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

[dundun]

I guess you can partially justify it by pointing to their previous talk, where Ian makes his relationship to Cherry seem very trivial, thus making it likely that Lena just assumes he stops seeing her when he finds out about their backstory. That’s a stupid thing to assume though… Similar to how it seems stupid to not talk about what they put in “experimenting together” if they choose that solution.

The Ian side of it is actually mostly OK. He tells both Lena and Cherry that he hooked up with the other one and that was just casual. And that is true. It is just that a few minutes (OK, next day) after telling Cherry how casual he is about Lena he proposes to Lena.

I’ve always assumed those weeks are spent untangling all the bugs and irregularities they uncover, especially with the remaster, but maybe she also starts on the work of the next chapter as well. Either way, I fully agree that a Alpha release in early July is unlikely.

I doubt that EvaKiss ever tests her game . She just waits for bug reports to come in. That is what the Alpha is for. And most bugs are easily removed. So it doesn't take much time. Back with GGGB she released monthly. No way she pressed a whole chapter out in just 3 weeks. By now, I'm not so sure. She might just take a week or two off. It would be understandable after being under pressure for 2.5 months.

but I just think Lena and Cherry would be a really hot couple.

You and me both, man, you and me both

 

[Deleted member 3064965]

I wish for it as well. Lena's hatred for Cherry is based on misunderstanding and admittedly Cherry's screw-up. But it's not like Lena is immune to screw-ups as well. She does the same damn thing with Mike after all. So if Lena could see things from Cherry's perspective, and realize that she never meant to harm her, just lost her head because of Axel (something that Lena understands very well), then I unironically think that Cherry might be the best end-game for Lena, perhaps even better than Ian and Holly, because they would end up together after already establishing a deeper understanding and connection, rather than some innocent attraction.

Yeah, they seem very similar in a lot of ways. Both are models with artistic ambitions, and they’re both pretty outgoing while they also have a more vulnerable side. And they can also be pretty kinky in the bedroom…

The question is if they ever manage to look past what happened. And to be fair we don’t know much about whether Cherry is interested in women either, except that she was willing to have a threesome with Axel and Lena.

I hope Holly’s comment about how Lena should talk to Cherry, will lead to them actually sitting down at one point and listen to each other’s side of the story. And their paths are bound to meet again in the future; maybe Lena will realise it’s better to find a way to be in the same room together, rather than just walk around and be angry at her constantly.

 

[BloodyMares]

I hope Holly’s comment about how Lena should talk to Cherry, will lead to them actually sitting down at one point and listen to each other’s side of the story. And their paths are bound to meet again in the future; maybe Lena will realise it’s better to find a way to be in the same room together, rather than just walk around and be angry at her constantly.

Exactly. If she was willing to give Axel a chance to explain himself, why not give the same opportunity to Cherry and bury the hatchet? But since Ivy is against the idea, something fishy is going on there.

 

[Gicoo]

After Ian leaves Cindys apartment, Perry asks him where he was. One of the options (greyed out!) was Holly. I understand that Holly and Cindy are mutually exclusive, with the key unlocking their first scenes being the book event/Wades birthday respectively. Or can you actually play with both of them, as the greyed out option implies?

 

[dundun]

After Ian leaves Cindys apartment, Perry asks him where he was. One of the options (greyed out!) was Holly. I understand that Holly and Cindy are mutually exclusive, with the key unlocking their first scenes being the book event/Wades birthday respectively. Or can you actually play with both of them, as the greyed out option implies?

No. A greyed out option means you don't meet the requirements for this option. In this case, dating Holly as Holly and Cindy are mutually exclusive.

 

[Gicoo]

But it is possible to met the requirements? If so, how? If not, then why is the option there in the first place?

 

[Reaurt]

But it is possible to met the requirements? If so, how? If not, then why is the option there in the first place?

If you go to the bookfair and start dating Holly, then the option should be un-greyed.

The greyed out options can also indicate possible paths that you can't take now. If I remember right, players were complaining that they didn't know options or "routes" were even possible in alternative playthrough if you remove the greyed out option. Although, sometimes choices or options are skipped altogether if you don't meet the requirements (e.g., the option to do an open relationship with Ian and Lena).

 

[Gicoo]

If you go to the bookfair and start dating Holly, then the option should be un-greyed.

But if Ian goes to the book fair he can't get on the Cindy route (right?) and thus can't end up going from Cindys apartment to be interrogated by Perry.

 

[Deleted member 40068]

Is walkthrough updated for remastered version?

 

[dundun]

But if Ian goes to the book fair he can't get on the Cindy route (right?) and thus can't end up going from Cindys apartment to be interrogated by Perry.

Ah, I see. Yes you are right, the option is not possible. It should be removed.

 

[BloodyMares]

Is walkthrough updated for remastered version?

Working on it. Anxiety doesn't help, ADHD gives me enough problems as it is.

Ah, I see. Yes you are right, the option is not possible. It should be removed.

It's easy to fix, but sometimes Eva revisits same scenes in different chapters under different branches. If you've seen Chapter 9 code, you should remember how chaotic it is, with multiple jumps to the same labels, and different timelines based on whether you go on the trip with Alison or not, which is why it was such a pain to test, and why it had critical bugs even in the final version.

For now, Cindy's and Holly's paths are incompatible, but logically, they don't have to be. Going to Wade's birthday party shouldn't stop Ian from pursuing Holly in the future, while choosing to pursue career opportunities and going with Holly doesn't have to mean that Ian is not interested in Cindy anymore. Sure, Cindy is a princess who is easily pissed when things don't go her way, but she likes passionate people, and choosing to pursue one's goals is the price to pay for that passion... Just like attending photo shoots is important for her, attending the book fair was important for Ian's career, and Cindy's character would improve if she learns to understand and accept that, and not be petty about it.

I said all this because it's possible that this scene with Perry might be revisited in future chapters, if/when Ian who started dating Holly eventually gets to re-enable Cindy path, and it would be easier for Eva to simply jump to that scene instead of having to completely rewrite it all over again for another chapter if the events play out fairly similarly.

I guess I'll simply comment out that option so it's unavailable for now, but could be re-enabled by Eva in the future, if she decides to re-include that scene and make it possible for Ian to pursue both Holly and Cindy (not sure how it would practically work, but it would be a curious experiment for sure).

 

[Gicoo]

So there is a possibility that they rewrite chapter 1-9 AGAIN? I thought the whole drama about the recent updates was that it was necessary. And now that it's over, the focus shifts exclusively on the new chapters (as it ought to be).

 

[BloodyMares]

So there is a possibility that they rewrite chapter 1-9 AGAIN? I thought the whole drama about the recent updates was that it was necessary. And now that it's over, the focus shifts exclusively on the new chapters (as it ought to be).

There's no guarantee that it will never happen (because I doubt Eva planned for this overhaul either), but I'd say the likelihood of that is very low... Eva is aware of people's reaction to this release (or rather frustration of not getting Chapter 10 instead) and doesn't enjoy doing rewrites either (it was necessary to deal with the writer's block and finally move forward with the story). There might be some rewrites done here and there because it's natural to revise your work as an author, first draft is only a draft for a reason (and I believe currently some scenes / events could use some improvement in terms of narrative). Some character interactions might get adjusted, some lore details fleshed out, some cameos implemented but they wouldn't be massive overhauls of the entire game because it's simply too big at this point. Any future rewrites would most likely be minor adjustments / retcons / continuity fixes similar to v0.5 Revised where only some lore details were changed, some dialogues rewritten and some new scenes added. Nothing as ambitious as this Remastered release was. What I'm sure of is that Eva will try as hard as possible to avoid doing massive rewrites in the future because they take much longer than you expect.

And I sure as hell don't want to rewrite the guide all over again for the second time.

EDIT: I realized that my previous post confused you. What I meant by "revisited" is that currently Holly and Cindy paths have only one way to trigger, and that is following their scenes (Book Fair vs Blazer Party). But the attraction for Holly / Cindy is still there, even if you don't make a decision based on your favorite girl, but whether you prefer to pursue career opportunity vs keeping your word and helping Wade and Cindy. I don't mean that Chapters 7-9 need to be rewritten, but future chapters would have to address Ian's attraction to Holly/Cindy in the paths where he didn't get the chance to interact with them intimately. A second entry to their paths in FUTURE CHAPTERS (10, 11 or whatever). If these paths don't get addressed, they would turn into plot holes, just like GGGB has multiple plot holes where some narrative turns just stop developing for no reason, all because Eva forgot to acknowledge those branches.

 

[BloodyMares]

For those curious about the state of the walkthrough, you can read these 2 posts:

What has been done and why it's taking so long:

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Preview of the new features and improvements:

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[eljam]

Is walkthrough updated for remastered version?

Yes the bloody mares, it’s a very good one and an official work with evakiss

 

[Nifferman]

I still prefer just one character (female MC) like GGGB. I think it gives more options and paths and is less work for the DEV which translates to more frequent updates. I loved how replayable GGGB was, this feels a lot less so.

Ian is love ian is life so shut up mate lol

 

[LyfeIsBall88]

Ian love is love ian is life so shut up mate lol

 

[reyir]

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Time for this week's progress update.
I don't have much to say other than I've been keeping up with drawing and writing. We also have the

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ongoing and I'm running other minor tasks in the background, mostly boring organisational stuff that I away end up putting off.
So I thought I could share with you some insights on what writing ORS is like at this stage. It seemed interesting describing how I've structured one of the small scenes I've written recently. There's nothing explicitly spoilery here, but just in case, read at your own discretion:
In this scene Ian goes to the office, either to start at his new job at Hierofant, or to continue working at Minerva's magazine, so the scene starting point had 2 completely different premises. In this scene, Ian encounters and interacts with various characters, one of them being Minerva herself. This little interaction can happen in a total of 5 different ways, each one taking into account the previous player choices. Furthermore, this is a VN, not a novel, so I want to make the player feel involved in the action. That means adding some choice menus to break up the pace and avoid having the player passively reading text. And rather than adding pointless conversations, it would be ideal that those choices had some direct tie with the theme of the scene, in this case, Ian's standing in the workplace. All of this makes it impossible to write a scene in a straightforward way, but I think the result is well worth the effort.
Finally being able to advance the plot instead of re-structuring all the previous threads is pretty refreshing, though. I'm spending time with the new scenes, trying to make them as interesting and meaningful as possible, so I don't have to go back and polish them in the future after dwelling too much into the untapped potential.
Anyway, enough rambling, I'll keep you posted as usual. Cheers!

 

[Night Hacker]

Ian is love ian is life so shut up mate lol

My preferences don't change because you don't like them, so go rub road salt up your ass... MATE!

 

[BlondieAngelEyes]

Ian? I enjoy giving him the bad/loser choices. loose pool, say wrong thing, never workout, and so on haha Maybe he will get a good book writen.