How is it that I never played this before?! It’s fantastic!
End of Demo Values (and Plot Choices)
Jo Bloggs:
Physical: 22
Mental: 32
Social: 26
Total: 80 (New save.)
Hopeful: 54
Mundane: 49
Lawful: 61
Ædmund: 72
Charlie: 62
Dahlia: 61
Helena: 69
Kevin: 62
Max: 65
Teri: 60
Xiulan: 62
Artie: 62
Professor Karline: 60
Ædmund chaos stat: 6
Duchess: 60
Alder: 63
Won trial: Yes.
Inherited: No.
Elected: Yes.
I wound up bargaining with the elves (and will subsequently be bargaining with Death), but if Artie’s life wasn’t on the line, I would have tried speaking with Karakan as an end-game strategy. But I like Artie and Artie deserves a chance to live for themself after this is over, so Artie is my priority.
I did run into one bug: if MC gives up their name in the bargain with the elf king, Artie’s last name on the stat screen also changes.
Which reminded me: on the Atlantis trip, Artie mentions how odd it is to call MC Jasper - I thought that could be a neat opportunity to let Artie/MC/the player assign a nickname? I know it doesn’t have much use in the broader story, and I wouldn’t have thought of using a nickname otherwise, but if it was “Artie” doing the naming, I think it could be a cute moment of camaradarie.
There was also a bug - either in a dream or a flashback, where my MC had Artie’s hair color instead, but I haven’t found it yet on replay, which isn’t very helpful feedback. (It was after the more time-related plot points where a lot was going on; I’ll see if I run into it again.)
I also accidentally missed the romances (I do that a lot) - was Valentine’s the trigger? Or is it score-based? No one (other than Alder, who I definitely would romance, if given the opportunity) approached me, and I neglected to send any flirty valentines, because I’m awkward about making the first move. I sought out Ædmund all the time, albeit in a friendly way, and I’m not sure if 72 is a high or middling relationship score.
On future playthroughs, I’m looking forward to romancing Ædmund and Kevin the most. Xiulan is a little too intense for my current MC, but everyone has really sweet quirks to them and I fully expect the replayability is extensive enough that I’ll eventually make enough characters to romance everyone and see what else is possible.
(That said, with my current MC, I would absolutely romance Alder as a late-game romance, if given the opportunity. After all, I still owe them ice cream, and I could use that as an excuse to take them out for a full fancy dinner as well. Their parents are intimidating, but I like them, too. If I could keep better track of time in the realm (no small feat, but I’d try), I’d love to spend more time visiting the elves.)
As for the start of the game, it feels weird to say it, but I think the most effective promise from Æthel would be to straight-up lie. (Maybe also with food.) I know they can’t tell the details because of Invitation rules, but if they had told me “Look, you’re not in trouble, someone is looking for you, I can’t tell you more, but what if I buy you lunch, maybe some groceries, and you agree to just meet them? And if you’re not who I’m looking for, or if you don’t want to be there after hearing what they have to say, I’ll bring you right back here, I promise.” The food is definitely good bait, but the false promise would be the thing that actually springs the trap.
My MC would still be upset about the deception, but more along the lines of “dog that got into the car because it was promised a trip to the park instead finds itself at the vet” instead of “You took away my agency at a moment that was critical to our building a rapport.”
On a note of “Why didn’t I make more temporary saves” regret, I wish I had written down Takael’s name. (I think I’ve got it, but I might have misremembered.) It feels like it might be an important thing later on, what with the various prophecies and re-writable destinies to consider. I love the themes of interplay between identity and potential (and potential identities?) and it feels like there’s a good chance I’ve already met them (again) in a completely different context.
Right now I’m trying to recreate my first playthrough from memory, and having fun doing notebook paper scratch notes to find out “how on earth did I get those stats?” (I think the answer might be that I started out high-phys for the first third of the game, and then veered abruptly afterward.) But I do like the overall effect of being fairly stat-balanced as an Earth kid.
I’m obsessing and I love it.
And best of luck with the new project, I hope it brings you some rejuvenation.
I am definitely going to let you start up a new relationship prior to the end, though. 
