I finally watched this one, and yeah I pretty much agree with everything you said. I thought I'd share some of my own thoughts: I haven't done the golden route (yet?), but I did the other three in the same order. I appreciated how tragic the non-golden endings were, as you had to sacrifice someone's ideals in order to achieve someone else's. The stakes were high, and I too thought long and hard about the last voting sequence. Frederica's ending felt a bit like we were running from our problems, but at least we were freeing the Roselle by doing so. Their fate was too messed up for me to ignore on my first playthrough, and out of the three normal endings, this one is probably what Serenoa's father would have wanted (minus the part where Serenoa gets nuked lol), as he fought hard to protect both the Roselle and the Glenbrook royal family, and it was no longer possible for us to protect Glenbrook due to Roland suddenly wanting to bend the knee to Hyzante at the final turning point. I really wished Roland didn't do that, as I actually loved his character up until that point. I wanted Serenoa and Benedict to remain at Roland's side as trusted friends and defenders of Glenbrook, and to help guide him as king. The thing about Roland is that he was too selfless for his own good, and it pushed him to make poor decisions. He was born into a very important role and desperately wanted to help the common folk, but had a hard time handling the pressure. This is why he became shortsighted and saw Hyzante as the least bad option: sacrifice the few for the good of the many. But with friends at his side, he would have made a great king, because he showed time and time again that he was willing to listen to others' reason and logic. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have believed for one second that Serenoa would want to usurp the throne of his best friend, but at the same time, it made sense for him to do so considering Roland was going to throw away everything we fought for. I do like that in the Benedict ending, Roland actually goes and tries to help the poor on his own, showing that while his idea of achieving equity by allying with Hyzante was messed up, he truly wanted to help the lower class. Benedict is a genius and a realist, but his morals suffer for it. He loses sight of what's important because he believes he can use Serenoa to rule Norzelia, and he can. Maybe "use" is a strong word here, but it's true: he could not have used Roland in the same way. I like how each character embodies a different set of values: Frederica is the embodiment of Morality and Liberty, but doesn't have the utility (power, resources, insight) needed to create a meaningful difference. Benedict is the embodiment of Utility and Liberty, but often lacks morality as he will usually do whatever leads to more utility, rather than the nice thing. Roland is the embodiment of Morality and Utility, but lacks the liberty to enact the change he wants (due to the Royalists, bad circumstances, self-doubt, etc.) Serenoa is there to maintain a balance of all three. A triangle strategy, if you will. This comment went on for a bit, but I just wanna say that your vids are super underrated, and I hope you continue making them. 🥲
Beautifully put! That second to last paragraph is such a good way to sum the endings up that I wish I had thought of it to put in this video lol! I appreciate your support! 😘 I will continue making the videos but my output may slow down for a bit. I've got one more non-TRPG video in the tube and then I'll probably finally get to Vagrant Story. Then again I just saw an article about Cross Tails, a TRPG with cat people so Vagrant Story might get leapfrogged again! 🤣
On my 5th playthrough, revisiting the Golden route now that I have a full cast. Benedict's ending was my first ending and I agree it felt most logical vs Roland's almost felt cringe, a bit season 8 Dany Targaryen. Frederica's voice acting saved Roland's ending tbh. During Benedict's ending I enjoyed seeing Gustadolf on our side, motivated to play his part, and although a bit of a harsh of a leader he wasn't a liar. This is a masterpiece of a game and I hope they make a sequel.
I was only able to skim earlier, so I haven't gone all the way through all the endings. I think arguably Frederica's is the best storytelling, even if Golden is solid enough, but just a happy ending. Golden requires a lot of schemes working together flawlessly, and amounts to a "having your cake and eating it too" ending, arguably. It's solid enough, but the gravity and consequences ring truer in context with Frederica's.
Another game whose "bad ending" is just badass storytelling is Fell Seal. They just open the floodgates with new loose ends and IMO it should be canon if they were to do a sequel. (The devs moved on to a different game entirely though)
I really wasn't a fan of the Roselle. The whole conflict between them and Hyzante felt way too black and white where there could have been more nuance. Also I hate golden routes because I feel they lack consequences and invalidate the previous ones, but that's just my take.
Did the conflict need to be nuanced though? The whole point of the oppression of the roselle is to show how Hyzante is flawed. It shows how nations of complete faith and control are built on the backs of an oppressed group. Attempting to make it “nuanced” would ruin that. Also, how the fuck do you make slavery nuanced? It’s wrong and evil, and that’s all there is to it. Making it so the roselle “deserved it” is 1) attempting to justify slavery and 2) really doesn’t change anything
@@Isuream6331 Holy shit, I never said slavery wasn't bad and they deserved it. I just felt Hyzante turned out to be too cartoonishly evil as the game progressed. Calm down.
@@breg638 I can see your point about Hyzante being cartoonishly evil. It would have been better if they had shown more how effective their equal treatment philosophy was, instead of Roland just saying it. Sorry for being so dismissive of your point
![All Endings - Bad, Character & True Endings [Both Weddings] | Triangle Strategy](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/H6bxBZPXOnU/mqdefault.jpg)
I finally watched this one, and yeah I pretty much agree with everything you said. I thought I'd share some of my own thoughts:
I haven't done the golden route (yet?), but I did the other three in the same order. I appreciated how tragic the non-golden endings were, as you had to sacrifice someone's ideals in order to achieve someone else's. The stakes were high, and I too thought long and hard about the last voting sequence.
Frederica's ending felt a bit like we were running from our problems, but at least we were freeing the Roselle by doing so. Their fate was too messed up for me to ignore on my first playthrough, and out of the three normal endings, this one is probably what Serenoa's father would have wanted (minus the part where Serenoa gets nuked lol), as he fought hard to protect both the Roselle and the Glenbrook royal family, and it was no longer possible for us to protect Glenbrook due to Roland suddenly wanting to bend the knee to Hyzante at the final turning point.
I really wished Roland didn't do that, as I actually loved his character up until that point. I wanted Serenoa and Benedict to remain at Roland's side as trusted friends and defenders of Glenbrook, and to help guide him as king. The thing about Roland is that he was too selfless for his own good, and it pushed him to make poor decisions. He was born into a very important role and desperately wanted to help the common folk, but had a hard time handling the pressure. This is why he became shortsighted and saw Hyzante as the least bad option: sacrifice the few for the good of the many. But with friends at his side, he would have made a great king, because he showed time and time again that he was willing to listen to others' reason and logic.
Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have believed for one second that Serenoa would want to usurp the throne of his best friend, but at the same time, it made sense for him to do so considering Roland was going to throw away everything we fought for. I do like that in the Benedict ending, Roland actually goes and tries to help the poor on his own, showing that while his idea of achieving equity by allying with Hyzante was messed up, he truly wanted to help the lower class. Benedict is a genius and a realist, but his morals suffer for it. He loses sight of what's important because he believes he can use Serenoa to rule Norzelia, and he can. Maybe "use" is a strong word here, but it's true: he could not have used Roland in the same way.
I like how each character embodies a different set of values:
Frederica is the embodiment of Morality and Liberty, but doesn't have the utility (power, resources, insight) needed to create a meaningful difference.
Benedict is the embodiment of Utility and Liberty, but often lacks morality as he will usually do whatever leads to more utility, rather than the nice thing.
Roland is the embodiment of Morality and Utility, but lacks the liberty to enact the change he wants (due to the Royalists, bad circumstances, self-doubt, etc.)
Serenoa is there to maintain a balance of all three. A triangle strategy, if you will.
This comment went on for a bit, but I just wanna say that your vids are super underrated, and I hope you continue making them. 🥲
Beautifully put! That second to last paragraph is such a good way to sum the endings up that I wish I had thought of it to put in this video lol!
I appreciate your support! 😘
I will continue making the videos but my output may slow down for a bit. I've got one more non-TRPG video in the tube and then I'll probably finally get to Vagrant Story. Then again I just saw an article about Cross Tails, a TRPG with cat people so Vagrant Story might get leapfrogged again! 🤣
On my 5th playthrough, revisiting the Golden route now that I have a full cast. Benedict's ending was my first ending and I agree it felt most logical vs Roland's almost felt cringe, a bit season 8 Dany Targaryen. Frederica's voice acting saved Roland's ending tbh. During Benedict's ending I enjoyed seeing Gustadolf on our side, motivated to play his part, and although a bit of a harsh of a leader he wasn't a liar. This is a masterpiece of a game and I hope they make a sequel.
What about giving up the Rosell in chapter 12 though? Does that change the game? Pretty sure it makes Federica leave earlier.
Yo I’m super excited for this but I haven’t played the game yet so it’ll be in my watch later until I can haha
I don't care about already existing stories in tactical games. But if you guys care i do it to.
I was only able to skim earlier, so I haven't gone all the way through all the endings. I think arguably Frederica's is the best storytelling, even if Golden is solid enough, but just a happy ending. Golden requires a lot of schemes working together flawlessly, and amounts to a "having your cake and eating it too" ending, arguably. It's solid enough, but the gravity and consequences ring truer in context with Frederica's.
Another game whose "bad ending" is just badass storytelling is Fell Seal. They just open the floodgates with new loose ends and IMO it should be canon if they were to do a sequel. (The devs moved on to a different game entirely though)
@@mtaur4113 I'm looking forward to Fell Seal. From what I've heard it's the best spiritual successor to the type of TRPGs I enjoy!
I really wasn't a fan of the Roselle. The whole conflict between them and Hyzante felt way too black and white where there could have been more nuance.
Also I hate golden routes because I feel they lack consequences and invalidate the previous ones, but that's just my take.
Did the conflict need to be nuanced though? The whole point of the oppression of the roselle is to show how Hyzante is flawed. It shows how nations of complete faith and control are built on the backs of an oppressed group. Attempting to make it “nuanced” would ruin that.
Also, how the fuck do you make slavery nuanced? It’s wrong and evil, and that’s all there is to it. Making it so the roselle “deserved it” is 1) attempting to justify slavery and 2) really doesn’t change anything
@@Isuream6331 Holy shit, I never said slavery wasn't bad and they deserved it. I just felt Hyzante turned out to be too cartoonishly evil as the game progressed. Calm down.
@@breg638 Right, just realised how needlessly aggressive that was, wow.
@@breg638 I can see your point about Hyzante being cartoonishly evil. It would have been better if they had shown more how effective their equal treatment philosophy was, instead of Roland just saying it. Sorry for being so dismissive of your point
@@Isuream6331 Thanks, we're cool.