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Reload and skip. This game doesn't deserve to have its stupid ghost choice engaged with.
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Aug 7, 2022 01:42
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loving skip. Just pretend this never ever happened because it's so incredibly stupid.
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Aug 7, 2022 02:08
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 what the gently caressYeah, I'm all for skipping this.
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Aug 7, 2022 03:55
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Show off letting the ghost pick and then reload and skip
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Aug 7, 2022 04:14
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I didn't think the writing could get worse, and I was wrong. Very wrong. Did they test this game at all for what was fun? It feels like it is an antagonistic GM trying to one-up you. Show all three choices, then reload and skip this horrible trap. Unless that leeches your will to live, in which case, reload and skip trap. Also, what is Rothgar supposed to be holding in its hand? It looks like a pinwheel, and that is not intimidating in the slightest.
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Aug 7, 2022 04:23
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What happens if, after spawning the ghost NPC, we kick Bjalla or Jade from the party then get whoever we kept the ghost lessons? Still permanently lose a mage, or can we just re-recruit them after for no(?) consequences? If so, then Jade. Otherwise reload.
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Aug 7, 2022 04:40
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I'll go with what Arcanuse suggested if we can game the system that way, otherwise hard skip this bullshit.
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Aug 7, 2022 05:12
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Kacie posted:Also, what is Rothgar supposed to be holding in its hand? It looks like a pinwheel, and that is not intimidating in the slightest. No idea! For bonus points, we will meet Rothgor and he looks nothing like this. In fact, none of the demons in this game do. Surprise?
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Aug 7, 2022 05:32
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you gotta put your stock models somewhere, I guess, and where better than where you've explicitly made reference to what things look like also: skip
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Aug 7, 2022 05:43
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quote:
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Aug 7, 2022 05:52
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Arcanuse posted:Just noticed: Both images are the same here. Fixed, thank you!
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Aug 7, 2022 06:11
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Arcanuse posted:What happens if, after spawning the ghost NPC, we kick Bjalla or Jade from the party then get whoever we kept the ghost lessons? Yeah, let's try and rules-lawyer this piece of poo poo and if it fails then refuse to engage with it.
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Aug 7, 2022 07:21
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I do understand why they messed with the durability numbers, since getting to 100% resistances is definitely not intentional. I really don't respect their implementation of it, and then they also sour opinion in general with their poo poo with Bjalla and Jade.
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Aug 7, 2022 07:32
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Arcanuse posted:What happens if, after spawning the ghost NPC, we kick Bjalla or Jade from the party then get whoever we kept the ghost lessons? Definitely this.
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Aug 7, 2022 07:36
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In a different, non-caster supremacy system, booting a wizard to buff a different one could be an interesting choice. Even in pseudo D&D if the boot unlocked an overpowered school of magic it might be worth loosing the spell slots and combat actions. It's not worth it for a hat full of wolves.
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Aug 7, 2022 07:55
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I hope you get to call Rothgar on not destroying this bullshit world fast enough.
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Aug 7, 2022 08:17
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Yeah this is all dumb. Skip it.
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Aug 7, 2022 08:19
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So... unearned tension between two decent party members? This is some heavy-handed bullshit. Skip this poo poo, gently caress all this up-their-own-rear end writing the writers are desperately trying to make matter.
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Aug 7, 2022 08:36
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lmao this game. It's so petulant and petty every step of the way. Here's another immortal, all-knowing jackass to put you in your place, since just exposition waifu wasn't enough. The real evil pact was between those two morons, IMO. But alright, let's see... ghost matron, wisdom of the ancients, blah blah blah... Jade or Bjalla... pfff, skip/ditch this loser ghost, let's be on our way. Bonus option, tell her to give the wisdom to that one crime lord dude with the goofy name. Barfolo or whoever.
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Aug 7, 2022 09:12
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Well, skipping clearly won, but I'll show off the different choices.
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Aug 7, 2022 11:42
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:Well, skipping clearly won, but I'll show off the different choices. Does that mean there's no way to engineer this so Bjalla is out of the party before this ghost shows up and then recruit Bjalla back after Jade has her hat upgraded as below? Arcanuse posted:What happens if, after spawning the ghost NPC, we kick Bjalla or Jade from the party then get whoever we kept the ghost lessons?
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Aug 7, 2022 18:18
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Ignatius M. Meen posted:Does that mean there's no way to engineer this so Bjalla is out of the party before this ghost shows up and then recruit Bjalla back after Jade has her hat upgraded as below? You will see next update!
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Aug 7, 2022 20:56
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Well, I think I can safely say this is some stupid bullshit, but I'm sure the once a day three eyed wolf summon is 100% worth it, definitely worth losing a caster. By the way, so far we have two mages and one thief only, right?
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Aug 7, 2022 23:06
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I mean, technically don't we have a few more spellcasters, just not jack-of-all-casters like Jade and the other one? I thought Sea Hag had access to magic, and the racist tries?
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Aug 7, 2022 23:23
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Yeah, but i think they are clerics while the waifus are mages. Incidentally, Sea Hag being limited to generic cleric spells instead of having her own thematic set would be funny enough in an actual D&D CRPG, but here we are in a game that isn't using that system and its faults, and still it apes them.
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Aug 7, 2022 23:35
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SIGSEGV posted:Incidentally, Sea Hag being limited to generic cleric spells instead of having her own thematic set would be funny enough in an actual D&D CRPG, but here we are in a game that isn't using that system and its faults, and still it apes them. ...it's not the sense they intended it to make, but it makes perfect sense.
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Aug 8, 2022 00:53
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Choose Your Own Waifu Misadventure Last time on Black Geyser we were given a stupid and arbitrary choice over which sexy hot lady mage was going to get a magical hat upgrade from a ghost. Goons thought that was stupid, but there was a request to try to cheese it.  We're kicking Bjalla out of the party temporarily to redo the ghost fight.  Oh boy.  We only have Jade in our party, so we get different dialog.  : Quiet, Inta Rume! This is important.You know, a better game would have set up this conflict or how these two women are affected by GREED, but because almost every word spoken by a character contradicts their actions or previously stated motivations I have no idea where we are.  : I am Morvern, a Feldegug and scion of the tribe Vandirr. A certain faction wished to wrest power from me and take control of my clan. I fled to frustrate their ambition.Wouldn't it be easier to take power once you lef- gently caress it. : I am ready to impart my wisdom upon thee, worthy daughter. This shall be my final task in the mortal realm. Are you prepared? Jade's entire interaction with this thing is "make it stop killing and tormenting me."  I thought the wolves were bound for the benefit of the F word snow elves? Were they supposed to be taken to the grave? gently caress it. : But now I sever the ancient link. The wolf spirit is free, and you are released from your punishment, Jade of Isilbright. Your torment is over.Dope! Jade's torment that literally never comes up unless we ask her about it is gone! Now let's get Bjalla back in the party.  Party members you boot out remain where you booted them out until you load a screen.  : Yes, come with me! : Good! I was really getting bored with this place. Suddenly Jade pulls animosity out of her rear end and disappears from the party. Reload! What happens if we choose Bjalla? The Road Not Taken In Which Inta Rume Gets Laid posted:
How about Jade? Gothic Hat...friendship? posted:
TheGreatEvilKing summarizes all this trash posted:
If you ask Morvern to choose you get the same stuff, but Bjalla and Jade yell at you for being an indecisive moron. We lost out on 13000 XP for not doing this, but you know what?  Goons unanimously voted to just skip this garbage! Yeah, it definitely locks us out of banging Bjalla (and probably locks us out of screwing Jade) but quite frankly I am not nearly invested enough in this game's story to care about that.  This chest contains the Pact Prophecy, but is padlocked by a railroad tie forcing us to go put all the statues on the altars.  To the right of the chest is a literal altar of Rothgor, you know, the dark god who is sending out the spirits of the damned to destroy the world with greed. This is a temple. Keep this in mind.  These ghosts drop a cat sword that once uncursed puts people to sleep on hit.  Another one of these morons.  Zornilsa has an altar to the left of the Pact Prophecy chest. There are altars for Alnarius and TIlindia as well, but they're in the outer ring of the temple while the altar to the two dark gods are in the center. Keep this in mind.   I'm pretty sure this gets a Templar to 100% physical resistance, which means there's no reason to play any other kind of warrior. Oh well!  After all that boring poo poo I cut out we can take the Pact Prophecy. The Pact Prophecy posted:First were the Radiant One and the Flourishing One. They gave birth to the lands and those upon them, and all was calm. I like the sudden transition from past to present to future in the second paragraph, really flows guys.  Once you grab the prophecy from the chest this... lady appears.  : But this knowledge could save Yerengal from deadly peril! Are you a servant of Rothgor? Or Zornilsa?I want you remind you Sephthys is literally standing between an altar to Rothgor and an altar to Zornilsa.  : Do you try to insult me, mortal? My people were building this temple when the heroes who vanquished the Xurxur beast still roamed these lands. Our seers foresaw the Pact! They were the ones who foretold the fall of Yerengal in the Prophecy! I don't understand this at all. Again, I want to point out Sephthys is claiming to be "most dire enemies" with Rothgor and Zornilsa while she built a temple dedicated in part to Rothgor and Zornilsa. This loving game. : Who are you?: I am Sephthys. Long ago I was the final leader of our settlement, Alvimelkedic. But for countless generations, I have been the guardian of this temple and the Pact Prophecy. : If you are an enemy of the dark gods, why can't you let me leave? I don't understand this. The Pendulum who is apparently an expert told us we needed a god to stop a god. Apparently these people had a whole bunch of clairvoyants just lying around, did no one try to prophesize about this? : Their curse even wormed its way into us, poisoning our dreams. We realized that if we succumbed, all hope would be lost. So this temple became the final resting place of my people, and in turn we became its guardians. I don't understand what exactly is happening? I thought the curse of greed was new? How did it infect these people? Are they greedy for knowledge and hoarding it? I don't think so, Sephthys's eyes are blue and all the greed eyes are green. How exactly are they supposed to use this knowledge to stop Rothgor and Zornilsa, if they're all sitting around a temple doing nothing while the curse takes the world? Is Sephthys insane? Is she secretly evil? If Rothgor and Zornilsa are their most dire enemies, wouldn't the Dark Moon be good because it breaks their power? : Then how did word of the prophecy ever escape this place at all? We heard of it from a priest, a cleric of Alnarius!That's actually not the first time we heard of it. Earlier in the game posted:So I think demon dude is working for Rothgor. Does Rothgor know about the final pact? Does Zornilsa? Do either one of them know "the pact will be broken"? Why make the pact? Is there something like the River Styx in Greek mythology that's powerful enough to hold gods to their oaths? Why not sw... gently caress it. : Ah, that must be Arnakh's doing! That means he got out alive. He lived among my people for a while, after they banished the Xurxur beast to the bottom of the Zarndur Sea.: We quarreled in the end. He wanted to spread word of the Prophecy for all to know. What foolishness. That would have accomplished nothing but to summon more of you graverobbers. There was a fight - a single priest against our gathered might! He fled toward the desert wastes.: I never thought Arnakh could survive his wounds. But no matter. After all these years, you are the first to understand the truth behind his words.That's not true? The Pendulum seemed to know about it. The random Inception monster seemed to know about it. The demon dude seemed to know a final pact was foretold. There's another copy in the church of Alnarius.  Is she supposed to be old and deluded? TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 So, this fight loving sucks hard. Like all difficult fights in Black Geyser, actually attempting to stand and fight in the area the cutscene drops you in is just going to get you killed.  The lich herself is a formidable opponent, but she also spawns a bunch of those magic ghosts that do stupid poo poo.  This is the main reason the fight sucks. She has a big AoE that freezes anyone caught in the range - which, as you may notice, is outside the actual spell particle effect because game design.  Her minions are immune to the freeze, so she dumps Infernal Wave on the party. It's basically a machine-gun fireball spell that does stupid high amounts of damage when channeled. Jade currently knows it and Bjalla will pick it up by the end of this update.  Bjalla's voracious sexual appetite is inversely proportional to her hit point maximum and thus she burns to death before we make it out of the door. Round 2.  The trick to this fight is to just keep moving and pull everyone into the hallway. This turns it from a lovely fight where you're surrounded by magic CC casting ghosts while frozen into a tolerable fight where all the ghosts go through the chokepoint.  Another useful trick is that Sephthys will freeze in place while channeling Infernal Wave and it hurts her own adds, so you can lure all the adds into the hallway killzone and dispose of them.  Unfortunately one of the adds hits us with that loving Dune Ripple spell (for what it's worth, there's a scroll in the sarcophagus next to the Pact Prophecy and Jade knows it) but not before we resort to Operation: Summon Enough Dudes To Just Pick Up Sephthys And Throw Her Out The Window.  Once you clear the adds the hump of this fight is over. She doesn't do enough damage (on classic anyway) to immediately start killing people, and the ice cushions some of the damage.  I think this is the tell that her AI is switching to summoning undead now, but she's still locked into an Infernal Wave that most of the party is moving out of. It is cancelable with a move order when the player uses it.  After beating her to death we get her right arm for the bone golem quest I'm probably not going to do and this dagger that increases summoning spell duration. It goes to Jade.  Be sure to rest before leaving the temple.  These idiots have been infested by GREED and decide to rob us for all the loot from the temple.  Unfortunately for them Bjalla and Jade demonstrate the correct way to set idiots on fire. One of the nifty things about the fire spells is that in addition to doing initial damage, they add a burning DoT and a weakness to fire status. Jade here is casting Infernal Wave and literally melting her way through these idiots. Of course, the targeting circle for Infernal Wave is completely inaccurate and you end up with friendly fire because... I dunno.  They helpfully drop a bunch of unique items that get turned into new spell scrolls for Bjalla and Jade offscreen. I guess we have no excuse but to speak with Isla.  : I did. : It is ending, isn't it? There is so little time left, now. Ohh pfft. Does the game think we've romanced Isla now? That's hilarious.  : No. The prophecy involves drinking a full keg of ale and carousing with dryads. "Clothing optional," the spirit told me.: Dryads! I daresay you'd have a better time with the trees themselves. A lot more likely to let you leave, anyway.: Let me be frank: there is something you should know about the curse of greed. What the gently caress. : And King Velianrick is merely three stray dogs in a robe and crown.: Listen.: What you've seen isn't what you think. I have spoken to a number of long-practicing shamans, who discovered a most peculiar thing: around each person infected by the "curse" are a crowd of spirits. Spirits of the dead.You know, we've had a party necromancer who's mentioned nothing of this. I'm not sure if the shaman companion you can pick up mentions this or not, but you'd think we'd be hearing this from other sorcerers and not just Exposition Waifu here.  Can anyone explain the difference between a curse and a spirit of the dead whispering in people's ears? But wait, there's more! : No wonder I have such trouble sleeping. Can anyone explain the difference between a damned spirit mind controlling people to be greedy and a curse? Anyone? : What's more, the spirits seem to be coming from a particular place. Castle Alastor, in the east. That castle has no great history of violence... at least not enough to account for so many damned souls.The Pendulum posted:Wait, how is the castle both "an ancient monument to a forgotten warlord" and a place with "no great history of violence"? So far Isla really hasn't been wrong about anything, and we're not allowed to call her on it.  : Ha! You said it! I've been waiting so long for someone to say it!: I haven't the slightest idea what you mean.: So I must ask you: when you go to Castle Alastor, please do what you can to end this madness. This horror has lasted too long. Seal the breach, if you can.: Mortalkind has suffered too long.You know what? I think the next update is going to be a theology post regarding Alnarius and free will. : Now, before you venture out to save the world. : Hmm. I wonder what this is all about?: Oh, no doubt the most important thing you will ever read.: Now go. There is no time left. I wish you fair winds.TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
So, what's the letter? Invitation from King Velianrick posted:To My Loyal and Obedient Servant, the Lady Espen. When I said uncursing the king had him do a complete 180 of stealing our poo poo to licking our butt clean I was in no way exaggerating. If we'd sided with Aldnar there would be a battle instead and we'd be able to kill him. Of course this completely screws with the pacing of the game, because Isla, Sephthys, and the Pendulum want us to believe the curse of GREED is destroying Yerengal but the actual destruction of the civil war is coming to an end. There aren't even any riots in the streets or anything. Next Time: Peace Talks, on the eve of destruction.
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Aug 8, 2022 04:23
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: Uh... to protect the knowledge of how to stop your most hated enemies by letting no one else use the knowledge of how to stop your most hated enemies. Also, we are going hard on the plot twist that by doing the main quest you are the bad guy!
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My head hurts.
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Aug 8, 2022 05:23
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...guess I forgot to hit reply. anyways what. I'll admit, I hadn't accounted for this. Devs putting a scene just for players trying to cheat their nonsense, sure. But not just, what appears to be, flipping a switch to make Bjalla/Jade hate Jade/Bjalla and calling it a day. Presumably if we booted jade, it would be Bjalla leaving on re-recruitment. On less headache worthy matters: quote:Can anyone explain the difference between a damned spirit mind controlling people to be greedy and a curse? Anyone? If the spirits of the damned are mind controlling the target to do their bidding, it is probably a curse, to the point that one would be readily forgiven for the one time it isn't. This will never actually matter, if only because nitpicking whether a given unpleasant arcane slash divine phenomena is or is not a curse would be a random NPC conversation too interesting for this game.
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Aug 8, 2022 05:56
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So the big twist of the game is that 90% of the plot was pointless? Sounds about right. That sounds like a plot twist that was thought up when the plot was almost fully written, and the writer realized after the fact that it also goes against literally all the evidence to the contrary in the actual game, so had to make up some lame "It's not a supernatural curse, it's just a supernatural curse!" explanation. As far as the temple having altars to the four gods, in a better-written game, that actually wouldn't be that bad of an idea if you have the people that built the temple originally not viewing the two evil gods as... well... evil, or at least viewing them as equally important in the grand cosmology of the world. IF THE CURSE WERE REAL, you could even have explained the tribe succumbing to GREED as the Seers of the tribe were so proficient in seeing the future that they were actually afflicted by the curse and they caused a religious schism that led to the destruction of the tribe. I probably just spent more time thinking about this than the people who made the game did, didn't I?
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Aug 8, 2022 06:00
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:
We all have, but not in a "Hurr durr funny title drop" sense, but in a "Will you finally explain why this game has such a silly title" sense. And yet I'm still not entirely sure who the "Couriers of Darkness" are supposed to be. Just random evil spirits corrupting somewhere for giggles?
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Aug 8, 2022 06:04
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Aug 8, 2022 06:30
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Sure, nailing the execution in such a way that you get a good story is hard, but it's not that hard to plan out a story that merely isn't terrible, I am impressed by this performance.
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Aug 8, 2022 10:10
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These events screwing with the games pacing would require the game to have decent pacing in the first place. 
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Aug 8, 2022 10:58
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SIGSEGV posted:Sure, nailing the execution in such a way that you get a good story is hard, but it's not that hard to plan out a story that merely isn't terrible, I am impressed by this performance. What is this "plan" you speak of? It sounds like something that'd just get in the way of my *faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart*
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Aug 8, 2022 11:15
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Brown Geyser continues to spew. I also just realized that Aldnar's portrait makes him look uncannily like Beavis.
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Aug 8, 2022 12:19
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A better written game would have done something clever like, say, only have you lose one of your mages if you tried to romance both of them as a punishment for your greed. At the very least it wouldn't have one of them be grateful that they're a normal person after all if you choose them and then leave the party in a huff for not choosing to give them their destiny over probably saving the life of the other one if you don't.
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Aug 8, 2022 15:45
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I think the big issue I have with the game is that there are good seeds of ideas, but it's like someone was told "fertilizer helps plants grow", and know that fertilizer is made from animal poop, so threw down a good handful of seed, then backed up a dump truck and buried them in a mountain of horse poo poo. Its not so bad it's good, it's not so bad that you can't help but laugh at how offensive it is (Hi Atom!), it's not decent, it's just... forgettable, and because it's so painful unfinished, it makes it hard to even say it's a bad game, just one that needed another year or two in the oven.
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Aug 8, 2022 17:03
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No years in the oven are fixing the lack of direction the plot has. You can't have a good RPG where you can ostensibly pick a random fantasy off royalroad and have it be superior in all aspects bar spelling and grammar. It's a poo poo game, adding mechanical timewasters or more stupid quests isn't gonna fix it.
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Aug 8, 2022 18:45
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| # ? May 20, 2024 01:53 |
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TitanG posted:No years in the oven are fixing the lack of direction the plot has. You can't have a good RPG where you can ostensibly pick a random fantasy off royalroad and have it be superior in all aspects bar spelling and grammar. It's a poo poo game, adding mechanical timewasters or more stupid quests isn't gonna fix it. The overall plot doesn't seem that lacking in direction when you take a very large step back, it's just that it feels like they wrote a rough-draft for the story progression beats, then just wrote around those specific points, probably from start to finish without going back and revising earlier text so it matches any new plot elements they think up later on, and rather than trimming down chaff quests, they just leave a metric ton of "Bring me 10 bear asses" quests in the game. If they had another year or two to actually work on the storyline and make it coherent, it would be ultimately forgettable but okay. Instead we get poo poo like "Greed isn't a curse!" right after killing a demon and breaking the curse of Greed on the king. What, did the ghosts just bugger off because we killed someone?
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Aug 8, 2022 19:16
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