Seven Kingdoms: Week One (Lian)
Sep. 18th, 2021 09:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrIt took me a little while to get back into the swing of things, but by the end of week one I was really into it!
Masterlist of posts
As I start this post I've created my character and met the other guests, but not really gotten into the meat of the game. I'm having fun, and have forgotten enough that it doesn't feel too boring to go through all this stuff again.
The game continues to be a mix of fairly nice character art and some professional looking backgrounds and UI mixed with some TRULY AWFUL and very amateurish looking background and UI elements. But it has a WORKING AUTO BUTTON, UNLIKE CERTAIN OTHER GAMES and is overall perfectly playable. Even it does tend to crash when I click outside of the window, which I'm inclined to blame on Ren'py. Just gotta remember to save frequently, I guess!
You can choose to play Story mode or Challenge mode and I am STORY MODE ALL THE WAY.
The game starts by explaining the setting then getting you to make a bunch of choices about your character which then lead to one of a set number of backstories. This time, as in my first playthrough, I ended up with scholarly minor noblewoman from Jiyel, which is basically Qing dynasty China.
I remembered the game being pretty orientalist and yep it SURE IS. Like the author is obviously trying to avoid being AGGRESSIVELY racist, and writes everyone with complexity and compassion, but, well...my current impression of the countries and associated characters are as below. It's vaguely based on 19th century Eurasia.
Arland: Extra sexist England
Dowager Countess Yvette: wheelchair using nice old lady, not as harmless as she seems.
Earl Emmett: An earnest sweetie pie.
Corval: The Middle East, with Spices and Secrets.
Jaslin: Sexy older lady who likes gossip and schemes.
Prince Zarad: A flirt who is more than he seems.
Lord Blain: Grumpy and tactless.
Hise: Egalitarian pirates.
‘Prince’ Hamin: Fun, impulsive pirate.
Princess Cordelia: A nice but reserved and uptight girl who really doesn't suit being a pirate.
Jiyel: China, full of nerds.
General Falon: Honourable warrior.
Duke Lyon: uptight nerd.
Lady Avalie: arch and crafty but not totally insincere.
Revaire: Like a cross between Russia and France, with lots of scheming and violent coups.
Crown Prince Jarrod: Arrogant violent asshole.
Princess Gisette: cold, cruel sneaky asshole.
Lord Clarmont: reserved woobie.
Skalt: Matriarchal vikings.
Princess Anaele/Ana: butch lesbian viking :D
Wellin: A nice Scandinavian country.
Grand Duke Woodly: Sneaky, skeezy older man.
Crown Prince Lisle: Nice, over-achieving closeted gay guy you can have a political marriage with.
Princess Penelope: His sweet and sadly unromanceable sister.
Vail Isle: The tiny island where the summit is held. The native inhabitants tend to have pale colouring and purple eyes, and are Mysterious.
Jasper: Your reserved but loyal and Mysterious butler
Ria: Good hearted maid.
Sarya: Clever maid.
Yep ok I have just started my first conversation with Ana and I am on the nerd/viking train again. I love Ana. Though after all these years I only just noticed that she doesn't have shortish hair like I thought, she has a long, wide fringe and then a MASSIVE MANE of hair at the back. Delightful.(EDIT: She didn't have this in later scenes, I guess it was part of her clothes? Or she's put her hair in a plait or something?)
I got pretty bored during the welcome dinner, when you have a bunch of introductory conversations with a wide range of characters. But by the end of it I'd decided on my character Lian's personality: nerdy, friendly, earnestly well meaning, determined, a little clumsy and clueless when it comes to social things but not a totally tactless dumbass. This is basically the default I tend towards playing these sorts of games, so I won't have to think too hard, and I can see her cheerfully rolling with my inevitable failures.
She bonded the most with Emmet and I can see them being cute together, with her the smarter one but both of them being kinda useless with all the background Scheming. We'll see if he or Ana wins out in the end. Or if I can headcanon a triad!
Haa oh god I am failing EVERY STAT CHECK at this matchmaker interview. Oh well. I might make a point of boosting her bravery she feels like she'd be moderately brave.
...wait I should actually look at my stats, huh.
Regular skills:
nearly max (130): intelligence
middling (50ish): etiquette, poise, leadership
low (15-30): charm, eloquence, beauty, charisma, manipulation, courage, grace, insight
zero: cunning
Cumulative skills:
High: book smarts
middling: Quick wittedness
lowish: Persuasion, likeability
very low: defensive instincts, interpersonal insight
From a purely roleplaying POV I kinda like her being unattractive, awkward, not super popular, and terrible at fighting. But want to raise the courage a fair bit and persuasion and interpersonal insight a moderate amount. I vaguely recall persuasion being very useful, it certainly comes up A Lot in lists of guides.
The only things she knows anything about are academia and a little history and people. I can see her putting some effort into learning politics and people, given she's in a diplomatic role.
Her personality right now is mostly pretty middle of the road, leaning towards being humble, ethical, logical, sensible, unromantic etc.
None of my relationships have had a chance to go very far yet. But she seems to have impressed Emmet enough to not only raise his scores but gets points with his country, score.
OK BACK TO FAILING THIS INTERVIEW.
I now vaguely recall that failing is the default, and the the real test comes at the second interview in a few weeks. So I guess Lian and me will take this as a sign of what she needs to work on (EVERYTHING)
But before that she has to give a speech at the end of the week. Time to work on...eloquence, I guess?
Ana invited her to spar haha. That would presumably increase her self defence from ZERO but is also not really her jam.
Hmm, let's poke a guide. Unfortunately a lot of them seem to have gone offline (but I see your name there,leahazel ;)). This one I probably should have checked earlier covers character creation and the welcoming feast but the only guide I can find to later events is this terrifying spreadsheet. Which I can vaguely recall happily using last time but it's going to take some work to get back to that point.
It also only covers the first three weeks but hopefully by the end of that I'll have more of an idea what I'm doing.
Am I going to have to write my own easier to follow and more comprehensive guide /o\
OK THE FIRST WEEK IS STARTING LET'S DO THIS.
I got invites to hang with Ana, Emmet, and Claremont, three characters I like, so I agreed to them all.
I can run an event of my own, and there's a history evening which I have all the stats for except I only have 30 history when I need 50. So I decided to take a punt and study history a bunch as well as trying to boost my *checks requirements for upcoming speech* beauty, poise, courage, likability, persuasion, interpersonal insight, and eloquence.
UM.
WELP.
Dinner with Claremont was fun. The writing in this game can be a bit cheesy and clunky sometimes but it has some good moments. And I'm getting back into the swing of simultaneously being in character and also meta-gaming my skills, which the game is set up to have balanced in an enjoyable way.
Was not personally into Claremont saying my nerdy mc is adorable, though.
OH MAN BUT I WAS INTO SELF DEFENCE TRAINING WITH ANA. They bonded about the pressures of rank! Ana gets Lian in a strangehold but Lian (very aware of Ana's strength :D) used book smarts to poke her pressure point!
Aw you can ask specific people for training, I was curious to see what Emmet teaches and you go on a nature walk and learn about plants and animals. That's really cute but not something I need right now, sorry Emmet.
I could gain etiquette points from telling Emmet that his dad is right and floral knowledge isn't helpful towards being an Earl. SCREW THAT NERDERY 4EVER
Aww and he's so happy and blushy when you're nice to him. Like Ana, he thinks hanging around indoors being polite is a waste of time, and he doesn't seem super enthused about becoming Earl, I am totally angling for two two of us to go be Ana's harem in Skalt. Or the other two can join Lian in being...a minor noble with no power in Jiyel. Maybe not. I definitely can't see Ana having much patience for sexist dudes in Arland. So harem in Skalt it is!
Ok I have my history at 50. Poking the spreadsheet I saw that exploring your room in week one gets you a bunch of useful training from Jasper so that will hopefully help.
WAIT CRAP I DIDN'T NEED 50 HISTORY. I NEEDED ONE OF THREE THINGS INCLUDING 50 HISTORY, AND ALREADY HAD ONE OF THE OTHERS. OOPS.
Anyway, the history evening went great. And so did my speech, woot! Claremont and Emmet both gave Lian Significant smiles during their speeches, while Ana straight up said her goal is to TAKE LIAN BACK HOME TO BE HER WIFE, bless.
And that brings me to the end of the first week!
This game really is a lot of fun, just the right amount of challenge (on story mode lol) to keep my brain occupied but still enjoyable as a story. And it does a great job of there not being a single correct approach. I definitely see myself replaying it after I am done with this playthrough, both for the challenge and to see different sides of the characters/plot and have fun playing someone different.
Oh also before I forget: I was expecting Lian to be into Lyon (...I just noticed the name similarity, oops) but while they get along very well due to their mutual nerdiness I'm not feeling drawn to hang out with him specifically. And Lian is supposed to be forming bonds with people outside Jiyel, anyway.
EDIT: Ha just realised I had misremembered Avalie being a love interest, because I always wanted her to be one SO BAD. Oh well :(
Masterlist of posts
As I start this post I've created my character and met the other guests, but not really gotten into the meat of the game. I'm having fun, and have forgotten enough that it doesn't feel too boring to go through all this stuff again.
The game continues to be a mix of fairly nice character art and some professional looking backgrounds and UI mixed with some TRULY AWFUL and very amateurish looking background and UI elements. But it has a WORKING AUTO BUTTON, UNLIKE CERTAIN OTHER GAMES and is overall perfectly playable. Even it does tend to crash when I click outside of the window, which I'm inclined to blame on Ren'py. Just gotta remember to save frequently, I guess!
You can choose to play Story mode or Challenge mode and I am STORY MODE ALL THE WAY.
The game starts by explaining the setting then getting you to make a bunch of choices about your character which then lead to one of a set number of backstories. This time, as in my first playthrough, I ended up with scholarly minor noblewoman from Jiyel, which is basically Qing dynasty China.
I remembered the game being pretty orientalist and yep it SURE IS. Like the author is obviously trying to avoid being AGGRESSIVELY racist, and writes everyone with complexity and compassion, but, well...my current impression of the countries and associated characters are as below. It's vaguely based on 19th century Eurasia.
Arland: Extra sexist England
Dowager Countess Yvette: wheelchair using nice old lady, not as harmless as she seems.
Earl Emmett: An earnest sweetie pie.
Corval: The Middle East, with Spices and Secrets.
Jaslin: Sexy older lady who likes gossip and schemes.
Prince Zarad: A flirt who is more than he seems.
Lord Blain: Grumpy and tactless.
Hise: Egalitarian pirates.
‘Prince’ Hamin: Fun, impulsive pirate.
Princess Cordelia: A nice but reserved and uptight girl who really doesn't suit being a pirate.
Jiyel: China, full of nerds.
General Falon: Honourable warrior.
Duke Lyon: uptight nerd.
Lady Avalie: arch and crafty but not totally insincere.
Revaire: Like a cross between Russia and France, with lots of scheming and violent coups.
Crown Prince Jarrod: Arrogant violent asshole.
Princess Gisette: cold, cruel sneaky asshole.
Lord Clarmont: reserved woobie.
Skalt: Matriarchal vikings.
Princess Anaele/Ana: butch lesbian viking :D
Wellin: A nice Scandinavian country.
Grand Duke Woodly: Sneaky, skeezy older man.
Crown Prince Lisle: Nice, over-achieving closeted gay guy you can have a political marriage with.
Princess Penelope: His sweet and sadly unromanceable sister.
Vail Isle: The tiny island where the summit is held. The native inhabitants tend to have pale colouring and purple eyes, and are Mysterious.
Jasper: Your reserved but loyal and Mysterious butler
Ria: Good hearted maid.
Sarya: Clever maid.
Yep ok I have just started my first conversation with Ana and I am on the nerd/viking train again. I love Ana. Though after all these years I only just noticed that she doesn't have shortish hair like I thought, she has a long, wide fringe and then a MASSIVE MANE of hair at the back. Delightful.(EDIT: She didn't have this in later scenes, I guess it was part of her clothes? Or she's put her hair in a plait or something?)
I got pretty bored during the welcome dinner, when you have a bunch of introductory conversations with a wide range of characters. But by the end of it I'd decided on my character Lian's personality: nerdy, friendly, earnestly well meaning, determined, a little clumsy and clueless when it comes to social things but not a totally tactless dumbass. This is basically the default I tend towards playing these sorts of games, so I won't have to think too hard, and I can see her cheerfully rolling with my inevitable failures.
She bonded the most with Emmet and I can see them being cute together, with her the smarter one but both of them being kinda useless with all the background Scheming. We'll see if he or Ana wins out in the end. Or if I can headcanon a triad!
Haa oh god I am failing EVERY STAT CHECK at this matchmaker interview. Oh well. I might make a point of boosting her bravery she feels like she'd be moderately brave.
...wait I should actually look at my stats, huh.
Regular skills:
nearly max (130): intelligence
middling (50ish): etiquette, poise, leadership
low (15-30): charm, eloquence, beauty, charisma, manipulation, courage, grace, insight
zero: cunning
Cumulative skills:
High: book smarts
middling: Quick wittedness
lowish: Persuasion, likeability
very low: defensive instincts, interpersonal insight
From a purely roleplaying POV I kinda like her being unattractive, awkward, not super popular, and terrible at fighting. But want to raise the courage a fair bit and persuasion and interpersonal insight a moderate amount. I vaguely recall persuasion being very useful, it certainly comes up A Lot in lists of guides.
The only things she knows anything about are academia and a little history and people. I can see her putting some effort into learning politics and people, given she's in a diplomatic role.
Her personality right now is mostly pretty middle of the road, leaning towards being humble, ethical, logical, sensible, unromantic etc.
None of my relationships have had a chance to go very far yet. But she seems to have impressed Emmet enough to not only raise his scores but gets points with his country, score.
OK BACK TO FAILING THIS INTERVIEW.
I now vaguely recall that failing is the default, and the the real test comes at the second interview in a few weeks. So I guess Lian and me will take this as a sign of what she needs to work on (EVERYTHING)
But before that she has to give a speech at the end of the week. Time to work on...eloquence, I guess?
Ana invited her to spar haha. That would presumably increase her self defence from ZERO but is also not really her jam.
Hmm, let's poke a guide. Unfortunately a lot of them seem to have gone offline (but I see your name there,
leahazel ;)). This one I probably should have checked earlier covers character creation and the welcoming feast but the only guide I can find to later events is this terrifying spreadsheet. Which I can vaguely recall happily using last time but it's going to take some work to get back to that point.It also only covers the first three weeks but hopefully by the end of that I'll have more of an idea what I'm doing.
Am I going to have to write my own easier to follow and more comprehensive guide /o\
OK THE FIRST WEEK IS STARTING LET'S DO THIS.
I got invites to hang with Ana, Emmet, and Claremont, three characters I like, so I agreed to them all.
I can run an event of my own, and there's a history evening which I have all the stats for except I only have 30 history when I need 50. So I decided to take a punt and study history a bunch as well as trying to boost my *checks requirements for upcoming speech* beauty, poise, courage, likability, persuasion, interpersonal insight, and eloquence.
UM.
WELP.
Dinner with Claremont was fun. The writing in this game can be a bit cheesy and clunky sometimes but it has some good moments. And I'm getting back into the swing of simultaneously being in character and also meta-gaming my skills, which the game is set up to have balanced in an enjoyable way.
Was not personally into Claremont saying my nerdy mc is adorable, though.
OH MAN BUT I WAS INTO SELF DEFENCE TRAINING WITH ANA. They bonded about the pressures of rank! Ana gets Lian in a strangehold but Lian (very aware of Ana's strength :D) used book smarts to poke her pressure point!
Aw you can ask specific people for training, I was curious to see what Emmet teaches and you go on a nature walk and learn about plants and animals. That's really cute but not something I need right now, sorry Emmet.
I could gain etiquette points from telling Emmet that his dad is right and floral knowledge isn't helpful towards being an Earl. SCREW THAT NERDERY 4EVER
Aww and he's so happy and blushy when you're nice to him. Like Ana, he thinks hanging around indoors being polite is a waste of time, and he doesn't seem super enthused about becoming Earl, I am totally angling for two two of us to go be Ana's harem in Skalt. Or the other two can join Lian in being...a minor noble with no power in Jiyel. Maybe not. I definitely can't see Ana having much patience for sexist dudes in Arland. So harem in Skalt it is!
Ok I have my history at 50. Poking the spreadsheet I saw that exploring your room in week one gets you a bunch of useful training from Jasper so that will hopefully help.
WAIT CRAP I DIDN'T NEED 50 HISTORY. I NEEDED ONE OF THREE THINGS INCLUDING 50 HISTORY, AND ALREADY HAD ONE OF THE OTHERS. OOPS.
Anyway, the history evening went great. And so did my speech, woot! Claremont and Emmet both gave Lian Significant smiles during their speeches, while Ana straight up said her goal is to TAKE LIAN BACK HOME TO BE HER WIFE, bless.
And that brings me to the end of the first week!
This game really is a lot of fun, just the right amount of challenge (on story mode lol) to keep my brain occupied but still enjoyable as a story. And it does a great job of there not being a single correct approach. I definitely see myself replaying it after I am done with this playthrough, both for the challenge and to see different sides of the characters/plot and have fun playing someone different.
Oh also before I forget: I was expecting Lian to be into Lyon (...I just noticed the name similarity, oops) but while they get along very well due to their mutual nerdiness I'm not feeling drawn to hang out with him specifically. And Lian is supposed to be forming bonds with people outside Jiyel, anyway.
EDIT: Ha just realised I had misremembered Avalie being a love interest, because I always wanted her to be one SO BAD. Oh well :(
