Spoilery seven kingdoms post

[alias_sqbr]

So! I have done:

Jiyel Scholar
Romanced Ana.
She was really wishy washy because I had no idea what I was doing. Low courage and self defense, luckily Ana didn't mind.

Hise Pirate
Romanced Emmet, Claremont, and Ria
Blunt, noble, brave, good self defense. Always took the "nice to servants" options.
Still hadn't read a walkthrough or anything so I'm pretty proud of myself for managing 3 romances :D (not concurrently, but I didn't have to replay very much) Couldn't ever get Emmet's week 3 date to succeed though for some reason.

Revaire Widow
Romanced nobody. No friends.
Evil and manipulative. My aims were to romance some of the nastier characters (no luck) and see if I could alienate Ana (yes!) It was kind of fun being so awful and watching her fail.

This is the point where I started reading a walkthrough.

Wellen Tomboy
Romanced Hamin
Maximised Charm, Courage, Street Smart

Failed at making an Arland character several times.

Corval court lady
Romanced Ana because nobody else liked me :(
Tried to maximise likeability, Eloquence, Persuasion, flora and fauna, politics to romance Lilse and/or Zarad. Got Penelope's full friendship which is something.

Jiyel scholar #2
romanced Lyon
Maximised book smarts, intelligence, nobility

Revaire Widow #2
Romanced nobody, dammit (though Ana was willing)
Completed Cordelia's friendship and possibly Avalie's (succeeded at her first week event, at any rate) Perfect Orvu game, woo.
Maximised Interpersonal Insight, Courage, Quick Wits, unethical to romance Gisette but failed ;_;

New ones after making this post:

Arland princess
Romanced Emmet and Hamin
Started out a fluffy passive ball of nice, I boosted her nature and courage as the game went on.

Corval lady
Romanced Gisette
Manipulation and interpersonal insight up the wazoo.
The mistake I was making before was using a Revaire widow, the way the dialogue plays out I think that origin may be IMPOSSIBLE to romance her with. Wish I'd upped my insight more during introductions, would have suited the character. Didn't have to be unethical, but have to wonder why an ethical person would date her.

Revaire Widow
Romanced Zarad AT LAST
Also got all the secrets.
Setup questions:
1.Under your spell
2. -
3. political
4. bribed
5. Quickly
6: Things no proper lady would know
7. talk
8. -
9. intelligent
10. -
11. suggest
12. politics
13. -
Weakness: grace
And then I got max insight during the introductions and spent the rest of my time raising the following stats and doing all the castle explorations.
Week one: 25 street smart 150 interpersonal insight, 180 persuasion (ball room)
Week 2: 175 likeability, 125 quick wit, 50 intelligence
Week 3: 300 persuasion (ball room ) 100 book smarts (music room) 150 interpersonal, 150 quick wit
I did any personal invites that came along that would raise relevant stats, this meant I ended up romancing Hamin and Zarad and got the dual thorns achievement hurrah. I also got asked out by Jarrod for the first time thought that fell flat quickly.
My name was Lady Sneakly which was amusing.
Failed to romance Jasper and I can't tell why ;_;

Corval lady
Romanced Jarrod and Woodly
Interpersonal Insight, manipulation, persuasion, and some courage, max insight, saw all Woodly's secret scenes
Hahaha omg these guys are so terrible, I can't believe I dumped Zarad for them (yes I got him AGAIN without even TRYING) Props to the game for making Jarrod so uncompromisingly awful with no ~hidden depths~.

Jiyel Scholar
Romanced Jasper
Maxed out quick thinking until the week 2 Forbidden Quarter scene, super nice to servants, visited my room every week, compromised on my Harmin date, invited servants to events.

Lady Qwerty of Jiyel
Fell off a cliff
Chose the first option every time unless there was another option to skip content. Somehow passed my introduction haha.

Hise pirate
"Romanced" Lisle AW YEAH
Also won the boat race and impressed the matchmaker, woo
Was as likeable as possible, maxed Eloquence and beauty until they were super high then evened myself out with etiquette, charm and academics. Invited the siblings to a musicale, a boat race, and a midnight picnic. Gave them the perfect presents. Got me a cute gay husband aw yiss. Also a cute maid girlfriend, I assume she actually got dumped when I chose Lilse but the demo doesn't show it so it isn't my canon. Hopefully there will actually be some way to marry Lilse and romance Ria (or Gisette/Woodly assuming someone could get along with both haha) even if game mechanics mean you can only see one path.

Remaining aims: ALL DONE
Arland character
Emmet date week 3, romance Gisette, Zarad, Woodly, Jasper, Lisle, Jarrod (he's so awful this is a low priority)
Other interesting looking achievements: die (I have avoided challenge mode thus far but will give it a shot for this ;)), figure out who's trying to assassinate me

I can NEVER seem to succeed at Zarad's date. I've yet to make it my to priority though. EDIT: Done! AND I WASN'T EVEN TRYING THAT TIME.

I liked all the romances I've done. Claremont's started well but didn't quite click with my characters. Lyon and Ana are pure catnip for me so I can't judge objectively, but I think Ana was better. Hamin's not my usual type but the relationship with a tomboy was a sweet match. Avalie is great, very sad she and Penelope aren't romanceable. Meanwhile I felt weird romancing Ria, she's nice but the power imbalance is huge, though it felt less weird as a thing I stumbled into by accident because my character was just that nice. EDIT: Arland Princess/Emmet works really well since they know each other already. Jarrod and Woodly are terrible but amusingly so.

The backgrounds are nicely varied. It's hard to say what I think of the plots without knowing how they play out, but they are all interesting. I'm especially worried for my poor Jiyel scholars!

Comments

[ember_keelty]

I'm so glad you're playing this game as obsessively as I did! :D Ana and Lyon are also my favorites (though I also like Gisette and Hamin a lot, even though Hamin really isn't my type either), and I had that exact problem with Ria's romance. I think I wouldn't be so put off by the inherent power imbalance in your roles if she weren't also so worshipful of you and insecure in her own worth. As it is, I'm not sure I'll be able to stomach her full route, which is a shame because she's really cute.

Tip for Arland MC: Be as demure, obedient, unthinking, dependent, ladylike, and etiquette-following as possible all through character creation. Basically you don't want any stats that would help you get by on your own or get your way through underhanded means. (Also, her third week date with Hamin is really sweet. Highly recommended!)

Tip for Jasper: Think about where you might hang around to spend more time with him, and then use the Explore Castle option to do that.

Tip for the assassination mystery: Think about when and where someone might have arranged something like that with the man of all trades, and then use the Explore Castle option to go there at that time.

Tip for Gisette: You can be ethical and romance her if you max out your Manipulation at the beginning of the game - this will allow you to lie without getting caught, and also to see through her week one event. It will also give you a good boost to Persuasion, which is what you're going to need to impress her anyway.

Tip for Zarad: In character creation, take people-watching as your "extracurricular activity". That's basically the only way to pass his event.

DO NOT READ ABOVE POST

[ember_keelty]

Oh oops, I didn't see in your other post that you still didn't want advice. DON'T READ THE ABOVE UNTIL YOU DO I'll just leave it there in case you want it later so I don't have to retype it out.

Re: DO NOT READ ABOVE POST

[alias_sqbr]

Nooo it's cool, between my first and second post I got stuck, one of the reasons I wrote this was to get my thoughts in order so I knew what to ask you about.

And now thanks to your comment I have successfully created an Arland princess and seen the Harmin scene (which is indeed very cute!), though in the end I was happiest with Emmet because of the childhood connection.

jumps back into the fray

[alias_sqbr]

Thank you this was all incredibly helpful!

I have achieved most of my goals now (see edited post above) but I STILL can't get Jasper's romance to work and don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing with Lilse.

With Jasper, I know you have to visit your room every week, and am always nice to servants in case that helps. I've also tried it with all the secrets seen. I've gotten to the point where he gives me a gift, and also where we discuss the assassination, but not the final scene. Was he put off by me going on a date with Hamin even though we reached a compromise?

With Lilse I did his and Penelope's initial dates fine and then it just stopped.

Sorry for all the questions! If you don't know the answers that's totally fine you have already made the game more fun.

Also, OMG Gisette, Jarrod and Woodly are all so terrible I love it.

[ember_keelty]

Huh, I'm actually not sure what you're doing wrong with Jasper. It sounds to me like you should have been able to unlock his not!confession scene, which would have clued you into the final thing you need to do to get on his route. ETA: Wait, do you introduce yourself in a friendly way at the very beginning? I think that might be a requirement. Also, compromising with Hamin is exactly the right thing to do. And you only actually need to visit your room at least 2/3 weeks (the first OR the second, and then the third before the Matchmaker's breakfast).

For Lisle, you need to max out his friendship to unlock his week three date. Try being chummier and less polite, if you aren't already. ETA: If you are and that's not working, try inviting him to events and making them as awesome as possible. Also, give him the comedy novel for the Matchmaker's breakfast.

[alias_sqbr]

Hmm! Well, I got Jasper's romance to work, and while Lilse's didn't I was concentrating more on Jasper so I'll give him another go. Thanks!

[alias_sqbr]

I DID IT. I have now romanced everyone, hurrah! Also died and won the boat race, woo (not simultaneously). Thank you for your help! Not sure what I was doing wrong with Lilse but I just made myself SUPER LIKEABLE and invited him and Penelope to EVERYTHING and that won him over.

[ember_keelty]

Yay, congratulations! I actually haven't romanced everyone, largely because I find some of them too distasteful, though I'm guessing my total playthroughs are still more than yours. Are Ana and Lyon still your favorites? Throw any more perfect events? Ever manage to get a critical success on the second Matchmaker visit (that was by far the most satisfying achievement to me, especially when I finally managed it in challenge mode)?

From what I understand, it will be possible to romance Ria and marry Lisle if you take the political marriage path, though you'd only be seeing Ria's path, and for all I know marrying someone else might lock you out of her ending. It will be interesting to see!

[alias_sqbr]

I have this completeness thing with romances. Also I'm writing a really terrible LI for Copper Rose so it was nice playing someone else's terrible LIs to compare. I am curious to see if they get any pushback when the complete game comes out, asuming the narrative stays as unsympathetic to the terribleness as it has been so far. People get very invested in their traditionally happy romantic endings.

Are Ana and Lyon still your favorites?

Of the romanceables, probably. I have a soft spot for Woodly and Gisette's TERRIBLENESS, but wonder what it will be like to have a whole game of them, let alone Jarrod. I was cackling for much of it but I have an odd sense of humour.

Throw any more perfect events?

Yes, I think I did a perfect musicale. Of course I have the advantage of being able to spend all my money without worrying about anything past week 3, which will not be the case later. Winning the boat race as captain was super satisfying, especially since I wasn't trying very hard.

Ever manage to get a critical success on the second Matchmaker visit?

Nope. I'm not 100% sure I've even actually passed properly, though she did express admiration for how popular my Likeability maxed character was.

I think seeing Lilse's week 3 date then romancing Ria and marrying Lilse would work pretty well, then.

[ember_keelty]

Ahaha, makes sense! For me, Ana >>>>>>> everyone else, but I also really love Gisette's terribleness and plan to romance her on my requisite evil playthrough in the full game, as well as see if she can't be reformed by a not evil but highly manipulative character. I'm also quite fond of Hamin and Lyon, though! I really like having Clarmont and Emmet as friends, but not so much as love interests. Maybe Clarmont's romance will work better with the Rebel Leader background, if that makes him treat you more as an equal rather than someone he wants to unilaterally protect. I also feel like he'd be a good match for Penelope, especially if he comes out of the summit with a much higher title than he went in with.

Aly has hinted pretty strongly that Jarrod's romance path is going to have an ending as terrible as the rest of it. She's mentioned that he can be reformed — but only if you max out persuasion and strike up a friendship with him. Which rather precludes being on his romance path, since that scene only happens if you reject him. I've never managed to get my persuasion high enough any way — maybe I'll try it in the full game when I've got the New Game + bonuses and the special Weaver background that's specifically geared toward that sort of thing.

[alias_sqbr]

treat you more as an equal rather than someone he wants to unilaterally protect

That would be good, yeah.

And haha for reforming Jarrod being mutually exclusive with his romance, I like it.

[lea_hazel]

Funny that you're so-so on Hamin because one of the first thoughts I had about him was that he was a grown-up, alternate universe version of Donald from Magical Diary. Try unseeing that!

[alias_sqbr]

HMMMMM there are similarities but also some, to me, significant differences. Though I had to think for a while to figure them out, which was interesting! nb it's been so long since I played Magical Diary I may be misremembering his path.

Basically: Donald is unselfconsciously mischievous and boylike and for much of the game sees the MC as a friend to have hijinks with who happens to be a girl. Hamin's quite a bit older older, and his mischievous boylikeness is to some extent a deliberate pose that he is using to hit on the MC from the start, and he always sees her as a girl he is being charming at. Which is not to say he's ALL pose, a lot of what he says and does is sincere and he obviously really likes the MC as a person. Also he suffers, for me, for being in the same game as Emmet who is 100% unselfconscious boyish sincerity. Donald was only competing with Damien and Grabiner (I have different tastes in female LIs)

...man I'd never really throught about the boyish sincerity thing but it is definitely a trend with me and male LIs. That and nerds and angsty self hating dudes with a dark past, I am hoping Clarmont delivers on that once you get to know him better.

Also Donald is more my type, maybe I'd like Harmin more if he was prettier and less wedgelike with bigger, darker eyes haha. Also hey the wiki has everyone's canonical ages! Man, Woodly is older than me, what a creeper.