Valentine Otome
Oct. 17th, 2018 02:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrI kept rambling about this to the poor innocent souls on the LGBTQ+ Visual Novel discord despite it not being remotely LGBTQ+, so decided it would be better to write up my ramblings in a single neat post under a cut where people can more easily ignore it if they wish.
So! Valentine Otome is a m/f dating sim (with actual sim elements!), and is a sequel to the m/f dating sim Halloween Otome.
It was a mix of enjoyable and annoying and WEIRD.
Halloween Otome is about Normal Relatable Girl Emma getting dragged into ridiculous rich people shenanigans by her sexy rich bff/roommate Mira. I got like 2 lines into my first playthrough of Halloween Otome before having to stop, overcome by how femslashy Emma and Mira were, and how sexy Mira was, yet knowing it was a m/f game. It speaks to the writing that I eventually got sufficiently engaged with the actual male love interests that I largely forgot about Mira afterwards.
But guess who's the protagonist of Valentine Otome?! And she is as sexy and rich as ever. My favourite thing about this game so far is how different Mira is to the usual dating sim protagonist. Instead of the usual Relatable Normal Girl (or maybe a relatably humble or innocent princess type) she grew up SUPER rich but left her parents to make her own way as an only moderately rich fashion designer, and is confident, ambitious and pragmatic about money and society. Instead of either being Too Busy For Love or blushingly innocent she is unabashedly sexual, she has an established routine where she has a one night stand with a cute guy then leaves to get breakfast with Emma before the guy can get too attached.
Unfortunately other than that it's all been pretty heteronormative (also super white and all about rich people), including Mira doing alllll the emotional labour for her love interests. (EDIT: Turns out the one I hadn't done yet is actually capable of talking about things like an adult, but he has other issues) Also the art is patchy, and what tiny queer hints have shown up have been pretty unfortunate. But I'm still mostly having fun.
The setup is: You choose what love interest Emma got together with in Halloween Otome. One dude is suggested as least spoilery for Halloween Otome, from what I've seen the references to that game are minor regardless.
Mira drags her innocent cousin Maia and Relatable BFF Emma out to a bar because it's Valentine's Day and they're all lacking a dude (in Emma's case because her boyfriend is working) While there Mira meets and flirts with three dudes who turn out to be friends:
Zane: a former bad boy fashionista turned children's author
Kiron: a sweet-natured school teacher with unfortunate hair
Daire: a quietly brooding business man with floppy dark hair and glasses.
The game suggests dating them in this order, but I went after Daire like a guided missile. (EDIT: Having played it: yeah, that really is the best order, but I have no regrets)
And now everything else I have to say is spoilers!
***SPOILERS***
First, since it doesn't fit anywhere else: I don't mean to criticise Emma as a character, she really is relatable and likeable. She's just not as unique as Mira.
Anyway! I was wondering how the game would avoid having Mira just have sex with whatever love interest I set my cap at...and it doesn't. THEY HAVE SEX BEFORE THE OPENING CREDITS. And then...TURN OUT TO HAVE GOTTEN DRUNK MARRIED??? And they have to stay married and faithful for six months because of Reasons. And Mira is just BUT HOW WILL I HAVE COMMITMENT FREE SEX WITH HOTTIES NOW???
And so (at least on Daire's path) they keep having friends-with-benefits sex? That she initiates?? Only later catching feelings??? I HAVE NEVER SEEN A DATING SIM DO THIS BEFORE. Like I have (very rarely) seen "virgin heroine asks LI to help her lose her virginity", but not sex neither of them see as a big deal. I've seen it in other romance narratives like Bioware games and romance novels, but not conventionally structured dating sims like this.
It's not even done in a porny way, the sex is so fade to black it doesn't usually even show the kissing.
Daire is a pretty typical kuudere type: cold, rational, and unemotional on the surface but secretly having ANGST and SECRET YEARNINGS, which is 100% my jam. I felt the ratio of silence/grumpiness: affection/kindness was a little too weighted towards jerk, especially since Mira was putting in a lot of effort to be a good fake wife. Also while they made some effort to capture her "oh no I have feelings???" it did feel a little like the writers assumed romantic feelings -> wanting to be married a bit much for a character like her.
I guess you could read some of it as him being like...autistic with communication issues or something. BUT ONLY SOME.
I chose "Mr Bandages" as the Halloween Otome love interest, as suggested by default. Unfortunately he is ALSO pretty grumpy, but otherwise he and Emma's relationship makes for cute background storytelling.
Anyway! The gameplay involves you choosing how Mira spends each day: spending time with her love interest, working in her boutique, designing clothes, hanging with friends, or relaxing at a bar. Everything but the bar gains "stress", which the bar removes.
Each choice offers a relevant stats boost and sometimes a related scene. There are also various other plot related scenes.
So I did a whoole bunch of spending time with Daire and tried to keep everything else about equal without my stress getting too high. I noticed one point where I seemed to have failed a stats check but mostly seemed to be doing ok, so felt no need to look up a guide.
I was having fun! Mira's life seemed to be going ok! Daire was still acting moderately jerkish but she seemed to be happy with him anyway. There were some confusing references to things happening off screen involving the other love interests that I assume would make sense if I played the other paths, but I was happy to let that wash over me.
I was nearing the end. Daire and Mira were both pretty much aware of their feelings but mutually pining for Reasons that would hopefully soon be resolved. Daire was coping with Thrilling Corporate Shenanigans in the background. All my stats were at or near maximum.
And then!
Daire died horribly!!
And Mira vowed revenge!!
THE END
So.
THEN I LOOKED UP A WALKTHROUGH.
Turns out what you actually need to do is spend time with the love interest and raise a SPECIFIC related stat to max quickly, instead of raising everything to max slowly.
So I decided to follow the suggested play order and go romance Zane, then work my way back to having a happy ending with Daire.
Now! When Mira meets Daire, he is quietly grumpy with flashes of wry humour. When he wakes up naked, hungover, and married to Mira he is grumpy and uncommunicative, but then sets up a politely professional meeting with her and his lawyer. This was moderately jerkish, but about what I expected.
When Mira meets Zane he is friendly and flirtatious if a little rogueish. When he wakes up naked, hungover, and married to Mira he is grumpy but explains exactly why...and then continues to be vocally grumpy and unhelpful for quite a while! This was not endearing. He eventually realises it's not fair to take his frustration out on Mira and treats her basically ok, but it's still very much her maintaining the relationship and since unlike Daire he's not my preferred type of jerk I keep being annoyed at him over it even though, objectively, he's a bit less of a jerk than Daire.
I'm curious about the dynamic with Kiron who has only ever been sweet and supportive of everyone. Like, in one of the game's many no-homo moments, on the Daire path Zane jokes that if Kiron was married to Daire it would be stable but only because Daire would completely rely on Kiron to take care of all the petty things like food. He was apparently buying Daire's groceries before the marriage?? (And then discovers that Mira doesn't cook either, lol. But at least she organises takeout, which is more than Daire)
SPEAKING OF WHICH: Rayner is a sympathetic trickster-y male Teen Genius Lawyer who works for all the dudes. Afaict he's being hinted to be gay (he's in love with someone off screen and while Mira assumes it's a girl the game is deliberately coy about pronouns) And he just...shows up dressed as a woman at one point? And refuses to explain why?? Which would be ok if Mira and Zane weren't all BUT WHY ARE YOU DRESSED AS A WOMAN IT'S WEIRD. And the possibility that he might be a trans woman or even just in need of not having his clothing choices treated as Weird doesn't cross Mira's mind. Upside, after he refuses to explain they're like "Ok, fine, whatever" and treat him the same. BUT STILL.
And a scene which was just...SOMETHING: Unlike the Daire path there has been no fwb sex so far and while Zane obviously likes Mira and they are slowly developing a moderately cute friendship he's not shown any signs of SECRET YEARNING. Zane is behind on his chapter so Mira (who has let herself be dragged into being his writing babysitter by Zane's editor) refuses to let him play a video game he's been excited about until he finishes the chapter.
So he pushes her out of bed at 3am having not slept for days saying WHERE IS MY GAME and she says "After you sleep" so he flops next to her. The next morning she resists the urge to push HIM out of bed. Then when he wakes up and is douchey she flirts with him in a powerplay way. So takes his shirt off saying "IF HAVING SEX WITH YOU GETS ME MY GAME SO BE IT". She has a moment of "Oh god I have not had sex in a very long time and he is very hot" but this is NOT how she would want it to happen so tells him to shove off and gives him his game.
It was odd.
(EDIT: I think this was him trying to sincerely hit on Mira? ZANE you DUMBASS)
*starts playing again*
Ah yes! The sprites are...ok. The backgrounds are better, but many are VERY CLEARLY set in Japan, which the game VERY CLEARLY is not.
Also! There aren't a whole lot of choices outside the stat raising but I do like that on the whole the game seems to reward honesty even when it seems less attractive, and kindness even when it's less flirtatious. Now if only the dudes weren't so inclined to high handed protectiveness...
This time I'm focussing on spending time with Zane and the stats raising activity that apparently help get his good ending: working in Mira's boutique (and thus gaining management skills). At first I JUST did that but realised I was missing out on interesting scenes that happened at the other locations, so now I have one day a week where I do one of the other types of activity ("hanging out with friends", and "designing at home"), and sure enough have been getting some cute related scenes eg right now Mira is "hanging out with friends" and I got a scene of her and Emma discussing some drama that happened at a party (which I didn't see this path but did see on Daire's).
Ha. There's this running joke where Zane keeps trying to hide what he's doing on his computer to procrastinate from work and she's always like
Mira: Porn?? Can I watch? :D
Zane: Cat videos and NO OMG WHAT IS IT WITH YOU AND SEX
In general her sexualness is treated similarly to Emma being constantly hungry for food: a quirk that is sometimes a little annoying but mostly endearing. And any time someone slutshames her it is treated as VERY BAD.
Game, stop no-homo joking about Daire/Zane/Mira, it would be cute even if Mira doesn't deserve that much trouble. You need Kiron in there to balance it out.
(Also: I turned off the in game music within like 30 seconds, and turned the in-game sound effects waaay down after the second intensely annoying round of beeping)
Also, I have been earning money? I have no idea...what....for??? There is one point where you can apparently spend it if you have enough (which I did not) but otherwise it seems entirely irrelevant?
OH ALSO I got the "high trust" bad end with Daire, so now I can set the "trust" stat to increase faster. Here's to not killing Zane...
Mira: That's weird, Zane hasn't left the apartment but I can't find him. Could he...be behind the locked door he claimed was just a cupboard??
Me: IS IT A PORN ROOM??
Me: Self, Mira is getting to you
Mira: If really he didn't want anyone getting in here he wouldn't have used a cheap, easy to pick lock ;)
OMG...I THINK IT MIGHT ACTUALLY BE A PORN ROOM? CRAPPY YURI ANIME PORN?? Unless that's just the closest they could find on whatever cheap generic VN backgrounds site they bought their backgrounds from.
Mira: So the reason you stopped chasing skirts was you prefer the 2D girls, huh? Well, far be it from me to kinkshame ;)
Zane: It's not like that!
Mira: *raises eyebrows at the piles of body pillows*
Zane: I'm playing an otome game and it's NOT EVEN PORN
(I know your pain, Zane. Some of those Daire/Mira scenes could definitely have stood to be...uh...ANYWAY)
Haaa ok so they tease each other some more and then have cheerful vaguely-implied-to-be-kinky sex off screen.
The game has scenes from the dude's POV sometimes which are mostly pretty cute though this one is suffering for being over the top of a VERY BADLY DRAWN post-sex-cuddling CG.
Zane POV: Wow, that was amazing. She's so nice. How did I end up so lucky?
Mira POV: Wow, that was amazing. I could get used to this ^_^
Me: Aw. But there's heaps of game to go, how is there going to be continuing romantic tension?
Mira POV: WAIT. OH NO. WAS THAT A FEELING???
Zane: Kisses?
Mira: NO. A LIST OF RULES TO PREVENT FEELINGS.
Zane: Ok ^_^
(I thought he was oblivious but later decided he was pretending to be ok with it and secretly pining, aw)
Also the dudes keep growling during their POV scenes? I get that this is a Thing but it just feels a little silly.
At this point I am like 50% I ship it 50% STOP ACTING LIKE A SMUG BRAT YOU ARE TWENTY NINE YEARS OLD
(It's not clear how old Mira is but probably like 25?)
Oh godd there's this whole irritating plot about the romantic problems of this dude Joseph (Emma's boyfriend's butler): He is overprotective and controlling, while also distant and uncommunicative. Everyone is super invested in helping him and his pregnant girlfriend get back together but I'm just NOPE DUMP HIM. HE CAN MAYBE COME BACK IF HE STOPS SUCKING. Like it keeps being framed as "they both need a push to work things out" but she has been VERY CLEAR about her VERY LEGITIMATE issues. So he just has to listen! And STOP SUCKING.
(Note: They eventually get back together and I am not convinced he ever stopped sucking)
STRAIGHT WOMEN. RAISE YOUR STANDARDS FOR MEN IN YOUR ESCAPIST FICTION. THEN I WILL ENJOY IT MORE.
(which is what matters, obviously)
Huuuh I tried finding my review of Halloween Otome and apparently I have never mentioned it on my blog? I SWEAR I DID PLAY AND ENJOY IT.
Wonder of wonders there is a general discussion about marriage and Zane thinks "Wait...maybe I should...actually do some work? In my relationship??". Also looks like my more competent stats raising helped Emma and her boyfriend, glad I didn't screw that up.
Lol apparently Zane also just shows up at Kiron's expecting home cooked food. There was a vague reference to Kiron being in love with an "Annabelle", he better be properly romanceable.
Zane attempts to tell Mira his feelings and she thinks he's joking. So he takes her to his PARENT'S GRAVE and tells THEM and she's like "Ok he would probably...not do that as a joke...?? HOW DO I FEEL ABOUT THIS???"
Haaa he's telling Daire and Kiron while they're playing a RPG and Daire is like "I will kill the monsters while you talk to Kiron about feelings" which 100% a good call. Also he thinks it was SUPER BOLD of Zane to be so "direct" lol (Kiron disagrees)
Now Mira seems to have a stalker and has noticed accidents keep happening around her and thinks Zane won't care? And Zane is angsting and I got a choice not mentioned on the walkthrough and I am CONFUSED. I think this might be a separate storyline that is assumed to run before he declares his feelings? (EDIT: No, the writing is just weirdly inconsistent)
Haha what. So what with the stalking etc Mira promises Zane to avoid her creepy ex Jeff who has ADMITTED TO BEING HIRED TO TRY TO BREAK THEM UP and is also UNREMITTINGLY UNPLEASANT and Jeff semi-successfully spins it as an ABUSE RED FLAG because Zane is ISOLATING HER. I think the game in general is trying for a Dangerous Bad Boy Who Is Maybe A Villain thing except...Zane's "bad boy" tendencies are sleaziness, selfishness, irresponsibility, and a mean sense of humour. There's been exactly zero sign of him ever being violent to anyone? Ever?? And the worst thing he's been accused of from his wild days was having lots of one night stands?? There IS a woman who keeps hanging around claiming Zane is Dangerous but ehhh.
MIRA'S ACCUSING ZANE OF HAVING A MOTIVE FOR KILLING HER??? WTF MIRA
Ohhh ok it just crossed her mind but she didn't say it. What she actually says and believes is that he's hiding something, which does appear to be true.
There's another ongoing subplot where Zane and Mira amicably bicker about her favourite unfinished fantasy series which he claims is trash and VERY CLEARLY is the secret author of, which is very cute.
THINGS GOT EXCITING. Including offscreen and now I have some idea of Kiron's plot: he has been in love with this "Annabelle" forever, and she gets kidnapped. There's some other subplots with minor characters which you get bits of over the paths.
Zane and Mira get together and it is quite cute!
We also find out Zane inadvertently got someone killed via drug overdose Back In The Day, which is handled...ehhh.
ANYWAY. I am increasingly sure Mira's stalker is one of her employees, older manager Ailean or young assistant Maddie, which would be odd since they were unremarkably nice on Daire's path.
SIGH so it was Maddie, who apparently slept with Zane during his wild years (how old was she then...exactly...) and has been obsessed with him ever since. So I guess on other paths she's just...going to continue quietly obsessing with him? Until he gets a girlfriend and Maddie tries to kill her?
Ailean is lying on the floor after Maddie knocked her out.
Maddie: Zane, you'll love me once I kill Mira! *goes to stab*
Ailean: Oh no you don't *tackles*
Maddie: I should have killed you when I had the chance! You're just an outsider to our love story!
Ailean: *lets herself get stabbed* ;_;
Maddie: Why did you do that? ;_;
Ailean: You were happy until he came along. You deserve someone who can make you happy. Like me <3
Me: *literal hands on face shock*
Maddie: OMG AILEAN *hugs*
Ailean: Still...have a knife in me...
Maddie: YOU DUMBASS YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN KILLED
Mira: Uh. By you?
Ailean: Please don't tell anyone about this. Maddie shouldn't go to jail.
Zane: She...stabbed you?
Me: Shhh. You two have zero appreciation for knife lesbians.
(I realise Maddie is bi but "knife wlw" doesn't have the same ring to it)
Mira: I love you like a sister Ailean and if this is what you want...for some reason...then I support that? But Maddie is fired.
Maddie: Fair.
Mira: Also Zane try not to stick your dick in crazy.
Zane: I thought you didn't like being celibate ;)
(THOSE LAST TWO ARE DIRECT QUOTES DON'T BLAME ME)
And then we fast forward and Zane and Mira are renewing their vows! Aw! Ailean is helping Maddie through therapy for The Crazy, everyone else is happily heterosexual (except Daire, who is there with his surprisingly hot mother. Her being surprisingly hot wasn't really relevant on his path it was just there as this odd detail)
Apparently Zane was only tipsy when they got married the first time?? And was only a jerk because she so obviously regretted it?? ZANE. I would say "That is not how to make a marriage work" but I guess it DID somehow.
(In partial defence of Zane and every sober person who didn't stop Mira from drunkenly marrying and sleeping with these dudes, she apparently comes across as 100% sober when drunk)
THE END
And now: Kiron! Who is a sweetie by nature but this is a game about jerks so I guess he'll pine obliviously about Annabelle in an obnoxious way or something.
To bludgeon some diversity into this game, and because it's funny imagining her related to Tahani, I have changed Mira's full name from Miranda Cosgrove to Aamira Al Jamil (I could change the "Mira" too but I'm used to it now)
Haha aw Kiron's reaction to waking up naked with Mira is adorably freaked out, he pulls up the blanket to cover himself then realises he's exposed her naked body and is all I'M SO SORRY then runs away with his clothes to get dressed in the bathroom.
Kiron: I'm sorry to leave so suddenly, I just have to get to work :(
Mira, already halfway out the door: Hmm? What? Oh, yeah, we're cool.
And it's only after he leaves that she realises they're married, so he's not a jerk for leaving without dealing with it. Man, my standards have been lowered so far by the other two that I'm like WHO IS THIS GOD OF NICENESS.
Just met Annabelle, she is a sweetie pie maths teacher. *ships Mira/Kiron and Annabelle/Me*
Mira's gone to the school to get the divorce and is just introducing herself as Kiron's wife to everyone? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT WHEN YOU'RE PLANNING TO IMMEDIATELY DIVORCE HIM.
Kiron's crush Annabele: Kiron, why didn't you ever tell me about your beautiful wife?
Kiron: D: D: ???!!!
Actually, Annabelle/Kiron/Mira also works, both girls canonically think the other is hot.
Mira figures out the Anabelle situation SUPER quickly much to Kiron's dismay. I feel like the actual tension is going to be her dealing with this incredibly sweet, attractive roommate she has to pretend to be dating when he's in love with someone else, and having sex with him OR anyone else would be a bad idea. She keeps wanting to be nice to him and he keeps being nice to her and it's very cute. DON'T SCREW THIS UP FOR ME GAME.
Loll Maddie made a comment about liking bad boys. OLDER WOMEN ARE A BETTER BET FOR YOU HONEY.
Aw Mira is constantly overcome by guilt about how nice Kiron is being and the trouble she's causing him. "This is why I don't like being around nice people, I feel too guilty". MIRA YOU ARE A NICE PERSON WHO DESERVES NICE THINGS. LIKE KIRON.
Haa. So. Mira's parents LOVED Sensible Business Man Daire, HATED Bad Boy Zane and are TRYING VERY HARD with Nice Middle Class Boy Kiron while their internal monologue is clearly all "Oh god our daughter married a PEASANT whose house DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A DINING ROOM".
Mira, if you feel guilty and want to help Kiron out more maybe don't pick cooking, what with you being so bad at it you set houses on fire and made him sick. DO THE LAUNDRY. MAYBE SOME DUSTING.
Awwww. So they're sharing a bed after meeting his parents who are apple pie nice (retired upper middle class) farmers.
Mira: Your parent are nice. I can see how you've become the man you are.
Kiron, affectionately touching her cheek: Mira...
Mira: NON SEXUAL AFFECTION??? IN BED??? WHAT DO I...DO...????
Kiron *realising what he is doing*: SO WE SHOULD GO TO SLEEP
Mira: YES
I'm a bit worried they'll play the "bad girl feels inferior to nice boy" angle a bit much when Mira isn't actually a bad girl. She's had a lot of sexual partners and has the capability to be manipulative, pragmatically unsentimental, and a dirty minded troll, but she defaults to being kind, socially appropriate, and honest.
(On the upside Kiron clearly thinks she is AMAZING IN EVERY WAY)
haha the Rayner crossdressing scene came up and Kiron just complimented his dress :D
Awww Anabelle offered to give Mira private cooking lessons at their house. So of course Kiron walks in to find his wife and his (former??) crush cooking together in his house and is just o.O Haa and both girls are shipping him with the other one.
AND THEN. KIRON AND ANNABELLE END UP IN THE HOSPITAL BECAUSE OF MIRA'S COOKING.
There is a brief mention of Othello as a possible play Kiron's class might put on, implying that POC do exist in this universe despite all evidence to the contrary.
...do these background teenagers have magic?? When there's no magic in the rest of the game? OK SURE WHY NOT.
Oh no Kiron gets the mistaken idea that Mira's pregnant and is all OMG A BABY :D And then when her attempt to explain makes him think it was the result of a threesome with Emma and her boyfriend he just TOTALLY ROLLS WITH IT omg this dude is so adorable.
Ohh and afterwards he's like "Why am I so sad about not having a baby with Mira when I am in love with Anabelle? I'm the WORST" SWEETIE NO
And he was a scholarship kid, of course he was.
Lol the boyfriend I picked for Emma for this playthrough says them being together is Fate and would have happened in any alternate timeline. SORRY KID but you're not even the default LI.
Awww so after months of both of Kiron and Mira trying not to think sexy thoughts about each other they get drunk at a party and end up having sex they actually remember.
Mira: Damn, we didn't use protection
Kiron, internally: Baby???
Mira: Welp, I'll go get the morning after pill. Also I can show you my clean STD results when we get home.
Kiron: That's...fine ;_;
SIGH. So they're awkward around each other and then Kiron gets all "I'm like those other guys who only used her for her body, she deserves better ;_;" BAD KIRON BENEVOLENT SEXISM IS STILL SEXISM.
I still have no idea what's going on with Rayner and the other teenagers but am 90% sure it's like magic rich people stuff or something and Mira is wrong that they're just doing teen heterosexuality. (EDIT: Ok some of it was teen heterosexuality but goddamn I'm sure some of it was magic or rich people spy shenanigans or something. The writers of this game basically treat rich people like magical elves anyway)
Daire and Zane notice Kiron is sad and try to get him to open up and he's like "Wait, you're doing emotional labour for ME??" lol
He's all I CAN'T GET TOGETHER WITH MIRA I STILL LOVE ANNABELLE alas that this is not the kind of game that goes for poly. Though it feels more and more like he's just defined himself as being in love with Anabelle so long that he can't let go of the idea. Which doesn't stop the game shipping the two of them in other routes.
Hmm looks like Annabelle knows about the [magic] but Kiron doesn't (or at least the narrative is deliberately making it look like he doesn't) Anyway Annabelle and Mira are in danger and Kiron rushes to save them and Mira realises she wishes he was there to save her (which he is but shhh delicious mutual pining)
omg. They figure it out and then:
Mira: You can't want to marry me. I'm a terrible wife.
Kiron: That's fine. I'm a good wife. You can be the husband. You'll have to wear the dress though. I'm not like Rayner- I can't pull that one off.
And THEN he says he doesn't want to have sex before marriage and it's a sign of how much she loves him that she agrees lol. She drags him away from the wedding at the first opportunity though.
THE END
Wow I'm doing a Zane bad end I saved at the right place for and Maddie just straight up BEATS MIRA TO DEATH.
GREAT QUEER REP GUYS
Time for Daire's good end!
Yep, he's still the cutest.
I tried TWICE and failed to earn enough money for the ONE TIME money actually seems to make a difference (buying him in a bachelor auction) but hopefully that's not a dealbreaker. Mostly it's the same and I'm skipping through quickly but I passed all the "design" checks I failed last time and Daire is endearingly impressed by Mira's competence and professionalism.
Haaa so Emma's boyfriend this time, Landon, is a model and Landon and Mira are 100% comfortable with Mira curtly telling him to take off his clothes so she can dress him as part of a fashion show but Daire is nottt.
haha omg so I'm on track for the good ending and Mira has told Daire her feelings and he just STARES AT HER SILENTLY AND THEN RINGS SOMEONE ON HIS PHONE.
Aww ok he was trying to ring Rayner to say he was going to quit as CEO to keep Mira safe from [business shenanigans that killed him last time] but when he sees her crying hangs up and kisses her.
I love how Daire has been KEEPING THE DARK SECRET OF HIS DANGEROUS LIFE from her but she's just like "Murderous board members, huh? I grew up around this sort of rich people crap I'm fine."
Also afaict the key plot change with me upping her design stat is she made Daire's business rival a snazzy coat. He turns out to be a SUPER POWERFUL MAGICAL BUSINESS DUDE and teams up to help her save Daire (in the coat).
Daire seems to know about the [magic]? Or at least that Rayner has combat skills involving explosions.
And then Daire is rescued and they live happily ever after and I still don't know what's up with the damn magical teenagers. I mean they might not be literally magic, it could be advanced rich people tech + advanced rich people training. But it's SOMETHING and I don't feel like watching all the bad ends to find out what.
THE END
I checked out the extras and there's some little cute text only scenes that get unlocked by various things. but I think for now I am DONE.
And I mostly had fun! And all the good ends gave me some shmoopy romance feelings.
COULDA DONE WITHOUT THE ONLY QUEER COUPLE INVOLVING A MURDERER THOUGH. And there's ZERO hints about them getting together on the routes where Maddie doesn't start trying to kill people, unlike a lot of the background m/f couples which get shoutouts on multiple paths. HMMMMPH.
Also Rayner is never explicitly stated to be in love with his male boss though it does seem heavily implied, and the thing with the crossdressing is never explained. And I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT WAS UP WITH THE [MAGIC???]
So! Valentine Otome is a m/f dating sim (with actual sim elements!), and is a sequel to the m/f dating sim Halloween Otome.
It was a mix of enjoyable and annoying and WEIRD.
Halloween Otome is about Normal Relatable Girl Emma getting dragged into ridiculous rich people shenanigans by her sexy rich bff/roommate Mira. I got like 2 lines into my first playthrough of Halloween Otome before having to stop, overcome by how femslashy Emma and Mira were, and how sexy Mira was, yet knowing it was a m/f game. It speaks to the writing that I eventually got sufficiently engaged with the actual male love interests that I largely forgot about Mira afterwards.
But guess who's the protagonist of Valentine Otome?! And she is as sexy and rich as ever. My favourite thing about this game so far is how different Mira is to the usual dating sim protagonist. Instead of the usual Relatable Normal Girl (or maybe a relatably humble or innocent princess type) she grew up SUPER rich but left her parents to make her own way as an only moderately rich fashion designer, and is confident, ambitious and pragmatic about money and society. Instead of either being Too Busy For Love or blushingly innocent she is unabashedly sexual, she has an established routine where she has a one night stand with a cute guy then leaves to get breakfast with Emma before the guy can get too attached.
Unfortunately other than that it's all been pretty heteronormative (also super white and all about rich people), including Mira doing alllll the emotional labour for her love interests. (EDIT: Turns out the one I hadn't done yet is actually capable of talking about things like an adult, but he has other issues) Also the art is patchy, and what tiny queer hints have shown up have been pretty unfortunate. But I'm still mostly having fun.
The setup is: You choose what love interest Emma got together with in Halloween Otome. One dude is suggested as least spoilery for Halloween Otome, from what I've seen the references to that game are minor regardless.
Mira drags her innocent cousin Maia and Relatable BFF Emma out to a bar because it's Valentine's Day and they're all lacking a dude (in Emma's case because her boyfriend is working) While there Mira meets and flirts with three dudes who turn out to be friends:
Zane: a former bad boy fashionista turned children's author
Kiron: a sweet-natured school teacher with unfortunate hair
Daire: a quietly brooding business man with floppy dark hair and glasses.
The game suggests dating them in this order, but I went after Daire like a guided missile. (EDIT: Having played it: yeah, that really is the best order, but I have no regrets)
And now everything else I have to say is spoilers!
***SPOILERS***
First, since it doesn't fit anywhere else: I don't mean to criticise Emma as a character, she really is relatable and likeable. She's just not as unique as Mira.
Anyway! I was wondering how the game would avoid having Mira just have sex with whatever love interest I set my cap at...and it doesn't. THEY HAVE SEX BEFORE THE OPENING CREDITS. And then...TURN OUT TO HAVE GOTTEN DRUNK MARRIED??? And they have to stay married and faithful for six months because of Reasons. And Mira is just BUT HOW WILL I HAVE COMMITMENT FREE SEX WITH HOTTIES NOW???
And so (at least on Daire's path) they keep having friends-with-benefits sex? That she initiates?? Only later catching feelings??? I HAVE NEVER SEEN A DATING SIM DO THIS BEFORE. Like I have (very rarely) seen "virgin heroine asks LI to help her lose her virginity", but not sex neither of them see as a big deal. I've seen it in other romance narratives like Bioware games and romance novels, but not conventionally structured dating sims like this.
It's not even done in a porny way, the sex is so fade to black it doesn't usually even show the kissing.
Daire is a pretty typical kuudere type: cold, rational, and unemotional on the surface but secretly having ANGST and SECRET YEARNINGS, which is 100% my jam. I felt the ratio of silence/grumpiness: affection/kindness was a little too weighted towards jerk, especially since Mira was putting in a lot of effort to be a good fake wife. Also while they made some effort to capture her "oh no I have feelings???" it did feel a little like the writers assumed romantic feelings -> wanting to be married a bit much for a character like her.
I guess you could read some of it as him being like...autistic with communication issues or something. BUT ONLY SOME.
I chose "Mr Bandages" as the Halloween Otome love interest, as suggested by default. Unfortunately he is ALSO pretty grumpy, but otherwise he and Emma's relationship makes for cute background storytelling.
Anyway! The gameplay involves you choosing how Mira spends each day: spending time with her love interest, working in her boutique, designing clothes, hanging with friends, or relaxing at a bar. Everything but the bar gains "stress", which the bar removes.
Each choice offers a relevant stats boost and sometimes a related scene. There are also various other plot related scenes.
So I did a whoole bunch of spending time with Daire and tried to keep everything else about equal without my stress getting too high. I noticed one point where I seemed to have failed a stats check but mostly seemed to be doing ok, so felt no need to look up a guide.
I was having fun! Mira's life seemed to be going ok! Daire was still acting moderately jerkish but she seemed to be happy with him anyway. There were some confusing references to things happening off screen involving the other love interests that I assume would make sense if I played the other paths, but I was happy to let that wash over me.
I was nearing the end. Daire and Mira were both pretty much aware of their feelings but mutually pining for Reasons that would hopefully soon be resolved. Daire was coping with Thrilling Corporate Shenanigans in the background. All my stats were at or near maximum.
And then!
Daire died horribly!!
And Mira vowed revenge!!
THE END
So.
THEN I LOOKED UP A WALKTHROUGH.
Turns out what you actually need to do is spend time with the love interest and raise a SPECIFIC related stat to max quickly, instead of raising everything to max slowly.
So I decided to follow the suggested play order and go romance Zane, then work my way back to having a happy ending with Daire.
Now! When Mira meets Daire, he is quietly grumpy with flashes of wry humour. When he wakes up naked, hungover, and married to Mira he is grumpy and uncommunicative, but then sets up a politely professional meeting with her and his lawyer. This was moderately jerkish, but about what I expected.
When Mira meets Zane he is friendly and flirtatious if a little rogueish. When he wakes up naked, hungover, and married to Mira he is grumpy but explains exactly why...and then continues to be vocally grumpy and unhelpful for quite a while! This was not endearing. He eventually realises it's not fair to take his frustration out on Mira and treats her basically ok, but it's still very much her maintaining the relationship and since unlike Daire he's not my preferred type of jerk I keep being annoyed at him over it even though, objectively, he's a bit less of a jerk than Daire.
I'm curious about the dynamic with Kiron who has only ever been sweet and supportive of everyone. Like, in one of the game's many no-homo moments, on the Daire path Zane jokes that if Kiron was married to Daire it would be stable but only because Daire would completely rely on Kiron to take care of all the petty things like food. He was apparently buying Daire's groceries before the marriage?? (And then discovers that Mira doesn't cook either, lol. But at least she organises takeout, which is more than Daire)
SPEAKING OF WHICH: Rayner is a sympathetic trickster-y male Teen Genius Lawyer who works for all the dudes. Afaict he's being hinted to be gay (he's in love with someone off screen and while Mira assumes it's a girl the game is deliberately coy about pronouns) And he just...shows up dressed as a woman at one point? And refuses to explain why?? Which would be ok if Mira and Zane weren't all BUT WHY ARE YOU DRESSED AS A WOMAN IT'S WEIRD. And the possibility that he might be a trans woman or even just in need of not having his clothing choices treated as Weird doesn't cross Mira's mind. Upside, after he refuses to explain they're like "Ok, fine, whatever" and treat him the same. BUT STILL.
And a scene which was just...SOMETHING: Unlike the Daire path there has been no fwb sex so far and while Zane obviously likes Mira and they are slowly developing a moderately cute friendship he's not shown any signs of SECRET YEARNING. Zane is behind on his chapter so Mira (who has let herself be dragged into being his writing babysitter by Zane's editor) refuses to let him play a video game he's been excited about until he finishes the chapter.
So he pushes her out of bed at 3am having not slept for days saying WHERE IS MY GAME and she says "After you sleep" so he flops next to her. The next morning she resists the urge to push HIM out of bed. Then when he wakes up and is douchey she flirts with him in a powerplay way. So takes his shirt off saying "IF HAVING SEX WITH YOU GETS ME MY GAME SO BE IT". She has a moment of "Oh god I have not had sex in a very long time and he is very hot" but this is NOT how she would want it to happen so tells him to shove off and gives him his game.
It was odd.
(EDIT: I think this was him trying to sincerely hit on Mira? ZANE you DUMBASS)
*starts playing again*
Ah yes! The sprites are...ok. The backgrounds are better, but many are VERY CLEARLY set in Japan, which the game VERY CLEARLY is not.
Also! There aren't a whole lot of choices outside the stat raising but I do like that on the whole the game seems to reward honesty even when it seems less attractive, and kindness even when it's less flirtatious. Now if only the dudes weren't so inclined to high handed protectiveness...
This time I'm focussing on spending time with Zane and the stats raising activity that apparently help get his good ending: working in Mira's boutique (and thus gaining management skills). At first I JUST did that but realised I was missing out on interesting scenes that happened at the other locations, so now I have one day a week where I do one of the other types of activity ("hanging out with friends", and "designing at home"), and sure enough have been getting some cute related scenes eg right now Mira is "hanging out with friends" and I got a scene of her and Emma discussing some drama that happened at a party (which I didn't see this path but did see on Daire's).
Ha. There's this running joke where Zane keeps trying to hide what he's doing on his computer to procrastinate from work and she's always like
Mira: Porn?? Can I watch? :D
Zane: Cat videos and NO OMG WHAT IS IT WITH YOU AND SEX
In general her sexualness is treated similarly to Emma being constantly hungry for food: a quirk that is sometimes a little annoying but mostly endearing. And any time someone slutshames her it is treated as VERY BAD.
Game, stop no-homo joking about Daire/Zane/Mira, it would be cute even if Mira doesn't deserve that much trouble. You need Kiron in there to balance it out.
(Also: I turned off the in game music within like 30 seconds, and turned the in-game sound effects waaay down after the second intensely annoying round of beeping)
Also, I have been earning money? I have no idea...what....for??? There is one point where you can apparently spend it if you have enough (which I did not) but otherwise it seems entirely irrelevant?
OH ALSO I got the "high trust" bad end with Daire, so now I can set the "trust" stat to increase faster. Here's to not killing Zane...
Mira: That's weird, Zane hasn't left the apartment but I can't find him. Could he...be behind the locked door he claimed was just a cupboard??
Me: IS IT A PORN ROOM??
Me: Self, Mira is getting to you
Mira: If really he didn't want anyone getting in here he wouldn't have used a cheap, easy to pick lock ;)
OMG...I THINK IT MIGHT ACTUALLY BE A PORN ROOM? CRAPPY YURI ANIME PORN?? Unless that's just the closest they could find on whatever cheap generic VN backgrounds site they bought their backgrounds from.
Mira: So the reason you stopped chasing skirts was you prefer the 2D girls, huh? Well, far be it from me to kinkshame ;)
Zane: It's not like that!
Mira: *raises eyebrows at the piles of body pillows*
Zane: I'm playing an otome game and it's NOT EVEN PORN
(I know your pain, Zane. Some of those Daire/Mira scenes could definitely have stood to be...uh...ANYWAY)
Haaa ok so they tease each other some more and then have cheerful vaguely-implied-to-be-kinky sex off screen.
The game has scenes from the dude's POV sometimes which are mostly pretty cute though this one is suffering for being over the top of a VERY BADLY DRAWN post-sex-cuddling CG.
Zane POV: Wow, that was amazing. She's so nice. How did I end up so lucky?
Mira POV: Wow, that was amazing. I could get used to this ^_^
Me: Aw. But there's heaps of game to go, how is there going to be continuing romantic tension?
Mira POV: WAIT. OH NO. WAS THAT A FEELING???
Zane: Kisses?
Mira: NO. A LIST OF RULES TO PREVENT FEELINGS.
Zane: Ok ^_^
(I thought he was oblivious but later decided he was pretending to be ok with it and secretly pining, aw)
Also the dudes keep growling during their POV scenes? I get that this is a Thing but it just feels a little silly.
At this point I am like 50% I ship it 50% STOP ACTING LIKE A SMUG BRAT YOU ARE TWENTY NINE YEARS OLD
(It's not clear how old Mira is but probably like 25?)
Oh godd there's this whole irritating plot about the romantic problems of this dude Joseph (Emma's boyfriend's butler): He is overprotective and controlling, while also distant and uncommunicative. Everyone is super invested in helping him and his pregnant girlfriend get back together but I'm just NOPE DUMP HIM. HE CAN MAYBE COME BACK IF HE STOPS SUCKING. Like it keeps being framed as "they both need a push to work things out" but she has been VERY CLEAR about her VERY LEGITIMATE issues. So he just has to listen! And STOP SUCKING.
(Note: They eventually get back together and I am not convinced he ever stopped sucking)
STRAIGHT WOMEN. RAISE YOUR STANDARDS FOR MEN IN YOUR ESCAPIST FICTION. THEN I WILL ENJOY IT MORE.
(which is what matters, obviously)
Huuuh I tried finding my review of Halloween Otome and apparently I have never mentioned it on my blog? I SWEAR I DID PLAY AND ENJOY IT.
Wonder of wonders there is a general discussion about marriage and Zane thinks "Wait...maybe I should...actually do some work? In my relationship??". Also looks like my more competent stats raising helped Emma and her boyfriend, glad I didn't screw that up.
Lol apparently Zane also just shows up at Kiron's expecting home cooked food. There was a vague reference to Kiron being in love with an "Annabelle", he better be properly romanceable.
Zane attempts to tell Mira his feelings and she thinks he's joking. So he takes her to his PARENT'S GRAVE and tells THEM and she's like "Ok he would probably...not do that as a joke...?? HOW DO I FEEL ABOUT THIS???"
Haaa he's telling Daire and Kiron while they're playing a RPG and Daire is like "I will kill the monsters while you talk to Kiron about feelings" which 100% a good call. Also he thinks it was SUPER BOLD of Zane to be so "direct" lol (Kiron disagrees)
Now Mira seems to have a stalker and has noticed accidents keep happening around her and thinks Zane won't care? And Zane is angsting and I got a choice not mentioned on the walkthrough and I am CONFUSED. I think this might be a separate storyline that is assumed to run before he declares his feelings? (EDIT: No, the writing is just weirdly inconsistent)
Haha what. So what with the stalking etc Mira promises Zane to avoid her creepy ex Jeff who has ADMITTED TO BEING HIRED TO TRY TO BREAK THEM UP and is also UNREMITTINGLY UNPLEASANT and Jeff semi-successfully spins it as an ABUSE RED FLAG because Zane is ISOLATING HER. I think the game in general is trying for a Dangerous Bad Boy Who Is Maybe A Villain thing except...Zane's "bad boy" tendencies are sleaziness, selfishness, irresponsibility, and a mean sense of humour. There's been exactly zero sign of him ever being violent to anyone? Ever?? And the worst thing he's been accused of from his wild days was having lots of one night stands?? There IS a woman who keeps hanging around claiming Zane is Dangerous but ehhh.
MIRA'S ACCUSING ZANE OF HAVING A MOTIVE FOR KILLING HER??? WTF MIRA
Ohhh ok it just crossed her mind but she didn't say it. What she actually says and believes is that he's hiding something, which does appear to be true.
There's another ongoing subplot where Zane and Mira amicably bicker about her favourite unfinished fantasy series which he claims is trash and VERY CLEARLY is the secret author of, which is very cute.
THINGS GOT EXCITING. Including offscreen and now I have some idea of Kiron's plot: he has been in love with this "Annabelle" forever, and she gets kidnapped. There's some other subplots with minor characters which you get bits of over the paths.
Zane and Mira get together and it is quite cute!
We also find out Zane inadvertently got someone killed via drug overdose Back In The Day, which is handled...ehhh.
ANYWAY. I am increasingly sure Mira's stalker is one of her employees, older manager Ailean or young assistant Maddie, which would be odd since they were unremarkably nice on Daire's path.
SIGH so it was Maddie, who apparently slept with Zane during his wild years (how old was she then...exactly...) and has been obsessed with him ever since. So I guess on other paths she's just...going to continue quietly obsessing with him? Until he gets a girlfriend and Maddie tries to kill her?
Ailean is lying on the floor after Maddie knocked her out.
Maddie: Zane, you'll love me once I kill Mira! *goes to stab*
Ailean: Oh no you don't *tackles*
Maddie: I should have killed you when I had the chance! You're just an outsider to our love story!
Ailean: *lets herself get stabbed* ;_;
Maddie: Why did you do that? ;_;
Ailean: You were happy until he came along. You deserve someone who can make you happy. Like me <3
Me: *literal hands on face shock*
Maddie: OMG AILEAN *hugs*
Ailean: Still...have a knife in me...
Maddie: YOU DUMBASS YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN KILLED
Mira: Uh. By you?
Ailean: Please don't tell anyone about this. Maddie shouldn't go to jail.
Zane: She...stabbed you?
Me: Shhh. You two have zero appreciation for knife lesbians.
(I realise Maddie is bi but "knife wlw" doesn't have the same ring to it)
Mira: I love you like a sister Ailean and if this is what you want...for some reason...then I support that? But Maddie is fired.
Maddie: Fair.
Mira: Also Zane try not to stick your dick in crazy.
Zane: I thought you didn't like being celibate ;)
(THOSE LAST TWO ARE DIRECT QUOTES DON'T BLAME ME)
And then we fast forward and Zane and Mira are renewing their vows! Aw! Ailean is helping Maddie through therapy for The Crazy, everyone else is happily heterosexual (except Daire, who is there with his surprisingly hot mother. Her being surprisingly hot wasn't really relevant on his path it was just there as this odd detail)
Apparently Zane was only tipsy when they got married the first time?? And was only a jerk because she so obviously regretted it?? ZANE. I would say "That is not how to make a marriage work" but I guess it DID somehow.
(In partial defence of Zane and every sober person who didn't stop Mira from drunkenly marrying and sleeping with these dudes, she apparently comes across as 100% sober when drunk)
THE END
And now: Kiron! Who is a sweetie by nature but this is a game about jerks so I guess he'll pine obliviously about Annabelle in an obnoxious way or something.
To bludgeon some diversity into this game, and because it's funny imagining her related to Tahani, I have changed Mira's full name from Miranda Cosgrove to Aamira Al Jamil (I could change the "Mira" too but I'm used to it now)
Haha aw Kiron's reaction to waking up naked with Mira is adorably freaked out, he pulls up the blanket to cover himself then realises he's exposed her naked body and is all I'M SO SORRY then runs away with his clothes to get dressed in the bathroom.
Kiron: I'm sorry to leave so suddenly, I just have to get to work :(
Mira, already halfway out the door: Hmm? What? Oh, yeah, we're cool.
And it's only after he leaves that she realises they're married, so he's not a jerk for leaving without dealing with it. Man, my standards have been lowered so far by the other two that I'm like WHO IS THIS GOD OF NICENESS.
Just met Annabelle, she is a sweetie pie maths teacher. *ships Mira/Kiron and Annabelle/Me*
Mira's gone to the school to get the divorce and is just introducing herself as Kiron's wife to everyone? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT WHEN YOU'RE PLANNING TO IMMEDIATELY DIVORCE HIM.
Kiron's crush Annabele: Kiron, why didn't you ever tell me about your beautiful wife?
Kiron: D: D: ???!!!
Actually, Annabelle/Kiron/Mira also works, both girls canonically think the other is hot.
Mira figures out the Anabelle situation SUPER quickly much to Kiron's dismay. I feel like the actual tension is going to be her dealing with this incredibly sweet, attractive roommate she has to pretend to be dating when he's in love with someone else, and having sex with him OR anyone else would be a bad idea. She keeps wanting to be nice to him and he keeps being nice to her and it's very cute. DON'T SCREW THIS UP FOR ME GAME.
Loll Maddie made a comment about liking bad boys. OLDER WOMEN ARE A BETTER BET FOR YOU HONEY.
Aw Mira is constantly overcome by guilt about how nice Kiron is being and the trouble she's causing him. "This is why I don't like being around nice people, I feel too guilty". MIRA YOU ARE A NICE PERSON WHO DESERVES NICE THINGS. LIKE KIRON.
Haa. So. Mira's parents LOVED Sensible Business Man Daire, HATED Bad Boy Zane and are TRYING VERY HARD with Nice Middle Class Boy Kiron while their internal monologue is clearly all "Oh god our daughter married a PEASANT whose house DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A DINING ROOM".
Mira, if you feel guilty and want to help Kiron out more maybe don't pick cooking, what with you being so bad at it you set houses on fire and made him sick. DO THE LAUNDRY. MAYBE SOME DUSTING.
Awwww. So they're sharing a bed after meeting his parents who are apple pie nice (retired upper middle class) farmers.
Mira: Your parent are nice. I can see how you've become the man you are.
Kiron, affectionately touching her cheek: Mira...
Mira: NON SEXUAL AFFECTION??? IN BED??? WHAT DO I...DO...????
Kiron *realising what he is doing*: SO WE SHOULD GO TO SLEEP
Mira: YES
I'm a bit worried they'll play the "bad girl feels inferior to nice boy" angle a bit much when Mira isn't actually a bad girl. She's had a lot of sexual partners and has the capability to be manipulative, pragmatically unsentimental, and a dirty minded troll, but she defaults to being kind, socially appropriate, and honest.
(On the upside Kiron clearly thinks she is AMAZING IN EVERY WAY)
haha the Rayner crossdressing scene came up and Kiron just complimented his dress :D
Awww Anabelle offered to give Mira private cooking lessons at their house. So of course Kiron walks in to find his wife and his (former??) crush cooking together in his house and is just o.O Haa and both girls are shipping him with the other one.
AND THEN. KIRON AND ANNABELLE END UP IN THE HOSPITAL BECAUSE OF MIRA'S COOKING.
There is a brief mention of Othello as a possible play Kiron's class might put on, implying that POC do exist in this universe despite all evidence to the contrary.
...do these background teenagers have magic?? When there's no magic in the rest of the game? OK SURE WHY NOT.
Oh no Kiron gets the mistaken idea that Mira's pregnant and is all OMG A BABY :D And then when her attempt to explain makes him think it was the result of a threesome with Emma and her boyfriend he just TOTALLY ROLLS WITH IT omg this dude is so adorable.
Ohh and afterwards he's like "Why am I so sad about not having a baby with Mira when I am in love with Anabelle? I'm the WORST" SWEETIE NO
And he was a scholarship kid, of course he was.
Lol the boyfriend I picked for Emma for this playthrough says them being together is Fate and would have happened in any alternate timeline. SORRY KID but you're not even the default LI.
Awww so after months of both of Kiron and Mira trying not to think sexy thoughts about each other they get drunk at a party and end up having sex they actually remember.
Mira: Damn, we didn't use protection
Kiron, internally: Baby???
Mira: Welp, I'll go get the morning after pill. Also I can show you my clean STD results when we get home.
Kiron: That's...fine ;_;
SIGH. So they're awkward around each other and then Kiron gets all "I'm like those other guys who only used her for her body, she deserves better ;_;" BAD KIRON BENEVOLENT SEXISM IS STILL SEXISM.
I still have no idea what's going on with Rayner and the other teenagers but am 90% sure it's like magic rich people stuff or something and Mira is wrong that they're just doing teen heterosexuality. (EDIT: Ok some of it was teen heterosexuality but goddamn I'm sure some of it was magic or rich people spy shenanigans or something. The writers of this game basically treat rich people like magical elves anyway)
Daire and Zane notice Kiron is sad and try to get him to open up and he's like "Wait, you're doing emotional labour for ME??" lol
He's all I CAN'T GET TOGETHER WITH MIRA I STILL LOVE ANNABELLE alas that this is not the kind of game that goes for poly. Though it feels more and more like he's just defined himself as being in love with Anabelle so long that he can't let go of the idea. Which doesn't stop the game shipping the two of them in other routes.
Hmm looks like Annabelle knows about the [magic] but Kiron doesn't (or at least the narrative is deliberately making it look like he doesn't) Anyway Annabelle and Mira are in danger and Kiron rushes to save them and Mira realises she wishes he was there to save her (which he is but shhh delicious mutual pining)
omg. They figure it out and then:
Mira: You can't want to marry me. I'm a terrible wife.
Kiron: That's fine. I'm a good wife. You can be the husband. You'll have to wear the dress though. I'm not like Rayner- I can't pull that one off.
And THEN he says he doesn't want to have sex before marriage and it's a sign of how much she loves him that she agrees lol. She drags him away from the wedding at the first opportunity though.
THE END
Wow I'm doing a Zane bad end I saved at the right place for and Maddie just straight up BEATS MIRA TO DEATH.
GREAT QUEER REP GUYS
Time for Daire's good end!
Yep, he's still the cutest.
I tried TWICE and failed to earn enough money for the ONE TIME money actually seems to make a difference (buying him in a bachelor auction) but hopefully that's not a dealbreaker. Mostly it's the same and I'm skipping through quickly but I passed all the "design" checks I failed last time and Daire is endearingly impressed by Mira's competence and professionalism.
Haaa so Emma's boyfriend this time, Landon, is a model and Landon and Mira are 100% comfortable with Mira curtly telling him to take off his clothes so she can dress him as part of a fashion show but Daire is nottt.
haha omg so I'm on track for the good ending and Mira has told Daire her feelings and he just STARES AT HER SILENTLY AND THEN RINGS SOMEONE ON HIS PHONE.
Aww ok he was trying to ring Rayner to say he was going to quit as CEO to keep Mira safe from [business shenanigans that killed him last time] but when he sees her crying hangs up and kisses her.
I love how Daire has been KEEPING THE DARK SECRET OF HIS DANGEROUS LIFE from her but she's just like "Murderous board members, huh? I grew up around this sort of rich people crap I'm fine."
Also afaict the key plot change with me upping her design stat is she made Daire's business rival a snazzy coat. He turns out to be a SUPER POWERFUL MAGICAL BUSINESS DUDE and teams up to help her save Daire (in the coat).
Daire seems to know about the [magic]? Or at least that Rayner has combat skills involving explosions.
And then Daire is rescued and they live happily ever after and I still don't know what's up with the damn magical teenagers. I mean they might not be literally magic, it could be advanced rich people tech + advanced rich people training. But it's SOMETHING and I don't feel like watching all the bad ends to find out what.
THE END
I checked out the extras and there's some little cute text only scenes that get unlocked by various things. but I think for now I am DONE.
And I mostly had fun! And all the good ends gave me some shmoopy romance feelings.
COULDA DONE WITHOUT THE ONLY QUEER COUPLE INVOLVING A MURDERER THOUGH. And there's ZERO hints about them getting together on the routes where Maddie doesn't start trying to kill people, unlike a lot of the background m/f couples which get shoutouts on multiple paths. HMMMMPH.
Also Rayner is never explicitly stated to be in love with his male boss though it does seem heavily implied, and the thing with the crossdressing is never explained. And I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT WAS UP WITH THE [MAGIC???]
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Date: 2018-10-18 06:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-19 05:05 am (UTC)