So... I played Sweet Elite episode 8, I will probably get some hate for this post but you know I’m always brutally honest and I have to say that I am very confused about what is going on with this game.
I appreciate the effort, because the episode was loooong, incredibly long, it took me 2 hours and 45 minutes to play it. It (seemingly) concludes Tadashi’s arc, showing him standing up to his father, testifying against him and cutting ties with his family. I say seemingly because at the end we see Lady A being threatened on the phone by Tadashi’s father, so we might not have seen the last of him.
Things I liked:
Two of my theories seem to be sort of confirmed.
The first is that I’ve always thought that Axel finds difficult to trust people because he has been betrayed by someone close to him in the past, probably his family. In fact in this episode we see him talking very bitterly about his father.
My second theory was that Neha is in love with Karolina and in my opinion she all but spelled it in this episode. But we’ll see. I wonder if she ever gets jealous of scholar if on Karolina’s route.
I’ve also always thought that Lady A might be scholar’s mother or a friend/relative of her mother, and Tadashi’s father taunted her about a new batch of scholarship students right after she’d called him a shitty parent. I am glad we got a hint.
Apart from this, I liked Axel’s intervention saving Tadashi’s reputation, I also always like Ellie, Tyler and Raquel, they always make me smile.
And this is pretty much it with the things I liked.
I think the episode had 3 big problems:
1) I may have missed something, but how did exactly Tadashi prove his innocence? Because to my understanding he simply used his emails and texts showing that there was no mention of the Yakuza in his communications with his father. Well... this is no proof, is it? He could’ve just hidden the incriminating messages, cherry picking the ones that made him look innocent. He and his father may have only talked about it on the phone or face to face. I am really confused, a heartfelt MeTube video and some emails are not concrete proof. I really hope it’s me who missed a crucial step, otherwise it’s a big plot hole.
2) In an episode long 165 minutes we don’t get one single romantic moment with the LI, the only one who gets a romantic option is Neha. I appreciate that this was Tadashi’s moment to shine, but it’s not like we didn’t speak with the LIs, we spoke with everyone multiple times, it would’ve been very easy to throw the players a bone and add a cute moment, like they did in the previous episode. Is it worth waiting so long for a new chapter of what you expect to be an otome game and, in the end, get nothing remotely similar to an otome? Asking to myself.
And finally, what I think is the main problem of this episode:
3) The writers fell in what is the big mistake so common to so many otome games: they made the player a spectator and not an active part of the story. Whether scholar was there or not, it made absolutely no difference in the story.
Yes, Tadashi thanks them because they encouraged him at the end of the previous episode. And...? They bought some pc parts online, literally anyone could’ve done it. They asked Claire to help Tadashi writing his speech, there was no need, Claire would’ve said yes anyway. They helped a bit during Tadashi’s campaign, not sure exactly of what they did because it was skipped, we only see a bit of them talking with other students, helped by their friends. That’s it. What happened to the scholar of the department competition who had great ideas and saved the day? What happened to the beautifully written speeches where they gave proof of being so smart and brave?
I honestly feel so stupid, because after buying the pc parts online, the guys enthusiastically talk about helping Tadashi writing his speech, and they say “we need someone very good with words”, “we need someone who is impossible to dislike”, and I had a huge grin on my face thinking FINALLY! This is our moment! After calling scholar “Arlington Sweetheart” and complimenting them several times, I was sure they were talking about them... and then in chorus... CLAIRE!
And I was just 😦
Seriously? Claire? Didn’t you hear scholar’s speech during the interview?
Ok, fine, let’s make scholar ask Claire for help 🙄
And then, towards the end of the episode, Lady A’s announcement: Tadashi needs to step down from school president. And I was WOOOOOW are we going to run for it? Ok, cool, I can get behind this, let’s show what we’re made of!
And... no. Of course, no. Let’s help Tadashi preparing some flyers off screen 🙄
So, here I am, I know I sound bitter, because I am. Tbh the long wait between one episode and the next doesn’t help, I forget all the time to log in and collect the points. Add to this that unfortunately I don’t find the episodes interesting anymore, I’m not sure if I’m going to keep playing. I really want to, because I really liked the game in the past. And maybe it’s just me who feels this way, who knows, maybe the problem is me. I tried looking through the tags for comments and reviews but didn’t find much so I don’t really know.
So I have finally finished playing the last chapter! You would think I’d hate playing a game where I’m in school when IRL college is kicking my ass, but to each their own, LOL.
Anyways, I finished playing it and though I found it enjoyable, I’m not all that sure I truly enjoyed it. I normally don’t make my own reviews of the game and just leave comments on ones posted by others, but I decided to post it because why not!
If you’re interested in a spoiler filled review, just click that “keep reading” below ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
First off, I like to write my little fanfics for my enjoyment (I’ve never posted any of them, but I have them in existence via USB lol). I’m probably gonna reference what I’ve written for Tadashi’s arc for comparison, so don’t try looking for them!
When I play Sweet Elite, I also like to record my screen so I can keep track of my choices (and compare what happens to what I wrote). A single playthrough for the first time and this is the longest I’ve spent on a chapter, a whole 2 hours and a half! Not a bad thing of course considering it was a major arc and expected to be on the longer side. But I feel like for the length, I didn’t get much Love Interest interactions because you’re forced to spend fairly equal amount of time with everyone (I played on my Tadashi account first since I had the most AP on that one).
I shall start with things I liked about the chapter, which wasn’t much to be honest?
1 - Tadashi not knowing what the Grammy’s was is hilarious to me (and also kinda sad because that kinda shows how much of a childhood he lacked since the average person would at least know the name!). That whole interaction was nice to see since it showed TadAxel having a non-arguing conversation, but the “Granny’s” was a major highlight.
2 - Neha hinting once again that she might be a scholarship student (because mentioning that scholarship students don’t have to advertise that they’re one is a major thing to introduce and not expect me to run with). And I interpreted how she responded to Karolina supporting Tadashi despite the scandal more of her being a bit jealous because I can only imagine how she’d react if Neha actually is a scholarship student (though Tadashi becoming one himself might soften Karolina up into accepting that your parents’ money doesn’t make you almighty).
3 - Ellie just being Ellie. Lordy she’s adorably terrifying and those are the best short friends to have because they keep you on your toes (and are totally down to hunting for the obscure or raiding Area 451).
4 - Tyler basically being how I felt playing as Scholar because the whole “I’m not doing shit while everyone else is offering something major in their super-awesome ways” was easy to recognize with.
So my first complaint is the convoluted plan to get Tadashi proven innocent/uninvolved in Hiroshi’s yakuza crap. I get the whole lie to the dad to make him think he’s on his side thing since it would get him half of his money back. But what I envisioned in my head and wrote down centered around my Scholar recording the conversation between Tadashi and his dad (which Tadashi did himself, which still makes it a viable plot-point) and them using the script/email from the lawyer and the bank statements of his dad taking all of his money to show him as a victim?
The video idea wasn’t bad and was also something I wrote for my BCP Scholar fanfiction (she’s marketing and PR with her own little company managing social media accounts, so the idea and image control was her main addition to help out). So I don’t know if I’m just being my biased ass self and preferring my solution (release the proof of blackmail, show Tadashi is a victim, have Tegan hack Nakano Corp.’s CCTV/security footage to get timestamps of Tadashi not being present for mafia meetings, have him testify against his father).
None of what was shown in the video could have really proven any sort of innocence to be honest. Tadashi could’ve easily pulled whatever texts and emails he wanted, so unless he showed the one from the lawyer essentially extorting him to testify in his father’s favor, I don’t see how that on its own would have helped with anything.
Adding the recording to the beginning of the video during editing would have been something to warrant all the positive response to the video. I know the recording is used to try and force Nakahoe Senior into giving Tadashi the rest of his money, but it was also the only logical way to prove Tadashi was without a doubt a victim too (and Tegan could easily get the money back himself or there could have been something about the mom, which I’m gonna talk about later in this post).
IRL, people would point out that Tadashi could easily be lying through his teeth about not being involved. So that’s kind of a plot-hole since getting the public to see Tadashi in a positive light is important to getting the school board to let him stay (which was incredibly dumb to me because are you really gonna tell me there aren’t students at the school with openly corrupt/mafia/mob/gangster parents using dirty money to keep their children in attendance???) (yes, Jack, I’m talking about your ass).
I could understand forcing him to step down as student body president since Arlington has the position kinda Anime styled where the president is the face of the school and has an absurd amount of responsibility and power (as proven by Ellie’s story of the previous president and the fact that Tadashi can veto someone getting academic amnesty). Them removing him from office was something I expected (though my fanfic had him helping pick a replacement for the rest of the year since that’s how it was done at my old private school). But not wanting him to attend school even though his family could easily pay for his tuition was very out there to me. I suppose having someone with a negative reputation could reflect badly on a top school, but I’m pretty sure private schools need justifications to expel someone and expelling them based on their parents actions seems very illegal to me.
But anyways, the super computer plot to hack Nakahoe Senior’s information was also very weird to me. I justified it by telling myself Scholar is in a school of super rich, super intelligent teenagers, so maybe the most simple approach doesn’t come to mind (I know first hand that smart people have a tendency to overlook the simple solutions without meaning to). It makes sense to make their own computer to not be traced overall, but the purpose it was needed for didn’t make much sense in the grand scheme of things (because they didn’t really use the information they found, so what was the point of finding it other than being a hundred percent sure on Hiroshi being corrupt?).
And then while I was playing and listening to my commentary, I again was reminded about how confused I was that calling Hiroshi in jail and keeping him on the line long enough to trace the transaction was necessary? Because I don’t think that’s how that works? If it was to track his location, then maybe, but I don’t think Tegan would need Tadashi to keep Hiroshi on the line to trace a bank transaction or get into Hiroshi’s accounts (but that’s me being nitpicky I think).
Then what they found, IE the gibberish in the calendar descrambling to “Yakuza” was a major asspull while I was playing. I wondered why Nakahoe Senior, AKA the Inglorious Bastard and Chessmaster of the arc, would make it so obvious? Let alone actually put that in his planer... If there was a meeting every Friday evening, I figured introducing this would at least lead to something where Tegan finds a way to prove Tadashi wasn’t present or active even phone call wise because he could get the call logs too. Yeah, the emails are important, but wouldn’t footage or flights be better at proving he wasn’t there?
Then Tadashi’s mother, who was never truly introduced, but teased really. It was set up in a way that my fanfic had Nakahoe Senior threatening to setup Tadashi for the fall if she didn’t convince him to testify in Hiroshi’s favor because Alistair mentions how protective she normally is of Tadashi and even Tadashi says that his mom was frantic over the phone. So I don’t know, I was hoping for something with her since she was brought up.
But my major complaint about the story was that Scholar has little influence on what goes on. At first, I thought there would be options based on your Department and maybe your choices during the Department Competition (you pick your concentration during the presentation). Essentially, I was expecting to be asked to pick a task I would do best in (in this playthrough’s case, I expected to be able to help with PR because for the competition, I picked Sociology which is essential in marketing research).
I also expected something similar for others. Business would get to come up with a marketing and PR scheme, utilizing Axel, Karolina, and Neha. Performing Arts or Fine Arts would get to help edit and fine tune the video or make a smear campagne against Nakahoe Senior with Tyler and Raquel. Pure and Applied would get to code with Tegan or build with Ellie. Health Sciences (or any department because you’re Arlington’s Sweetheart) would get to work with Alistair (who knows Tadashi best) and Claire to make Tadashi’s script and showcase him to the world as a victim (which he really is in this situation).
But that didn’t happen. The only things Scholar really does is buy computer parts and talk to Claire and ask her to help Tadashi (and suggest Tadashi ask Neha for help too). Which was a major asspull because during that section before where the group is talking about who should help him write something from the heart, I was expecting (and super hyped for) Scholar to finally have the chance to be useful. They weren’t, not even for Tadashi’s campaigning since all that they did was talk to a few students (which I know is good for campaigning, but not really helpful in the grand scheme of things) (especially because by default, Scholar isn’t good at these things even if you’re in a department that’s necessary). I got really happy thinking Scholar would do anything that justifies them being involved as “human resources.”
Then being thanked for not really do anything but being the spectator and emotional support friend kinda bothered me. I’m all for that and sometimes you just need that one friend that’s good at being a support unit (AKA the mom). But even though Tadashi says that Scholar was his main inspiration to defy his parents, that’s not really helping him do that?
How was Scholar instrumental to anything going on? “Waste a couple hours finding pieces for a super computer, something anyone could search for because you can’t code or build things even if you’re in Pure and Applied,” “Go ask Claire to help Tadashi write his speech only for Tadashi to appear and ask her to himself because she would, by default, help anyways and you’re not good at writing a heartfelt speech (which Scholar technically isn’t, but should be if there were more options or at least acknowledged in this situation because why bring up the whole Arlington Sweetheart thing?),” “Get some rest, you deserve it even though you did absolutely nothing beside deliver the computer parts and suggest asking Neha to help.”
To be honest, Scholar may not be as static/pre-determined as most otome games, but Scholar doesn’t have much variety that actually impacts the story. What you’re good and bad at is already determined (like the essay and presentation; you’re automatically not good at it even if you’re Performing Arts or BCP and interested in things that, you know, require being able to give a good presentation).
I would prefer waiting longer to have more meaningful options than getting something quicker and not really being able to do much. Like during the competition where we eavesdrop on people and see the story unfold, that’s what this chapter pretty much was for me.
Read your review on chapter eight. Overall I liked the chapter but I agree with your criticism of the chapter. When the squad recommend Claire, I was kind of surprised because before it was mentioned we are Arlington‘s sweetheart and etc. I really thought this was our time to shine or when tadashi had to step down, I also thought that it was scholar times to step up and become student president. I think the chapter was meant to highlight the importance of teamwork and that scholar has a squad
Yeah, it’s been a while since I felt that the problem is that they are trying hard to make us spend time with all 10 equally when, in fact, this should not be the end game. 10 characters are too many and you just end up spending very little time with each, the romance becomes secondary and scholar’s role is completely outshined.
The best option would be to make us choose with whom we’d like to spend time, instead of doing menial tasks in everything, we could’ve had an option at the beginning like:
“I’m good in coding/hardware set up, I’m going to help Tegan and Ellie”
“My artistic skills would be better suited to help Neha and Tyler setting up and then editing the video”
“I’m going to join Claire and Alistar in helping Tadashi write down the speech” (Alistar because he’s known him since they were kids and knows the real Tadashi, they may even have organised short interviews with people who know him, like adding a reference of his character, I can already see them interviewing Axel: “Tadashi is an asshole, but an honest asshole” lol)
“I am good with social media, I’m going to join Axel and Karolina organising a social media campaign”
“Tadashi is breaking down and he’s not able to take care of himself right now, Raquel and I are going to take care of him and shape him up.”
And then the episode would’ve focused on scholar achieving results with her group… I don’t know something similar, I’m sure that with some thought something better would come to mind. The episode would’ve probably been shorter and people would’ve replayed more than once to check the other tasks and spend time with other LIs if they wished to. Instead this was too little in terms of our active participation but with too many things happening, even the elections, they could’ve easily taken a whole separate episode, they are just rushed there in the end feeling kinda meaningless.
Isn't like the second episode that there's no romantic interaction between Tegan and Scholar? Episode 6 (if I'm not wrong) had everyone besides him. I didn't want to admit, but deep down I expected to happen. Tegan being kinda forgotten. It happens all the time (like Hyun, Kentin) to those characters. I thought SE was gonna be different but like that is the second time this happens.
I know what you mean, but this time it wasn’t just Tegan, everyone except Neha didn’t have any romantic interaction. And I’ve only played the episode on Tegan’s route so far, to be honest I got so bored that I didn’t have the will to play it with Axel, maybe there’s going to be something better happening if you’re romancing him? But I doubt it.
I saw the other blog talking and I'm so surprised. Like my MC with Tegan is on performing arts (I wanted a to give a extra drama like MC being this amazing songwriter and singer and Tegan being amazed but scared that he is "too inferior") so I wasn't even mad at the computer parts. But now I learned that it's the same even to the applied sciences. Scholar in that department deserved better. They are not stupid or dumb. What is the point of the departments then? I really hope this doesn't become*
Uuuhhh I like the backstory you created for your scholar! I, instead, made my scholar join the pure science department because I wanted her and Tegan to code together and challenge each other, and in the end... we went buying computer parts lol
I don’t think they will be able to change the plot too much by department, there are too many, but who knows I’m ready to be pleasantly surprised.
Apparently I am more clueless than Tegan because I didn’t realise that his blushing was flirting, I thought he was just embarrassed.
Damn, bummer about Axel :/ I was going to play his route now, I received a serenade last episode and this time nothing at all?! 😭
Karol’s scene sounds cute though, maybe I should finally start her route.
Of privileged cis, white libertarianism reeking out of that last episode of Game of Thrones, Se 8 Ep 5, fills my nose like dragonfire smoke.
I don’t even know if D&D are libertarians but it would make a damn lot of sense considering their treatment of Cersei and Dany.
Spoilers ahead:
Cersei Lannister, who’s lied, besmirched, tricked and connived and outright ordered the deaths of her opponents throughout the series is suddenly made to be ‘sympathetic’ toward the end as the Red Keep literally crumbles around her and Jamie. (Not even getting started on Jamie).
Like, it’s safe to say she had been set up more than anyone to be the ‘Mad Queen’ considering she BLEW UP AN ENTIRE SEPT FULL OF PEOPLE, but apparently all her misdeeds can be forgiven or understood because she ‘worked hard’ and was an ‘enterprising woman’ who played the game and ‘earned’ her position of power but is still guilty of the crime of being a woman so she gets the ‘sympathetic death’.
As opposed to ‘spoiled entitled millennial girl’ Dany who believes she’s OWED the iron throne (because it was literally usurped from her family) and was ‘given’ everything. Naturally, she’s written as having a naively sympathetic heart, which is obviously a weakness OFC, dinnit you know? So of course while she’s trying to free everyone and give slaves equal rights it just ‘makes everything worse’ because of markets, resource shortages thus proving that slavery ‘isn’t so bad after all’ which, now that I think about it:
But anyway, clearly being a good person at heart isn’t the message you want to send to your frat bro buddies so naturally, Dany has to become cray-cray-crayzeeee!!!!
But I guess being the son of a Goldman (ball)Sachs executive might taint your worldview on poor people and slavery just a little.
Though I think DB’s biggest sin by far has to be:
For the love of all that is holy Kathleen Kennedy, get these douchenozzles away from Star Wars.
