I think the "slice of life" bits are what makes the rest of the content stand out in contrast. Just consider how in this update people complain that it's really nothing but a series of disjointed sex scenes lacking anything even resembling a plot between them. You'd think that's exactly what someone playing a porn game could want, yet here we are.
As usual I rely on ffive for the most reasonable take on a new update, and once again he's correct. Something I don't see anyone mentioning (I may have missed it) is that the story itself, especially from Lena's perspective, is very chopped up right now: over chapters 12 & 13 Lena's story of necessity jumped around between 1) going to her parents' because of her mom's illness, then 2) going to the beach, then 3) going out of the country with Seymour [maybe], and now there's this tiny gap of time - fixed time, I should add, because of the scheduling of 2 & 3 above - before Lena 4) going to Billy's with Ivy [maybe]. If your Lena has made choices to do 3 or 4 or both, nothing in this half-week or so is going to have the "slice of life" bits which are crucial to making ORS a cut above other VNs, it's just getting from point A to B and scooping up some quickies along the way.
And about the quickies. Somewhere above LordBradley comments that it seems like this update is continuing a trend growing through chapters 11 and 12 where Ian and Lena's "other options" are coming more to the forefront and the IanxLena story is getting lost. After that someone brought up a comment about "wanting an IanxLena dating simulator" and that got a few replies. I think LordBradley is entirely correct, but I think it's exactly what
should be happening with the story right now. Because some people want a fairly idyllic IanxLena playthrough, and those folks either had 1 or 2 short scenes this update, depending on if they went the Trinity route, and that's it. And if that's you, you got what you want and there's not much else to give you.
But if you want LenaxStan (not many of us but there's always Eva's kooky patreons...), or LenaxJeremy, or LenaxTonight'sBoyfriend, you also got some (quick) content you wanted. Same as those who wanted Senior Citizen Sex last update, or even at the beach house with IanxEmma getting serious in a freaky hurry, or the apparently important demographic of 0.05% of players who wanted Louise to flirt with Ian out of nowhere. Over many chapters Eva has laid hints for many sexual options for our two protagonists who are not each other, and sure, some like Cindy and Axel have been well developed, but most of the others haven't, OR are at this point on their own separate lines that have fully split off from the main narrative. For example, I really like what Eva's done with IanxCherry and IanxMinerva, but after the big reveal of Lena's history with Cherry and Axel, the storyline with Cherry has moved on. Same as with Minerva once Ian has changed jobs and offices: whether your Ian is dominating her as a fucktoy or emotionally connecting with her as a sexy but lonely milf, it doesn't matter because Minerva's story has moved on (at least until the book contest).
So I guess those are my two primary takeaways from this update. The nature of the storyline at this exact point in Lena's narrative is really fragmented and we just need to get through it, and the game should be prioritizing non IanxLena content right now so there can be the various sexytimes which have been teased, however rushed they may be. A couple folks have mentioned that Eva's current release process of giving us bites of chapters makes the story feel even more disjointed and that's probably true also. I would guess once we eventually have all of chapter 13 there may be more of a flow to it. It's also not hard for Eva to insert a couple "slice of life" bits in the way she tweaks and polishes chapters after the fact.
Stray observations:
--I'll bet the conversation over on Eva's Discord is just about the exact opposite of ours. "Eva, you're awesome, go Stanny go, I love him so much and he finally scored! Best update ever!" Also it's hilarious to me that during and after the sex, there's nothing from Stan about "offering his sword" and all his weird clingy love talk, he's just completely exhausted.
--No surprise that, with the double whammy of Lena's narrative being disjointed and with Eva's longtime fanbase being built on corruption stories, Holly's out-of-nowhere glory hole scene is the thing almost all of us agree is the highlight. Though I agree 100% with BlandChili that Lena should have been there to see it in person. Anyone else think, when the black cock shows up and Ivy says "you'll need help with that" but we don't see her "help" even though it would be easy for a pro like Ivy to film herself and Holly in a duo tongue-tackle, that Eva is trolling us on F95? First thing I thought of. "Those filthy pirates don't deserve to see Ivy handling dick!"
--How completely like Robert's personality is it to have sex with Lena then suggest a threesome with Holly? Such a stupid tool. (Of course I want to see the threesome.)
--See also: Even after railing Lena a second time, Jeremy tries to convince her to get Ivy to sleep with him.
--I'm so annoyed Eli wasn't among the options for Lena's booty call.
--I'm so pleased there's actual movement - in the dialogue AND game stats! - for LenaxHolly to be in a committed exclusive relationship. Yet another "you may have wanted" moment that sure, was quick, but absolutely needed to happen.
