Anonymous Coward · 3mo
what do you think is the biggest gripe of invitation to wine, esp as part of the sui arc? i recently finished rereading it, since i was curious whether the story would still feel as confusing as reading it the first time (and also im in a sui mood bc of shu). i wanted to know if it was still confusing even after reading vernal winds and catching some hints and plot points from invitation to wine that i didnt get the first time through reading the arknights terra wiki (as one does).
i think i can say after rereading, that it's an event enhanced by prior knowledge. reading it while knowing a priori about the infighting between yanese govt departments, about 2nd brother (in my first read i admit it felt difficult trying to parse when it was him in dialogue... or that's just me), it feels more cohesive. i still think the way they introduced the different govt factions and their infighting was confusing tho... yeah i like arknights stories many times being implicit and making us read between the lines and think critically but in this case it felt like they were introducing so many different things i.e., 'what are all these govt officials?' while being too implicit about it.
also, about event stories requiring some prior knowledge, one could argue lone trail falls under this category too, and while true, i feel a lot of things are better understood if you're familiar with anything rhine lab related, these are from stories /before/ lone trail, while invitation to wine imo needs 'prior' knowledge both before and after its event.
hope this is cohesive enough of an ask. what do you think about the event?
I agree, Invitation to Wine is an event I have a difficult relationship with. Let's start from afar: I was HYPED for it. I loved Who is Real. Sui Arc was the first event plot that started to be built up by continuous episodes. Lee was looking like just -my- type of character. Ling also looked great, we always respect some kickass poetry. I think it's 3D PV is still the most tasteful of all AK 3D PV's. MR. NOTHING WAS STILL THERE!!! KROOS!!!!
And when I read, I was "Okay. That's a wuxia... I guess? But at least it was nice to read?"
But as time passes, I think less and less of IW as an event, and here's the reason: while it accomplishes its goal as a bridge set-up chapter, it has little to offer on its own.
It even made me unexcited for the next Sui event, that's an achievement!
Some would say half of its charm is lost on an ENG reader because we don't get the literature references, but... I don't think getting a few references would enhance a story that is so barebones. Not being familiar with T. S. Eliot's "Four Quartets" doesn't prevent me from enjoying the "Walk in the Dust" event. Not reading the original "How Do You Live?" book from the Japanese school curriculum and not understanding the allusions doesn't prevent me from enjoying the story of Miyazaki's latest movie.
Et cetera, et cetera.
So I think there are two problems to IW: weak happenings and weak character usage.
Happenings: as much as we can discuss "did the events shift the status quo" or not, usually something worthwhile is happening in them. Guide Ahead has the Summit of Nations. Lu Xiaohei has an Infected girl looking for her pet and Xiaohei looking for his friends (I use Xiaohei as the perfect example of a small-scale Arknights event). IW had three things: everyone chasing a cup (which is... not that exciting), an introduction to a bad guy (will be relevant later, but doesn't do much for now), and a family drama of a former assassin and his daughter. Oh, the last one has some potential! But now we come to IW's second weakness...
2) IW's character usage is a mess. The only one who accomplishes some sort of character arc is Miss Du. And even then she didn't really resonate with me that much. The NPC's aren't memorable in the way they are in Kazimierz, Iberia, or Kjerag. Mr. Nothing and Kroos are fun characters but they have -nothing- to do in the event, remove them, and nothing changes. Blacknight appears for 2 scenes and is a function that can be replaced with any other character. Liang Xun... acts like he's supposed to have a character arc, but we don't see it? Lee doubts him, but in the end, confirms Liang's still an earnest good guy who didn't lose himself, but we never really see what's been weighing on Liang anyway (by the way I hope they'll get there)? Everyone's just there to run around and it feels like the story wouldn't change even if they replaced all of them with anybody else with the same affiliations. Lee is fine, I think he accomplishes his detective role in this semi-mystery of the cup nicely, and it's refreshing to watch how he's in the victim "possessed" position but remains in control. Ling... has an interesting idea going on, with all that "Myriad years the human realm was drunk, and it won't permit me one farcical dream?", but it just drops with no introspection into Ling's arrival to that thought.
It retains some of the Sui Arc's strengths though: the dialogue in this arc is always interesting, the characters have insightful thoughts to share, so I felt pretty okay reading it, just to watch them talking. It has cool scenes: the chess game was cool. The Rainmaster entrance was cool. The court romance mannerisms were sweet.
But the more I look back at it, the less I understand why it exists except for "we need to stretch this for an X amount of New Year celebrations".
tl;dr Invitation to Wine accomplishes its role as an introduction chapter but has little to offer as its own story despite its length
I was surprised how much I liked When Vernal Winds Will Never Blow compared to it.
