Like, we are basically in literal Lemuria right now, right down to the water-based city with long-lived citizens. Except this VN goes into detail about how people actually used the natural magic of the world to craft and sustain it and ah my god it's so amazing and smart.

AND THEN MIL DIED ANYWAY

[radio edit] THIS GAME

But no, this was soooo great. The music was on point, the Sol/Mil arc was the best, and the setting was awesome visually and conceptually (class divides/capitalism, the evils of such). I also found it pretty hilarious that this setting basically has its own Reddit equivalent, sans the shitposters. I think Mil says at one point "who would bother being mean on the internet?" and Rune's just like "oh, okay, I kind of assumed anonymity would give people license to be assholes."

Because in the Inner Pole, people are assholes in real life. Especially that hitman with the cringworthy "I like to eat wombs" line, but of course Reghan!Selphine and Rune just dismissed him as a tryhard.

And of course Rune is the absolute greatest ever.

At first I was kind of pissed that Sol's beatdown of the pharmacist at the end wound up being just clairvoyance on Reghan!Selphine's part, but her subsequent decision to kill him herself made that much more poignant and effective. And of course Selphine!Selphine herself is the one who has to deal with the emotional fallout of something she didn't even do. In the end, the game didn't shy away from the World Is Dark angle anyway, so I got the grimdark I wanted.

Rune knowing nothing about how the real world works is great and 100% relatable. Her and Mil's interactions were some of my favorite moments.

Ritona and Paige are great. Sarcasm buddies! Give me more material so I can start shipping, please. But yeah, I wasn't feeling Ritona at first this time around due to how dry she can be compared to Selphine and Rune, but of course that's usually remedied when she starts seeing some action. And naturally, her diction remains impeccable.

Definitely interested in Ritona's current situation and how the realm she's in seems to be playing with her conception of time. The doctor (whose name eludes me at the moment) is also a totally interesting character. Reminds me a bit of Brian Westhouse from The Longest Journey in that he's totally inscrutable and kind of a mess.

The manakravte system remains so cool and so Golden Sun. I think Reghan!Selphine said at one point "are you familiar with synergy?" and I was like "omg SO CLOSE." I can easily imagine non-Adepts being able to channel basic forms of Psynergy through Psy Stones like some people do in Fault Milestone via sediment stones, for instance.

And of course Melano is a godmodder. Her magic being able to shut my game off was kind of pls but also pretty neat. I can imagine a lot of readers getting pissed and thinking their game crashed on its own, though, and CTL+ALT+DELing before it reloaded.

The Misha/Flora arc is definitely the weakest point here, and a lot of the arguments between the members of that cast were kind of unnecessary. Misha in particular is shit and his nondescript friend is probably just there to be killed off what with his NPC-tier art. I'll give it more time to develop, of course. Flora is cute, too, so hey, it's not a total loss.