In that case, I have to officially headcanon the one with their back turned as Em. Not just because the appearance is roughly right, but because even though the Sorceress is right in front of them flinging lightning around, they seem to be looking up over and a little to the side of the Sorceress’s shoulder, right at Natalia. 
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I took every chance to schmooze up to the Sorceress at the beginning of the game with the idea that if ever I decided to change my mind towards the end of it, I’d have some positive relationship point wiggle room. I also chose to run as myself, not fully aligning with the Harnessers maintaining a high relationship score with Ravenna. 
Hope this helps!
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How do you go for immortality?
You need to have access to the Stars in the end.
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I’ve been playing Vivian’s romance for the first time, and … wow. I cannot thank Ms. Trevor and the rest of the CoG team enough for making a game like this possible. I’m always on the lookout for good asexual representation, and Vivian was written with such authenticity it nearly moved me to tears. I don’t think I’ve ever read a character before who had little or no interest in sex for its own sake, but reveled in their ability to give pleasure to someone they cared about. People like that aren’t particularly rare in the asexual community, but it’s utterly refreshing to see one in fiction - and in a love scene that was entirely sweet, often quite funny, and almost achingly tender in the end. I think that cantankerous, illiterate thief just earned a place on my “favorite love interests” list. Thank you for being, as you so often are, on the front lines of representation…
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Absolutely wonderful! This has to be top 5 CoGs/HGs I’ve ever played. The amount of different variations on how things can turn out at the end has a really impressive variety. I honestly couldn’t figure out who most of the romance options were supposed to be until partway through the story so I missed out on that, and thought Vivian would be an awkward one at first, but I became so smitten with his personality that I have to do another run just to romance him properly… Exploring around and discovering the secrets of the city was really satisfying. I still haven’t uncovered all the secrets surrounding the Sorceress either, so that’s another thread to tug on in the future. This game was well worth the asking price.
My only real gripe was there were so many stats and I couldn’t tell what most of them were supposed to do, it seemed like they didn’t affect anything except a few of the really obvious ones like the Sorceress’s affection and such? The group of personality stats like grace, artistry etc especially, I have zero idea what those are for/how they affect anything. I hope some kind person who gets it more than me will release a guide in the future.
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Those other stats make a big difference when it comes to how you progress through the story. When you face a choice that offers a variety of ways to tackle a problem, that’s often going to involve a stats check: whether you succeed or fail at the method you choose (or, if the story requires it, succeed but with a penalty) depends on your stats. You’ve probably played other games where that was a little more obvious, and it’s fairly subtle here, but it works the same way. If you haven’t already, read “An Explanation of Stats” on the stats page, and then pay careful attention to the way each option is worded. You’ll start to pick up on the hints about which stat is relevant. “I know I’m strong enough to do this” indicates a Strength check; “I focus and don’t stop until the job is done” tests Resolve; “I offer a clever excuse to explain my presence” tests Ingenuity.
LOVE this game. Been addicted to it the past few days trying to see all the different possibilities!
I’ve been having trouble successfully accusing Rey in Chapter 9. I took every opportunity to investigate Rey and tried telling both Nobu and Em my suspicions but the option to get their support was greyed out. Last time I had a good relationship with Ravenna but she didn’t help me either. What stats/story actions do I need to successfully pull this off? Thank you!!
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There are a number of different ways you can do it.
To get Em and Nobu’s support, you need to not just tell Em your suspicions in chapter 7, but go to them in chapter 9 and tell them what happened with Rey after the storm. You need a high relationship with Em at that point, otherwise they won’t accept what you’re telling them. Exactly how high depends on a bunch of different factors. Telling Nobu should be an auto-success if you’re in a position to do it in the first place (if you successfully got him to talk to you after dealing with the flood in the plaza).
The rest of the options to accuse him at the ball are just tests of different stats. Intimidating Rey (or the crowd, depending on whether Rey’s there or not) tests Tyrant. Appealing to Ravenna tests her relationship - it may not have been high enough if she didn’t agree to help you. (She’ll also only help you if you specifically choose the option to appeal to her.) Pointing out what a mess Kelestri has been tests Discontent. Leaning into your connection with the city is Soul of the City. Again, I can’t give exact values for what the stats need to be, because there are a bunch of different factors that can make them easier or harder.
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No this is a big help!! Thank you so much. I’ll be honest and say I took every opportunity to spend time with Harper (he’s just so cute) so some things may have fell to the wayside for me. I’ll give it another try!!
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I finally finished! It only took me six weeks, although I’ve never restarted a game eight times before getting to the paid content until now. I felt like I really had to think about what option I was going to choose in this game. I think I have lightning powers now, as I kept seeing flashes of light followed by a migraine when I saw another large paragraph appear on the screen. Some of the dialogue and choice options where very funny, I liked the regular use of humour to brake the tension. My favourite option being to heroically leap into an empty chasm that just appeared outside my house. I would recommend being poor in the strength stat and then attempting to use magic/physicality to solve problems in the latter half of the game for added hilarity. I also managed to get a good ending which doesn’t happen too often for me. I will play a few more times for sure, definitely the best game I’ve played yet on this site and very relatable since I’ve lived on my mother’s sofa for the past eight years, slightly above living in a cave (maybe). Would recommend for anyone in a similar situation!
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So… Sorceress… My mc was calling her mother the entire time… But, in chapter 8,suddenly started calling her sorceress when we return to her with the stars. I really thought it was to tip her that mc can’t reveal the relationship… But she still got angry(-relationship points) when i thought I was tricking the traitor… 
she should have picked up the hint
Switching how you address her is to avoid revealing the relationship, yeah - that should be acknowledged in the text. Keeping her from getting angry can often be a difficult task.
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A few days ago I completed my 1st playthrough and I liked the entire experience a lot along with the unique world-building and magic systems. Also, I ended up romancing Vivian and I had a great time with MC attempting to flirt at awkward moments at every chance with him.
Now I might check out Heroes of Myth since I’m curious about the author’s other works now. Thanks for writing Stars Arisen.
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Sorry I’m so late to the party!
I have a few questions about the Booyah achievement:
Can we be romancing Natalia to get it? What percent relationship (I assume not as his lover) do we have to have with Viv? A) does Natalia have to get injured and if so, B) what has to happen to trigger her injury?
Thank you so much!!!
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Hi! The leadup to this one is fairly complicated and it’s been a while since I was working with the code, so I’d have to spend more time with it to remind myself of all the detail here, but at a glance:
- Natalia and Vivian need to know each other and be on good terms. You can do this in chapter 7, if you introduce them when you’re leaving the dungeons and it goes well.
- Nat doesn’t need to be injured (the time when she can be injured happens as a result of failing at this).
- You can be romancing Nat, but you don’t have to be, that doesn’t play into this. You shouldn’t be romancing Vivian.
- To end up in the circumstances that lead to the achievement, Natalia has to be trying to take the Stars from someone else at the end of chapter 11, and you have to decide to help her instead of stopping her or walking away. She can be trying to take the Stars from the Sorceress or from either faction of the Assembly. She can’t be trying to take them from you, because then you’re automatically opposed, and the Reminders can’t have the Stars, because then Nat already has what she wants.
- At the choice where you’re deciding how to help Nat take the Stars, pick the option “Vivian’s here somewhere, and he should be willing to help Natalia out, if I can persuade him this isn’t a horrible idea.” This only appears if Vivian and Nat are on good terms, as above.
- In order to succeed here, you need to pass a stat test that combines Rhetoric and your relationship with Vivian. So there isn’t exactly a specific relationship you need with Vivian because that isn’t the only factor at play here. The threshold that the combination of Rhetoric and the Vivian relationship needs to reach also varies a fair amount based on the exact circumstances, so I can’t say exactly what that is either. If those two stats combined are over 130, you’re definitely good, but it might be easier than that, based on a variety of things.
- Picking that option, passing the test, and not being in a romance with Vivian is all you need to trigger the circumstances you need to get the achievement.
- To actually get the achievement, in the epilogue, you need to choose to resurrect Vivian, meaning you need to either have access to the Stars or have enough Remnant Slivers (4 or 6 depending on if he got hit by the meteor last chapter). If you fully resurrect him, you aren’t romancing him, and you had the previous conversation with him and Natalia, he will (jokingly) slap you in the face. You can choose to slap him back, and that’s the achievement.
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I finally finished Stars Arisen! It only took… 19 months 
I am mostly so very slow at playing.
I really enjoyed it! Kelestri feels like a living, breathing city with a ton going on, and I only scratched the surface of many different things. I liked getting to know the characters - I sometimes found it a bit tricky to keep all the minor characters straight, but that’s the nature of such a big story and cast (plus taking so long to play and needing to refresh myself, heh). Most of all, the characters felt very independent with their own motivations and drives, which I liked - there’s no danger of them feeling like agreeable dolls here! (RIP my friendship with Em, which started OK but completely fell apart later.) I really enjoyed romancing Vivian.
A lasting impression I have of the game is that it’s very large: it’s a huge word count obviously, and what contributes to that are lots of factions with associated storylines, and a huge breadth of options when resolving or causing problems. It’s fascinating thinking about how intricate the branching of the game is and it really does allow for a lot of flexibility for the PC’s goals. I twisted and turned many times, and was impressed that the game was robust enough to allow such a winding path and result in such a solid story - never did I have the sense that I was playing it wrong by doing that.
I was also very amused to get elected to an official position after what had to be the laziest campaign possible.
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I’m so glad to see Vivian getting some love. Aside from being an awesome example of ace rep, he’s just such an amazing character. I’ve always enjoyed his appearances in the story - whether he loves me or despises me (or something in between), his dialogue is just pitch-perfect. I can only hope that I will attain his masterful levels of snark if I should ever be so dubiously lucky as to become a ghost one day. (I can be passably snarky as a human, of course, but there’s something rather liberating about being dead-ish. Whatcha gonna do, kill me?)
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Vivian is one of my favorite ro’s here 
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I really enjoyed his personality and how I could get to know him, it was really lovely 
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