Next quest, cruising right along.

Yacatec calls Tehgonan a “zin d’an”, which Dehl says is a slur. He only explains its literal meaning before being interrupted, which strikes me as bad form. This should be an opportunity to hear about si’shra influences on shra culture from the characters’ own perspectives rather than just Ques’ impartial glossary, not a something to be glossed over. You’d think this kind of thing would be a priority since shra and si’shra are kind of the focus of this chapter, but instead all we get is a halfhearted “look at the glossary!”

Yacatec: “I am sure you don’t care about the details,

See, that? That is obviously suspicious. That is something the characters could conceivably jump on. It would be perfectly understandable for Mr. Paranoia to start heckling him right now… but he already did last time so he’s not even in this cutscene. The result is honestly quite bizarre; the characters are incredibly suspicious of him when they have no reason to be, yet let an obvious slip go completely unremarked.

Anyway, the job is to spy on some wild shra circles, but I can’t bring any shra because the scent will alert them.

Dehl: “I despise this body which I have been cursed with, sometimes.”
Tehgonan: “That’s okay; we all do!”

Such great friends these people are.

This should not be happening more than halfway through the game. They’ve spent a long time together and been through a lot, but they’re still just as nasty and hateful to one another as they were at the start. (Dehl has also made absolutely zero progress towards getting over his own issues, partially because of that.) It’s like they’re simply incapable of personal growth.

Lani, ever on the ball, models reasonable behavior and foreshadowing for the class by wondering why Yacatec’s so interested in the shra. Dehl convinces her it’s probably nothing.

You can bring shra, but they’re not allowed out of this starting area. I’ve replaced Rehm with Fero. He just seems fitting.

This is a stealth quest. I can’t group, so running into most enemies is suicide, and I get a bonus at the end if I’m not noticed.

First camp: It looks like the Shra here a re preparing some dead Snapvines for … something. Further observation will be necessary.

These are shra warriors. The NPCs in the starting area warn me not to bother them, and indeed, approaching them is suicide. I’m pretty sure they don’t guard anything, they’re just obstacles.

Uhh, she seems pretty noticeable there…

These Shra seem to have either stolen or bartered for some boards and ropes. They seem confused of what to do now.

So the explorers barter with the natives? What could the natives possibly have that they want, though? Medicinal plants? I am curious what these ones are doing. Are they trying to make a raft? Why?

They probably have a similar effect on other people as well. Hey, you’re alone. It’s just you. No one else will know.

Yes, I’m sure the weird drugs will have the exact same effect on different species. I give them to Fero, who gains 5000 clarity essence at no penalty. Come on, game, it’s time to make these things have consequences!

This Shra has gathered some wood. Is it possible he knows how to make fire? You decide to stay and find out.

Alas, we never find the answer to this question. I’d imagine they would since they seem fairly intelligent, but maybe the damp swamp prevents it.

These shra camps would be good examples of unsolved mysteries if we ever got in-depth information about the wild shras’ knowledge and motives that could be used to extrapolate in retrospect. The shra are intentionally played up as mysterious in this chapter, but the game never delivers on that mystery – the only reveal provided just turns them into walking plot devices.

Alito: “The 18th Rank, by my summary. This is wonderful news! Excellent work, everyone.”

Alito shows up and gives everyone’s notes to Yacatec. We get some brief exposition about the tu’nuok (should that be capitalized?), who are the shra warriors I saw in the quest. Yacatec doesn’t want to bother them since they’re strong and territorial, which is why he will be attacking a large force of them next quest. I guess he’s only willing to antagonize them when he doesn’t have any other options, but it’s still a little weird to have them be built up as this dangerous untouchable force only to be engaged like it’s no big deal almost immediately after.

“We don’t have any more numbing-needles on hand, so be ready with the rope.”

See, this would have more impact if Qualstio hadn’t made it blindingly obvious earlier.

So he’s a slaver. Qualstio is the only one who realizes this is messed up because Qualstio is a perfect enlightened sue.

Qualstio: “What in the hell, [Dehl]? Are you serious? We’re in cahoots with slavers now!”

This is getting really irritating.

You know how in her Temeraire review, Farla pointed out that the main characters had a tendency to impose modern worldviews on historical societies so that we could root for them and still feel all warm and fuzzy? This is similar, but worse because it’s isolated to one character. In The Reconstruction, slavery is just a fact of life so people see nothing wrong with it. It makes sense that they would have a different view on it than us, because they live in a different world. But then along comes Qualstio, who Just Knows slavery is wrong for no reason. He never explains why he feels so strongly about this, why he never kept slaves, what circumstances made him so different from literally every other person on the planet. Those aren’t questions we’re supposed to be asking. Qualstio is the author’s mouthpiece, so he can tell you strong moral opinions without needing to back any of it up.

Once again, this just doesn’t feel necessary. I really doubt anyone playing this game is going to be on the side of slavery without Qualstio’s very important moral lessons. All this does is undermine the intentional values dissonance by having a character who’s magically immune to those values. It’s a show-don’t-tell issue too: now the game doesn’t have to directly show how slavery affects the lives of these people and let players understand it on their own (which incidentally could also provide much-needed character development fodder), it can just have a character say it’s Very Wrong and all is well. It’s talking down to the audience, and it’s lazy.

What’s even more grating is that Lani, a member of the actual abolitionist group, doesn’t see anything wrong with it. So not only is someone who has no reason to have enlightened views expressing them out of nowhere, someone who has enlightened views ingrained into her culture isn’t expressing them, all so the sue can be more special.

(I really get the feeling that fih’jik = abolitionists was added or at least finalized very late in the development cycle. It’s really, really bizarre that it never comes up at all during this chapter.)

Alito points out it might not be so bad, some masters like Metsueno treat their slaves well. That’s a good point that could lead to an interesting discussion. Perhaps it could even provide a basis for these characters to examine the flimsy rationalizations upholding institutionalized slavery, growing as people in the process, and maybe even including something about looking beyond the narrow scope of our own experiences. So, game?

Qualstio: “Not a chance. Metzino was one in a million. Alito just got lucky, that’s all.”

Oh I’m sorry it was just an opportunity for Metsueno’s suishness to haunt us from beyond the grave and you’re never bringing this up again. Okay then.

Then Qualstio relents and decides to do nothing anyway because why would he stir up trouble, it’s not like he’s the protagonist or anything!

Dehl: “T’was you who brought up the first objection. I shall respect your wishes.”

You don’t say.

Going off the rails is simply anathema to this game. Every time the opportunity for escaping the little box the game has created for itself pops up, it’s rejected or ignored, even to the point of making its precious sue OOC. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the game is bending over backwards to prevent anything different or interesting from happening even though being different was its entire sales pitch. So, why?

My first thought is that it’s to make the ending, where things really do go off the rails, have more of an impact, and suddenly I’m reminded of Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors (a game which the developer loves, interestingly). It has a similar plot structure: most of the game is limp filler until things suddenly get interesting at the very end. This strikes me as poor form – you risk people who would have liked the ending dropping the game long before they reach it (especially in a long RPG like this one), while people who like the rest of the story will see it as an interruption and a terrible conclusion unless you can pull it off really well. Then again, both this game and Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors are hugely popular, so what do I know. Perhaps I just have a different taste in plot structure. Regardless, I do think that the developer’s overdone it. It’s been over a dozen hours of play time and we’re still in the “lulling you into a false sense of security” phase, which wore out its welcome a long time ago. I mean, come on – this is a heroic fantasy epic-length RPG, two genres characterized by individuals taking action! I want the characters to actually do something already!

And in conclusion:

Tehgonan: “You never had a slave before, huh?”
Qualstio: “Not a one. Lately, I’m starting to think that makes ME the strange one.”

oh my god game you will not explode if you don’t mention how special he is every ten seconds shut up shut up shut up

…

Let’s talk about Yacatec instead.

“So long as there is demand, we supply. I cannot state it any more simply, D’an.”

I think he’s a fairly interesting villain because he’s not really evil. He honestly doesn’t see anything wrong with what he’s doing, as evidenced by the fact he doesn’t even try to hide it from the guild. He truly believes he is providing a valuable service and that he is using his money for a good cause. He’s appropriate thematically too, as the race traitor is a good contrast to Skint. He’s a morally grey, complex villain (though I do assert he’s still a villain, morality pets or no), and unlike last chapter’s villain, he’s a constant presence that provides the framework for a real plot. I don’t like what the story eventually does with him, but for now he’s pretty good.

Let’s round out the update with a trip to the hunting grounds.

More dead trees. Were these ponds poisoned too?

THE POISON HAS ANGERED YOUR TREE OVERLORDS. THEY DEMAND TRIBUTE.

This may be one of the plants that the local adventurers use for staving off sickness and boosting overall health while exploring.

“It might be. You’re pretty sure. It could be horrible death. Want to find out?” I get 10000 health essence.

The pollen is used as a stimulant for weary warriors – Shra and otherwise – with few known side effects, other than sneezing.

This one is 10000 piety essence. Drugs are good for you!

I’ve always found it a bit befuddling that there was no clarity essence source here. I guess you get enough of those in the quests themselves.

These are blood-crazed shra, and they are indeed dangerous. However, this does open up a plot hole in that Lani supposedly knows about them despite never coming here. I suspect “blood-crazed” originally meant si’shra, and this was changed at some point; it doesn’t make sense otherwise, since the bloodcrazed seem like a minority confined to this area, unlike the si’shra who have international notoriety.

I also wonder what causes blood-craze. What makes these ones different from other, non-crazy shra? Are they cannibals? Do all shra go crazy if they taste too much blood?

(The fact they have heavy armor also raises the question of why Dehl, Rehm, and Moke all die to slashing damage just because they wear light clothes. It doesn’t even make a lot of sense to classify them as heavy in the first place since scales aren’t hard shells. The reason concussive force is killer against armor is because it crushes the armor into your body; natural armor for non-arthropods shouldn’t have the same problem. I’d say it’d actually make more sense for them to have medium armor, weak to piercing – don’t stories always say that’s the scaled dragon’s weakness?)

Bloodcrazed shra have good defenses and can inflict a lot of damage (including a special skill that deals mind damage). Dealing with all four here is actually quite tricky. Their weakness is mind damage, but I don’t have a lot of that on hand. This is where I’m starting to kick myself for switching out my party so often; the main six are actually among the most solid and versatile party members (well, except for Tehgonan), with new recruits generally being quirky and gimmicky. Ques’ skills are as threatening as a wet noodle (and Victory Lunge is limited by the whim of the chain), Lani is slow as molasses with limited offense, Rehm has no healing, and Falitza is Falitza. And Santes is my only source of body and soul healing, both of which I really need right now. I’ve been trying to branch out from the mainline party members but the game isn’t very accommodating.

PREVIOUS | NEXT