honkai star rail

honkai star rail: the importance of implication, queer subtext and dynamics

aglaea’s characterisation / ramble

aventurine character analysis (with aventio)

genshin impact

nod krai’s slavic/baltic name references

natlan’s character design overview/critique

the problem with natlan / sumeru (colourism/racism)

obey me shall we date

my personal take om! sorcerer society

failed replaced!MC au - part one

failed replaced!MC au - part two

unanswered questions in obey me (nightbringer)

my biggest obey me (fandom/writing) icks

rant about my favourite obey me characters

things every obey me player would like

baldur’s gate 3

baldur’s gate 3 relationship with the fandom

love and deepspace

love and deepspace fandom critique

date everything

houseowner that starts dressing less sexy

miscellaneous

“annoying gays” aren’t the problem / the problem with straight self-entitlement

FEEL FREE TO SKIP TO LAST HEADER TO READ RERIR ANALYSIS, I YAP A LOT LOL

☾ ⋆ WHAT MAKES A GOOD VILLAIN?

A good villain is, technically, entirely subjective. What I personally believe makes a good villain, can be completely different from what you consider a good villain. However, that is not to say there isn’t a set foundation that, while not necessarily needing to be followed closely, paves way for a villain that is impactful.

First, we have to understand the difference between a villain and an antagonist. Antagonists do not have to be bad people (immoral), they simply have to go against the protagonist in a way that makes you empathise with the MC more. They are there to provide tension and conflict, not necessarily strife and violence.

Villains, on the other hand, are either amoral (indifferent/being without moral principles) or immoral (directly going against known morals). They use underhanded tactics, lie, cheat, steal, kill etc. That does not mean that all villains are malevolent monsters; sometimes they can be the only people that see the 'true' side of a conflict, but their methods and actions are destructive and dangerous.

For this circumstance, I’m going to be specifically referring to villains that are created with the intention of being ‘irredeemable’ antagonists. People who do heinous acts for entirely heinous and or selfish causes without care about the damage or harm, and go directly against the main protagonist.

With that in mind, to make an irredeemable villain, they must have these qualities:

Be a foil to the protagonist; they have to be a direct antithesis to whatever the main character stands for and the actions that they take. For example, the crab (Tamatoa) from Moana, contrasts Moana’s character. He is selfish and greedy, and is blinded by luxuries of gold: while Moana consistently chooses her people, nature, generosity, and love. More classically, Macbeth and Macduff; while Macbeth is a King of entirely false and facetious beginnings, and whose character relies on deception, Macduff is deliberately naïve, trusting, and a righteous ruler according to nature. 

The story must not try and convince you of the villain’s ability to change; an irredeemable villain is supposed to be dogmatic. Their morals are dormant, actions are selfish and often vile. This does not mean these characters do not do things because they are forced, or because they have a tragic backstory, but the important distinction is that, despite it all, they continue the cycle of violence and sacrifice without care for consequence. Some examples being AM (I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream), an Ai filled with absolute contempt for humanity and tortures a select few for eternity; and, Jack Horner (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish), a comedic villain who’s purely evil because of unjustified greed.

☾ ⋆ PROS OF RERIR’S CHARACTER

Now, I do not think Rerir was made with intention of being irredeemable. Not because of some exemplar, complex writing, but because they had every intention of trivialising his crimes for a weak plotline. Which is pathetic. 

But this is supposed to be about his positives, so let us go over that first. 

His entire backstory is disgustingly evil; an inhuman, violent, and callous sinner who rips apart realms searching selfishly for a way to meet his old lover; a man who brutally committed a genocide against a race of people because of their blood, due to being told to by a higher persons. His bloodshed was not limited to the elderly, to adults, or even teens; but stretched onto children too. Sounds dangerously familiar, doesn’t it? It is that grotesque mirroring of real world horrors that makes him so perfectly vile. 

That entire sequence of us going through Rerir’s memories, watching as the age lowers from twenties to a single digit? Genuinely, absolutely haunting. To top it off, we even get a glimpse of him speaking to one of these victims; a child who pleads for mercy, wherein Rerir laughs in his face. That action alone should prove a detachment of pity and morality from Rerir as a character, in turn, then, painting him as a true, evil and irredeemable villain. 

☾ ⋆ WHY HE IS (GENERALLY) NOT WELL WRITTEN

For some bizarre, disgusting, and completely unjustified reason, they spend half of the Nod Krai quest trying to coddle his crimes. They seriously, and unabashedly attempt to pull the “but he was just a man who was simply following orders” line, despite the fact that he allowed one Crimson Moon descendant to escape AFTER finding out that Tholindis, his girlfriend, was also a descendant. He had the capacity of mercy, but decided against it until a COMPLETELY selfish guilt moved him ONCE. 

What frustrates me even more, is that literally no-one in the cast is outraged by this shit? This man MURDERED CHILDREN?? He committed a whole GENOCIDE against a race?? And not one single person in that cast, from Varka who is supposed to be a purveyor of justice and local father figure in Mondstadt, nor Lauma who sacrifices her own health for the sake of sickly Moon Scions, says a WORD about it?? Sure, we got the occasional one liner and a huff of disgust from Nefer, but you’re trying to tell me no-one was more peeved? This is just a reflection of the game’s absolutely horrid writing, they would much rather spend an hour replaying the same information in repetitive, mundane dialogue, than actually explore character dynamics and reactions that reflect their personality. But it also contributes to the casual trivialisation of his crimes (which is, the more specific issue with the lack of reaction apart from my personal grievance LOL).

His love story with Tholindis is pathetic. First, they never got engaged, lets get that out of the way, because it makes me giggle whenever people refer to her as his wife or fiancee; they did not even get engaged yet because she hesitated. They were a very basic and inoffensive couple, right up until the point where they showed Tholindis’ absolute indifference to learning that Rerir was actively killing her (distant) family, and Rerir’s sudden whiny pity that his lover was actually part of the race he was brutally slaughtering. 

This could’ve been interesting. It SHOULD’VE been. It gave the perfect opportunity to explore complex themes of grief, sorrow, and guilt. Instead? It was the same boring, cookie-cutter, utterly pathetic: “I love wife so I must get her back” crazed obsession, sprinkled with the teeny bit of lore about Teyvat's moons.

Now, would that have been bad if they hadn’t attempted to redeem him? No. I actually think it would’ve been super unique and fascinating  to watch two completely selfish, morally reprehensible characters, love each other. But it is the additional layer of Hoyoverse attempting to coax SORROW for these two by trying to portray them as “doomed”? Yeah you can fuck yourself actually because that is utterly disgusting. To trivialise a genocidal, baby-murdering maniac by giving him a SOMEWHAT intriguing romantic attachment has got to be one of the most actively disturbing writing choices I have ever had the misfortune of reading. 

The absolute audacity, after showing us an entire sequence of his bloody, savage carnage and wholly greedy, self-serving desires born from a “love” that had long failed and been let go of by the pursued, to proceed to give us an entire sequence of one of his victims, Columbina, speaking to him, is the equivalence of spitting in my face and telling me to thank you for the water. 

Because what do you mean that only NOW he searches for pity? Only now he feels a tiny bit of regret? Regret that only spawns once he sees Tholindis in the flesh? He fucking feels shame seeing her now??? Thank fuck Columbina gave me the tiniest bit of satisfaction by telling him if he wants her to tell Tholindis about the fact he tried to murder more people, that made me giggle—but then it made me angry at the end, because fuck you dude!!!! Don’t give me this deplorable character only to spend his final on screen sequence trying to gauge empathy for him with some of the worst, most self-pitying wank of dialogue I’ve ever fucking read!! 

⛥ “excuse me, my son needs to take a nap at this time.” or “pardon, my daughter requires my attention." he reaaaaally loves to emphasise the “my” portion…

⛥ while he loves the kid, he is still relatively stern. no swimming after eating for at least a half hour, stand up straight, call diavolo “lord” and not “uncle” in front of company, represent the family responsibly, don’t gorge yourself during dinner—granted, his rules get pushed about with a little too much ease with even the smallest smile from his little baby…he can’t help it. making exceptions for that tiny face is worth the little dignity loss.

⛥ keeps a picture of both you and your child in his wallet right alongside his brothers, all of his beloved family, together like they should be ♡

⛥ lucifer does prefer to keep a lot of his life private, no one in the devildom actually knew he had a child until he gets interrupted during a speech by a very energetic and proud toddler screaming “dad” at the stage. no, he didn’t smile. he was actually really upset. totally…

⛥ somehow, despite your best efforts and carefree lenience, your child still ends up choosing lucifer over you. hey, at least you get a break right?

𝔄𝔳𝔞𝔱𝔞𝔯 𝔬𝔣 𝔊𝔯𝔢𝔢𝔡 ♱ MAMMON

⛥ he basically all ready has a kid, and it’s kind of my hope that they’ll actually bring this up again in the new game because i still think it’s the most adorable fact about him

⛥ like, what do you mean THE avatar of greed is allowing himself to be exploited by witches all for the sake of a sickly, orphaned human girl he found?? and that he’s making sure she gets all the aid she needs even while he’s away? AND the fact he never even talks about this or reveals it to any of his brothers to gloat?? because he genuinely cares???

⛥ this man loves kids to his core, there’s something so sweet about how honest they are that makes the idea of even starting a family with you pop into his mind. if a kid is unfiltered with their words…it means he gets 10x more praise for being absolutely cool, perfect, and amazing (totally not his words, this is just fact, trust me.)

⛥ you know how mammon often sends out MC to troll lucifer because that man is way too softhearted to properly punish them? oh you BETTT he’s doing that with your kid without any shame. don’t worry, the baby gets very lovingly compensated with whatever treat you decided to ban.

⛥ quite literally trains your kid like a crow to help steal shit from his brothers, pretends he didn’t do it and that it’s just the mammon genes, but you know better. what made this significantly funnier though, is that when caught, no one can actually get mad at the child. so, instead, they take the money back and buy the kid something instead. it’s a peaceful negotiation that ends with mammon’s begrudging smile. if his baby is happy, so is he!

⛥ giggles aside, he loves your child genuinely so much he gets mopey about it. sometimes you’ll hear him sniffle during the night while trying to convince you that it’s allergies, all the while he’s scrolling through the album on his phone absolutely littered with pictures of his precious baby… screw having a velcro baby, he’s a velcro dad.

⛥ he’s impossible to take outside for family outings, he complains 24/7 about everything and anything; “the car-seat straps are digging into the baby’s arms”, “it’s too cold/hot to go out anywhere”, “too many people are lookin’”, “we need more snacks”….and so on and so forth.

⛥ you can fully blame mammon for your kid being so spoiled, and blame yourself for how adorably charming they are to be able to convince anyone and everyone around them to give them whatever they want. your genes together are genuinely frightening everyone’s wallets.

⛥ mammon does really try his best to keep your kid grounded at least somewhat. he loves to spoil them and show them off (hey, he FINALLY has something he can hold over his brother’s heads), but mammon is also extremely kind and sensitive. he won’t scold your kid for getting into fights, but will have that sigh of disappointment that hurts worse than being yelled at. he won’t argue or berate them, but will let a silence linger when they’ve said something unacceptable, before calmly explaining that it’s not right. honestly, with his personality? he’d arguably raise the most emotionally intelligent and sweet child ever.

⛥ but also don’t let him play with the kid with any sort of movie or cartoon in the background. that man will be absolutely laser beaming on the screen, probably while sniffling, as the kid sneaks off to find a battering ram to hit lucifer with.

𝔄𝔳𝔞𝔱𝔞𝔯 𝔬𝔣 𝔈𝔫𝔳𝔶 ♱ LEVIATHAN

⛥ oof. now listen i don’t think he’d be a terrible dad, just a very…inattentive one. one that definitely gets a little more than peeved when you spend more time with the baby than with him. he’s not jealous of the kid, just that, once again, he barely has a chance of being alone with you.

⛥ don’t get me wrong, i really love levi, but we gotta be realistic. that man is a BUM. he’s completely fine having children on stardew valley with you, but to have an actual snotty baby that smears crayons on walls and constantly knocks over his figurines? he’d rather just get a cat at that point. preferably another snake.

⛥ you will have to be very firm on who’s naming the baby. he WILL be naming a daughter ‘ruri’, and your son ‘henry’. don’t worry, if you don’t like those, he’s got at least a thousand more anime characters to choose from! he won’t mind whatever you choose, but he will be very pouty about not getting his way.

⛥ he may eventually enjoy the prospect of having a kid though…especially when he has no choice after you have it. it just takes a little longer for levi to actually warm up to the fact he has to pay attention to a vulnerable baby, and his fandom events. don’t ask which one he prioritises more. he’ll cry.

⛥ everyone notices how he’s significantly more tense. tending to lash out more frequently when the guilt of never feeling like he’s enough of a father boils over with his responsibilities and hobbies. it’s too much for any person to handle, let alone a guy who’s only perception of love comes from dating sims.

⛥ i don’t want to go into the biological logistics of a human having a baby with a demon (mainly because i’m lazy), but i will say…he definitely had his tail around your stomach for at least a few weeks. did anyone really know if he was supposed to keep the clutch warm? no, but it was pretty soothing for your sore back, so you’re not complaining! he did end up repeating the same thing with your kid; keeping them tucked in his tail and tugging them back once they wander too far from his lap.

⛥ he really is useless otherwise, and where he does help it’s usually because you told him in explicit instructions…

𝔄𝔳𝔞𝔱𝔞𝔯 𝔬𝔣 𝔚𝔯𝔞𝔱𝔥 ♱ SATAN

⛥ i’m honestly 50/50 with whether satan would have kids or not…

⛥ satan is rather mature, stable, intelligent, and responsible in many aspects of life; but he’s also someone still struggling deeply with his explosiveness and inferiority complex. he knows the logistics, the struggles, the care and help he can provide won’t necessarily outweigh his impatience and fear.

⛥ he can read all the parenting help books all he likes, but he can’t read about nighttime feedings that have you bawling from the soreness. he can’t read about just how much his chest aches when you push him away when everything gets too much. he can’t read about how hard it is to sleep at night knowing your beloved has run themselves ragged with a baby that doesn’t even understand how burdening they can be.

⛥ doesn’t mean he won’t absolutely try his best; propping your body on heavenly light pillows, constant massages to your aching temples and back, with a little healing spell imbued into his fingertips; occasionally, when the pain clearly dawns on you, he’ll quietly transfer the ailments to himself just long enough so you don’t get suspicious.

⛥ he learns to regulate his emotions remarkably better with a baby on hand. he’s meant to be setting an example, if his kid learns all the parts of him that he hates about himself? he’d forever have to deal with watching someone he loves turn into something that isolates them.

⛥ none of that cocomelon bullshit will stand in this house. calm vintage cartoons on the weekend as a little treat, while he spends the weekdays engaging in some puzzles and chatting about his day, winding down each night with his baby scrunched up on his chest as he reads out a children’s book. yes, he does genuinely let out a tear whenever you join these reading sessions, he isn’t afraid to admit that much.

⛥ literally dreads the day his kid says no to his hugs and cuddles. he knows how he was when he was younger, just how horrid and brash his violence could get, and though he has full confidence he raised his child better than that, there is only so much you can do as a parent. newborn phase was definitely his favourite…no emo teen telling you to die…just a little being with a lashing tail, sleeping to the sound of his heartbeat…

𝔄𝔳𝔞𝔱𝔞𝔯 𝔬𝔣 𝔏𝔲𝔰𝔱 ♱ ASMODEUS

⛥ anyone who thinks that asmo would let his child be anywhere online or have their photo taken by his fans is dead wrong, and i am so happy to be proven right in the new game!! that baby is his to hold and see the soft chubby cheeks of! only he’s allowed to throw little photoshoots to take extravagant pictures!! he’s all ready not particularly thrilled when people interrupt your personal dates and quality time together with the flash of a camera, and this gets MUCH worse when you’re all out on a family day together.

⛥ he’d be the opposite of those awful family channels online. until your kid is shoulder height to luke, they aren’t being put in the public eye EVER (except maybe a small cameo of their chubby hand in his…he can only resist so much!)

⛥ he pampers you so hard it’s unbelievable. well, he’s always done that, never letting you have a moment where you didn’t feel your absolute best, but with how daunting parenthood is, he takes special attention to you.

⛥ he loves his little baby yes, but you’re still his first baby—and you get the ultimate priority. he’s got solomon to syphon the baby off to, plus the more reasonable and sensible of the brothers like satan and beelzebub, while he lathers you with attention and care that you utterly deserve. it’s a special kind of pleasure, watching your tightened shoulders relax after hours of cradling the baby to bed.

⛥ it’s asmo, i have to get a little NSFW here. but that man has practically every and any kink, so you bet the whole reason you even ended up having a kid was because the idea of breeding you felt way too good to pass up. doesn’t matter if you can or can’t have kids either, he just loves you so much…and himself. he can’t help but get a little overexcited and let himself go ♡

⛥ that kid is the happiest accident asmo’s ever had. listen, he realistically never actually planned to be a dad…he can rut into you all he likes and dirty talk about it for hours—but actually having a living, breathing little baby that follows him around? not really something he thought about until now. didn’t mean he wasn’t super excited!

⛥ he’s fine having however many or little children you want, but i actually think he would prefer to have just one. his love is very easy to expand to hold however many people in his heart—but there’s something so much more special in having a baby that looks up at him with such single minded focus and adoration.

⛥ no, the kid still isn’t allowed in his room. not at all. he loves your child so goddamn much, but if they get into his limited edition makeup with that sweet, innocent curiosity? especially one that they’ve inherited from YOU? mammon would be his first target for the rage that followed.

𝔄𝔳𝔞𝔱𝔞𝔯 𝔬𝔣 𝔊𝔩𝔲𝔱𝔱𝔬𝔫𝔶 ♱ BEELZEBUB

⛥ oh that man wants children BAD.

⛥ i need to get horny here because i just KNOW beel is a massive freak. you cannot hide shit behind that innocent façade…he wished for this exact scenario for absolute ages.

⛥ if you told him you never wanted kids, he would be completely fine with it don’t get me wrong. he is more than content having a big family that includes his brothers, you, and your other friends…but soon as he senses any agreement on the notion of children…he wants IN!

⛥ literally drooled at the thought. you, his family, his beloved everything, the sweet potato to his honey drizzle… with a kid…or two (maybe, if he asks nicely). more food, more joy, and more people to share in the love that you provide.

⛥ strange food cravings? do you mean his meal plans? nothing is strange to this man. same as nothing being too much trouble; if you want that particular hot honey mac and cheese you had at the one restaurant in the human realm several years ago at like 4 in the morning, he will get it for you no questions asked (with a shit ton of extras for the road). he is a ‘little’ weak with food, so cut him some slack when he inevitably sneaks a bite…

⛥ he loves your munchkin so much it’s ridiculous. takes them out everywhere, with your expressed permission, with those cute wrap carriers (that you did have to alter to fit his large torso). nothing feels better than going around searching for the source of a mind numbingly delicious scent, with the sweetest, fattest blob of orange, downy hair breathing warmly against his hammering heart. literally feels like he’s been reborn as an angel again.

⛥ if you thought he was protective over his family then, it gets significantly worse with a baby on board. beel takes great pride in loving and protecting his family. one of the few things he can use his freakish strength for that doesn’t involve carrying tubs of ice cream is the ability to frighten people away. this doesn’t limit itself to you and the child either, his brothers have also found themselves feeling a little less tense when shopping around the devildom.

⛥ WILL set up play dates with luke. not just because that’s also his little munchkin, but because he needs some of those baking skills to transfer to his kid…it’s for the right cause, okay? think about all the failed cookies he could eat as a treat (˶‾᷄ ⁻̫ ‾᷅˵)

𝔄𝔳𝔞𝔱𝔞𝔯 𝔬𝔣 𝔖𝔩𝔬𝔱𝔥 ♱ BELPHEGOR

⛥ no, just hell no.

⛥ belphie would think about putting himself up for adoption before ever having children. like, he loves you, but this love has certain limits…

⛥ HE is the uncle that comes around once a year to visit his brothers’ kids, offering gifts and money so he becomes the family favourite. probably gets a little territorial over them like cows do wit their young. but i cannot imagine this bum ever wanting to have kids, or being a parent that is entirely present and not dependent on you to do majority of the labour.

⛥ obviously if you do end up having a kid by accident, he’ll try to take some level of responsibility, and granted, any child left with him would be safe and cozy…but are you sure you want to manage a rowdy, clingy toddler with a guy who is the youngest in the family?

before we start, i also really want to go over a few points i kept seeing. no, ntt solmare isn’t a small, broke company that requires all the help they can get. they’re one of the richest global game companies out there, trust me when i say they’re doing more than fine, they’re just greedy. they don’t have the ideal love for this game and franchise like the fans do. second, trying to hide from the criticism is just anti intellectualism and i sincerely do not want to hear any insane glazing from people who can’t handle the slightest bit of heat against their favourite game. i understand it may be upsetting, but i am also a consumer, and a consumer who definitely deserves better than pure money-grabbing slop.

i didn’t have too high hopes for this new game, mainly with them advertising it as a “lifestyle” app which quite literally no one wanted. this is a visual novel game by definition, i do not care about checking what the weather is or the time, i have my phone for a reason. that, and the fact they announced the game and ONLY took a few months to actually…do everything? anyone with an ounce of knowledge in video game development would tell you it’s much better to delay a release than let out low-quality garbage on time.

i reserved my full judgement until fully playing and finishing at least two routes, and i can really safely say that if you enjoyed the first game, and maybe even the second, the third will significantly disappoint you..

THE ART / COSTUMES / OVERALL DESIGN

the card art-style is genuinely so generic and boring i cannot imagine anyone actually getting excited to pull in the wishing system. not only that, but the stories attached to these cards aren’t worth the trouble, especially now that you have to get the same card twice to even read the full story (with the entire story lasting like minutes max). maybe it’s just the nostalgia of the old games where there was always plenty of different artstyles that you could enjoy, but that aside, i just hate how utterly static and uninspired the compositions and colours are. i understand that there have only been limited cards released so far, but first impressions for a game quite literally are the most important one. if this is what we’re to expect every update, why in the world should i even consider pulling???

i probably wouldn’t have minded the same artist for all the art if it weren’t for how generically anime it is (no offence to the artist, but i’ve got eyes and i’m allowed to have my opinion), WHB has the same artist (or at least two with a similar style) that do all the card artwork, and i’m never bored or dissatisfied because their style is genuinely so unique and pleasing to look at, with the composition and content of the card actually being different from all the other characters. right now, it seriously just looks like any other gacha anime game.

now, the costumes and the character models of the brothers actually appalls me. because are we genuinely being for real??? they didn’t even bother giving some of them bulkier or slimmer builds, they are quite literally reusing the same model just redrawing their facial features and hair—i think that became even more blaringly obvious in the new valentines outfits where, when put side by side, everyone had the same goddamn look from the waist down!!! the animations are also entirely way too stiff, i don’t know how they managed to downgrade the movement and breathability of the characters despite better technique and tech out there, but they amaze me yet again.

which also brings me into a whole other spiel: the gothic and occult stylistic elements and aesthetic have completely disappeared. aside from the usage of a black veil instead of the traditional white one at the beginning sequence, everything is so washed…and boring. the original game was so inky, creative, and unique; the usage of a ouija board for the wishing system, since, you know, they are DEMONS, the book/journal for the lessons, the demonic style puns for our world apps and products—all of that charm have been replaced by utter nonsense. everything is flat, bland, and has no proper identity of its own like the original game did.

i hate the new ui and wishing system. not only is it just a massive animation and aesthetic downgrade from the previous game, it’s also just so boring and reminds of the pre release wishing animation genshin had. logically, i understand the reason for the change. in previous games you were summoning them, in this game, you already have them, so there’s no need for ritual stuff—but stylistically? it’s awful. i really would’ve preferred if they tried to tie in a wedding theme to the wishing animation and aesthetic. maybe something like a jewellery box that showed different rings? with the colours of the brothers showing who you got with bland ones being miscellaneous items? oh my god the wish pool clothes suck so bad. it’s just the same brightly recoloured jeans, shirt, and socks. sorry to sound like a broken record, but are we SERIOUS?? who in the world is this intended for. i barely got joy trying to farm materials to get clothes in infinity nikki despite how gorgeous the outfits are, you think i want to spend my time getting the most basic png clothes that barely match the characters??

CHARACTER RELATIONSHIPS / CHARACTERISATION

before anyone goes:

- “but it’s really hard writing for multiple characters like this!”

deadass, literally no one asked for them to release the game so early. i would’ve happily waited a year, or even several, for them to actually give us a substantial amount of content for each brother. it is entirely on them that they decided to publish such a huge project barely half baked. if that’s the quality and energy they’re going to provide us, i am more than willing to judge them based off this decision.

all the interpersonal relationships have been completely rendered to either nothing, or back to their roots. there has been no development between the banter and platonic friendship between the characters, they’re still using mammon as a crutch for “comedic bullying”, and as soon as you get engaged to a brother, the rest become 2D NPCs with little personality aside from “congratulations, i’m so happy for you, anyways here’s a random plot development”. call me a whore, but this also falls on the fact they made the character relationships completely exclusive with the MC, belittling their other relationships to make it seem like every brother has just a completely one track mind for MC—granted some of them do, but seriously, they still LOVE the others, including characters like simeon, solomon, and luke.

i want poly MC back, idgaf that it would be difficult or that the purpose of the game is to deepen your bond with the brothers individually—we aren’t doing that at all, so what’s the point in separating them? plus, as mammon so eloquently reminded the MC, they are DEMONS!! literally what care should they have for shit like this??? all the brothers flirt with the MC in front of the others and outwardly talk about loving them romantically, DUDE LUCIFER KISSES US IN FRONT OF EVERYONE AT THE END OF NIGHTBRINGER. why in the WORLD would these demons suddenly go: “oh okay no more MC”, they literally adore them.

- barbatos: holy shit, i think his character in this game gives me some of the most grief. they really are trying to convince us that THE barbatos was utterly discontent with his duties at diavolo’s side. THE BARBATOS. you know, the one that constantly asks about how the MC feels about dia, the same guy who was really peeved at being away from him while he was helping MC with their sorcerer trial, same guy who assures dia that he simply loves caring for him, who refuses to use his elite powers because diavolo said so, who knew little d number 2 was lying about being ill and still stayed to aid him to let dia participate in the RAD tournament, who came up with an excuse to let dia quietly confess his feelings for the MC, who had a full blown panic attack and meltdown to the point of sickness when diavolo went missing in the human world. YEAH THAT BARBATOS, apparently HATED his role as a steward??? sorry, excuse me, NO! and now you’re also trying to tell me he dipped from his duties, got “”replaced”” by satan (more on that soon), and went to gallivant with SOLOMON to possibly find diavolo’s father?? the intention tracks, i guess, but that completely contradicts what they’re trying to sell about how he “hated” his work!! why would this same man then go search for his ex-boss’s dad?? with SOLOMON of all people?? the same dude we’ve established he still feels anger with (that itself is super funny, i do love how the reminder of their petty history together in the NB timeline impacted him and made him sour).

- satan: now why is this man the first consul. i’m not saying that because i don’t believe he’s capable, satan is extremely intelligent, well read, and has a large amount of connection that makes him likeable, and therefore perfect for the role—but it’s the way he earns it that bothers me. lucifer straight up dumps his duties onto satan in both his own route, and in satan’s. with utterly no care for how these duties would even impact his time with MC the same way he thought about it in his own route!! also why in the world would satan accept these duties from LUCIFER? as DIA’S right hand man?? not only is it completely nonsensical for number 1 dia glazer to do that, it makes no sense that satan, with his horrid identity complex, would suddenly be completely content taking on this role after lucifer of all people. satan’s entire character is about wanting his own separate identity aside from being lucifer’s anger, why is he suddenly accepting lucifer’s duties??

- lucifer: diavolo’s dicksucking companion suddenly leaving his side to be with the MC, leaving all his brothers behind for the quiet life…that is NOT MY MAN!! the rejection of being diavolo’s right hand man even after resolving that arranged marriage bullshit was totally out of character. lucifer chooses diavolo all the time, he is quite literally indebted to him to this day, and has grown to enjoy his role even with the grievance of the abundance of duties. he does NOT hate his job, he hates the overworking but that’s entirely HIS character trait, not entirely related to his work. i suppose you could excuse it by saying he might want more for himself or whatever, but i wholeheartedly reject that idea. he. hasn’t become more than diavolo’s friend or confidante, or more than an older brother, he’s just the dude MC is married to now. lucifer leaving the house of lamentation ooo that makes me SO angry y’all don’t understand. lucifer would literally NEVER DO THIS?? lucifer still contains some of that deeply rooted PTSD and trauma of losing lilith, and nearly losing all his brothers in the process. nearly all of NB (and early og game!!) is spent convincing him that you as the MC don’t want to harm him, and in fact just love him and his family. he is SO protective of his family, he nearly kills MC several times for the sake of his brothers, he holds such love for them its inconceivable he would be so easily content with abandoning all that he loves because of MC. if they truly wanted the brothers to split up like this, lucifer would undoubtedly be the last to leave. but i also just see utterly no problem in them just…linking the new rooms and stuff to the same home like they did serenity manor? i know that’s probably an unpopular idea, but to split up and completely abandon the found family trope all to make them exclusive for MC?? that’s just not the heart of obey me as a whole.

- mammon: mammon being somehow jealous of lucifer his entire route is ridiculous!!! not even for the fact that these characters are supposed to have matured, so using cheap jealousy to ignite the story, is super weird and devoid of substance, but also for the fact mammon of all characters is one of the VERY few that understands that lucifer isn’t perfect. he quite literally acknowledges several times in the story how lucifer overworks himself too much, tells him repeatedly to chill out, he’s also one of the only brothers that lucifer trusts with his duties when he himself isn’t available!! they both have really implicit trust and respect for each other, why in the world is mammon suddenly so >< but do you love me more than lucifer tho… also stupid for him to assume that MC, who has clearly chosen him at this point, would suddenly fall for lucifer, since we established that demonic tendencies clearly don’t attach to romance. you’d think with mammon’s character he would know lucifer would never try to steal MC from him???

- solomon: this isn’t really a grievance or con, more just an annoyance. HELLO? WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR TRAINING, PROFESSOR? we left the last game learning that MC’s healing/defence powers are extremely strong and spontaneous, making them rather dangerous to the devildom and possibly to others, and i might be just misremembering since it’s been a while since i’ve read the NB story, but i don’t think we ever even brought this up again?? we just went through that moon debacle and said MC is as strong as solomon, then boom end of. hey sir, MAYBE HELP?? if we are such a risk to people with how volatile and potentially violent our powers are, you’d think solomon would resume teaching us? i really hope THAT is the reason he’s started to wander again, to find a way to control and make MC’s powers more stable, but i highly doubt it.

as a whole, they focused way too much on fanservice and one liners than actually making a cohesive or even heartfelt story.

MISSING PLOT / LORE

being thrust into a massive timeskip where they’ve graduated, are in the process of crowning diavolo (except he’s already legally the king), passed the law to let them get married with apparently no resistance from the house of lords—this is quite literally terrible writing. we didn’t even get an opportunity to see them graduating or celebrating finally getting to leave RAD, instead we’re forced to see our life completely change after a six month period of being away from RAD with utterly no development of the characters or their life and routines.

AND DIAVOLO BECOMING KING?? ok, i understand wholeheartedly why. king has been gone for years now, and now he suddenly disappeared. a world cannot just function without a proper ruler for so long, especially since diavolo’s already been making massive decisions by himself anyway, its better to assume his position as the actual king of the devildom, than let them hopelessly wait for a potential return of the previous one. but with how quick we let this unravel, nothing has any emotional weight or impact on the story. we just basically went “hey mc i’m king now btw how’s married life :)” LIKE GIRL?? WHAT? how is this NOT bigger fanfare or complete chaos. how are the people of the devildom not suspicious that they decided to crown a new ruler without any word of what happened to the last? why is the house of lords, an entire place of governance that can easily reject diavolo’s ascension as i will keep reminding everyone, suddenly so okay with him taking on this role? i’m not saying that like it’s impossible, i’m saying that because i want to see the reason WHY they decided to allow it.

none of the “stakes” are good enough to be invested when you know they’re going to be resolved in like two chapters anyway. at least in nightbringer, the issues would stack and get resolved gradually with new problems causing significant challenge—but right now, everything is super linear. it’s just “point A, to point B, problem, resolution, conclusion”.

MISCELLANEOUS / OTHER SHIT

the little merch corner thing sounded fine in theory, but now that i think about for real, i do not understand it in the slightest. i am completely certain they just decided to copy l+ds’s decoration feature but did it in a way they could advertise their own real life merch items. why the fuck would the MC, who lives in the universe with them, just have a corner dedicated to one of the brothers?? it would be made so much better if they actually implanted this into the universe of the game, maybe by letting us decorate our room with the brother or our desk (since they want to copy l+ds anyway).

lifestyle aspect is completely nonexistent, and i’m surprised they even tried to sell this as a point because, once again, who the fuck wants this shit. it barely works in other games, with l+ds kind of implementing it well—but that’s because they’re a 3D game, so they can easily do things like study/work/workout visuals since they’re easier to move about. but i really just don’t understand why they’ve decided this to be a selling point, could’ve easily kept it as a simple visual novel gacha game, maybe letting you decorated your room with the brothers and making interactive chibi versions of them (like honkai impact 3rd, i still love my little chibi elysia).

solmare basically pulling the plug on the otome genre purely to turn around and make another one…yeah they’re shady asf and i have never been less impressed.

PROS / WHAT I LIKE

levi actually got some good character development from what i can see (i didn’t do his route but from the screenshots i could find). i literally loved how he was so angry on behalf of MC during lucifer’s route, outwardly calling him a cheater, telling him to apologise etc. he took on the role of third older brother really well. plus, his little spicy scene where he takes initiative… MHMMM THATS MY BABY ALRIGHT!

solomon’s big wizard hat. i love it. give me more.