ChaosTheory
Virtual Reality Hero
As I'll be discussing key plot points here, there will be blatant spoilers. If you're not finished with Wrath of the Righteous, doom awaits.
After my 290-hour gameplay, I have a few random thoughts on how the game proceeded in Act 5 and beyond. While WotR remains at or near the top of the list for best RPGs I've ever played, the last portion of the game was really kind of a bummer, story-wise, specifically with the Angel path.
A major plot twist occurs when Iomedae & Nocticula confront you on the steps of the church in Drezen, where it's confirmed that your mythic powers have nothing do to with Iomedae. My PC was sworn to Iomedae and made their entire crusade about serving good, with Iomedae's blessing. This theme was encouraged from the very beginning of the game.
Iomedae, apparently a 'good' God, admits that she knew these powers were of demon origin the entire time yet allowed it to continue. Moreover, she allows everyone who serves her, up to and including the Hand of the Inheritor, to believe it as well. She explains that you were doing such a great job with the crusade that she didn't want to mess up your mojo, yet then immediately demands you renounce your power instead of simply granting you the same power on her behalf-- which would have solved everything that follows.
I understand that Gods in Pathfinder are an imperfect, self-interested lot who manipulate mortals to their own agenda, but this was arguably an evil act almost on par with enslaving angels in rocks.
What's more, some time after this scene, you're met on the road to (somewhere?) by several key characters whom you've fought side-by-side with for a hundred hours, and they basically disown you because you're no longer 'an angel of Iomedae'. For a PC who worships Iomedae and still somehow believed they were serving her, this was actually a pretty soul-crushing turn of events.
As a final insult, if you again turn down Nocticula's patronage prior to the final battle, Iomedae, who's been MIA since scolding you in the town square, suddenly rewards you for not bowing to the dark side. But instead of fighting alongside my PC or giving me an army of angels or something, she gives me an awesome longsword that my PC can't use. "Gee thanks, Godess, you could have at least looked at my weapon feats…"
Anyway, I get that you can't write dialogue and events for every possible scenario the player chooses in a game this complex, but I thought the whole Iomedae thing was really mishandled. Moreover, in the ending slides, no mention was made about Iomedae's deceit, angel rock-enslavement, or that many now question their faith in her, etc.
As a player, I chose to be a Gold Dragon, which actually was less-powerful than what I was as an Angel (I chose not to re-spec due to the glitches in doing so). If I had known how the Iomedae thing would go, I would have stuck with Angel.
As it stood, Gold Dragon was kind of boring, and losing feats such as "mythic critical", especially when you have the $300k Crimson Banner, was a downgrade for my character. Gold Dragon path really needs to be a pre-determined build from the beginning of the game to take full effect of the final product. In this case it just threw my character out of whack, and I was forced to turn the difficulty down in the final chapter because enemies were handing me my ass, dragon form or not.
Anyone else have thoughts on how your paths played out? The game was too big for me to play it again anytime soon, but it's certainly one I'll come back to in a few years, provided there is substantial content added.
After my 290-hour gameplay, I have a few random thoughts on how the game proceeded in Act 5 and beyond. While WotR remains at or near the top of the list for best RPGs I've ever played, the last portion of the game was really kind of a bummer, story-wise, specifically with the Angel path.
A major plot twist occurs when Iomedae & Nocticula confront you on the steps of the church in Drezen, where it's confirmed that your mythic powers have nothing do to with Iomedae. My PC was sworn to Iomedae and made their entire crusade about serving good, with Iomedae's blessing. This theme was encouraged from the very beginning of the game.
Iomedae, apparently a 'good' God, admits that she knew these powers were of demon origin the entire time yet allowed it to continue. Moreover, she allows everyone who serves her, up to and including the Hand of the Inheritor, to believe it as well. She explains that you were doing such a great job with the crusade that she didn't want to mess up your mojo, yet then immediately demands you renounce your power instead of simply granting you the same power on her behalf-- which would have solved everything that follows.
I understand that Gods in Pathfinder are an imperfect, self-interested lot who manipulate mortals to their own agenda, but this was arguably an evil act almost on par with enslaving angels in rocks.
What's more, some time after this scene, you're met on the road to (somewhere?) by several key characters whom you've fought side-by-side with for a hundred hours, and they basically disown you because you're no longer 'an angel of Iomedae'. For a PC who worships Iomedae and still somehow believed they were serving her, this was actually a pretty soul-crushing turn of events.
As a final insult, if you again turn down Nocticula's patronage prior to the final battle, Iomedae, who's been MIA since scolding you in the town square, suddenly rewards you for not bowing to the dark side. But instead of fighting alongside my PC or giving me an army of angels or something, she gives me an awesome longsword that my PC can't use. "Gee thanks, Godess, you could have at least looked at my weapon feats…"
Anyway, I get that you can't write dialogue and events for every possible scenario the player chooses in a game this complex, but I thought the whole Iomedae thing was really mishandled. Moreover, in the ending slides, no mention was made about Iomedae's deceit, angel rock-enslavement, or that many now question their faith in her, etc.
As a player, I chose to be a Gold Dragon, which actually was less-powerful than what I was as an Angel (I chose not to re-spec due to the glitches in doing so). If I had known how the Iomedae thing would go, I would have stuck with Angel.
As it stood, Gold Dragon was kind of boring, and losing feats such as "mythic critical", especially when you have the $300k Crimson Banner, was a downgrade for my character. Gold Dragon path really needs to be a pre-determined build from the beginning of the game to take full effect of the final product. In this case it just threw my character out of whack, and I was forced to turn the difficulty down in the final chapter because enemies were handing me my ass, dragon form or not.
Anyone else have thoughts on how your paths played out? The game was too big for me to play it again anytime soon, but it's certainly one I'll come back to in a few years, provided there is substantial content added.
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