Armello has turned into my sweet and tender baby. I thought I would end up mocking this mutant board game's existence but I can't. I just can't. I want to rag miserably on its limited scope of moral systems as expressed in game mechanic, but they're at once so charmingly "on the side of good" while empowering "the side of evil" to choose its own path that I can't. I can only pat it on the head and hope one day it grows a Wyld head to counter the Rot so there's an opposing game mechanic to play.
i just got through a game that about made me cry, and the best I can do to explain why is that as I was playing, I was unfolding a story of Griotte with this terrible reputation for some past transgression. She tried to hunt spirit stones, but they wouldn't listen. She picked up the sword but Rot-Stained Mercurio bested her. The summons to the King's deathbed was really Mercurio's trap, but he ended framed for the King's death and Griotte won the crown, overcoming Mercurio's framing her.
And the whole game is full of just... little gems like this. It's a children's television noblebright story generator. It feels like another world's historical chess analog from when their world was in a state of illiberality and the people made a game to remind them that there were paths out of their present darkness.
@literorrery It's a game of unfairness with potential agency.
@literorrery This doesn't necessarily make it *bad*. In a way it's more believable. In the real world, you can fight and fight and fight and be a hero (whether real or feigned -- maybe you helped the enemy take a town just so you can liberate it). But then the person who actually gets all the power is the one who thought to assassinate the king instead of helping the people.
@Ulfra_Wolfe Not always. In the game I just played I still won; the player who tried to assassinate the king didn't succeed, and the king died on the next turn of Rot-poisoning. Pursuing the popular option isn't guaranteed a win, but it's the best chance if nobody else is driving an agenda. I've seen that happen, too.
@literorrery Yup, not always! It's never certain. Nothing is guaranteed on the path you're on.You could get the biggest rewards for hard work, or you could end up with reputation as a war monger and necromancer and fail.
@Ulfra_Wolfe I'd say it's about as agentic as people are. If dedicate yourself to good you can make things better. If you dedicate yourself to conflict you can impose your will on the world, but there's no guarantee you aren't corrupt. If you dedicate yourself to evil you can topple the big boss but then someone will come after you because that's why you went after them. If you dedicate yourself to a virtuous life, you can't guarantee success but you may end up being recognized for it.