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Necromancing Suikoden: an Eiyuden Chronicle Thread
- Thread starter WisteriaHysteria
- Start date
Hey if y’all are fine with the Switch’s performance that’s peachy. I probably use my Switch more than my PS5, but it’s usually for games that don’t come out on PS5. I’m personally though getting pretty tired of the archaic load times, and when smaller, more indie games like Story of Seasons have frame rate drops so severe it makes games neigh unplayable.
Nice to see CJ and the other characters from the side-scrolling beat-em-up from a year or so ago.
Pajaro Pete
(He/Himbo)
Backer Beta keys are out, apparently, as if there weren't enough games going on atm
So, I've played the first couple hours of this game. I have to say, it's setting the bar pretty high for other sequel-with-the-IP-filed-off games. There are a couple aspects of playing it I could gripe about, but they are nit-picks and could easily be addressed by any future patches.
Okay I'm really curious how some of these design decisions are gonna stand up to mass-release. The biggest "offenders" to modern game sensibilities are 1) you can only save at save points or an inn (and it only autosaves when you enter the world map), and 2) battle speed leaves something to be desired. #2 is highly egregious considering the PSX Suikoden pedigree on display here.
There's also a lack of UI elements pointing out "people of interest" and that doesn't bother me, but I imagine others would appreciate some map icons indicating at a glance which NPCs can be recruited or whatnot. I'm finding myself quite often comparing this game to the Star Ocean 2 remake. Not in a good or bad way, just in a "these things are in one and not the other" manner.
There's also a lack of UI elements pointing out "people of interest" and that doesn't bother me, but I imagine others would appreciate some map icons indicating at a glance which NPCs can be recruited or whatnot. I'm finding myself quite often comparing this game to the Star Ocean 2 remake. Not in a good or bad way, just in a "these things are in one and not the other" manner.
My word, of all the gameplay things that could be in this game, I was super not expecting to see Sprint Shoes.
Anyway I'm 7 hours in and Intrigue is starting to happen with the plot. I'm pretty sure I saw a villain from the prequel game Rising, but I don't remember what he did in that game lol.
Anyway I'm 7 hours in and Intrigue is starting to happen with the plot. I'm pretty sure I saw a villain from the prequel game Rising, but I don't remember what he did in that game lol.
Interesting to see that Eiyuden Chronicles is following in the footsteps of Shenmue III where they're really going hard on being faithful to old school game design. I don't particularly mind, but if you gave me an option I'd rather have a more streamlined, modern experience.
Today is supposed to be the general release date, only I got an email from Amazon saying:
So uh, guess I'll get it when I get it
Today is supposed to be the general release date, only I got an email from Amazon saying:
So uh, guess I'll get it when I get it
Pajaro Pete
(He/Himbo)
The game completely locks up for me when I open what appears to be the Rune menu so, you know, not a great first impression atm
Pajaro Pete
(He/Himbo)
Spent some more time with Eiyuden, finally, after having all my free time consumed by Emerald Beyond. Some thots:
- I realize that if I were to go back and replay Suikoden 1 and 2 on their original hardware today
it wouldn't work because disc rot and a dead consolethey'd be a lot slower and feature more loading than I remember, but Eiyuden feels like it has A Lot of load times, more comparable to Suikoden V than Suikoden 1 and 2. Combat also seems to play out awfully slow compared to Suikoden 1, 2, and 5. - Environments are, perhaps, a bit Too Big. Towns seem to be huge for no real reason. I did just pick up the sprint shoes so maybe it'll make things less annoying.
- I like Nowa, I'm glad he can speak instead of being a silent protagonist, and I think they managed to capture sort of the goofiness Suikoden silent protagonists can have, but with voice acting, if that makes sense.
- I do not care for Fake Nanami, she has all of Nanami's annoying traits with none of the emotional connection that makes Nanami work as a character. Maybe she'll get better as the game goes on, but hopefully she fades into the background.
- Boss battles provide a surprising amount of challenge compared to Suikoden.
- I'm not crazy about how magic works right now. Gone is the Vancian charges of Suikoden and in its place is a more standard MP pool, but spells cost a lot of MP so it feels like it functions roughly the same, except now instead your casts of Level 1 magic are also competing with your casts of Level 3 magic. I've also heard folks say offensive magic is worthless, so that's unfortunate.
- The SP system in combat OTOH is a great way to balance special skill runes so you don't waste a turn being unbalanced after using a skill.
- Fishing is just Animal Crossing fishing.
So it occurs to me I kickstarted this thing on some level that gets me a copy of the game, but haven’t heard anything recently. Should I be poking someone? (I think the backer distribution was through… Yetee maybe?) Or is it a staggered release and maybe my platform isn’t shipped yet? I realize I could probably google all this……
I ordered mine through a retailer and finally got it on Friday so I can't help you. But sounds like you know more or less what you may end up having to do. Mine came late though because of supply issues - either the whole publishing/distribution of the game didn't happen smoothly, or they weren't fully ready for the demand. So maybe that's what's also going on with you.
As far as I know the game shipped in all formats save Switch physical. There were emails that asked backers to select a version, then to pay for shipping. If neither of those ring a bell, I'd get in touch w Yetee Productions.
Finished this the other day. Given how many people are still early on or yet to start--either due to backer distribution delays or the specific niche-within-a-niche around here of Emerald Beyond releasing nearly simultaneously--I'll just put everything I want to talk about behind a spoilerpop so I can address everything freely.
Eiyuden Chronicle makes an exceptionally poor first impression. Characters roll through their introductions communicating primarily echoes of past Suikoden staples, continuously interrupting and dictating play in a piecemeal manner every few steps, within dungeon environments that track as monotonous and lacking even in context of the former series's low bar and disinterest in the form. There is a hard mode, but playing with it hardly changes how you interact with the game--only the numbers seem to bloat, making a battle system whose lineage was always built on expediency and hands-off interactions highlight its very weaknesses in stretching encounters past what they're equipped to support.
There is no dramatic turn in the rest of the game's character, but there is drastic improvement found in the strengths that have always buoyed the series, in the range of personalities and contexts that flavour the narrative, who are the real stars of the show. I don't find Nowa an enjoyable protagonist as an independent personality, and Seign and Marisa as deuteragonists are honestly not much more intriguing, but then: I'm largely not forced to place them in the starring role in mechanical terms, even if the storytelling would prefer it. Arrival and establishment of a headquarters in any Suiko-like is always tinged with excitement because it prefaces all the best aspects of the games, of exploring the world for new allies, seeing how they fit into the lineup, and witnessing their small stories and bits of characterization that often track as more interesting than whatever transpires in the main narrative. That's the point where Eiyuden, predictably but relievingly also springs to life as the experience it wants to be.
Familiarity can work in favour or against a work's merits, but that's what the game seeks to invoke from beginning to end. The major creatives returning to the concept dropped the mic twenty-something years ago and in picking it back up showcase that the songs and setlist they're interested in are largely only their own; you'd be hard-pressed to find much outside influences or signifiers of modern trends in the game's sensibilities. That's an unique dynamic even compared to throwback projects that pursue similar, because so much of Suikoden already embodied an uncommonly streamlined and uncharacteristic take on the genre, so maintaining those baselines doesn't actually do much in having the game appear as a willing antique. It may even stand out more now, since not too much actually followed in its footsteps in the series's absence.
Murayama, Kawano and their team don't seek to reinvent the genre with Eiyuden, nor do they place their own priors works under any kind of recontextualized, scrutinizing lens; no, this is Suikoden played to type, embracing everything it was and running through the script in a greatest hits sort of pace to the beats. That's probably where the material falters for many, since decades of affection colour earlier works and being reminded of them in a comparable but dissimilar manner likely can't patch over that emotional discrepancy in estimation. If a narrative's merit is measured by the ability to see how it will play out in advance, then Eiyuden will ring very hollow for all that it presents according to convention, along well-trodden paths.
At the same time, there's a conscious affect to veer comparisons from imitation and self-tribute just astray enough that a distinct identity forms around the margins. Nowa and Seign are positioned so literally in the Riou and Jowy roles that it's actually surprising when the game doesn't go for that; in effect the absence of that tragic adversary arc for more conventional camaraderie itself becomes remarkable. Aldric postures as a visual amalgam of Barbarossa and Luca Blight, but lacks the former's detachment and disillusionment and the latter's vengeful brutality in favour of a smug certitude and an endless host of rationalizations to justify himself with, which makes him both straightforward in the moment and exceptionally satisfying to finally overcome. Lian's Nanami-esque shtick becomes distinct in context of Nowa's verbal presence in their interactions, allowing her to be comically self-assured and goofy and him to play the straight man through means not limited to pantomime. The "adorable sibling" role is similarly played by Nowa's little sister Leene, who is not relegated to a sidekick and extension of him but for almost all of the game is an offscreen entity caught up in her own adventures, only periodically and optionally crossing over with her brother's circumstances from time to time, lending her significance through those absences. Nowa, as plain as I find him, is also contextualized in his role differently from series standard: he is not a chosen one because of a magical destiny inextricable to him, but is assigned his role partially because his status as no one in particular is beneficial to the public narrative of an anonymous underdog rising up against a despotic empire.
By far the strongest aspect of the game's writing is embodied in one Perrielle Grum, whom Murayama before his passing reportedly named as his favourite character in the game's cast. It's not difficult to conjecture the reasons why: it's really her to whom the story, if defined through national conflict and warfare, happens to with the most personal consequences and the most proactive participation in shaping its course. She's a politician and diplomat in a setting that undervalues and underestimates her on those terms, in ways that are not preached about but still very clearly delineated as being gendered in rationale and motive. There's a lot of heroic restraint and decorum adopted by the rest of the cast and in the platitudes they depend on, but with Perrielle those frustrations and outbursts of the facade of civility cracking are characterized by verisimilitude that dependence on archetype among the rest of the cast doesn't really explore, and her centrality to the narrative is to its benefit in all aspects of who she is. Personally I consider her an apology for the string of women in leadership positions that Suikoden of old exploited to set up conflicts, in purchasing "stakes" at the cost of those women's lives--the Odessas and Anabelles of the world. Perrielle can die, as the customary "did you recruit everyone" check at the end of the game, but I prefer that she doesn't, both for staying true to character that I read her as and the prior narrative convention that I see her as rejecting.
The individually strong qualities carry Eiyuden as much as any wider ethos, and maybe more so. The spritework is a treasure trove of colourful characters in quantities only its erstwhile predecessor delivered, and especially in this era of "HD-2D" art style homogenization provide a very different mode of presentation compared to where most other projects with a lineage go to. The dungeons may not dazzle in how they're laid out, but they too are capable of evocative framing of the scenery, and battle scenes in particular are numerous and possessing of a tremendous depth and physicality to frame the action with. The mini-games and the quests associated with them are dull, monotonous and very unentertaining, but then the game throws something like the theater at you, which on its own is one of the most absurd features any RPG has ever had. Five scripts in which the entirety of the 120-person cast can play out any role comes out to several thousand voice acted lines, and the commitment to a bit in them is beyond stellar: people will stumble over dialogue, ad-lib others, struggle with pronunciation of some terms, get deep into character and ham it up, audibly roll their eyes at the lines they're asked to deliver, woodenly act their best, and anything else that's possible to occur on the stage. The permutations that are able to happen here are almost a microcosm of everything good about the game, highlighting its cast of weirdos who are conveyed in an excellent localized script and voice acting that's likewise a tremendous feat of production, in contrast to previous Suikoden entries which survived the translation process instead of being elevated by it. The prominent voice acting's presence amplifies what Suikoden has traditionally been good at, in highlighting the collective differences of their ensembles, this time able to reach deeper into that multicultural concept through vocal affect, diction and accent.
I was so afraid that Eiyuden would be a Suikoden II. I don't generally chase imitation even with works that I favour, and in that case there's enough antipathy present that I desire it even less. Fortunately, the game pivots away from that, and doesn't attempt the same kind of high melodrama built on exploitation, shock and trauma. It doesn't strike me as directly comparable to parts one or three either--the ones I really like--and that's no loss on its part. There's a balancing act in play where it's very evocative of a Suikoden that doesn't actually exist, because it's drawing from so many of them at once and manages to avoid the deepest pitfalls of hollow tribute through that holistic touch. Whether a one-off or the start of something more, I got both exactly what I expected, and what is rarely seen anymore: an earnestly uncomplicated work at ease with its past and what future it may yet bring.
There is no dramatic turn in the rest of the game's character, but there is drastic improvement found in the strengths that have always buoyed the series, in the range of personalities and contexts that flavour the narrative, who are the real stars of the show. I don't find Nowa an enjoyable protagonist as an independent personality, and Seign and Marisa as deuteragonists are honestly not much more intriguing, but then: I'm largely not forced to place them in the starring role in mechanical terms, even if the storytelling would prefer it. Arrival and establishment of a headquarters in any Suiko-like is always tinged with excitement because it prefaces all the best aspects of the games, of exploring the world for new allies, seeing how they fit into the lineup, and witnessing their small stories and bits of characterization that often track as more interesting than whatever transpires in the main narrative. That's the point where Eiyuden, predictably but relievingly also springs to life as the experience it wants to be.
Familiarity can work in favour or against a work's merits, but that's what the game seeks to invoke from beginning to end. The major creatives returning to the concept dropped the mic twenty-something years ago and in picking it back up showcase that the songs and setlist they're interested in are largely only their own; you'd be hard-pressed to find much outside influences or signifiers of modern trends in the game's sensibilities. That's an unique dynamic even compared to throwback projects that pursue similar, because so much of Suikoden already embodied an uncommonly streamlined and uncharacteristic take on the genre, so maintaining those baselines doesn't actually do much in having the game appear as a willing antique. It may even stand out more now, since not too much actually followed in its footsteps in the series's absence.
Murayama, Kawano and their team don't seek to reinvent the genre with Eiyuden, nor do they place their own priors works under any kind of recontextualized, scrutinizing lens; no, this is Suikoden played to type, embracing everything it was and running through the script in a greatest hits sort of pace to the beats. That's probably where the material falters for many, since decades of affection colour earlier works and being reminded of them in a comparable but dissimilar manner likely can't patch over that emotional discrepancy in estimation. If a narrative's merit is measured by the ability to see how it will play out in advance, then Eiyuden will ring very hollow for all that it presents according to convention, along well-trodden paths.
At the same time, there's a conscious affect to veer comparisons from imitation and self-tribute just astray enough that a distinct identity forms around the margins. Nowa and Seign are positioned so literally in the Riou and Jowy roles that it's actually surprising when the game doesn't go for that; in effect the absence of that tragic adversary arc for more conventional camaraderie itself becomes remarkable. Aldric postures as a visual amalgam of Barbarossa and Luca Blight, but lacks the former's detachment and disillusionment and the latter's vengeful brutality in favour of a smug certitude and an endless host of rationalizations to justify himself with, which makes him both straightforward in the moment and exceptionally satisfying to finally overcome. Lian's Nanami-esque shtick becomes distinct in context of Nowa's verbal presence in their interactions, allowing her to be comically self-assured and goofy and him to play the straight man through means not limited to pantomime. The "adorable sibling" role is similarly played by Nowa's little sister Leene, who is not relegated to a sidekick and extension of him but for almost all of the game is an offscreen entity caught up in her own adventures, only periodically and optionally crossing over with her brother's circumstances from time to time, lending her significance through those absences. Nowa, as plain as I find him, is also contextualized in his role differently from series standard: he is not a chosen one because of a magical destiny inextricable to him, but is assigned his role partially because his status as no one in particular is beneficial to the public narrative of an anonymous underdog rising up against a despotic empire.
By far the strongest aspect of the game's writing is embodied in one Perrielle Grum, whom Murayama before his passing reportedly named as his favourite character in the game's cast. It's not difficult to conjecture the reasons why: it's really her to whom the story, if defined through national conflict and warfare, happens to with the most personal consequences and the most proactive participation in shaping its course. She's a politician and diplomat in a setting that undervalues and underestimates her on those terms, in ways that are not preached about but still very clearly delineated as being gendered in rationale and motive. There's a lot of heroic restraint and decorum adopted by the rest of the cast and in the platitudes they depend on, but with Perrielle those frustrations and outbursts of the facade of civility cracking are characterized by verisimilitude that dependence on archetype among the rest of the cast doesn't really explore, and her centrality to the narrative is to its benefit in all aspects of who she is. Personally I consider her an apology for the string of women in leadership positions that Suikoden of old exploited to set up conflicts, in purchasing "stakes" at the cost of those women's lives--the Odessas and Anabelles of the world. Perrielle can die, as the customary "did you recruit everyone" check at the end of the game, but I prefer that she doesn't, both for staying true to character that I read her as and the prior narrative convention that I see her as rejecting.
The individually strong qualities carry Eiyuden as much as any wider ethos, and maybe more so. The spritework is a treasure trove of colourful characters in quantities only its erstwhile predecessor delivered, and especially in this era of "HD-2D" art style homogenization provide a very different mode of presentation compared to where most other projects with a lineage go to. The dungeons may not dazzle in how they're laid out, but they too are capable of evocative framing of the scenery, and battle scenes in particular are numerous and possessing of a tremendous depth and physicality to frame the action with. The mini-games and the quests associated with them are dull, monotonous and very unentertaining, but then the game throws something like the theater at you, which on its own is one of the most absurd features any RPG has ever had. Five scripts in which the entirety of the 120-person cast can play out any role comes out to several thousand voice acted lines, and the commitment to a bit in them is beyond stellar: people will stumble over dialogue, ad-lib others, struggle with pronunciation of some terms, get deep into character and ham it up, audibly roll their eyes at the lines they're asked to deliver, woodenly act their best, and anything else that's possible to occur on the stage. The permutations that are able to happen here are almost a microcosm of everything good about the game, highlighting its cast of weirdos who are conveyed in an excellent localized script and voice acting that's likewise a tremendous feat of production, in contrast to previous Suikoden entries which survived the translation process instead of being elevated by it. The prominent voice acting's presence amplifies what Suikoden has traditionally been good at, in highlighting the collective differences of their ensembles, this time able to reach deeper into that multicultural concept through vocal affect, diction and accent.
I was so afraid that Eiyuden would be a Suikoden II. I don't generally chase imitation even with works that I favour, and in that case there's enough antipathy present that I desire it even less. Fortunately, the game pivots away from that, and doesn't attempt the same kind of high melodrama built on exploitation, shock and trauma. It doesn't strike me as directly comparable to parts one or three either--the ones I really like--and that's no loss on its part. There's a balancing act in play where it's very evocative of a Suikoden that doesn't actually exist, because it's drawing from so many of them at once and manages to avoid the deepest pitfalls of hollow tribute through that holistic touch. Whether a one-off or the start of something more, I got both exactly what I expected, and what is rarely seen anymore: an earnestly uncomplicated work at ease with its past and what future it may yet bring.
Odds and ends:
it's stupid as hell that just no one in this game is queer. At most you can twist Momo into a trans narrative, but I've seen treatment of that kind of character enough that it doesn't track as genuine. Pastole follows in the wake of Suikoden's longstanding "laugh at the euphemistic gay" tradition, with every single line of his consisting of innuendo and being a hunter just so they can have him say he loves to "prey" on others--really horrible, unexamined stuff. Mio and Hakugin are slathered in so much sword lesbian energy but that's also an audience read, because the game just will not commit to anything despite baiting it with every other tool it has. Very disappointing, and not surprising.
put Reyna on the frontline and watch her never die. What an absurd tank of a character, and the unique-to-her row defend command just amplifies her domination in that niche.
favourite voice acting: so many viable options, but probably giving it to Markus and Larla. Markus is a major story character, so he gets a spotlight and takes every opportunity to chew every syllable thoroughly, while Larla is a very minor one but has a very funny, particularly accented valley girl affect that I never tired of. I had her narrate all the plays in the theater and she would audibly gasp at the developments in the scripts.
Sakuraba and Naruke work together pretty well but I did not find the music particularly captivating for most of it. The main leitmotif is really strong, though, and while the "ending choral piece" signposts itself in referencing the first Suikoden, it still works.
laughed out loud when I realized the moonlit night scene on the eve of the final battle had played me to Dragon's Dogma's tune, with the game having decided that my Most Significant Person was guildmaster Gocteau, simply because I'd talked to him the most to check on dispatch missions for guilds.
every environment in the game is too big for its own good, with the Dash Boots alleviating things somewhat, and having Aire as a support member on top making for what probably should've been the baseline movement speed. It's agonizing when you have to control a character with neither of those options applied.
the Proving Grounds is the game's best dungeon, and I wish there'd been more of its sort of complexity and criss-crossing paths. Even the difficulty peaked there, with the back-to-back bosses being a genuine challenge that I had to try a few times and restock for. After that, you get so many options for building characters that everything trivializes up to the end.
magic is only useful for spot healing for most of the game, for the reasons Pajaro Pete mentioned above. It's only later on, at high levels, when MP pools get bearable enough, and particular character stats (Momo, Isha) justify casting offensively too, and it becomes a very strong option... but then the game immediately ends.
I had Mio in my party for the entire game because she's cool, but she's a remarkably lopsided character mechanically. She's very mediocre up until the 60+ ranges--which is like, the point you finish the game at. If you do get her up there though, she hits hard and fast and benefits from better-than-average rune slot distribution too. Her personal rune has an instant kill property that I only saw activate a few times, but one of them was an early-game boss which was neat.
the duels are the prettiest version of them with some top-shelf choreography conveyed through spritework, but mechanically they've been reduced to two options instead of three, with the third serving as a sequence transition option that only unlocks at designated times. Pretty weird.
I wish I liked Marisa more. Hell of a design, and not much she gets to do. She's even a latecomer into the narrative compared to the rest of the ostensible main trio, so it doesn't feel like an even playing field in how it all shakes out.
I will never replay this with the full roster of recruits because beigoma exists... and because I don't wanna see Perrielle die and like having Leene around, I guess I just won't replay it.
put Reyna on the frontline and watch her never die. What an absurd tank of a character, and the unique-to-her row defend command just amplifies her domination in that niche.
favourite voice acting: so many viable options, but probably giving it to Markus and Larla. Markus is a major story character, so he gets a spotlight and takes every opportunity to chew every syllable thoroughly, while Larla is a very minor one but has a very funny, particularly accented valley girl affect that I never tired of. I had her narrate all the plays in the theater and she would audibly gasp at the developments in the scripts.
Sakuraba and Naruke work together pretty well but I did not find the music particularly captivating for most of it. The main leitmotif is really strong, though, and while the "ending choral piece" signposts itself in referencing the first Suikoden, it still works.
laughed out loud when I realized the moonlit night scene on the eve of the final battle had played me to Dragon's Dogma's tune, with the game having decided that my Most Significant Person was guildmaster Gocteau, simply because I'd talked to him the most to check on dispatch missions for guilds.
every environment in the game is too big for its own good, with the Dash Boots alleviating things somewhat, and having Aire as a support member on top making for what probably should've been the baseline movement speed. It's agonizing when you have to control a character with neither of those options applied.
the Proving Grounds is the game's best dungeon, and I wish there'd been more of its sort of complexity and criss-crossing paths. Even the difficulty peaked there, with the back-to-back bosses being a genuine challenge that I had to try a few times and restock for. After that, you get so many options for building characters that everything trivializes up to the end.
magic is only useful for spot healing for most of the game, for the reasons Pajaro Pete mentioned above. It's only later on, at high levels, when MP pools get bearable enough, and particular character stats (Momo, Isha) justify casting offensively too, and it becomes a very strong option... but then the game immediately ends.
I had Mio in my party for the entire game because she's cool, but she's a remarkably lopsided character mechanically. She's very mediocre up until the 60+ ranges--which is like, the point you finish the game at. If you do get her up there though, she hits hard and fast and benefits from better-than-average rune slot distribution too. Her personal rune has an instant kill property that I only saw activate a few times, but one of them was an early-game boss which was neat.
the duels are the prettiest version of them with some top-shelf choreography conveyed through spritework, but mechanically they've been reduced to two options instead of three, with the third serving as a sequence transition option that only unlocks at designated times. Pretty weird.
I wish I liked Marisa more. Hell of a design, and not much she gets to do. She's even a latecomer into the narrative compared to the rest of the ostensible main trio, so it doesn't feel like an even playing field in how it all shakes out.
I will never replay this with the full roster of recruits because beigoma exists... and because I don't wanna see Perrielle die and like having Leene around, I guess I just won't replay it.
Hmm, I suspect I may have chosen Switch physical, as I didn't know which PS gen I'd have hooked up when the game finally came out back when they made us pick.
Pajaro Pete
(He/Himbo)
I feel the same for Fake Jowy. He doesn't have the same... personality quirks as Fake Nanami, and I realize they wanted to intentionally change things so it wasn't just a redo of Suikoden 2, but they still want the gravitas of the Suikoden 2 relationships. So in the first duel battle, the sky burning orange from the setting sun, dramatic choral music playing, we're supposed to feel something about Nowa and Seign having to fight, but at this point Seign is someone Nowa has met twice in his entire life (one of those meetings was a job he did half a year ago).
I don't know, the vibes are all wrong here. Maybe it would work better if they were gonna actually be gay, and that way the vibe between them would make a bit more sense?