Discussions on the main story, context, and more options

[The Smiling Man]

I'm mostly a lurker when it comes to these forums, I enjoy reading and seeing what people say. I've also had very few qualms about PoE2, and only been a disappointed at the limited amount of options when it came to some scenarios. PoE1 built the stage, set it, and acted it all out and it was a wonderful trip, PoE2 left something more to be desired to me. I was hoping to wait until the DLC's were out before putting forth my pseudo review that would be more ideas on how to make things better.

 

I should note that I won't be putting all my thoughts in to one post as that would be too long and I want to discuss possibilities and thoughts from others based on each thought that I have.

 

The intro, while I enjoyed it at first, it made me want to experience Eder's telling more than just listening to it for a third, fourth, fifth, etc time.

And the story could have definitely used more story to engage the player. I feel that it should have been told differently.

 

-----

 

The intro should start off in the Dyrwood, I wholeheartedly believe that it would provide a better intro and a better reason for players to want to follow Eothas either vengefully, faithfully, or out of curiosity more than the original intro. But I'm not saying remove the original intro, just add on to it, make it start after this prologue chapter.

 

This is how I would want the intro to start off: (queue curtains unfurling and PoE intro music)

 

"The crisis has been averted and the people of Dyrwood are (disposition based on end game choice) (Explain on how things were great or horrible in those 5 years after the ending of PoE1)." (Start the game off as an ending of itself)

Show a cutscene of Aloth stealing Thaos' clothes or burning his whole body right there on the spot. Eder returning to faith or not. Basically a few slides of some of the previous companions returning home, or something akin to the ending slides. Show the watcher trying to raise the Orlan kid if you "accidentally" abducted her.

 

"But things are not all as them seem. Strange occurrences of a death cult have propped up, and you have been commissioned to assist in dealing with them." (queue character creation)

Start of in Caed-Nua being briefed by the wonderful statue and a messenger bearing the message. Eder has the ability to chirp in saying he's heard about this death cult if he's stayed faithful and secretly helped out Eothasian worshipers underground. Then you and four other mercenaries head out to a small newly founded village where the rumors have been coming from. It is dusk and the village seems empty save for a huge communal barn in the center where the village stores its grains and other products. Noises from the barn curiously make you enter and a huge crowd seems to be in prayer with their backs to you, and at the head of this crowd standing at the stage is a man. But not just any man, his face is obscure with a light akin to St Waidwen. The light is similar to Eothas' symbol but flipped upside-down. The man who preaches to the crowd is Eothas alternate soul, Gaun. Eder is in disbelief and interrupts the prayer and shouts, "It can't be!" The crowd goes quiet from their humming prayers and turn to you, and the figure on the stage addresses you and your party.

 

(This idea came from the whole concept of how souls seem to work in the universe. A strong soul eating other souls becomes a god. Eothas had two strong souls that share the same memories but embody different thoughts somehow. Similar to how the crazy watcher was at Caed-Nua worked, but he couldn't control himself, or his powers, or the souls in him.)

 

The figure of Gaun on the stage starts listing off the titles of the watcher and welcomes him to the prayer. The figure then addresses Eder and says, "It's so good to see you again." Remembering Eder as if he was Waidwen.

 

Now things can go a few ways here. The prayer that they're doing is to offer their souls to Gaun so he can rebirth as Eothas. The Watcher can offer his souls ending the game right there. The Watcher can start a fight and try to apprehend the avatar of Gaun, where upon the Watcher gets skewered by the angry rabble and dies by being impaled by pitch forks, and the crowd return to their prayer offering their bodies and souls to Gaun, and they all get a symbol of light obscuring their faces like the avatar of Gaun. Lastly the watcher can tell Gaun that he's not going to stop him, but he's not going to join in, where the Watcher and his party leave and return to Caed-Nua.

 

Returning to Caed-Nua results in basically reporting that you haven't done anything, and hope it simply keeps to the town. Although a week later the fortress is visited by a giant rabble of people with flashy foreheads. The Avatar of Gaun is standing in front of the temple and is reciting a prayer trying to take over the adra statue, with your local guards not stopping them as they're not sure what he's saying and think he's simply praying. The souls of all the people with flashy foreheads are slowly dissipating as you're running out from your keep to investigate the noise. But it all stops as the adra statue comes to life and pulls itself out of the ground and absorbs most of the souls in the vicinity, except the Avatar of Gaun, the Watcher and his party of people. The Watcher goes to fight the Avatar of Gaun, but both the Avatar and the Watcher are killed by the giant palm of the adra statue.

 

Prologue ends here and the intro cutscene to the game can play.

 

-----

 

This is where I'll stop for now because I want to hear what other people think, but I'll keep going to share further thoughts and ideas.

[Rheios]

While I'm not actually a fan of the idea of actually meeting Nega-Eothas as Gaun, I think there could be something to a death cult, or strange occurrence setting up a growing concern *and* connection to the Deadfire. More and more Deadfire souls cropping up in the Dyrwood as some strange soul-current is interrupting the regular flow into Hel. A sudden surge of slightly dreams among Eothasians calling them to the Dawnstars (Eder complains of them to you via letter - and mentions a voice in them being his old flame's calling his name), and Dawn and Dusk seemingly coming sooner in the last week. Mention of an interaction with  a mob of strange individuals wearing masks calling you out to the center of your keep. And then Eothas awakens cutscene.
 

-- Everyone will probably want to just stop there. I'm about to start rambling of some tweaks I think could help things. I didn't intend that at onset but I kindof got lost in rambling. --

The game continues on. But when you interact with Aloth later you discover his coming to the area because of some strange unfounded faction of the Leaden Key. You think maybe its the weird hooded figures that called you out to witness Eothas awakening. When you talk to Xoti though, she thinks they might be a group of militant Gaunites and asked to join out of curiosity and to follow you on your mission. As you reach Tikawara you have your big display and discover, as you pick up companions, that they all have some task relating to this organization interrupting their actions in the area - attacking those trying to mine for Luminous Adra or sinking ships searching for lore on Ukaizo. All the factions are pointing fingers at eachother for being the masked individuals and so each companion has a quest that ties to this secret cult. Xoti ends up being right after a fashion - they're the Eothasian equivalent of the Leaden Key, The Mirrored Curve or something, and have been actively protecting Ukaizo and the Luminous Adra pillars as holy locations in preparation for Eothas ever since St. Waidwyn's death at Halgot.  These cultists all get their dreams through Eothas, as opposed to having one unified leader, are appalled at Xoti's visions and hate her for her 'darkness', and actively seek to add as many of their own souls to Eothas as they can as you meet them, and that's what you catch them having done at Hasango. A few of them additionally remain former god-likes (all the remaining godlikes of Eothas), surviving with soul-split like you, and are hold up in the lighthouse trying to fight their way out from the Naga in the area so that they can follow Eothas. You see the end of them, whether by your hand or them sailing off suicide (queue Eder's "nephew" plot -maybe he's even an Eothas-touched turned normal human that you can save, the only one).

That gives all the factions a tie in to the main quest for the early game - they can't claim the region until they get rid of this organization. Then you witness the organization being done away with, but the full destruction of the god is presented even more strongly (and the 'strong souls' fueling Eothas are spread beyond your own), inform the factions. They proceed to bicker about it and continue to get nothing done and when left adrift *then* you have your first god meeting, beyond Berath's initial 'find out what he wants' mission, where they discuss what Eotha's plans could be, that it was dangerous of him absorbing all his Godtouched like that - leave the why vague - and Magran reveals the presence of her fort and her plan to blow up Eothas again. The other gods send you there to talk to Eothas - THIS is where they suggest you talk him down - first with Magran's option a  last resort because of the damage it might do to the important adra veins in the region. Let you have a full, non-rushed discussion with Eothas and only when he definitely shoots you down and says 'you cannot convince me this is the wrong path' then have Magran pull the trigger. Eothas still saves you - tosses you and your ship away, but he appears to be contained. 

EDIT: Moved this part out of A and expanded on my thoughts of what its doing.

The other gods have a meeting and  tell you to go to Ukaizo because the explosion may have damaged the mechanism there even without Eothas's help because souls aren't travelling through Magran's volcano area anymore. This gives a bit of down time to prepare yourself for the big fight being against Ukaizo's guardian, which you are warned of. You wake up in the courtroom talking about Ukaizo and the possible destruction of the wheel there. The factions force you to make a decision of who you will bring with you to help investigate the wheel. This covers all three's motivations for wanting to come with you - Rauitai wants the storms to be stopped, Huana wants Ukaizo's legacy, Valians want the chance to investigate the wheel and its animancy promise, and the Pirates can just want to pirate or found their new kingdom at Ukaizo.

 A>   Regardless the events happen and you go to Ukaizo, turn of rain, fight your fights. And then you get to the machine to find it intact but, instead of a giant bashing on it, there's a man of pure energy standing on the top of the nearby adra spike. You speak with him. Eothas reveals that the volcano actually fused him to the main Adra vein instead of destroying him and he got to come here in a proto-divine manifestation form. He talks about the strangeness of Ukaizo from what he remembers and thanks you for listening to him and coming to speak with him back at Magran's volcano. He stands firm that you can't change his mind, but will concede your conversation (regardless if you argued with him entirely or just talked about it and eve supported him) made him think about his views a bit more and so he'll offer you a boon of a sort, the ability to allow a kith to change some parts of the plan he may have overlooked. You tell him, he thanks you, queue him blowing up the Wheel mechanisms from *inside* as opposed to just hitting the thing.

B> Alternatively, after you agree to aid a faction, or agree with none and start heading for Ukaizo yourself (once its selected for sea travel maybe), then another god scene happens where they reveal Eothas broke out of the shell the Volcano had put on him, he wasn't destroyed, and is heading for Ukaizo ahead of you. Then pretty much the above happens, with a tad bit more urgency, you have a similar conversation, and Eothas bashes **** in. For some reason I prefer the less physical approach to the wheel's destruction, but that's me maybe.


All that said, I probably wrote that ****tily, and its *way* easier to critique than it is to produce - even on a DM scale I find myself and party occasionally rehashing my own plots like this as failures/having weaknesses - but there's some elements of motivation, side-plot/factional relevance, clarity of purpose and more explicit explanation of character capability that I feel like this at least touches up the roots of. It'll never happen, and probably wouldn't be worth it if it did.

Edited August 8, 2018 by Rheios