VN Ren'Py Pale Carnations [Ch.4 Up.5 Public] [Mutt & Jeff]

[Suntar]

Veronica's problem isn't that her gym is failing. Her issue is that she cannot accept failure and is deep inside a sunk-cost fallacy.
Even if she wins the exhibtion and somehow manages to turn her gym profitable, she'd still be miserable. She'll be devastated by finding out she ruined her marriage over a plot designed to ruin her life. She failed to spot that, after all, and Samson succeeded.
Veronica's good ending has to include her overcoming her mental issues and making peace with her ex-wife. The gym is only of secondary importance.
These mental issues are where Edwin can truly help her.

Felicia's good ending imho includes a reopening of the old art school or something equivalent. Either with Felicia as a director, or as primary financial benefactor. Maybe both.
Her marriage will most likely break apart, and I can see her ending up as a house girl in a bad ending. Kathleen replacement in a good one.
Her ending will probably be determined by a mixture of her confidence, the club's state of affairs in the ending, and her relationship with Edwin.

Rose's endings are the simplest I believe.
If her debt is cleared she'll just return to her old job and continue as before. I don't see her entering a relationship with Edwin as anything more than FWB. Any boyfriend of hers would need to be a good stepfather to Nora, and I don't see Rose accepting Edwin in that role, ever.
Bad ending she either has to become a house girl or become Vicky 2.0 and shoot porn with good ol' Donovan.
We all know she'd enjoy the latter.

 

[Suntar]

Yeah they seem untouchable, its like a heaven for them, very hard to believe they get away with it for so long, but surely it wont stay this way forever, sooner or later some shit should go down, if not then i think its bad writing imo

I mean, that's what Abel and Sophia are there for.
Inviting Elias can also very much blow up in the club's face

 

[Ottoeight]

Those guys be running brothel and shit, i wonder why is there no a single keyword of "police" in this game

Bro, the police acted, in fact: they got rid of Rosalind's loan shark.

Anyway, who are the club's patrons:

Joe Shelby: he is a senator (a senator, bro!)

Abel Van Doren: maybe the most important pharmaceutical tycoon in the world

Thomas Blake: a lawyer, his brother is the district attorney (if I remember well)

Andrew Reeves: New Zealand's ambassador, therefore he has diplomatic immunity

Mihir Chatterjee: former dean of the local Allterton university

Eric Waylon: CEO of Aubade Group (he's involved with public contracts)

Jim O'Doherty: chief of local police

Vincenzo Bianchi: a very famous tenor

Frank Grenier: another businessman involved in shady business

Kristoff Jostad Jameson: CEO of a private military company (mercs, dude)

Isaak Miller: the most important local high school principal (rich kids' school)

Samson Garcia: Hollywood star

Now tell me that the local police will act and that Edwin can stop them.

Well hard to tell but Veronica situation isn't that bad, she seems to be getting a bit more customers (compared to the firsts weeks at least), Mina position as influencer could help her a bit more and we are aware of the Coach + Samson involvement so I could see Edwin digging some more to stop them or make them pay.

She may not get a happy ending of being successful but at the very least she gets to keep her gym without risk of losing it all.

Edwin is NOT more important than a patron / the whole business. As he tells the bartender in this last update, he's only the guy who fetches drinks.

Yeah they seem untouchable, its like a heaven for them, very hard to believe they get away with it for so long, but surely it wont stay this way forever, sooner or later some shit should go down, if not then i think its bad writing imo

I guess some of you guys still are oblivious of the fact that the story is ending in 8 days. The tale is about what happens in those exhibition 4 weeks: the rest is for another tale.

 

[ffive]

if not then i think its bad writing imo

The story not being a power fantasy where the protagonist ends up as four riders of apocalypse combined isn't bad writing. It's just a story that doesn't align with your desires.

Consider how many stories out there end with the protagonist merely being able to escape the big bad, and counting it as a success. Let alone the ones where the protagonists don't get to live happily ever after.

 

[plong]

The story not being a power fantasy where the protagonist ends up as four riders of apocalypse combined isn't bad writing. It's just a story that doesn't align with your desires.

Consider how many stories out there end with the protagonist merely being able to escape the big bad, and counting it as a success. Let alone the ones where the protagonists don't get to live happily ever after.

I think people always expects a happy ending to a story, so when there's not they get upset because they didn't get the expected closure they wanted. If it is done well it can make you think, if done poorly you get upset and want to forget the whole thing.

 

[dolfe67]

I think there will be good ending with each carnation, since you can choose pretty much who will win. Maybe not all of them at the same time (in the same ending) though

I don't see her entering a relationship with Edwin as anything more than FWB. Any boyfriend of hers would need to be a good stepfather to Nora, and I don't see Rose accepting Edwin in that role, ever.

I disagree here. Their relationship can lead to more imo, as something more has developed in this update during their dinner on the romantic route. Edwin showed great maturity and started to think about a future family life, and I don't think Rose was indiffferent to it. He might be a good stepfather, even though he's younger than Rose, but that's not something inconceivable

 

[Ottoeight]

I think people always expects a happy ending to a story, so when there's not they get upset because they didn't get the expected closure they wanted. If it is done well it can make you think, if done poorly you get upset and want to forget the whole thing.

We have no clue about what's going to happen - I wasn't expecting what happens in the latest chapter, for instance.

Just take into account that the story covers the exhibition weeks and what happens in those days. It will end in 8 days. After that, it's just epilogue - a sort of aftermath.

I think there will be good ending with each carnation, since you can choose pretty much who will win. Maybe not all of them at the same time (in the same ending) though

I agree. But I guess we should remember that we have 5 main characters.

I disagree here. Their relationship can lead to more imo, as something more has developed in this update during their dinner on the romantic route. Edwin showed great maturity and started to think about a future family life, and I don't think Rose was indiffferent to it. He might be a good stepfather older brother, even though he's younger than Rose, but that's not something inconceivable

She is 10-12 years older and he has the whole medic school path ahead. Come on dude.

Mina is the only girlfriend material in this story. Hana would be if she weren't a gangster's daughter.

 

[ffive]

Hana would be if she weren't a gangster's daughter.

Ehh, don't see why this would prevent Hana from being a perfectly good girlfriend. It's not her father you're dating.

 

[Maccabbee]

Ehh, don't see why this would prevent Hana from being a perfectly good girlfriend. It's not her father you're dating.

I sorta agree, but she may be moving down a darker path of corruption, plus the internal rifts within the organization might bode very poorly for her future. Hana is my best girl, but there may be external forces causing serious problems.

 

[ffive]

I sorta agree, but she may be moving down a darker path of corruption

I mean sure, but then so does potentially Edwin, yet nobody seems to think that makes him "poor boyfriend material" and snub him for that. And at this point Hana intends to just sell her share of the club business, so whether the criminals running it end up at each other's throats isn't much of her concern.

 

[TD1900]

Everyone in this story is a walking red flag. That's what makes it fun.

 

[Krytax123]

Yeez your doomed to the most boring and bland woman if a girl like hana has too many "red flags" (i hate this new strange dating terminology so much lol) for you. Or - which is likelier - stay single in your basement for the rest of your life while counting other people's red flags

How many red flags has Ian by the way?

 

[Maccabbee]

Everyone in this story is a walking red flag. That's what makes it fun.

How much impact are we going to have in exactly how dark or light this gets?

 

[ffive]

How many red flags has Ian by the way?

"Ian taking evening stroll with his uncle Chuck."

 

[Maccabbee]

Yeez your doomed to the most boring and bland woman if a girl like hana has too many "red flags" (i hate this new strange dating terminology so much lol) for you. Or - which is likelier - stay single in your basement for the rest of your life while counting other people's red flags

How many red flags has Ian by the way?

 

[Ottoeight]

Everyone in this story is a walking red flag. That's what makes it fun.

As Hana told Edwin (or so): "why aren't you Leatherface?"

Ehh, don't see why this would prevent Hana from being a perfectly good girlfriend. It's not her father you're dating.

Bro, Hana is my favourite. Nonetheless... I wouldn't get involved with a guy like Old Man Auggie.

 

[TD1900]

Yeez your doomed to the most boring and bland woman if a girl like hana has too many "red flags" (i hate this new strange dating terminology so much lol) for you. Or - which is likelier - stay single in your basement for the rest of your life while counting other people's red flags

How many red flags has Ian by the way?

...I mean, my comment included Edwin and Ian with all their mommy issues and sleeping around, too.

In what world is being the daughter of a gangster and now stakeholder in an (illegal) prostitution ring not something might negatively impact a relationship's health and longevity?

How much impact are we going to have in exactly how dark or light this gets?

I'm not saying there will or will not be happy endings. I just thought it was funny people splitting hairs over wife material in a game where everyone's got more baggage than an airplane.

 

[Incombat]

hey people, I noticed my eyes were a bit tired from reading after last update - I tend to sit pretty far from the screen and font is too small for me.

I played around a bit with GUI values to make bigger text and adjust textbox a bit so it still can fit 4 lines(it should be suitable for the majority of story strings, the longer ones you can see through backlog).

So if anyone ever searches for bigger font in this thread, here you go - toss it in your 'game' folder, removing or replacing the existing gui.rpyc / gui.rpy

 

[Krytax123]

...I mean, my comment included Edwin and Ian with all their mommy issues and sleeping around, too.

In what world is being the daughter of a gangster and now stakeholder in an (illegal) prostitution ring not something might negatively impact a relationship's health and longevity?



I'm not saying there will or will not be happy endings. I just thought it was funny people splitting hairs over wife material in a game where everyone's got more baggage than an airplane.

I mean yeah for a normal guy i agree

But for a guy actively being a part of said (illegal) prostitution ring the morally upstanding daughter of one of the bosses seems like a pretty good deal.

I would conclude that - when being somewhat of a criminal - the girlfriend being somewhat of a criminal too is healthier for the longterm relationship and longevity compared to a relationship with a innocent girl clueless about the guys job

 

[ModiThorrson]

I mean yeah for a normal guy i agree

But for a guy actively being a part of said (illegal) prostitution ring the morally upstanding daughter of one of the bosses seems like a pretty good deal.

I would conclude that - when being somewhat of a criminal - the girlfriend being somewhat of a criminal too is healthier for the longterm relationship and longevity compared to a relationship with a innocent girl clueless about the guys job

I think the Hana/Mina route is pretty reasonable, Hana has some morality but is in the business as well, and Mina while naive has some pretty extreme fantasies that she'll be able to explore with the protection of Hana and Edwin. Monogamy really isn't an option for Edwin so a close circle of people who care about each other feels like the healthiest of the options available at the moment.