This tumblr is essentially for me to talk about Otome-style Visual Novels off of my main gaming tumblr as I know people don't often care about those kinds. Though, I may have some general visual novels that aren't as popular here as well. Any visual novels done by Beemoov can be found over here or by clicking the link to the right. :)
It's as the title says, we've got templates for y'all!
The team is having a blast looking through the tag and finding all of the lovely fanart you guys have been making of our cast and your MCs, sooo we wanted to help the community out and make some templates reminiscent of the ones on our itch page!
You're welcome to use them as you like, of course, and please feel free to add on and decorate it to your hearts desire. Tis only a small thank you for all the love you've given back to us with the update release <3
So have fun and we're excited to see more of your MCs!
(BLANK) House
You can also download it from this drive in case the images aren't being nice ^^,
the fate of jake mckenzie hurts me so much. so so much. the guy lost everything twice over. his best friend, his honor, his reputation to the world, and then was slowly coaxed into hoping and believing in the future, managed to rescue his friend against all odds and fall in love and get married - only to have mike and the love of his life ripped away from him again only a day after the damn wedding. jake's is the only good future from the glimmers that is fully impossible in the vanuu ending because mike is dead and so are the rest of the arachnids so there's no one left alive to back up jake's story about lundgren or provide any other proof. the only way for him to not lose everything is for nearly the entire fuckin world to die and the fabric of time to be an utter disaster. he ends up a dishonorably discharged wanted fugitive with no one in any other ending.
I don't know. I've made an account in case I decide to (With a new Candy name-- so I won't be using my original candy's name at all), but right now it's probably unlikely.
Part of it is just not wanting to deal with all the video policy intricacies, but in general I have a lot more negative feelings with the game than positive so it's hard to feel much enthusiasm.
I would say the things that have me most interested are:
Room Customization - I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff, but I also expect it to be super microtransaction-y.
The Goose is cute.
Old character cameos. As many issues as I have, the whole reason I've stuck around is because I have an attachment to the characters due to HSL. Knowing some of those characters will be showing up is always interesting to me because I still like learning about them despite a bunch of other issues.
If I do play, it will be very casually. I don't expect to keep up with it at all.
Normally I'd ask for MCL stuff to be asked on my MCL tumblr, but that's permanently closed at this point, but I suppose any other questions can be asked here: @sakurina-mcl-archive
about that baxter art, do you know what scene/moment it is where you can tell him you volunteer? i gotta make sure i get it in my next playthrough
yup! you can tell him you voluteer in Sightseeing after picking the option "what are you studying in college?". make sure to pick that you voluteer at ORCA at the start of step 3 of course, otherwise this option will not appear at all.
i'm not sure if any choices you make after asking about college matter in getting this option (probably not), but once you get there it should look like this:
Part of why I ended up going this way when I did my big replay recently is because the lines are so good. The full context, for anyone wondering, is Baxter had apparently never met anyone who volunteered because they actually care and it's important to them-- his parents generally did it for the prestige/legacy/to look good so learning that someone is doing it and ACTUALLY feels fulfilled doing so leaves quite the effect.
But there's also a bonus line later in Step 4 if you ask about Baxter now volunteering:
This is one of those moments where I kind of wish we could go through multiple lines because I rarely end up picking this one (the "would you plan your own wedding" conversation is too good), but it's really cute.
I ordered Step3 and Step4 Baxter from @cocopines (Twitter ~ Carrd) a while ago and they're finally in my hands!!! 💖💕💖💕😭
Super happy about how they turned out, like you have NO IDEA!!!!
I love to just keep petting and smushing them sdfghjkl
And come on, JUST LOOK AT HOW THEY TURNED OUT
Please consider commissioning her for your custom doll plushies!! She has other reviews and examples listed on her Carrd as well. From the experience, I do think she's super sweet and a joy to converse with so please don't be afraid to reach out and ask her anything about the plush comms 💖
10000/100 would fully recommend ✨✨✨✨✨
Bonus (I got them clothes wwww)
a more violent bonus below (I promise you I love Baxter so much. No dolls were harmed in the making of the video-)
In which I talk about Our Life: Beginnings & Always
Talking about Our Life: Beginnings & Always
On May 19th, the final DLC (and main content update– there is one last Patreon moment coming in August) for the first Our Life game, Our Life: Beginnings & Always, released essentially finishing up the game. As much as I enjoy Visual Novels, as I enjoy reading in general, I have always been more in the mystery genre for them. That doesn’t mean I’ve never played romance ones, and if you’ve seen my…
Oh to live in the world of Our Life B&A and have two moms that are insanely supportive and caring and a great big sister and cousin and two childhood best friends (and by extension their families) that adore me and also have two ride or die friends and also get to date Baxter Ward for one summer, get my heart broken because he has commitment issues, only to reunite five years later by accident because he’s the wedding planner for my friend’s brother’s wedding and despite how hard he tries to distance himself, he can’t forget our time together and he eventually admits his feelings and decides to commit this time around and we ballroom dance whenever we feel like it~
Oh! I've been meaning to post this:
My Step 3 + Baxter DLC Playthrough
—
Hang
Serendipity
Talks
Sightseeing
Reflections
Late Shift
Drinks
Errands
Boating
Planning
Drive
Charity
Mountain
Happiness
—
I wanted to share, just in case anyone else is interested in using it. For added reference: MC wasn't employed (for more B-man time during Late Shift) and my Cove had a warm personality, they also both volunteered.
When I did this playthrough, I actually really loved how the order had made things feel, it was pretty organic to me, and I'll definitely be using it again when I do my next runthrough and refine the experience.
I think, for Baxter's DLC, it's best to have Planning and Mountain as your last two events because it makes the introduction and references in Step 4 wonderfully emotional in the reading but, that's ultimately up to you! What I will add, as an off note, is that I know at least one episode in the middle somewhere probably could be switched around, but I can't honestly recall which one it is lmao - I'll have to mention it later when I find it, I guess.
I actually ended up doing a similar thing on Planning and Mountains being best towards the end)-- my final order, after a lot of debating and talking with a friend, ended up being:
Hang
Talks
Sightseeing
Errands
Drive
Drinks
Charity (volunteers)
Reflection
Mountain
Late Shift (unemployed)
Serendipity
Boating
Happiness
Planning
I'm not entirely sure why, but I really like Planning as the last one-- the bittersweetness of wanting him to be included so much when it's getting close to when he planned to just cut everyone off. (Plus, it has to be last for the only non-dating kiss you can do)
I also liked the idea that Drive happens around the same time that Baxter is off meeting people as well.
I will say going through so much of the dialogue (and working on silly rewrite things) has definitely made me both wish there were times we could pick multiple dialogue, but also find it interesting how some of the dialogue goes with Cove on indifferent. I didn't play with him like that (I prefer him on at least fond if not going his route-- he's too great of a character), but especially going on the Baxter route, I kind of wish there were some of those indifferent moments which, even with their close friendship, my MC wouldn't have really done outside of having a crush on him.
One example is with Boating where I prefer the dialogue for why Baxter doesn't keep you company when Liz ends up staying with you (only possible with indifferent for Cove) versus when Cove does.
It also still kind of blows my mind that nobody offered the rich guy an invitation to the charity event especially if you're dating him but anyway
I get there's only so many changes that can be done (and with the DLC, Cove will always have more moments-- they couldn't really adjust all of them), but there were definitely a few times where it felt weird or sometimes like the game still really wanted to pair my MC and Cove together. Though, I guess it's not usually expected for you to play all the moments that are designated for Cove.
After over 70 hours of playing the Baxter DLC – and despairing over that one monochrome guy, you know who – I wanted to take a moment to talk about all the possible love confessions in Baxter's version of Step 4. I find them all lovely and each of them made me squeal and smile like crazy, and i just gotta express my appreciation for them somewhere.
In Step 4 there are three love confessions. Two of them can be initiated by the MC, and the third one will be proclaimed by Baxter, if the MC doesn’t confess first. I tried all of them a couple of times, and they are all very cute (although my personal favourite is the confession the morning after the wedding)!
Before we begin i want to warn y’all that i wasn’t sure about the approach i wanted to take when talking about these moments, and as a result this post might not be a "put together careful game analysis" thingy. It's mostly just my ramblings and feelings that hopefully are a-okay to read haha. Without further delay, let’s begin!
Spoilers for specific moments in Baxter's version of Step 4!
All of the confessions take place after the wedding ceremony, so if you hadn't gotten there and don't wanna spoil those great moments for yourself i don't recommend reading further. I will go quite in depth about each option.
In chronological order, the first feelings declaration is the confession immediately after the wedding has ended.
Or as i've been referring to it in my head, The Wedding Confession!
Everybody is busy cleaning up, and MC hasn’t had a chance to have a one-on-one moment with Baxter since they split off in the morning. Naturally, they want to talk with him after the event is over. There is this underlying fear, that Baxter will leave again and they can't let that happen.
The two talk and Baxter apologises for his actions towards MC, five years ago in Sunset Bird and now, after they met again. I need to add that this apology is very well written and it definitively pulled on my heartstrings. Here the player can choose to confess on their own, accept his friendship hoping for a different type of relationship later on or just become friends.
Since i’m yet to play Baxter’s version of Step 4 with platonic feelings, i don’t know if this option appears if you have him at Fond. If anyone of you has done it, i would love to hear what it looks like! For example, does the player get to confess either way, in case they changed their mind (just how here you can choose to be friends)?
Moving further, if we choose to confess right away we get to pick how we want to do that - with words or by kissing him. Each choice will be preceded with an internal monologue from MC about their and Baxter’s relationship and what he means to them. I really like the way it's written. They go through all of the stages they've been around each other. If you met him at the Cypress in Step 2 Soiree Moment they mention how he was a boy in their memories, becoming real when they meet again by chance during summer of 2016. How he made this summer into everything and more and how he left. The years apart and finally the summer they reunited. I can't explain my feelings well, but i find this monologue very sweet but also full of longing - it makes me smile and it makes my heart ache at the same time.
Depending on when the MC confesses, Baxter has a different reaction to their silence. Since now he is waiting for them to accept him into their life again, he gets nervous the longer MC is lost in their thoughts, which is reflected in the expressions of his character model. It’s described as cracks of anxiety appearing on his face and him slipping back into his professional pleasantness. He chose to be vulnerable, and how MC replies will affect him.
After the character’s musings end the player gets one last chance to reaffirm the decision to confess.
Personally, I really like that we have the option to do so. Not only is it useful in case the player suddenly changed their mind, but also helps create the response you want from your MC.
If you back out then you no longer can confess in that moment. The story progresses the same as in the case of choosing not to confess. You can confess later in the game, or not confess at all and have Baxter do that.
If you pick the option to check if he means it, Baxter will reassure MC about wanting to stay by their side. It’s really adorable - especially since in response to MC he says “I do” (ya know, the famous wedding catchphrase) which he immediately follows up with: “You’ll have to excuse me for using that answer at someone else’s wedding, but I am entirely serious.” What a dork. After picking this option only two of the three are left - you can go further or back out.
And finally, you can confess. MC makes note of how now that the wedding was over, there would be no complications for the newlyweds (although they thought Miranda proposing to Terry at their wedding would be a great idea, so they really wouldn't mind lol). They think that since Baxter asked them out first, five years ago, it’s only fair that they do it now. It's one line, but for some reason i like this sentiment a lot. Like hell yeah, go MC! Ask him out now, make him speechless!
When it comes to spoken confessions, there is an abundance of choices to pick from. But my absolute favourite option is to echo Baxter’s own words from Step 3 Sightseeing Moment back at him: "Could I consider all the time we've spent together a date?". Chef’s kiss, it’s all coming together like a beautiful piece of tapestry. Simply iconic of them.
Confessing with a gesture has less options to choose from, but all are equally cute! If you choose to confess in this way, MC will have a short revelation about how different kissing Baxter now feels to kissing him five years ago. Baxter reacts a bit differently to this type of confession, since MC enters his personal space. My favourite is confessing by kissing Baxter on the forehead. It's absolutely precious.
The way Baxter reacts to MC confessing to him is… very interesting to say the least. He was ready to be friends them again or accept their rejection (there is no option like that in the game, but realistically, you just know he would prep himself up for this possibility) but he was not ready for a love confession. Baxter gives MC a moment to move past this and pretend that nothing happened, but it’s not going to work. I find that a curious thing to do. Baxter isn't hoping that MC doesn't have feelings for him and he himself does for them, but there is still that feeling of insecurity in him, that prevents him from accepting the confession right away.
We have the option to have MC sweep Baxter into a dance, or keep talking without that. I love the former choice and i always pick it for my character haha. It’s especially cute how Baxter stumbles and is so out of his depth. Both because of the unexpected movement and the sudden confession.
You can pick an option to tell him, that MC wanted to be with him even five years ago. His reaction to it is just. He is stunned and he doesn't believe it. But he knows MC isn't lying as well. I can feel the conflicted emotions he must have been experiencing upon hearing that just in one line of dialogue. And i think that's pretty powerful writing.
But then he fires back. He is full of disbelief and he doesn’t understand what could he have possibly done to deserve MC's affections. He doesn’t want to call MC a liar but he can’t accept that outcome either. Baxter’s old ways of dealing with relationships are resurfacing, because he can’t believe that he has the right to form such a deep connection with someone. It’s pretty heartbreaking to witness.
It's... so sad. "What did i do to make you like me?" he asks, because there must be something, because simply being himself is not enough, when Baxter inherently believes that he doesn't contribute anything. And if he doesn't contribute anything to somebody's life, he has no place in it.
MC decides to change tactics. Instead of trying to make Baxter accept their feelings, they ask what they mean to him. Whether they end up together is secondary - their goal is to help him overcome his mindset. I find that a really powerful act of love - helping the person you care about understand that they deserve to be loved without extravagant outings and carefully constructed barriers.
I really love Baxter’s response in this confession because it is very true to his character arc. His hesitance, how he withdraws and tries to appear unaffected. He reciprocates MC’s feelings, but he is too ashamed of himself and afraid. His view on himself makes him think that he can't be in a relationship with someone or friends with them, and that is something i find deeply sad. Still, he answers MC’s questions, with a few prefaces. He cites his inability to do things in the morning, less financial income and his past relationship management as reasons for why MC wouldn’t want to be with him. It’s him giving MC the chance to resign, to take back the love confession while they can. It reminds me of declining a meeting with your friends, because you believe that they will have more fun without you. It's self-preservation of your own feelings and diminishment of your impact on others, which comes from some form of dissatisfaction with the way we are.
But MC doesn't take their feelings back. They assure him that they want to be with him.
And once that is done, they ask him:
(I usually can comment on writing/art, but when i can't that's how you know it's the shit. i sat with my mouth open and my hands flapping around just cause this confession got me that excited <3)
This is the dialogue you get when you have Baxter on Crush. If you pick Love, instead of "I want to be with you" he will say "I'm in love with you".
Just like that, he accepts. I was totally shocked when that happened, but well, it does make sense. It was never a question, and Baxter admits so himself. He never stopped wanting to be with MC. He further expresses that he wasn't happy pushing them away five years ago and when they met again. It's quite sad to hear him admit that he didn't think staying together (in more than a romantic way) was an option until moments ago. But he got there ultimately and that's worth celebrating. Growth isn't linear, and sometimes we fall back to our old habits.
I really adore how openly Baxter expresses his affection for the MC, in the confession and later. Compared to Step 3 it feels more mature (no shit, sherlock) but also self-assured. Because he is finally starting to believe, that this - a relationship with a person who really knows him and chooses to stay - is something he can have.
These two lines of dialogue? Murdered me in my sleep with love and care. Sir, how dare you do that to me.
After that the two sillies finish their dance. Their story has a happy ending, they have been reunited. I adore how warm and happy this situation feels, and the descriptions make it feel so light and cheerful, like the moment with MC failing to catch their breath because they are laughing gleefully or Baxter holding them in a gentle embrace.
I really like this confession. Like i said before, it’s very true to Baxter’s character, and it also shows, that despite having good intentions and doing everything you can to change, people can still slip back into their old habits. But there will be people around you that believe you can learn and do better, and will stay with you and help you through it.
I also adore the overall silliness (after the angst is over, but i do love my fair share of angst as well) and the emotional beats. The characters banter, joke around.
And express how much they care about each other.
Also the fact that Miranda, Terry and Cove just gawked at the pair while they were having this huge emotional event is just hilarious. They are very nosy friends and i love them for that lol. Of course, Baxter is completely unaffected. GB Patch knew that if they made this man blush more than he already does in the game, they would actually kill us.
I'm not kidding, i die every time he blushes and get revived when he snorts. That's just the circle of life.
So yeah, that was one out of the three confessions! It's amazing and i hope i was able to convey what i love about it! Prior to playing the Baxter DLC i had around 50 hours on Steam, and after i got it It turned into 120 hours so... Yeah, Baxter Ward.
I'm splitting my confession ramblings into three posts for convenience. Parts 2 and 3 will be finished soon... Hopefully. Once they are i will place links to all the parts in each post (if i learn how to,,,,). Also wow, this post took me way too long to write, holy shit.
Haven't used this blog for ages, but I just needed to say I did not expect Baxter's DLC to hit me as much as it did. I'm debating writing something more on my site about everything with the game so I'll likely keep this short, but I feel like it's going to sit with me for a long time.
Despite the angst, I think it was less than I was expecting for better or worse. I think there were a lot of moments that moved quickly which considering how long it was already was maybe for the best, but it's been a long time since I've been inspired to write and want to expand upon events in a game to the point of where I actually have started writing multiple things (which I'll likely just keep to myself, but).
I don't know if I could handle more angst despite my wishing things held out a bit longer before resolving considering how much I've just been constantly thinking about everything with it, let alone that I played the entire DLC over the span of an entire night and still keep testing things.
Is Baxter the canon route for Jemma? I don't know! It's hard to say. I can't even fully say if I like him or Cove better for her, but oof did I not expect it to just take over my head entirely.
Do you plan to play OL2? Have you already decided your mc?
Yes! I'm pretty excited for it. As much as I love the ocean, I reeeeeally love the cozy vibes of Golden Grove so part of me is almost more excited.
I haven't decided on anything in the sense of LIs or not (maybe it'll just be friendship, we shall see), but with the dynamic system, I think that may be for the best so if Flora's (my MC's) feelings change at any point, it can feel more natural? If that makes sense.
But this is Flora Sullivan:
I find it amusing that she and Tamarack seem to have very similar clothing styles so that should be fun.
I also had fun trying to make my OL1 OC in the same style for AU purposes, but they don't really have Jemma's braided bangs like I used in OL1 so this was the closest I could get (she's wearing the Sailor Dress under):
I do like that I could make her hair color closer to what I envisioned though-- I imagine it closer to how Baxter's hair color looks in step 4, but the colors were kind of lacking in OL1 so her hair is a lot darker:
Honestly also looking forward to maybe learning a bit more about Baxter too, but I've liked all the OL2 characters so far so just excited in general.
Haven't used this blog for ages, but I just needed to say I did not expect Baxter's DLC to hit me as much as it did. I'm debating writing something more on my site about everything with the game so I'll likely keep this short, but I feel like it's going to sit with me for a long time.
Despite the angst, I think it was less than I was expecting for better or worse. I think there were a lot of moments that moved quickly which considering how long it was already was maybe for the best, but it's been a long time since I've been inspired to write and want to expand upon events in a game to the point of where I actually have started writing multiple things (which I'll likely just keep to myself, but).
I don't know if I could handle more angst despite my wishing things held out a bit longer before resolving considering how much I've just been constantly thinking about everything with it, let alone that I played the entire DLC over the span of an entire night and still keep testing things.
Is Baxter the canon route for Jemma? I don't know! It's hard to say. I can't even fully say if I like him or Cove better for her, but oof did I not expect it to just take over my head entirely.
Haven’t seen one of these going around for a while, so I’m starting one using
this
Picrew 💜
Here’s mine:
Tagging: @sankakuen @fandom-trauma @partygodlahela @adrianadmirer @altosxratus @agent-farah-hauville @remy-chevaliers and anyone else who wants to do it too :)
Would have asked on your mcl tumblr but since its locked what did you think of the wedding special?
Not much? I'm disappointed that despite ending on a single route (in which I wasted AP for no reason now and had to pick choices I hated), there was still no closure for the removed LIs and it was just a free replay choice screen with no reference to how you played (which I can't be surprised considering how Castiel's and Nathaniel's route act like you've dated them since HSL but still disappointed).
I just really wanted to see some closure in the game and even if it ended saying how you'll have to imagine more and would need to get married for a longer episode, I'd have taken it.
As for the episode itself, I hope people who wanted a wedding enjoyed it. I'm disappointed they had Eric's move so fast (there's no reason they couldn't say it was a few years down the line), I'm surprised the parents/family members are silhouettes (even just editing the HSL sprites to some effect may have been nicer) unless they were shown in UL (Also I really was hoping Amber would have a new sprite considering, but oh well), the wedding venue backgrounds are nice I guess? I would say the biggest let-down (besides the lack of closure) IMO, were the amount of choices you make only for none of it to really matter as you never actually get to the reception. The ring bearer and venue (and well, dress obviously) are the only choices that really get showcased. Also Pancake should have been an option at all of them.
Rayan's and Priya's dresses were probably my favorite ones-- if I combined them.
Also as I've gotten some asks about this as well: I probably will not play 2.0 unless it somehow adds in closure in the background. I didn't enjoy the writing in UL or LL at all and am not interested in high school but more romance focused as part of why I enjoyed the original HSL was how the friendships developed so... I likely will still keep an eye out on it, but for the most part I just won't play.
izzy806
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