Ah, well thanks for the reassurance, I’ll try to continue giving good feedback in the near future!
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Cortez and Callum do have their similarities, but they also seem distinct enough from each other.
For instance, Callum is a lot more laid back then Cortez, whereas Cortez is a lot more business oriented. And where Callum burns hot, emotionally, Cortez is cold. They seem like two different takes on the same character archetype, and both are dicks, of course.
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Cortez is the type of asshole that I love. Callum can choke.
Cortez gang rise up!
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Waaahhh its so good~ im so into it!!! Im so happy the characters for me … has depth and personalities that vary greatly from each other and backgrounds that make up so much for the current story … I love I’ll definitely stay tuned to this have you ever wish that sometimes a COG is a published book … Cuz … the wait is killing me lol anyways good job!!! (▰˘◡˘▰)
high five
I can relate to Cortez. Not in the way he treats those who are inferior to him, but that he puts his work first and will handle everything that he deems hindering the progress in swift (albeit rather rude) way. I get it why he needs to warn Valerie because Valerie was lucky he came in the right time to eliminate the enemies; if not she would probably die in that tower. So she needs to understand the risk of running wild into matters like this.
She might be cute but not cute enough to ruin my MC’s chance to get the answers and closure to move on to whatever next.
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Remember – no shipping wars, RO wars or role-playing… thank you.
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Will keep that in mind, though Callum is the MC’s brother in my playthroughs.
I’m ashamed that I wasn’t brave enough to step up first… but I completely agree.
Cortez seems to take things very seriously, despite being an asshole I think he really does care. If not about the people he’s working to save then at the very least he cares about doing his job well.
Callum strikes me as the type who enjoys tearing people down in any way he can. That is disgusting.
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Lol shipping wars… That kinda sounds like some kinda bidding wars for customs goods…
There’s too much roleplaying here that most peeps forgets that this is a well-written fictional story…
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I just finished the demo and i’m already in love with the story line, along with just finishing art of the character you play as in my sorta version of a ghost.
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I prefer Cortez as well, mainly because Callum’s actions just feels so much more mean-spirited. He does all these little things that, beyond just being cruel, are really unnecessary, such as smashing Frederick’s artifact, refusing to save him when you’re being chased, and being so needlessly harsh when breaking up with Charlotte.
Whereas with Cortez, while he’s undoubtedly an asshole and does some questionable stuff, it never feels like he’s just doing things for the fun of it. With the way he deals with the two terrorists, it was excessive, sure, but not necessarily unwarranted. And the fact that, when he slams Valerie into the wall it’s explicitly mentions that he didn’t do it hard enough to actually hurt her, even though he easily could have, says something about him as a character.
There’s also the fact that as of right now, we really don’t know much about Cortez, his motivations, his background, or how he behaves in situations other than this one. And while the same could be said of Callum, I feel like with him, I know enough to at least make a decent judgment on who he is. Unless we learn something about Callum that completely recontextualizes his character, I don’t think my opinion of him will really change. With Cortez, I’m at least willing to give him a chance until we see more of him.
I’m going to stop there because this is long enough already, and writing this is making me want to go on a huge rant speculating about Callum and Cortez’s characters because wow, this story is really well written. Kudos to you, author, for making me feel so strongly about two fictional characters that I had to go make this long rambling post 
EDIT: Forgot to blur some spoilers 
13 Likes
I’m fully here with the “I love Cortez” gang, and will die on this hill.
Also I think shipping wars imply that you’ve done something right, since everyone has such strong opinions! Maybe not super productive all the time though.
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Oh, no… These fools. I smell an achievement in the making. 
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Oh golly was that first playthrough one heck of a ride. Major love for the story and the setting, it certainly scratches my Dresden Files itch for urban fantasy. Not that I don’t like the backstory scenes, it’s just that the present day is more immersive and interesting for me. The policing and organizational schematics of the magical world were easy to understand without needing a re-read, which helps facilitate the story telling without bogging it down.
As for the magic system, the amount of work put into it shows, and boy am I a sucker for magic systems. Though I personally veer towards soft magic than hard magic, when a hard magic system goes into detail as much as this story has, I can certainly appreciate the finished product with gusto. How the magic system is ingrained in the setting is a also a plus, not to mention how the MC as a ghost is linked to it.
As for characters, they all felt 3-dimensional, with none of them sticking out as caricatures or just a collection of traits. I especially like how Val’s personality is tested against in the plot, especially during the fight when she froze and when Cortez gave her a dressing down. All of that was believable, to how she reacted and how we in turn can respond to some of her actions or inaction. On a different note, Fred’s characterization is really spot on on how we in the modern day have a romantic yet flawed view of knighthood and chivalry, when in reality knighthood just meant you were loyal to an institutional body or liege lord and did whatever they said, good or otherwise, and chivalry back then meant you simply rode a horse. Kudos for that.
Writing and prose wise, the scenes hit the beats where they should. The fights definitely had an air of danger and desperation to them when I read them, suspense and excitement mixing just right. Some scenes were simply a delight to read, especially when we interrogated the terrorist (not good with names, sorry) - I was having fun the whole time riling them up.
Neutral Observation
The RO list is relatively small if you play as a non bi/pan character, but as I don’t look for heavy romance in this genre, it’s fine by me.
Minor (subjective) Nitpicks {Please ignore at your leisure}
The pacing of the first flashback chapter felt a bit off to me. It didn’t feel dragging or boring, but I felt a disconnect in the suspense/urgency. Perhaps it’s me as the player already knowing what was going to happen in general or maybe because it took too long (?) 
I apologize if I’m not making sense, but I reconnected with the pace again in the latter parts of the flashback so it’s not a huge deal.
If the MC was a knight and military leader, I sort of expected an option for more military/commander-esque responses during the game. But maybe this is because we’re still foggy on our own past and I’m being too nitpicky hahaha.
Humble (if unreasonable) Questions
- Can we have people call us Sir/Lady/Ser (name) if we used to be a knight?
- More save slots? Hahaha
Eagerly and impatiently waiting on what comes next. Best of luck!
1 Like
Some great insight on both Callum and Cortez so far! I’m glad some people are enjoying Cortez—I like that not everyone’s taken a shine to him yet (like I said, he’s meant to be a bit polarizing), but I was a little worried I might’ve gone too far given the kneejerk reaction, haha.
Well…this would imply I actually expected them to succeed. 
Hmm. I see what you mean; it’s definitely slower-paced than a lot of the story. A lot of this is intentional, though; it was important to me that I establish a “normal” baseline to emphasize just how sudden and devastating the massacre ends up being. If I jumped straight into the action, my feeling is there would be an opposite (but equal) disconnect insofar as the player wouldn’t really feel invested in the characters or the town of Ashbarrow in general.
Hmm 
I’ll look into this, although this sort of thing doesn’t really come naturally to me, so I can’t promise anything. Like you said, there definitely is an element of the MC feeling a little disconnected from their past, which is part of why I mostly stick with more “normal”, modern-sounding dialogue.
But I’ll think about it!
I do kinda like this idea, but it would involve going back and changing the structure of a few scenes, so if I did implement this, it would probably be at a later date. (Also, a lot of characters wouldn’t respect the MC’s choice of address. Cortez definitely wouldn’t call you Sir/Lady/Ser, except maybe sarcastically.)
I’ve been thinking about this myself, actually. Do other people want more save slots? Was considering bumping it up to seven since there are seven ROs (including, of course, the secret RO, Anson Arcturus).
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I think more save slots would be a good idea!! I know that I’m one of those people who likes to play every possible route, and multiple save slots makes that a lot easier vs replaying multiple times for each route! (Also makes it easier for us anxious folk who need to save every time there’s a major choice in case it goes awry 
)
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Too true. I’d imagine it’d take a pretty high respect stat before anyone calls the MC by their title upon request, let alone out of habit. 
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Oh, nah… I just meant whatever punishment they earn is the achievement. Sort of a ‘why would you do that?’ kinda thing. Achievements for epic failures make for fun trawling sometimes (especially when hidden, and hard to discover), because it makes readers think about what is the dumbest thing they can do in the moment… Even if it doesn’t completely end the game for them, they gotta know they’ve earned that egg on their face.
Perhaps at first, but after gaining just over 50% Respect he might consider it. Still with the sarcasm, sure, but probably with less condescension to it?
It’s fairy easy to see anyone’s perspective about it if they refused, to be fair; the MC’s been dead for centuries, and their knighthood was awarded by the ruling class of a long extinct kingdom. That said, some people have enough love/respect for history itself to at least consider paying equal respect to a sentient source of ancient knowledge. In that sense, any characters like this could feasibly choose to agree with the MC’s wishes sooner.
The only early scenes I can think of where the title would come up at all is that long chat with Val in her apartment, where you can tell her about who your MC was in life. If she wanted to be polite, she could probably ask if they would like to be addressed with their title then, but given her honest enthusiasm for other details she asked about, I can’t gauge whether she’d see using the old title as somewhat alienating, or not–like the MC was putting up a wall.
4 Likes
Extra save slots have been added, as requested!
I actually have sorta mixed feelings about failure achievements! While I sometimes make exceptions if something “feels” right (the birthday achievement comes to mind), I’m generally of the opinion that achievements should actually be for, well, achieving something.
On the other hand, I do like the comedic potential of roasting people via in-game notification, so…we’ll see!
With this in mind, I actually think the most likely companion by far to respect the MC’s title would be Merrow—to the point that he might use it even if he wasn’t asked to!
In fact, that might be how I ultimately pose this question to a knight MC (do you ask him to stop or do you actually like it?). It does mean waiting until Merrow’s introduction to bring it up, but it also feels to me like the most natural place to do so.
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I’m surprised lots of people seem to have chosen a knight MC. I always choose rebel because it seems more interesting imo. Especially when you consider Callum, the last person you’d think to ally (if that is indeed what he is doing) with knights, considering his disdain for Frederick.
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