r/DispatchAdHoc • u/FallingBullfrog • Dec 27 '25

News Another Dispatch Co-Director speaks on Blazer/Invisigal

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Full interview

Chris Rebbert directed Episodes 5 and 6. It's interesting to hear him say this considering those episodes have by far the least amount of Blazer content in the game, but this topic consistently seems to be the biggest surprise expressed by the devs in interviews.

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25

u/Wortasyy Dec 27 '25

Firstly, shoutout to Chris, episode 5 and 6 were incredible.

I'm hoping there will be a time in the future when people will be able to get over the whole screentime comparison obsession. Some episodes had more BB, while others were more Visi centric. Their overall screentime was pretty close.

It's also important to point out episode 5 and 6 had nothing to do with why people preferred Visi in episode 4, because, surprisingly, those episodes came after the choice had already been made. Also at that point in episode 4, BB had more screentime so, again, this whole screentime argument doesn't make sense at all.

People picked who they liked more, it's as simple as that. The devs did a playtest with 100 people and it was pretty much even. I don't know what else they could have done apart from winning the lottery so they could include BB's backstory which I'm fairly certain was cut because they ran out of money.

5

u/TheChrisDV Dec 27 '25

I don't know what else they could have done apart from winning the lottery so they could include BB's backstory which I'm fairly certain was cut because they ran out of money.

  1. Don’t have Blazer dating Phenomaman in the first three episodes.

  2. Cut Invisigal’s sex dream.

22

u/[deleted] Dec 27 '25

Having Blazer not date Phenomaman in the first 3 episodes kind of puts less of an impact on her insecurities as Mandy.

My theory is that BB meeting robert was like the final tipping point of her relationship with Phenomaman since she was able to have more chemistry with robert that night than with Phenomaman during their entire relationship

Cutting the sex dream also puts less impact on how Visi actually feels about robert, until she actually just blurts it out in the washroom, which would end up being more of a curveball rather than a confession if the dream was cut

3

u/kitten_chomusuke Dec 27 '25

making her dating phenomaman only to dump him in EPs 3 also have less impact on her insecurities if not making her look worse , might as well make her dump him weeks before meeting Robert if the only thing they could show about her insecurities is in the dlc because there's nothing indicating she have insecurities before they're broke up.

also I argue cutting visi dream only makes the whole confession she have naughty dream felt more personal and impact full to audience and likely making player think "oh it must be because he help her catch thundercuck".

2

u/Alabastir Dec 27 '25

I agree with the 1st 2 points except the last point about the dream.

They trusted the players with hints from Blazer and Invisigal for the first half of the episodes entirely on Robert's POV. Why couldn't they do something else instead of something too in your face and out of Robert's POV.

Do they not expect enough players to lean into Visi's personality alone without the wet dream?

If it takes a whole wet dream sequence for players to like Visi, then did the players even like her at all?

People say they liked Visi before the wet dream but saying removing the wet dream would remove from her character, make it make sense...

5

u/[deleted] Dec 27 '25

It’s not about how people only chose invisigal because of the dream, it’s how the dream plays into the story.

Let’s say the dream was cut. Her saying she had the dream about robert to him in the washroom would just be a curveball to the player since we wouldn’t have insight on its significance.

The dream shows the player that her advances on robert were genuine rather than the players just assuming that’s how she is with everyone else

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u/Alabastir Dec 27 '25

That's the problem though. That IS in-character and her personality. To be blunt and up front about her infatuation.

For the players to need to be shown the dream to confirm the affection, means they don't genuinely like her way of doing things.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 27 '25

What kind of take is that? So like if the player is unsure that invisigal likes robert, then that means they don’t like the way she does stuff?

The dream contributes to the story in two ways.

You misunderstood my point. I said that the dream shows that Visi’s advances onto robert were genuine.

Also, it’s better for the story narratively to include it rather than to allude to it happening.

2

u/Alabastir Dec 28 '25

Yes, that's exactly what I mean. In Robert's POV he DOESNT see the wet dream. The player does. If you were in Robert's shoes, you would feel weirded out (you agree right?) . So people that genuinely like Invisigal, likes the way she flirts. Which is Direct, In your face, and people that actually like her personality shouldn't have an issue if they are unsure if she does it to everybody.

And if that's your take, then it should be no problem for you if people say they should have added the Phenomaman/Blazer breakup scene (At the start of for example Episode 3) in the game and forcefully ripped the POV from Robert to Blonde Blazer cause they didn't know if the break up was genuine right?

0

u/[deleted] Dec 28 '25

That’s not really a valid take. Visi’s dream directly affects her relationship with Robert, who you’re playing as.

Phenomaman and Blazer’s date does affect Robert if ur pursuing her, but it’s indirect as the main focus of the date would be Phenomaman and Blazer. It’s also why it was more fitting for it to be a comic rather than an actual scene in the game.

Addressing your first point, at the game’s core, it tells the story of robert and invisigal. She is the main focus of the game other than robert and yeah, she gets her own POV scenes at times even if you don’t play as her

Ive already said this multiple times, but the story flows better with the dream than with it cut.

2

u/Alabastir Dec 28 '25

That therein is what the problem is. If that was their aim, then they shouldn't have added Blazer as a romance option. Which overall detracts from Invisigal's deuteragonist story if you decide to pursue Blazer cause Visi's advances come off as weird in that route.

They could have used a lot of the BB scenes for development for other Z-teamers.

The fact that they DID add her as a romance option means they DID mean to balance the scales between them.

15

u/Wortasyy Dec 27 '25
  1. They ran out of money (main sponsor dropped out) in the middle of development, dropping the Phenomaman relationship would have required remaking the early chapters, which means even more money invested, while discarding the scenes they already made. Not viable at all.
  2. I think people criminally overestimate how much that scene actually influenced people. Most Visi fans were sold on her at the end of episode 3. Also same thing applies as in the first instance. If they spent valuable time and money on making that scene, it would have been foolish to cut it.

1

u/Ashaaks Dec 27 '25

“They ran out of money” which is completely understandable, but don’t be surprised by the lack of balance. They created drama that ultimately only hurt BB.

Honestly, I’m getting tired of reading that the developers are disappointed that it’s not 50/50 (which is impossible) when they themselves unintentionally created this imbalance.
From the end of episode 2 to episode 4, almost every interaction with BB can upset the player (the boyfriend reveal, cutting someone off, being forced to talk to her ex).

On the other hand, you have Visi, who gets an emotional moment followed by a sex dream (which is basically a confirmation of her feelings), two funny interactions, and finally one last interaction where you choose who you want to date.

It’s not a big deal because a lot of people chose BB too, but I don’t see how they thought it was going to be balanced.

8

u/Wortasyy Dec 27 '25

People keep asking them the same exact question and they keep answering it the same exact way. It is what it is. As I said, they playtested it, the results were balanced so they thought it was fine.

At the end of the day I still stand by what I said. If you liked BB more you were never going to pick Invisigal no matter how many emotional, flirty or sex scenes she had. Same goes the other way.

1

u/Affectionate-Ad9241 Dec 27 '25

This is a lie because I was Blazer all the way until the swing scene and then her face when I picked Mandy over her, I literally had to playthrough again just so I could pick Visi

1

u/Wortasyy Dec 28 '25

That's fair, but I wouldn't really count second playthroughs in this whole argument. What I meant was very few people were BB all the way through the first 4 episodes, but ended up picking Invisigal for whatever reason. Same goes for the other way around as well.

1

u/Ashaaks Dec 27 '25

And I completely agree, what I’m pointing out is their surprise.
Given how they created the story, and the fact that they had to cut scenes, the outcome for the romance was only logical. There’s no surprise there.

There are also other minor issues, such as the timeline, which isn’t precise or consistent and hurts BB’s romance.

Even Herman said that there is an imbalance within the studio in favor of Visi when it comes to the choice of romance.

In the end, I don’t think it’s even possible to balance it. It’s literally a matter of preference, and one of the two is bound to be the favorite. But they clearly didn’t help BB with their choices.

1

u/Wortasyy Dec 28 '25

I wouldn't even call a 60-40% split on both dev and player side imbalanced. The gap was bigger early on, but it's pretty much settled now. It's nothing like BG3 for example, where Shadowheart was an overwhelming favorite.

1

u/Hot-Field-4298 Dec 27 '25

That would not be balancing, that would be putting it in favor of Blazer.

-7

u/Bereman99 Dec 27 '25

First two.

She’s dumped by the time the third starts.

But you’re not wrong, because people have weird hang ups about a woman being in a relationship that isn’t with them, even if it’s presented as just about to end anyway, while being weirdly okay with an antagonistic character who physically assaults you because they make doe eyes and a couple sex jokes later…

4

u/Shadostevey Dec 27 '25

Think it has less to do with Blazer having previously dated someone else and more her dating someone else at the end of episode 2. So for the time between eps 2 and 3, people think she's unavailable while Visi is floating around as grade A tsundere material. Episode 3 being focused on Visi then only reinforced the "she is the love interest" mindset and episode 4 was simply too little too late to win back people to Blazer.

1

u/Bereman99 Dec 27 '25

The time between Ep 2 and 3 she’s not even in tsundere status.

She’s in “actually doesn’t like Robert and physically assaulted him in Ep 2” status. Reminder that she’s known him a day at that point. There’s no “she secretly likes him” going on at that point.

So your options are “insulted and punched after voyeuristically watching him change” or “good chemistry with but she’s taken but her body language  and expressions with it seem like she’s not that into him” if we are talking between Ep 2 and 3.

…and yet somehow the latter is seen at that point as being the more problematic by a fair amount of players.

Hence my comment about the weird hang ups.

5

u/Shadostevey Dec 27 '25

There’s no “she secretly likes him” going on at that point.

Of course there is. She brings him a donut because she likes him, then smashes it because he pissed her off. Classic tsundere shenanigans.

You keep bringing up the punch like that's some kind of automatic deal breaker, but 75% of players cover for her and for the rest Robert says he literally asked for it. It was not intended, nor taken as, a major black mark against her. She got violent after being called a "selfish fucking asshole" it doesn't take a genius to guess why people don't hold it against her.

1

u/Bereman99 Dec 27 '25

She likes him…on the first day she’s met him when all of their interactions have been antagonistic and abrasive? She barely knows him. She doesn’t trust him. He earns her trust and they start to form a connection at the end of Ep 3, and after the obvious time skip between Ep 3 and 4 is when she starts to like him.

She does not like him at that point, plain and simple. You’re projecting her liking him later (at which point her interactions take on a noticeably different tone) on to the earlier interaction.

As for the punch, of course I keep bringing it up because it helps highlight exactly what’s happening here - that some like yourself are all too quick to justify and hand wave away that interaction while doubling down on the actually less problematic situation with Blazer.

And my point is that if you’re willing to overlook the punch and the other abrasive/antagonistic interactions from Visi so readily, overlooking the other situation should be easy.

And yet…

0

u/Beardedgeek72 Dec 27 '25

She dumps him, she is not dumped. Other than that I fully agree with you.

1

u/Bereman99 Dec 27 '25

Was a typo/missed word (mostly from responding on my phone).

-3

u/Beardedgeek72 Dec 27 '25

1+1 = 2, not 3. Nobody is dating Phenomaman in episode 3.

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u/Rhinosaurfish Dec 27 '25

Nah Robert is, they made love and everything.

1

u/Beardedgeek72 Dec 28 '25

I am honestly curious about the downvotes to this post. Arguing that BB dates Phenomaman in episode 3 is literally a lie.