I'll never get tired of going back for Isabella...
I ignored her in my origins, and now I even miss her ...
Me pretending it doesn't exist and therefore it technically still isn't finished - really hate that boss rush of an ending where not even all maxed stats can beat through it; you have no idea how many times people told me to cheat a bunch of God's Meads to healspam through all of it just for closure.
It may seem strange... but the final boss rush was not difficult at all (no cheats). Maybe because I went through the whole game with BS with and Inquisitor's robes with "mage build" or maybe because for the final battle I collected almost all possible buffs and perks from allies and collected all possible spells (wit out tf and akball), I got a perk from a kitsune shrine (I did this is for free statistics with meditation and got enlightenment). But apart from the minotaur king, the battles did not cause any difficulties at all, and the main villain... well, she tried to resist...
Returning to COC2, I love it no less than the first part, and I really like the fact that the followers are not just a harem in the hub but quite useful combat units. But there is no serious resistance in COC2 ... I am very grateful for the story of Gweyr (although, to be honest, I do not see anything sinister or dark in it) it appropriately dilutes the overall too relaxing atmosphere in the game and reminds that the Cult is, for once, dangerous. No seriously for me, most of the battles in COC2 are completed in 2-3 rounds when I issue AoE procast (current "build" arc canon, fireball and if it did not help Vitality Reap as a finisher) all the enemy party lies and does not twitch. There were only 2-3 events in the game where I had to change the party (Berwyn and Brienne in the pyromancer set) and that one was an endless battle and the second was not possible to win ... I'm not talking about the absence of addict mechanics, which, although annoying, added to the world COC1 entourage and danger (if there are corrupted minotaurs, return their addictive sperm from COC1).
But what I really miss in COC2 is the characters from COC1, in fact, I want to see the characters themselves more than their old content. It is clear that after the COC1 "events" they will change. Honestly, when I did the post with my idea, I already had some interactions with them, some chunks of memories that explained why they were here. And why does this damn Demoness one-shot all your game in the winter city without even giving one move! (I understand the game convention.) By indirect moments, it is noticeable that she has some kind of "god-like" power that would corrupt everything around so quickly and effectively. It all came together into the thought that maybe she could steal some of Mare's divine essence from COC1 before escaping through the portal to COC2. And since she could do this, it means she had to face the past champion and somehow knock him out and quite seriously. And then I noticed a loophole for the return of old characters who could follow the Demoness with the aim of revenge and in search of a cure for the old character while other NPCs from COC1 remained to care for the wounded. But due to the peculiarities of the portal (and our actions in the Divine Pussy quest), they had to break through a new one-time portal to the world of COC2, which would lead them to a safe but "corrupted" place Wayfort. Where they were provoked by the presence of Alraune and Begmot (I initially started from my passage where I saved their lives). It is a pity that the idea will remain an idea. Maybe one day I will write a fanfic on this topic.