[Coldsaturn]

Yes the skill description was very Dark Souls of them and I totally got there by chance in that I had never really given much thought to those generic descriptions, sort of like when you constantly read stuff and you think this too must be filler to occupy space but then you learn something somewhere else and this tidbit suddenly makes your brain ping. It’s obscure enough that a popular channel on YouTube that does in depth character analysis of the LIs looking at their trauma etc. (you will get the links in the near future once you’re clear of spoilers because that’s some good food) legitimately said that Raf is not acting out of revenge but more like the sad kind of desperation. And I was sitting there and Raf was sitting there holding a printed board of his skill description and we were looking at each other in silence and it was very awkward.
This will be a leitmotif in the fandom. People constantly get Raf “wrong”. I’m 200% in favor of headcanons and taking these fictional dolls and cutting their hair and painting their face, whatever, but it’s quite interesting how with canon Rafayel you get people who only take him for the comic relief goofball and completely ignore the fact that he has a bounty on his head, or people who embrace his tragic backstory and mollify him into a sad fishie who’s fighting alone against the world. I mean, he is a sad fishie and a passionate and sweet lover yes, but that man is also a cold blooded manipulator, and he does it so well he’s even doing it to the players.

I totally feel you! Once you start noticing that the writers actually put thought into the plot, you suddenly get paranoid because what else could be info that you might be missing, if there are clues everywhere? But trust me, your brain will start to connect the dots soon and if you’re even a fraction like me and get obsessed, the amount of time your brain will run lads content in the background will do the rest for drawing mind maps for you. You won’t feel lost for long. Still overwhelmed because it’s a lot, but you’ll know where to look at.
I’d suggest letting the rest of the story you’re missing rain on you, and only once you have gathered all the main materials and got a general gist of where we’ll be, then you can start backtracking and putting things in order. I say this because if you try to stop now and go immediately back to the start to take notes, you might not know what is relevant info and what isn’t. The game isn’t so dense that every single word counts, it’s just that they do foreshadowing very well. But you can’t catch foreshadowing beyond very obvious ones right on the first read, you need that hindsight pov. I’ll be here to help you organize your thoughts and point the flashlight to areas that you might be overlooking, but go on. You still have anecdotes to unlock that will make understanding the beginning of the game easier, and 2 LIs who are waiting to join this unofficial harem/polycule.

That’s certainly a prediction that is in the range of the heat of the smoking gun, you’re that close.

Zayne in the anecdotes and world underneath texts is amazing. Once again with feeling I’m asking infold to drop the zayne novel. I need it. Like I believe I’m fine and neutral about him in the main chapters and his cards, but then his texts drop and I’m not immune to him at all.
What happened on that mountain is very important, definitely put a pin on it.