#Idk if that whole post makes sense? I have many thots ngl fhsirj

[danteinthedevildom]

U know what u right u right, they do really listen to us and I appreciate it.

Got me out here rethinking my approach towards solmare smh.

I think it's really cool and sweet that they went in thinking ab GN MC, I actually didn't know that 🥺🐍

I FOUND IT. It's RAD News No. 1!

So for those who can't read it, it says:

Instead of mainly focusing on a "story" as we had done before, we wanted to try something more innovative by creating characters that felt realistic enough for our players to befriend and interact with. That's how everything started!

Once we had decided on the concept of creating "real characters", we concluded that it wouldn't make much sense to be too specific when deciding on the appearance, personality, etc. [of MC]. After all, if the players cannot identify with or become the main character, it would take away from the gaming experience we were aiming for.

That's why we decided not to specify any gender, skin colour, or hair colour in our scenarior nor illustrations, so that our players can freely imagine their own main character.

This is also one of the reasons we got rid of a lot of narration. There aren't many scenarios written without a specified gender in Japan, which means it must be hard for Japanese scenario writers. But we have noticed in the reviews and comments that players appreciate this aspect of the game, and we have seen so much fan art and fan fiction in which everyone created their own characters! This really made us think that we made the right decision.

The next thing we would like to challenge is for the users to be able to freely imagine the main character's personality as well when playing the game!

I'm not gonna lie and say Solmare is the best company ever, bc they do have some lil issues here and there, and nobody's ever gonna be perfect - and holding them to that standard just is kinda unfair/unrealistic anyway. They're still just a bunch of people doin their best, and sometimes that ends up in a hit-or-miss.

But they are really fuckin good, and they are amazin for genuinely tryin to do smthn that hasn't really been done before - or done well.

The makin MC GN was sorta an unintentional side effect of havin a game with more developed, realistic characters that people'd love (and more focus on buildin realistic relationships with those characters), but the reason why is still fuckin amazin.

Get rid of identifyin factors on MC and suddenly WE are the ones talking to the characters in the Devildom - not some proxy character we're meant to live through, who won't fit like a glove for everyone.

We're not livin someone else's life or playin someone else's story. That's OUR story. That's OUR life. And the bonds we make are OUR bonds.

This is prolly also why we're never given a backstory. If they never mention who we were pre-Devildom, then anyone can just slap their own, normal lives onto MC. Plus why we get questions like "do you have any siblings?" in regards to Beel's convo abt Lilith and Belphie; it's so that convo can appeal to people who DO have siblings and to people who're only children! You get to decide, in that moment, who MC is. Which is fuckin phenomenal, honestly.

It's also, I think, why this game doesn't have set romance routes and lets you back out of most romantic situations. Not everyone's gonna WANT to end the game in a romance, but should that mean they get a bad ending? Or a kinda bland, disappointing neutral ending? Nah. Bc the main focus is the characters, and you can mean as much to them as a friend/platonic part of the family as you can actively dating them.

Solmare went into it with GN!MC to help us connect to the characters, and through seein fan interaction and talkin to fans, realised how much people loved havin the option to be the MC! And they're dedicated to tryina make the experience even more neutral/unique so we can feel even more like we're part of the game.

So it's kinda that balance between intentional and unintentional - at first. Now they're really goin for as much of a GN!MC as they can, and it's bc they took notice of how much it meant to everyone.

It's amazin when you get into it just what a unique experience this is, and how much thought and effort went into (and is still going into) makin the game somethin that everyone can enjoy. It's why I love OM, personally, and why OM's got such a huge followin compared to other otome games on the market rn. It appeals to more people in a more natural, comfortable way.

It def. deserves appreciation! Solmare are doin a hella good job on that front, ngl. But don't feel like you can't hold criticisms, too, bc you absolutely can.

Like sometimes, tho rarely, OM can slip into tropes that feel a little more fem-aligned, and it can be jarrin. But a lot of that's bc of how good the game is on the whole at bein neutral that smthn gendered sticks out like a sore thumb.

(Basically I just wanna make sure peeps still know they can be grumpy/unhappy with things even tho the game/company does some good stuff. Like I said! Nothin's ever perfect. And laudin a company too high can have some hella bad consequences lookin at my experiences w/ Homestuck here ngl, so we just gotta remember to praise them for the things we love and that're good and question some of the things that're maybe not as great, and build a fandom community that's acceptin of criticisin Solmare when it's justified).