About the Huana, it should be noted that there is no monolithic Huana and they are separate tribes. I can't recall right now the name of the main Huana tribe in Neketaka - the Kahanga? - but they are, presumably, the only ones responsible for the state of Neketaka. The Tikiwara or the Wahiki have nothing to do with what's happening in the Gullet. In particular, it's mentioned a few times in the game that prize-share works/worked differently in smaller tribes, when the Ranga knew the names of everybody in the tribe, and that the merging of tribes into the Kahanga and their settlement in Neketaka are unusual occurrences brought about by the arrival of the trading companies in the first place.
In this context, I look at the Kahanga and I wonder if what we see there isn't a version of the Huana in (inevitable) decline, that the Kahanga we see of Neketaka is already a version of Huanan society that's already past saving, that's been "corrupted," if you will, and that otherwise Huanan society worked okay/better. For example, the Tikiwarans seem largely okay, with their main woe being a lack of resources brought about by external pressures, and I wonder if back wherever they originated, they were happy and peaceful, and if the trading companies and pirates and slavers etc.. were all expelled, could they return to that state?
I think this is an unproductive line of reasoning. They aren’t “corrupted”, their way of organizing a society is simply flawed and does not scale with inevitable urbanization. If the VTC and RDC are expelled tomorrow it doesn’t change the fact that the world is changing and the Huana will have to change with it. Or the outsiders will simply come back later with even bigger guns. Apologism for the Huana on those grounds misses the more pertinent reason to defend their right to self determine:
Because any argument that the Huana “deserve” subjugation at the hands of the VTC or the RDC is functionally indistinguishable from British nationalist apologia for the Raj.
But it goes beyond even urbanization. One of the smaller islands also suffered from this. The one with the dwarf on it hoping for a Valian colony. The lower ranks were starving because of a poor harvest.
About the Huana, it should be noted that there is no monolithic Huana and they are separate tribes. I can't recall right now the name of the main Huana tribe in Neketaka - the Kahanga? - but they are, presumably, the only ones responsible for the state of Neketaka. The Tikiwara or the Wahiki have nothing to do with what's happening in the Gullet. In particular, it's mentioned a few times in the game that prize-share works/worked differently in smaller tribes, when the Ranga knew the names of everybody in the tribe, and that the merging of tribes into the Kahanga and their settlement in Neketaka are unusual occurrences brought about by the arrival of the trading companies in the first place.
In this context, I look at the Kahanga and I wonder if what we see there isn't a version of the Huana in (inevitable) decline, that the Kahanga we see of Neketaka is already a version of Huanan society that's already past saving, that's been "corrupted," if you will, and that otherwise Huanan society worked okay/better. For example, the Tikiwarans seem largely okay, with their main woe being a lack of resources brought about by external pressures, and I wonder if back wherever they originated, they were happy and peaceful, and if the trading companies and pirates and slavers etc.. were all expelled, could they return to that state?
I think this is an unproductive line of reasoning. They aren’t “corrupted”, their way of organizing a society is simply flawed and does not scale with inevitable urbanization. If the VTC and RDC are expelled tomorrow it doesn’t change the fact that the world is changing and the Huana will have to change with it. Or the outsiders will simply come back later with even bigger guns. Apologism for the Huana on those grounds misses the more pertinent reason to defend their right to self determine:
Because any argument that the Huana “deserve” subjugation at the hands of the VTC or the RDC is functionally indistinguishable from British nationalist apologia for the Raj.
But it goes beyond even urbanization. One of the smaller islands also suffered from this. The one with the dwarf on it hoping for a Valian colony. The lower ranks were starving because of a poor harvest.
And they were on that island, which was poorly suited to agriculture, because of the VTC and RDC strip mining and otherwise seizing the islands they normally migrate between, as well as slavers attacking them when they tried to dwell on desireable lands that weren't already being ransacked by the assorted imperial powers. Finally, in desperation, they settled on Tikawara precisely because it is so undesireable save for being on a major trade lane.
This is the direct consequence of being crowded out by urbanized imperial powers.
Looks like they still havent fixed the blade of endless paths bug. I started a new game with a created save where I forged the blade. Got to my ship and the only pieces there were the Yenwood sword.
In this context, I look at the Kahanga and I wonder if what we see there isn't a version of the Huana in (inevitable) decline, that the Kahanga we see of Neketaka is already a version of Huanan society that's already past saving, that's been "corrupted," if you will, and that otherwise Huanan society worked okay/better. For example, the Tikiwarans seem largely okay, with their main woe being a lack of resources brought about by external pressures, and I wonder if back wherever they originated, they were happy and peaceful, and if the trading companies and pirates and slavers etc.. were all expelled, could they return to that state?
A 179 word rant on why I hate the Huana (with some spoilers):
You mean the Tikiwarans that was not only in the process of spending their last food supply because their ranga was a blind fool but threw away a potential future source of food because "A weaver couldn't possibly know anything about agriculture" when your own Alchemical knowledge tells you that he knows EXACTLY what he's talking about.
There is no hope for the Huana society with the Mataru at the top, a class so blinded by their privileges that they're doomed to be crushed. Even if I, or even Ondra, back them up it will only be a temporary hold in their inevitable decline. The only decent Mataru I have met so far is Tekehu, who is a spoiled artist but good at heart. The rest are either foolish, blind, conniving, powerhungry or vicious. Despite having every opportunity to not be. I mean, their Queen is a bloody Cipher and can read minds, yet her priorities are so fucked up that she only uses her talent for personal gain (and power ploys) rather than fixing her fucked up society.
That leaders thrown into uncertain situations make bad decisions is not necessarily a condemnation of the society itself. Would we say that Chamberlain's trying to appease Hitler or that Hitler's election itself represent a failure of democracy, that democracy is doomed to fail and should be thrown out? Because that's what 1937 Watcher would see if they visited Europe at the time.
My point simply is that certain criticisms of Huanan society might not be generally applicable to all Huanan societies, especially given the circumstances they're in. It's not clear to me that another, alternative Huanan society would be responding that much better in the current state, because, frankly, they're outgunned, outmanned, and out-knowledge-d. It's not like giving the Roparu the right to vote would change those facts.
IMHO the flaws we see in Huana society are systemic, the natural end results of an inherently unfair system lacking in social mobility and by extension unable to cope with change.
They believe their social mobility is accomplished through Berath's Wheel.
They really screwed up when they were tuning the various difficulties in this game. I’m a mediocre crpg player at best, and I’m crapping all over potd.
Also, takehu is absurdly strong. Both he and (to a lesser extent) Maia feel so much more powerful than most of the other companions.
They really screwed up when they were tuning the various difficulties in this game. I’m a mediocre crpg player at best, and I’m crapping all over potd.
Also, takehu is absurdly strong. Both he and (to a lesser extent) Maia feel so much more powerful than most of the other companions.
I feel the same way regarding combat difficulty but (having seen probably 60-70% of the game at this point, haven't gone to do final part of main quest yet) I would blame a lack of truly overpowered matchups in the game's favor. I've seen a couple of the unique ones that are clearly intended to make you take pause, but they still don't feel like they're throwing much at me compared to the frankly ridiculous amount of abilities, gear, abilities from gear and empowers your party will have to throw around pretty shortly after you leave the first island. in your older cRPGs you tend to feel like the pitiful weakling you are until way later in the game, but in PoE - moreso in 2 than 1 I think - you feel like the one that has far more tools than your enemies a lot earlier on. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not, but I can't really say that I'm playing the game to be tactically challenged anyway so it doesn't bother me overmuch.
if we're talking about unique party members, my monk xoti is the standout. the ability they get at PL7 that adds a proc chance for a full attack off crits is probably a little too good, sometimes she can turn on all her buffs and instantly delete enemy casters about five seconds into a combat.
In this context, I look at the Kahanga and I wonder if what we see there isn't a version of the Huana in (inevitable) decline, that the Kahanga we see of Neketaka is already a version of Huanan society that's already past saving, that's been "corrupted," if you will, and that otherwise Huanan society worked okay/better. For example, the Tikiwarans seem largely okay, with their main woe being a lack of resources brought about by external pressures, and I wonder if back wherever they originated, they were happy and peaceful, and if the trading companies and pirates and slavers etc.. were all expelled, could they return to that state?
A 179 word rant on why I hate the Huana (with some spoilers):
You mean the Tikiwarans that was not only in the process of spending their last food supply because their ranga was a blind fool but threw away a potential future source of food because "A weaver couldn't possibly know anything about agriculture" when your own Alchemical knowledge tells you that he knows EXACTLY what he's talking about.
There is no hope for the Huana society with the Mataru at the top, a class so blinded by their privileges that they're doomed to be crushed. Even if I, or even Ondra, back them up it will only be a temporary hold in their inevitable decline. The only decent Mataru I have met so far is Tekehu, who is a spoiled artist but good at heart. The rest are either foolish, blind, conniving, powerhungry or vicious. Despite having every opportunity to not be. I mean, their Queen is a bloody Cipher and can read minds, yet her priorities are so fucked up that she only uses her talent for personal gain (and power ploys) rather than fixing her fucked up society.
That leaders thrown into uncertain situations make bad decisions is not necessarily a condemnation of the society itself. Would we say that Chamberlain's trying to appease Hitler or that Hitler's election itself represent a failure of democracy, that democracy is doomed to fail and should be thrown out? Because that's what 1937 Watcher would see if they visited Europe at the time.
My point simply is that certain criticisms of Huanan society might not be generally applicable to all Huanan societies, especially given the circumstances they're in. It's not clear to me that another, alternative Huanan society would be responding that much better in the current state, because, frankly, they're outgunned, outmanned, and out-knowledge-d. It's not like giving the Roparu the right to vote would change those facts.
IMHO the flaws we see in Huana society are systemic, the natural end results of an inherently unfair system lacking in social mobility and by extension unable to cope with change.
They believe their social mobility is accomplished through Berath's Wheel.
And that's a shitty way of organizing your society (even though it's slightly better than our own class societies because there actually is a proven cycle of reincarnation):
1. It takes no account of individual talent. Born X, Always X.
2. It fosters a society of disrespect. "Everyone below me on the social ladder is objectively worth much less than me".
Whenever the Huana system comes under pressure (in literally every Huana colony we visit) we see that these two factors are limiting, oppressive, built on faulty premises and are straight up responsible for the weakness of the Huana. It's only when Huana break Huana customs that we see Huana strength.
Note: I'm going Rauatai. Because they're the only ones that are not slavers, cannibals or have a douchebag quotient higher than 75% (Rauatai douchebag quotient seems to be around the 40-60%, and it's individual, not systemic douchebagginess. I can work with that.)
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
I think the fact that you can't avoid the political ramifications of your actions is a pretty good one. You are arguably one of the only ways to solve the current crisis that is happening in the Deadfire. Thus every faction wants you on their side in order for them to gain power over the current stalemate. The fact that you gain so much power for being the only one that can do anything means that you make large political ripples regardless of what you do.
Even if you disagree with all the four main factions and try to go at it alone since well "screw everyone else", they will still rush into to grab whatever they can from the consequences that happen. The old "With great power comes great responsibility" cliche comes into play here. No faction is good and it's much harder in this game to do pure good choices. Even if you do good choices like taking out slavers, someone will rush into the available space and just take it for their own uses.
Sidequest spoilers:
I also enjoy that all sidequests are about either the factions background/goals or ambitions or about the importance of Ukaizo, the wheel and souls. It makes it pretty clear that the city will be end goal of everything.
In this context, I look at the Kahanga and I wonder if what we see there isn't a version of the Huana in (inevitable) decline, that the Kahanga we see of Neketaka is already a version of Huanan society that's already past saving, that's been "corrupted," if you will, and that otherwise Huanan society worked okay/better. For example, the Tikiwarans seem largely okay, with their main woe being a lack of resources brought about by external pressures, and I wonder if back wherever they originated, they were happy and peaceful, and if the trading companies and pirates and slavers etc.. were all expelled, could they return to that state?
A 179 word rant on why I hate the Huana (with some spoilers):
You mean the Tikiwarans that was not only in the process of spending their last food supply because their ranga was a blind fool but threw away a potential future source of food because "A weaver couldn't possibly know anything about agriculture" when your own Alchemical knowledge tells you that he knows EXACTLY what he's talking about.
There is no hope for the Huana society with the Mataru at the top, a class so blinded by their privileges that they're doomed to be crushed. Even if I, or even Ondra, back them up it will only be a temporary hold in their inevitable decline. The only decent Mataru I have met so far is Tekehu, who is a spoiled artist but good at heart. The rest are either foolish, blind, conniving, powerhungry or vicious. Despite having every opportunity to not be. I mean, their Queen is a bloody Cipher and can read minds, yet her priorities are so fucked up that she only uses her talent for personal gain (and power ploys) rather than fixing her fucked up society.
That leaders thrown into uncertain situations make bad decisions is not necessarily a condemnation of the society itself. Would we say that Chamberlain's trying to appease Hitler or that Hitler's election itself represent a failure of democracy, that democracy is doomed to fail and should be thrown out? Because that's what 1937 Watcher would see if they visited Europe at the time.
My point simply is that certain criticisms of Huanan society might not be generally applicable to all Huanan societies, especially given the circumstances they're in. It's not clear to me that another, alternative Huanan society would be responding that much better in the current state, because, frankly, they're outgunned, outmanned, and out-knowledge-d. It's not like giving the Roparu the right to vote would change those facts.
IMHO the flaws we see in Huana society are systemic, the natural end results of an inherently unfair system lacking in social mobility and by extension unable to cope with change.
They believe their social mobility is accomplished through Berath's Wheel.
And that's a shitty way of organizing your society (even though it's slightly better than our own class societies because there actually is a proven cycle of reincarnation):
1. It takes no account of individual talent. Born X, Always X.
2. It fosters a society of disrespect. "Everyone below me on the social ladder is objectively worth much less than me".
Whenever the Huana system comes under pressure (in literally every Huana colony we visit) we see that these two factors are limiting, oppressive, built on faulty premises and are straight up responsible for the weakness of the Huana. It's only when Huana break Huana customs that we see Huana strength.
Note: I'm going Rauatai. Because they're the only ones that are not slavers, cannibals or have a douchebag quotient higher than 75% (Rauatai douchebag quotient seems to be around the 40-60%, and it's individual, not systemic douchebagginess. I can work with that.)
So you see, in conclusion, it's our responsibility as citizens of the enlightened British Empire and the Ranga N...I mean the Queen, to civilize the Indian peoples and save them from their backwards caste system...
I think Deadfire is legitimately showing that a lot of people rely on narratives of colonialism portraying the natives as Hapless Innocents in order to fathom the idea that colonialism is bad. As soon as you portray the natives as human beings with agency and flaws of their own, suddenly gamers are hugely on board with colonialism lol.
This is good writing, but concerning all the same.
}
"Orkses never lose a battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fightin so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!".
In this context, I look at the Kahanga and I wonder if what we see there isn't a version of the Huana in (inevitable) decline, that the Kahanga we see of Neketaka is already a version of Huanan society that's already past saving, that's been "corrupted," if you will, and that otherwise Huanan society worked okay/better. For example, the Tikiwarans seem largely okay, with their main woe being a lack of resources brought about by external pressures, and I wonder if back wherever they originated, they were happy and peaceful, and if the trading companies and pirates and slavers etc.. were all expelled, could they return to that state?
A 179 word rant on why I hate the Huana (with some spoilers):
You mean the Tikiwarans that was not only in the process of spending their last food supply because their ranga was a blind fool but threw away a potential future source of food because "A weaver couldn't possibly know anything about agriculture" when your own Alchemical knowledge tells you that he knows EXACTLY what he's talking about.
There is no hope for the Huana society with the Mataru at the top, a class so blinded by their privileges that they're doomed to be crushed. Even if I, or even Ondra, back them up it will only be a temporary hold in their inevitable decline. The only decent Mataru I have met so far is Tekehu, who is a spoiled artist but good at heart. The rest are either foolish, blind, conniving, powerhungry or vicious. Despite having every opportunity to not be. I mean, their Queen is a bloody Cipher and can read minds, yet her priorities are so fucked up that she only uses her talent for personal gain (and power ploys) rather than fixing her fucked up society.
That leaders thrown into uncertain situations make bad decisions is not necessarily a condemnation of the society itself. Would we say that Chamberlain's trying to appease Hitler or that Hitler's election itself represent a failure of democracy, that democracy is doomed to fail and should be thrown out? Because that's what 1937 Watcher would see if they visited Europe at the time.
My point simply is that certain criticisms of Huanan society might not be generally applicable to all Huanan societies, especially given the circumstances they're in. It's not clear to me that another, alternative Huanan society would be responding that much better in the current state, because, frankly, they're outgunned, outmanned, and out-knowledge-d. It's not like giving the Roparu the right to vote would change those facts.
IMHO the flaws we see in Huana society are systemic, the natural end results of an inherently unfair system lacking in social mobility and by extension unable to cope with change.
They believe their social mobility is accomplished through Berath's Wheel.
And that's a shitty way of organizing your society (even though it's slightly better than our own class societies because there actually is a proven cycle of reincarnation):
1. It takes no account of individual talent. Born X, Always X.
2. It fosters a society of disrespect. "Everyone below me on the social ladder is objectively worth much less than me".
Whenever the Huana system comes under pressure (in literally every Huana colony we visit) we see that these two factors are limiting, oppressive, built on faulty premises and are straight up responsible for the weakness of the Huana. It's only when Huana break Huana customs that we see Huana strength.
Note: I'm going Rauatai. Because they're the only ones that are not slavers, cannibals or have a douchebag quotient higher than 75% (Rauatai douchebag quotient seems to be around the 40-60%, and it's individual, not systemic douchebagginess. I can work with that.)
So you see, in conclusion, it's our responsibility as citizens of the enlightened British Empire and the Ranga N...I mean the Queen, to civilize the Indian peoples and save them from their backwards caste system...
I think Deadfire is legitimately showing that a lot of people rely on narratives of colonialism portraying the natives as Hapless Innocents in order to fathom the idea that colonialism is bad. As soon as you portray the natives as human beings with agency and flaws of their own, suddenly gamers are hugely on board with colonialism lol.
This is good writing, but concerning all the same.
It's how people who weren't racist, greedy assholes have always gotten on board with colonialism. It's worth remembering that one of the major pushes for the UK to take a greater degree of control over individual Indian lives was female outrage over the practice of sati, which celebrated the funeral of a man by burning his wife on his funeral pyre. The anti-slavery campaigns were also as much about how the UK had divested itself of slave labor in favor of impressing the labor of its colonies into service, and that the British navy was as much weakening foreign enemies who relied on slave labor (like the U.S. and Spain) as it was embracing a noble cause.
You still see a lot of this in modern activist campaigns. The Kony movement is a classic example of a Western moral campaign that was quietly pressing for more Western military involvement in Africa, which is what it got.
Rauatai vs Huana is pretty much Imperial Japan vs feudal China/Korea/Vietnam.
A developed empire is going to look better in a lot of ways than a civilization in the middle of a transformative period under colonial pressure.
The ending capped my growing suspicion that the Rautai were just foul. They murdered tribal leaders for not allying with them period, whether they were actively against Rautai or not. It's no accident that the two leaders you meet on the starter island end up being some of the most decent people you meet, and helping Maia ends up with both of them assassinated.
Honestly, I ended up feeling that my solo expedition was the best ending. The Watcher ends up helping usher in a new age of enlightenment, the fact that she went it alone made her a shining symbol for the entire world, the Huana underclass with the Dawnstar's help ends up turning the Gullet into a comfortable and safe refuge. Rautai and Huana are still fighting in Deadfire and the company is still making exploitative deals, but no one has hegemony so it's probably the best of a bad situation.
+1
AxenMy avatar is Excalibur.Yes, the sword.Registered Userregular
edited May 2018
All in all I do appreciate more nuanced factions as opposed to Totally Amazingly Good, Fairly Benign, ABSOLUTE EVAAAL!
My VTC ending was,
EVERYBODY GETS RICH! The VTC, the RDC, the Pirates, and the Huana. Though the Huanan Queen became a figurehead and the influx of the VTC's more cosmopolitan ideals caused havoc for awhile in Huana society, but apparently stabilized after awhile.
edit- One QoL addition I would like to see is on the list of known places I'd like there to be an icon denoting what each of those places are. Which is something they do on the world map itself.
Axen on
A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
Seem to have ran into a bit of a quest bug. I'd encourage everyone to finish up all the side-quests you have before taking on main-quest stuff. I thought I'd do the next main quest because I was over-leveling it at that point, but it mucked some stuff up.
Most of it the game handles great, and if you talk to people after you do things rather than before, you can still get credit.
In this particular instance though, I finished a quest to convince some folks to help other folks, but didn't get credit. I noticed later that I never got credit, so I went back, and now they say they won't help.
Also, soulbound weapons can't be straight-upgrade enchanted (e.g. from superb to legendary), that kind of stinks.
The Wahaki you're sent to by the queen to convince to help. The originally agreed after I took care of the slavers. But now, they talk to me like I haven't care of the slavers yet and refuse to help.
I love games that if you collect something someone needs for a quest it has a dialog option like "what, this old thing? Yeah I already killed that guy and took his shit." like it was nothing.
Seem to have ran into a bit of a quest bug. I'd encourage everyone to finish up all the side-quests you have before taking on main-quest stuff. I thought I'd do the next main quest because I was over-leveling it at that point, but it mucked some stuff up.
Most of it the game handles great, and if you talk to people after you do things rather than before, you can still get credit.
In this particular instance though, I finished a quest to convince some folks to help other folks, but didn't get credit. I noticed later that I never got credit, so I went back, and now they say they won't help.
Also, soulbound weapons can't be straight-upgrade enchanted (e.g. from superb to legendary), that kind of stinks.
The Wahaki you're sent to by the queen to convince to help. The originally agreed after I took care of the slavers. But now, they talk to me like I haven't care of the slavers yet and refuse to help.
I love games that if you collect something someone needs for a quest it has a dialog option like "what, this old thing? Yeah I already killed that guy and took his shit." like it was nothing.
I was a little disappointed that the bounty hunters didn't have that trigger, because I had one where it was like "Here's your assignment." "Got the head right here in the bag." "Here's your next..." "Here you go" until he ran out of bounties to give.
POTD was really fun when I was low level and I just barely squeaked through fighting 2-skull enemies by using every resource I had, even the occasional healing potion. Granted I turned level scaling off, but there seem to be a lot of balance problems at high levels. The only enemy I've had trouble with in the last 10 hours was a mage with spell reflection that I couldn't cast on because I deal so much damage that I would instakill myself.
Rauatai vs Huana is pretty much Imperial Japan vs feudal China/Korea/Vietnam.
A developed empire is going to look better in a lot of ways than a civilization in the middle of a transformative period under colonial pressure.
The ending capped my growing suspicion that the Rautai were just foul. They murdered tribal leaders for not allying with them period, whether they were actively against Rautai or not. It's no accident that the two leaders you meet on the starter island end up being some of the most decent people you meet, and helping Maia ends up with both of them assassinated.
Honestly, I ended up feeling that my solo expedition was the best ending. The Watcher ends up helping usher in a new age of enlightenment, the fact that she went it alone made her a shining symbol for the entire world, the Huana underclass with the Dawnstar's help ends up turning the Gullet into a comfortable and safe refuge. Rautai and Huana are still fighting in Deadfire and the company is still making exploitative deals, but no one has hegemony so it's probably the best of a bad situation.
Have you seen other endings?
Spoiler on endings:
Going solo means that the situation within Deadfire archipelago worsens as the fighting grows.
Choosing any faction is better than that. Even the pirates stop pirating and found the new old Vailia
First playthrough complete. The ending feels very undeveloped, but it was still a hugely satisfying chunk of time spent. I'm already eagerly planning the next playthrough or two. I think next is going to be about building a party of OP custom god characters to just obliterate Veteran and fully align with one faction. After that, I'll probably start experimenting with multiclassing and maybe even a murderverse playthrough where no one survives.
They did SUCH a good job making this game feel both long AND short. At any time, you can get tired of being a completionist and knock out the main quest in a few hours - that's just great design. It feels like a wonderful marriage of what I enjoyed about Tyranny and PoE1. I would like to see seaborne threats regenerate over time. Heck, for that matter, I'd also like to see island-based stuff regenerate or randomly pop. They are probably a stone's throw away from doing some procedural like that for those who like to keep on killin' and lootin' - maybe next game or a DLC.
Rauatai vs Huana is pretty much Imperial Japan vs feudal China/Korea/Vietnam.
A developed empire is going to look better in a lot of ways than a civilization in the middle of a transformative period under colonial pressure.
The ending capped my growing suspicion that the Rautai were just foul. They murdered tribal leaders for not allying with them period, whether they were actively against Rautai or not. It's no accident that the two leaders you meet on the starter island end up being some of the most decent people you meet, and helping Maia ends up with both of them assassinated.
Honestly, I ended up feeling that my solo expedition was the best ending. The Watcher ends up helping usher in a new age of enlightenment, the fact that she went it alone made her a shining symbol for the entire world, the Huana underclass with the Dawnstar's help ends up turning the Gullet into a comfortable and safe refuge. Rautai and Huana are still fighting in Deadfire and the company is still making exploitative deals, but no one has hegemony so it's probably the best of a bad situation.
Have you seen other endings?
Spoiler on endings:
Going solo means that the situation within Deadfire archipelago worsens as the fighting grows.
Choosing any faction is better than that. Even the pirates stop pirating and found the new old Vailia
I read a little about them, but I did an abortive ending due to multiple bugs blocking critical paths for a couple of the factions. The sense I got was that the Deadfire was worse, but the reputation of the Watcher was seriously elevated by going it alone. It's a bad ending for the game, but there's a lot there that makes me think it might end up being a "good" ending to carry into the next game.
In this context, I look at the Kahanga and I wonder if what we see there isn't a version of the Huana in (inevitable) decline, that the Kahanga we see of Neketaka is already a version of Huanan society that's already past saving, that's been "corrupted," if you will, and that otherwise Huanan society worked okay/better. For example, the Tikiwarans seem largely okay, with their main woe being a lack of resources brought about by external pressures, and I wonder if back wherever they originated, they were happy and peaceful, and if the trading companies and pirates and slavers etc.. were all expelled, could they return to that state?
A 179 word rant on why I hate the Huana (with some spoilers):
You mean the Tikiwarans that was not only in the process of spending their last food supply because their ranga was a blind fool but threw away a potential future source of food because "A weaver couldn't possibly know anything about agriculture" when your own Alchemical knowledge tells you that he knows EXACTLY what he's talking about.
There is no hope for the Huana society with the Mataru at the top, a class so blinded by their privileges that they're doomed to be crushed. Even if I, or even Ondra, back them up it will only be a temporary hold in their inevitable decline. The only decent Mataru I have met so far is Tekehu, who is a spoiled artist but good at heart. The rest are either foolish, blind, conniving, powerhungry or vicious. Despite having every opportunity to not be. I mean, their Queen is a bloody Cipher and can read minds, yet her priorities are so fucked up that she only uses her talent for personal gain (and power ploys) rather than fixing her fucked up society.
That leaders thrown into uncertain situations make bad decisions is not necessarily a condemnation of the society itself. Would we say that Chamberlain's trying to appease Hitler or that Hitler's election itself represent a failure of democracy, that democracy is doomed to fail and should be thrown out? Because that's what 1937 Watcher would see if they visited Europe at the time.
My point simply is that certain criticisms of Huanan society might not be generally applicable to all Huanan societies, especially given the circumstances they're in. It's not clear to me that another, alternative Huanan society would be responding that much better in the current state, because, frankly, they're outgunned, outmanned, and out-knowledge-d. It's not like giving the Roparu the right to vote would change those facts.
IMHO the flaws we see in Huana society are systemic, the natural end results of an inherently unfair system lacking in social mobility and by extension unable to cope with change.
They believe their social mobility is accomplished through Berath's Wheel.
And that's a shitty way of organizing your society (even though it's slightly better than our own class societies because there actually is a proven cycle of reincarnation):
1. It takes no account of individual talent. Born X, Always X.
2. It fosters a society of disrespect. "Everyone below me on the social ladder is objectively worth much less than me".
Whenever the Huana system comes under pressure (in literally every Huana colony we visit) we see that these two factors are limiting, oppressive, built on faulty premises and are straight up responsible for the weakness of the Huana. It's only when Huana break Huana customs that we see Huana strength.
Note: I'm going Rauatai. Because they're the only ones that are not slavers, cannibals or have a douchebag quotient higher than 75% (Rauatai douchebag quotient seems to be around the 40-60%, and it's individual, not systemic douchebagginess. I can work with that.)
So you see, in conclusion, it's our responsibility as citizens of the enlightened British Empire and the Ranga N...I mean the Queen, to civilize the Indian peoples and save them from their backwards caste system...
I think Deadfire is legitimately showing that a lot of people rely on narratives of colonialism portraying the natives as Hapless Innocents in order to fathom the idea that colonialism is bad. As soon as you portray the natives as human beings with agency and flaws of their own, suddenly gamers are hugely on board with colonialism lol.
This is good writing, but concerning all the same.
Honestly. When I started to play this game I was "Fuck the Valians! Fuck the Rauata! Fuck you too pirates!". But when the alternative is Colonialism or Marie Antoinette, except she's probably a cannibal, I'll go with Colonialism. The Rauatai also have the up on the brittish empire in that they're not a bunch of racists, so only 50% as bad.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Rauatai vs Huana is pretty much Imperial Japan vs feudal China/Korea/Vietnam.
A developed empire is going to look better in a lot of ways than a civilization in the middle of a transformative period under colonial pressure.
The ending capped my growing suspicion that the Rautai were just foul. They murdered tribal leaders for not allying with them period, whether they were actively against Rautai or not. It's no accident that the two leaders you meet on the starter island end up being some of the most decent people you meet, and helping Maia ends up with both of them assassinated.
Honestly, I ended up feeling that my solo expedition was the best ending. The Watcher ends up helping usher in a new age of enlightenment, the fact that she went it alone made her a shining symbol for the entire world, the Huana underclass with the Dawnstar's help ends up turning the Gullet into a comfortable and safe refuge. Rautai and Huana are still fighting in Deadfire and the company is still making exploitative deals, but no one has hegemony so it's probably the best of a bad situation.
Have you seen other endings?
Spoiler on endings:
Going solo means that the situation within Deadfire archipelago worsens as the fighting grows.
Choosing any faction is better than that. Even the pirates stop pirating and found the new old Vailia
I read a little about them, but I did an abortive ending due to multiple bugs blocking critical paths for a couple of the factions. The sense I got was that the Deadfire was worse, but the reputation of the Watcher was seriously elevated by going it alone. It's a bad ending for the game, but there's a lot there that makes me think it might end up being a "good" ending to carry into the next game.
Just found out even worse ending:
If you ally with the new blood pirate-captain, she re-starts the storms and sails away with her ghost-ship to make Deadfire into a pirate heaven. Everyone suffers!
In this context, I look at the Kahanga and I wonder if what we see there isn't a version of the Huana in (inevitable) decline, that the Kahanga we see of Neketaka is already a version of Huanan society that's already past saving, that's been "corrupted," if you will, and that otherwise Huanan society worked okay/better. For example, the Tikiwarans seem largely okay, with their main woe being a lack of resources brought about by external pressures, and I wonder if back wherever they originated, they were happy and peaceful, and if the trading companies and pirates and slavers etc.. were all expelled, could they return to that state?
A 179 word rant on why I hate the Huana (with some spoilers):
You mean the Tikiwarans that was not only in the process of spending their last food supply because their ranga was a blind fool but threw away a potential future source of food because "A weaver couldn't possibly know anything about agriculture" when your own Alchemical knowledge tells you that he knows EXACTLY what he's talking about.
There is no hope for the Huana society with the Mataru at the top, a class so blinded by their privileges that they're doomed to be crushed. Even if I, or even Ondra, back them up it will only be a temporary hold in their inevitable decline. The only decent Mataru I have met so far is Tekehu, who is a spoiled artist but good at heart. The rest are either foolish, blind, conniving, powerhungry or vicious. Despite having every opportunity to not be. I mean, their Queen is a bloody Cipher and can read minds, yet her priorities are so fucked up that she only uses her talent for personal gain (and power ploys) rather than fixing her fucked up society.
That leaders thrown into uncertain situations make bad decisions is not necessarily a condemnation of the society itself. Would we say that Chamberlain's trying to appease Hitler or that Hitler's election itself represent a failure of democracy, that democracy is doomed to fail and should be thrown out? Because that's what 1937 Watcher would see if they visited Europe at the time.
My point simply is that certain criticisms of Huanan society might not be generally applicable to all Huanan societies, especially given the circumstances they're in. It's not clear to me that another, alternative Huanan society would be responding that much better in the current state, because, frankly, they're outgunned, outmanned, and out-knowledge-d. It's not like giving the Roparu the right to vote would change those facts.
IMHO the flaws we see in Huana society are systemic, the natural end results of an inherently unfair system lacking in social mobility and by extension unable to cope with change.
They believe their social mobility is accomplished through Berath's Wheel.
And that's a shitty way of organizing your society (even though it's slightly better than our own class societies because there actually is a proven cycle of reincarnation):
1. It takes no account of individual talent. Born X, Always X.
2. It fosters a society of disrespect. "Everyone below me on the social ladder is objectively worth much less than me".
Whenever the Huana system comes under pressure (in literally every Huana colony we visit) we see that these two factors are limiting, oppressive, built on faulty premises and are straight up responsible for the weakness of the Huana. It's only when Huana break Huana customs that we see Huana strength.
Note: I'm going Rauatai. Because they're the only ones that are not slavers, cannibals or have a douchebag quotient higher than 75% (Rauatai douchebag quotient seems to be around the 40-60%, and it's individual, not systemic douchebagginess. I can work with that.)
So you see, in conclusion, it's our responsibility as citizens of the enlightened British Empire and the Ranga N...I mean the Queen, to civilize the Indian peoples and save them from their backwards caste system...
I think Deadfire is legitimately showing that a lot of people rely on narratives of colonialism portraying the natives as Hapless Innocents in order to fathom the idea that colonialism is bad. As soon as you portray the natives as human beings with agency and flaws of their own, suddenly gamers are hugely on board with colonialism lol.
This is good writing, but concerning all the same.
Honestly. When I started to play this game I was "Fuck the Valians! Fuck the Rauata! Fuck you too pirates!". But when the alternative is Colonialism or Marie Antoinette, except she's probably a cannibal, I'll go with Colonialism. The Rauatai also have the up on the brittish empire in that they're not a bunch of racists, so only 50% as bad.
You should talk to the Rauati more, especially when you start to learn about the Huana's relationship to the Engwithians. They are 100 percent on the "These poor natives could never have done these great things! They need our firm hand or they will starve."
I think the Rautai are very interesting, in that they are all written as decent and committed people at first glance. It's only when you start working with them a lot that the shine comes off.
In the end, I think the pirates and the Valian company come of the best. The pirates are just pirates who want to do pirate things, especially the ones who are the "Fuck Slavery" pirates. The Valian company are dirty corporate exploiters, but you can direct them to be more interested in research and extracting old crystals than actively oppressing the Hauna.
In this context, I look at the Kahanga and I wonder if what we see there isn't a version of the Huana in (inevitable) decline, that the Kahanga we see of Neketaka is already a version of Huanan society that's already past saving, that's been "corrupted," if you will, and that otherwise Huanan society worked okay/better. For example, the Tikiwarans seem largely okay, with their main woe being a lack of resources brought about by external pressures, and I wonder if back wherever they originated, they were happy and peaceful, and if the trading companies and pirates and slavers etc.. were all expelled, could they return to that state?
A 179 word rant on why I hate the Huana (with some spoilers):
You mean the Tikiwarans that was not only in the process of spending their last food supply because their ranga was a blind fool but threw away a potential future source of food because "A weaver couldn't possibly know anything about agriculture" when your own Alchemical knowledge tells you that he knows EXACTLY what he's talking about.
There is no hope for the Huana society with the Mataru at the top, a class so blinded by their privileges that they're doomed to be crushed. Even if I, or even Ondra, back them up it will only be a temporary hold in their inevitable decline. The only decent Mataru I have met so far is Tekehu, who is a spoiled artist but good at heart. The rest are either foolish, blind, conniving, powerhungry or vicious. Despite having every opportunity to not be. I mean, their Queen is a bloody Cipher and can read minds, yet her priorities are so fucked up that she only uses her talent for personal gain (and power ploys) rather than fixing her fucked up society.
That leaders thrown into uncertain situations make bad decisions is not necessarily a condemnation of the society itself. Would we say that Chamberlain's trying to appease Hitler or that Hitler's election itself represent a failure of democracy, that democracy is doomed to fail and should be thrown out? Because that's what 1937 Watcher would see if they visited Europe at the time.
My point simply is that certain criticisms of Huanan society might not be generally applicable to all Huanan societies, especially given the circumstances they're in. It's not clear to me that another, alternative Huanan society would be responding that much better in the current state, because, frankly, they're outgunned, outmanned, and out-knowledge-d. It's not like giving the Roparu the right to vote would change those facts.
IMHO the flaws we see in Huana society are systemic, the natural end results of an inherently unfair system lacking in social mobility and by extension unable to cope with change.
They believe their social mobility is accomplished through Berath's Wheel.
And that's a shitty way of organizing your society (even though it's slightly better than our own class societies because there actually is a proven cycle of reincarnation):
1. It takes no account of individual talent. Born X, Always X.
2. It fosters a society of disrespect. "Everyone below me on the social ladder is objectively worth much less than me".
Whenever the Huana system comes under pressure (in literally every Huana colony we visit) we see that these two factors are limiting, oppressive, built on faulty premises and are straight up responsible for the weakness of the Huana. It's only when Huana break Huana customs that we see Huana strength.
Note: I'm going Rauatai. Because they're the only ones that are not slavers, cannibals or have a douchebag quotient higher than 75% (Rauatai douchebag quotient seems to be around the 40-60%, and it's individual, not systemic douchebagginess. I can work with that.)
So you see, in conclusion, it's our responsibility as citizens of the enlightened British Empire and the Ranga N...I mean the Queen, to civilize the Indian peoples and save them from their backwards caste system...
I think Deadfire is legitimately showing that a lot of people rely on narratives of colonialism portraying the natives as Hapless Innocents in order to fathom the idea that colonialism is bad. As soon as you portray the natives as human beings with agency and flaws of their own, suddenly gamers are hugely on board with colonialism lol.
This is good writing, but concerning all the same.
Honestly. When I started to play this game I was "Fuck the Valians! Fuck the Rauata! Fuck you too pirates!". But when the alternative is Colonialism or Marie Antoinette, except she's probably a cannibal, I'll go with Colonialism. The Rauatai also have the up on the brittish empire in that they're not a bunch of racists, so only 50% as bad.
Uhhhh I have some bad news.
Rauatai is very racist. Maia talks about how because her parents were Huana the Rauataian Aumaua aristocrats literally kept checking to see if she or Kana had tails. Furthermore, Kana tells us that the current regime of Rauatai is born out of an Aumauan Exceptionalism traditionalist faction.
Rauatai by all indications is basically a Polynesian themed imperial Japan, and the Huana in this metaphor seem to be Korea. Traditionally giving overlordship of a people to someone who explicitly believes that you’re their “less evolved” cousins does not end well. You don’t need a formal system of slavery to coerce labor as the British realized irl. Rauatai knows that too.
Colonialism is never worth the price. Even if the Huana were markedly worse than the imperial powers (they really aren’t), colonial subjugation makes it extremely difficult to develop a non-reactionary national identity or stable civic institutions. Both of which are important to the development of a secular state governed by the rule of law.
In the end, I think the pirates and the Valian company come of the best. The pirates are just pirates who want to do pirate things, especially the ones who are the "Fuck Slavery" pirates. The Valian company are dirty corporate exploiters, but you can direct them to be more interested in research and extracting old crystals than actively oppressing the Hauna.
Gah! Please tell me that the Fuck Slavery pirates are the old Valia pirates and not the 100% douchebag factor New Pirates?
P.S: Valian company is 100% not an option
I decided that I could never support the Valian company after it was all "Oh. Sacrificing Kith to make adra luminous. ha ha ha! What a ridiculous idea, those silly academics. We would never do such a thing with all of these so-eager-to-please Huana just laying about being savages. Ha. ha. Ha.
I can already see them considering it, because the valian company does not give a shit about anything but profits
Fiendishrabbit on
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
In the end, I think the pirates and the Valian company come of the best. The pirates are just pirates who want to do pirate things, especially the ones who are the "Fuck Slavery" pirates. The Valian company are dirty corporate exploiters, but you can direct them to be more interested in research and extracting old crystals than actively oppressing the Hauna.
Gah! Please tell me that the Fuck Slavery pirates are the old Valia pirates and not the 100% douchebag factor New Pirates?
P.S: Valian company is 100% not an option
I decided that I could never support the Valian company after it was all "Oh. Sacrificing Kith to make adra luminous. ha ha ha! What a ridiculous idea, those silly academics. We would never do such a thing with all of these so-eager-to-please Huana just laying about being savages. Ha. ha. Ha.
I can already see them considering it, because the valian company does not give a shit about anything but profits
"Secret" spoiler about this!!! (I think it's a "secret" anyways.)
If you are a cipher, when you pick up the figurine on Beza's body, you find that it has been cursed by the priestess on Tikiwara to drive the expedition insane.
In the end, I think the pirates and the Valian company come of the best. The pirates are just pirates who want to do pirate things, especially the ones who are the "Fuck Slavery" pirates. The Valian company are dirty corporate exploiters, but you can direct them to be more interested in research and extracting old crystals than actively oppressing the Hauna.
Gah! Please tell me that the Fuck Slavery pirates are the old Valia pirates and not the 100% douchebag factor New Pirates?
P.S: Valian company is 100% not an option
I decided that I could never support the Valian company after it was all "Oh. Sacrificing Kith to make adra luminous. ha ha ha! What a ridiculous idea, those silly academics. We would never do such a thing with all of these so-eager-to-please Huana just laying about being savages. Ha. ha. Ha.
I can already see them considering it, because the valian company does not give a shit about anything but profits
"Secret" spoiler about this!!! (I think it's a "secret" anyways.)
If you are a cipher, when you pick up the figurine on Beza's body, you find that it has been cursed by the priestess on Tikiwara to drive the expedition insane.
You find that out anyway if you visit the Priestess on Tikiwara afterwards, even if you're not a cipher. But her crazy statue isn't responsible for the Cook or the Governors response, and those responses gave me the chills.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
In the end, I think the pirates and the Valian company come of the best. The pirates are just pirates who want to do pirate things, especially the ones who are the "Fuck Slavery" pirates. The Valian company are dirty corporate exploiters, but you can direct them to be more interested in research and extracting old crystals than actively oppressing the Hauna.
Gah! Please tell me that the Fuck Slavery pirates are the old Valia pirates and not the 100% douchebag factor New Pirates?
P.S: Valian company is 100% not an option
I decided that I could never support the Valian company after it was all "Oh. Sacrificing Kith to make adra luminous. ha ha ha! What a ridiculous idea, those silly academics. We would never do such a thing with all of these so-eager-to-please Huana just laying about being savages. Ha. ha. Ha.
I can already see them considering it, because the valian company does not give a shit about anything but profits
"Secret" spoiler about this!!! (I think it's a "secret" anyways.)
If you are a cipher, when you pick up the figurine on Beza's body, you find that it has been cursed by the priestess on Tikiwara to drive the expedition insane.
The Valians also have an evil and less-evil representative, with a quest to influence the choice between the two. I felt like it was less that the Valians were better, and more that you had the option to neutralize their worst aspects and direct them toward productive animancy research over pure exploitation.
There are no good guys. There is a lot of "best worst" decision making, especially toward the end.
In the end, I think the pirates and the Valian company come of the best. The pirates are just pirates who want to do pirate things, especially the ones who are the "Fuck Slavery" pirates. The Valian company are dirty corporate exploiters, but you can direct them to be more interested in research and extracting old crystals than actively oppressing the Hauna.
Gah! Please tell me that the Fuck Slavery pirates are the old Valia pirates and not the 100% douchebag factor New Pirates?
P.S: Valian company is 100% not an option
I decided that I could never support the Valian company after it was all "Oh. Sacrificing Kith to make adra luminous. ha ha ha! What a ridiculous idea, those silly academics. We would never do such a thing with all of these so-eager-to-please Huana just laying about being savages. Ha. ha. Ha.
I can already see them considering it, because the valian company does not give a shit about anything but profits
Old Valia Principi is pro-slavery. They even see it as a major factor in establishing New Valia. Crazy-ass pirates are all about freedom.
You can negate this somewhat by killing all the slavers, but that assumes that none of the old faction will just start raiding for slaves themselves.
In the end, I think the pirates and the Valian company come of the best. The pirates are just pirates who want to do pirate things, especially the ones who are the "Fuck Slavery" pirates. The Valian company are dirty corporate exploiters, but you can direct them to be more interested in research and extracting old crystals than actively oppressing the Hauna.
Gah! Please tell me that the Fuck Slavery pirates are the old Valia pirates and not the 100% douchebag factor New Pirates?
P.S: Valian company is 100% not an option
I decided that I could never support the Valian company after it was all "Oh. Sacrificing Kith to make adra luminous. ha ha ha! What a ridiculous idea, those silly academics. We would never do such a thing with all of these so-eager-to-please Huana just laying about being savages. Ha. ha. Ha.
I can already see them considering it, because the valian company does not give a shit about anything but profits
Old Valia Principi is pro-slavery. They even see it as a major factor in establishing New Valia. Crazy-ass pirates are all about freedom.
You can negate this somewhat by killing all the slavers, but that assumes that none of the old faction will just start raiding for slaves themselves.
Fuck. Because I can't stand those pirates. They're murdering scum and deserve to die so hard.
Makes you wonder if Luminous Adras secret sideeffect is "Attract douchebags", because apparently all the big powerplayers are such major douchebags that I want to engage in a complete purge of everyone with power.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Posts
But it goes beyond even urbanization. One of the smaller islands also suffered from this. The one with the dwarf on it hoping for a Valian colony. The lower ranks were starving because of a poor harvest.
And they were on that island, which was poorly suited to agriculture, because of the VTC and RDC strip mining and otherwise seizing the islands they normally migrate between, as well as slavers attacking them when they tried to dwell on desireable lands that weren't already being ransacked by the assorted imperial powers. Finally, in desperation, they settled on Tikawara precisely because it is so undesireable save for being on a major trade lane.
This is the direct consequence of being crowded out by urbanized imperial powers.
White FC: 0819 3350 1787
Once the enemies start humping Aloth, he won't give a shit.
They believe their social mobility is accomplished through Berath's Wheel.
Also, takehu is absurdly strong. Both he and (to a lesser extent) Maia feel so much more powerful than most of the other companions.
I feel the same way regarding combat difficulty but (having seen probably 60-70% of the game at this point, haven't gone to do final part of main quest yet) I would blame a lack of truly overpowered matchups in the game's favor. I've seen a couple of the unique ones that are clearly intended to make you take pause, but they still don't feel like they're throwing much at me compared to the frankly ridiculous amount of abilities, gear, abilities from gear and empowers your party will have to throw around pretty shortly after you leave the first island. in your older cRPGs you tend to feel like the pitiful weakling you are until way later in the game, but in PoE - moreso in 2 than 1 I think - you feel like the one that has far more tools than your enemies a lot earlier on. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not, but I can't really say that I'm playing the game to be tactically challenged anyway so it doesn't bother me overmuch.
if we're talking about unique party members, my monk xoti is the standout. the ability they get at PL7 that adds a proc chance for a full attack off crits is probably a little too good, sometimes she can turn on all her buffs and instantly delete enemy casters about five seconds into a combat.
And that's a shitty way of organizing your society (even though it's slightly better than our own class societies because there actually is a proven cycle of reincarnation):
1. It takes no account of individual talent. Born X, Always X.
2. It fosters a society of disrespect. "Everyone below me on the social ladder is objectively worth much less than me".
Whenever the Huana system comes under pressure (in literally every Huana colony we visit) we see that these two factors are limiting, oppressive, built on faulty premises and are straight up responsible for the weakness of the Huana. It's only when Huana break Huana customs that we see Huana strength.
Note: I'm going Rauatai. Because they're the only ones that are not slavers, cannibals or have a douchebag quotient higher than 75% (Rauatai douchebag quotient seems to be around the 40-60%, and it's individual, not systemic douchebagginess. I can work with that.)
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Even if you disagree with all the four main factions and try to go at it alone since well "screw everyone else", they will still rush into to grab whatever they can from the consequences that happen. The old "With great power comes great responsibility" cliche comes into play here. No faction is good and it's much harder in this game to do pure good choices. Even if you do good choices like taking out slavers, someone will rush into the available space and just take it for their own uses.
Sidequest spoilers:
So you see, in conclusion, it's our responsibility as citizens of the enlightened British Empire and the Ranga N...I mean the Queen, to civilize the Indian peoples and save them from their backwards caste system...
This is good writing, but concerning all the same.
White FC: 0819 3350 1787
A developed empire is going to look better in a lot of ways than a civilization in the middle of a transformative period under colonial pressure.
Edit: All East Asian cultures had a caste system, based on Confucianism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_occupations), it makes the comparison apt.
"Orkses never lose a battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fightin so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!".
You still see a lot of this in modern activist campaigns. The Kony movement is a classic example of a Western moral campaign that was quietly pressing for more Western military involvement in Africa, which is what it got.
Honestly, I ended up feeling that my solo expedition was the best ending. The Watcher ends up helping usher in a new age of enlightenment, the fact that she went it alone made her a shining symbol for the entire world, the Huana underclass with the Dawnstar's help ends up turning the Gullet into a comfortable and safe refuge. Rautai and Huana are still fighting in Deadfire and the company is still making exploitative deals, but no one has hegemony so it's probably the best of a bad situation.
My VTC ending was,
edit- One QoL addition I would like to see is on the list of known places I'd like there to be an icon denoting what each of those places are. Which is something they do on the world map itself.
Doing it right.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
I love games that if you collect something someone needs for a quest it has a dialog option like "what, this old thing? Yeah I already killed that guy and took his shit." like it was nothing.
Have you seen other endings?
Spoiler on endings:
Choosing any faction is better than that. Even the pirates stop pirating and found the new old Vailia
They did SUCH a good job making this game feel both long AND short. At any time, you can get tired of being a completionist and knock out the main quest in a few hours - that's just great design. It feels like a wonderful marriage of what I enjoyed about Tyranny and PoE1. I would like to see seaborne threats regenerate over time. Heck, for that matter, I'd also like to see island-based stuff regenerate or randomly pop. They are probably a stone's throw away from doing some procedural like that for those who like to keep on killin' and lootin' - maybe next game or a DLC.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Just found out even worse ending:
I think the Rautai are very interesting, in that they are all written as decent and committed people at first glance. It's only when you start working with them a lot that the shine comes off.
In the end, I think the pirates and the Valian company come of the best. The pirates are just pirates who want to do pirate things, especially the ones who are the "Fuck Slavery" pirates. The Valian company are dirty corporate exploiters, but you can direct them to be more interested in research and extracting old crystals than actively oppressing the Hauna.
Uhhhh I have some bad news.
Rauatai by all indications is basically a Polynesian themed imperial Japan, and the Huana in this metaphor seem to be Korea. Traditionally giving overlordship of a people to someone who explicitly believes that you’re their “less evolved” cousins does not end well. You don’t need a formal system of slavery to coerce labor as the British realized irl. Rauatai knows that too.
Colonialism is never worth the price. Even if the Huana were markedly worse than the imperial powers (they really aren’t), colonial subjugation makes it extremely difficult to develop a non-reactionary national identity or stable civic institutions. Both of which are important to the development of a secular state governed by the rule of law.
White FC: 0819 3350 1787
Gah! Please tell me that the Fuck Slavery pirates are the old Valia pirates and not the 100% douchebag factor New Pirates?
P.S: Valian company is 100% not an option
I can already see them considering it, because the valian company does not give a shit about anything but profits
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
"Secret" spoiler about this!!! (I think it's a "secret" anyways.)
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
There are no good guys. There is a lot of "best worst" decision making, especially toward the end.
You can negate this somewhat by killing all the slavers, but that assumes that none of the old faction will just start raiding for slaves themselves.
Makes you wonder if Luminous Adras secret sideeffect is "Attract douchebags", because apparently all the big powerplayers are such major douchebags that I want to engage in a complete purge of everyone with power.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
We're Not Evil Assholes Trading Company
Everyone's mind is blown
Well, except maybe
Pretty sure he lives to chew scenery.
White FC: 0819 3350 1787
Out of business in a week.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]