Ren'Py Abandoned The DeLuca Family [Season 1] [HopesGaming]

[Wisblade]

Well, when a huge part of the gameplay changes, due to the code change saves obviously won't work. Several great games went through restarts such as Summer's Gone, Where it All Began, City of Broken Dreamers. So DeLuca definitely isn't the first game to go through something like this, and it definitely won't be the last (and I'm no expert, but I just don't see how Devs will use "import old saves" especially if they are no longer compatible to the new code. I mean even if it somehow works, just seems like a lot of hassle for something the player can solve with fast ctrl skip and an online walkthrough).

Grind really isn't all that bad in the game I think. There is a little bit in the beginning, but as the player goes through more events MC starts earning more money and with better equipment Contracts do get easier to do.

But if the player really doesn't like the gameplay, well the game does give you the option to choose "VN style only" to opt out of the gameplay altogether.

To be honest, if I want a grinding game, I'll go to replay the whole "Final Fantasy" serie... I won't target a VN or VN-like game. I don't mind to grind, seriously - I've played enough RPG for be sure of that. When I play a puzzle game, I don't mind to be stuck for hours on a level.

But here, we're on a "story game"... A lot of text, and not all games here have sexual content - this game don't have a lot of sex and it doesn't matter at all. Grinding is annoying, a "trigger event" should be enough - you do the mission, you get the whole stuff "for free" so playing all missions ONCE is enough.
Free roaming and so on is often fun, but why so much games don't have any hint system?
When we have a choice, why we so often need a mod to have a clue on the consequences? I've played games where it's absolutely AWFUL to get all endings because of one fucking choice in the first ten screens - and the consequences one hour later.

Having a choice between "full game" and "VN mode" isn't a solution - I won't play "VN mode" just because I may miss something, and it's even more annoying than grinding again.

There is technical solutions to import data, but I highly doubt that Ren'Py provides such features. Anyway, it's always annoying to restart a game, whatever reason is behind.

 

[JJJ84]

To be honest, if I want a grinding game, I'll go to replay the whole "Final Fantasy" serie... I won't target a VN or VN-like game. I don't mind to grind, seriously - I've played enough RPG for be sure of that. When I play a puzzle game, I don't mind to be stuck for hours on a level.

But here, we're on a "story game"... A lot of text, and not all games here have sexual content - this game don't have a lot of sex and it doesn't matter at all. Grinding is annoying, a "trigger event" should be enough - you do the mission, you get the whole stuff "for free" so playing all missions ONCE is enough.
Free roaming and so on is often fun, but why so much games don't have any hint system?
When we have a choice, why we so often need a mod to have a clue on the consequences? I've played games where it's absolutely AWFUL to get all endings because of one fucking choice in the first ten screens - and the consequences one hour later.

Having a choice between "full game" and "VN mode" isn't a solution - I won't play "VN mode" just because I may miss something, and it's even more annoying than grinding again.

There is technical solutions to import data, but I highly doubt that Ren'Py provides such features. Anyway, it's always annoying to restart a game, whatever reason is behind.

So,

You're unhappy that you're having to repeat these Contracts more than once?
You don't like it that there's no import data system from your old saves?

I mean if repeating Contracts annoys you that much, i don't really know what to say to be honest.

Hopes' said from very early on when he was giving these Contracts an overhaul, those who don't like the gameplay can just opt for VN mode.
But saying these Contracts should be played just once (which I'm guessing what you're implying in your post with your examples), that would just contradict the core structure of the way these contracts are set up as (i.e. the whole point of them).

I mean I was like you when I first began these contracts, I thought everything can be unlocked or 100% all in one go. But that is not the case at all nor the way it's meant to be played with DeLucas Contracts structure.
The player is not supposed to be all strong enough (in terms of stats of his attributes) to be able to go through everything unlocking it all in their first try.
The game encourages replay with better equipment (through contract's reward or from shops), increased stats (from the main game's events etc).
So what you're wanting is not really a plausible option lol.

It feels like you're saying you don't want to repeat these contracts on one hand, yet you don't want to miss out on the gameplay either. Well, sorry to say, you're out of luck there.
Whichever way it goes. you're bound to be disappointed in your case (guess best thing you can do is fast ctrl skip through everything in the contracts repeats? But if you do that, you miss out on reading some of the good contract stories such as the True Ending of "The Painter" contract).

And as I've said in my previous reply, even if there is solutions to import data (if somehow it even is possible with Ren'py), I just don't see it being worth it from the Devs' side. A lot of hassle for them, yes, yet very little to gain in terms of benefiting the game itself.

 

[Deleted member 2237150]

I am way into the game. I am doing "The Magic Touch" part in Gracie, It says to check the video. I do not have the cameras, I do not see purchase cameras on my laptop. Is there a way to buy the cameras?

Thanks

 

[Cabin Fever]

Finally finished v0.07.1. Here are my random musings. Sorry if they've been mentioned before. There are simply too many posts since the release to read them all.

Spoiler: Random musings

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[BayJay47]

wow, all old saves dead? Big f. I liked this game but I'm probably not going to grind through it again just to get back to where I was.

 

[Cabin Fever]

wow, all old saves dead? Big f. I liked this game but I'm probably not going to grind through it again just to get back to where I was.

It's been well publicized that old saves will not work for months. Your loss if you don't want to start over.

 

[Wisblade]

So what you're wanting is not really a plausible option lol.

Yeah, it's more logic to rob the same item twice, to escort the same guy for the same event, and why not to kill the same guy twice...
More seriously, it's not a MedFan world with magic, resurrection and respawns... But whatever.

Think about it another way: your save is mostly a matter of what stuff you have, the main paths you chose, and what you triggered - considering that you went to the full end of the last version. You really, really think it's impossible to import? Or to ask questions about this? You never used a savefile editor for Ren'Py to see how much it isn't a technical problem?
Ren'Py don't help devs for that, OK, but it isn't a real, huge problem - but it starts to be a problem to break saves when the game is quite advanced. Skipping with "Ctrl" don't work for unread text - and you know that this isn't kept well between updates - OR you need to enable "Skip all" - therefore you'll miss new texts, and it MAY be a real problem if game structure is heavily changed.

But if you don't want to understand, OK. Game is interesting enough to not drop it only because of that, and if it happens only once. But I already dropped games because of that - they weren't interesting enough to replay them, OR they were too complex/long to endure it again.

I play for FUN. Not for being annoyed. If it's not your case, you MAY have missed something...

EDIT: If you're old enough, think about gamebooks... You were able to play/read them without dices, just by deciding that you won each fight without doing the real combat. You were also able to get back in the story (like Ren'Py games, BTW) when a wrong path was chosen. Most enigmas were possible to solve without finding the real clues. And it was fun. That's how a VN game SHOULD be possible to play - if the player want it easy, without grinding, without replaying the game N times to see all ends, without hard enigmas, it SHOULD be possible.

 

[JJJ84]

Finally finished v0.07.1. Here are my random musings. Sorry if they've been mentioned before. There are simply too many posts since the release to read them all.

Spoiler: Random musings

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Regarding the 3 soldatos, well DeLucas is one of the big 5, so I'd imagine there are several hundreds (?) of Soldatos in the Family.
Hence I guess we can't always expect to see them (Only soldatos I remember seeing or mentioned are Trino & Leo [from Beach Prison event, being Antonio's soldiers] & soldatos that had to be saved from Caterina from a Fazio soldier in Straffan mission).

Probably there are Soldatos under other Capos, Elite Soldatos etc out there doing other missions for the Family that doesn't involve the MC.

One thing is for sure. Hopes did say that MC will go to the mountains with the 4 Serpents to train with his rival in the future, and that rival I'm guessing will be Dominico.

 

[JJJ84]

Yeah, it's more logic to rob the same item twice, to escort the same guy for the same event, and why not to kill the same guy twice...
More seriously, it's not a MedFan world with magic, resurrection and respawns... But whatever.

Think about it another way: your save is mostly a matter of what stuff you have, the main paths you chose, and what you triggered - considering that you went to the full end of the last version. You really, really think it's impossible to import? Or to ask questions about this? You never used a savefile editor for Ren'Py to see how much it isn't a technical problem?
Ren'Py don't help devs for that, OK, but it isn't a real, huge problem - but it starts to be a problem to break saves when the game is quite advanced. Skipping with "Ctrl" don't work for unread text - and you know that this isn't kept well between updates - OR you need to enable "Skip all" - therefore you'll miss new texts, and it MAY be a real problem if game structure is heavily changed.

But if you don't want to understand, OK. Game is interesting enough to not drop it only because of that, and if it happens only once. But I already dropped games because of that - they weren't interesting enough to replay them, OR they were too complex/long to endure it again.

I play for FUN. Not for being annoyed. If it's not your case, you MAY have missed something...

Look I'm not saying DeLuca's gameplay system is perfect, but doing it only once and getting everything in that one try would make no sense for MC to have stats at all.
Actually, doing so would make the entire gameplay pretty much moot.
I mean why even bother with the gameplay at all in that case? The player's MC is meant to grow stronger after initial failures in these contracts and do better in their retries of them with better equipment or stats at the shop (as I said before, and saying it again lol).
And sure, it's not a Fantasy game, but still if you're really questioning the logics behind it, why hasn't MC been found out yet for doing all these naughty things to the girls in the house such as living room etc, where anyone can clearly see without privacy?

If you only look at above example with logic, it won't make sense, but all players accept it because it's part of the game's structure, not because it's something logical.
It's the same thing with Contracts. From only the logics standpoint, it makes no sense for MC to repeat the same contract more than once yes, but people accept it because that's how the gameplay is structured and the base in which Contracts are built on, doing better with retries.

I'm no expert in coding, or even ren'py but what Hopes said was pretty clear (and this was at least 3 months or so ago): there is too much change of code with the overhaul with these Contracts and previous saves are just NOT compatible at all to continue, and everyone will need to start again. And sure there were few people disappointed with it but everyone basically accepted it and moved on (perhaps you should have asked Hopes himself this question back then).

And yes, I'm fine with restarts to games if they're justified. Not because I play to be annoyed (questioning whether I play for fun or not? lol), but because I love the game in general, and because I think things that are getting changed making me restart are worth it.
Cause if I drop the game just cause I get a even a bit annoyed with it, well I'd imagine there would be whole bunch of great games out there in this site that I'd be missing out on just because I got impatient with them.

There are things that I do wish improved with the DeLucas contracts (Which I already posted about to Hopes), but I just don't think "making them once 100% playthroughs" or "save import" would be any of them. For me, they just feel like waste of Hopes time and resources that could be better spent elsewhere.

 

[jaw1986baby]

Yeah, it's more logic to rob the same item twice, to escort the same guy for the same event, and why not to kill the same guy twice...
More seriously, it's not a MedFan world with magic, resurrection and respawns... But whatever.

Think about it another way: your save is mostly a matter of what stuff you have, the main paths you chose, and what you triggered - considering that you went to the full end of the last version. You really, really think it's impossible to import? Or to ask questions about this? You never used a savefile editor for Ren'Py to see how much it isn't a technical problem?
Ren'Py don't help devs for that, OK, but it isn't a real, huge problem - but it starts to be a problem to break saves when the game is quite advanced. Skipping with "Ctrl" don't work for unread text - and you know that this isn't kept well between updates - OR you need to enable "Skip all" - therefore you'll miss new texts, and it MAY be a real problem if game structure is heavily changed.

But if you don't want to understand, OK. Game is interesting enough to not drop it only because of that, and if it happens only once. But I already dropped games because of that - they weren't interesting enough to replay them, OR they were too complex/long to endure it again.

I play for FUN. Not for being annoyed. If it's not your case, you MAY have missed something...

EDIT: If you're old enough, think about gamebooks... You were able to play/read them without dices, just by deciding that you won each fight without doing the real combat. You were also able to get back in the story (like Ren'Py games, BTW) when a wrong path was chosen. Most enigmas were possible to solve without finding the real clues. And it was fun. That's how a VN game SHOULD be possible to play - if the player want it easy, without grinding, without replaying the game N times to see all ends, without hard enigmas, it SHOULD be possible.

You have your old saves. Start this master editing. Share them here when you are done.

 

[whichone]

I had no problem with restarting. I enjoyed the story, so enjoyed replaying through and getting to know everyone properly, again.
I accept that the rewrite and restructure of the game made old saves incompatible.

If other people don't want to, or dont enjoy doing replaying it, so stop playing, that's up to them.
I think they're cutting their nose off to spite their face & depriving themselves of a good story/game.

Not much point entering conversation about it. They've made their mind up.
Cheerio & good luck with other games.

 

[Vertius]

I'm sorry if this has been answered a thousand times, I tried looking for an answer back in the thread though I couldn't find one (though it could be I just didn't look hard enough, wouldn't be the first time lol) but what are the requirements to peak on Luna and Gracie? I remember in the old version there were multiple versions, each getting progressively more lewd as you progressed, but after the first one in this replay, I've only been getting an option to "leave" when trying to peak on them.

 

[JJJ84]

I'm sorry if this has been answered a thousand times, I tried looking for an answer back in the thread though I couldn't find one (though it could be I just didn't look hard enough, wouldn't be the first time lol) but what are the requirements to peak on Luna and Gracie? I remember in the old version there were multiple versions, each getting progressively more lewd as you progressed, but after the first one in this replay, I've only been getting an option to "leave" when trying to peak on them.

To peek at them in your bathroom, you've got to meet certain stealth stat requirement.
Don't remember how much though (increase your stealth stat through doing contracts and equipping items you gain from contracts or buy from the shop).
I just remember checking the bathroom almost every time I am back in MC's room lol (though if I remember correctly, if the bathroom image of the girl is updated, MC does say to himself either "Luna is in the bathroom" or "Gracie is in the bathroom").

 

[whichone]

I have gained numerous Painkillers from the dog, in Nimble Fingers. He's returned at least 8 times.
The number in my inventory never rose above 1.
I gained 2 Energy Pills from the rescue mission.
I have never used either of these items.
My inventory shows zero for both.

I presume that Painkillers are HP & Energy Pills are MP?
Do they get used automatically? Wondered if perhaps the fight with the quasi-capo might have consumed them.

 

[JJJ84]

I have gained numerous Painkillers from the dog, in Nimble Fingers. He's returned at least 8 times.
The number in my inventory never rose above 1.
I gained 2 Energy Pills from the rescue mission.
I have never used either of these items.
My inventory shows zero for both.

I presume that Painkillers are HP & Energy Pills are MP?
Do they get used automatically? Wondered if perhaps the fight with the quasi-capo might have consumed them.

Painkiller for HP, Energy Pills for I'm guessing Stamina.
$150 for Painkillers and $300 for Energy pills.

Initially before I knew the price I thought about investing some $ into them but now that I know, I don't know.
Seems pretty hefty of price (that might be better spent elsewhere in the future).

 

[whichone]

Painkiller for HP, Energy Pills for I'm guessing Stamina.
$150 for Painkillers and $300 for Energy pills.

Initially before I knew the price I thought about investing some $ into them but now that I know, I don't know.
Seems pretty hefty of price (that might be better spent elsewhere in the future).

Phew, that's steep! $300 when I can go to the tavern, for free?
OK, so it maybe saves me a hangover...

 

[gaylord6969lesbian]

This game is so fucking good broooo from the story to the character development. i'm really looking forward for the next update

 

[mr.rooter]

Well this update was a bit disappointing after such a long wait

 

[whichone]

Well this update was a bit disappointing after such a long wait

That's a shame. Why do you think so?

I thought us gaining our first soldier was pretty cool (even if it's not official).
I also enjoyed the introduction to The Scorpion Princess, the Sisters, discovering High Five's connection to Eiza.
The new contract system was early days, but 1/5 tells a good story and takes you on a developing journey.
The others are vehicles to earn cash.

 

[mr.rooter]

That's a shame. Why do you think so?

I thought us gaining our first soldier was pretty cool (even if it's not official).
I also enjoyed the introduction to The Scorpion Princess, the Sisters, discovering High Five's connection to Eiza.
The new contract system was early days, but 1/5 tells a good story and takes you on a journey.
The others are vehicles to earn cash.

Dont get me wrong, it still think its a great game, i just felt for the extremely long gap between last update and this, not much content was added.