Anyone else have a ronin who loves Jun(ko) go for Toshie when they had amnesia just for drama? I was sad I couldn’t go for anyone else (like our samurai friend, though that’s the gold digger in me)
My attunement was really bad, most of my statements could be mistaken for one stat for another, I always wind up at about 79. 
Well, Tosh’s sudden change of attitude for me isn’t really quite weird because I chose to tell them about knowing they called my Ronin -kun in their head. So it was sort of like Tosh finally be able to show their affection more, I think? But yeah, I get what you mean when I played the second time and not choosing that option. Maybe it was because of the effects on the island?
I did that too so probably it wasn’t weird for me. It would probably odd for those who didn’t target Tosh specifically? And I was gunning for him from the start. XD
To be fair I am happy about stories that don’t make romance their main focus, so that really is not a problem for me, but I think if it gets included (and SoH includes it in a very direct way) it should be with care especially if it influences the characters’ dynamic no matter if the player follows that path or not. So I guess this is something I will be miffed about no matter what 
But like I said I don’t play this series for the romance anyway.
Honestly I think this will be very interesting with the Ronin alone and they group left behind. I really wonder for how long? Considering the upcoming wedding of the emperor the cynical part in me wonders how available Tosh even is to go after the Ronin, Hatch is basically forced to stay considering his new role, let’s not start with Masa, everybody else the Ronin basically beat the shit out while trying to protecg them…eh I really want to see somebody following the Ronin but now looking at it realistically ehhhh, so Ronin-chan not getting far with their plan to do stuff alone is basically no option…could also be that MC will find Jun/ko rather fast but whatever happens keeps them from going back to the others for a long time (this right now is basically the first time I could see a timeskip happening).
Honestly MC has much stuff to unpack (yeah all of the characters do in one way or another but we are playing the MC so the most direct we see and worked up to unpack and see is the MC), but I’m not sure if being seperated from the group so soon following their “failure” is really helpful? Confronting their past, sure that fits the theme but doing so alone? After they just got told to not cut their connections? I really want to see how that plays out.
I chose this option and still felt like the romance was left fielded. Like this is the point where they just admitted the possibility of being something more? And since you have 3 more books there was no need to rush. Like if this was to raise emotional stakes for the ending of this book, it would’ve worked just fine with just that admittance since now it’s about being possibly “robbed” (for the lack of a better term) of seeing where this relationship would lead
For example in Rogue One, if you choose to view Jyn and Cassian’s interactions by the end of the film as romantic, there’s that extra layer of tragedy since we will never know what would come out of that. They are robbed of that opportunity for a greater good – which imo adds a big emotional punch on top of an already emotional scene
So imo we didn’t need for the sex scene and lock in portion by this book. We just needed the possibility of more
So I agree with @Sammysam’s comments on characters getting hit with the RO hammer since this is the second time this happened. I genuinely fear for Toshi and Momoko tbh :)) they might get the Mai treatment from ATLA wherein they were more compelling before getting sacked into the love interest peg
And in all honesty, if as a write you know you can’t do romance then don’t. Give us first compelling characters and then a romance if ever at all – and if there’s none, the fandom will take care of it trust me
(but that’s probs to keep in mind for another series since dropping romances at this point might not settle well)
All in all, the way I see it. It really sums up on how we view it. And it is quite apparent that we have different perspective on the romance matter of this series. Some seems it felt okay while for some it didn’t. 
I think Devon could manage some romance aspects of the series but only to a certain extent. Some writers do have the talent for it though. XD
I have to agree with Devon in regards to this:
And in all honesty, if as a write you know you can’t do romance then don’t. Give us first compelling characters and then a romance if ever at all – and if there’s none, the fandom will take care of it trust me
No thanks.
I waited for 3 books to romance Tosh, and I didn’t even get to do it properly because Masa interrupted. Dropping romance all together is NOT the answer.
I think the easy solution is simply for Devon to stop writing scenes where people’s MC’s are forced into romantic situations, and instead make it optional.
That way everyone is happy.
Hence the addendum here
I waited for 3 books too to romance Toshi but it didn’t feel as genuine as I’d like. Book 1 we had them bicker and a sense of distrust/animosity was pretty much the bond. Book 2 they started on developing a positive bond, more trust and ebbing away their initial dislike of one another
And then Book 3…they’re irrevocably in love? I’d have believed it a lot more if the confession took place and that was it, maybe with hints of taking things further once the dust settles since both of them have very heavy destinies/goals
I didn’t view this as the case based from my interpretation anyway. There was an attraction but in contrast to Momo’s case, there was no explicit confession of “love” . That’s how I view it anyway but I still hope there are clarity by the end of the series.
Like I said before, it really a matter of interpretation on how we read the situation. There’s still three book left so my opinion might change but I still have high hopes story wise but for the romance aspects, I have my reservation. I still hope my Ronin will still get a clear happy ending with Tosh by the end of the book.
I still don’t get the premise for dropping it all together though…if you’re disappointed by the romance simply don’t romance anyone.
I take issue with you speaking for the fans and saying that we’ll be okay with nothing.
Wait so you complain about forced romance, but give us an example of forced romance?
I agree for me the romance had 3 books to develop through minor interactions, so I didn’t see anything wrong. I also agree it seems to take after Shonen and anime, where let’s be fair romance was never really natural.
Yeah, this.
And I also hope that the author won’t be swayed by complaints about some topics being too dark and all. C’mon, they add spice to the story, make it intriguing and disturbing at the same time. Without those SoH will become some boring fluff.
Come now… There’s always a different criteria when a person read a book or watch a movie or play games. Some people do expect major developments when it comes to romance. For some, they would prefer the story rather than romantic aspects.
I, for one, take into consideration the romance aspects when I play CoG games. My standard for romance aspects are average and usually I based it on what style the writer is trying to deliver their story. For example, I view SoH as a seinen type of IF so I expect more on the story aspect but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a satisfying dose of romance here and there. When I played Heart of the House, I felt it’s more geared toward the romantic or fluff aspects but the story is as interesting as well.
Overall, we are all fans here and when something we invested in has somewhat disappointed our expectations, it’s okay to voice out our feedback on this in a civil and proper way. Also, the author themselves has already posted their view on romance so all we can do is keep faith that the author have taken into account our feedback and concerns.
Ummm, about those occasional phrases in Japanese… Is there a place where I could submit mistakes in those? 
I think you could message those under the developer’s email found in the Google Playstore. I have it screenshot below:
I see! Thank you!
Samurai of Hyuga is as far from Shounen as possible. It is obviously Seinen type of genre if anything. If it was shounen it would be much more childish, but becuase the author is trying to portry the story and characters realistically, humanly and becuase there is quite a lot of gore it is obviously seinen.
The problem is that the shift in behaviour is still there even if people don’t approach the romance in this game also because this game doesn’t utilities choices to incorporate different approaches to the romance well. And this was a problem before in book 2 with Momoko already when the narrative tried to force attraction to her in a very awkward way and now with Tosh it does a similar thing for the sake of romance “development” (it’s not even really development. It’s "oh they got a crush on you and that changes the way they act around you completely, what doesn’t even make sense if we get told stuff like ‘they liked the Ronin from the start’ what just feels like a contradiction too. One that’s supposed to be romantic I guess, but not everything has to be love on the first sight to be romantic and insta relationship for the sake of “sexy times” just feels like a weak excuse of what could have done with this relationship especially with - I know I repeat myself - three more games to follow. It just starts to feel like we work through one romance through books by now, without much regard if the development/outcome feels earned from an character standpoint. It’s a bit disappointing and read for me like one of the worse cases of romance for the sake of having a romance in the game).
It’s literally impossible to escape the influence the “romance” has on the narrative, so your advice is honestly not worth much? I don’t say there should be absolutely no romance (though I think you get hung up about that one sentence a bit too much without much regards to the other mentioned points that lead to that frustration with the romance in this game in the first place), but if it can’t be done well in a way that feels incorporated naturally for players that either didn’t pin for Tosh from the beginning (and thus didn’t see those ominous “hints” you mentioned) or just don’t want to romance them, then I would say the author may should think about a different approach to the romance in this series, because it starts to become a pattern in the way romance plays out in this series and like I said I’m dreadful to think about some of the other romances that will basically be forced in my face for another game without much choice in how to react or deal with it, because most of the time the MC did feel terrible passive for me too just to have the things happen that could lead to “romantic” interactions (which - again - was pretty awkward to read).
I also want to mention while romance in choice games are not easy, many authors still juggle just fine the balance between having it overbearing for players that don’t want to romance a character and easy to spot for players that want to do so. It’s not that new, and we also got various discussions on the forum about the no-goes in writing romance. There are enough hints also included in the feedback for the author to draw from.
I stand corrected. I forgot that it has more violence than the typical shounen stories. 
I see your point . 
I think this was how I felt when I played Book 2 before since I was not gunning for Momo. I suppose that is why in Book 3, it felt okay for me since I always pair up my Ronin with Tosh. Since we will be exploring our Ronin’s past perhaps it’s Jun/ko’s turn?
Now, I am a bit worried if my Ronin met with Jun/ko. If they took out Momo’s tongue just because my Ronin traveling with her or for those who romance her. I fear what will happen with Tosh if Jun/ko find out. DX
One thing though, I think this is a fatal flaw when there’s no locked RO path? Devon did mention that he will present the romance aspects regardless if you started a relationship with other ROs or not I get the feeling that the RO-locked would probably be by the last book. With some sprinkles of development throughout the last few books.
