the issue with making your abusive villain a bratty love interest - lucio from the arcana
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ส.ค. 2024
- i would've included more screenshots, but i was short on time
it's been a while since i've interacted with much content from the arcana, but i will always remember the way lucio's character and the trauma he's inflicted on others is completely mishandled in his route
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Yeah Lucio in his own route is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from the Lucio in everyone else’s. Someone else here said that Lucio’s route should’ve been a tragedy and I am 100% on board with that idea instead. The writers totally tried to have their cake and eat it too which does NOT work for a character like Lucio who was originally pitched as this unforgivable abusive villain. They also kind of force the player to be in on it too by writing the MC to be SUPER FORGIVING (despite knowing the other LIs personally and living with one) which, even as someone who likes Lucio as a villain, does not feel correct for me or my MC at all.
i remember my friend telling me about the dialogue options (they played exclusively just to have perspective on the route, they hate him LMAO) and it was always either enabling or snarky/passive aggressive but like still with fondness
i assume they wanted to lean into lucio as a pathetic man (modern day babygirl appeal). but he's pathetic because he doesn't wish to face the consequences of his actions, meanwhile his route tries to convince you that that it is because he's "harmless". which is dissonant with his character because he's proven again and again in the other routes to being dangerous and enjoying it.
@@malacalico Exactly! And from a writing perspective it makes no sense because they’ve spent at least 4 whole routes dealing with Lucio and the consequences of his actions only for his route to downplay the hell out of all of it with a simple “oopsies.” Like why have all that buildup to completely toss it out in a super uncharacteristic way?
And I spoke to my friend about this video after she sent it to me and I came to the realization that his apologies aren’t “I did something wrong I should apologize,” they’re “I feel guilty that MC knows I did something they think is wrong, I should apologize so they stay with me” and there’s never a proper calling out of that behavior at all which sucks!
His route should have either been a tragedy or an “enemies to lovers” type deal but the writers couldn’t commit to it for one reason or another which is a shame because his route could have been really interesting with it instead of the half-baked “love will fix him” narrative
Agreed. As someone who likes characters like Lucio and finds them interesting, I have to say it really seems like they had two entirely different ideas for who he is and mushed them together. Comparing him in other routes vs. his own is such tonal whiplash... they really should've either made him not as bad and more easily redeemable, or leave him as is but make him face the consequences.
Spoilers for Muriel's route: He's also the reason Muriel is even an orphan as Lucio and his tribe razed Muriel's entire village
from what i remember that was mainly on morga, which is addressed in muriel's route. she's given a justification like struggles within her own tribe, then acknowledges she was at fault and cannot be forgiven
lucio forcing him to fight to the death is just rubbing salt in the wound, though
the best thing about lucio is his dogs.
My biggest problem with Lucios route and his redemption is that creators purposely did not mention Muriel at all. And its because what Lucio did to Muriel is unacceptable and unredeemable from moral point of view. He enslaved Muriel and psychological tortured him. Even in open bonds Lucio treats Muriel like shit. I dont buy exuses like "Lucio and mc forgot" because it was a choise of writers to be silent about our mountain man.
That's what happens when you take obvious villain that caused most of problems and damage in arcana universe and try to redeem him. He IS the root of all problems. Theres just too much sins on his shoulders, many of people he killed indirectly and directly, many who he wronged and traumatized. Theres a limit when it comes to redemption and amount of bad things they did, goddamit!
literally when i played lucio and caught myself having too much fun with him id always go "hey remember muriel? living alone in a cold hole right now? in a collar?" lmao kept myself in check real good
I got the impression from Muriel’s route that it was like ‘devil Lucio’ who did that and not actually the Lucio in his route (although im new to the game so i could be off base lol)
@@leia__xd9485as far as I understand, while yes, Devil and his courtiers did influence many of Lucios desitions(cough, trapping Asras parents in dungeon, cough) there was no real swap between the two. It's not like Lucio was off doing his own thing, and Devil was basically playing role of his evil clone. Infact the whole point of devils plan is getting into physical realm and gaining influence over it. Plus, merge between Devil and Lucio happened only in one route
I am glad that I'm not the only one who was bothered by these traits, I also feel like people might be attracted to the idea of a villan who gets redeemed and has a ✨sad childhood✨ But honestly Julian, Asra, Muriel and Nadia had it all worse bc of him, not to mention that he was a grown up when he had done all those things and they were (except Nadia I think) just children. Anyway love your art work you have magnificent style
And oh my god the "oopsiees" Annoyed the hell out of me
thank you so much! it doesn't help that lucio's personality is virtually the same throughout his entire life, so you don't really get the sense that his childhood impacted him that much 😭
@@majeranekiszalwia I was playing Lucio's route wanting to get to the part where he finds out about the apprentice and when I got to it he reacted like "uwu I'm sowwy" dude your lover was DEAD because of you and you're acting like you got caught with your hands in the cookie jar
But i haven't even seen that Lucio had sad childhood. He grew up in snowy, cold, depressing area , sure and he had responcibilities(wich he actively avoided), but he himself desidet to kill his parents not in a fair way
I'm a Lucio fan and I absolutely agree. I wish his route was more than "haha let's bring him back to life and barely recognize his wrongdoings!" they could've done so much more with him or at least given him a more convincing redemption arc. While it was fun, it feels like a waste of 16 books and of his character, but none of the last three routes are that well written tbh. Feels like the writing team just wrote whatever.
thinking about lucio's route in the context it was written under, i do wonder if the light-hearted nature of his route was to accomodate eventual future players who would not have the prior experience of at least one of the first 3 routes... imagine trying to get into a cute dating sim, picking the bratty blond first with 0 knowledge of any character, then being bombarded with guilt and conflict that otherwise doesn't exist with the other characters :,)
imo the simplest solution was to not make him dateable LMAO but it is what it is 😭 thank you for commenting i hope you don't mind the ramble hehA!!
@@malacalico oh yeah I never thought about that lol, you're probably right. And don't worry I love to hear ppl's different opinions❤️
Same, I literally simp for him but that route was not it lmao
@@Duhgel fr fr like have y'all seen him in Muriel's route?? That shit was traumatizing
@@malacalico
..... I'm the firsthand experience of this 😅
If I remember way before Lucio wasn't going to be a romancable character but a lot of fans wanted him to be so they added him.Why couldn't they make Morgana datable instead of Lucio.
fr i want his mom so bad
@@malacalico fr like oml take me Morgana-
omg yes I would've dated her
She's totally a narc parent tho... I'll never understand people hating on him but defending her...
As someone who recently got into the Arcana, I had gone for Lucio first without ANY prior knowledge! I thought “oh wow! Blonde LI! I hope his route is funny!” And I go through his route! I come out of it like “oh wow I love this guy!” And then I learn of all the shit he did and I felt SO guilty.
The way they handled Lucio’s route in contrast to how he acts in all the other routes is so weird. If they wanted to make him a romance-able option they should have kept him how he is??? A lot of people like the shitty supervillain trope! They should have kept it, instead of the bratty incompetent idiot. My feelings on him now are now just a giant mess. I’d still consider myself a Lucio fan, but I do agree on a lot of stuff in this video
He's just so messy i just can't get into his route let alone finish it when I first played the game 😭
SO TRUE, they did his route so weird, like "oh yeah he's abusive with others but he defo wont abuse his SO" - literally the devs on Tumblr lol
I hate lucio with a passion but also find him very attractive, and find his negative traits make him a more compelling love interest because I’m a sucker for toxic and abusive dynamics in fiction. When i read his route, i was less disappointed that i didn’t get a “problematic sexyman” and more just incredibly pissed on a moral level that they seemed to be dismissing all the genuinely terrible things he’s done. I would much rather his route didn’t exist at all. If the devs didn’t have had the balls to give a toxic character an equally toxic route, they shouldn’t have made it, because i feel it’s genuinely dangerous to give an abusive character such a badly written redemption arc.
I'm really glad to see someone voicing an opinion I've had since I was really in the thick of the Arcana game community like ~6 years ago. People give more shit to Asra for being overprotective than to Lucio for enSLAVING A MAIN CHARACTER HMMMMMM WEIRD
i typically avoid fandom spaces but man... when i found out there was more discourse over asra than lucio JDHSJDHAJ
THEY DID WHAT TO ASRA, his route is literally canon and I don't take criticism, Lucio can go away lmaoo
I read some of the negative reviews and seeing how much hate Asra gets is so confusing to me. Asra is just trying to be there for us, because he’s scared to lose us. Why does that make him awful? Lol
I think their loophole for Nadia is that she can’t remember anything from her time being his wife 😅
it's hard to say since she apparently remembers enough to resent him and her route does a lot to imply that she wasn't respected at all and seen more as a trophy wife, what with her being characterised as extremely compassionate and intelligent, but vesuvia is still run into the ground when we find it. now that i think about it, nadia's extreme competitiveness seems to stem from her siblings, but with the way that they show nothing but love and respect for her by the time we meet, i can't help but think lucio could have used her childhood rivalry with her family against her lol
I think it's pretty clear she was mentally abused. She mentions in her route that she felt somewhat helpless with Lucio, at least as far as politics are concerned. To the point where she didn't see value in her inventions and eventually stopped putting in an effort. This is NADIA, so that's not an easy feat. She may not remember much, but she remembers enough to kind of hate him.
There is only one reason such a villainous and abusive character would be a love interest; power trip fantasy. Say what you want but some people do get a power trip from having such a powerful and selfish man bend over backward for them since they obviously don't do that to anyone else. In reality, this is just a delusion. But hey! This is fantasy so the only way such a thing could work for such a character is to make him shallow enough and pretty enough that you simply don't care how much of a monster he really is because he's cute and he's rich.
I first played the game back when Lucio didn’t have a route, probably around five years ago. I liked the Lucio we saw in the old prologue, where instead of being childish and whiny, he was mysterious, almost a little sensual. The rest of the time he was his usual self, but still-I wish that was who Lucio was, a cool, collected, downright malicious villain who knows what he wants and knows exactly how to get it. I like what he could have been.
I don’t think the introduction of a romance route needed to ruin him. It just would’ve needed to be done differently-instead of a happy romance, it’s a tragedy, Lucio (who is definitely abusive here) slowly manipulating the MC throughout the story to help him with his plans and to fall into an unhealthy relationship with him. In the Upright ending, the MC is able to break free from this and put an end to him, ending up alone but ultimately free. In the Reversed ending, the manipulation works, and the MC is pulled into becoming his accomplice and partner. It would be very different from the rest of the routes, but it’s the villain-better to stray a bit from form than to completely disregard the truth of who Lucio is.
Anyway, I completely agree with you-I was so disappointed by the writing of Lucio’s route; of all three of the new routes, actually. It feels like some of the connections they made between the love interests and Lucio was done just to make them personally involved in taking him down, even if it comes out of left field. Like, why does Lucio specifically pick out Muriel to be a gladiator when he’s a child? Why does he force-feed a plague beetle to Julian? Why does he hold Asra’s parents captive? The first is just contrived, the last two are petty and unreasonable. I wish they didn’t feel the need to insert Lucio into everyone’s backstories (except Portia, but that’s why her aunt showed up, so she could also have a personally involved villain) and instead just let them try to stop him because it’s the right thing to do. And it feels like they then backed themselves into a corner with that, because then they had to make a romance route with the guy literally every character hates. I just-let Lucio be a villain! Let the routes be unique and explore different parts of Vesuvia! Let Nadia’s route be the one to show us who Lucio really is! Let Lucio be the noble-born aristocrat I know he was meant to be! And let him be the bad guy!
thank you for sharing!! i have to imagine they couldn't commit to full villain because the devs still wanted the MC to be friends with the others, but it ultimately made him a lot worse 😭
I really liked your idea for how Lucio’s route could have been. I think it should have been the way you described. It would have made it so much more worth the read.
One addition I could have added to your version of Lucios route is to allow our friends to slowly drift away as they get disappointed in MC, and MC refuses to listen to their advise to stay away from Lucio. This could lead to Recersed ending. Or, for Upringht, we could have options to sabotage Lucios plan along the way, in the end defeat him themselves and after witch reunite with Asra and others.
I honestly feel like Upright ending could resonate with many victims of abusive relationships, that were cutt off from outsiders by their abuser. It's a hopeful ending, witch shows that victims dint neeed to go down with a sinking ship.
oh my- I love your idea, I think it would've been a brilliant thing to do
Okay, it's my last comment on this video. . .l think.
So basically I saw information that Lucio was made a romamcable option because fans realy wanted it(tho I havent seen confirmation).
So I thought that it would been better if we had someone other as romancable option. . .Valerius. He maybe comes across as pretty mean and entitled, but I choose him because hes the only one of courtiers who doesn't represent horseman of apocalypse, and he doesnt seem to possess same powers as them. This is why he sticks out to me, and i actually think theres a lot of room for growth and possibilities. Imagine if Valerius rebelled against other courtiers and learned magic(because he already did helped us in Muriels route).
His could have been initiated if MC thouth of courtiers as suspicious and started digging information on them.
Also his route could also been an opportunity to divr into Lucios cheating and relatiounship with Nadia from outsiders perspective(or perhaps third party involved).
I mean, Valerius is essentially easier to redeem(its still better than redeeming Lucio)
Great video! I’m also a Lucio fan, but I totally get why people wouldn’t want to play his route. And you definitely make a great point about Muriel, as it was one of the main issues I had with his route, that he was pretty much never addressed.
I sort of think that the reversed ending is Lucio’s true route, though I did enjoy the good ending as well. I think it helped that I played Lucio before playing Muriel’s route, as well…😬
BUT-the stuff I like about Lucio’s character is basically the stuff that makes him problematic. His lack of concern for his actions make him completely wild and unpredictable. He has no sense of boundaries, no remorse, is completely self aggrandizing, and is a hot-head to boot. Why wouldn’t I want to live out that train wreck? 😂
TBH-I hated how childish they wrote him. I felt his character deserved more credit. A dude who was that willing to off his folks and take over the world would have to be at least be a good strategist. Power or not, if you want to lead people, you have to be somewhat competent. I would have liked to see him painted as less redeemable, or possibly have Lucio really have to take on more to try and rectify things on his own.
Anyway! Thanks for chatting Arcana! 😊
thank you for commenting!! while making this video i was moreso focused on the bratty idiot side that i completely missed that there's also an appeal to the dangerous supervillain
it's such a shame the two clash in a terrible way :,) he could've had a lot of potential if they committed to one or the other!
As a character I really see why an MC wouldn't want to have to put up with and be tethered to Lucio for a whole route. However, the plot provides a wildly different perspective on his background and past that doesn't otherwise come through in some routes. I feel like he is hardly humanised in some other routes.
@@Proteus-zb6qv for good reason! there would be very little appeal to having individual routes if the contents in all of them were the same
as for lucio's characterisation in other routes, besides being the villain he *is* directly responsible for a lot of the misfortunes the characters experience, on top of the plague
imagine lucio telling his sob story to muriel, the guy he enslaved and forced to kill for sport..... not very compelling!!
@@Proteus-zb6qvtbh, I personaly cant even see Lucios backstory as sad. For me personaly, if anything, its an perfect example of how Lucio was litteraly, yknow, willing to murder his parents for power. His mother that, while harsh on the outside, always gave Lucio a slack, and his soft father. He was also so pissy about not getting a leader position due to his ego and sense of entitlement.
So, thing is, even as someone who loves Lucio, i can still see so many problems with the way his route is written. First of all, in any other route he is literally the one who brought the Plague and so many death's wherever he went, not to mention traumatic experiences he gave to other characters. But in his own route he is made to be this "haha oops accidentally killed thousands of people lol" and it's basically forgiven by everyone around him bc "mc helped him change", except THEY DIDN'T. At least not fully, since basically all his route he keeps on manipulating mc on how he's done wrong and is gonna change for them, begging and playing on their pity to not leave him.
Also not to mention the fact that Muriel is basically absent in Lucio's route (to my memory), which i think was done intentionally as to not have a humongous confrontation with him enslaving Muriel, bc that's not something you can swipe under the rug.
It would be a bit better if the writers showed more of him helping with fixing the mess he's done, like fixing the water system in Vesuvia, instead of being like "oh yeah, mc and lucio leave everything and everyone behind and go adventuring occasionally returning to vesuvia for fun" like??? Do your job, writers
Every time I see Lucio’s route, I remember we could of had a Volta route
Wait, what? Lol
Oh damn, I just remember. As far as I'm aware, Lucio also cheated on Nadia with Valerius.
There, minus husband points off of Lucio for being unfaithful. I honestly doubt MC and Lucios relationship will last for long
oh that's right 😭 i think it was implied they had a thing going on and it was played for laughs, we never get into how that made nadia feel...
One of the developer's twitter said that Nadia didn't care about who Lucio was involved with outside of their relationship.
I had a rabid hatred for Lucio and was hella confused as to why people liked him. I was in arcana since they only had the beginning chapter, before there were routes and when the profiles were square.
So maybe I've just been around too long too understand the appeal, but when I did play his route yeah his fun personality got me. But holy shit he's just so badly written, there is nothing redeemable about him. funny does not mean void of consequence.
I don't agree with your points seeing how they can't be fit into real life nationality and ethnicities. Not to mention Lucios conquests were for the adrenaline not for colonization.
My biggest grip about him is his redemption, he faces none of it and when he does our ghost basically says dw it's chill. Even when he's faced by all the souls from the plague he still brushes it off and they're just ok with a love confession???
yes i totally agree!!! we see asras parents and lucio goes “sorry about that” like it was nothing??? and then when we are with lucio when he literally made asra an orphan we get no consequences at all.
I'm not gonna lie, I had played other routes: Julian, Asra, and Muriel in that order before Lucio. I really didn't like Lucio because coming from abuse and seeing the effects and trauma of the abuse caused by him upset me. I wouldn't say I was exactly a "Lucio Hater", but I hated his actions. I stopped seeing it when I found people I wanted to be friends with were so aggressive on "He did mistakes" and "He tried to make up for them". Going as far as to pass over Julian's trauma by saying "He was stressed out while running a kingdom". This video reminds me more than anything else why I stand on my point that I didn't like Lucio's route, or really Lucio as a character. I don't hate on him, but they could've done a lot better. I really do enjoy your video and I think it's a good way to give people a rundown of everything he has done and why it really isn't ok
I rant to my friends about this crap and actively choose to not go through his route because of this stuff. Selfishly killing hundreds of thousands of your own subjects and doing worse than just that shouldn't be a backstory you give to a romanceable character. And the fact that in all the other routes he never truly gets what he deserves besides a slap on the wrist and a, "get out of my life" feels even worse. I understand that its the "morally correct" thing to do but no one should mercy a man that has killed hundreds. Hell- nobody wanted mercy for Julian when he was accused of killing Lucio. Why should we be merciful to him?
I agree with you because this is exactly how I felt after playing Lucio’s route. And I don’t know this is a hot take or anything but I think the story of the Arcana is best suited for more linear narrative form, like a book or a comic book, because sometimes the routes can hurt each other in the great scheme of things. I haven’t played all of Portia’s route but there are some aspects that really bothered me, specially how Julian is portrayed in Portia’s route kinda like an idiot doctor instead of the tragic figure we meet on his route.
I just picked the game back up after 3-4 years, remembered a bit, mostly about what Lucio did to Muriel, and the way Lucio literally says "Oopsies" to his own actions threw me off so much, like it just disgusted me. It was like they were literally babying him in an attempt to make this GROWN ASS MAN look like he didn't understand the true weight behind his actions in an attempt to make him seem more agreeable to the fanbase. It doesn't help that the characters who were affected by him that do manage to make an appearance almost seem TOO willing to forget what Lucio did, even for small moments with the paid options.
I noticed this mostly in Chapter XI and XII, both scenes where you spend some extra moments with Lucio, just some overall quality time and the other characters seem a bit TOO comfortable with your relationship. Like Asra just leaves the MC with Lucio in the cave so they can have time alone, and Morga like watches us goofing around comfortably, and it just felt way too lighthearted for two of the characters who are the most discontent with Lucio currently. Hell, didn't Morga threaten to kill Lucio moments beforehand??
The game just seems overall too comfortable forgetting who Lucio is, what he's done, and who he's hurt along the way; in exchange for a couple of cute romance scenes. I wish they kinda stuck more with the lore on his route or at least lightened up his character if they were gonna stick with the dating simulator aspect.
He's a bratty bottom, and some people are into that. That's why people simp over him.
any Asra lovers here who always hated Lucio ?
Not an asra lover but yep. I hate him. Too.
*LUCIO ROUTE SPOILERS AHEAD* TW: Abuse/Emotional abuse
What bugs me is they tried to have their cake and eat it too (with alot of things in the arcana but this is one example) when it comes to him coming to terms with what he did. They shucked that off on literal faceless ghosts at the Lazaret instead of the M6 who are present and integral to the story. I get wanting to be cool in front of your friend and not cause a scene or even thinking what happened is small potatoes in comparison to dealing with the devil but honestly no. Besides Morga calling him on his shit they reduced Asra and Nadia to just being passive aggressive and petty.. towards/in regards to their actual abuser? I'm not saying doing that doesn't help (quite the contrary imo) but that is not enough and it seems to be played as them bullying Lucio instead of having the opportunity to confront their abuser, if they so choose. It feels really disturbing in the culture of perfect victims and blatant victim blaming all around for the M6 to be forced into a corner like that. Yes I know it's fictional but it can be triggering to survivors of abuse who were forced to play nice and/or perpetuate the idea that anyone can just get away with doing the worst (especially a white presenting colonizer). Genuinely people think they can do horrific shit and get off on a "but i'm a different person now!" without any change. His route is also just a bizarre read if you've ever been manipulated by an abuser. I really thought he was just trying to get his way when he just out the gate starts flirting with you but when every choice is just playing right into it.. it was just even more unrealistic and I honestly was still waiting for the shoe to drop and him to be all "Sike! You just helped me with my plan further lol" and run back to the Devil but then boom Upright Ending. Again, lot's of trying to have their cake and eat it too but I digress.
That all being said a friend I have who has an OC that's with Lucio have headcannoned a variety of therapy, group therapy, etc.
i mentioned it in another comment but will say again in response to this: i have to imagine the reason they downplayed a lot of lucio's actions was because they had to accomodate new players who might pick his route first. without any prior knowledge of the game or it's characters, an actual sincere deep dive on lucio as an abuser wouldn't make for a "fun" route.
which definitely goes to show that the devs wrote themselves into a corner by making lucio the ABSOLUTE worst. it really seems like from his conception he was made to be a horrible irredeemable villain; everywhere from his backstory to his actions in life and death reinforces that he's a POS, no redeeming qualities whatsoever. i have to imagine he wasn't meant to be romanceable at first because of that.
@@malacalico Exactly! I really don't want to say they did things without thinking because that's not fair but I don't think they really thought ahead at all which is valid to an extent. A huge mind f I have for example is the ages of characters/timing of plot points and events not lining up a majority of the time. Like how Julian was the one who amputated Lucio's arm but based around everything else that'd make Julian a teen and is a little far fetched though not out of the realm of possibility. I think alot of choices where made to justify previous ideas they'd made and kinda doubled down on some concepts because they are interesting buy at the same time don't make the most sense. Granted in general even on the business side it seems like the devs weren't the best at making plans but again I feel weird faulting them too hard on that because I've never built a story driven game before, that must be maddening lol buuuut yes to everything you've said, also it was a great video as a whole!!
@@PokeJoltz it's fair criticism! plus it's still a company and it's a product you pay for (or at the very least they want you to, through microtransactions), so you have a right to hold them to a certain standard. that said i really appreciate that you have compassion and understanding for the creatives behind games like these :)
thank you so much for sharing you thoughts and i'm glad you liked the video!
@@malacalicoand goddamit they were successful with downplaying all those Lucios crimes. I, as a player who chose Lucios route first and had bad realy bad english, realy didnt undertood full shittines of him until playing Muriel route
Honestly glad someone said it. When I was first introduced to the game it was through a friend who loved this bastard, so I grew to love this bastard. I think his athstetic is neat and what he stands for is fascinating, but I also prefer to take him and twist it. Making MCs that match him or know him earlier on to melt him down instead of how the game actually works it out.
My first MC was a blind sucker for him, but a more recent one I've made isn't afraid to challenge and yell and get mad; which is what we should have seen in the game. MC should be mad, furious because of what he's done. Romance should take more time at least if they wanted that, or change what they had him do earlier on somehow.
I always thought his route felt off anyways because when I first started playing his route was just starting to roll out, so I played every other route to pass the time. This led me to have mixed feels about my love of his character because I saw the better side of him first through my friend, but now was seeing the real character.
I think Nix Hydra should have let him be a shit in his route and have the MC confront that. Deal with it properly and head on which can lead to more resolution on how much of a fucking shit he is. Because he really is a different person in the end, and that feels weird. He is an entitled piece of shit and that should have been handled better. Broken down, confronted, begin and work towards making amends and shit. I mean he really can't make amends because of the horrors he brought with him, but there still could have been more of an effort instead of the odd one we got.
Idk I think theoretically he is neat, but in execution they built such a great villain that doesn't work well with his route. If it didn't exist people would whine about it, but really he shouldn't have gotten it.
Honestly this may not make any sense, I last played the game in 2020, but is just something I've always felt weird about. Even if I do love this awful man I will gladly say he is an awful horrible piece of human shit, and I like more the idea of what promises he holds baring the details therein. At least that's how I can explain a little middle school me was losing my marbles over this man.
God your art is beautiful I would love to see your process, and the appeal of Lucio to me was he’s fun. I could ask him “why do you like this thing “ and he’d answer “because I find it cool .” that was appealing to me because it was down to earth and simple and not me asking why do you like that and getting pages of trauma dumped on to you. Which for me made getting into the game easier, as a queer women poc I personally been through a lot and still am suffering the consequences of decisions my mother made when I couldn’t go against because I was a minor, so for me Lucio was a easy and fun character because he wasn’t the way he was because of trauma it was because he chose to not be a better person and you had to help him get over that flaw. I’m definitely still upset that we the players couldn’t go through his entire character arc because they wanted to go easy on him to make him romantically appealing, even when I was playing his route I really wanted him to fully acknowledge what he’s done (he was fortunately and unfortunately my first pick when I played so I didn’t know the full extent of what he did at the time until I finished his route and played the others) even when the writers tried to cover or lightly go over his wrongs as poc minority I could put two and two together even without the pile of other things he did to the other characters. Sorry if this long just really loved the video and hope you do more on arcana because there isn’t a lot of it.
ahh thank you so much for commenting!! it really was a joy to read and see your thoughts, thank you for enjoying the video :D 💖💕
Jesus, your comment hits home for me. He was also my first route and I found this all out when I finished all both his endings and I wanted him to acknowledge all his bad choices but it didn't happen
Honestly, I really like this kind of characters (hate it in real life but so enjoyable in fiction). But with Lucio... it doesn't work. It doesn't work because he's not a villain without realizing it or a scared and stupid child.
He had tortured, enslaved, killed, manipulated, stole and even more. He was unredeemable when his romance appeared.
If Lucio was just a stupid and manipulated man-child who just need to open his eyes, it would have been fine by me. But in every others routes, he's just 100% villain, aware and proud of it.
i completely agree. My favourite route is Muriel's and his whole life has been ruined by Lucio and (reserved ending spoilers) he can even go back to being brutal and forced to leave the hut.
I can understand the appeal for his character as a fun/time spending route to play but considering all the things he's done to the other characters just feels so bad to play and i feel too guilty to enjoy it
Lucio is honestly the only love interest I actively dislike. Lucio reminds me too much of my narcissistic family. At least the selfishness of the other characters stemmed from a love for others, Lucio is just angsty... because he can I guess? Also he hurt so many of the other love interests directly and indirectly. (spoilers ahead)
Also it bothers me how rushed Lucio's and Portia's routes are. Lucio especially because in the good ending he's suddenly "not so bad" and in the bad ending the apprentice basically becomes Lucio's archetype. At least Portia's route is slightly charming in its absurdity, Lucio is just.... enable-y. I also think the racism thing is pretty good critique, the setting for the city was based on (especially medieval) Italian culture and Lucio's culture is heavily coded to be Nordic and a lot of the characters are coded to be from other cultures that currently or have been oppressed in the past (even Julian and Portia, having red hair and being from an island with seals, is heavily coded to be Irish, who suffered from discrimination by both the British and Americans)
I like Lucio - I’m not sure if he’s playing dumb the entire time and that’s just the start of his abuse cycle perhaps… but *spoiler?* the cake monkeys should have ate him.
I do like Lucio quite a lot, I liked him as a villain since it was a well established fact and he clearly emits that easily, I felt the anger and remorse that the characters he has traumatized. He was technically perfect to be a villain, in most aspects.
But when I did try his route, all I could simply say that, yes I liked him as a love interest but it absolutely lacked the depth of how many things he has managed to mess up within the given storyline. I absolutely agree with your point since it’s so off putting that they dumbed down the traumatic experiences of other characters, and I know well that it’s not easy to forgive someone who has severely traumatized you.
Im so glad I stumbled on this video cuz it is Good Shit. I hate how they handled Lucio so much, like if they wanted him to be a romance option then they shouldve either; Not done that, or reduce the severity of his crimes by A Lot. Take out the abuse and just make him an annoying bratty rich boy, or to keep the villain redemption they couldve made him someone who was manipulated by the demons and Tricked into doing/ignoring the awful results of his actions instead of malicious and uncaring, it wouldve still been Bad and he'd still have to answer for it but at least then theres more to work with than just ignoring everything he did wrong cuz theres little to no going back from "I knew i was traumatising/killing people but I couldnt care less so imma keep doing it LOL". Making him the devil's puppet would at least give the opportunity for him to be horrified by the effects of what he's done and make actual strides to Do Better. (Off topic but I also Hate that they made the villain the Devil, it feels so boring and Card Board Cut Out Christian, especially when All the other Arcana are helping the MC or neutral at worst, but yeah the Devil Arcana is Evil cuz ofc he is! The tarot/arcana are guiding and helpful Except for him he's the Big Bad who wants to do Big Bad things cuz he's bored or smth. Like, they couldve made him Stuck in a deal with Lucio and have no choice but to fulfill his end of being the big bad but still help the mc in small ways, or make the courtiers the big bad or Lucio the big bad or something other than 'Devil Evil Cuz Devil')
There were so many things they couldve done with Lucio, including just! Keeping him a villain without making him a love interest just cuz some people are willing to handwave abuse and colonization bullshit just cuz a dude is a not outright ugly white presenting man! He's not even particularly handsome he looks like a rodent with delusions of grandeur! They could have given us anyone else as a third romance with way less baggage! Give us Morga who's still got issues but is Trying, or Valerius the wine snob/brat who does switch to our side in nadias route if i remember correctly! Or hell, let me romance Asra's parents, Salim and Aisha are good people who are super cute and we need more poly rep anyways please I will Beg for this
Sorry this is Long but I was super into Arcana and still enjoy parts of it but I am just, so Disappointed with some of the story choices made, it really sucks when smth you really enjoy drops the ball so bad like that.
I strongly disagree with the idea of non-redeemability of Lucio that many commentators stated. Writers didn't know how redemption arc works or didn't care or the topics needed to be brought up for his story to be convincing are too heavy and complicated for their vision of The Arcana and it's target audience. Probably all three. I love Lucio deeply, so it almost hurts me to think of the wasted potential.
this. they wrote lucio more like a malleable plot device than an actual defined character. from a writer's perspective, he deserved better
this. they wrote lucio more like a malleable plot device than an actual defined character. from a writer's perspective, he deserved better
I just had this idea, ¿what if there was a route, where the MC ACTUALLY tried to fight Lucio by themselves instead of Lucio being a love interest? . ¿What if the MC could make him pay for all of the damage that he did and in the process be able to save Vesuvia ? I don't know, i just thought about this.
Lucio is a monster, he would deserve to be locked up in a cell and roting, and not only that, he should be locked up in hell.
He should not be a datable character, like, seriously. And it is terrible that he is- it's just- jeez-
Five months have passed, and i have decided to write a fricking fan fiction about my idea, and I will try to make Lucio's character as cruel as he actually is
@@yoltzinquetzal2875 Based. Make the MC kick his ass I live for that kinda shit lmao
@@yoltzinquetzal2875Have you finished it yet? Or posted it somewhere? I would really love to read it!
@@junaiu1044 sadly i haven't had the time to finish it thanks to school, but i'm currently working on it.
@@yoltzinquetzal2875can you say the name of your fanfic? Because I'm realy intrigued
I played Lucio route first and absolutely fell in love with him however upon learning what he did in other routes i do get how maybe he should’ve faced what he did a bit more lol. Buts hes still my favourite icl😅
I'm not surprised all of these problems exists in the story knowing the history of the creators (two specifically) and other major issues coming from this game/company. I love the Arcana i really do, but I can't stand the issues with racism, colonization, enslavement, abuse, the sexualizing of the 2 main poc characters, etc. It makes me kinda sick in the stomach
Especially wanted to add AS A POC MYSELF who STILL suffers from generational trauma
It's a romance game??? They're supposed to be Lowkey sexual?
This is literally one of the best videos ive ever watched. Maybe cuz im a hardcore Muriel fan and hate lucio on an unholy level BUT HOLY SHIT BRO THIS VIDEO IS JUST AMAZING I LOVE THE POINTS U BROUGHT UP AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! hes a disgusting abuser, enslaver, man child who has no redeemable qualities (in my opinion) and i think the devs just did a horrible job writing his route and the amount of “oopsies” he says in the route makes me want to skin myself. I so glad you brought this up and talked about it because I feel like so many Arcana fans just dont care or just dont talk about it. (SORRY IF THIS DOESNT MAKE SENSE I REALLY SUCK AT TRANSLATING MY THOUGHTS INTO WORDS) also omg ur art is so gorgeous
YES. You put everything about how I feel about Lucio into words. While playing, I never once saw Lucio as a romancable character. His literal presence caused harm to so many people, including the other love interests and even US, on so many occasions. I honestly hate how his route and a lot of the fandom just downgrade all his actions to little oopsies. The Arcana is so underrated, you're literally the only youtuber I've seen talking about it like this lol.
I myself hated Lucio for most of the same reasons you listed. When I played his route, I was just annoyed at how there was very little character development with Lucio. Closest to any development he gets is when in some of the routes of the other characters, Lucio kinda becomes the redeemed villain when he decides to side with the mc and his life is spared (usually after someone debates killing him for what he's done), but even then, he never realizes the consequences of his actions and is still a bratty man. The comment you made on the traumatization of people of color in the game is a problematic thing indeed and that's not even getting into other problematic things happening for them in the game. In that aspect, it doesn't help that the remaining love interests are Jewish coded as well, either way, it's people who are historically marginalized in real life that suffered the most in the visual novel.
I played the Lucio route a while back. I didn't like it. Maybe if Lucio weren't in the Arcana universe and didn't do everything he did, but all I could think of was how much I (my character) was betraying Asra in particular. His route isn't even my favorite, but it felt so gross being like "yes I know Lucio kidnapped your parents and left you orphaned, not to mention basically destroyed Vesuvia with the plague but you just don't understand us".
i came for the art, stayed because i agree with the intro... I totally agree!! love this kind of video. You did a wonderful job!! 🎯🩵
tysm! although this video is a bit old, i still appreciate it :]
i just got recced this video and honestly. i agree with a lot of your points. what im about to say though it may seem reductive is my genuine thoughts on the matter:
arcana is. poorly written in general. the main marketing hook of the game was julian and it shows. even his route is barebones and you'd find dime a dozen of the same stories by randomly selecting one sad anime boy and typing his name in the ao3 tags. the devs did not think through the implications of what they were doing. like cmon, the sudden reveal that nadia's wedding to lucio was a shotgun because they obviously couldn't figure out how to fit the timeline together and that was the only solution? right.
so i have to just not take the story seriously and read the text as it presents itself, as shallow as that may be. because i have dug into it, believe me, and there's a nice finish definitely, it's laid over some rusted and poorly thought out foundations. this doubly goes for the later added routes.
Agreed. I never liked Lucio, because he wasn’t originally intended to be a love interest. Just a villain.
But I’m pretty sure some sect of the fandom pushed enough for it, and the writing of his route contradicts Lucio in every other route.
I don’t get what anyone sees in him as a romanceable character . He’s a murderer, a colonizer, a tyrant, and a psychotic man-child. He ruined the lives of about everyone else in the main cast.
He’s disgusting, and if he wasn’t pretty no one would like him. He only has fans because people think he’s pretty.
My biggest problem with Lucio's route is that every single horrendous thing Lucio committed is written off as an 'accident'. Like he isn't a terrible person who hurt the rest of the cast intentionally, just a whiny bratty manchild who made some 'oopsies' but never really had any bad intentions. He never really takes acountability for his actions, even Morga (a side character) takes accountability for her actions better than he does. Also I find it weird how everyone else forgives him so easily?? I've seen people in the fandom say that Asra was harsh on Lucio for telling MC to stay away from him, but you have to consider that this man WRECKED Asra's life, his parent's lives, his best friend's life and pretty much murdered the person he loved. Not saying Asra doesn't have flaws as a character, but if I knew someone as messed up as Lucio, I'd make sure everyone I knew kept a safe distance from them.
I think even the courtiers were written better than Lucio. The devs should've made Lucio an asshole to MC in his route or written him to be like Valdemar, someone who is only interested in associating themself with the rest of the cast if their interests align. Honestly wasted potential, his backstory set him up to be an interesting villain. A redemption arc could've worked, but it would probably take longer than the current Lucio route, and would be more complex and have a lot more character conflict.
On a side note I love your character sprite! Great vid, I'd love to see more Arcana ones in the future in you feel up it it!
I first played Muriels route(my fav) so yeah Im fairly a new player and I really disliked him after that I kinda started to like him, idk there was something about his personality that appealed to me, now after some time of not playing and watching your vid...got me thinking, I didnt really think all of that through, idk if Ill deslike lucio but I do feel different about him now, I never finished his route, kinda lost interest in the game in general but knowing that Muriel is not acknowledged makes not want to play it again, Muri is def my fav character of the arcana and he is sooo soo traumatized its sad to know this.
I've honestly never liked lucio and when i played his route, made it the reversd ending lol.
I just despised him for how cruel he was and how of a horrible ruler/count he was to versuvia, and yes, i think he as a villian would be a great character, but don't force him to change during his arc.
Maybe I'm overreacting that his route has many flaws but, if possible to rewrite to mkae his character better, maybe even though he did these horrific things, they don't forgive him but help him change for yhe better.
Yeah i think lucio would still want people to forgive him but during his route he realizes his many many faults and understands that many people wouldn't forgive him, so he accepts that its the truth.
Yeah just my opinion. I really wish this would have been the route.
thank you for sharing! i feel the same way, not only is it a waste of potential, but a complete punch in the face to everyone he's harmed 😭
@@malacalico this is why he works better as a villain in the others rotes tbh-
Even though in portias route that's not the case lol
Adding to this.
Possibly, after he realizes what he did was so wrong, and realizes what he did, kills his own father, does all of these horrible things, he would go through probably the five stages of gr i e f-
Or just. He goes through the five stages of trying to be a good person. Like zuko.
Zuko is well written, yet this was really a shit route tbh-
If zuko and endeavor could have a slow redemption arc, how about him with a good route, COME ON-
And the tragic thing is for julians route, it is revealed that he gave julian the plague, WHY HIM!
HES LEGIT ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS LIKE. TF MAN WHY-
HE SAVED AND GAVE YOU A NEW ARM YET YOU GIVE HIM THIS?!
*Thank you for the end of this tedtalk.*
I really liked this video and your take on lucio, he’s my favorite character and I totally get why some people don’t like him, so it’s really interesting to see people talk about why he’s so awful lol
(Also your art is so cool 😭)
thank you sm!! it's interesting how polarising his reception is but the main takeaway i get is that no one takes it very seriously, which is fair! i can just be very passionate sometimes orz
Fr fr, his route is so weird, I cringed all the time that I played it and just finished it to see how it ended and got pretty annoyed by how everyone seemed ok with him just being around again. Not even Asra, Muriel or his parents said something, they just accepted it. And you also just start dating him cus "Ohhhh he is so handsome, strong and bratty. I know he has murdered people, committed several war crimes, traumatized everyone around him because he is a selfish childman and he is the reason why the plague that killed us (the MC) started; but he said he is sorry and is trying to change (btw, he only finds us attractive because we are hard to get at first)". I don't understand how someone finds him attractive even if we see him being an AH to everyone around him in EVERY OTHER ROUTE. I'm totally a sucker for Muriel and will never forgive Lucio for what he did to him
You have a lot of really good points! Also your art is amazing, love the style
thank you!! 💕💕
omfg your art slays, it's deliciously good
Lucio is literally such a terrible person that even the courtiers got a redemption, or at the very least are morally ambiguous. Like how Valdemar helped us in Portia’s route. Or how Volta helps multiple times and becomes a guardian to the heart of the forest in one route. I think it’s really telling that the literal demons are morally ambiguous with probably the smallest list of crimes compared to Lucio 💀 like bro how are your henchman saints compared to you
The courtiers are objectively bad people (minus Volta. She’s just there), and even they are given better treatment thay lucio. Characters acknowledge their actions, the courtiers like Volta, Vlastomil, and Valerius are forced to face the consequences of their actions. Like the writers clearly know how to make villains that are just morally grey enough that they’re not irredeemable
And maybe I’m reading into this a bit, but it seems like even the courtiers want Lucio dead. None of them particularly like Lucio, expect Vulgora. In Muriel’s route Valdemar is hinted to intentionally not pay attention to the match and it’s what allows the others to win against Lucio. And is even smiling when Lucio is being dragged away by chains.
...it was supposed to be shorter, I swear.
Arcana routes are handled in mysterious ways for sure, but I found an explanation that, I think, makes them make sense. Every route shows the world and all of the characters from the perspective of the one who the route belongs to. I always had this theory, but made it a strong headcanon after playing Muriel's route: all the other routes showed Lucio as varying shades of incapable and pathetic; his entire story is about him having no guts to take what he wants, lest someone takes it for him. Yet Muriel, deeply traumatized and absolutely terrified of him, sees him as this monstrous heartreaper that cannot be defeated. Which is clearly waaay too much credit. I was shocked to see Lucio *successfully doing things himself* all of a sudden and just couldn't explain it any other way.
Then I played Lucio's route, and it clicked into place finally: Lucio in his own route is how he perceives himself. Everyone letting his "oopsies" slide is what HE wants to happen. It's his fairytale he made for himself to protect himself from facing his own vile nature, the terror of his actions and the heaviness of the consequences. The man's in deep denial in every route, but in his own, you see it from within. I actually like the glimpses of realness here and there, like when he breaks down near the end of the route or makes this little remark in the "Winter Wonderland" tale, admitting that he knows he is incapable, pathetic and a mess who can never achieve a thing on his own. I guess this is why he doesn't even bother trying (which is in no way an excuse, obviously).
I also disagree about his past adding nothing to his character. If anything, it perfectly explains the bloody mess Lucio is. He was born into a tribe that lived off of murderous raids and had no problem murdering their own. From infancy, he was taught that he was in his right to take anything from anyone if he was strong enough to spill their innards. Then he spent his entire childhood and adolescence with his mother using him as a trash bin for her frustration with his father. She also forced him (still a child, just like that image of Asra!) into doing dangerous delulu things to "man him up" for the position of the chief (so he wouldn't be as pathetic as his father, lol), and when he couldn't, she would do it herself, lie to her tribe to cover for him and blamed HIM for what is entirely HER doing! Morga taught her son nothing but how to mess up and wait for it to magically figure itself out. She was a horrible wife, a disastrous mother and a disgusting individual in general, so whatever happened to her next, she manifested it and made it happen with her own two hands.
Lucio's actions are unforgivable, but I'm genuinely surprised by the lack of hate towards the woman who stands behind him. Her attempt at accountability is just slightly better than her son's.
my guess is that we see so little of morga that we don't realise how much she's at fault for anything, then what little we see of her is acknowledging she made a mistake and knowing she can't make up for it (also pretty priviledge definitely plays a part lol)
meanwhile, quite literally everything that we see is a consequence of lucio and he runs from it until the very end, or tries to turn things back into his favour still at the expense of others, even if he has his reasons he's much less sympathetic
I honestly feel like they could have Did better with him. He was such a a good starter base but instead they made him in a way more for fan service. I get it the evil type of guy that gets redemption in a way it’s like I can change him type of guy but in a way, I feel like they made it too much over bearing in the fact of his forgiveness he still never said sorry for the things that he did to the people that actually got it worse like Muriel . They didn’t give him the right struggle. Constantly he’s forgiven I get it they can’t make his route longer than others but at the same time, I feel like the MC for gave him to quickly it should’ve been in a way that was not so easy and how childish he acts was a major no no I get it characters could have a childish aspect like asra has or Portia in certain aspects In a way he fits to perfectly in the stereotype of “ bratty bottom” his plot twist routes were good in a since but as a Lucio fan I feel like he didn’t do enough they should have given him the correct plot since he is the only villain in this whole story plot that has a route.he should have been different as the others were but they gave him such a clique story heck even shows and other things do better at it and their not a game like the arcana .they should abscess considered the fact of him not needing a everybody is happy and love each other story in the upright ending not all good endings has their everything and everybody is good with each other type of thing he didn’t need to end in a note of yes I “ am a fully improved man and I repented for all my wrongs” it takes time .
i think another aspect of the arcana's "formula" that made lucio's character suffer is the fact that once you pick a route, that means the character you chose will accompany you the whole time
it might've been interesting to keep lucio as an antagonist even in his own route. so rather than having an immature bratty LI (which.. we kinda already get with julian?? i digress) we get to play more into lucio's appeal as an unpredictable danger. we can still have the "i can fix him" fantasy by making that the driving motivation for the MC, which could in turn distance them from the other members of the cast.
i also agree that the "everyone is happy" ending isn't the most fulfilling ending lucio's route could've provided. i think it would've been interesting for the actual romance to be implied to start only after the ending of his route. or it could be a tragedy where he dies at the end, noble sacrifice style. either way, lots of missed potential :(
I think Asra needs some looking into, hes the games fav kid and gets away with literal murder with no
consequences, manipulated Julian, pretended he loved him for his own gain, and controls mcs life, but NO, its okay becuz he did it for love.
i haven't played this game in actual years so i can't argue for or against asra, but i know he's gotten a lot of scrutiny so you aren't alone in the sentiment
Asra sabotaged the ritual Lucio was trying to do if that's what you're talking about.
In Asra's route, they begin setting boundaries with Julian like saying that they want to walk home alone and Julian follows or when they tell Julian that they "can't give him everything he wants," and Julian responds with, "I'll take what I can get." Asra was emotionally unavailable at the time and made it clear with Julian as Asra could only think of their times with MC when with Julian.
Asra was very clingy and overprotective at first but often let MC make their own decisions, after all, they had to take care of MC until they were able to be on their own as they were in that vegetable state for a long time. Often times, Asra just left MC on their own after they learned everything again. Even in the other routes, Asra constantly asks MC if they really want to do certain things and is supportive, to an extent (most times can be petty)
I think the Asra situation and the other routes need to be looked at more though. I'm looking into rewriting and redesigning each route and characters, blending it together.
Edit: Asra is also younger than Julian in this situation. I believe that both made questionable decisions in their relationship and people are really quick to hop on Asra without looking at the full picture. Julian expected too much of Asra and Asra played off of his desperation.
Edit 2: But I agree there are a lot of problems with Asra, Asra is obsessed with the MC that they knew before to the point of resurrecting them. They are obsessive and selfish. I do have to say previously that Asra does think they know what's best for MC without giving them a chance to grow.
I ran through Lucio's route at the very end after playing all the others, just to say I completed them all. Throughout the entire thing, I had never felt anything other than irritation, vexation, and disdain, and that wasn't thinking about it in context with the other characters. If I had been able to be true to my own character during the route, there would have been so many things that went differently. Asra probably would have noted that he could not possibly have imagined a worse pairing and wondered how invested Nadia was in Lucio coming back alive if I was his only chaperone - not that I would have actively killed him but like, if I happened to be too far away, or I was looking somewhere else and there was an accident, that kind of thing. (vague spoilers) "Hmm? You reneged on a deal with the Devil? Damn, sounds like you two oughta chat. Byeee~
Thank you for making this vid, and can I just say that I really love your art?! Loved the drawing where you were taking off his golden arm lol. But really, I do agree with every point you made in this video and I can say that I do dislike Lucio too. I was literally trying my hardest to get that reversed ending, and SOMEHOW got the upright ending, so even I was surprised. Love the video and hope you make more reviews in the future!! :>
thank you sm!! 💕💕
@@malacalico you're welcome!!
I start playing Arcana the last weak, it is the First time I was playing this kind of Game, like dating simulators and I am still getting used to it, I try all the first chapter of all the routes, and when I arrive Lucio's I found it funny, so I finish that route at first.... whitout knowing all the traumas he did to the other characters...I really loved his character in order that he Made me laught a Lot, Now that I know the other routes... OMG.... He is really other character, now I see him whith other eyes, I fall in loved whith he in his route, maybe I Will still if he was a different character, but whith the things he has done now I feel Bad for all the other characters
Pd: sorry if I didn't explain my idea very well, I am from Peru and I even if I understand English it is difficult to me writte My ideas in this language, but I can surely say Your video and draw was awesome! I love your stile and You express your ideas really well! Thanks you
thank you so much for the kind words! i appreciate you for sharing your thoughts, even if you aren't fluent in english :)
@@malacalico and thanks You for answering me! It means a lot, I hope You have a nice day/night (I don't know what hour it can be on your country xd)
Tbh I'm kinda mad that Vulgora, Volta, Valerius, and Vlastomil aren't romanceable because "they're demon monster dudes guys!! 🥺🥺" but Lucio completely fucked over every single character and harmed them deliberately for his own gain and he gets an entire redemption arc that strays from canon (and our morals in every other route) for the sake of fan interest. 😭😭
i never heard of this game but i liked this video
ty bestie 🥴
Ok I’m so glad you brought this up bc I’m trying to 100% the game and I’m in his route rn. And I honestly was so shocked on why our MC was not meaner to him or brought up all the pain he’s caused others especially to Muriel. I feel like this may be my least favorite route bc Everytime he would do something I’ll always think “Dog, you’re a colonizer / abuser / toxic etc. 😔 His chapter could’ve been so much more if not a very dark chapter to explore but I feel like the devs had to soften a lot of it. Which I understand bc his crimes are very severe especially for a romance game, but now it also undermines them in his route.
as asra lover who still sees him as my comfort character in this year of 2024
i always hated his ass
especially shit he did to muriel
he was literally the root pf EVERYONE'S problems
I hate how so many people call Asra manipulative because of how he acts in the other routes and ignore the fact that their abandonment issues are most likely due to 1. His parents having to leave his life at such a young age and 2. Him seeing his lover die the moment he leaves them alone. It's even more messed up when you think about the implications of Asra having to watch the MC be with Lucio in his route, the person literally responsible for the plague that killed us in the first place. Sorry I needed to rant lol
I’m confused. The plague wasn’t the deal he made, it was a punishment one of the courtiers gave him for not following through on his deals with them.
it's true that he didn't ask for plague powers, but it's hard to count it as a punishment if it took 3 decades and the lives of countless innocents (of which he does not feel any remorse for) for him to care about it
to be fair, we could have had a much better story if his route was longer and his writer gave a shit about writing him
this one reddit statement really hammered it in for me, even if i tolerate lucio - "they had him apologise & be forgiven, when they should have had him apologise & MAKE AMENDS."
like as much as i "like" lucio, he is about the LEAST developed character ( with good reason, seeing as he was not supposed to be romanced ) - i would've much preferred his ending be a tragedy, regardless of his ending. it would be better than just forgiveness just *granted* to him, like...
To be honest there are things I agree with you and others I completely disagree so much so that I would write an essay but it's been a year so I won't waste my time just know that a lot of things here were exaggerated and extrapolated ! But it was still a very nice illustrated video
It always bothered me how they completely brushed over Julian's and Muriel's trauma in Lucio's route. Lucio enslaved Muriel and forced him to kill people, which lead to him developing extreme social anxiety and fear of people. And with Julian, he made him work with a literal demon in horrible workplace conditions, and then intentionally infected him with the plague. But none of these characters seem to get any closure for any of this, they don't even make an appearance in the route 💀💀
I haven't played the new routes but I think that's where all this problem comes from JAKSJ. I started playing when only Asra, Julian and Nadia were romanceable and I was really confused when I came back and you could even romance Lucio ??
Oh no... I... I feel so seen. Holy crap!
as someone who really liked lucio only in his route i must say.. yeah they made him a horrible disgusting person but they weren't willing to dive into it, if they maybe built his redemption arc better or if they made him more sympathetic in the other routes then this wouldn't be an issue. His character feels like they were trying to include another romance character at the very last second and didn't have time to actually write a character story that redeems him somehow
I really don't like that Lucio is a colonizer and (TECHNICALLY) a slave owner, and yet we can still romance him despite that fact.
I like his character, he's a really great character and a fantastic villain, but I would never ever feel anything romantic towards him, and I did not like playing his route. He's genuinely despicable.
It's so odd that Muriel is not mentioned at all in Lucio's route, considering Muriel is (arguably) the biggest victim of Lucio's disgusting behaviour. It's like the devs were like "mmm no colonising indigenous people and enslaving Muriel + othersis too evil for a romantic interest, let's just forget about it!"
and the worst part is that ppl still like him???? like ?????
I can’t bring myself to like Lucio especially after doing Asra and Muriel’s route. I was under the impression it was going to be a very heavy redemption arc of a spoilt brat of a man being forced to confront his wrongdoings to every character whilst the MC is stern to him. I’ll probably still play it because I want to complete every route but I’m surprised by how the writers tackled him
I don't think it really makes sense to say Lucio gets off easy, since well. You have to actively work for that. In some routes he gets eaten alive. At the end of the day you have to make a conscious choice of "yes I want to date this abuser" and that's kinda on the player. It's like nuking people in political strategy games, you get what you asked for
his fate in other routes if anything proves just how good he has it in his own route (upright ending, at least). by the end of the upright ending, all the people he abused are just chill with him and you still get to be friends with them. as for the "work" you have to do to "redeem" him? you just have to roll your eyes at him a couple times. lucio in his own route retains non of what actually makes him dangerous, he's reduced to a whiny brat that wasn't conscious of his actions- which is a type of danger all on it's own, but NOT what lucio in the other routes presents.
As a person who absolutely adores Lucio in the main arcana routes, his route needed to be a little more better written. They ignored way too many things in his route and there were so many plot holes. As a writer I would love to see someone make a fan made re-written route for him. The fandom also has a huge mischaracterization problem when it comes to characters like Asra Muriel and Lucio. Lucio’s route felt more like baby sitting in my opinion. I wish they went with more of a villiany route than the poorly written route we got. I know some fans don’t like him, but there is a small part of a fandom that are think arnt supposed to like messed up characters (even if written poorly) which can be frustrating when you try to explain why you like Lucio or one of the courtiers. (I’m so late to this video but this is such a good summary of Lucio 😭. I apologize for my spelling)
I'm sorry but I feel like some things are unforgivable and the only way to make Lucio a decent romantic interest is redemption, but not only (as far as I've read bc I haven't played his route) this isn't accomplished as it's surface-level mention of the bad things he's done, but there's no redemption for most of it, he could never have a place with the rest of characters
Oh my god..that is so, so tragic..Anyways! Lucio is my babygirl he does no wrong❤
I only just started playing and was curious about him. Though Asra/Julian have more of my attention. But I think I get it. I’m a massive fan of Mystic Messenger. I’ve heard fans talk about Rika and how she is misunderstood and redeemable.. UM WOT M8?! I think game devs should be able to add any type of characters they want to game. But we should not be apologists for characters that are genuinely garbage/evil people.
I WANTED to like him, and do his romantic path because im a sucker for villain characters BUT all it took was one of his lines from the heart mini game and it was way turned off. i like villains just.... not the man child ones...? and watching this video i realize i probs made the right choice for more reasons than "ew stop talking bout your ex" (man i take this shit too seriously.)
I love Lucio, I really do. But I agree he isn't written the best at ALL!! whenever I play his route I detach myself from the other routes, I just take solace in the fact at the end of the game I take his ass away from the rest of them.
Also I was SO annoyed they didn't write on what he did to Muriel, I was expecting him to apologies and most likely not get forgiven, or they shouldn't of put him in. I understand we get a good ending by calling him out but STILL!!
I can't pinpoint why I like him, I suppose when I play I just enjoy how froward he is
🤷♀
Lucio is a fun and engaging character but he’s also, in many ways, morally reprehensible. I think a romance route for him was absolutely a viable option, but not if you handle it like every other route in the game. For a Lucio romance to not feel dissonant to the rest of the game, either he needs to be abusive towards the MC, or the MC needs to be a bad person. Either of these options, with proper upfront warning about what the player was getting into, could have been interesting and added to the overarching narrative of the game, but since the writers decided to treat his romance just like everyone else’s, they lose everything that makes him him because they know that to make a healthy, morally acceptable romance with Lucio you have to fundamentally change who Lucio is.
I hate how they just dilly dally around harsh topics. Like if I'm remembering correctly, when Morga shows up and tells us that he killed his own father, we as the mc do not even get upset and follow him or smth
He also *enslaved* Asra's parents and Muriel, accused Julian, was a b*tch to Nadia and Portia.
After all this, MC is like haha he's just a boy. S. M. H.
i was always so confused abt why they made him a romancable character? like who WANTED him to be a part of his
ill be the hater then I understand Lucio is abusive and a man baby in other routes but im allowed to like his route anyway. I played him first I have a thing for villians and personally I like his route okay. I cant fix people in real life let me live my fantasy of it. Im not saying hes a good character or reddemable but im so tired of people hating on people who like him. Without realizing he was so different in his own route and if your like me who played it backwards it makes sense I would like him and it also made it hard to hate him in the many routes I played which probably says more about me then anything else.
Do I think they should have changed the way they wrote Lucio if they wanted him to be a love interest? Absolutely 100% As he is, he's far too irredeemable had he not been a love interest, I probably would be with you all.
= -D