Agency having an agent to watch Tina is par for the course. The issue comes in that, well, it’s clearly setting up those two becoming a thing. Which is… icky. Very icky, considering the Agent’s ulterior motives.
If I had to guess, judging by the reaction if you’re harsh to the Agent, the story is going to insist, “no, no, these two are genuine!”
Uh, no. It’s a relationship under false pretenses. I will not be shamed for objecting to that. And if I had to guess how those implications would be addressed, I’m guessing Agent’s gonna end up confessing to Tina, then go “see, they do love each other!”
This is sounding waaay more negative than I intended, but uh… very, very dangerous territory being veered into. I don’t like seeing it brushed aside.
Ahhh yea now that you say it like that it does sound whack. Well in any IF/game I dont really like to interact or play match maker when there’s an option to so I’m neutral in this. But you may have just changed my mind lmao.
So, I played the demo. And… I have thoughts. A lot of thoughts.
I agree with almost all feedback in the thread, so I won’t repeat the same points. I’ll focus on my main issue with the demo: to me reading Wayhaven is like reading fan fiction about One Piece while also knowing nothing about One Piece.
There’s lore, but it’s brushed over because I’m already supposed to know stuff. Character motivation doesn’t need to be developed if you already know the characters. If I want to enjoy the series, I need more than what’s in the books… and so a trip to Tumblr and Patreon becomes necessary to get the full experience and have the required tools to understand what’s going on.
This is also applicable to the side characters. There are SO MANY of them, yet I honestly cannot remember any meaningful, plot-relevant interaction with them. They feel like cameos from a story I haven’t read.
So, yeah. I really wanted to like the demo. I really wanted to be more constructive too, but I genuinely don’t know where to start.
That was my first run, because I thought it made sense to be annoyed with some secret service berks who interfere with your murder investigation and even worse, blatantly withhold crucial information. I blamed it on the magic blood McGuffin then, like, maybe other bodily fluids are addictive too and MC walks around in a cloud of love potion perspiration, but apparently no, as magic blood schtick got largely dropped except for “You are so precious because of blood, MC, that we’re gonna take your agency away now and ground you, for your own good of course” plot crutches.
Aaaaand yeah, sway away from the narrative railroad and your immersion gonna get bruises. Already harped on how Rebecca’s entire subplot makes no sense if you chose to play mama’s boy from the start and never were anything but chill and accepting. Chose to ignore Vieno? Too bad, he’s foisted on you when plot demands it and you will care about him, damn you! Are you happy being fuckbuddies with M, no strings attached? Oh sweet summer child, you cannot, your lip will wobble, your knees will tremble. Furious with N for treating you like an inanimate fucking object helpless child? Lol where do you think you are, you will pout cutely for two seconds and then melt into the kiss, your joints electrified, bones liquified, skin sandpapered and choir of cherubs singing Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. Want to be at least minimally competent in scuffles with trappers? Joke’s on you, when you get owned you’ll get more scenes than when you win. So on, so forth.
While we’re there, did anyone pick those “Ablooobloooo ~sobs uncontrollably~” answers? I have a sneaking suspicion they, too, have more detailed reactions than “Nah I’m fine” but I don’t think I can force myself to test that.
To bookend the rant, there was one other thing I found as amusing as “This belligerent asshole of a detective makes us warm and wanted”, namely when TB complain that humans other than MC and MC’s mum would rather team up with demons* than them. Because if there is one thing human race is known for, it is our immunity and disinterest for beauty and sex appeal.
*unless demons in question are Succubi. Then, maybe.
I haven’t even thought of that before! But you’re so right!!
Still, now that I do, I like to imagine that every other same-rank, employee human that spends more than an few minutes with them sees the red flags and decides that the demons are way more chill. Could you imagine being babied by N? Ridiculed and harassed by M? Dealing with a wo/man child like F? Or working under a misanthrope like A?
I guess I have a different perspective than most here. My first thoughts on the (first) demo was really positive. The first two chapters were really strong and engaging. However, I do agree that chapters three and four feel like build up with too much world building.
By this point I feel like we know enough of the world that we don’t really need more characters. If the character doesn’t have relevance to the plot or can be replaced with other already existing characters, they don’t need to be there.
That said, I’m not outright against this villain love interest. If the character has a lot of growth in this book, I might like them (but never more than M). When I first played the first story M was the character I had the least interest in, but I decided to give every option a try. Now M is the best option (to me) because they are the only romance to not feel like that are stuck on a loop. Every story allows M to grow enough that I can see the growth. If this new RO can grow just as much, I have something to look forward to.
I mean, this at least makes internal sense. If guns don’t work against supernaturals, and Trappers’ main targets are supernaturals, then carrying around guns doesn’t help them, and just serves to draw attention to them and make their work harder.
I find it odd that it wouldn’t when A seems to have been hurt. But I always gone the non-combat direction. The others seemed to say A got hurt.
Trappers could use them effectively against cops and others that would be affected. Plenty it can affect. They wouldn’t never have to deal with regular humans.
The torture and abuse is my concern. Calling that good. I disagree with Agency on it.
The gun problem would have been fixed easily if sera made it clearly normal weapons had no impact whatsoever, which doesn’t look completely true, and came up with some fantasy tech instead. Imagination is the limit.
Funniest thing about this is that my detective doesn’t focus on combat, I prefer the deduction/psychology path for rp reasons, but even so sdfks I don’t think you can be a silvertongue strong enough to talk yourself out of every conflict.
That’s going to end up feeling like one of those bg3 playthroughs “can you beat the game by doing absolutely nothin?”
Yep. I did each romance once through, all silver tongue/investigative. Makes more sense to me to gone that way as an investigative story than trying combat. Once corner the perp, the backup is necessary at that point.
I don’t understand why you must be single to start the villain romance. It would have been way more interesting if the villain courts the mc irrespective of his of her relationship status. Mc then can choose to respond accordingly.
As it stands, you need to skip all the romances till book 3 if you want to romance the villain. What a waste.
This could’ve added some much needed drama and tension to the existing team bravo romances.
I’ve just replayed the demo and it kind of urks how there seems to be no urgency given a potentially god tier powered supernatural is just roaming around?? I get the Agency is probably working overtime in the background but everyone seems so relaxed given how bad the situation could get. I like WHC a lot. I just find the Agency’s constant incompetence to be baffling.
Yeah, if I were a villain I would not give a fuck if the object of my interest was seeing someone else. Splitting up lovebirds counts as extra fun! Mwahahahaha!!!
Yeah, same about the villain romance. But then if the villain is used for the jaleousy factor for the LI, isn’t it the same role as Bobby? It’s a little redundant if you’re playing that path. (Sidenote, but where is Bobby? I can’t remember if they were mentioned in the demo)
I guess it’s intended for people who create a new save at the start of Book 4? And you just pick a few options for the previous books?
