Hanako Games

Money earning suggestion

#1 by Greatfox - Jul 6 2013

Well, quite late for any suggestions or questions, but still.

In Horse Hall, there were only a few ways to earn extra cash. I hoped my Mary Sue could intimidate, for example, mall stall owners into paying her for their safety weekly. Or just rob stores or banks. Or something else. Unluckily, these ways of making money weren't present in the game. Perhaps it isn't the thing schoolgirl protagonist should do (then seducing random men and stealing their posessions will do). But since Wolf Hall features a male protagonist, then it would be nice for him to find companions and start making money. Perhaps something ''Oceans N'' style, or something more serious, ''Heat'' style.

Would be nice.

#2 by Mystic Cake - Jul 25 2013

Ummm ok... since I don't see any 'jk' in this or anything, I'm going to respond to this as if it was serious despite how silly the whole premise is. And keep in mind I'm just speaking as a fellow fan of Magical Diary and this is my opinion.

I would think that you could get in some SERIOUS trouble for trying something like that... I mean, Potsdam lectures you if you try and cheat the crane game to get a stuffed bunny, and even then it didn't work because she wouldn't allow it; how do you think she's going to react to you trying to threaten people with magic or stealing with magic?

The logical thing would be instant expulsion along with criminal charges, and it wouldn't really add anything to the game for all the unnecessary work it would make... just seems an overall bad idea IMO, at least for Magical Diary. I'd suggest trying a different game if you're looking to rob banks with magic...

And just because the protagonist is a male doesn't mean it's ok for him to be a criminal. Just sayin'.

#3 by Greatfox - Jul 25 2013

Well, there's a cloak spell, which one can use when one is out of sight. For some thefts at night, perhaps?

And I was not suggesting to rob banks with magic, for the reason you mentioned. Robbing banks without magic may be hard, but I think they can manage. And again, why not to go for something more tricky and silent, like "Ocean's N"?
Also, a gang of young people does not need magic to threaten stall owners.

#4 by Mystic Cake - Jul 25 2013

Again, Potsdam will KNOW. She knows when you try and use Push to cheat at the crane game, she'll certainly know if you try to use Cloak to steal after-hours or if some of her students are shaking down store owners, and she'll DEFINITELY know if someone tried to rob a bank.

And I really don't think they can manage that... adolescent mages that can't use magic because they'll be found out if they do are going to try to rob a bank... yeeeeeah... good luck with that...

Also consider that from Ellen's route, we know that illusion spells like Cloak don't fool cameras that a mall after-hours is sure to have, so... yeah, she'll KNOW, and so will the police. Suddenly non-magical people know about magic, so problems arise.

Add to that, it doesn't really fit with the Magical Diary tone. It's a game about a magic school, not being a magical thug- it just doesn't fit. Like, at all.

EDIT- all of my paragraphs (including this one, if you take out the 'EDIT') started with an 'A' and started with different words. This was not on purpose.

#5 by Greatfox - Jul 26 2013

Well, did you actually read my reply? I did not suggest to rob banks with magic.
Potsdam did mention there are some kind of spell wards that prevent the spell getting a success and alert her. I'm sure that regular robbing and thieving won't trigger any spell wards, so Potsdam will stay silent. I don't know whether the wards will affect Cloak, but you could cast it beforehand.
And, well, being a member of a criminal gang or crew would be nice for the plot.

And I remember cameras being fooled by Cloak at Ellen's experiment, are you sure they are not?

#6 by Mystic Cake - Jul 26 2013

Uhh did you read my second paragraph? I didn't suggest they rob banks with magic either...

Also, Cloak is a difficult spell that takes a lot of magic to keep up- not only does it require really high Blue magic skill, but it takes a lot of mp to use for any period of time (I recall Minnie mentioning that during Ellen's route when she wanted to talk to you and Ellen in secret so she had to use Cloak), keeping it up for long enough to walk to the mall from a significant enough distance that the wards won't affect you, SOMEHOW get into a closed and locked mall at night time without magic, and go around stealing stuff and making your escape, all while maintaining Cloak seems a mighty tall order for a Freshman. Good luck with that.

Of course, all of that is assuming that your character's meager Freshmen-level spells are SOMEHOW strong enough or whatever to NOT be detected by Potsdam, who TEACHES all of those spells to your character and has been doing magic quite a bit longer than them.

It's just... not Magical Diary. Including something like that would alienate people who liked the first one because it was more of a school-based mostly-otome mostly-VN, not because it was Thief or Payday. This is an idea for a different, probably much darker game.

Also, it's been a while since I've done Ellen's route, so I might be fuzzy on the details there, fair enough, I'm not sure.

Though considering our respective opinions are largely moot since Hanako's the one in charge, I'll just end with a suggestion: write a fanfiction with that idea; that way people who don't want this in the game don't need it and your idea comes to life.

#7 by Greatfox - Jul 26 2013

I'm just suggesting to get a unlawful way of getting cash. It should require some right choices done and certain stats needed for success.
Something "Ocean's N" style, with hellish planning and comedy, maybe? It is not dark at all.
As for Cloak, the gang will certainly prepare for a robbery, so one of them might focus on learning Sorcery and increasing his mana reserve to turn the cameras off.
The wards may also be set on the line of sight of someone not familiar with magic, so they could cast these with no one nearby.

#8 by Mystic Cake - Jul 26 2013

Even still, going out of your way to put together a crew and plan a bank robbery for a bunch of high schoolers would take the better part of the year, considering there's still classes and exams to worry about- and assuming that you lay low enough at this stage and SOMEHOW come up with some hare-brained scheme to actually pull off this heist with no magic, no practical equipment since most of it isn't allowed on school grounds and where are you going to get it anyways?, and no real experience... what then? I doubt Potsdam would be so blind that she wouldn't notice a small group of students who essentially bought out the mall soon after a bank was robbed...

Minor thefts? Ok, maybe, even though I still think that's against the general tone and lighthearted charm of Magical Diary, fine, that could maybe add something at least, even if it's not for me; but a bank robbery, with OR without magic is just... ridiculous.

Regardless it's still Hanako's work, not ours, so this whole discussion is largely moot.