Estopolis 2
In the middle of the summer, outside no doubt a blistering 37 degrees Celsius (that’s above body temperture) I was saying “wow,” in my dark office/storage room of my Japanese family apartment. In Estopolis II the main character had just married the captain of the guard of a small kingdom. Without me pressing any buttons they’d fallen in love, confessed that love, bound that love, and then had a love child as I sat there.
The game could have ended right there, and yet it didn’t. See the preceding game, Estopolis, begins with some of the party members I’d met in this game defeating a large boss and perishing. Then it cuts ahead to a man who never knew his parents starting on a quest.
Before Symphony of the Night, Estopolis 1 started with a different game that didn’t even exist yet. Then with Estopolis 2 they went, what if that game did exist?
Neverland had played Dragon Quest V and decided their game should also have a time skip. Which brings me back to The 2025 Game Moment That Wowed Me.
How often have you believed in romance between pixels? That they have hearts to follow beyond the control pad? I played Final Fantasy X this year and remain in disbelief that anyone would shed tears over Yuna and Tiida. It does have a very tasteful sex scene. If Romeo and Juliet taught the world anything, its that love is having sex once.
Estopolis 2 has the hero, Maxim, and the childhood-shopkeep-friend of no ability but love and carrying Tia, going on an adventure. They eventually get swept up in saving the world of course.
Tia was something of a cry-baby as a child, and then taught that a strong woman never cries, except for love. And she is in love with our oblivious hero. She gets catty and annoyed when he oogles other women. Even further annoyed when Maxim doesn’t take her hints.
These pixels were slowly surprising me with being full human beings.
They eventually encounter Serena, captain of a knights’ guard. She is as powerful as our hero and a great addition to our team. Tia has not receive as many stats and boons as the rest of our party and is being outpaced.
Eventually our hero has seemingly perished and Serena bursts into tears. At the same time, Tia’s heart breaks when Maxim shows himself to be okay. In the middle of the night Tia meets with Serena and says be good to him. Tia returns to their hometown for the rest of the game.
In the morning Serena and Maxim confess their love for each other and are married. We then watch their marriage, Serena’s pregnancy, and the birth of Estopolis’s hero if you had played Estopolis, and just a baby if you haven’t.
The clues that they were falling in love were there, subtly. They were maybe overshadowed by Tia’s jealousy and cattyness. I was shocked by this turn of events. I couldn’t believe they fell in love without me noticing. That Tia would give up on the only man she had loved. That she left the party for no reasons other than her own.
I hadn’t even noticed Serena and Maxim falling in love. They had.
Hinge Problems 
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