#honestly now i wish that all of these were actual supports in the game T_T

[lyteupthelyfe]

no oh my gosh yes YEs THIS but Anna three houses support chains i would love to see!!! below: Byleth, Linhardt, Caspar, Ashe, Mercedes, Raphael, Hilda, Hanneman, Alois, Jeritza, Constance and Balthus

Anna/Byleth - obv, would maybe be about how Anna previously knows Jeralt, she wants to know what it was like for byleth growing up, some hints as to her own backstory + why she became a merchant, B support locked until after ch. 9, anna mourns and sympathises w/ byleth, some more anna backstory there too, A support could probably be abt anna’s own childhood, her true goal for becoming a merchant, and her aspirations for the future (would probably go to S (for both byleths hehe), in which Byleth tells Anna that she’s a treasure money can’t buy 🥺🥺🥺)

Anna/Linhardt - like chess-blackfyre said, CRESTS. he would be INTRUIGED to find such a rare crest seemingly randomly; C would be that linhardt has heard rumours that Anna has a crest, Anna doesn’t want to talk, B would be her talking it over a little bit with him, tells him that she doesn’t care about her crest; “if people knew i had a major crest, i would stop selling goods and start selling the mountain of marriage proposals i’d have no room for”; A would be more or less her full story, Linhardt understanding that people are not their just their crest to be researched (afaik he doesn’t truly come around to that conclusion in his supports, but feel free to correct me)

y’know what? Anna/Caspar - he would fight off someone who’s belittling/harassing her bc of her prices. because he would. the development would be that we see him realise/be told that Anna’s been doing this for a while, so she knows what’s up. the A support is like they fend off a group of bandits together. they travel fódlan as top-tier merchants with killer prices, and neither caspar nor anna are afraid to take disagreements outside. (that or they travel fódlan, selling their wares, not stepping back from route-blocking bandits at any point)

Anna/Ashe - on the morality of theft, food + ware security and accessibility + perhaps an exploration of ashe’s period in poverty? About how Ashe had to steal and haggle just to get a day’s food, perhaps Anna discusses that her discounts and prices aren’t just to get more sales, but to also, on the occasion, let those who need it get what they need at a price that they’re able to afford, even if that price is nothing. Ashe ends up joining her in her business ventures, and they never fail to make a profit, nor do they fail to provide for those who need it, never wavering in a sense of honour, justice, and fairness.

Anna/Mercedes - Mercedes finds Anna praying alone + at night in the cathedral, asks her why she’s up so late, Anna mentions that she doesn’t want people seeing her like this; is about Anna’s struggles w/ faith + w/ faith in herself, maybe she feels compelled to be a merchant? + mercedes helps her eventually reconcile + “its ok to feel like this/its ok to feel vulnerable”? the A support ends w/ them going to church together, each a comfort and source of strength for the other.

Anna/Raphael - she knew his parents, she suspects foul play in their deaths, she also wants to help him support Maya, and together they gain certainty in the A support that it was gloucester who orchestrated his parent’s deaths, and look to the future with hope and solace in knowing the truth of what happened—perhaps they together seek protections and rights for merchants not just in Leicester, but all across Fódlan.

Anna/Hilda - Anna catches hilda one day making bracelets/charms/jewellery, wants to help hilda capitalise on that, hilda’s not so sure, she does it for the fun of it, for the joy of the craft, and the happiness it can bring her friends, and is half-heartedly encouraged to profit from it in the B support—by the A support it hasn’t gone too well, but hilda has honed her craft and fallen more in love with her hobby, and Anna’s realised that not everything in a person’s life needs to be done for the sake of economic profit.

Anna/Hanneman - like chess-blackfyre said, YES; Hanneman, like linhardt, has heard that maybe anna has a crest, and wants to find out more. anna says no, she doesn’t really want it known, she’s happy living life as she is. this resonates with hanneman, who’s also faced issues w/ nobility + the crest system, and while he’s torn on research vs. knowing that anna doesn’t want to (at least not on hanneman’s terms), he resolves to let it go, sympathising with anna’s position. in the A support, anna approaches hanneman and says she wants to talk, he’s surprised but goes along with it—she then tells him all she knows about the crest of ernest, but as a kind of story, filled in with her personal experiences, no experimentation or crest science involved. hanneman is thankful, but anna realises that he’s taken no notes, he says that if she wants to write what she knows down, that’s up to her; he’s not gonna make that decision for her. it ends w/ anna jokingly trying to charge Hanneman for the information, but the two of them just laugh and leave the crest office, heading out to town for the evening.

Anna/Alois - he approaches her about monetising his jokes. she makes puns back. but says no. he puns back. the b support is alois coming across anna on a soapbox in the marketplace, doing basically standup comedy and people leaving tips—he’s hurt by this and confronts anna about refusing his idea but then just doing it herself. she realises that while she internalised it and reasoned it as a way to make a quick buck, this is something that’s actually very important to him, and quietly decides to stop. in the a support, alois is walking through the town at the base of the monastery (the one byleth wakes up in), and sees the villagers sad and lonely in their work trying to rebuild houses + keep on existing during the war. he strikes up conversation w/ one of the villagers + ends up making a joke; one of the villagers a bit away hears, and laughs, a bit of a smile in his voice. alois, encouraged, makes another joke, and another, and after a short while all the villagers are laughing at his jokes, telling them to each other, but something’s (a je ne sais quoi, if you will) missing. offscreen, a familiar voice makes a punny retort to alois’ most recent joke. the villagers howl with laughter and anna comes next to alois, the two bouncing off each other and bringing a little bit of joy to the villagers’ day, for no profit whatsoever. in the A+, alois and anna are finishing a routine in garreg mach town, and the gatekeeper arrives, commenting on how morale seems to have boosted recently, and he’s not quite sure why. Alois punnily retorts and says that he’s not quite sure either—but after the gatekeeper ponders and leaves, (not before quoting a joke he heard from a friend: its one of the jokes from the A support) anna and he discuss how they’ve been able to make so many people happy recently, and how happy they are because of it. together, the resolve to bring laughter to all those who need it most, even if they gain no coin at all.

Anna/Jeritza - she tries to recruit him for her merchant stuff, bc she’s a bit short on time and staff atm, but he’s not quite suited for it. hilarity and slapstick ensue, but eventually, he proves to rather have a nack for negotiation, and by the end of the A support, his gratitude for being appreciated and thanked for helping with something that isn’t killing shines through.

Anna/Constance - Anna passes by constance a couple times, while she’s talking about wanting to restore house nuvelle. she approaches constance and asks her if she wants to restore house nuvelle for money or for power—constance pauses, not knowing how to answer the question, but responds “neither”. Anna then asks her if she would let her sell her wares in nuvelle territory once its rebuilt, and constance says of course. In the C+, Anna approaches Constance (outside) and wants to give her a whole bunch of money to put to re-establishing the house. Constance refuses, saying that she is unworthy of such generosity and cannot accept. Anna, downcast, leaves. In the B, Anna approaches Constance (indoors) and asks her if she’d like to reconsider her offer. Constance declines again, saying that she must be the one to restore nuvelle, and her alone. Anna asks if this is to prove to herself that she can unequivocally do it, that she’s worthy of the title of Viscountess Nuvelle. Constance half-agrees, saying that she needs to prove to everyone that she’s worthy, otherwise the title would mean nothing. In the A support, Constance finds Anna and tells her that she did some reflection, and found that Nuvelle was the most stable and reassuring time of her life—that’s what she wants to get back. Anna considers this, and asks Constance why does this have to come from Nuvelle specifically? Couldn’t support and affirmation come from somewhere that isn’t Nuvelle? Constance is confused, and says that for the entire past 9 years, her every action has been for the sake of Nuvelle. Anna asks her why she doesn’t live for herself, rather than Nuvelle—move into the future, rather than clinging to the past, to make life as good now as it can be, rather than pretending the past will make things better. Constance admits that she doesn’t know what she would do, but that she’s determined to find out. Anna commends her, and says that no matter what, she’ll be there with her every step of the way.

Anna/Balthus - Balthus approaches Anna and asks her to help pay off his debts. She’s skeptical and reasons that wouldn’t this just put him in debt to her instead? Balthus retorts that he would rather be in debt to anna than anyone else, because she’s nothing if not fair. Reluctantly, she agrees, but there’s a hint that she has more thoughts on the matter. In the C+ support, Balthus rushes to Anna in the marketplace and thanks her for paying off his debts, that he wouldn’t know what he’d do w/o her. She goes like “shush not so loud otherwise everyone’ll want their debts paid and I’ll go bankrupt” and he’s like “oh” but then she also says that he can’t come running to her every time he has debt, since that’ll just end badly for them both. He asks her what can he do, and she begins laying out a self-sustaining plan for how he can pay his debts, or even avoid going into debt in the first place—Balthus is a little concerned but agrees. In the B, Anna’s doing some business in Abyss and runs into Balthus, who’s hiding from a debt collector. She’s annoyed, and Balthus protests that he’s been trying, but it’s been hard to make things work. Anna says that things will only work if you want them to work, but that that also doesn’t mean that Balthus isn’t trying to get out of debt. The collector finds them (and is known to anna), and on the spot, Anna immediately stands between them, insisting that all Balthus’ current debt and credit score be cancelled/reset, so that he can properly start fresh. The collector’s confused, that won’t this just encourage him to go back into debt? Anna says no, that she believes balthus has the capacity to properly manage his finances, he only needs the chance to do so. The collector is bewildered, and asks her how she’s going to do all this—“i know a blacksmith who needs an apprentice” is all she says, before taking balthus with her and leaving abyss. in the B+, Balthus is busy forging a sword byleth left at the smithy, while the blacksmith critiques his form; “no, you have to go at a measured pace”, “not all at once,” “you need to know the right tool for which task”, “think, what are you trying to get out of this weapon? this tool? how do you want it to end up looking? think ahead and act with patience—the sword gets forged eventually”. Anna arrives, and asks Balthus how he’s been. He says he’s surprised by how much forethought needs to go into blacksmithing and weapon forging, and he’s gotten a handful of coin, too. he mentions that because of the hours, sometimes he hasn’t been able to stay at bars all night, because of the hours at the blacksmith, or sometimes he hasn’t been able to put everything on a bet, because he might need that to buy more smithing material later. He finishes by saying that he’s enjoying the work, and Anna agrees, from the sounds of it, before, happy w/ herself, she leaves. In the A support, Balthus runs into Anna around the monastery, and wants to thank her for what she did five years ago. Coyly, she asks what he means, and he replies that working at the smith, which he still does, helped him realise that while the here and now is important, there’s more to life and more to consider than just now. Anna smiles and says he’s welcome, although she taught him nothing—he did that all himself. Balthus realises what she means, and beams from ear to ear—their drinks that night, he proclaims, are on him.

You know, not having Anna have any supports with anyone was a wasted opportunity. If only for Linhardt and/or Hanneman to go "hello mysterious mercahnt with the crest of Ernest, a crest no one seems to know anything about, may I, perhaps, research this??" and for Anna, who throughout the FE series has been at vaguely implied to be some sort of dimension hopping god/eldritch being who is aware of the Fourth Wall to go "lol maybe if you pay me"

Seriouslyyyy. I never do much with Anna because I'm in this game for the supports and she has zero of them but if she did, there would certainly be so much hilarity.

[lys-lilac]

Romance MD: Always on Call - Detailed Summary - Toshiki Kasumi

This section contains heavy spoilers! If you want to read and relish the story, go ahead! But if you haven’t and don’t want to, it’s okay. You can go to this link for the character analysis for now-  here

Go through the plot, laugh, cry in every episode and then come back to this section for reading my thoughts and inspiration it gave me! But, I am telling you, this is a wonderful story and you will not regret it... Alright, let’s get started.

Each chapter is carved out with such precision that it directly hits the heart. In one, I was laughing, in the next, crying, and yet in the other, appreciating the progress. It actually felt as if the player is MC itself and everything is happening in real. Honestly, this is amazing. 

There are many key-factors of the story which is different from the genre of otome games, and which fulfills many lost points in the general trend. This is what interested me the most. As I stated in the analysis post (linked in the upper description), the prologue itself satisfied the fact that there is something hidden which needs to be sorted out. 

Let’s discuss about our lives. Anyone’s behavior is based on the environment in which he/she is grown. If someone is bubbly, then that could be due to his/her cheerful environment or maybe, some situation which has nurtured him/her like this. The same goes for strict/cold ones. This piqued my interest. (Leave aside my craze for Medical science, haha...)

Now, which are the things which inspired me the most? Here are those points-

1. The knowledge the story gives- I have never gone through a story which goes through such detail in the field of surgery and medical science. I truly appreciate the amount of knowledge and the terms they provided in each chapter. Along with that, the value of relationships, family, friends is greatly shown in the work, which is so important for character development.

2. Hardwork and diligence- Can I just take one second to praise the amount of hours the surgeons are working? I am impressed to such an extent that it is beyond words to express. And this cardiovascular genius. He doesn’t even sleep...?! There are several instances for this in the story. 

  First, they hold study sessions all night and go back to work without even resting for an hour. Second, when MC brings Kasumi back from England, he straight gets to work. Third, when Kasumi had fever, he just rested for a few hours and again back to his work. He even tells MC to go back to rest, but he doesn’t (or sometimes.)...

This is just fantastic. Whenever you are just about to give up, just come to this section and read this part, I am sure you will be motivated enough to resume back. Can you believe he wrote his first medical paper on how to save a plant when he was in middle school? If he can do, then why not you? 

The same thing goes for MC. If Kasumi decided to be her mentor, that’s because she is excellent in her studies, has an good past record and praises from her previous teachers. She has this zeal to pursue surgery and ace in it. Perfectly. No compromises.

3. She loves herself- I had read a post where one player mentioned that MC was arrogant. I can understand. But, what’s the point of acting sweet and not doing anything? Instead, if you have achieved what you want to be, then you should be confident, and believe in yourself. 

I wanted to make another sub-point, but I think this point will also fit in this section. MC here is unique from other MCs in appearance. In general, the MCs that I have seen so far are extremely beautiful, with long hair, fair skin, bla bla bla. I have also read some views from other players about this. Some games should be designed in the way that they cater to the needs that the players want. Everyone is pretty, as we are the beautiful creation of God. Outer appearance doesn’t matter. What matters the most is your inner quality. Kasumi didn’t love MC because of how she looks, but because she reached out to him when he was about to get crumpled by his emotions. 

What’s more, MC doesn’t take this as consideration. Instead of overthinking about this, she appreciates the beauty of her friends, Asuka and Shirayuki. Thus, their friendship is also strongly bonded.

Okay, no more blabbering. Let’s get straight into the summary-

The story starts with MC being selected as a protege by Kasumi.

Viewpoint of MC- he doesn’t listen to her at all.

The reason why he took her as a student in cardiovascular surgery? That’s because with the developing period, technology is advancing and Kasumi wanted someone to take the department after him. Also, there was shortage of students. More, he was impressed by her high reviews in internship.

Of course, after some reluctance by her, he transfers her to the Orthopedic unit. But, after getting to know that her favorite doctor is moving on to research, she had no choice but to return back to EICU.

The guys celebrate her joining in the Pen. 

 Kasumi and MC were just about to return to the hospital, when they see a building engulfed in flames on the road.

MC is haunted by her previous memories, where a patient commits suicide by burning himself after being saved by the doctors. Meanwhile, both of them rush to the spot for treatment. 

They come back after saving a life, and MC makes Kasumi to talk to him.

Kasumi gives her support by asking her to move forward and leave her painful memories behind. All these facts, and a embrace from him make her decide to study heart.

The following morning, the dark prince assigns her more work (following the CG). Thankfully, Asuka and Shirayuki are there for support.

To gain more experience, Kasumi sends her off to Thailand.

There, she meets Theo, Kasumi’s acquaintance, and starts learning about several cases. Meanwhile, our prince also accompanies her afterwards. (I knew it...)

MC discovers a book of him which is a book of flowers. (This has major importance afterwards, so remember this.) 

Kasumi comes back and MC stays further for two weeks for gaining knowledge.

After coming back, they successfully, perform a CABG (Coronary artery Bypass Surgery). In the night, she gets a text from Kaisei, her friend during the internship. Following Sat., she meets him and his family. (and also Kasumi and Matsunaga... talk of a pure coincidence).

The next day, they have an emergency, and surprisingly, it’s Kaisei and Sora, his son. In spite of desperate efforts, Sora couldn’t be saved. This breaks MC. She couldn’t gather courage to tell that to her friend. Kasumi goes in her stead. The next day, the same scene replays in her mind and she couldn’t perform surgery. 

At last, not able to get control of her emotions, she decides to quit cardiovascular surgery.

She again goes for Ortho. But, things don’t go smooth. A patient, whom MC treated recently, collapses due to heart attack. After being turned down by the cardiovascular department, she had no choice left but to contact Kasumi.

Even if it was his day off, he agrees to come... (And the bgm when he says her not to worry... T_T)

They perform the operation successfully.

Later that night, Kaisei tells her about the frequent visits by Kasumi and how he was shaking when he declared Sora’s death to him.

Along with some push by her favorite doctor the next day, she gets determined again to return to the EICU.

Later, Kasumi invites her to watch the Belt of Venus.

Things get sorted out gradually. With more energy to do work, they decide to have a study session at Kasumi’s house. (Believe me, the before banter was hilarious! @miss-alien-pixel​ has posted it, so feel free to drop by for reference).

The next day, Dr. Neil comes back from England. With many more operations coming up, they all become busy. A case from Mrs. Kitahama also comes, where her family was reluctant for the operation, but both MC and Kasumi agree to the old lady’s wish, and perform the surgery.

 Some days later, while MC was talking to Neil, he suddenly collapses. It was only an attack, but it confirmed aortic stenosis, for which, a surgery was required.

With pressure intensifying, MC does her best to support him. She goes home with Kyogoku that day, and finds out about his late brother, the person whom Kasumi held dear to. (Please go through that part, it has so much things about him there...) 

Things get hectic later on, and there’s the part where MC has a talk with Matsunaga. (the part which was in the intro). There’s so much why Kasumi became like this. If he loved someone, he would do whatever it means to cover for them. And he let all the blame on himself, alone. 

Get ready now, a bombshell is about to drop. Dr. Kurimata returns to the hospital (who had a grudge against Kasumi for who knows how long, just because he took the surgery of Prime Minister’s wife off him. But he did that for building up Ped dept. in the hospital.)

Meanwhile, Mrs. Kitahama catches pneumonia, and after long efforts by both MC and Kasumi, she gets to have a talk with her son before passing away). Kasumi offers MC to go home to mentally recover, but she stays with him. Bad talks about him increase day by day. MC is not able to withstand that, and covers his ears, leaving him surprised. She tells her not to listen to that anymore. Hearing that, Kasumi comes closer, closer aand.... he falls asleep over her as he had fever. (cue the CG)

Bad timing, Kyogoku comes over at the same time. (and we know the volcano is about to burst now...) 

But, as if it was an illusion, Kasumi comes back to ICU after some rest. And Dr. Tsuchiya invites her out. But our dark prince saves her, saying he has plans with her later. (Pbbfft..)

Okay, so it was viewing Belt of Venus... yay!

But, an accident occurs. A speeding truck was just about to hit MC, but she gets shielded by Kasumi. Although on asking, he confirmed no injuries, but something major had occurred, to his hand. 

 As a result, he is not able to even hold a scalpel, let alone surgery. It occurs for almost 15 days. For that, he even hands over the surgery he had been working so long to Dr. Kurimata.

He doesn’t disclose this to anyone, and the other surgeries go on smoothly. He returns to the OR some days after.

MC talks with Neil about Kasumi’s study under him. 

In the meantime, Dr. Kurimata comes by and says that he is overtaking Neil’s surgery. (Speak of the devil now... Grrr)

She and Kyogoku find time to talk to Kurimata and find out the reason why all that was happening. 

And I just can’t process, it’s not Kasumi’s fault at all. Why was that doctor pestering like he was the reason!

He even says that he is using MC to get him kicked out of the case. (Enough!!) And yet, this guy was there, protecting her like anything...

This turns into an argument between Kyogoku and Kasumi. And later, MC also agrees with the former to prioritize himself first, and not love her anymore. (It was a punch to the heart, but that’s what needed to be done at that point).

she runs to the rooftop, and her tears couldn’t stop. After some time, (a huge misunderstanding is going to be here now...) Dr. Tsuchiya comes. They talk for a while about how she was about to be transferred to the cardiovascular department if something occurs.

For Kasumi’s sake, she leaves the EICU and gets under the supervision of Dr. Kurimata.

Again the rooftop. Morning. Dr. Tsuchiya and MC. (Misunderstanding is just about to occur!!)

MC probably is dizzy and was about to fall when Tsuchiya catches him. And he doesn’t let go. He confesses there. Aaand...... Kasumi arrives at that time. (GOSH! NO!)

Seeing the position, he turns on his heel and goes. 

MC at this point has confirmed already that she loves Kasumi, and she couldn’t do anything that could hurt him.

Even after so many awkward moments, I absolutely love how Kasumi is normal with her every time in the talk... 

He tells that he is going to attend a symposium in England. (Doesn’t it sound fishy...?)

Before leaving, he visits Neil during night, praying to stay with him. MC doesn’t interrupt and leaves quietly.

With Kasumi now not there, MC takes the responsibility of Neil’s surgery. It is a success. They further talk about Kasumi after some days. Neil unveils that the flower book was an artwork by Kasumi’s mother. 

The flower snowdrop has a great importance here. This flower is the symbol of hope, but whoever have it, like his mother and Mitsuharu, instead of getting better, left him. And he had come to believe that this flower had an omen of death. That his love caused them to suffer more and die. (That flashback... I am unable to stop my tears even now as I am typing...)

As this dawns on MC, she waits for him eagerly to come back, so that she could sort out everything that happened. But he never returns.

MC sets out to bring him back. After a long search, she finds him in the same park that he had mentioned earlier, talking to a flower... (ugh...)

He is normal, but a little cold this time. MC hugs him from behind and says how worried everyone was. But he just asks to let go of him. (I really thought that he was hurt to such an extent that he decided to leave...)

MC confesses there, and let go of him, when he turns around, and with a pathetic look on his face says,

(That face. Oh my God.)

Cue the third CG. MC hugs him back and comforts him.

After they come back to Japan, things go on as normal. Until one day, Neil requires an immediate surgery due to getting hit on the chest.

All the doctors, join in for the operation. Kurimata lashes out at Kasumi for the death of Mitsuharu. 

MC steps in forward, and says that Kasumi will not let Neil die. They all conduct a successful operation.

The EICU guys gather during the night at Pen to celebrate the returning of Kasumi and MC. 

Kasumi suddenly pulls MC somewhere. And it’s for watching the Belt of Venus. They share a sweet moment there, where Kasumi confesses, asks her to stay with him as she was his only hope, and the story ends, WITH ME CRYING LIKE CRAZY.

(Sweeter than honey, sugar...)

Final Thoughts:

This character!!! God! I am in cloud nine now!!! He went to that extent to protect MC. He was unable to share his hidden feelings with anyone, and now, he could do that. I became very happy when he hugged MC, crying. It symbolized that he was already relying on her, trusting her. Both are genius doctors, both save lives, and both helped each other at times. Along with that, the other doctors’ support was so precious. Their little banters, feeding time, sweet lines Kasumi says and so on, every moment was perfect. The writers did a fantastic job over this one. Overall, a 1000% recommendation! 

If you have reached upto here, first of all, thank you so much for going through my blabbering, and I couldn’t help that. As my hands were unable to stop thinking about this beautiful masterpiece. This will remain my no.1 romance story, no. 1 otome game with my most favorite male and female protagonist!

Thanks for reading! Have a productive week ahead!

Bonus: I just had this in my mind... 

Yui: Uh... What is it, Dr. Kasumi?

Yui: You could expect that after my constant gluing to this article for a while now... Well, did I do a good job? 

Yui: (...how come his smiles are so pure?)

Yui: ...Guardian angel, I did mistakes right? That’s why you are laughing till now... :(

Yui: ! ( I am so happy!)

Yui: Let’s hope people also like it, okay? after all, I poured my heart into it!

Kasumi: mm-hmm.

~Lys

[yume-x-hanabi]

Yeah, I pretty much marathoned the rest of the game, except Elympios.

The party met with the king of Auj Oule, who then promptly started arguing with Milla because of course those two would butt heads. I'm not going to go into detail about that meeting here because I already talked about it in the past. Love Rowen and Elise's little strategy, though I feel sorry for the poor guard who so earnestly vowed to take care of Teepo during the audience. He didn't deserve getting punched :( Oh and also Alvin is a traitor and Jude is maaaaaad about it. Defining Leia moment while they try to flee, where she doubts herself (Elise's words really hurt her, huh). I love how Milla just plainly states she's not useless. I live for Milla plainly stating positive things. They fight Wingul and Presa on the way, where Wingul acts like a disenchanted Rowen fanboy (aaand the booster Long Dau stuff too I guess). No but seriously he spent the fight targeting Rowen, it was hilarious (not for me though cuz I needed the geezer alive to help me cast spells). Back in Xian Du, Alvin strolls in like nothing happened (but Jude is maaaaad and Elise starts sassing him it's the best thing ever) and Yurgen proves to be the most sensible man in the world when he decides he doesn't need to know what happened. Good guy. A pretty animated cutscene later we crash in Kalakh Shal and Driselle is the most precious NPC in the world. I love how she gets the vet to treat the wyverns by telling him they're basically like horses XD Well at least he managed to treat them, so... There's a few Milla Side-exclusive conversations with the party - I especially liked Rowen's and Leia's. Wish Elise's had a bit more consistence though. Then she talks with Jude, who says he wants to protect spirits too, which makes her really happy. She's spent all this time trying to protect both spirits and humans, so it must feel great to have a human want to reciprocate. Those two are really a good pair. I also love how they basically promise to stay together at the end (though we all know how that turns out ;_; ) The time for the confrontation with Nachtigal comes near, but first there's some shenanigans with the Lance of Kresnik and Agria. I'm not too sure whether she actually tried to destroy it (on orders from Gaius?) or just made stuff explode for fun. She's kind of hard to read sometimes. Well, she's completely crazy tbh. It's really sad to see her in that murderous state. I wish she'd been given a chance to heal from her trauma and regain some stability. She's better when she's just with the Chimeriad (and hilariously proper when talking to Gaius), but we barely see any of that in game. What a shame. Talking to Nachtigal goes as well as one would expect, and we beat his ass. Rowen seems to talk some sense into him at the end, but it's far too late, and anyway some mysterious ice attack does him in. Bye Nachty, you were kind of forgettable, wish you'd had a bigger role. But no time to rest, because Gaius is invading from where no one expected him (and this is where my inner Gunshi Kanbee fangirl takes over and gushes about Wingul's clever strategies). But Gilland has a plan and it involves the Lance of Kresnik, which is bad news. To war we go! I spent the whole battlefield map sequence reading the Rieze Maxian writings on the map and laughing my ass off (no but seriously, it contains little gems like "we can fish fish here" and I need to find a video somewhere to take screenshots and translate them all, this needs to be shared). Alvin's acting suspicious again, and again the party just lets him be lol. Anyway, after a very long fight against both Auj Oule and Rashugal forces, we meet three of the Chimeriad blasting off enemies like badasses before deciding to fight us. Honestly I think their deaths were foreshadowed here, with this bit of dialog: Rowen: But it is an unnecessary step, one that could cost your lives. Who would be left to support the king? Presa: His Highness can look after himself. YES HE CAN BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN HE SHOULD YOU DUMBASSES *ahem* Anyway we win, Wingul faints like a Pokémon after revealing his booster is in his brain, Jiao doesn't answer Elise's questions and Jude convinces Alvin to not off Presa (yes Alvin, don't do that, it's rude). So who's left to face now? Why, King Badass of course. He and Milla resume their debate (may I note how much I love how they're actually listening to each other? At first glance it appears they're just butting heads stubbornly, but every time they meet they show they've given some thought to what the other said before, even if they still disagree. Great dynamics. Also the contrast with Nachtigal is interesting. The pre-battle talk was more about how Nachty was not worthy to be king and how they were going to stop him, while with Gaius Milla actually asks him to let her do her thing. She recognizes he's not a bad guy and tries to leave the door open for a conflict-free resolution. He'll do the same later, too. Aah I love them so much). iirc you don't have to win this fight, but I managed to do it (took me 16 minutes and I ran out of Life Bottles orz). The fight gets interrupted by Ivar, who stupidly activates the Lance (Milla's facepalm lmao). Aaaand that's when everything goes downhill. Elympios invades, it's chaos everywhere, Gaius and the Chimeriad are the most badass characters ever, and then Jiao sacrifices himself and I cry. No srsly whyyyyyy T_T let me just pretend he managed to escape somehow and is just taking time off to recover Milla has a weird dream and wakes up all confused and makes a bunch of mistakes, which is really unlike her. She's noticed the contradiction between her mission and her actions and she's really anxious about it. Still, it doesn't prevent her from reassuring Leia when she's the one sharing her own self-doubts. I love their relationship. When they meet up with the rest of the party, there's a new addition: Milla's "sister" Musee. I think it's good she appeared on Jude Side - it leaves the player completely confused about her on Milla Side, which is basically how Milla is feeling about this whole thing hahaha. After listening to Gilland's announcement that he's taken control of KB (and spouting a bunch of bullshit about it too), Wingul invites us in, and Milla then reveals the truth about the world, and Alvin adds some more information and speculation. Of course Gaius is displeased about a lot of things (I would be too if I just learned I was gonna be used for fuel), so while he's no longer antagonistic, he's not being very cooperative lol. Such a shame. With him and the Chimeriad, the party would have been unstoppable. Well, at any rate, we're fighting on the same side now, even if separately. The retaking of the capital shows once again how badass the king and his aides are (they keep stealing the show lately), and we take the castle back and steal an airship rather easily (no thanks to Ivar lol). While resting, Milla witnesses Agria bullying Leia about Jude (and gets the dokidoki when Agria says Jude has the hots for her), and then Alvin trying to hit on Presa (stomp on him Presa). Wish there'd been a scene with Wingul (AND JIAO), but oh well. Anyway, she's starting to realize why she's so anxious and the reason for the contradiction. That's something I totally missed on first playthrough, I thought it was all about her developing feelings for Jude (due to the Agria and Presa scenes), but it's actually about her identity as Maxwell. Though I guess you can't really know that on first playthrough, since the truth only comes up later. But it's interesting to see Milla knew then, way before it's laid out clearly for the players. Also Musee's creepy. Nothing new here. Oh, but I forgot to mention, Alvin's stopped being shady (or has he?). His momma's dead and he hates Gilland, so he's now 100% on our side. Gaius and the party depart for the Zirnitra, where Gilland and the Lance is. On the way, everyone's mana gets sucked up and sent to Elympios, showing Alvin was right about the fuel thing, and Milla almost confesses to Jude, but they get interrupted by Agria. On the Zirnitra, Ivar decides to join the Chimeriad (the actual Chimeriad's glare when he says that is wonderful), and we go our own way. Alvin explains a bit more about Elympios and how Elympions don't have a mana lobe so that's why they need spyrixes. When we confront Gilland he explains about Celsius and spyrites - spyrixes that don't kill spirits. But to them they're just tools (you're the tool Gilland!) and he's an jerk anyway so we kick his ass. He then dies because of the spyrite. Serves you right. Gaius and the others arrive then and this time they're letting Milla destroy the Lance. Hah, looks like we're cooperating more and more... except we get interrupted by Musee's Gravity spell and Milla gets the grand idea to sacrifice herself to save everyone. Milla bby don't do that :'( But the (now freed) Four interfere and save her soul from cleansing, attempting to revive her as herself. Which doesn't really work at first as she's lost her memories (she progressively gets some of them back though). I gotta say I absolutely love the spirit world part. It seems bland if you just go straight for the story part, but it's actually a lot of fun to explore, talk to NPC, listen to the Four's comments, do the little sidequests... I do wish there'd been more to it, especially when you consider how much stuff happened on Jude Side during that time, but what we do have is really fascinating. Also, Spirits interactions. Good good. Even without her memories, Milla is still Milla and doesn't want the Four to die, and they decide to stick with her, even if it angers Musee and the actual Maxwell. I had to change the difficulty back to normal for the Musee fight because I suck at 1-on-1 battles (esp without healer). After that Milla gets her memory data from Maxwell's replica and goes up the Hallowmont while Musee gets mad about Maxwell's lack of answer and flies to the human world to do who knows what. At the summit, the Four get summoned by Maxwell, and Milla follows them. There, she sees Jude and the others fighting against Maxwell, and she finally remembers who she is, making her come back in style. We absolutely destroy Maxwell's ass (yay Gravity Well spam), and then convince him to stop being a grumpy old man and believe in humanity for once. He agrees, but then enter Gaius, who looks pissed for some reason (it's funny to play this from Milla's Side, because last time we saw him he was almost becoming friendly). He then starts spouting nonsense about becoming Maxwell himself since the old one is useless, traps him with the Lance of Kresnik (he got it in the end...), and then there's that gross scene where he pulls a sword out of Musee I'd rather forget. Srsly developers, couldn't you find another way >_> He tries to send the party back to Rieze Maxia (instead of killing them, he's still nice even when he's mad), but Maxwell sends us to Elympios instead, where we conveniently end in the care of Emperor Peony Alvin's cousin Balan. to be continued...