First, I should note that I didn't get the mission in a 'normal' playthrough; rather I started a new game with a modified version of Nexerelin's 'skip story' option, and a modified rules.csv row with the RollProbability call removed.
Okay, general impression: Wow, you're a pair of madlads, Alex and David! A minigame needing completely novel systems like this is definitely not something I expected to ever see.
The rest of the mission was fun, too. Nice to see more lore; interesting glimpse into the Eventide aristocracy and its origins, and House Rao. I liked the dialog choices (also I am inordinately amused by the 'DatingSim' option IDs).
Difficulty: Of the first four times I tried it, I only won the third time. Probably fine, it
should be hard for a captain with zero fencing experience, and it's not like you lose anything by losing. Classic Prince of Persia controls (a game I've never played) felt a bit "stiff" at first.
Issues and things I thought could be better:
- It's not save-compatible, right? Since the required persons are only generated on a new game.
- The requirements to unlock the mission may be too strict. I'm not even sure RollProbability works as one might expect; I used the rule command in a Nexerelin mod mission for a while and it never seemed to show up.
Also it requires Hegemony commission as if anyone would hold such a thing. (Unless every major faction is getting its own mission? Would be kind of cool.) - Caspian Sang is probably exactly as insufferable as he was meant to be. But in hindsight I kinda feel the narrative text criticizing him could be, hmm, more subtle. More show-don't-tell.
- The tutorial description isn't fully clear on ripostes; I didn't know "a skilled fighter" meant it requires the story point option to work, until I looked at the code. It makes sense in hindsight and I'm not sure how else I'd word it, but maybe highlight that bit in the story point color?
Also it's hard for me to tell in the first place whether I'm riposting or just doing a normal attack. It seems like ripostes have poor range, or is that just the opponent doing a "middle block"?
Random idea that just popped into my head: Neriene Rao contact when
(maybe as a reward for winning and/or just getting along reasonably well with her)
Overall verdict: Thumbs up, positive review, would party
and study the blade again.
