Maybe people believe in the angels because theurgy is clearly real within the game’s world, so it makes sense that anything could be real. But on the other hand, if they have evidence of theurgy, then why don’t more people demand evidence of the angels and Xthonos itself? Even if they believe in the existence of the angels, they’re probably going to suspect that something is up.
I played through the demo and loved it. Keep going I can’t even make any suggestions because I didn’t see any typos, or plotholes.
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@Havenstone - I will understand this is a detail you may not wish to keep track of since it is very minor. However, if you want to remain consistent with a charismatic MC changing a ritual, and you change the whole Sacrament of Compassion (whether declaring yourself Eclect or going the skeptical route), you can create a new ritual with water, fire or air.
Where I’m headed with this…if you wed Breden, shouldn’t the ceremony incorporate the religious changes the MC instituted?
For example, in this text: “Then in the name of Xthonos and all Angels, I declare you wed.” Joana pours dust over your joined hands. "Walk in Order together from this day until you return to Xthonos’ earth.
Where it says Joanna (or whoever) pours dust over your hands. If you went with water, that is easy enough to pour. If fire…maybe a small scar/bond with each other (or whatever). The air could be done…perhaps burning the marriage band from the text:
You don’t realize you’re holding your breath until Breden has echoed the vow. The wedding knot is wrapped around your wrists, gauzy but firm.
Additionally, I don’t know if you would like to add a little more in the situation if you have Linos declare you Eclect, but have enough Charisma to change the Sacrament a little…and take him prisoner.
Basically, if you pick:
I want to lead my followers in a new Sacrament that I’ve devised
Linos reaction is: Linos’ eyes are wide and horrified, but at the near-unanimous cheering of your band he holds his tongue. (There is nothing wrong here, I’m just putting this here for direction)
You might have Linos address the situation for changing the Sacrament…or see him going with the old Sacrament, and causing a morale loss within the band.
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This is arguably untrue. You’re right, They won’t save your life; but the faithful may find themselves helped nonetheless in their final extremity.
There will be evidence for the existence of Angels (and Xthonos, and the Theoi of the Abhumans, and Ummay of the Halassurqs, and the Forgotten Gods of the Wiends) present throughout the series, but it will remain less than conclusive. As in our world, many people make a commitment based on less-than-conclusive evidence.
For some Shayardenes, the question of evidence never occurs because of the social pressure to accept the majority worldview. Of the others, as in our world, some manage to fool themselves into thinking that they do have absolutely conclusive evidence. And some recognize that the evidence falls short of proof, but conclude that they have evidence enough to choose belief rather than agnosticism.
Analogies to other questions of evidence in the game are decidedly intentional, as I alluded to three and a half years ago:
Needless to say, I wouldn’t agree that this represents faith being stronger than logic – or perhaps I would if we allowed that “faith” (in the sense of the choice of axioms and rules of reasoning) is a necessary starting point for all logic.
Not quite. The belief in kenon for them is held alongside their belief in compassionate Angels – as @Frogs pointed out, if you try to push them out of all belief, they won’t follow you down the path of kenon. For wholesale skepticism, you need to go to Nyryal, where the comprehensive failure of the gods (initially a traumatic historical experience) has become an article of faith.
@Lys, you’re earning that Extraordinaire again even before we officially get to beta. Thanks so much. 
There should already be different sacraments on offer in the wedding. Did you not get it even when you’d come up with a new ritual?
*if sacrament = 0
pours dust over your joined hands.
*if sacrament = 1
spills sacramental water over your joined hands.
*if sacrament = 2
beckons to the other outlaws, and the susurration of sacramental breath rises from all around you.
*if sacrament = 3
hands you two lamps, whose sacramental flames you unite over the knot.
As for Linos, if you’ve got CHA < 2, he will intervene, and successfully… but if you’re CHA 2, he recognizes that he can’t shut you down and decides to hold his tongue.
@Noahendless, glad you liked it, and thanks!!
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My problem with the religion is that I can’t really lie in the game. Mara is atheist, however she fake being devout. Then all flavor text and everything says about how devout I am. even mentally. When my character is inside tired of pretending. I think the game need a better tracking of lying.
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Well, the stats have been in place to do that for a little while now. I’ll do a review of where I’m using skep and where I’m using skepreal, and make sure the text about your thoughts is set by skepreal instead of skep.
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For instance at beginning of the band . I have the option of lying or being sincere about what drives me.
My character wants be sincere in being both Ruthless and nacionalist. And there is no choice for me because I didn’t have choice of lying in religion. My character doesn’t found interesting lie about religion until being in the band. And like that she can’t lie. So I have to say I want be sincere when I totally not.
Looks like you are right. Heck, for all I know, I might have hit a temporary glitch of things.
And some others refuse to make that commitment based on less than conclusive evidence, not to mention the history of organised religion vilifying and persecuting them. Both of them happen to be the case for my former helot.
Sounds like my mc’s kind of place, sadly we probably won’t get there until the fourth installment. Where do Erezza and Wiendrj fall on this spectrum, considering how they were never part of the Xthonic heartlands of Shayard and Karagon?
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What I would love is being atheist and pretending be devoted. Sadly I can’t make it work.
Also @Havenstone I found a bug I am in the mission of smuggling for merchants I select mission and it says is done but mission still being selectable and doesn’t work So I can’t
receive the reward
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There isn’t much in the index. Wiendrj gets a brief mention with this line: Many Whends still secretly revere the Forgotten Gods.
It puts me in mind of like rural areas, or what have you that still held to the ‘Old Ways’ while adhering the dominant religion around them.
Erezza isn’t mentioned at all, but considering they are at the forefront of the on-again, off-again war with the Halassurqs, it wouldn’t surprise me if they didn’t have some influence in that regard as well as the normal Xthonos religion
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Guess I’ll have to change that to include options for partial sincerity. CoG policy is to avoid binary choices, after all.
As it happens, I was just stuck for 24 hours in a rural town with nothing but the clothes on my back and cash in my pocket… so I picked up a notebook and spent the day updating my schema for future XoR installments to make sure they fit some of the things I’ve dreamt up over the past few years. On the current plan, XoR III: Omphalos will end in Nyryal (visiting the Thaumatarchy’s space program, naturally), and you’ll have the option to visit the Nyrish capital in XoR IV: Betrayal.
As I think we mentioned above, the first major Nyr character will pop up in the first chapter of XoR II: Stormwright, so you’ll have the chance to hang out even before you visit.
XoR IV, by the way, will include the option to begin in Aveche – though not to begin work on a canal.
The average Erezziano is a devout Xthonos-worshipper; among all the other reasons, it heightens the contrast between their identity and that of the Halassurq enemy. The Wiends are not skeptics, but they believe they no longer know the truth – that it was lost at the time of the conquest. Unless and until they rediscover the forgotten truth, they’ve little reason to object to the rites of the Hegemony; but they’re scarcely passionate about it. More on that in XoR II, and you’ll have the option to visit Wiendrj halfway through XoR III to properly engage with it.
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Not looking for specifics, but do you foresee allowing the MC to tailor their faith a bit more as the player comes into contact with other cultures/ideas? (At least for those who initiated such things, of course)
The reason I ask…as an example, I admit to being fascinated with how Abhumans might view things. Since the Karagonds would consider a Goete MC as a servant of Xaos, as they do the Abhumans, I could see a Goete possibly incorporating some of the more palatable (if any) bits of Abhuman beliefs.
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Yeah, I think that’s needed. I gofor a materialist nihilist atheist character that fake being devote of truth sayardene faith because politics. As it is now or I am x or I am y. Not really more varied spectrum
Edit @Havenstone Zad died no idea why and Ghost elery and Ghost Breden appear crying.
He dies very stupid due text says I successful avoid any contact with Hector men. In the battle with two nobles 9 men died included Zad dies. Ejem, I successful avoid any contact Also is game forced into 3 men dying in wqinter due I don’t do anything aggressive, have food and no ill people but always 3 men die just because
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I don’t know if this is worth investigating, but I think I should mention it.
I seem to have stumbled upon a way to boost one’s popularity with the yeomanry, often getting described “You are quickly becoming a folk hero to the yeoman.” at the end of winter. I hesitate to call this a bug, and I don’t know if it works for anyone else.
Basically, if I take control of the feeding, etc. during the winter, one of my first acts is to have a really large swarm of bandits raid yeoman farms for grain and mules. I don’t go into the mule screen to do this, but the very top one (where you can also choose Tithe barns, etc.) Now, this definitely makes the yeoman hate my guts.
However, especially if I raided like the Alastors/Monastery for mules, a few weeks later, after I sell 3-4, I have enough money to replenish the grain I had stolen from the Yeoman, and this seems to cause a significant bump in popularity…and if I don’t raid them any further that winter, that’s when I often get the “folk hero” descriptor. Not always, but it’s happened enough in my last few playthroughs to be noticeable.
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Just a general comment, I know the majority of players will probably never see it, but I just want to say that the parts for someone not interested in a physical relationship…well, I thought they were well done, and actually more heart-wrenching with regard to Breden. Good job @Havenstone.
And on that note, if you are so inclined…if one breaks up with Breden over it, and then gets with de Firiac…you might want to add some commentary where de Firiac basically asks, “Weren’t you with Breden?” and the MC explains why…
And there is a slight inconsistency, at least on this current playthrough. If you do stay with Breden, marrying her in secret, she then tells you what to do with the Kryptast.
The inconsistency lies in that you will kiss her, but up to that point you refrained from physical intimacy
Minor Correction as well. This paragraph has two sets of quoted lines. They should be separate paragraphs.
“I couldn’t bear to lose you either.” “I do want to marry you, Alya. That’s why your asking me this morning hit so hard. I’d thought it would never be more than a dream. And what I’d dreamed was… something very different to what we have now.”
Basically, after “lose you either.” and “I do want to…”
And oh it was so satisfying to destroy the Phalangites in the end.
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I think the cover art should represent something present in every playthrough. The Harrower is tempting but I too am not sure how it would be drawn. Another option that occurs to me is when the MC as a child first sees a Plektos and its Theurge. The MC at that time is young enough that gender need not be obvious in the artwork and the Plektos should look fairly impressive.
I apologize that it took me so long to comment on the latest update. I’ve had a lot happening in real life. Here are my comments and observations in no particular order:
When holding Horion and Linos hostage and sending the ransom note to the Keriatou, Linos complains about the note having been sent to the Alastors.
During the second week of fighting over the summer, the casualties are greater than the remaining number of rangers.
If there are not enough mules for the sick the first time Theurges fly over, then the estimate of the number of mules needed is much higher than the normal estimate you get when talking to the Abler.
A MC that wanted to convince the Band to retreat to the Xaoslands or possibly a skeptical MC would have no reason to conceal Yed Gaverne’s story of people living and farming in the Xaoslands.
During the winter if you intend on raiding both the priests and Alastors for mules while also sending scouts to find the next batch of Hegemony mules, it is necessary to send scouts after more Hegemony mules before raiding the priests and Alastors because the option to send scouts is no longer available after raiding the priests and Alastors that week.
During the winter, the opportunity to take action ends as soon as you run out of free bandits even if the MC or Breden are still free. This means for example that the MC or Breden would need to be assigned to try to get mules before the last free bandits are used up.
I am so happy to be able to recruit Etthena who (by the description) I hope is a CHA 2 replacement for Breden. I honestly don’t think that Breden is a Hegemony spy. This is actually a pity because after how insulting (different insults depending on whether the MC is a noble or a helot), oblivious (Breden complains about feeling insulted by the MC but Breden publicly insults the MC even after everything the MC has done), and arrogant (Breden seems to feel that Breden’s tender feelings are more important than the security of the rebellion and that the only possible reason why a noble MC would reject Breden’s advances is prejudice against Helots as opposed to really disliking Breden) Breden acts towards a MC that rejects Breden’s advances or who quite reasonably suspects Breden, my MC would have relished personally executing Breden if Breden were proven a traitor. Since instead it appears that Breden is merely a coward and/or incompetent as shown if Breden is sent to bring in Horion and Linos, my MC was resigned to tolerating Breden’s presence for the sake of Breden’s skills and using Breden’s skills only when there was no better way.
Even when the MC actively distrusts and is testing Breden, the MC is still stuck with Breden on the trip back from raiding the sheep flock if the MC is using the “trick for avoiding Theurges” and not already romancing anyone. I would prefer the choice to pick who to accompany on the way back. I am very tired of having Breden shoved down our throats. During the end of winter celebration when Breden asks the MC to dance, I resent the implication that every MC would feel something at seeing Breden dancing with Ciels. After Breden’s insults at the end of Chapter 1 if Breden was told that Breden was under suspicion, I think it is quite plausible that a MC that had been that insulted by Breden would feel no attraction to Breden whatsoever. Physical attraction when they first met before they knew each other is one thing, but forcing the MC to still feel attracted to someone who had so gravely insulted the MC is nonsense. My MC would have liked the option to punch or slap Breden immediately after some of those insults.
There appear to be numerous points in the storyline where a romance with Breden can start, but so far as I know there is only one place where a MC attracted to Kalt’s gender can start a romance and one other place where a MC not attracted to Kalt’s gender can start a romance. I cannot comment on Simon/Suzanne because I came to dislike that character and in my opinion the only way to recruit that character anyway was to give less than the utmost effort at beating the Hegemony which is just silly for a rebellion. I think there need to be more places in the storyline to allow a relationship to develop with ROs other than Breden.
I also think that future games should unlock more existing characters as ROs. @Havenstone does such a wonderful job of developing the personalities of many of those characters that it should hardly be surprising that MCs would feel drawn to some of them. I don’t think it is unreasonable to suppose that an INT 2 MC might value intellect above all else in a RO and the current ROs are either COM 2 or CHA 2. I find Yebben fascinating and for storyline reasons Ganelon if still alive would also be an interesting RO. I don’t have the heart to come between Elery and Zvad however. I would also note that a MC wanting a physical relationship with a RO should not rule out romantic moments with the RO as well. There is no reason a relationship cannot be both physical and romantic.
I have not tried dispersing the Band in summer since the latest patch, but prior to the latest patch it tended to result in taking high casualties when attempting to escape the enemy pincer movement. I think it is counter-factual to suppose that a smaller band would have more problems escaping the encirclement than a larger band. It makes sense that a smaller band could not field as many rangers but it should have an easier time escaping encirclement considering that most of the children are away and there are roughly half as many people. While the Band is preparing to send off the children, there is no reason why the ones staying behind cannot train for night movement particularly since the ones staying behind know they will need to evade the Hegemony.
In Chapter 4, if the Band decides its course by moot and Breden’s faction’s has the most support and the MC fails to persuade Breden to change Breden’s mind, then the game talks about the Band implementing the agreed upon course but it is always to evade the Hegemony in the woods not to disperse as Breden advocated.
So far as I can tell, there is not yet any text to describe what a MC does with any remaining phials of Aetherial Blood before entering the Xaoslands.
If you pick Yebben to lead the Band in your absence, he “stares at you with dawning, horrified realization” which might be an appropriate reaction for anyone else you might pick to lead but I am not sure how realistic the staring part is considering Yebben’s blindness.
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Smallest band possible hasn’t children or old people. I infact have about 40 something for last battle. I am happy with the results now. I could run rather successfully after desmoralize totally the phallanx accusing destroy Shallard 90% nacionalism and charisma . @Havie stats still including Children I don’t know as death, and more deaths as soldiers I have.
Also I don’t have Breden and I haven’t any sabotage nor poisoning
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is there a guide for this? i can never beat the phalangites completely playing as a theumaturge, even with 200 somewhat fighters
Don’t bother putting one together just yet, anybody. There’s some major game balancing work about to happen – just as soon as I’ve whacked the last identifiable bugs in the code.
I think we will have one last alpha update sometime in the coming week, and then we’ll go to beta.
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