VN Ren'Py Where the Heart Is [S1 v6.1.2024 BETA] [CheekyGimp]

[Pi Quantum]

Now that many of you had a shot at the EP, we were hoping to get feedback (preferably on patreon, but we watch here too).

Hearing the music from Leap of Faith was a bit jarring, but the sound effects were mostly unobtrusive. They could do with more variety between characters, as the screams worked well for Porsche, but not so well for others. Then again, finding public domain orgasmic moans and screams that don't sound hopelessly fake is a big ask. Overall they were more of a hit than a miss, but I'm sure you have plenty of fine-tuning in mind for the future.

Every new episode you guys release is better than the one before, which doesn't seem possible after the last few! With the improved graphics and sounds, it feels like a new game at times. I've only had one playthrough with my default picks, but I'm in awe at your ability to cater for so many choices. You, Cheeky and Cell work your arses off for months to produce each new chapter, receive a few days of praise (and a bunch of criticism), then its back to the grind for the next chapter. I know it doesn't count for much, but I'm sure there's a lot of people out there who appreciate your extraordinary efforts - even if they don't post about them.

Many of us suspected Dizzy's true identity, but you did such a great job of muddying the waters that nobody could be 100% sure, because there were so many suspects. The beach scene and the ComicCon LARP were incredible, as I teared up a little at the end, after choosing Jenna and getting the surprise twist. Porsche should be in Hollywood with her acting talents and I'm just glad that Evie's big sister wasn't Natasha, which was my first fear! Learning more about Porsche and Evie's background added even more drama and character depth - well done!

You can feel the sharks closing in with the girls all making it clear that you need to start making some hard choices. That was scary enough, but you still felt the need to tempt us even more with Evie, Captain Heart and Porsche! When will the torture end!?

Need to sit down now, think about my choices and try a few more playthroughs. Tesla's multiple timestream theory has never been more appealing, as I can't only choose one! Take a bow guys - you've earned it.

 

[BillyPlums]

That's kinda of funny because there used to be one.

I think there technically was an incest mod, but that was abandoned. I was trying, and, as usual, failing, to imply that this is not the correct thread to talk about the non-existent incest patch. For that, you need to go to the incest thread and leave those of us who like our games un-patched alone.

 

[Snugglepuff]

That's kinda of funny because there used to be one.

No, there wasn't.

There was a mod, that had to change not only character relations, but core story elements and even entire conversations to cater for something that wasn't there.

 

[Zerorox]

That is a good point. Jolina's dialogue in the beach house scenes are much more heartfelt, while Bella's, even when she mentions love, are still seductive. And when MC puts off saying whether he loves Bella or not, she is pretty casual about it, while Jolina takes it much harder. I mean, that can also be explained by personality: Jolina even admits in this episode that she is "a romantic" while Bella is obviously more of a flirt. And that personality clash could also explain that disappointment.

The fact there is a possible outcome where Bella says "We need to talk" and Jolina is in tears at the end of the episode is what leads me to think there must be something more than just pure manipulation.

Surely not pure manipulation, but if we'll hear some story full of tears from them now... not sure it'll be anything believable and worth continue relationship with any of them

 

[milos1fan]

Surely not pure manipulation, but if we'll hear some story full of tears from them now... not sure it'll be anything believable and worth continue relationship with any of them

Jolina should still be somewhat believable. We've seen her falter on several occasions, and has shown genuine appreciation to the player and what he's done for her. Bella on the other hasn't shown anything.

 

[Blackj]

I get this error message at startup when it asks to choose the music intro in v23, it says that an image is missing and indeed that image is missing.

 

[Deleted member 2160267]

Did anyone actually try starting the new game? it doesn't work

Try start any Episode and save your Game. Then quit and start a new Game

 

[van321]

Jolina should still be somewhat believable. We've seen her falter on several occasions, and has shown genuine appreciation to the player and what he's done for her. Bella on the other hasn't shown anything.

In fact, I believe this is why Jolina is so insistent that MC should go ahead and speak with Elaine once her "confession" got interrupted by the call. If she was still conspiring with Bella, I think she would have tried to delay his speaking to Elaine or at least reinforce paranoia with a simple "be careful" or something like that. If I'm not mistaken, if their relationship is not high enough, MC does not actually interact with Jolina in that scene and just sees her and Bella handing out coffees to the new rush of customers, which is convenient...

 

[Geralt_R]

Kudos to the devs for making such a substantial update, the way I have set things up in my savegame I played for 2 1/2 hours or so (no Debbie date), which is more than just amazing when you consider the length of updates for many other games. I liked the LARP segment, I don't always enjoy the "table top RPG" side plots in other games, but the difference here is, it was "real", as in, the actual characters interacted, not fictitious RPG characters that happen to look like the actual characters. And the plot was zany and fun.

I liked the music, it's unobtrusive (which is important when you have to read lots of text). The sound effects were ok, but I don't think the effects for the girls (laughter etc) work that well, since, as others have pointed out, the voice chosen for the laughter doesn't necessarily fit the character(s).

The story was predictable, but that's not a bad thing, it would have made no sense to copy a page from M Night Shyamalan's playbook and to introduce some super edgy twist. So what you get is almost exactly what you expected. Though I had some faint hope Jolina may not be involved at all. However, things make sense, everything is consistent.
I am glad I was always very friendly with Elaine and gave her the house, felt like the right thing to do, no matter what the consequences are. To me it was always obvious that she's honest.

Also, the renders really look fantastic, top level, WTHI has come such a long way. Animations are also - for the most part- really good.

Now the only questions I have are... will Porsche/Elvira be an actual endgame option (given you have their contact now and they both seemed extremely interested) or will it always be a fling? They entered the scene pretty late, while I mostly ignored Porsche when she first appeared, I got her to know better this time and she's certainly yet another interesting character that could have been introduced earlier, now we are running out of time. And of course we already have quite a few plates spinning, well, in my case not as many. And finally, will not-ScarJo appear again?

Anyway, great job by the team. That was not just a substantial update, but a very entertaining one too. Nothing feels rushed here unlike some other games were you can literally tell the devs want to do something new after years of working on one game and try to end things as quickly as possible (or they launch a new project and then the other game is put on the back burner).

 

[Kukipett]

I was very pleased to see that what i was thinking about the plot was 100% accurate.
In fact this story is very well written, no big astounding surprise but just the right amount of doubts and mystery to make it good without falling into the over the top drama.
Of course every player who did pay attention to the details had seen it coming but it's ok like this. It became quite soon obvious who could be the third person because of the way she acted and the fact that there was no real other character who could be this person.
I would have been pissed if the devs would have mades some stranger suddently appear in the story, it would have killed the plot.

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

 

[snakeplisskin]

I am curious how they plan to try and redeem Bella. I know Ace asked a little while back if we would.be able to possible forgave the 3rd gold digger. That makes me think they have something they believe will redeem her, but it would take some really wizardary for me at this point.

 

[acewinz]

Kudos to the devs for making such a substantial update, the way I have set things up in my savegame I played for 2 1/2 hours or so (no Debbie date), which is more than just amazing when you consider the length of updates for many other games. I liked the LARP segment, I don't always enjoy the "table top RPG" side plots in other games, but the difference here is, it was "real", as in, the actual characters interacted, not fictitious RPG characters that happen to look like the actual characters. And the plot was zany and fun.

I liked the music, it's unobtrusive (which is important when you have to read lots of text). The sound effects were ok, but I don't think the effects for the girls (laughter etc) work that well, since, as others have pointed out, the voice chosen for the laughter doesn't necessarily fit the character(s).

The story was predictable, but that's not a bad thing, it would have made no sense to copy a page from M Night Shyamalan's playbook and to introduce some super edgy twist. So what you get is almost exactly what you expected. Though I had some faint hope Jolina may not be involved at all. However, things make sense, everything is consistent.
I am glad I was always very friendly with Elaine and gave her the house, felt like the right thing to do, no matter what the consequences are. To me it was always obvious that she's honest.

Also, the renders really look fantastic, top level, WTHI has come such a long way. Animations are also - for the most part- really good.

Now the only questions I have are... will Porsche/Elvira be an actual endgame option (given you have their contact now and they both seemed extremely interested) or will it always be a fling? They entered the scene pretty late, while I mostly ignored Porsche when she first appeared, I got her to know better this time and she's certainly yet another interesting character that could have been introduced earlier, now we are running out of time. And of course we already have quite a few plates spinning, well, in my case not as many. And finally, will not-ScarJo appear again?

Anyway, great job by the team. That was not just a substantial update, but a very entertaining one too. Nothing feels rushed here unlike some other games were you can literally tell the devs want to do something new after years of working on one game and try to end things as quickly as possible (or they launch a new project and then the other game is put on the back burner).

Unless we see some incredible demand and our patreon stops sinking into a quagmire... followups with Porsche/Evie/Scarlett will probably be DLC things after we finish the game and hit steam unfortunately. But it was something we want to do. We love all our chars.

 

[acewinz]

Did anyone actually try starting the new game? it doesn't work

lol yeah, the renpy update broke our early game script. It is fixed (or should be) in the patreon version now, and for people who avoided the full update and just did the update patch over older versions I believe.

 

[kcaldw]

I am curious how they plan to try and redeem Bella. I know Ace asked a little while back if we would.be able to possible forgave the 3rd gold digger. That makes me think they have something they believe will redeem her, but it would take some really wizardary for me at this point.

I think that they are going to have Bella and Jo tell the MC that they did all this out of love and that they want him. So the MC is going to have to make a choice either to be with them and the money or go some other route. The only way that Bella can redeem herself is to go down to the lawyers office and sign away all legal rights to the will and then just go away.

 

[ImperialD]

The only problem, Dizzy shows more love and sex intetest in Jolina then MC, Jo says 'bout being disappointed by ex... So it seems Jo dumped Dizzy...
So I'm really doubt that scenario

who the hell is Dizzy ???

 

[acewinz]

I underestimated how much theory-crafting can go into the nature of how

Spoiler: E23 Spoils

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

 

[snakeplisskin]

who the hell is Dizzy ???

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

 

[snakeplisskin]

I underestimated how much theory-crafting can go into the nature of how

Spoiler: E23 Spoils

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

I have to replay the episode first, i didnt allow either to stay at the beach house on my main save.

 

[kcaldw]

who the hell is Dizzy ???

Dizzy is Bella (aka greedy bitch)

 

[kcaldw]

I personally hope that after hearing what the 2 greedy bitches have to say to the MC he tells them that he hopes that they enjoy their blood money and tells them that he hopes that they both rot in hell for what they did to get that money and that he wants nothing to do with them ever again. Then I would like to see Jenna and Katie do everything they can to ruin not only Jo but Bella as well to where they wouldn't be able to show their faces in public ever again.