VN Ren'Py Abandoned Tides of Succession [Ch.3 v0.3] [TakMycket]

[yossa999]

hopefull not to much sad like hard to love

My future CuckQueen Lorelei is a strong woman she will manage

 

[MiltonPowers]

2nd best girl for me

She's #1 when I'm playing on her path and the other 2 are #2. Same for Glade and Lorelei, I just can't split them yet. I think they're all awesome.

 

[Dessolos]

She's #1 when I'm playing on her path and the other 2 are #2. Same for Glade and Lorelei, I just can't split them yet. I think they're all awesome.

honestly Lorelei won me over just because of her facial expressions alone and just seems like a great character all around.

 

[AlexMpog]

honestly Lorelei won me over just because of her facial expressions alone and just seems like a great character all around.

Lorelei is a best girl

Come on guys, admit it Kasula is the best girl

She is in my top-3
(Milton - you was faster this time )

 

[metamorphMP]

Come on guys, admit it Kasula is the best girl

She is, to me. At least so far.
And Lorelei is right behind, waiting for opportunity to take over)

 

[With The]

Good job dev for making all main li loveable

 

[MiltonPowers]

She is in my top-3
(Milton - you was faster this time )

 

[jadepaladin]

Come on guys, admit it Kasula is the best girl

Come on guys, admit it Kasula Glade and Lorelei together are the best girls.

I fixed it for you. It's just math. You have 2 great LIs with another looking in on the throuple path. On Kasula path you have 1 great LI and 2 that can't shine as brightly.

Though as this develops I'll probably have a ton of saves.

Now I'm wondering...will any of the LIs turn antagonistic if you aren't on their route? Or are we in a "friends or lovers" situation?

 

[TakMycket]

Come on guys, admit it Kasula Glade and Lorelei together are the best girls.

I fixed it for you. It's just math. You have 2 great LIs with another looking in on the throuple path. On Kasula path you have 1 great LI and 2 that can't shine as brightly.

Though as this develops I'll probably have a ton of saves.

Now I'm wondering...will any of the LIs turn antagonistic if you aren't on their route? Or are we in a "friends or lovers" situation?

Depends on how you define antagonistic

If you turn them down from the beginning (or quite early on), they won't harbour any ill feelings towards the MC. If you lead them on and then choose another LI, there will be varying degrees of jealousy and loathing which will eventually fade over time. There may also be some plot conflict at times, which I won't go into for spoiler reasons.

As for friends, Kasula on any path, will be friends with the MC. Glade will be friends with the MC on the Glade Allegiance path as long as you don't lead her on for too long. Lorelei doesn't have time for many friends, and as such, unless you're lovers, you won't be friends with her. However, you will be friendly in the interactions you get with her.

 

[jadepaladin]

Depends on how you define antagonistic

If you turn them down from the beginning (or quite early on), they won't harbour any ill feelings towards the MC. If you lead them on and then choose another LI, there will be varying degrees of jealousy and loathing which will eventually fade over time. There may also be some plot conflict at times, which I won't go into for spoiler reasons.

As for friends, Kasula on any path, will be friends with the MC. Glade will be friends with the MC on the Glade Allegiance path as long as you don't lead her on for too long. Lorelei doesn't have time for many friends, and as such, unless you're lovers, you won't be friends with her. However, you will be friendly in the interactions you get with her.

That's understandable. I was trying to think of another VN as an example and the only one I could think of short notice was Snowstorm where you can occasionally be in conflict with other possible LIs. I was mainly hoping for more of a Kasula situation where even if you're not romantically interested, she's still a good friend.

 

[slick97]

This AVN might be difficult for a majority of f95 users to engage with considering:

1. It heavily leverages the "visual" aspect (this inherently blurs character motives)
2. It follows typical worldbuilding rules such that certain events, actions, or pieces of lore delivered by the plot rather than info dumps
3. It deals with political intrigue

That being said, I can't help but nerd out as these types of projects are extremely rare in this genre of games.

 

[Monetka_]

Some Render Previews of the Upcoming Chapter...

 

[slick97]

Alright, now that I've caught up I can safely share my thoughts without making wild assumptions. Conversation topics behind spoils to keep the length short.

Spoiler: Throuple Route

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Spoiler: Choices, Code, and the Script

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Spoiler: LIs & Relationships

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[TakMycket]

Captain's Log 2:7​

Progress:

Spoiler

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The Monk Run:

Spoiler

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How Love Paths work:

Spoiler

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Preview Renders:

Spoiler

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[MiltonPowers]

Captain's Log 2:7​

Progress:

Spoiler

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The Monk Run:

Spoiler

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How Love Paths work:

Spoiler

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Preview Renders:

Spoiler

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A monk path wouldn't be very helpful for the MC in Part 3.

 

[metamorphMP]

A monk path wouldn't be very helpful for the MC in Part 3.

Well, Li could go to a sperm-bank)
Ok, "medieval" sperm bank

 

[With The]

Dev, how did you render so fast. 2k render omg

 

[yossa999]

Captain's Log 2:7​

Progress:

Spoiler

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The Monk Run:

Spoiler

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How Love Paths work:

Spoiler

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Preview Renders:

Spoiler

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Heck, even my C++ compiler manual sounds simpler
I got only one thing: I kiss everyone and follow my favorite manwhore path!

 

[slick97]

How Love Paths work:
There are 3 love paths - one for each LI - Glade, Kasula and Lorelei.

At the start, each Love Path is linear. You get a choice, and if you choose the correct option, the game will act as if you're on that Li's path, but if you choose wrong, then you lose their path and the game will act as if the MC is uninterested in that LI. All these choices are fairly straight-forward (such as choosing to spend time with that LI rather than brushing them off), and they're all considered to be important choices.

You must be on at least one LI Love Path. Thus, if you've lost Kasula's path and Lorelei's path, then the game will automatically put you on Glade's Love path when the choice comes around. This also means if you're only on one Love Path, the game will skip the choices to drop that love path. This ensures there are no monk runs.

Halfway through Chapter Two, the game will then ask you which LI you would like to take to the Ball. Now, you can kick the can down the road, but ultimately, you will have to choose. At this point, the LIs will have decided if they're interested in the MC or not and will act accordingly. So even if you choose to take Kasula to the Ball, Lorelei will still act interested in the MC if you were on her Love Path before choosing Kasula.

The easiest way to describe the system is using 'tiers'. To put it simply, the game will classify each LI into a tier based on the choices the player has made. The four tiers are - Primary LI, Secondary LI, Tertiary LI and Lost Path LI.

The game will always act as if the MC is interested in the Primary LI and you won't be given choices whether or not to pursue that LI. This means that the game will automatically make the MC spend time with the primary LI, as well as kiss/cuddle the primary LI.

The game will also act as if the MC is interested in Secondary LIs. This means the MC will automatically spend time with secondary LIs, but the player will be asked whenever they want to kiss/cuddle the Secondary LIs.

On the other hand, the game will always ask the MC whether he wants to spend time with Tertiary LIs, as well as kiss or cuddle with them. As for the Lost Path LI, the game will skip all non-plot content with that LI with the exception of a few small encounters in some cases.

There must always be one, and only one, primary LI. The other tiers have no restrictions meaning you can have 2 Secondary LIs if you wanted (at least until towards the end).

How does this tie into everything? When you invite a LI to the Ball, they become the Primary LI. Whichever other LIs you're on the Love Path for become Tertiary LIs while the others become part of the Lost Path LI tier.

Once you lose a LI's path, you can no longer get back on their path with a couple of exceptions. For example, if you're on the King Lovell Allegiance Path and not on the Lorelei Path, you get a second chance to get back on Lorelei's path. If you choose not to spend time with a Tertiary LI, you lose their path.

For a LI to go from a Tertiary LI to a Secondary LI, it's rather simple. Once you kiss a Tertiary LI, they become a Secondary LI as the game will treat that as a sign you're romantically interested in that LI. If you continually choose not to kiss/cuddle a Secondary LI, then they will become a Tertiary LI after a while.

For a LI to go from a Secondary LI to a Primary LI, it's a little more complicated. You must continuously kiss/cuddle the Secondary LI, which won't go down well with the Primary LI. Eventually, you will be given an ultimatum as the player, and whomever you choose will be the Primary LI. For a Primary LI to lose their tier, there must be another LI to take their place. There will be multiple opportunities to switch between Primary LIs. Alas, the more you switch between LIs, the more drama-filled your play-through will become, while if you stay faithful the entire time, your experience will be more akin to a wholesome, romantic experience with little drama.

In the case of the throuple path, Glade must be your Primary LI when you get the option to become a 'throuple' while Lorelei must either be a Secondary LI.

That's the gist of how Love Paths work. I didn't include all the complications with the Allegiance Paths as that would make it a little confusing for everyone. If you have any queries, I'll be happy to answer them as long as they don't spoil anything.

If I'm understanding this correctly, you can safely spend time with each of the LIs in the first chapter as they'll be put in a "tertiary" tier after the Ball? Additionally, is there a set limit on how many times you can flip-flop between LIs before they fall into the "lost" tier, or will this occur depending on the context within the story? (i.e. You refuse to spice pledge to Kasula in favor of switching to Glade's or Lorelei's path).

The tier system feels eerily similar to tracking love points, especially with the focus on kissing/cuddling being a method for increasing tiers.

 

[TakMycket]

The tier system feels eerily similar to tracking love points, especially with the focus on kissing/cuddling being a method for increasing tiers.

Before I answer any other questions, I just want to address this. The tier system isn't in the code. It isn't even in my planning documents. It's just a way how I "visualise" the branching in my head to make it simpler to understand. It's also the only way I could explain the branching system without spoiling the whole entire plot and going into every single branch. So you'll never see code that reads: if kasula_branch == "tertiary"

Point is, the game will always be coded in the same way it has been for the past two releases and there are tonnes of little quirks for every branch that is impossible to explain without going into each detail. Alas, the tier system does give you a general idea of how the branching will work.

If I'm understanding this correctly, you can safely spend time with each of the LIs in the first chapter as they'll be put in a "tertiary" tier after the Ball?

Yes - you may go after all the LIs in the current content without any negative consequences.

From the next release and onwards, there will be consequences for going after multiple LIs. By consequences, I don't mean losing a LI's path, but rather having them act more angry/jealous/upset depending on the situation.

You will never be allowed to lose a LIs path by pursuing other LIs due to the way the game is designed. There are a few reasons for this:

1. You will never be given an option to just start kissing a random handmaiden. You will have to have built a relationship with the other LI before you do anything with them. This means the primary LI will be aware of this relationship and while she won't be okay with it, she recognises the fact that the MC is still making up his mind.
2. As soon as the MC and a LI commit to each other, you won't be given the option to cheat. This means that all the times where the MC kissing/having sex with another woman would cause a "break up", doesn't exist in the game.

However, you will lose all other paths when you commit to a LI - and you can only commit to a LI if they're your 'Primary' LI. To commit to Kasula, you need to perform Unity with her. To commit to Glade or Lorelei, you need to tell them "I love you". The other way to lose a LI's path is to stop spending time with them.

Additionally, is there a set limit on how many times you can flip-flop between LIs before they fall into the "lost" tier, or will this occur depending on the context within the story? (i.e. You refuse to spice pledge to Kasula in favor of switching to Glade's or Lorelei's path).

There will be a limit to how many times you can switch between LIs as Tides won't have unlimited branching. As for what that limit is, it really depends on the branch you take.

As I said previously, you won't be given the option to cheat in Tides. It's in the build-up to comitting in which you can sleep with multiple LIs and switch between which one would be considered your primary LI. The amount of times you can switch depends on how quickly your MC falls in love which is influenced by which path you are on.

For example, if you're on the Glade Allegiance Path and the Glade Love Path, the MC will fall in love with Glade rather quickly. Not only is the MC constantly trusting her with his life, but he's courting her as well so it only makes sense that he falls quicker. In comparison, if he's on the the Solo Allegiance Path and the Glade Love Path, it will take him longer to fall in love, and as such you (as the player), will have more opportunities to switch between LIs and their love paths. Hopefully that makes sense...