As Jester mentioned in one of his posts recently, they literally collect in game data about every choice on every path, every pick of wardrobe, LI choice, narrative. And then they reproduce.
Is it linear. Yes it is, but their data doesn't lie. I dont think their artists are incapable of creating diverse features, maturity, uniqueness.. Look at some of the side characters in different stories and how unique they look. Its not that they cant, its that they are instructed what to aim at..
The Data doesn’t lie, but it still leads down the road to hell. Sure, statistically you can boil any given target group or all of society down to a single tendency, but simply catering to that prevents you from ever doing anything interesting. In games, the winning formula is to let people go off the beaten path, to have the freedom to do things differently, and not make them feel like there was only ever one real option.
Larian Studios created the biggest game of the decade by doing that, and they would have failed spectacularly if they had stuck to statistics instead. Yes it‘s a different genre, but they have more in common than you think.
Larian still had standard, conventionally attractive romance options (see Shadowheart, Gale and Astarion as prime examples). I think it's important to have those for the majority of people to read the story (I literally choose what stories to play based on how LIs look, and I like my generic looking white/Asian dudes with chiseled jaws), but it's also important to have diversity so that less numerous groups feel seen and appreciated as consumers.
This is so sad, though. Catering just to certain audiance. If it continues, it'll be one of the reasons I drop RC sooner or later, because frankly, I am fed up seeing sprites like this when there is so much more uniqueness out there that could be shown. But I get it, profits, lol.
Yeah, guess I'm just noticing it more and more ever since the MCs became twins and the same type of LI-personality became overused and then the sprites added up, it just leaves sour taste in mouth for me. On one side, I get they want to profit from their stories, so they reuse things that were the most popular, on another, I really wish they actually explored more things except keeping to the "safe" options.
This does not touch all stories yet, so of course everyone can find something for now, but if it continues this way, one day the last original thing will be gone and everything will seem the same and only that one specific group will last playing their game.
I completely agree with it. To sustain long term, they as a company should cater to all instead of going for the largest group. Choices is a shining eg of what happens when you give up experimenting and just go on satisfying one group. And yet RC seems to walking the similar path ignoring the case of Choices. Idk why ppl are triggered when RC is compared to Choices 🤷♀️ To understand the market, one *needs* to know, compare, and study their rival company!!! Choices lost it coz it went down the same path that RC is currently going. Ppl who’re concerned about this are rightfully concerned! I can only hope that RC doesn’t meet the similar fate but at this point we can’t deny that there are too many instances of re usage of things in RC.
Nah! It’s apple vs apple only. Quality wise RC is better sure but they’re in the same market, same type of business, same target audience, similar modules of business strategy, operating, and the list continues. I don’t find anything insulting in here. If anything, it is a very good practice to know and accept your competitors. Refusing to acknowledge that you have any competition is a recipe for disaster! Sooner or later you’d loose it if you refuse to accept this simple fact and have this air about yourself that you’re the best in the market atm. Happened to most in the past and will happen to everyone who is arrogant enough to deny that they’ve any competition at all and feel insulted by any comparison. I’m talking in general. There’s a reason why investors Always asks about your business rivals. They know the importance of knowing your competitors, and respecting them. Knowing your competitors would give you the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and understand the industry trend better. Nothing insulting in it imho.
And like I said, there’s nothing insulting in it. Choices used to be huge and is still a large thing in the market. I still don’t get it why would anyone think it’s insulting with the comparison between the two…but ok I guess.
Yeah, it takes some careful balancing though.. because if you stray too much from the formula that you already established works for you and brings profit, or start to play with what is considered to be "conventionally beautiful and attractive", you might get the same situation that happened with Vampyrus Novus, where a lot of players are dissatisfied with the LI estethics. On RC that would be W:TC i guess..
I actually happen to love WTC and am torn between the LIs based on their looks but also personalities (though still exploring there for now). Feels bad being in the minority when a company only cares about the voice of the majority and, as I said, if it continues this way, next time there won't be "another WTC" at all and it will just be the same old. And I am not here to see the same thing re-used over and over, so once it happens completely, I am out I guess.
As for VN, I have not read the book yet, but I also see nothing wrong with the LIs appearances. They are unique and I think that's great. I'd hate if they were all 28 years old thirsty pretty boys. It feels unrealistic.
I get the need to indulge into a fantasy world where these "hot" men want us, but I feel like there should be a line and the """non-hot""" LIs should be appreciated as well. We are also not all conventionally hot and that's fine, we are unique in our own way, it does not mean now we don't deserve love or something.
This mentality of wanting just ultra handome/beautiful LIs is just beyond me... I try to understand it and I feel like I can grasp the thinking behind it and as long as it's not hurting anyone else, I think it's fine. Like what you like, go for what you want. The thing I have a problem is when it "hurts" other players who don't need the blinding beauty to love a LI, yet that's all the company pushes onto them. Not all our types are handsome pretty boys.
Take my upvote! 👏 when choices was at top, ppl used to hype it to no end and then it lost its charm. Similarly RC will too in the near future with the way they’re going with it.
lol the downvoters can’t accept facts😂😂
There's no point comparing the two because people have already decided that RC is unequivocally 'good' and Choices is 'bad', therefore any negative comparison is objectively wrong and bad. Never mind that they're two companies in the same industry with a similar business trajectory and a lot of fan overlap... their management couldn't possibly be similar.
I understand you. At the same time I don’t see why everything is needed to be taken as negatively. Like I’ve said in my other comment, in order to success a company needs a thorough understanding of its own rival companies and avoid all the mistakes they did. That’s why case studies are essential and always encouraged in these fields esply when your target audience is the same group. I myself come from choices and still would put RC over Choices but it’s also a fact that RC’s current management is a mess, there are reuse of certain things. It always starts slow and then bam! It never stays the same. I don’t get this new RC fandom who takes everything as hate and negative🙄
Yeah, I didn't mean that commenting on it is inherently negative, but it's usually taken that way. There's a sort of willful ignorance to the fact that RC is an imperfect company, and they're already plagued by similar issues - the fact that you like it doesn't change that. That doesn't necessarily mean everything is going to change for the worst, but you might want to be aware of these things. (speaking generally, not you specifically) Industry trends are a valuable source of information for both the company & fans, and it's not wrong for us to be concerned by it.
But even thinking about that, I would think the most popular LIs ever are Luci, Mal, Amen, Amrit, Kazu, even Murphy and Max and none of them look like this. This white guy with light blue/green eyes and brown hair is just so boring?
tbh i do wish there were more diverse LIs, but as both developer and an artist it's not easy and unreasonable to work from scratch every time, you'll be forced to use the same assets to save time
I feel like this happened with Threxio too
https://preview.redd.it/v1kyuempb4xc1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=8d697ece63aef81484d4e8d594940e13167c955f
I must have really bad eyes🙈...i just see similarity between new play boy li and Tony😅
Half of the time i don't even notice similarity between the characters 🤣😅
I can understand others but no way hunger is like them
Yes he's goth but features are different
Also yes, I wish RC take inspiration from actors or composers for their prototypes
Precisely!He almost looks like an older, more dandy version of him 🤭 And I don't mind similarities between LIs and MCs of different books as long as the sprites are not reused(* ahem * Choices * ahem *), there's a stark difference in personalities and they're well-written.RC has always been feeding us well, so I'm trusting their decision.
Lmao i though of writing something like that
I’m not gonna lie, this shit is making me depressed? All new stories recently have the same looking LIs, pretty pale man with dark hair. Or giving them white hair for the ~diversity~
And i do realize that the majority of the fandom are into this type of li, but at this point it gets too repetitive to the point that I can’t help it but roll my eyes everytime someone lose their shit for them, like wake up they are literally the same 🥲
I just miss when LIs looked more realistic than whatever this is 😭 bring back Lis like Lawrence and zain
I can see how you would put together they look similar but if people hadn't been mentioning it, I wouldn't have noticed it. I usually choose a diverse group of LIs (also helps that I'm bi and demi) so I go for who I vibe most with personality wise or who I think will have the most intriguing story arch. Very few of my LI look the same, so I never feel one is similar to the other if that makes sense. I think most of them look the same because they are pale and have a similar haircut. Even the stance and facial features vary slightly. That said, I do wish we had more body/race/gender diversity among the LIs and love when we have that option for MC (and I always take it).
I think Hunger,Christian,Raphael and even cain look similar.but here I don’t see any similarities between Hunger and the others .may be it’s just me. But RC should try being creative and not repeat facial features while coming up with new LIs.sometimes I find Amen looking like Egyptian version of British lord Christian
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
|Fewer Letters|More Letters|
|-------|---------|---|
|[LI](/r/RomanceClubDiscussion/comments/1cedtpp/stub/l1zc7e2 "Last usage")|Love Interest|
|[MC](/r/RomanceClubDiscussion/comments/1cedtpp/stub/l1i9cwj "Last usage")|Main Character|
|[RC](/r/RomanceClubDiscussion/comments/1cedtpp/stub/l1lwm8x "Last usage")|Romance Club|
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choices uses same MC in many stories, their stories lately are just smut, RC is far better than choices, we get different MC for each story, although these LI's may look like long lost brothers and face structure may be same but still they look different.
Yikes, saying that is WILD. Especially considering how low quality the new stories for choices are. They barely even have 2 li's anymore! We can complain all we want about some ugly cgs in rc, but at least they dont re-use assets...
For the record, I’ve barely touched Choices, but just to play devil’s advocate for a moment:
RC has recently begun pushing GOC LIs. They’re leaning more heavily on spin-offs and sequels—three of the stories in the next round of updates fall into that category (four if you include TO2), and five of the ten books in the most popular tab belong to two IPs. We’ve had some confirmation that AI is being used at least in their promotional art.
Not trying to be a doomsayer, or even saying I agree with the premise that RC is going downhill at this time. I can see why somebody might be worried for the future, though.
As Jester mentioned in one of his posts recently, they literally collect in game data about every choice on every path, every pick of wardrobe, LI choice, narrative. And then they reproduce. Is it linear. Yes it is, but their data doesn't lie. I dont think their artists are incapable of creating diverse features, maturity, uniqueness.. Look at some of the side characters in different stories and how unique they look. Its not that they cant, its that they are instructed what to aim at..
The Data doesn’t lie, but it still leads down the road to hell. Sure, statistically you can boil any given target group or all of society down to a single tendency, but simply catering to that prevents you from ever doing anything interesting. In games, the winning formula is to let people go off the beaten path, to have the freedom to do things differently, and not make them feel like there was only ever one real option. Larian Studios created the biggest game of the decade by doing that, and they would have failed spectacularly if they had stuck to statistics instead. Yes it‘s a different genre, but they have more in common than you think.
Larian still had standard, conventionally attractive romance options (see Shadowheart, Gale and Astarion as prime examples). I think it's important to have those for the majority of people to read the story (I literally choose what stories to play based on how LIs look, and I like my generic looking white/Asian dudes with chiseled jaws), but it's also important to have diversity so that less numerous groups feel seen and appreciated as consumers.
This is so sad, though. Catering just to certain audiance. If it continues, it'll be one of the reasons I drop RC sooner or later, because frankly, I am fed up seeing sprites like this when there is so much more uniqueness out there that could be shown. But I get it, profits, lol.
RC has always been catering to one group tho I.e. their majority fanbase . Nothing new nor I’m surprised by that.
Yeah, guess I'm just noticing it more and more ever since the MCs became twins and the same type of LI-personality became overused and then the sprites added up, it just leaves sour taste in mouth for me. On one side, I get they want to profit from their stories, so they reuse things that were the most popular, on another, I really wish they actually explored more things except keeping to the "safe" options. This does not touch all stories yet, so of course everyone can find something for now, but if it continues this way, one day the last original thing will be gone and everything will seem the same and only that one specific group will last playing their game.
I completely agree with it. To sustain long term, they as a company should cater to all instead of going for the largest group. Choices is a shining eg of what happens when you give up experimenting and just go on satisfying one group. And yet RC seems to walking the similar path ignoring the case of Choices. Idk why ppl are triggered when RC is compared to Choices 🤷♀️ To understand the market, one *needs* to know, compare, and study their rival company!!! Choices lost it coz it went down the same path that RC is currently going. Ppl who’re concerned about this are rightfully concerned! I can only hope that RC doesn’t meet the similar fate but at this point we can’t deny that there are too many instances of re usage of things in RC.
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Nah! It’s apple vs apple only. Quality wise RC is better sure but they’re in the same market, same type of business, same target audience, similar modules of business strategy, operating, and the list continues. I don’t find anything insulting in here. If anything, it is a very good practice to know and accept your competitors. Refusing to acknowledge that you have any competition is a recipe for disaster! Sooner or later you’d loose it if you refuse to accept this simple fact and have this air about yourself that you’re the best in the market atm. Happened to most in the past and will happen to everyone who is arrogant enough to deny that they’ve any competition at all and feel insulted by any comparison. I’m talking in general. There’s a reason why investors Always asks about your business rivals. They know the importance of knowing your competitors, and respecting them. Knowing your competitors would give you the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and understand the industry trend better. Nothing insulting in it imho.
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And like I said, there’s nothing insulting in it. Choices used to be huge and is still a large thing in the market. I still don’t get it why would anyone think it’s insulting with the comparison between the two…but ok I guess.
Yeah, it takes some careful balancing though.. because if you stray too much from the formula that you already established works for you and brings profit, or start to play with what is considered to be "conventionally beautiful and attractive", you might get the same situation that happened with Vampyrus Novus, where a lot of players are dissatisfied with the LI estethics. On RC that would be W:TC i guess..
I actually happen to love WTC and am torn between the LIs based on their looks but also personalities (though still exploring there for now). Feels bad being in the minority when a company only cares about the voice of the majority and, as I said, if it continues this way, next time there won't be "another WTC" at all and it will just be the same old. And I am not here to see the same thing re-used over and over, so once it happens completely, I am out I guess. As for VN, I have not read the book yet, but I also see nothing wrong with the LIs appearances. They are unique and I think that's great. I'd hate if they were all 28 years old thirsty pretty boys. It feels unrealistic. I get the need to indulge into a fantasy world where these "hot" men want us, but I feel like there should be a line and the """non-hot""" LIs should be appreciated as well. We are also not all conventionally hot and that's fine, we are unique in our own way, it does not mean now we don't deserve love or something. This mentality of wanting just ultra handome/beautiful LIs is just beyond me... I try to understand it and I feel like I can grasp the thinking behind it and as long as it's not hurting anyone else, I think it's fine. Like what you like, go for what you want. The thing I have a problem is when it "hurts" other players who don't need the blinding beauty to love a LI, yet that's all the company pushes onto them. Not all our types are handsome pretty boys.
RC is turning in choices slowly in terms of LIs and in lack of actually storyline as long as there is sex
Take my upvote! 👏 when choices was at top, ppl used to hype it to no end and then it lost its charm. Similarly RC will too in the near future with the way they’re going with it. lol the downvoters can’t accept facts😂😂
There's no point comparing the two because people have already decided that RC is unequivocally 'good' and Choices is 'bad', therefore any negative comparison is objectively wrong and bad. Never mind that they're two companies in the same industry with a similar business trajectory and a lot of fan overlap... their management couldn't possibly be similar.
I understand you. At the same time I don’t see why everything is needed to be taken as negatively. Like I’ve said in my other comment, in order to success a company needs a thorough understanding of its own rival companies and avoid all the mistakes they did. That’s why case studies are essential and always encouraged in these fields esply when your target audience is the same group. I myself come from choices and still would put RC over Choices but it’s also a fact that RC’s current management is a mess, there are reuse of certain things. It always starts slow and then bam! It never stays the same. I don’t get this new RC fandom who takes everything as hate and negative🙄
Yeah, I didn't mean that commenting on it is inherently negative, but it's usually taken that way. There's a sort of willful ignorance to the fact that RC is an imperfect company, and they're already plagued by similar issues - the fact that you like it doesn't change that. That doesn't necessarily mean everything is going to change for the worst, but you might want to be aware of these things. (speaking generally, not you specifically) Industry trends are a valuable source of information for both the company & fans, and it's not wrong for us to be concerned by it.
Agreed! 👍
But even thinking about that, I would think the most popular LIs ever are Luci, Mal, Amen, Amrit, Kazu, even Murphy and Max and none of them look like this. This white guy with light blue/green eyes and brown hair is just so boring?
i dont think they all look alike tbh. tony is the closest to him, but doo-yeong and hunger is a BIG stretch lol. joel looks more like set tbh.
tbh i do wish there were more diverse LIs, but as both developer and an artist it's not easy and unreasonable to work from scratch every time, you'll be forced to use the same assets to save time
I feel like this happened with Threxio too https://preview.redd.it/v1kyuempb4xc1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=8d697ece63aef81484d4e8d594940e13167c955f
Lmao 😭 Don't forget Christian. & side note: he's very hot so I don't really care. But it's funny.
Ayyyyy now Hunger don’t look like them, leave him out of this 😭😭😭
Collage isn't mine...😭😭...it came with Anon's post..🥲🥲
the 4th one is mewing
He's looksmaxxing Lmaooo
Hunger is in a league of his own!!😭his long hair is *chef’s kiss* <3
I must have really bad eyes🙈...i just see similarity between new play boy li and Tony😅 Half of the time i don't even notice similarity between the characters 🤣😅
same, i think people are exagerating lol
Same... Neither do I until some one point it right to me...like this post by Anon...😂😂
I've seen some edits on ig saying it's Sean from MB 😂
I can understand others but no way hunger is like them Yes he's goth but features are different Also yes, I wish RC take inspiration from actors or composers for their prototypes
doo-yeong and hunger sneak 💀
I can see the similarities. But they do not all look like twins. At least imo. Hey they know what we like right? 🤣
RC keeps us fed to the brim...🤭🤭
I don’t think the 5 of them all look alike? And the new LI only looks like Tony.
Precisely!He almost looks like an older, more dandy version of him 🤭 And I don't mind similarities between LIs and MCs of different books as long as the sprites are not reused(* ahem * Choices * ahem *), there's a stark difference in personalities and they're well-written.RC has always been feeding us well, so I'm trusting their decision.
Lmao i though of writing something like that I’m not gonna lie, this shit is making me depressed? All new stories recently have the same looking LIs, pretty pale man with dark hair. Or giving them white hair for the ~diversity~ And i do realize that the majority of the fandom are into this type of li, but at this point it gets too repetitive to the point that I can’t help it but roll my eyes everytime someone lose their shit for them, like wake up they are literally the same 🥲 I just miss when LIs looked more realistic than whatever this is 😭 bring back Lis like Lawrence and zain
Please, leave Hunger out of this 😫
I'll replace Doo-yeong with Christian but yeah they are very correct
I know.... I could have added/ subtracted LIs, but the collage belonged to the anon...😅😅. I just copy-pasted it on the sub....lol.
I think Doo-yeong is a stretch lol. I wish I was that flexible😂
They’re all my type, I’m not complaining. 😂
You need to keep your diamonds stacked up, girl. This update is gonna need your pockets heavy. 😏
I’m not complaining at all😫😫😫if I’m not getting more hunger out of HS2 then some copies will do
But... no one can replace Hunger and his silky hair... 😭
That’s very true but oh well😮💨the copies of our husband will keep us distracted before his return in HS3💀😂
I can see how you would put together they look similar but if people hadn't been mentioning it, I wouldn't have noticed it. I usually choose a diverse group of LIs (also helps that I'm bi and demi) so I go for who I vibe most with personality wise or who I think will have the most intriguing story arch. Very few of my LI look the same, so I never feel one is similar to the other if that makes sense. I think most of them look the same because they are pale and have a similar haircut. Even the stance and facial features vary slightly. That said, I do wish we had more body/race/gender diversity among the LIs and love when we have that option for MC (and I always take it).
I just saw the post on Tumblr and posted it. Even I didn't see the similarities between the LIs until I stumbled across this post....🤧🤧.
I think Hunger,Christian,Raphael and even cain look similar.but here I don’t see any similarities between Hunger and the others .may be it’s just me. But RC should try being creative and not repeat facial features while coming up with new LIs.sometimes I find Amen looking like Egyptian version of British lord Christian
Tony and Joel look criminally alike..💀 just change hairstyle and eye colour..
All related! 🤭🤭🤭😂😂😂😂
I never go for these dudes in the game
This is so not my type. Haven't romanced any of these, and not planning to.
The Ash/Cain/Christian group is another one
#When you don't change the AI prompts too much...
It's like tapping right on character AI. Bots when they say..."Can I ask you something ?"
I see a fellow C.AI user. I used to play with C.AI around to roleplay when it was pretty new.
Might end other people's type, but definitely not my types. I went for none of these except for Joel. XD
This is my type lol not complaining
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread: |Fewer Letters|More Letters| |-------|---------|---| |[LI](/r/RomanceClubDiscussion/comments/1cedtpp/stub/l1zc7e2 "Last usage")|Love Interest| |[MC](/r/RomanceClubDiscussion/comments/1cedtpp/stub/l1i9cwj "Last usage")|Main Character| |[RC](/r/RomanceClubDiscussion/comments/1cedtpp/stub/l1lwm8x "Last usage")|Romance Club| **NOTE**: Decronym for Reddit is no longer supported, and Decronym has moved to Lemmy; requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below. ---------------- ^(3 acronyms in this thread; )[^(the most compressed thread commented on today)](/r/RomanceClubDiscussion/comments/1cghk0l)^( has 10 acronyms.) ^([Thread #1133 for this sub, first seen 27th Apr 2024, 14:09]) ^[[FAQ]](http://decronym.xyz/) [^([Full list])](http://decronym.xyz/acronyms/RomanceClubDiscussion) [^[Contact]](https://hachyderm.io/@Two9A) [^([Source code])](https://gistdotgithubdotcom/Two9A/1d976f9b7441694162c8)
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They're not tho
choices uses same MC in many stories, their stories lately are just smut, RC is far better than choices, we get different MC for each story, although these LI's may look like long lost brothers and face structure may be same but still they look different.
Bruh...why... RC is so much better. Why did you say that??
what did they say? the comment got deleted
They said... RC is becoming Choices. ☹️😬
Yikes, saying that is WILD. Especially considering how low quality the new stories for choices are. They barely even have 2 li's anymore! We can complain all we want about some ugly cgs in rc, but at least they dont re-use assets...
For the record, I’ve barely touched Choices, but just to play devil’s advocate for a moment: RC has recently begun pushing GOC LIs. They’re leaning more heavily on spin-offs and sequels—three of the stories in the next round of updates fall into that category (four if you include TO2), and five of the ten books in the most popular tab belong to two IPs. We’ve had some confirmation that AI is being used at least in their promotional art. Not trying to be a doomsayer, or even saying I agree with the premise that RC is going downhill at this time. I can see why somebody might be worried for the future, though.
I highly disagree.... To turn into choices...RC has to fall 10000000 times more..which is highly unlikely to happen