So, Genealogy. My thoughts are below the cut because spoilers.

Also I’m getting this out of the way now: I haven’t read the creator’s notes and have no intention of doing so. I’m not interested in what the game might have been, or what they wanted it to be, but in what it is. Also since I don’t speak Japanese, all of this is based on the translation that I played.

I don’t like Julius.

Not, as you might think, because he’s an atrocious little dillweed. That’s fine. I don’t like him because he cheapens the story.

Up until the end, everything that happened was purely human in nature. You can say Manfroy manipulated events but how, exactly? Manfroy controlled events by figuring out what bait to use. He manipulated people by giving them a clear path to what they already wanted. Some cases took more than others.

In Verdane, it took fear. When certain events transpired and Sigurd’s forces came too close, the King thought Grannvale was going to invade, and Manfroy’s servant fed into those fears. When the King loosened his hands on the reins, his hooligan sons needed no urging to be who they had always wanted to be anyway.

In Augustria, that was human too. The nobles also didn’t like Grannvale exceeding their borders, which is fair. That gave Chavall the chance he needed to murder his father and take the throne. Manfroy encouraged him, yes. But how much encouragement do you think he really needed? 

He hated Eldigan. Chavall’s anger and fear lined up the perfect moment to get rid of his “rival” and so he executed the one person who could have helped him.

But the tragedy in Augustria is also due to Grannvale – Sigurd wanted to leave, but the capital wouldn’t let him. They saw an easy way to increase their territory and their greed overwhelmed their common sense.

In Silesse, Lewyn’s uncles made bids for the throne because they wanted it, and because they felt entitled to it.

In Thracia? Quan clearly felt as if he was right and they were wrong. There was no bending his part, no offers of aid that I saw. King Travant did terrible things, but what choice did he have when Quan wasn’t going to aid him? He freely admits that he did wrong, because it was what he had to do to help Thracia. (I’m sure I’ll get more into this once I play Thracia though, so for now I won’t say much).

And Arvis? Oh, Arvis.

I’ve talked about him before but my opinion still stands. Yes, he was being blackmailed but I don’t really think the blackmail concerned him that much. Arvis was clearly very intelligent and very ambitious. He knew Manfroy’s plans.

But Manfroy’s plans gave him what he wanted, and so he took a gamble on being able to best Manfroy at his own game in order to get what was offered him. It’s a gamble that he lost.

I don’t think chapter 10 represents that Arvis was just misunderstood. I have no problem with someone being a dick ruler and also being a loving husband and father. That happens all the time. But chapter 10 lines up with what he already did to Sigurd.

Arvis wasn’t about to meet Sigurd in a fair fight. Instead he tricks him, manipulates him, sets events in motion that doom Sigurd to failure. This is what he was doing with Julius too. He can’t fight Julius, but he can sabotage him. 

So I don’t think it’s a “oh he was good all along!!” so much as “this is the shit that Arvis does and he’s still going to do it even when the odds are enormously stacked against him”. Because Arvis is proud, and he doesn’t like to lose.

And really, let’s not forget what happened to Sigurd too. There’s no way that Arvis didn’t know what was going on, either from figuring it out or from Manfroy telling him. He went along with it anyway. What’s interesting in all of this is Deirdre.

Arvis knew that Deirdre was Sigurd’s wife. If he didn’t know before, the conversation with Manfroy must have confirmed his suspicions. And yet, he brought Deirdre out to meet Sigurd before killing him. Why?

Because Arvis is ambitious. Because he hates to lose.

He didn’t only want to win. He wanted to humiliate Sigurd. He wanted to show how much better he was, how unstoppable he was, how Sigurd didn’t have a chance all along.

But the second Deirdre appears to remember something? Arvis freaks out. He orders his men to drag her back into the castle by force. He loses his calm facade and cuts Sigurd down in cold blood.

That is Arvis when he’s scared of losing. That’s not the way he acted when Manfroy was talking about his Loptyr bloodline, about what would happen if people found out. After all, as Arvis said himself, his bloodline came from Vala. If he hadn’t wanted power I think he probably would have taken the risk to fight Manfroy. But why fight when what you want is in your grasp if you just bend a little?

…

And then there’s Julius. Possessed by an evil dragon who makes him do terrible things. Isn’t that cheap?

In a story where so much tragedy and pain is created by human failings, and so much good is accomplished by human strength, having the villain not be all himself is just not satisfying.

I would have preferred it if he was just like that. Plenty of other people were. Maybe having Loptyr blood could tempt him down the dark path, but I would have preferred him to walk that path of his own free will like all the others did.

Anyway.

I still think it’s a very good game with fantastic characters. I just also think the end is a little lacking when it could have been so poignant.