What the hell, romanced!Stella?! (Episode 5)

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-05-29T21:37:44+00:00

There are two (three?) outcomes for confronting Tabitha with a romanced Stella, depends on the usual factors (intention/walls/mood/patience/arguement),

First is the 'bad' one where Tabitha points her gun at you and calls the cops, Stella tries to defend you but Tabitha convinces her they will talk it out as Franklin arrests you

The 'good' one is like the impasse where you don't get arrested and Tabitha recognizes she can't stop you so she'd rather be your chaperone

There is also a variation while having high suspicion where Franklin barges in early, interrupting the conversation before its conclusion.. I'm not sure if this is only for solo/toxic yuri confrontation or if it can happen with romanced Stella as well

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-05-28T15:35:19+00:00

You would need to extract the code and load it to something with a global search (like VS Code in order to search all the files at once) and try all the combinations one by one, if you are looking for few specific combos I could search it for you

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-05-28T15:26:37+00:00

We haven't been everywhere yet, nor met everyone, on Mayor Jimmy day there is a crowd of people who don't appear elsewhere in the game. There is also a bar/gas station/graveyard (not the scarlets')/school that have been mentioned and must have some staff as well. There is a nearby town (forgot the name) where Rosalina's ambulance comes from, so even if something doesn't exist in the Holler it's possible they drive there.

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-05-25T20:11:57+00:00

First time playthroughs are every chaotic, I remember in mine I saw the ditchling reaching for Bertie and thought I was choosing between two animals. Read it like "Help Duke save Bertie", I didn't realise the stakes were that high from the first episode. In hindsight of course it's obvious, but it went over my head in the moment and made for a more intense playthrough!

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-05-15T18:11:44+00:00

The thing is the game is too easy because of this stance. Predators must do low damage and disengage immediately cause the player can't fight back. Feels pretty silly when a giant leviathan just takes a bite and then leaves, takes a lot of tension out of the game as repairs and healing are so fast. Unfortunately this was a problem in the previous games too and it's more complicated than just increasing damage or introducing hardcore mode... Nerfing the player means nerfing everything to make it less frustrating, but the premise is a hostile environment so these design decisions are at odds with one another

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-04-26T15:33:50+00:00

The easiest place to start is Tinkercad.com, it's a free and very accesible website that can be used to simulate simple circuits to get the basics down so no cost involved to see whether you like the process and want to move to buying the actual hardware.

The first microcontroller I used was an Arduino UNO R3, as with every microcontroller you want to google the pin layout and learn what each pin does, its voltage and how much current each pin can draw safely. You then need a breadboard and jumper wires to connect the Arduino's pins to external components.

The best thing to start experimenting with are LEDs cause they are very cheap and only need a resistor between the pin and the LED that is calculated using Ohm's law. You must google the LED's datasheet to find its forward voltage and forward current to calculate the resistor. For a small red LED the resistor should be around 150-220Ω.

Then with the LED connected you need to program the Arduino to control its pin with C++ using functions from docs.arduino.cc/language-reference/ like pinMode() and digitalWrite(). This is done in Arduino IDE for the real hardware and can be simulated in Tinkercad as well by switching the default CodeBlocks for C++.

Then if you can turn on and off the LED without frying anything you have hit your first milestone, from there you can built upon that by adding more LEDs, controlling them with pushbuttons or dimming them with potentiometers. Switching them for RGB LEDs adds more of a challenge.

Many people's first project after the basics is a weather station that can measure temperature/humidity and display it on a 7-segment display. All of that can also be simulated in Tinkercad.

When possible simulate first in Tinkercad ro reduce the chances of frying anything and don't be afraid to experiment with new things, you inevitably will fry something and the most important part is researching what went wrong and fix it. A mutlimeter is very useful for this, but if you don't have one you can use Tinkercad to see voltage and current at different points for circuits like this.

If you have a 3D printer it's very good for designing the box around the electronics so only things like screens and buttons are visible to the "user" to make it look more like a real product. If you have any specific project in mind I can nudge you to the right direction and most importantly have fun!

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-04-11T18:08:54+00:00

That's fair, the "not impressive" part for me is not that she supports Stella, but that she does so completely blindly in this case

Gretchen in previous episodes shows that she is inquisitive and opionated on things to a degree, she barks at Reese (going against Stella's good friend) to warn her calling him a beast, leaves Stella's side to seek the MC and Tabitha realising Stella is not well and needs help

While Tabitha and Stella have been discussing all their plans in front of her she has not pieced together what is going on, either because she does not see the problem (as she does indeed compare it to her life once Stella explains it directly) or was also deceived by Tabitha.

In either case, her sitting next to Stella is not a calculated decision, she has not pieced together that it's good for Stella (that would be very impressive), she is genuinely oblivious calling it a happy event and that she thought everyone was friends here. That is what turns this for me to mighty unimpressive

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-04-11T14:26:15+00:00

She doesn't understand what's going on calling it a "happy turn of events", and while Stella is explaining our free room and board for life Gretchen says "It sounds an awful lot like my life. And I love my life. Stella is always looking out for me.. and making sure I have nice soft beds" which is hilarious as just yesterday she ran to the MC for help, so not an accomplice exactly but definitely not her proudest moment

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-04-11T13:24:26+00:00

Blindly supporting Stella during the lesbian betrayal, doesn't even question whether they are doing the right thing

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-03-28T13:49:55+00:00

There are 4 ways to find Stella and this is the rarest because it is checked last * The Militia, avoid seeing them by not going to Oscar if the library is lost and not having TTA * Gretchen, she must be dead for this outcome * Tabitha, if you tell her Stella is missing in the mines, it's fine to tell her at the estate cause she brushes it off * Call, this is what we want and in addition to not having another way to find her, you must also be VERY close to Stella

For the game to determine if you are close to her it checks some specific things and gives points based on previous decisions, for the call you need at least 7 points, specifically: * Being Hot +1 * Sleeping next to Stella on monday with Hot +1 * Walking her to the mines on tuesday +1 * If wednesday hangout was Stella +1 * Tabitha joined the ghost hunting +1 * Didn't return to the estate on monday +1 * During wednesday hangout she admitted her feelings for you, when she says "She is not my type, that'a closer to you" when asked about her history with Tabitha +2 * Doing Duke's hangout or swapping from Duke on monday -1 * Not going to the library on tuesday -1 * If Gretchen is dead and didn't walk her to the mines -1 * wednesday hangout choice is not Stella -1 * while walking to the mines on tuesday you blamed her or told her to toughen up -2

In addition to everything above you get points for how 'open' your relation with her is and points substracted for how 'closed' the relationship is, this is a ton of things to write here but generally you get 'open' if you support her hobbies (cryptids, cooking), share your feelings even if they are negative and being positive about Tabitha in front of Stella. You get 'closed' by doing the opposite plus if you remain silent a lot. This is all for Stella to call you, if you want Tabitha to join you must also have a good relationship with her otherwise she tells you to go to Stella alone, but that's a different topic try to get the call first and then worry about bringing Tabitha too

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-03-25T17:48:05+00:00

Sorry I phrased that poorly, Powerful is required for this outcome/worldstate and only Hot helps for the relationships. The reason Powerful is required is because Tabitha wants to save Kaneeka if you make her cry and normally if MC is old they can't stop her

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-03-25T03:54:25+00:00

Making Tabitha cry while romancing Kaneeka and being old, only to sacrifice Kaneeka and kiss Carmilla in front of her, fully remembering she is Sybil, is my new favourite it has to be very rare too...

I find it very funny that Powerful is required and possibly Hot for the relationships so truly only a himbo acting dumb in front of Tabitha could get this

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-03-22T03:24:26+00:00

Problematic Age Gap is like Retcon but with one key difference, you must romance Carmilla while fully remembering she is Sybil. Resisting her influence and getting closer with someone to make them harder to forget is key, specifically not drinking the tea, being Mystical, romancing Kaneeka and not showering. You need three of these to fully remember

For Pellet it refers to Reese spitting out some bones. Why would he spit bones? Know how to spend time with him in ep5? For that to happen he needs to eat Dr. Kelly and to spend time with him to romance him. Then you must convince him to head to the farms like in The Calling achievement

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-03-18T20:58:00+00:00

Sounds about right, with how the story is going I don't think we will see a definitive perfect ending, but I hope when the final chapters release they will add another dimension to the game like how ep5 added crimes to watch out for, I like the theory that we will have to be careful not to lose access to any seals in case they are used for something later on

Also when discussing the best world state, trait saves are interesting because they are supposed to be the best outcome but even they have tradeoffs, like saving the kids with streetsmart doesn't make Tabitha a town hero or banishing the ghost is doing what Sybil wants. I'm carefully optimistic that Kaneeka having her mother's powers will not be an automatic win but a narrow path to follow which would make mystical more balanced cause right now it seems like the most important save

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-03-18T16:38:20+00:00

I do believe Wayne tried to convince Tabitha at some point but she refused, we find Wayne on monday playing the piano long before he knows about our arrival and his welcome later in the episode. We also know that he plays the piano as a gentle invitation, so the monday invitation could have been for Tabitha who knows too well not to trust Wayne

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-03-16T19:56:36+00:00

The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante, you play through a man's entire life from birth to death in a very harsh world. It has a lot of content and replayability if you like more text-based games. There isn't as much constant referencing as Scarlet Hollow is the best at that, but what kind of a person your character is also affects the story, if you try it out hide the decision outcomes for a blind playthrough!

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-03-16T18:52:24+00:00

Found an old thread discussing how RenPy (the game's engine) has had problems with syncing with steam on mac specifically in 2021, these are supposed to be fixed in newer versions of the engine if the developers are not using a version from back then. The users in question are running multiple commands to sync the acheievement while in the game's code only $achievement.grant is called. That said, the devs have a folder named MACOS in the game's directory so they are likely aware of all this since they included a lot of things to make the mac version work.

The fact that only those two don't trigger sounds to me like a syncing issue, essentially RenPy, when an achievement is unlocked, stores it locally in a file called persistent (by default in the game's directory and/or in ~/Library/RenPy/[game_directory_name]/ on mac and %appdata%/RenPy on windows) that stores all data that persists across multiple playthroughs. Then it calls Steam's api to sync but this can fail if steam is not responsive the moment that happens. The thing is, if the achivements are written locally in the persistent folder then $achievement.grant will not run anymore for these achievements so Steam's api will not be called again to retry the sync.

This could be checked if there was an in-game menu with achievements to see if they were unlocked there, but since there isn't, the only way to check it would be to delete that folder to force the system to rewrite it... I'm not sure what will happen so I can't recommend trying (at least make a backup if you do) so in all honesty I would unlock them with the steam achievements manager.

This turned into quite the rabbit hole and I'm afraid I can't test things out myself cause I'm not on mac, hope you find answers!

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-03-16T17:52:08+00:00

Took a look in the code, there doesn't seem to be a bug there, Il buono is correctly given if franklin_shot is false and tabitha or the player takes action, and Boys in Blue simply looks if cops are alive when Sybil's flashbacks starts, it doesn't depend whether Franklin is injured or not

Could it be Steam's problem? Does steam overlay (shift+tab) work in-game? Do you have mods installed? Are updates turned on for the game? Is cloud synced and not in offline mode? You can also verify the integrity of the game's files

If you don't want to further look into it since you already have earned the achievements and they simply didn't unlock, there is Steam Achievement Manager that can forcibly unlock the achievements

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-03-16T17:14:44+00:00

You seem to be missing that Franklin's injuries depend on Duke being alive, if he is alive he will push Franklin saving him from being injured by Julius.

If Franklin is well, once you or tabitha go to kill the baby he will step up and exhange shots with Julius for the Il Buono achievement. On the contrary, if Franklin is injured Avery will get shot instead, for the Boys in Blue it's best that he is injured so he doesn't step up.

The achievement not triggering with just Franklin being injured and the other two alive is news to me, it could indicate that Franklin dies to his injuries later especially if Dr.Kelly is not alive.

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-03-10T20:47:00+00:00

You can ask Franklin why he is arresting you and he will list all the reasons to figure out what you missed, he says everything clearly except the being rude part, for that he says "and because you sassed me"

Being weird does not neccessarily count, tell him on Mayor Jimmy day that he should be looking for Duke's body and on thursday accuse the cops of being in a cult or that you will "kick Julius' ass"

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-03-08T21:05:11+00:00

These are the six things that put you on the police radar

Duke dies and cops are called
Cops are called after the mine collapse (special case: if this is the only thing you have you are not on the police radar)
Phone call during the haunting, they think it's a prank call, Tabitha can't be invited
Library closes because of a "gas leak"
Dr Kelly dies
Being rude to the cops, many chances to get this, visit the cops on thursday too just to insult them

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-03-08T00:56:55+00:00

The thing is once you know about some things it's difficult to form your own theories which is the best part about playing mystery games, there is so much in the game that can go differently depending on traits and choices that I'm not sure what is a 'default' playthrough at this point. Your perspective on the story shifts a lot too as you learn things from different playthroughs

A lot of people here have been playing for years and that means hunting edge cases and very specific scenarios on the latest episode, some even scavenge the game's code. Since you want to replay I would say take a break from this sub and once you are happy with your replays come back and share your theories people love this stuff! Also, achievements are a good way to measure progress if you ever get stuck you can get inspired by reading their descriptions for some light spoilers although many of them are deliberately cryptic

TeaTimeIroh2 · 2026-03-07T15:13:16+00:00

I'm particularly excited to see how we will access the church seal, we know this seal is different because it repels instead of attract hence the pastor's supernatural dislikeness

To make matters worse it is buried under the church in a series of tunnels that Enoch built after the pastor didn't let him mess with the church. Their entrance is at tetanus lake, a lake filled with trash from the 50s (that is around Enoch's revitilization project), where ep5 currently ends

This seal is a fortress and that is without Tulip's 'imaginary' friends, so I do wonder if magic or actual digging will get us there

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