TFS
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I appreciate how Konnan was fleshed out as a character in this quest - finally he isn't just furniture and how he feels about his past is directly acknowledged. I really hope this continues into the next quest and is explored a bit more (maybe Konnan talks about his wife and daughter? maybe they're actually given names?) rather than just being one-and-done.
Conversely, though, the protagonist just being furniture is a continued detriment to this storyline. Wargoth taunts Konnan by saying that the protagonist is resentful of/disgusted by him, which would have made for an excellent scene... if this had actually been shown in any way before this point. The protagonist's only response to Konnan's outburst - their in-fight dialogue - especially fell flat for a number of reasons. First, their response to being dragged into another fight with this genocidal nutcase to try and console him. Second, they do so by claiming that "We all lost people we cared about to Akriloth," which is the LAST thing someone who lost literally nothing to Akriloth should be saying to a guy who lost his wife and daughter. Third, the final line "But I'll break you free from Wargoth's chains!" completely trivializes the notion of Konnan still holding anger and attributing the outburst entirely to Wargoth's manipulation - denying Konnan's agency and trying to sand him down into a less complex character. In a similar vein I also feel like the game is a bit too quick to forgive Konnan just because the plot needs him to be helping the good guys right now (reminder that he has killed/displaced a similar number of people to Wargoth - he is by no means a lesser evil), and he's just sort of accepted without friction or pushback - it reminds me of the shortcomings in how Amadeus was handled in Book 3.
I do think the following scene - Konnan crying while he shields the protagonist, this person he despises, from a torrent of hydrogenated seed oils - was excellent though. Like there is clearly a lot to this character and it would be super interesting to explore if the protagonist wasn't so underwritten.
Konnan aside, another concern I have is that the Professor has suddenly become a very boring character without much of a personality. In the original quests, he was a grumpy old man who knew a lot about the game's world, and in all his wisdom had concluded that fighting Wargoth was futile - the only rational option was to run and hide, and was dragged into the Wargoth conflict against his will. In the new version, he's a cheerful exposition device who immediately trusts The Good Guys with his life as soon as he meets them and also just so happens to have goals that align perfectly with theirs. (As a side note, the fact that The Professor is now independently planning to defeat Wargoth - rather than conceding that trying to fight him is futile and just hiding in fear - makes Wargoth come off as a much less threatening villain). Also, I'm not sure why we're still taking these quests from Yolande in Atrea - maybe we should be taking them from The Professor in his hobo cave?
as the world's only book 2 fan I will continue to overanalyze all the minutiae I can
< Message edited by TFS -- 2/22/2026 1:19:53 >
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