That’s a bummer. A’Li is the only RO I find the most interesting so I’m sad that the solo route was not as satisfying as the other routes… ;_; I’ll probably think it over before buying the whole book.
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I felt the desire to make a meme about this love-triangle or polyamory thingy, but I’ll restrain myself. Instead, I’ll just quote a classic line from a an old Chinese comedy film I’ve watched over a decade ago. (I forgot the movie’s title.)
“從今天開始，我們三個人一起約會。” 
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As there have been many questions on relationships, I’ve added a new option toward the end of Chapter 14, “The individual I’m interested in isn’t available,” which will give you hints on each of the relationship options.
@MadDF15 @freelance On relationships with Victoria: A Midsummer Gala event with Victoria requires a player character who identifies with the Spirit of the Mountain or as a reincarnation.
@Divine On relationships with Xingtu: Xingtu is the only relationship option who can propose to (and marry) the player character in-game.
A further hint on their relationship stats: Xingtu’s most important relationship stat is hidden. Your likability is less important to them than your usefulness. A player character who ceases to be useful will be dropped immediately with minimal explanation.
@Fianue @resuri08 @Barroth_the_Mage On relationships with A’Li:
I’m not aware of writing that the best way to romance A’Li is via polyamory—happy to correct this if I did. On A’Li’s “best option,” I did write on a May tumblr post that “the healthiest in-game relationship with him can be interpreted as non-romantic.” More on him below.
On relationships in general:
I’ve mentioned to my editor that the main NPC’s can be interpreted as “anti-love” interests. Players can dislike Victoria enough to try and kill her. Players may question whether Xingtu is capable of love. A’Li may be the most “romanceable” character in comparison, but due to his past history, the full development of a relationship with him would have to occur outside the brief half-year covered in canon.
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Oops. I must have mistaken someone else’s post with yours. Sorry for unintentionally spreading misinformation. 
No worries, thank you for your efforts to answer people’s questions!
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Ahh, that explains a lot. Thank you so much.
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Thank you for the insight on the relationsship aspects. I understand that A’Li’s past relationships is part of him. I suppose it’s best to read your work as a story first. I admit reading CoG/HG with romance are my top priority but it would be a nice change to read something different.
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Thank you for the response! My confusion has now been put to rest haha
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@MadDF15 @Fianue @resuri08 Happy to help!
I respond to questions here because I want people putting time + money into the right story for them, regardless of whether it ends up being my particular story.
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For those of us that do not understand Chinese here are some of the translations of what is being said before you get to the option of choosing that you don’t understand Chinese
According to Google anyways
师傅，T-Hao-Si 咋走?
Roughly translates to How are you going master?
上个路口， 您—
Last intersection, you-
我认识‘Teahouse’的老板
I know owner of tea house
我—我带这位上山，您先回吧? 雨天堵车
I—I’ll take this one up the mountain, why don’t you go back first? Traffic jam on a rainy day
with its plaque of gold characters reading 山城青.
Mountain Green
Please feel free to correct any of these translations, I was going by what Google was saying the words meant in English.
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Actually, this one means something closer to ‘Master, how do I get to the teahouse?’
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Nothing wrong with the way it is written on that plaque. It’s “青城山” written from right to left, which is common, especially in olden times.
A friendly advice: Google Translate can be useful when it comes to translating words from other languages to English, but it’s really terrible when comes to translating full sentences.
Anyway, I’ll do my best to translate those sentences for those who don’t know Mandarin:
师傅，T-Hao-Si 咋走?
(Mister, what’s the way to Teahouse?)
上个路口， 您—
(At the previous intersection, you-)
我认识‘Teahouse’的老板
(I know the owner of Teahouse)
我—我带这位上山，您先回吧? 雨天堵车
(I- I’ll help bring this person up the mountain, so why don’t you go back? The traffic is bad in this weather)
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Thanks for correcting the translations.
I had a feeling the last two that google translated wasn’t quite correct.
By the way what does the plaque say.
Google translated it to Green Mountain? Is that correct ?
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The plaque, from right to left, reads “青城山”, which literally means “Green Town Mountain”. It’s actually a real place in China.
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This game has a real sense of place. I could well believe it had existed long before I arrived and would be there long after I left.
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So, overall I loved this, certain issues notwithstanding. It has a brilliant sense of itself, and the casual of melange of the sweepingly grand with the common and mundane is exciting to me.
Before anything else though…What the heck is the deal with Xingtu? In my first two runs, I never uncovered his motives or his role in…what happens, to keep things spoiler-free.
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I’m gonna be honest here, I was exited for this game because I enjoy Chinese mythology and folklore and I thought the premise sounded interesting, however there are a few really frustrating issues with this game.
-
Language issues
It feels like the player is being penalised if you can’t read or understand the chinese language. It didn’t really feel like their was much of an effort made to accommodate players who can’t do this. From a role-playing perspective this is really annoying because it stops you from playing a character who can speak and understand chinese.
Why not have an option that indicates a character is speaking chinese without actually having it written in chinese characters? like changing the writing font? -
ROs
So you have a couple of romance options accept not really because you’re options are either unrequited love even though it seems like you can romance them-
“Love” with someone who only keeps you around for as long as you are useful to them-
And love with someone who loves you just because? Not entirely sure why but it feels like the game really and I mean like REALLY wants you to pick this option.
Also there is a polygamous route but it doesn’t really feel romantic, it just feels like three people were forced to hang out with each other even though one of them doesn’t really care about the other. -
Role-playing
Ah well this game feels less like a role-playing game and more like reading a traditional story because there are not a lot of options to customise your character or even to really stay “in character” for your character choices. It really feels like you’re put in a box.
I did like the writing style. It flowed smoothly when I didn’t have to stop and copy paste chinese characters into google translate to understand what the characters were saying.
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To build on what I’ve said before, it helps if you think of this as a game about an outsider immersed in a foreign culture. That’s the experience the author wants you to have. Think of it less as a penalty than a bonus feature you can’t unlock. (Those who are able to unlock it, whether they were raised bilingual or acquired Chinese and/or English as a second language, have almost certainly already had the experience of existing between cultures or investing serious time and energy into learning something that felt very foreign.)
If you look at the development thread, you’ll see that the suggestion to provide translated dialogue for Chinese-speaking protagonists was already made and considered - and rejected.
Perhaps it could be made more clear in the game itself that the language option is sort of a setup choice, like the decision to include explicit scenes or fade to black, rather than a character customization choice, like appearance or skills.
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I too enjoy learning about Chinese mythology and culture. So I’m enjoying that aspect of it.
However I can’t read Chinese so to me having untranslated dialog feels more like a penalty and not as a bonus feature that I cannot unlock.
To me a bonus feature is something that adds to the game so having untranslated dialog that I have to stop and look up the meaning of doesn’t add anything to the game for me.
I do however appreciate the choice to be able to play a character that does not understand Chinese, and I like the ability to see how the characters interact with a mc that doesn’t understand the language.
I haven’t gotten very far past that option so if most of the untranslated is toward the beginning of the book then I’m totally ok with having to look up some of the dialog.
If it turns out that I need to stop and look up the English translation quite a bit then perhaps this book isn’t for me. This should not be taken as reflection on the author or their writing. Just my personal preference. For some it’s a draw back and for others it makes the story more real to them.
I will give it at least one play-through before making that kind of decision.
The premise is really good, I will enjoy seeing how others react and respond to a mc that doesn’t speak the language and I look forward to learning more about Chinese mythology.
You are really good at describing scenes, for example when my MC was feeding the Koi I felt like I was really there doing it.
The only draw back for me personally is the untranslated dialog but that may or may not be that big of a deal.
Congratulations on your new book.
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Thank you for that! I Googled it, and what a beautiful place it is! Also learned a lot about the area and its importance to Chinese culture and it really helped to add more context to the story. 
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