itch.io

Honestly agree 

I mean, considering that a main plotline exists, anything outside of it is always optional to begin with. By that I mean experiencing every single route is a personal choice. Nsfw scenes are also optional. Its purposefully made. Do you fr think that making only few (Nauxus and Thane in this example up until now) characters romancable as an option to be a chore? If it wasnt forced into a main storyline and the option exists outside of it, just like with every nsfw scene, why not add it? It could also be made in a way that combat doesnt impact the relationship. A chore also already exists, to either unlock nsfw scene with Naux or Axel if starting a new run. 

I honestly wish he makes romance possible, even if I know he might not.

There is only 1 single thing that bothers me about the game and its Nauxus. Hear me out, sorry for the long text. If you wish to find out more about him and go through all endings of the war quest, please dont read this post because it spoils his backstory.

While I love the entire war quest because it is made with 0 plotholes and a massive dedication to possible plots (which I wish Caro never does again to this extend, because its way to hard and time consuming to do, I can only imagine... He should cut some slack after the war masterpiece), the only questionable shit he pulled off is Nauxus' behaviour.

Since the start of the plot with Nauxus, his entire basis for tolerating any behaviour from Eyvind (obviously differs on routes) is generous and based upon pure TRUST from his insticts, ever since he first met him. From the time of his adoptive fathers/former chiefs death, after legit being a bad omen his entire life and saved from that same former chief, to him being betrayed, to fighting torturously in order to climb the ranks again and enacting vengance/removing corrupt advisors from the throne, to the fact that he succeeded at a very shit cost to his well being in general. Not having literal basic friends he can fully trust or confide in, being constantly at the threat of getting assassinated, never has he set himself as a priority above the promise he made to the chief.

Until the Eyvind incident. This is why there is no other character imo that ever comes close to the amazing romantic writing then Nauxus. When he slowly realized that he has an interest in mc, he gave him his trust, he let him act casually around him despite him being a chief. Nauxus even included mc in the celebration and his plans despite not needing trust gained like the trial set by Axel. 

But Ill continue with the neutral route from now on. Depending on what you do and dont do, he will constantly have this consistent mindset of doing whats best for the tribe, not wanting to admit that he wants mc roped into the affairs. Only bc that "interest" for Eyvind started turning into clear love. Wanting to have have mc on his side of the war, since mc already doesnt mind the involvment, bc mc wants to be honourable despite any route. Nauxus is at many moments desperate to convince mc to be "HIS warrior" to fight for HIM and to end the war, wanting mc alive and to get closer and closer to him. Yearning this fresh wind of change that Eyvind brings into his life, allowing himself to not be at edge amidst the chaos of war and many threats, almost as if he tasted peace for the first time in his life. Evident through their interaction of deciphering pictures. It becomes crystal clear at the end of the war that he fell in love to begin with once he gives the drawing, then later joins the tavern after a romantic date. Also confessing that he wants a mate, regardless if its a male. Living his life in the tribe may be harder than anyone elses, spending any spare time doing his "hobby" of drawing is spent on thinking or even daydreaming about mc and learning to draw him, even if he doesnt know how to draw. Leaving all the worries behind for just a moment of his day to be at the tavern close to mc as a primary reason (needing to keep planning to get there each day ahead of time and spend time traveling to and from).

Im almost getting to my point. Consider the bull route being the biggest confirmation that Nauxus is the character that fell for mc harder then anyone (yes even Thane). The bull route is the saddest piece of the story imo. Because of the agony of Nauxus in the moment where Eyvind has to fetch the map. Nauxus throughout his entire suspicion kept lying to himself, that mc is not doing him or the tribe any harm. Setting the worst case scenarios aside multiple times... he did so no longer once he caught mc sneaking up. He invited him and confronted him while mc blatantly admits to tempering. The way he kept himself composed even when deep inside hes shattered, wishing that they could go back to simple times when he gave him a tour, wishing that none of the things mc did was true or that he got roped in, wishing that he didnt need to find him that night at all, yet he suspected he would (due to already prepared 2 beer tankards on the table, nice details Caro). In the middle of the fight all things broke loose. He didnt care about fighting for survival or killing mc anymore, burning his own home down disregarding anything and everything in that moment of time. Everything in his life coming to a boiling point, after countless amount of betrayal and resentment. Knowing he may not win halfway through the fight, his mind broke. When defeated, his final moments being SOO UTTERLY SAD. A wish to put himself at the priority over the promise once given to the chief. He wanted to have his one simple desire be fullfiled, to be in love, to trust, to forget about lifes worries and be happy... just once. In the name of innocent feelings of love, he desired to try and trust someone at a personal level one last time.. that trust taking away his life, his tribe. The promise unfulfilled, his life meaningless after the suffering endured. He was glad it was finaly over. Before dying he tried to hide his mistake of wanting to be his own person and a mistake of ever loving someone for the first and last time. His satchel containing drawings of Eyvind, containing all the attempts of capturing and preparing a small simple gift that ment soo much to him, a hobby he learned to daydream to and escape wishing to be somewhere else, close to him. Though he tried to hide the satchel, he collapsed to the floor and drew his last breath, burning in his own hell created through despair.

When you do this quest like I did for the first time, the entire quest can make you easily forget the amount of detail and writing put into the game that you read before, which is the whole point of me writing this whole ass text to show HOW FUCKING GOOD HIS STORY IS. Considering the story being good, its exactly what bothers me. This game is pretty deep for the way the characters are casual to interact to, at the same time, you can mess around with them and collect scenes. Thats good and all, but at the back of my mind, such a good romantic and a pretty sad story feels almost wasted or too limited on this game. Dont get me wrong the game is truly amazing, yet this type of story doesnt even fit into how the game doesnt let you choose a boyfriend/mate at all. Its not a romantic VN fine, but how can Caro continue pulling off interactions in scenarios where interactions between mc and Nauxus should exist with the corresponding routes and all, while knowing that there are multiple other characters that just wanna bang or Thane being another option of being pretty romanticaly interested as well. 

Whats the point of love in this game if it cannot be properly utilized, without it coming off as unnatural in the plot line? 

Yoshi what do you mean by something more official?

Honestly at first glance I didnt realize that the puzzle had any relevancy or that the dialogue would change depending on how fast you discover it, so I kept failling on purpose to reenact a himbo anyways. Even if I knew the answer before hints anyways. Thats when I realized that the puzzle made perfect sense and had a not so impactful differance overall, made it neat nonetheless to keep going back and check possibilities.

But something that is odd, is that when clicking on a locker segment... you are stuck. There is no option to go back and choose another one. You cant use "back" ui either. Besides the design, I realized that it adds nice flavor and interaction compared to pure text, like in other VNs.

The game is amazing, just played 0.2 and Im in love. The only thing I wish in the future patches is for mc to actually be of better use and to see how mc looks. Compared to the bunnys design, mc lacks true identity besides hints of charisma, perception and leader skills.

I also discovered by mere LUCK that there is a rare ending with Kim and I hope that you point out, that different possible endings from replaying the same choice routes in the game itself exist (just like how you bluntly point out the value of choices beyond the first one, during the 10 seconds choice explanation on the first night). You cant expect people to experience these alternative endings unless you hint that they actually exist. But subtly

Besides, everything so far is 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Thats a relief bro. If possible, make it happen

Damn, you can only try to imagine my dissapointment when I realized IT stud Kai isnt a wrestler X_X

Not to mention his funny as fuck map descriptions

But the VN is amazing tho, keep at it ♥️