Pactbinder (Dark / Eldritch Fantasy University WIP, 292k words, UPDATE APR-26 [+124k words])

[Hamartia]

@Belias02

Is Eleanor one of the possible options? Since the patron also encourages to get closer to her I find it reasonable

I think unlikely - it falls into the category I mentioned where I think it would be questionable as to what the PB was getting out of it sa3

@Oreven

Revenant

@bryanhayden555

Just poppin in to share my fanart for the main cast based on in-game descriptions.

I responded on the Tumblr - but again, this is awesome!!

@idonotlikeusernames

Well my headcanon will be that, at least at the start, my mc will partly romance Marcus not just because Marcus is really hot and the best-dressed boy around but also because he wants to snatch himself a rich, well-connected boyfriend

@eTootsi

Ironically enough I had similar plans for Finlay but then I actually fell in love with him, he’s so cute I

@Retrokinesis

That made my MC realize she was kind of desperately reaching-out to anyone and he’s the one who responded most genuinely. Which is what locked him in as my favorite RO, at least so far!

I’m really glad that the boys are connecting with the folk who are interested in them - I’m really fond of both of them!

@Belias02

Is Eleanor one of the possible options? Since the patron also encourages to get closer to her I find it reasonable. Thanks for the clarification Duke! I didn’t see the +

(and also addressing the broader ‘romancing ROs to manipulate them’ chats)

I don’t think so - this fits into the broader point / thought I have, which is that all of the rationalizations for ‘fake romances’ to get benefit out of the ROs work just as well for friendship-based manipulations - which is partly why I don’t want to tie those dynamics to romance. Trust me – I came up with the same ideas / reasons everyone else did, and a few others!

Hence why I do think the PB should probably have to have some level of actual romantic interest to go for the romance - even if they’re also trying to manipulate the RO during interactions with them…

Again, the exception is Finn, where I do think there’s a fairly obvious potential benefit to being romantically entangled with him in a way that justifies a specifically romantic deceit. So I’ll have to think about that one a bit and see what feels right when I start writing his scene.

@Belias02

Forgot to share these stats.

Thanks for sharing the stats! And yeah - winning the fight is a mixed bag but net positive.

And no - some companions get closer than others, but none of them are quite in a position to mange it, fortunately / unfortunately…

@Elentari

I do agree that Finlay is the RO for whom a fake romance makes the most sense, though I do think the PB should have several opportunities to turn it into a genuine romance. A scheming PB manipulating Finlay and then they find out they schemed themselves into actually loving him!

I would agree…

@Oreven

(incidentally it’s also the famous ending verse from “Au Lecteur/ To the Reader” by Charles Baudelaire)

As usual, I won’t comment on the discussion around Pactbinder’s unusual potential new friend (though I’m always tickled when someone finds the hidden snippets in the code), but the poetry nerd in me must point out that there’s also a corresponding relevance to this excerpt in the English literary canon - though this line ends Baudelaire’s Au Lecteur, it is also quoted to conclude the first part of TS Eliot’s The Waste Land. The part is named, curiously enough, the Burial of the Dead…

@Elentari

I might’ve run into a bug with Hawthorne, she’s giving me the ‘mixed’ speech even though I haven’t attacked the Gatekeeper or Silas and stood with Layla and was polite to Hawthorne, didn’t get to rescue any Antioch though since I was one point short on AdelRel.

Thanks - this was a victim of a balancing pass on my part which made it a bit harder to get the extra stipend amount, but accidentally meant that the PB got the wrong bit of dialogue too…I’ve fixed this in my working copy. Will be uploaded along with C4 whenever that’s out - too many changes to my doc stack to risk re-uploading C1 atm…

[Oreven]

@Hamartia

but the poetry nerd in me must point out that there’s also a corresponding relevance to this excerpt in the English literary canon

Well, I’ll be damned. It seems the limits of my literary knowledge have prevented me from discovering a conceivably critical source of information. Now, after reading the aforementioned part, I’m simultaneously more knowledgeable and more confused…

[Belias02]

Summary

Stats

Might: 15 Finesse: 25 Charisma: 26 Intellect: 13 Reputation: 32

Personality

Sec/Dar: 30 Rat/Pas: 62 Cru/Emp: 44 Out/In: 38 Dbt/Cnv: 45 Inf/Fam: 58

AntiochRels

Alice: 67 Eleanor: 73 Finlay: 67 Layla: 65 Marcus: 65 DancePartner: Ellie Friendship: 3

OtherRels

Julian: 59 Hawthorne: 54 Fausett: 46 Silas: 23 Lizbet: 40

Plot Notes

Murderer?: true phantomOutcome: Won solo Society: Explore soc1Outcome: 22 mistsOutcome: 2 ChosenMastery: Life worldScore: 7 dormScore: 7 aScore: 8 tScore: 0

Other

-Wondering how deep your patron’s influence extends. -Went shopping for a new knife. -Looked into longevity.

So after doing another run I have some questions:

Can I still learn the longevity technique (and hopefully learn from Fausset more lore) if I pick another mastery that isn’t life? I mean if I take the free slots to learn life mastery.

In this run I wasn’t able to ask about the other types of magic, what triggers it? I talked to Lizbet about the mage.

Any advantage to keeping the stake? I suppose it is shown later.

So apart from that:

Weird that being respectful to the patron doesn’t give more relationship lol. I suppose he likes inquisitor underlings?

It seems I have exhausted the content lol, I think I am only missing the flying club and meeting the revenant , will try it in my next run, the flying club didn’t seen that interesting to me. Unlike the masteries which I had a hard time choosing. Talking about masteries, I think my ranking of them is matter, life/mind, spirit. But after meeting Anzu and learning about longevity it becomes Life, Spirit (Just because of the potential lore that Anzu could give) Matter and mind.

Btw, I really like that talking to the friends and training doesn’t spend time slots! It is way more enjoyable this way, most games make you chose between lore, RO and stats.

[Hamartia]

@Oreven

Well, I’ll be damned. It seems the limits of my literary knowledge have prevented me from discovering a conceivably critical source of information. Now, after reading the aforementioned part, I’m simultaneously more knowledgeable and more confused…

Pactbinder’s true secret: I’m a plant sent by Big Poetry to get people looking up random English poets.

@Belias02

Can I still learn the longevity technique (and hopefully learn from Fausset more lore) if I pick another mastery that isn’t life? I mean if I take the free slots to learn life mastery.

If it’s possible to learn a technique in Pactbinder, doing so will be gated by actual ability with the Mastery it’s connected to - not whether the Mastery is secret or not. Learning a Mastery secretly is slower though, so it’s certainly easiest to learn a technique ASAP (assuming you’ve learned about it and have study materials) if that technique is tied to your ‘public Mastery’. And, of course, easier to use…

@Belias02

In this run I wasn’t able to ask about the other types of magic, what triggers it? I talked to Lizbet about the mage.

Assuming you mean asking Fausett about necromancy, he has to like you enough to slip up there. But it’s fine - it’s also going to be possible to do that research yourself in C4’s free roam.; I usually (not always!) try to give players at least two ways to unlock each secret.

@Belias02

Any advantage to keeping the stake? I suppose it is shown later.

RAFO!

@Belias02

Btw, I really like that talking to the friends and training doesn’t spend time slots! It is way more enjoyable this way, most games make you chose between lore, RO and stats.

I’m glad! RE: talking with friends being free: I struggled a lot with that decision - I’m still really nervous about pacing in Pactbinder, so I’m hesitant whenever I add ‘non-exclusive’ content, but I wanted platonic friendships to be a thing in this game and I think it’s one of the things that I’m willing to compromise on pacing for to achieve.

[Duke-Don]

@Hamartia

platonic friendships to be a thing

I believe parton has seen too much anime. That’s why he is asking us to make friends. The true power is the friends we made along the way. Patron knows this forbidden knowledge.

[bryanhayden555]

Can you guys imagine if we played as the original Transplant while the Pactbinder took the place of another poor hypothetical Transplant instead?

I can imagine an evil PB being built up as the BBEG, aside from the Revenant, of course.

Did our poor Transplant have great innate magical talent?? Enough that we could’ve turned their life around and become someone noteworthy?? I mean, apparently even Julian was kind of pathetic during his initial days in the academy and look at him now. But I guess we’ll never know now…

[Adam_Cay]

@bryanhayden555

But I guess we’ll never know now…

I wouldn’t bet on that personally, I fully expect them to make a come back of some kind

[Duke-Don]

@bryanhayden555

Julian was kind of pathetic during his initial days in the academy and look at him now.

I am sensing a Daphne upscale.

[Oreven]

@Hamartia

I’m a plant sent by Big Poetry to get people looking up random English poets.

That’s one of the more untrodden paths towards receiving the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, I must say.

@Duke-Don

I believe parton has seen too much anime. That’s why he is asking us to make friends. The true power is the friends we made along the way. Patron knows this forbidden knowledge.

The Patron is in actuality a being from “My Little Pony”. That explains how the Patron knows the primordial source of magic: friendship. Friendship is Magic, after all.

[bryanhayden555]

How Daphne low-key gonna be moving against the Revenant in the final battle.

[bryanhayden555]

I mean, we already met them again soon enough albeit it was only their body being “borrowed” by our Patron

[Dragonlord943]

I fully expect them to come back with a vengeance (and a hole in his neck in my case), I’m willing to bet they show up before finals. Gotta come up with some sort of cover story for why there’s a dead dude who looks almost exactly like me and keeps yelling about how I killed them; I’m thinking I go with the cliche “the real transplant was my older sibling who died saving my life, and now I assumed their identity to keep their memory alive and to assuage my guilt.” You think they’ll buy it?

[eTootsi]

I just can’t imagine how the original transplant could escape the entity (I forgot what were calling it ) especially if you freaking STABBED them in the neck lol, like how is a not even awakened baby gonna escape an ELDRITCH ABOMINATION

[Dragonlord943]

I really don’t suspect the transplant to escape (especially since he’d have to escape the grave first) so much as I expect the Patron to do something with them; if this thing can give people magical powers with the potential to exceed even some of the most skilled mages, who’s to say it can’t raise the dead or puppet a corpse? Given the Patron will appear to you as the original transplant, it’s not impossible for it to have some ability to appear to people in the guise of a mortal. The question remains what the Patron would get out of doing so, but I don’t think it’s very wise to assume the Patron is on our side given its secrecy and requiring a blood sacrifice, clearly it’s on its own team.

[Adam_Cay]

@Dragonlord943

clearly it’s on its own team.

Ah, but what if we are also on it’s own team? Tbf I think we’re contractually obliged to be (“Obey our will in all things”)

[Dragonlord943]

Yeah but I’m pretty sure we’re on its team the same way a pawn is on a chess player’s team, so I’m planning to

[Adam_Cay]

@Dragonlord943

Yeah but I’m pretty sure we’re on its team the same way a pawn is on a chess player’s team

We’re not a pawn, surely we’re at least a Bishop?

[eTootsi]

You know I was thinking “or a knight perhaps”, but I do like the thought that our Princess Bubblegum is a bishop. Bishops can be so sneaky in chess lol

[Duke-Don]

I feel like the whole main cast can be described in chess pieces

Finlay - King - Obviously because he is royalty, also because he is highly restricted

Alice - Queen - Strongest of them all

Elenor - Bishop - Feels like she would be forgotten (which might prove deadly)

Marcus - knight - wildcard/unpredictable

Layla - rook - pretty straightforward

Finally our MC - pawn - literal pawn of entity, but also untapped potential

[eveelution]

Okay, super fun and exciting! Here are some of my first thoughts:

General Notes

You love a complex-compound sentence. This isn’t bad, but a short/simple sentence can be very useful. Especially in punchy action scenes. I can pull out some examples where your sentences became a bit too long, but I would just keep an eye out for where you should break it up.

I am getting the impression that in this world magic is a secret society parallel to the mundane, but that isn’t directly or immediately clear. I don’t think it needs to be said in the story (something something, “show don’t tell”) but it might be a good idea to add a clarifying statement in the game/novel description?

GamePlay

During the ‘Character Creation’ phase I didn’t realize that the hunter/hunted question was actually determining the PC’s strength (as opposed to our weakness) because I assumed we were the hunted person.

First impressions of my fellow students was fine. I did think that Marcus would be older than me? Or, I don’t know, I think I’m confused by the grade system happening in the story. How is it that Marcus has “been here a while” but also everyone is a First Year? While speaking of fellow students, I need to be honest that Eleanor kind of seems like a caricature of the nerdy girl at first? As the story progresses we learn more about her club motivation, but her character was ever so slightly flat on first meeting. But Finlay is perfect and I love him. Anzu is also adorable(ly suspicious… what does he know…).

Also, I was shocked that the Deveruex meeting could so quickly escalate to a fistfight with Silas!

Oh! At the dance scene I realized the player is never asked to set a sexuality preference in regards to the ROs. That is an interesting choice (not bad, just interesting) and different from a lot of other Choice games I’ve played.

Also at the dance, the scene shift from dancing with a housemate to being attacked outside felt very abrupt. Consider adding just a little more transition to make clear that the PC is no longer dancing inside with everyone else?

In ch3 during the training downtime: I accidentally clicked on “Make time to train another skill”. And then there wasn’t a choice to move on without picking a skill to train. I know on a game level the player should never want to leave an stat untrained, but I just wanted to let you know this choice loop existed.

As requested, her are my stats at the end of the demo/ch3:

Also, I loved the scene in Chapter 2 when Marcus offers the PC money and the PC and Alice bond over finding it annoying.

Oh, and in chapter 3 I literally thought to myself poor Daphne Bridgely, why does the author keep pointing out your failures. And then… you fired chekovs gun. Well done.