Nearly at the end of Act V by now. There's no way I can cover every little thing that happened (so, for instance, that rules out most of the side quests), so I'm going to keep to the broad sweep of things:
-Throughout my posts on the game, I've mentioned the unwavering sense of despair and whatnot. Suffice to say, Hawezar keeps up with that, as early as Zarbinzet. Not only is the city rundown, not only are there reminders of past glories, but the Crusaders who've made the city their base of operations are clearly in the twilight years of their order.
-Speaking of the Crusaders, I don't know why they underwent an apparent redesign, making them look more like paladins. You could say it's intentional, that the downgrading in armour represents the downfall of their order. Maybe. But at the least, reinforces just how much Sanctuary is apparently in its twilight years.
-Same broadly applies to Wejinhani. Won't harp on things, but again, same sense of abject despair, misery, etc.
-I commented awhile back about Taisa being a cipher, both in the game's third and fourth acts. Act V, suffice to say, rectifies that, given that her backstory is more fleshed out, and she's presented in a way that makes it clear she's pursuing her own interests. So, still a cipher, but in a better way than before. By extension, the questline with her and Donan is well done. Did get me in "the feels" when Donan sees Yorin's appirition and whatnot.
-Similarly with the section in the mindscape of Travincal, again, won't repeat myself, but it's well done in the same way that the Tristram and Sescheron mindscapes were well done. Mephy's clearly scared that Lilith might win, and while certain things have been spoilt to me by this point, it certainly hits home. Not just in the sense of dread from the midscape, but the stakes as a whole. Both Lilith and Mephisto are threats, but the group's so far only focusing on Lilith - not without reason, but even so...
-Having finished the Donan questline, now back to Lorath and Neyrelle. I'm going to take time out for a bit and address the Serpent Cult stuff (since this is part of the primary questline rather than a side quest). Again, this will really require wiki stuff to piece together, but my take on things is that the Serpent Cult was reasonably benign until bandits started attacking them, hence, a response in turn. It's a small plot point, one that you might not notice if you're not paying attention (so...quite a few players, from what I can tell), but I love this. Not only is Sanctuary deteriorating further, but the people fighting over the scraps are making things even worse. So much so that in Hawezar, the Crusaders can barely even take on the Cult.
-Segway aside, reunite with Lorath and Neyrelle, and yes, dad!Lorath is still dad!Lorath in regards to their interactions.
-The entire section of finding the Tree of Voices is absolutely excellent. Real sense of otherworldly magic and whatnot. The Tree itself, however, isn't explained very well. I mean, I know how it functions, but things are vague here, maybe it'll be explained better later in the game.
-What's also excellent is making it to the coast. Now, most of what I've said so far is me saying what I'm certain was intentional (e.g. the constant despair that's hung over the game has been too consistent to attribute it to anything other than authorial intent), but this might be a case of me reading too much into things, but regardless, I'm going to bring it up. Here we are, on the east coast of Estunar. Beyond that is endless ocean that leads to...well, that's way off topic. Here, even on the edge of the world, there's numerous wrecked ships that you have to make your way through. My take on this is that it really reinforces just how screwed the world is, that even at the fringes of the land, there's nothing but death and decay awaiting you. There's also the atmosphere and land design - grey skies, grey sands, etc. It's dark, it's grim, I love it.
-So, things go awry when the Drowned attack, poisoning Neyrelle, forcing Lorath to amputate her arm. Gotta admit, I winced at this sequence. Don't have much to say on the Drowned themselves - yes, I kinda bypassed the coastal areas of Scosglen, so chances are I would have encountered them there based on what I saw in previews, but as a monster family? Can't say much.
-The Temple of the Deathspeaker is a bit of a letdown. I like the idea of it - the idea that Elias's ritual was so profane, you find echoes of him - but there's not enough 'meat' for the buildup. I already know that Elias is immortal at this point, finding out how, while interesting, isn't enough. It's even more of a jip when the temple starts flooding at the end, you start sprinting, the screen fades to black...and you find yourself on the shore. I mean, really? I don't even get an escape sequence?
-On said shore, things get better in that we have a nice interaction between Neyrelle and Lorath. Poor girl's lost her mother, now her arm, but dad!Lorath is here. I jest, but the interaction is nice.
So, yeah. Lots more I can say, just don't have the time. After a comparative dip in the fourth act, the fifth act returned with guns (bows?) blazing. Oh, and the mount is still tedious to control, but it has its uses.
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