Let's Play Frozen Essence (no way this can go wrong!)

Aurelius reminds me of somebody.




(Also, I am having no like finding decent quality videos for these spur of the moment searches.)

Nope.

What: YES THERE IS

"What is this Day of Star?"
"What"



No pretty sure you came to see it because you left your house without the proper clothing and promptly passed out in front of a total stranger.
Explanation about the Sapphire Festival yay! It takes place in the winter over three days representing sincerity, truth, and faith, the meaning of the sapphire. First day: Day of Ice, lots of sculptures, some poetic thing about not needing to hide the town's true form. Day of Star: Lights are displayed, symbolizing the preservation of light in the future so that darkness cannot hide? And Day of Spirits where people pray for protection and health and love and stuff like that. Aurelius is pretty familiar with this all, having attended every festival for the past ten years.

FUCK YES MAN






GIRL NO
So Aurelius just gives her time to think about it and tells her that he'll be waiting for her on the Day of Star

"........."

"...................."

"What."

SWOON.GIF

And then he leaves.

Well now would be a great time to vote.
Rune's route is the canon one and the true end ties up a lot of loose ends with the characters but he's not the most interesting guy around as far as we can see.
Caius is certainly interesting and also slightly homicidal? His route is also pretty cool, I think. Interesting play of the typical bad-boy card, I think.
Varian is a pretty cool guy, a little less manly than the other characters but decent though his route miiight raise a few eyebrows every now and then.
Aurelius is kiiiiiiiiind of soooooooort of incredibly full of himself and his route is probably the weakest but he has not been a dick to What even once.
Or hold on for the secret character whose route is BUCKETS OF TEARS

Well, I will give Auri credit for not being a tsundere.... but he's a jerk in an entirely different way.

I'm gonna assume I'll be disappointed with all the routes and vote for the Secret Character out of spite stubbornness.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH BEING TSUNDERE? D:

He would be the greatest ball of sunshine if his ego wasn't the size of the Pacific Ocean.

Secret character, please.

The fact the English translation is "Crazy ass bitch".

Their rise in popularity is second only to the trend towards "No, honest, they might look like eight year olds but we swear they're teenagers" characters in every freaking show for worst trends in modern Anime.

Especially given the tendency to depict it less as the original "Initially cold but slowly warms up to the protagonist" sense and more "A complete jerkass/bitch who occasionally acknowledges the other character as something other than a physical or emotional punching bag and my God isn't that sweet."

Aurelius's speech sounded a bit familiar...



FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUCCKK

CAIUS CAIUS CAIUS CAIUS
or
SECRET SECRET SECRET
caius light ending is best but secret character is soooooo sweet.

Oh, uh for endings - Secret Guy, and maybe alone ending :D

The thing about guy tsunderes is that they DO tend to be nice and sweet halfway or end-ish. If they're not...well no. We won't take that crap. (I mean, if they're yandere, that's another story...sigh.)

But judging from some threads I saw translated from 2chan, and reading Densha Otoko, I can't help but the guys who watch those kinds of anime are desperate for female attention of any sort |D

I guess secret guy, then~ His path splits off from the forever alone path sooo ignoring all the other guys yay!

What thinks about how she still doesn't totally feel comfortable around Aurelius even though he's not a bad person and she assumes that Aysel, Rune, and Caius are or used to be Hex Guardians in some fashion at least. And of course What cannot ruminate for very long without interruptions.


Yeah just some kids playing.


Yep this can't be relevant.


Varian baby~!
What thanks him for helping her up and tells him to call her What

Huh?

!!


Varian are you asking What out on a date

Who are you
"Well, I..."


Well it's not like we were planning on leaving anyway!


Pheromones how do they work

Hmm. I'll have to take your word on the translation, my Japanese isn't quite up to scratch.

Perhaps. Though given that a tsundere can be the former and not the latter, I'll still hold some hope for tsunderes because of the ideal (you're right though, the latter is a total cockbag).

aww was typing up my vote and missed it :( ahh well secret ending is good too.

So! Despite this being an otome game, What is not in fact looking for love right now. She is looking for her bodyguards.

Boring option go~!

Where's Caius you ask?

Aaaand we're not going out to find him becaaaause


Right-o.

"Yeah I guess"
BACK TO TALKING ABOUT CAIUS



Sleep, and no creepy dreams!

It's loud in the morning. We know because both What and Rune say that it's loud.


Holy random change of topic, Batman!


Ohhh riiight, that

Says the man baring his cleavage

I can live with a well-written cold-but-warms type tsundere, even if they do typically force the protagonist to become the overly persistent type, but I see way too many poorly written angry jerks instead, and even the cold-but-warms ones have a tendency to be at least a little abusive.

It's like Kawaiikos. Properly handled, it's a cute girl who acts a bit immature and clumsy. Eighty five to ninety percent of the time, it's a loudmouth who acts like a six year old and breaks everything she gets close to, which gets old fast.

I'm not going to say people shouldn't like a character type, I just personally feel it's a pretty terrible one.

I mean, if you really have to have that kind of relationship, there should be a safe-word involved. ;)

Edit to get back on subject:

Don't underestimate the face-hiding power of a little bared man cleavage. Later on, the cop's will ask about Rune's face and get a lot of "Well... I remember he had really nice pectorals..."

Sorry~


Aysel thank god you're here. Come, be the toothpick.



"Oh yeah we totally chatted with the dude you have a crush on. He asked us out. Shit was rad."



Rune looks so satisfied.



Man oh man.





Be the toothpick, Aysel!



Well at least we're all alive. And with that, out for today~

Okay, fair argument. Although otome games themselves force protags to be persistent. And a little persistence won't hurt, not compared to actively running away.

Personal character type of choice, but we all have our likes.

But there are!

-shakes head- Rune baby, why so bitchy? Are you compensating for something? -gasp- Do you...like Caius? Oh you naughty pigtail puller you. Aysel is such a sweety. Can you just like, go have girly sleepovers with her? Nail painting and french braiding all up in this? You can even get in giggling over the guys.

Deredere tsundere yanderedere tsundere kuu kuu tsundere~

And Aysel gracefully changes the subject!

THANK YOU BEST FRIEND FOREVER



I'm agreeing with the psycho here, Rune.
Aysel sadfaces for a minute because come on she can't seriously keep them from arguing 24-7 but topic change again yay!


Fun? What is fun?

Nice guy.
Rune's about to tell him off again but What is steadily getting a hold on the art of bomb defusing. Good girl.

Once we're outside, Aysel explains that the ice sculptures are to the north, the south is where lots of kids play, and there's lots of frozen treats in the east~ Rune explains that the west is reserved for the Day of Star displays.



I'm sure this isn't relevant at all!

Aysel's letting What lead since this is her first time!



Party pooper.

Guys no you're making Aysel sad.



He then flips his hair and stomps off like a woman scorned.



Rune. No.

Aysel starts to apologize but then Rune is like


disapproval.gif


Girl no.

That's the spirit! Who needs boys, it's not like this is an otome game or anything!


The Day of Ice is famous for its ice displays, after alllll


Nice to see you too.

Don't flatter yourself~ <3



That makes sense!


Gee I sure wish we could see the ice sculptures outside of CGs.

!! Caius has taste!


ಠ_ಠ


And it's only now that Caius notices that Rune's not with us.





Caius...

I love choices like this.

Go watch the kiddies play! Their carefree shenanigans will stir up fond memories in What's empty brain pan and bring you one step closer to \~THE TRUTH~/. ...or I just want to see them all fail miserably at interacting with kids.

EDIT: -snaps fingers- Drat. Foiled again.

You go girl!


-- Please don't stab us

I'm pretty sure we just screwed our chances of ever romancing him this playthrough~

~*Yes!*~


Yay!

... Guys I think Varian might be the shota.

Aysel asks who that is and What tells her so

And then despite What's protests, Aysel leaves.


Great, so we can just sit around and make sure he doesn't get up and walk away or anything and everything will be fine~

Or that~



Is everyone on their man period right now?!

Yes good apologize. Now down on your knees.



You know, the one you asked her to stay for.

No can do, Varian, we're distracting you so Rune can interrogate you~!

OH MY GOD
LOOK AT THOSE BRICKS
Merciful lord I wish I could draw bricks so well
... -ahem- Right, depressed Varian



Then why did you ask What to staaaaaaay?

Anyway Varian's busy with work.

Whaaaat that's totally ridiculous there's no way Varian the hard worker would ever


Well this is just dandy.
What offers to help Varian look for whatever he's missing

Do you like the festival or not


The wha?



Red bag, black rope, got it~



I can't help but wonder if What has forgotten her main objective.
Aaand despite the background it's actually getting really late now.



It's not porn mags, right? Your boss isn't making you purchase explicit magazines on a holiday?


Buuut Varian has already given up on trying to find the thing now.

My thoughts exactly, What


Good boy.




GETTING CLOSER


Fiiiine! It's not like we were aiming for your path anyway baka

He's being pretty adamant about that, eh?



Yep What has totally forgotten that she was supposed to hold Varian down to be interrogated. ~*Oh well!*~

Next day~!

Ohgod did What sleep for a hundred days again

Oh phew, that's not too bad!






And then What complains about her weak constitution again just in case you forgot about it.
Away to the festival!




Aysel explains that it is what it is, just a festival about the light of the future and stuff like that. But you can totally use it as a date spot. Bitches love pretty lights.



^ Said with the shaking textbox effect.
Oh What you silly


Whaaat?

Oh phew.

Huh?

Aysel has been sadfacing too much latelyyyyyy


Now I'm sure there are lots of people here who would just love it if you went with What but sadly no she's not asking What out she's reiterating that she can't leave What unguarded at the inn.
Giiiiiiiiiirl it's a locked room.


Caius on the other hand would give no fucks.



x2
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MAIDENHOOD

So, Aysel has a total crush on this guy. I can't say she has bad taste, at least.
What to dooooooo

This should ward off the sadfacing for a while! Aysel's been working so hard lately, she needs some downtime and pretty boy time~


"........"



Awww she looks so happy~




The power of pure unadulterated Aurelius.
And then What spends the Day of Star alone~
Lying down in bed~
ALONE~
Man we didn't even get any comfort food.

What.
Rune, good bodyguards do not leave in the middle of the night.




Rune please don't stab What in her sleep.
... ~*A bright and cheery morning!*~




We can't even stay for the Day of Spiriiiiits?


You're not my dad! You can't tell me what to do!
is not what What says. Instead she asks where Caius is.

You can really be a dick sometimes, Rune~




CANNOT HANDLE ALL THIS SAD AYSEL

So since there're no carriages, they're gonna have to walk for a while. What's healthy enough to do that much, at least.


Needing to do something really quick before leaving, I really wonder what What's digestive system is like when she only consumes essence...


YES.





The game's gonna get really dramatic soon, so I'll let you guys vote for all the decisions

Right after this one

Eeeexcelleeeeeeent


Oh hi there!
You're not gonna stab us now, are you?

We're going back.



The something doesn't involve stabbing, does it?

Caius is being diligent about something. Suspicioussss.

The bag that the players can't see
Caius is just like "Ho ho ho what sharp eyes you have"




CAIUS
WHY DO YOU HAVE A DRAGONBALL

Day of Ice you say. In other words, the day Varian dropped something totally important and flipped out.
What a coincidence!



???




Now is not the time, Varian

Rune says he needs to ask him something.



............ wat

Oh hey, the 'secret' is out.

So much spazzing.




And then he leaves. Rune, being the dutiful bodyguard, chases after him.

WHITEFLASH

Yeah Rune just got knocked out.
Aysel now would be a good time to show us all what a great bodyguard you are because there's no way Oracle would've trusted you if you weren't good at guarding right right?




Yes Caius! Release your psychotic tendencies!

Survwhat.





GUYS THEY BROKE CAIUS

So Caius got knocked out too. This would be a wonderful time to become competent, Aysel. Hint hint.





Was it because I called you a great mom
Several times
Because that was a compliment



And then he leaves.
Varian you were the nice one


HANDS OFF THE ONLY OTHER FEMALE WE HAVE MET IN THIS GAME


Why do you people all look alike when cloaked


Aysel what happened to being a competent bodyguard


Imaginary reply:

Actual reply:

What's it to ya



Yes! Harness the power of the pulsing purple orb thingy!


Well that was a spectacular failure. What really isn't strong enough to defeat the guys who knocked out her guards.


The cloaked guy on the left is unable to battle!

OH

GOD

YES

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MAIDENHOOD

Cloaked guy is totally unfazed by Aurelius's confidence.



What are you, immortal or something?
... -innocent whistling-

Listen to the shouty purple man, What!


What.



Green ??? guy has a point, What.








NOPE



And then What is totally knocked unconscious.
On that happy note, I'm off for a while~!

was there a new updated version or something? b/c you have a lot of screenshots that i've never seen before. they're just some of the insignificant lines but still.

I have no idea, just downloaded the most recent one~ I'm not very observant 9u6

I'm not normally a fan of people monologuing about people they already know but.
"Rune..."


"Caius..."


"Aysel..."


"Aurelius..."


"And Varian..."



"And the voice who called for me to save you..."




I think we can safely say that it really sucks to be What right now.

What wakes up in a room!

Yeah it's real bright and cheery. None of the others are here and to make matters worse, What's chained up. Isn't that just sugoi.



Even What is confused by all these identical sprites.


Who are you who am I how did you defeat my guards how do you know my guards and what are you gonna do now?


Excusez-moi, that is not how you address a ~*lady*~ let alone an amnesiac one!


What is a perfectly good name!



Trick what.




DICKMUFFIN.