TL;DR MC is a horrifyingly busy princess. Here’s a list of all the things that MC and company had to organize for the annual “open day,” during which ALL citizens of Wysteria are invited to traipse through the castle:
Flowers: There are supposed to be pretty flowers everywhere in the castle. You know how huge a castle is?! Yikes. (Byron’s route)
More flowers: MC’s supposed to hand make corsages for literally everyone who walks through the door. Because tradition. (Sid’s route)
Party favors: If the corsages weren’t already enough, MC and the staff have also decided to hand out special handkerchiefs to everyone. Thank goodness MC doesn’t have to hand make those, lol (Giles’ route)
Speech: MC has to give a speech, and the bureaucrats may as well have gotten an underpaid intern to ghost write the damn thing for her given how many demands they made. But nope, MC has to write it herself as well (Robert’s route, Louis’ route)
Ceremonial crowning: A lucky orphan gets to ceremonially place a tiara on MC’s head during a cute ceremony. This might actually be MC’s easiest obligation of the day, haha (Louis’ route)
Fancy banquet: There’s a fancy banquet, with foreign dignitaries and such, during which MC has to smile and be polite (Byron’s route)
Fancy party: After a long and exhausting day, there’s a fancy party, considered the biggest event of the day. With dancing. I hope MC’s got some comfy flats on under that poofy dress! (Byron’s route, Sid’s route)
Sounds like the overworked castle staff should invest in an event planner next year, doesn’t it? ^_^
Overall, I thought this event was cute enough, but pretty repetitive, and not super interesting in terms of plot. In other words, it was par for course for MidCin. Based on sheer cuteness and whether or not MC got her suitor a gift (in exchange for the jewelry that’s always given to her), my favorite routes from top to bottom: Sid > Louis > Robert > Byron > Giles. Sid really shined well above the others, imho (“Of course I know what suits you, and what best highlights your charms. And that’s because I love you more than anyone in the world”). I just might have to put aside my dislike of his silly hair and give his route a whirl!
What happens if you throw MC into a high school AU as the new scholarship student? …Well, let’s just say I was relieved that she wasn’t paired with Robert the homeroom teacher, haha. Anyway, here was my personal ranking, from least to most favorite!
#4: Nico
Boy is a freshman exchange student from Stein, and a full two years MC’s junior. This doesn’t stop all the girls from cooing over him, though! He has a bit of a reputation for being an opportunist and a faker (surprise!), but he’s nice to MC (although he does con her into making him lunch once, haha). MC comes to his defense at an unneeded moment and he confesses his love in a garden. Overall, I thought this story was very blah, but it might be my personal anti-Nico bias talking. Route highlight: “Does this mean you see me as a man?”
#3 Giles
Giles the senior/student body class president tricks MC into helping the student council collate data, after she accidentally stumbles into the forbidden student council room. Already, the guy has a reputation for being “strict,” but he’s fairly chill with MC. He confesses his love after the data stuff has long finished, when MC mistakenly assumes he has a girlfriend. So much second hand embarrassment, lmfao. Route highlight: smooth motherfucker kissing MC’s hand after she gets a paper cut. ^_^
#2 Alyn
Alyn the resident horse boy gets closer to MC after he convinces her to tutor him (they’re in the same homeroom). They share a mutual and growing respect, and despite being uninterested in dating in lieu of pursuing his knighthood, Alyn does in the end change his mind, just for MC! While it was a little harder to get a sense of Nico and Giles’ characters in their routes, it was very easy (and awesome) to see traces of grown-up Alyn in this ES 🙂 Route highlight: “I promise I’ll become a knight, and I’ll come back to you.” Worst/funniest moment: “Junior class president? What’s that?” MC PLEASE. Lmfao.
#1 Albert
I don’t know much about Albert except that he’s a massive asshole in pretty much everyone else’s route. …But not in this story!! High school Albert is a super shy nerd who’s finishing up his exchange program at MC’s school. He and MC “randomly” run into each other a lot over several days, and he helps MC quite a lot: with finding her way, catching a falling book, etc. And when they get accidentally locked in the library overnight, he comforts MC by hugging her all night! Ahhhhh 💕Just goes to show, you can’t write off a character based only on their cameos. I’m looking forward to tackling his main story soon 🙂
…Ngl, I thought I was going to completely hate this event, since the school thing didn’t really appeal to me. But I thought it was surprisingly good, and captured the awkwardness of teenage romance pretty well! Definitely one of MidCin’s stronger events, imho. What did y’all think? 🙂
MidCin/IkeSen events can be stressful. You’re 200 points short of finishing a story, your entire friends list stopped being active a week ago… it happens.
But I have good news for you! I’ve been experimenting quite a bit, and it turns out that MidCin/IkeSen events are actually really low stress as long as you’re not a completionist. This guide is for people who plan to be active throughout an entire event. If you’re one of those Day 3 ditchers…can’t help you, sorry! Haha.
The trick
It’s really simple process:
Wait until the Lucky Time midway or 2/3 through the event to start making friends/reading the stories. Until then, just shore up those Ballroom points/Glamour/whatever it’s called nowadays as much as possible. In MidCin’s last event, there were 4 Lucky Times, and I started friending/reading during the 3rd Lucky Time, about 9 or 10 days into a 14 day event.
Use the “similar friends” feature to make friends. If you’ve waited until the middleish Lucky Time to start, chances are, similar friends will be more or less as active as you for the rest of the event! This makes things really fair. I tend to like sending requests to people my score or higher by a little bit (less than 1k), and I will accept requests from people whose score is at most 500 less than mine. But you do you. Go ahead and spam those friend requests at this point – the goal is to fill your friends list as much as possible. Read stories, send out friend requests…rinse and repeat until the event is over!
(MidCin only) Don’t continue past the 1st episode of your first route until it’s Lucky Time. MidCin gives sorbets (aka 100 stamina replenishers that “melt” after a day) when you 1) enter the event, 2) reach the first checkpoint, and 3) reach the first ending decision point. You’ll want to use these sorbets during Lucky Time. You can use the first sorbet during your 2 hour long personal Lucky Time. Wait until another Lucky Time to start reading the stories, and you’ll be able to use the other 2 sorbets during a Lucky Time as well. In total, this is a 3000 point boost!
If you’ve done this right, your friends list is going to be a lot more “even.” No more worrying about inactive friends. No more wondering how many event stories you’re going to be able to finish! This strategy takes a lot of guesswork out of the equation.
(Seriously though, you’ll want to avoid accepting friend requests from people who send you requests when their score is wayy higher than yours (especially in the beginning of the event!). 90% of the time, they stop playing the event after just a few days.)
But how many points do I need to “finish” an event?
It totally depends on the event, but you can do some math and guesstimate! Let’s use MidCin’s “My Promise to You” event as an example. There are five characters, and finishing up all Premium routes takes 93750 points (in general, doing all premium routes will require 20-25k points/story, I’ve noticed). We start out with 5 friends, and by the 5th route, have 4 sets of 2 additional friends (from the 4 previous routes), so 13 friends in total. Each friend contributes 20% of their points to your score total. Assuming all your friends more or less have the same score as you, they basically add 13/5 = 2.6 times your personal score to your score total, so your total score would be 3.6 times as much as your personal score. So to get the 93750 points needed to finish all Premium routes, you need 93750/3.6 = 26,042 personal points.
Like I mentioned earlier, MidCin gives sorbets that, if used correctly, give you about 3000 free points (I also like to use the non-expiring stamina items that IkeSen give you at different checkpoints). So in reality, in MidCin’s last event, you need to do enough Ballroom Dance lessons (or use enough items) to have about 23k points.
This event lasted from 9/2 to 9/16, so 14 full days. There were 3 Lucky Times, which double the points you get, so it’s more or less the same as having the event last 14+3 = 17 days, give or take. So to reach 23k points, you’d need to generate about 23k/17=1352 points each “day”, assuming all your friends are as active as you, to get all the Premium stories in this event. Clearing out your stamina first thing in the morning, right after school/work, and right before bed, for example, would net you 1500 points/day – totally doable.
In general (aka, during the last few MidCin/IkeSen events), I’ve noticed that you’d need to successfully use up at most 15 hours’ worth of stamina points to finish all Premium event stories (using the trick I mentioned above), and all 24 hours’ worth of stamina points to finish ALL event stories (which I’ve never gunned for because I value sleep and my free time, lol). So think about how active you usually are, and that should give you an idea of how many stories you’d be able to finish using this strategy!
Overall, this strategy definitely isn’t for everyone. If you’re not consistently active the entire event, it won’t work. If you always send friend requests to people with way higher scores than you, that’ll obviously give you a higher score total (but take wayyy more time and might not be successful, and I, for one, have better things to do with said time). But if you’re like me, and you just want a low-stress way of enjoying MidCin and IkeSen events, do consider this strategy! At least personally, it’s worked great the last 5-6 events. 🙂
“Call me Byron. Just Byron. …you’re my queen now, are you not?”
What’s more important: the love interest, or their plot? I used to think it was the LI, but after the disaster that was Alyn’s Ever After route, you’ve really gotta wonder! So here’s the good news: Byron’s route isn’t nearly as painful to read as that train wreck. And the bad? It definitely falls short of its potential.
Our MC/Princess first encounters Byron in the forest after he saves her from some bandits. She’s immediately taken in by his good looks (can you blame her?). So maybe it’s a little awkward when she realizes he’s the king of Stein, aka Wysteria’s rival country, but I guess Byron must’ve gotten a good impression of MC somewhere along the way as well, because after something like their 3rd meeting, “Stein” issues “Wysteria” an offer of marriage – for political purposes, of course. Byron invites MC to visit Stein and think things over, and over the next few days/weeks, they get to know each other better. He comes across as a little cold and detached from everything, but he’s generally extremely kind to MC. One of my favorite moments takes place after MC realizes that her room and Byron’s are connected, and he suggestively matter-of-factly replies that he hopes this living arrangement becomes permanent. 😉
As time passes, trouble arises in the form of Byron’s deposed father – a former tyrant of Stein. Dude’s been spreading rumors regarding a Stein invasion in Wysteria, to great effect, and our unlucky couple is forced to temporarily abandon their marriage plans while everyone deals with the political fallout. At some point in time it’s even implied that Byron commits patricide (!), but things are never explicitly confirmed. Pretty ballsy of the writers, all things considered.
MC and Byron have to spend a lot of time apart from each other in this route, but every time they meet up, it’s pretty epic. Byron claims he’s an emotional noob, but frankly, I don’t buy it. Example: at some point, B lets MC remove his eyepatch, and proceeds to seduce the shit out of her before deciding to petition for MC’s hand again. Does this sound like the actions of an emotionally stunted man to you?! In any case, as with all honey/secret endings, this route ends on a happy note, with all the political shenanigans resolved, MC either wed or engaged to Byron (I can’t really tell), and lots of hickeys all around.
So the thing is, there wasn’t really anything fundamentally wrong with Byron’s route, per se. But post-patricide, things dragged a bit. I feel like the writers weren’t quite able to milk the epic Stein-Wysteria rivalry for all it was worth, and things resolved themselves way too neatly. Also, there were too many side plots distracting from the main story, from Nico’s useless drama which seems to show up in every single freaking route, to the random women who suddenly wanted to marry Byron towards the end of the story. All these problems would be easily overlooked if the writing were top notch, but… well. MidCin definitely isn’t going to be winning any awards on that front any time soon, is it?
But still. If you enjoy the total quiet-man-of-mystery trope that Byron embodies, you’re going to like the route. I did, even with all the flaws that I’ve mentioned. Byron’s route shines brightest when the plots/conflict take a back seat and he’s able to be true to his sexy self: marking MC Shingen-style as a promise to meet again, for example, or sending MC letters by falcon when they’re forced to go long distance. And one thing I really appreciate is how, after Byron and MC solidify their feelings for each other mid-route, neither of their feelings ever waver. At the end of the day, if nothing else, Byron’s route definitely showcases just why he’s such a fan favorite!
Choice quotes:
“You have nothing to apologize for. After all, you’re the only one I’ll be kissing from here on.”
Byron raised his free hand, unlacing the front of my dress, and pressed his lips against the soft skin between my breasts. “That’s the time limit for our promise. Before that mark fades away.”
“Didn’t you know? In Stein the wedding night lasts three days.” ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Personality: 9/10. Byron has some A+ dialogue at times, but poor writing hurts his character potential (he’d be a 10 easily with good writing).
Appearance: 10/10. He is stupidly hot, with or without eyepatch.
MC: 5/10. I didn’t really have a strong impression of MC, to be honest. Definitely a bit of a blank slate in terms of personality.
Plot/Payoff: 6.5/10. Not gonna lie – I think most MidCin MS plots are pretty mediocre. This one’s not great, but it’s not the worst, either. In fact, it’s probably the best out of the four I’ve read thus far (which isn’t saying much, but still)!
Personal enjoyment: 6.5/10. I’m definitely growing rather tired of the mediocre writing/plot quality. That said, Byron himself is magnificent!
Hello everyone!! First off: huge thanks to everyone who filled out/shared the survey I posted a little while back. There were nearly 200 responses (190 to be exact) – MUCH more than I initially expected! So, I really appreciate it 🙂
Without further ado, here is the first set of results from the survey! This post is a basic report of average character ratings. More analysis to come!
IkeSen
Cybird’s Ikemen Sengoku was the single most popular game in the survey (85% of you have played the game before!). Let’s take a look at the average warlord ratings. Ratings were given from 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best.
It’s safe to say that most of IkeSen’s cast has been really well received by the fandom! Although meme-lord Sasuke leads the pack (by less than 0.01…), Team Nobunaga rates higher than Team Shingen+Kenshin by about 0.6 of a point on average (8.0 vs 7.4). …And then, there’s Kennyo. Poor guy. I’m not too surprised, though, tbh, given the monk’s self-imposed angsty villain status.
What’s funny is that neither of the top two warlords have main routes, at the moment. Seems like IkeSen fans have a lot to look forward to in future updates!
SLBP
Next up we have Voltage’s super popular Samurai Love Ballad: PARTY app (played by 74% of you)! Here are the average ratings:
Unlike with IkeSen, where a good half of warlords were all rated more or less equally highly, there is tons more variation in the SLBP ratings! The entire Date clan is almost universally adored, with an average rating of 8.2 out of 10. People don’t seem to be quite as fond of Team Nobunaga – the Oda clan+allies have an average rating of 6.5 (the Takeda clan averages out at 6.9).
The three ninjas (Saizo, Sasuke, and Sakuya), haven’t been overly well received by the fandom either, with an average rating of 6.5. Voltage has been pushing the ninjas on us pretty hard, so it’ll definitely be interesting to see how future ninjas are received by English-speaking fans!
Final SLBP thoughts: it’s the “gentle” warlords that lead the pack in terms of ratings! Takeaway? Nice guys don’t always finish last, after all. 😉
MysMe
Let’s move on to the super famous Mystic Messenger app, brought to us by the lovely Cheritz. A good 73% of you have played this game! It’s pretty time intensive; props to everyone who’a finished all the routes. Based on what little I know about the fandom, the resulting ranking probably won’t be all that shocking to you. 707 is an extremely popular fan favorite; I’m only surprised his average rating wasn’t higher, to be honest.
MidCin
Next up, we have Cybird’s Midnight Cinderella! All you Wysterian princess seem to really like your nobility, seeing as we have a duke, a king, and an archduke leading the pack. Those mysterious Stein boys (excluding the spoiler) are also slightly more well loved by the fandom overall, with an average rating of 7.5, compared to 7.1 for everyone else.
IkeRev
Last but certainly not least in our list of otome games, we have Ikemen Revolution, an exciting app from Cybird that’s less than one month old! Given how new the app is, it is truly hilarious how quickly opinions have already formed. Let’s take a look:
…Well then. The fandom seems to prefer the freedom-loving Muggles over the tyrannical wizards in general: Black Army ratings average 7.9, compared to 7.3 for the Red Army. To be fair, this survey was released two weeks ago, when the app was still pretty new, so I wonder if opinions will shift over time as more information about the armies and their conflict come to light!
Final observation: neither Oliver nor Yoosung from MysMe seem to have been all that well received by their respective fandoms. They are also both the most childish. Coincidence? I think not.
Bonus: MC ratings
Boys are cool and all, but if you’re anything like me, MC’s play can play a huge role in your enjoyment of a route. So which MC’s do folks like the best?
Turns out that while there are exceptions, IkeSen’s sass queen MC reigns supreme in most people’s hearts. Actually, if you think about it, the sass levels really start dropping the further down that MC ranking list you go.
So… the MC’s at the top of the list definitely strike me as much more Westernized, for lack of a better description, than the MC’s at the bottom. Which is fascinating, when you consider the fact that all of these games were developed in Asia. Just some food for thought.
That’s it, for now! I hope you found these results as interesting as I did. But wait! There’s more! Curious to see which characters are the most polarizing? Ever wondered how powerful character trope preferences actually are? Stay tuned for the next post in this series!
What happens when you mix Midnight Cinderella, an otome based off one of the most famous fairy tales of all time, with even more fairy tales? The answer: a shocking amount of foreign policy. I’m starting to suspect that each country in this universe is one city…
If I tell you Byron’s theme is Rapunzel, it shouldn’t surprise you to know that this story features a kidnapping. MC and Byron are on their way to a summit with a third country, when MC is grabbed and placed in a tower. Turns out the third country doesn’t want Wysteria involved. Conveniently, Byron had given MC a bird whistle earlier, which she uses to notify his (magical?) pet owl of her location. He arrives, and ends up walking her through the process of climbing partway down with bedsheets – and jumping the rest of the way into his arms (“I’ve got you, MC”). Swoon. 🙂 Overall, I enjoyed how proactive (relative to usual) MC was in Byron’s route. And Byron himself…who needs a knight in shining armor when you’ve got a king!? 💕
Personal enjoyment: 8/10. It’d be a 9 but there was no fallout for the third country from the kidnapping??
Little Red Riding Hood. Rayvis’ route features a bit of political corruption: they’re visiting a hospital that Rayvis suspects has been behind a rise in wolf attacks nearby (to up the patient count). So right after promising Rayvis not to do anything idiotic, MC stalks the shady hospital director into the woods… Turns out he’s been training/feeding the wolves. MC almost becomes a victim, but unsurprisingly, Rayvis swoops in to save the day, and then – for once – gets on MC’s case about running off to danger by herself when she doesn’t even have the fighting skills to take on a baby rabbit (“Why did you go after him by yourself? …You leave the danger to me. Understood?”). So yeah. MC was mind-bogglingly stupid in this route, and it was off-putting. But the route is responsible for one of the best/cheesiest lines ever: “Wild wolves aren’t the only danger around here, so be careful.” “Are you talking about Rook?” “No, I’m talking about me.” God bless whoever came up with Rayvis’ character. ❤
Personal enjoyment: 5/10
In this Beauty and the Beast-themed story, Leo accompanies MC as her security to the party of a foreign duke, who wants to marry MC. Said duke drugs MC and Leo with some extremely potent sleeping powder (seriously…they take one sip), and then tries to coerce MC into agreeing to marrying him, to spare Leo’s life (some hilarious intimidation via rose petals is involved). But at the last moment, Leo bursts in, having used rose thorns (of course) from the greenhouse in which he’d been locked to stay awake, and saves the day (“I’ll always be with you, no matter what”). So…MC’s security detail sucks, considering she’s a princess. And I don’t quite get the duke’s evil plot. After all, based off MidCin’s MS’s, I’ve been led to believe that marriage arrangements can be made and broken at a moment’s notice…!
Personal enjoyment: 5/10
The Snow Queen is the fairy tale for the icy Louis – it’s only fitting. Here, MC’s invited to visit a cold northern country with her bae. For once, there’s no political intrigue – but when MC chases after a report she’s written that a cat stole (yep, you read that right), she accidentally ends up stepping on a plant that gives her selective amnesia. Of her most precious memories…aka everything featuring Louis, because I guess MC never had a family or anything like that? L is amazingly nice about it (“It’s okay. Even if you never remember…I’ll do my best to make you fall in love with me again”). But in any case, true love’s kiss saves the day. So… this route was a total cheese fest, but I appreciated the lack of shitty political intrigue. Also, damn, Louis is smooth af.
Personal enjoyment: 8/10
Hansel and Gretel is MC’s fairy tale of choice for Nico, which imho is a very good choice, given how…unconvincing… I find him to be, as a romantic prospect. Anyways, N and MC hear rumors about a witch in a foreign country who’s been kidnapping children to cook/eat them, and what would you know, they come across an old lady and scared little girl in a forest not too long afterwards. MC and Nico pulls the he’s-my-brother trick to convince the woman to let them stay the night, and the totally platonic pair manage to get the drop on the old woman…right before the local vigilante crew storms her home, anyways.
This route was a mess of contradictions. MC says “I don’t like being the one who always gets protected, Nico” – and then two chapters later, thanks N for protecting her anyways. Nico manages to subdue the old woman – and then acts all relieved when the vigilantes arrive. I just don’t get it. 😦
Personal enjoyment: 3/10
I whine a lot about the flaws here, but the truth is, as far as MidCin events go, this was one of the better ones! The usage of fairy tales as a framing device was pretty clever, and I liked that each route was wildly different. If for some reason you haven’t gotten started yet, def. go with Byron’s or Louis’ first. Both their routes are super solid!
OKAY. NO. WHAT THE @#$! IS THIS. I’ll tell you what it is. The worst thing I’ve ever read in an otome (barring creepiness/rape). Holy crapppp.
Alyn’s Ever After actually starts out on a pretty strong note. Alyn and MC are insufferably cute together, Alyn is insufferably sexy, and all is well. Until the current Wysterian king decides to step down, that is. So the way royalty successions work in this world is that the prince consort is first coronated as king, and then the princess is coronated as queen. Seems a bit out of order considering the princess was chosen first, but hey, not my country! In any case, complications arise: “bureaucrats” don’t like the idea of having a commoner princes (aka MC), and they plot to have Alyn take on another queen after he’s coronated. They even have a candidate all lined up for him!
Enter Cosette, a short-haired, kind noblewoman who, in a turn of events that I greatly appreciated, a) doesn’t want to be queen, and b) gets along super well with MC. At some point in time, she even sends MC on a date with Alyn in her stead! I had super high hopes for the Ever After route at this point, and was totally prepared to read a rousing and inspirational tale of female friendship, true love, and political intrigue.
But alas. I should’ve known better. Cosette ends up catching feels for Alyn, because… okay, I’m not even sure why, tbh. They exchange like 5 lines total before she falls in love. In any case, she’s not looking to steal MC’s man, but nonetheless, for no reason whatsoever, MC decides that she should step aside and let Cosette be queen. WHAT. Alyn doesn’t want this. Cosette doesn’t want this. MC doesn’t want this. LITERALLY NOBODY WANTS THIS. But MC insists, BECAUSE SHE’S A BLOODY IDIOT.
After some random side plots with Leo and Louis, MC is called to an inquiry over her princess status. In a suspiciously convenient moment, Alyn arrives with Byron/Stein and Laurelia, who save the day by insisting that they won’t conduct trade with a queen that isn’t MC. Which is bizarre foreign policy, but hey, maybe they just want a puppet queen in power who has no spine (because that’d be an accurate description of MC…!). Who knows. In any case, due to no effort of MC’s whatsoever, the day is saved and she and Alyn live happily ever after.
Barf. This route was nonsensical. What did Giles even see in MC when he picked her, all those months ago? Why does Cosette pull a DtL Takasugi and get ill at random times? Why does Alyn, a perfectly competent and intelligent individual, love MC?!?! And you know what the worst part is? A few tiny changes would’ve made this route decently interesting:
Cosette doesn’t randomly fall for Alyn.
MC plots actively with Alyn, Cosette, and the rest of the gang to enact the trading embargo threat plan.
BOOM. There we go. (Most) problems fixed. …Ah, well. In any case, this route was a disappointment. I have regrets.
Personality: 8/10. Yes Alyn, you’re still awesome (but I sincerely question your taste in women).
Appearance: 9/10 Yes Alyn, you’re still stupid hot.
MC: 1/10. MC isn’t just useless this time, like in the main route. She’s actively self-sabotaging. Good lord.
Plot/Payoff: 1/10. See above rant.
Personal enjoyment: 1/10. Not even Alyn’s sizzling sexiness was enough to save this dumpster fire of a route…!
Disclaimer: I will tolerate a lot of mediocre writing in the name of Rayvis, my #1 MidCin bae. That said, here’s an attempt at an objective review!
Version 1: Celebrate with Rayvis
In this version of Rayvis’ birthday, the story begins with MC observing Rayvis as he talks with the night watch. Giles is a total sweetheart and has arranged for MC to get two days off in a row so that the lovebirds can celebrate together properly. Aww. On the day of his birthday, the two of them are appropriately cute: MC feeds Rayvis, and he kisses sauce off her mouth. MC then unsubtly leads Rayvis to a surprise party that she arranged, featuring his night watch buddies! She also gets him a cravat pin, which tbh I thought was hilarious. Pleased with his surprise, the following day, Rayvis arranges a surprise of his own for MC: he gives MC a pretty dress and whisks her away to enjoy the garden in one of the Harneit residences. It becomes patently clear that this is obviously just a ploy to get into MC’s pants petticoats (“It’s my birthday, and that’s why I’m doing what I want to… I’m going to spoil you tonight. Think you’re ready for that?”). But then again, it’s Rayvis, so I’m sure the MC doesn’t mind. 😉
Overall, I thought this version of Rayvis’ event was…pleasant. Kind of like a bowl of oatmeal on a cold Sunday morning: nice, but not super memorable! (Also, poorly written)
Personal enjoyment: 5/10
Version 2: Celebrate with Everyone
In the AU version of events, Rayvis is visiting Wysteria on his birthday. Sadly, he’s not there to see MC; instead, he’s performing at a multi-country concert, alongside Louis, of all people. Why the man can’t do both, I’ll never know. In any case, on the day of his birthday, MC visits R’s room, where we learn that HE PLAYS THE FREAKING VIOLIN. You know, just in case the guy couldn’t get any more perfect. Anyways, he then teaches MC how to hold a violin in a very…tactile…manner (“Hold the bow with your right hand and then put your left hand like this”). Swoon. In any case, after the concert (during which Rayvis performs flawlessly, obviously), Rayvis is on a busy diplomatic schedule, but thanks to Robert and Nico’s intervention, Byron ends up giving him the evening off so that he can spend some quality time with MC! The story ends on a wholesome note with MC gifting him a music box, and him playing her a piece on his violin that he used to only perform in front of his parents.
So while the premise was cute, I had this same issue here that I had with version 1 of Rayvis’ birthday event. To be specific, the writing is atrocious at times (“I’m so surprised. Thank you.” “You’re welcome.” “This is a lovely song.” “I like it too.”). It’s unfortunate that the Premium routes feature Rayvis’ perspective, because his inner monologue sounds exactly like MC’s, i.e. happy and surprised by the other person’s actions. Ah, well. Can’t say no to a generous free event! The truth is, I enjoyed this version quite a bit more than the other one (#violinkink?), so if you somehow haven’t started the event yet, pick this version! 🙂
“I swear to stay by your side and protect you for the rest of my life.”
For all the flaws they might have, the writers at MidCin seem to be really good at one very important task: crafting attractive characters. And with his epic Noctis-style haircut, red eyes, and endearingly grumpy attitude, Alyn Crawford is nothing if not super attractive!
I’m a fan of stories that aren’t love-at-first-sight, since it’s more realistic, so the beginning of Alyn’s route was really fun to read. Alyn, head knight of Wysteria, is super suspicious of MC when they first meet, and definitely doesn’t think she’s suited to be royalty. But he nonetheless does his duty to protect the princess, rescuing her former students from muggers, and teaching her how to ride a horse (the horse trope is one of my biggest weaknesses in romance stories, haha). They even develop a sort of quasi-friendship, where they take care of horses together and MC tells Alyn bedtime stories. It’s not surprising that MC falls for Alyn quickly. I would, too, if I were in her shoes. Unfortunately, while the feeling is mutual, tragic backstory makes Alyn reluctant to give up his knighthood.
“If I shared your responsibility of ruling Wysteria, I could no longer risk my life to protect yours. And I can’t just do that. I want to protect the things I hold dear with my own hands.”
But eventually, jealousy kicks in. Alyn doesn’t want to stand by while another suitor sweeps MC off her feet. And so, he starts up a clandestine and mildly steamy relationship with MC. In the meanwhile, plots are afoot: Laurelia, a country allied with Wysteria, faces a border dispute with Stein. And to make matters worse, a Stein spy is discovered (spoiler alert: it’s Nico), and Protea, yet another neighboring country, makes a power grab for Wysterian territory and declares war. It’s a clusterfuck, and to top things off, MC is reluctant to have Alyn risk his life on the front lines.
Here, Alyn’s route unfortunately encounters the same issue that Rayvis’ route did: the political intrigue is poorly written and nonsensical at times. There’s no buildup of tension or true sense of stakes: problems are simply introduced, and then resolved in the next chapter. And because the characters never really “fight for” the resolution, the problems just end up seeming cheap, if that makes any sense. For example, towards the end of the route, MC meets with Stein, and answers just one softball question from King Byron (“How do you feel about this conflict?”). And with that, Stein shifts its alliance from Protea to Wysteria. I mean…wtf? This isn’t a board game, Stein.
I guess what I’m trying to say here is that the setup for Alyn’s route was fantastic (and arguably more realistic than in Rayvis’ route), but the plot resolution was weak. Ah, well. In the end, this route still had many enjoyable moments! 🙂
Choice quotes:
“Teach me something. I’m ready to be your pupil.” “Could you do what we just did with someone else?” His low voice made my heart beat in my throat. “I care for you. A lot more than you do for me, I think.” And finally… Giles had me cornered against the bookshelf. I slowly raised my head to look him in the face.” (I’m not even on your route yet, Giles! <3)
Personality: 8/10. Alyn is Rayvis’ mirror: happy-looking on the outside, grumpy on the inside (while Rayvis looks pissed but seems cheerful enough). It’s endearing in its own way, but I def. prefer Rayvis’ personality.
Appearance: 9/10. His appearance really grew on me as the route progressed!
MC: 2/10. MC was really bland in this route. She was also super passive. While many times she thought about helping out her country, she didn’t seem very good at taking initiative.
Plot/Payoff: 4/10. The romantic buildup was fantastic, but the political intrigue – both internal and external to Wysteria – was painful to read.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10. The storyline is…not the great, but I like Alyn as a character quite a lot, even if he’s a bit of a trope! ^^
“If you’re still feeling self-conscious around me, I guess I’ll have to make you feel so good that you’ll forget everything but me.”
MidCin describes Rayvis as a man who “does everything flawlessly.” And yanno what? The game would not be wrong.
Rayvis Harneit, bias wrecker extraordinaire, is the archduke of Stein, one of Wysteria’s neighboring countries. When our lovely MC (and newly minted princess of Wysteria) meets Rayvis, he’s a little cold, a little stern, but his caring nature immediately shines through. He and MC strike up a deal to help each other out: he’ll help MC forge an alliance with Stein, if MC helps him find Robert, a guy who works at the palace. But much as Rayvis tries to adopt a calculating and detached air, that’s just not who he is.
In fact, Rayvis comes across as really kindhearted. He’s constantly helping the MC out. In his spare time, he organizes a voluntary “night watch” guard to keep the district of Stein that he rules safe. And even his motives for wanting MC to tell him where Robert is are touching, and provide him (and Robert) with one hell of a backstory. And after he and MC admit their feelings for each other? Ohh boy. He’s funny. He’s teasing. He doesn’t hide his affection for MC at all. And, the game makes it clear that he is absolutely incredible in bed, to boot!
I could go on and on about Rayvis’ personality. It’s just so damn attractive. I adore his quiet, unflappable nature and intellectual interests (chess). Cybird really created one hell of a character with this one.
And as for the plot? The pacing and romantic development was great, but tbh the problems that MC faces and the way they resolve all seem pretty unrealistic. In this route, Wysteria and Stein are both facing issues from a power-hungry third country, and the way MC and Rayvis choose to deal with this (tl;dr three-way alliance) is…idealistic and naive, to say the least. Also, at the end of the Honey route, Rayvis ends up co-ruling Wysteria alongside MC while long distance managing his district in Stein as well. In a world without email/instant communication, I just can’t see that setup working well at all, in the long term (actually, I can’t see how that’d work out even with electronic amenities…).
But flaws in plot aside, I just can’t get over how freaking amazing Rayvis is. Rayvis truly is Baevis. 😉
Choice quotes:
“You’re dreadful at trying to convince me to stay.”
“Sometimes you seem so innocent and naive, and then with a few casual words you’re able to lay my heart bare.”
Personality: 10/10. Rayvis does everything flawlessly.
Appearance: 9/10. His default expressions are maddeningly attractive, but his CG’s are a little wonky, to be honest!
MC: 5/10. There wasn’t anything especially wrong with MC. She just wasn’t very interesting – the perfect blank slate, I guess? I prefer MC’s with a little more personality, though.
Plot/Payoff: 6/10. I loved the romantic buildup and the backstory, but the latter part of Rayvis’ route was a little weak, plot wise.
Personal enjoyment: 6.5/10. I value a good plot in these otome games a lot more than I thought I would, to be honest. But Rayvis’ sheer amazingness brings up the score!
Otome Reviews 