Piofiore: Fated Memories Review: Dark Romance

 

 

Set in the small Italian town of Burlone around the early 20th century, the tale follows Liliana Adornato, who has been raised by the churchher entire life. One night Lili becomes entangled in a turf war between three mafia families: the Falzone, Visconti and Lao-Shu families all seek to rule, and Lili is somehow the common key element for all of them.

I've seen plenty of people express adoration for Lili as a protagonist, the sentiment generally being that she is brave and intelligent for a girl sheltered by the church. Her naively kind nature juxtaposed nicely with some of the mafias darker moments. Lili also managed to stand her ground around Yang when it was needed and was remarkably tolerant of someone so opposite to herself. That said, Lili did have plenty of dumb moments, such as walking down unfamiliar alleys alone in a crime ridden area and approaching hostile drug addicts. Lili also shows some initiative in escaping during Dante's route, but she doesn't bother waiting until he has left the yard before trying to climb out the window. She has amazing cooking skills, can treat a minor wound, and has the amazing ability to fall asleep anywhere anytime, but otherwise doesn't posses many meaningful skills or knowledge that would aid in her survival. She spends nearly the entire game as a damsel in distress, kidnapped or held hostage by the love interests. Then there is the obligatory best friend, Elena, but as soon as Lili meets a guy - poof - Elena is no more.

The cast was wildly inconsistent, dodging bullets in a shootout one moment then dying to a random civilian with a knife the next. It also wasn't uncommon to see the ever-convenient "he lost his mind" trope to justify characters breaking character; after-all anyone can technically do anything if they loose their minds in a fictional world. For example, take Roberto. He hates the mafia and wants to bring criminals to justice. In Nicola's route he accepts the aid of the Lao-Shu - arguably the most corrupt of the mafia families - and becomes weirdly convinced that Lili is in love with him despite her telling him otherwise. He then goes on a vigilante killing spree and goes toe-to-toe with the mafias best members. We never see Roberto act like this in any other route. And this applies to almost every bachelor to varying degrees - Yang being the only exception.

As a mafia story, Piofiore was pretty underwhelming. Racketeering, illegal transactions, torture, and other staples of a mafia narrative either weren't present at all or were a light background element. It's like the writers just didn't know what to do with the game's premise. So I was pretty excited when Gilbert's route dove into money counterfeiting, even if it was about him and the other mafia families trying to stop the counterfeiting. It marked the first time I felt like I was playing something vaguely mafia related. I mean, outside of the Lao-Shu, everyone in the Burlone mafia was way too nice, and whenever they did dare to get dark (gang rape or forced drug addition that is cured in only 2 weeks), it was used almost exclusively for the sake of shock value rather than for plot related reasons, and I can't help but feel as though these topics deserved more care and respect than they were given. Oddly enough, the story places a surprisingly large focus on pseudo-religion and mysticism with a take on Christianity that could come off as offensive to some individuals:

Piofiore's lore states that Jesus didn't ascend to heaven. He actually left behind a body, which the Falzone mafia family was entrusted to guard along with a holy relic. Even though the basis for an entire religion is stated to be a lie, the relic still has miraculous healing powers. However, to unlock the relic's powers, the current Falzone boss must pre-maritally bang a girl (the Key Maiden) selected through astrology. There is also some light blood sacrifice stuff involved.

 

 

As a visual novel, the bulk of the game is made up of text with periodic choices that will influence the route and ending the player gets. The standard fast-forward feature is present, which allows players to skip text they have already seen, making replays a breeze. A feature unique to Piofiore are short side story notifications that pop up for a limited time. They reveal important events and discussions happening elsewhere; things Lili wouldn't be present for. Viewing or skipping these notices will also impact the ending the player sees.

Piofiore's common route is made up of two prologue chapters that last about 30 minutes each. New scenes and choices are added to the prologue chapters after a single play-through is completed. Starting in chapter 1, the player will be set on a character route. Every character route has a total of eight to nine chapters with a good, best, and tragic ending plus 2 to 6 bad endings that result in an immediate death.

Certain character routes will also be locked until others are cleared. Nicola and Dante are the only two initially available, with Yang and Orlok's being unlocked after a first play-through has been cleared. Gilbert's route stays locked until all previous bachelors have been cleared and completing Gilbert's route opens up the Finale route, which contains a secret bachelor option.

Piofiore uses an usual system to gauge what ending the player will receive. It is decided by "High" or "Low" levels in two attributes: "Affinity" and a trait unique to each bachelor.

My route suggestions are as follows, accompanied by a brief discussion of the love interests and what I liked or disliked about them.

1. Common Route
2. Nicola Francesca - A relatively gentle introduction to the game.
3. Dante Falzone - Reveals the key maiden lore.
4. Orlok - A change of pace; someone not associated with the mafia.
5. Yang - A change of pace; different culture and values.
6. Gilbert Redford - Actually includes Lili in his activities and allies everyone against a common threat.
7. Finale

Feel Free To Skip To Conclusion:

Nicola is cheeky, cunning, and ruthless; a man with an agenda that uses his playful nice guy persona to gain an advantage. I enjoyed the light game of cat and mouse he plays with Lili and it was interesting to discover the outwardly confident guy had such low self-worth.

The Best ending reunited Nicola with his cousin, but I don't think it was beneficial to Nicola to remain with the Falzone family. He is not a traditionalist like Dante and doesn't believe in their sacred mission. His Good ending felt like the best fit for him because it is the only path in which Nicola seemingly finds self acceptance and distances himself from the Falzone family and Burlone. Ironically, he set out to free Dante from his fate but accidentally liberated himself.

I couldn't really bring myself to like him. His fake "nice guy" persona was too obvious. Even Lili seemed suspicious of him, at least initially. She eventually came to see him as a kind person... despite a torture scene, but it felt like she had to keep lying to herself. I also didn't feel much of a connection between Nicola and Lili. Dante is clearly Nicola's favorite and Lili will always be second to Dante. Nicola's initial flirtations (in both his route and Dante's), kidnapping and sacrificing of Lili were all in the name of keeping her away from his precious Dante. I didn't like Nicola's motivation for betraying the family either.

Dante has a strong sense of duty and honor, but is kind of awkward due to his low self-esteem. He tries to put on a "tough guy" persona despite being woefully suited to being a mob boss. He comes off as a man of two extremes: being genuinely sweet and caring, but also exceptionally cruel when his family is messed with or their holy mission is compromised.

The Best and Good endings were unremarkable happy endings. Nicola reunites with the Falzone family and Lili continues a relationship with Dante. The Best ending also marks the first and only time Lili uses a gun (I wouldn't trust her with one) and the only time the relic is unlocked/used.

Dante's route has some pacing issues. Half of the route features Leo (a side character) and the other half is filled with lots of mundane things, like latte drinking. Dante's relationship with Lili was really good, but kinda creepy given the "Key Maiden" thing; Color changing birthmarks after sleeping with someone? Being fated to unite and unlock a relic because the stars say so? Weird. It's also hard to like Dante after seeing Orlok's Tragic end. They use the "he lost everything he cares about" trope as an excuse to throw Dante's character development and humanity out the window in order to horrify readers. It felt contrived. He's certainly established as someone willing to cross moral thresholds to protect his family and the family's sacred mission. However, in this case, Lili is still the Key Maiden, who the Falzone must protect, and she had not lost that status in Orlok's route. So the depravity and malice targeted just at her is ridiculous, especially given Orlok (the target of his rage) wouldn't even be present after the first time.

Orlok is an angel, an assassin and a savior willing to make sacrifices for the greater good. His pureness is endearing - like playing with the church kids, but he is also young and naive.

In the Best ending, Orlok sacrifices his hand and his ability to fight for Lili, who is in his words, his greatest blessing. I like that he gave up something unhealthy but also important to his identity (his fighting skills), in exchange for something more important to his long term happiness and well-being. Orlok's Tragic Ending is infamously cruel. Dante's man of honor character and duty as the chosen protector of the Key Maiden is thrown completely out the window for the sake of shock value. I don't have a problem with Dante being nasty, but the physical and emotional damage he does to Lili and Orlok in this ending is on-par with, or worse, than anything Yang does. Save this ending for last if you don't want your perception of Dante ruined.

Orlok's relationship with Lili is sweet, full of affection and vulnerability, which contrasts quite well with the cruel and unforgiving world in which they live. This path also touched on the effects of religion, power, and poverty on the residents of Burlone. How faith can be perverted and exploited, but is still a good thing worth holding onto. I loved how Lili refuses to die a martyr and Orlok learns to question rather than blindly obey, freeing himself from toxic indoctrination while still holding onto his beliefs. Lili and Orlok felt like a good pair - two wholesome people spurring each other's development. I never felt a romantic connection between the two, which is fine, the close siblings or good friends vibe suited the two of them and where they were emotionally. My biggest complaint with the route is how they gave Orlok a compelling character arc at the expense of everyone else. Aside from Dante's major break from character in the Tragic Ending, we had Gilbert, normally the pragmatic one, suddenly turn dumb enough to believe Yang when he blames Orlok and Lili for exploiting the townsfolk. As the only love interest without a connection to the mafia it would have been a good opportunity to expand on the church, its apostle's training, the creepy Emilio guy, or Joseph Rosenberg's odd relationship with his biological son (Orlok).

Yang is a sociopath that doesn't understand his own emotional state. Most of what he does is purely territorial and instinctual. There is a measure of possessiveness about him; he doesn't care where Lili goes or who she talks to, just that she understands that she is "his" property and subject to his whims and abuse until he decides otherwise.

In the Best ending, love doesn't change or redeem Yang. It doesn't even inspire him to want to be a better person. Instead, Lili understands and accepts him for what he is, and doesn't ask him to change - something Yang seems attached to. He ends up trusting Lili enough to give her his real name and expose his back to her, something he would not do with anyone else. I found it easy to believe that a humanitarian like Lili could fall for a guy like Yang on account of all the stockholm syndrome boxes that got checked. Personally, Yang's Tragic ending blew me away. In it, Lili decides to not see him for who he truly is, and Yang plays along with her fantasy despite not wanting a mindless woman. It is clear from the start how this relationship was going to end given Yang's history with women, but damn, it concluded in a way that was just so perfect for Yang.

Yang was a welcome change of pace after having completed Dante, Nicola, and Orlok's routes. The Lao-Shu were culturally and morally very different from the Falzone and Visconti families, and felt the most dangerous; featuring a lot of really uncomfortable or disgusting activities: gang rape, human trafficking, drugs. There was no attempt at pretending the Lao-Shu weren't a criminal organization. Yang was the only mafia boss to stay consistent in every route, and I really enjoyed the complexity of Yang as an antagonistic love interest that didn't fall into the "he is secretly a good person" trope. I honestly couldn't have agreed more with Lili when she told Dante that at least Yang never faked being nice. This is a "bad guy" written well.

Gilbert is confident, sociable, charismatic, and generally a pretty nice guy with a positive attitude. He tries to do good things through shady means and is considerate of not just his own family, but the general public as well. He's the peacekeeper of Burlone, or at least its mafia leaders by getting the different factions to work together to bring down a common enemy - the only one to pull off such a feat.

All the endings are pretty tame - no heartbreak, no inner turmoil. Gil skips town in the worst ending and Orlok dies to some random civilian(?).

Gilbert's route is a calmer ride, easily the most forgiving to Lili. It marked the only time she was given agency to do what she wanted rather than being locked in a room or ignored. Not only was Lili given a choice, but she was included in the conversations instead of being told to leave the room or to sit quietly. Gilbert showed so much respect to Lili, even when she didn't come off as strong or particularly bright. He let the relationship with Lili evolve naturally, giving her time to come to terms with her emotions rather than forcing it; the two become partners in crime before they become romantic partners. I had the most fun with Gilbert's route. There was mystery and building momentum that was more interesting than any of the main conflict up to that point - mostly Lili's poorly defined church powers. The real downside to Gil is that he has no discernible character flaws. His route was a little too normal, too tame for a mafia story, but I suppose it comes with his route being a respite after the crazy ride of the others, hence it being locked until the end.

Finale: Henri is a surprise bachelor with a serious case of survivors guilt and an insane need of revenge against the mafia. There isn't much to say about the finale and Henri. Half of the route is taken up by Gilbert, which gives Henri very little room to shine. Like Lili, Henri's sister Chloe was a Key Maiden. Unlike Lili, she took the "destiny and chosen by the stars" thing a little too seriously, becoming unhealthily obsessed with Silvio (Dante's dad) despite Silvio having a wife. Chloe was eventually moved out of the Falzone household for trying to kill Silvio's wife. And I mean... Really? The crazy/obsessed/jealous thing again? Didn't we get enough of that with Dante? Well, Henri tries to find his sister in Lili, but comes to realize he can never bring Chloe back. So the two fake their deaths in a fire and run off together.

 

 

The localization/translation teams did a great job of making sure the syntax was spot on, and the UI was very clean with appealing flourish. The textured backgrounds were a bit odd, and the character art, while stylish, were not period accurate: a hoodie (Orlok), strapless dress (Lili), 2000s tribal tattoos (Yang). The plot was pretty good, but not what I would consider a mafia story. It focused too heavily on occult elements with distracting pseudo-Christian aspects sprinkled in. Underneath the pretty surface of Piofiore is an experience that can get disturbing in the best and worst ways, and barring a few hiccups, the writing is consistently good.

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