Not sure if I l’ve always been jaded/cynical but to me the “love at first sight” and “soulmates” stuff are bottom tier to me. If I get told who my soulmate is, I’m avoiding them at any cause and if we meet somehow, an undeniable NO is my response.
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Last I checked, doesn’t being soulmates mean that your are destined for that person whether it is now or later? I wouldn’t know what to see that as. On one hand: this person is the absolute love of your life, on the other: you are now aware that you have no agency in determining who your partner is.
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I mean A is British so that’s already a main mark against them 
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Yeah, all ROs have had their big romantic moments but M’s the one that in B3 has consistently gotten the mot sweet smaller scenes as well. Theirs was the best route for me in that book and their opening in B4 is promising.
I personally enjoy 3 out of 4 routes only but I feel that’s still a pretty good number and yeah, perhaps that leads to more patience. What I’m not getting from one route at this time I might get from another and vice versa. I actually wouldn’t like it if they all moved at the same pace. A variety of ROs shouldn’t just mean a variety of personalities imo.
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Just noticed that when the MC have high People/Psychology, the MC will notice that something off about Ostin. Most likely that he’s the main villain. 
Edit 1: @JBento At the start, the MC describe the body as a stranger so I’m unsure if it was really Ostin. You wouldn’t describe someone you know (at least, briefly) as a stranger.
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Ostin’s dead, though.
EDIT:
Ostin has the same metallic tattoos around the eyes as the corpse, though.
The “odd behaviour” mentioned appears to be Ostin first staring at the MC, and then NOT staring at the MC, which I wouldn’t qualify as odd (the game totally does, though, for… reasons?). I’m more inclined to expect the MC being part of some prophecy or another that we’ll later find in Ostin’s office or something like that.
Also, there’s a meta reason for Ostin not being the villain: we know the villain is a romance (in the friendship route), so presumably they’re either gender-variable or agender, and Ostin is always male.
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I re-read the opening twice and there was no mention of the body being a teenager? The eyes are the same as Ostin’s though and the corpse is described as “he.” Like Ostin was.
Idk if they change depending on what sexual orientation you choose though.
STRANGER, not teenager.
They do not.
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the what- I usually romance Adam so didn’t know. what the fuck (keeping my thoughts shut on how ooc that is T_T). Doing a great job of letting go I see. I really hope the confrontation is messy so we can tell A how it is and do some damage on their brain-dead skull, for now A takes too much for granted with the detective…
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I’m referring to this: If your MC have high people/psychology skills, this scene was added:
Also at the end of their convo with Ostin, the MC noticed that Ostin mentioned trapped entity. Usually when you mentioned someone incarcerated, you don’t use the word trapped, jailed or confined entity are usually used and you’re MC with high people or deduction will notice it.
stranger, not teenager.
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On soulmates, destiny, and free will...
You’re playing Wayhaven and in a romance, yes? Sera has said flat out they are all soulmate kind of loves, and you aren’t running the opposite direction. 
Besides, there are different types of soulmates: platonic soulmates (those friends you have that transcend what friendship usually means and who you can go years without speaking to them and pick up where you left off like nothing ever happened because you click that well), romantic soulmates, sexual soulmates, and the list goes on. What is really meant by the word is just a chemistry thing, where there’s a pull to them (and them to you, because it’s not a one-sided thing) and there’s a sense of connection there even if you haven’t met yet.
Have you never had that weird sense of knowing someone when you look across a room and make eye contact with someone? Not the normal “what the fuck are you looking at” thing (or maybe that’s just me, lol), but like something deep within you—call it your soul, your consciousness, your essence, whatever—recognizes (for lack of a better term) the person. It’s not a “thinking” thing, but something more primal (not in an “I wanna tap that” kind of way, either, though it could be part of it). Just like something keeps your eyes locked on each other’s, even if it’s brief and you never even speak to them.
Anyway, that’s what I’m getting at here. There wouldn’t be a flashing neon sign of “THIS IS YOUR SOULMATE!!!”, but more of a pull. A feeling that there’s a connection. I honestly think that is what Mishka is going for with all the fluttering, stuttering, and all that crap—to show an undeniable pull between the MC and LI—it’s just that she goes overboard with it from the MC to the point where they become an anime girl, while not showing that same intense pull from the LI.
That isn’t how I see it. You may be destined to meet your soulmate, but you aren’t destined to be with them. That’s a choice. Think of it from a writing perspective.
“Destiny” is your plot. Certain things are “destined” to happen to you, but how you choose to deal with those things is up to you. “Destiny” throws a fork in your path and, depending on what path you take, certain things may happen no matter what. Like meeting your soulmate.
The rest is the “character driven” part of your story. Once you have something thrown in your path, you choose how to deal with it. Like, say you come to a bridge that is falling apart. You can choose to cross it anyway (slowly, quickly, or running across like a madperson), wade through the water to get to the other side, build a boat, go back from whence you came, or sit there unable to make a decision until someone else comes along to help you or you die from starvation. It’s up to you. You have agency and free will, so you can decide how to deal with what life/fate/destiny throws at you. But that broken bridge is part of your story, and outside of your control.
The soulmate thing is no different, in my opinion. “Destiny” or “fate” or whatever you want to call it will stick that person (or persons) in your path no matter what way you head, but what you do with it is up to you, because you do have free will. You may run into the person more than once in your life, if you don’t take a chance the first time, or you may get one shot. That part is the “destined” part. The “being with that person” is up to you and that person.
Well, to begin with, the whole soulmate thing is supposed to be about both you and the other one(s), and be about someone with whom you have a deep connection, where being with them makes you a better you (or, to quote Dawson from Dawson’s Creek, they inspire you to be better—if they’re inspiring you to be a pile of shit, then that’s not your soulmate, that’s your shadow, but I won’t get into gnostic theology or Jung’s take on everyone having a dark side).
So, let’s take your scenario. Let’s say this cat kicker is your soulmate. Take into consideration what I said above–the very definition of soulmate means there’s a natural connection between you two and that, in some way, you will make each other better people. People who abuse animals are either psychotic/sociopathic or broken, and unless you’re a raging psycho, your soulmate isn’t going to be one. So why would a cat kicker be your soulmate and how could you even think about being with someone so horrible? Imagine you happen upon them kicking a cat and go and tear them a new one for it. You’ve now met. You feel a connection and resist it, because who the hell wants to be with an animal abuser? Meanwhile, they feel a connection, too, and seek you out. You can either go with it—and insist they stop kicking cats or you walk—or you can walk. If you choose to go with it, and they’re your soulmate, then you’re going to make each other better, if we go by good ol’ Dawson’s definition. So they stop kicking cats. You go your own merry way, and the cat kicker probably keeps it up until someone sees it and stomps their ass in the dirt. Again, it’s a choice. Go with it or don’t.
Nope. You aren’t “destined to be together”. You’re destined to be put in each other’s path. That’s it. You choose whether to embrace the connection or reject it.
Okay, there’s no cure for being British. You’d have to help him with one of his other large number of issues.
It’s Ostin. That was the entire purpose of showing that scene first, then doing the “earlier that day” thing, to set it up to show you met the guy and now don’t remember. The question is how long your amnesia will last.
As for Ostin, I think the dude was trying to help this entity break free, for whatever reason. Either that or he suspected the MC’s blood might have a weird reaction with the magics being used and didn’t want to warn anyone because he wanted to see what would happen out of boredom.
That’s what I figure, too. Whether it will last and require a “cure” or, perhaps, just wear off after a while, I don’t know. I wish it would give the MC some kind of supernatural power, even if it’s only for a short time. It’d be nice to be able to kick some ass and be the one to take this villain on alone, or at least be the lead in taking him/her on. I doubt that will happen, though. It’ll probably just cause problems for the MC and LI.
Eat a steak or a bunch of spinach! Can’t help with the insomnia. If you ever figure it out, tell me, because I have it all the time, lol.
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Yeah I got a bad vibe from him too I reckon he was planted as one of the main villains helpers in the agency. Do not trust him at all.
I bet the mc’s glowy hands are a side effect of the spell/ritual going wrong and it mixing with their strange blood.
Also yes I know it wasn’t teenager but stranger now everyone…I have insomnia & low iron & speed read, leave me alone! 
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That or he was a bumbling moron that didn’t have much experience in this area. If I remember right, he said it was like his 4th time doing this?
That’s a rookie. I wouldn’t trust a rookie with something as serious as doing a ritual to keep whatever that thing was stay locked up, you give that job to someone that has plenty of experience like the head of the department or something so the Agency probably fucked up again as usual and we gotta clean up after their shit.
That doesn’t help my confidence with this at all. We don’t even know what kind of a supernatural being he was so I’m sure the prophecy department has someone that’s immortal like the vampires that has done this sort of thing for hundreds of years. Even people can forget shit easily once 30 years has passed but 120 years? I’m gonna be pointing fingers and calling the Agency out on their bullshit.
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It was his 4th time renewing the imprisonment ritual, which only happens every 30 years. I’m not sure there’s anyone with MORE experience than him doing this.
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No, if I ever did I’d probably go through my memories and I don’t remember them, I’d just ignore them. I guess it’s just that I don’t understand it cause I’ve never felt it and if I did then I probably thought that it was weird and moved on.
About Soulmates
Just gonna jump in on this real quick. For me, it feels like how when you talk to someone for the first time and as the conversation goes on, it’s like you’re on a similar wavelength without even knowing each other. A first impression vibe check, if you will.
About the new demo, I’m cautiously optimistic. I’m mainly planning to only try out the non-romance route for the new villain RO. Nate used to be my favourite when the series started, but since it’s been several years, my personal preferences have changed. None of UB are really to my taste anymore, but I’m interested in how Mishka plans on plotting a romance for a single book.
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Oh wow I didn't expect the whole discussion out of my little rant...
For the record, I believe that any genre or trope can be done well. (Seriously, I’ve cried reading some good hanahaki fanfiction, a trope that I absolutely despise on a personal level and find borderline offensive)
I think we talk about different things when we talk about soulmates. You see it in a more traditional “this person is my second half, we’ve been happily married for 60 years” sense, which is nice and seems more like an opportunity rather than a sentence. I (and others, looks like) mean it in a more recent fanfiction au way, where there is an objectively right choice/only one choice for romantic happiness and that choice has been made for you since your birth. It’s scary and violating. And it strips the relationship of any and all natural chemistry and compatibility, because why show that these two are meant for each other, when you can just tell that they’re meant for each other. It also dismisses any sort of consequences for any and every shitty things one or both parties do: doesn’t matter that person A is toxic towards person B, treats them unfairly, abuses them and refuses to make up for it. Person B will forgive it all, because they have to end up together, because they’re soulmates, they’re meant for each other.
Soooo… Now I see that Adam and Detective are soulmates alright…
So, is Ostin a fanatical suicide cultist sacrificing himself and possibly the detec-… Agent to release the Entity or did he try to somehow use this Entity for his own gain (probably using MC as payment/bait) and failed/was stopped by MC a smidge too late? Is the villain of this book gonna be evil evil or another Hot Mirror Guy/Hot Winged Guy? I miss evil evil guys who aren’t comically evil circus ringmasters from Ace Attorney like that trapper guy.
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Well, we didn’t see any wings yet. Hope for blond hair and actual chemistry with MC - and by god, no redemption or melodrama because of the sudden revelation.
If there’s going to be a mandatory redemption subplot, I’m going to flip my shit. I hate, hate, hate it with a burning passion, but at least at times it’s optional.
My, wonders never stop to cease. Maybe he will have an actual arc!
Yeah, but will he hurt MC? That’s an important distinction - you can have absolute war criminals (Hawkins, my beloved), but as long as they don’t hurt MC, it’ll feel very different in comparison to people who actually do it.
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There will be melordrama. This is wayhaven we are talking about. It’s like a Broadway musical. Only with vampires. And especially if MC fails to see they are evil, because they are too busy staring at his ass or something.
I hope they are evil, hot and not give a damn about being good. Let Rebecca be scandalized, clutching her pearls. Let bravo unit wonder if MC has been hit over the head too many times.
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I’m hoping they’ll be Murphy-level evil. He had a purpose and accomplished it. He didn’t care who he had to murder in order to gain the power he desired. He didn’t feel guilty, didn’t change his mind, and was thrilled with the chaos he created. He was also very resourceful. I’m curious to see if this new villain will be able to beat the impact that Murphy left.
Sure, but that’s based on her own perception of what she’s writing. I’ll believe it when I read it. No offense is intended.
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