itch.io

Here are a few more bugs I encountered during my repeated play throughs of the demo. I hope the way I’ve organized everything is clear. In any case…

Coding Errors:

If the second-born accepts Cyril’s invitation to dinner, chooses to kiss them, and then steps back, signalling their intention to go no further than a kiss, the following choice includes a code string instead of Cyril’s name: “‘Good night, $mccyril. Thank you for dinner and… everything else.’” The text that follows on the next page correctly features Cyril’s name (“Good night, Cyril. Thank you for dinner and… everything else.").

-

For a second-born who has a poor relationship with Ariana (her affection towards my character was at 25 percent during the scene being described), when she asks the player character how much they know about Aether, the choice: “I glare at her, venom in my eyes.” is followed by the code string “</li>” and lacks the golden cube preceding it that distinguishes each option from the rest.

-

Prior to the end of the demo, when the player is given the choice to visit Cyril, Will, and Ariana before heading out to do battle with Stan’s forces—for a second-born who has a poor relationship with Ariana, who attempts to leave the council room rather than standing their ground against an Aether-overcharged Ariana (“The pain is getting unbearable. I leave.”), the demo ends there rather than at its intended conclusion.

And if the second-born instead stands their ground (“The pain is terrible, but I stand my ground.”), the subsequent scene plays out as it ought to, but the scene immediately afterwards repeats the first paragraph from the former one, namely: “You refuse to retreat, and you stand your ground as Ariana comes closer, a gleam in her eye as the distance shrinks between you.” And the scene immediately after that latter one displays a blank screen with only the NEXT button present, which allows the player to reach the demo’s intended conclusion, but which I assume is superfluous and not meant to be there.

-

After the player specifies the primary and secondary skills of the second-born, the scene which follows after the selection of the latter features inconsistent spacing between the third and fourth paragraph; the two are farther apart than are the first and second, or the second and third paragraphs. Namely, I’m referring to the following exerpt: “You glimpse Ariana awaiting you at the bottom of the staircase. She looks up as you scale down the stairs, beaming at you with a toothy grin that brightens her entire face.”; this is the inconsistently spaced fourth paragraph.

-

When Cyril offers to let the second-born try their crossbow, the sixth response to this proposal: “‘No.’”, unlike the other five choices, does not appear in the subsequent scene.

To clarify what I mean, take, for example, another choice: “‘No, thank you. I dislike weapons.’” When the player chooses this, the scene that follows begins with the following sentence: “’No, thank you.’ You shake your head. ‘I dislike weapons.’” And it is followed up with: “Cyril gives you a simple nod.”

But when the player chooses the choice: “‘No.’”, the subsequent scene simply begins with: “Cyril gives you a simple nod.”; the second-born’s response does not constitute the first paragraph, as it otherwise does for the rest of the choices. I’m not sure whether or not this is a bug, but the difference in format caught my eye, and I thought to report it in case it really is a bug.

-

When Will visits the second-born in their room to notify them s/he’s ready for their training session, if s/he is told to “‘Go away.’” by the second-born, and if the player in the next scene chooses the following: “[Dismiss] ‘Didn't you hear me? I said, “Go away”.’”, then the subsequent scene displays an error: “Error: <<set>>: bad evaluation: unexpected token: identifier”.

-

Though I set Cyril’s gender as female, in the scene in which she begins reading Stanislas’ letter to Ariana, there is a minor inconsistency pertaining to one of her pronouns: “’To Her Majesty, Queen Ariana d'Arcadie,’ she [Cyril] reads in a clear, level voice.”

“’That's a good start.’ Ariana balances her weight on her right leg, arms still crossed tightly, fingers digging into her biceps, and eyes riveted to Cyril as he reads on.”

Rather than reading: “as she reads on”, the last part of that sentence in the second paragraph reads: “as he reads on”, contrary to the earlier usage of one of the female Cyril’s pronouns, properly specifying her as such.

-

If the player chooses: “Move to the bedroom.” following the second-born’s dinner with Cyril, and then opts to instead cut their time short by selecting the following: “Actually, I should leave.”, the scene consequent to that latter choice, at the bottom left corner, under the button that reads ONE WEEK LATER…, displays a “2” that is (I think) not seen in any of the other scenes prior to the beginning of a new chapter.

-

When Ariana expresses that, before dealing with Kalltland, Stanislas must be killed, the two following choices appear to lead to the exact same scene: “‘I’m looking forward to it.’” and: “Best to say nothing.”

This, I think, is an error in the case of the former choice. When, for example, the player opts to have the second-born respond with another choice in the same scene, such as: “‘That’s a bit extreme, Ariana,’ I say carefully.” the following scene has as its first paragraph the choice expanded and repeated, thus: “’That's a bit extreme, Ariana,’ you say, an uncertain edge to your voice.”

But when the player instead chooses: “‘I’m looking forward to it.’”, just like the choice: “Best to say nothing.”, the first paragraph of the scene consequent to it is: “She detaches her gaze from you, returns to watching your troops crowding the courtyard.” It is as though the second-born has not expressed their opinion at all, given the customary inclusion of spoken choices as the first line of dialogue in the scene which follows them, to indicate that the second-born has spoken their response or opinion aloud.

Syntax Errors:

If the second-born has a poor relationship with Ariana (her affection towards my character was at 41 percent prior to selecting the following choice, and then fell to 38 percent), when the player chooses to visit her during the first night at Fort Queenscliff and selects the following option: “‘Don’t make promises you can’t keep.’” the scene consequent to it displays a $ in the second paragraph, preceding the Ariana’s qualification of the second-born’s rivalry with her, based on the player character’s gender. “Ariana scowls, not missing your distrustful tone. ‘Still with the $brotherly rivalry?’”

-

If a male second-born visits Barcot, when Cyril introduces him to Stephane as the Prince of Arcadie, the title preceding his name is not capitalized: “Stephane's suddenly bulging eyes remind you of saucers. ‘prince Maxime,’ he repeats, standing up to bow deeply.”

The same holds true if the second-born is female; the title “princess” is not capitalized.

-

If the second-born has a poor relationship with Ariana (her affection towards my character was at 26 percent prior to selecting the following choice), during the first meeting of the council, in which the planned assault on the royal castle is devised, if the player selects the following: “None of them. I want no part of this.” the third paragraph in the following scene is missing a space, prior to Ariana’s second line of dialogue ("He'll stay by my side," Ariana decides. Then, meeting your eyes, she adds,"I'll make sure you don't drag all of us down.").

-

If it’s Cyril who escorts the second-born to their room following the assassination attempt against them, and the player selects the following choice: “‘If it's all the same to you, I'd like to sleep, now.‘“ the second paragraph of the consequent scene is missing a quotation mark ("Of course," she replies. "Don't hesitate to call on the guards, if need be.).

-

When the second-born approaches Stan and calls him by his formal title (“’Sir Stanislas Duval,’ you say.”), with the player being given the opportunity to specify how they wish for Stan to be addressed or address their character, the following two options: “Stan it is, then.” and: “I’d rather stick with ‘Sir Stanislas’.” feature inconsistent capitalization. Namely, the phrase “Your Highness” in the third paragraph in the scenes consequent to both of those choices does not have its first word capitalized. Thus: “’I believe this is your first time attending a meeting with foreign envoys, your Highness.’”

And if the second-born does not give their assent to being called by their first name (“’In that case, please call me Maxime.’”) and the player chooses otherwise, then in the subsequent scene, the following choices feature scenes which include the same inconsistent capitalization of the phrase “Your Highness”: “‘I am surprised you'd say this to me, of all people. I am the Prince, after all.’″; ″’What kind of talk is that?’ I ask disapprovingly.”; and: ″’I don't care what you think.’″

For the first choice (“‘I am surprised you'd say this to me, of all people. I am the Prince, after all.’″), in the subsequent scene, “Your Highness” is inconsistently capitalized in paragraphs two and four: “’That, you are, your Highness,’ he concedes, a small, pensive smile at his lips.” and: “His smile strangely grows wider, more sincere. ‘Not really, your Highness.’”, respectively.

For the second choice (″’What kind of talk is that?’ I ask disapprovingly.”), in the subsequent scene, “Your Highness” is inconsistently capitalized in the second paragraph: “’It's only the truth, your Highness. Surely you know better than I our Kingdom's history.’”

For the third choice (″’I don't care what you think.’″), in the subsequent scene, “Your Highness” is inconsistently capitalized in the second paragraph: “He blinks at you. ‘Understood, your Highness.’”

-

When the second-born, Ariana, and Will first arrive at Fort Queenscliff, once the trio, together with Cyril, enter the latter’s study and are prompted to explain what exactly it was that Stanislas did, I believe the phrase that appears in the scenes consequent to each choice, “their Majesties”, is meant to also have its first word capitalized. So, rather than the following: “’I’m not certain,’ Wilfred admits. ‘He called their Majesties “warmongering tyrants”.’”, the phrase should read “Their Majesties”.

-

If the second-born has a good relationship with Ariana (her affection towards my character was at 73 percent at the time of writing this), and if their main stat is Politics & Tactics, during the scene in which Cyril asks them what part of the plan to assault the Royal Castle they’d like to take part in, the following choices: “‘Fighting on the battlefield is not really my strong suit.’” and: “None of them. I want no part of this.” and the scenes consequent to each feature a formatting error.

In the case of the first choice (“‘Fighting on the battlefield is not really my strong suit.’”), the fourth paragraph features an extra break, such that the text: “’I’ll look out for you.’” is on the next line rather than the same line.

As to the second (“None of them. I want no part of this.”), in the third paragraph, there is a space missing in the following excerpt: “Then, meeting your eyes, she adds,’I’ll look out for you.’” That bit of Ariana’s dialogue should feature a space after the comma following the word “adds”.

Additionally, the error present in the scene consequent to the second choice (“None of them. I want no part of this.”) is also present if the second-born’s primary skill is Swordsmanship, and if their relationship with Ariana is positive.

-

Immediately after Ariana shares some of the Aether she’s accumulated with the second-born, when the player is prompted to react to her slicing their character’s hand and grasping it, all three choices (″’What was that for?!’″; “I shake my head and attempt to collect myself.”; and ″’I could have used some forewarning.’″) lead to a scene in which there is a spacing error. Namely: “’Sorry for the little jolt,’ she says, half-grinning, ‘there's not much I could have done about it. Besides, it's already healed up.’You look downward, towards your hand; while you can still feel a tingle right under your skin, you realize there is no hint of an injury.” There ought to be a space after the second part of Ariana’s dialogue and the second-born’s examination of their hand.

-

When the second-born is having dinner with Cyril, and when they’re asked by him/her why they’ve chosen to hone their primary skill, either in sword fighting or politics, the second part of Cyril’s dialogue in the fourth paragraph of that scene is not capitalized. Thus: “’I was also wondering.’ She drinks a bit of wine before resuming, ‘why did you decide to focus on the study of our Kingdom's politics?’” The “why” in “why did you decide…” ought to be capitalized.

-

During the sequence in which Ariana and the second-born are talking about her plans for Kalltland, and the latter expresses anything less than support for and does not remain silent about their thoughts on her designs, when Ariana thereafter questions how uncaring the second-born appears to be about their parents’ death, if the player chooses the following: “‘What does that have to do with anything?’”, the second paragraph in the scene consequent to this choice is missing a word. Namely: “‘It has everything to do with it. We wouldn't here, discussing Stanislas and Kalltland and getting ready for war, if that hadn't happened.’” The phrase “We wouldn’t here…” is missing the word “be”.

-

There are several instances in which the phrase “Royal Castle” is inconsistently capitalized:

1. The scene after the player is confronted with the choice to specify the second-born’s feelings towards Ariana—namely, if they love, like, secretly dislike, dislike, or care not about her: “The large courtyard stands in the middle of the Royal castle, surrounded by looming high walls on all sides.”

2. The scene before which the player is able to express to Cyril their opinion on Stephane, in which Sylvie is introduced: “’Shouldn't they? We're not far from the Royal castle.’”

3. The scene in which the council to formulate the plan of assault on the Royal Castle convenes for the first time, after the player is prompted to choose the second-born’s stance on whether or not, and to what extent, they will offer their opinion on the matters being discussed: “’I’ve been receiving regular reports from our scouts keeping watch over the Royal castle.’”

4. The scene after which Cyril asks the second-born to provide them with an account of the attempted assassination: “She then adds, in a lower voice, ‘They can't be Stanislas's men either. The reconnaissance team would have spotted them coming out of the Royal castle's gates.’”