The only correct option is to get rid of Leon and Thalia both. Anyone who disagrees is clearly biased one way or other
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Pretty sure there’s a third party involved from what the whole Eli rescue sidequest and the twins enemy implied so they gotta go too.
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I think that you could feel bad for the fact that the Arcadians were hurt and killed but we stil don’t know why Param did what they did. I am of the personal opinion that Tahlia’s characterization needs to be revisited.
I don’t understand how Tahlia is meant to be a defeatable opponent for the main character when it’s pretty obvious she was alive for the fall of Arcadia (otherwise how would she know so much, and have such a strong hatred for the neighboring nations that it blinds her to the potential for peaceful resolution). She is basically an omnipresent malicious force. How the hell is that meant to be winnable against? Unless the MC develops a magical wall from her influence. I wish additionally there was a third option where the MC was scheming for escape, but readily aware of the risk involved and bidding for time at the beginning of the Yotai arch. (Instead of needing to act right away or just ‘fitting right in.’)
But to me she feels more like Voldemort than the Fallen Hero. She I mentioned it before but she uses the Song of the Dead’s toll to manipulate Eli into agreeing to keep the MC prisoner and within her influence. She essentially uses the fact that she forced you back to life to ensure your continued slavery under her command, and she will readily just wretch things from your mind. She either, in my opinion, should not be characterized in a way implying there should be sympathy, or she should be changed slightly to not make her actions so outwardly callous and cruel.
Personally, I’m so disturbed by her, and the fact everyone around her just accepts what she does, that I can’t continue reading it. Like, I can’t get into character because I just get so frustrated for my MC. Kill people for money? Sure! Read my mind? A-Okay by me! Have the slightest doubts in my head that you are anything other than ambrosia from the gods? Welp, time to get tortured!
Response to @Arella :
Hmm? How often has that happened? Lol. I don’t really think it’s easy to just take a side. I think it depends on the MC and their personality. The MC I made for my first book playthrough though was a believer in change through action, and helped Leon, accepted death gracefully. That MC would be pro-Param.
An MC who was helping out of goodwill but felt completely betrayed by Leon’s actions, however, would fit much better with a pro-Arcadia playthrough. They might feel as though even if they were lovers, that the blame befalling them was too great, the actions too hasty. They felt as if everyone assumed the worst of them even if their actions were grave.
Either way, I see it being a Character Choice and not really a definitive ‘who is in the right?’ type of thing.
Response to @Big_fan1231 :
Was that explicitly stated in the text? That the Param people only killed them because they were powerful? If so, I think that is a very shallow writing choice. It would be more interesting if it was a gray reason. (For example, let’s say a powerful independent Arcadian placed a curse, acting independently. However, this curse caused great harm, and the people of Param blamed all of Arcadia for their lack of control of their mages.)
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Beacuse they thought arcardians were more powerful than them and wanted to get rid of them first
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Hating both is still a form of bias.
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I don’t think any of us here is unbiased. We are all biased. All of us.
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And that’s a positive, most of the time! It just shows how invested we are. I think. It’s fun to have those discussions about our opinions on the game, at least when the Arcadia vs Param arguments aren’t starting up again. 
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In comment to part of what you posted if memory serves its been stated that one of the end paths is basically a nuke them all option where pretty much every ro can be killed save for eli who will relunctantly help the MC.
Now how that will all come about hard to say but its part of why i look forward to seeing more of the game. I can certiantly understand the frustration hence why i dont reply the demo to often depending on my mood. Hell there is a book series of which i dont quite recall the series name that is semi deep into it where in one of the books is a scene where i couldnt finish sespite being a awesome writing and series i couldnt finish depsite having it on the bookshelf.
So defintly understand the frustration lol
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I don’t care about nuking F or Y, I want an option that destroys Tahlia and lets me take her place. Uptight shitter, my MC would be a far better leader, if for no other reason than that they are willing to open their heart to trust in spite of being burned in the past before (both literally and figuratively). Like I said, my MC is loyal to Param, all they want is an option to return, and to bide their time in wait. But I can’t be both in wait and want to escape iirc? Either you are accepting the new life thrown at you or you are readily plotting an escape attempt right now. There is no middle ground for an intelligent MC to recognize the risk and bide their time, even knowing Tahlia is aware of their mistrust.
Edit: In retrospect, my MC would probably trust Eli with helping the people of Arcadia, they have lived there longer and additionally are more aware of their needs.
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They are already legitimately making money by selling the magic items they create.
The best magic items on the market, in fact.
STRONG AGREE not that i necessarily dislike the characterization of the mage after the events and the range of emotional responses you’re allowed to have makes this section super engaging and replayable but damn i’m always floored by how functional mc is when they first get to arcadia. no words of comfort, no support, they just get revived and its straight back to work like nobody is even sorry for them. it’s brutal out here!
i just think they should at least get to be a bit of a tire fire after all that. as a treat!
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I just try to imagine MC is compartmentalizing everything. They’re functioning because they’re actively avoiding thinking/dealing with the fact they were burned alive by the people they saved. For my mage, it spills out through extreme cynicism and pessimism.
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oh i completely agree with this read! i think compartmentalizing all their feelings into oblivion is 1000% what has carried the mage this far. but with them stacking as many L’s as they have, i’m hoping for the catharsis of like a proper biblical meltdown at some point. would love to get a little unhinged in the coming chapters!
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The author hasn’t been on the discord server for a while
the author has updated the demo, he said it in his patreon
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For public too? Because there is nothing new in the changelog.
i don’t know, i just saw his patreon post that said he already updated the demo.
Nevermind he didn’t update the public demo
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until the king returns the inmates are running the asylum, which is kinda fun! while we wait, though, i have a question that spins in the back of my brain nonstop: do you guys think mireil ever really loved the mage?
my instinct is yes(??), but being loved by mireil is just not necessarily an enjoyable experience. would love your thoughts!
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I would argue that she both deeply hated/resented the mage and also deeply loved them. They loved them because they provided the only real human companionship throughout their abuse and the fact she is shown willing to burden more of the pain to relieve some from the mage also shows that she did in fact care for them. However the poison of being told constantly and inherently knowing that she’ll never have the innate potential of the mage also drove her to resent them.
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I think that in the start it was pretty much only love, and then as she grew it got twisted up. The more she compared herself to the Mage, the more she grew to resent them, and at that point it sort of… Poisoned the way she saw them to the point that she didn’t really care in a way that could be called genuine love. Maybe more obsessiveness or a desire to control them?
I think that towards the end of her life, it was also very difficult for her to comprehend that the Mage might never have hated her or considered themself superior to her at all. I think one of her biggest problems might actually have been that she doesn’t think the Mage ever really loved her, or maybe that them doing so would just have been another sign of the ways they were less ready to sacrifice for their Arcana than she was.
So I definitely think she loved the Mage at some point, but I’m not sure she did so in the end.
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