Oh, if that’s just an impression some people have, instead of the actual truth…then Sammy is worth it. 
Hard to say! I doubt there will be a sequel/series, so the world may never know 
I think Samir and yusra are the top candidates for tats. Samir something simple or classy bc I think it fits with the suave and sophisticated vibe I got from him, and yusra I think would get them just for kicks.
I disagree with this Tumblr person. My speculation is that Arvin is the most likely candidate for tattoos, just like in our world he could have gotten them either on a dare while still a cadet or as is perhaps more likely maybe he got some together with some military friends or classmates. A simple one as a sign of indelible “brotherhood” or something like that.
While I think Carina and Sammy are the most likely for piercings. As most piercings, such as (my mc’s) earrings can be removed or taken out fairly easily if really necessary while tattoos are much more permanent. It might have been a relatively safe act of rebellion against their parent’s rules back in the day.
Interesting speculation! Whoever it is though, it’s not a simple tattoo. The tattoos are complex and cover their torso, possibly their limbs as well. Haven’t decided that yet. Their clothing covers it. So far all my characters have been wearing clothing that would cover those tattoos, except maybe in the tumblr scenes I write, so that additional fact shouldn’t narrow the field any!
Also, Carina might have her ears pierced, haven’t decided if that’s a thing yet or not, But Samir has no piercings
Then my mc will just have to talk Sammy into it, earrings and other ear jewelry can be very sexy on the right guys. Besides you said that the Prince(ss) is likely to start some fashion trends anyway, so maybe young men getting their ears pierced is something mine can start.
My guess would still be on Arvin, he wouldn’t be the first ex-gang kid from an affluent background to be sent to military school, repent his ways and make a very successful career out of soldiering.
The other possibilities would be in decreasing order of likelihood, Lia (comes from the poor South, so maybe gang related) Hasan (is an immigrant who may come from a culture that views tats different than Seyvia) or Yusra (same reason as Hasan, also the most likely to just do it for the heck of it).
Could also be V I suppose, either for cultural reasons or for the heck of it, being a bored prince.
Hope it’s not Sammy though while I like piercings on guys who can pull them off and I am not bothered by some discrete tattoos, going all-out Yakuza or Justin Bieber tends to be a little bit too much for me.
First–Arvin was never in a gang lol! He has always done what he’s supposed to do. That’s a big part of who he is
And second–they’re not gang tattoos. Carina is also the only one from Seyvia itself. The rest are either completely foreign (like Samir) or from a province (like Lia)
Never took Sammy for a foreigner, given how extremely well integrated he seems to be. Plus that swanky mansion of his right in the capital that screams old money.
So what country and culture is Sammy from? Is it by any chance the same as the mc’s maternal grandparents? Though I suppose we’ll learn most of that along the way during the game. Is Arvin from a province? Otherwise it seems odd they’d let foreigners in the military, let alone the inner circle of the Emperor.
Samir is not from the same country as the Empress, but they are closer to each other than they are to Seyvia. He is from a place called Aust. His family is moderately wealthy, but they’re not part of the super rich
Arvin is from a place called Vgorakh. It’s been part of the Empire for hundreds of years, and (I’ve said this before so it’s not a secret), Arvin is part of a long line of distinguished military officers. He’s not a foreigner, but he’s not Seyvian either
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The mansion in the Tumblr short gives another impression entirely. Maybe Sammy is just good at keeping up appearances though. 
I wonder, is that place currently in the process of being assimilated by the Empire? Or is that one of the reasons why the Emperor needs the mc after the loss of our brothers? To solidify a claim on that country too?
Still, I suppose keeping that country in the empire’s cultural and economic sphere of influence is at least made easier by having a living descendant of his empress again.
Which brings me to the possible flip-side even if the emperor doesn’t have any direct demands on the mc in that regard does our maternal family and their home country have any expectations or demands on the mc?
To be fair, there wasn’t much description of the house outside of it being in a posh neighborhood. It’s definitely not a mansion, just a nice townhouse
As for your other question, not not really. The Emperor isn’t looking to expand borders so much as influence, much like present day imperialism
They’ll be making an appearance, so you’ll find out!
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Greetings fellow Earthlings! Now that I’m back in Brooklyn, I’m picking up work on Return to Zemia again! Here’s the problem though–I’m having a hard time getting back into the groove 
That’s where you come in!
What are your favorite tropes?? What kinds of scenes do you like? What do you like about the game so far? Who’s your favorite character and why them? What about about your least favorite character?
These answers will help me feel out the part of the story! Answer here if you feel comfortable, or send me an anonymous ask! And add anything else you think I should know!
Thank you in advance for your help 
Edit: I also welcome DMs! Tell me what you think away from the prying eyes of the masses–you know, if you want ~
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@sviyagin Hey chief I have come to critique what I have read so far.
I have only played through once and I attempted to do a “All of you can go to hell fuck you, sept you weird lady that has a fetish for me your cool I guess” run.
I saw this commented before, I even believe it was one of the first comments, but our MC is a biiiiiiiiiit too, complacent. When I read that he got kidnapped and just kinda went “ah yeah cool man your aliens” I thought that was a bit of an exaggeration.
Buuuuuuuuut it kinda aint? Like they LITERALLY kidnapped you and our MC is kinda just cool with it it seems. I have to constantly try to drag my MC`s rage back into play since without constant babysitting of his emotions he seems to just want to become a complacent little bunny rabbit like I decided to leave my room only once near the end of the trip to role play being a moody asshole trying to cope and I was keen to show one of my kid sports a piece of my mind but the MC is extremely polite and has a nice sparring match with the lady before walking off. Hm
It just feels a bit… off. Like Im not sure about you lot but if I had a job I actually enjoyed, a family that loved me, and I was literally about to visit them but I get kidnapped by two people who I imagine have the 
face indefinitely plastered onto them I would be slightly livid. I feel this could be fixed if the voice of the character was adjustable, like if we could choose to have him act more aggressively or defiantly in between choices.
Like maybe give us an option where you ask “How do you feel about this?”
And it would allow us to pick options such as “ABSOLUTLY FFFFFFFUCKING LIVID” “I don’t give a fuck” “FUCK YEAH THIS IS AWESOME” “I- I don’t know… what is happening?” and the last one would represent well what kind of voice we have currently. And I know that this is not 1st person but I still feel that there could be some characterisation between choices, that would add some VERY tasty spice to the story. Don’t need to do it but customisability is always welcome.
Since ive only been glancing over these past 200 posts since reading is for nerds but it seems that at least the comments I vaguely saw also have angry edge masters like me that want a no fun allowed zone. I like those zones.
Also so far the choices are a biiiiit basic when it comes to problem solving. To be fair there has only been one real problem which was “ah no da webels D:” and it seems to just be “Pick highest stat and win” however I didn’t bother trying to purposefully mess up so for all I know that could have been a stat raising area.
I do hope that future conflicts will require more thought though instead of the simple “Pick highest stat and win” route.
Like if I Min Maxed tech and there is an area where I can activate sentry turrets to try and kill my enemies, but it turns out they are completely automated so I just fucked both sides over and if I read some previous dialogue properly I would have been able to know that or would have foreseen it.
Or a hostage situation and I just go in like a screaming idiot and murder everyone since I Min Maxed angry boy, yay I just murdered everyone after having both legs blown off and having every hostage executed. Good job!
Having a healthy mix of pick highest stat and picking smartest option will add depth and yummyness to your game.
But besides those gripes the idea seems quite good.
I am a 40k fan so I am quite willing and used to the idea of serving MY HOLY EMPORER so that’s cool. Premise is cool, execution is solid, there is nothing overtly wrong besides the possibly over passive character.
Its just that what I played lacked a bit of… pizazz
There was no PUNCH or WHAM or super impressive feature or very clever writing or extremely amusing and or interesting character.
It was a solid, if slightly basic, COG that I am interested to see grow. Rome was not built in a day and what not.
I think you have something good here chief, with some tweaks, creativity, and hard work you could make something really good here and I believe in you! The groundwork has been solidly set up and you now just need to expand on it.
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Replying directly to your comment now.
Tropes I like: Being the bad guys all along and the main character going apeshit
Characters I like: The girl from the MCs childhood looks cute and when I do a “Non Asshole” playthrough I will be nice to her, also she seems to hate those F I L T H Y P E A S E A N T S
sound of barely contained disgust
And I can relate to peasant hatred! But yeah if she has such immense and revolting happiness and affection to MC when they were like… 2 years old? She must be
A. A Yandere
B. Just that sweet or
C. Playing us
and all those options sound interesting. Also she must be a noble of some kind so there must be some courtly intrigue around her witch will be interesting
Least Fave Character: That girl who pulled a gun on me and drugged me since that is really mean :C
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Favourite Trope I really enjoy when two characters are protective of each other in a disagreeing way. Think one of them pushing the other behind their back to protect them - only for that person to step in front of the first one to protect them instead. I’m also fond of Vitriolic Best Buds, just two people close enough that they can throw casual insults at each other while both knowing it’s not meant in a bad way.
Favourite Kind of Scene Yeah, I’ll be honest, I’m here for the fluff. Just any scene that’s people being unexpectedly kind, sweet or considerate is my kind of scene. But more specifically I enjoy well written dialogue more than anything any action scene or fight could ever give me. Now that I’m thinking about it, I also enjoy courtroom scenes in games a lot. Something where, depending on dialogue choices (and possibly certain actions you’ve comitted in the past), you can sway a judge’s or a crowd’s opinion one way or the other.
What I liked thus far I really loved that you gave us the option to just be coping badly. Lots of similar games force you to just quickly accept that these characters took you against your will and your character’s just got to deal with it. I know I’m contradicting another commenter right now, but to me MC felt just the right amount of “put off” in the scenes on the starship and I adored the fact that we could explicitly tell our kidnappers (with whatever amount of aggression we saw fit) that we were not okay with what they did. I also enjoyed having the option to just let MC break down crying.
Favourite character This one’s a bit though since we’ve seen more of some than others. Hasan’s definitely adorable. I enjoyed the conversation about our abduction we could have with Lia (and the way she clearly knew it wasn’t right, while still feeling it was justified) as well. I’m also looking forward to Jin since I generally dig secretive characters (and getting them to open up just the tiniest bit).
Least favourite character I didn’t actively dislike her, but Yusra didn’t interest me very much. Considering she’s one of the characters we’re introduced to first she just didn’t leave a big impression.
Hope some of that helps and that you get back into the groove 
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I think you can guess my favourite character. Sammy of course, he’s cute, smart, sexy, charming and fashionable. In other words back on Earth a boy like him would have been way out of my mc’s league.
As for favourite tropes I love many of the rival tropes, particularly the privileged rival and rivalry romance ones. Though they may not be that good of a fit for this game, unless Vivien is up for fulfilling them to an extent. But Viv is likely not objectively more privileged than the mc is now, though he did grow up that way. But for a prospective ruler Viv has at least one huge disadvantage that the mc likely lacks: his inability to cope well with and under stress.
Ironically for being an only child, I tend to love most, not all but most, sibling tropes too, but then there is only so much you can do with them here, seeing as how our brothers being dead is what kicks off the whole story for the mc.
That being said my mc will probably try to live up to and hopefully eventually surpass his brother’s legacy, but the time period the game covers is likely too short to make that into a satisfying character arc.
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First, thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my work! I’m wondering though, in that scene, did you choose one of the hostile dialogue options? Most dialogue options include 2 polite, 1 indifferent, 1 hostile, and two flirty options listed in that order. Choosing a hostile option will elicit a different response from the NPCs, and each NPC handles/reacts to your hostility differently
I believe there is in fact such a choice directly before the MC goes the bed the first night in the palace
This was both a challenge and a stat raiser.
However, you can “successfully” complete this scene either by passing a stat check or playing to your companion’s strength. There will probably be multiple ways to complete a challenge in the future, but I don’t plan on making problem solving much more complex. In fact, most of the challenges will be related to how well you can recruit a team of people to help you. Sometimes that will mean stat checks, but it will be more encompassing than that.
I think this is just a hypothetical/example, but just in case I want to make it clear that this will not be a combat focused game. As far as I’m planning, there will only be one other scene of violence, and there won’t be “winners” or “losers” in that scene. As far as being a tricksy hobbitses, this is the kind of thing that will happen as I write, so I can’t comment one way or another
Just to be clear, you mean Kaya? She definitely doesn’t hate the filthy peasants! Carina might tho
She feels affection for the MC for specific reasons that will be revealed in game!
Thank you so much! It’s very helpful indeed!
Definitely true, but their presence will still be felt at least a little bit in game. Thank you for your answer!
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Hi! I haven’t been vocal about it anywhere but I really, really love Zemia… It’s probably one of my favourite wips. I aspire to acquire your skill in writing, your dialogue is especially cool. Each character has a v distinct voice and I try to think about the way you do it when writing my own story sometimes.
Because all your characters are so distinct and well defined it’s just!!! Really hard to have a favourite!!! I like Hasan because I try to be nice n I love nice people. I also love Sammy, he basically owns my heart. I find Yusra really, really interesting and I also like Kaya cuz she’s pretty adorable!
(Sorry I’m bad at having favourites.)
Besides the characters, I just really love sci-fi settings so that pretty much immediately drew me in.
My favourite trope, at least regarding ROs, is just sharing food lol. It’s dumb as hell and I’m not even sure if it’s an actual trope but I just think it’s kinda cute, esp when it’s still a flirting/crush kinda thing.
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Thank you so much for the kind and encouraging comments! And thank you for joining the discussion as well–it’s lovely to hear from new people, and I hope you’ll continue to post <3
Also–I love this suggestion, and the cogs are already turning in my mind!
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If there are falsities or issues with my review thing I apologise I only played through once and I have a shit memory, I can accurately remember something for like 2 minutes.
But for the ask how you feel about this scenario I’m quite sure I did pick hostile but my character was still alarmingly ok with things which is why I brought it up.
And with the sparring match I don’t actually remember options for if. Were there? I recall leaving my room and my character just agreeing. Again memory is awful so I could very well jay be dumb.
Also that’s fine what your doing with the stats and what not, your game and what not and their ain’t anything wrong with the system.
And finally, Kara how could you do this to me?
Next you will tell me she wants the things fed.
I decided the easiest way to facilitate this discussion would be to include the (un-formatted) code from that section
tell us how you really feel
You nod at her, and she leaves, closing the large wooden door behind her.
You choose the pajamas you like best and move the rest to a dresser across from the bed.
Alone for the first time since you left Earth, you climb into the bed and pull the covers around you.
*fake_choice
#Everything is going to be okay. It has to be.
There's not much you can do right now to get back home to Earth, but despair isn't going to help you.
To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose.
Right now you need to make the best of your situation.
*set faithful %+ 5
#I’m not sure I even believe in my own sanity anymore. But crazy people don’t know they’re crazy, right?
Who could blame you?
In less than a week you've gone from an average person on Earth, alone in the universe, to $!{princex} of an alien empire.
*set faithful %- 5
#I just need to follow my instincts, and I’ll be okay.
You don't have much to help you here, so you'll have to rely on your intuition.
Hopefully it won't lead you astray.
*set instinctive %+ 5
#I need to be careful. This place is bound to be full of invisible dangers.
You don't know anybody on this planet, not really anyway.
Who knows what pitfalls await you?
*set instinctive %- 5
#I just need to figure out who I can trust. I need a support system.
You don't know anything about this place.
If you want to survive, you'll need help.
*set outgoing %+ 5
#I’m just glad to be alone for a little while.
There's no telling what's going to happen tomorrow.
This may be the last bit of peace you have in the near future.
*set outgoing %- 5
#I don’t think anything; I feel: anger, sadness, fear, hope?
It's a lot to process.
Who knows when you'll get to go home?
You may never get to see your family again.
*set passionate %+ 5
#If I’m their $!{princex}, then I’m probably safe. For now. I need to play my cards right.
They, whoever [i]they[/i] are, went to a lot of trouble to get you here.
You're obviously valuable.
You just need to figure out how to cash in on it.
*set passionate %- 5
None of these are particularly hostile (or at least not angry?), it’s true, but I do think many of them project the MC’s negative feelings about their situations. Is there an option you think should be included here that you don’t see? My strategy was to include an option for every personality trait except rebellious/obedient (since there are more opportunities to express that trait), but it could be an opportunity to include a more angry response
As for the sparring match
After the MC decides to leave the sleeping quarters, they follow the sound of the music until they find Lia, who invites them to workout with her, eventually including a sparring match. Since the player already chose to interact with the other characters I didn’t feel a need to include an option to turn down her offer, but I’m willing to consider implementing it if anyone thinks it would add to the game?
Anyway, the hostile interaction option is available after the sparring match when Lia extends her hand for the MC to shake it
