4 Secrets of Fortune Lover

VaatiVidya

Even after all these years, there's still more to be discovered from Fortune Lover, the most story-heavy installment of the Soulslover series. With Dark Souls 4 just released as a Playfield 5 exclusive, Elden Ring delayed yet again because of the middle school murder-ghost crisis Japan is experiencing, and the announcement for the upcoming Fortune Lover DLC, I thought it was a good time to go back to this most Miyazaki-esque of games and talk about all the new discoveries made by the community.

Secret Number 1: the Maria Campbell Pre-Alpha 'Project Beast' Version.

We all know about Fortune Lover's origins as something called 'Project Beast'. Originally, it would have been another game using the Dark Souls formula, and would likely have played the same way. However, Miyazaki, once given free reign, wanted to tell a story. A story of romance. A story of terrible people who might not be so terrible after all. A story of discovering subtle motivations, of false appearances, and of the redeeming– or destroying– power of love.

Maria Campbell, the main character of Fortune Lover, is by far the most iconic character we meet in the game's cast of characters. She's gentle, kind, understanding, and persevering in a world that, while not quite as apocalyptic as any previous Soulslover game, is quite terrible in its own way because of the people in it. She's the 'waifu' of the game, joining the ranks of the Maiden in Black, the Fire Keepers, and the Emerald Herald in player's hearts. In fact, others have noted that in personality she's pretty much a version of those other characters, albeit one the player controls.

However, this wasn't originally the case. Cut content has been discovered for an older, different version of Maria, complete with some scripted dialogue, and even some test audio. As you can see, she looks a lot like the mysterious woman in the clocktower from the original Project Beast Trailer. Evalance McDowell was able to reinstate this version of Maria, and while it's not perfect, you can see how this would have given the game a different, more gothic mood.

Here we have their opening lines from when they first approach the Academy of Sorcier. Just listen:

Maria Campbell: "The Academy. The place were the nobility of Sorcier gifted with the power of magic come to learn. This is where my adventure starts."

Now, listen to the cut content.

'Project: Beast Maria: "The Academy. A corpse that should be left well alone. Ah, but the secrets beckon so sweetly. This is where I will liberate my wild curiosity!"

As you can see, this definitely would have clashed with the final game. The original Maria has an aesthetic derived from the original Project Beast, a gothic horror action game, and had to be completely shed for Fortune Lover. Still, listening to her lines and considering the original character model, I wish we'd been able to play Project Beast in its original form.

Secret Number 2: Seath The Scaleless

Despite it being an explicit story point that she is, in fact, not the paledrake, there is a pervading belief in the community that Sophia is, in fact, the latest reincarnation of Seath. Indeed, someone doing a color analysis discovered that Sophia's model in the Winter Ball, the one wearing that lovely gown, uses the same color pallet as Seath, and there's even art for a more elaborate version of the dress that more heavily emphasizes the Seath connection, with along trains to replicate his tentacles and filmy 'wings'.

In-story, this is all framed as red herrings to hide the real paledrake, which is a pretty juicy secret once you find it yourself. However, in the earliest versions of the game, according to interviews and cut content, Sophia was meant to be a reincarnated soul, who would provide the main character with lost knowledge from the past. Who's to say this wasn't supposed to be Seath? This was cut in a later stage of production, but it was done so clumsily– or, as some assert, coyly– that it's still possible to logically come to the conclusion that Sophia is, in fact, Seath the Scaleless reborn yet again. Even though, in the story, that's clearly wrong. And silly.

Secret Number 3: The Lost Combat System

One of the things that defines the Dark Souls games is its combat system. You slash, you role, you take your time and watch for your openings. In Fortune Lover, this was removed entirely in favor of a stealth mechanic, except for the instant-kill status effect, because of course there's an instant-kill status. And while a lot of people loathe the 'Flustered' status, it's certainly logically in theme with the game. Maria sees shocking or arousing things, she gets flustered and when the bar becomes full, she explodes in an anime nosebleed and 'die'. It's very Japanese.

However, digging through the files has revealed the classical Dark Souls battle system used to be heavily integrated into Fortune Lover. Modders implementing these cut parts have discovered the combat was, in fact, intended to be much faster and more aggressive, hinted at by the faster movement speed we see in Fortune Lover, and by all the weapons we can still collect for their lore descriptions but not use. This is likely another holdover from Project Beast. Whose trailer promised more frenetic combat.

Secret Number 4: The Lost Katarina

Katarina Claes. Never has a Souls character gotten more hate and vitriol from the community. She's so hated, in fact, that there's a meme Katarina is the physical incarnation of the scaffolding-and-poison-swamp level notably absent in Fortune Lover's environs. However, a series of unused sound files have hinted that she was originally meant to be more morally ambiguous and would have served as a sort of hint character in any route besides the Third Prince's. Have a listen to these sounds files:

Katarina Claes (Translated from Japanese dialogue): Lord Nicol? Yes, quite a puzzle, that one. Have you tried asking his sister? Sisters always know secrets their brothers would rather they didn't. But be careful. While she seems tranquil, she might seethe on the inside.

Katarina Claes (Translated from Japanese dialogue): My brother? Well, there's no accounting for taste, I suppose. He's not that hard. Stand still long enough, and you'll catch him. Or rather, he'll catch you. But will you be able to keep him from catching anything else?

Katarina Claes (Translated from Japanese dialogue): Oh my. How forward of you. Do you not know I am engaged to the Third Prince? Still, I cannot fault your tastes…

Yes, you read that right. There was also supposed to be a Katarina route. Actually, there's a lot of dialogue trees for Katarina all cut but left intact in the files, hinting at a character who isn't just a swamp in a dress. Perhaps one day From Software will choose to restore this in a DLC…

Thank you all for watching, and I hope to see you again next month when 'The Adeth Duchy' DLC comes out to show us more of the world of Fortune Lover. Cheers guys, and see you in the next one.