Spoilers beyond this point.
However, if I can sum up Dia’s route in a single tweet:
One of the more mysterious characters in the game finally made his main story debut and boy was it a weird one.
Despite the fact that Dia embodies my favorite traits in a love interest (tsundere and rude to boot until the “melting”), I found that the whole story was a bit too heavy, as well as the fact that my bias for a certain character (Lance) distracted me from the “prize” (Dia). Add to that, after the climax, the plot steered somewhere else that may make sense… if you’re looking forward to Lou’s main story.
Highlights:
- Dia’s backstory – the explanation for his icy personality was believable and well-written.
- Character relationships – Dia disliked almost everyone who was part of the main cast but knew how to swallow his pride so that he could protect MC.
- The shade on Rio – never seen a character get roasted twice on another character’s route, which was entertaining and hilarious.
- Managed to set the tone for the next main story – the plot line for Lou’s role in Dia’s main story never got resolved (they are probably saving it for a future story arc), but it definitely set the tone for the enigmatic Headmaster’s main story, which should follow Dia’s.
Lastly:
Lowlights:
- Dia’s backstory – why is this also a lowlight? Because while the story was compelling, well-written, and delved into the character’s past, it felt too overwhelming. It’s as if they had to justify the icy personality by subjecting the character through so much abuse and torture for character development.
Calm down, Satan; we don’t need that much tragedy to be able to empathize with the character. - MC’s growth both as a magic user and as a person – unfortunately, I will have to use Lance’s main story as a comparison. What made Lance’s MC appealing was that she briefly became a fighter who managed to stand and fight alongside her man. While MC did end up improving her magic a bit because she goes to class, we never see how much it improved in the story.
- The antagonist – Rosalie was straight-up insane, very believable as a villain, and deserved to be punished for what she did, but like Daan in Tino’s story, she gets a slap on the wrist for all her horrific actions. After all the build up for Dia’s character development in the climax, she ends up just leaving Colde and gets brushed aside in order for Dia’s main story to have some sort of closure. Maybe they will build up her storyline/insanity for Act 2?
- The lack of caution on MC’s part – I understand wanting to accept the hospitality extended to you by Rosalie but the fact that she was already a walking red flag even before getting invited for tea should have made her a bit more cautious. Always trust your gut feeling, I say.
Also, whatever the hell happened during Fenn and Dia’s “date” anyway?
It’s not that I hate Dia’s main story; I thought it was brilliantly written.
Unfortunately, with so many things going on at the same time, it felt overwhelming. The whiplash at the revelations, Dia getting his act together to protect MC, then wanting to go up against the Headmaster… that was a lot to take in in a short amount of time. Add to that, the build up was so good, yet the conclusion to the Main Story fell flat as the plotline got brushed aside in favor of Dia and MC mutually showing their love for one another. Not a bad thing, but it left me unsatisfactory… although I have high hopes that the main story will continue where it left off by Act 2.
I understand that it had to be done in order to make the transition to Lou’s main story smoother, but the pacing felt off. It felt too slow in the beginning, and it did pick up the pace when the main story introduced the ancient ruins, but a lot of information that got revealed right when the main story was about to end became an afterthought for me.
I can probably blame it on the fact that I rushed Dia’s story in order to get through the story fever for the Colde Collection Event, but I still cannot get my mind wrapped around the lore.
This may be one of those stories where you have to read it twice in order to understand it but unfortunately, the amount of cameos by Lance Sata/Ira made me continue his route instead of repeating Dia’s route.
Maybe some other time.
Overall score: 7.5/10
BONUS:
Wanderlust 