VN Ren'Py Price of Power [Ch.25] [Pandaman Games]

[bacienvu88]

Is there any fucking happened in the game yet?

No.

 

[Pandaman Games]

Is there any fucking happened in the game yet?

There's a lot of fucking handholding.

 

[Lerd0]

There's a lot of fucking handholding.

 

[Raife]

There's a lot of fucking handholding.

One of these days, there's going to be some handholding that devolves into extremely lewd palm stroking; I'm likely to get vapours and pass out.

Naturally, the anti-palm stroking spoilsport contingent on F95 will scream bloody murder and accuse you of ruining the game for hand holding purists... but please ignore them. The anti-PLM crowd never wants the rest of us to have any fun.

 

[mightybored]

But palm stroking leads to finger-entwining, and that is a line that cannot be crossed.

 

[linkinn]

First time playing the game and it's pretty good, it hits everything i like in games, unfortunately it hits one i just can't stand.

I just reached the part where Legacy "helped" MC and i can say that i'am really disappointed where the story went, i just hate stories where something "takes over" you, specially after Cyberpunk. So i'll ask, will the thing be a constant from now on? By constant i mean, will it keep influencing every decision and comenting something every 10 seconds?

 

[Pandaman Games]

First time playing the game and it's pretty good, it hits everything i like in games, unfortunately it hits one i just can't stand.

I just reached the part where Legacy "helped" MC and i can say that i'am really disappointed where the story went, i just hate stories where something "takes over" you, specially after Cyberpunk. So i'll ask, will the thing be a constant from now on? By constant i mean, will it keep influencing every decision and comenting something every 10 seconds?

No, Legacy doesn't "take you over". All the decisions are yours to make. He's just a helper/side character. He never takes over your body in the game, all he does is save you. Legacy will have his own plot arc where you'll learn more about him, but don't worry, the game is staying pretty firmly in medieval low-fantasy (for the most part).

 

[Pandaman Games]

But palm stroking leads to finger-entwining, and that is a line that cannot be crossed.

Time to cross the line.

 

[jufot]

Let me be the contrarian and say that I absolutely loved this chapter! The mystery of the mainland, Legacy's machinations and Emilia's history are infinitely more interesting to me than the sweetly innocent PG-13 romance brewing between Michael and Mary Sue Maria

 

[SecretSal]

Somehow I managed to miss Ch5, so I ended up playing 5-6 together, which may have felt more rewarding than just 6 on its own. A great introduction for Legacy, can see how it justified the omniscient narrator intrusions earlier in the game. Although on occasion, it does seem like these characters prattle on a little too much when you just want them to get on with things, but thankfully those occasions aren't too common.

I do have reservations about Maria's intense jealousy, that's usually a pretty big red flag. But it'll be interesting to see how all of them cope with the new situation, and how it affects the relationship. Still some of the best writing out of all the games here, so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how it pans out.

 

[Raife]

Let me be the contrarian and say that I absolutely loved this chapter! The mystery of the mainland, Legacy's machinations and Emilia's history are infinitely more interesting to me than the sweetly innocent PG-13 romance brewing between Michael and Mary Sue Maria

As usual, I mostly agree with Jufot. Characters with coherent, logically-consistent personalities, a good story, and eroticism beat porn gymnastics for me every time. But I'm a crazy freak like that.

I am willing to debate whether Maria is a Mary Sue, though. To my mind, she probably isn't, because she has a mix of very positive characteristics (bravery, loyalty) and bad qualities (jealousy, anger, insecurity). I suspect that the latter traits could come to the fore when they return to civilization. Even now, she isn't really an archetypal MS.

She is, definitely, a male fantasy female: strong and brave, but emotionally vulnerable and gaga for the MC... just not a Mary Sue.

The MC, on the other hand, is quite Gary Stu-esque, at least the way I'm playing him... although temptations created by his passenger could screw that up a bit. I hope that they do!

 

[jufot]

Characters with coherent, logically-consistent personalities, a good story, and eroticism beat porn gymnastics for me every time. But I'm a crazy freak like that.

I am willing to debate whether Maria is a Mary Sue, though. To my mind, she probably isn't, because she has a mix of very positive characteristics (bravery, loyalty) and bad qualities (jealousy, anger, insecurity). I suspect that the latter traits could come to the fore when they return to civilization. Even now, she isn't really an archetypal MS.

For me, the bad qualities you mention would only count against Maria being a Mary Sue if they were genuinely acknowledged character flaws. Instead, the whole insecurity angle feels like a cutesy endearment for Michael and, by proxy, the player.

The MC, on the other hand, is quite Gary Stu-esque, at least the way I'm playing him... although temptations created by his passenger could screw that up a bit. I hope that they do!

Ha, we definitely agree on the Gary Stu

 

[mightybored]

The MC being a Gary Stu is kind of par for the course, since he's got Protagonist Luck.

 

[Raife]

For me, the bad qualities you mention would only count against Maria being a Mary Sue if they were genuinely acknowledged character flaws. Instead, the whole insecurity angle feels like a cutesy endearment for Michael and, by proxy, the player.

Ha, we definitely agree on the Gary Stu

You could be right re/Maria... but we'll have to see. She has alluded to her unhappiness among the other nobles on the Island, so we could witness some angst and acknowledged character flaws when they head back to civilization.

Her least attractive quality so far is probably her attitude towards Emilia -- who was pretty obviously traumatized by her exile and almost certainly innocent. To be sure, Maria's attitude was coloured by jealousy... but also by a sort of insecurity and imperiousness that we hadn't seen before. I am curious to see how she interacts with characters other than her uncle or the MC.

I guess what I'm saying is that there are enough quirks to Maria's character to make her interesting, which suggests she probably won't turn out to be a Mary Sue.

 

[jufot]

I guess what I'm saying is that there are enough quirks to Maria's character to make her interesting, which suggests she probably won't turn out to be a Mary Sue.

Oh, she's definitely interesting, there is certainly lots of potential there. I just hope Pandaman can resist the temptation to make her too perfect

 

[Pandaman Games]

Oh, she's definitely interesting, there is certainly lots of potential there. I just hope Pandaman can resist the temptation to make her too perfect

BRB making Maria too perfect

But actually, she's intentionally written with flaws and issues that'll come out over time. You've already seen some (mainly the possessiveness/jealousness), but we're only 1/5 of the way through the story. She has a long way to go as the main LI. Even the MC has one or two flaws, though it's hard to write a clearly flawed player-controlled character because it'll take away perceived agency from the players. For example, if your MC has anger issues and just beats up people for slights (perceived or actual), a lot of players will go "wtf i didn't want to do that, why are you making my mc be such an asshole". We'll see a bit of the MC's flaws in this act and the next, but I'm trying my best to make it feel natural. So uh, yes, the MC is a bit of a Gary Stu, but I wouldn't call Maria a Mary Sue. She's definitely got her flaws and failings, and even though she's sweet and gorgeous, I think she's clearly still a flawed, fallible human being. Just maybe a little better on average than the average human being, though, because AVN players love a good wholesome waifu.

 

[jufot]

For example, if your MC has anger issues and just beats up people for slights (perceived or actual), a lot of players will go "wtf i didn't want to do that, why are you making my mc be such an asshole". We'll see a bit of the MC's flaws in this act and the next, but I'm trying my best to make it feel natural.

Fair enough. Though, in my opinion, authorial intent always trumps reader/player choice. It's a big part of why I'm more interested in the story than any potential porny bits

So uh, yes, the MC is a bit of a Gary Stu, but I wouldn't call Maria a Mary Sue. She's definitely got her flaws and failings, and even though she's sweet and gorgeous, I think she's clearly still a flawed, fallible human being. Just maybe a little better on average than the average human being, though, because AVN players love a good wholesome waifu.

All fair points, and I have faith in your abilities

 

[seden]

Given how it is set ATM (ch6) it is clear that there a lot of bad ongoing toward women's on that territory, so indeed, creating a following should be alright.

 

[boeschner]

Just finished the current version of the game and I liked it a lot, so i wanted to give some feedback/thoughts:

The story wasn‘t what i expected at all. I don‘t want to spoil it, but the whole Legacy situation is pretty interesting and there are a lot of things you can do with it. Seems really promising so far, there is one thing I didn’t like though: Later on there is a lot of tension building up between Maria and Emilia to the point where Maria, who has gone almost mad from grief and jealousy, wants to murder her in cold blood. Then they go to sleep, she cuddles a bit with the MC and suddenly the tension is mostly gone. Basically Maria is going from "I will kill this bitch!" to "ok, let‘s be friends" overnight. That just felt really weird and inconsistent to me. If you want to get rid of this much tension then you have to find a way to resolve it somehow, just suddenly making it disappear overnight doesn‘t feel satisfying. Now obviously the game is far from finished and maybe the Maria-Emilia conflict resurfaces later on…

Anyway, overall I really liked it so far and will definitely check out future updates!

 

[mightybored]

I think with Maria, along with everything that happened she'd also barely slept, and with everything together it just buried her emotional stability. So she napped, realized that her One True Love is okay, and she was able to shake off the worst of it.