The Magician's Burden

Oh, my … Hahaha, that’s great. I’m a fast reader and sometimes I skip some words, so… my bad. Glad that’s not a bug :slight_smile:

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I got the announcement from Steam (Wishlisted the game) and a notification from CoG about an interview with you (as they usually do with new releases).

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An interview with me? That’s news to me. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Eh… if not an interview then yes, I got a game release e-mail. I already knew it so I genuinely ignored it. :man_shrugging:

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The Magician’s Burden has 1,000 downloads and a 4.9 rating on Android after just two days! I love you all so much. :sob::sob::sob:

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Alright, so I’m still playing through it, but a few things that jumped out at me were:

  • Meeting the characters. Since there are multiple ways of meeting them for the first time, I understand why their appearances were described more than once, but it honestly threw me off because it read like my MC was meeting them for the first time everytime. In general, the options you get for spending time on various activities like chess and such seem a bit ‘unclean’ to me if you meet the same character twice a day.

  • Nitpicky me, but during one flirt interaction with Mabelin when you kiss her, the text says that she’s looking up at me and that jarred me so bad. Playing a female MC, which I personally imagine to be quite a bit smaller than tall, muscular Mabelin, that bit of text immediately made me feel like I was supposed to be playing a dude. But again, this is probably just me being nitpicky.

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Good point! I can go and add some *if statements for if you’ve already met them.

Ah, true. Mabelin is pretty tall so even a male MC likely wouldn’t be taller than her. I’ll change that bit.

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I liked this except for the cat dying at the end. My dad dying was bad enough, but the poor cat… Romance, adventures and characters all very good.

Edit: Oh and a couple of time characters got called the wrong gender, pretty sure it was the brother and the archer chap.

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Yeah, that’s gonna be pretty impactful for most readers.

Percy and Keano were referred to with female pronouns?

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Yeah, just the once each. With Keano I’m pretty sure it was when he was talking to the farmer, and with Percy in the first part of the game.

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Okay, thanks. I’ll investigate and then send an update to COG tonight.

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No prob, sorry I couldn’t be more specific.

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I actually enjoyed your “Demons among men” trilogy, and liked the overall feel of the main character because it was among the first real CYOA type game I played and I really visualized everything.
That said, I would really like to buy this game, as I enjoyed the demo and the setting, but the general power level of the MC worries me. I’m all for challenges, growth through adversity, and the like, but the general consensus is that the MC is a great deal weaker then the rest of all the cast. Will this ever change in the series? Will the MC ever grow to become a major player in the world, going up against the likes of Violet and other powerful characters and having a shot at winning? I tend to use these games as a method of escapism, playing as powerful characters, shaping the world, fighting horrible evils, and accomplishing feats of greatness that I could never hope to achieve in the real world.
Obviously, this is just my view, and I don’t expect you to change what you have planned to suit the whims of one person. I’m sure that what you do have planned will be excellent.

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Thanks!

I wouldn’t say the MC is a whole lot weaker than the rest of the cast. I think they’re more like in the middle: weaker than Violet and Mabelin; as strong as Killian and Keano; and stronger than Rigel.

One of the main points of TMB is growing and overcoming adversity, as opposed to being a power fantasy. However, in the sequel, the MC will more than double in power after training with Melithar the wizard. And they’ll definitely be able to play a considerable roll in the oncoming demon war.

EDIT:

I’ve submitted an update to CoG that includes typo and bug fixes.

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Thanks, guys! :smiley:

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Samuel, you’ve done it again!

Jokes aside, I was kind of on the fence about this story since admittedly, the demo didn’t really grip me that much. Bought the game nonetheless, because I knew it to be by an author who’s amazing at what he does.

…And, I wasn’t disappointed. Nicely written, paced, with great characters and a setting that quickly pulled me in. What I loved especially was the interactions with the characters, especially with Percy who I developed a soft-spot for (I had gotten so attached to Mowbow too, that kitty didn’t deserve it. I’ll be sad for a while) and the romances were great (a must-mention is that bedroom scene with Violet, oof). Looking forward to so many more playthroughs with different routes!

I really am excited to see how the characters grow and change over the course of the books. Also interested in seeing just how much we can develop our magic and the role that Melithar will play in our lives as a mentor.

One question that I have...

…is that shall we be able to change the kind of magic we wield in the subsequent books? Or is it something that one is born with? The reason I thought of this is that if I decide to have a MC who initially practices Light magic, but the death of his father affects and changes him and he wants to practice Destruction magic thereafter, would that be possible?

Consider me now officially an enthusiastic fan of this series. Can’t wait for the sequels, and as always, best wishes @Samuel_H_Young!

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Thanks a lot, Soprano! I’m glad you enjoyed it so much.

The way the lore is in my stories, magicians gain minor magical abilities from magical discharge from the Netherworld when they’re babies. The type of magic they wield is a blank slate at that point, but it quickly develops into a certain kind depending on the individual’s temperament and actions. After that, it basically solidifies so they’re mostly restricted to that spell set.

I haven’t smoothed out the details in my head yet, but I do think that, being a powerful wizard, Melithar will be able to train the MC to use a different branch of magic, though their old branch would start to grow weaker before fading altogether.

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Interesting, so if I understand correctly, the temperament and general nature of the magician directly influences the type of magic he wields? For example, a compassionate and morally upright person is more likely to wield Light magic, whereas a more violent or cruel character is more likely to wield destruction magic? If it is so, then will the magic be directly affected (hence, changed or transformed to another type) if the wielder’s nature changes drastically due to an incident/trauma occurring in his life even in the absence of any guidance from someone like Melithar?

Sorry if I’m being overly bothersome with this, I’m simply curious :sweat_smile:

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Haha, I don’t mind at all.

Exactly!

By the time the magician is a few years old, the magic type is pretty much set in stone, but drastic changes in temperament and actions could start to skew their spells in a slightly different direction.

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@Samuel_H_Young it seems like I need to give you a heads up your game is also #9 Trending Role Playing in the Play Store on Android.

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