Post by damalon in Astreon comments

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Back to the lack of choices again: I'm sorry I didn't see any meaningful choices when I played through it all.

I remember a choice to stop and help some girl in an alley, which I chose to ignore. No consequences to be seen. Therefore meaningless.

The same with some Elf girl getting stomped later, no consequences and never mentioned again.

I refused every single romantic or sexual advance any of the female characters made in the story.

None of them did anything about it. There may have been one brief comment about 'not looking at any of them' but then there was also a comment about the MC being a pervert when I had been anything but while controlling the MC.

Shouldn't the dialogue reflect my choices as MC? Shouldn't the girl that came with him from earth, I forget her name because I didn't care about her, shouldn't she loose her temper at being rejected?

Shouldn't the hacker chick have done or said something to get back at the MC when I refused to let her join him in the bath?

Perhaps she should have started screaming at him? Accused him of rape of something? Tried to ruin his reputation?

A lot of women really dont like being rejected afterall.

damalon163 days ago (2 edits) (-4)

None of these things had any visible effect on the story, positive or negative.

No one left, no one grew angry or disappointed.

No one realized they were wrong and grew as a person.

No one of consequence died. In fact the only character I remember dying at all was literally called 'Soldier C' or something.

If I cant see the consequences of my actions, even if its because you just haven't gotten around to writing that part of the story yet, then there are no consequences.

Therefore none of it has any meaning for me.

Rant over.

NoGlory163 days ago(+2)

For a minute, I've been working around the clock for a notional $30 a month for six months now. If I really planned to do it for the money, I would have given it up a long time ago. Yes and, the way I chose is not exactly easy, yes much easier to create a game with a conventional stepmother, and 3 sisters who live in the same house and crazy about the main character. But I wanted something more, something I wouldn't be ashamed of in the future.

And I'm honestly a little bit offended to see that elections don't affect anything, when in turn, they do. But on the other hand, I also understand you, because unfortunately I simply do not have not only time and energy, but also mind to combine all this. But thank you for your feedback, and I promise that in the future I will make much better choices than what I have now. Because if you look at it from your point of view, then yes, there are no elections, they are there, but at the same time they are not.... Sad but true.

NoGlory163 days ago(+2)

Again, apologies if this seems a bit harsh. A little emotional outburst :D

damalon163 days ago (3 edits) (+1)(-3)

Ok so this was a tough couple of paragraphs to read, but I think I have figured out what you meant here.

To be clear I have no problem with the setting and the story. It's a weird alternate reality, cyperpunk blend with some romance tossed into the mix to spice it up. Far better than yet another boring 'House with a Harem of Sisters that happen to be crazy about the MC for...reasons...' just as you said.

My problem isn't with the story, if that was my issue I would have stopped reading it within the first few minutes.

My issue was with the lack of meaningful choices as I said.

Another way you could rectify that issue is to remove the choices altogether. Make it a Kinetic Novel instead of an AVN.

There are several advantages to this:

1. The player gets their fill of T&A without having to figure out obscure, hidden, relationship options.

2. You get to tell the story the way you want to tell it with fewer complications in terms of coding.

3. Less coding or storyline variations means less time spent in development, which leads to faster delivery of the product and happier customers.

4. No choices at all annoys me less than choices that don't change the plot. Less complaints from me or other OCD arseholes like me.

But you should probably consult your paying customers first, I haven't paid you anything, so my opinion doesn't matter.

itchiofv163 days ago (1 edit) (+3)

Hello there. A third party is joining the conversation. ;-)

I can agree with damalon, various seemingly important choices feels to be superficial or with minimal effect. My personal option is, that this isn't something bad but a perfect example of "illusion of choice", something necessary in game development, also in Triple-A-Games. So maybe with that in mind, we can all agree and appreciate what we get here for free. Made by someone within hundredths of hours of free time.

And I think damalon made clear, he likes the game in general and this is just his personal quirk, where he dislike this "illusion of choice" stuff and he is aware about this personal preference. So NoGlory, don't be disheartened about it, you can be proud of what you created.

Finally, a suggestion or my thought about this topic: Some other AVNs offer a "story mode" option, where all choices are made automatically. This might be easy to implement, as you just need to define a default choice everywhere, choosen if the "story mode" is active or displaying the selection as it is now if in "normal mode". I think this is something people like damalon would like, and you would be able to implement.

So for, thats my 2 cent. Have a nice day guys!

damalon162 days ago (3 edits) (-2)

Elegantly put Itchiofv, thank you.

Indeed 'Illusion of Choice' is something that annoys me greatly and yes its just a personal preference. I speak only for myself in all that I say.

May I add that this is one of the few times someone else has brought up the term 'Illusion of Choice' before I have.

Lastly, your suggestion of a 'Story Mode' is a good one. Of course thats more work instead of less... :P

itchiofv162 days ago (2 edits)

You're welcome. I'm happy my interference was helpful.

Since Mass Effect 3, many players know the term "Illusion of Choice", and having bad experience with it. I was also upset there, with this three colored unepic climax. Nowadays I can laught about it, because it was don kind of comically stupid. I guess you would have run amok.

If in a future version of Astreon, we ever come across a choice between a red, green or blue door. We know NoGlory is mocking us (or ME3) now. :-D

damalon161 days ago

Hah! I remember that 'choice'! I was just glad it was finally all over!

I mean I loved Mass Effect but 3 was definitely the weakest in the franchise. No Andromeda doesn't exist, not in my world.

Believe it or not there are times I can just switch my brain off and chill :P

For example: I like Starfield. I loved Cyberpunk 2077, even though the epilogue/s made me sad. #JohnnySilverhandisadick!

AsterionStarscourge76 days ago

By the way I am interested in what kid of VN you consider good enough to recommend 🧐. It’s really Genuine interest. I have been running low on them these days and I would appreciate a helpful hand of a seasoned veteran in these things. I haven played as many games as I would like.

damalon76 days ago (1 edit)

There are a number of AVNs I consider good enough to recommend to other people:

5 stars: Crimson High (Simple graphics, very fast dev time, fantastic story, very responsive and understanding dev), DropOut Saga (Amazing story, average dev time, nice graphics), The Inn (Hilarious story, good dev time, nice graphics).

4 stars: New Antioch (Nice graphics and interesting story, inconsistent dev times), Pale Carnations (Beautiful graphics, interesting story, very long dev times, devs never respond to fanbase on itch, body types of the girls are basically the same), Projekt: Passion (Funny story, fairly interesting story, reasonably fast dev times, good graphics).

3 stars: A Foreign World (Nice graphics, responsive Dev, reasonably fast dev times, story is ok), Genex Love 1 + 2 (Simple graphics, cewl story, actual gameplay involved rather than just pick a path choices, frustratingly long or inconsistent dev times).

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NoGlory162 days ago(+1)

Oh, this sounds like a really good idea tbh... In the future, I will add this feature to the game 😄

itch.io

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