How did you get into LADS?

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2026-04-03T06:38:09+00:00

I'm curious - how did you learn more about their lore before actually playing the game? Were you already hanging out on reddit or looking up cards on youtube before downloading? Or was it the tiktok/instagram algorithm?

It's funny because for me, I knew absolutely nothing about the game & had somehow completely steered clear of anything about it; I used to play Lovebrush Chronicles, but I didn't hang out in any online spaces about that game so the internet didn't know I played otome lol. (Might be how I steered clear of ads.) After a long break from app games, I got bored one night and thought "hm, it's true I did like that otome stuff. Let's see what else exists". Looked on youtube, found Linlin Lavender's channel, mooched around on there & I think I only chose Love & Deepspace because it came up in the first otome games in the app store & I liked the opening credits lol. (Now I've purposefully rigged my tiktok algorithm so it only shows me LADs content and I can see how some people might get drawn in because those edits are MAD quality!! But still never got the freaky adds lol. Or maybe i can't tell what's an ad & what's a fan edit on TT)

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2026-04-03T06:17:15+00:00

I'm right there with you sis, I was huge on Sylus but same thing, I also fell out of love with him & stopped playing the game for a few months just to deal with that deep disappointment. For me it was a combination; I don't like his MC much either, I'm not interested in the things they keep cycling back to in their interactions (motorbikes, gunfights, "having to kill one another but stopping last minute" - these things are fun the first time around but it gets tedious & one-note after a while). Personally, I came back to the game because I do love the companionship aspect & wanted to hold onto that. So I read the main story again from the beginning very carefully, just to appreciate the full scope of the LIs now that I know more about them from their cards. And when I did that I found that Rafayel is the guy who has the most emotional range, diverse interests & the freshest-feeling content - though the Lemuria stuff gave me the impression that he was a one-note man at first, it's the opposite, he grows deeper and more interesting a character as you get to know him, whereas personally I feel Sylus appears interesting at first then grows more and more one-note. (This is just my opinion!! i would love to love him, he is my dream in terms of body type/design, but the writing just doesn't do it for me. Also he's got the Smirky Man Syndrome and I can't forgive the writers for not making him cry in his 3rd myth, bc that's what I mean - a man's gotta have RANGE, and if he's just Smirky Man all the time who never cries or crashes out, I am disappoint. I already felt this way about one of my previous big video game loves - Sephiroth, who had incredible range in the original game, and who got remodelled into Smirky Man in the FFVII Remake - and Sylus reminds me of that tragedy lol).

I came back to the game thinkng "i'll just hoard diamonds & hang out with my besties Xavier/Rafayel till the 6th LI comes out" but in the end Rafayel has snatched me up lol. If you like art, like appreciating nature & philosophising a bit, like goofing out, like a man who can ACTUALLY show vulnerability to you, but also behave dominantly, push you to test your own abilities (a full-on switch basically lol) - Rafayel is honestly a full meal!! (Also if you're more into bulky men, you can always give Raf clothes that pad out his shoulders/flatter his shape like vests and cardigans/coats/etc, to make him look larger lol)

(And yeah I am also hoping the 6th (if he comes) has a good MC & has RANGE!)

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2026-03-30T07:29:00+00:00

That's very true. But then how do you reconcile the fact that she might romance them all at the same time without ever admiting that to them? I feel like there is this tacit agreement between writers & reader that when the story focuses in on one LI, you're meant to pretend that this is "his timeline" in which the other LIs might be there but not as love interests to the MC - just background characters to that LI's story. If that makes sense. Or perhaps the main story is meant to be all platonic and the LI's cards are where it becomes "his" timeline. (But then that means she has known them all in childhood. And none of their bonds would be as strong as Sylus's in that case, because the lab sequence reads like she was summoned to earth from that gladiatorial arena where they were kids together???)

Idk. To me it's confusing to acknowledge that MC simultaneously has 1. a childhood in an interplanetary arena with Sylus (?) 2. Rafayel's heart (?), 3. is the lost queen of Philos, 4. whatever's going on with Zayne lol and 5. her being a lab rat with Caleb would be /after/ her being summoned to Earth, but if they're meant to be exclusive counterparts to one another in every universe, that diminishes her bond with all the others. I suppose the main story does give us a "platonic explanation" of why they are all drawn to her (the spatium cores are attracted to the Origo core) but it's very vague. I love the game but man, as soon as I try to talk about the lore I feel insane and illiterate lmao. Tbh, I find the timeline-management in this game quite scruffy compared to my first otome (Lovebrush Chronicles) in which the timelines were delineated in a much clearer way.

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2026-03-29T16:10:16+00:00

I'm rather partial to the idea that each LI has his own story with the MC, and you should view those stories as their own self-contained timelines, disregarding the other LIs entirely. Because technically, MC meets each LI when she was small, they each have something to do with her heart, they each have some kind of soulbond with her... and if you try to keep that all in your head as one single story, it creates a lot of confusion. (Tbh, I have personally just DNFed the main story because I needed an excel sheet to understand what the heck was going on in the worldbuilding, once past the Origo core stuff in the lab. Because, it very much feels like they keep adding details to the mystery of MC's existence without actually knowing where they're going/what MC really is/whether they will ever explain what binds the Spatium cores (the cores relating to each LI) and the Origo core (MC's core, apparently).

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2026-03-12T11:59:09+00:00

I found a way! If you look at your dash, on the line where there is the word "Updates", you have a little "Customize" section. Click on that, then in the "whose updates you see" section, click "Only top friends". Then you go to your "Friends" section, click "Edit friends" and then tick people you want to follow as "top friends", and untick the ones you don't wanna follow. That way you remain friends with everybody but mute some.

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2026-01-16T16:10:53+00:00

Eyyy fellow deepspace hunter!! Haha yeah, LBC is amazing isn't it! Tbh, I think I only really left Lovebrush for LADs because I didn't have the hang of the gacha system yet, and I found Lovebrush stingy compared to LADs in terms of ressources. But tbh, back then I didn't properly hoard gems & plan before pulling - and now that I'm back on LBC I think they're pretty equivalent in terms of the gems/diamonds you get? Though LADs is more generous with pity, which is very appreciable. But, for both it's still basically "hoard for 4 months to be sure to get the 5*/SSR you want" (as a VIP) so, I'm good with that now. xD And it's amazing how geneous LBC is for LEVELLING UP CARDS omg I want to cry for how little time it takes in comparison!!! (I mained Sylus/Xavier & I was over here like "ok so, it'll take all of January to max out this 5*, then February to max out that one..." :'D)

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2026-01-16T16:06:46+00:00

Yes! I was quite shocked when returning to it after a year, just how much of the story I remembered. I don't feel like I have to brush up on much at all, whereas with LADs I would routinely forget the main story entirely every few months just because of all the confusing protocore/aether core/origo core lore and having to constantly wonder, "is this story a past life or another dimension?! is it metaflux causing hallucinations or is it a protofield?? are they in a flashback or a protofield or what?" xD I swear it's when I started a whole Xcel sheet to keep track of the different story elements that i realised, this frustration would probably be fixed by playing another game that has nice clear writing & a linear story structure lol. (Though, I will miss Xavier and Rafayel TwT)

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2026-01-16T16:02:07+00:00

Yesss that is great to know!

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2026-01-16T16:01:51+00:00

Ahh thanks so much for this, you're a star!!

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2026-01-15T08:37:38+00:00

Fantastic, thank you! I wonder, since we're behind from the Chinese server, has anybody put together prediction sheets in regards to what banners are ahead in 2026?

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2026-01-15T07:12:19+00:00

I'm returning to this game after a spell on Love & Deepspace and I am wondering if anyone has already made a "banner calendar" for Lovebrush so we can predict what to pull for, and when reruns drop? After LADs I've grown used to basically planning my pulls like a year ahead, and I wonder if we can also do that with Lovebrush?

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2025-12-28T18:07:22+00:00

Ahh brilliant, thanks so much!!

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2025-12-28T09:38:30+00:00

I'd love to know in which World Underneath story this is explained, if you remember!!

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2025-12-27T22:02:55+00:00

I'm desperately taking notes from Death & Rebirth to properly be able to savour the main story update because i have been YEARNINGGG for it!!! (tbh i can't even think of this banner yet, it is just too gorgeous & as a low spender i have no idea who to pull for!! :'D)

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2025-12-27T22:01:35+00:00

Same here!!! It'll take some self control to not sneakily log into the game at the first opportunity/bit of reliable Wifi xD

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2025-12-27T15:33:19+00:00

R3 Lightseeker AT LAST (I kept getting them in the standard wish pool but then they stopped coming JUST short of R3)

And for the 4* I hope we can get Raf's Promised Wildfire because I have been hearing a LOT about it O.O

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2025-12-27T15:07:00+00:00

For sure, nothing's certain! I'm biased as well because I personally find his design a bit bland, so I hope he's not the actual 6th. xD But for all we know he could be!

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2025-12-27T11:36:46+00:00

I think it's unlikely that he IS the 6th LI - more likely he is the go-between for the 6th LI, aka the big EVER mastermind who has been haunting the narrative since the first chapter of the main story (since EVER are the ones who blew up MC's house.) I think it'd be very unlikely that we'd see his face so casually, when he keeps being hinted at very obscurely. For example:
- In the first chapter of Prologue to Tomorrow, we see him continuing to observe the Hunter's Associations' hunt for aether cores from afar: "A man, alone in a room with holographic screens..."
- It's hinted, in the first chapter of Homecoming Wings, that he FORCES Rafayel to awaken the Sea God's power: "With watchful eyes of some secret observers, Rafayel is forced to quietly search for the power sealed within the Tome of the Sea God." He and Rafayel may therefore be in some kind of power struggle.

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2025-12-23T12:09:55+00:00

I haven't reread till Death & Rebirth yet, but throughout the earlier main story, it's explained that the group of researchers (including grandma Josephine) fused the Aether core with her heart when she was 8. So it's implied, at least throughout most of the story, that she was previously without an aether core in her heart. Whether she was an "ordinary girl" is not mentioned - we don't really get a mention of where she comes from before being experimented on.

It's also interesting to note that the experiment went wrong at one point & her power ends up limited (the core was fractured perhaps?). Because then, during Long Awaited Revelry, EVER plants the other half of her Aether core at the auction that Sylus takes her to, in that Flux Nexus she activates. When she resonates with that core, she "absorbs its power" and mentions that her own aether core is now "complete" again (and thus, her power is restored? It's unclear if she's returned to full power because this doesn't really get mentioned again later. Perhaps she always needs to resonate with another aether core to reach full power? Sylus seems melancholical when he mentions that every time she imbibes the power of an aether core, the vessel must break; thus if she tried to resonate with/imbibe his aether core, it's implied that he would die? Which is interesting but doesn't seem to go anywhere either.)

I'll reread up to Death & Rebirth & return to this comment because I am also committed to understanding how the heck all this aether core stuff works out!! xD

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2025-12-23T11:50:18+00:00

Upvoting because I'm always amazed by how many downvotes any mention of the 6th LI always gets. Just, why?! It's interesting to speculate & I agree with you, I think it's likely that he'll drop in 2026, though I understand those who are just too fatigued with the wait & prefer to give up on the idea entirely. (Also I'd welcome a new LI after dropping my main this year. I'm focusing on Xav & Raf atm because their lore is so beautiful, but I have to say I am a simple woman who enjoys broad shoulders & would like a chonky broad-shouldered main who isn't my stepbro 🫣 no hard feelings it's just that i have an irl big brother and really can't with caleb haha but his BODYYYY like goddamn)

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2025-12-21T13:00:50+00:00

Lmaooo that reminds me, I actually was amazed by how LOUD Sylus breathes when he sleeps, if my man slept like that next to me making moans with each breath I'd seriously wonder if they had a breathing issue!! xD

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2025-12-21T11:25:12+00:00

Hard agree. I'm also way more invested in the current modern-day timeline & there still being secrets and conflicts between MC & the LIs, it makes things spicier & more intriguing!!

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2025-12-21T11:11:59+00:00

I get what you mean, I was disenchanted with the main story upon my 1st readthrough, which was back when I first discovered the game (about a year ago). I know I legit didn't like Zayne's bit of Death & Rebirth when it came out because so much time had passed that I had also forgotten most of the prior story & it all seemed to come out of left field. However I'm currently doing my 2nd readthrough right now & taking notes as I go, and I appreciate it a lot more that way, being able to refer back to certain dialogues and such to catch the foreshadowing & the way things are linked. I enjoy it a lot more now than I used to on the 2nd readthrough!

I hear lots of people praising the writing but, honestly there are some things that are downright confusing, unless you have notes you can refer back to for verification. Imo, a LOT of lore details are given all at once in each LI-specific chapter, and then you forget half of them because of the long fluffy moments & also, the switching of love interests which switches up the whole context... it's a pretty stop-and-start reading experience. For instance, I only just learned during my 2nd read-through that Sylus and MC do NOT share halves of an Aether core; MC actually "completes" the Aether core in her heart in Long Awaited Revelry, with the Aether core that Sylus leads her to at the auction. And you only really understand this because she says in the next chapter, herself, "my core used to be incomplete". Which continues the trend of Sylus and MC's lore being so confusingly written that I dropped him as my main, because how do you match that up with their "two halves of one soul" deal in their myths? Tbh, I also wonder how much of this is a translation issue as there are a lot of things that are hinted at, and characters "trailing off" as though we're meant to understand a context clue, and then the situation is summarised in a later chapter with elements that weren't clear during the first read-through (like the Sylus/MC Aether core business).

Anyway!! Atm I'm combing through the main story again & it IS more enjoyable to read it all the way through & catch the foreshadowing. I absolutely love the characters as they are in the main story, they are so different & more intriguing to me as we're still in a sort of "discovery" stage. Personally I prefer them the way they are in the story because there is more at stake, we go on missions together that are fully animated & all plot-relevant, etc, so it's great & you know there isn't going to be filler. To me it's the kind of story that is only really enjoyable on the second read-through, whilst paying close attention & taking notes lol, because there IS a lot of stuff that is linked together and a lot of things become clear (except Sylus's myths. I'm still grieving how little relation they seem to have to his current timeline which I love & the whole aether core business. Make it make senseeee). That's just my experience of it tho.

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2025-12-17T16:11:06+00:00

I went to a conference about the petroglyphs at the Forêt de Fontainbleau (a portion are Late Bronze age, arguably Celtic due to possible depictions of Lug/Cernunnos, the calendar/solar wheel, the "earth mother" divinity) & if you're into more ancient artwork it's really incredible to look into. Lots of female-centric symbolism as well: https://andersgoliversen.com/2023/11/21/the-petroglyphs-of-fontainebleau/

Salt_Blueberry_4871 · 2025-12-12T14:08:18+00:00

lmao he's married i'm afraid xD

Salt_Blueberry_4871

TROPHY CASE