The possibility of beta testers being asked only to point out kudos rather than give also good advice is lowkey concerning cause ?? That’s not how it works? I get it that the role is not comparable to a novelist editor, but your testers are also your immediate readers and they can and should give you advice to smooth things over. 
They don’t have to impact major things, obviously, but idk the idea of “I just want typos pointed out and nothing more” is a little eh.
I get the fear of criticism, but that comes with the work so… shrugs
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Do they? That’s certainly possible. I thought that was just an American thing. I thought the metric system was always used in the UK, though I think they used to use the imperial system. One thing I still can’t wrap my American head around is using ‘stone’ for a measurement of weight. How big is the stone? Is it a pebble or a boulder? 
Oh, really? I did not know that, and you know what? That could be achieved really well with M using their pheromone ability around the MC since we know that that causes the MC to have head-clutching migraines. I don’t think the characters realize this is what happens but the readers certainly do. This is the only issue in the story about the vampire’s abilities not affecting the MC because M’s abilities clearly do.
Definitely really weird to be “forced” to donate blood. Just saying, “Sorry, I’m not going to donate this year but I will be happy to help with the entire effort,” should be more than enough.
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Oh, the characters DEFINITELY realise this. M realises it way back in B1 if they join you on the patrol, and in B3 the Detective can realise it also if you pick a certain option, with M telling them that they’ve known since then. What we don’t know is WHY.
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Ah, that is why I didn’t see it. Dezh always goes the “never mind, you have no reason to come with me” route (she can be surprisingly insecure with M, especially at that point, before the scenes with the crystal, where she started believing he actually does care about her that way).
M is actually how I pictured from the beginning. Their bluntness carries over to everything, including the way they relate to the MC, and it’s so damned refreshing. They can be sweet without it making me cringe (sorry, N), can be kinda clingy without being smothering (sorry, F), and managed to be a dick at the bakery without making the MC want to permanently walk away (unlike when A is a dick).
Basically, M is perfect. Right down to his grumpy snarling.
Because the Murphy trauma is used only for romance moments. She’s said she wants the story to be “light” (which I question how light it can be when a kid was murdered in b1), so it won’t focus on the heavy stuff. Anything like the Murphy trauma will just be there for angsty romance.
I guess when your IF sells better than the rest, you can do what you want, lol. I do really think it would help both the story and her (as a writer) to have people pointing out some of the things that are just too ludicrous to hand wave away. Or that make no sense at all. It doesn’t have to mean that she can’t have the scenes she wants (like the dripping wet MC), just that it happens in a way that is less ridiculous.
What I find interesting about this is how M said their pheromones would kill people if not for the crystal. Yet, when it started to fail, M was the one crumpling to the ground and the MC was fine. Looks more like M is the one who would be affected?
Also, that guy giving the warning about M irked Dezh. She doesn’t want to hear that shit.
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M’s pheromones knock like four Trappers out, bleeding out of their noses. An uncontrolled blast might just aneurysm everyone to death. I think what the crystal does is keep the mental block up - that’s why when it starts failing M goes to the ground with the memories starting to gnaw at their brain, and why, when they’re not wearing it, their reaction to “calming tea” is “the fuck you trying to pull here? I’ll rip your throat out, you fucker”. Presumably, the trauma avalanche of the returning memories would cause a panic response of full pheromone onslaught, which evidence suggests would be… unhealthy on a scale that would require the use of the words “blast radius”. 
I’m beginning to think I should DM you all the M rom scenes I get, because it feels like we always pick different options in every single choice. 
Did you get the “you’re the only one that can touch me wihtout it feeling like a thousand knives” scene? I’m not sure if that one is choice-dependent.
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Yeah, that would be bad. I’m wondering exactly how b5 will go down, especially if the “angst” is LI-dependent. I assume it will have something to do with M’s pheromones and the crystal. And the MC will be needed to help them through it–they just may need some serious painkillers to do it.
I think so, too! Dezh tends to go with punching her problems first (which is problematic during the time that M was her problem!), and is way bold until emotions get involved (and she’s a chickenshit who is afraid to ask Mason for more). Your MC appears to be the opposite of that.
I think I got the thousand knives scene. I can’t remember right off, though. I had like 10 runs for her before this book, all with generally the same stats, but different paths. So I can’t remember what I saw and didn’t see sometimes!
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I’m scared to say this, since hardcore fans of these books can be wild, but I do get the feeling that the author doesn’t care much for helpful advice exactly because her work is pretty much paired up with fallen hero when it comes to popularity.
Before I get torched, I’m aware that I’m just a little gal etc etc, but I wish things were just a little more polished and not just long for the sake of big numbers.
You don’t have to change the outline, it’s your story after all, but I can’t believe that every single person who has betaed this book went “aight thumbs up” when presented with scenes like the ceiling one.
Oh and regarding the no romance path, I haven’t done it but I’m guessing it’s way shorter. I can’t see any big scenes being thrown in, but would love to be proven wrong 
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Sera has stated multiple times that she’s writing the IF she’s always wanted to play and has been planning Wayhaven for over a decade, so I guess you’re right and perhaps she’s not very flexible when it comes to changing scenes etc.
If B5 is when everyone realised they love the MC and need to go against the big big evil and probably drink from the MC and whatnot, I wonder that’s the purpose of 7 books, unless B5 ends on a super big cliffhanger that get solved in B6?!
How did you get this?
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As someone who has been blueballed by Adam three times now, seven books are a lot
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I’m afraid not much is going to change until B5, B4 is going to be more of A pinning while trying to avoid the detective as much as possible, because they had let the MC go 
I hope we can date someone in B4 just to cope with the endless rejection.
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Popularity isn’t everything…
And Fallen Hero is a masterpiece 
I read that as ‘My Pheromones…’ 
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You might need to have taken Supernatural Research in B2 - I don’t code dive, so I don’t know for sure, but it makes sense. During the Trapper ambush, when M takes a cattleprod to the face instead of you, pick… uh… “Remember the natural abilities of vampires” or something along those lines? This eventually results in M blasting pheromones and knocking out four trappers, and you get a bonus migraine.
Does Sera do a beta test on the forum like other games, or is it just a beta test with a few people she knows or something along those lines?
I think you’re confusing “pheromones” with “farts” 
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haven’t seen a call for Beta test for this game… 
Maybe she use social medias to get her Beta Tester?
Can we blame Tumblr or Tweedle? 
Fallen Hero is my favorite IF, so yes. 
While I agree that popularity isn’t everything, being popular means more sales and there are people that only care about that aspect sadly.
Some authors, and I’m not talking about only IFs, often publish subpar sequels because they know it’s going to sell anyways.
It happens with book, games etc.
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I’m all out of likes for the day but I really want to give you one. I really appreciate your assessment of the series and your viewpoints and opinions about the story. I know I can say that I’m happy all of the characters have stopped “rolling their lips”. Because I don’t even know what that means.
One thing I’ve noticed in writer circles is they say to keep things as simple as possible. They highly recommend only using ‘said’, ‘asks’, etc., for ending dialogue instead of adding adverbs all the time. I think with interactive fiction, adverb qualifiers could actually help the story. If I’m playing a grumpy character, ending dialogue with “I said, curtly.” could make the story seem more personal. I could be wrong, though, and keeping things as simple as possible is a best practice.
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Grrr. A. Rant under the cut:
Frustration Inc.
The yo-yo behavior is annoying, and I found the choices in the kiss scene to be… seriously lacking. But what I was really hoping for in this book was insight into and clarity on A’s motivations. I wanted my MC (and me) to be able to better understand what was driving all of this stuff. Instead, I came out of Book 3 even more bewildered. None of the explanations seemed to make sense. The insights into A’s thoughts gave me nothing. It’s all just sort of a smoldering heap of illogical broodiness. 
M’s path has been amazing, I see exactly where they’re coming from and why and how things are slowly changing for them.
Sigh. Good thing I have headcanon, because there’s a way to make A’s story really work for me, I just hafta… sort of do it myself…
I think this is a plot point, because the game is pretty careful to point it out. What it’s leading to, though… no idea.
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I’m not sure but she has stated that she has beta and sensitivity readers. I think her beta aren’t only people close to her and this is just speculation because I read on ao3 a couple of fics featuring M with scenes we got in this book (come to mind the bathtub one before the demo was released and the shower one).
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How is this news to you? You played the Dragon Age series!
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She only does beta testing with hand picked people, not on the forums. This time, she said she got “professional” beta testers. But it appears they only tested for bugs, and didn’t really provide feedback about how things seem in the game.
I know someone who beta tested for b1 and… to put it nicely, was told her services weren’t needed after she provided some critique on the more ridiculous moments in the book.
That it is.
I’ve said that about A all along. At this point, after the end of b3, I think it is sorely needed to make things palatable. I know Z is ready to move on. She may love the jackass, but she’s not a masochist, and when he says it’s “done” she will take him at his word. Thankfully, she just shrugged and shook her head, and is ready to get on with her life. Not that that will be a choice, lol.
I think all of them realize it at this point. Except maybe M with F as a bff, but it’s still close.
Heh. I would love it if M losing the crystal, going nuts with pheromones could be controlled with the MC’s blood. Dezh would get off on that, even if (and probably especially if) it was a permanent thing of Mason feeding from her. But she’s a bit kinky…
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