Look, watery tarts handing out swords is not a proper basis for a system of government.
Okay, I wasn’t going to post again until I had an update, but enough is enough already. I absolutely don’t want to come back to this post to find it full of people shitting on the original material who obviously never even read it.
This is folklore that spans a millennia and dozens of countries and hundreds of different authors (that’s before you make the cut-off of what gets considered a modern reinterpretation.) Obviously, something created in the medieval or Renaissance period won’t have modern sensibilities.
King Arthur was a fifth century Briton who fought against the invading Angles, Saxons (Ango-saxons → English) and Franks (France → French). Aside from the Welsh stories, the bulk of Arthurian lore was written by the direct descendants of his enemies. Spoilers: His side lost in the end & were completely overrun by those who would eventually become the English.
There are some later stories that try to remove the Saxons & such and replace them with Saracens, but that’s too little, way too late.
The early characters like Arthur, Merlin, Morgan le Fay, Gawain, and such come across better in the earlier stories, as a popular way to prop up the later characters was to have them act obviously superior to the original characters (who were painted as evil, stupid, ineffectual or whatever best achieved the author’s agenda).
And some authors had really blatant agendas.
This is particularly apparent with the (literal in some cases) demonization of the pagan magic users in the more Christianized tales. Hence, suddenly Merlin & Arthur are acting like psychopathic baby kidnappers out of nowhere in the Post Vulgate written by monks. No, they are not acting like that in most of the stories. And they still got off better than someone like Morgan le Fay.
There’s a version where Merlin got sealed away by the Lady of the Lake for being too horny (especially with her). There’s a version where the Lady sealed him in a castle at the bottom of her lake to be her boytoy that she visited every night. There’s a version where Morgan le Fay purposefully learned & stole his magic to kill him just to screw over Arthur. There’s a version where Merlin just frolicked off to a magic tower without any shenanigans with the Lady or Morgan.
None of these are more canonical than the other, although stuff like the Scotorum Historia (written by a Scottish author pissed off at the English burning several Scottish royal records) got left out of the Matter of Britain for obvious reasons. This is the worst account, the one claiming that Arthur was Uther’s bastard who had pagan whoring debacles in Logres while Mordred (now a Pict whose birth land was in Scotland) was the true heir (no sitting on Siege Perilous however!)
And quite frankly, only a few variations actually made it into the popular consciousness of modern times and it’s not the one-off versions where the main characters are acting like hapless nutcases.
The people in these tales were facing an existential threat which they were fated to lose. There were definitely knights (amongst a bunch of other types of warriors) running amok who had to be stopped and there were even knights who were once part of the Round Table who fell from grace and started running amok too.
But at no point was Camelot, the Knights of the Round Table, and King Arthur the ones who were rampaging across the land. Not even the Scotorum Historia went so far as that. As flawed as they could be, they were the ones protecting it. This is the stuff that’s supposed to be the height of chivalry for a reason.
Even the very last stories that are considered part of the Matter of Britain that pushed King Arthur way back into the background to focus on their shiny new knights had him effectively ruling Camelot for decades.
No Wiki this time. The original sources.
As an idle curiosity, where do you place this point? Malory’s Morte? Geoffrey “this needs more godliness” of Monmouth and the introduction of Galahad? Somewhere else?
At the time of a considerable number of writings, “a woman who does things” is automatically evil, yeah.
Anyway, to veer from general mythology into the more specific stuff happening in the game, anyone have any theories about whose incarnations the ROs are?
People have probably done a bunch of speculation on Adrian already (seeing as he’s the one that shows up so far), any conclusion reached (his POV scene is making me lean towards Guinevere, Lancelot, or Mordred)?
Gwyn (and maybe Cass?) is looking like to be a good candidate for Dinadan.
Added question: I didn’t actually try to flirt with anyone, but can you try to romance more than one person in the game?
@Unregistered I went for the polo club; are my stats worth posting, or do you already have all the metrics needed regarding those (stats screen only mentions the Fencing Club)?
Kind of having a hard time really caring who, because I mostly want to see where the story goes without inserting any personal bias. I will say, however, that I am very happy it’s not possible for us to be Lancelot.
I do not know any of the possibilities, but I’d love to be le Fay in this story.
You can find the possibilities when Merlin texts you the Guide to Arthurian Lore (there’s, uh, a lot of them). I regret to inform you that Morgan le Fay is under the “Major UNavailable for Reincarnation” section, so you’ve been headed off at the pass.
I’m more curious about @AnneWest 's assertion that it’s not possible for us to be Lancelot, since he’s very much on the available list, unless she’s ABSOLUTELY convinced he’s one of the ROs.
Once I’m done with my current work project I need to trawl through every entry in the Guide, see if there’s any mage I’d be cool wishing for. Anyone knows what will happen if we’re undeclared? Will it just give us one of the available picks according to how’ve been playing or something?
you cant be lancelot because you can have duel with him in dreams . you cant be anyone whom you meet in dreams or at least that’s how it should work.
also what do you mean by undeclared?
Oh, I see, thanks. Yeah, it makes sense that it’d work like that.
If you don’t pick anyone as your favourite reincarnation (during Merlin’s exposition and in future instances (which I presume will exist).
during dream sequence there are 4 values which change depending on every choice you make. your reincarnation will be one with highest value or lowest . i don’t think that you will chose your reincarnation maybe that choice will move some values but it will be mainly decided by your actions in dream.
example if you make knightly choices during dream you will most likely be knight
Oh, I see, thanks. Is that what these values represent?:
Magic : 2 Physical : 12 Intelligence : 46 Charisma : 20
At Magic 2 Physical 12 I presume I done mucked up and should count myself happy that I have a save RIGHT before the dream, then?
no. that’s your current mc stats. those 4 values are hidden you wont see them in game. one interesting thing will be that what will happen if you have low Physical but your past incarnation was knight or vice versa.
these stats should not have any bearing on what your reincarnation will be or at least minimal.
I see, I see. Many thanks. Have to confess I didn’t see many mage-y options during the dream, though. Perhaps I need to go up the stairs instead of catching Arthur at the stables for those.
there are some mage choices i don’t think that you get those by going up stairs. i would also recommend as playing as dream walker if you want to see some very interesting conversation and doing some things.
dreamwalkers get some quite big exclusive scenes .
Out of curiosity how do you play as a dream walker? That option has always been greyed out on my playthroughs.
Pick dreamer as your talent instead of luck and the others
At the fencing club, Adrian said “did you get my text?” I said I had answered him. Then after Brenda went to get a new blade the same conversation happened again.
“You flail around during your demand, trying to make this endeavor of Adrian’s as difficult as possible. Your friend merely grunts as one of your elbows thumps him soundly in the head as he continues to run of with you.” - there’s an F missing from “to run off with you”
"You hear a faint clatter of steps and then Adrian’s voice comes floating out of the darkness in an entirely different direction than you were expecting. You shuffle around to properly face him.
Hopefully. In the general area.
There’s a faint screeching creak to your side. The sound of a door opening. Did Adrian just open the exit to the second floor hallway? If he did, then Floor 2 remains as pitch black as the stairwell." — What did Adrian say? There’s mention of his voice, but not of his answer…
And this is my info for this playthrough:
Magic : 27 Physical : 15 Intelligence : 41 Charisma : 5
Bold : 125 Sweet : 109 Sassy : 51 Optimist : 104
Health(at Climax) : 72 Health(Final) : 100 Serious Injuries : 0
Caution : 29 Will : 5 Apathy : -2 Purity : 3 Cloudcuckoolanderness : 17 Denial : -4 Coward : 0 Silent : 5 Mute : false Pottymouth : 4
Serenades : 3 Interpretive Dances : 1 Lore Dump : 21 Lore Dodge : 0
Tech : 40 Medical : 0 Internet : 40
Club : fencing Talent : lucid
Crazy Theory : zombie Crazy Theory Level : 2
Fear Level (at Climax) : 32 Corruption : -2 Mindcontrol : false
Vending : 7
Adrian Affinity : 81 Adrian Flirt : 1
Weapons :
Achievements : BBQ Deferred |
My brain hurts.
Magic : 0 Physical : 54 Intelligence : 20 Charisma : 5
Bold : 79 Sweet : 61 Sassy : 94 Optimist : 40
Health(at Climax) : 82 Health(Final) : 100 Serious Injuries : 1
Caution : 0 Will : 5 Apathy : 0 Purity : -998 Cloudcuckoolanderness : 8 Denial : 0 Coward : 0 Silent : 9 Mute : false Pottymouth : 5
Serenades : 1 Interpretive Dances : 1 Lore Dump : 1 Lore Dodge : 1
Tech : 0 Medical : 10 Internet : 0
Club : fencing Talent : endurance
Crazy Theory : None Crazy Theory Level : 0
Fear Level (at Climax) : 27 Corruption : 4 Mindcontrol : true
Vending : 7
Adrian Affinity : 79 Adrian Flirt : 1
Weapons : fencing sword
Achievements : Possessed |
New route is every bit as good as Polo club. I don’t think I’ve ever managed to avoid getting possessed, hehe. Might just be inevitable with the kind of character I like playing.
Route 4 is now completely done which finishes off Chapter 2-2. I should be posting the update schedule for Chapter 2-2 within the next couple of days. Hopefully.
Here’s a preview
We’re going with the first definition here.
Monochrome:
- photograph or picture developed or executed in black and white
- image consisting of varying tones of only one color
Well, business names aren’t really supposed to be italicized in writing, so it’s just Abe Goldman being special and putting emphasis on the name of his business there.
Inhuman is vastly more popular nowadays, but unhuman is still a word (chosen entirely for the alliteration with unknown and unseen).
You’re definitely not going to be playing polo with draft horses, but there will be other “equines” available later on.
The Insomnia achievement is for refusing to willingly go to sleep until the very end. The demons still manage to mind-whammy the MC however.
It’s possible to tell Merlin about seeing Arthur in your dreams during the demon conversation tree. It’ll come up automatically if you choose the options to have MC talk about the nitty gritty details of their haunted dream. There’s also another chance to bring it up after the MC wakes up from their next dream in Chapter 2.
If you choose a personality option counter to how the MC has been acting (ie truly sour for a high sweetness MC) then the Stats Menu should have a new section for My Hidden True Self. This changes the internal narrative for the MC.
Geoffrey is way, way, way too early. You’d end up discarding the vast majority of what’s canonically considered the Matter of Britain if you cut off at that entry. I know he made Merlin an incubus, but he was still pretty lighthanded with his religious handling compared to what came after. He’s also not the source of Galahad, who gets first mentioned a century later in the Vulgate Cycle (supposedly written by monks).
Cutting off with Le Morte d’ Arthur as the final entry of the Matter of Britain in the 14th century is pretty popular. So is extending the cut off point to the 16th century to include stuff like a Spencer’s The Faerie Queene. I know some people toss in everything pre-modern 20th century to include entries like Tennyson’s Idylls of the King.
Before Le Morte is too early, after Idyll’s of the King & such is too late. Since I’m not writing a thesis here, I’ve no need to set a hard cutoff point.
Yet the Lady of the Lake had a benevolent-leaning portrayal in the vast majority of works (of course, she’s got her evil versions too). But Morgan predates the Lady and originally had connections to the pagan goddess Modron/Matrona, so she was probably always doomed.
The stats I collect change with every update, so the next stuff I’m looking for will be coming from Chapter 2-2.
Oh boy, I fixed an earlier text message from Adrian in fencing route continuity bug in my version of the game, so hopefully that fixes that because I can’t seem to trigger it now.
Did you get the…
# I turn to the left.
# I turn to the right.
# I stare straight ahead of me.
# …uh, where was Adrian again?
… right after the part you posted? That particular variation of the scene was running long, so it got split in two and Adrian’s actual words come after that choice.
[Exorcise the MC Sidequest has been unlocked for Merlin & Adrian]
Otherwise, all the other reported bugs and typos should now be (hopefully) fixed in the Beta version of the game.