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Holy shit!

I have a younger brother I haven't seen in a bit, and both really want to play this with him, and really don't.

Intriguing! I liked the puzzle of figuring who's who and what's what through passing references in the middle of personal drama, and I immediately got invested and want to know more about these events and characters!

Loved it! My only feedback would be some sort of way to lock some answers are correct (for instance, when one profile is fully figured out, it's entirely locked) so we know where to keep looking. I struggled for a bit for the last victim, thinking I was off-base, but I was actually right all along and had simply made a small mistake in a completely different profile.

Then again, there's just a small enough number of profiles that it was still manageable (and very satisfying!), so maybe not necessary on this scope... but I would love more of this!

Definitely great job with the information delivery, realistic misleading and the subtle hints. Amazing the things you can get from pure inference. I loved the "oohh!! wait I got it I know I know!!" moment I got on the last victim's identity. Also interesting take on the genre where we don't care much on the who-dun-it, but who the victim was and what happened to them.

Saw a tumblr post featuring the title graphic, immediately looked it up, played the demo, bought the full game on the spot. Just finished a first run and loved it.

Quickly pointing out a couple <i>tiny</i> mechanical issues I noticed in the windows version):

-There are a couple times where lines skip automatically, too fast to fully read them, usually shortly after a choice (so i'm guessing it's an issue in the code right after branched variations). In the ending where I got denied entry to the court, the lines about Florence seeing and ignoring me did this.

-Despite the warning about deleting a previous save, i... can't save at all? Not too much of a problem thanks to the short length though.

-Would appreciate an option to read the log, or to scroll back previous messages (esp bc of the skipped lines).

-Is this made in Ren'Py? If so I know it should be possible to do the above and also to quickly skip previously-seen dialogue, which is always appreciated for replayable IF VNs with variations!

That aside: love the game, love the visual style, love the writing style, love the lore, love the hotness and queerness of everything attained without encountering any actually sexual content, loooove the huuugely Felt metaphor and symbolism. My jaw dropped and my heart jumped at the first drink scene.💜🖤🤍💚 This is a small brilliant gem and I'm so happy and off to replay and try to find all the other endings. Thank you so much for making this!!!

Emmet's break-up reason and talk destroyed me good, though tbf I come with pre-packaged weakness to daddy issues stories. I did really like how his route is about respecting him as a person and romantic interest and not just an adorable puppy, too! He's not one of the ones I'm passionate and obsessed about, but I really enjoyed every single route's W5 big moment.

True, there's also a lot of bittersweetness, that moment got me good too (esp since that was the first route I played and the first version of the final dance I got)! But playing as a similarly queer princess, in this case aroace, gives the relationship a huge sense of shared relief and mutual understanding and then the ending I got was just perfect marriage and happy complicity and laughing over the fact that we're known for being the perfect couple totally in love with each other. Absolutely adored getting such validation of a queerplatonic relationship as a happy end 💚💚

I wanna say it's because, as the PC points out in narration, we didn't get any material proof that it had anything to do with her, but... neither do we about her attempt on us, yeah xD

Yeah! I don't remember if the fail trigger was a stat check or a bad answer, but if you're not convincing enough she's disappointed and insulted and does the same thing as the "tried as war criminals" response.

Oh yeah no that was just how I played those runs (as a very selfish, immoral and unethical PC), I've managed to get the good Revaire endings in other runs dw ;)

he's always there, lurking in a corner, unnoticed...

I love the Ana marriage ending and am curious to know if there are big variations in how the MC settles in Skalt 👀I'm assuming there's the option to become a warrior if you're fit for it, but my Sheltered Princess was Not (despite raising her self-defense and courage a lot!) and she ended up becoming a teacher! Anyone got different results?

Also, because she was very graceful, there was a gorgeous line about her dancing by the campfire, and that image is imprinted into my thoughts forever, it's so sweet. Shy frail reserved self-conscious little Arland princess, now dancing freely and wildly, short skirt and bare legs and feet on the packed ground, in the changing light of a huge campfire, under the stars and the adoring gaze of her warrior wife... 🥺😭❤️ I'm so proud of her!!!

Back to report it absolutely doesn't mean he stops hating us and it was extremely funny and mutually miserable :D Though, that was my "watch it all burn down" run anyway, I wonder if there's a possibility for a better Blain marriage ending... Understandable and hilarious if nope, there is only the one miserable one :D

Yeah I found the method! (and it was so fun!) (and got me killed one time)

I think that is indeed The Gisette Blackmail, considering how the Blain blackmail also pops up in a specific conversation and not as an option during negotiations. I'm now wondering if the (very obvious and non-critical) Lyon secret from W1 can pop up somewhere... That's the only one I can think of that I didn't see have a follow-up somewhere.

Oops, I forgot to mention in this thread, SPOILERS for the Revaire plot, weeks 6 & 7 and ending possibilities!

Selling out yes, it's the option to ally with them or to go for peace that doesn't show up unless you've spoken with her!

IIRC the options you can get are:

- Choose to side with the royals (shows up even if you've promised to help Sayra, you can trick and betray her!)

- Of course you must side with Gisette (if you're on her romance route)

- Of course you must side with Jarrod (if you're on his romance route OR politically marrying him, which might be a bug? I have had both Gisette & Jarrod options show up at the same time)

- Refuse to take part in this at all (Gisette does not take that very well)

- Choose to side with the rebels (if you've promised to help Sayra; this can involve tricking Gisette with fake information, which is super cool and an achievement IIRC)

- There must be an option that pleases everyone (if you've convinced Sayra to try for peace; this involves trying to convince Gisette to go for peace too)

(I've not seen a special option for Clarmont, but I only played his route once and said I'd stay out of it iirc.) (... And then betrayed him to Gisette out of curiosity. It was horrible. :) )

All of these only require knowing about the Rebels' existence from the secrets chain, but it's possible to have that without having Sayra's relationship high enough to get her conversations.

Whoaaah! That's a plot for a fanfic eh? 8D

Phew, thanks for the explanation re: Paint The Map Red achievement, I ruined everything for everyone and didn't get it and thought things could get even worse.

LMAO

"Negotiation Preparation", right? I have it, so it's not fully bugged out

I usually play ethical/genuinely Good Person with high manip (love the Widow for that!), but the last couple times I completed a playthrough while romancing Gisette I didn't get the Rebels secret, once just bc i wasn't nice enough to Sayra to get her trust and once because I went fully unethical, took the bribe at the trial, etc (I FELT HORRIBLE ABOUT IT but my MC did not care at all)

Gisettttttte <3

Yaaaay for Morgan!

Yaay! I'm good to put that up to you (or another round of community voting lmao), but after playing a game as "Lady Lian of Jiyel" I'm really liking it for a female name too :))
(And if the character's gender isn't firmly settled yet, I'd love absolutely any option :D)

SHE'S SO GOOD! I really need to make a new playthrough where I manage to romance AND get her to kill me (my last couple runs I wasn't nice enough to actually get enough of the Revaire storyline to even have the option lmao)

Honestly my favourite girl & relationship is Avalie 😭 (and I adore Cordelia & Penelope too) But I went for Ria first and that was so sweet, and then Gisette surprised me with how lovely and romantic and delicate she was, and for some reason I only actually completed Ana's route very late and she bowled me over. She's SO good... I think Ana x my nerdy and sweet Sheltered Princess is one of my favourite relationships I've played out, having her fall in love with all of Skalt was so wonderful!

Ooohhh love Moira!!!

Ooo I like Shinya too!

My absolute favourite route and marriage is Lisle.💚It's so joyful and sweet.

Another huge fave is Zarad, who was my top dude until I tried Lisle's route (last, very disinterested and expecting nothing from him... haha how the turntables). Corval is my favourite kingdom in general, I think, I love Zarad's conversations with all my PCs, love the Corval PC and her storyline, love the Princess's storyline tied to Corval...

I like Nerissa if the character is openly villainous/sinister!

Agree with everything in this thread, but also bc I thought taming and romancing him would let me be able to be a horrible evil queen of Revaire perfectly self-aware and actually in charge...

Same, that's really motivating me to try "clean" runs again with backgrounds I play less :D I really love the Jiyel protag but I tend to make her reserved and blunt so she's so hard to get successes for! Congrats and thanks for the encouraging bragging :D

Feels like the endings should provide something (if not More Achievements)... Perhaps getting the perfect ending for a kingdom, or a particular action, could give a boost to that background?

E.g. Jiyel-Arland golden age would give boosts to the Scholar and the Princess... I was going to say additional boosts related to their respective kingdom (so Int for the Scholar and Etiquette for the Princess), but it would be really cute to get a boost for the other country's, since you managed to make them get along?? So it would get Int for the Princess?

Or perhaps simply boosts to Approval from the concerned countries?

Setting up the trade agreements or getting all the perfect gifts could get Merchants approval, etc.

Yeah, agree, having a competent and widely beloved protag who is acing everything and then not getting Dual Thorns feels weird even though saving yourself is technically more impressive 😅

I did but it required EXTREME planning indeed! Agree :)

look i love this game!!! 🥺

A few of my favourites:

My OG, my favourite, my real one, my most canon of all: Lady Aza Lee (Aza) of Corval, ethical schemer beloved by everybody, who found huge relief and her best life in marrying Lisle. Her own sexuality is somewhere between aroace and a big damn shrug, so the question is whether she will participate or just watch when she arranges for her excellent friend and partner in crime Zarad to visit her and her husband, but that is definitely happening the instant Lisle slips. He is all at once terrified, in awe, and so grateful of her power.

In another life, the marriage is still a great friendship, but the lady is having an extremely romantic affair with a certain Grand Duke. Convenient for everyone!

Alestes (Al) of Hise, loud and bright and charismatic but absolute idiot with zero people-savviness who won her place in a drinking contest and had no idea what the heck was going on at any point. She was such a disaster that she failed to figure out what happened to her mother, and even, horrifyingly, failed to save Imogen. Somehow, a devastated Ria still agreed to being kidnapped, so this charming moron got her gay happy ever after anyway. (Her name is a reference to Rusty Quill's queer anti-colonialist pirate podcast Trice Forgotten!)

Countess Andromaque (Andy) of Wellin, who I thought was going to be a bit of a boor but ended up surprisingly much more academically & emotionally intelligent (she even befriended Lyon and got him involved!), eloquent and insightful than I planned, and married Hamin, to the surprise of no one back home apparently. Was delighted to find out this was a bi4bi affair. (In another life, Hamin broke up with her when she refused to leave with him and abandon her people. A very strong and practical character with no time for subtle manipulations.)

Lady Ianthe of Revaire, gleeful immoral and manipulative little [BLEEP] who got close to Clarmont then romanced Gisette, happily betrayed the rebels to her, and ruled Revaire with her husband and girlfriend. Happy ever after for them and them only! (Yes, based on The Locked Tomb's Ianthe Tridentarius. I needed a character to channel in order to be that awful.)

Lady Vivienne (Vivi) of Revaire, who made up for that by romancing & marrying Clarmont and fixing Revaire (and did a p good job at the rest of the world as well, with the help of Avalie). Also very manipulative, but mostly ethical! ... in this life, at least. In another life she did a lot of murder and also betrayed Clarmont while engaged to him. I just wanted to see what happened okay.

In another life, she had a shockingly earnest and cute romance with Gisette, and secured a lovely happy ending for the two of them with Gisette royal advisor to a pacified Revaire.

Azira (Zira) of Corval, the people-savvy prodigy who cheerfully drove Lyon mad; not as much of a nerd as he is, but very smart, eloquent and stubborn and very very teasing. A big point of their marriage is that she takes the lead when social events and politics need to be done while her husband stays at home reading happily. She was also a terror in Corval, out-blackmailing her blackmailer, befriending both Zarad and Avalie, and managing to find All the secrets ever.

Lady Mei Lian (Xiao Lian) of Jiyel, asexual and autistic history & plants nerd who bonded with Emmett over nerdery, refused to accept the illogical and untrue things he believed about himself (I think she called his dad something very rude), and is having a grand time getting really invested in the logistics of running their earldom (especially the imported crops). Unsurprisingly, she also befriended Lyon, and to a lesser degree Avalie, though Lian's complete and utter lack of interest in people and their schemes and games was apparently disappointing.

Princess Clémence (Clém) of Arland, who managed to both serve her kingdom and find her freedom in marrying Ana in the absolute cutest romance ever. She was a very proper princess totally out of depth in terms of plot and people-skill, but she tried hard and managed to grow in her small ways (including learning self-defense!) and I'm so proud of my little femme lesbian who dances around the campfire with her strong wife who loves her so much. She was very interested in Skalt's culture and nature and became a teacher there!

And finally, the much more insightful and capable Princess Verity (also Vivi) of Arland, who said [BLEEP] to her family and (with the help of all other NG+ bonuses and very VERY careful planning) upheld Katiya's Legacy with Jasper. ✌️

Eee, I also named a sheltered princess Felicity! Such a good name to pair with Constance, yes :D

I just completely sabotaged everything I could in the negotiations, got a series of gruesome horrible endings after horrible endings... and didn't unlock the "Burn it all down" achievement?? I hope that was just caused by the couple of glitches I encountered, because otherwise...   It can get worse than this??

(I suppose not everyone had died and I didn't even blackmail Lisle or Zarad.)

Later on that same play, during the bad Jiyel-Arland ending:

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.
While running game code:
  File "game/endings.rpy", line 81, in <module>
NameError: name 'arlandblame' is not defined
-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------
Full traceback:
  File "lib/windows-i686/endings.rpyc", line 81, in script
  File "C:\Games\SevenKingdoms_ThePrincessProblem(EA)v1.11-pc\renpy\ast.py", line 1729, in execute
    if renpy.python.py_eval(condition):
  File "C:\Games\SevenKingdoms_ThePrincessProblem(EA)v1.11-pc\renpy\python.py", line 1943, in py_eval
    return py_eval_bytecode(code, globals, locals)
  File "C:\Games\SevenKingdoms_ThePrincessProblem(EA)v1.11-pc\renpy\python.py", line 1936, in py_eval_bytecode
    return eval(bytecode, globals, locals)
  File "game/endings.rpy", line 81, in <module>
NameError: name 'arlandblame' is not defined
Windows-8-6.2.9200
Ren'Py 7.0.0.196
Seven Kingdoms- The Princess Problem (Early Access) 1.11
Sat Jul 20 14:07:09 2024

Followed by typos in Toren's ending: "Despite in having failed his stated duty..." (should be "failed in his stated duty") + "Torren Han-Lyle did receive any formal reprimands" (should be "didn't")

Ftr, all ambassadors looked at me but decided I wasn't responsible for anything (even though I very much did actively sabotage everything during negotiations).

And during the bad Skalt-Wellin's ending:

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.
While running game code:
  File "game/endings.rpy", line 995, in <module>
NameError: name 'wellskaltcivilwar' is not defined
-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------
Full traceback:
  File "lib/windows-i686/endings.rpyc", line 995, in script
  File "C:\Games\SevenKingdoms_ThePrincessProblem(EA)v1.11-pc\renpy\ast.py", line 1729, in execute
    if renpy.python.py_eval(condition):
  File "C:\Games\SevenKingdoms_ThePrincessProblem(EA)v1.11-pc\renpy\python.py", line 1943, in py_eval
    return py_eval_bytecode(code, globals, locals)
  File "C:\Games\SevenKingdoms_ThePrincessProblem(EA)v1.11-pc\renpy\python.py", line 1936, in py_eval_bytecode
    return eval(bytecode, globals, locals)
  File "game/endings.rpy", line 995, in <module>
NameError: name 'wellskaltcivilwar' is not defined
Windows-8-6.2.9200
Ren'Py 7.0.0.196
Seven Kingdoms- The Princess Problem (Early Access) 1.11
Sat Jul 20 14:19:00 2024

While going for burning it all down, right after Lisle spoke in Wellin-Skalt negotiations:

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.
While running game code:
  File "game/script.rpy", line 47968, in <module>
NameError: name 'wellskalt' is not defined
-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------
Full traceback:
  File "lib/windows-i686/script.rpyc", line 47968, in script
  File "C:\Games\SevenKingdoms_ThePrincessProblem(EA)v1.11-pc\renpy\ast.py", line 862, in execute
    renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
  File "C:\Games\SevenKingdoms_ThePrincessProblem(EA)v1.11-pc\renpy\python.py", line 1912, in py_exec_bytecode
    exec bytecode in globals, locals
  File "game/script.rpy", line 47968, in <module>
NameError: name 'wellskalt' is not defined
Windows-8-6.2.9200
Ren'Py 7.0.0.196
Seven Kingdoms- The Princess Problem (Early Access) 1.11
Sat Jul 20 13:50:23 2024

Also, after this, I went on to absolutely destroy Wellin-Skalt relations, yet I never got the option to blackmail Lisle, even though I'm pretty sure I should have been able to. Or did it not pop up because I already convinced Ana of going to war?

Reporting in from the no-break-up route:

- When convincing Sayra for peace but betraying the rebels to Gisette, the same weird thing happens: "A plan", normal not-faking breakfast, sick Sayra & Clarmont, then Sayra becomes queen and marries Jarrod. I did see the line about the treaty including a Sayra x Jarrod marriage this time (it's possible it was there in the break-up playthrough too and I just missed it after all), and got a new line about Jarrod realising this means he and I must break up and being pissed about it. Everything after that continues normally for the Sayra x Jarrod ending, with Jarrod remembering he was pissed at me for the break up and my PC going home unmarried.

- When successfully negotiating for peace, new weirdness: I got okay-but-not-perfect peace in Revaire, with Sayra becoming queen and Gisette starting a business venture... then got the Jarrod bad end where I marry him and became the crown princess/future queen of Revaire. So no bigamy this time, but bi-royalty...?

(On the other hand, I'm guessing there's only the one ending to successfully ("successfully") becoming queen of Revaire in normal non-buggy supporting-the-royals route, and it's not a bug that I got a bad end even though I had hit all the Jarrod reform flags up to and including the "aghast" pre-MM one... but that is such an almost hilariously brutal ending, love it 😅 The Matchmaker DID warn us there was no changing him, huh! Now I understand why there are no Jarrod route bonuses.)

Also, more of a continuity weirdness than a real bug I suppose, but when not breaking up with Jarrod, I get introduced to the Revaire ambassador as his future bride twice: first at the start of W6, when Ana and Lyon intervene, without seeing the actual convo with the Marchioness; then a second time more explicitly during the ball. The Marchioness does act surprised seeing me.

And for a normal bug, during the last breakfast visit from the girl friends, I got a Penny sprite hanging over behind Cordelia during all of Cordelia's scene, but I don't remember which combination of Jarrod & Revaire route variations this happened in, sorry!

-ETA- Seems to be tied to the "partings are inevitable" answer!

Still, this went relatively smoothly, the game doesn't just full-out break and crash, and the Sayra x Jarrod solution does make sense when supporting both sides, it's just weird that Gisette comes up with that on her own instead of just going murder murder as usual 😅

One more weird accidental bride acquisition (to be fair, due to me doing some really weird things while exploring the Revaire variations):

- Exploring Jarrod's route, I romanced & got engaged to him while also reforming him.

- Then I broke up with him in the hallways when he got mad at me. My profile still said "forming a bond with Jarrod", and I knew that there was also another scene and option to fight with him when the ambassadors arrive, so I figured this might be Jarrod's version of fake break-up and I might be still on his route. I think I did have the ability to look for other alliances, though.

- In week 7, I successfully convinced Sayra to try for peace.

- I then immediately betrayed the rebels to Gisette. That conversation concluded normally, as far as I can tell.

- But then, in my breakfast convo with Sayra, I did tell her Gisette had visited me and just that she left with "a plan" (nothing specific). I remember that in a previous betrayal playthrough, I had got narration lines about having to act normal and feeling guilty. This didn't show up here at all.

- ... Then I got the convincing convo with Jarrod, about the plans he heard second-hand from his sister and is pissed about. Again, nothing specific...

- In the negotiations, I got options to both work for peace and the compromises previously discussed, and to get allies for the new royals and prep for the upcoming conflict. I picked a bit of both, then spent a lot of influence increasing allies for the new royals and encouraging war in Revaire.

- I got both the scenes of Sayra and Clarmon looking sick, and Sayra being proclaimed the new queen.

- The ending suddenly railroaded into Sayra and Jarrod marrying -- which I believe had not been discussed at all previously (unless I missed it while skipping text).

I picked up my save at the Sayra conversation and tried the exact same thing again without going for peace: I neither convinced her of war nor fully allied with her, then allied with Gisette. That proceeded as normal, including the faking lines at breakast. I didn't get any options to negotiate for peace this time, and the "rebels die, royals win" ending proceeded as normal AFAICT.

I suspect the issue is in the Jarrod route, possibly at the break-up point, because in both cases:

- When boarding the ship, I got both the lines about "returning to [Arland] with no plans of marriage or even romance", as normal, and "shared a secret parting kiss with your love", even though I broke up with J.

- Jarrod was indeed mad at me forever for breaking up with him.

- I got the unmarried sheltered princess ending, as normal.

- But her profile was still saying "forming a bond with Jarrod" until the very end (hitting the shortcut key to check my profile during the ending).

(Or maaayyybe this might be a conditional leftover from when the Arland princess wasn't able to romance Jarrod?)

Gonna test again without breaking up with him and be back with a report if there's a bride mix-up there!

According to my runs and to this version of the holy texts fan community-sourced spreadsheet guide:

- Inviting Sayra: Idk if throwing a refused invitation does anything with anyone else than Jasper, but it's definitely not an absolute necessity to get Sayra's friendship (and you don't necessarily need to invite her to any event at all if you play other cards right.)

- Sayra's secret: She approaches you late in Week 6, a little before the ball (guide says morning of Fire day), and tells you her secret if you're close enough to her and have figured out the existence of the rebels faction from the secrets chain (from exploring the castle in previous weeks).  So first you figure out the Rebels secret, and on Clarmont's route you get the talk, with zero mention of Sayra until W6.

When you say "I still couldn't choose the "participate in rebellion"", what's your exact issue? Do you not get the option at all, or does it show up but Clarmont refuses?

-You get the dialogue option about how you can't know his problems if he doesn't tell you (and he breaks up with you immediately):

You failed to get the entire Rebels secrets chain.

(OR maybe you didn't get enough Rebels approval? I don't think so, I'm not certain but I believe my horrible horrible widow who managed to promise to support him didn't have Rebels approval and got Clarmont and Sayra rivalry.) (And then betrayed the rebels and her beloved to Gisette.)

-You tell him that you know exactly what his problems are and get a long talk, but the option to say "I understand" or "I refuse" to break up doesn't show up:

You picked too many wrong answers in the previous dialogue.

-You can say you refuse to break up, but he breaks up with you anyway and you don't get the options to offer to help him:

You don't have enough Persuasion (guide says 400 needed). Even if you picked all the right choices and know everything you need to know, you still also need 400 Persuasion.

(Usually you'll need to have gathered a lot of Manipulation and Insight at the very start of the game to achieve this.)

-When you refuse to break up, the options to help him do show up, but if you pick either option, Clarmont refuses and your narration when you go to sleep references "your break-up":

You didn't pick enough right answers in the previous dialogue. 

(There are scene-ending answers, wrong answers, neutral answers, and right answers. You can manage to get far into the talk with a few wrong answers, or with just neutral answers, and then suddenly get shut down at the end because you didn't make enough actually good points.)

-The option to help him shows up, but if you pick it, Clarmont says he'll need to think about it, and when you go to sleep afterwards you get a line about how "things are still so unsettled" with him:

You have succeeded! He'll come back to talk about it some more in the next week, and you will get a scene with Sayra a few days after that. You're clear to go!

-When you pick the first option, you get the "break-up" narration line, but when you pick the second option (to support him without getting involved in the rebellion), you get the "things are still so unsettled" line:

This option has lower requirements than the option to help him. This means that the reason you can't make the first option work is that you are not ethical and/or you have not picked a few but not enough right answers.

You have succeeded at this option, though! You can keep going down this route and get a good ending anyway.

Good luck!! You can do it! And it's totally worth it, bringing peace to Revaire is SO satisfying :)