Let's take back the kingdom! Memoirs of an Angel

Not only did he actually manage to track her down, but Duren acknowledges that it took some time. Then again, you have to expect that, I guess. He's traveling with an entire group of soldiers weighed down in armor (presumably). Zuleika, on the other hand, is traveling with only two other people. Not to mention Duren would have to stop at the towns and find out if anyone had seen her.

... Why am I derailing about this?





Chael, when everyone from Zuleika to Duren to the dance competition announcer knows your name, it kind of kills the whole "mysterious" vibe you're trying to work.



Oh. I guess that explains it.





Not really, but, yeah, sure, let's go with that, why not.

I'm this further in and still giggling about how she called Chael a 'beautiful man'.

I am easily amused.

Alright, a CG. Been a while since we got one. This is a good example of the different art styles in Memoirs. Compare this picture to that of his sprite and you'll see the differences.

... Zuleika, did you space on his name for a second there? It's Duren, only your best friend since forever.



Oh, you tease.

There's actually a choice here. You can either take his hand or say, "I'm sorry. I can't." If you take his hand, you get possibly the worst end. Guess what we're going with~



Sorry, Duren. This doesn't mean we can't be super special awesome friends, right?



Hey, don't think of it that way! Once Chael and Zuleika overthrow Nefferon and take back Tyraca, you guys are SO going to---



---What?



...

...

...

Oh shit.

I agree the face Kiriel is making in the last panel. DUREN, SERIOUSLY, YOU DON'T EVEN LOVE US. That truly is a black heart.

...

Whaaaaat bad ending is that?

Weeeeell, y'see...

EDIT: Kirile, never stop pouting.

It occurs to me now that I should have put this under the Visual Novel category, since the RPG elements are pretty few and far between. Oh well. Where were we?



Oh right, the ambush.

Wait, no, Chael!







+10 Affection for Zuleika



Looks like you've crossed the point of no return. The bridge is crossed so stand and watch it buuurn~

Ahem.





Oh, right. Chael.







Really? I suppose that sort of explains why most people seem to know his name.



Not to mention that group of soldiers behind him.



... we switch over to Kirile's route?

No?



Look, he doesn't seem to mind.



/sigh

Chael! You're alive! Damn.

Really, Zuleika? "Covered in wounds"? Because, as far as I can tell, he looks fine. Wait a minute...



Oh, those wounds.





... Awkward.



Apparently, because your wounds are inexplicably gone.



You did. Well, you didn't say it, really, but---



Hey, now...





Well, you did knife someone earlier, which was great, don't get me wrong, but your primary combat experience comes vicariously from premonitions you made during the war, so I don't really think you---



---oh. Okay. I'm not going to argue with you.



I think he's patronizing you.

Whoo, CG!



Whoo, yellow heart!

Zuleika, just accept that you're special to him he wants to protect you! A simple "thank you" would've been nice...

I do like that she can take care of herself, though!

Edit: OH MY GOSHHHH THEY ARE HUGGING!!!

Awww! Chael you are so sweet!

Aww, that's a cute CG.

I am liking Chael's path a lot. I tried playing this the other day and ended up getting Nefferon's bad end (assuming he even has a good end). Those were not good feels, let me tell you.

She actually has a snippet of dialogue during the CG, but I omitted it since I figure the less I post the more there is to find if anyone decides to play it for themselves.

Still haven't played Neffy's route (maybe I should try it tonight), but I hear even his "good" ending isn't all that good. Not looking forward to it. I like the storyline Chael and Kirile follow a little more, to be honest. Chael has my favorite ending.

Oh well that's cool! I wonder what she said? Hmm... I'm tempted to play it so I can find out.

Whoa I just realized something. Is Kirile just standing there watching them hug all romantic like and being the awkward third wheel?

XDDD

I never thought about it. I like to think he's keeping look-out, just in case.

Oh man, when I was playing this part, I'd just bought a set of knives in town and was like "holy SHIT they really did think of everything". And then I played through several times over with various inventories to see what new content might crop up. But apparently, Zuleika just likes her some knives.

Check out them smiles. Sweetheart pair to the max.

Yeah, probably. It would be hilarious if he was though. Hehehe~

By the way, I was wondering if you had a picture of that CG but without the text thingy?

Sure thing :3

Now that all of the excitement is over, we have a little time on our hands. First, let's have a chat with Chael.





Um, is that something to be upset over?



Oh. That makes sense.



Aw, you're never useless, Chael.







Zuleika probably would have tried to stay behind and help. And then Chael would have had to worry about both of them.



Zuleika's much more confident than I am, though.







>:c

Now, let's go talk to Kirile. But I'm going to try something a little different for this post. I tried resizing the images to make them a little more reasonable, but it distorted the text, so I'm going to try a script/screenshot format. Let me know what you think.



And once again Kirile's heart as risen a level without any effort on our part. w00t





Well, until recently you were a prince, so... yeah.

Kirile: I've never seen much point in dealing with that side of things... I just focus on the battles. So, who is he?
Zuleika: Duren is Nefferon's angel, and therefore the prince of the new Nefferonian Empire.


Kirile: I'm sorry, lass. It must be rough to lose a friend like that.
Zuleika: It is, but... I think it's for the best, in the long run. What about you, Kirile? Did you have any friends back in Pyralis?
Kirile: As a general, I didn't have any opprotunities to make friends. Maintaining authority within an army of demons is tough. I had to scare them into obeying orders, or else they would turn on me. There's not much room for bonding there...
Zuleika: No, I suppose not. At least you have friends now, right?
Kirile: ... Yeah?
Zuleika: Of course!




Kirile: Thanks, lass. You're a wonderful friend.


Alright, so what do you guys think? Does the script format work for you? Would you prefer screenshots all the way through? Or could you go either way? Honestly, I don't mind either format, I just thought I try saving a bit of space. But whatever works best for the lp, that's what I'll do.

The script format is working out fine for me, and with my laggy browser it is nice to reduce the amount of scrolling I need to do.

I must say, this game is really imrpessively good so far. I mean, every love interest the game has shown this path, anyway, has actually been a likeable sentient, and Zuleika isn't just some useless whining faceless avatar. What she wears is even almost practical. My standards may be lowered, but I approve of this muchly.

Also, hugging CG.

Either works for me. Just do whatever's easier for you. I find it takes me half as much time to type dialogue as it does to crop screenshots, so that's a plus if you're a fast typist.

Yay! Thanks so much for the picture! *saves*

Kirile has never had any friends?

Me in front of my computer right now ^ No, I'm not being over emotional.

Alright, just a small update real quicklike.

After some light training with Kirile to work off any excess adrenaline from the surprise attack, Zuleika decides to discuss the ambush with Chael.



But before that, this is how Chael greets us now. It's concise, but I'd say it's a definite improvement.

Now, what about that ambush?


Zuleika: Well, it wasn't much of an ambush... He had so many soldiers with him that we could tell he was coming from a mile away. That gave us time to prepare ourselves so that we weren't caught off-guard.
Chael: Exactly. Even if we weren't angels, we still would have been alerted to his presence in advance. Anything else?
Zuleika: Hmm... Oh, I know. He didn't know who the enemy was. Otherwise, he would have been prepared to face you.
Chael: That's right. Failing to know your enemy beforehand can be a fatal mistake. If it had been anyone else, he'd probably be dead... Excuse me. We'll continue this later.


Annnd, that's it. The day ends and we get a shot of our stats.



Zuleika still isn't as nice as she could be, but by the time we see this screen again I'll have changed that, or my name isn't kiefufairies!

In her stead I'd have a hard time being as kind as I could be, too, granted.

Time to take a step back from Aoi Shiro, since the sheer amount of wrods is enough to break my brain. This next event might be a little heavy on the image; I'm sorry about that.





Ha! So it is a city, not a village! I was right! Well, I probably wasn't right on the whole, but I was right to think of it as a city. Can't blame Zuleika for being anxious, though. If they got caught in Duggary, not only would the amount of people work against them, but innocent civilians could get hurt in the process.







Oh, Chael, that's so... I want to say sweet, but for some reason I'm leaning a little more towards concerning. I'll just assume Chael is skilled enough to distinguish between an attack and someone coming after you to return something you dropped.







A little lackluster in comparison, Kirile.



But Zuleika appreciates it all the same.

Here there's a sound effect of someone snapping a whip a few times.













Um... no. No, I'm pretty sure you don't recover from a whipping that fa---oh, I see! The guard was cracking the whip against the ground to intimidate the man into talking! Putting that aside, are you flirting with Zuleika's man, Man?

Note: they're close to the Pyralian border (where Kirile comes from), but they're still technically in Tyraca. So, basically, they're going to investigate and she can't come.



Zuleika: But...

That wing trick is really handy. I hope the Emperor's men aren't aware she can do that.

I decided to get the Dance Competition out of the way first. Because, even when a town has been attacked and it's citizens tortured, if you're to hold a Dance Competition, then by God, you're holding a Dance Competition. No excuses.

This time around Zuleika is dancing with



Because lolwhynot. Chael's already pretty close to the highest heart level, and there are more dances yet to come. What really makes me wonder is why "being cheerful" is the defining character trait everyone knows Kirile by. Seriously, general of a demon army? No one mentions that?

Of course, Kirile mocks my reservation by saying



Are you patronizing me? Step on his feet, Zuleika.



... Yeah. I wasn't about to pass up on the 500 Gold in prize money, okay?

Of course, winning the Dance Competition makes it a little awkward when Zuleika enters the tournament and



Thank you.



I guess. The only difference between this and the fight with Duren is that is took a few more turns and Zuleika missed her counter attack (what was that?!). To ensure this never happens again, I had Zuleika go to the library and read up on Tyraca to learn of Kirile's weakness. Winning the tournament round put another 500 in Zuleika's pocket, so I had her buy a Potent Puissance Potion to make her stronger, and a Pristine Princess Potion to offset the fact that her arms were suddenly bulging with muscles.

Of course, considering the devastation done here, it probably wouldn't hurt to stop enjoying myself and actually do something for the people here. Zuleika dropped by the Church to console the grieving and donate to the town's reconstruction.

Something to note: everywhere you go here, everyone notices her "resemblance" to the princess and threaten to kick Zuleika out.

Zuleika's about ready to head back to the inn when



Shit! Did she get caught?



Oh. Kirile.

Looks like all that fighting and dancing made Kirile swoon so much he's now at a yellow heart. Yay?

Kirile: I can't believe you beat me.
Zuleika: I have a feeling it wasn't all my doing. You were holding back, weren't you?
Kirile: You noticed, huh?



Zuleika: I said it before and I'll say it again: I'm a strong woman, and I can take care of myself. I don't need you to hold back your punches for me.

Zuleika is displeased.




And Kirile almost seems hurt, but then he breaks out into a smile again.

Kirile: You've got quite the fighting spirit, don't you lass? I love it! Next time we get a chance to spar, let's really go all-out.





Yay? After that, Zuleika and Kirile part ways before the three angels meet up at the inn. Chael's gonna be pissed when he finds out Kirile bailed on the reconnaissance and spent all day running around with Zuleika. Hope everyone enjoyed this Kirile-packed update.

"Nobody here will recognize us." Kirile said, and then proceeded to introduce himself to the dance and tournament announcers to avoid the embarrasment of every single person attending the competitions knowing his name and place of origin.

And then they whipped their wings out.

Unrelated random fact, I was reading The Jewel that was Ours and Morse is idly wondering how to pronounce Zuleika in a passage there.

Look, I was right. Chael's pissed and Kirile knows it. Just look at their faces.







Seems like we always miss the good stuff D<



Hate is a strong word, Zuleika.



... That plan is pretty terrible. But I guess they can't really hope to take out all the soldiers. There are too many, and they're spread out too far.







This like after the first day of camp and Zuleika had the option to go stargazing or exploring, except this time around she gets to talk to Chael and Kirile. If I remember correctly this is the only instance in which you get to talk to both guys.

Chael's summoner sounds rather like a jerkface.

Chael: She taught me to withstand physical and emotional pain by subjecting me to it, day after day, night after night. Pain became my world... the pain I felt, the pain given to me, the pain I gave to others... Eventually, even the pain didn't matter anymore. Nothing did.









And she will, right after she talks to Kirile. By the way, if you're wondering why I omitted the screenshots for Chael's lines above, it's because the background is simply black while he's recalling his "lessons" (leaving the player free to envision it as he describes it). It happens during Kirile's talk, too, during which I'll do the same thing.

Kirile, we just heard something horrible. Make everything better with that cheerfulness you're so famous for.



Oh right... you're upset, too. Ooo, stars ☆彡



Oh, you're not? Great! Then---





Aww :c

Those are some remarkably pretty stars there. And some remarkably sad travel companions.

Kirile: That night, I was met with a mutiny... led by none other than my best friend. Our swords clashed, but I held back. I didn't want to hurt him. In a moment, he told me that he was sorry, that he didn't want to fight me anymore, and I believed him... As soon as I put away my sword, that's when he swung his, right across my face.







After that, Zuleika slowly and sadly makes her way back to the room, where she crawls under a blanket on one of the beds, trying not to think about all of the tragedy she's seen and heard of today. It takes some time, but she finally falls asleep... only to have nightmares of Duren whipping one of her eyes out ゜Д゜

On that happy note, we get our stat screen.



Her charm and strength got a nice boost from those potions, while her kindness has doubled. Unfortunately, her intelligence has stagnated, but there's an easy fix for that. It just won't be available until we reach another town.

On a side note, Kirile said the bribe was offered by the Tyracan army during the war, near the end, but not the very end. That means Osirus might have still been alive, which means Zuleika's creator might have been responsible for Kirile's mutiny. Of course, it sounds more like Nefferon's style, given how he bribed the courts to assume the throne in Zuleika's place.