@jeantown Does having a Cat or Dog change anything? If I have a Cat do I get bonus status? Or if I have the Dog do I get bonus status? I was just curious since they do play an important role for the story right?
@exist To be honest, I think it probably wonāt make a difference. Arthur blew off both of those moments so easily that I doubt he remembers them. But Guen will be able to break the news to him somewhat gently if she wants to, by telling him about the non-love spell first.
@Chaana heehee (: But sadly I have to tell you that there wonāt be any updates, beyond bug/typo fixes and small tweaks, until I finish part 2, which will be January at the earliest, or maybe as late as March, if the Frankmarch branch continues to refuse to get finished.
@Aera The type of pet doesnāt make any difference in stats. The things they can do physically are a little different, at least while theyāre in natural form, so that might affect the plot a bit. The pet will continue to be part of the story in future installments (at least, thatās my plan).
And @poison_mara (and anyone else who cares) I think I figured out an easy way to incorporate the Frankish civil war option into what I already have in the Frankmarch branch, without having to write another 27,000 words. It may not turn out exactly like you were hoping, but I am very grateful for the idea. It adds a lot to the story.
So if guenās Britain cannot conquer the franks but can she via military alliance from frankās neighboring kingdoms acquire a piece of the franks territory :), a major victory for Camelot against a force of ten times their numbers might encourage the talks for such alliance,
Can we have a new link?
As the new forum makes it simple by phone or laptop to go back to Post 1 and try the link, why donāt we all get in the habit of doing that rather than making linkpleez posts.
4 Likes
What a greatly written game. I also love the amount of choices you give us to flesh out our character.
I was a bit skeptical at first, because I thought this was gonna be another soppy romance game, but Arthur, Lancelot and Morgana are greatly written with their own strengths and weaknesses and to me they seem pretty believable as real people. Not some cardboard copy like some choice of games.
Canāt wait to pop back in a few years times and see how far WIP has come.
I just recently did another playthrough, but this time as ace!Guen and I have to say Iām not disappointed.
This Guen was a very happy kind of Guen Didnāt mind marrying Arthur because she wanted what was best for the country, and loves him romantically, but not sexually. She loves his ideals and vision for the future. Physical intimacy isnāt really her thing, but she doesnāt mind kissing him, though it takes a lot out of her and requires a lot of trust.
Playing the first half of part 2 was soooo entertaining. Having a little party in her room with Arthur and Morgana (I love how you wrote that scene), talking with Morganaās clone and later picturing the real Morganaās clothes disappearing oh dear lord. Then when Lance kissed her (like I said earlier, it takes a lot of trust and it felt invasive for her), she pushed him off her and started attacking him until she got to punch him in the face. A++++ for letting me do that! After she tells him not to touch her, him asking āwhat if youāre on a cliff and Iām pulling you up?ā
I really wanted an ace!Guen to be able to blush/get heated up and tell him that he has to ask her permission to touch her or be able to specify no kissing or anything sexual kind of contact. Another thing I wouldāve liked was to be able to drop it on Lance in part 1 that sheās asexual, like how a Guen who is only attracted to women can say sheās only interested in women or talk with Morgana about how frustrating it is to be asexual.
(PS Iām a weirdly huge fan of when characters show expressive emotions, being able to cry when theyāre frustrated or lashing out, like I was able to with Lance after he kissed Guen)
Also, do you have any plans on how a Guen with only a physical attraction to Lance will be handled after the curse/whatever it is is broken?
(I also enjoy how your writing is pretty neutral. It leaves a lot to interpretation when Iām playing as an evil Guen, a kind of silly one or a loner Guen. It makes for each playthrough very enjoyable :D)
I am so in love with this story. I absolutely love how itās written and the choices you can make. And the characters are wonderful. Itās hard to stay loyal to Arthur, though I love him to bits, but Lance is just so fun [and Morganna. Was a hard choice to not go for her]. But thatās what multiple playthroughs are for 
Definitely a big replay value to this one. Really excited to see more <3 [Also love the ace thing as I am ace. The mc I play as is pan, though]
@Pepper Hmm, that is an interesting ideaā¦ maybe more than I can account for right now, but I should do some thinking about how other nations on the continent view Britain, and how theyāll react to whatever happens with Frankmarch. Thanks for getting my wheels turning on that! (:
@Suede I canāt promise there will never ever be any soppiness, but Iām very glad you like the game, the characters, and the options for Guenās personality. (: I hope that there will be lots more ready for you to play after those few years, and I hope youāll enjoy it!
@snappingcookies Thank you so much for all of these thoughtsā¦ this is exactly the kind of thing Iām looking for when I ask people to tell me what would make their playthroughs feel more consistent. I can see with that particular Guen, how she would attack Lancelot but maybe not feel it necessary to go as far as ānever touch me again at all in any way,ā so some more nuanced options would be nice. (Okay, I donāt know exactly how much nuance Iāll be able to work in, but it will be good to think about and experiment with.) And yes, she really ought to be able to tell Lancelot at the end of part 1 that sheās not interested in sex. Iām kind of wondering why I didnāt put that in in the first place, but itās now on the list of part 1 edits.
In any case (and this may sound weird), Iām very glad to hear that someone took the option to attack Lancelot! I was hoping some people would find it satisfying ā I enjoyed writing it a little too much. He doesnāt fault Guen for doing it, either; he knows he made a mistake and kind of feels like he deserves it, which is why he hands the sword back to her; heās still hoping maybe things can be okay somehow.( The only thing Guen can do that will really 100% alienate him forever is demanding that he call her āyour majesty;ā if she does that, heās done.) But anyway, if you ever have any other ideas for places where Guen could express emotions like that, Iād love to hear them!
A Guen with only physical attraction to Lancelot should still be able settle into a friends-with-benefits situation if/when the spell is broken, as long as thaāt what she wants and his trust stat is pretty high. The sex might not be quite asā¦ um, magical? But heās Lancelot, so it should still be pretty good. (: He is, however, a very romantic sort of person, so heās always going to be a bit confused by an aro (if thatās the case) Guen who is interested in him.
Thanks for noticing the neutral writing! I try really hard, especially when Guen has non-optional dialogue, to leave it simple enough that the reader can imagine lots of different tones. Iāve asked this before, but Iāll say it again: if any of the obligatory dialogue or inner thoughts seem wildly inconsistent for anyoneās Guen, please tell me! If wording isnāt dependent on stats/choices, I want to make it as neutral and open to interpretation as possible.
@Aera Happy to! (:
@Asnomeol Oh, thank you! I seriously need comments like that in order to stay motivated! (: I hope youāll enjoy playing through again for Morgana, and please do let me know if you have any suggestions for keeping the ace (or pan) paths consistent.
@GloriaRose True that! Iāll be the first to admit I have a huge weakness for bad boys too XD
2 Likes
@jeantown glad I can help! It certainly is a lot of fun to do many different playthroughs, each with just a different personality tweak. Most of the time I can read it in the subtext, and I like to share what I think can be added, not to mention I just like to share my playthroughs because I simply love your game and itās replayability. I constantly share it with my friends (who enjoy books and video games, but havenāt found a love in CoG style gamesā¦ yet.)
With Lance, I meant, what if a Guen who was only attracted to Lance because of the curse thingy? I can imagine a Guen who loved Arthur (or Morgana, perhaps) but only started going after Lance because of the magical feeling when they touched not pursuing Lance once its fixed. So once itās fixed, she would have no desire to physically be with him. (I feel like the line in your game where it was like, her kissing him and wanting to do the do as quickly as possible before she changed her mind, like itās a bad idea but she really likes the rush the curse thingy does.) Oh god Iād feel so bad for Lance (but at the same time, cherish the feels) for the woman he liked, finding out she only liked him for something that wasnāt even him. Ahhhhh feelsssss!
I also feel like, with ace!Guen, when she tells Arthur that she has no interest in sex, when he talks about people being together/sex is a natural thing for Guen to at least get upset/angry, probably somewhere along the lines of āArthur, are you trying to insinuate that Iāmā¦ broken?ā and then him trying to take back everything he said. Iāve noticed a lot when asexual people talk about their sexuality, the word broken comes up a lot. They usually talk about our sex driven culture, how itās everywhere and being sexual is the norm, and then thinking to themselves about āwhy arenāt I that way?ā, thus the word broken being self inflicted. (Of course, this isnāt the case for all ace people, but I thought Iād bring it up.)
Iām going to do another playthrough later for a moreā¦ miserable Guen? Where she never gets over the fact she was married off without her consent. Iāll let you know my thoughts on it!
Edit// I just remembered, Guen thinks to herself, wondering about Morganaās clothes, that came from the clone, disappearing. I think itād be pretty funny for Guenās dress to poof away as well at some point, if you werenāt already planning on it.
1 Like
@snappingcookies ā Oh, do try the āmiserable Guenā, I did the other day and boy was it a different story, with āso much feelsā, ha! (Morgana was my rock to lean on!) @jeantown somehow has made an almost linear story vary so much with the way you play Guen and how you treat the characters (I almost wrote others, because they do feel alive with their own drives and desires). Maybe I will try to be a āI am gong to ruleā ruthless Guen, even if I have trouble being that mean. 
1 Like
@snappingcookies One of the things I love most about interactive fiction is the chance to view the same situation/people from multiple perspectives. I have so much fun trying to come up with stuff that might seem appealing from one personās perspective and annoying from anotherās, and then give them a chance to register those feelings. Once all the parts of the game are totally finished, Iād like to go back through and add a ton of little tweaks to better reflect the hidden personality stats, so that the reader gets more feedback for playing a consistent personality / perspective.
Ah, okay, I see! Well, Lancelot will know whatās up with the curse (and it will indeed be called a curse eventually), so heās not going to be confused or shocked if that turns out to be the only reason Guen was attracted to him. Itās possible that if the curse gets broken and his trust stat is low, he wonāt be attracted to Guen anymore anyway, and will be glad to be relieved of that burden. If his trust stat is higher and he and Guen have established a non-celibate romance, heāll understand if sheās no longer physically attracted, but I think, in his heart, heāll most likely continue to have romantic feelings toward her no matter what she decides to do (and heād still be open to a celibate, courtly-love romance at that point). If his trust is high and theyāve been having a non-romantic FWB relationship, and curse-free Guen is no longer interested in the ābenefits,ā he might understand rationally but still feel rejected emotionally.
Hmmmā¦ will add the ābrokenā interaction to the list of stuff to consider. I want to handle that conversation both carefully and with a light touch. Iām trying to keep it a very very shorthand and non-traumatic version of how that conversation might go in real life, and strike a real/ideal balance between āhereās some of the issues you can run into when telling someone about asexualityā and āhereās how much that conversation should not be some enormous negative thing that takes over your whole life.ā
I hope the miserable-Guen playthrough is interestingā¦ if you havenāt done it yet, you might want to try just refusing to cooperate with anything and always telling everyone to go away ā and then let me know if you have any suggestions for making miserable Guen more consistent. (:
If Guen and Morgana make a doppelganger of Guen, Guen will indeed trade clothes with the doppelganger, and then her clothes should disappear just in time for Lancelot to give her the peasant dress. If thatās not happening, somebody please let me know! (:
1 Like
Hey jeantown, so I just wanted to tell you that you are doing am amazing job! Iāve played through this sorry multiple times and am still in awe at how well you have executed this first book and a half! Iāve played interactive games here for years and never actually made an account [not saying there arenāt other great storylines] but yours has remained incredibly interesting and I love the first person, and how youāve given us so many types of guens to become! Iām seriously in love with Arthur as well as Lance youāve done very well giving the characters depth! And Iām sure youāve heard it before, but I would like to say great job!!! And donāt let anyone rush your work! Thanks for your awesome work!!!
@shadowchaser Iām so glad you made the account, and delighted that youāre enjoying the game that much! Itās always good to hear that the first person is working; I know itās not everyoneās preferred perspective, but it seemed like the appropriate mode for this particular game. Thanks for all of your encouragement, and I very much hope youāll enjoy the future installments! (:
Played air-headed Guen for the first time after seeing ppl mention it and it was adorable. ;-; Also ended up getting the āI love youā scene with Arthur and I just ;-;. I always like how I keep getting surprised with scenes after I play them a million times.
Though really Arthur FOR THREE YEARS? Though it saying he didnāt want to say it then made me wonder if he had a plan for when/where he would say it the first time.
How do u get that scene I didnāt even know it exists
@Nikmou When youāre in the room with Arthur, you donāt choose anything for him to make it up to you, you just tell him that itās fine and he didnāt mean it. Heāll tell you he loves you.
The first time I got Arthur saying it, I was totally caught by surprise by it, and it was quite adorable.
I was playing with my sweet and romantic Gwen at the time. She made Arthur wait, first because she wanted to know him better before having sex with him, and then, when she realized that she was in love with him it actually made the subject of getting intimate with him harder on her because he broached the topic more as a :āwill you be ready soon, 'cos I need an heirā than āI want this and I want it with you because I have feelings for youā, so it ended up hurting her every time and sheād just keep rejecting his advances during these 3 years. But then, when he said that he loved her, even if unwillingly, she changed her mind, and the way jeantown described their first night was very sweet 
1 Like