Malicre

Well-Known Member
Oct 23, 2018
1,201
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I feel you. Not in this game but in other games I have the same effect "I hope I could ignore the annoying and ugly character A, but I need to seduce her to get on B's good side and/or move the main plot forward", even in some of my favorite games. However, if a game has an overarcing plot and if the characters and you play a role in it, it is probably unavoidable without writing what amounts to umpteen different stories to get to the same content in the multiple versions of which girls you went how far with.

E. g. if you ignored Gracie, the chemistry between the two of you would be different, so many scenes would have to change somewhat, then again for if you ignored Luna, then if you ignored both. That's already 4 different approaches, not complete rewrites each time, but quite a few lines and new renders without opening plot holes. And that's just the beginning. Assume you were still in Gracie's good graces at "The Punishment" but left them by "I'll protect you", then it would be different from what would happen if you ignored her from the beginning. The only alternative would be cutting any connection and tracebacks off the game altogether, which would mean it would not so much be an overarcing story, more like in early TV series one episode and back to status quo.

Which can be done of course, many of those series are great in their own right, and there's no reason why a VN/sandbox game shouldn't pull it off, either, and some do. But here it is obvious that Hopes is aiming for an overarcing story, so it is unrealistic to have this kind of choice.
To be fair i would rather have options then to not have any at all. Halfway house is a good game but it triggers the hell out of me with it being a "forced" ending route with the worst girl in the game. Once i found out that there was only 1 end girl even tho you could romance multiple lovers during the game i dropped it and never even gave it a second glance.
 

Roelandt

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Jul 10, 2020
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Yeah I liked the quests of Gracie, learning how to make friends, going out, but after that is just pure silliness that can't be ignored because it's all lineal with sometimes a red choice that let's you play a bit (which doesn't really do a lot to the story because you are still going to flirt with him), I don't want to ignore Gracie but also don't want to flirt with her, there isn't anything in between, not a choice.
I'm not sure I understand your concern. In Mario Cart you can't choose to be a pit boss. In Mortal Kombat you can't choose to be a grocery store clerk instead of fighting. This game is not Sandbox, neither are most games in this genre. They are essentially virtual novels telling a story; the Player occasionally directing the protagonist. You aren't playing yourself. The MC is another person.

When watching Fellowship of the Ring, at the beginning you don't get angry because you wanted to give the Ring to Gandalf. You can't. You're not Frodo. You're the audience.

These games are unique in that the immersion is heavy. You get emotionally involved more than most games formats out there. But don't forget, we aren't in the drivers seat. We are along for the ride, with occasionally branches in the story to decide which direction to take. From there, we're back to the passenger role, and enjoying the show.
 

c3p0

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Respected User
Nov 20, 2017
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When watching Fellowship of the Ring, at the beginning you don't get angry because you wanted to give the Ring to Gandalf. You can't. You're not Frodo. You're the audience.
Overall I agree with you. But you very much can be angry for this. This are your emotions, your point of view. The difference would be to be angry at the plot or to demand that Tolkien should write the story where the Ring would be given to Gandalf. This is the essential point.
 
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Roelandt

Member
Jul 10, 2020
255
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Overall I agree with you. But you very much can be angry for this. This are your emotions, your point of view. The difference would be to be angry at the plot or to demand that Tolkien should right the story where the Ring would be given to Gandalf. This is the essential point.
I'm not referring to the anger of wanting to give the Ring away. I'm referring to the anger that you cannot change the story to make Frodo give the Ring away.
 
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Mortarion

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Donor
Oct 22, 2017
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Development Update #32
Hey DeLucas!

Have gotten far with the rescue arc but unfortunately a lot of days were lost due to real life. (lot's of visit from family and other things but nothing serious). But mostly days lost due to mental block and brainstorming.

So many small details that I haven't thought of in the new systems that halt my progress. That's why I am a bit more careful of giving proper eta's this time around. This is a complete mainframe change and old save game won't work. Once everything has been solved and the wheels all align and goes around as usual, work will be as normal again. But being very very careful. I don't want to make a mistake that would ruin something that would make save game not work again or make the gameplay totally unplayable etc.

Will rather take the extra time now than having something go wrong down the line due to rushing it. Anyway, slowly figured it all out and working again. In retrospect, whenever I get to a spot that I can't figure out I should move on and get back to it after a while instead of spending so much time trying to solve it without any progress. It is one of my weaknesses that I really need to improve on!
Big thanks for Quenix for helping me whenever I get stuck with the new codes!

Sorry for the boring update post and will double up the work!
This time there will be a text preview and a preview from the house meeting.
Oh, and there will be a more spoilery preview tomorrow for the spoiler tier and it's on the lewd side.
Fight - fight - fight! Violence is the will of god! :
Is stealing really a sin? :
 

JJJ84

Engaged Member
Dec 24, 2018
3,046
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I feel you. Not in this game but in other games I have the same effect "I hope I could ignore the annoying and ugly character A, but I need to seduce her to get on B's good side and/or move the main plot forward", even in some of my favorite games. However, if a game has an overarcing plot and if the characters and you play a role in it, it is probably unavoidable without writing what amounts to umpteen different stories to get to the same content in the multiple versions of which girls you went how far with.

E. g. if you ignored Gracie, the chemistry between the two of you would be different, so many scenes would have to change somewhat, then again for if you ignored Luna, then if you ignored both. That's already 4 different approaches, not complete rewrites each time, but quite a few lines and new renders without opening plot holes. And that's just the beginning. Assume you were still in Gracie's good graces at "The Punishment" but left them by "I'll protect you", then it would be different from what would happen if you ignored her from the beginning. The only alternative would be cutting any connection and tracebacks off the game altogether, which would mean it would not so much be an overarcing story, more like in early TV series one episode and back to status quo.

Which can be done of course, many of those series are great in their own right, and there's no reason why a VN/sandbox game shouldn't pull it off, either, and some do. But here it is obvious that Hopes is aiming for an overarcing story, so it is unrealistic to have this kind of choice.
While I wouldn't say Gracie is my favorite character (my favorites go as Luna in first place, followed by Cordia, then third place equals being Gracie & Isabel), but I still find both Gracie and Isabel really endearing.

I just feel in this game, all girls developing deep bond and romantic feelings towards the MC feels more like a natural progression than just going on solo route (this is complete contrast to other games, for e.g. Being A DIK, where I currently have basically multiple saves with each girl's path).
Also, there's the fact that I don't normally like missing out on content (for example, some players decided to not pursue Isabel netori path, but I did [even though I like Antonio] because I just don't like missing out).

Assuming we have MC pursuing all the main girls to the foreseeable future, that does leave me wondering about the endings (yeah I know, I know. It does look like I'm jumping the gun, especially that it will be a loooong, loooong time until DeLuca comes to an end. But in my defense, this is a topic that I've seen discussed several times previously by folks).

Some people wish to see the harem ending, and I wouldn't mind it.
But I would also love to see solo-Luna ending. Other girls' solo ending, while I wouldn't be quite as invested as Luna, would still pique my interest quite a bit as well (regarding the community, it seems it's pretty split regarding this).

So it's gonna be interesting how the story develops in terms of relationships. Will there come a time where MC is made to choose who to continue his relationships with (branches which locks out relationships with girls he didn't choose and fully committing solo to that specific girl), or will it continue like this but all girls loving MC (to the harem ending path).

Guess only time (in what Hopes decides regarding that) will tell.
 
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Malicre

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Oct 23, 2018
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While I wouldn't say Gracie is my favorite character (my favorites go as Luna in first place, followed by Cordia, then third place equals being Gracie & Isabel), but I still find both Gracie and Isabel really endearing.

I just feel in this game, all girls developing deep bond and romantic feelings towards the MC feels more like a natural progression than just going on solo route (this is complete contrast to other games, for e.g. Being A DIK, where I currently have basically multiple saves with each girl's path).
Also, there's the fact that I don't normally like missing out on content (for example, some players decided to not pursue Isabel netori path, but I did [even though I like Antonio] because I just don't like missing out).

Assuming we have MC pursuing all the main girls to the foreseeable future, that does leave me wondering about the endings (yeah I know, I know. It does look like I'm jumping the gun, especially that it will be a loooong, loooong time until DeLuca comes to an end. But in my defense, this is a topic that I've seen discussed several times previously by folks).

Some people wish to see the harem ending, and I wouldn't mind it.
But I would also love to see solo-Luna ending. Other girls' solo ending, while I wouldn't be quite as invested as Luna, would still pique my interest quite a bit as well (regarding the community, it seems it's pretty split regarding this).

So it's gonna be interesting how the story develops in terms of relationships. Will there come a time where MC is made to choose who to continue his relationships with (branches which locks out relationships with girls he didn't choose and fully committing solo to that specific girl), or will it continue like this but all girls loving MC (to the harem ending path).

Guess only time (in what Hopes decides regarding that) will tell.
I've always said that there's only 3 canonical endings that would make sense considering how the story has been built up so far.

#1: Luna Solo
#2: Harem ending with MC taking over as head of the family
#3: MC sacrificing himself to save someone or the family

We still have yet to see if Cynthia, Assassin Girl or His Best Friends Sister will be LI's so we can't include them into this talk since we don't know anything about them yet. I'm super interested to see Cynthia as all the girls in this game are gorgeous so she more then likely won't be different in that regard, i just hope shes not married to the other unknown serpent.

Obviously my opinion can/will change as more routes/arcs are unlocked but that's just how i feel at this current update.
 
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Jimayo

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Jan 1, 2018
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I've always said that there's only 3 canonical endings that would make sense considering how the story has been built up so far.

#1: Luna Solo
#2: Harem ending with MC taking over as head of the family
#3: MC sacrificing himself to save someone or the family

We still have yet to see if Cynthia, Assassin Girl or His Best Friends Sister will be LI's so we can't include them into this talk since we don't know anything about them yet. I'm super interested to see Cynthia as all the girls in this game are gorgeous so she more then likely won't be different in that regard, i just hope shes not married to the other unknown serpent.

Obviously my opinion can/will change as more routes/arcs are unlocked but that's just how i feel at this current update.
Considering how tight Luna and Gracie are I could easily see them wishing to share the MC since neither would want to hurt the other by taking away the man they love.
 

Abhai

Devoted Member
Sep 12, 2018
8,956
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I've always said that there's only 3 canonical endings that would make sense considering how the story has been built up so far.

#1: Luna Solo
#2: Harem ending with MC taking over as head of the family
#3: MC sacrificing himself to save someone or the family

We still have yet to see if Cynthia, Assassin Girl or His Best Friends Sister will be LI's so we can't include them into this talk since we don't know anything about them yet. I'm super interested to see Cynthia as all the girls in this game are gorgeous so she more then likely won't be different in that regard, i just hope shes not married to the other unknown serpent.

Obviously my opinion can/will change as more routes/arcs are unlocked but that's just how i feel at this current update.
We're just talking hunches, I know, but I don't understand how a Luna solo should be more likely than a Gracie solo.
and that harem ending is more like a wish of some players, than game reality.
i dont see mc sacrificing himself also, that would be too much..though it it still more realistic than harem ending imo.
 
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Jimayo

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Jan 1, 2018
1,473
1,721
and that harem ending is more like a wish of some players, than game reality.
i dont see mc sacrificing himself also, that would be too much..though it it still more realistic than harem ending imo.
Yeah, I don't see that being likely at all. Unless Anthony is eliminated...
 
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