(SPOILERS) My thoughts on Enderal

[Raminus]

First off, I want to thank the developers and everyone responsible for creating this masterpiece. I've finished Enderal in just about 70 hours completing every single quest i could find, tracking down and killing every myth or creature and I've thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't play any other expansion mod like Falskaar or Wyrmstooth because they were not immersive to me so I really appreciate the fact that you created a new interesting world with its own people, magic and lore. I was sold on Enderal the moment I saw the intro quest on Youtube, I mean if the intro is that good then the whole thing must be even better and it really was.

While in Skyrim you are the Dragonborn and the whole world depends on you to save it, there is never any sense of urgency. You have no friends and nobody cares about you, no one asks your opinion about anything. You are a given orders and expected to execute them. Then when the grand finale comes and you slay Alduin nothing happens, no songs of glory and praise or thanks from Jarls or anything. You haven't changed the world, you merely allowed it to live a little longer. There is no sacrifice and nobody dies and if they did you would feel nothing because you didn't know them nor have they known you. You are a savior of the world yet you have no link to it, no bond. Marriage and adoption are an option but it's all very shallow and nonsensical. One can't just wear an amulet and have a guaranteed spouse, it's not window shopping. After the wedding, do you know anything else about your "beloved" spouse. No, they suddenly become master merchants and have a steady income despite having no prior knowledge or experience. In short I find Skyrim's story and world to be greatly lacking and what little story it has it draws heavily from its better predecessors.

Meanwhile in Enderal you are the Prophet. You face with a death and a mystery in the first 20 minutes of the game and are lost just like the main character. You make your way only to find more death but also friends or lovers . Simple enough quests turn into moral dilemmas with no clear cut right answer as usually everyone carries a part of the blame and you have to decide who is just a little less responsible. As you go along you realize how sad and broken this world is.

My favorite quest and the most saddest one in my opinion is A song in the silence. The sad story of a sick boy and even sicker people. Playing with Ryneus was very memorable and different than any other questline in either Skyrim or Enderal. It seemed like the stone didn't have any influence on him so if I just ask nicely he would give up the stone. So when he asked if I could stay with him I almost lied to him but chose not to because I didn't lie to him before. Then his head started to hurt and I just hoped I wouldn't have to kill him, I hoped he wouldn't get possessed like everyone else who had the stone. And he didn't but he died and it was sad but then the illusion was shattered and I could see him lying there on his bed gripping his tumor riddled body. You would take him to Arc though , maybe someone in the order will take care of him till you finish your destiny and you could pick him up and try to have as much happy moments as you can. You go get the horse and return only to hear him begging for his father and then passing away, you take his stone and cremate him so he doesn't rise as a Lost One. By the end of the quest I was crying and it was definitely one of the most memorable quests in Enderal at least for me.

The main questline is very interesting and well written and even though not all questions have been directly answered they don't have to be as answers can be found within the game and its characters. That said even though I think the story is aeons ahead of that of Skyrim's I personally don't like the way it ended. As I said before wherever you go you find death , Lishari, Firespark etc. People die, a lot and as the Cleansing draws near even more people die, innocent people, traitors are revealed and war is eminent. The world is falling apart and there is nothing you can do about it. Even though you are the Prophet you seldom predict the future and you read the past only when it's convenient. You are a pawn to the High Ones until the very end, until the Veiled Woman interferes and you are somewhat free from your "creators".

You are given a choice to make: either flee with your companion and save the next world or sacrifice yourself and save this one. I do not think either decision is the right one.

To Flee

If you chose Calia she would grow to resent you for this decision for she wouldn't have done the same and also the never ending what if talk, you would drift away until she passes and if you had a child it too shall die. Not to mention you will be alone on a flying city with no other humans in sight. You are immortal but you are not a god and humans are social animals. You would become mad or if somehow you do stay sane for hundred thousand or even million years why would the humans of that era follow you. It would probably be the same as with the light-born, they would rebel and kill you because they are human just like past humans. The Black Guardians's speech about ego and arrogance and human weaknesses although on point would not be doable. Humans are humans and though we can reduce evil we cannot eliminate it.

Sacrifice

I chose this ending because it is the most I could to save the world, if you flee you doom your own world, your own kind. The chances of success are about the same but I give this one a bit more leeway because I do think humans can learn from other's mistakes. Arantheal could if he knew what those mistakes were. Calia is strong enough to be safe from whatever High Ones throw at her and I do think she can explain the Cycle to the ones who need to listen.
Or maybe it is my own ego which wishes to save the world that prevents me to look at the bigger picture.

That would be my one criticism of Enderal in that as you progress you grow stronger, more powerful. Yet you never use your power to change what is supposed to happen. In the Sky City you are forced to run ,to abandon your ally and let her perish alone instead of fighting off the dragon and flying back or when you are sent to spy on Coarec why not decimate their numbers a bit before getting caught. Maybe that is just how the story should go but I still wish I had more input into which direction it will go.

This was supposed to be a bit shorter so sorry for ranting in the few of the parts but I really wanted to share with you my thanks and thoughts on the wonderful story. It is unbelievable to me that so few of the games in this day and age have so few complex stories and philosophies as Enderal has. I'm sorry that I can't offer you anything more than my thanks at this time but I'll be sure to follow you and try to help out somehow in the future.

[Makesin]

Very well written, and I agree on many points. But regarding the lack of freedom of choice you criticise (or how to call it), I think it's actually intentional in more ways than just "the story demands that X happens."

The intro video has one beautiful line which, I think, summarises the main character more than anything else: "This is a story of someone who wanted to be free." Free from the religious terror and of the civil war, no doubt, but throughout the whole story the main character seems to be driven by the desire not only to be powerful and important enough to protect their loved ones, but also to be free, to have their own will. You said it yourself, in Skyrim nobody cares about what the Dragonborn thinks, he just fulfill orders. While here people ask the Prophet what to do (one of my favourite examples being the farmer behind bandit attacks in, hm, in that dungeon you find the original Beacon) or is simply free to do what they want (burn Ryneus or not, tell Calia the truth or not etc), so it seems that the Prophet is indeed free to do what they want.

And so it is a huge irony that, ultimately, everything the Prophet done is because the High Ones will it. Sure, they don't give commands, they merely manipulate the Prophet through mocking, but the result is the same. The Prophet wanted to be free, and it seems that they are, yet from the very beginning of the story the freedom is nothing more but an illusion.

Apart of that, there is one other difference, a huge difference, between Enderal and Skyrim (and many other games, including the ones from BioWare), which also forms this illusion of freedom. In Skyrim, Mass Effect, Dragon Age and many others, you basically play as yourself. Yes, the main character still has to follow the pre-made script and thus can only intervene when the game allows it, but you as the player as still free to form the character (its morals and such) as you wish. Thus, the character itself has almost no freedom, because it's fully in the hands of the player.

In Enderal, on the other hand (and a few other games, such as the Witcher), you play as a character that is already defined (even if the player isn't aware of that fact in Enderal). Thus the player has very few options of how to define the character (you can still define its morals, but little outside of that) and though it may seem limiting to the player, there is a clear reason for this. The player is little more than an observer who can somewhat influence the decisions of the character, but not its thinking (which basically makes the player quite similar to the High Ones). And so, just like the High Ones, you can basically only manipulate the character into doing what the character itself believes should be done, but you can't make it do anything different. And that's simply because the fact that you as the player realized the truth doesn't mean that the character has done the same. In fact, it's more likely that they wouldn't, because the character is not only manipulated by you as the player, but by the High Ones as well, all at the same time.

You manipulate the decisions while the High Ones manipulate the beliefs, and together you and the High Ones form the Prophet, a character which wanted to be free, but never could. Because from the start it was manipulated by two different parties, with neither having total control.

[Raminus]

I completely agree with your conclusion, the High Ones are the ones that decide the actions of all of their pawns. The Prophet, no matter how powerful he got would never be strong enough. If he did he could stop the cycle by himself and that is certainly not what the High Ones had in mind.

I do wonder though, in the intro scene the player obviously sees the High Ones instead of the ghost of his father. They are manipulating the Prophet's guilt over the death of his family by blaming him, something he himself has probably done many times before. But why did the High Ones do that if he hasn't become the Prophet yet and from what I read on the forums here, he shouldn't have been one in the first place. Another was supposed to but the Veiled Woman interfered and brought him to an earlier death so the High Ones would choose the player.

My criticism wasn't necessarily something the developers should address , it was more of a personal preference that in all that sea of death and suffering we still failed, all of Arc is destroyed and possibly even Enderal and if you left, the whole of Vynn. It's just a bit depressing but that was probably the point.

[Makesin]

I do wonder though, in the intro scene the player obviously sees the High Ones instead of the ghost of his father. They are manipulating the Prophet's guilt over the death of his family by blaming him, something he himself has probably done many times before. But why did the High Ones do that if he hasn't become the Prophet yet and from what I read on the forums here, he shouldn't have been one in the first place. Another was supposed to but the Veiled Woman interfered and brought him to an earlier death so the High Ones would choose the player.

That's because it's the other way around. The Prophet mentions to Sirius that it's a recurring nightmare and this nightmare is the reason the character can become the Prophet. So, it's not that the High Ones are manipulating him so that the Prophet blames themselves, but the Prophet blames themselves and therefore the High Ones can manipulate them. It's only all the later dreams (which are obviously different from the first one) that are fabrications by the High Ones.

[Raminus]

Yeah I understand that the Player blames himself and that's why he is chosen however Daddy is obviously a High One, he speaks as they do, he uses imagery they do ( Fire , burnt flesh). Then my question is why do the High Ones reveal themselves to him if he isn't their pawn yet or are you saying that all future possible pawns see the High Ones in their dreams?

[Makesin]

Yeah I understand that the Player blames himself and that's why he is chosen however Daddy is obviously a High One, he speaks as they do, he uses imagery they do ( Fire , burnt flesh). Then my question is why do the High Ones reveal themselves to him if he isn't their pawn yet or are you saying that all future possible pawns see the High Ones in their dreams?

I'm not sure I follow. I think the first time the Prophet meets the High Ones is in a vision following that initiation rite into the Order (the scene where the Prophet wakes up in the Curarium, sees Jespar and then many different characters show and all mock the Prophet for being weak and such.) I've never thought that the Daddy in the first dream could be a High One, to me it was just a typical imagery of a nightmare (fire representing the way the family was killed, burnt flesh quite possibly representing that Daddy was a hunter and also that he didn't care about the Prophet.)

[Raminus]

I'm not sure I follow. I think the first time the Prophet meets the High Ones is in a vision following that initiation rite into the Order (the scene where the Prophet wakes up in the Curarium, sees Jespar and then many different characters show and all mock the Prophet for being weak and such.) I've never thought that the Daddy in the first dream could be a High One, to me it was just a typical imagery of a nightmare (fire representing the way the family was killed, burnt flesh quite possibly representing that Daddy was a hunter and also that he didn't care about the Prophet.)

It could be but maybe I am reading too much into it.

The reason I believe Daddy is a High One is because he follows the train of dialogue as the High Ones:

- In the intro when you speak to Daddy he is very pleasant and asks if you found what you were searching for and encourages you to keep looking then he says he managed to get delicious deer and instructs you to inside with your mother and sister. The tone changes entirely he accuses you of murder as you go on he keeps blaming you till he summons fire and starts devouring the dead deer

- In the Curarium after the trial you find Jesper by the fire, he's worried about you and asks you about the trial and finally congratulates you ( still pretty pleasant). Then out of no where the tone changes and accuses you of being arrogant as you are being berated by the people you have met so far.

So in short I don't think it was a real nightmare because I can't recall any nightmare of mine that started almost idyllic that turns into absolute hell. But then again I might be reaching.

[Casper]

i have to agree with makesin here. the high-ones are master manipulators... so doesn't it make sense that they'd mimic individuals that would have the most impact on the main character? a character such as "daddy" for instance.

[Makesin]

- In the intro when you speak to Daddy he is very pleasant and asks if you found what you were searching for and encourages you to keep looking then he says he managed to get delicious deer and instructs you to inside with your mother and sister. The tone changes entirely he accuses you of murder as you go on he keeps blaming you till he summons fire and starts devouring the dead deer.

Actually, if I remember correctly, the tone of the dream only changes after the Prophet keeps accusing the Masked Men. At first Daddy just happily proclaims that the child killed the mother and the sister, but he doesn't seem to care.

That said, there certainly are heavy parallels, yes. But as Casper said, it may be that the High Ones simply used the imagery of the dream, or it could all be purely coincidental. My main reason to believe that the first dream is a genuine nightmare is that (unless my memory is failing me), the Prophet says to Sirius that is is a recurring nightmare. And then it truly makes no sense for the High Ones to keep feeding the main character nightmares since his childhood, because why would they do it?

Unless, of course, we think outside of the box for a while and say that the High Ones are actually beings responsible for nightmares in general.

[Raminus]

Actually, if I remember correctly, the tone of the dream only changes after the Prophet keeps accusing the Masked Men. At first Daddy just happily proclaims that the child killed the mother and the sister, but he doesn't seem to care.

You're right but I still think there are enough parallels to the Curarium High One dream. You ask daddy for your mother and sister and he laughingly dismisses you. Ha, you killed them silly. It's almost like he is mocking you. I do think the pattern fits not to mention that Daddy is used throughout the rest of the game in 2 more dreams as well as having an awfully convenient "twin" in Ryneus's village.

The High ones use Daddy to demean the player, that happens in the intro and in every dream afterwards. Also his behavior after becoming the Prophet doesn't change in any meaningful way, he just becomes more manipulative or open about his desires.
I think the trademark of the High ones is that they are irrational which fits Daddy perfectly as does every single Red Madness case.

As to why they would give nightmares to a kid i really don't know. It could be the same as with Red Madness. Those who are not able to move on from their regrets, desires, revenge, ego and such allow themselves to be "possessed" by the High Ones and so succumb to their own wishes.
Yero wished to punish those who were blind to the suffering and pain of others , "to give them what they deserved", so he slaughtered his Novices.
The player blamed himself for the death of his family and obviously had daddy issues and so he wanted to be punished by his father by the very same fire that consumed his family.

They are able to "do" so much simply because they are allowed to and I don't think nightmares are outside of the scope of their abilities since we do know they enter dreams to play with the Prophet.