I’m so delighted that you enjoyed Javi (and the polyamorous romance which I wasn’t sure how many people would see), and it’s so lovely to hear detailed thoughts on the characters and how they come across
Just a note though, no one’s cruel for not liking them, or for voting for them as a bad love interest - I mentioned it because I found it funny, not because I wanted to criticise anyone who doesn’t like them as a character I don’t want to make people who prefer other characters uncomfortable (or who don’t like the game, for that matter)
Forgive me back there Hannah perphaps it was too strong a word to describe the fan reaction but really poor Javi deserves a chance to be appreciated by the readers even with all their peculiarities the character delivers part of the most unique content pushed forward with the game.
I’m not exactly a Javi fan (because you’re going to have to pry Rev Trev and Beaumont out of my cold, dead hands, and even then I’m putting up a hell of a fight), but I quite like them. They had understandable reasons (two, off the top of my head) to be antagonistic and even before you dispel those reasons they come and apologise for being an ass.
I do love Javi! They are the perfect example of a character that is not that interested in you at first sight. It happens with Beaumunt too.
Most of the time, the RO’s are willing to love you and be with you and it seems way too easy to end up with them, their background are sometimes ignored and they focus only in you. I like the challenge of “conquering” someone that is not interested in you and has their own drama. It feels more real to me. People don’t usually get in love that easily.
With Javi there is conflict. And that makes their story more appealing to me. Hope it makes sense (?)
From one personality extreme to the other: Royal Affairs is two weeks old now! To celebrate that, and also Westerlin’s favourite bodyguard, I made a blogpost about writing Asher - coming up with and writing them, their journey through the game, and some of what’s going on in their head.
Random piece of trivia I just remembered: Asher and Hyacinthe are the characters about whom I’ve been asked about polyamorous romance the most!
Thank you so much for sharing this! Of course, Asher fans will have picked up on most of this already, but I hope this insight into their character arc will convince some readers to get to know Asher better next time they play! And it’s always fascinating to get to compare an author’s intentions with the final product. In this case, of course, you realized your vision perfectly (but then, you usually do ).
Javi comes at you extremely hard, out of nowhere, and every reason given for it at the start of the game is extremely petty. They make a big scene at Rosario’s wedding, they’re a jerk every time you encounter them early on, and they literally call you/Asher out to fight just to make a scene and try and embarrass you. They’re just consistently awful to you with no immediately clear reason for it, and scenes with them are usually competing with scenes involving other characters who aren’t immediately hostile to you.
Personally, I disliked Javi immediately, which is a bit unusual for me because I usually like the antagonistic ROs. I mean, two of my favorites are Maria from the Relics games and Darcy from Professor of Magical Studies. Mean and backstabby is usually my thing, but Javi was just an immediate nope. I think that part of the reason is that the initial interactions with Javi, like the wedding toast incident and the challenge to Asher, are just so petty and childish that I get “bratty kid” vibes off of them instead of something like “rival in backstabby academia” and that just immediately kills them for me. Who wants to romance a bratty kid?
@AletheiaKnights aww thank you, that’s so kind. Asher was a funny one to write because of being familiar to the PC but not the player, but it was fun to show them changing through the game.
@KZV extremely reasonable - I remember some of the discussion upthread before the release about what folks thought about Javi and it was really helpful to get insight about it in every direction from you and others!
About Javi, they are not a bad RO per se. If done right, they can actually be very powerful. Same goes for Dominique. In fact, Dominique x Javi x PC is probably the best story-wise. The intersection of opposing ideals. One wants everyone to get along. One wants to step out of the royal shadow. My PC has both. So naturally things go better after a rougher than expected start.
Compare this to Trevelyan, who can be even more of an enemy-to-lover if you play your cards right. ROs that are willing to love you and be with you and are too easy to end up with them, the story feels somewhat shallower.
Compare this to Asher, who is a great all-rounder, except for his social status. My PC eventually made them bolder. And yes, Hyacinthe is not OP.
In a lot of ways it was very interesting writing Beaumont, and particularly seeing how they were seen by players from the outside. There were a few points where players felt they were really hostile, which I tweaked a little because although I wanted Beaumont to be blunt and have rough edges, I didn’t want them to seem personally aggressive towards the PC.
Random trivia: Of the major characters, Beaumont gets some of the most complicated branching based on their current life situation and romantic life. I didn’t entirely do it on purpose, but I think it was smart to do this for a character whose sense of self is very strong, or it would have been even more difficult to make those branches feel true to the character.
Beaumont was my fave - I ended up poly’ing with them and Rev Trev, for ALL THE SUFFRAGE!, but if I had had to pick, Beaumont (or, in my case, Bellemont? ) would have been the winner, so congrats on your success with them!
OTOH, I tend to pick the unpopular ROs for some reason*, so maybe it’s more of a YMMV case.
*the reason is that everyone else has bad taste, duh
I adore all the characters I’ve written but some of Beaumont’s behaviours (I think when they put on their scarf and coat at one point?) and comments were among my favourite to write!
I was surprised how much I loved Beaumont’s romance route. I loved watching her soften little by little and eventually open up to me completely. I loved how driven and dedicated she was, and how she stayed that way even when I helped her to relax a little. I felt that my character was as good for her as she was for him, not only in terms of present compatibility but of bringing out the best in each other.
Thank you so much for sharing this! I appreciate how much care went into creating a character who felt so natural and alive.
What @JBento said! You get some more screentime with the student who’s in the leadership class you take, but there’s plenty of scenes if you’re in a different one.
I don’t want to make people who prefer other characters uncomfortable (or who don’t like the game, for that matter)
).