Your stories are so interesting that sometimes I wish they were text-based so even more choices could be carried over and explored. For example, I think there is a terribly tragic and interesting dimension to having a dutiful Iolanthe who turned down Leopold's proposal and married the prince, even though she was in love with Leopold. I would love to be able to explore this dynamic in the loveless marriage path.
Many thanks for your kind feedback - I am happy to know you'd like more of the story. As for the particular scenario you mentioned, scenes such as that will be explored during the loveless marriage route, so I hope you will at least get to see a little something of that aspect. ^_^
I loved The Rose of Segunda! One of my favourite things about it was that the main character is an actual character (player-determined) and not an empty shell. (Thank you so much for the role-playing options! ♥) Other characters were lovely and likable, too. Especially Leopold :) TROS had only one drawback: it was too short! So I'm very happy there'll be more.
I wish you inspiration and good luck and I'm looking forward to TTOW. (And I hope it'll be eventually available on Steam because I have the first game there).
Fun fact: i didn't realise that the MC's official name is Iolanthe and named her Rosalind :)
Thank you for the feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed TROS and are looking forward to the sequel.
Ah, yes, Leo seems to be a firm favourite - possibly only Frederique gets more love (on itch, at least. ) And I think Rosalind is more than in keeping with the setting - it's always interesting for me to hear what people decided to call their MCs.
So hey! I loved the first game to the bits and can't wait for the sequel! :D That's all the more reason for me to wonder: will it come out this year? I just want to know what level of hype I should settle for hahah Because I seriously cannot wait! I'm sure it will be just as amazing as the first game :)
Thank you for the feedback - I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the first game. With the way things look at the moment, work will start again on Thorns (art-wise) in August, but writing won't recommence until Best Friends Forever is finished (which is projected for Oct/Nov), so I think we will be looking at next year for Thorns, around the late spring / early summer, since I predict it will be a long game.
Sorry, I missed this. Thank you for the kind feedback (and the luck ^_^) - I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the first game and I hope the second one lives up to expectations.
Wow, I loved the first game and I'm so excited to see that it's getting a sequel! I'll be eagerly following its progress and I can't wait to purchase it once it's released. :)
I'm really excited about this game.....is there a way to be able to keep track of the progress of it's development? I don't want to rush developers or make them feel obligated to update their progress all the time, but being in the loop helps with the anxiety that comes with the anticipation of a good game. I understand though, if you would rather not do a progress bar or something similar.
Thank you for your interest - I'm glad to hear you're looking forward to the full game.
At the moment, The Thorns of War (TTOW) is on hiatus while I finish the other two games I'm working on: Heaven's Grave and Best Friends Forever. The sales of these games will be used to commission the remaining assets required for TTOW.
I am hoping to begin collaborating with artists again on TTOW around late summer, so once I have news to report, I will begin to post regular progress updates which I hope will keep players in the loop.
Ah, thank you. I'm glad to hear you're looking forward to it.
No, I've no Kickstarter, as yet. I always try to fund my games myself, through sales of any previous games. I'm already quite worried about meeting the expectations of fans of the first game - I think I'd be a nervous wreck if people had already paid, as well. ^_^
I'm really looking forward to it ! I really enjoyed the rose of Segunda, except for a tiny detail... Françoise is actually a woman's name, the man's name whould be François. It's probably too late to change it now, but I can't stop laughing whenever they mention him xD kinda hard to see him as the serious older brother after that :p Looking forward to best friend forever too !
Hello celi-nege, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the first game for the most part and are looking forward to the sequel.
As for the name, yes, this has been mentioned before. I would say that this is a fantasy game and I never really meant for any of the names to be directly held up to real-life counterparts. I drew from a mix of French, Spanish and Italian and plain just made some of them up. As someone has already pointed out, Frederique is the feminine spelling, as well - I just prefer it that way.
I was getting an account because I wanted to leave feedback for The Rose of Segunda and then I saw this. I think I might start crying from happiness.
Court/Princess based otome games aren't my favourite, but if I could have wished for one Rose of Segunda would exactly be it. Playing it felt like the writers had invaded my mind when I slept to figure out exactly what kind of tropes and LIs I would have wanted in such a setting. It also helps the music and art was very nice.
No but seriously, I was so tired of mobile otome having you just discover you are a princess or be a nobody at court. I want to start out knowing what I'm doing! Plus I love how Iolanthe has a lot of spunk but you can decide how much you want her to care about duty, since if she has been brought up in that environment you'd think it would be something she'd care about. This was so well-balanced and I loved trying out different mindsets for different playthroughs and it always felt appropriate with the setting.
I also loved the setting in general. It's fantasy but it feels very based on actual European history even if the actual references are very vague. I honestly think it is for the best since otherwise research and/or inaccuracies would get in the way of telling a story. Plus it still feels mostly like a historical setting since it avoids magic. Just very well made Made-up Kingdom and politics within it.
I also love how you can be forward in the romances if you want to and that the game even encourages that mostly. I actually got wind of the game because someone else who likes brother-sister romance recced it because the secret route, but I found myself loving all but Guillame's route just as much. Oh but still, thank you thank you thank you for the secret route and for making it so sweet. I was getting tired of yandere brothers and the secret route was absolutely everything I wanted (Though a kiss CG would have been nice, but maybe there is hope?). Frederique is such an absolute sweetheart and I love how supportive he is in all the routes. All the LI are such cinnamon rolls but in their own distinct flavour without feeling samey at all. Just really well made job. Charlotte is the biggest sweetie though and she deserves the whole world and no one should ever hurt her. I loved the whole play you put on later in the week and Iolanthe makes such a dashing prince (but getting to play the roles wrong was so much fun too).
So yes, just thank you so much for this game. I really, really enjoyed it if that wasn't obvious from the above. I don't like playing betas so I will hold off on the demo for the sequel for now, but finding out this is a thing getting made made my week and I can't wait to play the finished product, you have a guaranteed buy from me.
I think i'm going to have to give the first game a play through so I can understand the characters better. The dialouge is interesting my only complaint is there is no background music to fit the theme.
Many thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you are finding it interesting enough so far. This is only the beta demo, hence the lack of music, but I do have plans to add a score to the game once I have secured the budget for a musician.
This was an amazing game though a little short, however the elegant design and love put into it is well noted. It was a little strange to have files disappear and have to redownload it because of virus protection but thank you for the game.
I love your work and The Rose of Segunda. It is beautifully written and the art is fantastic. I have a problem though. I have been trying to download the demo of teh thorns of war for a while now but it says there was a failure and just in the middle of downloading it is closed off. I logged in my account to see if that was the problem, but it says I have no access from the author. Is there anyway we can fix this?
Eh, that's odd. I've never heard of anything like that before.
The page and files are 'public' (as opposed to restricted access), so I'm surprised it is having trouble. Which version were you trying to download, please? Demo2?
Right, I just downloaded all three (windows, mac and linux) with no trouble, so just to double check, was it the link on the main game page you are using or the devlog? And if using the devlog, was it #0 or #1 please?
The links in devlog #0 will no longer work as they link to an older copy of the game, but those on the main page or #1 should be working.
I found this first, went and checked out the 1st games demo, bought the first game and have been playing it nonstop for almost two days now! I am so excited to see what the sequel has in store for me!!! I have already grown to love this story and it's characters and I send my praises to the team that worked on this!!! Much love!
I too waited for a demo with all of the initial routes available before even trying the demo. For me, the secret RO in the first game is and always will remain the canonical route so I wanted my first playthrough of the sequel to be that route. Minette got along better with Frederique than with any other and the feeling was so obviously mutual. It was so nice to see that they had found happiness together still just as much in love. I hope they can withstand their mother's scheming.
I felt so bad for Charlotte on her route when her own little brother Marc for whom she cares so much was so rude to her. I hope Charlotte's friendship with her brother can be mended.
I hope it turns out that Lade Albertine was able to marry her Captain Gaspare after all.
On those routes where Francesca is married to Guillaume, if Francesca chooses to gloat to the MC about being married to the Prince, I hope the MC has the chance to tell Francesca that Francesca was the best embodiment of everything Segunda had come to expect of its Princesses in the last few centuries.
I actually had a higher opinion of Guillaume on the loveless marriage route than the loving marriage route. I respect Guillaume on the loveless route for NEVER pressuring the MC for an heir. That was far preferable to him ignoring the MC when he supposedly loved her. I am glad there will be an option to try to turn that loveless marriage into one of love. If I had any remaining doubts as to how to feel about Duchess di Parisi, those doubts were resolved on the loveless marriage route.
I was glad on the single route if the King had picked the MC, then Guillaume was able to remain single avoiding a loveless marriage as well. I wish he could have avoided a loveless marriage on more of the routes.
I tried the loveless marriage route last and mostly for a sense of completeness. It was every bit as heartbreaking as I had feared but I am still glad I tried it. Even when everyone else abandoned Minette, Frederique never stopped caring for her and as painful as those 2 years were for her, those years may even have been worse for him after having tried so hard to protect her from that fate only to fail and his biggest regret is not having done even more for her. Frederique is and always will be my favorite character in this series.
Thank you for the feedback and your patience in waiting for Frederique's route - I'm glad you enjoyed it so far.
There will certainly be confrontations with Francesca coming up in some of the routes - though how you engage with her will be left to player choice.
I'm glad you found the loveless route worth playing, as well - I think it could be very interesting route as the MC will be very close to court, but potentially without the usual family/spousal ties . It's going to be fun seeing how everyone ends up proceeding with that one.
First of all, I'm horribly remiss in expressing my LOVE for 'Rose'. My dear friend leogrl19 introduced it to me months ago and I fell so in love with the art, story and - of course - my darling Charlotte! SHE'S SO WONDERFUL OMG!!!!!!!! *squees forever*
Truly though, you created an engaging and layered game that held me rapt the whole way through. The characters were intriguing and realistic, the setting immersive with a good balance of stakes and light-hearted shenanigans, and the way your MC developed was so dynamic. I LOVED how even though you were able to influence her personality/how she handled certain events, she was always distinctly her own person - so ALIVE.
That's why when leogrl19 told me that there was a sequel forthcoming and a DEMO I was ALL OVER IT! As you've no doubt heard from her, I'm the friend who played through Charlotte's route (we had a great time discovering the new setting post Rose, as well as contemplating the possible trajectories the sequel could take each respective character in). She and I are writers so we ADORE both excellent writing and analysing the internal mechanisms that create truly Great narratives.
Also ~ fun fact: leogrl19 and I voice act all the characters as we're playing. It adds a whole other layer of WONDERFUL let me tell you! ^^
Since I was horribly remiss in sharing my love for your marvelous creation after playing Rose, it's only right that I should provide FB for what I've seen of the sequel. Some of these points may have already been touched upon in leogrl19's correspondences with you, so I hope to offer an additional angle to the experience.
Immediately upon beginning you're thrust right into the world. Most notably, although it's been years between Rose and this game, you're sucked right back into the dynamic of the couple. It was like I'd never been apart from MC and Charlotte. I could see the aspects of their characters I fell in love with/that made them such a great couple to me, yet also with this sense of Growth. They've become comfortable with each other after years of being together, and it shows in the small gestures and sensitivity they show. That's beautiful and is such a Positive way to start a sequel - recapturing the Love of the first game.
In addition to rekindling that sense of connection from past experience, you're also placed into the situation in conjunction with them. They've been away for two years, out of the loop of what's been happening in Segunda, which directly mirrors the player's experience. It really helps immersion when you're learning alongside them, getting to share their reactions.
The three scenes in Charlotte's route are Marvelously flushed out. The Inn gives them some alone time to establish their current relationship/the current political status ; the party dives deeper into the perspective those at home have of their behaviour, as well as Charlotte sees how her family in particular has been affected by the political atmosphere and her absence ; the carriage ride truly sets the stage (and stakes) for what Charlotte's route will entail. Each scene is rich in character depth and circumstantial intrigue. It just makes me SUPER EXCITED for what's to come!!!!!
What I find particularly thought-provoking is how MC will handle the new role being thrust onto her via her mother and the choices that will mean for her family as well as her relationship with Charlotte. It's clear that Charlotte harbours enormous guilt for leaving her family like she did, even before she learns that it's basically come apart, with her father and mother hardly around, her brother feeling abandoned (even by their nursey) and the incredible Risk inherent in the DeSouza's being closer to the Crown.
I suspect this tension will manifest, at least in part, in some regret for her travelling with MC, despite their love. This would be Fascinating and so Real - of course she'd wonder if things wouldn't have turned out so badly if she'd stayed instead of giving in to her desires. And for MC - there may come some resentment from Charlotte feeling this way, since she's given the woman she loves so much - continues to support her financially as well as emotionally - and yet has to deal with this lack of returned appreciation. And then may even come a terrible choice: for MC to choose the well-being of her family's status over her lover - or even her lover's family. OH MY! Wouldn't that be Terrible! Family is so important to Charlotte (especially her little brother, and you so powerfully see the sundering that has occurred between them) so if MC let Charlotte's family crash and burn, even if it was to protect her...
The dramatic possibilities are VERY ripe here.
I can't WAIT to see more updates/have access to the full game! I hope this FB has been helpful to you and if I think of anything else as I play through it again I will share.
Thank you so much for giving us such a GREAT game with TWO romance-able women. It is a rare and Blessed thing to see.
Hello, CynthiaER, and thank you for the kind feedback. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed 'Rose' and are looking forward to 'Thorns' - your comment about doing all the voices with your friend made me smile.
Yes, Charlotte's route has a lot of possibilities for drama. I hope I can provide some interesting scenarios for players to navigate (without making them feel like they are being forced down any particular path ^_^).
AAAH! This was sooo cool! I'm so glad we finally have the (full) demo! I wanted to wait for this one before playing, so yeah.
Well, before diving into my feedback, I wanted to remind once more that since this isn't mandatory, I didn't play the solo and the girls' routes, as that's really not my thing. But I'll do my best to properly review the rest!
First of all, the backgrounds are really pretty. They seem improved from the first game, if I'm not mistaken? Anyway, I like those and I like the new clothes - very elegant, and all of the little changes alude nicely to a change of times and a tense period. You can really sense from many little thing the country will be at war soon. Now the only thing missing is a proper soundtrack, and the atmosphere will be amazing!
There are some typos and stuff here and there, but nothing that won't be changed with later proofreading, I'm sure.
I'm slighly confused about the choices at the beginning that serve to determine the way you played Iolanthe in the first game. I believe I choose well since she doesn't seem out of character compared to how I left her, but well, hard to tell for sure since the demo was quite short. But I'm not saying it was too short either. I wouldn't mind a longer one, sure, but it was enough to see what's happening, some of the situation the country is in, get a nice glimpse of how is Iolanthe's couple life, and be hyped for what's coming next - so no complaints here!
Now, the characters and routes. Well, funny thing is, my route ranking is the same in this demo as it was in The Rose of Segunda, with my favorite being Frederique, then Leo, followed by Bastien and finally the prince. The girls were last back then, but as I told before, I didn't try their routes here. Interestingly, despite what you said about his route in the latest update post, Bastien's route wasn't really unexpected to me. I have more or less predicted they WOULD be back somehow to the Parisi, and some form of deep emotional troubles - both things would be necessary for one part to make the route possible and for other part to make for some interesting tension and stuff.
As for my detailed thoughts about the routes so far, well, I'll go from my least favorite to my favorite.
- Guillaume: well, him being my least favorite doesn't mean I don't love him - that ranking is only comparative, with the other characters I like more. Now, his route was actually the most surprising one to me, to be fair. I didn't think he'd support his father so much and that he'd be so much in denial of his bad ways. It makes for interesting tension, and I'm wondering how the situation will end in this route. Strangely enough, it's the one that felt the less romantic to me too, it was too tense, maybe partly because it felt too tense since I simply couldn't agree with him on some of the things he was talking about. That's basically all I can say for now about him, I think.
- Bastien: I've already shared some of my thoughts about him before, but that was basically about the fact I wasn't really surprised by his route here. So, onto the route itself! It was a VERY interesting one. Honestly, it would be higher in the list if Leo and Frederique weren't SO DAMN AWESOME. Ahem, sorry! It was really heartbreaking, to begin with. It always made me so sad to see Bastien suffer because of what may have been happening in the first game, and with all the awful stuff that happened between the two games, ugh! I feel really bad for him because of his father rejection, the bad reception of the marriage and all the different issues he and Iolanthe have to face against. But it's even more painful to see how he reacts to that. And what makes it worse is that his reactions are totally understandable, especially considering he's quite introverted. It also saddens me to see the always so strong Iolanthe struggling with keeping her head up and not feeling too tired by all of this. All in all, I expect greatness from this route when it'll be fully released.
- Leopold: well, I love the guy as always! And I like the fact that you can be on the "bad" side if you're doing this route (if we consider Guillaume's is the "good" one). Leo is and always was my kind of character - one who's disgraced and kind of an underdog if we talk about good suitors, but who has great ambitions too, and who'll be truly gratefull and sweet with the main character if hey choose him and truly love him. And well, I gotta love the intrigue in this route. Seeing how Iolanthe and Leo are in perfect synch and harmony with each other, and how they can create such elaborate plans on the long term all to get what they want is really cool. I also like the fact you can choose if Iolanthe is helping Leo out of love, or if she really shares his dreams and ambitions. While both choices obviously promise support, the undertones are really quite important. I don't think their harmony and, for the matter, their marriage will truly last if they're not on the same page. And if they're not, they'll have to seriously talk about this. But well, personally, I really like to show full support there, as opposite to Guillaume's route where I can't always agree. And besides, I believe it's truly important to Leo to know he has Iolanthe's full support. When he actually talked about that... well, it was truly touching to me.
- Frederique: ah, the best for last! Well, what can I say... I had a litt-HUGE soft spot for him since the very beginning, in the first game. I just can help it, he automatically puts a grin on my face and makes me feel happy. He's such a lovely character, and his relationship with Iolanthe is so sweet and daring and strong at the same time. I have a trully hard time making a review here - I love him too much to think straight. Well, all in all it's nice to see they had a happy life, at least up until now, and if you fully develop the whole spying scenario you put in place for this route, it may be the most interesting one, even if we're not talking about the romance itself. But I'm REALLY wary of Iolanthe's and Frederique's mother in this route. I hope she won't pull anything crazy and awful on them. So yeah, it makes me tense too haha - so much emotions in this one. Oh and also, it was so nice to finally see them share a kiss, albeit a brief one. Man I really hope for a kissing CG in this route, aah! I'm rarely really hung up on that, but in this specific case I missed it so much in the first game. Well, no point in me rambling on and on about this one, you get the gist of it, and at this point I'll be only repeating myself and squealing on every little detail.
And finally, some questions.
I've seen lots of choices that seem to basically determine how Iolanthe feels about this or that (for example the ones in Leo's and Guillaumes routes about having children), but don't seem to be relevant to how the route will progress. Are they really only there for fluff, or do all the choices have some kind of deeper purpose?
Also, does each route have more than one ending?
And last - you talk about a secret romance? I guess you must play on the solo route to get it, am I right? And are they a man or a woman? If you can tell without spoiling too much, of course!
Thanks for the feedback, Konoi, and I'm glad to hear you're enjoying things so far.
Yes, with an increased budget some of it went on backgrounds (in fact the background budget is doubled from last time) so I am glad you like the look of them.
Oh, and I'll just mention this here - you may already know , but just in case it isn't clear - for the single route you only start the game as single. You can continue single, of course, but in the full game there are two romance options available on the single route, Sir Mathys and Ambassador Vesela. Just in case the name of it is confusing for some ^_^
To answer your questions, yes, the questions about the children will have an influence later on, each route does have more than one ending - I'm aiming for about 3-4 at the moment - and the secret romance is... actually I think I'll keep that under wraps a bit longer, but they're male and you get the option to pursue them in one specific route (but not the single one).
Ooh, I see, I see! Yeah, definitely needed the clarification about the single route romances and the secret romance haha! I guess I'll see if I like the characters I meet, and if I like someone a lot and they're one of the romance'able characters, or one I think may be, I'll redo an adequate playthrough of Rose of Segunda, so I won't have continuity errors.
My wait is fruitful!!! At long last I hold it in these mortal hands - the extended demo!!!
TTOW is such a natural, logical expansion of TROS and I love the plot already. The stakes! The implications!! The intrigue!!! I CAN'T WAIT to get into the politicking and international diplomacy bit of the game. Anyway, this is an especially perfect continuation to Leo's and Guillaume's (why is your name impossible to nickname) endings. They weren't my superfavourites but their routes in TROS pretty much set up the entire plot of TTOW, so their TTOW routes are probably going to be the most involving and interesting plot-wise, since they place MC at the beating heart of the action.
Speaking of the civil war duo, I've already imprinted on Leo's route. The Leo/MC relationship is relationship goals x1000. I love my cunning revolutionary lovebirds, the couple that plots a coup together stays together. I also CAN'T WAIT to see the Leo + MC vs. Guillaume + Francesca conflict that the screenshots imply, especially if MC was originally chosen as princess! I can't wait for vicious conflict in general, what can I say, I'm a bird of prey. Guillaume worries me as usual. I felt like I was walking a tightrope every time anything political or concerning his father came up in conversation, or like I slipped and fell into the thriller genre haha. Don't know if it was intended but I feel very tense and like his father's balls to the walls insanity is driving a wedge between me and this fictional character, and also I love that.
Speaking of wedges! BASTIEN! Of course his dad's death was gonna have a presence in his story, but damn I didn't expect it like this lol. I love the direction his route is taking, it's really unique/different not just from the other routes in this game but most otome routes in general. MC blowing up at Bastian when he calls their marriage his failure was soooo good, it's one of my favourite scenes so far (the others being MC spinning that yarn about her and Fred being kidnapped by pirates, which I laughed at for a good five minutes; and finding out MC and Charly have become minor celebrities with a fan club in their absence; and then that scene where MC is describing the utter dread she's feeling when her mom manifests in the physical plane at the de Souza's but her sprite immediately starts smiling with the brightness of the sun itself and she's just like ''Mother! :D'' lmao... I love her...)
Oh man I should really be studying right now. Anyway my favourite characters are all di Parisis: 1. MC, 2. Frederique, 3. Mom. Which is, well. All the di Parisis, actually, who have faces. They're a charismatic lot. But my point is, holy crap the Duchess di Parisi is a great character, even if she can be a bit awful at times. She's a force of nature for sure. I love the way she accepts Bas as a son in his route, I really didn't expect that and it warmed my black heart. On Fred's route too, when she sees her children again for the first time in two years is a great scene, and also a little heartbreaking. Which does she love more, her family or the di Parisi? Do I want to know the answer lol??? I wonder if she'll ever at least kind of be able to accept MC and Fred being in love. I haven't mentioned Frederique much but his is the only prologue I played through twice haha, it's just that not much has happened yet, but I want the world to know that he is still Best Boy now and forevermore. OK I REALLY should be studying right now.
Some hopefully not too spoilery questions: - How deeply can MC influence the outcome of the civil war/future of Segunda in general during the game? - What are the new skills? - How many endings per route will there be? - Can you ''become the mask'' and fall in actual love with Guillaume on the loveless route? Will romance with other characters be available on the loveless route? - Is the new secret romance a new or a returning character? - How bad ARE Frederique's gambling debts???
Ah, so you were one of the patient ones? Hats off to you, because waiting is something I am just no good at. ^_^
I'm glad to hear you've enjoyed it so far and you like the direction things are heading in.
As for your questions:
It depends on the route you are playing - the closer you are to the crown, the more influence you'll be able to have on the conflict, and I want there to be a few different ways to succeed since success is kind of subjective (for example, an ending where the Parisi are very powerful but your marriage has broken down - whether that is a success or a failure would depend on your personal outlook).
The new skills will be dependant on your partner and reflect what you have picked up in the last two years. There is one for each partner and they are permanent. So say you played Leo's route first - the skill you have acquired with him will be unlocked not only for that route but for all routes you play afterwards. I have a rough idea on what I would like the skills to be, but I'll see how my ideas develop as I write the routes.
At the moment I am looking at 3/4 endings for each route with variations available dependant on what you chose in the game (like having children or not as an example).
You can fall in love with Guillaume in the loveless route, but not the route where you are pretending to love him. I am toying with the idea of letting you have another romance option in the loveless route (I won't say who, lol) but it will depend on how the writing goes.
The secret romance is a new character.
Not that bad - I think it's his bar tab that's probably costing the Duchess. It's very easy to be generous when it's someone else's money. ^_^
You're Amazing! Congrats on getting it done/setting up Official Page! I am going to DEVOUR THIS. But First -- *Love* the winter coats on the ladies! So Fash~ And I like how it fits their personalities.
Kk - going to dive in now! Missed mah Precious babes. ^^ Will review once I'm done!
NOOOOOOO -- it's OVER?! *SOBS* That was Much too SHORT! In the end, that's a GOOD thing - but I feel so Bereft. I missed MC and Sofia's Banter SO MUCH... Seeing the start of their route was like jumping right back into what made the pairing so Wonderful.
A few initial Impressions:
- I like new dialogue box! The little touches(curly corner, what looks like a damask fill)are Really nice!
- The 1st room I saw at the inn: I could Already see the added details. There was a inherent Lushness to the room - even though it was sparse. Deliberate or not, it gave an immediate indicator of war times. A -- shift from Needless Extravagance.
- With things like kisses and shows of affection, will that always be cutaway(only scenery shown) or will CGs be made for them in the future? Obviously, I get you can't do one for EACH display, but it felt remote not having any.
- FEELZ came rushing All the Way BACK just from the brief intro -- I really felt you managed to make it feel like I just played 'Rose' yesterday. I also really enjoyed the Concise telling of 'the story thus far'; it felt Informative without feeling like I was reading a history textbook. It was Just Enough to let me know what had gone done in those 2 years -- not only in Segunda, but with my LI. Very dynamic. On that note: I also liked that I got to see Clips of how the Times are affecting certain characters as well; given darker theme, those kinds of details will be Crucial.
- With Choices: I personally feel like the light blue text on the dark blue background is Hard on the eyes. It certainly Helps when you hover over them and they light up for legibility, but it's a strain to read before that and I'd like to be able to immediately process my options.
- I caught a few typos here and there (several in Sofia's dialogue); I'm sure it'll be cleaned up before Final, but thought I should let you know.
- Loved how 'minor' characters that would once be silhouettes are now fully detailed! I'm Really Glad this is a thing - Always felt like a bit of Immersion was Lost talking to shadows.
So EXCITE!!! I Really HOPE there will be a longer demo in the future! But, if not, I'll just take the Full Game~ ;) As I mentioned in an earlier post, more than ANYTHING I'm looking forward to how Established Relationships are handled. Is Maintaining them a factor? Will choices Affect your standing with LIs? Can they Potentially Leave you? Yes, the battle was won in 'Rose', but the country isn't the only one with a war. Seeing how the current state of things has MC(and others)particularly occupied, I'm even more Interested in how 'romance' factor will develop alongside as it's not 'Talk to LI - Get LI to not hate you - Smooch - Ride off into the sunset' anymore. Generally speaking, of course~
Thank you for the feedback - I'm sorry it fell too short for you, though if it is any consolation the complete demo as just been released with the final three routes ^_^
To answer your questions, kisses and shows of affection will mostly be cut away, since I plan for there to be lots of them, but of course, I will have at least one CG for a 'kiss scene' since I understand that people like them.
Hmm, I'll look into the menu choice text colour and see if I can find something easier to read then.
As for any typos, yes, I would hope to catch them all before the full game release, though if you want to help, please feel free to send me any you find to support@blackcross-taylor.com.
Thanks for playing and I'm glad you enjoyed it so far
That IS consolation -- my friend who I got *JUST* as addicted to 'Rose' loves Charlotte, so SHE'S GONNA FREAK knowing that route's open now~ ^^
Fair on shows of affection(and I can't rightly Complain since you're saying there will be 'lots' - YAY~) -- it'll also make the CG we get far more Coveted. No Pressure. ;P
I'd be happy to send in typos! (Aforementioned)Friend and I are currently playing a game that has AMAZING Writing -- but the Editing job SUCKED. And it's such a SHAME. Anything I can do to help 'Thorns' shine/the work you've all done its most Awesome, I'm happy to. Let me know if you need a Proofreader for final version as well!
*(Also forgot to mention earlier with Sofia's demo route)How SHOOKETH I was that a certain Mama didn't know the True Nature of a certain couple's relationship. *Plays Theme of 'My Fair Lesbians'* LOOKS LIKE THERE MIGHT BE MORE DRAMA HERE THAN IN THE WAR
Wait, I just started the demo, and you can actually get the King to select you as the future queen in the original? How? I never figured that out and I thought I got all the CGs and endings. Is it possible you can give a small guide on that?
Sure, I can give you some tips here and, if you'd like something more in-depth, you can you email me at support@blackcross-taylor.com and I can give you a full rundown.
So, it can depend on who you are trying to romance, but basically following your mother's initial advice and behaving like a frivolous twit is what is going to earn you the King's favour.
Off the top of my head, a few of the 'easy wins' are being all shy when you first greet Seneschal Corin, not eating at the first ball, playing the Rose Princess in the play and playing her to the script, crying when you have the opportunity. Fainting is also always a great boost for your points, lol.
There are many more points available than are required to have the King choose you at the end, so you don't have to do everything right. Also Bastien mentions on Day2 and Day7 how well you are (or aren't) doing with regards to the King's favour, so that should give an indication of whether you're on the right track.
You'll know if you've managed it at the end because the King will ask your MC to step forward not Francesca - of course, whether you're there to hear him is up to you. ^_^
Thank you! I had just assumed that the whole thing was a lost cause from the beginning, so I never really bothered to cover up the MC's intelligence. But it was pretty fun to have the king pick her for a change, then have him be rejected; Leopold and the regular 'run away with Frederique' endings were particularly fun (What do you mean she's run off with her brother? along with Guillame's face as he hears that made me laugh). I can also see how we can get the loveless marriage path in the sequel thanks to this but more on that in another post. Thanks a lot!
No problem! I'm glad to hear the tips worked and that you enjoyed seeing it - I think the endings where the King picks the MC only to discover her absence are my favourite as well. ^_^
*Sees pic with Leopold* Oh my god, I love this already. This is why I wish more games would get sequels/fandisks, because this is the kind of interesting stuff I want to see, but that the original games only hint at (also, I actually want to play a game where you have a relationship, rather than one that ends when you get one, aka most games). So glad you decided to go through with the sequel. SO glad!
Ah, I'm glad you're looking forward to the sequel. Yes, we were discussing in the comments a while back how most games end with the start of the relationship - which is a nice way to conclude things, without a doubt - but it is also kind of where the story begins for the couple in question.
I hope I can do all the characters' relationships justice. ^_^
Just finished the demo. I like the mom a lot more than I thought I would, and I absolutely love both Leopold and the loveless marriage path. Leopold because the relationship feels almost as genuine as the one the MC has with Frederique, and the loveless path because it feels realistic. Also, this may be my Frederique bias talking, but were there not a lot of romantic undertones when he meets up with the MC again, especially if she admits she regrets the marriage? Guillame blushing when he finds them and the way that path ends just adds fuel to my shipping fire. Is this another way to end up with him, or is it all going towards another platonic run away ending with him? But it certainly feels more...passionate for lack of a better word, than when they meet up in the single path. Though I can understand why Frederique feels more desperate after she marries.
Either way, really looking forward to Frederique's path. Sorry to put more pressure on you when it comes to that path, but hey, it's your fault for making their relationship feel the most sincere out the original game :p
Also, will we get to meet dad and other brother in this game? With sprites? I'm curious to see if Francoise looks more like Frederique or the MC.
Thank you for the feedback - I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the Leopold and Loveless routes.
Hmm, as for the loveless path, well, Frederique feels what he has always felt, but with both their situations being as they are, I think things are more emotionally heightened. He's been away for two years imagining the worst, whereas in the single route things have just been 'business as usual' for the pair. But, as I plan things at the moment, you won't be able to romance Frederique in the loveless route.
Well, Frederique's demo path is written, as is Bastien's. I am just finishing off Charlotte's route and then I can post the full demo, so you do not have long to wait now. Maybe another day or two.
I'm not sure if players will ever get to meet Francoise and Duke Claude - it will depend on how the routes progress as I am writing them, but if they do appear, they will have sprites. ^_^
When I saw this I literally slammed my hands on my bed and screamed "WHAT????" out of excitement!!! I l o v e d playing The Rose of Segunda and this is such an amazing surprise to find! I can't wait to play!
The Rose of Segunda was an absolute treasure - the writing, the characters, the plot - and is a game I love beyond words. This sequel is already on my must-have-list!
As for thoughts:
* I am so thankful and appreciative that you let us input our thoughts about children. So so many visual novels make the assumption that the mc has and/or wants kids at the end and that can be a little disheartening. The fact that you're actually allowing player input on that topic is <3
*Again, the writing for this is absolutely fantastic. The art style is very cute so I wasn't expecting the sophisticated political intrigue of a game that was the first, though I was very pleasantly surprised and immediately invested.
*I can't wait to see how Frederique's route plays out. Admittedly it was my favorite route (angst is always a source of investment, I must say) and watching how it unfolds in the midst of already otherwise unrelated turmoil and then familial turmoil - unless it's kept a secret in which case even more delectable angst - will be amazing.
Thank you so much for all the hard work put into such an ambitious and fantastic game! I really can't wait for it to come out. (But do not feel rushed or pressure, it is understood that quality takes time and you have other projects that require attention as well)
Thank you for the positive feedback on both 'Rose' and 'Thorns', I'm glad you enjoyed the first game and have found enough in the demo to get excited for the sequel.
Yes, it always surprises me a little when such a big decision as having children is decided for the player. I suppose it makes sense in games where it is already established your character wants them or they are needed for the plot, but otherwise I would probably avoid bringing it up or let players decide what they believe their character would want.
Aha, so many people seem to be looking forward to Fred's route - the pressure's on and I must admit I'm getting a little nervous.
Well, thank you for playing and your kind encouragement - I am already aware that the 200,000 approximated word count is likely a huge underestimate, so I don't think rushing it will be an option. ^_^
The demo served as a good transition from the prequel ‘Rose of Segunda’ and managed to build my interest. There are still good balances of humour, serious tone and romance (since they are married after all ;D). Oh I missed the playful MC, and of course the trickster, troublemaker duo (MC and Frederique).
Things which kept my curiosity and build up my anticipation:
1. How MC and love interest(s) (particularly MC X Leopold) will interact with Prince and Francesca. I am also quite interested if the Prince will ever come to truly love Francesca (those who played the prequel knew the Prince has some unresolved issues where his moral values come into conflict with his position and responsibility).
2. I also wonder if Francesca, who has been raised as a winner will ever have a change of heart during the course of the story and learn some valuable lessons or she will just stay a bitter cucumber. I missed her banters with MC and the girls.
3. Frederique’s route (One of my favourites along with Leopold’s, ahem)! Everything about Frederique’s route is a mystery and I keep wondering how the family will react to this news, or will they be able to hide their marriage / romance from Mother’s watchful eyes? I actually really like MC’s Mother (based on exposure from RoS and the demo in ToW). She is a good mixture of Mother who does *seemed* to love her children but also torn between her ‘responsibility’, as she put it. Or will the sequel revealed her children really are just ‘pawns’ to her? It sort of gives the melancholic feeling of Victorian era where mother’s love is complicated thing, but isn’t it always? xD
4. Does ‘who the King wants you to marry at the end of prequel?’ gives any sort of impact in later story? I played both ‘Francesca’ and ‘Me’ and didn’t notice any dialogue changes though it is probably just me since after all, we still haven’t had any direct encounter with the King yet in the demo.
5. Sofia’s route. Because we know that Frederique also love the MC so I wonder if there will be any drama involving these 3 pretties, or if Frederique will come to love Sofia or if he will find someone else to love? Or… IDK HAHA too many possibilities!!
6. Outcome of the war, obviously! Particularly the main players such as Prince and Leo. This war will surely have a huge impact on them both.
7. Married with children endings, since you brought it up in the demo xD
8. New characters and secret character! So there are 3, right?
Thank you for your feedback - it's always interesting to see what people are anticipating.
Most of these points are things that will definitely be covered by the full game, so at least your curiosity will be sated eventually.
Though for number 4, I can confirm that every route so far as had one or two lines reflecting who the King chose to marry Guillaume at the end of 'Rose'.
They are usually from or with regards to your mother and how angry she was at the time. Of course, you're right in thinking that you will see more comments further into the game, especially when you meet the King.
And as for point 8, yes, there are three new romance options. Vesela, one of the high-ranking Alvardian diplomats, Mathys, a former knight, and the secret romance (who I think is pretty obvious, because it's not like there are many eligible sprites left at this point ^_^)
I had no idea there was a sequel underway for The Rose of Segunda and just stumbled upon it here and I can't be more hyped since I wanted a sequel as soon as I finished the game! I loved the first game and still replay it every now and again, it is not famous enough in my opinion. The MC is as amazing as ever, the humour in the first game was one thing I loved the most, it made me go through all the routes and all the choices just to see it all:)
This demo is just as good so far, I liked all the characters we saw and their growth and hints to their lives these past two years, although Leo will forever be number one. It's also nice that the game still has its humour and wit despite the darker tone and I can't wait to see how it all unfolds. I'm also very curious about the new romance options for the loveless route.
I'm eagerly awaiting this game and the next piece of the demo, and if the rest of the game is like the demo then it will be amazing!
Thank you for your kind comments - it's nice to hear you enjoyed the first game and like where the sequel has headed so far.
Yes, part of me wanted to make the single route long enough to enable players to meet the two new characters, but that would have made it about three times as long as the other demo routes. Perhaps when the game is nearer completion, I'll release an extended demo. ^_^
Oh wow I remember when the first time I saw The Rose of Segunda and really loved the art style and paths all the different routes went. To think randomly browsing itch.io would have me see a sequel :3 I'm excited for this and the demo has me anticipating what's more to come :D
Just finished the demo, I also like the more serious tone and I can't wait to see how Frederique's route will fit into all of this! also the loveless marriage route was fun to read as well and the comment about his rooms being too far and that sounding just perfect to Lolanthe really cracked me up haha.
I am! I can't wait until all routes are in. I actually played through every single one and really enjoyed them so I'm excited to see how they all are in the sequel.
Do you perhaps have a discord, where people could theorize or ask you questions about the story/game? I'd love to use it, I want to make all the fanfic already, I'm in love with this series, and I know a couple others who feel the same way. :)
To be honest, I only really use discord to talk to one of my proofreaders at the moment, and I'm not sure I have the time currently to moderate/run a server, as well as write the games I have in production.
That said, if you and the people interested wanted to create a space of your own, I could certainly join and answer questions/chat when I'm free. ^_^
I really love the demo and can't wait for it to be finished, even seeing how your choices play out, like if they give you a good ending or a bad ending, i still can't wait to see Frederique route and also Bastien route, i do love all the other characters to even having a choice to have no one so can find someone else. this game is amazing already
Ah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm downloading the demo now, I am SO excited! I can't play until tomorrow but I'll come back to gush when I do. Thank you so much for your hard work!
I LOVE it. I like the more serious tone as opposed to the first game, though I'm pleased it still has a lot of the originals charming playfulness still. I'm so excited to see how the characters have grown over the past few years. I like being able to select the original traits up front as well as the route as I had a little bit of trouble guessing when the first game first came out and it took me a bit to figure out what option equaled what trait (except the super obvious ones).
So far Sophia is my fave for this game, though I loved the interactions between MC and everyone. Leo and her were really cute together, and I love the dynamic with her brother. I also really like the loveless marriage option, I'm a sucker for angst. It was great hearing our mom's reaction to our choices (she got so angry with all of mine haha) and meeting her in person, I can tell she's going to be a great (and fearsome!) character.
Looking forward to the rest of the routes, especially my fave of the first game, Bastien, I'm sure that choice will go over well with mom :P
Anyway, good luck and thank you for all of your hard work, I shall be stalking this game relentlessly!
Thank you for such positive feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed the demo so far, and that despite the more serious setting, the characters lighthearted moments still come across (I worry that some people might be disappointed it is not as jovial as the first game).
Well, I am hoping Bastien and the other routes will be finished soon, so please let me know what you think once you've played his one, since he's your favourite. ^_^
I'm sure the release date will be here before we know it though. I know, for me at least, time seems to go dizzyingly fast when I've got a deadline looming.
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Are there any plans for a Frederique romance during the loveless marriage path?
Not at the moment, but I'll see what happens when I write the route - he is certainly one of a few people who I can see risking it. ^_^
Your stories are so interesting that sometimes I wish they were text-based so even more choices could be carried over and explored. For example, I think there is a terribly tragic and interesting dimension to having a dutiful Iolanthe who turned down Leopold's proposal and married the prince, even though she was in love with Leopold. I would love to be able to explore this dynamic in the loveless marriage path.
Many thanks for your kind feedback - I am happy to know you'd like more of the story. As for the particular scenario you mentioned, scenes such as that will be explored during the loveless marriage route, so I hope you will at least get to see a little something of that aspect. ^_^
Many thanks for playing
I loved The Rose of Segunda! One of my favourite things about it was that the main character is an actual character (player-determined) and not an empty shell. (Thank you so much for the role-playing options! ♥) Other characters were lovely and likable, too. Especially Leopold :) TROS had only one drawback: it was too short! So I'm very happy there'll be more.
I wish you inspiration and good luck and I'm looking forward to TTOW. (And I hope it'll be eventually available on Steam because I have the first game there).
Fun fact: i didn't realise that the MC's official name is Iolanthe and named her Rosalind :)
Thank you for the feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed TROS and are looking forward to the sequel.
Ah, yes, Leo seems to be a firm favourite - possibly only Frederique gets more love (on itch, at least. ) And I think Rosalind is more than in keeping with the setting - it's always interesting for me to hear what people decided to call their MCs.
Many thanks for your support
Hell yeah! the sequel looks awesome and way more improved than the first one! Looking forward to the finished and full game :D
Thank you - I'm glad to hear you are looking forward to it
aaaaah omg i know I'm late but I LOVED the first game,I'm so surprised to see a sequel!
So hey! I loved the first game to the bits and can't wait for the sequel! :D
That's all the more reason for me to wonder: will it come out this year? I just want to know what level of hype I should settle for hahah Because I seriously cannot wait! I'm sure it will be just as amazing as the first game :)
Hello, Phoenix2M
Thank you for the feedback - I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the first game. With the way things look at the moment, work will start again on Thorns (art-wise) in August, but writing won't recommence until Best Friends Forever is finished (which is projected for Oct/Nov), so I think we will be looking at next year for Thorns, around the late spring / early summer, since I predict it will be a long game.
Thanks for playing
Thanks a lot for letting me know! Appreciate it a lot! Also because I've enjoyed BFF too! :)
OMG! There's a sequel! I played the The Rose of Segunda on steam and loved it. I look forward to the sequel. XD
Ah, thank you for letting me know you enjoyed the first game - I hope you have as much fun with the sequel as well. ^_^
Thanks for playing
I've played the first one on Steam and LOVED IT. I'm so excited for sequel. Good luck! <3
Sorry, I missed this. Thank you for the kind feedback (and the luck ^_^) - I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the first game and I hope the second one lives up to expectations.
Thanks for playing
THERE IT IS! OMG i love so much first part and i am really happy you decided to make a second ;D Looking forward to play it
Ah, thank you - I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the first game and are looking forward to this one ^_^
Thanks for playing
Wow, I loved the first game and I'm so excited to see that it's getting a sequel! I'll be eagerly following its progress and I can't wait to purchase it once it's released. :)
Ah, thank you - I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the first game and I hope to start progress updates on Thorns again soon ^_^
Thanks for playing
I'm really excited about this game.....is there a way to be able to keep track of the progress of it's development? I don't want to rush developers or make them feel obligated to update their progress all the time, but being in the loop helps with the anxiety that comes with the anticipation of a good game. I understand though, if you would rather not do a progress bar or something similar.
Good luck! :)
Hello, 1sab3llameow
Thank you for your interest - I'm glad to hear you're looking forward to the full game.
At the moment, The Thorns of War (TTOW) is on hiatus while I finish the other two games I'm working on: Heaven's Grave and Best Friends Forever. The sales of these games will be used to commission the remaining assets required for TTOW.
I am hoping to begin collaborating with artists again on TTOW around late summer, so once I have news to report, I will begin to post regular progress updates which I hope will keep players in the loop.
Thanks for playing
Im so so so excited for this game! I loved the first game! Do you have a kickstarter or anything for this game? Id be glad to donate
Ah, thank you. I'm glad to hear you're looking forward to it.
No, I've no Kickstarter, as yet. I always try to fund my games myself, through sales of any previous games. I'm already quite worried about meeting the expectations of fans of the first game - I think I'd be a nervous wreck if people had already paid, as well. ^_^
Thanks for playing
I'm really looking forward to it ! I really enjoyed the rose of Segunda, except for a tiny detail... Françoise is actually a woman's name, the man's name whould be François. It's probably too late to change it now, but I can't stop laughing whenever they mention him xD kinda hard to see him as the serious older brother after that :p Looking forward to best friend forever too !
Hello celi-nege, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the first game for the most part and are looking forward to the sequel.
As for the name, yes, this has been mentioned before. I would say that this is a fantasy game and I never really meant for any of the names to be directly held up to real-life counterparts. I drew from a mix of French, Spanish and Italian and plain just made some of them up. As someone has already pointed out, Frederique is the feminine spelling, as well - I just prefer it that way.
Thanks for playing
Hmmmmmm
Ah, first one was so goood, looking forward to this one :D
Ah, thank you. I'm glad to hear you're looking forward to it - I am too, to be honest ^_^
The first is really great, I wait impatiently The Thorns of War lol
I really look forward it! I loved the first game and I still replay it from time to time. I'm sure it will be an even better sequel :)
I was getting an account because I wanted to leave feedback for The Rose of Segunda and then I saw this. I think I might start crying from happiness.
Court/Princess based otome games aren't my favourite, but if I could have wished for one Rose of Segunda would exactly be it. Playing it felt like the writers had invaded my mind when I slept to figure out exactly what kind of tropes and LIs I would have wanted in such a setting. It also helps the music and art was very nice.
No but seriously, I was so tired of mobile otome having you just discover you are a princess or be a nobody at court. I want to start out knowing what I'm doing! Plus I love how Iolanthe has a lot of spunk but you can decide how much you want her to care about duty, since if she has been brought up in that environment you'd think it would be something she'd care about. This was so well-balanced and I loved trying out different mindsets for different playthroughs and it always felt appropriate with the setting.
I also loved the setting in general. It's fantasy but it feels very based on actual European history even if the actual references are very vague. I honestly think it is for the best since otherwise research and/or inaccuracies would get in the way of telling a story. Plus it still feels mostly like a historical setting since it avoids magic. Just very well made Made-up Kingdom and politics within it.
I also love how you can be forward in the romances if you want to and that the game even encourages that mostly. I actually got wind of the game because someone else who likes brother-sister romance recced it because the secret route, but I found myself loving all but Guillame's route just as much. Oh but still, thank you thank you thank you for the secret route and for making it so sweet. I was getting tired of yandere brothers and the secret route was absolutely everything I wanted (Though a kiss CG would have been nice, but maybe there is hope?). Frederique is such an absolute sweetheart and I love how supportive he is in all the routes. All the LI are such cinnamon rolls but in their own distinct flavour without feeling samey at all. Just really well made job. Charlotte is the biggest sweetie though and she deserves the whole world and no one should ever hurt her. I loved the whole play you put on later in the week and Iolanthe makes such a dashing prince (but getting to play the roles wrong was so much fun too).
So yes, just thank you so much for this game. I really, really enjoyed it if that wasn't obvious from the above. I don't like playing betas so I will hold off on the demo for the sequel for now, but finding out this is a thing getting made made my week and I can't wait to play the finished product, you have a guaranteed buy from me.
Hello, Eleanore97, and thank you for the feedback. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the game for the most part, and are looking forward to the sequel.
Thanks for playing
Many thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you are finding it interesting enough so far. This is only the beta demo, hence the lack of music, but I do have plans to add a score to the game once I have secured the budget for a musician.
Thanks for playing
This was an amazing game though a little short, however the elegant design and love put into it is well noted. It was a little strange to have files disappear and have to redownload it because of virus protection but thank you for the game.
Many thanks for the feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed the demo so far - I have hopes to release a longer demo closer to the games release date.
Thanks for playing
I love your work and The Rose of Segunda. It is beautifully written and the art is fantastic. I have a problem though. I have been trying to download the demo of teh thorns of war for a while now but it says there was a failure and just in the middle of downloading it is closed off. I logged in my account to see if that was the problem, but it says I have no access from the author. Is there anyway we can fix this?
Eh, that's odd. I've never heard of anything like that before.
The page and files are 'public' (as opposed to restricted access), so I'm surprised it is having trouble. Which version were you trying to download, please? Demo2?
And is it for windows or mac or linux?
Right, I just downloaded all three (windows, mac and linux) with no trouble, so just to double check, was it the link on the main game page you are using or the devlog? And if using the devlog, was it #0 or #1 please?
The links in devlog #0 will no longer work as they link to an older copy of the game, but those on the main page or #1 should be working.
I found this first, went and checked out the 1st games demo, bought the first game and have been playing it nonstop for almost two days now! I am so excited to see what the sequel has in store for me!!! I have already grown to love this story and it's characters and I send my praises to the team that worked on this!!! Much love!
Thank you for the feedback - I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the first game and that you're looking forward to the sequel.
Thanks for playing
I too waited for a demo with all of the initial routes available before even trying the demo. For me, the secret RO in the first game is and always will remain the canonical route so I wanted my first playthrough of the sequel to be that route. Minette got along better with Frederique than with any other and the feeling was so obviously mutual. It was so nice to see that they had found happiness together still just as much in love. I hope they can withstand their mother's scheming.
I felt so bad for Charlotte on her route when her own little brother Marc for whom she cares so much was so rude to her. I hope Charlotte's friendship with her brother can be mended.
I hope it turns out that Lade Albertine was able to marry her Captain Gaspare after all.
On those routes where Francesca is married to Guillaume, if Francesca chooses to gloat to the MC about being married to the Prince, I hope the MC has the chance to tell Francesca that Francesca was the best embodiment of everything Segunda had come to expect of its Princesses in the last few centuries.
I actually had a higher opinion of Guillaume on the loveless marriage route than the loving marriage route. I respect Guillaume on the loveless route for NEVER pressuring the MC for an heir. That was far preferable to him ignoring the MC when he supposedly loved her. I am glad there will be an option to try to turn that loveless marriage into one of love. If I had any remaining doubts as to how to feel about Duchess di Parisi, those doubts were resolved on the loveless marriage route.
I was glad on the single route if the King had picked the MC, then Guillaume was able to remain single avoiding a loveless marriage as well. I wish he could have avoided a loveless marriage on more of the routes.
I tried the loveless marriage route last and mostly for a sense of completeness. It was every bit as heartbreaking as I had feared but I am still glad I tried it. Even when everyone else abandoned Minette, Frederique never stopped caring for her and as painful as those 2 years were for her, those years may even have been worse for him after having tried so hard to protect her from that fate only to fail and his biggest regret is not having done even more for her. Frederique is and always will be my favorite character in this series.
Thank you for the feedback and your patience in waiting for Frederique's route - I'm glad you enjoyed it so far.
There will certainly be confrontations with Francesca coming up in some of the routes - though how you engage with her will be left to player choice.
I'm glad you found the loveless route worth playing, as well - I think it could be very interesting route as the MC will be very close to court, but potentially without the usual family/spousal ties . It's going to be fun seeing how everyone ends up proceeding with that one.
Thanks for playing
THANK YOU FOR BEING AMAZING!!!!
*coughs and composes self*
First of all, I'm horribly remiss in expressing my LOVE for 'Rose'. My dear friend leogrl19 introduced it to me months ago and I fell so in love with the art, story and - of course - my darling Charlotte! SHE'S SO WONDERFUL OMG!!!!!!!! *squees forever*
Truly though, you created an engaging and layered game that held me rapt the whole way through. The characters were intriguing and realistic, the setting immersive with a good balance of stakes and light-hearted shenanigans, and the way your MC developed was so dynamic. I LOVED how even though you were able to influence her personality/how she handled certain events, she was always distinctly her own person - so ALIVE.
That's why when leogrl19 told me that there was a sequel forthcoming and a DEMO I was ALL OVER IT! As you've no doubt heard from her, I'm the friend who played through Charlotte's route (we had a great time discovering the new setting post Rose, as well as contemplating the possible trajectories the sequel could take each respective character in). She and I are writers so we ADORE both excellent writing and analysing the internal mechanisms that create truly Great narratives.
Also ~ fun fact: leogrl19 and I voice act all the characters as we're playing. It adds a whole other layer of WONDERFUL let me tell you! ^^
Since I was horribly remiss in sharing my love for your marvelous creation after playing Rose, it's only right that I should provide FB for what I've seen of the sequel. Some of these points may have already been touched upon in leogrl19's correspondences with you, so I hope to offer an additional angle to the experience.
Immediately upon beginning you're thrust right into the world. Most notably, although it's been years between Rose and this game, you're sucked right back into the dynamic of the couple. It was like I'd never been apart from MC and Charlotte. I could see the aspects of their characters I fell in love with/that made them such a great couple to me, yet also with this sense of Growth. They've become comfortable with each other after years of being together, and it shows in the small gestures and sensitivity they show. That's beautiful and is such a Positive way to start a sequel - recapturing the Love of the first game.
In addition to rekindling that sense of connection from past experience, you're also placed into the situation in conjunction with them. They've been away for two years, out of the loop of what's been happening in Segunda, which directly mirrors the player's experience. It really helps immersion when you're learning alongside them, getting to share their reactions.
The three scenes in Charlotte's route are Marvelously flushed out. The Inn gives them some alone time to establish their current relationship/the current political status ; the party dives deeper into the perspective those at home have of their behaviour, as well as Charlotte sees how her family in particular has been affected by the political atmosphere and her absence ; the carriage ride truly sets the stage (and stakes) for what Charlotte's route will entail. Each scene is rich in character depth and circumstantial intrigue. It just makes me SUPER EXCITED for what's to come!!!!!
What I find particularly thought-provoking is how MC will handle the new role being thrust onto her via her mother and the choices that will mean for her family as well as her relationship with Charlotte. It's clear that Charlotte harbours enormous guilt for leaving her family like she did, even before she learns that it's basically come apart, with her father and mother hardly around, her brother feeling abandoned (even by their nursey) and the incredible Risk inherent in the DeSouza's being closer to the Crown.
I suspect this tension will manifest, at least in part, in some regret for her travelling with MC, despite their love. This would be Fascinating and so Real - of course she'd wonder if things wouldn't have turned out so badly if she'd stayed instead of giving in to her desires. And for MC - there may come some resentment from Charlotte feeling this way, since she's given the woman she loves so much - continues to support her financially as well as emotionally - and yet has to deal with this lack of returned appreciation. And then may even come a terrible choice: for MC to choose the well-being of her family's status over her lover - or even her lover's family. OH MY! Wouldn't that be Terrible! Family is so important to Charlotte (especially her little brother, and you so powerfully see the sundering that has occurred between them) so if MC let Charlotte's family crash and burn, even if it was to protect her...
The dramatic possibilities are VERY ripe here.
I can't WAIT to see more updates/have access to the full game! I hope this FB has been helpful to you and if I think of anything else as I play through it again I will share.
Thank you so much for giving us such a GREAT game with TWO romance-able women. It is a rare and Blessed thing to see.
Wishing you the best,
~CynthiaER
Hello, CynthiaER, and thank you for the kind feedback. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed 'Rose' and are looking forward to 'Thorns' - your comment about doing all the voices with your friend made me smile.
Yes, Charlotte's route has a lot of possibilities for drama. I hope I can provide some interesting scenarios for players to navigate (without making them feel like they are being forced down any particular path ^_^).
Thanks for playing
AAAH! This was sooo cool! I'm so glad we finally have the (full) demo! I wanted to wait for this one before playing, so yeah.
Well, before diving into my feedback, I wanted to remind once more that since this isn't mandatory, I didn't play the solo and the girls' routes, as that's really not my thing. But I'll do my best to properly review the rest!
First of all, the backgrounds are really pretty. They seem improved from the first game, if I'm not mistaken? Anyway, I like those and I like the new clothes - very elegant, and all of the little changes alude nicely to a change of times and a tense period. You can really sense from many little thing the country will be at war soon. Now the only thing missing is a proper soundtrack, and the atmosphere will be amazing!
There are some typos and stuff here and there, but nothing that won't be changed with later proofreading, I'm sure.
I'm slighly confused about the choices at the beginning that serve to determine the way you played Iolanthe in the first game. I believe I choose well since she doesn't seem out of character compared to how I left her, but well, hard to tell for sure since the demo was quite short. But I'm not saying it was too short either. I wouldn't mind a longer one, sure, but it was enough to see what's happening, some of the situation the country is in, get a nice glimpse of how is Iolanthe's couple life, and be hyped for what's coming next - so no complaints here!
Now, the characters and routes. Well, funny thing is, my route ranking is the same in this demo as it was in The Rose of Segunda, with my favorite being Frederique, then Leo, followed by Bastien and finally the prince. The girls were last back then, but as I told before, I didn't try their routes here. Interestingly, despite what you said about his route in the latest update post, Bastien's route wasn't really unexpected to me. I have more or less predicted they WOULD be back somehow to the Parisi, and some form of deep emotional troubles - both things would be necessary for one part to make the route possible and for other part to make for some interesting tension and stuff.
As for my detailed thoughts about the routes so far, well, I'll go from my least favorite to my favorite.
- Guillaume: well, him being my least favorite doesn't mean I don't love him - that ranking is only comparative, with the other characters I like more. Now, his route was actually the most surprising one to me, to be fair. I didn't think he'd support his father so much and that he'd be so much in denial of his bad ways. It makes for interesting tension, and I'm wondering how the situation will end in this route. Strangely enough, it's the one that felt the less romantic to me too, it was too tense, maybe partly because it felt too tense since I simply couldn't agree with him on some of the things he was talking about. That's basically all I can say for now about him, I think.
- Bastien: I've already shared some of my thoughts about him before, but that was basically about the fact I wasn't really surprised by his route here. So, onto the route itself! It was a VERY interesting one. Honestly, it would be higher in the list if Leo and Frederique weren't SO DAMN AWESOME. Ahem, sorry! It was really heartbreaking, to begin with. It always made me so sad to see Bastien suffer because of what may have been happening in the first game, and with all the awful stuff that happened between the two games, ugh! I feel really bad for him because of his father rejection, the bad reception of the marriage and all the different issues he and Iolanthe have to face against. But it's even more painful to see how he reacts to that. And what makes it worse is that his reactions are totally understandable, especially considering he's quite introverted. It also saddens me to see the always so strong Iolanthe struggling with keeping her head up and not feeling too tired by all of this. All in all, I expect greatness from this route when it'll be fully released.
- Leopold: well, I love the guy as always! And I like the fact that you can be on the "bad" side if you're doing this route (if we consider Guillaume's is the "good" one). Leo is and always was my kind of character - one who's disgraced and kind of an underdog if we talk about good suitors, but who has great ambitions too, and who'll be truly gratefull and sweet with the main character if hey choose him and truly love him. And well, I gotta love the intrigue in this route. Seeing how Iolanthe and Leo are in perfect synch and harmony with each other, and how they can create such elaborate plans on the long term all to get what they want is really cool. I also like the fact you can choose if Iolanthe is helping Leo out of love, or if she really shares his dreams and ambitions. While both choices obviously promise support, the undertones are really quite important. I don't think their harmony and, for the matter, their marriage will truly last if they're not on the same page. And if they're not, they'll have to seriously talk about this. But well, personally, I really like to show full support there, as opposite to Guillaume's route where I can't always agree. And besides, I believe it's truly important to Leo to know he has Iolanthe's full support. When he actually talked about that... well, it was truly touching to me.
- Frederique: ah, the best for last! Well, what can I say... I had a litt-HUGE soft spot for him since the very beginning, in the first game. I just can help it, he automatically puts a grin on my face and makes me feel happy. He's such a lovely character, and his relationship with Iolanthe is so sweet and daring and strong at the same time. I have a trully hard time making a review here - I love him too much to think straight. Well, all in all it's nice to see they had a happy life, at least up until now, and if you fully develop the whole spying scenario you put in place for this route, it may be the most interesting one, even if we're not talking about the romance itself. But I'm REALLY wary of Iolanthe's and Frederique's mother in this route. I hope she won't pull anything crazy and awful on them. So yeah, it makes me tense too haha - so much emotions in this one. Oh and also, it was so nice to finally see them share a kiss, albeit a brief one. Man I really hope for a kissing CG in this route, aah! I'm rarely really hung up on that, but in this specific case I missed it so much in the first game. Well, no point in me rambling on and on about this one, you get the gist of it, and at this point I'll be only repeating myself and squealing on every little detail.
And finally, some questions.
I've seen lots of choices that seem to basically determine how Iolanthe feels about this or that (for example the ones in Leo's and Guillaumes routes about having children), but don't seem to be relevant to how the route will progress. Are they really only there for fluff, or do all the choices have some kind of deeper purpose?
Also, does each route have more than one ending?
And last - you talk about a secret romance? I guess you must play on the solo route to get it, am I right? And are they a man or a woman? If you can tell without spoiling too much, of course!
Thanks for the feedback, Konoi, and I'm glad to hear you're enjoying things so far.
Yes, with an increased budget some of it went on backgrounds (in fact the background budget is doubled from last time) so I am glad you like the look of them.
Oh, and I'll just mention this here - you may already know , but just in case it isn't clear - for the single route you only start the game as single. You can continue single, of course, but in the full game there are two romance options available on the single route, Sir Mathys and Ambassador Vesela. Just in case the name of it is confusing for some ^_^
To answer your questions, yes, the questions about the children will have an influence later on, each route does have more than one ending - I'm aiming for about 3-4 at the moment - and the secret romance is... actually I think I'll keep that under wraps a bit longer, but they're male and you get the option to pursue them in one specific route (but not the single one).
Thanks for playing
Ooh, I see, I see! Yeah, definitely needed the clarification about the single route romances and the secret romance haha! I guess I'll see if I like the characters I meet, and if I like someone a lot and they're one of the romance'able characters, or one I think may be, I'll redo an adequate playthrough of Rose of Segunda, so I won't have continuity errors.
Thank you for your answers!
My wait is fruitful!!! At long last I hold it in these mortal hands - the extended demo!!!
TTOW is such a natural, logical expansion of TROS and I love the plot already. The stakes! The implications!! The intrigue!!! I CAN'T WAIT to get into the politicking and international diplomacy bit of the game. Anyway, this is an especially perfect continuation to Leo's and Guillaume's (why is your name impossible to nickname) endings. They weren't my superfavourites but their routes in TROS pretty much set up the entire plot of TTOW, so their TTOW routes are probably going to be the most involving and interesting plot-wise, since they place MC at the beating heart of the action.
Speaking of the civil war duo, I've already imprinted on Leo's route. The Leo/MC relationship is relationship goals x1000. I love my cunning revolutionary lovebirds, the couple that plots a coup together stays together. I also CAN'T WAIT to see the Leo + MC vs. Guillaume + Francesca conflict that the screenshots imply, especially if MC was originally chosen as princess! I can't wait for vicious conflict in general, what can I say, I'm a bird of prey. Guillaume worries me as usual. I felt like I was walking a tightrope every time anything political or concerning his father came up in conversation, or like I slipped and fell into the thriller genre haha. Don't know if it was intended but I feel very tense and like his father's balls to the walls insanity is driving a wedge between me and this fictional character, and also I love that.
Speaking of wedges! BASTIEN! Of course his dad's death was gonna have a presence in his story, but damn I didn't expect it like this lol. I love the direction his route is taking, it's really unique/different not just from the other routes in this game but most otome routes in general. MC blowing up at Bastian when he calls their marriage his failure was soooo good, it's one of my favourite scenes so far (the others being MC spinning that yarn about her and Fred being kidnapped by pirates, which I laughed at for a good five minutes; and finding out MC and Charly have become minor celebrities with a fan club in their absence; and then that scene where MC is describing the utter dread she's feeling when her mom manifests in the physical plane at the de Souza's but her sprite immediately starts smiling with the brightness of the sun itself and she's just like ''Mother! :D'' lmao... I love her...)
Oh man I should really be studying right now. Anyway my favourite characters are all di Parisis: 1. MC, 2. Frederique, 3. Mom. Which is, well. All the di Parisis, actually, who have faces. They're a charismatic lot. But my point is, holy crap the Duchess di Parisi is a great character, even if she can be a bit awful at times. She's a force of nature for sure. I love the way she accepts Bas as a son in his route, I really didn't expect that and it warmed my black heart. On Fred's route too, when she sees her children again for the first time in two years is a great scene, and also a little heartbreaking. Which does she love more, her family or the di Parisi? Do I want to know the answer lol??? I wonder if she'll ever at least kind of be able to accept MC and Fred being in love. I haven't mentioned Frederique much but his is the only prologue I played through twice haha, it's just that not much has happened yet, but I want the world to know that he is still Best Boy now and forevermore. OK I REALLY should be studying right now.
Some hopefully not too spoilery questions:
- How deeply can MC influence the outcome of the civil war/future of Segunda in general during the game?
- What are the new skills?
- How many endings per route will there be?
- Can you ''become the mask'' and fall in actual love with Guillaume on the loveless route? Will romance with other characters be available on the loveless route?
- Is the new secret romance a new or a returning character?
- How bad ARE Frederique's gambling debts???
Ah, so you were one of the patient ones? Hats off to you, because waiting is something I am just no good at. ^_^
I'm glad to hear you've enjoyed it so far and you like the direction things are heading in.
As for your questions:
It depends on the route you are playing - the closer you are to the crown, the more influence you'll be able to have on the conflict, and I want there to be a few different ways to succeed since success is kind of subjective (for example, an ending where the Parisi are very powerful but your marriage has broken down - whether that is a success or a failure would depend on your personal outlook).
The new skills will be dependant on your partner and reflect what you have picked up in the last two years. There is one for each partner and they are permanent. So say you played Leo's route first - the skill you have acquired with him will be unlocked not only for that route but for all routes you play afterwards. I have a rough idea on what I would like the skills to be, but I'll see how my ideas develop as I write the routes.
At the moment I am looking at 3/4 endings for each route with variations available dependant on what you chose in the game (like having children or not as an example).
You can fall in love with Guillaume in the loveless route, but not the route where you are pretending to love him. I am toying with the idea of letting you have another romance option in the loveless route (I won't say who, lol) but it will depend on how the writing goes.
The secret romance is a new character.
Not that bad - I think it's his bar tab that's probably costing the Duchess. It's very easy to be generous when it's someone else's money. ^_^
Thanks for playing
OHHHHH MAAAAAH GOOOOOOSH -- DEMO!!! DEMOOOOO!!! (SEND HELP)
*Leaps into Sofia's Arms*
You're Amazing! Congrats on getting it done/setting up Official Page! I am going to DEVOUR THIS. But First -- *Love* the winter coats on the ladies! So Fash~ And I like how it fits their personalities.
Kk - going to dive in now! Missed mah Precious babes. ^^ Will review once I'm done!
NOOOOOOO -- it's OVER?! *SOBS* That was Much too SHORT! In the end, that's a GOOD thing - but I feel so Bereft. I missed MC and Sofia's Banter SO MUCH... Seeing the start of their route was like jumping right back into what made the pairing so Wonderful.
A few initial Impressions:
- I like new dialogue box! The little touches(curly corner, what looks like a damask fill)are Really nice!
- The 1st room I saw at the inn: I could Already see the added details. There was a inherent Lushness to the room - even though it was sparse. Deliberate or not, it gave an immediate indicator of war times. A -- shift from Needless Extravagance.
- With things like kisses and shows of affection, will that always be cutaway(only scenery shown) or will CGs be made for them in the future? Obviously, I get you can't do one for EACH display, but it felt remote not having any.
- FEELZ came rushing All the Way BACK just from the brief intro -- I really felt you managed to make it feel like I just played 'Rose' yesterday. I also really enjoyed the Concise telling of 'the story thus far'; it felt Informative without feeling like I was reading a history textbook. It was Just Enough to let me know what had gone done in those 2 years -- not only in Segunda, but with my LI. Very dynamic. On that note: I also liked that I got to see Clips of how the Times are affecting certain characters as well; given darker theme, those kinds of details will be Crucial.
- With Choices: I personally feel like the light blue text on the dark blue background is Hard on the eyes. It certainly Helps when you hover over them and they light up for legibility, but it's a strain to read before that and I'd like to be able to immediately process my options.
- I caught a few typos here and there (several in Sofia's dialogue); I'm sure it'll be cleaned up before Final, but thought I should let you know.
- Loved how 'minor' characters that would once be silhouettes are now fully detailed! I'm Really Glad this is a thing - Always felt like a bit of Immersion was Lost talking to shadows.
So EXCITE!!! I Really HOPE there will be a longer demo in the future! But, if not, I'll just take the Full Game~ ;) As I mentioned in an earlier post, more than ANYTHING I'm looking forward to how Established Relationships are handled. Is Maintaining them a factor? Will choices Affect your standing with LIs? Can they Potentially Leave you? Yes, the battle was won in 'Rose', but the country isn't the only one with a war. Seeing how the current state of things has MC(and others)particularly occupied, I'm even more Interested in how 'romance' factor will develop alongside as it's not 'Talk to LI - Get LI to not hate you - Smooch - Ride off into the sunset' anymore. Generally speaking, of course~
Thank you for the feedback - I'm sorry it fell too short for you, though if it is any consolation the complete demo as just been released with the final three routes ^_^
To answer your questions, kisses and shows of affection will mostly be cut away, since I plan for there to be lots of them, but of course, I will have at least one CG for a 'kiss scene' since I understand that people like them.
Hmm, I'll look into the menu choice text colour and see if I can find something easier to read then.
As for any typos, yes, I would hope to catch them all before the full game release, though if you want to help, please feel free to send me any you find to support@blackcross-taylor.com.
Thanks for playing and I'm glad you enjoyed it so far
That IS consolation -- my friend who I got *JUST* as addicted to 'Rose' loves Charlotte, so SHE'S GONNA FREAK knowing that route's open now~ ^^
Fair on shows of affection(and I can't rightly Complain since you're saying there will be 'lots' - YAY~) -- it'll also make the CG we get far more Coveted. No Pressure. ;P
I'd be happy to send in typos! (Aforementioned)Friend and I are currently playing a game that has AMAZING Writing -- but the Editing job SUCKED. And it's such a SHAME. Anything I can do to help 'Thorns' shine/the work you've all done its most Awesome, I'm happy to. Let me know if you need a Proofreader for final version as well!
*(Also forgot to mention earlier with Sofia's demo route)How SHOOKETH I was that a certain Mama didn't know the True Nature of a certain couple's relationship. *Plays Theme of 'My Fair Lesbians'* LOOKS LIKE THERE MIGHT BE MORE DRAMA HERE THAN IN THE WAR
Wait, I just started the demo, and you can actually get the King to select you as the future queen in the original? How? I never figured that out and I thought I got all the CGs and endings. Is it possible you can give a small guide on that?
Sure, I can give you some tips here and, if you'd like something more in-depth, you can you email me at support@blackcross-taylor.com and I can give you a full rundown.
So, it can depend on who you are trying to romance, but basically following your mother's initial advice and behaving like a frivolous twit is what is going to earn you the King's favour.
Off the top of my head, a few of the 'easy wins' are being all shy when you first greet Seneschal Corin, not eating at the first ball, playing the Rose Princess in the play and playing her to the script, crying when you have the opportunity. Fainting is also always a great boost for your points, lol.
There are many more points available than are required to have the King choose you at the end, so you don't have to do everything right. Also Bastien mentions on Day2 and Day7 how well you are (or aren't) doing with regards to the King's favour, so that should give an indication of whether you're on the right track.
You'll know if you've managed it at the end because the King will ask your MC to step forward not Francesca - of course, whether you're there to hear him is up to you. ^_^
Thanks for playing
Thank you! I had just assumed that the whole thing was a lost cause from the beginning, so I never really bothered to cover up the MC's intelligence. But it was pretty fun to have the king pick her for a change, then have him be rejected; Leopold and the regular 'run away with Frederique' endings were particularly fun (What do you mean she's run off with her brother? along with Guillame's face as he hears that made me laugh). I can also see how we can get the loveless marriage path in the sequel thanks to this but more on that in another post. Thanks a lot!
No problem! I'm glad to hear the tips worked and that you enjoyed seeing it - I think the endings where the King picks the MC only to discover her absence are my favourite as well. ^_^
*Sees pic with Leopold* Oh my god, I love this already. This is why I wish more games would get sequels/fandisks, because this is the kind of interesting stuff I want to see, but that the original games only hint at (also, I actually want to play a game where you have a relationship, rather than one that ends when you get one, aka most games). So glad you decided to go through with the sequel. SO glad!
Ah, I'm glad you're looking forward to the sequel. Yes, we were discussing in the comments a while back how most games end with the start of the relationship - which is a nice way to conclude things, without a doubt - but it is also kind of where the story begins for the couple in question.
I hope I can do all the characters' relationships justice. ^_^
Just finished the demo. I like the mom a lot more than I thought I would, and I absolutely love both Leopold and the loveless marriage path. Leopold because the relationship feels almost as genuine as the one the MC has with Frederique, and the loveless path because it feels realistic. Also, this may be my Frederique bias talking, but were there not a lot of romantic undertones when he meets up with the MC again, especially if she admits she regrets the marriage? Guillame blushing when he finds them and the way that path ends just adds fuel to my shipping fire. Is this another way to end up with him, or is it all going towards another platonic run away ending with him? But it certainly feels more...passionate for lack of a better word, than when they meet up in the single path. Though I can understand why Frederique feels more desperate after she marries.
Either way, really looking forward to Frederique's path. Sorry to put more pressure on you when it comes to that path, but hey, it's your fault for making their relationship feel the most sincere out the original game :p
Also, will we get to meet dad and other brother in this game? With sprites? I'm curious to see if Francoise looks more like Frederique or the MC.
Thank you for the feedback - I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the Leopold and Loveless routes.
Hmm, as for the loveless path, well, Frederique feels what he has always felt, but with both their situations being as they are, I think things are more emotionally heightened. He's been away for two years imagining the worst, whereas in the single route things have just been 'business as usual' for the pair. But, as I plan things at the moment, you won't be able to romance Frederique in the loveless route.
Well, Frederique's demo path is written, as is Bastien's. I am just finishing off Charlotte's route and then I can post the full demo, so you do not have long to wait now. Maybe another day or two.
I'm not sure if players will ever get to meet Francoise and Duke Claude - it will depend on how the routes progress as I am writing them, but if they do appear, they will have sprites. ^_^
Thanks for playing
When I saw this I literally slammed my hands on my bed and screamed "WHAT????" out of excitement!!! I l o v e d playing The Rose of Segunda and this is such an amazing surprise to find! I can't wait to play!
I'm happy to hear you're excited for the sequel - I hope you enjoy it as much as the first game. ^_^
Be still my heart!
The Rose of Segunda was an absolute treasure - the writing, the characters, the plot - and is a game I love beyond words. This sequel is already on my must-have-list!
As for thoughts:
* I am so thankful and appreciative that you let us input our thoughts about children. So so many visual novels make the assumption that the mc has and/or wants kids at the end and that can be a little disheartening. The fact that you're actually allowing player input on that topic is <3
*Again, the writing for this is absolutely fantastic. The art style is very cute so I wasn't expecting the sophisticated political intrigue of a game that was the first, though I was very pleasantly surprised and immediately invested.
*I can't wait to see how Frederique's route plays out. Admittedly it was my favorite route (angst is always a source of investment, I must say) and watching how it unfolds in the midst of already otherwise unrelated turmoil and then familial turmoil - unless it's kept a secret in which case even more delectable angst - will be amazing.
Thank you so much for all the hard work put into such an ambitious and fantastic game! I really can't wait for it to come out. (But do not feel rushed or pressure, it is understood that quality takes time and you have other projects that require attention as well)
Thank you for the positive feedback on both 'Rose' and 'Thorns', I'm glad you enjoyed the first game and have found enough in the demo to get excited for the sequel.
Yes, it always surprises me a little when such a big decision as having children is decided for the player. I suppose it makes sense in games where it is already established your character wants them or they are needed for the plot, but otherwise I would probably avoid bringing it up or let players decide what they believe their character would want.
Aha, so many people seem to be looking forward to Fred's route - the pressure's on and I must admit I'm getting a little nervous.
Well, thank you for playing and your kind encouragement - I am already aware that the 200,000 approximated word count is likely a huge underestimate, so I don't think rushing it will be an option. ^_^
Hi!
The demo served as a good transition from the prequel ‘Rose of Segunda’ and managed to build my interest. There are still good balances of humour, serious tone and romance (since they are married after all ;D). Oh I missed the playful MC, and of course the trickster, troublemaker duo (MC and Frederique).
Things which kept my curiosity and build up my anticipation:
1. How MC and love interest(s) (particularly MC X Leopold) will interact with Prince and Francesca. I am also quite interested if the Prince will ever come to truly love Francesca (those who played the prequel knew the Prince has some unresolved issues where his moral values come into conflict with his position and responsibility).
2. I also wonder if Francesca, who has been raised as a winner will ever have a change of heart during the course of the story and learn some valuable lessons or she will just stay a bitter cucumber. I missed her banters with MC and the girls.
3. Frederique’s route (One of my favourites along with Leopold’s, ahem)! Everything about Frederique’s route is a mystery and I keep wondering how the family will react to this news, or will they be able to hide their marriage / romance from Mother’s watchful eyes? I actually really like MC’s Mother (based on exposure from RoS and the demo in ToW). She is a good mixture of Mother who does *seemed* to love her children but also torn between her ‘responsibility’, as she put it. Or will the sequel revealed her children really are just ‘pawns’ to her? It sort of gives the melancholic feeling of Victorian era where mother’s love is complicated thing, but isn’t it always? xD
4. Does ‘who the King wants you to marry at the end of prequel?’ gives any sort of impact in later story? I played both ‘Francesca’ and ‘Me’ and didn’t notice any dialogue changes though it is probably just me since after all, we still haven’t had any direct encounter with the King yet in the demo.
5. Sofia’s route. Because we know that Frederique also love the MC so I wonder if there will be any drama involving these 3 pretties, or if Frederique will come to love Sofia or if he will find someone else to love? Or… IDK HAHA too many possibilities!!
6. Outcome of the war, obviously! Particularly the main players such as Prince and Leo. This war will surely have a huge impact on them both.
7. Married with children endings, since you brought it up in the demo xD
8. New characters and secret character! So there are 3, right?
Hello RPGHero
Thank you for your feedback - it's always interesting to see what people are anticipating.
Most of these points are things that will definitely be covered by the full game, so at least your curiosity will be sated eventually.
Though for number 4, I can confirm that every route so far as had one or two lines reflecting who the King chose to marry Guillaume at the end of 'Rose'.
They are usually from or with regards to your mother and how angry she was at the time. Of course, you're right in thinking that you will see more comments further into the game, especially when you meet the King.
And as for point 8, yes, there are three new romance options. Vesela, one of the high-ranking Alvardian diplomats, Mathys, a former knight, and the secret romance (who I think is pretty obvious, because it's not like there are many eligible sprites left at this point ^_^)
Thanks for playing
I had no idea there was a sequel underway for The Rose of Segunda and just stumbled upon it here and I can't be more hyped since I wanted a sequel as soon as I finished the game! I loved the first game and still replay it every now and again, it is not famous enough in my opinion. The MC is as amazing as ever, the humour in the first game was one thing I loved the most, it made me go through all the routes and all the choices just to see it all:)
This demo is just as good so far, I liked all the characters we saw and their growth and hints to their lives these past two years, although Leo will forever be number one. It's also nice that the game still has its humour and wit despite the darker tone and I can't wait to see how it all unfolds. I'm also very curious about the new romance options for the loveless route.
I'm eagerly awaiting this game and the next piece of the demo, and if the rest of the game is like the demo then it will be amazing!
Thank you for your kind comments - it's nice to hear you enjoyed the first game and like where the sequel has headed so far.
Yes, part of me wanted to make the single route long enough to enable players to meet the two new characters, but that would have made it about three times as long as the other demo routes. Perhaps when the game is nearer completion, I'll release an extended demo. ^_^
Thanks for playing
Oh wow I remember when the first time I saw The Rose of Segunda and really loved the art style and paths all the different routes went. To think randomly browsing itch.io would have me see a sequel :3 I'm excited for this and the demo has me anticipating what's more to come :D
Ah, I'm happy you've managed to find us again and I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the demo so far.
Thanks for playing
Just finished the demo, I also like the more serious tone and I can't wait to see how Frederique's route will fit into all of this! also the loveless marriage route was fun to read as well and the comment about his rooms being too far and that sounding just perfect to Lolanthe really cracked me up haha.
Yes, 'pretending Iolanthe' is a hoot - I'm sure she's going to be lots of fun to write. ^_^
Glad you enjoyed the demo, so far - it won't be long now until Frederique and the others' routes are finished.
Thanks for playing
Will the game get a steam release when it's finished? :) I really loved the first game so I'm excited to play the demo!
Yes, I'll mostly likely put it on Steam since the first game is on there.
I hope you enjoy the demo. ^_^
Yay! :D Great ^-^
I am! I can't wait until all routes are in. I actually played through every single one and really enjoyed them so I'm excited to see how they all are in the sequel.
Do you perhaps have a discord, where people could theorize or ask you questions about the story/game? I'd love to use it, I want to make all the fanfic already, I'm in love with this series, and I know a couple others who feel the same way. :)
To be honest, I only really use discord to talk to one of my proofreaders at the moment, and I'm not sure I have the time currently to moderate/run a server, as well as write the games I have in production.
That said, if you and the people interested wanted to create a space of your own, I could certainly join and answer questions/chat when I'm free. ^_^
I really love the demo and can't wait for it to be finished, even seeing how your choices play out, like if they give you a good ending or a bad ending, i still can't wait to see Frederique route and also Bastien route, i do love all the other characters to even having a choice to have no one so can find someone else. this game is amazing already
Ah, thank you for the feedback - I'm glad you're you're enjoying the demo so far.
Frederique and Bastien's routes will be along very soon (I am hoping to finished Frederique's today, in fact, and get it sent to out for proofing).
Ah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm downloading the demo now, I am SO excited! I can't play until tomorrow but I'll come back to gush when I do.
Thank you so much for your hard work!
Ah, I'm glad to hear you're looking forward to playing it and please do let me know what you think. ^_^
I LOVE it. I like the more serious tone as opposed to the first game, though I'm pleased it still has a lot of the originals charming playfulness still. I'm so excited to see how the characters have grown over the past few years. I like being able to select the original traits up front as well as the route as I had a little bit of trouble guessing when the first game first came out and it took me a bit to figure out what option equaled what trait (except the super obvious ones).
So far Sophia is my fave for this game, though I loved the interactions between MC and everyone. Leo and her were really cute together, and I love the dynamic with her brother. I also really like the loveless marriage option, I'm a sucker for angst. It was great hearing our mom's reaction to our choices (she got so angry with all of mine haha) and meeting her in person, I can tell she's going to be a great (and fearsome!) character.
Looking forward to the rest of the routes, especially my fave of the first game, Bastien, I'm sure that choice will go over well with mom :P
Anyway, good luck and thank you for all of your hard work, I shall be stalking this game relentlessly!
Thank you for such positive feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed the demo so far, and that despite the more serious setting, the characters lighthearted moments still come across (I worry that some people might be disappointed it is not as jovial as the first game).
Well, I am hoping Bastien and the other routes will be finished soon, so please let me know what you think once you've played his one, since he's your favourite. ^_^
Thanks for playing and for your continued support
Whohooo, im so happy about this sequel :D
But i want it finished ... NOW O_O
Ha! You and me both! ^_^
I'm sure the release date will be here before we know it though. I know, for me at least, time seems to go dizzyingly fast when I've got a deadline looming.