Various Thoughts

The game‘s fifth chapter is essentially just an extension of the third (with roughly the same amount of content as the previous chapter), while the sixth consists solely of the final dungeon.

Nothing much to say about that 5th chapter really besides that it’s notably easier than the 4th and doesn’t have the same lack of direction as the 3rd. Also, at this time, nearly all of the items that should be dropped by the various demon armies… aren’t dropping. The final dungeon meanwhile is significantly better than Kingmaker’s in the respect that it’s both short and straight-forward, but equivalent in that you’ll run into some incredibly annoying enemies.

This first complete playthrough went Lich and aimed for (and got) the Ascension ending. The Lich’s final chapter events are weird and somewhat disconnected/unfinished, but the path’s ability progression and army management aspects are solid. The special ending by contrast wraps up quite a number of dangling plot threads, but could do with being a little less impossible to achieve naturally (simply having the Stargazer decree completion text actually mention the date range would probably be enough). Also not thrilled how there’s an automatic 5-minute timeskip between the normal final boss and the Ascension bosses with no opportunity given to prepare for the second fight.

With that out of the way any future playthroughs will no longer have to worry about time constraints. I did however miss out on getting the ‘Sadistic Game Design‘ achievement due to an unfortunately necessary companion respec back in the 4th chapter. Meaning I’m not quite done with avoiding resting like the plague and clearing sidequest areas with an exhausted party.

Next up are simultaneous Angel/Demon playthroughs to flesh out the exploration/area listing I’m writing up that will be similar to the one I did for Kingmaker. Then hopefully on to finishing the Aeon playthrough that’s been languishing at the start of Chapter 3 before tackling the remaining mythic paths (probably doubling up on Trickster for Swarm, Azata for Gold Dragon, Aeon for Devil, and either Angel or Lich for Legend).

WotR‘s fourth chapter is the equivalent of Baldur’s Gate II‘s visit to the Underdark. You leave the kingdom management behind for a more standard RPG experience in a tiered cityscape.

Size-wise it’s about the same as the Prologue combined with Chapter I, and stands out mostly for some prominent difficulty spikes. You’ll have streetside encounters with spell-happy or insanely overleveled demons and quest-related encounters with overbuffed enemy after overbuffed enemy. It’s pretty unpleasant all things considered.

The other main feature of this chapter is the actual area itself. Instead of having a static map the buildings will change position based on which way your camera is rotated. Personally I thought this was pretty cool, but there are more than a few who seem to find it infuriating. More unambiguously annoying is that the game expects you at this point to have someone who can repeatedly cast Dimension Door to reach all the otherwise inaccessible rooftops. Usually you’ll find loot (often pretty damn good loot), though in one case there’s a battle with random enemies and in another there’s a superboss.

Honestly I found the entire experience draining and can’t wait to get back the world map so I can start moving my armies around again.

The third chapter is where the second half of crusade management is introduced and about 70% or so of the world map opens up.

Basically it’s a much simplified version of Kingmaker‘s kingdom management. You get advisory councils made up of various party members which let you make decisions to raise different sorts of stats and/or recruit different units. Aside from overall army morale, you don’t have to ever worry about a stat decreasing here or encountering a negative event that will destroy your city if ignored.

As for buildings, they all pretty much now either boost your army or resource gathering potential. So (after a Teleporter) you’ll want to build anything that increases resources or reduces costs first, followed by anything that increases recruitment for your preferred troops, and lastly anything that boosts those troops’ effectiveness.

Exploration-wise it’s pretty much identical though, meaning that visiting areas in the ‘wrong’ order is quite possible and can have you running into challenges you’re not yet prepared for. You’ll want to focus on your mythic quests first (which may or may not be immediately available depending on path), followed by the Greengates and Molten Scar-related questlines (along with any companion quests that trigger). After those you can take on the dragon, Wintersun, and the Ivory Sanctum. Blackwater should be saved for last because the enemies there are quite a bit more powerful than anything else in the chapter.

If you want to visit every area efficiently (which is far from necessary since most sidequests only show up after a certain amount of time has passed), then this order will clear the map in 2-3 weeks depending on resting habits:

Ruins of Ashbury Hamlet, Temple of the Good Hunt, Ashen Grotto
Shrine of Sacrilege, Greengates, Molten Scar, Pitfall (Reagents)
Scrubland by a Bend in the River, Broken Cart (Reagents), Grimwood
Sacred Lands, Bloody Trail, Artisan’s Tower, Wintersun
Ravaged Longhouse, Terendelev’s Lair, Heart of Mystery
Burned-Down Shack (Reagents), Befouled Barrows (Storybook)
Knapsack on a Tree (Reagents), Core of the Riddle
Remains of a Disgusting Feast (Reagents), Crimson Dust, Ivory Sanctum
Makeshift Lab (Reagents), Legacy of the Ancients
Petrified Traveler (Reagents), Blackwater, Bones in a Pool of Mud (Reagents)