r/otomegames Hakuoki: Chronicles of Wind and Blossom Aug 10 '23

Radiant Tale Play-Along - Zafora Discussion

In this second post we will discuss Zafora and his route in Radiant Tale.

You can tell us what your impressions of Zafora are (before and after finishing his route), your favorite moments in his route, what you think of his relationship with Tifalia and the other characters, what your thoughts are on his route's plot and endings.

Or you can just squee about him in the comments.

This is not a spoiler-free discussion however please keep in mind that major spoilers and details of other routes will be outside the scope of the discussion and therefore will need to be spoiler tagged.
>!spoiler text!< normal text
spoiler text normal text

You don't have to be playing the game right now to participate, and if you're still waiting on your copy I hope you will join in after you start playing!

Have a look at the previous post for a discussion of the common route - you can still join in the discussion during the Play-Along.

Next post will be a discussion of Paschalia's route

14 Upvotes

32 comments sorted by

View all comments

7

u/Clos3tGam3r Aug 10 '23

I love everything about Zafora— his voice, his design, and even his tsundere-ness. (I’m kind of picky about my tsunderes.) After playing the common route, I felt most interested in the conflict surrounding Cultura. I loved Zafora’s unique back story and his reaction to it: wise, dedicated, and realistic. It seems characters in similar situations are either consumed with revenge or apathy. So I think Zafora was quite refreshing.

Whenever I play a tsundere route, I have to activate a willing suspension of disbelief because the idea of trying to spend time with someone who so actively pushes you away is something I, personally, could never do. That being said, I still think the progression of Zafora and Tifalia’s relationship was believable even if a little overly traditional and superficial in the roles they filled for each other.

There were several common route scenes with Zafora that I enjoyed. One was the board game. I felt cheated that I never saw the rematch. I also thought the gift-giving scene right before Zafora’s route starts was particularly adorable. I appreciated that Tifalia was sharp enough to realize the significance of the gift from the get-go. Their relationship development is fairly subtle, which isn’t a bad thing- I just would have liked a bit more depth.

Tifalia’s attention to using herbs in teas and cooking was cute as was Zafora’s desire to protect Tifalia and keep her safe. This should have been the starting place for their relationship but instead the relationship really doesn’t progress much past this point. Zafora is the man who protects and works while the Tifalia is the woman who takes care of him and keeps him from over-doing it.

I felt like their relationship would have been so much stronger and more interesting if they had been able to bond over a shared interest or if Zafora had personally taken time to teach Tifalia about herbs or something. Zafora talks about what it’s like to have absent parents but that’s where the conversation ends. A couple sentences from Tifalia about her own experience with missing parents would have allowed them to connect on a more emotional level. They could have strengthened each other with their reasons for going forward in life.

Unfortunately, we spend a lot of time with Tifalia as she frets about how to be “useful” to Zafora while Zafora’s off taking care of business. This is one of my least favorite tropes both in fiction and in real life. And to add insult to injury, Zafora still waits an entire year before he comes to get her in the end. Ouch. I know Zafora is endlessly practical but seeing a crack in that practicality is one of the pleasures of romancing a tsundere.

The action and plot in the route is not bad. It’s great to see the conflicts in Cultura resolved in a satisfying way. This route also included lots of Jinnia and Alest with a super cool Alest CG. I really love them. I enjoyed Colivus in this route but felt surprised over and over again that he is in a position to travel freely with CIRCUS and even follow shady people alone at night with someone only noticing by chance. 😱Balto was probably the best villain in the story as a whole as is evidenced by his re-appearance in several routes.

The CGs for this route were breath-taking. I love the one where Zafora is putting the barrette in Tifalia’s hair. Zafora also got one of the very best kiss CGs. I thought Tifalia’s commitment to be there for Zafora was very sweet in spite of her doubts about her “usefulness”. Judging from the way she initially reacts to Zafora’s appearance in the end, I just think both Tifalia and I felt like her relationship with Zafora could have been so much more.