'Is it wrong to try to pick up a spouse in college?'
Yes, it's a dumb name, but what can I say, the game is good.
If you would like to hear the specifics, then prepare yourself, I really can't shut up about it once I start…
As the synopsis says:
'Eighteen years after the war that decimated the continent, between the neighboring countries of the Lux Empire and the Obscuritas Kingdom, the new figures that will shape the history of the continent meet at Pantheon Academy. What does the future hold? Tales of love and bravery? Friendship and hope? Or will they fall to vengeance and despair? Only you can help them move past the scars of history to build a gentle future. Join them in: Is it wrong to try to pick up a spouse in college? ©️Godworks'
There are ten characters, and you choose to play as one of them during their 3 years at Pantheon Academy. You need to build their stats, form relationships with the other characters (both romantic or platonic), establish alliances, defeat your enemies, and ultimately grow up and help shape the future!
Firstly, my favorite character, Lilianne Alba, nicknamed the fair lily of the Empire. Her spirit familiar is a snake. Sole heir to the Grand Duchy of the North, of the Lux Empire. She is considered as the greatest beauty of the empire, and has a flawless etiquette to compliment. But her greatest strength actually lies in her unparalleled control of politics. Otherwise known as 'Albatrash' in the forums... Not because she is the game's most iconic Villainess, but rather because she has zero combat skills, so everyone gets salty over how easy it is for her to die on her route. A character fated to face the greatest political challenges of the game and that can be one-shot by any common thug if you happen to be unlucky on some random common event... Truly not a character for your first play-through... Even so, her iconic scenes of slapping people in the face and then shit-talking them are simply my favorite ones throughout the whole game! Like: 'Marchioness Whitethorn, if I could just make a single increment to your argument... *slap!* There, a perfect fit to the bullshit you've been spewing!' or 'The filthy commoners from your fief keep complaining they have no bread, so they should just eat cake instead? Then give them YOUR cakes... And you can eat THIS *slap* from now on!' and even 'You want to know how I cheated on the math exam, because a woman couldn't have gotten first place? Very simple, first I... *slap!* And then I *slap!* Finally I *slap!* Now tell me, how many 'slaps' does this make? Three? See, it's not very difficult to take first place when the competition cannot even count... *slap!* *slap!* *slap!* *slap!*' Bwahahaha! She's just the best! Her primary love interest in the game is the crown prince of the Lux Empire, and they're already engaged from the beginning.
That is, His Highness the Crown Prince of the Lux Empire, Weiss Luxiem, nicknamed by the players as the half-metal prince. With a dog as a spirit familiar, his nickname comes from the wounds he received while defending himself and his fiancé Lilianne from assassins in their childhood. As a result he lost half of pretty much everything that comes in pairs in his body: one eye, ear, arm, leg, gluteus, lung, kidney... Heck, the game doesn't mention it but the poor guy must have lost one ball too! He has replaced good part of his body with prosthetics, and they're magical tools, thus earning his nickname. He isn't very bright, but is considered the most handsome male character overall and is still one of the top swordsman in the game, aside from maintaining a kind and positive do-gooder attitude despite his past. People in the forums called him a "himboy(?)", whatever that means. He could be considered the game's main male protagonist, a "good-guy", who also has the easiest route, very suited for first-timers. It takes him a while to notice, but he falls in love for the first time when he meets the game's main female protagonist, the commoner/saint Olivia.
Referred as Black Swan by the gods, the only commoner studying at Pantheon Academy, Olivia. Only nobles have surnames, so she is just Olivia. Her spirit familiar is an artificial phoenix. In overall terms, when you play with her you face the second most difficult routes in the whole game, however that is completely offset by the fact that she is simply a cheat character. She has the lowest starting stats, but both her growth is the greatest in the game and the upper limit of all of her stats reach at least second place. That's right, forget jack of all trades and ace of none, she is queen of all trades and ace of some. Raised by an evil faction of cultists who plan the unsealing of the god of evil and destruction of the world, Olivia is sent undercover to the Academy to weaken the seal, under the pretext of being a saint candidate. Finally having some leeway from the control of the cult, she'll do anything to save the world even at the cost of her life. Bullied by her classmates, suspected by the teachers and under the strict watch of the cult that ruined her life, only the selfless, gentle hearted Olivia is capable of protecting the world that keeps on rejecting her. Her primary love interest is the honor student of the Noble class, Raven Vesalius.
Pantheon Academy is divided in two different curriculums, the 'Divine' and the 'Noble' classes. Both of them are primarily directed to nobles, but the Divine is directed for the big-shots to learn how to serve the Gods interests, and the Noble for the lower nobles to learn how to serve their higher-ups. Originally, the Gods were the ones who decided on who was nobility and in the game there are a few events where they can directly give (to the so-called saints) or even remove (insta-game-over) titles of nobility.
Raven Vesalius is heir to an impoverished Barony somewhere in the Obscuritas Kingdom. He enrolled in the Academy vying to remain as the top student of the Noble class, which can award someone the title of Viscount, that way he planned to improve the situation of his territory. A nerdy quiet guy or, huh, 'hard working and stoic' as described in Olivia's POV, his nickname is either nerd or class rep, and his spirit familiar was a mouse or something. Raven's route is quite straight forward, just keep to his studies and do well on the tests, and as long as you know what stats to improve for each love interest, there won't be much difficulty. That said, it can turn into the most complex route, story-wise, if you discover a secret in the winter vacation of the third year... Some said it was necessary in order to get his true endings, but Raven himself always laments having learned the truth and comments that these are not the futures he wished for... His primary love interest is actually a teacher at Pantheon Academy, professor of history and magic research Claire Rayleigh.
The most important thing about the professor's route is--- well, I don't know either, since I haven't played with her yet. I'm kind of stuck at my current character... What I do know is that she presents herself as the third daughter of count Rayleigh, and is at her first year as a professor. She's a scientist and researcher, a big brain really, and at the third year of the game she completes her research and begins teaching magic to the characters. The only secret I know about her is that she's one of the oldest characters in the game. Not only from the playable characters, but from everyone in it. She presents herself as being 26 years old at the first year, but if you succeed at romancing her, you learn that she is actually a being from a magical race, and has been alive for many millennia... And, honestly, it's pretty damn hard to do that. Her love gauge is like 10 times that of the others, so you really need to splurge on items and focus solely on her during events... Anyways, she probably also has some kind of hidden agenda, but is overall one of the nicest characters after Weiss and Olivia. I still have no idea of what her spirit familiar is. Her main love interest is said to be a rookie knight working at the Academy, his name was--- huh... dude with a helmet. Yeah, I never really cared about the guy...
Dude with a helmet is a commoner working as a knight in the academy. His name was Jhonny, or Jimmy, or something like that... I think... Honestly, every time he appeared it was for some sort of comedic effect. He works as campus security and would join you in most battle events to protect the students and faculty... And he would always be the first character to be knocked out... Always. Random assassin, helmet dude down on the first round. Rat swarm, helmet down. Cockroach, helmet passes out. People discussing the game would say the biggest challenge run in terms of battle wasn't to solo the Evil God with Olivia, but rather to manage to protect "helmet bro" in all battles... It was nice that he would come out to help you every time to at least tank the first hit, but really annoying in cases of enemies that would get buffs or heal when knocking out party members... "I will protect the students!" --- Gets knocked out first thing... His spirit familiar is--- a star? It always gets blown away into the sky instants after it appears, so I never actually managed to take a good look at it... Anyways, I think helmet was a janitor or something that got promoted after saving the principal from a falling vase? He was 20 or 22 and never attended the Academy, since differently from Olivia he's just an ordinary commoner and all. My actual issue with him is his love interest... Of all the people to choose, it's unfortunate he got stuck with HER...
SHE with origins in a far southern country, arriving at Obscuritas Kingdom at an early age, turned into a squire during the war, knighted for outstanding achievements, received a Barony for defeating an enemy general in single combat at the age of ten, after the end of the war created an economic empire out of nothing, took control of the black market, bought a county, became the founding member of several trading unions operating globally, became a Marchioness after financing several infrastructure constructions and placing many, maaaaany nobles on her paycheck... The unnamed Marchioness of Ater. Quite literally, her given name would change on every play through. But the favorite nickname people in the forums would use to call her was: 'that fucking crazy bitch', to which I very much agree. I'm a bad guy, but even I have standards. They're very shitty ones, but even then she manages to fuck them up. Like on one of the random events during a ball, a common waiter offers you a drink and you get three choices: 1. Break the bottle on his head and lick his face: 'Hmm... It hasn't quite aged enough.' 2. Stab him in the chest and fill a glass with his blood: 'Blergh, what terrible quality...' 3. Refuse politely. Well, if you think number 3 is too normal, which makes it a little suspicious, then you're right. The crazy bitch worships the Goddess of chaos, Eris, and has this funny mechanic where certain events or certain choices will trigger the 'chaos roulette'. Which means that if you choose number 3 you could either: actually end up with okay choices, such as politely refusing, ending up taking a glass, inviting him for a dance, or bad choices such as giving him all of your gold and items, killing someone anyways, getting piss drunk and passing out, or even terrible choices such as murdering everyone on the ball and getting executed by the guards, insta game-overs. What's even worse, her route only works on auto-save, because the Goddess Eris prohibits you from saving: 'how bold of you to try to save-scum in my presence, mortal, kyahaha!'. You might ask: 'Then how do you go through her route without relying on luck?' I don't know! I'm stuck! I can't get through the first year of the game without massacring half the Academy! You can't even raise her stats! She starts as the best character in the game, but she simply refuses to train! And I don't even know how to date the other characters! Instead of a love gauge, there's a 'domination' gauge. Apparently you can make most of the characters your slaves, even multiple of them at once... Luckily Lilianne isn't one of them, but sadly she dies instead... Urgh, her route is so frustrating! Her spirit familiar is a tiger, tying first in terms of strength with the legendary dragon; though she enjoys disguising it as a cat and refuses to use its strength... And her main love interest – poor fella – is Blaine Blach, the personal servant of the prince of the Obscuritas Kingdom.
Personal servant to crown prince Schwartz, son of a count, Blaine Blach. Also known as bla bla bla or (sugar) baby... The best characteristics to describe him are his silver tongue and, well, his, uuh, openness to relationships... His spirit animal is a silver fox. Honestly, he is one of the best fighters in the game. He is fast, elastic, resourceful, and smart. He can respond to any situation and relies on his tricks to get an edge over any situation. The problem is... He just won't shut up while doing it. It's okay during conversation or party events, but during fights, classes and tests? Also, he doesn't miss a single opportunity to make a pass at someone. Actually, he is the only character who can hook up with the other sub characters. It doesn't involve romance, and it's usually only a one night stand, but there are just so many side characters... And he actually gets boosts for his stats for doing so. The whole crazy-bitch thing for him is that she actually wants to shackle him and clip his wings before throwing him away... Despite his personality, he is actually very loyal to Schwarz, and stays by his side no matter the route he takes, from bed to death... It's also the same once he starts a relationship with a love interest. His actual love interest is the personal maid of Lilianne, Mona, a 'cool beauty with a cold personality', according to his own words... It started with some reasoning like 'just for the challenge of it'...
Serious and of few words, Mona is a commoner serving as a personal maid to Lilianne. Which is only half true. While she does her work as a maid perfectly, she is also a sort of special agent, trained in assassinations, poisons, and being a bodyguard. 'Colorless Death' is her assassin title. She works in an organization managed by the Alba family, in charge of protecting the royal family and allied nobles, spying, counter-spying and carrying out their dirty work. I liked her route a lot, not only do you get to spend a lot of time with Lilianne, you also get to do some missions, and slowly choose with whom your allegiance lies: Lilianne, Lilianne's father, the royals, or even foreign countries, cults or herself. She has a backstory where she was picked up from the streets when she was a child after she swore revenge for her brother, who was brutally killed, and then she trained hard to become an agent. Eventually you can go on a mission on the slums to get revenge, and end up discovering some unsettling plots in the Empire. Her spirit animal is a cat, and she fell in love at first sight for the crown prince of the Obscuritas kingdom, Schwarz.
Crown prince of the Obscuritas kingdom, Schwarz Obscuritas. After the death of his father, the king, his kingdom has been ruled by a council of nobles led by the old king, his grandfather. Schwarz is the only heir to the throne and receives great help from his grandfather and mother, the queen dowager, who came from a Ducal family from the kingdom. Schwarz is a very stern person and expects much both from himself and others. His spirit animal is a black lion. He is diligent, hard working and is great at politics, his studies and swordsmanship. Actually, at the end of the game he is the best in terms of swordsmanship itself. However, despite all of that, his legitimacy to the throne remains disputed. That is because he hasn't received a blessing from the goddess of darkness, patron of the Obscuritas Kingdom. His path is mainly about solving the corruption from the council and earning the goddess's approval. His main love interest is Lilianne, for recognizing her talents in politics, her intellect and beauty, besides of knowing how much influence she has in the Empire, and realizing the rift in between her and her fiancé. Kind of spoilery, but though they might fit well together, there's no love involved between them, it turns strictly into a political marriage.
And well, that's it, we went full circle. Those are the 10 main characters. Of course there are also many sub characters, some of them very important story wise, but they're not the main focus of the game. It's also important to know about the gods, items, equipment, timed-events and your stats... But I won't tire you with more info dump… For now.