Belle-de-Nuit: Point du Jour
By Rebecca Zahabi
You watch the square of light coming through the door, the sharp, cold Parisian winter sun making the pale stone step shine. You feel like the motes of dust you see dancing: on the threshold, ready to be carried by the wind, outside, to the rest of your life.
Shoddy education time! Quick personal view primer on how Choicescript saves work, from a layperson’s perspective. This is not likely to be 100% accurate or detailed, but this is my understanding.
So, an author who wrote ‘The Series: Chapter 1” is writing “The Series: Chapter 2”. Choicescript has a file (at least in Steam) that handles your current play of the first game, and updates based on the changes you make. This file resets if you ever restart because it has to inform the new playthrough. Why can’t this initial file be used to just make a save?
Well, sometimes authors use your feedback when making sequels. Did you really like the snarky one-eyed bakery salesperson that you chose to save, and want to see more of them? Maybe the author just dashed that character off quickly, and didn’t think it would make the impression it did. Cornflake, the Cyclop Croissant Clerk, now a consecutive current canon character, features in “The Series: Chapter 2”. So, edits in the first game change that original file to now track whether he survived.
So, that original file you played through wouldn’t track that choice, and can’t just update to show you made it. This is why saves aren’t often ‘turned on’ until close to the new release. The new save system makes a snapshot of your variables at the end of the title, to track your choices to inform the next title.
Sometimes the author just doesn’t know what variables are important or necessary to track.
General Story:
You defended the honor of the people of the Belle-de-Nuit before, but can you now defend the honor of the Belle-de-Nuit itself? After a dear friend passes away, a nephew with ill intentions brings the full might of the Parisian legal system against both Amaryllis and the Belle-de-Nuit. You might be able to beat them in a duel, but in the courtroom?
This title is, as you play the same character, genderlocked to a woman main character. I find the story funny by coincidence, because technically… At its simplest, the story in the first book starts with this exact same situation, but this time it’s not on purpose. The story and world is still as vibrant as before, and you get to visit more Parisian locations. You’ll follow some previous threads from the earlier title to their conclusion, and get introduced to your own past. This is a good conclusion to this story, but the mystery seems like it fell a little flat.
Format and Typos:
Great readability, and any typos I’ve reported were already fixed by my second time through.
Game Mechanics and Stats:
There is not much change from the earlier title, if you play through both entries in one sitting. I’ll explain more on that in the next section.
Opposed pairs, accumulating skills. You’ll build influence to try and keep the Belle-de-Nuit above legal waters, and manage your reputation with the antagonist.
Replayability:
I’d like to say replayability is as high as the previous entry especially with adding an additional romance option… but I provided the primer above to talk about this.
I’ve got a bit of a quibble with the lack of a save system in place for the sequel, but I just want to reinforce that this is coming from my ‘stats are important’ side, not my 'story is important’ side. You can’t bring forward your previous stat distribution without replaying the entire first title at that exact moment. Choosing to jump ahead gives you a premade character with stats that may not be exactly what you were going for. Not a huge thing as the first portion can be replayed fairly quickly, but weirdly, having to select a save with my old character in other titles makes it feel more concrete and distinct. This feels like a nitpick because of course, other releases would have a save system in place shortly before release. This means you’d have to replay the title anyway, but often, my time playing other series titles would be resetting up the characters I had made previously. This sounds tedious, but not having access to the new title, each playthrough would just up my hype for the new release. This time? I have the new story, right… there… But, if I want ‘my’ full and true character… I have to replay the full original title, each time.
This affects immediate replayability especially for those like me who tend to play the same character, but with different romance options. So, if you only play once and don’t want to see other outcomes other than your canon play, it may not have much of an impact. If you are like me? This may make this a title you don’t replay immediately. For me, I come back to games a lot, so this isn’t an issue really… But some people may never pick the title up again in favor of new releases.
Dislikes:
- No save system to load a previous character up. If you want to make different choices with a canon character from the first title, you’ll have to either settle on a pregenerated stat set, or replay the first title again.
- It seems suggested that there is more than meets the eye than just a ‘stolen inheritance’ earning ire with the antagonist, but it never really seems fully explored.
- Spoiler-ish dislike: Honestly, I am not sure how having the antagonist be related to the patron was necessary. It made Denjeux feel especially hands off, despite the level of injury to Sebastian, learning about Lou and becoming more involved with both the Belle de Nuit and Madame (hinting at romantic involvement).
Likes:
- Paris is a character as much as any other, and it’s wonderful to read about it.
- Descriptions are so vivid, and the author is great at moments of poignancy and that feeling that everything slows down and you notice everything at those life defining moments.
- Romances are still meeting that high bar that the first title set.