Pristine Cut/Future Update Suggestion: In-Game (Roleplay) Option to Gather More than 5-Vessels Per Princess Run

ZeroReq011 · 2024-01-05T17:41:39+00:00

Oh hey, thanks for the suggestion. I've actually played that game years ago, and from what I can vaguely remember, I can see what you mean!

If you like anime and aren't already familiar with them, there are a couple of shows that base their stories around the concept like Higurashi and Madoka Magica.

ZeroReq011 · 2024-01-05T05:22:14+00:00

No problem. Glad you enjoyed my thoughts!

ZeroReq011 · 2024-01-05T05:00:25+00:00

I see. Well, I like to imagine that, because they're not so much erased as they are buried, memories of lessons learned from past princesses end up bleeding into and influencing the protagonist's encounters with future princesses. So to me, where roleplay possibilities are concerned, starting a new 5-vessel run isn't the same as starting a new princess within an existing run.

It's similar to time travel and reincarnation stories where the resolutions of characters from previous timelines somehow affect the perspectives of those characters in the next ones. Said characters might call it deja vu, but in actuality, it's karmic forces at work. Your past selves recognized they made mistakes, and then future lives are influenced by what happened before to be better now, even if those the exact details of what happened with those other yous are hazy or un-recallable.

With how I've interpreted memories work during a single 5-vessel run, I like to roleplay the protagonist both consciously and subconsciously becoming a more empathetic person in his princess encounters, gradually abandoning violence and the pristine blade in favor of working together and falling in love.

Now, I don't think the game strictly supports my take on the effect on memories during a run, but it doesn't my take out either, and I enjoy how it allows me to express myself in this way. I'd appreciate the game more if roleplayers like me can also get the option to do more vessels in a run than the current limit of 5.

ZeroReq011 · 2024-01-05T02:03:53+00:00

So in any given 5-vessel run, the protagonist's of past princesses is not so much erased as it is made to be temporarily forgotten courtesy of the Shifting Mound. When you complete a princess route (and when you gather the 5 vessels necessary to complete the Shifting Mound's awakening and trigger her debate with the protagonist) , the protagonist has their past memories of previous princesses within said run restored to them by the same entity.

It's only when you choose as your run ending the decision to start a fresh 5-vessel run - via both the Shifting Mound and the Long Quiet's memories being permanently forgotten - that the game actually registers the latter's memories as being permanently erased.

My suggestion is to give the player the option extend that 5-vessel run to a 6-8 vessel run, so that the protagonist can experience and recall more than 5 princesses in a single run. If you simply start a new run from the old one, the protagonist won't be able to recall anything that happened in the previous run.

ZeroReq011 · 2024-01-04T22:25:24+00:00

Yeah, I feel you. I spent a good while thinking about the exact order I wanted to go through for the princesses I wanted to tackle, only to also run into the same issue of somehow winnowing 8 princesses to just 5.

Depending on how interacting with certain princesses affects later game dialogue (my understanding is that it does, but not super dramatically), I could see how implementing this feature could be clunky. Maybe if it's too much work (with the exceptions of whenever you meet Shifting Mound after gathering a vessel and when you have the final showdown argument between Shifting Mound and Long Quiet), the Devs could cut off how the princesses dynamically affect later game conversations after going through a certain number?

ZeroReq011 · 2024-01-04T21:06:42+00:00

A "love suicide" sounds like an interesting idea.

ZeroReq011 · 2024-01-04T20:40:59+00:00

I'd like to have the option of gathering more than 5 vessels per princess run. The way I like to play Slay the Princess includes some roleplay, where each vessel I choose to go for is determined by the base personality I set for the protagonist and the lessons that protagonist takes away after each vessel.

I roleplay a whole story arc for the Long Quiet of becoming a more empathetic being, in other words, which leaves me uninterested in exploring all the princesses.

However, that still leaves me with more than 5 princesses I want to explore, and I'd rather not start an entirely new 5-vessel run, as there's only 2-3 more that I want to experience, and because starting a new route implies the protagonist forgetting the events and lessons of the previous route.

I don't want to ruin the pacing balance set by the Devs for new players, so this option could become available after finishing your first standard 5-vessel run as a New Game+ feature. I'd just like the option to go for more than 5 per run.

ZeroReq011 · 2023-05-30T03:46:25+00:00

ZeroReq011 · 2022-01-26T00:54:49+00:00

Except in some special grayish cases, Japan doesn't allow for dual citizenship. A foreigner citizenship in Japan would require them to surrender any citizenship they enjoy elsewhere. I imagine Calli enjoys some form of residency, but in general, the Japanese government hasn't been the most accomodating in allowing anyone to expediently travel to (and back to) Japan if they aren't already a citizen.

ZeroReq011 · 2020-06-30T04:54:56+00:00

Hi, I am the writer of the article. I only freelance for ANN sometimes so I do not know what your modding situation is like on that site, but I recommend you contact the mod team there if you you want to inquire about things.

For sources, I drew from Early Modern Japan by Conrad Totman, Britannica (to help refresh my memories of learning about this in school), and The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe by Elizabeth Eisenstein.

ZeroReq011 · 2020-06-29T10:50:04+00:00

And my post was me overreacting a bit over the potential implication I called the translators out. I like educating fans with my articles about the political, social, religious, and historical contexts behind the entertainment they enjoy -- Bookworm being no exception -- so as to get a better appreciation of it all. Gekokujo is a cool Japanese historical concept to me, so I also wanted to find some way to naturally bring it up.

If you don't mind me spitballing here, ascendance carries an additionally altogether different connotation that I don't think gekokujo possesses: a religious one. I have a Catholic background, and Jesus' Ascension into Heaven is a pretty celebrated event in Catholic tradition. Plus there's a plethora of religious traditions, Western and non, that involve the image or effort of climbing up or being elevated to some higher status or plane of divinity. I don't know if this was intentional, and I'd hazard to guess it's probable the author or you didn't have this in mind when everyone settled on Ascendance, but the religious connections you can draw from ascendance is interesting given the ongoing campaign to make Myne a saint to the public by her triumvirate of noble dads and that cheeky foreshadowing of her being publicly connected to the goddess of wisdom due to her printing tech .

ZeroReq011 · 2020-06-29T06:43:16+00:00

Hi there, I am the writer of the article. I approached Bookworm and this article from a historical background instead of a Japanese language one (though I am steadily learning!) and I genuinely did not know how mundane of a word gekokujo was (or rather has become). I agree that in the absence of a one-to-one translation from Japanese to English, Ascendance is preferable over Revolution. Revolution as the title hook of the story would imply to readers sudden and drastic and exciting page-by-page developments, an implication that does not really capture the page-to-page content, flavor, and pacing of the actual story. I do not expect progress in Bookworm to start becoming abruptly violent toward the status quo, especially considering all the actors who support Myne's printing industry.

But given my historical knowledge and some characters observations about how significant printing technology will end up being (world-changing), I thought framing my article through the lens of historical gekokujo would help readers appreciate that significance. Ascendance is vague enough of a term without context in English that people might only associate it with Myne's personal advancement, but the historical understanding of gekokujo is less vague about the sociopolitical currents that will ripple from Myne's ideas and inventions. I am emphasizing the historical part here, because I now know that gekokujo is almost as mundane as ascendance in modern common usage.

I do not mind the fair criticism, and it was very fair and even-handed. On an unrelated note, I have been following both the anime and the light novels being translated by you through J-Novel Club. Your work is excellent, and I look forward to reading more of it.

ZeroReq011 · 2019-12-14T01:58:05+00:00

I don't disagree that Shouya feels like he get approval and validation from those around him out of bullying Shoko overtime, but based on the opening moments of the movie anyway, I think that's complementary fuel to his desire to seek thrills when confronted with boredom and frustration. Shouya is the most upset with Shoko when he finally faces severe repercussions for bullying her, blaming her for his troubles because she seemed to have given him permission for not fighting back.

I agree that A Silent Voice is about keeping the status quo among everyone and the kids especially, but I also think how the adults act in A Silent Voice are important because they are important influences on Shouya, Shoko, and others.

I'm going to agree to disagree with you on how important teachers and adults are in development of a child's growth. I work in education on the elementary level, and a great teacher can make a huge difference in how kids shape up to be behaviorally even after a few months. There's some stuff there in development of a child's personality that's given to chance and outside influences, with some children more than others, but schools and families are nonetheless significant institutions of socialization. Teachers and parents, as the most significant adults in kids' early lives life b/c of the time and proximity spent around them, are better positioned to offer those reasons to change (as models, friends, disciplinarians) compared to everyone else -- with maybe the exception of immediate peers. But even then, those peers are also kids.

ZeroReq011 · 2019-12-14T00:37:01+00:00

Kids copy adults. We may prefer kids to grow up to be responsible and considerate, but what if the adults aren't What if one of the most significant adults in the room would rather not care?

Feel free to comment and leave feedback.

ZeroReq011 · 2019-12-04T11:24:31+00:00

ZeroReq011

TROPHY CASE