VN Ren'Py Pale Carnations [Ch.4 Up.6 Public] [Mutt & Jeff]

[Kameri]

But renaming the MC becomes very handy if I like the game enough to keep multiple save paths, since that helps keep them separate; in that case, I usually make up a name appropriate to whatever the path is aiming for.

Ah yes Sexaddictasshole for pissing on Vero and Toothlesschump for declining sex

 

[Ummmh]

Ah yes Sexaddictasshole for pissing on Vero and Toothlesschump for declining sex

The great hidden feature of PC, if you aren't save-differentiating by name, is that Edwin works well for either a weak-ass cuck or a total sleazy slimeball, tho that name will, to me, always invoke the image of a douchebag wizard who gets a sexchange magically forced on him in Balder's Gate.

If I want a slimeball, I just name him Dick or Rod, and get it over with. Literally go hard or go home.

There is a game (Elleria: Wheel of Fate) where your last name is automatically Magnus (meaning greatest or biggest), so I *definitely* named him Richard, there, to keep it sounding plausibly formal, yet retaining the implied "Life of Brian" style Roman dick joke. Ironically, at some point, that MC thinks abt being a king, and what ppl would say abt "King Richard". Somewhere, Shakespeare was having a laugh at that one.

 

[Discrepancy]

I leave the name Edwin as it is because it would be a disrespect to Victoria to change the name she chose for her son
Jokes aside, I find Edwin a complete character, he is far from a blank slate character, so I think it fits to not rename him my name or something of my choosing, I always self-insert a bit on these games and Edwin let us chose his path but I think he is very much a character in itself.

 

[UmbralKnight]

he's quite better connected and positioned at this work than he'd be just about anywhere else.

Edwin benefits from some level of nepotism

true
the club offers the best chance for MC to climb up the social ladder in the most quickest way
but nepotism has it's limits
it's not going to save his skin if things go wrong
sophie and MC are already caught between the mental battle chuck and abel are playing
if we are using chess analogies both their respective proteges are more like knights
very useful but definitely expendable

It is illegal, but other than that it's work like any other.

riiiiiight
so the secret underground sex dungeon where they test the MK-ULTRA tier brain washing drugs are totally normal thing to have even for an illegal underground sexclub

with all mind control drug use the entire club is 3 steps away from becoming a sexclub to sexcult

What do you think Kat, Chuck and August have done to all girls which used to work in the club but no longer do?

from what we have seen and been shown so far it's pretty clear that you don't ever "quit" the club completely
they are always going to have some kind of "hook" on you that they can use whenever they want
just look at allision she technically "won" yet kathy still has her on beck and call

What do you believe they will do to Edwin if he calls it quits?

that depends on "how" we quit
we could end up as unlucky as darius who also tried "quitting" the club before his time was over

Where do you think we would see such person?

It shouldn't be that hard
after all we have already seen that these people trade girls with eachother so it wouldn't be very surprising if donovan managed to poach some of the "talent" that used to work for the club
it could have been literally anyone from a bartender to a janitor
we could have easily bumped into this "ex-employee" when we met donovon

considering she did quite a few porn movies for August's friend and yet apparently quit and spent years afterwards with no strings attached,

the game literally spells out to us how "daddy gun" is the exception in the business a very rarity definitely not like chuck or kathy

until Grace decided to abuse the info she had on her.

see ?
you just answered your own question you don't ever "truly" quit the club
they always have their hooks in you something that they can use on you even after decades

They'll just drag the proceedings out knowing their company can afford it, but you don't.

atleast you have choice
even if it's futile you still have the option to follow the legal route
but who are you going to complain/ask help when the members of the sex club you work for literally run the city?

this might be a reason for MC who is in romance with Veronica and can delude himself he is going to have a successful long-term relationship with a frisky lesbian who hits on anyone in a skirt. But i wouldn't really extrapolate it on every other Edwin. Not all of them are going to be making their important life decisions based on a girl they've met just a few weeks ago.

that i am very much guilty of
i am all in on Veronica but it's not just her is it ?
i don't think either rose or mina is going to be ok with it either

 

[Ummmh]

I leave the name Edwin as it is because it would be a disrespect to Victoria to change the name she chose for her son
Jokes aside, I find Edwin a complete character, he is far from a blank slate character, so I think it fits to not rename him my name or something of my choosing, I always self-insert a bit on these games and Edwin let us chose his path but I think he is very much a character in itself.

While I do rename him because I hate the name Edwin, he definitely is his own man.

That he knew abt his mom's semi-hidden career from early adolescence, and not only didn't turn outright misogynistic, but instead still loved her dearly, is laudible in itself, but even more amazing is it even seems to have resulted in him having an acceptance of the humanity and rights of (and possibly even outright respect for) sex workers. That is a psychological hurdle a lot of young guys would NOT have cleared, seeing their moms getting repeatedly porked professionally for all to see.

His stoicism likely is a result of having to sort that out, and/or may have helped the process. Ofc, he does have a darker side that you can choose to focus on, but his main trend seems to have been to hold a steady line.

 

[Ummmh]

Objectively, Edwin benefits from some level of nepotism, which he'd be lacking elsewhere, and which got him this job in the first place. He's friends with one of the owners and close friends with that owenr's nephew.
...
Hell, you could say his own mother Victoria is pretty much such a person, considering she did quite a few porn movies for August's friend and yet apparently quit and spent years afterwards with no strings attached, until Grace decided to abuse the info she had on her.

I suspect Victoria didn't get picked up for the club despite her working "under" Daddy Gun, specifically because (by the time the club was created) her young son had already protected Chuck's nephew from bullies in grade school. That sort of thing goes a LOOOOONG way to getting a gal leeway without her ever even knowing she was potentially ever up on the block for sale. So kind of reverse nepotism, in a way.
But, ofc, he did drag her son into the profession, albeit on the other side, given he's a guy, and he actually wanted to help him out (and seems to respect the MC more than he does his own wastrel playboy nephew).

 

[labmouseblues]

That sort of thing goes a LOOOOONG way to getting a gal leeway without her ever even knowing she was potentially ever up on the block for sale. So kind of reverse nepotism, in a way.

I think she simply didn't represent any real value beyond her body, and bodies are... abundant. In a world where no woman can ever drown, what's another set of beach balls.

There's also the question of personality. If you're going to lean on a person continuously, you want to know if that person can rationalise the coercion... productively. You can count on a first generation immigrant to pay protection money for their little corner shop without much fuss, because they fucking know better. A second generation kid with delusions of the Great American Dream that inherited the corner store last month might try to pull a shotgun on you. Which really just shows sending your kids to school is a grave mistake.

Locally, Allison seems like a perfect example in that, as an actress, she might naturally have an utilitarian view of her body, coupled with a goal orientated attitude towards its exploitation. Her leash continues being yanked, but she can also smell the treat she wants and is willing to spread her legs to get it (and presumably keep it in the future), all without it having an obvious, immediate destructive effect on her psyche.

 

[ffive]

Pete looks fairly average to me. He won't have any trouble finding someone like Mina.

He may look average if the baseline was typical human appearance (and even then, i'd say he's more on the lower part of this curve) but this game has the "Hollywood homely" effect going at full throttle, so in this sort of a cast he ends up looking like absolute dog shit. It's to the point where iirc i felt compelled to make a screenshot of juxtaposition between text about his looks and the dude's actual appearance, when that update first aired.

 

[ffive]

the club offers the best chance for MC to climb up the social ladder in the most quickest way
but nepotism has it's limits
it's not going to save his skin if things go wrong

I think it's quite the opposite; nepotism may very well shield him in situations where an employee without close ties to management would get thrown under the bus.

sophie and MC are already caught between the mental battle chuck and abel are playing
if we are using chess analogies both their respective proteges are more like knights
very useful but definitely expendable

Of course, if Edwin chooses to go against Chuck he can hardly expect there wouldn't be negative consequences from Chuck. At the same time, as long as he remains on good terms with him, he can expect quite better protection than your average Joe. Which, coincidentally, makes another decent reason for him not to try to rock the boat.

riiiiiight
so the secret underground sex dungeon where they test the MK-ULTRA tier brain washing drugs are totally normal thing to have even for an illegal underground sexclub

Sex dungeon sounds like perfectly normal thing to have in a sex club. They are

You must be registered to see the links

for this matter.

Drug labs are also quite normal thing for a drug-oriented business to set up. May i remind that the drug lab in question was established by people who run legal pharmaceutical company which, allegedly, has also its own "black research site(s)" elsewhere.

Now, combining these two is somewhat odd, but that's more of a porn game logic for you than anything else. I'd also be very surprised if research of say, viagra, didn't involve getting participants/test subjects in sex-related situations, give the actual nature of the research.

with all mind control drug use the entire club is 3 steps away from becoming a sexclub to sexcult

As opposed to what, legal businesses which openly endorse and promote cult mentality from their workers in order to exploit them better? Hello, professional games industry where if you're not crunching 20 hours a day on the AAA title you're not a "true gamer" but a loser who doesn't belong.

from what we have seen and been shown so far it's pretty clear that you don't ever "quit" the club completely
they are always going to have some kind of "hook" on you that they can use whenever they want
just look at allision she technically "won" yet kathy still has her on beck and call

No, we were shown literally one person who is still occasionally called to do club for well-paid favors. I hope you understand how silly it is to build any sort of statistics on such limited sample, much less conclude that it clearly means "no one ever really quits".

Consider this: the club has run multiple editions of the Exhibition, each of them with a handful of participants. If you "never really quit the club" how comes we only see/hear about just one of them? Shouldn't all the losers, or at least some of them, be still around, sucking dicks and getting fucked, the way that you claim Felicia is bound to be doing if she doesn't win?

that depends on "how" we quit
we could end up as unlucky as darius who also tried "quitting" the club before his time was over

That's a complete no answer considering we don't know what actually happened to Darius. But leaving it aside come on. What do you think is going to happen to Edwin if he simply tries to quit? You keep talking how the club will never let him or anyone for that matter quit so come on. What do you believe happen to him?

It shouldn't be that hard
after all we have already seen that these people trade girls with eachother so it wouldn't be very surprising if donovan managed to poach some of the "talent" that used to work for the club
it could have been literally anyone from a bartender to a janitor
we could have easily bumped into this "ex-employee" when we met donovon

So, the horrible thing that the club will do to its former girls who quit is giving them a job as maybe a bartender or janitor, or a secretary or whatever in a fully legal business. I'm sorry, but is this supposed to be scary and terrible fate? In the economy where getting a stable job is something many just dream of?

see ?
you just answered your own question you don't ever "truly" quit the club
they always have their hooks in you something that they can use on you even after decades

I have specifically put Grace in italics to make it obvious even to a blind person that this is not club-related. I'm not sure if Grace even knows the club exists. She is just trying for Victoria to get her bidding, but it has nothing to do with the club.

Also, may i remind you that Victoria's response to that "hook" was simply "fuck you"? So much for the scary hooks.

i don't think either rose or mina is going to be ok with it either

Between Rose scamming old people out of their money for her husband and Mina's sex bucket list i think they may be more flexible about these things that you give them credit for. At least in Mina's case there's more than a few posters around here who are actually salivating at the idea of her getting in the business herself.

 

[Discrepancy]

Consider this: the club has run multiple editions of the Exhibition, each of them with a handful of participants. If you "never really quit the club" how comes we only see/hear about just one of them? Shouldn't all the losers, or at least some of them, be still around, sucking dicks and getting fucked, the way that you claim Felicia is bound to be doing if she doesn't win?

Yeah I wondered about this myself, Allison won the last exhibition and she's still linked to the club, shouldn't the losers be the ones still around? I think Allison accepted a deal with Kathleen to be still at the service of the club to get better parts in movies, better connections etc.
We have Lucy too, that we know she isn't there against her will, what makes me wonder if any of the other house girls were previous carnations themselves.
Not saying the club isn't shady and the girls aren't being exploited but besides Nicolette are any of them there against their will? Even Nico volunteers herself for more "tough jobs", maybe to get rid of her debt or whatever faster, but even her, we don't know if she's there against her will or not

 

[dolfe67]

I think a deal might be made to the loser carnations to repay their debts by working for the club or their partners, but they're not forced to accept it. If they don't want that, they would find another way to pay their debts and so the club doesn't care about them anymore. A reminder that no girl is forced and they're all willing to prostitute themselves.

For instance Lucy could quit at anytime if it's too much for her, however in that case her son won't enter or stay in the prestigious school. Like in any job they have obligations if they stay to work for the club.

 

[labmouseblues]

shouldn't the losers be the ones still around?

I imagine the losers do not present much value, other than checking the occasional fetish checkbox. They're, after all, generally amateurs. Getting heavy teeth with your blowjob isn't particularly charming without some pretty hefty context padding.

The winners that asked for a bankable boon are the ones the club will want to keep in orbit. Funnily enough, that's currently most likely Veronica.

 

[Ozymandias037]

My run's Mina & Killiance romance stat is zero.
But regardless, I hope that doesn't make it impossible for them to reconcile & possibly build their relationship up (and regain stats) again.

As for Ian's possible LIs, I wouldn't count Victoria or Hana as his LIs tbh.
With the former, well Victoria raised Ian along with Edwin (I know, I know. he fucked Alice, but this is Edwin's mom we're referring to. I really don't think he's gonna mess up his relationship with his best friend, especially given my Edwin's Bromance with Ian stat is maxed).

With Hana, I haven't had Edwin romance anyone other than Hana, but I'm skeptical she would go for him even in non-Hana routes (though can't say it with certainty I suppose).

As for Alice?
Uh, well he fucked her, but honestly I don't think there's any genuine love love there from Ian.
There's affection in which he feels given she raised him, as well as good trust, but love (as in romance) might be reaching it.

I agree here, especially regarding Alice. Ian fucked Alice not because of genuine love or affection but because Ian is a deeply fucked up and broken person who has mommy issues the size of Alaska. There might have been a very twisted sort of comfort seeking thought pattern there, but there was also a lot of self-sabotage and self-hate going into that choice. Alice was the closest thing to a mother figure that Ian had, outside of Victoria, but unlike Victoria, Alice is still under his power/control. He also doesn't respect or love her as much as he does Victoria.

And while Alice probably had or maybe even still has genuine affection or care for him as his babysitter/caregiver, Ian is deliberately (even if subconsciously) trying to destroy that because he doesn't believe that he deserves any kind of love or affection. His work at the club and his... infection, I'll call it, with Chuck's attitudes towards life and women only make it worse. He's lost and flailing and self-sabotaging and that's part of why he clings so hard to Edwin and Victoria in the first place, because he needs someone in his life who isn't a 12/10 on the fucked-up-o-meter (granted, Edwin is still at like at least an 8 but still).

Nah, Ian had been banging countless number of girls behind Mina's back just so he can keep on pushing and pushing her to break up with him for his amusement (prior to Edwin advising him to self-reflect), so while there was some fooling around I wouldn't say what Mina and Edwin did as being on Ian's level; especially if the player decided to break it off with Mina (in my case, to pursue Hana, since she's always been my favorite LI).

Similarly, I kind of disagree here. Ian wasn't cheating on Mina and driving her away because he thought it was funny, but rather because he thinks at some level that Mina is too good for him and he doesn't deserve her. It's more self-sabotage. He knows it's wrong, he knows it's fucked up, and he does it anyway because he can't let himself have anything good, since he feels like he doesn't deserve it.

I suppose 99% of us is using Edwin.

After doing a replay through the entire game and seeing the scenes with Marlow again, I feel like if she was just for fleshing out Edwin's backstory, they wouldn't have spent the time to make a model and renders for her, it would've just been through dialogue, like with how we haven't seen other characters that have been mentioned, like Rose's ex-husband or Veronica's ex-wife (outside of a photo at her place). Maybe Kathleen will contact her/bring her in to further poke at Edwin and push him towards his sadistic side. But that's just the vibe I get from seeing that scene. I wouldn't be surprised if she was just for backstory.

For the majority of AVNs with customizable names, I use my own name, which I would rather not give out for privacy reasons. If I'm sharing screenshots on here, I'll either crop it to just the dialogue or use a fresh save where I kept the default name. In the case of PC, I used my own name for all but one of my saves; I kept Edwin as the name for that save. Also, I use the MC's default name in discussions, unless I forgot what it is.

I usually put my own name in when I can, because I tend to self-insert. Because I'm obviously the center of the universe and everything has to be about me.

Haven't played this since the first release, how's it progressing (without spoliers), is it still one of the best VN's?

Short answer? Yes.

 

[ffive]

I imagine the losers do not present much value, other than checking the occasional fetish checkbox. They're, after all, generally amateurs.

Technically once they make it their job this makes them professionals.

 

[Turret]

that name will, to me, always invoke the image of a douchebag wizard who gets a sexchange magically forced on him in Balder's Gate.

Hmm?

it's not going to save his skin if things go wrong
sophie and MC are already caught between the mental battle chuck and abel are playing
if we are using chess analogies both their respective proteges are more like knights
very useful but definitely expendable

Definitely, we cannot allow too many mistakes. The expendable rests mainly with Edwin, Sophia is Abel´s chosen successor and Chuck is sad that he cannot damage her much, should he ever win at chess, since she is too valuable.

from what we have seen and been shown so far it's pretty clear that you don't ever "quit" the club completely
they are always going to have some kind of "hook" on you that they can use whenever they want
just look at allision she technically "won" yet kathy still has her on beck and call

That depends very much what role you have in the Club. The House girls are under August´s purview, who runs it like a business. They can leave without problem, we have several mentioned in passing who left for various reasons. The only house girls who cannot quit just so are those like Nicolette who work there to repay debts. Still, afterwards they can go too.
If you have the bad luck to be on Kath´s side of the fence, you have entered Hotel California. Kath never let´s you out of her grasp completely.

the game literally spells out to us how "daddy gun" is the exception in the business a very rarity definitely not like chuck or kathy

Quite correct.

What do you think Kat, Chuck and August have done to all girls which used to work in the club but no longer do? What do you believe they will do to Edwin if he calls it quits?

As I wrote above, that depends on what role you fill in the club. The House girl´s are controlled by August, who is very much a business man and handles it like that. We hear in passing a couple times about house girls who left the club for various reasons. That is no problem. The only problem is when the house girl in question, like e.g. Nicolette, has debts to work off. They cannot leave before that is done.
Kath on the other hand never let "her playthings" go completely. Darius had the stupid notion to try to blackmail a person even close co-workers like August find mentally unstable und insane.

 

[Ummmh]

Hmm?

You must be registered to see the links

 

[labmouseblues]

Technically once they make it their job this makes them professionals.

Yeah, but playing semantics in this line of work probably isn't worth the loss of prestige for the club (and teeth for the girl).

 

[Idontplay]

I almost never use the default name in an AVN, though that's more reflexive habit than it is a need for a specific name. I usually just make up a name that seems appropriate based on what I know starting the game. But renaming the MC becomes very handy if I like the game enough to keep multiple save paths, since that helps keep them separate; in that case, I usually make up a name appropriate to whatever the path is aiming for.

TheSocialCamaleonWhoHatesVeronicaAndDislikesKatheleen.WhoIsTheHana'sBoyfriends,Felicia'sSugarboyAndTriesToTurnMinaIntoHimAndHana'sLivingSexDoll

 

[Nulldev]

TheSocialCamaleonWhoHatesAndVeronicaDislikesKatheleenWhoIsTheHana'sBoyfriendsFelicia'sSugarboyAndTriesToTurnMinaIntoHimAndHana'sLivingSexDoll

I think you watch too much japanese porn videos

 

[Idontplay]

I think you watch too much japanese porn videos

Actually it is the description of my gameplay.
On a second thought I have forgotten a part: WhoSecretelyHopesToBecomeTheNewClubMasterInTheFuture.

EDIT
Oh my God, you are right! It seems the title of one of those absurd Japanese porn games, which have a title longer than their gameplay.

I think I will stick with Edwin.