Redemption for Jessika (En, Sp, Fr, It, Ge)

[Skelaturi]

You guys really want the option to turn down sex in the game? Is it that you just want a bypass ("skip to the end") so you don't have to see it, or do you want the male character to say no to the sex and have the female character react to this? If the latter and her reaction is negative, does that mean I'm still forcing you to do the sex scenes?

Tlaero

How i see it: The people find the story that good, that they want the sex to stop. Start writing a book, 50 shades of grey eat your heart out.

[jk103]

You guys really want the option to turn down sex in the game? Is it that you just want a bypass ("skip to the end") so you don't have to see it, or do you want the male character to say no to the sex and have the female character react to this? If the latter and her reaction is negative, does that mean I'm still forcing you to do the sex scenes?

Tlaero

My point is that Marc should have some sort of choice in the matter. He ends up getting just sort herded from scene to scene at Jessika or whoever's whim, and I think it's the reason he feels like such a weak character.

[boyo111]

Funny how everyone sees something different in the game, I found it worked for me and I loved the story and interactions.

To each their own.

[Dolphin-BR]

You guys really want the option to turn down sex in the game? Is it that you just want a bypass ("skip to the end") so you don't have to see it, or do you want the male character to say no to the sex and have the female character react to this? If the latter and her reaction is negative, does that mean I'm still forcing you to do the sex scenes?

Tlaero

I give you an example as how a very good game works for me: Goblinboy's "School Dreams-3". It has a story to tell, but you are not forced to have sex with anyone and still the game goes on til the end.
If it is an erotic game, I don't like to play it for an hour and find no sex scenes. But I like the sex scenes to fit in the game, to have some context. And the most important part of any sex scene is interactivity. I should be able to choose what to do, even if only to hear from the female character that she doesn't want to do it.

In "Redemption For Jessika" during the event where Marc is invited to watch and only watch a "lesbian show", for my taste, it would be good to have an option to say "no", or a "skip scene" option. But it is not a big deal. I understand that if the author wants those scenes in his/her games we have to deal with it, and I can endure it. What really bothers me the most is the lack of interactivity.

[Greyelf]

What really bothers me the most is the lack of interactivity.

note: I am not saying that you are wrong, or that I agree or disagree with your statement.

But I think an important point to remember is that Goblinboy's "School Dreams-3" is a text based story with some images and that "Redemption For Jessika" is a image based story with some text, so I believe that adding more interactivity to the first would be a lot less time consuming than adding it to the second.

[tlaero]

Let's be clear. What Sarah did to Marc in the start of the game was completely unfair to him. Sylvia made it clear in his office that Sarah had prejudged him without so much as even seeing him. And she practically apologized for the evening ahead of time. Sarah wore the outfit she wore as outright entrapment so that she could prove to Sylvia that Marc was scum, like all the others. And the sex thing, while serving the secondary purpose of amping things up with Sylvia, was really another form of entrapment. Sarah assumed Marc wouldn't keep it in his pants and that she'd get to be smug about it.

The suggestion that she pull Marc aside and tell him what's going on would have been completely at odds with the whole point of the scene.

To show character growth, a character needs room to grow. And Sarah grows a lot throughout the game. The line in the bonus where Sylvia says, "You hate all guys" and Sarah replies, "I like Marc," has weight because of the initial scene.

When Marc didn't live "down" to her expectations, it rattled her prejudices. His actions throughout the game continued to drive home how wrong she was. All this talk about how weak he is seems to be based on the fact that he doesn't beat his chest like a gorilla, grab his woman by the hair, and drag her where he wants to go. But he gets results. He convinces a blatant sexist that she's wrong about men (or at least, a man). He halts a depressed person's slide into alcoholism. He gets a band back together. And he plays an important part in saving the lives of hundreds of people. I find those results to be a serious indication of strength. In my opinion, they're a better indication than him storming out would have been. If I asked you to think of great people in history who are remembered for combating various "isms" (racism, sexism, etc), you're more likely to come up with people who stood their ground than people who stormed out when they were mistreated.

There are around 5 exits from that scene where Marc acts like the person Sarah thinks he is. I didn't think to add a 6th exit where he "stands up for his rights" and walks out so that he's not forced to look at two hot women having sex. I'm not sure what purpose that would have served, though. Sarah would have said, "Told you he's a jerk" and wouldn't have changed her prejudiced opinions of him. I'd have written another version of the "Marc brings Jessika home drunk" scene where Sarah doesn't call him a pervert, but also doesn't offer to have him stay on the couch (why would she?). And you wouldn't have enough "good" points to make it with Jess nor enough "lewd" points to go down the other path. It'd be just a long path to a dead end.

I will confess, though, that the thought of a single guy not wanting to watch people have sex, even though they want him there, didn't occur to me. That probably shows some of my own prejudices. I know plenty of wonderful, loving husbands who would close their eyes or leave out of respect for their wives. But single, unattached guys who don't have to feel like they're "cheating"? Before this thread, I'd never have guessed that there are guys who would consider that a bad thing.

Part of the reason my games are well received is that I portray women more realistically than most erotic games do. It seems, though, that I'm guilty of the reverse, and am stereotypical with my guys. That's fair. I'll work on doing better in the next one.

Tlaero

[Dolphin-BR]

All this talk about how weak he is seems to be based on the fact that he doesn't beat his chest like a gorilla, grab his woman by the hair, and drag her where he wants to go.

There is a lot of room between the "gorilla man" above and the one who accomplishes lots of things by doing nothing but being dragged along subserviently by the female characters.

[Hoboy]

tlaero wrote:
All this talk about how weak he is seems to be based on the fact that he doesn't beat his chest like a gorilla, grab his woman by the hair, and drag her where he wants to go.


There is a lot of room between the "gorilla man" above and the one who accomplishes lots of things by doing nothing but being dragged along subserviently by the female characters.

There seem to be differences between comments which is taken out of context and what is being quoted. Tlaero seemed to answer the POV quite clearly. Marc

gets results. He convinces a blatant sexist that she's wrong about men (or at least, a man). He halts a depressed person's slide into alcoholism. He gets a band back together. And he plays an important part in saving the lives of hundreds of people. I find those results to be a serious indication of strength. In my opinion, they're a better indication than him storming out would have been. If I asked you to think of great people in history who are remembered for combating various "isms" (racism, sexism, etc), you're more likely to come up with people who stood their ground than people who stormed out when they were mistreated.

Just appreciate the creative process and let this go. Tlearo is getting all inputs...

[boyo111]

I give you an example as how a very good game works for me: Goblinboy's "School Dreams-3". It has a story to tell, but you are not forced to have sex with anyone and still the game goes on til the end.

True you could, but the path in that game which leads to no sex with any of the characters misses a good portion of the game, and what people liked about the game - the interactivity with the characters and the variety in the scenes that led to the bonus awards that GoblinBoy's games are good for. I'm not judging, but I don't see why you would play an interactive sexy game that way, and miss so much. Though I am sure people do, as I said, it takes all kinds. For those of us who do like to play those scenes it worked well, and finding all the twists for the bonus scenes can be fun because we like these games and what they offer.

[Dolphin-BR]

I give you an example as how a very good game works for me: Goblinboy's "School Dreams-3". It has a story to tell, but you are not forced to have sex with anyone and still the game goes on til the end.

True you could, but the path in that game which leads to no sex with any of the characters misses a good portion of the game, and what people liked about the game - the interactivity with the characters and the variety in the scenes that led to the bonus awards that GoblinBoy's games are good for. I'm not judging, but I don't see why you would play an interactive sexy game that way, and miss so much. Though I am sure people do, as I said, it takes all kinds. For those of us who do like to play those scenes it worked well, and finding all the twists for the bonus scenes can be fun because we like these games and what they offer.

Of course if I play an erotic game I want to play thru the erotic scenes. What I meant was, the players can choose if the PC will engage in sexual activity with given character or not. The players can choose which erotic situation they want to play (according to their taste), so they can follow the path they want. Once they finish the wanted path. They can try (out of curiosity) the alternative paths they didn't feel appealing or appropriate for the PC.
(For me playing like this is much more enjoyable than having to let the PC have sex with a character you feel obnoxious just because otherwise the game will be stuck.)

[bing6541]

I disagree with the idea that Marc is weak and that he is subservient to Jessika. He has the option of rejecting her in the first elevator scene, and rejecting her drunken advances in the apartment. He can exit the first scene by saying to himself, "Enough of this sit there and watch crap, I'll show them both something..." I think people are also forgetting that he is the world's biggest fanboy of the band. Why wouldn't he want to see SeraB get it on with someone else. I can buy discomfort with the co-worker, but she tried to preempt that up front.

[Ryano]

Where to start...
The game is an absolute delight to play.
Hoboy was using Katawa Shoujo as a benchmark, I'm similar, and this is the first game thats made me feel the same way since i last played KS (about a year and a half ago). The emotional aspect of the game is brilliantly done.
The writing is sublime, the artwork compliments it beautifully. The game is a real credit to both Tlaero and Mortze and due to this I can't wait for the next installment, which may not be in the near future, and we still have Pandora part 2 to look forward to from Mortze.
I'm off to sort out Patreon.

[Petri]

A little surprised by all this "critical analysis" I'm seeing here. It's a free game and I didn't see anything wrong with it. I see no reason to be critical.

[JFR]

At first I kind of agreed with the concept that an "Oh Hell No" option would have been a bit more "masculine" when the PC was confronted with a couple of gorgeous girls using him the way Sarah and Sylvia did in that first sex scene. On further thought - and after reading Tlaero's comments on that scene - I have changed my mind. The point there was not to be masculine and in-charge but rather to prove Sarah wrong. Behaving and helping the girls to up the game in their sexual satisfaction made him one of the "good guys" and cemented his place as a potential right choice when it came to helping Jessica get past her difficulties. Sure it was uncomfortable being subservient and behaving while the fun was going on without him but that was the deal he made when he agreed. Sylvia was embarrassed at the suggestion, as was the PC, and Sarah was convinced that it was going to trip him up and prove he was just another "man" - read as "pig." Sometimes we have to tolerate being put out of our comfort zone to accomplish a goal. In this case, the discomfort was real but the potential rewards great.

I very much liked this game. The play was fun and the artwork fantastic. My only beef at this time is that it will be months before either the next chapter in this arc or the next episode of Brad's Excellent Adventure - err - Erotic Week - will be released. That means I'll have to find something else to do for months.

[jk103]

A little surprised by all this "critical analysis" I'm seeing here. It's a free game and I didn't see anything wrong with it. I see no reason to be critical.

I think it's important to realize that if people didn't enjoy the game and appreciate its overall level of quality, you'd never see these sorts of nitpicky criticisms. Sometimes a game pops up and the first critique that comes to mind is "maybe run a spellcheck?" and it's just not worth getting into, if they enjoyed making it let them have their fun. But Tlaero and Mortze obviously put a lot of effort into improving the quality of their games, and they seem intent on making more, so hopefully these critiques can be helpful to them.

I think if there's one flaw in the Tlaero-style of game, it's how the conversation system boxes in the player-character. In RfJ for example, 95% of your choices don't affect the story or the events of the game at all, they're solely about keeping Jessika happy enough so she'll give you permission to tag along to the next scene. As a result, the player feels passive and kind of incidental to the plot.