One of the difficult things about replaying HS3 was trying not to take more screenshots. But I did get these this time. And I think I prefer this version of events 🤔 It feels like it fits more?
(At the end are S2 spoilers. You can skip and just view the SS.)
I said on Reddit that I liked the idea of Vicky saving the boy in S1, only to learn a lesson from it, and choose not to risk the rangers in S2. I’d never read the Cruelty scene, so I didn’t know how accurate that idea actually was. Oddly, it seems like this is the better way to play these?
The S2 Balance achievement is one thing, but I’m also thinking of the prompt for not risking the rangers, vs if you do 🤔 The kids will grow up regardless, but they’ll “repay the kindness” they’ve been shown, and the rangers don’t die. And of course, this way, the boy in S1E9 lives.
(Idk if we’ll see him again, but it’s possible. We have seen side characters from ABH & HSR in HS3, and met Amaliel again, now as a toddler.)
Also, Sammy talks about seeing a vision of Vicky’s death…and I’ve been wondering about the hint on the loading screen, about empty vessels, combined with Lilith’s words in HS2.
Bonus screenshots + more text
If you choose the Mercy option, you get this:
And, as a reference for the achievement:
Lastly…
I still wonder if the resemblance and framing here was intentional. Tarnael’s every action had created a distortion (like with Vicky’s, in this scene), so him going to Sephamalum, rather than the Resistance, was his last act of good.
Essentially, he had to be sacrificed for light.
(I wouldn’t think it was to balance his act of good—that is, giving Vicky information—since he had already done something cruel: forcing his power into her. Which I figure evened his distortions. So ‘joining’ the enemy = good.)
This scene, with the unnamed-angel’s life in Vicky’s hands, is about Tarnael’s teaching. So, that makes me think the framing of his sprite - right in front of Tarnael’s body - is intentional, as well as the boy’s similar features to Tarnael.
Plus: for both, their hands are over their hearts.
Btw, while replaying during Tea Party, I caught that they changed some of Lane’s expressions, in Cain’s last 💎 scene. I went over the rest of it, and I don’t think anything else is different? I kinda thought Cain’s eyes were, in one part, a bit more boldly colored red, but I didn’t check it. The writing seemed identical. Idk if there’s differences in music or SFX, as I had sound off.
I did a lot with this Tea Party, but I’m most relieved to have finished redoing my update slot for HS3. An entire replay. That was very exhausting (I don’t have an auto-clicker). I also got 9 into a second slot, and 3 into a third.
Unfortunately, there was this bug in S1E7 I couldn’t get rid of, whenever I tried to make new slots, so I just went with it, and it came up again in S2E2, during the romance 💎 scene. I can only hope it won’t be an issue in the future (even though it’s technically a minor bug).
Anyway. I only have a little bit more to take care of, and then I can let myself pass out 😵💫
Ah, damn. So, I had forgotten to unlock this 💎 choice in SOS2 while DR was going (it was on my list, and yet 🫠). I was hoping we’d get one more DR before Tea Party Day, but nope. I have a backup plan, at least, but it’ll make matters more complicated for me 🥴 Oh well. In any case, it’s time to lock-in. I’ve got soooo many episodes to get through during and before TP.
At least we got Darren’s dating profile!! I really am thinking of switching to him as my main LI. It depends on how the next update goes 🤔
So, originally I took a few romance choices with each LI, to test what was considered too much on an mspec/bi slot. There’s different dialogue with Xavier, after you take the 💎 choice with Tiffany about Declan, if you have a certain % with Xavier. Idk what the exact number is, but when I replayed with, iirc, his first 💎 scene in S1E1 only (10%, this update), I didn’t get the exchange where he’s sad, when he talks about the way Declan looks at Riley. It’s interesting, because when I wasn’t romancing Declan, and only had one romance 💎 scene with him, iirc, I also had too low a % for the extra scene with Fabian. So, I guess 1-2 romance improvements is the limit? It’s just an estimate, of course.
Edit: to be clearer: 25% was enough. 10% isn’t.
[I don’t have much info for the girls, because I replayed my two other slots, before this update, to switch to M-LI, and on my WLW slot, I’ve only really taken choices with Emma. I know she gets jealous of Luna at one point, but ofc, I couldn’t say the % needed. + That there’s a bit of extra worry/focus on her, during the S1E10 opening flashback (+ a missing screen for Declan, in that slot), and Riley bursts out defending Lily, regardless of if you chose for her to have s crush on Lily. That’s all I caught.]
My initial guess for the first scene spoiler was Lane & Cain. Then I thought, ‘the coin doesn’t fit, right??’ But maybe I’m missing something, given NVTA apparently also thinks it’s them 🤔
[Edit: added possibly relevant screenshots.]
I recall NVTA got the MalVicky kiss wrong, so who knows. However, they do usually guess correctly, afaIk, so perhaps they can spot HS3 better now? I feel like the first half of the scene does fit CainLane, and HS3 is unpredictable…
We really can’t tell if they’d end up somewhere that lets this moment play out, you know?
Also, iirc, the MalVicky scene spoiler used the ‘wrong’ perspective for HS3, same as this one.
Anyway, here’s how I imagine it goes:
Lane: I want to spend the whole night with you.
Cain: Only the night?
His gaze lowered to my mouth. The soft whisper brushed my skin, like a snake's hiss, sneaking under my ribs and making me lick my lips.
Lane: No.
Cain reached out, his fingertip slowly tracing the line of my chin as he tilted my face up.
Cain: Then let's go.
He rose and offered me his hand.
Lane: Where?
Cain leaned over me, not allowing me to hide from his gaze.
Cain: I'm going to do something to you I've wanted to do for a long time.
Mesmerized, unable to look away, I slipped my fingers into his hand.
He led me to the staircase that disappeared into the shadows of the second floor.
Cain pulled a coin from his pocket as he walked, flicked it with his thumb, and sent it flying toward the bar. It landed with a sharp metallic clink right in front of the bartender.
Currently thinking about how Lane finally, fully recalls the memory of her child-self, describing knowing her purpose, when she is falling from a great height. And the symbolism and detailed foreshadowing Sasha uses. That is to say…
We never learned why the description of fallen angels was introduced to us, in season one.
With Pileon’s deal, we were introduced to a specific scenario, where someone is cornered into agreeing to a deal with a demon, out of rashness, with a sense of being manipulated, but being too desperate to say no, anyway. In the same season, Pileon is then the one to introduce to us, the readers, something else: Baal. And in this scene, we see Cain’s reaction noted, foreshadowing a connection to discover.
[Edit: the deal scene ends as Cain enters. Tbc: Cain had experienced a very similar situation.]
Fallen angels have no wings, are sent down from the Heavens to Earth, losing all memory of their past-life before they become mortal…
Which is not so far off from what I’ve always theorized happened to Lane. I still think it’s possible she was sent down to Earth—to be born among people—and that the reason S1E4 is titled Anamnesis (the episode we see Lane’s memory of her birth; which also introduces the prophecy about a new god born among people to us), is because she’s an incarnate. In HS1, it’s possible to learn about immortals who willingly go down to Earth, living similarly to the fallen. It isn’t only a punishment. But the difference is that immortals—normal ones, anyway—already have a vessel when they go down. They’re not born into their new bodies. But an incarnate is.
One meaning of anamnesis is the recollection of inherent memories of a past-life. Another is of Jesus’ sacrifice, resurrection and ascension.
Jesus was the Messiah. And an incarnate.
Basically: if it does turn out she’s an incarnate (especially given we do have some hints about incarnation, from ABH, that fit her), I definitely get the sense that Lane recalling that memory, specifically in the manner she does, matters…
Oh, btw. A song that plays in the episode Lane first touches the Spear, and starts recovering that memory of her child-self, is Fallen Angels.
Might just be a coincidence, though.
[Edit: also tbc: if we take the below screenshots as implying entering the house = entering a vessel, as the thud symbolized souls arriving on Earth, this may foreshadow incarnation.]
I’ve been wondering if Kira will confront Yan, during the Wandering Island attack. And more specifically, I’ve been kinda hoping that Yan may think to ask if, as a halfbreed, she’s ever been treated like she didn’t deserve to live?
I just feel like their dynamic has such a golden opportunity, you know? And I have to wonder if that’s why these two are interacting like this 🤔
Because Kira obviously has an issue with how she sees mortals. And understanding and care are central themes of HS3 (and HSR). Kira has never had to think of their situation as familiar, but the way the immortals in power, for so very long, either ignored or harmed halfbreeds? It is.
Yan is an observant and thoughtful person. He also comes to introspective conclusions, like in the case where he noted the moon as beautiful despite being cracked, while others were more focused on the omen for further struggle.
And, naturally, Yan would’ve reported meeting Kira, or at least I would think so. Which means he could have learned about halfbreeds. Being reflective, I wondered if he would think about a comparison: human prejudice, and immortals’.
It feels like something Yan would think of, and ask about.
Because if humans are capable of hate on the basis on how one is born, and immortals are so similar to mortals, then perhaps, someone like Kira, inherently different, had known rejection?
Even if Yan didn’t find out about halfbreeds, it isn’t hard for him to note the same comparison.
[Also yes, I know that it’s written with a hyphen in HS3. But being mixed myself, I hate the “half-(identity)” thing. Half of what others are, never a whole mixed person, yourself. Both.]
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