I do enjoy the game generally, but the whole "I am master of manipulation" vibe is kinda weird.
So far, our MC is basically good at nothing. and somehow he keeps using his little "psychology tricks" aggressively for no obvious reason.
It makes me feel like that our MC is super "hypocritical".
I do enjoy the game generally, but the whole "I am master of manipulation" vibe is kinda weird.
So far, our MC is basically good at nothing. and somehow he keeps using his little "psychology tricks" aggressively for no obvious reason.
It makes me feel like that our MC is super "hypocritical".
The writing in this VN is terrible, the visual, technical and artistic section, along with the direction of the cameras, are excellent, but the writing is awful.
Nothing makes sense, they are basically a series of images put together, with zero context, Let's start with the title of this VN, "Summer Gone", they only talk about Summer a little in the first chapter and a little in the second, then Summer doesn't matter anymore, the stupid war of the developer with the readers, over sexual content, is another imbecility.
The music and the atmosphere are very good too, but a VN without history, without arcs, without structure, is a waste of time.
"...but a VN without history, without arcs, without structure, is a waste of time."
Dude! This VN has overlapping history in the form of another game - a prequel of sorts - WIAB!
Without arcs? Did you actually play and read the VN or just skip looking for lewds?
- Many of the main characters are revealed to be broken or traumatized and they have arcs dealing with that fact.
- The MC, Summer, and dealing with his trauma. This is ongoing. Summer comes up throughout the game. The MC has an upcoming therapy session at the cabin with Amber. The MC has resolved to ask mysterious fix-it man Emilio about Summer. The MC found Summer's cousin Elsa on social media, after running into her at a restaurant, and resolved to join the social app for that reason. In CH 5, Nia's past relationship with Summer is revealed. The game has many Summer flashbacks.
- The MC and Nami's past, both in terms of who they are (Katie Zane's interest in them and Nojiko's apparent shielding of them) and their own interpersonal relationship.
- Bella, her trauma, and her comatose sister.
-Vic's paralysis and therapy. Marla's response to causing the accident that paralyised Vic.
- The MC and Bella's revenge plots against the Holgersons and Cerils. The dynamic this has on the MC's relationship with Vanessa.
-Bella's past with members of the Ceril family.
-mysterious Sasha... there's so much going on there. Her own past and trauma, her relationship with Bella (why is she working behind the scenes to look out for Bella), her ability to be there at times when the MC needs help (walking in on the MC's fight, getting Robin to phone Marla for help, helping the MC with a panic attack, etc)
-The MC and other characters trying out for and competing at basketball. The inter-college basketball competition.
-The MC training with both Ayua and Zara in prep for basketball.
-Opposition basketball coach Genevieve Coate and her implied relationship (mother) with dwarf Damien.
-The fantasy role-playing games, both tabletop and at 'The Farm'. Both locations are stated to be mechanisms to explore fantasy sex with otherwise inaccessible characters.
-The book club and it's power dynamics, it's link to Nojiko's past that she's carefully hidden from the MC and Nami.
-The MC's romantic relationships with (so far) Bella, Nami, Victoria, and Mila (depending on choices made).
These are just story arcs that immediately come to mind. There is a lot going on, even if you don't comprehend it.
I do enjoy the game generally, but the whole "I am master of manipulation" vibe is kinda weird.
So far, our MC is basically good at nothing. and somehow he keeps using his little "psychology tricks" aggressively for no obvious reason.
It makes me feel like that our MC is super "hypocritical".
It's strange that people assume the MC in any game is honest with themselves, that their internal monolgue has credibility. We all lie to ourselves, we all suffer dunning-kruger to some extent, we all have methods of coping. The MC is noticeably broken, and acknowledges it. The last panic attack in this chapter really brought that home when his perception of the world faded. He's not just damaged by trauma, he has stunted development is some areas. I'm not reading it as a VN with a hero, but as an exploration of character. I really loved how Ayua rips into him near the start for playing games with Bella, and he realises he's actually trash for doing it.
I think one of the possible reasons why her sister is in a coma, because of a motorcycle accident caused by Bella's father.
Maybe the dialogue in chapter 2 alludes to this?
MC: By the way... Where is your fath-
MC: Uhm, I hope this wasn't on the same level as- you know.
Bella: I hope he's dead.
I figured with Bella's response we see at their first meeting, Bella may have been responsible for her sister's death. But the dad theory makes things interesting...
"...but a VN without history, without arcs, without structure, is a waste of time."
Dude! This VN has overlapping history in the form of another game - a prequel of sorts - WIAB!
Without arcs? Did you actually play and read the VN or just skip looking for lewds?
- Many of the main characters are revealed to be broken or traumatized and they have arcs dealing with that fact.
- The MC, Summer, and dealing with his trauma. This is ongoing. Summer comes up throughout the game. The MC has an upcoming therapy session at the cabin with Amber. The MC has resolved to ask mysterious fix-it man Emilio about Summer. The MC found Summer's cousin Elsa on social media, after running into her at a restaurant, and resolved to join the social app for that reason. In CH 5, Nia's past relationship with Summer is revealed. The game has many Summer flashbacks.
- The MC and Nami's past, both in terms of who they are (Katie Zane's interest in them and Nojiko's apparent shielding of them) and their own interpersonal relationship.
- Bella, her trauma, and her comatose sister.
-Vic's paralysis and therapy. Marla's response to causing the accident that paralyised Vic.
- The MC and Bella's revenge plots against the Holgersons and Cerils. The dynamic this has on the MC's relationship with Vanessa.
-Bella's past with members of the Ceril family.
-mysterious Sasha... there's so much going on there. Her own past and trauma, her relationship with Bella (why is she working behind the scenes to look out for Bella), her ability to be there at times when the MC needs help (walking in on the MC's fight, getting Robin to phone Marla for help, helping the MC with a panic attack, etc)
-The MC and other characters trying out for and competing at basketball. The inter-college basketball competition.
-The MC training with both Ayua and Zara in prep for basketball.
-Opposition basketball coach Genevieve Coate and her implied relationship (mother) with dwarf Damien.
-The fantasy role-playing games, both tabletop and at 'The Farm'. Both locations are stated to be mechanisms to explore fantasy sex with otherwise inaccessible characters.
-The book club and it's power dynamics, it's link to Nojiko's past that she's carefully hidden from the MC and Nami.
-The MC's romantic relationships with (so far) Bella, Nami, Victoria, and Mila (depending on choices made).
These are just story arcs that immediately come to mind. There is a lot going on, even if you don't comprehend it.
Thanks bro for this post, it's nice to know that someone else sees the same things in the game that I do. Exactly what I wanted to share, but was afraid to write.
But yeah, probably my biggest criticism of the author is that at this stage, in order to fully accept and immerse myself in his story, I need to read and remember the comments the author left on the forum or in the Discord. The content that is outside of the game. Everything else seems small, minor inconsistencies in the plot due to reworking the game, typos, coding errors, all this has little effect on the overall impression of the game, at least for me.
Sometimes I had to stop, take a deep breath and repeat to myself that this is still a work in progress, the story has not even reached the halfway point (32 chapters, huh?) And then I recall another hint from the author, that many things that are incomprehensible now will become clear much later in the plot or even acquire a completely different meaning in the context of information from later chapters. Examples of the last statement has already begun to appear in the game. What do you think now of the scene where Nojiko and Amber introducing to each other before the MC's very first therapy session, given that we know now that they knew each other long before that moment? The old hags are performing an act in front of the MC, for what reason?
Putting that aside, sometimes I feel like the guy you were responding to, I just want to scream, “What the fuck are you talking about, Ocean?” when reading some of the conversations between characters or seeing some set of disjointed scenes. But I don't do this because not every story is linear and not every addition to it contains enough information to understand it in the context of the entire story. In the first season, the author mostly scatters pieces of the puzzle, and I think he will begin to put them together into the overall picture much later. But what if... what if we knew from the start that Tyler was Edward Norton?
The awkward look between Adriana & Sasha seem to hint at both of them being the offspring of William. And most people think so is Nika and/or Nami. So it's not entirely out of the possibility that Sasha not just knew of, but knew Nika and/or Nami from a time when they were much much younger.
I posted a few images in this thread before, a collection where Sasha is constantly looking at Nika in the background, and how it focuses in a way that it let us now she's always observing them.
There's also an scene where Sasha approaches Nami and is about to ask her about the ring, but Ayua realizes this and interrupts both of them by climbing onto Sasha's back. Of course, she's not amused by this, but it seems like Ayua was making sure she didn't tell Nami something she wasn't supposed to.
Sasha definitely knows something, the question is what and to what extent.
I posted a few images in this thread before, a collection where Sasha is constantly looking at Nika in the background, and how it focuses in a way that it let us now she's always observing them.
There's also an scene where Sasha approaches Nami and is about to ask her about the ring, but Ayua realizes this and interrupts both of them by climbing onto Sasha's back. Of course, she's not amused by this, but it seems like Ayua was making sure she didn't tell Nami something she wasn't supposed to.
Sasha definitely knows something, the question is what and to what extent.
Good take, I never looked at this scene from such an angle that Ayua distracted Sasha on purpose so that Sasha would not say too much to Nami or vice versa.
I would argue that DPC became popular because he's delivered a damn fine and popular game, irregardless of his promises. He also had the pedigree of having completed a game, despite how much that game rubbed many people up the wrong way.
In essence, SG and BAD are very similar, the biggest difference between them is that in one game the MC is normal and in the other he pretends to be impotent. It's not about experience, it's about attitude and trust.
Simply comparing render counts is rather disingenuous. DPC has the setup and work flow that works for him. Personally (as a trained photographer), I think his overall render image quality is MUCH lower than Ocean's. If I were to fault Ocean, he tries to be a visual perfectionist. I cannot comment further because I don't know DPC's rendering setup or if he codes everything himself.
Here you were wrong in 2 cases.
1- On the contrary, comparing the number of renders is the fairest comparison. This is how Patreon works, you work quickly and get a lot of money. Imagine that Ocean is working on one game at the pace of the DPC, then by this moment not the 5th chapter but the 20th chapter was released. Do you think after this, Ocean’s popularity would have remained the same or grown like DPC’s? I think the answer is obvious.
2- Ocean is not a perfectionist, he is a commercial artist. A perfectionist would never allow his work to be ruined because of music.
I read a discussion in which fans were arguing about whether DPC would introduce new textures into the game. These textures should have greatly improved his renders. As far as I understand, he will not do this, otherwise he will have to redo the entire game.
Good take, I never looked at this scene from such an angle that Ayua distracted Sasha on purpose so that Sasha would not say too much to Nami or vice versa.
And the new chapter made me reconsider Sasha’s scenes. I had thoughts about this before, but somehow everything was tense. 1. A reminder that Nika may be quite good at reading people, but a lack of information or some minor detail can change everything. Like the first memory of Summer, Nika then assumed that it was Summer who turned away from Nami, but in fact it was was in Nika. So both scenes with Sasha give me the same feeling. What if Bella was just an excuse to call Nika to the gym? Robin somehow quickly brushes off the conversation with about Bella. And also the scene with the handcuffs. Everyone knows that if you follow the path of Bella’s route, Sasha will say that maybe he deserves it. Many on the forum then suggested that Sasha had a grudge against Bella. What if the phrase was precisely because of the kiss and it doesn’t matter whether Bella or any other girl and it was about Nick himself?
Sure... let's quickly tell the audience exactly what happened in one of the most importat plot parts of the game right at the start. That will surely keep them interested, right?
"What is your name? Good. Summer was raped by magic aliens... or so she thought, she was just super high after smoking the intro flowers." second picture.. "but the real trajedy was when she joined Disney's Star Wars development team. She was trully dead for MC then" Picture three.
Such a fantastic idea, really. I think 6th sense movie should have done the same and tell you from moment zero Bruce Willis is dead.
Now - given that we are coming up on Halloween in the U.S. - how about that dream within a dream sequence in An American Werewolf in London? That was one hell of a good jump scare for me and I Never told friends about it who saw it later... partly because I wanted to see how high they jumped when they saw that scene for the first time.
Mystery is Good, so long as the story leaves enough bread crumbs to keep up the interest and, ultimately, gives us resolution by the end, IMO.
I think Ocean is doing a great job with this.
It is one of the reasons why I love the book club scene so much - there are hints about many different things going on in SG!
And yes - I reached my reaction limit before 5 AM my time...
Good take, I never looked at this scene from such an angle that Ayua distracted Sasha on purpose so that Sasha would not say too much to Nami or vice versa.
I think Bella is going to ruin Mario's car with Mc or without Mc
Probabily While Bella runs away from the scene with Mc or without Mc lt is seen by thou Mila who then Mila is caught by cameras while walking in the area.
Maybe he was going to Zara house?
in the elaborations of episode 2?
Mehh, this is that fucking moment in a film/book/game, etc., when a character begins to tell something very important, the viewer is in anticipation and then someone abruptly breaks off the dialogue, everyone abruptly forgets about the conversation and you sit alone and freak out. I hate this move.
[...] Everyone knows that if you follow the path of Bella’s route, Sasha will say that maybe he deserves it. Many on the forum then suggested that Sasha had a grudge against Bella. What if the phrase was precisely because of the kiss and it doesn’t matter whether Bella or any other girl and it was about Nick himself?
Not sure if I follow, you mean that Sasha wanted to say that Nika deserve to be kissed?
Well this is an interesting way to read this dialog
sas "And?"
rob "She'll (Bella) get him."
sas "They (Bella and the MC) won't be happy."
rob "I don't care. He didn't deserve it. (Don't deserve what? Be separated from Bella?)"
sas "Maybe he does..."
But I'm going with the classic interpretation that Sasha means that Zara and Nadia won't be happy that Robin ratted them out, and that the MC deserves to be punished for what he did to them.
If this was 90% + of the AVNs here on F95 - The MC would be actively working to ensure Noji kicked Nick to the curb because the MC is 'supposed' to have mom for himself.
In Summers Gone - I like Nick - and given that he opens his house up to Noji, Nami and the MC as soon as Noji asks for help - that means something.
The MC has always been very protective of Noji and Nami. It would be in keeping with his character for him to be supportive of Noji's relationship with Nick so long as Nick gives him no reason to doubt his good intentions.
I think having parental figures that actually act like decent people is a plus for storytelling and world-building in Summers Gone.
Nick is the only decent male role model we've met so far.
I am curious how long it will take for Nick to have a talk with the MC about he and Zara (once their feelings evolve and that LI path is open and pursued). That would be a good Dad move and fit the story based on what we know so far.
I'm sure some of the haters/trolls on this thread would complain about it - given how Un porn-like it is - but I am happy to support Ocean as he tells this story his way.
Thanks bro for this post, it's nice to know that someone else sees the same things in the game that I do. Exactly what I wanted to share, but was afraid to write.
But yeah, probably my biggest criticism of the author is that at this stage, in order to fully accept and immerse myself in his story, I need to read and remember the comments the author left on the forum or in the Discord. The content that is outside of the game. Everything else seems small, minor inconsistencies in the plot due to reworking the game, typos, coding errors, all this has little effect on the overall impression of the game, at least for me.
Sometimes I had to stop, take a deep breath and repeat to myself that this is still a work in progress, the story has not even reached the halfway point (32 chapters, huh?) And then I recall another hint from the author, that many things that are incomprehensible now will become clear much later in the plot or even acquire a completely different meaning in the context of information from later chapters. Examples of the last statement has already begun to appear in the game. What do you think now of the scene where Nojiko and Amber introducing to each other before the MC's very first therapy session, given that we know now that they knew each other long before that moment? The old hags are performing an act in front of the MC, for what reason?
Putting that aside, sometimes I feel like the guy you were responding to, I just want to scream, “What the fuck are you talking about, Ocean?” when reading some of the conversations between characters or seeing some set of disjointed scenes. But I don't do this because not every story is linear and not every addition to it contains enough information to understand it in the context of the entire story. In the first season, the author mostly scatters pieces of the puzzle, and I think he will begin to put them together into the overall picture much later. But what if... what if we knew from the start that Tyler was Edward Norton?
Well, yeah. I see all these intertwined threads, plots, arcs in the game and know they are developing. It obviously helps to know a little bit about WIAB to comprehend some of the things in happening in SG. Other than that, I don't think I've needed an out-of-game reveal or explanation by Ocean to understand what's happening in SG (other than understanding some of the German-English).
For me, the biggest helpful takeaway Ocean has stated outside the game is:
I see this happening multiple times in the game already, including Chapter 5 (i.e. things revealed depending if you kissed Nami at the end of Ch 4.5 or visited Nia in Ch 5). I understand the subtleties in the game because of that statement, and know it takes multiple playthroughs to bring those subtleties out. Thus, a player has to put in a lot of EFFORT to explore and understand/comprehend things. So what?
Ocean is trying to peel back the layers of an onion, not reveal the answers to all plot mysteries in Chapter 1.
His approach is fuckin' ambitious, since it leads to complex, cascading variables (and a coding nightmare). I hope he can pull it off (I will never blithely opine that he can't).
Work-in-Progress... enough said. Only two things ultimately matter - can Ocean complete at least a sizeable portion of both games before the heat death of the universe and, if done, will they be polished (spelling/grammar, coding)? No one can truthfully answer that (although many on this forum love to offer their opinion). A couple of things have been constant from the beginning - Ocean has warned the game won't have sex for a long while, and Ocean has laid out his vision for the number of Chapters to the end. If Ocean was a milker, none of this would have been revealed. Is game development (i.e. time between updates) slower than most would like, considering the number of proposed chapters? Hell, yeah! But there are many quality games on this site with slow update cycles.
I get that this game rubs up the Don't-Make-Me-Think-I-Just-Wanna-Quick-Wank brigade the wrong way, especially after the reworks. Fine, there are other games on F95 to turn to.
I get that this game rubs up those enticed by the original darker/taboo game tags the wrong way. Bad luck that happened, seriously. But it's time to move on.
I try many (and by no means all) games on this forum all the time. Some I really like, some I don't. I move on from those I personally don't like.
What I do not do is troll threads of games I don't like all the time, calling the Dev a milker or calling fans of that game 'simps" (While I don't personally go gaga over female characters in AVNs, I don't mock or demean those that do).
There's one game I liked that, at least in my opinion, went downhill after a great start. I offered my criticism to the Dev like an adult and had an exchange of views with them. After that, I moved on.
I like that this thread has contributions from people who don't like the game, provided they are presented rationally and are not low-rent/low-effort barbs. Some make me think, some I might agree with (at least in part), and some I will disagree with.
It's OK to wonder or question if Ocean's approach to production is sustainable or if the games will see an end. It's not OK to pass judgement without valid evidence that Ocean is a milker and that the games WILL never be finished.
Not sure if I follow, you mean that Sasha wanted to say that Nika deserve to be kissed?
Well this is an interesting way to read this dialog
But I'm going with the classic interpretation that Sasha means that Zara and Nadia won't be happy that Robin ratted them out, and that the MC deserves to be punished for what he did to them.
Yes,Sasha say that maybe he deserved punishment.Dialog will be different if you don't kiss Bella.Some people though that this was because Sasha could have some grudge against Bella.My though that Sasha thinks that Nika deserves punishment not because that he kiss Bella,but because HE kiss someone and if it was someone else Sasha would still say that he deserves.
