Hanako Games

I have so many questions...

#1 by Hazel - Dec 30 2012

I can't even count the number of times I played this game in the past three weeks. It's been like a roller-coaster. I'm continually amazed by how many branching plots I still haven't discovered... I'm afraid some of my choices are still pretty conservative. Never raise taxes, rarely execute... I should be less cautious to make things interesting.

I still have so many questions, and not just about how on earth to put together the nobility's mind-boggling family tree! What's the deal with Joslyn's Lumen crystal? Just how many secret Lumen are there? Was there really an evil Lumen cabal involved with that one dude who murdered his wife? And why does Arisse keep sending embroidered cushions?

Really, it's that last one that bothers me most.

#2 by hanako - Dec 30 2012

I can cover the last one.

It's a filler event to indicate that Arisse is not trying to kill you and the civil war is not happening on that playthrough. She sends you a gift to indicate friendship and to remind you of her own power - horse-breeding being important economically in Lillah as well as a reference to the nomad ancestry of that line. So it's basically just a "Hi, remember me? I'm relevant." Random presents make you look good, demonstrating your wealth and generosity. They also can make people nervous or guilty if they're plotting something!

For the other questions I'll let others answer if they wish... there's some information in the game and fun guesswork to be had elsewhere.

#3 by Hazel - Dec 31 2012

Oh, I see. Put that way, it makes so much sense! I was going bonkers trying to figure out if there was some way to read a secret message in it by raising my decoration score or something. Arisse is really amazing, she plays a very subtle game.

#4 by Ramidel - Jan 1 2013

Try winning the game having focused on Faith (all three skills at 100 and wearing the Priestess Robe for most of the game, I think that's how you get the skill endings?), it'll explain some things about Joslyn.

#5 by Hazel - Jan 1 2013

Ah, I see. I think I only got the Joslyn-related event once, in one of my early games when I thought not being a Lumen would discourage a certain someone from trying to kill Elodie. I should try for that again and see what happens.

Actually, I just tried to sink the fleet with magic a second time because I wanted to sacrifice Charlotte to the kraken you know, for science. For Joslyn for some reason would not give the option when the invasion was discovered. I guessed that it was either because of her high cruelty score or because she killed her aunt and got that magic taint all over the palace.

Lottie's discordant expression at Gwenelle's part was pretty amusing, though.

#6 by Ramidel - Jan 1 2013

The Joslyn-related event only happens if you are caught without Lumen. See, he's a Lumen, but he hates magic and never activated his powers. He'll do so instead of you if you're completely inactive, though.

You can't sacrifice Joslyn (much as I'd like to, sometimes). Feeding Lottie to the kraken takes either a very high cruelty score (hunt while angry a lot) OR you have to discover Lucille's treachery with the chocolates by using the spy, at which point you don't have to be wicked to feed the kraken.

#7 by hanako - Jan 1 2013

You can only sink the fleet if you've chosen to actually go out with the fleet - if you stay safe in the capital you won't get the option.

That lottie face is basically a bug, it comes from having written the plot long before the art was done, and then forgetting there was a scene that really needed a different face. Will probably be patched someday when we have other stuff to update.

#8 by Hazel - Jan 2 2013

Clearly I need to get back to work if I want to pick up all of this game's secrets.

This is my Lumen count so far: Fidelia, Julianna, Selene, Lucille, Lottie, Joslyn, Togami, that one guy who killed his wife, plus whoever breaks him out of prison if you don't kill him outright. So, in my estimation there's almost definitely a cabal of evil Lumens but I don't know what they're scheming about.

#9 by hanako - Jan 2 2013

Some of the people on your list are not Lumens.

There are quite a lot of them around, though. If you've gotten the spare Lumen crystal and talked to your mentor about it, that combined with the history of Nova should explain a few things...

#10 by Hazel - Jan 10 2013

Is a Lumen with a spare crystal stronger than two Lumens working in concert?

Also, is Togami stronger than Julianna and Selene? Also also, did he already have more than one crystal when he came to Nova?

#11 by Franka - Jan 10 2013

Lumen seem to have different talents, talents that may not be relevant for fighting, so gauging "strength" might be difficult. Selene is strong in scrying, yet Togami easily counters her, so he's got his resist magic skill up for sure.

#12 by hanako - Jan 10 2013

Hazel:

Is a Lumen with a spare crystal stronger than two Lumens working in concert?

Again, that conversation with the mentor after finding a spare crystal should point out what you can and cannot do with one...

#13 by Hazel - Jan 12 2013

The evidence that I gathered about Lumen crystals suggests that using someone else's crystal is only possible if they're young and impressionable, and that taking an adult's crystal is basically useless because the personality of the user is somehow imprinted on it, and it will resist the person who killed its owner.

Since the historical notes say that all the crystals but the Crown's and Ursul's were hidden/lost, I assume the ones that do surface were stolen, except Joslyn's, which would be the ancestral Caloris crystal and I'm guessing Fidelia made him take it, and also Lucille's, since she claims she's an ancestral Merva and I guess she probably stole it from some hidden cache.

Then there's the secret backup Lumen, whose powers have been handed down for generations. This I suppose was a backup plan in case of... what actually happened, which was the Lumen lines being wiped out. And there are Lumen in other countries, although most of them are fake.

Trying to untangle this is fun.

#14 by Ramidel - Jan 13 2013

You can take an adult's crystal and add it to your own power if they assent. For example, Togami can seize Joslyn's crystal through the duel.

#15 by hanako - Jan 13 2013

Ramidel:

You can take an adult's crystal and add it to your own power if they assent.

No, you can't - at least, not the way you're saying it above.

I'm trying not to get too specific and spoil everyone's mystery-solving, but no - you cannot, under any circumstances, add another crystal to your own. Your mentor does explicitly tell you this!

Togami's plan is more complicated than that.

#16 by ark99k - Jan 13 2013

I thought that you could only give a lumen crystal to someone else. So, I guess it could count as adding to your power, but not directly. If you really wanted you could make an army of ninja lumens that listen only to you. He he, Elodie the ninja lumen.

#17 by Hazel - Jan 18 2013

The history epilogue text gives some great extra information about Lumen magic. Also, Selene reveals some things that Julianna doesn't mention. They're really very different.

#18 by ark99k - Jan 18 2013

Yeah, I really like Selene more because she tells me the information I can't get from Julianna and Selene explained why I was glowing and called me special! Julianna just said it was a fluke and nothing more!

#19 by Franka - Jan 18 2013

On the other hand, Selene can cause an assassin to attack you, while Julianna cannot.

#20 by Ramidel - Jan 19 2013

Of course Julianna can cause you to be attacked by an assassin. She teaches you to use Lumen, after all.

But yeah, I like Selene a lot more. She tells you what you need to know when you ask about it, and she generally treats Elodie like an adult (unlike just about everyone else). Julianna treats Elodie more like a mushroom than anything.

#21 by Franka - Jan 19 2013

Ramidel:

Of course Julianna can cause you to be attacked by an assassin. She teaches you to use Lumen, after all.

Of course, but that's not an event involving her specifically. Selene is interchangeable in that instance. There is, however, an event where having Selene specifically causes an assassination attempt, while having Julianna would not.

(Yes, my last post was poorly worded.)

#22 by Ramidel - Jan 19 2013

Ah, you mean where Elodie prematurely blabs to Charlotte?

Well, just because Julianna is right doesn't mean she isn't a jerk.

#23 by ark99k - Jan 19 2013

Well....... I can argue with that.

#24 by Ramidel - Jan 19 2013

Well, Julianna is right in that the power isn't particularly useful, she's a bit better at protecting Elodie than Selene is, and she's generally a lot more helpful in events (for example, vote of no confidence). But in other cases, Julianna can be...less than informative.

#25 by ark99k - Jan 19 2013

Hey, can't she vote against you as well as for you. I don't get why she would vote agianst you though.

#26 by hanako - Jan 19 2013

Neither Julianna nor Selene is terribly happy with you if you outright refuse to take up your responsibilities as a Lumen.

#27 by Mint.Locust - Jan 19 2013

Franka:

There is, however, an event where having Selene specifically causes an assassination attempt, while having Julianna would not.

Yet another secret you found that I missed. Well, there goes my free time this afternoon...

#28 by Ramidel - Jan 19 2013

Even then, you really have to piss Julianna off for her to vote against you.

Julianna's like Arisse in that. If she turns against you, you more than had it coming.

#29 by Hazel - Jan 21 2013

Selene and Julianna are both delightful. Selene is scarier because she makes no secret of how far she's willing to go in service of the Lumen throne. On the other hand she is handy because she can discover that Togami is a Lumen when the subject of sinking the fleet comes up. Julianna is very composed and I like that about her, even though surely from Elodie's POV she expects a lot from her. They both expect Elodie to know a lot of lore and things.

They are both immensely manipulative though. That's actually why I like them so much, it's a trait I find appealing, especially in a setting of this type. I can't help but wonder how they would deal with Lottie as a princess, though.

#30 by Oki - Jan 26 2013

I would say my opinion of Selene and Julianna is they're useful allies, but I want them to both shut up and go back to Ursul >: | I'd love to have them as allies in the future but if they'd just be legit, I'd like them more.

I think Togami's goal was basically, kill Elodie's mother in order to have a less experienced/less impressed owner of the royal crystal and wield the power of her crystal? I could be wrong. THERE IS SO MUCH TEXT IN THIS GAME.

I love all the text though, so much intrigue /sobs with love