Someone who dropped the game here (from being a Patreon supporter), so maybe take what I say with a grain of salt. My biggest gripe with the game would have to be the character of Gweyr.
I loved Garth, Gareth, and Gwyneth. Gareth and Garth's relationship in particular being among my favorite interactions to see in the game. So of course I wanted to find Gareth's Mom and get answers as to everything that happened, to bring her home. And I kind of wish I didn't. Yadda yadda, but I did have genuine investment in the game's story, all other things aside, at the time. I'm a man who enjoys his porn with good plot, top tier. I would like to make no mistake in saying that I do not think Gweyr was justified in the slightest.
From the first 3 cultists you kill, I can SORT OF see why she'd do it. They were attacking River and were after the gem. Now, she SAYS they might have killed her, but it outright says 'holding her back while they pry out the gem'. She didn't know they were mind controlled. So she does it. She didn't have to, she far outmatched them and knocking them out would have been as easy as using the flat of her blade, and they were young and residents of the town she'd lived in, but she did, and I think that was grey, but fine enough, even if she pretty obviously killed them because she enjoyed it.
I saw a couple of posts saying former soldiers said they'd have done the same. But I really, really don't think they would have. They attacked her with kitchen knives, a ploughshare, and a hunting bow. She had a sword. In war, sometimes the enemy will train child soldiers to attack grown men to shake their morale, lower their guard, and generally to have more manpower. And killing them FUCKS with soldiers, no matter what anyone says. When a child soldier is handed a gun or has a bomb strapped to them, you have to kill them, or you will die. It doesn't matter if you're a grown ass man and they're a child, a bullet is a bullet no matter who fires it. But a kitchen knife being swung at you when you have a sword? Parry and use the flat of your blade for a knock out. She served drinks to those guys. She said she'd take pleasure in it. And then she killed them. The attacks that do hit you do such minimal damage that you see how little danger she was in. They were kids. She'd figured out they were mind controlled partway through. And she still went through with it because she didn't care.
When Sanders yelled at her for what she did, she didn't care. She killed a bunch of kids in front of their parents knowing it was mind control at point and called it a "Job". Thought everyone in town was a coward for being angry at her for killing their children.
Now, this alone wasn't what made me drop the game. What made me really drop it is, all you really get to do is reply "Yes" when she asks if she's a monster and basically nothing comes of it. You get a line of dialogue and the sidequest is given anyways. Initially when that all happened I closed without saving, played something else, didn't play again for a while, then uninstalled. Recently I reinstalled it (about 4 months passed in between) and played through it all again for the purpose of this mini-rant. I know the quest for bringing her home is done now, but I'm not gonna do it, and I have little intention on ever going back to the game. This turned into something longer than I intended but I did want to get this all down, I just think Gweyr's a poorly written character, and the story wanting you to forgive her is what made me drop it. If you read through this all, thanks, sorry for the wall of text mid-forum, later.
