okay, outing myself as the 7kpp anon, but i just finished my first playthrough and i enjoyed it so much more than i thought i would.
i ended up going with Hamin in the end and omg i don't know if i can ever romance anyone else 😵💫 his endless barrage of sincere compliments and endearing mischief totally stole my heart. that said im already prepping for my next playthrough with Lyon. i'm going to marry that hyperintelligent recluse with a heart of gold if it kills me.
i played as a jiyel scholar and im excited to try the other backgrounds if only to match wits with lady avalie again but this time from outside the club haha. speaking of backgrounds, i found the way the game wove in your past and personality into each choice and even the flavor text to be so great. i haven't felt this immersed in a vn setting since our life (which is like my number one game of all time, so that's about the highest praise i can give). all the nations and their conflicts with one another felt reasonable and believable, and the work you could put in as a mediator was really satisfying. i managed to broker a peace everywhere but revaire. apparently i didn't even begin touching that plot line if the negotiation and ending slides are to be believed which honestly shocked me because i thought i was pretty on top of all the secrets but that just gives me even MORE incentive to replay.
i think some characters were written better than others but that is a tentative opinion until I've gotten a few more playthroughs under my belt. i was kinda focused on furthering my peace agenda and staying alive this run, so i didn't spend a whole lot of time relationship building, but i still managed to maintain a decent number of friendships. cordelia, penelope and anaele are so dear to me and i will go out of my way to befriend them in every playthrough. according to the matchmaker lord clarmont was also fond of me but i had to let him down easy 😭 luckily we remained friends (until his untimely demise in the revaire ending at least). lyon and emmett also were close to me and emmett is so sweet it should be illegal. overall i look forward to getting to know the cast more in depth.
the game is obviously a labor of love and so enthralling i'm more than willing to forgive the typos lol, especially knowing that a more polished version is coming. i'm excited to revisit it!
(also, i'd love to hear about your first/favorite playthrough as well!)
Yay! I'm glad your first playthrough was enjoyable!! The Jiyel scholar is one of my favourites, along with the Wellin Countess for roleplay reasons, although she's quite difficult to balance imo.
The Revaire plotline is pretty tough! Getting it during a first playthrough would be insane, you'd have to be so lucky, I can't even imagine.
I'd honestly love to hear your character opinions after your first playthrough! I wonder if they'll change going forward. Who did you find fell flat? Lord Clarmont is a sweetie, his backstory is... well, I'm sure you'll find it eventually XD
My playthroughs? Gosh, I think my first playthrough with the demo was in 2016, which is crazy! I was only 15 years old at the time and I'm almost certain I ended up with Lyon although I can't really remember it.
To be honest, I've played so many times they've all blurred into one! I can remember some of my favourite moments though, which I'll give without spoilers. But I enjoyed romancing Ana as the Wellin Countess. I loved romancing Ria with the Hise Pirate. The perfect ending matched with Jasper is really amazing, I loved that, but it's super, super hard to get. It was also fun doing a full evil playthrough with Gisette lol.
I'm generally a sucker for some of the events too, like the midnight picnic and the girls night. And I have solving the murder down to a science at this point.
I won't give any more details in case I spoil something for you, but yeah, there's a lot to love! I want to hear about your initial character opinions though, send them through!
