The Karen/Elanor scene is super hot. Like wow :D

The ending is a no-win situation if you court Karen. The logical "for the good of everyone" choice is to use either Elanor or Karen. That leaves Karen a sad mess from losing 2 loves or it leaves Elanor a sad mess. If you go with your love and sacrifice Loren, you're losing a great future ruler which isn't so logical; Karen's unlikely to have another child to take her place. Oh the agony...

Karen is the path that really tugged at my heart and made me cry at the end. It also presented the toughest moral decisions for me. And oh my if Elenor is the sacrifice that just broke my heart into millions of tiny pieces. Brilliant.



I still love Amukiki and I have a definite love for his style of character, but Karen just really brought the game home for me. I also really loved Rei's storyline, though his romance CG didn't really do it for me (the expression on Elenor's face me me more and more uncomfortable as the text got hotter).



Draco's was sweet, as was Myrth's, but I'd have to put them solidly last in my list. Still really enjoyed them, but compared to the others, they weren't my personal romance preference. Loren was also pretty sweet, but I've always been neutral on her as a romance so while I liked her plot development, her scenes were middling for me.

Unfortunately, it feels like a no-win situation all around, especially if you romanced Loren or Karen.

Draco and Saren are both 'beta male' types so their romance is a bit more low key. Also sometimes it feels like Saren spends more time telling Draco he's cool and to feel good about himself then actually having romance. It's like I want Saren to give Draco a hug and be his friend more than be his romantic partner.



Draco really, really needs some friends and he's a bit of the whipping boy/butt of the group so it feels like early on they just tolerate him and even at the end a lot of his friendship overtures get rebuffed for the sake of comedy. Combine that with Saren's own background and the severe expectations and repercussions of being a slave for the amazons it makes him seem pretty meek as well. He had to be for so long to make sure he didn't get mutilated for talking back or killed or worse. Put two meek men together, one who was raised to be cautious and one who expects to be the butt of every joke and yeah, it makes the relationship awkward.



Maybe if Draco could actually make some friends in their group outside of Saren it would be better. He seeks approval and gets dropped a lot. I've always been curious to see what conversations between him and Rei would be like. Would Rei be hostile to him due to his heritage or just dismissive? Or Myrth especially since she's the nice, sensitive girl who would also be interested in his elf heritage. Or even Elenor in a non-romantic sense. Or even just teaming up with Dora for hijinks or watching Amukiki because he's hot as sin.



This is all probably in the realm of fanfic though.

Also I tend to like my male characters as more aggressive or stereotypically male. Thus Amukiki being so high on my list, he reminds me of old school barbarians, but I can see where he would be pretty low on other peoples.



Rei isn't usually my type as I'm not into the 'redeem the bad boy' type, but I thought his relationship was well written and he was a compelling character so that made me want to see their relationship. Also Elenor's growth was just as important as Rei's and it made their whole arc interesting. If Elenor was more passive or had been more passive or just making token protests about his behavior (like being a Mary Sue and defeating his personality with her amazing specialness) their arc would not have worked for me at all. Also his not using every elf lesson as an excuse to hit on her made it work.



Myrth is pretty typical of the meek, yet sweet and sensitive virgin. Her arc was sweet, but that's not my type. I still enjoyed it because it painted the 'mutual virgins finding first love' picture and then I remember that Saren is part of the harem and should have at least some practical training when it comes to giving a woman pleasure even if he's technically a virgin and that diminishes it for me.



Karen would ordinarily not have worked for me due to her recently losing Ryzom and not really having time to grieve his death. It should feel very rebound, but it works because her bond with Elenor is gradual, but important and she's more than old enough to know what she likes. If this arc had been Myrth's it would have felt icky because even though they're both young it would have felt like Elenor was taking advantage of Myrth's inexperience and grief, but Karen's age and experience is part of why it works. Also she's the initiator of taking their relationship to the next level. Karen's in control of their relationship, but also tender and aware of Elenor's needs, that makes them work for me.



Finally I get the impression that Loren is supposed to be 'melting the ice queen' but she comes off as a lot more as just the emotionally cool bad ass who is no nonsense. My interest in her is watching her grow and change as a person and rebel against the prejudices of her society while also learning to be more open minded about the outside world. Loren's growth in the game is really good, but again for me, not really my type (either ice queen or the one expression bad ass).