A Mortal Hero: Patron of the Gods (Demo updated 10/10)

WELP, WHERE DO I BEGIN WITH WHAT THIS TASTY UPDATE HAS BROUGHT US?

I guess the main I’ll first bring up is the parents. Now the father sure as the sun is FAR from being ‘Dad of the Year’, but it sounds as though the mother won’t be getting any Mother’s Day gifts herself if the father implying that she was having a affair with someone under the guise of a business trip holds a good amount of truth . But where these two people seemed to fail the most spectacularly was that they are so focused fighting and resenting each other that they don’t take the time to really know their children, to the point that they’d trust the words of strangers over the words of their own children (didn’t seem like either of them took a moment to think during both of those memories “is this really like how my child would act”). I’ve honestly come to see that moment with Genny being the breaking point for my Hero MC, River Strider, and it being one of the reasons why they became more closed off and stoic with their family (excluding Caleb to a extent).

In fact, it was going through the path to the memory of the father and the Genny bully that really cemented Hemera is the best match for my River. Because the Goddess did something for River that their own parents haven’t likely done in a long time: listened to them. I imagine that for such a stoic and closed off (yet very thoughtful and compassionate) individual, River was more used to no one really listening when THEY were the one experiencing distress and pain. So they weren’t really expecting Hemera to reach out when they cried out for her in their moment of weakness and fear. And yet, Hemera didn’t hesitate or show doubts when her Sunrise called to her for help: she immediately expressed concern for how distressed her Hero was and stepped up to protect them. I imagine the resulting ‘thank you’ River gives Hemera would have quite a few layers to it.

Heck the same applies with the other Godly Patrons themselves, so in a way, the memory with the father is particularly strongest in this case because we (as MC) get firsthand experience with how poorly the parents did when it came to being there for their child when the little ones need their parents the most. Not long after experiencing the Patron respond quickly to their Hero needing them. Maybe the mother memory could be equally as strong if we had a face-to-face with her as well?

I’m honestly curious if we’ll be able to meet these parents face-to-face in the present time and see how they are during the final stages of their divorce. Have they not changed much from the past or are they trying to make amends for how their past actions affected both their children? Do they acknowledge how badly they screwed up when it came to handling their kids or do they make excuses for themselves? How would they react if their oldest child wants absolutely nothing to do with them anymore because of what happened in the past (and possibly even present)? Will the MC have a option to call out the two for their behavior and how it affects them and Caleb?b

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Will we learn what happened after the flashbacks or not? If not can you tell us please ?? puppy eyes

I hope Genny got stuck by lightning on her way home dumb bich

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Does the mc have custody of Caleb? I’m kind of afraid the parents are going to try to snatch him away from the mc just to be petty.

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How would caleb react?
Would he :
1 lock himself in his room?
2 flee?
3 curse?
4 accept his fate?
5 be actually happy?
6 Fu¢k u. Im not givin u an answer, and i never will. Evil laughter

7 CRy?

What i think
1 , 7 =most likely
2 =maybe…
3 4 =nah
5 =???

I made up scenes (my mc’s) to each one of the reactions i pointd, so i would like to know :point_up:

:fox_face:

PS

:raising_hand_man:

God, I can’t wait.
I love him already.

Okay, real talk (not that my love for desmond isn’t real, bc it is):
this was a great update! It’s super admirable how you’re able to make the experience with every patron feel completely unique, and you’re doing a great job! The flashbacks made me absolutely livid because I adore Caleb a little too much. This is overly personal so I’ll keep it short. There’s a 9 year age gap between me and my little brother, which is pretty close to MC and Caleb’s. I played a vital part (and still do, though it’s better now) in raising him and keeping him from our negligent and emotionally abusive mom, and while the situation wasn’t/isn’t as bad as MC and Caleb’s, there are definitely parts that hit home hard. I just want to say that you’re portraying it really well! The relationship between MC and Caleb feels real, as well the emotions toward the parents from both of them (like MC protecting Caleb’s feelings while internally bitter and angry and young Caleb knowing something is wrong but not entirely sure what). You’ve especially nailed the protective instinct lol

this is a very promising wip, and i’m really excited to see what comes of it! :smile:

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Guys I think I know who the person on business trip with MC’s mother is!

It’s Luis! Think about it: MC’s dad implies that the mother is off having a affair with someone and Luis has apparently been screwing with the MC’s family for generations! So in this timeline, he’s literally screwing with a family member, and he’s making the MC his next target! :fearful:

…Naturally, I’m just joking around. Though after reading that bit with him again and thinking back on it some more, I seriously have really high doubts that he honestly would care about MC in a romantic sense. It sounds more like he’s just got a dangerous obsession with MC’s family (and even more with MC themselves, possibly due to their status as a ‘Mortal Hero’) :sweat_smile:

That all on the side, but @Oli_C has stated that not only will we have the option to interact with MC’s parents some more, but there is even a chance that MC can gain full custody of Caleb with the help of divine intervention.

Would any of your MCs take that option to claim Caleb themselves? Would any be able to forgive the parents for their past actions or has the damage been fully done by this point and not even a (possibly? Maybe? Highly-unlikely-but-hey-we’ll-see?) change of heart and attitude from the parents’ end can change that? :thinking:

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You know what this theory doesn’t seem too far fetched HE COULD BE WORKING HIS MAGIC THO! Of course my MC will do anything to take custody of Caleb she practically raised him herself! WE HAVE MATCHING PINK HAIR WE ARE BOUND FOREVERA. Seriously tho, she loves him very much and will take him away to a happier and healthier place to grow up. But forgiving the parents … I don’t know… I don’t think so… maybe she will cause they are her parents but she won’t have them near Caleb until they genuinely regret what they did and promise to change

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…I know. And that kind of scares me a little. I mean, if this guy feels no shame about (possibly) harming Caleb and using his magic to capture and use the MC for some personal gain, I wouldn’t put it past him to pull that stunt and give the MC more reasons to despise him. Even if what he felt toward MC was genuine, I can see them wanting nothing to do with him after making sure he paid for his past and current actions.

Do you mean that literally or figuratively?

I honestly hope it wouldn’t be literally; gives the mom too easy of a way out (unless the magic just did something like up her desire only a bit or she just got with him because his magic offered her more things than the MC’s mortal dad could.

…that would seriously be messed up either way.

(Just realized I didn’t answer my own thoughts on forgiving the parents and possibly claiming Caleb in full custody).

For River, the damage has already been done: the parents lack of ability to offer security, lack of faith to trust their own children, and especially their lack of just listening to River and Caleb had done a number on the young adult. They would try to talk to Caleb about the matter and see what he wants in the end in order to find some compromise, but if there was a chance to whisk their bother away from their parents, they would take it. That said, they’d probably want to do so with their own hands rather than rely on Hemera if at all possible; they wouldn’t want to possibly get their Patron in some forms of trouble and they feel that they can’t really claim to really earned that custody unless they did so with their own hands.

I have been imagining that the follow-up to the Genny has the father going back to the car and trying to talk to River (whether to justify the fact that he hadn’t listen to River’s truth or to actually own up to his mistake is anyone’s guess). And River just clutches Caleb closer to them and away from their father as they stare at the man with a bitter apathy that was never there before. “Never again” they say with soft aloofness, their eyes never leaving their father’s face “I won’t let you or mom hurt us ever again :neutral_face:”. Of course, whose to say that the parents would honestly care if either of their children started to distance themselves from the two adults?

For Duran, he has no family outside of Caleb. Those people who called themselves his parents only pretend to live up to their title when it benefits them the most. So yeah, he’ll take the divine intervention and keep his brother for himself to raise (wouldn’t really feel like he’d be able to gain custody of Caleb otherwise), not letting his parents near either of them as long as he can breathe. Even if he struggles more than River when it comes to handling the weight of the responsibilities, at least he can say he’s TRYING to be the adult figure to Caleb where their parents failed to even try for both of the children’s sake.

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Hello everyone! I just wanted to say thank you for all of the feedback you’ve been giving me in regard to Caleb and the recent update!

You will definitely learn what happens!

Absolutely! Technically speaking, by the MC taking the necklace they’ve already thwarted Fate in a sense. But as Fate plays a role in the story, you’ll have more opportunities to try to change it.

@Okami-Nora

Your theory on Luis actually isn’t that far off! I also thought I’d mention, seeing as Luis has become such a hot topic the last few posts, that in the Halloween memory Luis makes a very brief appearance.

This depends on which point of the game their parents come and try to take him away, but at the beginning Caleb would definitely cry.

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@Oli_C

…the fact that you’re saying that I’m really not far off AND confirming that he was the man from Halloween who pretty much led Caleb into a dangerous situation makes Luis sound more and more terrifying. :fearful:

Makes it even more difficult to picture him as a RO right now. If there’s one being that I have seen in stories that are capable of great apathy and arrogance, it’s a immortal (even moreso if said immortal had mortal origins; the immortality always seems to go to their heads). Can’t really see him having a change of heart either, if he’s been harassing the MC’s family for generations. It sounds like he’s got a end goal of some kind in his mind, and no amount of feelings will dissuade him from reaching that goal. Is he even capable of caring or loving another person? Or maybe it was a bond he had for someone that makes him so deadly focused about achieving his goals. Can’t see a MC who cares about Caleb and their family ever staying with Luis after learning what he has done to them, especially if he clearly feels no shame for his actions and truly believe his end goal is worth more than anything, even if it meant hurting a person who could have possibly come to care about him.

Either way, if Caleb ever remembers the man from Halloween and points him out to Duran if the see him among the immortals, that going to trigger instant warning alarms in the young man’s head (even more if Luis comes off as far too smooth and too inclined to use honeyed words).

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Hey all! Quick question, if I include height customization options for the MC what are the heights you’d all like to see? I can’t guarantee that I’ll add each height that gets requested, but I’ll try to find a happy middle ground!

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5’10" (177.8 cm)
6 feet (182.88 cm)

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These will be in feet and inches 5’0, 5’3, 5’6, 6’0, 6’5

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Can’t you just put a description that goes, very short, short, average, tall, and Empire State Building? Some folks from the US use feet and inches, but everybody else uses metric (centimeters?), maybe. Easier to leave it up to the player’s imagination with description.

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To be honest that’s what I’m considering doing. If I did I would be using the heights people request as a jumping off point when writing scenes. So, if I see a lot of people want a character with a height of 6’ when I’m writing the tall scenes that will be what’s on my mind and influence how the scenes are written. However, since many of the characters’ heights are told in story it might conflict with the player’s headcanons if the heights aren’t specific. Like Horus is 6’6" and if a person picks the MC’s height as tall while thinking the MC’s height is 6’5" it will conflict with how the scene plays out. So as of right now I’m just trying to gather data and see if there’s a lot of similar height requests that I can implement in; if there isn’t I’ll just use the “Short, Average, and Tall” height measurements.

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I feel like this is probably just the best idea for this. It makes it doable to write scenes while still giving us options. You don’t even have to give a specific height that way, so you can let the player fill in the gaps for themselves.

Maybe you could just make a poll to see what people would prefer?

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5’ 10’’ (not sure if I did the " ’ " markers correctly…Uh, 5 ft 10 inches was the intention), please.

If you get a lot of suggestions, perhaps a poll could help in narrowing down the heights? Just an idea.

Love your game, btw! (Especially love Hemera :blush: ) Thank you for your time.

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I belive that’s the best option. Specific heights will get messy both in code and in writing. Also this “3 way customisation” fits the gameplay since we choose in between 3 skin colors and hair length why not keep it like that?

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Maybe you can set up ranges in your mind for each description, such as

  • < 4 ft (less than 152 cm)
  • 5 >= x < 5’5 ft (152-164 cm)
  • 5’5 >= x < 6 ft (165-182 cm)
  • 6 >= x < 6’5 ft (183-194 cm)
  • greater than/equal to 6’5 ft (greater than or equal to 195 cm)

Not SUPER specific that it really messes you up and/or people’s headcanons, and there would be a very niche group for drastically short/tall people.

The numbers don’t have to be stated explicitly, just numbers you keep in mind; you can assign these ranges to the ‘short, average, tall’ measurements. If there was a 6’0 MC, they’d be ‘tall’, but not necessarily as tall as Horus. If there was an even taller MC, you’d then describe as “about his height/or taller.”

Err, unless this is a no-brainer?

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So after some consideration, I’ll probably be going with measurements of “Very Short, Short, Average, Tall, and Very Tall.”

Very Short: 4’11"-5’2"
Short: 5’3"-5’5"
Average: 5’6"-5’9"
Tall: 5’10’-6’
Very Tall: 6’1"-6’4"

This way a good number of heights are represented and everyone can most likely find something that fits their MC! Thank you to everyone that weighed in on this!

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