Version 0.1.5, new update, new content. A bit on the shorter side by your standards I must say, but that doesn’t really matter. As usual, I will share my thoughts in points.
- We finally get to Yukako’s level 3 corruption — I must say it has been well worth the wait. It is a bit disappointing that we don’t get to pick an option on how to get her to this stage (unlike the previous level), but well, that kinky nun outfit is pretty good... Still, it is a crime we have no option to poke at her nipples when she is clad in that.
- Seeing Yukako willingly walking to your lewd traps is funny for her level 3 escape event. Almost there, it seems... just 1 or 2 more updates.
- Yukako berating Romanos in public is as satisfying as I have been expecting. It is amazing how far Romanos’s denial of reality can go, but it is just as refreshing that Yukako finally calls it out just like that. With Misaki, her disappointment of Romanos was mostly in her thoughts and by the time she can say it out loud to the man himself, she is already a succubus queen for the Dark Lord. Not now with Yukako, and it is nice hearing “the reason you suck” speech from a priestess.
- The rebel event in Telind’s watchtower is a bit more flavored, I would say. Giving the option to just let the subordinate deal with it gives the impression this matter is beneath the Dark Lord’s notice to your underlings, which is a bit of an opposite impression to when the Dark Lord personally involves himself with the policy management in Vlester’s docks.
It is not necessarily contradictory, as this just shows the Dark Lord is a flexible leader. Perhaps show more conversation between this faction’s underlings regarding their opinions of the new Dark Lord, some time? It is a good way to show us the player an idea of how our faction has been ongoing.
- The King’s Tomb! I have been looking forward to this and it doesn’t disappoint.
The Dark Lord’s faction begins the raid by running into a very important lore detail — the Divines had one of their own visit this place and mark the illusion protecting this place to be discovered by you. I have a number of speculations based on this alone, but I would address it more after this.
Going to the gameplay, I prefer the traps and puzzles of this dungeon compared to mindlessly cutting down mobs. Though I understand the traps don’t provide EXP (except for the mimic) and is a fake difficulty (a game which does not give you a clue to avoid stuff is poor design unless that is the game premise), and puzzles can be boring, we all have preferences. In fact, the guardian at the end deals less damage to my Misaki than the traps did.
The end of the tomb itself drops several curious points. The previous Dark Lord foresaw the need for the late Hero King’s body to be traded away to the Demon Queen, and moreover prepared something for his successor to obtain should he prove able to corrupt specific people.
From both gameplay and meta perspectives, it is good to know how many people we would need to corrupt before reaching endgame — I have no illusions believing the game would end after we get the necessary heroines to open that door, it just means we will reach the beginning of the end.
In terms of story? Well I have lots of thoughts — so many that I’d give this tomb’s lore details several points for them alone.
- The very recent sign of a Divine being at this tomb means at least one of them is aware of what the current Dark Lord is doing... and most likely wants it to continue. The Divines have a traitor, not just the Demons, and at least one Divine entity wants the Dark Lord to progress with bypassing the Hypatian Wall.
There are other possibilities, but this one is the most likely. If the Divines wanted to retrieve the late Hero's body, they would have tried a long time ago and there will be Divine energy inside the dungeon as well. This was intended to help the Dark Lord's faction breach the illusion as quickly as possible.
We can speculate on why: I have 2 prime theories on this, one I will address here, the other I will address later. My first and foremost theory is that this is the angel whom the Dark Lord had used mind entry power before during the conflict prior to the Hypatian wall.
While the Dark Lord did not manage to corrupt her completely back then, it is more than likely it had left a lingering influence which, if allowed to fester, would lead to said angel starting to have rebellious thoughts toward the Divines and having loyal thoughts to the Dark Lord... which is now us.
I will address my other theory during the lore talk with Bogthos sensei. Let's address the info revealed in this tomb first.
- The Dark Lord called the Demon Queen "traitor". Given their origins as masters of the physical and material world, it likely means the forces of darkness have a common origin. I won't speculate more on this, and it likely would be brought up by Yuma's lore talk later, or maybe much later.
- What I do want to speculate is what the Demon Queen wants with the Hero King's Divine-blessed corpse. I have a feeling it is related to the "shadow realms" which the Dark Lord's faction had found and the Demon Queen might have discovered.
Because of the Dark Lord faction's situation ever since the Hypatian wall was constructed, the previous Dark Lord most likely can't afford much effort nor time for research into the shadow of the Divine realms. In fact, his dying message made it pretty clear he had no intention of using the shadow realms to hide.
This pragmatically makes sense: if the Divines cannot observe or sense where the Dark Lord is in the material world from where they are in the Divine Realms, they would be alarmed and would try to find where he is. This might lead to the Divines discovering the shadow realms, leaving the Dark Lord faction with less advantage in the future. The previous Dark Lord is a truly fearsome Lord.
However, during the years the previous Dark Lord was facing attrition brought about by the Hypatian wall, the Demon Queen had time to invest more research and tinkering with this same shadow realm, if she had discovered them (which she most likely had).
I have a feeling she wants to use the Hero King's body, or more precisely the Divine blessings left in his body, to essentially form a channel to the "main" Divine realms where the Divines reside. This is possible because Heroes are essentially born and blessed by the Divines, so it stands to reason their bodies are like tethers by which the Divine realm can be reached from the physical realm.
As for why the Demon Queen wants this Hero King's body and not the ones which the Dark Lord defeated in the successive generations, it is most likely because the Hero King was from a time when the Divines were at their strongest (pre-Hypatian Wall construction) and likely also the most intact, so his body would have the largest channel to the Divine realms.
- Continuing on to what the previous Dark Lord left for his successor behind that door, it is almost certainly things he had managed to obtain or develop from researching the Hero King's body.
It is worthy to note Misaki, a former Heroine blessed by the Divines, is among the individuals with the necessary power, skill or knowledge to use at least some of the things there.
Still, I won't speculate much about this either... why would I speculate on what is essentially my endgame rewards in the future? Hahaha.
- Finally, to the now routine lore talk with Bogthos. We have two different topics here, each significant in different ways.
For the first, we learn more about the Hypatian kingdom's political situation... and it is hilariously bad. Small wonder the current Dark Lord set aside his humanity, even if he chose to remain human all that would await him is a power struggle among corrupt nobilities.
How the current Dark Lord became the royal representative, though, is indeed curious. Bogthos is probably wondering the same thing I do. Why, and what could this mean? I really want to speculate, but unlike the above points, there is too little information.
An entertainer named Maiko. Here we get another name to be added to our future harem. You always find a way to tease future content.
As for the second lore talk, we finally get our first mention of the elves ever since the prologue. It is not surprising they have taken a rather passive and supportive stance in the war against the Dark Lord and the Demon Queen... but it is a bit surprising the elf's goddess seems to be an impulsive airhead, haha.
In particular, the elf goddess, or someone related to her, is my other theory for who is the Divine entity who assisted the Dark Lord in the tomb.
It is possible her unfavorable position among the Divines might have contributed to her resenting the others, especially if she is known to be impulsive. To her, the Hypatian kingdom's fall might even seem inconsequential to her elves beyond the kingdom.
Nevertheless, regardless of whether or not the elf goddess is the Divine traitor or not, she and her elves seem like a fun target in the future~ I am looking forward to it.
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Many of my thoughts this time are lore speculations rather than actual reviews, I hope you don't mind that. Consider it a show of quality; if the world building can get people invested, and speculate, it means you are doing something right.
That's all for my thoughts. This update is great despite being shorter; so much more to ponder about going forward. Hopefully we will get more naughty bits in next update, as porn is equally important to lore in a fantasy porn game.
Your work is great. As usual, I will give suggestions, which is free for you to do as you see fit.
- Assuming my first theory on which Divine left that mark on the Hero King's tomb is wrong (as in it is not the angel which the previous Dark Lord tried to corrupt via mind entry), I have a suggestion for a neat heroine to be added.
She is an angel who was forced to do what her master told her to do, who is now "stranded" in the physical world at present. She should be discovered by the Dark Lord's forces, who no doubt will start preoccupying the tomb to secure it, not far from the tomb itself.
This makes sense for several reasons: there is no way the god or goddess responsible for that Divine mark would descend personally and leave themselves vulnerable, so having a comparatively more expendable angel do it is logical.
Moreover, this is an act which, if found out by other Divines, would have severe consequences on their standing. So having an angel do it on the deity's behalf... and then turn her into a scapegoat by claiming the angel did it on her own free will to betray the Divines would be perfectly reasonable (especially if it is known the angel has been dissatisfied with her lord due to irresponsibility or "not acting like her station", if it is the elf goddess).
Not only that, corrupting an angel hasn't really been successfully accomplished before (the previous Dark Lord only tried, and it was interrupted before its success could be determined), so more than likely the deity who scapegoated the angel would believe she would die to monsters, be it wild ones or the ones serving the Dark Lord.
Well, it would be interesting to have the current Dark Lord prove said deity wrong. And I am fairly sure I won't be the only one who is interested by such a heroine in this kind of game.
- The new sex scene with Misaki makes me think it might be nice to add "modes" to the personalities of Misaki and the fully corrupted heroines.
It has been emphasized before that Misaki's mind is essentially free for the Dark Lord to rewrite as he sees fit, and since my older suggestion of experimenting with the Dark Lord's powers and Misaki by creating a seed of corruption is currently inappropriate to implement (their faction is still very much in a fairly precarious situation), I think this should be doable at present.
Possible modes could include how Misaki behaved from before she was fully corrupted - it is potentially useful to give Romanos and the other girls some false hope that Misaki can be saved somehow (which she can't, ahaha).
Something simple like an obedient mindless puppet might also be good: in addition to touching on a different fetish, Misaki probably would wet herself hearing the Dark Lord sternly say "be silent" and go mindless instantly, even when she is essentially being turned off. Or watch another girl be turned off before her eyes.
For now, this would be all. It has been wordy enough for an update I described as shorter than usual, but that just goes to show I enjoyed it a lot. Keep up the good work, and I will faithfully wait for the next update.
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