Chapter 6 Discussion

Repeated myself a bit here, and ended up rambling, but I broke it down by category! This was probably my favorite chapter so far. 

Obligatory game balance section:
Yuki Musume are completely un-threatening in their new appearance... at least compared to ame musume of equal level. They plink away for 1-3 damage while ame musume blast me with area spells for 50+. Can you give the higher level ones a new spell, or something?...
Elves have awesomely high WPN, but somehow this works out really well. They were doing 50 damage to me in their first appearance and 30 after I started stacking ARM boosts on Shizuka. Since she has a bit over 100 health, that's completely fair.
Ame musume are deadly, but not really inordinately so (they're not one-shotting me...) They actually seem very fair (though fighting them with water weakness would suck).
I did not encounter an enemy in this chapter, except dryads (2 hits) and Alice (several very buffed hits), which I couldn't kill in one hit (using Shizuka's default attack, and Electrosphere / Thunder Fall on Aika). Status pages linked.
Alice does approximately nothing, damage-wise, compared to her underlings. She was hitting for 4 while they were hitting for 40. She might be deadly if I had lower LOV, but at her current strength I think if I was weak enough to be threatened by her I wouldn't have got past her minions. She still took several hits (for 120, 120, 120, 560 - of course the last one is the critical) to take down though.
The ratio of quest reward amounts to enhancer costs means I can buy about 5 enhancers per battle. That's amazing. Not sure yet if it's balanced or not. It actually might be... if nothing else it makes a very nice safety net for people who aren't quite as good at strategy RPGs.
I pity anyone who didn't use Shizuka and Aika for a few chapters...

(I think overall this chapter was, at least for my enjoyment, very well-balanced - I only lost once, and that was mostly a stupid mistake, but I was taking at least some damage from almost everything.

General comments:
Felt like there was a tiny bit of missing context at the very start of this episode (I had to infer from the chapter title and the first scene what was going on), but it was probably definitely in Chapter 5 and I just forgot (and remembered again...)... Nobody actually mentioned the harvest festival, though, until Alma? Or am I forgetting that too? I think it might be time for a new full playthrough...

Really enjoyed the chapter as a whole, both gameplay-wise (I actually felt this chapter worked very well with the slightly shorter battles, and being able to splash thousands of HRT on enhancers that each benefit half my team is awesome) and story-wise (I think Shizuka/Aika is my favorite couple here, and this was a shining example of it; I also had fun trying to guess what would happen next).

Shizuka and Aika both have pasts like anime characters, it's just that Shizuka's is... I don't know, a yuri version of Inuyasha? And Aika's is Strawberry Panic with a side of yanderes, ninjas and magic.

Running around talking to all the elves was pretty fun; I think you're a slightly crazy person for writing a unique conversation for every one of them but I'm glad you did.

I was kind of hoping for some exotic armor and weapons (or clothes?) in the Elfor shop... I guess the new weapons are fine (great, even) though.

Not sure how you did the effect with the boat in the tunnel of love, but that was really kinda neat.

Shizuka's protective talisman REALLY showed its true value in the haunted house fight. She was handily dispatching every fey she attacked in one hit.

Wow, the dryad cosplay is even skimpier than I expected. I wasn't paying much attention to their portraits...

Boy did I not appreciate Soul Harvester enough the first time around... That thing is insane.

Ooh, are we doing a mini-episode for every couple? Can't wait to see what Arthur and Hermina are up to... Holed up in their room, doing their best to not kill each other?

Random commentary:

i.imgur.com/kV34ae1.png
Also, you're on a date! Plenty of time for being responsible, civic-minded adventurers later.

i.imgur.com/yUguLTL.png
My prediction for this character, after only seeing her first scene, was this: She's yandere for Aika as a result of either being Aika's ex, or the only girl even close to Aika's age that she hasn't tried to flirt with.
Tunnel of Love edit: Or Shizuka's imouto... wait, Shizuka's imouto is called Katsumi. And she's probably not Aika's big sister... so, I'm back to going with "probably Aika's ex".

i.imgur.com/nty3DKd.png
There is something slightly out-of-place about this scene...
(Lore-wise, though, it is a hidden elf village out in the forest, on a remote island that's not on any map, probably hidden from modern technology... I guess I can see why aliens would be interested.)

i.imgur.com/siwGFo1.png
Hey, that's only 1,000 times as much as my guess!
i.imgur.com/Nbhyb9W.png
I actually guessed at this point that it was Fredriika. I just couldn't remember her name...

i.imgur.com/PRLhPCc.png
Ooh, ooh, let me guess! Magical organized crime? Monster "taming" (waggles eyebrows)? Magical girl? Surely not... Baking?
i.imgur.com/Xuo6Eyz.png
Definitely magical girl.
(My new guess is "they're some kind of magical girl ninjas" by the way)

i.imgur.com/77K1qUv.png
The fact that the answer, from my point of view, is "yes" actually makes this question (and Shizuka's denial) funnier.
(Bonus typo: "using" should be "use". Didn't even spot it until now.)
i.imgur.com/ecIbwVg.png
Aren't you basically doing that now?

Boy, this tunnel of love sure is really long...

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If I had 100 HRT for every opportunity Shizuka's had up to this point to say that...

i.imgur.com/7MqI46j.png
I mean, on the one hand, she's got a point, no clothes is bad. On the other hand, how many assassins could actually fit into the inn room?

i.imgur.com/SCxW5Tt.png
This sounds insanely useful. I'm guessing it never shows up again.
i.imgur.com/AEB9YmN.png
Oh my Goddess. Aika is going to sell it and buy Shizuka a one billion HRT necklace, isn't she?

i.imgur.com/eDNiJ3Q.png
...Talk about unfortunate misunderstandings. (This was another one where slightly anticipating the punchline made the joke much funnier.)

i.imgur.com/deQK7zC.png
Oh dear... she's really got it bad. ...Honestly? It's probably just as well Aika forgot about the promise. Living with that much crazy is dangerous.

i.imgur.com/b13hL8L.png
Put like that, I can kind of see Alice's point of view... That said, prediction: Aika apologizing for it will make Alice go from 'slighted yandere' back to 'psychotically clingy and jealous'...
(Edit: Wow, not even. Oh well, this is fine... advancing Shiuzka/Aika agenda.)

Closing thought:
i.imgur.com/zUbF4I6.png
Does that mean Alice is really good with plants, and just terrible with anyone who Aika could remotely be interested in?

The power of magic (and really long cut scenes)



We'll probably never know (because I was too lazy to figure that out.)



She is going to now (once the story switches back to her and Shizuka). The fact I didn't think of this myself is a matter those two scenes were written days apart and I never realized a genuine opportunity that I had accidentally written.