When I first played Evertree Inn, I was a bit smitten with Dandy, but Orion stole my heart in Sordwin, and I haven’t looked back since. (Shoutout to my MC’s bestie Gunther though!)
I agree about the romances from Evertree Inn feeling very fast-paced. At least for L and D anyway. After knowing the MC for less than a day, they just decide to tag along on the Sordwin adventure, and then move in with the MC(?) once they get to Lux all in the span of a week(?) or so (I realize I’m oversimplifying it). The character growth and relationship development are interesting to see through the games, but it still feels a bit intense since it all happens over such a short period of time.
I think the relationship progression with Gunther feels more naturally paced; I don’t feel like Gunther is uprooting his entire way of life to go off with the MC, and I don’t believe (but please correct me if I’m mistaken) that there is even the hint of the MC having possible romantic feelings for Gunther until you get into Sordwin.
I’ve never romanced Gunther (I have nothing against him, just not interesting to me as RO), but I think it’s great he’s there for people who look for something that’s not so fast paced.
And to be fair, getting the pacing of a romantic relationship right in a CG is a pain in the ass, so I’m generally willing to suspend my disbelief to some extent. For a relationship to have a remotely realistic pacing, you’d have to cover an enormous time span, and then the issue arises how you’re gonna fill and pace the rest of the main plot to match the pacing of the romance (if the romance isn’t the main plot, and in Evertree Saga the investigations still have first priority). Or you implement time skips, but again, the relationship might benefit from them, but does the rest of the plot or does it cause issues in other places?
And I’m also one of those who don’t like to wait forever in fiction for things to “get good”, so I’m willing to let many things slide. It’s just that L in particular crosses the line where even I have trouble accepting the pace. But Evertree Inn (which has general pacing issues in my opinion) is the big outlier here, from Sordwin onward it’s all so much better handled.
@Hayden_WinterHe suggest a threesome while on the ship before landing on Sordwin. I think Dandy uses sex and flirtation to hide his feelings of being lonely.
I remember L as being the cringy one. Like he wasn’t as cool as the MC and felt like the damsel in distress and MC the hero. . Pretty sure Dandy knows he’s awesome. There’s more to Dandy than we’ve seen. He can’t use magic to pick a lock but he puts Winter to sleep instantly. Also, I remember him being into the threesome with Winter.
He gives up at this point, because he thinks he has to, and uses the following sex as a mechanism to make himself feel better. But that’s just my impression as someone who isn’t very familiar with Dandy. Others might correct me if I’m wrong.
So that was the reaction IF you sleep with Winter at the tavern. If you don’t Dandy acts differently.
The Dandy spell is in the room when Winter shows up. When he initiates the threesome and MC gets offended or it’s revealed she cheated.
I think Dandy uses the threesome idea so that hw can pretend he doesn’t care about the MC. But he is so jealous and hurt if you cheat and at the end doesn’t want to share anymore.
Kyran was pretty good too, thank God for multiple MCs. Lol
I don’t think any of us can be wrong as it’s all open to interpretation. Only Thom knows and he’s not telling lol
Ah. AAAH! Yeah, I always sleep with Winter, I don’t even notice anymore. It’s like breathing.
Oh, I’m really curious now, I’ve never tried this, but I’m still a bit confused. When who exactly initiates the threesome? Winter or Dandy? And I can’t sleep with Winter before, for this scene to unfold?
… Can I ignore Dandy and do stuff with Hayden while they’re sleeping? Like draw a mustache on them with a sharpie? Or… other things?
So when Dandy tries to tell you he has the box and Winter reveals himself- he either says let’s have some fun to which Dandy agrees but if it’s revealed that Winter knows the MC Dandy gets upset. I can’t cheat on Dandy again, way too hurtful and my MC is nice lol
I am always more interested in learning about the job from Orion en route to Sordwin (and learning that Luca and Orion (and their affiliates) may be Circle-affiliated, to help Gunther with his quest) than drinking with Ruby. I didn’t know Ruby was an RO until after defeating the face-stealers (and guess who I sought out then). I don’t hate her, but I didn’t think that she was more important than say, Carlotta Rivera.
So something new happened with Winter after MC having date with Kyran. When he pretends to be Impy my MC offered to have fun and he rejected her and turned into Kyran.
How did that happen?
Shenanigans! I’m a little sorry that Winter doesn’t show up in Lux if you’re not romancing them, not unless you do that one specific activity. I’m sure they’d have further… thoughts… on the MC’s escapades. Especially if O is involved.
Can I just say I really like all of the characters in this series? I have favourites—pretty sure we all do—but I feel that this cast is one of the strongest I met in any interactive fiction.
I like how everyone share the same unifying theme despite coming from very different backgrounds and histories. Think about it, they all dealt with death in some way, be it through grieving, having it as part of their belief system, and/or because, uh, they caused a lot of it.
Not listing specifics since it’s big spoilers, but I also think it’s neat that we can make MC embrace all three aspects of this theme too. The fire is unavoidable, of course, but there’s also their decisions in the climaxes of the previous games (murdering the dryad/Jewel, mainly) and if they decide to become a slayer/priest of Cri too.
It will be interesting to see if future games will adhere to this, or if things start to break away as characters change and evolve. That’s all up to ThomB though, since this is his story first and foremost.
I agree! If I dislike a character (Like Winter) it doesn’t mean their badly written. I dislike them because the author did a great job of writing them that their personality seemed real and unique.
@AlexHaydenX Definitely agree. If you dislike or even hate a character it means they were written really well. The character will feel so real that they irk you.
I must admit I love watching General Hospital and I truly believe the hated characters have the best actors and writers.
Oooh, interesting, I’ve never tried this! Mayhaps they have eyes everywhere. I once did a “mean route” wherein my MC cheats on Dandy with Winter, but stays with Dandy after all. In Lux, I tried for hanky panky with Winter again but my MC got rejected, with Winter taking on Dandy’s face while they kind of admonished her. Lol.
Edit: Ahhh I tried the Kyran thing and Winter has the same dialogue, haha.
Kyran is a better Dandy than Dandy.
Yeah, I always sleep with Winter, I don’t even notice anymore. It’s like breathing.
I once did a “mean route” wherein my MC cheats on Dandy with Winter, but stays with Dandy after all. In Lux, I tried for hanky panky with Winter again