VN Ren'Py Pale Carnations [Ch. 4 Up 4 Public] [Mutt & Jeff]

[name]

i wonder if Lucy and Rosalind live in the same general neighborhood, at least close enough that they both pass through the park when they drop their kids off. if they do you could possibly run into Lucy during Rosalind's upcoming challenge

 

[Ryonaman]

This guy just HAD to make your best friend's GF the best girl wasn't he...

 

[xesquevraulisson]

i'm getting starless vibes from this game. is this another game about romancing cum dumpsters or being a sick fuck (just being ironic, everyone has their kinks, ik) who contributes with the dumping and mindbreaking?

 

[SanaeS]

i'm getting starless vibes from this game. is this another game about romancing cum dumpsters or being a sick fuck (just being ironic, everyone has their kinks, ik) who contributes with the dumping and mindbreaking?

Sounds like a win/win situation to me

 

[Yash37419]

If I want to update any variable value how do I do it?

 

[HSHS1111]

There's a command-line tool called "unren". I don't have the link on hand but you can find it somewhere on the forum here. It allows you to activate the developer console. Once active you access the console in game by pressing "Shift+o". The console is a Python console so if you know any scripting/programming you'll know what to do.

Otherwise it's assigning a new value to a variable looks like this:

varName = "value"
varName = True
varName = 24

Often times the walkthroughs linked in the OP use the variable names used in game. Can't remember if this was the case for Pale Carnations though.

 

[Babalui]

i'm getting starless vibes from this game. is this another game about romancing cum dumpsters or being a sick fuck (just being ironic, everyone has their kinks, ik) who contributes with the dumping and mindbreaking?

I’m afraid it’s hard to expect level of brutality achieved in Starless given the sensibilities of Westerners, who are the main audience for this work. When the game is completed the conclusion is always a happy ending . The end as such, rarely happens (If you look at the situation on this forum in general I hope this game is an exception) since the End is prolonged due to the way the authors are funded. I have not encountered a case of a really bad ending. In Japanese games, and especially from "Empress" (starless authors) this is not the case. There evil endings are the rule, not the exception. By the way, a sequel to Starless is being prepared, here is the link

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in 5 to 6 years who knows maybe it will be translated.

 

[sunaboz]

New update (there is a picture too and there will be a poll for patrons):

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You must be registered to see the links

Hi, all. TD here.

Just wanted to post a quick developer diary. There's not really much to specifically comment on this time, as it's pretty much business as usual plugging away at the next update.

We currently sit at 495 images and 16 animations, most of which has been for Rosalind's content so far. I'm personally hoping she'll be able to endear herself to more people after this update. GIL has gone above and beyond with this segment and the gamut of Rose's expressions feel so very, very credible. Not that he's ever slacked in that department.

Soon, we'll be posting another character poll, so please vote in that if you see it. Thank you for the support. As always, it means a lot to us.

 

[SharkVampire]

I’m afraid it’s hard to expect level of brutality achieved in Starless given the sensibilities of Westerners, who are the main audience for this work. When the game is completed the conclusion is always a happy ending . The end as such, rarely happens (If you look at the situation on this forum in general I hope this game is an exception) since the End is prolonged due to the way the authors are funded. I have not encountered a case of a really bad ending. In Japanese games, and especially from "Empress" (starless authors) this is not the case. There evil endings are the rule, not the exception. By the way, a sequel to Starless is being prepared, here is the link

You must be registered to see the links

in 5 to 6 years who knows maybe it will be translated.

I'd rather prefer the ending depending on my actions during the game. Bad endings usually make sense if the setting already was grim, like in dark souls, for example (even so, you can choose which end do you prefer). Such endings should contain some deep thought (maybe even philosophical) to give player food for thought, to soften the bitterness. Because there should be meaning for the player, why characters was struggling through the whole story to meet such an end. Otherwise it will be feast for only sadist, and others players would not enjoy such ending.

As for differences between western and eastern games, I would rather call an advantage of Japanese games over Western games, their desire to create games with various gameplay, whereas Western devs usually makes just vn's with choices about slice's of life.

 

[bunnnymunro]

This game has remarkable visuals for an anime type game. Whoever is doing this, it looks better than the rest of them I've seen.

 

[MoarDakka123]

This game has remarkable visuals for an anime type game. Whoever is doing this, it looks better than the rest of them I've seen.

To my understanding, we have GIL3D to thank for that, unless I'm misremembering. They're in here now and then, so

HEY!

GIL!

GIL!

GIIIIL!

Good stuff.

 

[Babalui]

I'd rather prefer the ending depending on my actions during the game. Bad endings usually make sense if the setting already was grim, like in dark souls, for example (even so, you can choose which end do you prefer). Such endings should contain some deep thought (maybe even philosophical) to give player food for thought, to soften the bitterness. Because there should be meaning for the player, why characters was struggling through the whole story to meet such an end. Otherwise it will be feast for only sadist, and others players would not enjoy such ending.

As for differences between western and eastern games, I would rather call an advantage of Japanese games over Western games, their desire to create games with various gameplay, whereas Western devs usually makes just vn's with choices about slice's of life.

As in life, incoherence should be punished with an unwanted end. A fool usually ends up bad. A righteous man who fights against the powerful often loses his health, his future, and sometimes his life. I would not recommend to look for meaning in pornographic games, for that there are works of classical literature. This is a good game because it is not pretentious, but at the same time it is not completely shallow. The world it portrays is similar to ours, but different enough that we can project our perverted desires into it. Related to the difference between the western and japanese games, western games usually do not have a rounded structure, but become endless soap operas, which aim to please an audience to infinity, all of it eventually becomes very tedious.
And yes, all pornography eventually becomes sadism.

 

[HSHS1111]

The difference is that Starless (only watched some of the hentai series) and most other hentai games/movies/doujinshis are usually far more over the top and unrealistic while showing these themes. Relying on the shock value of the scenes/scenarios themselves.
Pale Caranations, while still using a fair amount of "porn game logic", is imho far more realistic in it's scenario. This can have a larger impact especially if you as the player is actively involved and get invested.

 

[TD1900]

i'm getting starless vibes from this game. is this another game about romancing cum dumpsters or being a sick fuck (just being ironic, everyone has their kinks, ik) who contributes with the dumping and mindbreaking?

Sei Shoujo in general is both a favorite artist and scenario author (as far as nukige goes) of mine, but Starless in specific is a primary inspiration for the project. However, it can't possibly have as much teeth. Besides the magical sex drugs, the setting is (a bit) more grounded. Bad endings are planned, and will be carried out to a logical conclusion, but don't expect any dick guillotines or love interests becoming surrogate pig moms.

As far as romancing cum dumpsters? I'd like to think there's a little more pathos to it than that, but three of the five love interests are taking part in a sexual obstacle course for personal gain. So the project might not be to your tastes if that's not your sort of thing.

On a side note, I'm really looking forward to whenever JAST releases their Closed Game localization, I played that one (along with other untranslated Empress' works) with a text hooker and MTL and it was about enjoyable as those things go.

 

[Babalui]

I played that one (along with other untranslated Empress' works) with a text hooker and MTL and it was about enjoyable as those things go.

I totally understand you, pleasure and pain. Every sentence is a riddle, sometimes it’s a pleasure to guess what the hell is really going on, but in fact you’re never sure.

 

[ename144]

New update (there is a picture too and there will be a poll for patrons):

You must be registered to see the links

It looks like our intrepid devs completed 292 images and 13 animations since the last update, giving them an overall average of 120.7 images and 3.5 animations per week. As you can see from the following charts, that puts us on pace to roughly match Update 1's numbers in late June (though obviously this is all highly speculative).

Spoiler: I Promised Charts, You Get Charts!

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I'll admit, Rosalind is the Carnation I'm least interested in (though also the one I'm most sympathetic towards), so I'm curious to see if that changes after this. I really hope we will still get a chance for some meaningful friendship with her even if we turned down her offer. Granted, that is asking a lot of the devs given the resources it would take to flesh out a 'spurned' LI. But I might as well dream big, right?

 

[ename144]

I'd rather prefer the ending depending on my actions during the game. Bad endings usually make sense if the setting already was grim, like in dark souls, for example (even so, you can choose which end do you prefer). Such endings should contain some deep thought (maybe even philosophical) to give player food for thought, to soften the bitterness. Because there should be meaning for the player, why characters was struggling through the whole story to meet such an end. Otherwise it will be feast for only sadist, and others players would not enjoy such ending.

As for differences between western and eastern games, I would rather call an advantage of Japanese games over Western games, their desire to create games with various gameplay, whereas Western devs usually makes just vn's with choices about slice's of life.

Agreed.

I think the important thing is that the ending should match the game - both in terms of story logic and in terms of theme. A story that has been fairly grounded shouldn't pick the ending as to go all surreal on us. A farce that tries to get serious at the last minute is likely to fall flat. A work that delves into the complexities of human nature would feel trite if it wrapped things up by asserting there was a single, correct answer all along.

Closer to home, for a game that draws a lot of attention to whether the MC is a "good" person or not, I think the endings should flow from the answer to that question. That's not to say a Good MC gets a happy ending full of rainbows and unicorns, but it should be better on some level than alternative endings because the MC worked hard to make it that way. That is a large part of what it means to be good (rather than merely feeling oneself righteous), right?

If the end result of all that soul searching doesn't result in any change to the story, then the whole theme was ultimately pointless: the MC was neither good nor bad, he was just a cog in an unyielding machine. By extension, that undercuts a lot of what makes this a game rather than a movie or graphic novel. I've said before that Kat's temptation fell a little flat for me since sadism is a kink I do not share, but that's the beauty of it being a choice: altruism is a 'kink' I can certainly get behind.

So I expect the endings of the game will vary quite a bit depending on how we choose to play (though I'm sure there will be plenty of similarities). And that would suit me fine, because while I can respect a bleak ending if it's well constructed, the truth is I don't really enjoy them. I'd much, much prefer a bittersweet ending that can balance any sorrow with the comfort of seeing the positive we were able to accomplish.

Admittedly, I'm thinking more in terms of an MC who resists the corruption of Kathleen and the Club, because I'm a big softy. But the same would hold true for a corrupted MC. I don't want a Bad MC who embraces his lust to come to the eventual realization that those lusts will never truly satisfy him, even though the Club is all he has left at that point. While it's arguable more chilling, I'd much rather a Bad ending frame the suffering our actions have caused as a price the MC is willing to pay to come to terms with who he truly is.

(Of course, in that case there's a decent chance I just won't play thought most of those endings. That's the sort of stain no amount of showering is going to wash out of my mind. )

 

[quorkboy]

If we're thinking of this story as grounded and somewhat realistic (as far as that goes) then I expect some level of complexity in the endings.

This should mean that even being bad and letting yourself be corrupted should not necessarily end badly for the MC. It could end badly for some of the others, while he is pleased. This probably falls under bleak endings but is less simplistic and more realistic than "MC is bad, gets bad ending for himself." And if I'm playing a bad MC then it's not bleak from my point of view.

I tend to agree that the good MC path should get (one of) the best overall ending(s) for all (good) characters. I don't think this is because western sensibilities demand it. I think it's because if all endings are bleak then that means none of your choices mattered and that takes away the point of making anything but bad choices. This is an interactive story, the way you choose to interact should mean something.

I know, a lot of VNs the interaction is at a superficial level, where choices are more about "do I get a harem or go for one/two girls" or "which girl do I choose as I am only allowed to end up with one" and I'm fine with that as a whole. But this one strives to be more.

Even then, it's possible to envision a path where you're good and things still end badly, because your choices ultimately did not help anyone (or didn't help enough people, so some get bad endings.) Right now I can't see the way to that ending but as the story develops it could turn out that the only way to help anyone would have been to take at least some of the bad choices.

 

[madman11122]

I may be in the minority opinion but I think all endings should be "good/best" endings from the MCs point of view. If you are pure of heart and save a carnation or you a monster and revel in the carnations suffering. It wouldn't make sense to punish the player for playing the game one way or another.

 

[guy2front]

I don't know how this one fell under my radar but man such a great game. Hot sex and a fair amount of replay value so far!