Except with Breden there really isn’t that much yet, though you can, I believe (try to) snog Simon as an Aristo. From what we have seen thus far I think the romance is above average for a CoG title whose main focus isn’t romance or dating. I give the author extra credit for really trying to listen to not only mainstream gay people like me, but also far more unconventional ones such as Laguz during development and I think the game, characters and certainly the romances ended up better for it and I hope that trend continues into the next installments of this series, when presumably romance among other things may start to have a much greater impact on the mc’s story.
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You can also bounce with Kalt/Kala.
And romancing de Firiac isn’t aristo-exclusive - it’s just going to be a slow burn because de Firiac is devoutly religious and firmly aristocratic, particularly in their views on sex.
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Thank you for your insights @Ramidel and @idonotlikeusernames . Will probably pick this up before the price increase.
Been busy with other stuff that I haven’t tried the demo yet and I’m looking into the people’s experience so far before I buy it. XD
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Yeah, I know. I finally managed to get Simon’s cute confession with my main helot mc, it required the counter-intuitive choice of standing and fighting the Hegemony. Or rather I think the fact that it caused Zvad to leave so I could promote Simon to deputy. Seems the boy liked that, is that correct @Havenstone .
Oh and one other thing I can’t believe I’ve never asked but some people in the game call Simon specifically “young Simon” does that mean he’s the mc’s age or a couple of years younger actually. Say 18 to the mc’s 20?
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I thought his Father was named Simon as well and I was sure our MC was 15 at the Rebellion’s start … but idk, I might have head-cannon that, trying to rp a Joan-of-Arc type of character.
Just finished the game. Fantastically well written, up there with Guns of Infinity and Choice by Gaslight. Quick question though, did I miss a load of scenes with Ciel? Ending chat: I only really interacted with her during the Bleys scene, then having the option to have her come with you at the end seemed completely out of nowhere. Or is it just a hint that she’ll be getting more developed in the sequel? (Which I now cannot wait for!)
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@Havenstone What are the long term implications for defeating the army? I got a really big one for example nearly 400 soldiers and I think we ended up killing 8 theruges and 3 hounds. What percentage of the Archon’s forces does that represent? Would this action raise to the level of being named a significant battle?
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Primarily reputation and morale, proportionate to the size of the army you broke. It’s a major embarrassment for the Archon, but it won’t put a significant dent in her military capacity; she keeps pretty sizeable forces mobilized outside the major cities and along the Abhuman border.
You’ll have an opportunity to put a potentially meaningful dent in the latter at the end of Chapter 5. 
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I feel like the 8 theruges is a fairly significant number. I realize the Hegemony is fairly yuge with tens if not hundreds of millions of inhabitants but it must be a fairly steep pyramid given how many people are not subject to harrowing and how many need to use it. There are only 9 folks in the ruling “cabinet” for example. How many Theruges roughly speaking serve the Archon?
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That’s a number I’ll pin down before writing the two Grand Shayard chapters in Game II… but I’m pretty sure it’s high enough that losing 8 is painful but not a major blow. 
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I actually never really took the romance into account. But I guess a bit of it is due to the fact Robots is standalone, and XoR is a… pentology, I think is what it’s called.
Oh, believe me, I was pretty split myself. The fact that a lot of choices you make in XoR come back to haunt the way your character thinks (like how they remember Carles from time to time) is a huge plus for the game. Especially considering a few other CoGs often have the reader make choices and never remember them again. It feels like they’re “checking boxes” like @Eiwynn aplty said.
Hooray! Thanks, Havie.
I think the MC mentions to Zvad that they’re soon turning twenty, which would make them… nineteen or so at the start, I think.
But maybe at some point the Rebel crew will get together a few years after the first game and declare that now characters like Young Earnn will now be called… just Earnn.
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Honestly, I figure that the Plektoi are the biggest loss from a purely logistical perspective; that’s three entire Harrowings of blood gone down the drain. Right there, your rebellion has just moved to the debit side of the Thaumatarchy’s books, particularly if they didn’t capture your people.
Of course, the bigger problem for the Archon is the fact that she’s failed, regardless of whether you won through battle or through escape. This was supposed to be a routine, managed rebellion. Instead, it’s become a compound clusterfuck in one way or another, and the Thaumatarch really isn’t very merciful to those who fail him.
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I’d like to drop by and mention that I just caught a bear on my first try. Hooray for first week luck.
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No the mc is 19 at the start of the rebellion and seems to turn 20 somewhere early in chapter 2. At least according to the dialogue if you institute the apella. I think you need to select the apella choice to get Zvad’s convo on the mc’s age though.
But again, how old does that make Simon @Havenstone?
Yep, lucky you, I tend to avoid bear hunting altogether, literacy classes and recruiting more followers are better use of leftover followers during the week and like I believe @cascat07 once said with the bear hunting “the juice isn’t worth the squeeze”.
But then the Plektoi in particular seem like an extravagant and wasteful use of blood and magic in the first place and the Hallsurqs are likely right to seemingly focus on making weapons capable of killing them, rather then producing their own versions of those monstrosities.
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About a year younger than yourself.
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Yup, that’s what i loved about Mecha-Ace and I glad to see similar approach been used here.
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What exactly does the game mean by ‘omphalos symbol’? I looked on Google Images and didn’t find anything conclusive
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@Eiwynn, IIRC, at the start of the rebellion you were around 18-19. But, by spring I think you’re 20, so if you’re an aristo it’s time to start considering marriage and finding a good person to help continue your family line.
That’s what you would be doing if you were sane. But, I think aristos MCs have more pressing concerns than worrying about who they need to marry.
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But there is no other noble for the MC to consider to marry.
How can you beat the army? Whats the best way?