Update is fantastic, no big surprise considering I’m a Precog Pigeon. But not even I could have seen that cliffhanger, I can hardly wait to get started.
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Can I just say
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
okay i feel better, thank you.
I’m glad we finally got to speak to John at least:’)
It’s interesting, people comparing it to Fallen Hero! When playing that game, it honestly barely crossed my mind what an invasion of privacy it is lol My thoughts were just “I’m not gonna do any harm to them or anything, so it’s fine” and completely brushed it off lol Very good point, makes me wish for a Sidestep/Button crossover haha
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What the hell im seriously crying in real life. My button is freaking out over the last thing they said to nick ugh. 
nicky mouseeee
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YEAH ABOUT THAT!
I did not expect to be emotionally compromised on an otherwise lovely Thursday afternoon, but here we are. I’ll just sweep up the bits of my shattered little heart and shove them in a box labeled “property of Jo,” shall I?
Seriously, I got to the end and just had to have A Moment. And then your sadistic ass is like “Well, enough with the preamble, let’s get started with the REAL plot” and my brain just started making grinding noises.
Holy god that last scene was so amazing. Just the imagery of Button’s mind being cracked wide open from the force of their emotions is breathtaking. I wonder what that did to every Ment in the vicinity.
Also. ALSO. Can I extend an especially hearty “fuck you” for the “guilt” as overriding emotion option? It hurts so good. Especially if the very first thing Button does in game is to growl at Nick to stay out of their head. And then they can do it again in the final scene of chapter 3. And for all they know, that will be the last thing they ever say to their brother?
There’s so much good stuff going on in this update. Keeping track of all the variables must be hell, but as a reader I’m having such a good time with the sheer level of complexity. The tour de force this time around is the way Button’s feelings re: their family can be so overwhelmingly tangled. Terrified of Hope? Check. Resentful of John for leaving? Check. Still ultimately blames themselves for breaking people? Check. Like this bit:
You shake your head. You were fifteen, betrayed and broken by the person you trusted most. Nick tried, but you needed at least one parent to stay by your side. Instead, Dad disappeared, claiming that your mother couldn’t be alone. He should have protected you, not your attacker.
It’s so messy and human and I love it. Also, the Wiseman family love map should just have a giant “HERE THERE BE DRAGONS” stamped across the entirety of it.
I’m going to miss the save function so much when this thing goes live, because I keep savescumming scenes just to see all the variables (and to extract every last drop of paaaaaaaain.)
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My heart… 
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YES! Write a character, make us love him and then kill it! (Possibly for our own fault)
Good job! lol
I also liked how the incident with Button’s mother was expanded and made far more dangerous. In the former update it didn’t seem something to really worry about but now you can feel the risk Button went through.
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My wild and probably stupid prediction about the fire
The guy who planted the explosives was the MC. The guy with the Yamask mask upon finding out that the zero scored MC is going to Aeon, uses him as the perfect asset for the plan. He causes the MC to volunteer for the clean up after class(even though he doesn’t remember actually doing so) and suddenly feels the urgency to go to the toilet. The next scene is him going to Rosy’s office and it’s not told if he actually went to the toilet or not. In the gap between the two scenes, he was controlled to go plant the explosives and erased his memory of ever doing so. Voila.
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Oh gosh the update, I’m dying ( like Nick maybe ). First of all, I hope Gray has finally realized that we have been flirting with with for 4 freaking years. Second of all, if you-know-who dies, I will fucking cry bc I already love him so much (but it will be worth it bc the angst will be delicious).
Keep up the good work, I’m looking forward to the next update 
Edit: also I just checked the relationship bar and… where is my 123% with Nick, where. Why must you do this.
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Uhhh…I hate to spoil the mood, but
Can the book we get from Kim be shown in our inventory?
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Oh God, you just implanted this though in my mind (pun not intended) and now I can’t help but think you’re right.
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Now… If you excuse me I’ll gather up the bits of my shattered heart and go hug some fluffy kittens, eat a box of ice cream or… I don’t know really… Something… Anything… I just want to forget about this.
Give me the best big brother Nick back! Please…
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I think I’ll go insane if nick is dead.
I will go crazy, my button will go crazy.
My button can handle everything life thrown at her, but IF her loved one, which is nick, in this case, being mortally wounded to the possibility of dying, she’ll go berserk. I’m being dramatic, yes but my 129% relationship stats with nick is no joke, best brother ever, I’d die for him, I’d kill for him
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So, after reading my spoiled content (because it wasn’t what the stuff was about, but rather that people forget they can ruin the story if someone knows what comes next) I just took it in stride. For a few reasons. Some may already know my feelings on it. (this is how we used to do spoilers if we didn’t know how to use or didn’t have spoiler tags - be very very vague) But it didn’t have the impact it should have had on me, because… of the spoilers, that I erroneously assumed would be littered throughout the various posts but that some forgot, and because it was a little ‘meh’ to me. Meh, not because of the writing or because it wouldn’t have been a surprise, but that… I’m used to a similar style of writing. G.R.R.M. has put a stop to that sort of thing for me.
Spoilered AND in a drop-down ;)
Speaking of SPOILERS and George R.R. Martin, because of that particular style of writing, I’m used to characters that I either care or do not care about dying randomly. I am also used to some of those characters - both ones I don’t care for and those I do, coming back to life. So… I call it here, Nick-nack is going to come to life later (if he even died for real and wasn’t just knocked out) like this was the interactive fiction version of the A Song of Ice and Fire series. And, just like George R.R., our illustrious author may have created certain characters specifically TO kill them. Think - Ned Stark. His death was the spur of everything, and the start of Bran and Arya going on their paths, the commander at The Wall so that Jon can start down his path.
And just like G.R.R, I think that even characters who people have developed obsessions over/unhealthy fixations on/or are seemingly unredeemable have either deaths, tragic events, or just choose to exit stage left and never be seen again. So the people who seem to get a lot of attention that is ‘positive’, will get killed or do something really dislikable in order to get rid of the obsession. And those that get a lot of ‘negative’ attention, those that people don’t like and that seems to be unredeemable in most people’s eyes will have a tragic event happen to them, or they’ll just leave town. This you can think Tyrion. In the BOOKS, he doesn’t start off very well-liked, but also in the books (and MUCH sooner than on the TV series) he becomes likable. In the books, because we learn more about his inner thoughts and tragic past. In the TV series, a bit later because they can’t show thoughts. For this particular piece of work, I would say this person will be Clarence. Somehow, someway, Clarence will get redemption, and make all you poor fools who don’t like him pay for that animosity. 
kisses randomly
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Such a cool story , by the time I reached the end of demo , I got so involved I had forgotten it was a demo. The noise of glass breaking? That’s my heart.
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First of all, no words could express the love that i have for this update, and the tragic scream that i involuntary let out at the end. I have to confess that that cliffhanger might literally killed my Button, who will give up both of their kidney for nick 
. They might rebel and go down the dark evil path if anything happened to Saint Nick!! .
On a side note, i truly wonder how a shock like that would affect our MC’s surroundings, especially the Ments. MC’s mind are already loud on normal days. But on days like that? I imagine a walking tsunami sirens.
Secondly, I really enjoyed playing through our MC’s family’s history and interaction. As someone who had experienced complicated family dynamic, i loove the range of choices that were offered to our MC in viewing their relationship with their parents. There’s just so many nuances in all those options, and it all feels very natural and not forced at all. That accident with the Mother is shocking, and i could truly feel how it heavily impacted her relationship with our MC. I love how raw the Mother’s reaction feel when she accidentally broke our MC, and how raw the MC’s reaction could be in return. .
This update brings a more complicated facets of our MC’s background, and i could truly feel that they have a solid history with layers of complex emotions. I’m currently in the process of replaying this again and again just to see all the possible difference outcome, and so far, i love everything that I’ve found! (and my heart break again and again for reenacting that last scene)
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BOUM hé, hé ~.
It was my first reaction and I stand by it.
I’m not sure to understand all the angst (We all know all our ROs are alive and our brother too. Maybe inconscient but still alive thanks to the spoilers on tumblr and here.), in any case it was well played.
I’m more interested on the physical and mental consequence of the attack on our ROs.
And like @esutonia I was surprised to not see the book borrowed to Kim in our bookcase. Plus if he lost all his books in the attack, it would be a nice way to approach him 
Oh and by the way I was curious about the options about the father. My MC wasn’t so glad to see his father but he came from his own will (if nobody forced him without him knowing) and he tells his father that he was here “under duress”. Well, he is not a big fan of meeting the man who abandoned him but he was here from his own free will.
I loved the update, it was fun. Can’t wait to arrive on the site of the attack and having people saying MC can’t go search his brother or someone he knows because he is a zero. Ah, ah. (Yeah I’m betting on the father for this one.)
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Omfg I didn’t even think of that, holy shit. But at the same time Button was on a lower floor when they had that happened so how would the explosives get on a higher floor that requires a special pass?
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I’m not really present on the forums but I absolutley LOVE this game, even if my tender heart is now broken, and I would like to be optimistic about the new update but I fear you, Author.
I actually have a theory, I think Noh actually planted the bomb (if it is a bomb) by brainwashing the MC. If it turns out to be like that then wow how could you 
Ok, I’m going to watch a ton of cat videos to cope.
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I honestly had the same thought!! But can Interactive Fiction be this cruel?
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