multisfabulis

[loosesodamarble]

A Black Clover Dating Sim

I’m going to imagine Black Clover as a dating sim/otome real quick.

The title of the dating sim would be “Black Clover: The Third Leaf” in reference to the third leaf of the clover being associated with love. (And yes, I know the title is confusing since it sounds like it could imply two previous games but shhhh!)

I could try coming up with an original plot for the story of the dating sim to follow that would allow for the player character to get lots of interaction with the various characters that I've chosen to be love interests for this dating sim concept. But I'm going to simply have the sim's plot follow Black Clover canon up to the Elf Reincarnation Arc. Although, I would make a few adjustments to certain story beats to maximize the time spent with the love interests.

On that note, I would like to say that when a player gets on a love interest’s route, the player insert would join the corresponding squad for that character.

If this dating sim were to follow dating sim convention, then there’d be four routes that are available and then a fifth, locked route (ugh, I don’t like locked routes but I’m going to go with what’s standard). Each route would have a variety of endings, some shorter bad ones that come in the middle of a route and at least two endings that reach the final chapter. I personally would create three endings: Bad, Normal, and Best (in a similar vein to Piofiore: Fated Memories).

For the unlocked routes, there would be: -Jack: I would have Jack’s route be the “introductory route” in terms of a route play order. The story with the least spoilers to the overarching story. Jack’s character and story would be pretty distant from the main plot. Though his route still is a necessary piece in the overall puzzle. -Nozel: His route would touch more on spoilers but still leave things pretty murky. In terms of play order, Nozel’s route can probably be interchangeable with Fuegoleon’s. He gets more involved with the story, considering his position as a royal giving him access to more resources/information and what happens to Fuegoleon. Speaking of! -Fuegoleon: Let me be clear, one of the biggest changes to the Black Clover canon that I’d make for the dating sim is keeping Fue out of a coma (although he could end up in a coma for a short bad end). Because it would really suck if the love interest of the route just wasn’t present for most of it. To keep Fue from spilling the beans though, he’d probably be under the effects of some kind of memory blocking spell or maybe he’s too shaken with PTSD that broaching the topic of the attack isn’t in the cards (and perhaps pressing him for answers too early into his route results in a bad end). As I said with Nozel, I’d make it possible to swap the two in order of play and still get roughly the same amount of story reveals. -Yami: Definitely the route to play right before unlocking the last route. Since the Black Bulls are the main characters of the Black Clover series, it makes sense that Yami's route would become a lot more involved and thus carry a lot more spoilers.

Finally, the locked route of the game goes to William. Since I'm having the dating sim's plot lead up to the Elf Reincarnation Arc, it makes sense for William to be the locked love interest. His connection to Patry, and his personal journey, is gonna be the big grand reveal. Most if not all of the story's secrets would be revealed in William's route.

But also like Piofiore, I’d like to include a sixth route, the Finale. It'd be where literally everything gets revealed and all loose ends are tied, without the route being romance oriented. (Although there is an option for romance even in Piofiore's Finale route.)

Now when it comes to completing routes to unlock William’s, most games require players to complete the best endings for all other love interests. Which I feel is a stupid slap to the face. It's unfair to demand that players get the best endings for all the other love interests, characters that players would’ve grown attached to and then say “and now your love for them and their happily ever afters are completely irrelevant because here’s the guy that the player insert is meant to be with.”

Anyways, “Black Clover: The Third Leaf” will actually follow the example set by Code Realize and Radiant Tale. In those games, getting even the Normal End will bring players a step closer to unlocking the final route. So players for the Black Clover dating sim can either complete the Normal or Best End for Jack, Nozel, Fuegoleon, and Yami in order to play William’s route. And getting William’s Normal or Best End then opens the Finale.

Though I am going to say that only getting the Bad Endings won’t help unlock William’s Route. (This isn’t Virche Evermore folks. Though even that's not a proper comparison since the Salvation/good Endings are locked until you fulfill certain requirements.)

However, completing a Bad Ending will still earn the player something. The ability to chapter select for a character route. Chapter selection is a feature in dating sims where you can pick which chapter of a route you jump into and sometimes set an affection stat as well. The feature makes it easier to hunt down the shorter bad endings and get to the other long endings without having to replay the entire route. Some games only make chapter selecting available after getting a character’s Best End (glaring at you Collar x Malice) while others give players the chapter selection option even with a Bad or Normal End (Piofiore and Winter's Wish, props to you for that).

Also, some dating sims give their various endings neat little names (Virche Evermore and Variable Barricade come to mind for that). So I'm also going to name the various endings for the love interests of "The Third Leaf." (and give a brief idea of what it would involve).

Jack -Bad End: Ill Will Hunting (Jack and the player don’t trust each other enough and can’t work well together to fight the reincarnated elves, so they die in battle.) -Normal End: My Favorite Challenge (The player becomes Jack’s vice captain as they challenge each others’ strength, but nothing more happens.) -Best End: Absolutely Crazy For You (Jack and the player confess their feelings in the middle of the battle with the elves and begin dating afterwards.) 

Nozel -Bad End: Stripped of Wings (Nozel is distracted during the battle with the elves over his feelings for the player as well as the unresolved tension between him and Noelle. Unable to focus, he dies against Kivn.) -Normal End: A Captain’s Duty Above All (Nozel survives the night but pulls away from the player to stay focused on his job. It's implied in this ending that Noelle joins the Silver Eagles so there's some hope for her.) -Best End: Silver Star of Hope and Love (Nozel finds his resolve during the battle and survives. He makes cleaner amends with Noelle. Then, he confesses to the player and hesitantly starts a relationship.)

Fuegoleon -Bad End: A Dying Flame (Fuegoleon is unable to come to overcome his trauma. His broken spirit means Salamander doesn’t choose him and so the CLK is defeated during the Elf Reincarnation.) -Normal End: Lion’s Roar (Fuegoleon manages to earn Salamander’s presence but he still feels inadequate for the player.) -Best End: Love That Burns Bright (Fuegoleon protects the player with Salamanders power and confesses to the player. The player reassures him that he was always good enough, they were just waiting for him to remember that for himself.)

Yami -Bad End: Failure to Surpass (The player has trouble believing in themself and dies to protect Yami from the elves' attacks, thinking it's all they can do.) -Normal End: Three Cheers for the Black Bulls!!! (The Magic Knights successfully end the elf reincarnations and the Black Bulls are celebrated as heroes. Yami and the player decide to put more focus into the squad than a potential romance.) -Best End: Aishiteiru (The player fights side-by-side with Yami during the attack. Yami is glad to see their confidence and afterwards, confesses. They start dating and Yami shares a bit about Hino.)

William -Bad End: Blackened Dawn (William is completely lost when Patry activates the reincarnation spell for all elves. As the player futilely begs for William to come back, Patry kills them.) -Normal End: One Day We Might… (The elves are stopped and William is saved. William refuses to enter a relationship with the player until he redeems himself for his treachery against Clover Kingdom. He never does in this ending.) -Best End: A Kiss Under Yggdrasil’s Blooms (The player reassures William that they'll support him despite his betrayal. They begin dating despite William's self-doubt.)

.....

Now I know what some of you might be thinking, “Soda, what about your favorite devil host, Nacht? Why doesn’t he have a route in the Black Clover dating sim?”

Not to worry, lovely followers, I already have that covered. “Black Clover: The Third Leaf” gets itself a fandisc (read: sequel) where players get to play After Stories for the original five love interests, play through an extra story that totally happened during the original game’s timeline and doesn’t break continuity whatsoever (Code Realize and Collar x Malice’s fandiscs with the extra stories… oof), as well as romance new characters.

The fandisc title would be “Black Clover: Love, Luck, and Devils.”

"Love, Luck, and Devils" would have After Stories, epilogues to the original routes' Best Endings that give players a lot more fluffy moments with their man of choice and also present a new challenge for the couple's relationship.

Jack, Nozel, Fuegoleon, Yami, and William’s After Stories would provide plenty of fluff. But I also feel like there could be secondary After Stories that then move into the Spade Arc (RIP Yami and William for getting damsel-ed during the arc).

And then, of course, there's the alternate love interest routes which I will give to Patry (the guy honestly deserves it) and Nacht (see, he does get a route~).

Patry’s route would tell the events of the first game leading up to the Elf Reincarnation Arc, except the player character would be siding with the Eye of the Midnight Sun. There’d be minimal interactions with the original love interests but the player would get to see the Third Eye crew! Patry’s endings would be called: -Bad End: Leaves of Despair (Zagred, as in canon, turns Patry into a Dark Elf. When the player tries to stop him, he kills them. That despair makes it impossible for even Asta to save Patry afterwards.) -Normal End: A World Reborn (The elves are successfully reincarnated and Patry turns the player away since they’re still human. However, he does mourn the fact that he couldn't be with his beloved.) -Best End: Chase the Light, to a New Future (The elf reincarnation is stopped. Afterwards, Patry and the player confess their feelings. They vow to create the kind of world that Licht and Lumiere imagined, where elves and humans can live together.)

Nacht’s route removes the player from Clover Kingdom so they can instead join Nacht in his mission in Spade Kingdom. Nacht’s Shadow Magic could be used to transport the player between Spade and Clover so there can be some interactions with the rest of the BC cast. But the route would mainly be in Spade. Nacht’s route would also extend into Spade Arc for the big emotional climax. -Bad End: The Unforgiven (Nacht realizes he loves the player but due to his self-loathing, he accidentally tells the player that he wishes they’d never met [in the sense that he fears the fact that he fell in love after meeting them]. The player runs off and the two don’t see each other ever again, even during the battle for Spade.) -Normal End: Death and Atonement (During the battle in Spade, the player tries to help Nacht against the twin devils. To protect them, Nacht sacrifices himself and dies in the player’s arms.) -Best End: Love That Forgives All (When Nacht tries to sacrifice himself, the player stops him. After the battle, Nacht confesses his love for the player and feelings of inadequacy. They embrace him and says that they’ll love and forgive him no matter what.)

Maybe we can throw in a third game for this dating sim series (called “Black Clover: Romance Knights” [as a play on the Quartet Knights game]).

In this third game, players would get fluffy After Stories for Patry and Nacht’s routes. And I'd borrow a concept from Code Realize's second fandisc, Winterwide Miracles, called "triangle dates." It's a feature that simply allows players to see fluffy scenarios involving the player insert and two of the love interests. Why limit yourself to one pretty man, after all? There'd be triangle date scenarios involving all the love interests.

(Oh my gosh, the scenarios involving Fuegoleon and William or Patry would be so fucking awkward. I’m sorry, Fue. But you have to hang out with those two for the dating sim! Me personally, my favorite potential pair would be Nacht and Nozel.)

..........

And now to present the protagonist of this imaginary Black Clover dating sim series.

To be inclusive, there are two versions of the player insert.

A feminine presenting protagonist (default name: Heather):

And a masculine presenting protagonist (default name: Heath):

As is the standard for dating sims, the name for the player insert would be changeable.

Age: 25 Hometown: Aquaressa Magic Attribute: none (will explain in detail in a bit) Backstory: The protagonist washed up on the beach of a town called Aquaressa. They could only remember their name, how old they were (13 at the time), and recalled a poem that was taught to them. The protagonist was taken in by the local church and raised with the other children. Very quickly, people took notice of their odd magic which seemed to take no definitive form. They discovered an inclination towards healing magic despite the lack of an attribute. When they were fifteen, they received their grimoire like all other youth. As they trained their growing magic, they discovered their true potential (more on that later). At age nineteen, the protagonist was scouted by Julius Novachrono and given the chance to train under the nation's highest healer, Owen. Six years later, with battles against Spade and Diamond becoming fiercer, Julius asks the protagonist to formally join one of the Magic Knight squads to assist them more closely and actively on the battlefield. And that is where their story truly begins.

Regarding the protagonist's magic. Like Ladros, the protagonist doesn't have an attribute. However, this is because they have the ability to manipulate raw mana and using it to manifest whatever magical phenomena they desire. This means they can essentially use any attribute. For the protagonist, they find it easiest to turn mana into energy meant for Healing Magic. Turning raw mana into a specific attribute is taxing and takes a great deal of studying to pull off in the first place. They mainly use raw energy blasts but, at the start of the dating sim's events, can manifest the base four magic attributes (wind, water, earth, fire).

When the protagonist chooses a love interest, they will eventually learn how to manifest another element. -Cloud Magic with Jack -Lava Magic with Nozel -Snow Magic with Fuegoleon -Lightning Magic with Yami -Crystal Magic with William -Shadow Magic with Patry -Light Magic with Nacht (I would've made it so the protagonist learns the same attribute as the LI, but that complicated things with Fuegoleon. So instead of his being the only route where the protagonist doesn't learn to use his element, I decided that all the routes would have the protagonist learn a contrasting/complementary attribute instead.)

Other trivia about the protagonist -Essentially blind without their glasses. (I really wanted to protagonist to have glasses since I've personally never encountered an otome mc with glasses and have seen very few example of love interests with glasses.) -Their grimoire's cover is a cloudy grey and white gradient with a stark white border around the edges. -The protagonist has a four-leaf grimoire. However, with a special grimoire cover, they hide it since they know they're odd enough already without being a four-leaf. -Their palate is durable to extreme flavors. They're also a strong drinker. -The poem that the protagonist remembers goes as follows: Divine spirit, born asleep. Learn what you desire to keep. Once they tears are bittersweet, Then shall the self be complete. They initially mistake it as a sign of divine origins but eventually figure out that it's merely a poem about the value of life and learning to take all its joys and sorrows.