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From this point on all the plot is new to me so it's EXCITING. There's been all these unexpected twists and turns!
"You awake on the first day of your fourth week on the Isle to the sounds of a glass-shattering scream, followed by a hysterical sob of 'He's dead!'"
OOOH
I wonder if it's Blain. He's a bit boring and superfluous, with Jarad around as a more interesting douchebag.
Nope! It was some guy from Revaire I've never met, Lord Aldaric. This is announced by the head butler who looks like the matchmaker in a fake moustache but I assume that's just lazy sprite art.
Oooh they have already found a suspect and are now going to choose a jury! This is exciting! And...the defence and prosecution are also being chosen by lot?? OK THEN.
I wonder if the murderer is Blain. Hmm nope, but he is on the jury.
And a delighted Avalie is the prosecution...
oh no the defence is me isn't it
YEP. I AM THE JOHN TO HER TEREZI.
(This is a Homestuck reference sorry)
So! The victim was poisoned, and the suspect is the maid who served him the poisoned tea.
Ooooh Lian can tell Jasper is upset about something and bugs him until he admits that another body was found yesterday! But it was a servant so nobody cares.
oh no the accused servant, Imogen, is the same one Sarya and Lian rescued from being harassed, who we also earlier saw with a love note from a delegate. Imogen says Lord Aldaric was feeling unwell so she took some (presumably pre-poisoned) soothing tea she saw brewing in the weirdly empty kitchen.
I wonder if it was intended for someone else, or if this was a setup to frame her.
OOH. I GET TO ASK INVESTIGATORY QUESTIONS. I was not remotely expecting this game to turn into a murder mystery but I am here for it. I wonder if it's going to be solvable with my and Lian's combined skills, or if I'll have to wait for a later playthrough.
Imogen is deliberately vague about her background but says the Isle is somewhere for people who have nowhere else to go. I am increasingly curious about what the society is like outside the seven-yearly summits. Like, the backstory is that this princess Katiya from Revaire persuaded the natives to let her hold the summit there and trained them in service to help with no position of power of their own. Also the island is Mysterious and seems to be able to vanish entirely.
Protocol dictates Imogen is a Threat and must be separated from all delegates until her trial, including Lian.
Oooh, in free time I now have extra choices: deal with personal affairs (??), prepare for the trial, spend time with my intended
Ah, 'deal with personal affairs' means 'research the poison', at least for Lian.
Oh man there are so many possible avenues of investigation with the murder! Sorry Emmet, no dates for a while, I think.
The dead body is STILL IN THE ROOM?? The tea smells and looks weird even though Imogen said it seemed fine. And thanks to her nature dates with Emmet Lian recognises the smell as a sleep agent that gains a weird smell over time but is harmless.
OOOH AND SHE RECOGNISES HIS HANDWRITING AS THE PERSON WHO WROTE THE WARNING NOTE
Ria says Imogen is the bastard daughter of a noble who was rescued from human traffickers by the Isle, so would never cause trouble for the Isle. (Also Isle natives don't like to leave HMM) Aw Ria says she and Imogen were taught well and then at 16 given the chance to leave the Isle and start a new life if they wanted but they both chose to stay and help out.
The schedule STILL only shows the first 3 weeks, that's annoying.
I'm not using a guide but I am save scumming a bit when a line of investigation doesn't go anywhere useful. I don't want poor Imogen to die!!
Emmet takes Lian out for a date to relax, it's very cute. He's so smitten and sweet, gosh. He asks her to tell him something about her noone else knows so she tells a story about mildly poisoning a childhood bully. Lotta poison in this game!
I think I've learned everything I can about the trial, guess I'll just do random exploring and see what happens.
I stumbled across Penelope and Cordelia having a mildly shippy discussion about love, I don't think I gained any useful skills or knowledge and I don't caaare.
Lian and Avalie eat dinner at their own little table but they don't really click. I wonder how different the trial dynamic is if you're her friend.
Stumbled across Imogen's diary in the small library hooray for random wandering :D
Aw, Lyon came to give Lian a legal loophole he found after losing sleep to help, but was happy when she'd said she'd already figured it out.
A sweet but weirdly shippy scene with Jasper. I'm only hanging out in my room for the stats boosts, game!
Oh god it's time to say what happened and while I have some moderately compelling arguments for why Imogen shouldn't be found guilty, I have NO IDEA how Lord Aldaric actually died or who would even want him dead.
Maybe I'll say it was natural causes or an accident. It might have been??? Somehow??
Ahahaha ok my options are he died of old age/he couldn't take the stress/THE GODS CALLED HIM HOME maybe I'll scroll back and pick something else...
I put together a shitty theory about it all being a Revaire plot because IDK MAYBE, and the game was like "Lol good luck with that" /o\
I WON THE TRIAL. BY ONE VOTE. ON A LEGAL TECHNICALITY. Gisette and Blain voted guilty just to fuck with Lian, but overall her arguments were a bit shaky. BUT ONE VOTE IS ENOUGH PHEW.
Week Five:
Princess Jaslen gathers everyone to announce what will be happening this week: a play!
I thought about having Lian take a major role, I think she'd be ok at it, but I just can't imagine her caring very much. So she's playing a comically inept maid, exactly the kind of role I'd choose irl (I love playing dumbasses)
Woot Lian is cured! Hmm, to pursue the culprits or not? I am not sure she's got the right skills but it feels in character, and if this is a scholar specific quest I might not see it in another playthrough.
Ooh and "investigate trial" has been replaced with "build reputation", which lets me build my relationship with the various countries.
Hmm. I think it's time to check my stats!
Ha I have maxed out approval with commoners and Jiyel scholars, am doing ok with Arland, but am middling at best with everyone else. Maybe I'll focus on Skalt, they seem cool. Wait I would have to impress with something they care about like...any sort of physical skills whatsoever >.>
After some save scumming I finally managed to impress the Revaire royals with some gossip. Given that they are the faction with the lowest score and there's not that much game left...maybe I just won't bother with reputation.
Date with Emmet where he puts flowers in Lian's hair while explaining the science about them. PERFECT COUPLE.
The chaperones are doing a (deliberately?) bad job of organising the play, Lian tries to give an inspiring speech and it falls totally flat OH WELL.
Managed to persuade Penelope not to enter a political marriage with a mean Grand Duke. Hopefully she will make the same decision even when my character hasn't befriended her. She says she is too shy around men to have known love and I say CORDELIA IS RIGHT THERE.
A mysterious author from Corval writes biting, thinly disguised satire of court life. Is that you, Jaslen.
Ana discovers the Matchmaker's unrepentedly tactless assistant, Greer, sneaking around in the shadows taking notes on the delegates. She gets a sprite even though she's never shown up before, I wonder if she'll be important.
Oops, another shippy scene with Jasper. GAME, JUST BECAUSE I LIKE MY SERVANTS DOESN'T MEAN I LIKE MY SERVANTS. Lian is a happily quasi-engaged woman!
Ooh stumbled across Blain unsuccessfully researching medical texts in the library, did he get poisoned too?
Nope, he's looking up side effects of a childhood illness. Ahhh that often causes infertility.
A mildly shippy scene between Penelope and Emmet where they bond about liking plants. You know what, sure, I can ship Penelope/Emmet/Lian.
Lyon solves a riddle Duke Woodley left in the library, but says Woodley is wasting his intelligence on cruel games and his creepy interest in a 'certain delegate' (I vaguely recall once seeing something going on between him and Avalie)
Someone with an unfamiliar husky voice lures Lian to the stage at night and nearly kills her. Emmet got a note saying to come and watch the person closest to him die and is very happy she didn't.
It's kind of fun playing a character with such low persuasion, after so many games where the MC gets to decide on everyone's lives it's refreshing to have one who TRIES but often fails.
The play is delightful, everyone keeps going off script and Lian has to get them back on track while staying in character, via me choosing the dumbest and silliest line available. Also having low grace was an asset, woot. But now a chicken has run across the stage during the romantic conclusion and I have to choose between "Fluffers! My beloved pet!" and "IT IS AN EVIL CHICKEN THAT HATES LOVE" and I don't know which is sillier /o\
Falon, who isn't even in the play: This is stupid let's end it.
Lian: THE KING! HE'S ALIVE!
Jaslen: MY LOVE YOU HAVE RETURNED *throws herself on him and drags him off stage*
That was so much more fun than if Lian had been playing a major character. I like how this game values knowing your strengths and playing to them, asides from the story being less funny that way I am not sure Lian would have had the stats to succeed so well in any other role. And she definitely doesn't have the practical skills to have done well backstage.
NO EMMETT I WILL NOT LET YOU BREAK UP WITH LIAN FOR HER OWN GOOD.
WAIT NO I WILL EVEN MORE NOT LET YOU BREAK UP WITH HER BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR HER???!!
Oh god and now I don't know what to pick.
"I'm not looking for someone to protect me"
"I can take care of myself and know my own mind"
"I wish you could see yourself the way I see you"
"How will you ever be happy if you can't be content with yourself?"
I am going for number 3, I do also think Lian doesn't majorly value being protected and gets to choose who she wants but addressing his low self esteem seems more important.
Awww now he's crying about his abandonment issues, that was the right choice. Poor baby. His father sent him away for being nerdy and unmanly and everyone else thinks he's nice but unmemorable. Now he is supposed to wield the power of being the Earl and he doesn't believe in himself. He's convinced that Lian will realise she's too good for him and leave one day, and can't deal with the thought of that pain.
(Dude, Lian is great and all, but she's not that cool)
Attempting to persuade him he was Lian's equal led to a breakup?? OK HAVING LOW PERSUASION'S NOT SEEMING SO GREAT RIGHT NOW.
Rolling back and picking the option where Lian says she'll take care of them both led to him just saying he'd think about it, but left me feeling a bit weird. Like, I'm all for femdom but not because the guy feels unworthy.
Also: I never found out what was up with either of the two murders. Something to look forward to uncovering with another character! I think my next one will be designed to ferret out SECRETS. And also be mega persuasive, dammit.
Apparently the extended demo, which goes up to week five, doesn't include the breakup. GOOD CHOICE.
From this point on all the plot is new to me so it's EXCITING. There's been all these unexpected twists and turns!
"You awake on the first day of your fourth week on the Isle to the sounds of a glass-shattering scream, followed by a hysterical sob of 'He's dead!'"
OOOH
I wonder if it's Blain. He's a bit boring and superfluous, with Jarad around as a more interesting douchebag.
Nope! It was some guy from Revaire I've never met, Lord Aldaric. This is announced by the head butler who looks like the matchmaker in a fake moustache but I assume that's just lazy sprite art.
Oooh they have already found a suspect and are now going to choose a jury! This is exciting! And...the defence and prosecution are also being chosen by lot?? OK THEN.
I wonder if the murderer is Blain. Hmm nope, but he is on the jury.
And a delighted Avalie is the prosecution...
oh no the defence is me isn't it
YEP. I AM THE JOHN TO HER TEREZI.
(This is a Homestuck reference sorry)
So! The victim was poisoned, and the suspect is the maid who served him the poisoned tea.
Ooooh Lian can tell Jasper is upset about something and bugs him until he admits that another body was found yesterday! But it was a servant so nobody cares.
oh no the accused servant, Imogen, is the same one Sarya and Lian rescued from being harassed, who we also earlier saw with a love note from a delegate. Imogen says Lord Aldaric was feeling unwell so she took some (presumably pre-poisoned) soothing tea she saw brewing in the weirdly empty kitchen.
I wonder if it was intended for someone else, or if this was a setup to frame her.
OOH. I GET TO ASK INVESTIGATORY QUESTIONS. I was not remotely expecting this game to turn into a murder mystery but I am here for it. I wonder if it's going to be solvable with my and Lian's combined skills, or if I'll have to wait for a later playthrough.
Imogen is deliberately vague about her background but says the Isle is somewhere for people who have nowhere else to go. I am increasingly curious about what the society is like outside the seven-yearly summits. Like, the backstory is that this princess Katiya from Revaire persuaded the natives to let her hold the summit there and trained them in service to help with no position of power of their own. Also the island is Mysterious and seems to be able to vanish entirely.
Protocol dictates Imogen is a Threat and must be separated from all delegates until her trial, including Lian.
Oooh, in free time I now have extra choices: deal with personal affairs (??), prepare for the trial, spend time with my intended
Ah, 'deal with personal affairs' means 'research the poison', at least for Lian.
Oh man there are so many possible avenues of investigation with the murder! Sorry Emmet, no dates for a while, I think.
The dead body is STILL IN THE ROOM?? The tea smells and looks weird even though Imogen said it seemed fine. And thanks to her nature dates with Emmet Lian recognises the smell as a sleep agent that gains a weird smell over time but is harmless.
OOOH AND SHE RECOGNISES HIS HANDWRITING AS THE PERSON WHO WROTE THE WARNING NOTE
Ria says Imogen is the bastard daughter of a noble who was rescued from human traffickers by the Isle, so would never cause trouble for the Isle. (Also Isle natives don't like to leave HMM) Aw Ria says she and Imogen were taught well and then at 16 given the chance to leave the Isle and start a new life if they wanted but they both chose to stay and help out.
The schedule STILL only shows the first 3 weeks, that's annoying.
I'm not using a guide but I am save scumming a bit when a line of investigation doesn't go anywhere useful. I don't want poor Imogen to die!!
Emmet takes Lian out for a date to relax, it's very cute. He's so smitten and sweet, gosh. He asks her to tell him something about her noone else knows so she tells a story about mildly poisoning a childhood bully. Lotta poison in this game!
I think I've learned everything I can about the trial, guess I'll just do random exploring and see what happens.
I stumbled across Penelope and Cordelia having a mildly shippy discussion about love, I don't think I gained any useful skills or knowledge and I don't caaare.
Lian and Avalie eat dinner at their own little table but they don't really click. I wonder how different the trial dynamic is if you're her friend.
Stumbled across Imogen's diary in the small library hooray for random wandering :D
Aw, Lyon came to give Lian a legal loophole he found after losing sleep to help, but was happy when she'd said she'd already figured it out.
A sweet but weirdly shippy scene with Jasper. I'm only hanging out in my room for the stats boosts, game!
Oh god it's time to say what happened and while I have some moderately compelling arguments for why Imogen shouldn't be found guilty, I have NO IDEA how Lord Aldaric actually died or who would even want him dead.
Maybe I'll say it was natural causes or an accident. It might have been??? Somehow??
Ahahaha ok my options are he died of old age/he couldn't take the stress/THE GODS CALLED HIM HOME maybe I'll scroll back and pick something else...
I put together a shitty theory about it all being a Revaire plot because IDK MAYBE, and the game was like "Lol good luck with that" /o\
I WON THE TRIAL. BY ONE VOTE. ON A LEGAL TECHNICALITY. Gisette and Blain voted guilty just to fuck with Lian, but overall her arguments were a bit shaky. BUT ONE VOTE IS ENOUGH PHEW.
Week Five:
Princess Jaslen gathers everyone to announce what will be happening this week: a play!
I thought about having Lian take a major role, I think she'd be ok at it, but I just can't imagine her caring very much. So she's playing a comically inept maid, exactly the kind of role I'd choose irl (I love playing dumbasses)
Woot Lian is cured! Hmm, to pursue the culprits or not? I am not sure she's got the right skills but it feels in character, and if this is a scholar specific quest I might not see it in another playthrough.
Ooh and "investigate trial" has been replaced with "build reputation", which lets me build my relationship with the various countries.
Hmm. I think it's time to check my stats!
Ha I have maxed out approval with commoners and Jiyel scholars, am doing ok with Arland, but am middling at best with everyone else. Maybe I'll focus on Skalt, they seem cool. Wait I would have to impress with something they care about like...any sort of physical skills whatsoever >.>
After some save scumming I finally managed to impress the Revaire royals with some gossip. Given that they are the faction with the lowest score and there's not that much game left...maybe I just won't bother with reputation.
Date with Emmet where he puts flowers in Lian's hair while explaining the science about them. PERFECT COUPLE.
The chaperones are doing a (deliberately?) bad job of organising the play, Lian tries to give an inspiring speech and it falls totally flat OH WELL.
Managed to persuade Penelope not to enter a political marriage with a mean Grand Duke. Hopefully she will make the same decision even when my character hasn't befriended her. She says she is too shy around men to have known love and I say CORDELIA IS RIGHT THERE.
A mysterious author from Corval writes biting, thinly disguised satire of court life. Is that you, Jaslen.
Ana discovers the Matchmaker's unrepentedly tactless assistant, Greer, sneaking around in the shadows taking notes on the delegates. She gets a sprite even though she's never shown up before, I wonder if she'll be important.
Oops, another shippy scene with Jasper. GAME, JUST BECAUSE I LIKE MY SERVANTS DOESN'T MEAN I LIKE MY SERVANTS. Lian is a happily quasi-engaged woman!
Ooh stumbled across Blain unsuccessfully researching medical texts in the library, did he get poisoned too?
Nope, he's looking up side effects of a childhood illness. Ahhh that often causes infertility.
A mildly shippy scene between Penelope and Emmet where they bond about liking plants. You know what, sure, I can ship Penelope/Emmet/Lian.
Lyon solves a riddle Duke Woodley left in the library, but says Woodley is wasting his intelligence on cruel games and his creepy interest in a 'certain delegate' (I vaguely recall once seeing something going on between him and Avalie)
Someone with an unfamiliar husky voice lures Lian to the stage at night and nearly kills her. Emmet got a note saying to come and watch the person closest to him die and is very happy she didn't.
It's kind of fun playing a character with such low persuasion, after so many games where the MC gets to decide on everyone's lives it's refreshing to have one who TRIES but often fails.
The play is delightful, everyone keeps going off script and Lian has to get them back on track while staying in character, via me choosing the dumbest and silliest line available. Also having low grace was an asset, woot. But now a chicken has run across the stage during the romantic conclusion and I have to choose between "Fluffers! My beloved pet!" and "IT IS AN EVIL CHICKEN THAT HATES LOVE" and I don't know which is sillier /o\
Falon, who isn't even in the play: This is stupid let's end it.
Lian: THE KING! HE'S ALIVE!
Jaslen: MY LOVE YOU HAVE RETURNED *throws herself on him and drags him off stage*
That was so much more fun than if Lian had been playing a major character. I like how this game values knowing your strengths and playing to them, asides from the story being less funny that way I am not sure Lian would have had the stats to succeed so well in any other role. And she definitely doesn't have the practical skills to have done well backstage.
NO EMMETT I WILL NOT LET YOU BREAK UP WITH LIAN FOR HER OWN GOOD.
WAIT NO I WILL EVEN MORE NOT LET YOU BREAK UP WITH HER BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR HER???!!
Oh god and now I don't know what to pick.
"I'm not looking for someone to protect me"
"I can take care of myself and know my own mind"
"I wish you could see yourself the way I see you"
"How will you ever be happy if you can't be content with yourself?"
I am going for number 3, I do also think Lian doesn't majorly value being protected and gets to choose who she wants but addressing his low self esteem seems more important.
Awww now he's crying about his abandonment issues, that was the right choice. Poor baby. His father sent him away for being nerdy and unmanly and everyone else thinks he's nice but unmemorable. Now he is supposed to wield the power of being the Earl and he doesn't believe in himself. He's convinced that Lian will realise she's too good for him and leave one day, and can't deal with the thought of that pain.
(Dude, Lian is great and all, but she's not that cool)
Attempting to persuade him he was Lian's equal led to a breakup?? OK HAVING LOW PERSUASION'S NOT SEEMING SO GREAT RIGHT NOW.
Rolling back and picking the option where Lian says she'll take care of them both led to him just saying he'd think about it, but left me feeling a bit weird. Like, I'm all for femdom but not because the guy feels unworthy.
Also: I never found out what was up with either of the two murders. Something to look forward to uncovering with another character! I think my next one will be designed to ferret out SECRETS. And also be mega persuasive, dammit.
Apparently the extended demo, which goes up to week five, doesn't include the breakup. GOOD CHOICE.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-21 01:58 pm (UTC)Lol, all of us.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-23 12:11 pm (UTC)It's such a good ship, glad to know I'm not the only one sailing it :)
no subject
Date: 2021-09-23 05:39 pm (UTC)