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Let's Play: Cataphrak's Dragoon Saga

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Eh, I mean, it might make sense why a member of the Cortes would think that from a noble perspective--it's a valid choice--but in no way shape or form is the Cortes a protector of liberty in any but the most facile sense.

Yet at the same time, that does not make opposing them suddenly some great and good act either, in itself.
 
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It's not, but it's the only check on the authority of a wannabe absolutist. Not to mention that we are playing an aristocrat who sees the baneless as inferior, so wider democracy in the Takaran model isn't something he can support at this point.
 
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Lords E.07
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    • [X] [OPINION] We are perhaps witnessing a new age; I mean to watch it carefully.

    You would be a fool to think that things won't change, with the Crown so empowered and the Cortes so enfeebled. Yet you would be just as foolish to imagine that change to be for good or ill, when the outlines of the future haven't even materialised before you.

    Perhaps the Queen will use her power solely to do what must be done to bring order to the realm. Perhaps she'll take advantage of her position of strength to render the Crown unassailable forever-more. Yet it's just as likely that this shall only be a brief moment of change, that the Cortes may well reassert itself in the weeks and months to come.

    Matters will proceed the way the Saints intend. When the new age makes its shape fully known, then you will decide what to make of it.

    Yet those are thoughts for the future. Until then, you have a more immediate matter: that of your sovereign, standing patiently as you consider the powers which she has now clothed herself in.

    And the title she wishes to bestow upon you.

    "I shall do my utmost to be worthy of this honour, Majesty."

    The Queen answers with a faint smile. "Bring us victory, that will be compensation enough."

    She steps back, and her expression hardens again. Once more, you are soldier and commander, subject and sovereign. "It was not our intention to seek war, but now that Wulfram and his allies have forced it upon us, we have no choice but to prosecute it to the utmost. Only once the enemy is defeated in its entirety might order be restored. Only when those who have raised traitorous arms against us are fully brought to justice might there be peace once more. We have tried compromise, it has failed. We have tried patience, it has failed. Now we can only fight, and in this, failure has ceased to be an option."

    She looks away, her gaze focused upon some point in the distance. "Now is the time of soldiers. The fate of the Unified Kingdom rests on you and those you will command. How will you bear that burden?"

    [ ] [END] "With every measure of strength and courage, Majesty."
    [ ] [END] "I mean to try my utmost."
    [ ] [END] "Circumstances have allowed me no other choice."
     
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    • Lords E.08
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    • [X] [END] "With every measure of strength and courage, Majesty."

    "Then see to your brigade, General—and make it ready for war."

    To be continued in Book IV:
    WARS OF INFINITY    ​

    And with that, we've reached the conclusion of the story so far. However, we've only scratched the surface of what the Dragoon Saga has to offer. For example, what would've happen had we chosen to desert at Blogia? What if we had chosen to stay on our estate? How might things be different had we chosen to side with Wulfram?

    If you guys would like to explore the possibilities with a new Dragoon Officer, I'm all for it. If there's stuff about the Infinite Sea setting you'd like me to go into, I'd be happy to provide exposition on that too.
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    • Rogue Attican said:
    The Queen nods. "No, one cannot—which is why we shall rely upon men like you to take them for us."
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    Ah yes, a strategy depend entirely on extraction of resource from newly conquer territory with possibly a hostile population and relied on the actions of newly form armed force whose current states is basically just a group of mobs. There is no way this could possibly goes wrong.

    Rogue Attican said:
    "How would you like to be Earl of Castermaine?"
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    Get rekt Castermaine.

    Damn, we actually get it to the end in mostly one piece? What a ride.
    See you all again when Wars of Infinity came out in like, 10 years or something.
     
    IamtooSleepy said:
    Ah yes, a strategy depend entirely on extraction of resource from newly conquer territory with possibly a hostile population and relied on the actions of newly form armed force whose current states is basically just a group of mobs. There is no way this could possibly goes wrong.
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    Plus, Castermaine is on the Salt Coast. Oh, the horror!

    IamtooSleepy said:
    Get rekt Castermaine.
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    Honestly, I rather respect the "Old Complainer" for being the only Wulframite that actually uses his brain. I also rather like the Wulframites' version of Chapter 12 in which he and the Dragoon Officer bond over the shared struggle of ordering soldiers to their deaths while they get to sit back out of danger.

    IamtooSleepy said:
    Damn, we actually get it to the end in mostly one piece? What a ride.
    See you all again when Wars of Infinity came out in like, 10 years or something.
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    While we could've done better in places, I rather enjoyed the experience of going through a non-optimized playthrough. Let's hope the next installment will arrive soon.
     
    Wulfram is a little freer with rewards. Characters he thinks are on his side early enough get to enjoy no interest on loans and can become the head if the knightly order being organized for Hunter. But I'll never get closer to doing that playthrough than reading raw code, because all the cool kids are Royalist. Caz, Kat, Welles, Reyes, Lewes if he's alive, Garret (not that cool but good for solving your loyalty problems with the First), every officer you met in the previous books...

    Meanwhile, all Wulfram has are brand new characters.
     
    SeptimusMagisto said:
    Meanwhile, all Wulfram has are brand-new characters.
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    In fairness to Wulfram, we meet the Earl of Castermaine during Guns of Infinity and the Duke of Warburton if you're a disgrace. However, we don't spend enough time with them to garner much sympathy.

    That said, I was surprised by how much Warburton grew on me (no pun intended, given the white rose sigil of his house). While he definitely takes after old Ironrod (yes, the epithet does refer to Edmund IV's "Paul Wang"), Emile d'al Harris isn't a complete douche about his womanizing. He also demonstrates an encouraging degree of self-awareness during the epilogue, which makes me hopeful for the Wulframite route in Wars of Infinity.
     
    I think the two big requirements to unlock the achievement of taking the guns and forcing a surrender are saving grenadier square so you get the engineer that unspikes a gun and can shoot only once at a ship making the fleet think they're about to get blown to pieces and immediately flee and being in the admirality club and convincing its members to be royalist so during the final battle a few ships are gonna switch sides and further delay the evacuation.
     
    I think if we do do that, the way to do it would be for you to, like, almost do character creation again? Or rather, like, offer... different *kinds* of characters, if that makes sense? Since Alaric (my dude, who I care about deeply) doing it would just end in a lot of heartbreak because we don't have the stats and we aren't Ruthless enough.
     
    Personally, despite agreeing more with the Royalists ideologically, I find the Wulframite path more enjoyable, precisely because almost all the characters from the first two games go Royalist. You get a great new cast in Wulfram, Brockenburg, Castermaine and Warburton, but also end up in a position where you have to fight against old friends for the sake of your beliefs.

    As a Royalist, you usually don't get close to the new cast, so when the war starts, it's just you and your friends against a new bad guy. Which worked fine against an outside threat like Antar, but I expect dramatic, tragic friend-against-friend, brother-against-brother narratives from a civil war story,, and the Royalist path doesn't really look like it's going to deliver on that.

    Tl;dr: Royalists right, Wulframites fun

    And count me in if you decide to do another pllaythrough. It's a fun way of stepping out of my comfort zone with these games. Maybe you could post this playthrough on the forums, since it could be useful in providing an example of a partially blind playthrough.
     
    There are a bunch of pre-made characters for people that just wanna play 2 or 3 and don't wanna go through playing potentially multiple games.
     
    If you just made Alaric be from the capital region, skipped Antari language in favor of a stat boost, and switched to a choice that got the runegun, he should at least be in the right range to take on harder things, even without being older.
     
    If he moves on he say he wants to go and sight see the country/protect antari in the country so I think we'll still see the guy again if he leaves with civil war breaking out.
     
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