[Nintendo Switch] even if TEMPEST — Tyril I. Lister Let’s Play and Review

This started as a review, but then it turned into a Let’s Play… so I guess I’ll be doing a Let’s Play of everyone in the game.

Warning: This will discuss every aspect of the route. Go to “Final Thoughts” for a spoiler-free conclusion.

Content/Trigger Warning: Abusive relationships with parents, siblings. Verbal abuse. Blood. Violence. Manipulation. Coercion. Genocide.

Quick rundown of the prologue: Anastasia follows a Cinderella-type storyline. Her father remarries a woman who, along with her daughter, abuses Anastasia. Her father also participates in the abuse. She is locked in an attic from ages 10-18. She is freed by Prince Conrad, who wants to make her his queen. While training to be queen, she starts managing the kingdom’s finances and determines there are a lot of numbers that don’t match up. Prince Conrad doesn’t like that she noticed and she ends up killing herself. Then, she goes back in time to just before her maid dies and her own death. She tries to prevent it. However, this catches the notice of Tyril, who thinks she’s a witch. She’s given a trial where Conrad and her sister combine forces to twist her motives and words. She’s found to be a witch, she burns at the stake.

A witch named Rune says he can send her back in time after she dies using his powers. She decides to go back before she’s put in the attic all those years, saying she wants to become a nun. Instead, she joins a knight cadet academy and trains for those years to get her mind and body ready for revenge against Prince Conrad, exposing all his misdoings and evil plots.

Now to get to the meat of Tyril’s story.

Tyril’s personality in the prologue was a huge turn-off (and I mean, he tortured and lead to her burning at the stake…) but I thought his route would be more along the lines of erasing his prejudices, opening his mind, and turning a new leaf so I decided to give it a try first.

Then we get to the first scene and this lovely visage:

Oh. 

It’s going to be that kind of ride.

Well, then.

Can I go back and pick Cruis?

(I have broken the cardinal rule of visual novels: no save before a choice)

So, the Witch of Ruin has kicked off the Carnival, described as a trial of witches, for witches, by witches. The Witch of Ruin corrupts a person’s heart and makes them into a Membrum, who commits murders on behalf of the witch.

The victim? Our pure-hearted Prince Lucian! Don’t tell me he’s like Anastasia and fated to die in every route until we get the “golden” route?

The Membrum in currently question — err torture– is Cruis Castlerock. Not our somewhat shady Garuda knight! Tyril explains that there are five Membrums in total. If someone is a Membrum, they have red chains around their neck.

And who has red chains around their neck? Not only Cruis, but also Rick Monaghan, the Cardinal of the church and Tyril’s superior. Conflict of interest much?

Anastasia questions the logic of the church naming Cruis as the definitive murderer, earning a whiplash from Tyril. Even if Tyril is trying to conceal his motives to save his friend, I’m still upset he hurts her!

After arguing with Tryil some more, Anastasia finally says, “Let me investigate!”

That smile, ah, it makes me melt! Why am I like this?

Now that she’s asked it, Tyril turns the conversation around by bringing up the political quagmire should they torture a member of the Lynzel family, should Anastasia tell a popular tabloid publication what she just saw transpire, and should the people find out the ever-popular handsome knight Cruis is currently being tortured without due justice. He proposes to induct her into the Inquisitors so she can both be monitored by him to ensure she does nothing shady and she can investigate like she desires. It’s clear in the text that this was his end game the entire time.

And thus, the life of Inquisitor Anastasia Lynzel begins. She is pissed and rightly so. Now she cannot become a knight, her vice-commander is still locked up, and she’s stuck with Tyril.

They visit the crime scene and come up with an investigation plan. From here, the meat of the gameplay begins: we have 5 hours to investigate and find out who the real killer is before the trial begins. You can pick who and what to investigate at the cost of time. There’s more options than there is time, so you have to pick carefully.

During my investigation, I spoke with Sammy, one of the orphan boys who adored Prince Lucien. Anastasia tries to appeal to Sammy by asking what games he likes to play, to which he responds tag and ball. Normal things. Sammy asks what games Anastasia likes to play, which she responds “Archery” and then asks Tyril, who says…

T-t-tyril, my love, how can you be so smart and so freaking dumb at the same time?

This upsets Sammy and makes him cry, naturally. Tyril is scary enough as it is, and then he mentions his favorite game is torture. Even worse, I know it’s supposed to be a joke but at this point, we’ve seen him torture Cruis…

Sammy concludes the conversation by saying “…I wanted to be Prince Lucien. But I couldn’t do it.”

Tyril picks up on this weird turn of phrase immediately. Anastasia brushes it off as Sammy meaning to say he wanted to be like Prince Lucien. I agree with Tyril on this. Let’s file this under “suspicious”.

Next stop is Cardinal Monaghan. Admittedly, he’s sus just because he’s a member of the church in a JRPG. If there’s anything a veteran JRPG player knows, it’s that the church is always the bad guy, especially anyone who is in a position of power.

The cardinal is an aficionado of art. His favorite artist? Mael Diaz, the “painter” who was our “brother” but is actually the Witch of Ruin. However, just because he appreciates the Witch of Ruin’s creations doesn’t mean that he’s the one who committed the murder.

We learn an interesting thing, however:

Princess Evelina is the evil stepmother in this story.

I wonder how this ends up connecting to the main/overarching storyline?

Anastasia claims she can arrange a meeting with Mael and Cardinal Monaghan can have his own portrait commissioned. She’s bluffing, of course, and our Tyril knows it. Look at that proud smile!

Anastasia asks him what they need to capture the Membrum. Why? We’re doing that already. In any case, the cardinal likes mystery novels and starts with the “first you investigate the scene of death…” yadda yadda yadda.

The point of the conversation is to bring up an incident from 13 years ago but it is done in the worst ham-fisted manner possible. The conversation didn’t flow naturally from the moment Anastasia scored her victory in manipulation. Sighhhhhhh it was going so well up to that point.

As for the incident, Tyril uses the convenient excuse of being barred from talking about it to keep from saying anything. All we know is that it involved the church and Cruis. Why do I have the feeling that this incident is going to be big news at the trial?

Talking with Crius, we learn absolutely nothing relevant. There’s a funny scene, though. I enjoyed the scene but also, I want the plot at this point. I only have x amount of investigations to do, ya know!

Trying to investigate Prince Conrad (the Filth) we discover Anastasia’s name after winning the games is Rose Knight. Ah, what lovely memories of female knights and roses I have…

Utena Tenjou of Revolutionary Girl Utena

Lady Oscar of Rose of Versailles

It’s time for us to come face-to-face with Prince Conrad since he murdered us.

It goes about how you expect: now that Prince Lucien’s out of the picture, he’s directly in line to be king and wants nothing to do with the trial. He claims to love his brother but is hosting a ball the day after his death is discovered. He’s scum, he says scummy things, we learn nothing new from this encounter aside from having new reasons to want to see him get his just desserts.

We also meet little sis Orla (the Bitch) again for the first time. She acts like the conniving little jerk she is and we learn nothing new about the case at hand.

When we talk with Tyril about it, Tyril says he thinks that Prince Conrad is innocent of the crime. I also agree with him. Conrad is evil and has committed many crimes, no doubt, but this one is not it.

With the investigation complete, there’s only one detail that can determine the truth: was sleeping magic used that night, as it had been in all Carnival nights? If so, then we have the proof we need to capture the killer.

The night of the trial, we get a special pre-trial treat…

Yes, the blushing sprite!

I’ll keep what caused it a secret but I do ever-so-much adore the blushing sprites!

They meet with the witch before the trial officially begins. Tyril makes a contract with the Witch of Ruin in order to have the Witch participate in the trial directly instead of just observing it. His goal is for the witch to say if they used sleeping magic or not.

Anastasia tries to make a deal too, but Tyril scolds her and says he’s the only one going to put his life on the line. She says she’ll make her deal when the time is right.

And thus, the pieces are placed. It’s time for the show.

The trial is long (the incident from 13 years ago is brought up) and doesn’t get really interesting until the Witch is called to the stand. The Witch says the sleeping magic was cast that night. Now, Prince Conrad’s defense says as a scion of the Goddess of Light, the sleeping magic won’t affect him.

Anastasia decides it’s time. She asks the Witch to formalize her contact and the thing she desires is magic cast upon Prince Conrad. If he’s truly immune, they’ll witness it with their own eyes.

Except… She’s the one who’s protected. The Witch tries to cast his magic on her, but presumably, Rune’s magic that revives her after death is keeping the Witch’s magic from taking effect. The two magics are going to war in her body and she’s struggling to stay alive. Tyril holds her, his cool expression gone. He’s worried, damn near desperate, for her to be well. We get our first CG for this heart-pounding moment!

Then… he kisses her!

Eeeeeeeehhhhhhhhh?

EEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHH??????????????????

I did not see this coming at all!

He says there’s medicine in his mouth and he tells her to drink it. The magic is stabilized in her body and she’s no longer in danger of dying.

Then, Tyril says that it’s purely a medical act, gets Hugo to verify it as such, and then says he doesn’t want a sexual harassment lawsuit about it…

Talk about ruining the tension and the drama of the scene. Geez. So disappointing!!!

Anyway, the Witch turns Conrad into Superman and makes him fly around the circus tent-turned-courtroom. Looks like magic works just fine on the “protected”.

The trial resumes and we go through to determine who the killer actually is.

It is who I predicted. Granted, it’s not a complex mystery. I imagine most readers figured it out after it was pretty much told to you during the investigation.

Afterward, we get our second CG and a glimpse of a more tender and caring Tyril.

We stay the night together in his office, both passing out from the exhaustion of the day and night.

The next morning, Crius comes to greet us… And tease us about staying together all night.

He tells Anastasia that she’s officially a knight now, but Tyril wants her to work with him as an Inquisitor.

We get a choice… Well, I’d rather her become a knight, but this is Tyril’s route so I’m going with him as the choice. It just seems so out of her character, considering that she’s not faithful to the church or the religion of the country at all (because the Goddess did not save her those 8 years of confinement or from being burned at the stake)

After Anastasia leaves, Tyril and Crius have a short conversation.

I’m also interested in what would happen if he knew the truth of her circumstances. They’ve only known each other for a day, after all.

After returning home, Maya hands Anastasia a letter from Prince Lucian. He reveals that twenty years ago, his father ordered the genocide of a clan that essentially lived in the woods and kept the kingdom safe from harm in secret. He believes there’s one survivor and that survivor is the key to exposing everything (the stuff we discovered in the first timeline)

… And next thing you know, we see Anastasia talking with Rune. Turns out that telling the king about the incident gets you executed as a traitor. She did it because she needed to know, but also, what a dumb way to do it… Just because you have a rewind witch doesn’t mean you should kill yourself so easily…

Thanks to “defeating” the Witch at the trial, we get visions of the future as a perk.

The first time we use these powers is to save a falsely accused witch. When Anastasia hears what would’ve happened if she ignored her vision, she’s shocked. This doesn’t escape the notice of Tyril, of course. And he confronts her about it immediately. When she asks how he’s so perceptive, he says it’s in the hands. Our third CG portrays this scene.

To be honest, this route has so many things that make me feel awkward. I know I’m supposed to get the どきどきfeels from these but instead, I’m worried for Anastasia when he finds out that she’s essentially a witch.

Later, Mitchell also voices the same concerns.

I do like how complex the feelings I have about this pairing are, even if it’s keeping me from indulging in the romance aspect. This may be a character archetype I enjoy but the setting leaves reservations in my heart. I can only hope when push comes to shove Tyril will make the right choice and believe in Anastasia.

…. Even so, when we finally get to ask him to help us find the survivor of the genocide, I chose against telling him the truth. In terms of being in love, he’s not there yet. In terms of trust, well, Anastasia isn’t there yet. The fact that she even has to make a choice to tell him shows that.

Of course, I think this, make the choice, and in the very next line Anastasia says “What I’m terrified of is people I love being put in harm’s way.”

My girl.

MY GIRL.

Don’t you know– you can’t just say stuff like that to guys like Tyril! You’re supposed to wait for a good moment, serious guys like him who read into everything — he’s not going to trust it right away he’s also going to be thrown into a loop and–

Well, nothing big comes from it outside him changing the subject immediately.

She reveals the letter Lucian sent but nothing else. Tyril isn’t exactly approving of her altruism because of how it puts her in danger, but then she says, “I understand, to a degree, what it means to be a victim of violence justified by an overwhelming majority.”  and my heart just BREAKS for her. The first timeline is harsh.

He declines, saying he won’t become an enemy of the royal family. He asks where the letter is.

You see where this is going too, right? I don’t like the idea of him trying to do it by himself and taking the fall for it if it fails.

Meanwhile, she meets Mitchell again and he drops the truth bombs:

MIC DROP

It’s about time someone voiced all this! The award for BEST SIDE CHARACTER goes to Mitchell the Wise!

She can’t say anything in response.

Her and Mitchell are going to investigate a falsely accused witch together when they run into Ninja. Ninja is a person who was mentioned in the trial as a Robin Hood-type figure. Pretty obvious it’s actually Tyril. Mitchell completely abandons their mission when he sees Ninja. Oh, Ninja’s here! He’ll take care of it! Vamos, Anastasia!

And we learn Ninja=Tyril in the next scene, hahaha.

We get our next CG as well when Prince Conrad returns to fuck things up.

Huh?

So many weird things start happening in rapid succession. The pacing is all over the place in this story.

Conrad admits to “training” Tyril as his hound.

Conrad says Anastasia is a witch and he wants to control her… But the truth serum didn’t work so he has to wait another two days before trying again.

Tyril talks to Anastasia. She’s in denial about him being the hound and says he’s too kind and noble to be an assassin.

This makes Tyril upset. “What the hell do you know about me?” he growls.

Time passes and a snake is brought into the room. Anastasia isn’t scared, but Tyril is terrified. You see, when his clan was killed, he survived by hiding in a den of snakes for three days and three nights. Full-blown PTSD.

Conrad wants Anastasia to steal an item that can cement his claim to the throne from her evil stepmother.

Tyril tells her not to do it and run away to another country. She asks him to come with her. He says he won’t. She then mentions the question we all want to ask: why do you work for the family that killed everyone you knew and loved?

He says it’s his duty. As a member of the Ishik clan, he serves the Goddess, and thus, the royal family.

He also knew Anastasia was a witch when he gave her medicine during the trial that only works on witches.

He believes Prince Conrad will help him revive his clan when he’s king.

Tyril.

Tyril, mí alma.

Tyril, surely you don’t believe that, deep down. Surely you know he’s lying.

This is some intense Stockholm Syndrome BS.

But, through their conversation, she also realizes that she’s still carrying her abuse from the first timeline.

It’s a beautiful and sad moment that these two people have been so abused and crushed by their manipulators that they cannot see their own self-worth and only see the worth in others.

The night comes. The house is quiet. There’s no security at all. Anastasia makes it inside and goes to her worst place: the attic.

Inside, is Maya, drenched in blood.

Maya took the temptation of the Witch of Ruin and killed everyone.

Everyone.

Her father. Step-sister. Stepmother. The staff. Not a single soul left alive.

And next, another trial. Maya is executed, but not before she exposes the king as a fraud using the artifact.

Chaos takes over. The kingdom is in a perilous state now that the king was determined to be a fraud who molested his sister.

And through this, Anastasia and Tyril, trying to find steady ground in shifting sand.

Despite Anastasia knowing that she will go back in time again, and that these moments shared will be lost to the dredges of magic, for a moment, she wanted to have peace for both of them. With the fragile promise of a future, they admit their feelings.

She leaves first but gets a vision of Tyril.

The sounds of her dashing footsteps echo in your ears.

Too late.

Tyril looks so peaceful in the soft light of the church.

He’s not breathing anymore.

And then, you look back, and it all makes sense. Right down to his conflicted smile as you leave.

Anastasia is back on the shores of time with Rune. He tries to comfort her. He’s gotten some of his powers back since she bested the Witch of Ruin twice. The next round may be easier.

But Anastasia is in so much pain.

How can any of that be a victory?

So, Rune decides the only way to save her… is to take away her memories.

The scars of abuse run deep, but the scars of having found your love only to lose them in the worst way possible…

“I’m sorry…” He says, as his magic runs through the crevices of her mind, stealing the sparse tender moments shared between the two tortured souls, turning the clock back to the moment she had to choose between joining the knights or the Inquisitors.

This is so sad, my heart wails!!

This route had a lot of things that made me feel conflicted. Knowing the truth of the past of Tyril still doesn’t fix the society and world that they’re in: One that burns supposed witches with mob justice, one that lets a clan live in secret, one that lets an abusive king rule by virtue of being appointed by a goddess.

Tyril was a part of that system. By taking his route, Anastasia is also forced to be a part of that system.

Perhaps if they lived longer, if they could begin to atone for what had been done, if they could have gotten the power to change the society and world to have true justice and rights for all the people, I would feel better about the story. They use Mitchell to voice some of these concerns but when Anastasia discovers Tyril’s past, she says something akin to “I knew I was right to put my faith in him”. Those two things are not mutually inclusive. You can dislike the system, see Tyril as a victim of it, and see him as perpetuating the system. Putting faith in him has nothing to do with it.

Part of me is curious if Tyril was brainwashed. Thinking about the trauma he endured because of the royal family — the genocide of his people, hiding for three days and nights in a den of snakes — would anyone who suffered those wounds be okay with being used as a “hound” to commit assassinations and other depraved acts on behalf of Prince Conrad? And he does explicitly state that it was his choice because he felt like it was his duty to his people. That doesn’t make sense. At first, I thought he did it to try and have his own revenge scheme. But that doesn’t seem like it at all. He took the opportunities that Anastasia presented to get back at the king and Prince Conrad, but when the status quo could change, he was terrified of it and decided to part from the world instead of trying to find his new self. Or perhaps, he created a second Tyril inside himself, one that was cold, cruel, and detached from the world, to protect that scared boy inside him who lost everything, and when he came time to try and bring that vulnerable boy out to the world, the weight of his sins was too much.

 

I hope that the “final” storyline will at least give him some peace that he couldn’t find in this one.

Final Thoughts

It is a sad route. I am heartbroken for these two broken souls. But the romance felt incomplete because we never got to see them fulfill the promise of their healing through each other’s support.

The pacing after the first trial is off. Too much is told to us too rapidly. There’s no room to breathe or process what’s going on. Then, when you stop to think about what’s transpired, all sorts of little logic leaps and holes start appearing.

The number of CGs is lower than expected in a console release. Same with the length of the story. I finished the route in a few hours and that was with me typing up this review as I went. This story especially could have used the breathing room.

However, the moment when they both openly speak of their abuse and give a glimpse into how they will heal each other was a rather poignant and beautiful moment.

 

Favorite Scenes

Tyril has a preference for a certain type of mead that is not made anymore because it’s bitter and no one else liked it, so when Crius wants him to do something, he likes to bribe him with it. This is technically a scene from the prologue and not his route, though.

The combo of his expression and words made me giggle so much. Not very often you get to see a collected man like that completely lose it.

Such a masochist… Then, when Anastasia wonders if Crius has any weaknesses…

I’ll read this scene as jealousy to make it more romantic even though it’s not meant to be read that way

—-

In hindsight, could this have been something from his coping mechanism?

This is a cute little moment that I didn’t have a chance to place in the regular review. The character design for Tyril is A+. I adore all of his little expressions.

M-Maya! omg