End of the Aedui

[captainpatch]

I really resent this particular quest. As given, the only ways to complete the quest is via self-mutilation or using one of your praetorians as a human sacrifice AND one of your servi just to drain his/her blood. The workaround, such as it is, has you running all over the map and bouncing back to Sextus like a yo-yo -- provided you happened to run into the right characters and asked the questions at the right time and place. This is gross MAKE-WORK in the middle of a military campaign. Can you imagine GENERAL PATTON being required to play step-and-fetch-it on this scale? This approach demeans the strategy part of the game in order to turn it into some kind of Fantasy CRPG.

[raphoux69]

As i said before. You get supply from them. If you don't, your army dies. And Patton is not really considered the "best" general. Plus, they were plenty of generals who were on the field. Finally its' a game, so you do that because the plot demands to.
Who would have thought that in a game, things were not realistic.

[captainpatch]

What bugs me is the lack of alternatives. The requirement to sacrifice a praetorian and a servi strikes me as a betrayal of trust. Your people may be willing to give up their lives in the pursuit of your goals, but they are also trusting you to do your best to make their deaths meaningful. Sacrificing a follower to a god that the character does NOT believe in is about as meaningless of a death as you can get.

There needs to be an alternative path available that does NOT require sacrificing a praetorian, a servi, or a personal body part.

[Jo]

You can sacrify a servi only.

[Trolleur_Durden]

If you have the Gladiator DLC, there's a new potential sacrifice available which is much more satisfying.

[raphoux69]

The Aedui want that you sacrifice something meaningful to show your commitment. Obviously the choice is hard.

[captainpatch]

I keep on "Put yourself in their sandals." How would YOU like to be the one sacrificed just to get the Aedui to be cooperative? Would that strike you to be a "meaningful death" for Rome and your commanding officer/master?

The fact that there was a workaround introduced in a DLC makes the words "ripped off" come to mind.

This quest has me thinking "To heck with subtlety and side quests!" Just be straightforward and conquer Gallia the same way you did Asia Minor.

[RyanEX2000]

Originally posted by captainpatch:

I keep on "Put yourself in their sandals." How would YOU like to be the one sacrificed just to get the Aedui to be cooperative? Would that strike you to be a "meaningful death" for Rome and your commanding officer/master?

The fact that there was a workaround introduced in a DLC makes the words "ripped off" come to mind.

This quest has me thinking "To heck with subtlety and side quests!" Just be straightforward and conquer Gallia the same way you did Asia Minor.

We're living in different times so you can't really ask that question. Blood sacrifice was a thing among druidic religions of the time. Instead of going by Marvel interpretations maybe you should look up what the gods were actually like, spoilers most of them were ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Also, Caesar was known for inspiring fanatical loyalty in his legions and since you're supposed to be following his path it wouldn't be a stretch to think that they would be willing to lay down their lives for you.

Finally, you don't need to sacrifice anyone, you can instead give up an eye. I think the game now allows you receive the scythe from killing...certain enemies...even if you haven't started the chain yet. At least it doesn't stop you form picking up another if you do it after.

[captainpatch]

Ah, but your character is NOT a druid, nor does he adhere to or believe in any druidic religion.

Followers and soldiers "willing to die' for his commander hold that attitude because of their trust that the commander won't throw their lives away frivolously. For example, suppose the commander believed that the fastest way to get rid of a hangover was to sacrifice a human life first thing in the morning. Do you really think someone "willing to die for" his leader would be quite willing to die to rid his commander of a hangover? I doubt it. Such a flippant reason for throwing away a follower's life would be a fast way to lose all of one's dedicated followers. Sacrificing a follower's life to a deity that the commander does NOT believe in is sort of in that kind of category.

And self-mutilation to satisfy a deity that the person doesn't believe in? Ain't never gonna happen.

[raphoux69]

You do know that Roman did human sacrifices too. It's not that far fetched at all. Plus as i said, if you don't get supplies, it's basicly your whole army dies.

[The Bored Architect]

I find this quest jarring on many levels and its choices seem to me mostly an unfunny joke on the player. I mean, it's not totally bonkers like the one with the African Acqueduct, but still… well, let's tackle this in a semiserious fashion.

From a historical point of view, it makes zero sense for a roman legatus agreeing to sacrifice a pretorian, aka a roman citizen, to foreign gods. Yes, I know that there is almost nothing historical in this game, and I know that details like classic latin pronunciation exist just to create an illusion of believability, but this is just baffling. As far as I know, Romans had a very dim view of druidism. Why can't I behave like a proper, conceited and stuck-up Roman?

Sacrificing a servus is perhaps a less insane choice, considering what slavery in ancient Rome was all about, and I suspect that most players went for that. All in all, with the exception of Syneros and the occasional npc, in this game slaves are just a resource and the only price to pay is losing a single unit of said "resource", which you can simply replace at the camp store, making happy Cincius Carus in the process. Take my denarii and be happy, Cincie.
The alternative offered by the DLC seems an adequate addition, which makes the decision slightly less impersonal. By the way, it also solves a curious oversight by the Devs: Divitiacus asks for a man or a woman to be sacrificed to his gods, but because reasons the poor sod selected for the honor is always a guy, as far as I've seen. Equal opportunities, good and bad ones, are always much appreciated. ;-)

Obviously, the option of self-mutilation is there just for players who love pirates and eyepatches. Or maybe the writers were trying to convey some deep idea about self-sacrifice and selflessness (and failing to do so, in my humble opinion). I really don't know, I'm assuming their creative energies were already exhausted after writing nonsensical tooltips and telling me every possible moment how cats are the coolest pets ever. Honestly, I really don'understand why many find the writing in this game so good, which leads me to my next point.

Storywise, I'm baffled that anyone would agree to Divitiacus' request without registering the slightest complaint or without addressing the issue afterwards. I mean, agreeing to such a sacrifice would give Lurco political ammo to destroy the legate's reputation in the Senate (at least in the Res Publica path). Fortunately, nobody gives a flying duck about that, which is unsurprising considering that in this game I've found so far very few choices with serious and meaningful consequences.
I mean, during my shenanigans I have captured the mole Cassius, who knows much about Lurco's dealings with Mithrydates, but nobody cares. I have secured the ledger from VIXI, but nobody cares. I have murdered Lunja, a roman loyalist, just to indulge the bimbo Cleopatra (by the way, why did they write her like that?!), but nobody really cares. You get the picture…

I still have to finish my first serious playthrough, but I can't help but think, while trudging around Gallia under a costant barrage of angry boars, dangerous cooks and VIXI clowns, that I don't particulary feel like a roman legatus making history. Mostly, I'm just a mook running errands and being played like a cheap violin by everyone else: by Consul Lurco, who sits nicely in his camp doing absolutely nothing, and by every single random Gallic dude I encounter. Way too much railroding and too little agency for my taste, if you ask me. This Third Act is mostly a boring chore.

My suggestion? When doing this quest, shut down your brain, go for the easiest and fastest solution, then erase the damn thing from your memory or convince yourself it was just a dream caused by too much passum. It's the only way.

Honestly, why didn't they just copy/paste the Tomb Raider quest from Expeditions Viking? You had choices in that one, and a cunning and even moral character could shine when dealing with Norse Divitiacus's silly request of a human sacrifice.

[captainpatch]

Originally posted by raphoux69:

You do know that Roman did human sacrifices too. It's not that far fetched at all. Plus as i said, if you don't get supplies, it's basicly your whole army dies.

Well, historically speaking, with the Romans -- like the Aztecs and Mayans -- the sacrifices were NOT volunteers. Captured enemies, abductees from subject tribes, criminals, etc. By contrast, the Vikings also used human sacrifices, but pretty much all of theirs _were_ volunteers.

No matter the degree of loyalty to their commander, I simply cannot see any loyal soldier volunteering to become a sacrifice to a barbarian god that nobody in the Roman army worships.

[captainpatch]

Originally posted by Tremere Apprentice:

I find this quest jarring on many levels and its choices seem to me mostly an unfunny joke on the player..

+100%

For something of a RPG, I get the feeling that none of the devs even tried to roleplay the main character when confronted with the quest. I suppose if it had been Lurco that was given the quest, he'd have no problem at all in choosing some lackey to sacrifice. But the main character as I see him would have a _conscience_, and so would tell the barbarian to take a flying leap.

[raphoux69]

A lot of romans worshipped other gods than "their own"

[captainpatch]

How many of them led legions of like-minded Romans?

[raphoux69]

Quite a lot actually