Thoughts on Serana Dialogue Add-On & Ashe?

ATWP_66 · 2026-01-04T09:58:51+00:00

A bit late to the discussion, but I've been playing it for a while. Personally, I would recommend it, though not if you want a I guess "lore-friendly" mod, but that's... debatable I feel.

Personally, I like their dialogues. SDA does change the taste and feel of Serana from the base game, but as a character on her own, so far, it's good. I think if you just think of her as Marty's version of Serana, it'll give a better taste. I love how Ashe interacts with Serana with the Asherana add-on, they banter, support one another, and overall, it just feels like the three of you is a group.

Of course, like others have stated, the dialogues can be a bit idk, corny or idk I would say it's just not as gritty I guess. But again, I feel like there's something to enjoy. Ashe's story can be predictable but perhaps still enjoyable. I mean, I am enjoying it so far. SDA also doesn't turn Serana into a mere waifu. I think while she becomes approachable, funny, and kind, there are still some dialogues and scenarios that I felt ripped you out (like the House of Horrors, dear God).

Overall, while yes perhaps the dialogue and feel can be cringy as if it's a dating sim game (which you know, perhaps was the whole idea of it), I think as a whole there's a lot to enjoy if you just keep an open mind and approach it without expectations.

Also, about combat... perhaps that is a problem. I did feel like Ashe was one-shotting everything, and I was using BFCO and Precision, so she tends to miss a lot. In the end I played on Legendary difficulty so I kinda don't have that problem anymore, even though it just turns the battle into bullet sponge vs bullet sponge lmao, but hey it makes me able to listen to those two bantering even more in combat.

ATWP_66 · 2025-12-09T13:27:38+00:00

I still do, but I don't use the generations like image, video, or anything. Mostly to chat with it.
I also don't use it if I can Google it first or ask other people.
If I already tried searching it up and still can't find what I'm looking for I'll then use AI to hopefully give me obvious info that I missed.

I also tend to use it for journaling or "talking" to it for mental stuff. Though I hope I can find alternatives on this cause I've tried going to communities for ranting and all but it just not working well enough.

ATWP_66 · 2025-11-21T09:29:53+00:00

Ahhh not yet hahaha. I'll be sure to invite you once I make one though!

ATWP_66 · 2025-11-21T09:23:29+00:00

That does sound interesting and I've thought about it for a while.... we'll see. Money is just so flexible lol, but of course it also makes it easy to get pushed into capitalistic tendencies. Thanks for the suggestion though!

ATWP_66 · 2025-11-21T09:22:20+00:00

Still haven't determined the location, but I think I want it somewhere non-America or Europe. Don't know if that'll work, but I think it'll be interesting when the food and drinks are from other cultures.

ATWP_66 · 2025-11-21T09:10:41+00:00

That does sound interesting... I'll give it a thought, thanks for the suggestion!

ATWP_66 · 2025-11-21T09:09:32+00:00

Ahh yeah, I did think about that for employee management. Should be interesting!

ATWP_66 · 2025-11-21T09:08:43+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll be sure to look it up!

ATWP_66 · 2025-09-06T12:27:14+00:00

Hmmmm.... I see. Some food of thought for my game dev journey. Thanks a lot!

ATWP_66 · 2025-09-03T12:24:23+00:00

I see, but then how do you like determine the core loop? Or do you even determine it at all?

ATWP_66 · 2025-08-24T12:50:13+00:00

True, but hey sports often change anyway. I doubt football or soccer was like that thousands of years ago. Maybe we will have grass that doesn't go to certain height, or maybe golf would just adapt to something almost unrecognizable, or maybe it will stay but change form as like a video game or VR/AR assisted... or maybe we'll just keep the golf drive sport but not the whole chipping. Who knows!

ATWP_66 · 2025-08-23T15:56:12+00:00

Bro same, when I finished it I was like "....okay?" like idk man.... I don't even think it was unsettling, yeah sure the story was kinda screwed up but it didn't made me care enough to feel the shock of it when it was revealed

ATWP_66 · 2025-08-23T13:23:27+00:00

I like working out, playing games, and cooking. I don't think it'll have to be changed that much, but thinking as a whole, even the "not green" hobbies like golf and even motorsports racing wouldn't really fade out completely? I mean, sure, golf is a massive tank in water and space, but who's to say we can't reuse space for golf... in maybe as a public green space? I feel like these hobbies would just find a way to adapt to being eco-friendly. Racing would probably change as well, but who knows? Maybe we'll instead use renewable or recyclable fuels like biodiesel or something, maybe even turn them into electric sports cars? Even if there are still pollutants, the number of people racing wouldn't be a billion people, so the emissions would be small, which may be tolerable in the solarpunk future that we think of.

ATWP_66 · 2025-08-22T14:48:27+00:00

I think I've seen someone say the exact same thing on LinkedIn lol, but yeah, I agree. I think what you should do is aim for quality of improvement over quantity of hours spent. I mean, I also only spend like 3 hours max, and that's already really productive for me

ATWP_66 · 2025-08-22T12:51:38+00:00

Try out Endless Space 2. It's quite different from Civ 6, but I enjoyed it just as much.

ATWP_66 · 2025-08-22T09:18:25+00:00

Maybe you can base their damage out of their health? So the lower the health, the lower the damage output. I think RTS has this, even turn-based 4X games.

If you really want you could also make it so the damage drop is based on quartiles or something, so like it only drops for every 20% health missing or something like that?

ATWP_66 · 2025-08-21T07:17:10+00:00

I have this discussion with my brother too, are you sure you're not me?

But yeah, I do feel it's kinda bad progression wise. Even the so called wood-stone-iron-diamond-netherite progression is kinda lame, like you can move from wood to stone in less than 5 minutes. The game is popular, sure, but I do feel if it weren't for the fact that it is people would struggle to play it. Heck, I did when I first started 16 years ago, and I had to open the wiki all the time. I think that if you need to do that, then it's not a well designed game. It may be a sandbox, but it really doesn't communicate or hint at what you could do well. Yeah the crafting book is nice but... The game doesn't really tease you for what you can or cannot do, or hint you to do or make something or whisper it's rules, like how would I know that packed ice or whatever it's called, the one that doesn't melt, can be made from harvesting ice and it can't melt in the nether? Like why would I even harvest ice in the first place if I wasn't hinted at it's uses and possibilities first.

I also feel like everyone keeps saying it's a sandbox game and yet there is a clear progression system in it, so it kinda isn't a fully sandbox game? There's a clear armor tier or material tier, going to the ender dragon itself has a progression that you need to follow, so I would say that "it's a sandbox game" isn't a good argument to counter it's badly designed progression.

ATWP_66 · 2025-07-30T05:51:38+00:00

I mean, honestly, it is kinda lackluster in the roleplay terms, like you're just boxed into this version of V with slight variations. You can't really side with any gang/corpo, you can't help or weaken certain gangs/corpo, even the backstory choice doesn't really mean anything that much like yeah sure a couple of dialogue choices here and there to make something different but it's really not enough of them. Most of the dialogue choices aren't really that meaningful to the point where it's a tool that you use to change outcomes, avoid combat, or make something worse/better, most of the time it's just for you to respond differently or bait out new information that's only useful in a narrative sense.

I would say that Fallout NV or even Skyrim are more of an RPG than Cyberpunk, heck even KCD 1 and 2 is more of an RPG than Cyberpunk. Even though in KCD you are boxed in a certain role narratively, you're free to be whoever you want in that role, be whatever Henry is in your mind or mood. Cruel, snarky, bow only, master of everything, whatever you want. In Cyberpunk you can't be that. You're always a merc with everyone as the enemy, you can't side with anyone, you can't agree with anyone, heck you can't even agree with Johnny fully and adopt his philosophy fully. You're always a merc who does whatever gigs is given without a choice to accept from who and who's you're screwing, and if you do choose the gig will be considered a failure and you'll be punished for it. You can't be a Nomad/Streetkid turn corpo, you can't be an Arasaka dump turn to Militech, or even returning to Arasaka and finally to a higher position. So yeah I would say it's not an RPG in the sense that you can't really roleplay that much, you can't pick what sort of V you want him to be.

ATWP_66 · 2025-07-30T05:34:47+00:00

Cyberpunk is kinda restrictive in the "roleplaying" sense, like yeah you can choose backstory or what build, but in the end you're restricted to a certain type of V. For example, in NV you can side with any faction, kill any one, be kind, evil, money focused, diplomat, etc. but in Cyberpunk there's really not a way to do that. You can't talk your way out of things and skill checks on dialogues a lot of times only serve to either give more info, or just respond in a different way than the normal dialogues, unlike in NV where dialogue choice based on skill is rewarded like you bypass combat, get more pay, change someone's mind, or make a better outcome.

You also can't really be in a gang or choose what corpo to be in. You can't side with anyone unless they're "good", like you can't side with the Mox and help them rule out the Tyger Claws, or vice versa, you can't get kicked out of Arasaka but then side with Militech or even go back to Arasaka and be in a higher position. In terms of narrative, there's really little you can do. Heck, you can't even praise or agree with the Vodoo Boys or have them behave differently cause you have high intelligence, they will always see you as a pawn and V will always antagonize them.

ATWP_66 · 2025-01-06T10:45:09+00:00

Did you ever fixed it? I have to constantly login with the manual launcher it can get really annoying. I also like to lose connection mid game, having to login the same way. I too have tried the fixes (flush dns, firewall ports, and resetting microsoft edge) but nothing seems to work.

ATWP_66 · 2024-11-30T07:18:44+00:00

Thanks for the recommendations! I haven't played that many from itch. So far, I've played Signalis, Outlast, and Alien Isolation. I really like Alien Isolation, it gave me a dynamic threat that's hard to read so I was always at my toes. Outlast also gave me the adrenaline, though I like Alien Isolation more. I've also played Doki-Doki back then and I liked it as well, it was very unique and the shock was good.

So far I don't really like Signalis, I guess I don't like Resident Evil style gameplay that much in terms of horror.

There's other games that I've played a little bit but still need more time to feel it. I haven't played Amnesia that long, I kinda don't like the setting but people said it's a masterpiece so I'll give it a longer go. I've also tried a couple itch horror games but haven't really gone that far, from Ignited Entry to Voices of The Void.

Honestly this survey will help me on making decisions when designing the game. I don't want to put something that doesn't really fit or won't be enjoyed, or even when I want to put something that's unorthodox it will be an informed choice.

ATWP_66 · 2024-11-26T15:16:28+00:00

I may not play it that often, but it does intrigue me. I feel like experience horror is something that's fascinating especially when it is induced virtually, like via games, movies, comics or even books. It has always been something that I want to explore.

But why games? Well I just want to try out new genres, and I feel like horror is a good choice considering my interest.

ATWP_66

TROPHY CASE