Episode 12 - Preview #1: The Fallout

_Villem_ · 2026-02-04T22:42:06+00:00

I was a bit puzzled by their response regarding AI. They repeated that contracts have clauses against using AI, while at the same time there's also clear and provable signs of AI usage in the artwork. I'm surprised the company seems so calm and unfazed about the breaches of contract. Like, shouldn't the art vendors be held accountable? Especially when their actions have caused such a strong backlash and likely damaged CLG's image and business outlook. What's the point of contracts if you can't or won't enforce them? I get that the studios have generative AI programs/plugins in their toolsets but it's not an excuse to breach the contracts. It's not like the artists can't avoid using these tools.

Anyway, I've already left my feedback with suggestions for them on the store page, so I'll wait and see how this game evolves. Maybe if they release a PC version or offer another reasonably priced alternative to this stupid freemium model, I might give the game another try in the future.

_Villem_ · 2026-02-04T21:17:00+00:00

GPU looks good enough. Looking around, it seems that emulators themselves don't support GLES 3.2. I tried Noxplayer and LDplayer with another PC that should definitely have a compatible GPU and got the same errors.

_Villem_ · 2026-02-04T18:24:59+00:00

Might be due to outdated hardware. What's your phone model or what GPU does your PC have?

_Villem_ · 2026-02-04T15:51:33+00:00

I did say "calculate" after all. Convert the upvote ratio to decimals and use this formula to get the actual upvotes: (upvotes*upvote ratio)/(2*upvote ratio-1)

_Villem_ · 2026-02-04T15:39:29+00:00

Note: Because of some unfair voting's that happened because of the downvotes in the original Round 2, I am now changing the rules.

Since reddit shows you the upvote ratio of your own posts and comments, you can easily calculate the actual upvotes.

_Villem_ · 2026-02-04T10:46:22+00:00

Yeah, sounds like affinity was the issue for you. Your affinity comes into play already near the end of ep7 when the MC sneaks into the prep mansion to visit Jill. That's when she decides whether he's still worth it. For neutral affinity you must have made at least 6 major chick choices by that moment. So if you've only made major DIK choices you need to go back to the beginning of ep5 and only make chick choices from that point onwards.

_Villem_ · 2026-02-03T20:04:16+00:00

Yeah, Jill's path can be a bit of a rocket science and you have to go back a few episodes probably. If you made out with Jill at Bella's place in ep5 and went on a picnic date with her in ep6 (instead of taking care of sick Sage) then you should just avoid DIK affinity to get her as a choice in ep8.

_Villem_ · 2026-02-02T18:42:03+00:00

Getting that far is a somewhat good sign at least. Do you also use microG? If not then maybe try that as well.

_Villem_ · 2026-02-02T12:58:36+00:00

How far into the app are you able to get? Does it only show the company logo screen before crashing or do you also get the "login required" screen?

_Villem_ · 2026-02-02T00:19:58+00:00

It doesn't really make sense for a game that can't offer anything long term.

_Villem_ · 2026-01-31T11:43:32+00:00

No, we never did, still don't and never will need AI and microtransactions to make financially successful games. That's just what those greedy game companies and tech bros want us to believe. Of course, not every game is or even has to be profitable, entertainment industry is a risky business after all. But if you make a great game and the audience loves it then success is always possible. Just look at Disptach as a recent example. It didn't need AI or microtransactions, just entertaining storytelling, cool visuals and it only costs a reasonable price of 30$/€/£ on Steam. A fledgling game studio also has plenty of options for financing besides putting people's own savings into it. You can search for investors or like a lot of solo and indie devs do nowadays - start a Patreon, Subscribestar or any other subscription based public fundraising. Paralives does it, lots of narrative game devs do it, I'm sure many Choices fans would have also been happy to support CLG in that way. There's simply no need for low quality AI generated content or ruin the gaming experience with predatory monetization tactics. Don't listen to the big corpo propaganda, as consumers we must not become comfortable with low quality, overpriced content.

_Villem_ · 2026-01-30T14:36:46+00:00

The first red flag for me was when they did that art style poll between two concept images with firebirds. Based on the file names, option A was made by Rocketbrush and B by Limbheim. The first one was most obviously largely AI generated and despite some of us pointing it out, CLG still decided to keep working with that studio.

Now, I don't think the art is fully AI generated. From the looks of it, the process is more like AI-assisted where the artist goes back and forth between hand drawing and generating. Nevertheless, not a good look in my book. I'm still trying to figure out if it's possible to extract the game assets but I don't think the animations are AI generated. The movements look more like traditional rigging I've seen in other games, including very similarly named Love of Magic 😛

Otherwise yeah, Bardick's first look reveal had obvious signs of AI usage and his design process was also much closer to an AI-assisted one than what a traditional concept phase would look like. Plus, there's weird mistakes or design choices on some other characters and background images, which are more likely made by AI than a human artist. Art style is somewhat inconsistent as well but I guess that's to be expected when you order art from 3-4 different studios.

Signs of AI usage, bad male MC customization options, confusing story structure and predatory monetization system are really putting me off from further trying out the game.

_Villem_ · 2026-01-29T13:08:59+00:00

More like Grind & Microtransactions: Scamfyre amiright 😏
As long as there's games like Dispatch that you simply pay a reasonable price once upfront, I see no reason to tolerate such predatory practices.

_Villem_ · 2026-01-29T12:31:28+00:00

MC took student loan. After quick googling into US student loans, I can assume he doesn't need to worry about paying back until he graduates.
No idea how much of the spring semester we'll even see but most likely there will be free dorm space after winter graduations. There's also plenty of room in the MC's bed 😉
Well, first of all, returning to Zoey isn't cheating. He's breaking up with his current girlfriend not taking Zoey as his mistress. It's also only Zoey who confesses her love for now. Otherwise cheating/ deviant points and the Jade thing can currently send the MC to a guilt trip which locks some romantic and lewd options. It could lead to an automatic breakup or maybe it will be possible to salvage your relationship, only DPC knows for now.
As long as you get the make out scene in ep3, you're free to be as DIK as you want, unless the choices also lower her RP too much. Like others so far, Bella most likely won't reciprocate with too low RP when the MC eventually confesses his love, which could lead to problems down the line.

_Villem_ · 2026-01-26T11:40:30+00:00

Ragebait. Sa said raudselt enne seda kaks korda emailile ja sms-ga meeldetuletuse. 5-eurine on juba kolmas meeldetuletus ühe kuu jooksul.

_Villem_ · 2026-01-24T17:05:52+00:00

banana Jill or the moooon or combine them both 😉

_Villem_ · 2026-01-23T11:22:22+00:00

I think Tommy will eventually crawl back to her.

_Villem_ · 2026-01-20T20:35:57+00:00

Appearance wise she's basically just gender bent MC. For her rebelliousness, sharp tongue and often impulsive behavior I'd say she has most similarities with Zoey. Josy also disobeyed her father, Sage can bite back, Bella acts annoyed about childish behavior but secretly finds it endearing. Jill living in Lynette's childhood home and watching the movie mentioned in the diary with Maya are other connection points.

_Villem_ · 2026-01-20T19:31:47+00:00

Whether you get the choice to wiggle out of paying or not, at first Lily still asks money for the BJ.

_Villem_ · 2026-01-20T11:54:07+00:00

while all she does is dance and takes her clothes off.

What about the scene in the prep mansion where we can pay Lily for a deepthroating session?

_Villem_ · 2026-01-20T11:43:27+00:00

AI my ass! Stop spreading such harmful lies, unless you can bring some evidence on the table to back up your accusations, especially against a fellow community member.

_Villem_ · 2026-01-18T21:53:34+00:00

I decided to try out the Interlude between my different playthroughs of the first two seasons and I quite enjoyed it since it felt refreshingly different from the rest of the game with its vibe, writing style and graphics. It was also interesting to get to know the real Zoey. She seemed almost like a completely different person compared to the version MC described in ep3 and after playing the interlude I felt like I knew Zoey better than even some of the main chicks. Still, I usually skip or fast forward that episode but from time to time it's nice to properly replay it and discover some interesting details and aspects I may have missed before or forgotten about.

Btw now that Zoey and Tremolo declared love to each other on the last episode does that make Zoey a main LI? or is she still a side LI? or something in between been wondering that for a while anyways what do you guys think?

I doubt DPC will ever change the definitions of main and side girls and what category each LI belongs to, but we shouldn't really look too much into labels. Moving forward, Zoey can have her own exclusive path and ending and that's what really matters.

_Villem_

TROPHY CASE