Hey Tetra! If the Beemov games had what we call 'main/true routes' in visual novels, which routes would be closer to this concept in MCL, Eldarya and Moonlight Lovers? In my opinion, it would be Nath, Leiftan and Neil (or Vladimir), but I want to hear your toughts!
Ah I remember talking about this already in the past, my feelings are pretty much the same. I agree with Vladimir/Neil for ML and Leiftan for Eldarya. In MCL though it's clearly Castiel imo, he loves Candy on every route, you have a chance to hook up with him even while being on other routes and you meet him from the beginning. Although in principle I think Kentin looks like a true route the most on paper trope-wise.
Anyway, there aren't really "true routes" in these games. In Eldarya, for example, Ezarel was the first LI created, while Nevra has always been the most followed route, and Leiftan/Lance are Chino's favourites so clearly there isn't a "main guy". Same with the other games.
Me rambling about Adriens catastrophical looses in his civilian life in the season 4 finale Episodes
My heart will never stop bleeding for how God damn much Adrien lost in season 4 and how terribly little he has left at the end of "Strike back".
When the season ends he wasn't even allowed to settle his escalating burning family situation regarding the world trip in "Strike Back" which means Adrien still very much stands in danger of being send away as a civilian and the last remaining good will of his estranged, abusive father who turned outright antagonistic towards him in "Risk" when Adrien said he didn't wanted to go by challenging asking him "is there a problem Adrien?" is probably now gone in his eyes too because too much time passed. Abusive parents run on Time Windows and so does Gabriel as a father, he always has, and my GOD the entire season 4 finale sets off every possible red alert within my grew-up-in-an-abusive-household-brain.
That shit wasn't remotely resolved even though Chat Noir wasn't in anyway needed in the Strike Back battle since Ladybug has 15 other teammates and just officially declared him on the same status as the other temporary heros in "Risk". If there was one battle in the history of Miraculous where Chat Noir didn't need to be there it was the beginnings Strike Back battle. Him staying on the battle field anyway for no actual reason after Ladybug (understandably) shot down his immediate attempt to end the battle quickly (seriously, Adrien wanted to get this OVER with so he can talk to his father in the beginning)
wasn't putting duty before heart, that was recklessly sacrificing his entire civilian life and future for a situation that didn't require him being involved at the beginning. This was neither necessary nor selflessly heroic. How many people are indirectly and directly involved in everything the Agrestes business does and therefore will be affected when that household starts completely breaking apart? "Risk" even explicitly pointed out through Bob Roth directly that the world trip project is huge and EXPENSIVE. This is not me making up reasons, the narrative this time explicitly pointed out the money factor that is a main driving force in business of any kind (ngl for some reason the fact that the Gabriel business is now suddenly being treated more like a BUSINESS on a global scale with more of the factors of what business is real life actually IS and not just some vague plot device the way it was treated til now, makes me very excited for season 5 lol)
Good to know that Adriens suicidal/ self harming tendencies are still going about their destructive ways, strong and disastrous, just now in ways that don't bother Ladybug anymore at the end of the season. It's interesting that Adriens suicidal tendencies ended up being portrayed at the end in EXACTLY the way I feared it would happen after "Lies". Adrien not taking care of his burning civilian life in "Strike Back" is NOT Duty over heart. This will never ever be duty over heart.
Just the two finale Episodes alone are breaking my heart in how much Adrien just directly lost right there as a civilian.
His relationship with his cousin Félix, with whom he once was really close with in the past, is now officially dead, he had to say goodbye to all of his friends in school and is now officially not attending anymore because in "Risk" his own father took fucking LILAS side over his because of a longer lasting, expensive business project. This at the same time makes it also painfully clear what Gabriel would do if Adrien were to ever tell him he doesn't want to be part of the Gabriel brand in his future - his father would just fucking play the entire system against him and force him anyway, and since business is more than just a family matter it can't just be as easily solves as the other characters in the finale Episodes make it out to be.
Adrien also knows that because of Félix not having kept word both Nathalie and the Gorilla aren't around either to possibly, MAYBE have the chance of them taking his side in this and help him. Although he wouldn't know what Nathalie would think of all of this and him, especially concidering that Adrien knows it'll inevitably come to light that Félix let Adrien know that he tricked Nathalie to get into the mansion and then Adrien even agreed on letting Félix try to trick Gabriel too. And of course, the one taking the punishments in this would be Adrien for Gabriel and not Félix since Adrien is his son and should be "better" than this. This is such a fucking disaster, I'm anxious just thinking about what went down in that finale and the narrative hasn't at all focused on yet because that's for season 5 to deal with, as basically 95% of it. Adrien just has... hardly anything left or genuinely to turn to for help and support when the ending Ladynoir scene plays.
He cannot involve his friends in this because he either thinks/knows they don't actually understand his problem or see it as one either or knows Gabriel would immediately shut it down, declare them bad influences for good and Adrien will never have the chance to return back to school ever. And Ladybug he cannot ask or talk to because now all the miraculous were stolen and are in Hawkmoths hands and she just had a full blown panic attack and break down in front of him twice.
Putting the rest under “read more” because It’ll become too long
I would like to say I'm surprised that Chat Noir is so calm, confident and content in the end when he stares down Hawkmoth for Ladybug, finally let's her talk without making excuses for her, picks her up to give her new confidence and changing his using "you and me again the world" into "you, the best superhero who has ever lived. Them, the people of Paris. And me, you loyal teammate" without even looking at her when he talks about his place.
I would like to say that I'm surprised concidering how hard Adriens civilian life just went down in flames the same way Ladybug thought she lost everything by loosing the miraculous, but honestly? I'm not.
For Adrien Chat Noir has been sice day 1 a way to get a break from his civilian life, breath and regain strength to deal and try to handle it. I always liked though that this wasn't used by the narrative as the usual "lonely rich kid gets a secret identitiy to get the life their always wanted and ditched their real life responsibilities, family and friends", Adrien legitimately ALWAYS wanted to remain Adrien Agreste too and find happiness with what he was given. He didn't transform all the time into Chat Noir to make 1000 friends where he can't as Adrien, he isn't trash talking people he doesn't like or tries to solve private problems as Chat Noir. Adriens character concept since day 1 made this path possible to take his character on but they never did it and for that I'm eternally grateful but at the same time I also wished he did it when I now look at how utterly alone Adrien is rendered as both himself and Chat Noir in season 4 and especially with what the ever loving hell the finale did to this poor boys life completely out of his control.
Cause I just watch Chat Noir in the last Ladynoir scene and I wouldn't even be remotely surprised if this is Adrien just being... content and also relieved to kinda start moving on from being Adrien Agreste. Just, embracing the option of leaving all of that behind because my GOD that boy has nothing but a burning trap of his life left that is waiting to snap and swallow him the moment he gets near his father from his perspective. If I were Adrien and had the chance to run through a secret identity, I would have run. Can't possibly blame him here if that's where this is going.
I already mentioned it before but every Agreste family member involved in the finale is actually on the same page about one thing: Adrien ran away and no one knows where he is when the season ends because Adrien has never actually officially returned back home. It is questionable how much Nathalie knows at ALL of what happened besides Adrien having vanished from the train and Gabriel letting the phone fall to the ground when she tells him. Gabriel knows more as the phone call with Nathalie happenes at the same time as Félix revealing himself to him, which connected quickly explains 'Adrien' weird behavior that day in Gabriels eyes which gets immediately confirmed by the rest of their conversation.
Even Félix knows Adrien ran away to let him take over but then send him a message that he would return back home but then didn't meet Adrien in person again. It's honestly kinda bizarre to see Félix casual bring up telling Adrien about Emilies portrait as a threat towards Gabriel as if Adrien would still believe a single word he says, which in turn makes Gabriel think that Félix knows where Adrien is and therefore that's not too big of a problem he needs to take care of right now especially when he later acceps the damn ring back from Félix, while both of them have absolutely no damn clue what the hell Adrien actually DID the entire time
For all it is, this is a picture perfect set up to have Father and Son find out each other's secrets in the beginning of season 5 and Adrien just... seriously leaving Adrien Agreste behind for a while and not returning back home. No one in his civilian life would notice something is up for the next months because he isn't expected to be there! Once again the same way as Marinette having been the only one of the school friends who knows that Adrien isnt happy, only Ladybug having met Adrien when her yo-yo was stolen is the only proof anyone has that Adrien was still in Paris at that time and even that can easily be turned around through Félix existence. In 5x05 have Gabriel/Hawkmoth give Lila the damn Fox Miraculous for the World Trip purpose and she has that shit covered too!
God DAMNIT I can't believe how hard the season 4 finale basically left Adrien with hardly anything left and just... didn't focus on it?? I mean, I get it, thats what season 5 is for and all of this has nothing to do with wrapping up season 4, Marinettes season. But STILL??!?? DUDE???????
Season 5 episode 1 is said to pick up exactly where season 4 left us off and that is fucking horrifying concidering what the fuck just went down in the Agreste family??? Just because the narrative didn't focus on it yet because something else needed to be wrapped up doesn't mean any of this didn't happen?
And you know whats the worst about all of this? This incorperates quite a few fates Marinette almost met but now Adrien is the one actually having to go suffer through them instead:
1. In “gang of secrets” I think we all agreed it was BAD that Marinette planned on only being Ladybug because of how stressed she was. Yeah, that hasnt suddenly turned less horrible just because its now Adrien instead because shit has gone to such extremes for him as a civilian that him starting to leave Adrien behind is more of a relieve to him on the immediate surface level than bad (which is absolutely will turn into real quick no doubt!). This is literally a HORRIBLE event happening to a 14 year old, no matter how necessary this step is in the narrative, how happy and relieved he looks in the moment of accepting the option of running (which is also something we should have already agreed on by now) in the last scene of a season HIS life isnt about or how much Marinette benefits from it here and deserves support. It doesnt matter. This is beyond horrible and the fact that Adrien looks calm and content here doesnt make it better, thats actually so much worse. This is fucking AWFUL. Just clarifying all of this.
2. Also in “Gang of secrets” Marinette almost lost all of her civilian friends and she was only saved from it by telling Alya her secret identity who then helped her managing it again.... Adrien just had to say goodbye to all of his school friends because of Lila the second Fox besides Alya and lost the weak support system he had left even though he confined in Marinette the way she did with Alya. Bless Marinettes heart here she TRIED everything she could to help him but unfortunatly Adriens civilian life is by a HUNDRET million miles not as easy to course correct as Marinettes (by which I only mean the public civilian life of course). Also... lets not forget that Luka KNOWS Adrien is Chat Noir and that the Gabriel Brand world trip is gonna put Adrien is ALOT of trouble on an extreme level absolutely NO ONE can help him with in Adriens eyes.... and Luka just did nothing the entire finale. Even though the finale is a direct thematic follow up for “Wishmaker”
3. In “Ladybug” Lila got Marinette suspended from school, which Adrien undid by making Lila get Marinette back into school when she got the modelling job with him and all of that fired back on him in “Risk” where Lila backed up Gabriel playing the system against Adrien in her position and got ADRIEN out of school now. Something hardly anyone else sees a problem with because of the fancy circumstances surounding it.
Dude I'm spiraling again and I kinda missed this ngl lol
Can someone explain to me why Luka knowing Marinette and Adrien’s secret identity is a good thing, when all he has done is lie to her and neither ladybug or chat noir know that their identities could be exposed?
(I should stress that I think this could be great for his character, but it would need to be treated as a bad thing. Because EVERYTIME someone has done this in the show it’s been a bad thing)
Maybe beemov games' routes ranked from best to worst? :)))
Do you mean which route I think is better written and with a more interesting arc, even though I may not personally like the LI as much? In this case:
MCL:
Nath
Castiel
Lys
Rayan
Priya
Hyun
Kentin
Armin
Notes:
- Despite me liking Castiel more, I think Nath's route is more interesting because of the angst factor, plus UL whole season is basically about him.
- Castiel's HSL arc is ex girlfriend drama which I generally dislike and I feel is kinda outdated at this point, but Debrah is a kind of character one loves to hate so she made things interesting. The DarkJon drama was entertaining for the whodunit factor.
- I'm not a fan of Lys' memory loss arc, I feel like they had to come up with something because my boy is a prince and too perfect for this world, so they went for the shock factor with him, which made for an arc that isn't really about him so leads to no growth nor character development, but his AL is gold and totally makes up for it.
- Rayan's arc is quite enjoyable in UL, with the whole forbidden romance side, and I don't personally dislike the Marina drama in LL, I just think that it wasn't as strong as it wasn't about the relationship and not even really about him (at least in the way it was written) and more sjw societal commentary.
- I think Priya had a really interesting and nice route in UL but her LL route and character in general suffered the way she was portrayed in that season.
- Hyun is a quiet and tranquil route and it works really well for people who are into that and into family life. Too plain for my tastes.
- Kentin's route for me had the potential to be at the very top, I always say that I kinda see him as the "true route" of the game (despite the game not having a true route), the character has a lot going on for him, and his relationship with Candy is very destiny/soulmates in a way, but his arc was unfortunately very rushed and pushed at the end of the season. It had a nice resolution and his spin-off already showed maturity and character development but he doesn’t show up much in the game compared to the others. I feel that Kentin's route is going to raise in this ranking after his AL, at the moment it’s down here only because of his amount of showtime.
- I love Armin more than most 2D guys combined, but my boy was done really dirty, he appeared mid-season, his arc is barely existent and not really about him, just like his spin-off which is shared with Alexy. He has ONE kiss illustration and then disappeared never to be seen again. I really have hopes in his AL because among all the crushes he's the one who needs it the most.
Eldarya:
Valkyon
Leiftan
Ezarel
Nevra
Notes:
Eldarya is difficult to judge for me, because not only the game is ongoing so we can't really address the current routes (and what routes really... there's no romance in ANE), but also the team working on it changed toward the end of season 1, so from around episode 22 it's basically a different game, especially ANE. Hence why I'm only ranking TO routes.
- I think Valkyon is the most interesting route for the simple fact that we got dragon lore and he's the one with a more clearly defined background. His route has a beginning, middle and ending, despite the sad conclusion, it's heart-breaking and beautiful and I think if there ever was the chance to bring the character back it'd be so powerful and interesting to read.
- Leiftan had the biggest potential, he's clearly written as Erika's soulmate and true route, but all his buildup fell short in the end, clearly due to the change in the team and the game taking the politically correct route where bad men must be redeemed and stripped of everything that made them interesting to be romanced in the first place. RIP real Leiftan, you were something I dislike because I hate shadiness, but also really funny and interesting to read.
- Ezarel was entertaining, he enraged me most of the time but at least he kept me invested. But then he suffered the same fate as the others if not worse because he had such a strong personality in TO that him being watered down is immediately visible. Then he disappeared and him not showing up in ANE is not logically justified. But at least he had an arc in TO (from which he clearly learned nothing).
- Nevra was my first choice when I started Eldarya, I liked his looks and cheeky personality, then he basically disappears from the game after the change in the team. His route ended up being quite boring in TO.
Moonlight Lovers
Neil
Ethan
Beliath
Vladimir
Raphael
Aaron
Ivan
Notes:
- For me Neil's route is borderline perfection and the best thing coming from Beemoov so far. He is very interesting and Eloise is Queen of the route, the player experiences falling in love as well as growing into a powerful vampire. Whether you choose to be evil or good, Eloise is never manipulated or forced to do anything against her will by Neil, and it's clearly the most mature and grounded of the relationships.
- Ethan is a jerk, but I love jerks. His route falls a bit short in terms of romance, which starts later than with the others, but on the other side it offers the chance to get to know him objectively with no feelings immediately developing and you may even choose to keep hating him until the end. Plus, there are a few scenes of just pure lust/flirting with no deep romantic undertone which I find quite refreshing and interesting in otome games which often fall into the insta-love trap.
- Beliath is a blast, he's the perfect boyfriend once you get in a relationship with him and, despite what others generally think, I also like him when he's a borderline abusive jerk at the very beginning. Also, I like his endings a lot. The reasons why I don't put him at the very top is that I find it kinda fairy-tail unbelievable that a 500 years old horny sex demon becomes the perfect monogamous boyfriend two weeks after meeting the protagonist. Plus the outcome of his ending is more due to chance than the actual strength of the romance or Eloise's personality.
- Vladimir is clearly the main route, I liked him as an introduction to the world and the characters, and the Chalice lore. I liked that Eloise is the one who saves the day in his ending with her Chalice powers and cry the fact that this is never again explored in the other routes. I also think he has some really pretty illustrations, but his lunatic moods can put people off.
- Raphael is the bane of my existence, I hate him with a passion, plus the fact that we tested his route at the peak of the bug that made us replay every episode tons of times made me hate him even more. But I can't deny that objectively his route is well written and it's a cautionary tale on not following a man blindly (pun unintended) but well done, where the player doesn't feel lectured. The lore around him is also interesting and his endings, despite enraging me, had me highly entertained.
- Aaron is king and probably the best boy, I loved how respectful he was of Eloise and how he very soon involves her in the world of the Night, being her friend and mentor. His sexy scenes are hot and his training makes the player feel involved. The real issue of his route is that Farah gets constantly showed down the player's throat and you can't get rid of her, especially before that issue in chapter 8 was fixed (but it is now thankfully). I don't think the route is bad, but to me it started really good to end kinda meh.
- Ivan's route is a disaster, it started well and then ended up in just running after him every time he stalked his ex girlfriend. Plus the inception-like mind reading (or whatever it was) still doesn't make sense to me. His endings are kinda of a joke, and while they made me laugh they would've also upset me if I were at all fond of him as a LI.
hi treta! do you think beemov gave up on leandra’s and farah’s route? it has been taking a while
Who knows anon, personally I think yes they gave up on it. The route should’ve come out right after Neil but we got Lysander instead. If you look on Beemoov's website they now have half the employees so I don't think they're able to work on both AL and ML at the same time. My opinion is that because there aren't enough people interested who'd bother them for info, they are just pretending like the route was never planned 🤷♀️
sometimes I wish moonlight lovers were better known as eldarya and mcl:(, I rarely find an account or a recent video that talks about moonlight lovers, the game has a great idea, but if Beemoov remove the video policy, they might start to have more audience :/
I don't know 🤔 ML's AP system is so terrible that if there was no video policy maybe not many people would've played at all. I probably would've uploaded all the endings myself on YouTube.
But I wish more people gave the game a chance, because for me it's really great and each route is so different from the others that there's something for almost every taste.
In moonlight lovers , does Ethan have any ..smexy scenes ...?
Just an innocent question....
Ethan has unfortunately few sexy scenes, at least not one with an illustration, but he has two sex scenes that can be skipped according to the choices. One is in chapter 5, and it's basically hate-banging, there's no romance just lust (terrible writing though). The second is instead in uhmmm chapter 8 or 9, when Eloise has realised her feelings.
There's also a pretty sexy dance scene at the Moondance in chapter 3 or 4 iirc.