I won’t lie, I hadn’t read the poly sex scene in the code, but I have read the poly, I guess you could call it a “confirmation”, scene wherein Melaxu says “the little desert man is touching me”
I read it as an affectionate joking sort of thing in line with the vitriolic friendship she and Tamur seemed to be developing.
As to the negotiations, as I said, I haven’t read that scene, but from what I’ve been told by the polyamorous people I do know, negotiation and boundary-setting is a normal and healthy practice just as it is in the BDSM I’m more familiar with. I’ll have to read the scene to see if it comes across as problematic.
It would be interesting to see Melaxu want to leave the poly relationship in the next book, if disappointing. Though I have to wonder if the problem is the polyamory or Tamur. In any case, if that is the case I hope there is a different poly option. I very much enjoy the idea of my Amiria priestess MC being in a poly relationship and real poly relationships are so underrepresented.
There is no sex scene. She won’t even go share a bath with the MC because Tamur is in there. Just because she learned to tolerate him through out the story doesn’t mean she likes him.
She won’t even let him touch her. Sex and BDSM is not on her mind. More like we’ll share them, but stay away from me.
She tells him not to kiss here when he tries at the end.
Also it’s poly she also has a problem with, but is forcing herself through as @Regularcheese said before she likes you.
She’s pretty much forcing herself through it so she can stay with you.
After another run through (since I can’t code dip), I didn’t get the bath scene refusal. They all three had separate baths, but that may be triggered by the fact that Melaxu lost her hand in the fight against Bysmos, so the concentration is on healing her..
The MC has difficulties with Melaxu’s inexperience with romance… there’s a scene in the boat where the MC notes that any plans to do anything more interesting with Melaxu are thwarted by bugs, the presence of others, and “Melaxu’s own legalistic and frankly baffling code of personal behavior.” Later the MC notes that Melaxu has discovered how to flirt rather inexpertly, and another later makeout scene where the MC realizes Melaxu hasn’t a clue about physical interaction and is “just sort of fumbling around.” (It’s also reflective of a much earlier scene, the only romantic interaction I did with Tamur prior to the poly scene, where Melaxu is confused about the MC and Tamur being close, then tries to examine his teeth).
So while I can understand the discomfort with how that scene is poorly written - Tamur’s sex statement needed some sort of emotional reaction on part of the MC and Tamur to clarify whether or not he’s just an inexpert idiot or actually being an ass - I have to fall on the side of the fence of everyone trying to figure out boundaries. Especially since the scene where she tells Tamur not to kiss her, he backs off - and she was holding his hand, signifying a growing comfort with his presence, just as the awkward earlier scenes she has with physical contact with the MC get better with each interaction.
So with proper writing to keep boundaries established, I could see it keeping up, even if it would have been much improved by Tamur being embarrassed at his total foot-in-mouth moment.
But I’m reflecting from the standpoint that both Melaxu and Tamur are complete novices at relationships, which allows (in my mind) for more interpretation.
And dang it, I have no idea who I killed in this run though, and where I missed a Stormraider question, but I still haven’t cleared those.
No she wasn’t. I’m looking at it right now and no where does it say she was holding it.
Except even though she is awkward and confused she is open to trying these things with the MC. With Tamur she outright recoils and tells him not to touch her.
“When Melaxu realizes that, she tugs her hand away.” Sounds like he took her hand while she was unaware and yeah as I said she recoils and tells him not to touch her like she’s been doing through out the entire book.
The intent may have been to show the start of a triad, but it comes out like someone being pressured into a threesome even though they’re clearly not into it.
That’s how it’s been pretty much through all of it and why I’m not comfortable with it. She clearly is not into it. I hope it doesn’t have her okay with it next book.
Instead she realizes “hey this isn’t for me” and decides to end things. Maybe MC can end up in another poly with Tamur and another RO.
This has totally ruinned Tam for me forever. I don’t want talk to him i don’t want touch him or be near him at all. He is disgusting. And creepy and have a toxicity i won’t nearby. I hope he suffers a gruesome death as he clearly deserves it.
Anyway that path is well written as I have know men like that in real life so he is very credible. What I missed is a direct option there to slap him for moron and break with him right away asshole
Tamur and Melaxu doesn’t have chemistry…they are there because of you… even if you have a high relationship with both of them, doesn’t mean they are friends with each other. So the poly relationship is forced…it comes of as unnatural…I also hope that it will end in the second book.
As far as I know…if you manage to gain high relationship with Melaxu, then you are the only one she considers family/friend. Else she is only tolerating your existence because it’s necessary to save the world.
Btw…we were able to flirt with empress zoriza(?)…is she a future ro?
Kyle said Zoriza is potentially a future RO, I really hope she becomes one. I like her playful, yet still superior attitude. Maybe it’s just the sub in me, but my favorite ROs always have a bit of dominance to them.
Also, sidenote, does anyone know why passing the check and having the vision and listening to Barec does not give you a clue, but just having the vision does
Well, it’s time for me to write another of my long essays about games that I enjoyed. And this time, I have to admit: as much as Kyle Marquis’ other games didn’t play well with me and felt a bit uneven, the first Pon Para book feels is a big success.
Much of that, I think, is thanks to the stat system. While Empyrean’s sliding scales were often confusing, those were improved by the Tower Behind the Moon’s better description of what the MC’s powers would do. Pon Para, though, works a lot better by having a point-based system (which I think is a bit undervalued in the ChoiceScript community). I think it boils the stats down to a lot of simpler calculations and helps the author add more things the MC can be (and do!) without turning the game into a labyrinth of numbers. The fact that there’s a difference between what the MC is (strong, clever, quick) and what they do (sail, fight, make speeches) is also a nice touch.
I also don’t remember having so much fun in a CoG in a while. Sure, I haven’t played plenty of the last launches, but after I read this one’s demo, I knew I had to see the rest eventually. I think a bit of that comes from the fact that it is going to be a trilogy, but the promise of a Classic Antiquity (is it inspired by Antiquity? It certainly came off as that to me) that also felt so well stitched together but also leering easily into weird places was a combinaton I haven’t seen a lot of before.
There is also the fact that the game is so long that it can jump into other types of stories as it goes on. I was surprised to see Chapter 5 or 6 turned into a murder-mystery as the MC searched for a spy in a freezing fortress. For me, that was a nice surprise, and hopefully the sequels will have something like it.
I’ll wrap it up here, but this game feels like the one where I saw Kyle’s skills chiming up, especially considering how one the (I think) major weaknesses of his last games, the stat checks, were easily compensated by the gaming telegraphing them very clearly before the major choices. As someone who often wants to restart the story after failing a stat check, having the big choices explained to me was a treat. I haven’t finished it yet, but I’m already excited to what’ll happen next. Pon Para knocked it out of the park.
I bought his game but haven’t started my main playthrough yet. How many stats should a player concievably focus on and still get enough to “win” the game?
If you’re looking for a minimum, I’ve done it with three professional, with being careful that the attributes were compatible. Attributes definitely make or break the professional skills, in my experience. Or vice versa, I suppose.
