3.7 And The "Marketing vs Narrative" Trap
Watching the 3.7 promo video left me feeling like Bluepoch was repeating a particular mistake from the previous anniversary patch, Paradise Regained. As you could guess, this is about Merel/Rhiannon.
Naturally, we'd have to actually see how the story is gonna play out, but I'll be honest, if they are actually planning to go down the "watch a character you've known firsthand get reversed" route, then revealing Merel's new identity from the get-go does spoil the surprise, at least for me.
I'm bringing this up in the first place because this is a similar gripe I had with Paradise Regained, where the initial preview knowledge of Nautika having a Mother Spirit form kinda lessens the emotional impact from her sacrificial act in the same chapter.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the previews literally destroyed my immersion in the narrative, but I can't help but feel slightly miffed about how gacha marketing needs can affect the actual story of the game. Nevertheless, I may end up being completely wrong in my first impression, so again, we'll have to wait for 3.7 story first.