Who is the best Love Interest?

[faerirose]

I just finished the game with Karen as my love interest. I have two words:

Hot.

Spoiler:

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

Damn.

Spoiler:

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...

[pysali]

After having finished the entire game I changed my vote from Amukiki to Karen.


Thoughts on Romance Major

Spoiler:

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.

[Aleema]

@faerirose:

Spoiler:

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

@pysali: Yuckies. I see what you mean. I've modified it so that Rei's CG disappears eventually.

I'm really happy to see people playing all of the romances. I mean, I'm assuming most of you aren't playing them because you feel obligated to, even though this is beta-test mode. But I was expecting certain demographics to beat out other demographics, but so far I've been really amazed by the diversity of tastes you guys have.

[jack1974]

I was wrong in my prediction though I told Aleema privately that after chapter4, some people would change to Draco as favorite romance but seems I was wrong. Maybe because of the fantasy/epic settings people want strong characters ? I mean, a personality like Draco is usually pretty popular in my others dating sims.

[Aleema]

I'm not so sure it has to do with the character type as it does my writing. I'm sure there's some premise that could be conceived that would make Draco a more appealing character. Right now, he basically loves you from the start, so that's not as thrilling as other paths. His sprite may also have something to do with it (if Rei didn't look so dashing, I would've dropped him so fast).

[pysali]

Concerning Draco I think it's more a combination of archetype and his personal story arc.

Draco

Spoiler:

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.

[Aleema]

Thanks for the thoughtful analysis. I always considered Draco friends with Dora (and Elenor, for that matter). Welp, I guess that didn't come through. x_x

I'm having this gut reaction to "fix" Draco's path, but I'm starting to stress out, so ... I'll just tell myself, "you win some, you lose some," and move on. That expansion isn't going to write itself.

[pysali]

There's not really anything to 'fix' for the main game. This is all my opinions and again, when it comes down to it, he's not my type for a guy on his own.


My thoughts on the other relationships in more depth:

Spoiler:

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).

[anita]

I think too there's nothing to fix, surely. I liked Draco romance, even if I'm not normally into BxB. I am so eagerly waiting for the expansion, and for probably a character nobody else is looking forward to (Mesphit!!) so I'd say save your energies for the expansion! yes

[Aleema]

Thanks for the reassurance, pysali and anita. And for more analyses. They're fun to read for some reason. I think it's just seeing things from a new perspective that's really refreshing.

I totally want to incorporate more job acknowledgements, even if they're small one-sentence branches. That's a good idea you have about the harem spy being more smooth with Myrth. If you guys have any more job-related stuff you'd like me to consider, I'm all ears.

@anita: You're looking forward to Mesphit? I'm looking forward to Mesphit! I wrote his recruitment scene and was like,"yesss ..."