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

[MikeOG]

I also have this error while taking the drug with emma. the game crashes and it cant even ignore or roleback
Eva Kiss

 

[ffive]

I guess I just don't see it as a contest of agency in that way, since I, the player am the one in control of both MCs. If I want to keep Holly pure, I can choose to do so with my decision making by both choices.

But that's the thing -- with the way you suggest, and Lena's influence being all that effectively matters, there's only one way you can "keep Holly pure" and that's by keeping Lena away from her. This reduces number of stories the player can potentially craft, compared to version where they also get option for Ian to actively oppose Lena and, depending which of the MC makes better choices, either come out on top, or lose this contest.

 

[JoeSte91]

But expecting that Ian will get cucked in a good relationship with Holly just because Lena might try to sabotage their relationship is just unreasonable because it will destroy Ian's own agency and will make him a secondary character to Lena. That's just not a good look for a dual-protagonist game.

I really don't understand the logic behind this 'Ian's agency' argument. The only person who has agency is the player. The NPC's also have their own agency, but the decisions and choices of both Ian and Lena are influenced by me, the player. If I make that choice, having Lena influence Holly, behind Ian's back, I the player am exerting my agency to create that situation and draw dramatic irony from the scene because I know the context that the character's don't. That's what's being achieved by allowing it, rather than drawing agency away from a character that the player controls. Because if the player doesn't want Lena to exert that influence, they can simply chose not to do it. My agency as the player should allow me to dictate how much influence one mc exerts over another, if they both have the option of influencing a third npc.

So it's probably just my inability to understand this stance is why I don't really agree in regards to how this could have been implemented, but it's also not the end of the world to me as far as the game or the development is concerned.

 

[ffive]

If Ian is in an open relationship with Lena, why does he feel the need to end all ties with Alison? If I'm not mistaken, you lose Cheryl too, but hers makes more sense because of the past with Lena...

The "open relationship" in this game isn't a permission/arrangement for both Ian and Lena to fuck whoever else they wish on their own. It's potentially "experimenting together" i.e. maybe having some threesomes where both of them get involved.

 

[JoeSte91]

But that's the thing -- with the way you suggest, and Lena's influence being all that effectively matters, there's only one way you can "keep Holly pure" and that's by keeping Lena away from her. This reduces number of stories the player can potentially craft, compared to version where they also get option for Ian to actively oppose Lena and, depending which of the MC makes better choices, either come out on top, or lose this contest.

Well, no, you can also keep Holly pure, by keeping Lena pure.

And you can keep Holly pure, by having Lena choose not to influence her, or by giving her good advice.

What you can't do right now is have Lena influence Holly to be bad in that situation.

I don't understand, shouldn't it also work the other way? By taking away Lena's ability to be influential in that situation aren't you saying that Ian's agency (although again I disagree that the central protagonists have agency outside of the player's choices for them bases on the roles they want them to play) is more important than Lena's agency in this path?

 

[ffive]

Well, no, you can also keep Holly pure, by keeping Lena pure.

And you can keep Holly pure, by having Lena choose not to influence her, or by giving her good advice.

Both of these are effectively the same thing -- you can't have Lena try to tempt Holly away from Ian and fail due to Ian's interference.

What you can't do right now is have Lena influence Holly to be bad in that situation.

I don't understand, shouldn't it also work the other way?

I agree, this is currently the case. However since we're merely at mid point there's plenty of time for such option to actually appear -- i don't think Holly's change is all completed. There's both room for her to become more adventurous, and for Lena to give in to her lust and to get over her current scruples.

 

[noturiah]

Reading through all the recent posts about Holly's purity or corruption (and the in-between-ness of it right now at ch11), a random thought came to mind. All this time I've assumed that eventually, Lena would kick Stan out of the apartment - maybe in siding with Louise and thinking he's a perv she doesn't want around, maybe from being uncomfortable by his worship of her - and Holly would move in, because they'd need a third for rent, and it's not like Louise and Ivy would want to live together. Or that Ivy needs to split rent with anyone.

But, what if Stan gets kicked out (or asked to be chivalrous and leave if Lena is friends with him, or led to leave if Lena is toying with him) not because of something having to do with Stan, but because Holly's parents find out she's sleeping with someone, and kick her out of their house? As we learn more about them it seems like a real possibility. From a game standpoint it could work across different branches: HollyxIan, HollyxLena, HollyxIvy/Mark/etc. It could happen to a pure or corrupted or in-between Holly, as long as she's sleeping with someone.

This is all assuming the basic idea of Stan leaving and Holly moving in is going to happen, of course. It may not. But all this time I thought if it did, it would be about Stan, and it would be interesting if it's actually because of Holly.

 

[| Vee |]

Reading through all the recent posts about Holly's purity or corruption (and the in-between-ness of it right now at ch11), a random thought came to mind. All this time I've assumed that eventually, Lena would kick Stan out of the apartment - maybe in siding with Louise and thinking he's a perv she doesn't want around, maybe from being uncomfortable by his worship of her - and Holly would move in, because they'd need a third for rent, and it's not like Louise and Ivy would want to live together. Or that Ivy needs to split rent with anyone.

But, what if Stan gets kicked out (or asked to be chivalrous and leave if Lena is friends with him, or led to leave if Lena is toying with him) not because of something having to do with Stan, but because Holly's parents find out she's sleeping with someone, and kick her out of their house? As we learn more about them it seems like a real possibility. From a game standpoint it could work across different branches: HollyxIan, HollyxLena, HollyxIvy/Mark/etc. It could happen to a pure or corrupted or in-between Holly, as long as she's sleeping with someone.

This is all assuming the basic idea of Stan leaving and Holly moving in is going to happen, of course. It may not. But all this time I thought if it did, it would be about Stan, and it would be interesting if it's actually because of Holly.

I don't think Stan is going anywhere as we see in current Chapter how his story is progressing with Lena.
And it's going to be hectic for EK to split it if LenaxStan are dating branch where Stan is living with Lena and LenaxStan friend/not dating/incel where Stan is not living with Lena instead Holly is living etc. Managing these branches would only create more diversions in routes and EK is already trying to narrow down branches to some extent.

I would suggest that Lena should throw Stan under the truck on next date/meetup, If not than give him Viagra dose, tie him to a chair and Fuck in front of him.

 

[dontcarewhateverno]

I also have this error while taking the drug with emma. the game crashes and it cant even ignore or roleback
Eva Kiss

I got the trick right away on release of this chapter, but I'll say it again. This is the most tiring joke in the game. It (the baffled posts) keeps on happening. People who don't often play Renpy games in development just aren't going to get it. To compound that, ideally after final release (if tested correctly) a new player would be completely unfamiliar with what a RenPy crash screen even looks like up until this point & would close the game to write Steam support. Saddest thing is the Renpy skip function doesn't work in this part on replay and the joke gets really stale by the 2nd, 3rd and 4th alt-path playthrough. I've just stopped taking the drug altogether on additional runs to avoid this part entirely, since it's really tedious.

MikeOG It's a joke/puzzle. The fact that there is game-designed text over the crash screen is a clue since that never happens in a real RenPy crash. Check out BBCode for a further look. Then play around with the buttons a bit, reading the text for hints.

 

[MikeOG]

I got the trick right away on release of this chapter, but I'll say it again. This is the most tiring joke in the game. It (the baffled posts) keeps on happening. People who don't often play Renpy games in development just aren't going to get it. To compound that, ideally after final release (if tested correctly) a new player would be completely unfamiliar with what a RenPy crash screen even looks like up until this point & would close the game to write Steam support. Saddest thing is the Renpy skip function doesn't work in this part on replay and the joke gets really stale by the 2nd, 3rd and 4th alt-path playthrough. I've just stopped taking the drug altogether on additional runs to avoid this part entirely, since it's really tedious.

MikeOG It's a joke/puzzle. The fact that there is game-designed text over the crash screen is a clue since that never happens in a real RenPy crash. Check out BBCode for a further look. Then play around with the buttons a bit, reading the text for hints.

nothing works. It says "reloading script" "file not found"
I cant play anymore cuz of this error.

 

[dontcarewhateverno]

nothing works. It says "reloading script" "file not found"
I cant play anymore cuz of this error.

Dude. It's a puzzle. Really. Just play through it, hitting various buttons with trial and error like I said and read the text that pops up for hints. Unless you're just trolling or something. I mean, it's pretty obvious once you hit BBCode + the fact that you can see dialogue overlayed on top of the crash-screen, which never regularly happens in RenPy crash screens. You just need to keep fucking around with it.

Suppressing a facepalm here. lol.

 

[SerHawkes]

Dude. It's a puzzle. Really. Just play through it, hitting various buttons with trial and error like I said and read the text that pops up for hints. Unless you're just trolling or something. I mean, it's pretty obvious once you hit BBCode + the fact that you can see dialogue overlayed on top of the crash-screen, which never regularly happens in RenPy crash screens.

Suppressing a facepalm here. lol.

Did I for you. Your welcome.

 

[MikeOG]

Dude. It's a puzzle. Really. Just play through it, hitting various buttons with trial and error like I said and read the text that pops up for hints. Unless you're just trolling or something. I mean, it's pretty obvious once you hit BBCode + the fact that you can see dialogue overlayed on top of the crash-screen, which never regularly happens in RenPy crash screens. You just need to keep fucking around with it.

Suppressing a facepalm here. lol.

how is that trollin WTF
i just spend 20 minutes trying and nothing happend

 

[SerHawkes]

how is that trollin WTF
i just spend 20 minutes trying and nothing happend

Walkthrough: Rollback - Ignore - Reload - Reload - Console - Open.

Refraining to say certain words here...

 

[dontcarewhateverno]

how is that trollin WTF
i just spend 20 minutes trying and nothing happend

Or, you know, you're right. Teh game is bugged. Just don't take the drugs Emma gives you, so you can avoid this irreversible error.

 

[BloodyMares]

Holly comes to the pole dancing class again because Lena is there, and that's a way for Holly to interact with her more, even if she isn't too fond of the activity itself.

Plus, the cafe can be closed if Lena didn't help Ed and Molly. So far, Lena interacted with Holly either in the gym or at the cafe or in her place on some occasions. If the pole dancing is a separate path and the cafe is closed, the narrative needs to find a new reason for them to meet, otherwise Holly's interactions with Lena would be limited to phone calls. Do they just always hang out in Lena's place from now on? Louise might get jealous. They need to have something in common that brings them together naturally. If they just start meeting regularly in the park, it could get old and it would be even more obvious that Lena's interactions with Holly are getting forced, considering she rarely visits the park on her own. Plus, it's suggested that Holly in this path might focus on yoga rather than pole dancing, and would instead workout with Minerva, but they could meet with Lena and Ivy after the gym. That way you could still differentiate between Holly who is more athletic and is good friends with Ivy, and Holly who is more on the shy side but wants to keep being friends with Lena.

Yeah. I saw that she posted the actual poll 3 days back (though I don't have access to the poll myself to read). But the original post from 5 days ago that originally mentioned the upcoming bikini poll also said the Final would be released in a couple days, which means last Wednesday. I was just wondering if she'd mentioned anything about the delay and a new time estimate for release. I don't think the bikini will be seen in the chapter final or is associated with the delay at all, at least based on what she wrote on Monday. The poll is just routine Patreon service to keep fans satiated as she preps for Chapter 12, afaik.

I reported some new branch-related bugs, it must be because of that

If Ian is in an open relationship with Lena, why does he feel the need to end all ties with Alison? If I'm not mistaken, you lose Cheryl too, but hers makes more sense because of the past with Lena...

Lena didn't give her permission to Ian to fuck other girls without her, that's why. For now, their open relationship only includes being open to threesomes (experimenting together). There was no talk about sharing outside of threesomes. It can get there eventually, but given how jealous Alison is of Lena, I doubt Lena would be comfortable sharing Ian with her, and after Ian's rejection, I'm not sure Alison wants to humiliate herself by letting Ian fuck her again while he's with Lena. But who knows, Eva likes surprises.

I guess I just don't see it as a contest of agency in that way, since I, the player am the one in control of both MCs. If I want to keep Holly pure, I can choose to do so with my decision making by both choices.

Some people like playing this game co-op style (either with a female friend or a girlfriend or I guess with a buddy) because it's more fun this way. The difference in agency might not be an issue if you're playing by yourself, but it's a HUGE issue if you're playing only as Ian while your girlfriend as playing as Lena. She can single handedly control Ian's behavior in relationship with her, and if she also gains power to cuck you when you're not together even though you're trying your best to avoid that with your choices, it's not really fun to play because you will be in the total mercy of her decisions alone.

 

[Blurpee69]

Reading through all the recent posts about Holly's purity or corruption (and the in-between-ness of it right now at ch11), a random thought came to mind. All this time I've assumed that eventually, Lena would kick Stan out of the apartment - maybe in siding with Louise and thinking he's a perv she doesn't want around, maybe from being uncomfortable by his worship of her - and Holly would move in, because they'd need a third for rent, and it's not like Louise and Ivy would want to live together. Or that Ivy needs to split rent with anyone.

But, what if Stan gets kicked out (or asked to be chivalrous and leave if Lena is friends with him, or led to leave if Lena is toying with him) not because of something having to do with Stan, but because Holly's parents find out she's sleeping with someone, and kick her out of their house? As we learn more about them it seems like a real possibility. From a game standpoint it could work across different branches: HollyxIan, HollyxLena, HollyxIvy/Mark/etc. It could happen to a pure or corrupted or in-between Holly, as long as she's sleeping with someone.

This is all assuming the basic idea of Stan leaving and Holly moving in is going to happen, of course. It may not. But all this time I thought if it did, it would be about Stan, and it would be interesting if it's actually because of Holly.

I agree with you that Holly will end up moving out of her parents house relatively soon; either willingly or because of a situation close to what you laid out. If there is an actual bond forming between her and either Ian or Lena, it would be pretty easy to slide her into just living with either of them. However, if Holly is more empowered from her time with Ivy and Lena I could see a scenario in which Holly moves in with Ivy and the Lena / Louise / Stan situation has a little more time to develop.

Speaking of which, a scenario is definitely building, along many routes, that points to Stan breaking relations with Louise almost certainly, but Lena as well. There are a couple paths in which Lena might be able to play peace maker and keep the three living together, but several more routes exist in which it seems inevitable that Lena is going to have to pick a side and at that point I don't know how narratively you keep both in the story. I feel like it would be a very tricky balance to keep whichever character Lena doesn't side with in the story, as neither Louise or Stan are particularly compelling characters, and outside of their relationship to Lena don't serve much function narratively speaking. Louise I suppose at least has the benefit of being able to continue dating Jeremy in one route and possibly Ian in another; but Stan doesn't have that luxury unless something starts to develop between him and Holly. The problem with that line of thought being; Holly is essentially the third MC at this point and unless a player is specifically setting it up for this outcome, it is unlikely that Holly would make a meaningful connection with Stan.

So the question becomes, what happens to the character Lena doesn't side with? Louise has just enough of a narrative presence that dropping her would likely create several awkward problems. Stan, unfortunately for him, is easier to just write out of the story; but that doesn't feel particularly satisfying a conclusion to that plot thread. If Lena and Louise kick him out, there needs to be some ramifications for that action. Right?

 

[SerHawkes]

If Lena and Louise kick him out, there needs to be some ramifications for that action. Right?

Nah. Let the guy die in peace. Let Summer Child move in and make it a lovenest. No ramifications needed.

 

[BloodyMares]

i got this problem while watching the gallery and my game does not have any mod

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
File "game/scripts/story/chapter_8.rpy", line 4591, in <module>
TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for -: 'int' and 'str'

Can you make a screenshot right before this error? It doesn't provide any helpful details. Or tell how you encountered this error.
1) Which gallery scene did you pick?
2) What parameters did you choose (gallery questions regarding your past actions)?
3) Which action did you take in the scene that led to this error?

 

[Blurpee69]

Nah. Let the guy die in peace. Let Summer Child move in and make it a lovenest. No ramifications needed.

I mean sure, I don't have any particular fondness for either Stan or Louise, but within the context of the story I think it would be very lame if Stan just stopped appearing after the girls kick him out.