Ren'Py -u4ia- [Ep3.11p] [DriftyGames]

[Hahn1900]

Really on the fence about that free roam timer stuff. If you wanna force multiple playthrough of your game the way to do it is with choices, not "oops I ran outta time". As someone else said, the ability to increase roam time just makes you wonder why a timer is there in the first place. I mean, why would you not take that ability.

My biggest issue is, that this perk doesnt make sense at all...

So Drifty wanted to create some perks and stats to "shape" the MC in different way depending on the players choices...

Okay i get that.

But... what has that to do with "more time in a free roam"? Thats ridiculous. Make perks like "romantic" or maybe "manwhore" and so on Perks that difine a character... But this perk and the money perk too are just complete out of place. And of course they kinda force you to make another playthrough just to see everything in the free roams, even if there wasnt any important thing.

Iam fine to make several playthroughs, i played every route possible in leap of faith. But in u4ia the way the free roams and some other things are made... i have zero motivation to make a second playthrough. The free roams, stats and perks are just feeling out of place and i think the game would be better without them. And would be better to replay the whole thing to see all the different things.

Its not that difficult to implement some things so the MC can "shape" in two or three different directions, there is no need for perks or something like that to do so. Just a little point-system is more than enough. for "asshole" or "nice guy" choices and so on... easy to understand, nothing to miss and its clear to everybody where things are going.

But like this? There is a reason why so many people complain about the perks and the free roams, so much that Drifty already was forced to change some perks as i read it. Hopefully he changes some more things for the better, cause there are a lot things he should change. And at this point its not that important that changes might screw up savegames... its only 2 episodes. But i dont think many people want to play several playthroughs when the game gets bigger and still have those issues.

 

[John972]

My biggest issue is, that this perk doesnt make sense at all...

So Drifty wanted to create some perks and stats to "shape" the MC in different way depending on the players choices...

Okay i get that.

But... what has that to do with "more time in a free roam"? Thats ridiculous. Make perks like "romantic" or maybe "manwhore" and so on Perks that difine a character... But this perk and the money perk too are just complete out of place. And of course they kinda force you to make another playthrough just to see everything in the free roams, even if there wasnt any important thing.

Iam fine to make several playthroughs, i played every route possible in leap of faith. But in u4ia the way the free roams and some other things are made... i have zero motivation to make a second playthrough. The free roams, stats and perks are just feeling out of place and i think the game would be better without them. And would be better to replay the whole thing to see all the different things.

Its not that difficult to implement some things so the MC can "shape" in two or three different directions, there is no need for perks or something like that to do so. Just a little point-system is more than enough. for "asshole" or "nice guy" choices and so on... easy to understand, nothing to miss and its clear to everybody where things are going.

But like this? There is a reason why so many people complain about the perks and the free roams, so much that Drifty already was forced to change some perks as i read it. Hopefully he changes some more things for the better, cause there are a lot things he should change. And at this point its not that important that changes might screw up savegames... its only 2 episodes. But i dont think many people want to play several playthroughs when the game gets bigger and still have those issues.

I think a compromise would be to have two choices (not one) each time they're offered:

1. a character-defining trait (i.e. those that actually shape the MC)
2. a perk (i.e. extra freeroam time, double stats, more money etc)

 

[cxx]

Is this going to be one of those games where every update breaks your saves and makes you start over?

most likely not.

 

[Kazanovaromeo]

most likely not.

Hoping So.

 

[7_lJzWy3XxoEyow7]

I don't know. "Leap Of Faith" is IMHO the best AVN that has ever come out. Now Drifty kind of destroys everything.
...
Somehow that makes me sad. "Leap Of Faith" is a 10/10 and u4ia only makes it to a 5/10 for me because of the fantastic graphics and some funny dialog.
...

How can the author that brought you a 10/10, and "best ever" destroy that by creating something that might not match what you already deemed best? Do you now prefer some fan service over the freedom of artistic expression?

Spoiler: Harsh

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[Tremonia]

How can the author that brought you a 10/10, and "best ever" destroy that by creating something that might not match what you already deemed best?

He destroys his work, not his art. Just like a one-hit-wonder in music.

 

[Ennoch]

Ah, yes, obnoxious free roams the salt of the western vns

To be fair, some parts of the freeroam here do make sense. Rare i know. Free roam events are exactly.. events. When you freeroam you can interact with NPCs around and these have impact. You don't have to but you will notice how you missed an opportunity later down the line by not doing so.

There is even a perk system and you can pick a perk that increases the time you have during freeroam because you will only have time to approach for example 2 npcs instead of 3 without it.

So it's not like you have to go from room to room for no apparent reason. Here, freeroam actually does make very much sense. Your statement though in general stands indeed.

 

[AM97]

So, I haven't had any issue with the free roams. But the beach one is giving me some problems. I talked to both pairs of girls and now I can't do anything. Anyone knows what to do ?

On the other hand I find the game pretty nice. There are still some heavy themes in the undertones but the overall mood of the game right now is way more chill. And the freeroams until the beach one have been pretty easy to navigate and weren't annoying imo

 

[Ragnar]

To be fair, some parts of the freeroam here do make sense. Rare i know. Free roam events are exactly.. events. When you freeroam you can interact with NPCs around and these have impact. You don't have to but you will notice how you missed an opportunity later down the line by not doing so.

There is even a perk system and you can pick a perk that increases the time you have during freeroam because you will only have time to approach for example 2 npcs instead of 3 without it.

So it's not like you have to go from room to room for no apparent reason. Here, freeroam actually does make very much sense. Your statement though in general stands indeed.

I'm not 100% against free roams and sandboxes but most times both are a waste of player time. Too many devs use them to hide the lack of content behind grinding mechanics or boring point and click tasks. Leap of Faith free roams weren't that bad but this time is worse imo.

 

[LazyName]

I feel like the issue with the timer is that it is called a timer. It makes people feel as though theyre forced to play optimally when whats really happening is that theyre just picking and choosing what content theyre interested in. If a character interests you then pursue them and you'll have ample "time" to look at the content of other characters that are less interesting to you. The frustration i have comes largely from the beach portion where it was a struggle to navigate and find anything because the arrow keys stopped working and the "end free roam" button wasnt real except for when it was. Overall i actually like this game and the characters a lot more than leap of faith and i hope it continues to improve.

 

[Hildegardt]

I feel like the issue with the timer is that it is called a timer. It makes people feel as though theyre forced to play optimally when whats really happening is that theyre just picking and choosing what content theyre interested in.

Sounds good in theory, but in practice the timer is only obscuring the different options. How are players supposed to choose what path to go for, if they don't even know the characters, yet? And the timer discourages exploration on top of that.
Take the second free roam section, where you're cleaning up the trailer. There's no purpose to it, unless you clean up the bedroom first. But this feels more like unlocking a secret sex scene on your second playthrough, rather than a conscious decision to go for the content of a specific character. Because how are players supposed to know that a character they haven't seen will end up in a bedroom they don't know exist? So they clean up the obvious stuff first and the timer runs out.

 

[John972]

I don't know. "Leap Of Faith" is IMHO the best AVN that has ever come out. Now Drifty kind of destroys everything. I didn't expect a new LoF to come out and I didn't expect it to be as deep a story. Drifty has already made it very clear that it's going to go a completely different direction. That's okay with me. I just didn't expect him to make the game so annoying. First this thing with the talents and perks. Well, he's corrected that in a way with this update. But the free roams are such an interrupter. Whenever I'm just in the flow of the story, a free roam knocks me out again.

I have nothing against free roams. Used in good measure, they can liven up a game. Sometimes they are also good for bringing together several storylines in a big event of their own and then bringing them to one level via several events in a free roam. Bringing all the threads together, so to speak, so that things can continue in a structured way. But here in u4ia I have the feeling that the game is a single free roam. That's annoying. I want to play an AVN, not an adventure game like Monkey Island.

I don't understand this hype about free roams among developers these days. It's pure point & click. If you could at least really move freely instead of having to stupidly press on arrows and objects. You have to realize: Ren'Py is not suitable for this type of game. That's why such mechanics should be used sparingly and carefully.

It would still be something I could somehow manage if it wasn't absolutely necessary to play the free roams over and over again in every game run for every additional LI. The worst part is that it's not fun at all because you feel like the game doesn't help you realize what to look for when you want to go certain ways. You run haphazardly through the game and miss all sorts of things along the way, only to realize in another playthrough that you've missed something very important to the goal of the other playthrough. In other words: without a walkthrough, the game is frustrating. But that can't be the case.

Somehow that makes me sad. "Leap Of Faith" is a 10/10 and u4ia only makes it to a 5/10 for me because of the fantastic graphics and some funny dialog. That can't be it. I have no idea how Drifty is going to fix this. I understand that it's much more fun for a developer to build more or less complex mechanics like talent systems and free roams. But ultimately the game is meant for the players, isn't it?

I don't know. "Leap Of Faith" is IMHO the best AVN that has ever come out. Now Drifty kind of destroys everything. I didn't expect a new LoF to come out and I didn't expect it to be as deep a story. Drifty has already made it very clear that it's going to go a completely different direction. That's okay with me. I just didn't expect him to make the game so annoying. First this thing with the talents and perks. Well, he's corrected that in a way with this update. But the free roams are such an interrupter. Whenever I'm just in the flow of the story, a free roam knocks me out again.

I have nothing against free roams. Used in good measure, they can liven up a game. Sometimes they are also good for bringing together several storylines in a big event of their own and then bringing them to one level via several events in a free roam. Bringing all the threads together, so to speak, so that things can continue in a structured way. But here in u4ia I have the feeling that the game is a single free roam. That's annoying. I want to play an AVN, not an adventure game like Monkey Island.

I don't understand this hype about free roams among developers these days. It's pure point & click. If you could at least really move freely instead of having to stupidly press on arrows and objects. You have to realize: Ren'Py is not suitable for this type of game. That's why such mechanics should be used sparingly and carefully.

It would still be something I could somehow manage if it wasn't absolutely necessary to play the free roams over and over again in every game run for every additional LI. The worst part is that it's not fun at all because you feel like the game doesn't help you realize what to look for when you want to go certain ways. You run haphazardly through the game and miss all sorts of things along the way, only to realize in another playthrough that you've missed something very important to the goal of the other playthrough. In other words: without a walkthrough, the game is frustrating. But that can't be the case.

Somehow that makes me sad. "Leap Of Faith" is a 10/10 and u4ia only makes it to a 5/10 for me because of the fantastic graphics and some funny dialog. That can't be it. I have no idea how Drifty is going to fix this. I understand that it's much more fun for a developer to build more or less complex mechanics like talent systems and free roams. But ultimately the game is meant for the players, isn't it? As a developer, shouldn't you develop a game in such a way that the player finds his way through the game without frustration and also has motivation? All that's missing now are mini-games to take the fun out of the game completely.

I find the story that is told interesting. The game could be the banger. If it's true, which I suspect it is, that MC was a spare parts store for a twin (Samantha's almost-husband) he didn't know, girl, what a story! But the way AVN is presenting itself I just have so little desire for it.

I wish Drifty would sit down for a week or two and think about how he can design the game without this mass of free roams and then do a rework. The game is still at an early stage. Sure, it would take time, but it can still be saved. I don't want to know how many players dropped out during the second episode and didn't even finish a single playthrough. Let alone started more playthroughs. If this continues in episode 3, no one will want to play episode 4. Let alone any more.

The only difference I see between LoF and u4ia at this stage is that the latter has more freeroam events. I don't think freeroams are the problem here - that's simply a personal preference.

Anyone who played each episode of LoF when they came out should recognize the same background mechanics at play.

Both games are unsatisfying to play without a walkthrough, unless you pick a route early on and are happy to roll with it until the end. I really enjoyed my first playthrough of this u4ia update by just rolling with my gut choices carried over from Chapter 1, and accepting I'd miss a few things.

Both games show stats/progress at the end of each chapter. Both sets of stats confront the player with the number of "missed opportunities" they had with each LI. Any unseasoned player would think they did something wrong on their playthrough to have so many "missed opportunities," rather than understanding that 1. most opportunities can't be achieved on a single playthrough because that's the way the game is programmed, 2. a player can't chase multiple LIs without missing opportunities, and 3. some opportunities rely on really obscure preconditions that must be met throughout the game. "Missed opportunities" is really a bad choice of words to use from a marketing perspective.

So, I went from being happy with my chapter 2 playthrough to being confronted with the end-of-chapter stats and that's when frustration set in. However, I understand that this game - exactly like LoF - cannot be completed on a single playthrough and cannot be completed without a walkthrough.

Without a walkthrough, a player will end up checking for hidden sprites and checking their phone on each goddamn render! Where's the fun in that?

 

[The Offbeat]

... I haven't finished the latest stuff yet, but. I had to run over and write that I think Lars is on my top list for best bros in these kinds of games.

 

[UnoriginalUserName]

Jesus, could getting the beer and the lotion have been any more fucking convoluted and annoying? That entire beach freeroam was some serious bullshit.

 

[Crazonian1]

Episode 2 was good, it introduced quite a few new girls, a few of which i like. Could've used one or two less free roams, though i did enjoy wandering through the hotel on the first day of MCs job. My only real issue was that end of chapter notes said MC walked in on celeste in the shower while looking for the jetski keys, and that shit never happened.

edit: Figured it out, i interacted with every girl on the left side of the beach in phase 2, then Celeste's beach towel appears at the showers indicating she's there.

 

[SlowGoesSlow]

The cast got pretty big with ep 2. I don't really have any negatives to point out other than the beach free roam being rather clunky. Still no idea who the main LI's are vs who are just supporting side characters since only two days(?) have passed since the start of the game. Hopeful that people get more fleshed out sooner rather than later.

 

[BBC246]

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
  File "game/script.rpy", line 552, in script
    show screen talents with Dissolve(1, alpha=True)
  File "renpy/common/000statements.rpy", line 646, in execute_show_screen
    renpy.show_screen(name, *args, **kwargs)
Exception: Screen talents is not known.


-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
  File "game/script.rpy", line 552, in script
    show screen talents with Dissolve(1, alpha=True)
  File "D:\Users\Lenovo-Gaming\Desktop\u4ia-e2.01p-pc\renpy\ast.py", line 2259, in execute
    self.call("execute")
  File "D:\Users\Lenovo-Gaming\Desktop\u4ia-e2.01p-pc\renpy\ast.py", line 2241, in call
    return renpy.statements.call(method, parsed, *args, **kwargs)
  File "D:\Users\Lenovo-Gaming\Desktop\u4ia-e2.01p-pc\renpy\statements.py", line 342, in call
    return method(parsed, *args, **kwargs)
  File "renpy/common/000statements.rpy", line 646, in execute_show_screen
    renpy.show_screen(name, *args, **kwargs)
  File "D:\Users\Lenovo-Gaming\Desktop\u4ia-e2.01p-pc\renpy\display\screen.py", line 1220, in show_screen
    raise Exception("Screen %s is not known.\n" % (name[0],))
Exception: Screen talents is not known.


Windows-10-10.0.19045 AMD64
Ren'Py 8.1.3.23091805
u4ia e2.01p
Sun Jan 28 01:46:17 2024

 

[ZzZzZiggy]

To me, everything about this game feels like a step down from LoF. The character is unlikable (the guy butts into everyone's business, is kind of a creep and has 0 charm), the dialogue is bland, awkward and cringey as fuck, the humor is lacking, the freeroam makes everything needlessly complicated and the drama is turned up to friggin' 11 (aka soap opera levels). Oh and for some reason, it is crazy hard to unlock a sex scene - managed a single one throughout these two episodes. It actually makes me reassess Leap of Faith and question whether I was just viewing it through rose-tinted glasses and it wasn't such a good game to begin with. Such a shame.

 

[Facttho]

To me, everything about this game feels like a step down from LoF. The character is unlikable (the guy butts into everyone's business, is kind of a creep and has 0 charm), the dialogue is bland, awkward and cringey as fuck, the humor is lacking, the freeroam makes everything needlessly complicated and the drama is turned up to friggin' 11 (aka soap opera levels). Oh and for some reason, it is crazy hard to unlock a sex scene - managed a single one throughout these two episodes. It actually makes me reassess Leap of Faith and question whether I was just viewing it through rose-tinted glasses and it wasn't such a good game to begin with. Such a shame.

Lof is great but also has some minor flaws in its writing (especially with steph and in last chapter), u4ia has major flaws especially for me unattractive lis (most look like feminists with wierd haircuts and colors) and some of the free roam stuff that makes you miss content with li plus the timer bs. strongly agree with your take on the MC, he just comes across as a creepy fake nice guy. I love driftys writing so i will try to finish this but this is for sure a step down.

Lars and vivianne is probably the 2 best looking in the VN. Why is everyone on this island so wierd looking?

 

[Hildegardt]

It actually makes me reassess Leap of Faith and question whether I was just viewing it through rose-tinted glasses and it wasn't such a good game to begin with.

People are open to turning a blind eye to LoF's flaws, because they were very touched by this one character arc in the second half of the game. But before the second half got released there was a lot of bitching about the nonsensical highschool secret spy plot and the convoluted game mechanics.
The first half of LoF is a game about ogling hot women in bikinis and a pop star and a secretly rich lesbian couple falling in love with the PC at first sight for some reason. It's similarly superfluous to u4ia.