VN Ren'Py STWA: Unbroken [Pt. 7] [STWAdev]

[Old Grumpy Wolf]

If that's all you think there is so far you have really not paid attention when playing it.....

Playing? He doesn't play. He holds down the skip key to get to the lewds.

 

[alpha5]

I have to disagree with this idea. This VN has a wealth of well-established character motivations and a very strong narrative thrust. The MC is trying to rebuild his entire life and regain his basic purpose for living after losing the love of his life (Zaina), which was a tragic and vivid event that shattered all his hopes and dreams of spending the rest of his existence with her. Plus he is having to overcome mental health issues from being a war veteran. The player has the choice of focusing on pursuing a single love interest to fill the void left in his heart, or they can lean into the playboy nature of the character to some extent (these choices align somewhat with the fame or infamy routes the game offers).

The love interests themselves are dynamic and fascinating characters as well. Els is similarly dealing with mental health issues as a war veteran, and she has unrealized dreams and unmet potential due to her family situation. Kana has physical health problems combined with a haunting memory of personal betrayal, and she is trying to come to terms with her past. Amrit is pursuing a lofty goal of becoming a champion under the tutelage of the MC and McNab, while learning to grow into a sexually active and confident woman. Vi is lost and directionless in many ways, since she is relatively young and tragically lacks a family to support her, and she is just beginning the daunting process of choosing a life for herself. Ines is hiding deep insecurities about herself behind a constant public illusion of sexual bravado, and she has to decide the person she wants to become.

Even McNab is compelling in his struggle to overcome a serious injury and regain his past glory in the MMA world. The most important part of all this though is that the MC is involved in each of the conflicts of those close to him, in very real and interesting ways (he is training Amrit and Kana, giving Vi and Ines a place to live, working closely with Els at the veteran's shelter, etc).

Yes, there is no clear and decisive external struggle that has been fully realized yet in the story, but there are hints of important ones to come in the ex-convict MMA fighter who is targeting the MC, and the unresolved matters of Davis' supposed death and Zaina's passing and the secrets that are being kept there. A lot of things have been set up – like the hidden injuries that can be accumulated by the MC during his fights, or injuries given to Kana when training/competing with her, depending on player choices over the course of the game – that will likely impact the events that will unfold in future chapters.

So yeah. I strongly disagree with this idea that the story lacks a plot or a compelling narrative. STWA: Unbroken is filled to the brim with motivated and interesting characters, and this wall of text I just wrote is only the bullet point version of the incredible depth of story that's actually offered in the VN.

Thank you for this comprehensive answer to my rather dismissive question. I can tell you I did pick up on most of this except the ex-convict and the hidden injuries. The latter would explain a few choices that seemed pointless or unfunny.

Reading your post I notice this game is a lot more group-centric than I was expecting, which does explain the need for amount of exposition and development, which, along with the dialogue quality, makes the characters feel alive. Yet some also feel redundant to me so far. I mean beside the MC there are three of them training for competition, two of them recovering from injury, two of them love interests, one of which a virgin iirc along with two girls who just moved in, also love interests, and who barely do anything at this point. Then there two memory characters who are also hallucinations, both of them best friend types.

Maybe I am in that sweetspot where I came too late to see the story unfold slowly but too early to see any payoffs so that it annoys me. Anyway, evidently I need to adjust my expectations by quite a lot, might come back in a couple updates when choices start paying off. I actually did enjoy the humorous scenes when the characters were allowed to be.

 

[Defenestrator.for.traitor]

The love interests themselves are dynamic and fascinating characters as well. Els is similarly dealing with mental health issues as a war veteran, and she has unrealized dreams and unmet potential due to her family situation. Kana has physical health problems combined with a haunting memory of personal betrayal, and she is trying to come to terms with her past. Amrit is pursuing a lofty goal of becoming a champion under the tutelage of the MC and McNab, while learning to grow into a sexually active and confident woman. Vi is lost and directionless in many ways, since she is relatively young and tragically lacks a family to support her, and she is just beginning the daunting process of choosing a life for herself. Ines is hiding deep insecurities about herself behind a constant public illusion of sexual bravado, and she has to decide the person she wants to become.

After I read this I just noticed, my interest in LIs is coming from who they are and not how they look. Similar irl experiences make me lean into or avoid characters. It was eye opening tbh. Need to check other games for similar situation. Thanks.

 

[MF_DOOM]

Check In 12/02/2023

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Yo! Apologies I'm a bit late here, quick one today though. Kana is our title lady this week, with some new accessories.
Minor script work update. Things mostly solid, but I'm looking at one specific scene and trying to decide if it needs to get cut, it really just depends on how many renders/animations it's going to take up. But considering the star of the scene my proofreader might actually hit me round the head and neck if I remove it. Truly a struggle.
Animation prelim took more time than expected so I kept plugging away at renders while I did that. We're sitting at a cool 1250 renders knocked out. Finished up the final bit of prelim work today though so I'll be switching my focus.
Hoping the first group of animations go well. They'll probably be the hardest batch to tackle which is why I want to hit them first. Wish me luck.
Anywho, back to chipping away. I appreciate the support and I hope you have a lovely December!
Sláinte!

 

[MF_DOOM]

I did not skip everything. I skipped a good amount of unending relationship-establishing dialogue, after a short gleaning that this is what is happening, which is what I do when I get bored if the plot is not moving. From what I can tell it is all just character exposition, relationship development and a few flashbacks but no overarching plot, no antagonist, no problem to be solved. When skipping I wait for changes in scenary and characters but that just does not happen. The overview in the OP asks a couple of questions at the end. So far I see none of them being relevant. I suppose that phone call at the end and the relating conversation with Els just made them relevant but even that is kind of whatever because MC was not shown to have any issues whatsover, it is only told so I do not care. Instead he humps everything that moves without any repercussions thus far. I can't even lose the fight in part 6 when I try to while having neglected training whenever I could. If this game was supposed to be slice of life I would not say anything but apparently it strives to be more or maybe I am just not vibing with the story or maybe it is merely incredibly slow and picks up in part 7.

So I will ask again: Is this all there is so far? Establishment of a little harem and maybe two hints of actual problems?

This game deals a lot with grief and PTSD and the cause and effect of it on the MC and other people around him. Relationship-establishing dialogues are a big part of it. I guess it's not everyone's cup of tea, it is certainly mine due to being an active reserve soldier in the IDF now, I got plenty of grief and PTSD of my own and I can relate to lots of the games topics.

 

[cxx]

unless kana goes to show wrestling then she can't use mask.

 

[MF_DOOM]

Sneak Peek 12/02/2023

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Two small moments for your viewing pleasure this week. One is one of the lewdest, filthiest things I've ever seen. And one is just a regular amount of lewd. You can decide which is which.

Thanks as always for the support and I hope you have a lovely upcoming week.

 

[cxx]

some1 is in need of hugs.

 

[RoryTate]

Hugging? Hugging??? I must admit, sometimes the depravity on this site shocks even me. Seriously, what are the depths of debauchery we will descend to next? Are wholesome handholding and head pats going to be shown in this story? Such unspeakable acts surely cannot be allowed.

 

[Old Grumpy Wolf]

Hugging? Hugging??? I must admit, sometimes the depravity on this site shocks even me. Seriously, what are the depths of debauchery we will descend to next? Are wholesome handholding and head pats going to be shown in this story? Such unspeakable acts surely cannot be allowed.

That shit was funny when My New Family was ongoing, but it's overstayed it's welcome now.

 

[Dessolos]

Hugging? Hugging??? I must admit, sometimes the depravity on this site shocks even me. Seriously, what are the depths of debauchery we will descend to next? Are wholesome handholding and head pats going to be shown in this story? Such unspeakable acts surely cannot be allowed.

Joshy92 you are the expert in this. I'll let you handle this

 

[Old Grumpy Wolf]

Joshy92 you are the expert in this. I'll let you handle this

You better back Joshy up. If he gets hurts, I'm jumpin in and everyone gets hurt.

 

[Crusader1-2]

Love the writing and story so far, minus some of the Army tidbits. One passing line was like "Yeah, I met Alistair while I was in Regiment. Gelled together when I ended up getting bumped into 5th SF Group." Homie, Rangers and SF have two entirely different mission sets. Our boy would have to pass an entirely different selection process to be a Green Beret. It's not something you just get "bumped into." Two different SOF units with different skill sets. SF has a lot more schooling.

Not sure if I misread something or the author just didn't bother adding that he went through the SFAS pipeline, but just a heads up.

 

[Knight of the Dawn]

Edit: Updated for Pt. 5

I've made a walkthrough/gallery mod for this game

Download: PIXELDRAIN MEGA

scrappy Any chance for an update?

 

[cxx]

Any chance for an update?

not atm so use koga3's mod.

 

[MF_DOOM]

Check In 12/09/2023

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No title screen this week, being very brief.
Script is in the same place, no update here.
Did a little scene of renders because it was quick enough. So the finished number on those jumped up to 1317 finished renders.
As I previously mentioned the next few weeks are pretty much entirely animation focused. This past week I've managed to get the base blocking out on the entire first scene/batch whatever the heck I'm calling it. That comes out to 13 animations. Now I just need to work on getting them tightened and refined, add details ect. Once this batch is mostly well in hand I'll be switching back to still renders for a bit. I'll be switching off between them at good stopping points throughout the rest of the update cycle, see if I see an improvement in speed and efficiency.
On the note of animations I'll be having my last Blue Belt stream of the year Sunday the 10th, AKA tomorrow at 12pm Pacific/ 3pm Eastern I'll be working on the previously mentioned refinements so you can catch a little glimpse of what I mean. Fair warning because of the nature of the animation, and who and what it contains this stream will have super spoilers. So be absolutely sure you're down with that sickness.
That's it for tonight. I hope you all have a lovely weekend. Thank you for the support.
Sláinte!

 

[ThorinKing]

scrappy Any chance for an update?

not atm so use koga3's mod.

I can confirm that "scrappy" saves work with the "koga3" mod.

 

[cxx]

I can confirm that "scrappy" saves work with the "koga3" mod.

ofc they do.

 

[ThorinKing]

ofc they do.

It wasn't a question, and not all saves using one mod work with saves using other mods - just confirming for the guy that they do work, since that would be a natural question.

 

[DevinHesi]

A few customs I did recently