Save Paolo. He is a hero of the working class who is fighting oppressive state power.

[HOT | Swehht]

Disclaimer: I haven't seen the ending after putting Paolo in control of the Dust District.

The game, and Emily herself, describe and depict Paolo as a common street thug. We see him extorting black markets for funds. He has a gang that will attack you. And he's fighting the Overseers as well as the Duke and the Crown.

Now from an upper class/ruling elite, or bourgeois, perspective, he is indeed a criminal and a problem. If you're a bootlicker who bows to your masters real low at the waist and cedes to their power then maybe you see this is as well.

But, Paolo's goals are for better working conditions and hours for the miners in the Dust District. His gang leaves citizens alone and, yes, they do use their power to extort black markets. This is not a bad thing. In this game universe it's safe to assume that the black markets would have their fair share of destructive dealings, damaging actions, and what they sell isn't all that innocent either. Think of these black markets as drug dealers. Paolo is using force to extort drug dealers in order to gain the funds and control needed to assist the miners, who are very likely harmed by the black markets in the first place. Paolo is branded a criminal by the state because he is fighting for the workers, for the miners, for the children in the Dust District who cough up blood because of the environmental effects of the overworked mines. He is a criminal, not because he extorts black markets or runs a gang, but because he threatens to interfere with the exploitation and profits demanded by the state at the cost of human lives.

Paolo is a true revolutionary, and so should be seen as a natural ally of Emily or Corvo. Has anyone finished the game with Paolo in power? Does he abuse his power and maintain the status quo of the working class?

[ratmole]

Just for that I'm going to burn him alive. I was considering letting him live but now that you compared him to a communist I juust can't view him as a good person.

[HOT | Swehht]

Labor organizers aren't always communists you ♥♥♥♥. There's nothing about him that indicates he is a communist at all in any way, but you wouldn't know that would you.

[HOT | Swehht]

Go ahead and bow to the boot. Accept your lot in life and the masters who rule over you, and defend their right to control your life. Because that is the paralell of 19th and 20th century working conditions that we see in the game. To much of the same extent that is what is still happening today. So kill the man who would see workers in control of their labor and allow the state to dictate their lives instead.

[HOT | Swehht]

You're more of a Stalinist than any Communists I know, bud. You're quite the statist bootlicker

[Zekiran]

^^ Why I have yet to side with the Overseers, because screw the Abbey. Best case scenario is still 'ignore them all' because then the entire group - representing everyone there - rules together.

[HOT | Swehht]

I did finish the game with Paolo in power on low chaos. I was happy with the way it turned out. It seems the people were better off under the rulers I put in place. I can't find a video of the Overseer ending on low chaos, but the one ending I did see basically showed that the Overseers imposed theocratic rule on the people. They ruled unrestrained and dictated righteousness across the empire.

So if you want Sharia law then that's the ending for you haha

[Coffee]

İlk olarak ComradeGamerDad tarafından gönderildi:

It should also be noted that after helping Paolo if you check your travel log you'll see a new entry. In it, Emily writes that Paolo is a good leader who has been in the Dust District his entire life organizing things and defending the people. She writes that his methods are "questionable", but "so are mine".

lmao, that's the point. His methods are "questionable", but "so are mine", indicated that since Emily spared Paolo, her decision is questionable, and that's not exactly what a good ruler should do.
In the ending, with only the new duke (the body double) as the only one making decision, there will not be either paolo or the overseer whispering in his ears if you don't side with anyone.

But hey, your game, your choice, you are free to save paolo all you want haha. You don't need to make excuse on how he is a good person though.

In my many playthroughs, I side with paolo, then side with overseer, then exile both of them, then killed paolo three times.

[Blackram67]

On my first run through the game, I tried to bring Paolo to Overseer Byrne but found that his inability to die right away was really too difficult for me to deal with on that first run. So instead, I just knocked out Byrne instead, and brought him to Paolo. Then in subsequent playthroughs, I found a solution to knock both of them out, and send them both away!

[Zekiran]

İlk olarak bbbl67 tarafından gönderildi:

On my first run through the game, I tried to bring Paolo to Overseer Byrne but found that his inability to die right away was really too difficult for me to deal with on that first run. So instead, I just knocked out Byrne instead, and brought him to Paolo. Then in subsequent playthroughs, I found a solution to knock both of them out, and send them both away!

Also note, that if you know how to decode the Jindosh lock and want to see yet another ending, you can full on ignore the entire dust district (at the risk of losing out any of the runes/charms of course) and go straight through the mansion mission. Interesting ending with that in play.

[Blackram67]

İlk olarak Zekiran tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak bbbl67 tarafından gönderildi:

On my first run through the game, I tried to bring Paolo to Overseer Byrne but found that his inability to die right away was really too difficult for me to deal with on that first run. So instead, I just knocked out Byrne instead, and brought him to Paolo. Then in subsequent playthroughs, I found a solution to knock both of them out, and send them both away!

Also note, that if you know how to decode the Jindosh lock and want to see yet another ending, you can full on ignore the entire dust district (at the risk of losing out any of the runes/charms of course) and go straight through the mansion mission. Interesting ending with that in play.

Are you saying that the ending is different if you play through without going through the dust district? How is it different? At the end of the whole game, neither Paolo nor Byrne are going to be there to whisper into the ear of the replacement Duke, if you send them both away. Is the ending any different if you bypass the Dust District?

[Zekiran]

The ending is radically different, yes.


If you completely avoid the entire dust district and instead move directly to the Mansion level, (I only did the save-Stilton version though) and then come out, the district is no longer available for exploring, and if you do things right, including a very brief visit with Lucia (in one of the buildings outside the district, where the mining equipment and signs for the union are) you can include her too.

Basically you can have an entire group of people running Serkonos, who include Stilton, Paolo, the Overseer, Lucia, and others. It really is a stunning change, but like I said the area is no longer available because you'd changed the past so it didn't technically exist any more in the same way. Apparently they'd originally intended you to go back through it, but it was just too much to make and far too long.

[Bella]

Both are scum.
The Overseers are religious fanatics; only synergy here is they are also anti-witch.
Paolo is not trying to make things better for anyone but himself; you don’t rob, extort and threaten those you claim to be representing.

I would have got rid of them both, except, the Overseer would just be replaced with another Overseer - so little to gain by getting rid of Byrne.
Whereas Paolo has no deputy. Crated and shipped.

NOTE: In the end, I went back and shipped both as not sure of the outcome of shipping just Paolo.

[Agent 48]

I just exiled them both, on my first non-lethal ghost run.

Just about to start a second run playing as Emily.

[Myrmidon]

Paolo is the lesser evil relative to a wide selection of other people of influence but he's still a murdering psychopath. He intimidated one black market dealer into submitting by murdering his mother in cold blood.

[Zekiran]

Sure, but literally everyone in that world expects that behavior.

It seems apalling to us, but... frankly their world is about 200% more brutal than ours.