#THE ARCANA’S STORY IS OVER. FICTIF’S STORIES ARE NOT.

[bastart13]

Hey, just wondering, do you know what's going on with Fictif, Last Legacy. I've been a bit out of the community lately, being preoccupied with school work and other outside of school curriculum's, but I've been checking in with the app to see if they've finally released a new chapter for Sage's route and still nothing, I'm very confused, it's been months, I knew their releases could take a while but it feels like it's been over a year since I've heard anything, do you know what's going on?

Ah, sorry to be the one to tell you but they're on indefinite hiatus aka never going to update again. Nix Hydra was bought out by another company and the creative team behind Last Legacy all quit for better opportunities. Even Dorian, the new owner, seems to have ignored any fictif stories over using the Arcana for their fanfic app

[juliandevorakswife]

What romance games other than the arcana are you into?

I'm looking for recommendations because I just finished all 6 routes and I ain't installing dorian shit 😭

I used to be so down bad for Lucio during my arcana era 😭

Screw that fuck ass Dorian app I hate them ever since they started promoting that stupid ass Asrian ship😒and YASS I used to be so obsessed with Lucio as well (still am🤣)

I got you!!!! A game sorta similar to the Arcana would be “Fictif” it was like the sister game to the arcana but once Dorian took over it hasn’t been updated since BUUT there are stories that are completed on there! I definitely recommend it!

“Love island game” is the romance story game I’m very into rn, I definitely recommend it if you want to have lots of opinions for LIs but there’s always drama and it can get you pissed off🤣 and there’s currently 6 seasons and it’s still getting updated with new chapters each week :)

This one idk if you like, it’s called “MeChat” there’s LOTSSS of romance stories on there but the down side of it is that it’s mostly all sex stories 😪😪😒😒😒 like that game went downhill idk what writers they hired but they’re doing a terrible job

[synergysilhouette]

I miss Fictif, but it was far from flawless

I actually got into this series because of "The Arcana" (plus romance games don't often let you play as anything other than a female lead), but I found that even though I liked it's potential, it fell short a lot of the time, either romantically or story-wise. I'm obviously disappointed that I can't customize my character's appearence, but I think I'm in the minority with that one. Allow me to list my grievances and nit-picks with the app.

In general--Female routes are short and underdeveloped. I don't even romance women IRL, but this was just sad. Anika, Tess, Valentina, and Celia are the only female love interests to have solo routes while the rest are in one-route stories--and Valentina didn't even get a route before Dorian took over and effectively stopped updating the app!

"Two Against the World"--As much as I love Nicky, this story turned me off as a gay male player. The writing feels female-coded, and no acknowledgement of the stigma of two men being in a relationship in 1920s New York is ever mentioned. It'd make more sense if the setting was INSPIRED by 1920s New York, but in reality was a completely different location--but that wasn't the case. It felt like a big mifire in storytelling.

"Heir to Love & Lies"--I cannot overstate how much of a disappointment this story was. In both Sergio and Chava's route, Chava starts off very friendly and sweet before becoming aggressive and secretive. This doesn't really make any sense since he's your childhood best friend and (spoiler) he doesn't kill La Dama Rosa in either route. Plus in Chava's route, Aurora becomes very cruel and blames us for getting her family (re)involved with the cartel, even though in actuality she involved us--a point Chava tells us to let go, and then we apologize. For what?! And the end of Sergio's route is confusing, as you go through a dream sequence where he either kills you and takes your money or you get him arrested for killing La Dama Rosa. I think it's supposed to represent your fears and mistrust of him and symbolize how you need to let your concerns go if you wanna marry him, but it feels uncomfortable since it's not explained well at all. It felt like we just saw the future and we said "I don't care." Plus he asks us stuff about kids, our wedding, and where we'd live, and he took NONE of my decisions into account for the final chapter.

"Roadkill"--I was SO confused on what was the result of the wish and what wasn't. Did Douglas' wish create werewolves, vampires, and witches along with zombies? Or did they already exist before the zombie wish? If it's the latter, there's no need to involve zombies. Plus Howie's amnesia arc in the last chapter was rushed and unnecessary, while Poe came off as judgmental and snarky and Tess' route was short and rushed.

"Catch Me in Miami"--I couldn't get into Miguel because he was so obviously a bad boy and I don't do bad boys. Maybe if he was more coy about it like Nicky than being obvious about it, I'd be into him.

"For the Love of Gods"--Great potential, but rushed and I DESPISE how we're forced to romance everyone. Why can't I just choose how many people I'm interested in?

"Ghosted"--Probably my least favorite story. Jesse's ghost story does sound interesting, but his personality and how rushed it was ruined it for me.

"Hollywoodland"--Rushed, but it had great potential.

"Snow Falling in Love"--It felt like a waste not to tie this with "Roadkill" due to Sawyer's involvement, and Elise was CRAZY obsessed with us.

"Courting the Crown"--Beautiful Potential, but again, rushed, rushed, rushed.

"The Last Legacy"--Probably the best plot of them all, but Felix and Sage weren't my type physically or personality-wise; I'd rather go for Felix's dads.

I didn't include other stories because they either weren't finished or I didn't complete them.

[still-a-morosexual-help]

@🌹anon asked about my ocs sometime back and as I was answering it rn I accidentally deleted the entire thing😭😭😭😭😭

I'm gonna try and write whatever I remember again✌️:

Yes I did it again (shut up);

I'm such a fucking idiot, I found the "deleted ask" hidden deep in my drafts - apparently it went there when I lost my internet connection but instead of getting saved at the top of my drafts it got saved on the day anon first sent me the ask so somewhere in the middle between other drafts??? Anyway:

!!!You asked for it!!

They were all created for some game or another (characters I'll be able to toss away once I'm done playing the games) But I ended up falling in love with all of them🤡

I can't draw people for shit & I don't wanna describe appearances so I'm gonna use picrews (with links added for anyone who wants to use 'em too)

Starting from first created to last & answering it like I'm making them character profiles for a dating sim (but leaving out the three from Choices 'cause I don't know if they can be considered proper ocs rather than just characters the game handed us? Also leaving out the others from fictif because they're not as well developed)

1. "Lex" Alexandra Lane

(Lex after Lex Luthor and Lane after Lois Lane because I think I'm funny)

[1] , [2]

Origin: Love Island the Game S2

25 at beginning now 26 years (Birthday: November 16th)

5'5"

She/Her

Bisexual

Professional Cellist

English/British because the game didn't give me a choice

Married at 26 (because the game gives you no option), will definitely have a couple kids at some point

No gross out factor - probably ate bugs as a kid. Probably will still eat a bug off the ground if dared to. Biggest point of pride is that she can do a backflip in heels. Loves fashion/beautiful clothes that are usually stupidly expensive. Biting her lip and making bedroom eyes at every single person but really just wants to fall in love and settle down. Hates confrontation/any sort of fight but also really wants to know everything about everyone's business. Good at being the mediator. Always the big spoon. Actually pretty buff - can absolutely bench you.

2. Eliza Ramskin

(Eliza after the official name of the porcelain apple doll sitting in a box on my cupboard but then I decided I didn't want it to stand for Elizabeth so now it stands for "A Lizard" after the rubber gecko pasted on my bedroom wall. Ramskin: a bad pun because of the game)

[1] , [2] (yes the little frog is supposed to be me)

Origin: Obey Me!

23 at beginning now 26 years (Birthday: April 21st)

5'10"

They/Them

Queer

Wildlife Photographer

Has chronic pain

Has a scar over one eyebrow - will smugly tell you a cool story for it. In reality dropped a jar of peanut butter on their face. + top surgery scars

-> Essentially just om! gen MC with a background and name. Have you read my post about gen MC's canon facts? Have you read any of my gen MC theory posts, where I take individual canon facts & connect them to see what happens? Have you read any of my obey me! fics? Can you remember what general MC was like in them? Then you know exactly what Eliza is like. But still, here are some of my favourite parts:

Ambiguously human. Would fight God at 2am in a Denny's parking lot and WIN. They're very lowkey an asshole but underneath that they're kinda nice but underneath that they're a bigger asshole but underneath that they're even nicer and so on and so forth. Surprisingly down for murder. 0 self preservation + 0 shame + 0 fear + max drive & determination + max stubborness + max can do attitude + unconsciously charming + actually pretty strong + danger kink + horny = the world's greatest monster fucker.

3. Len

(Len's short for Lenora which she no longer goes by but irl named after my Lenova laptop, No surname.)

[1] , [2]

Origin: The Arcana

31 years (Birthday: June 7th)

5'11"

She/They

Bisexual

Same occupation as the game's MC

The only one who has a defined body shape in my mind and that body shape is plank of wood

Pitch black eyes that reflects no light. Vague cryptid energy. Stoic, cold yet thin polite smile that seems very surface level. Posture's so good just looking at her makes your back hurt. Warms up once you get to know her; is caring and gentle and understanding and soothing but also stuborn and tough/harsh/strict. Responsible but also has no problem breaking the law if needed. Dreams of travelling the world. Gives off black cat energy but is a dog person. Sadistic in both the sexy and unsexy way. Bad puns. So much untapped potential to be a super villain. I think I accidentally just created a female version of om!'s Lucifer...

4. Vale Knight

(Vale after welcome to night vale which I hadn't watched at the time, Knight from the same place but it's also a pun because of what happens to them in the game)

[1] , [2]

Origin: Last Legacy

28 years (July 10th)

6'0"

They/Them

Queer Polyamorous

Same occupation as the game's MC

Not only are they a weeb they're an ASSHOLE. The kind of person to get stabbed because their first instinct was to mock the mugger. Decided to dye their hair for cosplay once and then went "wait a minute -" A shameless flirt until someone flirts back and then they're a flustered annoyed mess. Had a lot of jobs over the years, currently a barista - doesn't want to be a barista forever but doesn't know what they want to do (other than gaming, watching movies/shows/anime, reading books/comics/manga) until they accidentally discover a passion for medicine and go to nursing school

5. River Bouwmeester

(River after Lake from Infinity Train which I've never watched, Bouwmeester because it's a Dutch surname meaning "master builder" because they work as a home renovater)

[1]

Origin: Monster Manor

27 years

5'1"

He/They

Queer

Same occupation as the game's MC

American (because the game gave me no choice) with probably Dutch origins from their father's side

Couple of big scars here and there

BIG "I can fix him energy". Moves around a lot = not much possibility for a long term stable relationship = oblivious and shy when it comes to romantic attraction. Strong, patient, practical. Very little can rattle them. Came from a long family line of home renovaters/builders (of the magic, strange & weird) but no close living family. Unironically loves bob the builder. Trying very hard to forget about the fact that they're extremely lonely by keeping up a very positive optimistic attitude. Their truck is their pride & joy. Absolutely loves their job even though it's what causes them to move about so much and so makes it hard to form close connections. Very friendly from the first moment but isn't tolerant of anyone's bullshit.

6. Roo Kidd

(Roo after the baby kangaroo from Winnie the Pooh, Kidd because the baby kangaroo was a kid. Surprisingly the actual meanings behind both names fit with their character/circumstances)

[1] , [2]

Origin: Twisted Wonderland

16 years (Birthday January 10th)

5'7"

He/They

Gay Demiromantic Asexual

Wears reading glasses

Lots of small scars from scrapes and scratches all along body

Always cold + loves cute clothes = wearing summer dresses and instantly regretting it. Head in the clouds 7 outta 10 times. Has never felt romantic attraction before - believed they never would and was 100% okay with that - so the one time they did start feeling it went "wow I'm really into this friendship" and stayed oblivious for an annoyingly long time. Also similarly oblivious to romantic attraction directed at them. Kinda klutzy. Big wet eyes. Big bright smile. A ball of sunshine but also really snarky. "This might as well happen" energy. Fast with quick reflexes and a sharp eye for detail. A cunning edge that comes out only during emergencies. Strength of a wet noodle though. Gets a shitty impromptu/accidental haircut that leads to him buzzing it all off and having to grow it back.

[bri-the-bi]

“We want Arcana content on the arcana app!!” “No I don’t want them adding a bunch of bullshit to it!!!” “Arcana content should be on the app it was made for!!!!!”

All you Arcana fans, I mean this in the best possible way, but shut the fuck up.

I mean it. Shut the fuck up.

You guys have nothing to worry about— and I say this as an Arcana fan myself. Yeah, maybe it sucks that any new “content” is gonna be on Dorian. It does, I get it— and I’m on your side, I think Arcana content should be on the original app that was made for it.

But that doesn’t fucking matter. You know why? Because at the end of the day, the storyline is over.

Each of the love interests have either learned their lessons in their respective upright routes, or they’ve gotten worse and doubled down in their reversed routes with the apprentice. They’ve each told us they love us. We’ve been with them every step of the way.

They’ve had their stories, their happy endings, and their sad ones.

You know who hasn’t had those endings?

Sage Lesath. Anisa Anka. Felix Iskander Escellun. Casimir de Gévaudan. Rainier. Fin Derodine. The MCs of those stories.

There are Fictif storylines that are still unfinished, and none of those endings are going to be on Fictif. None of those endings are going to be with those beginnings. We don’t even know if they’re GETTING endings at all.

The Arcana has had its time and its storylines, and while it’s sad, I think it’s time we laid the canon content to rest. That doesn’t mean the fandom has to die, it doesn’t mean we have to stop talking about it or making content. But the story is over.

Fictif’s stories aren’t.

[ererifan4ever]

A mood™ ever since the official release of this game, I've been staying up until at the very least 3 am playing otome games

[ghost-inthe-moon]

Listen, Julian and Sage are still very much my comfort characters, but i am doonnneee with the Arcana and Fictif teams.

Every damn day i hear or see something about them pullin some dumb shit n i am over it. Whatever updates i get from here on out are from other fans. I wont be following either official blogs anymore and quite frankly the only reason i keep either game installed is to play old routes that were actually worth the time and money to play.

@thearcanagame @fictifgames please for the love of FUCK can yall get your shit together? You used to make such quality stories and content and now its like youre struggling to remain relevant. 5-chapter, rushed af stories with paid endings are not what i came for. I dont think thats what ANYONE came for. We played these games to enjoy the in-depth stories and well thought-out characters with not only amazing backstories, but engaging routes. And since the separation of Nicky, Celia and Miguel's routes, its like you guys stopped giving a shit about your fanbase.

Like, i get it. Its a company. Its about money. But you DO realize... If you alienate your fans... If you repeatedly disappoint them (Like you HAVE been) You're gonna lose money. And spitting out quantity over quality is gonna bite you in the ass. Hard. Every time. Just something to keep in mind.

[sinfonia1]

Man if we got that Asra story on Dorian I hope we don’t get the rest of the Fictif stories moved over to Dorian too

Like I’ll give them this: the ability to draw your avatar and put them into the story is cute. In the future it would be cool to upload a whole set with different emotions if possible.

BUTT I just hate the story quality and formatting on Dorian compared to fictif and the Arcana. Like I’m not gonna lie the font, the lack of transitions on the characters, and the lack of music made me click off the Asra story pretty fast. (Can’t comment on that story quality since didn’t read) Prolly sounds nitpick-y, but quality like that kinda just made me feel like I was reading something off Episode than the Arcana yk??

ALSO I have so many fucking coins and stars saved up from the hiatus please tell me I’ll at least get to use those instead of having to buy Dorian’s currency

[hallowmoon-art]

Is the official Arcana/Fictif discord completely dead now? There hasn't been hardly anybody talking in any of the chats over the last couple of days.

Does anybody else know/have a discord that pertains to these stories?

EDIT: I do have a discord channel but it's dead af.

[chaotic-kitty]

My thoughts on the newest IOE chapter:

(SPOILERS FOR ISLE OF ENCHANTMENT)

First off, SHE’S SO PRETTY!!!😭🥺 And I’m so annoyed I can’t romance her.

Hi Ruby from once upon a time, nice to see you again. I’m kidding! But I’m also not. First Rouge showing us his wolverine cospay and impression, and now this? Not very original of you fictif.

I kinda saw that coming. I think it’s kinda cliche but it’s too early for me to really make much of a comment on it I think. I’m interested to see where they’re going to go with this.

Also, I’m actually kinda happy that they mentioned periods?? Like none of the other stories have, and it’s very rare to have it mentioned unless it’s to put menstruating individuals down. But I like that they mentioned and didn’t make it weird.

With Scarlett and Rouge’s wolf forms….wth? They’re so boring! If I think of a person who transforms into a wolf, I think of an actual wolf! Not some person with anger issues, pointy teeth, and bone claws. Seriously. I wanna see full on wolf or beast like the wolf in once upon a time, or even the beast from beauty and the beast. Not whatever this is.

✨HER✨

Now this! I would like to say: THANK YOU BILLIE FOR CARING! So many times it happens in stories (including in places by fictif/the arcana) where something will happen to the mc, usually traumatic, and it’s not even mentioned? Like everyone (mc included) just magically gets over it? It’s not dealt with or brought up ever again? I’m glad they’re allowing the characters to question things and check in with the mc and offer to let them go home.💕

There was another scene with Hook, but my silly butt didn’t screenshot it (and I was not replaying it just for that). But I am also liking showing the realness of how the mc would react after being attacked, by Rouge no doubt. I have unfortunately experienced my own severe trauma and I know how this sorta thing plays out afterwards and, it’s actually a pretty good representation of that. I hope to see more of that sort of writing, where they actually write mc, as well as other characters, feeling and acting in ways they ACTUALLY would act after a traumatic experience. Now obviously there are areas where the writing could of been better but, it’s a start. Especially as not many books actually draw attention to trauma characters would have, and when they do , they do not write it properly.

Female characters I can actually romance and for more than 5 seconds.🥲😒

I mean I was at first, but now? Not really. It was very anticlimactic & ngl you look and sound pretty boring. I like your ears tho.

I’m still beyond mad at fictif, and I’m mad that there are like 4 women I could be romancing but only 1 of them I can, and I have a feeling I’m gonna be mad at how this ends, but!! I’m actually seeing a bit of promise with this story. Not saying it’s the greatest , but it has a few things about it that are nice and promising. I just hope they don’t fuck it up like they usually do. And this doesn’t make up for anything they’ve pulled coz at this point even an apology isn’t gonna cut it. But either way, I’m actually enjoying it.

[faustonastring]

I fucking hate how NH is trying to pull the same shit they did for Tess with Celia.

Tess I can kind of understand why her route was axed, I don’t think it should of been, but atleast to me there didn’t seem to be that much demand

BUT CELIA? THERE WAS ALOT OF DEMAND FOR CELIA

Now. I will be going into how Nix Hydra is using Bias to skew their statistics of the female LI

Also you can say that your cutting female routes because there’s not a lot of interest, when you

A) don’t release the routes to begin with

B) hardly promote said routes

C) cut the routes short, barley giving consumers a chance to get to know the female LI

This my friends is: Confirmation Bias: “The tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with one’s personal beliefs .”

So what does this mean and how does it apply to NH?

By planning to make the female routes shorter you are inherently setting them up for failure. There is no coincidence that Nicky is more popular then Celia, when Celia has only 7 Chapters and Nicky has not only a complete route, but two sub stories, and let’s not forget the infamous Nicky November where they only posted and updated:Nicky.

Further more, it’s hard to beleive that the female routes were even supposed to be romantic to begin with, when so far both ‘fully’ published female routes immediately have a spin of story about *insert random white man here* that is introduced and practically shoved in our faces through out the route.

And last but not least by releasing objectively more male routes than female routes, of course the amount of players who play the male routes versus the female routes will be skewed. Right now there’s atleast 8 male routes that are fully published or being published and a whopping 2 female routes that are fully published. You can not compare and say “over the last four years we’ve seen that very few of you, our readers, read these routes”. While over the last four years the only female NH routes we had received was Nadia and eventually Portia from the arcana, and I don’t know about you guys but as some one who was in the arcana fandom for those four years, I can confidently say that there was plenty of people fawning over both Portia and Nadia, but again there was a distortion between male and female routes, with anisa being the only romancble female LI on fictif for its first year, and her route having to take multiple hiatus, and going through a refurbishment. So what female routes are the wlw or mlw players of NH Games left to read when there’s at minimum three then eventually five female routes, one of which is on another hiatus. The statistics are skewed because of the confirmation bias, thus making it unreliable in judging players playing female routes.

By shifting focus on fictif’s future white boy of the month, through out the female routes, cutting romance, or having noticeably less romantic options in the female routes than they’re male counterparts and cutting the female routes in half compared to their counter parts routes, and having it planned for the get go is setting them up for failure, and the notably fewer female routes, is confirmation bias. NH Is purposely skewing our view of the female LI to better fit their narrative, and so they can continue to push out routes of the same copy paste white man in different fonts for its straight fan base of 12 year old girls to fawn over

Wether NH is smart enough to realize this is what their doing, because let’s be honest, they’re a pretty dense company, but that doesn’t change the fact that their doing it. I can understand from a business POV, needing to cut characters short because of the lack of money they’re bringing in, but isn’t it convenient when those characters are the only female characters In the game? If the female routes aren’t making enough money and money is the issue then why don’t the focus on fleshing our said female routes instead of pushing out routes for the random stereotypically white male side character that literally no one asked for a route for and there is no demand for?

[rimefucker]

think abt mc and rime both being in choir, thr hell they would raise, and christ mc probably isn’t from a noble house,,,and im pretty sure rime is, and we know felix is before so if mf ever goes to hang out at felix’s house escell looks at his son like he just brought in a stray rat or some shit, florian would love mc, and scylla would find them annoying till they got older and hotter💀💀

WAIT omg ... what could their vocal ranges be .. every fictif character (arcana included) is so unique that i could never distinguish a voice headcanon for them if i tried. i think of rime having a higher-ended voice though .. hm .. EITHER WAY can u imagine this lil trio in all their extracurriculars .. rime is the president of everything. you can't run against him. you and felix run every club for him though fr

it seems like anguis and varela are the only houses in porrima & they have super tense relations prior to the story ... escell being so pissed felix brought over a boy from the OTHER house and then you .. bruh. there's no timeframe that i can recall over when escell and florian got divorced but i can see florian rationalizing with escell to give you & rime a chance. obviously he doesn't LOL but florian loves u guys sm .. suddenly you're getting care packages from him and he's inviting you guys to come home to the angius house for the weekend against escell's wishes .. a papa to one is a papa to all (1/2)

[hellomynamiseglaf]

🌰Chestnuts and Warm Milk🍂

My List of ~Favorites~ for Interactive Fiction and Visual Novels

(This is a work in progress so please bear with me)

Interactive Fiction:

The Wayhaven Chronicles (WIP Series in Development) - @seraphinitegames  (Look,,, I’m just... obsessed.. I can’t stop thinking abt it,,, and I'm..... sometimes, I read and I think I feel like I know what love is.)

Mind Blind (WIP) - @mindblindbard (I just,, UGH it’s so good. I can't even say that much because my feelings about it are so potent that everytime I see an update I try to tell myself to leave it alone to play larger portions of updates as a treat and everytime my willpower FAILS and I replay the demo like twice in a row)

Demon: Recollect ; Forsaken (WIP) - both by @bathalafiction (whew...WHEW!!! Are you kidding me?? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? Look. I was attached to Demon: Recollect. I loved it. And then I played the Forsaken WIP and now I can't get over my absolutely BOMB character design for my player persona. Also it's kind of fun being considered a jerk in the game, because it opens up a lot of different options that I usually feel bad about taking)

Shadow Society - @carawenfiction (the concept is so interesting,, I dream of more. Also Quaiel...baby...)

The Soul Stone War - @intimidatingpuffinstudios (also whew!! I really enjoyed it and the characters all picture themselves really vividly in my mind for some reason.)

Greenwarden (WIP) - @fiddles-ifs (reading this is like thick fog.. but in a good way? I don't know how to describe it without pictures but this IF smells like fog over wet grass)

Divine Intervention (WIP) - @divineinterventiongame (the concept?? UGH SO GOOD. For some reason it's always the first game I click to check for updates)

Golden (WIP) - @milaswriting (😈😈😈😈)

Blood/line (WIP) - @bloodlineoffical (simply put,,, LARRY)

Supernatural in New York ; The Bastard of Camelot (both WIPs) - @llamagirl28  (UGH Both of these are so good in their own ways but equally as exciting to see updates for. I haven't consolidated my feelings much further than "my MC for SiNY is so cute" and "Mordred is a child" but they're all generally positive.)

Ace of Spades (WIP) - @steph-writing (I keep thinking about,,, con........)

Nevermoore (WIP) - @asteristories (AHHHHH.... let me say it again for those in the back: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH)

Son of Satan: The Mortal Coil (WIP) - @sosthemortalcoil (YES.)

Shepherds of Haven (WIP) - @shepherds-of-haven (yes. I just have to sigh because it's very good and I like saying those funny little words of power. But also outside of the game I can only picture this game as a great, grey border collie)

Attollo (WIP) - @attollo (Also a very interesting concept, whoo... I almost forgot how immersive it was untill I played the demo again and was reminded of how 'into it' I was straight off the bat. Also the seperate, short little piece on the blog with Sysba was also really good and I had a dream about it the other day)

Into the Shadows (WIP) - @wynnakang​ (whooo.... I'm sighing again, but louder. I press restart and play the demo again)

A Comedy of Manors (WIP) - @sviyaginthegreat (I kept replaying options that I hadn't chosen before because I wanted there to be more lmao)

Fallen Hero: Rebirth - @fallen-hero (I think there's a sequel coming up? I haven't stopped thinking about this storyline since I finished it omg... the.. the details are really good and I've become ridiculously attached to my tragic villain? Character... she IS the standard for my reusable IF persona, or at least one of my most prominent ones ;-D )

Samurai of Hyuga (WIP series) - (I'm pretty sure multiplechoicestudios.com is the development blog for this game, or at least what I've been checking for updates..... this is a series with four book currently out.... and I've been playing through book 4 at slower than a snail's pace in a desperate attempt to prolong my experience. I really didn't think I was going to like it as much as I did but I got a little too into it and now I'm horribly attached to all the characters)

The Porthecrawl Witness(WIP) - @porthecrawl-witness (I'm pretty sure this is a WIP?? But ugh. SCREEEEEE- it's so good. It's SO GOOD. I really want to punch Talbot in the face. And Asher, if for a different reason. And sort of Staci just to try. Quinn is just a cutie I could never hurt him like that. Ugh but they're all so good and I forgot that I was reading a WIP untill it suddenly was over..... I'mfeeling really aggressive rn as I'm writing this, so please just note that the punch comment is meant as a statement on how interesting the concept and immersiveness of the characters and story is)

Forgotten Names (WIP) - by Alexandra_Zorila on the CoG Forum (turn the volume up. AHHHHHHHHHH!!! Look, look. It's..... delicious. It's SO interesting and I obsessively have a tab open on my computer to check for updates)

OFNA: Birds of a Feather (WIP) - @ofna (the vibes are so grey and smoky but the fog is definitely from a party smoke machine and the room is only dark because the walls are taped with those huge sheets of black construction paper that teachers use to cover their bulletin boards with... the game definitely falls in the 'dark and mysterious' genre but something just strikes me as really funny when I play it. Anyway it's good and it's in a lot if recommended lists for a reason. Also I'm very attached to my American Goldfinch)

More Things in Heaven and Earth (WIP) - @morethingsgame (in the same way that it's fun to play Guenevere in the Guenevere game or Mordred in The Bastard of Camelot, playing Ophelia in the sort-of Hamlet story is really fun. If anyone has read the Missing collection- which I absolutely love- by Margaret Peterson Haddix, this gives me similar vibes for some reason. Anyway, I really want to give Hamlet a hug and make him a flower crown or something)

A Tale of Crowns (WIP) - @ataleofcrowns (It's kind of not even funny how much I love this game... It's hard to even describe why I like it, just that it's so well rounded in terms of the story, characters, dialogue, and relationships. It's such an interesting plotline and it's pretty immersive. Also the first time I read the demo, there was an update as I was reading and the high that sent me on has very rarely been matched. Also Dara running to save my Crown in the tunnel?? 🤚😩🤭💓 ugh. UGH!! That's good food for my fool heart)

Scout: An Apocalypse Story (WIP)- @anya-dev (I'm usually not that into apocalypse themes/plots but I really enjoyed this game, and the plot was very good and intruiging... it really pulled me in and I like my character in the story a lot. I don't know why but it tastes like chikuwa, atsuage, and this specific type of carmelized onions that my mom makes sometimes)

Nothing left to burn (WIP)- @clowdee-works (......ouch. I *knew* what was going to happen and I STILL became attached to Drew)

Smoke and Velvet - @roast-ifs (It's good. And I am VEDY much into my character design. Also the story is really interesting, and I enjoy the setting a lot somehow)

Speaker (WIP)- @speakergame (very fun to play, and each update gets me more interested in the aspects of the plot. I also really like the little descriptions of what the characters think of the player)

The Nameless (WIP)- @parkerlyn (interesting plot, I like the characters a lot, and The aesthetics of this world are so interesting. Definitely had a good time visualizing what everything looked like)

Fields of Asphodel (WIP) - @asphodelgame (I think it's really cute so far!!! I like mythology in general, and the persephone/hades dynamic is *mwah!*... I like the way the story progresses in the beginning, and I think it works well in drawing the reader into the world. I also very much enjoy petting large dogs.)

...there are so much more.. and I have followed so many blogs.........

I'm not sure why I can't find it rn but there's this one WIP game that I really like where the MC buys a manor for like dollar and moves to go live there with her best friend and shenanigans ensue as they try to settle in and fix up the estate

Harbringer (WIP) - @harbringercog (....are you KIDDING me?? I was fully planning on just enjoying the demo and keeping a mental note to update the list sometime later,,, but this game... THIS GAME really made me fold. It's very immersive and regardless of how nervous the author claims to be after releasing the demo, it's of my humble opinion that those nerves can be calmed. It's very good. I was planning on procrastinating and reading a little bit and then going back to this essay I need to write, but somehow I got pulled in and ended up reading through the whole demo and it's apparent that I honestly had no chance of getting through this without becoming invested in the plot.... just... so good.. I'm very excited to see how this will progress)

Visual Novels:

Andromeda 6 (WIP) - @andromeda-six​  (I repeat: Obsessed, I come back every few months to see an update and I fall deeper into the hole every time...)

To the Edge of the Sky (WIP,, probably) - by Ajané (??) on Steam (I think, it’s been a while)

Next on my list to check out: Perfumare by pdrrook

Does.... does The Arcana game by Nix Hydra count as VN?? If so, then yes.

Similarly, the FictIF games are all entertaining, although Last Legacy and Heir to Love and Lies are my favorites rn (and.....unfinished....)

I also don't know if this counts, because I kind of consider Otome games to be their own genre, but on the Love 365: find your story by Voltage Inc. There are a bunch of fun stories, my favorite of which are: the Shinichi Kagari route on After School Affairs and the Saejima and Keiichiro routes on Bad Boys do it Better

..To be continued...

[pandemoniclucio]

Last Legacy HC's #7

I saw the Sage in Vesuvia side story post by the Fictif team so I decided to indulge in the cross-over.

Info: MC is the Devil, the Arcana cast managed to lock them up but Felix gave MC a way to escape into another realm, because if they couldn't cause chaos in Vesuvia they might as well do it elsewhere. 

Scenario: Main Story with a few changes, such as MC trying to make contracts with people and wanting to fight the Lord of Shadows.

Felix

He’s the one who summoned you to Porrima so he’s the one who will make sure you don’t destroy it. 

He’s amazed that he managed to summon the literal incarnation of evil and chaos who’s also a complete sadist.

He likes that you want to help him with his necromancy even if it is for terrible reasons.

He finds it very amusing when you meet Escell and Scylla, and was slightly confused that Florian wasn’t afraid of you and treated you like a normal person.

Your meeting with his ex made you laugh and become a bit possesive as you proceeded to give Felix hickies infront of Rime, “At least you’re with the real deal now and not with some cheap knock-off. ”

Anisa

At first she’s a bit cautious around you because you remind her of her father except, more animal looking.

She keeps you around her at all times because you have a habit of finding guilable people to make contracts with.

She’s intrigued by your knowledge of weapon-art, and will spar with you, or she’ll just try to get a blow on you while you dodge her attacks.

She is slighly worried about your goal to fight her father and see who’s more powerful. She’s also finds it impresive that you make soldiers who question her regret it without using violence.

Her mother is a bit skeptic of you at first but eventually grows to like you due to your knowledge and the fact that you keep her daughter safe.

Sage

He’s more relaxed than the others when it comes to keeping an eye on you as long as you don’t hurt anyone who doesn’t deserve it.

He finds it hilarious when you start mocking Rime whilst helpin Sage attack people like it’s nothing.

Like him Tulsi isn’t that afraid of you, which mildly irritates you because you’re the Devil, but you eventually get over it to over her free advice on how to improve her forging techniques.

He tries to challenge you to anything he’s good at, even if he loses, because he happens to like your smile/smirk that or he probably has a kink for being stepped on or dommed.

He treasures the moments when you use even a fraction of your power to deal with anyone who tries to hurt him. It’s rare that you drop the monotonous act.

[a-pancake-i-am]

My thoughts on Fictif/Arcana crossover

Personal opinion ahead, beware

I'm not quite mad, because I rly like both The Arcana Game and Fictif Games. However what we see is The Arcana fandom being tug into Fictif with certain hookups. Which is not quite bad by itself, but disturbs me personally. And here is my reason.

It's been a long journey for The Arcana Game, 5years long for me personally, longer for kikstarters and older fans. The Arcana in the first place was not meant to be on a place where it is. It was not meant for portable devices only. It was promised in the past that PC players would be welcomed in too in the future. And probably for the same reason this game turned out to be a huge story with It's own deep lore, well written whole ass universe which got attention of a large audience, including me, and I got charmed by this story.

Unlike me, an old otome-lover, a lot of my friends and mutuals I found in The Arcana Fandom were not really into dating simulators before for the reasons - lots of worn out and cheap-streamy-novels-like tropes, poorly designed LS, MC in a role of a stupid feminine figure, and male protags being mean to them "for the plot"... you know what I mean, this genre has a lot of shit. Arcana was a lot more, like A LOT MORE from a start, it felt serious and made me feel serious emotions in my twenties when I've seen a lot of novels already.

Time passed and Nix Hydra changed their mind, they choose to keep their tracks into mobile-games. I know we signed on not-pulling-out the information from that survey they made after The Arcana Routes were over, but I will say it. So, there were questions about their so to say new market competitors. Such as Lovestruck, Stories, Choices, Mabe, Romance Club ect ect. Which are quite fine probably, but most of them generally are below The Arcana level in points of representing. Healthy relationship dynamics are qute a rare thing there too. As well as good profond writting, diverse language, great art... I personnally still find them playable though, because I'm an experienced shit eater and proud. But there's nothing like Arcana in this shithole, that's what I mean. They are cheaper, and less effort is done in there. And it shows. Obviously.

And so Nix Hydra decided they're among them now, not among cool indie developers like Lunaris games(that used to take after the Arcana as far as I know) and others. That is not qute bad, once again, Nix Hydra is still better in anything here. They would easily stand out in this line, their writers are way better. Despite that, it's an easy cheap way to do living. And I'm seing that a new tendency occured - old sprites and backgrounds being reused in different game made in one style and reality. For exemple Roadkill content used in Ghosted widely. For sure it is a nice and pretty quotation for-fans, I hope it is. What I fear is that it is as well what over otome-agregates do often. They keep an archive of background and npc-s, probably keep simple piccrew-like npc generators and then use and reuse it all widely. So in the end it's a construct, not that much of artistic value, less job for artist(who deserve their rest but...)... it's just feels cheaper, and more tricky way to do it.

Last Legacy is a great novel. It is also the most popular of the entire Fictif for reasons the same as The Arcana is. It is a catching plot, intriguing detective storyline , and nice designs and appealing LIs types, and cool relationship dynamics... Last Legacy is probably just as good as The Arcana.

But a meant-to-be-more-than-mobile-game-Arcana had it's quality level raised high. A lot of people would agree with me that stupid slang, too obvious memes, community jokes are not welcome in game canon. Oldies like me, who played all the routes and could compare, would also agree, that some moments in secondary 3 of The Arcana feel weaker than the first 3 routes. Is is visible thad Nix Hydra went through a lot as a developers union. They changed in attitude and mood, got new teammates, lost some others. In Last Legacy they started it differently, giggles, memes and mass culture references are naturals here, and they can put their feet up in making it all-serious and just have fun.

What can I say except - good for them, good for them.

I fully understand that Nix Hydra are willing to make their developing process less expensive and devastating. I know they worked hard for The Arcana and got a lot of pressure. All they want is a simpler work for welcome and thankful audience. An they well deserve it.

However, we can see a non-dramatic degration in many aspects of the game quality in general. They place full releases now instead of gradually getting audience to know and to love the characters beforehand. It is just different. Not necessarily too bad, but probably a no better way.

Last Legacy in this situation is closer to Arcana then the rest of Fictif. It is now taken out as a bridge between The Arcana game and Fictif Games. So that The Arcana community(A huge and wealfy of paying for their 2D crushes) was introduced to Fictif. But the truth is that nothing is as much as The Arcana. Some people are ready to get someting still cool but different, less complicated hapily. Others are not. And they have a point. I still think that The Arcana is an outstanding game.

It really makes me sad, that Nix Hydra changed their tracks in game developing. But they did, and we have to accept it sooner rather then later to save ourself from disappointment. Because that is what devs are getting negative feedback for now.

I personnally would prefer Nix Hydra to leave The Arcana alone already, because they barely can handle it the same way they used to. And they have to face the fact, that they are not getting the audience they used to get with the amount of effort they are doing now. That's it.

But I highly dissaprove angry attacks on Nix Hydra.

Thanks for keeping reading my long and heavy speech until this far. You're cool if you did, cheers mates uwu

[badass-at-fandoming]

Complicated Lovestruck Feelings

You may have noticed I haven't been posting as much about Lovestruck. I haven't been playing much of Lovestruck, only grinding for Hearts for the past month and a half. This is for a lot of reasons.

Listen, I'm not a fan of dramatic break up letters like "I'm never interacting with this show/movie/video game/fandom again!" or what have you. This isn't a relationship, and therefore not a break up. But over the past weeks, I've definitely had some mixed feelings.

Since the strike, Voltage has been absolutely bleeding writers. People I've followed since I started playing, writers I greatly admire, artists who made Lovestruck the awesome app it is: they're gone, and most with a vague, ominous note that Voltage's working environment made them miserable. While they got raises, Voltage's indifference to their well-beings seems to have turned into outright hostility.

More and more routes and series ended, and less and less new routes were announced. New writers were brought in to finish off stories, and they clearly were not given enough information or prep time. I'm talking about how characters' dialogue sounds off in the 2021 Pride Special, or how established lore was ignored in Cecelia Visconti's final season, or how the WLL MC's narration veers from bucolic Western cowgirl to modern day Texan. Producers' plots got more bizarre: remember Xenia's sudden marriage, or SWM MC sweating literal bullets in Cal's route.

They don't have enough writers to premiere episodes 7 days a week, which I'm fine with as a fan, but I think hints at something sinister like lack of staff. While the comeback of Starship Promise and Gangsters in Love excited fans, the amount of promotion worries me. Did they get a new (or invigorate their current) social media manager and this is the new normal? Or are they teetering into bankruptcy, and these revivals are last ditch efforts to save the company? We don't know. We might never know.

At the same time this is all happening, we're getting more queer content and content about characters of color than ever before. Gold standard stuff! Gay routes! Two more nonbinary routes! Nova, Jo, MSC MC, Maxime, IHS MCs, Nahara, Piama, Galen, the new GiL MC: they're all VISIBLY people of color. There's black characters on the schedule again! I should be celebrating! This is everything I wanted!

But, Lord, at what cost? There's a lot of nuance and pitfalls with fandom as activism, which I won't go into here. Fiction is important--it's important for readers to see themselves on screen. But living, breathing queer people were hurt by Voltage. I want to support the writers of these newer routes, some of whom are confirmed gender and racial minorities. Are they okay? Are they being disrespected and under-valued? Should I forgive the hurt Voltage management dealt out because there's a new "cast" of freelancers in rotation, or should I move on?

So far, the only answer I've come up with is...maybe stop supporting Lovestruck so hard. Diversify to other companies who do support their writers, or at least don't have a public track record of under-paying and under-valuing them. That's why I've gotten more into Cinamon Games' Maybe: Interactive Stories, Arcana, and Fictif. After I finish those, I'll branch out with (re-downloading) Choices and Lovelink. I started playing Lovestruck in 2017, and in that short time, there's been an explosion of queer art and queer love in the mobile game space. My options aren't limited.

I guess what I'm saying is: I support writers, not corporations. I support the real over the hypothetical. While I'm going to support Lovestruck's new queer characters of color, I'm also spreading my fandom love to other apps' queer characters of color. I'm buying VOW Together's books, short stories, and games. I'm doing more on-the-ground activism and expanding my feminism through nonfiction reading. There's a lot more I could be doing than this single romance app.