Wolf Hall - Development Testing Thread

[cheshjabber]

From what we see of Angela, we already know that she's abusive in non-romantic relationships (hello, Initiation week and bullying!), and her little scene with William ("after the way you treated me") raises red flags, yeah.

But I already romance Damien, he of the master class in abuse and predatory behavior... It's something I do enjoy in games, when it's done well, and abusive behavior isn't whitewashed, but I - through the MC - can get to safely choose how to fight back, engage, and be affected or not. It's not necessarily safe for the MC, but I like RPing characters who are disasters, and I also like the power fantasy aspect of being able to "beat" the abuser at their own game. Something that's not exactly doable IRL.

Again, I'm not trying to speak about abusive characters in games in broad strokes - Damien's route in Horse Hall is the one I enjoy the most, and there are plenty of other games and characters where I can enjoy that kind of thing too! It's just that Angela specifically reminds me too closely of numerous specific people who hurt me, my friends, or both, and I personally would not be comfortable with a side romance route existing for her. Which, again, is entirely due to my own personal experiences with specific personalities/behaviors that are very similar to Angela specifically.

I was just trying to articulate my own opinion on and feelings about one specific character being a side romance option, not say anything broader or more generalized than that! I apologize again for not being as clear as I should have been.

[Lucy]

I can see Jacob and a scheming MC working well together, in a 'let's rule the world together' kind of way. Especially with them both being from important magical families -- I hope that MC's background would come up in this route. He's definitely the most interesting to me!

I'd generally like some male love interests who are closer to MCs age than Damien and William. Logan seems like a cool guy as well, it'd be fun to get to know him better. Corrinna is gorgeous but I haven't really felt a strong connection to her in the game yet. I'd be interested in seeing more of her, though!

Angela is just mean IMO, and I'm not into that. We already had a side romance with Big Steve in Horse Hall so I'd rather explore a new character.

Balthasar would be *hilarious*. This game needs more plant-related dialogue.

[phoenixgirl]

Not sure if this has been reported but if you cast "Blast" on the abyss for the third exam, I get an exception error. Also, is there a way to beat the third exam on a red magic run?

[hanako]

Yes, and it does NOT involve the rune circle. Think about other ways to get through to the other side of a barrier. What would Red Magic lend itself to?

(If you have a HUGE amount of red magic there's yet another way but that's less likely.)

[perts]

I like Angela because she's mean and I like female characters that get to be assholes but not villains since they're so rare to see. But I'd rather have another male romance option for the MC just to even it out. Between Logan and Jacob, Logan seems the more interesting of the two although Jacob is better developed. But the side route in the last game was pretty comedic so maybe Balthazar would be a good fit lol.

Replayed a bit of the last game and I forgot how perfect Ellen's route is. It's gonna be cool to see how different it is with the nonwildseed MC, though her and horse!mcs relationship was so lovely it's a bit bittersweet for me that that obviously won't happen here. It's cool to see the hints we get of Barbara there as well - the whole ninja fire plotline felt much less bizarre now we know her, and i lol'd when someone asked horse!mc how she feels about her other classmates and she says 'i know barbara sharpens her teeth with knives'

[phoenixgirl]

Yes, and it does NOT involve the rune circle. Think about other ways to get through to the other side of a barrier. What would Red Magic lend itself to?

(If you have a HUGE amount of red magic there's yet another way but that's less likely.)

Ok, I think I'm going to need a bit more help. Well, out of all the red magic spells, the latest one I learned was freeze although I doubt it would be useful for the third exam. I assume that blast would help but all it does is produce a pile of rocks. I tried to push them down the abyss but then abyss ends up still being there. Is blast the right spell but I'm just not using it on the correct wall?

[MillaMaxwell]

I'm sad to hear that Blaise isn't a romance option, since I love that there's a nonbinary character in Magical Diary and the fact that e's so fun to hang out with just makes er so great. Now I'm super excited to play Butterfly Hall years from now!

As for the options who have been mentioned as possibilities, here are my opinions:

Logan - I would like to get to know him better. Luke talks a bunch about how different they are, but I feel like I don't know Logan enough to really see the differences beyond what Luke talks about. I've been really enjoying the scenes where Gary Stu is just hanging out with the twins and Donald, so more scenes with Logan would be great!
Jacob - As others have said, it would be fun if he was a snob and then got shocked by realizing who Gary Stu really is. It would also be interesting to see how befriending and romancing him changes the Student Council dynamic.
Angela - Not really interested... She's a bully and seems potentially emotionally abusive and I don't like that sort of thing unless it's done really well, like Damien's routes. I don't know that there would be time for that kind of development in a side romance. I could see Hanako pulling it off, but either way, Angela wouldn't be my first choice.
Corrinna - I haven't really seen enough of her to have much of an opinion. She seems nice? There are more interesting options though, at least in my opinion...
Big Steve - Not really interested in him either. I didn't really care much either way about his route in Horse Hall, so I'd much rather get to know someone new this game.
Kyo - Please no. He's a creepy stalker who does not seem to have any redeeming features at all. Trying to distract him from Minnie could be okay, but that overlaps way too much with Damien's route.
Balthasar - I love the ideas everyone has presented about plant jokes and bonding over a shared nature affinity. Balthasar seems like a rare character who could work as either a joke character or a serious one. So much potential!
Laurel - I kind of like the idea of a complete mystery character, haha! (Unless Laurel actually showed up in Horse Hall and I just forgot, in which she's not so mysterious after all.)

[hanako]

Yes, and it does NOT involve the rune circle. Think about other ways to get through to the other side of a barrier. What would Red Magic lend itself to?

(If you have a HUGE amount of red magic there's yet another way but that's less likely.)

Ok, I think I'm going to need a bit more help. Well, out of all the red magic spells, the latest one I learned was freeze although I doubt it would be useful for the third exam. I assume that blast would help but all it does is produce a pile of rocks. I tried to push them down the abyss but then abyss ends up still being there. Is blast the right spell but I'm just not using it on the correct wall?

Carefully examining the walls with Inspect should reveal which one has a passage beyond it. (This is not the same as being an illusion.) Knocking down a wall that has empty space beyond it will let you walk through.

[Wawawiwa]

Poor Hanako, I bet she wasn't expecting for everyone to go nuts over the idea of a romanceable Balthazar. but it does sound entertaining.
I loved reading everyone's ideas for him.


I mean, it is pretty much impossible not to wonder what the hell is going on under that cloak of his. ( maybe he's an albino and can't handle sunlight? or maybe he's just bald and suffers from your typical case of chuunibyou.... or maybe he's really just growing mushrooms in there........................or all of the aforementioned ) its easy to let your imagination run wild.
oh!..... he could be of some other than human species and preferred not to have people ask too many questions. ( he WAS seen interacting with Damien after all )
But on the downside, I really don't know what to expect of him personality wise other than.... he waters his barley with human urine.....? ( I wonder whose human urine )



Btw, God bless whoever backed the Raven, Manuel and Suki side romances, just....omigosh I could kiss you guys right on the lips
SOO SOSOSOSO excited for Raven, every scene with her is such a treat. I love her. I wanna dress her up in frilly gothic lolita dresses with ribbons and black feathers ......and black lipstick...!


not interested in Angela in any way whatsoever, ack! not even about her being "mean".
she just comes off as..........really dumb. most of the time. obsessed over an ex, easily gets drunk on power at initiation, the thing with the socks, the bitching at the boys hall...........just ....ai

[surreal_chameleon]

My thoughts about the side romance candidates:

Logan: I like him, but this is Luke's time to shine! We can play magical strip poker with Logan some other game! (Oops, did I just screw up and accidentally make the case for him?)

Jacob: A side romance with him would have some interesting effects on the Minnie storyline, but he doesn't do anything for me beyond that. The curse of being a lowercase jerk, I guess.

Angela: I'm curious about what went down with her and William, and her personality intrigues rather than repulses me. I wouldn't want to date a Mean Girl in real life, but it would be interesting to explore in a game, especially since Barbara seems to be the only other girl with any sort of edge.

Corrinna: Is she in Snake Hall because she's on the introverted side, or because she's much better at hiding her weirdness than Raven and Suki? If she's secretly weird, great! Bring it on! If she's not, well... spending moonlit nights reciting poetry with a gorgeous and seemingly gentle girl isn't a bad way to spend your time. That rule about no love poems? It's just begging to be broken.

Balthasar: I'm just not feeling the love for Plant Man. The only scenario I think I might like is if we discover that Balthasar is into plants because he's a big believer in living better through organic chemistry. I can see the dating guide now. "To put yourself on the Balthasar route, choose not to see the play, and then choose "Get high with Balthasar" when he swings by your room that night."

[ParrotWatcher]

Poor Hanako, I bet she wasn't expecting for everyone to go nuts over the idea of a romanceable Balthazar. but it does sound entertaining.
I loved reading everyone's ideas for him.


I mean, it is pretty much impossible not to wonder what the hell is going on under that cloak of his. ( maybe he's an albino and can't handle sunlight? or maybe he's just bald and suffers from your typical case of chuunibyou.... or maybe he's really just growing mushrooms in there........................or all of the aforementioned ) its easy to let your imagination run wild.
oh!..... he could be of some other than human species and preferred not to have people ask too many questions. ( he WAS seen interacting with Damien after all )
But on the downside, I really don't know what to expect of him personality wise other than.... he waters his barley with human urine.....? ( I wonder whose human urine )

Now I'm wondering if he's really just super ordinary-looking, and is wearing the hood to make himself stand out...

[phoenixgirl]

So I've gone through a couple of playthroughs now and I really like Wolf Hall so far. The MC is more likable here than in Horse Hall, but I suppose it might be because this MC has more of a background and not just a clean slate. I'm totally loving Barbara. I want to see more of her and I'm definitely going on her route once there's more.

I like how the dungeon exams are similar to the ones in Horse Hall, but the solutions aren't the same. That would totally make them too easy if that were the case.

Heh, and I'm with the others that I wish Blaise was a dateable character. I think Blaise would appeal to a lot of players. XD

Hmm, I would like to see a list of all the possible dateable characters although I'm more than happy to wait. I love what's been done so far.

[hanako]

NEW PATCH - UPDATE SUMMARY - 0.5.37


* Now use Z instead of shift-S to start skipping.

* New scenes involving the librarian character
* New dialog options involving Ellen/Damien/William
This includes a more-clear DUMP HIS ASS option for Damien at the dark dance, the ability to make it more clear to William that you are not really pursuing Damien romantically, and more nuance if you ask Ellen to the play after having confessed your tricks to her after the dark dance but still have enough points with her that she doesn't hate you.
* The scene with Kyo confronting you after you become co-president if he had talked to you about Minnie before should now show all the text.
* Typo fixes

* William sprite adjustments
* Luke sprite adjustments
* Some improvements to Raven's cape animation in the gym

* Codex entry for librarian and gym teacher should now unlock
* Red and Blue Mastery trophies should no longer crash

* Breeze correctly implemented in exam 2 - it was supposed to do something with the gas, it just wasn't working previously.
* Monster move adjustments, hopefully fixing those save bugs
* Can now Entangle over corner holes
* Blasting abysses no longer crashes
* Blasting poison gas now does something more sensible

[hanako]

So - we now have the second of our kickstarter-sponsored teachers in place.

By nature of both position and personality, the librarian is not as flashy as Professor Van Brun and does not get nearly as many scenes, at least not yet. Again, this is a new character that I'm still getting a feel for, so please let me know what you think so far so I can tell if I'm getting the right impressions across (and ask if you need help figuring out where the new bits are.)

[touchandgo]

Replaying the game with the latest update, and it doesn't seem all the sprites are in? I'm at the conversation with Luke and Donald where I lied about being from Latvia and Luke's sprite disappeared. There's a grey, anime girl silhouette with the words 'luke confused' and stuff on it instead.

Edit: It also happened again with Luke. This time, right after the end of initiation when Luke + Logan take you to the mall. This time I noticed a pop-up which said: 'Error finding Luke's sprite - Crash'. It only seems to be happening to Luke as far as I've seen, but I've uploaded the crash report.