That said, when all of the logic we used to make our tactical decisions falls flat with a "hey look, IT'S WORSE NOW," logic ceases to apply.
...
I think a lot of people are disappointed at the lack of clear progression of "you did A, so X happened instead of Q, then you did B, so Y happened instead of R." This isn't a criticism; readers are not entitled to that information. It's just that, generally, in quests, users tend to have some idea of the immediate consequences of their various choices. We've been in this active combat situation for many updates in a row now, and there is very little tangible logic to the results of our various choices.
...
Every choice we have made seems to have made the greater tactical situation worse. Or, at the very least, we aren't intuitively aware of the consequences of those choices. Once again, this is not anything the readers are entitled to; however, hey do tend to lose faith in their voting options when they can't actually see a greater chance for victory from any given choice, or trends towards the same.
I think I'm going to prune this out and focus on it, maybe go back to another part if I remember or if there's something specific you want me to discuss. So, the first part - logic and common sense leading to 'it's worse'.
Some of you seem to have recognized the tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo, so think it's a safe bet that at least someone will have heard of
Tucker's Kobolds. Frankly, I'm a bit skeptical of the story - any DM who could make AD&D Kobolds that nasty is one who could make demons and devils obliterate even the best-prepared party - but that's not the point. The reason I'm bringing them up is because they represent an enemy using its resources to the fullest. I've tried doing that throughout the quest; enemies aren't just stat-blocks and warm bodies (although they frequently end up
cold bodies, because they're up against Flan), they have goals and actual intelligence driving them. Enter logic and common sense.
The night-demons
want Flandre. They've been pretty upfront about this, ever since Flan first started
talking with them. They're also fairly clever, and learned that attacking civilians drew a protective response ... and that Flandre is part of that response. The first escalation - attacking across the planet - was a direct result of Flan refusing their 'offer' and fighting back alongside Vita. It was, of course, not something that could necessarily have been foreseen, but looking back at some of the vote options, it becomes clear that some would not have had the same result:
[ ] Send Vita back to the others; she's in too much danger here.
- [ ] Try to get them to leave the rest of the world alone.
- - Reasoning?
- [ ] Head through the portal; maybe you can get something done on that side.
[ ] Maybe you can get them to stand down if you're angry enough. (Roll required.)
- [ ] Go with Vita to the night-demons' realm.
- [ ] Keep talking here.
- - [ ] Try to get them to leave the rest of the world alone.
- - - Reasoning?
Either continued negotiation or heading through the portal immediately would, of course, have prevented the world-wide attack, because the night-demons
would have had what they attacked in order to get. (Of course, having begun the attack, they wouldn't
stop just because Flan entered the portal - they are creatures of malice and evil, after all.)
Satsuki's
immediate reaction to being 'rejected' was predictable - in fact,
was, to some degree - and while her later rescue of Carim and Verossa in particular wouldn't have been predictable, she had made it clear that she didn't like the night-demons, and she didn't have any compunctions about butchering them, so the possibility of her actively joining the defense somewhere should have been a consideration ... and given her lack of experience, her going berserk should also have been considered, given the numbers of night-demons involved.
Of course, with Flan now on the night-demons' world, they mostly have what they want. They
did mention getting rid of Vita, and the vote was to have her go off scouting while Flan vented on the night-demons, so she got ambushed by the mages. Of course, she's Vita, so they didn't manage to kill her, and she was able to contact Flan. And then you got four options:
[ ] Attack the portals.
[ ] Attack the fortress.
[ ] Attack the mages.
[ ] … If they're lining up to the portals, they must be coming from somewhere. See if you can shut them down at the source.
Attacking the portals and attacking the source would have been worse, generally speaking - neither option would actually
do anything to really halt the night-demons' progress. The fortress is the local tower-equivalent, and attacking
it would have greatly shortened the mission. Again, look at the night-demons' desires: they want Flan, so obviously things that are near the portal they specifically sent toward her are going to be relevant. Why didn't they just create the portal inside the fortress?
Common sense. Yes, they expected Flan to jump at the offer once they made it, and were shocked that she refused, but they
also knew that she wasn't alone, and they weren't going to give a bunch of Belkans and their allies free access to their most important place.
But the voters decided to attack the mages, taking what was
probably the worst of the three given options, given that either of the other two would have resulted in the destruction of the night-demons' fortress (or the chance to do it, at least). And that still had a clear and obvious 'Things got better!' message. ... Which was immediately reduced in effect because
Flandre abandoned the mission. Yes, to go look for Satsuki - and, yes, if Flan
hadn't gone to the portal, Deed would have died off-screen - but it still gave the night-demons time to consider Flan. Back to Tucker's Kobolds.
They've tried most of their options. Simply asking her didn't work. Attacking the rest of the world got her through the portal, but she kept on fighting, and they didn't manage to kill Vita. And then she managed to destroy the mage-tower and cripple their ability to enter Hroth, and then escaped back to Hroth!
Their ability to get her to do what they want is limited - practically nonexistent, really, and they realize that. So they decided to pull the lever and flood the world with magma. 'You will rule us (and the planet), or you (and the planet) will become ashes around us (and then we'll die)!' They're reacting to what Flan is doing - looking at their options and choosing the one(s) they think will put her in a position where she
has to accept their offer and take control of them.
There isn't a lack of common sense or logic - at least, I don't think there is. Yes, some of it may be obscured by the point of view, but ... I've noticed this before, over the years. I'll put something I consider important in an update, and it seemingly won't be noticed (for a recent
example, the 'small growth' - I'll get to it at the end of the post). And I'll sit there and wonder if I should have emphasized that thing more so people would see it, or if people saw it and didn't consider it important, or if they saw it and realized it was important, but didn't care for some reason. And I think most of it
is me, because of course
I know it's important, I'm the author and I put it there - but like the night-demons, other people look at what I write and interpret it differently, because they don't have all the background knowledge and behind-the-scenes and so on that I do, so that particular possibility gets lost and shrivels up. And usually it's
not that big a deal, so I just shrug and sigh and go on with the quest. Anyway, back to a specific point:
Every choice we have made seems to have made the greater tactical situation worse
Well, no and no. The
tactical situation - the ones involving Flandre personally - has not really been negatively affected by most the choices made by the voters, and one of them arguably
improved the tactical situation (opting to leave Satsuki behind, because keeping her around would have changed Flan's options, and particularly the 'kill 'em all' option would have been more difficult). I answered twice because I suspect you meant the
strategic situation - the entire conflict on Hroth, with the night-demons launching a world-wide assault. Two choices the voters made in particular have had enormous positive impacts: again, the decision to leave Satsuki behind (because
at least one of Carim and Verossa would have died had she not been there), and the decision to destroy the mage-tower. The latter choice in particular, as
@Megaolix noted recently, led to a
drastic reversal for the Bureau and Church forces, because now their wide-area and long-range spells work properly. (Granted, the strategic situation exists
because of a choice made, and it was made worse by not choosing to finish off the night-demons and letting them release the dragons, but it hasn't been
wholly bad.)
The long and the short of it is: No one should blame the author for hiding the repercussions of choices, and the author shouldn't blame us for making less and less sensible-looking decisions if our sense doesn't seem to apply to the situation at hand.
And I think the crux of
this matter is that our common senses don't match. Or, at least,
my common sense doesn't match the voters', and at least part of it is because I'm awful at descriptions.
That's important because I, as the author, 'see' everything more clearly than you all do, and by not describing everything clearly I am doing the voters and readers a disservice. For example, the 'small growth' I mentioned earlier - I described the tower-demons' demon heads reasonably well, but apart from simply
mentioning it, I don't describe the growth at all. I see it as a sort of
Chekhov's Gun - I specifically mentioned it, so it must mean
something! - but most readers, if they even noticed it, probably assumed it was some sort of skin condition or magical effect. It's just scratching, after all.
And frankly, the more I think about it, the more I see it as an issue with my writing ability. I'm a decent enough
writer, but I'd make a terrible author, in large part because I can't describe things. It's not just a writing thing, either; while it's true that I could get my cat right now and write a description that might be technically accurate but wouldn't describe her well, it's also true that I couldn't describe her well to someone sitting across from me. I can describe objects and events well enough, especially if it's something made-up and I don't need to be too specific, but describing living things?
People? I stick to hair/eye color and clothing because that's about all I'm good for. (And because I can usually look up a picture and post it if it's
really necessary.)
And that's enough out of me for now, I think. I'm sorry if I got rambly and incoherent; again, if you want clarification on something I'm willing to try and explain specific things more closely (if I can).
