Bliss Stage: Love Is Your Weapon is the official
Visual Novel adaptation of the
Tabletop Roleplaying Game Bliss Stage, by
Ben Lehman's imprint, These Are Our Games.
The game is being produced by
Perpetual Motion Games. The prerelease demo for the Kickstarter backers is now available
here, and the main discussion thread on Lemmasoft is
here.The story expands on the events and characters from the one-shot, Final Act, published in the first edition of
Bliss Stage. It follows the adventures of
Josh Preston, the newest pilot of
The Treasure Island Resistance and son of it's
Magnificent Bastard Commander, Jim Preston. They are fighting a losing battle again an
Alien Invasion by the Nightmares, a race of
Eldritch Abominations from a dimension adjacent to our dreams.
His weapon? The
ANIMa, a
reverse-engineered alien device that creates a psychic manifestation of his
intimate relationships. But time is running out for him... Bliss happens, and if he drags his feet too long, or
acts like a Jerkass, he is going to either
die messily or
fall to the Bliss.
In addition to the tropes from the main
Bliss Stage page, this game and its characters provide examples of:
Dev Team- Author Appeal: If a certain writer is in charge of a given character's dialog, this is probably part of the reason.
- Not to mention the character designer openly admits to a fetish for scars.
GameplayJoshua Castellano Preston- Ace Pilot: A mix of Steamroller and Bushwhacker on most paths. He rolls over your blind spots, especially when he manifests Anna Lin as the Sun-Tzu Tactical Matrix.
- Deadpan Snarker: this is his general response to adversity, especially on Practical paths.
- Expy: Sort of; it depends on the path. He's based on Shinji on Sensitive paths, Simon on Idealist paths, and Setsuna on Practical paths.
- Hot Blooded: On Idealistic paths.
- Momma's Boy: which helps to explain his submissive tendencies.
- Military Brat: Considering that the Colonel is A Father to His Men - literally in his case...
- Race Lift: Joshua Preston from the Bliss Stage Canon main rules was of unspecified race. Josh Castellano Preston specifies it as Irish and Colombian.
- Translation Convention: Everything Joshua understands is 'printed' in English, but the voice actors will actually speak it in the language it's intended to be. Joshua knows Spanish at the start of the game and picks up some other languages.
- Well Done Son Guy: Averted on the paths where he actually talks with Colonel James Paul Preston, but on the others, his Shinji is showing.
- Uke: For all his bluster, he's pretty goddamn submissive in relationships to begin with. And then you just had to go on the Derek Smith path...
Anna LinMeredith Odetta BakerKeenan Caine- Ace Pilot: Sniper-type.
- Chivalrous Pervert: And how.
- Glass Cannon: He has a lot of low-Trust, high Intimacy relationships at the beginning of the game.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: His ANIMa is named the Chevalier Du'Samedi. *
Yukiko asks if that would make it the "Saturday Knight."
- The Lancer: He's like this on most playthroughs; on the other hand, it is possible to piss him off or get pissed off by him.
- The Big Easy: He's from New Orleans, a lifetime ago: his childhood reminicinces have that kind of flavor.
- Handsome Lech: What Josh starts out thinking of him as: the fact that Anna agrees, having been on the receiving end of his charm, doesn't help.
- Hollywood Voodoo: His ANIMa is named the Chevalier Du'Samedi, and a lot of its attacks have a cinematic Voodoo style. Keenan himself actually knows better.
- Let's Get Dangerous: The first time you see him, he comes off as a - well, as a carefree hedonist. On missions, though, he becomes deadly focused and laconic.
- Polyamory: It's why he's such a scary combatant in his ANIMa. Provided that he's sniping: Yukiko occasionally needs a reminder that Keenan loves her first and foremost.
- Scary Black Man: Played with. Josh doesn't like to admit that this is most of the reason his relationship to Sara gets under his skin, and both Keenan and Meredith will call Josh out on that.
- Rebel Relaxation
Sara Smith- A-Cup Angst: Well, she is only 13. This doesn't usually bother her, but there are times...
- Arc Words:
"Josh? It's flattering, but don't do that in front of Hurf Durk again - pretending I don't know what it means bothers me."
- Hair of Gold: In Twin Tails, no less. Though those are French braids, rather than tails.
- The Ingénue: This explains a LOT of her romantic ideals, sadly.
- Little Miss Badass: "Yoo~hoo~! Mr. Nightmare! I'm packing plasma grenades~!"
- Shout Out: The design of her Genki Lilith mecha is a shout-out to Saber. The name is a shoutout to WALL•E.
- Tsundere: She really, REALLY doesn't like being treated as a child, and would rather have friends than lovers. Really.
- Tykebomb: She's the youngest pilot on the team, and truly terrifying in battle.
Gabriel Veramor Winter Josh: "Sometimes you just can't see the trees for the forest, Gabby."
Gabriel: "I would say that's accurate, yes."
Josh: "Were you raised by wolves or something?"
Laura "Mulan" Porter Joshua: Do you flirt with all the guys you meet?
Mulan: Well, not just the guys...
Keenan: What, is there anyone here who you think 'acts black?'
Yukiko: ...Mulan?
Derek Smith
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