My issue is that they're giving us fewer and fewer ways to play the game with each patch. We HAD all these options the day of release, but they take them away one by one for no apparent reason.
What if I don't feel like battling lords one day? The game was advertised as having a lot more options than just that. As has already been mentioned, there is something lacking in combat right now and the pacing of the game is so inconsistent that there is a complete lack of continuity between the different parts. And besides, if the shop denar count is as limited as everyone is saying, battling suddenly got a lot less profitable too because there's a limit to how much you can sell. Especially when the armor tends to sell for more than the weapons, but unlike the weapons you can't do anything with them in the smithy.
So I don't always feel like dealing with the fast-paced conquer game. When it goes that fast nothing you do feels meaningful or impactful, and it's completely at odds with the slow pacing they seem to be trying to push, like the grindy hell that is the also unfinished Smithing system. I had plenty of money but it wasn't fun. The time before when I just went around setting up workshops and trade routes in Khuzait territory without even serving as a mercenary, slowly building up relations with notables to get to better recruits and relations with nobles my character could get along with was far more enjoyable.
I haven't found anything particularly challenging about the game, even on full Realistic. But I really don't find it all that entertaining when the apparent answer for why changes are being made is for us to do things the same way every single playthrough. No replay value whatsoever in that.
As for the bit about getting changes by saying things here, I've seen the same things said over and over and over that are huge issues, like perks not working as an example, and they don't get touched because they're too busy making other changes that remove the good things they had in at the start. I have no idea who they're listening to, but they're listening to the wrong people. They're doubling down on shoving an absolutely atrocious 'main quest' down our throats and pushing us to play along that quest line even though they haven't even finished it yet, which makes no sense whatsoever.
Was even going to start posting a story. Was invested in the game enough to put the time into it. But the changes gutted the entire playstyle.
The Grumpy Hermit moniker is usually a joke, but TW has certainly made it a reality with their completely thought-free approach to EA.
The beauty of these games has always been in what one can create from it. Whether it's a kingdom, a legacy, a mod, 'took an arrow to the knee' jokes and memes, doesn't matter.
Sure, it's EA, but that doesn't mean stories can't be written. So I'm going to throw the main quest out the window, as well as all the ideas of what we SHOULD be doing with the game, to just have some fun with a playthrough.
I will at least give you my starting choices, for as much as they matter. The last choice became a bit grim, but I really am hoping for some comic relief when I write. It's also not in my typical writing style because I just went with what they used in the character creator and I only wanted to buck against authority so much. You'll see what I mean when you get there.
These choices give us 2 Vigor, 2 Control, 3 Endurance, 3 Cunning, 5 Social, and 3 Intelligence.
10 Bow, 10 Riding, 10 Tactics, 30 Charm, 30 Leadership, 10 Trade, 10 Steward, 10 Engineering.
1 in Generosity, Honesty, and Honor.(which I know the game will quickly lose, but it's there)
Considering what I have planned for this little story, some of that makes no sense at all, but it's my story to write and Baichar's to tell.
Culture: Khuzaits
You were born into a family of Merchants.
Your family came from one of the merchant clans that dominated the cities in eastern Calradia before the Khuzait conquest.
As a child you were noted for your leadership skills.
If the wolf pup gang of your early childhood had an alpha, it was definitely you.
Growing up, you spent most of your time with your tutor.
Your family arranged for a private tutor and you took full advantage, because books are more fun than people since you got bored with bossing around the other kids.
As a youngster growing up in Calradia, war was never too far away. You rode with the scouts.
You were a good enough rider that your neighbors pitched in to buy you a small pony and a good bow so that you could fulfill their levy obligations. And because they were cheaper than all the books you kept wanting.
Before you set out for a life of adventure, your biggest achievement was that you treated people well.
Yours wasn't the kind of reputation that local legends are made of, because books help you understand people but also make you less inclined to DEAL with people. Being polite is often the best way to escape.
...you and your siblings survived the raid because the gods/devs deemed it to be so and I HATE THIS CHOICE BECAUSE MOST OF THE OPTIONS GIVE SKILL POINTS TO SOMETHING I DON'T WANT. So I picked 'you organized the travelers to break out' but I'm using all of them and saving little Jatu and Alte as well to spite said gods/devs.
In the confusion of the attack you shouted that someone had found treasure in the back room. You then made your way toward the undefended entrance with your siblings, motioning for the other travelers to follow while carefully avoiding the pools of blood around the bodies of the first people the raiders had killed. Your parents.
You grabbed the enormous and still-bloody knife the bandit leader had stabbed into a tabletop to make his point about the futility of resistance. A good thing, too, because the entrance was not quite undefended. Outside you came, literally, face-to-face with a raider sentry. It was not until you rammed your stolen knife into his heart that you realized he was, like you, of the Khuzait.
The man's eyes widened, but he had no strength left for more than that. The others ran out behind you as you stared into his eyes, and he managed a weak cough. Then he fell. Loudly.
A shout from inside the building stirred everyone to frenzied action. A couple women screamed. Your elder brother, Nusun, grabbed the sentry's bow and quiver and thrust them against your chest. "Hold them off while we get the horses!" he hissed out, as if out of breath.
Training from time with the scouts took over. You whirled around with the bow, drew a trio of arrows from the quiver as it fell to the ground, and put the first one in the air in the span of a couple heartbeats. One raider dove behind the inn's counter. The next, barely through the doorway from the backroom, stared with the same wide-eyed shock as the sentry...until the arrow pierced his eye and snapped his head back.
The next arrow lodged in the wall right behind the counter to keep the first raider down, and with the last you snagged a loose sleeve on another one peeking around the doorway. You knelt to retrieve more arrows, pausing long enough for someone to peek and sending them back to cover with another arrow.
The tactic would only work for so long and you knew it. Rather than giving them time to plan a counter, you picked up the quiver and ran to the burning stable, where Nusun waited with your sister Alte in the saddle with him. Your youngest brother, Jatu, waited for you on another horse. "Where are the others?" you yelled up at Nusun as you swung up to sit behind Jatu. Your brother was eleven and well capable of handling a horse, even one that could smell blood and smoke.
"Scattered in a panic. We ca-"
Whatever he was about to say was lost to you, as you let fly with another arrow toward the first raider to run out of the inn. You recognized him as the one who dove behind the counter, out of the way of your first shot. He dove out of the way of this one too, and came out spitting out curses and dust.
By that time, dust was all that could be seen of you and your siblings, but the raider's shout chased you. "I'll find you, boy!"
Your answer was immediate, but only heard in the confines of your own head. I look forward to it, you silently swore to those who had murdered your parents.
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