VN Ren'Py Ripples [v0.8.0 Public] [Jestur]

[DaFinker]

Can we get back to story?

Getting background on the mothers/older adults IS part of the story.

It informs the interactions in the future and helps explain why certain things played out in the future (Luna's reaction to MC, Scarlett looking at the old picture and seeing the resemblance, etc.) and things like the party are a way to show how those things occurred. Would be pretty damned boring if all of the interactions happened at the diner. It's also character building - yes, those characters are 20 years younger, but didn't your 20s impact how you became in your 40s - or if you're still in your 20s, don't you think your "now" will inform your "then"?

You have to go to the past and figure things out from both directions, and it would be damned boring if everything in the past was at the plant, the diner or skulking around in the woods.

As for "truth or dare", it's a trope in these VNs because it's a trope in real life - truth or dare and spin the bottle are two of the big ways many guys back then, and even still today, saw actual boobs not in a magazine or on a computer screen for the first time, so it's a natural way to show "barely 18" characters doing it in VNs.

 

[SteelyDan14]

Getting background on the mothers/older adults IS part of the story.

It informs the interactions in the future and helps explain why certain things played out in the future (Luna's reaction to MC, Scarlett looking at the old picture and seeing the resemblance, etc.) and things like the party are a way to show how those things occurred. Would be pretty damned boring if all of the interactions happened at the diner. It's also character building - yes, those characters are 20 years younger, but didn't your 20s impact how you became in your 40s - or if you're still in your 20s, don't you thing your "now" will inform your "then"?

You have to go to the past and figure things out from both directions, and it would be damned boring if everything in the past was at the plant, the diner or skulking around in the woods.

As for "truth or dare", it's a trope in these VNs because it's a trope in real life - truth or dare and spin the bottle are two of the big ways many guys back then, and even still today, saw actual boobs not in a magazine or on a computer screen for the first time, so it's a natural way to show "barely 18" characters doing it in VNs.

I don't want to get into a flame war here. I was just sharing my opinion, and in my opinion, Truth or Dare is a cliche. Besides, there has to be a better way to get the backstories than the never ending party and a helicopter cock. I just expected better than this from a dev who has produced a real gem in an ocean of shitty AVNs. Instead of continuing their creative and original story, IMO they mailed it in and picked a cliched and over used Truth or Dare game.

 

[Meiri]

Well, I don't share that opinion. I enjoyed getting to know them better at the party. It was a fitting goodbye to 1999, as we've now pretty much built relationships with everyone from there.

Other than that, sure, 'Truth or Dare' is a cliché, but when done right it can be fun and allows you to get to know a character better. I didn't mind it here.

 

[alex13_zen]

I don't want to get into a flame war here. I was just sharing my opinion, and in my opinion, Truth or Dare is a cliche. Besides, there has to be a better way to get the backstories than the never ending party and a helicopter cock. I just expected better than this from a dev who has produced a real gem in an ocean of shitty AVNs. Instead of continuing their creative and original story, IMO they mailed it in and picked a cliched and over used Truth or Dare game.

I personally liked the Truth or Dare game, I just found it fun especially since I was drinking a little too while playing.

But the helicopter cock was a bad choice. I assume it was supposed to be funny but the dev time would have been much better spent adding another naughty scene with a girl instead.

 

[PaxHadrian17]

I enjoyed rev 8 from the diner to the party and finally the hotel room - all as a way for the MC to get to enjoy time with a number of the hotties in 1999 in a single evening.

I appreciated the chance for the MC to cuck Eric by banging his girlfriend Tori and her friend. There was some satisfaction there after he tired to hit Tiffany (and would have injured or killed baby Jessica and perhaps Tiffany).

We got sexy time with Scarlett and Valerie - together - as well as letting Scarlett know the MC likes anal and is fine with girl on girl. The Scarlett/Valerie 3sum was Very hot!!

We got a chance to talk with Tiffany (and I certainly wanted more - something for Tiffany to remember in 2019 to help her get more comfortable with the MC and sexy time).

We got some sexy time with Luna and learned Why Luna acted the way she did when adult Luna saw the MC at Tiffany's house and freaked out.

Finally, we got a very nice end of evening with Jenny who finally got to understand 'Who' the MC is to her, and she did not reject this knowledge/him but instead - thought it was hot to make love with her nephew.

Truth or Dare is a trope - but listening to nieces and nephews when they drink and think the 'adults' are clueless - it is still as valid a way for 18 year old guys to get their first non-internet tit grope and more (and for 18 year old girls to be bolder and not get labeled as sluts - it is only a game after all and then it is back to 'normal' the next day).

There are other ways to do this - spin the bottle, Twister, adult card games, and even roleplaying games but all are tropes to some extent - because they are all physical ice breakers for guys and gals who vary in their level of sexual experiences/how comfortable they are with their bodies.

I view it as an 'economical' way to have this much sexy time in a single night.

Economical from a creator perspective... imagine trying to achieve the same thing with Twister and how long the renders would take to create/photoshop.

Now we need to see 'how' the ripples of these events affect the MC and the ladies/their daughters in 2019 and that starts with ep 9.

It will be a long wait for ep 9 but I have every reason to believe that the wait will be worth it.

Between now and then, I will do a full replay of Ripples, unlock the early galleries and see if I can't actually find all of the secret renders (and yes - I will 'cheat' this time and use the WT ).

Cheers!!

 

[JJ1960]

I don't want to get into a flame war here. I was just sharing my opinion, and in my opinion, Truth or Dare is a cliche. Besides, there has to be a better way to get the backstories than the never ending party and a helicopter cock. I just expected better than this from a dev who has produced a real gem in an ocean of shitty AVNs. Instead of continuing their creative and original story, IMO they mailed it in and picked a cliched and over used Truth or Dare game.

To be fair, this is happening in 1999 where Truth or Dare, Spin the Bottle, beer pong and other party/drinking games that we would now consider to be cliched were common. They didn't have the ubiquitous internet or adult card games to provide alternatives, so they play the contemporary games they know from other parties. Also ToD/StB doesn't require anything as far as setup other than the liquor they already have at hand so they are easy to start up.

 

[SteelyDan14]

To be fair, this is happening in 1999 where Truth or Dare, Spin the Bottle, beer pong and other party/drinking games that we would now consider to be cliched were common. They didn't have the ubiquitous internet or adult card games to provide alternatives, so they play the contemporary games they know from other parties. Also ToD/StB doesn't require anything as far as setup other than the liquor they already have at hand so they are easy to start up.

I get that, but this is 2025 and there are so many AVNs out there with Truth or Dare or some variation that when it showed up I was like, okay fine, but then it went on and on and I just hated it. Truth or Dare hass become as common as yoga, changing rooms and the best friend of the opposite sex in these stories. In Ripples, we do see yoga but we also see some crazed chick with a chaotic AI, a cuck of a husband who breaks his dick in a parking lot, a mysterious father who may or may not be still alive, a cool skateboard chick who plays the piano, the fight in the woods leading to some best friend fun... I mean the list of creative and original story ideas is almost endless in this AVN, yet I found myself slogging my way through this never ending party.

It's still in my top 5 and I still love this AVN, and I suppose when you have a story with as much content as this, you will inevitably have some weaker sections. I am just hoping it was a Jar Jar Binks moment and they get back to their top notch storytelling.

 

[alex13_zen]

I get that, but this is 2025 and there are so many AVNs out there with Truth or Dare or some variation that when it showed up I was like, okay fine, but then it went on and on and I just hated it. Truth or Dare hass become as common as yoga, changing rooms and the best friend of the opposite sex in these stories. In Ripples, we do see yoga but we also see some crazed chick with a chaotic AI, a cuck of a husband who breaks his dick in a parking lot, a mysterious father who may or may not be still alive, a cool skateboard chick who plays the piano, the fight in the woods leading to some best friend fun... I mean the list of creative and original story ideas is almost endless in this AVN, yet I found myself slogging my way through this never ending party.

It's still in my top 5 and I still love this AVN, and I suppose when you have a story with as much content as this, you will inevitably have some weaker sections. I am just hoping it was a Jar Jar Binks moment and they get back to their top notch storytelling.

Who's the crazed chick with a chaotic AI?

 

[danb35]

Who's the crazed chick with a chaotic AI?

Riley?

 

[alex13_zen]

Riley?

I guess I just wouldn't have described her as crazed, more like eccentric. Especially since we owe her big time after saving our ass from the truly crazy woman who'd have turned us into her sex slave.

 

[danb35]

Especially since we owe her big time after saving our ass from the truly crazy woman who'd have turned us into her sex slave.

She definitely saved our ass, and she (now) seems very helpful and dedicated (edit: curiously so--"I'll go anywhere in the universe to help you" is kind of extreme, and obviously some resources to get rooms for Darci and MC, and get Darci to the room along with the all-important pizza). But she's still crazy. I don't say that's a bad thing necessarily, but yeah, she's crazy.

 

[e6mill]

yeah, she's crazy.

That's a given. I'm more wondering about how she looks the same (at a glance) in '99 as in '20. Hmm....

 

[danb35]

That's a given. I'm more wondering about how she looks the same (at a glance) in '99 as in '20. Hmm....

She's obviously time traveling too.

 

[e6mill]

She's obviously time traveling too.

There's a quote from a parody of detective movies I like to use in circumstances like this:
"That can only mean one thing! ...But I don't know what it is."

 

[Meiri]

She definitely saved our ass, and she (now) seems very helpful and dedicated (edit: curiously so--"I'll go anywhere in the universe to help you" is kind of extreme, and obviously some resources to get rooms for Darci and MC, and get Darci to the room along with the all-important pizza). But she's still crazy. I don't say that's a bad thing necessarily, but yeah, she's crazy.

You call her crazy, I call her a genius for designing a room so she can have helicopter sex and an AI for even more kinky sex.

 

[Rehwyn]

You call her crazy, I call her a genius for designing a room so she can have helicopter sex and an AI for even more kinky sex.

She can always be a mad genius and be both!

 

[danb35]

You call her crazy, I call her a genius

 

[Meiri]

She can always be a mad genius and be both!

Well, that would explain why her sexual side is so wild and crazy

 

[alex13_zen]

She definitely saved our ass, and she (now) seems very helpful and dedicated (edit: curiously so--"I'll go anywhere in the universe to help you" is kind of extreme, and obviously some resources to get rooms for Darci and MC, and get Darci to the room along with the all-important pizza). But she's still crazy. I don't say that's a bad thing necessarily, but yeah, she's crazy.

Alyssa describes her as kooky, which is closer to eccentric.

Riley's line "I'll go anywhere in the universe to help you" was said in the heat of the moment, after infiltrating a dangerous place and saving someone who's obviously important to her. The whole situation is crazy and wild, so her words simply fit the situation. She didn't say that in a casual and chill setting.

She's also wise and patient enough to treat Alyssa like an adult, which no one else seemed to do.

And would an organization that fights across time be that stupid to use an unstable person as a field agent? Certainly not.

 

[danb35]

Alyssa describes her as kooky

Kooky vs. eccentric vs. crazy is both subjective and kind of a fine distinction, but I'm sticking with "crazy." Alyssa's being nice--both as is her personality, and because Riley is a family friend. Though that raises the question--which presumably will be answered in future updates--about how she and Scarlett got together.

Again, "crazy" isn't a negative here. Nova in Eternum is crazy, and I love her (she's a hell of a lot of fun). IMO, Riley goes beyond "eccentric." And she uses that word herself: "Eddie, tell this crazy bitch to get off me!"

Riley's line "I'll go anywhere in the universe to help you" was said in the heat of the moment

So she didn't mean it? I don't think I'm buying that.

She's also wise and patient enough to treat Alyssa like an adult

That's an interesting view of it. The only significant interaction I remember between the two of them is her corrupting Alyssa.

And would an organization that fights across time be that stupid to use an unstable person as a field agent?

We don't really know anything about the "organization," and there can't be many people who'd sign up for "fighting across time." I'd argue that, if you didn't experience it yourself (which Riley now has, but it's pretty unlikely she had when she started doing whatever she does for them), you'd have to be kind of crazy to believe in the mission in the first place.

Likewise, "crazy" in this context doesn't mean "mentally unstable."