thefools-journey

[thefools-journey]

I know it’s not your usual stuff, but what’s your input on the “The Arcana is full of racism and misogyny and Asra and Nadia are overly sexualized and Asra is treated to racist Orientalism” discourse?? I’m a POC and even researched all of it but I still don’t see the problems??????

you're right, this isn't our usual stuff. and while we did have a discussion about it, we only have one firm conclusion: it's a complex topic with discourse we're not informed on.

at this moment, we don't think any content in the arcana has or had malicious intent. overall, it has done its best to ground itself into a good story rather than be a patchwork of caricatures. at its worst, it's ignorance. your mileage may certainly vary on how bad ignorance is.

the arcana itself being a romance game means every LI gets 'sexualized.' we don't perceive that asra or nadia received any unique attention in that regard. they act as sexy as everyone else does. frankly, that's notable in an environment where desexualization based on race is a big issue too.

while only tangentially related, for the sake of honesty and a bit of perspective on our views—we have observed far more blatant bigotry in the fandom, especially in the past, than what may be in the source material.

however we don't claim to be experts, anon. only one person on the mod team is a person of color, and that's the one writing this. please don't take this response to be any more valuable than some other randos' thoughts.

– mod elie

[thefools-journey]

Wait, what's going on? I just re downloaded the arcana but I haven't noticed any problems :(

hi, anon, welcome back to the fandom! we hope you have a good time here!

the problem is not with the arcana application itself, the problem is with the dorian app version. dorian bought the arcana from its former owners, nix hydra, and promised to keep the original app running while adding new arcana content (ie new arcana tales) to the dorian app. all well and good, but dorian’s made a few choices with their app content which we’re side-eyeing over here.

for example, a new asra tale came out on their app last week. they misgendered the magician (they/them, was referred in the tale as he/him), they completely ignored the soft magic system asra and the main character’s tarot magic runs on in favor of using spells with names (which don’t exist for any magic system in the arcana game, really), that sort of thing. we initially chalked the issues up to growing pains for the new devs, as learning about the worldbuilding and most character pronouns requires actually playing the game and taking notes (the arcana fandom isn’t the most curative out there).

then nadia’s new tale came out yesterday and the dorian devs broke the one meta rule of game design: choices matter. instead, they locked the “good” end of nadia’s new content behind a paywall. the original devs never did that. they hid raunchier/hornier/far more romantic moments behind a paywall, but nix hydra never hid endings. you always could get the entire plot for free with a little bit of patience.

the dorian devs further doubled down on hiding the good ending by giving the player choices throughout the route which, obviously, do not affect the ending. no matter what you picked, if you chose free paths only, you got the negative ending. but that discrepancy between the "choices" and the f2p ending meant that players caught on to the hidden good ending a lot more quickly than they would have otherwise. you paid to win or you didn't.

they then tripled down on hiding the good ending by changing how the paywall works. with nix hydra, you paid once and then your account had access to the scene forever. with dorian, you have to pay every single time you want that hidden content.

that's the most important and relevant nonsense anyway. there's more, but we're not here to dump the garbage on our blog.

[thefools-journey]

hey dorian wtf is up with hiding an ending behind a paywall? and making people pay each time they want to access that ending or scene??

seriously, wtaf is going on over there

hey dorian wtf?

[thefools-journey]

hey dorian wtf?

[thefools-journey]

so your friendly neighborhood aces heard the arcana fandom is confused by character ages

Well, wonder no more, friends. Your fandom aces have done the math (so much math) and checked our calculations against in-game information so you don't have to!

Approximate ages when the game begins, oldest to youngest:

Nadia: at least 40 (turning 41 in 6 months)

Lucio: at least 39 (turning 40 on the day of the Masquerade)

Julian: ~37 (turning 38 in 2 months)

Muriel: 30 (turning 31 in 8 months)

Portia: 29 (turning 30 in 1 month)

Asra: 26 (turning 27 in 5 months)

Our sources/reasoning for ages:

Nadia is stated to be older than Lucio in her route and the oldest LI by the devs. How much older is somewhat up for debate. We went with 40 a) because it’s a nice round number, and b) it puts her parents’ ages into a more plausible range. Nadia has six older siblings and her mother has been through five pregnancies before Nadia. At minimum, meaning the Empress gets pregnant soon after she gives birth, Nadia is six years younger than Nafizah. A more reasonable minimum is 18 months between births, which would make Nadia nine years younger than Nafizah. Nadia states in her route that she was always treated as the baby of the family, which to us indicates there’s a larger than normal age gap between her and Natiqa. Setting Nadia’s age at 40 puts her parents in their late 60s-early 70s, depending on how old they were when they started having kids. Quite the silver foxes.

Lucio’s age is both more relative and more solid than Nadia’s. We have a pretty good timeline for him. Lucio was 18 when he killed his father and Morga kicked him out of the tribe, as shown in his mini tale. From there, we know he spent some time as a mercenary, making a name for himself, which we’re told in several routes. By the start of the game, Asra’s parents have been missing for about 20 years and we know that Lucio’s reign began around that time. So, really, Lucio’s age comes down to how long you think he was a merc before he stormed Vesuvia and took over. He’s at least 38 if he took the shortest amount of time between leaving the tribe and taking over Vesuvia. We are going with 39 almost 40 to acknowledge the time it takes to travel between the Scourgelands and Vesuvia, stated in Muriel’s route to take weeks of travel, and to give him some wiggle room for battles and name making along the way.

Julian. Oh boy, Julian. Julian’s age is murky and reliant on several other people’s ages and timelines. We know that as a teenager he sought out Nazali to teach him to become a doctor. They were impressed with him and agreed to take him on. While he was still their apprentice, after a very large battle, Julian amputated Lucio’s arm by himself. (We’ve already gushed about this boy’s genius so let’s move on.) Lucio’s arm was amputated before he became Count, as evidenced by him hiring Asra’s parents to make him a replacement. Given the sheer…everything involved with amputating a man’s arm, we can safely say that Julian had been training under Nazali for a few years by that point. Once his apprenticeship ended, Julian traveled the world, making some infrequent stops back in Nevivon to say hi to his sister and his adoptive mother, Lilinka.

This should be easy, right? Just pick a nice round number like 20 at the time of Lucio’s amputation and add 20/21 to it for his start of game age, right? Well, we have a few problems. Number 1, Nadia is the oldest LI with Lucio right behind her. He has to be younger than them. Number 2 is Julian’s age relative to Portia and the backstory information we get in both their routes. Julian’s route tells us that the family’s ship was caught in a storm and sank, killing both parents. The two children were rescued by Mazelinka, who in turn took them to Nevivon to be raised among other orphans by Lilinka and the other grannies there. According to the route, Julian learned to read from Lilinka not so long before he sought out Nazali. Within his own route, Julian never mentions remembering his parents or how old he was when the storm took them. In Portia’s route, we confirm that she was too young to remember anything but Julian does remember their parents, aunt, and the storm. It’s likely that Julian in particular had to spend a few years learning to read either the Arcana equivalent of Common or the language of Nevivon (or both). Given that the people of Nevivon had no trouble with Portia and his actual names while the Vesuvians couldn’t pronounce them correctly, we can safely say that the Devoraks’ homeland shares some linguistic similarities with Nevivon.

So, Julian needs to be old enough to be at a point in his training where he could be trusted to amputate a man’s arm correctly but young enough that we can get a few years of sibling bonding before Julian gives in to his wanderlust. If the memory from Portia’s route can be trusted, he looks to be between 8-12 when the ship goes down while Portia is old enough to speak. So Portia’s 2-4 there. We basically took the average, which puts Julian at about 17 when he met Lucio the first time and 11 when the ship went down. He gets 2-3 years to get his feet under him before joining Nazali at 13-14 and Portia gets some funny stories about her big brother. So, by the time the game begins, Julian’s around 37.

Muriel's age is up in the air save a couple of pertinent Lucio dates. We know that Morga's tribe launched a desperate raid against Muriel's people in the steppe which devastated both groups. The raid occurred after Lucio was banished. Khamgalai also foresaw the attack and helped organize an effort to remove the tribe's children from danger before the raid. Muriel was one such child. So off the bat, we know that Muriel was of the right age to be evacuated: old enough that he could technically survive alone, too young to join the warriors defending the tribe.

We also know thanks to the mini tale that young Muriel was on the streets for a while before Asra joins his life, as Muriel mentions that Asra is the "new kid." Lucio appears in the story as the new count, complete with his golden prosthetic. Muriel is also older than Asra in this tale- we can see Muriel thinking of him as a younger kid. His sprite looks to be around the same age as young Julian's, 8-12. All the facts combined put Muriel at at least 28 years old (making him 6 or so when he left his tribe); realistically, he's probably older. We go with 30 because it's a nice round number that takes into account the travel time to Vesuvia from the Shining Steppe and gives Muriel some time alone before Asra arrives.

Portia's age is the most elastic. We already went over it with Julian but basically, her only real dates of reference are that she's about 3 when the ship goes down and she has a few years with Julian before he seeks Nazali. Exactly how long ago the shipwreck was is flexible; and as we said with Julian, it is possible to age him, Lucio, and Nadia up without messing up the relative timeline. It is also possible to lower the age gap between the Devorak siblings by aging Portia up slightly or aging Julian down slightly. We chose 29 for Portia because of our calculations of Julian's age.

Asra's age is the most fixed of the LIs. Lucio has ruled Vesuvia for 20 years counting the goat years, he obtained his prosthetic very early in or right before his reign, and Asra's parents, who built the thing, went missing when Asra was 5. Asra is at least 25 and not older than 27 at the start of the game. We chose 26 to account for a potential year between Lucio gaining the arm and fully ascending as count.

[thefools-journey]

A scapegoat can also be the necessary evil in a certain sense, a biblical example could be Judas that is in fact a scape goat. I don’t want to bore you with a long ass ask, but scapegoat doesn’t automatically mean completely innocent.

it's true that lucio isn't, like, "pure evil." and we're sure there are plenty of people who recognize the complexity of lucio's choices. we get your intention!

in regards to semantics, though, telos used the term accurately. 'scapegoat' refers to someone/something that is unjustly blamed and subsequently punished for the actions of another. this originates from ancient near eastern sacrifice practices, most notably in temple judaism, where two goats would be sacrificed: one as a blood sacrifice, and the other (the scapegoat) as the symbolic bearer of the people's sins to be released into the wilderness. it's on point, in fact, that you bring up a christian biblical example—though judas iscariot was not a scapegoat. because being a scapegoat is about what others have done and the guilt they've been burdened with, not about others making/encouraging someone to do bad things.

by the popular narrative of events, judas justly deserved the consequences he received for his own actions. no one used him to misdirect consequences onto that he didn't deserve. the real scapegoat of this narrative was jesus of nazareth, as he was the proposed bearer of everyone else's sins to be sacrificed.

so telos's post was addressing the argument that lucio is mostly innocent of being an asshole because he was a scapegoat for the devil actually committing all these heinous deeds—when in reality, lucio made active choices to pull shit all the time while being fairly aware of the nature of what he was doing and their consequences. he understood that he was making a deal with the devil, he chose to kill his father, he knew he was the source of the plague and that it was killing lots of people. that's not the situation of a scapegoat.

if anything, lucio was a tool to the devil (as well as literally a tool). a convenient if frustrating means to an end. someone selfish, eager to make excuses, and thus easy to manipulate into doing things in the devil's favor as well. but not a scapegoat.

– mod elie

[thefools-journey]

okay, so just popping in here to say i have seen the 'lucio is a scapegoat' shtick infecting tumblr and guys...no he's not.

scapegoats by definition do not cause their own problems, they are proxies unjustly blamed for the problems around them.

lucio has literally caused every single problem the characters are dealing with at the start of the game. in no particular order:

lucio traded his parents' hearts for power to a demon and then went back on that promise, which literally caused the entire plague

lucio knows that he caused the plague, that it is magical, and that it is following him

lucio refused to share this information with literally anyone even when his own life was on the line

lucio murdered his father because he just didn't like the guy very much and he didn't do enough for lucio's fucking birthday

lucio conquered vesuvia and installed the four fucking horsemen as courtiers who very quickly went to work making the city even more miserable (volta, for example, hoarded food even with most of the city starving).

lucio imprisoned asra's parents which led to asra being an orphan

lucio forcibly kept muriel in the gladiatorial games via implied threats towards asra

lucio married nadia with the explicit intent of having her clean up his messes. he then undermined her every attempt at bettering the situation until she became an apathetic shell of her former self

lucio did not give a fuck about the plague until he was about to die from it, despite it literally being his job description as count

lucio imprisoned and infected julian with the plague because julian 'wasn't working fast enough' on a cure

lucio received a magical ritual to gain a new body and avoid death only to screw even that up by impatiently starting the ritual before he had enough arcana representatives to pull it off successfully despite being warned about it.

at some point, lucio made a literal deal with the devil which, hey, fun fact, kids, is a sign of the reversed endings

so yeah, in summary, lucio is a goat man spirit bc of western associations of the goat with the devil, not because lucio is some poor wronged baby. he's a well written character but he is not some innocent the other characters are projecting their flaws onto, he is literally the root cause of all these shenanigans. - mod telos

[thefools-journey]

Will mc and asra get married

apologies if i’m missing any context here.

the arcana is a visual novel romance where you essentially play as a self-insert or an oc of yours. that’s who mc is. so whether or not mc and asra get married is pretty much your decision! in terms of it happening literally as part of asra’s route, no, but it’s your choice to imagine whatever you want between them.

- mod elie

[thefools-journey]

Muriel, Vengeance, and Murder

So. Apparently we should talk about this.

As we all know - and if you don’t, well, spoilers ahead! - in the Reversed ending of Muriel’s route, we kill Devil!Lucio. I say we, because despite Muriel dealing the killing blow, the MC shoots an arrow at Lucio as well, which strikes true. You can therefore say that any blame for Lucio’s, and Devil’s, death is shared between Muriel and MC.

I’ve seen a few posts claiming the framing of this plot is problematic. I’ve wanted to discuss this issue for a moment.

Lucio dying is not a fresh idea in The Arcana. He’s also able to meet his end in the primary routes, either from the hands of our heroes (Nadia’s Reversed ending), or by, uhm, unhappy demons strongly suggested to be the courtiers (Asra’s route).

His death is not treated as something to be celebrated, though. Oh, our characters might definitely be happy to never have to deal with him again, but the death itself - it’s never been established as something good. More than that: the difference between Nadia killing or sparing him is the first major difference between her Reversed and Upright endings.

I think that’s supposed to tell us that murder is, you know, bad.

Enter Muriel’s route. His is probably the one where Lucio does the worst things, actively and by choice. He’s not just a vengeful, angry, pathetic goat ghost anymore; he’s fused with the Devil, and committed great atrocities, including the murder of Heart of the Forest, Khamgalai, and his own mother, Morga.

(By the way, it’s still frustrating that we never learn why he decided to pursue a different path in Muriel’s route, but oh well.)

Furthermore, this time it was Muriel facing him - and out of all the Arcana LIs, he is possibly the one to suffer most by Lucio’s hand. He was little more than a slave, forced to fight and kill; Lucio is the source of most of his trauma. You could argue that if anyone had the right to kill him, it’s Muriel. (Poor guy’s PTSD and deeply seated trauma deserves its own post: one we do have planned for later.)

And yet, Lucio’s death is no cause for celebration in this route either. Because he was fused with the Devil, his (their?) death means that there is no Devil, without Nadia or MC to take his place this time. Lack of an Arcana upsets the balance of the world. This causes further guilt in Muriel, as he believes it’s his fault, since he was the one to take Lucio’s life.

I must admit, I haven’t given much thought to this ending before I encountered a take that’s... well, surprised me, certainly. Specifically, I’ve seen some people upset with this narrative, because as Lucio was Muriel’s abuser, apparently... it’s bad that his death by Muriel’s hands caused unpleasant consequences??

There are several reasons I think this reasoning doesn’t hold up. One of them is that the Upright and Reversed endings in the Arcana have always been about both the meaning of the LIs tarot cards, as well as LI’s and MC’s mental health. Depending on whether we encouraged good instincts or self-destructive behaviours, our beloved could grow into the best version of themself, or spiral down right towards the worst-case scenario. And killing someone - even someone who deeply hurt you... I wouldn’t say it’s something that improves one’s mental health, would you?

Obviously, the Reversed endings aren’t meant to be happy endings. MC didn’t manage to be a good influence on their LI; our plans don’t work out, things don’t get better at the end. It’s not the worst-case scenario, perhaps, because MC and LI are still together, but, well... it’s hard to deny that it’s not the ending they hoped for.

Thus, Muriel’s Reversed choice to kill Lucio was never meant to be a good choice, just like it’s not a good choice in Nadia’s Reversed. In both cases, I believe it’s supposed to portray just how far gone the LI is. Lucio has definitely hurt both Muriel and Nadia - but the game clearly states that personally ending his life is not the right way of doing things.

The other reason I think this criticism of Reversed route doesn’t make sense is that, no matter what, killing people has consequences. Not even necessarily moral (if the character thinks the murder was justified) or legal (let’s be honest, if Nadia absolved Muriel, that would’ve been the end of that); the consequences can be purely practical in nature. In this case, killing Lucio has unpleasant consequences because he was fused with the Devil. From where I’m sitting, it seems like a valid choice and point to make - even if we hated Lucio, straight up murdering him has a price.

Most of all, though, I think killing Lucio is a Reversed choice, because Muriel, specifically, didn’t want to kill anymore. In his past, he was forced to act as a fighter and executioner for the enjoyment of the crowd, and he hated it. Murdering someone yet again - in the same place he’s killed people before, on Lucio’s orders... Of course it feels wrong. Of course it’d weigh on his conscience. It’s bound to remind him of his trauma, bring him back to feeling like an executioner once again - this time for Vesuvia instead of Lucio.

Muriel’s route, among others, was about his personal journey. First, he was basically a prisoner, forced to kill if he wanted to survive; then, a complete hermit, avoiding all contact, feeling both guilt and anger about his past. Most of his personal growth during his story is about finding the balance between being a ruthless killer and hiding from the world; deciding that opening up to people is safe, and that some things are worth fighting for, and that fighting doesn’t have to mean murder. Considering this, it’s easy to see how killing Lucio means taking several huge steps back along this journey. It’s working right into all of Muriel’s traumas and fears.

Whether I, personally, feel like Lucio deserves death - whether any player does - doesn’t ultimately matter. Killing him is a bad thing for Muriel, because of his journey and his trauma. It’s part of what makes the Reversed endings so heartbreaking: it’s what happens when MC and LI give into their fears, refuse to reflect on their past, double down on their mistakes instead of growing: and are, therefore, presented with situations where they feel like they have no other choice.

Turns out, killing people isn’t great for mental health after all.

- Auva

[thefools-journey]

Just wanted to say that your blog and it's content is really fascinating! Your examination of the links between the character routes and tarot cards that they were meant to represent is an interesting take I haven't seen much in the rest of the fandom. Keep up the outstanding work!! (Sorry if this is a lot, I can get a little wordy at times.)

Aww, thank you so much!! The lore, deep symbolism and intricacy of the stories is what made us interested in The Arcana in the first place, and the pleasure in sharing some of our thoughts and analysis is all ours, believe me. Also, no apologizing!! Getting such nice messages makes our day, since we really care deeply about the quality of our content. Hope you’re having a great day!

- Auva

[thefools-journey]

so glad we “saved portia” for this.

[thefools-journey]

In the light of the recent excellent Telos’s meta on the secondary routes, I wanna propose a better fitting Hamilton quote for Portia’s update:

tarot symbolism @ Nyx Hydra: oh, let me be a part of the narrative

- Auva

[thefools-journey]

So. Some of you may be wondering why we haven’t written a whole ton about the secondaries or what have you. Here’s the reason: we were waiting for them to end before we really dug into the problems we were noticing. We felt that it was only fair to wait for the routes to finish so that we had an understanding of the writers’ vision. Who knew, we thought, maybe they would see the problems themselves and course correct, maybe they are building to something we can’t quite see yet and these issues will have actual payoff, maybe-

In light of Muriel and Lucio’s endings, and the general mess that has dominated Portia’s route for a year plus now, we are breaking our silence. We are actually going to talk about this shit show.

The fandom at large has talked about a bunch of issues with the secondaries but for me, the cardinal sin, the thing that really all the issues lead back to, is this: the writers lost sight of the tarot themes which so strongly defined and held together the primary routes. Let me explain.

The primary routes each center around three thematic cores:

The Love Interest’s Major Arcana and its Reversed/Upright meanings

The MC’s Fool’s Journey, both how it can go right and how it can go wrong

A question about the MC’s identity and their relationship to said identity

Asra’s route asks: Who was the MC? How does the MC navigate a past they cannot and will not remember? What do they owe a past they cannot remember? How do they handle the revelations of what Asra, Nadia, Julian, etc did? How do you right the past? Can you?

Nadia’s route asks: Who is the MC? The MC has no past. Are they the Fool only? Are they actually the same person they were? How can they tell? Who are they, really? Are they an imposter? No one can answer these questions for them.

Julian’s route asks: Who will the MC become? How does the MC see their future? Is there anything worth fighting for for that future? What will become of them and their loved ones? 

Now, if you notice, these themes are expertly woven throughout the primaries. Asra’s past dominates his route, Nadia is also missing memories and trying to construct her identity both with her family and with Vesuvia, and Julian’s fear of the future drives his flailing for control. Asra has to learn to take a broader view of his actions to get his Upright Ending, Nadia has to learn to trust herself and those around her for hers, and Julian has to learn how to let go for his. These lessons are the issues their cards stand for. The primaries are so dang elegant and delicate in their handlings of theme it is honestly awe-inspiring.

Thematically, the secondary routes have completely lost their hearts. First of all, the MC does not have strong, core questions which need to be answered. They just don’t. I suppose the writers did not want to retread old territory (which is weird considering how tightly bound the primaries are; it really tricks you into thinking you’re living the same events but from different angles depending on your route) but they did not replace the old with anything new. Muriel’s route is, on the surface, about discovering and owning his past, the good and the bad. Why not tie MC’s self-discovery to that story? Or they could have taken the angle that Muriel’s route is about convincing him to be present and active in the world while MC builds an identity for themself outside of Asra, the shop, and the memories they cannot retrieve. Why not tie the investigation themes running through Portia’s early route back to MC and their past? Portia has the unique angle of being as in the dark as MC about all of this, why not discover the past together? And for goodness’ sake, Lucio has no future when his route begins, why not tie that to his need for growth, responsibility, and MC’s own future between the Fool, the Devil, or something mortal and in between?

Secondly, the routes lost their tarot backbone. We have a primer on how to get specific endings for each LI and it still holds, but the writers did not follow through on the thematic coherence of each secondary. The Hermit is looking for something, be it perspective, insight, a solution to a problem, whatever. The key here is that the Hermit must find or learn what they are searching for, this thing must change their understanding of the world, and finally, they must bring this lesson back to the world from which they retreated. Can someone please enlighten me as what exactly Muriel learns then teaches the world around him? Nothing Muriel learns from Morga, MC, or even the Hermit ties back into anything. The Devil warns that you are out of control and exerting a lot of manipulative, destructive behavior on the world around you. It asks you to take responsibility for yourself and your actions. So can someone tell me why Lucio’s route actively avoids any interaction or reflection on two of Lucio’s biggest victims: Muriel and Julian? Why does the route only try to make amends with the “easier” of his victims in the cast? The Star is first and foremost the card of clarity, the light at the end of the tunnel. Perseverance, if you will. Yet Portia’s route has been the muddiest of the trio; the writers drop the investigation aspect of her route in favor just handing her and MC information they could have easily found and muddying the waters with Tasya (she blows up the palace but it’s all okay bc she has a secret daughter Julian never thought to bring up or mention) and the complete removal of the Devil as antagonist. 

So that leaves just the Fool’s Journey trying to hold this stool up with only one leg. And well...it doesn’t go well. At best, the secondary route books pay the barest surface level homage to the themes of the individual cards. At worst, they ignore the cards completely. Muriel's Moon book has nothing to do with illusions or delusions or lies or even an Alice in the Looking Glass upside down world. Portia's back half is a complete and utter mess, starting with her Temperance book being so badly mangled that Muriel's aftermath book does it better. Lucio's route too bungles the Tower and the Star. There just isn't enough here to carry the routes alone.

Add to the core loss the loss of intertextuality. The primary routes are very good, even great but they too do have their moments and mistakes. What helps strengthen them when the cores stumble is how the trio is woven together. Things you learn in Asra's route can inform the way you play Nadia's, for example. Julian's route informs what is going on in Asra's route and slots some missing puzzle pieces together. Nadia's route tells you of the power struggles she is facing and informs the other two routes' handling of Julian and his trial. On and on, the three routes support each other because they are built out of the same basic plot beats, just tackled in very different ways. Now, the writers are allowed to try and write whatever they want. They apparently wanted to be more experimental and less tied down to an overarching plot with the three secondaries. Okay, fine, they are allowed to do that. The problem is that they sacrificed one of the key strengths of the primary trio and didn't replace said strength with anything else. They also, on some level, harmed the very premise of the game, which is that only the player's choices and route selected change the overall plot. Instead of feeling like legitimate possibilities or offshoots of the same timeline/plot, the secondaries feel almost like Arcana AUs. The secondaries throw out all relations to the primaries and each other as quickly as possible and for what? 

It is probably the height of arrogance to suggest fixes for works whose behind the scenes I do not know. At the same time, some small, obvious changes could have salvaged Muriel and maybe Lucio's endings (rip Portia). Instead of having the Hermit appear as a disappointing cameo, why not have him say something cryptic to Muriel, then have MC start trying to seal the Devil. Then let Muriel use his forget me mark to cloak MC and hide them from the Devil's attacks. Protecting MC by hiding them from Lucio, keeping him focused on Muriel, seems to me a simple third solution between Muriel's desire to run and his desire to never fight again. It lets him stand up to Lucio and let him have it while holding onto who Muriel has become. The Reversed End would have MC try to draw Lucio's attention at some point, disrupting the sealing, and eventually leading to Muriel killing the Devil. With Lucio's Upright End, I just have to ask: why doesn't MC fully claim the power of the Fool instead of the Devil? We don't need the other Arcana involved in this fight; we have three routes that demonstrate that. Just have MC pull Scout into the conflict, then have Lucio tell MC he believes in them, then add his power to the mix. You got yourself a full Fool who leaves Scout guarding the realm until they and Lucio's mortal bodies fail and they return to the realm to be together forever. Boom, you're done, you can even add some ambiguous lines so that players can decide how happy their MC is with this arrangement, send me the check.

Here is the bottom line. Our group is full of aroace, and several combinations therein, individuals. We are the last group who should have gotten into a dating sim of all things. But the Arcana did something with the primaries that was special; they wrote a compelling plot with dazzling lore, complex characters, and strong themes wrapped up in a dating sim bow. The writers know better and we know they know better. I do not know what happened with the secondaries, especially around books 10-11, which is where minor issues slowly start spiraling into major ones, but it is clear that Nix Hydra needed some more planning before they released these routes. Hopefully they will learn.

TL;DR: Nix Hydra fired their tarot consultants about eighteen months ago and it has wrecked their secondary routes until they were just embarrassments. They never intended for the secondary routes to even exist and once they had to make them, they scrambled and threw out everything that made the primaries work.

- Mod Telos

[thefools-journey]

shoutout to the aroace writer on muriel's route, finally some good fucking aspec food

[thefools-journey]

Hey, Lucio peeps, if you’re wondering why or how you got the Reversed Ending, wonder no more, here’s our quick primer on how to get his Upright (And yes, Lucio is still the Devil Route, even if his current Patron is the Fool via MC):

LUCIO THE DEVIL

The Devil is a card about power and control, who and what has it in your life. This can manifest in a myriad of ways, from feeling out of control to obsessing over things and people to actively controlling others. The Devil is usually a warning card, a sign that something or someone has an unhealthy hold over you (or that you have an unhealthy hold over someone). The Devil also deals in materialism and the obsession with status. Again, this goes back to the power and control domains. Some interpretations also add ignorance to the Devil’s domain, which can also be traced back to his control domain. If you are unaware of something, you cannot take control of it. The Devil asks you to reevaluate and reassess what and who you allow to have power in your life. It asks you to retake responsibility for your own destiny.

Lucio begins his route as a literal shade of a man, a shell of his former self, unable to interact with the world he so slavishly desires. This is the debt he has accumulated through a lifetime of irresponsibility, an obsession with instant gratification, and a desperate need to be seen by others as powerful, desirable, and control. In his quest to become the most powerful man on the planet, he has instead wound up with nothing, completely ignorant as to the cause of his circumstances. This is why he is stuck as the Devil's least favorite whipping boy. If Lucio had taken responsibility and come clean, even back when he was dying, he could have avoided the worst of his problems. 

As it starts, he is still dodging responsibility, allowing his obsessions to dominate his life, and ensuring his mistakes continue to compound against him. That is why getting him to own up and regain control of himself is key to his Upright Ending. It sounds cruel but that hard, grinding self reflection is the only way he stands a chance of fully, utterly breaking his chains. You can’t do it for him or protect him.

[thefools-journey]

You know what would have made the last Portia update good? 

If Portia and MC had been investigating this stuff all along and found it themselves instead of being handed it by Lucio.

[thefools-journey]

Calling it now:

Lucio’s Upright Sun book will end with MC and him finding the World.

Lucio’s Reversed Sun book will end with MC and him not finding the World and deciding to go against the Devil without them.

In that vein, something will happen in Lucio’s Reversed End that will force MC to take on the full power of the Fool.

This will lead to a Lady MacBeth and Devil/Lucio dynamic between MC/Lucio. It will, on the surface, look like a better deal for Lucio than his chains to the Devil.

It won’t be better.

-Mod Telos