VN Ren'Py Our Red String [Ch.13.3.4] [Eva Kiss]

[notstaged]

Why men here care more about height

I'm throwing a bone to the garden gnome obsessed Norwegian.

And if u just read the text instead of just looking at the pictures like a toddler u would know that Ian is actually "multi-talented"

My bad, Ian is a multi-talented 26 year old literature magazine intern. We're gonna put it on his resume. But does he front a regionally successful Deftones cover band like the guy I just made up in my head? I don't think so.

more than the women here

There's women here? This is unsettling.

 

[Hungover00]

It shouldn't be hard to write good male romance options, it was a choice to make all three of Perry, Wade and Stan into losers, and I don't even know what exactly Robert is supposed to be. Honestly if I was a woman I'd wish Wen was a potential love interest, strong, playful and wise.

Wen is absolutely someone I would recommend to a friend as a decent prospect to date. You're on to something there.

 

[Cinaed]

Well, come to think of it there is a general lack of good relationship options for supporting characters. Perry and Emma is the only pairing that makes sense currently. Big part of the problem is that almost the entire support cast is either massively dysfunctional or downright bad people. In Good Girl Gone Bad there were more supporting characters that started as decent, normal people, and you could keep them that way. Also, in GGGB you could not only corrupt good characters, but also fix bad ones like Jessica. Here 90% of the support cast is not ready for a healthy relationship, and you can only corrupt them (like Holly, Cindy, Minerva) while not being able to fix the bad ones like Ivy, Jeremy or Axel. In GGGB you could engineer a pretty good ending where a bunch of characters end up healthy and happy. So far, I don't see that possibility for this game. I think it was a mistake to make every supporting male character either a loser or a fuckboy. There is no one to pair up the girls with now. Alison is a perfect example, her love path shows that she can be a relationship material with the right guy, but if Ian doesn't go for her then she just ends up as Jeremy's cumrag.

Ivy and Jeremy are not set up or designed as "bad" characters though. They have a different lifestyle and way of doing things, and you're either fine with that or you aren't. Which makes for a MUCH more realistic story than GGGB.

 

[Hungover00]

My personal view is that for some reason EvaKiss just wanted to write fetishy "guilt-ridden" content for Lena. Her male LIs outside of Ian are an exploration of a different "dark" facets of her character. Robert is her wanting to just use other people for sex without caring about them, Mike is her vengefully wanting to feel like a woman other men would cheat on their SOs for, Axel and Seymour are her just wanting to give up and accept being given a subservient and abused role.

Ian's LIs feel so much better because their relationships are written like relationships, if you pursue them then the writing shows why their characters are desirable, why Ian wants to be in a relationship with them and engage with them as people. Lena's relationships with her male LIs on the other hand are written purely as a way of furthering some angle of the "corruption" of Lena's character, the writing is purely about how being with these men makes Lena feel about herself (usually conflicted feelings), rarely any personal details about their characters and about their lives is given any focus, much less is it ever used to develop a positive thing about them.

Idk why EK went with that direction for the general design of Lena's story, like some people said maybe it was to push people towards the "canon" IanxLena stuff, but I kinda get the feeling this is just a type of fetish narrative EK just likes to write for her female characters because she thinks it is more erotic than different flavors of more healthy and functional relationships.

Well said.

I've never felt like I was the main intended audience for EK, as that seems to be the cloud of cheating fetish content you succinctly described, but a lot of the other content is good enough to ignore all those paths until I've played my preferred paths.

I feel like EK wrote the Ian/Lena romance well, and had that as the platonic core of the story. But their real interest was in how many different ways it could go wrong, or be twisted and poisoned by the actions, choices, and internal weaknesses of the two MCs. And that's the juice and squeeze EK is really here for. Which leads to all the fetish cheating and betrayals and cuck content. But by pursuing both aspects it makes balancing the whole difficult.

That said, it's still one of the best games on the site, and GGGB was also a seminal game in the history of AVNs. (Even if we didn't really need the 'fuck your own mom and Anderson Cooper in extreme fetish club' plotline.)

 

[lorddarkam]

It shouldn't be hard to write good male romance options, it was a choice to make all three of Perry, Wade and Stan into losers, and I don't even know what exactly Robert is supposed to be. Honestly if I was a woman I'd wish Wen was a potential love interest, strong, playful and wise.

And the fact that "the spark that Ian and Lena have" is missing from other romance options is kinda a choice, or a failure in writing, no? Alison starts as a frustrated, overworked and unfulfilled woman, both her and Ian are ambitious and feel they are capable of better things. They're also old friends. That's better set-up for a beggining of a relationship than Ian meeting a hot waitress. Holly could've been the nerdy choice, Alison the normie choice, and Cindy the naughty choice. But a choice was made to make Lena the main LI and the likes of Alison and Cindy only get scraps from the writers table.
Cindy actually starts great, the looong buildup to anything happening between her and Ian, the slow motion car crash that is her relationship with Wade. But I feel like her story has run out of steam.

I mentioned earlier that it reminds me of Mass Effect, where the writers heavily favor Liara. I chose Jack as my LI and got maybe 20% of the content that Liara romancers got. Life is pain.

the problem is the 2 friends are losers, then there are 2 assholes who will fuck any girl you dont pick up

 

[lorddarkam]

Well said.

I've never felt like I was the main intended audience for EK, as that seems to be the cloud of cheating fetish content you succinctly described, but a lot of the other content is good enough to ignore all those paths until I've played my preferred paths.

I feel like EK wrote the Ian/Lena romance well, and had that as the platonic core of the story. But their real interest was in how many different ways it could go wrong, or be twisted and poisoned by the actions, choices, and internal weaknesses of the two MCs. And that's the juice and squeeze EK is really here for. Which leads to all the fetish cheating and betrayals and cuck content. But by pursuing both aspects it makes balancing the whole difficult.

That said, it's still one of the best games on the site, and GGGB was also a seminal game in the history of AVNs. (Even if we didn't really need the 'fuck your own mom and Anderson Cooper in extreme fetish club' plotline.)

GGGB is a female protagonist game?

 

[KiraJames]

GGGB is a female protagonist game?

Yes

 

[WhiteSwan1916]

The reality is very few writers are interested at all in writing good male companions and romance options because
they believe their male audience will reject them. Which, as a woman, pisses me the fuck off. The idea of making
a decent, confident and potent male is viewed as problematic in some circles and an in others somehow bizarrely
too much competition for the weaker male reader that wants to possess every female in the story or keep other
male characters from their favorite female character. Meanwhile, anyone playing a female MC or Co MC has to
become a fucking lesbian to get any kind of pay off. Looking at men is apparently gay. Two women fucking is okay.
It's still fucking gay. And a massive double standard. Personally I want Lena (I modded my copy so I'm the FMC,
and not Lena) anyway, I want Axel back. Or a path that leads to reconciliation. Out of every male in this story
he is literally the most together and interesting.

But yeah. This failure of writing is why every female character from Lara Croft to Aloy aren't allowed to have
any actual depth or male romances. They might as well be genderless nuns because Lord forbid they should
like or desire a strong male romance. Instead we get Perry's and Wade's and insecure male MCs too worried
about making a first move. I was dating Robert before the male MC even considered asking me out.
How the fuck does that happen?

I agree with this mostly. I wish viable male options for female MCs would get more considerations in gaming and for some reason in Horizon that irked me a lot and was a huge gap.

I also find that Axel is the most viable option for Lena. Mike and Jeremy are passable looks wise but lack affluence and relationship potential. All the other guys are below Ian in terms of looks, and Ian comes in clearly behind Axel and is at this stage a struggling writer. None of these guys feel right.

Still, I would say EK does a much better job than most on this.

 

[Hungover00]

I mean I'm only here for the lesbian route, not interested in any man whatsoever, and if they do focus on that other then the main ianxlena route I will def not be subscribing to EK anymore.

Not weighing in on the other things, but the Lena Sapphic route is pretty decent. Or Lena the recruiter for threesomes, if you're with Ian (and probably some of the other side routes). Perfectly valid path. Though I don't know how it survives if you try and lock down Holly, but keep Louise around. It'll be better once Emma is recruitable, Louise, Holly, and occasionally Ivy is a fairly small team.

 

[Hungover00]

I agree with this mostly. I wish viable male options for female MCs would get more considerations in gaming and for some reason in Horizon that irked me a lot and was a huge gap.

I also find that Axel is the most viable option for Lena. Mike and Jeremy are passable looks wise but lack affluence and relationship potential. All the other guys are below Ian in terms of looks, and Ian comes in clearly behind Axel and is at this stage a struggling writer. None of these guys feel right.

Still, I would say EK does a much better job than most on this.

How are you justifying Lena and Axel's history though? He speed ran being a shitty partner to her, and also a creepy violent ex on top of that. How is that viable? Amnesia drugs?

 

[Hungover00]

GGGB is a female protagonist game?

Yes, the Good Girl is the protagonist, and you get to decide how Gone Bad she goes.

 

[KiraJames]

Not weighing in on the other things, but the Lena Sapphic route is pretty decent. Or Lena the recruiter for threesomes, if you're with Ian (and probably some of the other side routes). Perfectly valid path. Though I don't know how it survives if you try and lock down Holly, but keep Louise around. It'll be better once Emma is recruitable, Louise, Holly, and occasionally Ivy is a fairly small team.

Holly, Ivy and Louise in Lena's route are the reason I'm even support EK, if she loses focus on those than I'm out.

 

[WhiteSwan1916]

How are you justifying Lena and Axel's history though? He speed ran being a shitty partner to her, and also a creepy violent ex on top of that. How is that viable? Amnesia drugs?

I played a 100% pro-Axel route, and he seems to make amends to Lena somewhat. Not ideal perhaps, but the attraction to Axel is just way stronger than to the other LIs.

 

[WhiteSwan1916]

The easiest solution was to add Dave at any point through the gallery events and that's a lazy good male idea

Dave can have many different variants of behavior and looks depending on FMC choice in GGGB though. This would be very difficult to implement because of the branching.

 

[Hungover00]

I played a 100% pro-Axel route, and he seems to make amends to Lena somewhat. Not ideal perhaps, but the attraction to Axel is just way stronger than to the other LIs.

Seemed more like addiction to me, but I couldn't really push past all the abuse to fully see Axel's route.

 

[Deleted member 7180813]

It just dawned on me that I guess I should say...
I might be for getting back together with Axel, and Seymour might be my Sugar Daddy,
but technically I'm dating Holly...

 

[Blackreaper]

Spoiler

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Thats her fault for bleaching her hair

Thank you !

 

[justin.case]

I also find that Axel is the most viable option for Lena.

So best option for Lena is toxic, abusive, manipulative, cheating, quick-to-anger, quick-to-violence ex? Dude is on the red flag collection speedrun but each to their own I guess.

 

[Hungover00]

It just dawned on me that I guess I should say...
I might be for getting back together with Axel, and Seymour might be my Sugar Daddy,
but technically I'm dating Holly...

View attachment 4436317
View attachment 4436318

You'd betray Holly? Is your hobby competitive kitten kicking?

/s not /s

 

[WhiteSwan1916]

Bro Axel isn't Stable and braindead whores who have the stupid Alpha dominated fetish sees him hot until they start using their brain and not their asses to think and just leave that unstable dude

This is to EK's credit a realistic depiction of one of the great dilemmas of modern dating, is it not? Attraction to the "alpha" while the more relationship-compatible guy is overlooked. But if the attraction is not there, it just isn't. Then going for the stable guy is just settling, which is a viable mating strategy but typically not common at Lena's age.