From a Doylist perspective, it’s a function of the game that Guen can never be really offered a meaningful choice to not get married, though, so that’s a little hard to pin specifically on Arthur. Guen can express her feelings on the matter numerous times to numerous people, which I like! One of the great parts of this game is how it allows you to uniquely shape your feelings on the things happening to you even if you can’t directly change them. Really, you just get offered sympathy for it though - neither Lance nor Morgana encourage her to make a run for it. Even if it was in character, the game can’t diverge so radically from the main path.
From a Watsonian perspective, I think Arthur is guilty of being insensitive and somewhat hypocritical in his conservatism - marriages to secure alliances being after all, the norm for nobility in the vague time periods the game is based on. I’m hopeful that some of the changes Guen can make to Britain involve changing these things.
Some of you are wanting Arthur to pressure Guen into having sex with him (wtf) and I’m just here hoping that I get to tell him to bugger off and find himself a mistress like all “good” kings do. He can make himself a bastard that he can legitimize later and I can have myself a Morgana. Win-win.
It’s interesting to see all these people argue over Arthur not giving Guen an actual say in marrying him or not. But then again we probably wouldn’t have this story if she didn’t marry him…
I do agree he is insensitive about some things even though he means well but that’s what makes him relatable to me, so I can’t find myself to hate him. I don’t think it was right for him to exclude Guen from certain things because besides being married together they have to rule together too.
For those of you who reject Arthur I guess it’s fair. Mordred is going to make an appearance in the future anyway lol
Now I can finally see where the people that dislike Arthur are coming from… It feels strange for him to be so direct in some things (like when he didn’t want to kill that guy that would certainly come to kill his wife again, I forgot his name) and evasive/“forgetful” in other issues (like the forced marriage thing), It would be better if he did everything but seemed torn, only doing it to achieve his peace goal in the end.
But I still can’t dislike him, and looking for the bright(?) side, the poor peasant girls have it way worse than us. I still feel bad about our dad pushing us into marrying and looking happy at the wedding, I really wanted to create a scene.
I’ve removed the conversation regarding raping the protagonist from the point at which the OP’s last check-in of the thread. The author has made what they intend to do clear, and unless they want to reopen that point of discussion it’s closed.
More general discussions of ‘gritty realism’ should not happen on individual game threads.
I think a lot of the issues that arise from Arthur’s treatment of the marriage come from a kind of immaturity (he is only 17 at first), but also values dissonance with our modern recognition of rights. He has a more modern ethos than the setting in general on a lot of things, but it’s still evolving, and I would say it makes sense for the characters in the setting to have what we consider to be a backwards conception of how marriages work. For example, Guen’s father does seem to show concern for her safety and welfare on a few occasions, despite pushing her into marriage regardless of her objections. He may honestly consider the marriage to be a positive thing for her that she’ll eventually appreciate, even if from Guen’s perspective that’s honestly not the case and it’s totally gross from our modern perspective.
I don’t know if Jean intended it, but part of the function of circumstances conspiring to keep Guen from meeting Arthur prior to the wedding is that she never really gets a chance to show him how strong her objections may be until it’s “too late.” I imagine things might have gone differently otherwise.
As I and others have said, Guen has to get married for the game to proceed*, so I suppose it’s left to personal interpretation why Guen goes through with the ceremony without fleeing or making a scene. Still being able to choose Guen’s perspective on it though leads to a lot of interesting customizablity.
*I mean, I guess it could lead to a really quick game over:
“Do you want to go through with the marriage despite your personal feelings on the matter?”
Yes
No
"You go back to Cornwall and have a cup of tea and never worry about Camelot again. A few decades later, you hear Arthur’s son totally destroyed the place and think, ‘Nice, bullet dodged.’
This is a good point about Arthur’s age in game,and that his moral convictions are still being developed. If his culturally taught values about marriage have never been challenged, he probably hasn’t given it much thought and just accepts it’s how things are done. In that respect, hopefully an unwilling Guen would be able to change his views on this.
Personally as awful as the underlying situation is, I put most of the responsibility on Guen’s dad, who would be completely aware if she was unwilling, and consents to the marriage against her wishes if she doesn’t say the wedding vow. It’s paternalistic and controlling.
My headcanon for my Guen is that she agreed to marry Arthur without knowing him because she wanted to get out from under her dad’s thumb. A lot of it got sparked by the scene at the wedding reception with Arthur, Guen, Morgana, and Guen’s dad where he totally monopolizes the conversation by talking about hunting. I picture him as caring about her and wanting what’s best in a condescending way, while totally steamrolling her opinions on anything.
Really love all the main characters. Their personalities are very well done. Morgana, Arthur and lance are a riot! XD would you be releasing the game to Google app store when it’s done? Your work is so good, it deserves to be published! Please keep up the good work and I can’t wait what happens next to my guen
Wow I had no idea that people disliked Author so much because of the pressure to have sex. I just brushed of because realistically in those days Queens wouldn’t have a choice, therefore I thought Author handled it pretty well. [quote=“jeantown, post:1, topic:1996, full:true”] Guenevere is a character- and relationship-focused interactive novel, planned as a series of seven books. Book I (76,600 words) and the first half (117,200 words) of Book II are now available.
The main character is Queen Guenevere, who finds herself, at the start of Book I, about to enter an arranged marriage to King Arthur. I’ve tried to create a lot of space for the player to imagine different personalities for Guen; she can be played as power-hungry or kind or romantic or aloof, etc. She can have a wide range of feelings about, and relationships with, her husband Arthur, his sister Morgana, and his best friend Lancelot. Guen can be played as bi/pan, lesbian, asexual, or straight, and can have romances with any or all of the three main characters.
It’s a personality-focused game. My main goal has been to design NPCs that are responsive, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, to Guen’s actions. Book I’s central purpose is for the player to define Guen’s personality. By the end of Book II, Guen’s choices (in conjunction with her skills, reputation, and relationships) will start to have major repercussions on the world around her. By the end of the series, Guen’s lifetime of choices will determine the fate of Camelot.
Realistic in a world with magical carrots giants and lust spells… I hate hippie a lot but not for forcing sex.He is a big hypocrit that does all contrary of he says. His vision contrast a lot what he does. He hide his incest son instead of legitimate it like should do. All that bullshit about everyone equal, but he insists in make stronger nobility. He is focused in himself and his wonderful vision so much that he doesn’t notice if Guen is good or not if he gets what he wants.
What do you think would happen if he said that Mordred was his biological son? I mean we know that when Mordred finds out its going to be a disaster (how could it not be?), but I haven’t heard any thoughts about how it would be if he knew from the beginning.
He would be critized yes. But he is the supposed big HIPPIE TRUTH PALADIN… he lies more than he talks. In Spanish medieval many kings and even queens legitimate bastards,or even say here this are my bastards I won’t legitimate them but I will recognize them as such and give them a education or job, or a pay. Many war heroes were bastards.
He hides his son because is convenient for him, nor kingdom nor Mordred. Not even Morgana.
Arthur is a hypocrital who believes his own lies.And have a very big ego… He is perfect, his ideas are always perfect so he could do as he please like with the sheeps.
(Hippie truth paladin would make for a cool bumper sticker)
So it seems more like Arthur is protecting Arthur, rather than Arthur is protecting Mordred? That’s a fair viewpoint. I’m not sure how I would be able to tell a child that they were conceived unwillingly by both parents (since both Arthur and Morgana are going to be raped using magic), and I can understand not ever wanting him to know that for a lot of reasons, but I also understand that Mordred would feel devastated, rejected and betrayed when he he inevitably find out. Its hard for me to form an opinion and I appreciate hearing yours.
Also: the sheep. Oh my god… I nearly cried from frustration when I got to that scene.
I grew up surrounded by sheep farms (never had sheep myself though) and I didn’t know that either. I’ve seen them go up and down hills and ramps, I just took it for granted that stairs wouldn’t be so different lol.
