Dreamer44

Well-Known Member
Dec 19, 2019
1,157
1,053
Talking of RPGs, imo a power-fantasy is nothing more than a regular RPG that provides a multitude of paths and one optimal one, that you usually can go down by going the extra mile. So while functionally a power-fantasy because of the porn aspect, i still wouldn't call this game one because it often just lacks basic choice. And i think it does so because the writers' perspective just intrudes too often on their writing.

Like, from the writer's perspective the foxes weren't meant to come across as a bunch of soul-sucking assholes, so you can't talk back to them. Mallachites weren't meant to come across as a weird grooming cult, so they're the best people ever and here's your temple. Everyone practices slavery, but because reasons only the orcs are bad for doing it. Gweyr the kidsslayer and Kiyoko the terrible mother are actually upstanding citizens, so god forbid you ever question them. The Champions needs to like Cait because she's actually lovely, the Champions needs to be Agni's whipping boy because she's actually just spunky, and so forth and so on.

It's honestly odd. Those themes and characters wouldn't even feel bad, in absense of choice, if they were treated right, but it's all just so biased. Don't question anything and like what we like, kinda thing. Which is why i think Wsan is as appreciated as he is around here. He doesn't provide much choice either, and he doesn't write the most complex of characters/situations, but at least he doesn't impose controversial takes on the player.
The Mallachites don't groom people. They raise the children, yes, but they give them the option of joining or not. Where did you get that idea?
 

hater45

Member
Mar 7, 2017
131
339
It IS said why the PC's soul is special. But if you don't read in a text game, you can't blame the writers.

Becoming a soulbound to a god gives powers and skills, and changes how certain NPCs react to you, but it doesn't give you story breaker powers. What would be the point of having battles, then?

And Keros the Trickster God tells you they'd seen that trick before, and won't fall for it. So if you soulbound to one, you can't barter your already taken soul to other.
How do the Kitsune react to you being a kitsune from Keros? They don't really treat you that much different than before. Also, don't give others story breaking powers because you can just ask why they haven't solved any conflicts that are happening right now. We can use my WOTR example, when you choose a path you get unique powers that is on the realm of godly but they are only for story purposes or cool buffs, like Aeon being the giga chad and making people cease to exist, or Tricksters being able to manipulate their dice rolls to crit like fucking monsters.

You only get a transformation for giving up your soul, doesn't seem that worth it now does it? Lumia makes you a Valkyrie if I am not mistaken. These are some shit offers compared to any other games where you get something like Ebony blade, or Dawnbreaker. I feel that they seen the trick before is such a bullshit excuse because they would automatically know if you didn't have a soul because it is physically ripped from your body, unlike it going somewhere post death. For people who wants to do worldbuilding, it sure is easy to find major flaws in logic thinking about it more than a few seconds.
 

Wrynn13

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2018
1,007
3,648
The Mallachites don't groom people. They raise the children, yes, but they give them the option of joining or not. Where did you get that idea?
Raising children in a environment that sex for money is normalized then when they grow up are told become a sex worker or get out is grooming. The fact they aren't forced does not make it not grooming.
 

Biostar

Well-Known Member
Aug 4, 2017
1,118
5,085
The Mallachites don't groom people. They raise the children, yes, but they give them the option of joining or not. Where did you get that idea?
You don't know what grooming means. It doesn't require forcing someone to do the thing they're being groomed into doing, it's influencing them to the extent that they wouldn't make any other choice. The babies are raised in their temple, constantly surrounded by what they do in said temple, and all the people in their life, friends and family, are involved in said activities and would certainly support their religion by preaching it to them in a positive light. Yeah, they might not all decide to join when the time comes but more certainly will than not cause that's basically all they knew.
 

Raf-Raf

Conversation Conqueror
Dec 4, 2019
6,544
8,593
Raising children in a environment that sex for money is normalized then when they grow up are told become a sex worker or get out is grooming. The fact they aren't forced does not make it not grooming.
Ah yes, manipulation is a thing too.

Religion DOES NOT AND WILL NEVER transcend morality.
 
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Daken9

Active Member
Apr 28, 2017
658
4,801
But Cait, herself a child who was raised in the sex cult and eventually joined it after being given the ultimatum, says it's not grooming, so it's not :illuminati:

(Obligatory, imagine if it was played as the gods being overall good for the world [due to their sheer intransigence and no more] but still allowing bad shit to happen in their name because arrogant assholes, while Kaz being more personable and approachable [which is she is] yet still worse for the world at large because of her very demonic nature/plans)
 

Meatshield236

Newbie
Feb 10, 2020
85
820
Talking of RPGs, imo at its core a power-fantasy is nothing more than a regular RPG that puts the PC at the centre of its narrative while providing a multitude of paths and one optimal one, that you usually can go down by going the extra mile. So while functionally a power-fantasy because of the porn aspect, i still wouldn't call this game one because it often just lacks the most basic of choices (beyond sex stuff). And i think it does so because the writers' perspective just intrudes too often on their writing.

Like, from the writer's perspective the foxes weren't meant to come across as a bunch of soul-sucking assholes, so you can't talk back to them. Mallachites weren't meant to come across as a weird grooming cult, so they're the best people ever and here's your temple. Everyone practices slavery, but because reasons only the orcs are bad for doing it and just accept it. Gweyr the kidsslayer and Kiyoko the terrible mother are actually upstanding citizens, so god forbid you ever question them. The Champions needs to like Cait because she's actually lovely, the Champions needs to be Agni's whipping boy because she's actually just spunky, and so forth and so on.

It's honestly odd. Those themes and characters wouldn't even feel bad, in absense of choice, if they were treated with a measure of awareness, but it's all just so biased. Don't question anything and like what we like, kinda thing. Which is why i think Wsan is as appreciated as he is around here. He doesn't provide much choice either, and he doesn't write the most complex of characters/situations, but at least he doesn't impose controversial takes on the player/character.
Your point about the writer's perspective intruding upon everything is spot on. With better writers, we would be presented with information about the world and it's characters then be allowed to make decisions based off of that information. It can be biased based off who you learn it from, but the text and situations you are put in shouldn't be biased one way or another. I think this is why Cait is so hated around here, because the text presents her in such a glowing light that it feels like it's demanding that you like her. Given how they divvy up writing characters, I am not surprised in the slightest. Because every character is someone's Special OC that must be liked at all times, because doing otherwise would be a personal attack against the person writing them. It's the amateur fanfic problem turned into a game, with the added problem that they're also including kinks in there and that's a whole 'nother can of worms.

As a side note, can I just say that despite the game presenting itself as sex positive, it's weirdly judgemental. This ties into the whole "just about every character is someone's OC Sex Dream," you get weirdly pressured into having sexual encounters with everyone and everything. Every situation is someone's magical realm. Which usually isn't a problem in most games because they're clear about what the game is about. But with CoC 2, it presents itself as a choice-based RPG. A sexy choose your own adventure novel. Except the narration keeps pushing you towards fucking everything and everyone, rather than presenting a buffet and allowing you to pick and choose.
 

hater45

Member
Mar 7, 2017
131
339
You choose the option they don't like then the characters get super salty or you get punished for it. You choose to return the amulet to Keros and it almost sounds like Tobs is speaking through with the seethe. If I'm not this super special person, then it doesn't matter if I don't do your plan because you can find anyone else to do it. Letting Quinn die is bad because of what? He is running away from the cult due to defecting and I'm just suppose to believe him?
 

Meatshield236

Newbie
Feb 10, 2020
85
820
You choose the option they don't like then the characters get super salty or you get punished for it. You choose to return the amulet to Keros and it almost sounds like Tobs is speaking through with the seethe. If I'm not this super special person, then it doesn't matter if I don't do your plan because you can find anyone else to do it. Letting Quinn die is bad because of what? He is running away from the cult due to defecting and I'm just suppose to believe him?
I just had a look at Quinn's wiki page (I never ran into him apparently) and holy shit, saving the guy then telling him to fuck off gives you corruption? Being cautious about an ex-cultist and not leading him towards the nearest town is an objectively a bad thing to the game apparently, even though subverting towns and areas from within is something that the cult does. You have no reason to trust him, and every reason to distrust a literal demon worshiping cult who's entire MO is corrupting and subverting things through subtle and not so subtle means.

Man, this is the most railroading shit I've seen.
 

FurrBat

Member
May 8, 2019
124
346
I think 2 things hurt me the most in Coc2. The lack of player agency (all of the we are Cait's taxi memes here) and the lack of overall consistency in Mc characterization. How much respect do we even get from people around us when we did quests, real question tho?

Each writer has their own take on our Mc and his character ping-pongs from event to event being different each time.

Then we have some railroading with our beloved instant-loss scenes by means of Author-inserts *cough* Leofric *cough* or "choices" where the outcome is the same *cough* Gweyr *cough* so while we still have the illusion of choice it doesnt matter anyway, as the choice is made by the writer not us.
 

muschi26

Engaged Member
Jun 22, 2019
2,970
4,519
I just had a look at Quinn's wiki page (I never ran into him apparently) and holy shit, saving the guy then telling him to fuck off gives you corruption? Being cautious about an ex-cultist and not leading him towards the nearest town is an objectively a bad thing to the game apparently, even though subverting towns and areas from within is something that the cult does. You have no reason to trust him, and every reason to distrust a literal demon worshiping cult who's entire MO is corrupting and subverting things through subtle and not so subtle means.

Man, this is the most railroading shit I've seen.
The difference between purity and corruption is actually just playing the game how the devs intend you to vs. going against that.

Kissing Cait's ass to remove corruption was a metaphor all along.
 
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hater45

Member
Mar 7, 2017
131
339
I think 2 things hurt me the most in Coc2. The lack of player agency (all of the we are Cait's taxi memes here) and the lack of overall consistency in Mc characterization. How much respect do we even get from people around us when we did quests, real question tho?

Each writer has their own take on our Mc and his character ping-pongs from event to event being different each time.

Then we have some railroading with our beloved instant-loss scenes by means of Author-inserts *cough* Leofric *cough* or "choices" where the outcome is the same *cough* Gweyr *cough* so while we still have the illusion of choice it doesnt matter anyway, as the choice is made by the writer not us.
Gweyr's quest was so fucking dumb I don't know how anyone on the writing team allowed that to pass. She had the ability to subdue those cult members but went unga bunga and became a murderer, and we can't call her stupid?
 

Thisguy?

New Member
Mar 18, 2019
6
63
i haven't really cared keep up much with the constant drama that is going on between the writing team or whatever, but can someone give me a breakdown on why this Berwyn "Update" came to be?
Bullshit gimmick dungeon and terrible quest ending choice aside they actually kind of give me what I wanted in the end and that's an actual relationship dynamic with Berry, instead of him just hating having sex with a male player character. I however don't know why the reason for removing him from the party and tying him into the camp system a system that I never use because i play a white mage, have Cait in my party 24/7 and always have a way stone activated in every area. Why not just have his quest item just you teleport you to him at any time like Kiyoko's amulet.
I guess keeping him to one place would make writing scenes for him easier considering the body changes and all, but fuckin Berry was the one male companion i had and kept taking on my team now I only got Brint who's practically been replaced by Brienne and godamn Quintillus, I DONT FUCKIN LIKE QUIN, who even uses Quin? If there was any fuckin character that could use a update that removes them from the party it'd be Quintillus.
 

Thisguy?

New Member
Mar 18, 2019
6
63
Gweyr's quest was so fucking dumb I don't know how anyone on the writing team allowed that to pass. She had the ability to subdue those cult members but went unga bunga and became a murderer, and we can't call her stupid?
No because shes soooo cool and badass and she can kill an army with one arm tied behind her back and peg Garth at the same time.
 

Boardguy

Member
Feb 14, 2018
196
573
Maybe, a shitposter or 2 might bring it back but hopefully, it stays down till the game is either finished or rushed jobbed, then the modding can begin in earnest.
 
2.80 star(s) 117 Votes