Verona is a bit wary of getting in her way, Scylla had to smooth things over between her and her father in order to stay at the inn with you.
But at that point she has been around for a while so she probably became a bit less wary of her, and knowing how important she was to Redic and co, and they were basically a couple of minutes behind her so they had to wake up pretty close to when she left. So I dunno, it feels a bit too coincidental for them to
just wake up on time.
Yeah I dunno, it's just so upsetting how cut down and awful it became. It's so short and wet noodle compared to all the others, too. Originally it was her basically killing a section or even small platoon's worth of men quietly but as hyperviolently as possible with her guilding the player on what to do next and what she was thinking. And then her taking sick satisfaction on her job, only to see a hostage family after bear trapping a man's head for when she could have honestly just slit his throat or driven a hammer through his skull. The family would have looked at her in horror, and she would have looked back, seeing a young girl full of fear as a mirror to when she saw her own family die.
Then she'd let them out and even after that they'd be pretty scared of her, recovering the father of the family from a pit (covered in intestines and guts from a man she noosed and opened up then kicked into the pit) who would have had to climb up a dead body and rope used to hang him.
Then she would have proceeded to the second story, booting a guy off a balcony, murder hobo stabbing a man on the toilet, and then the fight with Roth.
Originally it was probably the second best or tied for best quest I had written and designed. Drew out careful diagrams of the quest, location, etc... everything. I can't even bring myself to playtest what it got cut down to.
Hm...
A section sounds better. A platoon, even a small one, would be a bit excessive to go through.
As for the hyperviolence and the sick satisfaction... honestly, it feels like too much. Instead of showing the player her trauma, it just feels like she's acting like a psycho. I think a slow roll would be better for something like this, and instead of a sick satisfaction maybe something more like a righteous anger.
For example:
When she makes her way into the building, she kills them quickly as to not draw attention. Then she starts an internal monologue. Talking about her brother, her father, her uncle, everything she's been through and everything she sacrificed. How she blames them, for every choice she had to make, for taking everything she cared For, and how she's not going to let them take anyone else.
So with each kills she makes she gets
angrier and
angrier, becoming more brutal and violent. To the point where she's in a large hallway killing them, then she drops something long and sharp on top of one of them, collapsing his lungs and pinning him to the floor. She then waits for the last one there to come in, letting him see her handiwork. Then instead of killing him creatively, she just draws her weapons. And in a fit of rage, her eyes wide in anger, she just starts
shredding him. Cutting him everywhere, avoiding every major artery in order to make his pain last. After she's done, she turns around and sees the one she pinned to the ground still alive and dying, gasping for air.
He looks young.
All of a sudden, its like she's back in that moment seeing her brother murdered, her thanatophobia starts acting up as she starts shaking, she takes a look around and sees all the death she caused, and starts having a panic attack. Then she starts remembering her friends and why she came here, she calms down and looks at the dying headhunter, she reaches for him and comforts him (like he was her brother), then she plunges her dagger through his heart, ending his suffering. She makes her way to the second story, and kills them the way she did, quickly.
Full circle. And you know the rest.
(Also, murder hobo refers to killing people and looting all their stuff, so I don't think it fits here.)
Scyllas journey reminds me of Joshua Graham's from Fallout New Vegas. In a way I feel like their story sort of mirrors each other. So if you'd like, I have a video you might enjoy
You must be registered to see the links
Ignore the title, it's not why I want you to watch it. The video summarizes Graham's story arc and shows how the events in his life shaped him, events that I feel could describe how Scylla might feel in her life and this moment. Its also a very entertaining video, so there's that too!
Maybe instead of remaking everything, restructure what exists and add what is missing.
Its not always possible to make everything the way we want it to, but its always possible to make something better then it was before.
lol I didn't know that, @deck or @ArbuzBudesh prooobably know about it and can confirm if its intended or not lol.
I wish I could see some art of Redic doing a Charles Xavier, blowing up someone's head, and everyone else are shocked and confused lol!
Fire's not really a thing that plays well with organic material. I have no idea what... could "absorb" fire like that in nature?
Maybe something like condensing their matter
so tightly that it can absorb the heat and resist the fire while protecting them.
Or maybe something like mental conditioning, where they run away, turn off pain receptors (if they have any) put out the fire until it stops burning,
then regenerate.
Mara is extremely emotive, she does a lot to replicate the mortal experience and organism within herself. What she "feels" though would be up for debate, but she expressed fondness, affection, worry, sorrow, regret, love, shame. Whether those are thing she feels would be nearly impossible to translate/tell from their kind to ours.
Emotions are generally reactionary, and sometimes for humans translating emotions can also be difficult. (that's why we have therapists)
So I think the question isn't whether Mara can explain her feelings, but rather if her feelings are genuine.
For example; Lady Wolf is a good actor, she has studied mortals so she could fake interactions with them without incurring suspicion.
However, her words don't have much depth behind them. Kimber was able to sus out that "Clementine" was fake, that her behavior was an act, even Osh'to was suspicions of her. Lady Wolf herself isn't very emotive, but she can feel some emotions, she just choses not to show them. This is possibly why in the comic she matches her persona to her actual self, so she would seem more genuine.
Mara herself however, is a bad actor (or a dramatic actor at least) that cant really do complex lies, like what happened at Whispering Brooks. But since she is very genuine with others (like Samara, despite her being afraid of her), its harder to suspect her of lying. (I can only imagine what Kimber's reaction to her would be)
I think the difference between them is exposure. While Mara was exposed to emotions at an early age personally through her foster mother, Lady Wolf was an observer, who simply tries to mimic it so she can blend in.
Like I said before; Maybe what demons really need in order to properly interact with mortals, is to be raised by them. Like a parent would raise his child. maybe then other demons like Mara could exist.
Yeah much, much, much closer. She made it, through extensive research,
Getting close.
Maybe its something slightly higher like you said, "enhance".
Or maybe its something slightly stranger... like "uplift".
