VN Ren'Py Our Red String [Ch.14.1.4 Beta] [Eva Kiss]

[noturiah]

I've grown to appreciate Ivy as a chaos agent. An instigator. A shit starter, if you will. The kind of person that you're glad you know, because they keep life interesting, but you hope you don't know too many of them. She plays that role for Lena as the protagonist (Jeremy and Perry split that role for Ian).

She's not perfect. She's perceptive and driven, but self-centered and inconsiderate. I also think she's making some strategic mistakes with her choices. Like doing erotic material online (Stalkfap) and then trying to join a high-end model brand (Wildcats), which is a transition that rarely happens in that order. But that combo of perceptive, driven, and inconsiderate makes for great fun. She is also humanized by the fact that she at least somewhat cares for Lena (from the prism of her own outlook and values, I don't think Ivy does empathy and perspective-taking).

So, I've been coming around to this view too, partly from posts by SerHawkes and partly from taking a longer view over all chapters so far. SerHawkes calls Ivy a "suggestor of suggestions" and that seems a great description of her, and your idea of "perceptive, driven, and inconsiderate" also hits the nail on the head. As you say, she's a chaos agent. But she's not coming from a place of being evil or manipulative in order to hurt people (which is what I initially thought). She's her own person and that's great, but she also kinda thinks everybody else should be more like her, which is less great.

From her own perspective she's a good friend to Lena and to Holly - and sometimes she really can be! - but it's also that she wants them to see life from her viewpoint and accept her ideas of what's important, fun, etc. She puts up with Louise, who makes no secret of hating her, and has no real issue with Lena living with Louise or being her friend. But also Ivy doesn't hesitate to mock Louise to Lena, or stir up problems between Louise and Jeremy in her (delightfully) bitchy way. And she may be too driven for her own good; we'll see what happens with the Wildcats storyline, which if you think about it is the only thing Ivy really wants for herself.

 

[Doppelgang]

Well, this is actually what i disagree with -- being angry at Cherry for her action is logical and rational. Cherry herself acknowledges she has hurt Lena and in fact this is why she (allegedly) feels remorse in the first place.

Additionally, since Cherry has already shown herself to be a bare faced liar when dealing with Lena, and someone who had little regard for Lena's feelings, there's no rational reason for Lena to believe Cherry is being genuine about her regrets, or about justifications she provides. As such, treating Cherry and her actions with suspicion, as opposed to trusting her blindly despite the evidence to the contrary, is warranted.

Well, now you're nitpicking, and I think the "controlled by her emotions" part of the quote makes it pretty clear what I mean by "irrational" in this context.

Of course Lena has reasons to distrust Cherry and treat her actions with suspicion. That goes without saying. If Lena's goal (consciously or unconsciously) is to get a complete understanding of everything that happened and whether her judgement of Cherry's character is representative of her in general, the rational thing would be to talk to Cherry and listen to what she has to say. If her goal is to get over it by allowing herself to be angry without taking in all the nuances, as well as limiting her contact with Cherry and Axel to a minimum, it's obviously rational to not bother about what she's got to say.

I don't really care if we're calling it irrational or not, but the point is that Lena's seemingly not interested in getting a more complete understanding of the whole situation, and/or her strong emotions get in the way of it. I'd probably react the same way myself, but as players we know that Cherry's perspective adds nuances to it, and also gives us good reasons to believe that she actually is genuine about her regrets.

There's in other words a clear discrepancy between what we as players have seen of Cherry's character, and what Lena's seen—at least partially because of how Lena relates to all of it. The topic I was discussing, was the possible future developement in the relationship between Lena and Cherry. In that context the discrepancy is clearly interesting. Considering how Lena and Cherry are getting drawn into the same group of friends, they'll likely end up talking about all of this at some point, be it through a confrontation or in more civiliced forms. If that happens, I assume it'll include the option for Lena to take note of Cherry's perspective and adjust her own—with whatever consequences that might include.

 

[John Doe Jr.]

Did the Beta version improve this shit update?

In the new update Eva actually kills off Ian and Lena. We now play as Robert and Louise

 

[dontcarewhateverno]

Well, now you're nitpicking, and I think the "controlled by her emotions" part of the quote makes it pretty clear what I mean by "irrational" in this context.

Of course Lena has reasons to distrust Cherry and treat her actions with suspicion. That goes without saying. If Lena's goal (consciously or unconsciously) is to get a complete understanding of everything that happened and whether her judgement of Cherry's character is representative of her in general, the rational thing would be to talk to Cherry and listen to what she has to say. If her goal is to get over it by allowing herself to be angry without taking in all the nuances, as well as limiting her contact with Cherry and Axel to a minimum, it's obviously rational to not bother about what she's got to say.

I don't really care if we're calling it irrational or not, but the point is that Lena's seemingly not interested in getting a more complete understanding of the whole situation, and/or her strong emotions get in the way of it. I'd probably react the same way myself, but as players we know that Cherry's perspective adds nuances to it, and also gives us good reasons to believe that she actually is genuine about her regrets.

There's in other words a clear discrepancy between what we as players have seen of Cherry's character, and what Lena's seen—at least partially because of how Lena relates to all of it. The topic I was discussing, was the possible future developement in the relationship between Lena and Cherry. In that context the discrepancy is clearly interesting. Considering how Lena and Cherry are getting drawn into the same group of friends, they'll likely end up talking about all of this at some point, be it through a confrontation or in more civiliced forms. If that happens, I assume it'll include the option for Lena to take note of Cherry's perspective and adjust her own—with whatever consequences that might include.

So basically, they're going to bang. I agree!

 

[ffive]

There's in other words a clear discrepancy between what we as players have seen of Cherry's character, and what Lena's seen—at least partially because of how Lena relates to all of it.

It's probably worth to keep on mind that we, as the player, completely lack the part of the picture that is what Lena has actually seen. We don't know how Cherry has acted towards her, and how it affected her current judgment of the situation and opinion about Cherry. In other words, while the player might think they know better than Lena, they're in reality just as uninformed about the situation overall as she is.

Considering how Lena and Cherry are getting drawn into the same group of friends, they'll likely end up talking about all of this at some point, be it through a confrontation or in more civiliced forms. If that happens, I assume it'll include the option for Lena to take note of Cherry's perspective and adjust her own—with whatever consequences that might include.

I can see it getting implemented as an option of course, but personally i don't think it'd be in character for Lena to do anything other than tell Cherry to go fuck herself, regardless of how much she might wax lyrical about being smitten with Axel.

 

[zoomzoomzoom]

So basically, they're going to bang. I agree!

Imagine if an angy Lena manages to hate fuck Cherry first before Perry making a move.

 

[ffive]

Imagine if an angy Lena manages to hate fuck Cherry first before Perry making a move.

Technically Lena has already fucked Cherry, before Perry even met her

 

[fatpussy123]

Most underrated wingman

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[Reaurt]

She's her own person and that's great, but she also kinda thinks everybody else should be more like her, which is less great.

From her own perspective she's a good friend to Lena and to Holly - and sometimes she really can be! - but it's also that she wants them to see life from her viewpoint and accept her ideas of what's important, fun, etc.

Yes, this part you said was what I had in mind, but had trouble laying out. Ivy's type can be charismatic since they're so self-sufficient, but they have a lot of sharp edges.

As a side note about Ivy's relationships: Someone like Louise, who is both confrontational and insecure, definitely wouldn't be able to tolerate Ivy in person, while the feelings in the other direction (from Ivy to Louise) is that of dealing with a nuisance. The writing in the scenes between those two ring true to me. Lena and Ivy though, that compatibility is a little more ambiguous. Their shared experience in high school definitely mean a lot here. Furthermore, Lena did note that she and Ivy were not opposites, when asked how she and Ivy became friends when seeming so different. That may be pretty insightful, Lena and Ivy do share some overarching motivations like independence, and do share other traits, although the player has control over which of those traits express themselves in Lena during the game. This may also actually be true the other way around (Ivy shares some of Lena's traits), but we as players just haven't been privy to those moments yet.

 

[zoomzoomzoom]

Technically Lena has already fucked Cherry, before Perry even met her

Oh fuck, the threesome! Perry just can't win eh.

Most underrated wingman

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I said some dumb things about him in the past but I know now that he is one of the bros. I bet dude can beat the kickboxing guy in a cage match.

 

[Hungover00]

Ian gets to fuck Cherry, Alison, Lena, Minerva, Emma, Cindy. I guess Lena is one less of a slut in this run because she didn't get to fuck Jeremy in order to be in a relationship with Ian.

How do you manage Cherry, Alison, and Emma? First choice seemed to be Alison or Cherry, then Alison or Emma. Is this the Jeremy threesome path or something?

 

[Reaurt]

How do you manage Cherry, Alison, and Emma? First choice seemed to be Alison or Cherry, then Alison or Emma. Is this the Jeremy threesome path or something?

You start with Cherry first (go home from that night at the bar), then go out with Alison later (instead of hanging with Lena and Holly). There is an option while hanging out with Alison to propose hooking up. Then during the first club visit with Emma and Alison, don't invite Perry, and you go for Emma.

Basically you can hook up with each of them, but you can't remain in a relationship with them all at the same time.

 

[Hungover00]

Basically you can hook up with each of them, but you can't remain in a relationship with them all at the same time.

Ah, that would be it. It's a shame, but understandable from a creators perspective.

 

[jduk]

I'd prefer a variation where all three get really close. Then a nympho Lena who can't control her slut tendencies repeatedly cucks them both as they look on together meekly, shell-shocked at this increasingly crazy bitch in their throuple inviting all these strange, scuzzy dudes from the truckstop home. (Though I'd imagine Lena or the scuzbag strangers might likely nudge a reluctant & intimidated but malleable & hero-whoreshiping Holly on from there. So six of one. Half dozen of the other. )

Either way, I highly doubt it will happen in this already massively multipath game.

Both Lena and Holly cucking Ian would the best.

 

[Hungover00]

Both Lena and Holly cucking Ian would the best.

I'm really out of step with the main fandom for Eva Kiss games I think, they'd be basically perfect for me if it wasn't for all the cheating kink built in.

 

[John Doe Jr.]

Both Lena and Holly cucking Ian would the best.

We know it's happening with Lena but I couldn't find anything that would open up that route for Holly

 

[ename144]

I'm still amazed with the way Eva write LenaxSeymour path variant in the game. It's "believable".

If Lena said yes to Seymour's dinner invitation and is okay with working for him (not even liking him, just being okay working for him), then Lena never actually know that Seymour did things behind the scenes to get her financial situation more difficult than she already is.

The first time she would have known about this would have been the dinner in Ch 9, and if she accepted the offer to work for Seymour there, end of Ch 11 would be the first time that Lena will break contact.

It makes total sense for someone in Lena's position to accept Seymour's initial modeling offer, because she needs money and she's not in a position to pick and choose.

The fact that Eva decides to omit/hide Seymour's orchestration from Lena on path, to me shows amazing foresight. It makes it believable for players to say "yes" to Seymour early on.

Really? Because I was the opposite. I had a relatively open mind about Seymore prior to the first dinner. But one dose of his self-aggrandizing, psuedophilosophical bullshit was all it took to write him off forever. The man was obviously scum, and the less Lena (or anyone else I cared about) had to do with him the better. I'm still annoyed Lena automatically answered (much less agreed to meet him) when he rang up again to blackmail her.

I suppose I should be grateful Lena can still turn Seymore down if we insist hard enough, but I resent having to interact with that character at all. There's a big difference between a villain you love to hate and a villain you just hate.

 

[Mfka5]

Just came back from 4 day beach vacation and still no android port

What the hell, should i go to the Mars next

 

[godoff95]

Just came back from 4 day beach vacation and still no android port

What the hell, should i go to the Mars next

Yes please

 

[striker129er]

I never get why people think Seymour is a good person.

Putting aside the socialist arguments for a second, did you guys forget that Seymour has been sabotaging Lena's means of income and career ever since he met her, and then attempted to blackmail her just so he can "OWN" her?