Vile God and Evil Goddess routes - thoughts [SPOILERS]

[きょすけ]

This should be obvious but this thread is meant to share thoughts and opinions about the new content, so anyone who has yet to clear these routes should avoid reading further. With that said, let's start!

I finally finished both new routes (chose the Harley ending for the first, Mariano/Marianna for the latter).
To be honest the new routes left me a bit salty, I expected way more, especially from the evil goddess one.

Basically on the Vile God route we end up maining Sherman for a good chunk of time, and while I don't dislike him being finally redeemed from his goddess route counterpart, the whole "the vile god distorted everyones minds making most of them douchebags" put me off so much. Why the hell Galdo was the only former member to have a drastic change and becoming so obsessed with money and a good position inside the dorfa facility, while most of the cast stayed the same more or less? Harley just got depressed and worked to fulfill her own desires (which isn't that different from the old world's one, Ethel was pretty much still an assassin, Apollonious was way more obsessed with the path of the warrior and so on). Imho, Galdo not only didn't deserve this, but this change wasn't necessary at all. The whole ending left a sour taste due to the world still being twisted, and I hoped a bit more about Harley's ending.

Also, why the hell, did Marianna try at any cost to get the Vile God power? And she even was able (albeit for a limited amout of time) to control him? WTF, Sherman's souls was consumed the right moment he offered his body to the Vile God, dying in the process and failing to control him, while Marianna was able to overcome it? It's like everything explained on the Goddess route doesn't make sense anymore.

This goes without saying but the vile god route is my less favourite between the three.

Now, for the Evil Goddess route:

The start of it wasn't that bad, we see Sherman sided with the bad guys from the start, becoming obsessed with his idea of absolute justice.
Now, I don't get why the devs chose to "sacrifice" Galdo yet again on this route too.
We somewhat have Fang trying to change the fate of the people who died in the past world, but failing most of the time.

Apollonious become an alcoholic, wait, what, seriously? And after doing all that work to heal him, he choose death anyway? <- This made me cringe so much, as he is my favourite character;

Noie. Who the hell is him, but most important: WHY HE JOINS THE PARTY?
I can concour the fact that many, if not all party member's are odd, creepy at times, and crazy but, he is so empty that, I don't know, I would have preferred to not recruit him at all;

Chiaki, we don't know who really she is, aside from the fact that she has an outstanding resemblance of Sherman (and his sister too, as he openly said that), who dies to protect Sherman, only to see him dead the second after? I...don't know what to say here;

Mariano/Marianna. Well, at least we somewhat changed her fate, made her act less like a ♥♥♥♥♥ and I personally liked some dialogs about her, I'd loved to know more about her past and whatnot, but we didn't get that much info;

For unknown reasons, Tiara doesn't share the Vile God's blood anymore.

So many random characters popped up with no clear explanation about them :/ and leaving a big "?" at the end of the game, with "Anji" (if I recall correctly her name) and her grandfather speaking about random stuff (and now we get to know that the deities aren't true deties but beings from another dimension...?)

I would have really loved this route if nobody from the main cast would have died, but instead get all along together, while trying to destroy the new organization; what I really like about this route is that we get Marianna on our side, and Eryn doesn't seems to disappear/return to the goddess after that.

I know that from the way I started this thread I feel a bit salty but, I'm not, It's just that I expected a bit more from the new routes. Also, which route do you guys and gals think now is the canon one?

I hope I'll not instill fear to most readers due to the wall of text I exposed here :P , I'd like to know everyone opinion on the routes :)

[UndeadWitch]

On the whole Galdo ordeal with how terrible they treated him in this game, I get the feeling he wasn't that well liked in the East compared to how much we liked him in the West.

Anywho, onto my thoughts!

Vile God Route
I went straight into this route on my first run simply because I wanted to see the new content first. I was surprised to be playing as Sherman for awhile instead of Fang, and the route defintely made him more likable. I also surprisingly enjoy the breath of fresh air Sherman brings to the table as the Main Protagonist for the first good chunk of the route with his straight forwardness and sarcastic tone at times. Heck I even enjoyed Ryushin here, it was adorable how he suddenly became Cui's caretaker after Tiara got kidnapped and started caring about the others to the point of being invovled in their group conversations. Speaking of Tiara, I really enjoyed her new personality, it was funny and kept things interesting. I really did love how Ethel and Apollonius received so much love and lines in this route, they were my favorites from the original and I was sad that they barely have any lines and are just there. Same case with Eryn with the Goddess route having Tiara as the main heroine, in the Vile God route it was Eryn! Harley was enjoyable as well as even Lola (my 2nd least favorite girl). IThe route itself is pretty dark and they weren't afraid to kill off Galdo, the introduction of the Human Ranch, and the monsterity that was Vile God(ddess) Marianna. I do have some quips thought about it. For example why on earth is Zagi so damn loyal to Marianna, she even sent him to the Human Ranch! Secondly as for reasons you stated, Marianna having partial control while Sherman's soul got consumed easily. This is personally my favorite route because all my favorite characters get love here, and the story is written best here.


Evil Goddess Route
Oh boy, I could rant for days about how inconsistent this route was. I entered this route after beating the Goddess Route (just to see what's changed and to get the fury from that one quest). While I liked the "♥♥♥♥ you" it gave Fang on his ideals, this route was personally the weakest in terms of story and characters. The story has so many plotholes like for example both Galdo and Sherman living and breathing after a bomb from that close of a distance and Sherman being unscathed by it. Tiara having the Vile God's blood and then not having the Vile God's blood which is it CH!? Speaking of which Tiara, Eryn, and Ethel felt like they were just there, but not exactly having any importance and fell flat compared to how they were in the Vile God route or even the Goddess route. Marianna while nice she is playable is...pretty useless when I used her, like she could do zero damage when fighting Sherman and the latter would rekt her. Also Noie...don't get me started on how useless and annoying he was (story and gameplay wise). I personally wished Sherman lived and got his character development after Chiaki sacrificed her life for him (seriously it felt like he was going to join the team, but CH was probably "Lol nope"). Hell I wished Apollonius lived too! I can't believe CH reduced him into a alchololic that is implied to abuse his own younger sister. I did like the character growth for Lola here, but I don't really care about her. I hated how they never really build up the possibillity of a third deity until there was about an hour left of the route where they went with "Btw there's a third deity that's been here for some time". It was frustrating to play through this route for its story to me.

[きょすけ]

Originally posted by UndeadWitch:

snip

Hello UndeadWitch, and thanks for taking your time describing your thoughts here!

Vile God Route
Yes, I'm aware that this route was meant to be more dark, maybe that's why I wasn't capable of fully appreciating it, still a solid route though!
Zagi is....a mystery, we didn't get a change to know him better, and why he owe so much Marianna (I mean, it can't possibly be only because he was chosen by her just because he was ditched by dorfa, I know love is blind, but...)
What is funny is that during the Evil Goddess Route he is a completely different person (aside his final moments), something that should have been more common to see in the this route, since most people got their personality/mind altered by the evil god.

All in all this was a route which brought a bit o fresh air. Can't add anything more, as you nailed all the good points about it perfectly :) .

Evil Goddess Route
EXACTLY! I couldn't agree more with you! I really don't get how could they give so little importance to the main cast...I mean, sure, this is an alternate route, but...Tiara felt so empty (I can understand that without her worries about the Vile God blood she should be more at ease and the likes but it killed her character), Eryn more or less was the same, although she fell in a more sub character role; Ethel...really? I know that she wasn't excelling in the goddess route as far dialogues and story goes, but damn, with the whole "Pippin helped me to talk like a normal person" seem to have produced the opposite effect, giving her even minore space through this route (more or less your thoughts just worded my way).
Yeah, I too thought that Chiaki's sacrifice would have moved Sherman back to the right path but nope, we just lost him right after her :/.
Sadly as you said, Marianna is pretty useless gameplay wise, they should have given her more WP to start with, her damage was just too low to be compared to the rest of the party.

Honestly I don't understand what CH tried to accomplish with this route, still the 2 people shrouded in mystery who can be seen talking at the end of the game make me think/fear that this can be considered a canon ending, I just hope not, I can't accept Sherman and Apollonious death this way :/

[Ztarman]

Marianna was able to control the Vile God for a while because she absorbed Bernard. That's why she wanted to absorb Tiara so she would have full control.

[UndeadWitch]

Originally posted by Ztarman:

Marianna was able to control the Vile God for a while because she absorbed Bernard. That's why she wanted to absorb Tiara so she would have full control.

But...Sherman kinda did too, Bernard was sacrificed to the Vile God.

[Ztarman]

Originally posted by UndeadWitch:

Originally posted by Ztarman:

Marianna was able to control the Vile God for a while because she absorbed Bernard. That's why she wanted to absorb Tiara so she would have full control.

But...Sherman kinda did too, Bernard was sacrificed to the Vile God.

Bernard wasn't dead in this case. He was just stuck in the Vile God's body like Tiara was whereas he was killed in favor of Sherman despite being a descendant of the Vile God.

[きょすけ]

Originally posted by Ztarman:

Marianna was able to control the Vile God for a while because she absorbed Bernard. That's why she wanted to absorb Tiara so she would have full control.

Originally posted by UndeadWitch:

Originally posted by Ztarman:

Marianna was able to control the Vile God for a while because she absorbed Bernard. That's why she wanted to absorb Tiara so she would have full control.

But...Sherman kinda did too, Bernard was sacrificed to the Vile God.

Even if this was the reason, how the hell does the "controlling the deity" even work? During the goddess route we witness how the vile god desperately struggle to find any descendent to sacrifice for his own revival, and now you tell me that Bernard was able to CONTROL him after letting Tiara be absorbed (which should automatically trigger his revival instead of being able to be controlled like some kind of domesticated animal).
Also, why in the Goddess route Bernard was impaled by those stalagmites, while In the VG route Tiara is still alive inside the Vile God?

[きょすけ]

Originally posted by Ztarman:

Originally posted by UndeadWitch:

But...Sherman kinda did too, Bernard was sacrificed to the Vile God.

Bernard wasn't dead in this case. He was just stuck in the Vile God's body like Tiara was whereas he was killed in favor of Sherman despite being a descendant of the Vile God.

The problem is that Tiara would have been dead anyway after being fully absorbed by the Vile God!

[Ztarman]

Originally posted by きょすけ:

Originally posted by Ztarman:

Marianna was able to control the Vile God for a while because she absorbed Bernard. That's why she wanted to absorb Tiara so she would have full control.

Originally posted by UndeadWitch:

But...Sherman kinda did too, Bernard was sacrificed to the Vile God.

Even if this was the reason, how the hell does the "controlling the deity" even work? During the goddess route we witness how the vile god desperately struggle to find any descendent to sacrifice for his own revival, and now you tell me that Bernard was able to CONTROL him after letting Tiara be absorbed (which should automatically trigger his revival instead of being able to be controlled like some kind of domesticated animal).
Also, why in the Goddess route Bernard was impaled by those stalagmites, while In the VG route Tiara is still alive inside the Vile God?

Plotholes.

The Vile God chose Sherman over Bernard so he just disposed of him. Tiara was absorbed since she also has the Vile God's blood and Bernard would be even more powerful if he were to take control of the Vile God but too bad Marianna had plans of her own regarding that.

[Ztarman]

Originally posted by きょすけ:

Originally posted by Ztarman:

Bernard wasn't dead in this case. He was just stuck in the Vile God's body like Tiara was whereas he was killed in favor of Sherman despite being a descendant of the Vile God.

The problem is that Tiara would have been dead anyway after being fully absorbed by the Vile God!

I guess they were expecting that after they tried to hijack the Vile God for full control.

[きょすけ]

Originally posted by Ztarman:

Plotholes.

The Vile God chose Sherman over Bernard so he just disposed of him. Tiara was absorbed since she also has the Vile God's blood and Bernard would be even more powerful if he were to take control of the Vile God but too bad Marianna had plans of her own regarding that.

Originally posted by Ztarman:

I guess they were expecting that after they tried to hijack the Vile God for full control.

Sigh, the game as much potential story wise, but the way is executed is leaves a bit to be desired.

[Ztarman]

Originally posted by きょすけ:

Originally posted by Ztarman:

Plotholes.

The Vile God chose Sherman over Bernard so he just disposed of him. Tiara was absorbed since she also has the Vile God's blood and Bernard would be even more powerful if he were to take control of the Vile God but too bad Marianna had plans of her own regarding that.

Originally posted by Ztarman:

I guess they were expecting that after they tried to hijack the Vile God for full control.

Sigh, the game as much potential story wise, but the way is executed is leaves a bit to be desired.

The story wasn't exactly great (Evil Goddess was decent at best close to the ending and the 2 mysterious characters). Vile God's story was lame in every way (Fang working for Dorfa then letting him freely slip back into Eryn's grasp for him to once again foil their plans...... genius.

And another thing, why does Ethel wear an eyepatch during the second half of the game during all 3 routes?

[きょすけ]

Originally posted by Ztarman:

The story wasn't exactly great (Evil Goddess was decent at best close to the ending and the 2 mysterious characters). Vile God's story was lame in every way (Fang working for Dorfa then letting him freely slip back into Eryn's grasp for him to once again foil their plans...... genius.

And another thing, why does Ethel wear an eyepatch during the second half of the game during all 3 routes?

I never understood that one. I mean, I know she is some kind of sniper (?) due to her bow main weapon (although from her behaviour I always imagine her with one knife in each hand). A shame it can't be naturally removed and you are forced to switch it for another item (at least the bunny tail does help a bit here).

[Ztarman]

Originally posted by きょすけ:

Originally posted by Ztarman:

The story wasn't exactly great (Evil Goddess was decent at best close to the ending and the 2 mysterious characters). Vile God's story was lame in every way (Fang working for Dorfa then letting him freely slip back into Eryn's grasp for him to once again foil their plans...... genius.

And another thing, why does Ethel wear an eyepatch during the second half of the game during all 3 routes?

I never understood that one. I mean, I know she is some kind of sniper (?) due to her bow main weapon (although from her behaviour I always imagine her with one knife in each hand). A shame it can't be naturally removed and you are forced to switch it for another item (at least the bunny tail does help a bit here).

Isn't she an assassin? And I thought Galdo killed her eariler. The alternate version of herself is pretty much the same except she actually talks properly (although I gotta agree with Fang, I don't see how saying kill 2 times equates to sentences of dialog when "translated")

[UndeadWitch]

Honestly I would like a FOURTH route where both Marianna and Sherman actually join your party and the original group lives considering we have a unique pattern.
Goddess Route - Neither join you
Vile God Route - Sherman stays; Marianna dies.
Evil Goddess Route - Sherman dies; Marianna joins
Potential Fourth Route - Sherman stays; Marianna joins.

[Ztarman]

Originally posted by UndeadWitch:

Honestly I would like a FOURTH route where both Marianna and Sherman actually join your party and the original group lives considering we have a unique pattern.
Goddess Route - Neither join you
Vile God Route - Sherman stays; Marianna dies.
Evil Goddess Route - Sherman dies; Marianna joins
Potential Fourth Route - Sherman stays; Marianna joins.

I think it's better that way. Those conflicting personalities