the LAG

I got another location fairly similar to my first test for Washed Away, but I still can't find anything around there. Where in Espren is this?? And how do I interact with The Door??

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Honestly, I feel like it's a big missed opportunity in Undersupply to:
A. Characterise the nobles as greedy instead of silly.
B. Examine the social implications of being a noble in an impoverished district.
But, not, basically nothing happens. The Auburn sidequests are lackluster.

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Okay, finally figured out The Door. A weapon was outside.

...It seems that classes are a metaphysical constant? Down to the names, which is honestly a little weird, surely you could call them something else.

The ideology of these Cursed was "nothing is forever". This is an obvious jab at the immortality of the Sovereigns and Queen, in addition to the Queen's attempt to rule forever. Narratives of immortality being evil irk me in general, and it's not even a consistent theme - Dullahan and Lari were immortal, and aside from The Decay Incident, and being Orphion's servants, they were depicted as good.

 

Soosu is Industrial District, Selium is Zhiraok's predecessor.

Spoiler: Not For Fruma, really. But a connection you may have missed.

Gale's last name is Nasin, and she gives the player an object called the Crest of the Highlands in Blizzard. Highlands is a region of Fruma, coincidentally the one with all the noble houses.

I actually found Cousullo earlier than intended, talked with them for a bit, wondered why their name was green, and then in the quest I was like, ohh! I did actually like that bit

 

...wait, Aledar was Rex's brother?? Wha!!

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(-2050, -950) again. That's got to be where Washed Away is, but... argh, it's in the middle of Espren! It's right next to a wall, and another Secret Discovery! What!!!

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Same experience with her and the green group, but... still kinda weird...

 

I got bored and progressed the quest, figuring that maybe it was interfering with the Secret Discovery.

Syndra clearly has zero cares remaining. Caution to the wind. It seems the nature of her deal with Zhiraok is she was a mole who turned to the other side, and she has just revealed this to him... publically in front of a full guard set???

But she was also his friend and now he's sad. Sad, sad Zhiraok, with a face only a soon-to-be-ally could have.

Now, Zhiraok thinks he can take us. Zhiraok has not factored that I am running a highly effective and very affordable sustain build. Nor has he understood that Zeph and Sui are magic-users in addition to me and Syndra. And, most crucially, he doesn't know how to not get stuck in a hill outside the arena halfway through his health bar, nor how to have multiple phases of attack.

So, he's gone. And we're given to understand that the Sovereign immortality is resurrective - you can kill them, but they get back up. How did Zhiraok's predecessor die? If we cut Zhiraok to pieces, would he stay dead?

...I only just noticed his stupid beard. What an awful style. Does he dye his hair white?

Zhiraok and Syndra seem to have a very complicated web of lies. She approached him directly for the Roughworks passage, of course, but... then he showed up and seemed mad that she'd done it?? Was that whole fight to kill me a lie?? (Where was everyone else in the fight, anyway?) She's looking for a woman in the Roughworks, someone important to both of them...

...Retroactive meaning in dialogue does not play well when you cannot reread and the dialogue rerun is broken. I can't keep track of the web of deceptions here - who's lying to who, and about what, and which actions here are performative? My only lifeline is that it'll all work out in the end...

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Given that the player killing a massive number of guards in a wave-based combat segment in the second quest is of significant plot relevance, I feel like it ought to be addressed that the main enemies in the Agricultural Sector are industrial workers. It also ought to be addressed that a random box plays "not supposed to do this right now haha!" in light red with no styling indefinitely when right-clicked. That feels like something from the beta that was mistakenly let in.

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The Roughworks feels like it's got the raw ingredients for some fun political thriller quests. The industrial district is full of anti-establishment settlement due to low pay and bad working conditions? That's great! We love that for a rebellion!

It's also got, mysteriously, a slime issue. "Plumbers". "Gooligans". "Unsanitation Workers".

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Fruma puts in a lot of work to compress its limited space. In Auburn, you could see this via as many biomes as possible being packed in; the autumnal forest is central, but we also have Xima Valley, the Frog Bog, the dried-out crag at the Dam's foot, and the plains towards the Citadel. There's also an abundance of mountains everywhere, further dividing the area - mountains were put to great effect in the design of the Silent Expanse, which packs six regions into the rough footprint of Nesaak and Troms. An industrial district like the Roughworks has an aesthetic mandate to be simple, but coiling roads and chaotic labyrinths of terraces still accomplish that compression very well.

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Oh, what the hell, they're putting the Coca back in Cola and giving it to the workers. Okay. I guess that's a thing.

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I really like Angie's subplot. I bet she's going to get increasingly disillusioned with Fruma.

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As a matter of fact, I bet it's going to end with her leaving Fruma entirely. She's a painter, she wants to see things... and there's so much to see! If only, if only, she goes beyond the walls!

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I love the graffiti in the Roughworks. Especially in the tunnels. It's so accurate! They put the doggy on the wall! Trans flag!

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That white dragon is recurring iconography. I'll probably need a wiki to get all the references in the graffiti...