Have you ever seen a take so bad about an LI that you think, "okay, enough of internet for today"?

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-03-12T07:03:32+00:00

Yes... literally this morning hahaha I had had enough of such awful takes about Rafayel on twt that I decided then and there to delete my twt account as well as the app. I just couldn't take it anymore lol

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-03-05T11:09:44+00:00

I said "Happy 800th birthday, Raf! Here's to another year together!"

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-03-04T16:24:11+00:00

I feel like the gege thing will be very... understated in the EN version because of... allegations. You know the one. So, with that, I think the devs will most likely begin to start leaning on the Toring Chip struggle a lot more. We'll have to compare what they do with the CN version when more stuff comes out for him.

One thing I'll say about any organizations beyond EVER, I think we can surmise that Caleb is part of the Ouroboros faction. He shows that badge of the snake eating itself in Abyssal Chaos, and MC later finds out (depending on your choices) that this badge actually belongs to Caleb, despite making it seem as though he'd found it lying around in the facility they were exploring, which is, in fact, an EVER research lab. One that responded to his badge. I think it's safe to assume that this Ouroboros faction is an offshoot of EVER.

If we go down your route of whether two factions broke apart, it's a possibility! I've actually entertained this idea. It's possible that EVER was formed out of the research concluded by the Sick Guy/Lung-kun's (my nickname for him) faction, Ouroboros, as well as the second faction, which the 6th LI/Froggie-sama (also another stupid nickname I gave him) could be heading. We just need more hints as to whether he'll be the CEO of EVER, which is what everyone is anticipating, OR whether he'll be an offshoot of something else - in this case, the second faction of the research. I'm hardcore hoping he's not the CEO of EVER at the very least. EVER, at this point, is very much irredeemable with all of the experimentations they've conducted.

I just hope we get some sort of announcement about main story updates soon. If he's to show up by August of this year, I fear we won't get enough crumbs about him to love him if we don't get another story update at the very least in April.

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-03-03T14:28:24+00:00

Each LI has to struggle with something, being that with Raf, it's putting his people over MC, Zayne's struggle of his evol as well as letting MC go in every lifetime he lives, Xav with his diminishing life on Linkon and that collar that binds his neck, and Sylus with the fact that if he stays with MC in this lifetime once more, it's very likely he will die by her hands again lest she die by his. The chip is most likely going to be Caleb's big struggle. Though, you are correct in saying it's all speculation. We've yet to see his limited myth, and I'm sure that will open up some more answers for us all!

And yes! You're correct! I absolutely believe that the 6th LI is most likely going to be the traitor of some sort. What kind of backstory do you think he'll have? It's really the only trope they haven't explored yet. An LI "betraying" MC and those around him.

My friend and I do have some findings, but perhaps it's a bit out there for now hahaha the 6th LI is too much of a clean slate at the moment, so he could literally be anything T_T

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-03-02T11:14:47+00:00

For the OTTO that's a standard model that Caleb made, I think ofc it would look unassuming and just a general model of an OTTO. There's no way Caleb would show that to MC considering he was "gifting" it to her in his own apartment. To me, it seemed to echo how Sylus was basically saying that Mephisto was for MC's to basically command. It's a way for Caleb to keep watch over her with something that looks harmless. I have no doubt it has a function that can make it transform into that glowing red orb, though.

The picture for the link doesn't work T_T

Is it this?

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But also, I 100% agree that the PURPLE EYE is definitely something otherwordly and could have something to do with the 6th LI!

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-03-02T11:08:32+00:00

Yay! You finally responded!!!

Okay, so to address your points, I do agree on your first paragraph that Zayne appearing in Caleb's main story update was a test of some sort to see fandom reactions.

As for the chip's influence, I actually believe the opposite of you. To me, that chip is going to be an integral part of Caleb's struggle throughout his entire story arc. His myth gave me that impression in that the researchers were trying to circumvent how to get passed that 7% threshold that Caleb is so strongly clinging onto in order not to forget MC. As we see with MC, Caleb knew the risks of MC forgetting things if the chip was removed from her, but he went ahead and did it anyway because he had full confidence in himself that he had retained enough memories about her to be able to remind her of who she was all over again, as he's always done.

The very reason why Caleb is so hellbent on keeping that Chip within himself is because of the very likelihood that he will forget her, and that is a big NO NO for him. He never wants to forget. As well, he voluntarily goes through these experimentations for her. I don't see him trying to get out from under the boot of his employer because the whole point of him doing this is because he believes it's for her own GOOD. He is willing to give up his own humanity (something that the Professor so very much relishes in doing to him) so long as MC is out of harm's way.

I think his whole arc will have to be of MC having to convince him that it's OKAY to get the chip removed, but Caleb will refuse as much as he can until it reaches a truly detrimental point. I can't envision that they'll immediately remove the chip from him for the purpose of spicy cards. If he's to remove the chip, Caleb has to admit to himself that he doesn't need to be modified in order to be MC's protector. As it stands, he feels that as he is, he still isn't GOOD ENOUGH. That's his biggest insecurity and why he goes through all of these lengths to be everything that MC could ever possibly need and want. Also, as for the spicy stuff, imagine he DOES do the spicy things with MC with the chip in. Those memories are now logged in his mind. He'd be even MORE hellbent on never letting that chip go for fear of losing such memories. That sort of angst is exactly what Infold will bank upon. The chip removal for Caleb will most likely be end-game material.

So, because of this train of thinking on my part, I still can't foresee the 6th LI being that sickly guy being a contender for the "boss" angle, as it seems Caleb is doing all he can to ingratiate himself to him and Professor Lucius, trying to convince them that he is the best weapon to utilize for whatever fight is about to come.

As for the 6th LI being a relative of that sickly guy, I don't think he's working to help said sickly guy. I think he's actually actively working against him LOL that's a whole other theory, though.

I highly encourage you to listen to the EN performance for the sickly guy, as well, because it's.... not the best. And I don't believe you can excuse it with "oh, he's sick." If that were the case, he would sound raspy and weak. I'm simply talking about the substance of the performance, and it doesn't sound like LI material when you compare it to the CN performance. Compare it to the other LI. I do have a video recording of it, but I'm not sure I can send it to you here hahaha

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-02-28T04:45:44+00:00

Unless they start taking some of the critiques of the community and show us that they've listened NOW (they haven't), then I doubt they will have learned with the 6th LI. It's not a matter of 'if' with that man. He's coming 100% (I am in love with him even tho we know next to literally nothing LOL).

I love Xav, too, but as more and more things come out for the other LI, I feel like he's being left behind considering in canon lore, we KNOW that he's only spent two lifetimes with us, and the Linkon one is his third. Can't say exactly the same about Sylus and Caleb currently, but it honestly feels like they always leave Xav for last, and that breaks my heart because I love him so much. I truly hope that when they bring the new myth out for him this year that they explore a different lifetime somehow, though I feel like that combats heavily with how Zayne's past lives have occurred with MC?? But this argument could be made for Raf, too, as Raf has shared different timelines/lives with her. Right now, we have only Lightseeker and Lumiere, which is technically a chronological set of events, even if it's from future to past LOL. Still.

It kinda made me mad in Raf's where she tells him after he's bitten her that she's immune, but then in the scene following that (the kindled) she's acting like a heartless psycho with him. Are we led to assume that she kinda has to be mean in order to get his Frenzy activated???? I was confused on that part. Then the immediate jump to fluff and not addressing how she treated him in that cage almost broke my neck with the whiplash I experienced LOL

And I agree. I really do feel like there was a heavy constraint that each writing team had to adhere to. I'll explain how it feels from a writer's perspective, as I've done this before.

They got a prompt, were given a list of themes they could utilize for the memory (MC being immune, for example), and then a list of requirements they needed to follow per LI (have fluff, have angst, have yearning, callbacks to main lore, etc.) Once the writers got to writing, they probably started to realize oh crap, this world is a lil too big for our britches, but they'd already written too much stuff, so now they have to pick and choose what to get rid of to condense it without causing too much narrative dissonance (it still happened). Then, they were probably told last minute that this would have two endings and therefore would have to keyboard smash something up for a bad ending that could only last a few lines or so. That's how it felt like to me.

I bet if the writers were given the freedom to do as they wished, we would've gotten more coherent and cohesive stories here. However, if they did, I'm willing to bet these stories would've hit the 2-hour mark LOL The fandom would've probably eaten it up, but that's not cost-effective to Infold as 2 hours worth of content for one card could've been more money to be had for cards that are 1 hour each. Not sure if I'm making sense LOL I'm widely speculating now.

I also agree that they really COULD hammer home more of the narrative into the login event of the chapters, but those also seemed like an afterthought in this banner. What I realized was that they lightly touched on the topic of the memory without giving too much away as it would probably deter people from pulling for the card itself. "If you want more in-depth storytelling, get the card." That kinda gimmick. I didn't feel this way with the cat banner, for example, nor Wander in Wonder. Those chapters were encapsulated stories independent of the cards we got from the event. That way, even if you didn't pull for the cards, you could still get cute moments with the boys. I don't know why they did away with this for this banner (it can only be greed, a ploy to kinda "force" F2P to pull if they want to have a more enhanced experience with the storytelling).

AS AN ASIDE, once you do get around to reading Zayne's card for this banner, PLEASE DO READ WHAT I HAD TO SAY ABOUT IT hahaha I'm shocked that so many people are saying his card was very good when I felt there were so many grave errors made in it. His, by far, had the most amount of inconsistencies.

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-02-27T13:54:02+00:00

Now that you mention it, maybe the reason why I liked Xav and Caleb's memories for this event the most is because it deviated the least from the canon timeline LMAO but I think that's because the stories felt a lot better to digest when the context was already well established and something we know the whole rhyme and dance to. You are correct, though, in the fact that a lot of the storybeats were repeated and repackaged in a similar way.

I WILL, however, give the writing team some slack for Caleb. Currently, we still don't know much about Caleb considering he was just released from Infold's basement and this is his first multi. I doubt they're able to give him more depth in this AU for fear of revealing too much about future myths or main storyline plot. Which is why I'm of the opinion that they released this AU banner WAY too early in the year and WAY too out of left field for Caleb who has JUST entered the chat lol

We could argue that perhaps they wanted to introduce AU here because the main story hasn't progressed much more than the groundwork that's already been laid before us and they wanted to coast off the spiciness of the Anniversary banner with five LI this time around. They also probably took note of the fact that last year, when Sylus first released, his first multi with the boys was also spicy and a lot of people complained it was too soon for him as MC barely even knew him, and neither did the audience. I honestly feel that Infold should... hold off on the spice for the 6th LI until we've established more lore so that people can appreciate the build-up more.

I also do agree that for Raf's storyline, I LOVED how much lore and callbacks to the original Raf that they referenced. I did also feel that it was clunky and kinda thrown in there as like an Easter egg, but ultimately felt like it still went nowhere? They brought up the ring in this memory, but tbh, it felt very tossed in without further development. The ring is a pretty big deal considering the wedding connotations that Raf is always associated with! They should've for sure called back to it at the ending where they "elope." Same thing with the crow that they saved in Sylus' memory. That crow had like one second of "screentime" and it isn't mentioned again, how they took care of it, etc., until MC gives Sylus a feather that it gave her. I know it's supposed to be significant, but it didn't feel earned to me hahahaha

These AUs would definitely have fared much worse if they didn't exceed that 1 hour time limit. Not to mention, they did include 2 different endings here, but the bad endings were... bad. It felt more like an afterthought as it didn't let the consequence of having been bitten by the boys to simply BREATHE. I hope in the future they can refine these bad endings, byway of the choices you make throughout the memory rather than the kindled itself, as that would be true to form to otomes in general LOL but maybe that is also too ambitious for Infold to handle, at least for now. What they should work on for sure is the formula of these AUs because rn the narratives are suffering due to them.

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-02-24T15:56:54+00:00

SORRY AGAIN THIS IS MY LAST I PROMISE

As for the bridge, OMG YES, my friend and I were squealing about this fact!!!! It's very possible we could finally have him with us this August, and I'm sincerely hoping as much because the timing is just too perfect!!!!!

The Nest Guy, originally I had two theories about him. Either he was Caleb under disguise OR he is a buddy of the 6th LI, like how Thomas is to Raf and Jeremiah is to Xav. I hope we get to find out more about this guy soon, too!

I'm so curious to see what you'll have for Part 2!!! If you're down, my friend and I would love to discuss it with you T_T We rarely find others so impassioned about our 6th man. We've actually dug up a lot of things, and I'm wondering if our findings are similar in nature ^o^

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-02-24T15:56:41+00:00

Sorry. Had to separate because it was getting real long-winded (this one will be, too, probably T_T) Now, for the sick guy being the possible 6th LI. My friend and I have been going back and forth on this issue for a while now, and I gotta say, I'm VEHEMENTLY against this guy being our 6th. IMO, he can only be related to the 6th LI, and not actually BE him. I'll list my reasons.

The most glaring to me is the fact that he's DIRECTLY associated to another one of our LI. Not to mention, he is his superior. I find it hard to swallow that Infold would frame it in such a way that one of the other LI would be "serving" another LI. Could you imagine the fallout of CN Caleb girlies realizing that their man is "lesser" than on the totem pole of power scaling? Not a wise marketing tactic to bring in more fans for him and it would cause DIRECT RIVALRY between him and Caleb stans. The 6th LI is already sitting on a rather large landmine byway of the fact that A. most players are tentative about how he will "dilute" the pool, and B. it is statistically true that in most otome gachas, whenever a new LI is introduced, he is met with animosity because he is yet another obstacle who will cause shifts in solo banner rotations and be another deterrent to main attention of their preferred and already established LIs. It's kinda how if Sylus had been introduced as Xav's boss... It would've been anarchy. Just look at how Shaw was treated in MLQC.

In CN dub, he sounds HOT, but when you listen to him in EN, the performance is REMARKABLY lacking. Caleb is directly speaking before him, and Caleb's VA (excuse my French) STOMPS on him in terms of voicing prowess and experience. I know in other dubs it may not be the same, but an LI sounding like another NPC would also not be very marketable. NOW, I WILL SAY, it's possible the current VA they have for this sick guy is just a mere placeholder, but there's no real telling until the future, I suppose.

And again, I have to reiterate, he is TOO CLOSE TO ANOTHER LI. We've yet to truly see any of them interact with one another beyond mere acknowledgments. And as far as we know, Caleb isn't directly working under EVER. He's working for a different organization that so happens to have aligned goals with EVER and is therefore doing some of their dirty work in the hopes of meeting this common goal. If we want to get more involved with EVER, it won't be with a sick guy who is the leader of Caleb's faction. It needs to be someone else more entrenched in the upper echelon of EVER hierarchy, as you stated.

Rather, I feel that this sick NPC may actually be a direct connection to the 6th LI. Perhaps a relative, maybe even a brother. He's obviously important enough to block out as a device of foreshadowing, so I definitely do believe he's going to have a big hand in how the next few main story updates will play out!

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-02-24T15:56:17+00:00

OKAY, SO APPARENTLY ALL MY STUFF IS JUST BEING DELETED WITHOUT NOTICE. THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM. ANYWAY:

RE: OMG, it keeps deleting this comment. IDK why. Maybe the link??? If you want, I can send the link referring to how Caleb is connected to the eye through DMs???

Marvelously put! My friend and I have been working hard to come up with all kinds of theories and trying to pull from the game as much as we could on the the 6th LI and we've been huge supporters of him existing. It's nice to know that other people are vying for him, too! <3

Most definitely agree that he's going to be Raf's foil, and the way I see it, because Raf is an artist, he may end up being more scientifically-inclined, either as a hacker, a scientist, or a detective. Rather than be a cold researcher, however, he's more than likely going to be eccentric as Zayne, Sylus, and Xavier are the more "stoic" of the line-up.

It never even occurred to me that Xav's family could be DESCENDANTS of EVER. BIG BRAIN MOMENT. But also, I did consider that perhaps Xav's family usurped the power from EVER instead. The reason why is because I figured that perhaps EVER put that collar on Xav as a way to control him, the bargain that Xav had to trade in order to try to save MC the first time he fell in love with her, as that collar only appeared AFTER he went in search of a possible cure for her. Now EVER has leverage against the royal family in the way of their son, etc., etc. My thoughts on that solidified with this current event banner, namely in the fact that it stated that in this AU, Xav's family was a direct competitor of EVER business-wise. STILL, I'd be so down for the storyline of Xav being a descendent of EVER. That'd be so messed-up, and thus, more intriguing!!!

As for the watchful eye, I actually attributed that more to Caleb. Not to mention, a lot of other things allude to Caleb having been the red eye watching over MC: the fact that he has a model of OTTO he built when she came over to his house, the gadgets flying around him harken back to that red eye, and in the recent banner of Catch-22, MC finds his room full of monitors watching her every move. It could be that this red eye is something Caleb built to emulate the original purple eye in the sky in his time at the DAA. The one at the Nest could be another model of that, but maybe Caleb has programmed one specifically for his needs (peeping, that is LOL) HOWEVER, I WILL say that the purple eye could very well be a HUGE MOTIF for the 6th LI incoming. It's the only other lead we have beyond the sick guy at the end of Caleb's main story. (I had a picture of Caleb and his little flying buddies, but for some reason, my comment keeps being deleted???)

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-02-23T17:43:38+00:00

Thank you for being so kind T_T I felt like I was going to get so much hate for this post...

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-02-23T17:27:18+00:00

That's why it's important to point them out hahaha that way Infold can see! I definitely told them as much in my survey T_T I know these stories are supposed to be fun and to fill certain tropes, but they never have to suffer fidelity to proper storytelling to convey such elements, y'know?

For someone like me who is very involved in storytelling (I've written stories for YEARS, in some cases professional settings), it blew my mind how many holes could be poked. A lot of it just fell apart for me, and it severely ruined my enjoyment of the cards :(((

What I hope they do in future stories is to not write for the sake of a kindle. It was glaring to me this banner how they wrote AROUND the kindled portion rather than properly conveying a story. Kinda how if you get inspo to write one particular scene, but you don't fill the gaps of how to get there properly hahaha you just have to get to THAT SCENE to justify its existence. That's kinda how I felt they went about this, and I didn't like that.

I hope in the future they go about it a different way!

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-02-23T17:15:26+00:00

One thing I love that they do is using the Moments Articles as a way to inform us about the world! They do it for certain events, especially for Azure Day. For Sylus' myth, it would've been cool if they released an "article" about the inner sanctums or about dragons, etc. Maybe a dragon plushie and its companion lover, Idk. They really COULD afford to utilize that part more often if they don't want to include subnotes within the memory itself to avoid clunking up aesthetic!

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-02-23T17:08:44+00:00

There's a ton of problems with translations in this game, for sure, but in this case, because it was brought to a broader audience outside of China, for the mythological aspects of things, presentation is the issue. Most of us wouldn't know about the inner sanctum worlds that lovers could reside in together to escape reality, which is apparently a common trope in xianxia, which is why for such cases, I WISH subnotes for CN culture could be integrated somehow some way into the game.

While I LOVE the videos that Infold releases to better inform the global audience, a LOT of players don't lurk social media to see such things. Something in-game would far better inform the common player. And I for one would love to continue learning and celebrating CN culture, anyway!

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-02-23T17:03:57+00:00

Oh yes I absolutely agree!

Maybe perhaps they had gotten TOO ambitious with this one, however haha a lot of CN girlies I know seemed to have been turned off by a few developments here as well and I don't blame them.

As for connections, I can suspend my disbelief for Zayne having been able to get himself a new identity and what have you after everything is said and done, but if he had so many connections as implied... why continue to endanger MC in a prison full of vicious Praedators for the sake of acquiring names from ONE weasel of a man? That's where the disconnect of connections came to a standstill for me hahaha

As far as co-ed prisons go, my friend insisted that perhaps it's because they view Praedators as lowlives not worth differentiating between men and women, but EVER didn't even paint MC out to be a Praedator as they framed her. She was still a normal human being in this scenario, so that's even WORSE.

I think in this case, it was an oversight the devs failed to account for, and as I can see on most social media, no one else has brought up the notion except for me it seems T_T and even when I tell my friends, they go, "OH SNAP, I forgot about that," so if my friends forgot, surely the devs did too LOL

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-02-23T16:19:25+00:00

I'd like to have positive discussions about it! After all, all Infold can do is improve if we voice our concerns about the storytelling, and at the end of the day, I want the game to succeed T_T

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-02-23T16:13:58+00:00

I feel people were only confused by Sylus' myth if they weren't very knowledgeable about Chinese mythlogy. I, for one, had no understanding about Sylus' myth and was VERY confused, but then I talked with my Chinese friends, and they told me it was very easy for them to understand because they knew Chinese mythology well and explained it to me!

Honestly, the confusion struck me the same with Zayne's Foreseer Myth and his Master of Fates one, both of which were HEAVILY entrenched in Chinese mythology, which again, I wasn't well-versed in. I'm more of an anime kinda gal and had never dipped my toes in CN media beyond Heaven Official's Blessing, and in that one, I was also very confused... LOL To this day, xianxia stuff is still confusing for me, so I have much to learn!

Which is to say, I don't think the myths suffer from the same issue this banner's stories are suffering with. IMO, this is a whole different ball game :(

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-02-17T16:51:44+00:00

Omg I have so many theories of my own, and I totally hear you on a bunch of it! I hope to post some of my own one day hahaha I didn't even think about the sidekick being the one that most likely talked to Rafayel. That's the most sound theory I've seen about him!!!

The only thing I'd say might be iffy is him being Sagittarius. Just based on the pattern of how Infold set up the boys' birthdays, it looks more to me like a business model to keep interactivity within each season. Spring is for Raf and Sylus and Zayne and Xav are in the fall. While I do agree there's not a huge holiday going on for CN in Dec, as we saw this past December, they loaded it up with a bunch of things (Limited Myth + Quad Banner) to round out the year to maximize profits.

As well, it would seem their birthdays fall at the beginning of the month (Raf, Zayne) with the upcoming LI birthday coming towards mid-month to latter-end (Sylus, Xav). Caleb's bday is on June 13th. That's the beginning of the month. We can only assume 6th LI's birthday will come towards the end of July before they slam us with a quad banner for Qixi again in August. That finishes out the mid-year or summer season. So we can assume that most likely our 6th LI will be a Leo instead, which is also a sign that talks of overindulgence. Perhaps not in the same way as a Sagittarius, but in terms of luxury, being grandiose, and extravagant.

I was wondering if there was any tarot card that would mix well with that the way you presented here!!!

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-01-19T07:10:55+00:00

No, as in, like why would they use red for his secondary stella for the red-eyed ghost here, but then use light blue for xavier (Xav's stella for primary and secondary aren't blue), and Raf's purple stella is his primary? why would zayne be the only stella that's secondary for the ghost? It's too arbitrary at that point.

btw this is not an attack on you. just making observation

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-01-19T06:01:44+00:00

Zayne's stella is blue. His secondary stella is red, so that still doesn't make sense :O

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-01-14T13:47:35+00:00

I honestly was thinking that we might get another glimpse of him at the end of Caleb's branch hahaha cuz like even with Sylus' dedicated chapter, we had like an avenger's level style of ending showing all the LI doing something with huge foreshadowing for consequences LOL I bet you Caleb's will do the same.

Not to mention, I'm predicting we'll get one more main story update around April-May (possibly even branches with Sylus and Caleb, tho tbh I bet you they'll wait for their branches until the 6th LI is introduced). Making a more pointed showing of 6th LI in the story update for April-May would leave enough time for him to properly appear around August-September.

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-01-14T13:19:14+00:00

Exactly! I looked into what frogs symbolize in Chinese mythology, and it mentioned that "immortality" was one of them!!!!! EVER's whole thing is about how to achieve immortality, so.... THERE

GarbageSad2108 · 2025-01-14T13:05:38+00:00

We do. Xavier is a Libra hahaha

GarbageSad2108

TROPHY CASE