VN Ren'Py Friends in Need [Ch. 9 v0.59b] [NeonGhosts]

[Dessolos]

Now I totally want more romantic wholesome moments.
For example what if we take Risa on a date and hold her hand? Also if she gets cold I'll give her my jacket.
And finally if the wind blows Risa's hair into her face I'll tenderly push it to the side so I can look at her beautiful face unobstructed.

This is the one time I have to disagree with your romance fantasy and you know I love hand holding. Everything that Risa is going through I dont want to hold her hand but I want to hold her tightly as we walk almost like a walking sideways hug. As to me I think she needs Guy to be there and protect her and show her everything will be okay and she can get through and fight her drug addiction. I imagine this under the the lit up night sky at the park as we walk to go on a dinner date and then we walk home together and cuddle and I give some head pets that she deserves for the rest of the night.

 

[PHIL101-YYouPPHard]

I vaguely recall Ashe said Wren wasnt hit a car tho but rather Ashe drove off the road with her inside but I do see your point that is a interesting way to look at the scene I described on the Dark path if you drug and only sleep next to Ashe. Not something I would of thought of.

Ohhh my bad then, doh. Whelp, not my first theory that died before it was airbourne

The use of the word realism is kinda ridiculous imo cause this game is so far off what anyone could call that anyway, that to prevent some content that would likely be good (in my eyes) in the hope of preserving it, seems pretty ridiculous and nonsensical to me. I get that some people may want it to be as realistic as it can be, but honestly I highly doubt those people are playing dark route, and the addition of realism to the dark route, to me, only screams that the dev themselves isn't really into it, or vastly prefers other paths. It's what happens in most games I've played tbh cause having a dev with that as their main interest is rare. I think there'd always be a way to move dark path relationships forward and not doing it would come down to laziness.

The real reason the dark path is ending I guess is because Neon doesn't enjoy continuing it; the realism aspect is probably secondary to that. But, well, realism in VNs is a spectrum; some prefer more, others don't care; and for some things, realism gets in the way of the porn aspect, so it's conveniently forgone. Obviously there's some tug-of-war going on here with various players and what they prefer. Me personally, the nature of brutality and assault lends very well to short-term gratification, as compared to corruption or especially romance. And I and many others expect the characters to react in an internally logical way to the MC's cruelty. For Viola, that was shutting down and disappearing from Guy's life forever. For Ashe, that was an attempt to 'forget' about it and try to move on, if Guy lets her (at least in the short term; who knows what she plans going forward). Sounds like the opposite of ridiculous to me, though I get why some players are frustrated. What can you do, though? The most you can hope for is that while there won't be an official dark route at some point, there may be sprinkles of dark scenes throughout. The occasional options might make sense for dark romance & corruption, for example. We'll just have to see. That's not ideal for a lot of players, but hey, it's at least something if that's what Neon decides in the end.

 

[Joshy92]

This is the one time I have to disagree with your romance fantasy and you know I love hand holding. Everything that Risa is going through I dont want to hold her hand but I want to hold her tightly as we walk almost like a walking sideways hug. As to me I think she needs Guy to be there and protect her and show her everything will be okay and she can get through and fight her drug addiction. I imagine this under the the lit up night sky at the park as we walk to go on a dinner date and then we walk home together and cuddle and I give some head pets that she deserves for the rest of the night.

I have another great idea what if while I'm on a date with Risa I give her a kiss on her sexy nose?
Just a quick and loving peck to show how much she means to me.

Seriously I think by the end of the game there won't be a LI I haven't fallen in love with.

 

[Dessolos]

I have another great idea what if while I'm on a date with Risa I give her a kiss on her sexy nose?
Just a quick and loving peck to show how much she means to me.

Seriously I think by the end of the game there won't be a LI I haven't fallen in love with.

omg I haven't thought about a nose kiss now I want Neon to add this in on the Risa path it would be so wholesome and cute and perfect for her.

 

[Joshy92]

omg I haven't thought about a nose kiss now I want Neon to add this in on the Risa path it would be so wholesome and cute and perfect for her.

I can't remember if you have mentioned it before but do you have a favourite character?
At the moment mine are Nicki, Mason & Risa.

 

[Dessolos]

I can't remember if you have mentioned it before but do you have a favourite character?
At the moment mine are Nicki, Mason & Risa.

Nicki , Ashe & Risa for me.

 

[Simpgor]

This is the one time I have to disagree with your romance fantasy and you know I love hand holding. Everything that Risa is going through I dont want to hold her hand but I want to hold her tightly as we walk almost like a walking sideways hug. As to me I think she needs Guy to be there and protect her and show her everything will be okay and she can get through and fight her drug addiction. I imagine this under the the lit up night sky at the park as we walk to go on a dinner date and then we walk home together and cuddle and I give some head pets that she deserves for the rest of the night.

Guy doing a "walking sideways hug" in public is too far.... that needs an exclusive "light mode path"

 

[Eland51298]

Joshy92 seems to have infected another person with his desire for romance and vanilla xD

 

[Dessolos]

Guy doing a "walking sideways hug" in public is too far.... that needs an exclusive "light mode path"

which im all far im a fan of wholesome and romantic moments more than I am a fan of sexy lewd scenes. Which is why im mainly a good path player ( no corruption paths ) only reason I even play dark path content and skip past the lewd scenes on that path is cause im a bit of a completionist at times and I like to see all the content in most games. so I just want to read the dialogue and context of the scenes as im too curious to not avoid a path I dislike lol and I do want to see any consequences that will eventually happen

Joshy92 seems to have infected another person with his desire for romance and vanilla xD

nah I was like this before I started to comment on these forums but Joshy just makes me more comfortable to show my romantic / sensitive side a bit more.

Joshy isnt creating simps he is just empowering them

this is actually true

 

[DougDimmadope]

What about the raceplay stuff? like jamie calling gabby the n word during sex. is that vanilla?

 

[Simpgor]

Joshy isnt creating simps he is just empowering them

What about the raceplay stuff? like jamie calling gabby the n word during sex. is that vanilla?

depends is this the april fools update?

Edit: i think everyone should let their freak flag fly whether its a dark or light one, just a heads up that mine is a cunty color

 

[NeonGhosts]

The use of the word realism is kinda ridiculous imo cause this game is so far off what anyone could call that anyway, that to prevent some content that would likely be good (in my eyes) in the hope of preserving it, seems pretty ridiculous and nonsensical to me. I get that some people may want it to be as realistic as it can be, but honestly I highly doubt those people are playing dark route, and the addition of realism to the dark route, to me, only screams that the dev themselves isn't really into it, or vastly prefers other paths. It's what happens in most games I've played tbh cause having a dev with that as their main interest is rare. I think there'd always be a way to move dark path relationships forward and not doing it would come down to laziness.

I've answered this before, but to recap: dark content will exist until the end of the story. People got really concerned about this prior to Chapter 7 (Ashe's date) and we saw how that went. For that matter, there's plenty of dark content in Chapter 9.

The only thing that changes is that some girls won't be around for it. We've seen Nicki and Viola leave the story already. Others will follow. Some will stick around for a long time, and some won't. Now, people tend to act like I'm punishing players who like that content, but it's not about that. It's about maintaining a veneer of realism, about balancing my workload, and about pursuing what I'm personally interested in.

Realism: Guy can't just be a complete monster to a character, forever. Where does that end? With him in jail or dead.

Workload: People complain that I do all these paths, and then also complain when I reduce the one which is most different from the others, and therefore requires the most extra work.

What I'm Interested In: The darkest options just don't really leave the story with those girls many places to go. There are some games that have followed that route, and it just ends in a weird, ugly, power fantasy. I'm not interested in writing that. It has nothing to do with my personal tastes, my stomach for the material, or my work ethic. I just don't think it will be a good story.

Plus? Dark Guy, as I write him, is not some Machiavellian schemer who could maneuver through the echelons of local government to evade all consequence for his actions. He's not going to be a drug kingpin, or a slave trader, or the mayor. He's a middle-aged college dropout with a mid-tier physique, above-average cunning, a lot of money, and a weird talent for reading people. That's it. So, I write him into situations that I think will be the most interesting to see him in.

I think the problem with the dark path is that it's too strong right off the bat that the tone is basically stuck on black and that the mc can't really suffer consequences so your basically dealing with equivalent of a murder hobo from D&D who just killing everyone for the hell of it with 0 push back so it feels like the mc has already won and were just going thru the motions it's a bit monotone .

I think if the mc was bit less heavy handed and had to work for it and risk failure
It might be more interesting .

Honestly, the problem with writing challenges into a Ren'py visual novel is that they don't really mean anything when someone can just roll back the game. It's why I don't do 'game over' endings -- I just have characters make decisions that won't result in a game over. What's the point when someone can just restart from their last decision? It's also why I didn't like.. Let Guy beat Jamie up, back in Chapter 4. What's the point? It doesn't mean anything if he wins that fight, because the player didn't have to do anything but click the, "I Win!" button.

So, I focus more on what I think makes the best story, and plotting for long-term consequences. There are things players do, which don't matter until chapters later. I think that's the best way to make it feel like your decisions actually matter -- it's easy (and boring) to quickly roll back a decision when your main playthrough ends in Guy dying in a hail of gunfire. It's harder when you make a choice chapters earlier, which comes back to bite you in a small, but annoying way.

I think it depends on your definition of a real consequence to guy personally. I think Nicki leaving is a real consequence as she was guys best friend so her leaving should make him go more psycho and feel depressed. Not just that it would impact his charity as she was helping keeping it afloat. Now yes he can just hire someone new and that is a temporarily consequence but her leaving does have 2 significant consequences id say. Or rather it should not sure if Neon will touch on these consequences. Sorry for tagging you NeonGhosts but writing this comment has me curious. Have you ever mentioned in the past if Nicki leaving will impact Guy in someway I assume it would but not sure if you ever mentioned exactly how before. If you havent or if it's a bit of a spoiler don't worry about answering just curious.

But you are also right there cant be a real consequences that lands Guy dead or in Jail for a significant amount of time until the game is over. However Neon could still write in some smaller ones at some point guy gets arrested and bailed out and he just isnt found guilty until the end of the game, for example.

Tag away, man! I'm no one special, I'm here to talk to you folks.

I don't think it's a big spoiler, but -- yes. Her absence will be felt, in ways big and small. I've got a mini-update planned for between Chapters 10 and 11, which will basically show why having a competent assistant is important.

Now I totally want more romantic wholesome moments.
For example what if we take Risa on a date and hold her hand? Also if she gets cold I'll give her my jacket.
And finally if the wind blows Risa's hair into her face I'll tenderly push it to the side so I can look at her beautiful face unobstructed.

Joshy, let it be known I added a little tip of my hat to you in one of Risa's Chapter 9 scenes. Romance awaits!

 

[Ragnar]

Honestly, the problem with writing challenges into a Ren'py visual novel is that they don't really mean anything when someone can just roll back the game. It's why I don't do 'game over' endings -- I just have characters make decisions that won't result in a game over. What's the point when someone can just restart from their last decision? It's also why I didn't like.. Let Guy beat Jamie up, back in Chapter 4. What's the point? It doesn't mean anything if he wins that fight, because the player didn't have to do anything but click the, "I Win!" button.

Well, I played all the dark routes and I expect bad endings at some point. If you're trying to inject believability in your story like you're actually doing, the only logic coclusion to a crime spree is some kind of punishment. I mean irl you can get away with some bad decisions but if you go full retarded (i.e rape spree) it won't last

 

[Sharpshooter890]

Well, I played all the dark routes and I expect bad endings at some point. If you're trying to inject believability in your story like you're actually doing, the only logic coclusion to a crime spree is some kind of punishment. I mean irl you can get away with some bad decisions but if you go full retarded (i.e rape spree) it won't last

At this point I really hope one of the endings could be Joshy92 appearing out of nowhere and going full Batman on Guy's ass - "This is for Risa!" (breaks an arm), "this is for Mason!" (breaks another), etc. He's the hero that the girls need, but not the one they deserve. Obviously, it's more of a joke ending, like a Shiba Inu in Silent Hill.

 

[ko.os222]

I've answered this before, but to recap: dark content will exist until the end of the story. People got really concerned about this prior to Chapter 7 (Ashe's date) and we saw how that went. For that matter, there's plenty of dark content in Chapter 9.

The only thing that changes is that some girls won't be around for it. We've seen Nicki and Viola leave the story already. Others will follow. Some will stick around for a long time, and some won't. Now, people tend to act like I'm punishing players who like that content, but it's not about that. It's about maintaining a veneer of realism, about balancing my workload, and about pursuing what I'm personally interested in.

Realism: Guy can't just be a complete monster to a character, forever. Where does that end? With him in jail or dead.

Workload: People complain that I do all these paths, and then also complain when I reduce the one which is most different from the others, and therefore requires the most extra work.

What I'm Interested In: The darkest options just don't really leave the story with those girls many places to go. There are some games that have followed that route, and it just ends in a weird, ugly, power fantasy. I'm not interested in writing that. It has nothing to do with my personal tastes, my stomach for the material, or my work ethic. I just don't think it will be a good story.

Plus? Dark Guy, as I write him, is not some Machiavellian schemer who could maneuver through the echelons of local government to evade all consequence for his actions. He's not going to be a drug kingpin, or a slave trader, or the mayor. He's a middle-aged college dropout with a mid-tier physique, above-average cunning, a lot of money, and a weird talent for reading people. That's it. So, I write him into situations that I think will be the most interesting to see him in.



Honestly, the problem with writing challenges into a Ren'py visual novel is that they don't really mean anything when someone can just roll back the game. It's why I don't do 'game over' endings -- I just have characters make decisions that won't result in a game over. What's the point when someone can just restart from their last decision? It's also why I didn't like.. Let Guy beat Jamie up, back in Chapter 4. What's the point? It doesn't mean anything if he wins that fight, because the player didn't have to do anything but click the, "I Win!" button.

So, I focus more on what I think makes the best story, and plotting for long-term consequences. There are things players do, which don't matter until chapters later. I think that's the best way to make it feel like your decisions actually matter -- it's easy (and boring) to quickly roll back a decision when your main playthrough ends in Guy dying in a hail of gunfire. It's harder when you make a choice chapters earlier, which comes back to bite you in a small, but annoying way.



Tag away, man! I'm no one special, I'm here to talk to you folks.

I don't think it's a big spoiler, but -- yes. Her absence will be felt, in ways big and small. I've got a mini-update planned for between Chapters 10 and 11, which will basically show why having a competent assistant is important.



Joshy, let it be known I added a little tip of my hat to you in one of Risa's Chapter 9 scenes. Romance awaits!

Yeah but like you should absolutely keep an ending which would be completely unrealistic, like where the guys gets away with it all. cause after all, it is all fictional.

Also when are we getting brittany content like we were promised. need to abuse that bitch

 

[estrada777]

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[ImperialD]

don't know why it ends the way it does .. i guess i'll have to see what the dev comes up with

 

[Joshy92]

So, I thought I would list some things I like about the game.

Lots of choices when it comes to the love interests.
The girls are all so beautiful and awesome.
Guy isn't a creepy arsehole (on the love path anyway).

There would be other things I'm not remembering at the moment, but these things alone make the game a top tier AVN to me.

 

[Qwert99]

Yeah but like you should absolutely keep an ending which would be completely unrealistic, like where the guys gets away with it all. cause after all, it is all fictional.

Unrealistic... sure

 

[camube]

i didn't play Dark Path initially cuz i didn't know there was a patch

but im curious about something. Above I read that in Dark Patch Nikki is leaving? Is that a future plan or has Nikki left already in Chapter 8?

Can I also ask what was the reason Nikki leave on Dark Path?