Friday, August 26, 2016

TLS 0.20.2 Public Release

Download*: https://mega.nz/#!a0cwzbjR!UIYM7yj-NTJdtIphhB48L44iQrdTWXouhT8iJ3AJeww
Mirror*: https://www.mediafire.com/?chl72943wbr242a
RTP: https://mega.nz/#!H9tFEBoI!q_o66so-JOKWh5xZX86lTePV-N-RtzD3CVSTdQFnOnw

*Requires RPG Maker VX Ace RTP to be installed. If you don't know what that means, use the RTP link.

Version 0.20.0
 - New section of the game.
 - One new sex scene.
 - Aka's Deathblow skill is fixed.
 - I commissioned a bust image for Aka's new version, now found in the harem menu.
 - In addition to the above fix, there are now more entries in the harem menu.
Version 0.20.1
 - Parallax map reworked because some players were experiencing lag.
 - Miscellaneous bugs and typos.
Version 0.20.2
 - Mostly very minor things, but changed Queen Dheria's sprite.

Special thanks to Decanter for helping with code on multiple things, they wouldn't have gotten done without him (also for the new Dheria sprite).

Harem Additions: I have fleshed out the harem menu, since the number of slots remaining has been a common source of confusion. While this is not the 100% final list, this covers all the important characters through the end of the game. Do not take the percentage completion to be the percentage of the game, however: a large number of the unknown entries on the list are characters you already know well.

I would like to remind everyone that I am still dealing with personal issues as I mentioned here. I wrapped up everything I was working on to put out a short update, which I hope will be taken as a sign of my commitment, but I will need to take some personal time before the next release.

That's all I have to say for now. Expect some of the other minor releases I referenced over the coming while, then eventually a large update that finishes this arc of the plot.

137 comments:

  1. Damn, for me it's already Saturday and I wanted to go to sleep now. Well at least I can download it already, should I don't have any internet connection later, trough what ever reason.

    Like always I wish you the best Sierra, but this time even more. Take care and stay strong. <3

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  2. Hey Sierra, do we ever find out who the gentleman in this picture is?

    http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah284/sierraleeauthor/TLS%20Title_zpsbgvgtqzu.jpg

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    1. I'll say that it does represent a specific event.

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  3. Hmmm. Not sure how to take your mention about percentage not having to do with completion. I'm hoping that the game still has quite a ways to go, but your comment is making me feel like the end is in sight?

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    1. If I were to guess, I'd say that I'd look more at the 0.20.2 when attempting to take a stab at how much of the game is done. If Sierra ends up doing TLS anything like Noxian Nights, then we are ever so slightly over 1/5th of the way through the expected development. That said, I think the fan-base should cool their jets for a while. Give Sierra some much needed time off to cope with current events. If this release has told me anything it's to have some faith in Sierra and know that they'll get back to it when they're ready. :)

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    2. Well, harem percentage completion is obviously related to game completion, I just didn't want people to take it as a 1:1 relationship.

      As for the relationship between the version number and completion, let me be clear: there is none. It was an unfortunate coincidence that NN ended up with about ten updates, but the numbers only reflect the number of content updates. TLS will be done long before version 0.99.0.

      All that said, a large part of the game is complete, but the end is not impending by any means.

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    3. Anon - What the hell are you talking about? All I asked about is the length of the actual game. How does this in any way require comments about "cooling my jets" and "trusting her to come back"? Sure, you said "fan-base" and not me personally, but it is in a response to my comment so...

      Considering that I'm one of those who has backed her from nearly the first month on patreon, and still do so, as well as advocate for her to take whatever breaks she needs when those have come up, you have no idea what you're talking about.

      Sierra, thanks for the answer. Sad that "a large part" is complete as it means I'm probably not gonna get to see all that I would like in your world, but that's life. Still looking forward to more when you get back!

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    4. Well it appears it doesn't matter that you have no idea what I'm talking about because I was completely wrong on all counts. So, I'm just gonna crawl back to my hole and hide from people again. *hermit-mode*

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    5. Didn't mean to upset you, Anon, I just really want to be clear in my statements about game progress. Though James is a long time supporter, I appreciate your sentiment of giving me some space and of trust in my work regardless. ^-^

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    7. Don't worry, Sierra. I'm totally not upset. For the record, I like how transparent you're being with your development. Just wish I had found you sooner. I'm a big fan of your work (while penniless) I'd be supporting you on Patreon if only my own financial situations were in order. I feel for you in regard to your loss as my own nephew passed away a few years back and it still doesn't feel the same without him. So, I just encourage everyone to allow you the proper grieving time to cope. (edited for typos.)

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  4. Circumstances aside, this update is rather charming so far. I liked the party pretending to be elves. Aka was surprisingly convincing!

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  5. YUS! Can't wait to dive in to this update. That aside, have a great time on your break.

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  6. One potential bug: I only talked to the commander guy in charge of the succubus after they had already been freed, and he kept talking about how he'd never give them up... long after they'd already left. Kind of funny.

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    1. Dangit, I must just be mentally putting these events together wrong, because I thought I'd fixed this. Bluh...

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    2. I actually found it amusing - he had his head so far up his ass that he hasn't even checked in with his subordinate to know that the succubi are long gone!

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  7. Man, was Hilstara endlessly smug during this entire chapter. 'Twas a mix between infuriating and endearing.

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    1. Aww, I wasn't going for "smug" with her, she's just more inclined to tag along and be amused by everything around her.

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    2. I think it's the smirk on her portrait that caused it. No worries, her interactions definitely leaned much more on the 'endearing' side of the scale for me.

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  8. decided to do a new play through for bug checking purposes, Game will crash if you auto advanced text + instant text shortly after the dream scene and right after the enounter with insects after the initial warning. Not sure if new bug or old bug but had a RSS crash so yeah...

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    1. I meant during the initial bug batter after the warning. if there is an edit feature for posts I'm blind as a bat XD

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    2. In the forest early on after Yarra joins, right? I will definitely look into it, thank you for the report.

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    3. had it happen a couple other times in different places, I think it's something to do with over use of the feature. other then that game is running very smoothly so far no real issues.

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  9. Hope you are dealing with your loss well. My only request is that you pleaseeeee don't let Robin and Simon fuck/ be his harem member, unless it is part of some "Simon's shard is pulling everyone to him" thing you got going on

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    1. Sorry, but that's the direction I've been going from the beginning. It is very related to the plot, but not quite in the way you stated. All I can ask is that you give it a shot - given the kind of people Robin and Simon are, they won't be going about it in too stereotypical a fashion.

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  10. Hey - Thanks for the update, it's been fun so far. I'm curious if it's possible to miss a harem member between the two elven mages. I went for the Scholar, since I figured that convincing the more conservative of the two would count for more then the one who wants to sign on with the Doom King anyway.

    Good luck with the personal things, and take your time, we'll be here when you're ready.

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    1. Sierra has said that you'll be able to 100% on harem members, so no.

      That said, I was a little shaky on who to go for among those two, because I wasn't sure if my logic (that it was a question of reining in the pale one or softening the stance of the xenophobic opposition) was the same as Simon's. I made sure to save right before that question in case I need to reassess later.

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    2. My intent is that the consequences of your choice will be major for the next section of the game, but substantially less for future sections. You'll end up with both, just at different affection levels.

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  11. So I started playing from the start again just for funsies, and it's been a pretty cool experience. Just a few stream of conscious thoughts on it:

    I like the new cutscenes of the other Incubus Kings that snuck in shortly after the prologue.

    Although, on the way to meeting Kai and Aka, holy shit are the Blur Hornets annoying. Sometimes you fight 3 of them at a time, and only Yarra can hit them. Simon has wiffed a couple dozen times. Kai is also much easier than I remember; I easily blinded him and had Yarra work him down, whereas in my first playthrough I remember getting my ass kicked.

    I noticed Yarra can use Shining Robes now. Or maybe she always could, and I just never stripped the elf girl in the prologue? I dunno.

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    1. Oh, and a super minor bug: in Feroholm before going off on your merchant adventure, one of the guards in the church will talk to you automatically if you walk into him, rather than waiting for you to push spacebar or whatever.

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    2. Thanks for your thoughts!

      As for the guard: good catch!

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    3. Still moving along on the Last Sovereign playthrough.

      The new short little sex scene one-offs between Aka and especially the one from Qum's perspective are cute, although honestly... the sprite sex icons made me kind of giggle at them.

      Bit of an issue in Devil's Pass, I think: for one thing, you're much more likely to run into mixed groups of cave slimes and corrupted bears which resist Yarra rather than those dark slime things. Which is fine, Yarra doesn't work on everyone. BUT, it was also just as I got her new Flirt ability, and it looks like if a mook resists Flirt they don't get charmed, but they DO still get the Atk+ bonus. Which, maybe is intended? But honestly it makes Flirt way more hit and miss than her other abilities, which are already kind of lacking compared to the gangbuster Haze of Sex.

      I really wish Yarra had just one non-sex spell to use in these situations.

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    4. Thinking about Yarra, maybe she could get something like an Evasion+ illusion ability for the above situations? She is our illusion specialist, she uses it all the time in story sections, but no such luck in combat.

      Though ideally she'd have some way to do non-sex damage, that's the big one; the way I tend to use Yarra and Qum are to get through grindy sections since their SP regenerates and then I can toss Robin at bosses with full Mana. But there are sections where Yarra just hits a solid wall, usually in animal-heavy areas, so that kind of stymies me.

      Again, maybe working as intended.

      I also thought that some of the prostitute segments in Stineford were cool, especially the 'noble' one. That one disappears with an 'I... I have to go.' after using her once. It'd be really neat if she reappears when you blow through Stineford going the other direction, have some kind of comment like 'I just can't stop thinking about you, could you maybe...?'

      Then Simon could choose to be all 'Sure what the hell' and casually rock her world ('and then, no fooling guys, the hooker gave the money back')or stonewall her since he doesn't need to practice Incubus stuff anymore.

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    5. Another pair of those minor 'walk into mook, get drawn into conversation' things; during Yarra's path, during the first meeting among all the Kings, there's a succubus on the right (standard outfit) and one on the left (same) that do that.

      Also, I'm sure the nations are all set in stone by now, but are all the elf nations supposed to be hard to tell apart? There's Gheldaron and Darghelon of course, but also Ghenalon from the Incubus King summit meeting. I had to hit the wiki to realize that the elf queen Fheliel wasn't the pale elf queen from Darghelon and in fact ruled a country on an entirely different continent, which is kind of awkward.

      Maybe we could get the map from Simon's desk as a permanent tab in the inventory?

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    6. I feel kinda bad about the repeated commentary; Sierra, if this is bothering you, feel free to tell me to knock it off.

      Anyway:

      The succubus who Orcent ends up drilling up against a wall is another one of those 'walk into mook, get conversation'. It's basically fine because there's enough time to talk to everyone, but she DOES advance the time...

      In Aka's route, there's a line from the magical guard in the bank that reads weird. 'Don't I know you? Don't bother me', basically. Should it be 'Do I know you'?

      Also, if you max out Trin's duplicates already you can't talk to the halfling because she's a potential copy victim, even though she can be gotten for 'free'. That's a shame.

      Just as a side note: holy crap the halflings are adorable. All of them, from Lady Rose all the way to Sarai. I am totally on board with Yarra's minor halfling obsession.

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    7. It's not a problem, I just waited to work on all the comments until I had the time and energy. Always happy to have more people paying attention to the little details!

      Got all the basic glitches fixed, thanks. The only exception is the bank guard and Aka - I actually DID mean that he recognizes her from previous trips. Anyway, I rephrased the line to avoid that misreading, so good catch anyway.

      Yarra's combat balance is mostly working as intended, but she's scheduled for a little tweak to her skills later in the plot.

      Darghelon and Gheldaron are meant to be very similar (the name thing will be explained next time, actually) but I didn't intend that for Ghenalon. I think I didn't realize the similarity because the continents are all separated in my notes - given the choice again, I'd definitely pick something different.

      Re: Halflings: ^-^

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    8. I appreciate your... patience? Let's go with patience.

      The save point after you meet Balia and right before Orcent's final matches isn't ideal. When you reload it, you can't readjust your gear; you can only replay the matches starting from the rogue. So I had the magic resist orc collar, but I couldn't equip it once I saw that the whole lineup was mages.

      On the second day of Simon's route, if you ask for books the book seems to pop right before the blackout to the sex scene. No biggie, but it does look kind of weird.

      The succubus cleaning the room next to the Ambassador can wander as far as the front doors of the palace. 'It's amazing how easy it is cleaning this room when there's no one in it!' she says. It probably is pretty easy top clean when she's not, you know, in there cleaning.

      I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the 'Bwah?' feeling of a lot of the Orgasmic Empire customs. The master-slave trio is always good for a smirk, and Nalili is consistently... well, there's no one else quite like her.

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    9. In Janine's Retreat, during the scene with Yarra and Megail there's a typo. 'to to'.

      As far as Ardford goes, Dari is still as adorable and Vhala as much a member in good standing of Simon and Hilstara's crotchety old veteran's club, and I can't wait to see more of them. That said, I will never not throw pron to that dwarf; I had no idea how hard the summit is without the dwarf embassy in your back pocket. Having to choose between Ralke and 100,000 pron is (very mild) torture.

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    10. I fiddled with how the save point and book appearance are managed, hopefully that will improve both sequences. Also blocked the cleaning succubus inside her room.

      I appreciate anyone who reports typos, but since you're being so diligent in your playthrough, can I ask you for something? When reporting typos, please give me the beginning of the line in which the typo occurs. I searched for this one for a good while and couldn't find it. RPG Maker isn't easy to search in a game with this much text. >.<

      Glad you're still enjoying your replay!

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    11. I'm afraid I don't remember the line itself, but maybe you could do something with Yarra saying: 'You knew he wasn't going to dominate you. / It was a calculated move.'? That was within a couple lines of the typo, as I recall.

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    12. Typo on Balia's comment during the 'rule Yhilin' segment: "It's probably just random. Unless that that one woman..."

      A few random thoughts:
      1) I'm a little disappointed Janine's general has a standard guard sprite and no real role aside from laying out the plan during the invasion that one time. A way to put a face on the Royal Guard, you know?
      2) That guard that wants to go drinking with Orcent in the House of Petitions is a cool little thing, but I completely missed him the first play through because he only seems to show up halfway through the section, after I'd gone through and picked my petitions to support. I get why he's not available immediately, since he has that whole 'I hated you... at first' thing, but it would have sucked to miss out on an Orcent segment and never known. Orcent is great.

      Even less cogent to the actual subject:
      3) I like Megail's backstory, but I've heard it said it's better to get to 100 RP with her before you get into it. How the heck is that possible? I financed her little thing for 25000 pron this time around, and am still only at 75 or so.
      4) It would be convenient if the RP totals were located in Yarra's harem menu, instead of only when you talk to individual party members during downtime. It's not like it's a bad thing, helps keep things from getting too number-y I guess, but just sayin'.

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  12. Have you changed or censored any parts of the story you intended to tell for any reason?

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    1. Well, "changed" is pretty broad. Though things are still progressing along the lines I envisioned, writing always involves replacing ideas when you have better ones or changing things to make the execution work better.

      However, I'm guessing that you meant it closer to the question of censorship, which is tougher to answer. There's no external agency saying what I can or can't do, but I do write with an audience in mind ("writing for yourself" might be a good maxim, but the audience seems inextricable to me).

      I can't think of any case where I had one plan and then decided I couldn't do it. But for one example, Robin is Simon's adopted daughter because I know that this makes it better for some who are uncomfortable with the kink. For another, I opened the story with some of the easiest relationships (Aka, Yarra, Qum) to try not to lose my audience before I moved on to longer running ones (Megail, Janine). Stuff like that is just part of my process.

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    2. It definitely seems like the Robin thing is the most divisive choice I've personally been witness to on this blog. In the best way, probably; when was the last time you saw people not wanting the protagonist and the pretty young thing to hook up in an adult game?

      I'll say that after replaying the first chapter it seems like those three (Aka et al) were the perfect bunch to ease us into the idea of 'harem'. Yarra is the shoulder devil going 'You should fuck ALL THE GIRLS' and Qum doesn't care at all as long as she gets Simon snuggles, while Aka swiftly moves into a sorta-jealous 'we're okay, but if Simon is fucking other girls it kinda pisses me off' mentality. It creates just the right 'us' tribal mentality that, combined with Simon's stated complete disinterest in shallow stupid girls and people who wouldn't advance his quest, really sells the idea that this isn't just some random thing. Nomoshing's Harem Collector is fun, but that dude would literally enslave anybody into his harem. Simon's pickiness makes me feel much better about the whole thing.

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    3. So was Robin originally planned to be his real daughter and the process of considering your audience changed her to step related?

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    4. @Guile: It would be nice if that's the motive of many people, and I hope the way the relationship progresses might change some minds. I suspect it's merely that many people have very strong feelings about incest, even step-incest.

      Incest itself doesn't do anything for me as a kink, and I don't really plan to play up that aspect. I'm not including it as a taboo-breaking thing, but because of the interplay of the characters. Having said that, I'm definitely aware of its status as a fetish in my planning.

      As for the initial cast, yes, that was part of my thought process. I knew this game wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, so I tried to set up the beginning to make it very clear what kind of game it was going to be. It seems to have worked in most cases.

      @Ken Sama: More like when I was considering all possible characters and relationships, I very quickly rejected the idea of Robin being his real daughter. That was so early in the process I didn't even have a timeline decided for the war, Wendis's death, etc.

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    5. But if that's the case you didn't censor or change anything.

      I guess what I'm saying is this: Censorship is when you remove content from an art or media because it may be perceived as offensive or obscene.

      The writing process does have a period of alterations, which basically says things can be changed because instead of it being planned out from the beginning, it happened at a later point in writing because it was a better idea for the story.

      If it seems like I'm asking anything unfair to you feel free to just ignore me, but I'm curious about 2 things: what major changes happened as a result of the writing process where you began to change things, and what changes were made for the sake of self-censorship.

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    6. If you don't count self-censorship early in the process, then I don't think there is any for TLS. For Ouroboros and other future projects, the main censorship problem is going to be that according to Nutaku payment processors have an extremely broad definition of bestiality. I've never had any intention of doing normal animal stuff, but monster content might be viewed as risky (even consensual scenes with sentient monsters T-T).

      As for changes happening during the writing process, unrelated to censorship... that's a bigger question than I want to tackle right now. The short answer is that nothing big has changed, lots of little things have changed slightly.

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  13. I love this update - short but sweet! Also wanted to say that these last few updates make me really wonder the following:

    - When, if ever, Janine will become an 'official' member of the harem

    - When will we get a chance to see & interact with Riala again

    Thank you, again, for making the game, Sierra!

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    1. You'll get clear answers on both before this chapter is over... though we started chapter three not too long ago, so you'll have to be a little patient yet.

      Glad you're enjoying it!

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    2. Ah, well, waiting is part of the fun, too (at least for me). As long as it becomes clear eventually :)

      Another thing I've been meaning to ask... at the end of update portion you (through your cloaked person sprite) mention something about a 'major choice between Lynine and Orilise'... just clarifying (and not asking for spoilers), that would be an even bigger choice than what we JUST MADE between the two?

      From some comments above, I don't think it's an either-or type thing, as you've mentioned that we'll be getting both eventually... so, I'm assuming that it would affect their RP's, would that be (at least somewhat) correct?

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    3. The choice made this update was just a preliminary one - what I meant by that is is next time, you'll choose between Lynine and Orilise and it will have major consequences for the update. You're free to choose the same person both times for max RP, or you can mix and match to balance things a little.

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    4. Definitely can't wait for the next update. While waiting, though, I have a few thoughts...

      I recently visited your Patreon page (Sadly i still don't have the funds the support monetarily just yet), and I noticed the character on top of the page looks like Yarra. That's IS her, isn't it? Whoever did that artwork, that style would be great used in-game.

      I also recently played Noxian Nights (a little late to the party, i know ;) ) and it got me wondering, will you be implementing different endings in TLS, or will there be "one true ending", so to speak?

      Thanks, and again, can't wait for the next update!

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  14. you know eventually if enough well known western RPG makers band together you guys could actually probably assemble a pretty nice sales and distribution platform. for all your games.

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    1. As the field grows, I'm sure such things will come into being. However, if the subject interests you, you might want to look into the store attempt called Kimochi - it may be too early, as many games are Patreon-supported free titles like mine.

      Nutaku wants to be the big western storefront - I wish them luck, and I might be adding some side projects to their store in the future. TLS will always stay free like it is currently, though. ^-^

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    2. Yeah..... No sorry I have no interest in Steam or Kimochi as both are ran by soul sucking companies that both harm creativity, and their users :/

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    3. Due to the realities of marketing and payment processing, these niches are almost always going to be dominated by big companies. A game on Steam, for example, will usually outsell all other platforms combined.

      If you're most interested in fostering pure creativity, then supporting creators directly via Patreon is probably your best bet. I'm very grateful for it, and I could never have done TLS via another method.

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  15. Well till now i was playing your game, for verry long time and i have to say, Sierra its beutyful game! Im not playing it for the sexual content which is for me secoundary, but for the story! (And it is a really nice story :D, have you every thought about wrighting a book or something? :D) and i have to say, that the version 20.2 took me about 23 hours to get finish :D (About 2 hours of running around like a Chicken without a head). And i will be probably crying when i play the full version of the Game :O.
    Your sincery Gawelcus.
    P.S. Btw. Is there any other posibility to support you, becouse i do not like that Parteon stuff directly, and i do not belong to people who use any kind of banking.

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    1. P.S. I have noticed that some attacks (Furious Strikes, Orgy Of Blows, Tripple Shots.) Sometimes do not strike wit every attacks, after you kill one of the enemies.

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    2. I'm glad you enjoy the game so much! I have actually written a few books, but not many people cared enough to buy them. =P

      Re: multi-strikes - Unfortunately, this seems to be a limitation of the engine I'm using. As far as I know, no one has coded a way to change it.

      Re: support - What payment methods do you prefer? Something could be arranged for a direct PayPal, anonymous gift cards, or Bitcoin. If you want something more exotic, let me know what you use, I guess.

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    3. Gift cards are the things that i prefer the most, in my country you have to connect paypal to your Bank Acc...... :D
      Your sincery Gawelcus

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    4. Those work - let me know your email address or contact me via any of the main NSFW game forums and we can talk details. Thanks!

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    5. pawelkocikowski@wp.pl One of my european mails

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    6. I have send it to your E-mail i hope that it was your E-mail at least :O
      Your sincery
      Gawelcus

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    7. Received it, I will send you a reply there. Thanks!

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  16. Hi i was thinking in the past days, and i would offer my Help if you ever want to translate your game. I could translate the sentences to: German and Polish, and maybe in a year or two to Spanish.
    your sincery
    Gawelcus
    (I'm just offering it for fun, becouse i dont have anything better to do in the comming week exept for making Homepage for my friend.)

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    1. Thanks for the offer, but I've found that translation projects are pretty hard to finish for any game, much less one with as much text as this.

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  17. Well, not realy heh. you just have to read all the possible dialoges between the characters, and Monologes, then comes some quests and character Descriptions, it may look hard in the beggining, but it realy isnt, most the time you just do the coppy and paste, just like in the "Mount and Blade Warband"... Ofc., the translation itself is the most difficult work... :D And i actualy use both Languages in my everyday life. (Just my offer, ofc. i wouldnt translate it from one day to another, but i would go systematicly from one chapter to another.) I do not offer my help to everyone, but i realy love your game, becouse it remind me of old games Like Morrowind, where you realy had to find the quest by yourself, without any help or big as... indicator on the map.

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  18. Hey SL >.>
    Sorry for asking you this , but I'm in that moment where I'm just asking everyone >.>
    How do you do those full-screen textboxes? Like the ones in TLS used for sex scenes?

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    1. It's not a default feature of RPG Maker. Look up the script "ATS: Message Options" by modern algebra - it's what I use, just directly controlling the text box size when necessary.

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  19. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  20. I don't know exactly what happened as I decided to check up after a few months (last version I played as 17 I believe) but I hope things get better. I really like this game and what you've been able to do for it. You're a great deviant with not just creative sex scenes but story telling. As an inspiring writer with an english degree, I greatly respect your talent, Sierra. For what it's worth, you have my full support.

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    1. Thank you for the kind words. If you last played several versions ago, you should have a fun chunk of content waiting for you, and soon I'll return to create more!

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  21. Only recently found this game through noxian nights, but I have to say the writing is absolutely incredible, all of the characters I've encountered have such unique personalities and are very well written but Yarra is still my fave <3.

    Going to enjoy following updates to the game and any other releases you create!

    PS. Loving the hidden references, like the full metal alchemist tribute, fantastic addition to help the reader relate to the game world.

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  22. Bug report. The first time you are in steinford, if you do Histara's quest immediately and go to the mine (unable to proceed until you get Robin) she will not leave your party. Little bit odd that she would be with you through all the succubus conversations.

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    1. This is something I thought about as well. I considered doing something about this directly, but decided it would complicate the Stineford section unnecessarily. In the end, I concluded that Hilstara is on board for helping in any way and pretty open-minded about things. =P

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    2. [snerk]

      This does seem to be borne out by later events...

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  23. When you first enter the mage acadamy and go to the girls dorms robin should say the highest ranked students are on the left not right.

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    1. I appreciate your attention to detail, but that wasn't my intention. The big room with all the beds crammed in is actually for the lowest students. Middle-ranked students are five to a room, then the highest ranked are three per room, to the right of the entrance.

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  24. Okay! I just ran through the comments and tried to reply to everyone I missed while I was inactive. If you asked a question prior to the date of this comment, then sorry, I missed you. Feel free to ask again!

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    1. Glad to see you're back, and I hope things are improving.

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  25. On the quest log you need an extra empty line at the end otherwise if a quest has more that 1 line for its description at the end the quest, the blue formatting/aesthetic line will cut through the last line. also you can't travel to the Yhilina mines from the square in Aka's path, so you have to go back to the main town.

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  26. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. I'm always willing to tweak previous parts of the game. In this case, checking any clock in the palace will give you your current number of days.

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    2. yeah I realized that, a little too late, doesn't help the wiki's walkthroughs can be confusing messes, I dare you to have someone just try to blindly follow their instructions and not get lost at some point, I know you like trial and error but oi is it vexing sometimes when you are absolutely clueless on what to do.

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    3. I freely admit that I may have overshot on complexity for this section; I'm still considering how the mechanics I wanted worked and didn't to see what I can learn from the experience. However, I feel like this is one section where it's probably harder to play trying to follow a walkthrough than just playing through. If you try to set up one "correct" path then it will probably get disrupted at some point due to all the variables involved. But most of the events can be swapped around freely without losing any efficiency.

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    4. Mind you, on my first playthrough I didn't realize the arena was a thing, so I missed out on Corrupt and Domination. So taking a look at a guide helped there.

      Or maybe it wasn't a thing back then? I seem to remember you added on some more to Simon's path later.

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    5. Instead of a walkthrough, I think a useful guide might be just a list of every event you can do on Simon's path. The requirements for them are usually simple and there's actually more than enough time to do everything, but I admit it's too easy to miss stuff entirely and trying to chart every path can get convoluted.

      The changes to Simon's route were cosmetic. I don't go back and add content that would make people replay if they wanted a 100% optimal game unless there's some very good reason.

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    6. *Shrug* The walkthrough worked perfectly fine for me for that section of the game. Got everything done with a few days to spare. Mostly, you just need to know what *not* to do (help in kitchen, etc), and you'll stumble across the rest through trial and error.

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    7. are you playing the walkthrough with the perspective that you know where things and npc's are or are you playing it like a beginner who's coming into the game for the first time and has no idea that, there are two versions of sparring one not being in the menu with the other sets, that that there are two green succubi in the office next to each other, that you need to talk to the boss succubi first before the smuggler succubi will appear, or that the ambassador is in the green room on the first floor?
      or how about Yarra's path does walkthrough or NPC deliberate mention where the Elf Queen is staying, out side of some orbs and the mention of non sexual magic would you even think she'd be in the building with opposite building with the other incubus lords with the way the guards talk or how the lust lord reacts?

      a walkthrough is a guide its there to help point out what is missable and the simple easy hang ups if it fails to accomplish that it is a poor walkthrough, take the completionists guide walkthrough on chapter 1, if you were to follow it blindly, with the act of having no previous knowledge of the game once you got to stineford you would constantly mess up do to the walkthrough's formatting issues, because the writer brings things up that you should do after acquiring two members but before telling you how to acquire both said members. or in Yhilin when spending pron, mentions stuff for you to do either before you can do it or just out right completely neglects important minor details till after they have you go do something.

      when you have knowledge of a game and it's little aspects you take for granted some of the conventional wisdom you learn from the game, and end up not imparting it when you try to explain how to do things.

      I mean how would you like it if I wrote you an instruction manual for putting together a rotary engine but I mentioned two steps ahead before I mentioned a crucial necessary step that must be done before those two? I would know to do this step ahead of time but you wouldn't because you are just following the manual to achieve the best outcome only to realize you have to redo your work.

      also with Sierra and her number love for tyiing numbers into basic minor things she has me paranoid over the save counter.

      and when you crunch the pro to cons ratios of kicking the qum puppy in stineford at the brothel the 5000 pron always wins out because more benefits and affections still get accomplished, it isn't a fun part of the game for me to do that and honestly I wish I had a proper alternative to it even if it was hidden as sierra likes to do because if you are damned if you do and damned if you don't you will always go with the one that damns you the least in this case it's kicking the qum puppy.

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    8. I don't disagree with your criticisms of the walkthrough at all. But wouldn't these be issues to bring up with the person who actually created the walkthrough? The one you reference wasn't created by me or even the wiki community in general, but a single fan. One who quit supporting and playing the game after a few months, I should add.

      One easy answer for you: the save counter will never have any impact on anything. Save as much as you want.

      Regarding Qum: With the changes in the recent version, I would like to think I have the choices fairly evenly balanced. One option gets you slightly more ProN, the other gets you slightly more affection (and some benefits you will never get if you whored Qum).

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    9. play it both options and reach it to the point of after the "war" in yhi and see which ultimately pans out for the best, because from where I'm sitting that 5000 pron can accomplish a lot of affection points and victory points as well as the reduction of chaos. this isn't something that has to be immediately addressed but I think it'll will have to be revisited before the game is deemed complete. because you are having to pick and choose where you will be punished.

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    10. Well, at one point in the game I had an extra 5000 pron that I spent on a stupid fountain in Ari Yhilin. So, y'know. Mileage varies.

      Of course, then in the next segment I reeaally wished I had that 5k pron back so I could invest in the Stineford magic shop and rake in 125k pron instead of a mere 50k.

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    11. well yeah mileage varies but if you try to aim for the most optimized route, with or without it (btw that 5k turns to 15k by the time you get it back in yhi and multiplies even further later.) that say we eliminate the as many variables between the two it becomes drastically apparent that the 5k tends to be more beneficial for now

      because you fundamentally end up having to choose between the needs of the many (get the 5k) vs the needs of the few (don't get the 5k) and either decision you make will ultimately end up punishing you. so do you choose to outright betray Simon's principles early or later? it's why I think there should be a hidden alternative. also I kind of want to know the story about the shady characters behind the magic shop when you first visit stineford XD

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    12. I somewhat agree, as I'm never going to take that option. It's not what I'd choose to do and it's not what I think Simon would. But missing that 5k Pron does actually punish. Would it be an idea to have a later minor event which gets you some money to balance it out? So the choice isn't between money and affection, but rather money now and affection later, or affection now and money later?

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    13. I think it's because how tightly Sierra has Pron controlled and how it's spent in the beginning that effects tings too much mid to late game, the values and actions are so tight in where you can effectively use it that getting the pron later would almost be pointless. cause you still lose out on certain hidden stats and affection points. short of when you first visit you really only have three decent opportunities time window wise First Visit to Stineford, Devil's Pass, First Visit to Ari-Yhilina. anything past that starts rapidly counting against you. but story wise there are really only two places you could get away with adding extra stuff, First visit to Stineford because there are a lot of changes between the first and second, and Devil's Pass which more could be done with. either way if a hidden option were to be added you'd have to reject the brothel offer first in order for it to be unlocked or it would just kind of be pointless.

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    14. Point. I mean, after the Battle of Yhilin, pron stops mattering much. You've moved beyond it. So that provides a limited window to work in some other benefit for not whoring Qum out. Correct me if I'm missing something, but currently aside from the affection level, the only benefit from not doing so is you can send her to the old guy at a certain point (he says being as vague as possible). Otherwise you have to send someone else, who is equally as successful but not as productive, but in ways you may not need depending on your status at that point anyway. So it's not much of a loss, compared to the several thousand Pron you're out from not having that initial sum to invest and increase. And even if you have, say 95000, you might as well have ziltch if the investment you want is 100000. Another potential solution to the pron issue might be an opportunity to convert Sx into Pron. You can the other way around, though you never should. But I've sometimes had an excess of Sx I really wished I could convert, even at a loss, to get just that little bit more I needed for an investment.

      That wouldn't need to be tied to Qum though, leaving the issue of another benefit for not whoring her. It could just be a character choice. Or something that occurred to me: When Simon is in the Empire, learning skills, they have something of a different attitude towards prostitution. His actions regarding Qum earlier in the game could gain him some sort of benefit at this point.

      It's of course up to Sierra. I just love troubleshooting worldbuilding like this. It's why I write.

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  27. Two actual game-play bugs:

    1. There are 3 broken sex animations on the bed in Janine's Retreat: 702,703 and 705 (Yarra, Qum and Hilstara).

    I believe there may also have been at least one broken one before this point too but I don't actually remember where it was or if I'm just mis-remembering.

    2. In the Endgame caverns on Yara's route, its actually possible to trap yourself in the lower left hand corner of the main cave by being stupid with the snowballs. You can also make it impossible to get all three crystals this way. You can do this with either of the two ground level snowballs on the right hand side and using both can actually manage to block the way randomly in a few more places. It was kinda one of those things where I did it and then went "What did I think was going to happen?" and then had to edit my way out.

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    1. Sadly, the broken animations are one of the few known bugs that I just can't fix. They work in isolation, I'm honestly not sure why they just don't sometimes.

      As for the snowballs... yeah. I realized that was possible but couldn't think of enough good way to avoid it. I did redesign some parts of that map to try to make getting trapped be unlikely to happen accidentally, but it's still possible. =P

      Thanks for the attention to detail!

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  28. First of all Thank you for making this game free to the public. I thought this would be another generic hentai based game which gives you a false sense of freedom through the usual 2 moral choices. This along with Noxian Night and Overwhored are my favorites ever since I knew the genre. Hopefully you can continue on and finish this in the later years to come.

    Second though I was wondering when would we get an in game world map or at least the continent of Arclent? I know this is only for flavor but it would be a great addition.

    Third Would the secret stat be a very important thing later? Because I messed up my first playthrough I just want my second one not miss out a lot content now and in the near future? Can you also get the Orc Prototype later? Because during the Pre Battle of Yhilin Content getting the Essence Shielding is most logical choice. Thanks again for everything.

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    1. Thank you, I'm glad you have enjoyed the game so much!

      In case you don't know, I did get a map made:
      http://thelastsovereign.wikia.com/wiki/Countries#Arclent

      It has always been my intention to put this into the game; I have a version especially for that. General busyness and then recent events kept me from adding it earlier, but I still intend to include it. I'm also working on maps for the other continents and some other visual improvements.

      I'm afraid I'm not completely sure which secret stat and orc prototype you're talking about. But generally speaking, I don't want to hide a lot of content behind something easy to miss. Though I understand the desire to get everything (I'm that type of player myself) I think it would also be fine to relax on the first playthrough and do a 100% run later.

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  29. Hello there again Sierra, been a while since i played and now after the MOST recent version, my minds swirming with thoughts
    and suggestions:

    orc smith -having too well equipped army of ORCs , wearing human and dwarven STANDARIZED gear, must be QUITE suspicious
    (even assuming orcs are scavengers) thus, lets find an orc with peculiar interest in metals, or even one with considerable inteligence

    orc reasearch'n'developement -the way i see it from current information , our intelligent/special orcs will provide their "essence"to improve our general stock by essence transference of their particular traits, as well as they themselves will get reborn more free

    synergy between our magic trade investments and weapons manufacturers -providing our military forces(not just orcs, ALL our military assets) with high quality enchanted weaponry

    holy magic research- instrumental for "fixing" Dari(would require considerable knowledge and understanding of unpeople creation process), points for sarai,Carina(plays into their vision),Ginasta(would help to make her see there's "another" way), incorporating knowlegde behind holy magic into our forces(party, army)-> countermeasueres against holy element and lastly making it part of simons abilities, not actual skills mind you, only theory behind it for his attacks to work better against lust driven beings(huehuehue) and making him into TRULY "unholly abomination" mixing light and dark(in a yin-yang manner) with a tinge of arcane, thus helping him contain/tranform the "darkness whitin" , on the side possibly also increasing his man pool in the process , them elves and Wynn might be instrumental for this ^^

    party members training -just the way simon improved his skills our other party members could find new experiences usefull towards imrpoving/changing their combat abilities

    Lastly im consumed by questions as to Alonon's power(obviosly he DOES have some "mysterious power"), what is the Tower ?!, "Divine" beings(the trapped one, PRETTY much "uses" Simon, the winged one says:Why do you keep using that human? while she replies:He's more useful than u think) AND im almost willing to bet that "our sister that is being kept by that TERRIBLE man" refers to the the pointy eared wite haired, and VERY untisocial lady that we have met at certain place,which brings me to the last one-> Estaven"Fucklord" after all as his own slaves say "he much more inteligent than he looks, and extremely driven when smth holds his interests", once again refering to the conversation between "divine" ones ;D

    So finally i'd just say just HOW MUCH I <3 the complexity of the game you're making it is FREAKING AWESOME , hope you're good, feeling better, and just as so many others
    "HUNGRY" for MOAR , d'love to see and updt soon };->

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    1. Well, nice to see someone so enthusiastic! Some of that is actually already in the plan, so look forward to it. ^-^

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    2. he he he, you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that :D , sure am looking forward to next releases

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  30. im as enthusiastic as this fellow, but language barriers dont help :P

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  31. a few events are I'm curious about and how to get them are.

    28: Whore Encounter (I have it unticked in my save)
    30: See Neighbor (unticked as well)
    134: RETC: Academy Barrier
    154: Yhilin Nun (no clue about this one)
    174: EvaluatorGift (Interacted with him lots am I missing something?)
    292: Planning events (unticked)
    298: RETC: LustWraith (Unticked not sure what this is about)
    361: RETC: Palina (another I have Unticked but dunno if that's good thing or something I missed)
    398: Trin Tired (?)
    473-475 ?
    513: Sabitha Conversation (Sabitha?)

    just confused on them is all.

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    1. You know, asking about the internal workings of the game in a public comment section may not be a good idea.

      (Seriously, please don't do it. At least one of these things counts as a spoiler.)

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    2. I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to reply to comments that want to get into detail after cracking and tinkering with the game. It would take a long time for me to explain the purpose of each of those switches, not all have simple get/miss functions, and there are plenty more people could ask about.

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    3. I guess it would be to late, still, some documentary notes for each entry would have helped (as long as possible of course).

      In any case, given a tool is available (even if not that easy to find) there will indeed be more asking about "unticked/know" switches.

      Something to care about at start (in the better case).

      To be seen, knowing the current status of the game = (not as a surprise) your call.

      Take care Sierra Lee.

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  32. well if I cracked or tinkered I wouldn't be asking because I could stare at the code, rather then a switch I have no control over outside of in game actions but okay I understand.

    as far as Neptune's comment, would of been better left a mystery and thought that it was an easter egg or old content that wasn't removed then a spoiler, if you go around announcing something is, then it only wants to make people delve further.

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    1. Ah, forgive me if I made a false assumption. But if you didn't crack the game, how are you looking at internal switches? Not an accusatory question at all, I would just like to know in case it's a useful tool for my work.

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  33. froggus over on ULF made a save editor, due to how you coded your game it can look at your switches and variables but it can't really edit them, it's useful for trying to speed through the game tho, cause you can alter sx and alt stats to a degree, and that greatly speeds up battles and lets you progress to story points more quickly so what would normally takes me about 20hrs, takes about 8 or less give or take how much content I'm speeding through, since it isn't actively playing with values I don't need to worry about glitches from it. I mostly use it to test various points. I mostly use the switch function to check if I missed something tho.

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    1. Ah, I've seen that thread but haven't made use of the save editor. Good to know.

      For the most part you don't need to be worried about missing anything, as there are a variety of reasons for switches to be used temporarily. For example, "398: Trin Tired" switches on and off during Aka's route to make Trin seem uncooperative: sometimes she'll just refuse to do something she could, like take Academy tests. But advancing the plot turns it back off again, so it will always end up in the off position.

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    2. I think it's a handy tool, definitely has helped with the 60+ hours I have dealt to the game in playing. tried everything I could to my knowledge in the first two chapters of the game sixteen times now? even check for hidden dialogue triggers so it's entertaining to find some of the hidden stuff.

      oh I noticed I missed one conversation with Iris during Yarra's route and can't find her at any other point after during the route, is that suppose to happen?

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    3. I'm not sure, can you describe the situation with Iris in more detail? Iris is generally in the east wing, but as you get later in the Gathering, she starts being gone sometimes (especially during the day). There's no intended condition where you can just miss out on her, anyway.

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    4. I missed out on the conversation after the flying match, and I haven't really ran into her in the second wing either during the day or night cycle since, this has only happened to me once so far.
      this has only happened to me once so far, granted this is the first time I missed the conversation, for now I can count the issue as a non event since I don't think it has any real importance till it does XD

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    5. does the game have any pictures for sex scenes or is it all text?

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    6. All text baby. Yea that's some sexy literature.

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    7. The curve on the Rs are just dirty.

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  34. url for that tool (as it can be a bit tricky to find) :

    http://www.ulmf.org/bbs/showthread.php?t=28936&highlight=save+editor

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  35. is there any way to make Aka's Dagger after completing that section of the game? Seems like an awfully small window for such an important item :(

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    1. Once you've left Stineford, there's no way to get the dagger, sorry.

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  36. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Also, any chance the other fans can check out the fanart somewhere?

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    2. I like to share fanart on Patreon, so it'll be there tomorrow, but I can probably put it up somewhere else too.

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  37. Sierra, how long is TLS to get to the end? I've been playing it like 1 year I guess

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    1. We have a ways to go yet, but we've finished a large percentage of the game.

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    2. And if you mean 'how long does it take to get to the end of the current content', I recently finished a game that clocked in at 30 hours, while generally remembering how things were supposed to go.

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    3. Thanks for answering Sierra

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  38. Thank you so much! This is awesome. Keep up the good work and good luck!

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  39. Chapter 3 make me remember the Conquest man i miss that game hell Simon talkjust like him I AM CONQUEST YOU ALL MINE man i miss it so bad sad there nomore update for that game T_T

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  40. I would suggest adding this open beta download link to your Patreon. Would probably encourage a lot more to pledge.

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    1. You're right, it's pretty odd that I never link to the most recent version. I don't like to update the link all the time, but at the very least a link to the blog seems prudent. Thanks for the suggestion.

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