VN Ren'Py The Neverwhere Tales [v0.4.0] [Ceolag]

[Grumpy Old Aussie]

Damn GoA...you're as bad as me...it's what 2am there now? Get some sleep man

Nearly 2am. I usually go to bed about 11 and read until 2am and pop in to a few places here and there, so not too far away from sleep.

Yeah. Shit sucks. But we roll with the punches and keep on keepin on.

That we do mate, that we do.

Yup...Fiona while ok (again..token sexy redhead so will always be popular)...there's really only Elea who has been straight and honest with you. Everyone else is a schemer, lies to you or witholds pertinant information from you. I love this VN...but it's a pattern in VN's and being forced to go along with all their bullshit grates me because in real life, no matter how fucking hot you are, I'm done sweetheart and moving on.

So, I suppose in reality, even forget Elea (whole work problem shit and her reservations in general)...best girl really has to be Anissa imo. No strings, hot as hell, no lies...no commitment...no issues...no drama...

Anissa FTW!

VNs have their pitfalls and I find somethings you just have to put up with. Its the nature of the genre.

Elea is my No1 of the 4 love interests. I'm giving Fiona and Medb a chance. Kaija is well and truly on my shit list. There are others I like but they aren't part of the 4 main LIs, like the boss is hot as! Wow.

Fiona I think will turn out to be a good girl, maybe even better than Elea once she gets her shit together. I confess I do like a cute redhead. I don't mind a strong independent woman like Medb appears to be as long as what you see is what you get. I can tolerate a lot more secrets and quirks from her because that is what she is all about. Its no secret she has secrets. She is upfront about it, hence why I can cut Fiona some slack, she admits she has secrets. MC can at least walk in to Medb and Fiona's situation knowing what the story is and you get to decide if they are worth the trouble. Kaija and the Templars did secrets the wrong way. You can never trust people who claim to be your loved ones on one hand while deceiving you with the other hand. The next difficult situation they will do it again if you let them off the hook and don't hold them to account. I know its a VN, but I try to play as close to real reactions as I can. It brings me closer to the content and characters.

 

[Grumpy Old Aussie]

Having said that, one of the beauties of this game is how Ceolag has crafted Positive/Neutral/Negative responses to many of the player choices presented. That gives plenty of leeway to players in how they respond to Fiona not wanting to share her story.

That is a major factor that distinguishes Ceolag's work from others and really got me attached to Neverwhere. Some times you want to be pissed with a character and say so.

I was playing another VN recently, the wife had just explained how she had been deceiving you for months. 4 possible answers, 3 were different variations of "I forgive you" and the 4th was I'm going to the pub, MC returns and forgives her, arrrggghhhh. Drives me nuts.

I really appreciate Ceolag's efforts to do something outside the VN box. I can't wait to buy it on Steam and watch this game evolve. If he messes up the elves though, we may have to apply to him the same forms of punishment the Templars suffered at the hands of the King of France and the Pope , just joking. Ceolag will do an excellent job I'm sure.

 

[Defenestrator.for.traitor]

I was playing another VN recently, the wife had just explained how she had been deceiving you for months. 4 possible answers, 3 were different variations of "I forgive you" and the 4th was I'm going to the pub, MC returns and forgives her, arrrggghhhh. Drives me nuts.

Could you mind to share the name of that abomination so we can steer clear of it, thanks in advance.

I really appreciate Ceolag's efforts to do something outside the VN box. I can't wait to buy it on Steam and watch this game evolve. If he messes up the elves though, we may have to apply to him the same forms of punishment the Templars suffered at the hands of the King of France and the Pope , just joking. Ceolag will do an excellent job I'm sure.

Me too mate, I'd love to own this game on steam. I also agree what Ceolag creating right now is extraordinary. He uses common fantasy ideas like elves, succubi etc. but he has own version of them which makes it unique also historical elements like templars and merge them into modern day world beautifully.

I can't wait to see Templars suffer in the hands of MC.

 

[Grumpy Old Aussie]

Could you mind to share the name of that abomination so we can steer clear of it, thanks in advance.

Its not a bad game, it was just that particular main event that was disappointing so I don't want to tarnish it. The devs are good guys, just struggling.

Me too mate, I'd love to own this game on steam. I also agree what Ceolag creating right now is extraordinary. He uses common fantasy ideas like elves, succubi etc. but he has own version of them which makes it unique also historical elements like templars and merge them into modern day world beautifully.

I can't wait to see Templars suffer in the hands of MC.

View attachment 3237984

I'm looking forward to how the rest of the story plays out. I don't want to push Ceolag as I want him to take the time he needs to continue his great work, but at the same time I want to scream at him to hurry up . Us humans are never satisfied.

 

[Grumpy Old Aussie]

Damn GoA...you're as bad as me...it's what 2am there now? Get some sleep man

I tossed and turned for two hours but no sleep for me tonight. Pain levels are up. I hope you have a better night.

 

[Defenestrator.for.traitor]

Its not a bad game, it was just that particular main event that was disappointing so I don't want to tarnish it. The devs are good guys, just struggling.

 

[Maviarab]

Get GoA to pm you with it...then you can Pm me with it..then I can go...ohh..already played and discarded

 

[Ceolag]

One of the new characters in Chapter 5.

I was playing another VN recently, the wife had just explained how she had been deceiving you for months. 4 possible answers, 3 were different variations of "I forgive you" and the 4th was I'm going to the pub, MC returns and forgives her, arrrggghhhh. Drives me nuts.

What's wrong with going to the pub?
I get what you're saying. Essentially it's a fake choice because all options end the same way.
From a Dev perspective, I understand how you end there. Happens to me too, but I usually remove that kind of choice.
You want to give the player options because you know not everyone will be happy with how you set up the story, but the story itself prevents a "real" choice. In this case, the story probably needs the MC to forgive.
It's a balancing act that a lot of VN's fail at (at least sometimes). If you're too story-focused, players complain about a kinetic novel. If you overdo the choices, people will complain about fake choices.

I had a similar problem with Kaija being your guide for Neverwhere. The story needs her to be with you because all other options don't make sense.
I also had a choice there but the result was always "back to Kaija". So I removed it and rewrote it a bit to make MC focus on his primary goal at that moment (getting his father back) instead of questioning the details.

That doesn't mean all choices should have consequences or be meaningful but in critical situations, you either give a real choice or leave it out altogether. At least, that's what I'm trying to do.

Its not a bad game, it was just that particular main event that was disappointing so I don't want to tarnish it. The devs are good guys, just struggling.


I'm looking forward to how the rest of the story plays out. I don't want to push Ceolag as I want him to take the time he needs to continue his great work, but at the same time I want to scream at him to hurry up . Us humans are never satisfied.

Trust me, I'm the one who screams the loudest.

 

[daxil94]

View attachment 3238452

One of the new characters in Chapter 5.




What's wrong with going to the pub?
I get what you're saying. Essentially it's a fake choice because all options end the same way.
From a Dev perspective, I understand how you end there. Happens to me too, but I usually remove that kind of choice.
You want to give the player options because you know not everyone will be happy with how you set up the story, but the story itself prevents a "real" choice. In this case, the story probably needs the MC to forgive.
It's a balancing act that a lot of VN's fail at (at least sometimes). If you're too story-focused, players complain about a kinetic novel. If you overdo the choices, people will complain about fake choices.

I had a similar problem with Kaija being your guide for Neverwhere. The story needs her to be with you because all other options don't make sense.
I also had a choice there but the result was always "back to Kaija". So I removed it and rewrote it a bit to make MC focus on his primary goal at that moment (getting his father back) instead of questioning the details.

That doesn't mean all choices should have consequences or be meaningful but in critical situations, you either give a real choice or leave it out altogether. At least, that's what I'm trying to do.




Trust me, I'm the one who screams the loudest.

Hell Yeah, at last elf waifus.

 

[Defenestrator.for.traitor]

One of the new characters in Chapter 5.

What's wrong with going to the pub?
I get what you're saying. Essentially it's a fake choice because all options end the same way.
From a Dev perspective, I understand how you end there. Happens to me too, but I usually remove that kind of choice.
You want to give the player options because you know not everyone will be happy with how you set up the story, but the story itself prevents a "real" choice. In this case, the story probably needs the MC to forgive.
It's a balancing act that a lot of VN's fail at (at least sometimes). If you're too story-focused, players complain about a kinetic novel. If you overdo the choices, people will complain about fake choices.

I had a similar problem with Kaija being your guide for Neverwhere. The story needs her to be with you because all other options don't make sense.
I also had a choice there but the result was always "back to Kaija". So I removed it and rewrote it a bit to make MC focus on his primary goal at that moment (getting his father back) instead of questioning the details.

That doesn't mean all choices should have consequences or be meaningful but in critical situations, you either give a real choice or leave it out altogether. At least, that's what I'm trying to do.

 

[e6mill]

Hell Yeah, at last elf waifus.

No way am I running around on Kaija. At least not until after she's knocked up and I can probably outrun her.

 

[Maviarab]

We're off to ELF LAND fella's

Allllll abooooooaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd.....

 

[Dark Silence]

We're off to ELF LAND fella's

Allllll abooooooaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd.....

I hope we'll have some Fiona time and we can leave our lyin bodyguard back at the Templars with the rest of the liars.

 

[Dessolos]

After playing this for the first time and reading Chapter 5 will lack Kaija, Elea, and Fiona content I almost want to wait till Chapter 6 but this is such a good game I know it will be worth it. I'm considering making this my new #1 AVN after playing it. Just sucks cause Kaija is the best girl for me in this and honestly just and overall S tier LI imo if you can get past her lying about the templar stuff cause of your dad. Which I was able to since she clearly loves the MC and wasn't done with malice or bad intentions.

Tho I still need to replay the game as I dont know who Anissa is as i don't recall meeting her in my playthrough. I can guess who maybe as I did peek at some of the branching options and saw some girl approaches us when we go to the bar but I only skimmed through it since that wasn't the branching option I wanted to go with.

 

[Maviarab]

After playing this for the first time and reading Chapter 5 will lack Kaija, Elea, and Fiona content I almost want to wait till Chapter 6 but this is such a good game I know it will be worth it. I'm considering making this my new #1 AVN after playing it. Just sucks cause Kaija is the best girl for me in this and honestly just and overall S tier LI imo if you can get past her lying about the templar stuff cause of your dad.

Tho I still need to replay the game as I dont know who Anissa is as i don't recall meeting her in my playthrough. I can guess who maybe as I did peek at some of the branching options and saw some girl approaches us when we go to the bar but I only skimmed through it since that wasn't the branching option I wanted to go with.

When leaving work and have option to ask boss to pub...or go alone...must pick go alone. You will meet Anissa there. Can still turn her down etc....but...why would you do that?

 

[Grumpy Old Aussie]

View attachment 3238452

One of the new characters in Chapter 5.

Oh I'm going to love the Elves!!

What's wrong with going to the pub?
I get what you're saying. Essentially it's a fake choice because all options end the same way.
From a Dev perspective, I understand how you end there. Happens to me too, but I usually remove that kind of choice.
You want to give the player options because you know not everyone will be happy with how you set up the story, but the story itself prevents a "real" choice. In this case, the story probably needs the MC to forgive.
It's a balancing act that a lot of VN's fail at (at least sometimes). If you're too story-focused, players complain about a kinetic novel. If you overdo the choices, people will complain about fake choices.

Its a tightrope. Going from writing novels to VNs is proving a challenge for me. VNs are a different animal and trying to get away from a kinetic story is proving difficult, but fun.

Re the other VN. You're right. The story needed the player to forgive. The problem is, its the central part of the story and the whole premise of the VN. Its the wrong place and time for fake choices. Anyway, it is what it is. Its still a decent read.

I had a similar problem with Kaija being your guide for Neverwhere. The story needs her to be with you because all other options don't make sense.
I also had a choice there but the result was always "back to Kaija". So I removed it and rewrote it a bit to make MC focus on his primary goal at that moment (getting his father back) instead of questioning the details.

That doesn't mean all choices should have consequences or be meaningful but in critical situations, you either give a real choice or leave it out altogether. At least, that's what I'm trying to do.

I saw Kaija's trip to Neverwhere as a continuation of Linnae trying to get the couple past their difficulties. To me it made sense. At first I was like, why can't someone else do it, and I think I made a comment about it (sorry about that). After a couple of playthroughs it made a lot more sense.

Trust me, I'm the one who screams the loudest.

I don't doubt it. I won't be harassing you about timeframes and output. I will harass you if your story stops making sense though. I don't do fanboy, but I do do loyalty and recognition of good work.

PS thanks for engaging with us. You don't have to and I appreciate it that you take the time to interact with your readers.

 

[Defenestrator.for.traitor]

Kaija is the best girl for me in this

Dude you are doing that to piss me off. Whenever I wrote something bad about some char, you come to thread and declare she is the best girl.

 

[Maviarab]

View attachment 3238452

One of the new characters in Chapter 5.

 

[Dessolos]

Dude you are doing that to piss me off. Whenever I wrote something bad about some char, you come to thread and declare she is the best girl.

Nah you are just assuming I am lmfao I ddn't even read your post above for once or any on this page. I read Maviarab's post back a page as I recall seeing something about chapter 5 yesterday and saw he mentioned a LI I never met as I was looking for the post about the chapter 5.

 

[Grumpy Old Aussie]

After playing this for the first time and reading Chapter 5 will lack Kaija, Elea, and Fiona content I almost want to wait till Chapter 6 but this is such a good game I know it will be worth it. I'm considering making this my new #1 AVN after playing it. Just sucks cause Kaija is the best girl for me in this and honestly just and overall S tier LI imo if you can get past her lying about the templar stuff cause of your dad. Which I was able to since she clearly loves the MC and wasn't done with malice or bad intentions.

Tho I still need to replay the game as I dont know who Anissa is as i don't recall meeting her in my playthrough. I can guess who maybe as I did peek at some of the branching options and saw some girl approaches us when we go to the bar but I only skimmed through it since that wasn't the branching option I wanted to go with.

Welcome Dessolos. Another game we share in common. This is a great VN.

Mariarab explained above how to get Anissa. I have made 6 playthroughs and I only got her for the first time on the last playthrough myself. Mainly because I have the hots for the gorgeous blonde boss babe (whose name I can't remember ugh). So Anissa isn't a priority for me.