Obviously I respect the author here but with some of the stats I’m seeing, I’m kind of worried of XoR falling to the “Star Wars Worldbuilding” problem where things start to unravel because the universe expands and now there are actually 100,000+ populated planets and 50,000+ star destroyer ships. So now the Hegemony has 1.000.000+ soldiers and 50.000+ theurges and probably ten thousand ships, thousands of plektoi, etcetera. Now, I will get a lot of responses to justify why this makes sense, but I just wanna say, you gotta be careful with these things. I think the MC’s victory in the end of b1 already felt minor when the Hegemony had at least “tens of thousands of soldiers” across the Rim, now with them having upwards of a million its like, well, its not just minor, it just doesn’t even matter, a hundred separate rebellions could win the same battle and inflict the same casualties across the Hegemony and it wouldn’t really matter. May wanna track levels of mobilization there? What if 1.2 million was the maximum, the upper limit the Hegemony could sustain in case of an existential invasion by say Abhumans, the east and from across the Wards at once? Again love the setting just worries me a tad.
I think this may be resolved with the Grand Shayard arc in game 3. That and game 4 seem like where the scale up is going to happen.
These number have been there for a long time. I would say hegemonys size is one of big problems that mc will face in next game. Especialy food. Ending harowing wont be all sunshine and roses.
That number is not even that big 18-19 century empires which hegemony is roughly equvivalent could poot more people in armys as precentage of there population if they needed.
Funily one of reasons why mc takls about great rebelion is becouse he has no idea whats hes up against.
And whille you are right mc victory dose not matter from practical power balance perspective it dose matter from political and image perspective. And both of those things are very important if you want to people join you.
Some time ago, I suggested that the masquerade flashback also happen if the MC joins neither the villagers nor the nomad band. Here is a justification that I might not have mentioned: an MC that fails to join the nomad band would miss nearly an entire chapter’s worth of content for no good reason. The masquerade would help to fill the gap in the missing content, especially because nearly nobody would see it otherwise
Havie, have you ever heard of The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart? Your description of slums in the shadow of Aekos’ palace reminds of the relationship between the floating spires of Sanctaphrax and the industrial Undertown beneath, as beautifully illustrated by Chris Riddell:
(The series is worth reading for his artwork alone, it’s a stunning collection of wonder and grotesquery that still sticks in my mind decades later.)
That’s because, in game one, the MC is nothing. I don’t see these huge numbers as a problem, I see them as a promise. It’s a promise that, even though we started dancing with a tagma of three hundred, soon enough we’ll be going up against the might of a state with over a million soldiers under arms. It’s a promise that, no matter how bad things get, this massive bloated empire can’t stand forever, that it will fall, and we’ll be instrumental in doing so. The opening narration of Uprising said as much, and I’m here to enjoy the ride.
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Do the powers that be/elites opposed to the MCs rebellion ever refer to a Helot MC as ‘Name t’Keriatou’? Or is their actual last name widespread enough to be common parlance everywhere? Would someone ever do it to disrespect/get a rise out of a helot MC?
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@Havenstone would something like this be a roughly accurate Xthonist depiction of an Angel?
Forgive the rough quality, I’m sketching on my phone, but this seems the most literal interpretation of the text I can come up with. Is this sort of creature your vision? I’m trying to imagine how they move, do they just hover around or are they supposed to like, fly like an eastern dragon, all sinuous?
A little something I have been thinking about is Archonty names in Karagond (well, Greek). Koine seems to have maintained some of the spellings and stresses that Modern Standard Greek has not but I think I can make a few good guesses.
I will start with Shayard which in my opinion could be translated in two ways. If the name developed independently because of the river Serde then I think the archony would be called Σερδία (Serdia). Alternatively if it is a translation of Shayard, I could see the Karagond name being Σαγιάρη (Sayari). Of course the capital would be either Μέγα Σερδία or Μέγα Σαγιάρη (Mega Serdia/Mega Sayari).
The second easiest to identify would be Wiendrj which I think could only be translated as Βενδρία (Vendria). I opted to translate Wiendwic as Βενδόπολη (Vendopoli) because I think its how they would do it, probably. Frankly I am surprised none of the capitals have been renamed to something like Herapolis.
Erezza is kind of trickier. I think the most likely name is something like Ερέζη (Ereze) but I am not that confident on it at the moment. The capital is easier, I think Σορέτο (Soreto) is fairly easy to incorporate into the Greek language.
Nyryal, I think, is the one most likely to have an exonym for a Karagond name thus I would wager that ‘Nyryal’ is not the actual Koine name. But assuming the name is in fact maintained in Karagond Koine, I think it would something like Νήρη (Nere) with its people called Νήρηδες (Nirides). I think Nyrnakan would again most likely be translated as something like Νηρόπολη (Niropoli)
1 million soldiers.
The Hegemony are literal idiots and brainless then. I didn’t expect that number!
Wow, I didn’t expect them to be so moronic and illogical.
This hurts my brain.
1 mil soldiers compared to how many civilians.
They decide instead of drawing little blood from each, to killing slaves. Yep, definitely the stupidest thing for them when millions could give far more, efficiently.
Bloodletting is old as well, old as fuck. They are more than capable. They deserve to die then! Illogical brainless Hegemony.
So easy to deal with the blood issue to keep magic border. Unless its soul fed. Thats even worse of an issue, slaves will fail to feed overtime without rebellions. Hegemony are still illogical with. Millions?! They resort to what, billions of slaves?
Usually enslaved people easily double citizens otherwise, enslaving needs is bit nullified, right?
Edit to add. I thought all this was just in typical hundreds, at most thousands. I never got into 2 yet, barely thru 1.
240 million, about half of which are helots.
Slave murder is vastly more efficient than a blood tax, believe it or not. Cerlota explains how/why at the end of Chapter 1 of Stormwright. I recommend you at least play through that much before trying to make any projections about the blood economy.
I’ve been through it for the first time, but I dont recall a lot of things when I went to B2 intro.
Restarted B1 to fix memories. Only recall very few things and the escape through barrier. That person doesn’t ring a bell, most names don’t.
I only played rebels once at release. No saves, thus restarted B1 to get memory of it back. Though I hate first couple chapters of 1. I remember liking the rest.
hegemony is horrible place but they are not idiots. i pity any mc who think’s that they can easily fix its problems. there are reasons why they do things they do and changing them wont be easy and will come with its own costs. drawing blood has its own major downsides and current hegemony cant really sustain itself on that even if they could perfectly do that.
one interesting statistic is these .
also to note that doing blood tax is much more difficult to do
She’s a new character in Stormwright, though you can discover her name in Uprising if you cajole it out of Horion. She’s a renegade Erezziana Theurge who Horion was looking to meet in Szeric, and who flees to the Xaos-Lands in search of you once you cross. Or, as the Discord might put it, “dommy lesbian vampire MILF”. They’re fans.
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@Havenstone How old is Hiera Olynna supposed to be? I said ~50, but there’s some debate.
Wait. I MISSED THIS?! Fuck…
I need to be certain to talk to, that person!
Don’t worry you interact with them in book 2 no matter what, you can just learn a bit about them in book 1 if you play your cards right
I already know I am going to melt once I meet her!
Description alone.
I’m getting an error every time I reach the last tower before the vigil. Says something about achievement. And I can’t progress further.
After that error comes up, save your game and reload your save. It’s a CoGdemos issue, not something that Havie can fix.
Hi,
I’m a relative newcomer to the game, having played it for the first time over the new year. I’ve since tried out the demo and thoroughly enjoyed Part I (Xaos wastes story arc), although so far I’m not enjoying Part II (Irduin) nearly as much.
Maybe it’s the change of pace - kinda feels like I went from the Shire (Game 1) to Mordor (Xaos wastes) and now I’m in Bree (Irduin) again.
Anyway, I had a few questions and concerns after trying the demo and thought I’d share them here.
Concerning the Vigil story arc in Part I:
I have to echo this sentiment. I had no idea about the Vigil/Wolfsbait story arc until I started digging through this thread. Personally I don’t like how such an important storyline (the most epic one in the entire game so far) is locked off by an obscure choice in one of the beginnings.
Whether Wolfsbait survives is determined by a very specific dialogue option I imagine most people won’t pick (“Get away from me!”). If it’s the author’s intent to have this story arc locked off by this origin story, then I respect that, but I’d ask to at least consider changing/tweaking the opening so that you can save the helot/Wolfsbait by trying to help him rather than telling him to get away from you and THEN deciding to help him by misleading the Theurge.
Even without the story arc, I think it’s strange that this is the only way to save the helot, especially since this origin story is about starting a revolt because you sympathize with the helots. Why do you need to tell the helot to get lost to save him?
Btw I didn’t know you could save him until I read an achievement guide. Surely I’m not the only one who missed this? I’m guessing most people who choose this beginning do.
Personally, I prefer the religious beginning concerning the nature of the Angels but I’d restart and pick this origin just to be able to access this story arc.
Thoughts on character builds (INT vs other builds)
I’m a bit concerned that Game II (or at least the entire Xaos wastes story arc) heavily favours an INT build. I first tried this with a high CHA character and while I actually enjoyed being helpless (especially with how concerned Breden is if you’re in a romance every time you have a near death experience - which is a lot), I was surprised by just how much more I could do with a high INT character.
Want to levitate? No problem. Cause a rockslide and crush the crab swarm? Go ahead. Multiple ways to help the villagers? Yep. 4 different options using theurgy to deal with the reavers, all resulting in them fleeing or even the death of their leader? Check.
Meanwhile, a high CHA can comfort some sick villagers as they pass away or negotiate an unfair tribute while still getting kicked out or given to the reavers. Although I guess that eventually happens with other builds too, it’s just how utterly powerless and how little agency you have that concerns me.
I understand it’s partly the nature of what you’re dealing with (Xaos wastes, telos, and all that) that heavily favours an INT character, but when speaking to Cerlota about the nature of Xaos wastes as a high CHA character I couldn’t help but think “Someone remind me why I’m in charge again?”
Even all the religious stuff in Part I concerning the Inner Voice seems to be wishful thinking by a player character hopelessly out of their depth and with little understanding of how the world actually works. I understand that might be somewhat realistic but hopefully this can be balanced somewhat later as you craft your religion. It’s like playing a muggle or hobbit bumbling around Mordor while a high INT character gets to play Jedi.
Moving from Part I to II of the demo
I can’t progress with the storyline after finishing Part I. For me, the demo abruptly ends in Sojourn after the conversation with the guy in charge. With the Vigil storyline, the demo also abruptly ends (although with an error message concerning achievements). I can’t progress to Part II other then by starting again and skipping directly to it. Is that just the current state of the demo?
Other miscellaneous thoughts
My player character is referred to as Kuria by everyone, whereas in Game I, I had my rebels call me Captain. Shouldn’t the people accompanying you still use Captain if that’s how they referred to you in Game I? Btw, any hope for a custom title instead?
One more thing, but from Game I - The Inner Voice achievement doesn’t seem to unlock with 2 CHA even if you get everyone on board with your new religion. Is this working as intended?
Finally, concerning Cerlota’s description, just how wide are those lips?! I’ve seen that description (wide lips) at least 4 times. Might I suggest switching it up a bit? Btw, I know this is only vaguely based on real life, but I don’t think Mediterranean people have lips that are super wide. At least based on my own experience in Italy, Spain, and Greece, etc. I assume Erezza is based on Italy/Spain based on in game descriptions, mainly Italy.
Having said all that, I still really enjoyed the demo. The Xaos wastes felt like an odd mix of the Chaos Wastes from Warhammer Fantasy and the Dark Crystal (the crabs!). And I particularly liked how the relationship with Breden continues to develop. In Game I, a full romance basically has you trust her blindly even with her giving you the Kryptast code. And now she’s returning the favour by following you into Taratur itself (as she put it at the end of Game I). I think it’s touching and the best CoG romance I’ve read so far. I haven’t seen any other romance where you can devote yourself so fully to a RO and they to you.
Hope my feedback was helpful. Looking forward to the game’s release later this year!
Have is planning on adding a more action base conclusion to Sojourn and a optional(?) one to Irduin to help with the pacing plus in case you didn’t know if you screw up the meeting with the drapetekyne you can get into a big fight and be actively being hunted for at the start of chapter 3
The platform the demo is on cogdemos is relatively new compared to Dash (the usual demo platform which lost it’s owner) and thus is untested especially a game the size of XOR 2 which is why there are quite a few bugs with scene changes and achievements
CHA helps a lot with stuff in the Irduin chapters though I do agree that outside the religious stuff INT has the most subplots connected to it beforehand (And it’s up in the air right now how much the subplots in Irduin will affect the rest of the series)
In any case it’s great to have more newcomers giving feedback compared to all of us who have both play/read the code of the games a bunch of times and have read most of what Have has said about the series 
There’s not a ton of opportunities for you to do things with Charisma if you are in an area with few people. In Irduin and in the next game in Shayard I expect Charisma will be extremely valuable.