could just replace from to is(she is Rajasthani) 
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Hello. I just read the January dev log. Iām assuming we canāt participate in both the mixed doubles and the regular doubles. Can I ask if the mixed doubles is more prestigious in some way? Iām assuming weāll have to do really well to get picked over the top 3.
This also has me wondering if we get picked for mixed doubles will Rayyan and Tobin be the regular doubles partners? Or maybe coach will stick to the tried and tested Tobin and Deepal.
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Agreed, Iām so torn on thisā¦
On the one hand, I want to do the mixed doubles with Felix and go against Sam and her partner but on the other handā¦ Be and Rayyan continuing our undefeated streak would be pretty GOATāed.
Decisionsā¦ Decisionsā¦
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On this note, this is a bit of a silly question, but would it be possible to make the āfree tierā posts simply, well, public? Not everybody wants to register (and some canāt), especially with a company which already got in a lawsuit over illegally selling their user data to third parties, as Patreon did.
(if the āfree tierā actually benefits the creator then please disregard this)
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Decided to re-read after a long while and I still greatly enjoy this story as well as all the new content! Will definitely keep coming back :]
However, Iām a bit confused about something - I donāt seem to have gotten any opportunities to commit to Rayyan (?). I didnāt see the ā[Commit to (X)]ā label anywhere at any point. I briefly browsed this thread and iirc someone mentioned big commitment scenes for all routes except G, but I donāt recall seeing anything like that.
The update post said it was possible to end the current demo in a committed relationship with the chosen RO, did I run into a bug or did I somehow accidentally miss something? D:
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However, Iām a bit confused about something - I donāt seem to have gotten any opportunities to commit to Rayyan (?). I didnāt see the ā[Commit to (X)]ā label anywhere at any point. I briefly browsed this thread and iirc someone mentioned big commitment scenes for all routes except G, but I donāt recall seeing anything like that.
Did you go to the party at Tobinās after the ESU matches, and did you look for Rayyan there after the Devilās Dozen? Thatās how I did it, though I havenāt replayed the update yet and Iām not sure if there are other ways to do it.
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Fashionably late as always, I caught up with the updates - and it looks like thereās another one on the horizon, yay! You keep delivering consistently high-quality writing, and itās always a pleasure to catch up with whatās going on at Cargill.
I enjoyed the little edits youāve made to the secondary characters: the bit you added with Coach Sį»³ at the beginning is a nice introduction to her and to the relationship sheāll have with MC, while the small interactions with Max and Blake sprinkled throughout the first chapters outline them better as characters and friends. I no longer feel like weāre dropping them to hang with the cooler kids anymore ā nicely done! And Maxās pinky promise before the challenge match is exactly the kind of light-hearted but warm interaction that Iāve come to expect from your characters.
While I was a bit disappointed that I could no longer beat Rayyan in the 5-mile relying on Condition alone, it did feel like cheating on my part with 7% endurance, so I canāt really pout about your decision (itās also an excuse to tinker with a different build, even if Iāve grown attached to my original big-whack-makes-point character).
The tennis matches were thrilling, and once again I want to praise you for how different they felt: my Serve-and-Volleyer was on a roll in the doubles with Rayyan (take that, Carlos ā Iām sure thereās zero risk of any trash-talking coming to bite us in the backside in the return match in NY) but then found himself in the fight of his life with Emilio. That victory felt hard-earned through sheer grit and stubbornness.
(Special shout-out to Coach Jones and his āHave you tried not getting tired?ā pep talk to my 10%-endurance MC, who was sadly unable to grow a third lung in time to win the second set).
Turning down the ROs was the gut punch I expected. I did not expect to be gut-punched again when Sam made a second attempt (though I should feel horrible for what I put him through). I have to say, however, that the tone of the different scenes with him felt a bit inconsistent during my playthrough.
Let me begin by saying that this is an absolute beast of a chapter: I donāt even want to imagine how many variables and possible interactions you were juggling together; you put a lot of hard work behind it and it shows.
I think that there were two main issues I ran into while playing: the first one stems from the expectations I had coming into this chapter, while the other has to do with the continuity between different scenes.
In my playthrough, I went for a clueless MC who had feelings for Sam, but never admitted it to himself. I felt that this was something that the game was allowing me to do in the first chapters: I picked a couple of heart options at the beginning, but they were choices that could be easily misunderstood for strong friendship, or mostly implying feelings on Samās part alone (choices like āI would have come to California with youā or āSam stares at you for a long time, as though thereās something heād like to tell you, but canāt seem to find the wordsā).
During Samās visit, however, every option in the three scenes that force a choice about MCās relationship with Sam (the garden confession, the bar confession, and the railway goodbye) implies that MC is not only aware of his feelings for Sam, but he also takes Samās confession in stride. There is no confusion, no āoh shitā moment which I was expecting. It was jarring because I felt that MC had gone through some major realization off-screen.
The same thing happens if I get to the commitment scenes for the other ROs ā in Rayyanās, MC is again very clear-headed about the fact that he has feelings for Sam and Rayyan, and that heās sacrificing one for the other.
I realize that this is a very niche scenario which, as I mentioned, is on me and the expectations I had built for myself. I am mentioning it, however, because earlier choices seemed to be allowing me to set up a āSam is dumb and MC is dumberā scenario, and then I felt like that route was no longer supported.
If I were to have to suggest how I would address this, the easiest way would probably be to add a small scene where someone forces MC to really think about what Sam means to him. Maybe it could be added to Guillaumeās interaction while working on the essay if we choose the āIām nervous about Samās visitā option? While it could be easy to miss, I also think that it would be an option easily chosen by players on that route.
Another possibility that I think could work could be maybe if a round of Emersonās ribbing hits home and forces MC to think āwait, but this is what friends act around each other, isnāt it?ā.
I am afraid, however, that this would also force you to add some additional variables before the Empire matches ā I think that an MC who just went through āMaybe I am in love with my best friendā might be a bit more self-conscious about his physical interactions with Sam, and in general would be noticeably more hesitant.
(Honestly, the way I was anticipating Samās confession to go was having a clueless!MC happily share with Sam that he had kissed someone else, only to get a horrified/devastated/angry reaction from Sam, but thatās probably best left to a Regency AU fanfiction).
The second issue I had is still related to rejecting Sam: I felt that his reactions were a bit inconsistent across different scenes. For instance, if we go to the party, avoid the garden confession, and later go to the bar with Sam, he is understandably angry and sad after being rejected and wants to sleep on the mattress. All good so far (except for my heart, but, I mean, I only have myself to blame for this fictional mess).
Then, in the dormitory room, D asks if they had a good time: MC nods and smiles at Sam as if nothing bad had happened (I just ripped his heart apart, Diego, no biggie). MC jokes with Sam before going to sleep, and Sam jokes back while mentioning our future visit to SCSU (implying that heād be happy to see us again). Sam keeps being very friendly with MC and mentions plans to see each other again until he leaves the dormitory room for the last time.
After that, Sam and MC run into Rayyan and Deepal (I had committed to Rayyan earlier) and now Sam canāt look MC in the face and doesnāt even answer Deepalās āI hope to see you againā(which seems to imply that heās not looking forward to meeting MC again). I can understand Sam trying to put on a brave face and acting like nothing happened to enjoy the weekend; I can also understand why his mood would nosedive after running into the committed RO and, in general, I can imagine that heās having trouble handling his own emotions (which are probably all over the place given whatās happened), however, the impression I got while reading was less āSam is confusedā and more āthis is the standard happy-weekend-text and thereās no contextual text to account for Samās rejectionā.
This was even more apparent when I reloaded a save, tried rejecting Sam in the garden (jail for Bracco! Jail for Bracco for a thousand years!), and Sam still wanted to snuggle with MC in the same bed. It was possible for me to select any of the hearts options, and even have MC kiss Sam ā their first kiss, with no special reaction from Sam. This definitely felt like I had accidentally stumbled on the romanced-Sam route.
I canāt help but feel that rejecting Sam should either put us on a whole different path for the weekend (one involving some pretty heavy conversations), or that there should be a lot of reactive text to take that into account, since ā unlike the other ROs ā Sam is around us for the entire weekend.
In general, I feel that with his confession (whenever it happens), Sam is putting himself in a very vulnerable position. Heās letting out feelings heās kept secret for years, and heās doing it on MCās turf: Sam has nowhere to retreat to to digest a rejection. He ā quite literally ā canāt hide from this conversation and its fallout, and I honestly think that no matter how happy-go-lucky Sam is, the happy weekend scenes are tonally incompatible with a playthrough that includes a rejection of Sam in the garden or at the bar.
My unprompted suggestion to address all this would be to have Sam waiting to confess until the very last moment (at the railway station) so that a rejection wonāt impact the rest of the events of the week as much. The other possible confession (in the garden and in the bar) could be player-initiated with a choice that allows us to control if Sam comes forward or not (something like āSam takes a deep breath. MC, I need to tell you somethingā vs āSam takes a deep breathā¦ but doesnāt say anythingā). This would allow us players to āguideā what happens (so that we can still commit to his route and get the romanced scenes).
I have to admit Iām not entirely happy with this suggestion because it cuts into Samās growth as a character (heās back to hoping that the stars will magically align on their own, even if a bit of initial chickening-out on his part would be realistic), and it doesnāt really solve the fact that a player could still want to reject Sam as soon as possible for the drama, but I think itās the one that wouldnāt require some heavy rewriting.
There are also later scenes where I was expecting a rejection to have an impact (for instance, when Sam messages saying that heās back in LA, or when MC has the chance to call him during the week). Whatever the circumstances, MC hurt his best friend, and it felt a bit strange not checking in with him (or maybe have a bit saying something like āYouād like to ask Sam how heās handling things, but youāre scared to poke at a still fresh wound. You end up sending a self-effacing āare we good?ā text that he replies to with a thumbs-upā).
On the other hand, I really liked that MC can choose to open up with Tobin about rejecting Sam ā I was afraid MC was about to explode if he kept keeping everything inside.
(And as an aside, the fact that Sam is obsessed with LOTR, with its whole theme of āthings are changing and we canāt go back to how they wereā is making me feel things on this rejection playthrough.)
To reiterate: I know that this chapter was a lot of work, and I really donāt want you to get the wrong idea by finding a thousand words of me tsk-tsking from my high horse because the choices I made in the game didnāt play out as I thought they would. I am aware I was following an uncommon route, and I donāt expect the game to always fit with what Iād like it to do. If youād rather I didnāt make suggestions, just let me know. I had a lot of fun while playing and Iāll never stop thanking you for deciding to share this world with us.
(I also saw your outline for a possible trilogy and I love it. Please never stop writing)
Okay, I think I typed enough for one comment. I hope you took breaks while reading.
Tl;dr (Felixās summary): The update is very good. Some continuity hiccups, but eh.
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Another one, is 85 the highest grade?
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Yes, I made my mc talk to him every time I saw an option to do that. After the kiss Rayyan immediately left the party in that scene, though D:
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For whatās worth, i think you can have the smoothest sort of ātransitionā from clueless to aware MC if you take the āgreyā option of āfriendlyā sharing the bed on the first night together as friends and then keep delaying and stalling making actual commitment until the final moment at the train station. (donāt pick a talk with Sam at Saturday party so they donāt get opportunity to force the issue early, mingle or approach other ROs instead) This way you get MC who isnāt blackhole level dense about their feelings the entire time, but it still does take them considerable effort to overcome their fear of acknowledgement/commitment, between the moment they do become aware and actual resolution, one way or the other.
(plus, you get an achievement out of it :v
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Looking at the January dev log, I have to admit Iām a bit miffed upon finding out the mixed doubles route and the usual doubles is confirmed to be mutually exclusive. Then again Iām not a tennis player so I dunno how doubles and mixed is supposed to not be exclusive so ehhh itās (a bit) fine.
I really just wanna fight Sam on the court w/o ditching Rayyan permanently as a doubles partnerā¦unless we can make it happenā¦?
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I donāt think weāre ditching our regular doubles partner permanently. It seems to be only for this tournament where weāll have mixed doubles. After that itāll be back to normal.
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You sure? I think I managed to lose with it onceš«
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Itās possible that thereās one or two options which slipped through the checks and didnāt take the beast mode into account. But it shouldnāt really be happening, at least not in the current game builds.
Also, note that thereās a match in the game where MC is scripted to lose, and at best can extend it to three sets.
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That scared me I thought beast mode was inactive when I lost but thatās good as long as itās for the story
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Mmmhā¦ I remember that he asked if anything was going on between my character and Sam, so maybe you only get that scene if heās jealous?
I tried that, but if I didnāt turn Sam down at the bar then I wouldnāt get any choice at the station (he just boarded the train), so no achievement for me 
I guess itās because giving him a non-committal answer at the bar lowered my romantic score with him too much (I had picked just a handful of heart options during the game).
Itās not that I need to have a confrontation Sam in this chapter, itās just that right now I feel itās a bit too easy to make the āwrongā choices and be dragged into one when youāre on your first playthrough (I expect that most players will want to spend as much time with Sam as possible).
Still, thanks for the advice!
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Yeah, that does seem to be the case - I restarted the game, raised Samās romance stat alongside Rayyanās and it finally allowed me to get the ādatingā relationship status because the jealousy scene triggered. (Some of that playthrough was pretty heartbreaking to read though, nglā¦ Poor Sam D:)
Itās a bit strange that my character couldnāt start dating Rayyan when he was the only one with a high romance stat. Perhaps thereās a bug of some sort somewhere?
ā
Anyway, Iāve also found something else that seems like a bug - after committing to Rayyan and rejecting Sam, the option to sleep on the mattress later that night was gone for some reason, I could only choose to share the bed with Sam. The option was there on my previous playthrough where I got no commitment scenes
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Yes, for the last-ditch effort from Sam, your romantic relationship with them needs to be over 35 when going to the train station. If itās lower, Sam wonāt push the issue, presumably because you didnāt give them enough signals youāre seeing this relationship as anything but platonic.
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Iām not 100% sure but I remember when the game last updated, or the time before, the author said that you could commit to relationships with SOME ROs, so maybe you canāt with Rayyan yet? It kind of makes sense for his narrative
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I too think that this is intended. Rayyan probably rushes forward if he sees Sam as competition, and takes a bit longer before making things official otherwise.
And yes, the unrequited route for Sam isā¦ oof.
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