What the Hell, PC?

[Shaper Shaper]

There is one thing I don't understand about the PC: Why is he/she so stupid? The PC in Geneforge was trapped on a strange, corrupted island, the PC in Geneforge II was in a small part of Terrestia, the PC in Geneforge III pretty much knew everything, the PC in Geneforge IV pretty much knew everything, and the PC in Geneforge V had amnesia for God knows how long. So, all of these people either had a reason for not knowing what was going on, or they knew pretty much the basics of everything. So, why in the world does the PC in Avadon not understand what is happening in Lyanaeus when he/she has been living there for all of his/her life? Honestly, I was hoping that somewhere in the story, we find that the PC had lived in the Corruption for most of his/her life and that either the people did not know, or that they knew and didn't want to make too much of a fuss.

[Alorael at Large]

The explanation has to be given so the player knows what's going on. Beyond that I'm not sure what bothers you so much. How does the PC express particular ignorance of world affairs?

 

—Alorael, who also assumed the PC was some local who gained notice and got recruited by Avadon. If he/she were someone of consequence Avadon wouldn't conscript him/her. If he/she knew too much about the world already it would arguably make him/her more likely to be a source of corruption, making him/her a worse hire, and simultaneously less likely to be disgusted and thus a good pawn for Miranda.

[Student of Trinity]

Until quite near the end of the game, most of your missions are putting out minor local fires, in situations that the average person in the world might never know about. Those missions that involve more important things, like dragons, are presumably secret, so you wouldn't have known the backstory for them, either. Near the end of the game, you are fairly abruptly dumped into some major intrigue, but it was all secret.

 

I always figured that Avadon was famous for existing, but its operations were obscure. Kind of like the CIA, or the Russian Mafia. It has a certain reputation, but hardly anybody knows much about what it actually does.

[Shaper Shaper]

Alright, I see. Thanks!

[Catoblepas]

From what I remember, three of the four classes are tied to or at least associated with specific regions in Lynaeus-Sorceress (Kellemderiel), Shaman (Wylrdrylm, Khemeria), and Shadow walker (Holklanda), despite this, no-one from those regions seems to notice or care about what class you are, which is really odd, because one might expect your Hand to have something to say about what is going on in their homeland, or that someone (like the rebels) would try and leverage their national origin against them when all the bad stuff that hits the fan in the game hits the fan in their homeland. The main character did feel a bit unnaturally detatched, I think. It was a bit odd getting a lecture on Kellem customs by Nathalie when my character was the same class as her and looked so similar to her that she could have been her older sister for all I know.

 

I really would have liked to see the player's choice of class have an impact on dialogue at least. In the Geneforge games it works because the varieties of shapers and lifecrafters tend to get umbrella'd under the term shaper or lifecrafter(although I would have liked to see class brought up in those games more often as well)and the games are always set in soem corner of the world that the player is not a native to, and thus doesn't have to worry about what's happening to their hometown. In Avadon you are sent to the provinces from which your character was from, oftentimes to do horrible things to what would be your homeland, yet absolutely nothing changes concerning dialogue based on your choice of class.

 

There are some rather diverse classes in this game, and all of them, (except the blademaster, who I guess could come from anywhere)would be invested in the fate of their home nation, yet this is an issue which is completely absent in this game, which I would really like to see included in the next, I agree that there are times in the game where I wondered if my character had amnesia or had spent a few decades in one of redbeard's stasis fields because they were acting strangely ignorant or emotionally detatched.