Ink and Intrigue

> Asian-inspired tropical region with Apostrophe Names to sound """exotic""" > has a city named Braxton Actual tl;dr: not much intrigue, much of the ink is for indulgent telling instead of showing. Excessive railroading, not enough tension and conflict to make narrative milestones feel earned. It does not take itself seriously at great cost to the plot and characters. [h1]Storytelling and writing[/h1] The pacing and overly straightforward narrative do a disservice to the spy role-playing experience. Everyone except the villain instantly warms to you. When you soul-bond with your magic animal, they somehow do not discover that your goal is to infiltrate the mage faction. There's no need to worry about saying or doing the wrong thing because none of your friends suspect you of anything. The plot would probably have stayed the same if you were just an emissary or recruit. A lot of the story involves less subterfuge or difficult trials and more... tourist getaway. Trying out foods, chatting with locals, reading books, surfing, etc. Shopping takes a whole chapter, but the PC's efforts to win favour and gain influence are over in a handful of paragraphs. The mages act mysterious about one temple, but the actual [spoiler]"test" is making a magic painting[/spoiler]. The plot moves in Chapter Six when you spy on [spoiler]Garrack and his co-conspirators, who conveniently forget to use a muffling spell to make sure they aren't heard.[/spoiler] Instead of making my character look like a master of espionage, they look like they just got lucky. Next, you fight enemies [spoiler]and overthrow a government[/spoiler] in Chapter Seven. I was desperate for excitement by this point, but in retrospect, it feels like the monkey's paw curled. We've been hearing about how the mages have all these incredible powers to help people and maintain multiverse harmony... But when it matters, they do something [spoiler]so cartoonishly evil that it shatters this entire perception. It plays like a Call of Duty mission, where you can treat a grenade launcher like a new toy while another choice mentions the horrifying number of casualties.[/spoiler] It's a bizarre tonal dissonance. [spoiler]You enter an evil magic building containing human experiments (imprisoned mages). After mowing down agents, Teo and Kai decide to bomb the building to complete the mission. The problem is, nearly all of the captives cannot walk to safety, and these action "heroes" need to be convinced to save a few of them. You can only abandon the rest to a gruesome fate, trapped underneath the rubble or torn to shreds by the detonation that the story decided was "necessary violence". It would be one thing if they tried another solution like creating a portal, calling a rescue team, or shutting down the building instead of obliterating it. But apparently, that's too difficult for these superhero sorcerers.[/spoiler] [spoiler]This cemented my character's resolve to stay loyal to the king. This shocking development could have been genuinely interesting if we were allowed to grapple with its ramifications. But instead, nobody feels anything more than brief sympathy, and you can never argue with them over their ruthless decision. It's even worse when you know that these mages will kill Garrack for planning to betray them. The last trial asks your character "To what lengths would you go to prevent the slaughter of innocents?" You can claim you'll do everything to save them, with no ounce of self-awareness.[/Spoiler] The story goes on at length about how this place is your home and how awesome these mages are. It's so biased against the possibility of you choosing your kingdom that you are railroaded into joining them in the end. No, you cannot express sadness or outrage over being robbed of agency. You can't even ask to be a mage emissary so you can go home. It would have been fun for the PC to turn rogue and escape, outsmarting the mages and doing good on their own terms. [h1]Characters[/h1] Despite allusions to the unsavoury deeds you've done as a spy, they don't create tension or serve a narrative purpose. Maybe the PC never had close friends because they might put them in danger, or they're so used to deception that true friendship feels fake. But due to the lack of an engaging character arc, as well as the limitations in choosing what the PC might say or think, I found it difficult to relate to and flesh out my character. If you happen to not like any of the four mages, you're still forced to interact with them. You cannot dislike them or be in conflict, even when you are justified in doing so. At most, you get a few chances to think about how they annoy you. This was particularly baffling when meeting Teo and the worst thing you can think of is "He seems nice, but I don't trust easy." Ever heard of [spoiler]"beware the nice ones"? Sure, he emanates comfort magic, but this is someone who has to be persuaded to save prisoners and orders a building to be blown up in an egregious case of protagonist-centred morality[/spoiler]. Out of nowhere, Rae asks what the PC thinks about sex, which is a very personal question for a new acquaintance. If your character rightfully tells her it's none of her business, she only says you're right and makes no apology over how she was being inappropriate. I don't mind that the PC can easily find sexual encounters in an erotica book, but it doesn't mean that social boundaries can suddenly be handwaved away. The love interests have no memorable introduction, and by the end they still don't seem fully fleshed out. We're told that Kai is angry and vengeful, but this comes up sparingly. It would have been more interesting if he started out as abrasive, then he goes through a character arc as the PC earns his trust. People don't have to be friendly or talkative to be well-rounded characters, and there are more ways to develop them than dialogue. Giving them flaws would probably be more effective than repeatedly bringing up purple-gold-blue-etc. or colour-changing eyes. The lack of subtlety also applies to the villain, who is wary of you because he's bad, not for any understandable reason like an outsider interfering or creating conflict. The story gives him void-dark eyes because darkness = evil. His character isn't explored further, ironically making this adult novel feel juvenile. His subplot ([spoiler]training many more mages at the cost of sacrificing a few[/spoiler]) could have had some nuance. While the king's antagonism is equally ham-fisted and he treats the PC coldly, at least he felt like an actual character. The story mentions that you botched one mission, yet he didn't fire, imprison, or execute you for failure. He still trusts you to succeed. He made an impression precisely because we had to win his approval. [h1]Worldbuilding[/h1] I found it hard to believe that despite coming from another continent, the PC does not experience culture shock. There's no mention of not being familiar with local spices, or how they eat food in a way that the mages find weird because they use their hands. When my character was offered food and there was no rice or curry, I burst out laughing. "Simple spices"? In an Asian-coded culture? And only generic baked goods—no sticky rice cakes, gulab jamun, or apam balik (amongst many choices). The one time there is a rice dish, it's Italian. The story follows a group that lives in the tropics, eats papayas, practices meditation, and incorporates mandalas in art. And yet, the vast majority of place and character names are Fantasy Apostrophe or European. Who has Asian names like Jilash and Hazima? The magic animals... and one minor character (Jia). It contradicts the textual claim of having diverse backgrounds. This could have been an opportunity to include people and dishes from underrepresented cultures in fantasy. Also, the fact that the only bald character is evil has unfortunate implications given that Buddhist monks shave their heads.

This game wasn‘t so bad that I wouldn’t recommend it, but it also didn’t give me the motivation to finish it . I recommend setting a 2-hour countdown while playing it, so you have the option of refunding.

I've just finished my first run-through, of what will be many. This is probably one of the best games this year, and there have been more than several vying for the title of best. The setting is a world of magic, on an island that sounds like one of the beautiful ones in the Mediterranean, full of magic, ceremony and where humans live in harmony with the other worlds and skills. Your character is a spy on a mission, and its up to you how well that mission unfolds, or does not take place. You have a choice of how you imagine your character and can continually build on your strengths during the game. You also have a choice, many choices, that will unfold the game in different ways so no two run-throughs need to be the same. To make that easier, you can start over, go back several chapters, or even repeat the chapter you have just played, giving us players a whole new choice of options as to how we play this game. Its a welcome improvement on the having to start over we have experienced in the past! I loved it, I was able to play as myself (sweet and honourable, hehe!), have a romance, fight in a war and have a HEA. Now I've learned the ropes, I can get serious about how i play next time, and I suspect there will be plenty of those because I need to play a devious rogue or even a murderous one! I might even get killed, i have to find out. For those worried about those spicy moments, you can tone them down so there is nothing to get embarrassed about or find offensive. The choice is yours. Even if you choose them by accident, its tasteful and book stores sell much worse to teens as love stories. For a gift that keeps on giving, this game is a hit with me! 11/10. Congrats to the author!

I would say, It's an okayish read. Once. The writing is good, but. Compared to Their Majesties' Pleasure - which I liked and played through several times - Ink and Intrigue isn't as good. Why? - the plot isn't as diverse - pairings are too few (as a female preferring males, I had just two partner options) - the storyline didn't signifigantly change with different partner or different motivations on the main character - the mature scenes were almost copies from one another even with different partner: what's the point of different characters if the scenes stay the same! - I didn't really want to be a character who wields magic, but mundane was no option - the two male characters you're able to romance are too similar: where's the bad guy! the underdog! drama! But yes. I enjoyed reading it. Once. I hope the author will write more with larger ambition. I will buy it again.

Another wonderful journey from Leia Talon! This one really expands the world building/lore of the universe and it's honestly wild. There's a lot of implications for the magic/technology used in the story here, and I thought it was really well done, setting up for any number of new scenarios in the same setting. The main characters were all quite delightful and unique ( [spoiler] big thank you for the inclusion of the fae-waifu in particular, but they were all great [/spoiler] ) and you get to share a lot of great moments, and some heavier/sadder moments with other characters. Enjoyed Their Majesties' Pleasure, similarly enjoyed this, and look forward to more! Keep it up! (If you are a romance novel fan, I believe the author also writes books you might enjoy.)

This is an enjoyable story with interesting characters. The world has a lot of lore behind it but you aren't overwhelmed by it. The magical animal companion thing is of course delightful, and you get plenty of opportunities to interact with them. I was still left a bit wanting; dating humans is fine and all but there's an intelligent dragon? An ancient and beautiful phoenix? It is the year of our lord two thousand twenty four. The Shape of Water won a bunch of Oscars. You know what the people want.

so i cannot recommend this game, i just do not think it is very good. one moment we are in a fantastical world with dragons and then the next we are using grenade launchers? there is a big disconnect there and it left me feeling like half way through i was playing a different game. the romances also are not fleshed out at all, one moment we are strangers and then the next we are telling each other we love each other? it happened way too fast with no build up, i am not even sure if i will be able to finish this game as it is just not very good.

So far the story seems very interesting, Despite some peoples oppinion I will never put down someones writing, especially when it comes to a story they enjoyed writing. Sure here and there are some gramatic errors but it happenes. The Story has a interesting twist, but a bit easy to spot. The characters seem all very keen on becoming more then friends. And the overal plot seems a bit lake for your spy live and the connection between the king. However despite this it is really enjoying to read and it is very sweet as well. Enjoyed reading the first one just as much as I did with this one so keep going.

Weird

the way the romance was implemented is awful, which is wild because that is the main selling point. def one of the weaker entries of heart's choice. perhaps if you romance one of the guys it would be better but i very much doubt it.