izigame.me

They've done it again! After having a really good time with the base game, I was nothing short of eager to sink my teeth into this new story pack. I fully anticipated the writing to maintain the same high quality as the base game. What I was surprised by was just how different my time as Rizia's King would be compared to my time at the helm of Sordland, both in thematic ways like tone and theme, and mechanical ways as a game in and of itself. Like managing Sordland, leading Rizia quickly becomes a clever and potentially volatile balancing act of currying favor, compromising on priorities, and contending with resource scarcity. However, being the head of a monarchy naturally shifts power dynamics significantly. To make sweeping changes to the system of government in Sordland required months and months of cozying up to the right people, ensuring that your proposed changes aligned with your campaign promises, and praying that a scandal wouldn't suddenly creep up to throw all your hard work out the window. In Rizia? What the King says goes. As long as you have the authority and/or budget to pass decrees you want, those changes will happen, and for the most part without consequences that feel unexpected or hard to predict. Resource management feels a lot easier overall too. There was never a time when I genuinely thought I might go significantly in the red for my budget or energy resources, contrasted with my experience in Sordland where that threat constantly loomed over me for the entire playthrough. Overall, Rizia is much more about intrigue and the implications of being the head of a major dynasty. It's easier mechanically, but the narrative is far more complex to complement that change. However, I am seeing that the achievements I got on my first playthrough for successfully continuing as King and avoiding all crises are pretty rare for players overall, so perhaps it's still difficult enough and I just got lucky!
The one main criticism I think I can give the story pack is that if one desires, national security and management of the armed forces can become a total afterthought in the game if the right decisions are made. There are some major territorial disputes in King Romus's reign, but all of them can be resolved peacefully in a way that doesn't end in major concessions for Rizia with some clever decision making. This is where the game becomes a bit too easy for me personally. I want to grieve the consequences of my actions, dangit! However, I am extremely excited for a potential warpath playthrough, as it is clear that this story pack responds to your choices even more than the base game and there are potentially several extremely distinct routes to go down with various characters and storylines. Overall, flying colors with a few minor critiques! Glovurius axa Rizia!