Starter Marriage, Phase 3.

[jwik01]

Hmm, maybe I have seen it, then.

Another mystery: whether you're still actively sleeping with Lorelei or you broke it off when started seeing Allison (or some third state I'm unaware of) must get set early on. What controls that?

[Haight]

Does anyone know if it's possible to catch Lorelei in anything other than a "dominant mood" when you do sleep with her?

[jwik01]

Hmm, maybe I have seen it, then.

Another mystery: whether you're still actively sleeping with Lorelei or you broke it off when started seeing Allison (or some third state I'm unaware of) must get set early on. What controls that?

I figured this out, I think: when Allison asks what that initial text was, you can either respond "nothing important" or "my weird ex." I mostly selected "nothing important" on the grounds that Annie isn't important to you, you're focused on women who didn't break your heart and walk out on you. But I think the story interprets saying "nothing important" as indicating that you're used to censoring the information you give Allison, ostensibly for her own peace of mind, and thus you are someone hiding an affair.

W/r/t Lorelai's moods, I have caught her in a submissive mood more often than dominant. I don't know if it's an actual coin flip, more likely there's something innocuous that is determinative. I might guess the choices in conversation with Emma, but that's just speculation.

[Daphne]

I don't know if it's an actual coin flip, more likely there's something innocuous that is determinative.

Except for a couple of very small things that don't actually influence gameplay, there are no random events; everything is determined by player choices.

[hereno]

Although man I have tried a bunch of things and not yet found a way to get Emma to respond positively to making a pass at her.

Her positive reaction is pretty subtle, and involves coffee.

Pretty sure this is:

1. Ask her about the "I've forgotten his name" guy
2. Ask her for coffee
3. Say your girlfriend can join you

[hereno]

Does anyone know if it's possible to catch Lorelei in anything other than a "dominant mood" when you do sleep with her?

Yes. I think this is related to telling her that Annie offered to be your slave (if you got that result). You might also need to talk about Allison's subbiness (with the "'my girlfriend is a nymphomaniac' doesn't elicit much sympathy" response in the Lorelai conversation).

[hereno]

I figured this out, I think: when Allison asks what that initial text was, you can either respond "nothing important" or "my weird ex." I mostly selected "nothing important" on the grounds that Annie isn't important to you, you're focused on women who didn't break your heart and walk out on you. But I think the story interprets saying "nothing important" as indicating that you're used to censoring the information you give Allison, ostensibly for her own peace of mind, and thus you are someone hiding an affair.

Ah ha! That's good to know. But the issue here (I think) is that telling Allison about Annie decreases her trust/subbiness; I don't think you can get the "full MC" outcome if you choose that option. But I guess I'll have to try it...

Daphne, if you're looking for feedback: playing detective about these options is fun, but I think a little more clarity about choices and consequences would be good. (For what it's worth, Part 3 appears to be going this direction anyway.)

[Daphne]

There's the saying that everything in a story should either reveal character or advance the plot, and the choices fall into those two categories (more or less). At the start of the story, the choices are almost all about revealing character; by the time you reach the end of "The Butterfly Effect," they're mostly about advancing the plot. There are some choices, of course, that are both.

[jwik01]

It remains obscure to me what pointing out the nude woman in the window to Allison, versus not, indicates either way.

I haven't been keeping notes but I know it's possible to get Annie declaring herself your slave via text and still have Allison calling herself your slave, in time for you to text Annie about going to fuck your other slave, at the close of Part 3. I guess it may affect the differences between "sex-slave" and "fuck-doll" and I think I saw a third construction once that seemed equivalent to "fuck-doll."

Speaking of the end of part three, I was gratified to have a path to determining what Allison was saying "if you wish" about to Dante, which is a mystery that's been needling the back of my head since part two came out. In general I give the whole thing seven thumbs-up, hence all my posting here about it. The closest thing to a bumpy part that I've encountered, in playing through it dozens of times, is that you're fairly often left without an option to decline Renee's blowjob even in circumstances that would seem to me to permit it, and the conversation with Renee and Dante where "you begin to feel the conversation getting away from you" (or similar phrasing) sometimes feels like it's got an abrupt topic shift or non sequitur in it. That's literally the only place in the whole body of it where the text doesn't flow well regardless of your choices. The drive home with Allison is full of bits that could have been dicey in that way which are elegantly stitched together into an organic whole.

[jwik01]

Although man I have tried a bunch of things and not yet found a way to get Emma to respond positively to making a pass at her.

Her positive reaction is pretty subtle, and involves coffee.

Pretty sure this is:

1. Ask her about the "I've forgotten his name" guy
2. Ask her for coffee
3. Say your girlfriend can join you

Yeah, it's subtle enough that I didn't really register it as anything beyond banal work conversation, though on my most recent run through I noticed that Allison seems to flirt with the idea of a threesome when you mention meeting Emma for coffee, in the car, which if I triggered it before I hadn't noticed.

[Daphne]

the conversation with Renee and Dante where "you begin to feel the conversation getting away from you" (or similar phrasing) sometimes feels like it's got an abrupt topic shift or non sequitur in it.

Thank you for the kind words! This was intended to be as surprising to the protag as it was to the player, without saying that it was implemented perfectly.

[jwik01]

I get that, yeah. It may be a limitation of the format. When you, and by you I mean me, when you know roughly how the text is assembled out of fragments, it's easy to see a seam and think 'this seam is a (v small) error' rather than 'this seam is as intended,' the latter of which would be my reaction if I encountered it within a more traditional presentation. It makes sense knowing the context (the convo between Dante and Allison that you walk in on).

[hereno]

It remains obscure to me what pointing out the nude woman in the window to Allison, versus not, indicates either way.

I think it's a matter of the "dream" sequence. The "woman in the window" is the large-breasted blonde, the "bride." She only shows in the dream if you point the "woman in the window" out to Allison.

[hereno]

Oh... how do "Save" and "Restore" work? I thought they would take me back to an old playthrough after I restarted, but they don't appear to be doing that.

[jwik01]

Huh! Even with three parts, the story is still short enough that despite playing through it I don't know how many dozen times looking for variations, I haven't tried saving and restoring at all.