As much as I don’t care about Seven I agree, surprisingly. I’m on Seven’s side a wee bit. It’s obvious MC is clinging to their friendships and I’m not sure yet if Amy intends that as positive - but I don’t consider it positive.
The game starts with a drummer moving on, breaking the gang once again - I think that’s significant. Groups of friends who all bonded in college/high school usually don’t last - they might get together every couple of years or keep in touch on social media but everyone moves on, sooner or later.
By creating a band together MC’s friends extended that period but also extended the period of degradation - peaceful or not.
People change and their needs and wants rarely change at the same time, especially at the same time as five other people (and high school to college age is especially tumultuous). The distance between the band and MC will be a source of conflict but there are plenty of characters who highlight the naivete of being in this business with friends. Too many to ignore it as a setup.
I’m just not sure if this is supposed to be “plucky highschool pals make it big” kind of story or “MC finally stops clinging to their old friendships and makes new connections” kind of story.
Sugarsweet “Hope and Overcome” or a more bittersweet story about accepting change.
Quick question is the chapter 2 part 2 update out yet? I am not trying to rush the author, I’m only asking out of curiosity and interest in this amazing story. They have the right to take as much time as they want for this masterpiece.
Yeah, I feel the same way. I don’t approve of Seven’s vitriol, but I get where it’s coming from and why, and can’t really blame him for being pissed off. It’s just I don’t like the childish way he’s going about it. But I’m jaded and have seen too many grown ass family members spit out the “I’m never speaking to you again!” garbage when they didn’t get their way. I have little respect for people who won’t even try to discuss their issues like emotionally stable adults.
I don’t either. The MC really needs to move on. And I wasn’t joking when I said I’d like to see the MC get offered a solo contract, where their success depends on them cutting the apron strings and moving away from their friends (who aren’t very good friends, from where I stand).
It would be karmic justice with the band (in the cases where the MC voted to keep Seven, at least), and it would force the MC to stop living in the past. And it would feel like a real story about the MC finally growing up and realizing that they have to look after their own needs and dreams first–no one is going to do it for you, and if you constantly try to appease everyone, you’re going to ultimately piss off everyone.
I’m hoping it’s the latter. The MC really needs to break free from the “high school friend band” and go out on their own. I’m just wondering if Orion would stay with them or not (if not romanced, I mean). But even if he didn’t, that would be one more lesson of growing up for the MC.
Not with Victor or anybody from G’s label as our manager that’ll be a badly paid disaster since they don’t want the mc in the first place. But at least a solo contract is a solo contract. Worst possible ending is G’s label and Viktor dumping mc in a new group with assholes who do nothing but disrespect us to our face.
Maybe so, but for now and to “win” mc will need to keep up band morale or it is a guaranteed loss. Ironically in the “win” scenario if the band does or is split up I think of the others at least Rowan and August will land far better contracts than mc will. Rowan seems boyband material and August could have their pick of other bands to drum for.
Meanwhile mc will get a shitty contract either for lousy solo gigs or in a new band where all the other members dislike and disrespect us. If I had to guess in the genre mc is least suited to, which in the case of my new one would be gangsta rap.
Because Viktor really doesn’t seem to want to sign the mc and will likely do everything to ruin mc’s career or at least ditch them from the label with a no compete clause for a couple years attached. And also to punish Griffin as he cannot touch the goose laying the golden eggs directly but he can hit at G indirectly by making sure the mc is set up for failure in their follow-on contract even if they do manage to eke out the BOTB “win”.
Therefore I am again unsure if the goal is for the mc to move on if “winning” BOTB is their best move because that seems likely to chain them a label that really doesn’t want them for 3-5 years. They’re certainly not going to set the mc up for success whether solo or with a new group.
I think the odds are against that for an unromanced Orion if mc “wins”. They’ll get assigned a manager from the label with their new contract probably either Viktor or, more likely, the least competent idiot they could hire for it straight out of business school.
lmao Blake meant to be this mean side character yet possibly being the only one knowing the most popular RO’s secret like…Blake what power do u possess??
I just wanted to clear up a few things because even though I don’t visit the forum, a lot of the discussion bleeds into my inbox and I only understand the context of the sudden influx of questions after taking a peek here and leaving. It’s probably frustrating not getting answers or replies from me here (sorry!) but
Not every band is super famous nor is every band under a label. The reason why MC’s band gets extra attention due to being ‘labeless’/ or the reason they feel more “indie” is because they’re the only band who formed in high school. Even Young and Reckless, as young as they are, formed after high school under auditions. Most bands were formed through auditions, whether that be by a label or by an individual. None were as organic as MC’s band who started out as a typical group of friends playing in a garage.
MC’s band has their own fandom and they’re established in the indie scene. The gap between fame is not that different when you compare MC’s band with the “side bands” of the story. Soft Violence isn’t Misfit Alley level famous, nor are they so much bigger than MC’s band. They just benefited from having a song go viral early in their career.
UWB are not Misfit Alley level famous. They’re not very huge. The rate of their fame surprises MC and the band because most bands who audition for BOTB are much smaller, thats all. Much of the show’s appeal is Misfit Alley. The show has always been popular due to the artists that sponsor the seasons. It wouldn’t be as big as it is if they took fifteen indie bands on tour without any big band bringing in the viewership and appeal.
Soft Violence were not “early audition winners.” They just had a different performance call time than MC and auditioned a week earlier than MC’s band. It wasn’t a case of being so talented that they got an automatic slot on the show. It’s much more boring than that! They were simply scheduled for a different filming session.
As for the ‘love triangle’ discussion, I agree with the sentiment that it may feel like a love triangle because MC is a biased one-sided character who is always going off of a very limited knowledge on things, but I don’t call it a love triangle because that implies a character being torn between two characters and struggling with “choosing one.” That’s not the case in any part of my story. There’s no love triangle.
BOTB is a show of smaller bands trying to make it to the next level as someone here mentioned. None of them are extraordinarily famous and UWB are the most famous competing group. They were not in the ranking because they’re technically not supposed to be part of the show. They were put in the slot to perform purely to keep the entertainment and energy up. The show won’t know the rankings until after every performance when The Beat releases their data.
As for winning the game and all the endings, I fear there may have been a misunderstanding. You can win the show, and I have no plans of making it that the only way you can win is through endless torment and suffering lol.
I do joke around a lot on Tumblr, so that’s my fault, but I subscribe to the notion that my answers on there aren’t always set in stone. Since it’s a WIP, things are always ever changing.
A lot of things here are being said with absolute surety and I just want to say that there’s a lot that’s accurate and a lot that’s inaccurate. I won’t say which to spoil it but yeah!
Hope that answers a bit! Sorry if I ruined the mood by replying lol I really appreciate how invested everyone is and the discussion! It’s really motivating and nice to see <3 so thank you :))
RIGHT… I saw it coming bc amy is a cruel mistress (joke….) but i was still rolling on the floor in despair thinking about having to wait for the next update
No “endless torment and suffering???” Oh bang goes my plan haha jk thank u for clearing some things up Amy as on here it does go around in circles sometimes lol. Hope you are well!
Everyone gets so passionate about your story which just shows how good of a writer you are
And don’t worry I will try and keep this forum in line for you lol
Haha I’m glad it gets passionate! I really like that everyone has very strong opinions on everything, whether it be negative or positive. I just stay away so as not to be influenced :,) I’m always open to suggestions though! I don’t mind the thread going wild because that means people at least care about the story lolol Orion has said that indifference is the worst for a creative…and I agree </3 /j
You didn’t ruin the mood at all. In fact, it did clear a couple of things up.
I do have one question–I don’t have tumblr account, so can’t send it in–does our chosen LI have any effect on whether we can win or not? More specifically, if we go with the G or V or G/V route, becoming a real villain is inevitable, but will that automatically destroy any chances we have to win the competition? I get it if you can’t answer… since that’s an answer in and of itself, lol.
(and in case Amy is gone and not popping back, can someone ask this on tumblr? I have a feeling the answer is yes, but we’ll get no answer due to spoilers–which answers the question for me)
She said that wasn’t the only way to win. I’m sure you can still endure endless torment and suffering, lol.
Good luck with that! You might need a whip and a chair, like a lion tamer…
I think there is something to be learned from the pessimism though. Personally, I don’t think the first two chapters have adequately established what character growth is needed from the MC or what their arc can potentially look like. Is it to grow as a singer? Currently, the underlying support for that just isn’t there compared to more conventional stat builders; in fact, besides personality flavor text, the stats suggested more of a PR focus. The problem is that players have not been given any immediate examples of feedback due to their PR choices, contributing to a feeling of powerlessness in regards to what may happen to them in their future.
For example, Chapter 2.2 - the only highlight of the Band in the first episode is a fixed negative result, regardless of how your MC answered in the interview. I understand that this was necessary to properly establish Seven and MC/the Band as a BotB storyline, but I think there was a missed opportunity to add a potential positive counterexample for players. Not only that, but the first part of Chapter 2 also railroads MCs into a disastrous PR choice (following Victoria). How can players accept character growth for the MC when players do not feel as if MC has much agency?
As for the vehement belief of some players that MC is a punching bag, there may also be root causes there as well. Most of the main events players can influence are related to which characters MC ends up interacting with (with the main draw being the romantic potential of those relationships). A lot of the romance is slow-burn with some level of angst, with ROs initially having their own reasons for why they would rebuff MCs’ advances. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this approach to romance writing, but I do think the lack of player agency in other aspects of the MC’s life results in a lot of player attention being directed towards this romantic frustration as a result.
It doesn’t help that MC has a bad family life and their friendships are currently complicated by professional responsibility. The morale stat is quite interesting as a manifestation of MC’s influence a band leader, but I think descriptions of the personal dimension of MC’s relationships with other band members is lacking. When MCs aren’t focusing on band things and drama, what is their one-on-one dynamic with their friends like? We don’t receive this baseline for point of reference and development.
I like the idea of this arc for MC and the band a lot, but the groundwork for it is a bit incomplete. If this were to be a focus for the story, in addition to establishing a relationship baseline, I would like there to be relationship stats for Rowan, Iris, and Devyn. (Also, the viewing party brings up the topic of branching out with Iris’s convo, but then wastes the opportunity for MC to form other connections by bringing up Blake and Seven foreshadowing again, which I found a bit redundant from the photoshoot).
Back to responsibility and alienation: the narrative also forces MC (and by proxy, the player) to take responsibility for the consequences of their fight with Seven without giving the crux of the information regarding this event. Ultimately, I think this is a misstep. As a story, withholding this information might build up eagerness in readers, but as a game where players share MC’s POV, it doesn’t make much narrative sense and reduces immersion. The MC should be remembering how the fight went down when Seven brings it up, but it gets omitted for dramatic tension (in effect bringing attention to the hand behind the curtain). But at this point, I think it’s a set decision
You didn’t ruin the mood at all. In fact, it did clear a couple of things up.
I do have one question–I don’t have tumblr account, so can’t send it in–does our chosen LI have any effect on whether we can win or not? More specifically, if we go with the G or V or G/V route, becoming a real villain is inevitable, but will that automatically destroy any chances we have to win the competition? I get it if you can’t answer… since that’s an answer in and of itself, lol.
Not automatically, no! I may have answered once that it does for G (I’m not sure) but I’m sure now that it doesn’t. Granted, your chosen LI will always impact the story and the perception of the show and what role your MC plays in it, that’s inevitable, but I don’t want to punish people based on what route they choose.
I’m straddling a very delicate line in answering but I will say that there’s many different ways to win and lose the competition. Sometimes the ways to “win” and “lose” aren’t always in relation to competition itself. This makes no sense but food for thought hahaha
I appreciate you braving the thread here to help “course correct” the discussion a bit.
My one uncertainty is if I will be able to romance Victoria without being a marriage wrecker. My “canon” character really digs Victoria and will do everything in her power to support her, but she won’t go into a poly relationship and she would rather not be the one that ends the marriage between Gina and Victoria, if that makes sense.
You didn’t come right out and say it, but it was definitely implied, which is why I came to that conclusion. I’m glad that it’s no longer the case!
It makes sense, actually. At the very least, there is also “winning” in the romances, as well as the friendships, and whether winning the competition actually turns out to be a win or not for the MC (I worry about Viktor, because he really does seem out to get the MC to punish G).
But thanks for the answers. It’s much appreciated!
That’s the case for my main MC as well, only with Griffin. She keeps “helping” Victoria, but I’m afraid she’s helping her fix her marriage, which is bad for her because she’s falling for G (at the moment… that may change if it appears this is a bad decision).
(joke….) but i was still rolling on the floor in despair thinking about having to wait for the next update
You might need a whip and a chair, like a lion tamer…