Scene Variations and Opportunity Cost

[Bookman]

First of all, since trying this game I am so hooked. Its complexity and level of polish show the time and effort that went into making it, and it's such a joy to play.

Now, my question has to do with Alicia's scenes and the various chambers she can unlock. You have a lot of choices to mess with Aura, and the order in which you unlock them clearly matters for progression. The choice of which bodypart and fetish to select among her Interests, which come with the hint that 'scenes will change' as a result, got me thinking how many variants do scenes have based on their combinations (4x4 = 16, per scene? or quite a few less, because some are minor or don't change much at all)? Or, how might the scenes change based on which NPC you approach first / Aura's corruption and Lewdness values rising, if that is a thing? How much experimenting it would take, to experience every scene's every variant, to truly appreciate how much the game offers?

Related to that, is there a scene gallery anywhere in this game, maybe near the end (of the demo or the game proper)? I haven't seen it beside the Options, of course, while the Compendium tracks your statistics but doesn't hint at any scenes. Having a gallery would be awesome for checking how much you still have to unlock/discover, and for returning to scenes after you've unlocked them across different playthroughs (as with the two Interest choices above, since you can pick only one out of every four, you get a handful of scenes per playthrough and have to return for the others).

I'm guessing a guide will eventually pop up and answer these (as well as perhaps explaining some of the more mysterious game mechanics), but I figured, why not put the questions forward and see who might share their knowledge? Hence this topic.

Thanks in advance to anyone who reads my wall of text and drops some juicy info to sate this humble pervert's curiosity.

[TentacleMayor]

There is a gallery, available just past the intro when you collect the Clear Gem from the shrine and use it from the inventory.

There is no up-to-date guide, and it doesn't help that most guides so far have been attempts to handhold the player every step through this complex game that still in development, so every little balance change can kinda break them. My advice is whenever you get stuck - which is likely to happen as some quest objectives are not well explained - to check the wiki.

https://wiki.starknightessaura.com/en/Quests

[Maligner]

There is a guide that got some updates but as TentacleMayor said it's likely not completely accurate due to the constant updates to the game.

With a few restarts of the game over a couple years under my belt, I would say that just playing the game is fine. Trying to get perfect endings will most likely require a precise disciplined play-through so I wouldn't try that until after final release and a good amount of time for bug fixes and other game mechanic changes. Just play and have fun. It's a good idea to make permanent saves at intervals if you are willing to roll back to prior saves because then you can experiment with a few choices.

[Bookman]

Thank you both for the replies, Tentacle Mayor and Maligner. ^_^

The wiki definitely helps, and I do make saves at the start of every day, in case I want to do things differently (even as Alicia), so that suits me just fine.

And yeah, this game is a loooot bigger than I imagined when merely launching the demo. So there's a lot for me to explore. But even knowing that the wiki points me in certain directions - that there are entire areas I haven't checked out, full of loot and opportunities to progress - makes the game more enjoyable already.

That said, I am a pretty disciplined player (and a completionist at heart, too) so testing how far I can go under self-imposed rules (like, how many changes can Alicia make to Aura without jeopardizing her identity or her relationships with Rose and George?) is a lot of fun while also helping me understand the game better.

[NemesisofdaCancelPigs]

im always full corruption, didnt even know there was another option. how interesting. is the demo on steam the same as the itch 'demo'?

[Napalm]

Originally posted by NemesisofdaCancelPigs:

im always full corruption, didnt even know there was another option. how interesting. is the demo on steam the same as the itch 'demo'?

Not even close, Steam demo has lewd content removed

[Bookman]

I had a feeling some content was missing when stat gains indicated something lewd was going on, but no corresponding scene or visual followed.

I'm patiently, though eagerly, awaiting the full version following the demo, while experimenting in game with different skills and approaches to battles. It's fun enough already but the lewd content is definitely a part of its appeal.

[Najak]

Originally posted by Napalm:

Originally posted by NemesisofdaCancelPigs:

im always full corruption, didnt even know there was another option. how interesting. is the demo on steam the same as the itch 'demo'?

Not even close, Steam demo has lewd content removed

is it the same for the steam non demo?

[Maligner]

Originally posted by Najak:

Originally posted by Napalm:

Not even close, Steam demo has lewd content removed

is it the same for the steam non demo?

Game comes censored so that there was no chance Steam would not approve the product for sale. Steam patch restores to non-censored status. https://aura-dev.itch.io/star-knightess-aura-patch