New Content Discussion [SPOILER]

[Shar Dundred]

Considering that Kassia's base is the biggest one and has most heroes in it, I would not necessarily
attack that one first unless you WANT to attack the hardest first..

 

[Karmondia]

This mission reminded me of Forged by Iron and Blood.

• I do not like the start of this mission, because right as the cutscene ends, you are attacked in 3 different places. The start is very overwhelming, so overwhelming in fact, that the text about the fact, that you can recruit units from the portal slipped by me. I figured it out on my own, but still... maybe the game should give you like... 15 seconds, before the attacks happen?
• I did not let Gardon drink again, even though it made him weaker. You can do it, Gardon! Don't let the withdrawal symptoms beat you! You are stronger than that!
• I am confused about the undead. I have no idea what they are, why they are, or how they are. Who do they serve? What were they doing there? I hope this gets explained later.
• Gardon used to live here, huh? That explains quite a lot, actually. From Brian's flashback, with kid Gardon, Aveen and Prax in the forest, I imagined the empire and Gardon's home quite differently. Also, if Prax and Gardon meet again, Gardon might just think he is seeing ghosts again. That would be funny.
• I am glad the elemental is dealt with (hopefully???)
• Zoia will not be happy, when she learns of Kassia's fate.

Another good mission! I can't wait to see what happens next!

 

[Hinata28]

Added the Homecoming onto the Arkain Fandom. And thanks to the one who edited it, I'm thankful enough to them for adding information.

By the way, I thought the mission is an Aeon of Strife style of fighting where Ironfist and Zyainor gonna distract Grand Marshal Titus Invictus while the Bloodclaw fam will clear the other objectives. Well, that's okay to take the siege of the garrison while cleaning up enemies.

Secondly, Kassia's Retinue base was the hardest to deal with. With a ton of troops and harder Heroes, it was quite the attritional warfare I expected whenever Ironfist does an offensive.

Thirdly, I also saw the Imperials are really good in distractions nowadays. And with no way to revive the fallen Heroes on our side made the clashes harder too.

Fourthly, I'm thankful that Reshikhan the Thunderer is now sealed for now. That Elemental was like Progaderas in terms of being talkative.

Finally, I wanna see how Gardon deals with his brother.

 

[Navy45]

On the latest chapter Homecoming :

• Not having to defend the portal feels... weird. I mean, we need it to recruit troops but when we're out onto the map, the optimal thing to do is to just leave the portal defenceless or with just a skeleton to recruit units. Maybe an imperial could order his men to not cross the portal because they don't know what's on the other side, or lady Ira could mention the imperials have neither the time or the mages to shut down the portal.
• Yeah ! Greymoore's daughter ! I hope we get to see her or play as her in other paths. It's weird that she wasn't sent to Arkain, considering how eager she seems to be to fight Gardon. Maybe she was and she was recalled with this Grand Marshal. Though why did he get recalled ? Is it because he's the only commander of the army that wasn't blindly fanatical ?
• Kassia's base was appropriately hard for a final challenge, and the other two are very suitable as side enemies.
• Not a lot of items in this map, my poor Parlea still hasnt gotten anything out of this...
• I like withdrawal weakening Gardon, and there's no way in hell I give him any drop of alcohol (he better get +15 intelligence when he gets over it)
• So Gardon had friends in the Thieves' guild too ? Well the more, the merrier ! I hope they get to appear in future levels.
• These undead are very strange. I wouldn't have been surprised by the rohir nexus infiltrating the Empire, but they clearly don't belong to any Nexus that we know of. It's also very unlikely Trekagh would use necromancy when Aridon is his main target (unless that counts as his "thing" of corrupting other races). Were they waiting for Gardon to visit his mother's grave to ambush him ? That's a low blow. Ira not advising to destroy them makes me think she knows a few more things than she lets on.
• It's strange that we encounter so many servants of Trekagh and yet no-one in Gardon's group mentions it, even though I think it's the first time they encounter them.
• So Reshikhan is dealt with for now. Sometimes persistance can be the bane of you. I wonder, will his soul gem be an Artefact for Ira in future missions ? Also he clearly spells out that lady Ira is this "desecrator" that he's been after and that she's not mortal... So what is she ? An undead ? A demon ? An elemental ? A Goddess ? I can't wait to know more (and maybe get backstabbed in the process but that's part of the fun of it).

 

[Karmondia]

It's strange that we encounter so many servants of Trekagh and yet no-one in Gardon's group mentions it, even though I think it's the first time they encounter them.

I agree, there should be a line about them.

 

[Kasrkin]

Not a lot of items in this map, my poor Parlea still hasnt gotten anything out of this...

Attack the main garrison castle for a Medallion of Courage. Just be mindful of the cannon towers.

 

[Plantpaladin]

Another good episode! Onward to victory!

 

[Shar Dundred]

I knew I should have made the withdrawal take away 20 strength to make drinking the alcohol more alluring. X)
(would have resulted in him having about as many/few hit points as Parlea)

And you want dialogue? I'll give you dialogue...

 

[Apprentice Darkmoon]

Time for Review:

I have played both perspectives, human and elven children.

Spoiler

General things:

• So this is the place Bloodclaw came from... suitable. I smile when he saw his house intact and then ordered to destroy it. The more he suffers, the best for me.
• So we finally met Blen's daughter. She seems to be VERY aware of how Bloodclaw acts. Did he take Kassia as prisioner or she retreated with the remains of her forces? If is the former, well, I want Zoia's reaction to her niece's fate.
• Our "static" friend followed us to Rodan... Surely he wants to get ride of Bloodclaw... or he was after Ira all this time? It's hard to tell who is the defiler and who the puppet, after all, we don't know what is Ira completely...

Now let's talk about the children and gameplay:

• My first choice was Zurae, Hotar and Laura. Then I replayed the map to choose Velina, Parlea and Tojaz.
• I need to say this: Play with the formers allows you to inflict tons of AoE damage thanks to Flamestrike, Thunder clap and Ira's Death and decay. In the other hand, play with the last ones makes your survival better thanks to Tojaz Barrier, and CC againts enemy casters thanks to Velina's silence.

-- You probably are already aware of the "unseen guests" in the area. Parlea's artifact can aid you to find and kill them, cuz they drop lumber.

• The boss fight in the end can be deal with both teams. I personally ENJOY weaking the Elemental's power with both Ira and Parlea's soul drain.
• Zurae asked to her father to DON'T take the brew for his own sake and then feel sad, but both Parlea and Velina, thought worry, .let him take it "if it REALLY helps him".
• Ira's interaction about the undead in the area change as well: She seems more wary of Parlea and Velina's knowlegde of the topic.

Things said, this mission was really fun to play.
Excellent job.

 

[fbsonar]

I was lucky to postpone the playing the new chapter it seems.

 

[Nicolas Warchief]

Easy!

 

[Navy45]

Just replayed it for the items. Gardon's elven children are no longer underpriviledged when it comes to that ! (Maybe Velina will be less angry now ^^)

Just a couple things I thought about :

• The dialogue about the Darkborn is cool ! (especially since it depends on who you brought with you) The only problem is that your soldiers attack darkborn off screen in the initial battle so it fires right away. This means that the player will take some time to understand what they're talking about (since the darkborn are off screen) and also that your characters are reacting to an enemy they absolutely cannot have seen. Maybe there should either not be darkborn near the initial fighting or the dialogue requires whoever talks first about them to attack a darkborn ?
• I forgot about it in my first review, but maybe the portal should count as a building ? Because as it is, it is invisible in the fog of war, so you always have to sort of guess where it was when you go back for reinforcements. Ideally, it would even have the symbol for mercenary camps, shops and fountains on the minimap (since a neutral building would appear as black on the minimap and... well this colour doesn't really jump out in Mudkeep)

 

[Jorgonson]

Thought this mission was pretty hard at first, but that was mostly because I needed a few attempts to clear the Gray base as I didn't know it was the hardest (the castle reviving heroes was a real curveball lol). It also took a while to figure out how to use this group of heroes, but once you figure out the synergy between the Elven children and Gardon/Ira you realize these five heroes are cracked. Enemy heroes are really the main threat of enemy armies, but Velina's silence shuts down their self sustain and ability to heal each other. Once they're silenced, Parlea has 800 damage worth of nukes while Gardon and Tojaz each have 200 damage spells as well. For attacking bases you can pull the enemy army, silence the heroes, pounce on them like a pack of wolves with your heroes single target damage and interrupts, snipe the altars/castle, then clean up the chaff. Reminds me of a Warhammer/Game of Thrones/War in the Plaguelands custom map hero squad. Honeslty feel like this mission would be a lot harder with the human children, but I'll have to try that myself later.

On the story side I'm apparently the only one who tracked down the wine. I autoattacked all the barrels with Gardon for thematic reasons of course. I think that's more likely to be the bad decision, but on the other hand it probably isn't smart for Gardon to be going cold turkey on the battlefield either. We could conceivably end up with Gardon being unable to function because he binges the sketchy Mud Keep wine or with Gardon being unable to fight because he's quit drinking altogether in the span of a few days. Glad to be done with the Lightning guy for a while, though Ira says that he'll be imprisoned only as long as the gem is intact. Could be a fun Chekov's gun if Gardon and Ira ever need a distraction or getaway and decide to break the Lightning Lord out to give their enemies something else to fight.

 

[Karmondia]

I hope Larine (and her hawk) make an appearance in Path of the Bloodclaw... if nothing else, as a small cameo!

Spoiler

 

[Ebanu8]

I hope Larine (and her hawk) make an appearance in Path of the Bloodclaw... if nothing else, as a small cameo!

I actually hope to see the newly revamped Larine's Order faction too, possibly new Elven Heroes. The last time I saw it on Youtube on Struggles of Arkain, I didn't see any changes, and it seemed like Larine was the only hero.

 

[Navy45]

I hope Larine (and her hawk) make an appearance in Path of the Bloodclaw... if nothing else, as a small cameo!

We might see more of her in the Path of Beauty since Lady Meira seems to have sights on Velina and that might include... severing the umbilical cord. And probably the path of the Guardian, since Salana's gonna want some payback (maybe with Queen Keera and her undead elves).

 

[Karmondia]

We might see more of her in the Path of Beauty since Lady Meira seems to have sights on Velina and that might include... severing the umbilical cord. And probably the path of the Guardian, since Salana's gonna want some payback (maybe with Queen Keera and her undead elves).

I hope she will at least appear in Path of the Bloodclaw. Gardon is the main character in this path, and his children with Larine are major characters in the story. I think it makes sense for her to appear, again, if nothing else, as a cameo. Also, Parlea said she wants all of them to be together, if only for a short while... maybe in one of the 5 endings?

 

[Mochi King]

What do y'all think the endings will be? For me, I'm hoping for Gardon's victory against Largoth and him taking over the empire as its new emperor. Though I feel like things in Arkain will be chaotic like the death of several high-ranking officers such as Whitefield and quite possibly Larine/Vail, but he will use the empire's forces to basically eradicate the rest of his enemies.

Another ending I'm expecting is that Gardon will die in the Empire along with the children he brought there. I wouldn't put it against lord Shar to do that.

As for the other endings, even I'm not sure what will happen.

 

[Ebanu8]

Another ending I'm expecting is that Gardon will die in the Empire along with the children he brought there. I wouldn't put it against lord Shar to do that.

I hope not. That would be a huge shame.

 

[Shar Dundred]

How many character deaths do you all predict?
Let's see if someone gets it right!

 

[Ebanu8]

How many character deaths do you all predict?
Let's see if someone gets it right!

If we're talking pure villains or unwitting Imperial pawns, maybe ten.
If anyone on Gardon's side, I want none. Unrealistic, but that's my wish. One would be the limit.

 

[Karmondia]

How many character deaths do you all predict?
Let's see if someone gets it right!

We are on Gardon's path, so I want things to go well for him. If someone has to die, I'd like the player to have some agency in it, like having to make a difficult choice, about who to save. Other than that, I suspect the "emperor" will die by the end of this, along with some of his generals. Maaaybe Brian will sacrifice himself to save Gardon?

 

[Nicolas Warchief]

One of the endings i bet is Gardon hard victory, he will lose some of his sons in this battle, being betrayed like the portal closed (Ira), and have the to control the empire after Largoth defeat just to receive bad news that Ziyanor is in flames (Undead attacked?)

Has the possibility that the Dark One will be defeated but if we choose Gardon and his wine we maybe will see Gardon be controled and possed by Tregakh like happen with the actual emperor!

But i am thinking that we will not have the traditional good ending, because Gardon from a neutral perspective is a tyranical ruler who was 3 missions ago trying to slaughter an entire kingdom include civillians unarmed so even if Gardon win, maybe he will still have great backlash like the loss of his entire family, being alone with his ghosts to rule an entire empire in insanity and sadness.

 

[Mochi King]

How many character deaths do you all predict?
Let's see if someone gets it right!

If you were to ask me, I would say the other high-ranking and key officers that were not brought to the empire. So Whitefield, Zoia, Zora, Thanok, Birram, Varan, Larine, then finally, Vail. This is if Gardon is successful in his conquest of the empire. If you taught us anything about deaths, its that it should be fair. So having a fair amount of major character deaths in exchange for imperial conquest sounds like something you would definitely do. Add in Brian if he were to sacrifice himself for Gardon to permanently kill Largoth.

Though most of them will die, some will likely survive such as Parlea, Velina, and possibly Queen Kasraasz. Their deaths will be not only due to the Imperials, but due to the undead led by Aridon, the dwarves led by Zarin, and the dominion led by Amari. The numbers he lost in Zyainor will be made up with imperial numbers after he cleans up the darkborn.

 

[Hinata28]

Being a fan of Gardon from the beginning to this day, I hope that he's successful in his plan to overthrow the Emperor, safely evacuate Rodan if Catherine's "trap" was sprung, and reorganize his forces for the incoming conflict between Arkain and Rodan once again.

Then, we go to the Path of Thanok and how they defend Zyainor from all their enemies.

 

[Jayborino]

The gigachad move would be to make acquiescing to Gardon's alcoholism the positive ending.

 

[Mochi King]

The gigachad move would be to make acquiescing to Gardon's alcoholism the positive ending.

At one point, i wanna have shar say that after one or two missions without alcohol, gardon will no longer have withdrawal or something, and he can fully focus on the war and win, while giving him alcohol constantly would make him do rash decisions.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Santa Shar is preparing a special Christmas gift.
What horrors await? What pacts will be sealed - or refused?
And what do the Night Elves have to do with it?!
Nothing I assure you.

 

[Karmondia]

I'm still playing the mission, I just wanted to say

Spoiler

I KNEW IT! I KNEW Ira was Aridon!

Okay, so this is going to sound crazy, but here is my conspiracy theory:

What if Ira is secretly Aridon? Okay, okay, here me out. There are clues:
1. Ira talks about her past, how she killed her brother, because there were... disagreements in her family, and she thought he was dangerous. Where have I heard that before? For a time she thought she did the right thing, but now she regrets it. She knows there is no redemption for what she has done, and wishes they could have talked it out. This is basically Aridon's story, with some things omitted.
2. She knows a lot about the undead. How can she know this much about the undead factions? Why does she keep insisting, that the rebellious undead have to be destroyed? Of course Gardon doesn't know, that the undead are having a civil war, so it's not suspicious to him, but it is to me.
3. They have similar abilities! Raise Dead, and Lightning Bolt to be exact.
4. Ira backwards is Ari... you know, Aridon.

This was a good mission, the side objectives were very out of the way, but that's fine. It was a bit easy, but I think it's difficult to balance a mission like this, so that neither Whitefield nor the Royal Army gets overwhelmed easily. I hope Catherine can help Gardon overcome his alcoholism, and the ghosts that haunt him. Also, at the end, it says we can talk to Zed, but I couldn't find him anywhere. I wonder what's going to happen, if Gardon meets "Theodor"? Will Gardon take the throne? I can't wait to see what happens next!

I figured it out back in September, and I was right!

 

[Jayborino]

I'm still playing the mission, I just wanted to say

Spoiler

I KNEW IT! I KNEW Ira was Aridon!

I figured it out back in September, and I was right!

Her kit is also his old Q and W spells, it's so clear in retrospect hahaha. Cool you picked up on it.

 

[Karmondia]

Here are my choices:

• I sided with Brian. It's obvious he is devoted to Gardon, and killing Aridon finally was a rare moment of joy. (Who in their right mind would EVER trust Aridon here? He is a backstabbing schizo, who at this point, betrayed everything and everyone, even his own servants!)
• I did not expect Flavius of all people to come back, but I was pleasantly surprised. It's good, that they were able to make amends.
• I've saved Theodor, because I don't want Gardon to be haunted by another ghost. Although it's going to be awkward, when he learns about Renova's fate. Gardon would not be able to rule both Arkain and Rodan anyway, and this way, maybe peace between the two nations can be achieved.
• I knew it was the dark one, as soon as she started talking about how Theodor was weak. The last battle was epic.
• What was the purpose of the prison block to the east? There was nothing there, as far I could tell.

10/10, absolute cinema. All I wish now is for Gardon to keep the promise he made to Parlea, to spend some time together as a family with her mother and sister. Will the epilogue release this year? Ughhhh... I can't wait to see how it all ends!

(Btw: undead Vanessa finally happened lol)

 

[Kalvon]

I saw The Jayborino's video and it was insane! I think that i would do the same choice as him. but I have some questions that deserve some answers even if i speculate that others paths will give these answers.

Spoiler: Questions

1) Who raised Flavius?
2) Why didn't Tregakh kill the true emperor? Was he useful alive or was he forgotten?
3) Who have created these undead in Rhodan?
4) What are Tregakh and Aridon/Brian really dead? Even weakened, they stay powerful beings who don't die easily. Even with the help from former god.
5) Who is behind the Garan's death?

 

[Shar Dundred]

I've saved Theodor, because I don't want Gardon to be haunted by another ghost. Although it's going to be awkward, when he learns about Renova's fate. Gardon would not be able to rule both Arkain and Rodan anyway, and this way, maybe peace between the two nations can be achieved.

You gotta see the ending of option C.

What was the purpose of the prison block to the east? There was nothing there, as far I could tell.

There were some easter eggs, nothing else.

@Kalvon Some answers below. Not for all your questions but some of them!

Spoiler

1) Who raised Flavius?

3) Who have created these undead in Rhodan?

Flavius

5) Who is behind the Garan's death?

Will be revealed in another path.

 

[Karmondia]

Ehmm... I'm sorry, after seeing Option D, I have some questions. WHAT WERE THEY DOING IN THE OTHER ENDINGS??? So let me get this straight, Prax and his friends, Salana and Aedale were all standing behind those doors, waiting? For what? Why aren't they showing up in the other endings?

Spoiler: What did they do in the other endings?

Aedale: Okay, uh... this is awkward.
Prax: He chose the right path after all.
Aedale: So... are we going in now... or what?
Prax: No, let's just leave.
The others: Come on Prax, don't be shy, he just saved the emperor!
Salana: Guys, I still want to murder him! Where are you going?!

I'm amazed by the amount of different outcomes, and after seeing them, I still stand by my choices. Theodor coming to save Gardon in option c is epic, but I feel sad for Brian, who I guess still loses to Aridon in that timeline. I hope we'll be able to see Gardon talk with his brother in the epilogue... there will be an epilogue... right?

 

[Shar Dundred]

Ehmm... I'm sorry, after seeing Option D, I have some questions. WHAT WERE THEY DOING IN THE OTHER ENDINGS??? So let me get this straight, Prax and his friends, Salana and Aedale were all standing behind those doors, waiting? For what? Why aren't they showing up in the other endings?

They were not actually there in those different timelines. Either did not make it so far or were stopped.

 

[Plantpaladin]

Merry Christmas.

Spoiler: Trust

Seems like every ending made kind of sense but I cant belive Gardon would ever trust Aridon again. Trusting Brian made a little more sense. Even if he was betrayed by Brian I would belive that he'd trust him over Aridon. The scene where Tregakh tries to be flirty made me laugh so much. He really dont have any charm.
Gardon does say that he cant guarantee that the emperor would survive but killing him seems a bit too far for Gardon. Especially since he has been haunted by the ghosts of his dead family and friends.
C feels like the most natural choice. but E and B feels like second and third choices.

 

[ILIDAN STORMRAGE]

If I were to guess I would say that if the paths were to have a "canon" ending it would be b or c... D and A dont make sense...and E straight up deletes the protagonist in a surprisingly fitting way to the character bloodclaw displays ussually...that being said all are intresting and well written and I wonder what the other paths will reveal or which version of the truth will they use ... well until we will get "the true legacy of arkain" or something along those lines it would seem that we are going to have a lot of new and interesting experiences to cover and adventures to explore while getting only more questions and no full answer... LONG LIVE ARKAIN AND MAY THE WAR NEVER BE OVER

 

[Mochi King]

I've played the new chapter, and I gotta say, I'm looking forward to the ending cinematics. It's kinda embarassing for me to say, but my first ending was ending E, then ending C was my second, then ending B was my third, and personal favorite. Among these choices, it genuinely made sense for all of them to be possible endings for Bloodclaw. But when it comes to a personal favorite (can't say that without seeing the ending cinematics though), it has to be B (C is a second option). If it is true that Theodor relied on Bloodclaw and Renald to keep the empire afloat, then what's the point of him being emperor anyway. But the upside is that he will not be haunted by Theodor's ghost (maybe that's the reason why Zurae was the one that killed him. To prevent it somehow). I would genuinely prefer Bloodclaw as the emperor. But that also ties with an old alliance I would've wanted, since Gardon loved his half-brother regardless.

A question though for shar (if he sees this): Were the options A to E that was shown in the cinematics the actual endings for those options (like if you're with Aridon and kill Theodor, it's the real option A. Or if you choose Brian, then let Theodor live, its the real option B). Cuz C, D, & E feels like it works on their own tbh.

 

[Apprentice Darkmoon]

Let's see:

Spoiler

- I got Option B, and have Zurae, Hotar and Laura with me.

• I KNEW Ira was hidding something! The desire to eliminate the renegate Undead (Ejara, Zirr and Rohir)... I WILL NEVER SIDE with you Lich, specially after see what you have done with Archduchess Vanessa, you bone-thing son of a---!!!
• Also, "Uncle Brian"... I laugh so hard everytime Gardon get pissed with this haha.
• The GG and the Ironfist joining forces to face Baldgoth... His rule over the empire will end sooner. Maybe in another timeline.
• I decided to spare Theodor's life. After all, he was only a fool and tool in Baldgoth's plan. Hope he and Gardon can mend their bond.
• Honestly Bloodclaw and his henchmen are not of my symphaty and I will probably choose the bad ending for all of them, but after see how he suffered for his mistakes, hope he can finally have some peace with his family... both of them xD

A good chapter with different outcomes. Nicely done.

 

[Nicolas Warchief]

I don't know how this happened but is funny!

Zed Doppelganger!

 

[Hinata28]

Here are my choices:

• I went alone. I let the two Gods have a chatter. I can't bring to trust either side, Aridon with what he did to the Gate of Hell, and Brian with what he did to Aveen.
• Killing the Emperor. I know that it wasn't good to kill another kin, but this guy knowingly or unknowingly put Gardon onto danger by sending him towards Arkain. And then purged both of his kinsmen.
• Flavius dying once again was sad. If Gardon just explained his side well, and not resort to violent methods, maybe the cousins can repair the relationship between them.
• Taking the deal with Tregakh. The Baldgoth maybe the guy doing the manipulation, but this guy is a man of his word. He gave the Empire to Gardon in a silver platter, alongside Catherine. And I think Gardon gets the best deal with it, becoming leader of two nations in separate continents. Well, killing both Sir Praxeus Braelon's group of misfits and Aedale and Salana would be bad, but it was an acceptable consequence.

Anyways, excellent job, Shar. You made me feel great this year end. You need to at least relax before diving in to another Path, which I expect the Path of the Pure, Path of the Heroes or Path of the Circle.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Zed Doppelganger!

It's his long lost twin brother Ted.

 

[Karmondia]

It's his long lost twin brother Ted.

View attachment 564767

Now I want an ending where Zed and Ted take the empire for themselves. Maybe in Path of the Good Boy?

 

[Shar Dundred]

Anyways, excellent job, Shar. You made me feel great this year end.

That's great to hear!
There is still a cinematic to wrap things up but I don't know yet if that will happen this year.
If it does, it does; if not, then 2026 starts with somehting good.

You need to at least relax before diving in to another Path, which I expect the Path of the Pure, Path of the Heroes or Path of the Circle.

None of the above actually.

On more thing, I wish to once again thank @Rhapsodie for his amazing modelling has done true wonders for this latest release!
I am glad to have him as the Forgemaster of Arkain, his smithy has created a lot of wonderful things!
I was going to do that in the newspost but Hive deleted that part of my post for some reason, so I am doing it here now.

 

[Navy45]

Just played the latest (and last) level of the Path of Bloodclaw. Because I want to try the other endings myself, I won't read the rest of the discussion (though I'll wait for the Path's epilogue to be released to truly see the conclusion of the endings). Still, just here's my review :

• I thought the boss battles were very reasonable (I feared I would have flashbacks of Rahandir's boss fight in the True Story). Though I suppose that depends a lot of the choices you make. Personnaly, I gained Ira's trust, and took "her" side in the final level. Ironically, between all the gods you defeat, Flavius was the hardest for me (the lack of alcohol probably didn't help).
• I was a bit afraid of learning this was the final level, but this level managed to tie up a lot of plotlines and make a satisfying ending. I absolutely adored the different reveals (enough that I sided with Aridon for the first time in both the books and the true story of Arkain). Also, it's quite impressive that you can make such wildly extreme possible choices, and yet have them all feel quite in character (Of course, I only sided with Aridon, but it seemed like it was the biggest turnabout for Gardon, and it was well written.
• I don't know what it is with Gardon, but he definitely has a supernatural charisma, in that it only works on godlike supernatural beings. It is now my headcanon that, if Trekagh had taken over the empire during Gardon's childhood, we'd have ended with Brian and Trekagh fighting each other over who got to teach Gardon ^^
• Also liked Theodor being savable. I saved him (I like the idea of Gardon becoming a completely legitimate and pure ruler, while Aridon desperately tries to get him to be the conqueror of the world... I expect to maybe see it end badly in the epilogue, but I, at least, wanted to attempt it.)

 

[MyPad]

It was fun playing the last chapter of the Path of Bloodclaw. On a blind playthrough, I ended up choosing C (spin the wheel with C as the most favorable option) since I brought Parlea, Velinda, and Tojaz along for the ride. Though I no longer had access to Ira-don's certain spells, Parlea's Siphon Energy and Velinda's Silence skills would make up for it against the final boss, Largoth.

To offset the loss in Strength that Gardon suffered from withdrawal symptoms, I equipped a lot of Strength items. I also saw someone behind bars, the real Theodor, and decided to save the guy. Parlea couldn't resist torturing some poor chaps, so she got scolded by Velinda/e. Still, I ended up encountering some actual criminal scum and decided to let Parlea cast Finger of Death on one of them, Pi the Scythe; we pressed on until we made it to the throne room.

In the final battle against the final boss, I made sure to keep my banishers alive for as long as possible even through all the stuns that the final boss threw, though one ended up dying. The tentacles were annoying to deal with, so I began targeting them down. Tojaz's AoE armor skill came in clutch as well, keeping the entire party alive during the final battle by reinforcing their defenses. I was surprised to find out that the guy I saved behind bars , Theodor, joined the final battle and I had to figure out his skills on the fly.

Still pressing onward, Parlea's Siphon Energy, Velinda's Silence, Tojaz's AoE armor, Theodor's Avatar, banishers' healing waves, and Gardon's War Aura (I miss the original 70% attack boost) were enough to suppress the final boss and deal with all his summons.

 

[Jorgonson]

Played the most recent chapter last night, and I was REALLY impressed with the amount of story branches and the implementation of choice consequences. For instance, in my playthrough I didn't even get the option to side with Aridon, so I could go with Brian or just leave. The fact that there's a whole story branch that can become available based on completing sidequests and engaging in dialogue in previous chapters was well beyond the scope of branching storylines/choice consequences that I and, I assume, most other folks were expecting.

For that choice, I sided with Brian because I wanted to see Gardon and Brian edge towards reconciliation, as their falling out in the True Story was pretty tragic. However, (while this wasn't on my mind at all when playing) I think that working with Brian is easily the most pragmatic of the three choices you could make in that scenario. Aridon's whataboutism in why Brian is totally just as bad as him and Tregakh falls completely flat: It's like a serial killer telling someone with a DUI that they're the same if you really think about it. Also, Aridon is potentially the worst ally you could possibly have. His goals and motivations have flipped so many times across Arkain lore, but he remains determined to bend the world to his whims. The SECOND you do something he doesn't like, you're a dead man, and he's really fond of extreme, violent, and shortsighted solutions. I feel like as the decades go on the chance Aridon completely changes his goals approaches 100%. I also don't think Brian is really that untrustworthy, as Gardon has no real reason to doubt that his mentor's admittedly boneheaded decision to kill Aveen (ever heard of imprisoning people Brian?) was more than a rash mistake. Having a god who's clearly still looking out for you and wants to repay a great debt is a pretty enticing prospect for someone who has to fight through a palace and dethrone an emperor.

I felt a little tempted to off Theodor, not gonna lie. His survival is incredibly inconvenient for Gardon's goals, and he could still be an enemy when restored to the throne. The safe move is clearly to kill him, but I thought it would kind of ruin Gardon's character development to kill another family member in pursuit of greater political power. After so much time being haunted and his fight with Flavius renewing Gardon's desire to work with his family, I think killing Theodor represents Gardon not really learning much the Second Voidwar. It would be really funny if Theodor turned around and continued the war on Zyainor, as Gardon stole his lands and killed his wife and refused to work with Van Durce to investigate the Emperor obviously being manipulated/replaced. However, I personally doubt we're going to see a postmodernist story structure subversion where Gardon breaking the patterns that lead to his misery is what gets his kingdom destroyed and family endangered (would be funny though), so I'm sure Gardon and Theodor will find some compromise.

Really excited to see the epilogue, though I imagine tying up five endings with individual variations is quite the tall order

 

[Nicolas Warchief]

If a "True Story of Legacy of Arkain" one day happens (When Shar Dundred has 83 years old), i will presume that Gardon will make this choises

1- He will never follow Aridon because the betrayal of the undead and the assassination of his best friend Merlon was because Aridon order
2- He too will never trust in Brian beucase once again, Bryan betray him to make his plans works saving Amari just to Brian let her kill Anveen

So he would just leave them

About Theodor, the story of Gardon is about him killing his own family and rise up to the power, and the regrets of doing this, all of who were near to him that has died haunts Gardon mind

So to make things right he would free Theodor, in the past Gardon would have killed Theodor like he did to Lerrig but this is like his last talk with Van Durce when he has the option of not fight against Renault, in all of choises that Gardon make there is one in commom, he wants peace between the Van Durce and Bloodclaw, so the final scene where Gardon, Theodor fight against the Dark One is the more credible (And the more badass seeing Theodor facing the Dark One)

BUT the bad ending that Gardon has in one of the choises make this MORE interestly

In a True Story is possible that Gardon leave Brian and Aridon, free Theodor, face the Emperor but he has that hit kill spell, just to be interrupted by Aedale (Path of the Circle) and a great alliance with Path of Heroes, Path of Circle and the Path of Bloodclaw + Theodor support against Tregakh. THAT WOULD BE THE MOST INCREDIBLE MOMENT IN ALL OF ARKAIN SAGA!

The only problem is Path of Circle with Salana that would try to kill Gardon but maybe in this scenario is like my nemesis that is enemy of the Devil Itself is temporaly my ally. Or maybe Salana plot in a True Story would be settled before this moment.

I say this because like Shar Dundred say before, the path will be character focus, so maybe a mid term between all the winners of the path would happen.

One thing that broke the coalition theory against Tregakh is gameplay, imagine controlling 10 HEROES??? That would be too much unless you make a window of choises: "Who do you want to play?" and the others become useful NPCs with triggered moments.

And maybe we don't need a "True Story", the Fate of Keep scenario has corridors in construction that can make this "What If" scenario

 

[Felhound]

the bloodclaw path was still beautifully constructed as i thought it would be

 

[ILIDAN STORMRAGE]

i like how every path is so believable that everyone has a reason for making their choices that seems valid and despite a vote being held to go for player choice everyone liked the true story so much more than all book endings that half the people here already are curious what is and isnt canon ,you know you are a good writer when you let people write their own version of the story but everyone is still most curious about yours