Don't invite me into your Magical Realm without warning me first

[Aisynia]

Game seemed cool, but only 80 minutes in and there have been 2 in combat amputations and a story amputation. And it's all forced by false choices. "Lose an arm or die". And the story amputation was deeply disturbing to me.

Writers clearly have an amputation fetish, and it's ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up, because I was blindsided by this. The psychological manipulation of showing my characters dead with X eyes or "Let's cut off your hand and dissect it" is really disturbing.

My friend got me this for my Birthday, and it totally ruined my day. I've been upset all day because of this.

Hey writers? You ruined my birthday with your false choice fetish dump. Kiss my ass.

[Du-Vu]

That's not a typical run, for what it's worth. You can lose a limb by 'dying' in combat, but that's not a choice that comes up elsewhere as far as I've seen.There are many, many random events. I've played about 40 hours and never run into the hand dissection event you're talking about. Sorry about your birthday.

[FeralKitty]

There are alternatives to losing a limb. Themes allow you to transform arms or legs, which provide new appearances, abilities, and stats.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1923378154
Happy birthday.

[Aisynia]

I got him to refund it, I can't play it, I was emotionally falling apart all day because of this and needed to vent.

Thanks to those trying to be helpful.

[brian_mullin]

Hello, Aisynia. The choice of 'losing an arm' is counter-balanced with another choice, which is *spoiler alert* pretending to be dead, and then attacking your captors. No arm lost.

As for other instances of losing arms or legs, these seem to happen even in C.S. Lewis difficulty (the easiest) but only when your character has suffered serious damage. These accidents happen in wartime battles, and while losing a limb is tragic, they are still alive - just like any disabled veteran.

There is always the option, should such a grave injury occur, of reloading the game from an earlier save point - even during the battle. You'll have an idea of the sort of foes you'll be facing and be better prepared for your second attempt.

There is no gore, and WIldermyth handles injuries in an exceptionally gentle way, especially for a strategy RPG. I do hope that you will try the game again, some other time.

[tlenz]

I can understand that the concept of catastrophic crippling injuries might disturb you...and the average run of this game sees that as a distinct possibility.

But...this is one of the very many games whose primary "verb", if you will, is "kill". The majority of the gameplay loop revolves around deadly combat with terrifying monsters. The strong likelihood of death or disfigurement seems perfectly reasonable.

It seems to me that you prefer what I like to call the "A-Team" presentation of violent conflict. If you are unfamiliar, it was a 1980's TV show that saw a group of underground ex-military mercenaries "solving problems" for people. The show wanted to be both extremely violent and action-oriented, but "family friendly" enough for prime time broadcast TV. The result with every episode descending into orgies of gunfire, with somehow almost no-one ever getting hit.

MANY violent videogames traffic in this sort of unrealistic portrayal of violence. You kill various creatures as you encounter them "because RPG", and they just die. You take wounds, but they are ticks off of a bar and your cleric mumbles some words and the number goes back up. These games insulate you from the implied reality of violent conflict.

I'd prefer a game to either present an element (in this case deadly physical conflict) with a level of believable consequence, or simply not present that element at all.

[Worldwalker Games]

Hey Aisynia—shoot, I'm really sorry that happened to you. Our intention definitely wasn't to treat amputation lightly or fetishize it or anything like that. That's unfortunate that you got a bunch of events like that within the first hour and a half.

Transformations & loss (of limbs in particular) are a part of the game, and that's okay if it makes the game a no-go for some folks. But I did want to at least apologize for what you went through emotionally; it sounds rough.

[Steefy_92]

Originally posted by Worldwalker Games:

Hey Aisynia—shoot, I'm really sorry that happened to you. Our intention definitely wasn't to treat amputation lightly or fetishize it or anything like that. That's unfortunate that you got a bunch of events like that within the first hour and a half.

Transformations & loss (of limbs in particular) are a part of the game, and that's okay if it makes the game a no-go for some folks. But I did want to at least apologize for what you went through emotionally; it sounds rough.

I sort of expected this to happen, it was just a matter of time when someone will show up and raise the concern; those silly disclosure warnings in games definitely have a purpose.

That said, is this mechanic hardcoded? Maybe, if you allow modders to mod out losing limbs- or replace them with a different outcomes (customised), someone would surely make a campaign or even overhaul for those who prefer "A-Team" presentation @tzlen explained above, or Disney like take on the classic Grim Brothers fairy tails. - you get what I mean ( plus it would be friendlier for younger audiences, your game is a great platform for interactive stories).

[davea]

In many RPG, when a character reaches 0 HP, they are dead. In this game, when this happens, instead of just dying, the player is offered an alternative, of losing a limb instead. There are several other alternatives, including death. This is not hard-coded, it is something the player would have to actively choose. Also, in this game, losing a limb opens a whole realm of interesting possibilities later, including replacing the limb with a crossbow, or a magic flamethrower, or many other possibilities. It may seem a little unusual, but in this game, to see some of the less common content, choosing this alternative can be a good idea.

[Aisynia]

Originally posted by Worldwalker Games:

Hey Aisynia—shoot, I'm really sorry that happened to you. Our intention definitely wasn't to treat amputation lightly or fetishize it or anything like that. That's unfortunate that you got a bunch of events like that within the first hour and a half.

Transformations & loss (of limbs in particular) are a part of the game, and that's okay if it makes the game a no-go for some folks. But I did want to at least apologize for what you went through emotionally; it sounds rough.

You should let people turn it off. It's ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up.

When I was 10 I was playing with my little sister out in the yard (we lived on a laaarge property). She didn't wanna go out there and play but I did and I pushed her into it. Well we were playing on this pile of logs, and I dunno, something gave. It's vague, I was little. But what is burned into my mind is watching her get pinned beneath one. I got our parents, rescue workers came, but my sister lost her arm. I have always blamed myself for that, and even now I have constant nightmares about losing limbs and being crushed, and I'm often overtaken with guilt, even though my sister is living a full and happy life with a family and kids and everything. Playing this game and watching it happen over and over yes, very very much upset me, and frankly, I don't think you need a traumatic story like mine to be disturbed by the casual nature of the way the game treats these things. I was streaming the game to my friend Jenny while I played this and when this ♥♥♥♥ happened we were like "What the ♥♥♥♥!?" and just really upset by it, though I think me more than her. It's ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up.

[TamTroll]

I don't think this game is for you then, simple as that. A lot of other people enjoy it though, and the whole limb-replacement aspect is both shown in trailers and promotional art, as well as being one of the major draws to the game.

If you don't want to play it because of your experiances, then that's your decision and nobody will try to convince you otherwise. I hope you can find something else that suits your needs better, there are plenty of other games in a similer Genre to this one if you're willing to look. Have you tried Massive Challice?

[Menace]

I wouldn't play the game then if I were you, it sounds like it's not something that you'll personally enjoy. On the bright side, there's a whole bunch of games on the market so I'm sure you'll find something.

[Aurumlamina]

It's unfortunate that this was your experience, but I certainly love the maiming mechanic. It adds realism and meaningful battle scars to characters who may or may not be a part of your legacy.

[Fenriswolf1991]

I can understand that people who actually experienced such kind of things may be upset and even shocked by it, but I personally like the mechanic. And if I don´t want a hero to be crippled, I reload the auto-save so many times until I get him or her out of the particular battle without getting k.o.ed. And as others already said, with the many ways of transforming your character, they may even benefit from lost limbs at some point. My mystic Tamoko lost her arm in one of the Morthagi chapter-ending battles, but luckily she was possessed by a fire elemental at this time - that already took over her other arm before - so she ended up with two blazing arms causing fiery death upon Morthagi until her retirement at the ripe old age of 75.

[AlterEgo45]

My dad lost his leg due to a truck accident when I was 7. It was a head-on collision with another truck after my dad's brakes failed. I often rode in that truck with him, and had it been a weekend, I would probably have been riding along and been killed in the accident. I've seen pictures of the truck and the cab looked like a ball of aluminum foil. He was trapped in there for an hour. The psychological effects of that on him had a great influence on my upbringing and who I am today. Much more so than the physical effects.

But I wouldn't expect that everyone have the same response to a topic like this as I would. Because that's my own experience and I have my own perspective which I know is outside the norm.

Likewise you've got a unique perspective on this topic based upon a personal experience that you have had. And that's understandable. But you're playing an RPG where either your character is going to kill monsters, or they are going to kill/injure you. It's about bludgeoning other living things to death with a frying pan, or burning them with fire. Fantasy RPGs are all about that stuff when you think about it, and the only difference between them is how graphic the game chooses to be. This game is not graphic about the loss of limb. It is cartoony, like the stereotypical pirate picture.The loss does not even significantly affect your characters abilities.

And most importantly, you had at least one other option besides accepting that outcome.
It's not like your party was walking in a meadow and you suddenly got this choice. You were in combat, got smacked around, and your character ran out of HP. Usually that leads to death in any role playing game, but the Devs chose to give players another option, another lease on life, in order to soften the blow and not make the game as hard. That's all. There's no "fetish" here.

Sorry, but you were unfair towards the writers and the devs in your OP. It was a tragic thing that happened to you, but this is not their issue and they did nothing wrong.

[Aisynia]

Originally posted by AlterEgo45:

You were in combat, got smacked around, and your character ran out of HP. Usually that leads to death in any role playing game, but the Devs chose to give players another option, another lease on life, in order to soften the blow and not make the game as hard. That's all. There's no "fetish" here.

Sorry, but you were unfair towards the writers and the devs in your OP. It was a tragic thing that happened to you, but this is not their issue and they did nothing wrong.

You didn't read my post then. What crossed the line was a little story even that involved one girl cutting off and dissecting the hand of another girl (and they were in love) and my only alternative was "they both die".