(WIP) Path of Martial Arts: The Beginning (Dark, Eastern Fantasy | 590k words)

[Wiliam_Rafael_da_Sil]

Guo was an RO and is no longer (in his place was Caihong)

[AmerHST]

I read this a long time ago and I wanted to check it out after so long, only to be pleasantly surprised now that Ruo is gender selectable

[jippypen72]

oh… welp… my conviction for masc caihong goes stronger, because no way its fair fem players only get two ro options right… orr. i mean 20 percent is small but like i still feel thats a bit extreme

[Talyrion]

@Wiliam_Rafael_da_Sil

Guo was an RO and is no longer (in his place was Caihong)

I’d protest about removing a potential option for a female MC and replacing it by an option for a male one… But Guo was barely an option to begin with, so all I can muster is a shrug.

No, wait, I think I can fake outrage. clears throat I demand male Mei Mei!

[jippypen72]

we cant get mei mei because shes tied to long chen hes a male, and m/m content isnt safe for nicki. we cant get ai either… the only option is caihon ///rubs my wicked hands together//

[jippypen72]

let me cook.

[Talyrion]

@jippypen72

we cant get mei mei because shes tied to long chen hes a male, and m/m content isnt safe for nicki. we cant get ai either…

You know, I previously just saw Long Chen as an interesting rival - if surprisingly underhanded.

Now I think I actually hate his guts.

[3ND]

@Talyrion

actually hate his guts

May I ask why do you hate him now? well I for one don’t really care about him.
I only ever saw Ruo as a rival tbh

@Talyrion

Because as it turns out, he’s the reason for not one, but two potentially interesting romance options being unavailable to a female MC. Which is annoying.

Well…that’s fair…

[Dark_Stalker]

@Talyrion

but if you have to enter a romance just so he can start getting interesting, no thanks.

BA Astarion and ME Jack lovers throwing a riot.

[jippypen72]

what ifs are these characters from ;o

[jippypen72]

oof i meant to reply to this

[Talyrion]

@3ND

May I asky why?

Because as it turns out, he’s the reason for not one, but two potentially interesting romance options being unavailable to a female MC. Which is annoying.

@jippypen72

what ifs are these characters from ;o

Baldur’s Gate 3 and Mass Effect 2 (and 3, I guess, but barely) respectively.

[jippypen72]

ahhh okie. wish we could send friend requests on here cause id send one to you. but yeah fem ocs are getting scraps atm- but at least we can make xiwen blush… cough cough… give us caihong pls.

[jippypen72]

i honestly feel like this miight effect the game because if there are fem players intersted in playing they might be a bit less amiable to the limited options. i personally dont prefer stories where the characters are gender selectable- but do to unique circumstances… here would help a bit… share caihong plz they are not creepy theyre endearing

[fsix]

@Talyrion

Someone above called Ai bland, but I’d argue she has clear motivations, an in-progress character-arc, and an inner conflict that’s actually pretty interesting. I feel like that’s far more than what Guo can claim.

My evaluation/experience with Ai comes from a playthrough where you don’t do anything to antagonize her in the early tournament but then also don’t immediately go all “yes you are so right Ai, nobles are the worst” when you seek her out. Your entire interaction with her with such approach boils down to her stating she doesn’t want to speak with you, and then the next (and also last) time you see her is 5 minutes you spend handing her ass to her during the expedition. It is all devoid of any substance and does nothing to make me want to get to know her better.

As far as i can tell from the script, Ai’s character arc is her assigning herself a role of the champion of the weak, and then struggling with inability to actually deliver, and… it’s nothing i haven’t seen on the intrawebs in real time dozens if not hundreds of times already. So a RO who is a walking embodiment of it but apparently nothing more doesn’t really pique my interest. ;/

I’m also not sure if it’s really more than what we can get from Guo (who had the conflict of family loyalty vs personal hate for his older brother) but since Guo is no longer RO this is pretty moot.

[jippypen72]

hey fsix, whats your favorite ro trope, among ifs or just general fiction works

[Loremaster]

Well I can see the problem with Ai but I think all that was ground for character developpment and I think Ai post-expo will attract those who just want a nice slow(but not too much like Ruo) romance but anyway Caihong is best

[Loremaster]

Well niki can always add a male RO in book 2 it’s a series and I don’t think romance will go very far for any character anyway in Book 1.MC is prolly more concerned about avoiding assassination deal with crazy people and beating Ruo’s ass.

[jippypen72]

its looking that way but i like the natural progress either way. im a ruo mancer so idm an agonizingly slowly burn

[Talyrion]

@fsix

My evaluation/experience with Ai comes from a playthrough where you don’t do anything to antagonize her in the early tournament but then also don’t immediately go all “yes you are so right Ai, nobles are the worst” when you seek her out.

Eh, my initial approach to Ai is basically “don’t meet her during the tournament” and " be noncomital when asked about nobles", and it works out just fine.

As for my opinion on her, since I already discussed it in depth a while ago, I’m just going to quote myself.

@Talyrion

It’s clear she’s trying to reconcile the fact that she has strong convictions, yet little actionable ways to act on them. I wouldn’t even call her a coward - she does put herself in danger just by doing what she’s doing - she’s just struggling with the fact that in order for her goals to be accomplished, she’s more than likely to need strength, but that in turns would validate the whole ‘might makes right’ mentality that she hates. And right now, it definitely seems like her character arc will be centered around that theme.

@Talyrion

She saw a fundamental injustice about the world she lives in, and she decided to speak out about it, because this is the only way so far she has found to fight against it. But she knows the task ahead of her is almost impossible to achieve. Who would she negociate with, who could she look for an agreement with? The ones she would have to talk to have every interest of keeping the status quo, and are in a world where human life have very little value.

Now, she does make mistakes along the way, that much is clear - see the fiasco with the wolf. But I do have to disagree about the reasoning “if you don’t have a good plan, you should shut up instead”, because that ensures nothing change. If you don’t have a plan, maybe someone you’re speaking to will have one instead, or talking to others about it will help you find one. That’s the whole point of talking about it: not taking the burden alone. Her ideals aren’t false, she just doesn’t know how to make them a reality, and that’s part of her journey. Had she not spoken up, she wouldn’t have garnered the MC’s attention, for instance - so in that respect, she is successful in some playthroughs (the ones where the MC turns up to be recetive) to actually raise some awareness about the issue - and perhaps in the future, that awareness will help find some concrete steps to take.

@Talyrion

obviously her methodology is flawed and she grapples with her own character flaws, but that’s a far cry from being a “horrible people in nature” or havin g “false ideals”, nor does it mean she should “just stop and be silent”. She just needs to get better, both personally and at getting help when she needs it, and I’m confident this is what her story will be about in this game.

@Talyrion

you can literally give her that advice in-universe, and it’s clear it’s a bitter pill to swallow for her. Because in a way, it means to accept the terms of those she’s fighting against. She doesn’t want to impose her views through strength - after all, that’s exactly what the nobles she opposes do all the time - but she also knows that if everyone just abides by a “might makes right” mentality, you can’t simply choose to not play.

Obviously, that’s only my interpretation, and it is by no means the only valid one. But that’s why I think she’s interesting.