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calekinnieplus · 2 months

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This looks like a fun idea, so here goes! :

What do you think of this guy🙃?

Oh wow! Good character you chose there ahahaha! Roselle Gustav aka Huang Tao!

First impression

Honestly, I was floating in confusion at the start a bit, considering it was my first Chinese webnovel, so I had a period of readjustment to the writing style (or the translation ig?), so I didn't immediately connect the dots that Roselle was a transmigrator or that he's... kinda "dead" lol

Buuuut, once the dots connected, I did find him quite amusing! Bro's self-confidence gave me second-hand embarrassment, but not That bad. But also, Klein was bashing on him so hard, it was kinda hilarious.

I don't fully remember what impression I had of him, since I was reading pretty slow in the beginning and some ideas were lost, but overall, fun guy lmao

Impression now

Hilarious guy, a meme, a legend.

Yet...

Quite unfortunate that his end was just endless suffering (which will hopefully not be endless haha...). Bro made small mistakes in the beginning when he didn't know Anything, when he was transported to a world he didn't know anything about, forced to adapt and live a new life. I don't know, I find him tragic, just like Klein.

At least he had some good times along the road (especially with a demoness heh). The funny stories were nice to read.

Favorite moment

Basic, but his first talk with Klein. I mean, him meeting a fellow transmigrater and quickly having faith in him was sweet. I really wish to see more of them :>

If we're talking about the diary entries, I'd probably choose when... uhhh the corruption thing. Roselle going to the moon. And when he gazed into the Abyss. I remember how the diary entry abruptly cut off after dumping a lot of info and both Klein and I were Flabbergasted. What did it MEAN-!!

(I have a feeling I'm mixing up the moments, but the feelings remain. The confusion, the anticipation and the wonder from some diary entries were Amazing)

OH, and the last diary entry of course. It was so chill-inducing! It was one of those moments that answered a lot of questions while also bringing even MORE questions. It was just- the atmosphere full of fear and uncertainty, putting into question what that fellow transmigrator went through, wowie~

Idea for a story

Well, let me shuffle in the corner of my brain...

I've always been a fan of Time Travel AUs. So the idea of Klein (at a higher sequence but not Saint Level, maybe? Idk, a lot of possibilities here) travelling to Roselle’s time period and the two of them becoming best buddies (Roselle’s words, not Klein's. Klein's facepalming in the background at Roselle’s shenanigans).

Maybe! It could be a young god Mr Fool using his domain over Space and Time and having a misplaced adventure during Roselle’s time.

(We're pretending the Outer Gods and CW isn't as dauting of a problem as they are in canon, aye?)

Anyway, doesn't matter which version of Klein or during what time he's visiting, it's mandatory that he facepalms at least once :))

Unpopular opinion

Well, I don't know the popular opinions, so I'll guess I'll just go with an opinion.

I mean, he totally could've treated his wife better. I can understand feeling a disconnect with this world and humanity in general, but at least don't bring shame to her name by being a known womanizer, mm? At least divorce or smth, man. You overthrew the government, you could definitely do that.

Unless he actually did divorce her and we just don't know. But otherwise, yeah. Kinda dick move there, Emperor.

Favorite relationship

(Platonic, right?)

Again, basic but. Roselle and Bernadette.

The fact that Bernadette spent so much time searching for a father she was on dubious terms with and how much faith she had that he persevered against all odds.

The fact that Roselle’s one and only tie with this new world was his daughter, his beloved child that he loved with all his might. A child he shared a piece of his old world with. A child he remodeled this entire world's structure for. Absolutely heart-warming.

Favorite headcannon

Hmm let's see...

Huang Tao, as a young individual who surfs the internet, would know a lot of memes or jokes. After becoming Roselle Gustav, those memes aren't easily forgotten.

I mean, is it canon, actually? Maybe he made several Chinese meme references and I missed them lmao. That would be funny

Bonus: imagine Huang Tao and Zhou Mingrui bumped into each other one day, unaware that the next time they'll meet each other, it will be after more than 10 000 years, give or take. ...what's the timeline here?

#vertigone answers #lotm #lord of the mysteries #lotm spoilers #emperor roselle #roselle gustav #huang tao

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the-ellia-west · 1 month

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Hey! Not sure if there's an acronym attached to Sundays or something, but happy Sunday!

Which of your characters is the most inspired by a character in another piece of media, and which of your characters do you think is the most original?

Oof, one day late, I'm sorry, but thanks so much for the Ask anyway @phoenixradiant !

Inspired by another character you say? Huh. Well I've got three I always have in my mind.

Marril is inspired by a bunch of Assassin's and Criminals in fictional Media but mainly the Assassin Martis from the Bell Mountain Book Series

Next is Xhaazi... Keefe from KOTLC [Keeper of the lost cities if you don't know]

And finally... Honrul. I will not apologize for this, but he is a smoosh-together of Hondo from Starwars (I think he's mostly in Clone Wars and Rebels) and Adair from Not Even Bones but with my personal twist

Now for my most original Character?

By Far Geon and Damian

Geon, the sassy and very adorable Blind Prince of Rosel

And

Damian, his older brother, and only legitimate heir who sternly refuses the throne

[Neither of them are in Book 1]

Their shared character arc is also super fun, but that's one of the ones I'm super excited to see people's blind reactions to, so no spoilers, sorry! :]

Thanks again for the Ask!

If you thought this was interesting, please check out My In-progress Book: The Cursed One's Throne on my Blog ;] Starting Here

#creative writing #fiction writing #writing community #writer things #writerscommunity #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writing #writers #writer #authors of tumblr #writer asks #indie author #authors #author blog #the cursed one's throne

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triangle-strategy-notes · 2 months

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In the initial frenzy the other day, I forgot to bring up the original point of the topic: Aelfric.

I always assumed it was named in the essence of how government projects sometimes like to name stuff after gods, but now with more experience, my Wild Mass Guessing is that they named the blast crystals “Aelfric” as a spit in the face to Aelfric (the god), which is on the basis of the blast crystals tying more thematically into Galdera.

In the Morality Ending, its exposed that Aelfric (blast crystal) is made from human remains, Hyzante utilizing deceased Roselle. This has nothing to do with Aelfric (the god). It does however have to do with Galdera. The short of it is that Galdera—visual design alone but not limited to—is very much composed on the theme and basis of dead bodies and souls, and also has mechanical purpose for battle. Before the battle, Galdera also grants his daughter “eternal slumber,” to which she’s absorbed into the dark god, and you know, death does like to be described as eternal rest quite often.

Though Galdera doesn’t share the purple palette that Aelfric (blast crystal, research book), purple is used to denote Dark element magic. Oddly enough, Light and Dark doesn’t exist in Norzelia as elements and I could Wild Mass Guess about that, but to be concise, I will not. The short of this is also Galdera is very much aligned to dark/darkness/the like, you know.

Ooooh yeah that's neat!!! Those are some really good points about all the associations with dark magic. And it's really interesting to think that Hyzante (whose whole thing is that they're propping up a false god for their own benefit) might have also taken an actual god and committed atrocities in their name. Just adds another level to the whole sacrilege thing they've got going on

#triangle strategy #octopath traveler #it's also really interesting now that you mentioned it about the whole Norzelia not having light and dark magic #I wonder what that's all about

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elizaellwrites · 20 days

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WIP Questionaire

Thank you @worldstogetlostin for tagging me here!

Rules: Answer as many (or as few) of the questions about your WIP as you can.

1. What was the first part of your wip that you created?

My ocs, but not all of them. They were part of a separate plotline that I abandoned quickly because it was terrible and cringy. Parts of them changed as they developed, but the core of their characters began here.

The originals are: Annamarie, Rachel, Jacob, Elaine, Jol (the daemon), and Natalie (Anna's mom)

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

I imagine it would be like the soundtracks I listen to while writing. These include songs from Narnia, HTTYD, Pirates of the Carribean, etc. I'm no composer, so I'd trust the judgment of the music expert on the case.

3. Who are your favourite characters you've made? Why?

My automatic instinct is to jump to "all of them," but I'll be reasonable here and keep it brief because I could write an essay about each of them. I won't because a) that's ridiculous to do here, and b) a lot of this has to do with spoilers/stuff on the down-low. My Top 3 (these may be surprising or not) in no particular order are:

Seniar- He's more than Anna's dad, he's lived many lives and seen too much. He's a prince who stepped up to protect his people, defied expectations, and fell in love with a human, earned his place as a war hero, and did his best to protect and raise his daughter after everything he had known and cared for was destroyed in front of him. He might not be perfect, but he's dedicated his life to other people and still provides for his daughter despite carrying the burden of his past.

Roselle- The living dead, her existence shakes the very foundation of my other characters. After being introduced to the universe, nothing was the same, and it was all for the better. She also has this strange charm about her, like she demands attention. Her life and her death are quite possibly the 2nd and 3rd most influential factors in my entire plotline- only outdone by the destruction of Ariya. She's also on a team of her own with a willingness to overlook the rulebook, which makes her extremely fun to write.

Jacob- He's caring but distant at the same time, his family is a disaster, and he's a rule follower and a rule breaker all at once. He's an enigma and has been from the start. You think you know him, but do you really? He's always running from something, facing challenges like he's trying to prove something to himself. Him and his siblings are the driving force of a lot of plot lines, and for good reason. You just can't help but wonder whether he is a good person or a bad person, and maybe he's just both.

4. What other pieces of media do you think would share a fan base for your story?

I'm honestly not 100% sure. My inspiration to write this WIP truly started with Percy Jackson, so there could be some crossover there. Really anyone with an interest in fantasy and okay with dark subjects could find it interesting.

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your wip?

Writer's block. Whether it's because a character wasn't connecting with the action the way I wanted them to, or if I'm having a day that everything I write isn't something I'm proud of... I'm in college and work, so there's often a lot on my mind, and stress and creativity don't flow well together in my brain.

6. Are there animals in your story? Talk about them!

Anna(marie) has a cat named Isa(belle) who she picked up while moving around with her father. Isa is a beautiful and sweet black Turkish Angora whose personality is modeled after my childhood cat Belle. She's not a major focus, but she means a lot to Anna as one of the few beings she could connect with outside of her father.

All other animals are wildlife and have to do with worldbuilding, which could go crazy, so I'll stop it there.

7. How do your characters get around? (ex. trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

While on Earth and involved in traditionally human things, they travel in cars because their goal is to blend in and hide in plain sight.

In the list of natural (magic) Hecathian abilities, one of them is Teleportation. Characters with this ability, or in proximity to someone who is, travel this way. The challenge is it takes more energy the further you are traveling and needs quite a bit of practice and discipline to do it safely and correctly. A couple examples of characters with this power are Seniar, Annamarie (duh), and Jaleya (Cameron's sister).

8. What part of your wip are you working on rn?

Chapter 16- near the middle of book 1.

Not even close to where I want to end this.

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?

I suppose the variety of aspects that appear. There is action, adventure, drama, complex characters and relationship dynamics, worldbuilding aspects, and the world and timeline just keeps expanding with different stories to tell. There's a lot to choose from, and it's all interconnected in the same universe.

10. What are your hopes for your wip?

I have a whole series planned, plus spin-offs and expanded stories to supplement it. I hope I have time to get through all of it because I want my main WIP and its world to someday be a complete set and no longer stuck only in my brain and scattered through thousands of notes.

Lightly tagging @my-cursed-prince, @willtheweaver, @jacqueswriteblrlibrary, @ashen-crest and anyone else who wants to tell me about their WIP!

#writer #writeblr #my wip #tag game #writing tag game #current wip #currently writing

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imsparky2002 · 10 months

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Class of Heroes - Roselle

Rose - Belle

A bright and intelligent girl who grew up in a small provincial village. She was looked at as strange by other townsfolk for caring more about books than looks. Rose’s a proud bookworm who loves a good fairytale. Now that she’s going to Francois, it feels as though she’s stepped into one.

She met Juleka after her and her family gave her brother Ali shelter during a storm. They fell in love instantly, and Rose helped Juleka to break her curse.

Rose is an optimist who always tries to help people see the beauty inside them. She knows that life isn’t perfect, but also knows we were put on this earth for a reason.

Her friends have helped her become acquainted and savvy about modern technology. She’s still a bit confused about all this new-fangled tech, but it’s still pretty cool to her.

Has to deal with XYton pestering her for dates, despite how many times she rejects him. It’s ok, since Jules is always there to protect her.

She wants adventure in the great wide somewhere. Rose makes a wonderful Belle, alongside Juleka as her beautiful beast. You can see more of Roselle in Weeby’s Class of Heroes! Make sure to reblog, reply, post and ask to share the love. @artzychic27 @msweebyness

#rose lavillant #rose #belle #beauty and the beast #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #class of heroes #disney #disney au

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rosellemoon · 6 months

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Learned about majolica at an antique store.

#antiques #majolica #pottery #ceramics #swans #roselle shares

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thoughtfullyrainynightmare · 1 year

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Hey :)

I heard your requests are open?

Can you do a yamichar fic where yami gets jealous😭❤

I will go down with the ship of yamichar😭

Hiya~!

Yesss. And yes, yes I can because we should get more YamiChar. And the canon seems to supply as well~ ^^ But before canon does, fanfic it is!!

Pairing: Yami x Charlotte; YamiChar Genre: hurt-comfort (?) Fanfic type: Oneshot Warnings: Yami gets jealous and a wee bit furious (also a couple of swears, but nothing worse than exists in canon) Length: ~1.0k

Another Captains’ meeting which had yielded very little results. Though that seemed to be the norm. That was one of the most annoying thing about being a captain to Yami. Even if he was supposed to be a in a position of authority, of which he didn’t care much to begin with, there was very little he could do at the end of the day. People never seemed to agree on anything, which meant that nothing was decided and nothing got done.

Like we need any of this crap right now… he huffed to himself while scratching the back of his head. I wonder if I could just become a fisherman instead. The kid could be a good captain actually. Or then the Wheels would get a pay raise for a while. He would hate it though.

He stopped and exhaled again, as if trying to drop some of the frustration he was feeling. It wasn’t that he was seriously considering dropping the job right there and then, but it did serve a purpose in him venting to himself.

Wonder what Char is doing? It hadn’t been that long since the two had started dating, though he wasn’t sure from what they actually counted the start of their relationship. But still, her presence in his life grew more and more meaningful each day.

He had found that her being there, just being there, helped the growing frustration and irritation he couldn’t help but feel at times. And sometimes, he wondered how he had ever got around when her and him weren’t a couple yet. Which was… both ridiculous and not. Because he was sure that he could manage if they broke up, but the idea of it seemed just… bad. Dark and dreary.

He was used to dark and dreary but… how does a man who has seen a light of day ever want to go back into the darkness?

His steps carried him around, trying to find where Charlotte had gone after the meeting. She can’t have gone very far….

And sure enough, he found after a while, talking to some guy in the garden. Which… seemed odd enough to Yami. Usually Char would have been telling the guy off by now, while scoffing something about men and how they had no manners.

Or something like that.

Be the Prickly Princess he knew and loved.

But now, she was talking to him like to a peer, someone who… she liked? Before they had started dating Charlotte had even given him his fair share of thorns, but this guy wasn’t getting any of it? Why?

Actually, Yami didn’t really care about why.

He just wanted the guy gone. Away from her. Because he did not like this guy. Just chatting so casually with Charlotte about something.

He pressed his molars together as he felt his muscle tensing up. His mana gathered around him, making his steps heavier as he walked towards the two, hunching forth, his chin hanging lower, but not in defeat. Instead as if readying for an attack.

Who the hell is this guy? He growled in his mind as he was only a few steps away.

Charlotte turned around, and the man had locked eyes with Yami while nearly shaking; eyes wide open.

“State your business,” Yami spoke with a tone that held only the chill of an endless winter night while wrapping his arm around Charlotte and pulling her closer.

“I-, I was j-just… uhh… Lary Rosel-“

“That’s Captain Roselei to you,” Yami cut off.

“I’m sorry, Captain Roselei was uhh…”

“Book keeping.” Charlotte stated with a glance to Yami.

“Huh?” The tension of his muscles grew just a tiny bit smaller.

“The Blue Roses could use a little help with keeping up with the inventory, which is why I though about asking help from someone I know,” she explained.

There was a small pause that lingered in the air as Yami just looked at Charlotte. “..Huh.”

He removed his arm from around her and rubbed the back of his head again with a roll of his eyes.

“That’ll be all for today,” Char told the man, who seemed more thankful than anything to be excused, judging from the way he was already eagerly slipping away from the two.

After which yet another silence settled into the air between Yami and Charlotte, during which Char couldn’t help but just look at him with a quirked eyebrow.

“What was that about?” She asked. She had to ask. Yami was more level headed than that. At least when it came to most things. He might have been stubborn, but he was also better than someone to jump on another person for simply talking to her.

Yami’s reply came in the form of a sigh. He had been sighing a lot that day, and it looked like there was no end to it. “I just…” he begun, but judging from the way he shook his head with a faint motion, he had no idea. “Beats me,” he shrugged. But in that shrug, there was something that make Char want to push further.

“You looked like you were aching for a fight,” she noted, without needing to add how she felt about men being ‘all macho’; about how she felt that it was unnecessary and foolish.

“I just didn’t like the guy being around you,” he said, as if it was just a casual remark to make.

“You were jealous?”

Silence. But in his silence there was an answer.

“Look,” she started while placing her hand onto his shoulder. “You have nothing to worry about. I can fend off unwanted attention by myself.”

“I know,” of course he knew. “I just don’t… I want you to stay.” He corrected himself.

And there was something so genuine and sincere in the statement ‘I want you to stay’ that Charlotte didn’t know what to tell him.

Other than: “I will.”

#black clover fanfiction #yami x charlotte #yamichar #lovely mutuals #black clover oneshot

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lady-lissette · 9 months

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I guess I can start sharing art here, too!

This is my newest XIV character, Roselle Greystone.

#ffxiv #ff14 #ffxiv art #elezen

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urfavstargirl · 10 months

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You minors shouldn't even be allowed to open a blog to give 🥺🥰💕aDvIcE💕🥰🥺 because all you horrible ass bitches do is just perpetuate drama and MORE drama. Roselles is a minor too right? That dumbass shouldn't have opened a blog to give advice or whatever.

You fuckers don't have anyyyyy identity outside social media and you all literally thrive on drama. Like just be a lurker in the community and let people over 18 share information my goodness. All the aDvIcE y'all EVER give is "just be persistent honey🥰🥺💌 it's possible💃🤩" Not having two clues about how the loa works.

Like please get the fuck out of the community!

And also ANONS (i am talking to the followers in the community), these are fuckass STRANGERS on internet, not the uwu friend that y'all think they are. Not just minor blogs, be it anyyy blog. Have a sense of identity for yourself, and learn loa by YOURSELF instead of depending on bloggers and outright obsessing like fucking psychos over them when they, and i promise you, wouldn't give two flying fucks about you even if you were found rotten on the fuckass road.

And i am so damn sure, that the people who are engaging in this drama haven't manifested shit. Cause ain't no damn way someone who is living a fulfilling life has the time to engage in this shit.

Get of the internet you fucking dumbfucks and start living like a normal person.

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lotusmi · 1 year

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OMG ACTUALLY TELL ME WHAT YOU PUT IN YOUR SUB- ITS THE BEST FR i was literally thinking about tropical beaches and vacation (i just came back from vacay) and my mum dmed me like "we're going to maldives in march" literally so happy rn <33

THANK YOU!!

Lotus reaction to this ask on @vesora dm:

And maldives???????? I am planning to some day go there to bcs is sooo pretty . wait i am daydreaming or i got a roselles's ask

Tysm for sharing your success!!! which sub did u used? 💕

I actually put some affs along the lines "my subconcious knows my deeply desires and manifest them" and such things so- 🙃

#success story #Lotuses success

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crystalelemental · 26 days

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Now for the polar opposite in the second game I played, Triangle Strategy. My last posts on the subject speak for themselves, but as a cohesive whole, I have a lot to say. I'm not in the habit of tagging things without being clear where it's going, so to avoid problems: I do not respect this game.

Starting with an aside: I do not tend to keep track of who made what. I generally don't know, because I don't care to know. The game is either good or bad, I'll take note of consistencies if they keep producing similar stuff that lands. In the case of Team Asano, this game finally got my attention enough to connect dots, and find out that Team Asano are responsible for the Bravely Default games, Octopath Traveler, and Triangle Strategy here. I haven't played all of them, but I have played BD1, BD2, OT1, and TS. Which, to sum up that experience: one of the worst games I've ever played, middling, middling, and one of the worst games I've ever played. I do not respect any of their output. I have officially come to know their names to avoid anything they produce in the future, because nothing they've made has stuck with me. Which is. Maybe a first. I've look at some things as far as like...I can't play Shin Megami Tensei games, I just do not like them. But Atlus games can be great, depending on what I get. This is the first time I've truly felt like an entire team has just made nothing of value to me.

There are two reasons to this, and they both apply to Triangle Strategy. First is that I think their writing quality sucks. Bravely Default 1 is an absolutely garbage story, I liked effectively nothing about it, despite the presence of Edea who should've salvaged something. Bravely Default 2 and Octopath Traveler 1 are mildly engaging while playing, but ultimately left no impact on me and despite the years that have passed, I've never once looked at them as games I would want to replay. A big component of that is story. BD2 is just cookie cutter generic, while OT is too disconnected with its cast to actually come together into anything sane. TS falls more in the BD1 category. Despite some strong scenes and lines, it has a tendency to operate on the mindset of "Why say in ten words when you can say in ten thousand?" It just. Keeps. Talking. Without offering like any new information. It tries to hold a major mystery over you regarding the mines, but if you pay even slight attention to just the main story, you've figured out what's in there before any of the characters open it, then get to spend like 12 chapters of "But how can Aesfrost stand against Hyzante without salt, all they have is the iron in the mines?" There's also a constant issue of over-sharing information in the side stories, presenting the player with information the characters wouldn't have, and ruining suspense and tension regarding decision-making.

Even by the finale, and the way it presents its endings, none of them are satisfying. I've only seen three: Freedom Ending, Utility Ending, True Ending. I couldn't do Morality, I was burnt out by that point. The Freedom Ending presents unifying everything by defeating Hyzante, and granting salt access to everyone with myriad uses, encouraging free trade and development. This ending spends most of its time telling you how awful everything because due to wealth inequality, especially pointing out that the Roselle are freed from slavery, but have no inherent wealth so most are too poverty-stricken to survive anyway. The True Ending, by contrast...does functionally the same thing. Salt is made freely available, but this time Idore and Gustadolph die and Roland remains king, and despite that being just a matter of whose butt is in what chair rather than any change in policy, the game cuts out earlier in the timeline and we're left to assume the wealth inequality issue somehow didn't crop up this time. You didn't functionally change the idea, but somehow the result is completely different for no discernible reason. Oh but don't worry. The Utility Ending where you just surrender everything to Hyzante and accept that there's a slave class being exploited for profit? That one gets a pretty happy ending of Roland reflecting that some orphans can afford to eat even though their parents and dead and internally commenting that he did the right thing. If you're wondering what kind of tone or statement they're going for, me the fuck too.

The second major issue of Team Asano broadly is that their style seems to be "Take this other concept and staple this one (1) gameplay mechanic onto it." Bravely Default is, essentially, Final Fantasy 3 or 5 with a more "serious" story. Octopath Traveler is, more or less, Final Fantasy 6's World of Ruin as far as collecting your guys and moving forward. Triangle Strategy is, from what I can tell of it, just Final Fantasy Tactics. But. Their games have Turn Conservation as a mechanic. Brave, TP, and AP, all functionally identical. Every turn you get one (1) point of turn saved up, and this can be used to unleash bigger attacks, or take more turns, or something equating to "damage number go up." Anything that manipulates this counter is immediately overpowering. This is consistent across every game, and to be blunt, I don't think it's ever worked for them. Bravely Default 2, the one I have a better memory of, can use the mechanic just fine until endgame where every single enemy counters with +1 Brave Point, and then just keeps acting infinity times unless you have perfectly crafted damage teams that render 90% of your classes irrelevant. Octopath Traveler relies hysterically on the super classes for any level of optimized effect. Triangle Strategy isn't quite as bad, but in part because there's less control. You have Julio, but his AP conferral is a much weaker effect, so instead you burn turns just waiting for it to come back.

It's just never a balanced mechanic. It wastes time, and restricts effectiveness of classes. Having replaying Final Fantasy 5 recently, it's kind of staggering to go back to it and feel like damn, a lot of those classes may not be great, but they are functional and do some fun things, even in endgame, compared to Bravely Default 2. But now I'm harping on the less critical aspect of the current game.

Triangle Strategy's pace is absolutely abhorrent. This game wants so badly to be a visual novel. There was a stretch of game, where I shit you not, I went about two hours without ever playing a map. TWO. HOURS! Of nothing but cutscenes, and useless exploration! And I do mean useless.

This is the most wasteful I have ever seen a game be with mechanics. Exploration exists solely to gather information, which can be used to sway your allies to a particular decision as you wish. Except in 50% of cases, those pieces of information don't even work. Hell, probably more than 50% of the time, the solution is picking different dialogue than the special one. So that exploration did nothing. What influences you more is how often you've deployed your ally characters, because they're more likely to listen to you. Alignment matters too, but that one's completely useless.

Alignment comes on three factors: Morality, Utility, and Freedom. Depending on dialogue choices during exploration mostly, you get bonuses to one of these alignments. The first time through, you don't get to know where values are. Things just happen, and it gives the illusion that this matters. But once you're on run two, the illusion shatters, because you know where values are and what their consequences are. For example, my values at the end of run 1 were something like 2000 Utility, 1400 Morality, and 1100 Freedom. I got the Freedom ending by just choosing that path as the sensible one. The only consequence of that being my lowest-rated attribute? It was stated that it would be slightly harder to convince people on that path. I convinced everyone first try. When I went for Utility ending, half the characters wouldn't listen to me. These factors exist for only one purpose, and that is to recruit side characters who have nothing to do with those alignments. Once you have 1500 points, and recruited all those characters, the stat is functionally worthless. It has no influence over anything. It may as well not even exist.

Even the scales are useless. Your decisions have seemingly big shifts in what's happening, but each path loops to the same destination two chapters later. There is a true route that relies on knowing one (1) piece of information from certain decisions, but it really is not significant half the time. I still can't really piece together why visiting your dad is requires for true route. Is it supposed to be Milo? That's my best guess, but fuck if I know.

By actual gameplay during maps, it is painfully slow. No map ever took me more than 15 minutes, but the whole time felt like pulling teeth. I have newfound respect for Fire Emblem. Having a player move all their characters, and spend a good stretch of time engaging in the gameplay before showing how enemies more and letting you react to it en masse, is a good flow. It gives you a sense of control, it lets you feel like you are experiencing gameplay. This turn order shit, where there are like three times as many enemies as allies and your turns are mixed in, results in you getting like three seconds of gameplay before watching enemies move around uselessly for like two minutes, because the maps are too big and nothing happens half the time because you're just in transit to each other. Add in factors like needing to set which way you're facing to avoid back attacks, and going to move only to find out that oops that elevation is slightly too high for them to climb, drags the pace into the mud. It's the least fun I've had with a strategy game.

It doesn't help that the gameplay is too granular to begin with. Elevation is a bad mechanic that takes otherwise simple maps and turns them into a complete stall-fest of getting people to just climb a bit. Anything at Twinsgate is fucking intolerable. Ranged attacks are also a fucking mess, because they bump off level geometry, and will hit your allies instead if someone is standing between you and a target. Not Roland's spear, though. They'll move for his spear, but not Anna's daggers. Which is just...so fucking stupid, and makes the simple act of moving and attacking take longer than it needs for the most frustrating reasons.

As the final gameplay complaint, it's a similar Team Asano issue to Octopath. At the very end of the true route, apropos of nothing and with no warning...you must now use every single character in the game, split across three armies. Now, keep in mind: I mentioned earlier that using your primary cast was highly reinforced. Using them means easily swaying them to your side during voting. There is no reason to ever use the side characters; they have no voice or relevance. You get one or two extra slots beyond the main 8, so you'll likely only train one or two others. The rest of the cast falls hilariously behind the level curve, and suddenly you are told that all of them mattered and you need to level up. There are grinding missions for training! They're exactly as slow as every other map! And now you need to bring all your piddly level 12 units up to 45+ so they can keep up!

I quit. This never happens. I never quit a game when I'm close to beating it. Completionism is my Gamer Sin, and I gave the fuck up. Because I can't deal with that, man. I cannot. Never again. Octopath Traveler had this exact same problem, where suddenly the backups mattered for the first time right at the end without any warning, and I spent so many hours just grinding levels to experience a shitty final boss and no significant story progression past that point. I'm not doing that again. I quit, and watched that story on youtube. And by watched, I mean half-watched, because my wife was playing a more interesting game. I could still follow everything going on. In part because the major reveal of Idore's motivations? You can figure that out no problem with one of the side books. They'll tell you early on that the previous Heirophant took ill during the war and Hyzante fell into chaos. You know exactly what happened and why Idore is acting like this, WAY before his motivation is actually revealed. It's completely unsatisfying, just like the mines.

I could complain about story minutia forever, so we're moving on to cast. The side characters are useless. The main cast is flat. They hint at personality, and can get some development on their respective routes when things have to solidify for the actual story, but prior they're all "strong convictions loosely held." Everyone is so easily swayed off their course they think is sane, that they wind up not holding to any actual values. Frederica can be swayed into handing over her people into slavery. That's how non-committed these people are to literally anything, until the point in the story where they decided divergence was happening, and we could commit.

There were two characters I kinda liked, mostly for dynamic reasons. Cordelia and Avlora. Because Cordelia is her own person, with an actual character growth arc, she's super interesting! Avlora being the super tough general who starts to question her own kingdom and vows to protect Cordelia as someone she respects because of her honorable nature, is super interesting! You get this dynamic for one (1) chapter. Cordelia either then disappears entirely or joins your team depending on your path decision, and either way is written out of the narrative. Avlora "dies" in every decision route, but comes back for the true route only for some reason but is unimportant to the story entirely. Which is. So unsurprising, but so very annoying.

I guess Benedict is the favorite who's actually present? His motivation in the Freedom route is pretty interesting, and his vaguely nefarious plot to get you into a position of power is respectable, at least to me. Moreso than Roland's bitchfit, anyway. Hughette, Geela, Anna, and Erador are functionally without character, operating as side-pieces to the major three driving the ending split. Frederica is fine, but I feel like she doesn't have as much going for her as a person. Her overcoming how she was before is pretty...immediate, in some ways. Things with Erika and Thales just kinda resolve right away on the map, with little more than a brief thought to them at the end of that chapter then moving on. There's one scene in Freedom route where Gustadolph comments on her growth, but I dunno man, there's just not enough fixation on her or her aims. Maybe the Morality Ending does more since that's her path, but I can't be asked.

The side cast is somehow worse. There are side stories! I guess the equivalent of supports in Fire Emblem. They give a little more depth to characters, or at least are supposed to. Probably says enough about quality that every time I saw them come up I groaned about having to read more. The main cast doesn't get much, but side characters, this is all they get for character. I didn't use side characters, so I can only speak to two: Cordelia and Groma, the old punch lady. I hate both of them.

In the case of Groma, it's a matter of the story having nothing to say. Story 1 is her sharing a drink with Geela, recounting the Saltiron War and her time as a general. Specifically, she attacked Hyzante and won a major strategic victory, but in so doing accidentally killed a bunch of Rosellans by burning down what turned out to be a slave encampment. Haunted by the death of so many innocents, she abandoned her station and lives with this guilt, now fully aware that there are no winners in war, and the innocent will always suffer most. ...conversations two is "Haha just kidding, none of the Roselle actually died because they all were freed during Orlaea's uprising so only bad people died then, isn't that a relief?" Like way to undo all of the significant thematic storytelling you might've done there, dude.

Cordelia's is infinitely worse, because it operates on the notion that the citizens are constantly hounding her for being a puppet queen of Aesfrost. While this could be interesting, note that Cordelia is only recruited on the Roland Path where you clean up the Royalists in Glenbrook. You know. Where they reveal that most of the citizenry was on board for Aesfrosts' social mobility plan, and seemed to like their reign, criticizing Roland for being someone who would revert the positive social change. So the citizens of Glenbrook are pro-Aesfrost when we need Roland to be torn, and anti-Aesfrost when we need Cordelia to be. The socio-political climate of Glenbrook may as well not even exist with how wishy-washy public opinion is. It's extra stupid because the bitching at Roland is over him killing Patriatte, a dude who was using his wealth and influence to extract state aid for his personal coffers, and killed two people in the streets. And it's like man, I dunno, if President Biden came out and killed a state senator in public for embezzling funds and then proclaimed everyone would be taxed fairly, I'm pretty sure that would only do positive things for his approval rating. It would get my vote, is all I'm saying.

There is one last thing I feel like needs to be said. I only knew about this game due to all the old comments and complaints about this trying to copy Three Houses. It was a huge talking point when it came out; that this was trying to ride the success of Three Houses, and copying that game's style. I don't think that's fair. This game is very distinct and similarities are mostly incidental. It is different, but if we're willing to compare them, it is worse. Three Houses has a stronger opening hook, a more colorful and engaging cast, smoother gameplay, a side cast that actually matters, a main cast with more serious convictions, and broadly just more to offer. The only real similarity they share is that they completely fall apart on a second playthrough as you realize it is not fun to progress through this visual novel's poor map design for a couple scraps of new information. Which was not the element I imagine they wanted to replicate here.

All that to say: Bad game. Would not recommend.

#triangle strategy #triangle strategy salt

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