Oh my god it's finally out.
I read this back when it was over on Dashingdon and was head over heels in love with it. I'm so happy it's finally out on itch, and can I just say that it was amazing?!? It was so fun and immersive, and the new choices and scenes really add to the story!
And the characters were still so-mwah, amazing. Most of the adult cast inspires a mixture of loathing and pity inside of me. They're all so amazingly written and complex- no one character is fully in the right, in my eyes. Or fully in the wrong, for that matter. (Well, except for Merlin, Lancelot, and Uther. They can kiss my boot). Their decisions are motivated by their own complex personal motives and their pasts, and the way you weave these facts into the narrative is amazing. (I keep saying amazing a lot, but it's true! This story is truly incredible!)
However, I did encounter a bug in the last Morgana POV in chapter three, where she's in her tower undoing her hair. My Mordred, who was initially pretty split on whether or not to accept Arthur as their father, begins to hate Arthur. They don't trust him, and they leave. But in the scene with Morgana, I got 4 errors. I forgot to take a screenshot of them (so, my bad) but they basically said that they had a macro error and couldn't find a variable that set Mordred's opinion on Arthur, if I recall correctly. It gave me 4 different passages from a few different choices. 3 were from the choices to fight Morgana about Arthur, and 1 was from the choice to cry because they thought Merlin was an evil man (which I didn't pick).
Besides that though, this game is really fun and is one of my favorites. I can't wait to explore the dynamics Mordred can have with the RO's and with the cast, as well as giving some of them (*coughs* Morgana and Arthur *coughs*) the verbal smackdowns of their lives. (With Accolon- the fact that he give's Morgana so much leeway with her behavior and doesn't really hold her accountable for it- a disappointed stare, while with Lancelot, I can see my Mordred not even respecting him enough to give him the time of day-they'd be more likely to laugh in his face and mock him. And I mean, tbf, he kinda deserves it-he's picking on a child, for Christ's sake!)
And speaking about my Mordred, I might as well share how I'm thinking of playing them. (This totally isn't an excuse to fanboy about this game harder, lol.) My Mordred (assigned female at birth, and in chapter three is coming into their identity as nonbinary) so far, resembles their mother a lot, from appearance ( black hair, brown skin, and violet eyes) to their personality. They're charming, deceitful, calm, cautious, and incredibly confident. However, they're also really friendly and kind, and while they love their mother, they also highly disapprove of her methods of vengeance (ahem, murder). Their feelings towards their mother and Accolon (who they view as a father) in particular are starting to become incredibly complicated.
While they initially just loved them both, their also starting to harbor feelings of distrust towards them, and in Morgana's case, fear. After the prophecy reveal, they're starting to lose trust in the two of them and when their conception get's fully revealed ...phew, it's not going to be pretty. And especially in regards to Morgana, it's going to make them fear her even more. They still do love and adore their mother, but Morgana's breakdowns and bloodlust have started to push them into being wary around her. My Mordred, while when they grow older will act pretty nonchalant about fighting and will show off their skills (to feed their ego), is still, especially now, a pacifist at heart and would only ever attack someone in self-defense, and even then in a way that ensures that the person they're fighting against wouldn't be really hurt, so when Morgana goes on her little murder sprees that's just a recipe for disaster, lol.
For Lot, it' similar to how they view Lancelot, Merlin, and how they're beginning to view Arthur- someone not worthy of their respect, and who they fully hate. They tend to only lie around him though, since they don't want to make Gareth uncomfortable. They love and are close with their older brother, and since they now Gareth yearns Lot's affection and loves him, they keep quiet about their hatred towards him (though Gareth's pretty much aware). Arthur they initially viewed with conflicting emotions, on the one hand wanting his affections and to reach out to him, on the other hand being scared of getting rejected by him and harboring some of Morgana's hatred in their heart. While they did become hopeful and wanted to mend their relationship with him after they first met and he gave them the dragon figurine, those hopes quickly became dashed after he rejected their hug and in the lodge, basically admitted he's ashamed by them. (Not to mention him not stepping when Lancelot was beating the crap out of Accolon.) Now, they want nothing to do with him, and hate his guts. They still, however, yearn for his affection and I can see them, when they arrive in Camelot, at least marginally improving their relationship with him. (Of course, then they go ~villain~ with Aggy, so uh, all that progress also goes down the drain). Finneas, their dragon, is their bestie and they'd do anything to protect him.
They're pretty squeamish of blood and violence in general, and when they were younger they hated the very idea of being a knight, preferring to have stayed on Avalon and just studied magic or farmed sheep or something. And, frankly, they still kinda wish that was the case. (Not that they'd ever openly mention this). They take to magic and studying- whether it be folklore, history, or anything in between- like a fish in water, especially Lady of the Lake magic. They also have an aspiring interest in politics and philosophy, and may soon be developing their own ideas about governance and democracy. (Again, not that they'd ever openly say anything.)
They had a small crush on Nimue and Guinevere when they were younger, but they (mostly) grew out of it when they got older. I'm planning on embarking on Galahad's romance route as well as a villain-or, depending on if I can play it, an anti-villain- route, and I'm incredibly interested in seeing where this goes. Just imagining my flirty, sarcastic, argumentative yet kind and (secretly) very soft Mordred butting heads with Galahad makes me cackle in anticipation. And then, the angst of turning over to the dark side with your bestie Aggy, betraying your family, your friends, and your lover...pure, unfiltered pain. (Of course, they'd justify it as being the right thing to do, and that they were saving the kingdom from a future line of incompetent rulers and scheming nobility, and that the political reform they'd establish would more than make up for overthrowing the king and-if we can do this in-game- dismantling the monarchy. ) Ah, the total angst-fest in store for Mordred's future...delicious.
Wow, this turned into a really long essay that just...divulged into me waxing on and on about my Mordred. TL;DR: Great game, love the characters, Mordred deserves better, I hope Lance and Merlin get nuked, and can't wait to read more! :D