Elven Relations
Elven Relations is a Fantasy Romance Visual Novel by Alex Churchill (under his pen name ChronoLuminaire), also the author of the NaNoRenO Visual Novel "When I Rule the World."
In Elven Relations, you are Private Takuya, a solder of the Kingdom of Reachfar under the command of the highly experienced veteran, Lieutenant Yurika.
Hundreds of years ago, Reachfar and the nearby Elves suffered through a war: the King sends your squad, consisting of you, Yurika, your childhood friend and accomplished, not to mention hair-trigger, fire mage Tokho, and your girl-obsessed Ranger friend Kei to escort an infuriating (if accomplished) diplomat, Makoto. (Alex transferred the character designs, along with their names, from a story set in Japan. Honest.)
En route, they encounter a cold reception from the elven soldiers, but their Caller is much more cordial: he sends for a noblewoman, the healer Asilana, to show you the wonders of the Elvenglade and of the Elven culture.
After a successful detente, including a party where Asilana demonstrates (and insists that you participate in) Elven dancing, you return home with news of your successful mission, installing Asilana as ambassador.
And then, of course, based on your decisions throughout, you figure out which of the girls your portrayal of Takuya will end up with.
You can get it for free at its webpage or the Lemmasoft Forums. Its sequel, Mermaid Liaisons, was in development for a while but currently appears to be Vaporware.
- Black Magician Girl: Tokho can and will burn any threat to the party to a crisp with a snap of her fingers and a bizarre expression of focus. Including a river, when you can't get across it.
- But Thou Must!: Early on the player is given the option to reject the mission from the king, but doing so only results in the player looking like a fool and humbly agreeing.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Tokho is either this or a Tsundere, depending on if you agree with her Freudian Excuse for flaring up at Takuya.
- Development Hell: Alex is still working on the sequel.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Takuya comes off this way when you've chosen a response that impresses a girl.
- Double Entendre: The name of the game. The game is actually about a diplomatic mission to the elven lands. It can also be about Takuya romancing Asiliana.
- Elemental Powers: Tohko is a Fire Mage: she constantly snarks at the perceived ineffectiveness of the unseen seers and healers attuned to Water magic. And then there's Elven magic, which follows VERY different principles...
- Fiery Redhead: Tohko.
- Gratuitous Japanese: Alex swears that the characters were transplants from a story set in Japan to one set in something akin to Dungeons & Dragons: their names are artifacts of that.
- Guide Dang It: Getting the best ending with Yurika requires you to do something fairly counter-intuitive. Namely: If you sit between Tokho and Kei at the party (rather than with Yurika...) Tokho will mention that a higher up owes her a favor: one you can cash in for Yurika's sake later.
- Handsome Lech: Kei hits on anything with two legs and breasts. Including some of the elves. During a sensitive diplomatic mission.
- Hot Amazon: Yurika, an accomplished soldier in Reachfar's service, and your commanding officer.
- Lady of War: Yurika.
- Knight in Shining Armor: You can improve your Relationship Values by defending your love interest in combat.
- Magical Girlfriend: Asilana, who practically throws herself at you. Even according to Alex Churchill...
- Personality Powers: Redheaded, Hot-Blooded Fire Mage Tohko.
- Shout-Out: A not-too-subtle one to Monty Python and the Holy Grail with regards to the Hasannite Yurika mentions at the banquet.
- Sixth Ranger: Asilana is introduced two chapters after the game starts.
- Take a Third Option: Yurika's best ending.
- Title Drop: The King: "If all goes well, you will be instrumental to a new age of Human-Elven Relations!"
- White Mage: Asilana is a highly trained Life Mage: battles are significantly easier when she's around to heal and raise your party.
- Asilana's special action, which she uses to defend the player character if the two are close, is especially useful as it completely negates damage without putting Asilana in harm's way.
- Victorious Childhood Friend: Tokho's path. It's outright shown in the best ending with Yurika that she's still a Victorious Childhood Friend - only it's Kei who falls for her.