The Shadow Society General Discussion Thread CANCELLED. Cancellation update on #246

Ah okay thanks, wasnt sure if it was like a next book or just part 2 of a single book

Not sure if this has already been reported, but if you lie about only your last name you get some weird dialogue.

“Hey, x, can I talk to you for a moment? Oh, excuse me—I meant x . That’s your real name, right?”

Otherwise really enjoying the game so far.

Does anybody know how to romance Jealene

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The cliffhanger is so brutal :sob: but the romance scenes are sooooo good. Q and G are my abssolute favourites. The balcony scene really got my maiden heart jumping and I squealed. Now, reading through this thread, one can only flirt with the shadow man but not romance him in this book, right? There were like 3 flirty interactions available: 1) asking if single, 2) taking his hand to get up and 3)commenting about calling him by his first name? Or did I miss something? Just to make sure that I’ve really explored every route.

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Don’t forget to say that you find him interesting when you seek him out when you explore the mansion. :wink:

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@Carawen How to do the J(Jealene) romance

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Just finished reading this one. So, I’m not sure if it was because of the fact almost every single character seems to be using the MC or keeping secrets, but I somehow managed to end up with a pretty manipulative and jerk MC, which is a first for me with any HG series. :joy: But I loved it.

That ending got to me though, considering how M and Q were the 2 characters my MC seemed to have the most sympathy/compassion for out of everyone. Q, because it became apparent after the car scene that she might be one of the more wild/lesser formed shadows the others had talked about, and M because despite the fact he was obviously lying about his true identity/purpose, he genuinely seemed to be in way over his head most of the time. I had friendship points with both so that scene was particularly brutal.

I was curious- will we be locked into the romances we picked in book 2? Or are we pretty free to continue romancing anyone we have flirted with previously?

Also, how do the rivalry/friendship paths work? Are these separate relationship modes, and should we try to commit fully to one or other?

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Jealene and the Shadowman both aren’t really full romances in this Book. You can get closer to them, but nothing like the romances with the main five. I believe they are intended to have full romances in the next Book

There are actually hidden stats for their romance. You can get some special scenes and dialogue with them if you romance them in this book. I tried Jealene’s romance. There’s only the beginning of it but it’s still really nice!

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Thank you all for the comments and sorry for answering so late!

I already answered varada_naveen’s question in a private message a while ago, but thank you for answering it for me here since I haven’t been on for a while.

@harmonia Thank you so much for the feedback and I’m glad you enjoyed it!

You’ll be pretty much locked in with the person you chose to romance, as in their romance is the one which will continue. You’ll still be able to pursue a romance with Vherian du Valeric (the Shadowman) or Jealene however, since their romances are later and slower. Though pursuing one of them while romancing someone else will most likely not end well :sweat_smile:

I also want to give opportunities for the MC to break it off with the RO, if it so happens that the RO does something that the MC absolutely doesn’t agree with. It wouldn’t feel right to try and have a cast of morally grey characters and then have the player needing to accept everything that they do. I’ve been unsure if I should allow the ROs to also break it off with the MC at certain points (though you’d have to pick something they absolutely despise for that to happen), and I’m leaning towards having those moments. One example is in chapter 15, if you stab M while in a romance with R, it’s most likely going to affect your relationship with them. It’s not something I’ve decided for sure, but I do think it helps flesh out the characters and that they feel more “real” if they aren’t forced to accept everything the MC does if it’s not within their character to do so.

There’s also the friendship-romance to keep in mind, which you’ll have the opportunity to start in book 2. It basically means that if you chose someone to keep as a close friend in book 1, or you’ve gathered a lot of friendship points with them, you’ll be able to start a romance with them in book 2. It’s an option for those who don’t really enjoy the “instant attraction” kind of thing, and to have something grow out of a close friendship instead.

Speaking of other things, I’m happy to announce that the content update for chapter 15 is finally done! I don’t know if the game files have been updated on all platforms yet, but you’ll notice that it’s there if the last chapter starts off with a dream sequence that is a bit similar to the one of chapter 1.

Now I only have a bigger content update for chapter 9 to make, and then I will leave book 1 behind me :slight_smile:

If you want to know what’s been added in the new update (apart from chapter 15, I’ve also done smaller additions to chapter 13), I’ve summarized them under the cut. But spoiler warning if you haven’t played the game yet!

Thank you all for the patience and support :heart:

Chapter 13: Added optional questions to ask, changed the “ask if Lord du Valeric is single” option to one that, when you click on it, you can choose whether to ask out of romantic interest or just out of curiosity. Also added a confrontation by Azur after the dinner if you’re in a romance with them and chose the flirt-option with the Lord.

Chapter 14: Added a small extra scene (and mystert) if you use the mark to look beyond the vault.

Chapter 15: Bigger update with new intro, individual scenes with A, M, G, R and the Shadowman (not Q, due to story reasons, but they will have a bigger scene in chapter 9). Added information about the Circulus. If you want to get a scene with the Shadowman for chapter 15, you need to do one of the following:

1. Not have a romance option, or

2. Have Q as a romance option, or

3. Choose to “push everyone away” in the dream sequence.

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If one character ends it with us will be romance completely over or would we be able to pursue a different character? It would make for interesting interactions.

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@UnoriginalUserName I had in mind that you can pursue someone you’ve got a high friendship with (as in friends-to-lovers, like I mentioned in the post above) or potentially someone you’ve had jealousy scenes with in book 1, though this isn’t something I’m 100% sure about yet. I think it’d make for interesting interactions as well, it’s more a question of how much coding it’ll be and how much I can do without tearing my hair out :laughing:

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There’s also the friendship-romance to keep in mind, which you’ll have the opportunity to start in book 2. It basically means that if you chose someone to keep as a close friend in book 1, or you’ve gathered a lot of friendship points with them, you’ll be able to start a romance with them in book 2. It’s an option for those who don’t really enjoy the “instant attraction” kind of thing, and to have something grow out of a close friendship instead.

Oooh this makes me so happy since I’m always a sucker for a good slow burn romance :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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So bug report.

With the new update on Azur’s path, I somehow found myself both Azur, The shadowman and the love triangle active. I am fairly certain I should not be getting the Shadowman or the love triangle scenes.

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Yeah, I want to second that. I was playing a no romance route for Shadowman, although I did accidentally select a flirt option with M - but somehow I ended up with the A and R love triangle? It started directly with the scene where a character invites you to the party with the Resistance, and it acted as if I’d triggered their respective romance flags for the rest of the game.

I haven’t tried it on any other routes, but if it’s popped up on A’s solo route, then I think there’s probably a missing bracket somewhere.

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I loved the update but I also had the love triangle bug when I only romances Azur.

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The last update introduced multiple new bugs in my new playthrough. I couldn’t even finish the story, because it crashed in chapter 15 in the added scene with the shadowman standing in MCs room right after the new dream sequence. It crashed when I went for the first choice on that page. I also noticed text appearing in the wrong order on the same page.
Another bug happened in the dream I just mentioned. The choice to resist the shadowman resulted in a loop I couldn’t escape. At first I even thought this was done on purpose, but the way it was worded didn’t seem to fit that theory.
Another thing I noticed that bothered me: Azur still thought I was flirting with his father during dinner, despite me making it clear (or so I thought) with my choices that I’m only interested in learning more about his mother.
The old bug of me not being able to get rid of Gwyndal’s tattoo also hasn’t been fixed yet. At first it was kinda funny, but by now it’s become quite irritating. :confused:

I really like the new content from what I’ve been able to play (more Azur is always appreciated <3 ) and I’m grateful for the extra work, but right now my game is effectively broken.

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@literary_warrior I’m glad you’re looking forward to that!

Thanks @DreamingGames, @theredwoman @Cheezabelle and @Hayden_Winter for letting me know about the bugs - I got the same ones over on Tumblr. I honestly have no idea why the RO options have been confused like this in certain parts of the story since a lot of those scenes I didn’t even edit. The code also looks normal, so I’m not exactly sure what the issue could be, but I’m going to take a closer look today and the coming days. I did send in a patch yesterday which should hopefully fix some of these moments at least, and also hopefully the loop that Kaleylo mentioned. But I’m still going to take a closer look, and I’ll update the thread when I’ve hopefully found the issues and sent in the fixes. And I’m also going to take a look at the tattoo bug.

Sorry for all this, I know it must be really annoying to experience, especially since saving isn’t possible. But I’ll do my best to work on it!

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Just popping in here to say that I really love this game. I love the characters and i’m really interested in learning more about the world and the MC’s family history.
It’s great that you’re going back and adding things and fixing little issues in the game, keep it up and don’t lose heart!
I’m finding solace in playing games like yours, they’re perfect for escapism, and I’m looking forward for more :blush:

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Can someone share the link to discord sever? All the ones I’ve tried have expired

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