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1 at least he's our genocidal psychopath
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Jun 25, 2019 18:51
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Meadowhill posted:1 at least he's our genocidal psychopath 1, same reasoning. Also yes, I'd vote for explaining stuff. It seems like there's something interesting here, but it's mired beneath a lot of unfortunate translations and unclear/bad writing.
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Jun 25, 2019 19:08
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Dr_Gee posted:1, same reasoning. Sure! Part of this is that I think the editors hosed up and they are talking about poo poo that doesn't happen until Lo Phengs second chapter. gently caress it, I'll bring in some outside material too.
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Jun 25, 2019 21:58
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2 CHAOS REIGNS
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Jun 26, 2019 03:22
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Bonus Update #1: The Goons of Something Awful and What The gently caress Is Going On in Chapter 3 Well, I had planned the first bonus update to be an explanation of why Thorn Brenin sucks, but enough people chimed in about the world salad we just witnessed that I think it's time for some explanations. Feel free to yell at me if I miss anything or if you feel I've insulted your intelligence. Remember Amma from the prologue? quote:
Hopper'wants to stop the Reaping because he hosed up 700 years ago and he feels guilty, so he's heading to Albius to try to head it off. He gets stopped at the gate by Mushom, who notably is NOT from Albius, and this is where we all start getting confused.  Albius is in the kingdom of Odalah. Mushom is a soldier of the kingdom of Jerana, and we get an entire exchange of Hopper trying to figure out what the Jeranians are doing here while Mushom tries to distract him with banter.  It works, as Hopper is taken by the guards to Cardinal Coronzon, or not, as I end up dragging us to Prince Treeg.  We accomplish nothing except learning there's a spell on the bell making it ring endlessly and it's loving with people's heads. THEN we go to Coronzon, and he and Hopper desperately try to one-up the Gazel ministry and Vampire the Masquerade players with how many proper nouns they can drop and how little sense this makes. So Coronzon, like Hopper, Rask(the merchant dude in the beginning who didn't have any hankies) and Amma is another "Umbra". We don't know much about what that means, except they're immortal, have golden eyes, turn into Reapers for unexplained reasons, and used to hang around with the gods. Coronzon is out for...we're not sure, really. This is the section where we REALLY could have used an editor, but the general themes are: -I'm frightened of these mortals who can resist Reapers, because even we can't do that -The entire continent(?) is descending into war just as the Reaping's happening. The Frisians we know (those guys Lo Pheng was with) and the rest...don't actually matter. -Whoever cast this spell on the bell causing it to ring endlessly is a much more powerful mage than me and I could really use some help dealing with it. It's even affecting the Reaping! Now, this section is incredibly poorly written. I don't know who Ananael is, and I've beaten this game multiple times. Coronzon and Hopper discuss how the man in Wodan - Lo Pheng - was attacked by a Reaper twice, but we've only fought Atraakh once. We get this whole list of armies moving in, but - spoilers - the Frisians are really the only ones important to the plot. Anyway, Hopper goes to check out the bell tower, Coronzon pushes him in, and the enchantment makes him walk up the stairs. He fights and kills the mind-controlled soldiers, touches the bell, and gets cursed with a blackened hand. He collapses, Coronzon pulls him out of the wreckage, and he starts bitching to Coronzon about how being cursed sucks. Now, everyone has been talking about that hot chick Gleda saw in the market, and Coronzon is commenting about how it totally could have been a sorceress that set this curse.  See those golden eyes? That's indicative of an Umbra, and we know she's magic because she just disappeared. We don't know why she cares about Gleda, but the game is strongly hinting that she is messing with the Reaping with her bell sorcery and Coronzon may or may not be in on the plot. Just then Treeg runs in talking about a dream he got from an old hag about how the scribe who destroyed the bell tower. Is it a coincidence? quote:
Draw your own conclusions! Anyway, Coronzon wants us to find Thorn and get him to some place named Opacum. Probably not important. Treeg wants us to find his son, Prince Ho, who is in the company of Thorn Brenin and protected by a secret bodyguard named Sopp. Do those names sound familiar?  Remember those guys? No, because there are a ton of randos hanging out with Thorn and co, and they're not super interesting? The guy on the left is calling himself "Hode" and he's a Jeranan prince living in Odalah for...reasons. The guy on the right is called Sopp. quote:
Treeg also wants us to bring Thorn to trial, because we slaughtered our way through the Albius guardsmen on our way out of town because they were nuts. To sum all this poo poo up: -Coronzon is maybe working with that girl in the marketplace at the beginning of the game. She is using magic to mess with the Reaping, and they left us a riddle to "Follow the guiding one. Collect the seven parts of wisdom. Read and be saved." This also comes with a curse. Coronzon wants us to follow Thorn and bring him to some place called Opacum. -Treeg wants us to follow Thorn and rescue his son, the blond assassin dude who Gleda has a thing for. Treeg also wants to put Thorn on trial for murdering all the guards, and would really like us to help with that. Addendum: The Supplementary Material. Some Really Big Spoilers. Over the course of this thread I've mentioned that this was supposed to be a vehicle to get Sergei Malitsky's work published in the US. If I haven't, I apologize. They have a few preview chapters up on their website, but I'm going to link their novelized version of the prologue. Notice how Amma is completely different than the woman we met? She tries to kill Hopper on sight, enthuses about how being a Reaper is "freedom" (rather than game Amma describing it as 'succumbing'), and they bring out a LOT of poo poo that's not revealed until later in the game. Hell, go read Chapter 2 and see how different Lo Pheng is. They give him a different employer who's a man with an actual, functioning conscience in Frisia! There are more Eikons, and one has a gun! If you load the characters page on their website all the characters have completely different names! It's nuts! So no, as far as I can tell, there is no novel you can read for the real story. There's a prologue comic about how Thorn got his magic jizz, but as far as I know there's nothing out there to give you The Real Story Lowdown aside from parsing the game. I'll do more of these posts when popular demand warrants.
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Jun 26, 2019 06:38
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: (Taking the knife) The Reaping shall begin on the day of the vernal equinox, both in the North and the South - in the towns of Wodan and Albius. I wouldn't waste time if I were you.
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Alright, that's really helpful! I was going to vote 2, but understanding the story a little better now I think I'll vote 1.
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Jun 26, 2019 08:02
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The supplementary bit is bananas. It reads like a MUCH more interesting version of what made it into the game. I wonder why it just...didn't?
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Jun 26, 2019 14:48
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not to rush you but that cast page update would also be nice to have for ease of reference
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Jun 26, 2019 16:45
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I am very confused about the spoiler I just moused over. I vote we go with the state if nothing else for revenge for us getting cursed.
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Jun 26, 2019 18:17
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fluffyDeathbringer posted:not to rush you but that cast page update would also be nice to have for ease of reference Done! Dr_Gee posted:The supplementary bit is bananas. It reads like a MUCH more interesting version of what made it into the game. This game seems to have had a fairly troubled development. It started off as a kickstarter, but they didn't get enough money for Lo Pheng's storyline. They decided to go and add him anyway. There's a reason his storyline feels so much shorter than anyone else's, it's rather focused IMO. I may be biased because I consider his storyline the best of the three, but his chapter went by very quickly and we didn't get the giant piles of  that characterized other chapters.Bijou, the dev who hangs around the Steam forums posted:There were three characters from the beginning, in the original idea. The developers are also on record complaining about how bad the English translation is. AurumDust posted:@wilb yes, we still have some issues with english translation which in most of cases do not reproduced in original (Russian) and even in some other translations (like IT and PL). Most of these issues divided in 2 separate types: You can find the discussion here. Note that even their editor shows up. Amusingly, you can find him on the Steam forums bitching about how awful the translation was. The impression I get from all this is that these guys have absolutely no idea how to localize a game - which is understandable. The end result is a combination of time constraints, English written by people who maybe shouldn't be writing professional English, and: Bijou posted:Actually, the writer who worked on Ash of Gods: Redemption, already had a book called Ash of Gods which is completely unrelated with the game. That's why the book (at least its Russian version) was named as 'Shadows of Gods: Redemption'. Can't tell you for sure what didn't get to the game, haven't read the final version, tbh.
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Jun 27, 2019 02:45
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Huh, that's really interesting. Goes way beyond just being a buggy mess at release like a lot of games with rocky developments.
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Jun 27, 2019 13:31
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:heroic goon fluffyDeathbringer marvel as he utilizes his knowledge of Finnish for this, and for no other practical use outside Finland (seriously though I really appreciate the shoutout and am glad to have been of use to the LP)
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Jun 27, 2019 20:30
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We support The Church! Update up tonight or tomorrow.
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Jun 29, 2019 03:31
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Hopper Rouley and the Party Members Who Don't Do Anything When we last left Hopper, he was making a critical decision whether to enable Henry VIII's constant remarrying to preserve England from civil war - oh, no, he was just resolving a dispute between two unbelievably petty assholes. Carry on.  : The Temple is above any crown... : (Outraged) An overgrown stalk can always be trimmed, Coronzon. Even one growing in a Temple. If anything happens to Ho, Thorn's head will roll. And if you object, you'll lose yours too! : (Smiling mockingly) Really? Maybe you'll cobble together a scaffold together yourself? And find an executioner too? Do you even have a herald? What will he cry about? How Odalah shows no respect for the crown of Jerana?As much of an rear end in a top hat as Coronzon is, he's completely right here. I assume Jerana and Odalah are fairly close, but I can't imagine the crown prince showing up with armed men is a fairly popular act. Remember, Mushom was at the gates of the town - I doubt this is just a small bodyguard detachment.  : (Calming down) Glad to hear that. The gods were on the Cardinal's side today, let's leave it at that. Bow to the scribe, Coronzon. He soothed my anger. But don't you dare talk back to the crown prince. As for you scribe...You should greet your future companions.Jesus Christ, what an rear end in a top hat.  We get one option, and that's to leave town.  Holy poo poo! I've complained about the stage directions before, but how loving stupid do they think their playerbase is? Also, Hopper's a narrator now? I don't remember him muttering little soliloquies like he made a mad dash out of Elizabethan theater.   There's a lot wrong with this particular set of words and image, I don't know where to begin. First, the stage directions are completely redundant with the spoken text. "Had the lecture on our goals and reasons" is just clunky and sounds like a bad satire of either a public school teacher disciplining a kid or a corporate bureaucrat explaining the new buzzwords that they hope will let them see a titty in real life. The most grievous sin, however, is that the two guys with their backs to us are Mushom and Ake, the people we literally just loving met and traded names with.  See that guy? He looks nothing like the two dudes we met, and is dressed completely differently. You could have just had a scene with his back to the camera, Hopper facing us, and maybe something like this. Dialogue The Great Evil King Wrote Himself posted:
See that? The dialogue explains why Hopper is there and what he plans to do without using valuable screen space on stage directions and other stupid poo poo. Ash of Gods devs, you might want to have a talk with your editor. : (Smiling) Fancy meeting you here. The prince entrusts you with priority assignments I see. Guarding the gate, spying on scribes...There's one reason I can think of why they didn't do this, and I'm not going to spoiler tag it because it's a route not taken. If we'd taken the other route at the tower, we would have run into the Albius guard watchtower where Stein was standing guard. After we left, Krieger would have suggested going back to murder him and we could have presumably deleted him from this scene. It's still incredibly clunky.  "don you not". There have been a lot of typos in this script so far, but this really stands out. Remember, these guys have gone through a TON of editors by now, and I don't think they're getting their money's worth. : Mushom, don you not have anything better to do? : You're my business now, Hopper. I'd much rather spend quality time with a young damsel from Albius, but the king's will is the king's will. You're wasting your time, scribe. I'd rather find out where to look for prince Ho.: I'm certainly considering it, no doubt. There aren't that many roads in the world. You're still young, we've plenty of time to travel them all.One of the other things that's really hurt by the stage directions are that their absence makes the text drier and suggests the reader take every sentence without a stage direction as a literal statement. In any other game, you could read Hopper here as cracking a joke. Here, because every emotion is telegraphed by (I AM FEELING SAD NOW) I can't tell if Hopper is supposed to be serious or not. : If we don't find Ho, we'd best not to come back here. : You look as if you don't approve, Stein. : You are indeed a man of duty, following orders you disapprove of. For the time being, all you have to do is point Thorn out to me when we catch up to him. : Many noble souls have ascended the scaffold, but very few have returned.: Must you always escort me, Ake? : (Squinting) Laugh all you want. I'm keeping my eye on you. I'm quite capable of handling a dozen Gells all by myself, but taking down the town hall is another thing. And don't you dare hex me, or I'll beat the living daylights out of you!: (Shrugging)I am no sorcerer, Ake. The town hall was already falling apart. I just sneezed a little too hard. But thanks for the warning.: You sneezed so hard that the Cardinal himself waded through the rubble to get you out? That's some achievement right there.: Chance rules the world, Ake. That, and strong fellows like yourself. If you're lucky.: We'll have plenty of time to talk on the way. Let's make it through that gate first.: Good. It's time to go. We will get to know each other on the way. Don't get frightened if anything else crumbles like the town hall.: Not so fast, scribe. His Highness asked me to give you this captain's insignia. Why a vagabond would need it is beyond me, but it is the prince's wish. He's also granted you travel documents with his personal seal. It'll make the journey easier.Remember, captain's insignias have strixes. Ironically enough, Hopper is the only protagonist who doesn't need them.  He's literally giving you the stuff you need to do that job. : Let's talk in private for a moment. We've a long road ahead, and I need to tell you something. They say the Cardinal blessed you, so you're not just some filthy sorcerer, right? So you won't make fun of me...We get thrown into a private conversation with Ake.  : (Looking around) Thing is...Whatever hag appeared to our prince in his dream, I saw a pretty girl- the one that Padagang thought he'd glimpsed. Only i never mentioned her to anybody.This is the game beating us with the hag-girl connection I outlined earlier. : Why didn't you? Did you pity the girl, or was it something else? And how do you know it was the same girl? There are many pretty women in Berkana. More than anywhere else in the world if you ask me.: They make your blood race, not curdle. I nearly shat my britches when she came to my tent. The way she stared at me! And then, when she vanished into thin air, I decided that it'd be best to keep silent... Y'know, for appearance's sake.This is the first time we've seen anyone express fear of the girl. Gleda just expressed a mild wonder, Coronzon a vague familiarity, Treeg the respect accorded to a wise mystic. Given the curse she hit Hopper with, she might not be on the level. : Why did you bring her up, then? : Nonsense or not, thank you for telling me. I'll rack my brain for a way to save the prince and solve these riddles. Let's go. Your ruler can't wait to see us leave.  : Gods know where these "parts of wisdom" might be. This "guiding one" is also a mystery. It seems there's a long road ahead-no time for leisurely traveling to the far ends of Terminum. The Reaping, the prince, Thorn and his daughter, all of them are bound together. One can only pray there will be no need to sever this tie. Decisions lie before us TWO votes this time! The first vote is, which way do we go? Remember, we have riddles to follow. Follow the guiding one. Collect the seven parts of wisdom. Read and be saved The signs should be found in burnt-out coals, ruins, or a place where there's no water Or we can say gently caress it and not listen to strange witches. The other vote concerns the curse. We do not track strixes as hopper. Instead, every few days we get a pop-up telling us we can resist the curse, which will raise the game's difficulty, or give into the curse, which will lower Blance's stats but not raise the game's difficulty. There are a few more things to note: -The game's difficulty isn't an arbitrary setting, it raises the power of the Reaping in the upper right corner. This doesn't just make combat harder, but (according to the devs) makes random encounters more likely to gently caress us over. -We can immediately lower the difficulty after resisting the curse. This does not, however, prevent it from having an effect on the ending. I need a strategy - do we always give in? Always resist? Give in until the curse hits a threshold? Choose wisely, goons! Edit: Place descriptions When you click on a place on the map the game gives you a short description, something I completely ignored in my playthrough but might be helpful here; Gebonan Watchtower: A remnant of Gebona's former glory. A decrepit fortification on the Berkanan road, garrisoned by the Jeranan border guard. Watchtower: A modest fortification that houses Albius patrols and toll collectors Dead Spring: An ancient spring with stone slabs complete with a water trough. Dried out many years ago. Serpent Creek: A green glade encircled by mountain pines, infamous for its abundance of venomous snakes. A narrow creek flowing through it disappears into the rocky hillside Free-miner's hut: A crooked hut where a crazed free-miner has lived for twenty years, trying to find gold in the spring water of the Mannaz. Burnt mill: Testimony to the stubborn miller failing to construct his mill on cursed ground. Only after the third mill was struck by lightning did he give up the idea. Abandoned Camp: A tiny mountain glen traversed by the forsaken road and dotted with black fire-pits and the remnants of burnt-down structures. Dynford Village and the menhir we've seen. TheGreatEvilKing fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Dec 3, 2019 |
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Jun 29, 2019 04:51
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Coal-burner's hut As for the second I haven't a clue. You mentioned you'll be leaving the good ending up to us. Will it always be in obvious choices presented, or are there shenanigans along the lines of "you didn't mention it but there's a dry well in that picture. Can you interact with it?" For the translation issues, after Pathalogic I'm pretty dang sympathetic and it's interesting to see what can (or cannot) be communicated despite the barrier.
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Jun 29, 2019 05:13
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Coal-burner's hut and give in to the curse. I think it's a bad idea to follow the witch's advice BUT I do wanna find out more about her and doing what she says might lead to that.
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Jun 29, 2019 05:55
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Bruceski posted:You mentioned you'll be leaving the good ending up to us. Will it always be in obvious choices presented, or are there shenanigans along the lines of "you didn't mention it but there's a dry well in that picture. Can you interact with it?" Interactable things are usually pretty obvious, but I legit missed the good ending last time and I remembered the riddle. It's also subjective, I have yet to unlock a good ending for Lo Pheng and Reet so... I won't be a dick and yell about how you guys missed totally obvious clues, because they're not quite obvious in my opinion. The game gives short descriptions of the places, I should go back and edit those in. One moment, please. EDIT: Done. Keep in mind no one really knows the effect of all the choices in this game, so who knows. I think if we stick to the obvious choices we're fine? TheGreatEvilKing fucked around with this message at 06:07 on Jun 29, 2019 |
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Jun 29, 2019 05:57
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Dead Spring! Resist!
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Jun 30, 2019 20:47
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I need a tiebreaker vote on the curse.
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Jul 3, 2019 17:57
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It's a hard time, being what's apparently a Reaper who refuses to Reap, or something like that. Always resist.
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Jul 3, 2019 18:48
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Vote closed! Coal-burners track, Dead Spring, always resist! Also, I finally took a look at their save files and discovered that: -Their save files are just a big json full of variables (including TrobbelFuckOff, hilariously) -I don't think the developers are very experienced based on their json organization. We will be abusing this much later in the LP.
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Jul 7, 2019 00:54
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I got this game in the steam sale, and yeah... I understand complaints people leveled against Banner Saga's gameplay despite personally really loving it... but this game uhh. Yeah its not very good combat wise, I assume the Dev's realized this since you can put fights on auto battle.
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Jul 7, 2019 03:38
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Hopper Rouley and the Lack of Common Sense By popular request we hit the Coal-Burner's Track first.  : You look at the tower and notice a rider silhouetted against it. By his stature, he's an Ense. This is their time, after all. "Looks like the abominations are keeping watch now," you say with a smirk. "According to ancient manuscripts, masked warriors always appear during the Reaping."  The game does this every time with Hopper. Ake, Mushom, and Stein are party members, but they find more and more creative excuses to not help you fight. I believe Bijou is on record stating the writer put them there so Hopper would have someone to react to, but they wanted to have the challenge of only fighting with a single character. It's not a challenge at all. Anyway, we attack the Enses for XP and maybe loot. : "You don't like the idea of smoking the Enses out of the tower and you don't want to risk having to replace your horse. Once the Enses get further away from the river, you slink after them. The abominations don't notice you until they reach the edge of the wood. When they do, they turn around and attack you in silence. It's not a very interesting fight. Remember, Hopper has an AoE he can spam every other turn that does ~30 damage and these losers are showing up with 28 hp or so? He kills them all. : After the skirmish, you return to the tower and clean yourself up with a simple spell-no need to reveal your talents just yet. Ake comes back looking smart, indicating the Ense scout is as good as dead. You nod to the giant and mount your horse. It's time to continue the journey. To the Dead Spring!   Note that the "Dry Riverbed" is the wrong place without water, and I believe if you go that way it drastically alters the ending. I would not blame you if you picked that route. : Ask the girl if she needs help: You squat in front of the girl and ask where her parents are, and if she needs help finding them. The girl just smiles and offers you her bucket of water.: Accept and drink the water.This is clearly the clue left for us by that witch, and the thread wanted to see what happened if we followed the witch's advice. : You squat and hold out a hand for the bucket. The girl smiles and slushes the water at you. You [sic] eyes shut instinctively, but water never touches your face. Ake lets out an audible sigh. When you open your eyes, there's no trace of the little girl with the bucket.: You're surprised to find that your arm feels better. When the girl smiled at you, it seemed to make the blackness retreat a bit. Look at that curse power! It's down a whole 4%!  We have only one path we can take, and it takes us to Dynford village. Rest assured, I will make you all vote on the next riddle.  : One of the guards recognizes Ake and waves. "Ake? Is it really you? Going to Ursus, huh? Is it a special assignment? Or are you just heading home?": Ake leaps from his horse. "Where I'm going shouldn't concern you, friend. Let's just say I'm escorting someone important-a scribe... and mage licensed by the Temple." I choose to inspect the menhir. : You give Ake a node and dismount. Glancing at the graves, you approach the menhir. One grave is slightly older and smaller. The other looks fresh. The stink of decay hits you like a hammer. The Reaper's sign on the menhir seems to glow from within.: The guard trails behind you. "This is where we buried the villagers-parts of them, I should say. I've never seen anything like it. It's like they were hit by a rain of steel. We found the watchmen assigned to this post in the other grave. The grave was here already when we arrived, and we had to exhume them to find out. The fellows lying there have barely been wounded, but their blood has been drained. I think Thorn Brenin buried them. Nobody else from Albius traveled that way. He couldn't have killed them, could he? Cause he went to the trouble of burying them.": You shake your head. "I haven't met this Thorn, but it's the Enses who drain the blood from corpses. Some people call them "abominations". Didn't you find their bodies? I guess not-they'd be hard to miss. Thorn must have run into them on the bridge. There's blood, but no bodies. He probably tossed them into the Mannaz.: You inspect the menhir once more. "A mark like this won't come off no matter how hard you scrub it. It will glow-however faintly-until the Reaping is over. It's stronger than a sign on a game. The sacred stone...": The guard throws up his arms. "So what do we do? Prince Treeg won't have this. He'll take this road back to Ursus. Seeing the job unfinished is bound to get him all steamed up. Then we'll have our asses in a sling." Let's touch it goons.  : You walk right up to the menhir and touch the sign with your hand, despite Ake's warning. There's a flash of blinding light, and a powerful force knocks you down. It feels like you're only out for a few seconds... but judging by Ake's swearing, maybe not. : With difficulty, you rise to your feet. Your arm is somehow less black. "It was foolish of me. I agree. And the sign didn't disappear-it's just lying in wait. Let's hurry up, Ake, otherwise we'll never catch up to Thorn."So that SHOULD drop our curse further and let us use Hopper's full stats to make combat feel less padded sumo.  This looks like a good time to break the update. Next time: Character development! Magic! Vegans! Abominations! A crippling lack of Lo Pheng! Also, wait, didn't we just finish Chapter 3? You'd think chapters would finish on a PoV switch...gently caress it.
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Jul 7, 2019 04:31
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Thorn Brenin and the Soldiers who Absolutely, Positively, Will Not Shut Up Welcome back! Last time on Ash of Gods we wandered around like a drunken dipshit taking obviously ominous sorcery at face value and were rewarded for it! Now we're back to Thorn Brenin and his merry band of...whatever we are.  We have one path, and we will take that path.   We throw money at the problem, because we're not taking this baby with us on our murderhobo adventure.  You know, I'm not sure how much money 100 gold is for your average peasant. If he raises this kid there's a good chance he's out more than 100 gold.  I pick the bottom option, and it does not go well. I missed the screenshot here, but people get pissy and worry about the fate of the family and our morale goes down to 0. We'll have plenty of ways to raise it later.    : (Turning to Sopp) I figured he'll find out sooner or later. This is not your clueless Krieger. We should tell the truth. It's long overdue. : All right, here goes... You see, Captain, the young Prince Ho is headstrong. He quarreled with his grandfather, the King of Jerana. As a result, Prince Treeg-that is, Prince Ho's father-sent him off to a young soldiers' regiment. : The King of Jerana? Who's Prince Ho? Who's whoses father? What are you blabbering about, drat you?: I'm telling it as it is! Not leaving anything out. They made Prince Ho a young Albius warrior to get him some discipline, and me-his bodyguard. His name was changed to "Hode" but mine stayed the same. I'm not so important, I guess.The game never bothers to explain why a Jeranan prince is put under Odalan command, and it bugs the poo poo out of me. : Captain, you said yourself that it was time for a serious talk! So, we're telling you the truth! : What do we do now, Hode? I mean... Prince Ho?: (Squinting sarcastically) Let's drop the titles, shall we? I've been Hode to you, and Hode I shall remain. I prefer this name. No need to flaunt my princely status. Safer this way. It won't make much difference.: Won't make much difference? Do you have any idea what your family will do to us all if you die? All of your companions will face the gallows, not just Sopp.: It's not so easy to best me in combat. What do you suggest? I'm not going back to my grandfather, that's certain. Not until he apologies. You won't drag me to court by force, will you?: That's a lot to take in. For now, Hode remains Hode. Everyone tries to stay alive. We travel as planned. If anything changes, I'll let you know.Yea...these two have Thorn by the balls. He can't just abandon Hode (and isn't the type of man to abandon a subordinate), Hode is figuratively spitting in the eye of a king, and he can't do anything Hode disapproves of or Hode can go running to Daddy at the slightest whim. We've met Prince Treeg and he's a certifiable dumbass. The one good thing about all of this is that Hode isn't interested in challenging Thorn for leadership of Gleda and 8 dudes, because that would make things worse. Anyway, I take the opportunity to click the camp icon and realize I've made a terrible mistake.  The game gives you no indication that people at camp want to talk to you, so you just have to check frequently. This is the same button that just opens the level/stats screen, so sometimes you'll get that and sometimes you'll get this. Let's start with Krieger.   : I don't recognize you, Krieger : (Gloomily) I don't recognize myself either. I've looked for something inside to hold on to, but have found nothing. My past is in ruins.: Trobbel liked to say: "Don't grease my brains with silver-do that to my palm." You should stop digging into your soul. Undo your collar and feel the scar across your chest. Holy poo poo, Krieger punched a bear in the face! And didn't die! That's a lot more hardcore than I expected from our local fuckup. : I must remind you how you saved the boy.: Yes, I pulled him out of the lair, but couldn't draw my sword. That's how the beast grabbed me. I hit him with my one free hand. You finished the beast off. : You shouldn't forget about the regiment.: (With hope) That's all that keeps me going. I ran from Albius for a reason, isn't that right, Thorn? I was saving my lads. I mean...Flitt, Sopp, Hode, Brett. They're my regiment, right? The others simply went mad!: They weren't mad, Krieger. The Reaping turned them into animals. Perhaps they came to their senses, but you did everything right. You shouldn't have stayed in the city.: (Longingly) I don't know about that now. Barricading ourselves in your house could have been the right thing to do. But who knows, maybe Albius has already burned to the ground. : Whatever happened next-you did everything right.: Maybe it burned out. You have three rooms in the barracks, and I have a home. Think about those four lads. Even one of them is a sufficient excuse.Notice that nobody gives a drat about Fisk. Fisk has a fairly tragic story we haven't touched on very much.  : Do you remember the incident with the king of Odalah? It's odd that Krieger is using a euphemism. These men have been shown before as vulgar soldiers, it would make sense to just talk about being stuck in the shitter or whatever. "Having a digestive trouble" reads like something a blushing Victorian lady would stammer. : You were promoted to Captain because of that day.: Yeah, Trobbel kept yelling that I owed him a barrel of wine for my captain's badge. He wouldn't let me go until he got what he wanted. That said, he came to his senses really quickly after that!: Man up, Krieger. If it gets too bad, set your jaw. Time is a river that carries away happiness and sorrow alike. You did your duty as best you could. You didn't cower in a hole, trembling!: I should have hidden though. Would have been easier. I could have pretended to be a madman.: You can still pretend. It's a kind of way out. They can chop you into pieces though. Just like you did with the madmen.: You'd better go to sleep, Krieger.: (Alarmed) Maybe... There is something else. You know, there's something moving inside me... a terrible thing. Or maybe I'm terrible. I want to take a sword and stab everyone-or maybe myself. Maybe the madness is taking its toll... TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
Hode is up next, and yes, I'll be doing summaries for the many of you who don't want to read all this poo poo.   : Why did you chose [sic] Albius? : Yes, quiet as it gets...: You aren't the one who drew the Reaper to Albius, right? Come on, don't be angry. They say the Reaping covers all of Terminum in darkness, no other way...: Was it said or written? You're a warrior, Thorn Brenin! Since when have you read old manuscripts? I'm not a big reader myself, but I'm certain that the last Reaping happened about seven hundred years ago!It always annoys me when fantasy warriors are assumed to be idiots, because mythological warriors were usually well educated and well spoken. Beowulf comes to mind, Hercules also gets an excellent education. Remember, these people are not usually drawn from poor peasants, but from wealthy nobles who can afford warhorses, armor, and weapons that need to be individually bred or crafted. The Dumb Smashman is a Dungeons and Dragons invention from back when fighter was a class you got stuck playing because you didn't roll good enough stats to play literally anything else.  : Did the Burgomaster know about you? : Son of a whore...: (Calmly) I had no mother myself, nor was she a whore. She died giving birth. My father raised me.: So does it happen to kings, too? I'm not talking about death...: (Calmly) Yes, it's clear. You mean love. My grandfather was like that, too. That's why my father was the only heir-like me.: How does it feel to be the only heir? : Until they throw you on someone else's blade.: This is the heaviest burden to set upon royal shoulders.: It's good if the king remembers it, Hode: I will remember, Thorn Maybe that's why I'm here.: Alright, sorry for bothering you...: I'm sorry for bothering you. You have a daughter to save-a precious jewel.: You'd better not tell her that. She won't care that you're a prince. Comparing her to a fine blade is another matter! Here lies Hode. He never scored. TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 Oh god, MORE? May as well talk to Brett, the Boringest Man Alive.   : Not at all, Captain. You can get used to anything, and I've already grown accustomed to the fact that something's not right in this world. Besides, I'm hardly alone. I'm in good company. You didn't just come to ask how I'm feeling, though, did you? : Arent' you the son of some nobleman?: (Smirking) No, Captain. Well, some bastard maybe. I never knew my father, but I've been looked after for all of my-admittedly short-life. They're always concerned about me. They help my mother, and see to my education. However, I know neither my benefactor's name, nor motives.: And you never yearned to learn more?: Of course I did. But either my teachers didn't know anything, or got enough gold to keep mum about it. My benefactor also convinced my mom that I'd be better off in blissful ignorance. : Where did you get your training, apart from the Albius regiment?: Couldn't remember all of it, even if I tried. I don't settle anywhere for long. The moment I learn my way around and make some progress-I get transferred elsewhere. Seems like Albius is the longest I've stayed in one place.: Someone may be deliberately preparing you for something. Didn't you consider that?: I've been entertaining the idea. Even thought maybe they want to mold me into some sort of spy. I mean, at the end of the day, I'm best at making connections between what I see and what I know. : Have any surprises in store for me?: (With a hint of a smile) Same as everyone else, Captain. I mean, our squad's full of peculiar characters. As if we've been gathered here by the gods for some higher purpose.: Agreed. Everyone's got their strengths and weaknesses. Since you're so perceptive, mind telling me about my weakness?: Gleda is your strength-and your weakness. None of us come close to that. Something about her elevates her above most folk. I don't mean her looks, either-but something on the inside. A kind of spark, or a flame... I don't know how to put it, exactly.: (Smiling) You're right about that. Gleda's also exceptionally stubborn-always wanting it her own way. Got that from her mother.. or maybe from me. : I guess that's all I wanted to know.: Then allow me a question, too. Do you think we'll survive the Reaping?: I do. Otherwise, all we do is pointless. I'll push onwards with all my strength. Hope you'll do the same.: I'll try. Sometimes I lack the necessary fortitude. Everywhere around me I see signs of the end of the world as we know it. However, with you by my side, I'm seeing this in a different light, Captain. Maybe my logic isn't sound and we do have a chance. Whatever that might be. TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
   : What are those enchantments about? : (Vacantly) About healing. About leg weakness. About a clear mind and sound memory. About fuzzy heads and forgetfullness. Cowardice and weakness. Bravery and strength. My grandmother knew many spells. : It'd be great if it were easy to grasp!: I don't know the right words to explain. You can't see it-but I see magic in different things, like grass blowing in a powerful wind. It's like a web of smoke coming from different fires, viscous and thick!: Are you a spider? What web? I can't see anything! : Did your grandmother teach you much? : Are you talking about the gift that only a few possess?: Why didn't your grandmother protect herself when Enses came to her village? She could have sung the right tune. She could have at least weakened their stance.(I'm pretty sure I didn't skip a screenshot here). : She was very old. And almost blind. She must have not seen them. Probably stayed at home until one of those...Enses... killed her with a flying blade... maybe just for fun. : So you need to weave the enchantments?: It's done differently. You can sing, brew potions... dance like a mad dervish. You can dress the wounds with stones. Everyone does it differently... I'm a weaver, but some things I can do by snapping my fingers. : Are you talking nonsense? I mean dressing wounds with stones.: Eikons do that. They say that it's the way strength and bravery are passed to warriors of the present day. My grandmother told me about this, too.: Your grandmother was wise, Ramlin. Did she have a hard life?: My grandfather brought my grandfather here from the Vandil Islands. She told me that when he died, she started building a house. She mixed clay with manure and straw-she dragged stones around. It kept her from going mad.People build houses out of poo poo? : My grandmother used to say that even if you don't know where to go, just keep moving. If you don't have a clear goal, you need to take steps that don't lead you into the abyss. : Well, it'll be time to go soon.: Maybe my enchantments will be useful to you? TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 Back into the land of !  : So what's the Reaping, anyway?: What makes you think the Reaping is nigh? Someone told you? Or was it your own idea? : Obviously it's the Reaping. Those Enses were the first sign of trouble. Who else would be wearing those masks? Then there was the Reaper's mark. Haven't seen the Reaper himself, but I recognized his rune right away. The Reaping is divine retribution. That's what everybody says, at least... : And how long will the Reaping last?: The Temple servants usually don't know much-and when they do, they prefer silence. When does a dog stop eating? When it's full. Same with the Reaping. Once it's sated with corpses-it begins to fade.: Sated? You talk about it as if it's some sort of beast... Maybe it's got a maw or something?: The menhirs are basically the Reaping's mouths. All the healings are like tree sap. A tree gets its nutrients from the soil, while a menhir's soil is death and pain. This is converted into healing energy that helps others alleviate their pain. : Are you sure that this stuff about the menhirs isn't a kind of heresy?: (Confused) Not that it's heresy. It's just... The Temple isn't really fond of such talk amongst its servants. Not many draw that conclusion, anyway. You have to dig up some really old scrolls to learn anything about it, after all...: (Interrupting) Say you're right, then what? It implies that for each person healed during peacetime, there are hundreds - if not thousands-exterminated during the Reaping. Isn't it too much? If the menhirs are really like trees, where does all their "sap" go?Since when is Thorn an expert on magic energy? : (Shrugging) There must be something else, but I didn't learn anything from the manuscripts. The high-ranking Temple servants don't tell you anything-just point their fingers skyward and say that only the gods know.: I don't like it one bit.. What kind of retribution exterminates the guilty and innocent, alike? And if it's supposed to be a shared plight, what kind of gods would wish death upon all our kin?: (Growing gloomy) It's not the gods who wish for our demise. We call forth the Reapers and plague with our misdeeds.: Alright, I won't pester you any longer.: It's all right. Of course, all the stuff in the books is quite dreadful. They say the Reaping is akin to a harsh winter-every creature should hibernate, and all the grass should perish so that they can be rejuvenated in the spring. Well, what if I am not a creature, but grass? Should I perish, too? TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
   : So, what do they have to say about Frisia? : I don't understand. What does "nearly infinite" even mean? : (Scratching the back of his head) Yeah, right. By the way, our Temple servants keep saying that the power of the Temple can be only limited by the power of the gods. : Why didn't you stay in Odah?: Are you asking me why I left the archives again? I really wanted to become a warrior. I still do. But it's a different kind of a choice. Not whether to be a scribe or a warrior. More about being a warrior scribe, not a weakling scribe.: What did your father think about that? He was a royal scribe-you said so yourself! Too bad I never visited the royal archives in Odah! No one would have let me inside, anyway. This is an unintentional pun when you consider that it's like to the crazy spoiler I posted earlier : That's why I had the feeling that we've met before! : Yes, my father and I are like two peas in a pod. He's gone completely gray, though. He was a ginger once.: His name was Flitt, like yours. A bit younger-everyone saw him as a boy. You shall give him my deepest gratitude, if you can... : What are your plans for after the Reaping, Flitt? Fun fact: I think Flitt has died on both my playthroughs. We missed an event that would have cutscene killed him already. : You're wrong, Flitt.: What is it then? Aren't heroes the ones overcoming adversities and escaping battles unharmed? Or recover from their wounds and bathe in glory? Only these kinds of stories are written in the books. What happens in real life?: Heroes die even more often. Only the lucky survive. It doesn't really matter if they fight bravely or hide in ditches.: Whatever you say, Thorn. I will accept it.: You should put the reading aside and rest.: (Hiding the manuscript) I might erase these scribbles and start describing our journey. May be a way to leave a mark behind for future generations.: Just try to avoid leaving a mark with your blood, Flitt.: (Smiling) Nice one, Thorn! It's hard to joke about death, but you're quite good at it.TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
  Dafuq?  : You're not a woman to be comforted... : Not really...: At least you can understand me. Jokes aside, I was selected from the best two hundred warriors of Jerana to guard the prince! Prince Treeg himself was choosing a defenseman! Well, there were about five other lads, but Hode decided to keep me.: Why did Hode like you? : Sopp, how old are you, exactly? The gently caress? Let's choose the complete non sequitur option here. : Poisoning yourself is stupid, Sopp.: Thorn, you don't even know what poisoning means. We're not in Frisia, obviously, but the king's executioners have so many ways to deal with you that you'll beg for death. If anything happens, Treeg won't forgive us. Just want, people will remember the old king of Jerana kindly.: The King of Jerana is old. So you say the next ruler will be a cruel and heavy-handed slaughterman? Why did Treeg let his son go to Albius?"Slaughterman", ugh, just say butcher.  : Who are your parents, Sopp? : You have great family, Sopp.I thought you grew up on the street! : Pride in your parents is misguided, Captain. Were I born a bastard, it would change nothing. Take Hode, for example. You can sense royal blood, but he's an ordinary lad!: Diamonds are more precious than gold-even before they're cut. They're indistinguishable from other stones found near the mouth of a river-but they're extraordinary.: (With a sigh) Sure. That's why his guards bear such responsibility.: Alright, keep your chin up. Things will work out... : Well, don't let him down then, Sopp.It's an rear end in a top hat answer but I find it funny. : I'm trying, Thorn. I also put my hope in you. And your daughter. I think that Hode likes her, even though he keeps his distance. Maybe all of this will keep the prince safe somehow, dont'cha think?You'd think Thorn would be taking this more seriously. If Hode gets Gleda pregnant there are all of two people on Terminum who can force him to pay child support, much less marry her. : I don't know, Sopp. There's nothing worse than guarding noblemen. No armor can save you from a well-fired arrow. No valor can save you from a rival army.: There are worse things, Thorn. Dragging your daughter along... Haven't you noticed your companions all trying to protect her during battles? There's your diamond... and it's already been cut.Go on, goons, speculate on why Gleda's special. TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 Finally, the storm of is over!I do have more to this update, but it's really late over here. There will be a vote tomorrow!
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Jul 7, 2019 08:53
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I really appreciate those summaries! Despite my best efforts, my eyes were glazing over a bit with those long dialogues. And this made me laugh --quote:The writers haven't figured out how to make her character stand out, so I want you to know she has a mysterious special quality not reflected in her words or actions OR in our artistic and linguistic depictions of her. I'm sure whatever's up with her is bound to be incredibly interesting and narratively satisfying!
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Jul 7, 2019 10:46
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Guts for garters! The summaries are very useful as even after reading the dialogue I'm left scratching my head sometimes. I'm guessing the excuse is that even if Sopp told you about how he's actually an elite warrior he's still keeping up the pretense for everyone else.
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Jul 7, 2019 19:59
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:People build houses out of poo poo? Yes. Adobe, one of the earliest building materials. Modern adobe tends to use just mud clay and straw (or are plaster over brick to emulate the look, back in NM we called those fauxdobe) but dung was also a common ingredient.
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Jul 7, 2019 20:42
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Thorn Brenin and the Crippling Lack of A Lion And A Wardrobe Welcome back! Previously on Ash of Gods, we endured a storm of signifying nothing. Or rather, beating into us that Gleda is Special and We Should Care About Her.Anyway, I'm going to pick the route for Thorn this time around, both to beat the looming timer and to show off a gently caress You event. Down the old road to the ruined tavern.  : Four years ago, the Sinvicta brothers-who live in the backwoods by the Woodland Watch-lost the Corpse Udder Tavern to Trobbel's younger brother in a game of cards. The new owner tried to get rid of it, but found now buyers-and then a lightning strike burned it down. Nobody bought it because-excepting a few hunters-no one really ventures to these parts anymore. Let's ask Fisk, I bet he knows all the taverns as our resident alcoholic.  Well, I've played enough D&D campaigns with dickish DMs to know to search the brushes first. : In the shrubs, you discover an armed crossbow. An inconspicuous piece of string tied to it leads to a wooden sign on the ground. The crossbow was set up to shoot whoever unwittingly turned over the sign. Flip that sign!  Searching the ruins yields nothing except the "strange and ugly" sign, so we leave. : You give the ruined tavern one more look and return to the road.: You're very tempted to stop by the Woodland Watch and ask the Sinvicta brothers if the crossbow trap was their handiwork. One of your companions could have been killed.Yea, this event is a complete "gently caress you" though we can visit the brothers later. If you search the ruins first Fisk gets shot and injured.  To the Puppy Ford!   We strike him first.  Then we try to intimidate them so I don't have to deal with this game's combat system.  You all said no robbing merchants, but that doesn't mean we can't rob the robbers. : You quickly rile through the thugs' possessions, taking everything of value, and hurry back to camp.We score 100 gold from this, which is much better than a crossbow bolt to the face.  We go down hunters track to save time and get to the arch menhir faster.  : You decided to strike the abominations from behind with your companions. Soon it becomes clear that the stakes which made the Enses dismount will be in your way as well. You'll have to fight the Enses on foot.I don't know why the game emphasizes this when literally every battle is on foot, You can't bring in horses and fight as mounted units, why would that change?  We're going to take Vai and Ramlin along because they're the new guys and we haven't seen them fight yet. We may as well discuss their abilities. : This guy's sole role is to wander around restoring health and energy. You can upgrade him to gain a magical melee attack that you will never use, because he's a cleric and the authors have played enough Inept D&D to know that clerics are healbots.: Seeing as Ramlin is a wizard and that this game is heavily ripping off Banner Saga, you may be expecting an Eyvind-like badass who can call down AoE lightning strikes. You would be completely wrong. Ramlin is a buffer who can raise people's attack stat and also hand out temporary defense in exchange for a battle-long attack penalty. He does get an energy drain attack usable once every few turns that can be surprisingly lethal if he's buffed, but most of the time he just hands out sweet, sweet attack boosts. You can field him alone with Thorn, have him spend all his time buffing Thorn's attack, and then yeet Thorn into enemy hordes when his attack hits some stupid high number. Here's the formation I go with. Thorn and Sopp bait out the enemy, Ramlin and Vai buff, the archers kill dudes. Vai is useful because he can recharge the archers' Dead Shot so that when they blow off half their health from shooting a bow they can do it again.  Sopp goes out to bait. Now, the AI is set to the lowest difficulty because we haven't resisted the curse yet, so all those Enses will jump Sopp. There's no real way to "pull aggro" on the AI, and most battlefields don't have chokepoints, so you're stuck hoping the Enses don't wander into telekinetic attack range.  The counterattack buff goes up, and instead of describing this battle I think I'm gonna explain why I dislike Thorn so intensely. I like how Sopp is scratching his butt staring at the theological abominations.  If I'm being completely honest, the reason I hate Thorn and his party has a lot to do with the combat mechanics. As we've seen, Hopper and Lo Pheng don't need to interact with spending massive amounts of health on their abilities.  Their abilities run off energy, and both of them have moves that let them refill the energy bar quickly at need. This, combined with the cargo culted Banner Saga turn system, means that it's just more satisfying to throw Lo Pheng and Hopper at the enemy and you don't need to grapple with the systems present here.  We see here Flitt blowing off half his own health to shoot this Ense, which at first glance seems like a high-risk, high-reward game design of whether or not to cripple yourself to turn the tide by killing a key unit. The problem is that attrition is completely hosed! In Banner Saga the optimal play was to leave weak enemies alive but crippled because they couldn't do anything to you and the enemy had to waste their turn when they came up. It was stupid and counterintuitive, but it at least offered a clear guide to what to do and rewarded figuring out how the system worked. Ash of Gods doesn't have this. In theory, I can wound an enemy unit down to where they can't use their super moves, but in practice the AI will activate another unit to destroy my now-weakened unit, and at higher difficulty levels the AI straight up begins cheating and gains the ability to go into negative hit points when using abilities (and doesn't die unless one of my crew hits them).  Thus the best units are either units that don't deal with this rear end cancer of a mechanic (Thorn, Lo Pheng, Hopper), have ranged attacks (archers), or can mitigate the health loss somehow (People swear by Gleda for this but I don't like her very much) This is further hurt by the game's insistence on separating mechanics and story that I make fun of constantly. Thorn is supposedly a legendary leader reknowned for leading men into battle, yet he sucks and gets no leader abilities. Sopp is an elite royal bodyguard and is equivalent to Krieger, a provincial political appointee. Flitt and Brett are identical despite Brett being Batman. We get a character later who is mechanically identical to Vai despite having a very different background.  This leads to a discrepancy where the characters are all praising Thorn as a legendary warrior and leader of men when his in-game skills are...jumping up and down like an idiot to deal AoE damage. Thorn really isn't powerful enough to fight by himself in my experience, because his attack is too low for his Parry and Knockback moves to provide enough defense to make him truly survivable. Yet princes send their sons to learn from him, he marries into nobility, and he's so important that Reapers personally show up to confront him. He's the closest we have to an everyman protagonist confronting the Reaping, yet he is a superelite swordsman and heroic commander in every cutscene.  He's also just kind of an rear end in a top hat. It's not a coincidence we got the options to rob every merchant and murder poor Tenner. Thorn makes an off-handed comment about how he'd take anything for his family, and do we get the opportunity in spades! The writing never manages to portray him as a driven man who'd do anything for his family (a sympathetic motivation) but rather as an angry man stuck leading this cast of unmemorable characters on a pointless journey to do...what, exactly? We know from Hopper and Coronzon that all the menhirs are ruined, but here we are ironically going to one so we can try to get a cure. It doesn't help that Thorn's party is the most ignorant of what's going on, either.  Maybe I'll use this card. I doubt it.  I can't take "Vegan" as a name seriously. I just can't. : Vegen hurries toward you. "Thorn?! Thorn Brenin?! By thunder and lightning! I never dreamt I'd see you here! I'm so glad, friend! You can't even imagine! Get your companions inside before those abominations return. There will be another attack." We ask why the gates weren't opened immediately. : The chief watchman makes a helpless gesture. "They distracted us, those sons of sea urchines! Some of em' climbed over the palisade on the other side. Took some time to beat em' back, run back to the gate, then keep watch on what was left outside." We, of course, want to know the secrets of abomination prediction. : Vegen lowers his voice. "I was wondering about that myself. You see, this old healer, Chila, she arrived at the stockade and started raving about it. I almost shooed her off-and that's when the abominations appeared. And then it happened again. From then on, I've listened to every last word she said.Do we know any old ladies who can predict the future? : You look around. "She turned out to be a seer? I never thought they were real. I'd like to talk to her. Perhaps she'd predict something of use."Our only option is to end the conversation and we do that. Before we go, Vegen has some words for us. : Vegen puts a hand on your shoulder. "If I were you, I wouldn't be so rash. The plague hasn't passed us by. One woman, used to touch the menhir for every sneeze, she tried her luck already. She tried her luck with he stone-that was the end for her. We found a mark on her neck, as if she'd been choked by a flaming noose. Everyone steers clear of the Arch now." : The head watchman's expression becomes grave. "No, just the masked ones. Though I wouldn't be surprised to see a monster. But I'm no harbor rat, hiding in a dark corner. This is a good place for a breather. Please, make yourself at home. When the abominations come, I'll give the signal. Will you aid an old comrade?"As much poo poo as I give Thorn, he does respect his old crew and tries to look after them. : You nod. "I will. We won't stay long, but we'll give any abomination that comes near that gate a warm welcome. If any crawl through, we'll let you catch them. This is your home turf. In the meantime, we need to rest." More await! I'm gonna put that off and level up our guys. Thorn gets an upgrade to knockback so he can use it once every other turn.  Flitt gets a generic attack boost. This increases the damage he does but ALSO increases the amount of damage he deals to himself to use his abilities.  Let's go shopping, we'll be safe from dialog there at lea -  We tell Vegen about the strixes, and: : You share everything you know about the Reaping with your old friend Vegen, and you also tell him of the useful properties the unusual gems posses.[sic] It seems like you get your point across.: Vegen thinks it over. "Thanks, old friend, but I'll pass. I don't have extra money for gems, or any chance to look for them, since I'm not leaving the stockade. I believe you'll need them more than I will." I end up grabbing this steel bracelet and 18 strixes from the menhir figurine. It leaves us at 300 gold, but we're low on strixes and attack boosts are good in this game. Overall, itemization isn't very exciting - you can get...static stat boosts. There's nothing that actually changes your abilities or makes the characters play differently, it's just bigger numbers.  : Hode tosses the comb back on the stall and lets out a disapproving snort. "This isn't for me. I haven't visited Ursus in such a long time. There's a woman there. I want to buy her a gift, but it's so hard to choose.": You frown. "Well, what kind of woman is she? Come on, you're a prince!": Hode looks at you in bewilderment. "I'm talking about my old nurse. Her name's Tante. She nurtured and raised me. She's always held her tongue, the good woman. What do you think I should get her? She's no dignitary, but she already has everything she needs..." I would have loved to have seen the scene where Hode's trying to buy something for Gleda.  Well, let's talk to Vegen, shall we?   : (Shrugging) It just happened, Thorn. After that Pallian campaign, I served under your brother in law, Brann Vichti. I'm lucky I managed to get out of the capital. He didn't like me much. Maybe because I can't shut up-maybe because you and I are old friends. So no, I never made captain.Incidentally, I grabbed Vegen's portrait here from the "extras" menu that I discovered recently. It has a pile of character information not revealed in the game. Did you know Tenner is an actual slave? The game says he "was born into a life of indentured servitude" and nowhere does it say he was freed, just that he's friends with our father-in-law and is going to get a pension. It may or may not interest you to know that Thorn's bio is full of all the sword awards he's won and how he was the kingdom's best swordsman for a decade.  : Where did these Enses come from?: Who knows? The first few seemed to pop out of thin air right beside the menhir. The rest swarmed in from the outside. I lost too many men-soldiers and villagers alike. The abominations don't seem to wear any armor, but they're hard to kill all the same. It's like stabbing jellyfish with an oar.This would make more sense if the Ense were noticeably more resilient than human thugs in game, but they're not. They have ranged attacks but move slowly. : We must have gotten lucky. Our losses were far fewer. The village of Dynford suffered the most. About a hundred locals died, some torn limb from limb while still living. : And what of Brann?: They kicked him out of Odalah, he's in Jerana now. He's gained the old king's trust, and he now just does as he pleases. He's in Ursus, at the moment. It's a good thing he wasn't a match for the local commander, fellow by the name of Sheck. Him the king trusts more.: What are the officials in Jerana thinking? Can't they taste the difference between honey and poo poo?: They're cut from the same dirty cloth. All the honorable men joined crown Prince Treeg's army, leaving only scum at the king's court. Lesser nobles are making a stink, of course, but they're not picking fights. Brann has a whole company of mercenaries. : Did the plague make anyone go mad?: Every other man has a mark on his neck, but I think everybody has their wits about them. Chila, the healer, she brought some ointment. It doesn't cure the plague, but does relieve the pain. There isn't much of it, but we make do.: Make do?! You damned...Did you even send for help? Your guards are completely spent. : All right. I'll see to my duties.: So much for remembering old times, huh? Couldn't relax then-can't do it now. Well, I want to hear about your family, Thorn. I'm still a bachelor, but you... you're a married man. How are the children?Foot, meet mouth.   TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
Flitt's up next.   : You notice Flitt shambling among the bodies. He stoops, picks up the curious Ense weapon, and regards it intently. You approach him. : What can you tell me of the menhirs?: Why are these Enses so intent on getting to the menhirs? The abominations aren't that numerous. If each Berkanan kingdom sent just one detachment to every stone, the Enses wouldn't stand a chance. Can the manuscripts explain that? : What do you think about the Reaping?: I don't know what to make of it anymore. I've always thought the legends were nothing more than tall tales. But recent events have proven me wrong...Flitt, you said you were going to die. That's not nothing. Did I mention there's an achievement for keeping Flitt alive? : Rack your brain-you could remember something. We need every bit of knowledge that might be of use. : Why do you stare at the Enses?: I'm curious. They're foreigners. Their swords... In the old chronicles, there are instances of the Qimra wielding these lanshes. Some people believe that Enses and Qimra are the same people-or that perhaps the Qimra are their descendants.: (Noticing your bewilderment) Lanshes are what old scribes call these swords. The wielder, they say, commands the blade with pure thought-and his lansh only answers to him. The Qimra... well, they're a nomadic tribe that lives on the other side of the Milky Mountains.  TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
Lastly, we'll talk with Ramlin again.   : No, I've not. Never even ventured this far out. I've heard of such a menhir though. When I was a kid, my granny told me the story of a warrior who walked between two menhirs and was rejuvenated.: Must be a Vandil tale, I'm not familiar with it. Do you think it's about this menhir here? If so, that Vandil must have traveled very far from home.: Just like my granny. She used to tell me stories of her homeland. Said she'd never have left, had she not fallen in love with my grandfather. TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
   She has gold eyes. Hang on, we know at least two ladies who can predict the future. One is Amma, and this looks nothing like her. The other? Hopper's Chapter 3 posted:
Now, we know one of the two was interested in Gleda, and it wasn't Amma. : You must already know what I want. It's not every day that one meets a seer, let alone a seer whose prophecies come true. Decisions lie before us! What do we ask this powerful witch? Yes, if you all want, we can nope the hell out of here. We still don't know what her game is except that she is messing with the Reaping, cursed Hopper, and has an interest in Gleda. Choose wisely!
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Jul 8, 2019 03:54
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Only one question? I'm leaning towards "where should we be going" since we already know you need 13 umbra with stone knives to stop a reaping.
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Jul 8, 2019 05:43
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I like Hode, he's a good kid. We should ask where we should go next because what we think we're trying to accomplish probably isn't as good an idea as letting some weird old lady tell us what to do.
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Jul 8, 2019 06:53
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Yeah, where to go next is my vote too, although wasting our question by asking if she's selling her ointment strikes me as kinda funny too.
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Jul 8, 2019 07:20
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Voting is closed. Update soon!
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Jul 14, 2019 18:02
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Thorn Brenin and The Great Fuckup : Perhaps you could give me an idea of where I should be going? : Why do you seek my advice? From here, the only way leads to Ursus. Try your fortune there... though I can't promise you'll find much of it.So Ursus is the capital of Jerana, where Thorn is wanted for multiple homicide and kidnapping the prince. As Chila said, this might end badly. : If every menhir is tainted, we'll find no cure in Ursus... Or is there something else, apart from the stone? What awaits me in that city?: It's not "what" but "who." Look for Unda, the healer. She may be the only one who can help you. Have Thorn and Unda met before? I honestly don't know. : Perhaps you know a way to halt the Reaping?: Don't concern yourself with the Reaping, Thorn. It's time each of us tended to our own woes. Especially your companion-the older one. He is weak and tired.: Are you talking about Krieger? What's gnawing at him? Some sort of illness... perhaps something he craves? Can I help him?Thorn, Krieger said he literally wanted to murder all of you. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS WRONG? : Indeed you can. You have an item in your possession that can save him-The Thread of Life woven into silk.Remember when we bought the magic hankie wayyyy back in update 3? This is what it's for.  : Is your ointment for sale? : The strixes are melting. Are you suggesting we wander around all of Terminum looking for them until the Reaping abates?: You won't wander long. Sooner or later, you'll return to where fate requires you-if you don't perish along the way, of course. This is a bold statement coming from a video game protagonist piloted by votes on the internet.  : I've wandered far and wide, we could have encountered each other. At my age, details escape me. Here, wear this bracelet so that I recognize you next time-do not take it off! These aren't strixes, but they aren't pebbles either. You'll find them useful.  : Um, I will. And thanks... I guess. I'll be going now. I have to catch up with Father before he starts to worry.That ends our conversation with Chila. We can go back to her but all we get is this.  Anyway, we should tell Krieger to wear the magic handkerchief we never got to give to our dead wife.    Clearly Krieger has never heard of the phrase "no homo", which can be used by insecure men throughout the ages. : All right, I'll tread you like my daughter for a moment. There's an old seer, her prophecies come true. She claims that this handkerchief can protect you from curses. So stop fussing and do as I say!: drat, Thorn, I'm not daughter of yours. But since you've started listening to raving hags... All right, I'll wear the rag-but I ain't gonna like it.I wonder why Krieger's wife hates him? Anyway, let's check out the menhir.  Ramlin said we'd get something cool if we walked under it.  Sweet! Healing! Let's do it again!  I guess we used up the pain and suffering from people being randomly tortured and...wait. Is it really ethical to use these things as they're basically the fantastic embodiment of "for the greater good"? The game isn't going to explore that, and neither should you! Anyway, mechanically speaking, this removes 1 level of injuries from our characters (the red skulls in the portrait screen). The only other way to do this other than scripted events is to rest for a day, which eats a day's worth of strixes. IF YOU ARE PLAYING THIS GAME, NEVER REST. It's a trap option that will bite you in the rear end later.  The Enses are about to attack the gate, so we go there.  : You doze off while waiting for the enemy. The sound of a horn wakes you. You'll give these abominations a proper reception.: Before the battle begins, you notice Krieger stumbling and clutching his throat. A pang of worry hits you, but your old comrade is quickly back to normal. He tightens his grip on the hilt of his sword.Now, you might be asking "but what if we didn't have the magic hankie?" The Road Not Taken posted:
 I take the opportunity to play with my deck a little. We completed some new cards! Naturally, only half of them are good and I probably won't use them with this party. Drain replaces Rancor, and is just more evidence the optimal way to play is by sending out the protagonist to fight by themselves. Bloody Harvest reduces defense by 20 to everyone on the battlefield - meaning everyone takes 20 more damage. Remember, the opponent gets to activate a unit the turn after you fire this off. It's poo poo. Vulnerability reduces a target's defense by 15. It's not awful. Energy Surge is just cure but heals energy by 10 instead of health. Thirst for Destruction gives you 7 attack power but reduces you to one move. This is also poo poo.  We are rewarded for saving Krieger with the joy of more Ash of Gods combat.  In just a short time, we've reduced Sopp from an elite royal guardsman to a master of baiting the enemy.  Apparently the devs are making a mobile Ash of Gods tactics game. I'm not optimistic for its success.  Ramlin's energy drain attack is very similar to Lo Pheng's energy drain, if you needed proof Eikons were magic.  I manage to lose Thorn and Flitt on the easiest difficulty, proving how good I am at this game.  I end up not restarting and we get levelups for Brett, Sopp, and Gleda. Brett gets the same +1 attack Flitt got, Sopp gets a walking boost, and Gleda's Heavy Strike costs 8 less health.  : "Don't be an idiot, Krieger", you snap. "The old woman foresaw the arrival of these Enses. She also said-quite clearly-that if you remove it, you'll regret it. Do what you want, but I'm taking her advice seriously. Wear it under your clothes if it bothers you so much."  It's at this point I realize I never equipped the steel bracelet I blew so much money on. Oh well.  Time to leave. Not pictured: Me walking between the menhir trying to sneak a heal.   Well, uh... Decisions lie before us! What do we do about FIsk? On one hand, he's a murderous thieving rear end in a top hat as reported by our old friend who has no reason to lie to us. On the other hand, he is one of ours. Choose wisely, goons! TheGreatEvilKing fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Nov 3, 2019 |
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Jul 14, 2019 19:53
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Negotiate
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Jul 14, 2019 20:22
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Huh. So the one dude we don't talk to in the camp scene turns out to be a drunk thief and murderer. I guess we should negotiate to find out his tragic backstory...
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Jul 14, 2019 21:01
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Negotiate I was going to say we should just kick their asses and go but they probably still outnumber us, even after that raid. We're trying to save Fisk because we need fighters more than we need justice and getting ourselves slaughtered in the attempt would be counter-productive. ArchWizard fucked around with this message at 22:14 on Jul 14, 2019 |
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Jul 14, 2019 21:06
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Voting closed. we will be negotiating.
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Jul 17, 2019 01:44
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Lo Pheng and the Insufficiently Distracting Titties When we last left our heroes, they were deciding how to deal with the murderous drunkard Fisk. Goons unanimously voted to negotiate.  So we do.  Seriously? We get 300 bonus gold per fight with the magic purse Krieger has. We got 2k gold last time. We pay it of course.  We just got away with murder for a pittance!  I won't lie, I legitimately left Fisk here on my first playthrough. I didn't particularly want a murderer on the team and I thought Vegen and co had a legitimate grievance. This apparently pisses your party off and you take a 10% morale hit.   HELL TO THE YEAH! IT'S MOTHERFUCKING LO PHENG! Also, I guess I was wrong about the chapter structure.   Checking in the camp reveals we only have our main man himself.  Just Lo Pheng on the open road.   I'm going to have us reminisce for now. Depending on the vote, I may have us undo this. : To free someone of pain, one must understand its nature. What wounded you in Wodan? The children among the prisoners looked at you with terror-and curiosity. Pointing their fingers. Even smiling. It's how your brother looked when you came for him, before he knew of the fate awaiting him.: Your younger brother didn't know that you were brothers no longer. All Shadow Clan warriors are equal. There are no brothers or friends-no notions of age. You are the building blocks of the Shadow Temple.  Yes, this is Lo Pheng's deal - Lo Pheng isn't emotionless because he's just reserved or quiet, but because the Shadow Clan conditioned him to be a monster. The prose actually works here - Lo Pheng describes the violence in a calm, clinical matter because he's so desensitized to it. He doesn't want to describe what he actually did to the brother - because he's ashamed of it - but as we're about to see he's pretty desensitized.   We'll give the ladies a warning. It's only polite. : You raise a hand to the fugitives, indicating they should not follow you. The women stand still, but are in no rush to disperse.This is the one frustrating thing about the Lo Pheng sections - his choices are somewhat obtuse. If you're being generous you could argue that this is to mimic his alien mindset, if you're being cynical you can argue that this is the dev's love of bullshit choices. This is not the last we see of this, oh no. : A Frisian detachment intercept[sic] you before the tunnel. You address the officer. "I need to get to Gellia. Start the machine. Neither of us want needless deaths here."Note that it doesn't even occur to Lo Pheng to just tell the officer that he's on a mission from Pelko Soturi and that the officer should let him through or answer to the powerful count. He could even handwave the women away as being for Soturi or something.  : You gather that you shouldn't be too pushy offering the guards their lives. Suddenly, you sense unnatural heat. Something glows in the redhead's hands. Could these be magic battle cars? The woman is full of surprises.Fanart contest: draw Lo Pheng with a duel disk. : There is movement at the tunnel entrance. You can't let the Frisians start the machine before you get to it. It's time to remove an obstacle. The fugitives draw their weapons and stand beside you. Whatever happens, they chose it. We get all of these lovely ladies here to help Lo Pheng. Let's talk about what they do, shall we?  : As befitting a powerful sorceress who can use magic music, Reet has several unique abilities. Her Inspiring Song ability heals all units adjacent to her, her Fire Storm spell can hit a 2x2 area at range, but you really want to use her for her Foresight ability which rewinds the battle state to the end of the last rou - ahahahaha, I can't say this poo poo with a straight face. She's an archer, the same as Brett and Flitt from Thorn's party. She picks up an impressive array of cutscene abilities, but gently caress you for expecting such an important story character to have a unique class! : Swarty here is our second archer. As such, she's better than 99% of the cast but still blows off half her health by shooting a bow.  : Bolla here is a spearman like Fisk.  : Kendi here is a class we haven't seen before, hammerman. Her abilities involve stunning people, knocking them back, and lowering their defense. It's actually a pretty good class because you can set people up to wail on a boss for tons of damage. In case you were worried, Thorn gets a hammerman later. : Shannet here is an assassin, like Hode, but unlike Hode has actually trained as an assassin with poisons and stuff. Naturally, we send Lo Pheng out alone, because that really is the optimal way to play his chapters.  New cards! Vulnerability we've seen, but the rest are new. The Exchange of Souls: Swaps health and energy of all combatants on the battlefield, and usable on turn two.  This is abusable as gently caress - you can drop someone's energy to 0 and instant kill them. In fact, I will be abusing the hell out of this because I don't respect this game's combat.Deadly Balance: Reduces Health by 50 to a random enemy and by 50 to a random party member. gently caress this card. It's poo poo, especially when your optimal play is sending out Lo Pheng by himself. I suppose you could nominate one of the girls to be an unlucky sacrifice, but a) You're an rear end in a top hat b) It's not guaranteed to hit the girl of your choice, you sick gently caress. Berserker Rage: Stuns a random party member, increases their attack by 5 and reduces defense by 30. This is...kind of usable, as Lo Pheng won't stay stunned for long and you can combo it with Cloud Tower, but there are easier cards to buff attack with. It's poo poo. Vampirism: Reduces Health by 20 to a random enemy and 20 to energy to a random party member. You can actually use this. Lo Pheng will build his energy as he attacks, so what you want to do with him is get his energy high, and when his health is low Exchange of Souls.  Lo Pheng does what he always does. I certainly didn't gently caress up a prior run getting cute with cards, no sir!   Let's talk with the weird women who are following us.    We are polite and choose to answer Kendi. : You can tell that the dark-skinned woman has had martial training. "An oaf might break a priceless sword... or hurt himself with it", you say. "Think twice before walking on a precipice. A gust of wind might blow you off the edge." I love this reaction. : "I thought that Eikons were tight-lipped," Shannet says with a caustic smile. "A word to the wise, the talkative ones are usually impotent. Trust me, I know.": Shannet turns away and starts climbing the machine. You give her fair warning: "If you do break the machine, I will kill you." Lo Pheng is gonna keep using his smooth talking to win the ladies' hearts. : The woman waits for a word of approval, perhaps something more. All she gets is a cold warning. "If you aid me, expect no reward or glory. Most importantly, do not cross me."Lo Pheng...that's...not how we impress women my dude.  The developers described Eikons as a cross between Jedi Knights and Unsullied. It's an apt comparison, but it's also the most blatant theme of the 3 storylines: What makes a man a monster? It's not much by literary standards, but having something to say elevates it over the other two storylines in my opinion.    : Who was the machine set up for?: The frightened Frisian can barely speak. "It waits for your master, Eikon. You serve Pelko Soturi in Wodan... or no longer? You shall not escape vengeance!": You press the tip of your sword to the official's chin. "Answer my questions. Speak no hollow words." That official is more right than he knows, and for that we slice his chest. : A single quick cut is enough to slice open the Frisian's chest. Whimpering in pain and clutching his bleeding wound, he collapses to his knees.: You life the official's chin with the tip of your sword again. "What shall I find in the tunnel and beyond?" : Heed Reet's words.: You size up the redhead. She has just had a close brush with death, and here she is, pitying a Frisian who would never do the same for her. Her words echo in your head. "This is the Frisian way. Pain for pain's sake. It's Frisia's foundation." : Finish off the Frisian.You can proceed with the torture and Reet will mercy kill him. Girl has massive balls. : You swing your sword for the third time, and the Frisian keels over. Clenching his sliced throat, he jerks in agony.: Reet wipes the sweat from her brow. "To be less human than a beast is to have lost all humanity. It's pointless to question those who will not answer", she says under her breath. "I hope you'll find me worthy of a painless death.": You wipe your sword clean and return it to its scabbard. Reet's face is drawn. She awaits her deserved death, though few ever find the nerve to confront a warrior of peace.Keep in mind that the last Reet saw of Lo Pheng was him stabbing a Reaper repeatedly until it died. She's willing to give her life for some random Frisian after all the poo poo she's been through.  Whatever, to the workshop. : You walk up to the hut where the mechanics are hiding and knock on the door. Four Frisians cringe. They have nowhere to run. Judging by their faces, they saw the outcome of your conversation with the official.: You look the mechanics up and down. "Whichever one of you starts the machine and takes me to the other side of the tunnel may live". We're just threatening right now, I don't want to kill any more than we have to -  Goddammit Lo Pheng. I guess we were going to kill the rest anyway, but still...  : With two more stabs of your sword, two more Frisians tumble dead to the ground. You address the surviving mechanic, who is now pale with fright. "Dume, get the engine ready to start. Do not attempt to fool me-you cannot hide from the Shadow Clan. Remember that you have chosen to live." We have more ladies to talk to. We'll start with Reet, as she had quite a bit to say about our recent, erm, activities. Maybe we can get her to sing for us again?  drat. As far as I know there's no way to stop Lo Pheng from butchering his way through the area here. : Reet looks you straight in the eye. "What would you do had I finished off that wretched Frisian? The one you tortured beside the machine. Would I pay with my life for standing in your way?" : Reply to Reet.: Something makes you reply. "I will kill you if you stand in my way. However, I do not relish pain for its own sake. Do not meddle, and we shall part ways peacefully.": Reet shrugs. "Why choose the worst? Evil inclinations infect you with evil. You can slice bread with a dirty knife, but it won't be good to eat.": "You can eat bread sliced with a dirty knife. Some eat the flesh of their foes while they still live." With this, you leave Reet to her thoughts.  : Bolla puts an arm around the other woman's shoulders. "It's going to be all right, Swarty. The worst is behind us. We weren't nailed to the scaffold, tortured to death or sent to lands unknown. It's all in the past now!" : Turn and eavesdrop.Once again, Lo Pheng proves himself a true goon. : In a loud whisper, Swarty continues. "Did you hear what the inquisitor said about the Eikons? They'd cut even a child to pieces! But only if they're paid to! Or something like that... I was out of it by then."Remember, Swarty isn't stupid, she was literally awaiting torture and execution. : Bolla chuckles. "You've been out of it since the night we got rounded up in the Gordinn square. I told you that something bad was bound to happen. There were many signs!" : Bolla lowers her voice. "Did you not hear the Temple servants? The Temple of Divine Wrath requires blood. Lots of it. Reet expected them to drive us to Berkana and told us to wait till we got there. She hoped to escape in Berkana, but the executions began in Wodan. This Eikon's our only chance!"  : You climb into the carriage and take a seat with a perfect view of your surroundings. Just as you expected, the wenches followed. They procured some supplies. The rumbling of the engine makes them wince.: Dume shows up carrying several oil lamps. "The tunnel is dark," he shouts. "We'll need lamps. There'll be an outpost halfway in; we'll have to negotiate passage." : You silently signal Dume to start the engine. There has been too much talk already, but you will have to speak to the women sooner or later. They are stuck with you until you reach the tunnel's exit. And thus we continue our extremely hosed up episode of Thomas the Tank Engine.   Oh we are reminiscing right now. Want to know more about Lo Pheng's extremely hosed up childhood? Here you go!  Oh, but it gets worse. : Then came the foreigners' turn. They did the same to adults and children alike. Torturing and murdering. Staying cool and composed. Torture and murder. Leaving behind revulsion and bloodlust. Rising above horror and hatred of their teachers-rekindled now, after so many years of calm. : Nod.: You're a warrior of peace. When the river of life bends-you go with the flow.: Dume shrugs and gets to the engine. The engine noise is soon replaced by the squeak of the wheels. A dim light appears ahead. We keep chugging on.  Then we reach an altar.  : Dume scratches his head. "That's odd-not a single watchman in sight. They're either gone or assembled in the cave where they store the wood and water-it's the only sheltered space. I wonder why no one came out... They should've heard us coming.": You look back to your companions, and they are already coming-weapons drawn. You need not say a word. We level up Lo Pheng first, making his AoE cost less health.  : Their sergeant steps forward and looks you over. "You're an Eikon, right? You serve Pelko Soturi? Give him our best regards... wait! Was a different official not supposed to come with you? Do you know where he is? Since you're here though, it matters not.": It's clear as day that someone has paid the local guards to kill the person in whose stead you came. Such are Northerners-if they did not squabble among themselves as much, they would have conquered Berkana long ago. However, this is not your concern. You face a different debacle. At your command, your Warrior Wenches file into the cave. You know what? For the hell of it, let's have the girls back Lo Pheng up.  The plan is to advance up the left, leaving the barrels in the middle between us and RIght Frisian Squad.  So far so good. Shannet picked off that guy after Lo Pheng weakened him, and Reet's opening fire on the guy in the back.  Bolla shanks a dude while Kendi moves to cover her.  Lo Pheng takes another life.  Kendi smash!  Reet shoots this guy down.  This guy goes after Swarty...  Only to die at Bolla's hands.  Shannet and Swarty kill the last guy to end the battle.   Time to talk to everyone again.    : Why did you follow Kendi?: You're a smart one, Eikon. We all followed Kendi because she acts like a warlord. Always making the right decision. Keeping her word. Now, Kendi followed Reet. You ask me why. I tell you-every warlord needs a king. Or a queen. : Who picked you?: (Chuckling) Yes, the ladies are a fine bunch. Even Swarty, wimp that she is, is good with her bow. A hunter's daughter she is. Like all of us, she's had to kill. It was a long way from Gordinn. We got to know each other. Those able to stand up for themselves sort of stuck together.: (In a detached manner) This is not enough. You would not have made it through the tunnel without me. : What are all of you going to do now?: We all have our own plans, but we'll stick together until we find a place where they don't pull harlots off the street to torture them for a festival.: (Indifferently) If this is indeed a Reaping, there will be no safe haven.: Be on your guard, Shannet.: I'm always on my guard, Eikon. Those who aren't are already dead.: (In a detached manner) Every dead man was once alive.Well that was cheery. TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 I'm leaving this next narrated part entirely in screenshots, without commentary.       YUP. Lo Pheng is just too cool a cat to be distracted by boobs. Sorry lady, but not even titties can get between a man and his Black Lotus. I believe the earlier localization had her referencing "Boobs! Boobs!" or some such nonsense.   : While we walk together, we share in everything. : What do you share with the others?: (In a calm voice) I am not good at sharing. I am greedy...taking on all the Frisians practically by myself. These cards are weapons. Use them, do not hoard them. We get 20 strixes and the cards here. Score! Bolla, you're alright.    : What do you want?: I want to remind you of the Eikon warrior code: "Never ask a woman about her desires". : I shall quote the same code: "Do not ask a wise man to reveal the source of his wisdom." : What is "not entirely true"?: You did not kill him. He will return.: Are you courting trouble to study it? Will you die if you wish to explore death? Is this what brought you to Frisia? : Do you expect me to aid you?: I merely hope that we can be travel companions. If your destination is the Isle of Shadows, we're headed the same way. We could be of use to each other.  : Are you saying that it is not possible to kill a Reaper?: You should use a different word-destroy. You merely disembodied the Reaper, he will come back for revenge. It is practically impossible to destroy one completely, but there is one person who knows how.: We will, of course, meet this person? : How did you come by the magic cards?: You should know that these cards were only crafted by the Qimra in the last seven hundred years.: But the cards came with the Reaping! The Enses brought them. Between Reapings, they are useless!: An able sorcerer will always have a use for them, especially during a Reaping. As for the Qimra, the blood of both Enses and Berkana flows in our veins. This should explain much.: I need to consider this.: The machine's clanging makes it hard to think.: Not much farther. The tunnel ends soon.  Reet, he never used that word.TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
Might as well talk to Kendi next.   : I need your help.: (Surprised) Did I hear you right? I thought we're all a burden to you.: A blanket does not make one's load lighter, but it does make the nights warmer. : Calm down. : We will follow the tunnel to its end together. Maintain order and do not permit your companions to loot. Watch them-one might be a spy sent by Temple servants.: If that's your opinion, why don't you kill us all? No burden, no suspicion! TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
  : Is he dead now? : As dead as they come. I'm surprised he came round at all. He was mumbling something about Pelko Soturi and some job. Finally, Dume.   : Does it worry you? : Well, I have nothing else to worry about-no family at all. I kept putting it off... now I'll have to take a Berkan wife... If I make it to Berkana at all.: I just have one question. No matter where you go, there's only one way to the Vale of Mercy. Will you let me come with you? I fought in the Bahldarian war and put my sword skills to the test many times!: Only if you fight beside me.  TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
Refueling the train lets us continue through the tunnel. We get more Lo Pheng reminiscence.   : Reminisce.: The pain didn't go away, even when he was dead; when the priests cut the sacrificial stones from his body and removed his head to put in a ritual vessel. You looked at the warrior and saw yourself. The pain you felt was as if someone very close to you had given up his life on the altar.: Then it was your turn to lie on the bloodstained altar. The priests cut your skin and inserted a clean strix meant to harbor your soul like a vessel... until one day, it would leave you in the exact same way.This is the secret of the Eikon's skill and power - they can pass down their life experiences to younger warriors via dying. Naturally the Shadow Clan abuses this in the most assholish way possible.  : Nod to Dume.: Dume is clearly trying to please you, so you nod. You still need him, not least of all for stopping the machine, when the time comes.: Dume chuckles approvingly. "Gods willing, we'll manage. I have my own bone to pick with those guards-they treat us mechanics like dirt. I've had enough!" : Kendi calls out to you. "Hey Eikon! You can rely on us. We're ready to fight!" Lo Pheng and Dume level up offscreen. Lo Pheng gets a movespeed and health boost, Dume gets health.  Oh, goddammit Reet. You had to go jinx us.  Decisions lie before us! Do we help the Viking? I have two more decisions as well. Are we going to embrace our memories and try to act more humanely, or stick with the law of the clan and emotionlessly slaughter? Major decisions will still be up for a vote. Should Reet and the gang fight with Lo Pheng, or should Lo Pheng solo everything? Choose wisely!
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Jul 17, 2019 06:28
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I'd like to continue remembering our past and let Reet & co fight with us. I want to see the continued adventures of the lesbian hammerman, which is a fantastic class name. For the current predicament, I think in light of what Reet just told him, Lo Pheng should wait to see what happens.
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Jul 17, 2019 08:11
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Reminisce, allow companions, rematch with Dreadlocks
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Jul 17, 2019 08:51
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