Post by bitshiftgames in Cruel Serenade comments

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Thanks for the report! Let's take a look here:

-On checking, this doesn't look universal (not seeing it on my saves in those areas), which means something specific to your playthrough caused it. The question is, what in particular? I have no idea what might be triggering that, but for now I've added cleanup code to the post-battle eval so Mezz's battle sprite should be reset to normal, either clipped or not as appropriate. Will be in with a bunch of other fixes when the next release eventually happens.

-So when Mezz cums, it can either just inflict damage, or (with the mashers) push him forward to downed state (kneeling). In either case, the hypno effect should stick around until he picks himself up. Are you saying he came and knocked himself all the way back to normal, but the mist and commands from the downed state remained? I took a look at the relevant code, and did see a few things that weren't matching, so some minor tweaks have been made. Hopefully that catches the bug.

-The downed/Guuuh state is intended to simulate Mezz attempting to recover while there's a lull in the fucking. The whole idea is that the boars aren't paying close attention to him, so additional dialogue/taunts wouldn't make sense. That said, going right back into fucking if he fails say 3 times might make it more interesting/raise the stakes a little, and help with flow/speed. Will consider.

-HP in the game has to serve as a metaphor for a lot of things, because it's not worth having half a dozen gauges. Rather than strictly "health", it's more like "ability to keep fighting". It's also leveraged as a carrot and stick: you'll do what increases it, and avoid what decreases it (unless you're trying to get event CG). This fits with the overall situation, which is that the clips are "training" Mezz. As such, being good and doing as you're told is rewarded with "HP" and energy, whereas resisting costs energy. Cumming "costs" "HP" because you're supposed to prioritize the boar's pleasure over your own, and because them getting an orgasm out of you is a little defeat. Think of it like successfully landed hit.

Or maybe it makes more sense to think of the battle system as two battle systems that hand off between themselves. The first is a traditional one: both sides inflict damage, and the one that runs out of HP first loses. The second is pleasure-based: both sides inflict pleasure, and the one that runs out of "HP" first loses (note that the boars leave once they're "satisfied," and Mezz can "win" this way.) Obviously what HP is technically changes during the handoff, but you have to forgive an imperfect metaphor.

foxy-kit2 years ago

Мaybe it would be better to do a reset not after, but before the battle? As far as I can see, bugs happen when several events occur at the same time, for example, Mezz came and the boar came. Or the boar came, Mezz came and was defeated because he had low HP. Apparently at such moments the logic of the game can go wrong. The last example, all three events happened in the battle in front of the stairs, and after the scene in the toilet, I rushed to choose an answer and started the battle again. Mezz started it in a Guuuh state (as he finished the previous one, because he came first theh boar came and then Mezz defeated), but at the same time there was active a hard knock and Guuuh in the action menu.

This is of course the exception, not the rule, but it can happen.

> The whole idea is that the boars aren't paying close attention to him, so additional dialogue/taunts wouldn't make sense.

I agree, but since a lot depends on random selection, it was often took for 3-4 turns, and invisible actions when the "missed" status was displayed on each turn. Additional dialogue in this case will at least add variety until Mezz returns to normal. ;)

Regarding HP this is realy complicated question. If Mezz prioritize the boar's pleasure over he's own, then he choose "Lets it happened". The boar cums and Mezz's lust grows, leading Mezz to cum too. It turns out a contradiction. Satisfying a boar, you involuntarily enjoy yourself, but if you cums yourself, you take damage. Player unable to control it. There is no choice during the battle to please only yourself or only the boar. At the same time, resistance only wastes energy, it can miss, but does not give Mezz an advantage, except for experience in case of victory. May be add a little extra experience in case of victory after resistance, and / or change the actions of the boar after resistance during the next hypnosis (other dialogues, pictures).

These are just ideas and thoughts. ;)

bitshiftgames2 years ago

Effectively before and after battle reset are the same, as you can't start a new battle without ending the one you're in first. This bug does ring a bell though: think I might have seen it briefly, but it's one of the tricky ones because so many different conditions have to line up to trigger it. I'll do some more testing, but I THINK I have it caught at this point.

I think the mistake you're making with the HP thing is thinking it's all either one or the other, you either do the right thing and get rewarded or the wrong thing and get punished. In reality, the choices are a. do the wrong thing and get punished or b. Do the right thing and get rewarded, but also still punished (but less).

Using the resist skills is about buying time with energy. If you can get back to fighting, you can end the battle a lot faster (and with more "dignity") then if you fuck them all. Fucking your way to victory is "free", but it takes a lot longer, and raises your sex stats, which may have consequences later.

Thanks though, even if I don't use all it, I do appreciate feedback.

foxy-kit2 years ago

One more questions ;)

Flash dodge - description is Focus and escape next attack. Is it related to normal focus and recharge the energy?

Often during the second hypnosis in battle, if this happens, Mezz will have a struggle icon, although this action was not chosen. What does it mean in this case and how does it affect Mezza?

I also saw some dialogues in the resource files that I didn't see in the game (for example, the words of the boars "What's that smell?" and then two storylines) Did I miss something or are these preparations for future implementation?

bitshiftgames2 years ago

No, no relation between the moves, although I suppose that is confusing language.

The icon you actually see on Mezz isn't struggle, although it's again confusing because it's the same one used for struggle in the menu. It's a "weakened" state after he gets up that lowers his defense slightly. I'll have to change up the icons.

That boar line is in-game: it's after you encounter them again after a loss. There are unused NPCs and test stuff in there too, so that accounts for the rest of it.

foxy-kit2 years ago (2 edits)

How to get to this line and where exactly? In my opinion, I have already passed everything that is possible :) I even managed to defeat the boars on the stairs. Unfortunately it turned out to be only one rai in was really difficult. More often they won, but even then I did not see these dialogues.

And, I understand correctly that Diezel doesn't use hypnosis during the fight with Mezz?

btw, in the location in the warehouse (where the bed is), at the top left I can see a room with three boars, but they can't be reached :)

bitshiftgames2 years ago

You have to lose once to any of the regular, roaming enemies, get the scene, and then encounter one of the regular enemies again (mashers don't trigger it.)

Correct.

That's not a room, that's outside. Note the shape of the building.

foxy-kit2 years ago

I lost a couple of times to ordinary boars, not for the scene, but by accident, but nothing in the dialogues changed. They remained standard.

If we take the whole general idea of the game, and the story from FA, then Mezz is perhaps the only one who did not understand what was happening to him for a long time, although the boars know everything perfectly and treat him accordingly, and are happy to use the opportunities. But according to the dialogues of the game, such changes are visible only in the dialogue in front of the stairs in case of loss. Otherwise, the dialogues are quite diverse, but do not reflect this idea. Maybe the trigger didn't work somewhere?

bitshiftgames2 years ago

To be clear, once you lose once and see the scene, your next encounter with any of the regular enemies should trigger a one-time dialogue at the beginning of battle. I just double-checked and it is working as intended as far as I can see, so I'm not sure what could be causing your issue. If you like, you can try taking that first loss again from an older save to see if it goes through this time. There's no extra art though, it's just a bit of banter.

Not sure I fully follow you here. The trigger is obviously not full power at first, as evidenced by the move often failing in combat. Once Mezz reaches a certain point it becomes trivial to use it to disable him immediately, which is what the boars do.

itch.io

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