The big 4 refers to the deities that are gonna get the main focus. Keros, Lumia, and Nareva are all planned to have transformations tied to them, and as a result, they're going to be more interactable and get more focus, Mallach is a coin-flip, but he has fan-favorite Cait making sure he's always relevant. Tira, Sorra, and Velun are obviously going to be mentioned, they are just not going to be in the forefront like the other 4, that's what I'm referring to when I say "The big 4." I was joking.
There's no "big 4" though. They've implied that we're going to meet all of the deities; as there's going to be options to sell your soul to each of them for specific boons or transformations. Hence why that assertion of "the big 4" is based upon opinion or assumption; and not substantiated from fact.
I'm not the part of the writing team, so I have absolutely no idea when Shar when being written in relation to Cait, Arona, or Etheryn. Bear in mind, the game was being conceptualized years before we even got a release, all I'm saying was that Shar was planned to be a companion, she got dropped, but whether this has anything to do with Savin being overloaded or just not feeling a harpy companion, I don't know. It's fine, I know he's overworked. He's not exactly quiet expressing that some of his other stuff gets left behind because of that.
Yes, I'm aware of how well in advance the game was planned out. But here's the thing, the development was actually stalled for a bit, something that you'd know if you dug through the posts on the
official forums - hence why it was actually pretty up in the air of whether the game was actually to exist or not.
Development only really started back up on the game because the Lead Programmer created a framework for the game so they could learn JS - which is why when they did so all of the team came together again to actually begin creating the game.
This is why, when Savin approached the subject of writing 4 separate companions, they realized that one had to be dropped for their own sanity; as with being the Lead Writer and in charge of writing another 3 companions it was just too much.
And I don't know where you're getting that "He's not exactly quiet expressing that some of his other stuff gets left behind because of that." Do you, or any one on this F95 CoC2 sub-forum actually belong to the
official forums; because it always seems weird seeing complaints here, but nobody actually detailing whether they've brought it up so that the people they're complaining about can
actually respond.
In any case, it's been brought up on the forums before, and Savin even gets jibes about it in good faith by the other writers.
With Garret it was pretty obvious he was built up to be a companion. He's the son of your base of operation's patriarch, the game explicitly says he's has wanderlust and he needs to get it out of his system. And he's given a reason to want to explore (his mother). Again this isn't a problem, I know things change, and every writernot named Savin, only gets one companion. Tobs obviously wanted to use his one to expand on the Kitsune, which is well within his right.
That's quite the assumption there. I literally said that there's no information detailing as such on the forums (by the very writer of the character) indicating as such; nor is there indication of that mentioned in the character's
publicly available google document.
If you actually look at his character from a lore perspective he wants to be an adventurer but is not quite cut out for it; something that is made very apparent by the quest to rescue him. The only time we actually see some competence from him is in his redemption arc in Fort Marrock.
TObs had every intention for Kiyoko to be their priority as a companion; as theyd'd planned her out for years before the game had even conceptualized. Sure, TObs did mention that if they were offered a second companion slot Garret would be their choice (aside from possibly re-instating Shar to companion status; although this was mentioned 4 years ago at this point); but the assertion that Garret was always intended to be a companion is something you're seeing.
It wouldn't make sense for that to take priority over TObs' entire Floofhaus plan that centered around Kinu.
Which is nice, the problem arise that that's entirely up to Savin when to write that. Don't get me wrong, he's probably the hardest worker in this game, except for maybe Tobs, but unlike Tobs who has one or two projects he can focus on, Savin is being pulled in multiple directions by all the stuff he's involved in.
TObs doesn't just focus on one or two projects though. Literally 0 of the content in the game is entirely mutually exclusive from one another from a writing perspective. Heck, TObs writes a lot of companion scenes for any content they add (such as Arona lines for going into Fort Marrock, as well as the collaborative effort for the Winter Palace Ball).
It's true that Savin is pulled in more directions than most, but that comes with the territory of essentially being the Project Lead, and Lead Writer.
Besides, the writers aren't subtle that they like to focus on what's more popular/ fun to write. Heck the reason Cait gets so much content is because writers to like write for her, not because she needs to be included. Which is obvious, yes, but definitely eye-opening if you like the more niche content in the game.
No, the reason why Cait has so much content is because she is literally the most integral character in the game from a lore perspective (i.e. the intro to the game; the mission that leads to the PCs quest), as well as the very first companion in the game.
The fact that she's fun to write is just an added bonus for some of the writers.
I don't think he's playing a big part in Khor'Minos, that might be an opportune time, but we'll see.
As mentioned before, writers generally write for every area or every major bit of content in some way. But yeah, I guess we'll see.
Yeah, that's probably it. Which is fine motivation is key when writing. And if he just wasn't feeling writing Shar as a companion, that's fine.
See above in this message.
And yeah that's not unique to Shar either, poor Lupine scouts who we don't even learn the name of and only exist to pad out the early game.
They have been mentioned by names on the forums, but the writer is focusing on other content at the moment (aside from being a programmer for the game).
They will likely be expanded upon at some point in time, but there are other priorities first.