Does improving godly relationships change anything?

[Please Be Nice To Me]

I've been using nectar on house denizens rather than Olympians (I have the Keepsakes) but I'm wondering if raising my relationship with a god means I get rarer boons more often, or some other handy effect?

[C4RNIVOR3]

Nope. There are 5 (perhaps eventually to be 6) specific non-Olympian characters that will give you something useful at high affinity but beyond that there are no "rewards" to high affinity for anyone besides more story.

[Miner Annoyance]

Originally posted by C4RNIVOR3:

Nope. There are 5 (perhaps eventually to be 6) specific non-Olympian characters that will give you something useful at high affinity but beyond that there are no "rewards" to high affinity for anyone besides more story.

Ah, so it's story advancement more than anything else. Gotcha.

[C4RNIVOR3]

Correct. Some bits of later story are locked behind high affection for specific characters, which isn't really surprising given how narrative-driven the game is already. But if you're looking for any gameplay rewards for high affinity, there are none besides the "something useful" I mentioned, which are companions you can summon a set amount of times per run.. There is no increasing odds of rarer boons outside of mirror perks and things you pick up during your runs, like Chaos boons and such.

[Prometheus]

I have a sneaking suspicion they will matter more eventually. Like we'll need them all or a key set of them maxed to get the "good" ending and perhaps even access the "final" boss.

[Specific Beef]

Originally posted by Promethian:

I have a sneaking suspicion they will matter more eventually. Like we'll need them all or a key set of them maxed to get the "good" ending and perhaps even access the "final" boss.

And all these coded-looking weird wall sections around the world, that look like they possibly belong to certain gods :)

[C4RNIVOR3]

Remember the protagonist's goal is to escape the underworld, not reach Olympus. The Olympians think that's what the objective is but it's not. The current final boss is already referred to as the final boss, personally I really don't see why there would be any sort of bait and switch.

[Tremere]

Well, it's heavily implied by a number of characters that the Olympian Gods have more going on than the desire to help. Hades himself says it a lot of time, so do a few other characters. Hades also implies that this is intended and not out of the goodness of their hearts. From what I know of the Olympian Gods, they're almost always selfish and have other plans on top of other plans.

With all the implications that something bigger is actually going on, I would be surprised if Hades is the actual Final Boss. If he was I don't see why they'd end it the way they currently do. Unless you can actually -never- escape the Underworld (which I guess is what hades has been saying), but until the final product we may never know.

I love the game and the only real improvement I'd like to see is that cast charges should drop from enemies when you disrupt their shield. It's a real pain to be caster focused and then have to wait for those crystals to drop from the now-shieldless monsters so I can reliably damage them again. I just think, when the shield bursts, the crystals should drop, just like when you kill a mob.

[Specific Beef]

Originally posted by Tremere:

Well, it's heavily implied by a number of characters that the Olympian Gods have more going on than the desire to help. Hades himself says it a lot of time, so do a few other characters. Hades also implies that this is intended and not out of the goodness of their hearts. From what I know of the Olympian Gods, they're almost always selfish and have other plans on top of other plans.

With all the implications that something bigger is actually going on, I would be surprised if Hades is the actual Final Boss. If he was I don't see why they'd end it the way they currently do. Unless you can actually -never- escape the Underworld (which I guess is what hades has been saying), but until the final product we may never know.

It's certainly odd that we have Zeus as a "friend"; who else would be the final boss of this game, if it goes beyond Hades? But then again, knowing Supergiant's attention to representation, our final boss is probably not male or the whole story would be a male protag's clashes with two male apex gods (so maybe Persephone?).

It's interesting what you say about ulterior motives, since I get a different impression. To me, I keep seeing hints from what Lord Hades says in particular that he's not really trying to stop Zagreus at all but to train him to his peak, and he's not going to go easy on him because he needs him to be motivated by revenge and to be capable of winning against all of the gods.

If he does have an underhanded plan and doesn't simply love his son and want him to succeed, then my guess would be that he needs Zagreus to break out and find Persephone so that Hades and Persephone can reunite. Hades has his door in Administration that seems to be able to find Zagreus wherever he is, after all, whether it's to bellow at him throughout the underworld or to step through on the surface. To stay out, he would need Zagreus to take his place as lord of the underworld. So, a final boss fight against both Hades and Persephone to prevent that would make the most sense to me.

[Prometheus]

Originally posted by Luxury Malcolm:

So, a final boss fight against both Hades and Persephone to prevent that would make the most sense to me.

I think Persephone is the "final" boss. I'm thinking they are going to pull a Castlevania and she is possessed by something or driven mad and we fight her while trying to fix the problem. That is why I think the relationships are going to be important. We'll need maxed relationships with the right gods, I'm thinking Zeus and Demeter for sure, to get the "good" ending where we help her instead of defeat her.

[morbosfist]

Even if it does nothing now, there's no reason not to max them all out. You'll have more than enough ambrosia and nectar by Heat 12 or so (on every weapon) to cap their relationship values and max out your companion summons.

[Specific Beef]

Originally posted by Promethian:

Originally posted by Luxury Malcolm:

So, a final boss fight against both Hades and Persephone to prevent that would make the most sense to me.

I think Persephone is the "final" boss. I'm thinking they are going to pull a Castlevania and she is possessed by something or driven mad and we fight her while trying to fix the problem. That is why I think the relationships are going to be important. We'll need maxed relationships with the right gods, I'm thinking Zeus and Demeter for sure, to get the "good" ending where we help her instead of defeat her.

Good idea!

There's really so much they can do, thanks to the high standard of the artwork freeing them from the usual game design constraints. They could have tons of different stories based on different combinations of allies, and it only bumps up the resources cost in terms of VO files

[Rumpus]

They certainly imply that there's a lot more going on than we realize. Several characters strongly imply that it would be a really bad thing if Zag actually escapes. Theseus specifically calls your quest "ruinous".
But there's also something screwy going on with Persephone. In the mythology, winter is supposed to be the time of year she is in the underworld, but there's snow on the ground and Demeter is all iced up. Supergiant could certainly have rewritten that part, but something may be out of whack with the natural world and the seasons.

[fFish]

Originally posted by Rumpus:

They certainly imply that there's a lot more going on than we realize. Several characters strongly imply that it would be a really bad thing if Zag actually escapes. Theseus specifically calls your quest "ruinous".
But there's also something screwy going on with Persephone. In the mythology, winter is supposed to be the time of year she is in the underworld, but there's snow on the ground and Demeter is all iced up. Supergiant could certainly have rewritten that part, but something may be out of whack with the natural world and the seasons.

My theory on Demeter is that her perpetual winter will be broken by Apollo, a notable absence from the Olympian Ranks to date.

[Rumpus]

I noticed that both Apollo and Haephestus are missing. I'm wondering if that's something plot-related.

I'm also noticed that the characters talk about the Titans ALL. THE. TIME, so I'm thinking it would be a little odd if they aren't relevant to the plot. I'm wondering if it's a Dogma kind of situation, where Zagreus escaping breaks Divine Law, and would somehow allow the Titans to escape. That might also explain why Nyx is helping Zagreus. It would be a fun twist if it turns out Nyx is the real villain.

Maybe Hades II will be the mortal realm with Titans rampaging across it as a consequence of your actions in the first game? I can hear Hades now, "BLOOD AND DARKNESS, BOY, WHY DIDN'T YOU LISTEN?!?"

[Sir Yoshka]

We do not know yet. I have speculation that bonds with Gods may be somehow related to the real ending of the game or the final biome (though developers didn't confirm 5th biome). According to ingame conversation with gods there are something big going on on the earth (war of some sort, related to some forces even mightier than gods). There is also perpetual winter on earth, which is very fishy as this mean Persephone is not on the earth. Who knows, maybe Titans decided to return by kidnapping Persephone to lure Zagreus out to earth (we can see bodies of dead titans in the first biome) in order to make Tartarus weaker without Zag. Bonds with gods may help us in the final battle with Titans.