So, which route do you guys recommend? Alette or Rook as the protagonist in this game?

[Nekotomic]

I had Alette die in the ending of my playthrough in the first game, but which choice is a better narrative route for the sequel?

[Aleonymous]

Rook feels more natural to me (as was him leading the caravabn in the first game too), but the thing is that having him die in Saga1 is also the natural choice.

Alette's playthrough is a bit more interesting, and she turns out to be a stronger battle/hero unit than Rook. Personally, I find it a bit unrealistic, having her lead the caravan, as if leadership is hereditary or something. Alette struggles with that through the campaign and writing is reasonably good there, but still, it might leave some spots unattended.

[zekitbot]

I found that Rook's playthough was more interesting, personally. I really wanted to love Alette but it didn't feel as fleshed out. Rook has more scenes that show him dealing with grief, as well as a romantic interest (maybe). And Rank 10 Rook wearing a level 7 item that gives +1 range was a beast.

[Darth Hernia]

Originally posted by Aleonymous:

Rook feels more natural to me (as was him leading the caravabn in the first game too), but the thing is that having him die in Saga1 is also the natural choice.

Alette's playthrough is a bit more interesting, and she turns out to be a stronger battle/hero unit than Rook. Personally, I find it a bit unrealistic, having her lead the caravan, as if leadership is hereditary or something. Alette struggles with that through the campaign and writing is reasonably good there, but still, it might leave some spots unattended.

She IS the Sundr-slayer after all. Not just hereditary.

And that fact that she's literally the wilting flower architype specimen throughout BS1 makes her story in BS2 interesting. She's literally the least qualified person to lead. And she got pushed into it because reasons? I like the suspense that you know it's not a question of "if" she will break. It's a question of when.

Unless you play on Normal or Above, they're both very good units. Alette is better.

And trust me you wanna start on Easy unless you're the kind of hardcore SRPG players that play XCOM in Ironman mode.

[Darth Hernia]

Also FYI in BS1 one of your optional objective is to protect Alette by never letting her kill another person. If that's your headcannon and you decide to play her in BS2 as a murderous psychopath, that would be very interesting too.

[Cadaver]

To my surprise ( I went with Rook on the first playthru), I enjoyed playing as Alette through the campaign.

In BS1 I found her a bit bland and annoying naive, but now it allows for a more dynamic arc in the sequel. In Rook's path, she was just a typical tragic plot device, but in Alette's path, Rook's death left a huge void and there's a huge power shift as the resposibility of leadership is passed on to her whether she wants it or not.

In BS2 Alette can't afford to be timid no more, and in this trial by fire situation, there is more pressure on her to succeed or face disaster. It's cool to see Alette's perspective in the new journey as well how others react to her being in charge.

That being said, both paths are very good and worth trying out. They are interesting and distinct in their own ways.

[zekitbot]

I love Alette as a character, but I felt that Rook had more in his journey to show his process with grief-- rage, thinking he saw her face, dreaming of Alette, and deciding how to move on. Alette was challenged more as the leader of the caravan, but other than that, I didn't notice as much emotional development with her story. I think they are both worth playing, though.

I finished BS2 with Alette first, and played the second time as Rook.

[Darth Hernia]

Originally posted by Cadaver:

To my surprise ( I went with Rook on the first playthru), I enjoyed playing as Alette through the campaign.

In BS1 I found her a bit bland and annoying naive, but now it allows for a more dynamic arc in the sequel. In Rook's path, she was just a typical tragic plot device, but in Alette's path, Rook's death left a huge void and there's a huge power shift as the resposibility of leadership is passed on to her whether she wants it or not.

In BS2 Alette can't afford to be timid no more, and in this trial by fire situation, there is more pressure on her to succeed or face disaster. It's cool to see Alette's perspective in the new journey as well how others react to her being in charge.

That being said, both paths are very good and worth trying out. They are interesting and distinct in their own ways.

But also realistically Alette had no real chance of succeeding. She literally had none leadership skills.

[zekitbot]

Originally posted by Darth Hernia:

But also realistically Alette had no real chance of succeeding. She literally had none leadership skills.

It wouldn't be the first time that someone inherited leadership by blood because of tradition, even though someone else could have done better in the leadership role if they broke with traditional customs (Oddleif).

I also made lots of costly mistakes going in blind on Alette's playthrough, had Rugga turn on me, and generally didn't do as well as Rook did (on the second playthrough). So it was kind of cool seeing how Alette made do with decisions she really had no experience making before.

[Cadaver]

Yeah it's a fair point. The idea of a young girl leading an army is disconcerting. Odd also mentioned something similar when Rook asked why she doesn't want to lead. People would definitely question the authority of someone who is young and female being in charge.

But this being mythical story about epic legends and great heroes, I suspended some disbelief with the idea that an unlikely leader might rise from humble origins. There's some similarities to the legends of Joan of Arc, a (crazy?) peasant girl, or David vs Goliath, a shepherd boy. Plus Rook himself was just a simple hunter. Such characters were products of circumstance and people follow them because they were at the right place at the right time, not because they were born nor trained to lead. The odds of succeeding undoubtably are dismal, but it makes me more invested in what will happen.


Rook's journey does have more emotional resonance though, I would agree. I think I connected with Alette a bit more because whenever I made a wrong decision in the campaign, I probably feel as overwhelmed as she was!

[Timgrez]

The question is what story you want: The story of a man trying to overcome his grief and finding a new reason to live, or the story of a daughter wanting to do right by her father’s name.

I find Rook to be a more developed character, while Alette comes off as a run-of-the-mill RPG heroine with dead parents. However, I've noticed Rook's character development comes at cost of that of your side characters; Egil, Eyvind and Ludin in particular have more development in Alette's journey than in that of Rook's. Egil is completely ignored in Rook's journey and might as well have been a nameless raider unit.

I don't find Alette's promotion to the leader unbelievable.

Alette being the leader (or at least being the figurehead) seems logical at least when it comes to keeping peace. This is particularly shown in how Rugga backs Alette in the beginning rather than trying to overthrow her like in the case of Rook. One may reason that Rugga sides with her because he deems her easy to manipulate, but the result is the same: Rugga doesn't start ♥♥♥♥ at the river. Puppet-leaders and child-monarchs aren't exactly unheard of.

The caravan of TBS2 isn't just the people of Skogr anymore: it consists of people from all kinds of places and factions; varl, Boersgardians, Frostvellrians, Skogr clansmen, Ravens, and nameless stragglers picked up on the road. Electing a leader has become somewhat of a delicate matter.

Let's run through the other candidates:

Hakon? Iver? Krumr? They are varl and we've been told racisim is a problem. There is a reason the varl are treated as a seperate faction under Hakon throughout TBS2.

Juno? Eyvind? We've been told people are scared of them. Juno outright says this is why she isn't leading the caravan.

Rugga? Being a coward aside, he's also a new guy. The clansmen probably would want one of their own elected.

Oddleif? She might be the Chieftess of Skogr, but she's not the hero who "killed" Bellower--Alette is. Oddleif is a wise mentor character and her profile outright states she's does things from the shadows. She also has a reckless streak as shown in Lundar which makes me believe that she's good at making decisions in times of peace but not in times of war and desperation.

What Alette has over all these people is that she is presented as the Sundr Slayer; she's the hero. People come for the hero and stay because they find safety in the caravan. This is pointed out in Ekkill and Onef's eventchain in TBS1. On top of that, she's also Rook's daughter; some people would follow her out of respect for the late Rook. Alette is also no longer the naive girl from Skogr anymore.

Alette would've been replaced (as Juno says) had she been found unworthy. What's important is that due to her renown, people are willing to give her a chance.

[Zooblesnoops]

Honestly, I found both Rook and Alette's playthroughs fairly similiar. It's a bit of a stretch, but believable to me that Alette could be the leader of the caravan. Rook feels more natural to choose, but Alette contrasts the Raven caravan in a way that really colors both experiences nicely.

Although, neither Alette or Rook's story have quite enough asymmetry to feel as though they're truly different to me. Much of the dialogue is the same, many of the encounters are identical... After the expositive flavor text in the beginning and a slight twinge on one of the first encounters, there are seldom others, and where there are, they're just inversely written versions of each other's circumstances; a love scene at the godstone, an encounter reflecting upon the death of the other, right in the feels... But it's the same story, the same battles, the same horseborn. I love it, but it feels off to me, albeit only mildly, in the long run.

[Darth Hernia]

Originally posted by Timgrez:

Hakon? Iver? Krumr? They are varl and we've been told racisim is a problem. There is a reason the varl are treated as a seperate faction under Hakon throughout TBS2.

Juno? Eyvind? We've been told people are scared of them. Juno outright says this is why she isn't leading the caravan.

Rugga? Being a coward aside, he's also a new guy. The clansmen probably would want one of their own elected.

Oddleif? She might be the Chieftess of Skogr, but she's not the hero who "killed" Bellower--Alette is. Oddleif is a wise mentor character and her profile outright states she's does things from the shadows. She also has a reckless streak as shown in Lundar which makes me believe that she's good at making decisions in times of peace but not in times of war and desperation.

I can understand being a Sundr Slayer will make Alette a hero to the public, making people want to follow her, since there's only been two. Iver is the other one, and he was made Kendr because of it.

However, to the (at least 4 other) people who were actually in the battle, we know that it's more than likely a team effort and Rook/Iver probably still did all the work regardless of who shot the Silver Arrow.

As to who should be chief, there are quite a few other (equally) compelling choices. Rugga is the governor after all and it's already proven that people look up to him. He may not want Skogr's people at all tho since he's only interested in taking care of himself and a smaller caravan = less mouths to feed.

Eirik is also leadership material from what we've been told of him. He already was an official and served Strand in a similar capacity to Rook.

It would also make sense for people to follow Ludin. He's no doubt even less qualified to lead than Alette and would definitely get everyone killed. but he is a prince after all...

[Timgrez]

It's interesting what you say, since King Meinolf brings up something similar when the maincharacter tries to use the Sundr-Slayer name when they meet him.

Indeed, up to four other heroes went to the final battle, but who the true hero is is unimporant; what matters is who the perceived hero is; and the narrative has enforced it to be Rook or Alette by making them forced deployments for that battle. (The player could have brought any hero to the fight, meaning that one could bring Nid or Hogun and have Iver sit out the battle as ridiculous as it may seem storywise.)

Rugga governed Boersgard and while he does command a certain amount of respect we're shown that most of the people are not too keen on having him as the leader, if the verbal spat at the river says anything. The fact that he might drop the Skogr clansmen and that he's very racist would be enough reason to not to put him in charge unless one wants to split the caravan. He's also shown himself to be a coward in the battle of Boersgard. Beard-guy from Lundar reacted very negatively towards the people who "made decisions while hiding in their great hall". It's not a stretch to think that people would resent Rugga for doing the same thing. To my understanding, Rugga amassed his following throughout the journey rather than being an instant frontrunner.

Ludin might be the prince but he commands almost zero respect from the people. In fact, for the entirity of TBS1 he was being belitted and humiliated. It’s not even clear if most people knows HE is the prince; if he dies in a certain event no one makes a big deal out of it (save for the king...). In the beginning of Rook's journey Ludin backs Rook up by saying Rook will consult him on major decisions but Rook never does. It's clear that Ludin is meant to be treated as a bargaining chip for getting into Arberrang and nothing more. People might feel safer knowing that the prince of Arberrang is on their side, but following him never seems to have crossed their minds.

Eirik is a funny case because he’s probably one of the more believable candidates. According to his profile, he’s made a name for himself in Strand and he doesn’t seem to have major character flaws that would render him hard to promote as a leader. The funny thing is that he has no part in the main story whatsoever; he never does anything important and is one of the more expendable characters in TBS2. Maybe he’s managed to stay in charge for so long in Strand because he keeps a low profile? Maybe he simply doesn‘t want to be leader and is more comfortable being second in command like Oddleif? We don’t know because he's Hogun-tier in terms of story importance. :/

[Darth Hernia]

Originally posted by Timgrez:

is one of the more expendable characters in TBS2

Um, next to Alette, he's probably the most OP human Hero alongside Rook, with Call Bear.

As for keeping a low profile, the same can be said about Rook. They even have the same base class. The only reason why Eirik was sidelined is probably because the writers didn't want to swing that way.

I think it makes sense for people to follow Alette solely because of the Sundr Slayer thing; I don't think it makes sense for Alette to actually succeed. When the entire BS1 showed her to be nothing but a wilting flower without even a desire to be anything other than.

There's not enough foreshadowing or subplot in BS1 to suggest Alette has any chance as a leader.

[Timgrez]

I meant expendable storywise. :/ You can erase Eirik from TBS2 and nothing of importance in the main story would change. Didn't say anything about him as a unit.

I agree that Alette's character development is rather poorly done tho.