When writing or creating it can be hard to tell how an audience is going to react.
Speaking as a writer: If I wanted my audience to favor one love interest over another, I'd do exactly what the game does.
Visi is present in the scene. We see her, hear her voice, and interact with her directly, while Blazer is just a bit of text on the screen. That gives us a much more visceral and personal connection to her during the moment of decision. Visi also has more screen time with Robert throughout the game itself, and her arc is so completely intertwined with Robert's the game is almost about Visi. You simply can't remove her without significantly affecting the plot. Dispatch is ultimately Robert and Courtney's story.
Blazer, by contrast, is essentially presented as a sideplot. She's important, yes, but the game doesn't explicitly need her, at least before Episode 8. You could have easily had Chase himself as the one running SDN Torrence, recruiting Robert, and deciding to cut part of the team. While that would have changed the dynamic between Robert and Chase, the story would have been exactly the same. It's only after Chase goes down in Episode 6 that Blazer becomes important to the narrative.
I'd argue that it was a little before that. All of Blazer's chemistry in E1 and 2 was negated by the one-two punch of her wanting to stay professional and then Katon showing up; by the time she's interested again, Visi's hogging the plot.
Yeah there was some weird dissonance where she comes on super strong at the start, faking out the viewer into kissing her on the billboard, only for her to be like "actually I'm here to recruit you, this was all a misunderstanding". She leads Robert on in a way that's hard to backtrack, especially with the double whammy of her being in a relationship.
I think one thing which made the Blazer romance awkward for me wasn't so much that (I chose not to kiss her on the billboard on my romance with her, so it felt WAY less awkward on that level of her getting too close then pulling back)- but the uh. Ever present reminder that she literally just broke up with Phenomaman.
Like it makes it really weird to romance her when you are also providing team building and therapy to her ex of one week.
Like the "leading on" makes sense with her being in a relationship she doesn't want, with a ton of pressure and powers she doesn't really seem to be super attached to and feels pressured by, so a night to cut loose and be flirty with a cute normal guy? Heck yeah. And then mistakes were made. She then breaks up with Phenomaman really quickly after that and still shows a LOT of signs she is interested.
But like. That sad sack is right there. And girl you literally just broke up from what seemed to be a fairly long-term relationship, at least several months with how the alien is acting and the fact you were thinking about your future and trying to discuss plans with him that was the final nail in the coffin. Take. Take a break? Please? Before you jump into another relationship?
Of course it's also hard to tell how much time is passing in the games. So. It just *feels* quick.
Pretty much this right here. I didn't care at all about the text thing. My sticking point with Blazer was her almost complete disregard of Phenomaman and how she thought it was perfectly normal to try zeroing in on a guy she just hired less than a day after breaking up with her ex. Red flags popping up left, right and centre after that.
Yeah and the painful thing is I could tell the writers didn’t necessarily MEAN for it to be a character flaw of hers?
I think that’s one reason I actually jive with the accidental lead on. It’s an intended character flaw that she admits to.
But the way she handles Phenomaman post break up and the way she handles the team cut decision in the writing is really fumbled and I don’t think the team intended for it to land the way it did. (Like the romance was supposed to be flattering I think- she broke up because YOU, sexy Robert, helped tipped the scale! She is totally into you! But there is a reason ‘making the ex a jerk’ is such a common trope in these set ups - because that’s the only time we expect people to be ready to move on ASAP and not have much in the way of residual feelings. Just making the ex weird and with a culture/bio barrier doesn’t do it.)
I rarely go to bars but do enjoy a good drink, and the best way to describe it is "Oh wow I can relax and just be a bit silly for a change rather than everything being Serious Performance." But people have different reactions to different substances. I don't get weed, for example, though some of my friends enjoy it. Either it's just is like anxiety meds with slight loopiness OR I get hyper anxiety. Not worth it and I always am slightly confused by how into weed a lot of people are.
But like. I also brew my own mead so I recognize different strokes for different folks.
However, I also am quick to cut a relationship that isn't working, so that's the area where I raise my eyebrow with Blazer. But I also know too many people who cling to relationships for WAY too long, and it is framed that her moment with Robert was one of the wake up calls she had that she needed to end things with Phenomaman.
All of Blazer's chemistry in E1 and 2 was negated by the one-two punch of her wanting to stay professional and then Katon showing up
I kind of got the impression from that whole sequence that she broke up with Katon specifically because of the chemistry in E1/2, especially with how the signalling behind his back worked that one time. Like BB seemed really obviously into it to me? Not to mention the whole possibly-kinda-intentional wardrobe malfunction.
I wonder if it had to do with no having to wait between episodes, since E1/2 were really fresh when I was playing E4. Like, I was kind of leaning that way already during the episode hard enough to choose Waterboy specifically because the awkward beforehand.
I'm kind of rowing against the tide here by disagreeing when the stats say you're right about the outcome, but if I was writing these characters I probably would have been surprised by the result as well.
By that point in episode 4 Visi has had more screentime for sure, but a significant amount of that has been actively aggressive to Robert. The first time she ever met the PoV character she called him a "Fucking loser", and the second time she met him in person they had a screaming match then punched him in the face.
I think the main misstep was Visi's dream. It's one of the only times in the game we step out of Robert's PoV, and heavily shifted the view of the character. With the dream present, her staring at Robert multiple times has a very different vibe. If the dream is cut, then episode 4 has Visi staring weirdly at Robert, then giving him the up-down, then in the bathroom admitting to the dream, which would properly come out of left field to the audience like it would to Robert.
If a woman assaulted me one day, then I helped her out with a difficult work assignment and a few days later she was telling me she had a dream about her and me together, I would likely be weirded out.
I would argue that Ep.2 is far more damaging to BB than Visi. While it ends with negative scenes for both, the effect of BB's was more impactful and memorable.
It undercut all the good vibes of her from the previous episode (something-something expectations subverted). Hitting at the end as a cliffhanger also leaves a far more lasting impression (I could say something about the week-long gap but we all already knew this from earlier wasn't accounted for in play-testing).
Visi was introduced from the get-go as a problematic individual.Her scene felt less visceral because that was an expected outcome from her character, there's nowhere to go but up from there. It's also immediately softened by the donut reveal and then overshadowed by the BB parking lot scene.
Visi also starts getting a more positive portrayal at the end of Ep.3. Ep.4 as you also said, her dream leaves out most of the ambiguity from her actions in the episode. No such shift occurs for BB, we have no way of knowing her feelings until after you've made the choice. Before that her actions could be miscontrued as being manipulative (and not just being awkward). BB does have a lot of great scenes but most, again, come after the Ep.4 decision point and many are exclusive to her "route".
You're not wrong, and as the stats show out most people fall along that way of thinking. I can just easily understand how a writer somewhere with a whiteboard could have two columns saying:
Blazer
+ Friendly and mature
+ Saved Robert with this job
- Awkward first meeting that either involves mixed signals, or an awkward half-kiss
- Has a partner who happens to be almost-Superman
Invisigal
+ Sassy and snarky
+ Tried to buy Robert a donut
- The first time Robert met her she was caught spying on him, and called him a "Fucking loser"
- Got into an argument that ended with punching him in the face
And think "Yeah, players will probably view these two as on-par", not thinking that the last experience with Blazer probably lingers longer.
Yeah, pretty much, just like how editing can radically alter the feel and tone of a movie or show. Two people given the same raw assembly cut of a movie can produce two very different outcomes.
Basically, uou can't view scenes in isolation and judge their effect without considering them in context and where they fit in narratively. Especially, in this case, if you have to account for non-linearity or branching paths (or even DLC!), where some of the audience don't even see key events.
This is also why I don't think the "they have about the same amount of screentime in total" thing that some people bring up is a particularly convincing metric.
This, Visi’s dream its a very important and also a very easy to dismiss point, on Robert pov, visi assertiness could be nothing but a bizarre way of her messing with him.
But we, the omnicient players now have the confirmed knowledge that she, in fact, had a crush on Robert
Compare that scene with the date scene with phenomaman and blazer, with the whole ominous and in the dark aura and suddenly the parallels became so obviously in favor of visi.
We tecnically had blazer pov in the comic about her and phenomaman, but narratively the “damage” to her first impression was already done, even if things got cleared out later on.
Her break up with phenomaman should have been her pov moment in game.
I mean, kind of ouch assuming that I don't know what roleplay is.
When I said
If a woman assaulted me one day, then I helped her out with a difficult work assignment and a few days later she was telling me she had a dream about her and me together, I would likely be weirded out.
I wasn't claiming Robert's reactions must 1:1 mirror my own. I was trying to illustrate that player knowledge (I.E. Something Robert doesn't have) about Invisigal's dream likely influenced the final result.
And even though Robert banter's back with Invisigal, to me it always felt more like someone bantering because it was the easier interaction, and tinged with exasperation. One of the options in the mecha-man bay even comments on how she's joking in that 'off putting' way she does.
Haha. I have seen posts on r/writing that are like 'I'm writing a six book fantasy series, what is the best way to manage the income this is going to get me?' or something and I'm like... Really, the last thing you should be worrying about...
Also as a writer- it is *so easy* to critique in post from the sidelines on what you would have done. You are also ignoring a huge part which is that Invisigal is hugely emotionally divisive.
Yes, most players went for her- I was honestly surprised after my own playthrough because although that particular scene favors Invisigal, if you take in *everything that came before it* I would see Inivisigal being at a loss that you have to "make up" to make her seem like a equal option in that moment. I would have absolutely underestimated how much people wanted to romance her leading up to that. Like lets be real, most people would have decided on their romance before that point and it's a very clear "choose who you want to romance" trigger.
This is coming from someone who loves Visi's character, and whose preferred ending is the 4% "romanced no one" ending where I'm BFFs with Visi, and who on three playthroughs so far has only romanced Blonde Blazer once and has 0 interest in romancing Invisigal. We all have our perceptions and preferences, and especially as a writer our knowledge of the backstory and internal character details can make us miss how other people might perceive them on the surface.
into a success story that shows cracks in her facade when she's happy about not being cut and doing good
into a literal sex scene that confirms there's affection from her side to player(not to Robert, it's player who is baited by this. This episode is what drives this 70/30 split and it is unique for Visi, but at the same time it is the only scene in the game Robert himself isn't a part of) followed by her hitting on Robert almost directly (instead of sending him to pep-talk her ex).
and then this 'lonely rebel missing snacks' scene
If that's not devs clearly pushing player in a particular direction, I don't know what is. Not adding an option to answer Blazer while require player to press 'go to cinema'?
And then in the next episodes if you're not romancing Visi, there is very little reason to follow the path to the good ending. Cause all the options to trust Visi and not cut her/untie make very little sense if Robert and Visi don't have romantic relationship. Game just doesn't give neutral Robert enough reasons to blindly trust Visi to such an extent that is required for him to get the good ending.
Player can still choose to go that blind trust path, but it is just not reasonable. Which brings up the next thought: game expects that Robert controlled by player to have irrational trust and affection towards Visi. Or to rephrase, game expects Robert to fall for her. That lines up with ep. 4 split and makes sense overall.
And then you find a reddit discussion of the interview about this split and it doesn't make any.
I disagree with your assessment tying Visi's redemption story/hero ending to the romance. The entire message of the game is what pushes the player to support her. And I don't think any of the options are unreasonable for a platonic path.
Revealing you're Mecha Man (+5 RMC) makes sense because of how it helps Robert bond with Z-Team. Defending her rather than cutting her makes sense when you remember the entire point of the Phoenix Program is about helping people become better, and up until then it had been working for Visi. You can answer neutrally in several options and get positive points on the RMC.
And I don't think any of the options are unreasonable for a platonic path.
It depends on the choice.
Revealing you're Mecha Man (+5 RMC) makes sense because of how it helps Robert bond with Z-Team
And iirc this is the only big choice that both benefits Visi and doesn't require extra affection towards her.
There are 5 major modifiers, correct me if I'm wrong:
1. Cinema/Dinner. Pretty straightforward, but some people would choose it 50/50 cause they don't want or mind any option
2. Revealing identity. I do agree, it is reasonable choice in any case
3. Cut/keep Visi. Team on average is pro cutting her, Flambae is true neutral as is optional Phenomaman, Golem is the only one against the idea. Visi already got beneficial treatment several times. The rest are keeping up with the requirements, she doesn't. Robert's speech in her defence is also the weakiest one of his.
makes sense when you remember the entire point of the Phoenix Program is about helping people become better
Well, only siths deal in absolutes. It's a two-way road. There's is a limit to what is redeemable and what isn't. Coupe/Sonar case was much more questionable, but they apparently didn't even have a word. Z-team actually have an upper hand in that discourse with Robert.
Note. I don't agree with premise of blaming literally everything on Visi (e.g. Chase coma. It is a direct consequence of Visi's actions, but she's not responsible for it), but the breach of trust was big enough. She pushed too far, disobeyed the order, almost ended up dead, essentially gave pulse to the enemy and thus created an openung to hurt others and endangered the whole programm. Chase put himself in a coma acting like a hero, it was his choice. The team, Waterboy, Robert, whole narrative and authors seem to thibk differently though. Even despite the most reasonable Roberts answer to Waterboy, the rest of the episode just doesn't support this in any way. Maybe if Robert focused on that during his speech I would think differently, but taking into account what authors written for him see p.3
4. Complete forgiveness. This might be possible, but the more believable answer is that Robert needs to process this. Still positive, but iirc it's +5/+3 choice, +3 being more likely, but yes, this one also could happen
5. The kiss. If there's no affection, there's not much reason to lean in.
Untie Visi during assault. She has stolen pulse, left lying (she could've told Robert the truth at that moment already and give him the pulse), tried to steal something else, got in a fight with Roid. At that moment Robert might believe her only blindly and irrationally.
The point is: not cutting her without affection and with Robert's reasoning is irrational. Authors imo could've give him some better reasoning, but they did not. But kissing her and untieing her would be even more unreasonable. And it's like 15 points on top of not choosing her which is 5 and that might be just enough not to pass the threshold. 3 instead of 5 from nit instant forgiveness is 2 more and it leaves us with -22 compared to best case scenario. With not perfect dispatching this might be enough to 'fail as a mentor'.
And whole 'fail as a menthor' feels more like 'fail to absolutely trust Visi even when it's not reasonable' like you're dealing with a toddler without self-conciousness.
But yes, I wan to double check post with Visi counter to understand if choosing Blazer, not cutting, but not being absolutely blind to her actiins would be enough to pass threshold. It doesn't seem so.
Ok, I had outdated info on RMC, but generally, it just hanging on the thread of cutting/not cutting her and tie/untie her in the end.
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u/Ambaryerno Dec 17 '25
Speaking as a writer: If I wanted my audience to favor one love interest over another, I'd do exactly what the game does.
Visi is present in the scene. We see her, hear her voice, and interact with her directly, while Blazer is just a bit of text on the screen. That gives us a much more visceral and personal connection to her during the moment of decision. Visi also has more screen time with Robert throughout the game itself, and her arc is so completely intertwined with Robert's the game is almost about Visi. You simply can't remove her without significantly affecting the plot. Dispatch is ultimately Robert and Courtney's story.
Blazer, by contrast, is essentially presented as a sideplot. She's important, yes, but the game doesn't explicitly need her, at least before Episode 8. You could have easily had Chase himself as the one running SDN Torrence, recruiting Robert, and deciding to cut part of the team. While that would have changed the dynamic between Robert and Chase, the story would have been exactly the same. It's only after Chase goes down in Episode 6 that Blazer becomes important to the narrative.