feotakahari

There was a point in Pathfinder: Kingmaker where some paladins challenged my companion to a trial to prove her honor. I asked her what she wanted to do, and she wanted to refuse the trial, so I roleplayed that out as what I thought would be a valid choice. Turns out that's a quest fail that permanently breaks her character arc. You're supposed to have her go through with the trial so she can Learn a Valuable Lesson. So why make it look like a choice in the first place? Was I supposed to Learn a Valuable Lesson myself? Because I didn't learn shit, and I still feel like refusing was the option that made the most sense for her character.

This wasn't even the only time the game pulled this bullshit. There was a point where I was supposed to choose who to sacrifice to seal an evil spirit inside a sword. I chose not to sacrifice anyone, because I wanted to get a cool bossfight with the spirit. Turns out that ends the quest and gives you nothing. You're supposed to pick a sacrifice in order to complete the quest properly.

I am confused and alarmed by what this game considers Lawful Good. It seems to be based on the idea that some people are born deserving to live and some people are born deserving to die. Through the actions they take in their life, a person who was born deserving to live can become deserving to die. However, someone who deserves to die can never be redeemed, even if they haven’t done anything bad yet.

At one point, the troll king asked me why I broke into his castle and murdered his soldiers. I told him that his men also broke into human homes and murdered the inhabitants, and I just wanted to protect my people. This was the Lawful Neutral option. The Lawful Good option was to say that trolls are inherently evil, even if they don’t always seem that way, and they all have to be killed before they hurt anyone else. WTF.

(Incidentally, Neutral Good seems to mean “forgive absolutely anyone who apologizes, even if they’re blatantly insincere and will go right back to hurting others.”)