I really like Grayson. In my favs list, he’s tied for second with two other consorts (because I suck at ranking) , but skip his route for this event. MC makes it unreadable. Here’s what happens (spoilers below):
In the first chapter MC gets bitten by a spider that makes her horny. She spends the rest of the event stressing Grayson out because she won’t tell him what’s wrong with her. After some pressure to explain things to her paramour, she does. Grayson is understanding, kind, and loving about the whole thing because of course he was; he’s Grayson.
This route is annoying for two reasons.
(1) MC waits way too long to go to the infirmary to find out what’s wrong with her
‘A spider fell on the back of my neck in a magic forest. Now that spot is really hot and feels weird…Guess I’d better sleep this off.’
No! I would’ve taken my ass straight to the infirmary. That’s a magic forest. What if that spider bite could turn me into a teapot or something? Nope. I don’t play those games. I also would have dragged Grayson with me just in case something was wrong and the treatment was gross and unpleasant. Yes, I am a giant weenie, and would want him to hold my hand.
(2) She doesn’t tell Grayson what’s wrong (her symptoms)
I get that could be embarrassing, but he’s her paramour. I imagine he’d be at least a little flattered that MC was lusting after him. I have no idea how it got in her head that he would be disgusted. I just…I don’t get it. Good grief. Grayson deserves better.
I feel like the CoD writers gave each of these characters a tragic backstory. Are there any characters in CoD who don’t have a tragic backstory?
The MC’s parents are dead. We learned this in the prologue.
I’m going to list off the characters and the tragic backstories so if you’re new to CoD/haven’t read a consort path yet and don’t want spoilers then stop here. If you’re new and love spoilers then click keep reading.
So…um… My brain thought of way too much for a comment. >_>; I am a wordy pain in the butt. I tried to send this as a message, but didn’t see a way to do that. I hope it’s okay for me to reblog this.
Guy’s situation is likely worse that that. It’s implied in his route that his mother was murdered; Guy uses ancient magic to ask his stepmother if she killed her. Can you imagine what it would be like living from a young age thinking your current stepmother killed your mother? Also, in the Enchanted and Entwined story event, they made it seem like the royal family had a huge target on its back. Like, literally anybody would do anything to get themselves in power. I imagine it would be hard to trust most people if everyone and their brother kept trying to kill you. In that same story event, Roc tries to have MC murdered when he thinks Guy likes her. His reasoning is basically, “If you don’t like things or people, no one can hurt you.” He may have been still hurting from Min’s death and trying to prevent Guy from that fate by killing MC before things got serious.
Lynt’s situation seems like it would be worse for Hanneh. He didn’t seem to care if he married her or not, but I’m sure she had an opinion. I don’t think she would’ve been crazy about the idea of marrying someone that was luke warm towards her. Lynt needs an heir, so they’d have to make at least one baby. It would really suck to have to have sex with someone that didn’t seem to care about her very much, and then give birth to a child that he might not care about either. The saddest thing that could’ve happened to Lynt was his grandfather dying. This might be an English only thing, but Lynt only ever talks about his grandfather in the past tense. To compare, he talks about his parents in the present tense, and they are both very much alive. In his route, he tells MC his grandfather was the relative he was closest to. He also carries around a children’s book his grandfather gave him. When he returns home, he seems sad when he realizes he left it behind at the academy. It’s hard to tell though if losing his grandfather hurt him like everything I said would imply because the game keeps going out of its way to remind us that Lynt never cared about anything before MC came along. (Lynt is my favorite, but this is something that drives me absolutely bonkers. The game paints him as an eccentric but also as someone who doesn’t have a single fuck to give. And I just…Hear me out…You can have weird thoughts or no thoughts, but you can’t simultaneously have both. It’s impossible to be like Ayame from Fruits Basket and Mytho from Princess Tutu at the same time.)
Fenn’s situation might also be worse if you overthink it the way I have and take Fenn at face value (even though he’s an unreliable narrator). When he and Eva met, he was young enough to need a babysitter and she was old enough to be the babysitter. He said he loved her but she didn’t reciprocate until after she married his father. The game doesn’t tell us how old he was when that happened, but his flashback text boxes in his Ch. 21 perspective say “young Fenn.” It sounds to me like he was conditioned when he was very young and then abused when he was an older child or young teen. His father doesn’t seem very fond of him, and Louis could easily execute one of his children and still have plenty to take over as king after he dies, especially if they’ve committed a heinous crime. Fenn is the only one of his siblings capable of the king’s craft, but in his route, Guy and Roy make it sound as though Kieran may be set to inherit the throne anyway. In the perspective, “young Fenn" asks his father why Eva alone will be punished, and I have to wonder if it was because “young Fenn” was too young to consent and therefore seen as a victim instead of a co-conspirator. Louis also blames Fenn in this moment saying it wouldn’t have happened if Fenn had kept a leash on his desires. (I volunteered for a few years with an organization that helped survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. I was a hotline operator, but before I was allowed near the phone, I was required to complete a 60 hour training. I never fielded a call where it happened, but I know that parents blaming children for their assault isn’t uncommon. I also know Fenn is supposed to be the avatar of lust, but people who are sexually assaulted or raped may act promiscuously as a way to feel like they’ve gotten power over their bodies back and control over their lives.)
I think Toa’s mom’s still alive. In Fenn’s path in the Would Be Weddings story event, Toa tells MC he’s going home for a ceremony for his parent’s wedding anniversary. Toa doesn’t seem to think it’s important, so I doubt they’d bother with it if his mother was dead. She did seem pretty absent as a parent though. In his path in the Kisses of Devilish Delight story event, he tells MC when his sisters ditched him in the garden and he finally found his way out, his mother commended him on suffering in silence. Um. No. Listen, it’s important for a future ruler to learn how to let stuff go, but it’s equally important for him to learn when to tell someone to fuck off. I get the feeling he flies off the handle at Guy so easily because he never learned how to pick his battles. His sisters also never learned what boundaries are or how to respect them.
Roy and Rio’s seem spot on. Although, I might add that Rio might be the only prince who has siblings back home that he misses.
I have seen some spoilers for Grayson’s book 2 that make me think his uncle’s still alive, but seeing him lose control to a magical object was probably also traumatizing.
I read the preview for Grayson’s route and saw at some point MC and him are babysitting (?). Anyway, this was my immediate reaction:
I’d be perfectly content with two fur babies (Nox and MC’s cat) and a scaley baby (Shifah). Please tell me I’m not the only one who immediately said, “I’d rather swaddle and snuggle my cat.”
Random CoD inspired list based off my cats. Currently, I am trying to train them to not jump on counters by spraying them with a water bottle to try and stop bad habits. That made me think…if the MC were to do the same thing with the CoD consorts, what bad/annoying behavior would the MC spray them for and what would the reactions be?
So, normally I play a route through once with crowns before dropping gems on the premium paths. I made an exception with Tino, because I’ve liked his story events. Also, from what I’ve heard from people who’ve played the Japanese version, he’s an absolute cinnamon roll. The first one is 100% worth the gems.
Spoilers below for this, Guy’s route, and Grayson’s route.
Tino carries MC bridal style, makes her a hot chocolate, and is all around chivalrous. 10/10 gallant Tino is a good Tino. Plus MC’s moping at thinking he only paid any attention to her at the start because Lynt told him to is kept to a minimum toward the end.
Someone who’s played the normal path will have to tell me if this plays out differently, but I did find it a little weird that he dove in the lake to retrieve MC’s bracelet. It was valiant, and I’m all for that, but the girl that chucked the bracelet in the water said it could be retrieved with a little magic. Tino’s a thaumaturge; we’ve seen him use magic to protect Dia in the prince’s path, so I’m not super sure why he didn’t use it here.
It also makes the next scene where he takes her to the valet lounge a little weird. He didn’t dry her or himself off with magic the way Guy does in his route, so I guess they’re dripping muddy water all over the settee and carpet?
For as cute as this premium path is, I also can’t help feeling it’s a bit displaced. That girl chucked the bracelet in the water knowing MC wasn’t good enough with her magic to fish it out on her own; that seemed to be a huge reason why she did it in the first place. MC’s current skills probably put her closer to a mundane than a thaumaturge, and the tension between those two groups is a theme in Grayson’s route. This would’ve been a good way to illustrate to the player that magic users can be dicks to people who are bad at magic or can’t use it at all. It also makes more sense for Grayson to jump in after the bracelet. As a mundane, there’s zero chance he could get it back with magic.
