Honestly, even with the explanation of, “well, the Millennium Group was a bust, so this is the next big chance to gain needed fame for the MC,” it still felt pretty hackneyed that the MC even got involved with it - especially when they discover that Rich Asshole McGee from book one is the executive producer.
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I do happen to know what Charlie Chaplin looks like. I had no idea what the (male) choices presented to me for Black Magic looked like, I had to Google them. Then I think I typed in “Cary Grant”, shrugged and moved on.
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Wait - Oh, this is so interesting but so offtopic! Do you usually imagine characters in the official art style if there’s one?
Not only that, not everyone is into them. Saying someone has this hair color and that eye color still leaves enough room to shape them to your liking in your mind, and … yeah, I actually laughed out loud reading that. It just seems very bizarre to me. I’ve never seen anything like it in a cg so far.
You’re right (though technically there ARE some gorgeous actors and actresses from that era).
Okay, that’s a dealbreaker.
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To clarify, you’re only “forced” insofar as the narrative makes it very, VERY obvious that she’s the “intended” RO. I was able to dodge her romance path pretty easily by just not giving her the time of day, no matter how hard the narrative tried to talk her up.
But yeah, she gets pushed HARD, from first meeting onwards.
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You know how he looks like but you’re not likely to have had a long time crush on him or to be able to recognize someone who ressemble him at first glance.
I don’t know about the male Black Magic choices but I can see how it would be a problem too.
Yes. If there isn’t one, I just default to anime or whatever cartoon or book art that has a similar theme or genre to what I’m reading. (That’s partly why I dislike bad covers and skipped Witchcraft U for exemple.)
Yup but it’s a more subjective point so I kinda skipped it. You’re right tho.
True but my point was more that you’re VERY unlikely to have had a long time crush on any of them, at least not in the sense it’s presented in the game.
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I usually get a pretty clear image of how a character looks by their description, myself, although my brain oftentimes substitutes details for no good reason - like, Mor from Zeus’ Dilemma is blonde, yet my brain insists that she has black hair. I don’t know why.
But yes, off topic, so I’ma stop myself, now.
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It’s possible if you’ve been an old time movie buff from a young age - as I’ve been - but I imagine that is a small percentage of people.
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Yeah, obviously it’s still POSSIBLE, that’s why I just said ‘very unlikely’. Honestly having options like being an old movie buff would have been an interesting explanation for the ‘actor crush’ thing.
But yeah, that whole Beyonce thing is a good exemple of what I have a problem with, I don’t think I have any other ‘RO issue’.
It’s funny because I do that too. Like any character called ‘Mordred’, I just imagine them as looking like the bad guy from ‘Quest for Camelot’ for no reason, even if I design them in a completely different way.
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Actually, speaking of Mor, she’s another RO I have very little interest in. Her personality is that she has a chip on her shoulder towards A(lya, in my case) because Alya’s the child of Zeus, and Mor is the child of Hades. Problem is, it’s utterly one-sided. Alya doesn’t give a crap - she’s good at what she does simply because she’s good at what she does, Mor is the only one who thinks she’s being one-upped on purpose.
Plus, Mor is yet another example of, “this character acts like a wad as soon as she’s introduced,” and while yes, she has some measure of tragic backstory, at the moment, it’s not very fleshed out what that backstory is (the WIP simply says that she and Kai (child of Poseidon) showed up at Mount Olympus beat to hell and clinging to each other), so apart from “generic, vague abuse,” we have nothing to go by, which makes it hard for me to want to sympathize with her. Especially when she snaps and snarls at basically everybody who gets within arm’s reach of her because, “oh, she’s a child of Hades, they’re all moody and standoffish like that.” (Honey, my character is a daughter of Athena and willingly chooses to be the stupidest, laziest thing on two legs, just because your dad is lord of the underworld doesn’t mean you have to act like an edgelord.)
She also appears to have taken a page from Wayhaven’s A’s book of, “I’m In Charge Because I Say So,” because she likes to bark orders like she’s the top dog… even though the prophecy everybody’s working on is strictly about Alya, and not Mor.
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I must admit my weebish tendencies, because I imagine this Mordred:
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I like that Ares kids are a whole dorm of ‘Yay, Dad!’ guys, kinda played a big part in making me stick with being one.
Also to be fair, I can understand how the prophecy being about Alya would make Mor double down on trying to be the boss, that’s just trying compensate after a perceived defeat.
Yeah, that’s what I see whenever a female Mordred come up, don’t worry. Artoria is also how I imagine a female Arthur in that one Pendragon game.
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I STRONGLY consider going Hephaestus dorm when I play now, because they’re all just Tolkien dwarves: They love to hang out at the smith and forge shit, and often aren’t very personable with others.
(Disregarding the thirteen dwarves of The Hobbit and Gimli from LOTR, proper, who were all quite friendly for the most part)
Just remembered something else I hate related to ROs, it’s less about the ROs themselves but I think it still count. I hate when the game try to moralize me for going after a RO.
Like I choose ‘Damn, I love the princess’ and I’m stuck with a whole page of ‘WTF? Are you crazy? You could never get a damn princess!’ by the narrator.
Or when there’s a romantic option and I’m punished for taking it, especially if I’m punished because ‘they’re not a RO’, like, sorry I couldn’t read your mind and know who’s a RO and who’s not in advance I guess? Maybe don’t put options to hang out with them alongside a list of hanging out with ROs choices then?
Once again, doesn’t happen much but I hate when it happens.
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I feel for the author of Soul Stone War, because EVERYBODY wanted Mornie (read: domineering assassin werewolf who sexually assaults your character in book one) to be a romance option, and the author was all, “uh, considering what she does to your character, I hadn’t planned on EVER making her an RO, but if you guys are this sure about it…”
I haven’t done it, because I don’t like Mornie, but I imagine trying to flirt with her gets met with the rest of the party being all, “dude, did you hit your head or something? Did you forget what she did to you last time?”
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But going by that logic Manerkol shouldn’t be a RO either…? He doesn’t directly assault you like her, but he’s overall so much worse.
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Hey, I can’t claim to understand it, I was just fine with Mornie not being an RO, personally. Or Manerkol, for that matter, but that wasn’t an option.
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I don’t have a problem when the characters react to your choice, I just have a problem when the author / narrator or the world is the one lecturing you or punishing you.
Also I don’t have a problem with the ROs themselves but the romance itself in Soul Stone War tend to be somewhat overly dramatic or over the top, it can somewhat be excused because of the whole soulmate deal but it’s still a bit much to me. Not sure if it counts.
Also I can understand the confusion because some of the Mornie interaction and choice in the first game are very similar to what you get with the actual ROs.
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I once again point to Love at Elevation as my example, because that games forces you into a romance, and if you break up with them, the narrative actively berates you for it.
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I disagree with you here. I’m happy for those who can romance Mornie now. I never liked her (unlike Manerkol), but seeing how she’s optional, I don’t have an issue with more people being able to play the RO path they enjoy.
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Never played it but I see that game mentioned a lot whenever romance is mentioned. Almost make me want to see it for myself.
Sometime demands can be ridiculous but I can’t bring myself to criticize it given how I enjoyed Stoic (kinda) and Prodigal being added as ROs a lot more than I should have.
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