REMINDER: As this as an extra large update, it will take more than a single week for bugtesting to be complete. See below for a list of changes and expect the public version in a week. It's currently available on Patreon to $1 and up backers.
Version 0.29.0
- Another double update, both the end of the war and the aftermath.
- Four new plot sex scenes.
- Six new affection sex scenes.
- Decided to increase the speed of buffing skills and trialed it on Carina's. Report if you like it and I can use the same style for other skills that target the entire party.
- The new section of the game involves splitting the party into three groups for one dungeon. This is only possible thanks to the scripting work of Decanter. Huge thanks to him!
Version 0.29.2 [9/1/17]
- The orc summit has been made somewhat easier.
- Hilstara's sequence has been made harder.
- The number of reserves during the aftermath has been reduced.
- This section has also been modified to eliminate some bugs, but more checking is necessary.
- Riala's skills have all been compiled into a single menu.
- The Unsuccubus Mass image has been improved (thanks to Decanter!).
- All party buffing animations improved and sped up (thanks to CyberForte!).
- Many minor bugs/fixes/improvements.
I will probably not do many extra large updates like this again in the future. Though I think they let me produce more content per day overall, the additional content doesn't seem to mean anything to a vocal minority. It might be for the best in terms of overall game development again in the future, but in the short term it does not feel worth it. -_-
But that aside, this is a large update that I feel is a satisfying conclusion to the third chapter of the game! I hope everyone enjoys it!
Updates always on Friday night.... :3
ReplyDeleteIt's happening!!! Can't wait to see how the war wraps up. I'm pretty sure I'll play the whole thing a few times to see different outcomes :)
ReplyDeleteOh this is so perfect news!
ReplyDeleteThere's always going to be a vocal minority complaining no matter what you do. I'd just go with what works best for your creative process - unless the entire playerbase is up in arms, then you miiiight be doing something wrong. ^_^
ReplyDeleteI want to second this. I know we had a couple of fools in the last thread, but I want to say that I'm willing to go with fewer updates if it means more content. But, ultimately, go with what is most comfortable to you.
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DeleteNo idea why anyone should have something to complain about Sierra's work. Although if you are not sure about what your main audience wants, maybe simply run some polls with your patreons.
DeleteTo quote Simon: "Fuck those people." This is by far and large my favorite story to date. I'd rather wait and get a piece of work Sierra is proud of than something forced out under duress by those too impatient to wait for quality.
DeleteWaiting is always annoying but it is definitely worth it IMO.
ReplyDeleteIt just so nice to be able to play for 2-3 our straight, way better then being 40 minutes in and already hitting end of content.
Let the wait for the us plebs begin. Thank you for the update and I look forward to playing it in a week.
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ReplyDeletejust news, too damn excited lul
Delete"I will probably not do many extra large updates like this again in the future. Though I think they let me produce more content per day overall, the additional content doesn't seem to mean anything to a vocal minority. It might be for the best in terms of overall game development again in the future, but in the short term it does not feel worth it. -_-"
ReplyDeleteAs a part of the vocal majority of people that DON'T complain and realize you are making a fantastic game for all people to enjoy for free (clearly even for those who don't deserve it), I want to point out the obvious, that you simply can NOT please everyone. There will always be someone complaining about something (me included :P), so the best way to do things for a mass of people is to do it your way, the way you feel is the best for the given situation and simply ignore the complainers. Look at twitch streamers / youtube content creators. Those biggest ones are ALWAYS those making it the way they themselves feel is the best, those are most succesful. If you make smaller content updates, some people will complain that there isn't enough to play and it is thus kinda disappointing to reach the end so fast (I remember reading such a few months back). You simply can NOT win them all Sierra. I know you are a kind and lovely person, but some people are just hateful dicks complaining about everything they can... I mean what can you do, some people really do suck. Try focusing on those that do enjoy your game and are thankful to you for it. I am almost certain you do know these things already, BUT sometimes we need to hear the obvious from someone else just to confirm what we know deep inside. Fuck idiots, fuck people bitching for no reason. I mean this is a video game for fuck's sake, people are dying in this shitty world, stop bitching about nonsense. But saying this never works (sadly), so the only way is to ignore them (I know, I know...).
I for example am grateful for your work Sierra, you do bring a genuine happiness into my SHITTY life every time I play your game, even if for just a few hours. Very few things in my life make me truly happy, your game is one of the few, and guess what? NEVER do I feel "oh fuck, Sierra made only this much content and now I'm at the end?". NEVER. I am grateful every time for every minute of joy I feel, that YOU have brought me. And you know what? I am not thanking you enough for that, but THIS time, I want to do it properly. So again, THANK YOU Sierra!
A fan
Hey Firehelp: just in case, do you mind if I use your post elsewhere (not necessarily in the wiki), but I really like what you have wrote here (I know that we had our differences in the past, but I hope that we can overcame them).
DeleteAs you were always respectful towards others (me included), I feel nothing but respect towards you. Also, I know that I don't login on the wiki, so you can't know what I said about you, but hey, you'll have to trust me on this. And of course, this is the bloody internet, I don't really have a copyright on some nonsense I spout on a random website :P (like this one). But it's nice of you to ask anyway, sure you can.
DeleteHonestly, I'm excited to see an update for this, even though I'll either have to pay a Patreon to get it now or wait until it becomes free. You're not credited enough for your work it seems, Sierra, as there are people that would have quit a long time ago due to stress of an unpleasable fanbase. Case and point, Nergal's Nest just quit recently, and the games on that patreon were some of my new favorites.
ReplyDeletePeople need to appreciate more about what they got instead of what they don't got, and wanting more beyond reason will never really leave them satisfied as it perpetuates bitterness. I certainly would hate to see you give up your passion because of a few naysayers, so let me just say I'll always be a fan and back your games (even if I can't really offer money due to my current situation).
Keep up the great work, Sierra Lee.
I've been waiting on an update with bated breath. Even though I'm not a patron, I'm super excited to see this post! The Last Sovereign is one of my favorite games , and you don't get nearly enough credit for how amazing it is!
ReplyDeleteWoohoo! Looking forward to playing it!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work, Sierra! :D
Siera dont let few ungrateful pricks get to you. From first time I found this game about almost 2 years ago to present you always delivered great work. Considering you work on this game bassicaly alone (additional help with some smaller parts that other people may provide from time to time aside) and also have other projects from time to time you so far did pretty excellent job regarding development of this game. From what I can say majority of people are content with way you work on game and are supportive of you and that is what I think really matters (aside from some individuals that you can never really satisfy no matter what you do and they always try to find something that they can use against you or just complain about and sadly they are not limited just to video game industry but this trash is bassicaly everywhere / in every sphere from entertainment, business, science, politics and education in certain numbers - good thing they tend to be just small minority albeit lot of time pretty loud) I woud have supported you on your patreon long time ago alas there is not much college student from post communistic eastern european nation can do to support you with any meaningfull sums of money for longer period of time. Well my main point is dont take some always complaining bitches close to your heart for you can never really please them and they just want make you feel miserable abou what you do. I myself had meet such individuals (few individuals that you can count on fingers of one hand) I dont have any other word for them than fucking dicks. They bassicaly come pleading for help only for you agreeding to help them you devote your free time and resources to help them only for them in the end bassicaly spit on your face for your good will (most of time people are truly gratefull to me - as for those few people that are not well let they be impaled by horse dicks) . When you do something of your own accord / will (some project at school / work for others) and devote your free time and resources to that only for in the end all of that being waste of time because people that you were doing it for dont appreciate it or downright hate it really makes you resign with - fuck it all why do I even care. But if majority of people like it and support you then its ok and your effort dont go to waste also you cant please everyone and some people just want see you fall. Best way to deal with such people - and in this case of yours( of some always complaing never pleased shitheads) - is dont taking them seriously, ignoring them aka fuck them all I say /dont give a shit about them. If they dont like way you work or do things then let they take their whinning and complaining somewhere else for such individuals are never going to be content no matter what you do.
ReplyDeleteOk, I understand where you're coming from. You put your work out there, you are enthusiastic about it, you greatly enjoy praise of it (as you should when it is deserved and it is well deserved) and you feel bad and disappointed when the reaction is worse than you expected. That's how those kind of things go with creative work.
ReplyDeleteI think you are overreacting. I am quite sure that a lot of grumbling you get is not because people enjoy those latest big updates any less than your usual small ones. Quite the opposite I would bet. It was very well done, with a real feeling of massive world shaking events that the player affects directly. It is a rare treat in gaming medium, really.
I am reasonably sure the reason you got more discontent than usual was because you did not indicate clearly in the blog how the schedule was changed and why.
In the future, if you decide to do another massive update I would suggest making a post about it stating clearly how much bigger than usual you expect it to be, how much more time you expect it to take and then post progress updates on it at the time you would usually post the monthly update and a post a week in advance of release to give people the feeling of steady monthly progress they get usually and feed their anticipation. Which got disturbed when you changed your schedule (for good reason, naturally) and communicated your progress in comments on various forums. The Internet is vast and most people don't stalk other people over it. That's honestly a good thing that you are not stalked by randos all over it, wouldn't you agree?
I understand that may feel a bit restrictive and you are obviously have no obligation to do this kind of report on your activities but I am reasonably sure it will mitigate the negative reaction in a major way. So just think of it this way: what is more annoying to you, to post a progress update on your unfinished work if it takes more than a month or to deal with increased amount of negative feedback?
You do have a point, but she does that already for patreons. People here, who can't read patreon progress updates, because they aren't patreons, get the game for free, so you would expect them to be happy for anything they get... FOR FREE. I mean it's the same as on youtube, when someone takes a vacation and people start rioting in the comments, where are their videos. Like the video maker, who provides that FOR FREE has any obligation to them... I guess my point is, people should be reasonable and their expectations should be based as such, but sadly many people aren't. That's why I am not so sure your advice would actually work (again, even when youtubers make a video clearly saying why there won't be new videos for like a week for example, there are still a lot of people complaining anyway).
DeleteIt's not about getting something for free.
DeleteIt's about expectations.
Sierra made a schedule for herself. She told the public that there would be monthly updates. She followed the schedule pretty well. And then the schedule was broken and the public was not properly informed about that.
Sierra took upon herself a responsibility to uphold the schedule when she said she will do it. Responsibility before everyone who benefits from her following the schedule, patron or not.
Breaking this responsibility provokes a reaction from those beneficiaries. How important this reaction is for Sierra fully depends on Sierra's opinion.
Naturally if patron withdraws his support it is much more significant than if a random lurker abandons the game.
And if patron whines it is much more noticeable than if a random lurker does it.
However, she herself admitted that whining of vocal minority affected her mood in a negative way. It is most likely that majority of that vocal minority consisted of random lurkers.
So the reaction of those random lurkers on her breaking the responsibility she took upon herself was important enough for her to affect her future plans.
The solution for that is to change the responsibility she took upon herself so that it is not so easily broken.
Instead of "Roughly monthly updates" go with "Unless otherwise stated roughly monthly updates, otherwise I will inform you on current progress".
It will not stop the whining completely but it will reduce it significantly.
As for creator having obligations... if that creator promised something that means an obligation. It is not an enforceable obligation, it is self-appointed obligation but it is an obligation nonetheless. And not fulfilling it invites the reaction any "proper" sort of unfulfilled obligation provokes.
You word has value. It's best not to destroy that value if at all possible.
This is probably going to cause problems but the majority of what was posted MrRavellon is crap.
DeleteSierra had always had a schedule of approximately a month to complete each update and has kept to this: April 0.26 release, May 0.27, June Crimson Grey release and a note from Sierra about TLS copied here verbatim "I am still aiming for Friday, July 7th. This update will be larger than normal and may require more bugtesting. Meanwhile, I hope Crimson Gray will tide you over!"
July 7 comes around and what? surprise surprise there is 0.28 right where Sierra said it would be and now in August we have the release of 0.29.
Releases have always been approximately a month and on the odd occasion that they aren't we are warned and even normally given a reason (the most common being bug testing for the public build). Even during these last months where the updates have been larger this hasn't changed.
At no point has Sierra broken their word or failed to meet your perceived obligations. One release every month or so and always notification if it will be late for any reason.
Public releases: May 26, July 21
DeleteTwo months almost to the day.
It is a very minor thing. It was done for a very good reason. Negative reaction is undeserved and is completely without consequence. Proper course of action is to ignore it. I personally would prefer it if Sierra ignored it.
But that reaction is understandable and expected. And Sierra seems to find it difficult to ignore it.
So I'm trying to suggest a course of action that would require very little effort and that would likely reduce the amount of negativity next time this happens.
Forgive me for not being eloquent enough.
Addendum: The last sentence is not sarcastic. I'm not very good at getting my point across.
DeleteNot a problem text it the worst for conveying emotion/intent like that. Also i'm sorry for my attitude towards you. In comparison to other authors who have no set schedule, quit part way through or constantly remake their game I think Sierra is a lot more reasonable, and the baseless whining of some of the people here was irritating to say the least. Especially seeing the non-public release is normally about a month apart, public releases are a bit further but still not as excessive as some other cases and certainly not so far apart that they warrant that kind of reaction (if it had been 5-6 months with no word then maybe).
DeleteBut then again it could be that I just don't care as much as some, as long as it's a reasonable time frame (3-4 months) I really don't have a problem waiting without word. As i'm use to worse from other authors.
That's a universal problem for me, not just text.
DeleteAnd not a problem. I do not get upset, generally.
You look at this from your perspective. That won't help you understand why people do what they do, much.
It does not matter what you (or anyone) think ought to be. What matters is what is and ought not to be and how to move it from being to not being.
I personally would not even notice this whining but I am not Sierra. Telling someone not to be upset is close to useless, you can't control that. Praising someone just because they say they feel bad may be even harmful as it is a perverse incentive. So the most useful thing to do is to try to find a way not to get upset in the future in similar situation.
I know (from personal experience and observation alike) that in this kind of situation what provokes most negative reaction is not so much delay or content itself but unfulfilled expectations. So correcting those expectations ahead of time tends to mitigate the problem almost completely. Instead of promising more and coming a bit short, promise less and come a bit ahead. Reaction will be very different despite the fact that end result is the same.
And your last sentence somewhat confirms that theory for me. You have lower expectations than what Sierra fosters.
THANKS. GREAT WORK, SIERRA!! :D
ReplyDeleteCongrats for the finishing of update 29.0 (and the end of 3rd chapter). Curious, Is it the last chapter, or will there following chapters after chapter 3?
ReplyDeleteSorry for the spoiler...
DeleteBut there is (at least) 4 chapters, as this update marks the end of Chapter 3 doesn't ends the story...
Thank you for the reply Iostone2. I asked because Sierra promise to tell us about how many chapters that this story will end.
DeleteThis story is soo magnificent. It's already can be considered as a saga. A kind of Game of Throne saga. And because of it's awesomeness, I tend to forget that it's actually a hentai game (or a porn?). But it doesn't mean that the sex narrative is dull. In contrary, they are awesome and enjoyable (if you think it as a novel, not a typical Japanese H games (that has pictures).
Can I give a suggestion to Sierra that whenever the sex scene start, you change the song and the background? Not necessarily put a picture on it. Maybe a simple black screen with special song is enough, to make the sex scene more... detect-able.
But because the story (outside the sex) is already very powerful to stand as it's own, the sex scene is... actually not necessary.
Expect a full post talking about the future of TLS! It will reveal the number of chapters and lay out a roadmap from here to the end of the game.
DeleteChanging the background and music for sex scenes is a reasonable suggestion, though it would be a fair bit of work to implement right now. However, my ideal would still be to include images. The difficulty is finding the right artist.
That is an attitude I like. Legend of Queen Opala is a mess and I honestly prefer artless text to that kind of shuffle of different art styles.
DeleteBut if some images were added that were of a similar enough style even if of different artists that would've been amazing.
I think if you decide to actually do it and find an artist to comission the work you should start with relationships lock on scenes. They are the most impactful in my opinion.
@Sierra Lee : Your narrative is already excellent. It just that the sex scene start suddenly without any "warning". So sometime I feel that my mood is not ready / prepared when the sex scene start. Specially after the background music is the same as when you walk around the map. Because I'm not expecting some graphic here, then what if we do some creative solution here. Like putting fadeout event prior the sex narrative come to display and change the music with a more suitable background music that can raise the reader mood. I know a bit about RPG Maker VX/Ace so I know that it's a simple matter to do. The problem is that there are already a lot of sex scene in the game, so from simple matter, it's already become a very big project to handle now.
DeleteWell, I let you decide that, because TLS is your project. I just give a suggestion. It's okay if you don't have spare time to change the whole sex scenes in the game. Because TLS is already excellent even without all those change.
Having some consistency with the overall visual style is important to me. I've already put some work into that, and I hope to continue tweaking some of the art to make things more consistent. So as I consider artists, their ability to match what we already have (and potential other artists) will be a key factor.
DeleteAs for music, as was noted, the main issue is having to repeat it for so many different scenes. I'd also need to track down a bunch of common event calls and then change the music back to what it was before the scene, so it would end up being an extended process. I'll keep your feedback in mind, though, thanks!
Well I believe that yes, but how many chapters are missing to be released, was not confirmed by the Sierra, but considering how the story is taking place I believe that at least 3 more chapters is for sure.
ReplyDeleteI was just about to download this based on all the great feedback I've seen, but if a new version is coming public soon I'll wait for that. Can't wait to try it out!
ReplyDeleteSaves are transferable between versions and the new update doesn't change the beginning! So if you want to start in this version, you can play until the new version comes out, then just switch over to the new one without missing a thing!
DeleteThat's what I and doing now myself looking forward to more. Almost to the war against Incubus king
DeleteOh Sierra, a question. I ask this because I'm a freak story reader that enjoy your narrative. In the first party split (in chapter 2)when you have to choose between three parties, which party that I should choose first, and which party that I should choose last? (in term of story wise). I know that they are parallel. But still I want to enjoy the narrative as best as I can. Specially the continuity of the story.
ReplyDeleteRight now, I did what the walkthrough suggested. But I feel that they are not really work that way (story wise). Thanks :)
I'll butt in with this bit.
DeleteIt depends.
My opinion is thus: Aka's route is in Yhilin. So it has the most connection to previous part but you may be a bit tired of it.
Megail's route is mostly economic development but it is the most similar to the roaming you did before coming to Yhilin and after leaving it but in a new area. It ties nicely with Aka's route.
Yarra's route is tied closely to Esthera and so it has the most connection with Simon's route.
If you want a story flow as smooth as possible you should probably go with Aka-Megail-Yarra. If you like changing perspective then Aka-Yarra-Megail or Megail-Yarra-Aka would be better.
Sorry, but I don't have any official order in mind for the three routes. I tried to design them to work to some degree in any order. You'll probably get some opinions on the subject here or at the wiki, though!
DeleteYeah, I'd recommend Aka-Megail-Yarra. I personally found Megail's route a nice break from Aka's route, plus doing it in that order can possibly get you extra ProN for Megail's Route, while Yarra's route connects nicely to Simon's route.
DeleteOverall it flowed well for me in that order.
From the point of view of following the story, I'd also recommend Aka-Megail-Yarra. But if you're curious about different investment strategies or trying to minmax it's better if you left Megail's for last (as it's the part with more replayibility value). In fact I wish that I could do it after Simon's *lol*...
DeleteBTW, back in the day we had a poll regarding this question. The results can be found here.
I was looking for spoilers and clicked a certain link and...
ReplyDeleteWhat a curveball...
Don't want to give spoilers but, let's just say ProN is not Sx, is totally not that free to use.
Just a minor bug: Playing 0.29.1 version with Dominated-Varia, I still have the Eustrin Steel in the Key Items' section. Sorry for the late warning but I forgot to check it sooner.
ReplyDeleteIt should be removed if you create her weapons now, but I'm not going to retroactively remove it from those who already have. It won't do any harm.
DeleteGood to know, thanks!
DeleteWhat are the plans for the leftover flyers at the secondary house of petitions? From the wording it seems the more funds left at the end before the war the better, but the rewards are unclear, will it be satisfaction? Order? Some monetary return?
ReplyDeleteMonetary rewards, and limited. My intent is for the investments to always be a better choice than leaving the funds idle.
DeleteWhat about the cost of opportunity? For instance, would rejecting the fighting ring proposal open up the opportunity for another investment in the future? If so, leaving the funds idle could be a good deal.
DeleteDiscretionary budgets are only a thing for chapter three; in the next chapter you'll return to using ProN. Leftover percentages will be converted to ProN, but overall I mean to incentivize their use.
DeleteNot sure if that answers your question? If you mean just having money on hand for other investments, then yes, saving some could have a benefit. If you mean refusing some investments might unlock others, that's not a mechanic during this part of the game right now, anyway.
Indeed, I meant having money in hand for new investments instead of always investing everything available.
DeleteAlso, concerning the fighting ring in particular, usually investment choices are between invest or ignore, as in, when we do not want to invest in something, there is no action we need to take regarding said something. But this one has an explicit refuse option, hence I was under the impression that the action of refusing would be different from ignoring it, meaning another investment in its place afterwards.
Oh, and I did not mean the discretionary national budget, I meant our own investments at the secondary petitions house in the slums.
Deletethere will be public releases?
ReplyDeleteNext Friday
DeleteAwesome, I'm looking forward to it, I've been checking daily for updates.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI just got to the scene at the funeral, and pristess lady mentions someone who died but I completly forgot the name so can somebody tell me who it is that died? And whether that was influenced by a decision of mine?
ReplyDeleteTo avoid writing about spoilers here (seeing that there is about content not yet released publicly), see this section of the draft of the second part of the guide.
Delete> All party buffing animations improved and sped up (thanks to CyberForte!).
ReplyDeleteYes! Glory to CyberForte!
Haha, thank you, but Sierra deserves most of the glory. =P She was already working on it, I just suggested a minor improvement to the implementation. But I agree it's a great change!
DeleteBug popped up while I was replaying the game. On the three-way route split, the cache excavation investment chest appears in the palace bedroom during Megail's route. Opening it makes Simon somehow absorb power from it, even though he's busy playing Tarzan with the Empress on another continent. If it helps, I started the cache investment right at the beginning of Chapter 2, not at the first round of investment.
ReplyDelete