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Cythereal, if you like antagonists who never actually outright lie and do all their deceiving via misdirection and providing incomplete information and you've ever enjoyed a Phoenix Wright style game, there's a recent indie game named Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane, which is a Phoenix Wright-like set in a D&D-style fantasy setting. I won't go into details, but suffice to say there's a *lot* of that and it's done excellently.
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Apr 18, 2024 03:37
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Cythereal posted:Those who have expressed sympathies for my job situation, I appreciate it. I had wondered if that was it. Our admin offices have been flat-out for a while as well; just starting to calm down now. (And, frankly, it's only a brief respite for most of them since they'll have to start getting ready for the actual graduation ceremony soon.) Cythereal posted:Although it's not without laughs. I don't know what possesses college students to send the college email addresses like mister 'pussyterminator420@such-and-such' as their personal non-college contact email, but I see one or two along those lines every semester. It isn't even just the students! The alumni do it too!
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Apr 18, 2024 03:49
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I work in administration at a college, and we're coming up on the end of both the spring semester and the end of the overall school year (and fiscal year), with attendant workload.
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Those undead smilodons can gently caress you up! They're cats, and all the various types of cats have the pounce ability - meaning, if they charge you, they get their full attack afterwards. So those things can suddenly turn and unleash several pretty hard hitting smacks to one party member in a single round. Gargoyles are important for one specific reason - as they are not actually demons, they are susceptible to stinking cloud. Consequently, gargoyles should rarely if ever be allowed to have an actual round of action outside of bad luck with saving throws. As for the elf...well, frankly, the Crusades thus far have all been pretty drat slipshod in general. Random hooded strangers just showing up and being allowed to ask questions doesn't seem too out of the ordinary, all things given. It's actually kind of amazing how poorly run the Crusade is in general. I do like that Anevia's response here, and in general, seems to be: "Hey, I did my job. You're free to do whatever dumb weirdo poo poo you have in mind. Just keep winning battles and don't blame me if poo poo goes wrong!"
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Apr 18, 2024 06:13
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I appreciate that Nenio's portrait kept her pose.Cythereal posted:You never felt uncomfortable without a tail you can comfortably wrap around you as you go to sleep in the evening? 
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Apr 18, 2024 06:32
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idonotlikepeas posted:It isn't even just the students! The alumni do it too! My best friend was a college professor, so these occurrences don't surprise me. The stories they could tell of the sheer clueless-ness of fresh students and faculty members. You've my empathy, all of you working in that sector.
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Apr 18, 2024 07:20
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I'm half expecting Nenio to shapeshift back to human at some point while complaining about how long it takes to brush her tail. That's valuable research time, drat it!
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Apr 18, 2024 07:23
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idonotlikepeas posted:I had wondered if that was it. Our admin offices have been flat-out for a while as well; just starting to calm down now. (And, frankly, it's only a brief respite for most of them since they'll have to start getting ready for the actual graduation ceremony soon.) We would have been calming down about now if it weren't for the goddamn athletics department this week. -_- Part of my job is creating and storing documentation for events at the college, and athletics strolled in on Tuesday revealing that they'd hosted three more major events for the end of the year and "Oh we didn't want to bring you anything in advance because we know how busy you've been."
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Apr 18, 2024 12:39
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Yeah, this is always a rough time of the year in education. On the teaching side of things, at least for secondary and intermediate school, this is the time of the year where you're trying to make sure everything is ready for both state testing and final grades, and yet students have never been more checked out as they've been since Spring Break, every club and sport and group is trying to push more and more assemblies and leave the classroom events (all told to you practically the day before), every child or parent who's been slacking is suddenly trying to message you about their grades, and there's more paperwork and meetings then ever.
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Apr 18, 2024 15:06
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Cythereal posted:We would have been calming down about now if it weren't for the goddamn athletics department this week. -_- Part of my job is creating and storing documentation for events at the college, and athletics strolled in on Tuesday revealing that they'd hosted three more major events for the end of the year and "Oh we didn't want to bring you anything in advance because we know how busy you've been." Athletics basically trumps every other operation here too. They bring in the most money.
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Apr 18, 2024 15:57
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Vargatron posted:Athletics basically trumps every other operation here too. They bring in the most money. Coming back to the LP: The drow story is really, really irritating with how it really forces you as the player to passively go along with it...
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Apr 18, 2024 16:08
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DTurtle posted:The drow story is really, really irritating with how it really forces you as the player to passively go along with it... Yup. At any point you can kill Kaylessa for a pittance of xp and the game calls you an rear end in a top hat for killing her. Otherwise all you can do is keep letting her and the other guy do their thing until the climax of their trilling subplot and the BIG MORAL CHOICE they pose to the player. I like Wrath in general, but yeah.
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Apr 18, 2024 16:36
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I think the drow substory would have gone across a lot better if you could just walk away at some point and tell both elves to resolve their own problems. I mean, there's a huge demon invasion going on. Both you jerks can just put aside your conflict and help out with this bigger problem, okay?
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Apr 18, 2024 17:12
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How much did some jerk have to pay to get that boring drow story in the game? Can it even be called a quest at this point?
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Apr 18, 2024 17:26
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Cythereal posted:We would have been calming down about now if it weren't for the goddamn athletics department this week. -_- Part of my job is creating and storing documentation for events at the college, and athletics strolled in on Tuesday revealing that they'd hosted three more major events for the end of the year and "Oh we didn't want to bring you anything in advance because we know how busy you've been." How... kind of them. Cythereal posted:Yup. At any point you can kill Kaylessa for a pittance of xp and the game calls you an rear end in a top hat for killing her. There's a quest like this in the first game, too. That one was also made by a Kickstarter backer. Kanthulhu posted:How much did some jerk have to pay to get that boring drow story in the game? Can it even be called a quest at this point? $5000.
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Apr 18, 2024 17:33
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Oh jeez I missed that it's a backer quest. No wonder it's centered around a mysterious melodrama of Original Characters DONUT STEEL.
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Apr 18, 2024 17:51
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Dare you enter the backer’s magical realm? 
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Apr 18, 2024 18:55
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Someone gave me five thousand dollars to write a side story into my game about their character, I like to think I'd have done a better job with it.  I could post ideas about how, but I'll wait for the story to finish so there are no spoilers.
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Apr 18, 2024 19:19
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idonotlikepeas posted:There's a quest like this in the first game, too. That one was also made by a Kickstarter backer. The one in the first game is also hated by everyone that has ever played Kingmaker because you have to side with just the worst character at all times and don't even really get the satisfaction of killing him.
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Apr 18, 2024 22:18
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There's at least one Kickstarter quest in WotR that is utterly awesome. This isn't it.
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Apr 18, 2024 22:22
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There's one backer dungeon that is universally hated and somehow I love it. That being said, none of backer contant in WotR is nearly as bad as whatever-his-name-was in Kingmaker.
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Apr 18, 2024 22:28
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I wonder what a Kitsune tail is like. I bet its very fluffy
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Apr 18, 2024 23:25
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Nissin Cup Nudist posted:I wonder what a Kitsune tail is like. I bet its very fluffy They're squirrel grade.   There's a reason why in both short story bits I did, Yua was brushing her tail when she was feeling nerves. I'm going with half the reason why Yua prefers to go around in human form now is simply because cleaning her fur, especially her tail, is a complete bitch that takes a huge amount of time.
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Apr 18, 2024 23:31
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Kalergo Justa So, Nenio. This post will include spoilers about the full scope of Nenio's subplot. If this concerns you, stop reading now. A proper discussion of Nenio has to begin with her sidequests, and specifically what's revealed at the very end. You see, Nenio was right on the money about that trap in the Nameless Ruins transporting their minds to another plane. Nenio is wrong about the voice they spoke with meaning no harm: that plane was the Abyss, and they were speaking to Areshkagal, the Lord of Secrets. There are more demon lords at work in the Worldwound than just Deskari and Baphomet, and Arsehkagal is no less malevolent for all that she isn't operating openly against Mendev. The mysterious, masked strangers we've been seeing all game are in fact the end state of Areshkagal's cultists, and in Nenio's sidequests we've been seeing how Areshkagal's cult works: the promise and temptation of knowledge and power, for the wise and clever. Pride is Areshkagal's meat and drink, attracting those who dream of answers and secrets, inflaming their desires, and ultimately consuming them. In the vein of a classical mystery cult, the final step in the unknowing service of Areshkagal is to sacrifice - willingly or otherwise - your identity, sense of self, and even your soul in pursuit of knowledge and power. At that point you are nothing but an empty vessel in a grey robe and a white mask, an extension of Areshkagal's will. And until quite recently, Nenio was one of them. The proof is in the brand on her shoulder of a zero, but one of the clues is in her name: 'Nenio' is the Esperanto word for 'nothing.' Nenio, as we know her, hasn't existed for long - a matter of days before she met Yua, a week or two at most. Nenio was one of the masked strangers, an empty vessel for Areshkagal, until her ego got the better of her. I do mean her ego in the purest sense of the word: her sense of self and identity. Nenio somehow, you never do learn exactly how or why, was one of these empty vessels until she had a thought and a desire of her own. Without any memories of who she was before, only Areshkagal mockingly calling her 'nothing,' Nenio came into being. Of who Nenio was before Areshkagal, you never do learn. But she's been to the Conundrum Unsolved before. She's been to the Nameless Ruins. She's solved every puzzle and walked Areshkagal's path to damnation. And the traps reset after her. Learning all of this is the conclusion at the end of Nenio's quest, when you come face to face with Areshkagal herself. And unless you let Areshkagal seize control of Nenio again and wipe her mind anew, you do battle with the Lord of Secrets and banish her from the mortal realm. Now, writing all this out, Nenio sounds like an interesting character to me. But there are problems with the execution. Most infamously, and the reason why the overwhelming majority of players have never completed Nenio's subplot, is that the dungeons associated with Nenio's quests are filled with puzzles - color matching, domino tiles, and a whole lot more. If you aren't using a guide, most players who complete Nenio's dungeons report taking a long time to beat them. And it's not much more exciting if you are using a guide. They're pretty widely panned among the player base as the worst gameplay design in the entire game (at least outside of DLC). Another problem is that, well, you don't really get anything out of it. The ending slide for defeating Areshkagal asserts that actually this was all as planned and part of her schemes that you unwittingly furthered, and the one really good piece of loot to be had is a booby trap that triggers an ending slide establishing that the PC ultimately falls under Areshkagal's control. Now sure, it absolutely does make sense that stealing an artifact from a demon lord would have some marked downsides and it's probably best to just leave it be... but as far as I know, Areshkagal's mask is the only item in the entire game that does something like this. The game is also so poorly documented that there isn't a clear answer on what even triggers that ending, whether it's from just picking up the mask, having it in your inventory at a certain plot point, or what. Most companion side quests lead to some kind of special bonus or reward for the associated character, but that's not true of Nenio. The only thing that changes about Nenio and her character if you complete all her sidequests is that she remembers the PC's name. You never even learn her original name - she decides to keep that to herself, and then says she'll keep calling you boy/girl in public because she has a reputation to uphold. That's unfortunately a big part of Nenio's unpopularity with those who don't like her: she is perhaps the flattest, most non-interactive companion in the entire game. She doesn't care about what you do, and short of killing her or kicking her out of the party she couldn't care less whether you like her or are mean to her. There's nothing to do with her sidequests except do them or not do them. There's no romance, she has no character arc, she doesn't change or grow as a result of her experiences. In a sense, she's already had her dramatic character arc. All you're really left with is her antics that may or may not amuse you. Part of this may be because she's known to have been the very last companion added to the game. Kitsune at all were a very late feature, a stretch goal for kickstarter, and Nenio was probably only thrown in after kitsune were added. Areshkagal's puzzle dungeons are likewise known to have been a very late addition to the game. I'd be very surprised if a character like her wasn't always planned, the game would be short a dedicated arcane caster companion without her, but much of Wrath's late game is generally considered subpar compared to the rest of the game and evidence of rushed development. Nenio being caught in this fallout wouldn't surprise me. As for allegations that Nenio is meant to be a neurodivergent character... I do not like calling Nenio autistic, and in general I'm wary of putting any particular labels on her for her mental state and preferences, including the suggestion in the thread that she's asexual. The reason is that, if we're going to give Nenio a fair shake as a serious character, then that requires acknowledging that we know nothing about whoever Nenio was before Areshkegal. Autistic people were born with brains and minds that work a little differently from most people. Pre-Nenio may or may not fit that description. But Nenio as an identity and character is a very new thing by the implications of her writing, and that identity is the result of unspeakable cruelty, a grotesque psychic trauma with no real world counterpart. Nenio, as a person, is a survivor of a magical attempt to mutilate, rewrite, and ultimately erase her very mind and soul. Well, no. Not an attempt. Areshkagal succeeded. And the character we are dealing with is a sense of self and identity that emerged in the wake of that. It's an interesting concept, if you want to give Nenio a fair shake, but in practice you're left with little but a shallow comic relief character with more potential than her own writers seem to have realized.
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Apr 19, 2024 01:02
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Yeah, Nenio is either a very shallow PS:T riff or only has slightly more interaction than a wizard mercenary, but you don't have to pay for her. Mildly amusing is the kindest I can be when describing most of her scenes.
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Apr 19, 2024 01:16
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Well, regardless of your feelings towards Nenio (which I agree with wholeheartedly), I hope you won’t deny us the opportunity to laugh at her perennially amusing jokes.
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Apr 19, 2024 01:26
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While both former cultist of Totally Not Tzeentch and cursed loot that changes your ending are interesting concepts, the execution is subpar. But well, "great ideas with mediocre or player unfriendly execution" is basically definition of slavjank as a genre.
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Apr 19, 2024 03:01
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I'm sorry for the huge block of spoilered text, but it's the only way given that I don't want to spoil anything for people who don't know what Nenio's deal is. So, when talking about whether Nenio is asexual or neurodivergent, the other argument is that whoever the person that inhabited the body Nenio is in now was... They are quite literally dead. Now, granted that it's been ages since I did that quest so I may well be misremembering or misinterpreting, but the distinct impression I got was that whoever it was that Areshkaghal corrupted and took over... Nenio isn't her. While Nenio's clearly not a blank slate, having been 'born' with a lot of inherent knowledge and an obsession with puzzles, I've always considered her a new, distinct, unique person from whomever it was Areshkaghal consumed. In a certain and incredibly 'technically correct' way, Nenio absolutely is asexual... But only because she's only existed for at most a couple of weeks before we run into her in the course of the game's story. Either way, in a host of ways, it makes no narrative sense for her to be interested in romance one way or the other, and before even getting close to that kind of thing, there are bigger, far more intrigueing issues to consider. For me, at least, the far more interesting questions that Nenio raises as a character are some very deep and unsettling ones about how knowledge and memory shape personality and just what makes a person a, well... person. Is she a facet of the person who used to inhabit her body that lingered after the mind-wipe? Is she a piece of Areshkaghal that - somehow - rebelled? Is she a personality that rose spontaneously out of the accumulated knowledge that Areshkaghal collected? Or is it all of the above? Or none of the above? And how much continuity, if any, is there to the person that gave herself up to Areshkaghal in the first place? Some, clearly, since Nenio is a walking and - importantly - talking encyclopedia, but is it just raw facts or is there interpretation, judgement and values in there as well? Does Nenio have a soul? I honestly don't think the developers necessarily intended to write Nenio in a way that resulted in all this, and might even kind of unwittingly have stumbled into it, but I for one am very, very glad they did. Also, as already mentioned, the voice-acting goes a long, long way towards alleviating any problems I might otherwise have had with Nenio's character and personality, because on paper I should absolutely loathe her, but I... don't. Never doing her questline again, though. Not ever.
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Apr 19, 2024 13:05
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I thought Nenio tells you at some point she’s over four thousand years old and continually recreating her identity based on whatever experiment she’s conducting at the moment, forgetting irrelevant details like personal identity, her backstory, and so on. Therefore it’s impossible for her to have consistent conversations or relationships even if she is interested in them. In other words, she’s a complicated mess much like her quest arc. You can either show her a little sympathy and help her build a semblance of identity or reject her as annoying and rude, leave her in her current situation. Not surprised a lot of people choose the latter. I myself bonded a bit with her my first run on the basis of us both being blank slates. I was put off by her holding friendship as irrelevant along with anything other than her current experiment, her personal safety, and the orders of her commander slash assistant. But the humor endeared me and I liked her voice, so I kept her around. Plus, as has been said, not many arcane casters in the party. The fact that she never really changes, though, and is always a selfish arrogant person- it limits my interest in any interaction with her and the complications of her personal quest that is only rewarded with hard fights, harder puzzles, and a bad ending… next run I may just reject her outright and not look back. I have her best jokes memorized already and you don’t really need an arcane caster on low difficulty if you have enough other badass characters on the team. Nenio doesn’t have lasting appeal long term, unlike a lot of other characters in the team. achtungnight fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Apr 19, 2024 |
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Apr 19, 2024 16:56
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Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! posted:manic pixie dream wizard
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Apr 19, 2024 17:08
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If you don’t do Nenio’s quests she’s just a kooky absentminded scientist. Fine, but she gets to live at camp.
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Apr 19, 2024 17:53
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Nenio is a perfectly fine and fun character. She's a stable in my groups and her comments are enjoyable and likeable.  EDIT: I would not demand that people "like" certain characters or force themselves to pretend to be friends but I also find that people often have a significantly lower threshold for behavior in fictional characters then they do for people in real life. In my experience, characters are often presented without flaws or lack character growth because gamers will take any flaw and magnify it insanely out of proportion, which makes writing NPCs an absolute nightmare. ProfessorCirno fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Apr 19, 2024 |
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Apr 19, 2024 19:11
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I just find her obnoxious so I don't want to use her when I've got several characters to use I actually like. I still usually use her anyway to a degree because she casts Save or Dies real good.
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Apr 19, 2024 20:55
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Cythereal posted:Yup. At any point you can kill Kaylessa for a pittance of xp and the game calls you an rear end in a top hat for killing her. As a bonus, it means that I don't have to keep doing the quest line.
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Apr 20, 2024 00:16
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Rogue AI Goddess posted:I almost always kill her at the first opportunity because she drops a Composite Bow +3 and that's a massive upgrade at that point. I’ll probably do that for my upcoming Aeon run. The Commander will be a Monk who is very into not doing things he does not enjoy or finds unnecessary. He will also reject Nenio as a companion because he finds her experiments irrelevant to his mission to fix the Worldwound. Anyone else feel free to smile at the irony of that rejection if you like. 
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Apr 20, 2024 17:16
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Hell by Compass A week has finally passed since starting Act 2, and that means I can finally recruit fresh troops for the army. Happily, this includes a brigade of clerics to reinforce the ones I already have. Each week in crusade mode, a random selection of mercenaries will become available for a randomly set price.  A traveling pilgrimage of Gorum's faithful, as it happens. Not my favorite bunch of zealots, but when they heard about a new crusade invading the Worldwound they decided, in the words of their leader, that 'this sounds totally awesome and the Lord of Battle is pleased.' The downside: the new recruits spawn in Kenabres and have to catch up with the main army.  Scouting with one of my event stacks reveals Leper's Smile. This is the path to Drezen, but I unfortunately have other business this update.  Like this. There's a sidequest in crusade mode to recover a lost relic of the crusades, and I was waiting for the new recruits to have an army strong enough to tackle this battle. Giant flies are fast and there's a lot of them.   Whether this is useful for anything or just fluff, I do not know.  Ageboya levels up again and learns a healing spell.  And now for the part that folks have been waiting for.  We're answering a distress call from a force of hellknights who were under attack by gargoyles.    "Quickly, evacuate the wounded! The beasts are about to strike again! Use cloaks as stretchers — we've got to make it through. Paralictor, your people have to cover us while..." "Two more minutes out in the open and neither you nor I will have any troops left to order about, crusader." "But the wounded..."This dude is supposed to be smart and pragmatic, but mostly gets that effect because other people tend to be forced to be morons around him.  But gosh darn it isn't he just so cool unlike these blundering idiot good guys?  (If the man in white has anything further to add, his words are drowned out by the shrieks of gargoyles as they fall from the sky.)Let's get on with it.  We met a few gargoyles in the Nameless Ruins, and we're going to see a lot of them in this chapter as a new tier of rank and file fodder, coming in a variety of classes and many of them fiendish or half-fiend.  Don't forget to loot the dead crusaders and hellknights for goodies.   (Suddenly, the woman opens her eyes. She doesn't look at you, but stares up at the Worldwound's horrific sky. Her pale lips open and she exhales abruptly.) "The sun will never rise again. There's only darkness above me. Even the sky here is cursed — and we along with it." (Yaker, walking in the front, steps over the man's body without looking, but turns around at the sound of the woman's voice.) "The Mendevian faithful break too easily." "All people are easily broken. The knights in pale armor help each other through the horror. But the knights in black only break each other, and everyone around them." [Good] (Heal the woman) "You need help, you'll feel better now." (The woman pushes you away with a weak gesture.) "Expend your efforts on someone who can be helped. Leave me. My crusade is over." "Who are you? What happened here?"As usual, this part is on rails. You will have your grimdark "The forces of good are naive idiots and only the fascist stormtroopers have the strength and will to do what must be done" spiel.  "We shared the last crumbs of our supplies and set off back the way we came. Everyone was suffering from hunger and thirst. We grew weak and could barely fight back when the gargoyles struck a second time. They snatched many of us away. I saw the pain on Ashus's face as he counted the losses. But he managed to rally us. We continued our trek, and soon came across traces of a recent battle — someone had destroyed a troop of demon worshipers. In our desperation, we decided to follow the strangers, to warn them of the gargoyles and seek their help — having no idea that they were Hellknights! But we received only scorn. 'Every gulp of water in my unit is accounted for,' they said. They spared us two flasks and a sack of dried bread. They said we were allowed to keep the sack to use as bandages. Two flasks between all of us! A sack for bandages!" "Hellknights!" (Seelah curls her fists, almost grunting through her clenched teeth.) "I'd rather ally with a flesh-eating poisonous wyvern!" "A leader has to take care of their own tribe first. All the scandalized gasps — 'How could he do such a thing?' — suddenly fall away when you're first faced with the hard choice: are you going to take food out of your own child's mouth to feed a starving stranger?" "What happened after that?" "The gargoyles attacked. Despite how the Hellknight Paralictor had treated us, Ashus endeavored to help them, and had us carry their wounded. But that monster had them slaughtered! Ashus was beside himself — it's difficult to conceive of such evil. He told our people to go with the Hellknights to find shelter, while he stayed to cover our retreat." (The woman exhales softly.) "He was a strong cleric, but as he treated our wounded, he neglected himself. And he paid for it." "What terrible injustice. But alas, all too common. Those who care for others often perish first." "Your commander can't be helped, but you're still alive. Allow us to heal you, and come with us!"Forgive me if I'm sounding even more vitriolic than usual, but I have nothing but contempt for stories focusing on 'the greater good' and similar bullshit. If I want misery porn, all I have to do is turn on the news. Call it personal taste, perhaps.  "I'm sorry these good people treated you this way. If you don't have the strength to go any further, rest. We will continue your crusade. I promise you." "You're just going to leave her? I thought you would convince her to get up and fight to the end." "Not her. She cannot. She won't get up. She has already died inside... Not from the gargoyles' claws, but from the wounds those good knights made in her heart. Soon she will die completely. You and I will remember her, won't we? And we will fight for her as well." "Yes. Yes, Ember. I promise." (Yaker shakes his head.) "Commander, I'm not one to advise you, but you're wasting time on this fool, and the gargoyles will soon be back. That's their usual tactics — fly up, regroup, attack again. I'm going back to my unit now, and I'd advise you not to stay here long either!"One of the building blocks of authoritarianism is, after all, fear. Fear, and the promise of safety. It is always in tyranny's interest to hype up its enemies, to better sell the promise that they can protect you if you would only submit. That these sacrifices are worth it. That's what this whole sidequest is about, trying to rebuild the fear the characters have of the Worldwound and the armies of the Abyss after the PC's triumph at the Wardstone, and it's not the last time that Wrath's writers will indulge in these tactics. And if that requires making the forces of good act like naive, under-prepared idiots, then so be it.  There's more gargoyles to trudge through.  Never stop looting the dead and stealing camp possessions.   "A joint unit?" "Forcibly joint." (Regill's speaks with military precision and economy.) "The leader of the Order of the Sunrise Sword was unable to get to safety. Which is not surprising, considering his, shall we say, excessive scrupulousness and sluggishness. Given the extreme situation, I took command of his people." "It's supposed to be good when different people unite, we are here for a common cause. But it still gives me the creeps for some reason. Hellknights shouldn't be allowed to get their claws into our paladins. It's wrong." "We need to get rid of the gargoyles, then we'll talk." "Agreed. Be ready, Commander, this attack may be worse than last one!"If I were asked to name one character from Wrath of the Righteous who strikes me as neurodivergent and on the autism spectrum, Nenio wouldn't be my first choice. Regill would.  There were a lot of gargoyles.  (He turns to you and nods slightly.) "Commander. Your arrival was well timed. Now we can finally talk. I am quite interested in the events that occurred at the Gray Garrison — and I suppose you have questions for me as well." "What do you want to know about what happened at the Gray Garrison?" "Any shift in the balance of power during this war has a direct impact on my mission. If a new player appears who is capable of fighting demons effectively, then I am ready to support that person with all the resources I have at my disposal." (Regill speaks pensively, as if talking to himself.) "But naturally, I cannot blindly trust a stranger, even one marked by the gods." "The gods blessed me with an incredible gift, and Queen Galfrey put me at the helm of the crusade — but that's not enough for you, is it?" "The will of the gods cannot and should not replace our sound judgment. And the whims of the Queen of Mendev are of no consequence at all. Is there anything you'd like to know before we move on to more serious issues?" "What does 'Paralictor' mean?"One legitimately good thing you can say about Regill is that, whatever his motives, he is completely genuine about opposing the Abyss and the Worldwound, and is just as prepared to make sacrifices by allying with people he despises as you are if you're willing to establish an alliance. Only a few mythic paths can drive him away, when he concludes that even if you win the result will be a new problem just as bad or worse than the one you just solved. An odd quirk to this scene I discovered when looking through the game's script is that you can only query Regill about what the Order of the Godclaw stands for if the PC herself worships the Godclaw or one of the deities within - the Godclaw is a syncretic pantheon-within-a-pantheon faith that incorporates elements of the five most powerful lawful deities in the setting and twists them into their own faith. Incidentally, all the non-Godclaw dialogue calls the faith heresy - Irori teaches that everyone needs to find their own path to enlightenment rather than have doctrine shoved down their throats, Iomedae is aghast at the Hellknights' brutality and equivocating her with Asmodeus, Abadar is supposed to work within local laws for the good of the individual community rather than mandate some greater order from above, Torag just personally hates the Hellknights and doesn't feel the need to recount the reasons why, and Asmodeus is pissed that the Hellknights dare consider him merely equal to the rest.  "What are Hellknights doing here, within the borders of the Worldwound?" "The same as you and your army — fighting a war against the demons. The Hellknights have always been a part of the crusades from the very beginning. We don't answer to Queen Galfrey, and we act on our own authority, but we serve the common cause. Deskari's spawn have no place in the world we want to build." (Regill barks out the final words.) "What are you going to do now, after the gargoyle attack?" "I will wait for my remaining fighters to return. What you see here is only a small part of my forces. As for my long-term plans, that depends on the results of our conversation, Commander." (Regill narrows his eyes.) "Before we move on to serious subjects, I'd like to address an organizational issue regarding my unit. You may wish to be present." (Yaker steps forward and salutes with a clenched fist to his chest.) "Paralictor, permission to report. During the first gargoyle attack I determined it necessary to leave my post. I swam over the river, found the Commander's army and asked them to provide assistance." (Regill nods.) "The reinforcements were much needed. You will earn a double salary for your resourcefulness, Yaker. And a hundred lashes for abandoning your post." (The young knight grows a little pale, but immediately salutes again.) "Yes, paralictor!" [Chaotic] "I wonder if it's foolish and overly harsh to punish Yaker for leaving his post, when he did it in order to bring help?"Something that the game will never let you bring up is the implication that, if the PC hadn't arrived to help, the Hellknights would have been wiped out just like the crusaders here. Regill is very quick to dismiss and rationalize away any criticism of his actions, but I personally feel that there's a missed opportunity to criticize his actions and strategy in terms he would understand: soft skills, like cooperating with allies, is often just as important as knowing the 'correct' tactical thing to do on a given battlefield. Historically, the number one strategic failing of fascist states is that they get themselves into wars they can't win, and the first question in any assessment of 'Are these folks good at war?' is 'Did they start a war they could actually win?'  "No, Paralictor. I assumed I might meet friendly troops on the other side of the river, but I couldn't know for sure." "You see, Commander? Of course, I could be gracious and look the other way, but that would mean that during the next battle, ten or twenty of my people will think it's high time they ran to get help. Initiative requires reasonable limits. Not to mention, a hundred lashes is hardly a punishment for a true Hellknight. I'd say it's more of a spiritual warm-up." (Yaker gives you a serious look.) "Thank you for your concern, Commander, but I do not wish to evade fair punishment. I wouldn't be a Hellknight if I did." "Are these guys made of stone or what? They seem creepy, but I kind of like them!" "Everything is so strange. They march in columns through the thicket, even though there's a regular, smooth road nearby." "I'll never understand this pointless cruelty. And I never want to."This is the sort of thing I mean when I say that Regill feels neurodivergent to me. He's devoted to a cleanly delineated black-and-white view of the world, with a firm hierarchy and set of rules and laws and allowed behavior, and he's intensely uncomfortable with questions of nuance or context. Even his ascetism - Regill is outright asexual, and more than one succubus in the future can comment that he doesn't feel lust at all - tracks with me in that regard. Sensory overload is very much a thing, and often leads to coping mechanisms to shut out sensations you don't want to deal with.  "What are you getting at?" "These fighters aren't the finest material I've worked with, but if I assume formal command over them, I'll be able to reforge them into weapons of reasonable quality. One or two might even become true Hellknights. The rest will be put to good use as well." [Good] "You have already shown that you will easily sacrifice these people, use them as living shields for your precious knights. I won't let that happen. Let them join my army — at least I don't treat my soldiers as expendables." "Well then, we both have arguments to make. Let's see what these orphans say..." (Regill looks at the warriors in white and yellow, shifting cheerlessly from one foot to the other.) "Initiates of the Sunrise Sword — your leader is dead. The order has suffered serious losses, and will not be able to recover. You may return to Mendev to join another crusader order, and hope that they don't meet the same fate as the Sunrise Sword. Or you may remain under my command. I will not promise that it will be easy, or that our warmaking will be constricted by your principles. What I can promise is this — under my command, you will never again feel like helpless mice in the talons of a ravenous raptor." Yes, the Hellknights are so adept at making you feel powerful and in control as you die all the same from your commander's mistakes. Such inspiring courage, to die with discipline rather than to die with free will! I made an ugly choice in that cave, in an ugly war. "I wouldn't make such an offer if I thought you were useless garbage." (The initiates of the Sunrise Sword consult with each other for a time, and then one of them — a young woman in knight's armor — steps forward.) "Your methods of warfare, and your treatment of your allies, goes entirely against our ideals, Paralictor. Commander Yua has already said to you everything that should be said. We've decided to follow the Commander in her march on Drezen." "As you wish." (It's difficult to tell from Regill's face whether he's disappointed or not.) "Well then, Commander. Let's proceed to the main question and then put an end to this exhausting conversation. We should discuss the cooperation between your forces and my own. We do share a common enemy and a common battlefield." [Perception check passed!] "You're looking at me strangely, Paralictor. When we were discussing Yaker's punishment, and the fate of the Sunrise Sword. It's as if you were testing me." (Regill lowers his head in a gesture that might be read as respectful.) "I do not believe I made any attempt to conceal my interest in you, both as a new, strong leader in the region, and as the bearer of a highly unusual power. Of course I'd like to know what's inside your head. One could say that it's my duty." "My army and I are marching to Drezen to free the city from the demons. You can join forces with us, if you wish." And every one of the bastards who died was a crusader who didn't. "I stand ready to support you. Moreover, I can accompany you in your campaign. However, I would remind you that Hellknights are outside of Mendev's jurisdiction. My unit and I will join your forces and obey your orders — but only for as long as I deem that our goals coincide." "I like his eyes. They're still bright. Neither the darkness nor the paleness has taken them. For now..." "Hell no, we don't need the likes of these black-armored statues. I don't want to fight side by side with someone who will slit my throat if I'm weak and wounded. You can't defeat one evil by inviting an equal but slightly more organized evil into your ranks!" "Slightly more organized than the demons? I could consider that an insult." "I've never dealt with Hellknights before, but from what we've seen, they're serious fighters. That's just what we need. And just think how that armor will look in the paintings they'll make about our battles." "It's a deal." "Yes, Commander. My forces and Regill Derenge are at your disposal." May Desna forgive me. I wouldn't make this alliance if it weren't an LP, and I know the thread would implode if I concluded this update without a full overview.  Character Overview: Regill Winning a battle is not enough. Victory can only be considered complete if you ensure there will never be another battle with this foe. Lawful Evil Male Gnome Armiger/Hellknight of the Godclaw Romance: No Can I Fix Him: No Incompatible Paths: Demon, Trickster, (Spoiler) Background: Cheliaxian Diabolist (add Knowledge: Arcana as a class skill, +1 bonus if already class skill, +4 AC versus devils) Regill is proof that quite a lot of reasonable people are in fact perfectly willing to sign on with fascists when sufficiently scared, because he's one of the more popular characters in this game. He's so gosh darn reasonable about how if everyone just signed over their human rights and did whatever he said the war would be over. All the good guys have flaws and problems, so best to just chuck the whole thing in the trash and sign on with the band of whiners who have accomplished sweet gently caress all themselves in this war and furiously blame everyone but themselves and their lack of people skills for why they're a bunch of ineffectual demon fodder. Regill is demonstrably incompetent at everything but pointing out the flaws in other people and a handful of tactical squad-level decisions, but for some reason online nerds flock to this lovely little stormtrooper as 'telling it like it is.' Honestly, he reminds me a lot of a certain kind of engineer. The kind with all the theoretical answers but are completely terrible at working with people and blame other people for getting the promotions they feel they deserve, because those people - especially women - are in fact capable of working with other people. Mechanically, Regill is pretty eh. He's all in on using gnome hooked hammers, one of the odder little weapons in this game, and generally serving a tanking role. If you're adept at building characters in Pathfinder, Regill can be a very strong melee fighter. If you're not, he'll tend to struggle and we're at the point where characters come with enough pre-baked levels that rebuilding them in a more optimal direction is getting hard. The Crimson Path (this update) Gargoyles 26 Gargoyle Troops 6 Ghoul Hordes 42 Giant Fly Swarms 200 Skeleton Hordes 26
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Apr 21, 2024 17:05
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The old hard gnomes making hard choices nonsense I see. I am not at all surprised that the fash self-proclaimed expert at fighting is using one of the most stupid weapons in the game. Totally unrelated in every way: does this game have a thing where we can sacrifice party members? Just asking.
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Apr 21, 2024 18:17
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On some paths, yes. Not this path, no. I like Regill because he's fun and this is a game. I'd punch him in real life, though. He actually is smarter than 80% of your cast, because the party is full of complete dumbasses (Ember's naivety, Cami's murder, Nenio is oblivious, etc.). Example number 1: Lann acting like the Hell knights are loving rad dude because they have spiky armor.
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Apr 21, 2024 18:26
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Regill rules and is very fun. He is easily one of the most memorable party members in the game, probably the most memorable for a lot of people. He is also a horrible person. His build would be pretty horrible most of the time, but you can just slam the rest of his levels into straight Fighter and the game has a fairly large number of gnome hooked hammers clearly made for him to make his build function. He won't be able to do anything but blend whatever the closest target is, but if built properly he will blend through anything he gets to full round attack pretty much as hard and efficiently as you possibly can without Mythic Paths even on Core.
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Apr 21, 2024 18:38
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I find Regill interesting as a character, largely because he offers a perspective among the party that no one else does. My one partial playthrough of the game was a Lich run (I usually play RPGs purely as the Ideal Good Guy but found the Lich route interesting when I started this game), and he's basically your top lieutenant for PCs like that. I do like the neurodivergent analysis of Regill though, in part because in D&D and Pathfinder's settings, gnomes canonically have hyperactive, hyper-creative minds and a higher incidence of various mental conditions than most other races. And as we'll eventually find out about Regill, he's dedicated his entire life to shutting down his gnomish impulses to hone himself into something orderly. There's a lot of crossover with self-hating people on the spectrum who try to live like a normal person with everything they have. I don't see a lot of RPG characters with that sort of characterization. I think he's intriguing as a character, but I don't think he's admirable at all. Honestly, he's almost pitiable. Some of my like for him, admittedly, stemmed from the gameplay benefits of his Order of the Godclaw aura that comes in handy for a ton of the fights in Wrath of the Righteous. JT Jag fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Apr 21, 2024 |
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Apr 21, 2024 18:56
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Cythereal posted:What I can promise is this — under my command, you will never again feel like helpless mice in the talons of a ravenous raptor."
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Apr 21, 2024 19:17
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