I concur, I feel like the story and characters come first and foremost and then you add any romance if you so choose to.
( It’s too much, I can’t handle how sweet that is. You got 4 bitter divorcees and a girl who baked brownies. )
Tour Guide Voice And if you look to your left, you can see the author rubbing their hands together as they laugh maniacally.
I’m slowly beginning to wonder how Ricky ever managed to keep his affair a ‘secret’ by this point. Truly, he is the epitome of subtlety.
I just thought of that not long ago! I feel like the MC and Ricky’s ex would make a fantastic duo when it comes to trash-talking their exes. “My husband had an affair.” “Oh yeah? Mine turned out to be a villain. Even worse is that he never did the dishes.”
Yes! The only problem with this, for me, is that I love a lot of the characters too easily, and then I want to make them a bigger part of the story which means more interactions with MC which usually leads to them being a potential romance candidate and then I have to come to terms with the fact that I am not physically capable of writing that much and need to cut out half the cast (which is why I usually take the characters I’ve cut and place them in stories that need other characters. The person is already there, I just kinda weave them into the plot… Funnily enough Eileen is one such character.)
Just wait till you learn what her job is and how the MC meets her, and her backstory- this woman is just full of fluff. She’s probably the happiest romance path I’ve plotted out in a while, honestly.
“Watch your step please, as you’ll notice there’s a giant pit in the floor that appears to have been dug out for the very purpose of letting people dangle off of the edge only to fall down into…”
“Ma’am is that legal?”
“I don’t know. I’m just here for the tax benefits.”
He’s a lucky boy with a good smile and a talent for redirecting people’s attention away from the man behind the curtain. (And money. Money helps. Money helps a lot.)
Oml imagine them getting into a competition about who has the worse ex. “Mine scammed the entire city into thinking he’s a reputable candidate for their board.” “Yeah? Well mine probably KILLED the real reputable candidate for their board.” “Mine bribed him to drop out of the runnings first.” “Mine probably stole the corrupted money from their bank account.”
I totally get that! When I write, I put great care into my characters. I like to work out how they function both individually and together. This isn’t a bad thing, but sometimes I just go a bit overboard and end up losing focus of what I was supposed to do with them in the first place.
I swear if her job is something like an animal shelter volunteer or a florist… This is too pure for me. 11/10
Charm and money are always the answer for politicians, aren’t they? I wonder how good 'ol Ricky would handle being in a situation where neither of those can get him out of trouble.
Ricky and MC’s ex just watch on helplessly, knowing that stopping their exes is futile. MC and Ricky’s ex continue this back and forth until Eileen brings out the brownies and cookies. The situation has de-escalated… for this week.
Wow, that’s a lot to choose from. I’m not ruling anyone out as who I end up with, cuz I find that usually depends on the game, how much I learn about the character, how close my MC is with them, and sometimes our history/how long I’ve known them, etc. There’s more to it for me but ultimately it depends on the RO, and I’m just excited to explore those romance paths. Particularly Finley, Eileen and Ricky.
Finley because I tend to often fall for my best/closest friend in these games (ex: Jenny in Heroes Rise, Breeze in Versus); Eileen for a similar reason to Finley, only it’s something i imagine would flourish overtime where we would start as platonic friends but kinda fall for each other and then it gets cute (did that make sense really? idk); And Ricky, partly because of that established history, but then it’s something where I try to come across as being annoyed by his arrogant blowhole attitude, really only tolerating him as a person, but I’m in denial about the fact that I’m physically/sexually attracted to him. But what happens is I slip up (run into him at a bar and have a drunken flirty conversation w/ him idk) and end up having sex with him. But then it becomes a regular fuck-buddy arrangement, until I realize that damn I actually enjoy his company and it just keeps snowballing from there. Basically it starts with barely-tolerating one another while being unspokenly attracted to one another, then one drunken mistake, then several sober “mistakes,” then somewhere during those sober mistakes I realize they weren’t mistakes, etc.
Idk what kinda curve you planned out for that romantic path, but my mind just kinda started in one place and now we’re here.
I love this!!! I had entertained the idea of doing this exact prompt a few years ago, so I’m glad to see someone is doing it!
The intrepid reporter is one of my favorite characters in comics, and I can’t wait to continue it . I just hope I can run into the common tropes about it–flirting with a hero, kidnapping, sneaking into places I really shouldn’t sneak into, etc.
I like how Finley is nonbinary, not a lot of games feature a nonbinary character that isn’t the PC so that’s nice to see. Quick question, but what is Finley’s identity under that umbrella?
Also, I think that the formal clothes thing could be clarified a little better. I’m a femme nb so I like to wear dresses, and I didn’t realize that the clothing options not only picked gender identity, but left all clothing options open anyway.
I wrote a story once that was just sorta a collection of mini stories of days in these characters lives in a fantasy town… I ended up using it and a lot of similar kinds of stories/soliloquies to plot out my characters as individuals and get their voices right. (One time I wrote a short paragraph about a man lamenting about a chair, and from that alone it turned into a 223 paged script about bootleggers in the 1920s.)
Aha! Well, I mean, it’s not a big spoiler but part of me doesn’t want to say now because I want to surprise you. The other half really wants to say…
Funnily enough I was just thinking about a situation like this yesterday as I was adding a little bit more outline to the romance paths.
Ricky is… Ricky.
I can imagine them asking Eileen to bring even more brownies and cookies next week to make sure that nothing happens. What they don’t expect is to walk into a room piled high with care baskets and flowers and mountains of cookies and brownies and blondies and- is that a cake in the middle?
That’s exactly how I work when playing games, too. Well, I hope you find someone you like! (And who knows? Maybe it will be one of the three you mentioned.)
Ah, yes! The best friend routes are always so much fun. You can get a lot of that with Finley if all goes as is planned, especially if you were already pretty tight with them when they were your boss. You’ll even have the option later on to say whether or not you’ve told them about your history with your ex- purposefully or accidentally.
Makes total sense. Eileen’s romance is probably the cutest out of them all (I can think of one other contender who might challenge her for the title). Hers is most likely gonna be very much a ‘feel-good’ romance with the usual drama mixed in ('cause you gotta have some tension, y’know?) but it’s definitely cute.
It’s a good place to end up, friend!
With Ricky… well, since his romance was planned most recently it’s not fully flushed out yet (hence me working out a lot of it last night, but it’s going some fun places already) I can’t exactly say what it’ll be but there’s a lot of potential there. And, yes, there will most likely be the option to make some ‘mistakes’ along the way (but I don’t want to force anyone into making any ‘mistakes’, so they’ll be optional.)
Ricky’s romance got really emotional in my head, like the divorcees two romances were already the most emotional since there’s a lot of unresolved tension there… but now Ricky’s has gotten really emotional as well.
Heyy! That’s so cool! I’m so glad you like it!
Same here! And, yes, there’ll be a lot of tropes- tropes which give you the option to go with it, or to make fun of the trope in its face. (Especially the flirting with a hero one and sneaking into places- I mean you’re kinda already doing the latter with Chat Blanc as you may see.)
I’m happy you like them! They’re genderfluid.
Okay, yeah, that was something I was worried about. (I wanted to make gender choice flow and integrate into the story instead of just having ‘What gender are you’ pop up and break the flow.)
Do you have any suggestions on how to make it clearer? Or any different way I can integrate the gender choice? (Should I have the character go to the bathroom to try on the clothes maybe? Like there’s no dressing room but the employee directs them to the bathrooms in the back and they chose from the men’s room/ladies’ room/ungendered bathroom?)
I’m not sure about the bathroom just because it’s a complicated issue for trans and nonbinary people, but maybe ask more trans people on here what they think?
Yeah, I get that. Most (if not all) of my stories are usually the result of a small excerpt inspiring something more complex.
It’s better if you don’t tell me. Oml I’m already on the verge of making fanart of everyone.
You could say that again. His arc, whether it be for romance or just a part of the story itself, would certainly be interesting. In most superhero stories the villains usually include politicians, however, I don’t really see Ricky as a villain, just an arrogant prick who can afford to be knocked down a few pegs (preferably by the MC).
Each of the care baskets are personalized to each member, containing their favorite foods and other assortments. Hey, are those lavender salts? Everyone is both touched and thoroughly concerned as to how Eileen could’ve thrown this all together.
I’m really enjoying the game but I need to ask. How important is it that we were married? Because I’m really not a fan of this part. In a way it goes against pretty much all of the characters I like to play but I’m also not comfortable with the subject for personal reasons. Do you believe it could be possible to have an option to refuse this and go on with the story as if we wouldnt have been with any of the characters or is it really that important to the story?
I wouldnt want to look pushy because I really do like the story and your writing is great but I’m afraid that this little detail is really pushing me away and I know its a dumb reason but I wont force myself to play something that will make me feel bad.
Well I just said that because thats how I feel. I definitely think that everything is up to the author but if thats the direction of the story I probably wont stick around much. Not that I think this is bad though it definitely is for personal reasons and I dont believe it seem to bother anyone esle.
Okay, good to know, I’ll be sure to not use the bathroom-style then, thank you!
I’ll probably ask on the Transgender Discussion thread (that seems like the right place to ask?) Thank you for the help!
Yep, I work the exact same way.
Ahaha, if you did I would probably just keel over and die of happiness.
Thaaat’s Ricky, boy has too high an opinion of himself and probably not only can afford it but needs it. Which the MC’ll have the chance to do as a rival, friend, lover, or even an enemy.
Imagine them getting together to make Eileen a gift basket in return because of how much she’s done for all them. It’d probably be either Ricky’s ex or the MC (depending on the MCs personality) that suggests it and Ricky would probably be reluctant at first but they could pull his leg enough to make even him pitch in to return the favor.
It’s not a dumb reason at all! We’ve all got things that can be complete turn-offs for stories and personal experiences that make us look at aspects of media in different ways. Don’t worry about it at all you do not look pushy nor is it a dumb reason.
Sadly, yes, it is rather important that you were married to your ex. Now, you don’t have to have been in love with them (it could have just been a marriage of convenience or as means to some other end), but the marriage itself is kinda integral to the story later down the road (and earlier as well, but especially so later on).
I don’t know if that detail (the fact that you don’t have to had loved them) will make a difference to you but I wanted to let you know just in case it does.
Either way, I’m sorry if this dug up any unpleasant memories for you. I hope I answered your question!
Me and @RedRoses are two of the few nbs on this site. We essentially are the trans discussion thread, just… really bad at thinking up ideas, from the looks of things.
Well, I mean, it is kinda hard to just be asked on the spot to come up with a solution to something. (Which is why I’m super grateful for even just pointing it out to me.)
If you haven’t figured out a solution to the gender problem yet, maybe we could look in the dressing room mirror and see masculine, feminine, or androgynous features? @RedRoses@Laguz
Finley is great, and probably gives amazing fistbumps knowing them.
Ah, yeah, I posted an inquiry in the Transgender Discussion thread and got some really great feedback! I’m actually fixing it up right now with what will hopefully be a lot better!
I wonder how good 'ol Ricky would handle being in a situation where neither of those can get him out of trouble.
. I just hope I can run into the common tropes about it–flirting with a hero, kidnapping, sneaking into places I really shouldn’t sneak into, etc.
