Played the game for the first time. Really liked it, tho start felt a bit off (MC in particular is presented as both an experienced witcher/killer/enforcer and a naive boy showing random qualms), it solidify later, and if it's a bit "porn game tropey", well...it's tropes that push my buttons, so I'm not gonna complain at all, in particular since pheromones give an in-universe explanation.
THAT SAID, the only thing that REALLY bothered me is the fact that the scientist fully understand the pheromones, explain "oh btw he's emitting chemical that compromise our judgement and make us submissive and dependant toward him" to the imperatrix and they just...hand-wave it and let the man get close to them???? hello??? We know they are smart, ruthless and careful women, this make absolutely no sense at all! Imo if goal was to tell the audience that he emitted pheromones (which was contextually obvious tbh), there was other ways to do it, no need to have the imperatrix learn it in-universe. The way things are working, the shady and unreliable MC is warping the first heir (and several key individuals) around his dick with chemicals and psychological domination (Luciana best girl btw) and...this isn't a problem at all for no one? Could have accepted it if the pheromones and its effects weren't a known factor of the imperatrix, but here it really strains my willing suspension of disbelief.
Other than that, pretty neat story! The big plot twist of the machine-undead army and the way it basically turn tables, shows cicero as the good guy and gives shadows to luciana (and cast the imperatrix as a more sinister threat than the gentle figurehead we've seen) was great, tho it felt a bit overdone (the "they can perceive everything but do nothing about it!" and the fact that it's not even criminal's brains but dead legionnarii as well felt a bit "over the top evil") because the simple fact of a robotic army/police under the order of the imperatrix is already enough of a giant legitimate concern. Curious if they double down on luciana's interpretation of "the imperatrix is a completely manipulative woman and all the humanisation we got from her was mostly theatrics".
Ferrymen+Dante is a shit side (and really, once the princeps' killer is revealed, there's not personnal reason to back them up, on the contrary), with the exception of Cicero its actors are either incompetent or sinister, and I don't see a revolution achieving a better end result for the empire that the current statu quo. The Imperatrix undead legion is cartoon evil and will have to be stopped, preferably from the inside. I really hope we can further wrap luciana around our dick and get her to follow our lead, drop the undead legion and become the great leader she's shaping up to be...with our leash around her neck.
Nice job! I didn't remember the "say hello to your dad" aspect, which erase my only problem with the theory. yeah, pretty sure that's indeed her, and my money's on her being both the final LI and project X (after all, she wasn't in the vault during the seer's prediction, but will be when "discovering" projext X).
Isn't MC's addictive quality a form of protection against this?
Yeah, tbh the solar seer are super OP, it's just that the one we know from the start is a very weak one. Considering that even without her prediction Layla could (and did, if you reject her) easily wipe the floor with MC (and probably the whole party) at any time, I'm kinda betting on the mental hook of MC's ability (and the fact that she can't maintain her abilities when properly fucked) to not have her holding all the cards and calling the shots in future interactions. Plus, Ginger Femme Fatale Wizard? sign me up every day! hope we'll see more of her in the future, but considering she's a path-dependant character we'll probably only see her for the promised assistance and maybe the epilogue alas :/
