- Nov 14, 2017
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I guess this (7th) update was the point of where things are starting to change, except for Viridiana.
As those who plays the game already know that Valentine has a very bad reputation as a womanizer. And even those around him thought this is who he is. Yet from the get go of the game's 1st episode, they see a much different side of him. He acts like he doesn't care about anyone or anything, but in reality he genuinely does.
Viridiana already knew that, since she spent her childhood with him. He saved her from certain death, while risking his own life and sacrificing more.
Elspeth, being a genius and having an inside man, figured that out faster than any other women around him. She also knows how he is, being a killer herself. She gets that he feels like he has to hide his true self, because of all the killings and destruction he leaves behind.
Ines also knows so much about him, thanks to Viridiana. Yet she had to see how he is with others to make her own mind.
All the other women know only how he treats them, and not who he really is; even Amrit doesn't really know him.
With the 7th update, it seems like they are convinced about what Vi knew from the get go and Els already figured out.
This is also why I am adamant about Els it the go to LI in this game, and Ines may be the curveball.
Face it, this isn't a porn game. It's a graphic novel with some 18+ content, which is a part of real life, so nothing too out of this world. And a novel, or any other medium to be frank, has to make sense to the audience, while letting them put themselves in the shoes of a character. For men, it's obviously Valentine, being the only real protagonist in the story. Women have much more options to internalise, while this means men need to choose who they want to be with as the protagonist.
Valentine has a strict honour code. Which eliminate Vi since she's too close to a sister while he's feeling responsible for her. That's a recipe for disaster in a real life situation. Just consider Valentine's you, and you are in that situation... Think of the possibilities if things go wrong and you break Vi for good. That's too big of a risk.
Ines becomes more of a real contender for the prize as updates come, but she's too young, though she has wisdom beyond her years, she still lacks the knowledge about the burden Valentine carries day to day. She probably thinks that Valentine's biggest issue is what happened to Viridiana and although that's true, she has no idea how big of a burden he carries because of his years in service or how he looks down on himself.
Elspeth on the other hand understands him fully. She doesn't know what really happened between Valentine and Viridiana, but she knows him. She understands him. And to be honest, she is him. Now, that doesn't mean they will walk on the fields of flower, singing kumbaya, but it gives them a real chance to actually find happiness and even maybe peace.
None of the other women actually knows, or cares about his burden or how he really feels. Serena just want his dick. Amrit wants his dick and training. Kana his dick, training and maybe a ring in the future. They show no interest in his inner conflict. Sure, they sometimes come upon the symptoms, and try to be there for him, but not the real issues. None of them actually try to force him into seeing a psychiatrist or something like that. They have no idea how Valentine is hanging by a thread and can turn suicidal with just a drop. This is also why Ines isn't on the top of the LI list. She wouldn't be able to do any meaningful difference for Valentine, since Valentine won't open up to an 18 y.o. girl, who never experienced anything close to what he went through. Viridiana can, and occasionally try to help him, but his guilt is way too heavy to dump on to little sister.
Els is the only realistic LI for Valentine. And I sincerely hope she isn't behind the death of Zaina, or some other shit happened to Valentine because I don't see him surviving that kinda betrayal. He would even blame McNab for it since he could already knew about it but stayed silent. Besides McNab already associate with that lowlife agent, so he's getting on my nerves.
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I disagree quite a bit about the other main LIs being oblivious or not caring about Val's struggles. All the main LIs have expressed concern for him and encouraged him to seek therapy. Frankly, for people not qualified to deal with patients with significant trauma, that's often the best thing you can do. I also disagree about Kana and Amrit only wanting Val for sex, even if it was mostly that early on (for example, Amrit just about admitted her love, but stopped herself, most likely because she's afraid of being that vulnerable).
I did also want to call out this line in particular. Ines quickly realized Val was having a panic attack after his therapy and was able to quickly help him calm down and recover. This sequence of scenes in particular show how Val is comfortable enough with Ines to allow himself to be vulnerable around her, and I suspect it's only a matter of time before he opens up to her about his struggles, especially if he continues therapy and becomes less fearful of acknowledging and discussing his issues in general.
I disagree with the first paragraph completely. Look how Els being forceful. She tried different ways to push Valentine out of his own mind. Even the so called best friend McNab doesn't do anything like that. Kana's whole existence as a wrestler is a mockery of Valentine's profession. Amrit is just an airhead. She loves and respects Valentine. She definitely lusts after him. Yet, how many teenage airheads do you know capable of dealing with shit that surrounds Valentine?
Now, to the second paragraph: Ines knowing how to deal with someone having a panic attack, thanks to her time with Viridiana means nothing apart from that particular thing, which happened only once. She knows Valentine was a soldier. She probably knows that he was special forces. She can guess that he killed, and tried to be killed. But she has no idea other than that. Because he doesn't, and logically will never, talk about his service with a teenager. And all she knows is, what Viridiana shared with her. Which is what he wrote and told her. Which is basically nothing, apart from Davis killing Zaina. So she has literally no idea and Valentine wouldn't, at least logically shouldn't, tell shit. Would you go yapping your top secret assignments, in detail nontheless, to a FRENCH TEEN? Being physically comfortable with a woman is easy for a womanizer like Valentine. Being open about one's past traumas, feelings and being vulnurable is strictly unlike him.
Remember, Valentine accepting to see a shrink, other than Els forcing him, in the first place was because the said shrink was a veteran with clearance.
Els is the most logical and best LI because, apart from McNab and the shrink, she is the only one that have any chance of Valentine to open up. Besides, she's cheating on getting to know him. She's using her connections to get his record. Which is suspicious and scary, but also the only way to do it.
FYI... I like the infamy route much better than the other way since that's actually embedded in his character. And on that route, he compares therapy to SERE training. So he is unwilling to open up even to the said shrink. I'm sure Valentine would be more comfortable being tortured by the enemy, rather than spill his guts out to any LI other than Els.
- May 2, 2017
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I was leaning/expecting the other type of hurt, as in Els's past will come to haunt her and By proximity MC, She is high profile and if she did shady blackops shit than she could have enemies wanting to give her a personal hurt, or could be political too? (That line about Els's dad meeting Uk prime minister)
I say this because I feel like any link between Els's work and Zania would be too much of a stretch specially after already having used it for Vi, Vi's brother-MC conflict/issues, now tying in distant Els ...ehh..
The way I see it, Els has been has (atleast on the surface) 'things figured out' so she will be one needs helping/saving/breaking down whenever the shoe drops.
She helps MC out of his shell, out of his facade, pushes to seek therapy so eventually she will be one that would need help from MC
I rather have your guess over mine everyday of the week.
Honestly, I want this AVN to have some bad endings like Valentine dying or being broken in the ring type of tragedies. Of course there should be good endings but without the consequences, it just becomes a melodrama. You know, whatever happens the protagonist and his LI lives happily ever after... That feels like unfair to a so far great story.
I also guess that's exactly why there is a famous-infamous balance. For example, if shit hits the fan at the end of the game the MC would continue no matter what if famous, but it would lead to his demise if infamous.
About Elsie being in public eye... It's quite plausible for some relative of a person she assassinated come to hunt her down, if she really was some sort of legend during her service, since she's a quite well known person on the Island. But that shouldn't be the case, exactly because of that. I mean, who would be so careless if that's the case. One wouldn't need to be a genius to lay low, or roll around without a security detail etc. And even if Elsie didn't want that, I'm sure her family wouldn't let that fly, but from our dinner with her father, that doesn't seem to be an issue.
But I'm also sure that Valentine will put himself between anything harmful and any of the people, including McNab, he cares. And if it's Elsie, the girlfriend, he'll go beast mode to protect her which will lead to his demise.
To be frank, I still think he has been or will be betrayed by someone in the inner circle. STWA focus our attention on Elspeth because of her secrecy, but we have no reason not to believe her when she repeatedly say she cares/loves him to multiple people.
McNab is on my nerve because of his association with the lowlife agent, and that agent having Marshman, who has a violent past and is volatile... I think McNab and lowlife agent are shagging BTW. That may lead to betrayal of McNab, though I don't think that's plausible unless you really screw up by making an enemy out of McNab.
Speaking of betrayal... I think STWA missed the opportunity in mandatory psych evaluation. Yeah, Elsie's father put the gears in motion but Serena signed it without considering how Valentine would react, or even discussing it with the originals.
I would've handled it with more hurt than anger if I were the author, like... "so this is how I'm pushed out of the foundation I established" on infamy route. Then of course Els would gave him the number and with some pleading... Currently he goes from "no way" to "i'm happy to endorse" in an instance.
- May 15, 2018
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The thing is that some people don't see or play the MC as such a tortured soul in this game. I mean, there are events to show the player that he likely has poor mental health, like seeing ghosts of his dead friends a lot and having conversations with them, and an obvious mask of "Cassanova/womanizer" that he plays up to hide who he really is, plus there are other characters – mainly Els – telling him that he's not well or that he should be attending sessions with the other veterans. The most important symptom here though is the way he is slowly processing his memories, and the fact he is experiencing them like they are new and just uncovered. Plus he seemingly can't face what happened on the day that Zaina died, or speak of it (at least that's where it seems his block is when talking with the therapist). But that absence is tough to notice unless you're specifically looking for what isn't there.
On the other hand, the MC has a very successful MMA career that he's moving forward, a close group of friends who support him, no unhealthy addictions or other crutches to deal with any supposed issues, and he generally acts laid back and chill in his reactions to everything. Seeing Zaina and Davis can easily come across to the player as just the MC's internal dialog. Or that he is still in love with Zaina and just misses her. Honestly, to me these scenes often feel more like a narrative device that limits the need for too many unwanted flashbacks. The presence of these "ghosts" just doesn't feel menacing or unhealthy, in a "You must start fires, because the world must burn!" kind of way.
So I can see why others have said that Els felt like she was forcing herself too much into the MC's personal space – and perhaps gaslighting him – during the initial poolside talk when a lot of this first gets dumped on the player. It was only in the most recent chapter that we got a real sense of illness with the clearly dangerous panic attack. And this was also the only time in the story when the MC talked out loud to his ghosts – it happened during the therapy session – where he forgot he was in the middle of a real-world conversation at the time.
The extent of the MC's character is a lot better established now, with a more solid sense of his injuries, but I still sometimes feel it clashes with his other behaviours, and so it can feel more "angsty" than "serious" at times.
To bring this all back around to the love interests, I think who you choose can simply depend on how well that main storyline lands for you. And for some I think it feels like those issues are something the MC will work his way through in time on his own, as he needs to. I'm probably more in your camp than otherwise. To me, Vi sees the MC too much as her "Knight in shining armour", and so I feel she will have difficulty being there fully to support him when he's broken in some manner in the future (whether that's due to these traumas, or just in general because life is never without challenges). So other LIs do seem like a better fit to me as well, but I think it all comes down to whether the MC is played as a tortured soul or just a moderately stressed war veteran.
- Dec 27, 2017
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Well, talking with ghosts may very well be a narative device, but it also indicates serious mental issues. Especially if they lead to panic attacks and whatnot. Paranoid schizophrenia comes to mind first. And seeing how much more malicious Davis became in the last episode, that's plausible. PTSD also plays a role there. He may very well be losing his marbles, to be honest.
The fact that Valentine plays cool and collected most of the time shows how mentally tough he is, and not how he's healthy at all.
100% agreed about Vi. She will be more of a burden, than being of help if Valentine's mental status deteriorates, shall I say, further.
Kana has no knowledge of anything. She really is oblivious to Valentine's problems, fixated on herself.
Amrit is, like I said before, an airhead jock. She wouldn't be able to do shit, even if she noticed, which isn't like if he really exhibits some unmistakable symptoms.
Ines proved that she will try her best to help, but still, she is a teenager. I honestly don't expect Valentine to dump his problems on her at all. Besides, calming someone having a panic attack is one thing, dealing with something like a schizophrenic is a whole other thing.
Serena is just interested in getting some.
McNab is a lame best friend.
But Els... Els is certainly something else. We already know she'll force Valentine to get better, if she has to. She'll drag him by the balls, if she needs to.
And even though none of them, including puny McNab, would have any chance if Valentine's PTSD is triggered and he went all survivalist mode, at least Els may be able to protect herself from the worst. Just remember how lucky Ines was, when Valentine punched through the air, while not knowing she was there. She would've been hospitalised, if not dead if that landed.
Mental health aside, Valentine will face an unstable and violent opponent. Presumably, Marshman will pull some shit, and hurt Valentine. And even if he doesn't, the nature of the sport and the "injury points" indicate that there will be some stuff... Then we'll have a man broken not just mentally but physically in our hand. Who would you rather have by your bedside if you were Valentine at that point?
To be honest, this AVN has so much potential. The possibilities are almost infinite. It can go great, it can turn very dark... And this is exactly why I spend so much time on it. And unless Elspeth screwed Valentine in the past, that we don't know yet, she is the only choice. Think about it. In addition to everything, Sir Valentine sounds awesome for an American.
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- May 2, 2017
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I havnt played the devs previous game so no idea if it had 'bad endings' or not but for this game it would fit, there are many routes it could happen if wrong decisions are made.
As for El's past, who knows? Maybe Els really thinks her friends is dead/gone but she is actually alive and keeping track of her,
Could be she thinks that chapter of her life has ended and has all her focus on moving forward, hence the work at the centre, wanting and helping MC and all other things she does. All to move forward.
Also I cant figure out if the MC being dense about McNab's leanings is just being done for laughs by the author or he is really that dense, and would be surprised if he was with the weird-mma-agent, i guess being fuck buddies works?
There are only 2 main conflicts/future drama directly in the path of the MC,
His mma fight with that fighter that was jailed and Els' biker-friend keeping tabs, I dont see anything else unless something new happens in the story at this point. I guess that depends on how far away the ending is, but if part 07 was like 0.7? then 1.0 (being final) is 3 updates away, not enough time.
- May 2, 2017
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I pretty much said similar stuff earlier,
Well, talking with ghosts may very well be a narative device, but it also indicates serious mental issues. Especially if they lead to panic attacks and whatnot. Paranoid schizophrenia comes to mind first. And seeing how much more malicious Davis became in the last episode, that's plausible. PTSD also plays a role there. He may very well be losing his marbles, to be honest.
The fact that Valentine plays cool and collected most of the time shows how mentally tough he is, and not how he's healthy at all.
100% agreed about Vi. She will be more of a burden, than being of help if Valentine's mental status deteriorates, shall I say, further.
Kana has no knowledge of anything. She really is oblivious to Valentine's problems, fixated on herself.
Amrit is, like I said before, an airhead jock. She wouldn't be able to do shit, even if she noticed, which isn't like if he really exhibits some unmistakable symptoms.
Ines proved that she will try her best to help, but still, she is a teenager. I honestly don't expect Valentine to dump his problems on her at all. Besides, calming someone having a panic attack is one thing, dealing with something like a schizophrenic is a whole other thing.
Serena is just interested in getting some.
McNab is a lame best friend.
But Els... Els is certainly something else. We already know she'll force Valentine to get better, if she has to. She'll drag him by the balls, if she needs to.
And even though none of them, including puny McNab, would have any chance if Valentine's PTSD is triggered and he went all survivalist mode, at least Els may be able to protect herself from the worst. Just remember how lucky Ines was, when Valentine punched through the air, while not knowing she was there. She would've been hospitalised, if not dead if that landed.
Mental health aside, Valentine will face an unstable and violent opponent. Presumably, Marshman will pull some shit, and hurt Valentine. And even if he doesn't, the nature of the sport and the "injury points" indicate that there will be some stuff... Then we'll have a man broken not just mentally but physically in our hand. Who would you rather have by your bedside if you were Valentine at that point?
To be honest, this AVN has so much potential. The possibilities are almost infinite. It can go great, it can turn very dark... And this is exactly why I spend so much time on it. And unless Elspeth screwed Valentine in the past, that we don't know yet, she is the only choice. Think about it. In addition to everything, Sir Valentine sounds awesome for an American.
Out of the LI's, the younger ones are,
The Student (Amrit), The sister (vi) and the stranger (ines), Ines may work but i dont think it would be fair to dump the baggage MC carries on her.
Out of the older LI's,
Serena is the fuck-buddy type more for now, Kana is focused on her own thing and has baggage that she needs MC to help with, she may? help MC back in the future.
Meanwhile Els is self aware of her baggage, has her 'shite' together and pushes MC out of his comfort zone, calls him out, helps in a way the others cant.
I tried to play Author a few times but honestly, it lacked the quality of Unbroken. So I really don't know if it has bad endings.
Els was discharged after Anastasia's death, and since they were members of the same platoon, I think Els actually should've seen her death with her own eyes.
Valentine being so dense about McNab being gay is probably because McNab is a soldier. I'm not sure about the British Armed Forces but being gay was a huge no no in the Amercan Armed Forces for so long. Then it became "don't ask don't tell" policy, that's still going, as far as I know. I think it doesn't even cross Valentine's mind, in the first place, for him to figure it out. BTW, Valentine-Serena wouldn't be too different than McNab-Agent relation. Though McNab is way too sensitive to Valentine's criticism of the agent, so I assume there's more to it than just fuck buddies or FWBs.
I don't think Anastasia lives but there's a good chance that Davis' death is staged. His body never recovered and he's the type of man who won't hesistate to kill others just to achieve his goal. I think this is a conflict I expect to see in the future. After all, Valentine isn't actually seeing ghost, they are all in his head.
My thoughts exactly.
- May 2, 2017
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if I am not mistaken, Els said she is 'gone' not died but perhaps she doesnt know, because she is 100% alive and she is with the same black girl (the good with computers one)
Well, I certainly missed the hair style but...
I'm not sure there is room for so many conspiracy theories in one AVN.
BTW, the updates don't go 0.1, 0,4 etc. they go 1,4,7 etc. So I don't think things will end abruptly in pt. 10.
- Feb 23, 2021
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Zaida is still alive and gonna show up later right? No one saw her death and wasn't confirmed with a body?
Also yeah Valentine has mental health issues but he isn't schizophrenic lol. I'm a psychiatrist at the VA so I've worked with thousands of vets and hallucinations aren't an uncommon occurrence in complex-PTSD (especially the dissociative subtype). He needs serious therapy maybe some meds but doesn't need antipsychotics.
It's been hammered again and again that Vi is the one that brings out the old Valentine. Even Els is jealous of this. Vi is just as attuned to him putting on a mask as Els is. She knows when he's faking being OK and that his whole playboy attitude is just a front. Besides being linked to her childhood and good times they also have trauma-bonding same as with Els so they're much more likely to help each other than her be an anchor to him. Back to my first point if he was schizophrenic then yeah someone like Vi wouldn't be able to handle that but she is perfectly suited to help him with PTSD.
- Jan 1, 2024
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This is actually what I've been expecting, that she survived and possibly was involved with the ferry incident as retribution.
- May 20, 2022
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Interesting theory, especially to see Valentine's reaction to what the woman he loves has turned into
Here's the Unbroken conspiracy bingo:
Davis is alive
Zaina is alive
Anastasia is alive
Elspeth ordered Zaina's killing
Zaina is alive and she sunk the ferry Davis was killed in.
Anything I've missed?
On a serious note, now:
First of all, Viridiana knows old Valentine, but she doesn't actually know at present. Even Elspeth said the same thing to her: So much time gap, especially in youth days makes a lot of difference. Then Viridiana actually confesses Ines that:
She only compares Valentine with old Valentine and she tries to push him to being that. Besides, she has an ulterior motive to drag Valentine into his old self. She's in love with old Valentine. And since she was not even a teenager back then, her idea of old Valentine is distorted.
Besides, trauma buddies can't be healthy, at all! They will keep reminding each other that exact moment. Viridiana's scars do exactly that. Valentine even said it himself. Accepting and moving on is one thing, but having to be reminded constantly about it is something entirely different.
Honestly, not because of her personality, but because of their shared history, Vi is literally toxic for Valentine.
And I don't think Els is jealous or intimidated by Viridiana. She doesn't even mind their shared history and Vi knowing Valentine for so long. She even gives Viridiana advice, depending the route you're on. Els knows exactly how to deal with Viridiana. She keeps saying "she reminds me of my young self". She even pushes Viridiana to talk to Valentine about her feelings. How is this jealousy?
Davis is alive
Zaina is alive
Anastasia is alive
Elspeth ordered Zaina's killing
Zaina is alive and she sunk the ferry Davis was killed in.
Anything I've missed?
On a serious note, now:
I don't think Valentine just turned his back and went his merry way, after seeing Zaina was killed. I'm quite certain he would've checked. I mean, any man would have.
Well, I don't think it's schizophrenia either, but it looks more and more like it. And although I'd take a mental health professional's word, over my guess all day long, and even though STWA makes his homework brilliantly (I mean, there's even an Adair Clan in Lowlands) I don't think he'd be this good. Still, PTSD is way more probable.
We may disagree on this but I think Valentine shouldn't aim to go back to his old self, before the incident with Viridiana. He was a teenager for Pete's sake. People change a lot, especially once they are out of puberty. Valentine actually never let himself to find who he really is, because of the Vi incident, and jump right into the military. He really don't know who he really is and he is afraid to find it out as well. So I find being with Vi and trying to go back to a past that never actually happened is the worst thing he can try to do. I'm not sure what your reasoning behind it but I disagree.
First of all, Viridiana knows old Valentine, but she doesn't actually know at present. Even Elspeth said the same thing to her: So much time gap, especially in youth days makes a lot of difference. Then Viridiana actually confesses Ines that:
She only compares Valentine with old Valentine and she tries to push him to being that. Besides, she has an ulterior motive to drag Valentine into his old self. She's in love with old Valentine. And since she was not even a teenager back then, her idea of old Valentine is distorted.
Besides, trauma buddies can't be healthy, at all! They will keep reminding each other that exact moment. Viridiana's scars do exactly that. Valentine even said it himself. Accepting and moving on is one thing, but having to be reminded constantly about it is something entirely different.
Honestly, not because of her personality, but because of their shared history, Vi is literally toxic for Valentine.
And I don't think Els is jealous or intimidated by Viridiana. She doesn't even mind their shared history and Vi knowing Valentine for so long. She even gives Viridiana advice, depending the route you're on. Els knows exactly how to deal with Viridiana. She keeps saying "she reminds me of my young self". She even pushes Viridiana to talk to Valentine about her feelings. How is this jealousy?