As long as Lena is in a "Heart-Symbol" situation with another girl, it unlocks the open-relationship path, provided Ian is high enough in lust. Just need to avoid Lena sleeping with Jeremy, which is a necessity anyway (Louise/Jeremy break-up) if you want Louise solo scenes & her heart option to be accessible to Lena. Open relationship discussion happens in Chapter 9.
Welp, I must have messed it up somehow, because Louise has a heart in her notes. Maybe needed to hit a higher threshold, or something.
So they have to keep it non-romantic? I figured just having multiple hearts for each character would have done it. Dang.
That is one of the most hypocritical, but exceedingly prevalent cliches in AVNs. If it's a male MC they can often veto it, but I can't think of an instance where it was considered cheating. Just finished Summer's Scent for the first time, and wow, that's some double-standard shit. Not game ruining, but both funny-haha and funny-weird at the same time.
If Lena and/or Ian had slept with other people before Ch.9, you'll get an option after forming a couple, to "maybe experiment together". However this shouldn't be confused with "we're a romantic couple but you can fuck whoever you like" but more like actual "experimenting" together, i.e. potential threesome(s) down the road. Making that choice isn't strictly necessary, though, Lena can choose to be interested in this sort of arrangement in Ch.11 even without it.
It's not just in AVNs. It's fairly common attitude in society too, because dudes tend to go way more ballistic when there's another dick in their girlfriend involved.
That's true. Likely all bound up with evolutionary imperative to see your genes passed down (fucking around on the side is less of a big deal if there's no chance another person's kid will inherit your castle or whatever), and the heavy cultural divide between the genders and not understanding the opposite one.
Having finally replayed the whole game recently with a focus on keeping Lena/Ian's relationship affectionate but not aiming for being a couple, the text implies that there's a potential storyline where Ian and Lena have some kind of feelings for each other, but aren't yet willing to commit to an official relationship yet due to where they're at in their lives. Hopefully Eva keeps this in mind and revisits the Lena/Ian relationship question again in a later chapter.
Both coming out of pretty traumatic breakups and then rushing into another monogamous relationship only really keeps them sympathetic if they don't immediately turn around and cheat. It's definitely the more mature path, though 20 somethings aren't known for drama-free lives.
Good call. You're right, the latter (stepping back and then getting back together) is pretty rare, and in my experience only happens with significant time apart when people get to different places in their lives. I don't think that'd be plausible in Our Red String unless there's a significant time skip (a year or two), and I suspect a time skip of that length won't happen until end game, if at all.
HERE OPEN DOESN'T MEAN THAT THEY CAN FUCK WHOEVEVER it means they can do experimenting TOGETHER like ffive mentioned before
yes i know... but I always play to avoid serious engagement within Ian and Lena... because I'm trying to make IAN a cuckold
There is some bits for this in the game: for Lena/Ian who are keeping things casually, Lena has option (in Ch.11 prologue iirc) to declare some (deeper) feelings for Ian in the middle of sex. I'm pretty sure there's going to be at least one chance for them to form an actual couple late in the game, despite initial reluctance.
Either that or maybe Ian's lust level is too low? Did you at least get a grayed out option for Open Relationship you couldn't select?
Ian can express desire for relationship with Lena as long as his attitude score (in the Agenda) is at 9+ points, even if he didn't reveal any deeper feelings before (and as long as he isn't in serious relationship with Alison) Lena will agree if she admitted to having deeper feelings for Ian (the
lena_ian_love flag) and didn't fuck Jeremy.ian_lena_love variable with a different value, to discern it's a "late" entry of sorts.