IkeSen Fanart Giveaway (2/3)

IkeSen Fanart Giveaway (2/3)

Motonari

Thanks for participating @writingwhimsey !! Here's our perfect pirate boy 💛

Hello everyone!!!

I'll be back from vacation next week and I really want to be active doing fanarts for the fandom. The recent artwork was really good and fun for me, so I plan to keep it going.

Every week I'll make one fanart for one of our favorites of IkeSen. I'll write the names on pieces of paper and draw who comes out, that way all of them will have the attention they deserve :)

I hope you guys enjoy it and feel free to give ideas and inspirations you'd love to see! Like themes, maybe seasonal... share your thoughts! ^.^

This is the best thing ever!!! Who needs cybird when we are lucky to have your stories? Thank you so much for all the time and care you put into these fics ❤️😭

Please let us know if in the future you'd open a koffi or something similar. I'm not in the position to donate right now, put I'd gladly do so when that changes :)

On side note, Motonari will always have my vote for any and every story 😆💛

Announcing Whimsey's Events!

Alright, so I am having lots of fun getting to work on my little collection event like fics stemming from the Dance to Remember fic I just recently posted. And since I am having fun with this, I want to make it a regular thing. So, every month, I will be doing a collection event or story event for ikesen!

So, this will be similar to collection and story events in the game (except you know free) and unlike cybird, I will feature more than just like the big three (Nobu, Kenshin, and Mitsuhide, because with the way events have been in the EN app lately, those are the most heavily featured guys).

Collection events will be lots of fun. I will start off with a post of all or most of the warlords and MC (similar to my Dance to Remember fic) and pick a handful of the guys (or if you guys want to put in a request for the warlords YOU want to see, put it in the comments or rb with your fave guy(s)) to write a little individual story of them and MC (will either use my MC name Ava or I will use the official Mai).

Story Events will feature three warlords. I will write a short fic for each warlord and MC going along with the theme of the event. Oh, and I will definitely do a wedding event (and unlike cybird, there will be an actual wedding).

So, that is my announcement! I hope you all will enjoy it!

Cybird - Ikemen Sengoku: Thoughts and a Proposal to Improve User Experience

In light of some of the more recent—and even long standing—complaints that I’ve seen circulating regarding Cybird’s Ikemen Sengoku, I have been thinking about the matter and the various issues. The following is not a rant but is just a collection of my own personal thoughts and opinions on this matter. It isn’t meant to be a diatribe, but just an open analysis that I hope sparks dialogue and conversation. Not only am I putting my thoughts out there, but at the end I will also provide a proposal on how we, as a community, can hopefully work together to make our voices heard in a positive, constructive manner and perhaps achieve some change.

ANALYSIS

I’ve seen people concerned that Cybird, in the English server, does not appear to evenly showcase the LI’s in events, broadcasting mostly the top, most popular guys (i.e. Nobunaga, Mitsuhide, Kenshin). I have seen it said that Cybird itself has favorites or plays favorites. While I get the sentiment, I am not sure I agree with the terminology in this particular case. As someone who, in most franchises, personally has the least popular opinions or favorite characters (or is even a big fan of underrated titles), I certainly understand and empathize with the frustration of one’s personal favorite(s) not being as frequently represented and wanting to see more of the characters I love; Ikesen just happens to be one of the rare cases where my favorites actually coincide with the majority opinion. That said, I do not feel that Cybird itself has or plays favorites; rather, I believe that the reason we see some guys showcased more than others is because there are overall fan-favorites across the Ikesen community as a whole, and the company has made marketing decisions based upon consumer demands.

Cybird is a company and, naturally, has to make money, and so is not doing anything to purposely exclude characters or upset fans. Understandably, they need to pay the bills and support the families and livelihoods of their employees: all the artists, writers, programmers and other staff that put in all the hard effort and time to make the stories that we love—and, yes, make a profit, as any company does. One way they do this is through marketing. And what is a great marketing scheme in an otome game like Ikesen that focuses on romantic relationships? Poster boys. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this, and is something that can be seen even on smaller, more local levels at even small ‘Mom & Pop’ shops (i.e. the featured or most frequently showed products may be on display or advertised more).

In any franchise, there are going to be the featured character(s) that appear on all the major advertising and associated events, even if other characters are just as loveable and well-written. It’s how a brand is recognized, but it also has to do with consumer wants. Nobunaga, and the other top favorites, have served as Cybird’s poster boys to attract new players to the game and to garner excitement among established players. Compare it to, say, the Disney princess line-up. Belle, Jasmine, Mulan, Snow White, etc. are what many people probably think of when they think “Disney princess” even though heroines like Hercules’ Megara or Hunchback’s Esmeralda are just as plucky and likeable as the official line-up. The official line-up is what people recognize and associate with the brand (Mickey Mouse himself is a catch-all Disney poster character). As such, the poster characters are going to be featured more regularly on advertising campaigns like Cybird’s All for Love event that is currently going on. It isn’t to exclude the other Ikesen guys or say they are less likeable… they are just not part of the poster boy line-up, but that isn’t to say that those guys who are in the lineup are Cybird’s personal favorites and that’s that.

Let’s look at a smaller scale analogy rather than a monster conglomerate like Disney. For the sake of this analysis, let us imagine a local ice cream parlor. Let’s imagine that the flavors rocky road, cookie dough, and bubblegum are the top sellers. Those top flavors are probably, usually, going to be up front whereas the less popular flavors may be in the back. If anything, the top flavors will be produced in greater quantity because they sell more. But that doesn’t mean they’re only going to sell just rocky road and bubblegum; rocky road may bring in the most customers, but then the customers will see the variety and choose to perhaps sample some chocolate chip mint or raspberry sherbet too. Rocky road leads to sherbet. A flawed analogy, yes, I know. But the point I’m trying to make is that our poster boys appearing on all the major advertising isn’t outside the marketing norm and can draw in new fans to fall in love not only with them but with the other Ikesen men as well. Now, this is just addressing a marketing perspective and doesn’t go into the concerns about the actual quantity of characters in actual events, which I’ll get to later in this analysis.

Going back to fan-favorites, I think we all understand that there’s naturally going to be some characters that speak to a larger number of fans than others, in any franchise. That’s just the way things happen—doesn’t mean that the popular characters are better than the less popular characters, they just appeal to a wider audience.

If the All for Love event is any indicator, along with past stats-based events, then the English server’s top guys appear to be: Nobunaga, Mitsuhide, Kenshin, Masamune, Ieyasu, and Motonari. As such, I do not think it is surprising that these guys have been (or will be) featured more frequently than others. These guys are the proven money makers with the biggest fanbases, so it would make sense for Cybird to create more content for them because they’ll bring in greater profit (though why Motonari’s birthday story event was skipped, I am not quite sure… especially considering how he ranked in the top 5, I believe—if memory serves me right—last year for the Mr. Sengoku contest and seems to be growing in popularity since his route release last year).

Aside from profits, one might even suppose that by catering to the majority opinion, that the company would therefore be making the majority of their fanbase happy. Again, going back to the ice cream analogy, the more popular flavors will be more frequently produced, and restocked, because rocky road is what most people want, whereas it just doesn’t make as much business sense to mass produce melon flavor if only a smaller population likes it.

I could be wrong on this (correct me if I am), but it doesn’t seem like the Japanese server gets that much more variety than the English. My understanding is that they get more Hideyoshi and Yukimura content, but that would seem to be because those two are more highly ranked in the Japanese server than they are the English. And if that is indeed the case, then it would appear that Cybird is just catering to the majority opinion there no differently than they do here with English. The Japanese server is a different population so naturally will have some differences than the English demographics, but there still seems to be some overlap with the top guys who are popular in both (i.e. Nobunaga, Mitsuhide, Masamune).

In terms of certain guys more frequently winning during the voting events (such as Nobunaga placing first during the recent speed dating event), I don’t blame fans for voting for their favorites. It’s just what we naturally do as fans; we love our top biases and want to pour our love on them and/or see more content of them. That’s hardly Cybird’s fault (they’re giving us the opportunity to make our choices, after all), and so they cannot be blamed for who places in the top positions during these types of events. Although, maybe, such as in the case of the speed dating event, the lineup can be arranged slightly differently so that the top 6 guys aren’t always competing against the middle and lower ranked guys each week so that it’s not just one of the top 6 that win each category.

I understand if it may be frustrating or even predictable if the Ikesen community as a whole routinely votes for Nobunaga, Mitsuhide, Masamune, or Kenshin more times than not. However, I’ve personally observed the same behavior within smaller fan communities as seen within the game itself. Naturally, depending on the demographic makeup of the section of fanbase one is looking at, there may be some variables in which certain guys are featured more; but based upon, say, a certain writer or artist’s personal preferences and the preferences of their followers, you’ll likely see the same set of guys getting the majority of art or stories produced in that community. If you frequent certain pages long enough, one can even predict who will most likely even be requested (just as one might predict who might win in an Ikesen event contest). Not only that… but overall, you’re going to find, say, more Motonari or Mitsuhide content rather than Kennyo content, even among fans. Sure, you’ll get the occasional artist here and there who will produce work with a little more variety… but overall, you’ll see patterns similar to what we observe in the game, and the larger the fan sample population size, the more you’ll notice this to be true.

I am not criticizing the fanbase nor do I have anything against this; we all do this. Even I do. It’s okay to have favorites, love them unconditionally, and get super excited to vote for them, whether that is requesting some fanfic, fanart, or head canon of your guys, or whether that’s voting for them in an official Cybird event. That’s okay, and half the fun of being a fan is throwing our support behind our favorites. And fangirling profits Cybird… so I don’t see them doing away with catering towards our demands in that regard. However, that isn’t to say that there can’t be better balance in how event lineups are arranged. Which leads us to…

PROBLEMS…

Nothing is perfect, and Cybird as a company certainly has room to improve and better player experience. I try to take a balanced approach and consider, when I can, why some things are being done (as indicated in my analysis above), but that doesn’t mean that an issue should be overlooked… but nor does it mean it is unsurmountable and that positive change cannot be achieved. Below, I have listed some of the most common complaints circulating around the game.

1. More balance for f2p content. Some of the events, like the collection events, are difficult to accomplish without spending on. Thankfully, the LI’s main routes are free, but much of the bonus content is not. The company needs to make revenue somehow, so I understand why there is p2p content (most mobile games have some p2p feature, and some are way worse than others). They need to support the artists, writers, programmers, etc. and also make a profit. Every game charges a premium—while big box games charge a flat rate price for the main game (and then for DLC content, usually), mobile games that are mostly f2p make their profits through extra content.

That said, there could be room to allow f2p players greater access without sacrificing company revenues. There just needs to be better balance. Though, even if this balance is achieved, it does not mean that f2p will be able to get everything—that’s unfortunately just the reality of being f2p, and so one would need to decide which stories and content to sacrifice, and which to pursue.

2. The coin system is not very generous. For the number of coins that can be earned each day by watching ads, it would take diligently doing that every day and one would still not have enough coins in a year’s time to spend towards even just a standard 5 story tickets, let alone outfits or event materials. As such, I don’t bother with attempting to earn the free coins at all. Even when there are “lucky” periods where one can earn 2 instead of 1 coins per ad, it doesn’t amount to much. I understand there has to be limits on f2p content as they can’t make the entire game completely free, but with how little the coin system gives, they either should make it better balanced and give a little more or just not have it all. In contrast, Tears of Themis has the most generous in-game currency I’ve seen with their s-chips. By logging in daily, and performing all the tasks, a player can earn an allotted amount. If the player buys the $5 monthly pass, she can earn even more s-chips on top of the f2p amount, along with other game rewards and benefits. A prudent player can save thousands of s-chips in just several months. To put it in perspective for those who haven’t played that game, to guarantee an SSR story card in the gacha, that’s 100 pulls, which is about 18,000 s-chips. But if you’re lucky, you don’t have to spend that much, and some game events can cost less s-chips than that. Comparatively, Ikesen would take years of saving for a single premium outfit.

3. Again, I don’t begrudge the company the right to make money (even the friendly stand at your local farmer’s market has the same goal), but it would be nice if there were more reasonable prices for p2p content. I’m happy to spend a little now and then to support the game for creating all the characters and stories I love. However, prices shouldn’t be so high that they clean out my wallet, either. We all have bills to pay, too.

4. Already touched this point in my analysis and why I believe part of the issue is what it is… but I know that the fandom would like to see more variety in the LI lineup for events. While I don’t think it is completely feasible for Cybird to be fully equal with their rotations for some of the reasons already listed (Ikesen being unlike games with a smaller cast of 4-5 guys that have a roughly equal sized fanbase and can be more evenly rotated without sacrificing profit), I do think it is possible for a more balanced compromise that would make both Cybird and players happy.

5. Skipped birthday fest story events. I’m talking about the big story events, not the separate birthday story sale. While I haven’t participated in all the birthday story events and have only started recently by focusing on my personal favorites… I do believe that all the guys should have their birthday fest story event to celebrate, and that their fans would all appreciate that.

This briefly sums up some of the main problems I’ve seen circulating. I will say that I personally regard Cybird as being better than other mobile gaming companies out there. There are some that are way worse (particularly those “choice” style games that doesn’t actually allow the player to make a choice in the game and punishes them for making the free choice by it being a “bad” choice and the characters themselves shaming the player for making it—the other “choice” being a paid option). And then there’s the otome games that deliberately lock all the romance behind gacha cards (i.e. Mr. Love Queen’s Choice and Tears of Themis—the latter being the more generous of the two), meaning that unlucky players who don’t have success in the gacha or new players (who may have missed out on special events), don’t actually get to play the guys’ actual routes and can only play the main story… which lacks the character development and romance locked behind the gacha. At least with Ikesen, a f2p and a new player can play any route they want without it being locked behind a lottery system which ruins the flow of the story. As I’ve said, there’s definite room for Cybird to improve, but I personally have a better experience and opinion with them than I’ve had with others.

…AND SOLUTIONS

I have already outlined the main problems above, so what can be done about it? Cybird is unlikely to make changes if they are unaware how their customers feel. Not only do we need to make our opinions and player experiences known in order to inform them so that they are able to improve gameplay, but we can also propose to them plausible solutions.

Companies do use user feedback from user surveys to improve customer experience. I’ve seen positive change incorporated in companies larger than Cybird and in my own real-life experiences. If we’re going to present solutions, though, Cybird would be more likely to consider ones that are balanced and don’t sacrifice their margins.

In regards to the problems listed above, here are some potential solutions to consider:

1. For the skipped birthdays, perhaps just simply suggesting that Cybird stops the practice and provides birthday story events for all the guys going forward. If they are agreeable to it, they could perhaps even have “belated birthday” story events for the guys who were skipped to make up for it.

2. More variety in the lineup for events is wanted. For reasons listed above in my analysis, I do not think it is feasible to expect that Cybird will do a fully equal rotation of all 17 guys. However, I do think better balance can be achieved that will make fans who want to see more of the less popular guys happy, but will also still meet Cybird’s profits by selling the more popular guys. My suggestion is that events include a rotational lineup that has a popular guy like Nobunaga, a middle-ranked guy like Keiji, and a lower ranked guy like Ranmaru, for example. And for bigger lineups like in collection events, there can be several guys from each category (probably a little more from the upper and middle rank guys than the lower, but the lower would still be represented).

3. This following idea belongs to @writingwhimsey, and it would solve the problem of not spending our whole wallet. She was describing a comic app she has where the customer can buy stuff chapter by chapter or pay a small subscription fee each month to have access to all the content. This subscription fee is around $4 or $5 (the price of a coffee, which is really doable—I think—for most people). Cybird could do something similar. They could still have their daily free chapters for f2p players (with the option to buy individual chapter tickets for those who want to), but also add a reasonable subscription for those interested. If the $5 wasn’t enough to pay all their VA’s, artists, writers, etc., then they could even offer different levels. One amount can get a player unlimited content (all the routes—no waiting for daily chapter tickets, collection event stories, etc.), a lesser amount mostly unlimited, and then the base tier gets limited but a little more than f2p. Also, Cybird could throw in more ads to lower costs; a player can read to a certain point in the routes and then there’s an ad break. I think most people would be okay with the occasional ad if it lowered p2p prices and also allowed more f2p opportunities.

Those are just some suggestions. Any ideas others might have are, of course, welcome.

PROPOSAL

So we have some thoughts on why certain things might be done the way they are, an outline of the biggest problems, and some potential solutions. Now we just need to make our voices heard to Cybird. And, of course, if any of you out there have your own ideas to suggest to Cybird to help solve some of the above issues, then this is the opportunity to get your thoughts out there.

I propose starting a letter writing campaign directly to Cybird’s customer service. They have an email address on their website, but they ask that people only use it for business related propositions. Ikesen’s in-app customer service is probably the way to go. If you’re like me, and on the more verbose side (as the length of this has proven), then you may want to consider writing your letter out first in a Word program, emailing it to yourself, and then logging into your mobile device and copying and pasting it into the in-app customer service box. Or just write directly in the app. Whatever works for you.

For those who are feeling more creative, you can write love letters to your favorite Ikesen guys and list our recommendations in a fun, light-hearted way. I think this would be very attention-catching and that Cybird might appreciate the creativity. Of course, this isn’t obligatory. The important thing is to get our voices out there, and if the creative approach is too much of a chore or burden to you, then don’t do it. All we need to do is write at least 1-3 concise, clear, to-the-point paragraphs than to get hung up on the creative approach and not write a letter at all.

Next, we need to spread the word. Spread news of the campaign beyond Tumblr to Twitter, fan forums and other places where other fans may gather. (Linking to here is not needed or necessary—just spread the word your own way).

If the community bands together, I think we can work together to get our voices heard in a positive, conductive manner. We will want to be persistent in voicing our opinions, but we don’t want to be spammers. In Tears of Themis, Hoyoverse sends out a customer survey to get feedback every couple months or so. Cybird doesn’t send out surveys, so this letter campaign is our way to get our feedback to them. I suggest we send our letters out every quarter… or maybe every two or three months? (Suggestions welcome).

Once we start this, we will need to be patient. Cybird might already have the next several months of projects planned, so it could take a while for our feedback to go through the proper channels, be discussed, and—if any changes are decided upon to improve gameplay experience—it will take a bit for it to be approved on their end and then implemented. And if changes are made, we may not get everything we want in the way we want it, but I do believe that with persistence and positivity, we can share our voices in a productive manner and that change of some sort is possible.

So there we have it! Those are my thoughts and hopefully I have at least presented a vehicle for us to go about working towards some positive change. If you’ve made it this far, I congratulate you for bearing with me and thank you for your patience in dealing with my rambling. I really hope that we can work together on this, and I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish. :D

RESEARCH

This is an addendum that I wrote after completing my initial analysis and proposal above. I got curious and started wondering… and I really wanted to know the actual numbers of LI’s appearances in events. So, using Cybird’s official Tumblr page as a reference, I took a tally for both collection events and story events in the English sever over the last year from March, 2021 to July, 2022. For more accurate results, I probably could have done more thorough research and gone back even further… But I hope this gives us a decent snapshot on things as they are at present.

**Note: I’m not including story sales in these calculations. Just actual story and collection events. By the way, I did not see Ranmaru had a BDAY fest last year in 2021, just a BDAY sale… so it seems some guys might have not gotten BDAY Fest story events earlier than the big noticeable skips this year. But I wasn’t counting birthday events in this data, so I didn’t look as closely as I could have.**

…Collection Events…

Seduced by His Touch (March, 2021):

Shingen, Ieyasu, Yoshimoto, Mitsuhide, Ranmaru, Yukimura

Fated to Love You (March, 2021):

Masamune, Ranmaru, Ieyasu, Motonari, Shingen, Yoshimoto

Love is in the Air (March, 2021):

Hideyoshi, Nobunaga, Kenshin, Motonari

How to Charm You (April, 2021):

Hideyoshi, Ieyasu, Masamune, Kenshin, Mitsuhide, Yukimura, Nobunaga

All My Love For You (April, 2021):

Hideyoshi, Masamune, Ieyasu, Nobunaga, Kenshin, Mitsuhide, Yukimura

Make my Heart Flutter (May, 2021):

Sasuke, Kenshin, Mitsuhide, Masamune, Motonari

Let Me Be Your Hero (May, 2021):

Kanetsugu, Keiji, Nobunaga, Masamune, Yoshimoto

Summertime Fireworks (June, 2021):

Kennyo, Ieyasu, Kicho, Mitsuhide, Masamune

A Wish Upon These Lips (July, 2021):

Mitsunari, Mitsuhide, Ieyasu, Yukimura

Darker Than Night (July, 2021):

Motonari, Kenshin, Nobunaga, Masamune

His Enticing Embrace (August, 2021):

Kenshin, Yoshimoto, Mitsuhide, Kanetsugu, Mitsunari

Midnight’s Sweetest Punishment (August, 2021):

Shingen, Kicho, Hideyoshi, Nobunaga, Kenshin

Fight of Flirtation (September, 2021):

Ieyasu, Shingen, Nobunaga, Keiji, Hideyoshi

Secret to Your Love (September, 2021):

Motonari, Yukimura, Sasuke, Ieyasu, Mitsuhide, Masamune

Autumn of Affection (October, 2021):

Ranmaru, Mitsunari, Kennyo, Kenshin, Masamune, Yukimura

Sweet Possession (November, 2021):

Motonari, Mitsunari, Kanetsugu, Ieyasu, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi

Yes, My Warlord [features all 17 guys] (November, 2021):

Hideyoshi, Ieyasu, Kanetsugu, Keiji, Kenshin, Kennyo, Kicho, Masamune, Mitsuhide, Mitsunari, Motonari, Nobunaga, Ranmaru, Sasuke, Shingen, Yoshimoto, Yukimura

Dangerous Desires (December, 2021):

Yoshimoto, Kicho, Yukimura, Masamune, Kenshin

Once Upon a Scandal (December, 2021):

Keiji, Nobunaga, Mitsuhide, Hideyoshi

Temptation’s Darling (January, 2022):

Mitsuhide, Ieyasu, Mitsunari, Ranmaru

Sealed with a Kiss (January, 2022):

Masamune, Keiji, Mitsuhide, Sasuke, Yukimura

Our Fluttering Hearts (February, 2022):

Mitsunari, Ranmaru, Masamune, Nobunaga, Kenshin

Dazed Desire (February, 2022):

Shingen, Hideyoshi, Yoshimoto, Ieyasu, Mitsuhide, Yukimura

Tease Me, Please Me (March, 2022):

Motonari, Yoshimoto, Yukimura, Nobunaga, Masamune

As You Wish (March, 2022):

Kicho, Masamune, Kenshin, Ieyasu, Nobunaga, Mitsuhide

Temptatious Thrills (April, 2022):

Shingen, Mitsunari, Keiji, Ieyasu, Mitsuhide, Kenshin

Color Me With You (April, 2022):

Kicho, Kanetsugu, Hideyoshi, Nobunaga, Masamune

Sengoku Cinderella [Features all 17 guys] (June, 2022):

Hideyoshi, Ieyasu, Kanetsugu, Keiji, Kenshin, Kennyo, Kicho, Masamune, Mitsuhide, Mitsunari, Motonari, Nobunaga, Ranmaru, Sasuke, Shingen, Yoshimoto, Yukimura

My Sassy Boy (June, 2022):

Keiji, Ranmaru, Ieyasu, Mitsuhide, Yukimura

Nevertheless, I Still Do (July, 2022):

Sasuke, Hideyoshi, Kennyo, Masamune, Nobunaga, Kenshin TOTALS: Hideyoshi – 12 Ieyasu – 16 Kanetsugu – 6 Keiji – 8 Kenshin – 15 Kennyo – 5 Kicho – 7 Masamune – 18 Mitsuhide – 17 Mitsunari – 9 Motonari – 9 Nobunaga – 16 Ranmaru – 8 Sasuke – 6 Shingen – 8 Yoshimoto – 9 Yukimura – 13

…Story Events…

Heart to Heart Connection (April, 2021):

Yukimura, Mitsuhide, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, Kenshin

From the Bottom of my Heart [wedding event](May, 2021):

Mitsuhide, Yukimura, Hideyoshi

Bound By Destiny (June, 2021):

Kenshin, Mitsuhide, Yoshimoto

The Sweet Taste of Love (June, 2021):

Shingen, Kenshin, Ieyasu

Fall In Love Again Part 2 (July, 2021):

Mitsuhide, Ieyasu, Masamune, Yukimura

Love and Secrets in War (August, 2021):

Ieyasu, Mitsuhide, Mitsunari

Midsummer’s Night Heat (August, 2021):

Masamune, Nobunaga, Motonari

Lock Me Up with Love (September, 2021):

Mitsuhide, Masamune, Kenshin

Behind His Passionate Sword (October, 2021):

Kenshin, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi

In the Wake of a Legend (October, 2021):

Mitsuhide, Sasuke, Kenshin, Masamune

Undercover Lover (November, 2021):

Mitsuhide, Nobunaga, Keiji

The Seductive Spy (December, 2021):

Mitsuhide, Nobunaga, Ieyasu

Love is Stronger than the Sword (January, 2022):

Yukimura, Kenshin, Ieyasu, Masamune

Beyond His Betrayal (February, 2022):

Masamune, Nobunaga, Kicho, Ieyasu

The Secret Life of Warlords (March, 2022):

Ieyasu, Kenshin, Masamune, Shingen

My Sweetest Secret (March, 2022):

Kenshin, Mitsuhide, Shingen

The Equation to Your Heart (April, 2022):

Hideyoshi, Masamune, Kenshin, Sasuke

Revenge of Love (April, 2022):

Yukimura, Ieyasu, Nobunaga, Masamune

Treat Me Sweetly (June, 2022):

Mitsunari, Masamune, Mitsuhide, Kenshin

Consumed in Rapture (July, 2022):

Yoshimoto, Mitsuhide, Ieyasu TOTALS: Hideyoshi – 4 Ieyasu – 9 Keiji – 1 Kenshin – 11 Kicho – 1 Masamune – 10 Mitsuhide – 12 Mitsunari – 2 Motonari – 1 Nobunaga – 7 Sasuke – 2 Shingen – 3 Yoshimoto – 2 Yukimura – 5

I was surprised with some of these results. It appears that for the collection events Cybird has, for the most part, already been practicing my suggested solution of having a lineup that included a top tier guy, middle ranked guys, and a lower ranked guy. While there is a disparity between the top ranked guys and the rest, the gulf is not as big as I feel has been perceived. It appears that, spread out over the course of a little over a year, that inclusion has been spread out more evenly among the middle ranked crowd. Also, it seems to me that Hideyoshi and Yukimura in particular are not as big of underdogs as some have perceived them to be, and neither is Ranmaru. For not having yet had his English route released yet, he is doing much better than expected and is even currently beating Kennyo, who does have a route released. Not bad for Ranmaru, as one of the least popular characters too.

Now the story events, on the other hand, there is a more noticeable disparity. While the collection events have included all 17 guys at least more than once, the story events have only used 14 guys, leaving out Kennyo, Ranmaru and Kanetsugu (the latter two not having routes released yet, although Kicho and Yoshimoto have not had routes released yet and have made a story event appearance). Furthermore, the gulf between the top ranked guys and the rest is more noticeable in these results. One thing I noticed while doing this research is that the story events are less frequently released than collection events and have smaller lineups than collection events (3-4 guys). This is my speculation, but I wonder if story events are less frequent because they are longer, more fleshed out stories that take more time to produce rather than the short collection stories. As such, there’s been less opportunity to showcase all the guys, but that doesn’t mean that balance isn’t achievable. I still propose that for this Cybird does a lineup with the top guy, middle guy, and another middle guy or lower tiered guy instead of 2 or more top rated guys. This is a definite area for Cybird to improve, and I don’t think it would be too difficult for them to achieve. Already, Yukimura is lagging just 2 points behind Nobunaga who himself is 5 points behind Mitsuhide. My point being that if, say, the likes of Shingen, Motonari and Yoshimoto are put in the rotation more according to a similar formula to the one I proposed, those numbers will start to even out more, or so I believe.

The results for the collection events leads me to believe that the lineup for them isn’t as big of an issue as it is for the lineup for the story events. It seems to me the biggest problem with those is that many players are having a difficult time accessing those stories. For both f2p and low spenders, it is too difficult to get very far in the collection events from not having enough time to grind and/or the prices being too expensive. Allowing for longer events for more grinding time and/or more grindable rewards (i.e. hearts) given for completing tasks would help with this for the f2p, as well help low spenders, especially if a reasonably priced subscription service were available.

And then there’s the matter of Kennyo who was the one guy at the bottom all around, as expected. Because he is not very popular in either servers, I do not foresee Cybird spending as much time putting out new content for him as they do others, but I still believe it is possible for him to still get more love and attention even if not as much as Hideyoshi or even Keiji. After all, the other lower ranked guys are getting more content produced than him… so I do think the scales can be better balanced for all even if not completely equal or even.

So those are my thoughts and conclusions. I personally feel that things are not as bad as they could be but also have a fair bit of room to improve. I am confident that, together, we can work to achieve the change we’re hoping for in some format or another. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this and thank you also for those of you who would like to join my in my endeavors by launching this letter campaign. Whether you are a mere bystander or an active participant, I appreciate every one of you! Best wishes to you all! 😊

OMG, I'M CRYING!!!! I couldn't ask for anything more perfect then this! Thank you so much!!! It really made my day more special 💛💛💛

A Birthday Wish Come True

A request from my dear @zulablaise! For your special day. Happy birthday! I hope you have a great day and that this humble gift brings a smile to your face!

Fandom: Ikemen Sengoku

Character: Motonari x OC (Tomoe)

Fluff with a hint of spice at the end!

I sat in the garden, looking at the flowers as I sipped my tea. I let out a sigh, as the melancholy that came to me this time every year was beginning to set in. I’d been doing my best to keep it at bay, but sometimes I just couldn’t help it.

“Alright, that’s enough of this.”

I turned at the sound of Motonari’s gruff voice. “Enough of what?” I asked, as he came to sit down beside me.

“Ya been sighin’ and lookin’ all gloomy for the last few days now.” He answered. “What’s got ya down?”

“It’s nothing.” I replied. “I just kind of get a little down this time of year. I’ll get over it in a little while.”

“Tomoe.” The way Motonari says my name so gently as me looking up at him. I could see the honest concern and the gentle affection in his red eyes. “Talk ta me. Tell me what’s wrong…how else ya gonna feel good?”

I gave him a small smile, happy at the concern he held for me. Happy at the love I felt coming from him. “Alright.” I said. “It’s just…my birthday is the day after tomorrow.”

Motonari’s eyes widened. “Deus, why didn’t ya tell me sooner? Don’t tell me yer one o’ them girls that gets all worried over turnin’ another year older?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s nothing like that.” I answered. “It’s just…my birthday has never really been a big deal.”

“What d’ya mean by that?”

“Growing up…my mom, she never really made a big deal about my birthday. Sure, I’d get a party sometimes, but well…it never really felt like her heart was in celebrating me.” I explained. “She always worried about everyone and everything else. So, it just…never really felt like a special day. It was my birthday, but…I was put on the back burner, so to speak.”

“Well, it is a big deal.” Motonari said, his tone coming out rather disgruntled.

“M-M-Moto…nari?”

“Yer birthday is an important day. The day you were born is worth celebratin’.” He told me.

“But…”

“No buts.” Motonari replied, placing a gloved finger over my lips. “Yer my girl…yer worth celebratin’.”

My heart gave a thump at his sweet words. “Well…I guess when you put it like that…”

Motonari smiled at me and leaned in to give me a tender kiss on the lips. “That’s my girl. You just leave everything ta me. I’ll make the biggest fuss over ya.”

“You don’t have to make it THAT big of a deal.” I tried to protest.

“After the fuss ya made over me and my birthday? Hell no.” Motonari replied. “’Sides what kinda man would I be if I didn’t make sure this was the best birthday my girl ever had? Gotta make this one so good ya ferget all ‘bout them bad birthdays.”

I suddenly felt myself feeling a bit lighter. For the first time in several years, I was actually starting to look forward to my birthday. If anyone could pull off making me feel special on my birthday…it was my handsome pirate king. “I’m actually…feeling kind of excited.” I confessed. “I can’t wait to see what you come up with.”

Motonari gave me a confident smile. His slipped his gloved fingers beneath my chin. “That’s my girl.” He said before drawing me in for a deep kiss, filled with so much love.

Two days later…

It had taken some effort, but somehow Motonari had managed to pull off a little trip for us. We had left the night I told him about my birthday and today we were arriving in one of the largest port cities of Japan. We spent the day out on the town, Motonari taking me to the largest fabric merchant and told me to pick out whatever fabric I wanted. Then he took me to several shops, buying me anything and everything that caught my eye.

Somehow with the limited time he’d had to plan, Motonari had even managed to have some gifts waiting for me at certain shops. Hair pins, new clothes, new sewing notions, the biggest bouquet of flowers I had ever seen. He took me to some tea houses and bakeries, getting all kinds of sweet treats for me. He’d even managed to find one that had some foreign dishes that were common in my time.

As were sitting down at the little restaurant and I was happily stuffing my face, Motonari grinned at me. “There it is.” He said, gazing at me tenderly.

“There what is?” I asked.

“That smile.” He answered.

“Well…I mean you did definitely go out of your way to make this birthday really special for me.” I replied. “Granted you always make me happy every day…just getting to be with you.”

Motonari looked away from me then.

“What?” I asked, leaning over to try and peer at his face. “Come on, you put this smile on my face. You should enjoy it.”

Motonari turned to look at me and that’s when I noticed why he had looked away. “M’lady ya gotta watch what you say sometimes.” He said, glaring at me, though the effect was lost with the slight flush on his cheeks.

My grin widened. “Did I fluster you?”

Motonari grumbled unintelligibly before leaning in to steal a kiss from my lips. “Don’t be lettin’ it go to them flowers in yer head.”

I giggled as my own cheeks reddened. He would never let me celebrate my little victory for long. But I was still happy none the less.

“Ya know, yer birthday ain’t over.” He told me. “I got another surprise fer ya.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“You’ll just have ta wait ‘n’ see. If told ya it wouldn’t be much of a surprise.” He replied, grinning at me.

Once we finished up in town, the sun was beginning to set and Motonari was leading me back to the ship. I was pleasantly surprised to see the deck of the ship decorated and a feast laid out. “Happy birthday, Princess.” Hiroyoshi and the crew greeted me with big cheers.

I felt tears stinging my eyes. I turned to Motonari. “You…you got them all to put this together for me?”

“Course, I thought I already told ya. Yer worth celebratin’.” Motonari told me, his voice so gentle and full of love.

“And we were all more than happy to agree.” Hiroyoshi informed me.

“Yeah, once I said it was fer you, the crew couldn’t a been more excited.” Motonari told me.

“We all want to celebrate ya, Princess.” One of the crew members spoke up.

“Yeah! Yer really great and we’re happy ta have ya ‘round.” Another exclaimed.

I couldn’t help but to smile even as tears of happiness spilled down my face. “You guys! Thank you all so much!”

“Come on, let’s enjoy yer party.” Motonari told me, wiping away my tears with gloved fingers.

“Alright.” I agreed, smiling.

The party went on for quite a while before Motonari and I were finally retiring to his cabin for the evening. Once we were alone, I threw my arms around him in a tight hug. “Thank you, Motonari.”

I felt his arms wrap around me. “I hope ya don’t think yer surprises are over.” He told me,

I pulled back to look up at him. “What do you mean?”

He gave me a mischievous grin. “Silly flower girl, I got one last present fer ya. Ya ready to unwrap it?” He then bucked his hips against me.

I flushed slightly but smiled. “Hmm, seems like that’s just as much a present for you as it is for me.” I teased.

Motonari grinned. “Just figured we been enjoyin’ the whole day together…might as well enjoy yer last present o’ the night together, too.”

I giggled. “I like that idea.”

Motonari was then cupping my face between his hands…his bare hands as during our hug, he had slipped them off without my notice. He was then drawing me in for a deep kiss. His tongue quickly parted my lips and I met it with mine. When he broke the kiss, Motonari was smiling so tenderly at me.

He scooped me up into his arms and carried me over to the bed. Still looking at me with so much love as he laid me down and slid over me. We were soon kissing again, our hands working to make quick work of each other’s clothes. We were soon a tangle of limbs as our bodies became one and we spent the last hours of my birthday making love.

Afterwards, we lay curled up together, my head resting on his chest as Motonari held me tight. “Happy birthday, Tomoe.” He told me. “I’ll spend the rest o’ my life with you and we’ll spend every birthday makin’ a big ole fuss, celebratin’ just how special ya are.”

I smiled as I looked up at him. “Thank you, my love.” I replied. “I definitely enjoyed this birthday…and I look forward to getting to celebrate with you every year.”

“Good…and next year’ll be even better since I’ll have more time ta plan.” He replied. “I love you, Tomoe.”

“I love you, Motonari.”

We were soon kissing again, leading into the rest of the night being filled with so much passion and love. For the first time in what felt like forever, I had a great birthday and it was all thanks to my love. Now, I couldn’t wait for next year.

Back to school feeling ✨️