At the end of the day I hope ante is expanded on as not only as a character but also an antagonist.
2 Likes
Yes. Expanding on her character as an antagonist so when we take our revenge on her, it will be super delicious.
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I would like to see the POV change we saw at the end of the Yotai arch in the old demo expanded a bit. Could throw Ante in there because I know she must be losing her mind at not being told what has the trio so concerned.
Would give us a chance to see what’s been going through her mind since the pyre. Probably wouldn’t change what my mage would/will do upon seeing her again, but hey it’d be neat to see at least.
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Can i become a king in this game?
Not so far. You’re a powerful mage who can befriend a king. You might be able to marry a king somewhere in the far future?
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In the case of the new city, I think talia only helped that city for its strategic position, not because of the goodness of her heart. I bet she won’t hesitate to throw them to the wolves if she need to. They are part of a faith she despise after all. I just don’t buy he so called generosity. There’s definitively a catch.
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I’m going to have to replay the first one again because it’s been a while and trying to make a custom character isn’t as easy as I don’t remember what anything does. 
You know the people who killed the refugees, I get why I can’t pick the choice “At the very least, there should be a trial. Their guilt is not equally shared.” because I picked a choice that implies that they should be punished for their crimes, as they did have a choice on whether or not to go through with them and they chose to do it still.
However, I feel like my MC would still ask for a trial at the very least because of what happened to them, my MC would also know that not every person or crime can be judged in the same way, plus their own punishment is still fresh in their mind… so a part of them would remember what it was like to be judged and killed without any chance to fight for freedom or a lesser punishment.
2 Likes
50% often I think she’s actually going to not keep her word I expect to stab in the back I never trusted her to begin with so sleep with one eye open
I finally hopped on The Mage Reborn train and will definitely reread through it all again. I like that I could have gone the Khazan route, but with the way book one ended and the optics of it all, my character was okay with being the villain. It seemed to fit with the tragedy of everything else and resurrection in book two is handled well. I can still be Khazan, but there’s also other options which is good. One thing I find odd though is how I can’t be more suspicious of Thalia, like I don’t find anything she says to be the full truth. She’s a fully militarized “saintess” with 25 possible super soldiers running around the nation that are fully devoted to her I assume. She revived you on the whim that you would fight for her suffering nation out of pity and put you on a leash for a year. She didn’t revive you out the kindness out of her heart and then to throw in Eli with the emotional manipulation. This saintess is calculated and I think my character should be way more wary of her than anybody else tbh. I will give her this though, she’s brave for saying she’ll just let you go after a year. Can’t wait to see how this story unfolds.
2 Likes
TLDR.
AMR Book 1 - GOOD 11/10
Pros:
-Short
-Linear
-Fight scenes
-Your friends throw you a surprise barbeque party 
Cons:
-None
AMR Book 2 - 7/10 (Hard to judge since its a WIP)
Pros:
-Good start
-Lots of cool characters
-Tahlia
-Fight scenes
-You meet Eli
Cons:
-Too much worldbuilding (I may have majored in history but that does not mean I like history)
-General standard for choices per words in IF should be at least 1 minor choice every 250-500 words according to some GDC talk I can’t find (this might have been a fever dream)
-Some choices are limited arbitrary (read text bellow for better explanation, or don’t)
Review:
I have recently played the first game and the public demo for the second game directly afterwards.
AMR book 1 has become one of my favorite IF games. The story is impactful and spans over a long period of time while remaining relatively short and without overstaying its welcome unlike most COG games.
I really loved how AMR 1 feels like a classic fantasy adventure with each chapter taking the MC to a new corner of the kingdom.
I also loved that despite the story being mostly linear the player still has influence over the outcome, like how many children you manage to save and how pragmatic you decide to be in the climax.
AMR book 2 has a really interesting and strong start but I think it looses itself a bit in its own world building at beginning.
The key to getting an audience invested in something usually lies in making the audience care for the characters. But instead of spending more time with them during the festival there is a lot of info dumping on things that I in my subjective opinion do not really find important or relevant to the plot.
Despite that I really like how the book is handles most of the new cast. Tahlia has quickly become one of my favorite characters of the new set because I find that she has the potential to be a great antagonist or at least oppose the MC in their own goals.
Still something that bothers me is that previous opinions can block future dialogue options. For example when Yu speaks to you about sparing the attackers after the festival, if you choose to say that they deserve to die you later on cannot argue that they deserve a trial.
Saying that someone deserves to die and wanting everybody to have a trial are not mutually exclusive opinions and I don’t like that the game acts as if they were.
Another new character I really like is Zealot because he is rude to the MC and has a decent enough reason to be mad. The MC is essentially an enemy soldier getting the VIP treatment just because they are powerful.
I also think that Yu is written a bit weirdly since if I recall correctly when they get introduced they impale someone into a tree branch, but later on they refuse to kill enemy knights even if it will probably save their comrades’ lives.
Like the first book the fight scenes in the second remain excellent. They are fast paced and engaging and the spell names are really fun.
One thing that I wish that the game would do is limit the personality of the MC a bit. In the first game the MC has a mostly set personality with the choices deciding how pragmatic/kind-hearted their approach is. In the second game it feels like the MC’s personality has been kept more open probably for roleplaying reasons, but that ends up making them feel like a wet towel.
During the resurrection the MC can choose to be out for revenge but up to now the MC barely even thinks about any of his old friends and/or lovers except for a select few mentions which honestly feels weird.
In spite of those admittedly minor problems I am still incredibly excited for the future of the series and hope the creator/dev/writer is doing well.
As someone writing their own IF project I know how hard it can be to remain motivated.
Often even though others may love ones writing it can still feel like its not good enough and it is really easy to become hyper-focused on the flaws. People also tend to criticize more than they compliment which often can make one feel like they have to burn down everything and start from scratch.
Despite a few people criticizing AMR 1’s relative linearity and shortness I personally think that those aspects are the aspects that make the game stand out from the rest of COG’s and HG’s usual stuff because for once it felt like the story had themes and something to say. Add to that the very well written prose and combat sequences you get a game that is truly great.
However I do not think that the sequel has to try to emulate the first to be just as great. The advantage of having the second game start with the rebirth of the MC is that it allows the Author to try out new narrative structures and writing styles without it feeling jarring.
Anyways I am rambling while going through coffee withdrawal.
28 Likes
For the plague chapter, if I can’t realistically save everyone, but I attempt to regardless, is that a better outcome than if I choose between the old/infirm and the young/able bodied? Or does it not matter?
If you try to save everybody and fail, it leads to the worst outcome
3 Likes
I have been so far a long time lurker and thought I would stay as such, but the rewrite managed to drag me out of obscurity after all.
Let me preface this by clarifying that I absolutely loved the first book. In fact, it’s easily in my top five IF games, and the second book promised to be an absolute banger as well. I was dead sure I would purchase it as soon as it is finished.
Until recently, that is. I was baffled to find so much rewritten, and as I read on and on, I realized…
…I hate it.
I know that is a strong word, and I apologize in advance for ruffling any feathers. I think the author is very talented, and in the end, a story must satisfy the writer first and foremost. But as a reader, I can’t help but feel that the new version is vastly inferior to its successor. In the old version, it felt like you just awakened from death. It was tense, it was something immense, our character needed to feel out new companions and had plenty of opportunity to express strong feelings, whether it was resentment towards their new situation or a need for burning vengeance against their former king.
In comparison, the new version feels decidedly lukewarm, more as if MC has simply made a move to a new city, rather than dying traumatically and getting resurrected by a stranger. They seem to be more interested in the new banking system or how the festival lanterns are powered, instead of their own resurrection, the connection of Sister to their new ‘patron’, or similar topics. You barely get a chance to think about your former comrades, be it in anger or forgiveness. It just feels incredibly jarring that my MC, whose last memory is getting burned by their friend, king and lover, goes passively along with their new life, showing somehow less emotion than most freshly baked college students I have known.
To make it worse, it feels like the narrative really pushes a positive view our new allies. Even when I picked the most suspicious and hostile options for my character, the narration would tack on a ‘though their actions are understandable’, which, ironically enough, makes me like the faction less than their more nuanced and morally grey depiction in the old version. I really appreciated the choice we had in the old version, where we could throw our weight fully behind Thalia, defy her all the way, or something in between. It never felt as if the game wanted to nudge me into a certain direction, but now it certainly does to me.
Now, I do not know what brought upon that rewrite, and if reader feedback isn’t welcome, feel free to ignore my musings. But if reader feedback is wanted, then I just wish to say that the rewrite changed my opinion from ‘amazing’ to ‘maybe I’ll just consider my mage’s story finished with their death’.
Either way, I will always love the first book, and wish to express my appreciation for it.
37 Likes
It’s been awhile since I’ve played the new demo in full but I felt that the scene where we learn what’s been going on in the kingdom during our recovery, and after our talk with Eli was sufficient for now. Though I do headcanon this as my mage putting most of their feelings about their past life in a little box marked “Deal with later” so as to not be overwhelmed with recent events.
If I remember correctly people had an issue with this back in the old demo as well. Mostly that there were no lingering effects from the trauma of their death. Like the mage developing a fear of fire. Personally, I would’ve liked something a bit more subtle. Like the mage always waking up to the smell of smoke, or at random points feeling like they’re burning up even if it’s in the dead of winter.
One of the main criticisms of the old demo was that we were forced to be with (this very much darker shade of gray) new crew even if the mage was a saint and should flee from these people if given the opportunity. Especially if you were defiant and got a new collar for your efforts, I still remember the part after were the new crew just kinda shrugs and goes “Oh well” when you remind them you’re not here by choice.
Even as someone who is seemingly in the small camp of liking both the old/new demo, that part was a hard read.
18 Likes
Honestly I’ve been feeling the same since the rewrite.
I’m still willing to see where it goes, but I felt like I was enjoying the old demo more.
6 Likes
I agree with you; I am still willing to play but I much preferred the old demo to the new one for exactly the reasons you articulated
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First of all, a big thanks for posting the author’s reasoning here, it is a rather large thread and I would have easily missed that. I can see where they are coming from, but personally I think the strong-arming (if the mage shows themselves resistant, that is - no reason to strongarm somebody who is willing) option worked a lot better for the flow of the story. The mage already had a good reason to work with the group - after all, Param has already burned them at the stake. Even a mage who shies away from the more morally questionable choices of their new allies would, in my humble opinion at least, have good reason to work with them and try to change things from within. They do have more merciful members, and they do good, after all, even in the old version.
Meanwhile, a Param loyalist also had good reason to be here: They have to. The magical leash was well set up in Book 1 and made in my eyes perfect sense. I also never had the feeling your companions were unduly dismissive. Eli is clearly in turmoil over it, and while the other two show you much less compassion, they have good reason to: from their perspective, you are basically an ungrateful brat who spits on the offer of the ones who have saved you, your own people, in favor of a nation who ground those very people in the dust and also killed you for loyalty. In their eyes, they are the good ones, who sometimes have to make hard choices for the greater good - and MC can even agree with them, if so inclined! But if they do not, there is reason why they can’t just wander off.
Meanwhile, in the rewrite, I wondered what my mage was still doing here. I played them as somebody intensely loyal to their king, and their first reaction would be making a beeline back to Leon’s side. In the original version, they don’t, because Thalia immediately baited them with Eli - which I found brilliant, both from the author and from Thalia herself. And then my mage DID try to make a beeline back to Param, and found out the hard way that Thalia has a hidden ace up her sleeve. It set up Thalia as a strong and plotting character, and while I certainly didn’t like her as a person, as a character I enjoyed her a lot.
Anyway, this is just my reasoning why I strongly prefer the old version. I acknowledge that the author has clearly put a lot of work into the re-write and their reasoning for this must weigh more than the opinion of the people who mourn the old version.
20 Likes
I do actually think the new rewrite works better, in that it feels like they’re trying to keep a hold of you in a way that’s a bit more subtle. It makes them look a lot smarter than just strong arming you and expecting no resistance that way. What I do absolutely agree with is that the range of emotional reactions from the original is just not available at point of resurrection.. That’s, what I think makes it feel so jarring. Obviously you’re still going to have to stay, but we don’t get asked in the same way we did before on how we feel about staying, we don’t really get to truly reluctantly go along because we have to, it’s just sort of, something that happens
Edit: 1 major point I massively disagree with is that I know there’s been discussion on here that this gives off the perception that Arcadia is softer than they used to be, I very much disagree. They are clearly shown to be ruthless when necessary, and fundamentally, as a people and as characters, I don’t think there’s actually much of a change. If you piss them off, if you defy them, if you want to break away, I do not think it’s going to end well. And I’ve said repeatedly that I don’t actually think that one year offer of service and then you can do whatever you want is an actual offer, I personally think the whole thing is a scam and they’re trying to lure you in and hope that one year with them is going to be enough for you to stay on your own. As a tactic, if this indeed is what they’re actually doing, I actually really respect it and would be something I would’ve done in their place as well. But all this relies on the fundamental argument that they truly are the Arcadia from the previous demo and we don’t see that right now because we’re looking at it from different angle, i’m hoping future updates prove me right on this aspect.
36 Likes
I know development updates are mainly happening on patreon. Is anyone following this? Have the characters of the first book appeared in the demo for book 2 yet?
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Kind of! The Patreon demo has a new pre-death flashback scene featuring Ilya, Leon and Saine and has just reached the start of the Yotai arc where, as in the old demo, you can meet Saine on the roof if you choose not to go to the festival
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