Well,the prince is gender selectable now huh? 
what a shame, it kill my enthusiasm a bit on going towards this path but eh…what can I do about it. 
@SpokesWriter Will there be a fixed gender male ro that is exclusive for male mc? 
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Thank you for making the arrange marriage RO gender selectable
Love the humor.
Would it be possible for our MC to have some sort of pet/companion animal?
Maybe have a list of a couple of animals we could chose from such as Falcon, Dog, Cat, Pseudodragon (small cat sized dragon), or a Cranky Honey Badger to unleash upon your two older brothers.
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I don’t know if this has been brought up or not, but Crispin doesn’t seem programmed to say your name at one point (or rather, address you by title, since you harp on him about not calling you by name):
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ah, that is because i’m an incompetent programmer 
i’ll fix it next edit
Or maybe was just scared of them the first time they were supposed to take a riding lesson (which the family then used to decide the lessons are pointless) or even, given how the brothers are, has some horse-related bullying trauma.
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As someone who only plays female MC’s attracted to females(lesbian), this doesn’t make much sense. Lesbian MC’s would be just as affected by it as “straight male”, MC’s, in fact any female attracted MC’s would be.
And as far as I understand this isn’t an issue anyway, since it’s a choice what gender the prince/ss will be, and not just the oposite of your chosen gender. If they’re going to be an RO this is simply what makes the most sense, at least to me… initially I was fine with it being a prince, but after seeing how some people seemed happy, almost gleeful to exclude/punish(in their words) female attracted MC’s, it just felt petty and almost spiteful. Even though I have no doubt this wasn’t the authors intentions even in the slightest, obviously that seems to be how some took it, for better or worse.
I think as long as the author is happy with how it is now this is the best way to make the most people happy. Just my two cents.
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You have pretty much taken one sentence out of everything I said and ignored all the context prior to my comment. I also didn’t see anyone gleefully out to get lesbians, that is inferring a lot, when it was mostly poking at straight men panicking at having to marry a man (at least that was where my entertainment came from). Then people suggested the RO be opposite gender, being perfectly fine to stick it to gay/lesbians (granted women were getting hit with it regardless), and fell onto the stance of saying they should wait and see, while the other guys could not do the same. Which was where my issue came from. Which the person nicely clarified and I took no further issue with.
The pairing of gay/lesbian did a disservice to the discussion as they do not have the same issue here. I’ll grant that. And was lazy on my part when I should have separated them in the discussion when I addressed the original comment.
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For me, personally, the “wastrelness” is something which gets built upon:
You’re long awake by now, but you squeeze your eyes shut to block out the world for another blessed second.
“Whatever you say, Crispin.”/ “Do I have to, Crispin?”"/“What do they want, Crispin?”
Obviously sneaking in a little sleep isn’t always indicative of being lazy, but all of these responses, to me, read like someone who’s used to sleeping in. Certainly there’s no option to immediately get up - all of these choices depict a rather slow and reluctant response on the PC’s part. You can’t choose to be urgent, and even when you do, it’s in a slovenly manner.
But if you’re going to just slowly waste away into Zylvan’s history, might as well look good doing it.
The player doesn’t get a choice of this statement, and to me it reads like a willingful apathy. It doesn’t fit with a more proactive or ambitious PC, who would decidely take offense at that statement.
The PC’s back-and-forth with Crispin is also full of sniping, which doesn’t make them look good either.
You try to smooth out a tunic, eventually winding up with something that isn’t too embarrassing.
A regular occurrence, then?
“I think I’ll live up to my potential just fine,” you respond.
“It will not do to be so cavalier about your future,” she replies.
“I’m a prince,” you inform her. “I think my future is going to be okay.”
Again the PC’s apathetic, certain that everything will go fine. There is a choice for the PC to be more eager about their potential opportunities, but the default voice, as before, is very laid back about everything.
The life you were born into is not one of sloth."
You nod. “I’m barely eighteen years old,” you tell her. “My life of sloth is the life any child would have, royal or otherwise.”
Assuming a medieval-style setting without widely-available human-usable magic, no child would have a life of sloth, and for many cultures adulthood began at 14. Poor children would be working with their parents, either learning their trades, helping mend things, or fetching and carrying. The middle class (artisans and merchants) would also do much the same, working as apprentices or errand-doers. The upper class would be shadowing an adult - as squires, pages, court ladies - to learn their responsibilities as an adult. There would be education, but the rest of their time would not be predominantly sloth. They would also have to socialise with and befriend those of similar station, for political reasons.
There is also a societal expectation of competition, to distinguish oneself. This is especially present in cultures which don’t have a rigid succession, as heirs jockey to get the title holder’s favouritism. Even in primogeniture systems there’s still a jockeying to get favourable posts or lands. In some cultures the cost for failing to engage is effective exile, imprisonment or death (e.g. the Ottoman Kafes.)
Now the setting could be different (and the above doesn’t apply), or the PC could really have a wrong interpretation of what life outside of the castle is like, but it is a self-professed admittance that the PC agrees that they are slothful.
“Absolutely. I love this castle, and I love being here. But I’m bored. My tutoring is complete and I’m ready to do something—anything new.”
Again this - which is from the “enthusiastically agree” choice - indicates that the PC isn’t proactive. They’re bored. To me, if they had some talents or hobbies or interests, they wouldn’t respond that way.
“I’m not struggling to find my place,” you shoot back. “I’m learning and trying to find one tiny thing that my brothers didn’t excel at five years before I even had a chance.”
“You don’t have to rub it in.”
…
You grumble. “Does it count as cooperation if I don’t really get a choice?”
…
You do your best to hide your growing rage.
…
You nod, smirking as you walk toward the door.
While this is the PC arguing back that they were proactive, given all of the prior, to me it feels like denial. The PC again snipes back with the combative response “You don’t have to rub it in.”
Sure, the PC could or could not agree with the betrothal. But the language in which they couch their opposition, to me, seems like a moody teenager who’s had a life of luxury. The default voice again, seems very combative and spoilt to me.
Finally, the PC’s parents aren’t the only one to consider the PC a bit of a lay-about. Crispin talks to the PC with a similar tone - and is actually surprised that the PC would take the opportunity to get out of the castle. Sure, Crispin’s closeness to the monarchs makes them biased, but it adds credence to the fact that this perception of the PC isn’t restricted to the PC’s parents.
All of this is just speculation and interpretation. But to me it was a bit of a recurring and reiterated theme that the PC was quite satisfied with their lot in life and didn’t seem to care about improving or changing it. That the player can’t really mould the PC to their will and personalise them adds to this - hence potentially letting the player decide the PC’s relationships (and more importantly attitudes) with their parents, keeping track of responses (i.e. personality sliders). Even letting the player choose what’s the PC’s favourite/best skill (even if they’re worse than everyone else), would make them less blank. Any headcanon about the PC is just that - headcanon - it’s not reflected in the game. All that’s there really is the default voice.
And currently, the default voice that’s there is indicative that the PC certainly wasn’t applying themselves, verging on wastrelness. And that made it harder to engage with them if their personality was so abrasive.
Now there’s nothing wrong with the PC being less-talented than the rest, or being an everyman/relatable figure. Tons of fiction revolves around that, about the growth from mediocrity to someone of substance or achievement. But in those, the PC at least has ambitions or goals before the story starts; something lofty they want but they aren’t motivated to do until the plot gets in gear, something they’ve lost hope about, or who finally realises what they want when the plot forces them into motion. There is an inkling of potential that needs to be kindled.
That, for me, isn’t there for the PC, and their default voice and personality is more the grating for it.
Quite the opposite. I think giving the player more opportunities to adjust the PC’s personality and skills would make them more appealing as a character and increase player engagement.
Let the player choose what the PC is. Whether they’re wilfully lazy, a greedy usurper waiting in the wings, a desperate figure looking for any way out, a dutiful servant who wants to be given a task, or an honour-bound statue who’ll go through anything for the sake of name and family. To the world they may always be a wastrel spare, but what are they under that artifice?
Hence why I’ve mentioned letting the player choose the PC’s attitudes towards their family, personality sliders, choosing favourite skills etc. Currently that isn’t there.
Perhaps we’re circling around and misunderstanding each other.
Ultimately I think the player should have more opportunities to shape the PC’s responses to NPCs and personalise PC to their liking through choices, so that they aren’t always restricted to the current default voice and attitude. That’s the fundamentals of it.
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Yes, but… that’s exactly who MC is 
18 year old royal prince/princess so it’s not out of place if they act spoilt or lazy (not any more lazy than a typical teenager in our world, I think you are judging them a little harshly).
I interpret this as: you’d like MC to be more of a blank slate?
My dear Sir, being able to adjust PC’s personality to a T is making their default personality blank. It is making them more of a blank slate.
Unless you have a system of alternate personalities in mind, instead. It’s easy to complain that PC’s response range isn’t wide enough and harder to imagine an alternative.
So, what personality system do you have in mind? Should MC’s personality be shaped by personality stats, should they never speak without the player choosing responses or should every dialogue option represent a personality?
I think the way it is now is pretty great. Not perfect ofc(what is?) but the overall idea is great.
And I feel like the MC being a little spoiled and indignant about the whole thing is intentional… after all that seems to be the whole reason that this is happening at all. Not as bad as MC’s brothers seem to be though, thank god.
Best of luck going forward. Regardless of how it turns out my interest remains!
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The prince better be hot and kind to compensate all the shit MC has been through
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Damn, I was interested in the potential of the “forced marriage with a gender-locked character” story as it is an extremely rare thing on this site! It is very infortunate that the author was bullied out of this… I hope that the forced marriage’s effect on the MC’s mind would still be explored, taking into account both character’s gender. This will indeed be more difficult now that the marriage partner’s gender is selectable, creating more possible combinations… Good luck still. I will wait a few weeks before coming back to see a more stable version of the story before providing further feedback.
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And here I read it as someone who’s dreading meeting their parents.
Or certain that nothing they do matters. Apathy, certainly, but a different kind.
Maybe they never had a chance to find something they’re good at or interested in?
I thought the sloth was something the MC’s parents blamed them to be because they’re not a Perfect Heir, not because they’re just being lazy.
Of course, that’s just my interpretation.
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?? I’m pretty sure all wip’s with arranged marriage is you marrying a dude, its the default in IF’s. Eh I rlly don’t care about the changes myself, I still think that it would be cool that male mc’s married a male heir but only if female mc’s also marry a female heir. Specially since het woman it’s so disappointed with the changes, bc apparently they were so happy with same sex marriage. Or are they only ok if its m/m 
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To be clear, this is very much still an option. If you want to play a het male MC and take this path, it’s still available. I understand that it may seem less impactful because you’re not “forced” into selecting it, but it’s there.
I also understand that there’s the perception that establishing these additional options is capitulation, in some way. I assure you that I’m not going to remove any of the story because of loud opinions I don’t personally agree with. There are multiple ROs in this story that can only be romanced as the same gender–I know that isn’t exactly what’s being discussed here but it feels pertinent to mention.
To be honest, I felt like I wrote myself into a corner with the initial couple drafts of the chapter. In the old version, even in the “fixed path” that was set up, players would be put on a number of different paths based on gender and orientation: in a same-sex marriage they didn’t want to be in, in an opposite sex marriage they didn’t want to be in, vice versa, etc. It feels weird to ask people to “suffer through” chapters they’re not enjoying reading in service of like… my artistic vision or whatever.
One other thing I’d like everyone to keep in mind is that this is a project I plan to regularly update and eventually finish, and nothing is sacred until I send it off for publishing. Changes get more difficult to implement as future chapters are written, but that doesn’t mean anything is ever off the table.
Okay, back to working on chapter 3
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I’m going to assume you were side eyeing me since I expressed disappointment. It’s would be wrong to assume I’m het. I said I played female MCs. I never said straight female MCs. Panromantic ace at your service. If the author had chosen a princess for an arranged marriage it wouldn’t have bothered me at all (hell, I’d be happy for both my gay and lesbian friends finally getting a primary RO). And even if it had been upset, I wouldn’t have pushed for the change. I am, after all, a firm believer an author should write what it is in them to write. If I didn’t like it, I’d just move along to the next wip.
That being said the author has made changes. Seems firm and we’re beating a dead horse with a stick at this point constantly discussing the gender of the arranged marriage. So I’m going to let it drop and see where the story goes for now. Peace be with you 
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I don’t get why people dislike the idea of having the possibility to have more options? Keep in mind regardless of the gender of the prince or princess, you can just not marry or if you want to marry. You can choose to be forced into a same sex marriage. If anything it just means the author has to write more.
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This might be my first time were I struggle to have an opinion on MC’s family LOL
I don’t like them but I don’t hate them either. They’re just annoying, especially the brothers haha with their “I’m gonna be kiiiinng” and the parents basically calling MC a freeloader haha
Hopefully the marriage will bring MC people that see her as more than her family
Of course none of the above is a BAD thing, i actually like that this isn’t a “perfect” family. Its gonna be interesting to see future interactions
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Chapter 3 is live! Feel free to report any bugs or throw some feedback at me (constructively). Next up will be a list of ROs (had to make some changes after the chapter 2 rewrites) and a revision of ch 1-2 once I get some feedback on chapter 3. Then, some day after the sun has burned out, chapter 4! (just kidding. Friday, maybe? depends on how this chapter lands)
thanks for reading!
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