#greedfall meta

[devotion-that-corrupts]

Some rambles on the ending and the codependent nature of Constantin and De Sardet's relationships. Spoilers for the whole game under the cut.

When I played Greedfall for the first time, I couldn’t stop thinking about Constantin’s corruption arc. It didn’t really make sense to me. Why would he want absolute power over the island? He has plenty of power and probably lives quite a luxurious life already. He also says he finds politics boring if De Sardet asks him, so the desire to rule over the whole island full of people seemed to me very out of character.

I do understand that he went mad and everything, but my brain deemed it a boring explanation and kept searching for something more logical.

So here: I think his actions make more sense if they're driven not by greed but by jealousy, less hunger for power and more hunger for absolute love (either platonic or romantic).

Let me explain.

His family is all kinds of messed up. He thinks his father doesn’t care about him, and although we don’t know if he’s actually abusive, I can’t think of any good reason why Constantin would lie about this. His mother, if DLC is to be believed, is responsible for the death of his brother Laurent — Constantin being an heir is clearly more important to her than his wellbeing & mental health after the literal murder of his brother. We don’t know much about Laurent and Constantin’s relationship (although he doesn’t ever mention him & he says nobody cared for him but De Sardet, so maybe it wasn’t good? Maybe Laurent was better suited for politics? That would explain Prince d’Orsay’s disappointment. That’s just my theory though).

Anyway, what I’m saying is that a child needs unconditional love, and judging by this family and Constantin’s line “You've always been the only one to care for me. Our friendship is the only thing that matters to me”, he has only ever received love from De Sardet, which sounds like quite a fertile ground for unhealthy overly attached relationship.

Then the game starts, and the thing is… Well, they are not each other’s everything anymore. De Sardet goes to various cities & talks to every person imaginable & makes new friends, maybe even falls in love. Constantin meanwhile is chained to a palace, especially after his sickness is revealed. De Sardet's world grows beyond him, and he can’t follow them there.

So what do you do when the only person who matters to you grows apart from you? What do you do when you are driven mad with pain and may die alone, and they have to leave you?

Naturally, you find a way to bind them to you for all eternity, and in doing so alienate them from everyone but you. Constantin's smart enough to realize that if De Sardet's friends and allies fought against him, they would turn away if De Sardet joined him. But even if they wouldn't, they're mortal. Their death is inevitable. The only one who can keep De Sardet company for eternity is Constantin. Everyone but him will eventually leave.

That’s why “For you, for us”, that’s why “together, forever”. Not power over the island or some people, but power to keep the only person who loves him unconditionally close to him.

(Again, I acknowledge that this is extremely, extremely unhealthy. That’s exactly what makes their relationship so interesting.)

Anyway, as I said, it feels very in character for him to basically give up on humanity in favor of De Sardet. I can't look at him in the beginning or in the middle and say, “This character would do anything for power”. But I can look at him at any point of the game, any cutscene, and say, “This character would do anything for his loved one”.

[moonglittering]

💖

✨ @seeasunset. meme. still accepting!  

you clearly love vasco so much and i dont know a single thing about greedfall but ur passion is contagious so i love vasco too!! ive been rping for like... probably 20 years. closer to 22 - 23, and one thing i always critique canon writers who roleplay in an open space with other fandoms, ocs, etc etc is to not make your muse so unapproachable that people who dont share ur fandom dont wanna fuck with you. and a lot of folks on tumblr do that unfortunately ( and then whine that theyre low on interactions or get huffy when people say theyre intimidating ) but you dont and i think thats great :) your aus and crossovers are so beautiful and well thought out. ur innovative imo... a blue print, a concept, high fashion, couture, etc etc et cetera.

your serious metas are fun to read, your silly little posts are fun to read, and its always a fun time to see you give us new hcs and faclets to learn / absorb.

also ur so wonderful ooc, ur a joy to speak to and plot with m v glad we met 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

[visceralcoma]

A while back on the server we were discussing Vasco’s hair and how it looks so light in the game. Some people even called it blonde. And others were like no it’s brown. And then we got Vasco’s concept art where it was very clearly dark brown hair. So I got to thinking that maybe his hair is bleached.

Because if the Nauts are more scientifically advanced than the other factions then they are likely more clean/cleanly (also helps with germ problems). And that ties in with them being Sailors too and sailors are VERY clean/cleanly. And I remembered a thing where Vikings used to bleach their hair to treat/prevent lice. So now I’m picturing the Nauts all do that and that’s why Vasco’s hair looks so light in game sometimes. It’s been bleached.

[trulycertain]

At first I thought Vasco had low expectations for his bio family from the start, but no - the more I think on it, the more I think Vasco wanted to believe that his family were somehow totally unwilling in giving him up until he went on his quest. I just get that impression. I wonder if he's been telling himself a story, even with all he's seen and the way he pretends to be matter-of-fact about the worse aspects of the Nauts.

I remember going, "Wait, we're meant to infer Prince d'Orsay made a buncha nobility give up their kids to the Nauts?" And... yeah. Yeah, we are. De Courcillon talks about it - and Vasco figures he's probably Congregation stock, and wealthy stock, because "the Merchant Princes and the Nauts had a... complicated relationship, for a while" and "there was a time when a lot of them had to give a child to the Nauts." I've always figured nobles were threatened with a loss of power or embarrassment or worse punishments if they didn't, but... some were just in it for the gain of money or power and didn't have to be leaned on. I'm thinking he hoped his bio parents were part of the "threatened/forced" group.

He wanted to be a Jonas (I do not think it's at all a coincidence that that's the first point of comparison he draws, when he gives you his quest). Worse, maybe... he wanted to be de Sardet. He wanted to be a child taken from loving parents rather than a tossed-aside pawn. And I think it's damn lucky he's started to deal with his own stuff when he sees their story. Poor bastard.

Sure, he talks about the luxury he could have grown up in, the avoidance of pain and not having to work his backside off, but more than that... I think it's important that the points he seizes on are "I'm like Jonas" and "I never knew a mother's love."

But despite him trying to hold onto hope, I think he suspected from the start that if he met his bio parents, it wouldn't go well. I'm always fascinated by his beautifully sad, matter-of-fact response if you pick the "Your parents would be proud that their son's a famous captain" line:

Vasco: I doubt it. Once we're taken from our parents, we become anonymous. The nobility sees the Nauts as nothing more than a necessary evil. We are no longer their children.

See also the fact that if you talk to him about the d'Arcys, while he's fascinated, his line is a wistful "I would love to have met them," rather than I'd love to meet them. As if that option is closed-off to him, or maybe it would have been possible in another life, but not in this one. He also can't face hearing much about them. Part of him knows all this is a vain hope, but he has to chase it anyway. Maybe he figures a brother, who wouldn't be penalised so much for seeing him and wouldn't have a financial or reputation-based reason to send him right back to the Nauts, might be more open. He does admit later on that he was "hoping for some emotional reunion."

Seeing the son they kept turned out to be an arrogant money-grubbing idiot probably made him figure that a) he wants nothing to do with this lot b) if Bastien is any indication of the parents, this most likely isn't a story of sad parents having their babe ripped from their clutching arms but of power-grabbing and a lot of money and shallowness. But I think some part of him desperately still wanted to believe, until then.

Ah no. Now I'm sitting being sad about fictional sailors in an obscure French RPG.

[yousoseelie]

Yecht Fradi

Otherwise known as “the language the Natives speak in Greedfall”

So, I’m still working on this, but having finished the game now, I am -reasonably- sure that I’ve gotten every piece of spoken language in this game. As follows, I made a Google Doc to catalogue all of it (and like 100 pages of screenshots, mostly for context). Also, @key-of-bones bc you had mentioned an interest in this ^_^

I will continue to dig into this more, based on how much I can pull apart + the fact that I’ve been studying Irish/Scottish Gaelic/Welsh on and off in varying amounts for....years now.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hCDgyDYR825WNjNkGmVRvG3KDD-oBRZIA4I8n4s5VOg/edit?usp=sharing

[sorrelchestnut]

So, I would like to ask your opinion / analysis of Constantine from Greedfall. When I played the game, my gosh, he was my golden boy, my sweet prince - and I was devastated with the ending. Gave it a lot of thought - and I have this aftertaste that when DS bonds with their cousin, they lose themselves. Their dreams, wishes, bonds with others - all for Constantine's desires. All we do in the game is follow his desires, as well. We do not say no to him until the very end-terminally. What think u?

Ayyyy another Greedfall fan in the wild!  There are dozens of us, dozens I say!

Oh friend, I share your love for Constantin. Poor @arlathahn​ can testify that I can write volumes about the complexities of his character in general and his relationship with de Sardet in particular.  (They’re so delightfully strange and codependent in their dealings, and seemingly with a limited understanding of just how weird their lives actually are, because they’re so far removed from “normal” by virtue of their rank and birth.)  I tend to agree with you about the ending (that’s the bad ending choice for a reason!  for multiple reasons, even!) but I think I actually disagree with the line, “all we do in the game is follow his desires.”  On the surface of it, yes: most of the main plots up until his turn are done at his request/on his behalf, partially for gameplay reasons (going to report back to Constantin allows for quest breakpoints in that would be more complex to trigger otherwise) but also because that’s somewhat the point of the narrative. I don’t think it’s about subordinating de Sardet’s agency to Constantin’s, though, and I’ll explain why.

Did you know that Constantin is actually a year older than de Sardet?  I didn’t, not until I saw the Word of God from one of the devs on twitter, because everything about their dynamic screamed responsible elder/irresponsible younger to me.  I find it fascinating that it’s actually the other way around, and honestly, to me it’s almost better that way.  The first things you learn about Constantin, more or less in order, is that he a) has a reputation for being irresponsible, b) is precisely the sort of idiot to start a bar fight with a bunch of lower-city toughs, c) is used to de Sardet bailing him out of his jams, and d) he’s the family disappointment.  That last is sort of the driving motivation for his character, and it’s all the more fascinating because he’s the heir to the throne.  He’s not only de Sardet’s elder cousin, he’s also their liege!  By all rights and social mores he should have been the leader between the two of them, but from the very beginning, the game goes out of the way to show that it’s very much the other way around - and also that that’s not how it’s supposed to be.

I think one of the most telling interactions on this front is the very first time you report to Constantin in New Serene, after you meet Siora.  De Sardet suggests attempting to broker a peace treaty, and Constantin seizes on it gratefully, proclaiming, “I would be completely lost without you.”  He wants to be a good governor, a good prince, a good man, but he’s still trying to figure out how to go about it, and in the meantime he’s doing what he’s always done: looking to his cousin for guidance.

The great thing about Constantin is that in almost any other story he would be the protagonist.  You know: the lovable goof who should have outgrown childish antics years ago, who has to grow up and find his way and learn to trust in his own decisions.  And though de Sardet is the protagonist, for the first couple acts of the game it looks like that’s what they’re doing with Constantin’s narrative.  There’s a whole other essay to be written about the final act of the game and Constantin’s somewhat abrupt turn to villain, but the genius of it is that it takes a character in the middle of a classic coming-of-age journey and jabs a fuckin’ poisoned blade through his heart right before he could achieve it.  Now that’s how you do a god damn tragedy, folks!

And the thing is, I actually totally agree with you that de Sardet taking Constantin’s offer at the end is a total loss of self - but that just makes it more tragic, not less, if it happens after weeks/months (however long the first half of the game takes) of Constantin finally ceasing to lean on them so heavily, of straightening up and standing on his own at long last.  I mean, personally speaking I never got the sense that de Sardet felt subordinated to Constantin; if anything, I thought they actually seemed sort of relieved at the prospect of no longer having to play wise elder and being able to enter into the partnership of friends and equals that was always denied them.  And then, of course, he gets the malichor, and what follows is an abrupt and tragic reversion to type: Constantin in trouble, and de Sardet has to save him, and everything else does get subordinated to that. Which means that your ending choice is either:

give up on your friends, your values, and the entire rest of your life in order to follow your cousin as you’ve always done, sacrificing not only your independence but your entire sense of self forever, or,

keep everything else, and kill the person you love most in the world, who’s also the one person you’ve built your entire life around protecting.

Which is both fucked-up and tragic, no matter what you choose.  That’s why it hits so hard: because they made it a choice in the first place.  If they’d just scripted out the “good” ending, it would have still hurt like a motherfucker...  But they make the player participate in the decision, and that makes it, as you said, devastating.

Tragedy, man.  You gotta hand it to the writers: they really knew how to twist that knife, in the best possible way.

[itsyasyall]

here's a list of rpg games I'm playing bc why not (i don't play them linearly so I'm always picking one of them)

-pillars of eternity deadfire (just reinstalled poe1 so i may delay this one a bit)

-divinity original sin 1 (almost finishing the 2)

-pathfinder kingmaker (my new acquisition!)

-disco elysium

-outward

-Dragon age 2 (i swear I'm gonna finish it this year after i stop reading fics and metas abt it)

-Baldur gates 3 (waiting for the release)

-AC Valhalla (a bit slow on this one)

-greedfall (Constantin my beloved)

-stardew valley (love my pixel farm)

-elden ring (someday I'll leave the initial area with my prisoner)

-mass effect legendary edition (I'm doing this for u: Garrus)

[dgcatanisiri]

I honestly didn’t hate my experience of GreedFall. It was entertaining, and definitely felt like in terms of design, it was trying to be evocative of without straight up ripping off Dragon Age Origins, at least on a design level. It also managed to lay my fears of potentially going “colonialism yay!” well enough by making the “subjugating the natives” events play as pretty explicitly evil. 

I just can’t really get that bad taste from the prerelease baiting of Kurt as a M/M option, only to go in the direction of “he was molested by a male superior, so he won’t return male de Sardet’s attraction.” Also not that fond of the Spiders approach to characters, where they don’t really get to DO much outside of their personal quests and romances, so a character like Aphra ended up being a complete non-entity to me - I legit would have forgotten about her if I hadn’t gone over my liveblogging of the game, and seen my own complaints about her doing nothing.

Of course, I’d also like to remove Petrus entirely as well, because skeevy... *sigh*

It’s a game I’d kinda like to revisit, and if I hadn’t been paying attention in the period leading up to the release, I’d probably be more forgiving. But I was, and so I don’t really have the burning passion for it because of it.

Come to think of it, it’s probably a lot like how I’m gonna end up approaching Cyberpunk - A decent enough game, but the meta narrative of the events that surrounded the release of it has soured me on the game in the end. 

I mean, I’m not enthusiastic about Kerry as a character, definitely not as a romance, and if you need to give up control of your character’s body to even meet him, I’m probably not going to encounter him at all when I do play, which is... peachy. Between that and the mess that was the game’s release, I can’t view the game as all that fun seeming for my tastes, because I’m going to have this constant fear in the back of my mind that even playing the game will brick my console.

It’s just kind of exhausting that there are games that probably can be fun, but the business surrounding how they’re released, how they’re handled in the build to the release is so damaging to the experience.

[dalishious]

listen you're absolutely correct about greedfall but like. you're a dragon age stan blog. and what greedfall has done, DA has done three times over.

I’ve gotten asks like this before and just blocked, like most asks about GreedFall at this point, but given you at least have the decency to not call me a bfi bitch I guess I’ll respond to this one.

First, I am not a Dragon Age stan. I’m a fan, sure, but a stan is an uncritical fan, and if you were at all familiar with my blog you would know I am the furthest thing from uncritical. I have made countless posts about the many problems in the Dragon Age franchise. You can see some of the longer ones on my meta page under “BioWare Bullshit.”

Second, the problems with GreedFall start with the very premise. The very plot. Read the plot summary of GreedFall, then go read the plot summary of Dragon Age Origins. Notice how Origins is not about colonization? It happened in the lore and it affects the setting, but you are not playing as an Orlesian in the Exalted March of the Dales, or a Tevinter conquering Seheron. So yeah, I would say that GreedFall is way worse, because it doesn’t even make it past the very description on it’s website.

[dracoangel]

Greedfall Romance Guide

As we all know Greedfall has 4 romance options, what many may not know is that it requires specific dialogue choices in certain conversations in order to trigger the romance; something that the creators of the game don’t tell you btw. If you miss even 1 of the correct dialogues choices you miss out on the romance all together. And the correct choices are not made apparent.

I know there are guides out there, but they are on sites that are so bogged down with ads and junk that its rough to sometimes load. So, I put together a little guide to help out. I’ll put it under Read More due to length, and to avoid spoilers for people who don’t want a guide.

This guide tells you what mission you have to complete in order open up the required conversation to trigger the romance, and what dialogue option to choose when prompted.

Kurt

[Kurt is a romance option for Female characters only.]

Mission 1: "Missing in Action" - Can be started as soon as you talk to Constantin at the palace in New Serene. After, Select "Tell him that is was so that you could understand him better".

Mission 2: "Amongst the Ghosts" - While the quest will appear in your log right after "Missing in Action", Kurt will get the information he needs after "Old Countries in a New World". After, Select "Tell him about a childhood memory with Constantin".

Mission 3: "Settling Scores". - Can be started after "Treason!" main quest, assuming Kurt survives the Coup (he should if you've done his first two quests). "Treason!" occurs once you follow through the Ancient Secret meta-quest, which starts after "The Battle of the Red Spears".   After, Select "Tell him you hope you will be a part of it".

Then speak to him one final time, earn the Guardian of Love achievement.

Vasco

[Vasco is a romance option for both Male and Female characters.]

Mission 1: "A Name for a Family" - Can be started as soon as you talk to Constantin at the palace in New Serene. After, Select "Ask him if he has any happy memories".

Mission 2: "Family Reunion" - Can be started right after the previous (you may have to wait 24 in-game hours). After, Select "Tell him that this encounter allowed him to assert himself".

Mission 3: "Forever a Naut". - Can be started right after the previous (you may have to wait in-game 24 hours). After, Select "Tell him that you wish you could sail with him again".

Then speak to him one final time, earn the Love and the Sea achievement.

Siora

[Siora is a romance option for both Male and Female characters.]

Mission 1: "Find Queen Bladnid" - Can be started as soon as you finish "The Battle of the Red Spears". After, Select "Tell her about having to say goodbye to your own mother".

Mission 2: "Promises Set in Stone" - Can be started after finishing "The Trial of the Waters", which is after "Suffering of Constantin" (which in itself is after the coup in "Treason!"). [Mission Note: If you accept the bribe and double down when Siora calls you out, you'll fail the quest and she will leave the party.] After, Select "Tell her it seems logical, given their culture".

Mission 3: "The Queen's Farewell". - Can be started right after the previous (you may have to wait 24 in-game hours). After, Select "Tell her that you would understand if she had to help her people".

Then speak to her one final time, earn the Minudhanem achievement.

Aphra

[Aphra is a romance option for Male characters only.]

Recruitment Note: Aphra is tucked away a little further into the game compared to the other companions. To recruit her, visit both embassies a first time to complete "Old Countries in a New World", and then complete the quest "Scholars in the Expedition".

Mission 1: "Islander Knowledge" - Can be started as soon as you finish "The Battle of the Red Spears". After, Select "Talk to her about the two youths".

Mission 2: "Cave of Knowledge" - Can be started right after the previous (you may have to wait in game 24 in-game hours). After, Select "Tell her that you feel as if you have learned a lot".

Mission 3: "The Linking Ritual". - Can be started right after the previous (you may have to wait 24 in-game hours). After, Select "Tell her you hope that you will be a part of it".

Then speak to her one final time, earn the Love and Botany achievement.

[fabulousquel]

GreedFall: Tips + My Review

So I picked up this game out of curiosity because I’m currently working on an RPG style historical fantasy that draws inspiration from a similar time period. I wanted to see how someone else handled the ‘flintlock’ genre and told a story with elements of this era. I am in no means a pro game reviewer but I completed the entire game yesterday and I have a lot I want to say.

There are some spoilers in this, so if you’d like to avoid reading them, don’t read the "Story” section. 

Tips:

Do your companion quests early and as soon as they pop up. There are some incredible lore bits and development of your character as well as your companions within them. Also if you sideline a companion for too long, they might leave your party in ways that might surprise or unsurprise you.

Certain dialog options will give you more quest content. For example, you’ve caught a criminal and you are given the choice to kill them on the spot, or capture them for trial. If you kill them, your quest line ends there. If you decide to trial them, another quest line opens up and you get a lot more flavor.

You can essentially just follow the main quest line if you want to speed-finish the game, but you lose a lot of context and additional dialog options if you do so. You will also wind up fighting the final boss at a much lower level, thus making the fight harder, but not impossible. They may have made this an option for people coming back wanting a challenge or to try a different build. But in my opinion, they should’ve made the side quests a mandatory thing because it’s a huge disservice to the context of the main story without them.

Don’t forget to give your companions gear upgrades- especially if you’re playing on more challenging modes.

If you want to avoid bloodshed and sneak into a camp, make sure you put on a chest piece of that faction. 

Put some skill points into Stasis no matter what build you roll with.

The Soundtrack:

It’s amazing. The snare drums going off in combat sequences create a very distinct and powerful mood. The zone music is very well orchestrated. It’s now up on spotify as well! 

Combat & Talents:

Of the RPGs I’ve played, this most reminded me of a combination of Red Dead Redemption, Final Fantasy with the option to semi-turn style with spells & traps, and a very versatile talent tree system that is really...fun. It’s the first time in a while that I felt I could make an effective solid build and playstyle around what I wanted to do most. Combat takes getting used to but I set up my keybinds to be a lot like ESO and I adapted very quickly. I went shortsword / gun tactical and it was immensely satisfying. 

The Story:

[SPOILS AHEAD]

The difference between historical fiction and historical fantasy is that a historical fantasy does not seek to retell history accurately, but rather take inspiration from it. How heavy this inspiration goes varies from story to story. This is how I approached interpreting the story, even in its very realistic parts. As I played through, there were several themes that became very clear to me. Keep in mind that I played through the game with De Sarde taking the Neutral Good alignment choice in most dialog options. 

The Elephant in the Room: Colonialism. This is one of the big criticisms I see with the game, and truth be told, it is a point of criticism for myself. The game treats the colonizing factions exactly like colonizers of real history, and it’s a subject that still rightfully touches nerves. One faction seeks to profit, another nation seeks to convert, and another seeks to experiment on. While there are subgroups of these factions that are more extreme than their leadership- the leadership seems complacent about it until condemning evidence is brought up. While extremely problematic this is, it is very true to what has happened in history surrounding colonialism, and places you in one uncomfortable situation after another in a frighteningly realistic way. It makes your decisions as De Sarde in some instances painful but it can be satisfying to see how your actions affect justice in these matters.

Some critics have said that De Sarde’s choices do not always condemn truly objectionable events enough. I agree that more depth could have been added. But in my playthrough, De Sarde’s role starts out as a truly neutral party looking for truths, and they gradually became more adamant on stances as the game progressed. By the end, my De Sarde was about to 1v1 Theleme, and drag out the Bridge Alliance governor. So I am unsure if this is a perspective coming from those who haven’t completed the game in its entirety with all side quests which influence reputations more & seem to flesh out more dialog options. 

Humanity Has a Sickness This was written both physically and metaphorically in how humans are as susceptible to committing atrocities as they are to growing ill. Throughout the story as De Sarde, you play almost a detective in uncovering the truth about the people you were raised to believe were benevolent. De Sarde does not take these accusations of corruption lightly, but they also treat it very seriously. Piece by piece, De Sarde learns more about each factions true intentions, and the lies, corruption and greed that intertwine. But at the same time, the story attempts to reveal the potential for all people to ‘do better’ and change- and some of this is seen when you use De Sarde’s charisma + intuition dialog options. This theme especially became clear in the arc when De Sarde finally gets to speak to the god of the island, En on mil Frichtimen, who expresses to him that the malicor (sickness) is a result of them poisoning their own land with their lack of care or concern for it.  En on mil Frichtimen urges that the colonists need to listen and learn from the Islanders’ ways if they wish to heal the sickness.

Where to Draw the Line at “For The Greater Good” I feel like this is a theme that crops up with any story involving Utopian ideas. GreedFall does a good job of backing up each faction’s actions with their point of view, whether it is morally misguided or not. This truly emphasizes the human element in the mix, underlining that no perspective comes without its flaws. As De Sarde, one thing you are constantly faced with as a detective is defining a line of where something has gone too far. It is sobering and somewhat frustrating to watch factions step over a line that could have easily remained morally sound. But it is also equally satisfying to see how much influence you can have in swaying others to make a different choice. This theme becomes the summit of De Sarde’s character progression when he is forced to make the choice of taking your dear cousin, Constantin, out of power, or joining him. And when you’ve done all the side quests there are in the game, the decision becomes far more meaningful than this just being the final boss fight.

This theme also seems to come full circle by the end of Petrus’s quest line, when you discover your true origin- how your mother was kidnapped from the island in a rash attempt to bring a healer to the continent. This realization that everything you’ve known has been a lie and kept secret from you...all for the “greater good”. 

Things I Liked:

I appreciated how much love and care went into the worldbuilding- especially with the native Islanders. From what I understand, a linguist was hired to write a language for them that was a mash-up of Flemish, Breton, Gaelic and Irish. I appreciated that they brought forth inspiration from the Gauls and Celtic nations of the Iron Age in Western Europe before they were subjected to Christian Missionary activity.

The art & atmosphere was amazing. While there are a few clipping issues with hair, even big AAA games have them. The level of detail put into the game art wise is just very visually pleasing.

The devs did a good job in making a fantasy world that was LGBTQ+ friendly, and giving us diverse character customization. Anyone from any faction had a diverse set of features.

Things I am Critical of:

While I understand that there is a point of growth to watch De Sarde go from neutral to invested in a cause, I really do think they should have been given less complacent responses earlier in the game. I understand limitations but I don’t think it helped with handling colonialism in a truly neutral way.

I wish you could start the game as someone from a faction of your choice, rather than only the Merchant Congregation, especially considering how your origin is written.

IT’S DEPRESSING. A lot of the game is depressing... which maybe makes all the little things you do that shine some shred of goodness still in humanity all the brighter. But it definitely hurt my soul in places and back to point #1, I wish I could have been more aggressive with De Sarde earlier in the game.

Recycled assets: there were quite a few of them- mostly noticeable with buildings in the main cities, which is probably what marks the difference between an AAA game and a more independent studio.

Potential Triggers:

There’s a lot of heavy subjects in this game including religious abuse, manipulation, some body horror (though it’s not super grotesque), one instance of suicide that I know of, xenophobia, and general violence. 

Features I Wish it Had:

You can’t ‘jump’...but you don’t really need to. I still wish I could though.

For all this beautiful scenery, I wish they gave us better screenshot taking options.

Different fights for the different Coin Arenas and a meta achievement for completing all of them.

I wish I could play it with friends.

More armor options!

I wish the companions had better and more in-depth romance options. They fall a little flat in diversity of personalities.

Final Thoughts:

I personally enjoy diving into stories that we should be morally critical of, and I like it for what it reveals in the best and worst of humanity. Colonialism has done and continues to do irreversible damage to peace and prosperity among people and nations in real life. Spiders picked a topic that nearly everyone has been affected by in one way or another and it’s understandably a heated subject. Some folks do not want to dive into such deep subjects, just as there’s some stories I cannot stomach comfortably. So I respect and understand that.

Overall, GreedFall exceeded my expectations but there’s definitely some hiccups. It’s a fun game if you’re into a detective-style RPG, political intrigue, history, and interested in exploring this sort of setting. While I think the story could have been written better in places, I was satisfied with the outcomes I triggered, even if that satisfaction took a very slow build up to. It left me feeling hopeful? That perhaps people still have a chance at treating each other better than they do.

[thatguywhoplaysanthem]

New Greedfall Patch Coming Soon, Here's What it Aims to Fix

Howdy Green Bloods! @spidersgames has revealed what issues are getting fixed in the upcoming #Greedfall patch. read about it on the site!

Howdy Green Bloods! Spiders has given us a glimpse behind the curtain, and what they’re trying to fix with the upcoming patch for Greedfall.

Patch Coming Soon

While we don’t have a date for when this patch for Greedfall is coming, we do know what it’s aiming to fix. There are quite a few bugs that seriously harm the game at the moment, and thankfully this patch is going to see to a lot of…

[visceralcoma]

Read this fun little Greedfall meta/analysis about how the prologue quests all mirror the later quests line for each faction in their own way. This is something Spiders did really well, and especially so with Constantin and his character arc as well.

Let me elaborate. Also below the cut for spoilers.

The game starts with Constantin kidnapped - though our protagonist doesn’t know this to start. He is bereft of any agency whilst locked away in a warehouse. It is only by the intervention of his cousin - De Sardet - does he gain his agency and freedom back. To make decisions for himself and to assume his responsibilities, which he neither does regardless if you’ve saved him before or after speaking with the Bridge Alliance or Theleme Embassies. With no coded lines (so far as I’m aware) should you save him first and visit. But he does curiously have some lines about Jonas during the prologue Naut quest about abusive fathers, which is really telling of the relationship if Constantin can relate to the situation Jonas is in. And says that Constantin had no power or agency even with his family.

Yet, he is being granted a lofty position far from his father. The voyage being the catalyst that will grant Constantin freedom from his father’s abusive control and the kidnapping threatened that. But De Sardet saved him, which is a common situation given Constantin describes the encounter as his cousin sweeping up to save him like the damsel in distress he is.

Setting the stage and foreshadowing how the rest of his character arc goes on and mirroring the same threat to power and agency that En On Mil Fritchimen (EOMF) eventually has.

I know, what? Just stick with me.

Now Constantin arrives in Tir Fradi finally free to do as he wishes as he’s  granted authority and power of the city of New Serene. It's his fresh start and what does he do with it? Well he decides not to do what his predecessor, Lady Morange, did in making deals that had large exploitative loopholes; nor does he do what his neighbors have done (Hikmet & San Matheus) with regard to the natives. Instead he remains this passive neutral force, sending his cousin to help settle conflict.

EOMF is similarly a passive neutral force. Sending others to help settle conflict on the island, High King Vinbarr and the doneigada.

Both of them with their own agency, freedom, and power within their own domains. But only for so long.

When Constantin is revealed to have the Malichor. The very notion of death is a threat to his new found freedom and agency. And as always, he is the damsel where his cousin must save him.

But this is where the script flips from the way things were set up in the prologue. The Malichor is not something De Sardet can easily fix. Instead, it is something an outside source has to save him, and this is fundamentally where it changes and goes horribly wrong (or right for some of you).

Now Constantin does get kidnapped again, following the kidnapping script from the prologue. But this is a nested recurrence heralding the change in arc format. Saving Constantin from Vinbarr does not hold the same weight as saving him from the bandits. Because the original conflict was saving him the Malichor that De Sardet could no do and had to outsource, which put him in harm's way again. And Constantin has just been bonded to the island, made an On Ol Menawi. Which still does not cure him of the Malichor by the looks of it (and by how EOMF says the hope for the cure dies with him). Instead the ritual seems to halt the infection and something else.

It changes him.

Whether the actual connection did or whether it was coming back from the brink of death - you can decide. But it changes his character. De Sardet saving him from Vinbarr is the last time he is truly a damsel.

Enter EOMF’s arc. Who up until this point, De Sardet has been searching to speak with them to find a way to cure the Malichor, to little luck. Yet EOMF has kept away, never speaking, never letting Vinbarr know this “flesh of my land” was searching for him despite him being able to send all manner of people to speak on his behalf. He not once sought to do so with De Sardet to aid in their quest. Only curiously allowing it when he feels threatened by someone only De Sardet could actually stop.

EOMF says Constantin stole his strength, and that strength - power is what has driven Constantin mad. And well you know what they say about power? It corrupts.

Both Constantin’s conflict of facing death with the Malichor and EOMF’s conflict of facing death thanks to Constantin are mirrored with the transference of power between them and the role of Damsel that De Sardet must save.

It's quite poetic. You're either saving EOMF (new damsel) like you saved Constantin (old damsel) in the prologue. Or, you're saving Constantin (old damsel) and killing EOMF(new damsel).

[yousoseelie]

Oh my god I have discovered hell and it is a game of linguistic telephone.

So, game: Greedfall. There is a Native language in game, based on Proto-Celtic.

Developers: Spiders, is a French studio.

The Problem: Celtic languages have a tendency to shift vowels/consonants around. So translating things gets...interesting. IRL examples are failing my brain atm, but in-game-wise, take the example of gais, “spear/s” becoming hais in the word Vedrhais “spear woods”. This is normal, but still a layer of complexity that I have to deal with.

The problem is that I can see a lot of instances where words got translated/transliterated...wrong, or badly, or whatever you want to call it, between French-English-Native and back and forth, etc. C’s and K’s (Cwa vs Kwa) being used interchangeably, same with U’s and W’s (menawi vs menaui). There’s some T and D but I’m not sure if that’s deliberate or translation error. E’s and A’s being used (both dam and dem being used for ‘me’) which would normally be fine but SOMETIMES those vowel changes actually DO matter, like Cwa meaning ‘to’ and Cwe meaning ‘to him’ but cwé meaning ‘who’.

Anyways, it makes it real hard to know if I’m translating made up words correctly, and it’s frustrating.

[sorrelchestnut]

a question of motivation

Are any of my followers actually playing Greedfall?  (Aside from you, @arlathahn, I know you’ve been out there suffering along with me.)  If you are, hit me up, because I have fallen down this rabbit hole and I don’t seem to be hitting bottom anytime soon.

Which, obviously, means it’s time for some some overly-elaborate character speculation!  Because how would you even know I’m in a fandom if I’m not overthinking things, amiright?

Spoiler warning for Treason! and Kurt’s companion quests ahoy.

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I've been thinking about what causes Kurt to betray you if you don't do the Ghost Camp quest before Treason, because I finally got a chance to play through The Bad Version, and on the surface of it, it doesn't make sense.  All of the things he says to you when he doesn't betray you - that he cares about what happens to you, that he might be a mercenary but he still values his honor - aren't any less true in the world where he does.  I mean, he might agree when you call him honorless, but when you step in front of Constantin and tell him to "fight with honor" he nods and stands down the guard, and does his damnedest to oblige.  When he says, "Sorry, Green Blood," he seems to mean it; when he says, "I am proud of you - truly," he seems to mean that even more.  To all appearances, he doesn't seem to care about those things any less just because he's trying to kill you.  So why do it at all?

The narrative seems to imply that his loyalty to the Guard was stronger than his loyalty to de Sardet.  That without knowing that Torsten condoned the kind of torture that he suffered through when he was younger, he'd be willing to follow his commander's orders, even to the point of the betrayal and murder of someone he clearly cares for a great deal.  Even Sieglinde says it, when he tells her about the Ghost Camp: "You've always been a loyal person, and too many loyalties are sometimes hard to reconcile."  His loyalty to de Sardet and his loyalty to Torsten are presented as two opposing forces, the proverbial rock and a hard place, and without learning about the Ghost Camp, his loyalty to Torsten wins out.

(Okay the rest of this is going behind a cut because it got absurdly long.)

My problem with this is that it implies that, without de Sardet's intervention, Kurt is the sort of man who would blindly follow orders to the point of assassination and murder, and that… doesn't square with what you learn about him in the Ghost Camp questline.  That's exactly the sort of mindset that he's spent the last two decades struggling to leave behind.  He takes honor seriously, to the point that it's something he went out of his way to teach de Sardet alongside swordsmanship; he takes personal responsibility for the soldiers he recruits and blames himself when something happens to them.  He doesn't believe in following orders blindly: when you go to the Ghost Camp, he says, "It's not too late to refuse all of this," and, "Are you really going to obey these scoundrels?"  That's not de Sardet's influence; it's a deeply-held belief, a reaction against the violation and trauma he suffered as a youth.  I find it hard to believe that conditioned obedience could go so deep that it would override that part of his psyche.

And the thing is, if Torsten knew him at all - and it's implied that he did, especially since he targeted Kurt specifically for his weapons-smuggling scheme at the beginning of the game - there's no way he wouldn't have known that about him.  Especially since the game implies that Torsten also knew about Hermann's old training camp back in the day, which  means he'd also know how deeply Kurt's loathing ran.  If you were in Torsten's shoes, would you trust a man like that to be in charge of clandestine mission that could decide the fate of your entire endeavor?  I submit that you would not - unless you were a complete idiot, and a complete idiot does not manage to plan a three-pronged coup d'etat that nearly succeeds.

No, I think Torsten offered something that he knew Kurt couldn't refuse.  Something that he knew Kurt would want more than anything else, maybe even want badly enough to be worth betraying someone he cares about deeply.  And it wouldn't be rank, or power, or even money: despite Kurt's jokes on the subject, it's obvious that honor means a lot more to him than gold, and I doubt he’s making pennies as a legate’s personal guard anyway.  No, it'd be something that only Torsten could offer him, something he's wanted long before he even heard the name de Sardet.

I think Torsten offered him Hermann.

Hermann obviously suffered no consequences for running a fucking torture camp and calling it elite training.  Someone must have shut down the camp back in the day, because Kurt says he thought it was a thing of the past, but Hermann himself got off scot-free.  Hell, they promoted him! And you know from Kurt's final mission that Hermann is much-respected by his soldiers, some to the point of hero-worship.  Kurt had to live with the knowledge that his abuser was living the high life less than a day's travel from where he was stationed, and there wasn't a single fucking thing he could do about it, because Hermann was their golden boy, and that meant he was fucking untouchable.  Even de Sardet, if Kurt had ever been able to bring himself to tell them about it, wouldn't have had the leverage to do anything to him, not in someone else's city.

But Torsten could.  Torsten was the only person on the island with a higher rank than Hermann, and in the chaos of a coup d'etat it'd be easy for one man to disappear, especially if you were the one giving him orders.  I think Torsten went to Kurt and told him that he could have his vengeance, finally, after all these years… and all he had to do was betray the person he cared about most.

It squares with the way Kurt acts in his betrayal sequence: he's not bitter, or defiant, or proud, like he would be if he believed in what he was doing.  Mostly he just seems tired.  I think the promise of vengeance was enough to secure his agreement, to carry him through rounding up a squad of obedient young idiots too beaten down to question orders and march into the throne room…  And then he looked at these trusting young nobles, these kids he's been charged to protect, and all that promised vengeance just turned to ashes in his mouth.  Which is why, I think, he stood down the guard and fought de Sardet one-on-one: he’d trained them himself, he knew how good they were, and dying on their blade seemed a lot easier than living with the consequences of his actions.  And why, if you choose to spare him and he regains the upper hand, he turns the pistol on himself rather than pull the trigger on his best and favorite student.

On a somewhat less depressing note, it also squares with the way things play out if Kurt doesn't betray you.  Think about it: Torsten obviously heard about Kurt shutting down the Ghost Camp, but he still brought Kurt into his attempted coup anyway.  He had to at least suspect that Kurt might not be feeling cooperative: when you search Torsten's office during Treason, they even say how Torsten was hedging his bets with Kurt's loyalty.  But hedged bets or no, Torsten had to have a reason to think such a close compatriot of the legate would worth the risk of exposure.  And the only way that calculation makes sense is if he had leverage: Hermann's head on a pike, if only Kurt joins his little rebellion.  And even then, Torsten must have managed the timing very carefully; the only way that scene makes sense in a no-betrayal version is if Kurt just straight-up didn't have time to warn de Sardet between Torsten's approach and the Guard's attack.

(Relatedly: typing this out, it occurs to me that something must have happened to move up Torsten’s planned timeline.  Think about it: de Sardet had the chance to warn the other cities, even though they're like a day's travel apart, which means that the attacks weren't coordinated to occur all at the same time.  That's Rebellion 101, so something about Constantin's diagnosis must have caused Torsten to attack earlier than planned.  Maybe he figured it'd cause too much of a shake-up in the guard rotation so he had to make his move before it could happen? Maybe he found out de Sardet cleared the room, leaving them alone and vulnerable, and thought the opportunity was too good to pass up?  Either way, he clearly made his move ahead of schedule - and it came back to bite him in the ass in the worst way possible.)

Anyway, the point of this theory - besides filling in what I see as a hole in his character arc - is that it makes Kurt's decision not to betray them even more poignant.  It means it's not just a matter of picking one loyalty over another: it's him making a deliberate choice to sacrifice what might be his only chance at vengeance against the monster who ruined his life, in order to save his best (only?) friend.  That's powerful stuff! And it makes it all the more rewarding when de Sardet manages to take out Hermann anyway, unflinchingly getting their hands dirty with bribery and corruption just because Kurt asked it of them.  And afterwards – and this is the crucial part - they don't even ask him for anything in return.  It's the final and tangible proof that de Sardet deserves all the loyalty he's already given them, and contrasts all the more beautifully with Kurt's realization of how misplaced his loyalty to Torsten had been.

So.  There you have it.  My 1500-word answer to a question probably nobody but me was asking, but damned if I wasn't going to answer it anyway.