All : The Replica Series

Great game so far! I can now finally be the arrogant crazy person I truly am!

Great game can’t wait to see more! I just had a few questions/comments.

Why aren’t there any relationship bars for Josephine or Sara. It seems like I only have relationship bars for the guys and I don’t think it ever asked for orientation in the character set up but if this is the point of the matter, maybe consider revising? Idk it just seems a little unfair when considering the conversation choices and interactions you can choose to have.

Also, I definitely admire that you want to have a ton of available romances. It’s really ambitious and I support you 100% but if you ever feel like you can’t further the story or you’re stuck when it involves a character or something, don’t worry about cutting down on them. When there are too many choices, sometimes the story gets jumbled and confusing.

I was thinking that when you meet Ekhram (so sorry if I’m butchering his name, I don’t have the game in front of me right now) that you could have 3 convo options so it seems like what you actually choose can effect his relationship bar. Maybe one flirty (10%), friendly (8%), and down-to-business/rude (5%). Or maybe it can raise too after the match with like a congratulatory convo option or something. Also, from what I got from his character I think it would be appropriate for a hookup option after the match or something that leads into another scene with him or an innuendo for something soon. This could also be an option for Rami but idk if that’s not an option because he’s a recruit or not (that’s still a little confusing for me).

One more thing and this is what I really care about honestly, HOW DO YOU FLIPPING GET SEAN’S BAR UP?! I got up to 10% and I remember jumping from elation only to have it go down to 0% after the match when I ended it with a throat jab. What is the best ending option for his relationship bar. If it’s the kick to the groin I’d definitely be okay with that haha. Gives the relationship between the two a bit more spunk.

All in all, I love this game and can’t wait for more content. Keep up the great work!

1 Like

@Reaper_General Thanks for the feedback!

@fox_vixen I’m glad you like it! :smiley:

@katerpillar95 Thanks! I really hate school right now because it keeps taking up my coding time. :disappointed: I’m grateful for your questions and if you have any more or any suggestions/critiques please let me know.

Thanks for pointing that out! I intended for both to have relationship bars. I think I know what the problem is and it should be fixed when I post Chapter 5.

I appreciate your support! I actually had more romances planned, but I cut them early on. :smile: I have a total of 20 romance options for this first book. (If you want a list just ask.) I wanted to give a variety of personalities for the player to choose from. The romances won’t interfere with the story very much. They will have special scenes and dialogue, but the story is decided by the MC’s choices.

When you first meet Ekrem you can be flirty or neutral, but I will probably add a rude/mean choice soon. Ekrem has more appearances in later chapters. He’s a tease so he’s actually harder to romance then others and he’s mostly interested in fighting not romancing. (Ekrem is one of the strongest people in The Organization and he thinks the MC is a little young for him. He must be persuaded that you’re in his best interest.) Rami is actually 2 years older than Ekrem. In Chapter 3, Sean says Rami is a member of the Muscle Unit and in order for him to be so he must no longer be a recruit, have 10 years of general training, and trained a recruit of his own. Rami will be a fairly easy romance (if you want to hook up he’s your go to guy). Sorry if that’s confusing, but usually when you meet a character you can check out their ages in the stat screen. (Once I finish Chapter 5 I plan on making sure my stat screen is updated.)

The biggest contributors to Sean’s relationship are when you go over to him, Sara and Imnek. You get +10 when you agree with him and +5 when you say you think your recruits should practice together (a scene that will happen in chapter 6 or 7). Sean automatically starts with a +5 relationship. And in Chapter 3 the only choice that effects his relationship is if you attack him (a negative impact) or tell him about your power (a positive impact). He doesn’t appear in Chapter 4. Your total relationship could be 26, but I saw an error in the beginning so right now it will only be as high as 25 so I will fix that when I update as well. :smiley:

I was wondering if the player will het advance further and join the higher ranked teams like muscle unit along with their recruit (maybe add a smart unit and stealth unit later on for people with different play styles) so you can fight along with your recruit in a mission yhat maybe real or a simulation since that would be quite cool to see you and your recruit growand get stronger and bond more or hate each other or just don’t care enough to be friends only teacher and student. Also can’t wait for the next chapter

@Reaper_General The MC can advance to higher ranks in The Organization. Once you and your recruit pass the final test (after three months together) then you’ll be able to choose which Unit you want to join (Vital, Muscle or Enforcer). Your recruit can join you on certain low level missions (like the MC did in the Bingwen flashback). The Vital Unit is in charge of information, reconnaissance, healing, and technology development. If you want to excel in stealth or intelligence then this is the unit for you. (Chapter 5 will have info on all of the units.) You and your recruit can bond or distance yourself during training sessions and everyday activities (helping with homework, cooking, hobbies, vacations, etc). Chapter 5 is slow, but steady and I can’t wait to finish it! :smile:

every day scenario MC:" Abigail the foods almost done. How’s your homework going? Need any help?" Abigail:"No I should get it done soon. The food smells good.“Mc: thank you. Have you been having anymore trouble with that other recruit? She hurt you again?”

I just get this feeling that my character is the older brother who’s moved out and she’s the younger sister who’s living with him for a bit. XD

@Razgriz That sounds about right. I want a mixture of mundane and extraordinary scenes.

@SharpOne oh good :), it’ll be fun to interact with our recruits I and off the battlefield

A hookup with Rami definitely makes sense haha. And ok he’s not a recruit, got it. I thought I read somewhere that he was Ekhrem’s recuit or something. Just went back and I figured it out. Rami says “I take it you’re a new recruit and his veteran?” and I think that I thought the MC said this instead. You’re good :smiley: le:

Also had a random question. At first Mentor explains that a recruit will be “placed” with an appropriate veteran but then she said on the next page that a veteran would choose you and that they would be responsible for the recruit for 3 months. So then are these their temporary mentors and after 3 months they’re placed with their actual ones? I kinda got from the rest of the story that these are the recruits’ permanent mentors but I just think that the way Mentor explains it is a little confusing.

I was wondering if you could explain why the mentor in room #3 is only called Mentor when the MC is in another classroom scene and everyone calls this mentor by his name, Mentor Harrison. Speaking of Mentor Harrison, could you explain this sentence? “Usually those with long ranged powers get assigned to him, but he also heads the History Department so everyone gets to interact with him as opposed to my Mentor.” I think it’s just the “as opposed to my mentor” part that I don’t understand.

So I’m not sure if you can tell but I’m playing through the demo yet again (not like I have homework or anything, right?) and, again, it’s awesome, but I was wondering what the point of the first choice was? At first I thought that choosing cereal would lower a stat later during the match with the recruits or affect it somehow since it said it was “not the most filling.” But then I realized that whatever choice you make, your stats don’t change at all. I wasn’t sure if this was intentional or just for the sake of the game or something more subtle like a sentence an hour later or something (“I’m glad I didn’t eat much because I might have hurled just about now” or “I’m starving” in conversation with recruit when going to lunch together or something else as insignificant as that). I just thought that was a little weird.

On that note, do any of the choices when choosing what to say in the fake recruit simulation effect your stats? If not, I think it works better here, since there is specified content for each choice.

Same thing during the team scene where the MC freaks out, do any of the choices do anything? I know there obviously has to be some choices that don’t change anything but I’m the kind of CoGer that thinks that if there’s a choice it better do something (change in dialogue/scenes/etc).

The MC says in reference to their new recruit that they have a new opportunity and that they won’t have ruin it for the third time. Are they talking about how they had 3 mentors or how they have been a mentor for 3 times. I figured it was the former since it said previously that veterans are ages 23-27 (was that for veterans or mentors?).

Typos that I found are:
When you sit to eat breakfast with Sean, Sara, Tanaka. ‘“Yeah, yeah. Come, on we don’t want to get chewed out for being late.”’ should be come on , we don’t…
Same scene and right after the previous. It’s really not a big deal but if you like using commas you put one after “you” when MC says ‘“Right behind you Tanaka.”’ so it would be ‘“Right behind you , Tanaka.”’ instead.
“The newbies looked shocked. The veterans look pleased.” The rest is in the present so it should be “The newbies look shocked.”
“I grab a orange canister”… I grab an orange canister. (Not sure if you can code it that way though since it’s changed based on the recruit you choose.)
“As I leave I hear the scrapping of a chair moving against the floor implying someone else has finished early as well.” (this is after the simulation) it should be “I hear the scraping of a chair…”
“I see Danesh lying on the bed with a pillow over his head. A once over tells me he’ll live.” It should be a once-over.

That’s all the errors I could see but I will probably go over it again later. Now off to write my paper for tomorrow!

P.S. I don’t want to be selfish or anything buuuuuuuut… when do you think the next update will be?

This is one very long post! If anyone finds it confusing please let me know!

@Razgriz Your recruit will also have to deal with the fact that you may act in a completely different way on the battlefield. When they first go out with you they will might be surprised how different you can be.

@katerpillar95 I wrote it that way because I had a plan then changed it mid way through and forgot to go back and make edits. Sorry; I’ll fix it when I post Chapter 5. The process is that a veteran picks a new recruit and trains said recruit for 3 months. At the end of that three months both the veteran and the recruit must take a test. Both have to pass if the veteran wants to be promoted and choose a Unit to join. This is one way The Organization promotes a more nurturing personality over a violent loner one (although that’s still a possibility). If they pass then they are together until the recruit becomes a veteran (an average 10 year process). Most recruits and veterans continue their familial relationship, but some never speak to each other again. :cry:

There are a total of 5 mentors, which is a high ranking title, and each one specializes in a different form of combat. Mentor Harrison is the long range specialist and those that have long range powers are assigned to his combat classes (Josephine was assigned to him). Mentor Nyura specializes in emotional warfare and those with similar powers are assigned to her combat classes (Aziza was assigned to her). Mentor specializes in close combat or hand-to-hand (the MC was assigned to her). If your recruit is Danesh then he will take classes from Mentor while Abigail will be in Mentor Harrison’s.

The Organization offers many educational pursuits. Mentor Harrison has a great love for history (he has a PhD in history) and enjoys teaching. So when he retired from active field duty he tested and passed to become the American Branch’s History Department Head. History is a mandatory class so he interacts with everyone. Mentor hates her name (both first and last) and doesn’t tell anyone what they are (she’s asked that it be unavailable to anyone who looks in the records without clearance). The MC calls her ‘my mentor’ because when your second veteran died you were too old to really bond with anyone else, but you still needed training. Mentor took over your training at that point (this is the reason the MC is younger than most other veterans since you got a master trainer at the cost of a lifelong bond). She doesn’t head any other classes except the close combat assistance ones. There are other teachers of close combat so not everyone interacts with her. (I’ve made a few changes to her intro in Chapter 4 that should help explain.)

The first choice is supposed to have a stat increase, but I was still learning and kept messing up. When I finally got it down I forgot to go back and fix that. So thanks for mentioning it! It’s just the reminder I needed! It will also be fixed when I post Chapter 5.

The recruit simulation does have stat increase choices. The first round increases (by +1) the more passive abilities (intelligence, presence or charisma). And the second round increases (by +5) the more combat focused abilities (agility, strength, and stealth).

In the Bingwen flashback scene, the replica you choose for Amat results in something much later (this effects a combat choice in a scene not yet available). And when you hear the voices, it’s also a later result. That one influences the attitude you have toward something (another scene not yet available). These two choices are more long term.

The MC is referring to bonds in general. The MC doesn’t want to hurt, mourn, grieve again not for a third time. The only people the MC ever cared about (Bingwen and the second veteran) both died young and in tragic and traumatizing ways. That’s why the MC doesn’t have any relationships in the beginning of the game (this is something that will also explain itself later on when an old friend from Bingwen’s days confronts the MC).

Thanks for catching all those errors. TwoSharp and I have read the game so many times we’re getting sick of it! Those will also be fixed when I post Chapter 5. (It’s easier for me this way even though I hate leaving those errors.)

I’m just finishing up a big round of tests and projects so I might move a little faster in this next week. I have at least 15 scenes to write and code and at my current pace I would guess another few weeks until I’m done. I’m sorry I keep saying that, but it’s my hope. :smile:

2 Likes

Ooooooookay I gotcha. It was just confusing that every other mentor had a name but Mentor didn’t. But that makes sense and should supply some potential comical fodder later on. And it’s good to know that there’s actually reasoning behind the flashback choices (and kudos for making it something that will happen at a much later point in the story, smart storytelling :smile: ). I went through the recruit simulation again and I still didn’t see an increase in the first round. And I definitely understand reading and rereading your own work over and over again to catch the most minuscule errors. Glad to hear you have some destressing time! Good luck on any tests/projects you have left :smiley: I’m gonna channel my mom for a second and say don’t overwork yourself, so only write/code what want to do, not what you think you have to do. Once a project becomes a chore, all the fun gets taken out of it. Enjoy some time to yourself and have fun with this because I can honestly say how excited I am to see this progressing so well. I don’t know much about coding on CoG as I have yet to get that far in any of my stories but if you ever need any help with the editing or anything, let me know!

choosing between
Write Henil a note. It will be simple, but get my point across. I will write an obsence word on her forehead in black marker. Then I’ll wake her.

and
Gently lift her out of bed without waking her, walk into the bathroom, place her in the shower, and turn the water on. Nothing helps a sick person like a nice ice cold shower.

is probably my favourite choice so far.

this is such an awesome game!

loving the MC’s power and backstory

@katerpillar95 I decided to take your advice so I took the weekend off! I did absolutely nothing productive this weekend and it felt really really good! :blush: But now I’m back and I feel rejuvenated. Thanks for the offer! If I ever want a fresh pair of eyes I’ll let you know. :smile:

I’ll take another look at the simulation scene and if it needs to be fixed then I’ll have it done when I post Chapter 5.

@AdamGoodtime I had a lot of fun writing that choice so I’m glad you like it! Which one did you choose?

Thanks! The MC’s power was the very first concept I created. Everything else just fell into place after. The backstory is simple yet tragic, which is a reoccurring element. Bingwen’s scene was limiting in choices (it’s like a tutorial), but the MC will have much more impactful decisions in the second veteran’s scene.

i chose the shower the first time and the “note” the second(i like to run 6 playthroughs at once to check out the different options and i had Henil as my student/pet/opportunity on two of them)

and when i said backstory,i was(mostly)referring to the “voices” and the power’s backstory(although i DO like Bingwen)

@AdamGoodtime Because your a regular patient of Mentor Nyura’s, I will provide a few counseling scenes. In one of them Mentor Nyura will ask you to ask the voices for answers, which is something the MC is immensely uncomfortable with considering she/he doesn’t even want those voices to exist. Of course, if the voices didn’t exist then neither would your powers.

Hey sooooooo not to be naggy or anything but… how’s chapter 5 going?

By immensely uncomfortable does that include trying to bash your head in again?

@katerpillar95 Chapter 5 is frustratingly slow. School is taking up more of my time than I originally accounted for. I finished a large section the other day, but then I discovered that one path was unfairly short and not very impactful so I’ve decided to revise it. One step forward then two steps back I suppose. :disappointed_relieved: I would estimate that at this pace I won’t be done until the end of October to mid November.

@Bryce_Kaldwin If the MC becomes too overwhelmed while dealing with the voices the first thing she/he will do is inflict self harm because the closer the MC is to death the weaker the voices will get. The MC is like everyone else in that if death can be avoided then it should be, but the voices can easily override the MC’s survival instinct. The MC would rather die than be at their mercy for a second time. That’s why the MC would be wary and unwilling to have anything to do with the voices.

Don’t worry, I totally understand. Just finished my first week of tests last week and now midterms are in two weeks. Whoever said that college was the time of your life obviously never actually attended. I feel stress pimples coming…

Back on topic, however, I’m glad to hear that you’re still committed to this project. It’s one of the only WIPs that I’m invested in enough to comment on and wait patiently (and mostly impatiently) for. Good luck!