Word would soon make its way inland of a massive horde of dredge swarming forward before coming to a complete standstill for seemingly no reason. If all I had to do was just stop running away and they'd stop approaching, I'd have gladly done so to give the rest of the world time to prepare themselves (at the cost of my life). If you need a reason to call it a flaw, consider that the entire game is spent running away from the dredge. Out of curiosity, I decided to see what happens if you continue making risks. I took a risk and made a mistake, then took another risk and made another mistake. Maybe in the rest of the game there'll be more use to having a larger party and you'll get into trouble but so far I think it's something worth keeping in mind. I took on probably thieves out of principle and wasn't terribly upset when they got away, though I would have assigned more guards if the game were in my control as FatalFrosty suggests. I don't see how it's the player's fault when the story suddenly goes silent and the game enters a dead zone where nothing seems to be progressing.Īs an aside, unless there are way more endings to the game than I thought, the player's decisions are guided largely by the game's predetermined design and not by the player's that's actually practical advice given the limited effect your clan has in the first iteration of the game. Throughout the entire game, the condition and restlessness of your followers is described through daily occurances, fights, thefts, feasts, etc. It's difficult to make up your mind about a decision you yourself are required to fabricate. From my perspective, there was no escalating discontent in my camp, there was no increasing threat from pursuing enemies, there was no additional information or conversation about the available options, there were no temporary side tasks to assign my party, there was no ability to scout the area, no nothing. When I say that the game misleads the player, what I'm pointing out is that the entire universe, the entire story exists in the form of the information delivered by the game to the player. The player's judgement is always, always limited by the situation placed before them by the game. Transitioning from the constant pressure of the chase to the hesitant waiting of the first few days at Sigrholm works fine and dandy but when the chase doesn't catch back up again and the hesitation doesn't stir up any trouble, the game loses its momentum. Every single other example of waiting felt great and I pushed through regardless of my losses so I agree with you there, Pillis. It's stuck between the two, and therefor doesn't fit the design of the game. Sigrholm is an example of a situation where the player is absolutely put in a position of choosing whether to wait but, in terms of the player's understanding of the game, the consequences are more related to that of making camp to rest and move on. The design of the game and the way it delivers its storytelling indicates that, if the player is supposed to be making their own judgement call as to whether to keep waiting, the game will apply pressure to reenforce your decision or change your mind. The major difference between those two scenarios is that when you make camp, the camp doesn't tell you specifically to wait. The only instance where it allows you to wait without giving you updates is when you make camp. In Sigrholm: nothing happens, nothing continues to happen, nothing happens, nothing continues to happen.Įach town you spend time in gives you a constant update on your party and the people around you as you continue to wait. In Frostvellr, things change every day: the battle worsens, characters get injured or die, and the enemy gets closer. It makes sense except that, unlike every other chance you get to wait (there are several examples that don't bother me at all), in Sigrholm there is no change to the day-to-day observations and progression.
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