VN Ren'Py Seeking Closure [v0.7.1] [Captain Crystallo]

[MiltonPowers]

Normally i'm the same just not for that game cause the prologue they made me feel something like they were so perfect haha. Maybe if the break up scene was less sad I would of felt the same and looked forward to rebuilding the relationship. But with this game I would of been happy to do it with no question wouldn't even 2nd guess myself.

You'll have to message me the name of the game you're talking about.

 

[someyoungguy]

You're mostly on point in both of your posts. If Julia becomes a friend, she'll stand an even lesser chance against the girls from the past and her inclusion in the plot will feel more contrived.

And trying to appease both camps is a LOT of work and I'm not sure I'd even do both paths justice anyway.

Hence why I'm dedicating most of my effort to Chapter 8 for now, while exploring different rework options through drafts and notes.

Thanks for reminding me why I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place

I haven't gotten to the point in the game you're discussing yet, but I am enjoying the premise of the game so far. I thought of a potential solution to the problem you seem to be having that might not require as much retconning/reworking of previous chapters. It seems part of the issue is that Julia is a forced LI, which would take a lot of rewriting to fix. Imo, trying to "fix" what is essentially the setup for the game that's given in the description on the first page to appease people who aren't into that premise but played the game anyway is probably a losing battle, in many respects. A more pressing issue (again, this is just my perspective having not gotten to that point in the game yet, so feel free to ignore it if you think I'm way off base), is that a lot of people seem to resent that they feel like they're being forced to cheat on Julia in order to choose another LI. Just make it so you can choose another LI without having to cheat.

If you still want to rework/retcon previous older content (including backfilling the game with more Julia content to make her more compelling as a LI), you'd still have the option to do that at whatever pace you feel comfortable with if you're convinced the number of new fans those changes would bring would be worth the effort of changing that existing content. In my mind, it seems like it would be most important to fix the situation that is bothering the most fans that you already have.

I've thought of two potential fixes to the forced cheating situation, which aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. The simplest is to just give the option to break up with Julia without having to cheat on her. Another possibility would be to have the option to open up their relationship before getting to the point of choosing to be with another LI. I know you're not wanting to make a harem game, but if you want to implement the possibility of dating multiple LIs at all, I'm not sure there's a better place to do it than when deciding whether to leave or stay with the default LI. This would obviously depend a lot on how you would end up writing/implementing the scenario whenever it would come up, but it's difficult to imagine that it would feel natural for that option to be available later in the game if it wasn't a possibility at this point in the story. Verisimilitude can be a tricky thing to achieve, but from a MC perspective, it tends to kind of break down in a narrative when a protagonist is required to make a sacrifice in a certain situation but isn't when that situation comes up again.

Great job and good luck

 

[Captain Crystallo]

I haven't gotten to the point in the game you're discussing yet, but I am enjoying the premise of the game so far. I thought of a potential solution to the problem you seem to be having that might not require as much retconning/reworking of previous chapters. It seems part of the issue is that Julia is a forced LI, which would take a lot of rewriting to fix. Imo, trying to "fix" what is essentially the setup for the game that's given in the description on the first page to appease people who aren't into that premise but played the game anyway is probably a losing battle, in many respects. A more pressing issue (again, this is just my perspective having not gotten to that point in the game yet, so feel free to ignore it if you think I'm way off base), is that a lot of people seem to resent that they feel like they're being forced to cheat on Julia in order to choose another LI. Just make it so you can choose another LI without having to cheat.

If you still want to rework/retcon previous older content (including backfilling the game with more Julia content to make her more compelling as a LI), you'd still have the option to do that at whatever pace you feel comfortable with if you're convinced the number of new fans those changes would bring would be worth the effort of changing that existing content. In my mind, it seems like it would be most important to fix the situation that is bothering the most fans that you already have.

I've thought of two potential fixes to the forced cheating situation, which aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. The simplest is to just give the option to break up with Julia without having to cheat on her. Another possibility would be to have the option to open up their relationship before getting to the point of choosing to be with another LI. I know you're not wanting to make a harem game, but if you want to implement the possibility of dating multiple LIs at all, I'm not sure there's a better place to do it than when deciding whether to leave or stay with the default LI. This would obviously depend a lot on how you would end up writing/implementing the scenario whenever it would come up, but it's difficult to imagine that it would feel natural for that option to be available later in the game if it wasn't a possibility at this point in the story. Verisimilitude can be a tricky thing to achieve, but from a MC perspective, it tends to kind of break down in a narrative when a protagonist is required to make a sacrifice in a certain situation but isn't when that situation comes up again.

Great job and good luck

Hello!
First of, thanks for taking the time to share your opinion and suggestions in such detail!

While the last few pages in this thread can make it seem like most people only have a problem with cheating, the overall negative reception of Julia always went further than that.

Many players start the game, see a mandatory GF, and instantly quit without even giving it a shot. Many others admitted that while they don't like Julia, they don't want to break up with her because that will make them feel like an asshole since she's a kind person. Even the people who completed all the available content, love the game, and support me on Patreon still largely agree that having Julia be forced on you feels bad.
All this is to say that the problem goes deeper than cheating/amicable breakup.

That being said, your main point on players being most upset because they feel like the game nudges them into cheating still stands and needs to be addressed regardless of how much work beyond that I'm going to do.

 

[AlexMpog]

I actually almost dropped a game once cause the forced girlfriend broke up with the MC in the prologue. Since they felt like a perfect couple then the break up was super sad and bummed me out lol. I had to ctrl skip through the game to make sure she returns to decide if I was gonna drop the game or not.

If we are talking about the same game FoW - I was also very upset about that break up, funny though, when she appeared again I wasn't interested in her as a LI anymore, probably because of my "Ex should remain Ex" thing))

 

[MiltonPowers]

If we are talking about the same game FoW - I was also very upset about that break up, funny though, when she appeared again I wasn't interested in her as a LI anymore, probably because of my "Ex should remain Ex" thing))

It was. I wasn't upset about the breakup (surprise, surprise ). But I am doing a path for her and am enjoying building a romance path with her.

 

[Dessolos]

If we are talking about the same game FoW - I was also very upset about that break up, funny though, when she appeared again I wasn't interested in her as a LI anymore, probably because of my "Ex should remain Ex" thing))

haha for me a character being an ex makes me want to go after them even more as I like the whole concept of getting back together bonus points if it was a messy breakup and the MC has to repair the relationship. Even if they are a horrible LI those those horrible ones get played last however.

 

[Zorro#34]

If we are talking about the same game FoW - I was also very upset about that break up, funny though, when she appeared again I wasn't interested in her as a LI anymore, probably because of my "Ex should remain Ex" thing))

I'll intervene, if you don't mind, but Kristyn from FoW is my favourite ex ever (like Julia from SC is my favourite ever current), specifically because she and Rex were good together and because her reasoning for the breakup is sympathetic, unlike many other examples who either cheat or leave the MC to pursue career opportunities (I mean, I can respect the latter case, but I don't really want to get back with such a person). She still loses out against Kendra tho.

Anyways, I don't see that much of a problem with current GFs in AVNs - they are rare enough not to become an overused trope, and they present an interesting and hard choice. To me, an MC is not me, but rather a hybrid of me and the character he is written to be, so I'm totally fine with him having made some choices before the game's events. In total, I've played 6 games with pre-defined GFs, and I've only broken up with them in 2. In just those 6 examples, the decisions to break up were both easy and hard, and the decisions to maintain the relationship were both easy and hard, too, and they were all memorable.

Coming back to SC: I can see how having to cheat to switch from Julia to anybody else in the present may seem a bad thing, but the only actual cheating on her so far (Katy if there was a romance with her in the past) is player's choice and only deducts some points from Katy if she is refused, not closes her off completely. So, Cap can still avoid "mandatory" cheating without changing anything and have the MC break up with Jules before making the final choice of girl.

One may argue that emotional cheating is still cheating - well, that thing is part of the premise and the MC's characterization, can't really get rid of that.

 

[Ripson]

Here's my Replay Unlocker Mod for Seeking Closure v0.5

Spoiler: Installation

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9th on the list

 

[Ripson]

Here's my Replay Unlocker Mod for Seeking Closure v0.7.1

Spoiler: Installation

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Download:

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- Workupload​

updated to v0.7.1

 

[MoeKai91]

I'm stuck on the language selection (English or Polski). What do I do?

 

[Captain Crystallo]

I'm stuck on the language selection (English or Polski). What do I do?

Hey, sorry you're having this issue.


If anyone is stuck in language selection, you can bypass this by opening script.rpy and deleting --> jump languange_chooser
under label splashscreen