Can we talk about the political campaign ? (spoilers)

[keizia971]

Okay, I've played the game multiple times now and let it sink in.

Honestly, I still love it. I love making cards, meeting all the different witches, trying to help them or screw them with our predictions, learning about the world throught the cards description or dialogues and of course chatting with our favourite Behemoth Abramar.

Everything was perfect an cozy but then... BAM (spoiler)

Aedana dies. Which, was an interesting twist but gave me my first taste of disappointment. She was introduced to us as the main antagonist at the beginning of the game. The biggest obstacle to our freedom. I REALLY wanted to know more about her and her relationship with Fortuna. We don't even get the chance to draw her cards. (I get it, it make sense SHE wouldn't want to, but still, what a misopportunity.)

But whatever, we got our freedom back right ? Well... no : It is the beginning of the election for a new leader of the coven and... how do I put this...
Does anyone care ?

- First of all, our friends Dahlia & Jasmine are running for the election, so even if we don't interfere we KNOW we'll get our freedom back. (sorry Cupressa)
- Second, we have the power of the cards behind us. So even if we make the worst decisions, we can basically cheat the whole ordeal if we want to.
- And third, Fortuna already predicted the fall of the coven, so why should we -as the player- care about its fate at this point?

During my first playthrought, I really didn't want to be part of this and decided to help Jasmine. I pushed through, thinking it would be a just a quick interlude and I could go back to play fortuneteller after this, but no. After the campaign it's pretty much the end of the game.

At my second playthrought I tried to not do it at all, but Patrice pretty much force you into it. So there's really no way to avoid it even when you know how useless it is.

The only utility of the campaign is to get a specific ending (Utopia) but again, it's so easy to win the election it's not even a challenge.

Anyways... I just wanted to express my frustration.
I want to reiterate that I REALLY love this game and that is why this second half bothers me so much. This is really not what I expected or wanted from how the game started. It was still fun to meet new witches. (I especially adore the explorer-witch)
But man, I really don't understand the point of these elections.
The game feels both too long and too short at the same time because of it.

Elections aside, I loved everything else : the story, the characters, the ambiances, the dialogues, the themes, the mechanics etc. And I hope we'll get a sequel or a new game within the same universe.

[ahueonao]

I'm mostly on the same boat - I wouldn't necessarily say I disliked the election, but I mostly saw it as a means to an end, narratively speaking. The different issues of the coven that you need to weigh on serve to expand the worldbuilding and get a better feel of what witch society is like, and the campaign serves as a nice excuse to have a whole buncha witches drop by your place to be buttered up. My favorite part of the game was following through with all the wacky characters visiting for a reading, and the election did have a higher concentration of that than the early game. That being said, I do feel that all the bells and whistles that were added on that section of the game (the voting tallies, the little errands, the detailed programs, the breakdown of the coven by demographics) were probably not worth the effort. I mean don't get me wrong, I've got brainworms and I'd love this kind of gameplay in a politics simulator, but this didn't feel like the kind of game to take advantage of it. And it doesn't even matter that much in the end! I've only done one run so far so I haven't explored all the options, but I'm pretty sure that the final ceremony has some railroading which makes it relatively meaningless if you reach the end with 20% or 70% in the polls. That being the case, I don't think anyone would have minded if the mechanics of the election were simplified to a more straightforward "invite witches, try to convince them, see them turn up at the final debate to endorse you or tell you to ♥♥♥♥ off" system, particularly if all that saved effort could have been used on more witchy encounters instead.

[Magus]

I greatly enjoyed the political campaign, it offers a chance for detailed exploration of concepts that would otherwise be abstract.

Choosing campaign issues, and navigating the social relationships during a political campaign, provides a fresh dynamic, with layered social structures to explore deeper meaning.

The game layered social strata over and again to help the player explore the concepts. It was a delight.

I particularly enjoyed the differences between supporting another witch, or running yourself.

The campaign also gives the best chances to gather energy for card creation.

[Weeblet]

Yeah I agree fully with your take here on this half of the game. Based on some of my initial choices at the start of the game I found the campaign useless for my playthrough. Like you said you are forced into it either way. This part of the game is something you cannot be neutral in. If I felt like I had more of a choice I would play more. Some people like this aspect of the game but it just wasn't my cup of tea. It was not a good first impression of the game to me. Because of this I haven't put more hours into the game.

[Zulxx]

Agree 100%. I have 60 years to live why would I get into all of this at all? Kind of ruined the game for me.

[UpstreamForest]

Originally posted by ZullieTW:

Agree 100%. I have 60 years to live why would I give a get into all of this at all? Kind of ruined the game for me.

That was exactly my thinking as well since I also sacrificed my immortality.

[SpitefulFox]

The election onward really made me feel like my choices didn't matter at all. By the end, you're making all these HUGE proclamations with your cards which should be shaking the foundations of reality, but as a player it just... doesn't matter?

[alaskatrailmutt]

I haven't finished my first run but yeah. I didn't want to do politics AT ALL. But it became clear that's what the game wanted. I was going to sacrifice the coven cause honestly I figured it'll be dismantled and people will create new ones? Why do I care? I just wanted to have a cozy time with Gert. But fine if this is the game now time to be a superwitch.

[no_s_sherlock]

i really enjoyed the election but only have 1 play through. I would have though depending if you chose to support 1 of your friends it would of been different, what a shame. more options to help more ppl or read/ write their futures would of been great, It kind of got to a point of not needing cards anymore, the incentive of more ppl to help would of solved that.