Bonding events

[The Tempted Man]

4th game.

Did Falcom finally come o their senses and implemented a system that doesn't need multiple playthroughs?

[Mistfox]

It's too late. The "Choose your waifu" system has made it so that any relationship development Rean might have had is in permanent limbo storywise because players might not have selected the "right" waifu if they actually wrote a real GF into the story.

Not to mention stretching the credibility of our belief that everything female on 2 legs (and some on 4) wants to have his babies.

It's an old mistake, close to a decade old, which I doubt they anticipated the consequences of.

[The Tempted Man]

Originally posted by Mistfox:

It's too late. The "Choose your waifu" system has made it so that any relationship development Rean might have had is in permanent limbo storywise because players might not have selected the "right" waifu if they actually wrote a real GF into the story.

Not to mention stretching the credibility of our belief that everything female on 2 legs (and some on 4) wants to have his babies.

It's an old mistake, close to a decade old, which I doubt they anticipated the consequences of.

In CS 3 I remember they scrapped the entire system and forced Alisa down the player's throat, I also remmeber that she has the most "hot" bonding scene out of all the girls lol, she got a kiss, the rest got hand holding apart from Sara. Sara got a blush. I was wondering how is it here, considering there is normal kissing with everyone this time, from what I have seen from japanese gameplays. I doubt Rean has any personality in this game either, considering he is the same in CS3 as in previous games.

[Sephilar]

They removed that in Hajimari.

[chris100185]

Originally posted by The Tempted Man:

Originally posted by Mistfox:

It's too late. The "Choose your waifu" system has made it so that any relationship development Rean might have had is in permanent limbo storywise because players might not have selected the "right" waifu if they actually wrote a real GF into the story.

Not to mention stretching the credibility of our belief that everything female on 2 legs (and some on 4) wants to have his babies.

It's an old mistake, close to a decade old, which I doubt they anticipated the consequences of.

In CS 3 I remember they scrapped the entire system and forced Alisa down the player's throat, I also remmeber that she has the most "hot" bonding scene out of all the girls lol, she got a kiss, the rest got hand holding apart from Sara. Sara got a blush. I was wondering how is it here, considering there is normal kissing with everyone this time, from what I have seen from japanese gameplays. I doubt Rean has any personality in this game either, considering he is the same in CS3 as in previous games.

I wouldn't that was unique to CS3. Even in one and two it was clear as day that she was the intended canon choice.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Originally posted by Mistfox:

It's too late. The "Choose your waifu" system has made it so that any relationship development Rean might have had is in permanent limbo storywise because players might not have selected the "right" waifu if they actually wrote a real GF into the story.

Not to mention stretching the credibility of our belief that everything female on 2 legs (and some on 4) wants to have his babies.

It's an old mistake, close to a decade old, which I doubt they anticipated the consequences of.

Bonding events ≠ harem romance.

Bonding events - that is, optional fluff scenes - were a huge improvement to the series. One of my biggest gripe about Sky SC were the mandatory fluff scenes. After each chapter, you were forced to talk to hunt down and talk to each party member and listen to them ramble for 5-10 minutes. No Tita, I don't care about the intricacies of intertial dampening technology. Zero fixed this by making those fluff scenes optional. Ie, bonding events. That was a good addition. The problem with Cold Steel is they added an artificial limit to how many fluff scenes you can see in a single playthrough, which was bad. Hope that goes away.

As for the harem romance, it depends on the execution. I did not like the Joshua x Estelle romance in Sky. I thought it was forced and poorly developed, and did not like how they constantly waved two more sensible and satisfying ships in my face with Joshua x Kloe and Joshua x Josette. That detracted from my enjoyment of the game. Being able to pick the romance partner, on the other hand, means that the player is more likely to get a satisfying ship. So the idea is good. But Falcom poorly executed it. In CS3, your chosen ship doesn't carry from CS2 (could've at least done a Witcher thing where, at the start of the game, you could pick who he was in a relationship with in the last one), so there is a reset and it is very unnatural and everyone starts back from square one. Worse, they eliminated romance partners. Did you romance Towa in CS2? Too bad, she's out in CS3. Fortunately CS4 fixed this, but it still feels jarring.

As for how optional romance affects future arcs, that depends on how Falcom handles characters appearing in future arcs. So far, old characters have very short cameos in games past their own arc. The Brights only had 10 minutes of screentime in the Crossbell games. In CS4, the Brights and the SSS only really show up for the Pantagruel segment and the end credits. So I'm guessing that Rean will only show up for about 10 minutes in Calvard. If so, then it'd be very easy to incorporate optional love interests in. They need not even appear; they can merely be mentioned.

[qwerty]

If you want to see all events without multiple playthroughs, use Cheat Engine or something similar to get unlimited event points.

[The Tempted Man]

Originally posted by qwerty:

If you want to see all events without multiple playthroughs, use Cheat Engine or something similar to get unlimited event points.

have been doing this since CS1 :)

[Entelechia]

just get the clear save data someone uploaded and play NG+ with max bonding event option. that's one good thing you can have on pc.

though I'd say that at least in cs4 you have enough points to do all the girls' events in the first playthrough and that's probably what matters most to most people. in cs3 you still had to give up some.

[NisseDood]

Originally posted by qwerty:

If you want to see all events without multiple playthroughs, use Cheat Engine or something similar to get unlimited event points.

Or better download a clear save and activate unlimited bond point.
Because that way you also get the NG+ only stuff like dungeons and the black books that some games in the series had.
I hate forced multiple playtroughs of a game that is entirely linear and adds very little to ng+ but still have something plot important there.