…I kind of want to serve as an icebreaker. This girl's more intense by her focus then approachable and that's going to go over like a wet balloon with Ban I think.
[X]You offer to introduce Ban to Yuhara, since she's going to try and meet with him.
Enable and slide into the background.
If that write in is not valid then:
[] [?????] [1] You endure a rooftop confession.
I'm torn here. I like the idea of voters offering alternative ways forward. But the structure of the quest is important to me too. Choosing between available events is the main mechanic, and I worry that the opportunity to "create" events through write-ins will warp that design. A heroine not being available is as important as when she is available. And I do want to maintain the ability to pursue multiple routes simultaneously, which becomes much harder if a majority of players strongly prefer one girl and continuously select her even when she's not otherwise available.
I know that this is substantially less freedom than is typically offered in story quests, and I'm sensitive to that.
So I'm going to say that this vote isn't valid. And while write-ins are fine for dialogue or decisions contained within an event, they aren't valid for events in and of themselves.
Rather, if you want to advance a girl's route, you should vote for her next available event and state clearly in your vote your reasoning for doing so. I read all your comments, of course, and I want to tailor the story to you as much as possible. So the more you talk about what you want to do, the better I'm able to incorporate that into my plans, while keeping the mechanics and the story cohesive.
I will say, for example, that introducing Ban and Yuhara is a possibility in her route. If you want to be absolutely sure that you're able to do it on your own terms, select her next event.
And of course I'm open to discussion. None of this is set in stone.
[X] [Yuhara] [1] You try to warn Ban about Yuhara.
I think I'd rather rooftop-san make a better showing of herself then sitting through her fumbling something she thinks she needs to do rather then witnessing her actually in her element.
As for the write-in that's completely fine. From what I've seen about how events work, it does make sense to me.
Yuhara's smile doesn't even flicker, but she's not quite as good with her eyes. They're more pensive than amused, studying you carefully as if from a hundred miles away. "You don't think that's a cynical way to interact with your classmates?"
To this topic, does our MC inherently have some Cynical in him from his background? He seems to be cynical in some of his interactions to the point that it outweighs his primary and secondary character traits.
[X] "As long as it gives us the chance to talk."
[X] [?????] [1] You endure a rooftop confession.
I want us to see us flex our charm a little bit. Also everyone should remember that the personality system is proportional, not merely by the raw numbers. Choosing a grab bag of other stats will just dilute our other aspects.
Hrm. My understanding was that it was proportional but not about magnitude-
MC on 100 Compassion does not make him an empath, though it does put his compassion as something that will shine through unless it's outweighed by other bigger numbers…
Hrm. My understanding was that it was proportional but not about magnitude-
MC on 100 Compassion does not make him an empath, though it does put his compassion as something that will shine through unless it's outweighed by other bigger numbers…
Personality is not a stat system representing the objective value of each trait – what matters is not the total value of a trait, but its proportion of Takami's total trait value. A Takami with a Compassion of 20 is not necessarily particularly compassionate, or even more compassionate than a Takami with a Compassion of 10.
To this topic, does our MC inherently have some Cynical in him from his background? He seems to be cynical in some of his interactions to the point that it outweighs his primary and secondary character traits.
Hrm. My understanding was that it was proportional but not about magnitude-
MC on 100 Compassion does not make him an empath, though it does put his compassion as something that will shine through unless it's outweighed by other bigger numbers…
Firstly, I think Takami has some of all the traits in him. He will at certain points be cynical or cool or confident even outside of player-determined dialogue, even if he doesn't have any points in that trait.
Secondly, the "proportions" rule is going to be a little wonky at the beginning, because you haven't had as much opportunity to define the personality. The further we go into the quest, the better I'll be able to tailor the "lesser" traits to your play.
Thirdly, I think the context and the way the cynicism is expressed is important. Takami is being suspicious of Yuhara's motives here, so I won't say he isn't being cynical at all. But the cynicism is caught up in his recognition/projection of artificiality (charm) and his desire to protect Ban's feelings (compassion) more than being driven by a misanthropic view of people in general.
That's how I perceitve it, anyway. I recognize that the personality system is loosey-goosey so I'm trying avoid contorting it to my own ends. But ya'll are the ultimate arbiters of that.
[?????] You endure a rooftop confession.
[Yuhara] You try to warn Ban about Yuhara.
Lunch has quickly become one of the foremost dangers in your life, an hour of uninterrupted free time in which you are intensely vulnerable.
Ban is eating lunch with his club today, and Arashi and Furuta are nowhere to be found. That leaves you somewhat exposed as you pick your way through Hiyari's main courtyard, bento box in hand. You see plenty of people who would be more than happy to have you join them for lunch, but you need more than willingness – you need a certain level of insularity, a stubbornness that will protect you from being carved away from the pack and isolated. You need…
"Harada-san! Nezu-san!" You plunk yourself down on the bench next to them and only then stop to ask, "mind if I sit?"
Harada Midori (L) & Nezu Iroha (R)
"Well, it's what benches are for," Nezu says. She's got two pencils tucked behind her left ear, a third behind her right, and is twirling a fourth between her fingers.
"Everything okay?" Harada asks, fanning herself against the heat. "You look like a scared gazelle."
"Ah, well, I'm actually kind of…" you glance back the way you came and from across the courtyard catch a pair of dark eyes beneath brown bangs. But she turns her face away when she notices you looking, and she doesn't show any signs of detaching from the group of giggling girls she's sat herself down with. "I guess I'm kind of avoiding Nakamura-san."
Harada and Nezu "ooooooh" at the same time and give each other a meaningful look.
Is this on the record?" Nezu asks.
"No, no, no," you tell her. "Off the record. Off. This is a casual conversation. As friends."
Nezu pouts, just a little bit. "If you were really my friend, wouldn't you want to help me become the ace reporter I was meant to be?"
"I think my belief that you can succeed at the school paper without resorting to tabloid gossip is evidence of our strong friendship."
The pout thickens, deepens. "But the people love tabloid gossip."
"Well, they'll just have to get their fix elsewhere," you say, giving her a grin. "It has to be our secret."
"That works," Nezu says. "Why are you avoiding Nakamura-san then? I thought you two were friends."
You sigh, digging into your lunch. "We are. But these past couple weeks, she's been angling to get me alone. I think she's trying to confess."
"So you're ghosting her?" Harada asks.
"I'm...strategically limiting our interactions," you say. And then, before they can both tell you that's a lame way to say the same thing, you follow it up with, "if she wanted to come over here and hang out now, as a group, I wouldn't have a problem with it. Or if she wanted to go someplace really un-romantic, I could swing that too. But I don't want to do the whole confession-rejection song and dance again. It's exhausting."
Harada turns to Nezu. "See, this is why I won't date pretty-boys."
"I thought that was because you couldn't get a pretty-boy."
"Well, that's just not true," you say before Harada can protest. "Harada-san's got the whole star athlete vibe going. It's a classic type, even in pretty-boy circles."
Harada can't quite hide the blush that creeps in around her ears, but she fixes you with an amused look. "So do I have to actually start confessing, or is the threat enough to make you leave?"
You and Nezu laugh, and the conversation moves on to other topics. Schoolwork, the heat, upcoming soccer tryouts. Finally it drifts to the article Nezu is writing for the school's paper.
"Terror in Blonde!" Nezu says. "What do you think? Catchy, huh?"
"Very," you say. "So it's about Hinata-san?"
Nezu shrugs. "Well, not really. The title is just a way to get people to read. It's actually about how the school is manipulating the weather to make a killing on the vending machines. I'm following the money, Takami-san. I'm taking it all the way to top."
"She wanted to write about Hinata-san," Harada says, rescuing you from having to voice your opinion about that particular theory, "but there wasn't much to actually write. She's kind of a mystery."
"Funny, because I think we're a little too well acquainted," you say, remembered pain causing you to wince. "How can the only blonde delinquent at Hiyari be a mystery? Who did you ask about her?"
"Everybody," Nezu says, actually looking a little offended that you would dare question her journalistic prowess. "Her classmates see her in class, but she never raises her hand and doesn't talk unless she's called on. She's not in a club, she doesn't have a clique...even her roommate barely sees her. She's in bed late and out early. That's all I got." She purses her lips at you, considering. "You've probably had more interaction with her than anyone else in school...get any insights while she was kicking you in the balls?"
[] "She was crying, at the end." [X] "Nothing springs to mind."
–
[X] [?????] [2] Your ego is bruised as bad as your balls.
[] [Koshimoto] [2] Koshimoto in the kitchen.
[] [Arashi] [2] You ask Arashi (Hatsu) about Arashi (Tatsuko)'s whole deal.
[] [Hinata] [3] * You tail Hinata around campus.
[] [Hinata] [3] * You confront Hinata directly.
[] [Yuhara] [3] You're drafted to the sports festival committee.
New Mechanic – Split Events
Sometimes, multiple events will cover the same story beats, creating events which are mutually exclusive with each other. This will most often, but not always, happen with the same heroine, representing different circumstances under which Takami might experience the same interaction. Split events are marked in the event selection with an asterisk, with different numbers representing different split events. Choosing a split event will immediately close the other event(s) that share the same number of asterisks.
Votes for a split event will not pool - they are considered separate events for the purposes of voting.
