difference in opinions, but fortunately the game allows you to pick the mode where you're guaranteed to pass all checks and don't have to worry about it... so it's really not much of an issue?

Also. for the record, both my Ian and Lena couldn't take a few Lust options because it was too low for them. It didn't bother me because that was just something i viewed in line with their respective characters, not because i didn't encounter it.

 

[varpep]

9 lust: Manwhore, fuck everything
8 lust: At least two relationships, always flirt/think about sex
7 lust: At least one relationship, always flirt/think about sex
6 lust: One relationship or always flirt/think about sex

If you optimize your playthrough on the manwhore path you can get 10 lust at the beginning of chapter 12 after eating out Cindy

Spoiler

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Keep in mind I did this on an easy playthrough

 

[dontcarewhateverno]

I guess it then comes down to difference in opinions, but fortunately the game allows you to pick the mode where you're guaranteed to pass all checks and don't have to worry about it... so it's really not much of an issue?

Also. for the record, both my Ian and Lena couldn't take a few Lust options because it was too low for them. It didn't bother me, that was just something i viewed in line with their respective characters.

Not an issue for you personally. I do think the other elements are good to have and would rather play with earning points because it does add to the overall experience. But I feel like an Ian that's taking Lena's ass when offered, covertly buying her raunchiest stalkerfap access, jerking off to photos shared without permission of his female friend from high school with his friend's dick flopping in front of the camera & saying yes to a threesome if available is pretty likely down to experiment, or at least in a situation where the player should have the choice to at that point.

The options you mention you were blocked from in bed were more minimal. But there are others that are game limiting on a much grander scale that you're not experiencing.

In the end though, yes, this is a disagreement on game design, if this specific balance is designed well or not and what the end goal of the design should be. IMO, the balance there is off.

 

[ffive]

The options you mention you were blocked from in bed were more minimal. But there are others that are game limiting on a much grander scale that you're not experiencing.

Could you tell me what options are you talking about specifically? I can't think of any lust-based choice i'd even consider to be on a grander scale, much less multiple such choices.

 

[mommysboiii]

Ian the cuck about to be beaten by Mike while Gillian is watching,so embarrasing

imaging a route where mike is in a relationship with gillian

-and ian gets beaten by mike

-lena can gets mike to break up with gillian

-gillian is growling back to ian and says how much she miss him

-ian thinks he can fix gillian falls all in love again and gillian act all sweet and innocent

-gillian instantly cheats on the next best opportunity (girls night out) she has

 

[Gicoo]

Could you tell me what options are you talking about specifically? I can't think of any lust-based choice i'd even consider to be on a grander scale, much less multiple such choices.

The most notorious one are Lena related. Tom on the stalkfap path requires 7 lust which is difficult if you don't fuck around. Cheating on Ian with strangers also requires high lust stats.
With Ian... getting on the Emma route early on is difficult if he doesn't fuck/thinks about sex all the time. Around 5 lust? Then again, some high lust checks like that one can be compensated for with a will point.

 

[ffive]

The most notorious one are Lena related. Tom on the stalkfap path requires 7 lust which is difficult if you don't fuck around. Cheating on Ian with strangers also requires high lust stats.
With Ian... getting on the Emma route early on is difficult if he doesn't fuck/thinks about sex all the time. Around 5 lust? Then again, some high lust checks like that one can be compensated for with a will point.

Hmm my Lena has 7 lust (hit 8 this update) even though she's just with Ian and didn't as much as flirt with any guy other than Axel. She also doesn't run full Stalkfap, just the modest version. If she was doing full Stalkfap she'd probably be around 9 by now.

Plus, can't seriously consider making a video for a Stan on intrawebs to be a grand scale event, sorry.

 

[dontcarewhateverno]

Could you tell me what options are you talking about specifically? I can't think of any lust-based choice i'd even consider to be on a grander scale, much less multiple such choices.

The biggest ones are definitely the Chapter 9 "experimental relationship" convo & the chapter 10 Alison threesome Ian is blocked off from accepting in an earlier chapter (even after beating poor Ian Jr senseless in previous chapters to pics of her with J, plus previously flirting & going home with her). But even in this chapter, dating Lena, my Ian is blocked off from the lust option of having sex with her when she gets to the summer house. There were other options blocked as well in the chapter, which I'd have to check, involving texts/actions with other girls for an Ian that's just found out his girlfriend is very likely cheating on him. It's hard to list all, since after experiencing some major blockers in previous chapters that would require nearly another full playthrough, I've just been jumping into the code each update and adjusting the lust requirements for all after hitting another blocker.

Grand scale = Grand masturbation scale.

Let's be honest. Part of our reasons for playing this game.

 

[Skylark21]

Well, the stat is used for quite a few things. In this particular example, Ian's options how to react to news about Lena hinge on how well he gets along with Jeremy. If their relationship is low then they can have a fight over it, and for Ian to be grateful about the news their relationship needs to be high.

Yeah, I see how relationship stat is used in this context but Jeremy with low relationship score with Ian certainly has no need to inform him in fact he had no problem hiding info about Gillian.
I understand Eva K is just trying limit the branches with this, guess I'm just sad because it's at expense of my Ian clueless route.

 

[seaoflove]

Imo, it is bad for a sex game highly focused on the choose-your-own element, since the sex is a huge part of the point. It'll be less noticeable depending on what your path preferences are, which is likely why it doesn't bother you (to ffive specifically). But the point of design in the end is to increase enjoyment. I can absolutely see Charisma, Charm, Athletics serve their purpose for the other elements. But in the end, I see those things as there to add necessary immersion in what is, after all, a sex AVN where you want to get the character & personality you've formed into certain sexual situations. When those sexual situations are present already, on your specific path, and only grayed out because you don't imagine your character would say "I'd like to stick my hole-in-one, yuk yuk" while playing golf, I just find that silly and poorly thought out, really. Not serving much purpose.

These are more my thoughts on design in general & what the end goal is. An AVN, especially in respect to the "A", is quite different than a platformer.

Other part is, I don't believe it reflects real life very well at all either.

Autonomy is important when it comes to both sex, and gaming and doubly so when it comes to sex in adult games.

If you just want the sex stuff, and not to decide anything then it makes a lot more sense to just watch a porno.

Having grayed out or hidden choices is also important sometimes, becuase it wouldn't make sense to have certain choices otherwise.

A good example of this is when Ivy asks Lena "Are you falling for Ian?"

If Ian answered everything like an idiot, and Lena put no effort in either, then why on earth would the choice for "I am falling in love" be there?

 

[ffive]

But even in this chapter, dating Lena, my Ian is blocked off from the lust option of having sex with her when she gets to the summer house.

Having this option blocked doesn't block you from actually having sex with Lena though, unless in very speficic setup where your Ian is just viewing Lena as a fucktoy. But then it can be argued such character would have his Lust high enough to take the second option.

                menu:
                    "{image=icon_love.webp}I missed you" if ian_lena_love:
//...
                        "Wanting to believe in Lena's words, I pushed away my worries for the moment in order to give Lena a warm welcome."

                    "{image=icon_lust.webp}I still have energy left" if ian_lust > 6:
//...
                       "I tried pushing away my worries for the moment in order to give Lena a warm welcome."

                    "Let's join the others":

Both top options have the same effect.

 

[dontcarewhateverno]

Autonomy is important when it comes to both sex, and gaming and doubly so when it comes to sex in adult games.

If you just want the sex stuff, and not to decide anything then it makes a lot more sense to just watch a porno.

Having grayed out or hidden choices is also important sometimes, becuase it wouldn't make sense to have certain choices otherwise.

A good example of this is when Ivy asks Lena "Are you falling for Ian?"

If Ian answered everything like an idiot, and Lena put no effort in either, then why on earth would the choice for "I am falling in love" be there?

Autonomy is important and I never argued to the contrary. I believe so as well and think you're either mischaracterizing what I said or misunderstanding me. I simply think that the lust requirement is unnecessarily high for certain situations, partially to do with how those lust points are awarded. Mileage may vary and it really depends on path and what you're going for.

 

[dontcarewhateverno]

Having this option blocked doesn't block you from actually having sex with Lena though, unless in very speficic setup where your Ian is just viewing Lena as a fucktoy. But then it can be argued such character would have his Lust high enough to take the second option.

                menu:
                    "{image=icon_love.webp}I missed you" if ian_lena_love:
//...
                        "Wanting to believe in Lena's words, I pushed away my worries for the moment in order to give Lena a warm welcome."

                    "{image=icon_lust.webp}I still have energy left" if ian_lust > 6:
//...
                       "I tried pushing away my worries for the moment in order to give Lena a warm welcome."

                    "Let's join the others":

Both top options have the same effect.

Thanks. Wasn't sure if that one had any difference. It's really not one of the major blockers though. Lena experimental relationship and Alison threesome are definitely the two biggest.