On my world, it means hope.

The Legend of the Nine-Tailed Fox by Katrina Kwan

Genre: Adult, romantasy

I don't usually do this, but I've been STRUGGLING to get through this book and wanted somewhere to jot down my current thoughts, so here it is. (I'm currently 16% through the book.)

I was not impressed by Kwan's previous fantasy/romantasy novel, The Last Dragon of the East. But this book promised a journey through Chinese hell, and I'm always curious to see how Chinese hell is depicted in fantasy novels. That's still my one reason for trying to persist through this novel despite being very bored.

The first problem is that this book does a very poor job of establishing tension and making you want to follow the main characters. Yue has no goal except...surviving as a demon in a human world? Sonam's goal isn't even hinted at until a few chapters after his introduction. It made it very hard to care about these characters. I'm all for showing rather than telling and reducing infodumps, but not conveying information at all to the reader isn't the way to go.

The other main issue is that I guess I've watched too many C-dramas and read too many novels from China at this point, and it's painfully obvious when a diaspora author has done barely any research on ancient China. The worldbuilding is so flimsily rendered, as if the author has no idea what ancient China looks like. And I rolled my eyes hard at the sudden explanation that the demons in this book are like Western fae or Christian demons, magically bound to verbal contracts. Bruh, that is a totally alien concept for Chinese demons, and it felt so out of place. I'm not saying authors aren't allowed to come up with new ideas building on Chinese folklore, but there's a way to do it without treating Western worldbuilding as default, you know?

Anyway, guess I'll see whether this book improves as it goes on or not...

Recently, I played the Monster Hunter Stories 3 demo, and I became absolutely OBSESSED. I had really enjoyed Monster Hunter Stories 2, but it had been 4.5 years since I'd played it and I kind of forgot how the experience was. So I was interested in playing MHS3 but not super hyped until I played the demo (great marketing move by Capcom—I immediately went out and preordered it). And then I went back and booted up MHS2 for the first time since October 2021 (!!) to mess around a bit.

Like many other people who have followed the Monster Hunter Stories franchise, my biggest impression of MHS3 is how much of an improvement it is on MHS2. The graphics are better, of course, but even the animations are a huge step up—the player character animations look so natural and detailed. Going back to MHS2 is honestly a bit hard because the player animations and environments are so lackluster in comparison.

And the UI has been impressively streamlined. "Streamlined" is honestly the one word I would use to describe this game as a whole compared to MHS2. It was a great idea to tie the various battle options to buttons rather than scrolling through multiple menus; I even found myself accidentally pressing the buttons for certain commands when I went back to MHS2. I also love the seamless way you can switch among Monsties out in the world rather than having to go into a menu to do so. It's fantastic and adds so much to the immersion. Even small changes, like having the game tell you which Monstie egg you've picked up for Monsties you've hatched before, or the fact that most Monsties can sprint and roar, have been such great quality-of-life upgrades.

The battle changes are quite interesting. They've made several changes that make battles easier: healing the party after every battle, having battle allies be able to revive themselves after being knocked out, and even removing the usual turn-based RPG trope that you can only heal/buff by sacrificing an opportunity to attack—the hunting horn can attack *and* buff/heal on the same turn. I guess this is to balance out the battles being generally harder—story bosses seem to hit pretty hard, and unlike in MHS2, you can't counter every single attack from an enemy. The one thing that stumped me for a while was that the game didn't explain, and it took me a while to figure out, how to tell when a monster is going to use a counter-able vs. non-counter-able attack. I initially thought it was random, which was a bummer, but now that I've figured it out, I'm fine with it.

I do like how involved the story appears to be this time, including the fact that the protagonist is fully voiced instead of mute. I think part of the reason the story of MHS2 faded from my memory was due to the fact that the protagonist was a mute blank slate. It's cool that this time, we have entire kingdoms where monster riding is normalized, rather than isolated villages. I'm also super excited to see the side stories for our Ranger pals—I really want to know more about all of them!

Finally, I like how they've shaken up the formula the first two games followed by allowing more freedom and options from the beginning, including access to fan-favorite Monsties. Like we FINALLY get to ride on Ratha when the game starts, lol. I remember unintentionally grinding MHS2 until I got to the point where I could have Mizutsune, not realizing that was a late part of the game, so I'm super glad Mizutsune is obtainable earlier on in MHS3. The story change to have the player as the captain of the Rangers teaching a newbie is also a fresh angle to experience the tutorial section of the game. The habitat restoration angle is really cool, both as a concept and for gameplay. And I'm a big fan of the fact that we can swim and fly (or at least glide) from the start of the game. I'm assuming we'll unlock true flying later on (there's an area in Blightstone Woods that looks like you need true flying to reach), which I don't mind.

Honestly, my single complaint is that I wish the frame rate on the Switch 2 version was a bit better (I even had motion sickness in the city for some reason and had to adjust one of the camera settings). Hopefully they can patch it to be more stable, even if they can't reach 60fps. I've replayed the demo several times and can't overstate how excited I am for this game. I'm going to be in agony waiting until March 13.

*

Edit 2/22/26: Lol not sure how much Capcom is going to keep revealing for this game considering it's less than a month out from release. Half of me thinks "Oh wow if they're going to keep revealing stuff, how much content does this game have??" The other half is wondering if they're going to spoil too much.

According to leaks on Reddit (so take this with a grain of salt), there's no postgame content. Personally, I don't really care about them getting rid of the High Rank Monsters/Monster Dens since they've integrated the Monsters much earlier in the game. (It also seems like the Calamitous Elder Dragons might be intended to be postgame content.) When it came to MHS2, I spent all of the postgame battling/farming eggs for the Deviants they added as free DLC, so hopefully they'll do the same with this game.

Also according to leaks, quite a few Monsties from MHS2 were cut. It doesn't surprise me considering they added so many new Monsties, but I'm disappointed by the lack of Great Baggi/Jaggi, Lagombi, Uragaan, and Gammoth if the leaks are true. (I really only care about the cool armor from Great Baggi and Jaggi.) Maybe they'll be added as DLC, although usually new DLC Monsties are Deviants and Elder Dragons, so I'm not confident about that.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been absolutely obsessed with Where Winds Meet. I always get addicted to open-world RPGs, and that’s definitely been the case here.

The assignment for WWM was clearly to make a wish-fulfillment wuxia game, and that’s definitely the case here. There’s so much to do; so many side quests, minigames, professions, and things to collect. I spent dozens upon dozens of hours in Qinghe ignoring the main story and just exploring. The side quests are generally quite interesting, definitely not the MMO-style fetch quests. The most memorable one for me so far was when I accepted what I thought was a straightforward rescue sidequest, only to be kidnapped and sent to the Ghost Market! I also love the music minigames (though the pipa ones can be challenging).

Combat has been fun. I really like the martial arts and Mystic Skills; there’s a nice variety that allows you to switch things up when you want. For PvE, I’ve mostly stuck to the Heavenquaker Spear and Soulshade Umbrella, though I’ve also enjoyed the dual blades. I love the system of sneaking into the sects’ headquarters to steal their martial arts. It was so fun.

I’ve been playing on my iPad Mini with a controller (though I’d love to swap to my Macbook if they release the game for it). I sometimes play with touchscreen controls when I just want to look at something briefly, but I don’t love the touchscreen controls—I don’t know about other people, but I keep accidentally touching the weapon button when I’m trying to adjust the camera and accidentally terrorizing townspeople. :(

Here are a list of other issues that I’ve had so far, ranging from not that serious to relatively annoying (though, don’t get me wrong, I love the game overall):

- The storytelling can be vague. To a certain extent, it might be a stylistic choice (Black Myth Wukong, for example, didn’t spell things out explicitly either). But I find some of the lore in this game so vague I can’t even piece it together. I didn’t understand Jiang Yan’s backstory from that one sidequest, for example, and I didn’t understand Murong Yuan’s motives in the Jinming Pool campaign. I also wouldn’t have known that Big Zhao is Emperor Song Taizu and Jin Zhongyuan is the future Emperor Song Taizong if I hadn’t looked it up online.

- For the most part, I’ve really enjoyed the side stories in the campaigns and the Jianghu Legacies. However, I didn't love the latest few; The River's Fury had very repetitive water puzzles, and the Heavenfall Campaign was short and boring (basically go here, beat up a few guards, activate a mechanism, rinse and repeat). Also, neither story was interesting. Even the side stories in Qinghe that seemed unrelated to the larger narrative were interesting in their own right, like Gleaming Abyss and Blind to the World. I also didn't love the final boss of the final Jianghu Legacy chapter in Kaifeng; re-fighting four bosses I already fought before was terribly boring and tedious. I really hope this isn't a sign that the writing goes downhill in future areas, because the whole reason I enjoy the Jianghu Legacy chapters and the Campaigns is because of the storytelling.

- Collecting Oddities in Kaifeng feels tedious because you have to chase most of them down.

- It’s nearly impossible to complete Bounty requests from other players because people jump on them so quickly.

- Trying to get enough Appearance Tickets and Adventure Slips to afford the technically free outfits is a pretty tedious grind. I wish the Appearance Chests would randomly drop 1-5 tickets (or so) to make it go faster. (I do wonder if they did this on purpose to give people reasons to log in daily once they’ve finished the story/main content, but still…)

I’m excited to see what future updates bring! I really want building houses/estates to be a full feature in the international release, as well as more sects (would love to be able to visit the Well of Heaven Sect HQ…some day…).

2025 has been a weird, busy year for me. I moved (which somehow felt like it ate up several months of the year), I dealt with a lot of emotionally draining family drama, and I failed to get an agent for Novel #5.

Pretty much my only achievement this year was that I finally learned how to cook (even if my cooking repertoire is pretty limited). In the last few months, I’ve kept busy watching C-dramas and playing Where Winds Meet. Next year is honestly the first year that I’m more excited about upcoming C-dramas than upcoming books, which is…saying a lot.

But speaking of C-dramas, I really enjoyed both Kill To Love and Whispers of Fate this year. Next year, I’m most excited about Southern Anecdote (a Tomb Raider-esque mystery/adventure + China’s Republican Era + Ding Yuxi!) and Shadow Punisher (killer premise, murder mysteries, and Luo Yunxi and Fang Yilun team up again!!). I’m also eagerly anticipating Liao Zhai (starring Chang Huasen) and Vow of the Phoenix (starring Xiao Shunyao!!).

My goals for 2026:

- I’m going to try submitting Novel #5 to Bindery’s next open submission as one last hurrah, and if it gets rejected again, I’ll work on self-publishing it. Which would be a significant undertaking.

- Focus on my physical health in general: (1) Go to the doctor (I haven't been in years because I haven't liked my PCP and it's been something I've put off because of how much stress I was under for the past few years); (2) Cut down on sugar (for years, I didn’t eat many sweet treats while I was at home, but from September this year until now, a combination of trying a lot of Trader Joe’s sweet snacks plus baking (and eating the baked treats) has probably been terrible for my sugar levels. T_T I’m committed to cutting down on sugar starting January); and (3) More exercise. I screwed up my hip for weeks after one weekend of accidentally playing Animal Crossing for two days straight, so I should really get in the habit of stretching more.

- Dating…sigh. The goal that I set every year and never meet.

I'm about halfway through the C-drama Whispers of Fate and I'm really, really hoping for it to stick the landing so it can join the list of my favorite C-dramas.

For anyone who doesn't know, I'm extremely picky about C-dramas. I don't watch a lot of TV in general; when I try a C-drama, it has to be compelling enough to make me keep watching past the first episode, and not many C-dramas pass that test.

I was pleasantly surprised by Whispers of Fate. I only tried it because I'd seen a trailer on YouTube that looked interesting, and I'd been vaguely interested in seeing a performance by Luo Yunxi.

The pacing is fast, which I enjoy. I also enjoyed how the story began with a few murder mysteries that hooked me and kept me interested. The high production value and aesthetics also caught my attention (as someone used to watching queer C-dramas, I'm not used to seeing a high CGI budget, lol). And I like the fight scenes, which I thought were more comprehensible than those of Blood River.

When the plot transitioned away from the mysteries, I initially missed them. But now—at least up to this point—I'm loving how each arc has been executed. The Biluo Palace arc had that fascinating game played between Tang Lici and co. and the Fengliu Shop. The Peony Pavilion battle was so epic, it sent shivers down my spine. And through it all, I love how Tang Lici schemes to manipulate his enemies. It's like listening to the detective unravel the mystery at the climax of a mystery novel, except we're hearing how Tang Lici planned all along for events to unfold the way they did.

Most of all, the show does an excellent job with introducing characters in a way that made me interested in them. Chi Yun has one of the most badass character entrances I've ever seen. Tang Lici is, of course, mysterious and intriguing. Zhong Chunji instantly earned my sympathy as a young heroine and branch leader of a major cultivation alliance. And honestly, one of the best parts of the show is how it manages to make (almost) every side character interesting. Shen Langhun is one of my faves (though I do wish we get a bit more from his character). Xue Xianzi is hilarious and always a delight when he's on screen. Yu Furen really grew on me. Even Fang Pingzhai became a character who now fascinates me. It's really impressive, given the size of the cast and the fact that there isn't a ton of time to devote to each character (I like Gu Xitan, but he's a character who sadly doesn't have much time in the spotlight).

The only character I don't like is A-Shui, and it's because of her romance arc with Tang Lici. I thought her character was fine until the romance started. Frankly, I just don't care, and I found her throwing herself at Tang Lici pathetic rather than moving. Sis, he's an OP cultivator and you have no powers; it's NOT romantic when you throw yourself into danger on his behalf!!

Some people have said that her romance "humanizes" Tang Lici, but I strongly disagree and find this emblematic of the problematic attitude that romance is more important than other relationships. So Tang Lici's friendship with Chi Yun and Shen Langhun, the care he shows to people who hate him like Yu Furen, his budding relationship with Little Stone, and his assistance of the Sword Alliance—none of those humanize him?

I don't love Xiaohong for similar reasons as A-Shui; I find her devotion to Liu Yan pathetic. Though who knows, maybe we'll get her backstory later. I do find the villains, at least the Liu Yan gang, a little bit...over-the-top. Their outfits are just a bit too ostentatious, and they're a bit too prone to maniacal laughter. If not for the fact that they're genuinely threatening in battle, I'd have a hard time taking them seriously. (Gui Mudan, though, is another story. Now he's definitely a villain I'm scared of.)

I'm going to include a few thoughts below the cut for spoilers:

( Spoilers below )

Recently, I've had the itch to write a new story for the first time in a while. At the same time, though, I feel like I'm lacking some kind of motivation/passion to throw myself into a new writing project. I even (despite my last entry) feel like I've lost motivation to edit Novel #4.

"If you can't feel the emotion, then how do you put it into words?" That's a quote from You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego, about writer's block, and I'm feeling that really keenly right now. I admire the writers who pump out multiple books a year, but that can't be me (at least, not at this point in my nonexistent career); when I write, I always need to be driven by some strong emotion and/or urge to explore a specific emotional state. If I don't have that, then it doesn't matter how much interesting worldbuilding I come up with; I can't write the story.

Maybe the ennui is, in part, from the fact that I've written five complete novels over the past ten years (yikes...), and I'm not an author who likes to consciously retread familiar territory. I couldn't be a career romance writer, because once I've done an enemies-to-lovers or friends-to-lovers or what have you, I don't have a desire to write the same trope again. At the same time, it's hard to come up with new tropes to explore all the time. Tropes are tropes for a reason.

*

In other news, and on the topic of editing Novel #4—I've been reflecting lately on how there is definitely a danger with over-editing one's work without the guidance of an editor.

I edited Novel #3 many times due to a vague revise & resubmit I received from an agent, and by the end of that process, I was also sick of the book. It's like trying to improve at a sport or musical instrument without having a coach—you're not sure what to look for, and when you try to pick apart your own work, you just start to think the whole thing sucks and you have no idea how to fix it.

It's especially rough because I'm under pressure to try to do as much editing as I can for this book because it was on submission before. With previous books, I've gotten to the point of "it's not perfect, but I know I'll have to do more edits with an agent/editor so I'm not going to obsess over making it flawless." But now, with Novel #4? I find myself falling into the perfection trap. And it sucks. Because I already edited this book quite a lot when I first drafted it—it's likely the book I've rewritten the most on a scene level (due to my inexperience with genre mystery at the time—I'm never drafting a novel in such a chaotic way again). And now I just feel like I'm in endless editing limbo and I'm tired of it.

(So tired, in fact, that while I originally conceived of this book as the start of a series, I would no longer be willing to write a series unless I'm earning royalties off this book. Not even if a publisher was willing to pay me an advance; I'd need an audience of fans who want a sequel first.)

It's that time of the year again!!

The books I'm interested in next year are a mix of fantasy, sci-fi, mystery/thriller, and horror/gothic. Fantasy might be slightly more represented than the genres than the others, but it's a more even mix than I'm used to. Also, this list is definitely looking on the lean side compared to previous years. Considering 2025 has been a lean reading year for me, I'm afraid this is looking like a downward reading trend for me? :(


1. The Poet Empress by Shen Tao: January 20, 2026

(Adult, fantasy)

2. The Fourth Princess by Janie Chang: February 10, 2026

(Adult, gothic) Love the idea of a gothic novel set in China.

3. The Only One Who Knows by Lisa Matlin: March 3, 2025

(Adult, mystery) I had mixed feelings about the author's debut, but I'm willing to give another book by her a try.

4. Everyone In This Bank Is A Thief by Benjamin Stevenson: March 17, 2026

(Adult, mystery) Another Ernest Cunningham mystery!!

5. The Book of Fallen Leaves by AS Tamaki: March 17, 2026

(Adult, fantasy)

6. Blindside by Michael Mammay: March 24, 2026

(Adult, sci-fi) Another Carl Butler novel!!

7. The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke: April 7, 2026

(Adult, thriller) I don't care about the drama regarding the author's identity, but I'm hoping for some good commentary on writing/the publishing industry here.

8. The Killing Spell by Shay Kauwe: April 14, 2026

(Adult, fantasy)

9. Deathly Fates by Tesia Tsai: April 14, 2026

(YA, fantasy)

10. Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker: April 21, 2026

(Adult, horror) KLB has become one of my favorite authors, and this sounds so intriguing.

11. Honor and Heresy by Max Francis: April 21, 2026

(Adult, fantasy) Don't know much about this except that it's a gay romantasy set in a haunted library...?

12. Platform Decay by Martha Wells: May 5, 2026

(Adult, sci-fi) New Murderbot!!

13. The Library After Dark by Ande Pliego: May 5, 2026

(Adult, thriller) I loved the author's debut so I'm excited for her next thriller!

14. The Girl With a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean: May 5, 2026

(Adult, fantasy) I did not read The Book Eaters but this sounds really good!

15. The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee: May 5, 2026

(Adult, sci-fi) I didn't love Jade City, but I'm interested enough to give this a shot.

16. She Waits Where Shadows Gather by Michelle Tang: May 5, 2026

(Adult, horror)

17. The Bone Door by Frances White: May 12, 2026

(Adult, fantasy) I enjoyed Voyage of the Damned so I'm curious about this author's next novel.

18. Mortedant’s Peril by RJ Barker: May 19, 2026

(Adult, fantasy, mystery) You'll always get me with a fantasy murder mystery.

19. The Heirs by Faridah Abike-Iyimide: June 2, 2026

(YA, thriller)

20. The Secret World of Briar Rose by Cindy Pham: June 2, 2026

(Adult, fantasy) After watching Cindy's video about this, I'm very intrigued.

21. The Demon Star by Jesse Aragon: July 28, 2026

(Adult, sci-fi) This sounds so good??

22. Harbour of Hungry Ghosts by Eliza Chan: July 28, 2026

(Adult, fantasy) Fathomfolk was a disappointment for me, but this sounds really good so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

23. A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett: August 11, 2026

(Adult, fantasy, mystery) The next Ana and Din mystery!!

24. Bound by Fury by Noelle Monet: August 18, 2026

(YA, fantasy)

25. Mothsblood by Lynn D. Jung: October 13, 2026

(Adult, fantasy)

26. An Auction of Souls by Amber Chen: October 20, 2026

(YA, fantasy) I had mixed feelings about the author's debut duology, but I'll try another Chinese fantasy from her.

27. The Last Star in the Void by Melissa Caruso: November 10, 2026

(Adult, fantasy)

28. Paper Dolls by Andrea Stewart: Autumn 2026

(Adult, thriller) I enjoyed The Bone Shard Daughter and I'm interested to see what a thriller from this author looks like.

Now that the finale of TBHX has aired, here is my ranking of all the top heroes from most to least favorite (AKA the ones I hope they'll explore the most next season):

1. X - Because we still know barely anything about him.
2. Lin Ling - I still have a soft spot for him from the beginning of the season, and I wonder where his character is going next.
3. Loli - Her character is criminally underrated IMO. Like Lin Ling, it seems like she's going through a tragedy arc. Also, since her suit can neutralize Trust Value, she has the potential to become one of the most OP heroes, so that will be interesting to see.
4. Ghostblade - I'm here for his redemption arc, and I want to see his reunion with Nuonuo.
5. Little Johnny - I ended up really liking his character. We haven't really seen him in battle yet either, so I'm wondering what he can do.
-
6. Queen - To be honest, I thought she was one of the weakest characters in terms of writing. However, I heard that Season 2 will explore her backstory more, so I'm willing to give her a chance.
7. E-Soul (Yang Cheng) - I kind of don't think there's any way for him to come back since he is a straight-up murderer now, but if they want to do something interesting with his character, I'm open to that. I still think his arc had the most plot holes, and his villain transformation relied on him being a complete idiot, so he is also one of the less well-written characters to me.
8. Lucky Cyan/Ahu - These characters are about equal to me. I don't dislike them, but I'm not as interested in them as the other characters.
10. Dragon Boy - Yeah I don't care about this dude. Maybe they'll drop more backstory for him in Season 2, but right now he's at the bottom of the list for me.

There's also [SPOILER REDACTED] but I don't really have an opinion about them because I have no idea where that's going to go.


I also wanted to keep track of the list of unanswered questions from Season 1 that I really hope they'll answer in Season 2:

( Obvious spoilers follow )

Posting about this C-drama because I have no friends who have watched it yet who I can scream about it with!!!

Kill to Love is a C-drama with explicit queer content because it's airing only in Singapore/internationally. My short review of the show (as of today, 11/12 episodes have aired) is that you can tell they had to compress a long novel into only 12 episodes, and the first few episodes don't do the best job of drawing you in because there's a lot of infodumping and time spent on characters who aren't the main leads (personally, I wish they had cut down the Huo Ying/Crown Prince storyline since I didn't care about their toxic relationship at all. Also didn't care much about the unrequited romance between Huo Ying and Shen Song). So, weirdly, the pace feels both too fast and too slow—too fast, because it's speedrunning the slow burn between the two leads, and too slow, because so much time is spent on other characters considering how short the show is.

But, ultimately, the acting, relationship, and chemistry between the two leads (Xiao Shuhe and Duan Zi'ang, played by Mi Jin and Zhang Zhexu) carries the show.

( Some spoilery thoughts below the cut (spoilers for episodes 9-11) )

I've tried to watch some hetero C-dramas, but I can't stand most of them. Granted, I have a very short attention span and don't watch a lot of TV for that reason, and the hetero C-dramas are always the ones that get like 40 episodes. But I hate the "ditzy female lead falls for brooding, threatening man" trope that's everywhere. I hate one love interest threatening the other unless they're both on equal footing, like soldiers on opposite sides of a war. What I love about the relationship in Kill to Love is how equal it feels. Neither romantic lead feels stupid, and both are exerting agency, both in the plot and in their relationship.

It still blows my mind to watch an uncensored queer C-drama, and not just because of the on-screen kisses. The fact that two men get to be vulnerable with each other and declare their love for each other ("In this whole world, you are the only freedom I want"—this is the height of romance, okay?) just feels so revolutionary. And again, both actors do a phenomenal job. Xiao Shuhe is perfectly brought to life as an even-tempered, poised, elegant prince who conceals his sadness and loneliness beneath his smiles. Duan Zi'ang is the fierce, fiery protector who is torn between conflicting loyalties and has such a softness for Shuhe.

I hate that China bans queer content and even punishes high-profile actors for taking on queer roles (so I really hope both Mi Jin and Zhang Zhexu go on to have amazing careers and this amazing show isn't held against them just because they play queer men). I loved The Untamed and can't imagine actors other than Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo in the lead roles, but it would've been even more amazing to have the love confessions in that show. Stories like The Untamed (Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) and Kill to Love aren't gay porn—they're amazingly written stories of cultivation adventures/imperial intrigue that just happen to also feature central queer romantic relationships, and I wish people would recognize that.

I've been following the discourse around the recently released video game, Lost Soul Aside. I don't really have a stake, since I'm not going to buy the game (in large part because I don't own a console that can run it), but I had a couple of thoughts as someone who also saw the original LSA trailer before it was picked up and developed into a full game.

I can't speak to optimization issues, but here are my thoughts on why the game has attracted such a negative reception:

1. The price. Pretty self-explanatory; if this had been priced as a AA game, the reception probably would've been better.

2. Comparisons to other Chinese games. Unfortunately, games like Black Myth Wukong, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, and Phantom Blade 0 have set an extremely high bar for Chinese-developed games. Those games aren't just good *Chinese* games; they're considered good games period, standing out even among the competition from Japanese and American games that have dominated the space for decades. LSA not quite reaching that tier is probably a major part of the disappointment people feel.

3. People projecting what they wanted the game to be.

This, to me, is the most interesting thing to think about, and the reason why I wanted to write this blog post. It was interesting to see some people be very disappointed that LSA didn't have a deep, well-written story, and saying they expected it to have one because of the Final Fantasy comparisons.

And yet, if you watch the original trailer, there WAS no narrative ever revealed. There was never any promise that the story would be good when there was no evidence of a compelling story.

(The only crumb of narrative we got from the original trailer was that it seemed like the relationship between Victor and Kaser was supposed to be more like Vergil to Date, and yet in the final game, Victor doesn't have much of a presence. I wonder if the creator, Yang Bing, had a few ideas but not necessarily a story, and ended up hiring a story writer who came up with...this, I guess.)

It feels like people clung to the idea of a "FF Versus XIII redemption story" and placed too many hopes on an unproven game with an unproven story.

Another part of it is people criticizing the gameplay. That part is interesting to me, because if you've watched the trailers and gameplay videos that have come out for this game over the years...the final game looks exactly like what was in those videos. They were visually cool, but to me, the gameplay shown didn't really sell me on the game (not the way, for example, Phantom Blade 0 did).

4. People having expectations because this game was "in development for 10 years."

This fact gets bandied about a lot, since the first trailer came out in 2016 and Yang Bing said he had been working on it since 2014.

But long development cycle doesn't necessarily mean a great game, which you think people would know from the development cycles of games like Final Fantasy XV. On top of that, LSA was created by a new, inexperienced studio. It had Sony's backing through the China Hero Project, but I don't know if anyone has the details about just how much investment or guidance the China Hero Project provides.

It's a particularly striking contrast to Phantom Blade 0, which is also S-Game's first AAA title, yet the studio had worked on several 2D/mobile games prior to that. Perhaps those prior experiences helped S-Game gain experience in project management/video game development. While I don't know the details, it also seems like Soulframe (S-Game's founder) took the time to find top talent to help him bring his vision to life. Like with LSA, it's not clear yet whether PB0 will have a well-told story (although at least the premise of it is more interesting than LSA's). But at the very least, it seems like they spent the time/got the funding/recruited the talent to develop compelling gameplay (also an interesting direct comparison, since both LSA and PB0 were inspired by the hack-and-slash combat of Devil May Cry).


*EDIT: This post provides some more info/context on the development of the game (I don't love using a ChatGPT translation, but I can't find a real translation for this).

Particularly, it clarifies that the game was scrapped and restarted in 2020, and development was slow from 2020 to early 2023 due to COVID lockdowns. So the idea that the game was "in development for 10 years" doesn't actually mean that a full development team was working on it full-time for 10 years. And while Sony provided funding, the fact that they used tracks from Two Steps From Hell in the game instead of having a composer compose all tracks is at least one pretty big clue that they did not have a ton of funding (to either pay a composer to compose all tracks, or to hire a composer talented enough to realize their vision).

It also says that Sony intervened in the narrative in early 2024—unclear whether they rewrote the story or whether they just cut it down (for budget/development time reasons?). I have seen some people say that the prologue area has more optimization issues than later areas, and maybe that was a late addition due to changes in the narrative. It is tempting to blame the lackluster narrative on Sony, but again, I'm not sure whether Yang Bing had always had a strong vision for the story or not (contrasting, again, with Soulframe/Phantom Blade 0).