dinoblob: pleinair on prinny, disgaea (egg)
Welp, since another Infinikey weekend has passed, I finally did the thing. I started and completed the in-progress books for Lucio's route, the brat.

I had to rename the Apprentice and change their pronouns to even get through it, and I think the only positive impression I got was that there exists some space in Lucio's heart that if he were smitten with someone, he would want to spoil them endlessly, and I suppose that has to count for something from someone as self-centered as him LOL. His route is supposed to be redemption arc, I get it. I think I'm just not morosexual enough to like Lucio lmao.

Now being able to compare Muriel's, Portia's and Lucio's routes though, hot dang did they really put far more care into crafting alternate stories for each character. I'm most curious about how the books will end for Muriel and Portia.

Muriel's route thoughts )

Portia's route thoughts )

I honestly feel a bit bad for Asra/Nadia/Julian's routes main stories feeling comparatively weaker now since it's obvious they were written first, or maybe they didn't want as much variation to the main canon story?

IDK, I've managed to not only get into a niche fandom, but I got into it late so now I'm not sure how far my pursuit of looking for fan content will go.

Back when Miraculous Ladybug came out there was still a big gap between seasons and the fandom content was flowing. I feel like I saw a lot more arguing and bitterness as that series went on though, and since it got licensing on Netflix, I would binge the half-season update and then... I just kind of stopped interacting with the fandom. I honestly haven't felt a draw to getting back into it, and that was probably the last major fandom I participated in before distancing myself more in social media in general.

I'm not really sure I consider myself part of the Arcana "fandom" in that sense because I got quickly into it, but it feels like it will end pretty soon and I'm not sure I'm so invested to look into fics or the like. I've never been a particular fan of characterxreader type fics, nor really getting super invested in other people's OC's, but there's something about the stories that scratches an itch I have for playing with all the what-ifs with certain characters in their established worlds.

dinoblob: pleinair with umbrella, disgaea (rainbow)
So I made time to not only blast through Julian's route, but also start Muriel's route which I was reluctant to at first. Muriel's ending hasn't been written yet so I'm stuck on the Sun, and my choices so far should have unlocked the upright ending, whenever that gets released. I also got Julian's upright ending (which was a lot campier than I thought it was going to be).

Since I managed to unlock some good endings so far, I felt a bit torn about going back to see the reverse endings. It's not like replaying Undertale by any measure, but the default name I had chosen for the Apprentice felt a bit too close for comfort to go back and replay for bad feels. I'm really thankful that you can change your name and pronouns, so I'm basically treating it like an AU changing my character's identity to get the bad ends (and eventually date Lucio, I GUESS).

Asra's route AFTER Julian route )

Anyways, some other things I was thinking about since I was able to play through multiple storylines now is more how each route was written to explore the characters and their relationship to their patron Arcana, and how much (or little) the story will pay tribute to the traditional Tarot.

Misc. Tarot parallels and images under cut )

In thinking about Asra's, Nadia's and Julian's routes, I didn't really feel they fit their arcana characteristics at first.

Asra's route )
Julian's route )

Nadia's route )

Muriel's route )

I think that's all I can really draw up from my memory at the moment, and I may revisit the themes again as I go through more routes and get the reverse endings.

dinoblob: pleinair in warm colors, disgaea (warm)
 Oh no... it's a romance visual novel LOL

Since getting into tarot and its history (along with other cartomancy practices), I decided to download the app The Arcana to finally try out since it's a story kinda based on the marjor arcana archetypes. It's been a good several years since I last played a VN romance game, that being Mystic Messenger, though I didn't end up making it through all the way to that one (I loved the novelty of the chat, but staying up to ungodly hours just to get unique dialogue was a nope from me).

Some spoilers for Asra's, Nadia's, and Julian's routes )

October 2020

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