Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-27460754-20160124200151/@comment-27460754-20160401071146

Fluid-decanter wrote: I don't think we will see any bad ends that are delayed. If we screw it up irrevocably, I think we will know fairly quickly. Anything else is inconsiderate game design.

Lostone2 wrote:

Argenten wrote: I am so sick of this pos dumping and ignoring my postings if I am afk more than 5 minutes and not allowing me to copy and paste in case of previous issue. I'll try to respond to you later Ripett as you do bring up some good and interesting points, but right now I've already had too much of my time shat down the drain. Well, a possibility that we have open is to try to use a normal wiki page for these kind of discussions... but I rather not to go there, because it would probably get more than a bit messy. Wikia is shitty; nothing new here. Trying to quote a second person overwrites an entered message too. I just compose in a separate program.

Argenten wrote: And she's evidently putting her hopes into Simon, which is a sensible position for the game. :P This seems the most reasonable interpretation, although it's interesting that Mithyn would call a shard-bearer "meaningless".

Zelica I'm going to go with being the Anak's prisoner that he's harvesting her theoson for, possibly to get to the other goddesses for his harem? Would certainly be an interesting take on his having an interest in 'theology'. Also would make the title of 'monster' for the person holding her fit, as it's hard to find another way to describe a being that's imprisoning a goddess, siphoning her power and doing so to gain lordship over her sisters. Depends on whether you consider those goddesses to be good, I guess. The Church's take on Ivala is kind of obnoxious and harmful - Ivala is omnipotent and there are no true gods but she, "it is all Ivala's will in the end" even though there is suffering everywhere, etc. One can only hope that Ivala herself is more benevolent and less narcissistic. At this point I'm assuming so, although in the beginning I was kind of rooting for a scenario in which Simon forces Ivala to acknowledge him as a far greater force for good than any ten Chosen.

I also agree about Zelica, and honestly it surprises me that people didn't see it coming that the Anak's interest in theology is practical, not theoretical.

The line about "her eye grows ever more powerful" probably refers to Xestris.

The War Vaults seems like a lot of work for essentially a plot related helmet and other loot that even the other characters go 'wow...this was not what I was expecting.'. Still, good to get it out of the way and have it than not. I suspect the Incubus King set will be cool to have eventually.

Ripett wrote: Vhala is certainly an interesting character. I agree with Argenten that at the moment her sacrifice doesn't really seem like a sacrifice. That said, she's more then likely been an Unwoman for close to (over?) 50 years so her responses to Nalili were somewhat expected, especially considering there is no known way to reverse her "condition" at the moment (we can hope Simon will find a way while trying to help Dari). I don't think Vhala ever characterizes her transformation as a sacrifice. Rather the opposite, really.

As for helping them... I think it's reasonable to expect any cute girl with a bust image and multiple faces will join the harem eventually.

Argenten wrote: I can't find her a sympathetic character because of the line about the innocence of a child and the wisdom of age that "sages spend their whole lives searching for.". My first response there is 'so you took a shortcut.' and that's what it feels like when we find out she had no great attachment to what she lost and didn't have to struggle for the 'enlightenment' she received. Carina, for all her faults, was willing to risk everything for what she believed in and put that into practice, including putting herself at the risk of death and corruption with the seed. Vhala feels like a person that took the easy/safe route. You have such a hate-on for Vhala... Taking a faster route to your destination is called efficiency, and is a virtue. And I find it difficult to characterize going off to fight the armies of one Incubus King, shadowing another Incubus King and confronting him face-to-face, and breaking into a prison despite knowing she'd be executed by her own people if her involvement was discovered... "the easy/safe route".

I do like the idea of their being an architect succubus and will agree that was a bit of foreshadowing in the bits of Megail's sarcasm and Nalili's optimism. Don't know if it'll be the one we met in Rodak As for architect succubi, I dunno. Yarra does comment that succubi are bad at "sustaining things". But if we do get one, it probably won't be the Rodak one, since that one didn't have unique graphics. I'm doing that im Word myself now, does make things easier.

 Mithyn isn't the only one, as Alanon does consider the shards to be 'symptoms' rather than causes. I'm wondering if the Shards are actually parts of the Lustlord's soul and starting to think they are almost...byproducts of something else. This would fit with their corrupting nature.

 The Church's take on her can also be a case of assuming much more about Ivala than is actually known or made known. We are given a glimpse at the fact that Ivala is locked in a 'Tower' and we don't know how much agency she has in the world really. So it could be true that Ivala is omnipotent but I find that unlikely in the context of the game and feel it's more likely your latter scenario about Ivala. Although I wouldn't say no to Ivala having to acknowledge Simon having succeeded where the Chosen failed, although with the recent scene in the abandoned lot I wonder how much the Chosen start out as little 'Scotts' and how much of that is their hubris being fed by the Church.

 Heh, yeah I think the Anak's interest is a case of 'hidden in plain sight' myself but we also benefit from seeing a lot more than the characters so it could easily be more harder for them to figure it out...although I think Esthera has an inkling due to her lack of confidence in his lack of malice towards her as indicated in her conversation with him. The bit about the eye fitting Xestris makes sense, she was the one reporting on the theoson harvesting process after all.  I agree, but based on Simon's descriptions of the armor, it'll need some work and reforging so that it's a tad more...practical.

 No, but the process of becoming an Unperson is considered in game to be a sacrifice, so I stand by my statement there. Well yeah, especially since Dari has her 'normal looking' busts as well which show us what she looked like prior to becoming a zombie (yes the name is unperson but she's a zombie :P )  No, if I had a 'hate-on' for her, I would be saying Simon needs to kill her before she becomes a problem or perhaps saying she considers 'purification' the only proper way. But please, continue with the personal remarks that you were warned about last time, it really helps your case. If it were a matter of travel or saving time, then yes your point about efficiency being a virtue would be valid...but we are talking about wisdom and enlightenment, things you cannot 'take a faster route' to without making a hard sacrifice for and she has not done so. She altered a side of herself that, based on her reactions, she found negligible in value. Now whether or not that determination is true is up for debate, but that doesn't change her present outlook  And everything she has done, others have done without going through her transformation as I can't imagine that getting caught would have been any easier on Histara for example, so her deeds are not as singular or monumental as implied. Carina went out into the wastelands with her men, confronted Simon after shadowing him, and I think working and sleeping with an IK trumps standing outside the prison Dari was held in terms of how much trouble one could get. If you recall, Vhala never actually entered the hole, that was Simon, Robin, Aka, and Carina, and since Vhala still had that spell up, she could easily call on those unpeople and take down those guarding the rope with her if it came down to it. I wouldn't say that would be her first option, she does show a strong degree of empathy that was not present in the .16. update, but I am putting it out there as something she could do, and could be praised for since it would lead to the defeat of an incipient IK.



<p class="MsoNormal">So am I advocating she is someone without merit or positive traits? No, she cares about others and looks after her own, both easily empathize able traits. Am I saying I hope that Simon has to kill her eventually? No, I may not like her but I certainly don't hate her. She has shown a willingness to adapt and admit that her way is not for everyone, or at least that not everyone is willing to accept it and its price, which is commendable in an open-minded way. I simply do not wish to pull my punches on the impressions I get from her and her character. I've admitted I was wrong where it counted before and if proven so again I will, but I stated my opinion without malice, without gross generalizations, and without personal comments as well as a previous agreement to agree to disagree. Kindly show me the same courtesy or be done.

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<p class="MsoNormal">On the more lighter subject of the architect succubi, I recall Yarra's comment being in relation to spells and preservation magic, and we've seen plenty of examples in the Orgasmic empire that succbui can sustain both buildings and cities. I do agree that the one from the Gathering is unlikely, the lack of unique bust being rather telling.