Wildermyth: Inside at Last

[Part of the Cursed story line]

"The Deepking, like most of his kind, probably keeps his treasures on the top floor of the place. Close to his heart...and far from his servants."

The war against the Deepists continues for many months while Garrett scouts a way to the Deepking's underground castle. Baeloth (of all people) joins the fight to aid the heroes, acting as some sort of conduit to for giant bugs that offer their aid in fighting the Deepists (possibly because they want those tunnels the Deepists live in).

Once Garrett makes it back, he assembles a squad consisting of Dranalla, Anythera, Milly and Trynne to assassinate the Deepking. Stealth goes out the window pretty quickly as the team must rush forward through Deepist guards while endless Deepist reinforcements come up their rear. It's a trap!

Luckily they reach the Deepking and his new Deepqueen Krisztian (side note: this game is very LGBTQ+ friendly) who put up a decent fight with all their AoE attacks but are unable to kill anyone before being slain themselves. Being shown the decapitated head of their monarch makes the remaining Deepists flee back into hiding where they continue to get massacred by the giant bugs that follow them there. It isn't long before the bugs decide to try do the same to the surface dwellers.

Wildermyth: Turtling

[Part of the Cursed story line]

With the loss of their fort, the Deepists go on the offensive - now led by priestesses and "fathers" and "mothers" to attack villages all across the land so Nyrissa hires her old acquaintance Garrett and his new squad of Anythera, Martvaer and Dranalla to assist while locals Este and Macius also volunteer to help fight this cult menace. Este in particular is effective at bashing their heads in with her mace.

Eventually the team is invited by the Deepking for a parlay truce in their subterranean tunnels that turns out to be more of a "you're pretty tough. join us to live forever or die now," speech. Krisztian, ironically the first Deepist victim the Cockatrices saved, is moved by this promise of immortality and accepts to join the cult much to the shock of his comrades. While the Deepking leashes and walks away with his new toy, his forces swarm the others who must fight their way to the exit.

Nyrissa's previous method of using plants to block their pursuers path is ineffective as a giant minotaur easily tramples over them and crushes Martvaer underfoot. With escape looking bleak she pleads to the universe for more power... and it answers in the form of a lonely turtle god that offers a trade: the strength for everyone left to make it out safetly in exchange for Nyrissa becoming his new turtle friend. She agrees, they escape, and she is transformed into a turtle before being whisked away.  

Can't tell which one is scarier...

Pathfinder Kingmaker - Fairy Tale

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Aldori troops led by Lady Jamandi supported by Kesten's guardsmen and Jhod's faith push through the wild hunt forces giving an opening for Siegfried, Jaethal, Valerie, Bouquet, Arkemyr and Garret to reach the Lantern King (multi phased boss fight). Fortunately Nyrissa is here too and has enough strength to break her bonds and assist the heroes to defeat the annoying fireball who is banished like the weakling he is. Only the unimportant nameless extras and Jhod die in this final phase which is a resounding victory for the King.

Keeping his promise, Siegfried takes Nyrissa as his queen but also has a friends with benefits status with a young hot elf that looks like a younger version of her mother Jaethal. In fact Jaethal now wears her daughter as a living skin suit thanks to the ritual she learned earlier - making her both not-quite undead and also more evil than when she started. With a strong alliance to house Aldori, the untouchable ace Valerie remains as regent and lawman Kesten marries ex-bandit Bouquet while Archmage Arkemyr and thief Garrett return to their own lands wealthier than before.

Then Siegfried got more advisors through the cash shop?

That's it for Pathfinder: Kingmaker. Pretty cool game but also very long. The later periods of kingdom management are pretty tough with those super high difficulty checks, but not as tough/unfair as the later combats. Especially against swarms. I hate those things.

Pathfinder Kingmaker - Faeking Hell

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Nyrissa's foothold is well guarded as Gerrod is slain in a redcap ambush and Voghiln eaten by a purple worm simply to reach it (there's also a BS battle against a ghost army that needed a lot of loading), and once through Siegfried and company found themselves at Nyrissa's large mansion in the fairy realm, except for Linzi who ironically dies for real during the jump. Luckily pathfinders Crimson Fury the barbarianess, Ellert the ranger, Scatvi the cleric, Lash the Bard and the archmage Arkemyr (annoyed at Nyrissa's meddling) arrive as reinforcements for this raid.

In the course of the exploration Fassina and Nigga B are slain by forces of the wild hunt while Crimson Fury is fatally broken by an autumn golem before Nyrissa herself is located in the heart of the structure. The nymph summons hordes of creatures to her side which kill Ellert, Scatvi and Kaessi (and that's after I lowered the difficulty and spammed greater shout with Lash to stun her) before she surrenders in defeat - tearfully explaining that some elder fae god is making her do all this horrible stuff.

The goose made me do it!

Since Siegfried finds her attractive, he offers the nymph an alliance but said elder god "The Lantern King" who looks like a giant fireball suddenly arrives and decides he's not finished playing with his toys. He takes Nyrissa captive and opens a gate to Siegfried's kingdom - warping it horribly by bringing it to the fairy realm while resurrecting the shades of Siegfried's greatest foes (to extend the game because 80 hrs is not long enough?) and cursing the king with weakness.

And so Siegfried's forces gate hop to re-defeat the Stag Lord, the troll queen and kobold king. Lash is "finger-of-deathed" by the shade of Vordakai at Varnhold where Siegfried reunites with old ally Rollo who helps defeat the shadow lich cyclops(?). The reunion is short lived as Rollo is then killed by the true shade of King Irovetti at Pitax Palace whom Arkemyr destroys. This lifts the curse on King Siegfried who now focuses all his attention on assaulting the capital where the Lantern King now rules. Luckily Lady Jamandi Aldori is a woman of her word and arrives with troops to assist.

Pathfinder Kingmaker - Tournament of Kings

[Part of the Cursed story line]

After defeating yet another one of Nyrissa's worthless invasion attempts the newly crowned King Siegfried Baranor accepts an invitation to partake in the Rushlight tournament of the neighboring kingdom of Pitax where Bouquet wins a fishing and diving contest, Voghiln wins the knot contest, Linzi wins the boasting contest and Siegfried wins the drunken brawl event which makes the host, King Irovetti look even more of a fool than usual so he begins harassing the border villages using wild animals and bandits in an undeclared war which is as ineffective as he himself is.

King Baranor's is swift, sending forces into Pitax to annihilate both the animal teleporters and the bandits losing only Iholikan Quinval to the color spray of a golden golem which explodes his face? King Irovetti then has the gall to summon Siegfried to come and surrender in person, so without much fuss he goes there with his entire council and easily turns most of the citizens against Irovetti gaining allies in Kaessi the tielfling mage and tavern bouncer Nigga B. Irovetti's guards are easily overpowered in the square but the annoying King retreats and barricades himself in his palace behind his elite troops and it is up to Siegfried's forces to root him out.

At this point it's worth mentioning every fight needs pre-buffing with legendary proportions and stone skin but even so Shelumu is killed by an arrow to the face at the foyer, Linzi "dies (again)" to an armored troll, Amiri and Ubin are cut down by elite guards in the barricaded main hall and Jubilost has his neck broken by Irovetti's naga before Fassina can kill it. Siegfried kills Irovetti himself and adds Pitax to his ever expanding kingdom.

Yep, spells that makes you bigger, harder and stronger.
You need magical Viagra to survive later fights!

Somehow this victory reduces the kingdom's state to CRUMBLING which is the lowest you can let it go before losing the game. Over the next few months King Baranor makes wise decisions and builds infrastructure to get it back through rioting, troubled, worried and finally to stable (never got it to "serene" though). During this time Nyrissa established a permanent foothold gate far in the Western forests, giving the King an opening to finally strike back at this elusive foe.

Pathfinder Kingmaker - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Traitor

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Upon returning from Varnhold, Lander reports two time sensitive matters: sightings of Tristian the traitor and a war between the Tiger Lords barbarians and the forces of Jamandi Aldori. Siegfried rallies the troops and commands them to support House Aldori first. Since Ekun decides to ignore this command and have a pity party for himself instead, the baron publicly executes him as a deserter which gets the rest of the soldiers in line.

When being lawful good is just like being chaotic evil.

Upon arriving at the battlefield the baron then learns Amiri has gone solo to try assassinate the Tiger Lord King Armag. Two days ago. Since the battle still looks like its going to happen it's safe to say she failed (as per usual), but this doesn't bother Siegfried who has recruited a new set of allies trying to rebuild their own lands: Gerrod, Garrett, Iholikan Quinval, Ubin, Fassina and Voghiln. Just as well because Lander shows up with assassins to try kill the baron but only ends up "killing" Linzi again before being eliminated himself.

Pity the delay has let King Armag escape, but this act of cowardice breaks the remaining Tiger Lords who disband their tribe. Also broken is a tortured and abused Amiri, whose spirit is as shattered as her once giant sword. While scouts hunt down the missing Armag, Siegfried takes his team to apprehend Tristian next who is hiding in the fairy realm.

When cornered the cleric admits to being an unwilling servant of a nymph named Nyrissa, who for some reason is out to destroy Siegfried's barony. Siegfried is all but ready to pardon him until he admits to being the one who planted the seed flower which resulted in the deaths of thousands. Upon hearing that, the baron gets Jaethal to execute Tristian on the spot.

Meanwhile, Valerie is put on trial by her old pervert paladin order but proves them all wrong when her goddess heals her scars and helps her smite them all down. Since her face is now fixed, Siegfried reappoints her as regent. Months later, the now mad Armag is found just over the hill from the battlefield and is put down by the baron's forces and tiger lord deserters.

With this done Lady Jamandi Aldori proclaims Siegfried as King of his expanding lands, and offers an alliance he graciously accepts.

Pillars of Eternity 2: The Loyal Crew

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Back at the ship the crew mutiny after learning what Gerrod's done. He, Iholikan, Ubin, Voghiln, Garrett and Fassina easily kill the many traitors who once were their allies then upgrade their ship and sail into the deadly sea, which apparently isn't so deadly at all with those upgrades. There they find an island guarded by a robot hydra whom they defeat, and further in find the giant statue of Caed Nua pummeling "the wheel".

Seeing this, Gerrod calls upon Wael and the monstrous tentacle creature appears - tearing the statue limb from limb until whatever god was inside there is gone. "Victory!" Gerrod screams, vindicated by the vengeance wrought upon the now worthless statue. With a nod, he and his team set sail back to more familiar shores - leaving Wael to terrorize the Deadfire archipelago and all the losers that reside in it as he sees fit.

That statue got owned.

That's really the problem with the whole place. There were no "good" people. Also, why set a high fantasy adventure in a janky pirate setting? Strange game design decisions for sure. Oh well. That's it for Pillars of Eternity 2! Not really recommended as its too different from its predecessor! :P

Pillars of Eternity 2: Merchants Murdered

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Only the two merchant factions remain as viable allies, and since the Valian Trading Company seem like nicer folk (despite trading in slaves) - the team agree to help them sabotage the Royal Deadfire Company by blowing up their base in Neketaka. This goes pretty smoothly until Ludin is killed by an RDC firing squad. Everyone is brought in for questioning at the palace and Gerrod spills the beans on the Valian plot while somehow maintaining innocence and the ignorant queen believes him.

As such the VTC members are put under arrest while the remaining RDCs are left in shambles, scratching both of as potential allies to get through the deadly ocean. Knowing they now have to go it alone, the crew start hunting down the remaining items they need to upgrade their ship including one piece at an undead haven where Rook is killed by a fampyr trio.

Soon after their old ally, archmage Llengrath, pays them a visit while riding atop her dragon requesting help investigating another island. Sure enough, its full of tentacles and horrible things but these horrible things also fight each other. Gerrod makes the most of that as they explore deeper, eventually finding it is the mysterious beholder-type god Wael asleep down here. Despite Llengrath's warnings, Gerrod makes a deal with Wael - freedom in exchange for destroying the giant statue. Wael agrees - all they need to do is find the target and call for him.

 

All beholders have lazers!

The horrible, gigantic tentacle monster that's full of eyes is then set free into the ocean and Llengrath leaves angrily - knowing full well the chaos such a creature will cause.

Pillars of Eternity 2: Risky Research

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Back at Neketaka from the iceberg, the team attend a meeting at the Royal Palace where it is guessed that the statue's target is somewhere within a section of ocean far too dangerous for any one ship to pass. Instead, they would need to gain favor with one of the factions OR upgrade a vessel to withstand the punishment. The Royalty themselves are already crossed off that list as they hate the squad for freeing the captive dragon their water benders were leeching power from, so Gerrod tries to appeal to the arch mages next by doing research retrieval for the local arch mage Arkemyr.

Doing this work sees the deaths of Yrsa who is impaled by a horned whale at sea, Zefr who is clobbered by staff wielding monk, Maia and Petrus killed by arch lich Concelhaut who had reconstructed himself from their last encounter. What makes it worse is that upon handing the research over, Arkemyr promptly refuses to help. At least his apprentice Fassina joins the team but that's not really the help Gerrod was hoping for.

Really hard to keep these dead.

The next faction are the constantly infighting pirates, but since they are naturally scum Gerrod hires the master thief Garrett to make them squabble even more. As they execute one of their own leaders the team kills all the remaining ones of the pirate's council throwing that entire organization into chaos - crossing another potential ally off the list. Phht. What sort of allies would these scum be anyway?

Thief (2014 Reboot)

I usually don't play games where you are the "bad" guy, but I am a big fan of the master thief and kleptomaniac Garrett through all his iterations in the Thief series mainly because this franchise offered up some of my favorite stealth mechanics ever - and it was necessary as Garrett is quite frail when it comes to face to face fighting (more so against the monstrous and supernatural enemies).

In this reboot the nameless City returns in pretty and dark splendour for you to explore, complete with the expected patrolling guards and citizens. There are a number of easy jobs you can do while prowling about the streets and rooftops which teach you mechanics for extra cash outside the main, eight chapter story, and there are also six optional "instanced" side missions to complete too. Overall it does a decent job, with an interesting new story (which ends kinda strangely though) and giving nods to the mechanists, Garrett's odd eye, Shalebridge Cradle, the Hag and the Trickster from previous games but sadly most of those are missing in this new imagining as well as the decline of the word "taffer" and random woodsie scrawl that I really grew to love.

My main problem with it was that it is too easy, even on Master difficulty where you cannot kill anyone and must not harm any civilians. The maps certainly feel smaller than the previous ones which in turn make the AI enemies have very simple and often predictable patrol patterns. On top of that, if you build this Garrett the way I did and have the arcade skill to back it up, he can be a beast in melee. When you can knock out five opponents in open combat you begin to question if you really need to do all that sneaking around (unless you play as a "ghost", which I wouldn't have the patience for). If you play on a lesser difficulty I'm pretty sure you can just stroll around openly as you can suddenly just slaughter all the guards with your bow.

The old one-two. First to the balls, then to the face.

There was also a distinct lack of supernatural critters. There is one, pretty scary monster type in the game whom you cannot knock out in melee (stun only) but nowhere near the number and variety when the Trickster was around, not as terrifying as the Cradle inmates, and definitely easier to kill than those damn zombies in the first game where you needed to bless your water arrows to permanently put them down, otherwise they'd just get back up.

Still it was great to be in Garrett's shoes again. Perhaps if I didn't have his previous adventures to compare this to it would score higher but as it stands I give it 3 deadly shadows out of 5.