Choice of Rebels: Uprising — Lead the revolt against a bloodthirsty empire!

[Norilinde]

@poison_mara

And you what’s your main pc has changed with time?

Hmmm. Probably one of the biggest changes is how much my MC came to hate Breden the more my MC knew of Breden.

@Norilinde

@Ramidel

Unless you’re an aristocrat, it’s impossible to even dislike them until it becomes apparent that there’s a traitor.

Even noble MCs are forced to still feel attracted to Breden months later at the end of winter celebration even if the MC has had months to come to dislike Breden.

@idonotlikeusernames

Heroes Rise with Black Magic and Psy High are far worse offenders here. I simply said it irks me a bit.

I actually think Breden is worse than those two. When I first played this game, I actually liked Breden. However, the problem with Breden is that “less is more”, by which I mean “the less you know Breden, the more you’ll like Breden”. Conversely, “the more you know Breden, the less you’ll like Breden”. Breden is not only a RO shoved down our throats, Breden is a deliberately intensely flawed RO who after you have played enough different paths proves to be both arrogant and cowardly.

@Havenstone

Straight characters have only one RO in this game: Breden. As I’ve said elsewhere, apologies, but I’ve written a rebellion that is an extremely poor dating service.

There’s no “being straight later on.” Your choice when you first encounter Breden determines whether you’re attracted to men, women, or neither. The choice of “both” comes later, when you meet Kalt/a or Simon/Suzane. It is possible with a bit of squinting to ignore that, as @Ramidel says, and the author’s intent is binding on no one.

As stated by @Havenstone in the XOR 1 WIP thread:

Breden belongs (by definition) to a sex that you’re attracted to. That’s part of the mix that’s meant to make your relationship with Breden complex and memorable. I’m still not convinced that the initial pang of attraction should be a choice, any more than I get a choice in real life to feel attracted to a striking, highly charismatic woman. As you get to know Breden better, there are almost immediately options that take you down a not-attracted-to-this-individual path. As a noble, you can be pissed off at her manipulation of you in the helot meetings, you can reject her, and when she forces the issue in Ch 2, you can shut it down permanently. I wholly understand people hankering for noble romance options from your preferred sex, but I’m afraid I don’t intend those to crop up until Game II – when they will crop up in abundance.

and

The MC isn’t forced to like Breden. She’s attractive, and starts the game interested in you; but you can have a wide range of responses to her, many of which will quickly put the relationship into collegial or hostile territory. And yes, a non-bi MC has Breden or no one in Game 1. (Unless, as Taylor says, you interpret the initial “you couldn’t help noticing how attractive s/he was” as, for example, the way I inevitably recognize Channing Tatum as an attractive guy despite being straight myself). Other ROs will pop up in Game 2.

The first game is already out so I am less concerned with things that are too late to change than with how the sequels will be.

If the MC is a covert wisard and stops the Fourth Harrowing with a speech involving knowledge of the weak position of the Theurges, then Breden actually joins in though whether the MC feels Breden deserves any credit for that depends on whether or not the MC thinks Breden is a traitor and thus whether or not Breden’s life was ever at risk.

However if the MC stops the Fourth Harrowing as an overt wisard then Breden contributes absolutely nothing so my MC feels stronger grounds for suspecting Breden. Then if the MC gives the perfectly honest and reasonable answer that the MC is not sure who to trust, Breden actually has the gall to say:

Breden’s face hardens. “I thought I’d earned more of your trust than that, de Serin. Damn it, how do you hope to lead this band without relying on anyone?”

You keep your voice and eyes steady. “I’ll rely only on people who prove themselves trustworthy. The stakes are too high for me to make an exception for my friends. Even close friends.”

“Close friends? Xthonos burn you, you brainsick dandy. This isn’t about finding traitors. You’re just like the rest—behind all your pretty words, you still believe that only nobles can be trusted to lead.” You open your mouth to protest, but Breden cuts you off. “See how many helots will give you their trust when you’re so sparing with your own.” He stalks away.

My noble MC gave up EVERYTHING and risked the MC’s own life to try to save the MC’s friends while Breden did absolutely NOTHING. I don’t know whether or not the noble culture permits or encourages dueling to resolve disputes. If so, then Breden should count himself/herself lucky my MC had COM 0 or my MC would have been tempted to draw steel to settle that. As it is, I imagine my MC clutching tightly to the phials of aetherial blood and repeatedly reasoning out that Breden is not worth wasting blood for wisardry on.

At the end-of-winter celebration, the MC is forced to still feel attracted to Breden and Breden has the oblivious gall to ask the MC to dance. Rather than attraction, it would be closer to barely contained fury. In the strongest possible terms, I resent that the MC is still forced to feel attracted to Breden months after their first meeting and months after the mortal insults Breden gave to the MC. The only aspect of my MC that would still feel an irresistible attraction to Breden by the end-of-winter celebration after how insulting and arrogant Breden had been is my MC’s steel blade. Just because my MC treats helots with the same decency as any human being would deserve does not mean my MC is willing in any way, shape, or form to forgive or forget Breden’s arrogant oblivious rudeness.

and

@Norilinde

@Eric_knight

Actually Breden’s main strength is her/his charisma and organising skill… Breden’s charm help to unify the rebels and for my case, she help get me donation in term of Mules , food, money and shelter for the children… these are essential for my rebellion since i am leading “minimum violence” rebellion … where i never even once rob and raid other villages , my anarchy remain 2 at the end of winter, everyday me and Breden had to visit different place to request donation to get us through the winter without robbing, and with her charisma added to mine, the discontent among my rebels basically are non existence …

under real life situation , charm and charisma are the Beacon of hope … which i am grateful that Breden is on my side and she gave me her Kryptast code , which is the most sacred weapon of the spy-assassin organisation

To be clear, I meant Breden had the nerve to insult the MC after Breden did absolutely NOTHING at the Fourth Harrowing. I am well aware that Breden is supposed to be charismatic and I have seen the Kryptast code scene. My MC reluctantly puts up with Breden’s personality for the sake of Breden’s skills since during winter the band has no other charismatic options since my MC only has CHA 1. Breden’s true personality shines through at the Fourth Harrowing, if you express caution as to whom to trust, and if you send Breden to bring in the strangers in the woods. None of these things reflect well on Breden.

By “minimum violence” rebellion, I assume you mean the one where your MC and Breden stand by and do nothing while the children are Harrowed?

@idonotlikeusernames

This goes for any mc at the Harrowing, doubly so for an open theurge. Of course the helot mc doesn’t have to give up anything, quite the contrary. Still Breden is always highly suspicious and at least somewhat unreliable no matter what.

The helot also doesn’t get called a “dandy”.

Yes, the helot MC is better off as a rebel regardless. My noble MC however particularly as an overt wisard was not amused by Breden’s speech and for Breden to expect my overt wisard MC to agree to dance was delusional at best. “Breden, that ship hasn’t sailed. It was torpedoed and then the sunken wreck was depth-charged.”

@Norilinde

@Havenstone

I hear this, and after the next XoR update, the following response should be available when Breden asks you to dance:

#“With you? I’d sooner throw myself into the fire.” I can’t keep my dislike for ${xhim} in check any longer.

Thank you @Havenstone. I hope the MC gets the chance to throw Breden’s own insults following the Fourth Harrowing back in Breden’s face.

I also liked Elery until I realized she was one of Breden’s bootlickers and an ingrate although this really ties into views on Breden.

With the recent lore info, it looks like my MC’s rebellion will have to do some kind of harvesting of aetherial blood. Prior to the lore dump, I had assumed that merely training people to use their own blood would cancel out the advantages of Theurges using aetherial blood but that appears not to be the case. My MC is not willing to permit the rebellion to fail so my MC’s rebellion is going to be a case of total war.