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

[ffive]

You are literally cutting off the whole shit show of Jeremy beating him up and humilliating him for months

Beating whom up? Ian? Are you somehow confusing sparring with actual fighting and think it is somehow "humiliating" if you don't win in what's basically training?

The first clue you're wildly overreacting should be that Ian's reaction to that is nothing like your own.

 

[CaiWez]

Can Lena end her second night at the party with Mike if she's in a relationship with sexless cuck Ian?

Pls if someone got it let me know

 

[dolfe67]

Is this your first AVN or something?? Why wouldn't the MC be able to get with his LIs if you choose the right options...That's kinda the whole point of the genre.

He probably wants Ian to be rejected several times before scoring to relate to him

 

[WestSide23]

You are literally cutting off the whole shit show of Jeremy beating him up and humilliating him for months, Lena being humilliated and thown out on her ass for months by everybody, but sure, keep fantasizing about your bullies whom you adorn just like authoritarian nobodies using power, the IRL plot armor, to corrurpt everything.

Lena and Ian can become tools just like Axel and Jeremy, if you wish to turn them into inanimate fucking objects, that is not how you evolve or overcome their charcater flaws, yet you can and might have done it to indulge your theory of never becoming anything better.

This game really gets people into their feelings huh.

 

[mehGusta]

This is basically a harem game. The MC isn’t special at all—he’s just an ordinary guy, even working as an intern. He doesn’t have a big dick like Jeremy, he isn’t handsome like Axel, and his family isn’t wealthy like Perry’s. He’s not even better than dumb Robert. Yet somehow, with just a few flirty lines, he can easily get the other characters into bed.

i think unlike most harem games this game portraits quite well why each possible love interest is into ian (except alison, we are just told she had feelings prior to the start of the game). it's not unrealistic things like "he protected a kitty that day and i'm in love with him ever since."
most of the qualities you listed are shallow and aren't even playing a role in those women's interst.

cherry isn't seeking a shallow relationship at all, if that were the case she would never go for perry. she wants to connect with someone who is interested in the same things she is. ian fits the bill.
emma goes with the flow. she doesn't want to get committed on her own accord, but isn't fully against it. neither jeremy nor perry are really people who are dominant enough to decide the flow for her. people like axel would probably, but he isn't her type at all. ian can be.
minerva is sexually and emotionally frustrated. she failed being the wife and mother she wished to be and found holly to be malleable enough to substitute as her daughter. now ian comes and seemingly is a bad influence for her "daughter". she unloads her entire frustration on him and you can basically decide if it's going to be emotional or sexual.
holly is severly insecure and therefore admires both lena and ian, as they take decisions in their lives (being protagonist and all). of course the go to action is be interested in the opposite sex, which means ian in that case. (only later she realizes lena is also an option.)
cindy is fearing to miss out. she seeks excitement and thrill. her narcistic tendency leads her to become a model. axel is obviously everything she wanted, but even she knows how dangerous this game is. ian poses similiar excitement, as he knowledgeable about what she desires to be and being the forbidden friend of her boyfriend. though ian isn't threatening at all.
louise has committment issues. she wants to feel special. she can basically be swooned by every confident guy, which is the only reason jeremy was able to date her. with all the bad romance stuff she is reading, a talented writer like ian can make her head over heels any day.

but honestly that all doesn't even play a role in what makes a harem game a harem game.
half of this game is a male protagonist game. since it's not a kinetic novel of course this will have lots of possible love interests for the MMC. by the definitions you gave, every male protagonist game would be also a harem game!
we should rather look at the basics. one very basic rule is what actually a harem is. and a harem is relationship dynamic of 1 guy with at least 3 girls being exclusive/faithful to that 1 guy (with switched genders this would be a reverse harem).
this game already fails at that very basic and most likely first rule.
ergo it's not a harem game.

doesn't matter if it feels as one, or comes off as one, or any other definitions you can come up with: it cannot be a harem game if a harem never forms.

 

[Canto Forte]

There is dissing on your partner, like Jeremy is doing, while Ian acknowledges being the punching bag for the ”master” Jeremy - the powerful direct head punches and the ”surprise” attacks aimed at finishing the fight early while pummeling Ian. It is this way of ”sparring” that attracts the martial arts guy to step in and offer his services, as he would immediately spot a bully hafing his way with his victim, rather than watch the train wreck bouldering away around him.

The first clue you're wildly overreacting should be that Ian's reaction to that is nothing like your own.

actual fighting and think it is somehow "humiliating" if you don't win in what's basically training?

Sometimes being the but of your friends' jokes is the only way to have them; should you, somehow, rise up on your own, then you will become the subject of their envy, like Jeremy feels towards Ian immediately, in the event that Ian does not keep his head down and does not keep his mouth shut.

 

[Gicoo]

Yet somehow, with just a few flirty lines, he can easily get the other characters into bed.

Holly and Alison have a crush on him and he still has to be attentive and supportive.
Lena: Requires multiple meetups, texting and a first date before Lena can decide if she wants to fuck him or not.
Cherry: Lucky one night stand if he impresses her up to four times by being charismatic, witty and proactive, still can get limp.
Emma: long time friend who just wants to have fun, she can sleep with all of her friends if they just ask her kindly.
Minerva: Needs to be assertive during work, knowing it pisses her off. Requires then a high charisma/wit check to have the balls or smarts to bluff her.
Cindy: Long term courting, constantly egging her on but never too much, then taking the chance at the right moment.

Do you think he’s moving way too fast? I mean, I only texted Louise twice, just threw in a couple of compliments, and the very next day I was already banging her like a cheap whore.

Louise notices Ian first in chapter 10, when he can already recover from his initial wimp state in chapter 1. He makes a good impression by complimenting her while she is stuck alone in a place with no one to talk to. Her "boyfriend" left or will leave her, so she gets lonely over the summer and jumps on the next guy who gives her attention and who isn't ugly and shy like some Stan.

While Jeremy does literally nothing and Axel blackmails them like Seymour and Robert and all the other ”Jocks” you seem to put plot armor in front of to justify them getting anything. Jeremy starts as a serial chater everybody knows who he is while his GF refuses to believe it, Lena and Ivy and everyone in thet bar/club of his knows, yet the plot armor still gets him girls, Axel is a SA like Seymour, yet they still get stuff plot armored theri way - so yeah, the guy painstakingly doing the rounds while the plot armored scriprted tropes get stuff despoite never overcoming any of their own flaws that are stated at the beginning to be their undoing, somehow makes Ian, the only charcater with a moral, professional and physical development arc outta everyone, sure he is your victim to pile on your critics. Just be blind to the harems or Jeremy, Axel and Seymour, because sure, they start off with massive following and somehow are gifted in some ungodly ways, in your mind, because plot armor throws girls their way.

Alison and Emma don't care that he fucks around, they just want a hook up for fun. Ivy as well and she is unsure and asks Lena and Ian first.
Axel is well connected, superficially charming, providing, very attractive, and so on. He provides Cindy a job opportunity and a spot on a high brand model agency.

While there is always some contrivance how the cast is thrown in very convenient scenes and moments to hook up, that is just part of the game. So calling every contrivance plot armor diminishes that term.

 

[Canto Forte]

Having protagonist charcaters and stopes to populate their world and give them somebody to play off of is what make the game, the writing, the plot and the plot armor of characters who are consistently and undoubtly frozen in their tropes; the protagonists are the only ones with a character arc and evolution and transformative scenes.

So calling every contrivance plot armor diminishes that term

The ”bulls” you adore because they steal every girl while Ian gets scraps (Jeremy pushes Alison into Ian for months, Axel has shunned Cherry for months, betrayed Lena and thrown Cherry out on her ass) are lesser characters by the definition of what protagonists are in comparison to every other character, but sure, find you own head canon character to like and then prop to a protagonist, despite this game having actual protagonists already stated.
Ian is abandoned second rate person, just like Alison, just like Cherry, just like Lena - the fact you refuse to see their adventures because you still follow their abusers with a fervor is your own fault, this game has a greater good writing than you give it credit for.

 

[Gicoo]

Having protagonist charcaters and stopes to populate their world and give them somebody to play off of is what make the game, the writing, the plot and the plot armor of characters who are consistently and undoubtly frozen in their tropes; the protagonists are the only ones with a character arc and evolution and transformative scenes.

The ”bulls” you adore because they steal every girl while Ian gets scraps (Jeremy pushes Alison into Ian for months, Axel has shunned Cherry for months, betrayed Lena and thrown Cherry out on her ass) are lesser characters by the definition of what protagonists are in comparison to every other character, but sure, find you own head canon character to like and then prop to a protagonist, despite this game having actual protagonists already stated.
Ian is abandoned second rate person, just like Alison, just like Cherry, just like Lena - the fact you refuse to see their adventures because you still follow their abusers with a fervor is your own fault, this game has a greater good writing than you give it credit for.

Does a character need character development, mature up or progress to get laid? Many characters are static and the only variable is how the main characters act and react on them.

It isn't plot armor when well-off blessed guys like Axel or Seymour (who are also working toward their goals and can also screw up) score or if Jeremy remains the fuckboy the girls may want to casually hook up with if there is no one better available.


Your perception of Ian being a loser and the "bulls" being winners is heavily flawed. The bulls can easily lose and Ian can improve and overcome them.

 

[Canto Forte]

Plot armor. Nobody cares about them, but everybody falls for them. That is some God Level pandering and scripted girls falling in their laps if anyone really looks at this away from adoration and worship, the kind you like to do for throw away, done to death, tropes in games.

when well-off blessed guys

Nuff said!

 

[Gicoo]

Plot armor.

Nuff said!

So a game is only allowed to have below average poor people, everything else is unbelievable and not justifiable?

 

[jduk]

Guys how to see WIP gallery pics?

 

[Canto Forte]

Ian is jsutifiable and Lena is justifiable, Jeremy is unbelievable and Axel is unbelievable, precisely because you presented them the way you did:

well-off blessed guys like Axel or Seymour (who are also working toward their goals and can also screw up

everything else is unbelievable and not justifiable

Cheating as a dream life and SA as a work ethic - not a good or desirable or believable life, or goal or way to get ahead in life,
but sure, fantasize away.
That is the point - they never screw up as the game gives them immediate alternative satisfaction, they never change, they never work towards anything, while Lena and Ian work hard to get outta the slums by the time players can turn them into sex objects:
Axel keeps SA on Lena, never anything else, Jeremy keeps his SA on Alison and every other girl, but this game gives him girls, not slaps: even Ivy comes around, Lena knows the cheating but she goes for it, Cherry knows the SA but goes for Axel, Robert does the abuse but players can put Lena in an SA relationship with him, forgetting Axel because reasons.

 

[BlandChili]

Guys how to see WIP gallery pics?

You don't. WIP means it hasn't been implemented yet, usually the gallery gets updated when the final version of a given update, or at least the full relevant chapter, has been released.

 

[jduk]

You don't. WIP means it hasn't been implemented yet, usually the gallery gets updated when the final version of a given update, or at least the full relevant chapter, has been released.

maybe gallery unlock?

 

[BlandChili]

maybe gallery unlock?

Like I said, WIP means it's not implemented. You can't unlock something that's not there.

 

[Gicoo]

Ian is jsutifiable and Lena is justifiable, Jeremy is unbelievable and Axel is unbelievable, precisely because you presented them the way you did:

How is Jeremy unbelievable? If the main characters aren't supporting him, he isn't getting any girl
How do they never screw up? Jeremy loses Louise, Alison prioritizes Ian over him, Ivy needs to be convinced by the main characters to give him a chance. He hits on Jessica and always fails.
Axel loses Lena and unless she decides to give him another chance and fall to him step by step (and there are many opportunities to back off) he doesn't get her as soon as Lena decides she doesn't want to see him right at the start of the game. He always has a shooting with Cindy, because the plot doesn't give her anything to do without her model career, but Cindy doesn't always falls for him, she can also be wary of him if she got support and wasn't left alone with him.

That is the point - they never screw up: even Ivy comes around, Lena knows the cheating she goes for it, Cherry knows the SA but goes for Axel, Robert does the abuse but players can put lena in a SA relationship with him, forgetting Axel because reasons.

Now you are bringing sexual assault into this? Your arguments are all over the place. Ivy not having the best interests in mind for Lena and having a skewed definition of relationships is part of her character. Lena can decide to go for pushy guys like Axel or Robert, but she can also choose not to. It's the opposite of plot armor, when they would always succeed in nailing Lena.

 

[Canto Forte]

They are abusive, as canon behavior, towards Lena, it is stated obviously in the game, she feels that way. Lena and Ivy know Jeremy is a cheater and while Ian has to get beaten up in ”sparring matches” with Jeremy in the begining of this game, for months, while Jeremy keeps showing him countless DMs of Alison, in the faithful night when Jeremy promises to ”help” Ian land Alison, as he has been pushing them on eachother, at least telling Ian this much, he can SA her and bang her if players are too slow on the mini-games or miss a point check or two - Jeremy gets girls landing on him all the time, How do you think he keeps sending Ian DMs if Ian chooses to be his submissive loser? He sends Ian stolen sex pics of his conquests.

pushy guys like Axel or Robert

The fact Axel and Jeremy keep getting girls outside of the ones we can see with Ian or Lena is a testament of their plot armor and the fact they never change, never improve. The fact that there are multiple paths where players can choose the dumbest, brain-rotten choices for Lena or for Ian and lose on purpose to their enemies, Lena to Seymout, to Robert, to basically everybody, while Ian is the loser she meets, meek, submissive, and down and decayed when they meet the first time and nothing happens, when Axel or Jeremy would bang her with their plot armor for being a lonely girl easy for them to grab and impale - sure, be blind to it and keep propping them up more than the game.

 

[ffive]

There is dissing on your partner, like Jeremy is doing, while Ian acknowledges being the punching bag for the ”master” Jeremy - the powerful direct head punches and the ”surprise” attacks aimed at finishing the fight early while pummeling Ian. It is this way of ”sparring” that attracts the martial arts guy to step in and offer his services, as he would immediately spot a bully hafing his way with his victim, rather than watch the train wreck bouldering away around him.

Where does this "master" nonsense comes from? Neither Ian nor Jeremy ever talk (or in Ian's case think, since we're privy to his thoughts) anything like that.

Yes, they are practicing fighting. Jeremy is using his strong points, and Ian is taught how to deal with opponent who has physical advantage. The martial guy is stepping in because he's instructor at the gym and it's literally his fucking job to teach the members.

Sometimes being the but of your friends' jokes is the only way to have them; should you, somehow, rise up on your own, then you will become the subject of their envy, like Jeremy feels towards Ian immediately, in the event that Ian does not keep his head down and does not keep his mouth shut.

We see none of this is in Ian's internal monologues, or his interactions with Jeremy. Please, don't get it wrong but I feel like you may be projecting some sort of unfortunate personal experiences so hard, it gets in the way of seeing the game for what it actually is.

 

[Canto Forte]

Why do you purposefully miss the point of it? Ian is dense and thinks Jeremy is his friend, but Jeremy makes a living out of banging other people's girls and cheating on his GF, Jeremy is practicing beating up other guys and taking their women, he is not helping anybody but himself.
Jeremy was supposed to teach Ian the way, not the martial arts guy. This is the reason the guy steps in and offers his advice, because Jeremy was selling Ian the idea that he was training him, not the martial arts guy. The guy steps in not as their sensei, but as an alternative, because Ian is never doing anything other than getting beat up. Martial arts is predicated in helping the underdog to resist agression, which the martial arts guy does by offering Ian his own alternative style of teaching to getting beat up by Jeremy and just that.

The martial guy is stepping in because he's instructor at the gym and it's literally his fucking job to teach the members.

This game makes it absolutely clear that by staying a punching bag for Jeremy, Ian would lose the tournament and only if he trains with the martial arts guy, he can actually build strength and a mindset to overcome bigger and stronger opponents.
Being the punching bag for stronger opponents is the reason serious fighters refuse sparring matches with cellebrity boxers: why be a punching bag when you can train your actual strengths and not train the strengths of some other dude.