We can’t really tell yet, because the future games haven’t come out. But I think the former, not that I ever choose to do it.
The Eclect (as well as the skeptic route) acts as a failsafe once if you fail at running away/evading, and it’s also fairly good for martyring if you choose to fight.
You have to keep up being “pious” though if you choose the former route. You’d better reacquaint yourself with the religion.
Your “new religion” will still reference the Angels (I think it’s the Fantasy Protestantism choice, anyway) unless it’s skepticism/kenon (which is very, very hard to set up and says something about freeing the people from all phantasms).
It depends on a lot of things: which one would you choose, your mc would choose, do you other priests in the band, do you want skeptics in the band do you have the necessary CHA or breden with you.
Remember it’s the 1st game in a series, until the rest come out we don’t know how any these will affect the story ahead.
Eclect is the safer route, it gives you more control over your band.
Inner Voice gives you more armed followers, but if you executed the winter poorly (eg too few arms, too many Breden runs), you’ll end up worse off.
A while back I did some really successful Inner Voice runs, but when I went back to try to do them again, I couldn’t micro the winter well enough for it.
Tbh I’m very much a minmaxer, I’m a big fan of games that force you to think through optimizing a character. Choice of Rebels, with the Winter, is one such game. Tower Behind the Moon’s “Transcendence” mechanic is quite innovative and interesting as well (I’m more iffy about the rest of that game though.)
I disagree with you about “Darkness-induced audience apathy” though…I think that comes into play when there’s a sense of futility to the protagonist’s path. Eg what happens to a good chunk of Game of Thrones characters.
In XoR, it never feels like what you’re doing is futile.
Maybe not for you, but for me, who’s been following the development of the series for what, six years? And soaking up all the “future plans” being discussed… I’m not feeling it.
And that’s fine. It’s hard enough slogging through it now. Was never a game made for the oppressed.
The definition, from the laconic version of the page itself: If the world is too dark, the audience won’t care what happens next.
And guess what, I don’t. I uninstalled this game years ago. I’m probably not going to buy the sequels unless they’re on sale or something. It’s not a big deal.
Whether one’s actions can be considered futile really depends on what one’s goals are, so if you only seek to restore Shayard to its former glory, then sure it’s possible.
Rolling over the Karagond Hegemony and then Hallasurq Empire however…that is something as achievable as reconciling Xthonos and Xaos.
Personally, my MC would keep the harrowings as a necessary evil, of course limiting it as much as possible, but relying on people on death row is a bad idea when it comes to having a permanent income. Regarding what he wants to achieve in terms of what the post-Hegemonic order would be, he would seek to unite Shayard, Karagond and Erreza (Erreza being lowest on priorities) while staving off Hallasurq as much as possible, if at all.
Just wanted to second this. XoR is set in a pretty grim world, and people have different thresholds for the amount of grimness they find enjoyable. I’m more grateful than I can say to Laguz for all they’ve contributed to the game’s ideas despite finding it a joyless slog.
Btw, over on the FB page, I’ve just posted in response to a reader who asked for a timing update:
Well, the first XOR took six years, and if you’re planning to make the writing full-time once your job ends in 3-4 years time… we’ll have been waiting nine, even ten years for the first two games…
People are obsessed with having the stuff NOW.GOOD work needs love and time. You probably could release faster with a more linear traditional Cog style and that would give you more money from a commercial perspective, however, I prefer your style with complex mechanics and so many choices…If someone comes here complaining of time I will grumpy reply to them. No one will stress have on my watch.
And I think Mara and myself will be in our forties, on the wrong side of it in my case. 34 is plenty young, though it may not seem like that to you now.
Heck if Havie does take 20+ years that’s liable to put me over 50.
I can’t even imagine the work necessary to make a game like this. All that planning and writing… I’d probably take 2099090837274 years, so if it takes 20, that’s commendable in my opinion haha.
I’m not a linguistic prescriptivist. What I see when I talk to people looking at grimdark stuff is that it’s like a mechanical bull.
GOT (and Macbeth) SPOILERS BELOW
Some people got turned off GoT because of the unrelentingly grimdark setting.
Some people got turned off after Eddard got beheaded.
Some people got turned off after the Red Wedding.
Some people got turned off after Theon —> Reek’s interminable torture.
Some people (myself included) got turned off after Show Stannis’ demise in the North. I agreed that Stannis was written as a tragic figure and should have had a tragic end, but it should have been a great and epic end (as they hyped it up to be.) What happened to Show Stannis is akin to Fleance going apesh*t and murdering Macbeth in Act III. We can all agree the play wouldn’t have been nearly as good if that happened.
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Anyways, I guess we just have different thresholds for grimdark, and that’s fine.
Sorry, I didn’t have time to read all that because as I said before: it’s fine. I get flashbacks to my abuse. The oppression rings true for me as a trans disabled person. I live through a gruelling slog. I don’t particularly want to play a gruelling slog.
I don’t know why you’re trying to start something over what your definition of “grimdark” is, as if what my definition is isn’t dark enough for you, and I should have a higher tolerance. Again, it’s fine. The story isn’t for me. It’s not a personal offence toward Havenstone or his writing, and people should stop trying to change my mind.
It’s fine. That’s it! It’s fine. Problem solved, thing over. I don’t know why this is still an open topic, because as far as I’m concerned it’s closed.
34 is plenty young, though it may not seem like that to you now. 
