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StrandedWithBenefits
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Cursed Affection Episode 13 - What to expect

(Very important wall of text incoming)

With Episode 12 completed we can now look towards the new update that's coming early next month. Episode 13 will mostly bring much needed story developments and answers, a lot of questions answered and clarity about the events that are taking place in the game's world. Only few questions and unknows will remain unanswered, these questions will be answered in the coming updates.

But that's not all that Episode 13 brings, we'll get two erotic events (depending on your choices). One with Hannah (if you still have her in your group) and one with both Jessica and Allison (yes, we're getting our long awaited first threesome).

As for our early built stats, we still have the "Savior" stat left to impact the story in a significant way, that will happen in Episode 14 and it's going to be a big one. I know that these stats can't all be maxed out and I also know that if during a playthrough you try to balance them out, you will miss a lot of content and fail to save any of the characters. This is by design to give more replayability value to the game, make choices matter and reward the player. Small spoiler, even if you don't meet any of the requirements to save any of the savable characters during your playthrough, you will still be rewarded at the end of the game (if none of your stats reach or surpass 5).

I said it at the very beginning that this game will not pull any punches and these stats will enforce that rule. If you're unlucky enough to lose one of your favorite characters because of these stats, consult the walkthrough, load an older save and quickly skip it until you reach the point you want to reach.

And now for the least fun part : We're reaching the endings, slowly but surely we're getting there. The game will surpass 5000 renders and animations with Episode 13, with more to come in the next ones, making it the largest and longest game yet. We're going to have a lot of endings to go through, during a playthrough we are able to rack up a lot of them if we make the right choices, and because of this, we can't have early endings like we did in previous games. Instead, there are going to be two types of endings : The story ending and the relationship/adult ending. Upon reaching the story ending, depending on your relationships and past choices you will unlock certain endings. These endings will show up in the main menu, similar to the "Replay Gallery" and once they are unlocked they can be accessed there. They will each have some story to them including an erotic scene. I feel like this is the best way to go, it would feel weird having the story end with a boom and then getting 5 endings one after the other. This feature will also allow you to clearly see missed and other possible endings. Which is why I think separating the two works best. More info on this and possible changes in future posts.

Thanks for reading all of that and thank you for your support!

Have a great weekend!

Cursed Affection Episode 13 - What to expect

Comments

Very much true as far as typical "AVN audience". If somebody wants that kind of "edgy" it's almost always a dark emotional rabbit hole, punctuated by kinks that aren't even a part of NTS/NTR tropes and leave many people emotionally drained, humiliated or anxious. And there are already hundreds of those games out there, some very well written but most just poorly so. Few impactful choices or minimal player control breeds dissatisfaction in the majority. These types of AVNs appeal to a narrow, focused group. As a dev, both past and future, I've played dozens looking for ways to hybidize the harem vs. neto content into a sexy, fun and realistic experience. And as a psychology major find that no two people are the same, but the majority want a "warm" feel at the end. Unfortunately, my degree turned out to be in economics! But I've always been a writer first. I personally lean towards making "teasing" intensely sexy without approaching the edges, and making sure the limits are clearly defined with choices and paths. And, giving the option for immediate repercussions if those limits are bypassed or broken, to varying degrees, and paths to allow another relationship to build from those ashes with someone else. Hindsight is always a wonderful teacher. Anything I have in mind now is barely started and likely a couple years out. And will probably change, minutely, hundreds of times. But as they say, if you want it done right... learn from what others did wrong LMAO!!

AbjectlyCasey

Yes, your implementation of the replay feature is among the best I've seen because they're long enough to give context *and* they have music. Some games include music. Some, in attempting to deliver context, include MANY MINUTES of game play preceding the scene. Your implementation is the right balance in my view. Yes, I blew a fuse over the stats thing but I see the reasoning. Folks are always howling about not enough replayability and choices not mattering in AVNs. And you've been working toward edgier tales for a while now. In this, Cursed succeeds. It does. The brand of edgy I want I doubt the AVN audience wants. That would involve a male MC competing for the affection of a gal, with the gal having multiple sex partners...you know...like real life. "Weak heart never won fair lady" sort of stuff. A game where the MC convincingly wins over gals and not because the writer says so and the MC has a freak of nature dick and is the only f-ckable guy in the game world. Edgy in having the MC walk in on what he thinks is his gal only to find her in bed with another guy, or maybe a gal. But something like THAT is another sort of horror scenario I very much doubt the AVN audience wants *laughs*

Jonathan Baron


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