Have you read the What makes you fall in love? (with an NPC) thread? Lot of great responses in there.
Probably just me, but I want an interesting story. I don’t mind what the NPC’s gender/appearance/sexuality/personality/species/etc is or care if it has a happy ending; give me an interesting romance story or have the romance make the main story more interesting and I’ll be there.
Gave it a try just now, and I'd say it depends.
My first impression from the prologue was the game is going to be heavy on immersive setting, lore, exposition, and character interaction, but low on tension and action. This impression is enhanced by the first few interactions we have with the game. The very first page has a next button instead of a choice, and most of the early choice options are about observing, learning, or theorizing about the world, rather than taking decisive action in it. Some choices felt entirely like exposition.
For example:
“When does the Meredith leave?”
- “I’m ordered to report aboard today.”
- “We sail tomorrow on the morning tide.”
- “Tomorrow, unless we’re delayed.”
I get the sense all three of these statements are true regardless of what you pick. And which one is said doesn’t really say much about who the PC is as a person, so to me at least, this choice wasn’t very engaging. Hastily written example, but something like
“When does the Meredith leave?”
- “We sail tomorrow on the morning tide.”
- “I’m ordered to report aboard today.” This wasn’t what was asked, but it’s considerate to make sure Hari knows I have to leave soon.
- “Tomorrow, unless we’re delayed.” I’m always hyper-aware of all the things that can go wrong.
would’ve been more interesting to me.
Based on the amount of words spent with Hari and Gupta, I’d expect them to be characters who’ll appear again, though maybe as a brief cameo.
If these impressions are correct, I think the prologue is perfect.
Speaking generally, I’m not personally terribly fond of prologues. I prefer a cold open that just starts the plot, no preamble, but I also pretty much only read/write thrillers and action, with some exceptions made for interesting settings or being weird and novel.
FWIW, I would buy Magic at the Masthead after reading the prologue. The prologue would just have me going in thinking I’m buying it for a cool world to sightsee in, rather than any Broadsides/Foraker-like action.