I'll just list a few lines in this update to prove my point:Not really sure how you people got the idea of MC being adopted. Just because mc calls his father, "King", he suddenly becomes "adopted". Ever heard of being "Formal"? I was literally watching House of dragons the other day and saw Rhaenyra targaryen's children calling her queen, so did her children become adopted?
Just because the royals call their parents king/queen doesn't mean they are adopted, they are just being formal. And considering the king's personality in this game, it is clear that he is all about "duty". He cares more about his kingdom than his family. Henry himself refers to king as "King" sometimes, so does that make him adopted too? In the lunch scene, MC clearly says to the king that he wishes that sometimes the king should have behaved like his father than a king. And even in multiple events, mc and other characters have referred the king as mc's father.
As far as MC being a bastard is concerned, that is still the case. There's no way he is adopted, the game is very clear on that.
And what do you mean by "brutal removal of a main theme" lol? Atleast for me, the game never really depended just on incest, unlike an average game here, this one actually has an interesting story. And even the game itself never really focused much on that theme, aside from few minor scenes with Catherine.
Very good points. I forgot most of their relationships in the early game so I missed out some of the familial changes in the new storyline after the kidnapping. Good summary, thanks. Also, the way the MC is received back in the royal community left much to be desired.I'll just list a few lines in this update to prove my point:
(Before that, like I've mentioned in my original post, the most significant change is that there isn't any mention of family names like father, aunt, and sister. This alone is already a huge red flag since the previous content has a lot of them)
1. When MC talks about Catherine and Jane: "If I play my cards right, perhaps I could even marry one of them someday. Or if I am lucky maybe even both of them!" This is indeed a weak argument, but still, there isn't any concern of incest in MC's mind in this line.
2. When MC talks about his father/The King: "The King might have been a dick to me, but if it wasn't for him, I would have been raised in some poor orphanage or worst-case scenario, dead." Mind you, in the previous content, The King clearly loved MC's mother the most, and if he was indeed the King's bastard son, why would this thought come into his mind?
3. When MC visited the unconscious King: "In fact, my return was prompted by concerns over the kingdom under Henry's rule. Don't worry, I am not here to usurp your son's throne. I am just here to guide him." This is for me the most alarming line that indicates the shift in tone. If MC were indeed the King's bastard son, why would he call his half-brother "your son" instead of simply Henry, especially when there's an obvious animosity between these two?
4. When Sir Arnold discusses Henry's obsession with land expansion, he says "Henry wants to become like William. He says the eastern expansion will be a gift to William, when he wakes. Henry believes William would be proud of him." Notice he no longer refers to the King as "your father" like he did in previous content. In case you forget, there is a scene in previous content where Sir Arnold warns the King not to have such a dangerous thought when the latter suspects MC not being his biological son, and defends the loyalty of MC's mother towards The King. As someone who strongly believes MC's kinship with the King, why wouldn't he call the King MC's father in this update?
I might be wrong and overthink this and the game might just stay incest, but still these lines create a lot of confusion that needs to be addressed. Also your claim about the game never really depends on incest is just wrong. The premise of the whole game is about how MC as a bastard son manages to get all the women (relatives or not) on his side and become the true king. Incest is the core element in this game, because without this the game is just the usual story of the common person ascending into the role of the destined hero/leader/king. Without incest, a lot of previous content wouldn't make sense, such as MC being an absolute playboy without a worry in the world. So when the new content displays a drop of familial affinity between MC and other parties concerned, people are bound to suspect the shift in tone.
Alright, got some confirmation from the devs themselves.I'll just list a few lines in this update to prove my point:
(Before that, like I've mentioned in my original post, the most significant change is that there isn't any mention of family names like father, aunt, and sister. This alone is already a huge red flag since the previous content has a lot of them)
1. When MC talks about Catherine and Jane: "If I play my cards right, perhaps I could even marry one of them someday. Or if I am lucky maybe even both of them!" This is indeed a weak argument, but still, there isn't any concern of incest in MC's mind in this line.
2. When MC talks about his father/The King: "The King might have been a dick to me, but if it wasn't for him, I would have been raised in some poor orphanage or worst-case scenario, dead." Mind you, in the previous content, The King clearly loved MC's mother the most, and if he was indeed the King's bastard son, why would this thought come into his mind?
3. When MC visited the unconscious King: "In fact, my return was prompted by concerns over the kingdom under Henry's rule. Don't worry, I am not here to usurp your son's throne. I am just here to guide him." This is for me the most alarming line that indicates the shift in tone. If MC were indeed the King's bastard son, why would he call his half-brother "your son" instead of simply Henry, especially when there's an obvious animosity between these two?
4. When Sir Arnold discusses Henry's obsession with land expansion, he says "Henry wants to become like William. He says the eastern expansion will be a gift to William, when he wakes. Henry believes William would be proud of him." Notice he no longer refers to the King as "your father" like he did in previous content. In case you forget, there is a scene in previous content where Sir Arnold warns the King not to have such a dangerous thought when the latter suspects MC not being his biological son, and defends the loyalty of MC's mother towards The King. As someone who strongly believes MC's kinship with the King, why wouldn't he call the King MC's father in this update?
I might be wrong and overthink this and the game might just stay incest, but still these lines create a lot of confusion that needs to be addressed. Also your claim about the game never really depends on incest is just wrong. The premise of the whole game is about how MC as a bastard son manages to get all the women (relatives or not) on his side and become the true king. Incest is the core element in this game, because without this the game is just the usual story of the common person ascending into the role of the destined hero/leader/king. Without incest, a lot of previous content wouldn't make sense, such as MC being an absolute playboy without a worry in the world. So when the new content displays a drop of familial affinity between MC and other parties concerned, people are bound to suspect the shift in tone.
Thanks for DMing them for the explanation. That makes sense but I think they did a pretty poor job at showing the changes in the story. Especially after the escape, MC was downright silent all of a sudden. That was a good phase to explain some of his thought processes on why he didn't return right away.Alright, got some confirmation from the devs themselves.
So I texted them and asked for some clarity on these changes. I also asked for their consent to post their message here.
"I cannot comment on other relationships, but yes, the MC is the bastard son of the King and Henry's brother. Without that, the whole plot wouldn't make any sense. Regarding your question about why the MC refers to Henry as "your son" while talking to the king in the new update, it's important to remember that the game has always made it clear that the MC was never treated as an equal for obvious reasons. The MC was a bastard, and everyone knows that bastards were looked down upon during that period.
From the queen's perspective, imagine your husband having an affair and fathering a child with another woman. What kind of treatment would you expect from her and others? Even though the MC was family, he was never truly treated like one. The MC always yearned for acceptance from his people, for real friends who wouldn't care if he was a prince or not. He found that in the village where no one knew who he was, and they treated him like a normal person. He liked what he had there.
Now, the MC no longer craves acceptance from his people. He is so disgusted with Henry that he doesn't even want to be associated with him, which is why he refers to Henry as "your son." The MC is a different person now, with changed ambitions. He is a broken man in need of a lot of healing. The kidnapping and slavery broke him from the inside and left deep scars. After his escape, he ended up in a village, tired of the life he had lived. He was depressed and had no intention of returning to his home where he was treated poorly. That was until he heard about the civil war, prompting him to return to prevent these wars. The MC is not selfish anymore, he actually cares about other too now.
The king was a bad father, and because of that, both the MC and Henry turned out to be flawed. Yes, I included Henry because in future updates, you'll learn why Henry is the way he is.
I may not have been active on F95zone for the past few updates since I lost control of my own game there, but I do occasionally read some comments. I'm quite surprised that people misunderstood the MC's relationship with the king. Maybe it's my fault for not making it clear enough. However, I didn't receive any queries or complaints from my patrons regarding these topics. In fact, the latest update was very well received.
I may replace a few words to remove this confusion while still showing the emotions the MC bears towards Henry and the king. I urge my audience to have some patience and faith in me. A good story with character development has always been my first priority. Throughout my development journey so far, I have learned that I cannot satisfy everyone. One of the reasons we release the "free" version, which is one update behind the latest one, is to allow the audience to try the game out for themselves. If they like it, they can choose to support us. If they don't like it, they don't have to spend a single dime on us. I am all ears for constructive criticism. You can always text me on Patreon or even in my Discord channel. However, criticizing us for things that we don't really have control over, like our update schedule or for following Patreon guidelines, is a bit unfair.
Anyway, I hope I have cleared the confusion regarding the king's relationship with the MC."
You are right that we haven't explained why the MC likes his new life. However, it's not that we didn't want to explain it; we just haven't reached the event that addresses this. Without giving too many spoilers, the MC will explain his feelings during the event where Arnold tells him about his mother. But now I think maybe we should have included this event in v0.4. However, we already had enough events, and the last bathing hall event seemed like a perfect place to end this update. Additionally, I believe I did give a small indication that the MC liked his life in the village during the event where he talks to the king. He mentions that once his mission is over, he will return to the village where people actually care about him.That makes sense but I think they did a pretty poor job at showing the changes in the story. Especially after the escape, MC was downright silent all of a sudden. That was a good phase to explain some of his thought processes on why he didn't return right away.
And the feeling of belonging in the village also wasn't obvious at all, especially his somewhat one-sided friendship with his new friend. Nothing says "I feel accepted here", mostly it's just "This is a good place to hide and get by, otherwise I don't care about the people with me here."
Okay serious question, have you ever called someone you're related to, that isn't in a direct line, i.e. mother, grandmother, father grandfather, your aunt?Royal Fantasy is there a reason why Mc is calling his Aunt by his name or is it just because of the patreon rules and stuff.Akso you guys should also make a subscribestar account as a backup you never know when patreon does their shit happened to a lot of Dev's who didn't do anything.
I have never I don't know about you man.Everyone I know calls their Aunt either "Auntie" or Aunt with whatever their name is as for people who call their parents by name I have only seen that happened where the relationship ship is bad and even then they don't call the parent by their name in front of them only behind their backs lol.So I could understand that but the relationship isn't bad with the Aunt at all.As for siblings you call them by the name duh I never said anything about the siblings.Yet a lot of times siblings do call their elder sibling with big brother or sister thing but not always. So to answer your question from where I am people don't call their family members who are much older than them by the name.Okay serious question, have you ever called someone you're related to, that isn't in a direct line, i.e. mother, grandmother, father grandfather, your aunt?
Hell, I've heard people call their parents by their first name. The alternative just feels like a hamfisted way of shouting that it's incest porn, á la, "What are you doing stepbro?"
The reality here is that incest in writing is a careful observation of the tension between not wanting the loss of a simple, dependable and pure relationship and the thrill of taboo and passion. There is a real gamble for the chance to have it all or losing it all, especially when you spin that off into how that relationship would affect others.
What an awful explanation and reasons why.Alright, got some confirmation from the devs themselves.
So I texted them and asked for some clarity on these changes. I also asked for their consent to post their message here.
"I cannot comment on other relationships, but yes, the MC is the bastard son of the King and Henry's brother. Without that, the whole plot wouldn't make any sense. Regarding your question about why the MC refers to Henry as "your son" while talking to the king in the new update, it's important to remember that the game has always made it clear that the MC was never treated as an equal for obvious reasons. The MC was a bastard, and everyone knows that bastards were looked down upon during that period.
From the queen's perspective, imagine your husband having an affair and fathering a child with another woman. What kind of treatment would you expect from her and others? Even though the MC was family, he was never truly treated like one. The MC always yearned for acceptance from his people, for real friends who wouldn't care if he was a prince or not. He found that in the village where no one knew who he was, and they treated him like a normal person. He liked what he had there.
Now, the MC no longer craves acceptance from his people. He is so disgusted with Henry that he doesn't even want to be associated with him, which is why he refers to Henry as "your son." The MC is a different person now, with changed ambitions. He is a broken man in need of a lot of healing. The kidnapping and slavery broke him from the inside and left deep scars. After his escape, he ended up in a village, tired of the life he had lived. He was depressed and had no intention of returning to his home where he was treated poorly. That was until he heard about the civil war, prompting him to return to prevent these wars. The MC is not selfish anymore, he actually cares about other too now.
The king was a bad father, and because of that, both the MC and Henry turned out to be flawed. Yes, I included Henry because in future updates, you'll learn why Henry is the way he is.
I may not have been active on F95zone for the past few updates since I lost control of my own game there, but I do occasionally read some comments. I'm quite surprised that people misunderstood the MC's relationship with the king. Maybe it's my fault for not making it clear enough. However, I didn't receive any queries or complaints from my patrons regarding these topics. In fact, the latest update was very well received.
I may replace a few words to remove this confusion while still showing the emotions the MC bears towards Henry and the king. I urge my audience to have some patience and faith in me. A good story with character development has always been my first priority. Throughout my development journey so far, I have learned that I cannot satisfy everyone. One of the reasons we release the "free" version, which is one update behind the latest one, is to allow the audience to try the game out for themselves. If they like it, they can choose to support us. If they don't like it, they don't have to spend a single dime on us. I am all ears for constructive criticism. You can always text me on Patreon or even in my Discord channel. However, criticizing us for things that we don't really have control over, like our update schedule or for following Patreon guidelines, is a bit unfair.
Anyway, I hope I have cleared the confusion regarding the king's relationship with the MC."