#it's not like garle//mald where the stakes are really high and feel real even through the haze of MMO protag rights

[tovaicas]

the main thing that’s striking me rn abt shb in the writing is eulmore. It’s not necessarily a bad plot element, but it is a little strange bc the eulmoran army’s purpose is essentially just a motivator for the wol to kill lightwardens faster. Which is like fine, but killing the lightwardens was already a task that the wol was gonna do anyway bc plot.

they spend a lot of time setting up eulmore as this expac’s main evil faction right at the start so they can later throw them at you, and it is interesting how they interpret the sin eaters, but like…I’m not sure if killing the lightwardens was a tasking that needed another motivator behind it to get the player/wol moving? Like all the scions are already dedicated to this, and even if they weren’t the exarch won’t let you or your friends leave until you do as he asks anyway, and he specifically waits to tell you what your task entails until after you've already unwittingly started it, all while refusing to inform you abt any potential ramifications of it. like all the motivators are there already, and imo they're far more interesting than eulmoran army ever is

#long post #spoilers #major spoilers #I’m struggling to articulate my thoughts abt it but #it's like this. you start shb w/ the main motivator being the mystery behind the brain blastings. #you want to find your friends and figure out what the fuck is going on. #you end up on the first where the exarch sends you out to find them w/ your promise you'll save the first #but refuses to elaborate on what that actually entails (ie. killing lightwardens at your own risk) until holminster #where the wol is already locked into it bc a) the exarch won't let anyone leave & you promised b) the scions have developed personal ties #and c) by failing to tell you exactly what 'saving norv//randt' entails until you've already eaten philia there's this direct sense of #'well you've already eaten one (even though you don't know the consequences and he isn't telling). might as well keep going' #so while I don't exactly mind the Eulmore plot it feels kinda....tacked on? like they don't win much of anything #it's not like garle//mald where the stakes are really high and feel real even through the haze of MMO protag rights #except maybe the cryst//arium sin eater battle but from what I've seen that didn't even incite any doubt in the populace. it's just violenc #MMO rules dictate that you're never in any actual danger. they tried to fakeout w/ Ysh//tola but that lasted 2m. #there's just no stakes to it. Eulmore serves only as a motivator to kill lightwardens faster which you were.....already doing? #maybe it's bc I don't like Ran//jit's direction so far and I haven't gotten back to Kho//lusia plotwise but. it's just strange. #saint.txt