#gunpowder isn't even complex chemistry. clavis is running around with jars of knockout gas on the reg

[winged-self-indulgence]

I recognise where you're coming from, and I did say that I wasn't being objective because ultimately feelings are feelings and that's why I put my complaints under a link. To be clearer, I don't like that Chev's route (and a lot of others) paint anyone who's even slightly dissatisfied with the monarchy/nobility as a traitor working for Obsidian who needs to be killed or brought to heel. Perhaps I am simply viewing this through modern lens, but throughout the game we are told and shown that the class system is flawed as hell and prone to abuse by those in power, so it comes off as super hypocritical for the game to also tell us to perpetuate the same cycle because this time we know the guys in power and they'd never do anything heinous, trust me it's totally different this time we swear-

That said, I know that Chevalier does hold affection not just for his brothers but also the people of Rhodolite in his own way. I think I'm just put off by how much everyone in the game, from the MC to the other princes to Sariel, acts like he's a perfect genius who hopped out the womb ready to write a PhD level dissertation on sociopolitical issues and military management. In my experience, even when he's wrong, he's never really made to admit that he was wrong. He just stops waving his sword then leaves and everyone is grateful that he didn't commit fratricide or passively endorse the modern equivalent of a war crime.

Basically he's arrogant and doesn't really get knocked off that high horse. You don't understand how hard I laughed when the trapdoor opened but it honestly cemented Clavis's as my favourite. I buy that Chevalier is intelligent, I buy that he's a skilled fighter, but I don't buy that he's the genius everyone hails him as because in the game 90% of his appearances involve killing, threatening to kill, deriding other people, and reading books.

I understand that he has positive qualities, but they do not make up for the the rest in my personal opinion. Is Chevalier a multi-skilled man with emotional issues struggling between his humanity and his duty towards the kingdom? Yes, of course. Did he also allow for slaughter a bunch of civilians so that Obsidian couldn't use them as bargaining chips? Yes he did.

Also, again, his grand ambition is really silly in my opinion. Conquer the entire continent so that everyone is one people and therefore no one fights against one another? My sibling in otome hell satan what kind of Baby's First Imperialism plot is that? Unless I'm misunderstanding something. It does betray a lot of that supposed innocence I guess.

TLDR: I know I'm not being fair, and I am not trying to insist that I'm objectively correct. It's a fictional dating sim. The kicker is this: I don't like tsunderes, I don't like people who refuse to ever apologize even when they are forced to change (especially when human lives are hanging in the balance), and the whole "anti-monarchists are evil traitors to the cause" plot made my stomach churn. I recognise that other people like him, he's one of the most popular characters in IkePri events, but I simply do not vibe. Also Idk anything about Gilbert's route so I just used his name and Obsidian interchangeably.

I can't believe I struggled through Chevalier's route and gained a grudging acceptance of him only to play Clavis's route and tumble right back down the ladder. It's not even neutrality anymore, it's full on dislike.

I'm not even mad that he wants to protect the kingdom. That's valid. It's that he and gilbert have this grand "the people matter less than the kingdom". As if kingdoms aren't made up of said people. It's the same nationalism in a different font. The only thing Rhodolite has above Obsidian is that they don't keep slaves (debatable, given what I remember of Leon's route).

The game insists that Chevalier is some sort of genius, he's playing fucking quantum 3D chess while everyone is stuck figuring out the checkers board, but all I see is that he's classically intelligent with a side of eidetic memory. Congratulations, he can memorize a book in .5 seconds. Is he going to use all that big brain energy to cooperate with anyone, save lives, or oppose Rhodolite's internal issues with their own corrupt nobility?

I recognize that I'm not being wholly objective but I have played through so many routes in this game and in every single one of them Chevalier has always been a brick wall. If a problem can't be potentially solved with a sword or a threat, he's out. Violence is the only solution he wants to get involved with and if no one's getting stabbed then why the fuck did you call him here. Diplomacy? Fuck you.

I know he's not supposed to be the "good guy", arguably none of them are considering they're all "beasts", but it's just annoying to have the characters treat him like this infallible golden goose of good ideas, meanwhile his grand ambition is stupid and is exactly what Obsidian wants in a different palette.