#and made his traits align as best i could with the in game mc so it feels in character. so he feels like a natural fit to me

[snobgoblin]

ATP I sometimes forget Danny isn't canon

INSANELY high praise thank you

[rimalovegood]

Crossing the line- LeviathanxReader

omg! I swear I didn’t think this game would take over my life so quickly or that this shy otaku boy would grow up in me so much...especially since I don’t tend to like character with similar traits to me (let’s be honest in real life Levi and I would be a complete mess because we both are socially awkward otakus who feel uncomfortable with human contact) but here I am and I regret nothing...

Fandom: Obey me!

Pairing: Leviathan x Female!Main Character

Genre: Tooth-rooting fluff

Word count: 926

Warning: just two shy idiots being shy

Summary: MC knows Levi dislike human contact, he is uncomfortable with any kind of romantic interaction and basically only feels attracted to fictional characters. She understands that so she decided she was fine with being just friends but as the demon starts yet again talking about how “unlikable” he was she lost her patience and ended up revealing her true feelings...much to both dismay.

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It had been an accident. At least she thought it had been… maybe somewhere, deep in her heart, she had meant for it to happen, it didn’t stop the heat for going right to her face to the point she resembled more of a tomato than a person though.

Stupid handsome Levi and his stupid insecurities…it was all his fault. She had been fine with her decision. She knew fully well he only saw her as a friend and she was truly happy to be called his “true friend”. She was perfectly content keeping her big stupid unrequited crush for herself. Even if the planets aligned and the demon were to develop romantic feelings for someone it was highly unlikely it would be her, she had too many dimensions for his taste to start with…and even if she dared to hope, she knew pretty well their time together was running thin on an impressive speed. There was no point in revealing the truth and risking how little time they had left to spend together.

She had promised herself she’d lock those feelings deep inside her heart, enjoy the rest of the exchange program with her friends and leave with a smile.

Yet she had blown it all up in a feeble attempt to quell his deeply rooted inferiority complex. Like if knowing that a simple human girl like her liked him would make any difference.

She dared to look at the speechless demon in front of her. His blush rivaled hers but unlike the girl his eyes were wide open and fixed on her with such intent one would think she had grown a third eye. Usually upon getting embarrassed Leviathan would cover his gaping mouth with his hands but the situation had been so unbelievable for him he hadn’t even bothered to.

-you…you like me?...-he finally broke the silence- like really like me?... like not as a friend…but you know, romantic liking?

He seemed to be having problems wrapping his head around the concept and even through her own embarrassment MC couldn’t help but find it both cute and infuriating. How couldn’t he see how adorable and funny and fucking hot he was? She knew his shyness and somewhat brusque demeanor would be a turn off for a lot of people but she found even that a little attractive and was completely positive she wasn’t alone on that… since she had already messed up she figured she could at least let him know how wrong he was in saying “nobody would ever fall in love with an awkward otaku guy”

-I do… sorry, I know you have no interest in 3D girls…and I didn’t mean to make things uncomfortable between us, because I really like being your friend but I can’t change how I feel… you don’t need to give me an answer, we can continue as this never happened if you still want us to be friends or I´ll keep my distance till the exchange program ends if that makes you feel more comfortable…I just couldn’t stand hearing you put yourself down that way when I just think you are the best…please, say something.

MC could feel the tears forming in the corners of her eyes, she wanted to run away and hide on her room till the end of semester, the embarrassment was overwhelming and the fact the Leviathan was still looking at her with such astonishment only made it worst.

Several tense seconds passed and he didn’t seem to come back to his senses. He guts told her the truth she hadn’t want to accept. There was no way back, she had ruined everything they had built up together, with just a few words she had completely destroyed their relationship.

-I’ll be going, sorry again-she turned to walk to the door but as she move to take the first step she felt something pulling her leg back. As she looked down she found Levi’s black tail curled around her ankle.

-Sorry…it was a reflex-he muttered as the snake-like appendage freed her

-You don’t want me to leave?-she asked, her voice raising a tone to match the unspoken hope she didn’t want to have.

-no…but don’t turn around-he rushed as she tried to face him-it’s…easier this way

-it’s fine…I understand

-you always do…this is so unfair…why are you so comprehensive with me? How can you so easily accept all my weird habits?... I’m such a mess when it comes to you… I can´t even look at you to the face and tell you I like you… you deserve so much better than me….

“I like you”

All the rest of his sulking got drowned on those 3 words. Did he really mean that?

-Is that true?-she muttered fearing that by saying it out loud would change the answer- you aren’t just saying it to spare my feelings? You like me back?

-How couldn’t I?

-I mean…I’m not exactly Ruri-chan…

-It’s a different kind of like…I mean, you have your husbandos too

-I guess you a right

She giggled and for the first time since the conversation had started Levi smiled.

-Can I turn now?-she asked not bothering to hide her excitement anymore

-Not yet-he slowly walked reducing the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her waist causing a new surge of blood to rush to the girl’s cheeks. After a few seconds he felt a little more confident and rested his head on one of her shoulders-I knew it…this feels right…

-It really does-she smiled nuzzling her cheek against his hair.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

Percival Analysis

big tittum hours

Percival

Max HP: 12,112

Max ATK: 9,168 (Effective ATK: 9,626)

Star Absorption: 89

Star Generation: 12%

NP Charge ATK: 0.64%

NP Charge DEF: 4%

Attribute: Earth

Alignments: Lawful Good

Traits: Brynhildr's Beloved, Humanoid, Male, Riding, Round Table Knight, Servant, Weak to Enuma Elish

QAABB

Quick = 3 hits, Arts = 2 hits, Buster = 3 hits, Extra = 5 hits

Quick: 1.92%, Arts: 1.28%, Extra: 3.20%

Protection from the Holy Grail A

Increases own Arts performance for 3 turns. (20 -> 30%)

Charges own NP gauge. (10 -> 20%)

Increases party's NP damage for 3 turns. (10 -> 20%)

8 -> 6 turn cooldown

Guardian Knight (Holy Lance) B+

500% Chance to draw attention of all enemies to self by 300% for 3 turns.

Increases own NP generation rate when taking attacks for 3 turns. (30 -> 50%)

7 -> 5 turn cooldown

Light of Salvation B

Grants one ally Invincibility for 1 turn.

Recovers their HP. (1000 -> 2000)

8 -> 6 turn cooldown

Magic Resistance B++

Increases own debuff resistance by 18.5%.

Riding C+

Increases own Quick performance by 7%.

Longinus Count Zero

AoE Arts

4 hits

Grants self Ignore Invincibility for 1 turn.

Increases own NP damage for 1 turn. (20 -> 40%, OC)

Deals damage to all enemies. (450 -> 750%)

Recovers one ally with the lowest HP relative to their max HP by 3000.

Holy Lance Longinus

When equipped on Percival, increase party's Arts performance and NP damage by 10%.

Primary Role: Farmer, Looper, Taunter, Solo

Secondary Role: Defensive Support

Situational Role: N/A

Another Knight of the Round Table has made his way to F/GO, much to the applause of basically everyone it seems. Betwixt a Servant with massive tits is a kit that honestly rather bland and straightforward, but also good enough to make Percival a good choice for your AoE Arts lancer. Whether he's your best one will depend on your pool, but he doesn't arrive a wash-up.

First we start off with his fundamentals. Like basically every other AoE Arts servant released in the history of ever, his NP gain is bad for his hit counts. His Arts cards are pretty embarrassing, his Quick card is largely worthless, and his Extra ranks at "decent". His AQA chain will generate about 25% of his NP gauge, which isn't too terrible but his NP gen problems will become apparent once you don't have his ideal chains. His star generation is a little kinder to him thanks to his decent hit counts, and both his BBQ and QBB chains can generate around 15 stars each. It's not amazing, but it might make a crit happen when it counts.

His 1st skill is a pretty good skill overall, providing a nice Arts and NP damage steroid while also giving a small but welcome NP charge. The increase in Arts performance will push his AQA chain to about 28%, which is expected because of his mediocre Arts cards. The two steroids together will result in a nice 56% damage bonus to his NP as well, which is a strong start. The cooldown is the expected eight to six turns, but that's probably fair all things considered. The charge allows Percival to instant NP with a K-Scope and gives the ability to fix a looping turn (Spoiler alert he loops), which is always nice.

His 2nd skill is a variation of Georgios' Guardian Knight...and personally I find it to be a lot weaker. It's the same 3-turn taunt which is incredible, now on top of a Lancer further increasing the amount of easily accessible 3-turn taunts to different classes, and also increases his defensive NP gen by 50%. Don't get me wrong, this skill can high roll pretty hard and grant him a lot of extra NP a turn against an enemy with high hit counts, but against enemies that are on the lower end you'd want the Def buff way more than the defensive NP gain, and you might want it more anyways since Percival doesn't pack any soft defensive buffs. It's also at a bit of a weird mismatch with his kit, since he's meant to be in farming comps where this doesn't really matter. But in the future, it might be a good skill in a Nerofest exhibition quest or in a challenge quest of some kind, so I won't be too hard on it.

His 3rd skill is a targetable Invul with an okay heal attached to it, which is always pretty welcome. This skill not only has a lot of versatility in being able to keep others alive, it's also a hard defensive skill for Percival as well as a way to guarantee another turn of protection. It's a good skill and solid support, although not positioned the best in terms of his kit.

His NP is where things get...well a little interesting. An AoE NP that pierces invul is always nice, and the extra NP damage buff is appreciated as well, putting him at 40% total usually. His damage sits on average a little under 20k, which is not bad for an unupgraded NP. He also has a heal attached to his NP, but with a catch: it will always heal the, relatively, most damaged party member. Thanks to his taunt, that will usually be him and it's his main source of sustain, but be careful in team situations where his heal might accidentally go to someone else.

So let's get to the boring part and talk about looping. With his 1st skill active, an NPAA chain will generate about 56% of his NP gauge if he hits 3 enemies, 46% if he hits 2, and 36% if he hits only one enemy. This isn't counting overkill either so it can be even higher. It's worth noting that he will need at least two turns on average in between each NP in order to use it again on his own, which could be a problem...

If not for Castoria! A DCS set-up will result in Percival generating about 73% on average, without overkill, on 3 enemies. One might be tempted to despair there, but overkill makes a big difference in looping and this usually means that Percival can 3-turn fairly easily with just an MC boost to his Arts or NP gen for the second wave on average, with the ability to coast on refund with enough overkill. You can also pop his 1st skill to help with the ranges, since the extra 30% Arts bonus makes the base number jump to 84% and helps with his damage a lot more. All in all, his ability to loop is pretty secured, although not 100% painless.

Grails: Grails are okay for Percival, since increasing his attack will naturally increase his NP damage, making overkill easier and loops easier and more consistent. It's not really needed but you'll still likely notice the difference.

Support: Listen he's an AoE Arts servant, he was practically made to work with Servants like Castoria and Tamamo. His synergy with Tamamo is particularly note while, being able to boost his damage as well as grant heals and reduce the cooldowns on his taunts. He'll also work in very defensive teams as a Taunter with damage output, in addition to his targetable invul for emergencies.

Command Code: Percival can have some pretty solid solo potential with the Good Wife CC, increasing the heal on his NP to 4500 or potentially 6000 if timed right, which makes it a good option, as well as CCs to boost his NP damage and his NP gen. He can also use other CCs that remove buffs if you want to focus on him as a secondary DPS in another team.

Craft Essences: K-Scope gives him the ability to instantly NP, The Black Grail gives him massive NP damage while Royal Icing and Sign of Smiling Face give him less damage but more NP consistency, so on and so forth. If you're lacking a Castoria yourself, any 50% CE can be a good option, with notable shout outs for Painting Summer and Vessel of Desires as the best overall options.

Competition: There are 3 other Arts AoE lancers in the game that can compare to Percival: Fionn, Melt, and Vritra (sorry Elice). To be fair to all of them though, they're all good Arts loopers and all can be used really easily with the right gameplan. However, Percival has a notable benefit in having the highest overall refund to all of them with all buffs up. However, this probably only puts him above Fionn in terms of pure viability. Melt still has a 60% NP charge which is incredible, as well as being one of the only loopers to produce a ton of crit stars, and Vritra not only has higher stats overall, but NP regen and anti-Divine bonus damage. It's best to consider what you need to farm the node in question. He's probably the least finicky of the bunch to get looping. In terms of damage, here is the average damage of all 4 lancers at NP1:

Fionn: 96,691

Melt: 93,224

Vritra (non-Divine): 111,968

Percival: 99,627

All in all, he fits right in as a very competent looper and Arts DPS with the rest of the gang.

Pros:

-Solid steroids give him good NP damage

-NP charge is good on a looper, though a bit weak

-3 turn taunts are always very powerful

-Targetable invul and heal give him good versatility

-Pierce invul on NP will ensure damage most of the time

-Very good refund for an Arts Lancer, makes him easy to loop

-NP has another heal to stack on his S3

Cons:

-Most of his kit is pointless if he's only used for looping

-NP gain is slow when not used in looping comps

-Relies on heals to deal with damage while taunting, which can be problematic with high damage opponents

-Heal may not go to Percival which can be dangerous

Overall Opinions:

Percival did not immediately interest me like the other Lancer on his banner, but he's a good example of an "Ol' Reliable" kind of Servant: everything in his kit is stuff we've seen before, but it's all good and he rounds out being a pretty strong Servant. Good looping, good team support, solid healing capabilities, and good enough damage gives him a strong overall performance, despite the occasional hiccups in his kit and intended role.

He's good y'all.

[queenofnohr]

The Charming Empire - Otome Review (Soshi Amazaki Route)

I was going to hold off on doing this because 1. I wanted to play more routes to have a more comprehensive look at the game and 2. I don’t really have free time yet. Promptly ignored the above logic mostly to get this out of my system.

Before we begin, a disclaimer - While I do have pretty extensive knowledge about the otome genre in both longer “proper” VNs as well as the shorter, bite sized mobile VNs, I’m able to derive enjoyment from most anything (I feel the need to point this out because I see a lot of reviews that get hung up on stuff I can easily brush off even if I do understand where they’re coming from).

This is going to be a spoiler-free review based on Soshi Amazaki’s route alone.

Firstly, I must note that this is a mobile otome game. If you’re looking for something as long and substantial as, say, Hakuouki, Alice in the Country of Hearts, Dandelion, etc. this is probably not the game for you.

Now that that’s out of the way, I’ll be rating it based on usual points with a more... comprehensive and personal look at the end (feel free to skip to that if you know our tastes align and/or just want to see me losing my mind).

Prologue - 1/10

Normally I wouldn’t separate prologue from story. However, as this game started as a mobile game, there is no general route in which one gains points toward a love interest as is standard in full-length otome games. However, even by mobile game standards this game’s prologue fails in that it you meet exactly 0 love interests. Indeed, the prologue is the bare-bones introduction of the setting. This flaw is further complicated by the fact that, because it started as a mobile game, routes are bought individually. This means that there is no way to gauge the love interests except by the game’s straightforward summary on the buy screen. Luckily for me, I was sold at “Kenjiro Tsuda voices a love interest who is both a big brother and a lord” so this wasn’t as knee-capping as it could’ve been, but normally you’d have to simply take a leap of faith because if a love interest doesn’t actually end up being your type, you’re out of luck since you’ve already paid for the route.

This is an aside, but translation for the prologue is... questionable. It isn’t unreadable, like some translations I’ve had the misfortune of reading, but it does create some confusion regarding the MC’s family situation which I can’t help but clear up here. MC is the daughter of the previous lord whose mother moved with her out to the countryside. Her mother is died of illness, and MC now lives with an elderly couple. It’s simply when I say it here, but in game the family situation isn’t actually explained until well into the route and the narration refers to the couple as the “old man” and “old woman,” while the MC calls them “Grandpa” and “Grandma” (ojii-san, obaa-san in Japanese, which is a literal translation of what someone would call any older folk with the degree of familiarity MC has with them) while they call her “princess” (literally, hime-sama). The closeness of referring to them as grandparents vs the distance of the narrative’s “old man/woman” + calling the MC princess in a literal sense (vs. a nickname) is jarring especially because, again, they do not clearly explain the MC’s family situation.

Story - 7/10

Soshi holds the most powerful seat in all the empire. Only trusting himself, he rejects the opinions of others as he continues his dictatorship agenda -- breeding animosity amongst the people. He’s a cold man who sees even his own sister as a political tool.

This is the official description for Soshi’s route. Unfortunately(?) for some this... doesn’t really hold true for most of the route and I find it an odd way to bill it.

The initial conflict/relationship growth in the game stems from the MC wanting to be closer to Soshi - not necessarily in a romantic sense - and his distance due to his position. If you’re expecting a more haughty/sneering/pragmatic Kenjiro Tsuda more along the lines of his role as Kazama Chikage and/or a villain archetype who treats MC as a tool (no judgment, we all got our otome types) he’s by and large not that. Things get more complicated around the 10th chapter, but that’s 2/3 of the game in.

The writing is competent. Again, if you’re looking for complex worldbuilding and something deep, you will not find it here. But, while it isn’t poetry in motion, there was at least no point where I actively cringed or asked myself why I was playing it (this is compared to my experience with Voltage Games and Playchoices).

The MC is tolerable. There’s nothing special about her, but she avoids being a literal faceless protagonist with zero presence while also not having such a strong personality as to be polarizing. She shows more competence and restraint than I expected of her (the bar was nearly floor level, but still).

The pacing is... odd. I get the distinct feeling that it’s a longer otome shoved inside a mobile otome, if that makes sense. I’ve seen other reviews call it rushed, but that isn’t necessarily the feeling I get. For a game to feel “rushed” to me, it has to show a lack of care and attention to detail; scenes are had just to have them and either don’t contribute to the overall plot/theme/feeling of the game. I feel like this game does take care, especially in it’s early bits, but some developments happen later on which don’t get the development time they necessarily need. Which leads me to-

The plot kind of goes off the rails around chapter 10 or 11. It returns to form in chapter 14ish. This... plot twist, shall we say, is predicated on hiding obfuscating knowledge from the reader that should be apparent due to being from the MC’s PoV. Whether or not this is a dealbreaker will depend largely on the person. Personally, I was loopy off resisting sleep medication while reading this part so I just sort of accepted it and the return to form/explanation in later chapters made it worth it, but your mileage will definitely vary. I have Thoughts on this, but this is all I can really say while still maintaining a spoiler free review.

Playtime if ardently listening to the voices is ~3 hours. Playtime can be cut down significantly if you’re a fast reader and don’t overly care about the voice acting.

I haven’t tried all alternate options, but there doesn’t seem like huge variations regarding the choices. The 16th chapter, however, will change based on whether you get the Normal or Happy End.

Art - 7/10

The art isn’t anything special nor is it terrible. It’s much less stiff and has more style to it that most mobile otome’s I’ve played, but is lacking when compared to, again, full length otome games.

The MC has a face, which gets points from me (I dislike faceless MCs a lot especially when included in CGs). The fact no one but love interests even get sprites is somewhat jarring.

As far as CGs go, they’re standard fare and about the number you’d expect for the length of a route. The game isn’t raunchy like... at all so don’t expect anything too scandalous.

Voice Acting - 10/10

What can I say? It’s Kenjiro Tsuda.

To elaborate, however-

Kenjiro Tsuda does an excellent job. I’m not sure if I’d call it his best work, but even if it is voiced, I think there’s some expectation for a mobile otome’s voicework to be phoned in. This is not the case and Tsuda’s acting gives a lot of life to the character and scenarios. I’ll, uh, save my gushing for my line-by-line dissertation, and leave it at that.

What was unexpected was, despite not having sprites, minor characters do get voices! They also have some rather nice performances, and there was no VA I disliked listening to or whose performance was noticeably lacking compared to the others (the actual sound quality was consistent overall as well).

Overall - 8/10

Aside from the prologue, this is a solid performance from a mobile otome game. Compared to full-length otome games it’s lacking, but it’s still one of the better mobile otomes I’ve played. For the $6 you can get individual routes for on the mobile app, it’s a fun, quick romp that was perhaps not necessarily what was advertised (regarding the actual summary), but instead met the expectations I dared to dream of. While I can’t vouch for the game in its entirety, I can, at the very least, vouch for this route.

Comprehensive Overlook + Personal Rating - 10/10

Okay, I’ve been objective as possible despite this being a very subjective topic and now it’s time for me to shill my little heart out.

Writing a standard fare review for this game was really really hard for me because against all odds, logic, and my own taste preferring shit like Hakuouki, I’m in love with this game. Obsessed with it. Half the reason why I’m doing this is because it is a totally unremarkable (though, again, fun) otome game so of course it doesn’t have, like, a community, but I need to fucking gush about it somewhere.

Why?

Because Soshi Amazaki literally hits every single husband trait I so dearly love. This route is the equivalent of if someone took my taste buds and analyzed each and every one of them, then cooked a meal precisely on my most loved things. It isn’t necessarily fine dining, but it feels like it was scientifically engineered to appeal directly to me. It’s like I was possessed and ghostwrote it. It’s like someone peered into my heart and teased out the essence of everything I’ve ever wanted, then told me to eat shit because the shell it’s rammed into is that of a bite sized otome game. I have never had such a feast before me. I’ve never been served such an exquisite palette of flavors. I have never been so thoroughly outraged that this is the form my heart takes.

And yet, I’m... pretty much satisfied, despite its flaws and shortness, with my only real outrage stemming from the fact there is literally nobody I can talk about this with (the morning after I binged the entire route I made my boyfriend play it just so I could rave like a lunatic to someone about it) as well as my shame for being so enamored with what is essentially a mediocre otome game.

I talked about how the story kind of went off the rails 2/3rds of the way through, but honestly? I didn’t care because the payoff was incredible. Was I scared the game wasn’t going to end up where I wanted it to while it was happening? Was I prepared to be immensely disappointed because I felt, briefly, like I was baited and that of course nothing would never let me have my cake and eat it too? Yep. But you know what? I don’t know or care if it’s because I set the bar so low or what, but my expectations were thoroughly blown out of the water.

I’m still committed to making even this part of the review spoiler free, so I won’t be going into depth about what I loved (I’ll save that for another post because this is long enough as it is), but I’ll add this apart from just character archetype and themes being what I loved.

That is, shockingly enough and even considering the pacing and, ahem, weirdness - this is a route where everything seems to serve a function. Again, the story isn’t necessarily deep, and while perhaps I would’ve gone about certain things a different way (and had there been space allotted for greater development), there are many, many, many things that are called back to or that seem insignificant, but serve as thematic backbone and create delicious implications.

As a big brother connoisseur, I give this route 3 Michelin Stars.

If you followed me for/like Fire Emblem’s Marx/Xander, I highly recommend this route.