An Absinthian Ballad (Mini-Update 29.07.18)

True… I hate when videogames do that and it’s a common troupe in otomes. You’re not allowed to RP or be yourself, you have to kiss ass if you want to go on a date with your favorite NPC, which I find ridiculous and unrealistic but then again how realistic is it to have a bunch of stereotypical attractive guys all interested in your persona?

The thing with those games is that you’re supposed to have matching ideals and personalities but if you can’t identify as your MC then you’re basically just lying and deceiving to get in their pants and we all know those sort of relationships rarely lead to something good. Not to mention they set up a bad standard for all those teenage girls (and women) who love and play those games.

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I had this thought bothering me for a while now. Zen is my least favorite character in the game. I would choose him but his narcissism is annoying to no end. I really like when in Jumin’s route, Zen comments on how jumin’s obsession with his cat is not normal, and the you get three options, which one includes: "Your narcissism is also not normal, i mean, god’s mistake?’’

I always chose this one, even when it didn’t offer any hearts (i think). If not for his inflated ego, he’s pretty alright. Jaehee would be alright too, if not for her fangirlism for this superfluous man.

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Sorry to be That Guy, but would you mind shifting the discussion of dating-sim narcissism to the Off Topic section?

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Oh goodness, turns out I actually wasn’t losing my mind reading the last couple of post; I wonder if I had gone into the wrong thread! :sweat_smile: Now I see what it was all about, ha. :grin:


Can’t wait to see where we will go next in this game, quite a different experience, to be sure. Lovely writing too, in my opinion. Do keep it up, please. :relaxed:

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I’m still alive! Well, not really, but I’m not dead! :upside_down_face: Totally hasn’t spent all her time on FGO nope nope what do you mean I want to collect husbandos hahaha

So, new semester, new obligations, it’s been tough to really sit down and force myself to code a substantial amount, which explains my lack of activity. My reading week is next month, so that’s when the next major update will probably be.

But that aside, I was hoping to push out a smaller update next week, doing some fixes on Chapter One where there was some confusion, and a couple of scenes that I’ve switched in. However, unfortunately, my laptop took quite a beating, and it’s really difficult for me to look at it right now (bless the poor laptop).

Anyway, I will try to work on this over the next couple of weeks and heal my poor broken heart for my laptop. I will most definitely post an update next month once I go home and get my other laptop.

Thanks for your patience guys! I’m willing to post snippets, if you guys want!

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@locria

I would love that!

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@locria
If you are having laptop troubles, I might suggest that you back everything up in the cloud. Of course, my reasoning is selfish since Lady Margie is out to bag a Duke and does not to be delayed by tech issues.

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Looking forward to what you come up with!

I can feel your pain. I’m currently having exams for my semester and it’s a nightmare :sob:

But yeah you should back up your work just to be safe. Snippets sound nice if you want to :kissing_smiling_eyes:

@Pauly51 @cookiemonsta Oh no, thankfully there’s nothing wrong with my laptop’s hard drive! The screen is just a mess, but it works fine and I’ve done a very cheap quick-fix. No files are in danger, thank god.

I do have a question though. Does anyone have a preference about the relationship bars? I’ve said it before, but the relationship bars mean very little to the actual story, since most of other people’s perceptions are tracked by other variables. Should I remove it entirely, or should I replace it with something like text?

Anyway, let me know if there are any scenes you guys want to read, or would like to see from another perspective. Doing vignettes like this really help me get through the really dry parts of coding.

A little bit of one of the new scenes for Chapter One

A man sits on a rock near the edge of the clearing. You cannot see his face, for it is hidden underneath a black hood, but you feel a heaviness settle upon your body.

He looks up sharply, and when his eyes meet yours, your blood freezes.

They are a cold shade of gold.

Your legs tremble and they buckle underneath you. You keep your head down. You dare not look up at the man.

You can hear the man stand and walk over to you. You can see the hem of his cloak from your peripheral vision.

“Who are you?” His voice is deep and sonorous. Perhaps if you were not so terrified, you would have thought it a beautiful voice, but instead, it freezes your blood.

You say nothing, not that you could, even if you wished to. You have not the strength to do so.

“Hm.” He crouches down and grabs your chin, forcing you to look up at him. His hood is down now, and he looks like those paintings of the gods from centuries ago. “What is your name, child?”

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@locria yeah probably you should replace it :confused: you can do it like the one in children of the gods but without the relationships bar. I always focus on that bar to know what I’m doing in game xD

Hm… maybe Oskar’s POV when he threw the ribbon away or when he told us he was to leave for the academy? Or the other ROs POV during our meeting unless it’s too spoilery or has changed in the current version. I would also like to learn more about our Family before mother died, like a snippet when the family is together before our birth was decided and messed ul daddy dearest :smiley: Eleonor and Ben are my sweethearts :cry:

@locria If the relationship bars don’t really matter I’d say replace it with text telling how the ROs feel about us.

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Procrastinating because I don’t want to start studying for my midterms please help me why are all my midterms on the same day

A mid-sized update this time, mostly editing chapter one, and doing some clean-up. I’m very tired, so please let me know if there are any mistakes or confusing parts. No idea when the next major update will be, but probably within the next two months, I’ll finish the stats screen, implement the changes to the relationship bar (I think I’ve gone a bit overboard with the possible descriptions lol), and tidying up some of my code.

@cookiemonsta POV of the other suitors is pretty spoilery, so I think I’ll do Oskar’s POV and the family scene later this week if I survive this week that is.

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You hear your name from a vaguely familiar voice. Is that Benedikt? “{$dimin}, oh there you are!”

Found a bug

Hi

I blocked here

And if i choose no present for oskar i also blocked

bugs/mistakes

  • I got +3 rebellious when I decided to stay in my room like a good girl instead of sneaking out
  • I think there’s a typo in one of the dreams but I clicked next before I read it properly and since then I keep getting all the other dreams apart from that one. It’s about the man missing a leg and arm (?)

@god Hello, yes, why haven’t I played this wonderful game before???

So this is a very, very well-written game and I’m very angry at myself for not seeing it earlier BUT I’M HERE NOW AND THATS WHAT MATTERS.

Anyway, I just spent the last few hours reading this entire topic, so I don’t have many opinions or questions that haven’t already been expressed before, so if it’s alright with you @locria I’ll just stick with showering you in praise!


I realize that the setting is roughly Edwardian Period(???) but in the fantasy HRE, but I love, love, love this Gothic atmosphere permeating throughout the story. It’s so…deliciouslly unsettling! Like admiring a gnarled oak tree, touching a blackened rose petal, or staring so long into a 100 year old photograph that the people’s faces begin to blur into their face’s own shadows.
There’s just something about this game that really speaks to me.

Being that I’ve only played the new demo, I have no opinions on the non-Oskar ROs, and being that @cookiemonsta supplied a beautiful picture of Evan Peters as Oskar, I think I can safely say that I already know who I’ll be romancing first.

Finally, I just wanted to mention how I was pleasantly surprised that Valeria was one of the name options. It’s actually one of my favorite names in real life but surprisingly rare in the English speaking world. idk I just really like it!

Anyway, I will be following this very closely and will do my best to spot bugs and spelling errors, but judging by this demo, I’m sure it’ll be a nearly impossible task for me to complete!

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Fixed the bugs, but @awkward_viking, I’ve gone through the code, and I can’t find the rebellious bug. Try again maybe, and tell me if you still get it.

@rose-court Aw, thanks! I’m glad my embarrassing edgy phase helped with the atmosphere! :blush:

I’ve started on cleaning up the code, so if I work on it during the weekend, I should be able to actually start coding chapter two. Thanks, and to those of you with midterms, good luck!

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Ah! That is because I am an idiot. I just looked at your code and saw that you +rebellious with the name I chose and I assumed the stat building happened from action choices. Still, that means I should’ve gotten +5 overall instead of being on +3? Sorry for the confusion!
Tried again: still got 53% rebellious when I chose Alexandra as a name and then decided to stay in my room. I don’t see anything in your code that would cause this. Maybe it’s my browser or uncleared cache.

Also, the typo is Why is there so much blood where your heart is supposed to be? Located under the label blood, it’s missing the “is”.

Is allegedly allive

Hi hello friends, it’s been a month, and I’ve made maybe 1% on Chapter 2! :upside_down_face::upside_down_face: Totally didn’t spend my break gaming and sleeping instead of writing and studying nope not me I’m a model student.

Actually though, it’s taken me a month to finish the first half of the first scene. It just kept coming out wrong, and of course, it’s always busy busy busy with school. I’ve come to accept there is a very good chance that I will finish my degree before I even get halfway through this game :sweat:.

I’ve cleaned up Chapter 1, making it easier for me to read, and I think I’ve caught most of the spelling/grammar errors, and a few weird stat raises. Per the relationships, I’ve yet to come up with a way to implement text in a moderated and satisfactory way. Well, not that it really matters right now, and maybe I just need to sit down for a few hours without school hanging over my head to think this through.

I have no idea when I can finish Chapter 2, but I’m working on it! Even if it takes me years, I’ll finish it!

@awkward_viking What eye colour did you choose? Hazel gives a boost to rebellious.

And per @cookiemonsta’s request, a snippet that I managed to write!

Summer of 497, Oskar's POV

He cannot understand why he feels the compulsion to torment his cousin. It has been but a few hours since he arrived at Remesch, but as soon as he sees her, he feels that strange desire. Oskar cannot recall exactly when this began, perhaps a couple years ago, if he were to warrant a guess.

He tries to rationalize it; it is her fault for having such a dumb expression on her face; why does she have to annoy me so much, and so forth, but he knows those are just lies he has created to save face.

To save face for whom, he sometimes wonders.

This time, he has stolen her ribbon, yanking it out of her hair once Cousin Benedikt left them. It is not exactly something he can hide, and as soon she registered the ribbon in his hand, her face went from one of carefree relaxation, to one of murderous intent.

Every expression looks so pretty on her.

He grins cockily, immediately taking off while waving her ribbon about. “Come and get it!” Oskar does not doubt she runs her fastest, but he’s taller, and used to chasing his brother around.

But that was before they were treated differently.

After a few minutes, he looks behind and sees she is not there. At a moment’s impulse, he throws the ribbon and darts off in a different direction.

He is uncertain how much time passes by the time she catches up to him. “Where is it?” she demands, cheeks flushed from exertion and hair mussed from both him and the wind.

For a moment, all Oskar feels is regret. He cannot recall seeing her look so upset, but he pushes down the lump of unease with a laugh. It is but a ribbon, why does she care so much? “I threw it away! Good luck finding it!”

He meant it in jest, but she merely huffs angrily before running off to search for it, leaving him alone in the blistering sun.

Why did he do it? Oskar tries to rationalize it again, and he arrives at the same conclusion he has so many times before.

He wants her attention.

Oskar bites his lip as he shakes his head, feeling his cheeks warm. It is the sun, he tells himself, it is nothing more than that.

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