This might be a dumb question but does the FBI have night vision goggles
I whole heartedly agree. I have always been amazed with your writing ability ( and might I add, a bit jealous) and more than happy to wait for more of the Breach story. Take care of yourself and we will all be patiently waiting for more of your genius.
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I know we have the “i just want to catch the Angels” dialogs, but i cant help but feel that if you romanced Mouse and IF she gets killed some unique dialog specific for that route could be nifty.
Since it’d go from “I’m just doing my job.” To “THEY KILLED MY MOUSE.” But, on the other hand. I can only imagine the extra coding needed to branch off for that one specific branch.
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Is there any new RO in this or just the ones from the previous game?
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FBI routes have new ROs, no new RO for other routes(as far as I know)
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Michael on the Archangel side and basically all of the main FBI crew
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Was there a update on the archangel route yet?
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IRL? Yes, law enforcement has access to thermal/night vision albeit on a limited and assault based team basis. They’re kinda expensive
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Nah I meant in game because we have helmet options so I just felt like I wouldn’t make sense if we didn’t have a night vision option
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Can’t wait to replay the demo! It’s been a while :DD
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So basically, if you turn off randomization, skill checks are based on whether you have enough skill to pass the check?
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I love the Raquel romance option so much as well. My only wish is that we could have a more intimate romance with her, it just sucks that her path is strictly ace romantic. She is still my favorite though, ironically my second favorite is Hayne.
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The importance of the protagonist, or why the FBI path is a masterpiece, while the Archangel’s path is an absolute lackluster. (HEAVY SPOILERS FOR BREACH 1 AND 2!)
This rant is BOTH critique and praise of the series.
Playing the first game and checking out the demo for the sequel, I was enthralled by the depth and colourfulness of the characters. Each of them felt alive, standing out from each other with their own unique flavours of qualities, motivations, and well-developed backstories.
And then there is the “Main Character”… Reduced to nothing more than a faceless placeholder of a reader. Nothing distinctive as a character of their own, nothing unique, nothing that even characterises them as the “Main Character.” Literally nothing. Looking back at the cast, I always wondered: “Why did the main character, ironically, much like in their very vague and brief backstory, never received the same love? It’s not like the author is that incapable of writing a good character!” Then I realised that this was the author’s intention. To make the protagonist, supposedly, a “nobody”, an underdog, an ordinary Joe who’s way over his head. In one of the alignments provided to choose from (Undercover Detective and FBI Route), it works well enough, while in the others (Criminal/Vigilante, Archangel Route), it’s an absolute lackluster.
Me personally, I’m not one of those people who self-inserts aspects of their personality in a Playable Character, I always view them as a distinct character and a separate entity in regards to me as the player. There is nothing wrong with slightly depersonalising a playable character for easier and more arbitrary assimilation, for role-playing reasons. But this must also be done with great care. Overdo it, and you’ll end up creating not the protagonist of the story, but a faceless, mindless drone that pretty much just exists and gets dragged along for “plot reasons”. Why do people absolutely love Sidestep and Dragoon Officer and the respective series they’re a part of? Because they are detailed characters in their own right, even if they are under the reader’s control. Because, at their core, they are excellent, well-written characters, with just enough amount of depersonalisation to them, to allow the player to take control of them and steer them in the desired course, allow players to self-insert if they desire so, and mould them into the character of their desired personality.
Let’s start with the good, i.e FBI Main Character.
Now, THIS is a character I absolutely fcking love and respect! This is an example of how to write a character who is essentially a “nobody,” someone who is insignificant to the world and the story, and generally just an ordinary person all around, and turn them into something much more than that, allowing them to develop and blossom.
They have their own role and objective, their own motivation and their own approach to the task. Most importantly, they have a reason to exist in the plot and the ability to influence it. They do not feel out of place in their environment, as was the case in The Archangels. It also helps that their colleagues feel like real, vulnerable people, rather than a conglomeration of Mary Sues who have PhDs, are criminal masterminds, and are also super-duper secret special agents/super soldiers on the side who are ridiculously good at everything they do. (Yeah, I’m talking about the Main Trio here.)
The premise of the story is also great. Gabriel thought that by inducting the main character into The Archangels, he was doing them a favour, but it backfired on both of them. The main character did not conform to the ideas of vigilantism (which is hardly surprising, they are a cop after all). And after being outed as undercover agent, there’s pretty much no life to go back to, it’s all over. They couldn’t go back to the NYPD, and they couldn’t hide anywhere from the Archangels’ retribution. Their best friend (and lover, if you choose), the closest person to a family they ever had was either killed or crippled for life.
The main character has no choice but to go on a direct collision course with the Archangels. They knows they don’t stand a chance against the Trio and the Archangels, they know they’re just an ordinary cop and their opponents are freaking terminators, they know that in pursuit of them they’ll most likely end up compromising their morals and destroying themselves on the way to their goal. But they still do absolutely everything possible to achieve their goals, whether it be in the name of revenge, justice and the law. (I sincerely hope that the author is not afraid to let his precious OCs fail)
This is the main character I absolutely adore. They don’t have to be brilliantly competent, the world doesn’t have to revolve around them, they can be the most ordinary person who found themselves caught up in extraordinary circumstances. All they need is depth of character, meaning, a place in the plot and the world, and the reason to exist in the plot.
Which is not the case with the Archangel’s route…
Here, the “main character” like they were before, still a supernumerary side character, and they continue to remain as such. Still zero influence on the plot. Still obediently doing everything no questions asked, still being led around by the main trio like a dog.
But what’s even worse is that this route causes the most unpleasant case of imposter syndrome I’ve ever had.
For some reason, everyone suddenly started telling us how cool and legendary we are, but we… just existed and didn’t do anything special? It looks especially weird after the main character was kidnapped right from the organisation’s base, right under everyone’s noses. Got poisoned, tortured, had to be rescued and then I got unlucky and the same guy who tortured me kicked the shit out of me yet again, so I had to be rescued yet again, then the some even bigger bad comes along and leaves MC alive because “plot reasons”. Besides the fact that we’ve just got completely curbstomped yet again, what have we done that’s so extraordinary that we’re now considered legendary? I mean, we went through the same thing as any other archangel who were locked up with us, we’re not special in any way! It just feels so forced and undeserved, It feels completely out of place. Everyone around us keeps telling us that we are “Gabriel’s most dangerous weapon,” but we have no successes to our credit that would justify such a reputation, besides directing our crewmates how to do their job, a role that even a moron can manage, and getting slapped around in the free time. Like, seriously, we don’t have a singular significant accomplishment to name. The main character in this path looks like a fraud that only benefits from the trio’s favour, because MC is their precious pet they enjoy having around.
The second, and probably the worst problem, is that the MC has no reason to exist as a character in the plot. Replace the MC with Kaidan, Voldy or some other Raphael, and we will find that the narrative only becomes smoother and more appropriate as a result. This is particularly evident in the FBI route, where we can pretty much deduce that our former сrew is doing well by themselves without us. Most of the time while playing Breach, I just kept asking myself: “Why is the MC even here?” The main character has no depth, no place in the plot, and feels like nothing more than an extra.
To be honest, I even wanted to just experience the story through someone else’s eyes, like Rook’s. Or Gabriel’s, since he’s already the unofficial main character and is way more detailed, with motivation, backstory, and a reason to be in the plot. All the characters received love from the author, except for the “main character” that was so neglected, which is quite sad.
Thank God there is an FBI path and that it’s too good, because I believe that if it didn’t exist, I wouldn’t be able to truly appreciate this story, and I would probably have dropped this series.
I’m not saying that if you enjoyed Archangel’s path or don’t see any problems with it that you’re wrong or there’s something wrong with you. After all, if author himself and audience like it, then you may have done something right. But personally, I can’t just ignore the problems I described above.
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I disagree
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At this point it’s just a subjective take on the “Developed vs Blank State” character argument that has been going for a long time, I don’t think it’s really a problem as a lot of people preferred the way it was handled in the first game, though I do not know Author’s take on this.
My 5 cents here is that I enjoyed the way the protagonist was handled in the first game as the overall tone wasn’t harsh, and all the dice rolls, stats and roleplay options made it feel like a tabletop session with buddies, and I feel like introducing heavy personal narrative for the main character at the beginning of the story would compromise that feeling
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One of the main reasons why I created two vastly different branches of Breach 2 (Effectively two separate stories) is because when I was writing Breach 1 I started to realize that people enjoy the game differently and they play their characters very differently. Same reason people like different genres and different stories.
I guess being a chronic people pleaser back when I was designing Breach 2’s storyline, I decided that instead of one story that is occasionally different, In order to please both ends of the spectrum, I decided to write two different stories that occasionally intersects.
This in turn has bit me in the ass and has lead to numerous delays, which has lead Breach 2 down a rabbit of hole of trying to tie up all the loose ends I’ve promised early on and trying my best to just finish the game 
At least, this has been an extremely valuable lesson for me to learn and despite several ups and down in life outside of work, and in work, I am still working on Breach 2 and I have not given up on writing.
Problems with writing two stories at the same time aside, I do not regret making that decision in the beginning, because I’ve seen how many people are able to enjoy the same world and storyline from two completely different perspectives. It’s been extremely fun to write both sides of the story and it lets me explore two different styles of writing at the same time. It’s a lot of work, and it has taken far too long, but I’ve technically finished outlining and coding the Archangel route, and now I need to finish the FBI route.
More update soon about the closed beta test of the full game.
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Honestly, I really feel bad for you. You’ve taken on so much work, forgetting about your health and personal time, all for the sake of our enjoyment. It’s a thankless task, and I want to say that you shouldn’t feel intimidated to prioritise yourself and your personal interests and views over other people’s desires, regardless of whether you disappoint them.
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That’s not entirely true; I’ve noticed quite a few people who were dissatisfied with how the story handles the protagonist as well.
Perhaps it’s my personal preference and bias, but I’ve noticed that stories where the hero is left depersonalised are much weaker than those where they are written in depth, and their different reactions and preferences that the player can choose from are a deconstruction of the same character from different angles.
Of course, only the author has the right to decide how to handle their story and characters. I’m just an anon giving feedback and adding my two cents on how I would personally adjust something.
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I mean… not to be a fence sitter but both styles can be done well
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As far as I’m aware there is sexual attraction in the Raquel romance? So I wouldn’t exactly call it ace.
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