- Jul 25, 2021
- 549
- 655
This is an amazing VN. One of the few where I bother to read the plot. But I'm more than a little worried about where it's headed. Having replayed this last episode for a lot of the possible endings, the divergence is massive. Very different people dead (and I don't mean Cass where the fact that she has a way back from the dead is more flashed in neon letters than implied), in jail, being LIs or even just being actual characters known. And that's not mentioning the very divergent position of the MC himself. I don't see how you can merge a lot of these paths without it seeming quite unbelievable, and I've seen VNs die from having to maintain very divergent paths before because the work grows exponentially. But I hope for the best.
As for those complaining of being forced to consummate the marriage - boohoo. While I'm not an NTR (of any kind) fan, this is clearly justified by the story. It would be utterly unbelievable if MC was actually allowed to reject an important political marriage, or get away with not consummating it. The kingdom obviously needs a heir at once. The fact that the author goes enough out of his way to allow us to keep Elin unsullied by (probably) making Lockhart gay and giving us several ways to obtain that goal is already bending the story a bit though it's at least possible given neither of them are ruling a kingdom so questions of a heir can be put off for a while.
I definitely wish there was a Walkthrough mod given how complex the game is, but I've read already how it's hard to do because the game is coded in his native language. Too bad, but that's how it is. URM helps a lot, but given the long term impact of some of those choices it's still pretty opaque what the consequences of your actions will be.
I actually see the discussion of Cass vs. Queen as a sign of the quality writing of this game. Because it's clear that Cass is not a one-dimensional villain, but very much the product of her circumstances (and Queen is a large, but far from the only, part of that). At the same time that does not excuse the terrible things she does anymore than a tough childhood absolves a murderer of responsibility IRL.
I do worry about the clear GoT influences in this last update. While I can roll with a dark story, GoT (the books) died because he went overboard this way and wrote himself into a corner he cannot write himself out of. A good story - fantasy or not - needs light as well as darkness. And your choices this update was from bad to catastrophically terrible. Not much light there.
As for those complaining of being forced to consummate the marriage - boohoo. While I'm not an NTR (of any kind) fan, this is clearly justified by the story. It would be utterly unbelievable if MC was actually allowed to reject an important political marriage, or get away with not consummating it. The kingdom obviously needs a heir at once. The fact that the author goes enough out of his way to allow us to keep Elin unsullied by (probably) making Lockhart gay and giving us several ways to obtain that goal is already bending the story a bit though it's at least possible given neither of them are ruling a kingdom so questions of a heir can be put off for a while.
I definitely wish there was a Walkthrough mod given how complex the game is, but I've read already how it's hard to do because the game is coded in his native language. Too bad, but that's how it is. URM helps a lot, but given the long term impact of some of those choices it's still pretty opaque what the consequences of your actions will be.
I actually see the discussion of Cass vs. Queen as a sign of the quality writing of this game. Because it's clear that Cass is not a one-dimensional villain, but very much the product of her circumstances (and Queen is a large, but far from the only, part of that). At the same time that does not excuse the terrible things she does anymore than a tough childhood absolves a murderer of responsibility IRL.
I do worry about the clear GoT influences in this last update. While I can roll with a dark story, GoT (the books) died because he went overboard this way and wrote himself into a corner he cannot write himself out of. A good story - fantasy or not - needs light as well as darkness. And your choices this update was from bad to catastrophically terrible. Not much light there.
- Feb 8, 2021
- 1,058
- 1,388
All in all, Cass is certainly a complex character but ultimately a "pitiful villain" sort. I'd still say redemption is possible but she'd have a long, hard road ahead of her and she'd likely never be able to hold a position of power again.
I actually think she'd be happier running a food stall in some random town than anything else. (So exile is an option I guess?)
I actually think she'd be happier running a food stall in some random town than anything else. (So exile is an option I guess?)
Perhaps if the MC can spin a story shifting most of the blame on Priscila and her family Cass might have a chance of getting an exile sentence by pleading of being coaxed/fooled into cooperating with the coup. Yeah it's a bold faced lie but no one outside of those directly involved knows the truth and the MC can throw his political weight around even more now that he has been coronated. Hmmm we can get rid of Lockhart too this way I guess, not a bad idea lol.
- Dec 4, 2017
- 4,130
- 10,918
Uhu...and pleading for that seems like something Cass would do ?
Also the MC hasn't much weight to throw arround, he's reign isn't stable, nor has he enough loyal nobels on his side yet, he needs the nobels to fall in line, one way or an other.
The ones which helped him are at the very least mostly loyal to the golden order, or so i would assume, so not sure if pissing them of would be a good choice.
Letting Cass go would likeky piss off many more, add the people of the capital for burning the city down, just not worth it. Plus you would give eventuel rebellious nobels a new figurehead, which i'm sure Cass would make good use off...
Also not sure how belivable such a lie would be considering Cass's reputation and well, she was the leader, so it's her fault what happened, one way or the other, if it was her doing or what her men did.
- Jul 11, 2017
- 20
- 18
- Jan 20, 2020
- 115
- 151
- Feb 15, 2020
- 696
- 1,471
There has been some drama regarding railroading the ending and lack of options, and of this have a few words to say:
By foremost, this update simply was massive. There was four different paths (coup, kill Cass, submit to Cass, or rebel against Cass), and these paths alone make this update a huge. I can't think any other game doing such an extensive plot-branching. Then there are variables such as is the MC a warrior, a mage, or a nerd, not to mention all those minor characters running around. To make this update even more significant, there was a good chance of three major characters to die (Ludwig, Acker, and Cass). Like, what other game has had such a dramatic turn? I can't even think even any TV shows (apart GOT) that is so happy to kill its cast.
As you can understand, because of these variables the Dev had to cut some corners short. I personally agree that there should be more content related to wives, of how they react to coup and so on. Like, Isis should have helped MC to escape from the prison, or the Vampire lady. I was really expecting that to take place but no. Then there could have been some minor options like MC suggesting Isis to use non-lethal poison. Like, why not? Now, it is important here to understand that when it comes to technical solutions there always are unintended consequences. No system is perfect. Do you want an update every 2 months? If yes, then not everything can be taken into account. The branching of the plot is a major challenge, and had there been only one path, say Cass will imprison you no matter what, then all characters and their options could have been included in more extensive manner.
It is indeed quite an irony that more excellent the game is, the more negative attention it gathers. I repeat here myself but this simply was the best update I have ever had in this decadent, pirate porn forum. To make this easier for dev: pay attention only towards those who pay you money. Ignore everyone else. Not all commentors have good intentions, and trust me, there are plenty of those who only want to see you fail! Why? For the sake of failure. Their motivation is envy as you are doing something they are never able to.
By foremost, this update simply was massive. There was four different paths (coup, kill Cass, submit to Cass, or rebel against Cass), and these paths alone make this update a huge. I can't think any other game doing such an extensive plot-branching. Then there are variables such as is the MC a warrior, a mage, or a nerd, not to mention all those minor characters running around. To make this update even more significant, there was a good chance of three major characters to die (Ludwig, Acker, and Cass). Like, what other game has had such a dramatic turn? I can't even think even any TV shows (apart GOT) that is so happy to kill its cast.
As you can understand, because of these variables the Dev had to cut some corners short. I personally agree that there should be more content related to wives, of how they react to coup and so on. Like, Isis should have helped MC to escape from the prison, or the Vampire lady. I was really expecting that to take place but no. Then there could have been some minor options like MC suggesting Isis to use non-lethal poison. Like, why not? Now, it is important here to understand that when it comes to technical solutions there always are unintended consequences. No system is perfect. Do you want an update every 2 months? If yes, then not everything can be taken into account. The branching of the plot is a major challenge, and had there been only one path, say Cass will imprison you no matter what, then all characters and their options could have been included in more extensive manner.
It is indeed quite an irony that more excellent the game is, the more negative attention it gathers. I repeat here myself but this simply was the best update I have ever had in this decadent, pirate porn forum. To make this easier for dev: pay attention only towards those who pay you money. Ignore everyone else. Not all commentors have good intentions, and trust me, there are plenty of those who only want to see you fail! Why? For the sake of failure. Their motivation is envy as you are doing something they are never able to.
Well, that was just an idea for a possible scenario for people that really want Cass to live, not that everything will be sunshine and rainbows after that. If Priscila takes the blame as both the poisoner and the mastermind it opens a way for the MC to intervene in favor of Cass by making up a scenario where she was a pawn in the conspiracy. I mean, what kind of coup mastermind takes the field herself instead of commanding the events from the shadows? It's as Isis says, Cass is actually a weak player that relies on posturing and bluffs to appear stronger than she is, a truly strong player in these kinds of games will stay hidden and most people won't even realize they exist until it's too late, so from a logical point of view it's not that farfetched to convince people that Priscila is the actual mastermind.
I'm more worried about that prophecy in the beginning of the game, killing Cass is probably gonna put us into the highway to a bad ending for sure... and in that vision from that drug Lockhart gives us the red and green coronations also seem to be dead ends.
- Aug 22, 2016
- 1,388
- 2,708
Yes, but both routes are very lackluster/rushed, better take it slow for now and wait for a proper scene in a future update.
- Jul 9, 2024
- 125
- 309
- Feb 19, 2021
- 1,288
- 3,620
- Dear husband, you know, I haven't seen Cass at the castle in a while.
- I killed her a few days ago.
- Haha, your jokes are always so funny.
- Feb 19, 2021
- 1,288
- 3,620
Some of the comments here are naive. People don't seem to realise that stories can't have infinite branching.
The branching as it is is actually quite well designed to overlap as much as possible. I would've loved an option to romance cass and make her feel loved/valued and not coup the king, but clearly that would require massive amounts of extra content going forward. Hence why whichever of the 3 routes you choose wrt the coup all have basically the same outcome. It's a temporary branch that brings everything back together again. We already have game-long branches such as your affinity (mage, warrior etc), LIs etc to worry about.
The 'wives' are necessary for him to fulfil his role as the heir/regent. They need to be consummated for the same reason..... as explicitly stated in the game. There are 2 options. They didn't appear in the last update because it would've required a massive increase in the amount of content and they didn't really serve any narrative purpose.
I'd much rather have a game with 'guardrails' that occasionally irritated me than a game that gets way ahead of itself and takes years between updates... or even gets abandoned because it becomes too complex and slow to develop. I respect the dev for avoiding DrPinkCake-itis. I wish more devs would plan their games similarly. In fact in my review of this game (jun 15th) i even made the point of being careful to restrict branching/complexity, so i'd be a hypocrite if i said anything else.
The branching as it is is actually quite well designed to overlap as much as possible. I would've loved an option to romance cass and make her feel loved/valued and not coup the king, but clearly that would require massive amounts of extra content going forward. Hence why whichever of the 3 routes you choose wrt the coup all have basically the same outcome. It's a temporary branch that brings everything back together again. We already have game-long branches such as your affinity (mage, warrior etc), LIs etc to worry about.
The 'wives' are necessary for him to fulfil his role as the heir/regent. They need to be consummated for the same reason..... as explicitly stated in the game. There are 2 options. They didn't appear in the last update because it would've required a massive increase in the amount of content and they didn't really serve any narrative purpose.
I'd much rather have a game with 'guardrails' that occasionally irritated me than a game that gets way ahead of itself and takes years between updates... or even gets abandoned because it becomes too complex and slow to develop. I respect the dev for avoiding DrPinkCake-itis. I wish more devs would plan their games similarly. In fact in my review of this game (jun 15th) i even made the point of being careful to restrict branching/complexity, so i'd be a hypocrite if i said anything else.
Isis can appear in this update if you are married to her and agree to be the regent while under arrest. In fact, she will kill Cass for you if you tell her to.