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

[dontcarewhateverno]

Is there a way to have a loving IanxLena relationship, where they're dating and all, but agree to an open relationship? I had tried it but always failed. In one play Ian fucked Holly while visiting the book festival and when Lena found out, she broke up with him and Holly did so as well, basically he lost them both. In another, I had Lena seduce Jeremy and then she refused Ian to become his girlfriend, although they were still FWB. I know there's a cuckold path for Ian as well but I'm not interested in that branch, it just makes no sense for him to remain in a sexless relationship as a complete wimp while he dominates his boss and Alison.

In my opinion they work best as a loving couple, but with lax boundaries. Like a stag-vixen kind of relationship. Are we even that far story-wise? Will this be an option at all?

You can do an open relationship option, but as of now the functions of it seem vestigial. Ian/Lena couple option still lets you go threesome with Louise + open relationship still locks you out of the same sex paths that being a couple would (there might be a few minor text differences. Unsure).

Maybe there will be some development for it in the future though. So to get it:
1. Lena can't have had any sexual contact with Jeremy before chapter 9-10 (whichever chapter that relationship talk is) other than the truth or dare game in chapter 7 where you can have her slurp down to her heart's content.
2. Ian has to either have a heart relationship with another girl in addition to Lena or has to have Lust up to a certain stat. Forgot if it was 5 or 6.
3. Lena has to have a heart relationship with another character as well.

IMO, Eva's made the option's accessibility a little too unnecessarily rigid.

Note: There might be a certain friendship/love level needed with another character beyond just having a heart. If so, I'm not sure what that would be.

 

[Sethmsf]

You can do an open relationship option, but as of now the functions of it seem vestigial. Ian/Lena couple option still lets you go threesome with Louise + open relationship still locks you out of the same sex paths that being a couple would (there might be a few minor text differences. Unsure).

Maybe there will be some development for it in the future though. So to get it:
1. Lena can't have had any sexual contact with Jeremy before chapter 9-10 (whichever chapter that relationship talk is) other than the truth or dare game in chapter 7 where you can have her slurp down to her heart's content.
2. Ian has to either have a heart relationship with another girl in addition to Lena or has to have Lust up to a certain stat. Forgot if it was 5 or 6.
3. Lena has to have a heart relationship with another character as well.

Note: There might be a certain friendship/love level needed with another character beyond just having a heart. If so, I'm not sure what that would be.

If I'm not mistaken, if you have a closed relationship and you agree to try a threesome, in the game variables it becomes an open relationship; May one of the data explorers correct me because I read that in a guide and I could be wrong.

 

[dontcarewhateverno]

If I'm not mistaken, if you have a closed relationship and you agree to try a threesome, in the game variables it becomes an open relationship; May one of the data explorers correct me because I read that in a guide and I could be wrong.

That might be better game design if so, giving you a second entry point - no pun intended. I had thought the option in Chap 9 (or whenever "the talk" happens) was a little too rigid and not very smart design.

 

[Sethmsf]

That might be better game design if so, giving you a second entry point - no pun intended. I had thought the option in Chap 9 (or whenever "the talk" happens) was a little too rigid and not very smart design.

I have left you the screenshot in the previous post, to me the idea that by trying to have a threesome the relationship automatically becomes open seems a bit forced too, I think it can be closed and try some things together before deciding whether to open it or not for more experiments

 

[Pr0GamerJohnny]

Is there a way to have a loving IanxLena relationship, where they're dating and all, but agree to an open relationship? I had tried it but always failed. In one play Ian fucked Holly while visiting the book festival and when Lena found out, she broke up with him and Holly did so as well, basically he lost them both. In another, I had Lena seduce Jeremy and then she refused Ian to become his girlfriend, although they were still FWB. I know there's a cuckold path for Ian as well but I'm not interested in that branch, it just makes no sense for him to remain in a sexless relationship as a complete wimp while he dominates his boss and Alison.

In my opinion they work best as a loving couple, but with lax boundaries. Like a stag-vixen kind of relationship. Are we even that far story-wise? Will this be an option at all?

No.

The open relationship variable does nearly nothing as you can see, only a few dialogue switches - and allows them to discuss the later threesome if Lena has low lust.

I understand what you're getting at with your overall post, and the answer is again no. I'd very much like a path like this myself, and as someone who's spent hours browsing and modding the scripts, it's quite clear evakass has no interest in something like this, and far prefers the bullying/cheating themes.

This is extremely evident with how the "ian_cuck" path flows; it's binary, once you're on it, you can get off it by answering "nah I dont wanna hear those stories of your professor" during the footjob scene (iirc there are some other places to get off it), point is, it's either sexless ian with humiliation, or full relationship with fucking, and Lena keeps any indiscretions secret. Again, it's crystal clear what eva likes to anyone who's read the code at length.

Don't listen to the others trying to offer half-cocked story-based refutations of this. The reality is some code segments just aren't that developed (which is understandable, only so much time in the day for dev). Another example of this is the part with Lena-Ian relationship start you mentioned. The Lena-Ian relationship fork is conditioned on NOT v8_jeremy_sex, yet then under that condition branch, there are additional checks for v8_jeremy_sex, so it's not clear from the sloppy coding if that was supposed to block the whole fork or not.

Having said all that, Alison has a few variables that look to leave future options for stuff like that open, unfortunately, it looks like it'll just be with Jeremy again - I'd expect a future 2nd threesome scene with them in a future update.

 

[dontcarewhateverno]

I understand what you're getting at with your overall post, and the answer is again no. I'd very much like a path like this myself, and as someone who's spent hours browsing and modding the scripts, it's quite clear evakass has no interest in something like this, and far prefers the bullying/cheating themes.

This is extremely evident with how the "ian_cuck" path flows; it's binary, once you're on it, you can get off it by answering "nah I dont wanna hear those stories of your professor" during the footjob scene (iirc there are some other places to get off it), point is, it's either sexless ian with humiliation, or full relationship with fucking, and Lena keeps any indiscretions secret. Again, it's crystal clear what eva likes to anyone who's read the code at length.

Yeah. That binary which was evident by the Chapter 11 prologue was my biggest disappointment in the game so far. Still making due with other paths I find interesting, but I'm off that specific path now.

 

[ffive]

Is the version in the OP download link still bugged (e.g. Cindy scene plays abruptly when you're not on that path)? I get this is a "prologue" but I don't know if the developer does bugfixes on releases of this length.

The version in the OP has some remaining bugs (e.g. no texts for Ian with more than 1 coin) but the Cindy scene bug in particular is fixed.

 

[Pr0GamerJohnny]

Yeah. That binary which was evident by the Chapter 11 prologue was my biggest disappointment in the game so far. Still making due with other paths I find interesting, but I'm off that specific path now.

That's what I wanted, a path with Lena where Ian could just be straight-up like; "I'm fucking around, you're fucking around, no problem, we don't need to be sketch about it...".

Instead you get this crap where she jerks him off while telling him about sleeping around, why isn't there an option to say something like "I don't care that you're sleeping around and honest about it, but we're not gonna do this handjob bullshit."

 

[Zara Scarlet]

I think Dromedari was being facetious and actually agrees with you that it's all based on player choice. Unless you caught that and were just backing them up.

Yeah I got that, those comments weren't aimed at him at all. I was just continuing my earlier disagreement, with those who seem to believe that Lena is a slut whatever choices you make.

 

[Zara Scarlet]

I use this method as a Jiu Jitsu master.

Round 1: Attack - grapple - Attack and shoot - Throw him - Secure the position - Tie him up -> Provoke - Grapple - Throw him - Submit him.

Round 2: Dodge -> Guard up - Block - Take him down - Pin him down - Submit him - Go to submission

At the start of Round 2, Ian's opponent really goes for it, so you have to make sure Ian doesn't take too much punishment during that initial flurry, otherwise when Ian attacks later in the round, and pins him down, he doesn't have the strength left to force a submission, and eventually runs out of time. My first few attempts, that's what happened to me. But I eventually worked it out, and did the same as you.

For me, Ian has to prefer Jiu Jitsu, because it suits his more compact body. To be an effective kickboxer, you really need a long reach like Jeremy.

Does anyone think that this will be set up, so that Ian can meet Jeremy in the final?

 

[Zara Scarlet]

question for all, maybe been asked before though. Do you guys judge characters based on how they act in other routes? I mean obviously its unfair to judge Lena since you make her do it but, i just played my first secondary route and decided not to go with Cindy because I though Ian would probably be anti-cheating....and Wow Cindy with Axel is a terrible, vitrulent, insecure bitch to just....everyone and it turned me off wanting to do her romance route ever again if this is somehow the type of person she is. Do others do this? or is it dumb to put one timelines judgements on another?

The way I see it, just because they're a certain type of person on one route, doesn't make them the same kind of person if they make different choices. The choices you make define who you are as a person, and you need to try to see these people as completely different individuals, on the different routes.

The problem with Cindy, is that Ian has to betray one of his best friends, to be with her at all. Even if he only has sex with her, and nobody else. He's still doing a bad thing, and expecting Cindy to become a cheating slut, so they can be together. In a sense, it's him and not Axel who has opened Cindy up to corruption. So it's pretty hypocritical of him to complain, about her so far, relatively innocuous flirting with Axel, when what they've done together is infinitely worse.

If Ian and Cindy are dating, then so far nothing has really happened between Cindy and Axel, and maybe nothing ever will, as long as Ian doesn't allow his insecurity and it's resulting possessiveness, to anger Cindy and drive her into Axel's arms. I think if Ian chooses to be cool, and supports Cindy's ambition to be a model, and trusts she won't succumb to Axel's charms, there is a high probability nothing will happen.

At the end of the day, Wade did the opposite, and he lost her.

 

[Pr0GamerJohnny]

The way I see it, just because they're a certain type of person on one route, doesn't make them the same kind of person if they make different choices. The choices you make define who you are as a person, and you need to try to see these people as completely different individuals, on the different routes.

The problem with Cindy, is that Ian has to betray one of his best friends, to be with her at all. Even if he only has sex with her, and nobody else. He's still doing a bad thing, and expecting Cindy to become a cheating slut, so they can be together. In a sense, it's him and not Axel who has opened Cindy up to corruption. So it's pretty hypocritical of him to complain, about her so far, relatively innocuous flirting with Axel, when what they've done together is infinitely worse.

If Ian and Cindy are dating, then so far nothing has really happened between Cindy and Axel, and maybe nothing ever will, as long as Ian doesn't allow his insecurity and it's resulting possessiveness, to anger Cindy and drive her into Axel's arms. I think if Ian chooses to be cool, and supports Cindy's ambition to be a model, and trusts she won't succumb to Axel's charms, there is a high probability nothing will happen.

At the end of the day, Wade did the opposite, and he lost her.

I mean, this is in the context of a porngame, so it's all fun and the way the path played out is a win for players.

In the real world if Wade existed he'd be well within the bounds of a reasonable boyfriend to toss her after she acts so cavalier over his concerns with Axel.

 

[Zara Scarlet]

That's what I wanted, a path with Lena where Ian could just be straight-up like; "I'm fucking around, you're fucking around, no problem, we don't need to be sketch about it...".

Instead you get this crap where she jerks him off while telling him about sleeping around, why isn't there an option to say something like "I don't care that you're sleeping around and honest about it, but we're not gonna do this handjob bullshit."

That's the cuck path. That's the last route you should be playing, if you want the dynamic you're talking about. The cuck path only really works if Lena is cheating, but Ian is totally faithful. The only way I can see them getting to the route you want, is to open up their relationship and take the other path where Ian isn't a cuck. And then have them both cheat on each other, and hope when it all comes out, that Eva provides the option for them to forgive each other, and either give each other a free pass, or go down a swinging/hotwife kind of path.

When they started along the open path, neither of them were really ready for a totally open relationship, because of their recent experiences of being cheated upon. I don't see it being plain sailing, and there'll probably be a lot of angry words and doubts about their relationship, before they could reach the point, you want them to reach though.

I'm not suggesting for a moment this is going to happen, but it's the only way I see us getting to that point. At the end of the day, if you want them to sleep around with other people, whilst being in a relationship, it's a risky strategy whichever way it goes. And they'll either survive or they wont.

 

[Pr0GamerJohnny]

That's the cuck path. That's the last route you should be playing, if you want the dynamic you're talking about. The cuck path only really works if Lena is cheating, but Ian is totally faithful. The only way I can see them getting to the route you want, is to open up their relationship and take the other path where Ian isn't a cuck. And then have them both cheat on each other, and hope when it all comes out, that Eva provides the option for them to forgive each other, and either give each other a free pass, or go down a swinging/hotwife kind of path.

When they started along the open path, neither of them were really ready for a totally open relationship, because of their recent experiences of being cheated upon. I don't see it being plain sailing, and there'll probably be a lot of angry words and doubts about their relationship, before they could reach the point, you want them to reach though.

I'm not suggesting for a moment this is going to happen, but it's the only way I see us getting to that point. At the end of the day, if you want them to sleep around with other people, whilst being in a relationship, it's a risky strategy whichever way it goes. And they'll either survive or they wont.

In this context I dont WANT them to sleep around, but if they ARE sleeping around, Id much rather she be straight up about it instead of having these passive aggressive monologues like "omg but I cant tell him about robert and axel!"

 

[Zara Scarlet]

In the real world if Wade existed he'd be well within the bounds of a reasonable boyfriend to toss her after she acts so cavalier over his concerns with Axel.

True, but that wasn't the only thing that drove Cindy away. Her and Wade no longer had much in common. His idea of a good time was playing video games and hanging out in the same bar, him and his mates had always gone to. And he wasn't prepared to budge from that, until she got him jealous, and then he only did it grudgingly. It's obvious to any boyfriend with half a brain, that you don't treat your girlfriend like that, and expect to survive unscathed. The thing about Wade is, he doesn't listen to what Cindy is telling him, and assumes she'll go along with what he wants, because she has up to now. He's happy to carry on doing the same old thing, but she isn't. She does the things that he wants to do, but he is not prepared to reciprocate, unless she forces the issue by making him think she's gonna run off with another guy.

There's nothing reasonable about that at all. If he'd been reasonable, he would have listened to what Cindy was asking him, and compromised by taking her dancing and going occasionally to fancy bars, whether he liked the music or not. If he'd done that, would she ever have looked at another man? Would she ever have had that conversation with Ian, that made her start considering she'd like to be a model herself? Would she ever have met Axel at all? The chances are high that she wouldn't. Cindy wasn't asking for the world, she just wanted Wade to spoil her now and again, and do something SHE wanted for a change.

 

[Andrea9999]

I understand what you're saying but my dialogue is a little different "omg but I can't tell him about Robert, Axel, Mike, Jeremy, Jack, Mark, Ivy, Holly and Seymour's sugardaddy", I wonder how Ian will take it when Lena tell him?

Well wasn't Ian supposed to be coached by Axel on how to control and handle Lena?

 

[Leongen43]

Well wasn't Ian supposed to be coached by Axel on how to control and handle Lena?

Axel is like a big dog and as such he doesn't like to share his food Lena, so Ian doesn't understand the poor puppy is going to be hungry.

 

[Pr0GamerJohnny]

True, but that wasn't the only thing that drove Cindy away. Her and Wade no longer had much in common. His idea of a good time was playing video games and hanging out in the same bar, him and his mates had always gone to. And he wasn't prepared to budge from that, until she got him jealous, and then he only did it grudgingly. It's obvious to any boyfriend with half a brain, that you don't treat your girlfriend like that, and expect to survive unscathed. The thing about Wade is, he doesn't listen to what Cindy is telling him, and assumes she'll go along with what he wants, because she has up to now. He's happy to carry on doing the same old thing, but she isn't. She does the things that he wants to do, but he is not prepared to reciprocate, unless she forces the issue by making him think she's gonna run off with another guy.

There's nothing reasonable about that at all. If he'd been reasonable, he would have listened to what Cindy was asking him, and compromised by taking her dancing and going occasionally to fancy bars, whether he liked the music or not. If he'd done that, would she ever have looked at another man? Would she ever have had that conversation with Ian, that made her start considering she'd like to be a model herself? Would she ever have met Axel at all? The chances are high that she wouldn't. Cindy wasn't asking for the world, she just wanted Wade to spoil her now and again, and do something SHE wanted for a change.

We don't know, because we don't know the other side of the story, as it's chiefly written from a Cindy perspective.

The thing about Wade is, he doesn't listen to what Cindy is telling him, and assumes she'll go along with what he wants, because she has up to now.

This is true. At the same time it's never really explored how flexible Cindy is - does she listen to what he's saying? Doesn't she assume he'll just lie down for whatever she wants? They seem like a mutually destructive couple, both inconsiderate of each others feelings. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it was never in Cindy's plans to do stuff like accompany Wade to the video game thing from the start.

I'm a bit more symathetic to Wade in that situation because he wields less social power.

 

[Andrea9999]

Axel is like a dog and as such he doesn't like to share his food Lena, so Ian doesn't understand the poor puppy is going to be hungry.

He will not be sharing....just combining Lena with Ian into a two course meal to be shared between himself, Seymour, and Agnes.

 

[Zara Scarlet]

In this context I dont WANT them to sleep around, but if they ARE sleeping around, Id much rather she be straight up about it instead of having these passive aggressive monologues like "omg but I cant tell him about robert and axel!"

That route is only there, to provide a possible pathway, to Ian and Lena staying together, once he discovers what she's been up to behind his back. If you're on that route, Jeremy tells Ian that Lena is cheating on him, in the current update. And you can decide whether you believe him or not. If you have a strong relationship with Jeremy, it's impossible for Ian to totally disregard what he says. So even if you choose for Ian, not to take it for granted, he'll still be wondering if it's true. And from now on he'll probably be watching Lena very closely. I reckon pretty soon, they're both heading for a showdown over this. So I don't think you'll have to listen to those kind of monologues for much longer.