I keep coming back to the smith's son. Not because his route is the best written, it's actually kind of a mess, but because he's the only one who doesn't treat the tavern like a pit stop on the way to something more important. The Flaming Flagon itself, this fantasy inn full of musclebound anthro adventurers, is supposed to be the heart of the whole thing. You're the new guy, pouring drinks, wiping down the bar, getting tangled up with whoever catches your eye. Standard setup for a gay dating sim, right? But the game feels weirdly ashamed of its own premise. Everyone's got one foot out the door, talking about their next quest, their dark past, their grand destiny. Meanwhile I'm just trying to get railed in the storeroom.

The smith's son though. He's built like a brick shithouse, all bull shoulders and a gut that speaks to a serious love of his own craft beer, and his whole deal is he's horny and available. That's it. No tragic backstory, no epic quest, just a furry blacksmith who wants to bend you over an anvil. The sex scenes with him are the most explicit in the game, lots of focus on size difference and raw power, and they're the only ones that feel like they belong in a game called Flaming Flagon. I spent way too long trying to trigger his third scene, the one after the harvest festival, because the walkthrough on F95zone was wrong about the stat check. You need charisma at 15, not 12, and if you miss it the route dead ends with this limp "maybe we'll meet again" bullshit. I almost uninstalled my browser over it.

Which brings me to the multi lover endings. Or the lack of them. For a game that throws so many options at you, the jealousy system is brutally strict. You can't even flirt with the mage after you've gone past a certain point with the smith. I wanted a messy polycule ending where everyone's fucking in the common room after hours. Instead I got a lecture from the innkeeper about "making a choice." In a fantasy world with magic and monsters, apparently ethical non monogamy is a bridge too far. The mobile port runs like ass on my tablet too, constant stuttering during the animated CGs. Still thinking about that anvil scene though.