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But I wanted to serve the Pact! [spoilers]


Ironweed

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spoilers about the ending below

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I played as a Pact lover / Black Fortress hater through the whole game. I helped the Pact in whatever way I could, while simultaneously harming Avadon as much as I could. (The game makes this possible so credit where credit is due.) I killed Redbeard solely because I wanted to shut down Avadon. And yet, in the end the game forces me to become the new Keeper and give the Pact the finger. The Council comes demanding that I shut down Avadon and I - according to the ending slides - send them packing?? No I don't, silly game. If it was up to me, I would have helped them burn Avadon to the ground.

 

Why? Why didn't I have the option to say "to hell with Avadon, I'm a loyal soldier of the Pact"? Did I do something wrong?

 

I'm perturbed.

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It is strange that changing the system from within isn't an option, because the game constantly hints that it is an option. Several characters in the game (like Odil and Philana) make it clear that serving the Pact isn't the same as serving Avadon - and that opposing Avadon might in fact be the best way to serve the Pact. (Jeff even gives you the option to work undercover for the Council representatives.) Yet in the end, it is impossible to side with the Council and shut down Avadon.

 

Seems power corrupts pretty goddamn fast.

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I played as a Pact lover / Black Fortress hater through the whole game. I helped the Pact in whatever way I could, while simultaneously harming Avadon as much as I could. (The game makes this possible so credit where credit is due.) I killed Redbeard solely because I wanted to shut down Avadon.

 

Did you manage to do that without help from the enemies of the Pact?

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Did you manage to do that without help from the enemies of the Pact?

 

Killing Redbeard? Yeah, the only help I got was from Heart Protus, who, like my character, was of the opinion that Redbeard must be killed for the good of the Pact. Since I played as a Pact loyalist, I slaughtered every filthy rebel and Farlander I came across. My character hated Dheless just as much as she hated Redbeard.

 

Alas, the game forced her to become a Redbeard herself. Oh woe.

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  • 4 months later...

Another possibility is that you found yourself institutionally pressured to hold the line on Avadon...bureaucracies, even military ones, don't turn on a dime when a new leader shows up. Or that the stacks of classified information you became privy to convince you that you can't risk Avadon for the Council, or else the pact will fall.

 

Many SW game endings...even the upbeat ones from Geneforge 5...feel a little like real-world politics and strategy, at least in this sense: that you walk in with the best will in the world to carry out your moral goals, you beat the enemy or get into power after a huge struggle, and then discover...that you haven't got half as much power as you thought you did, you're lucky to accomplish any part of what you intended, and the unintended effects are waiting to come back and bite you.

 

I was also very pro-pact...I got the best pact ending by letting Redbeard live, but in such a way that Hanvar's Council finally started asserting itself again. (Or I may have read that ending in the dialogue file after getting an "avadon strong" ending...it's been a while and I forget.)

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  • 1 month later...

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