(Spoilers) Rizia Revolution Ending - Absurd

[Rince270]

I had a great time with the many playthroughs of Sordland, and was excited to play as Rizia, I generally enjoyed my experience with it, however... After a couple of failed war paths, forcing me to flee the country in exile, I opted for the peaceful/full reunification route and was convinced I was cruising to a great ending for the first time, with careful planning securing many big satisfying wins across the board.

Instead the internal political situation started to suddenly and massively deteriorate in the last chapter largely without rhyme or reason, or any way to effectively counteract it. I was suddenly overthrown in a random unnamed 'revolution' and abruptly executed in a hugely unsatisfying ending, given I had succeeded in just about everything I set out to do.

- I signed the Clemency Act.
- I ensured housing for the poor.
- I abolished income taxes.
- I increased funding for health and education.
- I expanded worker's rights for all industries except mining.
- I secured 'good welfare state' and living standards status.
- I modernised the transport system.
- I provided energy subsidies for businesses.
- I expanded the intelligence services.
- I promoted the image of Rizia abroad.
- I regained Zille peacefully.
- I avoided war with Pales, bought out the gas field, and secured a political/marriage alliance with them, with full reunification looking close.
- I fully funded and publicised the royal wedding for popularity boost.
- I legally secured the continued Toras family lineage.
- I removed the hugely unpopular Duke Rico from his position and didn't give him a security-compromising role elsewhere.
- I clipped the wings of the Sazon family further by sending Manus away and keeping his mother in exile.
- I removed and arrested the scheming former war/security councillor from their role in favour of the far more loyal and stable Titus Gordion.
- I arrested the traitorous 'Rusty' and fully nationalised RRG.
- I centralised the police to prevent factional power-plays.
- I secured a big budget and energy surplus.
- I secured stable or friendly political/trading relations with all my neighbours except Lespia.
- I strengthened my GRACE alliance and relationship with Rumburg in particular.

All of these factors should have led to an unparalleled height in popularity and prestige, with living standards, the economy, energy provision, security, diplomatic status and national reunification efforts being all-time highs compared to where I started. So I was genuinely baffled to see the national stability suddenly spiral out of control out of no-where towards the end.

I had essentially the same outcome forcing me to choose between Exile or Execution as the endings when I had gotten stuck in an unwinnable war and screwed the country up, as I had fixing and improving nearly everything, which was immensely frustrating.

Oh, and as one final kick to the teeth, I was given the title 'Romus The Frailer', despite succeeding in just about every area that my father failed to do during his reign, right before the end.

The few possible factors that may have contributed to this that I can think of:

- In line with my stated goals of Absolutism at the start, I abolished the House of Delegates, given everything I had achieved, I considered it safe to dispose of it and restore an absolute monarchy. Especially as Manus Sazon was out of the picture, leaving the opposition splintered with no credible leader.
- I resolved most demonstrations and disturbances firmly by force.
- I abolished the state religion and created a secular state, to reduce the influence/interference of religion on the state/country.
- Small military forces only slightly expanded from the start given my peace focus.

When the 'national destabilisation events' started to pop up I took the radical step to placate the citizens even further by providing every citizen with free fuel, and then free electricity as well, which was hugely expensive! I also resisted the urge to have prisoners executed as I thought this would only trigger further dissent. None of these measures changed the outcome.

So altogether, citizens who enjoyed:
- No Income Taxes
- High Living Standards
- Good Welfare State
- Average Working Rights
- High Healthcare and Education Funding
- Guaranteed Housing
- Strong access to quality/varied Consumer Goods
- Free Fuel
- Free Electricity
- Safety and Freedom from War
- Corrupt figures removed from government and business
- Freedom of Religion
- Positive Global Image
- Reunified with their lost Territories

Were not overjoyed with all the unprecedented stability and prosperity they got to enjoy, especially by the standards of the *Twentieth Century*, but were so unhappy and enraged with the state in such numbers that they felt compelled to risk their lives fighting to overthrow it and succeeding in doing so?

I can't make any sense of it, and it seems absolutely ludicrous to me that this happened. To the point where I question how getting any positive ending is even possible without following a guide to the exact letter, and/or threading a needle to a ridiculous degree.

I really like this style of game overall, the writing the story, the characters ect, and I really wanted to like this DLC, but I think there is a serious design issue with this series that was also present in the updated Sordland story where the difficulty is simply far too unforgiving, the margin of error is so wafer-thin that you could play near-perfectly and still get a bad ending because you didn't tick every last box. Which often forces you to spend hours starting all the way back at the beginning if you want another shot.

Not to mention the lack of effective feedback and means to crisis-manage, because at the moment, as soon as you are informed of a major crisis in the mid-late game, it's already too late to do anything about it, and usually the 'options' you are given to address them, don't do anything to solve it.

Having no room to manoeuvre, but having to follow an *extremely* exact path to achieve any significant goal, and get a good ending, let alone achieve multiple goals in a playthrough isn't much fun. It undermines the sense of freedom and agency, and in situations like this, creates some very weird scenarios where my suspension of disbelief is completely shattered, along with my enjoyment in this case.

All being said, Developers, I really like and value your work overall, but please address the feedback, difficulty, and 'rigidity' issue going forward.

[Mr. Nowak]

Thanks for the feedback. A lot of the points mentioned are addressed in the upcoming 3.1 update, abolishing state religion is a very drastic move, especially for a place like Rizia. It seems like the actions you have took weren't enough to satisfy the revolt, the higher the unhapiness of the population, the higher the need for appeasement and your actions likely did have an impact but couldn't pass the threshold.

More feedback and action methods are coming in with the next update. Looking forward to your thoughts then!

[Captain_Koala126]

The revolution probably happened because you didn’t favor the Azaro’s enough you put to much effort in civilians that the Azaro’s felt not enough was given to them, that’s my guess at least

[ekin.topuz]

I had the same problem. The protests in Rizia were virtually non-existent, Grand Wiseman kept saying Wruhecists were very much in favor with me and the overview reflected that. I abolish state religion first chance I have, and there isn't a sign of slightest dissent about it for a while. I approach end-game, suddenly there are massive protests and a Wruhecist march to the capital that I can't do anything about and they overthrow me. Given also your input, I believe the state religion choice pushes the needle too much that it is practically unsalvageable.