Update 0.37 - Jun

Heh, so I'm a few days (or weeks) late to the party here, the world being in the state it's in right now the stories here an in other projects like this make for a good distraction but reading through the comments here I can honestly say people need to chill just a bit and breathe. Starting with the possible endings here, this is by far the most drastic turn of events we've had thus far and yes the shock value is extreme, especially given how everything had been going prior, but it is not an indictment of the writing at all, but a testament of how well written the story is that you can feel this deeply about it, more-so if you don't like how things went, it's incentive to see things change for the better, and this will more than likely be a wake up call for Yuuichi and force him to see things from a new perspective knowing how close things came to reaching a tragic end and will probably be the catalyst for him finally reaching a decision about their relationship . Which leads into my second point, why is it so hard for people to accept that this is a slow burn build-up to them being a couple? My best guess is that society has cultivated a collective belief in instant gratification vs long term payouts and no one has the patience to see things through to the end even though it will ultimately be a more satisfying experience for them. Yes it can be frustrating to wait month's at a time for closure, but again look at it from the characters perspective, Yuuichi has know Jun for just over three months at this point, and never even considered the potential that he could have romantic feelings for another male, and he was completely blindsided by the confession when it happend so there's no realistic way to think he'd have an answer one way or the other. Frankly it'd be insulting to the reader and a cop-out to fast-track the romance just to appease the impatient masses. (There are plenty of other VN's out there with gratuitous and unnecessary lewd content that lack a strong narrative or character foundation, no reason to take one that excels at both of those things and ruin it with unrealistic love interest and excessive sexual situations) Compared to the fact that he an Shoichi had been friends for years and he had several days in advance to consider the possibility that Sho had feelings for him and of course their relationship would move a little faster, and given their natural chemistry and strong foundation of trust and prior friendship, it would get physical quickly. Then there's his relationship with Keisuke that splits the difference between the two other routes. They had also known each other for a few years at this point, plus had become friends and been doing things together for a year at that point, and again had started to become aware of his own potential feelings several days prior to the confession so he was more willing to take a chance on this one. So while not as close as he is to Shoichi, Yuuichi is still closer to Kei than Jun who is for the most part still virtually a stranger to him. In summary, I feel the routes are all flowing at the most logical pace possible for everyone involved and once the final product is finished it'll be a much smoother transition to follow. Seeing just how far this project has come since I first started following/supporting it has been an almost surreal experience, it's grown by leaps and bounds both from a writing and art asset perspective, as well as the community of supporters that are here today, and the passion that they share for this project regardless of their individual takes on the direction it takes is great. I look forward to seeing it through to the end and whatever the future holds beyond this game as well. Keep up the great work.

Richard

I seem to be running into a problem with the download - Mediafire keeps trying to generate a new download key, but the download keeps restarting. Are there alternatives or is Mediafire having issues right now?

I'm sorry, but what exactly do you mean by "the ending needs more context"? Are you saying the artwork and visuals don't entirely explain the scene in their own? Are you saying that you NEED to see Jun's lifeless and broken body to understand that he was hit by a car? Are you saying that the scene doesn't provide enough information about what's happening and why? What EXACTLY are you trying to critique here? You don't say what you think needs improvement or how it could be improved, only that your don't like a deliberately unsatisfying bad ending. If your "lack of context" complaint is about how the game doesn't show you every explicit and graphic detail of the scene and explain why it's happening, the dialog very clearly explains for you all that you need to know about what's happening during this scene and if you've been paying attention to the characters up to this point, you'd have all the context you need as for why the scene is happening. Jun has always been extremely reluctant to even talk about his heart condition with the other characters and refuses to admit that he has one despite how obvious it is, nevermind how resistant he is to the idea of accepting help even when he's suffering because of it. Yuuichi stopped to call a cab and Jun, in an act of stubborn defiance against the assistance he desperately needed, kept walking straight into oncoming traffic because he didn't check the signal. Then, if you didn't push him out of the way, Jun got hit by the car, was taken away in an ambulance and disappeared from Yuuichi's life forever. If you're complaining that the ending doesn't explain what happens after this scene, then I have to say you've misunderstood the core ideas behind the game's story. Tennis Ace isn't just a story about Yuuichi in his last year of high school; Tennis Ace is about the connections, interactions, and relationships Yuuichi has with the other characters over the course of the story and the effects they have on him, ESPECIALLY with the character he becomes romantically involved with. After Jun gets hit by the car and taken away in an ambulance, the story ends with "I never saw him again" because the only thing important to know is that Jun was no longer a part of Yuuichi's life; without Jun there to act as a catalyst for Yuuichi's development, there's no actual point in further exploring the story or defining it's events. What happens after that point isn't important to furthering the ACTUAL story, so it gets left undefined for the reader to come up with their own conclusions about what happens after while encouraging them to go back and make different choices to avoid this outcome. You aren't meant to be satisfied by or get closure from this premature ending to the story; the entire point of a bad ending that comes part way through the story is to leave you unsatisfied with the outcome. It's fine if you WOULD LIKE to see more of what happened beyond that point, and for all we know, WOTB may be planning to flesh-out that particular timeline at a later date. But DEMANDING that the creator listen to your opinion and DEMANDING that this ending be reworked because it didn't satisfy you and doesn't spoon-feed every detail to you is beyond entitled. All the information you NEED is there if you look for it and the writing is certainly not lacking if you just pay attention and use some basic critical thinking skills.

The Mysterious M3tav0X

I hate you!!! But I love you too!

One pet peeve of mine is the fact that at this pace, we will barely get any time for Jun's route to be in the "this is now an official relationship" stage, much less anything more explicit (which I'm not entirely sure if is even planned for his route at this point) Yeah, it makes sense - it's just slightly dissatisfying considering all routes will have the same lenght, and this one will have way less affectionate relationship stage content compared to say Sho's.

Alex Waff

That is just your opinion though. Equally a strong case can be made for an abiguous, scarce bad ending. It could go into detail about how life went on after, about how hard it was, about the potential regrets and blame, etc - but it doesn't have to. A simple "And I never saw him again." in the situation just feels final and the exact quick blow you don't want. It leaves you dissatisfied it just *ended*, and with your imagination able to create many scarier ideas of what happens after than simply pointing them out could. The art was about right, we got a whole new CG. That's even less of a concern considering CGs are being added for older scenes retroactively as well.

Alex Waff

Come on, that cliffhanger was just rude. See y'all in 3 months, I'm going to go eat my sadness away >:'(

Alex Waff

This update lacked in terms of art (even was delayed because of that), and breaks a bit the realism within the story, an ending, even if it is bad, need to have more context than the silhouette of a character in front of a car prior a black screen and "I never saw him again". If this is the ONLY bad ending that this route is going to have then it need to be REWORKED to match the quality of the story and the quality of your work. If you are planning to add a lot of alt endings and this is just one of them, I could understand it a bit more. Either way i dont think that this VN is following that path, so please consider my opinion about this update for future updates.

Xaniel Skys

Like with every Tennis Ace update, this is well-written and I can feel the characters' emotions during any given scene, but I don't know how I feel about the way this update ended. Part of that is that I obviously want these characters to be happy, but I think a larger part of it is that it just felt so unnecessary to me. For some reason, every furry VN apparently needs to have some drama thrown in like this to add some sort of excitement, but often times it just seems forced and not needed. It just came across like drama for drama's sake, and it was offputting. I'm still at the edge of my seat to see what happens next, but this just felt over-the-top for a drama that's still trying to seem realistic despite the anthro characters. In terms of the "bad ending," I feel like it lacked closure. It needs some sort of epilogue. You plugged Password a few days ago, and that's a great example of a VN that adds some form of closure to a character's death. This story is a drama, so it's character-driven, and I personally think it would be beneficial to have scenes of those characters reacting to what happened. "I never saw him again" just isn't a proper way to end a story that is as long as Tennis Ace is. My final gripe is one that isn't exclusive to this update. I understand that this is because the game isn't complete, but it's really frustrating that it's been a year IRL since Jun's confession update and there hasn't been a response given. In game time, that's a few hours, but it's still really demoralizing as a player to not have and still not have that closure on that arc of the story. It'll probably be 2 updates from now, given what happened, before an answer is given to Jun by Yuuichi, and that would make it a year and a half between when the update where Jun confessed was released and when he'd get a response. By all means, you should properly flesh out the story in the way you want, so take as many updates as you feel are needed, but from the point of a player, that amount of time just seems really long for what feels like minimal progress in the story.

I have to see i find fancete how different Jun route is compare to the other one. Yuu is more relfective on himself then say like in Sochi route. Which is a good think it show just how much of a bigger impact he has on him then sochi or kei-san. But like the other...why did you do that and 3 month for seeing what happened next this is tutore.

Meikame

First of all, how dare you? Second of all, how DARE you? (Keep up the fantastic work.)

Sacchi Hikaru

I just finished the update and I'm really happy to see more progress in Jun's story line! I can't get enough of this sweet summer child! But I really need to ask; WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS!? I was all set to walk away from this update feeling warm and fuzzy, as one (usually) does with Jun's updates, but then everything just started happening, like the thing with Jun's... And then at the end with the...! And I won't be until July that we find out...!! GAH! This update hit me like a truck (haha) in the same way that games like "Echo" or "Doki Doki Literature Club!" usually do, like... On one hand, I enjoy when a game manages to subvert my expectations like that and I'm impressed with how well executed this update is, but on the other, stuff like this makes me feel really anxious and now I'm wound up and concerned... Well played, WOTB. Well played, indeed. (Seriously though, AMAZING job with this update! I'm really looking forward to seeing where the story goes from here! The next Jun update can't come soon enough, I'm so excited! Keep up the amazing work!!)

The Mysterious M3tav0X

you did not do that... you did not do tHAT!!! OMG YOU MONSTER, AND NOW WE'RE EXPECTED TO WAIT 3 MONTHS TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXt??!! Anyways it was really well written. I felt almost every emotion as described through out this update... sigh

Allen Walker

OMG my HEART!! I literally froze when that scene came up D: , nevertheless awesome work as always!!

Ray

i can't believe you've done this. i guess its a tad unrealistic to fistfight you, so i'll have to settle with a nap until july........ uh, aside from THAT, i'm really enjoying the main cast tension and slow, naturally awkward feeling headway toward openness in jun's route, and the buildup of yuuichi trying to consciously address his hangups from tanabe/putting in effort in general across every route. a lot of periodically updated stories (weekly manga, other monthly vns, etc etc) can cave to a pressure of wanting to resolve more secondary conflicts a little too fast in order to keep a sense of major progression each update, but you definitely maintain a strong sense for pacing to make the story feel more ultimately satisfying as a finished piece. came for the cute guys, continue to be impressed by someone actually crafting a genuinely good story... about the uh, cute guys. those are still important.

UGDVJHvd,hwfvv this route plays with my heartttttt (Still love it to death tho)

BarkBark

okay, the whole run thing needs to be way, waaayyy longer, i literally didnt even have time to read it let alone react to it good lord.

MasuraGaming

The end of this update was a pain in the heart but I loved it. Thanks.

David G

A key in a good story is the ability of make the reader care about the characters and their struggles and with this is clear how you have built it wonderfully. The way the development lead subtly to that moment is something that is difficult to make in any case. Keep going with the good work and I can't wait to know what's next.

Baku

Wow this blew up my mind reading it! You caught me completely by surprise, and in a rather good way. I can't say I was expecting this type of development but I'm very pleased to be so thoroughly caught off-guard and I can't wait to see where it goes to!

Mkn

AhHHHhHHhHhH July pls come fast ;_; This update was so good! Ahhhh my heart

:D I just finished day 25 and 26 and I can't wait for more! :D keep up the good work :D

I literally squealed when I saw this lol

Ly Lycanroc