To be fair i had been writing that for a while and so was really tired by the end. Its hard to put into eloquent words when you're drowsy but the point i was trying to get across is not "this one is the best", but that there are lore problems with the "standard directions" which look like the most likely direction which do not mesh with current lore and story directions. Hence i feel the need to point these issues out to keep in mind before the end incase they truly arnt noticed, quite possibly from being passed through so many people's hands over the years which is quite understandable
The quest gave a strong indication of the direction of one of the standard routes which boil down to 3 routes: 1 - He's an elder from outside, 2 - he's an elder god from before, 3 - he's some anti-elder god thats secretly always been there
Pretty much all the standard routes go by the idea this is an elder god of some sort, or something on that level. But everything ingame atm shows he's specifically weaker than an elder god. He could only manipulate life into new forms and he needs people to open portals for him to even get his hand into gilenor. A true elder should have no problem doing anything right? Also brings up the question of guthix seemingly harming him, something which would be impossible if he's a true elder right? So thats an issue i spotted which would need resolving
The idea that he and the shadow realm are from outside would create an issue both in terms of lore and a story writing perspective. Firstly the shadow realm being from outside has a problem because when you actually draw out the map of the planes sitting inside the abyss sitting inside the void, where does the shadow realm go on that map if it's from outside? There literally isnt a place for it unless its tacked onto the side or something. And ofcourse this brings the question of the mahjarrat, if the shadow realm truly has no relation to them at all then why are they the only race with a natural affinity for it? Then this bring up the story writing issue of it would offer no real origin, motive or reason, just something that showed up one day. I do hope you can see the issue with that from a story writing perspective?
Alternatively what if he's an elder from before. Well the lore issue with that would be if he wants to destroy the elders how are they even still alive since they began very weak and this guy would still be fully grown? Xau tak has apparently done nothing for 1000's of years when the elders apparently cant do anything against the shadow anima? The story writing perspective with this route would bring the problem of it leaves the door open for the future to just say "here's another one you didnt know about" whenever you need a new villain. Same with with the "its someone from outside" route too, can you see how very easily that route could be abused in the future if that door is opened? All proper story writing i've followed flow from past events to future consequences which makes the story in general feel like its a singular cohesive plot. Generally whenever i've seen any fantasy story do the route of "and then another bad guy appeared" without what's already happened being the thing responsible for it, it doesnt mesh and it really shows
Then the 3rd route, what if xau tak is some negative elder that keeps popping up out of balance? Well firstly the elders created this universe right, so why would they create something which inherently spawns an equally powerful negative to destroy them? Also brings the question up again of if this is something that keeps happening each cycle, how are the elders even still alive? Then it asks the question of if xau tak is some established negative or something thats always been there, why would they go to sleep knowing theres something out there trying to off them when their entire existence is to continue their existence?. Then you look from a story writing perspective and again this would offer no real origin or motive, boils down to "its something that just is"
Again i say i do hope you lot will do better than the standard ideas and hope you will come up with something to clean up all these outstanding threads. Your quest very much gives the impression going down one of the standard routes each of which brings up the plot holes raised above, thats where my concern brings me to raise these questions as none of those routes seem to work without causing a plot hole. Sure my tone can get unwittingly blunt at times (usually when i'm tired from typing all night, i'm sure you've also had nights where you're like "just finish it already") but it is out of raising genuine questions to ensure the future health of the games story. In order to ensure the best possible story, one must take each route and ask the questions each route would create, and deal with issues before they occur
What my idea is was actually just simple logic with what you've provided. So far ingame you've shown xau tak having the same exact powers/ aura/ physical aspects and use of crystals all of which are uniquely only used so far by mah and her children. There's the question of the mahjarrat having a natural affinity of the shadow realm, begging the question how or why if its nothing to do with them or mah at all. Xau tak and mah's story both derive from the same lovecraftian works, one was solely known for giving her nightmares life and the other was literally a living nightmare. Then if you take those connections, you see it directly mirrors seren's dark lord story adding precedence to it. So can you really say these are giant leaps, to me they're simply taking the available information and stating their logical steps. Steps which end up creating an interesting story, a genuine origin, genuine believable reasoning behind the motive, ties up all the outstanding lovecraftian threads and meshes up with the current abyss/void multiverse setup and power scaling given xau tak's weaker stance with seemingly no issues
The entire point of this was to point out how the standard routes when taken to their predicted ends atm seem to leave behind quite big plot holes and leave threads hanging. To show how it does appear these quite significant connections to mah would run in a different direction to what seems to be the predicted routes. Its all to list the various threads and connections that would need to be swept up before the end. I would hope you do indeed have a plan for dealing with all these plot holes, but atm i'm finding it very difficult to find any route which doesnt leave something hanging
I know you cant confirm either way but the entire point of this was to simply get people to ask, whatever your final plan is, DOES it answer all the raised questions without leaving a plot hole or the raised questions behind? Can you explain away all the quite significant connections to mah, and if not was it really a case of different developers being on different pages like it feels like?
